Inspiration for AUs and Headcanons

[fleurviolette]

 Where do you find inspiration for an AU or a headcanon?

Maybe it could be from an elaborate plot of a book, movie, or even tv? Or maybe the inspiration comes from a youtube video of someone eating an entire menu in a moving truck?

I'm just curious to find out, because sometimes inspiration can be found somewhere unexpected. 

Comments

[doranwen]

Ha, I forgot to answer the headcanon bit - now that's a bit different.

I have a few ace headcanons because I'm ace myself and I don't find it nearly so easy to see UST as everyone else claims (I think a lot of it is in what one experiences - the stuff on the screen can go either way depending on who's actually experiencing it).

I also have one character that I headcanon as Asperger's - canon has her not understanding idioms, being a bit socially awkward, like she can handle high society stuff with all its rules but finds more relaxed down-to-earth stuff very difficult. They started out with showing it pretty strong but then it got watered down by the last season (I suspect they figured she'd picked up stuff from her best friend who was always teaching her what was really going on with phrases and situations), and they never actually said that she was on the spectrum or anything like that, but it feels like she is to me, so.

I don't know that I have a lot of other headcanons… *thinks* Mostly just emotional behind-the-scenes stuff, like what's going on in someone's head and why, for very specific characters and canons (Nina Theroux in Alphas, for one). Unless I write a ton of fics in a single canon (the most I've done is about 10 in a single fandom - I do more exchange writing than writing for myself), I don't develop much headcanon, particularly not anything that carries over into more than one fic or series. I'll write something for that specific fic, but it exists all in its own universe and often times the raison d'être for the detail is because of the fic's plot or something like that.

[fleurviolette]

Ace headcanons are good! Yes! Sometimes we add headcanons based from our experiences as well as adding more depth to the characters.

[doranwen]

Lol, well, ace headcanons are great except when it's about a character most people regard as gay or lesbian, I've been told by other aces (I only have two, but one's Prof X from X-Men original movieverse—I've only seen the first three films—and the other's Jane Rizzoli from Rizzoli & Isles…). I don't really have a lot of fandom involvement with those fandoms because the overwhelming majority of fans (particularly with R&I, I'm not as sure about X-Men as it's hard to find fic that doesn't assume one has seen all the rest of the films) seem to be very set in their beliefs about those chars and I suspect at least a few would be angry enough at anyone thinking otherwise so as to attack them. I'm sure it's a tiny minority that would actually attack but I'm wary nonetheless.

Hmm, Gary from Alphas is probably another, now that I think about it- but he's a canonical autistic character and shows absolutely no interest in romantic or sexual relationships of his own. The closest he gets is being friends with a girl who ends up getting killed (and it makes him angry, but I think that's more because he feels like he really connects with her as a friend - there's no signs of it being more than friendship). So I've assumed he's probably aro-ace.

[fleurviolette]

Ah yeah, I understand that completely. Certain headcanons get personal depending on the person, so it's best to be careful.

Personally I headcanon Ned from Pushing Daisies as ace, or he's somewhere within the ace spectrum? Like he'd be demi? Yes, he does have a canonical love interest, but throughout the show, he mostly shows romantic feelings for her, so it can be interpreted as such.