Ideas For Stories and Crossovers, What's your Inspirations

[Derek Metaltron]

Hey gals (and guys, if I am not the only fellow with a wee wee on here :/: ) - don't know how often you get crossover ideas yourselves but I often seem to have one or two a week (and often little time to actually write them) but what I'm wondering is this - when you do get an idea what starts it off, what makes the idea sound awesome for you?

For example I had for a while (and fully intend to write) this crossover between Doctor Who and the Terminator Movies. It's been a good year or so in my head and ideas have popped through it and onto paper since then but the key idea stemmed from your basic vs argument - who'd win in a fight between the Cybermen and the Terminators. Since they share a lot of qualities and yet differences the idea of a story appealed to me, and since then a ton of other thoughts have grown round it like shoots from a tree; John Connor trying to nick the TARDIS and change history, Jack Harkness caught up in Judgement Day over Cardiff, the Doctor rescuing Sarah Connor from a Cyberman attack... all from one little idea.

I sort of have those ideas all the time and I'll probably share a few more in time, but I'm intereted to know what you guys get inspiration from. :)

[HearMeCalling]

I don't have many ideas for crossovers, though I do have 2 for The Mentalist/Sanctuary. Well, to be honest, the second is a sequel to the first, but they're still 2 distinct stories. The first one was purely because I'd like to see how the characters would interact because I think it would really push the boundaries of certain ones. And a case that wasn't as normal as it seems sees like a fun thing to do! The second is to take the Mentalist characters into the world of the Sanctuary ones, so yeah.

Generally, I get ideas from all over the place. I'll unashamedly get inspiration from songs. Often, I'll write things because I'm sick and tired of common tropes/cliches in that fandom. I love prompt lists and seeing how many prompts I can fit into a oneshot. It can be something people say, an idea where I want to push the belief system of a character... anything. I'm overinspired at the moment, which is quite exhausting but I prefer this to writer's block!

[Derek Metaltron]

Hm, some useful points here. I reckon in many cases I myself like to see how certain characters would think of each other - I'm about half way through a New Who/Star Wars crossover and it's been fun to think how Mickey would stand up to Count Dooku or the Doctor wielding a lightsaber.

I'm thinking of trying more prompts if I can find the time - I did have in mind a series centred round the First Doctor and Susan and their adventures prior to their first appearance and beyond, and thought that using prompts would make sense as a structuring technique. But we'll see - I might be too busy with Cybermen vs Terminator, Senator in the Fireplace and Time Switch for that. If I could improve in any writing ability it's seeing a decent sized story to the end. :ermm:

[HearMeCalling]

The Doctor weilding a lightsaber does seem like an entertaining image! Especially Two for some reason, heh...

Oh! That does sound fun. Any ideas I get that are half-decent, I tend to note down and keep for later, whether it be due to lack of time, needing to do more research on that subject (eg. I physically can't start my Mentalist/Sanctuary x-over because I've only watched 7 episodes of Sanctuary) or I just can't focus on x number of fics in one go. (4 multiparters seems to be my limit and even that's pushing it.)

Just a note: length does not dictate writing ability. I'd rather read a haunting, heart-shattering oneshot to chapter after chapter of mindless, plotless drivel. Hence, I generally write oneshots for Doctor Who and multiparters for the Mentalist (becauses cases require some level of exposition to make any sense whatsoever.)