Oct. 20th, 2014 03:18 pm
Dear Yuletide Writer...
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clocketpatchDear Yuletide Writer,
Did you know that you are awesome? And that you have exceedingly good taste? These things are both true! Another thing that is true is how grateful I am to you for writing fic for me this yuletide season. Thank you, and I hope you have lots of fun doing so.
I'm writing you this letter because, when going into a fic exhange, I find a prompt of "anything, anyone, whatever," from a stranger to be terrifying and like to have as much extra information as possible to inspire my muse. I might've gone a bit overboard on that so apologies for length. I hope it's helpful. If not, I firmly believe that the best fic is fic which the author enjoyed writing, so, if anything below is not to your taste (or if it was just too long to read through) feel free to ignore it completely.
If you feel like being a stalker, I'm Clocketpatch on Ao3. If you want more info or clarification of anything, I've turned the anon comments on, so just give a shout below.
On all of the fandoms I've selected my favourites of the characters who were nominated, but if not all of them show up in your fic that's fine. I'd rather a nice character study about one character than something that shoehorns in everyone and was a pain to write. The same goes for the list of likes (given the length of that list... I think this is probably impossible, but just making sure no one kills themselves trying).
General likes:
This is going to be long and random, because I like a ridiculous amount of things:
Action/adventure, AUs, awkward UST, backrubs, backstory, banter, cake!fic, characters being awful to each other, characters being awesome to each other, characters getting stranded and having to overcome their differences to survive, characters (especially female characters) being genuinely good at their jobs and solving plot problems with their amazing competence at life, crack, crack in space, crossovers, dinosaurs, ensemble fic, fact-dropping (I love it when I learn new things from fic), fluff, friendship, food porn (whichever way you choose to take that is the right way), future!fic, hope, humour (I like dark sarcasm and silly puns), found families, hurt/comfort (bolding, because this is probably my favourite trope and otherwise it will get lost into the depths of this strange, alphabetized list I've created), kittens, making fun of things that make no sense in the source canon, meta, mind-control and possession (and this is probably my second favourite trope), missing scenes, OCs (I really like by-stander reactions), optimistic endings, parrots, people getting tied up, plot, pwp, poetry, science, secrets, snark, shamelessly tropey fic, sparkles, swordfights, tree houses, world-building (I spend a lot of time reading travel diaries and love fics that paint word pictures of the sights/sounds/smells of exotic places)...
A ridiculous amount of things.
But what I like best are stories which contrast angst with absurdity. I don't mind darkness, even extreme darkness, as long as there is still wonder in the universe and the characters keep striving towards better days...
Intellect and romance might not always triumph over brute force and cynicism, but as long as they die trying I'm happy.
As for romance, I am primarily a gen writer, but I enjoy reading gen, het, slash, and femslash in equal measure. Write whatever rating you're most comfortable with.
General dislikes:
I do not want any incest or underage sexual content. They can be mentioned as character backstory, but I don't want to read about them happening. Not a fan of stories which equate mental illness with special powers or violent tendancies.
--
Fandom Specific Things:
Blake's 7
Characters: Kerr Avon, Roj Blake
I have a lot of complex thoughts on these characters. I think that Blake is a good man. I think that Avon has the potential to be a good man. I think that both are very, very flawed, and enjoy fic which deals with the moral ambiguity of the Liberator/ Scorpion crews without demonising or beatifying them. I also enjoy fic which deals with the emotional and psychological damage living under the Federation has imparted on these people, and how they can act like absolute bastards as a result.
As far as Blake/Avon goes, I view them more as dysfunctional friends, but if you want to write them romantically (or kinkily), I would read that with much enjoyment. My head!canon is that there was a lot of UST on the Liberator, but I also think it probably stayed unresolved (though maybe things would have turned out better if it hadn't... and if you want to write a happily-ever-after AU along those lines, those are always fun).
During the first two series, I really enjoy their snarky banter and insults coupled with the genuine respect Blake and Avon seem to have for each other. Avon's "I hate you!" followed by: "You are in danger! I must bodily fling myself over you to keep you safe!" followed by: "I deny everything!" gets a <3 from me every time. During the last two series, I enjoy Avon's obsession with finding Blake and his gradual breakdown as every he touches falls apart. He really needs a hug, and even though he'd probably hate it, I'm sad that he never really got one.
I think that B7 lends itself especially well to ensemble fic, case-type fic, and AUs. I also ship everyone with everything and anybody in this show. Including the ships. So if you want to have background pairings or have a fic where Blake or Avon are shipped with character X of your choosing, have fun.
My favourite things in this fandom can be summed up by the following two vids (warning, there are major spoilers):
Continental Drift
and
Fashion is Danger
(Angst and absurdity, you see?)
I'm also very fond of Avon on a Pegasus and random jaguars sneaking into fics and fanarts.
--
Doctor Who: Scream of the Shalka
Characters: Any
The unanswered questions and nebulous existence of these characters are what keeps drawing me back to this canon. Well, that and the epic, epic snark. I will happily read about these characters doing almost anything:
Shalka!Nine and Jacobi!Master snarking until the end of time. Backstory for what happened to Shalka!Nine and how Jacobi!Master was robofied and what role the Time Lords played in this. Shalka!Nine and Alison on an adventure. Shalka!Nine and an OC on an adventure. Allison trying to maintain a normal life in Lannet during the invasion before the Doctor showed up. Allison meeting the future Queen of England on a spaceship in the futureand maybe being related to her. Shalka!Nine sitting alone drinking tea and contemplating the universe…
Completely optional, but I am fascinated by fics which attempt to find the Shalka!verse's place in the larger Whoniverse. Is it an alternate dimension? A different timeline? A computer simulation? My current head!canon is that Shalka!Nine is a hallucination of the deteriorating Great Intelligence. If we are matched on Shalka, I'd really like hear your theories on this.
--
Kamen Rider OOOs
Characters: Ankh, Eiji, Hina, Mezool
Ankh and Eiji's dysfunctional partnership and power struggles were what sold me on this show. Well, that and the flying octopus candroids. I've never encountered that level of crack in live action television before.
Random fic prompts:
Ankh introspective fic. What is it like to be a Greeed? How does a disembodied hand see the world? Can he communicate with the Detective? Questions, I have so many of them.
Any explanation for why Hina is so strong would be lovely. It would also be lovely if she could use that strength to save the day more often.
Fix-it fic for the ending. Because I cried and the movie explained nothing.
Case-fic. I enjoy meeting new Yumis andlaughing at their ridiculous costumes finding out what they look like (and what moral-of-the-week lesson they'll be teaching).
I really like it when Ankh shows his bird side and perches on random things. Anything with him attempting to preen Eiji would make me endlessly happy.
Or – and I know that this is probably a crack dream – if anyone would be willing to write a Blake's 7/OOOs crossover, such a thing would be greeted with much joy and dancing on this side of the screen.Mostly because it would have to involve putting Avon and Anhk in the same fic and possibly in the same body/trousers
I also think that the cake!fic practically writes itself in this fandom and would love anything using those plot tropes.
My ships in this fandom are Anhk/Eiji, Ankh/Eiji/The Detective, and Mezool/Gamel… though I'm never certain if any of them are romantic or just creepy co-dependencies. I don't ship Hina, Eiji, and Ankh together, but I do enjoy the lovely found family dynamic they've managed to carve out and would be perfectly happy with them doing something mundane and celebratory together.
A few of my favourite things in this fandom are: Ankh's red leather trousers (how are they so tight? How did they even get the actor into them?), Eiji's underwear, Cous Coussier craziness, the octopus candroids, the beach fight just before the finale, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
--
Peter Capaldi's Eyebrows Anthropomorfic
Characters: Peter Capaldi's right eyebrow, Peter Capaldi's left eyebrow
I don't even know what this fandom is, but I want it. It seems like the most delicious crack. Can you show me what eyebrow hurt/comfort fic looks like? Or how they celebrate the holidays?
xD
--
Sapphire & Steel
Characters: Sapphire, Steel, Silver
Everything is creepy and confusing and nothing makes sense. And I like it.
If you want to get experimental with your fic format I think that this is a great fandom for accommodating that. Rhymes, poetry, songfic, scriptfic, and long monologues on the nature of Time would all be accepted with glee. Traditional narratives, introspection, and Assignment!fic would also be loved. Anything, basically.
In the show, I favour the historical and contemporary assignments over the one set in the future, but in fic anything goes, and I appreciate the versatility of a canon which can visit anywhere and anytime without it feeling odd or forced. I love Assignment!fic and if you want to write a cross-over or a fusion with another fandom (even one I haven't nominated) that would be A-okay with me.
For relationships, I ship any and all permutations of Sapphire, Steel, and Silver. The bizarre balance of alien-ness and humanity with these characters intrigues me, as does the notion that their nature has been changed by their contact with humans during assignments. I enjoy fics which deal with Sapphire and Steel's partnership, and how Steel doesn't know how to quantify the strange feelings of love/protectiveness/jealousy he has for Sapphire. I enjoy his brittle strength. I love Sapphire's compassion and competence.
As for Silver… I think he is generally a third wheel to the main pairing and knows it, but I love his cheerfulness and how Sapphire plays him off of Steel. I like how him and Steel do have a grudging sort of respect for each other and would be happy with fic where they have to go on Assignment together. I would love fic dealing with Silver's guilt following Assignment 6, or fix-it fic in which he rescues Sapphire and Steel.
--
In summary:
I've got a lot of weird requests up there, but I like surprises and finding out how other people interpret characters. At the end of the day I'm going to be happy with any new fic for these fandoms so write whatever makes you happiest. I hope you have a great time writing and that you receive some lovely fics from your own match. Happy yuletide! And thank you again.
Also, you deserve some virtual cookies and milk for reading through all that:
Enjoy.
Did you know that you are awesome? And that you have exceedingly good taste? These things are both true! Another thing that is true is how grateful I am to you for writing fic for me this yuletide season. Thank you, and I hope you have lots of fun doing so.
I'm writing you this letter because, when going into a fic exhange, I find a prompt of "anything, anyone, whatever," from a stranger to be terrifying and like to have as much extra information as possible to inspire my muse. I might've gone a bit overboard on that so apologies for length. I hope it's helpful. If not, I firmly believe that the best fic is fic which the author enjoyed writing, so, if anything below is not to your taste (or if it was just too long to read through) feel free to ignore it completely.
If you feel like being a stalker, I'm Clocketpatch on Ao3. If you want more info or clarification of anything, I've turned the anon comments on, so just give a shout below.
On all of the fandoms I've selected my favourites of the characters who were nominated, but if not all of them show up in your fic that's fine. I'd rather a nice character study about one character than something that shoehorns in everyone and was a pain to write. The same goes for the list of likes (given the length of that list... I think this is probably impossible, but just making sure no one kills themselves trying).
General likes:
This is going to be long and random, because I like a ridiculous amount of things:
Action/adventure, AUs, awkward UST, backrubs, backstory, banter, cake!fic, characters being awful to each other, characters being awesome to each other, characters getting stranded and having to overcome their differences to survive, characters (especially female characters) being genuinely good at their jobs and solving plot problems with their amazing competence at life, crack, crack in space, crossovers, dinosaurs, ensemble fic, fact-dropping (I love it when I learn new things from fic), fluff, friendship, food porn (whichever way you choose to take that is the right way), future!fic, hope, humour (I like dark sarcasm and silly puns), found families, hurt/comfort (bolding, because this is probably my favourite trope and otherwise it will get lost into the depths of this strange, alphabetized list I've created), kittens, making fun of things that make no sense in the source canon, meta, mind-control and possession (and this is probably my second favourite trope), missing scenes, OCs (I really like by-stander reactions), optimistic endings, parrots, people getting tied up, plot, pwp, poetry, science, secrets, snark, shamelessly tropey fic, sparkles, swordfights, tree houses, world-building (I spend a lot of time reading travel diaries and love fics that paint word pictures of the sights/sounds/smells of exotic places)...
A ridiculous amount of things.
But what I like best are stories which contrast angst with absurdity. I don't mind darkness, even extreme darkness, as long as there is still wonder in the universe and the characters keep striving towards better days...
Intellect and romance might not always triumph over brute force and cynicism, but as long as they die trying I'm happy.
As for romance, I am primarily a gen writer, but I enjoy reading gen, het, slash, and femslash in equal measure. Write whatever rating you're most comfortable with.
General dislikes:
I do not want any incest or underage sexual content. They can be mentioned as character backstory, but I don't want to read about them happening. Not a fan of stories which equate mental illness with special powers or violent tendancies.
--
Fandom Specific Things:
Blake's 7
Characters: Kerr Avon, Roj Blake
I have a lot of complex thoughts on these characters. I think that Blake is a good man. I think that Avon has the potential to be a good man. I think that both are very, very flawed, and enjoy fic which deals with the moral ambiguity of the Liberator/ Scorpion crews without demonising or beatifying them. I also enjoy fic which deals with the emotional and psychological damage living under the Federation has imparted on these people, and how they can act like absolute bastards as a result.
As far as Blake/Avon goes, I view them more as dysfunctional friends, but if you want to write them romantically (or kinkily), I would read that with much enjoyment. My head!canon is that there was a lot of UST on the Liberator, but I also think it probably stayed unresolved (though maybe things would have turned out better if it hadn't... and if you want to write a happily-ever-after AU along those lines, those are always fun).
During the first two series, I really enjoy their snarky banter and insults coupled with the genuine respect Blake and Avon seem to have for each other. Avon's "I hate you!" followed by: "You are in danger! I must bodily fling myself over you to keep you safe!" followed by: "I deny everything!" gets a <3 from me every time. During the last two series, I enjoy Avon's obsession with finding Blake and his gradual breakdown as every he touches falls apart. He really needs a hug, and even though he'd probably hate it, I'm sad that he never really got one.
I think that B7 lends itself especially well to ensemble fic, case-type fic, and AUs. I also ship everyone with everything and anybody in this show. Including the ships. So if you want to have background pairings or have a fic where Blake or Avon are shipped with character X of your choosing, have fun.
My favourite things in this fandom can be summed up by the following two vids (warning, there are major spoilers):
Continental Drift
and
Fashion is Danger
(Angst and absurdity, you see?)
I'm also very fond of Avon on a Pegasus and random jaguars sneaking into fics and fanarts.
--
Doctor Who: Scream of the Shalka
Characters: Any
The unanswered questions and nebulous existence of these characters are what keeps drawing me back to this canon. Well, that and the epic, epic snark. I will happily read about these characters doing almost anything:
Shalka!Nine and Jacobi!Master snarking until the end of time. Backstory for what happened to Shalka!Nine and how Jacobi!Master was robofied and what role the Time Lords played in this. Shalka!Nine and Alison on an adventure. Shalka!Nine and an OC on an adventure. Allison trying to maintain a normal life in Lannet during the invasion before the Doctor showed up. Allison meeting the future Queen of England on a spaceship in the future
Completely optional, but I am fascinated by fics which attempt to find the Shalka!verse's place in the larger Whoniverse. Is it an alternate dimension? A different timeline? A computer simulation? My current head!canon is that Shalka!Nine is a hallucination of the deteriorating Great Intelligence. If we are matched on Shalka, I'd really like hear your theories on this.
--
Kamen Rider OOOs
Characters: Ankh, Eiji, Hina, Mezool
Ankh and Eiji's dysfunctional partnership and power struggles were what sold me on this show. Well, that and the flying octopus candroids. I've never encountered that level of crack in live action television before.
Random fic prompts:
Ankh introspective fic. What is it like to be a Greeed? How does a disembodied hand see the world? Can he communicate with the Detective? Questions, I have so many of them.
Any explanation for why Hina is so strong would be lovely. It would also be lovely if she could use that strength to save the day more often.
Fix-it fic for the ending. Because I cried and the movie explained nothing.
Case-fic. I enjoy meeting new Yumis and
I really like it when Ankh shows his bird side and perches on random things. Anything with him attempting to preen Eiji would make me endlessly happy.
Or – and I know that this is probably a crack dream – if anyone would be willing to write a Blake's 7/OOOs crossover, such a thing would be greeted with much joy and dancing on this side of the screen.
I also think that the cake!fic practically writes itself in this fandom and would love anything using those plot tropes.
My ships in this fandom are Anhk/Eiji, Ankh/Eiji/The Detective, and Mezool/Gamel… though I'm never certain if any of them are romantic or just creepy co-dependencies. I don't ship Hina, Eiji, and Ankh together, but I do enjoy the lovely found family dynamic they've managed to carve out and would be perfectly happy with them doing something mundane and celebratory together.
A few of my favourite things in this fandom are: Ankh's red leather trousers (how are they so tight? How did they even get the actor into them?), Eiji's underwear, Cous Coussier craziness, the octopus candroids, the beach fight just before the finale, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
--
Peter Capaldi's Eyebrows Anthropomorfic
Characters: Peter Capaldi's right eyebrow, Peter Capaldi's left eyebrow
I don't even know what this fandom is, but I want it. It seems like the most delicious crack. Can you show me what eyebrow hurt/comfort fic looks like? Or how they celebrate the holidays?
xD
--
Sapphire & Steel
Characters: Sapphire, Steel, Silver
Everything is creepy and confusing and nothing makes sense. And I like it.
If you want to get experimental with your fic format I think that this is a great fandom for accommodating that. Rhymes, poetry, songfic, scriptfic, and long monologues on the nature of Time would all be accepted with glee. Traditional narratives, introspection, and Assignment!fic would also be loved. Anything, basically.
In the show, I favour the historical and contemporary assignments over the one set in the future, but in fic anything goes, and I appreciate the versatility of a canon which can visit anywhere and anytime without it feeling odd or forced. I love Assignment!fic and if you want to write a cross-over or a fusion with another fandom (even one I haven't nominated) that would be A-okay with me.
For relationships, I ship any and all permutations of Sapphire, Steel, and Silver. The bizarre balance of alien-ness and humanity with these characters intrigues me, as does the notion that their nature has been changed by their contact with humans during assignments. I enjoy fics which deal with Sapphire and Steel's partnership, and how Steel doesn't know how to quantify the strange feelings of love/protectiveness/jealousy he has for Sapphire. I enjoy his brittle strength. I love Sapphire's compassion and competence.
As for Silver… I think he is generally a third wheel to the main pairing and knows it, but I love his cheerfulness and how Sapphire plays him off of Steel. I like how him and Steel do have a grudging sort of respect for each other and would be happy with fic where they have to go on Assignment together. I would love fic dealing with Silver's guilt following Assignment 6, or fix-it fic in which he rescues Sapphire and Steel.
--
In summary:
I've got a lot of weird requests up there, but I like surprises and finding out how other people interpret characters. At the end of the day I'm going to be happy with any new fic for these fandoms so write whatever makes you happiest. I hope you have a great time writing and that you receive some lovely fics from your own match. Happy yuletide! And thank you again.
Also, you deserve some virtual cookies and milk for reading through all that:
Enjoy.
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