Dear Fic Corner Scribbler 2019
Jul. 4th, 2019 06:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
doranwenI haven't done Fic Corner for a couple years but I couldn't resist this year - I love so many good children's/YA books! Below I've done some describing the fandom/characters, and gave a few prompts in case you find them useful. I hope you have a lot of fun writing for me. :)
I love characters who are strong as well as characters who are vulnerable, I love characters who have quiet depth, characters with an active inner life, characters who think and feel… You'll probably see this in the characters I requested. :)
What I love about relationships is all the emotional depth: vulnerability, loyalty, knowing someone so well you know what they feel/think/need, even just having someone there as an emotional "rock". The whole "not being alone" feeling is such a powerful theme.
I once made up a 101 favorite tropes list (in no particular order), so feel free to make use of those if any of them get your muse going: https://doranwen.dreamwidth.org/240453.html
Besides those tropes, here are my general likes:
deep platonic friendship, romantic friendship, asexual romance, found families, apocalyptic fic, hurt/comfort, nonsexual physical touch (including cuddling), self-sacrifice, characters being vulnerable, character redemption, survival fic, positive treatment of religion, characters dealing with trauma, trust building, missing scenes, canon divergence AU (especially fix-it fic)
DNWs: supernatural/fantasy beings (elves outside of LOTR, vampires, werewolves, gnomes, zombies, etc.), AUs other than canon divergence or alt beginnings, noncanonical deathfic or horror, calling an adult "baby" or "darling", mpreg, crackfic, gore (mild violence is OK, just not as graphic as a surgery documentary), uncensored profanity, first/second person fic
DNW/Caution note: I'm not averse to mentions of sex, but I'd prefer the fic not focus on it or indulge in the physical feelings. Emotional feelings/bonds are what I focus on in any ship. If a prompt requires a mention or implies sex in some way, feel free to include it as necessary as long as the focus of the fic is elsewhere.
Don't worry if someone's written a similar idea before (even as a gift for me!). My first real fandom was one where people used to write a dozen versions of the same TV ep, and I loved reading them all. There are never too many versions of the same story, in my opinion. I love to see how two people can take the same idea and come up with two totally different stories. :D
And now to the requests (in the order they appear in the tagset):
Crosstime Traffic - Harry Turtledove
Basic premise: A couple scientists discovered how to travel to parallel universes. Now there is a corporation called Crosstime Traffic which sets up outposts in parallel universes (without letting the inhabitants of that world know where they're from) to acquire any natural resources that the "home timeline" needs. In timelines where people live on earth, those hired by Crosstime Traffic to live in other universes part-time take their older children with them to help provide cover. In one of the Crosstime Traffic books, Annette Klein ends up in deep trouble when things go terribly wrong in the parallel universe, and ends up making friends with Jacques and Emishtar, two others also in the same situation.
I love the idea of Crosstime Traffic, and the way things worked with that. I chose Annette's story from the six books because I found the ending fascinating - the criminal cases, and Jacques and Emishtar having to adjust to the home timeline.
Prompts:
What I'd love to see most is post-canon fic. What's Annette's life like after this? How do her experiences in the other timeline affect her in the future? Does Jacques have more difficulty adjusting to the new morals/ideas of the home timeline? Do they ever find something Emishtar can do that she's happy with? I'd like to see a happy-ish ending, but I don't mind some angst in the process of getting there.
Earth Girl Trilogy - Janet Edwards
Basic premise: Jarra is one of the Handicapped, someone whose immune system can't survive on any of humanity's thousand worlds except for Earth. She's grown up as one of the many Handicapped who were abandoned by their parents, raised as a ward of Earth. She's used to hearing slurs in the media, and she's sick of non-Handicapped thinking she's somehow less than human just because her immune system is faulty. So she's going to find a way to prove it to them… and in the process ends up turning her life upside down and changing the universe.
This is an awesome YA sci-fi trilogy! I love just about everything about it - the premise, the characters… The worldbuilding is fascinating and I found the slang growing on me over time. (I started thinking things like "utter nardle", lol.)
I love the characters in particular, and while Jarra is something of a favorite because we see more of her and everything's from her perspective, I really love the others too! Every character I requested is someone that I would love to see more of, so if you've got an idea for any of them, go for it!
Prompts by tag:
Jarra Tell Morrath
For all that we watch her through three books, there's still so much of her life we haven't seen! Anything set before the trilogy (including the novella about Jarra the summer before it starts) would be neat - we get glimpses of what life was like in the Residences, but I'd love to see more. Or go for post-Earth Flight - something dealing with Fortuna or tracking down the chimera would be fantastic!
Nia Stone
We don't know all that much about her, but I think it'd be interesting to see more - she's practically an OC, so have fun with it! Backstory fleshing her out would be a great one - how she got into the military, how she ended up working with Colonel Torrek, etc. There's a tidbit about her backstory in the short story collection (see below if you haven't been able to read it and want to know what this backstory is) and I would love to see more about that history if you feel like it.
Riak Torrek
The glimpse we got of Colonel Torrek's backstory in the short story in the Earth 2788 Short Stories collection just tantalized me. That and the line about how he sees Jarra as his granddaughter, in a way - one can connect the dots but I would love to actually see some of that backstory of him with Jarra's grandmother, or see him dealing with the aftermath of the event that killed Jarra's grandmother, or see him interacting with Jarra more in some way.
Jarra Tell Morrath (grandmother)
I'd love to see what this Jarra's life was like - her first encounter with Colonel Torrek, her life as part of a Military clan, experiences during training, etc.
Girl Who Owned a City - O. T. Nelson
Basic premise: When all people older than twelve years old die, ten-year-old Lisa and her younger brother Todd find themselves struggling to survive in a world where bullies rule. Their friend Jill Jansen joins with them in a big project to create a city - a city that Lisa owns.
This book I loved purely for the sheer concept. I used to create my own imaginary versions of the story (early "fanfic", I guess) where I tracked the kids' names and ages on pieces of scrap paper. I love these characters and would love to see more of them, but I also love worldbuilding so I nominated this without characters because I'm good with any characters with this, pretty much (would prefer the fic not focus on the bullies like Tom Logan, though).
Prompts:
Mostly for this I'd love to see future fic - how is Lisa's city doing years down the road? How do things change as the children grow into adults? How many skills are mastered that would allow the children to survive once the warehouses are exhausted of supplies? (Do they learn how to print new books, for instance, so they can reproduce the important information for later generations?) Do any of the characters in the book get married eventually or have their own children?
I've read a fanfic or two for this that went into some of the repercussions of everything down the road, and really enjoyed them. This fandom I'm happy either keeping it light-ish like the original (where bad things happened but the kids didn't really think about things as adults would) or with darker overtones as they grow up and realize just how primitive their world is, and how limited resources are, as they live off eventually dwindling supplies, and struggle to figure out farming, and all that. You could go into the farming bit that was discussed at the end, too, or education (I'm a teacher, so would love to see more about their education system, if you have any experience in that area or a good beta who does). So there's more ideas. Pretty much anything for this fandom will make me really happy. :D
Worldweavers - Alma Alexander
Basic premise: Galathea Winthrop (aka Thea) is a Double Seventh, a seventh child of seventh children. This should mean she's good at something really special, right? Except she can't do magic at all. And Ars Magica is part of the curriculum of every school in the entire nation—except for one: the Wandless Academy (which is sometimes called the Last Ditch School for the Incurably Incompetent). But between a summer school (with a class of one) like no other, and various unusual events, Thea begins to discover the gifts she has never known she had. Oh, and save the world in the process.
I didn't nominate/request any characters because I'd like to leave things open for worldbuilding. The sheer idea of a world where Ars Magica is part of the entire school curriculum—really, where magic is so woven into the way things happen that coffeeshops use spells to keep people's orders straight, you can buy a spell to keep gardens tidy, and a magic allergy is extremely life-threatening. Oh, and throw in the feral libraries, with elevators that act like four-year-olds! I fell in love with the world with that part. Just pure awesomeness! I also enjoy that part of it is set in my region of the US (the Pacific Northwest). I also love Thea's story, so if you're feeling more of a character-driven story, I'd love fic about her! For this fandom I'd love OCs, especially since I'm more interested in the way things work than in the specific characters' stories (other than Thea).
I like how Thea's friends grow over time, and you can totally throw them in, but I'd prefer that the fic not focus on them. I'm less interested in the Anasazi, Grandmother Spider/Tawaha/the Trickster, Tesla and all of that; feel free to leave them out. The Alphiri and Faele are not my thing, and we know little of the Dwarrowrim, so I'd prefer if the fic not focus on those polities, as they're called in the books.
Prompts:
I'd love something about the education system, from a child starting their first Ars Magica classes to the creation of the Wandless Academy. I'm a math teacher, and the mention of mathemagic, spell-solving of equations, and fractionators had me wishing I could see more of those. Or write something about magic run amok, like feral libraries, or magic as used in crimes and criminal justice, etc. Or explore some of the other types of magic (the ones mentioned in the list of all the things they tried in order to find Thea's magic). Or maybe something with society setup, like the Federal Bureau of Magic, or how it's integrated into the everyday lives of people (note the bit in the first book about people not using cars much due to portals, slipways, transfigurations…), even as regards to having magic allergies (the medical profession would be interesting!) Use whatever you know well. I'm not into sports (the only possible exception is Olympic gymnastics or ice skating which I watched back in the '90s, mainly) or fashion, but I'll find just about any other industry fascinating; I like complex systems and how they work (hence my fascination with air traffic control and airports in general). The world of Worldweavers feels familiar but there are so many interesting changes!
If you find yourself inspired by Thea, I'd love something set after Dawn of Magic, where she settles into her full power, finishes at Amford, etc. Does she create anything really special in her life? Like the Elemental houses, for instance. Something that no one else could do.
Happy writing! :D
I love characters who are strong as well as characters who are vulnerable, I love characters who have quiet depth, characters with an active inner life, characters who think and feel… You'll probably see this in the characters I requested. :)
What I love about relationships is all the emotional depth: vulnerability, loyalty, knowing someone so well you know what they feel/think/need, even just having someone there as an emotional "rock". The whole "not being alone" feeling is such a powerful theme.
I once made up a 101 favorite tropes list (in no particular order), so feel free to make use of those if any of them get your muse going: https://doranwen.dreamwidth.org/240453.html
Besides those tropes, here are my general likes:
deep platonic friendship, romantic friendship, asexual romance, found families, apocalyptic fic, hurt/comfort, nonsexual physical touch (including cuddling), self-sacrifice, characters being vulnerable, character redemption, survival fic, positive treatment of religion, characters dealing with trauma, trust building, missing scenes, canon divergence AU (especially fix-it fic)
DNWs: supernatural/fantasy beings (elves outside of LOTR, vampires, werewolves, gnomes, zombies, etc.), AUs other than canon divergence or alt beginnings, noncanonical deathfic or horror, calling an adult "baby" or "darling", mpreg, crackfic, gore (mild violence is OK, just not as graphic as a surgery documentary), uncensored profanity, first/second person fic
DNW/Caution note: I'm not averse to mentions of sex, but I'd prefer the fic not focus on it or indulge in the physical feelings. Emotional feelings/bonds are what I focus on in any ship. If a prompt requires a mention or implies sex in some way, feel free to include it as necessary as long as the focus of the fic is elsewhere.
Don't worry if someone's written a similar idea before (even as a gift for me!). My first real fandom was one where people used to write a dozen versions of the same TV ep, and I loved reading them all. There are never too many versions of the same story, in my opinion. I love to see how two people can take the same idea and come up with two totally different stories. :D
And now to the requests (in the order they appear in the tagset):
Crosstime Traffic - Harry Turtledove
Basic premise: A couple scientists discovered how to travel to parallel universes. Now there is a corporation called Crosstime Traffic which sets up outposts in parallel universes (without letting the inhabitants of that world know where they're from) to acquire any natural resources that the "home timeline" needs. In timelines where people live on earth, those hired by Crosstime Traffic to live in other universes part-time take their older children with them to help provide cover. In one of the Crosstime Traffic books, Annette Klein ends up in deep trouble when things go terribly wrong in the parallel universe, and ends up making friends with Jacques and Emishtar, two others also in the same situation.
I love the idea of Crosstime Traffic, and the way things worked with that. I chose Annette's story from the six books because I found the ending fascinating - the criminal cases, and Jacques and Emishtar having to adjust to the home timeline.
Prompts:
What I'd love to see most is post-canon fic. What's Annette's life like after this? How do her experiences in the other timeline affect her in the future? Does Jacques have more difficulty adjusting to the new morals/ideas of the home timeline? Do they ever find something Emishtar can do that she's happy with? I'd like to see a happy-ish ending, but I don't mind some angst in the process of getting there.
Earth Girl Trilogy - Janet Edwards
Basic premise: Jarra is one of the Handicapped, someone whose immune system can't survive on any of humanity's thousand worlds except for Earth. She's grown up as one of the many Handicapped who were abandoned by their parents, raised as a ward of Earth. She's used to hearing slurs in the media, and she's sick of non-Handicapped thinking she's somehow less than human just because her immune system is faulty. So she's going to find a way to prove it to them… and in the process ends up turning her life upside down and changing the universe.
This is an awesome YA sci-fi trilogy! I love just about everything about it - the premise, the characters… The worldbuilding is fascinating and I found the slang growing on me over time. (I started thinking things like "utter nardle", lol.)
I love the characters in particular, and while Jarra is something of a favorite because we see more of her and everything's from her perspective, I really love the others too! Every character I requested is someone that I would love to see more of, so if you've got an idea for any of them, go for it!
Prompts by tag:
Jarra Tell Morrath
For all that we watch her through three books, there's still so much of her life we haven't seen! Anything set before the trilogy (including the novella about Jarra the summer before it starts) would be neat - we get glimpses of what life was like in the Residences, but I'd love to see more. Or go for post-Earth Flight - something dealing with Fortuna or tracking down the chimera would be fantastic!
Nia Stone
We don't know all that much about her, but I think it'd be interesting to see more - she's practically an OC, so have fun with it! Backstory fleshing her out would be a great one - how she got into the military, how she ended up working with Colonel Torrek, etc. There's a tidbit about her backstory in the short story collection (see below if you haven't been able to read it and want to know what this backstory is) and I would love to see more about that history if you feel like it.
Riak Torrek
The glimpse we got of Colonel Torrek's backstory in the short story in the Earth 2788 Short Stories collection just tantalized me. That and the line about how he sees Jarra as his granddaughter, in a way - one can connect the dots but I would love to actually see some of that backstory of him with Jarra's grandmother, or see him dealing with the aftermath of the event that killed Jarra's grandmother, or see him interacting with Jarra more in some way.
Jarra Tell Morrath (grandmother)
I'd love to see what this Jarra's life was like - her first encounter with Colonel Torrek, her life as part of a Military clan, experiences during training, etc.
Girl Who Owned a City - O. T. Nelson
Basic premise: When all people older than twelve years old die, ten-year-old Lisa and her younger brother Todd find themselves struggling to survive in a world where bullies rule. Their friend Jill Jansen joins with them in a big project to create a city - a city that Lisa owns.
This book I loved purely for the sheer concept. I used to create my own imaginary versions of the story (early "fanfic", I guess) where I tracked the kids' names and ages on pieces of scrap paper. I love these characters and would love to see more of them, but I also love worldbuilding so I nominated this without characters because I'm good with any characters with this, pretty much (would prefer the fic not focus on the bullies like Tom Logan, though).
Prompts:
Mostly for this I'd love to see future fic - how is Lisa's city doing years down the road? How do things change as the children grow into adults? How many skills are mastered that would allow the children to survive once the warehouses are exhausted of supplies? (Do they learn how to print new books, for instance, so they can reproduce the important information for later generations?) Do any of the characters in the book get married eventually or have their own children?
I've read a fanfic or two for this that went into some of the repercussions of everything down the road, and really enjoyed them. This fandom I'm happy either keeping it light-ish like the original (where bad things happened but the kids didn't really think about things as adults would) or with darker overtones as they grow up and realize just how primitive their world is, and how limited resources are, as they live off eventually dwindling supplies, and struggle to figure out farming, and all that. You could go into the farming bit that was discussed at the end, too, or education (I'm a teacher, so would love to see more about their education system, if you have any experience in that area or a good beta who does). So there's more ideas. Pretty much anything for this fandom will make me really happy. :D
Worldweavers - Alma Alexander
Basic premise: Galathea Winthrop (aka Thea) is a Double Seventh, a seventh child of seventh children. This should mean she's good at something really special, right? Except she can't do magic at all. And Ars Magica is part of the curriculum of every school in the entire nation—except for one: the Wandless Academy (which is sometimes called the Last Ditch School for the Incurably Incompetent). But between a summer school (with a class of one) like no other, and various unusual events, Thea begins to discover the gifts she has never known she had. Oh, and save the world in the process.
I didn't nominate/request any characters because I'd like to leave things open for worldbuilding. The sheer idea of a world where Ars Magica is part of the entire school curriculum—really, where magic is so woven into the way things happen that coffeeshops use spells to keep people's orders straight, you can buy a spell to keep gardens tidy, and a magic allergy is extremely life-threatening. Oh, and throw in the feral libraries, with elevators that act like four-year-olds! I fell in love with the world with that part. Just pure awesomeness! I also enjoy that part of it is set in my region of the US (the Pacific Northwest). I also love Thea's story, so if you're feeling more of a character-driven story, I'd love fic about her! For this fandom I'd love OCs, especially since I'm more interested in the way things work than in the specific characters' stories (other than Thea).
I like how Thea's friends grow over time, and you can totally throw them in, but I'd prefer that the fic not focus on them. I'm less interested in the Anasazi, Grandmother Spider/Tawaha/the Trickster, Tesla and all of that; feel free to leave them out. The Alphiri and Faele are not my thing, and we know little of the Dwarrowrim, so I'd prefer if the fic not focus on those polities, as they're called in the books.
Prompts:
I'd love something about the education system, from a child starting their first Ars Magica classes to the creation of the Wandless Academy. I'm a math teacher, and the mention of mathemagic, spell-solving of equations, and fractionators had me wishing I could see more of those. Or write something about magic run amok, like feral libraries, or magic as used in crimes and criminal justice, etc. Or explore some of the other types of magic (the ones mentioned in the list of all the things they tried in order to find Thea's magic). Or maybe something with society setup, like the Federal Bureau of Magic, or how it's integrated into the everyday lives of people (note the bit in the first book about people not using cars much due to portals, slipways, transfigurations…), even as regards to having magic allergies (the medical profession would be interesting!) Use whatever you know well. I'm not into sports (the only possible exception is Olympic gymnastics or ice skating which I watched back in the '90s, mainly) or fashion, but I'll find just about any other industry fascinating; I like complex systems and how they work (hence my fascination with air traffic control and airports in general). The world of Worldweavers feels familiar but there are so many interesting changes!
If you find yourself inspired by Thea, I'd love something set after Dawn of Magic, where she settles into her full power, finishes at Amford, etc. Does she create anything really special in her life? Like the Elemental houses, for instance. Something that no one else could do.
Happy writing! :D
