After lurking here for a while I've finally gotten a reason for posting.

Alternative Universe also called AU is just that.
I've read a lot of posts where people bitch and moan about an author, who have marked their story as AU, which takes the normal canon universe and changes it into something that is nothing alike.
Well take a good long look at the description of the story, moron, it is AU for a reason, if you can't handle the fact that an author has decided to change the universe, then stop reading fanfiction and go re-read the books again.

I would love to hear other peoples thoughts on this subject, even if its just to tell me that they think I'm a moron who shouldn't have gotten near a keyboard.

 

Really couldn't have put it better, but I'll try to answer your question.

What I consider a 'true' AU is the author introducing a couple large and small changes. This can be anything from something crazy, like James surviving his duel with Voldemort, smaller things, like Harry showing some initiative or simply fixing perceived mistakes JK made. After said changes are made the author writes how the canon characters would react and grow do to this change. This is AU. No one bitches about this.

On the other hand if the author writes about the Golden 'Quartet' and her self-insert 'Ebony Marish Suey Da'arkness' then, no matter what the author says, that's not AU. It's not even good fanfiction. And people will bitch.

 

You're a moron who shouldn't have gotten near a keyboard.

 

/r/ to be allowed to tell OP to gtfo.

 

Or those stories where they put the characters in high school... *shudders*

 

AU is an alternate universe. That implies that it is a universe alike to the real one, just alternate.

If Harry is a fucking piano player who falls in love with his beautiful rival, Draco Malfoy, then it is not an AU fic. It is not even Harry Potter fanfiction, you idiot. It is a black-haired gay pianist and a blond gay pianist with Harry Potter names falling in love and having sweaty anal sex.

 

Quoted for truth and win. Just because its an Alternate Universe doesn't mean it has to be a fucking stupid one. The best example ever of an AU? Red Dwarf episode with an Earth where everything is done backwards. Fucking hilarious.

 

Red Dwarf you say. Awesome TV-show

 

Two good examples of honest AU--

Sirius Black escapes on the way to Azkaban. He hides out as two year old Draco Malfoy's dog (rather like Wormtail), influencing Draco's character and indirectly, the people Draco encounters. All changes come from that one fact. You can debate whether it is well done or whether it's a cool idea.

Harry beats Cedric out to the punch and asks Cho out before Cedric does. Cedric asks Marietta Edgecombe instead. Cho becomes a cross house friend, somewhat more important then Ernie Macmillian, less important then Luna. Eventual romance with much less misunderstanding. You may or may not like the pairing and but the premise is credible.

The Heir has said all that need to be said about gay sex with Draco or anything really warped. One change is the point and all other changes coming from it is the point.

All the Best,

Kerney

 

It's especially amusing when Cat has a shit... Though I've only read the novel of that, not seen the episode.

 

...I have a huge problem with that myself. When someone changes Harry's name, his appearance, even location, it ceases being a Harry Potter story, and becomes an original fiction with similar ideas. This is bad.

 

Dude... its so much more then amusing when Cat has a shit. Its perfection.

"We've got to stop him!"

Cue Cat's face. Priceless. Honestly one of the funniest things ever on TV.

Also: Gizmore, I do say Red Dwarf. I'll say it again if I have to Seriously though, Red Dwarf is one of the best shows ever. If you haven't seen it, gogo see it right now. If you have seen it and don't agree with me...

Fuck you.

Watch the series again and this time, use your brain just a tad and you'll get the jokes you Sarah Palin loving bitch. That's right. I said it. The highest insult ever. What's up?

 

Why is it that "twins who lived" fics, always seem to have the non-BWL, being abused, neglected or sent to the Dursleys?

 

Because it is a plot device, jackass. It's an easy way to make Harry dark. How would you act if your mother and father forgot you?

...Then again, that isn't to say that it's a GOOD plot device.

 

To the first part; either you haven't, or you haven't absorbed nearly enough of the common sense we like to use. To the second, well said.

As for your actual question good AU's are accepted. It's the idiotic ones that aren't An Alternative Universe should be something that could have happened had an event gone differently. For instance, what if Cedric didn't die? What if Harry's Crucio had worked? What if Voldemort had just laughed at Harry for using a dumb spell such as expelliarmus in their final duel? Alright so the last isn't a great example; but my point is that AU's are not supposed to be drastically different worlds that have Harry being gay or something along those lines. They don't have a basis for being true, and as a result they don't work. Hope this helped.

 

Him being gay would, actually, be AU. It wouldn't be THAT farfetched. Him in a normal highscool- on the basketball team- getting fucked in the ass by his blond basketball rival, Malfoy, would be a different story. Then again, it's the 'on the basketball team at a normal highschool', not the Harry's gay, part that is so fucked. Harry being gay would just be strange, awkward to read, and mildly unpleasant.