Crossovers
Nov. 17th, 2007 12:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lyoreI'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]
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]
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no subject
Date: 2007-11-22 11:38 am (UTC)The crossover to pwn them all: Weak Spot (Harry Potter, Supernatural), released before Deathly Hallows of course because if the final showdown had gone something like this.... well, I may have given Rowling full endorsement.
I enjoy crossovers the best when they fuse together seamlessly without contradicting the canon of either, which they usually succeed in by exploiting the gaps in narrative. When that fails, there be some good crack in crossover.
Hey, did you notice Harmony was a vampire in SPN recently as well? Supernatural type-casting, ftw! Poor girl.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-22 01:04 pm (UTC)I enjoy crossovers the best when they fuse together seamlessly without contradicting the canon of either, which they usually succeed in by exploiting the gaps in narrative.
And in some cases, it's surprising easy when your canons are sufficiently different enough - for instance, Star Wars and Supernatural is causing me far less difficulty than expected, whereas something like, say, Supernatural and Buffy has sufficient topical overlap you'd have to do some creative explaining to work around or within all the contradictions.
I saw it :) I was sure it was her, but meant to check afterwards if it really was Mercedes McNab or my mind was playing tricks on me. She's starting her own niche market *g*