I use the same name everywhere so I am ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
beatrice_otter on AO3. Treats are awesome.
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.
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 define "darkfic" as stuff where there's a lot of suffering and no hope even at the end and all the characters are terrible. Angst with a happy ending is fine, I enjoy it, but there's gotta be a payoff. Even an ambiguous ending is fine! But there has to be some note of grace or redemption or hope somewhere, it can't just be "people are awful and the world sucks, the end."
General Likes and Dislikes
Here are some other things to keep in mind:
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.
Also, I'm picky about European historical clothing details. You don't have to talk about it at all! In fact, if you don't know much about historical clothing, I would prefer if you didn't mention it at all. My pet peeve is corsets: no, they weren't a restrictive tool of the patriarchy, no, they didn't interfere with most women's daily lives, no, most women weren't wearing them so tight they couldn't breathe.
I like religion but I'm picky about it. Basically, Christianity is deeply weird compared to most other religions, and a lot of people whose only experience with religion is living in a culturally-Christian nation assume that what they know about Christianity is some sort of universal principle of What Religion Is Like, and that's just not the case. For example, in Christianity what you believe is more important than what you do. This is not to say we Christians don't teach and practice Christian ethics or have rituals we are very attached to, but rather that if you don't believe in Jesus Christ, it doesn't matter what rituals you participate in or what ethical things you do, you are not a Christian. Every Christian group has at least a minimal core theology that members must affirm, but participation in ritual is far less rigidly a requirement. Most other religions rank what you do (both ethically and ritually) as more important than what you believe, and it is often quite possible to be a member in good standing if you participate in the practices and rituals even if you believe none of the teachings. Anyway, point is, if you are doing worldbuilding for a fantasy or SF or otherwise non-Christian religion ... unless it is explicitly a Christian-analogue, it should be different from Christianity. Question your assumptions and see where that leads you, and I will be fascinated and thrilled.
The Goblin Emperor
There's so much depth and richness to this story, and Maia is only barely keeping his head above water and doesn't know many details and doesn't have time or attention to spare to wonder about it. I love how hopepunk it is: yes, terrible things have happened, and yes, there are genuinely evil people, and yes, there are people who aren't evil but are nonetheless really awful. And yet, despite it all, good people win. There are people who can be trusted to be good, and kind, and loyal. I love how three-dimensional everyone is, not just the heroes but the villains, too. If you wanted to bring in historical flourishes, I'd be happy with parallels to European history, but I'd be ECSTATIC if you brought in non-Western ideas, practices, structures, clothing styles, and institutions. I would be equally happy with canon characters or OCs. None of the Amalo characters are in the tagset, but I'm fine with getting them if they are what's inspiring you right now.
I am interested in all levels of society from the top to the bottom. If you want to talk about the marriage prospects of street urchins or couriers, I'm here for that. If you want to talk about the universities training lawyers, I am here for that. If you want to write a story about a random person who built a really good restaurant near where the bridge was being built and made a fortune out of it, I would also be interested in that. There are so many threads I'd like to see connected or explored.
I generally find worldbuilding that assumes an alien religion is like (Evangelical/Fundamentalist Protestant) Christianity either boring or cringeworthy. Christianity is deeply weird, compared to pretty much every other religion out there, and yet it's what has shaped our views on "what religion is like," so I really appreciate when people question those basic assumptions and go in a different direction.
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic
Rivers of London
I love this series for many reasons: the snark! the vivid characters! the worldbuilding! the digressions! the wry-but-pointed social commentary on race and class and bureaucracy! the community and relationship building!. I've read/listened to most of the supplemental material so you can use any of that material if you want. You don't have to explain everything about How Genii Locorum Work (after all, canonically, even very long-lived rivers don't know the hows or the whys), but if you could dig deeper into that and other mysteries of the demi-monde, that would be awesome. If you go for the magic gets revealed prompt, that would be tailor-made for an outsider perspective fic. Casefic is always welcome.
One of the things I've realized over the last several books is how important the community-building aspect of things is. Peter goes out there and he gets to know people and he cares about them and builds relationships with them, and that opens up so many possibilities. It's not always easy--there are good reasons things became as fragmented as they were, and most of those reasons were directly the fault of the old Folly--but I love to see healing and reconciliation and new relationships growing.
I would be fascinated by Abdul and Peter geeking out over things and trying to figure out how to measure stuff, or trying to solve a mystery that requires figuring out how magic works a little bit more than they currently do. I love Caroline, and would be thrilled to see her trying to figure out how to fly. I like Abigail and her adventures, and I would be disappointed if she grew up to be a cop. I wonder what Mama Thames does with her time since she can't go out in public without people mobbing her. (And her line about the Rhine Maidens coming to see her to see how it's done, from her first introduction, is fascinating.)
I was heartbroken to read the story, in Lies Sleeping, about how White practitioners had murdered the Mississippi. And was very unsurprised when, in False Value, the Librarians talked about how hostile the Hudson River was. Under the circumstances, if that's how the US and its practitioners have treated genii locorum, I think the spirit of the Hudson (and all other rivers) has good reason to hate them! I'd love to hear more, but I'm hesitant to request it, because I think it would have to be handled very delicately by someone who knew a fair amount about the perspective, religion, and ecological practices of the Native American tribes around whatever river(s) you talked about. I don't think any new spirit would have to be Native American--if you can have English rivers be Black, you can have just about any race for an American river--but given that new river spirits remember their past selves, there would be overlap.
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic
Star Trek Rihannsu
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.
You can take any of the historical chapters in TRW and run with it, you can show us what Ael and the crew of the Bloodwing were up to when they were in exile, you can write some poor bureaucrat trying to deal with Ael's reforms and figuring out what all this means for daily life, you can write Starfleet Intelligence trying to figure out stuff about "Romulans" from what little information they get (and getting frustrated, maybe that's why they send in Terise/Arrhae). Or the dreadful movie that gets made about her "heroism" in the Senate chamber!
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic
DC Comics
I love the batfamily, and tend to prefer takes on it that are more "people are screwed up but we still love each other and are trying" to "these people are awful and hurt one another." I love all of the characters listed and will enjoy stories about any of them, but I encourage you to include Duke if you can because even considering how new he is, there is very little fanfic in which he even appears. And also, as the newest member of the Batfamily, he makes a perfect lens from which to view the family both from an insider perspective and for outsider perspectives on the Waynes/Bats. I will die on the "Stephanie Brown Was Really Robin" hill. I ship Bruce/Diana and Clark/Lois. Please don't break up Clark/Lois, but poly is fine and you can do whatever you want to Bruce and Diana.
I am fascinated by the idea of what it would be like to live in a world in which superheroes and supervillains actually existed, and what that would do to society and how society would view them. I'm interested in complicated relationships and feelings on the matter: on the one hand, Batman and co. have saved a lot of people; on the other hand, how can you be sure they're only going after people who really deserve it; on another hand, even if they aren't are they any worse than a corrupt/racist justice system; on another hand, how does Wayne Enterprise's treatment of employees and their philanthropic stuff affect Gotham vs. Batman's treatment of criminals and crime. (I tend to be of the opinion that Bruce uses a "carrot and stick" approach of using his and WE's money for positive change while going out every night as Batman.) I like things that focus on Batman as a detective, not just a great fighter. If you're interested, Kitty Unpretty has a great meta about "what is the corporate structure of WE anyway?" and if you wanted to use that as a jumping off point or background, I'd be thrilled (and Kitty has given blanket permission for its use).
Superman is a whole other kettle of fish, and there are complicated things to be said about Superman, and how much people would fear him for how powerful he was vs. trust him because he comes across (and genuinely is) so good, and there's always fascinating stuff to be done about who he is, really, and whether "Superman" or "Clark Kent" or "Kal-El" is the truest core of his identity. (I tend to go with "Clark".) Then there's all the complicated stuff about being culturally human, and yet still being drawn to the culture of his birth, and trying to piece it together from fragments.
My answer to "who would win in a fight between Superman and Batman?" is "Wonder Woman." She's at least as smart as either of them, at least as strong/powerful as either of them, and has a hell of a lot fewer issues to trip her up. She is a consummate professional, full of charm and grace and compassion, and manages to keep that in a really messed up world. And she's not going to get distracted from her duty and her goals.
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic
Star Wars Legends
The original Zahn trilogy and the X-Wing books are my favorite parts of the old Legends universe, but I like everything EXCEPT the Courtship of Princess Leia and the New Jedi Order stuff. (Teneniel Djo is awesome! Han kidnapping Leia is really really REALLY not. And I hated pretty much everything about the Vong.) I really like it when Luke is building a new Jedi community and rebuilding old traditions. You can bring in details from the PT and newer canon, if they don't contradict major parts of the Zahn trilogy.
Mara has such a complex past. I think she has trauma from her time with Palpatine that she can't admit even to herself--he was so good at grooming young people, so very manipulative, and even when you know your abuser did evil things to you, it's still hard to internalize. I think she has a unique perspective on the Force, and the Jedi, and galactic politics, that doesn't fit easily or neatly with the others but nevertheless is important to include if they don't want to re-make the mistakes of the past. It's about how do we remember the past while working to create a new future? How do we avoid making old mistakes? How do we heal? How do we build something better?
I love Lando, and I think he was absolutely right to put the safety of his entire city and everyone living in it ahead of the well-being of a couple of old friends. He is smart, pragmatic, and responsible in the best possible way. Does Lando serve as the practical "let's get support and resources for this new Jedi Order you're building" while Luke swans around being compassionate and heroic and saving the day? (But make sure that Lando's contributions are valued and not taken for granted.) Is there some Force bullshit at work somewhere?
I think Lando and Mara would do very well together; both okay with shady stuff, but both with deep principles they will not compromise. My primary ship is Luke/Mara but I was livid when they retconned Lando/Mara out with "oh, no, they were never really together, it was just an undercover thing!" Even as a very sheltered middle class white teen, I could tell that was racist bullshit, and also smacked of that patriarchal extreme-monagamist trope where "if you love each other, your previous relationships can't have meant anything!" which always hits harder for women than men. No. People can decide a relationship isn't working and end it and start new ones without devaluing and denying the previous relationship. I would love Lando/Mara. I would love Luke/Mara where either she was never with Lando at all even for undercover purposes, or where Lando/Mara used to be together and broke up amicably. I would love Luke/Lando/Mara. I would be livid at "but Lando/Mara was never a real relationship!"
Plot bunnies: Standard Star Wars shenanigans where the fate of the galaxy is at stake and Our Heroes save the day. Is there critical knowledge in a hidden holocron they have to find? Is one of the other Hands (or an Inquisitor, or some other evil Force user) making trouble for the underworld and/or the New Jedi Order and/or the New Republic? Is the Empire threatening Lando's newest business venture (again)? Do Corran and Mirax have problems reconciling their separate careers and his Jedi stuff? Does Rogue Squadron find some old Jedi macguffin or Jedi survivor? Does one of Mirax's contacts do that? Does Luke hire Mirax to retrieve something or someone from danger and/or Imperial hands?
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic, twincest, the "Lando and Mara were never really together, it was all a con/undercover thing!" retcon, Kylo Ren
Moon Knight
The whole "avatar of a god" thing has so much that could be explored. Who are the gods and how do they see the world and humans? Are the Egyptian gods the only ones who do this? Is being an avatar now different than it used to be? What effect does Mark's Dissociative Identity Disorder have on things? Bonus points if you bring in some actual Egyptian mythology and worldview to flesh out the Marvel version.
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic,
Babylon 5
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.) One of the things I love about Babylon 5 is that there were so many characters 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. I consider "To Dream in the City of Sorrows" canon and firmly believe that when Sinclair went into the past and became Valen, he found Catherine again after she was lost in time.
Is there a mystery about Jeff/Valen and the Minbari, something having to do with prophecy, time travel and/or messages from Sinclair/Valen in the past? What if Neroon survived somehow and had to learn to be religious caste?
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic
Pacific Rim
The whole idea of "drift compatibility" is catnip to me. Knowing someone that well, trusting them to literally be inside your brain with you. And then going out to fight giant monsters together! What's not to love. My two favorite characters from Pacific Rim are Stacker Pentecost and Mako Mori, but I love Raleigh too and am fascinated by his relationship with his brother and what it would be like to drift with your brother vs. drifting with a stranger.
On the issue of sexuality and Jaeger pilots, do you feel your partner's sexual interests while you're drifting? Obviously, there's no time to focus on that while you're fighting Kaiju, but I would bet that for allosexuals it's going to cross your mind at least occasionally, right? And I don't think you have to be asexual to go "I love my sibling, but I really don't want to know that much about their sex life." Figuring out what your boundaries are and how to maintain them would be difficult. I don't subscribe to the "drifting makes you want to have sex with your partner" thing I've seen occasionally, but drifting is all about trust and so is physical intimacy.
I would love an academic perspective on anything in that movie. Every single thing is so batshit crazy, you know the academics are having a field day with it. And you know there would be bad movies (and good movies) and all kinds of fandom shenanigans and that would be brain-breaking to be one of the focuses of (as Jaeger pilots are) but also, I am interested in what the average person on the street thinks about it all.
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic
Star Trek DS9
I love Bajor, and I love worldbuilding about religion, but I also get nervous requesting it because so many people are really only familiar with Evangelical/Fundamentalist Protestant Christianity, and assume (even unconsciously) that all religion is Like That, when the Evangelicals are deeply weird compared to the rest of Christianity either today or throughout history, and Christianity as a whole is deeply weird when compared to ... pretty much any other religion on Earth. Now, the show often had parallels between Evangelicals/Fundamentalists and Bajoran religion because they were using Bajor to comment on US religious politics and history. (For example: Winn trying to shut down the school bc they taught that the prophets were aliens instead of gods was a direct commentary on the fundies trying to prevent schools from teaching evolution.) But I generally find worldbuilding that assumes an alien religion is like (Evangelical/Fundamentalist Protestant) Christianity either boring or cringeworthy. I want it to be ALIEN. Especially with Bajor, where we've MET their gods and they have such a fundamentally different perspective on EVERYTHING than us linear creatures, I don't want it to feel like another screed on What Is Wrong With Christianity In America.
Examples (feel free to do other stuff, though): you could lean into the Prophets' timey-wimey non-linearity and what that means for a religion that worships them. Most Earth religions are heavily time-based, with regular repeating festivals that serve a lot of purposes both social and religious--how would that work (or not work) when worshiping beings who see everything happening at once? Or explore the Orbs! What other orbs are there besides Time and Prophecy, and what do they DO? You don't have to have any ritual or belief or ANYTHING to use them, if they have line-of-sight to you they can DO THINGS. Give you visions! Send you time traveling! Whatever it is the others do! No Earth religion has any artifact that is anything like that, and besides wondering what the other orbs even are/do, I'm curious as to how they shaped Bajoran religion, and how it was that the Bajorans ended up worshiping the ones who SENT the orbs instead of the orbs themselves. Especially given that the Prophets mostly ... don't seem to want to be gods or care about being worshiped or what's going on on Bajor or anything. So it's not like they were sending messages with the Orbs about who sent them and why, which leaves a lot of scope for interpretation on the part of the Bajorans who found them.
Sisko's position as Emissary 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. It's such a fraught thing. They've been colonized by aliens (Cardassians), and are worried about more aliens (the Federation) doing the same thing only "nicer," and rebuilding their culture and religion after everything, and ... now their gods have chosen an alien as Emissary? We got a lot about Sisko's discomfort with that, but not much about the Bajoran perspective besides "fawning reverence," which is a shame because there's got to be so much more going on.
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.
Besides Bajoran-specific issues, we got a very narrow look at the Dominion War, and I'd be fascinated to see what else was going on and what it was like for someone who wasn't a Main Character Living On The Front Line Planet.
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic
Star Wars Prequels
My theory on canon for Star Wars is that the first six movies are canon, and anything else you take the interesting bits and feel free to leave the rest. It's not that I dislike the newer stuff, it's that I don't feel constrained by it. Sometimes the new stuff is better than the old Legends, sometimes Legends was better, sometimes I don't like either, sometimes I like both. Feel free to mix-and-match (although I hate Kylo Ren and what they did to Luke in the ST). Mara Jade is my favorite part of Legends, in case you're wondering.
I loved Shmi's quiet dignity, and hate that she got fridged. She deserves happiness! And freedom! And to punch Palpatine in the face for what he did to her sweet boy. Feel free to go with Fialleril's Tattooine Slave Culture but don't be afraid to make up your own stuff instead if you want. Also, I've always thought there was a good chance that Palpatine paid the Tuskens (through middle men) to kidnap and torture her, because honestly that makes no sense otherwise. In most cultures that I know of where kidnapping people is A Thing They Do As A Tribe, usually they have some sort of goal in mind. Either they kill the person (torture may be involved, but usually not prolonged), or they make the person a slave, or they make the person a part of the tribe (sometimes to replace someone who died/was killed by the kidnapee's people). Keeping someone alive that long just to torture them makes no sense, especially on a world as resource-poor as Tatooine. They had to be giving her water to keep her alive, which is a waste if all they're going to do is torture her to death eventually. Not that you have to focus on this particular thing! Just, if you do, here are some issues to keep in mind. Also, I much prefer "enslaved person escapes and/or is rescued" over "enslaved person is bought and freed, thus rewarding the enslaver." You can go either way, and obviously in canon she was bought, but she's got to have a bunch of complicated feelings and thoughts on the subject.
I think that if Padmé had survived and ended up being home-based out of Tattooine, she would have been a real fish out of water, but I think she would have adapted. I think it would be good for her to be the odd one out, the one who doesn't understand what's going on, who makes mistakes out of arrogance and has to deal with the consequences. I also think that spending time on Tattooine, in the shadow of the Hutts and slavery, would give her a lot of insight into Anakin and what all went wrong there. I'd love to see something with Padmé and Shmi.
I think Mace gets a bum rap from fandom a lot of the time. Yes, he is very stern; yes, he is a good fighter, but we also see in many places how gentle and compassionate he can be. I'd love anything for him: a day in the life, an adventure from his youth or young adulthood, an AU where he survives, or where he defeats Palpatine just before Anakin arrives, time travel fixit of some sort, him interacting with Initiates and/or Padawans, something with internal Jedi politics (all organizations have them), anything.
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic, Kylo Ren
beatrice_otter on AO3. Treats are awesome.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.
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 define "darkfic" as stuff where there's a lot of suffering and no hope even at the end and all the characters are terrible. Angst with a happy ending is fine, I enjoy it, but there's gotta be a payoff. Even an ambiguous ending is fine! But there has to be some note of grace or redemption or hope somewhere, it can't just be "people are awful and the world sucks, the end."
General Likes and Dislikes
Here are some other things to keep in mind:
- I like stuff that takes side characters and puts them center-stage, especially when they are characters of color or women. I enjoy seeing them come to life.
- I don't like it when characters of color or women get relegated to the sidekick/supporting/helper role so that it can be All About The White Dude.
- I like it when female characters are more than just the Strong Female Character(tm) or The Nurturer.
- I like fluff
- I like angst with a happy ending
- I like stories that make me think about things in a new way.
- I like to know that culture matters to people, and to see how different cultures interact and where the clashes are.
- 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 instead of sweeping it under the rug.
- Worldbuilding is my jam, I am pretty much always up for explorations of why the world is the way it is. I love hearing about the economics, the politics, the religion, the clothing, the history, the folklore, 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 enjoy it if you do.
- I don't like it when plots hinge on characters being selectively stupid, or selectively unable to communicate. Like, if they are stupid or a himbo or whatever in general, or have problems communicating in general, that's fine! But if it's just "the only way I can think of for this plot to work is if the character spontaneously and temporarily loses half their intelligence and competence," then I'm going to spend the rest of the fic wondering why the character didn't just ____?
- I like AUs, but not complete setting 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.
- 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.
- 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 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.
Also, I'm picky about European historical clothing details. You don't have to talk about it at all! In fact, if you don't know much about historical clothing, I would prefer if you didn't mention it at all. My pet peeve is corsets: no, they weren't a restrictive tool of the patriarchy, no, they didn't interfere with most women's daily lives, no, most women weren't wearing them so tight they couldn't breathe.
I like religion but I'm picky about it. Basically, Christianity is deeply weird compared to most other religions, and a lot of people whose only experience with religion is living in a culturally-Christian nation assume that what they know about Christianity is some sort of universal principle of What Religion Is Like, and that's just not the case. For example, in Christianity what you believe is more important than what you do. This is not to say we Christians don't teach and practice Christian ethics or have rituals we are very attached to, but rather that if you don't believe in Jesus Christ, it doesn't matter what rituals you participate in or what ethical things you do, you are not a Christian. Every Christian group has at least a minimal core theology that members must affirm, but participation in ritual is far less rigidly a requirement. Most other religions rank what you do (both ethically and ritually) as more important than what you believe, and it is often quite possible to be a member in good standing if you participate in the practices and rituals even if you believe none of the teachings. Anyway, point is, if you are doing worldbuilding for a fantasy or SF or otherwise non-Christian religion ... unless it is explicitly a Christian-analogue, it should be different from Christianity. Question your assumptions and see where that leads you, and I will be fascinated and thrilled.
The Goblin Emperor
There's so much depth and richness to this story, and Maia is only barely keeping his head above water and doesn't know many details and doesn't have time or attention to spare to wonder about it. I love how hopepunk it is: yes, terrible things have happened, and yes, there are genuinely evil people, and yes, there are people who aren't evil but are nonetheless really awful. And yet, despite it all, good people win. There are people who can be trusted to be good, and kind, and loyal. I love how three-dimensional everyone is, not just the heroes but the villains, too. If you wanted to bring in historical flourishes, I'd be happy with parallels to European history, but I'd be ECSTATIC if you brought in non-Western ideas, practices, structures, clothing styles, and institutions. I would be equally happy with canon characters or OCs. None of the Amalo characters are in the tagset, but I'm fine with getting them if they are what's inspiring you right now.
I am interested in all levels of society from the top to the bottom. If you want to talk about the marriage prospects of street urchins or couriers, I'm here for that. If you want to talk about the universities training lawyers, I am here for that. If you want to write a story about a random person who built a really good restaurant near where the bridge was being built and made a fortune out of it, I would also be interested in that. There are so many threads I'd like to see connected or explored.
I generally find worldbuilding that assumes an alien religion is like (Evangelical/Fundamentalist Protestant) Christianity either boring or cringeworthy. Christianity is deeply weird, compared to pretty much every other religion out there, and yet it's what has shaped our views on "what religion is like," so I really appreciate when people question those basic assumptions and go in a different direction.
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic
Rivers of London
I love this series for many reasons: the snark! the vivid characters! the worldbuilding! the digressions! the wry-but-pointed social commentary on race and class and bureaucracy! the community and relationship building!. I've read/listened to most of the supplemental material so you can use any of that material if you want. You don't have to explain everything about How Genii Locorum Work (after all, canonically, even very long-lived rivers don't know the hows or the whys), but if you could dig deeper into that and other mysteries of the demi-monde, that would be awesome. If you go for the magic gets revealed prompt, that would be tailor-made for an outsider perspective fic. Casefic is always welcome.
One of the things I've realized over the last several books is how important the community-building aspect of things is. Peter goes out there and he gets to know people and he cares about them and builds relationships with them, and that opens up so many possibilities. It's not always easy--there are good reasons things became as fragmented as they were, and most of those reasons were directly the fault of the old Folly--but I love to see healing and reconciliation and new relationships growing.
I would be fascinated by Abdul and Peter geeking out over things and trying to figure out how to measure stuff, or trying to solve a mystery that requires figuring out how magic works a little bit more than they currently do. I love Caroline, and would be thrilled to see her trying to figure out how to fly. I like Abigail and her adventures, and I would be disappointed if she grew up to be a cop. I wonder what Mama Thames does with her time since she can't go out in public without people mobbing her. (And her line about the Rhine Maidens coming to see her to see how it's done, from her first introduction, is fascinating.)
I was heartbroken to read the story, in Lies Sleeping, about how White practitioners had murdered the Mississippi. And was very unsurprised when, in False Value, the Librarians talked about how hostile the Hudson River was. Under the circumstances, if that's how the US and its practitioners have treated genii locorum, I think the spirit of the Hudson (and all other rivers) has good reason to hate them! I'd love to hear more, but I'm hesitant to request it, because I think it would have to be handled very delicately by someone who knew a fair amount about the perspective, religion, and ecological practices of the Native American tribes around whatever river(s) you talked about. I don't think any new spirit would have to be Native American--if you can have English rivers be Black, you can have just about any race for an American river--but given that new river spirits remember their past selves, there would be overlap.
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic
Star Trek Rihannsu
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.
You can take any of the historical chapters in TRW and run with it, you can show us what Ael and the crew of the Bloodwing were up to when they were in exile, you can write some poor bureaucrat trying to deal with Ael's reforms and figuring out what all this means for daily life, you can write Starfleet Intelligence trying to figure out stuff about "Romulans" from what little information they get (and getting frustrated, maybe that's why they send in Terise/Arrhae). Or the dreadful movie that gets made about her "heroism" in the Senate chamber!
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic
DC Comics
I love the batfamily, and tend to prefer takes on it that are more "people are screwed up but we still love each other and are trying" to "these people are awful and hurt one another." I love all of the characters listed and will enjoy stories about any of them, but I encourage you to include Duke if you can because even considering how new he is, there is very little fanfic in which he even appears. And also, as the newest member of the Batfamily, he makes a perfect lens from which to view the family both from an insider perspective and for outsider perspectives on the Waynes/Bats. I will die on the "Stephanie Brown Was Really Robin" hill. I ship Bruce/Diana and Clark/Lois. Please don't break up Clark/Lois, but poly is fine and you can do whatever you want to Bruce and Diana.
I am fascinated by the idea of what it would be like to live in a world in which superheroes and supervillains actually existed, and what that would do to society and how society would view them. I'm interested in complicated relationships and feelings on the matter: on the one hand, Batman and co. have saved a lot of people; on the other hand, how can you be sure they're only going after people who really deserve it; on another hand, even if they aren't are they any worse than a corrupt/racist justice system; on another hand, how does Wayne Enterprise's treatment of employees and their philanthropic stuff affect Gotham vs. Batman's treatment of criminals and crime. (I tend to be of the opinion that Bruce uses a "carrot and stick" approach of using his and WE's money for positive change while going out every night as Batman.) I like things that focus on Batman as a detective, not just a great fighter. If you're interested, Kitty Unpretty has a great meta about "what is the corporate structure of WE anyway?" and if you wanted to use that as a jumping off point or background, I'd be thrilled (and Kitty has given blanket permission for its use).
Superman is a whole other kettle of fish, and there are complicated things to be said about Superman, and how much people would fear him for how powerful he was vs. trust him because he comes across (and genuinely is) so good, and there's always fascinating stuff to be done about who he is, really, and whether "Superman" or "Clark Kent" or "Kal-El" is the truest core of his identity. (I tend to go with "Clark".) Then there's all the complicated stuff about being culturally human, and yet still being drawn to the culture of his birth, and trying to piece it together from fragments.
My answer to "who would win in a fight between Superman and Batman?" is "Wonder Woman." She's at least as smart as either of them, at least as strong/powerful as either of them, and has a hell of a lot fewer issues to trip her up. She is a consummate professional, full of charm and grace and compassion, and manages to keep that in a really messed up world. And she's not going to get distracted from her duty and her goals.
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic
Star Wars Legends
The original Zahn trilogy and the X-Wing books are my favorite parts of the old Legends universe, but I like everything EXCEPT the Courtship of Princess Leia and the New Jedi Order stuff. (Teneniel Djo is awesome! Han kidnapping Leia is really really REALLY not. And I hated pretty much everything about the Vong.) I really like it when Luke is building a new Jedi community and rebuilding old traditions. You can bring in details from the PT and newer canon, if they don't contradict major parts of the Zahn trilogy.
Mara has such a complex past. I think she has trauma from her time with Palpatine that she can't admit even to herself--he was so good at grooming young people, so very manipulative, and even when you know your abuser did evil things to you, it's still hard to internalize. I think she has a unique perspective on the Force, and the Jedi, and galactic politics, that doesn't fit easily or neatly with the others but nevertheless is important to include if they don't want to re-make the mistakes of the past. It's about how do we remember the past while working to create a new future? How do we avoid making old mistakes? How do we heal? How do we build something better?
I love Lando, and I think he was absolutely right to put the safety of his entire city and everyone living in it ahead of the well-being of a couple of old friends. He is smart, pragmatic, and responsible in the best possible way. Does Lando serve as the practical "let's get support and resources for this new Jedi Order you're building" while Luke swans around being compassionate and heroic and saving the day? (But make sure that Lando's contributions are valued and not taken for granted.) Is there some Force bullshit at work somewhere?
I think Lando and Mara would do very well together; both okay with shady stuff, but both with deep principles they will not compromise. My primary ship is Luke/Mara but I was livid when they retconned Lando/Mara out with "oh, no, they were never really together, it was just an undercover thing!" Even as a very sheltered middle class white teen, I could tell that was racist bullshit, and also smacked of that patriarchal extreme-monagamist trope where "if you love each other, your previous relationships can't have meant anything!" which always hits harder for women than men. No. People can decide a relationship isn't working and end it and start new ones without devaluing and denying the previous relationship. I would love Lando/Mara. I would love Luke/Mara where either she was never with Lando at all even for undercover purposes, or where Lando/Mara used to be together and broke up amicably. I would love Luke/Lando/Mara. I would be livid at "but Lando/Mara was never a real relationship!"
Plot bunnies: Standard Star Wars shenanigans where the fate of the galaxy is at stake and Our Heroes save the day. Is there critical knowledge in a hidden holocron they have to find? Is one of the other Hands (or an Inquisitor, or some other evil Force user) making trouble for the underworld and/or the New Jedi Order and/or the New Republic? Is the Empire threatening Lando's newest business venture (again)? Do Corran and Mirax have problems reconciling their separate careers and his Jedi stuff? Does Rogue Squadron find some old Jedi macguffin or Jedi survivor? Does one of Mirax's contacts do that? Does Luke hire Mirax to retrieve something or someone from danger and/or Imperial hands?
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic, twincest, the "Lando and Mara were never really together, it was all a con/undercover thing!" retcon, Kylo Ren
Moon Knight
The whole "avatar of a god" thing has so much that could be explored. Who are the gods and how do they see the world and humans? Are the Egyptian gods the only ones who do this? Is being an avatar now different than it used to be? What effect does Mark's Dissociative Identity Disorder have on things? Bonus points if you bring in some actual Egyptian mythology and worldview to flesh out the Marvel version.
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic,
Babylon 5
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.) One of the things I love about Babylon 5 is that there were so many characters 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. I consider "To Dream in the City of Sorrows" canon and firmly believe that when Sinclair went into the past and became Valen, he found Catherine again after she was lost in time.
Is there a mystery about Jeff/Valen and the Minbari, something having to do with prophecy, time travel and/or messages from Sinclair/Valen in the past? What if Neroon survived somehow and had to learn to be religious caste?
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic
Pacific Rim
The whole idea of "drift compatibility" is catnip to me. Knowing someone that well, trusting them to literally be inside your brain with you. And then going out to fight giant monsters together! What's not to love. My two favorite characters from Pacific Rim are Stacker Pentecost and Mako Mori, but I love Raleigh too and am fascinated by his relationship with his brother and what it would be like to drift with your brother vs. drifting with a stranger.
On the issue of sexuality and Jaeger pilots, do you feel your partner's sexual interests while you're drifting? Obviously, there's no time to focus on that while you're fighting Kaiju, but I would bet that for allosexuals it's going to cross your mind at least occasionally, right? And I don't think you have to be asexual to go "I love my sibling, but I really don't want to know that much about their sex life." Figuring out what your boundaries are and how to maintain them would be difficult. I don't subscribe to the "drifting makes you want to have sex with your partner" thing I've seen occasionally, but drifting is all about trust and so is physical intimacy.
I would love an academic perspective on anything in that movie. Every single thing is so batshit crazy, you know the academics are having a field day with it. And you know there would be bad movies (and good movies) and all kinds of fandom shenanigans and that would be brain-breaking to be one of the focuses of (as Jaeger pilots are) but also, I am interested in what the average person on the street thinks about it all.
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic
Star Trek DS9
I love Bajor, and I love worldbuilding about religion, but I also get nervous requesting it because so many people are really only familiar with Evangelical/Fundamentalist Protestant Christianity, and assume (even unconsciously) that all religion is Like That, when the Evangelicals are deeply weird compared to the rest of Christianity either today or throughout history, and Christianity as a whole is deeply weird when compared to ... pretty much any other religion on Earth. Now, the show often had parallels between Evangelicals/Fundamentalists and Bajoran religion because they were using Bajor to comment on US religious politics and history. (For example: Winn trying to shut down the school bc they taught that the prophets were aliens instead of gods was a direct commentary on the fundies trying to prevent schools from teaching evolution.) But I generally find worldbuilding that assumes an alien religion is like (Evangelical/Fundamentalist Protestant) Christianity either boring or cringeworthy. I want it to be ALIEN. Especially with Bajor, where we've MET their gods and they have such a fundamentally different perspective on EVERYTHING than us linear creatures, I don't want it to feel like another screed on What Is Wrong With Christianity In America.
Examples (feel free to do other stuff, though): you could lean into the Prophets' timey-wimey non-linearity and what that means for a religion that worships them. Most Earth religions are heavily time-based, with regular repeating festivals that serve a lot of purposes both social and religious--how would that work (or not work) when worshiping beings who see everything happening at once? Or explore the Orbs! What other orbs are there besides Time and Prophecy, and what do they DO? You don't have to have any ritual or belief or ANYTHING to use them, if they have line-of-sight to you they can DO THINGS. Give you visions! Send you time traveling! Whatever it is the others do! No Earth religion has any artifact that is anything like that, and besides wondering what the other orbs even are/do, I'm curious as to how they shaped Bajoran religion, and how it was that the Bajorans ended up worshiping the ones who SENT the orbs instead of the orbs themselves. Especially given that the Prophets mostly ... don't seem to want to be gods or care about being worshiped or what's going on on Bajor or anything. So it's not like they were sending messages with the Orbs about who sent them and why, which leaves a lot of scope for interpretation on the part of the Bajorans who found them.
Sisko's position as Emissary 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. It's such a fraught thing. They've been colonized by aliens (Cardassians), and are worried about more aliens (the Federation) doing the same thing only "nicer," and rebuilding their culture and religion after everything, and ... now their gods have chosen an alien as Emissary? We got a lot about Sisko's discomfort with that, but not much about the Bajoran perspective besides "fawning reverence," which is a shame because there's got to be so much more going on.
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.
Besides Bajoran-specific issues, we got a very narrow look at the Dominion War, and I'd be fascinated to see what else was going on and what it was like for someone who wasn't a Main Character Living On The Front Line Planet.
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic
Star Wars Prequels
My theory on canon for Star Wars is that the first six movies are canon, and anything else you take the interesting bits and feel free to leave the rest. It's not that I dislike the newer stuff, it's that I don't feel constrained by it. Sometimes the new stuff is better than the old Legends, sometimes Legends was better, sometimes I don't like either, sometimes I like both. Feel free to mix-and-match (although I hate Kylo Ren and what they did to Luke in the ST). Mara Jade is my favorite part of Legends, in case you're wondering.
I loved Shmi's quiet dignity, and hate that she got fridged. She deserves happiness! And freedom! And to punch Palpatine in the face for what he did to her sweet boy. Feel free to go with Fialleril's Tattooine Slave Culture but don't be afraid to make up your own stuff instead if you want. Also, I've always thought there was a good chance that Palpatine paid the Tuskens (through middle men) to kidnap and torture her, because honestly that makes no sense otherwise. In most cultures that I know of where kidnapping people is A Thing They Do As A Tribe, usually they have some sort of goal in mind. Either they kill the person (torture may be involved, but usually not prolonged), or they make the person a slave, or they make the person a part of the tribe (sometimes to replace someone who died/was killed by the kidnapee's people). Keeping someone alive that long just to torture them makes no sense, especially on a world as resource-poor as Tatooine. They had to be giving her water to keep her alive, which is a waste if all they're going to do is torture her to death eventually. Not that you have to focus on this particular thing! Just, if you do, here are some issues to keep in mind. Also, I much prefer "enslaved person escapes and/or is rescued" over "enslaved person is bought and freed, thus rewarding the enslaver." You can go either way, and obviously in canon she was bought, but she's got to have a bunch of complicated feelings and thoughts on the subject.
I think that if Padmé had survived and ended up being home-based out of Tattooine, she would have been a real fish out of water, but I think she would have adapted. I think it would be good for her to be the odd one out, the one who doesn't understand what's going on, who makes mistakes out of arrogance and has to deal with the consequences. I also think that spending time on Tattooine, in the shadow of the Hutts and slavery, would give her a lot of insight into Anakin and what all went wrong there. I'd love to see something with Padmé and Shmi.
I think Mace gets a bum rap from fandom a lot of the time. Yes, he is very stern; yes, he is a good fighter, but we also see in many places how gentle and compassionate he can be. I'd love anything for him: a day in the life, an adventure from his youth or young adulthood, an AU where he survives, or where he defeats Palpatine just before Anakin arrives, time travel fixit of some sort, him interacting with Initiates and/or Padawans, something with internal Jedi politics (all organizations have them), anything.
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic, Kylo Ren
