philippos42 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
philippos42) wrote2014-01-20 05:58 pm
philippos42) wrote2014-01-20 05:58 pm
Rules for good cross-over fiction — a suggested topic
misterandersen suggested, "Rules for good cross-over fiction (of the two or more different fictional franchises meeting up and adventuring together variety)." I have been putting it off, because I'm not sure what to say.
My first thought was, "There are rules?" Well, of course there are rules for "good" crossovers. If you're just writing crackfic, you can do what you please; but if you want people to like it, that's different.
Also, if it's wild crackfic, or expies, you can do what you want. It might be crap, but you can do it. But if it's at all meant to seem in continuity, then it gets a lot trickier.
I think there are a few main rules:
One: Respect your source material enough to gain the respect you want from fans of the source material. If you want to mock something in a crackfic, that's different than if you're doing an authorized crossover, or if you're doing a fic and you want fans of the source material to see what you're putting out as thematically appropriate.
And some crossovers can't fully work. "Dora the Explorer goes to R'lyeh," can be done in a Cthulhu-mythos way and not be a proper Dora story, or a Dora way and not be a proper Cthulhu mythos story. Having it serve fully as both may simply not be workable.
Two: Use the characters as themselves, give us a reason to take these as the characters, or don't bother. Give us a reason you're using these characters together. Let there be a reason to make it a crossover! If your "Lady Gaga in Hogwarts" story is very Hogwarts and not Gaga at all, why bother?
A Batman/Almost Human team-up where Batman is played as just another cop isn't a Batman story. A Batman/Almost Human team-up where Batman is acting like just another cop while undercover for some reason might (only might) be. Just slapping a name and face on a character doesn't make it that character. Make up your own character name and stuff if you're just making up your own character.
Three: You don't break things in a way that doesn't make sense, and you don't stick major premise changes or even plot developments in the wrong place. A crackfic crossover with My Little Pony is not a good place to have your superhero's parent die. Heck, a Justice League story may be the wrong place to have a superhero's parent die, if that hero is not a Leaguer, and has his own book, Meltzer.
Four: Cameos are fun, but they barely count as crossovers. It can be fun to have the Authority's Engineer pop up in a crowd scene, but if that's all she does, that's not an Engineer crossover. It's a cameo.
Five: Let there be a reason to read this crossover story. Like any story, there has to be something worth reading. If your characters are just repeating things they did and said in the source material, there may be not enough new to bother. If the characters' behavior makes no sense, there may not be enough logic to care. If your story would make more sense as two pin-ups sitting next to each other on a shelf, just do that.
. . .
I don't know, this one was hard for me. See you Wednesday, maybe.
My first thought was, "There are rules?" Well, of course there are rules for "good" crossovers. If you're just writing crackfic, you can do what you please; but if you want people to like it, that's different.
Also, if it's wild crackfic, or expies, you can do what you want. It might be crap, but you can do it. But if it's at all meant to seem in continuity, then it gets a lot trickier.
I think there are a few main rules:
One: Respect your source material enough to gain the respect you want from fans of the source material. If you want to mock something in a crackfic, that's different than if you're doing an authorized crossover, or if you're doing a fic and you want fans of the source material to see what you're putting out as thematically appropriate.
And some crossovers can't fully work. "Dora the Explorer goes to R'lyeh," can be done in a Cthulhu-mythos way and not be a proper Dora story, or a Dora way and not be a proper Cthulhu mythos story. Having it serve fully as both may simply not be workable.
Two: Use the characters as themselves, give us a reason to take these as the characters, or don't bother. Give us a reason you're using these characters together. Let there be a reason to make it a crossover! If your "Lady Gaga in Hogwarts" story is very Hogwarts and not Gaga at all, why bother?
A Batman/Almost Human team-up where Batman is played as just another cop isn't a Batman story. A Batman/Almost Human team-up where Batman is acting like just another cop while undercover for some reason might (only might) be. Just slapping a name and face on a character doesn't make it that character. Make up your own character name and stuff if you're just making up your own character.
Three: You don't break things in a way that doesn't make sense, and you don't stick major premise changes or even plot developments in the wrong place. A crackfic crossover with My Little Pony is not a good place to have your superhero's parent die. Heck, a Justice League story may be the wrong place to have a superhero's parent die, if that hero is not a Leaguer, and has his own book, Meltzer.
Four: Cameos are fun, but they barely count as crossovers. It can be fun to have the Authority's Engineer pop up in a crowd scene, but if that's all she does, that's not an Engineer crossover. It's a cameo.
Five: Let there be a reason to read this crossover story. Like any story, there has to be something worth reading. If your characters are just repeating things they did and said in the source material, there may be not enough new to bother. If the characters' behavior makes no sense, there may not be enough logic to care. If your story would make more sense as two pin-ups sitting next to each other on a shelf, just do that.
. . .
I don't know, this one was hard for me. See you Wednesday, maybe.