scribblemyname | Once Upon a Fic Letter (Reply)

Dear Once Upon a Fic Writer,

First, let me say I love you for writing for me and I will love whatever you write, pretty much guaranteed. I grew up loving folktales, myths, and fairytales, especially Slavic Folklore, Greek myth, and the original Grimm's. I love crossovers, expansions, inspired by's, interrogating the original in fic, symbols, or fusions. I love figuring out the common thread between multiple mythologies.

That said, please don't write for me: embarrassment, rape, incest, dub-con, body-related humor, graphic violence or gore, or profanity. Also, please no witches.

Things I love: 5 times fic, soulmates/soulbonds/soulmarks, gen, romance, family, chosen family, deep friendships, actual fae, competent characters, worldbuilding, character studies, backstories, established relationships, slow build, etc.

For more about what I like to read, I'm on AO3 as scribblemyname with a lot of fic and bookmarks.

As Meat Loves Salt

Characters: Father (As Meat Loves Salt), Cap O' Rushes (As Meat Loves Salt)

I love how much she loved her father and that she was willing to go through that much to show him how much she loved him.

I'd love to see why, see that deep familial father/daughter love relationship and maybe why he worried that his daughters didn't love him. Can I see her growing up with him and them being sweet and family together and maybe a five times fic or something so I get that whole timeline feel?

Source:
• As Meat Loves Salt

The Enchanted Quernstone (Orcadian Folklore)

Characters: Mysing (Orcadian Folklore), Menia (Orcadian Folklore), Grotti (Orcadian Folklore), Fenia (Orcadian Folklore)

There are a lot of tales about how the sea got salty that boil down to there was this salt grinder...

In this one, there's a pair of giantesses, Menia and Fenia, kept as servants by a Danish king, forced to turn Grotti, the magical quern that grinds whatever you ask of it. They end up grinding out an army to save them, kill the king, and sail away with Mysing, who asks them to grind out salt, which sinks the boat.

I'd love to know more about the giantesses. They seem like sisters. I'd love to know how they got themselves bound to the king in the first place, their relationship to Grotti and/or Mysing. I'd love to see their resourcefulness. Grinding out an army was genius.

Was Mysing their enemy all along? Was he trying to trick them to their deaths (and his, so there's that)? Does Grotti have its/his/her own personality? Did Grotti like them more than the king? Why did Mysing ask for the salt?

Source:
• The Enchanted Quernstone

The Story of the Phoenix (Myth)

Characters: The Sun (The Story of the Phoenix), The Phoenix (The Story of the Phoenix)

What I would love more than anything is to see the Firebird and its story front and center. In the usual myths, including the Russian one included below, the firebird serves as a catalyst and is hunted by many countries. In Ivan's story, the firebird has already been taken captive. But the firebird has its own home and its own relationship to the sun and enjoys eating golden apples and has its own interests. That's what I want to read about.

I would love a naturalist essay about it, borrowing from many myths and sources, or a story where I get to see the firebird as an active character on a quest or serving the sun or causing quests or getting captured and having to be resourceful to escape, or go wild with whatever ideas you have.

Sources:
• The Story of the Phoenix
• The Firebird and the Princess Vasalissa
• Tsarevitch Ivan, the Fire Bird and the Gray Wolf

The Firebird and Princess Vasilisa

Characters: The Firebird (The Firebird and Princess Vasilisa), Princess Vasilisa (The Firebird and Princess Vasilisa), Huntsman (The Firebird and Princess Vasilisa), Horse of Power (The Firebird and Princess Vasilisa)

I love Vasilisa in this story, her intelligence and resourcefulness. I love the archer/huntsman and his relationship with the horse of power. I love the firebird wherever I encounter it.

I'd love to see more about what made the Princess Vasilisa fall in love with the archer. I'm not a firm believer in love at first sight and I love to know more about attraction that's related to personality and people interacting, and they did talk and feast together before he whisked her away to the Tzar. I'd love to see either of them, what drew them to the other besides beauty.

Did the archer pick the horse or did the horse pick the archer? I'd love to see how those two came together and gained their incredibly close and trusting relationship, or how the horse knew so much about the firebird, the king of crabs, and the Land of Never for that matter.

If you want to cross this over with other Russian stories with Vasilisa or the firebird, I'd love it.

Source:
• The Firebird and the Princess Vasalissa

Faithful John (Grimm's Fairy Tales)

Characters: Treuer Johannes | Faithful John, Young King (Faithful John), Princess of the Golden Dwelling (Faithful John), Old King (Faithful John)

I have so many questions here and such great love for the character of Faithful John.

About the Old King, I want to know how he got that picture of the Princess of the Golden Dwelling, how he knew the effect it would have on his son, why he put the picture where he did, how he met and gained such loyalty from Faithful John in the first place.

About the Princess, I want to know why her picture has that effect on people. Is she under a curse? Why is she surrounded in gold? How old is she for the father to have had that and be young enough to marry the son? Is it a case of soulmates or having sent the picture to try to arrange a marriage? What, what, what? I want more.

And whatever you write, I'd love Faithful John and his self-sacrificing nature to be in there. And how does he understand the ravens anyway? Is he a character from another tale that ate the white snake or some such?

I adore soulmates AUs, so if you want to go that direction, I would be very happy, but if you don't, there's hopefully plenty else here you can explore without it.

Source:
• Faithful John

The Abode of the Gods (Slavic Mythology)

Characters: The Twelve Months (The Abode of the Gods), Marouckla (The Abode of the Gods), The Water Queen (The Abode of the Gods)

There are several sub-stories going on here in this one, and I'll admit my primary point of fascination is the twelve months sitting around their fire up the mountainside on the Crystal Mountain where they serve the mentioned but unseen King of Time as his court. Their compassion, their method of changing the seasons and using the embers as they do, all of it interests me greatly. I would love to see more about their personal interactions in the court or with other travelers, or just more of their perspective in these stories here.

Then there's Marouckla, good, sweet, and oppressed until she isn't. I'd love to see an expansion on her story or what happened after, or what she thought of the Twelve Months and having to approach them so many times.

The kings of the elements are also interesting, and yet the Water King clearly loves his wife and would help a man because he loved his. I'd love to see the story of the Water Queen and her household, romance, and/or rule.

Source:
• The Abode of the Gods

Again, thank you so much for anything you write me! This letter is just to help give you something to work with.