Canon vs Canon Divergence, Can You Tell The Difference?

Fanfiction, which is a non-commissioned online story written based on preexisting work, is broader than one may think. Fanfiction may simply be written by developing the relationship between two characters or arduously composed by creating a whole new world for the characters to live in (Chojnacka, 2018). Fanfiction is varied in many categories, from fantasy to comedy, from slash to straight, or from the canonical universe to alternate universe.

Canon refers to the original works from which the characters, settings, or other aspects are borrowed by fanfiction writers (McCardle, 2003). To this point, canon fanfiction follows the major points of the original story. Canon divergence is the grey area between the canonical universe and the alternate universe (McAlpine, 2017). An alternate universe or AU, on the other hand, refers to a completely different world or universe where the characters live in fanfiction. On the surface, it seems like canon fanfiction and canon divergence fanfiction has no difference.

One similarity is that both kinds of fanfiction borrow the characters without changing their identities. To compare, there are Talk is Cheap written by platehate as the canon fanfiction and Hold Your Breath written by featherx as the canon divergence fanfiction. These fanfiction are based on the infamous shounen manga with anime adaptation Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun fandom on Archive of Our Own.

The former fanfiction has Wakamatsu Hirotaka and Seo Yuzuki as the main pairing and the latter has Hori Masayuki and Kashima Yuu as the main pairing. Those four characters are portrayed with the same identity as who they are in the original story. For instance, in both original work and fanfiction writing, Wakamatsu is a freshman and also a basketball player. In the same way, Hori Masayuki is written as a senior and the president of the drama club in the original story and the fanfiction.

Both canon fanfiction and canon divergence fanfiction follow the main story of the original work. Both Talk is Cheap and Hold Your Breath conform to the major plotline of the original story of which the characters are interacting as high school students.

In fanfiction, the original characters are borrowed and put under new circumstances in which their thoughts and feelings are explored in ways not present in canon (Tushnet, 1997).

Talk is Cheap is mostly about Waka’s contemplation about Seo, his eccentric senior, and the connection between them. The author unfolds what is inside Waka’s mind and expands it without changing the main story of Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun. In doing so, this fanfiction involves few canon occurrences, such as when Waka gave Seo gloves during his confrontation with her or when Seo asked Waka to go out to a movie date, and only adds more depth into the character development from what has happened.

Hold Your Breath also follows the major plot of the original story when Hori asks Kashima to join the drama club and be the club’s new star. Both fanfiction have the same setting as in the original story, high school, and each characters’ relations with each other are also portrayed in the same way as the original.

In spite of these similarities, there is a clear difference between canon fanfiction and canon divergence fanfiction.

While canon fanfiction mostly stays within the boundary of the original story without changing any parts, some parts in canon divergence fanfiction are diverging from the main story for the sake of the fanfiction. In canon divergence fanfiction, one or more parts are changed in order to create other alternatives from canon. These changes separate canon divergence fanfiction and canon, thus making this fanfiction fall under both the “Alternate Universe” and “Canon” tags on Archive of Our Own. Canon, on the other hand, only falls under the “Canon Compliant” tag.

For instance, in Hold Your Breath, Hori meets Kashima for the first time through detention. In the original story, however, Hori’s first meeting with Kashima happens during the high school induction ceremony. Unlike Hold Your Breath, any changes in the original events are not made in Talk is Cheap.

Canon and Alternate Universe: Canon Divergence seem alike, yet different.

Although both kinds of fanfiction have several similarities, such as their connection with the original work, they have a clear difference too. One thing that separates the canon divergence fanfiction from canon fanfiction is the changes of events in the original work that are made in canon divergence fanfiction.