Heart Attack Letter
Nov. 8th, 2021 07:01 pmHello creator(s?),
10k, 2 weeks, let's DO THIS! I'm excited to see what we create!
Below I've talked about my general likes, "What I love about these relationships/characters" and some specific prompts. If you want to be sure I'll enjoy something, I welcome clarification questions through the mod, as well.
I welcome art, as well as fic.
Please don't feel constrained by these thoughts. I'm flexible, and like a surprise. Feel free to just review the DNWs and go for it. But if you, like me, enjoy a little more information, read on!
Much of this letter is pulled from previous exchanges, it's because my tastes haven't changed much, and I am still excited about the thing.
For fic and audio gifts, any rating is fine, from the hand-holdingiest of G to some hot and heavy E. For visual gifts, I'd prefer no explicit genitalia, but aside from that go as explicit as you like (for example: hands under clothes or obviously naked people with Conveniently Placed Items/parts of other Naked People are fantastic).
Fandoms, Request Specific Opt-Ins and DNW, and Prompts
The Goblin Emperor and Witness for the Dead - Katherine Addison
Do Not Wants
- Sad/Unhappy ending (wistful or longing or ambiguous is fine)
- Kidfic (presence of children is fine, children characters are fine, but the focus shouldn't be on parenting/childrearing)
- Characters in ships being, looking like or acting like children: DNW under 18 for human characters; 25+ preferred
- Pregnancy/Mpreg in the main pairing (reference to the general pregnancy process or pregnant minor characters are fine)
- Humiliation (in either a sexual or narrative context, my embarrassment squick is strong)
- Noncon/Dubcon between requested pairing (explored character history of non/dubcon is okay, concerns that a situation is or could be non/dubcon is even a narrative beat I enjoy, but the actual relationship I would like to be consensual)
- Cheating/infidelity (Consensual polyamory - wonderful!)
- Ageplay or infantilization
- Incest
Writing/Story Likes
- Competence Porn
- Found Family
- People being good to each other in hard or awkward situations
- Banter, dialogue heavy stories
- Food as Love and Connection and Care
- Authorial Expertise and Interest - If you have personal expertise of a unique life experience, I welcome a fic that shows that off.
- Alternative Texts and formats - epistolary, chatfic, interactive fiction, etc…
- Older characters, or characters that age over the course of the story
- Small gestures of intimacy - knowing a favorite food, the spot on their back that itches, putting on another person's cheer-me-up song…
- Moments of rest and comfort in the middle of action and adventure
- Pining/yearning - ideally mutual, and resolved by the end of the story
- Polyamory Negotiations - as applicable, for my multi-partner ships I love people doing the careful work of figuring out how to all love each other, and what that looks like
Smut Likes
- Penetrative sex
- Non-pentrative sex
- Toppy women
- Switching
- Explicit discussion of consent
- Skin hunger and lots of touching
- Hair brushing and pulling
- Massages turning from platonic to sexual
- Laughter
- Things going not-quite-as-planned
- Lingerie
- Marking/Lovebites
- Rope bondage
- Honor bondange
- Pinning people to things
- Having sex in nontraditional (ie: not a bed) sorts of places (including semi-public sex, though I would prefer they not get caught)
Art Likes:
- For art, I prefer no explicit genitalia, but everything from fully-Witclothed fluff right up to obvious sex with conveniently placed objects/sheets is welcomed and appreciated!
- Whatever your style is, I'm excited to see it, black and white, funky colors, comic style, all welcome!
- The characters in their own canon setting (a Jedi at the Jedi Temple, etc…)
- The characters exploring a canon setting not their own
- A quiet moment cuddling
- A goofy "selfie" style
- Symbolic Art - I'm not actually sure this is the right word for what I'm going for, but what I'm trying to get at is that I don't need a literal interpretation of the character. I welcome things like stylized pairs of Tarot cards, or strongly focused on objects that represent the characters
- AU! - I'd love to see your take on a modern AU, a fantasy AU, cyberpunk, steampunk, 1920's-style Great Gatsby!verse, really, I'll probably enjoy it!
General Opt-Ins
These aren't things I definitely want, but they are things I am neutral towards, or even enjoy, that are often on other folks DNW list. If you enjoy them, here is your explicit permission to write the thing!
- AUs, including Modern AUs - I am completely down for a setting change for any of these fandoms. So long as it avoids my no teenagers DNW, I welcome seeing them as pirate ship captains or greek gods or tenure-track college professors, or...go wild, really! I love it in particular when people write settings near and dear to their heart. I also adore the little nods back towards canon, or finding interesting ways to translate canon to the AU
- Fandom fusions - I know this could be captured in the AUs above, but I thought it was worth calling out that I also enjoy fusions (which I'm defining as putting characters of one fandom in the setting of another). They'll be particularly enjoyed between any requested fandoms, or using the settings of the following fandoms: Pacific Rim, Fallen London, Discworld, general Dungeons and Dragons setting. There's probably more, so feel free to be creative or ask through a mod if you'd like!
- Generation gaps in ships, provided both are adults. Particularly for the origfic prompts, feel free to play with significant age differences between the characters.
Fandoms, Request Specific Opt-Ins and DNW, and Prompts
Below are the requests, divided by fandom, and then by character/ship/worldbuilding.
The Goblin Emperor and Witness for the Dead
Maia Drazhar & Vedero Drazhin
It's a small part of the book, but Maia's relationship with his half-sister has always fascinated me. I want to know much more about Vedero, and more about who Vedero and Maia wind up being to each other.
Story Ideas:
- Maia was once considered not worth educating - maybe Vedero helps him make up some gaps in his education? Worldbuilding welcomed
- What does Vedero want, now that she actually has a head of household that cares about her goals? What does she want to do with her future, and how does Maia help her do it?
- Maybe there is A Complication in the empire that Maia isn't sure how to solve, and Vedero realizes she can help. Verdero has watched the court for years, and has a powerful network of strong women - what would that look like?
- Bonus: It seems like Vedero and Csethiro get along, I welcome a story that includes her too. Maia figuring out married life at the same time he's building things up with his sisters. Family dinners with Arbelan too? All the strong women characters!
Idra Drazhar & Maia Drazhar
Maia's relationship with his nephew and heir was such a nice development, and wound up being a very pivotal thing in the book. I'd love more stories about who they both become as time goes on, or showing moments with the two of them.
- Family time! Feel free to include Ino and Mireän - This is an exception to my kidfic DNW, I don't mind exploring more who Maia becomes to his "cousins" and how he learns to have a family again.
- Idra is, much to his chagrin, still the heir-apparent. As he grows older, what does that look like in court?
- On the other hand, maybe as he gets older Idra is moved very far down the line of succession by Maia's children. What does he want to do with his life? What's his relationship with his uncle/cousin/emperor like?
Thara Celehar/Iäna Pel-Thenhior
These two captured my heart. Iäna is a sweetheart, (a ruthless director and a tempermental creative, but a sweetheart nonetheless!) and I love how absolutely relaxed he was around Thara's calling. I also adored how nonplussed but gradually relaxed Thara is around him, too.
Story ideas:
- Witness, but from Iäna's point of view. There's this moment when they're both in the opera box, and Thara says something about his calling and Ulis being the god of dreams and Iäna calls Thara a poet and then flees. I'd love to see that moment, and many others, from the POV of Iäna who is becoming completely smitten by this raspy-voiced Witness for the Dead.
- Get together fic - post-canon, I'd love the story of how they finally get together. How does Thara feel safe enough to take another lover? Does Iäna court him? Does Thara make the first move? Does Iäna's mother lock them in a closet out of frustration? Feel free to go full romance plot with this, or incorporate some casefic from Thara's job (or some opera from Iäna's!)
- Established relationship fic - also very happy with something a ways down the road and they've figured stuff out. What does life look like now? What are they up to? Maybe helping each other through a major life transition. The one that comes to mind is Thara losing his ability to speak with the dead. I'd love to see that happening with Iäna there supporting and loving him.
- Writing nerds - This one is a bit more obscure, but over on tumblr someone pointed out that Iäna is a writer of grim bloody operas, and at SOME point, he's probably going to let his true colors show and ask all sorts of grim bloody questions as writing research. I just really want Thara to get this totally different view of his job from the POV of a writer who loves him but is also very curious about how exactly ghosts can interact with the world of the living.
Worldbuilding
There is SO much! So much world! I welcome this for any part of both books. Feel free to include as many or as few as the characters from the books as you wish. I'd welcome fics centered on a minor book character, or on no book character at all - feel free to OC it up!
Story ideas:
- The bridge! What becomes of that big fancy clockwork bridge and the people that work on it?
- Social change - there's so many hints at social change happening. The rise of industrialization, worker exploitation, and women's rights. Pick one and give me a story based in it, I'd welcome it.
- The mapmakers and direction givers! We only saw them for a second, but I'd love to know more about their job and how they do it.
- Tea. Houses. I love tea, and Witness for the Dead was so good for my tea-loving soul. Something set in one of those tea houses, a competition between tea houses, a vignette of the different sorts of places one might go - I'm here for all of it.
- The opera - we saw a lot of it in the book, but there's so much more. Costume design, the signers, the children's opera, I'd love to know more.
- Social change - there's so many hints at social change happening. The rise of industrialization, worker exploitation, and women's rights. Pick one and give me a story based in it, I'd welcome it.
Sunshine - Robin McKinley
Below are general thoughts. I tried to prompt things that could be both big-story, but also have moments that could be pulled out for shorter works. Please feel free to use as much or as little of this as inspires you!
Constantine/Mel/Rae "Sunshine" Seddon
OT3!! One of the things I loved about the book was how level Mel was with everything that was going on, with the strong hints that he has Seen Some Shit in his past. Love looks how it looks, and I think if there was any guy that was going to be cool about opening up his relationship to include a vampire, it's Mel.
I'm fine with this relationship as a balanced trio, or a V with Rae in the middle and Constantine and Mel as growing more comfortable with each other.
Story ideas
- Get together - how does it happen? Is there pining? Is there tension? What's the thing that has them fall together? (A note: I do have an infidelity DNW, so I do not want the tension to be active cheating. However, an established open relationship where Sunshine hasn't TOLD Mel about her beau being a vampire is just fine)
- Food as love - Such a strong theme in the book, I'd love something that focuses on food in how they all relate to each other. Cooking, baking - maybe Mel and Sunshine wind up teaching Con how to cook?
- A new evil/Complicated bureaucracy - Put the three of them up against something new that wants to kill them, or something from the government (The Special Other Forces, or something else?) that wants to hurt and/or control the vampire and the humans that befriended it.
Worldbuilding
I didn't think to nom Worldbuilding for this one, but there is so much to this world, and I would welcome any of the following (or more!) worked into your story:
- The Voodoo Wars
- The other monsters - both the ones that want to destroy humanity and those that don't
- A different part of the world and how humans survived
- Other visitors to the cafe
- Magic and how it works
Singin' in the Rain
Below are general thoughts. I tried to prompt things that could be both big-story, but also have moments that could be pulled out smaller works. Please feel free to use as much or as little of this as inspires you!
A Note on History - I don't know a ton about this era, so feel free to take it as anything from Vague Trappings of History to Actually Very Accurate. I love people's expertise and research showing through, but I don't need that expertise to enjoy the story.
Cosmo Brown/Don Lockwood/Kathy Seldon
I love Don and Cosmo's rich friendship and long history, I love how genuinely fond of each other Kathy and Cosmo are, Kathy and Don are sweepingly romantic while still affectionately bickery, and I think all of them should kiss each other.
Story Ideas:
- Don and Cosmo had An Understanding before. Cosmo and Don both assume it's over when Don meets Kathy. Kathy has a different idea. Noble pining welcomed, with a strong side of 'I'm just happy they're happy'
- AU - Kathy falls for Cosmo first, and is more than a little flustered by his movie star best friend.
- Established relationship - the three of them, already together, navigating Something Else. Maybe a new movie? Maybe Cosmo is doing something with live theater writing? Maybe they're just bantering over the shopping list?
Rogue One
Below are general thoughts. I tried to prompt things that could be both big-story, but also have moments that could be pulled out smaller works. Please feel free to use as much or as little of this as inspires you!
Cassian Andor/Jyn Erso/Bodhi Rook
I love them! I feel like they fill in the gaps with each other - Bodhi finds honesty and openness easier, Jyn has a fierceness and fire, Cassian brings loyalty and self-sacrifice.
Pairing-specific DNW: Any dynamic where two are the "primary" partnership, and the third one is a secondary partner
Story ideas:
- Give me any version of two of them being an established couple with a massive shared crush
- All of them have issues with intimacy/letting people in, how do they work through that with each other?
- Mission fic! The three of them are just tearing stuff up and having a good time.
- Wild West AU: I am just struck by the idea that Rogue One in the Wild West would be lovely - the three of them riding off into the sunset, or setting up a homestead.
Jyn Erso/Bodhi Rook
I find them to be really fascinating parallels. They have Galen as this complicated link between them, how does that play out? There's a lot of pain, but also room for a lot of love. I also love that they have the potential to really look out for each other - Bodhi appreciating Jyn's ferocity and Jyn drawing out Bodhi's confidence.
Specific Prompts
- A stolen moment pre-Scarif, where two scared and tired people find comfort in each other
- They both live after the events of Rogue One, but one or both are injured, and the other feels guilty
- That sweet sweet competence porn, surprising each other with their skills
- The Dad Thing - serious talks about Galen, about loss, about what life looks like going forward.
Worldbuilding
Some ideas for you, corners of the Star Wars canon I'd love to have filled in a little more.
- Jedha! What was it like before it was destroyed? So much history there
- Eadu and building the Death Star - what was it like working on that team? Deep dive into Imperial bureaucracy
- Pre-Death Star Rebellion - what was it like before that major victory? For a foot soldier? A pilot? An officer?
Original Work
Below, I've listed some general thoughts on OW Setting and then below I've listed out each of the pairings and given more general prompts than the above. The pairing itself is a prompt, so I've more provided some ways that I think about the folks, and some questions that could be fun to answer in the story.
Setting
Take any of these pairings and put them in whatever world you wish. Admiral - Age of Sail? Steampunk? Modern Day? Fantasy? Space fleet? - translate it however you think would be the most fun. Feel free to change roles to fit the world, but try to keep the feel of the role the same - for example, "knight" can become samurai or paladin or Mech-trooper. Feel free to play it straight as well!
Some ideas for specific worlds I might enjoy (but again, feel free to go wild with the setting!)
- Sci-Fi - put things in space and I love it. Feel free to add in or change characters to aliens, robots, etc… (I was eyeing a lot of the really great android/robot tags, but became very exhausted at the idea of writing more letter). Though, if you do take this opt-in, I would prefer humanoid/human-shaped characters as a part of any ship. Weird genitalia and wireplay is perfectly fine, please no big sexy blobs or mass of tentacles.
- Fantasy - I also love a fantastical magic system. Down for many variations on this: classic LOTR-style grand fantasy, urban fantasy, historical but with more spells/fae/etc...
- History (inaccurate) - I am fine with Wildly Inaccurate Vaguely Medieval/Regency/Age of Sail/Etc… Also excited about deliberately-anachronistic-history a la Series of Unfortunate Events
- History (More Accurate) - that being said, I am also a nerd for learning about things that other people know about, so give me your 1950's Cuba during the Revolution or mid-6th century silkworm espionage settings.
- Regency (accurate or inaccurate) - special shout out to the Jane Austin Vibes era
- A Mix of the Above! Fantastical Regency in SPACE!!! Empires with laser guns and wizards! I am very very down.
Pairings
Below are general thoughts for all the tags. I tried to prompt things that could be both big-story, but also have moments that could be pulled out for smaller works. Please feel free to use as much or as little of this as inspires you! I really am excited to see your take on things.
Overworked General/Charming Courtier Who Is Good In Bed (All Gender Variations)
How did they meet? How do they know each other? How does the courtier get the general to give into some Stress Relief?
You can fit plot in here, for sure, and I am delighted to have court intrigue and politics. However, I am also delighted to receive entirely character-focused porn.
Exhausted Surgeon/Charming Younger EMT That Flirts With Them At End of Shift
I love this dynamic! How did they meet? What does the surgeon think of this charming EMT taking an interest? What draws them together?
Definitely happy for the exhausted in exhausted surgeon to be "literally physically tired because I was in the operating room for seventeen hours today" or "emotionally very burnt out because I love helping people but hate our medical system." Or both-is-good.gif. And then of course I get very soft inside at the idea that this slightly brazen EMT flirting helps with that—or at least gives them something new and exciting and confusing to think about
Old Human Space General/His Alien General Old Friend
I love stories of old friends turned lovers - and in a sci-fi setting with cross-cultural implications on top!
What's their history? Same side, opposite sides? Maybe both, through their careers. I like the idea of mutual respect really underpinning this, but where did the romance come from? Always there, a tension between them? New, now that they both are retired/facing down retirement and getting the chance to think about all the life they missed out on?
I also welcome all the worldbuilding of the alien and the human civilizations. Just because you've fought or fought alongside someone for years, doesn't mean there won't be surprises and misunderstandings when you move into the domestic sphere!
New King/The Feared But Actually Kind Male Witch Whose Help He Needs (M/M)
Many possibilities for where this story goes! Why is the king new? Why is the witch feared? How does the king learn that the witch is actually kind? What sort of help does a king need that a witch can provide?
And then, of course, how do they fall in loooooove??? :D
Often Injured Male Superhero Sidekick/Male Supervillain Who Keeps Saving Him (OW)
This is a tasty dynamic! Why does the supervillain keep saving them? Is it an accident, or are they secretly fond, or is it all a play to try to get back at the hero (or villain, come to think of it) that the sidekick usually works with?
Why is the sidekick injured so often? Are they reckless, is their hero/villain partner?
How do they get to the point where they trust each other enough for a relationship? Affection through regular saving, or does it take something more? Or maybe there's wild attraction from the get go, and it takes very little to convince themselves they should give this a go.
Additional thought - I love scenes where someone turns up bloody on a doorstep with "I didn't know who else to go to" or "You're the only one I trust." Feel free to play with this dynamic, for either one of them all bloodied and vulnerable!
Winning General/Respected Opposing General Who Is His Postwar Arranged Marriage Spouse
Opt-IN: F or non-binary Winning General and any gender for the Respected Opposing in addition to requested M/any. If you chose to go M/F, I don't enjoy maledom/femsub. Femdom/malesub, wonderful, as is switching, or not playing with power dynamics at all in that way.
Why did they get married? A diplomatic marriage to cement the peace treaty? A way to deprive the losing country of their best tactical genius? A way to save the opposing general from a dire fate? Options!
The respect is really key for me here - I'd like a story about two old enemies that have been reluctantly impressed by each other for years on the battlefield now in a domestic situation. Competence porn! I imagine these established rivals have a good read on each other's strengths and weaknesses from the battlefield, how does that translate to a domestic setting?
I'm picturing these folks as middle-aged, but am down for reading them as either older or younger as your fancy strikes. Please do keep them adults, though.
Detective/Their Loving Spouse /Detective's Hot New Partner They Both Have a Crush On
Requesting: F/F/F, M/M/M, M!Detective/F!Spouse/M!Partner, opt into non-binary characters as well
Alright look I'm going to admit this tag had STRONG inspiration from White Collar. And that's sort of the dynamic I'm seeing here (though with a partner, rather than a criminal consultant).
I love a solid marriage between the married couple, with this foundation of love and trust that the married couple thinks, hey, we could do this. Much rueful giggling over the shared crush is very welcome.
Competence porn? Competence porn! I'm delighted by a part of the crush being that the detective and the partner are very good at their job, I also really like the idea of the non-detective spouse being Good at a Different Thing.
Pining! Yearning! New Partner loves them but would want to disrupt their marriage? Detectives are madly attracted but don't want to disrupt their partnership? First-time polyam negotiations making everything more difficult? Love it all
Also this seems like a good trio to stuff Tropes into - trapped in a closet, stranded together, only one bed, hurt/comfort after injury, all good good stuff.
Younger Detective/Older Detective He Has History With
Detectives in love! Interesting dynamics here - we've got an experienced veteran, and a younger up-and-comer - though, the 'history' makes me imagine he now has some weathering from when they first met.
What's the relationship like between them? They have history, but was it years ago, or quite recently? What about the time between - did they stay in touch, are they reuniting? What does the older detective think about their younger peer? Respect for skill? Fondness but they need to be tempered?
I'm always a sucker for the dynamic of younger characters having a massive crush, and the older characters sort of being like ??? me??? before eventually giving into the adoration. I think the pairing lends itself really well to competence porn, too. The skill that comes with experience, raw new talent lighting things up. It's all so good!
One story I could see with them is either them needing to work together - joint mission, solving a case, working together on a contract, that sort of thing. Maybe someone gets imperiled? The older detective figures their time has come, just for the younger detective to swoop in and save them. Or maybe the younger one winds up in a pickle and is embarrassed/frustrated/relieved/extremely turned on when the veteran shows up to save them.
New Ruler/Their Harem That Secretly Doubles As Trusted Advisors & New Ruler & Their Supposed Harem That Secretly Functions As Trusted Advisors
Equally happy to receive the slash and non-slash version of this.
For both: Does the harem come with the ruler? Do they inherit it from the last ruler? I do like the idea that this ruler is the one that first realizes these folks can be incredibly useful sources of information, whether they're actually putting their team of advisors/decorative companions together or talking to the last ruler's harem and going - wait. I can USE this.
About the ruler: I'm interested in a story where they have some life experience behind them and that informs their non-traditional choice of advisors. I was picturing 30s+ in age, but I'm open to your imagination! How did they take the throne? Maybe a brother/sister of an aging ruler with no heirs? Maybe a surprise appointment when the heir-apparent joins a monastery instead of taking the throne?
About the harem: Feel free to go wild with the character design here! I'd probably rather have fewer characters that we get to meet and know, than more characters that are a faceless mob.
For Ship: There's some interesting power dynamics here, how do they negotiate that? Depending on the history of new ruler, maybe the harem needs to be advisors in the bedroom, as well, if you know what I mean! I'm happy with a story where relationship/sex comes first, then the realization of usefulness OR a story where they wind up hooking up with the people they thought they were just going to take advice from.
For Gen: I really like the idea of everyone thinking the harem is doing traditional harem things, but in fact they're a big slumber party/found family sort of group. Fine with the harem cheerfully hooking up with each other, but I want the most important relationship to be the gen connection between them all.
I'm also fine, with this request, of you walking the line between slash and gen. The story can feature character studies of the harem and only allude to the fact that there's romance/sex going on as well.
What I'm really looking for here is the story of a group of people that like each other and are competent at what they do. The specifics are up to you!
General Pulled Out Of Retirement By Chosen One/Long-Suffering Significant Other & Chosen One (OW)
This idea just makes me smile. Tell me - what is the relationship between the general and their SO like? Longtime partners, new lovers? I know long-suffering is in the tag, and I see it as exasperated but also deeply affectionate.
How long as the General been retired for? I could see it being new, and then JUST as they're getting settled in the chosen one shows up, or it's been years, and all of a sudden someone wants them to get back in the game. Or maybe this isn't a unique situation, and the general and their SO have been on quests with many chosen ones through the years.
And the chosen one! What are they like. This is an exception to my kidfic DNW, I am okay with a chosen one that's a child/teenager. But, if that's the case, I would like the General and the SO to be vaguely horrified by the idea of dumping world-saving responsibilities on a kid. Maybe that's why they agreed to go along in the first place! Someone's gotta keep the kid safe.
But, I also love the idea of an older chosen one. Maybe one that's been trying to avoid their fate for years, and now they're forty-one and can't dodge it anymore, and the seventy-something general is like, you know, this would have been a lot easier when I was fifty and you were twenty, kid.
Do feel free to make the general and their SO old, I love stories of older characters skill kicking ass, taking names, and being in love.
Virgin General Suspicious of Romantic Overtures/Playboy Foreign Ally Who's Very Into Him
I love stories of serious, hard-working people being surprised into affection. I love the idea that this is a General so focused on duty he hasn't had time for anyone else. Or maybe someone who felt like there was no relationship possible during war.
How does the playboy foreign ally respond to the suspicion? Are they affectionately determined? Bemused? Pushing boundaries? Shy in return, despite their playboy nature?
I also love competence as a part of this relationship. Impressed by skill seems like it would go hand and hand with this prompt.
I also welcome Politics being brought into this. How does their role as allies impact the relationship? I love arranged marriage as a trope, too, so if that strikes your fancy feel free to bring in a political marriage element.
I'm so excited to see what you create! Again, these are just some thoughts, please take as much or as little as you wish and have fun! Many thanks and happy writing/drawing/creating whatever thing your heart desires!
Sass