I’m opposite. I like taking normal modern settings and putting the characters somewhere interesting. I rarely read anything set in modern times with no alterations.
When I first got into fics, I generally avoided modern AUs. Part of it's that the characters I get attached to are often shaped by their specific world and their place in it, so IMO they loose something when you translate them to a more modern/low fantasy setting. The other part is that I just prefer fantasy settings.
I've since warmed up to modern aus a little, but they're almost never my first choice.
I think they’re amazingly fun! Especially if the author can still really nail characterization.
Right now I’m writing a modern Naruto gas station/car enthusiast AU. It’s set in a small nameless town inspired by the Southeastern US. There are no powers, but they have fun cars, a dash of implied criminality, and gas station snacks.
i don't tend to click through a modern au (thats being played straight) unless im really desperate for fics starring my special little guy
unfortunately the most interesting thing about modern aus to me is the setup itself, which i don't think is a thing most fics are really interested in interrogating? there IS something so fascinating about the bones of the situation. the fact that these people are *literally* not the people you know, because the people you know were shaped by the setting and the circumstances. but thanks to a lot of coincidences and contrivances, these other people act roughly the same, and have the same relationships as the people that you know. but they're also so fundamentally different! and they'd all have a similar feeling about you, right? to them, you're the inauthentic, warped version of someone else. it'd be such an interesting story no matter what direction you go with things
but most modern au stuff is obviously not that, so
I enjoy modern AUs (or muggle AUs in my fandom) if they're written well. I have also written a few, and they've been very well-received. I don't know about US, though, I haven't written a single fic that takes place there.
Generally speaking, I can only get behind modern AUs if there are enough moving parts in the source material that *the act of sanding it down into a modern setting requires you to pick and choose what you want to remain intact in a way that is interesting* (i.e. specifically only FGO's Lostbelt 6 and nothing else I've encountered thus far). Otherwise there is too much This Is Not My Blorbo syndrome.
They are very popular, but I don't care for the trope. To me, what makes the characters interesting is their place in the setting of the fandom. I can appreciate changing the setting to explore other interesting worldbuilding ideas, but a Modern AU strips everything interesting from the setting and therefore everything interesring from the characters. They don't even end up feeling like the same characters to me. Merely OCs that are vaguely inspired by the canon characters that happen to have the same names.
>They are very popular, but I don't care for the trope
I feel the same way. Like take for instance, Hunger Games stories set in a modern AU. I don't think that they are believable because I know that there should be social programs in modern society that would prevent things from getting as bad for the Everdeen family as it was in the actual story.
Now these situations might work better in a historical AU. Rather than modern.
There are lots of American fans - we tend to dominate English-language fanfiction circles.
My favorite fandom and the only one for which I tend to write AUs is Saiyuki, which is a fantasy with a schizo tech setting (credit cards and motor vehicles show up in what is mostly a non-techno setting).
Yes, I have written modern AUs for Saiyuki: a police scenario, a small-town scenario with a coming-out theme, a 1980s Miami crime setting (based loosely off the TV series Miami Vice - it was a group setting that we dubbed Saiyuki Miami-Verse), a couple of different stories about magic in the modern world, and so on.
I like writing AUs for a fandom with a modern setting, while keeping that setting, but adding in some fantastic elements. I’ve written a series in which one of the MCs still has the same mundane job as in canon, but he is secretly half-Fae. I have another series for the same fandom, in which another character is winged. In both cases I kept as much of the character backstory as possible. And I have a couple of AU one-shots along similar lines, although the fantastic elements are different.
I love modern AUs! In fact the vast majority of the ones I have read are completely modern-modern, and I love them. But yeah, I wish there would be more fanfics settled outside EEUU, just to have more variety
Modern AUs are very popular, but I don’t care for them at all. The setting and world building is what I like, I’d rather read a story in the same world with all OCs than CCs in a different world.
Same, it’s very rare to find one that doesn’t make me want to slam my head against a wall. Characters are so affected by their setting!! If you take a medieval character and put them in a modern AU they are almost unavoidably going to go ooc at which point you’re just writing OCs with CC names. I can’t get behind that.
It's nice at times having Black Butler brat kids show up in Ouran Hostclub after wondering the world as immortals is just so specific :3 an am interested
I don't mind modern AU and have experimented with them in the past. But tbh the ones I prefer most are ones that are presented like a sitcom where the entire premise is just silly parody or satire, kinda like when SNL or Seinfeld introduced random guest cameos of celebrities and whatnot.
Sometimes certain iconic characters are strong enough to stand on their own in different universes, but most of the time, they'd just feel entirely out of place unless there is some kind of Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny / Super Smash Bros themed crossover as the setting.
Generally I fall into the "modern workplace AU" camp where the characters are part of a company or studio behind the production. Now that's some fun metahumor.
i like modern aus for fantasy/historical fandoms, or no powers/no magic aus for already "modern" stories. i think stripping away the setting and plot-based elements forces the author to really focus on the characters, which is my favorite part, and if they nail it it can be gorgeous. typically i won't start with any kind of aus in a new fandom, i stick to canon-compliant or canon-adjacent until the itch runs out, but i always graduate to modern aus and other variations eventually. it feels like a more advanced exercise to me, since you really have to have the characterization down solid without the trappings of setting to lean on.
i've only written one modern au (based on a reddit post, as a matter of fact) and i skipped the americanization issue by keeping the canon geography but imagining it as modern day (though i'm american so the vibe was probably "america but painted to look like the witcher continent" because that's what i know, so). it was pretty well received overall, which was nice! means i managed to get their voices right, i think. it's not for everyone for sure but i enjoy them.
Honestly, whatever you choose to write, plenty of people will like it.
I personally do not read modern AU because my fandom is a fantasy medieval-esque with steampunk elements world, and if I try to put that into modern Earth, it makes very little sense and erases most of the character backgrounds and motivations. To me, if you're writing, I don't know, a Game of Thrones character who has a completely different background, it isn't the same character. It's an OC with the same name and I'm not interested.
but that's just me. There's a reason coffee shop AU and high school AU are such popular tropes, because so many people love it so much. So I think you're gonna be just fine whatever you choose to do.
I’m opposite. I like taking normal modern settings and putting the characters somewhere interesting. I rarely read anything set in modern times with no alterations.
Same I already live in the modern world. I prefer to read and write stories in a different/ more interesting setting
When I first got into fics, I generally avoided modern AUs. Part of it's that the characters I get attached to are often shaped by their specific world and their place in it, so IMO they loose something when you translate them to a more modern/low fantasy setting. The other part is that I just prefer fantasy settings. I've since warmed up to modern aus a little, but they're almost never my first choice.
I tend to avoid them because I feel that a lot of them aren't written well, but I've read a few really good ones.
I think they’re amazingly fun! Especially if the author can still really nail characterization. Right now I’m writing a modern Naruto gas station/car enthusiast AU. It’s set in a small nameless town inspired by the Southeastern US. There are no powers, but they have fun cars, a dash of implied criminality, and gas station snacks.
This sounds so fun!
It is incredibly fun and silly!
i don't tend to click through a modern au (thats being played straight) unless im really desperate for fics starring my special little guy unfortunately the most interesting thing about modern aus to me is the setup itself, which i don't think is a thing most fics are really interested in interrogating? there IS something so fascinating about the bones of the situation. the fact that these people are *literally* not the people you know, because the people you know were shaped by the setting and the circumstances. but thanks to a lot of coincidences and contrivances, these other people act roughly the same, and have the same relationships as the people that you know. but they're also so fundamentally different! and they'd all have a similar feeling about you, right? to them, you're the inauthentic, warped version of someone else. it'd be such an interesting story no matter what direction you go with things but most modern au stuff is obviously not that, so
I enjoy modern AUs (or muggle AUs in my fandom) if they're written well. I have also written a few, and they've been very well-received. I don't know about US, though, I haven't written a single fic that takes place there.
Generally speaking, I can only get behind modern AUs if there are enough moving parts in the source material that *the act of sanding it down into a modern setting requires you to pick and choose what you want to remain intact in a way that is interesting* (i.e. specifically only FGO's Lostbelt 6 and nothing else I've encountered thus far). Otherwise there is too much This Is Not My Blorbo syndrome.
They are very popular, but I don't care for the trope. To me, what makes the characters interesting is their place in the setting of the fandom. I can appreciate changing the setting to explore other interesting worldbuilding ideas, but a Modern AU strips everything interesting from the setting and therefore everything interesring from the characters. They don't even end up feeling like the same characters to me. Merely OCs that are vaguely inspired by the canon characters that happen to have the same names.
>They are very popular, but I don't care for the trope I feel the same way. Like take for instance, Hunger Games stories set in a modern AU. I don't think that they are believable because I know that there should be social programs in modern society that would prevent things from getting as bad for the Everdeen family as it was in the actual story. Now these situations might work better in a historical AU. Rather than modern.
There are lots of American fans - we tend to dominate English-language fanfiction circles. My favorite fandom and the only one for which I tend to write AUs is Saiyuki, which is a fantasy with a schizo tech setting (credit cards and motor vehicles show up in what is mostly a non-techno setting). Yes, I have written modern AUs for Saiyuki: a police scenario, a small-town scenario with a coming-out theme, a 1980s Miami crime setting (based loosely off the TV series Miami Vice - it was a group setting that we dubbed Saiyuki Miami-Verse), a couple of different stories about magic in the modern world, and so on.
Miami Magicka lol
I like writing AUs for a fandom with a modern setting, while keeping that setting, but adding in some fantastic elements. I’ve written a series in which one of the MCs still has the same mundane job as in canon, but he is secretly half-Fae. I have another series for the same fandom, in which another character is winged. In both cases I kept as much of the character backstory as possible. And I have a couple of AU one-shots along similar lines, although the fantastic elements are different.
I actually like this idea. I'm not American, but I like the idea of seeing how characters interact with the modern times in another country like mine.
I love modern AUs! In fact the vast majority of the ones I have read are completely modern-modern, and I love them. But yeah, I wish there would be more fanfics settled outside EEUU, just to have more variety
Modern AUs are very popular, but I don’t care for them at all. The setting and world building is what I like, I’d rather read a story in the same world with all OCs than CCs in a different world.
Same, it’s very rare to find one that doesn’t make me want to slam my head against a wall. Characters are so affected by their setting!! If you take a medieval character and put them in a modern AU they are almost unavoidably going to go ooc at which point you’re just writing OCs with CC names. I can’t get behind that.
It's nice at times having Black Butler brat kids show up in Ouran Hostclub after wondering the world as immortals is just so specific :3 an am interested
I don’t like them unless they “translate” the fantasy/sci-fi elements into mundane things in some clever/funny way.
I don't mind modern AU and have experimented with them in the past. But tbh the ones I prefer most are ones that are presented like a sitcom where the entire premise is just silly parody or satire, kinda like when SNL or Seinfeld introduced random guest cameos of celebrities and whatnot. Sometimes certain iconic characters are strong enough to stand on their own in different universes, but most of the time, they'd just feel entirely out of place unless there is some kind of Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny / Super Smash Bros themed crossover as the setting. Generally I fall into the "modern workplace AU" camp where the characters are part of a company or studio behind the production. Now that's some fun metahumor.
I adore them, as long as they keep the spirit of the characters/their dynamics!
i like modern aus for fantasy/historical fandoms, or no powers/no magic aus for already "modern" stories. i think stripping away the setting and plot-based elements forces the author to really focus on the characters, which is my favorite part, and if they nail it it can be gorgeous. typically i won't start with any kind of aus in a new fandom, i stick to canon-compliant or canon-adjacent until the itch runs out, but i always graduate to modern aus and other variations eventually. it feels like a more advanced exercise to me, since you really have to have the characterization down solid without the trappings of setting to lean on. i've only written one modern au (based on a reddit post, as a matter of fact) and i skipped the americanization issue by keeping the canon geography but imagining it as modern day (though i'm american so the vibe was probably "america but painted to look like the witcher continent" because that's what i know, so). it was pretty well received overall, which was nice! means i managed to get their voices right, i think. it's not for everyone for sure but i enjoy them.
Honestly, whatever you choose to write, plenty of people will like it. I personally do not read modern AU because my fandom is a fantasy medieval-esque with steampunk elements world, and if I try to put that into modern Earth, it makes very little sense and erases most of the character backgrounds and motivations. To me, if you're writing, I don't know, a Game of Thrones character who has a completely different background, it isn't the same character. It's an OC with the same name and I'm not interested. but that's just me. There's a reason coffee shop AU and high school AU are such popular tropes, because so many people love it so much. So I think you're gonna be just fine whatever you choose to do.
I'm on my first ever fic right now, and it is America, but it is Assassin's Creed America. If you get what I mean.
I love modern AU's! And yes they often do seem very American but I live in Canada so, well, I'm used to it haha.