One Person's guide to writing in the DCAU;

Now,we all know the DCAU is a wonderful and fun place to visit. I mean, we have Batman, Superman, the whole Green Lantern and Hawkgirl romance, we see Wonder Woman destroy stuff, Flash cracking a great joke once in a while... and even Jonn showing the cutest 'Squee!' of emotion that makes him more human. And, not to mention, a ton of other great characters that were introduced in JLU. Who doesn't like Question and Huntress? Or the banters of Black Canary and Green Arrow, “Are we dead yet...?!”

Classic.

Unfortunately, there are things that do ruin this. Well, for me, anyway.

I adore fan fiction. I lurve it to death. And while I'm not the best DCAU writer out there... I'd like to say a few things I need to get off my chest. If you continue reading this, you're probably someone who'd like to know what a reader wants to see (Catwoman and Batman!! No? Aww...) and would like make sure your fic is not a grievous error in some of the things listed.

Perhaps you just want to point and laugh... who knows? You might agree... or better yet; see the same things in your fics and quickly and painlessly take them out.

Here's hoping...

Biggest Gripe Number One; Batman

Batman on Love: The first thing I will say on this, is Batman will be kicking and screaming and will probably be heavily sedated before letting Cupid take a shot at him. Why? He has the emotional maturity of an eight year old. He's going to be scared to death of letting anyone he cares about being in harm's way, more terrified if it's his family. No matter how much has been brought up in the DCAU, Bats is no where near the point to have a stable home life. Probably less so, the world being almost blown up so many times and all...

Batman making Love;
I want pictures!
*cough* Erm, I mean...

Sex will not be the be-all-to-end-all for Bats. Being suddenly seduced is not hard to do with Batman, honestly. If your first chapter has Batman and Wonder Woman falling into bed... I won't turn away (because of that). What will turn me away is him saying 'I love you' in the first chapter.

We know Bruce is a playboy... how does one get that image? While being 'fake-drunk' and blaming some nasty Batmobile accident on a DUI helps... the real image is from starlettes going in Wayne Manor, and not leaving until morning. Better yet, when they produce the Bruce Wayne sex-tapes.

If that don't say Playboy, what does?

Bruce has sex, a lot. Usually that means sex isn't going to equate love for him. Flash... doesn't seem like the kind of guy who has sex very often, and for him, sex would mean more. See what I'm saying?

Batman with Kids; This is the part where we see Batman in a corner and a paper bag in one hand, hyperventilating while the bat-computer is quadruple checking to make sure he can't be the baby-daddy.

Batman + Kids = About the hardest thing in the DCAU to pull off. In 'Perchance to Dream', did anyone see Selina with a 'Baby-Bump'? Or little Helena's running around the mansion? Nope. Batman may, subconsciously, want love. But a baby is too scary for even him to imagine.

Needless to say, the utterance from any woman that she's carrying Bruce's child will not make Bats hold her, and tell her how wonderful it will be. Honestly, I picture that scenario and I see Bats hopping in his car, gone for a couple days, and Arkham out of rooms with the doctors overworked. When he does come back, he'll probably just mutter 'okay'. Hopefully, with all this distraction he wont get shot while he's out fighting crime.

Batman and Men; Not really my thing... would love to have someone E-mail me with their gripes on this subject.

Biggest Gripe Number Two; Diversity

The JLU is not 1 couple;

While I really adore Batman... he's not it for the Justice League. Nor do I want to see the first page on ff.net fill with BM/WW pairings. I like to read a good Shayera/John story once in a while. I'm not a Linda/Wally fan (I saw no chemistry on the cartoon) but I'd like to be convinced! The best part about writing (and reading) the DCAU stuff is variety! Show me some Nightwing and Batgirl (or Starfire). Proove to me why your favorite ship rules! I think Wonder Woman and King Faraday should get together, because they're both tough-as-nails, I'm-not-taking-your-shit kind of people that are just really fun to write. True, Bats is like that too... But 'King' Faraday and 'Princess' Diana. It's just begging to be shipped!

Writing more than one ship can help you with your writing, because now you have to take a step back and look at someone else's life. In turn, it can help you take another look at yours. Why do I think Batman and Catwoman make such a great couple? Why do you think John and Shayera do? These men are good at heart and these women have betrayed them (they think). To the women, the men aren't standing up to the 'Trust' issue. (my POV) Also, it will let you take a break and look at everything a new way in your favorite ship.

Biggest Gripe Number Three; Comics

In the Beginning; The DCAU is based on the comics... so before you alter everything... look it up? Yes, Batman and Wonder Woman flirt in the cartoon... ever think it might happen in the comics?

... It did, in both the DCAU comic line AND the DC comics themselves.

From what I've heard (Someone give me the comic number, please?) Bruce and Diana decided to cool it off in the DCAU comics. We should respect that and if you're still a BW/WW shipper... carry on from there. Why does your ship make so much sense after that? Tell me convincingly!

In the DC comics, we have Batman going after Diana, but she puts on the brakes. Then she kinda looks in the alternate futures/her own mind to see where a relationship with him would go;

In most; They become devastatingly devoted to each other and then... Bruce dies. Diana goes absolutely nuts, one version has Diana dying and Bruce goes nuts before he's shot to join her. Only in one version do they live happily ever after... until Bruce dies of old age and Diana is left very saddened.

The end result; Diana doesn't want any of those futures (save the old age one... but the odds are too overwhelming that the one future will ever happen). So when Bats pesters her again, she just says that they should just be friends.

I think everyone should try and find this comic, as it has a really kick-ass picture of Diana as Batwoman.

One of my fav references on comics is the lj community; scans_daily

Personally, I'm a CW/BM shipper. Their biggest gripe? Selina's phobia is Batman always rescuing her and her independence. She sees Batman as a threat to that even though she cares for him. Batman is worried Selina is going to be the next in someone's cross-hairs because so many people want to kill him... let alone the above mentioned in 'Batman on Love'.

Please, just research an itty bitty bit before writing. Unless it's a 'PWP' (plot, what plot?) which is fine once in a while.

Please, Send in your gripes! I'll add them too! And more, as I find 'em. :)

~JD

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