AUs in the Pros community--discussion

[faramir-boromir.livejournal.com]

Hi, all. You may have been reading the panel reports that I've been posting about CQ in my LJ and over on the CQ yahoo group as well. If not, go read 'em, and enjoy!

It occurred to me that I didn't have notes on a panel that I very much enjoyed---why do you think the Professionals has so many good AU stories---I think I was blasted on Sunday morning and had lost the will to write, hence no notes. Then I realized, there's no reason that discussion couldn't go on here, at ci5hq. gblvr got the ball rolling in the panel discussion, and I'll borrow the three things that I do remember from the panel to get things started.

1) If you look at the total number of stories archived at the Circuit and click the "only AU" stories option, you get about 7% of all the stories. So on the whole, there don't seem to be many AUs in the fandom.

2) Yet, if you ask somebody to rec in the Pros fandom, within the first few recs, they'll be saying, 'oh, but you need to read this AU.'

3) One comment that was offered by flamingoslim at the con was that, back in the day, Pros picked up AUs that were scorned by the Starsky/Hutch fandom early on. As one of the oldest fandoms, she suggested, authors who felt closed out of one fandom moved over to another and went wild.

So, why the contradiction? Compared to other fandoms, Pros has very few AUs, but some are notably (and worthily) famous. And which AUs would you automatically rec to others? And what elements make for a successful AU, using Pros characters?

Comments

[callistosh65.livejournal.com]

I wonder why it is that I and many people I know *hated* the idea of AUs when they first began reading Pros and then ended up accepting and enjoying them to the extent that many AUs have become firm favourites. :jumps up and down and points to self!: Yup, that's a pretty fair description of me. AUs will always be a hard sell, but I'm amazed how flexible I have become. I wish I had a coherent, articulate reason as to why I have come to accept -nay, LOVE - some AU fics in Pros, but I'm afraid I don't. On my firm favourites list are Ellis Ward's 'And Memories Die I and II', and her 'Legacy of Temptation'.(But not HA because the setting just didn't grab me). And Pamela Rose's 'Professional Dreamer', but not Arabian Nights ( setting again).

Perhaps then, the answer to why I've been converted to the idea of AUs in Pros, is in the ones that don't work for me - if the characters are recognisable but the *setting* just doesn't grab me, inspire me, etc, then it's doubtful I'll make it to the end, no matter how much I love the writer.