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graycardinalLong letter is long; it's kind of a feature for this exchange, and also of the way I build requests for it. I am contemplating ways around the issue, but in the interests of posting while the iron is hot, for this year the Epic remains an Epic.
First, of all, thank you. This is, I think, up at the advanced-mastery level of fic exchanges, and I am grateful to anyone who braves its challenges. And of course it's also one of my favorite exchanges - crossovers are a big part of my fanfictional universe as both a reader and writer, and I'm always delighted to have an excuse to jump into this briar patch.
So: let the Epic begin.
Why I'm Here
Three words: flexibility, challenge, and surprise.
As a writer, I come for the challenge. While I’m careful to offer for fandoms I know I can write, I tend to offer them in combinations that I also know will stretch my internal idea generator and my storytelling muscles. And I’ve offered – and will continue to offer – fandoms in clusters of four to six so that I absolutely won’t know ahead of time what my matches will look like. Much of the fun for me is in the range of what I might be asked to do. I want to be surprised by my recipient’s requests, and by the nature of the specific challenge facing me in any given year. Up to now, specific matching protocols notwithstanding, there’ve usually been several options open to me from among my recipients’ requests, and I hope that remains true this time around.
As a requester, I come bearing flexibility. As with offers, I tend to cluster my requests in groups of four to six, because – again, notwithstanding the specific match AO3’s Sorting Hat may generate – I want you to have choices too. In a way, I think of this as the thematic opposite of Yuletide, where we often do request specific heart-fandoms and hope for particular elements in the stories arising from them. Here, I am looking not for the story I’d write, or even the story I’d most like to read – rather, I’m looking for the story a given pair of crossed fandoms makes you write, because that’s most likely to be one I would never have thought of.
Thus, as both a writer and reader, I come to Crossworks for the surprise. I enjoy being surprised by the stories my muse draws from the match(es) I’m handed, and I very much enjoy being surprised by the stories your muse draws from the one(s) I’ve supplied for you. This is why I tend to give broad, general prompts rather than specific ones for this exchange. Having said that: if you would like more specific prompts than what I’ve supplied, please contact the mods, and I will cheerfully amplify on any of my individual request-clusters – which won’t spoil any surprises on either end, since only you will know the specific combo on which the original match was made.
Likes & Dislikes My tastes in fic are wide and eclectic -- I read and enjoy gen, het, and slash (both flavors) at all ratings and have very few outright squicks aside from noncon, incest, and adult-child kink, but I am not typically attracted to stories for erotic content or angst quotient. Rather, I like good characterization, authentic-sounding dialogue, effectively sneaky plotting, and well-developed wit. I am equally intrigued by clever use of canon and thoughtfully developed AUs, and I am disturbingly fond of crossovers [obvious much?] and well-woven meta threads.
As to romance: where crossovers are concerned, I'm hardly ever drawn to write one for pairing-related purposes, and within individual fandoms I normally gravitate to canon-consistent pairings -- but in the crossovers I read, I've been wowed by a startling range of intriguing cross-fannish relationships (up to and including Buffy Summers and a Ninja Turtle. That said, I add the observation that in my book, well-sustained UST (heavy on the T) is often as good as or better than actual sex, in crossovers as well as canonical relationships.
Broadly speaking, my interests run more toward crossovers than to fusions - although technically, quite a lot of my own work occupies the fuzzy middle of that diagram (that is, where both source canons exist "side by side" in the same background world, often with one source timeline shifted to some degree to allow the characters to encounter each other at a particular point in the merged timeline). That said, I’m absolutely not opposed to fusions, especially in some cases; there will be more about that in the request-cluster notes. And it's definitely true that my own writing also reflects the kinds of things I like to read; my AO3 archive is here, and you're welcome to prowl.
Fandom-Specific Notes In the interests of both time and space, I'm omitting this section in this particular letter, and suggesting instead that writers look either to past iterations of this particular letter (tagged both as "dear santa" and by exchange name), or to my published AO3 works for a sense of my tastes with respect to particular fandoms.
I am contemplating putting together a master "fandom index" post or archive that would gather in easily linkable form the sorts of general notes I've written (and subsequently cribbed) for prior rounds, but that will take time and brain to organize that I just don't have spoons for right now.
If you do have questions that aren't answered here or in an easily findable predecessor post, absolutely ping our mutual moderator, and I promise to respond as usefully as I can.
Requests
#1: Modern Mischief Carmen Sandiego (2019) • Castle • Gargoyles • Stargate SG-1 • Young Wizards - Duane
I honestly didn't realize till I started building out this letter than this first request is almost identical to my first from last year (minus a certain part-time CIA operative). As I observed then, three of these are firmly grounded in modern New York, and the others are geographically mobile, so no two should be difficult to shove into each other's orbits - what's entertaining is what happens when they intersect.
Key questions to ask: who in any of the other canons may already be a practicing wizard who's sworn the Oath and packs a manual? What if Castle had fixated on Elisa Maza rather than Kate Beckett? Could David Xanatos successfully pull one of his gambits on the Goa'uld (and/or how scary would it be for him to partner with Vala on some project or other)? Suppose Carmen and Vala find themselves going after the same McGuffin? Might Carmen lure Alexis Castle into a life of not-exactly-crime?
Other characters to look at for crossover potential: Martha from Castle, Macbeth and/or Owen from Gargoyles, Daniel Jackson from SG-1, Carmela from Young Wizards. (With specific regard to Martha and Macbeth, I would be mightily amused by the notion that Macbeth is actually Castle's father in that AU.)
#2: Doing It Old-School Miraculous Ladybug • Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century • Star Trek: Rihannsu - Diane Duane • Stargate SG-1 • Tomorrowland (2015)
This one is something of a grab bag, with some canons from the here and now and some very much not, though all of them have at least some precedent for time travel and/or jumping dimensions. Among possible points of convergence: suppose Athena had given Marinette a Tomorrowland pin? (Depending on approach, Marinette might or might not have a Miraculous in that situation....) Might the Holmes of 22CEN have been approached by Plus Ultra prior to Reichenbach, or been taken across to Tomorrowland after (and what's the connection between Athena and 22CEN's "Watson")? Suppose Plus Ultra had discovered and exploited one of Earth's stargates instead of their dimension-jumping technology? What would a Rihannsu version of Plus Ultra have looked like...or who might have wielded the various Miraculous talismans on ch'Rihan? Alternately, consider the likely result should Ladybug and Chat Noir happen to run across a stargate, or if their exploits were based in Holmes' New London instead of present-day Paris?
Or if you'd rather, simply play the game old-school style and dimension-warp one set of Our Heroes into another's native territory. (Vala and Daniel vs. Holmes and Beth Lestrade? Pardon me while I go make popcorn.)
#3: They FIght Crime! DC Animated Universe (Timmverse) • Leverage • Tom Swift Series IV - Victor Appleton • Tomorrowland (2015) • Young Wizards - Diane Duane
What attracts me to this cluster is both the supplied heading (because they all do fight crime, in one way or another, though both Plus Ultra and Duane's wizards might phrase it as fighting entropy) and the potential for fusions or fusion-adjacent approaches. Any of the other canons might, certainly, have previously unseen Errantry-sworn wizards among them - if Alfred Pennyworth doesn't own a Manual, for instance, I'd be very surprised. It wouldn't be hard for the Leverage crew or Tom Swift to come across a lost Tomorrowland pin in the course of a job - and Swift archenemy Xavier "Black Dragon" Mace with access to Tomorrowland tech is a really scary thought. Tom would also be fascinated by Tomorrowland's Athena; Athena, in turn, would likely be intrigued by Nita and Kit. It also occurs to me that if Swift Enterprises somehow got wind of Carmela's interstellar business ventures, matters could get very amusing very quickly.
Most of which pretty much overlooks the Timmverse, darnit - and I certainly don't mean to do that. Hmm - I'd expect the Leverage team to steer clear of the big-name DC heroes, but some of the outliers could work well. The Question from Justice League, maybe? Static and company? Even Zeta, whether by accidental time travel or a future-set fusion, might work. Or put Brainiac in play, and it might take all the other heroes in the whole cluster (plus one or two of the villains) to drop-kick him into a sufficiently deep black hole.
#4: There's No Business Like Show Business... Columbo • Defenders of the Earth • Gargoyles • The Muppet Show • Remington Steele
I'm not entirely sure what I was thinking when I put this cluster together, but in point of fact all five of these canons do have a fair degree of show-biz built into them: many of Columbo's killers are performers and stars of one sort or another, Mandrake of the Defenders is a stage magician as well as an action hero, Steele's movie allusions (and his cinematic knowledge) are a key element of his character and of the ongoing plots, the Muppet Show is of course pure show-biz throughout, and between its Shakespearean roots and Xanatos' media holdings, even the Manhattan Clan's adventures owe much to matters theatrical.
All these in themselves should suggest points of potential interaction, some more obvious than others. Steele, Flash Gordon, or Mandrake would make viable Muppet guest stars, for instance. Xanatos, Macbeth, or Steele would make entertaining suspects - or allies - in a Columbo murder case; either Steele or Columbo - or both - might be called in to solve a murder (however unlikely, you'd think) among the Muppets. The gargoyles and Defenders are clearly potential allies, though there'd doubtless be fireworks first. One has to wonder what Oberon and Titania - or Xanatos and "Owen" - would make of Ming the Merciless...
#5: Retro R Us Amelia Peabody - Elizabeth Peters • Indiana Jones Series • Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman • Remington Steele • Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego? (1994)
All of these are older canons, and what strikes me here is that this whole group is particularly well suited to "McGuffin Hunt" plots or spectacular caper/heist adventures. In the case of Indy and the Emersons,the crossover might be relatively indirect, with Indy picking up an unfinished Emersonian project - or maybe he crosses paths with an older Ramses and Nefret. A case could bring Steele and Laura to Metropolis...or Egypt (the mummy movie references should write themselves). And of course first-gen Carmen Sandiego can show up anywhere and anywhen she likes. No doubt the John Shea version of Luthor would find her even more annoying than Superman, but Peabody would utterly refuse to be intimidated. As to Lois, Clark, and/or Steele crossed with Amelia - perhaps the McGuffin(s) in that one are Amelia's journals themselves, which could be both tremendously valuable in certain hands and dangerous in others (especially if one puts the Lost City in play).
First, of all, thank you. This is, I think, up at the advanced-mastery level of fic exchanges, and I am grateful to anyone who braves its challenges. And of course it's also one of my favorite exchanges - crossovers are a big part of my fanfictional universe as both a reader and writer, and I'm always delighted to have an excuse to jump into this briar patch.
So: let the Epic begin.
Why I'm Here
Three words: flexibility, challenge, and surprise.
As a writer, I come for the challenge. While I’m careful to offer for fandoms I know I can write, I tend to offer them in combinations that I also know will stretch my internal idea generator and my storytelling muscles. And I’ve offered – and will continue to offer – fandoms in clusters of four to six so that I absolutely won’t know ahead of time what my matches will look like. Much of the fun for me is in the range of what I might be asked to do. I want to be surprised by my recipient’s requests, and by the nature of the specific challenge facing me in any given year. Up to now, specific matching protocols notwithstanding, there’ve usually been several options open to me from among my recipients’ requests, and I hope that remains true this time around.
As a requester, I come bearing flexibility. As with offers, I tend to cluster my requests in groups of four to six, because – again, notwithstanding the specific match AO3’s Sorting Hat may generate – I want you to have choices too. In a way, I think of this as the thematic opposite of Yuletide, where we often do request specific heart-fandoms and hope for particular elements in the stories arising from them. Here, I am looking not for the story I’d write, or even the story I’d most like to read – rather, I’m looking for the story a given pair of crossed fandoms makes you write, because that’s most likely to be one I would never have thought of.
Thus, as both a writer and reader, I come to Crossworks for the surprise. I enjoy being surprised by the stories my muse draws from the match(es) I’m handed, and I very much enjoy being surprised by the stories your muse draws from the one(s) I’ve supplied for you. This is why I tend to give broad, general prompts rather than specific ones for this exchange. Having said that: if you would like more specific prompts than what I’ve supplied, please contact the mods, and I will cheerfully amplify on any of my individual request-clusters – which won’t spoil any surprises on either end, since only you will know the specific combo on which the original match was made.
Likes & Dislikes My tastes in fic are wide and eclectic -- I read and enjoy gen, het, and slash (both flavors) at all ratings and have very few outright squicks aside from noncon, incest, and adult-child kink, but I am not typically attracted to stories for erotic content or angst quotient. Rather, I like good characterization, authentic-sounding dialogue, effectively sneaky plotting, and well-developed wit. I am equally intrigued by clever use of canon and thoughtfully developed AUs, and I am disturbingly fond of crossovers [obvious much?] and well-woven meta threads.
As to romance: where crossovers are concerned, I'm hardly ever drawn to write one for pairing-related purposes, and within individual fandoms I normally gravitate to canon-consistent pairings -- but in the crossovers I read, I've been wowed by a startling range of intriguing cross-fannish relationships (up to and including Buffy Summers and a Ninja Turtle. That said, I add the observation that in my book, well-sustained UST (heavy on the T) is often as good as or better than actual sex, in crossovers as well as canonical relationships.
Broadly speaking, my interests run more toward crossovers than to fusions - although technically, quite a lot of my own work occupies the fuzzy middle of that diagram (that is, where both source canons exist "side by side" in the same background world, often with one source timeline shifted to some degree to allow the characters to encounter each other at a particular point in the merged timeline). That said, I’m absolutely not opposed to fusions, especially in some cases; there will be more about that in the request-cluster notes. And it's definitely true that my own writing also reflects the kinds of things I like to read; my AO3 archive is here, and you're welcome to prowl.
Fandom-Specific Notes In the interests of both time and space, I'm omitting this section in this particular letter, and suggesting instead that writers look either to past iterations of this particular letter (tagged both as "dear santa" and by exchange name), or to my published AO3 works for a sense of my tastes with respect to particular fandoms.
I am contemplating putting together a master "fandom index" post or archive that would gather in easily linkable form the sorts of general notes I've written (and subsequently cribbed) for prior rounds, but that will take time and brain to organize that I just don't have spoons for right now.
If you do have questions that aren't answered here or in an easily findable predecessor post, absolutely ping our mutual moderator, and I promise to respond as usefully as I can.
Requests
#1: Modern Mischief Carmen Sandiego (2019) • Castle • Gargoyles • Stargate SG-1 • Young Wizards - Duane
I honestly didn't realize till I started building out this letter than this first request is almost identical to my first from last year (minus a certain part-time CIA operative). As I observed then, three of these are firmly grounded in modern New York, and the others are geographically mobile, so no two should be difficult to shove into each other's orbits - what's entertaining is what happens when they intersect.
Key questions to ask: who in any of the other canons may already be a practicing wizard who's sworn the Oath and packs a manual? What if Castle had fixated on Elisa Maza rather than Kate Beckett? Could David Xanatos successfully pull one of his gambits on the Goa'uld (and/or how scary would it be for him to partner with Vala on some project or other)? Suppose Carmen and Vala find themselves going after the same McGuffin? Might Carmen lure Alexis Castle into a life of not-exactly-crime?
Other characters to look at for crossover potential: Martha from Castle, Macbeth and/or Owen from Gargoyles, Daniel Jackson from SG-1, Carmela from Young Wizards. (With specific regard to Martha and Macbeth, I would be mightily amused by the notion that Macbeth is actually Castle's father in that AU.)
#2: Doing It Old-School Miraculous Ladybug • Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century • Star Trek: Rihannsu - Diane Duane • Stargate SG-1 • Tomorrowland (2015)
This one is something of a grab bag, with some canons from the here and now and some very much not, though all of them have at least some precedent for time travel and/or jumping dimensions. Among possible points of convergence: suppose Athena had given Marinette a Tomorrowland pin? (Depending on approach, Marinette might or might not have a Miraculous in that situation....) Might the Holmes of 22CEN have been approached by Plus Ultra prior to Reichenbach, or been taken across to Tomorrowland after (and what's the connection between Athena and 22CEN's "Watson")? Suppose Plus Ultra had discovered and exploited one of Earth's stargates instead of their dimension-jumping technology? What would a Rihannsu version of Plus Ultra have looked like...or who might have wielded the various Miraculous talismans on ch'Rihan? Alternately, consider the likely result should Ladybug and Chat Noir happen to run across a stargate, or if their exploits were based in Holmes' New London instead of present-day Paris?
Or if you'd rather, simply play the game old-school style and dimension-warp one set of Our Heroes into another's native territory. (Vala and Daniel vs. Holmes and Beth Lestrade? Pardon me while I go make popcorn.)
#3: They FIght Crime! DC Animated Universe (Timmverse) • Leverage • Tom Swift Series IV - Victor Appleton • Tomorrowland (2015) • Young Wizards - Diane Duane
What attracts me to this cluster is both the supplied heading (because they all do fight crime, in one way or another, though both Plus Ultra and Duane's wizards might phrase it as fighting entropy) and the potential for fusions or fusion-adjacent approaches. Any of the other canons might, certainly, have previously unseen Errantry-sworn wizards among them - if Alfred Pennyworth doesn't own a Manual, for instance, I'd be very surprised. It wouldn't be hard for the Leverage crew or Tom Swift to come across a lost Tomorrowland pin in the course of a job - and Swift archenemy Xavier "Black Dragon" Mace with access to Tomorrowland tech is a really scary thought. Tom would also be fascinated by Tomorrowland's Athena; Athena, in turn, would likely be intrigued by Nita and Kit. It also occurs to me that if Swift Enterprises somehow got wind of Carmela's interstellar business ventures, matters could get very amusing very quickly.
Most of which pretty much overlooks the Timmverse, darnit - and I certainly don't mean to do that. Hmm - I'd expect the Leverage team to steer clear of the big-name DC heroes, but some of the outliers could work well. The Question from Justice League, maybe? Static and company? Even Zeta, whether by accidental time travel or a future-set fusion, might work. Or put Brainiac in play, and it might take all the other heroes in the whole cluster (plus one or two of the villains) to drop-kick him into a sufficiently deep black hole.
#4: There's No Business Like Show Business... Columbo • Defenders of the Earth • Gargoyles • The Muppet Show • Remington Steele
I'm not entirely sure what I was thinking when I put this cluster together, but in point of fact all five of these canons do have a fair degree of show-biz built into them: many of Columbo's killers are performers and stars of one sort or another, Mandrake of the Defenders is a stage magician as well as an action hero, Steele's movie allusions (and his cinematic knowledge) are a key element of his character and of the ongoing plots, the Muppet Show is of course pure show-biz throughout, and between its Shakespearean roots and Xanatos' media holdings, even the Manhattan Clan's adventures owe much to matters theatrical.
All these in themselves should suggest points of potential interaction, some more obvious than others. Steele, Flash Gordon, or Mandrake would make viable Muppet guest stars, for instance. Xanatos, Macbeth, or Steele would make entertaining suspects - or allies - in a Columbo murder case; either Steele or Columbo - or both - might be called in to solve a murder (however unlikely, you'd think) among the Muppets. The gargoyles and Defenders are clearly potential allies, though there'd doubtless be fireworks first. One has to wonder what Oberon and Titania - or Xanatos and "Owen" - would make of Ming the Merciless...
#5: Retro R Us Amelia Peabody - Elizabeth Peters • Indiana Jones Series • Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman • Remington Steele • Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego? (1994)
All of these are older canons, and what strikes me here is that this whole group is particularly well suited to "McGuffin Hunt" plots or spectacular caper/heist adventures. In the case of Indy and the Emersons,the crossover might be relatively indirect, with Indy picking up an unfinished Emersonian project - or maybe he crosses paths with an older Ramses and Nefret. A case could bring Steele and Laura to Metropolis...or Egypt (the mummy movie references should write themselves). And of course first-gen Carmen Sandiego can show up anywhere and anywhen she likes. No doubt the John Shea version of Luthor would find her even more annoying than Superman, but Peabody would utterly refuse to be intimidated. As to Lois, Clark, and/or Steele crossed with Amelia - perhaps the McGuffin(s) in that one are Amelia's journals themselves, which could be both tremendously valuable in certain hands and dangerous in others (especially if one puts the Lost City in play).
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