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Lovely author, here is my theory about letters: how much detail people want in a letter is HIGHLY variable. Some people (such as myself) prefer if their recip gives LOTS of guidance on their wishes. Some prefer as little as possible so they can be free as a bird. Most are somewhere in between. So! Here's everything including the kitchen sink if you find it helpful, but feel free to ignore it if it is not helpful. I would rather get a story you were happy with than "well, she said she liked x, so I guess I have to do x even though I don't like x and/or am just not inspired that way."
I'm fairly easy to please; I've been doing ficathons for over a decade and am very rarely disappointed with my gifts. 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 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. On the other hand, the kind of humor where the audience is laughing with the characters I really enjoy.
Please no incest.
Here are some other things to keep in mind (not all of which will apply to all fandoms): I don't like it when characters of color are pushed aside so that white characters can take center stage. I love the acknowledgment that female 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 please don't exoticise anything. 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 like AUs, but not complete AUs (i.e. no highschool or college or coffee shop AUs, and especially not mundane AUs--nothing where you keep characters but drop most of the worldbuilding). 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 a ludicrous situation, that's great. If they're OOC or parodied in order to make something funny ... it's not funny to me. I like historical AUs, but only when the author actually knows the history period in question and does thoughtful worldbuilding to meld actual culture of the time with the canon--Regency AUs where everyone's attitude is modern but with a Regency #aesthetic drive me batty. ("But entailments didn't work that way!") I like angst, but not complete and unrelieved angst, and not angst of the type that people cause themselves. While things can get dark or angsty in the middle, I prefer happy endings.
Babylon 5
Delenn/John Sheridan, Marcus Cole/Susan Ivanova, Marcus Cole/Neroon, Stephen Franklin & Susan Ivanova, Stephen Franklin, Jeffrey Sinclair, Delenn & Jeffrey Sinclair
Ah, the fandom of my youth! This was my first fandom that was mine, and not just something the family watched together. I love the layering of the themes, and how you can watch it on multiple levels (action/adventure, character arcs, political allegory, deeper themes about truth and freedom and who are you and what do you want and why are you here). The characters and their story arcs were all so compelling. I loved the worldbuilding, especially the Minbari culture. As a kid, I loved John and Delenn as star-crossed lovers (although as an adult I think she is WAAAAAAAAY out of his league). I love the playfulness of Marcus and Susan together, although I headcanon Marcus as a romantic ace. (Also, I try to ignore the existence of JMS' post-canon short story about what happened to Marcus and Susan because it is CREEEEEEEEPY.) I think Neroon is a fascinating and complex character, and one of the things I love about Babylon 5 is that there were so many characters (like him) where the fact that they were antagonists didn't mean they were stupid or bad people, just people with a different perspective honestly trying to do what is right. Stephen Franklin was a terribly underused character, and my two favorite people to see him with are Susan and Marcus.
I don't have any specific plot bunnies, I just want more of these characters and this universe. It could be a problem on Babylon 5 that needs to get solved, something having to do with prophecy, time travel and/or messages from Sinclair/Valen in the past, some Minbari cultural rite or political intrigue, Earthforce political intrigue, the PsiCorps making trouble, something post-series about peace-building, something about Sinclair in the past as Valen! Feel free to change Marcus and/or Neroon's fates.
BSG 2003
William Adama/Laura Roslin, Karl "Helo" Agathon/Sharon "Athena" Agathon, Lee "Apollo" Adama/Sam Anders/Anastasia "Dee" Dualla/Kara "Starbuck" Thrace, Tory Foster & Laura Roslin, Sharon "Boomer" Valerii, William Adama & Saul Tigh, Caprica Six & Sharon "Boomer" Valerii, Anastasia "Dee" Dualla & Felix Gaeta
Can we, just, like, pretend the last half a season didn't happen? Or, really, I can take everything except the "let's become cavemen!" at the end. I am fascinated by Cylons and especially the Cylons who choose to turn away from Cavil's destruction-boner. I like some of the religious and spiritual aspects of the show, but I dislike the way it often degenerates into "religion is stupid and anyone who is faithful is either a fanatic or a gullible fool or a legalistic literalist or anti-science." Also, the Caprica TV show was just a little too recent to fit in the exchange, but if you were to take the Adama family drama from Caprica and bring it into BSG (maaaaybe the Tamara avatar is still floating around the Cylon systems?) I would not complain. At all ;) And while, of course I love the characters and pairings here, I do wonder what the Raider and Centurion and Hybrid perspective on all of this is. The series is very grim, but I don't want to end the story on a downer.
Plot bunnies: So, the show occasionally made nods to the supply problems, and I would be interested in something either dealing with the shortages or figuring out creative substitutions. I would be interested in stuff really exploring what it's like to be a Cylon and realizing the depth of how wrong they had been and what evil they had committed. I'd be interested in political wrangling and stuff dealing with religion (although please keep Baltar and Zarek to a minimum, and if you're going for the religion angle please don't go for "religion is bad and all the faithful are fundamentalists" angle). I'd be interested in day-in-the-life relationship stuff. I want ALL THE AUs. What if Cavil had overstepped earlier on and/or the Final Five had remembered earlier and the Cylons had started the rebellion early (maybe even on New Caprica)? What if Lee, Kara, Sam, and Dee had gone for the sensible (and, per Caprica (TV), legal) arrangement of polyamory instead of infidelity and angst? What if any of these characters got actual therapy for their raging PTSD? What if the Final Five had known they were Cylons from the beginning? What if the reason the Cylons couldn't conceive was that Cavil laced the water with birth control medication or something like that because he was mad they wanted something so fleshy and unrobotic and also wanted to control them by frustrating something they want deeply? (I figure Simon would have found actual birth control implants, but might not have thought to test the water.) So, then, instead of Cylons needing to be in love, it's just that they need to be away from Cylon-controlled spaces to bear children. What if Caprica Six hadn't miscarried? What if Cally hadn't killed Boomer (and was it finding out Tyrol married the woman who shot her that pushed Boomer over the edge into "burn it all down")? What if, instead of the miracle jump at the end sending them to another Earth, it sent them back in time to Caprica to before the Cylon attack and they were able to prevent it (and then had time and space to deal with how massively fucked up they all were)?
Star Trek: TNG
Deanna Troi/Worf, Data & Geordi La Forge, K'Ehleyr/Worf, Beverly Crusher & Jean-Luc Picard, Sam Lavelle/Taurik, Worf & Jean-Luc Picard, Ro Laren & Guinan, Guinan & Jean-Luc Picard
I love alien culture worldbuilding. I love boldly going and exploring and wacky science hijinks and time travel and alternate universe shenanigans. I love the hopeful attitude that we can become better than we are. All my feelings about Star Trek in general can be summed up with this vid. I love cross-cultural romance (especially when it deals realistically with having to figure out what compromises each is going to make on what they expect out of a relationship--love is not all you need, you also need a lot of hard work and communication). My headcanon on Vulcans was shaped by 80s Trek novels (especially Spock's World and the Rihannsu books by Diane Duane, but also the Vulcan Academy Murders and the IDIC Epidemic by Jean Lorrah). If you know those books, great; if not, don't worry about it. I also love Klingons, and PARTICULARLY when they are not written as one-dimensional fighters. Like, yes, the warrior ethos shapes their entire culture, but it's not the only thing about them.
Prompts: An episode-like adventure! Show Our Heroes doing what they do best, meeting new cultures, sciencing the shit out of things, dealing with ethical dilemmas. Or, cross-cultural exploration among the Enterprise crew! For romantic relationships, meeting the family! (Oh, God, Lwaxana and the Rozhenkos, and Worf and Deanna both sitting back in mortification, can you imagine?) Or exploring what it is that drew that couple together, what they have in common or what they love in the other person. For Worf/K'Ehleyr, an AU where she didn't die, and how do you make that relationship long-term when she's going off all the time doing her job as a diplomat and Worf is on Enterprise. How do they share custody of Alexander? Do they have other kids together? What would things have been like if she'd come to Worf when she was pregnant? Data & Geordi: I love them geeking out together, whether at work or on the holodeck or whatever. For Ro and Guinan, they're both survivors of conquest, but they have very different perspectives on it. I'd love something that explores that. For Guinan in general, I'd like something that goes deeper into her character than just the "magical negro" stereotype she was so often reduced to.
Vid Prompt: A Picard/tea vid set to "Have A Cuppa Tea" by the Kinks.
DS9
Jadzia Dax/Worf, Jadzia Dax & Kira Nerys, Kira Nerys/Odo (Deep Space Nine), Benjamin Sisko & Winn Adami, Benjamin Sisko & Kira Nerys, Benjamin Sisko & Jake Sisko & Joseph Sisko, Benjamin Sisko & Jadzia Dax
I love alien culture worldbuilding. I love boldly going and exploring and wacky science hijinks and time travel and alternate universe shenanigans. I love the hopeful attitude that we can become better than we are. All my feelings about Star Trek in general can be summed up with this vid. I love cross-cultural romance (especially when it deals realistically with having to figure out what compromises each is going to make on what they expect out of a relationship--love is not all you need, you also need a lot of hard work and communication). I also love Klingons, and PARTICULARLY when they are not written as one-dimensional fighters. Like, yes, the warrior ethos shapes their entire culture, but it's not the only thing about them. One of my favorite things about DS9 is the way Worf was allowed to grow more complex and form so many varied and significant relationships. I also like the delicate way religion was handled, where despite the fact that the show (mostly) believed the Prophets were just aliens, it never called the Bajorans stupid or misguided for believing in them.
Prompts: Consequences! That was one of my favorite things about DS9, it dealt with consequences. So if you want to take a canon event that you think didn't get enough exploration, that would be awesome. Or more about Jadzia, Worf, Martok, and Martok's family (including but not limited to Sirella). Worf and Jadzia go to Qo'nos! (I would not mind an AU where she lived.) Or stuff dealing with the religious aspect of the Prophets and the Celestial Temple and choosing an alien as the Emissary. Sisko's position is endlessly fascinating to me, and how it shaped his relationship with Kira, and how he came to be more comfortable with it as the show went on. I love Winn as an antagonist. She's unpleasant and manipulative, but she always had reasons for what she did and why she was that way. (Not always good reasons, but generally not Muahahaha Evil ones, either.) More Sisko Family stuff is always welcome; what if Joseph visited the station? (What does he think of his son being a figure in an alien religion?) Both Sisko men are such great dads, and I love that about them. And I love Dax's relationship with Sisko, that lasted three hosts. When Sisko comes back from the wormhole (if he ever does) will Dax still be Ezri or will enough time have passed that the relationship stretches to four hosts? Dax and Kira, I love that that relationship brings out Kira's lighter side so often. Kira and Odo, I love their history together from the Occupation to the future. What does that look like when Odo comes back? I haven't read the novels, but if you want to take the idea that after the show ended Kira eventually became a Vedek and later Kai and explore her faith and relationship with the Prophets, I wouldn't mind.
SG-1
Samantha "Sam" Carter/Jack O'Neill, Jacob Carter & George Hammond, Bra'tac & Teal'c, Samantha "Sam" Carter & Daniel Jackson & Jack O'Neill & Teal'c, Samantha "Sam" Carter & Teal'c, Daniel Jackson & Teal'c, Jack O'Neill & Teal'c
I love the team. I love how they never left anyone behind, and how the show didn't demonize the military but they didn't just give the military a free pass either. I love the wacky hijinks and the deep serious relationships. I love all of them. And I think Teal'c and the Jaffa got badly shortchanged by the writers, who rarely used him as anything more than the muscle and when they did, it was all too often a "warrior culture Klingon Lite" sort of thing.
Prompts: Teamfic! Fighting the Goa'uld! Mediating peace between the Rebel Jaffa and the Tok'ra! Teal'c having a real role besides Stoic Warrior And Occasional Comic Relief! For Jack/Sam, please deal with the realities of being in the same chain of command. And the reality that the consequences of any relationship are going to fall MUCH harder on Sam than on Jack. It doesn't have to be an angst-fest but I don't want to have to suspend all knowledge of reality and military protocol, either. Or some AU where they aren't in the same chain of command. (I'm not opposed to well-done kidfic.) As for Jacob Carter, I am fascinated by the Tok'ra and how he is caught in the middle between his homeworld, his career, his friends, his daughter ... and his new symbiote and people. I have less problems with the Tok'ra than a lot of fandom does, but they're not angels, either. Some Goa'uld-fighting adventure where that comes into conflict would be awesome. Or maybe there's an adventure on Earth where Jacob tags along a la Seth. Or maybe he and George go to some Air Force event and see some old friends and it's weird. What about Teal'c's Adventures On Earth? What about Teal'c trolling Jack? What about Sam and Teal'c trolling Jack? (Jack got to spend enough time trolling everybody else on the show, I think he could stand to have some of his own back.) I really like Sam and Teal'c's dynamic of support and I could totally see them together if you wanted to ship them.
Vid Prompts: a Goa'uld vid set to "Jeepers Creepers" by Louis Armstrong, or to "I've Got You Under My Skin" by Cole Porter.
Terminator:tSCC
Catherine Weaver & Savannah Weaver, John Henry & Savannah Weaver, James Ellison & John Henry, Riley Dawson & Jesse Flores, Sarah Connor & James Ellison, James Ellison & Catherine Weaver, John Connor & Derek Reese & Kyle Reese, Jesse Flores/Derek Reese.
I love the timey-wimey goodness of this show, and the brain-breaking nature of it. I love the complexity of the characters, and the meditations on good and evil and fate and free will. I love the way the show weaves the present and future together. I love the way people are from different timelines but may not realize that. I love how people can have their own agendas. I love Sarah trying to be a good mom while knowing she has to raise him as a child soldier. I love Derek's protectiveness of his family and loved ones. I love how screwed up and traumatized they all are, and how they still keep trying to change things. I have a lot of sympathy for Jesse, even though she did something really terrible.
Prompts: What happened after the series end, both for John in the future and Sarah et al in the past? What is Catherine Weaver trying to do? Do she and John Connor ever come back, and if they don't, what changes? What if you go AU from an earlier point in the series so they don't travel to the future? What if Jesse had a different plan, or changed her plan? What is she up to, because I assume she does something with herself after fleeing. What's Savannah's perception of the whole thing, and if "Catherine" had stayed (or came back) what would that relationship have been as she grew? (What did Catherine think of Savannah?) Did Ellison take over ZeiraCorp after Weaver jumped in time? Regardless, I'd love to see something of him using his FBI training and/or contacts in the fight against Skynet. Maybe they go find Danny Dyson!
Star Trek: Enterprise
T'Pol/Charles "Trip" Tucker III, Hoshi Sato/T'Pol, T'Pol & Charles "Trip" Tucker III, T'Pol/Charles "Trip" Tucker III & Elizabeth T'Les Tucker
Not my favorite Trek. There was a lot of potential, but I think the writers and producers were burned out and trying too hard. However! I do love me some Vulcans, and the show had some interesting takes on Vulcan culture, so here we are! I love cross-cultural romance (especially when it deals realistically with having to figure out what compromises each is going to make on what they expect out of a relationship--love is not all you need, you also need a lot of hard work and communication). My headcanon on Vulcans was shaped by 80s Trek novels (especially Spock's World and the Rihannsu books by Diane Duane, but also the Vulcan Academy Murders and the IDIC Epidemic by Jean Lorrah). If you know those books, great; if not, don't worry about it. Please feel free to ignore the last episode.
Prompts: ALL THE INTERSPECIES ROMANCE! Pon Farr and its ramifications: if T'Pol has to go through Pon Farr with a shipmate how does that affect her relationship with them, both working and personal? Is it a one-time thing or something longer? If T'Pol gets together with Trip or Hoshi, how do they build a life together? What about Starfleet careers? What about T'Pol's relationships with her family and friends back on Vulcan? What about T'Pol's neurological damage, how does that affect things? What if Elizabeth had lived? Or! I was fascinated by the episode with the Enterprise crew who were descendants of our crew, especially Lorian. You could explore that. What if that Enterprise had survived? Or what was it like for the crew to be thrown back in time in the timeline that created them?
Guess Who's Coming To Dinner
Any
This is one of the few examples of a compelling and interesting Moral Issue Message Movie. I love how well-written and well-acted it is (except for the girl who played Joey, who was sort of a non-entity). The characters were so real that it shone through and made the message come to life. They are archetypes, but they are archetypes portrayed by some of the greatest actors of their day.
Prompts: What Happens Next. What happens at Christmas, do they all come together again? What happens when these two people who are very much in love but haven't spent much time together have a chance to get to know one another? What about the age difference between Joey and John, they've got a huge difference in experience, how does that affect things? (What does he see in her, because I have to say, watching the movie I believe he loves her but have no clue why, because she's a fairly generic liberal pretty white girl--there has to be something more to her, though, for him to love her like that.) How does Joey cope with needing to think a LOT more deeply and intimately about race issues and their impact on her daily life than she ever has before? What happens the first time John and Joey go visit and stay with his parents in his neighborhood? How about Joey's childhood, she grew up with a black maid. Were there incidents that she and Tillie remember very differently and have much different perspectives on? John and Joey go off to continue his jet-setting career, meanwhile both sets of parents stay in the world they've lived in all their lives. How does that stay the same for them and change? How do their attitudes shift once John and Joey have kids?
Crossover Fandom
Seven of Nine (Voyager) & Sharon "Boomer" Valerii (BSG), Hera Agathon (BSG) & Naomi Wildman (Voyager), B'Elanna Torres (Voyager) & Cally Henderson Tyrol (BSG)
I did not nominate this, and I would never have thought of it, but seeing it, I would now LOVE to see Voyager encounter the BSG fleet. The idea of Seven dealing with Cylons and B'Elanna getting her hands on the pile of jury-rigs that is the Colonial Fleet are compelling. The two shows have plot similarities (ships stranded in deep space, cut off from their parent worlds, struggling through on their ingenuity, pursued by evil cyborgs) and HUGE thematic differences ("people can be better and do good" vs. "everything gets more screwed up all the time.")
Prompts: Play with the differences in tone. What are the ways the BSG crew find hope, and try and be better people than they are? What are the ways in which the Voyager crew loses hope, or lets their trauma overwhelm them, or forget their principles? Plotwise, I think there are two basic ways to play this: one, in which they're from alternate universes and just ships passing in the night, and the other where they're from the same universe and Voyager teams up with the Colonial Fleet on their journey back to Earth/The Federation. How do the technical differences work? Are jump drives faster than warp drives? Can Colonial ships be retrofitted with replicators? (Lots of room for B'Elanna and Cally to get their hands dirty figuring out the two-way tech transfer.) Do the Borg and Cylons team up, or start fighting? How well do Seven and Boomer get along, given their respective differences as part of a collective? (That could either go really well or really badly, I would think.) Naomi wouldn't be the only child anymore!
Voyager
Kathryn Janeway & Tuvok
I love alien culture worldbuilding. I love boldly going and exploring and wacky science hijinks and time travel and alternate universe shenanigans. I love the hopeful attitude that we can become better than we are. All my feelings about Star Trek in general can be summed up with this vid. I love cross-cultural romance (especially when it deals realistically with having to figure out what compromises each is going to make on what they expect out of a relationship--love is not all you need, you also need a lot of hard work and communication). My headcanon on Vulcans was shaped by 80s Trek novels (especially Spock's World and the Rihannsu books by Diane Duane, but also the Vulcan Academy Murders and the IDIC Epidemic by Jean Lorrah). If you know those books, great; if not, don't worry about it. I think Kate Mulgrew did an excellent job of playing Janeway despite the poor writing she was given, and I love the way Tuvok was definitely a Vulcan but also a very different Vulcan than Spock. And I think their friendship was a foundation for both of them, having someone they'd known and trusted for years while so far from home.
Prompts: Day in the life stuff about dealing with the challenges of being so far from home and the top-ranking loyal Starfleet officers. (Chakotay was great, but he'd been Maquis, which especially in the beginning made a difference.) Maybe something set early on dealing with Tuvok's suspicion of the Maquis (and their suspicion of him) and Janeway trying to bring the crew together would be interesting. Pre-series stuff about their friendship. Post-series stuff about their friendship and support as they deal with all the stuff about being home. I mean, it's great, they're both glad to be home, but they've changed and the Federation has changed. (Has Tuvok's wife moved on/remarried?) If you wanted to handle Pon Farr and/or them becoming a couple, I would enjoy that too. Or something dealing with the aftermath of the episode Blood Fever, which I would imagine made Pon Farr and/or Vulcans a really public topic of discussion on the ship. (It's not something that could have been easily hushed up!) Another idea: some Vulcan festival is coming up, and the Vulcans are going to have a hard time celebrating it so far from home, so Tuvok and Janeway have to get creative to figure out how to handle it.
I'm fairly easy to please; I've been doing ficathons for over a decade and am very rarely disappointed with my gifts. 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 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. On the other hand, the kind of humor where the audience is laughing with the characters I really enjoy.
Please no incest.
Here are some other things to keep in mind (not all of which will apply to all fandoms): I don't like it when characters of color are pushed aside so that white characters can take center stage. I love the acknowledgment that female 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 please don't exoticise anything. 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 like AUs, but not complete AUs (i.e. no highschool or college or coffee shop AUs, and especially not mundane AUs--nothing where you keep characters but drop most of the worldbuilding). 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 a ludicrous situation, that's great. If they're OOC or parodied in order to make something funny ... it's not funny to me. I like historical AUs, but only when the author actually knows the history period in question and does thoughtful worldbuilding to meld actual culture of the time with the canon--Regency AUs where everyone's attitude is modern but with a Regency #aesthetic drive me batty. ("But entailments didn't work that way!") I like angst, but not complete and unrelieved angst, and not angst of the type that people cause themselves. While things can get dark or angsty in the middle, I prefer happy endings.
Babylon 5
Delenn/John Sheridan, Marcus Cole/Susan Ivanova, Marcus Cole/Neroon, Stephen Franklin & Susan Ivanova, Stephen Franklin, Jeffrey Sinclair, Delenn & Jeffrey Sinclair
Ah, the fandom of my youth! This was my first fandom that was mine, and not just something the family watched together. I love the layering of the themes, and how you can watch it on multiple levels (action/adventure, character arcs, political allegory, deeper themes about truth and freedom and who are you and what do you want and why are you here). The characters and their story arcs were all so compelling. I loved the worldbuilding, especially the Minbari culture. As a kid, I loved John and Delenn as star-crossed lovers (although as an adult I think she is WAAAAAAAAY out of his league). I love the playfulness of Marcus and Susan together, although I headcanon Marcus as a romantic ace. (Also, I try to ignore the existence of JMS' post-canon short story about what happened to Marcus and Susan because it is CREEEEEEEEPY.) I think Neroon is a fascinating and complex character, and one of the things I love about Babylon 5 is that there were so many characters (like him) where the fact that they were antagonists didn't mean they were stupid or bad people, just people with a different perspective honestly trying to do what is right. Stephen Franklin was a terribly underused character, and my two favorite people to see him with are Susan and Marcus.
I don't have any specific plot bunnies, I just want more of these characters and this universe. It could be a problem on Babylon 5 that needs to get solved, something having to do with prophecy, time travel and/or messages from Sinclair/Valen in the past, some Minbari cultural rite or political intrigue, Earthforce political intrigue, the PsiCorps making trouble, something post-series about peace-building, something about Sinclair in the past as Valen! Feel free to change Marcus and/or Neroon's fates.
BSG 2003
William Adama/Laura Roslin, Karl "Helo" Agathon/Sharon "Athena" Agathon, Lee "Apollo" Adama/Sam Anders/Anastasia "Dee" Dualla/Kara "Starbuck" Thrace, Tory Foster & Laura Roslin, Sharon "Boomer" Valerii, William Adama & Saul Tigh, Caprica Six & Sharon "Boomer" Valerii, Anastasia "Dee" Dualla & Felix Gaeta
Can we, just, like, pretend the last half a season didn't happen? Or, really, I can take everything except the "let's become cavemen!" at the end. I am fascinated by Cylons and especially the Cylons who choose to turn away from Cavil's destruction-boner. I like some of the religious and spiritual aspects of the show, but I dislike the way it often degenerates into "religion is stupid and anyone who is faithful is either a fanatic or a gullible fool or a legalistic literalist or anti-science." Also, the Caprica TV show was just a little too recent to fit in the exchange, but if you were to take the Adama family drama from Caprica and bring it into BSG (maaaaybe the Tamara avatar is still floating around the Cylon systems?) I would not complain. At all ;) And while, of course I love the characters and pairings here, I do wonder what the Raider and Centurion and Hybrid perspective on all of this is. The series is very grim, but I don't want to end the story on a downer.
Plot bunnies: So, the show occasionally made nods to the supply problems, and I would be interested in something either dealing with the shortages or figuring out creative substitutions. I would be interested in stuff really exploring what it's like to be a Cylon and realizing the depth of how wrong they had been and what evil they had committed. I'd be interested in political wrangling and stuff dealing with religion (although please keep Baltar and Zarek to a minimum, and if you're going for the religion angle please don't go for "religion is bad and all the faithful are fundamentalists" angle). I'd be interested in day-in-the-life relationship stuff. I want ALL THE AUs. What if Cavil had overstepped earlier on and/or the Final Five had remembered earlier and the Cylons had started the rebellion early (maybe even on New Caprica)? What if Lee, Kara, Sam, and Dee had gone for the sensible (and, per Caprica (TV), legal) arrangement of polyamory instead of infidelity and angst? What if any of these characters got actual therapy for their raging PTSD? What if the Final Five had known they were Cylons from the beginning? What if the reason the Cylons couldn't conceive was that Cavil laced the water with birth control medication or something like that because he was mad they wanted something so fleshy and unrobotic and also wanted to control them by frustrating something they want deeply? (I figure Simon would have found actual birth control implants, but might not have thought to test the water.) So, then, instead of Cylons needing to be in love, it's just that they need to be away from Cylon-controlled spaces to bear children. What if Caprica Six hadn't miscarried? What if Cally hadn't killed Boomer (and was it finding out Tyrol married the woman who shot her that pushed Boomer over the edge into "burn it all down")? What if, instead of the miracle jump at the end sending them to another Earth, it sent them back in time to Caprica to before the Cylon attack and they were able to prevent it (and then had time and space to deal with how massively fucked up they all were)?
Star Trek: TNG
Deanna Troi/Worf, Data & Geordi La Forge, K'Ehleyr/Worf, Beverly Crusher & Jean-Luc Picard, Sam Lavelle/Taurik, Worf & Jean-Luc Picard, Ro Laren & Guinan, Guinan & Jean-Luc Picard
I love alien culture worldbuilding. I love boldly going and exploring and wacky science hijinks and time travel and alternate universe shenanigans. I love the hopeful attitude that we can become better than we are. All my feelings about Star Trek in general can be summed up with this vid. I love cross-cultural romance (especially when it deals realistically with having to figure out what compromises each is going to make on what they expect out of a relationship--love is not all you need, you also need a lot of hard work and communication). My headcanon on Vulcans was shaped by 80s Trek novels (especially Spock's World and the Rihannsu books by Diane Duane, but also the Vulcan Academy Murders and the IDIC Epidemic by Jean Lorrah). If you know those books, great; if not, don't worry about it. I also love Klingons, and PARTICULARLY when they are not written as one-dimensional fighters. Like, yes, the warrior ethos shapes their entire culture, but it's not the only thing about them.
Prompts: An episode-like adventure! Show Our Heroes doing what they do best, meeting new cultures, sciencing the shit out of things, dealing with ethical dilemmas. Or, cross-cultural exploration among the Enterprise crew! For romantic relationships, meeting the family! (Oh, God, Lwaxana and the Rozhenkos, and Worf and Deanna both sitting back in mortification, can you imagine?) Or exploring what it is that drew that couple together, what they have in common or what they love in the other person. For Worf/K'Ehleyr, an AU where she didn't die, and how do you make that relationship long-term when she's going off all the time doing her job as a diplomat and Worf is on Enterprise. How do they share custody of Alexander? Do they have other kids together? What would things have been like if she'd come to Worf when she was pregnant? Data & Geordi: I love them geeking out together, whether at work or on the holodeck or whatever. For Ro and Guinan, they're both survivors of conquest, but they have very different perspectives on it. I'd love something that explores that. For Guinan in general, I'd like something that goes deeper into her character than just the "magical negro" stereotype she was so often reduced to.
Vid Prompt: A Picard/tea vid set to "Have A Cuppa Tea" by the Kinks.
DS9
Jadzia Dax/Worf, Jadzia Dax & Kira Nerys, Kira Nerys/Odo (Deep Space Nine), Benjamin Sisko & Winn Adami, Benjamin Sisko & Kira Nerys, Benjamin Sisko & Jake Sisko & Joseph Sisko, Benjamin Sisko & Jadzia Dax
I love alien culture worldbuilding. I love boldly going and exploring and wacky science hijinks and time travel and alternate universe shenanigans. I love the hopeful attitude that we can become better than we are. All my feelings about Star Trek in general can be summed up with this vid. I love cross-cultural romance (especially when it deals realistically with having to figure out what compromises each is going to make on what they expect out of a relationship--love is not all you need, you also need a lot of hard work and communication). I also love Klingons, and PARTICULARLY when they are not written as one-dimensional fighters. Like, yes, the warrior ethos shapes their entire culture, but it's not the only thing about them. One of my favorite things about DS9 is the way Worf was allowed to grow more complex and form so many varied and significant relationships. I also like the delicate way religion was handled, where despite the fact that the show (mostly) believed the Prophets were just aliens, it never called the Bajorans stupid or misguided for believing in them.
Prompts: Consequences! That was one of my favorite things about DS9, it dealt with consequences. So if you want to take a canon event that you think didn't get enough exploration, that would be awesome. Or more about Jadzia, Worf, Martok, and Martok's family (including but not limited to Sirella). Worf and Jadzia go to Qo'nos! (I would not mind an AU where she lived.) Or stuff dealing with the religious aspect of the Prophets and the Celestial Temple and choosing an alien as the Emissary. Sisko's position is endlessly fascinating to me, and how it shaped his relationship with Kira, and how he came to be more comfortable with it as the show went on. I love Winn as an antagonist. She's unpleasant and manipulative, but she always had reasons for what she did and why she was that way. (Not always good reasons, but generally not Muahahaha Evil ones, either.) More Sisko Family stuff is always welcome; what if Joseph visited the station? (What does he think of his son being a figure in an alien religion?) Both Sisko men are such great dads, and I love that about them. And I love Dax's relationship with Sisko, that lasted three hosts. When Sisko comes back from the wormhole (if he ever does) will Dax still be Ezri or will enough time have passed that the relationship stretches to four hosts? Dax and Kira, I love that that relationship brings out Kira's lighter side so often. Kira and Odo, I love their history together from the Occupation to the future. What does that look like when Odo comes back? I haven't read the novels, but if you want to take the idea that after the show ended Kira eventually became a Vedek and later Kai and explore her faith and relationship with the Prophets, I wouldn't mind.
SG-1
Samantha "Sam" Carter/Jack O'Neill, Jacob Carter & George Hammond, Bra'tac & Teal'c, Samantha "Sam" Carter & Daniel Jackson & Jack O'Neill & Teal'c, Samantha "Sam" Carter & Teal'c, Daniel Jackson & Teal'c, Jack O'Neill & Teal'c
I love the team. I love how they never left anyone behind, and how the show didn't demonize the military but they didn't just give the military a free pass either. I love the wacky hijinks and the deep serious relationships. I love all of them. And I think Teal'c and the Jaffa got badly shortchanged by the writers, who rarely used him as anything more than the muscle and when they did, it was all too often a "warrior culture Klingon Lite" sort of thing.
Prompts: Teamfic! Fighting the Goa'uld! Mediating peace between the Rebel Jaffa and the Tok'ra! Teal'c having a real role besides Stoic Warrior And Occasional Comic Relief! For Jack/Sam, please deal with the realities of being in the same chain of command. And the reality that the consequences of any relationship are going to fall MUCH harder on Sam than on Jack. It doesn't have to be an angst-fest but I don't want to have to suspend all knowledge of reality and military protocol, either. Or some AU where they aren't in the same chain of command. (I'm not opposed to well-done kidfic.) As for Jacob Carter, I am fascinated by the Tok'ra and how he is caught in the middle between his homeworld, his career, his friends, his daughter ... and his new symbiote and people. I have less problems with the Tok'ra than a lot of fandom does, but they're not angels, either. Some Goa'uld-fighting adventure where that comes into conflict would be awesome. Or maybe there's an adventure on Earth where Jacob tags along a la Seth. Or maybe he and George go to some Air Force event and see some old friends and it's weird. What about Teal'c's Adventures On Earth? What about Teal'c trolling Jack? What about Sam and Teal'c trolling Jack? (Jack got to spend enough time trolling everybody else on the show, I think he could stand to have some of his own back.) I really like Sam and Teal'c's dynamic of support and I could totally see them together if you wanted to ship them.
Vid Prompts: a Goa'uld vid set to "Jeepers Creepers" by Louis Armstrong, or to "I've Got You Under My Skin" by Cole Porter.
Terminator:tSCC
Catherine Weaver & Savannah Weaver, John Henry & Savannah Weaver, James Ellison & John Henry, Riley Dawson & Jesse Flores, Sarah Connor & James Ellison, James Ellison & Catherine Weaver, John Connor & Derek Reese & Kyle Reese, Jesse Flores/Derek Reese.
I love the timey-wimey goodness of this show, and the brain-breaking nature of it. I love the complexity of the characters, and the meditations on good and evil and fate and free will. I love the way the show weaves the present and future together. I love the way people are from different timelines but may not realize that. I love how people can have their own agendas. I love Sarah trying to be a good mom while knowing she has to raise him as a child soldier. I love Derek's protectiveness of his family and loved ones. I love how screwed up and traumatized they all are, and how they still keep trying to change things. I have a lot of sympathy for Jesse, even though she did something really terrible.
Prompts: What happened after the series end, both for John in the future and Sarah et al in the past? What is Catherine Weaver trying to do? Do she and John Connor ever come back, and if they don't, what changes? What if you go AU from an earlier point in the series so they don't travel to the future? What if Jesse had a different plan, or changed her plan? What is she up to, because I assume she does something with herself after fleeing. What's Savannah's perception of the whole thing, and if "Catherine" had stayed (or came back) what would that relationship have been as she grew? (What did Catherine think of Savannah?) Did Ellison take over ZeiraCorp after Weaver jumped in time? Regardless, I'd love to see something of him using his FBI training and/or contacts in the fight against Skynet. Maybe they go find Danny Dyson!
Star Trek: Enterprise
T'Pol/Charles "Trip" Tucker III, Hoshi Sato/T'Pol, T'Pol & Charles "Trip" Tucker III, T'Pol/Charles "Trip" Tucker III & Elizabeth T'Les Tucker
Not my favorite Trek. There was a lot of potential, but I think the writers and producers were burned out and trying too hard. However! I do love me some Vulcans, and the show had some interesting takes on Vulcan culture, so here we are! I love cross-cultural romance (especially when it deals realistically with having to figure out what compromises each is going to make on what they expect out of a relationship--love is not all you need, you also need a lot of hard work and communication). My headcanon on Vulcans was shaped by 80s Trek novels (especially Spock's World and the Rihannsu books by Diane Duane, but also the Vulcan Academy Murders and the IDIC Epidemic by Jean Lorrah). If you know those books, great; if not, don't worry about it. Please feel free to ignore the last episode.
Prompts: ALL THE INTERSPECIES ROMANCE! Pon Farr and its ramifications: if T'Pol has to go through Pon Farr with a shipmate how does that affect her relationship with them, both working and personal? Is it a one-time thing or something longer? If T'Pol gets together with Trip or Hoshi, how do they build a life together? What about Starfleet careers? What about T'Pol's relationships with her family and friends back on Vulcan? What about T'Pol's neurological damage, how does that affect things? What if Elizabeth had lived? Or! I was fascinated by the episode with the Enterprise crew who were descendants of our crew, especially Lorian. You could explore that. What if that Enterprise had survived? Or what was it like for the crew to be thrown back in time in the timeline that created them?
Guess Who's Coming To Dinner
Any
This is one of the few examples of a compelling and interesting Moral Issue Message Movie. I love how well-written and well-acted it is (except for the girl who played Joey, who was sort of a non-entity). The characters were so real that it shone through and made the message come to life. They are archetypes, but they are archetypes portrayed by some of the greatest actors of their day.
Prompts: What Happens Next. What happens at Christmas, do they all come together again? What happens when these two people who are very much in love but haven't spent much time together have a chance to get to know one another? What about the age difference between Joey and John, they've got a huge difference in experience, how does that affect things? (What does he see in her, because I have to say, watching the movie I believe he loves her but have no clue why, because she's a fairly generic liberal pretty white girl--there has to be something more to her, though, for him to love her like that.) How does Joey cope with needing to think a LOT more deeply and intimately about race issues and their impact on her daily life than she ever has before? What happens the first time John and Joey go visit and stay with his parents in his neighborhood? How about Joey's childhood, she grew up with a black maid. Were there incidents that she and Tillie remember very differently and have much different perspectives on? John and Joey go off to continue his jet-setting career, meanwhile both sets of parents stay in the world they've lived in all their lives. How does that stay the same for them and change? How do their attitudes shift once John and Joey have kids?
Crossover Fandom
Seven of Nine (Voyager) & Sharon "Boomer" Valerii (BSG), Hera Agathon (BSG) & Naomi Wildman (Voyager), B'Elanna Torres (Voyager) & Cally Henderson Tyrol (BSG)
I did not nominate this, and I would never have thought of it, but seeing it, I would now LOVE to see Voyager encounter the BSG fleet. The idea of Seven dealing with Cylons and B'Elanna getting her hands on the pile of jury-rigs that is the Colonial Fleet are compelling. The two shows have plot similarities (ships stranded in deep space, cut off from their parent worlds, struggling through on their ingenuity, pursued by evil cyborgs) and HUGE thematic differences ("people can be better and do good" vs. "everything gets more screwed up all the time.")
Prompts: Play with the differences in tone. What are the ways the BSG crew find hope, and try and be better people than they are? What are the ways in which the Voyager crew loses hope, or lets their trauma overwhelm them, or forget their principles? Plotwise, I think there are two basic ways to play this: one, in which they're from alternate universes and just ships passing in the night, and the other where they're from the same universe and Voyager teams up with the Colonial Fleet on their journey back to Earth/The Federation. How do the technical differences work? Are jump drives faster than warp drives? Can Colonial ships be retrofitted with replicators? (Lots of room for B'Elanna and Cally to get their hands dirty figuring out the two-way tech transfer.) Do the Borg and Cylons team up, or start fighting? How well do Seven and Boomer get along, given their respective differences as part of a collective? (That could either go really well or really badly, I would think.) Naomi wouldn't be the only child anymore!
Voyager
Kathryn Janeway & Tuvok
I love alien culture worldbuilding. I love boldly going and exploring and wacky science hijinks and time travel and alternate universe shenanigans. I love the hopeful attitude that we can become better than we are. All my feelings about Star Trek in general can be summed up with this vid. I love cross-cultural romance (especially when it deals realistically with having to figure out what compromises each is going to make on what they expect out of a relationship--love is not all you need, you also need a lot of hard work and communication). My headcanon on Vulcans was shaped by 80s Trek novels (especially Spock's World and the Rihannsu books by Diane Duane, but also the Vulcan Academy Murders and the IDIC Epidemic by Jean Lorrah). If you know those books, great; if not, don't worry about it. I think Kate Mulgrew did an excellent job of playing Janeway despite the poor writing she was given, and I love the way Tuvok was definitely a Vulcan but also a very different Vulcan than Spock. And I think their friendship was a foundation for both of them, having someone they'd known and trusted for years while so far from home.
Prompts: Day in the life stuff about dealing with the challenges of being so far from home and the top-ranking loyal Starfleet officers. (Chakotay was great, but he'd been Maquis, which especially in the beginning made a difference.) Maybe something set early on dealing with Tuvok's suspicion of the Maquis (and their suspicion of him) and Janeway trying to bring the crew together would be interesting. Pre-series stuff about their friendship. Post-series stuff about their friendship and support as they deal with all the stuff about being home. I mean, it's great, they're both glad to be home, but they've changed and the Federation has changed. (Has Tuvok's wife moved on/remarried?) If you wanted to handle Pon Farr and/or them becoming a couple, I would enjoy that too. Or something dealing with the aftermath of the episode Blood Fever, which I would imagine made Pon Farr and/or Vulcans a really public topic of discussion on the ship. (It's not something that could have been easily hushed up!) Another idea: some Vulcan festival is coming up, and the Vulcans are going to have a hard time celebrating it so far from home, so Tuvok and Janeway have to get creative to figure out how to handle it.
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