Something just occured to me on another forum. I should use the term "Nails" whenever I am discussing a work of alternate universe fiction from now on. The term comes from the phrase "For Want Of A Nail" obviously.
Every "Nail" a story has is a point of divergence from established history. So if a story about, say, Ranma has Akane going on the training trip with him when he is young that is a "One Nail" story while if the same story had Akane going on the trip and Ranma was born a girl that would be a "Two Nail" story and so on and so forth. Events that follow from a previous Nail don't increase the Nail count (eg, if Akane convinces Genma to take Ukyou with them, that would still be a One Nail fic since Akane's presence is what led directly to the story change) though unexplained changes still would even if they could be explained with the previously established Nails (eg, if Ukyou comes along, just because with no explanation given its a Two Nail story).
I will also posit the opinion that the number of Nails is inversely proportional to the quality of the story. So while a One Nail story may be interesting, a Ten Nail story will just be a incomprehensible mess that might as well not even be a fanfic.
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Epsilon
Every "Nail" a story has is a point of divergence from established history. So if a story about, say, Ranma has Akane going on the training trip with him when he is young that is a "One Nail" story while if the same story had Akane going on the trip and Ranma was born a girl that would be a "Two Nail" story and so on and so forth. Events that follow from a previous Nail don't increase the Nail count (eg, if Akane convinces Genma to take Ukyou with them, that would still be a One Nail fic since Akane's presence is what led directly to the story change) though unexplained changes still would even if they could be explained with the previously established Nails (eg, if Ukyou comes along, just because with no explanation given its a Two Nail story).
I will also posit the opinion that the number of Nails is inversely proportional to the quality of the story. So while a One Nail story may be interesting, a Ten Nail story will just be a incomprehensible mess that might as well not even be a fanfic.
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Epsilon