Otter's Rock

ssr_confidential_2016 is a fanfic exchange for Agent Carter, with fic, vids, and art being exchanged.

DON'T PANIC.

This is a very long letter with lots of stuff, but DO NOT PANIC.  I'm actually fairly easy to please; I am very rarely disappointed with a ficathon story.  I write long and detailed Dear Author letters because I find such things helpful when I'm writing for other people; if you are like me, here you go!  If your style is different and a detailed letter makes you feel hemmed-in, feel free to do what works for you.

The most important thing for me in a fic is that the characters are well-written and recognizably themselves.  Even when I don't like a character, I don't go in for character-bashing.  If nothing else, if the rest of this letter is too much or my kinks just don't fit yours, just concentrate on writing a good story with everyone in character and good spelling and grammar and I will almost certainly love what you come up with.

One thing: I do have an embarrassment squick, which makes humor kind of hit-or-miss sometimes.  The kind of humor where someone does something embarrassing and the audience is laughing at them makes me uncomfortable because I identify too much with the person getting laughed at, so instead of being funny it is squicky.  On the other hand, the kind of humor where the audience is laughing with the characters I really enjoy.

If you want to make me the happiest recipient ever, here are some other things to keep in mind (not all of which will apply to all fandoms):

( General Preferences )

Specifics!
Dottie Underwood.  I am really interested in Dottie. What was the Red Room training like and how does it still affect her?  What was she doing between seasons 1 & 2? Are there other current Black Widows, and what happened to the other girls she was training with?  Is she still a Red Room agent or on her own now, and what's the larger backing to the Red Room (KGB, HYDRA, general Soviet villainy)?  How does all this fits into the larger MCU framework?  Does she ever join up with the nascent HYDRA in the SSR?  Does her fascination with Peggy ever wax and wane?  Does she ever work with the Winter Soldier?

Howard Stark/Whitney Frost.  Howard Stark/Whitney Frost: what changes, what stays the same?  If she no longer has to kill people to get to do the science she *really* wants to do, how does that change her?  (I would think that depends on when they meet, how much sexism/creepy guys she's had to put up with to get where she is.  Like, young!Whitney just starting out wants nothing more than to do science, whereas post!season2!Whitney.  The ep with her backstory made me wonder if she was a victim of some sort of sexual abuse, both with her "uncle" and later that first agent, but I don't insist on that interpretation.  (Goes cold and still around him, "I don't like him" but won't say why--could easily be a child testing the waters, what is acceptable to say about the abuse she's experienced.)  Howard's a dick, but his reaction to competent women seems to be "awesome, let's work together, can we create something," which Whitney desperately needs.  If you do something post!season2, though, it shouldn't be an easy relationship or redemption.  If you do a fanvid for Whitney, The Rules of the Road by Cy Coleman would be a great song for her.  (I like Rosemary Clooney's version best, but I couldn't find it on Youtube--it's a little more upbeat than the version linked.  Lena Horne also did an awesome recording of it.)

Peggy Carter/Gabe Jones.  This is the comics pairing, and I read a couple of AWESOME Peggy/Gabe fics early on, and really imprinted on the pairing.  I have been very "meh" about both the pairing options we were offered in season 2.  Where was Gabe during all this?  What is he doing, post War?  Does meeting up with Wilkes give Carter a nudge to go look him up again, or do they meet again on a case, or have they been corresponding this whole time?  What are some of the racial/sexist issues they're going to face as a couple in the late 40s?

Rose Roberts.  She loves California!  She loves her job!  She's such a cheerfully competent character!  I WANT LOTS OF GREAT FIC ABOUT HER SAVING THE DAY THROUGH STEREOTYPICAL MIDDLE-AGED FAT WOMEN SKILLS.  Like, she ALWAYS has just what you need in her large purse, and it serves as a great blunt object in a fight because it is SO HEAVY AND FULL OF STUFF that when she whacks you with it, you go DOWN.  I don't want anything depressing.  I want her to be happy and fulfilled and to have FUN.

Peggy Carter.  Peggy is so much fun, and I love every aspect of her.  I particularly would enjoy casefic, but I would also enjoy her hanging out with friends (Angie, Edwin and Ana, Rose, any of the Howling Commandoes are the ones I'd be most happy about.  Howard, Daniel, and Dr. Wilkes I wouldn't mind.  Jack Thompson I don't like.)  And I would also welcome Peggy/Steve, set during the war, flashbacks, AU where he gets rescued, whatever.  If you were going to do a fanvid of her, Pistol Packin' Mama by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters would be AWESOME.  For Peggy/Steve, the obvious song for a fanvid would be It's Been A Long, Long Time (the song that Nick Fury put on in Steve's apartment in Cap2, it would also be a perfect Steve/Bucky fanvid) (My favorite cover of that song is the one linked, Harold Arlen's orchestra with Kitty Kalen on vocals).

General songs that would make good fanvids for the show that I would love to receive even if they don't fit the characters/pairings I requested:
It Takes a Woman from Hello, Dolly
Hot Rod Mama by Ramblin Jimmy Dolan
A vid about jingoism, patriotism, and obfuscation could be set to "Motherhood" from Hello, Dolly
I'm not enough into Jarvis to want a fic about him, but I would LOVE a Jarvis vid to Stiff Upper Lip by the Gershwins (recorded by so many artists, you have a lot of selection.)
Imagine My Frustration is Ella Fitzgerald belting out her frustrations about being overlooked.  Could work for Peggy, Dottie, Whitney, Wilkes, any or all of them.

I am writing an Agent Carter fic.  The show usually had some badass fight scenes between Peggy and the villain du jour, and I was planning on doing that.  But she’s an espionage agent, and so for her fighting often means she’s failed because she’s been spotted.  The most important thing, in most counter-espionage (which is what she’s doing) is to spot the enemy without being spotted in return, so you can tail them and find out their contacts and keep the enemy you know from being replaced by agents you don’t know (and hopefully feeding them false information while you do it).

It has just occurred to me that maybe instead of a fight scene, I should end this fic by the target being positively identified and put under surveillance.  But it seems so anticlimactic.   (On the other hand, it means I don’t have to figure out what the villain’s plot is, because that’s part of what the surveillance is meant to find out.)  (On the third hand, it also means I don’t have to write a fight scene, which is good because I suck at action.)  (On the fourth hand, given the time constraints, I think I’m going to write the surveillance ending so I can post it today before the deadline, then send it out to beta and see what they say–I’ve got a week until it goes live.)

Thoughts, opinions?

halfamoon  stories have been revealed! I wrote a Peggy & Angie fic set in the last episode, after Jarvis shows them their new digs.

In the Apartment After the War (2778 words) by Beatrice_Otter
Fandom: Agent Carter (TV)
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Rated: Teen
Relationships: Peggy Carter & Angie Martinelli
Betaed by: lilacsigil 
Summary: When Jarvis showed them in to the swank "apartment" he's letting them use on Howard Stark's dime, Angie was incredulous. Awestruck. But not so incredulous that she lost sight of the important things.

 

( In the Apartment After the War )

 

The MCU Ladies exchange is open, with lots of good fic.  Go check it out!  Here's the one I got, which is a lovely series of interconnected character studies:

A Cavalry of Women (5794 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 5/5
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Agent Carter (TV), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Captain America (Movies)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Peggy Carter, Melinda May, Maria Hill, Natasha Romanov, Sharon Carter (Marvel)
Additional Tags: Betaed, Food, Conditioning, Triggers, SHIELD, Natasha Romanov Joins SHIELD, SHIELD Academy, Additional Warnings Apply, Red Room, Training, POV Peggy Carter, POV Natasha Romanov, Natasha Feels, POV Maria Hill, POV Melinda May, POV Sharon Carter, Women Being Awesome, BAMF Women, Women In Power, Women in the Military
Summary:

Peggy has done everything she could, through all avenues--ladies magazines, soap operas, dance halls, tossing a coin and a word to known gossip-mongers, hell, even bribing someone to place slips in the damn sanitary napkin boxes--to get the word out that if you were a woman of age with certain qualities, apply for work.

Peggy wants them. She wants all of them.

---
A look on the through-line from Peggy, at the very beginning of SHIELD, to Sharon, at the end. A look at how Melinda, Maria, Natasha, and Sharon came to join SHIELD, and how each of them inspired and motivated the others to succeed. A look at the women of SHIELD and how each of them (though very different) are ultimately the best at what they do.

I started watching Agents of SHIELD last fall because I like the Avengers movies and didn't want to be missing stuff in fanfic about them.  I wanted a little background on the universe and didn't expect much out of it.  And, you know, for most of the season that was about what I got.  Interesting, but not really making me fannish about it.  I was particularly annoyed with Ward, who seemed to me to be a cardboard cutout stereotype.

Then Captain America: The Winter Soldier happened, and holy cow.  Because that changed everything in the MCU, and especially for any SHIELD agent.  All those plot-of-the-week episodes that I enjoyed but didn't grip me?  We were learning stuff.  We were learning stuff about the characters, and about their world.  So that when that world got turned upside down, they could do some REALLY COMPELLING storytelling about where things go from there.  (And it turns out that I WAS SO WRONG ABOUT WARD.  Or, not really, he was kind of cardboard cutout stereotype but that's because he was actively trying to be.  I got suckered SO BADLY.)

And it got renewed for a second season!  Yay!  Basically, if you haven't watched any of it yet, get it on HULU Plus or Netflix or something, because it is excellent.  And then join the fun at agents_of_shield 

Also, Peggy Carter is getting her own TV show!  I can't wait!

I grew up a DC fan, mostly because of the excellent Bruce Timm cartoons.  I've never read many comic books, and just as I had the disposable income to start, they did the New 52 thing and it was clear from the way they handled it that DC doesn't want my money, or indeed the money of anyone who is not a white dudebro.  So it is wonderful to me that Marvel is taking up the slack and giving me compelling, intelligent stories about superheroes that are inclusive and diverse.  DC should be taking lessons.  (And also giving us a Bruce Timm-directed Wonder Woman live-action movie.)