I was going to post some definitions of my own, but then I took a look at other people's.....hm. Now I'm not sure.
I think of AR as the regular characters with their regular relationships, but something happens in the story to take them to another place. rushlight75's "The Pendulum of Choice" would be my perfect example of AR. Canon is all still there as backstory, but they're in a different place/time.
AU -- for me, this has more definitions. As other people have said, if you ignore bits of canon, it's AU. If it's in a different setting, if people have different relationships (Harry Weasley meets Ron Potter on the Hogwarts Express), it's AU. If Remus is a monk in the 11th century, it's AU. If Sirius is brought back through the veil, it's regular fanfic; if he never went through the veil to begin with, it's AU. Or maybe I'm splitting hairs.....
The difference between the two? Maybe how much canon you keep. I just read liriaen's comment:
To me, Slyth!Ron would be AR because it's still got more than a foot in JKR's world, whereas I'd see gunslinger!Snape/horse-thief!Harry hatesex (CAN SOMEBODY PLEASE WRITE THAT? PLEASE!) as AU.
and that makes a lot of sense.
And here I thought that my Snupin Santa request of Old West AU with Snape as a gunslinger was original......*scuffs toe and pouts, but goes off to read your rec*
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I think of AR as the regular characters with their regular relationships, but something happens in the story to take them to another place.
AU -- for me, this has more definitions. As other people have said, if you ignore bits of canon, it's AU. If it's in a different setting, if people have different relationships (Harry Weasley meets Ron Potter on the Hogwarts Express), it's AU. If Remus is a monk in the 11th century, it's AU. If Sirius is brought back through the veil, it's regular fanfic; if he never went through the veil to begin with, it's AU. Or maybe I'm splitting hairs.....
The difference between the two? Maybe how much canon you keep. I just read liriaen's comment:
To me, Slyth!Ron would be AR because it's still got more than a foot in JKR's world, whereas I'd see gunslinger!Snape/horse-thief!Harry hatesex (CAN SOMEBODY PLEASE WRITE THAT? PLEASE!) as AU.
and that makes a lot of sense.
And here I thought that my Snupin Santa request of Old West AU with Snape as a gunslinger was original......*scuffs toe and pouts, but goes off to read your rec*