Ship Swap - Dear Author Letter
My Requests
Alexander Trilogy - Mary Renault
Any Pairing (Tag-set includes: Alexander the Great/Bagoas; Alexander the Great/Hephaistion; Alexander the Great/Ptolemy; Alexander the Great/Roxane)
Fan-fic or Fan-art
Optional Details:
I normally prefer a story which is true to canon. Gen preferred if you decide to focus on the relationship between Alexander and Ptolemy. If you choose to develop a romantic pairing, I would prefer a story that is no more than PG14.
Suggestions:
Bagoas makes himself indispensable to Alexander and, for once, Alexander recognises Bagoas is more the subtle strategist than he had thought. Bagoas teaches Alexander to dance.
Young Alexander falling in love with Hephaistion - why him? Missing scenes of Alexander with Hephaistion during Hephaistion's final illness. The first time Hephaistion truly risks himself in battle and Alexander is afraid for him.
Ptolemy as mentor to Alexander; when did the younger man surpass the older? Ptolemy and Alexander bond over their different but equally strained relationships with their fathers.
For the one and only time in their relationship, Roxane gets the better of Alexander - how does this bring their inequalities into sharp relief? Roxane married him for power and loyalty to her family but gradually comes to love Alexander the man for himself.
The Last of the Wine - Mary Renault
Any Pairing (Tag-set includes: Alexias/Phaedo; Alexias/Xenophon; Phaedo/Sokrates; Alexias/Lysis)
Fan-fic or Fan-art
Optional Details:
I normally prefer a story which is true to canon. Gen preferred if you decide to focus on the relationship between Alexias and Xenophon or Phaedo and Sokrates. If you choose to develop a romantic pairing, I would prefer a story that is no more than PG14
Suggestions:
I do like Phaedo as a character. Canon is that he has horrendous experiences but rises above them all through becoming Sokrates' student to become a philosopher and teacher of logic. However, clearly he has scars and from what i can see he appears quite a lonely character. He has enduring friendships but no love affairs. We 'meet' him in the novel through Alexias who becomes his friend. Why? How? Alexias is no deep thinker, though he is loyal to Sokrates. But so were many; why are these two men firm friends? Does their friendship deepen after Alexias' experiences in the siege or do his memories put up a barrier because he now knows only two well (or thinks he does) how Phaedo felt.
If you prefer to write about Phaedo and Sokrates: (post-book) how does Phaedo react to Sokrates’ death - his friend and mentor is dead but those feelings don't just 'die' with the man. Perhaps show us Sokrates and Phaedo's relationship through the eyes of another - maybe someone who is a bit jealous? For example, what was it like to be Sokrates’ wife and see his deep bond with Phaedo who is not his family, and know he doesn't value you as much?
Towards the end of the novel, Phaedo indicates he really remains in Athens to be near Sokrates and likely will leave after Sokrates dies (which is historically accurate). Is he ever frustrated with Sokrates' choices? What does Sokrates really think of this young man who eschews everything physical?
Alexias and Xenophon are friends from boyhood - sometimes agreeing, often not, with clearly very different choices in their lives. How does their friendship survive the siege of Athens? Do they re-connect after Xenophon returns from his adventures with Cyrus?
Alexias is considerably younger and Lysis clearly makes more decisions at the early stages of their relationship. When did that change and why? Or, if you prefer, show the progression of Lysis’ relationship with Alexias as seen through the eyes of a third party - maybe Phaedo? or their fathers? Or Arete?
The Charioteer - Mary Renault
Any Pairing (Tag-set includes: Alec Deacon/Ralph Lanyon; Alec Deacon/Sandy Reid; Andrew Raynes/Laurie Odell; Laurie Odell/Ralph Lanyon
Fan-fic or Fan-art
Optional Details:
My personal preference is for the canonical relationships as depicted by Renault. Having said that, in the past I have read and utterly adored stories that mix and match any of these people, but the key to my enjoyment is that each character needs to remain true to himself. They can have 'moved on' as they have grown up over the year; but I prefer them to remain true to their essential characters. If you choose to develop a story based on the romantic/sexual elements of these relationships, I would prefer a story that is no more than PG14
How and why did Alec and Ralph's friendship outlast their romance? Show us the early stages of Alec and Sandy together - before Sandy's insecurities and Alec's roving eye start destroying their romance. Laurie and Andrew: lovers come and go for both men but their friendship endures for years and years. Reconciliation after Laurie realises Ralph was unfaithful during one of his voyages.
MASH (TV Show)
Hawkeye Pierce - Trapper John MacIntyre
Henry Blake - Radar O'Reilly
Father Mulcahy - Sidney Freedman
BJ Hunnicut - Charles Emerson Winchester
Optional Details:
I normally prefer a story which is true to canon.
Gen preferred
This is one story where I would really value humour plus social comment. Right from the very start of the series Hawkeye and Trapper are very much a team; but how did they team up in the very beginning? Henry is ill and Radar covers by running the show but making everyone think it is really Henry doing it. Father Francis and Sidney collaborate on helping three patientsand each come to appreciate the other's skills all the more. BJ loves to play pranks; Charles likes to be one up on everyone; but this time they unite against Haweye.
Information about source material, and my own stories
Information about existing Renault-universe fan-fiction is available on the wiki about Renault fan activities at: http://fanlore.org/wiki/Mary_Renault. Renault’s novels are easily borrowed from most public libraries, and quite a lot of them can be bought in electronic format as well as paperback from Amazon at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_13?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=renault%20mary&sprefix=renault%2C+mary%2Caps%2C164. If you need help finding a beta for Renault fan-fic I suggest you ask at the Dreamwidth RenaultX community at: http://renaultx.dreamwidth.org/
MASH has been a book, a film and a TV series. I have seen/read and enjoyed them all; but I vastly prefer the TV series to either novel or film. There are some old communities on Live Journal which focus on MASH but they all appear to be very inactive (and seem to have been inactive for a few years). However, MASH remains one of those fandoms perenially nominated and written with every Yuletide and there are over 500 MASH-fics on AO3. Perhaps if you need to find a beta that would be a place to start looking? MASF-fics on A03 are here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&work_search%5Bquery%5D=&work_search%5Btitle%5D=&work_search%5Bcreator%5D=&work_search%5Brevised_at%5D=&work_search%5Bcomplete%5D=0&work_search%5Bsingle_chapter%5D=0&work_search%5Bword_count%5D=&work_search%5Blanguage_id%5D=&work_search%5Bfandom_names%5D=MASH+%28TV%29&work_search%5Brating_ids%5D=&work_search%5Bcharacter_names%5D=&work_search%5Brelationship_names%5D=&work_search%5Bfreeform_names%5D=&work_search%5Bhits%5D=&work_search%5Bkudos_count%5D=&work_search%5Bcomments_count%5D=&work_search%5Bbookmarks_count%5D=&work_search%5Bsort_column%5D=&work_search%5Bsort_direction%5D=&commit=Search
Finally, if you aren’t sure what kind of thing I might like to receive, then I suggest you have a look at stories I have written. Many of my stories can be found on A03 at: http://archiveofourown.org/users/fawatson/works. I have not ever written a MASH story, though (although I do read them).
What I like:
• I like stories that are character-driven and also those that are plot-driven (though I prefer the former), but as long as something is well-written I usually like anything (so I suggest you just opt for what you like to write).
• In general I have no preference about the story being serious or humorous (with the one exception indicated above); I think that sort of decision is best left to the author. Witty repartee in dialogue does appeal regardless of whether the theme of the story is serious or funny.
• I generally prefer stories that are true to canon, but occasionally do enjoy a well-written AU.
• Although I rarely write sexually explicit stories, I have no objection to reading them (unless it is for a pairing where I have explicitly asked for Gen). However, I prefer any sex to develop logically from the plot or exploring some aspect of character development; and as a general rule I agree with Renault that it is better to leave the details to the reader’s imagination.
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