Dear Rare Characters Author Letter
Dear Rare Characters Author,
First! Thank you for writing for me. This is very exciting and I hope you will find something helpful/inspiring in this letter :)
GENERAL STUFF
Parings/Sex/Ratings:
Likes:
-Slash, gen and het. Fem is fine for background parings.
-love-triangles
-All ratings up to and including R
-A focus on the romantic/emotional aspect of a relationship and some semblance of a plot/point rather than just sex.
Dislikes/Rather-Nots
-Threesomes/moresomes and polyamory
-Incest (unless specifically asked for)
-Parings with large age disparity (over 15 years) unless specifically asked for
-Pedophilia (please keep minors in sexual relationships with adults 16 and over; if both partners are teens, 14-15 is ok if treated appropriately.)
-NC-17 and PWPs
-BDSM and heavy kink (scat, watersports, bloodplay, necro, etc)
-Humiliation (both sexual and not)
-Non-con/rape (dub-con that leans toward/ends up as consensual is ok)
-MPreg
-Cross-dressing and genderbending/genderswap
-Bestiality.
Genres/Themes (and such):
Likes:
-Angst (dark!fic of the pure!angst and dark themes variety is also fine, but I would rather not have horror.)
-Hurt/comfort (mainly of the m/m variety, including both slash and gen)
-Fluff, banter, cuddling/snuggling, adorable!fic
-Well-rounded characters, characters with emotions/motives
Dislikes:
-Crack!fic/parody
-Radical AUs that subvert the universe (genderswaping the cast, setting a modern fandom as a fairytale, turning a historical fandom all Sifi, etc) EXCEPTION: I would be interested in/up for a modern!AU for the War and Peace fandom.
-Crossovers
-(very) obviously intentional OOCness, character bashing
-Gore, gratuitous violence, horror
-Any sort of glorification of bullying, or bullying being excused/condoned in the narrative (this includes things like victim blaming, etc)
FANDOMS
War and Peace
Dolokhov
Preferred parings: Dolokhov/Anatole, Dolokhov/Sonya, Dolokhov/Helene, Dolokhov/Nikolai, Dolokhov/Petya
So, since I annoyingly request this fandom pretty much every exchange where it would be appropriate, I have written on this character and my preferred parings/gen scenarios for him. I hate to re-direct you via links but trust me, these will give you all the information you could possibly want (they're my Yuletide letters, so just scroll until you hit the War and Peace heading.) One, Two, Three, Four
Anatole
Preferred parings: Anatole/Dolokhov, Anatole/Natasha, Anatole/Pierre, Anatole/Helene
Continuing with the above, here are some letters from past exhanges that should provide most of the information you need about what I like about Anatole and the parings I especially like to see: One, Two
I do, however, feel the need to emphasize that I do not view Anatole as a villain by any stretch of imagination. Someone who is irresponsible and mature - yes. But also someone who does not mean any harm, a sort of overgrown child.
Helene
Preferred parings: Helene/Dolokhov, Helene/Anatole
I think Helene is a very interesting female character. There’s a lot of hate toward her for obvious reasons but I always chose to see her as a more nuanced, complicated character. She’s obviously close to her father but I think there’s quite a bit of manipulation in that father-daughter relationship from Vasili’s side too. Helene is practical and despite what Pierre may think, I see her as smart rather than stupid. She a woman in a time when women are not supposed to be much more than decorations to the lives of men. Helene plays this interesting role of appearing to society as exactly what they expect of her and yet, when no one’s looking, getting her way through the back door. Given that, I would really love a character study piece of some sort for a gen fic with her. Or, if you want something a little more on the lighter side, a fun fic with her and Anatole. They’re obviously close and I would love to see them interacting as brother and sister who care for one another.
Dolokhov/Helene! They’re great on a whole spectrum of genres and themes. A pre-book teenage romance, their affair after Helene’s marriage, and exploration of the class issues standing between them… I think they can range anywhere from sweet and beautiful, if hopeless, romance to something dark, passionate, complicated and possibly selfish. I think with them I would love to see a “mature” relationship. I think they’re both characters that put up with a lot. I think there’s lots of pressure on Helene from society and her father to be a certain way and I think that leaves its mark. (I’m seriously thinking about the Christina Aguilera song “Reflection” right now.)
Anatole/Helene. They’re the incest exception. It’s just hinted at in canon and it’s just a rumor, but these two have massive chemistry. (I blame the 2007 miniseries for this honestly.) Just please, don’t normalize it, incest isn’t really a normative behavior nor should it be. But I would love to see this very close brother-sister relationship with a sexual tension (unresolved or not) layer and how this effects them and their lives. I see this as a darker, more angsty fic but you can take it wherever it takes you, so to speak.
Sonya
Preferred parings: Sonya/Dolokhov
As with the boys, I have addressed Sonya at length here and here.
Pierre
Preferred parings: Pierre/Anatole, Pierre/Sonya, Pierre/Lise
Pierre/Anatole: I especially like the idea of this being a start-of-book or pre-book paring. Maybe they got together in Paris during Pierre’s time at University? They’re both just such boyish sweethearts (Pierre changes but he starts like that, at least!). I can also imagine a Pierre/Anatole/Dolokhov (not necessarily in that order) triangle. You could play an Anatole/Pierre/Andrei Bolkonski triangle if you want, but in this case I would like to see Pierre being pretty torn over the whole thing. Post-war angst and regret is always a go. (I actually had this AU thought a little while ago - what if Dolokhov puts Anatole in Pierre’s care after Borodino and Pierre takes him away from Moscow after evacuation and feel like he has to take care of Anatole and Anatole lives and they kind of…bond and end up bridging their differences and stuff and…yea.)
Pierre/Sonya may seem like a strange paring but I would be interested in seeing how something like that might play out. I’d really rather he’d ended up with her than Natasha to begin with. Post-war is preferable but, you know, whatever takes your fancy.
For Pierre/Lise, I would be interested in an AU where Andrei dies at Austerlitz but Lise doesn't die in childbirth and Pierre never gets married to Helene. Pierre tires to comfort Lise after her husband's death or gets sucked in helping her raise Nikolai and they end up together. Or something along those lines.
Gen ideas: A fic about Pierre’s friendship with Anatole and how that fell apart would be interesting. I feel like canon isn’t quite clear WHAT EXACTLY went wrong between them. There isn’t any definitive scene or narrative segment. If this doesn’t work…I've had this idea...so Pierre was being set up as a Decembrist and I think it would be really awesome if Dolokhov got involved in that movement as well and they met each other at one of the secret society meetings and just the whole shock of "what is HE doing here" and then them having to work together. They seem to make some nice steps in canon toward getting over their issues and I would love to see some sort of mutual respect build between them. They would never see eye to eye but I'd love to see a working relationship between them develope, maybe both starting to see something in each other that they didn't see before. What I'm not interested in is the heavy-duty philosophizing and religious themes that Pierre (and Tolstoy) engages in in canon. I'd would really appreciate a very much secular, light-on-philosophy fic. I also don't want a Pierre/Natasha romance fic or anything like that but gen fluff for Pierre and his kids with the marriage to Natasha as a background fact would be just fine.
Harry Potter
Antonin Dolohov
Preferred Parings: Antonin/Bellatrix, Antonin/Pansy.
I would love a First War!fic but one set during the Second War would be great too. I would absolutely love to see Antonin as a strong leader int eh ranks of the Dark Lord, perhaps even a mentor to some of younger Death Eaters. I see both of the parings above as sort of genuine but doomed romances, but you don't have to go in that rout at all. (I should also mention that I'd be good with slash too). My personal head!canon is that Antonin is about Bellatrix's age. For him and Pansy, I do prefer that Tony is under 50 just to take some of the potential creepiness out of the paring. But yea, basically, romance or not I would love anything with Death Eater training/friendship/some human side to the cardboard cutouts we see in canon.
Evan Rosier
Preferred parings: Evan/Severus, Evan/Remus, Evan/Lily
I love Evan. I see him as one of the more soft-spoken of his lot. You don't have to follow that though. For gen!fic I would love some Death Eater friendship/bonding/training during the First War. The latter two parings I see as opportunities to explore the "on opposite sides of the barricade" trope. The first paring is an OTP of mine. I would especially love to see the emotional fallout of Snape's betrayal on this relationship, both for Evan and Snape.
Wilkes, Mulciber (Jr.)
I like these two in a paring :) But really, I wouldn't be adverse to paring either of them with anyone else of the DEs around their age (Evan, Severus, Regulus, Barty etc). First War!fic makes me very happy, especially DE training and friendship themes. Perhaps dealing with the emotional fallouts of the war, perhaps what drives these boys to fight (I would prefer it be something other than "fear of Voldemort" or "evilness").
Augustus Rookwood
Very similar to Antonin, except I don't really ship Augustus with anyone. If you do want to write ship, I'd express a preference for a male of approximately his generation (Antonin, Lucius, Pansy's dad, etc). Spying, war, politics, friendship are some of my favorite themes for these sorts of characters.
Pansy Parkinson
Preferred parings: Pansy/Antonin, Pansy/Draco
For Antonin/Pansy - I kinda prefer UST with this one, though a resolution would be cool too. I kinda see Pansy as being fascinated with Dolohov as an older man and someone who has a lot of authority in the Dark Lord’s ranks. (In my headcanon he's her Commanding Officer.)
For Draco/Pansy - I'd love a EWE fic where they get married. Or maybe something during the war. As long as they genuinely love each other, I'll be pretty happy.
Or maybe just something about what her childhood was like, or her family, or maybe her taking part in the Second War even without the 'ship with Antonin. The one trope I'm NOT into is where Pansy gets some sort of banal job after the war because her family is so financially ruined or some other "war reactionary" reason and/or ends up with someone from the Order/DA.
Louis Weasley, Lysander Scamander
I like these two in a paring or shipped with Scorpius. I imagine Lysander in Slytherin but I can totally imagine Louis as either a Slytherin, a Ravenclaw or even a Hufflepuff if you'd like.
I love hurt/comfort with either of these boys, especially when they're paired with Scorpius. Also just hopeless fluff and romance works. Maybe, if Ly or Louis is in Slytherin - something centered on the issues that creates in the given boy's family. Sorry, I'm blanking prompts atm :/
Alecto Carrow
Preferred parings: Alecto/Antonin
I think Alecto could be an interesting character to explore if you're like me and you enjoy fleshing out Death Eaters and other antagonists whom JKR decided to leave as cardboard cut-outs. My preference would be on a First War setting but Second War works well too. I'd rather not have the story dwell too graphically on torture and such, although I'm not asking anyone to subvert canon here. A character study would be interesting - why does Alecto do what she does? How did she become a DE? What is her place in the hierarchy? (Supposedly not quite rank and file but not as high up as, say, Bella) She and Bella are the only two known DE women, I believe, so how does that work out? What is her relationship with her brother? Is she married, have kids? Lots of room for exploration here!
Downton Abbey
Edith
Preferred Parings: Edith/Michael
Edith gets the short end of the stick, so to speak, way too often. I felt really bad for her even in the very beginning because with Mary as a sister, well… It’s hard to fight a bitch without being one. (Mary is really extra horrible to her.) I would love mostly anything with Edith where she gets to be number one for once. But I think I would especially love a fic where Michael comes back and where they are happy together and in love. Maybe they even get their baby back somehow? Alternatively, some sister-bonding with Sybill would be fun. And, no, I'm not a fan of Mary at all, so leaving her out as much as reasonable would be appreciated. Basically, I just want an Edith-is-awesome-and-happy fic :)
Sybil
Preferred Paring: Sybil/Tom Branson
I would love most things about Sybil. Either her life with Tom or her falling in love with him. Her thoughts on deciding to be a nurse/during her training and/or work as one. I love her political/social equality activism and would be interested in a fic focused on that. Childhood!fic and sister-bonding with Edith would also be lovely :) As little Mary as reasonably possible please.
First! Thank you for writing for me. This is very exciting and I hope you will find something helpful/inspiring in this letter :)
GENERAL STUFF
Parings/Sex/Ratings:
Likes:
-Slash, gen and het. Fem is fine for background parings.
-love-triangles
-All ratings up to and including R
-A focus on the romantic/emotional aspect of a relationship and some semblance of a plot/point rather than just sex.
Dislikes/Rather-Nots
-Threesomes/moresomes and polyamory
-Incest (unless specifically asked for)
-Parings with large age disparity (over 15 years) unless specifically asked for
-Pedophilia (please keep minors in sexual relationships with adults 16 and over; if both partners are teens, 14-15 is ok if treated appropriately.)
-NC-17 and PWPs
-BDSM and heavy kink (scat, watersports, bloodplay, necro, etc)
-Humiliation (both sexual and not)
-Non-con/rape (dub-con that leans toward/ends up as consensual is ok)
-MPreg
-Cross-dressing and genderbending/genderswap
-Bestiality.
Genres/Themes (and such):
Likes:
-Angst (dark!fic of the pure!angst and dark themes variety is also fine, but I would rather not have horror.)
-Hurt/comfort (mainly of the m/m variety, including both slash and gen)
-Fluff, banter, cuddling/snuggling, adorable!fic
-Well-rounded characters, characters with emotions/motives
Dislikes:
-Crack!fic/parody
-Radical AUs that subvert the universe (genderswaping the cast, setting a modern fandom as a fairytale, turning a historical fandom all Sifi, etc) EXCEPTION: I would be interested in/up for a modern!AU for the War and Peace fandom.
-Crossovers
-(very) obviously intentional OOCness, character bashing
-Gore, gratuitous violence, horror
-Any sort of glorification of bullying, or bullying being excused/condoned in the narrative (this includes things like victim blaming, etc)
FANDOMS
War and Peace
Dolokhov
Preferred parings: Dolokhov/Anatole, Dolokhov/Sonya, Dolokhov/Helene, Dolokhov/Nikolai, Dolokhov/Petya
So, since I annoyingly request this fandom pretty much every exchange where it would be appropriate, I have written on this character and my preferred parings/gen scenarios for him. I hate to re-direct you via links but trust me, these will give you all the information you could possibly want (they're my Yuletide letters, so just scroll until you hit the War and Peace heading.) One, Two, Three, Four
Anatole
Preferred parings: Anatole/Dolokhov, Anatole/Natasha, Anatole/Pierre, Anatole/Helene
Continuing with the above, here are some letters from past exhanges that should provide most of the information you need about what I like about Anatole and the parings I especially like to see: One, Two
I do, however, feel the need to emphasize that I do not view Anatole as a villain by any stretch of imagination. Someone who is irresponsible and mature - yes. But also someone who does not mean any harm, a sort of overgrown child.
Helene
Preferred parings: Helene/Dolokhov, Helene/Anatole
I think Helene is a very interesting female character. There’s a lot of hate toward her for obvious reasons but I always chose to see her as a more nuanced, complicated character. She’s obviously close to her father but I think there’s quite a bit of manipulation in that father-daughter relationship from Vasili’s side too. Helene is practical and despite what Pierre may think, I see her as smart rather than stupid. She a woman in a time when women are not supposed to be much more than decorations to the lives of men. Helene plays this interesting role of appearing to society as exactly what they expect of her and yet, when no one’s looking, getting her way through the back door. Given that, I would really love a character study piece of some sort for a gen fic with her. Or, if you want something a little more on the lighter side, a fun fic with her and Anatole. They’re obviously close and I would love to see them interacting as brother and sister who care for one another.
Dolokhov/Helene! They’re great on a whole spectrum of genres and themes. A pre-book teenage romance, their affair after Helene’s marriage, and exploration of the class issues standing between them… I think they can range anywhere from sweet and beautiful, if hopeless, romance to something dark, passionate, complicated and possibly selfish. I think with them I would love to see a “mature” relationship. I think they’re both characters that put up with a lot. I think there’s lots of pressure on Helene from society and her father to be a certain way and I think that leaves its mark. (I’m seriously thinking about the Christina Aguilera song “Reflection” right now.)
Anatole/Helene. They’re the incest exception. It’s just hinted at in canon and it’s just a rumor, but these two have massive chemistry. (I blame the 2007 miniseries for this honestly.) Just please, don’t normalize it, incest isn’t really a normative behavior nor should it be. But I would love to see this very close brother-sister relationship with a sexual tension (unresolved or not) layer and how this effects them and their lives. I see this as a darker, more angsty fic but you can take it wherever it takes you, so to speak.
Sonya
Preferred parings: Sonya/Dolokhov
As with the boys, I have addressed Sonya at length here and here.
Pierre
Preferred parings: Pierre/Anatole, Pierre/Sonya, Pierre/Lise
Pierre/Anatole: I especially like the idea of this being a start-of-book or pre-book paring. Maybe they got together in Paris during Pierre’s time at University? They’re both just such boyish sweethearts (Pierre changes but he starts like that, at least!). I can also imagine a Pierre/Anatole/Dolokhov (not necessarily in that order) triangle. You could play an Anatole/Pierre/Andrei Bolkonski triangle if you want, but in this case I would like to see Pierre being pretty torn over the whole thing. Post-war angst and regret is always a go. (I actually had this AU thought a little while ago - what if Dolokhov puts Anatole in Pierre’s care after Borodino and Pierre takes him away from Moscow after evacuation and feel like he has to take care of Anatole and Anatole lives and they kind of…bond and end up bridging their differences and stuff and…yea.)
Pierre/Sonya may seem like a strange paring but I would be interested in seeing how something like that might play out. I’d really rather he’d ended up with her than Natasha to begin with. Post-war is preferable but, you know, whatever takes your fancy.
For Pierre/Lise, I would be interested in an AU where Andrei dies at Austerlitz but Lise doesn't die in childbirth and Pierre never gets married to Helene. Pierre tires to comfort Lise after her husband's death or gets sucked in helping her raise Nikolai and they end up together. Or something along those lines.
Gen ideas: A fic about Pierre’s friendship with Anatole and how that fell apart would be interesting. I feel like canon isn’t quite clear WHAT EXACTLY went wrong between them. There isn’t any definitive scene or narrative segment. If this doesn’t work…I've had this idea...so Pierre was being set up as a Decembrist and I think it would be really awesome if Dolokhov got involved in that movement as well and they met each other at one of the secret society meetings and just the whole shock of "what is HE doing here" and then them having to work together. They seem to make some nice steps in canon toward getting over their issues and I would love to see some sort of mutual respect build between them. They would never see eye to eye but I'd love to see a working relationship between them develope, maybe both starting to see something in each other that they didn't see before. What I'm not interested in is the heavy-duty philosophizing and religious themes that Pierre (and Tolstoy) engages in in canon. I'd would really appreciate a very much secular, light-on-philosophy fic. I also don't want a Pierre/Natasha romance fic or anything like that but gen fluff for Pierre and his kids with the marriage to Natasha as a background fact would be just fine.
Harry Potter
Antonin Dolohov
Preferred Parings: Antonin/Bellatrix, Antonin/Pansy.
I would love a First War!fic but one set during the Second War would be great too. I would absolutely love to see Antonin as a strong leader int eh ranks of the Dark Lord, perhaps even a mentor to some of younger Death Eaters. I see both of the parings above as sort of genuine but doomed romances, but you don't have to go in that rout at all. (I should also mention that I'd be good with slash too). My personal head!canon is that Antonin is about Bellatrix's age. For him and Pansy, I do prefer that Tony is under 50 just to take some of the potential creepiness out of the paring. But yea, basically, romance or not I would love anything with Death Eater training/friendship/some human side to the cardboard cutouts we see in canon.
Evan Rosier
Preferred parings: Evan/Severus, Evan/Remus, Evan/Lily
I love Evan. I see him as one of the more soft-spoken of his lot. You don't have to follow that though. For gen!fic I would love some Death Eater friendship/bonding/training during the First War. The latter two parings I see as opportunities to explore the "on opposite sides of the barricade" trope. The first paring is an OTP of mine. I would especially love to see the emotional fallout of Snape's betrayal on this relationship, both for Evan and Snape.
Wilkes, Mulciber (Jr.)
I like these two in a paring :) But really, I wouldn't be adverse to paring either of them with anyone else of the DEs around their age (Evan, Severus, Regulus, Barty etc). First War!fic makes me very happy, especially DE training and friendship themes. Perhaps dealing with the emotional fallouts of the war, perhaps what drives these boys to fight (I would prefer it be something other than "fear of Voldemort" or "evilness").
Augustus Rookwood
Very similar to Antonin, except I don't really ship Augustus with anyone. If you do want to write ship, I'd express a preference for a male of approximately his generation (Antonin, Lucius, Pansy's dad, etc). Spying, war, politics, friendship are some of my favorite themes for these sorts of characters.
Pansy Parkinson
Preferred parings: Pansy/Antonin, Pansy/Draco
For Antonin/Pansy - I kinda prefer UST with this one, though a resolution would be cool too. I kinda see Pansy as being fascinated with Dolohov as an older man and someone who has a lot of authority in the Dark Lord’s ranks. (In my headcanon he's her Commanding Officer.)
For Draco/Pansy - I'd love a EWE fic where they get married. Or maybe something during the war. As long as they genuinely love each other, I'll be pretty happy.
Or maybe just something about what her childhood was like, or her family, or maybe her taking part in the Second War even without the 'ship with Antonin. The one trope I'm NOT into is where Pansy gets some sort of banal job after the war because her family is so financially ruined or some other "war reactionary" reason and/or ends up with someone from the Order/DA.
Louis Weasley, Lysander Scamander
I like these two in a paring or shipped with Scorpius. I imagine Lysander in Slytherin but I can totally imagine Louis as either a Slytherin, a Ravenclaw or even a Hufflepuff if you'd like.
I love hurt/comfort with either of these boys, especially when they're paired with Scorpius. Also just hopeless fluff and romance works. Maybe, if Ly or Louis is in Slytherin - something centered on the issues that creates in the given boy's family. Sorry, I'm blanking prompts atm :/
Alecto Carrow
Preferred parings: Alecto/Antonin
I think Alecto could be an interesting character to explore if you're like me and you enjoy fleshing out Death Eaters and other antagonists whom JKR decided to leave as cardboard cut-outs. My preference would be on a First War setting but Second War works well too. I'd rather not have the story dwell too graphically on torture and such, although I'm not asking anyone to subvert canon here. A character study would be interesting - why does Alecto do what she does? How did she become a DE? What is her place in the hierarchy? (Supposedly not quite rank and file but not as high up as, say, Bella) She and Bella are the only two known DE women, I believe, so how does that work out? What is her relationship with her brother? Is she married, have kids? Lots of room for exploration here!
Downton Abbey
Edith
Preferred Parings: Edith/Michael
Edith gets the short end of the stick, so to speak, way too often. I felt really bad for her even in the very beginning because with Mary as a sister, well… It’s hard to fight a bitch without being one. (Mary is really extra horrible to her.) I would love mostly anything with Edith where she gets to be number one for once. But I think I would especially love a fic where Michael comes back and where they are happy together and in love. Maybe they even get their baby back somehow? Alternatively, some sister-bonding with Sybill would be fun. And, no, I'm not a fan of Mary at all, so leaving her out as much as reasonable would be appreciated. Basically, I just want an Edith-is-awesome-and-happy fic :)
Sybil
Preferred Paring: Sybil/Tom Branson
I would love most things about Sybil. Either her life with Tom or her falling in love with him. Her thoughts on deciding to be a nurse/during her training and/or work as one. I love her political/social equality activism and would be interested in a fic focused on that. Childhood!fic and sister-bonding with Edith would also be lovely :) As little Mary as reasonably possible please.