Crossovering 2017: Dear Author Letter
Jul. 25th, 2017 11:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
maidenjediOh my. A whole fic exchange for crossovers?! This is amazing!!
So, dear author, let's talk shop. A few generalities first. I would love, love, love for you to mess with timelines for these crossovers, to make the characters similar ages; obviously for a fusion, it isn't necessary. I like world-building, stories that take place in unexpected places or that include some detail about surroundings. I like character-driven stories, ones that include backstory or off-screen speculation and events. I'm fond of secondary and minor characters, their perspectives on the bigger events. I like main characters, too, and getting different viewpoints from them. Angst is my cup of tea, though not sexual violence of any kind. (Speaking of sex - consensual, vanilla, and het or femslash is my preference, if you go there). I really enjoy friendship stories or stories that deal with non-romantic aspects of a relationship that may BE romantic later (UST is awesome, and kinda hot! Team-building is awesome!) DNWs: fridging; coffee shop, high school or modern AU; horror tropes in a non-horror fandom.
Some ideas/prompts/specifics under the cut. These are just ideas to get you started, but if you've got something else entirely in mind, please go with it!! Thank you, dear author, for doing this exchange! I can't wait to see what you come up with!
Field of Dreams (1989), A League of Their Own (1992)
What if, down the road, someone was called to build a baseball field for the women of the AAGPBL? Or, what if Dottie Hinson, or any of the other women, feels pulled to Iowa and is asked at some point to come down and play with Shoeless Joe? What if Jimmy Dugan is there, playing? What if it isn't Terrance Mann (or, if you've read the novel, J.D. Salinger) that Ray Kinsella goes to find, but a bitter Mae Mordabito or Ellen Sue Gottlander?
I'm a baseball fan and love baseball fiction, but if you're not particularly into baseball, building a story that's purely character-driven works just fine, too.
Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
You'll probably have to mess with timelines here - or not! Some ideas: There's an entrance to Narnia in Hogwarts, and Luna finds it and meets Aravis or the Pevensies on the other side. Hermione is a descendant of Susan Pevensie and finds out about Narnia in the Restricted Section. Susan and Lucy return from Narnia and receive letters from Hogwarts. Susan encounters Minerva McGonagall and they begin a famous friendship, how does it benefit them both? Susan discovers she is a witch after her time in Narnia but has missed the Hogwarts cut-off, or, for reasons of mystery, she isn't on the list. Does she learn magic on her own, does she meet McGonagall or perhaps Amelia Bones years later? Is she, by circumstance, a Dark witch? Queen Helen at Hogwarts as a girl, meeting old comrades in Narnia. Luna and Hermione trip into Narnia and find themselves on the thrones meant for Susan and Lucy. Aravis takes trips through a portal that opens into the Forbidden Forest - what does she find there? Aravis, Susan, Lucy, and Queen Helen as portraits at Hogwarts.
Or: Hogwarts IS Narnia. Discuss. :-)
Downton Abbey, Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
I saw these two fandoms in the tagset and immediately thought - Matthew Crawley isn't dead, he's in Scotland circa 1747!
Wishful thinking is what crossovers are for, right?
Okay, some thoughts here. Lady Rosamund has a secret past that includes a trip through Craigh na Dun; she's met any of the characters from Outlander, but maybe in particular she has a fling with Jamie Fraser? Let's say Matthew is time-traveling somehow; does he meet and woo Brianna? Geillis Duncan and Rose MacClare - maybe Geillis as a wee girl has some kind of encounter with Rose. On a trip to Scotland, Mary has to chase down a wayward Sybil, and finds her at Craigh na Dun at Samhain - one or both of them go through the stones and finds Jamie or Claire or both. Jamie goes through the stones in an attempt to find Claire (or, before he meets Claire at all) and finds himself at Downton through some set of circumstances, and he's an immediate rival for either Matthew or Branson (or, he's in London, and taken into the household of Lady Rosamund). Claire Beauchamp and Mary Crawley are good friends in the 20th century, for one reason or another (change the timelines, age Mary down or Claire up, or maybe the timeline stands and Mary knows Claire during the war because of George). Sybil Crawley and Geillis Duncan up to subversive Jacobite nonsense (before the reveal about Geillis' motives, or, maybe she's just as she appears, a radical who found some magic; I would prefer an idealistic, non-evil Sybil). Rose as a descendant of Clan MacKenzie?
It - Stephen King, The X-Files
Again with the timelines needing some massaging for some of this.
Fox Mulder, charter member of the Losers' Club.
Dana Scully, good friend to Kay McCall and Beverly Rogan.
Mulder and Scully investigate a string of child murders in Derry, Maine. Mulder overidentifies as always and finds a kindred spirit in Bill Denbrough.
Arthur Dales investigates the murders of George Denbrough, Eddie Corcoran, and Patrick Hockstetter in real time. The case becomes a cornerstone for the original X-Files division.
Scully meets Beverly during an investigation of a similar case in another state. Before or after the final encounter with It.
Dana Scully, charter member of the Losers' Club.
Mulder and Scully investigate mystery in Derry, Maine, but don't encounter the Losers in person because it is years later. Maybe their tip comes from someone who was around back then? Do they track down Mike Hanlon or Richie Tozier?
Ben and Bev believe they have experienced missing time and go to Mulder and Scully for help. Mulder finds out about Pennywise.
So, dear author, let's talk shop. A few generalities first. I would love, love, love for you to mess with timelines for these crossovers, to make the characters similar ages; obviously for a fusion, it isn't necessary. I like world-building, stories that take place in unexpected places or that include some detail about surroundings. I like character-driven stories, ones that include backstory or off-screen speculation and events. I'm fond of secondary and minor characters, their perspectives on the bigger events. I like main characters, too, and getting different viewpoints from them. Angst is my cup of tea, though not sexual violence of any kind. (Speaking of sex - consensual, vanilla, and het or femslash is my preference, if you go there). I really enjoy friendship stories or stories that deal with non-romantic aspects of a relationship that may BE romantic later (UST is awesome, and kinda hot! Team-building is awesome!) DNWs: fridging; coffee shop, high school or modern AU; horror tropes in a non-horror fandom.
Some ideas/prompts/specifics under the cut. These are just ideas to get you started, but if you've got something else entirely in mind, please go with it!! Thank you, dear author, for doing this exchange! I can't wait to see what you come up with!
Field of Dreams (1989), A League of Their Own (1992)
What if, down the road, someone was called to build a baseball field for the women of the AAGPBL? Or, what if Dottie Hinson, or any of the other women, feels pulled to Iowa and is asked at some point to come down and play with Shoeless Joe? What if Jimmy Dugan is there, playing? What if it isn't Terrance Mann (or, if you've read the novel, J.D. Salinger) that Ray Kinsella goes to find, but a bitter Mae Mordabito or Ellen Sue Gottlander?
I'm a baseball fan and love baseball fiction, but if you're not particularly into baseball, building a story that's purely character-driven works just fine, too.
Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
You'll probably have to mess with timelines here - or not! Some ideas: There's an entrance to Narnia in Hogwarts, and Luna finds it and meets Aravis or the Pevensies on the other side. Hermione is a descendant of Susan Pevensie and finds out about Narnia in the Restricted Section. Susan and Lucy return from Narnia and receive letters from Hogwarts. Susan encounters Minerva McGonagall and they begin a famous friendship, how does it benefit them both? Susan discovers she is a witch after her time in Narnia but has missed the Hogwarts cut-off, or, for reasons of mystery, she isn't on the list. Does she learn magic on her own, does she meet McGonagall or perhaps Amelia Bones years later? Is she, by circumstance, a Dark witch? Queen Helen at Hogwarts as a girl, meeting old comrades in Narnia. Luna and Hermione trip into Narnia and find themselves on the thrones meant for Susan and Lucy. Aravis takes trips through a portal that opens into the Forbidden Forest - what does she find there? Aravis, Susan, Lucy, and Queen Helen as portraits at Hogwarts.
Or: Hogwarts IS Narnia. Discuss. :-)
Downton Abbey, Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
I saw these two fandoms in the tagset and immediately thought - Matthew Crawley isn't dead, he's in Scotland circa 1747!
Wishful thinking is what crossovers are for, right?
Okay, some thoughts here. Lady Rosamund has a secret past that includes a trip through Craigh na Dun; she's met any of the characters from Outlander, but maybe in particular she has a fling with Jamie Fraser? Let's say Matthew is time-traveling somehow; does he meet and woo Brianna? Geillis Duncan and Rose MacClare - maybe Geillis as a wee girl has some kind of encounter with Rose. On a trip to Scotland, Mary has to chase down a wayward Sybil, and finds her at Craigh na Dun at Samhain - one or both of them go through the stones and finds Jamie or Claire or both. Jamie goes through the stones in an attempt to find Claire (or, before he meets Claire at all) and finds himself at Downton through some set of circumstances, and he's an immediate rival for either Matthew or Branson (or, he's in London, and taken into the household of Lady Rosamund). Claire Beauchamp and Mary Crawley are good friends in the 20th century, for one reason or another (change the timelines, age Mary down or Claire up, or maybe the timeline stands and Mary knows Claire during the war because of George). Sybil Crawley and Geillis Duncan up to subversive Jacobite nonsense (before the reveal about Geillis' motives, or, maybe she's just as she appears, a radical who found some magic; I would prefer an idealistic, non-evil Sybil). Rose as a descendant of Clan MacKenzie?
It - Stephen King, The X-Files
Again with the timelines needing some massaging for some of this.
Fox Mulder, charter member of the Losers' Club.
Dana Scully, good friend to Kay McCall and Beverly Rogan.
Mulder and Scully investigate a string of child murders in Derry, Maine. Mulder overidentifies as always and finds a kindred spirit in Bill Denbrough.
Arthur Dales investigates the murders of George Denbrough, Eddie Corcoran, and Patrick Hockstetter in real time. The case becomes a cornerstone for the original X-Files division.
Scully meets Beverly during an investigation of a similar case in another state. Before or after the final encounter with It.
Dana Scully, charter member of the Losers' Club.
Mulder and Scully investigate mystery in Derry, Maine, but don't encounter the Losers in person because it is years later. Maybe their tip comes from someone who was around back then? Do they track down Mike Hanlon or Richie Tozier?
Ben and Bev believe they have experienced missing time and go to Mulder and Scully for help. Mulder finds out about Pennywise.
