Dear Femslash After Dark Author
Jul. 2nd, 2018 01:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
weakinteractionHi! Thanks for writing for me; I hope this letter is helpful if you find letters helpful, but if you prefer to go your own way, I'm very interested to see where that leads too (as long as it isn't into any of my DNWs, obviously). My AO3 name is weakinteraction - same as this dreamwidth.
General likes
I am, to be honest, up for almost anything. I'm very happy with all sorts of formats, including first/second person as well as third, present tense as well as past, epistolatory fic, interactive fiction, etc. Tropes-wise, I am particularly fond of time travel, canon-divergent AUs, people with issues relating to identity (in the sense of things like secret identities and amnesia) and telepathy. In terms of relationship dynamics, I like all sorts of things but particularly: friends-to-lovers, friends-with-benefits, enemies-to-lovers, lovers-to-enemies(-who-are-maybe-occasionally-still-lovers-against-their-better-judgement), loyalty kink, and you-and-me-against-the-universe sorts of situations.
Given the nature of the exchange, I've deliberately chosen pairings for this exchange where I'd be open to any possibility on the spectrum from happy smut to extremely fucked-up relationship to the pairing struggling together through an angsty darkfic scenario, and generally I've gone for things where they could go in any of those directions, depending on the point in canon you take it from, or various plausible AUs (or alternative routes in games, which I never know whether they really count as AUs or not). I've separated the more specific likes below into smut and darkfic but please don't take that as meaning that you can't combine the two if you want to. But as noted in the DNWs, please no violent non-con. (Coercion, manipulation, mind control, etc. are all fine in darker scenarios.)
Smut-oriented likes
If you're writing smut, I'm fine with it being as plotty as you like or out-and-out PWP, or anywhere in between. I like characters snatching moments for sex in the middle of adventures, or celebrating at the end of them, or anything else. If you're going down the smutty route, I am very happy with most kinks except for a few exceptions listed in the DNWs below (and things like Force Sex in SW or its equivalents elsewhere are very welcome too; given the nature of these canons, please don't feel restricted to relatively realistic sex). For kinks with a power differential, I have a very slight preference for the sub's point of view, but only a very slight one. In general, I like people having fun while they're having sex; it definitely doesn't have to be all serious all the time. Things going slightly wrong for comic effect is definitely good.
Darkfic-oriented likes
I love a good apocalyptic fic, characters banding together against the growing awfulness of the world around them or their relationships being frayed by the pressure. I love good (or quite-good) characters going bad (e.g. Jedi turning Dark Side) and dragging the ones they love down with them into a vortex of manipulation and coercion; I'm fine with the other person reacting in various ways to that -- clinging on to the hope that they can redeem their lover; losing their moral compass because they have it focused on the other person rather than the bigger picture, but having occasional moments of horrified clarity; or being fully seduced themselves.
DNWs
I usually include character death on this list but haven't for for this exchange, as it seems a bit daft to suggest apocalypses/the reign of Evil Empress [X] and then say "but everyone must survive". However, I would prefer not to receive character death in a fic that wasn't deliberately going for being darkfic. (e.g. please don't have the characters get together because they met up again at the funeral of a teammate, or something.)
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
Corazon Santiago/Deirdre Skye
I love this game. I still get shivers every time the first fungus pops and the first interlude from the Book of Planet comes up when I start a playthrough. The "canon" story that comes out in the Datalinks quotes and wonders videos implies a war where the Gaians eventually completely overrun the Spartans with mind worms (and I would definitely be up for something along those lines). But each time you play a game you get a brand new history of planet, and I don't consider the "canon" version any more or less valid than any other possibility. So I'd also be up for something similar with the tables turned and Santiago winning, or a grand alliance between the Gaians and the Spartans, cemented by the union of the two leaders, or arguments in the planetary council leading to hatesex, or anything else that occurs to you.
Feel free to involve the Mind Worms or Planet more generally if you want.
Confident - Demi Lovato (Music Video)
Demi Lovato's Character/Michelle Rodriguez' Character
Anything, honestly. This video (and the basically single-entendre lyrics) just speaks to my id in a very major way (I may have imprinted on the "fight then team up" trope thanks to comics, but if you want to stop at "fight then hot sex" that's fine too). Backstory and worldbuilding stuff about whoever's setting them up and the dystopian aspects of the setting and whatever all these barcodes are about and so on very welcome, but by no means required.
Lady of the Shard
Acolyte/Old God, Acolyte/Old God/Radiant Goddess, Acolyte/Radiant Goddess, Old God/Radiant Goddess
I love the sort of slightly dreamy tone that permeates the story; I'm particularly fond of the way most of the art is usually very simple, almost stick-figure-y, but then the closer things get to the divine, the more detailed it becomes. All of the pairings have their own different dynamics but I think what unites them for me is this kind of feedback loop between the divine and the human; there's all sorts of interesting implications about the nature of belief buried in there, if you want to explore the more philosophical side of it. I'd be interested in pretty much anything and everything for any of these ships (and I am definitely OK with mind-control/reality-altering dub/noncon around the Old God.)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Faith Lehane/Buffy Summers
The core appeal of this ship for me is the combination of their mutual antagonism with the "the only other person who really understands what this is like" thing. I like that they work together well later on in canon despite still not agreeing on everything. In general, given how complex their history is, this is definitely a pairing that could go in any of several directions, depending on what point in canon you take it from, if you go into a Mayor-wins AU, etc. Bodyswap shenanigans related to This Year's Girl/Who Are You very welcome. I do read the comics so feel free to incorporate that canon or not as suits you.
Star Wars (Marvel Comics)
Chelli Lona Aphra/Magna Tolvan
Their canon enemies-to-lovers trajectory has been extremely pleasing to me, so anything that builds on that would be fantastic. Filling in the canonical "two days later" from the end of #19 very welcome. But other possibiltiies would be: reluctant-to-not-so-reluctant team-up; one or other of them getting the upper hand but then not being quite sure what to do with that; ending up on the run from the Empire together; how they adjust after the fall of the Empire. Exploration of Tolvan's backstory would be great too (especially why she has all those cybernetics that she's so unhappy with, and I also love the way she's portrayed a tactical genius; any sort of situation where she's using those skills would be fun).
KotOR
Juhani/Female Revan
"I will be your doom." - threat or promise? Do they end up saving each other from the Dark Side, or falling together? Or is it even worse than that? (I have, in all seriousness, considered doing a playthrough where Revan romances Juhani, but then turns at the Temple roof, but finds that she can't fight Juhani and so leaves herself open to being chopped down, and taking that as being the ending rather than reloading, just because I think it would be a neat way of inverting Juhani's initial introduction.)
Belaya/Juhani
Very strongly hinted at in canon, though whether anything came of it while they were padawans is up to you, given the Jedi's restrictions on love. But anything about their "long nights under the stars" would be great. Or a reunion after the end of the game (let's assume Belaya survived the bombardment of Dantooine somehow -- maybe she'd been sent on some other mission?). Or (since Belaya turns Dark Side and pops up on Korriban if you kill Juhani), an AU where they both fall together and become unstoppable. (Would Level-9-or-so Revan be able to take them both on in the grove? Seems unlikely as I regularly have to reload during that fight when it's just Juhani.)
Female Revan/Bastila Shan
What I find interesting about these two is their bond through Bastila having saved Revan's life, and how it pulls them together (against Bastila's better judgement given that she knows who Revan is all along, but also her devotion to Jedi beliefs about love being bad). And of course the mirroring of their arcs, with Bastila eventually going to the Dark Side as Revan did (but then coming back, if you play Light Side and choose the right dialogue options). Jennifer Hale's delivery of "I would stand by your side gladly, as your lover and apprentice!" is quite something, so anything playing around with Dark Side Bastila (whether or not Revan also goes Dark Side) is very welcome.
Juhani/Female Revan/Bastila Shan
To be honest, this is basically my default party for most of the game (unless my Revan is particularly short on skills, in which case Mission or T3 comes along), so it has kind of turned into an OT3 of mine by default. Some specific prompts: Working through the rough edges of working together during the period covered by canon. LS post-canon based on the idea that they've all been through different redemption arcs: helping each other stay on the Light Side, that sort of thing. DS post-canon: Dark Lord Revan and her concubines.
Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
These are all Rey pairings, so i think I should set out my stall slightly: I came out of my very first viewing of TFA absolutely convinced Rey was gay (and shipping her with Jess as one of the only other female characters in the Resistance -- I'm too much of a Han/Leia shipper for Leia/Rey to be much of an option for me, and I do really, really like X-Wing pilot minor characters anyway). On the other hand, I did think the canon Force Bond interactions with Kylo Ren in TLJ were very interesting, I just don't particularly see Rey as interested from a romantic point of view. But please don't shy away from including that sort of thing if it's relevant to your story. (To be honest, if you were doing something plotty in the post-TLJ timeframe, I would be a bit surprised if it didn't make an appearance.)
Jessika Pava/Rey
Dynamics-wise, I like the idea of both of them being a bit surprised at being in this relationship, but liking it (Rey having never had any opportunity to even really consider romance while on Jakku, Jess having hero-worshipped Jedi as per "Weapon of a Jedi" and now finding that they are actually flesh-and-blood people after all, that sort of thing). I am particularly keen on the idea of them bonding over mechanical things and/or being competitive about their spaceships. Mission fic also welcome. Feel free to include other characters, especially from Black Squadron. (I am very pleased that Word of God says that Black Squadron were all elsewhere during TLJ. I've not read any post-timeskip Poe comics at the time of writing this letter, but I will be up to date by the time of reveals.)
Phasma/Rey
Obviously this would pretty much have to be AU now (though something which posits Phasma somehow surviving TLJ would be cool). I am interested in a wide variety of scenarios here, but if you can come up with one I haven't thought of, go for it: Phasma has been a Resistance plant all along, and Rey has to rescue her (possibly psychologically as well, in terms of how long she's been undercover); AU in which Rey is a member of the First Order (this could be a straightforward one-point-of-divergence thing, or some sort of role swap where Rey and Finn, or Rey and Kylo, or heck, even Rey and Hux, swap places); forced to work together; Rey captures Phasma, or Phasma captures Rey, and it leads to Rey redeeming Phasma or Rey being turned.
Rey/Original Female Character(s)
I am up for all sorts of possibilities here as to who the OFC could be (very much including non-humans): a dignitary from a neutral planet that the Resistance needs something from, a newly awakened Jedi she's training (possibly feeling underqualified to do so?), a Resistance trooper/medic/technician/etc. But honestly, these are just some suggestions, go wild.
Rey/Rose
Lots of possibiltiies here: Bonding over mechanic-y stuff (... OK, so this may be a thing with my Rey ships! but there's bound to be stuff going wrong on the Falcon with that many people on board). Rey helps Rose deal with losing Paige (perhaps an interesting contrast with Rey's lack of a family, here?). Rose is in trouble and needs rescuing. Rose ends up being one of the few people who Rey can trust to be straight with her while everyone else is looking up to her as a Jedi (by extension from the way she deals with Finn in TLJ).
I do have a specific DNW for this particular ship: Rey/Finn/Rose love triangle. (Background Finn-involved poly is fine, on the other hand, if you want to go in that direction.) In particular, although I haven't read the novelisation, it sounds like it does a number on Rose, turning her into a seething pit of jealousy; please steer clear of that characterisation.
General likes
I am, to be honest, up for almost anything. I'm very happy with all sorts of formats, including first/second person as well as third, present tense as well as past, epistolatory fic, interactive fiction, etc. Tropes-wise, I am particularly fond of time travel, canon-divergent AUs, people with issues relating to identity (in the sense of things like secret identities and amnesia) and telepathy. In terms of relationship dynamics, I like all sorts of things but particularly: friends-to-lovers, friends-with-benefits, enemies-to-lovers, lovers-to-enemies(-who-are-maybe-occasionally-still-lovers-against-their-better-judgement), loyalty kink, and you-and-me-against-the-universe sorts of situations.
Given the nature of the exchange, I've deliberately chosen pairings for this exchange where I'd be open to any possibility on the spectrum from happy smut to extremely fucked-up relationship to the pairing struggling together through an angsty darkfic scenario, and generally I've gone for things where they could go in any of those directions, depending on the point in canon you take it from, or various plausible AUs (or alternative routes in games, which I never know whether they really count as AUs or not). I've separated the more specific likes below into smut and darkfic but please don't take that as meaning that you can't combine the two if you want to. But as noted in the DNWs, please no violent non-con. (Coercion, manipulation, mind control, etc. are all fine in darker scenarios.)
Smut-oriented likes
If you're writing smut, I'm fine with it being as plotty as you like or out-and-out PWP, or anywhere in between. I like characters snatching moments for sex in the middle of adventures, or celebrating at the end of them, or anything else. If you're going down the smutty route, I am very happy with most kinks except for a few exceptions listed in the DNWs below (and things like Force Sex in SW or its equivalents elsewhere are very welcome too; given the nature of these canons, please don't feel restricted to relatively realistic sex). For kinks with a power differential, I have a very slight preference for the sub's point of view, but only a very slight one. In general, I like people having fun while they're having sex; it definitely doesn't have to be all serious all the time. Things going slightly wrong for comic effect is definitely good.
Darkfic-oriented likes
I love a good apocalyptic fic, characters banding together against the growing awfulness of the world around them or their relationships being frayed by the pressure. I love good (or quite-good) characters going bad (e.g. Jedi turning Dark Side) and dragging the ones they love down with them into a vortex of manipulation and coercion; I'm fine with the other person reacting in various ways to that -- clinging on to the hope that they can redeem their lover; losing their moral compass because they have it focused on the other person rather than the bigger picture, but having occasional moments of horrified clarity; or being fully seduced themselves.
DNWs
- character or ship bashing (in particular, where there are conflicting canon ships for these characters, quietly ignoring them/AU-ing them away/handwaving everyone as being happily poly are all far preferable to me to devoting large chunks of the fic to demonstrating that the canon love interest is The Worst and breaking them up)
- non-canon-divergent AUs like coffee shops, A/B/O, etc. (canon-divergent ones, on the other hand, are a big yes as mentioned above, and I'm OK with mundane-style AUs that do exist in canon -- e.g. the Normal Again universe from Buffy)
- pregnancy/kidfic
- watersports/scat/emetophilia/bloodplay/breathplay/vore
- violent non-con (coercion/mind control/etc. are fine)
- incest
- underage (which I define as people under 16 having sex)
I usually include character death on this list but haven't for for this exchange, as it seems a bit daft to suggest apocalypses/the reign of Evil Empress [X] and then say "but everyone must survive". However, I would prefer not to receive character death in a fic that wasn't deliberately going for being darkfic. (e.g. please don't have the characters get together because they met up again at the funeral of a teammate, or something.)
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
Corazon Santiago/Deirdre Skye
I love this game. I still get shivers every time the first fungus pops and the first interlude from the Book of Planet comes up when I start a playthrough. The "canon" story that comes out in the Datalinks quotes and wonders videos implies a war where the Gaians eventually completely overrun the Spartans with mind worms (and I would definitely be up for something along those lines). But each time you play a game you get a brand new history of planet, and I don't consider the "canon" version any more or less valid than any other possibility. So I'd also be up for something similar with the tables turned and Santiago winning, or a grand alliance between the Gaians and the Spartans, cemented by the union of the two leaders, or arguments in the planetary council leading to hatesex, or anything else that occurs to you.
Feel free to involve the Mind Worms or Planet more generally if you want.
Confident - Demi Lovato (Music Video)
Demi Lovato's Character/Michelle Rodriguez' Character
Anything, honestly. This video (and the basically single-entendre lyrics) just speaks to my id in a very major way (I may have imprinted on the "fight then team up" trope thanks to comics, but if you want to stop at "fight then hot sex" that's fine too). Backstory and worldbuilding stuff about whoever's setting them up and the dystopian aspects of the setting and whatever all these barcodes are about and so on very welcome, but by no means required.
Lady of the Shard
Acolyte/Old God, Acolyte/Old God/Radiant Goddess, Acolyte/Radiant Goddess, Old God/Radiant Goddess
I love the sort of slightly dreamy tone that permeates the story; I'm particularly fond of the way most of the art is usually very simple, almost stick-figure-y, but then the closer things get to the divine, the more detailed it becomes. All of the pairings have their own different dynamics but I think what unites them for me is this kind of feedback loop between the divine and the human; there's all sorts of interesting implications about the nature of belief buried in there, if you want to explore the more philosophical side of it. I'd be interested in pretty much anything and everything for any of these ships (and I am definitely OK with mind-control/reality-altering dub/noncon around the Old God.)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Faith Lehane/Buffy Summers
The core appeal of this ship for me is the combination of their mutual antagonism with the "the only other person who really understands what this is like" thing. I like that they work together well later on in canon despite still not agreeing on everything. In general, given how complex their history is, this is definitely a pairing that could go in any of several directions, depending on what point in canon you take it from, if you go into a Mayor-wins AU, etc. Bodyswap shenanigans related to This Year's Girl/Who Are You very welcome. I do read the comics so feel free to incorporate that canon or not as suits you.
Star Wars (Marvel Comics)
Chelli Lona Aphra/Magna Tolvan
Their canon enemies-to-lovers trajectory has been extremely pleasing to me, so anything that builds on that would be fantastic. Filling in the canonical "two days later" from the end of #19 very welcome. But other possibiltiies would be: reluctant-to-not-so-reluctant team-up; one or other of them getting the upper hand but then not being quite sure what to do with that; ending up on the run from the Empire together; how they adjust after the fall of the Empire. Exploration of Tolvan's backstory would be great too (especially why she has all those cybernetics that she's so unhappy with, and I also love the way she's portrayed a tactical genius; any sort of situation where she's using those skills would be fun).
KotOR
Juhani/Female Revan
"I will be your doom." - threat or promise? Do they end up saving each other from the Dark Side, or falling together? Or is it even worse than that? (I have, in all seriousness, considered doing a playthrough where Revan romances Juhani, but then turns at the Temple roof, but finds that she can't fight Juhani and so leaves herself open to being chopped down, and taking that as being the ending rather than reloading, just because I think it would be a neat way of inverting Juhani's initial introduction.)
Belaya/Juhani
Very strongly hinted at in canon, though whether anything came of it while they were padawans is up to you, given the Jedi's restrictions on love. But anything about their "long nights under the stars" would be great. Or a reunion after the end of the game (let's assume Belaya survived the bombardment of Dantooine somehow -- maybe she'd been sent on some other mission?). Or (since Belaya turns Dark Side and pops up on Korriban if you kill Juhani), an AU where they both fall together and become unstoppable. (Would Level-9-or-so Revan be able to take them both on in the grove? Seems unlikely as I regularly have to reload during that fight when it's just Juhani.)
Female Revan/Bastila Shan
What I find interesting about these two is their bond through Bastila having saved Revan's life, and how it pulls them together (against Bastila's better judgement given that she knows who Revan is all along, but also her devotion to Jedi beliefs about love being bad). And of course the mirroring of their arcs, with Bastila eventually going to the Dark Side as Revan did (but then coming back, if you play Light Side and choose the right dialogue options). Jennifer Hale's delivery of "I would stand by your side gladly, as your lover and apprentice!" is quite something, so anything playing around with Dark Side Bastila (whether or not Revan also goes Dark Side) is very welcome.
Juhani/Female Revan/Bastila Shan
To be honest, this is basically my default party for most of the game (unless my Revan is particularly short on skills, in which case Mission or T3 comes along), so it has kind of turned into an OT3 of mine by default. Some specific prompts: Working through the rough edges of working together during the period covered by canon. LS post-canon based on the idea that they've all been through different redemption arcs: helping each other stay on the Light Side, that sort of thing. DS post-canon: Dark Lord Revan and her concubines.
Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
These are all Rey pairings, so i think I should set out my stall slightly: I came out of my very first viewing of TFA absolutely convinced Rey was gay (and shipping her with Jess as one of the only other female characters in the Resistance -- I'm too much of a Han/Leia shipper for Leia/Rey to be much of an option for me, and I do really, really like X-Wing pilot minor characters anyway). On the other hand, I did think the canon Force Bond interactions with Kylo Ren in TLJ were very interesting, I just don't particularly see Rey as interested from a romantic point of view. But please don't shy away from including that sort of thing if it's relevant to your story. (To be honest, if you were doing something plotty in the post-TLJ timeframe, I would be a bit surprised if it didn't make an appearance.)
Jessika Pava/Rey
Dynamics-wise, I like the idea of both of them being a bit surprised at being in this relationship, but liking it (Rey having never had any opportunity to even really consider romance while on Jakku, Jess having hero-worshipped Jedi as per "Weapon of a Jedi" and now finding that they are actually flesh-and-blood people after all, that sort of thing). I am particularly keen on the idea of them bonding over mechanical things and/or being competitive about their spaceships. Mission fic also welcome. Feel free to include other characters, especially from Black Squadron. (I am very pleased that Word of God says that Black Squadron were all elsewhere during TLJ. I've not read any post-timeskip Poe comics at the time of writing this letter, but I will be up to date by the time of reveals.)
Phasma/Rey
Obviously this would pretty much have to be AU now (though something which posits Phasma somehow surviving TLJ would be cool). I am interested in a wide variety of scenarios here, but if you can come up with one I haven't thought of, go for it: Phasma has been a Resistance plant all along, and Rey has to rescue her (possibly psychologically as well, in terms of how long she's been undercover); AU in which Rey is a member of the First Order (this could be a straightforward one-point-of-divergence thing, or some sort of role swap where Rey and Finn, or Rey and Kylo, or heck, even Rey and Hux, swap places); forced to work together; Rey captures Phasma, or Phasma captures Rey, and it leads to Rey redeeming Phasma or Rey being turned.
Rey/Original Female Character(s)
I am up for all sorts of possibilities here as to who the OFC could be (very much including non-humans): a dignitary from a neutral planet that the Resistance needs something from, a newly awakened Jedi she's training (possibly feeling underqualified to do so?), a Resistance trooper/medic/technician/etc. But honestly, these are just some suggestions, go wild.
Rey/Rose
Lots of possibiltiies here: Bonding over mechanic-y stuff (... OK, so this may be a thing with my Rey ships! but there's bound to be stuff going wrong on the Falcon with that many people on board). Rey helps Rose deal with losing Paige (perhaps an interesting contrast with Rey's lack of a family, here?). Rose is in trouble and needs rescuing. Rose ends up being one of the few people who Rey can trust to be straight with her while everyone else is looking up to her as a Jedi (by extension from the way she deals with Finn in TLJ).
I do have a specific DNW for this particular ship: Rey/Finn/Rose love triangle. (Background Finn-involved poly is fine, on the other hand, if you want to go in that direction.) In particular, although I haven't read the novelisation, it sounds like it does a number on Rose, turning her into a seething pit of jealousy; please steer clear of that characterisation.
