Fix Fic Tips

Hey all, I'm planning on writing a couple of fix fics (already started on parts of it) and I wanted to get some tips and ideas on how to make it work the best.

One of the stories was going to have characters from The House of Night and The Mortal Instruments in it. Since I know that both have, at least somewhat, been criticized for having Canon Sue protagonists (moreso the former than the latter), I wanted to know what are some ways I can make Zoey (and possibly Clary) more realistic and likable. I've got some ideas (like Zoey's background giving her a sense of entitlement and having her fatal flaw be Pride), but I want to see what else could work.

Note: Just to warn, at the beginning of the story, all the characters might be just like their canon portrayals: however, there are other PO Vs in the story and I do hope to give them character development to make them better characters and people.

Note 2: I edited my message to make it less polarizing. Honestly, I just want to see how I can do this kind of story well and how I can improve the characters.

edited 21st Oct '16 11:20:42 PM by PsionicsKnight

Well... the one thing I can recommend in this regard is the same advice I received years ago.

Sit down, clear your head and reconsider very thoroughly whether you want to write a mass crossover.

Throwing additional universes into the mix just for fun will not result in a high-quality story. Trust me, I almost made that mistake myself once and paid for it with the fact that by the time I got my shit together into something actually worth reading, the majority of the core fandom has already migrated away and I was left with no one who would actually be interested in reading it.

So, again, carefully consider whether the story you want to tell would be able to fit into a crossover of 2, maximum 3 universes. Chances are, the answer will be yes.

edited 20th Oct '16 10:48:27 AM by amitakartok

In my experience, the only kinds of Mega Crossover I've seen done well (either in fanfic, or even official works), are cases where most or all of the materials involved share a common fanbase (e.g., Super Robot Wars, most Creator/Capcom multicrossover games, or in-franchise milestone celebrations).

Since I don't know about any of the works you're dealing with, I can't say if you have that going for you or not.

Now, on the subject of trying to Fix Fic a sue-ish character, the main thing I can think of is to have the narrative actually punish said character for his/her flaws. If they're arrogant/greedy/lustful/self-centered/whatever, then have it come back to bite them in the ass, and do it more than once. Whether the character learns from that or not is up to you.

Okay, one thing I went to state to everyone that the "mega crossover" portion of this story is going to do with a multiverse plot, but this one more along the line of Sliders or the Alternate Universe trope than a simple "oh, every story here shares a universe". Trust me: I know that would be intensely hard and confusing to do if it was 3 stories or more. And while I do want to make a fan-made world to act as a "hub" of sorts, each character from a story will come from their own world.

Also, thanks to everyone for the current advice! It'll help out a lot.