Follow-Up Poll: AU versus AR

[kennahijja]

Alright, people - I ran into a definition problem with yesterday's poll. Basically, I used the options Alternate Universe (AU) and Alternate Reality (AR) because those often turn up as categories in archives, but I have no idea what they mean exactly.

Ok, I do know what area they cover - from 'nonmagical AU' to H/D as dragon riders in a fantasy dimension to Harry-in-Slytherin to Sirius/Remus living happily ever after after the war, no Veil. But the difference? Not a clue. So...


[Poll #785583]

And abuse the comments if you run out of space!

Comments

[ariss-tenoh.livejournal.com]

To be honest, I always thought they meant the same thing^_^

I've seen a lot of fans in different fandoms become testy and belittle AUs and those who write them, so some writers started calling their fics Alternate Reality which is like splitting hairs really. Because if we're going to discuss it, ANY diviation from a canon plot or event would be AU.

[liriaen.livejournal.com]

Yup. After a second cup of coffee it finally dawned on me that the way I've "defined" AR indeed applies to virtually 99,9% of all fanfic, regardless of setting, timeframe, and relations between characters. However, AU -to me- still is something wonderfully, wildly out there, prone to dabbling with concepts and ideas from all over the place, not "just" HPdom (rich as it is), and "AR" would seem comparatively tame to that. But maybe that distinction exists only in my mind. :)

[masterofmercury.livejournal.com]

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.

[ldybastet.livejournal.com]

I really think it depends on what one was taught it meant upon entering (a) fandom. For instance, it seems liriaen and I have opposite definitions of the terms. It's all very confusing. *g*

Perhaps it's about time to start using new terms? With new distinctions, that will be all confused in a few years too? ;-)

[magic-at-mungos.livejournal.com]

I know there’s a difference but I’m not sure how to articulate it.

I know one is when the outcome of a single event changes everything else and the other is where the characters are off in Prohibition America or something. I think the second is an alternate reality where the other is an alternate universe.

I’m not sure though….

[roedhunt.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you posted this. I've never known where the lines were drawn. Now I'm watching and reading others comments to find out. Thanks!

[chthonya]

I'd never heard 'AR' before seeing your poll, so I can't comment on the difference but I'm looking forward to what everyone else says.

As to polls and cuts, I'm always afraid that lj-cutting means that people are more likely to ignore/not notice the poll. I feel that it's okay to leave them uncut if they don't take up the whole screen, but I feel it's a bit rude if people will be left scrolling down and down and down to get past it on their flist. So I'm closest to 'cut if it's longer than two or three questions', but the more important thing is the length of the poll. If three questions each have 15 options, probably best to lj-cut imo.

[sor-bet.livejournal.com]

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*