Alternate Universe: Difference between revisions

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An alteration to the family dynamic of a character can also cause an AU: a family member may be absent entirely ("[[Malice of Absence]]" by [[Renfield]]), have a different job or social circumstance ("[http://thepaperpusher.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=367528#p367528 Jacob Morgendorffer, Esq]" by [[CAP]]), or simply have turned out different due to a small change.

A popular subdivision of this AU are stories in which the sex of a major character is reversed (assuming the usual 50/50 chance of having a boy or girl with each birth); the [[John Lane series]], [[Finn Morgendorffer]] series, and "[[Darius]]" are examples, but earlier tales along this line have been told, such as [[MMan]]'s "[[Brother, I Asked for It]]," in which Daria [[dream world|dreams]] Quinn had turned out as Quint. It's most common to see a male version of Jane - there've been John, Jake, James and Zane Lanes - in order to see how the Daria/Jane dynamic would be with Jane as a male (and thus a potential love interest). Notably, when Daria or Quinn's gender is switched, the siblings are usually shown to have a ''better'' relationship than in canon, under the assumption that they'd be less 'in competition'; the Finn Morgendorffer series is a notable exception, with the relationship being far ''more'' vicious and ugly.

A popular subdivision of this AU are stories in which the sex of a major character is reversed (assuming the usual 50/50 chance of having a boy or girl with each birth); the [[John Lane series]], [[Finn Morgendorffer]] series, [[The James Lane Chronicles]] and "[[Darius]]" are examples, but earlier tales along this line have been told, such as [[MMan]]'s "[[Brother, I Asked for It]]," in which Daria [[dream world|dreams]] Quinn had turned out as Quint. It's most common to see a male version of Jane - there've been John, Jake, James and Zane Lanes - in order to see how the Daria/Jane dynamic would be with Jane as a male (and thus a potential love interest). Notably, when Daria or Quinn's gender is switched, the siblings are usually shown to have a ''better'' relationship than in canon, under the assumption that they'd be less 'in competition'; the Finn Morgendorffer series is a notable exception, with the relationship being far ''more'' vicious and ugly.

A specifically targeted version of this AU is the [[Alternate Ending]], where an author will often rewrite the ending of an episode to show what they'd have preferred to have happened. One of the earliest, "[[A Desperately Needed Ending (to "Depth Takes a Holiday")]]" by Kara Wild, was to make the then-recent "[[Depth Takes a Holiday]]" fit into the show's semi-realistic tone.

===Changed universe===