I was thinking the other day about the genre(?) of Alternate universe used in fanfiction and came up with the idea of making a series with a cast of characters where each book is a different circumstance. Eg one book could be a urban fantasy, another high school etc. etc. with each book having the same characters which react differently and experience different character developments depending on the situation. Is this a good idea or is it just a stupid idea thought up by someone who reads way too much fanfiction?
Depends how you write it. You'd need to write it in such a way that it doesn't seem like the characters are so different the reader can't identify with their favourite each time. But also need to write it in such a way, that it doesn't feel like they are reading the same story over and over again.
It could be interesting, but if you're planning to find a traditional publisher for the series there may be problems, because they'll be unsure how to market it/to whom to market it. There are a lot of readers who don't stray far from their preferred genres, so you'd risk losing a lot of the advantages of a series.
