beatrice_otter (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
beatrice_otter) wrote2015-04-02 09:08 pm
beatrice_otter) wrote2015-04-02 09:08 pm
Entry tags:
Dear Fic Mountain Author
DON'T PANIC.
This is a very long letter with lots of stuff, but DO NOT PANIC. I'm actually fairly easy to please; I am very rarely disappointed with a ficathon story. I write long and detailed Dear Author letters because I find such things helpful when I'm writing for other people; if you are like me, here you go! If your style is different and a detailed letter makes you feel hemmed-in, feel free to do what works for you.
The most important thing for me in a fic is that the characters are well-written and recognizably themselves. Even when I don't like a character, I don't go in for character-bashing. If nothing else, if the rest of this letter is too much or my kinks just don't fit yours, just concentrate on writing a good story with everyone in character and good spelling and grammar and I will almost certainly love what you come up with.
One thing: I do have an embarrassment squick, which makes humor kind of hit-or-miss sometimes. The kind of humor where someone does something embarrassing and the audience is laughing at them makes me uncomfortable because I identify too much with the person getting laughed at, so instead of being funny it is squicky. On the other hand, the kind of humor where the audience is laughing with the characters I really enjoy.
If you want to make me the happiest recipient ever, here are some other things to keep in mind (not all of which will apply to all fandoms): I like strong women, and I love the acknowledgment that strength comes in many forms, of which the kinds put forward by modern western feminism are only a few. I like cultural diversity, and to know that culture matters to people, but I don't like it when non-western culture is fetishized or exoticised. I like quirky characters. I like unreliable narrators. I like acknowledgment that different people can have different points of view without either of them being wrong. I like stories that engage with problematic aspects of the source, and which deal with privilege in one way or another. If you don't know what I mean by privilege, here are a few links: White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, and possibly the Spock/Uhura Racefail Prevention Post and associated links.
I like plotty, gen stories, and plotty stories in general, but I don't like explicit sex, particularly when it's just thrown in for teh porn. If there's going to be sex, there needs to be a reason for it within the story--it advances the plot, or characterization, or something (and, again, if you have to do it, please don't make it explicit). I'm asexual; a lot of the time I don't even bother to read the sex scenes. Romance is awesome (as long as both are in character and the romantic plot doesn't hinge on one or both of them being an idiot), but sex-for-the-sake-of-sex is pretty boring to me. I generally prefer no slash.
I love worldbuilding. Sometimes I find exploring the corners of a world or universe to be as fun (or sometimes more fun) than reading stories set in it. I want to know what's behind the curtain. I love hearing about the economics, the politics, the religion, the clothing, the history, all of that kind of stuff. And I want to know why it matters--how is all this cultural background stuff affecting the characters, the plot, everything. You don't have to do deep worldbuilding, but I'll probably enjoy it if you do.
I enjoy crossovers, if you would like to write one, but prefer them with fandoms I'm familiar with (check my tags). I have kind of a high bar for crossovers, though. Either the two universes have to fit together very well or it should be hilarious crackfic. Examples: I can buy Jack O'Neill finding out about slayers and paying Rupert Giles a visit. I can buy the Criminal Minds team investigating "notorious terrorist" Sarah Connor. I can buy the Doctor showing up just about anywhere. I don't buy B5 suddenly appearing next to DS9 because the Star Trek universe and the B5 universe are just too different from one another. If it's not plausible that the two fictional universes coexist or (within the world of the two universes) that they could meet through a portal/wormhole/whatever, I tend to spend most of the fic going "wait, what?" instead of enjoying it.
I like AUs, but not complete AUs (i.e. no highschool or college or coffee shop AUs, etc.). I like fork-in-the-road type AUs, where one thing is different and the changes all result from that one thing, and you explore what might have been if such-and-such happened. Crackfic is really hit and miss for me, sometimes I love it and sometimes I can't stand it. Basically, if it's the characters we know and love in an insane situation, that's okay. If they're OOC or parodied in order to make something funny ... it's not funny to me. I like angst, but not complete and unrelieved angst, and not angst of the type that people cause themselves, i.e. "I love him/her/it but he/she/it could never love me, so I will go off in a corner and cry rather than talk about it and take a chance on a possibility of relationship!" just makes me roll my eyes. Yes, I know people do it in real life, but it annoys me there too. Please no apocafic.
Agent Carter (TV)
Peggy Carter, Angie Martinelli, Dottie Underwood, Edwin Jarvis
How do I love this show? Let me count the ways. Peggy kicking ass, yet still vulnerable! Angie, quickwitted, loyal and tricky! Jarvis, manipulative and loyal, out of his depth but taking it in stride! Dottie, femme fatale, chameleon, product of the Red Room! You can focus on any or all of them, they are great. (If you focus on Jarvis, I WANT TO SEE ANNA.) Either spy hijinks or fluffy curtainfic would be great. I really don't like Zola or that shrink guy who killed Dooley. What was Angie doing while Peggy was off being a spy--what were her auditions like and living in that boarding house? What happens when PEGGY AND DOTTIE MEET AGAIN? How do we get from the end of Season 1 with Thompson in charge (valuing her at last, even if he takes credit for her work) to Agent Flynn of the short film apparently in charge and chewing her out for being awesome? Any of these could make a great story.
I love the feminism of the show, but I also love that the male characters weren't allowed to stay flat Evil Men(tm). They may still (particularly Sousa) be jerks, but they're not one-dimensional about it. Also, Jarvis? Super manipulative of Peggy when he needs to be. That repeated "they'll never respect you, so you should help me even if it's against your conscience" shtick was a little creepy. That it was true did not, imho, make it any less manipulative. Don't get me wrong, I really like Jarvis! But he's just as complex as the other people on the show, don't let his surface fool you.
Star Wars Legends: Thrawn Trilogy - Timothy Zahn
Any Character
I LOVE these books. Mara and Thrawn are my favorites. I don't really see any slash potential between Thrawn and Pellaeon, but I do love their dynamic. I couldn't stand to see the Empire win, but it would almost be worth it to see an AU where Thrawn doesn't die and they go on being awesome together.
As for Mara, she is AWESOME. And Karrde does a good job of showcasing and encouraging and supporting her awesome. I enjoy her with Luke, and all the complexities of that--her time as the Hand, her love-hate relationship with the Emperor, her unique perspective on the Force and the way Luke is training the Jedi. I ship them, but their relationship is the least of the reasons I love Mara. If you write them together (as a couple or platonic), PLEASE FOCUS ON MARA AS HERSELF AND NOT AN APPENDAGE OF LUKE. I also love Mara on her own, consciously creating herself anew after the foundations of her world come crashing down--literally when the Emperor died, figuratively when she found out he lied to her. Or just, you know, having adventures with Karrde, that would work too.
Caprica (TV)
Tamara Adama
Things what I would love: something exploring Tauron culture, and culture clashes thereof. We know all about Joseph and Sam Adama's delicate relationship with their homeland, and a little bit about the first William Adama's relationship with all things Tauron, but not much about Tamara and Tauron. So, that would be great. Also! Cylons! I want to know what happens with the Cylons! We know (basically) what happened with Lacy and Zoe after the show ended, and their interaction with Cylons, but Tamara didn't get a new body and she didn't become the Reverend Mother, so what happened to her? Was she still around during the Cylon War, and if so what was her role? Was she still there, a ghost in the machine, when the Final Five showed up? What was her role in the Cylon culture? Not to mention, what does she think of her Dad and his new family?
There cannot be too much Tamara fic. I LOVE her, and wish the show had focused on her and her family more than on the Graystones and Sister Clarice. (Lacy, also, is awesome, and I suppose Zoe wasn't bad either, if she hadn't been the focus.) This was truly the show of the awesome girls, and it had potential if it hadn't been cancelled. (If you wanted to do something about her and Bill Adama from BSG meeting--particularly in some kind of complicated plot involving the Rebel Cylons and the Final Five--I would not complain. At all.)
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Any Character
They're all awesome, I love them all. Post series fic would be good, or I love a good canon AU set during the series. Play with the timelines! Play with the paradoxes! Go wild!
Kate and Cecelia - Caroline Stevermer & Patricia Wrede
Kate Schofield
Cecelia Tarleton
I love these two, they are awesome, and I love how (particularly in the first book, which is my favorite) they intersperse the BIG ACTION/IMPORTANT STUFF with ordinary gossip and fashion advice. I love the first book, the third is great too, the second one is "meh." I love the two of them best as young ladies just starting out, so you could do something about their marriages and their first real taste of the Ton as married women. On the other hand, I love the glimpse we got of a young Queen Victoria in the third book, you could expand that and have them called to court for some magic shenanigans or because young Victoria (or her mother) need someone they can trust, or because young Victoria feels lonely and wants company.
Don't feel you have to do the letters if you don't want to--that's a large part of the problem with book 2, the plot wasn't really suited to the letters gag, and they tried to force it in anyway, and it was bad. If the plot you have works with letters, awesome! If not, don't try to force it!
This is a very long letter with lots of stuff, but DO NOT PANIC. I'm actually fairly easy to please; I am very rarely disappointed with a ficathon story. I write long and detailed Dear Author letters because I find such things helpful when I'm writing for other people; if you are like me, here you go! If your style is different and a detailed letter makes you feel hemmed-in, feel free to do what works for you.
The most important thing for me in a fic is that the characters are well-written and recognizably themselves. Even when I don't like a character, I don't go in for character-bashing. If nothing else, if the rest of this letter is too much or my kinks just don't fit yours, just concentrate on writing a good story with everyone in character and good spelling and grammar and I will almost certainly love what you come up with.
One thing: I do have an embarrassment squick, which makes humor kind of hit-or-miss sometimes. The kind of humor where someone does something embarrassing and the audience is laughing at them makes me uncomfortable because I identify too much with the person getting laughed at, so instead of being funny it is squicky. On the other hand, the kind of humor where the audience is laughing with the characters I really enjoy.
If you want to make me the happiest recipient ever, here are some other things to keep in mind (not all of which will apply to all fandoms): I like strong women, and I love the acknowledgment that strength comes in many forms, of which the kinds put forward by modern western feminism are only a few. I like cultural diversity, and to know that culture matters to people, but I don't like it when non-western culture is fetishized or exoticised. I like quirky characters. I like unreliable narrators. I like acknowledgment that different people can have different points of view without either of them being wrong. I like stories that engage with problematic aspects of the source, and which deal with privilege in one way or another. If you don't know what I mean by privilege, here are a few links: White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, and possibly the Spock/Uhura Racefail Prevention Post and associated links.
I like plotty, gen stories, and plotty stories in general, but I don't like explicit sex, particularly when it's just thrown in for teh porn. If there's going to be sex, there needs to be a reason for it within the story--it advances the plot, or characterization, or something (and, again, if you have to do it, please don't make it explicit). I'm asexual; a lot of the time I don't even bother to read the sex scenes. Romance is awesome (as long as both are in character and the romantic plot doesn't hinge on one or both of them being an idiot), but sex-for-the-sake-of-sex is pretty boring to me. I generally prefer no slash.
I love worldbuilding. Sometimes I find exploring the corners of a world or universe to be as fun (or sometimes more fun) than reading stories set in it. I want to know what's behind the curtain. I love hearing about the economics, the politics, the religion, the clothing, the history, all of that kind of stuff. And I want to know why it matters--how is all this cultural background stuff affecting the characters, the plot, everything. You don't have to do deep worldbuilding, but I'll probably enjoy it if you do.
I enjoy crossovers, if you would like to write one, but prefer them with fandoms I'm familiar with (check my tags). I have kind of a high bar for crossovers, though. Either the two universes have to fit together very well or it should be hilarious crackfic. Examples: I can buy Jack O'Neill finding out about slayers and paying Rupert Giles a visit. I can buy the Criminal Minds team investigating "notorious terrorist" Sarah Connor. I can buy the Doctor showing up just about anywhere. I don't buy B5 suddenly appearing next to DS9 because the Star Trek universe and the B5 universe are just too different from one another. If it's not plausible that the two fictional universes coexist or (within the world of the two universes) that they could meet through a portal/wormhole/whatever, I tend to spend most of the fic going "wait, what?" instead of enjoying it.
I like AUs, but not complete AUs (i.e. no highschool or college or coffee shop AUs, etc.). I like fork-in-the-road type AUs, where one thing is different and the changes all result from that one thing, and you explore what might have been if such-and-such happened. Crackfic is really hit and miss for me, sometimes I love it and sometimes I can't stand it. Basically, if it's the characters we know and love in an insane situation, that's okay. If they're OOC or parodied in order to make something funny ... it's not funny to me. I like angst, but not complete and unrelieved angst, and not angst of the type that people cause themselves, i.e. "I love him/her/it but he/she/it could never love me, so I will go off in a corner and cry rather than talk about it and take a chance on a possibility of relationship!" just makes me roll my eyes. Yes, I know people do it in real life, but it annoys me there too. Please no apocafic.
Agent Carter (TV)
Peggy Carter, Angie Martinelli, Dottie Underwood, Edwin Jarvis
How do I love this show? Let me count the ways. Peggy kicking ass, yet still vulnerable! Angie, quickwitted, loyal and tricky! Jarvis, manipulative and loyal, out of his depth but taking it in stride! Dottie, femme fatale, chameleon, product of the Red Room! You can focus on any or all of them, they are great. (If you focus on Jarvis, I WANT TO SEE ANNA.) Either spy hijinks or fluffy curtainfic would be great. I really don't like Zola or that shrink guy who killed Dooley. What was Angie doing while Peggy was off being a spy--what were her auditions like and living in that boarding house? What happens when PEGGY AND DOTTIE MEET AGAIN? How do we get from the end of Season 1 with Thompson in charge (valuing her at last, even if he takes credit for her work) to Agent Flynn of the short film apparently in charge and chewing her out for being awesome? Any of these could make a great story.
I love the feminism of the show, but I also love that the male characters weren't allowed to stay flat Evil Men(tm). They may still (particularly Sousa) be jerks, but they're not one-dimensional about it. Also, Jarvis? Super manipulative of Peggy when he needs to be. That repeated "they'll never respect you, so you should help me even if it's against your conscience" shtick was a little creepy. That it was true did not, imho, make it any less manipulative. Don't get me wrong, I really like Jarvis! But he's just as complex as the other people on the show, don't let his surface fool you.
Star Wars Legends: Thrawn Trilogy - Timothy Zahn
Any Character
I LOVE these books. Mara and Thrawn are my favorites. I don't really see any slash potential between Thrawn and Pellaeon, but I do love their dynamic. I couldn't stand to see the Empire win, but it would almost be worth it to see an AU where Thrawn doesn't die and they go on being awesome together.
As for Mara, she is AWESOME. And Karrde does a good job of showcasing and encouraging and supporting her awesome. I enjoy her with Luke, and all the complexities of that--her time as the Hand, her love-hate relationship with the Emperor, her unique perspective on the Force and the way Luke is training the Jedi. I ship them, but their relationship is the least of the reasons I love Mara. If you write them together (as a couple or platonic), PLEASE FOCUS ON MARA AS HERSELF AND NOT AN APPENDAGE OF LUKE. I also love Mara on her own, consciously creating herself anew after the foundations of her world come crashing down--literally when the Emperor died, figuratively when she found out he lied to her. Or just, you know, having adventures with Karrde, that would work too.
Caprica (TV)
Tamara Adama
Things what I would love: something exploring Tauron culture, and culture clashes thereof. We know all about Joseph and Sam Adama's delicate relationship with their homeland, and a little bit about the first William Adama's relationship with all things Tauron, but not much about Tamara and Tauron. So, that would be great. Also! Cylons! I want to know what happens with the Cylons! We know (basically) what happened with Lacy and Zoe after the show ended, and their interaction with Cylons, but Tamara didn't get a new body and she didn't become the Reverend Mother, so what happened to her? Was she still around during the Cylon War, and if so what was her role? Was she still there, a ghost in the machine, when the Final Five showed up? What was her role in the Cylon culture? Not to mention, what does she think of her Dad and his new family?
There cannot be too much Tamara fic. I LOVE her, and wish the show had focused on her and her family more than on the Graystones and Sister Clarice. (Lacy, also, is awesome, and I suppose Zoe wasn't bad either, if she hadn't been the focus.) This was truly the show of the awesome girls, and it had potential if it hadn't been cancelled. (If you wanted to do something about her and Bill Adama from BSG meeting--particularly in some kind of complicated plot involving the Rebel Cylons and the Final Five--I would not complain. At all.)
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Any Character
They're all awesome, I love them all. Post series fic would be good, or I love a good canon AU set during the series. Play with the timelines! Play with the paradoxes! Go wild!
Kate and Cecelia - Caroline Stevermer & Patricia Wrede
Kate Schofield
Cecelia Tarleton
I love these two, they are awesome, and I love how (particularly in the first book, which is my favorite) they intersperse the BIG ACTION/IMPORTANT STUFF with ordinary gossip and fashion advice. I love the first book, the third is great too, the second one is "meh." I love the two of them best as young ladies just starting out, so you could do something about their marriages and their first real taste of the Ton as married women. On the other hand, I love the glimpse we got of a young Queen Victoria in the third book, you could expand that and have them called to court for some magic shenanigans or because young Victoria (or her mother) need someone they can trust, or because young Victoria feels lonely and wants company.
Don't feel you have to do the letters if you don't want to--that's a large part of the problem with book 2, the plot wasn't really suited to the letters gag, and they tried to force it in anyway, and it was bad. If the plot you have works with letters, awesome! If not, don't try to force it!