DYW Letter 2018
Oct. 20th, 2018 09:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
weakinteractionHi, and thanks for writing for me. (I'm really sorry this letter has ended up going live a little after assignments came out; RL caught me on the hop for the first half of October when I would otherwise have been getting ahead on it.)
My AO3 username is weakinteraction -- same as this dreamwidth. Disclaimer: please don't read anything into differing lengths of different sections (or indeed the fact that I'm repeating requests for which I've received awesome gifts in the past; I'm just greedy and want more).
General likes
I am up for a wide range of types of fic, and equally happy with ratings anywhere on the scale. I really do genuinely like pretty much all types of fic, from humorous vignettes, to angsty introspection, to twisty plotty adventure stories, casefic, slice of life, or digging into the canon's worldbuilding, and all points in between. I do want to make a positive point of the fact that I'm always up for non-standard formats, anything from epistolatory or verse through to stories presented through documentary evidence, 1st/2nd person, present/future tense, IF, etc. etc. Again, if it works for what you want to do, I'll lap it up. (This is not to say that I don't enjoy reading third person, past tense, because I definitely do! I just don't want you to be put off doing other things if your inspiration takes you in that direction.)
I am equally happy with gen, slash, het and femslash. On the shipping side of things, I don't really have NOTPs in any of these fandoms, so any combination of characters that you're interested in is absolutely fine with me. (In general, I am more than happy to handwave that Everyone Is Bi And Poly for the purposes of fanworks.) I've also noted where I'm happy with you ignoring the AND matching aspect of Yuletide and focus on a subset of what I've requested.
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. Many (but not quite all) of my favourite characters share traits of being competent and getting on with their jobs/vocations/whatever, particularly in the sense of Doing The Right Thing over their strong personal preferences to do the opposite and/or against a general angsty background.
DNWs
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
Requested Characters: Corazon Santiago, Deirdre Skye
This is actually the only fandom I'm requesting where I definitely do want both the requested characters to appear.
I still love this game nearly two decades later. It's genuinely the best storytelling I've ever come across in a 4X (and the fact that so much of that storytelling plays with my favourite tropes is a bonus).
For this fandom, I am definitely interested in something about the relationship between the Gaian and Spartan factions, and their respective leaders. (I ship it hard, but it's fine if you don't want to go down that road.) 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 darkfic along those lines if the inspiration strikes you.
In general, the screaming pain sphere thing that captured leaders get put in when you defeat a faction (and all the "swear a pact to serve me" stuff if you let them capitulate has quite strong BDSM-y overtones to me). 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.
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace
Requesting without specifying characters - characters in the tag set: Liz Asher, Lucien Sanchez, Rick Dagless, Thornton Reed
While it's the show-within-the-show characters who are nominated, I'd be absolutely fine with something focusing on their behind-the-scenes counterparts. Or indeed, something set in the broader world of Garth's fecund imagination.
I would love anything at all here, gen or shippy -- on the shippy front, I could easily buy into any combination of these characters (or their counterparts). Cracky horror in the vein of the show itself would be great, but I'd also be up for something quieter -- what happens in Darkplace hospital when there isn't an eldritch horror from beyond mankind's ability to understand on the loose? -- or a behind-the-scenes story. What happens if something (seemingly/actually) supernatural happens during filming?
Probably worth saying that this is a fandom where I'd definitely be up for a bit of formal experimentation if you are. Write in Garth's style! Or do a piece from one of those '90s cult magazines about this lost horror classic. Or something that matches the show, interleaving the story with the reminiscences of the participants in its creation.
The Culture - Iain M. Banks
Requesting without specifying characters - characters in the tag set: Bora Horza Gobuchul (changer), GSV Bora Horza Gobuchul, OU/e Mistake Not . . ., Perosteck Balveda, Unaha-Closp, VFP Xenophobe, Cheradenine Zakalwe, Diziet Sma, Djan Seriy Anaplian, Flere-Imsaho, GCU Grey Area, GOU Falling Outside The Normal Moral Constraints, Lededje Y'breq, Skaffen-Amtiskaw
I'm definitely up for some, none or all of the nominated characters appearing; OCs in a time/place never visited by the books at all, or pure worldbuilding (a la bits like the Consider Phlebas appendices) would be absolutely fine with me.
To be honest, I just adore everything about the Culture, and the galaxy they inhabit, and the various aliens they share it with. I would love anything at all in the canon setting, whether it's about SC agents getting in and out of trouble (I have to say that I am fond of the female-SC-agent-plus-drone thing that even gets lampshaded within the canon as a cliché), Minds manipulating people kiloparsecs apart as part of their grand schemes or simply talking amongst themselves about anything and everything, worldbuilding of any variety (honestly, write me 1000 words about the nature of the Reality and I will be in heaven), or anything/everything in between.
Q.U.E.E.N. - Janelle Monáe (Music Video)
Requesting without specifying characters - characters in the tag set: Badoula Oblongata, Girl in Black Shirt, Girl in Ying Yang Shirt, Janelle Monáe, Time Council Representative
My zero-characters request here is in the sense of "Any of the nominated characters"; I would prefer at least one of these to appear.
There's so much intriguing stuff going on in this video; anything at all playing around with it, or pulling it apart and putting it back together would be great. What's the backstory of the two girls who raid the facility? What happens next? What were "[Wondaland's] notorious leader Janelle Monáe and her dangerous accomplice Badoula Oblongata" up to before they got caught? Femslash is very welcome here if you're so inclined (I particularly ship Girl in Black Shirt/Girl in Ying Yang Shirt and Janelle/Badoula, but am definitely open to persuasion on other combinations). I'd also be very into time travel worldbuilding around the Time Council Representative.
One last long-shot prompt: I'm not expecting this in the slightest since it's far, far beyond the scope of the nom, but if by any chance you did want to play around not just with this one video but all the stuff in the Metropolis suite liner notes and so on about there being some sort of psychic link across the centuries between Janelle and Cindi Mayweather, I would be very much down for that. (The Time Council Representative does appear on a screen with a Metropolis Ministry of Droids logo, after all, and there is that DJ Crash Crash interlude on Electric Lady that has a student from "Time University" calling in with his conspiracy theories about Cindi also being the Archandroid ...)
Chess - Rice/Ulvaeus/Andersson
Requested Characters: Anatoly Sergievsky, Florence Vassy, Alexander Molokov, Walter de Courcey
I'm happy for you to treat the character list for this fandom as though it were OR matching: i.e. you don't have to use all the requested characters. I'm also fine with non-requested characters appearing prominently. (FWIW, I ship pretty much all combinations of Anatoly, Florence, Freddie and Svetlana; in fact, one of my favourite things about the canon is the way that it isn't just a simple true-love-conquers-all story and there's no happiness not tinged with something else for anyone.)
I'm particularly interested in Anatoly and Florence's shared background in going from East to West, albeit at very different times of their lives and for different reasons. Anything exploring the pressures they're under, the complexities of their lives and so on, but also how they escape from that (via chess or any other means). I'd be happy with this being at any point in their lives, either separately, together with each other, or together with one of the non-nominated characters (see above, re shipping all the combinations).
On the Molokov and de Courcey side of it, I really like the implication that they know each other and have been on opposite sides of situations like this before. (Or maybe sometimes had to collaborate, as indeed they do towards the end in conspiring to get Anatoly to go back?) Basically: write me any sort of Cold War spy thing you want with one or both of them involved and I'll be delighted.
Future fic also very welcome for this fandom; the fact that Chess was written so close to the end of the Cold War but at a time when people had no idea that that was going to happen in that way, so soon, really intrigues me. Seeing how characters created in that sort of milieu adapt to the 1990s and beyond would be really interesting.
ETA: it's occurred to me to add that, while I guess the nomination for Yuletide is basically version-agnostic, I find the '80s Broadway version much less satisfying for a number of reasons, so I would prefer it if you went with the two-tournaments version of the plot if it matters for what you're writing.
Jupiter Ascending
Requested Characters: Jupiter Jones, Diomika Tsing, Famulus, Kiza Apini
I'm fine with you not using all the requested characters, and I'm also fine with non-requested characters appearing prominently. (As it happens, the thing I ship the most in this fandom is Jupiter/Caine.) I know I am Doing It Wrong when it comes to AND matching on this one, but what I'm really trying to request here is something featuring at least one of these characters. (Also, a quick fandom-specific note on my incest DNW: I don't object to the Abrasaxen being into Jupiter, as that's pretty much canon, but would rather Jupiter didn't reciprocate.)
I really, really like Jupiter's transition during the film from "What? There are aliens?" to the "OK, I'm a space princess, let's do this" point where she can deal with the weird internal politics of the Abrasax family and go toe-to-toe with Balem. (FWIW, I definitely come down on the side of the ending as Jupiter taking a moment to recalibrate and reconnect with her recently-rescued-from-a-nasty-death family, not her turning her back on being the Queen of Space now; she seems pretty determined to try and stop the harvests in general to me).
If you want to go into the space side of things, do feel free to play around with worldbuilding; this film really does it for me on that front in terms of leaving a lot of questions to be answered, but with a sense that there's some sort of general aesthetic going on behind it, even if not an outright completely coherent plan. Apart from Jupiter, all of the characters I'm requesting strike me as worldbuilding prompts of their own (Diomika Tsing as a way into the Aegis, Famulus's background, and there are so many questions about Kiza - why is she sick? who's her mother? etc.)
In general, what I'm looking for here is anything exploring the lives and/or loves and/or anything at all of these characters. Anything from a short vignette to a full-on sequel to the movie where Jupiter goes out and attempts to fix how rotten the galaxy is, or anything in between very welcome.
My AO3 username is weakinteraction -- same as this dreamwidth. Disclaimer: please don't read anything into differing lengths of different sections (or indeed the fact that I'm repeating requests for which I've received awesome gifts in the past; I'm just greedy and want more).
General likes
I am up for a wide range of types of fic, and equally happy with ratings anywhere on the scale. I really do genuinely like pretty much all types of fic, from humorous vignettes, to angsty introspection, to twisty plotty adventure stories, casefic, slice of life, or digging into the canon's worldbuilding, and all points in between. I do want to make a positive point of the fact that I'm always up for non-standard formats, anything from epistolatory or verse through to stories presented through documentary evidence, 1st/2nd person, present/future tense, IF, etc. etc. Again, if it works for what you want to do, I'll lap it up. (This is not to say that I don't enjoy reading third person, past tense, because I definitely do! I just don't want you to be put off doing other things if your inspiration takes you in that direction.)
I am equally happy with gen, slash, het and femslash. On the shipping side of things, I don't really have NOTPs in any of these fandoms, so any combination of characters that you're interested in is absolutely fine with me. (In general, I am more than happy to handwave that Everyone Is Bi And Poly for the purposes of fanworks.) I've also noted where I'm happy with you ignoring the AND matching aspect of Yuletide and focus on a subset of what I've requested.
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. Many (but not quite all) of my favourite characters share traits of being competent and getting on with their jobs/vocations/whatever, particularly in the sense of Doing The Right Thing over their strong personal preferences to do the opposite and/or against a general angsty background.
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; OTOH, angst where everybody feels bad about it can work just fine)
- 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)
- 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)
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
Requested Characters: Corazon Santiago, Deirdre Skye
This is actually the only fandom I'm requesting where I definitely do want both the requested characters to appear.
I still love this game nearly two decades later. It's genuinely the best storytelling I've ever come across in a 4X (and the fact that so much of that storytelling plays with my favourite tropes is a bonus).
For this fandom, I am definitely interested in something about the relationship between the Gaian and Spartan factions, and their respective leaders. (I ship it hard, but it's fine if you don't want to go down that road.) 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 darkfic along those lines if the inspiration strikes you.
In general, the screaming pain sphere thing that captured leaders get put in when you defeat a faction (and all the "swear a pact to serve me" stuff if you let them capitulate has quite strong BDSM-y overtones to me). 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.
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace
Requesting without specifying characters - characters in the tag set: Liz Asher, Lucien Sanchez, Rick Dagless, Thornton Reed
While it's the show-within-the-show characters who are nominated, I'd be absolutely fine with something focusing on their behind-the-scenes counterparts. Or indeed, something set in the broader world of Garth's fecund imagination.
I would love anything at all here, gen or shippy -- on the shippy front, I could easily buy into any combination of these characters (or their counterparts). Cracky horror in the vein of the show itself would be great, but I'd also be up for something quieter -- what happens in Darkplace hospital when there isn't an eldritch horror from beyond mankind's ability to understand on the loose? -- or a behind-the-scenes story. What happens if something (seemingly/actually) supernatural happens during filming?
Probably worth saying that this is a fandom where I'd definitely be up for a bit of formal experimentation if you are. Write in Garth's style! Or do a piece from one of those '90s cult magazines about this lost horror classic. Or something that matches the show, interleaving the story with the reminiscences of the participants in its creation.
The Culture - Iain M. Banks
Requesting without specifying characters - characters in the tag set: Bora Horza Gobuchul (changer), GSV Bora Horza Gobuchul, OU/e Mistake Not . . ., Perosteck Balveda, Unaha-Closp, VFP Xenophobe, Cheradenine Zakalwe, Diziet Sma, Djan Seriy Anaplian, Flere-Imsaho, GCU Grey Area, GOU Falling Outside The Normal Moral Constraints, Lededje Y'breq, Skaffen-Amtiskaw
I'm definitely up for some, none or all of the nominated characters appearing; OCs in a time/place never visited by the books at all, or pure worldbuilding (a la bits like the Consider Phlebas appendices) would be absolutely fine with me.
To be honest, I just adore everything about the Culture, and the galaxy they inhabit, and the various aliens they share it with. I would love anything at all in the canon setting, whether it's about SC agents getting in and out of trouble (I have to say that I am fond of the female-SC-agent-plus-drone thing that even gets lampshaded within the canon as a cliché), Minds manipulating people kiloparsecs apart as part of their grand schemes or simply talking amongst themselves about anything and everything, worldbuilding of any variety (honestly, write me 1000 words about the nature of the Reality and I will be in heaven), or anything/everything in between.
Q.U.E.E.N. - Janelle Monáe (Music Video)
Requesting without specifying characters - characters in the tag set: Badoula Oblongata, Girl in Black Shirt, Girl in Ying Yang Shirt, Janelle Monáe, Time Council Representative
My zero-characters request here is in the sense of "Any of the nominated characters"; I would prefer at least one of these to appear.
There's so much intriguing stuff going on in this video; anything at all playing around with it, or pulling it apart and putting it back together would be great. What's the backstory of the two girls who raid the facility? What happens next? What were "[Wondaland's] notorious leader Janelle Monáe and her dangerous accomplice Badoula Oblongata" up to before they got caught? Femslash is very welcome here if you're so inclined (I particularly ship Girl in Black Shirt/Girl in Ying Yang Shirt and Janelle/Badoula, but am definitely open to persuasion on other combinations). I'd also be very into time travel worldbuilding around the Time Council Representative.
One last long-shot prompt: I'm not expecting this in the slightest since it's far, far beyond the scope of the nom, but if by any chance you did want to play around not just with this one video but all the stuff in the Metropolis suite liner notes and so on about there being some sort of psychic link across the centuries between Janelle and Cindi Mayweather, I would be very much down for that. (The Time Council Representative does appear on a screen with a Metropolis Ministry of Droids logo, after all, and there is that DJ Crash Crash interlude on Electric Lady that has a student from "Time University" calling in with his conspiracy theories about Cindi also being the Archandroid ...)
Chess - Rice/Ulvaeus/Andersson
Requested Characters: Anatoly Sergievsky, Florence Vassy, Alexander Molokov, Walter de Courcey
I'm happy for you to treat the character list for this fandom as though it were OR matching: i.e. you don't have to use all the requested characters. I'm also fine with non-requested characters appearing prominently. (FWIW, I ship pretty much all combinations of Anatoly, Florence, Freddie and Svetlana; in fact, one of my favourite things about the canon is the way that it isn't just a simple true-love-conquers-all story and there's no happiness not tinged with something else for anyone.)
I'm particularly interested in Anatoly and Florence's shared background in going from East to West, albeit at very different times of their lives and for different reasons. Anything exploring the pressures they're under, the complexities of their lives and so on, but also how they escape from that (via chess or any other means). I'd be happy with this being at any point in their lives, either separately, together with each other, or together with one of the non-nominated characters (see above, re shipping all the combinations).
On the Molokov and de Courcey side of it, I really like the implication that they know each other and have been on opposite sides of situations like this before. (Or maybe sometimes had to collaborate, as indeed they do towards the end in conspiring to get Anatoly to go back?) Basically: write me any sort of Cold War spy thing you want with one or both of them involved and I'll be delighted.
Future fic also very welcome for this fandom; the fact that Chess was written so close to the end of the Cold War but at a time when people had no idea that that was going to happen in that way, so soon, really intrigues me. Seeing how characters created in that sort of milieu adapt to the 1990s and beyond would be really interesting.
ETA: it's occurred to me to add that, while I guess the nomination for Yuletide is basically version-agnostic, I find the '80s Broadway version much less satisfying for a number of reasons, so I would prefer it if you went with the two-tournaments version of the plot if it matters for what you're writing.
Jupiter Ascending
Requested Characters: Jupiter Jones, Diomika Tsing, Famulus, Kiza Apini
I'm fine with you not using all the requested characters, and I'm also fine with non-requested characters appearing prominently. (As it happens, the thing I ship the most in this fandom is Jupiter/Caine.) I know I am Doing It Wrong when it comes to AND matching on this one, but what I'm really trying to request here is something featuring at least one of these characters. (Also, a quick fandom-specific note on my incest DNW: I don't object to the Abrasaxen being into Jupiter, as that's pretty much canon, but would rather Jupiter didn't reciprocate.)
I really, really like Jupiter's transition during the film from "What? There are aliens?" to the "OK, I'm a space princess, let's do this" point where she can deal with the weird internal politics of the Abrasax family and go toe-to-toe with Balem. (FWIW, I definitely come down on the side of the ending as Jupiter taking a moment to recalibrate and reconnect with her recently-rescued-from-a-nasty-death family, not her turning her back on being the Queen of Space now; she seems pretty determined to try and stop the harvests in general to me).
If you want to go into the space side of things, do feel free to play around with worldbuilding; this film really does it for me on that front in terms of leaving a lot of questions to be answered, but with a sense that there's some sort of general aesthetic going on behind it, even if not an outright completely coherent plan. Apart from Jupiter, all of the characters I'm requesting strike me as worldbuilding prompts of their own (Diomika Tsing as a way into the Aegis, Famulus's background, and there are so many questions about Kiza - why is she sick? who's her mother? etc.)
In general, what I'm looking for here is anything exploring the lives and/or loves and/or anything at all of these characters. Anything from a short vignette to a full-on sequel to the movie where Jupiter goes out and attempts to fix how rotten the galaxy is, or anything in between very welcome.
