You're Doing It Wrong: Why Most [Crossover] and [Grimdark] Stories Fail · 12:43am Jan 1st, 2012
Crossovers:
Okay, what the fuck. Why didn't my Halo story get accepted?!
Simple, you're doing it wrong.
The point of the Crossover is to create your own universe, involving ponies, using elements of another IP. Simple idea, yes? Depends on how hard it would be for you to translate X into something plausible and logical when inserted into the My Little Pony universe. It can turn out to be a steaming pile of crap, or it can be an incredible hook to what can potentially be a great story.
But at least we can give you credit for creating your own exposition!
But no, this seems to be too hard for a number of fanfiction writers. Most people are to lazy to create their own backstory, that they simply copy/paste from that of the source material and replace our heroes with marshmellow horses. This does not work. Period.
Lets look at a successful crossover story that almost everyone in the fandom should know about: Fallout: Equestria. It doesn't randomly paste ponies into the nuclear wasteland, it builds its own backstory. We can see that with each piece of history Littlepip uncovers in the wastelands, we learn more about the growing conflict with the Zebras that eventually led to all out war, fear mongering, and propaganda. If you copy the setting of another story and put pony in it, you'll only look lazy and unoriginal. Not to mention that we haven't even tried reading your story and it already looks bad.
TL;DR: If you're writing a crossover, try your hardest to keep it as original as possible
Grimdarks
Grimdark is a piecing together of the words 'Grim' and 'Dark'. When combined they typically mean something sad, gory, violent, or most often all three. When the word is applied to a story, nine times out of ten it's satisfyingly sad, gory and violent. But that's not the problem, the problem is it being believable.
Lets look at two moderately famous grimdark stories, Cupcakes, and the lesser known Rainbow Factory . They're very nice pieces of writing, yes, but is it truly plausible for Pinkie Pie to disembowel Rainbow Dash and use her innards as pastry ingredients? Not really.
What about the pegasus society of Cloudsdale taking failed flyers to a factory in which they are killed and ground into liquid color, with Rainbow Dash as one of the staff?
Then what IS a good grimdark story
Personally, I think the setting of Silent Ponyville is a helluva lot more plausible than the two previously mentioned. A torn down macabre Ponyville lying within the recesses of Pinkie Pie's mind hiding suppressed traumatizing memories? Call me hooked.
Plus its a crossover! It introduces its own original exposition and explanation to the usage of material from Silent Hill!
TL;DR: Writing something grimdark? Make it believable
Closing Advice
This can apply to either genre mentioned above, because it never hurts to do a little research. What if an element of the atmosphere you're trying to set is something you know nothing of? Google is always your friend. Want to write a comedy about Applejack and Pinkie Pie going head-to-head in a baking contest, but have no idea the steps of preparing [ insert pastry here ]? Just research it. It'll do better for you to learn something for future reference, and enhance the experience of your potential audience.
TL;DR:Research. It'll help you and your literature
So much yes. I started writing a Half-Life crossover, but never got past chapter one so it looks like I'm breaking the cardinal rules, but I had a universe to build... it just started in chapter 2
I know I'm WEEKS late in this, but holy shit is this so true.
Another thing that I think you forgot about grimdark stories is that a truly good one is one that... oh... I don't know... has a plot maybe? Silent Ponyville (which I love as well
) is amazing because sure its grimdark, but it has a damn kickass plot. Cupcakes? Well... its basically gore-porn.
13372
Good point, helps the atmosphere when there's a logical plot in the story, but this was focusing on the more popular/recurring issues keeping most crossovers and grimdarks subpar. thanks for the suggestion and I'm glad it's helped
Another point that is worth noticing in grimdarks is the abuse of the "monster in dark corner" cliché.
The pony is fine an' dandy, waltzing around gaily and JUST THEN, he sees something strange. Deciding that it is a good idea not to warn the competent authorities, he decides to check for himself. When there- in the dark place he can't see shit... SHIT HAPPENED! AND THEN A SKELETON POPPED OUT!
No, but in all seriousness; I like dark stories that keep you 'on edge'. The monster you're not sure even exists is much more interesting than the beast behind the door.
Fantastic summary on the failings of crossovers. The way I see it if your fiction could be fully summed up in a sentence with no real additions. There's no reason to write it. The point is to share ideas, not wank off!
For instance, there was a Half-Life 2 crossover I read, and literally it can be fully explained as: Gordon Freemane, the pony. It followed the plot of the original game exactly, with a few tweaks. The most original idea, was placing Pinkie in the role of Dr. Kleiner. But other than that, it had no point.
3488
...were you the one who made Pinkie, Dr. Kleiner!?
144041
OH SNAP CONFRONTATION
145012
Not really, because if the story I was referring to was building to something good and at least halfway original, then I take back what I said. Though I would give her hell for never continuing it in some form.
You know I just had a thought. You should have tried to emulate this video. It would have been hilarious.
...just a thought.
What about crossovers where "a portal pops out" and drags human characters to Equestria? I know the HiE jazz but it doesn't mean it to be a human of this era. And obviously it does not know nothing about the cartoon. Hell, it could be viceversa about that crazy journey.
I always want to see how canon characters would react to new situations and to knowing other characters. As good as Fallout: Equestria sounds, it's not my type of crossover. Yes, I think it was better built that way considering how sterile the story and characters of Fallout 3 (the undeniable current inspiration); but some people try to do this scheme with Metro 2033 crossovers and they have the same consequences on me: 'bah'. Too bad.