[Scribe]

AU or Alternate Universes.

What are they really?

As one of the Archive Owners responsible for determining where some stories on this archive go. Of late I've been pondering the question of AU's in general. At present, whenever a story does not follow the continuity of Tolkien's work it is considered AU material. I myself have fics in the AU category however, it has been posed that AU are being used to house fics by authors who feel the need to twist Tolkien's vision into something of their own, which to me seems a little unfair. After all, every author is entitled to some creative expression. However by the same token, should we not also respect the original author's vision? This brings up an issue I think is worthy of debate, what should or shouldn't be considered AU? How far does artistic expression extend and when should the spirit of the source of the material be respected?

What are your thoughts on the subject...?

[SpaceWeavil]

I've never really been sure what AU was for. Originally I thought they were stories where one part of canon was changed, one event maybe, to see how the story would have played out, for instance, what if Aragorn had died at Amon Hen instead of Boromir or something like that. Whenever I've used that category, it has been with more modern day stories, where I've had elves surviving on well beyond ME. I figured that technically this could be possible, but since their time was meant to be over and they all should have faded, to keep them on Earth would make the story slightly AU. Other than the fact of elves being there, I try to keep true to canon in all other aspects.

That's just how I've viewed the category and how I've used it, if that is of any help?

[Thuriniel]

[NancyBrooke]

[mistressofbucklebury]

I tend to agree with what has already been said. My understanding of AU was that the catorgory should be used when the plot twists away from canon in a sort of "what would happen if..." kind of way.

I must admit though that it took me a while to come to this conclusion.... I wasn't entirely sure where my little fic would sit but I figured since I was writing about something Tolkien alluded to, but did not describe in detail, then my attempt was not really an AU story as such...

Anyway that's my two pence worth

MoB

[Leila]

What they said pretty much sums up what I've always viewed as AU.

Warning:D :more or less below

[Rous]

I agree with the others. I am not sure that adding a character that does not change the plot over much would be A/U. As long as you left the written characterizations and events alone, it would just be filler. If you write about a character that is little mentioned in the original story, you would not be changing anything, just filling in gaps. For instance, if you gave Erestor a wife. There is, to my knowledge, nothing mentioned either way concerning his having a wife. So, is this A/U? Now, if suddenly Elrond died and Erestor became lord of Imladris, how could that be anything but A/U?
My fiction is listed in A/U because of the canatics. Because I added an OC, it cannot be canon, so I was told. I just wanted to be sure I did not smash any more toes. So, 'tis better to err on the side of caution. And it does not bother me.

[NancyBrooke]

[SpaceWeavil]

With stories like that, where a modern OC or otherwise non-canon OC turns up in ME, I tend to think it is AU. That was part of my thinking also in putting 'Bodysnatcher' in AU. ALthough I have a modern woman in ME, I have tried to keep the other canon characters true, like when she meets Boromir in Lorien, I make sure he 'acts' like Boromir. But then again, if the story is OC centric, then could it also go into Femme Fatale?

[Rous]

[Ningloreth]

[Viv]

I think it's important to distinguish intentional AU from research lapses (or blatant disregard of the source material). AU is intentional alteration of canonical plot or characters, usually stated in an author note at the beginning of a story.

Often, I see stories where canon is just dumped in preference of ... something else (elves having wings; Legolas going to Kindergarten, Sauron romancing the pants off of Galadriel). In those cases, I tend to leave reviews along the lines of "This might be more interesting if you changed the character names and posted it somewhere as original fiction." Those kinds of reviews are generally nicer than, "Your [lack of] canon knowledge makes the Baby Eru weep."

Those canon-deprived stories really shouldn't, in my opinion, be categorised alongside thoughtful extrapolations of what might have happened if Bilbo had killed Gollum in The Hobbit.

However, I have to say that I've written canon-spotty humour fics and have no idea how I'd categorize them other than "Silly."

[BittenBuggy]

[NancyBrooke]

[SpaceWeavil]