An alternative universe (also known as alternate universe) is a type or form of fan fiction in which known, canonical facts about the universe being explored or written about, are deliberately changed. In Alternative Universe stories, characters' known motivations may vary considerably from their actual decisions. The author of an alternative universe story thus can use the same characters, but send them down different paths in a different plot. Fan fiction (also spelled fanfiction and commonly abbreviated to fanfic) is fiction written by people who enjoy a film, novel, television show or other media work, using the characters and situations developed in it and developing new plots in which to use these characters. ... In the context of fiction, the canon of a fictional universe comprises those novels, stories, films, etc. ...

Commonly abbreviated AU, stories of this type are usually "what-ifs", where possibilities arising from different circumstances, decisions, etc., are explored. The appeal of the AU for both writer and reader is the exploration of which facets of the characters we know were/are determined by their environments. (For example, in Daria fanfic, "What if Jane was blind?" [1]) In addition, the author also gets a built in audience for their story based on the fans for that universe which they would not get if they wrote it as an original story instead of fan fiction. Daria is an American animated television show created by Glenn Eichler and Susie Lewis Lynn and was a spin-off of Beavis and Butt-head. ...

Alternative universe settings are sometimes written when the author was unhappy with the direction the original source took, a major example being "The Gargoyles Saga" [2] fan fiction series, which ignores all but one of the episodes of Gargoyles' third and final season. The are also known as fix-its, HEXes or denial-fics. Stories in this category of AU follow the established canon before veering away at a crucial moment (similar in concept to most of the entries in Marvel Comics' What If series), and are commonly called divergences. Gargoyles logo Gargoyles is an acclaimed animated series created and produced by Greg Weisman that aired from October 24, 1994 to 1997. ... A television program is the content of television broadcasting. ... It has been suggested that Felicia (pseudonym) be merged into this article or section. ... Cover to What if #1. ... In discussion of counterfactual history, a point of divergence (POD) is a historical event, with two possible postulated outcomes. ...

Alternate universes also arise in fanfic when the source material is released in a serial form, such as a television series running several seasons with holidays between or a series of books released with considerable time between volumes. For instance, much Harry Potter fanfic in the nearly three years between the publication of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was written as Continuation fanfiction, but became AU as soon as the new canonical material appeared. This article is about the Harry Potter series. ...

Also within this arena is the idea of taking all the characters from the series, placing them in a different time/place/situation, and working with it as a new series. An example of this is "Simple and Clean," by Ethelflaed [3] a Yu-Gi-Oh Anime AU fic set in 1066 in Normandy. Although this technique has been tried in the actual canon of many fandoms, it is still debated as a valid fanfiction form. This form of AU is popular among some new writers, who tend to move the characters of a series into a setting more familiar to the author (as in the much-maligned "high school fic"). Yu-Gi-Oh! manga volume 1 (English version) Yu-Gi-Oh! (遊☆戯☆王 yūgiō, Japanese for King of Games) is a popular Japanese anime and manga franchise from Kazuki Takahashi that mainly involves characters who play a card game called Duel Monsters (originally called Magic and Wizards (M&W... // A scene from Cowboy Bebop (1998) Anime (アニメ) is a style of cartoon animation originating in Japan, with distinctive character and background stylings that visually set it apart from other forms of animation. ... Flag of Normandy Mont Saint Michel is a historic pilgrimage site and a symbol of Normandy Normandy is a geographical region in northern France. ...

One type of alternate universe fan-fic involves swapping the characters with the actors who play them. The actors may find themselves actually in the fictional universe, or the fictional characters may find themselves in our real universe, or the story may feature both sides of the swap.

On occasions, a fan fiction writer will create a character that is supposed to be there from the beginning and does not exist in the actual program that inspired it.

Another term that means essentially the same thing as AU is divergent timeline, indicating that at some point in the canon's past or present, there was a divergence from what 'really' happened. This terminology was largely created to avoid the negative stigma that labelling a story AU might bring.

AU in original fiction

Alternative universes are also used in original fiction works themselves, such as in the webcomic El Goonish Shive, where it is an integral part of the storyline, and has spurred works of fanfiction in these and other alternate universes. The webcomic Sluggy Freelance had an alternate universe storyline^[4] which, while not integral, was re-visited for another storyline^[5]. Another example of an original fiction story taking place in an alternate universe is Red Son, a Superman graphic novel in which Superman landed in the USSR instead of the USA. El Goonish Shive is a webcomic by Dan Shive, launched on January 21, 2002, that mainly depicts the lives of a group of friends in their junior year of high school. ... Sluggy Freelance is one of the longest running, best-known and most popular webcomics, with a new comic released daily since August 25, 1997, except for 8 days in August 2001 and filler art on many other occasions. ... Spoiler warning: Superman: Red Son is a comic book published by DC Comics unveiled under their Elseworlds imprint in April, 2003. ... Superman, aka the Man of Steel, is a fictional character and superhero who first appeared in Action Comics #1 in 1938. ...

In the many Gundam anime series, there are 6 major timelines that are independent of one another (though there is some debate about the 5th timeline), and some fan circles (especially in North America) refer to the timelines created after the original Universal Century as "Alternate Universes". However, this does not truly fit the standard definition of AU, as the timelines share neither characters nor locations (aside from the Solar system itself). Tenchi Muyo! and El-Hazard utilize the more traditional alternative universe concept, each beginning with an OVA series and being followed up by TV series that utilize many of the same characters and locations, but with alterations made to both (some minor and some drastic). Gundam is one of the longest running meta-series of anime featuring giant robots. ... // A scene from Cowboy Bebop (1998) Anime (アニメ) is a style of cartoon animation originating in Japan, with distinctive character and background stylings that visually set it apart from other forms of animation. ... Universal Century (or UC for short) is one of the timelines of the Gundam anime metaseries. ... Presentation of the solar system (not to scale) The solar system comprises the Earths Sun and the retinue of celestial objects gravitationally bound to it. ... Tenchi Muyo! (天地無用! Tenchi Muyō!), is an anime and manga series about a boy named Tenchi Masaki and the alien women that love him. ... El-Hazard is an anime franchise by the anime studio AIC. There is also a manga adaptation, which is published in English by Viz Communications. ... A human ovum An ovum (loosely, egg or egg cell) is a female sex cell or gamete. ... See TV (disambiguation) for other uses and Television (band) for the rock band European networks National In much of Europe television broadcasting has historically been state dominated, rather than commercially organised, although commercial stations have grown in number recently. ...

The Star Wars: Infinities comic series is an official aspect of the "What If?" style of alternate universe fiction, telling the story of the Original Trilogy Movies, if something went wrong.

AU Problems

One of the most ongoing problems many fanfiction authors have with AUs are the fact that some totally disregard everything in the series and simply take the characters looks and names and place them in completely different situations. Another type of AU that authors have a problem with use the exact storyline from a famous movie or video game (One of the most used being Kingdom Hearts) while completely replacing the characters with their own characters or characters for other series. Despite this, the few good AUs to be done have made the genre respected for its originality and unique situations. A good example of this is Soignante's story "Binary", which is a modern-day retelling of Phantom of the Opera. It can be found at http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2823035/1/ The title character as depicted by Lon Chaney, Sr. ...

See also

• Uberfic