I've always loved AUs, and although they don't have to take place in an elaborately imagined and unfamiliar world to make me happy, it is kind of like stumbling across a free-pies-and-puppies store when they do. Building a fictional world -- whether you're creating it from the ground up or trying to recreate it from research and memory -- is not an easy thing to do. I struggle with it myself, and I have all kinds of admiration for those who can manage it adeptly enough that their effort is invisible.

These are some of the best examples of fannish worldbuilding I can remember coming across in various fandoms over the years. Some are recent and some are not.



SGA Noir and Steampunk SGA by leyna
Rated: both G
Content Notes: The Noir covers are strangely proportioned for me, but clicking each one takes you to an un-skewed image.
Stargate: Atlantis. Set in a Detective Noir verse and a Steampunk verse, respectively. Art, plus art-inspired stories linked from each post.
I love these because they each seem like the tip of their own sprawling, awesome AU icebergs -- the costuming and backgrounds are detailed and wonderful, but the story is only hinted at in the image. What's happening in the novel or after the portrait is finished is left to each viewer to decide.

Missed The Saturday Dance by zoetrope
Rated: not rated by the creator; some nudity in the art, NC-17 scenes in the narrative
Content Notes: Some story text is in image form and not accessible to those with vision impairments.
Stargate: Atlantis. Set during World War II. Snippets of traditional narrative text, letters, phone messages, log books and documents, audio and video clips, and some really remarkable art.
I love this because it feels so incredibly real, like opening a dusty box in someone else's attic and finding yourself transported.

Future Legend by winterlive
Rated: NC-17
Content Notes: apocalypse, disturbing themes
American Idol S8. Set five years after the demise of civilization as we know it. Fic, plus art by katekat and a trailer vid by elandrialore (linked from the bottom of the story).
This is actually futurefic, not an AU, but a West Hollywood-originated post-apocalyptic kingdom is such an incredibly cool worldbuilding idea that I had to include it anyway. I love this for its imperfect not-really-a-utopia, and for its warmth and its sense of chosen family.

The Flight by katekat (NSFW)
Rated: Not safe for work, but...not really explicit, either.
Content Notes: Nudity, hints of unbalanced power dynamics.
American Idol S8. Set on…a distant alien planet? A post-apocalyptic version of our own planet? I don't know! Manip, plus a whole bevy of ficlets inspired by the manip, linked below it.
I love this because it is beautifully made, unapologetically weird and seems to have the power to drag my brain off into a bunch of different stories every time I look at it.

The Pinocchio Fallacy by toft
Rated: NC-17
Content Notes: Consent issues, BDSM, neuroatypicality, prostitution, robot sex
Mythbusters RPF. Set in a world similar to ours, except there's a flourishing android sex industry. Fic.
I love this because it deals with complex ethical questions and humanizes them (ha!) without simplifying them. Also, the secret robot internet is the hands-down coolest story detail EVER.


Also, because so many of them came up in my searches for fanworks to rec, here are a few resources for those of you who might be doing some worldbuilding of your own:

Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions by Patricia C. Wrede and 30 days of Worldbuilding by someone whose name I don't know. Both are exhaustive lists of questions to consider. They can be helpful or not, depending on the kind of work you do.

A language construction kit by Mark Rosenfelder.

Evernote, Zootool, Diigo or Pinterest are all good options for visual collections of worldbuildng…stuff. (Pinterest would be best except that it has no private option. The others are also pretty decent, though.)


I know there are probably plenty of examples of great worldbuilding I'm missing (and probably plenty of good resources, too). Please, leave your own related recs and links in the comments!