lyssie | (no subject)

So, I saw this comment on friends/friends/friends, or whatever. And, really, my reply would be "why do you care so much, dumbass?" because I am in that sort of mood. So, instead, I'm-a gonna say it here.

Paraphrased Comment: "Did you know when you write a crossover, you reduce your audience, do you ever think of that? Because you should, otherwise, you're an idiot."

No. No, actually, I don't. I'm usually more interested in the mechanics of how it works, or whether I'm keeping everyone in-character, or in some cases, how well I'm juggling a cast of hundreds. I don't usually give a fuck about my audience, because my audience is me. That feedback, that you're hinting at how we won't get it because we're too stupid to write only in one fandom? Yeah. It's just the cherry on the sundae.

Not to mention, there's some really shitty crossover fic out there that has tons of reviews, and I'd rather not emulate it.

Dinner out with

nique's parents was quite lovely, and I am so so full now. ugh.

Also, am reminded by the song playing: the Razor2 commercials, with the chick and the dude duking it out always make me crack my shit up, because the line they cut away from playing, when he throws her phone into the train? "It's a chance, gonna move, gonna fuck up your ego..." Damn, I love this song and need to do a BSG Chicks vid to it. hrm.

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Wait... you reduce your audience? Umm, couldn't you also expand it? Like say I read only BSG fic, but you write BSG/SG1 fic, and I know you're an awesome writer (which you are), so I'll read it, get exposed to SG1 fic... and then bam. Suddenly become horribly addicted to SG-1.

It kind of worked that way, mainly because of "All in a Day's Work" for me, even though it wasn't a crossover. But you wrote it after we talked about how shitty all those Kara gets attacked/raped and falls in love with Lee fics are. I got all intrigued by how kickass Sam Carter was.

I just ate a good portion of a Snickers blizzard, so my mind might not be functioning right.

Well, not everyone is multi-fandom, which is a point.

But then again, so is yours. ;) *smug*

I was gonna say. When I started writing fanfiction for the internet audience, I wrote crossovers because then they could be posted to more'n one Usenet group. I haven't been inspired to write crossovers in the LJ age, yet, but when I post reprints of my old crossovers they're posted to fanfiction communities for both franchises. Lyssie, did the comment you paraphrase, in its original form, have a rationale attached to it? Because that seems entirely anti-intuitive to me, not to mention contradictory to my experience.

You mean there are reasons to write something other than to gain the maximum amount of attention from the greatest number of people?

To entertain me. Why else would I have such a large amount of unfinished fic? Re-reading it is more fun than bothering to finish it (usually, I know how it ends, anyway)

YES. 99.9% of the fic I have ever written has been unposted because it's just for me.

*nodsnods* Exactly. *hands over some booze*

Some people don't read crossovers, this is true. And some people don't read fic that doesn't have sex in it. Some people won't read fic that doesn't have their OTP having sex in it. And I don't cater to any of those people, because then I'd never write anything. Bah. I'm glad when other people like it, but I'd be writing it anyway.

And y'know, you are SO right -- my unfinished stuff is more entertaining to me that actually finishing it would be! Never thought of it that way, but yeah.

*rolls her eyes*

I don't usually give a fuck about my audience, because my audience is me

*nods and agrees with you*

Er, well, I think of my audience as being people not me because if I'm the core audience, there's no reason to write it down at all. What's hard is, not only to write it down, but to stop and build characters, so that someone not already drenched in the fandom can recognize them. The advantage of writing fic is being able to take short-cuts in both character and world building, but it comes at a cost.

The average fic writer does not character build - the chief and often fairly aimed accusation against fanfic. They assume the reader knows who they're writing about, which is what stops me from reading most crossover fics unless I know both/all fandoms. Nine times out of ten I can safely assume the author will make fuck all effort to identify the unfamiliar characters for me, showing me any reason to care about them or even keep track of them. Half of it might be a fandom I love... and I'll still skip over it unless I'm already familiar with the author and know they will follow the basic rules of writing: who, what, when, where, why & how (the last two are story and plot, respectively), I'll just be confused.

While I don't think people who write crossovers are idiots, a lot of them are lazy and as a result, their audience is restricted to those familiar enough with all the given characters and worlds to follow along with certain minimum assumptions. This fundamentally true for all fic - the built in niche audience curse. A crossover fic that is treated more as an original work can capture a larger audience than either fandom alone, but a poorly written one magnifies fanfic's limitations. Of course, this is fanfic; we're allowed to be lazy because no one has promised anything in exchange for a profit. That doesn't mean there aren't ficcers who won't make the effort, though, so it's a bit preemptive to call them idiots.

BSG Chicks vid!!

Also: *statement with actual content*

oh Icon ♥

Wait a second. If you do a crossover you'd technically (potentially) double or at least expand the audience. someone put up a sign saying "this one checked their brain at the door.. if they had one.. "

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Re: Crossover Fic

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