How to Create an AU Story in Chats, From First Idea to Posted Thread
How to create an AU story told in chats: what to keep from canon, who your characters become, which app they use, and how to post it in parts.
An AU (alternate universe) story keeps characters readers already know and drops them into a different world. Learning how to create an AU story in chats means choosing that world, the cast and the app they text on.
You already have the pair. Maybe it is a love team you have followed for years, maybe two idols who once stood next to each other on stage. You also have one scene you keep replaying, a message sent at the worst possible time, and no part 1 yet.
This is how to create an AU story told through chats, from that first idea to a thread people follow. It covers what you keep from canon, who your characters become, which app they text on, what goes between the screens, and how to post it in parts.
How do you write a good AU?
An AU, short for alternate universe, keeps the characters and changes the world around them. A good one changes enough to surprise readers and keeps enough that they still recognize the pair.
Before you write a single message, make two short lists. The first is what stays: their personalities, the way they tease each other, the bond readers already love. The second is what changes: their jobs, their city, how they met, and what keeps them apart.
Gwy Saludes did exactly this in “By Mistake”, a Kathniel thread that Interaksyon covered in July 2019. Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla became Lily and Ivor, and Interaksyon reported that both characters were students at the University of Santo Tomas. The faces came from the love team, while the names, the school and the problem were new.
Give each character a face and a way of typing
In a chat story, readers meet a character through the photo beside the bubble and the way they type. Vivian Lam, writing for Electric Literature in 2021, observed that in social media AUs “differing texting styles imply voice and personality”.
Decide this for each character before part 1. One types full sentences and ends them with a period. Another sends five short bubbles in lowercase Taglish with no punctuation at all. Readers will know who is talking before they check the name.
The face is the visual, the photo of an actor or idol that readers picture as the character. Give the character a new name even when the visual is a real celebrity. Fake chats are for telling stories, never for putting words in a real person's mouth.
Pick the app they would really use
The app is part of the setting. Blockmates planning a project, a family group chat and an ex who only replies to stories all sound different. The app should match who is talking and how close they are.
A change of app can be a plot point too. Two characters who move from Instagram DMs to texting each other's numbers have become closer, and readers will notice the day it happens.
Write the narration between screens
Not everything happens on a phone. Carol Saller, writing for the Chicago Manual of Style's blog in 2020, said short text exchanges can simply be worked into the narrative with action beats. In a thread, that narration is the line of text you post with each screenshot.
Use it for what the screens cannot show: a time jump, a face when the message arrives, a meeting in person. Keep it to one or two lines so the screenshot stays the center of the post.
Electric Literature's 2021 piece describes another trick for the moments when characters are forced to put their phones down: “bystanders step in to live tweet”. Friends posting about the scene can tell readers what the two leads are too busy to type.
How to create an AU story thread, part by part
Post your AU in parts, not all at once. Interaksyon reported in 2019 that “By Mistake” was first posted on July 5 and ended on July 11, so the whole story ran across one week of updates.
Number every part and end each one on a message that needs an answer, like a question, a photo or a reply that never comes. Readers return for the next part because they want that answer.
Electric Literature's 2021 piece also describes social media AUs organized in nested threads, “reminiscent of a DVD menu”, where one main thread links to every chapter. A pinned first post that links to every part does the same job for a new reader who finds you at part 9.
If you use Vaumu
Vaumu is an iPhone and iPad app for writing AU chat stories. The free version has WhatsApp, iMessage, Instagram DM, Messenger and LINE chat screens plus X posts, for three stories of your own. Pictures saved from the free version carry a faint vaumu watermark in the middle of the screen.
- Tap +, type a title such as “AU Jae part 1”, choose the app your characters use, then tap “Create”. If the app turns out wrong, you can change it later in “Settings”.
- In “Settings”, tap a character or “Add person”, fill in “Name” and “Change photo”, and turn on “This is me (messages on the right)” for the phone's owner.
- Type in “Type as”, tap “Send”, then tap “Save image” for each screen of the part.
Vaumu Pro adds images without watermark, “Save page by page for TikTok slides”, live chat video, custom and random message times, and your own chat wallpaper on WhatsApp. It also opens the IG post, IG story, WA status, WA call and lock screen notification screens. Your stories stay on your phone, with no account.
What is the one message that opens part 1 of your AU?
