We've spoken about this before, but basically yes. I can only go on what I write (and to a lesser extent on what I read) but as the queen of fic that comes in at about 1,500 words and who gets flaily at over 3,000 that's what I write all the time.
Yes, it's easier if you stick entirely to canon yadda yadda blah, but when you're using characters that people already know you've got an established way of behaving/reacting that will just be accepted - and if they behave differently for reasons in their AU backstory then you've also got an inbuilt shorthand there.
If you want to go back and explain - to 'verse it - then you're free to do that, but with the fics you're talking about that I know anything about you'd be perfectly fine just leaving them too; they don't need further explanation to make them work (and yes, I know I've whined about someone asking for sequels, but I've really only had one person whining to me about it and I've never had anyone tell me they felt cheated by there not being any).
I think the easiest way to avoid WiPs is to make sure every "chapter" can finish right there; not cliff hang it but end it on either a punchy note or a concuding one (or both, possibly), and to trust your readers - even if they don't get exactly what you intended, which is possible with shorter fic because they're slightly like poetry in the way readers interpret them sometimes, then that's not wrong, just open.
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Yes, it's easier if you stick entirely to canon yadda yadda blah, but when you're using characters that people already know you've got an established way of behaving/reacting that will just be accepted - and if they behave differently for reasons in their AU backstory then you've also got an inbuilt shorthand there.
If you want to go back and explain - to 'verse it - then you're free to do that, but with the fics you're talking about that I know anything about you'd be perfectly fine just leaving them too; they don't need further explanation to make them work (and yes, I know I've whined about someone asking for sequels, but I've really only had one person whining to me about it and I've never had anyone tell me they felt cheated by there not being any).
I think the easiest way to avoid WiPs is to make sure every "chapter" can finish right there; not cliff hang it but end it on either a punchy note or a concuding one (or both, possibly), and to trust your readers - even if they don't get exactly what you intended, which is possible with shorter fic because they're slightly like poetry in the way readers interpret them sometimes, then that's not wrong, just open.
EDT: Also? Sleep=awesome :)