Fan fiction is the fans’ way of expressing their love (or dislike) of certain published works. This attracts a lot of different kinds of people, who in turn, make a lot of different types of fan fictions. There are too many combinations of things that you can find within each “fandom” (as we call the published work that we write fan fiction for) for me to explain here. What I will focus on is two common types of pieces that are written: canon and alternate universe.
“Canon” is the term used to say that something is legitimate from the original piece. In respect to what the original author was intending for certain characters, many authors write pieces that are closely related to the facts. However, these can never truly be canon because they are not from the original author’s mind. While the scenarios presented do seem likely to happen within the actual work itself, it is still something from the fan’s mind that they can find themselves imagining with ease. That does not make it at all truly canon, although they can be pretty close (kind of like asymptotes). In terms of the name of the blog, the story is a lie despite sounding a lot like the truth.
The other side of this is alternate universes, also known as AUs for short. This is where a fan puts all of the characters in a setting completely different from the original one (like if you put sci-fi characters in a modern day setting). The characters retain the same physical features and characteristics, but they lack and/or gain other things like different friendships or powers. Readers can usually still see the original character that they love, but at the same time there are things that have to be learned about the new situation.
AUs, while usually having settings that are the total opposite of the original, are nonetheless very close to the “truth.” There is a tendency to retain as much of the character as possible while fitting them into new roles. For example, a tough fighter in fantasy genre would be portrayed as someone who studies martial arts in a modern day AU. The fact that it is a fan fiction instead of an original piece is another thing that clues one into the idea that there is some “truth to the lie,” so to speak. We cannot break ourselves completely away for the original, so we morph what we can of the truth so it could be as close as possible to the truth. It still has all the elements that make it a fan fiction, which is what counts in the end to most people.
Of course, there are varying levels between the two extremes that I have presented. Everywhere in between exists, creating a wide range of stories. Like every other writing piece, it reveals a lot about the fan. Most of it becomes their own interpretation of the original piece, showing the many faces of visibility. The truth and lies are really interpretations. Even if they are slash pairings of Sam/Dean.
My two cents on AU: IF you take the original character out of context and strip him/her of the relationships that s/he is supposed to have with other characters, then you're pretty much using a shallow shell of what could have been a complex character. While I have read interesting AUs, I have not yet read one that successfully remains true to the character's "integrity." The only exception I see to that is IF the writer keeps multiple canonical elements and the only change is in setting. It's a tough balance to strike.
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