Crossover

A crossover is a fanfiction that combines two or more fandoms. They range from the almost likely to the completely implausible. Crossovers of the implausible variety are dealt with by the Department of Implausible Crossovers (DIC), which is headed by the Lichen. Real World crossovers are the purview of Despatch.

Standard Crossovers
The most common kind, a standard crossover occurs when a fanfic author smashes together two continua that are not canonically connected. This can be done very successfully, or it can leave the reader going "WTF?" The Harry Potter continuum has very many standard crossovers. It is a generally acknowledged rule that if a fandom exists, it has been crossed with Harry Potter.

Real World Crossovers
Continua can be uncanonically connected to the Real World by virtue of a character from one world traveling to another by means of trans-dimensional hopping or snatching. Technically these stories are a type of crossover, but the contact between the two worlds is usually limited.

In the case of Trans-Dimensional Hopping, the crossover is done by an OC traveling from the Real World to a canon world of his or her choice. This often (but not always) results in a Mary-Sue.

In the case of Trans-Dimensional Snatching, an authorial influence or Mary-Sue transports canon characters from their home continuum to the Real World. "BagEnders" is an example of this type of story done well. Unfortunately, what usually happens is an insipidly cute sleepover at the writer's house, or all the members of the Fellowship becoming stereotypical teenagers at the same high school.

Actor Crossovers
An Actor Crossover typically involves a character meeting another character played by the same actor. This type often results from the same actor playing parts on two popular television shows or movies. (For example, David Tennant in Doctor Who and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, or Derek Jacobi in The Golden Compass and I, Claudius.) There are usually many bad jokes about how the two characters look like each other.

Another type of Actor Crossover is a variety of Real Person Fic in which an actor enters a canon continuum and meets the character he plays. This type is less common, but also involves bad jokes.

Blender Crossovers
According to Architeuthis, in this type of crossover, "different canonical characters from different continuums are 'revealed' to be actually the same person". "Well, Gandalf and Dumbledore are both magic users with long beards, so ... wow, they must be the same person!"

Canon Crossovers
This rare type is a crossover that takes place in the actual canon. It usually occurs when two or more television shows are owned by the same network or when a show has several spin-offs. The Disney Channel is rife with canon crossovers.