Dear Yuletide Writer Letter 2020
Oct. 24th, 2020 11:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
doranwenI first did Yuletide in 2010 and can't believe it's eleven years already! Whether it's your first or you're a veteran, I hope you have a blast writing for me. I always comment on my gifts and appreciate the hard work my writers do in crafting a story for me, and I'm sure I'll enjoy what you write.
I've tried to help you out by describing what I love about each fandom and/or character, and I've written a few prompts in case you find them useful, but if you come up with something of your own, please write what you think will work best! I've been wonderfully surprised by fics that I never would have thought of in a million years but which were absolutely amazing.
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 / nonsexual romance
- found families / teamfic
- apocalyptic / survival fic
- hurt/comfort / characters dealing with trauma / nonsexual physical touch (including cuddling)
- characters being vulnerable / character redemption
- positive treatment of religion
- trust building / friendship
- missing scenes
- canon divergence AU (especially fix-it fic)
- soulmates (as long as requested pairing are soulmates with each other)
- crossovers with fandoms I know (see list further down in this letter)
- any trope on this list: https://doranwen.dreamwidth.org/240453.html
DNWs:
- modern politics
- COVID-19 or pandemics
- onscreen sex or making out (a light kiss is fine, allusions are fine)
- supernatural/fantasy beings (elves outside of LOTR, vampires, werewolves, gnomes, zombies, etc.)
- AUs other than canon divergence or alt beginnings (i.e. no coffee shop AUs)
- gore / graphic violence (mild/medium violence is OK, just not as graphic as a surgery documentary)
- noncanonical death of canon characters or horror
- dark endings (happy or bittersweet endings only, please!)
- unrequested identity headcanons (gender/sexuality/etc.)
- calling an adult "baby" or "darling" ("sweetheart" works if you need a substitute)
- mpreg, A/B/O, genderswap, ageplay of any kind
- crack (nothing deliberately wacky)
- uncensored profanity
- 1st/2nd person
- unprompted relationships between canonical characters
- crossovers with fandoms I don't know
Opt-ins I'm OK with, if they should arise as part of the story you are writing:
- noncon & aftermath (this overrides the onscreen sex DNW)
- underage (please keep them teens at minimum, and observe the no onscreen sex DNW)
- het pregnancy
- characters being parents
- child abuse of any kind (as long as it's not the requested characters doing the abusing)
If writing a romantic friendship, I'd prefer the line be drawn at forehead/cheek kisses and cuddles; please reserve lip kisses for sexual relationships.
If a prompt requires something that's listed as a DNW, please follow the prompt rather than the DNW. :)
Also, if choosing between writing the characters as true to themselves as you can, vs. writing a particular trope or prompt, I'd prefer you to keep the characters true to themselves.
If you're crossover-inclined, here's a list of fandoms you could cross with the requested ones (besides, of course, any of my other requests):
1-800-Missing (TV) - love Jess, Brooke, and Sunny so much
Flood (2007) - love Sam and Rob, and Patricia and Leonard, and I might be slightly shippy with those two pairs…
Gold Diggers (1995) - I love Beth and Jody, and their friendship (which I'm happy turning into a romantic friendship)
Leverage - I ship Nate/Sophie, and like the younger three either as completely platonic or Eliot/Parker (not Hardison/Parker or OT3, please)
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman - Lois/Clark are my favs, though I also enjoy S1 Jimmy (I always picture him in stories I read, rather than the actor from S2+)
Lord of the Rings - books only, please; I prefer canon ships in all respects
The Pretender - Jarod and Miss Parker are my favs and my OTP
Push (2009) - am such a Nick/Cassie fan, and I'm OK with underage here, as I see Cassie as the driving force behind it
Rizzoli & Isles (TV) - Jane and Maura are fantastic; I headcanon Jane as asexual and Maura as probably bi, and love them in a romantic friendship
Rookie Blue - S1/S2 are my favs, I am totally team McSwarek (though I don't mind McCollins as an interim relationship, just not endgame), I ship Gail with Dov or Luke (not into Gail/Chris, Gail/Nick, or Gail/Holly), do what you want with Chris and Traci, love Noelle and Oliver but not a fan of Celery, am ambivalent about Chloe (I like her but not the whole Wes thing) and don't really care for Juliet or Marlo (who would've been much better if they hadn't used the bipolar thing in the way they did)
Smallville - S1-S3 only, am a Clark/Chloe fan and not into Erica Durance's Lois, nor any of the magic stuff that came in S4
Stick It (2006) - I love Haley, lol
Sue Thomas F.B.Eye - Myles and Tara are my favs (I ship them), but I love Sue/Jack too
Tomorrow, When the War Began (2010) - I'm not sure exactly how you'd cross something like this with any of my requests, but I love the whole idea of it, even (Ellie is my favorite character, with Robyn a close second)
X-Men movieverse - original two films only, please; I ship Scott/Ororo, Logan/Rogue, Scott/Rogue, Scott/Kitty, or Kitty/Pete (don't have any OTPs here, lol)
Please don't worry if someone's written a similar idea before. 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. Everyone comes at it differently and I'll enjoy it no matter what!
And now to the requests (in the order they appear in the tagset):
Earth Girl Series - 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. Several of the characters who are greatly affected by her actions are Drago Tell Dramis (her cousin of some variety), Riak Torrek (a man who is her nonbiological grandfather), and Gemelle Tell Feren (her sister).
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.) The pictures above may only show the initial trilogy, but I have read every short story and novella as well and I love them!
In previous exchanges, I've nominated and requested Jarra. I didn't do that this year because I feel like I've gotten a lot of Jarra with the books and recent novella. I adore Jarra, but we see nearly everything from her eyes, and she's an unreliable observer. She misses emotional things and has a limited viewpoint because of the way she's grown up. She really has no idea just how much she's impacted some people's lives, I feel like.
So for this request, I would love to see any of the events in the series from one of these three character's POVs, or just something that touches on that. You don't need to include all three in a fic; I'm happy with fic focused on just one of them! I would prefer no canon divergence for this fandom, and it would be very difficult to include all three in a single fic canonically anyway. Also, no crossovers with this fandom, please. :)
Prompts by tag:
Drago Tell Dramis
From the Hera 2781 short story, we know Jaxon was planning to tell Drago about Jarra. I'd love to see that conversation! Or at what point does Drago learn that they recruited Jarra into the military? Did he have conversations with Jaxon or anyone else about the time he met her? Or even later on, when she's being attacked, or undergoing the operation. We hear Fian's POV in the Earth Prime collection; if you've read it, maybe you want to write Drago's side of the story about what happened when they bonded as brothers? There are so many ways that Jarra's impacted Drago's life, but we don't get to see much of his thoughts towards her, as the only Drago POV stories existing canonically have very little of Jarra, if at all.
Riak Torrek
I'm not quite as interested about his thoughts towards Jarra in the early years, when she was born, though he surely would have known about her being Handicapped. But I would LOVE to see some of his thoughts about her when he first meets her. Does he discuss her with anyone else? Like, did he exchange messages with her parents about meeting her? Did he talk with Jaxon? What was his thought process in recruiting her for the Military and did he discuss that with anyone? Was there a very interesting "conversation" with some of his underlings when he found out Jarra was undergoing an operation that could kill her? So many questions, so few answers!
Gemelle Tell Feren
Of the three characters I requested, Gemelle is the one we see the LEAST of - she doesn't appear at all in the books! There's mention of "impersonal recorded messages" being exchanged, but that's all. Jarra doesn't even know what her sister is up to until Riak discusses it with her in the novella in Earth Prime. I would love to see Gemelle's reaction to any and all of the events in the series, or show me some of the behind-the-scenes things referenced in that conversation in the novella! (I'm trying not to be blatant about what that is if you haven't had the chance to read it yet. If that's the case, please avoid writing Gemelle as you may end up contradicting canon unwittingly. Focusing on Drago or Riak should work just fine as long as you avoid referencing what she's up to after the events of Earth Star.)
combinations of the three
There are a ton of chances for Riak and Drago to have conversations, both before and after Alien Contact is activated; I would love to see any of them! And I'd love to see a conversation between Drago and Gemelle somewhere in the series; the best timing is probably right around the conversation with Riak mentioned in Earth Prime. And, of course, I would love to see that conversation between Riak and Gemelle that was mentioned in "The End, and the New Beginning". (I honestly can't see how you could have a three-way conversation with all three of them canonically, lol.)
Where to find canon: Pretty much any book or ebook site you look at. Note that Earth Prime won't be available as a physical book until next year sometime, so you're stuck with ebook for that one.
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 requested Thea because I'd really love more of her story, particularly after the books end. I'd love to see more of her time at Amford; does she make friends with any other students? Does she get sucked into more adventures? Does she keep frustrating Humphrey May? Does she create anything really special in her life? Like the Elemental houses, for instance. Something that no one else could do. (Would prefer the fic not center on her relationship with Corey at all.)
But if you'd really like to write worldbuilding, I'd be OK with a fic that did NOT include Thea. Because the worldbuilding the author did is just genius. 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).
So if worldbuilding appeals, 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!
I'd prefer nothing set during the books themselves, and if focusing on Thea, would prefer it's not set during her childhood, but any time before or after works for worldbuilding fic. Feel free to create OCs as you need to flesh out the world.
I like how Thea's friends grow over time, and you can throw them in if you want, but I'd prefer that the fic not focus on them. I'm less interested in the Anasazi, Grandmother Spider/Tawaha/etc., Tesla and all of that; feel free to leave them out. I'd prefer if the fic not focus on the other polities (Alphiri, Faele, Dwarrowrim), as they're called in the books.
Where to find canon: The author's website links to the four books on Amazon or you can buy the ebooks on Smashwords.
Cybergeddon (Web Series)
Basic premise: FBI Special Agent Chloe Jocelyn (played by Missy Peregrym) is framed for cybercrimes she didn't commit, and has to go on the run to prove her innocence and save the world.
This is like a hacker version of The Fugitive (I'm told it's reminiscent of 24 as well). Missy Peregrym is amazing in this role with a great range - physical, emotional, etc. She sells her character so well and really makes you feel along with her. While I'm not crazy about the Norton ad aspects of the series (and I think they kind of forgot that Linux is a lot better protected than Windows in general), the rest of it is fantastic and well worth watching.
I loved this partly because I'm a bit of a geek myself. While not a hacker, I do run a version of Linux as my main OS on several computers, and I'm not afraid of the command line, or doing things like accessing my home desktop remotely via ssvnc. (For anyone who would try to hack into my computers that way, don't bother - I know how to use hosts.allow.) If all of that is so much mumbo-jumbo to you, don't worry, there are some prompts below that you can write without needing to know a lot of techie stuff.
I just want more of Chloe, really, so all my ideas below follow that in some way:
Early years: We know she was hacking at age 17, what's the story behind that and how that "went away"? How did her relationship with her mother get so bad?
Pre-canon: How'd she get to joining the FBI for cybercrimes work? Or show me how they decided on her becoming Yelena and what she had to go through to pull it off.
Missing scenes: There's an enormous gap between her saving the world and the scene in the new office. Show me some of the aftermath - we see power grids going out, we're told elevators all over fell, and we know planes went down. How much, how bad? I'd love to see Chloe's reaction to all of that, especially since nearly everyone saw her face and probably has figured out she was connected to it in some way. Or show me the conversation between her and Donna regarding Chloe's innocence and what was really happening. There was way too much that happened between her mother's hug and her look at the new office that we didn't see, and I'd love some of that fleshed out!
Post-canon: Show me Chloe taking down Gustov permanently somehow, or a conversation dealing with her having kissed Rabbit. I'm not fond of her relationship with Frank, so I'd be delighted if you felt like changing canon and having her turn down resuming a relationship with him (I don't feel like they're close enough for her to give up her dreams for him). Is she reinstated to the FBI as canon indicates or does she end up on the run again for some reason? Also, given that everyone knows her face (and what a context, too!), how does that affect her life?
I got the awesomest treat for this fandom a couple years ago but I love the canon so much I want more!
Where to find canon:
You can find the DVD at the US Amazon. If you can't do Region 1, then try here for an edited-into-single-film version (I didn't do that one! but kudos to the person who did). If you can't do either of those, leave an anonymous comment and let me know which file hoster you need it at (and whether you want the original webisodes + soundtrack in two parts, or one file of the webisodes edited into a single film), and I'll try to get that uploaded right away. (I promise I won't assume that I'm getting this for my gift - I'd just like to get other people into this too!)
Women's Murder Club (TV)
Basic premise: A small group of friends (three to start, with a fourth working her way in during the first couple episodes) who all work in related fields share information to help each other solve cases. Lindsay Boxer (played by Angie Harmon) is a homicide inspector (aka detective) who works in San Francisco's police department. She's friends with Jill Bernhardt, a deputy district attorney and Claire Washburn, the medical examiner. As the show unfolds, she begins to respect (and maybe even like?) Cindy Thomas (played by Aubrey Dollar), a young reporter who gets assigned to the crime beat. The show is an excellent mix of drama, comedy, and romance, and has a lot of similarities to Rizzoli & Isles.
Requested characters: Lindsay Boxer, Cindy Thomas
I got into Women's Murder Club because I loved watching Angie Harmon in Rizzoli & Isles, and this sounded like a similar role for her. After I saw the video titled "The Best of Women's Murder Club" and read this comment, I was positive I had to see the whole show: "Now it all makes sense. Jane Rizzoli is an extension of Lindsay Boxer. The only difference, they keep butching up Angie Harmon." It is so true. Lindsay is like a milder version of Jane in some ways. But in the ways she's different, I fell in love with her character all over again. Lindsay can actually cry, she hates being vulnerable but she can actually do it and be real with her friends. And that just won me over. (Seriously, make Angie Harmon be all vulnerable and cry in a scene and you have me. Completely.) I love her dedication to her work, the toughness she can bring to the job, but I also love that she can still be human, still be vulnerable, that she doesn't feel like she has to be tough to be respected (Jane Rizzoli, in many ways, hardens herself in order to be respected in her job). I love that she cares about her friends, and that she's torn about her ex but still knows what the right thing is and even respects his fiancée. While Lindsay doesn't always take the best care of herself (or act the most responsibly), it helps that Claire can act as "mom" and give her the lectures she needs but sometimes doesn't accept even from her other friends (something Maura isn't very good at giving Jane in R&I).
Cindy stole my heart because of several reasons. One, she's cute and adorable (I don't usually find redheads fascinating but there's something about Cindy…). Two, she has a delightful personality, bubbly, a little lacking in some common sense now and then, which the others are happy to lecture her about. And three, she has a bravery and courage that is pretty amazing. When she volunteers for the dangerous decoy task in "Father's Day"… that took guts. Real guts. I think Lindsay had to respect her for that. And then with what happens to her in "And The Truth Will (Sometimes) Set You Free", well… I want to hear more. (I also have to admit, I might not be a sports fan, but I loved Cindy in "Play Through the Pain", especially her interaction with Claire's son.)
Which brings me to why I requested both of them. I find the interaction between the two of them fascinating. And by this I don't know whether I want to read a romantic friendship or just a good friendship, or even a sisterly sort of thing… I just know I want Lindsay and Cindy together. WMC is so intertwined that I imagine it's probably easy to include all four women, so as long as the focus is on those two, I don't care if you write me a casefic, a friends-get-together-and-hang-out fic, an AU… you name it! But as for Lindsay and Cindy specifically, I see a bit of hero worship—and maybe a crush of sorts—on Cindy's side, and annoyance that turns to fondness and respect on Lindsay's. What you do with that is up to you. Deep feelings, caring intensely, please-don't-die-on-me, I-don't-know-what-to-do-if-you-weren't-here… I would eat that up. I would also be totally OK with a fic where they're just friends and Cindy's being her usual adorably ridiculous self and Lindsay is wondering if she needs to shoot her. *g*
My views on other characters:
I love Claire's motherliness, particularly with Lindsay, and I can see her totally mothering Cindy. I don't understand Jill very well sometimes so you can leave her out of the fic, or else just keeping her focused on case stuff or being general friends. Best off steering clear of the guys in the women's lives, with the exception of Ed. (You're welcome to pretend Pete never existed, or he left early, etc. if you like.)
For a sample of why I love this canon, this bit of convo still makes me giggle. Watch that Best of WMC video and see what I mean:
Jill: Worst. Liar. Ever!
Lindsay: Don't make me charge you with obstruction!
Cindy: Every time a girl gets a little flustered you start whipping out the charges.
Claire: Please spare us all the pain of watching you try to bluff!
Fun fact: To quote Wikipedia: "In the San Francisco Police Department, inspector is the normal title for a detective, and the investigative branch of the SFPD is called the Bureau of Inspectors, renamed from the Investigations Bureau." (In case anyone's confused by why she's called Inspector Boxer instead of Detective Boxer.)
Fic prompts & ideas (in case you don't have something already):
- I'd love to see more of Lindsay and Cindy regarding the shooting in ep #12. Maybe an alternate ending where Jill isn't the one that stays at the hospital?
- Maybe a fic about Lindsay and Cindy's friendship starting to grow from the beginning. I see a bit of insecurity in Cindy with regards to her friendships with the others.
- Write what happens at the end of ep #13; the show ended with no proper finale, and a bit of a cliffhanger with Lindsay. I'd like to see what happens next.
- Missing scene with the two women? One possibility is right after Cindy was a decoy, or later that day. I'm sure you can come up with more.
- AU—maybe they met years before, mix it up some other way, I love a good AU. :D
- What-ifs. What if Lindsay actually was pregnant? Or what if Cindy got hurt being a decoy? I love AU endings to eps where one variable gets tweaked and suddenly things go in an entirely different direction. As long as the bad guys still get put away somehow, have fun fiddling with variables!
- I'm a sucker for hurt/comfort. I'm quite content for a writer to drop a wall on a character (metaphorically, literally, whatever—any trauma is OK with me, won't squick me out) as long as they can overcome their challenges / heal from it (scars are fine in both physical and emotional senses). That said, although Cindy makes the easier hurt one physically, we got a glimpse of Lindsay hurt emotionally in "To Drag and To Hold". The case got in the way of the rest of it, though. (I wish we'd gotten to see more than Cindy's speech to Lindsay!) Feel free to do whatever you like with that. Trauma that brings characters closer together is fine by me.
Because canon is awesome:
The Best of Women's Murder Club - awesome video that will spoil some things but give you a taste of how awesome WMC is.
Where to find canon:
The show's not available for sale (unless you buy the less-than-professional DVD-Rs from Amazon), but you can find all the eps (including the unaired version of the pilot, which is substantially different from the regular show in some areas so shouldn't be treated as canon for this) on Youtube. Just search for "Women's Murder Club" and you should find them—they're all titled WMC - Season 1 - Episode **.
Happy writing! :D
I've tried to help you out by describing what I love about each fandom and/or character, and I've written a few prompts in case you find them useful, but if you come up with something of your own, please write what you think will work best! I've been wonderfully surprised by fics that I never would have thought of in a million years but which were absolutely amazing.
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 / nonsexual romance
- found families / teamfic
- apocalyptic / survival fic
- hurt/comfort / characters dealing with trauma / nonsexual physical touch (including cuddling)
- characters being vulnerable / character redemption
- positive treatment of religion
- trust building / friendship
- missing scenes
- canon divergence AU (especially fix-it fic)
- soulmates (as long as requested pairing are soulmates with each other)
- crossovers with fandoms I know (see list further down in this letter)
- any trope on this list: https://doranwen.dreamwidth.org/240453.html
DNWs:
- modern politics
- COVID-19 or pandemics
- onscreen sex or making out (a light kiss is fine, allusions are fine)
- supernatural/fantasy beings (elves outside of LOTR, vampires, werewolves, gnomes, zombies, etc.)
- AUs other than canon divergence or alt beginnings (i.e. no coffee shop AUs)
- gore / graphic violence (mild/medium violence is OK, just not as graphic as a surgery documentary)
- noncanonical death of canon characters or horror
- dark endings (happy or bittersweet endings only, please!)
- unrequested identity headcanons (gender/sexuality/etc.)
- calling an adult "baby" or "darling" ("sweetheart" works if you need a substitute)
- mpreg, A/B/O, genderswap, ageplay of any kind
- crack (nothing deliberately wacky)
- uncensored profanity
- 1st/2nd person
- unprompted relationships between canonical characters
- crossovers with fandoms I don't know
Opt-ins I'm OK with, if they should arise as part of the story you are writing:
- noncon & aftermath (this overrides the onscreen sex DNW)
- underage (please keep them teens at minimum, and observe the no onscreen sex DNW)
- het pregnancy
- characters being parents
- child abuse of any kind (as long as it's not the requested characters doing the abusing)
If writing a romantic friendship, I'd prefer the line be drawn at forehead/cheek kisses and cuddles; please reserve lip kisses for sexual relationships.
If a prompt requires something that's listed as a DNW, please follow the prompt rather than the DNW. :)
Also, if choosing between writing the characters as true to themselves as you can, vs. writing a particular trope or prompt, I'd prefer you to keep the characters true to themselves.
If you're crossover-inclined, here's a list of fandoms you could cross with the requested ones (besides, of course, any of my other requests):
1-800-Missing (TV) - love Jess, Brooke, and Sunny so much
Flood (2007) - love Sam and Rob, and Patricia and Leonard, and I might be slightly shippy with those two pairs…
Gold Diggers (1995) - I love Beth and Jody, and their friendship (which I'm happy turning into a romantic friendship)
Leverage - I ship Nate/Sophie, and like the younger three either as completely platonic or Eliot/Parker (not Hardison/Parker or OT3, please)
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman - Lois/Clark are my favs, though I also enjoy S1 Jimmy (I always picture him in stories I read, rather than the actor from S2+)
Lord of the Rings - books only, please; I prefer canon ships in all respects
The Pretender - Jarod and Miss Parker are my favs and my OTP
Push (2009) - am such a Nick/Cassie fan, and I'm OK with underage here, as I see Cassie as the driving force behind it
Rizzoli & Isles (TV) - Jane and Maura are fantastic; I headcanon Jane as asexual and Maura as probably bi, and love them in a romantic friendship
Rookie Blue - S1/S2 are my favs, I am totally team McSwarek (though I don't mind McCollins as an interim relationship, just not endgame), I ship Gail with Dov or Luke (not into Gail/Chris, Gail/Nick, or Gail/Holly), do what you want with Chris and Traci, love Noelle and Oliver but not a fan of Celery, am ambivalent about Chloe (I like her but not the whole Wes thing) and don't really care for Juliet or Marlo (who would've been much better if they hadn't used the bipolar thing in the way they did)
Smallville - S1-S3 only, am a Clark/Chloe fan and not into Erica Durance's Lois, nor any of the magic stuff that came in S4
Stick It (2006) - I love Haley, lol
Sue Thomas F.B.Eye - Myles and Tara are my favs (I ship them), but I love Sue/Jack too
Tomorrow, When the War Began (2010) - I'm not sure exactly how you'd cross something like this with any of my requests, but I love the whole idea of it, even (Ellie is my favorite character, with Robyn a close second)
X-Men movieverse - original two films only, please; I ship Scott/Ororo, Logan/Rogue, Scott/Rogue, Scott/Kitty, or Kitty/Pete (don't have any OTPs here, lol)
Please don't worry if someone's written a similar idea before. 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. Everyone comes at it differently and I'll enjoy it no matter what!
And now to the requests (in the order they appear in the tagset):
Earth Girl Series - 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. Several of the characters who are greatly affected by her actions are Drago Tell Dramis (her cousin of some variety), Riak Torrek (a man who is her nonbiological grandfather), and Gemelle Tell Feren (her sister).
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.) The pictures above may only show the initial trilogy, but I have read every short story and novella as well and I love them!
In previous exchanges, I've nominated and requested Jarra. I didn't do that this year because I feel like I've gotten a lot of Jarra with the books and recent novella. I adore Jarra, but we see nearly everything from her eyes, and she's an unreliable observer. She misses emotional things and has a limited viewpoint because of the way she's grown up. She really has no idea just how much she's impacted some people's lives, I feel like.
So for this request, I would love to see any of the events in the series from one of these three character's POVs, or just something that touches on that. You don't need to include all three in a fic; I'm happy with fic focused on just one of them! I would prefer no canon divergence for this fandom, and it would be very difficult to include all three in a single fic canonically anyway. Also, no crossovers with this fandom, please. :)
Prompts by tag:
Drago Tell Dramis
From the Hera 2781 short story, we know Jaxon was planning to tell Drago about Jarra. I'd love to see that conversation! Or at what point does Drago learn that they recruited Jarra into the military? Did he have conversations with Jaxon or anyone else about the time he met her? Or even later on, when she's being attacked, or undergoing the operation. We hear Fian's POV in the Earth Prime collection; if you've read it, maybe you want to write Drago's side of the story about what happened when they bonded as brothers? There are so many ways that Jarra's impacted Drago's life, but we don't get to see much of his thoughts towards her, as the only Drago POV stories existing canonically have very little of Jarra, if at all.
Riak Torrek
I'm not quite as interested about his thoughts towards Jarra in the early years, when she was born, though he surely would have known about her being Handicapped. But I would LOVE to see some of his thoughts about her when he first meets her. Does he discuss her with anyone else? Like, did he exchange messages with her parents about meeting her? Did he talk with Jaxon? What was his thought process in recruiting her for the Military and did he discuss that with anyone? Was there a very interesting "conversation" with some of his underlings when he found out Jarra was undergoing an operation that could kill her? So many questions, so few answers!
Gemelle Tell Feren
Of the three characters I requested, Gemelle is the one we see the LEAST of - she doesn't appear at all in the books! There's mention of "impersonal recorded messages" being exchanged, but that's all. Jarra doesn't even know what her sister is up to until Riak discusses it with her in the novella in Earth Prime. I would love to see Gemelle's reaction to any and all of the events in the series, or show me some of the behind-the-scenes things referenced in that conversation in the novella! (I'm trying not to be blatant about what that is if you haven't had the chance to read it yet. If that's the case, please avoid writing Gemelle as you may end up contradicting canon unwittingly. Focusing on Drago or Riak should work just fine as long as you avoid referencing what she's up to after the events of Earth Star.)
combinations of the three
There are a ton of chances for Riak and Drago to have conversations, both before and after Alien Contact is activated; I would love to see any of them! And I'd love to see a conversation between Drago and Gemelle somewhere in the series; the best timing is probably right around the conversation with Riak mentioned in Earth Prime. And, of course, I would love to see that conversation between Riak and Gemelle that was mentioned in "The End, and the New Beginning". (I honestly can't see how you could have a three-way conversation with all three of them canonically, lol.)
Where to find canon: Pretty much any book or ebook site you look at. Note that Earth Prime won't be available as a physical book until next year sometime, so you're stuck with ebook for that one.
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 requested Thea because I'd really love more of her story, particularly after the books end. I'd love to see more of her time at Amford; does she make friends with any other students? Does she get sucked into more adventures? Does she keep frustrating Humphrey May? Does she create anything really special in her life? Like the Elemental houses, for instance. Something that no one else could do. (Would prefer the fic not center on her relationship with Corey at all.)
But if you'd really like to write worldbuilding, I'd be OK with a fic that did NOT include Thea. Because the worldbuilding the author did is just genius. 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).
So if worldbuilding appeals, 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!
I'd prefer nothing set during the books themselves, and if focusing on Thea, would prefer it's not set during her childhood, but any time before or after works for worldbuilding fic. Feel free to create OCs as you need to flesh out the world.
I like how Thea's friends grow over time, and you can throw them in if you want, but I'd prefer that the fic not focus on them. I'm less interested in the Anasazi, Grandmother Spider/Tawaha/etc., Tesla and all of that; feel free to leave them out. I'd prefer if the fic not focus on the other polities (Alphiri, Faele, Dwarrowrim), as they're called in the books.
Where to find canon: The author's website links to the four books on Amazon or you can buy the ebooks on Smashwords.
Cybergeddon (Web Series)
Basic premise: FBI Special Agent Chloe Jocelyn (played by Missy Peregrym) is framed for cybercrimes she didn't commit, and has to go on the run to prove her innocence and save the world.
This is like a hacker version of The Fugitive (I'm told it's reminiscent of 24 as well). Missy Peregrym is amazing in this role with a great range - physical, emotional, etc. She sells her character so well and really makes you feel along with her. While I'm not crazy about the Norton ad aspects of the series (and I think they kind of forgot that Linux is a lot better protected than Windows in general), the rest of it is fantastic and well worth watching.
I loved this partly because I'm a bit of a geek myself. While not a hacker, I do run a version of Linux as my main OS on several computers, and I'm not afraid of the command line, or doing things like accessing my home desktop remotely via ssvnc. (For anyone who would try to hack into my computers that way, don't bother - I know how to use hosts.allow.) If all of that is so much mumbo-jumbo to you, don't worry, there are some prompts below that you can write without needing to know a lot of techie stuff.
I just want more of Chloe, really, so all my ideas below follow that in some way:
Early years: We know she was hacking at age 17, what's the story behind that and how that "went away"? How did her relationship with her mother get so bad?
Pre-canon: How'd she get to joining the FBI for cybercrimes work? Or show me how they decided on her becoming Yelena and what she had to go through to pull it off.
Missing scenes: There's an enormous gap between her saving the world and the scene in the new office. Show me some of the aftermath - we see power grids going out, we're told elevators all over fell, and we know planes went down. How much, how bad? I'd love to see Chloe's reaction to all of that, especially since nearly everyone saw her face and probably has figured out she was connected to it in some way. Or show me the conversation between her and Donna regarding Chloe's innocence and what was really happening. There was way too much that happened between her mother's hug and her look at the new office that we didn't see, and I'd love some of that fleshed out!
Post-canon: Show me Chloe taking down Gustov permanently somehow, or a conversation dealing with her having kissed Rabbit. I'm not fond of her relationship with Frank, so I'd be delighted if you felt like changing canon and having her turn down resuming a relationship with him (I don't feel like they're close enough for her to give up her dreams for him). Is she reinstated to the FBI as canon indicates or does she end up on the run again for some reason? Also, given that everyone knows her face (and what a context, too!), how does that affect her life?
I got the awesomest treat for this fandom a couple years ago but I love the canon so much I want more!
Where to find canon:
You can find the DVD at the US Amazon. If you can't do Region 1, then try here for an edited-into-single-film version (I didn't do that one! but kudos to the person who did). If you can't do either of those, leave an anonymous comment and let me know which file hoster you need it at (and whether you want the original webisodes + soundtrack in two parts, or one file of the webisodes edited into a single film), and I'll try to get that uploaded right away. (I promise I won't assume that I'm getting this for my gift - I'd just like to get other people into this too!)
Women's Murder Club (TV)
Basic premise: A small group of friends (three to start, with a fourth working her way in during the first couple episodes) who all work in related fields share information to help each other solve cases. Lindsay Boxer (played by Angie Harmon) is a homicide inspector (aka detective) who works in San Francisco's police department. She's friends with Jill Bernhardt, a deputy district attorney and Claire Washburn, the medical examiner. As the show unfolds, she begins to respect (and maybe even like?) Cindy Thomas (played by Aubrey Dollar), a young reporter who gets assigned to the crime beat. The show is an excellent mix of drama, comedy, and romance, and has a lot of similarities to Rizzoli & Isles.
Requested characters: Lindsay Boxer, Cindy Thomas
I got into Women's Murder Club because I loved watching Angie Harmon in Rizzoli & Isles, and this sounded like a similar role for her. After I saw the video titled "The Best of Women's Murder Club" and read this comment, I was positive I had to see the whole show: "Now it all makes sense. Jane Rizzoli is an extension of Lindsay Boxer. The only difference, they keep butching up Angie Harmon." It is so true. Lindsay is like a milder version of Jane in some ways. But in the ways she's different, I fell in love with her character all over again. Lindsay can actually cry, she hates being vulnerable but she can actually do it and be real with her friends. And that just won me over. (Seriously, make Angie Harmon be all vulnerable and cry in a scene and you have me. Completely.) I love her dedication to her work, the toughness she can bring to the job, but I also love that she can still be human, still be vulnerable, that she doesn't feel like she has to be tough to be respected (Jane Rizzoli, in many ways, hardens herself in order to be respected in her job). I love that she cares about her friends, and that she's torn about her ex but still knows what the right thing is and even respects his fiancée. While Lindsay doesn't always take the best care of herself (or act the most responsibly), it helps that Claire can act as "mom" and give her the lectures she needs but sometimes doesn't accept even from her other friends (something Maura isn't very good at giving Jane in R&I).
Cindy stole my heart because of several reasons. One, she's cute and adorable (I don't usually find redheads fascinating but there's something about Cindy…). Two, she has a delightful personality, bubbly, a little lacking in some common sense now and then, which the others are happy to lecture her about. And three, she has a bravery and courage that is pretty amazing. When she volunteers for the dangerous decoy task in "Father's Day"… that took guts. Real guts. I think Lindsay had to respect her for that. And then with what happens to her in "And The Truth Will (Sometimes) Set You Free", well… I want to hear more. (I also have to admit, I might not be a sports fan, but I loved Cindy in "Play Through the Pain", especially her interaction with Claire's son.)
Which brings me to why I requested both of them. I find the interaction between the two of them fascinating. And by this I don't know whether I want to read a romantic friendship or just a good friendship, or even a sisterly sort of thing… I just know I want Lindsay and Cindy together. WMC is so intertwined that I imagine it's probably easy to include all four women, so as long as the focus is on those two, I don't care if you write me a casefic, a friends-get-together-and-hang-out fic, an AU… you name it! But as for Lindsay and Cindy specifically, I see a bit of hero worship—and maybe a crush of sorts—on Cindy's side, and annoyance that turns to fondness and respect on Lindsay's. What you do with that is up to you. Deep feelings, caring intensely, please-don't-die-on-me, I-don't-know-what-to-do-if-you-weren't-here… I would eat that up. I would also be totally OK with a fic where they're just friends and Cindy's being her usual adorably ridiculous self and Lindsay is wondering if she needs to shoot her. *g*
My views on other characters:
I love Claire's motherliness, particularly with Lindsay, and I can see her totally mothering Cindy. I don't understand Jill very well sometimes so you can leave her out of the fic, or else just keeping her focused on case stuff or being general friends. Best off steering clear of the guys in the women's lives, with the exception of Ed. (You're welcome to pretend Pete never existed, or he left early, etc. if you like.)
For a sample of why I love this canon, this bit of convo still makes me giggle. Watch that Best of WMC video and see what I mean:
Jill: Worst. Liar. Ever!
Lindsay: Don't make me charge you with obstruction!
Cindy: Every time a girl gets a little flustered you start whipping out the charges.
Claire: Please spare us all the pain of watching you try to bluff!
Fun fact: To quote Wikipedia: "In the San Francisco Police Department, inspector is the normal title for a detective, and the investigative branch of the SFPD is called the Bureau of Inspectors, renamed from the Investigations Bureau." (In case anyone's confused by why she's called Inspector Boxer instead of Detective Boxer.)
Fic prompts & ideas (in case you don't have something already):
- I'd love to see more of Lindsay and Cindy regarding the shooting in ep #12. Maybe an alternate ending where Jill isn't the one that stays at the hospital?
- Maybe a fic about Lindsay and Cindy's friendship starting to grow from the beginning. I see a bit of insecurity in Cindy with regards to her friendships with the others.
- Write what happens at the end of ep #13; the show ended with no proper finale, and a bit of a cliffhanger with Lindsay. I'd like to see what happens next.
- Missing scene with the two women? One possibility is right after Cindy was a decoy, or later that day. I'm sure you can come up with more.
- AU—maybe they met years before, mix it up some other way, I love a good AU. :D
- What-ifs. What if Lindsay actually was pregnant? Or what if Cindy got hurt being a decoy? I love AU endings to eps where one variable gets tweaked and suddenly things go in an entirely different direction. As long as the bad guys still get put away somehow, have fun fiddling with variables!
- I'm a sucker for hurt/comfort. I'm quite content for a writer to drop a wall on a character (metaphorically, literally, whatever—any trauma is OK with me, won't squick me out) as long as they can overcome their challenges / heal from it (scars are fine in both physical and emotional senses). That said, although Cindy makes the easier hurt one physically, we got a glimpse of Lindsay hurt emotionally in "To Drag and To Hold". The case got in the way of the rest of it, though. (I wish we'd gotten to see more than Cindy's speech to Lindsay!) Feel free to do whatever you like with that. Trauma that brings characters closer together is fine by me.
Because canon is awesome:
The Best of Women's Murder Club - awesome video that will spoil some things but give you a taste of how awesome WMC is.
Where to find canon:
The show's not available for sale (unless you buy the less-than-professional DVD-Rs from Amazon), but you can find all the eps (including the unaired version of the pilot, which is substantially different from the regular show in some areas so shouldn't be treated as canon for this) on Youtube. Just search for "Women's Murder Club" and you should find them—they're all titled WMC - Season 1 - Episode **.
Happy writing! :D
