Dear Yuletide Writer Letter 2024
Oct. 14th, 2024 05:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
doranwenI've been swamped with the Yahoo Groups project the last couple of years so I hadn't signed up for a while, but I'm excited to be able to participate again. I've loved doing Yuletide, and I hope you have a wonderful time writing for me.
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 pair of characters 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 (fade-to-black please!)
- BDSM
- anything dealing with the anus or feces
- feeding/inflation or eating disorders (characters eating a meal together is 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 requested characters
- horror or dark endings (happy or bittersweet endings only, please!)
- unrequested identity headcanons (gender/sexuality/etc.)
- calling an adult "baby" or "darling" (I'm fine with "sweetheart")
- mpreg, A/B/O, genderswap, ageplay of any kind
- crack (nothing deliberately wacky)
- profanity (I'd rather see a mention that the character swore than read the word they actually said)
- 1st/2nd person
- unprompted noncanonical relationships between 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, such as prompts for soulmates, etc. :)
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 (original only, I haven't watched Redemption nor is it canon to me, lol) - 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
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 adore 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, Scott/Rogue, Scott/Kitty, Logan/Rogue, 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 (I'm a firm believer in the "two cakes" mindset). 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 (in her case, Marack and Gemena), 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.) The pictures above may only show the initial trilogy, but I have read every publicly available short story and novella as well and I love them! (I'm not a Patreon supporter, though, because I haven't had the $$ to chuck that way, so please avoid any spoilers or details from those stories.)
Prompts by character combo:
Jarra & her parents: There are only a few days canonically where Jarra and her parents have even met (before they die), but that's OK because I'm not asking for canon-compliant fic here. Give me all the AUs! Does Jarra end up asking for details on her family when she's 14, and her parents want to meet then? Do her parents survive the attack by the soldier carnivore creatures on the planet they're on, and only make contact after the events of Earth Flight? Does Jaxon not interfere, and Jarra grows up on Earth with her parents - and has to survive potential assassination attempts? Maybe you can think of another scenario. I'd just love to see some more with Jarra and her parents. Drago doesn't need to appear in these.
Drago & Jarra: If you'd prefer to write about Jarra and Drago, you're welcome to leave out her parents if you wanted to write an AU where he meets Jarra pre-Earth Girl. Does he end up training some cadets on one of the Fringe dig sites and runs into Jarra, for instance? He'd obviously tell Marack and Gemena about that, but I'm OK with not actually seeing it in that scenario. If you can think of another plausible way for them to meet, feel free to run with it! I'd love to read it.
No crossovers with this fandom, please. :)
Where to find canon: Pretty much any book or ebook site you look at.
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.
While I love Thea's story, and wouldn't mind if you wanted to write more of her time at Amford, or more ways she frustrates Humphrey May, I didn't nominate characters because I'd just love more in that world, and don't care if it's about Thea or not. 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 in the entire world 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).
Some ideas:
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 most sports (the only 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. 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, or on Thea's relationship with Corey. 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.
Also, this fandom is EXTREMELY crossable, both as pure crossovers and as fusion. I'd be absolutely delighted with either one, with any of the other fandoms I've requested or mentioned in my crossovers list. Feel free to be creative!
Where to find canon: Amazon or Smashwords.
Profiler (TV 1996)
Basic premise: Samantha "Sam" Waters (played by Ally Walker) is the best profiler in the world, but has been hiding out on her friend's farm with her daughter Chloe after the death of her husband at the hands of the serial killer Jack of All Trades. But when her former mentor and good friend Bailey Malone (played by Robert Davi) needs her help on a tough case, it pulls her back into the FBI—and the sights of Jack.
Talk about coming to a dead fandom! I watched this one this spring, and when I went looking for fic, found that the last fic posted on ff.n was back in 2014, and AO3 hadn't gotten a single fic (other than a crossover in French which focused more on the other fandom than Profiler) posted for three years - and there weren't many posted in the last ten years! I pushed the number of works on AO3 over 100 by writing a bunch of tropey fics and ficlets earlier this year but am not expecting a lot of readers; nearly everyone seems to have forgotten about this one.
I fell HARD for Sam and Bailey (the two on the lower right), a true SABER at heart by 1x06. They're such deep friends and Bailey is so clearly in love with her. If you don't believe me, watch the pilot with Robert Davi's commentary. I grinned so hard when I heard him say, "It was always my reading of the script that Bailey was in love with Sam. I wanted him to be Cyrano to her Roxane." I love both the kinds of stories where she hasn't figured that out yet, or realized that she's in love with him too (and it's just this deep touchy-feely friendship), as well as ones where she does realize how much she's in love with him and returns his feelings. The show may have cheated us out of a happy ending but fanfic is always there to pick up the slack.
I see this show as really three shows in one. S1/S2 is the original Profiler. S3-4x02 is Profiler Lite. 4x03 onwards is Profiler: The Rachel Burke Show, lol. I prefer the original Profiler to all else. If writing this show, please do not set it in S3 or later! AU it up the wazoo if you like (no Donald Lucas, no aged-up Chloe, no relationship with Paul, etc., and definitely no Sam leaving), but don't keep all those things which only happened after S2.
I love the other characters in the show but nominated and requested Sam and Bailey because I'd like the fic to focus on them. Trope it up all you like; the tropier the better. Only one bed? Sure! Huddling for warmth? Great! I'm not sure how you'd make a fake/pretend relationship realistic but I'd go for that too if you could think of a plausible excuse. :D
Where to find canon: You can order the DVDs (though it's a little work to find one that has 1x04 on it if you're trying to get it as well, thanks to an issue with song rights), but I don't think it's streaming anywhere or available digital-only. A lot of people resort to *ahem* other options for this one.
Rookie Blue
Basic premise: Andy McNally (played by Missy Peregrym) is a rookie cop with 52 Division in Toronto, and after a fateful meeting with Sam Swarek (played by Ben Bass) ends up having him for a training officer. Sparks fly as she grows into the job and sorts out relationships. (Grey's Anatomy with cops, it's been called.)
I still can't believe I waited years to watch this one, because the fandom is mostly dead now, and I missed out on so much… I watched Stick It soon after it came out and loved Missy Peregrym in that, but for some inexplicable reason waited until 2018 to watch Rookie Blue. I was hooked from the first couple episodes and watched all 74 in two weeks. :D All the drama, the emotion, the romance, the angst… (And SO MUCH AU POTENTIAL. Seriously. Feel free to AU this all over the place.)
I love Sam and Andy so much—I am totally team McSwarek. I ship Gail with Dov or Luke (not into Gail/Chris, Gail/Nick, or Gail/Holly). You can do what you want with Chris and Traci. I love Noelle and Oliver but am not a fan of Celery (I wish Oliver had been able to work things out with Zoe). I'm 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). My favorite seasons with Rookie Blue are S1 and S2, up until where Sam goes undercover.
Have a few prompts for Sam and Andy:
These two were meant for each other from day one, and I think it was obvious to anyone watching the pilot. Of course, the show mangled the process of getting them there, but hey, that's what fic is for, right? Feel free to fix something the show got wrong. Canon divergence is excellent with this fandom.
Also, all the tropes are the best here. A few I thought would be particularly appropriate: Accidental baby acquisition, accidental marriage, amnesia (whether the affected person recovers the memories or not), canon divergence, captured together, forced proximity/sharing body heat, hurt/comfort (of just about any kind), in denial and forced to confront feelings, everyone thinks they're together, on the run together, outsider pov, unplanned pregnancy, secret relationship, sharing a bed, soulbond/soulmates, survival, telepathy, time travel (permanently stick Andy in the body of her past self and have her redo things much better this time, lol), undercover as a couple… See my MFTF 2021 letter for expanded prompts on any of those tropes if you want it.
Feel free to cross Rookie Blue with one of the fandoms listed above, if you know them and want to go that route.
Where to find canon: It looks like it isn't streaming anywhere but eps can be bought off Amazon (all seasons) or Apple TV (only two of the seasons).
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 pair of characters 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 (fade-to-black please!)
- BDSM
- anything dealing with the anus or feces
- feeding/inflation or eating disorders (characters eating a meal together is 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 requested characters
- horror or dark endings (happy or bittersweet endings only, please!)
- unrequested identity headcanons (gender/sexuality/etc.)
- calling an adult "baby" or "darling" (I'm fine with "sweetheart")
- mpreg, A/B/O, genderswap, ageplay of any kind
- crack (nothing deliberately wacky)
- profanity (I'd rather see a mention that the character swore than read the word they actually said)
- 1st/2nd person
- unprompted noncanonical relationships between 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, such as prompts for soulmates, etc. :)
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 (original only, I haven't watched Redemption nor is it canon to me, lol) - 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
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 adore 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, Scott/Rogue, Scott/Kitty, Logan/Rogue, 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 (I'm a firm believer in the "two cakes" mindset). 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 (in her case, Marack and Gemena), 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.) The pictures above may only show the initial trilogy, but I have read every publicly available short story and novella as well and I love them! (I'm not a Patreon supporter, though, because I haven't had the $$ to chuck that way, so please avoid any spoilers or details from those stories.)
Prompts by character combo:
Jarra & her parents: There are only a few days canonically where Jarra and her parents have even met (before they die), but that's OK because I'm not asking for canon-compliant fic here. Give me all the AUs! Does Jarra end up asking for details on her family when she's 14, and her parents want to meet then? Do her parents survive the attack by the soldier carnivore creatures on the planet they're on, and only make contact after the events of Earth Flight? Does Jaxon not interfere, and Jarra grows up on Earth with her parents - and has to survive potential assassination attempts? Maybe you can think of another scenario. I'd just love to see some more with Jarra and her parents. Drago doesn't need to appear in these.
Drago & Jarra: If you'd prefer to write about Jarra and Drago, you're welcome to leave out her parents if you wanted to write an AU where he meets Jarra pre-Earth Girl. Does he end up training some cadets on one of the Fringe dig sites and runs into Jarra, for instance? He'd obviously tell Marack and Gemena about that, but I'm OK with not actually seeing it in that scenario. If you can think of another plausible way for them to meet, feel free to run with it! I'd love to read it.
No crossovers with this fandom, please. :)
Where to find canon: Pretty much any book or ebook site you look at.
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.
While I love Thea's story, and wouldn't mind if you wanted to write more of her time at Amford, or more ways she frustrates Humphrey May, I didn't nominate characters because I'd just love more in that world, and don't care if it's about Thea or not. 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 in the entire world 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).
Some ideas:
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 most sports (the only 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. 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, or on Thea's relationship with Corey. 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.
Also, this fandom is EXTREMELY crossable, both as pure crossovers and as fusion. I'd be absolutely delighted with either one, with any of the other fandoms I've requested or mentioned in my crossovers list. Feel free to be creative!
Where to find canon: Amazon or Smashwords.
Profiler (TV 1996)
Basic premise: Samantha "Sam" Waters (played by Ally Walker) is the best profiler in the world, but has been hiding out on her friend's farm with her daughter Chloe after the death of her husband at the hands of the serial killer Jack of All Trades. But when her former mentor and good friend Bailey Malone (played by Robert Davi) needs her help on a tough case, it pulls her back into the FBI—and the sights of Jack.
Talk about coming to a dead fandom! I watched this one this spring, and when I went looking for fic, found that the last fic posted on ff.n was back in 2014, and AO3 hadn't gotten a single fic (other than a crossover in French which focused more on the other fandom than Profiler) posted for three years - and there weren't many posted in the last ten years! I pushed the number of works on AO3 over 100 by writing a bunch of tropey fics and ficlets earlier this year but am not expecting a lot of readers; nearly everyone seems to have forgotten about this one.
I fell HARD for Sam and Bailey (the two on the lower right), a true SABER at heart by 1x06. They're such deep friends and Bailey is so clearly in love with her. If you don't believe me, watch the pilot with Robert Davi's commentary. I grinned so hard when I heard him say, "It was always my reading of the script that Bailey was in love with Sam. I wanted him to be Cyrano to her Roxane." I love both the kinds of stories where she hasn't figured that out yet, or realized that she's in love with him too (and it's just this deep touchy-feely friendship), as well as ones where she does realize how much she's in love with him and returns his feelings. The show may have cheated us out of a happy ending but fanfic is always there to pick up the slack.
I see this show as really three shows in one. S1/S2 is the original Profiler. S3-4x02 is Profiler Lite. 4x03 onwards is Profiler: The Rachel Burke Show, lol. I prefer the original Profiler to all else. If writing this show, please do not set it in S3 or later! AU it up the wazoo if you like (no Donald Lucas, no aged-up Chloe, no relationship with Paul, etc., and definitely no Sam leaving), but don't keep all those things which only happened after S2.
I love the other characters in the show but nominated and requested Sam and Bailey because I'd like the fic to focus on them. Trope it up all you like; the tropier the better. Only one bed? Sure! Huddling for warmth? Great! I'm not sure how you'd make a fake/pretend relationship realistic but I'd go for that too if you could think of a plausible excuse. :D
Where to find canon: You can order the DVDs (though it's a little work to find one that has 1x04 on it if you're trying to get it as well, thanks to an issue with song rights), but I don't think it's streaming anywhere or available digital-only. A lot of people resort to *ahem* other options for this one.
Rookie Blue
Basic premise: Andy McNally (played by Missy Peregrym) is a rookie cop with 52 Division in Toronto, and after a fateful meeting with Sam Swarek (played by Ben Bass) ends up having him for a training officer. Sparks fly as she grows into the job and sorts out relationships. (Grey's Anatomy with cops, it's been called.)
I still can't believe I waited years to watch this one, because the fandom is mostly dead now, and I missed out on so much… I watched Stick It soon after it came out and loved Missy Peregrym in that, but for some inexplicable reason waited until 2018 to watch Rookie Blue. I was hooked from the first couple episodes and watched all 74 in two weeks. :D All the drama, the emotion, the romance, the angst… (And SO MUCH AU POTENTIAL. Seriously. Feel free to AU this all over the place.)
I love Sam and Andy so much—I am totally team McSwarek. I ship Gail with Dov or Luke (not into Gail/Chris, Gail/Nick, or Gail/Holly). You can do what you want with Chris and Traci. I love Noelle and Oliver but am not a fan of Celery (I wish Oliver had been able to work things out with Zoe). I'm 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). My favorite seasons with Rookie Blue are S1 and S2, up until where Sam goes undercover.
Have a few prompts for Sam and Andy:
These two were meant for each other from day one, and I think it was obvious to anyone watching the pilot. Of course, the show mangled the process of getting them there, but hey, that's what fic is for, right? Feel free to fix something the show got wrong. Canon divergence is excellent with this fandom.
Also, all the tropes are the best here. A few I thought would be particularly appropriate: Accidental baby acquisition, accidental marriage, amnesia (whether the affected person recovers the memories or not), canon divergence, captured together, forced proximity/sharing body heat, hurt/comfort (of just about any kind), in denial and forced to confront feelings, everyone thinks they're together, on the run together, outsider pov, unplanned pregnancy, secret relationship, sharing a bed, soulbond/soulmates, survival, telepathy, time travel (permanently stick Andy in the body of her past self and have her redo things much better this time, lol), undercover as a couple… See my MFTF 2021 letter for expanded prompts on any of those tropes if you want it.
Feel free to cross Rookie Blue with one of the fandoms listed above, if you know them and want to go that route.
Where to find canon: It looks like it isn't streaming anywhere but eps can be bought off Amazon (all seasons) or Apple TV (only two of the seasons).
Happy writing! :D
