Author:Ā fforsythiaaa
Rating: Mature
Word Count: 7,314
Type: Non-magic AU
Summary: Sirius had put his hand under Remusās chin and kissed him gently on the mouth as though they had done it a million times before. āSee you next week.ā Just like that.
That week between Christmas and New Yearās always feels a little disorienting, with no real attention paid to the exact time or the day of the week. But for Remus, with hardly a word between them while Sirius was upstate with the Potters and Lily, it was dizzying.
Trigger/Content Info: alcohol use, marijuana use, cigarettes, non-explicit sex.
There's a scene describing the support of friends/professionals after a sexual assault. No details about the assault are given and it's not brought up during/in the context of sex. The scene is marked out in italics so you can skip it.
Comments: A journey through Remusā loving, worrying thoughts. There was a beautiful, gentle tone to it that was soothing to read.
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August colorful column: AUgust special - The World Needs Your Highly Niche AU
During August, here in Wolfstar in Color we decided to celebrate AUgust - or, the existence of Alternative Universes in fandom. Because of this, we invited @fforsythiaaaā to talk a bit about AUs from a literary point of view - and let me tell you, folks, we are beyond amazed and inspired by her words.
So we invite you to read the column that follows. If you want to know who @fforsythiaaaā is, hereās a primer from herself: āI post about wolfstar, fanfiction as an art and experience, and whatever words, fanart, thoughts, tips, or anecdotes that I can't let go unshared.ā
Read under the cut for the full column!
The World Needs Your Highly Niche AU
@fforsythiaaaā
I donāt remember when I found out that fanfiction came in AU flavor, but looking back, that was definitely the moment I fell head over heels for the fandom. Reading wolfstar come together, fall apart, orbit around each other, or weather the storm in a thousand different settings is amazing. Itās romantic to think that they would find each other no matter which plane of reality theyāre on, and itās satisfying to see their core traits manifested in so many different contexts. And considering JKRās harmful views and actions, as well as how her views make it into the text, Iām finding myself much less inclined to interact with fics that are even canon-divergent.Ā
That said, thereās one thing that gets me so, so excited, and thatās when I see someone refer to a fic as a āhighly nicheā or āweirdly specificā AU. Stories that are specific to time, place, culture or identity are my favorite kind. Itās Remus and Sirius as scientists doing fieldwork together in a fellowship program in the mountains! Itās Remus and Sirius as communist organizers in 1920s Chile! Itās Remus and Sirius in a rural town impacted by the opioid epidemic! Itās Remus and Sirius as an architect and a contractor at odds on a very important and difficult project! (I made that one up, but if you write it, please, please tag me.) Youāre telling me I get to read about these two starcrossed idiots and learn stuff at the same time? Count me in.
āBut no one will want to read this,ā the author will post. āItās too specific, no one will be able to relate, and people wonāt be interested in this kind of premise.āĀ
To which I say, unequivocally, I WANT TO READ YOUR HIGHLY NICHE AU. And whatās more, I think your highly niche AU is going to make the fandom a better place.
Let me start by saying that I completely understand why you think no one would be interested. People like stories that they can relate to; fewer people can relate to a very specific setting; therefore, fewer people would like a very specific story. Right?
The main problem with this logic is the assumption that people can only relate to stories that they have some prior experience with. With every story, the reader is learning about the time period, the place, the norms and rules and societies, and the characters. As readers, this learning is what makes reading fun, and as wolfstar fans, learning about these characters is the reason we read fic in the first place. So my logical conclusion is that the more we get to learn about Remus and Sirius and the world they inhabit, the more we enjoy reading. And in a highly niche au, thereās a lot of learning to do.
Full disclosure, I did not make this idea up. There was one post that made me think of Viktor Shklovsky, a literary critic who coined the term ādefamiliarization.ā They wrote something like: āIām worried that all the details would be distracting for the reader and interrupt the story.ā Shklovsky basically says that thatās the whole point.Ā
For extra credit, you can certainly read āArt as Techniqueā in its entirety, but Iāll dig up my literature degree and give you the gist. When you think you know something, you donāt really see it or perceive it. Think about a stretch of sidewalk you walk on every day. How much time do you spend noticing weeds growing up through the pavement, or where the concrete was repaired with a different material, and how much time do you spend just walking to work? Your brain skips right over the details to be more efficient. Art is meant to make us perceive the world instead of skip right to knowing it; itās meant to make us notice those weeds and that concrete. Shklovsky says that the technique of art is to make objects unfamiliar so it takes us longer to perceive, to understand. In poetry, each unfamiliar word or detail is a rock in the path that makes us walk more slowly and look more carefully at a road we thought we knew.Ā
In your super specific AU, that niche setting that your readers arenāt familiar with is part of what makes reading enjoyable. Youāre making us walk more slowly through Remus and Siriusās story so we can perceive their character and conflict differently; that gives us more time to enjoy the story. Youāre making us think differently about what the human experience can look like.Ā
Thatās where I start making my argument that branching out from coffee shop and college AUs (which I also love dearly) is a positive step for the whole fandom. We know that representation of people outside the dominant culture is really, really beneficial (thatās another post, and also the whole point of Wolfstar In Color; if you want some Cliff notes to share with the class, check the classic Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie TED talk). When weāre in the habit of hearing lots of different stories instead of only one, weāre in the habit of being curious about each other; itās much easier to build compassion, understanding, and solidarity when we genuinely want to know more about other people.Ā
But my push for highly niche AUs is not about filling AO3 with a thousand million stories that perfectly represent the lived experience of every individual reader (unlessā¦?). Itās more about filling the fandom with enough different types of stories that people start thinking, āyou know what? If their story belongs here, so does mine.āĀ
Thatās how we make this space feel safe enough for people to participate, whether as writers, readers, or tumblr posters. Itās a much more effective way of demonstrating that the fandom values diverse voices than just saying platitudes about how everyoneās voices matter. Sometimes your existence is radical enough. We need it, and we want to hear about it.
So the next time you think about writing āliterally no one asked for this highly niche au,ā come back to this post and think again. Iām asking for you to give me an opportunity to learn new things. Iām asking for you to add one more reason for a budding author to think that maybe their fic belongs here, too, and maybe their experiences are more valuable than they thought. Iām asking for you to give me an opportunity to discover new facets of human experience with this painfully tragic and romantic pair as my companions. Here it is: Iām asking.
Re-entry into civilian life, as it were, had not quite gone according to the script Remus had played hopefully in his head. So he accepted this attachment to common weeds as part of Siriusās process and let it happen.
Volunteers on ao3
Just a little one-shot glimpse into the future that they deserved. Featuring Hope Lupin, gratuitous references to stuff in my own garden and at least one Mitski song, all in a rambly style thatās just a little too - thereās no other word for it, Iām sorry - floral.
happy wolfstar okay: when they get their little house in the countryside, sirius gets very excited about growing muggle plants. they walk around together to see whatās already growing before they get new things. every few feet sirius crouches down like āomg whatās this itās beautifulā and remus, hope lupinās child for sure, is like āthatās a weed but if you like it weāll keep it.ā they (read: sirius) canāt bear to take out anything thatās already there, so they plant coreopsis and mountain laurel and parsley and chamomile, but also their entire property is covered in asters and goldenrod and garlic mustard and motherwort, and the mint & thyme have completely colonized the whole damn place. sirius is so proud like āthis is my gardenā and remus is like so proud like āthis is my husband.ā hope comes to visit and remus has to pull her aside to tell her that the weeds are Not To Be Killed and of course she finds this wonderful and teaches sirius the names for all the weeds in his lil garden
oh my god iām gonna cry remus takes good care of sirius...
i love a wild natural garden yard tbh itās great for the environment even if it is a little messy hehe :) i rlly love remus being like mam i need u to be cool he doesnāt get it. no donāt explain it to him heās so happy.
this reminds me of the conversation with @bleiddiaidsiocled last night (? i think?) about how remus and sirius can cultivate plants when they canāt have kids. you know, nurturing and feeding and keeping them safe all the while thinking they donāt want a big family lol
OK SO @fforsythiaaa made a really fucking cool list of @lumosinlove ās Sweater Weather as cards of the Major Arcana & I was like š āMoon Loganā and then I Did Not Stop. And now Iām really enjoying making these, theyāre great practice & I cannot describe how much I love not having a deadline.Ā
SO HERE WE HAVE:
XVIII | The Moon : Logan TremblayāØTremz back from all stars in his suit about to go on a feelings rollercoaster circa C2C Ch5 because Changing and Phases and Hiding and Truths Surfacing.
IX | The Hermit : 36 Missed CallsāØSW Ch14: āCall me when youāre ready to talk.ā Almost like heās literally,,, in the dark (š¬)
VI | The Lovers : CoopsāØThere are lots of moments to choose from for this, but I picked something from before they actually dived in because Moving Forward Together. So, from SW Ch6ā²s cutie hotel hangs part 2: āThey each had their fingers around each otherās wrists, not holding exactly, but close enough.ā
IV | The Emperor : Orion BlackāØOkayy I deviated a little, but tbh my NHL knowledge is still only enough to follow these stories, so I didnāt feel like I had enough of a grasp on it to abstract it in an effective way. Also Orion is everything I hate about the Emperor whoops.
XVII | The Star : Remus LupināØFirst of all, āMon vÅu.ā and second of all āYouāre my wish, okay? This happened because weāre each otherās.ā and finally, a soupƧon of āGod, Remus, when I look at you how could I wish for anything else?ā and like maybe heās shirtless here for my own wish related reasons donāt worry about it
I have a bad habit of abandoning passion projects & I am determined to finish these so Iām posting a few to keep myself accountable but also FIVE DONE so iām like allllllmost 25% there š
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In the stream of light from the open door Sirius could see dark red blood smeared on the bricks, like someone wounded had thrown themselves at the wall to try and get out.
AND
āItās too noisy here, letās find someplace more quiet.ā
