Crossovers

[lyore]

I've been thinking a bit about crossovers recently - writing them and reading them. Lucky you, I feel like sharing :)

I've seen crossovers get a bit of a bad rap, but I have to say I really like them* - I think it really gives the characters (and the author!) a chance to stretch their wings.


Consider when you have the observation of canon characters by characters of a difference canon. It gives the 'new eyes, new appreciation, new perspective' of an 'outsider POV' fic, but in this case it comes with an added bonus - because the observer isn't a cypher, their observations can shed just as much light on their characterisation as the characters they are observing.

And the same goes for character interactions - the way they respond to one another can through light on both characters, especially when you have a pair/group with strong similarities as well as distinct differences. Such interactions can make the differences and similarities in very apparent to the reader, without the author having to draw direct attention to it in the fic.

Plus, there's the fact that I love seeing the characters tossed out of their comfort zone, and I love seeing one set of characters I love meeting another set. Not to mention the technical challenges of getting the canon together in the first place - while it's easy(ish) in some cases (SG-1 get an alert about possible Goa'uld activity in a small town in California), it can be a lot harder to sell when one canon is set in, say, 21st Century earth and the other is in a galaxy far, far away (of course, sometimes this doesn't matter, depending on the fic).
*Done well - all of this applies to well done crossovers, of course. Done badly? I hate watching people mangle two sets of canon even more than I hate watching it done to one.

But that's just what I think - What about you?

[Poll #1090050]

Comments

[dragonbat2006.livejournal.com]

I've written two crossovers, both of which have been decently received. I think part of what might have made them work was

1) I only had one character from Fandom A interract with the cast of Fandom B, AND

2) Kept the rules of one fandom dominant.

So I did one JLA/Animaniacs cross where Chicken Boo becomes a Green Lantern--BUT the League was pretty much written as though it had always existed in the Animaniacs universe. And the thing with Chicke Boo is that his canon stories always follow a strict formulat. Plug the JLA characters in (with Batman as the lone voice crying out that Boo's a giant chicken) and it works.

My other one was a Batman/Lemony Snicket, in which the Joker applies for a job at a coffee shop and gets interviewed by the Baudelaires. I will admit that THAT one was pure crack inspired by 1) a "real" help wanted ad in the window of a Second Cup coffee shop in Toronto that started 'How would you like to be responsible for creating hundreds of smiles today?' and 2) the fact that I'd just seen the ASOUE movie the night before I wrote the story and had the characters on my brain. In that one, Snicketverse rules applied.

[lyore.livejournal.com]

The meshing on canon rules is always an interesting question, especially in cases when they clash. In some ways, it's easier when the fandoms have no overlap - that way they at least they don't normally dominate.

And the rules of fandom itself - some fandoms have very different cultures to others, that would have to affect your audience reaction when writing crossovers... *ponders*