thinking about au_bb, kind of

I've been poring over P&P, searching for letters for the present draft, and considering how to recreate --er, everything -- in the next.  For me, fanfic is just analysis in narrative form.  (Crossed that out because analysis is awesome.  And mixing the interpretative experience with the creative is also awesome.)  Bad fanfic, as opposed to sheer bad writing, is bad analysis.  By its nature it comments on the text - e.g., an AP says "this could have worked too! (and maybe better)," an AU says "in this situation, the character(s) would have acted like this," a prequel says "this could have happened before the story" and so on. 

The same goes for my fics, of course, and the ones I dislike the most tend to be the ones where I go "... you know, I don't really believe this myself."  All fiction calls for willing suspension of disbelief.  Fanfic too!  And if the suspension cords start breaking all over the place, it's my fault.  

So, since this is my first attempt at a fully alternate-storyline P&P fic, I've been reading P&P.  Over and over.  Seeing what leaps out, etc etc.  And as I've been planning and writing, some ideas have leapt out, which I find mildly interesting.

( thinky stuff )