Alternate Universe (AU): This is used to express a fic that diverts from the original story in some way or form. It can be from any little change to a really big change that changes the course of the original history or timeline. For instance, in my story Light of Liberty, the small change that makes it AU is the fact that Padmé’s necklace wasn’t buried with her. That is a diversion from the original timeline and story that makes the rest of the story an Alternate Universe. Typically, most fics fit into this category.
Canon: This means that the story fits in with the original story or timeline. Nothing has changed about the universe and everything that happened in the books and movies are the same.
Original Trilogy (OT): This means that the story takes place in the original star wars movies. That means A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi.
Prequel Trilogy (PT): Means that a fic takes place in the prequels that came out in theaters sixteen years after the end of the original trilogy and focuses on how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader, and the romance he shared with Padmé Amidala, Luke and Leia’s mother. This means The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith.
BBY (Before the Battle of Yavin): The measurement of time used in Star wars, similar to our B.C. This means anything that took place before the Battle of Yavin which mean all the prequel trilogies and anything before them, along with the nineteen years after Revenge of the Sith. Because many AU stories have situations where the Battle of Yavin never happened, some make up their own or ignore the timing thing all together if it’s not relevant to the story. A lot of people don’t even know what this means because I didn’t until I started reading fics and looked it up on wookieepedia.
ABY (After the Battle of Yavin): The measurement of time used in Star Wars, similar to our A.D. This means anything that takes place After the Battle of Yavin, which is the universe the three original trilogy movies took place and anything after them. Like with BBY, because many AU stories have situations where the Battle of Yavin never happened, some make up their own or ignore the timing thing all together if it’s not relevant to the story.
Anakin/Padmé (Anidala, Padmakin): This means that the story contains romance between Anakin Skywalker and Padmé. This is a canon pairing and one of the favorite and most popular pairings of the star wars fiction.
Obi-Wan/Padmé (Obidala): Contains a romance between Obi-Wan and Padmé. It’s also a popular pairing, though not one of my favorites. The stories with these are almost always AU with a few exceptions, usually in PT stories where they make it canon.
Anakin/Ahsoka (Ahsokin, Anoka): A fairly new pairing usually meaning that a fic features romance between Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka. Since they’re new, it’s not as popular as the other pairings, but it is quickly gaining a large fan base. I myself like this pairing when it’s done properly. Also, it can mean that there contains father/daughter or brother/sister relationship. To clarify it because there is some debate about her age, according to wookieepedia, Ahskoa was born thirty-six years before the BBY, which puts her at six or seven years younger than Anakin.
More coming soon…
