It’s been really difficult to rank them, let me tell you; but I hope you enjoy, anon. Without further ado, here’s my top 10 gayest things Bruce has either thought/uttered about Joker, or said to Joker directly:
1. “I want him so bad, my body would shake if I let it–”
– Detective Comics (1940) #671
2. “And when you’re sitting here alone, in the middle of the night… unsleeping in the dark, remember… every breath you take you owe to me.”
– Joker: Devil’s Advocate (1996)
3. “I’m afraid you’re too late! The Joker’s been mine for quite some time.”
– Legends of the DC Universe (1940) #27
4. “I never thought it would end like this. Him. Me. Our blood, on each other’s lips.”
– Batman: Europa (2016) #1
5. “He was here. […] Even without the green hairs on the carpet… the red lipstick stain on the couch… I can smell him.”
– Batman/Catwoman (2021) #7
6. “Your name. Your history. Your family. All of it. Here. I’ll whisper it to you… whisper it right into your ear, darling.”
– Batman: Death of the Family (2013)
7. “But me, Joker. I’m dying. I’ll be dead from my injuries in minutes. So… won’t you stay with me? Stay with me and forgive me. Forgive me for being so blind.”
– Batman: Endgame (2015)
8. “What separates me from them… is a hand on a knife. His hand. […] I’m just what he made me.”
– Batman (2016) #32 (The War of Jokes and Riddles)
9. “From the beginning, I knew. There’s nothing wrong with you… that I can’t fix… with my hands.”
– Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (1986)
10. “This has always been about us. Why did you do this to him?”
you can explain why it’s important for aspiring authors to read published books and not just fanfiction without condescending to fanfiction authors/readers and implying it’s inherently of lesser quality
like a lot of fanfiction is genuinely good and well-written! there’s some amazing work there! there is absolutely fanfiction out there that’s the same quality as well-written published works. being like ‘well, it’s cute, but it’s not real writing’ is just dismissive and frankly completely untrue.
but, at the same time, there are a lot of reasons it’s important to also read published works, and those reasons aren’t just ‘it’s better’. for one, a lot of writing original fiction involves introducing one’s own characters and setting to an audience who knows nothing about the characters or worldbuilding, which is generally not something you’re going to learn how to do by only reading stories where you already know the world and characters. that doesn’t mean the work isn’t good; it just means it doesn’t teach all of the skills you’ll need to know when writing
im a lifelong fanfic writer, but one thing fanfic won’t teach you is how to end a story. or how to structure one, really. fanfic is itself a continuation of a story, it’s a transformative work, and… it’s kind of rare for long, chaptered fic to actually be complete. it’s awesome when it is! but you do kind of get used to reading fanfic as a big nebulous cloud of what-ifs, and furthermores, and so ons, and etc.
published fiction pretty much always has to have a start, middle, and ending. you can’t really learn formal anatomy from fanfiction. you can learn a lot of creative stuff that published fiction rarely has the freedom to engage in–aus and remixes, for instance–but fanfic really isn’t where you’re going to be able to study structure and discipline.
Thank god. Finally some good fanfic vs. published story dialogue.
Fanfiction is also usually published as the author writes it, which means authors are limited in their ability to retroactively change story elements (removing plot holes or subplots that go nowhere, or adding foreshadowing for an important event they decided they wanted 1/3 into their story, etc). This means stories overall are generally less “polished” than professionally published work.
On a similar note, fic writers can “get away with” a lot more fluff that doesn’t move the story forward– ie, dedicating an entire chapter to characters cuddling, or spending a very long time explaining the economics system of a secret wizard world. This is a strength of fic because it’s often what people want to read– but it’s also something that usually hinges on the reader already being deeply invested in the characters and the world, which is a luxury you’re not going to get from a lot of original fiction.
Fanfiction isn’t necessarily better or worse than original fic, but it is a fundamentally different art. An aspiring fiction author reading only fanfic is like an aspiring fiction author reading only poetry; it’s great to enrich your skills by reading widely, but if you don’t read *the kind of art you are trying to make*, you won’t know how to make it.
Crowley and Aziraphale are still the same, sneaking into the woods, breaking bread and sharing wine, enjoying some peace together.
Time sure changes a lot of things. This was one of the pieces that i liked the concept, but wasn’t quite happy with the results. I think i am content with its current version now.
