~~ crackfic vs. AU: taste the rainbow

[reenka]

I feel my quest to be a total mindless squeeing fangirl keeps getting derailed. But only some of the time-- which I think can be narrowed down to whenever I'm not reading manga. You know, those people who say 'it rots your brain' as if that's a bad thing are just kind of uptight, aren't they :>

Anyway. Not least because I'm writing a couple myself will I or nill I (mostly nill I, but what're'ya gonna do), I've been thinking about AUs and their definitions.
    This got sparked by winsome1's post about a negative review to her fanfic, which basically has Harry run away from home after 5th year and stay in a whorehouse, after which he became a stereotypical gay boi, called people 'sweetheart' & couldn't resist Draco's manly charms.

    Now, the reviewer and the author seemed to actually agree that this set-up is implausible-- the difference being that the author said she never intended to write a 'plausible extension of canon', and wondered whether she should've warned for that. Of course, all the comments to the entry reassure her that no, warnings are for uptight losers (though not in so many words). And in a sense they are, 'cause people should really be clever enough to figure out when something is a crackfic.
    Heavy mention of rentboys, Veelas, soul-bonds, most Medieval torture devices, and possibly sparkly green hair and purple eyes should all be dead giveaways. Most Harry/Draco fluff should probably also fall into that category (then again, definitions of fluff will differ: mine involves most PWP non-hatesex smut, fic with free usage of given names, weeping!Draco and possibly kittens). ^^;; But honestly I see 'crackfic' as using any trope, scenario or genre (like fluff or hurt/comfort) and taking it far beyond the realm of canon plausibility (unless someone out there really wants to argue something like, 'but why couldn't have Draco been sexually abused and then become Harry's soulmate-of-DESTINY').


My issue isn't really with the question of warnings, but with the implied definition of what makes an 'standard' AU (truly a wholly different universe) as opposed to something set in the same universe but with a shifted canon timeline, as compared to crackfic (where anything goes). Basically, I object to the concept that AU = anything goes. No, my friends, that is what we call crackfic. Saying fanfic itself basically implies that 'anything goes' is true in a sense (I guess), but at a certain point I do wonder what's the point of actually calling Joe and Bill Harry & Draco, anyway. Ahem. Unless it's a crackfic, where generally the point is cracked-out amusement and/or porn (and lo, but porn has been mentioned & all is forgiven).

    And naturally, it's a pet peeve of mine when people predictably say, 'but all slash is AU'. It's a neat little dead horse argument, I'm sure, right up there with Hitler mentions in terms of online fannish arguments (that is, slash = AU = end of debate). Even so, I feel like stating for the record that if nothing else, this entirely destroys any reasonable scope for an AU definition (by making the label apply to all fanfic by that measure).
    There really seem to be two distinct types of AU: stuff written as canon-plausible but with an alternate or truncated (pre-Jossed) timeline & stuff written with the canon characters in an original setting. Everything else is OOC, not AU, and in fact, even new-universe AUs don't -have- to be OOC; I've seen them be IC (though not in HP, and admittedly it's pretty difficult).

All in all, I really wish people who wrote crackfic admitted it and/or said they don't give a damn without having to somehow imply all fanfic swims in the same pool & is necessarily crackfic just because it's not actual canon. Alas, I suspect this is a lost cause.

Comments

[silentauror.livejournal.com]

Oh, sure. This all works for me. Sorry if I wasn't clear on stating that I realized you knew it was OOC rather than AU - I was half-deliberating during that whole spiel up there as to whether I should actually post it to the author's journal rather than here, so I may have strayed from the point a wee bit. I was arguing "alongside", rather than against, if that makes any sense. :)

The whole deal with going with one of those cliches (which I certainly don't seek out, btw) is just to see if anything about it can be made plausible enough to follow - just to see if the author can lure you in, somehow. I agree that rentboy fic is awfully difficult to buy, too, but if Anise and Jex write it, I'm in. There are authors whom I believe could write Harry/Dobby and make it hot. Disturbing, yet almost convincing. It's almost a game, to see how far you can stretch the characterization and make it work before the strings come undone. I do see character as a multifaceted thing, in RL and fiction both. Some stretching permissible. And necessary, even, for most slash. :) But there's stretching and there's ignoring the fact that there ever were strings.

But back to your point, about the division between people who take character interpretation and canon really seriously, and people who just faff about and do what they like. To some extent, and I'm definitely including myself here, we all do a bit of the second. Just create the scenario we want and go with it. But homage to JKR of some sort should be a prerequisite. And that's not a humble opinion at all. In my books, that's the definition of fanfiction.

God, I'm ranting again. Sorry. :)

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

I think it's just... I draw a line between 'cliche' (something like... um, 'Draco reconsiders being a Death Eater 'cause Voldy killed Lucius' or 'Ron freaks out and is vaguely homophobic at the idea of Harry with Draco' or 'Draco join the Side of Light and yet is used as Voldemort's ritual sacrifice under the full moon' or 'Lucius spanked Draco but good and this made Draco lead a double life', etc) and something like soulbond!H/D, love-potion!H/D, polyjuice!H/D, rentboy!Draco, Veela!Draco, vampire!Snape, gay-studmuffin!Harry, or say-- snarky-sexgod!Draco (who is crackficcy while snarky-self-controlled-sophisticate-top!Draco is just plain OOC).

I guess I see a difference between merely overused and/or ill-advised or lame plots & outrageous or ridiculous plots which will never make sense to me as -canon plausible- even if I enjoy them. Basically, unless you have realistic build-up (v. hard to do with say, rentboy fic but shaggirl is the only one I know of to do it), rentboy!H/D is crack or just kinkfic. It's not just cliche (overused, lame, predictable)-- it's... cracked out. Even if it's not humor, if that sort of set-up is done seriously, usually I'd say is mockable as over-the-top lameness (but is still on crack). The exception of shaggirl is basically 'cause `Orouboros' doesn't focus on its kink/cliche/crack as its driving force; it's driven by character rather than plot-device or kink (hotness) factor. This is rare to nonexistent in most kink/crackfic, and just plain missing in any crack oneshot I've ever seen.

And yeah, I'll readily admit that stretch-room (with strings) as defiitely my ideal and I see it as the point of good fanfic writing; but even so, a lot of fanfic writers seem not to care about quality so much as kink/hotness/fun & that's their choice just as it's mine to mostly avoid them :>