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For more info check out Fanlore’s Alternate Universe page. Also the Hanahaki Disease page if
Jun. 10th, 2025 09:41 am![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
fanlore_tumblr_feedi had a thought of “do people not know what AUs are anymore?” and then i remembered nobody explains fandom stuff to new people anymore so it is entirely plausible people genuinely don’t know what AUs are and nobody has explained it to them, so for today’s lucky 10,000:
“AU” stands for “Alternate Universe” or “Alternative Universe” (same difference) and is basically any thought scenario for a fandom that isn’t canon and can’t fit within the canon universe. If it takes place in the canon universe but something is notably different, that is typically what’s known as a “Canon divergent AU,” because it diverges from canon.
an AU can be absolutely anything. There’s a couple of widespread pan-fandom au scenarios that often get thrown around, like coffee shop aus, genderbend aus, hanahaki aus (hanahaki is a whole thing in itself i’d recommend researching on your own), etc. One you might hear sometimes is “crossover AU” which is when you have characters from one fandom interacting with characters from another.
You can have as many aus as you want. They can be whatever you want and you can do whatever you want in them. It’s a sandbox for you to play around in and explore how things would be different or how the characters would act in those circumstances or environments. Maybe they have different relationships with each other. Maybe they behave slightly differently. Or you can just say “Okay, [x] is true. How did they get here? How would things have to be different for this to occur?” which can also be fun.
If you are ever confused about why people ship something that seems completely out of the blue or doesn’t make sense to you in the canon setting, there’s a good chance they like it in an AU setting! Not everything everybody is interacting with is necessarily the canon! Not everybody wants things to exist in canon and just want to explore playing dolls in a different sandbox and that’s okay. And their sandbox might look a lot different than yours, and that’s also okay. You have the freedom to make your sandbox whatever you please. Do whatever you want forever. Get funky with it. AUs are fun.
Okay that’s my schpeal. everybody go have fun and play nice now.
For more info check out Fanlore’s Alternate Universe page. Also the Hanahaki Disease page if you want to do some research.
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Comment Bingo Round 7 Sign-Ups!
Jun. 9th, 2025 09:58 amIf you haven't claimed your Round 6 banner, please go here.
This is the sign-up post to get a bingo card for the seventh round of Comment Bingo. Please leave the username(s) that you will be using to comment and you will be assigned a card. You don't need a Dreamwidth account to participate. If you want more details (including opt out rules), the following links should hopefully clear things up.
There is also a 'question' thread in the comments that you can reply to for any lingering doubts or queries.
It was inspired by the Comment Bingo that
We all know how good comments can make a creator feel, and even a 'this is great' can sometimes brighten their day. Whether you're a newbie or been in fandom for years, don't comment at all, sometimes comment, or comment all the time, this is for you. Maybe it will help you discover stories you wouldn't have otherwise, ones that you loved and forgot about and/or fics you somehow missed. Forgot to leave a comment before? Want a reason to comment again? Now is the time!
Rules | Prompts | List of Comms | Commenting Resources
( sample card )
This round will run until October 31st, 2025.
Promote the round: