Oh, good discussion, I’ve wondered myself about this too. I think “fusion” is an umbrella term, perhaps used when the limits are hard to define. I called The Darkness Within, So Close a crossover because it has characters from two different universes interacting (Sherlock x Broadchurch). But the action is set as a continuation of canon (from both shows), albeit with some divergence from canon - but not enough to warrant a proper “canon divergence” label (although maybe I should tag it, now that I think of it). I definitely classify Skeletons as a crossover for this same reason.
For me, an AU is when your characters take over the roles in another universe. If Sherlock and John had become Alex and Ellie in TDWSC, then it would have been an AU. Taking the characters from their physical context in canon and placing them in another universe is what constitutes an AU, I would argue. So, The Grating Roar and Gimme Shelter are clearly AUs (even if in TGR Sherlock is still a consulting detective). I’m writing an AU where characters from The Bodyguard are replaced by those from BBC Sherlock (guess who gets to be Whitney Houston). So, a clear case of AU. DSMT is an AU because it’s a different first meeting and also complete, utter crack.
Then, canon divergence is, in its most simple to identify version, those stories where fanfic writers said ‘screw this, I’m doing it differently’ but don’t alter the basic premises of the canon - John is still a wounded army doctor back from Afghanistan, Sherlock is still a consulting detective, they solve cases in London, and everybody else is, well, themselves. If it’s divergence, it must diverge from something that is already established, right?
Of course, the difficulties arise from the in-between. And the definition of what canon is. @7-percent writes backstories compliant with ACD’s canon and (as much as possible) BBC Sherlock’s while Mofftiss throws curve balls at the universe, so at some point it becomes canon divergence from BBC Sherlock’s but not necessarily from ACDs (because the latter is a closed process and therefore easier to write and explore, while BBC Sherlock is still evolving within a living fandom - who the hell could predict Eurus?). So, some stories might not be canon divergent until a new series comes out (actually, a lot of stories are like this).
So, what to call @jbaillier‘s future story? The ‘fusion’ umbrella term might be a good one, but consider: are John and Sherlock taking over roles that belong to characters that existed in that universe? That would fall under AU. Or do they keep their basic roles as consulting detective/army doctor from canon but interacting with characters from another world (regardless of if they exist in the original story or if they are OCs - they still belong to that universe, not BBC Sherlock’s)? Then I’d be tempted to call it a crossover. Given that it’s placed in the future, I’d be less tempted to call this a crossover, though - depends on how the backstory is written, I guess. Then, I think fusion is actually a good term, since it’s a concoction using elements from different worlds in a way that is not clear-cut crossover or pure AU.
Good grief, what a long rambling, sorry about that. Probably didn’t help one bit, lol.
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