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Crack fic fusion has gone and developed sections. And I think the Epic dial got broken somewhere around "11".
It's been a long time since a story has eaten my brain in such a way.
One of the interesting things about writing fusions rather than crossovers is that characterization needs to play out a little differently. By strict definition, or rather, the definition I use, a crossover takes two distinct universes and makes the characters meet up as if it was a single universe. The characters themselves are relatively unchanged from their canon selves. A fusion, on the other hand, takes the two universes and replaces one set of characters with the other, generally keeping the setting and rest of the universe unchanged.
For example, one of the reasons why Welcome to the Universe, Doctor Jackson was so hard to categorize is because it is sort of both, but probably closer to crossover. Sam's the only one different in that 'verse; Daniel himself is the same one as canon. As far as he's concerned, he's in a crossover. :)
But Sam in that story would be more like a fusion, because she had the difficulty I keep finding is inherent in fusions. The characters must still sound and act like, to the extent that they are able, their canon selves. But because we are shaped by our experiences, and those experiences are fundamentally different in a fusion, they are not the same people as they are in their respective canons.
Possibly this is because my watershed experience with the genre was Daniel Snyder's Fane of the Firebird (it's rather hard to find these days, but I think that link works), a Neon Genesis Evangelion/Revolutionary Girl Utena fusion, with the NGE characters as students. I read it years ago, and maybe I'm looking at it through nostalgia glasses, but I still feel like that's my high bar. In my memory, it managed to bow to both series' mythos, and yet kept the characters fairly recognizable as themselves.
And as I'm writing this particular fusion, the 'gateverse/Iron Man one, I'm again struck by the line characterization has to walk. Some are easy to keep sounding like themselves (Cam), and some it's incredibly difficult (Sam). It's really quite fascinating to see how even small changes to a character's history (or a person's, for that matter), can propagate downwards and multiply until suddenly you are looking at a very different character than the one you started with. And the crazy part is that the process is all organic if you follow it down, so the trick is then making sure that this doesn't end up looking wildly out of character somehow. So you start dropping hints of backstory and suddenly the story just keeps expending because you need to back these characterizations up.
It's like you're somewhere between original fiction, where you have to do all the world-building and foundations for characterization, and pure canon fanfic, where you have the benefit of all the world-building and character backstory already laid out for you and your audience. One's not better than the other, but I'm finding I need the tools from both toolboxes to deal. It's an interesting experience.
It's been a long time since a story has eaten my brain in such a way.
One of the interesting things about writing fusions rather than crossovers is that characterization needs to play out a little differently. By strict definition, or rather, the definition I use, a crossover takes two distinct universes and makes the characters meet up as if it was a single universe. The characters themselves are relatively unchanged from their canon selves. A fusion, on the other hand, takes the two universes and replaces one set of characters with the other, generally keeping the setting and rest of the universe unchanged.
For example, one of the reasons why Welcome to the Universe, Doctor Jackson was so hard to categorize is because it is sort of both, but probably closer to crossover. Sam's the only one different in that 'verse; Daniel himself is the same one as canon. As far as he's concerned, he's in a crossover. :)
But Sam in that story would be more like a fusion, because she had the difficulty I keep finding is inherent in fusions. The characters must still sound and act like, to the extent that they are able, their canon selves. But because we are shaped by our experiences, and those experiences are fundamentally different in a fusion, they are not the same people as they are in their respective canons.
Possibly this is because my watershed experience with the genre was Daniel Snyder's Fane of the Firebird (it's rather hard to find these days, but I think that link works), a Neon Genesis Evangelion/Revolutionary Girl Utena fusion, with the NGE characters as students. I read it years ago, and maybe I'm looking at it through nostalgia glasses, but I still feel like that's my high bar. In my memory, it managed to bow to both series' mythos, and yet kept the characters fairly recognizable as themselves.
And as I'm writing this particular fusion, the 'gateverse/Iron Man one, I'm again struck by the line characterization has to walk. Some are easy to keep sounding like themselves (Cam), and some it's incredibly difficult (Sam). It's really quite fascinating to see how even small changes to a character's history (or a person's, for that matter), can propagate downwards and multiply until suddenly you are looking at a very different character than the one you started with. And the crazy part is that the process is all organic if you follow it down, so the trick is then making sure that this doesn't end up looking wildly out of character somehow. So you start dropping hints of backstory and suddenly the story just keeps expending because you need to back these characterizations up.
It's like you're somewhere between original fiction, where you have to do all the world-building and foundations for characterization, and pure canon fanfic, where you have the benefit of all the world-building and character backstory already laid out for you and your audience. One's not better than the other, but I'm finding I need the tools from both toolboxes to deal. It's an interesting experience.
Fane of the Firebird
Re: Fane of the Firebird
You know, one of these days, I should finish watching Utena. I got to the Black Rose arc and ended up stopping for some reason about midway through. And then watched the movie, which went WAY off my WTF-meter.
Evangelion/His Dark Materials? Oooh boy...