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spectre-requisitions-exchange · 4 years

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Nominations are LIVE!

Time to get to nominating this year’s delicious rare pairs!

When nominating, please fill in “Mass Effect – All Media Types” in the fandom box.

As a reminder, both gen (&) and romantic (/) relationship tags are allowed for this exchange. Any relationship that fulfils the criteria below is eligible! If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask the mods!

ELIGIBILITY RULES:

A pairing must have 200 or less works when viewed with completed works OR

NEW: A pairing may have over 200 works, but when viewed with completed works and otp:true parameters, the amount of remaining works is both under 200 and less than 1/3rd of the total number of works.

For Example:

* If Adrian Victus/Steve Cortez has 138 works, then it will be accepted as it has less than 200 works. No further filtering is needed.

* If Volus God (Self-Declared)/Liara’s Hanar Half-Sister has over 200 works, but when searched with the above parameters, only has 5 works, it would be allowed as it would have met the under the 1:3rd ratio rule.

* If Brooks/Krogan Wondering About Fish on the Citadel has over 200 works, but when searched with OTP: true and completed works parameters, has 100 works, then it would not be allowed, as the ratio between the completed works and completed works with just the pairing (otp:true) would be too high to qualify. This new rule is meant to help pairings that are commonly used as “side pairings” but rarely are featured in works where they are the focus.

If you have any questions on those rules or you just want to hang out and talk Mass Effect pairs beyond the most popular ones, consider joining us at Our Discord server. It’s a great place to hang out and talk rare pairs.

If this is your first year or you just want a guide to find out how to do nominations, please read below:

1) Go to the Ao3 Tagset Page for Spectre Requisitions while logged into Ao3. A tagset is what most Ao3 fan exchanges use to determine what relationships (in Spec Rec’s case) or other criteria are used for an exchange.

If a pairing is not nominated, it will not be able to be used for sign-ups, regardless of whether it would have been eligible otherwise. (Example: Suvi/Chakwas, while certainly being eligible as far as total works go, won’t be an option to ask for if it’s not nominated.)

If you don’t have an Ao3 account, contact the mods, we’ll be happy to help you get one with an invite link!

If you do have an AO3 account and you’re logged in, you should see this button in the corner that says “Nominate”:

2) Click the Nominate Button.

You should wind up with a page that looks like this, with 1 fandom tag and lots of relationship fields to fill out:

3) Fill out the Nominations Sheet.

For fandom, please use “Mass Effect - All Media Types”. We only use Mass Effect - All Media Types because it gives us the highest chance of getting that sweet, sweet Mass Effect content in there regardless of potentially sticky couples (for example: crossovers between a book and a game, or between the Mass Effect Trilogy and Andromeda, or crossovers between other media and Mass Effect) and because Ao3 frankly doesn’t like it when we have couples wandering through different fandoms in the tagset. For Relationships, any pairing/threesome/moresome that meets the eligibility rules. For most pairings, Ao3 should help autocomplete it for you -- but if you come up with a very original pairing (or AO3 is feeling unhelpful), it may require you to type in the full thing. If it does not auto-complete, don’t worry - you can still submit it! Pairings should be in alphabetical order of names. One pairing per line, please!

4) Submit your Nominations! Just click the button on the bottom, and you should be off off and away!

FAQ:

How can I tell what is under 200 completed fics? I’m not a mind reader, C-sec officer!

You can search AO3′s tags here to find pairings for a given character (canonical only gives you pairings big enough that Ao3 has declared them canonical categories). It should look something like this:

If you see a number under 200 here, you’re golden! Submit away. If it’s over 200 here, however, don’t despair - check the completed works. For example, let’s look at this couple, Garrus/Tali:

Doesn’t look eligible if you just do a tag search. However, if you click the tag and then do a search for completed works only and you might be surprised!

To do this search for completed works, look at the “Sort and Filter” sidebar and scroll down until you reach the “More Options” field and under “All Works”:

Click complete works only. And in this case, you’d find this couple is, in fact, eligible!

However, let’s say you look at the couple and find they are still over 200, as in the example below?

Well, there is one last thing to check:

Go back to the sidebar, then down to More Options and scroll down to “Search within results”:

OTP: True will show you ONLY the works that are tagged with JUST the target couple. When you sort and filter, you will see a total. In this example’s case, that number is 30:

What this means is that off the 204 works in Garrus/Tali right now, only 30 only focus on Garrus/Tali as a couple. As a result, the ratio of otp:true works to completed works is less than 1/3rd of the total, and the couple would be allowed to participate.

What if I accidentally nominate something that’s not eligible? Will I get in trouble?

Nah. You might wind up with it being rejected, but we assume most people operate in good faith in their nominations. If we reject a couple, we will always put it in the spreadsheet for the year linked on the sidebar with a reason why.

How many things can I nominate?

10 pairings - so choose carefully what you’d like to see and write. That covers both Andromeda and Trilogy, and all the novels, comics, etc.

Can I nominate, even if I’m not sure I’ll sign up or don’t plan on signing up?

Of course! Nominating isn’t a binding process - you’re only voting for what you’d like to see. You don’t have to sign up after nominating things - in fact, nominations are anonymous, so we can’t tell what you’ve nominated.

Are there any special rules/restrictions on what I can/can’t nominate?

Only the eligibility rules.

Can I nominate Original Characters?

Yes - ish. We allow original characters who are defined enough to give the person who matches on the original character something to go on, but not so much so they have to do an exhaustive amount of research on a fanon character. For example:

Allowable OC nominations:

Female Asari Spectre/Female Cerberus Agent - both these roles are defined in terms of what category of pairing they want (f/f), and the two roles give someone an idea of who these people are without being excessively limiting.

Not-so-allowable:

Communications Officer/Male Original Character: both of these are too vague. We’re not sure whether this person wants a male, female, nonbinary, or other gender for the Communication’s Officer; Male Original Character is so nebulously defined that we’re not sure just who that might be.

Female Shepard/Batarian(s) - We don’t know who these batarians are, or how many of them there are. “Five Male Batarian Pilots” tells us a lot more.

Male Shepard/Legion/Ebony Raven Darkmayne (My OC) - While we encourage you to add details about your Shepards or other OCs, it’s very hard to write for original characters someone else has formed. Please nominate your OC in more generic terms (ex Male Shepard/Legion/Female Original Goffic Hogwarts Student). You can add in names and descriptions in optional details in your sign up, but this way the writer or artist has more wiggle room for what will suit their fic or art, and you have more options of matching more people since you aren’t limited to one interpretation of a concept.

A good rule of thumb is if you can sum up an OC in five non-name nouns, it’s probably a valid nomination.

Can I nominate crossovers?

Yes! Crossovers between different Mass Effect properties are welcome and and are crossovers between ! Just please, if the character you’re crossing over doesn’t hail from a Mass Effect canon, add in the canon next to the character name, eg “Darth Vader (Star Wars)/Garrus Vakarian.”

#Mass Effect #spectre requisitions #specrecs2021 #specrecs_nominations

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hawkland · 4 years

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Dear Chocolate Box Creator

Hello and thank you for creating for me!

For this exchange I am requesting fic for my gift, but I would always adore any art treats! (I just am terrible at coming up with art prompts most of the time, which is why it’s hard for me to specifically request them.)

For this exchange I’m giving more general prompts/likes than a lot for specific pairings - because frankly with so many pairings requested this would turn into a novel otherwise. Please just have fun and know that with most of these ships being on the rarer side, I’m thrilled to see anything new for them (minus any of my DNWs, of course ;) If I don’t have specific prompts for a ship below that doesn’t mean I would adore it any less than the other ships - my brain is just broken on coming up with new prompts for them at this point in time because I’ve been requesting them for so long :)

Do Not Wants (unless a specific exception is listed below)

A/B/O

formalized BDSM relationships and kink

pregnancy/kidfic

permanent death or permanently disabling injury

violence/cruelty toward animals

2nd person "reader" POV

trans or asexuality headcanons.

General likes/prompts:

For both romantic and platonic ships...

* Vacation/travel stories. Being unable to travel this past year thanks to covid-19 has me desperate to explore and live vicariously through my favorite characters! So I’d love a story involving travel to somewhere new. It could be a romantic getaway/honeymoon trip to somewhere special (and I love it when an author “takes me” to a favorite city/place of their own). Or two friends just going on an escapade together, maybe one sensing the other needs some time away from a stressful situation or workplace.

* Quarantine/life-in-2020 stories. I also enjoy stories about how characters have had to deal with self-quarantine, covid, and other related issues this year. I know many people may be sick of it, but as a health care worker myself stuck with it all for who knows how long (and missing family members overseas I can’t visit), it gives me some comfort to imagine how my favorite characters and ships are coping, too. Are they somehow stuck apart for a long period of time? Driving each other crazy cooped up at home? Discovering some new hobby or passion together? Being good emotional support for each other while dealing with distance from other family/loved ones?

* Soumates with a twist. I love soulmate/soulbond AUs, as long as it’s just not a shortcut to happily-ever-fluff. I want there to be some conflict or angst involved. For instance, I’d love seeing any “fusion” fics based off the concept of the AMC-network “Soumates” series - where there’s a scientific test a person can choose to take to find their soulmate (if the other person out there has also taken the test). That way it’s a choice to find out or not. Would an already established couple want to take the test to find out if they’re really “meant” to be together or not? What if they find out other people are their “soulmates”? What about the possibility of platonic soulmates vs romantic? Discussions for the future if/when one partner dies before the other? I’d love to see these questions played out with one of my fave ships in a happy or even somewhat angsty/dark way.

* Someone has an unexpected hobby or talent. One person has been holding out on the other about some unique interest, skill or hobby that they have. Could be anything from being a secret gourmet cook to stamp collecting - I’d just love a story about the discovery of this hidden interest, why the person never talked about it, if it’s something they could share together (or it just leaves the other person completely bewildered, aka, “You do you.”)

For romantic ships, specifically:

* Age difference dynamics. The age gaps in a lot of my romantic ships are a plus, not a minus :) I like the general power dynamics involved in them, but generally with the twist where the younger individual is perhaps more experienced/worldly in some way than the older character (for instance, how Eleanor is so cynical and knows all about the world whereas Michael in The Good Place, despite being an immortal being around for millennia, has so much to learn about human behavior and humanity.) I’m not into formalized BDSM situations/power-play, for clarification, so it’s more of a relationship dynamic that I like, not a sexual kink.

Specific Ship Requests

Crossover Fandom

Stewart Copeland (The Police (Band))/Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters) - one of my perennial favorite ships to always request. Would love any of my general prompts above.

Murdoc Niccals (Gorillaz)/Stewart Copeland (The Police (band)) - I’d love to see them meet up backstage or at an afterparty somewhere, and bonding over having their annoying lead singer/frontman “steal away” THEIR respective bands.

Murdoc Niccals (Gorillaz)/Peter Hook (New Order) - Something during the recording of “Aries”, of course! Is Murdoc jealous about having another bass player as a featured/guest artist? Have to prove who’s the one in charge?

Lucifer (Lucifer TV)/Murdoc Niccals (Gorillaz) - “Hail, Satan!” indeed! What wouldn’t an avowed Satanist like Murdoc love about the chance to meet - and perhaps service - his hero and spiritual leader? What would (this particular) Satan think about Murdoc and some of his truly awful shenanigans?

Abe Morgan (Forever TV 2014) & John Munch (Law & Order: SVU) - I’ve had a long running headcanon that these two could have been friends back in their respective 60s/early 70s hippie days. I’d love either a story set back then, “pre-canon”, or them running into each other in NYC later in life. Munch ending up in Abe’s antique shop, for instance, while on an investigation?

The Police

Stewart Copeland/Sting (The Police) - any of my general prompts, of course. Plus I’m always a sucker for reunion tour-era fluff, getting back together after all those years. Or something hot and sweaty set on Montserrat during the Ghost in the Machine or Synchronicity sessions.

Gorillaz

Murdoc Niccals/Stuart "2D" Pot (Gorillaz)

Murdoc Niccals & Noodle (Gorillaz)

Gorillaz is my newest obsession/fandom - and yes I know I’m like 20 years late for it. For 2Doc I would love anything angsty related to Plastic Beach/Phase 3 - I know it’s been done to death by now but it is my favorite part of the lore (and my favorite Gorillaz album). Also The Lost Chord video was so amazing...I’d love any kind of “what happens next” story set afterwards, what with 2-D saving Murdoc and all the feels that had to involve, after everything Murdoc did to 2-D on Plastic Beach.

I also adore the father/daughter dynamic between Murdoc and Noodle in phases 1 & 2...he’s such a “bad dad” but I love it. I’d love to see anything where he reacts to her giving him an unexpected gift, or just manages to warm/melt his icy bastard heart just a little bit.

Law & Order SVU

John Munch/Odafin "Fin" Tutuola (L&O: SVU) - they’re my perennial favorite request these days and I will never tire of stories about these two! Anything goes that fits my general requests or prompts!

John Carter/Peter Benton (ER 1994) - I was quite excited to see this ship in the tagset, and yes, please, there needs to be more of them! I watched ER through completely for the first time a couple years ago and they were the first ship I had while doing so. The mentor/mentee dynamic is right up my alley, I loved how Peter was there with John when he needed help for his addiction, and oh, that final episode. Any little “missing scenes” between them would be so wonderful. Or, something modern day, where might they be now as a long-time established couple? Celebrating an anniversary, or perhaps taking a moment to acknowledge something less happy/lost loved ones from the past.

The Good Place

Eleanor Shellstrop/Michael (The Good Place) - some day, some how, someone has to write some decent tentacle porn for this ship. They’d have to figure out some way to make it work with Michael in his true fire squid form. And while I’m not normally into kid/pregnancy fic, what if somehow Eleanor ends up pregnant with a half-squid half-demon baby? Yes, I know she’s dead. But somehow in this canon it has to be possible.

#chocolate box #exchange letter #chocolate box exchange

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convenientalias · 6 years

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Yuletide Rec List

Y’all there are 3365 fandoms in the Yuletide noms and some of them are really good so I thought I’d just make a promo post here and also rant a little bc I’m excited even tho it’s barely October just looking at this list.

So I’m gonna put the rest of this barely coherent ranting under a read more but like guys, I’m excited.

So here goes. Some fandom recs!

Books

The Alpennia Trilogy by Heather Rose Jones

Mistress/bodyguard ship in the first book, which leads to so many possibilities! Loyalty kink! Power imbalance! All that shit!

Amazing worldbuilding and magic mixed in with religion

I’ve only read the first book but I’m totally gonna request it

Best for femslash fic tbh, but I guess you could do gen.

The Shades of Magic series by V.E. Schwab

Again the worldbuilding is good. But the series is overall very dark. Also, an ensemble kind of feel.

My ship is two powerful magicians who seem to be the last of their kind, both working for royal families, one of whom lives as a prince and the other of whom is enslaved.

They’re enemies most of the time but still.

But a lot of people ship other things bc ensemble cast. There is one canon m/m ship. There is a slightly OP female crossdressing thief. There’s angsty brothers. There’s lots of people basically.

Good fandom for m/m, f/m, gen, even poly. Very good fandom for dark fic or whump imo.

Peter Darling by Austin Chant

Trans Peter Pan who used to be Wendy Darling

Ship is Peter Pan/Captain Hook

Writing style is gorgeous

Captures the cruel, childlike side of Peter Pan.

Good fandom for slash mostly, but I imagine you could pull off gen too.

Nero Wolfe series by Rex Stout

Detectives in New York in some vaguely historical time period.

Narrator is Archie Goodwin, very snarky and charming, one of my favorite characters of all time.

All the mysteries are fun but you’re mostly here for the dynamics between Archie, Nero Wolfe himself, and all the other regular members in the series--the detectives sometimes brought in to help out, the house cook, the pissed-off policemen, etc etc.

Also totally fine to read out of order, I’ve never really paid much attention to the order myself. Includes both novels and novellas.

A lot of people write slash in this fandom; I don’t really ship any slash ships for it (I’m kind of a gen bitch here) but I admit the potential is there.

Queen’s Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner

Technically YA fantasy but I’d say it’s not that firmly YA except for the first book.

Land of twists and intrigue with the occasional questing adventure. Pseudo-Greek setting.

Includes one of my favorite f/m ships for which I long for more dark fic.

Surprisingly active fandom, I am nowhere near caught up on the fanfic for the last book published.

Good fandom for het, slash, occasionally poly, and very good for GEN (sorry, the MC’s name is Gen and I couldn’t resist).

Goblin Market by Christina Rosetti

Idk why there’s a fandom nomination for a poem but I guess I’ll go with it, it’s a good poem.

Very ripe for femslash tho technically the MCs are sisters (but do they read like sisters? No, no they do not) so you might have to go AU for it.

Kind of dark and weird but childlike at the same time.

Movies/TV Shows/Anime/Literally Anything But Books

Kakegurui (anime/manga)

I’ve only watched the anime but I hear the manga is good.

Crazy high school obsessed with gambling gets even crazier when Yumeko the gambling freak shows up just to start drama.

Weirdly dark even tho nothing life threatening really happens. Ridiculously grotesque facial expressions on absolutely everyone.

Very good for femslash, decent for het and poly. You could probably write gen. But how.

Kado: The Right Answer (anime)

It’s sci-fi show that’s half about contact with aliens and half about the unhealthy relationship between an alien and his favorite human. And when I say half I mean “gets really dark in the last third”. But if you’re mostly interested in that part, it’s short enough that you still get there pretty quick.

I really just want dark slash fic, that’s all guys.

Two Faces of January (movie)

This is also a book by Patricia Highsmith but I nominated the movie bc it has Oscar Isaac and Viggo Mortensen.

Dark thriller vibes

Slashy vibes with weird daddy kink overtones (it can’t be helped, and this remains constant whether it’s book or movie)

Somehow I still ship it despite not really liking daddy kink.

Just trust me

Singin’ In the Rain

I’m really hoping this was nominated by someone who wants OT3 fic.

That’s all.

Gattaca

If you don’t already know about Gattaca are you even following me

It has Jude Law in it

Also it explores dystopian ableism and yet has an oddly ableist ending which consistently PISSES ME OFF, which is why I always request fix-it fic.

People really like slash for this movie and I get it but I don’t really ship it but a lot of people do so if you watch it, you will probably ship it too.

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

British miniseries which I somehow like despite not liking most BBC shows. (Seriously, my roommate and sister have both tried to get me into Sherlock and Dr. Who and I just can’t, good for y’all who like such things tho.)

I’m mostly here for the fae aspects and one of the MCs being traumatized and descending into insanity.

But the aesthetic is also pretty rad.

Harlots

It’s about harlots. Kind of Victorian? I think? Idk time periods guys.

It portrays sex and sex workers in interesting, pretty down to earth ways.

It’s a good place for femslash but I somehow find myself craving gen.

The aesthetic is strong.

Luke Cage

I’ve still only seen the first season but it was rad

A lot of black people, guys

Also superhero-y things

Probably best for het, tbh, tho I would slash ship Luke with Cornell. Why doesn’t anyone seem to ship that?

Sakeru Gum

It’s like a five minute commercial compilation that will change your life.

I’ve probably reblogged it at some point. Otherwise, search it on Youtube.

Loooong looooong mAAaaaaan

Fandoms I’m Not Actually In But Might Join If The Prompts Look Good

There’s a couple different books nommed by Mary Renault! I’m reading the Alexander Trilogy right now (Alexander the fuckign Great, guys), which is nommed, so if things work out I might write for that. There’s also The Last of the Wine and Mask of Apollo.

Also, there are two series nominated that are by K.J. Charles. I’ve only ever read The Henchmen of Zenda by K.J. Charles but that was really good, so I may have to try one of these series out. Of course, I’d have to actually have time, and series are a bit lengthy for me this semester! But I might read a book or two if the prompts look excellent.

Someone nominated Learning Curves by Ceillie Simkiss? Which is an indie lesfic romance novella which was published only this August. I’m shocked it somehow ended up in the tagset and very curious about prompts. But I haven’t actually read this book, I’ve just heard of it.

The Caper Court series by Caro Fraser sounds interesting, too. It’s about a guy trying to become a lawyer who needs to fulfill a pupillage first, whatever the fuck that is, but apparently there’s gay people and intrigue, so I’m interested. I’ve started the first book.

Also, Zorro by Isabel Allende is nominated. I’ve never read this book but I’ve always wanted to because I love Zorro--the old TV show was one of my favorites as a kid. But I’ve never read a literary take on it.

If I can watch the Kdrama for Orange Marmalade, I’m interested in that too. I’ve only ever read the webmanga, didn’t know it was a live action now. It’s got vampires :) and high school drama.

So this rant was kind of unnecessary, but I just have a lot of feelings, guys, okay? Just...a lot of feelings...

#yuletide 2018

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useyourtelescope · 4 years

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Yuletide 2020 Letter

Hello, Yuletide author!

I hope this letter will help inspire you but please don’t feel obliged to stick too rigidly to a prompt if something else takes your fancy. I’m trying something different with this sign-up in prompting a theme or two for each in addition to more specific scenarios, so you can just take that as guidance if the other prompts don’t appeal to you.

You can find me on AO3 here for reference.

General Preferences & Prompts

I prefer third person to first person fic, though focusing on the POV of one or more characters is fine. I love fluff and angst, though I like my angst with a happy or at least hopeful ending. I only really read heavy angst in specific situations, none of which are my preferred prompts for these fandoms/prompts. Below are some tropes/moments I enjoy:

Fake relationship (in all its forms, especially marriage of convenience and undercover as a couple)

Arranged marriage

Mutual pining (unrequited pining turning into mutual pining also welcome)

Friends to lovers

Hurt/comfort (maybe patching s.o. up after an injury, looking after them when they’re sick or taking home when drunk - emotional h/c is welcome as well as physical)

One partner reassuring the other

Fixing the other character’s clothes (straightening collars, fixing ties)

Clothes sharing/stealing (especially female character wearing male characters jacket or sweater)

One character covering the other with a blanket when they’ve fallen asleep

Domesticity (e.g. cooking together, going grocery shopping, house-hunting, painting their house) either in an established relationship or in the ‘friends’ stage of friends to lovers

Letters / Emails / journal entires

Close talking

Sleepy snuggles

Hand holding

Capers/Heists

‘Bottle episode’ style fic

5 times/5+1 fic (e.g. five times a character stole the other’s clothes, five times character a looked after character b & 1 time character b returned the favour, five times they secretly held hands & 1 time they did in public, etc.)

As I have 2 requested fandoms in a Regency setting, a few generic things I love for those are men rolling up their sleeves (forearms!), dancing, accidental hand-touches and characters in love not calling the other by their first name until a very meaningful moment

For requests 1 & 2 I’m happy with any rating so here are a few prompts for smut fic too:

Smutty version of the clothes stealing mentioned above i.e. female character wearing male characters jacket/sweater and nothing else (and perhaps keeping that on during sex)

Mutual masturbation

One character showing partner what they like/sex ‘lessons’

Oral, especially cunnilingus

One character a little insecure as they’re less experienced but the other is very reassuring/attentive

Trying new things in bed together

In general my favourite kind of smut fic shows the characters can be relaxed and supportive with each other, and have fun together rather than just some intense fucking

Do Not Wants: Darkfic, horror, incest, rape/noncon, torture, suicide, major character death [canonical character death is okay, DNW death of requested characters and preferred no death of main characters that are close to the requested characters in canon], terminal illness, threesomes/moresomes, cheating, genderswap, bestiality, humiliation, unhappy ending, mentions of COVID-19.

In relation to that last point I’d prefer if any Modern fic was set pre-2020.

Fandoms

Bath Tangle - Georgette Heyer

Fanny Carlow, Hector Kirkby

Although I’ve read and loved Georgetter Heyer novels before, the first I heard of Bath Tangle was seeing it in the Yuletide tagset last year. I didn’t have chance to read it until this year and though I expected to enjoy it, I was not prepared to fall in love with the secondary couple of Fanny & Hector who weren’t even in last year’s tagset, but that is exactly what happened! I did certainly enjoy the main pairing, but Fanny and Hector were such a delight and absolutely the reason I’ve re-read parts of this one already.

Fanny and Serena’s friendship was something I really enjoyed in the book and would be happy to read more of; I’d also be fine with Serena/Ivo being in the fic too, but only in the background rather than being an equal focus.

I did request Fanny/Hector for the Just Married Exchange earlier this year so you can refer to freeform tags I selected for that here if you want more prompt options, but they are generally along similar lines to the canon prompts below.

Themes: Confidence / Reassurance

Canon-related Prompts: Feelings realisation or exploration (esp. from Hector’s POV) / Navigating the time between knowing they want to be together & it being appropriate to make their romance known in public / Married domestic life / Wedding night / Hosting their first dinner party post-marriage

AU Prompts: Fake Relationship / ‘Pen pals’ / Modern AU of the novel (maybe Fanny & Serena are housemates at uni or older when Serena’s ex Hector comes to town and Fanny feels guilty for liking him because she thinks he and Serena are going to get back together)

This would be Fanny’s 2nd marriage so I’m interested in how this is different to her first marriage. There’s a clear sense of her deferring to Serena and the late Earl in the past, and I’d love to see her thrive as the mistress of an establishment more suited to her, with a husband that she truly loves. Maybe she worries about some of her duties as his wife and/or feelings that she does not match up to his former ideal of Serena and Hector reassures her? And how does Hector feel not only about Fanny but about himself having mistaken his feelings for so long? On reflection what were the things that drew him more to the woman who he thought would be his mother-in-law?

If you wanted to go down the explicit route I’d love something sweet but still smutty; Fanny is quick to reassure Serena that the late Earl was kind, but since it wasn’t a love marriage maybe she wasn’t as into it before and now with Hector sex can be something she enjoys rather than a duty she has to fulfil? I see the dynamic likely to be Hector being the more experienced one, but I think there could be some fun potential to write him as having been so devoted to his memory of Serena all those years away that he’s a virgin, which would mean Fanny technically has more experience, but given she wouldn’t expect to take the lead in the bedroom how might that play out?

Bonus crossover prompt! As I was writing my letter I realised my ‘dinner party’ prompt provided opportunity for some of the guests to be from other Heyer novels, which could be fun. If you wanted to go down that route some favourites include The Nonesuch (which I only just read thanks to this year’s tagset, many thanks to the nominator!), Arabella and Cotillion. But this is completely optional and don’t worry at all about including it.

Additional clarification: Thought I’d add this note just in case you were wondering about my DNW of cheating in relation to this request since there is a bit of overlap in the book when both Hector and Fanny are aware they have feelings for another but Hector is engaged to Serena. I was fine with the way things went down with canon, in part because Serena also had feelings for someone else at the same time but mainly because they didn’t start conducting some big affair behind her back - they realised they both liked each other, but weren’t going to do anything about it because they also cared about her. If you write something AU or canon divergence feel free to change how they get together, but if you still want to keep the ‘tangle’ of having Hector mixed up with Serena I ask that there’s no affair even if there is feelings crossover.

Availability of source material: You can find this book free to read online at archive.org and most likely some other free online libraries.

Sanditon (TV 2019)

Charlotte Heywood, James Stringer

So I watched this show after it had all aired and from gifs, etc. I assumed I would be into the main pairing like seemingly everyone else, but when I watched it I just...did not care for that at all [insert John Mulaney gif lol] - this pairing however I found delightful. I love the dynamic and feel there’s plenty of potential that could be explored. I am a sucker for the yearning/pining potential of friends to lovers, especially when one character has feelings a while before the other. I have written a few fics for these two, and I was trying to suggest only prompts that were for things a bit different to what I’ve written but tbh my tastes are what they are and I can never get enough of my fave tropes so if you want to write co-workers to lovers or regency!fake relationship, etc. I would love to read your takes on those scenarios too.

Happy for the other tagset characters to appear if you want to include them (also liked Esther/Babington a lot) and I’d also be interested in seeing more of James and Charlotte’s families. If you wanted to write a post-canon fic but edit canon so the elder Mr. Stringer didn’t die I would be on board with that, but equally I’d be fine with inventing some extended family members for James instead. I also think it would be very interesting to see how class differences would affect things within their marriage and their standing in society - for all that Charlotte’ is a gentleman’s daughter, being a farmer he’s perhaps not high-class enough to balance out Stringer’s rank for some people - but maybe once he has become a successful architect those people try to change their tune? Charlotte said that the Stringer’s house reminded her of her own, but they probably still have different expectations of some aspects of home life.

My ‘canon’ prompts are really more about the Regency setting and their characters/backstories - I’ve focused on divergence and post-canon as I’d like to see a bit more than just a missing scene within the show’s narrative. Most of the AU prompts lean towards modern setting, but I’d be happy to see them in a different period setting too. I have requested them in other exchanges so you can see some other prompts here if you need further inspiration.

Themes: Competency / Tenderness

Canon-divergence or post-canon prompts: Sweet courtship / dancing lessons / drawing practice / on-site accident / established relationship domesticity / trying to meet in private while engaged / post-marriage learning more about sex & trying new things / class differences affecting married life

AU prompts: University housemates / Great British Bake Off AU / Undercover as married / Murder Mystery / James teaching Charlotte how to fix things around the house

I mostly want some fluffy fun but angst with a happy ending is always welcome. Friends to lovers is my jam and there’s some form of that in all these. I put the prompts under canon (i.e. Regency) or AU depending on how I imagined them, but some of them you could swap around (e.g. accident in modern AU, or James showing Charlotte handy skills in Regency setting) and I’d be down with that. The Murder Mystery prompt probably seems a bit of an outlier compared with the other prompts, but I’m thinking along the lines of a cosy-crime style caper, and these two teaming up to solve something gone awry.

In addition to the romance side, I’d like to see them doing well/being successful on a personal level. How far you go with this depends on the setting; in a Regency world I’d like to see James achieve his ambition of becoming an architect and Charlotte being involved in that field of work somehow since she has an interest in it, while in a modern AU they would both have more freedom to achieve their goals and I’d like to see that realised somehow. If you don’t want to write ship fic but would rather gen then definitely something along these lines would be great - maybe the two of them as friends helping each other achieve their professional goals (or even just a little uni AU of them studying together). Another gen option is working together to advance the cause of the workers and other lofty goals (though I’d prefer this kind of fic to be set in the canon period rather than present day).

Bonus Crossover prompt: If you wanted to include characters from Austen novels in the background of your fic that could be really fun! I wouldn't mind characters from any of the six (though I am least familiar with Mansfield Park and probably wouldn't recognise a minor character from that one) and I like all the main canon ships in them (esp Emma/Knightley, Anne/Wentworth & Catherine/Tilney). That said, there might be more amusement to be had by including a more minor character like Mrs. Jennings. Maybe Charlotte meets one of the ladies at a dinner party or dances with some of the gentlemen at balls? Perhaps Bingley is considering having a house designed by budding architect James Stringer? This is completely optional though: I wouldn't want it to overtake the fic and for those characters to have equal focus in the fic as the requested characters and if you don't fancy it, don't worry about it.

Enlisted (TV)

Any: Derrick Hill and/or Randy Hill

Whenever I remember this show I think first, how charming it is and how much I love it, immediately followed by getting annoyed/angry/upset at its too swift cancellation! The show was so much fun, but also very emotional and sometimes made me cry and I miss it so here I am requesting it again 6 (whoa) years after it aired.

Derrick and Randy were my favourite characters, which is why they are in the tagset. Basically, if you want to write a fic focused on 1 character in particular I want it to be either of them, but if you want to write an ensemble fic I would be happy with any combination of main & recurring characters. So if you wanted to include Pete and write a brothers-focused fic I’d be totally down to read that, while if you just wanted to write about the entire gang having crazy adventures I would love to read that too.

I’m thinking mainly genfic as the focus for this request, but I did ship Derrick/Erin and would love to see them work it out eventually, and although I think the show probably would have gone down a Pete/Jill road eventually I was more intrigued by Randy/Jill (emotions!). Of course, if you wanted to write my prompt of Randy courting Jill only for it not to work out I’d still be cool with that, as long as they stayed friends.

Theme: Family

Derrick-focused prompts: Derrick starts a book club as a joke (but actually starts to like it) / adventures in photojournalism (either Derrick taking to it or not and how either scenario affects him) / leaving the military and dealing with being the Hill brother who isn’t part of it / meeting Erin again post-series

Randy-focused prompts: Randy with the Family Readiness Group / Randy watches a Toy Story film post-‘Randy Get Your Gun’ / worrying about his brothers or friends when they go on a mission without him and end up in danger / courting Jill Perez / crossover with Suburgatory with Randy/Tessa Altman

Any/Ensemble prompts: Exploring Hill family dynamics (DNW: incest) / Road trip / Escape room / investigating a mysterious theft or disappearance on base / office-based AU

I’ve chosen Any because I would equally be happy with a fic focusing on either of them, but also I looove this ensemble and I would be super happy for anyone to show up. I was going to start listing supporting favourites, but honestly it’s all of them. I’m mainly wanting the tone of the fic to be in keeping with the show - lighthearted and fun, but you can pull at my heartstrings too if you want. A couple of my character focused prompts could lend themselves to a more serious look at the character if you fancy it, but I’d still like that to have some humour in it.

I know the Suburgatory crossover mention is a bit left-field but when I watched that show I really enjoyed Tessa/Ryan, and I feel like Randy has certain similarities to Ryan so I liked the idea of having something either post-canon for both series where Randy meets Tessa or somehow meld it so Ryan somehow is Randy? Idk how it would work in fic but it sounded like fun if you fancied it.

Rating no higher than Teen please for this request.

Note on source material: This show was originally aired out of order, so if you decide to watch it new please refer to this for the correct order of episodes.

And that’s everything!

Thank you in advance for writing for me; there is either very little fic or no fic for these character combos so I'm sure I’ll be excited to read whatever you come up with. I hope you have fun writing it! :)

#letter #yuletide

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reconditarmonia · 7 years

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Dear Yuletide Writer

Hello, lovely writer!

I’m reconditarmonia here and on AO3 (and have been since LJ days, but my LJ is locked down and I only have a DW to see locked things).

General likes:

-- Relationships that aren’t built on romance or attraction. They can be romantic or sexual as well, but my favorite ships are all ones where it would still be interesting or compelling if the romantic component never materialized.

-- Loyalty kink, whether commander-subordinate or comrades-in-arms, and the trust associated with it. Sometimes-but-not-always relatedly, idealism. I guess the two combined might be, in general, the idea of nobility of character and what that means.

-- Heists, or other stories where there’s a lot of planning and then we see how the plan goes.

-- Femslash, complicated or intense relationships between women, and female-centric gen. Women doing “male” stuff.

-- Stories whose emotional climax or resolution isn’t the sex scene, if there is one.

-- Uniforms/costumes/clothing.

-- Stories, history, and performance. What gets told and how, what doesn’t get told or written down, behavior in a society where everyone’s consuming media and aware of its tropes, how people create their personas and script their own lines.

-- Eucatastrophe.

General DNW: rape/dubcon, torture, other creative gore; Christmas/Christian themes; unrequested AUs, including “same setting, different rules” AUs such as soulmates/soulbonds; PWP; food sex.

Fandom: Dòu Máah Dáan | Peking Opera Blues (1986)

Characters: Tsao Wan

This film is so much MORE than I ever dreamed. More hilarious, more shippy, more dramatic. I think what I want most from this fandom is something on a similar emotional scale - not necessarily something where the plot itself has a national or international scope, but something that has room for opera slapstick, corpse puppetry, and torture; material concerns, and high aspirations; saving each other’s lives, and having sleepovers. Thematically, I’m really interested in the way the film shows friendship and familial love sometimes dovetailing with ethics and ideological goals and sometimes conflicting with them, and in the various ways women can find, or seek, their own independence.

Tsao Wan is the only character I’ve put in my request. I was fully expecting to come out of the film with femslash ships, and instead I have a big OT5 and a huge crush on Brigitte Lin (okay, that part I could see coming), so I’d be happy with any combination of the main five, including the two men, who were not nominated, as long as Tsao Wan is there. Some combination possibilities: how do any of them meet up again after the events of the film, whether by chance - do Bai Niu and/or Sheung Hung happen to be making a tour stop somewhere Tsao Wan has a mission? does Tsao Wan and Ling’s work take them near Tung’s village farm? - or intentionally - how would a new opera about Tsao Wan and Ling’s exciting adventures be created by Bai Niu and/or Sheung Hung, in terms of research and role creation? Or maybe Tsao Wan needs Bai Niu’s skills for a mission. In fact, maybe she needs everyone’s skills for a mission. Recruitment road trip! Some solo possibilities: what was Tsao Wan’s time in Europe like? Was she involved in any political activity there? What does she do post-film as History continues? In anything set post-film, I’d like to know that all five characters are important to each other, even if they’re not actually in the fic and/or sexually involved.

If you want to get really plotty, I love heist and con stuff like Leverage, Ocean’s Eleven (remake), and The Italian Job (original), where there’s a Plan with steps and roles, and then it plays out. If straight-up casefic isn’t your style, it could be fun to throw some shippy tropes at this canon (fake marriage where Tsao Wan is pretending to be the husband? hurt/comfort or sickfic? hell, I’d read accidental baby acquisition), but tropey stuff is not necessary - I’m just trying to throw out some ideas to get things moving. Ideally there’d be at least a figleaf of plot in the background, even if it’s not casefic.

Fandom-specific DNW: Explicit references to torture are still a hard DNW (I covered my eyes during the scene in question when watching the film), but I recognize it’s part of canon and consequently might be part of the world of the fic. If someone is tortured or creatively executed in your story, it’s fine to mention it but I do not want to know how.

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Fandom: Far from the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

Characters: Bathsheba Everdene

I didn’t nominate this and it didn’t occur to me that it would be in the tagset, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it! One thing that always sticks in my mind about this novel is the way Hardy calls Bathsheba “the young farmer” just as he refers to the men as farmers - which, just saying, is more than most people writing about this story can do - and so, that being the case, what I’m most interested in is something about Bathsheba as farmer. One day in the life or four seasons in the life or five plantings/harvests in the life, or pseudo-academic fic about a case study of a woman farmer in the Victorian era, or a conflict between the farm and nature that Bathsheba has to decide how to solve.

Feel free to bring in the other nominated characters or other major characters if it suits what you’re trying to do, but what I’m really looking for is a focus on Bathsheba’s work, determination, and process of learning. I’d also love to read something like a merchant ship AU (as the first alternate setting that came to mind where it would be not exactly the done thing for her to captain her inherited ship and make commercial decisions herself - although I do have to point out that contrary to popular belief, there were a lot of women on shipboard in the age of sail, may this be useful - but also where nature and luck/fate are as influential as they are in the original setting), or something in which the land, superstition, and ritual were more overtly magical.

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Fandom: 月刊少女野崎くん | Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun

Characters: Kashima Yuu, Nozaki Umetarou

Pick a trope. Have them fuck it up.

That’s one of the things that makes me love this canon - the simultaneous send-up of and indulgence in tropes, in a very good-natured way. (Another way I’ve described its genre: “nothing happens, but very dramatically.” Everything is shocking or devastating or the pinnacle of bliss.) Kashima and Nozaki are two of the characters whose propensity to do this is most likely to set a story in motion, due to Nozaki’s experimentation/observation for his manga and Kashima’s princely self-fashioning and going 120% on everything; I also love Kashima’s bifauxnen-ness, acting talent, and earnest failboating, and the way that Nozaki could have been written as a tall-dark-handsome-stoic cipher guy and instead is just as quirky as anyone else. That said, this is an OR request, not an AND, and I’d also be happy to read stories about pretty much anyone from the nominated tagset (except Mikoshiba or Mayu; I don’t know Mayu very well because I originally got into this through the anime, and Mikoshiba just isn’t my fave, although I have no objection to his appearing in the story).

There are all sorts of lists out there of common shoujo(/romcom/fanfic) tropes if you’re not sure where to start. And, because Nozaki is all about subverting gendered characterization and role-boxing, and also about people trying to make their lives conform to narrative, go ahead and apply those tropes to whichever characters you feel would be the most interesting or fun. Feel free to pick non-high-school-setting ones, too, if there's magical/historical/high-society shoujo you want to see them tackle, or to take a play that Kashima (and whoever else) is involved in as a jumping-off point.

As you may have gathered, I love the way the canon plays with romance tropes, but I would prefer no overt Shipfic. If you’d like to include a ship, whether slash/femslash or het, I’d like for it to be handled without much seriousness, and for friendship with characters who aren’t part of the ship to be a significant part of the fic, as per canon. I do really like the show’s variety of friendships between characters of different temperaments, interests, and sexes.

If you’re really getting a “why don’t you just rewatch/reread the canon, reconditarmonia” vibe off this, which I’m kind of giving myself, you could try sex comedy future fic? Give them magical powers? What I’m most interested in, wherever you go with this, is the playing-with-tropes thing.

Fandom-specific DNW: I love Hori and Kashima’s relationship, but I’d strongly prefer that her feelings for him not be written as overtly romantic. High levels of ambiguity/intensity/tropey-ness are fine and great.

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Fandom: Monstrous Regiment - Terry Pratchett

Characters: Any (Alice “Wazzer” Goom, Jack Jackrum, Magda “Tonker” Halter, Maladict, Polly “Ozzer” Perks, Tilda “Lofty” Tewt)

Give me all the loyalty kink for this fandom. Characters rescuing each other from peril, risking their reputation or position or ethics to defend each other, accomplishing the impossible or sacrificing things without even thinking twice because one trusts the other’s orders or judgment. Or A not going off the leash or into danger to defend B because B said not to, to protect A’s conscience or life or reputation. Can be romantic or platonic - I ship Polly/Mal and Tonker/Lofty, but I would also be delighted with Polly&Jackrum, Wazzer&Polly, or other non-romantic twosomes or moresomes in situations of loyalty and trust. Maybe Polly sends Mal on a dangerous mission, or Tonker is captured after she and Lofty burn down another place where women and girls are being abused, or Polly protects Jackrum’s secret/s from someone who could reveal them, or Wazzer ends up in the field again with the general’s retinue and Polly and Mal rescue her from danger (or vice versa!!). What strengths or sacrifices do they have at their disposal for each other?

Pratchett-esque voices would be great. He’s really, really good at sucker-punching the reader with sincerity in an overall satiric mode, and I think that style lends itself well to this sort of thing.

I’m not going to lie, Polly is my fave. I like that this could have been a generic coming-of-age or women-in-war story, where the protagonist learns that she’s brave or worthwhile and then the crisis is past, but instead Polly learns that she’s a cunning bastard and a hell of a sergeant, and being a one-off hero in a country that’s at peace and making slow social progress isn’t good enough for her. That said, just because I’m better able to articulate what I like about Polly doesn’t mean I’d be less excited for fic about anyone else! I think that’s something I’d want to explore for any of the characters who enlist in the course of the story - what are these women good at? What lets them fulfill their potential? What do they want when their hand isn’t being forced? Or for Jackrum, who’s already gone through that whole process by the time the story begins, any more backstory would be fabulous.

If you’re going the Polly/Mal route, I also love ludicrous levels of sexual tension in a military context (I think it’s the unavoidable proximity + the presence of others making it hard to act on it).

Fandom-specific DNW: vampire romance tropes (such as turning and/or immortality) as focus; non-female pronouns/headcanons.

Fandom: Simoun (Anime)

Characters: Any (Aaeru, Dominuura, Halconf, Mamiina, Neviril, Paraietta, Plumbish Priestesses, Rodoreamon)

Simoun somehow ended up being a really weirdly meaningful show to me. I loved how all these women got to be flawed and fucked-up, noble and loyal. How, in the mold of all my favorite epic shoujo anime, it starts off beautiful and fine and then Shit Gets Very Real and that’s actually one of the themes of the show - we had a little debate a few weeks ago on FFA as to whether or not Simoun was a military canon, and the fact that circumstances have remade a team of priestesses in fancy quarters and magic flying machines who are there to pray to God, put off their choice of sex, use their talents, maintain or claw their way into a social position, into a military force involved in a war - that’s an idea that the characters themselves struggle with in the show. (Neviril’s scene in the hearing is one of my favorites.) How everyone gets character development, in the sense of learning and changing, and even what seem like annoying mandatory straight subplots actually end up serving that thematic or character development, to say nothing of the more focal relationships between the leads (not just Neviril and Aeru, but also Mamiina and Rodoreamon, Neviril and Paraietta...)

I’d really like to read a fic where an individual character’s development or two characters’ relationship is similarly tied in to plot developments; it doesn’t have to be a plotty fic as such, but I was very interested in the way the developments of the war and the pilots/priestesses’ actions in it precipitated changes in their relationships. So how might Neviril and Aeru’s relationship develop in the other world (what are they doing?), or Mamiina and Rodoreamon’s on the Messis when they’re not the narrative focus before Mamiina’s last mission and the braid thing? (Or if this is more your speed, dig into that and see how a character grows or the relationship between characters develops when that’s not being moved along by outside events in the same way, especially if they’re aware of that being an issue. When Neviril and Aeru are outside the normal flow of time, or Paraietta and Rodoreamon are civilians, for example.) I’m also interested in all the permutations of loyalty we see in the show - like loyalty to a position over loyalty to a side (as with the Plumbish priestesses’ siding with our Sibyllae), loyalty that develops before liking or friendship, the devoted loyalty to Neviril. I like the show’s military themes despite its magical-girl visuals. I think this is also a canon where it would make sense for sexual first times to be part of a fic - what does that mean for the characters you choose?

I should also say that due to all the magic and timespace warping in the show, I am more than okay with post-canon fic that gets characters back together who were separated by canon, if that’s what you want. You can resurrect Mamiina, or have Neviril and Aeru visit the main reality/timeline again. Or play with timespace even more - time loop fic? (Edit: This didn’t even occur to me until I found out about the IF post, but this fandom might lend itself to interactive fiction, too.)

#yuletide #peking opera blues #far from the madding crowd #gsnk #monstrous regiment #simoun #dear author letters

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elsajeni · 6 years

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SWRarepairs 2018 Letter

Hello! Thanks for checking in! I’m sorry if you saw this letter in its draft state -- I wasn’t expecting matches to go out as fast as they did! It’s all complete now. You’ve seen my likes/DNWs section in my sign-up already, but let me restate it here so it’s all in one place, and then we’ll get to the ship-specific stuff:

Likes: family feelings; bantering or bickering; moments of humor even in the darkest situations; pining; misunderstandings that turn out all right in the end; poly relationships; casual relationships; hurt/comfort.

Sexy Likes, if you go in that direction: light bondage; lots of talking during sex, both sweet and dirty; realistic funny or awkward moments. If you're writing about teen characters (since some relationships I've requested would lend themselves to that), I'd rather not have anything explicit on-page, but I'm fine with offscreen or fade-to-black implied sex.

DNWs: rape/non-con unless specifically requested; incest; explicit scenes with underage characters; detailed description of bodily fluids; drastically different AUs (I don’t mind what-ifs or canon-divergent type of fic, but I’m not interested in coffeeshop AUs, supernatural creature AUs, A/B/O, etc. – you know what I mean); infidelity; unrelentingly dark and grim stories (I like a glimmering of hope).

Star Wars canon preferences: you can probably tell from my request list that I love and miss the old EU/Legends content. For any relationship that features Legends characters, I’d be very happy with a purely-Legends-based fic, but I also love gluing the loose ends of Legends continuity into the loose ends of sequel trilogy continuity; please feel free to mix and match Legends and canon material!

Relationship-specific prompts:

Lando Calrissian/Mara Jade, Lando Calrissian/Mara Jade/Luke Skywalker

I liked Lando and Mara’s EU relationship, and wasn’t too happy with the “it was a cover” retcon – show me the time, or times, that it wasn’t just a cover. Or, how about an earlier meeting in their lives, when Mara was brand-new to Karrde’s organization, or during the few days they must have overlapped at Jabba’s Palace?

I’ve always liked Luke and Lando as a romantic pairing, too, so why not bring it all together? Three people who all care deeply for each other, who aren’t often in the same place at the same time, but when they are, well... let’s meet over a mug of hot chocolate and see where the evening takes us. (I’d prefer this with everyone on more-or-less equal footing -- not with Luke and Mara as an established/married couple and Lando as the outsider.)

Winter Celchu/Leia Organa

I’d like to see this as a youthful experiment between friends – something casual that doesn’t last, but that remains a fond memory and a little bit of an in-joke.

Oola/Leia Organa

There wasn’t a LOT of time for dancers to hang around unwatched at Jabba’s Palace, and they were only there together for a couple of days (and even that, only if we fudge the timeline a little). But sometimes it only takes a couple of days, and sometimes all you need is a few bright stolen moments.

Wedge Antilles/Leia Organa

This is definitely a Legends-influenced pairing for me – I’ve always been really fond of their close friendship in the EU novels. This is another relationship that I like better as something casual, more of a FWB arrangement that grows out of that friendship or a fling that ends happily than a long-term romance -- maybe during their early days in the Rebellion, or during the post-ROTJ period where Leia and Han are still sorting their shit out.

I’d also be interested in bringing this into the sequel-trilogy timeline. Leia and Han have separated, her kid has run off to join the Dark Side, the Republic she helped to found has turned in a direction she can’t follow -- maybe she can find some comfort, or some help, with an old friend.

Talon Karrde/DJ

I’ll be honest, I don’t really have a plan here, I just think this is a fantastic idea. I was thinking about Karrde the whole time DJ was on screen, and half-expecting him to turn out to BE Karrde, and I am delighted by the idea of this pairing. I think there’s something interesting here about grey areas, and the “rogue with a heart of gold” archetype, and what, realistically, it means to play both sides against the middle when one side is clearly and melodramatically evil.

Biggs Darklighter/Luke Skywalker

I like this best as a teen relationship that grows a little awkwardly out of their friendship, is fun while it lasts, and transitions pretty easily back into friendship when it ends. That said, whatever you do with this pairing, it’s going to be a little bit tinged with sadness; if you prefer it a LOT tinged with sadness, I’d also be delighted with a fic taking place in the brief window between when they reconnect in the Rebellion and the Death Star run.

Alternately, get weird with it -- find a way for Biggs to survive, or bring him back from the dead. Write that Space Winter Soldier AU that I secretly kind of love, or Luke being haunted by the literal ghosts of his past.

Wedge Antilles/Luke Skywalker

I would really like something that brings Wedge into the sequel trilogy timeline, and especially a look at what Luke’s choice to isolate himself means for their relationship. Was Wedge ever on Ahch-To with him? Have they been in contact at all since he disappeared? When he’s found, is Wedge in a rush to see him again, or are his feelings more complicated? (As you may be guessing here, this is an area where I am very comfortable with a “not actually dead” AU! If you like a more tragic tone, though, do feel free to go with the canonical ending of TLJ.)

The one thing I absolutely don’t want is for Wedge’s absence from the sequel films to be because he’s dead. We are not at home to the Moping Island of Widowhood, thank you, leave it as just a regular old Moping Island.

Wedge Antilles/Wes Janson

Let’s be honest, I’m mostly looking for more Wraith Squadron/Starfighters of Adumar-style shenanigans here. Alternately, this is a pairing that lends itself to hurt/comfort – both of these guys have more than enough canonical close calls. Or why not a bit of both? If you’re feeling ambitious, you could fix Isard’s Revenge for me by writing their reunion after they’ve both believed each other to be dead for weeks.

Myn Donos/Gara Petothel | Lara Notsil

Hurt me. Do your worst.

Listen: I re-read Solo Command recently and spent, conservatively, 90% of it crying about these two. What really works for me is those agonizing scenes where Lara’s trying to convince Myn to stay away from her, and clearly trying to convince herself as well – I’d love a fic that puts them in a situation where it would be so easy to give in, or a situation where she does give in and then has to try to figure out how to take it back.

Leia Organa/Han Solo/Wedge Antilles, Lando Calrissian/Leia Organa/Han Solo

What can I say, I love a threesome. With either of these, what I’d most like to see is Leia and Han inviting a friend (or, in Lando’s case, a friendly ex) into their bedroom as a one-time fling or a casual, but ongoing, FWB arrangement; I’m less interested in a long-term triad. If it’s Lando, I’d love to see a little tension between him and Leia as they sort out the boundaries of their respective claims on Han, but ultimately I do want this to be a happy, fun encounter for everyone involved. If you go with Wedge, I’ve always been very fond of his close friendship with Leia in the EU, and I’d like that to be his closer tie to her and Han.

Obi-Wan Kenobi/Owen Lars/Beru Whitesun

Obi-Wan -- Ben, now -- stays nearby, after he leaves the baby with them. Maybe it’s to keep an eye out, to make sure Anakin’s child doesn’t draw any undue attention. But maybe it’s not just that.

I’d love basically anything you do with this -- a one-time fling that everyone is a little embarrassed about in the morning; an arrangement that sees Obi-Wan stopping by the homestead infrequently for dinner and conversation and, after the kid goes to bed, a night of companionship; a full-on AU where Luke grows up with Uncle Ben as essentially a third parent.

Flim/Gilad Pellaeon

I saw this in the tagset for this exchange last year and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. The way I see this pairing, it all comes down to it really being about Pellaeon and Thrawn -- whether he believes Flim is Thrawn and Flim takes advantage of that, or he knows Flim isn’t Thrawn but accepts him as close enough (as long as he stays in character). With the latter, you might even go with Flim not knowing that he’s been found out and thinking that he has to stay in character... and apparently Thrawn would have done this, so... (Whether Thrawn ever actually did do this, or whether it’s a fantasy that Pellaeon was never able to act on, I leave up to you.)

This is one of my sort-of-exceptions to the “no rape/non-con” clause. It’s a pairing that lends itself to questionable or compromised consent, and I’m into that. The line between what’s “dubcon” and what’s “non-con” is blurry, but as much as possible, I’d prefer that you stay on the dubcon side of it -- deceit, coercion, and uncomfortable power imbalances, yes; violence, physical force, or explicit non-consent that’s ignored, no.

Mara Jade/Darth Vader

This could go in a lot of different ways, from something as relatively innocent as an uncomfortable attraction between two people with no one else to talk to, to something as dark as the Emperor ordering one of them to the other’s bedroom. Whatever direction you go with it, I do want it to treat the power dynamics and age dynamics here seriously, and to lean into the darkness that’s present in what we know about Mara’s childhood and youth -- no one here is having a good time or doing something they’ll be happy to look back on.

This is the other sort-of-exception to the “no rape/non-con” clause, for similar reasons. As above, questionable, compromised, or coerced consent, yes; violence, physical or Force-based force, or explicit non-consent that’s ignored, no.

(This is NOT an exception to the “no explicit scenes with underage characters” clause. If you write this with Mara as a teen, please keep anything explicitly sexual off-screen.)

#swrarepairs #exchange letters

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syrupwit · 7 years

Text

Letter for Trick or Treat 2017

Hi there, assignment match! Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I’m sure that whatever you choose to create for me will be wonderful.

This letter may become more polished later, but for now it’s just in list format.

General Items

DNWs:

Noncon

Major character death

Gore/guro

Harm to animals -- ETA: offscreen animal death or reference to the past death of a pet is fine, especially if you’re writing one of the ghost animal prompts! I just don’t want onscreen or graphic/explicit animal harm. Sorry, I should have realized this might conflict with other parts of my letter.

Underage sex (aged up is fine)

M/f D/s

General likes:

Drabbles and short pieces

Cute things, cute art, cute art of cute things

Gen, slash, femslash, and het (though requested pairings are preferred over unrequested ones)

Ghost stories

Cats

Appetizing descriptions of food

Genres: humor, atmospheric horror, romantic comedy, action/adventure, slice of life, casefic, crack treated seriously

Pining! I love pining, particularly the kind that’s seemingly mutually unrequited or that hinges on one character just assuming that the other would never be interested in them because they’re totally out of their league or whatever. I eat it up with a spoon.

Unassuming/awkward/dweeby characters with hidden expertise

More powerful characters protecting weaker characters and showing respect/loyalty towards them

Characters standing up for each other

General Dislikes:

Issuefic

Character bashing

PWP unless requested

Romance/sex involving aromantic or asexual characters

Romances where one character becomes a ghost over the course of the story (it’s fine if they start out a ghost)

Specific Fandoms

Castlevania (Cartoon) - Fic, Trick or Treat

I just finished watching this cartoon! Woohoo. Asshole protagonists usually leave me cold, but I found myself reluctantly charmed by Trevor Belmont. As far as Castlevania games go, I've only played Aria of Sorrow, but if you want to bring in lore please go for it.

Prompts:

Sypha Belnades & Trevor Belmont, Treat or Trick: Sypha and Trevor fight new monsters from the family bestiary. Trevor confidently instructs Sypha how to deal with each one, and she starts becoming a little annoyed to find him proven right most times... until they encounter a monster only known to the Speakers, or a foreign one entirely.

Sypha Belnades, Trick: Sypha's journey into the catacombs of Gresit.

Sypha Belnades & Trevor Belmont & Alucard, Treat or Trick: Team building exercises.

Alucard/Trevor Belmont, Treat or Trick: Trevor keeps provoking Alucard, even when it no longer makes sense to do so. They've reached a truce, they're sort of becoming friends, they've even started having sex on a regular basis -- why does Trevor keep pushing?

Alucard/Trevor Belmont or Alucard & Trevor Belmont, Treat: Alucard charms everyone they meet and it irritates Trevor beyond belief.

Alucard/Trevor Belmont, Treat: Sexy blood drinking. That's it, that's the prompt.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) -- Fic, Trick or Treat

This is another canon I've just recently seen! I haven't read the tie-in novel, which I've heard provides a lot more backstory for the secondary characters, so please feel free to disregard contradictions or inaccuracies.

As may become apparent, the part of the movie that interested me most was Jedha. Chirrut is my favorite character, and I'd be happy to read about him doing almost anything.

Prompts:

Chirrut Imwe & Bor Gullet, Trick or Treat: A young Chirrut goes looking for the Bor Gullet.

Saw Gerrera, Trick: Saw tells someone a ghost story. Saw knows a lot of ghost stories.

Saw Gerrera & Bodhi Rook, Trick: Saw has some words of comfort for Bodhi after his experience with the Bor Gullet. How reassuring they may be is up to the observer.

Baze Malbus & Bodhi Rook, Treat or Trick: Baze and Bodhi have met on Jedha before, though neither of them remembers it.

Baze/Chirrut, Treat: Celebrating a holiday in happier times.

Baze/Chirrut, Treat: Three times Baze saved Chirrut and three times Chirrut saved Baze, or something along those lines.

Original Work -- Fic or Art, Trick or Treat

The tagset for Original Work was particularly engaging this year, but when it comes down to it I'm all about the ghosts. Love 'em. Feel free to just use the requested characters as prompts if you're so inclined, but if you aren't, here are some more detailed prompts.

Prompts:

Fic or Art, Ghost Cat, Treat: A lonely Ghost Cat finds a loving home.

Art, Ghost Cat, Treat: Ghost Cat curled up with a living cat.

Art, Ghost Parrot, Treat: Ghost Parrot takes a bath.

Art or Fic, Ghost Jellyfish: Ghost Jellyfish haunt the deeps.

Fic or Art, Treat or Trick, Part-Time Ghost Exorcist & Catboy Who Sees Ghosts (& all/any other requested characters): Scenes from a ghost-hunting business. Or maybe Part-Time Ghost Exorcist has to deal with the biggest ghost infestation they've ever encountered, an endless bombardment of seemingly random ghosts, and only Catboy Who Sees Ghosts can help them.

The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (Comic) -- Fic or Art, Trick or Treat

It's been a while since I read this comic, but it would be fair to characterize the extended Danger Days/Killjoys universe as one of my forever fandoms. I'd love anything that expands on what we've been shown in canon, preferably with an emphasis on lore and the supernatural. Or maybe just some cool art of desert rebels in flashy clothing wielding rayguns.

#optional detailed letters for exchanges tag

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prinzenhasserin · 8 years

Text

Fandom5k - Dear Author!

This letter is just in case you might want to poke at some more of my prompts/likes.

I’m not married to any of them, feel free to subvert them to your heart’s desire. I’m not so much a fan of darkfic, except for when there’s a hopeful resolution to all the dark stuff, but feel free to write me any rating, I love all these ships and combinations!

Feel also free to include other characters or OCs as side-characters, if they are necessary because of plot reasons.

Things I Love:

fake/pretend relationships

arranged marriages turning into supportive partners

loyalty

odd couples

found family, dysfunctional families that nevertheless love each other

cultural differences, age differences, height differences

heists, rescue missions

dragons, fairy tales, magical realism, urban fantasy

competent characters

people not realising they’re the most competent at their job/hobby

people failing their way to success

happy endings, earning your happy ending, open yet hopeful endings

cynical humour

mutual pining

suits, corsetry, fancy dresses

Identity shenanigans (secret identities, mistaken identities)

Blatant Lies

Enemies becoming friends and/or lovers

outsider POV

epistolary

people not usually found in law enforcement solving crimes

non-verbal expressions of affection

Kinks:

sex in weird places (hard no on libraries, though)

Sexual Tension (bonus, if in inappropriate places or situations)

I like my anal sex with lots of lube and preparation, and also not before any strenuous activities. Lot of foreplay basically :D

women knowing exactly what they want from sex

multiple orgasms

I like switching (especially for practical reason), and changing power balances

weapons kink

semi-public sex with nobody actually watching

sex toys

hate sex

dirty talk (also: teasing)

Things I Do Not Want (DNW):

relentless angst

a/b/o

Infidelity

pregnancy

rape (totally fine with dubcon, though)

Wynonna Earp (TV) —Xavier Dolls (Wynonna Earp)

If you want to include other canon characters — that would be awesome, too. Lowkey I ship Dolls with both Wynonna and Doc Holiday, separately and together, but I’d be thrilled with friendships or ambiguous relationships also.

How did he join up with Black Badge? Is there a recruitment program you have to go through -- how did that look like? Was it more like boot camp? (Was it like the Police Academy Movies, and poor Dolls the only sane man?) Was torture a thing -- how did they deal with it?

Did he join Black Badge before or after he became someone different? Does he have family/friends, which he left for some reason? How did they influence him? Do they come and visit him in the Ghost River Triangle? Are they also special, or are they completely baffled by what he does?

What exactly is he? Was he always such a deeply repressed person? Does he ever let go?

What happened to him after the Season 1 finale? Did he get rescued (by Wynonna, Doc Holiday, someone else)? Does he rescue himself? Does he even need to be rescued, or is he being recalled to fight the tentacle monsters invading L.A., or the lizard people beneath New York? I mean, the kidnapping at the end seems pretty involuntary, but his supernatural thing could just be very territorial.

Would also absolutely enjoy if it turns out Xavier Dolls is the reason the Earp’s family curse exists — and now he’s trying to break it but can’t. This could be because maybe he’s immortal, maybe he’s a relative of the original curse-making witch, maybe he tried to conquer the world once and now Black Badge has him under a geas to fix anything they want him to, maybe his family died because of a similar thing.

That said, I would also read a version of his life that is fluffy bunnies and sunshine, and everything goes right for him :D

DNW: major character death, graphic depictions of torture

Original Work — Group: Pirate/Pirate; Group: Crossdressing Regency Lady/Regency Lady; Group: Male Noir Detective/Male Mobster

Crossdressing Regency Lady/Regency Lady

Why is there crossdressing? Is it something mundane, like it being easier to ride in mens clothing (people sell you rooms/horses/land with less of a fuss), or is there some dramatic reason, like inheriting an estate or an earldom? Maybe it’s easier to pretend to be a man than an unmarried woman? Studying at university! Working in the lawyer’s office of their father because he’s sick, and the bills need to be paid, and there is no work for a female lawyer…

Some other plot ideas:

They meet at a ball, and flirt. Then they meet again at the next ball (or the theatre, or gambling halls) and their relationship continues. The crossdressing Lady is very worried about being actually a woman, and pretending to be a man, but the other Lady found out the very first night and is totally cool with it.

Would also enjoy a mystery about the young man that pops up in the neighbourhood, conveniently while the very pretty cousin of a cousin is visiting. Highway robbers! Pirates! Pretending to be her own brother because he’s off to Gretna Green (or wherever) to get married! There are no tropes that could make this bad for me :D

One Lady writes novels under a pseudonym, the other starts a letter exchange. They decide to meet — and that man looks suspiciously like one of the other lady’s childhood friends who definitely did not have brothers.

I would enjoy this in a world without homophobia, just as I would enjoy this if they had to pretend to be a heterosexual couple forever (though I would enjoy it more if they had the support of at least one of their friends/family, or a community behind them)

DNW: gender dysphoria for the character crossdressing

Pirate/Pirate

I would love pirates absolutely anywhere, Scottish smugglers, piracy on rivers, Mediterranean pirates of pre-Roman Empire, Egyptian pirates, Chinese pirates, privateers, pirates of the Caribbean, pirates in SPACE.

f/f pairings would be great, just as m/m pairings, or f/m, whatever floats your boat (heh)

Some plot ideas:

(All prompts are gender neutral, which is intentional. All prompts are also terribly fluffy which is by no means an indication of preference — I just can’t seem to write deep and dramatic things.):

Two different pirate ships try to stop a ship of loot/weapons/high profile people from arriving at its location. Two of the opposite crew fall in love along the way.

The First Mate oils their muscles, and it’s the best thing that ever happened to this bosun (or the worst, depending). There are various bets about the futility of this most obvious crush.

This one country keeps trying to invade these particular islands, and so the entire nation has taken to piracy whenever that happens. When that country catches on, they send undercover people, who turn out to like piracy after all.

The smuggling cave is only accessible during low tide, and it’s only known to the pirates, yet their stash of high-grade alcohol/sauerkraut/sails/unobtainium keeps vanishing, and so they set out a trap, and it turns out to be another pirate who needs it to help heal some other dudes.

The captain is so throughly annoyed by two of his crew members, he makes them sleep in the same cabin (or the hammocks nearest to each other) for the entire voyage, and they keep falling into the wrong bed because of reasons. (Optionally, hate-sex — or they are united by their hatred for this clearly unreasonable captain and overthrow him.)

Please no modern pirates, or rape

Male Noir Detective/Male Mobster

How does this relationship start? Are they childhood friends? Does someone get murdered, and they team up to solve it? Is the mobster in the way of an investigation and obstructing it, while trying to solve it himself?

I'm not sure from the tagset if the former is a police officer or a private eye, either would be fantastic. I don’t have a preference for the place or time setting!

Do they hate each other? Is it a slightly antagonistic relationship?

Do they like each other? Reasons for why criminals and law enforcement people could like each other: one is running the only speakeasies in town, the other really likes to get drunk; crapshot government, and the mobster provides a much needed service (maybe schools, needle exchanges, safe abortions, soup kitchens)

Or is it just because they are the only smart person in their respective business?

Would love some exploration of moral justifications of differing view-points.

Also here for pure smut: hate sex, switching power dynamics, ill-advised drunken one-night stands, sex for blackmail reasons

Crossover Fandom — Group: Cher Horowitz (Clueless)/Elle Woods (Legally Blonde)

Do they meet in law school? Or before, or after? I want them to be competent, and brilliant, and dazzle each other with their excellent taste in clothes. I want them to be besieged by terrible human beings, and persevere. I want them to cuddle on a sofa, and inspire so many girls to do great things. I want them to grow as human beings, and be kind and positive, and succeed. (And I want one of them to be President.)

Also excellent would be: Elle does criminal law, Cher is in charity work, and they need to solve this embezzlement case.

But I'm also here for the porn, because that would also be amazing. Or like, buying a house together. Getting married. Deciding to adopt a puppy together.

Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch — Group: Thomas Nightingale/Alexander Seawoll, Group: Thomas Nightingale/Varvara Sidorovna Tamonina

I love the ambiguous relationships Thomas Nightingale has with people. For all his stand-offish personality, he seems to have a great empathy, next to his principles that have clearly change with the times.

Thomas Nightingale/Seawoll

Is the negotiating about cases a sex thing? If so, is it hate sex, or the "I really like the way you look but the bullshit that comes out of your mouth"-sex? Is there going to be a romantic relationship? Is Seawoll secretly into the whole magic thing, and super delighted by the simplest things?

Would also love canon style cases — maybe they at first think magic plays a part, but then it turns out the solution to the case lies with mundane police work?

Also a thing I would read: An accident turns Seawoll into a genius loci, a being of magic which he’s entirely sceptic about. He goes to Nightingale for help.

Or: Seawoll needs to explain to some government official why they have a department of two people, and Nightingale swoops in to save him — now Seawoll makes it his personal mission to have Nightingale explain each and every of their necessary budget points to the appropriate people.

Thomas Nightingale/Varvara Sidorovna Tamonina

Maybe Nightingale is attracted to ethically challenged witches? Do they get into intense discussions about magic? How does it feel to have an unexpected contemporary, but a foreign-educated one?

Does she help solve a case, and Nightingale shows his appreciation? Does she meticulously torture him with her feminine wiles, while she's technically their prisoner and Thomas won't touch her — except he does so she'll share her information?

Psych — Group: Burton Guster/Shawn Spencer

These are the fluffiest prompts ever, and I’m sorry.

Gus has Shawn on his insurance plan, he's doing Shawn's income taxes, and they own a house together. I want people assuming they are married. I want them to get offers to hold "representation speeches" or "sensitivity training" for the police officer they are working with, people wanting to know if it was difficult finding work after coming out, and Shawn hilariously missing the point, and Gus being quietly embarrassed.

Or a "waking up married" scenario where it's easier to just stay together, because that way Gus has to only do one set of paperwork.

Or anyone quietly investigating if the two of them are together and coming to the wrong (right?) conclusions. (Shawn's dad? A potential date?)

Or a murder happens at Gus place of business, and Shawn comes in to investigate, and apparently all of Gus' colleagues think he's the husband? And of course Shawn plays it up.

Also great: Gus and Shawn have a huge fight, and they don’t speak to each other for a month, and the people around them are tip-toeing around if they have broken up — while the fight was about leaving the socks lying around, and they aren’t even together, wtf — but then they have make-up sex, and everyone is relieved.

Smut is also very welcome! As are other canon characters, and OCs.

DNW: darkfic

(Please feel free to anon me if there’s anything confusing and/or wrong. Sometimes I confuse myself!)

#dear author #fandom5k #fandom exchange #exchange letter

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miss-m-calling · 8 years

Text

Worldbuilding Exchange Letter

Dear writer,

Hello and thank you for writing for me. I’m keeping this letter pretty bare-bones, because the very theme of this exchange is what I usually crave in fanfic: Worldbuilding! The history and geography and social structures of this fictional world! Fleshing out canon incidents or references! In-canon myths, narratives, explaining how and why stuff works as it does! How it all might have been but wasn’t! The contingency and consequences of both people’s actions and the parameters of the world in which they operate (for example, SF or magical systems which limit options but also open them up)! So I’m very excited, but I also don’t want to limit you with detailed prompts -- I hope my choice of tags and characters will serve in lieu of prompts.

In case you could really use a specific prompt, I have requested most of these fandoms in past exchanges (with varying character combos), or I’ve written in them, so I’m linking the relevant letters/my AO3 page where appropriate, to give you a sense of what I enjoy.

Requests:

Chronicles of the Kencyrath - P. C. Hodgell

Characters: Torisen Knorth, Jame Knorth, Marcarn ‘Marc’, Yce, Kirien Jaran, Brier Iron-Thorn, Burr

Worldbuilding tags: Haunted Lands , Magic and how it works, Perimal Darkling, Rathillien religion and mythology

Past requests: 1, 2, and 3

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke

Characters: Gilbert Norrell, Jonathan Strange, John Uskglass a.k.a. The Raven King

Worldbuilding tags: Faerie

Past requests: 1, 2 and 3

The Marianne Trilogy - Sheri S. Tepper

Characters: Marianne Zahmani, Makr Avehl Zahmani, Aghrehond, Therat, Queen Buttercup, Tabiti Delubovoska

Worldbuilding tags: Alphenlicht and Lubovosk, Cattermune's board game, Cave of Light

Past request: here

Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman

Characters: Marquis de Carabas, Richard Mayhew, Door, Lord Portico, Lamia

Worldbuilding tags: History of London, London Below, Magical sources and rules, Pockets of time, Underside of other cities

Past request: here

Oxford Time Travel Universe - Connie Willis

Characters: James Dunworthy, Elizabeth Bittner [original and canon cats not specifically requested but welcome!]

Worldbuilding tags: 2678 AD incongruity, Cat repopulation project, History of the net, Science and study of time travel

I did request this before but without a letter -- here is a brief version of my prompts from that time: I would love either a fic about office shenanigans (e.g., Dunworthy deals with fractious dons and administrators, clueless students, and demanding donors and researchers) or another "casefic" (characters visit another historical time period of your choice, things go smoothly or not, or what if they create another potential paradox). Humor/crack especially welcome, please ignore the events of Blackout/All Clear, and no fix-it fic for Doomsday Book.

A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin

Characters: Brienne of Tarth, Jaime Lannister, Tywin Lannister, Gerion Lannister, Tommen Baratheon

Worldbuilding tags: Economics & trade, Food & cooking, Free Cities, Gods & religion, Knights errant, Myths legends & songs, Sea and sailing-related legends & lore, Stormlands culture

I’ve never requested this canon before, but I have written tons for it: here. Book characterizations only, please (show characterizations are a canon-specific DNW for me), and if you write Brienne and/or Jaime, do not make them a BrOTP or otherwise write around Jaime/Brienne -- this is the OTP hill I’ll die on. You don’t have to write shipfic, but please don’t handwave the ship or try to explain it away.

Likes:

I love pre-canon, canon, post-canon, canon-divergent, and “missing scene from canon” stories. I love character-driven and plot-driven stories equally, and I love fics which mix humor and angst/serious business when appropriate for the canon. I’m also requesting in-canon meta here, so fictional excerpts from diaries, letters, histories, novels/fairytales/songs would be awesome.

I love character studies, characters at work and play, stories about group dynamics, family dynamics (including constructed families), professional partnerships, friendships, alliances, rivalries, intimate couples, UST-ridden couples who are not just UST-ridden but connected in other ways too, parents and children, siblings, etc.

I love irony, snark, 5+1 stories, bittersweet endings, hopeful endings, happy endings, canon-fitting crack, worldbuilding (duh, I know, but I always include this in letters), characters who are their own worst enemies as well as those who learn to get over themselves, characters with conflicting values which may or may not be reconciled/resolved in a believable and IC way, characters who treat each other with respect and as equals even if they hate/annoy/can’t stand/love to dislike each other.

I especially love workplace stories (this can mean anything from an office/procedural setting to anything that revolves around the canon world in which the characters live) in which the characters are competent and dedicated to the job, and while they may not be exactly friends and they may well irritate one another, they still manage to rub along to get the job done and maybe even grow to care about one another (much to their surprise and sometimes reluctance/discomfort). Or, if they can’t get along, show me why not and what’s preventing them from finding common ground.

DNWs:

Kinks, MPREG, A/B/O, knotting, D/s, incest, underage, genderswap and genderbent characters, non-con, dub-con, torture and abuse (this and non-con/dub-con can be mentioned if the story needs it, especially in a canon like ASOIAF, but please don’t dwell on it in loving detail or subject any of my requested characters to it), dwelling on bodily fluids (mentions of gore and come are fine where appropriate), toilet humor, character bashing, soulmates and soul marks, major character death (unless it’s canon), pregnancy and children as the lynchpin of the story (unless strictly canon appropriate), characters agonizing over/analyzing/dwelling on their or others’ sexuality as if it’s the sum total of their existence, secondary characters acting like shipping the main pair is their be all and end all, fluff and schmoop, OCs (except for worldbuilding purposes or as the author of an in-universe document reflecting on my requested characters/tags -- I just don’t want a fic in which OCs are the heroes or the only characters from the tagset mentioned), PWP or porn-centric fic, issuefic, fic written in the first or second person (unless you decide to write meta/diary/letter format, then it’s fine!), holiday or wedding setting or theme, AUs which have nothing to do with canon (cop characters working in a coffee shop, high-school janitor characters in space, etc.)

#dear author letter #worldbuilding exchange

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