Note: Helpful writing links at the bottom of my profile. I've now changed my name from Darkwinter999 to Wildcard999. This will be the only change for the next several years.

My first and main love is drawing. I love drawing. I have been doing that since before I could write. I sucked though, until high school. Conversely, I have always loathed writing and been doing anything and everything to avoid it, yet I was pretty good, according to my teachers.

Then I graduated high school and the only writing I had to do was to sign my name for credit card purchases. Lol. Realizing that writing was now entirely my choice was when I decided to try my hand at stories. Keeping a cohesive and interesting storyline is tough enough; add into that keeping characters IC and not forgetting minor story elements? Not pretty. I try though. I also edit regularly, appreciate all reviews (including flames, but I'm still irked if people flame just for the sake of flaming) and have found spellcheck and the thesaurus to be my best friends.

I love sci-fi and superpowers. I only recently started to get into the characters, so I am not very knowledgeable about the 'early days'. Or even some more recent stuff. But when I get into a canon, I really get into it and learn everything possible. I may write fanfic, but as creative as I am, the characters are invariably changed. I like to write about the stuff that never happened. Canon is great and I'm not looking to improve upon it, only add to it. So when I start a story, I do so assuming it's an AU crossover. This leaves my options open and I think it makes it harder to miss really great ideas. Oddly enough, most of my stories don't seem to be obvious crossovers and some aren't even obvious AUs. If you read more than one of my stories, don't assume any character by the same name is from the same continuity. There isn't a whole lot of overlap just yet and none of it has seemed important enough to mention in-story. And though I do write crossovers, most of them have been of very similar canons. Freedom For All is the only one with a weird match up, adding Harry Potter into an X-Men/DC comics crossover, but if you're worried it'll go the way of some other epic crossovers, it won't. Each fandom gets a max of three representatives, aside from X-Men where most of the fic happens. It's hard to give characters the proper respect when your cast spirals out of control and there's no way I'm letting any one fandom look more awesomer than the others. That isn't the point of my fic. The point is to say something and to entertain people while I do it. If I haven't done that, I haven't done my job as author.

I've found I'm mostly just interested in writing Batman Beyond and other DC fandoms and I've stopped trying to change that. I aim for actually finishing the fic, and I don't seem interested enough in other canons to actually finish a story for any of them.

Progress Report:

Most everything is on hold right now. I'm still struggling with the fact that my stories aren't perfect. I know, none are perfect, but darn it, I want mine to be anyway! XD I do have some that I've picked back up again.

I have rewritten someone else's fanfic though. Adventures in Alien Sitting, by starprincess313 was a great idea, but she can't connect to Raven like I can, so I've fixed the voice in the prose. She asked me to post the rewrite under my name though because too much has changed and she feels bad showing people my work.

Joke's on Batman: I am working on stuff other than Joke's on Batman (Batman Beyond what-if that join the Jokerz). As it stands, it can be a one-shot, but I plan to add more--once I get the drive. This will take a while, so don't hold your breath. Right now I am working on a multiverse that includes many fandoms like Marvel, DC, Star Trek, etc., but I am focused on my most recent AU characters that don't have much backround. If I start write something that will get done enough you won't bug me for updates (and get bugged not getting them, cuz I know how much it sucks) I will post it here first.

Edit: On hold; trying to decide if I want to switch POVs for some important info, or wait until I figure out how to work in some satisfactory hints Terry would be privy to.

Edit: Not emotionally in the same place as when I started this fic. Trying to write it now is like what happened to the X-Men movies when they switched directors; the whole feel and direction of the movie-verse changed. I don't want to do that to my fics, so I wait until I'm able to write like that again before adding more. As it stands, I've added about half of what I need to post a new chapter, but a new element surprised me and I'm deciding if I want to keep it or not.

Free(dom) For All:I just started a fic a while ago, set in the Marvel 'verse; it's for X-men: Evolution, but it's a crossover with several DC characters. I have no idea how far I will get, but I have pieces of at least the next four chapters already written, but not arranged or editted. This is a well thought out fic, btw; there is an explanation for everything that happens. Chapter three is written, but needs some slight final editting to keep things coherent. I know it's been a while, but I am still working on it. I will finish this if it kills me. XD

Edit: Snafu. Dang those technicalities. As it turns out, I have to give exact dates for this story to make any amount of sense, but things will be out of order. Before I can post chapter three (no I am not holding it hostage; lack of feedback jut means I'm posting blindly) I want to get your opinions on how clear this will be. I should be posting the poll Saturday or Sunday.

Edit: I'm past the dates thing, (hence no poll) but now I need to choose a date for Lycan. Not sure when in time I want her yet. Thankfully, I still have a few more chapters before I have to decide that. I also want to do a little editing of past chapters, but only to bring the quality of writing up and try to fix any weird logic eddies that might have popped up in there.

Edit: I've picked this back up again and now I'm revamping the whole damn thing. Switching from present tense to past tense, adding a ton of detail that was apparently missing and making what I saw in my head not really come out on paper too well and working on object permanence. Turns out, stuff I came up with on the spot as I was writing tends to disappear when my character starts thinking about something else.

I'm going to repost the rewrite once I finish that. I will not be adding new chapters until after the revamp is finished, though I'm working on those at the same time.

Empty Nests: I just came up with a new AU for Nightwing, called Empty Nests (Poll here for the summary). Back to dark again, this fic is almost too painful for me to write. I almost might as well be trying to finish the expanded version of Origin of a Serial Killer. Anyway, we'll see how that goes.

Edit: Complete! And now posted all three chapters. Finally! Special thanks to both my betas, Venomous Woe, Undead Dungeon Master and Eenak.

Center of the Universe: This fic is SO not me. Writing it is the exact opposite of everything that I am and everything I want to be, but it's a challenge and I plan to see it through to the end. It'll be slow going, and will never catch up to Freedom For All?, but I will not abandon it. Basically on hold since I can't write more than two lines without blushing myself red.

Heroes: New fic that is complete; chapter one is up and chapter two will go up just after the 24th.

Warped: I've had to shelf this one until I've had some time away from it. The ending just isn't right and I've found that sometimes I just need a new perspective. I think the things I'm learning from revamping Freedom For All might help me to fix it though.

The Hunt: I have no idea where this story is going, so it's going to take a while for it to get anywhere. As it is, it works as a one-shot, so I'm leaving it as a one-shot until I have the rest of the story written. I will not be posting as I go though. It didn't work out for me with CotU or FfA, so I'm done with that.

I have more stories that are in progress but not complete. When I finish them, I'll post the chapters one by one until the whole thing is up, but from now on, all stories I post will be some kind of 'complete'.

If anyone wants to help out with suggestions, PM me. I am never one to yell at someone for giving me solicited help. If I ask the question, I know I have to be prepared for the answer.

It can be really hard to find a beta on this site, so what if those of us that need one became each other's betas?

Beta's Anonymous

Typing can take a really long time, especially if you're slow. No one likes slow. Solution? Slang terms and abbreviations. But this creates problems of it's own! Not everyone knows what all the terms mean.

FFN Slang

Help offers for serious writers (or just want to be better):

Summaries. The most important piece of advertising your story has, and all too often the most ignored. Your summary doesn't just tell people what you story is about, it also tells them if you are interesting enough to hold their attention should they click on your story. But many authors don't really know how to write a captivating summary, or just don't know if their's is up to snuff.

We can help.

The Perfect Summary

Titles can be some of the hardest or easiest parts of writing a story. Some people are inspired with the perfect titles to every idea that flits through their mind, but others have to struggle to name their creation even after they wrote it. I personally spent nearly a month on a single title. Let the experienced authors on the Writer's Anonymous forum help you, like they've helped me.

Titles

In a world without sense or creativity, the Marysues have take over the fanfic universe, running amok and destroying fandoms and raping unsuspecting, hot CCs, one forum dares to halt their reign of terror. The Sue invasion must be stopped. Who is up to the challenge?

The Original Character Courtroom

Superpower, or Superproblem? Discuss or ask how powers might really work. Remember, this is all theoretical, so there is no one right answer!

Research and Theory

How many jumplines can Batman carry? What kind of ingredients can be used in the creation of Lola Potter's wand? Is it possible for Grissom to drop dead of a heart attack? With lives to live and lives to write, who has the time to figure it all out themselves? Nobody, but chances are, whatever it is, someone has already tackled that question and come up with an answer. Now all we need is a one-stop shop for all those people...know where I can find one?

Thread died, so PM me if you think I should create a copy in a popular enough forum it won't die again.

As a writer, you love your story to death. It's perfect in every way. But then, why is the hit count so low? And why has no one reviewed it? Find out about all those little things you never think about, but readers can't stand.

Fanfiction Pet Peeves

Spelling and grammar. Two things that should be very easy in writing, right? Wrong! The truth is, even though it doesn't even take half a brain to have good spelling and grammar, people don't anyway. The truth is, most people only have a general idea of what good grammar sounds like, and and few people can spell any words that aren't immediately easy to figure out. But do not fear, all is not lost. There is a forum dedicated to improving the quality of writing on this site, one fic at a time. If you need help and would like to learn how to, once and for all, fix your fics so they sound good and read clear, then Literary Beauty is Literal Beauty could be the leg up your fics need to get the attention they deserve!

Tired of fic after fic of spelling errors and atrocious grammar? So am I. We need a forum that is dedicated to improving the quality of writing on this site, one fic at a time. I know a lot of the people who frequent the writing forums are very frustrated with the quality of writing on this site, and I have decided to do something about it. If you would like to join me, check out Literary Beauty is Literal Beauty and join the solution to the problem that has blighted this site for years!

Also, any questions regarding FFN are answered here and if not, ask here.

The white man said, "Colored people are not allowed here."

The black man turned around and stood up.

He then said: "Listen sir...when I was born I was BLACK, When I grew up I was BLACK, When I'm sick I'm BLACK, When I go in the sun I'm BLACK, When I'm cold I'm BLACK, When I die I'll be BLACK. But you sir, When you're born you're PINK, When you grow up you're WHITE, When you're sick, you're GREEN, When you go in the sun you turn RED, When you're cold you turn BLUE, And when you die you turn PURPLE. And you have the nerve to call me colored?"

The black man then sat back down and the white man walked away...