Hey everyone.

So, I finally decided to grab a few muffins, enough milk to refill a cow and have a crack at writing. It's been a fairly long time (18 months ~) since I last did any writing. I suppose it hasn't helped with me having exams, and continuing my education so I have even more work and exams ahead of me.

Saying that, I doubt I'm the youngest Author on the forum and I know there are a number of Authors who are still in school/college/university and are still pumping chapters out regardless. I'd like to be like them, not as good as them, as i's my first crack at it in a while, but it's worth a shot - right?

Anywho, rambling over - The idea that's been rolling around in my head is this; It's a Dark Knight / Harry Potter cross-over. Yeah, talk about a doozy to start off on again.

I've not got any serious notes, plus I'm lacking a plot for the most part. What I do have goes something like this:

Starts off in Arkham inside the Joker's cell. He's thinking aloud, talking to himself, cackling, remembering the 'fun' he had in Gotham. He has another 'Therapy' session with Harley - though I don't think she'll be in the story, not too sure. The Joker evenually escapes and decides to spread a little chaos in England, across the pond.

Now, this is where it might get... odd. I'm going for the Joker's moher, being a witch (using the first Scars story from DK, when he's alking to Gambol) hence why his father finally killed her. She'd told him a while back, he was drunk and had had enough, she idn't have her wand near her, hence why she ook the kitchen knife.

The Joker knew his mother to be magical etc, reads in a Wizarding paper that he finds about Harry Potter, famous Quiditch star, victor over the Dark Lord, etc etc - Decides to corrupt this 'Golden Boy' like he did with Harvey Dent. However, the Joker is a Squib before someone starts blowing the 'bullshit' horn.

Now, this is where I'm stuck/losing it. I've got Harry having an injury in Quidditch that'll put him out for 6 months minimum, say a massive blow to the head, or a completely destroyed shoulder; something along those lines. Takes some time off, Joker's causing chaos, runs into Harry or just... something happens & hey end up having a little chat.

Perhaps I should change it, Harry the Auror, serious injury, told he's off duty for a set period of time, does some private investigating on the Joker as he causes chaos in the Muggle world. Not sure how to explain that though...

That's the general idea anyway and I know hat there's a lot of faults in there, but it's a start... So, idea's and any help would be appreciated.

Title is raher cheesy imo - 'A Little... Chaos' - Meh. Thinking things up (as you can probably tell) was never my strong point.

Well, that's everything - Cheers.

B ~

Edit; Forgive the capial letters in random places; very bad habit, just about dropped it!

 

I think a question you need to ask yourself a lot is "why?". A lot of what you have seems to be rather contrived and exists solely on your whim. You need to think up more than just a plot, but also a realistic chain of causation.

For example, you decided to send the Joker to England. Why? Why would he spontaneously decide to do that, when it's much more likely that he'd be interested in screwing with the Batman?

 

No.

Joker's existence is defined by his ongoing battle with Batman. The amount of times this is stated in the comics and indeed, by anyone who knows anything about Batman is on the point of tiresome. You cannot. Have. The Joker. Without. Batman.

Find some way to work Batman into the story maybe? Or don't use the actual character of the Joker, perhaps just use him as a template for another character in the HP world.

 

One method - disregarding the minimal background you have - would be to have the Joker break out of Arkham and intending to immediately find the Batman.

He then thinks that he cannot return to the battle without something new to bring to the table - Batman deserves better. So, he returns to his lair and begins researching.

This time could coincide with the events of Order of the Phoenix, so in Britain he sees a pattern in the chaos of the natural disasters and collapsing bridge, and wants to learn the secret.

He tries to see if he can harness magic for the sake of being a better opponent for Batman.

 

If you explain the Joker, you destroy the Joker. No tragic childhoods. No Freudian excuses. Just no.

 

Write whatever you think might work, then post it. Best thing to do of you haven't written in a while is to just write; you'll probably answer a lot of questions about your plot once you see it on paper (screen).

 

Hmm... Thanks for the support and the 'no, don't do it's' - I found myself thinking about this today and did partially wonder why I posted it. A lot of what I seem to have said does go against the Joker's character, not to mention the whole story.

Yes, the Joker can't really exist without the Batman, but therein lies a story waiting to be told. If the Batman were to say, die, what would the Joker do then? That's not to say I'm going to kill the Batman (I wouldn't, believe me) but it's just an idea.

Taure - As always, a damn fine point. Why WOULD the Joker go to England? Nothing's sprung to mind yet and my excuse of corrupting some Golden Boy like he did with Harvey is very weak, seeing as Harvey was all 'part of the plan.' Not to menion he had his own inner turmoil after Rachel - But perhaps Harry could be the same after the loss of Sirius..? Or dare I say it.. Ginslut?

Jenkins - Again, fine points. I could indeed write Batman into the story, not quite sure how I'd manage it though. As for turning a member of the HP universe into a Joker-like character.. I fear that I'd just be copying off of Denial and Deception with his Joker!Harry story. I could try Sirius actually... hmm.

Andromalius - Nice idea and yes, my background story/idea's do suck. I'm only young & fool hardy, not to mention I suck at writing; A Grade B proved that much for my Creative Writing. Oh well.

The Joker trying to harness magic... The idea had crossed my mind, what with Angsty Harry and the chaos going on over in England. Saying that, I think I was scared off of this idea by the number of Batman/Joker fans on the forums.

Tehan - Whoever said I would be explaining he truth of the Joker? He has so many stories and twisted little tales... but yes, I can see your point.

Justblaise - Good advice. I've written just under 2 pages on Word.. sufficed to say, it's fairly rubbish from my PoV. Plot wise it got me thinking, but then I'd have to throw Harley Quinn in, which could be good, it could be bad. I think If I get the guts, i'll post what i've done tomorrow, let you all tear into it & then enjoy the flames, constructive critiscism or mixture of the two.

 

To be honest, I can see a Joker!Bellatrix as realistic.

It may work if you're dying to write a HP story that incorporates the personality and concept of the Joker.

 

Crossovers are inherently difficult to write, I find.

One has to match up the introducing of the characters to one world. Such worlds often have different rules, some so far that it either makes them incompatible, or very difficult. There is a tendency to make one world far more powerful than another, which puts certain powerful characters to disadvantages, and alienates some readers.

Not only that, but the reaction of characters to others is difficult to assert. A ludicrous example for portraying it:

Peter Pan gets transported into Star Wars. Does he completely mock the Empire and annoys the reader with his childish attitude. Or does Palpatine cruelly kill him with slow, long torture by Force Lightning?

Nevermind, bad example... However, I still stand by my point that making a crossover work is difficult and not always rewarding. Simply liking and knowing two different fandoms does not make them come toghether easily.

I don't mean to discourage you, but my suggestion to you would be to start writing in only one fandom. Try to make a Harry Potter story work. Or try to make a Batman story work. Your choice. After inherently managing the two do I recommend you try to combine them.

 

Joker!Bellatrix... Just can't see it myself, even if she's the type to 'play with her food' she ends up killing i anyway.

Indeed Methene, after 3 - 4 pages, it's already looking and seeming pretty damn difficult to write anymore. So, I went digging around in my old files & found a story I started back when I'd just turned 15. Problem being, it was similiar to Shezza's 'Resistance of Azkaban' Which had in fact been posted 4 months earlier.

I didn't read the fic till I was around 20 pages into my own; but after I had, my fic seemed to start turning into the prequel to 'Resistance of Azkaban' and I didn't like it, so I stopped working on it.

The fact that it just starts out of nowhere with very little to no background info doesn't help either, plus the plot's fairly obvious and un-believable. But, if people want, I can post up a few pages & let you tear into it.

 

I think this is a passing thing and in about a month you'll probably think that this is a bad idea. There are about 23 Harry Potter xover with Spiderman cross overs out right now. They were interesting when they came out, but after a while you just look at them and look pissed.

On the other hand some timeless crossovers like Warcraft don't really get old because of the number of animal/beast/elf girls in that series so you can form a pretty big harem.

But if you really feel that strongly why not, it might come out okay.

 

To be truthful, ever since I saw the Dark Knight trailers, I'd always wondered what the Wizarding World would be like with a Joker-like villain within it. Frankly, I don't think hey'd know how to react, same way as if say a Zombie Apocalypse were to happen, I just can't see Wizards knowing what to do. Sure, Fire stops Inferi, but these are zombies; they don't care for fire or pain.

Can't say I've ever read a HP/WC crossover, just doesn't seem likely, but people still write them, so props to them. I'm re-reading the story I found & decided to cut it around page 18 as that's where I started turning into 'Shezza "wannabe" Jr' the wannabe part being me.. ah well.

I can still post bits up in the Work by Authors section, but for what it's worth, I just don't see the point =P.

Ah well, thanks for the help anyway guys, maybe another time.

 

If you can chisel out a plot it might work. We're not here to discourage you from writing, we're here to force you to write better. The problem with a HP/DK crossover is choosing how you're going to do it. Whether actually using the Batman characters or as character templates for the HP world.

If you can design a plot that kept the essence of both the worlds and then wrote it out, there's no saying it'll be rubbish. It's just hard to do this kind of crossover. Most crossovers are hard and fail majestically. But if you want, chuck something up in WbA and we'll review even more.

Here.

^We discussed a HP/DK crossover in that thread there and threw out several ideas. Take a look if you want.