Intellect and romance over brute force and cynicism

[evewithanapple]

First off, let's set the stage:

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The Do Want List

• pretty prose. I love how writing can take on a character all by itself- how the vivid descriptions can bring the setting and characters to life almost as well as the craft of the story itself. See: Elizabeth Hand, Charles de Lint
• evil girls with feelings. This is a bit of a weird one, but I'll try to explain- I like stories about ruthless or amoral women who find themselves compromised because they've encountered someone or something that pushes their buttons. Note that this can go really badly if it becomes a romance along the lines of "your almight manhood taught me how to feel!" but in the hands of the right author, it's beautiful. See: Laura Dannon, Lilah Morgan
• history with the emphasis on the little guy. Yeah, I love historical dynasties, but what I love even more is stories about how the workings of the upper class affects the people who had to soldier on because nobody cared to ask them, or even their day-to-day lives untouched by the aristocracy. See: Copper, Spartacus
• social justice in history. Kind of similar to my last point, but with more focus on the changing roles, historical power dynamics people fighting for their rights. See: Newsies, Garrow's Law
• identity narratives. People figuring out who they are and who they want to be and whether or not they want what society/their families perscribe for them? Huuuuuuuge kink of mine. See: Twin Peaks (Audrey and Laura specifically), Hanna
• possession narratives that focus on the person being possessed. See: Twin Peaks.
• stories about stories. Stories about why narratives- fiction and non-fiction- are important, be it folklore, family history, general history, etc etc. See: "Stones" by William Bell, The Fall. In a similar vein, stories about people who work in the theatre and how that impacts their lives; see Slings&Arrows
• emotional physicality- I think this is called emotion!kink? I like my straight-up smut, don't get me wrong, but I also love it when it's not just about the sex itself, but about the connection the characters feel and the emotions they're going through. See: this fic.
• Robin Hood stories of any stripe.
• found families
• Pregnancy/parenthood I don't like babyfic that goes wildly OOC, but I do like actual explorations of happy families, what carrying a child feels like, how it affects the parents/couple emotionally. See: um . . . if you find a good one, can you let me know?
• strong, competent women who refuse to put up with bullshit. Even when they're expected to. See: Niobe, Joan Watson, Nina Pickering
• causes. People fighting for something because they think it's right.
• healing. I don't like mindless hurt/comfort, but if it's about the character actually healing and moving forward, I'll eat it up.
• gender role reversal in relationships- when the guy is the more gentle, emotional one, and the girl is brash and less than able to express herself.
• the intrusion of history into modern day. See: Elizabeth Hand's "Waking the Moon"
• history in general, really
• happy, stable relationships. I see these derided all the time, but really, why shouldn't happy people be interesting?
• people falling in love and experiencing the delight of it for the first time. Or the second. Or the third. I just really love love stories!
• religion/spirituality. I'm a Wiccan-cum-agnostic, but I love descriptions of religion, beliefs, what they do for people. See: any of the temple scenes in Rome, and . . . ugh, Stigmata
• relatedly, the intersection of religion and love/sex and said love/sex as a form of worship.
• conmen and intelligent women. This is slightly similar to "evil girls with feelings," but less with the evil- you've got a conman/general ne'er-do-well partnered with a smart, take-no-prisoners woman, and they fall in love! Pretty simple. See: Anastasia, The Mummy
• Scotland. I'm Scottish by heritage, though I've never lived there (yet) and I've always felt a connection to it.
• elemental imagery. I read this (admittedly terrible) element-based series when I was a kid, and I've always loved the imagery of it.
• depictions of non-neurotypical people. I'm on the autisim spectrum myself, so I like seeing people like me. (See: Abed Nadir.)
• gothic fiction- especially stories centered on old families and big, spooky houses. See: Anne Rice's "The Witching Hour.", Wuthering Heights
• Reluctant unbelievers forced into the role of messiah. See: Stigmata.
• Disciple/messiah relationships, romantic or platonic. (Mostly romantic.)

The Do Not Want List

• rape/non-con of any variety, but especially being portrayed as romantic. ICK.
• incest. It doesn't do anything for me.
• stories founded on misunderstandings/missed opportunities. Like, if the conflict stems from constantly finding contrived ways for the characters to not understand each other or miss each other by a few minutes- thus frustrating the audience along with the characters- I am just not interested at all.
• focus on white straight male manpain. Noooooooo thank you.
• fridging. Get the fuck out.
• romanticised domestic abuse. Again, ick.
• the erasing of conflict to force a happy ending. If you need to brush aside the reasons for the conflict to begin with in order to force your ending, I will not be happy with it.
• an absence of female characters
• angst for angst's sake, or "art." I despise the idea that a story can only be deep and meaningful if rocks fall and everyone dies. Stories about happy people can have meaning too. If a story rest entirely on everything being bleak and miserable, I'm not interested.
• unquestioned racism/sexism/other -isms
• the tortured antihero. He's bad! But we like him! Even though he's constantly fucking up! He has almost no redeeming qualities besides charisma! He probably has a fridged woman in his past! BUT OH, HOW FASCINATING HE IS. (Nucky Thompson, Don Draper et all.)
• humiliation played for laughs. Actually, humiliation in general. I have a huge embarassment squick.
• characters whose actions are never questioned
• love triangles. Do not want. Ever.