WWW: Crossing Over with Harry Potter
Mar. 6th, 2003 02:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sarea
Is Harry Potter the only fandom you participate in? If you could read (or write) a crossover of HP w/ any other fandom, which would it be and why?
Prior to HP, I was heavily involved w/ XF fic (writing under a different name), and didn't have much room for other interests. Since the XF thing has faded away, it's been supplemented with many other interests: HP, Angel, Buffy, Smallville, Roswell. I've never written fanfic for Angel, Buffy, or Roswell, though I have read some pieces here and there.
It's funny, because a lot of people have said that they don't like crossovers ... and then they qualify that statement by saying that it's because they're typically not very good. And I have to agree. Yet there's an idealistic part of me that thinks just because it's hasn't been done, doesn't mean it *can't* be done. In other words, the mediocrity -- if we want to call it that -- of crossover fiction isn't due to the fact of it *being* a crossover fic, but because the right one hasn't been written yet. Or maybe a "good" example is hard to find because of the inherent complexities involved in writing and/or reading crossover fic.
If you're like me, it's hard enough to find a well-written, interesting story that has the "right" elements just within one particular fandom. Add a whole other fandom in there, and that automatically doubles the complexity, and comes with the added burden of making it all fit together. As a reader, it is natural and easy to be critical of any/all of this -- one wrong move and the story has "failed" us. Unfortunately for your typical crossover fic, there are many places in which to lose a reader. It's simply too hard -- or even impossible? -- for a writer to write a good crossover fic. Maybe good writers know that, and that's why you don't see many of them. Or maybe the payoff isn't worth it. You put in all the time and effort, and yet you're going to lose most of your audience anyway by virtue of different tastes and preferences. That would mean that crossover fics are inferior just by *being* crossover fics. But I've already said that I don't believe that.
I *do* believe that it's much harder to be successful with a crossover than you would be to just stick with one fandom. And maybe there *have* been really good crossovers written -- but for one reason or another would not appeal to us (maybe it was crossed over with a fandom we have absolute zero interest in; maybe we didn't like one of the ship pairings). That's really the heart of this issue, I think; not only finding a well-written crossover, but also one which elements match your preferences in every way. But I haven't given up yet.
Jade and I have toyed with the idea of writing crossovers many times, simply because we have many of the same interests and it amuses us to think of all of our favorite characters interacting in the same world. It'd be *fun*. But we do realize that if we were to write such a thing, we'd have to basically do it only for ourselves, because we won't be able to please everyone. We've discussed a Big Crazy Crossover Extravaganza (tm) in which we take nearly *all* the fandoms we're interested in and try to craft a cohesive story using those characters. But say we decide to use the following pairings:
Draco/Ginny
Harry/Hermione
Buffy/Angel
Michael/Liz
Lex/Lana
How many people would be offended by/disinterested in one or more of those? Likely, a lot of people. It'd be pretty darn difficult to find a bunch of people out there who share *exactly* the same ship preferences with us (and we don't even have the same ship preferences between the two of us; we just compromise), or rather, that we would write about. There are definitely those out there who would be game enough to give it a try, who don't have particular ship loyalties or whatever, but bless you people, there are so few of you out there. We can't even count ourselves amongst you.
So ... I haven't given up on the idea of reading a "good" crossover, or writing a good one, but I understand why it's not attempted more often. Plus there's part of me that just wants to keep all the characters in their unique and disparate universes; they don't necessarily mesh, and the "forced" feel I sometimes get when I encounter a crossover is partly what turns me off. Currently, I'd probably be most open to HP crossed over w/ Buffy, if only because, for me, the two universes wouldn't immediately contradict one another. But I'm sure there are those who would not agree. ; )
Sarea
Prior to HP, I was heavily involved w/ XF fic (writing under a different name), and didn't have much room for other interests. Since the XF thing has faded away, it's been supplemented with many other interests: HP, Angel, Buffy, Smallville, Roswell. I've never written fanfic for Angel, Buffy, or Roswell, though I have read some pieces here and there.
It's funny, because a lot of people have said that they don't like crossovers ... and then they qualify that statement by saying that it's because they're typically not very good. And I have to agree. Yet there's an idealistic part of me that thinks just because it's hasn't been done, doesn't mean it *can't* be done. In other words, the mediocrity -- if we want to call it that -- of crossover fiction isn't due to the fact of it *being* a crossover fic, but because the right one hasn't been written yet. Or maybe a "good" example is hard to find because of the inherent complexities involved in writing and/or reading crossover fic.
If you're like me, it's hard enough to find a well-written, interesting story that has the "right" elements just within one particular fandom. Add a whole other fandom in there, and that automatically doubles the complexity, and comes with the added burden of making it all fit together. As a reader, it is natural and easy to be critical of any/all of this -- one wrong move and the story has "failed" us. Unfortunately for your typical crossover fic, there are many places in which to lose a reader. It's simply too hard -- or even impossible? -- for a writer to write a good crossover fic. Maybe good writers know that, and that's why you don't see many of them. Or maybe the payoff isn't worth it. You put in all the time and effort, and yet you're going to lose most of your audience anyway by virtue of different tastes and preferences. That would mean that crossover fics are inferior just by *being* crossover fics. But I've already said that I don't believe that.
I *do* believe that it's much harder to be successful with a crossover than you would be to just stick with one fandom. And maybe there *have* been really good crossovers written -- but for one reason or another would not appeal to us (maybe it was crossed over with a fandom we have absolute zero interest in; maybe we didn't like one of the ship pairings). That's really the heart of this issue, I think; not only finding a well-written crossover, but also one which elements match your preferences in every way. But I haven't given up yet.
Jade and I have toyed with the idea of writing crossovers many times, simply because we have many of the same interests and it amuses us to think of all of our favorite characters interacting in the same world. It'd be *fun*. But we do realize that if we were to write such a thing, we'd have to basically do it only for ourselves, because we won't be able to please everyone. We've discussed a Big Crazy Crossover Extravaganza (tm) in which we take nearly *all* the fandoms we're interested in and try to craft a cohesive story using those characters. But say we decide to use the following pairings:
Draco/Ginny
Harry/Hermione
Buffy/Angel
Michael/Liz
Lex/Lana
How many people would be offended by/disinterested in one or more of those? Likely, a lot of people. It'd be pretty darn difficult to find a bunch of people out there who share *exactly* the same ship preferences with us (and we don't even have the same ship preferences between the two of us; we just compromise), or rather, that we would write about. There are definitely those out there who would be game enough to give it a try, who don't have particular ship loyalties or whatever, but bless you people, there are so few of you out there. We can't even count ourselves amongst you.
So ... I haven't given up on the idea of reading a "good" crossover, or writing a good one, but I understand why it's not attempted more often. Plus there's part of me that just wants to keep all the characters in their unique and disparate universes; they don't necessarily mesh, and the "forced" feel I sometimes get when I encounter a crossover is partly what turns me off. Currently, I'd probably be most open to HP crossed over w/ Buffy, if only because, for me, the two universes wouldn't immediately contradict one another. But I'm sure there are those who would not agree. ; )
Sarea
