I think it's interchangeable for most people anyway, but AU is more widely used. I'm not sure how familiar you're with the Stargate, so.
In my understanding, AR is like a kind of spin-off from the canon at some point. Like (generic) you follow the canon up to when Sirius fell behind the veil, but then you make it so that Sirius grasped the veil and didn't let go, so he didn't die. And the story continue on differrently from canon from that point on, because you'll have to make the world suit Sirius' existence as well.
For AU, you can build everything from the ground up. You can make Harry as a vampire slayer living in a cave with his pet dragon and Voldemort as his evil stepfather. You can turn the world around and make the Order of Phoenix as the evil ones, and the Death Eaters as the good force.
I think cross-over fit in AU as well.
Err... does this even make sense?
If I remember correct, there's a poll like this once, but I can't remember who did it or when. It's really enlightening too. Sorry.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2006-08-04 02:27 pm (UTC)In my understanding, AR is like a kind of spin-off from the canon at some point. Like (generic) you follow the canon up to when Sirius fell behind the veil, but then you make it so that Sirius grasped the veil and didn't let go, so he didn't die. And the story continue on differrently from canon from that point on, because you'll have to make the world suit Sirius' existence as well.
For AU, you can build everything from the ground up. You can make Harry as a vampire slayer living in a cave with his pet dragon and Voldemort as his evil stepfather. You can turn the world around and make the Order of Phoenix as the evil ones, and the Death Eaters as the good force.
I think cross-over fit in AU as well.
Err... does this even make sense?
If I remember correct, there's a poll like this once, but I can't remember who did it or when. It's really enlightening too. Sorry.