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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.
I 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 or darkfic.
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.
Original Work
Western culture has this idea that science and mysticism are incompatible, or that logic/reason and mysticism are incompatible. Obviously, Vulcans do not feel this way, if they did, they wouldn't have so many priests and priestesses around! I would love to explore that deeper. For example, during Spock's fal-tor-pan, there were all sorts of religious types around. What did they think of everything? Or just a day in the life. What does a Vulcan priestess do all day? Or pick a period of Star Trek history and think about what impact it might have had on Vulcan spiritual life. For example, when the Vulcan High Command of Enterprise-era was cracking down on mind-melds and telepathy, what did they do to the religious orders where telepathy seems to be a large part of their calling? Or, after the Dominion War, were there a lot of traumatized Vulcans who had been in combat who came to Mount Seleya for sanctuary? (Please don't use Christianity as a default template for What Religion Is Like, Christianity is deeply weird compared to most religions on Earth, we Westerners just don't notice because it's what we're used to.)
Or just go with general worldbuilding on Vulcan. What's it like? What cultural diversity is there? What's life like for Vulcans who aren't scientists or diplomats? What does a Vulcan marriage look like when nobody involved is a Starfleet officer? Or what's it like to be the spouse of a Starfleet officer who's gone all the time? Tell me about Vulcan gender relations: there's a lot that seems patriarchal, but then whenever we see a Vulcan woman who's really old, she is always The Most Important Person In The Room By Far. Does Vulcan gender and sex and sexuality line up with our understandings of these things, and if not, how do they differ? We all know Pon Farr is fascinating, but there are already a lot of stories about it, so unless you have a unique twist on how tot handle it, please don't make it the focus of the fic.
As for the Klingon psychiatrist, I get annoyed at how often Klingons get portrayed as the Stoic Warrior Barbarians. Even assuming replicators and robots, you still cannot have an ENTIRE CULTURE with nothing but warriors, the economics of it just do NOT work out. Also, I was fascinated by that one DS9 episode when Martok and Worf and Garak and Bashir were trapped in that Dominion prison camp, and how Martok and Worf respected Garak's "battle" with his claustrophobia, that's a really interesting way to frame mental illness, and I like the idea that Klingons don't stigmatize it.
Deep Space Nine
Again, I love worldbuilding, and Bajor is a fascinating place. If you go the OC route, I would love something about what life was like before the Cardassians, or about recovering after they're gone, or just about anything set during and after the events of the show. I love DS9, for how complex the characters were, for the way they dealt with consequences in a way no other Trek did, for the way they handled religious questions. There was good and evil, there was black and white, but there was also a whole spectrum of colors and shades of grey in between, and I loved that. Specifically on the question of religion, what I liked was that they didn't always default to the assumption that all religions must be like Christianity, and also that they never really came down with an answer on the question of whether the Prophets were gods or aliens or both. 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. I love how well they handled issues of violence and oppression and violent resistance to oppression, when dealing with Bajor and Cardassia and Kira's past as a terrorist. Violence was never good, and never easy, but there were times it was necessary, and then the question was how do we move on and heal from what happened, what the characters did and what was done to them. And if you're doing stuff with Bajoran religion, I would LOVE something that delved into what effect the Prophets' noncorporeal, nonlinear nature might have had on Bajoran religious life. (And the less like Christianity you make Bajoran religion, the happier I'll be.)
Consequences! That was one of my favorite things about DS9, it dealt with consequences. If you want to take a canon event that you think didn't get enough exploration, that would be awesome.
I'd love more about Jadzia, Worf, Alexander, and Martok. Worf and Jadzia go to Qo'nos! (I would not mind an AU where she lived.) But just in general, I love that Worf got to be more 3-dimensional on DS9 than on TNG and stuff exploring his relationships, romantic and familial, would be great. Klingon worldbuilding always appreciated.
Or stuff dealing with the implications of the Prophets 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. Kira and Sisko: SO MANY POSSIBILITIES. There's two main things that fascinate me about their relationship. The first is that Sisko is the Emmissary, and thus a religious figure to Kira, and how they both handle that, which the show touched on but didn't go into detail. A deep dive into the religious aspects could be fascinating, as long as you don't use Christianity as the default pattern of "what a religion is like." (Also, I've never read the books but apparently after the show ended Kira became a vedek and then Kai, and that transition would also be really interesting to explore.) The second thing that fascinates me is the huge difference in their training. Starfleet is highly academic in its training; Kira was basically apprenticed to a terrorist cell and learned everything about tactics and strategy and leadership the hard way, and may not know much else because when would she have had time? So you could do something about what qualifications she needed to pass to serve as his first officer, or what qualifications she needed to pass to get a commission in Starfleet later, or a time when one or both of their approaches/skillsets was really wrong for the situation.
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 were the Prophets truly hands-off on Benjamin's life between when they released Sarah and when he came to Bajor? I could go either way, and a story exploring that would be FASCINATING.
And I love Dax's relationship with Sisko, that lasted three hosts. I know the show was very explicit about coding it as non-romantic, but it would be SUCH an interesting dynamic to explore romantically.
The Next Generation
Deanna Troi/Worf: Talk about culture clash, but I'd love to see their relationship explored and given more time and not just used as shock material. And I'd love it to be a relationship built on mutual respect. Feel free to bring in the perspective Martok and the others had on mental illness when they were trapped in that Dominion prison camp, that mental illness is an enemy to fight and it takes a lot of strength to fight an enemy in your own head. From that perspective, Deanna is a weapons trainer for the mind.
Guinan is awesome and I love her, but please tone down the Magical Negro stereotype--she's a person, not just The Wise Magic Therapist/Advisor. She's got her own prejudices and traumas. I would love anything that dove into her past or her culture. Also, Picard and Guinan have INCREDIBLE chemistry. Go watch Time's Arrow and just watch the way he LOOKS AT HER.
Data and Lal were so sweet together, and I'd love to see more of them being sweet. I don't like the way people treat Data as either childlike or as someone who doesn't really get it. His poetry's actually pretty good, but they all treat it like it's a trial to be endured. Geordi's the only one who doesn't do that, and that's one thing I appreciate about his friendship with Data. Another plot idea, what would have happened to the court case and Lal's custody if she hadn't died?
Picard/Ro: oh, the possibilities! Either a relationship while she's on board the Enterprise, or maybe an AU where Earth was the one conquered by the Cardassians and Bajor is the perfect paradise world that's the founder of the Federation and provides most of the people for Starfleet. How would Starfleet be different? How would Ro be different? How would PICARD be different if he was from a conquered people and had a background in terrorism before joining Starfleet?
For Picard/Kamala, I don't see it as anything other than unrequited, unless perhaps the dude Kamala married died in an accident and she left the planet to live her own life, but even then, I don't know that she would have sought him out. I like that her choice was just that--her choice. And in a shitty situation, she chose to bond with the person whose desires made her into someone she wanted to be. I wonder what she did after? Like, obviously, duty and ethics are very important to her, that's why she chose Picard. But what does that mean, in the long run, given her situation? Does she use her position to advocate for change, or just endure until her husband died and then leave?
I think Worf and Tasha could have had a really interesting relationship if either of them had had ANY character development in the first few seasons when Tasha was on the show. I think Worf's struggle with his heritage makes it really interesting to think about him in a relationship, because there are always cultural things to negotiate.
I think Geordi was another one who didn't get much character development, but he was a great guy who would make a great spouse.
I absolutely LOVE Ro Laren, she's such a contrast to the rest of them.
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?
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.
Any or all of these are interesting relationships that could be really fun ways to dive deeper into who these characters are and their relationships with one another.
As for plot ... it's Star Trek. If you want to play it serious and show them falling in love in between missions, go for it. But if you want to lean into the wacky tropes Star Trek was known for, that's great too. As long as everyone is in character, feel free to go as cracktastic as you want with the time travel and travel to alternate universes and weird missions and science hijinks.
Yesterday's Saga
These two books, and the character of Zar, have fascinated me since I was a child. I think it's the intersection of Vulcan culture, Vulcan biology, and time travel, all of which are themes I would love explored in greater detail. I would be happy with just about anything. Missing scenes (Zar's childhood! his time on Enterprise either the first or second time he came to the future! Him building a golden age! His and Wynn's life afterwards!) would be great. So would AUs (Spock's first trip back to find him landed where Spock meant to and Zar and Zarabeth got brought back to the future! Zar stayed in the future either time! Zarabeth made it back with them in the original episode! Spock gets stuck in the past!).
If Spock is spending significant amounts of time in the past, I would like something that deals more with the effect of being in a pre-Surak time on him (my theory is that Vulcans have a subconscious telepathic bond with one another, and being in a time when he's the only one with the Disciplines means that he's not really capable of holding to the Disciplines fully). Also, is Wynn's precognition somehow connected to her exposure to the Guardian of Forever? ENQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW!
Fortunes of War
I love everyone in this series. I loved it as a teenager, and learned to cringe because of how "Mary Sue" it was, but fuck that noise. They're all awesome characters and the books are fun (and anti-fascist, which matters more to me now than it did in the 90s). Two general approaches appeal to me: first, delve into Vulcan culture and worldbuilding and what it means for Sarda, and second, more wacky space hijinks as the crew of the SS Banana Republic make their way through their careers. Either would be awesome.
Prompts: when Sarda was disavowed, what happened to his betrothal? Was it dissolved along with his other ties, and if so, does that pave the way for Piper/Sarda? How did Sarda and Scanner become friends? How do their fellow Starfleet junior officers react to their adventures? What's their career trajectory like after the events of the duology? Was "designing weapons" really enough to get Sarda disavowed, or was there a more complicated history there? Are there other Vulcans on Vulcan's shitlist, and if so, what's Sarda's relationship with them?
Rihannsu series
I don't know how many times I've read "My Enemy, My Ally" and "The Romulan Way." I own the other books, but haven't re-read them much; if you want to forget about them, feel free. I love the culture and the worldbuilding, and the characters are amazing. Pretty much anything with any of them would be lovely. Missing scenes, AUs, delving further into the worldbuilding ... as long as you stay true to the characters, I'll love whatever you come up with. There is some fantastic Rihannsu fic out there but alas not enough of it, I want MOAR.
Uhura's Song
I love this book, and I love that it's music that saves the day in the end. Also, Nyota is one of my favorite characters. And there are cat people! What's not to love? I will be happy with anything starring these characters.
Crossover Fandom
Q & Doctor Manhattan: both really powerful non-corporeal energy beings, but with very different personalities.
Stargate and Star Trek universes are not very compatible; we see too much of the galaxy in both series to make it believable that they coexist and yet we never see elements of one in the other. However, it could probably be done, or there's always the old standby "stargate malfunctions and drops the SG crew in a different universe" or "anomaly in the spacetime continuum strands Enterprise somewhere strange" to explain things away. Worf and Teal'c: both come from Stoic Warrior Barbarian Alien Species Played by People of Color. And yet, no culture is solely Warrior Barbarian, and also there are significant differences between Klingons and Jaffa, and I would love to see those explored. Or you could go the Geeking It Out way and focus on Geordi and Sam, I bet they'd have a lot of fun together exploring Enterprise/Goa'uld tech and saving the day. Tuvok and Teal'c come from extremely different cultures, and yet they both have similar jobs, when it gets right down to it, and it would be interesting to see them get along.
I am always for ROBOTS! Especially robots of different kinds interacting. Or robots and cyborgs. Star Trek and BSG are easier to crossover; all you have to do is make the Colonies seeded by aliens masquerading as gods, and there you have it! You are welcome to do other things if you can make the two universes fit in other ways.I think Data and the Cylons would have interesting interactions because both want to be more human, but dang are their situations and methods different. You could do so much interesting stuff there. And if Voyager met up with the Colonial Fleet and they traveled together to find Earth, that would be interesting, and I think Seven and the Cylons would mutually find each other comfortably familiar and disturbing by turns.
Speaking of Robots: I love Murderbot and ART. You might have to do some fancy footwork to bridge the two (the Murderbot Diaries having no hints of anything in the Star Trek universe, and no convenient anomalies in the space-time continuum, either--though strange synthetics might be adapted for the purpose). Or you can just handwave the whole thing and have, say, Murderbot found by Enterprise and end up in therapy with Deanna (because dear God, it needs it). And can you imagine ART and Spock snarking at each other about logic and probabilities?
Trek/Doctor Who: Easy crossover because Trek has anomalies and the Tardis goes anywhere and anywhen it wants, and it's a big universe. I love the idea of long-lived characters such as Guinan and Dax and Jack Harkness and the Doctor meeting up with one another, particularly if there's timey-wimey stuff involved. As for Guinan/Jack, consider the ep when she and Riker flirt to give Wesley an example of how it's done, I think she and Jack would have a great time.
The Original Series
Anything that explores Vulcan culture and family ties would be awesome. I love both Sarek and Amanda, but Sarek in particular is a terrible Dad and I'd like to know more about Amanda. And more about Sybok before he got religious delusions. And more about Saavik.
David/Saavik: what would have happened had he lived (especially if, as in the original idea, Saavik got pregnant from Spock's Pon Farr)? How did they get along on before they ended up stranded on a planet together and then he died?
Spock/Saavik or Spock & Saavik. I like either, but if you are going in a shippy direction PLEASE minimize the "he was her caretaker as a child" aspect. On the other hand, if you're going platonic, feel free to lean into any paternal feelings you see there. Either parental or romance, not both in the same story. Also, feel free to bring in canon from The Pandora Principle or ignore it as it strikes your fancy. You could do stuff from her time in the Academy, stuff that draws on her half-Romulan nature, them rebuilding their relationship after Genesis (in whatever way you see their relationship), What If She Got Pregnant On Genesis, established relationship future-fic where she's an admiral and he's an ambassador and together They Save The Federation, whatever you want.
Uhura and Rand have a cute friendship in the show, and I'd love to see that explored. Maybe Uhura giving Rand career advice as she decides what she wants to do besides being a yeoman and starts training to be a communications officer? Also, Uhura and Chapel got some nice moments together, as did Uhura and Sulu and Uhura and Spock. For a show that was so hyper-focused on the Big Three, we got some great character moments for the other characters, and I would love to see those fleshed out.
M'Benga we know so little of that he's almost an OC, but I bet his life has been FASCINATING from what we know of it, and I'd love to see more of him and what his dreams/hopes/goals are.
As for plot ... it's Star Trek. If you want to play it serious and show them falling in love in between missions, go for it. If you want to lean into the wacky tropes Star Trek was known for, that's great too. As long as everyone is in character, feel free to go as cracktastic as you want with the time travel and travel to alternate universes and weird missions.
Enterprise
What can I say, I just love Vulcans. Trip and T'Pol were hands down my favorite thing about the show. Also, I love the idea of that Enterprise that got thrown back in time and turned into a generation ship, and I would love to see more of them and what happened when they first got thrown back in time, and also what might have happened if Lorian's Enterprise had survived.
A note on worldbuilding: so much of the things we're told about Vulcans in Enterprise makes NO SENSE when compared with ... anything in any other Star Trek show ever. For example, how do you outlaw melds and telepathic contact when YOU NEED TELEPATHIC BONDS TO MATE EVERY SEVEN YEARS?!?!?!?!? You can either ignore the contradictions or lean into them and find explanations for them.
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrasment/humiliation, modern AUs, darkfic
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.
I 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 or darkfic.
Here are some other things to keep in mind: 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--and women can be compelling and interesting without being "strong". I like cultural diversity, and to know that culture matters to people, and to see how different cultures interact and where the clashes are. 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.
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. 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).
I love outsider perspectives and academic takes on things. In-universe meta (newspaper articles, academic monographs--especially with the sort of snarky feuding common in actual real-world academia, social media feeds in current day or future worlds) is awesome.
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. 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).
I love outsider perspectives and academic takes on things. In-universe meta (newspaper articles, academic monographs--especially with the sort of snarky feuding common in actual real-world academia, social media feeds in current day or future worlds) is awesome.
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.
Original Work
Western culture has this idea that science and mysticism are incompatible, or that logic/reason and mysticism are incompatible. Obviously, Vulcans do not feel this way, if they did, they wouldn't have so many priests and priestesses around! I would love to explore that deeper. For example, during Spock's fal-tor-pan, there were all sorts of religious types around. What did they think of everything? Or just a day in the life. What does a Vulcan priestess do all day? Or pick a period of Star Trek history and think about what impact it might have had on Vulcan spiritual life. For example, when the Vulcan High Command of Enterprise-era was cracking down on mind-melds and telepathy, what did they do to the religious orders where telepathy seems to be a large part of their calling? Or, after the Dominion War, were there a lot of traumatized Vulcans who had been in combat who came to Mount Seleya for sanctuary? (Please don't use Christianity as a default template for What Religion Is Like, Christianity is deeply weird compared to most religions on Earth, we Westerners just don't notice because it's what we're used to.)
Or just go with general worldbuilding on Vulcan. What's it like? What cultural diversity is there? What's life like for Vulcans who aren't scientists or diplomats? What does a Vulcan marriage look like when nobody involved is a Starfleet officer? Or what's it like to be the spouse of a Starfleet officer who's gone all the time? Tell me about Vulcan gender relations: there's a lot that seems patriarchal, but then whenever we see a Vulcan woman who's really old, she is always The Most Important Person In The Room By Far. Does Vulcan gender and sex and sexuality line up with our understandings of these things, and if not, how do they differ? We all know Pon Farr is fascinating, but there are already a lot of stories about it, so unless you have a unique twist on how tot handle it, please don't make it the focus of the fic.
As for the Klingon psychiatrist, I get annoyed at how often Klingons get portrayed as the Stoic Warrior Barbarians. Even assuming replicators and robots, you still cannot have an ENTIRE CULTURE with nothing but warriors, the economics of it just do NOT work out. Also, I was fascinated by that one DS9 episode when Martok and Worf and Garak and Bashir were trapped in that Dominion prison camp, and how Martok and Worf respected Garak's "battle" with his claustrophobia, that's a really interesting way to frame mental illness, and I like the idea that Klingons don't stigmatize it.
Deep Space Nine
Again, I love worldbuilding, and Bajor is a fascinating place. If you go the OC route, I would love something about what life was like before the Cardassians, or about recovering after they're gone, or just about anything set during and after the events of the show. I love DS9, for how complex the characters were, for the way they dealt with consequences in a way no other Trek did, for the way they handled religious questions. There was good and evil, there was black and white, but there was also a whole spectrum of colors and shades of grey in between, and I loved that. Specifically on the question of religion, what I liked was that they didn't always default to the assumption that all religions must be like Christianity, and also that they never really came down with an answer on the question of whether the Prophets were gods or aliens or both. 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. I love how well they handled issues of violence and oppression and violent resistance to oppression, when dealing with Bajor and Cardassia and Kira's past as a terrorist. Violence was never good, and never easy, but there were times it was necessary, and then the question was how do we move on and heal from what happened, what the characters did and what was done to them. And if you're doing stuff with Bajoran religion, I would LOVE something that delved into what effect the Prophets' noncorporeal, nonlinear nature might have had on Bajoran religious life. (And the less like Christianity you make Bajoran religion, the happier I'll be.)
Consequences! That was one of my favorite things about DS9, it dealt with consequences. If you want to take a canon event that you think didn't get enough exploration, that would be awesome.
I'd love more about Jadzia, Worf, Alexander, and Martok. Worf and Jadzia go to Qo'nos! (I would not mind an AU where she lived.) But just in general, I love that Worf got to be more 3-dimensional on DS9 than on TNG and stuff exploring his relationships, romantic and familial, would be great. Klingon worldbuilding always appreciated.
Or stuff dealing with the implications of the Prophets 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. Kira and Sisko: SO MANY POSSIBILITIES. There's two main things that fascinate me about their relationship. The first is that Sisko is the Emmissary, and thus a religious figure to Kira, and how they both handle that, which the show touched on but didn't go into detail. A deep dive into the religious aspects could be fascinating, as long as you don't use Christianity as the default pattern of "what a religion is like." (Also, I've never read the books but apparently after the show ended Kira became a vedek and then Kai, and that transition would also be really interesting to explore.) The second thing that fascinates me is the huge difference in their training. Starfleet is highly academic in its training; Kira was basically apprenticed to a terrorist cell and learned everything about tactics and strategy and leadership the hard way, and may not know much else because when would she have had time? So you could do something about what qualifications she needed to pass to serve as his first officer, or what qualifications she needed to pass to get a commission in Starfleet later, or a time when one or both of their approaches/skillsets was really wrong for the situation.
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 were the Prophets truly hands-off on Benjamin's life between when they released Sarah and when he came to Bajor? I could go either way, and a story exploring that would be FASCINATING.
And I love Dax's relationship with Sisko, that lasted three hosts. I know the show was very explicit about coding it as non-romantic, but it would be SUCH an interesting dynamic to explore romantically.
The Next Generation
Deanna Troi/Worf: Talk about culture clash, but I'd love to see their relationship explored and given more time and not just used as shock material. And I'd love it to be a relationship built on mutual respect. Feel free to bring in the perspective Martok and the others had on mental illness when they were trapped in that Dominion prison camp, that mental illness is an enemy to fight and it takes a lot of strength to fight an enemy in your own head. From that perspective, Deanna is a weapons trainer for the mind.
Guinan is awesome and I love her, but please tone down the Magical Negro stereotype--she's a person, not just The Wise Magic Therapist/Advisor. She's got her own prejudices and traumas. I would love anything that dove into her past or her culture. Also, Picard and Guinan have INCREDIBLE chemistry. Go watch Time's Arrow and just watch the way he LOOKS AT HER.
Data and Lal were so sweet together, and I'd love to see more of them being sweet. I don't like the way people treat Data as either childlike or as someone who doesn't really get it. His poetry's actually pretty good, but they all treat it like it's a trial to be endured. Geordi's the only one who doesn't do that, and that's one thing I appreciate about his friendship with Data. Another plot idea, what would have happened to the court case and Lal's custody if she hadn't died?
Picard/Ro: oh, the possibilities! Either a relationship while she's on board the Enterprise, or maybe an AU where Earth was the one conquered by the Cardassians and Bajor is the perfect paradise world that's the founder of the Federation and provides most of the people for Starfleet. How would Starfleet be different? How would Ro be different? How would PICARD be different if he was from a conquered people and had a background in terrorism before joining Starfleet?
For Picard/Kamala, I don't see it as anything other than unrequited, unless perhaps the dude Kamala married died in an accident and she left the planet to live her own life, but even then, I don't know that she would have sought him out. I like that her choice was just that--her choice. And in a shitty situation, she chose to bond with the person whose desires made her into someone she wanted to be. I wonder what she did after? Like, obviously, duty and ethics are very important to her, that's why she chose Picard. But what does that mean, in the long run, given her situation? Does she use her position to advocate for change, or just endure until her husband died and then leave?
I think Worf and Tasha could have had a really interesting relationship if either of them had had ANY character development in the first few seasons when Tasha was on the show. I think Worf's struggle with his heritage makes it really interesting to think about him in a relationship, because there are always cultural things to negotiate.
I think Geordi was another one who didn't get much character development, but he was a great guy who would make a great spouse.
I absolutely LOVE Ro Laren, she's such a contrast to the rest of them.
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?
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.
Any or all of these are interesting relationships that could be really fun ways to dive deeper into who these characters are and their relationships with one another.
As for plot ... it's Star Trek. If you want to play it serious and show them falling in love in between missions, go for it. But if you want to lean into the wacky tropes Star Trek was known for, that's great too. As long as everyone is in character, feel free to go as cracktastic as you want with the time travel and travel to alternate universes and weird missions and science hijinks.
Yesterday's Saga
These two books, and the character of Zar, have fascinated me since I was a child. I think it's the intersection of Vulcan culture, Vulcan biology, and time travel, all of which are themes I would love explored in greater detail. I would be happy with just about anything. Missing scenes (Zar's childhood! his time on Enterprise either the first or second time he came to the future! Him building a golden age! His and Wynn's life afterwards!) would be great. So would AUs (Spock's first trip back to find him landed where Spock meant to and Zar and Zarabeth got brought back to the future! Zar stayed in the future either time! Zarabeth made it back with them in the original episode! Spock gets stuck in the past!).
If Spock is spending significant amounts of time in the past, I would like something that deals more with the effect of being in a pre-Surak time on him (my theory is that Vulcans have a subconscious telepathic bond with one another, and being in a time when he's the only one with the Disciplines means that he's not really capable of holding to the Disciplines fully). Also, is Wynn's precognition somehow connected to her exposure to the Guardian of Forever? ENQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW!
Fortunes of War
I love everyone in this series. I loved it as a teenager, and learned to cringe because of how "Mary Sue" it was, but fuck that noise. They're all awesome characters and the books are fun (and anti-fascist, which matters more to me now than it did in the 90s). Two general approaches appeal to me: first, delve into Vulcan culture and worldbuilding and what it means for Sarda, and second, more wacky space hijinks as the crew of the SS Banana Republic make their way through their careers. Either would be awesome.
Prompts: when Sarda was disavowed, what happened to his betrothal? Was it dissolved along with his other ties, and if so, does that pave the way for Piper/Sarda? How did Sarda and Scanner become friends? How do their fellow Starfleet junior officers react to their adventures? What's their career trajectory like after the events of the duology? Was "designing weapons" really enough to get Sarda disavowed, or was there a more complicated history there? Are there other Vulcans on Vulcan's shitlist, and if so, what's Sarda's relationship with them?
Rihannsu series
I don't know how many times I've read "My Enemy, My Ally" and "The Romulan Way." I own the other books, but haven't re-read them much; if you want to forget about them, feel free. I love the culture and the worldbuilding, and the characters are amazing. Pretty much anything with any of them would be lovely. Missing scenes, AUs, delving further into the worldbuilding ... as long as you stay true to the characters, I'll love whatever you come up with. There is some fantastic Rihannsu fic out there but alas not enough of it, I want MOAR.
Uhura's Song
I love this book, and I love that it's music that saves the day in the end. Also, Nyota is one of my favorite characters. And there are cat people! What's not to love? I will be happy with anything starring these characters.
Crossover Fandom
Q & Doctor Manhattan: both really powerful non-corporeal energy beings, but with very different personalities.
Stargate and Star Trek universes are not very compatible; we see too much of the galaxy in both series to make it believable that they coexist and yet we never see elements of one in the other. However, it could probably be done, or there's always the old standby "stargate malfunctions and drops the SG crew in a different universe" or "anomaly in the spacetime continuum strands Enterprise somewhere strange" to explain things away. Worf and Teal'c: both come from Stoic Warrior Barbarian Alien Species Played by People of Color. And yet, no culture is solely Warrior Barbarian, and also there are significant differences between Klingons and Jaffa, and I would love to see those explored. Or you could go the Geeking It Out way and focus on Geordi and Sam, I bet they'd have a lot of fun together exploring Enterprise/Goa'uld tech and saving the day. Tuvok and Teal'c come from extremely different cultures, and yet they both have similar jobs, when it gets right down to it, and it would be interesting to see them get along.
I am always for ROBOTS! Especially robots of different kinds interacting. Or robots and cyborgs. Star Trek and BSG are easier to crossover; all you have to do is make the Colonies seeded by aliens masquerading as gods, and there you have it! You are welcome to do other things if you can make the two universes fit in other ways.I think Data and the Cylons would have interesting interactions because both want to be more human, but dang are their situations and methods different. You could do so much interesting stuff there. And if Voyager met up with the Colonial Fleet and they traveled together to find Earth, that would be interesting, and I think Seven and the Cylons would mutually find each other comfortably familiar and disturbing by turns.
Speaking of Robots: I love Murderbot and ART. You might have to do some fancy footwork to bridge the two (the Murderbot Diaries having no hints of anything in the Star Trek universe, and no convenient anomalies in the space-time continuum, either--though strange synthetics might be adapted for the purpose). Or you can just handwave the whole thing and have, say, Murderbot found by Enterprise and end up in therapy with Deanna (because dear God, it needs it). And can you imagine ART and Spock snarking at each other about logic and probabilities?
Trek/Doctor Who: Easy crossover because Trek has anomalies and the Tardis goes anywhere and anywhen it wants, and it's a big universe. I love the idea of long-lived characters such as Guinan and Dax and Jack Harkness and the Doctor meeting up with one another, particularly if there's timey-wimey stuff involved. As for Guinan/Jack, consider the ep when she and Riker flirt to give Wesley an example of how it's done, I think she and Jack would have a great time.
The Original Series
Anything that explores Vulcan culture and family ties would be awesome. I love both Sarek and Amanda, but Sarek in particular is a terrible Dad and I'd like to know more about Amanda. And more about Sybok before he got religious delusions. And more about Saavik.
David/Saavik: what would have happened had he lived (especially if, as in the original idea, Saavik got pregnant from Spock's Pon Farr)? How did they get along on before they ended up stranded on a planet together and then he died?
Spock/Saavik or Spock & Saavik. I like either, but if you are going in a shippy direction PLEASE minimize the "he was her caretaker as a child" aspect. On the other hand, if you're going platonic, feel free to lean into any paternal feelings you see there. Either parental or romance, not both in the same story. Also, feel free to bring in canon from The Pandora Principle or ignore it as it strikes your fancy. You could do stuff from her time in the Academy, stuff that draws on her half-Romulan nature, them rebuilding their relationship after Genesis (in whatever way you see their relationship), What If She Got Pregnant On Genesis, established relationship future-fic where she's an admiral and he's an ambassador and together They Save The Federation, whatever you want.
Uhura and Rand have a cute friendship in the show, and I'd love to see that explored. Maybe Uhura giving Rand career advice as she decides what she wants to do besides being a yeoman and starts training to be a communications officer? Also, Uhura and Chapel got some nice moments together, as did Uhura and Sulu and Uhura and Spock. For a show that was so hyper-focused on the Big Three, we got some great character moments for the other characters, and I would love to see those fleshed out.
M'Benga we know so little of that he's almost an OC, but I bet his life has been FASCINATING from what we know of it, and I'd love to see more of him and what his dreams/hopes/goals are.
As for plot ... it's Star Trek. If you want to play it serious and show them falling in love in between missions, go for it. If you want to lean into the wacky tropes Star Trek was known for, that's great too. As long as everyone is in character, feel free to go as cracktastic as you want with the time travel and travel to alternate universes and weird missions.
Enterprise
What can I say, I just love Vulcans. Trip and T'Pol were hands down my favorite thing about the show. Also, I love the idea of that Enterprise that got thrown back in time and turned into a generation ship, and I would love to see more of them and what happened when they first got thrown back in time, and also what might have happened if Lorian's Enterprise had survived.
A note on worldbuilding: so much of the things we're told about Vulcans in Enterprise makes NO SENSE when compared with ... anything in any other Star Trek show ever. For example, how do you outlaw melds and telepathic contact when YOU NEED TELEPATHIC BONDS TO MATE EVERY SEVEN YEARS?!?!?!?!? You can either ignore the contradictions or lean into them and find explanations for them.
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrasment/humiliation, modern AUs, darkfic
