First of all, what is a crossover? A crossover is a mash-up of two or more fandoms. You can combine just a few fandoms (Wholock, Superwholock, etc.), or you can go all out (for example, this fanfic). A crossover is not the same thing as an AU. For example, my fic The Once And Future Time Lord is a multi-fandom AU because while there are elements of Doctor Who, they are assumed to have always been there. A crossover takes the characters of one world and inserts them into another, while still retaining the memory of their original story (unless there's a memory loss trope or something). A multi-fandom AU takes one fandom and changes it so that it's part of another fandom. Fanfics where characters from one fandom are students at Hogwarts (like this fanfic) are a good example of this type of AU.
So now that you know what a crossover is, let's get to crossover fanfics. What should you keep in mind when writing them? Well besides the usual fanfiction tips, it's important to think about how your fandoms mesh. Wholock is a common crossover because the two fandoms are similar: eccentric genius outsmarts bad guys with the help of his friends. (They're also both set in the modern world.) However, if you wanted to combine the Avengers and My Little Pony, that would be a bit harder. (A quick google search reveals that fanfiction for this crossover does exist, and here's an example.)
There are a few other things to consider when writing crossover fanfics:
- How many fandoms are you including? Try to keep it to just a few fandoms, else you'll risk complicating your fanfic and seriously limiting your number of readers.
- How many characters are you including? Like fandoms, if you include too many your story will get cluttered.
- How do your characters meet? Are they old friends? Do they randomly happen to run into each other? Is there some sort of crisis that brings them together?
- How do the worlds connect? Have both universes co-exist, do the characters live in the same universe, or does something cause the universes to come together/the characters to be transported to each other?
- Are your characters interacting reasonably? Is any character monopolizing the story, or is any character just sort of... there (invisibility level: Mickey Smith)?
- How is canon affected? Is it canon divergence, or is canon altered to explain how the fandoms are connected?
- Make sure your characters stay in character. OOC characters are a common problem with crossovers. It is justifiable to change a character somewhat to make them fit in with the other fandom(s), but you need to make sure that the essence of his/her personality remains the same. You could intentionally make characters be OOC, but I wouldn't recommend it.
And now that I've given you advice, I'll share my own crossover fanfics:
Wholock (Doctor Who and Sherlock crossover)
- An Interesting Case
- This is my first Wholock story (and my first fanfiction). In this one, Sherlock is asked to interrogate a mysterious witness who proves to be just as interesting as the case itself, and they go on an adventure together.
- The Search For Father
- This is a story for all of you who were frustrated when we saw that Jenny (from "The Doctor's Daughter") was alive, only to never see her again. I mean seriously. She never even gets a spin-off show! So, I wrote a story in which she goes off looking for her dad and enlists the help of Sherlock Holmes.
- Call In The Expert
- "When the police are out of their depth, they consult me," Sherlock had said. But what about when Sherlock was out of his depth? What then? That's when it's time to ask an even greater genius for help. Sherlock must call in the expert.
- When Justice Is Treason
- The Master and Moriarty. A deadly duo. With the help of the Archangel network, they control all of England. So when the few people who know the truth try to stop them, it is treason. Will they succeed? Or will Prime Minister Harold Saxon and King Moriarty continue their reign of terror?
- You Matter
- Sometimes characters have things going pretty rough for them. And sometimes their friends and family can't console them. But what about if somebody totally different were to come in? This is how characters would take care of each other in a Wholock universe.
- On this blog: chapters 1 2 3
Other Crossovers
- Use The Force (or the Mind Palace)
- Remember the first time Luke used the Force? What did he actually see? What if he visited Sherlock's mind palace? Strange concept, I know, but the idea came into my head and wouldn't go away. (It's more of a series than a cohesive story.) Feel free to tell me what character you'd like to see next.
- On this blog: chapters 2 3
- You Are Not Alone: The Search For The Other Time Lords
- The Twelfth Doctor feels as though he is all alone, until his daughter Jenny comes to him, telling him that she has found a way to locate other Time Lords. She tells him that he is not the only one. Together, they go out to find the rest.
- Rating: G
- On this blog: chapters 1 2 3
And a few great crossover fanvids:
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