❝ EVEN THOUGH THIS WORLD IS NARROW, IT IS WIDE... TO THOSE WHO UNDERSTAND. THIS WORLD ISN'T THE ONLY ONE ❞

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(also known as alternate reality), is commonly abbreviated as AU and it is a descriptor used to characterize fanworks which change one or more elements of the source work's canon. the term most often refers to fanfiction, but fanart can also depicted the characters in AUs.

unlike regular fanfiction, which generally remains within the boundaries of the canon set out by the author, alternate universe fiction writers like to explore the possibilities of pivotal changes made to characters' history, motivations, or environment.

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– in which the story deals with an alien invasion when canonically it does not ever happened.

– in which characters who are canonically non-human are now humans, with corresponding changes to their backstories.

– often referred to as or even . it is a growing trope of AUs in which characters can be alphas (dominant males or females), betas (ordinary working class), or omegas (submissive males or females).

– in which the main character or most of the cast are turn into androids that serve different purposes, such as bodyguard, solider, caregiver and so on. if not, they may have originally been human but turn into an android for whatever reason.

– when angels and demons exist (in the case of canons that don't have them) or a character is recast as one of them. however, these kind of AUs don't necessarily have to have both beings in the story as some tend to focus on only one of them.

– similar to the marriage law AU, only the difference is that not all the characters are required to be married. it is mostly focused on only one pairing and it is usually a pairing that wouldn't normally get together such as crack ships or doomed ships. in some stories it is a plausible idea, but in others it is not.

– when most of the cast of a story works at a bakery while the rest are customers.

– is when the entire cast is either a dominant or a submissive and BDSM relationships are considered the norm. be advised that while a healthy BDSM relationship is consensual and not dangerous, if handled incorrectly it can result in abusive behavior which is offensive and considered bad BDSM etiquette.

– when most of the casts works at a bookstore. if not, usually a few of the characters work there, while the rest of them are customers. another version is the library AU, in which one or two of the characters are librarians, while the rest of the cast spend their time looking for particular books.

– in which the story is set in a building and the characters are employees. sometimes it is focus on one character who works as a secretary and another character as their boss.

– in which the story is set in a circus and the characters are circus performers or customers.

– also known as barista AU. in most cases, one half of the main pairing is the barista and the other is or becomes their favorite customer; in some stories the whole cast works at a coffee shop.

– in which the characters of a story are various type of criminals, such as burglars, bank robbers, gangsters, drug dealers, smugglers, hitman/fixer and so on. this AU focuses on their criminal lives. it is similar to the Mafia AU.

– is when the canon villain of the story succeeds in their mission and the AU story focuses on the outcome of it.

– or an uninhabited island AU, in which a character or most of the characters of a story are trapped on a deserted island, usually from being shipwrecked or their plane crashing.

– is set in a dystopian society that is not the original setting of the canon.

–iIn which canon characters are put into situations and/or settings from fairy tales, such as beauty and the beast, cinderella, sleeping beauty, little red riding hood, etc.

– in which the story takes place in a fantasy universe where magic or magical abilities is normal, technology is nonexistent and supernatural creatures exist.

– similar to the coffee shop AU and the bakery AU, but instead the entire cast works in a flower shop. or one of the characters works there and the rest are customers.

– in which one or more characters in the story switch binary sexes, such as depicting a male character as a cis woman.

– or reverse harem AU, is when a story that doesn't contain any polygamous or love triangle relationships turns into one. usually the main character has something happen to them that attracts the other characters to them, be it from a love potion, experimental perfume, spell gone wrong, and so on.

– or haunted castle AU, in which a character moves into a new home or castle and doesn't know that it is haunted (usually by a ghost, sometimes a demon or some other type of creature) or they are dared by their friends to spend the night in it.

– in which the characters are shown in high school or in college together. they are often done with characters who canonically meet later in life, altering or entirely overwriting their original backstories. similar to this AU is the boarding school AU and the elementary school AU.

– in which the characters from other stories are placed into the setting of harry potter. these can be coexistent with harry potter canon, or ignore it entirely. but they are often portrayed as students of hogwarts instead of teachers that work there.

– in which the characters of a story are doctors, nurses and patients in a hospital (sometimes it is set in an asylum).

– in which characters from other stories are competitors in the hunger games.

– when the casts works at an ice cream shop. possibly one of the characters owns it, while the rest are employees or customers.

– in which the cast are policeman, federal agents, soldiers, marines or whatnot and the story focuses on their lives.

– in which the characters are in a mafia.

– incorporate magic in stories where there is no magic present in canon.

– in which the premise is to forced marriage between a muggle-born to a pure-blood (or half-blood) due to a new decree passed by the ministry of magic to help preserve the magical population.

– in which the cast are place in an universe where slavery is an accepted economic and cultural institution. some stories treat this as a significant moral problem to be resisted and overthrown if possible; others treat slavery as an unchangeable institution.

– or also known as undersea AU, in which a story is set in the ocean and the characters are turned into mermaids and merman. sometimes it's focus on only one character that becomes a mermaid or merman and another character that is a human. when it's the latter the AU usually turns into a little mermaid type of story.

– in which characters from a historical (or pseudo-historical) canon universe are placed into a modern setting.

– in which the characters are changed into non-human creatures, such as incubus/succubus or other kinds of monsters.

– also known as animal AU, is the opposite of all human AU, in which characters that are canonically human are now non-humans.

– in which the characters are put in a typical '40s or '50s film noir environment. or sometimes as a homage towards the style, in which the characters are still their canon selves, but plot or aesthetics are given a noir slant.

– is when two characters (who have met in canon) have not met each other in this AU. sometimes they live in the area and other times they don't live on the same continent. usually it is their school that sets them up as pen pals. if not, it is because one of the characters writes a letter to the wrong person/wrong address or they accidentally texts the wrong person.

– in which characters meet for the first time in a prison environment where they have to depend on each other.

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there are so many AUs i'm so overwhelmed y'all

hope this helped :-)