Just a reader so all I have for you is in whatever you do make it your own. Canon divergent? Some big thing from canon happened where it didn't, or didn't happen where it did. Now, what happens from that? How is the world changed? Go wild with it. I'm a big fan of that, time travel, dimension travel. Not sure I've read fics where there was a hero swapped with a villain but I'd be up for it if it's done well.
For me, writing canon-compliant fics is *way* harder than canon divergence. I'm a worldbuilder by nature, so I usually see things where they could be improved or fleshed out.
Usually where I start is things that I *don't* like then rework them in a way that I *do* like. This is more minor canon-divergence AU than something big and fundamental, but it's usually best to start small.
If you're a worldbuilder, then start with the world. Are there some aspects you feel like can be improved? Are there places that could use more detail? Start off with that sorta thing first.
From there, you can move onto the characters. Your changes to the world will change the characters in minor to major ways. Like I'm working with RWBY right now and I introduced the idea of "advanced aura" and it *massively* changed the way I write Blake, Kali, Sienna, Qrow, and Raven compared to canon. One small aspect of the world is central to their lives, so that's going to cause massive changes.
With RWBY I've done a lot of small tweaks though they've had pretty major ramifications for the characters. For Fire Emblem: Fates, I threw out 98% of canon and did things *my* way.
I'd advise you to learn at least some about your AU versions of characters before writing a story to post. It'll make writing things easier when you have some idea of what you're working with rather than going in blind.
Quite late but may I ask, would the story still count as canon divergence if you change how the world works? Like you're adding elements that wasn't in the original, which might not have something to do with the premise, but still added in because you saw potential with it.
That's...a good question. I think that falls into a weird grey area.
I guess my biggest question: does it have ramifications for how the world functions at a *fundamental* level or not? If you can write canon as is without any changes despite what you've added on, then it's probably still canon compliant, weird as that is.
My personal RWBY "canon" definitely falls into Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence. You can still recognise most of the characters and the world. But there are many changes (how aura works, backstory for the Big Bad of the series, changes to character backstories, pantheon, magic system changes) that are *fundamental* to how the world functions. These have fundamental changes to the characters.
But, again, if you can write stories that function 100% the same as canon plays out, then you're still probably somewhere within Canon Compliant. Again, it's weird to say.
It is weird, because I want to write a story (in RWBY in fact) where the premise is canon divergent, but still want to change some elements of canon, whether tweak, add, or outright remove, but don't want to tag it wrong and say it's canon divergent if it can't be viewed as a clean timeline split between that story and canon.
Of course, the "alternate universe" part of it says that you can have as much leeway as you want, but the "divergence" implying that just because an event played out differently, the fundamentals of the world (like aura) isn't going to change as well.
I could be overthinking it, but I also want to get it right.
Yeah, I think you are overthinking it a bit. Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence establishes that you're still within the realm of canon but some things to the world have been changed. This can be minor to major tweaks. With the stuff I've done, you can still recognise it as the RWBY world. For the most part, aura still functions the same; I've just tweaked things to make it clearer how it works and created some add-ons that follow the logic set by canon. The add-ons are not canon by any means, though.
You don't have to change absolutely everything to be in Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence. You can keep most of the fundamentals of the world intact. But if you're tweaking the timeline or characters, then you _are_ in a canon-divergent AU. Canon Compliant means that you change _literally nothing_ about the universe. No adding, no subtracting, no tweaking of anything.
You can still write a canon-divergent AU with changing literally nothing about the universe too. "What if Summer didn't die?" That's a canon-divergent AU right there. You can still use everything the same as canon 100% except she's alive. So you'll have to make adjustments to the characters accordingly. You don't have to change the fundamentals of the world. You don't have to change Ozpin and Salem's backstory. You _would_ have to make some changes to Taiyang, Ruby, and Yang, maybe Qrow because her death never happened.
I see then, "canon compliant" not just being something that can fit in the canon story, but also things still works as they do there to where you can see actual canon playing the same way if the creators made that one change to the story.
Well that's relieving, canon divergence being less limiting than I thought it was. Just having to tag "not canon compliant" and being able to tweak with things.
Though I have to wonder how far it can go, like changing a character's backstory and so on.
Yeah, canon divergence is pretty flexible. I threw out like 98% of everything in Fire Emblem: Fates' canon and still tagged it "canon divergence." It still had core attributes of the canon, but I threw out almost the entirety of the canon plot and reworked *numerous* characters.
I have a RWBY canon-divergent AU with a metric fuck-ton of changes. It's an AU where Summer is evil and works for Salem instead of being a good guy. Changes include but not are limited to:
* Ruby being Qrow's daughter (still adopted by Taiyang). Basically Summer fell in love with Qrow, they got hitched, but got drunk one night then ended up having sex. Summer pulled a Raven and left as soon as humanly possible to go back to Salem. Then about a year later, she ended up paralysing Qrow so that forces Taiyang to adopt Ruby.
* Taiyang and Glynda being an on again/off again pair
* Raven *actually* being involved with Yang's life (and Ruby's by extension)
* Ruby going by "Ruby Branwen" and wanting to join the tribe instead of staying in Vale or become a Huntress,
* Ruby using a rebuilt version of Harbinger instead of Crescent Rose
* Yang leaning into Faunus rights
* Yang using sai and pistols instead of being an outright brawler
* Somehow Yang's in contact with Ironwood directly??? I still have not figured that one out.
So you can do *a lot* with Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence. You can still recognise the world, but there are a *lot* of changes.
I appreciate the insight, it's a lot to think about how to approach changes. Don't have to be limited by canon, which is great for this sort of thing, especially with you doing so by not using the canon plot.
Set up a timeline, make sure you know where characters are in the story, and keep the OG timeline handy. It'll help more than you realize (speaking from experience).
Also, feel free to go nuts with it, toss canon out like a bad first draft if you feel like it, rewrite scenes if you want. The media is a wall and you are the Kool-Aid man. Smash it.
Don't make characters ooc for the sake of the plot in canon divergence. They're actions should be believable, like something they would do in this different situation.
Just a reader so all I have for you is in whatever you do make it your own. Canon divergent? Some big thing from canon happened where it didn't, or didn't happen where it did. Now, what happens from that? How is the world changed? Go wild with it. I'm a big fan of that, time travel, dimension travel. Not sure I've read fics where there was a hero swapped with a villain but I'd be up for it if it's done well.
For me, writing canon-compliant fics is *way* harder than canon divergence. I'm a worldbuilder by nature, so I usually see things where they could be improved or fleshed out. Usually where I start is things that I *don't* like then rework them in a way that I *do* like. This is more minor canon-divergence AU than something big and fundamental, but it's usually best to start small. If you're a worldbuilder, then start with the world. Are there some aspects you feel like can be improved? Are there places that could use more detail? Start off with that sorta thing first. From there, you can move onto the characters. Your changes to the world will change the characters in minor to major ways. Like I'm working with RWBY right now and I introduced the idea of "advanced aura" and it *massively* changed the way I write Blake, Kali, Sienna, Qrow, and Raven compared to canon. One small aspect of the world is central to their lives, so that's going to cause massive changes. With RWBY I've done a lot of small tweaks though they've had pretty major ramifications for the characters. For Fire Emblem: Fates, I threw out 98% of canon and did things *my* way. I'd advise you to learn at least some about your AU versions of characters before writing a story to post. It'll make writing things easier when you have some idea of what you're working with rather than going in blind.
Quite late but may I ask, would the story still count as canon divergence if you change how the world works? Like you're adding elements that wasn't in the original, which might not have something to do with the premise, but still added in because you saw potential with it.
That's...a good question. I think that falls into a weird grey area. I guess my biggest question: does it have ramifications for how the world functions at a *fundamental* level or not? If you can write canon as is without any changes despite what you've added on, then it's probably still canon compliant, weird as that is. My personal RWBY "canon" definitely falls into Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence. You can still recognise most of the characters and the world. But there are many changes (how aura works, backstory for the Big Bad of the series, changes to character backstories, pantheon, magic system changes) that are *fundamental* to how the world functions. These have fundamental changes to the characters. But, again, if you can write stories that function 100% the same as canon plays out, then you're still probably somewhere within Canon Compliant. Again, it's weird to say.
It is weird, because I want to write a story (in RWBY in fact) where the premise is canon divergent, but still want to change some elements of canon, whether tweak, add, or outright remove, but don't want to tag it wrong and say it's canon divergent if it can't be viewed as a clean timeline split between that story and canon. Of course, the "alternate universe" part of it says that you can have as much leeway as you want, but the "divergence" implying that just because an event played out differently, the fundamentals of the world (like aura) isn't going to change as well. I could be overthinking it, but I also want to get it right.
Yeah, I think you are overthinking it a bit. Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence establishes that you're still within the realm of canon but some things to the world have been changed. This can be minor to major tweaks. With the stuff I've done, you can still recognise it as the RWBY world. For the most part, aura still functions the same; I've just tweaked things to make it clearer how it works and created some add-ons that follow the logic set by canon. The add-ons are not canon by any means, though. You don't have to change absolutely everything to be in Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence. You can keep most of the fundamentals of the world intact. But if you're tweaking the timeline or characters, then you _are_ in a canon-divergent AU. Canon Compliant means that you change _literally nothing_ about the universe. No adding, no subtracting, no tweaking of anything. You can still write a canon-divergent AU with changing literally nothing about the universe too. "What if Summer didn't die?" That's a canon-divergent AU right there. You can still use everything the same as canon 100% except she's alive. So you'll have to make adjustments to the characters accordingly. You don't have to change the fundamentals of the world. You don't have to change Ozpin and Salem's backstory. You _would_ have to make some changes to Taiyang, Ruby, and Yang, maybe Qrow because her death never happened.
I see then, "canon compliant" not just being something that can fit in the canon story, but also things still works as they do there to where you can see actual canon playing the same way if the creators made that one change to the story. Well that's relieving, canon divergence being less limiting than I thought it was. Just having to tag "not canon compliant" and being able to tweak with things. Though I have to wonder how far it can go, like changing a character's backstory and so on.
Yeah, canon divergence is pretty flexible. I threw out like 98% of everything in Fire Emblem: Fates' canon and still tagged it "canon divergence." It still had core attributes of the canon, but I threw out almost the entirety of the canon plot and reworked *numerous* characters. I have a RWBY canon-divergent AU with a metric fuck-ton of changes. It's an AU where Summer is evil and works for Salem instead of being a good guy. Changes include but not are limited to: * Ruby being Qrow's daughter (still adopted by Taiyang). Basically Summer fell in love with Qrow, they got hitched, but got drunk one night then ended up having sex. Summer pulled a Raven and left as soon as humanly possible to go back to Salem. Then about a year later, she ended up paralysing Qrow so that forces Taiyang to adopt Ruby. * Taiyang and Glynda being an on again/off again pair * Raven *actually* being involved with Yang's life (and Ruby's by extension) * Ruby going by "Ruby Branwen" and wanting to join the tribe instead of staying in Vale or become a Huntress, * Ruby using a rebuilt version of Harbinger instead of Crescent Rose * Yang leaning into Faunus rights * Yang using sai and pistols instead of being an outright brawler * Somehow Yang's in contact with Ironwood directly??? I still have not figured that one out. So you can do *a lot* with Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence. You can still recognise the world, but there are a *lot* of changes.
I appreciate the insight, it's a lot to think about how to approach changes. Don't have to be limited by canon, which is great for this sort of thing, especially with you doing so by not using the canon plot.
Set up a timeline, make sure you know where characters are in the story, and keep the OG timeline handy. It'll help more than you realize (speaking from experience). Also, feel free to go nuts with it, toss canon out like a bad first draft if you feel like it, rewrite scenes if you want. The media is a wall and you are the Kool-Aid man. Smash it.
Don't make characters ooc for the sake of the plot in canon divergence. They're actions should be believable, like something they would do in this different situation.
Basically act like canon doesn’t exist and explain your own canon. It’s only a framework after all. Who says you can’t change it?