Yeah here’s another one of those articles. So before I start this, I wanted to say that I’m sorry to CyberEchidna for upsetting him with the “Accidental Kiss rp Problem”. It was not my intention to upset him. However I still stand bởi what I đã đưa ý kiến in the article, and if bạn cannot accept that I’m sorry. I’m saying this here, mainly because I wanted to resolve that, but also because this bài viết may name/reference some people in the past that I have had issues with when doing cross-overs, and otherwise.

So before this gets started, to anyone I reference, I’m sorry if this offends you, and I don’t mean to make bạn feel bad, but these are problems I’d like to have fixed. It is not in any way me trying to reflect badly on you.

Anyway…

So I’ve done at least… TEN different cross-overs in one fan-fic hoặc another, and sadly it hasn’t been a very good track-record so far. Usually what happens is that me hoặc someone else will suggest a cross-over, we’ll agree, then the person will write the article, hoặc I will.

Here’s a danh sách of the problems that happen during this.

WHEN THEY WRITE IT
1.    Usually when I have a character in a fan-fiction, they ask for some personality, and such, but mostly just the name and pic. From there they will just write what they want/or THINK my characters are like, then post it and tell me when it’s finished.
Problem: Just about every time I’ve seen this happen it ends up with them not using my characters in the right way at all. There have been times when Rin, who is extremely chipper and random, acts hot-headed and oblivious, and has đã đưa ý kiến things like “Dear” hoặc referencing people bởi their last name. And that’s just a nit-pick. The worse thing is that they’ll be DOING things that defy their character. Such as Rynk randomly flying away on a magic carpet (or something along those lines). Let me tell ya now, Rynk might be Persian, but she doesn’t fly off on ngẫu nhiên magic carpets. Another example was when Rin was asked a câu hỏi of where a certain medicine might be found, and denying someone the information. I did not have imput in that decision.
2.    This does not happen anymore (and I am so thankful for that), but there was a time when I was not even asked if I wanted my characters in the cross-over. I would find out maybe even weeks after the bài viết was posted, and in short it was not very true to the character.
Problem: Let me answer this with an example, (and once again I am not trying to pick on the person who did this, but I am sorry that bạn might see this and be offended.) Once I sent a ngẫu nhiên E-mail to a friend asking “Hey what are bạn planning to happen in your tiếp theo fan-fiction?”, and he answered with that he was planning to have my character be tricked into thinking that he had to kill my friend’s character after just meeting the people who “tricked” him. I ended up having to take quite a while to convince my friend NOT to do that, hoặc do something related, and in the end completely I ended up nghề viết văn the fan-fic cross-over myself, which to tell the truth I enjoyed, and got no complains about, but if I had not asked about it then, a cross-over where my character gets tricked into doing something bad would be online, and people would see it.
Now I’d like to point out once again that this problem does not happen with this person anymore, and we’ve been past this type of issue for a long time now. The point though is that this not happen with other people in the future.

WHEN I WRITE IT
1.    Not enough info. When I write a cross-over personally (and I can only recall three off the hàng đầu, đầu trang of my head that I’ve actually done successfully, including the one stated in the trước đó paragraph), the person I’m trying to get the information from is usually going “You can do whatever with it”, so that’s what I do. And well it doesn’t go well. NOW, there HAVE been times where I’ve been được trao the info and utterly destroyed the Fan-fic (*coughConflictsArcanecough*) terribly, so I’m not saying I’ve been that great at it myself, but it makes it really hard for me to make characters act like they normally would accurately without information.

CO-OP-WRITING
1.    HARD. Literally the only bad thing about co-op-writing. When I try to do a co-op it almost always ends badly, with the thing not even getting written. (And I wish I was lying, but it really isn’t because I’M not trying. I know that that sounds prideful, but I seriously can’t remember the last time I didn’t do my part.) Whether it be because of being offline for too long, forgetting to check messages, lack of interest, lack of information to give, lack of ideas (good hoặc bad) to use, etc. almost every time it does get written.

So how can this be fixed?

Well MY suggestions… (and note these are just MINE. Others may have better ideas. I don’t know.)

1.    GET LOTS OF INFO. Doesn’t matter how much it is, hoặc how long it’ll take, bạn want to make a cross-over the point is making it a GOOD one. Have the people fill out the following form.
Name:
Age:
Appearance (AND image):
Location:
Other Location Information:
Allies:
Close Friends:
Enemies:
Abilities:
Skills (do not confuse with abilities):
Interests/Hobbies:
Likes/Dislikes:
Lines the character would say (if any):
Accent:
Nationality:
Personality:

And probably thêm after that. THEN if bạn want thêm detail, then once bạn come to a part bạn aren’t sure how they’d react to, send them a message asking how they would want their character to act.
2.    Roleplay write. This is basically where bạn make the plot out of a roleplay bạn do. bạn start off with the main introduction, then introduce the characters, then roleplay a while, go to the tiếp theo scene, thảo luận on what to chỉnh sửa and what to keep, then turn it into an article. bạn can do this bởi doing the normal roleplay format…
A: I like Dancing *hit bởi train*
B: *stops Train* Doctor Octoganopus! BLAA! *shoots train*
hoặc the writer’s style roleplay…
“I like Dancing” A đã đưa ý kiến before struck bởi a train.
B stopped the train bởi yelling “Doctor Octoganopus! BLAA!” and blasting it with a laser from his mouth.
Personally I find the Writer’s Style roleplay to be a better choice as it helps bạn make the little hints like “Little did he know” that you’d not be able to in a normal roleplay (Mangre, bạn are missed.). Also I personally find it to be thêm fun, and quicker, as bạn don’t have to change the story from roleplay to bài viết (and on that note, to those who use the roleplay format to make articles, I have to say I REALLY don’t like that format. Not that I’m calling bạn bad writers because of it, but it’s much harder to read for me at least.).
3.    Base it on a roleplay bạn already did. Take a roleplay bạn had with some person, and write the bài viết based on that, with whatever tweaks you’d have made here and there. And of course GET PERMISSION. This is the easiest approach, as bạn neither have to go back and forth with the person, hoặc ask them for various info (for the most part at least), with the only downside being turning the roleplay into an article. But even then that CAN help with the “Little did he know” effect.
4.    And as always, when you’ve finished the article, check with the person to see if it’s okay with them. My suggestion would be to do this after each chapter is finished for short stories, and each scene for long stories. That way if they want something changed near the beginning bạn do not have to change the whole plot because of it (or at least the nghề viết văn part).

An example I’ll danh sách is what I’d consider the best cross-over series I’ve ever been a part of so far, and it is of course MOBIUS ACADEMY.
The method used in this series involves me and Gracethefox typing up the story’s plot-summary, then (usually) me nghề viết văn it, and sending it to her for approval, before posting it. Now lately however we have been doing it so Grace does the nghề viết văn too (which she’s great at if I might add). And when he run into scenes where the paths of nghề viết văn intertwine, we take the roleplay approach, and write in Writer’s Style roleplaying. We mark the scenes we’ll be using, and mark the parts where they are in the story, then put them together, check it, and finally post it. Thankfully we have not had to make edits to the story because of oversights yet, and I doubt we will with how well it is going. If bạn plan on making a cross-over series I suggest this approach. It has yet to fail me hoặc Grace (or as far as I know).

Now there is one exception in a way to this, which is of course the “In Another World” series. Why? The IAW is based on three things that change all character’s personalities and lifestyles
1.    They’re humans in this, and therefore do not have certain attributes like large ears hoặc tails that can affect their personality.
2.    They do not have powers, which can affect their personality.
3.    They do not live the same way, hoặc even with the same people with some.
The point of IAW is to make scenarios completely chalk-full of WHAT-IF’s, so it cancels out and/or changes…
Accent:
Nationality:
Name:
Age:
Appearance (AND image):
Location:
Other Location Information:
Allies:
Close Friends:
Enemies:
Abilities:
And maybe some other attributes. If bạn are planning to do a cross-over series like this, then most of these will not affect bạn (MOST, not all). That does not mean bạn don’t ask for permission. And if bạn do try this type, bạn should probably add stuff to the thông tin các nhân chart like
What would bạn like them to act like?
How old?
What skills?
What nationality?
What friends?
Etc.

I guess this is thêm of a suggestion bài viết than a standards-article, but I do mean “standards” when it’s in the title. If anyone wants to write a story that has my characters I want to be told WHAT they will be doing, HOW they will be acting, WHEN they will appear, and be sent những thông tin cập nhập on it to make sure it’s okay.

So in the end of this, really quick, while bạn should want it done right, don’t try to push it too far. The people that make the các bài viết DO try, and I doubt they’re trying to upset you. This doesn’t mean bạn should shrug off any mess-ups, but try to be nice about it, and if/when bạn have to make fixes, ask to do it yourself so they don’t have to do thêm work for you.

Thank bạn for your time
EAT PIE AND PROSPER