Alternate Universe: Difference between revisions

In the first, the alteration to events is made only to events internal to the series—i.e., not to the larger historical setting of the United States or the world. An AU in which Daria does not come to [[Lawndale High]] but instead attends [[Grove Hills]] ("[[Regifted]]" and "[[Grove Hell on Earth]]"), for instance, is not assumed to be a consequence of a historical event outside of Daria's family; her parents had a choice of which school to send her to, and they chose Grove Hills. An AU in which an event happens later in the series, like Daria falling pregnant by accident ("[[The Longest Year]]"), would be similar but would be able to draw on specific canon events in its backstory as well. A great change could happen to Lawndale, like the town never being founded ("[[Anywhere But Here]]") but this would not impact on the 'real world': the show's characters are the only ones affected.

Three particular points in the series are often used as the diverging point in this AU. The first episode of the series in which Daria arrives in Lawndale and meets Jane, "[[Esteemsters]]," has received enormous attention and has been re-written many times. (See [[Esteemsters and Daria Fanfic|"Esteemsters" and ''Daria'' Fanfic]] - examples are "[[Victory Lane]]" by [[Brother Grimace]], [http://thepaperpusher.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=29897&start=0 Iron Chef: Real Esteem].) The circumstances and fallout of [[The Kiss]] have also had great attention, being a significant (and divisive) moment in canon (see [[Dye! Dye! My Darling#Dye! Dye! My Darling and Fanfic|Dye! Dye! My Darling and Fanfic]]). Daria/Trent [[shipper]] tales that strengthen the crush into mature love and the entire Daria-Tom-Jane triangle have also been revisited on a regular basis, though the former less often of late - examples of this include "[[Vengeance]]" and "[[Out of the Slushpile]]" by [[Nemo Blank]].

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.

An increasingly popular type of this second AU is one where the Daria cast exist in a different time: "[[Rocket Girls]]" by [[The Angst Guy]] moves Daria and Jane to the late-1940s, "[[Import/Export]]" by [[Brian Taylor]] is set during Prohibition. Some fanfics move the show forward from the 1990s to the present day - or what ''was'' the present day when it was written - to examine how things might be different as a result of the change, such as "[[Daria 2007: The Girl from Hope]]" by [[The Angst Guy]] or "[[God Save The Esteem]]" by Charles RB. (Many fanfics have also placed Daria in the present, but not as an attempt at an AU but the writer's preference, as the show was meant to be "present-day" rather than a period piece.)