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redsnake05) wrote2022-01-07 04:29 pm
redsnake05) wrote2022-01-07 04:29 pm
Entry tags:
Chocolate Box letter
Dear Chocolatier,
I'm really excited to see what you come up with. Below are some general likes, and a few Do Not Wants. If there is a conflict between a DNW and a prompt in the fandom-specific section, the fandom-specific section is the one to follow.
I love stories where character development is a focus and there is any combination of realisations, internal conflicts, resolutions, striving, competence, teaching and learning, united fronts, unrestrained snark or wholehearted admiration. I love strong themes and images, and have a love for settings that are closely described and important to the development of the story. I love worldbuilding, mythology, adventures, folklore, rituals and traditions, food and drink, magical realism, handcrafts and hard work.
I like friendships and relationships that are equal, striving to be equal, or acknowledge that they're not equal. I like quiet moments between people, or when someone realises something about the other person and that changes everything. I like people's surprising depths. I like gen, friendship, ambiguous relationships, mad passion and everything in between. If you want to write an explicit fic, that's cool; I vastly prefer plot with it. For any romantic or sexual relationships, I like awkward first times, reuniting after a long absence, and soulbonds and other fated affairs. I like non-penetrative sex a lot, and love both/all partners being really into each other and loving each other's bodies and being focused on mutual pleasure.
I do not want AUs, though canon forks are fine. I do not want incest or rape/non-con. I do not want violence, gore, torture or grimdark past what is canon-typical, nor do I want crackfic or anything where any participant in a sexual relationship is underage. I do not want fics that focus on pregnancy, childbirth or children.
Harry Potter - J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter is a perennial favourite, and I love all sorts of combinations. I am pretty loose with gen-ish shipping and shipp-ish gen, so don't worry about blurring the line on any of these. However, I definitely do not want any underage fics here. If you can, I would prefer all relationships to be when they are adults. If you wish to set it during their school days, no rating higher than a T, please.
For HP, I really love magic and how it is conceptualised and expressed by humans and magical non-humans alike. I love the wild magic of the world, I love magical books and inanimate magical objects, and I love the ways magic is put together and pulled apart. If you want to write a story about discovering a new type of magic, or developing a new spell or breeding a new magical plant, or visiting a wild magical place, then I am completely down with that.
Here are some notes for specific relationships I've requested:
Draco Malfoy/Ron Weasley: this is an old favourite of mine. I love seeing the two of them as adults, when the playing field has been levelled a little, and all the ways that they might make something work between them - a fling, a short thing, or a long romance are all fine. I am pretty down here with things like having to pretend to be lovers, sex pollen, pining, UST, industrial-strength snark, Ron being much bigger than Draco, arcane rituals, arcane rituals that result in accidental soul-bonding, and so on and so forth. If you can think of a fic cliche, I am probably going to love it.
Hermione Granger/Harry Potter/Ron Weasley: I love these three as friends, as lovers, or as anything in between. Please, though, I don't want two of them in a pairing and the other as a friend. It's all in or all out for me. I'd love to see everyday moments between them, perhaps when Ron has to enlighten them about some arcane aspect of the magical world, or when Hermione takes them to some Muggle tradition, or when Harry insists they go camping again to try to make new, fun, camping memories. Maybe they're setting up house together, or perhaps one of them is weirdly into IKEA hacks and DIY and the whole indoor plant thing.
Remus Lupin/Sirius Black: I would love to see a happy version of these two. I'd love to see them enjoying a dark moon - maybe Remus spots odd constellations and Sirius tells stories of his ancestors with those names, even if he has to make them up - or working on Sirius's motorbike (Remus can read a book and pass him tools, if you want, but if you want to write a detailed description of how one takes apart an engine and charms it for flight, I am here for that). Maybe Sirius is a giant big romantic, and Remus doesn't even realise. I'm happy with anything set after school and before Azkaban, or after POA - feel free to cancel Sirius's death and everything after that!
Lord of the Rings
I love many things about these novels, but mostly the sense of place and the heroic themes twined into them. I'd love to read some worldbuilding, or exploration of a time or place we don't get to see in the books.
Gimli & Legolas Greenleaf, Gimli/Legolas Greenleaf: a perennial love of mine! I will never get enough of these two having cultural misunderstandings, pining, devotion, loyalty and love. I am down with all the fic cliches. I am happy with any kind of blurring between gen and shippy, but I would prefer not to receive a fic about Gimli's death (unless there is somehow a happy ending). I'd love to read about their slow realisations about their feelings, about doing each other's hair and making things for one another, about how they balance their duties as lords with their devotion, and how they navigate a new world as everything is changing around them.
Mesopotamian mythology
I recently read a new (to me) translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh and it got me really excited about how wonderful and expressive this story is, and how universal it is too. I mean, it's a story about becoming human - our characters are larger than life, but one dies, and the other knows, and accepts, that he will die too, eventually. It's when Gilgamesh comes back from his journey that most of the work is done on Uruk, and he realises that it's the city and her inhabitants that will live on, not the slaying of Humbaba. Anyway, I would love anything set within the story, or before or after, or around it, so tell me about barley beer or Enkidu's reaction to poetry or cuneiform, or Shamhat's other skills, or bring in other characters, divine or human, as you want. If you want to lean into the mythology aspect, feel free to include any other aspects of general Mesopotamian mythology that you might want.
Enkidu/Gilgamesh, Enkidu/Shamhat, Gilgamesh/Shamhat: I am down with any combination of these three, in any way, at any time. If you wanted to do a threesome, that would be fine too, or just focus on one pair. I specifically love how both Enkidu and Gilgamesh are not 'properly' human, and how the path to full humanity lies in relationships, while Shamhat, it seems, is the archetypal human of the piece. Tell me an interlude from Shamhat and Enkidu's time in the wilds, like what they did if it rained, or if they built a shelter because it was hot, or a particular moment that seems to sum up the time. Tell me about Enkidu and Gilgamesh at the height of their friendship, when they were strong and full of life - maybe something Enkidu taught Gilgamesh, or Gilgamesh sharing writing, poetry, farming or engineering. Tell me about Shamhat and Gilgamesh before - or after. What role does she play in the life of the ⅔ divine Gilgamesh or the fully human one? Does he, for example, need help understanding politics when he comes back wanting to start civic works?
My character death DNW does not apply for this fandom, and that doesn't just go for Enkidu. If you want to write about Gilgamesh as he does actually age and die, feel free. If you want to write something focused on sexual relationships for this, I would love something that reverbrates with that sexual joy that Shamhat tells Enkidu about - something that is unpracticed and full of delight, even if one has done these particular acts a thousand times or more.
I'm really excited to see what you come up with. Below are some general likes, and a few Do Not Wants. If there is a conflict between a DNW and a prompt in the fandom-specific section, the fandom-specific section is the one to follow.
I love stories where character development is a focus and there is any combination of realisations, internal conflicts, resolutions, striving, competence, teaching and learning, united fronts, unrestrained snark or wholehearted admiration. I love strong themes and images, and have a love for settings that are closely described and important to the development of the story. I love worldbuilding, mythology, adventures, folklore, rituals and traditions, food and drink, magical realism, handcrafts and hard work.
I like friendships and relationships that are equal, striving to be equal, or acknowledge that they're not equal. I like quiet moments between people, or when someone realises something about the other person and that changes everything. I like people's surprising depths. I like gen, friendship, ambiguous relationships, mad passion and everything in between. If you want to write an explicit fic, that's cool; I vastly prefer plot with it. For any romantic or sexual relationships, I like awkward first times, reuniting after a long absence, and soulbonds and other fated affairs. I like non-penetrative sex a lot, and love both/all partners being really into each other and loving each other's bodies and being focused on mutual pleasure.
I do not want AUs, though canon forks are fine. I do not want incest or rape/non-con. I do not want violence, gore, torture or grimdark past what is canon-typical, nor do I want crackfic or anything where any participant in a sexual relationship is underage. I do not want fics that focus on pregnancy, childbirth or children.
Harry Potter - J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter is a perennial favourite, and I love all sorts of combinations. I am pretty loose with gen-ish shipping and shipp-ish gen, so don't worry about blurring the line on any of these. However, I definitely do not want any underage fics here. If you can, I would prefer all relationships to be when they are adults. If you wish to set it during their school days, no rating higher than a T, please.
For HP, I really love magic and how it is conceptualised and expressed by humans and magical non-humans alike. I love the wild magic of the world, I love magical books and inanimate magical objects, and I love the ways magic is put together and pulled apart. If you want to write a story about discovering a new type of magic, or developing a new spell or breeding a new magical plant, or visiting a wild magical place, then I am completely down with that.
Here are some notes for specific relationships I've requested:
Draco Malfoy/Ron Weasley: this is an old favourite of mine. I love seeing the two of them as adults, when the playing field has been levelled a little, and all the ways that they might make something work between them - a fling, a short thing, or a long romance are all fine. I am pretty down here with things like having to pretend to be lovers, sex pollen, pining, UST, industrial-strength snark, Ron being much bigger than Draco, arcane rituals, arcane rituals that result in accidental soul-bonding, and so on and so forth. If you can think of a fic cliche, I am probably going to love it.
Hermione Granger/Harry Potter/Ron Weasley: I love these three as friends, as lovers, or as anything in between. Please, though, I don't want two of them in a pairing and the other as a friend. It's all in or all out for me. I'd love to see everyday moments between them, perhaps when Ron has to enlighten them about some arcane aspect of the magical world, or when Hermione takes them to some Muggle tradition, or when Harry insists they go camping again to try to make new, fun, camping memories. Maybe they're setting up house together, or perhaps one of them is weirdly into IKEA hacks and DIY and the whole indoor plant thing.
Remus Lupin/Sirius Black: I would love to see a happy version of these two. I'd love to see them enjoying a dark moon - maybe Remus spots odd constellations and Sirius tells stories of his ancestors with those names, even if he has to make them up - or working on Sirius's motorbike (Remus can read a book and pass him tools, if you want, but if you want to write a detailed description of how one takes apart an engine and charms it for flight, I am here for that). Maybe Sirius is a giant big romantic, and Remus doesn't even realise. I'm happy with anything set after school and before Azkaban, or after POA - feel free to cancel Sirius's death and everything after that!
Lord of the Rings
I love many things about these novels, but mostly the sense of place and the heroic themes twined into them. I'd love to read some worldbuilding, or exploration of a time or place we don't get to see in the books.
Gimli & Legolas Greenleaf, Gimli/Legolas Greenleaf: a perennial love of mine! I will never get enough of these two having cultural misunderstandings, pining, devotion, loyalty and love. I am down with all the fic cliches. I am happy with any kind of blurring between gen and shippy, but I would prefer not to receive a fic about Gimli's death (unless there is somehow a happy ending). I'd love to read about their slow realisations about their feelings, about doing each other's hair and making things for one another, about how they balance their duties as lords with their devotion, and how they navigate a new world as everything is changing around them.
Mesopotamian mythology
I recently read a new (to me) translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh and it got me really excited about how wonderful and expressive this story is, and how universal it is too. I mean, it's a story about becoming human - our characters are larger than life, but one dies, and the other knows, and accepts, that he will die too, eventually. It's when Gilgamesh comes back from his journey that most of the work is done on Uruk, and he realises that it's the city and her inhabitants that will live on, not the slaying of Humbaba. Anyway, I would love anything set within the story, or before or after, or around it, so tell me about barley beer or Enkidu's reaction to poetry or cuneiform, or Shamhat's other skills, or bring in other characters, divine or human, as you want. If you want to lean into the mythology aspect, feel free to include any other aspects of general Mesopotamian mythology that you might want.
Enkidu/Gilgamesh, Enkidu/Shamhat, Gilgamesh/Shamhat: I am down with any combination of these three, in any way, at any time. If you wanted to do a threesome, that would be fine too, or just focus on one pair. I specifically love how both Enkidu and Gilgamesh are not 'properly' human, and how the path to full humanity lies in relationships, while Shamhat, it seems, is the archetypal human of the piece. Tell me an interlude from Shamhat and Enkidu's time in the wilds, like what they did if it rained, or if they built a shelter because it was hot, or a particular moment that seems to sum up the time. Tell me about Enkidu and Gilgamesh at the height of their friendship, when they were strong and full of life - maybe something Enkidu taught Gilgamesh, or Gilgamesh sharing writing, poetry, farming or engineering. Tell me about Shamhat and Gilgamesh before - or after. What role does she play in the life of the ⅔ divine Gilgamesh or the fully human one? Does he, for example, need help understanding politics when he comes back wanting to start civic works?
My character death DNW does not apply for this fandom, and that doesn't just go for Enkidu. If you want to write about Gilgamesh as he does actually age and die, feel free. If you want to write something focused on sexual relationships for this, I would love something that reverbrates with that sexual joy that Shamhat tells Enkidu about - something that is unpracticed and full of delight, even if one has done these particular acts a thousand times or more.