Night on Fic Mountain Author Letter
Apr. 2nd, 2015 08:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scribblemynameDear Author:
I am inflicting upon you an epic letter, so I cut all the sections so you can just read what you need/like. I have please don't writes under all three of the general categories—General, Tropes, and Kinks—but hopefully most are not too onerous. It might seem like I'm super picky, but I'm actually very easy to please. I love almost every tone, length, and style of fic, so as long as it's in character, I'll love it.
Please feel free to veer widely from the letter and write something you love. Thank you soooo much for writing for me. You are awesome.
General:
I like deep characterization and backstory, family, deep platonic bonds, worldbuilding, chosen family, digging into a character's mental/emotional space, asexual romance, romance, established relationships, developing trust, character studies, identity exploration, character competence, fluff, angst, and situational humor.
Please don't write embarrassment, graphic violence or gore, body-related humor, betrayal/infidelity, tragedy/deathfic, horror, character or ideology bashing, PWP (with plot, more than fine), first person fic, on-screen uncensored profanity. I also have no problem with assassination but do have a problem with murder. I know. Fine line.
Tropes:
I like soulmates, soulmarks (not names), soulbonds, secret relationship, sharing a bed, domestic fic, holiday fic, arranged marriage, fake marriage, friends to lovers, rivals to lovers, AIs, accidental relationships, time travel with consequences, animal transformations/shapeshifter, brainwashing, amnesia. I like well thought out crossovers and the occasional fusion, canon-divergent AUs more than total AUs.
I tolerate coffee shop AU, school AU, reincarnation, historical AU.
Please don't write alternate gender norms, mind control, zombie, supernatural, daemons, post-apocalyptic, instalove.
Kinks:
I like bondage, breathplay, sensory deprivation, bloodplay, weapons play, delayed orgasm, some D/s, situational power dynamics type dub-con.
I tolerate pain play, dirty talk, oral, and cock rings/cages. Include if you must; omit if you can.
Please don't write scat, water sports, bodily fluids other than blood, lifestyle D/s, ageplay, mpreg, consent play, incest, underage, a/b/o, straight up dub-con.
Fandom: Awake (TV)
Characters: Hannah Britten, Tricia Harper, Emma (Awake), Isaiah "Bird" Freeman, Michael Britten, Rex Britten
Canon: Single season show about a cop who lives in a split reality. In the red timeline, his wife Hannah survived the car accident his family was in; in the green timeline, his son Rex did. He goes to sleep in one reality and wakes up in the other. It's a fascinating, moving character study of someone who is both grieving and not grieving because he's clinging to both without letting go.
I loved this show and I wish desperately that it hadn't been cancelled because I wanted to know what was going to happen next.
RED TIMELINE
I wanted to know more about Emma and her baby and watch her get closer to Hannah. I wanted to see them get Michael out of jail, perhaps by exonerating him via forensics on the gun that killed Bird. I was starting to really like Effrem, who seemed to believe in Michael. Could he go on his own mission to clear Michael's name?
Tricia was so incredibly conflicted about all of this. She didn't want things to go the way they did and cried when she finally gave permission for that awful endgame. Then she showed up to be there for Michael even though it was so much partly her fault he was in there. She promised to be there for Hannah. I cannot tell you how much I want more about her. I'd love something exploring her friendship with Michael and Hannah, her happiness about his grandkid conflicting with her own fear and guilt, any ways she tried to stop things from spiralling as badly as they did, ways she tried to protect him, and most of all, I'd adore a story about the brownie-stealing incident when she and Michael met.
GREEN TIMELINE
Bird knows now, and I would love to see how that affects his and Michael's partnership and friendship on an emotional level or professional level or both. I'd also love some Rex/Emma interaction/character stuff.
Fandom-Specific Please No: character bashing.
Fandom: Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)
Characters: Jane Carter (Mission: Impossible), William Brandt
Canon: Jane Carter is the most seriously underused character ever in fanfic. She's amazing and lovely and strong and she hit the first guy she liked and she just lost another and she went toe to toe with an assassin and won and I love her.
Then Brandt is this guy that feels rusty in the field because he's been out of that team environment and fieldwork for a long time, and his analysis seems to be really good and come almost without thinking about it, and he should be good at it because he's the chief analyst. I love how complex he is with being sensitive and hating heights but good enough at what he does to compartmentalize when he has to and to be very competent when he's not overthinking it.
JANE CARTER
I just want more that's about her and not about someone else. That could be her coming up as a field agent, previous missions, becoming team lead after Hannaway before they gave Hunt lead, working with the team after the movie and being a total BAMF, getting her own team after that. Can you tell I want to see her leading a team?
My favorite things about Carter are her strong personality where she's so sure of herself if she's just dealing with people and work to be done and making plans, but then she's so uncertain and hesitant where it involves letting people know she cares. I'd love to see that juxtaposition in a story, love to see her navigating professional and personal life and growing, maybe spread her wings while Ethan cheers her on from the sidelines? Or coming into the IMF. I love early agent/operative days stories in these kinds of fandoms.
WILL BRANDT
I'd love to see something digging into more of what makes him tick, maybe see him coming up in the IMF. What gets someone like that who's so clearly uncomfortable with some of the craziness they do into work like that where he's good at it, but would rather be somewhere where not only he won't screw it all up (Croatia-aftermath), but also doesn't have to pull crazy stunts (like the jump)? This is inherent to the IMF and it makes me want to know how he pushed past that, why he pushed past that, and maybe some of the difference between pre- and post-Croatia Brandt.
I'd love to see more of his relationship with the Secretary or the learning curve from fieldwork to the analysis track or the transition back to some fieldwork and trusting a team. He used to lead a team. Does he bump back into them? Does he split his time between analysis and the field? I want sooo much more.
Fandom-Specific Please No: I don't mind shipping Carter/Brandt, Carter/Hunt, or Carter/Hannaway, but please none of the popular slash pairings. I just don't ship any of these guys together.
Fandom: The People - Zenna Henderson
Characters: Perdita "Dita" Verist (The People), Lowmanigh "Low" (The People), Miss Carolle (The People), Dr. Curtis (The People), Francher (The People), Twyla (The People)
Francher/Twyla: My OTP, the pairing of my heart, the one I beg anyone to write anything for and I will be a perfectly happy camper, relieved that they have something more. From the story "Captivity," Francher makes music through his Talents and Persuasions and can make them simply on air. He's fostered in a horrible environment, the shoes, and his relationship with Miss Carolle is beautiful to watch in how the trust grew between them. But I love Twyla. She loved Francher despite his old, ratty clothes, worried about him, cared for him, didn't care what other people thought, danced with him in the air, and always hoped wistfully he'd come back for her. Please can I see more Twyla and Francher together in the story or, even better, can I see him come back for her?
Dita/Low: I love their laughter and their talking underneath and her ancestral stone wall versus his racial memory. Honestly, I'd love to see more of how her earthlingness works with his Peopleness and how Dita fits into the Group, belonging but not belonging and able to put People in their place when they get too uppity about her earthling status. I love her sharp sense of humor and her general competence and hey, there goes another schoolteacher that's theirs. A time of need ("there's need") or teaching in the Canyon or just Dita and Low being Dita and Low would be lovely.
Miss Carolle/Dr. Curtis: I just really saw some lovely chemistry in "Captivity" with how they talked and interacted and "don't strain your pattern. It's disbelieving." And yeah, I read something into the Francher's yours, Jemmy, but she's one of mine. I want to see her being one of his and want to see her learning to walk so that Lea could see the disability then wonder why she thought she saw it and see them talking about things the way they did and falling in love maybe and at least some serious romantic tension. Please?
I generally don't mind sex but for these stories, it would really feel gratuitous without a lot of characterization leading there. Please no kink, porn without plot, or anything gratuitous with violence, profanity, etc. Please respect the religious elements of these stories as that's one thing I love about them. Their approach to the Presence fits very well with mine. Reunion fic especially wonderful. AUs fine but canon-compliant better.
Fandom: Razor Sharp (2006)
Characters: Bryce (Razor Sharp), Isis (Razor Sharp), Veronica Sharpe, Dex (Razor Sharp)
Canon: Less than 30 minutes, but it packs in the characterization of a small crew with a lot of history, backstory with a sleazy but fun fence, and an interesting plot. It feels like the pilot of a half hour TV show to me with a banged up operation like Firefly, thieves and grifters like Leverage (minus a tad bit of the altruism), and a fun comic book feel without the superpowers. I nominate it almost every exchange I participate in and it's short enough I beg you to watch it and decide whether it's your own cuppa.
I really have a hankering for chosen family fic with Isis settling into the family dynamic. I'd love to keep the humor and banged up nature of their operation and see more of the worldbuilding between the chinks of the short movie. Tech love, hacker shenanigans, mission fic, and Veronica backstory/continuing story all super, super welcome.
I'd love to know more about Tokyo, see Veronica loving shopping ("Your Macy's card" cracks me up every time), the relationship she had with her father, or even her mental relationship with him now and the ghost presence he leaves in her working relationships because of his moral brand. I'd love to see her and Isis bonding, her becoming big sister/mom, dealing with Isis' personal trauma and the aftermath of that.
Hurt/comfort, jumpiness, and even PTSD in the midst of child genius would be awesome. Isis bonding with Bruce or them going at each other/bantering over his equipment and her trying to fix it and him not appreciating it. I'd love anything here, so long as it's gen.
Awesome dialogue would be my number one wish. I don't write it half as well as the writer of Razor Sharp and I just LOVED the style of humor in here. Wouldn't mind a crossover with Leverage if that makes it easier to write, as it's a world of grifters, so yeah, but if that's not helpful, no problem. Would love to see Veronica introducing Isis to Macy's and Isis introducing Veronica to dumpster diving.
Fandom-Specific Please No: Please no consent issues or blackmail on any front.
Fandom: Satisfaction (TV 2007)
Characters: Sean (Satisfaction), Nat (Satisfaction), Josh (Satisfaction), Mel (Satisfaction), Chloe (Satisfaction), Tippi (Satisfaction)
Canon: This is an Australian TV show that ran for three seasons about a high-class brothel (let's call it what it is). What made the show shine was the characters (of which I could not nominate enough). You have these complex, layered women with all these different lives and interests and family situations, and they aren't stereotypes at all. They're so well drawn and living, breathing people, mistakes and eclectic beliefs and feelings and all, you just can't help but love them. I watched it on Hulu and all three seasons are still up there.
SEAN/NAT
Yes, I ship them. Her dominant kinkiness and his straightfoward, earnest vanillaness and all. What I adore about Sean is how genuine he was in going after her. He was always transparent, always seemed to admire her strength and the things that can make Nat seem aloof and cold (she's really not; she's just reserved and private and takes care of business). I love how he tried to figure out what turned her on. I love the way he was characterized when he was pursuing the reporter and I firmly believe if Nat hadn't tried to push him away by showing her dominant scene, he would have been fine with her keeping that separate and still being in a romantic relationship. He's a male escort. There's no canonical reason they couldn't have worked.
Well, that's how I feel about it, and I would love to see them working it out. I'd love fluff that takes into account their compatibilities and incompatibilities, and I'd love to see into Nat's head about her intimacy issues and growth with Sean and in relation to her father and how that figures in.
CHLOE/JOSH
I cannot tell you how much I love Chloe. I cannot tell you how much I loved her and Josh when they weren't trying so hard and it just worked. I love how they are with each other and Bonnie and the whole "we're already there." I also found it compelling that when Chloe gets the whole message that she's not in love with Josh, it doesn't rule out that Josh is in love with her. He's the one that pushed for marriage and commitment and sometimes I wonder how much that figured into what happened with Tippi (plus he just cares and is more sensitive and all that and made a dumb, dumb, foolish mistake). I really wish I could have seen them work out or see them when they're still happy or just... I really just wish I could see this ship float again. They were so good together. :le sigh:
TIPPI & MEL
I adore their friendship, the letter Mel wrote about horrible taste in movies and excellent taste in shoes, how they met, Tippi's bright cheerfulness (and writerly aspirations) and Mel's strength and life. I'd love them separate or together, even Mel post-series with the baby and her new place she's running.
Fandom-Specific Please No: non-con, bad experiences at work, I'd rather just have happy sex if you write it in (feel free to write all the sex in this fandom). No break-up fic please and except canonical instances, no cheating/infidelity.
Please don't be intimidated by this letter. Take what helps you and ignore the rest. Thank you again!
I am inflicting upon you an epic letter, so I cut all the sections so you can just read what you need/like. I have please don't writes under all three of the general categories—General, Tropes, and Kinks—but hopefully most are not too onerous. It might seem like I'm super picky, but I'm actually very easy to please. I love almost every tone, length, and style of fic, so as long as it's in character, I'll love it.
Please feel free to veer widely from the letter and write something you love. Thank you soooo much for writing for me. You are awesome.
General:
I like deep characterization and backstory, family, deep platonic bonds, worldbuilding, chosen family, digging into a character's mental/emotional space, asexual romance, romance, established relationships, developing trust, character studies, identity exploration, character competence, fluff, angst, and situational humor.
Please don't write embarrassment, graphic violence or gore, body-related humor, betrayal/infidelity, tragedy/deathfic, horror, character or ideology bashing, PWP (with plot, more than fine), first person fic, on-screen uncensored profanity. I also have no problem with assassination but do have a problem with murder. I know. Fine line.
Tropes:
I like soulmates, soulmarks (not names), soulbonds, secret relationship, sharing a bed, domestic fic, holiday fic, arranged marriage, fake marriage, friends to lovers, rivals to lovers, AIs, accidental relationships, time travel with consequences, animal transformations/shapeshifter, brainwashing, amnesia. I like well thought out crossovers and the occasional fusion, canon-divergent AUs more than total AUs.
I tolerate coffee shop AU, school AU, reincarnation, historical AU.
Please don't write alternate gender norms, mind control, zombie, supernatural, daemons, post-apocalyptic, instalove.
Kinks:
I like bondage, breathplay, sensory deprivation, bloodplay, weapons play, delayed orgasm, some D/s, situational power dynamics type dub-con.
I tolerate pain play, dirty talk, oral, and cock rings/cages. Include if you must; omit if you can.
Please don't write scat, water sports, bodily fluids other than blood, lifestyle D/s, ageplay, mpreg, consent play, incest, underage, a/b/o, straight up dub-con.
Fandom: Awake (TV)
Characters: Hannah Britten, Tricia Harper, Emma (Awake), Isaiah "Bird" Freeman, Michael Britten, Rex Britten
Canon: Single season show about a cop who lives in a split reality. In the red timeline, his wife Hannah survived the car accident his family was in; in the green timeline, his son Rex did. He goes to sleep in one reality and wakes up in the other. It's a fascinating, moving character study of someone who is both grieving and not grieving because he's clinging to both without letting go.
I loved this show and I wish desperately that it hadn't been cancelled because I wanted to know what was going to happen next.
RED TIMELINE
I wanted to know more about Emma and her baby and watch her get closer to Hannah. I wanted to see them get Michael out of jail, perhaps by exonerating him via forensics on the gun that killed Bird. I was starting to really like Effrem, who seemed to believe in Michael. Could he go on his own mission to clear Michael's name?
Tricia was so incredibly conflicted about all of this. She didn't want things to go the way they did and cried when she finally gave permission for that awful endgame. Then she showed up to be there for Michael even though it was so much partly her fault he was in there. She promised to be there for Hannah. I cannot tell you how much I want more about her. I'd love something exploring her friendship with Michael and Hannah, her happiness about his grandkid conflicting with her own fear and guilt, any ways she tried to stop things from spiralling as badly as they did, ways she tried to protect him, and most of all, I'd adore a story about the brownie-stealing incident when she and Michael met.
GREEN TIMELINE
Bird knows now, and I would love to see how that affects his and Michael's partnership and friendship on an emotional level or professional level or both. I'd also love some Rex/Emma interaction/character stuff.
Fandom-Specific Please No: character bashing.
Fandom: Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)
Characters: Jane Carter (Mission: Impossible), William Brandt
Canon: Jane Carter is the most seriously underused character ever in fanfic. She's amazing and lovely and strong and she hit the first guy she liked and she just lost another and she went toe to toe with an assassin and won and I love her.
Then Brandt is this guy that feels rusty in the field because he's been out of that team environment and fieldwork for a long time, and his analysis seems to be really good and come almost without thinking about it, and he should be good at it because he's the chief analyst. I love how complex he is with being sensitive and hating heights but good enough at what he does to compartmentalize when he has to and to be very competent when he's not overthinking it.
JANE CARTER
I just want more that's about her and not about someone else. That could be her coming up as a field agent, previous missions, becoming team lead after Hannaway before they gave Hunt lead, working with the team after the movie and being a total BAMF, getting her own team after that. Can you tell I want to see her leading a team?
My favorite things about Carter are her strong personality where she's so sure of herself if she's just dealing with people and work to be done and making plans, but then she's so uncertain and hesitant where it involves letting people know she cares. I'd love to see that juxtaposition in a story, love to see her navigating professional and personal life and growing, maybe spread her wings while Ethan cheers her on from the sidelines? Or coming into the IMF. I love early agent/operative days stories in these kinds of fandoms.
WILL BRANDT
I'd love to see something digging into more of what makes him tick, maybe see him coming up in the IMF. What gets someone like that who's so clearly uncomfortable with some of the craziness they do into work like that where he's good at it, but would rather be somewhere where not only he won't screw it all up (Croatia-aftermath), but also doesn't have to pull crazy stunts (like the jump)? This is inherent to the IMF and it makes me want to know how he pushed past that, why he pushed past that, and maybe some of the difference between pre- and post-Croatia Brandt.
I'd love to see more of his relationship with the Secretary or the learning curve from fieldwork to the analysis track or the transition back to some fieldwork and trusting a team. He used to lead a team. Does he bump back into them? Does he split his time between analysis and the field? I want sooo much more.
Fandom-Specific Please No: I don't mind shipping Carter/Brandt, Carter/Hunt, or Carter/Hannaway, but please none of the popular slash pairings. I just don't ship any of these guys together.
Fandom: The People - Zenna Henderson
Characters: Perdita "Dita" Verist (The People), Lowmanigh "Low" (The People), Miss Carolle (The People), Dr. Curtis (The People), Francher (The People), Twyla (The People)
Francher/Twyla: My OTP, the pairing of my heart, the one I beg anyone to write anything for and I will be a perfectly happy camper, relieved that they have something more. From the story "Captivity," Francher makes music through his Talents and Persuasions and can make them simply on air. He's fostered in a horrible environment, the shoes, and his relationship with Miss Carolle is beautiful to watch in how the trust grew between them. But I love Twyla. She loved Francher despite his old, ratty clothes, worried about him, cared for him, didn't care what other people thought, danced with him in the air, and always hoped wistfully he'd come back for her. Please can I see more Twyla and Francher together in the story or, even better, can I see him come back for her?
Dita/Low: I love their laughter and their talking underneath and her ancestral stone wall versus his racial memory. Honestly, I'd love to see more of how her earthlingness works with his Peopleness and how Dita fits into the Group, belonging but not belonging and able to put People in their place when they get too uppity about her earthling status. I love her sharp sense of humor and her general competence and hey, there goes another schoolteacher that's theirs. A time of need ("there's need") or teaching in the Canyon or just Dita and Low being Dita and Low would be lovely.
Miss Carolle/Dr. Curtis: I just really saw some lovely chemistry in "Captivity" with how they talked and interacted and "don't strain your pattern. It's disbelieving." And yeah, I read something into the Francher's yours, Jemmy, but she's one of mine. I want to see her being one of his and want to see her learning to walk so that Lea could see the disability then wonder why she thought she saw it and see them talking about things the way they did and falling in love maybe and at least some serious romantic tension. Please?
I generally don't mind sex but for these stories, it would really feel gratuitous without a lot of characterization leading there. Please no kink, porn without plot, or anything gratuitous with violence, profanity, etc. Please respect the religious elements of these stories as that's one thing I love about them. Their approach to the Presence fits very well with mine. Reunion fic especially wonderful. AUs fine but canon-compliant better.
Fandom: Razor Sharp (2006)
Characters: Bryce (Razor Sharp), Isis (Razor Sharp), Veronica Sharpe, Dex (Razor Sharp)
Canon: Less than 30 minutes, but it packs in the characterization of a small crew with a lot of history, backstory with a sleazy but fun fence, and an interesting plot. It feels like the pilot of a half hour TV show to me with a banged up operation like Firefly, thieves and grifters like Leverage (minus a tad bit of the altruism), and a fun comic book feel without the superpowers. I nominate it almost every exchange I participate in and it's short enough I beg you to watch it and decide whether it's your own cuppa.
I really have a hankering for chosen family fic with Isis settling into the family dynamic. I'd love to keep the humor and banged up nature of their operation and see more of the worldbuilding between the chinks of the short movie. Tech love, hacker shenanigans, mission fic, and Veronica backstory/continuing story all super, super welcome.
I'd love to know more about Tokyo, see Veronica loving shopping ("Your Macy's card" cracks me up every time), the relationship she had with her father, or even her mental relationship with him now and the ghost presence he leaves in her working relationships because of his moral brand. I'd love to see her and Isis bonding, her becoming big sister/mom, dealing with Isis' personal trauma and the aftermath of that.
Hurt/comfort, jumpiness, and even PTSD in the midst of child genius would be awesome. Isis bonding with Bruce or them going at each other/bantering over his equipment and her trying to fix it and him not appreciating it. I'd love anything here, so long as it's gen.
Awesome dialogue would be my number one wish. I don't write it half as well as the writer of Razor Sharp and I just LOVED the style of humor in here. Wouldn't mind a crossover with Leverage if that makes it easier to write, as it's a world of grifters, so yeah, but if that's not helpful, no problem. Would love to see Veronica introducing Isis to Macy's and Isis introducing Veronica to dumpster diving.
Fandom-Specific Please No: Please no consent issues or blackmail on any front.
Fandom: Satisfaction (TV 2007)
Characters: Sean (Satisfaction), Nat (Satisfaction), Josh (Satisfaction), Mel (Satisfaction), Chloe (Satisfaction), Tippi (Satisfaction)
Canon: This is an Australian TV show that ran for three seasons about a high-class brothel (let's call it what it is). What made the show shine was the characters (of which I could not nominate enough). You have these complex, layered women with all these different lives and interests and family situations, and they aren't stereotypes at all. They're so well drawn and living, breathing people, mistakes and eclectic beliefs and feelings and all, you just can't help but love them. I watched it on Hulu and all three seasons are still up there.
SEAN/NAT
Yes, I ship them. Her dominant kinkiness and his straightfoward, earnest vanillaness and all. What I adore about Sean is how genuine he was in going after her. He was always transparent, always seemed to admire her strength and the things that can make Nat seem aloof and cold (she's really not; she's just reserved and private and takes care of business). I love how he tried to figure out what turned her on. I love the way he was characterized when he was pursuing the reporter and I firmly believe if Nat hadn't tried to push him away by showing her dominant scene, he would have been fine with her keeping that separate and still being in a romantic relationship. He's a male escort. There's no canonical reason they couldn't have worked.
Well, that's how I feel about it, and I would love to see them working it out. I'd love fluff that takes into account their compatibilities and incompatibilities, and I'd love to see into Nat's head about her intimacy issues and growth with Sean and in relation to her father and how that figures in.
CHLOE/JOSH
I cannot tell you how much I love Chloe. I cannot tell you how much I loved her and Josh when they weren't trying so hard and it just worked. I love how they are with each other and Bonnie and the whole "we're already there." I also found it compelling that when Chloe gets the whole message that she's not in love with Josh, it doesn't rule out that Josh is in love with her. He's the one that pushed for marriage and commitment and sometimes I wonder how much that figured into what happened with Tippi (plus he just cares and is more sensitive and all that and made a dumb, dumb, foolish mistake). I really wish I could have seen them work out or see them when they're still happy or just... I really just wish I could see this ship float again. They were so good together. :le sigh:
TIPPI & MEL
I adore their friendship, the letter Mel wrote about horrible taste in movies and excellent taste in shoes, how they met, Tippi's bright cheerfulness (and writerly aspirations) and Mel's strength and life. I'd love them separate or together, even Mel post-series with the baby and her new place she's running.
Fandom-Specific Please No: non-con, bad experiences at work, I'd rather just have happy sex if you write it in (feel free to write all the sex in this fandom). No break-up fic please and except canonical instances, no cheating/infidelity.
Please don't be intimidated by this letter. Take what helps you and ignore the rest. Thank you again!
