Meta: "Why We Need Fanifestos Part 2d: What Is a Fanifesto?" plot analysis & crossovers

[ysabetwordsmith]

This is a new meta entry for marchmetamatterschallenge 2025. See my tracking post here. Also, the first writing prompt is to write a fanifesto.

Meta: "Why We Need Fanifestos" Part 1: The Importance of Fanifestos
Meta: "Why We Need Fanifestos" Part 2a: What Is a Fanifesto? intro & canon guide
Meta: "Why We Need Fanifestos" Part 2b: What Is a Fanifesto? cast list & character study
Meta: "Why We Need Fanifestos" Part 2c: What Is a Fanifesto? ship manifesto & milieu study
Meta: "Why We Need Fanifestos" Part 2d: What Is a Fanifesto? plot analysis & crossovers
Meta: "Why We Need Fanifestos" Part 2e: What Is a Fanifesto? trope manifesto & format guide
Meta: "Why We Need Fanifestos" Part 2f: What Is a Fanifesto? personal manifesto & others
Meta: "Why We Need Fanifestos" Part 3: Benefits of Fanifestos
Meta: "Why We Need Fanifestos" Part 4: Drawbacks of Fanifestos
Meta: "Why We Need Fanifestos" Part 5a: Contents of a Fanifesto statement to tropes
Meta: "Why We Need Fanifestos" Part 5b: fanon to other aspects
Meta: "Why We Need Fanifestos" Part 6: How to Write a Fanifesto
Meta: "Why We Need Fanifestos" Part 7a: Where to Find Fanifestos location types & communities
Meta: "Why We Need Fanifestos" Part 7b: fanifestos A-E
Meta: "Why We Need Fanifestos" Part 7c: fanifestos F-I
Meta: "Why We Need Fanifestos" Part 7d: fanifestos J-R
Meta: "Why We Need Fanifestos" Part 7e: fanifestos S-Z
Meta: "Why We Need Fanifestos" Part 8: My Fanifestos


Plot Analysis -- A plot analysis examines the events and action in a story. Reviews often, though not always, take this format. Most books and movies have a straightforward plot, or sometimes, several plot arcs that weave together. A few have a unique plot structure, like Imzadi in which the time travel causes the story to be told out of standard chronological sequence. There are many possible plot shapes, and this type of meta invites exploration of them.

This kind of fanifesto is especially useful for canons with a complicated plot. Maybe it's a series with dozens of books, a television series that ran multiple seasons, or a franchise that spans multiple media. Perhaps it just has an incredibly intricate plot, like Game of Thrones. The guide helps people keep track of all that action. Furthermore, a plot analysis provides a great resource for fanwriters because it highlights possible divergence points for creating a fixit or other alternate universe scenario.


Crossover, Fusion, and Alternate Universe Manifestos -- Fanfic often makes major changes to canon or mixes different canons together in various ways. A crossover typically features one or more characters from Canon A somehow traveling into Canon B. Certain canons strongly support this because they already feature travel through time or across dimensions, such as Dr. Who or Stargate. Some open-source canons are specifically designed to support crossovers, such as The Blueshift Troupers or Schrodinger's Heroes. A fusion typically merges two canons together, as if each storyline took place in the same universe and they share key concepts.

An alternate universe has the broadest range, from a plot fork that changes everything after it, to adding or subtracting concepts such as vampires or having a secret thing widely known, to placing the characters in a completely different setting such as a coffee shop AU. The game Chrononauts provides further excellent vocabulary: a Linchpin is a key event in time that could take different paths, and a Ripplepoint is a subsequent event impacted by which path that Linchpin takes. Many fans adore fixits and other alternate universes, making this type of fanifesto a useful tool.

A crossover or fusion fanifesto typically describes each contributing canon and then how they fit together. An alternate universe fanifesto may describe both the original and the alternate version, then compare and contrast them; or it may simply be a guide to the altered version. All of them usually include the creator's impression of why they are so awesome, often with sample fanworks given. Another approach basically treats a given type of alteration as a trope, and creates a fanifesto based on why that type is awesome with some examples, as in "Crossovers." Check out this list of alternate universe concepts.

Some canons are especially prone to spawning variations on a theme. Most large fandoms do that just because they involve so many people playing with such a large canon. Most canons that feature a secret or mystery will develop a branch of fanworks in which that thing is openly known with attention to how it impacts the society and characters. Others just seem to iterate for the sheer fun of it.

For instance, the Black Raptor fansite for The Magnificent Seven offers numerous universes, each with a thumbnail description and a list of fanworks. These include Old West (the time period of the original canon materials), ATF (modern, where the Seven belong to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives), Little Britches (where Vin and JD are orphaned children raised by Chris and Buck), Kid Fic (a trope category with one or more characters as children), Dungeons & Dragons (fusion with that game), Las Vegas (set in a hotel or casino there), MCAT (modern, the Seven belong to a federal Major Crimes and Acts of Terrorism task force), Monarch of the Glen (takes place on an estate in Scotland which JD has inherited, based on the BBC series), RNLI (the Seven are British volunteers with the Royal National Lifeboat Institute), Seven Brothers (some or all are relatives), Seven Investigations (modern, a detective agency), Search and Rescue (modern, a wilderness rescue unit), Star Trek (fusion), Star Wars (fusion), Stargate (fusion), Werewolves and Vampires (some or all of the Seven are preternatural beings), World War II (historic), and Crossovers (between different M7 iterations, or M7/other canons).