killer_quean | Rarelywritten 2015 Dear Author Letter

Dear Mysterious Benefactor,

First, thank you for writing for me! I am delighted that you share my enthusiasm for these characters, and I hope you have fun!

Most generally, I love the endless creativity of fandom, its embrace of the weird, the obscure, the speculative, and the possibility of what could have been and what may yet be. Which is to say: I love thoughtful engagement with canon that takes many, many forms, and I am excited to see where your creativity takes you.

But to help you out a little, here are some things I especially love in fic:
-I really love fic that values friendship and explores its complexities.
-I love world-building! If you enjoy that sort of thing, then I just love reading about the sensory details of a fictional universe, its historical texture, or the surprising details of everyday life in a speculative world.
-I will take an OT3 over a love triangle any day, and writing pretty much any group of characters as a big happy poly family will always bring a smile to my face.
-I read a very wide range of stories, from gen to various kinds of romance or smut of all ratings. I tend to seek out slash most often, but I'll also happily read het as well from time to time. So I'm open to many possibilities here!
-It's certainly not required, but I do love formal experimentation, so if you're inspired in that direction, go for it.

Some specifics re: porn, if you choose to go that route:
-Any rating is fine with me!
-I enjoy and totally welcome kink/BDSM in stories. When I read, I don't actually have strong preferences about which kinks are shown, if any; basically, whether or not something happens to be my kink is less important to me than whether or not it is convincingly this particular character's kink; if the characterization works, then I'm interested.
-Whatever kind of romance/sex the story happens to be about, I really love it when writers think through what a particular character would actually want out of a relationship or a sexual encounter, what words that specific character would use to talk about their relationship, their body, their partners' bodies, and what kind of an emotional tenor the encounter between these particular characters would have. In other words: I like when these stories are absolutely specific to the characters and their worlds. I have a real fondness for portrayals of sex that don't fit a normative Hollywood mode: like, awkward sex, or very silly sex, or sex acts that the characters regard as "sex" but maybe aren't conventionally considered to be so. This is where the creativity of fandom can be truly revolutionary, so get creative!
-Yay explicit consent! Yay negotiation!
-Yay threesomes/moresomes if you're interested in writing such a thing!
-I am not terribly compelled by the idea of "true love" or "soulmates;" instead, if a character feels deeply and intensely about another, then I want to know: what specific word would this character use for such a feeling? What does intensity of attachment mean to this character? What might this particular character do about it, and why?

But it's also totally fine if writing romance or porn is not your thing; I love gen (it's what I most often write myself), so I would be very, very happy to receive that as well.

Now, on to the fandoms!

Fallen London/Echo Bazaar
(The Sardonic Music-Hall Singer, the Quiet Deviless)

Ok, this one could go SO many places. You could write a story about these two, or about one of them, or about one of them and the Player, or really pretty much anything you wanted to do with this. Basically, what I love about Fallen London is the world-building, so what I would absolutely love is some elaboration of the spaces they move through and the sensory details of life in the Neath. When the Sardonic Music-Hall Singer slums it in Veilgarden, what does it smell like in the Singing Mandrake? What does she hear from the back room? How cold is it in the alleys? When the Quiet Deviless plays croquet with her latest mark, what does the lawn look like? How does the grass catch the light of the lanterns or the false-stars?

Useful spoiler-avoidance info: I'm in the 70s in all qualities, and my Ambition is Heart's Desire (I'd prefer no spoilers for this Ambition past where I am; I've just met the Topsy King's sister.) I do have a few spoilers for the mythology of the game, but I'd like to avoid too many additional spoilers if possible. I currently have access to the Forgotten Quarter, the Flit, the Shuttered Palace, and Wolfstack Docks, so all of those places (as well as the central districts) are fair game.

Gen is totally welcome, especially if it's basically geography porn or perhaps elaboration on these characters' backstories, but romance or smut of basically any pairing would be quite welcome as well (especially in the style of the game's excellent and mildly twisted writing!)

The West Wing
(Abbey Bartlet, Amy Gardner)

I am actually a recent West Wing convert! I love what pretty much everyone loves about this show: the banter, the show's love affair with language, the characters. I find it really compelling that this show is basically about people with super weird jobs and the intensity of the bond that super weird (and let's face it, often terrible) jobs can make people form with each other.

So: Abbey and Amy! Well, if you wanted to just write about that time that Abbey orders CJ, Amy, and Donna to go get drunk with her, and make that lovely moment last FOREVER, I would squee quite a lot. What if they all sneak off for drunken group makeouts? What if there are hilarious near run-ins with the Secret Service? What if they just have a really awesome drunken West Wing Smart Ladies Banter Party about it? Go wild! I love when this show gets absurd, so feel free to be really silly about it.

But that's just one idea. I would love to see more of these two, period. They're both such smart, driven women, and they're both satisfyingly ruthless when they need to be, so I just want more of that than the show was ever willing to give us. Maybe they team up and accomplish some awesome political victory together--one that leaves Josh Lyman wondering what the hell happened right under his nose. Maybe Abbey is an awesome drinking buddy/mentor to Amy. Maybe Abbey gives Amy relationship advice! Maybe the Bartlets have an open marriage and Abbey and Amy have a little fling and Charlie is really bemused about having to stage-manage everything and hijinks ensue! Or maybe Amy just fantasizes about the First Lady and is kind of into how inappropriate the whole idea seems. Or maybe you have a totally different awesome idea of your own!

If it fits the story, I'll never say no to appearances from the other Badass West Wing Ladies: CJ, Donna, Ainsley, Andrea Wyatt, Joey Lucas, etc... and I totally ship Sam/Josh, so if that's going on in the background, I wouldn't complain.

Parks and Recreation
(April Ludgate, Donna Meagle, Jennifer Barkley, Tammy Swanson II)

As it is for many people, this show is my happy place. It's such a pleasure, that for a show that contains a whole lot of marriages and romance plots (most of which are actually quite endearing, don't get me wrong), it is fundamentally and above all a love letter to friendship. And as for these particular characters: well, I just love April and Donna, and I would watch either of them do basically anything. I love April's committed weirdness, her love of what matters and her total disdain for what doesn't. I love her morbid imagination and her talent for cultivating discomfort. Anything to highlight this would just delight me. And Donna! I love Donna, and I want SO much more of her! What is her secret life like? What does she do on the weekends? What does she post on her Twitter account all the time? Does she write smutty fanfic, and who does she ship? What's HER take on some of the adventures that have happened over the years? Maybe April and Donna have some kind of excellent friendship adventure, and maybe it's glorious.

Now, as for Jennifer Barkley: I mean, I totally ship her and Leslie, but really, I can see her as pretty much anyone's crassly Machiavellian political top. (My actual headcanon is that Ben and Leslie are both super into her and that's part of their personal roleplay rotation alongside lots and lots of Eleanor Roosevelt fantasies, but hey, do what you will with that.) And Tammy, well, you can always set her loose again and see what happens, I suppose. I do wonder what would happen if she went after either April or Donna; I actually don't think either would fall for her that easily. But who knows, maybe they would, and maybe those results would be totally terrifying! Or like, what does she do when she's not trying to ruin Ron's life? Does she have a hobby? Is she actually sort of a decent person most of the time? Is she a terrible person who is nonetheless kind of interesting anyway? Does she have unsuspected depths?

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
(Phryne Fisher, Elizabeth MacMillan)

So, I mostly just find Phryne endlessly charismatic, Dot incredibly endearing, and Mac really attractive and also LESBIAN HISTORY FEELINGS AGH. There is a lot you could do with these characters that would make me happy.

Blatant wish-fulfillment: I'd love to see Mac have some non-tragic romance! Or a glimpse of 1920s queer Australia, if you have access to research on such things! Maybe she and Phryne have some sort of non-exclusive thing, or maybe there's a minor character, or an original character for her to get involved with.

So, my own personal headcanon is that Phryne is building her big happy poly family and Jack is certainly invited to join, but will never be the sum total of "family" for her, so if you're into the idea of a terribly modern nonmonogamous Phryne, that would make me very happy indeed! But I also just love her, her friendships, and her delightful combination of strength, bravery, and the unapologetic pursuit of pleasure, so anything about her as a character would be quite welcome. (I do personally find Phryne/Jack quite endearing as a pairing; I just don't like the idea of it eclipsing all of the other relationships that Phryne builds around her.)

Farscape
(Jool, Chiana, Pa'u Zotoh Zhaan)

If you can capture the deep, dark weirdness of this show, and set up the kind of story that's so unbelievably bizarre and tasteless--and yet at the same time emotionally mature and intense--that it could really ONLY be Farscape, then I will be very happy indeed. I especially love this show's world-building, and I would love to hear more about how any of these characters interact with Moya, how they conceptualize their place in a very hostile universe, and what they all want in the end.

More specifically: I really, really adore Chiana, and I especially admire how she embraces pleasure in the face of a violent and brutal universe. What is that like for her? How did she first start to understand that she could never be a "good" Nebari? How does she perceive the relationships and tensions around her once she's on board Moya? If you want, there's always the option of contentious, banter-y Chiana/Jool. And as for Jool: I have a real soft spot for her, I have to say! I like that she's harsh and loud and angry.

Finally, I totally ship Zhaan/Moya (and I'm also REALLY surprised that there's not more spaceship porn in this fandom), so there's an option for you! But overall: I love how this is a show that very much leaves room for friendship in unexpected places, and yet is also about a much wider, and darker, range of relationships, from sworn enemies to the more nuanced, complex tensions between people who have to rely on each other and yet cannot trust each other. There's such a wide range of relationships to explore here, and so many alien cultures through which these relationships might be perceived!

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
(Ezri Dax, Jadzia Dax, Kasidy Yates, Kira Nerys, Leeta, Keiko O'Brien)

Ok, I just adore this show, so any time spent with these characters would delight me.

Some fix-it options: Ezri Dax, Keiko O'Brien. Oh, there was so much potential for Ezri, but I hated how she was written, I hated the stupid tacked-on romance with Bashir, and I HAAAATED the awful (and downright misogynist at times) little plot with her and Worf, which totally marred what was otherwise a very exciting wartime spy subplot! So... fix it? In other words, what kind of a life does she have post-canon if she's not totally hemmed in by these hackneyed, normative romance plots? How does her sense of herself change once she's no longer constantly surrounded by Jadzia's old friends? Does she reinvent herself? Or maybe find a different way to relate to them? And Keiko? Oh, anything that doesn't just write her as Space Wife (which the show did way too often) would be excellent!

If you're interested in such a thing, I really, really like how Kira joins the O'Briens' family when she's having their baby, and something about them (plus Jadzia, perhaps?) as a big awkward queer poly family would be so delightful!

Another idea: Kasidy and Kira, post-canon, as another kind of chosen family. Or like, basically anything about either of these two, because they are glorious and I love them.

Or: Leeta, intergalactic labor organizer! And/or: what's her backstory? How does she survive the Occupation and end up such a resilient, joyful person after all that?

Or: Jadzia Dax's Awesome Science Adventures. What's her relationship with science, anyway? What made her love science so much? How does it feel when she looks out at the stars? How does she talk about it with Kira? Do they ever talk about science and religion, and if so, how?

Or: when in doubt, holosuite malfunction!

Once again, thank you so much for a story, and I hope you have fun!