A Q+A About the Crossover
Introduction
As far as I am aware, this is one of the largest single-author crossover fanfic series currently in production. Therefore, I've decided to collate some notes to help people who are not used to large crossovers navigate these pages. Asides from the stories themselves, there is also an explanation of the premise, an introduction to the major players, a summary of the shows currently in the cross, and a few other points of interest. If you have a question, a query or something else to say, and it is not addressed in this Behind the Scenes section, please feel free to email it to me.
The Premise
The premise of this series is that a group of characters, drawn from several disparate fictional universes, have been amalgamated into one world.' In this world, there a people who live forever unless you cut off their heads, there are people with supernaturally acute senses who need partners to guide them. There is a circle that goes KaWHOOSH and forms a stable wormhole to other worlds. There are people (and not-people) who live in the darkness. There are people who spend their lives solving mysteries and having adventures. These stories are about their lives...
Still a bit obtuse? Okay, this series is about a group of Immortal friends, their mortal buddies, and their sometimes strange and interesting lives. This series contains violence, Quickenings, abductions, a slash relationship or two, bad language, mangling of historical fact and some really BAD phrasing!
So where did the original idea come from?
Im a long time media fan(atic). Ive been active in several fandoms for longer than Id care to admit to. And whilst Ive always had a soft spot for a crossover, I actually never deliberately set out to write a series as large as this. Originally, I had planned for just one story.
This entire juggernaut started with one single idea: all my favourite characters (Daniel, Sydney, Nigel, Blair, Lara, Methos and Reia) are all either historians, archeologists, anthropologists or something very similar. They are all fascinated by history, by people (especially people of the past) and they all know, or have learnt how, to take care of themselves if things get physical.
Wouldnt it be cool if they were buddies? In my twisted little mind, I could picture them getting along very well indeed.
Why all the Immortals?
The Immortality angle came to me after the original idea had been bouncing around my head for a few months. I had been aware of Highlander for a while, but it was only once I started getting strongly involved in the Richie/Methos fandom that the idea of making the core characters Immortals started seeping into my consciousness.
Once in, the idea stuck. One of the reasons Id refrained from writing this bunny down was that I didnt see the career angle as a strong enough "glue" to hold them together. However, introducing Immortality gave me a whole knew range of social relations to exploit. Now some of the characters have been friends for literally hundreds or even thousands of years. Some of the characters are related to each other through bonds of students and teachers - which allows me to neatly exploit very interesting family dynamics without having to worry about having character conceive, gestate, birth and raise from infancy other characters.
Also, the idea of Immortality lets me indulge my passion for swords and swordplay. Plus, the idea of the Game is a very useful tool for kickstarting some fascinating kinds of conflict and trouble, the source of all plot.
In recent times, Ive taken to calling this series the Immortal soap opera, because every time I turn around, there’s another character with a sword in hand. Oh well, I guess when youve been around as long as some of these guys have, youre bound to meet all your compatriots sooner or later.
Where do the ideas come from?
All over the place, and sometimes directly from the ether. As a long-time student of human history, I find a lot of passages in history books which trigger my "Immortals reflex." Sometimes I see something in an episode of one of the shows I cross which makes me yell at the scream "Immortal!!" (Bodies turning up headless around major characters is a dead giveaway, pun intended!) Occasionally, plot bunnies are donated by friends (whether they know they’re doing it or not!)
Often, Ill start writing the story with one aim in mind, and the ideas will come as Im writing. Or, rereading prior stories, a line will jump out at me and Ill feel inclined to explore it further. So, in short, the ideas come from everywhere.
Why do you write it?
Because my head will explode if I dont. Seriously. Im not kidding here. Once an idea occurs to me, I have to write it out or else the idea will gnaw and gnaw at me till I go insane. This is true of everything I write, but the crossover has taken on such a life of its own - with its own internal history, laws and continuities - that when a crossover idea comes to me, it tends to be a little more insistent than other kinds of ideas.
Oh, I also write because Im a feedback whore, natch.
Ive got a great idea for a story....
Wow, way cool. Want to write it? My rules for fan submissions are very simple. Send it to me before anything else, and my word is law. But Im overjoyed if someone else likes my stuff enough to want to participate. Were talking highest of the high praise here. So dont be afraid, send it in.
This sounds like a pretty big undertaking...
Well, the series in its entirety passed novel length about half a dozen stories ago, so yes. Secreted away on my hard drive include plot summaries of particularly crossover-friendly episodes of shows, pictures for manipulation, my personal universe bible (there is no way I can keep it straight in my head anymore) and a whole bunch of other interesting stuff.
If only I got paid for doing this, Id be rich as well as happy.
You mentioned episode triggers. Want to share some of them with us?
Its often the littlest detail that catches my eye. For example, in Stargate, Daniel Jackson has three swords on his main wall, and a collection of staffs and staves in the corners. Now, most people, if they see them at all, this "cool decoration for an anthropologist." Me, I see a crossover in the making there.
Seeing the characters in a fight is another big clue. Wesley from Angel is the classic example. During normal movement, he seems a little self-conscious, even a bit clutzy. But see him fight (the hand to hand, two on one in "Guise Will Be Guises," and the way he behaves from the moment the Pylian resistance hands him a sword in the end of Season Two for example), he seems to undergo a kind of metamorphisis. He’s confident, skilled and very, very deadly. You might chalk that up to him being trained as the Slayer’s Watcher. Me, I see more Immortal-fodder.
But what about these interpersonal relationships you keep going on about?
Yes, well some of those are just common sense. For example, for someone like Daniel who gets injured every other episode, he couldnt keep his secret from the medical staff. So making Janet his Watcher solved two problems at once. From there, we had a tie to Joe from HL:TS.
Of course, some of these ties are fairly flimsy. Hence the long-term ties, the repeated collisions between the characters over an extended period of time. As they say in B-grade romances, these characters have some serious history with each other.
I dont know this show. Will that affect the way I read the crossover?
I doubt it. But if you feel like youre missing out on something, Ive made a cast biography and a show summary list. These explain the characters as they are in my universe, and give you a short summary of the shows I draw on. And there is always the links page if you want to go off and read some more
Okay, Immortals, history, got it. But how accurate is it?
Can we say "research" children? I knew we could. I do try to research each historical element, if only to get the tone right. Now I wouldnt quote me in your historical essays, but I think ive managed to avoid some glaring errors. Like I said, I love history. I tend to write about whatever period has my attention at the moment (ie: Crusades, French Revolution, Ancient Greece)
As for the swords thing, I do love to play with swords, but my theoretical knowledge is still fairly limited. Some swords fights I actually test out in the backyard before writing, to see if they’re logical and do-able. But I know there are some errors of terminology, etc. I hope to correct these as my knowledge grows.
Muses? Bunnies? Please explain?
Fanwriters slang here, sorry. Muses are internal personifications of the characters, who sit on writers shoulders and dictate scenes. A good Muse will help a writer capture the voice and actions of the character well. Bunnies are those annoying little anthropomophical constructs which nibble at your hypothetical ankle with plot and scene ideas.
Im overrun by both, needless to say.
I have another question..?
Email it to me. I love to chat.
