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Thank you so much for participating in this exchange and for offering one or more of my requested fandoms! Three important things I wanted to tell you before I begin the letter proper:
* Optional details are optional. I tried to offer at least one or two possible hooks for a story in each of my requests because that's how I like to write for exchanges, but if your creativity is sparked in other ways, or if you just don't like any of my suggestions, then feel free to ignore them and write a different story for those characters.
Also, I requested slash for all four of my requests this year, but if you're a gen or het writer or if you simply aren't seeing it for those pairings, then that's okay. I'm interested in these couples because of the complex relationships between the characters in canon, not just the possibility of them becoming romantically involved, so it's perfectly fine by me if you write those relationships as platonic. (Well, except for Nisus and Euryalus, whom I do see as having a canonical romance, but in their case I'm happy to receive a story that focuses more on their friendship or soldierly bond than on their sex life.) The only thing I ask is that you not pair my requested characters with anyone else (with a couple of exceptions that I'll discuss below).
* Despite the fact that I was a lot more loquacious in my first two requests, I really would be equally thrilled by a story in any of these fandoms, on the off-chance that you were worried that I might love my Wang Qiu Wang Zi or Aeneid requests less than the other two. My inability to brainstorm more than a couple of possible scenarios for those fandoms doesn't mean that I won't be charmed and amazed by whatever story you might come up with for one of them.
* Yuletide tends to be a high-pressure exchange for a lot of people, and while I'm not trying to invalidate your feelings if you're one of them, I do want to encourage you to not worry too much. All four of my fandoms this year are quite rare even by Yuletide standards (I don't think any of them has more than 20 stories at most in the fandom), so there's pretty much nothing you could write that I wouldn't coo over for the very fact of its existence.
As I said, I tend to prefer more info rather than less when writing for exchanges. If you feel the same, then please continue reading for my general likes and dislikes and some fandom-specific details:
Generally speaking, things that I don't like to read include breathplay/asphyxiation, bloodplay, knifeplay, scat, vomit, character-bashing, misogyny, racism, "on-screen" character death, unremitting angst, abuse, betrayal, everyone-is-gay syndrome, bad grammar and spelling, PWPs, non-con, dubcon, coercion, and violence. Also, I'm a huge proponent of safer sex in any stories set in modern, non-fantasy settings (which includes...uh...just one of my fandoms this year).
Things that I like include happy (or at least hopeful) endings, friendship, family (either biological or chosen), cooking and/or eating (but no foodsmut, please), people being smart, people being competent at their chosen professions and/or hobbies, platonic bedsharing, non-platonic bedsharing, friends turned lovers, kissing, masturbation, talking during sex (not dirty talk, just ordinary conversation), first-time fic, established relationship fic (especially if there's some sort of shift in the dynamics of the relationship), character-driven gen, and mild angst with an eventual happy ending. I'd be pleased by a story of any rating.
Danielle Bennett and Jaida Jones - Havemercy, Thom/Balfour.
Slash, please, set after the end of Havemercy. I was charmed by the way Thom and Balfour were fumbling towards friendship (and maybe something more?) in the book, only to be distracted by other, admittedly more pressing matters, and I'd really like to see a story that picks up where their relationship left off. An epistolary fic could be neat, or they could meet face to face again after--or during--Thom's journeying with Rook. And if you're interested, an exploration of Balfour's hands would be especially awesome.
Thom's my favorite character in the book, and I really wish we could have seen more of his hesitant friendship with Balfour than the brief glimpses we got before his relationship with Rook took center focus. His interaction with all of the airmen was just fascinating to watch, and I loved how smart and self-assured and competent he was during the initial hazing and then as he forged more sustainable relationships with all of them. If you do decide to write Balfour's and Thom's relationship as platonic, then that particular dynamic--Balfour as one of the airmen with whom Thom was beginning to build a strong relationship--is one that I can't get enough of.
Please, no Thom/Rook, though, even as a secondary or implied pairing. I'll happily acknowledge Rook's possessiveness with regard to Thom, as well as Thom's fascination with Rook, but I don't personally see either of those as impelled by romantic or sexual feelings. That said, if you wanted to write Rook as jealous of Balfour for taking away part of Thom's time and attention, that would be completely awesome.
Neil Gaiman - The Graveyard Book, Silas/Bod.
I'd love a slash story set at least seven years after the ending of the book, but if you can't do romance for these two characters, then any story where Bod meets Silas again as an adult would be great. Maybe Bod is traveling and runs across Silas in his home country, or maybe Silas gets in trouble and asks Bod for help as he promised, or whatever works for you. I just really want to see the two of them having to relearn each other after their parting and to see them interacting as equals.
This is one of the fandoms where I wouldn't mind seeing one of my chosen characters paired with someone else, since I do want Bod to have relationships with people who aren't Silas, either before or in place of the two of them becoming romantically involved. No Bod/Scarlett or Bod/Liza, please, but Bod with an OFC or OMC would be more than acceptable, as long as the focus of the story is still on his relationship with Silas.
Speaking of which, one of my favorite things about the book is how Silas treats Bod with seriousness and respect and dignity even when he's a child; it really highlights for me his position as Bod's guardian but not his father figure, and I'm very interested in seeing how that relationship would develop after Bod has had a chance to finish growing up away from Silas's protection.
Virgil - The Aeneid, Nisus/Euryalus.
I'd especially like to see Nisus's courtship of Euryalus, but pretty much anything focusing on their romantic/sexual relationship would be wonderful. No death fic, please.
I could've been clearer in this request; my apologies. As I said above, you don't actually have to focus on Nisus's and Euryalus's romantic relationship if that's outside your comfort zone. I just don't want a story that denies their romantic relationship in any way. Basically, I want a story that shows them being happy together before their deaths. Oh, and despite the fact that I included violence among my general dislikes, I figure if I'm requesting a story about Trojan soldiers, I can't complain too much about what they consider appropriate behavior. I'd prefer not to receive fic with very explicit descriptions of human or animal harm, but it's not necessary to bowdlerize the characters' lives, either.
Wang Qiu Wang Zi aka Prince of Tennis, Long Ma/Xiao Bo.
Tennis-playing and boys falling in love is really all I want from this fandom.
For various personal reasons, I'm very far behind in this drama, which is most of why my detailed request is so brief: I don't want to demand something that might turn out to be impossible based on later episodes that I haven't yet seen. With that caveat in mind, what I've particularly enjoyed about this drama so far, and especially about these two characters, is 1) that Xiao Bo's absolutely adorable, and 2) I love how he's one of the very few people for whom Long Ma has any patience. I also love how Long Ma doesn't seem to know quite what he wants from Xiao Bo, but he keeps going to see him anyway. And it's interesting to see Long Ma interact with someone on a level that centers upon tennis (unlike his relationship with Lin Ying) without being consumed by it (as are his relationships with his father and the tennis team). Any exploration of that dynamic in their relationship would be incredible.
* Optional details are optional. I tried to offer at least one or two possible hooks for a story in each of my requests because that's how I like to write for exchanges, but if your creativity is sparked in other ways, or if you just don't like any of my suggestions, then feel free to ignore them and write a different story for those characters.
Also, I requested slash for all four of my requests this year, but if you're a gen or het writer or if you simply aren't seeing it for those pairings, then that's okay. I'm interested in these couples because of the complex relationships between the characters in canon, not just the possibility of them becoming romantically involved, so it's perfectly fine by me if you write those relationships as platonic. (Well, except for Nisus and Euryalus, whom I do see as having a canonical romance, but in their case I'm happy to receive a story that focuses more on their friendship or soldierly bond than on their sex life.) The only thing I ask is that you not pair my requested characters with anyone else (with a couple of exceptions that I'll discuss below).
* Despite the fact that I was a lot more loquacious in my first two requests, I really would be equally thrilled by a story in any of these fandoms, on the off-chance that you were worried that I might love my Wang Qiu Wang Zi or Aeneid requests less than the other two. My inability to brainstorm more than a couple of possible scenarios for those fandoms doesn't mean that I won't be charmed and amazed by whatever story you might come up with for one of them.
* Yuletide tends to be a high-pressure exchange for a lot of people, and while I'm not trying to invalidate your feelings if you're one of them, I do want to encourage you to not worry too much. All four of my fandoms this year are quite rare even by Yuletide standards (I don't think any of them has more than 20 stories at most in the fandom), so there's pretty much nothing you could write that I wouldn't coo over for the very fact of its existence.
As I said, I tend to prefer more info rather than less when writing for exchanges. If you feel the same, then please continue reading for my general likes and dislikes and some fandom-specific details:
Generally speaking, things that I don't like to read include breathplay/asphyxiation, bloodplay, knifeplay, scat, vomit, character-bashing, misogyny, racism, "on-screen" character death, unremitting angst, abuse, betrayal, everyone-is-gay syndrome, bad grammar and spelling, PWPs, non-con, dubcon, coercion, and violence. Also, I'm a huge proponent of safer sex in any stories set in modern, non-fantasy settings (which includes...uh...just one of my fandoms this year).
Things that I like include happy (or at least hopeful) endings, friendship, family (either biological or chosen), cooking and/or eating (but no foodsmut, please), people being smart, people being competent at their chosen professions and/or hobbies, platonic bedsharing, non-platonic bedsharing, friends turned lovers, kissing, masturbation, talking during sex (not dirty talk, just ordinary conversation), first-time fic, established relationship fic (especially if there's some sort of shift in the dynamics of the relationship), character-driven gen, and mild angst with an eventual happy ending. I'd be pleased by a story of any rating.
Danielle Bennett and Jaida Jones - Havemercy, Thom/Balfour.
Slash, please, set after the end of Havemercy. I was charmed by the way Thom and Balfour were fumbling towards friendship (and maybe something more?) in the book, only to be distracted by other, admittedly more pressing matters, and I'd really like to see a story that picks up where their relationship left off. An epistolary fic could be neat, or they could meet face to face again after--or during--Thom's journeying with Rook. And if you're interested, an exploration of Balfour's hands would be especially awesome.
Thom's my favorite character in the book, and I really wish we could have seen more of his hesitant friendship with Balfour than the brief glimpses we got before his relationship with Rook took center focus. His interaction with all of the airmen was just fascinating to watch, and I loved how smart and self-assured and competent he was during the initial hazing and then as he forged more sustainable relationships with all of them. If you do decide to write Balfour's and Thom's relationship as platonic, then that particular dynamic--Balfour as one of the airmen with whom Thom was beginning to build a strong relationship--is one that I can't get enough of.
Please, no Thom/Rook, though, even as a secondary or implied pairing. I'll happily acknowledge Rook's possessiveness with regard to Thom, as well as Thom's fascination with Rook, but I don't personally see either of those as impelled by romantic or sexual feelings. That said, if you wanted to write Rook as jealous of Balfour for taking away part of Thom's time and attention, that would be completely awesome.
Neil Gaiman - The Graveyard Book, Silas/Bod.
I'd love a slash story set at least seven years after the ending of the book, but if you can't do romance for these two characters, then any story where Bod meets Silas again as an adult would be great. Maybe Bod is traveling and runs across Silas in his home country, or maybe Silas gets in trouble and asks Bod for help as he promised, or whatever works for you. I just really want to see the two of them having to relearn each other after their parting and to see them interacting as equals.
This is one of the fandoms where I wouldn't mind seeing one of my chosen characters paired with someone else, since I do want Bod to have relationships with people who aren't Silas, either before or in place of the two of them becoming romantically involved. No Bod/Scarlett or Bod/Liza, please, but Bod with an OFC or OMC would be more than acceptable, as long as the focus of the story is still on his relationship with Silas.
Speaking of which, one of my favorite things about the book is how Silas treats Bod with seriousness and respect and dignity even when he's a child; it really highlights for me his position as Bod's guardian but not his father figure, and I'm very interested in seeing how that relationship would develop after Bod has had a chance to finish growing up away from Silas's protection.
Virgil - The Aeneid, Nisus/Euryalus.
I'd especially like to see Nisus's courtship of Euryalus, but pretty much anything focusing on their romantic/sexual relationship would be wonderful. No death fic, please.
I could've been clearer in this request; my apologies. As I said above, you don't actually have to focus on Nisus's and Euryalus's romantic relationship if that's outside your comfort zone. I just don't want a story that denies their romantic relationship in any way. Basically, I want a story that shows them being happy together before their deaths. Oh, and despite the fact that I included violence among my general dislikes, I figure if I'm requesting a story about Trojan soldiers, I can't complain too much about what they consider appropriate behavior. I'd prefer not to receive fic with very explicit descriptions of human or animal harm, but it's not necessary to bowdlerize the characters' lives, either.
Wang Qiu Wang Zi aka Prince of Tennis, Long Ma/Xiao Bo.
Tennis-playing and boys falling in love is really all I want from this fandom.
For various personal reasons, I'm very far behind in this drama, which is most of why my detailed request is so brief: I don't want to demand something that might turn out to be impossible based on later episodes that I haven't yet seen. With that caveat in mind, what I've particularly enjoyed about this drama so far, and especially about these two characters, is 1) that Xiao Bo's absolutely adorable, and 2) I love how he's one of the very few people for whom Long Ma has any patience. I also love how Long Ma doesn't seem to know quite what he wants from Xiao Bo, but he keeps going to see him anyway. And it's interesting to see Long Ma interact with someone on a level that centers upon tennis (unlike his relationship with Lin Ying) without being consumed by it (as are his relationships with his father and the tennis team). Any exploration of that dynamic in their relationship would be incredible.
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