Fanfiction about Dick Grayson and Damian Wayne
AU discussion
So I'm currently hashing out a dickdami story idea that's pretty AR and there are few details that I might have to alter to make it work that I'm not comfortable altering. It's made me realize how, even in alternate realities, there are always universal truths you expect of certain characters.
Ex: Batman and Superman will always be two sides of the same coin (as their series run has taught us).
In my case, I want Slade Wilson in my story.
My problem? Dick is a character of questionable alignment. My issue is that Slade isn't the one who trained Dick and made him that way.
I didn't even realize that, in my head, it's a solid canon that if Dick isn't good, it will always be because of Slade. And now I'm breaking that and that is outside of my comfort zone.
I also have to find a way to make Tim and Damian friends and I'm seeing that as a complete challenge, too.
I might as well just say this story is an AU rather than AR 😅
Anyways, I just wanted to share that interesting thought about universal truths.




That's really interesting! I guess, my personal truths are just more like.... character traits? I don't know, I get really into the character building of, 'If this character was raised in this way instead of that way, how would they turn out different?'
This can probably be directly tied back to the fact that I started writing DC fanfiction in the Earth-3 universe, which has very little canon and it's constantly getting rewritten every time it shows up, so really it was fair game to just play with the whole thing however I wanted. XD
I don't know enough about your story to give any advice on the Dick issue, but in regards to Tim and Damian it's my personal belief that Damian is very much seeking approval. Not only in a 'if I beat Drake I'm better than he is and the family will have to recognize that' way, but also in a 'wanting to directly prove himself to Tim' way, because Tim is the Robin that came right before him. Damian just doesn't really know any other way to get approval than to fight to be the best (you can blame Talia and Ra's for that one). So if you can get Tim to accept/approve of Damian somehow, or get Damian to realize there are other ways to seek approval, you might be able to get them to be at least allies, if not friends.
Maybe that helps?
Oh man, for me the challenge is keeping them as close to the original character as possible while changing up their whole backstory.
You have some good points there with Tim and Damian. I'll definitely have to explore that angle!
And I think there's possibility to play with Dick ending up pretty different! Cereta's Hanging Work series, which is Bruce/Dick, has Dick raised by Selina Kyle and it's pretty convincing. There's also a fic where Dick is raised by Waylon Jones and it was surprisingly plausible?
I mean, even in the comics he might have ended up a Talon. Or he might have ended up Owlman's partner. Or he might have been batshit-crazy ASBAR Bruce's Robin.
I think Bruce is a very rigid sort of character. Unless you want to play with actually breaking Bruce, I don't think you can alter him much (portray him differently, sure, but each Bruce is pretty set in his ways).
Dick, on the other hand, is more fluid. You see him in Grayson teaming up with Midnighter, in Rebirth with Raptor. Pre-52, Tarantula, even Slade Wilson, as Reyn's trying to write about, with that whole thing with Rose and stuff.
Obviously his moral core is still in place there, but I think he can be pushed around a bit in AUs. Not having a no-kill code doesn't make someone a bad guy in my book. And I think he can still be kept recognizably Dick Grayson. Of course, that leads to the question of what makes Dick Grayson Dick Grayson.