Thoughts on Good Crossovers
While running around the track last evening, ruminating on my AU SGA and Shep H/C fic, I began thinking about what makes a good crossover. (yeah, I don't know how my mind works either).
However, since the majority of my fic *scans masterlist and concurs* are in fact crossovers, I thought I'd put these ruminations on journal and put some framework to them *and probably review my fic accordingly on my own :)*
Crossovers are what drew me to fanfiction, many years ago when I wanted to read stories comparing star wars and star trek, and what would happen if those fandoms ever intersected. It was a downhill slide from there into many a murky crossover. So, what in my very humble opinion are the key indicators of a good crossover:
1. In Character
And its number one for a reason. I could wax lyrical about AUs and characterisation in AUs, and the basic principles for crossovers are the same, as essentially a crossover is an AU. The principle is this: when writing an AU version of a canon character the core qualities or characteristics of that character must maintained. If John Sheppard is now a firefighter, and a slightly more bitter and hardened version of himself, it can work as being bitter and hard calls to Season 1 Sheppard. However, making Sheppard a recluse, or overly agressive, or... whatever 'more or less', that borders on OOC in my mind. AU Sheppard must still be recognisably Sheppard.
And now may seem like a given, and it is, but it is suprisingly easy when writing an AU to lose sight of the core chracteristics of canon characters. Crossovers in particular have this tricky step to navigate. Especially as a crossover allows canon characters to interact with situations and characters they would not otherwise and thus rely on the writer to accurately portray their emotions and reactions.
A final note on this point is the oversimplification or reduction of canon characters into a mary sue stereotype. Huh? I hear you say. Say What? Yes, did you know that most characters in our shows are in fact borderline Mary Sues. Do yourself a favour and compare your fav character to a Mary Sue checklist. Sure, some of the extreme behaviour associated with Mary Sues are not applicable, but the tragic past, 'top notch' abilities, beauty/handsomeness, ability to fit it/stand out, etc, all fit Mary Sues. And it is very very easy for canon characters to slip all the way into Mary Sue-dom in AUs and Crossovers.
I was going to insert a few examples but they refer to actual crossovers I've read and since this is my opinion and may not be shared by you, I thought I rather leave it for you to agree or disagree. You might actually like that in a crossover so ...
2. Believability/Plausibility
Another given you might say and again you are right. The crossover needs to be believable and there are plenty of ways to make it so. Sci Fi and Supernatural shows have ample methods to hand wave fandoms together. And reality based shows like cop dramas, legal dramas, action shows etc, are very easy to fit together and have characters interact. Here's the tricky part: Show Canon/Lore.
This is particularly difficult with supernatural and sci fi shows as the lore of one show may contradict the canon/lore of the other. Vampires are the perfect example. Whedon vampires are very different from Moonlight, Twilight, Supernatural, etc etc. And in order to successfully (IMO) crossover those shows over you need to overwrite one canon with the other, and have one set of rules. Yeah, you could try make it work, stretch the reader a little, but it works better when all vampires can be killed the same way or have the same weaknesses/strenghts. So in a SPN/Buffy crossover, you apply Whedon rules to SPN, make a few SPN episodes AU and voila, believability.
This hurdle has less impact on reality based shows, as mentioned, but needs to be kept in mind as well, usually around fictional presidents, governors, etc, etc. Also, one show may accurately reflect police procedure and then you have CSI come in (which is not correct police procedure) and try merge the two... it becomes tricky. Likewise this applies to fictional agencies, divisions etc. A reader can believe a lot of things, but through too many hand waves or inconsistencies, and you risk loosing them.
3. The Catch Up
One of my favourites and one I am circling warily in chapter 7 of Here Tomorrow. The catch up simply means that in a crossover scenario when characters meet for the first time and interact, there is the requisite 'catch up' on necessary data for each team or individual to know where the others are coming from. And personally I dislike those sections of crossovers. When I read a NCIS/SPN crossover and there are pages and pages of dialogue explaining ghosts and demons etc, to the understandly and accurately ignorant NCIS team, I as a fan of SPN, lose interest, becuase I already know all this. I am more interested in getting on with the story then getting Gibbs caught up on ghosts, or seeing his reaction (or in Gibb's case non-reaction) to Dean's stories.
And this is really tricky problem because the other characters do need to be caught up. This is where the writer needs to get creative and fill in those gaps in as smooth a way as possible without boring fans, or being too vague and losing readers who don't know the other fandom well enough. I don't have a hard and fast technique or rule for this, as I am still figuring this out myself, but I find when I read crossovers where I don't know one fandom all that well, and if the writer treats me as an intelligent, smart reader, I can figure it out myself and they don't need to lay everything down for me, one step at a time. A good example is Reading's Criminal Minds/SPN crossover over on ff.net. Explanations are given, but handled in such a way that it feeds the story and is staggered. Give your readers (and by default your characters) enough info to build a rough idea and then leave it for the action and plot to fill in it. Seems to work.
4. The Mutual Appreciation Society
This is more of a pet peeve than a guide or rule but it also speaks to characterisation. I have noticed this 'flaw' in a few of the shows who had spin off shows introduced in an episode. Everyone got on, everyone admired eachother and thought very highly of the 'newbies'. Personally in the CSI Miami episode that introduced CSI NY, I would loved if it if Mac had called Horatio on his melodrama and posing.
I like conflict on screen or in a fic, because I feel it adds greater depth to a story. If everyone gets along, it makes things a little bland. In a professional environment, yes people will put aside personal differences and just work, but you don't have to like the person to do that. This is also why when I write crossovers there are no easy fixes, and there will always be personality conflicts. Heck, the resolution of those conflicts or agreed truces are half the fun.
5. - I don't have a 5 :) so please feel free to add your own
- on reviewing this, I realised that I can talk a load of crap :)
However, since the majority of my fic *scans masterlist and concurs* are in fact crossovers, I thought I'd put these ruminations on journal and put some framework to them *and probably review my fic accordingly on my own :)*
Crossovers are what drew me to fanfiction, many years ago when I wanted to read stories comparing star wars and star trek, and what would happen if those fandoms ever intersected. It was a downhill slide from there into many a murky crossover. So, what in my very humble opinion are the key indicators of a good crossover:
1. In Character
And its number one for a reason. I could wax lyrical about AUs and characterisation in AUs, and the basic principles for crossovers are the same, as essentially a crossover is an AU. The principle is this: when writing an AU version of a canon character the core qualities or characteristics of that character must maintained. If John Sheppard is now a firefighter, and a slightly more bitter and hardened version of himself, it can work as being bitter and hard calls to Season 1 Sheppard. However, making Sheppard a recluse, or overly agressive, or... whatever 'more or less', that borders on OOC in my mind. AU Sheppard must still be recognisably Sheppard.
And now may seem like a given, and it is, but it is suprisingly easy when writing an AU to lose sight of the core chracteristics of canon characters. Crossovers in particular have this tricky step to navigate. Especially as a crossover allows canon characters to interact with situations and characters they would not otherwise and thus rely on the writer to accurately portray their emotions and reactions.
A final note on this point is the oversimplification or reduction of canon characters into a mary sue stereotype. Huh? I hear you say. Say What? Yes, did you know that most characters in our shows are in fact borderline Mary Sues. Do yourself a favour and compare your fav character to a Mary Sue checklist. Sure, some of the extreme behaviour associated with Mary Sues are not applicable, but the tragic past, 'top notch' abilities, beauty/handsomeness, ability to fit it/stand out, etc, all fit Mary Sues. And it is very very easy for canon characters to slip all the way into Mary Sue-dom in AUs and Crossovers.
I was going to insert a few examples but they refer to actual crossovers I've read and since this is my opinion and may not be shared by you, I thought I rather leave it for you to agree or disagree. You might actually like that in a crossover so ...
2. Believability/Plausibility
Another given you might say and again you are right. The crossover needs to be believable and there are plenty of ways to make it so. Sci Fi and Supernatural shows have ample methods to hand wave fandoms together. And reality based shows like cop dramas, legal dramas, action shows etc, are very easy to fit together and have characters interact. Here's the tricky part: Show Canon/Lore.
This is particularly difficult with supernatural and sci fi shows as the lore of one show may contradict the canon/lore of the other. Vampires are the perfect example. Whedon vampires are very different from Moonlight, Twilight, Supernatural, etc etc. And in order to successfully (IMO) crossover those shows over you need to overwrite one canon with the other, and have one set of rules. Yeah, you could try make it work, stretch the reader a little, but it works better when all vampires can be killed the same way or have the same weaknesses/strenghts. So in a SPN/Buffy crossover, you apply Whedon rules to SPN, make a few SPN episodes AU and voila, believability.
This hurdle has less impact on reality based shows, as mentioned, but needs to be kept in mind as well, usually around fictional presidents, governors, etc, etc. Also, one show may accurately reflect police procedure and then you have CSI come in (which is not correct police procedure) and try merge the two... it becomes tricky. Likewise this applies to fictional agencies, divisions etc. A reader can believe a lot of things, but through too many hand waves or inconsistencies, and you risk loosing them.
3. The Catch Up
One of my favourites and one I am circling warily in chapter 7 of Here Tomorrow. The catch up simply means that in a crossover scenario when characters meet for the first time and interact, there is the requisite 'catch up' on necessary data for each team or individual to know where the others are coming from. And personally I dislike those sections of crossovers. When I read a NCIS/SPN crossover and there are pages and pages of dialogue explaining ghosts and demons etc, to the understandly and accurately ignorant NCIS team, I as a fan of SPN, lose interest, becuase I already know all this. I am more interested in getting on with the story then getting Gibbs caught up on ghosts, or seeing his reaction (or in Gibb's case non-reaction) to Dean's stories.
And this is really tricky problem because the other characters do need to be caught up. This is where the writer needs to get creative and fill in those gaps in as smooth a way as possible without boring fans, or being too vague and losing readers who don't know the other fandom well enough. I don't have a hard and fast technique or rule for this, as I am still figuring this out myself, but I find when I read crossovers where I don't know one fandom all that well, and if the writer treats me as an intelligent, smart reader, I can figure it out myself and they don't need to lay everything down for me, one step at a time. A good example is Reading's Criminal Minds/SPN crossover over on ff.net. Explanations are given, but handled in such a way that it feeds the story and is staggered. Give your readers (and by default your characters) enough info to build a rough idea and then leave it for the action and plot to fill in it. Seems to work.
4. The Mutual Appreciation Society
This is more of a pet peeve than a guide or rule but it also speaks to characterisation. I have noticed this 'flaw' in a few of the shows who had spin off shows introduced in an episode. Everyone got on, everyone admired eachother and thought very highly of the 'newbies'. Personally in the CSI Miami episode that introduced CSI NY, I would loved if it if Mac had called Horatio on his melodrama and posing.
I like conflict on screen or in a fic, because I feel it adds greater depth to a story. If everyone gets along, it makes things a little bland. In a professional environment, yes people will put aside personal differences and just work, but you don't have to like the person to do that. This is also why when I write crossovers there are no easy fixes, and there will always be personality conflicts. Heck, the resolution of those conflicts or agreed truces are half the fun.
5. - I don't have a 5 :) so please feel free to add your own
- on reviewing this, I realised that I can talk a load of crap :)