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sobriquett · 3 years

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Dear Author Letter: Gen Freeform Exchange 2022

Edit: 12.30am UTC, Friday 18th March. This letter is 80% complete. If you’re assigned to me or looking for treats in the meantime, I will try to have it 100% complete within 24 hours of this note.

This letter is a bit of a beast, sorry. If you have no idea what I'm talking about or just cannot be arsed, then please write whatever you want. If you have fun writing it, I'll have fun reading it. If, like me, you need a little more to go on, here's a lot more. If I've failed to write a letter for a future exchange but linked you here, please knock yourself out!

General likes and dislikes are repeated below, then some exchange-specific stuff, the fandom-specific stuff. Fandoms are in alphabetical order, I love(-hate) them all!

All of my requests include spoilers for these series, which seems fair game for mid-19th century novels, but includes some for tv episodes that aired within the last few days, so take care!

And, if you haven't come here via the app, 120% recommend for hunting for treats/easy visualisation of treats: https://autoao3app.firebaseapp.com/#/GenFreeformExchange2022

General Likes & Dislikes

Likes: angst, canon compliant/close canon AU, AU - canon divergence, historical details, examination of societal issues, working within the social/cultural/moral/political boundaries of the world, outsider POV, power dynamics/disparities, marriage of convenience, fluff, domesticity, found family, friendship, sad endings, happy endings, happily for now, character studies, secret relationships, world building, fix-it, humour, epistolary, pining, hurt/comfort, first time/last time, secret relationships, cultural differences, dark fic, character death consequences

Dislikes (not a deal breaker, just a preference): 1st/2nd person (unless canon/epistolary - e.g. fic in the style of novel written in first person, letters/diaries), horror genre/tropes, OCs as major characters, PWP (porn with plot welcome!), non-con (dubcon is fine, especially if related to power disparities between characters/there’s a genuine debate to be had about a character’s consent or ability to consent, but please no straightforward non-con)

General DNWs: modern/mundane AU, any AU out of context (e.g. coffee shop AU, college AU), scat, bestiality, graphic depiction of torture, body horror, maiming/mutilation, any kind of gore, mpreg. Exception: anything canon or canon-compliant is fine (i.e., description of or reference to canonical injury).

Exchange-Specific

Please feel free to cross over any/all freeforms you like. The more the merrier! I've given some suggestions for some of them but if you have a contrasting idea, please knock yourself out. I've also listed a lot of relationships and a lot of each freeforms for each fandom. I am not at all married to any particular freeform matching any particular character or relationship unless otherwise specified. First, I have no right to be so fussy and no way to enforce it. Second, I am happy with anything for any tag here.

Every fandom includes "5 times", which is an easy way out if you've got this assignment and are sobbing into your keyboard, or if you've got an idea for a fandom nobody else has requested that you'd really like to treat, but I would love it if it was "5 times" of something at least tangentially related to another tag.

But, you know: ODAO, you do you.

I have requested fic for all fandoms, and vid for some limited fandoms, but I am open to anything for the purpose of treats if it takes your fancy. I like treats, both writing and receiving them!

Where you see a tag like "sibling relationship" or "parent/child relationship", that doesn't need to be a legal or biological relationship, but any nominated relationship with a similar dynamic, such as Mrs Hughes' pastoral role downstairs in Downton Abbey, or Mrs Thornton looking out for Margaret Hale after the death of Margaret's mother, or Marian Brook's aunts acting as her guardians; or Anna Smith and Gwen Dawson or Margaret Hale and Edith Lennox being like sisters - and warmer and closer than some of the other sibling relationships here!

Fandom-Specific

1. Downton Abbey

Relationships:

Anna Bates & Mary Crawley Group: Crawley Family Group: Downstairs Staff Isobel Crawley & Violet Crawley Mary Crawley & Violet Crawley Solo: Anna Bates Solo: Mary Crawley Mary Crawley & Edith Crawley & Sybil Crawley

Medium: Fic

This series is my comfort blanket show, I've seen it so many times. I wasn't terribly interested in Mary at first, but she's one of my favourite characters to read and write about in fic – that delicious blend of privilege, angst, dignity and projected coldness over inner warmth. I particularly enjoy her relationships with her closest allies – Anna and the Dowager, tagged here, and Carson too. Plus, as someone with no shortage of my own siblings, her sibling relationships intrigue me too.

And then Downstairs, this curious world where they're run off their feet all the time, but (anachronistically) well cared-for, how they have to live their lives snatched between mealtimes and clothes changes and their weekly half-day. For all the restrictions they're subjected to (no followers, a curfew, maintaining the dignity of the house at all times), this is a good life, and perhaps an easier one than some of their friends and family might know. It's such an isolated bubble in the world, I'd be curious for you to explore some of that.

Freeforms:

5 times this happened and 1 time something else happened

Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence

Character death fix?

The Kemal Pamuk episode didn't happen/happened differently

Angst – characters know exactly how to hurt each other

Mary and Edith! The S6 finale is a masterpiece of them hurting one another.

Character reflects on the inevitable passage of time

Changes in the household, both upstairs and downstairs? Mary/Edith/Sybil's generation grown up, their children in the nursery, servants coming and going, Carson's retirement, Violet's old age.

Character worries about letting down other characters who are loyal to them

Coming of age

There's a coming of age in becoming an adult, and there's coming of age becoming an adult and taking one's place. In many ways, the whole series is a coming of age for Mary.

Competence – highly effective teamwork

Dancing

Complicated sibling relationships

Epistolary

Doesn’t need to be letters! Could be society gossip/newspapers or journals, as well as letters/notes between characters

Exploration of wealth and/or class differences

Emotional hurt/comfort

Grief/mourning

For Matthew, Sybil, Michael Gregson, any other character of your choice?

Hurt/comfort – sick character still has to get their job done

Hurt/comfort – character hides the extent of their injury/illness

Long-distance friendship

Male-female friendship

Parent/child relationship – different worldviews

Power imbalance

Protectiveness

Redemption – trying to make amends with the people you hurt

Reunion after long separation

Shared commiseration over being forced to attend a formal event

Significant first name usage

Small lie or pretense spirals out of control

Traveling/being without a home

Unexpected friendship

Whump

2. The Gilded Age

Relationships:

Marian Brook & Sylvia Chamberlain Marian Brook & Peggy Scott Van Rhijn Household Russell Family Agnes van Rhijn & Ada Brook

Medium: Fic

So, I didn't even notice Belgravia was a thing, but Downton Abbey + Christine Baranski = me watching this show. At the time of writing, I'm an episode or two behind, but by reveals I will have seen the whole thing. Probably twice.

I haven't got a set view of any of these characters yet – hell, I'm only consciously learning a lot of their names somewhere around episode 7, like "Russell kid (male), yep", but I'll have it mastered before reveals. So please, feel free to explore and deepen my understanding of any of the characters!

Or, this isn't a time and place I know a lot about, so please show me more of the world if you like. Otherwise, I am interested in the complicated dynamics and tensions between these characters and what they represent.

I am enjoying the Russells more than I thought, and particularly the uncomfortable relationships between mother and daughter and father and son – with each child rebelling against following their same-gender parents' path/desire in their world – and the support that each child gets from the other parent.

I also feel like there's some deeper van Rhijn/Brook backstory that's missing, and I want to know more about how these women became who they are. This character is "household" not "family", so by all means include Peggy and the staff (and particularly Peggy's unusual position in the hierarchy).

5 times this happened and 1 time something else happened

Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence

Backstory

Coming of age

Competence – highly effective teamwork

Complicated relationship with a parental figure

Compromising on uneven power dynamics in a platonic relationship

Epistolary

Exploration of wealth and/or class differences

Parent/child relationship – different worldviews

Poor Life Choices

Power Imbalance

Protectiveness

The Russells' protectiveness of their children? Agnes and Ada of Marian? Marian of Mrs Chamberlain? The staff of the family or vice versa?

A big one: Agnes' protectiveness of Ada. Are there parallels with how Agnes treats Marian, explaining some of Ada's considerable sympathy for Marian?

Significant first name usage

This is a world of very rigid, prescribed civility. The use of a first name rather than more formal address is a big deal, a sign of considerably intimacy. There are endless possibilities here – but it might be worth being careful of which characters might bend these rules of propriety and which simply would never (or, rather, it's an even bigger deal when they do).

Small lie or pretense spirals out of control

One of the Russell children or Marian tells a small lie that gets out of control?

Unexpected friendship

3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

Relationships:

Solo: Jane Eyre Jane Eyre & Adèle Varens Jane Eyre & Alice Fairfax Edward Rochester & Adèle Varens

JANE EYRE IS AN UNRELIABLE NARRATOR. (Someone help me get ro3 on this tag.)

The novel is an autobiography, written in the first person. Are there gaps or misdirections? A story more favourably told, or varied? And Jane is very nearly as biased as those she criticises for their narrow-mindedness. But she makes the best of a bad situation, maintains her strength of character and morality in the most perilous of situations… or does she?

I am also interested in Jane's relationships with past figures in her life not often explored – Miss Temple, her Reed cousins, etc.

I am also curious about Rochester's relationship with Adele – how it began, what happened in Jane's absence, how he sent her to school, how their relationship recovered (or didn't) as she grew up.

Also: JANE EYRE IS AN UNRELIABLE NARRATOR.

Freeforms:

5 times this happened and 1 time something else happened

Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence

What if Jane doesn't return to Rochester?

What if Rochester dies in the fire?

Any other what if you can think of!

Canon Events From Perspectives Not Given In Canon

What do Mrs Fairfax or Adele think of what's going on? Wondering about what Rochester thinks of canon events might be pushing the envelope a bit of a gen exchange.

Character reflects over the inevitable passage of time

Coming of Age

Dancing

Complicated Relationship with a Parental Figure

Epistolary

Could be letters between the characters, could be news reports of the aborted wedding/fire/John Eyre's death, etc.

Emotional Hurt/Comfort

First Meetings

Rochester and Adele's first meeting, or her collection from France and arrival in England, are the only ones of this relationship not covered in the novel. Alternatively, what did Mrs Fairfax or Adele think of Jane upon their first meeting?

Hurt/Comfort - Character expects to be punished but is comforted instead

Hurt/Comfort - Character(s) discover Character A's biggest secret

Long-Distance Friendship

Does Jane maintain a correspondence with her former friends, her cousins, Adele? Does her world expand post-canon, as a married woman?

Parent/child relationship - difficult relationship

Parent/child relationship - different worldviews

Protectiveness

Redemption - Trying To Make Amends With the People You Hurt

Rochester has a lot to make up for.

So does Jane, albeit to a lesser extent, for abandoning Adele.

Reverse parenting - the kid has to teach the adult how to behave appropriately

Mr Rochester is a grump. Adele is like (filtered) sunshine.

Reunion after long separation

Adele's return from school? Do Jane and Mrs Fairfax meet later after the main events of the novel? (I feel like she got pensioned off somewhere but can't remember if that's canon or just my brain.)

Unreliable Narrator

JANE EYRE IS AN UNRELIABLE NARRATOR. I feel very strongly about this.

Whump

Adele must have had a miserable time at school. Consider some of the events of Jane's time at Lowood – it's implied that Adele has a similar experience. She must have been traumatised. How does that play out and how does she recover?

Traveling/Being Without a Home

Jane, Mrs Fairfax and Adele are all dependents. Thornfield Hall might be where they live but it's not their home, and there's an inherent precariousness to their position that might be worth exploring – or what it's worth when they finally do have a home that's theirs, and they feel it.

4. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (TV)

Relationships:

Miriam "Midge" Maisel & Abe Weissman Miriam "Midge" Maisel & Lenny Bruce Miriam "Midge" Maisel & Shy Baldwin Miriam "Midge" Maisel & Susie Myerson Susie Myerson & Joel Maisel

Medium: Fic, Vid

I have rewatched this series from start to finish twice in the last two months, I love it. I like S4 less than the others but it definitely had its moments. Anyway, my point is, I have seen it repeatedly and it's fresh in my mind, if you want to go niche with anything.

At the time of nominating this, Midge/Lenny was still pretty much subtext, and I am happy to read it that way. If you're here for that relationship and it suits you, set it in an earlier season, so it's easier to keep the subtext on mute!

Freeforms:

5 times this happened and 1 time something else happened

Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence

Angst – characters know exactly how to hurt each other

Antagonistic relationship turns to genuine friendship

Awkward and unconventional gestures of friendship

Canon-typical misogyny

Canon events from perspectives not given in canon

Character worries about letting down other characters who are loyal to them

Competence – highly effective teamwork

Dancing

Epistolary

Emotional hurt/comfort

Grand gesture of friendship

Friends to enemies to friends

Male-female friendship

Parent/child relationship – difficult relationship

Platonic bed-sharing

Poor life choices

Protectiveness

Small lie or pretense spirals out of control

Traveling/being without a h9ome

Unexpected friendship

Whump

5. North and South (UK TV)

Solo: John Thornton John Thornton & Hannah Thornton John Thornton & Nicholas Higgins Margaret Hale & Hannah Thornton Margaret Hale & Henry Lennox Margaret Hale & Edith Lennox Margaret Hale & Frederick Hale

Medium: Fic

I wrote this for Yuletide one year and never looked back. I devour things in this fandom. I read quite a bit of Victorian history and live in a northern mill town, so I love it when fics dive into those dynamics. On the other hand, period drama angst!

I live in a Northern mill town, so this is kind of my history. I would love to see an exploration of the historical context of the mills and labour history.

Freeforms:

5 times this happened and 1 time something else happened

Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence

Adult or teenager character's childhood backstory

How exactly did John, Hannah and Fanny manage after the ruin of the older Mr Thornton?

Antagonistic relationship turns to genuine friendship

Do Thornton and Higgins ever become true friends, recognising the positive qualities in one another, finding things in common?

Backstory

Canon-typical misogyny

Mrs Thornton is a respected woman in her world. Is that because she stays in her lane, operates in a feminine role and sphere? (In the novel, and from an historical perspective, she wouldn’t have had any involvement in the mill, in contrast to the supervisory way she acts in the adaptation. But that’s neither here nor there.) In contrast, Margaret is not - she acts publicly, emotionally, explores outsider her sphere. There’s a lot to unpack there. And then Edith is another woman living a very different life! Also, Hannah is thoroughly dependent on her son. She’s raised a good one and is secure, but she’s still completely dependent.

Canon events from perspectives not given in canon

What do outsiders looking in think of events? Particularly Edith, from her life of relative comfort and ease in London/Corfu, or Frederick’s very different life in Spain?

Character reflects over the inevitable passage of time

Character feeling like a worthless failure

How does Thornton feel when the mill fails? How does he cope?

Class differences

Character worries about letting down other characters who are loyal to them

Competence – highly effective teamwork

Complicated relationship with a parental figure

Debt & financial difficulty

There’s a world of difference between John Thornton’s failure as a business owner and his father’s - probably because of John’s trauma from his father’s experience. I would love to see this explored in more detail. Victorian bankruptcy was a harrowing, public, nuclear thing.

Grief/mourning

How do the Hale siblings cope with the unexpected death of their father, so soon after their mother? How does John cope with the death of his father, and all the huge and sweeping changes that makes to his life?

Labour relations/trade unions

Long-distance friendship

Male-female friendship

Parent/child relationship – difficult relationship

Parent/child relationship – different worldviews

Emotional hurt/comfort

Epistolary

Letters, news, journals, books! So many things. See Unsent Letters.

Exploration of wealth and/or class differences

This is a particularly complex thing in this fandom, because Margaret has less money but more status than Thornton - in most of the world, but not in Milton. There’s so much to unpick here.

Poor life choices

WHAT THE F--- IS THAT TRAIN SCENE; although that’s shippy. Unless another would like to muse on Margaret’s absolute wtf from an outsider perspective?

Power imbalance

Protectiveness

Reunion after long separation

Significant first name usage

Traveling/being without a home

Unexpected friendship

6. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

Relationships:

Jane & Elizabeth & Mary & Kitty & Lydia Bennet Elizabeth Bennet & Charlotte Lucas Elizabeth Bennet & Georgiana Darcy Elizabeth Bennet & Jane Bennet Catherine de Bourgh & Mrs Bennet Fitzwilliam Darcy & Mrs Bennet Elizabeth Bennet & Catherine de Bourgh

Medium: Fic

I'm not sure I've ever read this novel straight through, but I dip into it and read a random fifty pages every now and then. I've definitely read it all repeatedly, and the 1995 adaptation is peak background noise/comfort viewing for me.

I am so, so tickled by the Mrs Bennet relationships here. I would love to see someone match her vulgarity with the refinement/haughtiness of Darcy or Lady Catherine. There's potential for some true Austen-style comedy.

Alternatively, sisters are going to be sisters: competitive, fickle, shallow, loving, protective, bickering, loyal, jealous, supportive, etc – and sometimes several of those dynamics all at once. I would be happy to see any moment - before, during or after canon – of some or all of the Bennet sisters interacting.

How does Elizabeth and Charlotte's relationship continue? They are on different paths, but tied together. Does Darcy extend his patronage to Mr Collins, and they have to put up with him but do have Charlotte nearby? How does Elizabeth feel when Charlotte becomes mistress of Longbourn? (Further complicated by how that must follow the death of Elizabeth's father.)

Freeforms:

5 times this happened and 1 time something else happened

Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence

Canon events from perspectives not given in canon

Complicated sibling relationships

Enemies to friends

Epistolary

Exploration of wealth and/or class differences

Emotional hurt/comfort

Friends to enemies to friends

Learning to cope with unwelcome in-law

Long-distance friendship

Power imbalance

Protectiveness

Significant first name usage

Unexpected friendship

7. Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle

Relationships:

Sherlock Holmes & John Watson

Medium: Fic

I subscribe to the Forsythian view of canon. However, that is not appropriate here. But I do believe Watson is an unreliable narrator and obscures things – for his and Holmes' privacy or advantage, or that of their clients… and there is much fun to be had there.

I enjoy domestic fic as much as case fic in this fandom, so an interesting interlude is as satisfying to me as a full pastiche.

Freeforms:

5 times this happened and 1 time something else happened

Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence

Awkward and unconventional gestures of friendship

Casual platonic intimacy

Cat acquisition

Competence – highly effective teamwork

Epistolary

Emotional hurt/comfort

Grand gesture of friendship

Hurt/comfort – character hides extent of their illness/injury

Protectiveness

Redemption – trying to make amends with the people you hurt

Reunion after long separation

Small lie or pretense spirals out of control

Unreliable narrator

Whump

8. Snowpiercer (TV)

Relationships:

Group: Engineers Solo: Melanie Cavill Solo: Ruth Wardell Solo: Wilford

Medium: Fic

I love-hate this show. The class system of the train in S1 and Wilford's cruelty throughout make my blood boil, I stopped rooting for Layton a while ago, that dream episode recently was absolutely terrible what the fuck was that, but this world remains fascinating to me.

I am particularly curious about the science – and I am not at all a scientist, so fake science works for me! The beauty and peril of the train's ecosystem is one of the things that captivated me in the first season, and the balance of reasoning when making decisions, such as cows vs. the tail

Freeforms:

5 times this happened and 1 time something else happened

Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence

Adult or teenage character's childhood backstory

Awkward and unconventional gestures of friendship

Backstory

Calculated cruelty

Character worries about letting down other characters who are loyal to them

Competence – highly effective teamwork

Dancing

Epistolary

Exploration of wealth and/or class differences

Gestures of affection that outsiders would find creepy/disturbing

First meetings

Friends to enemies

Friends to enemies to friends

Grief/mourning

Hurt/comfort – character(s) discover Character A's biggest secret

Hurt/comfort – hurt/sick character still has to get their job done

Male-female friendship

Power imbalance

Redemption – trying to make amends with the people you hurt

Small lie or pretense or small lie spirals out of control

Traveling/being without a home

Worldbuilding – exploring how background systems in canon work (e.g. logistics, law/lawyers, banks)

Worldbuilding – history and historiography

Worldbuilding – justice system

Worldbuilding – politics and diplomacy

9. The West Wing (TV)

Relationships:

Solo: Donna Moss Solo: Joey Lucas Josh Lyman & Donna Moss CJ Cregg & Josh Lyman & Sam Seaborn & Toby Ziegler Jed Bartlet & CJ Cregg & Josh Lyman & Leo McGarry & Sam Seaborn & Toby Ziegler

Medium: Fic, Vid

[need to write some thiiings!]

Freeforms:

5 times this happened and 1 time something else happened

Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence

Awkward and unconventional gestures of friendship

Casual platonic intimacy

Character reflects over the inevitable passage of time

Character worries about letting down other characters who are loyal to them

Competence – highly effective teamwork

Dancing

Compromising on uneven power dynamics in a platonic relationship

Epistolary

Emotional hurt/comfort

Grand gesture of friendship

Friends to enemies to friends

Grief/mourning

Hurt/comfort – hurt/sick character still has to get their job done

Hurt/comfort – character hides the extent of their injury/illness

Male-female friendship

Poor life choices

Power imbalance

Presumed dead

Protectiveness

Whump

Work friendship becomes real friendship

10. The Witcher (TV)

Ciri & Eist Ciri & Jaskier Geralt & Jaskier Jaskier & Roach Jaskier & Yennefer Solo: Ciri Solo: Geralt

Medium: Fic

[need to write some thiiings!]

Freeforms:

5 times this happened and 1 time something else happened

Accidental baby acquisition

Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence

Angst – characters know exactly how to hurt each other

Awkward and unconventional gestures of friendship

Becoming an accidental father figure

Casual platonic intimacy

Came back wrong,then came back wronger, why does it keep getting worse

Character A drops the lighthearted façade when Character B is in danger

Character discovers they aren't as human as they thought they were

Character thinks no one is coming to save them; multiple people team up for the rescue

Complicated relationship with a parental figure

Characters have competing aesthetic/philosophical/methodological/problem-solving principles

Competence – highly effective teamwork

Dancing

Epistolary

Emotional hurt/comfort

Gestures of affection that others would find creepy/disturbing

Grand gestures of friendship

Friends to enemies to friends

Grief/mourning

Hurt/comfort – character expects to be punished but is comforted instead

Hurt/comfort – character hides the extent of their illness/injury

Hurt/comfort – hurt/sick character still has to get their job done

Male-female friendship

Platonic "there was only one bed" – characters annoy each other through the night

Poor life choices

Power imbalance

Presumed dead

Protectiveness

Redemption – trying to make amends with the people you hurt

Reunion after long separation

Shared commiseration over being forced to attend a formal event

Small lie or pretense spirals out of control

Traveling/being without a home

Unexpected friendship

Whump

11. Whoa, the end!

Well done, reader/writer. Well done.

Don’t forget: have fun.

#dear author letter #downton abbey #the gilded age #jane eyre #marvelous mrs maisel #north and south #pride and prejudice #sherlock holmes acd #snowpiercer #the west wing #the witcher tv

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