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franztastisch
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03 May 2013 @ 07:53 pm
ATTF: Clint, Natasha and AUs  
Hello! I am this week’s ATTF host (again)! And today’s topic is the much loved Alternate Universe, or AU.

BUT more specifically than just AUs, this is about Clint and Natasha, and how you make Clint and Natasha Clint and Natasha when you’ve taken away a great deal of what makes the canonically Clint and Natasha.

SO what do you see as being fundamentally Clint and Natasha? The part of their personality and/or character that identifies them as themselves, whether they are circus performers or ex-cons or teachers or regular high school students or whatever.

For Clint I think it is (among other things) being loyal, stubborn and slightly self-sabotaging. For Natasha I think it is (again, among other things) being a fighter, in control of her emotions and quite wary. But that's just what I think, and I don't write very often so what do I know? :P

So, discuss! Rec! Argue! (Politely!) Have fun!

Things to remember:
1) Always label NSFW (Not Safe For Work) stuff in the title and post under a cut.
2) Fic and artwork needs to have a rating and warnings (or you can say that you’ve chosen not to use warnings).
3) For people with annoying internet connections, say in the title if a comment is graphic/images/gif-heavy and post picspams under a cut.
4) Have a damn good time! (Because if that’s not happening then this post has clearly failed.)

My absolute favourite Clint/Natasha AU: Two for the Show (and its sequel Upon this Winter's Night) by mousie tongue [ff.net]
[ Clint&Natasha | R | 31,000 words | high school AU | warnings: physical and verbal bullying, sexualized assault, violence, homophobia and homophobic language, swearing, child abuse, implied non-con ]
After her uncle is taken, young Natasha Romanov ends up in state's custody at a group home. She can tough it out alone... but somehow fellow resident Clint Barton becomes the reason she doesn't have to.
About the most in character AU I have read for this pairing. If you haven’t read this why? (And please, be aware of the warnings, but also that the issues are well handled and not the main focus of the story. Ratings and warnings for Two for the Show.)

My second favourite Clint/Natasha AU: No Light in this Valley by [livejournal.com profile] trysts
[ Clint/Natasha | PG-13 | 7600 words | wild west (?) AU | warnings: violence and swearing ]
30 miles to water, 20 miles to wood, 10 miles to hell and I gone there for good
Again, fantastic characterisation, and also just a really interesting setting. Clint especially is brilliant.

And two other favourites: Soiree by [livejournal.com profile] ruby_caspar
[ Clint/Natasha | PG-13 | 8600 words | Georgette Heyer Regency AU | warnings: none ]
The Dowager Duchess known as the Black Widow is the talk of the ton - rich and mysterious, the only way to meet this elusive lady is through the equally mysterious Mr Barton…
OH MY GIDDY AUNT I love this. In a way, this is still a spy story just set in Regency England, but it’s so so fantastic I’m reccing it here anyway. :P

Set The Fire To The Third Bar by [livejournal.com profile] themonkeytwin
[ Clint/Natasha | PG | 4500 words | warnings: none ]
It was a strange thing, to know you were living a life that wasn't quite your own.
Clint never runs away to the join the circus and becomes a firefighter with a feeling that he’s missing something. As a concept, it's stunning. And again, I feel it is very in character. LOVE.
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inkvoices: avengers:assassins hug[personal profile] inkvoices on May 3rd, 2013 09:28 pm (UTC)
I love AUs, so I'm coming from that bias *grins* and I love all kinds of AUs - the 'what ifs', like what if Loki took Natasha instead of Clint, the crossover/fusion AUs, and the completely off the wall AUs, like the coffee shop and High School AUs.

I find it interesting the way you said how you make Clint and Natasha Clint and Natasha when you’ve taken away a great deal of what makes the canonically Clint and Natasha. Especially because this comm came about from the Marvel films, so we don't really have much canon anyway. I think it starts from who you see the characters as being: what you extraploate about them from the films, and what you add in from the comics or fanon. Then in the 'what ifs' you're only changing a point in 'canon' and going on from there, so it's not really an issue. When it comes to the complete, off the wall AUs where it is relevant though...when you’ve taken away a great deal of what makes the canonically Clint and Natasha.

Okay, so nature vs nuture, how much of them is them and how much is from their life experiences? (ie. Clint was born with good vision, but why did he learn archery?) If there's something you believe comes from their life experiences that you want to keep, do they have the same or similar experiences in the AU world? (ie. Is Natasha raised by the Red Room, or a militarised programme, or to be an assassin, that would makes her a 'killer' and a spy, or did she have epxeriences that would make her wary of people, or...?) So I guess the answer to what do you see as being fundamentally Clint and Natasha for me is what I want to see, and to keep, for a particular story or, if reading a fic, what I think fits with that particular story, the way it's been set up. (That's a big part of the fun in writing AUs for me though, seeing how much difference can make things the same but fresh.)

And a thing in addition: something I do like in AUs is nods to canon, like the coffee shop called 'Hawkeye's' because Clint used to be in the circus, a snippet of dialoge that's from the film, Clint putting his leg up on Natasha's chair, or even tinier little throwaway things. They make me smile a lot.
http://lar_laughs.livejournal.com/: Marvel - Natasha blowing a bubble[identity profile] lar_laughs.livejournal.com on May 4th, 2013 05:09 am (UTC)
Here, here! Excellent points!

I agree wholeheartedly with this: That's a big part of the fun in writing AUs for me though, seeing how much difference can make things the same but fresh!

inkvoices[personal profile] inkvoices on May 5th, 2013 02:28 pm (UTC)
I think a lot of the time that's also how I see fanfiction: more of what I like, but a lot of the time different, exploring branches of worlds, exploring different possibilities of worlds, and different angles, and that whilst I love that there's more I also really enjoy that it's...a wider kind of more.
[identity profile] anuna-81.livejournal.com on May 4th, 2013 06:17 am (UTC)
Yeeeesssss. I think one thing that's interesting about fanfiction is that it's basically interpretation. So whatever you write - canon-compliant things or AUs or crossover/fusions; there's your personal .... frame of reference that comes into play? Like, I would see one thing as pivotal, you would pick a different thing and it would result in slightly different interpretations. (This is just a complicated way of me saying that I agree).

I tend to stick to what I see as basic traits, and maybe some canon-storyline things.
inkvoices[personal profile] inkvoices on May 5th, 2013 02:33 pm (UTC)
Yeah, it's like...the original creative work is this cathedral that we all get to visit. And then there are official 'tour guides' that you can buy, like spin offs and stuff, that are official but not the cathedral itself. And when you chat to other people who've visited some of them went in different parts to you, and some of them talk about the history of the cathedral, and some speculate about how it was built and what might happen to it in the future, and others talk about how you could build a different building using parts of the cathedral or places the cathedral reminds them of... And at the end of the day if every who visited there wrote a guide or a review or a diary entry they'd all write in a different style and they'd all write something different. And that's fanfiction, seeing the cathedral through all those different eyes. And types of fanfiction are the other stuff added to that.

...too much metaphor *head desk*.