A Fanfictioneer's Guide on How to Write Crossovers

A Fanfictioneer's Guide on How to Write Crossovers

The response from the first one was good enough, so here I go again. May I recommend, for those of you who appreciate help on writing in general, the use of Limyaael's Rants on live journal? They can easily be found from the judicious use of google, or any search engine.

So. Crossovers. I doubt that any one of us hasn't, after watching a brace of science fiction movies in quick succession (or, indeed, having just watched two science fiction movies/games/books etc) thought something along the lines of "Hmm. Well, I do believe that it could make a most illuminating and entertaining read if X went to Y!" or words to that effect. So, many people have, and, as per usual, many mistakes have been made. Otherwise, I wouldn't have to write these Guides, would I?

So, these mistakes. There are probably too many to list, but the main ones are:

A Fandom is Overpowered/Underpowered

This is extremely common throughout every form of crossover fic, but especially (or so it seems to me) warhammer ones, where there are inevitably massive armies and fleets involved. This is applied at all levels and, more often than not, in favour of the non warhammer fandom. I have several personal theories about this: the Imperium is a dark and evil dictatorship, so it can't beat the democratic good guys; the Imperium has been technologically devolving for ten thousand years, so it can't beat the democratic good guys (wrong!); the Imperium has religion, so it's technologically crude, and so on.

This is not as such a tirade against all those stinking star wars/40k crossovers which feature the jedi killing all of Warhammer's greatest villains (Abaddon, say) and leaving without a scratch on them (although, Darth Malleus, it does annoy me by god.) What does annoy me, though, is that so much appears to be un researched, and non canonical, and so many other things that make the fanfic simply dull to read. Wouldn't it be better if the story really was a close fight to the end, with canon characters from both sides being killed off left right and centre; with thousands dying, guardsman and stormtrooper alike; with truly exciting duels between (say) a Warhound Titan and an AT-AT walker, all guns blazing, with both sides losing shields and armour, with mere mortals down below gazing up at the great, strobing flashes of laser and plasma. Wouldn't this be better than some of the trite stuff pouring out of our crossover writers?

The solution to this, I'm afraid, is to research. A lot. In War of the Universes (a new chapter is forthcoming, so don't worry!) I spent much of a day looking at the t'au codex, novels, First World War orders of battle (1904 ones were oddly hard to find), technology from both sides, what was happening in 1904, the types of rifles used by the Great Powers of Europe (note that America is not one of them yet), and all those innumerable other things that really put a story into its setting. And notice that it isn't all matters of war; again, there would be far more than differences in tactics that set fandoms apart (although in War of the Universes, part of the fun will probably be in seeing how armies from over a hundred years ago fight against the massively advanced technology and psychic powers of 40,000 years time. It will be a damn sight more pronounced than 40k vs Star Wars, I think. Just a little spoiler, there…) There will be differences in culture, in ways of speech (it is incredible how the English speaking Trekkies speak the same language as the Gothic speaking Imperials, who have innumerable dialects apart from their main one on all their different worlds), and in all those other things. To put it to you in a real world example, to be a Star Trek captain visiting the Imperium would be perhaps akin to an American University student, without any knowledge of local custom (and minimal arms and influence) visiting the Middle East. Such a meeting would not go anything like as smoothly as what happens in most fanfics. Putting the research into practice is just as essential. If necessary, cover your back in enormously comprehensive author's notes displaying every single fact or statistic that you'll need. Anything to avoid the legions of fans who read these things with fine tooth combs (like yours truly, it must be said) to grab any inconsistencies. Because, really, they stand out.

Once the new faction arrives, everything is solved

Virtually every crossover in warhammer that I have ever read features this. The Trekkies, Jedi, Imperial Soldiers, or whatever, go into the Imperium, miraculously get the Emperor and Primachs back on their feet, get the Imperium into a grand alliance (it is often called just that) with all the "nice" alien races (read: the ones with hot Farseers for Kirk to "get going" on, or anime style battlesuits to appease gundam fans), kill Abaddon, the chaos legions, the Dragon on Mars, the Chief Ecclesiarch of the Imperium (who never gets any thanks for maintaining faith in the Emperor, the only thing that's kept Imperial Worlds loyal, and Daemons at bay, for ten thousand years), the oppressive side of the Imperial regime, and Ghazkull Thraka, and, and-

Stop that. No, really, stop it right now.

Simply reducing a galaxy as complex as that of the Warhammer 40,000 Universe is, firstly, a waste of brilliant resources for drama and tension, and secondly plain unrealistic. The Imperium has had no great records of people writing prophecies, even in the Imperial days, and they aren't going to start the moment a lightsabre wielding buffoon in robes steps into the galactic stage. Judging by the way that pilgrims have queued for their entire lifetimes to get a pilgrimage to Terra (and even have been born in the queues), it is extremely unlikely that the Imperium are going to let some guy in PJs, brandishing unconsecrated technology, from a different galaxy that no one's heard of until a few months ago, and who has spent his time mouthing off the Imperial Creed into the Golden Throne Room. (I am looking at A New Age here.)

And don't get me started on all those grand alliances. Yes, the Eldar have been known to form military alliance with the Imperium, and yes, the T'au are not (by 40k standards) overtly hostile. But, on the other hand, both of those races would very much like to see the Imperium utterly devastated- the Eldar have been known to destroy an Imperial world because they have seen that someone on it may kill an elder- or under their control (the T'au have been expanding. Less bloodily than some, but still expanding.) They will not be convinced to ally forever if a robe wearing man walks in, adjusts his long hair, makes room for his green skinned, long eared, backward talking master, and tells them that, actually, the human race is now willing to team up after ten thousand years of hostility. They would probably shoot him on sight. The Imperium would be similarly unlikely to accept this state of affairs. Occasionally, we see a ship captain going on about Xenos Filth, but nothing more. The Imperium just blithely joins in. Now, think about the modern reaction that Christians- far less intolerant than the Imperium- have to homosexual or female priests- a far less monumental issue (please correct me if I'm wrong) than allying with aliens who have been out to kill them for thousands of years. Need I say more?

And as to the waste of good plot and drama. Wouldn't it be fun (I seem to have said this already) to watch the Star Wars guys muscling in for aggressive expansion of the Galactic Empire/ Republic, whilst the Imperium (with or without Primachs) encounters yet another enemy to deal with (and does so with all the appropriately enormous guns and Titans)? And having aliens plotting and scheming, with Orks charging at ranks of Stormtroopers, whilst T'au prepare to stab them in the back, and the Eldar forsee something mysterious about their leader with his hooded face and black cloak? To watch the Stormtroopers struggling to hold back a Necron assault without the benefits of psychics or heavy artillery? To have dramatic duels between an Inquisitor and Darth Vader, or an Imperial Crusade, heavily engaged with Chaos forces (possibly the Sabbat Worlds? Go, Gaunt, go!) attempting to guard their rear against a large foreign army? To have genuine tension in the alliance, with old feuds erupting into violence when the backs of High Command are turned?

I say yes, and that it would be a hell of a lot more in keeping with the canon, and, indeed, human nature. I don't want to reveal too much about War of the Universes (here I go again, blowing my own trumpet), but consider that the Martians are still there, that the T'au have only ever engaged the enemy after human forces had suffered heavy losses, that the Imperium is coming (with familiar faces and big guns) and that Lenin is trying to spark a Russian revolution…

It will be interesting, to say the least.

Forgetting to add more "conventional" ingredients.

Well. We have the Imperial Guardsmen blasting away at the oncoming Wookies with their lasguns, and enormous starships clashing in low orbit, and the Emperor rising (or not) from the golden throne.

What next?

Even by the fairly low standards of our esteemed website, Crossover fics often have a total lack of anything that can be called characterisation, drama, good description, or indeed anything that decent stories use. They just have vast armies and epic events going on in the background, and nothing in the foreground. The characters have nothing to distinguish each other save for their clothes and places of birth. More often than not, they're just all canon characters acting very little like they did in canon; or are essential archetypes (Imperial General, Heroic Space Marine, Hot Eldar Farseer, etc.) Similarly, descriptions boil down to something like this.

Admiral Angelus Imperialis: Wow! That ship is so tiny/huge/unlike our own.

Jedi Master Pretentious: How quaint. They have churches, and all these ancient things that we have forgotten in our modern age. Thank the Force!

Write the damn thing like it's a normal story, but with special subject matter. Use good grammar, dramatic description, human (if not biologically, then in the sense that they are realistic) characters (and have moments not exclusively devoted to action), and strong worldbuilding (if the Imperium is radically changed by the introduction of the Emperor, show how it was before, and afterwards. And show the bad bits too- all the sons and husbands conscripted to fight in the Imperial Guard, the damage from bombs and shells, and so on.)

That way, you won't have me on your back giving you long lists of grammatical errors, poorly chosen words, and so on. This profits everyone, I think.

Keep everything in character

When messing around with as many characters and suchlike as in a crossover, this is vital, too. I may have touched on this issue before at point 1, but I will do so again.

If you're employing canon characters, don't change them. Don't make Marneus Calgar suddenly turn tail and leg it, or Ciaphas Cain actually admit (if you use him, use first person, please) that he acted bravely and selflessly. Don't make the Imperium anything other than dark and oppressive, or the T'au anything other than outwardly good, but ever so slightly hypocritical and corrupt. This applies to all the canon involved. Stick to it, and the story will get that bit more engrossing and interesting.

And finally…

Explain as much as you can

I have used this myself. And it is not good. Having mysterious and coincidental warp rifts taking people to new places, or weird portals taking people back in time reddens and flicks eyes around uncertainly makes people roll their eyes from the word go. Similarly (to use the example of the great Vex Master) dumping loads of different canons into one grand empire to throw at the Imperium (when all of the canons are of the sort that don't look easy to over run themselves- starring in strategy games, for example), and THEN throwing another completely inappropriate canon into a weird role simply makes people lose all suspension of disbelief. And yes, I have reviewed it, but in the sort of way that I may watch Plan 9 From Outer Space: sort of to tick of the clichés, and watch loads of things getting shot. I like to think that the character I contributed is going to give it a touch of originality, but maybe that's too much to hope for…

So, there you have it. Crossovers. Not a complete guide, but a number of errors that can be corrected with comparative ease. If you have any other comments, please put them into the review section. It's rare that I get this many reviews one something (apart from crossovers or guides.)

I think that it'll be characterisation next, but if anyone has any preferences, I'll be happy to hear them.