Author Stan Au - Tumblr Posts
Ah yes. This probably makes zero sense out of context, but have some angst anyways.
Long story short: This is from the newest chapter of my Author Stan fic. Ford's entire family thinks he's dead, and for their safety he let's them keep believing it.
And then he runs into Ma at Stan's graduation after four years.
She doesn't recognize him.
You know, Ford has been running away for 2 years, but I still don't understand why they didn't kill him. Why did they keep him captive like a rat? What was the point at all?
Basically, they figured Ford would inevitably end up in another dimension but had no idea how/why. So they settle for just keeping him under observation and hoping he will act as 'bait' for whatever phenomena is going on so they can control where it happens. All if this while not quite realizing that their interference might have already very much changed the outcome.
They couldn't kill him because of scientific curiosity. But now, with what a mess he's made, Ford is pretty sure they'd conclude that the risks of keeping him alive outweighs the benefits. Which is why he's doubly insistent on not being caught again.
If Caryn had actually realized that it was Ford, would he have run away?
Or would he try to explain himself?
Good question 🤔
Instinctively, he might try to run. But he'd very quickly realize that doing so would probably cause her to come looking for him. Or worse, demand government answers which would bring all kinds of unwanted attention down on all of them.
So as terrified as he'd be of having to face her after everything, he'd probably realize that staying so he can explain is the only option.
It could end in tragedy, it could end happily. It all hinges on how much attention they attract.
The story with the portal is beginning to alarm me. First of all, Ford will not be able to impersonate Stan. Because of his hands (from this chapter we will learn that the whole problem is in them), and do not forget about Carla. She won't let Ford just take Stan's identity (especially if Stan gets into the portal because of him)
In addition, I noticed that you like to surprise us with plot twists. And now Stan falling into the portal is too obvious an option. Although maybe I missed something? Maybe you just already confirmed this information?
I still don't want to outright confirm or deny anything, but I can guarantee that I've got all the major story beats planned out already. And some of the things you've brought up may or may not end up becoming relevant issues for characters to overcome (or, fail in overcoming).
And on the subject of plot twists:
I don't like having plot twists just for plot twists sake, I want buildup and foreshadowing. If something has been hinted at and the readers put those hints together right, I want them to be rewarded for it. I'm not going to change any major story beats just because people figure out where things are going, that'd just defeat the point of speculating, and speculating is fun.
Like, when a commenter figured out Stan's motivation for building the portal all the way back in ch 12 - something I wouldn't outright reveal until ch 17.
Even if you know where something is going to end up, it's interesting to see how it's going to end up there and what it'll cost.
Hello! I really love your writing! I always follow the updates and try to build my own theories. I have a few small questions
Why didn't Ford try to escape the country?
Despite the fact that he had just graduated from high school, he could create many inventions that could be sold. He could easily have tried to leave the country with the help of false identity cards(or in some other way) and try to start a life in Europe, for example.
Awww, thank you! And, good question.
Trying to patent inventions without getting government attention in America would be pretty much impossible, so that's a good point. Why not leave? I think the big issue is that it would feel too final. Leaving the country he grew up in an spent his entire life in, fully committing himself to never seeing his family or home again, is far too intimidating. Deep down, he thinks it might be for the best. But he can't make himself take the leap.
He does end up traveling abroad a few times (I've kinda considered him going to Canada amongst other things as a parallel to Stan heading to South America in canon - he goes down and Ford goes up) but he'd always find an excuse to head back. Also, he figures being a foreigner who doesn't know the language and customs might not exactly put him in a good position, if the less than law-abiding people he's forced to associate with decide that it makes him a 'gullible tourist in way over his head'.
How well did Carla and Ford know each other? Obviously, she's just worried about Stan. But she looks like she's genuinely upset about Ford's death, and not just out of politeness.
No, she wasn't particularly close with him. They would have talked a few times, but she's more a casual acquaintance.
She's still upset and shocked at the news though. Partially because it's still a tragedy to have someone that young 'die' suddenly and violently, and partially because she knows just how much Ford means to Stan and therefore how absolutely distraught he is. Seeing him break down over it makes her cry too. Sorta proxy feels I guess? He's usually tough and carefree so seeing him so genuinely upset just hammers home how wrong the entire situation is. She's hurting from seeing him so extremely hurt.
Hi :) I just discover your author Stan AU and it look so cool! But I don't really get what happened... Stan look like he is still the same, just broken by the "death" of his twin... but why Ford fake his death? I'm confused...
Thank you! It's all based on a fanfic I'm writing (I need to get better at linking it with the journal pages I guess) The Author of the Journals; Stanley Pines. I'll link it here if anyone's interested but it's kind of a long read and nowhere near finished.
Heres the rundown thus far (spoiler warning):
Sometime in the early 70's, one of the several different versions of Ford traveling the multiverse lands on the alternate earth where this AU takes place and is briefly apprehended before escaping.
WCT works closely with the government, and one of the scientists recognises Ford during the science fair. He's accepted to the University.
Ford is "conveniently" offered a plane ticket out to WCT after the summer. Stan can't bring himself to say goodbye.
The government has Ford taken to a secret base instead of the university to make sure he won't unintentionally cause a catastrophe through the multiverse phenomena.
The Pines are told the plane crashed and Ford died.
Stan takes the loss hard and dedicates himself to studying anomalies so Ford's dream won't die with him.
Ford keeps trying to escape while Stan goes off to Backupsmore. Carla comes with Stan as moral support.
Stan meets and befriends Fiddleford after saving him from getting mugged.
Fiddleford quits Backupsmore after being offered a position "with WCT". He finds Ford, and they begin a reluctant friendship.
With Fiddleford's help, Ford escapes after two whole years.
Ford realises that the agents are probably still looking for him, and therefore it's not safe to get his family involved. He lets them keep thinking he's dead so they'll be safe.
With nowhere to go and nothing to his name, Ford is left with no legitimate ways to make a living. He becomes a drifter.
Stan graduates Backupsmore. Ford attends in secret.
How about a happy reunion of the twins in your "Author Stan"? I know that their real recovery will be very epic and definitely not calm. This is more of a "What if" category.
If Ford decided to visit his brother for a while and explain his situation (before leaving again).
It's just that Stan's reaction is very interesting
But it's okay if you don't like this request🥰
I'm really am looking forwards to getting back to this story once things calm down again. Thanks for the suggestion!
Oh, my God!! Thank you, thank you very much! That's exactly how I imagined it! And although I feel very sorry for Ford, he deserved it a little. He shouldn't have let Stan think he was dead. There are no excuses here.
To some extent, this is even selfish on his part, although it does not look like it. Yes, he is nobly trying to protect his family. And don't drag them into your problems. I can understand him. And most likely, I would have done the same way
But if we look deeper into it, we can understand that a little selfishness is hidden behind it.
He provides HIS peace of mind by making them mourn such a grief. He could be calm for Stan's safety while Stan had to live with the emptiness in his heart.
I hope that I did not think too much.
And again, thank you so much for drawing my request.❣️❣️❣️❣️
I'm glad you liked it! It was just how I imagined it'd go if they meet up again under ideal circumstances (which probably it won't be in the real reunion)
And thank you for this analysis too! I love reading people's thoughts and this is so in depth. Ford's decision really does somehow manage to be both selfless and selfish at the same time. He has the best of intentions and is causing himself a lot of suffering, but he's also putting his family through hell "for their own good" without them having a say in the matter.
It was amazing how quickly Stan's reflexes worked. Poor Ford! I felt very sorry for him when he fell. He had already suffered enough by that moment
Although I also feel sorry for Stan in this alternative. Especially considering that Ford will still have to leave. But I think it would be a little easier for Stan this way than before
Yeah, at least they both get that peace of mind and can keep in touch covertly. But I also have a feeling Stan would not be keen on letting Ford go again if he knew, especially not with Ford living a less than safe and stable life as a drifter. I imagine either he'd try to demand Ford stay with him in secrecy, or he'd try to convince him they should all leaves the country together.
The big problem would be getting Ford to agree, since he doesn't want Stan to have to leave his own life behind and put himself in danger. That was the exact reason why he didn't want to tell anyone in the first place.
Finally getting back to the Author Stan fic after way too long. Hoping to get the next chapter done by this weekend, so here's a sneak peek on the next journal page...
(Also, I'm really sorry to everyone who's asks about this fic have been sitting unanswered for far too long. I was feeling pretty down in the dumps and didn't want to answer questions about this fic during my unintended "hiatus". Gonna probably take a day this weekend to get all those answered too. 💙)
It is done. I am finally back to this fic! Thanks everyone for sticking with me!
Translations:
Wouldn’t eat the crust. What is this thing, three?
hi, i've been enjoying your author stan au, but I am a bit confused about the timeline. not sure if you made a mistake or if I'm missing something here... but did stan get a phd in 4 years? that is normally the time it takes to get a bachelor's, and a phd takes more like 10 years after high school graduation. considering he graduated "by the seat of his pants", i'm guessing he is not supposed to have earned it in record time, right?
Oh shoot, that might be up to me not knowing how American university degrees work. I try to always do my research, but I guess I missed that one. I figured since canon Ford had supposedly gotten twelve PhDs in less than ten years (cartoon logic, but I know) I figured one in four years might be reasonable. I think when trying to equate it to my own country's education system I might have gotten the degrees mixed up.
I feel like changing it at this point might be kind of difficult, so here's a few alternate possibilities:
A: Backupsmore is just very lax with their standards, and even mediocre effort stands out so much that it's heavily rewarded.
B: Stan managed to charm his way past a bunch of formalities and checks he shouldn't have.
C: Stan is way smarter than he gives himself credit for (I mean, he repaired a macine barely even conceived off in purely theoretical physics with only one third of the instructions and absolutely no outside help) and the whole "by the seat of his pants thing was actually mostly him looking down on himself because he knows Ford would have done it even faster. So while not quite as outrageously academically proficient as Ford, he still graduated way ahead of schedule due to his drive to succeed for Ford's sake.
I know this is a strange question, but what does Filbrick have to do with what happened.
It is quite obvious that for Caryn, Ford's death is a real tragedy (too strong changes in her tell us about it). Sherman is probably sad, too, though not so much. There's nothing to say about Stan here. I think that he is the worst of all.
But the reaction of their father is incomprehensible to me, to be honest. He is a harsh and tough person. And that's why I can't understand his feelings
Ah yes, this one is honestly hard for me to answer because I'm not 100% sure myself. Like when he yelled at Stan after he runs away following the news of Fords "death". Was he upset because he'd already lost one son and was scared he'd lose a second too, or was he just upset because he's Filbrick and that's what he is.
I think he is genuinely upset over Ford's death to some extent. But the question is how much of that is because he upset over the loss of his child, and how much is because he's upset over the loss of his investment.
I'll leave that up to you to decide.
This may sound strange, but why aren't Stan and Carla married? No, of course, if we take Stan's age separately for consideration, then this is quite normal. It's just that he's been in a relationship for more than 10 years and he's obviously a family man. Why didn't he decide to find his peace in marriage and children?
Maybe he would even have had twins. That would be nice
Again, I do not want to say that everyone is obliged to start a family. It's just that Stan seems to me like a person who would want it.
I think he'd definitely want to get married and start a family eventually (Would probably name one of the kids Ford). But I think the two main factors in that not having happened yet is that:
A: He wants to wait until he's found the root of Gravity Falls weirdness. Until he's done that and created the legacy he wanted Ford to have he doesn't want to risk any distractions. Plus, that theory will probably make them pretty much set for life economically, and he wants to make sure their family won't have to worry about money.
And B: Plain and simple, he's terrified that he'll be a bad father and turn out like Filbrick. It'd take a lot to convince him those fears are unfounded.
A wonderful new chapter. I have a small question. We all understand how and why Ford acts in this situation the way he does.
But what was Ford "supposed" to do?
I'm not asking for spoilers about their reunion and what mistakes will be made during these events. I mean in general. Should he have turned to his parents for help? Or contact Stan? Or was he supposed to leave the country and never come back? Maybe he should have gotten rid of the extra fingers?
What should Ford have done to make the story as happy as it could have been?
Good question. I honestly am not sure what he could have done, it's not exactly an easy situation. I think what would have turned out for the best is to reach out to Stan and tell him the truth (while also giving plenty of warning about why it needs to stay secret from everyone else). But that could either go really well or really really horribly, and it'd pretty much be up to luck.
If they manage to avoid detection, probably moving abroad together, than it'd be the happiest turn of events. But if they don't manage to avoid detection, then that just means they'll all be in danger and not only Ford.
If Stan found out that Ford was alive in a time of peace for him, what kind of feeling would prevail? Anger that Ford didn't come home or joy that he is alive? It just seems to me that Stanley will not accept the excuse "I wanted to protect you". It seems to me that no one from the family will be satisfied with this excuse
I have a funny picture in my head of Stan dragging Ford to his house and locking him in the basement so that he doesn't disappear
I think this scenario is best summed up in this short comic I made for my 500 follower celebration.
It'd very much be a mix of extreme anger and extreme happiness and relief. He would definitely not accept Ford's excuse, and it would cause a rift that would take a long time to heal and to rebuild that trust. But eventually they'd get there.
Cue Stan and Ford (+Carla probably) faking their deaths and moving overseas/going off on a boat and living happily together investigating mysteries and cryptids under fake names.
1/2 I really love how in character the role-swap of your Author Stan AU feels, and how Stan and Ford's behavior in their new roles kinda parallel their canon roles. The imposter syndrome Stan experiences as he pursues paranormal study for Ford's sake with the intent of giving Ford all the credit reflects him spending 30 years rebuilding the portal while being his brother's literal imposter in that he places himself under Ford's shadow in both situations.
Aww thank you so much! I tried to make as many parallels as possible, so I'm happy it's noticeable!
At Stan's graduation, his mother ran into Ford. And she didn't recognize him. And we are well aware that this is not because she did not understand that this stranger is very similar to her son(even two). But what would have happened if Stan himself had seen Ford and not their mother?
Would his thought process be the same as hers? Would he think it was just a stranger (like in Arizona) who looked like his brother?
Or would he have been more observant in such a close encounter?
Wether or not Stan would recognise him would probably be largely dependent on how close of a look he could get at Ford. I imagine he'd see him from the stage during the ceremony, but by the time the professor is done so he can get down and into the crowd Ford may or may not still be there.
If he could only see him from afar, he'd probably write it off as grief-brain playing tricks on him. If he could get face to face with Ford, he probably wouldn't be able to stop himself from grabbing his hands and ripping off the gloves which would pretty thoroughly confirm it (and also cause a huge scene).