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.

( Five recs beneath the cut )

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: )

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!

Title: The Roommate Imbroglio
Fandom: Sherlock BBC
Rating: R(ish)
Length: 560
Content notes: M/M/F Threesome, College AU
Author's notes: Thanks to fitofpique for beta!
Summary: John took a step toward them, then another. "This is one of those occasions in which your behaviour is not aligned with social norms," he told Sherlock, rather breathlessly.

( The Roommate Imbroglio )

Title: Cliché Generators
Fandom: Any
Content notes: Explicit version uses explicit sexual terms and contains prompts of all kinds, including noncon, dubcon, BDSM, violent imagery and incest. I have included a non-explicit version for those who prefer to avoid these tropes.
Creator's notes:I've been struggling with fannish writing lately and couldn't finish anything for the challenge, so I made these instead. I plan to use them to inspire my future make-something-in-an-hour exercises -- and hopefully some of you can, too. :)

I used Anna S's Giant List of Fanfiction Kinks, Tropes and Clichés and the master list at cliche_bingo as references when I was drawing up these lists. If you have any suggestions for things I haven't included, please leave them here! Likewise, please let me know if you see any issues or errors.

( Links )