We’ve talked about Alternate Universes (AU) and Post-canon (PC), so now let’s tackle Canon Divergence (CD).

Canon Divergence (CD): (Def) - A work that uses at least one canon event as a foundation but differs thereafter on key points.

Canon Divergence, if done well, can be exactly what readers want. Does your fandom have a widely despised ending? Did a key canon event turn out drastically wrong? Was there an episode that made you wonder if the writers took a day off? Well, canon divergent fanfic might be the answer to those problems.

But just as with AU and PC content, CD work has its pitfall:

1. Audience preferences: Not everyone wants to see canon changed, and even the most disliked portion of any IP has its fans. Some find even minor adjustment to canon unthinkable and will loudly tell you so. (If their only basis for disliking your work is because they prefer canon, ignore them. They’re not part of your target audience anyway.)

2. Maintaining believability: Everything has a style, voice, and tone. With canon divergent material, the challenge rises to maintain as many of those three elements as possible. Shift the style, and readers may bail instantly. Adjust the voice, and readers will notice the difference in narration, character dialogue, and exposition choices, and some may remark how different the piece “sounds” from canon.

   And though an unannounced change of tone can be more subtle, readers will notice it, even if they can’t express what it is. A piece set in a fandom that is canonically humorous can fall flat if suddenly forced into a too-serious tone. The same is true of the opposite. To try to forcefully transform a more serious IP into comedy will kill the piece. Not to say tone shifts are to be avoided at all costs, but they do need to be smoothly integrated and used sparingly.

3. A leap into the unknown: Just as with AU and PC work, Canon Divergence forces the writer to accept that they may not know the story’s next step right away. Just because the piece is tethered to canon doesn’t mean it won’t heavily diverge at multiple junctures. Whole sections of canon may simply never happen or be replaced with original content. The good news is, if it makes sense and is in keeping with the original spirit of the IP, chances are the audience will be completely fine with it. The hard part is deciding where to go and then bravely committing to that decision.

And though CD work can be grueling, it has stellar pay-offs.

1. Fixing canon’s mistakes: Every man-made canon makes mistakes. Every. Single. One. But you can be part of the solution by offering audiences another option. And there are even instances where canon creators have acknowledged fanwork and adjusted canon in response to outcries from the fan community.

2. Changing lives: In writing a canon divergent piece, you may influence another writer to kickstart their own story based on the adjustments you’ve made to canon. You could also give readers peace of mind by showing them another vision of canon and the events you chose to replace faulty or disliked sections of story. You will also have changed the lives of the characters involved—hopefully for the better. But you’ll have changed along the way as well. To write canon divergent content is to choose to view something differently—to get a new perspective on something most people consider written in stone. But just because it’s published doesn’t mean it can’t change.

I’ve written Canon Divergence, and I did it because canon presented a universally disliked ending to a well-loved franchise. I watched the final canon installment and started my piece the very next day. For the next month I wrote until I’d finished one of the first fics in that fandom to redress the wrongs done to a beloved cast. It’s one of my favorite pieces, and even a year later, I still get likes, comments, and views on it.

People are drawn to hope. Canon Divergence can be a way to offer that hope.