December meme: crossovers!
From 
springwoof : What makes a good crossover work? How do you know which characters would go well together?
Oh, man. Two very different questions, so, right, part one: As far as I'm concerned, a good crossover needs three things to work: there need to be some little pieces of each that lock solidly together, the relative realities have to match up somewhere (more on that term in a minute), and the characters or situation has to make at least a little sense for both/all fandoms.
The interlocking pieces part is pretty obvious; think the lightning in both Supernatural and Highlander, for example, or the wolves in Buffy and due South.
The relative realities is something I also call reality per square inch. Highlander is actually a pretty good example on this one, because they had a very wide range of reality. Above and beyond the immortals, it had episodes with ghosts, psychics and shapechangers, but it also had episodes with politics, police, and theft. So you can write a story that has almost no supernatural elements and it fits; you can also go for a story that has magic spells, prophetic dreams, or sheer farce. Any of those are plausible in the fandom, because we had various episodes that fit those categories. This means Highlander could cross as easily with NCIS or CSI, along the scientific elements, or Sleepy Hollow, along the witchcraft and prophecies. (I have a little more trouble trying to imagine NCIS crossing with Sleepy Hollow, but there are authors who could pull it off.)
And last, the characters or situation has to make sense to the fandoms. Buffy Summers being able to see ghost-Bob Fraser? Not that hard to believe, so minimal set-up needed. Gregor Powers accepting a werewolf? Okay, might be a little harder, he's a relatively young immortal; no problem, exhaust him and give him a patient to deal with. Agent Coulson and, well, anything? If he's on a job, yeah, no problem, honestly. It's Coulson.
But the more unlikely it is, the more set-up or explanation it'll need. But hell, getting people to buy it is sometimes half the fun.
As to the question of which characters go well together? Sometimes it's in who'd show up at the same place: Watchers from HL and Hunters from SPN would hit the same location/problem at times; so would SHIELD agents, or, in the right parts of New York, Lt. Mills and Ichabod Crane. Sometimes the fun is in characters who've got an overlap and might have known each other; Matthew McCormick and other law enforcement, say, or Lucien LaCroix and Marcus Constantine (two very old Romans), or Evie O'Connell & Indiana Jones. Can you imagine Sunda Kastagir or Methos wandering through Marian Ravenwood's bar? Sometimes it's just a matter of who you want to watch/write and finding someone they'd talk to or spark off of. When that happens, you're likely to have one member of the crossover be a Little Black Dress of fandom. Little Black Dresses get that name because either they could show up anywhere (Alex Krycek, Spike, Methos, the first three LBDs, or one of the Doctors,) or they'll talk to damn near anyone (Joe Dawson, Cameron Mitchell, Oz from Buffy will listen to anyone, again, the Doctors). Sometimes, they'll just flirt with and/or have chemistry with almost anyone: Captain Jack Harkness, for example, or Neal Caffrey come to mind there.
And sometimes you just toss characters onto the page together and see what happens. That's fun, too.
Yes, I enjoy crossovers immensely, so any follow-up questions are welcome!
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springwoof : What makes a good crossover work? How do you know which characters would go well together?
Oh, man. Two very different questions, so, right, part one: As far as I'm concerned, a good crossover needs three things to work: there need to be some little pieces of each that lock solidly together, the relative realities have to match up somewhere (more on that term in a minute), and the characters or situation has to make at least a little sense for both/all fandoms.
The interlocking pieces part is pretty obvious; think the lightning in both Supernatural and Highlander, for example, or the wolves in Buffy and due South.
The relative realities is something I also call reality per square inch. Highlander is actually a pretty good example on this one, because they had a very wide range of reality. Above and beyond the immortals, it had episodes with ghosts, psychics and shapechangers, but it also had episodes with politics, police, and theft. So you can write a story that has almost no supernatural elements and it fits; you can also go for a story that has magic spells, prophetic dreams, or sheer farce. Any of those are plausible in the fandom, because we had various episodes that fit those categories. This means Highlander could cross as easily with NCIS or CSI, along the scientific elements, or Sleepy Hollow, along the witchcraft and prophecies. (I have a little more trouble trying to imagine NCIS crossing with Sleepy Hollow, but there are authors who could pull it off.)
And last, the characters or situation has to make sense to the fandoms. Buffy Summers being able to see ghost-Bob Fraser? Not that hard to believe, so minimal set-up needed. Gregor Powers accepting a werewolf? Okay, might be a little harder, he's a relatively young immortal; no problem, exhaust him and give him a patient to deal with. Agent Coulson and, well, anything? If he's on a job, yeah, no problem, honestly. It's Coulson.
But the more unlikely it is, the more set-up or explanation it'll need. But hell, getting people to buy it is sometimes half the fun.
As to the question of which characters go well together? Sometimes it's in who'd show up at the same place: Watchers from HL and Hunters from SPN would hit the same location/problem at times; so would SHIELD agents, or, in the right parts of New York, Lt. Mills and Ichabod Crane. Sometimes the fun is in characters who've got an overlap and might have known each other; Matthew McCormick and other law enforcement, say, or Lucien LaCroix and Marcus Constantine (two very old Romans), or Evie O'Connell & Indiana Jones. Can you imagine Sunda Kastagir or Methos wandering through Marian Ravenwood's bar? Sometimes it's just a matter of who you want to watch/write and finding someone they'd talk to or spark off of. When that happens, you're likely to have one member of the crossover be a Little Black Dress of fandom. Little Black Dresses get that name because either they could show up anywhere (Alex Krycek, Spike, Methos, the first three LBDs, or one of the Doctors,) or they'll talk to damn near anyone (Joe Dawson, Cameron Mitchell, Oz from Buffy will listen to anyone, again, the Doctors). Sometimes, they'll just flirt with and/or have chemistry with almost anyone: Captain Jack Harkness, for example, or Neal Caffrey come to mind there.
And sometimes you just toss characters onto the page together and see what happens. That's fun, too.
Yes, I enjoy crossovers immensely, so any follow-up questions are welcome!
Original post on Dreamwidth | Leave a comment on DW | Read
comments on DW
Given the new LJ 'design' decisions, please comment on DW if you can.