People always ask me when they read or come to knowledge of my fanfiction series “Vivid Insomnia” if it’s an AU.

Constantly, I say no. Vivid Insomnia, as is, is a fanfiction series, comparable to say “Harry Potter” or “The Hunger Games.” (Of course, this isn’t to say that “Vivid Insomnia” is at a professional YA novel level, but you get my idea.)

What is, however, an actual fanfiction I set out to make an AU, is “Thespian Alloquy,” but unfortunately it never came to fruition, so today I thought I would talk in depth about everything having to do with it, and what it potentially could have been, but never was.

“Thespian Alloquy,” as the name may suggest, was a theater AU; the main premise of the fic revolved around Astro, who is an inspiring actor (or “thespian”).

Towards the end of their 7th grade year, they decide they want to do something interesting over the summer, instead of the same old same old. So, they ask a multitude of people, both friends and, teachers— but it isn’t until their drama teacher tells them that a local theater is looking for actors that Astro’s interest is peaked.

Astro decides to audition, but this isn't before they try to convince their friend Reno to audition alongside them, mostly for moral support.

Interestingly enough (excluding "Vivid Insomnia") this is the only universe where retro (astro x reno) isn't canon. In fact, in the earliest drafts, Reno is noted to be in a relationship with Abby.

Speaking of Abby, TA is probably my most well utilized fanfic of the 03 cast– much if not all the 03 characters have a place in this story; though most, as the story may imply, are part of the theater. The story also doubles as a human AU, primarily due to the nature of the plot and the excess amount of changes going on.

In terms of background plot prior to the main plot of TA, it goes a little like this (keep in mind some information may not be 100% accurate due to my poor memory, but I'll try my best!):

• Astro's non-binary! Apart from acting, their second main interest is Astronomy.
• His mom and Tenma divorced long before Astro could even remember who he is.
• ↳ "Present day" plot has Tenma as the head/main director of the theater, and a major plot point planned was for Astro to find out that Tenma's their dad.
• Astro also has an older brother they don't know about, his name is Tobio and sometimes stops by the theater to hangout with his boyfriend, Harley, but it ironically wasn't planned for his "older brother" status to be revealed.
• For the most part, they've been raised by their single mom and live in a semi-reasonable apartment.
• Skunk and his "crew" in this universe still are (or should I say "were") active criminals, but "present day" plot has them joining the theater as an outlet of self-expression and way to "keep themselves off the streets," so to speak.
• While Astro doesn't have any other siblings apart from Tobio, Kaitlyn (my Co-author for "Vivid Insomnia"/girlfriend) jokingly requested my OC Atom be included in the universe.
• ↳ His story line incorporates 2 other OCs I have, Quinn Meyer & Finian Kenny– and he's the only non-human in the universe. He was created by the two of them as a robot that could transform into practically everything, and so through his ability to "transform" into Astro, he earns the role of Astro's understudy. It's never mentioned though by him that he's a robot or that he can transform, which leaves everyone curious as to how and why he looks and behaves so much like Astro. A potential plot idea was thrown around that his "robot status" would be revealed, but it was never officially decided.
• O'shay (AKA Elefun/Ochan/ETC.) has 2 daughters, Uran and Zoran– though it was never explored/explained how they came to be (i.e. past marriage, adoption, ETC.) He's also the conductor of the theater's orchestra.
• Inspector Tawashi is a local theater critic, he attends most performances put on and, has quite high expectations. Sometimes, he's accompanied by his friend, Delta.
• Harley is a college football player who secretly has a passion for acting, his main stitch was supposed to be how he feels he has to hide the fact that he does acting, so as to not appear "less mainly" to friends of his that only see him as a hyper masculine football jock. And, as mentioned earlier, he is Tobio's boyfriend.
• Reno is Astro's almost childhood friend, they go to middle school together. (almost as in they've known each other for a long time, but not enough to be fully considered "childhood friends")
• Abby in the first TA drafts is Reno's girlfriend, the two seemed to have gotten together towards the end of the school year. She's quite the popular girl, which makes Astro curious as to why of all people, she fell for Reno– but in the final "first" draft, the idea of her being his "girlfriend" was rather understated, and she instead was said to be "close" to Reno, but not exactly his "girlfriend."
• Denkou is said to be Skunk's nibling (gender neutral term for neice/nephew)– they were only slated to appear very sporadically, or in plot terms, whenever Skunk was given babysitting duty.
• Atlas is yet another actor, but seems to be the least interested out of all of them.
• Uran and Zoran are both actors and sisters, with Uran more into dancing, and Zoran more into singing. This contrast makes them great to put together in scenes, but sibling drama is no stranger to them both.
• Epsilon is also an actor, and bigender, though they don't appear as often, only coming in sometimes for specific practice sessions since they don't audition for every play the theater puts on.
• The theater itself is quite nice, but it prides itself on the actors that play there more than anything.

Overall, while TA had fairly interesting ideas and elements going for it, the main reason it was shafted was due to my inability to write it. The most I ever got to was a half finished first chapter that over the course of maybe a ?year? I tweaked and tweaked and still wasn't satisfied.

I had also decided I wanted to write this story more like a novel in that I'd finish the entire story and upload it all at once, instead of a chapter-by-chapter basis I do for any other fanfiction I'm working on (Tales From The Laboratory aside); and this really put the pressure on me to write something good– not to mention the AU was starting to get a small amount of feedback and honestly I just wanted to impress everyone who was interested with a super great story I'd get a million asks, reviews and DMs about (as anyone who feels a covet for attention would argue)

But that never happened, so I decided to just shelve it and call it a day.

Surely though, no matter what, TA to me will definitely be a universe I revisit again in the future to flesh out more; even if I don't attempt to make it a fanfic again, it's just nice to think about.