weakinteraction (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
weakinteraction) wrote2018-03-24 03:21 pm
weakinteraction) wrote2018-03-24 03:21 pm
Entry tags:
Fandom 5k Dear Author Letter
Hi! Thanks for creating for me; I had a great time with this exchange last year, and am really excited to do it again. I'm weakinteraction on AO3, same as I am here on dreamwidth.
I tried out doing a tightly focused set of requests in the face of an overwhelmingly tempting tag set for Chocolate Box, and it worked out really well for me. So I'm doing very much the same here: I've requested a single f/f pairing for each request, all of them from sf/f canons. I've also structured this letter a little differently to usual: the discussion of my general likes is tied into the various freeform tags I've requestedso that the fandom sections can just be the usual cut-and-paste.
I am, in general, open to anything that doesn't include my DNWs. I am fine with any point of view, tense, format (including epistolary fic, "in-universe meta" a la worldbuildingex, interactive fiction, etc.), and enjoy reading stuff that's on the more experimental end of the spectrum just as much as a linear story told in third person, past tense.
Obviously, since I'm requesting exclusively ships, I would like there to be some shippy content, but to be honest I have a very broad definition of "shippy content": one-sided pining is enough for me (as long as the other side isn't actively hostile to the idea if they find out), and I'd rather have an unhappy ending that fit with the fic overall than a tacked-on happy-ever-after that didn't really make sense with what had gone before. (I'm also perfectly fine with a story where it's more Ms Right Now than Ms Right.)
Between my requests, there are six of the genre tags I have requested so I've put some brief thoughts about them below. To be honest, I'd be happy with any of these for any of my fandoms, the ones I happen to have picked in any given instance are just the ones that most obviously seemed associated with that fandom to me.
Action/Adventure -- I take this as meaning people getting themselves/each other into and out of perilous situations. I especially like it when people come up with ingenious solutions to the problems in their immediate vicinity.
Getting Together -- all of these pairings are ones where there's one or more barriers to them getting together, from everyone-being-a-bit-socially-awkward to being-on-opposite-sides-of-a-life-or-death-conflict. I would definitely be interested in your take on how those things get resolved.
Humor -- I am easy to please here, except that I don't much enjoy humour that's based on mocking individuals. But anything from terrible puns to quippy dialogue to farcical situations that just become more and more complicated until some terrible misunderstanding happens to straight out absurdism are all good.
Mystery/Procedural -- I take this as focusing on how the characters do their jobs, basically. Definitely overlaps with action/adventure in some cases, and worldbuilding in others, if the solution to the mystery is worldbuilding-related.
Smut -- 5k of PWP is absolutely fine with me if that's what you want to write. But I'm also fine with smut as a small part of something plottier. I think the clearest explanation I've managed yet of the sort of thing I like in smut is probably last year's Smut Swap letter (and if we matched on SMAC or USG, there are speciifc prompts for those).
Worldbuilding -- I love this, both when it's "wow, the creator did an amazing job of bringing this world to life, let's explore it in even more detail" and when it's "wait, how would that actually work? let's pull everything apart and put it back together slightly different".
I didn't request the "AU - Canon divergence", "Canon-style plot" or "Sci-fi/fantasy" freeforms, because I wanted to be just a tiny bit more specific matching-wise (e.g. by requesting "mystery/procedural" when those aspects of the canon-style plot are what I like, or "worldbuilding" when I'm particularly interested in exploration of the sci-fi/fantasy setting), but that definitely shouldn't be taken as meaning I want something that somehow wouldn't be classified under those tags. Canon-divergent AUs in particular are catnip to me. Likewise, although I have requested "Getting Together" for all of my requested pairings, writing an established relationship (or, as above, pining or a temporary arrangement) is fine if you're focusing on a different freeform.
Do Not Wants
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri - Corazon Santiago/Deirdre Skye (Getting Together, Smut, Worldbuilding)
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.
This is also the one fandom I specifically requested the worldbuilding tag for; if you're thinking of going down that route, my Worldbuildingex letter might help (though you shouldn't feel constrained to explore the particular worldbuilding elements I requested there, by any means). If you're going down the worldbuilding route, I really don't mind at all if the shippiness boils down to just a very slender amount of framing of the things they learn about Planet.
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl - Doreen Green/Nancy Whitehead (Action/Adventure, Humor, Getting Together, Smut, Mystery/Procedural)
I love everything about this comic: the little "alt-text" bits, the computer science nerdery, the explorations of obscure corners of the Marvel universe, Doreen's determined optimism about finding common ground with supervillains ... Anything that captures one or more of those aspects of canon would make me very happy.
Ship-wise, I have a fluctuating level of belief that canon might go there eventually (which reached its peak when Mole Man accused Nancy of being in love with Doreen, but faded a little bit recently). But get together wise, I could definitely buy this as mutual pining that neither realises is requited.
A slightly more specific prompt: Nancy sometimes feels a bit left out without superpowers/is keen on the idea of having a robot body -- what if she gets either/both of those? And an exceptionally random crossover idea: if you know Ryan North's Dinosaur Comics, I would be very much up for the USG characters encountering T-Rex and co.
Star Wars (Marvel Comics) - Chelli Lona Aphra/Magna Tolvan (Getting Together, Smut, Action/Adventure. Humor)
Aphra rapidly became my new Star Wars fave when I belatedly started reading the Darth Vader comics. I love how spiky she is, her hidden depths, her ability to bullshit her way through pretty much any situation, and her reluctant moments of something approaching morality. And I love, love, love the enemies-with-benefits-to-maybe-more dynamic she's got going on with Tolvan in canon at the moment.
Some prompts: Reluctant-to-not-so-reluctant team-up. One or other of them getting the upper hand (Tolvan blackmailing and/or capturing Aphra seems like a fairly obvious option, but I think Aphra's work with Vader must have given her some sort of insight into how to mess around with the Imperial hierarchy). Ending up on the run together. How they both adjust after RotJ. Some sort of exploration of Tolvan's backstory would be great too (especially why she has all those cybernetics, and I also love that she's a tactical genius; any sort of situation where she's using those skills would be fun).
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Buffy Summers/Faith Lehane (Getting Together, Action/Adventure, Smut)
There are so many possible dynamics for this pairing and to be honest I'm happy with anything within the range, from Mayor-wins AU with a defeated Buffy to fluffy "we've been through so much" Chosen Two stuff, or anything in between. (For what it's worth: if you read the comics and want to incorporate comics canon, I read them too, so that's fine with me. But at the same time, ignoring them completely is also totally fine. I definitely take us as having matched on the TV series.)
Some slightly more specific prompts: sparring (early S3), enemies-with-benefits (late S3), bodyswap (the S4 two-parter), the cost of redemption, something more worldbuilding-y about the Slayer line of succession, either when it's just been Buffy, Kendra and Faith or post-S7 when all the Potentials have been activated. Wishverse (somehow).
Star Trek: Discovery - Michael Burnham/Sylvia Tilly (Action/Adventure, Mystery/Procedural, Smut, Getting Together)
In the first half of the season, they're roommates and working together most of the time. I can totally see Sylvia arguing Michael into it just being logical that they get together, but there's also the possibility of tensions between them from being in such close quarters all the time leading to an unexpected outpouring of emotion. And then of course they get catapulted into the Mirror Universe where they have to pretend to be their Evil Captain selves for prolonged periods of time. (I definitely headcanon that Mirror Georgiou has everyone competing for her attention in various different ways.)
Something in the future with Prime Captain Tilly (and Michael doing whatever she would end up doing) would be great too.
For the action/adventure and mystery/procedural side of things, anything with them being their Starfleet selves being Starfleet-y would be amazing.
Although I definitely take the tag we matched on as indicating their prime versions, if you want to involve their Mirror versions, either Mirror/Mirror, Mirror/Prime or Prime/Prime where they're roleplaying Mirror, that's absolutely fine (and I am in general fine with Mirror universe people being their terrible selves, when it comes to stuff that might otherwise skirt DNWs).
I tried out doing a tightly focused set of requests in the face of an overwhelmingly tempting tag set for Chocolate Box, and it worked out really well for me. So I'm doing very much the same here: I've requested a single f/f pairing for each request, all of them from sf/f canons. I've also structured this letter a little differently to usual: the discussion of my general likes is tied into the various freeform tags I've requested
I am, in general, open to anything that doesn't include my DNWs. I am fine with any point of view, tense, format (including epistolary fic, "in-universe meta" a la worldbuildingex, interactive fiction, etc.), and enjoy reading stuff that's on the more experimental end of the spectrum just as much as a linear story told in third person, past tense.
Obviously, since I'm requesting exclusively ships, I would like there to be some shippy content, but to be honest I have a very broad definition of "shippy content": one-sided pining is enough for me (as long as the other side isn't actively hostile to the idea if they find out), and I'd rather have an unhappy ending that fit with the fic overall than a tacked-on happy-ever-after that didn't really make sense with what had gone before. (I'm also perfectly fine with a story where it's more Ms Right Now than Ms Right.)
Between my requests, there are six of the genre tags I have requested so I've put some brief thoughts about them below. To be honest, I'd be happy with any of these for any of my fandoms, the ones I happen to have picked in any given instance are just the ones that most obviously seemed associated with that fandom to me.
Action/Adventure -- I take this as meaning people getting themselves/each other into and out of perilous situations. I especially like it when people come up with ingenious solutions to the problems in their immediate vicinity.
Getting Together -- all of these pairings are ones where there's one or more barriers to them getting together, from everyone-being-a-bit-socially-awkward to being-on-opposite-sides-of-a-life-or-death-conflict. I would definitely be interested in your take on how those things get resolved.
Humor -- I am easy to please here, except that I don't much enjoy humour that's based on mocking individuals. But anything from terrible puns to quippy dialogue to farcical situations that just become more and more complicated until some terrible misunderstanding happens to straight out absurdism are all good.
Mystery/Procedural -- I take this as focusing on how the characters do their jobs, basically. Definitely overlaps with action/adventure in some cases, and worldbuilding in others, if the solution to the mystery is worldbuilding-related.
Smut -- 5k of PWP is absolutely fine with me if that's what you want to write. But I'm also fine with smut as a small part of something plottier. I think the clearest explanation I've managed yet of the sort of thing I like in smut is probably last year's Smut Swap letter (and if we matched on SMAC or USG, there are speciifc prompts for those).
Worldbuilding -- I love this, both when it's "wow, the creator did an amazing job of bringing this world to life, let's explore it in even more detail" and when it's "wait, how would that actually work? let's pull everything apart and put it back together slightly different".
I didn't request the "AU - Canon divergence", "Canon-style plot" or "Sci-fi/fantasy" freeforms, because I wanted to be just a tiny bit more specific matching-wise (e.g. by requesting "mystery/procedural" when those aspects of the canon-style plot are what I like, or "worldbuilding" when I'm particularly interested in exploration of the sci-fi/fantasy setting), but that definitely shouldn't be taken as meaning I want something that somehow wouldn't be classified under those tags. Canon-divergent AUs in particular are catnip to me. Likewise, although I have requested "Getting Together" for all of my requested pairings, writing an established relationship (or, as above, pining or a temporary arrangement) is fine if you're focusing on a different freeform.
Do Not Wants
- 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 AUs that are shown to exist in canon as well -- e.g. the Normal Again universe from Buffy)
- pregnancy/kidfic
- a major character death happening in the fic (references to -- even fairly detailed retellings of -- the deaths of characters who've died in canon are fine)
- 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 - Corazon Santiago/Deirdre Skye (Getting Together, Smut, Worldbuilding)
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.
This is also the one fandom I specifically requested the worldbuilding tag for; if you're thinking of going down that route, my Worldbuildingex letter might help (though you shouldn't feel constrained to explore the particular worldbuilding elements I requested there, by any means). If you're going down the worldbuilding route, I really don't mind at all if the shippiness boils down to just a very slender amount of framing of the things they learn about Planet.
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl - Doreen Green/Nancy Whitehead (Action/Adventure, Humor, Getting Together, Smut, Mystery/Procedural)
I love everything about this comic: the little "alt-text" bits, the computer science nerdery, the explorations of obscure corners of the Marvel universe, Doreen's determined optimism about finding common ground with supervillains ... Anything that captures one or more of those aspects of canon would make me very happy.
Ship-wise, I have a fluctuating level of belief that canon might go there eventually (which reached its peak when Mole Man accused Nancy of being in love with Doreen, but faded a little bit recently). But get together wise, I could definitely buy this as mutual pining that neither realises is requited.
A slightly more specific prompt: Nancy sometimes feels a bit left out without superpowers/is keen on the idea of having a robot body -- what if she gets either/both of those? And an exceptionally random crossover idea: if you know Ryan North's Dinosaur Comics, I would be very much up for the USG characters encountering T-Rex and co.
Star Wars (Marvel Comics) - Chelli Lona Aphra/Magna Tolvan (Getting Together, Smut, Action/Adventure. Humor)
Aphra rapidly became my new Star Wars fave when I belatedly started reading the Darth Vader comics. I love how spiky she is, her hidden depths, her ability to bullshit her way through pretty much any situation, and her reluctant moments of something approaching morality. And I love, love, love the enemies-with-benefits-to-maybe-more dynamic she's got going on with Tolvan in canon at the moment.
Some prompts: Reluctant-to-not-so-reluctant team-up. One or other of them getting the upper hand (Tolvan blackmailing and/or capturing Aphra seems like a fairly obvious option, but I think Aphra's work with Vader must have given her some sort of insight into how to mess around with the Imperial hierarchy). Ending up on the run together. How they both adjust after RotJ. Some sort of exploration of Tolvan's backstory would be great too (especially why she has all those cybernetics, and I also love that she's a tactical genius; any sort of situation where she's using those skills would be fun).
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Buffy Summers/Faith Lehane (Getting Together, Action/Adventure, Smut)
There are so many possible dynamics for this pairing and to be honest I'm happy with anything within the range, from Mayor-wins AU with a defeated Buffy to fluffy "we've been through so much" Chosen Two stuff, or anything in between. (For what it's worth: if you read the comics and want to incorporate comics canon, I read them too, so that's fine with me. But at the same time, ignoring them completely is also totally fine. I definitely take us as having matched on the TV series.)
Some slightly more specific prompts: sparring (early S3), enemies-with-benefits (late S3), bodyswap (the S4 two-parter), the cost of redemption, something more worldbuilding-y about the Slayer line of succession, either when it's just been Buffy, Kendra and Faith or post-S7 when all the Potentials have been activated. Wishverse (somehow).
Star Trek: Discovery - Michael Burnham/Sylvia Tilly (Action/Adventure, Mystery/Procedural, Smut, Getting Together)
In the first half of the season, they're roommates and working together most of the time. I can totally see Sylvia arguing Michael into it just being logical that they get together, but there's also the possibility of tensions between them from being in such close quarters all the time leading to an unexpected outpouring of emotion. And then of course they get catapulted into the Mirror Universe where they have to pretend to be their Evil Captain selves for prolonged periods of time. (I definitely headcanon that Mirror Georgiou has everyone competing for her attention in various different ways.)
Something in the future with Prime Captain Tilly (and Michael doing whatever she would end up doing) would be great too.
For the action/adventure and mystery/procedural side of things, anything with them being their Starfleet selves being Starfleet-y would be amazing.
Although I definitely take the tag we matched on as indicating their prime versions, if you want to involve their Mirror versions, either Mirror/Mirror, Mirror/Prime or Prime/Prime where they're roleplaying Mirror, that's absolutely fine (and I am in general fine with Mirror universe people being their terrible selves, when it comes to stuff that might otherwise skirt DNWs).