Dear Yuletide
You should write what gives you joy, so take all the things below as hopefully helpful ficprompts, rather than any hard and fast rules. It helps me writing to have a lot of stuff to work from, but if that's not true for you, go ahead and write what works.
What works for me:
Firstly, I am happy with gen, het, slash/femslash. I have my preferences in fandoms, but there's very little in the way of broad categories that I won't read. I suppose my thing is that I like specific characters, and the pairings/moresomes that involve them, rather than being a solid OTP-er. Good gen is always a joy as well.
I like tropefic, especially fic that takes a fresh look on tropes-- that rethinks it in a new way.
Generally, I like characters that put the work into doing good, because they know it has to be done. I love competency and decency in a character, and people that put the work into doing good. I also love people with flexible morality, and people who are basically amoral, except for this one thing or one person...
I like people to be in relationships where they are getting something out of it-- it doesn't have to always be love or forever, but I want even the bad-idea relationships to be bad-idea-but-what-I-need-right-now.
Other things that I like include (but are not limited to) pining, resolution, mythology (mmm, mythology), food, music, dragons, people being *good*, tension, tea, family-of-choice, hope, gen, het, slash, femslash, gen-that-feels-like-slash, slash-that-feels-like-gen, bystander POV, people not saying the thing they're saying and other people knowing what they mean, gender/sexswitch (temporary and always-been-a), ghosts (real and metaphorical), secrets, what happens next. Obviously, the fandoms I pick, I love those worlds, but you can definitely play around with more.
I also love slice-of-life fic, bystander fic, like-a-canon-epsiode fic, it's all good. Fic that picks up a tiny detail, a single mention in canon and then really explores it? A thing of beauty and a joy forever.
I like trope-fic and I love fic that takes a fresh look at tropes. AUs can be great as well, both spin-offs/twists on canon and "Okay, we're going to add dragons and put them on a spaceship" AUs.
What doesn't work for me:
AUs that are less interesting than the canon. Coffee-shop!canon to psychic wolf!AUs? Great! Superhero!canon to officework!AU, not so much. Related to that-- part of the appeal of AUs, for me, is seeing how the characters are still themselves in those settings, so an AU where someone is so different as to be utterly OoC doesn't work for me at all-- at that point, it's just someone else with the same name.
I'm not a fan of biology-is-destiny which means a lot of ABO fic doesn't worth for me. I have read some great ABO fic, but it's generally stuff that explores and twists the trope, rather than just uses it. (Leaving aside the part of me that goes "so if O-males can gestate, why are females and males still a thing? And what's the difference between an O-Male and an A-female if they can both gestate and fertilise? and...") Uh, yes.
Soulbond stuff can really work for me, but soulmates (by which I mean one OTP for everyone in the world that trumps all other relationships and without any choice or change in it at all), as concept, I find somewhat dystopic. Only one person for you in the whole world? You can be happy with someone you love for years, and then one of you runs into their soulmate and bam, none of that matters, it's not as real as the ~soulmate~. Again, some of my favourite fic uses that trope, but really to explore it.
And there are aspects of it that can kick me out of a fic entirely (like wondering what does it bring to the table that a species would have it, how would it work, etc.) Soulbonding-- that's a different beast, and one that's much less likely to trigger anything that would throw me out of the fic.
Bastarding characters. Sure, there are some that I like more than others, but I don't want to be confronted with "and I dislike this character so I'm going to give them random hateful characteristics because they suck so much."
I don't necessarily go for pure fluff (I like the endings to feel deserved), but I don't like it when things are devoid of hope. In general, I would say that I prefer a happy ending-- or at least, an ending that's no darker than one these canons would have anyway. PWP doesn't really interest me unless it comes paired with interesting character dynamics.
Fandom specifics
Fargo
I picked these characters because they're my favourites.
Molly is amazing - I love her strength of character, her sense of self. I love that she likes the problem solving side of it all, that she likes figuring out how all the bits of crime fit together. I love how she is principled and strong and competent-- how she does her job because it satisfies her head to do it.
I love Mr Numbers and Mr Wrench-- both as individual characters, but especially together. I like that sense of history they have, I like that they are a team- that they would probably fail the broccoli test, but could pilot a jaeger together anyway.
Backstory might be nice-- or post-series (though that might take some slight fixing of canon).
Girl Genius
I love a lot of the relationships in this show, gen and romantic (and possible-romantic). I love the jaegers relationship with Agatha-- actually, the whole of Mechanicsburgs's relationship with their Heterodyne, I love Agatha and Zeetha's friendship-- that Zeetha gets to be more herself, to regain more of her culture, by having that connection with Agatha. I love Agatha and Gil and Tarvek, because despite everything (rivalries, mind control, personality control, ambition, poor parenting decisions, sensible appreciation for just how dangerous the other is), they do have that connection. They can keep up with each other. Despite so many reasons not to, they can actually appreciate the good qualities they each possess-- even knowing the bad ones. And they all deserve to have in their lives what the others can bring (like actually having some ethics and principles despite everything) and to have someone that can actually keep up with them! Gen is also great, but a pairing with just the two would probably make me a bit sorry for whoever was left on the outside.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
So this film combines my competency kink and my kink for people doing the right thing under difficult circumstances. Again, one of the things that interests me the most is how Smiley has the relationships he does with people-- the ones that respect him, the ones that disregard him, the ones that help him and the ones that hurt him.
Dark Matter
if you're matched on this, it's probably because you too have discovered just how great this show is in suprising ways. It's not always good, but it's often amazing, and I love so much about it. Obviously, found family is always a great thing, but then you have people with flexible morality, and people that try to take care of one another-- and then you have spaceships and evil corporations and assassinations and space plague zombies and the best random guest appearances. I like how they are finding out who they are in the show-- not just who they were, but who they are by how they react to each other. Two looking after Five! Android going in to rescue Two! All of them coming to help Four! I like how the bits of backstory you get feed in to who they are now-- but don't actually make them who they were then.
I don't actually know what to do with Six after the finale, so that could also be interesting to explore.
Gen/het/slash/femslash are all good. I don't really feel One/Three, or Five in a romantic relationship with any of them (though OC would be fine), but anything aside from that is good.
How To Get Away With Murder
This show. Just, a lot.
I am very interested in so many of the characters in this show - like, all of the Five especially - it's just that Wes is the most interesting to me because he's presented at first as The Good One, and then sometimes that just breaks. He's so open, and then so opaque-- you know big things about him, but then actually, you also don't know a lot of details.
I can always do with more of the Keating Five interacting, as a group or one-on-one. In my general notes, I say that I like found-family, which this really isn't... except in that "home is where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in" sense. "No, they really have to, it's mutually assured destruction otherwise." Family, in the sense that they wouldn't have chosen this, but they're stuck with it anyway-- for better or worse.
I also kind of feel like this is a canon that could lend itself well to AUs and tropefic, if you're so inclined.
I'm happy with any pairing or moresome. The only pairing I explicitly am not comfortable with in this is Annelise/Wes. At the moment, canon is the right kind of bad-idea-wrong-reasons-playing-with-it-anyway, but I don't actually need any more.
I don't need fluff, but I don't need it darker than canon. Backstory stuff would also be great.
Hope you have fun writing this and see you in December!
This entry was also posted at http://jamjar.dreamwidth.org/113619.html.
What works for me:
Firstly, I am happy with gen, het, slash/femslash. I have my preferences in fandoms, but there's very little in the way of broad categories that I won't read. I suppose my thing is that I like specific characters, and the pairings/moresomes that involve them, rather than being a solid OTP-er. Good gen is always a joy as well.
I like tropefic, especially fic that takes a fresh look on tropes-- that rethinks it in a new way.
Generally, I like characters that put the work into doing good, because they know it has to be done. I love competency and decency in a character, and people that put the work into doing good. I also love people with flexible morality, and people who are basically amoral, except for this one thing or one person...
I like people to be in relationships where they are getting something out of it-- it doesn't have to always be love or forever, but I want even the bad-idea relationships to be bad-idea-but-what-I-need-right-now.
Other things that I like include (but are not limited to) pining, resolution, mythology (mmm, mythology), food, music, dragons, people being *good*, tension, tea, family-of-choice, hope, gen, het, slash, femslash, gen-that-feels-like-slash, slash-that-feels-like-gen, bystander POV, people not saying the thing they're saying and other people knowing what they mean, gender/sexswitch (temporary and always-been-a), ghosts (real and metaphorical), secrets, what happens next. Obviously, the fandoms I pick, I love those worlds, but you can definitely play around with more.
I also love slice-of-life fic, bystander fic, like-a-canon-epsiode fic, it's all good. Fic that picks up a tiny detail, a single mention in canon and then really explores it? A thing of beauty and a joy forever.
I like trope-fic and I love fic that takes a fresh look at tropes. AUs can be great as well, both spin-offs/twists on canon and "Okay, we're going to add dragons and put them on a spaceship" AUs.
What doesn't work for me:
AUs that are less interesting than the canon. Coffee-shop!canon to psychic wolf!AUs? Great! Superhero!canon to officework!AU, not so much. Related to that-- part of the appeal of AUs, for me, is seeing how the characters are still themselves in those settings, so an AU where someone is so different as to be utterly OoC doesn't work for me at all-- at that point, it's just someone else with the same name.
I'm not a fan of biology-is-destiny which means a lot of ABO fic doesn't worth for me. I have read some great ABO fic, but it's generally stuff that explores and twists the trope, rather than just uses it. (Leaving aside the part of me that goes "so if O-males can gestate, why are females and males still a thing? And what's the difference between an O-Male and an A-female if they can both gestate and fertilise? and...") Uh, yes.
Soulbond stuff can really work for me, but soulmates (by which I mean one OTP for everyone in the world that trumps all other relationships and without any choice or change in it at all), as concept, I find somewhat dystopic. Only one person for you in the whole world? You can be happy with someone you love for years, and then one of you runs into their soulmate and bam, none of that matters, it's not as real as the ~soulmate~. Again, some of my favourite fic uses that trope, but really to explore it.
And there are aspects of it that can kick me out of a fic entirely (like wondering what does it bring to the table that a species would have it, how would it work, etc.) Soulbonding-- that's a different beast, and one that's much less likely to trigger anything that would throw me out of the fic.
Bastarding characters. Sure, there are some that I like more than others, but I don't want to be confronted with "and I dislike this character so I'm going to give them random hateful characteristics because they suck so much."
I don't necessarily go for pure fluff (I like the endings to feel deserved), but I don't like it when things are devoid of hope. In general, I would say that I prefer a happy ending-- or at least, an ending that's no darker than one these canons would have anyway. PWP doesn't really interest me unless it comes paired with interesting character dynamics.
Fandom specifics
Fargo
I picked these characters because they're my favourites.
Molly is amazing - I love her strength of character, her sense of self. I love that she likes the problem solving side of it all, that she likes figuring out how all the bits of crime fit together. I love how she is principled and strong and competent-- how she does her job because it satisfies her head to do it.
I love Mr Numbers and Mr Wrench-- both as individual characters, but especially together. I like that sense of history they have, I like that they are a team- that they would probably fail the broccoli test, but could pilot a jaeger together anyway.
Backstory might be nice-- or post-series (though that might take some slight fixing of canon).
Girl Genius
I love a lot of the relationships in this show, gen and romantic (and possible-romantic). I love the jaegers relationship with Agatha-- actually, the whole of Mechanicsburgs's relationship with their Heterodyne, I love Agatha and Zeetha's friendship-- that Zeetha gets to be more herself, to regain more of her culture, by having that connection with Agatha. I love Agatha and Gil and Tarvek, because despite everything (rivalries, mind control, personality control, ambition, poor parenting decisions, sensible appreciation for just how dangerous the other is), they do have that connection. They can keep up with each other. Despite so many reasons not to, they can actually appreciate the good qualities they each possess-- even knowing the bad ones. And they all deserve to have in their lives what the others can bring (like actually having some ethics and principles despite everything) and to have someone that can actually keep up with them! Gen is also great, but a pairing with just the two would probably make me a bit sorry for whoever was left on the outside.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
So this film combines my competency kink and my kink for people doing the right thing under difficult circumstances. Again, one of the things that interests me the most is how Smiley has the relationships he does with people-- the ones that respect him, the ones that disregard him, the ones that help him and the ones that hurt him.
Dark Matter
if you're matched on this, it's probably because you too have discovered just how great this show is in suprising ways. It's not always good, but it's often amazing, and I love so much about it. Obviously, found family is always a great thing, but then you have people with flexible morality, and people that try to take care of one another-- and then you have spaceships and evil corporations and assassinations and space plague zombies and the best random guest appearances. I like how they are finding out who they are in the show-- not just who they were, but who they are by how they react to each other. Two looking after Five! Android going in to rescue Two! All of them coming to help Four! I like how the bits of backstory you get feed in to who they are now-- but don't actually make them who they were then.
I don't actually know what to do with Six after the finale, so that could also be interesting to explore.
Gen/het/slash/femslash are all good. I don't really feel One/Three, or Five in a romantic relationship with any of them (though OC would be fine), but anything aside from that is good.
How To Get Away With Murder
This show. Just, a lot.
I am very interested in so many of the characters in this show - like, all of the Five especially - it's just that Wes is the most interesting to me because he's presented at first as The Good One, and then sometimes that just breaks. He's so open, and then so opaque-- you know big things about him, but then actually, you also don't know a lot of details.
I can always do with more of the Keating Five interacting, as a group or one-on-one. In my general notes, I say that I like found-family, which this really isn't... except in that "home is where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in" sense. "No, they really have to, it's mutually assured destruction otherwise." Family, in the sense that they wouldn't have chosen this, but they're stuck with it anyway-- for better or worse.
I also kind of feel like this is a canon that could lend itself well to AUs and tropefic, if you're so inclined.
I'm happy with any pairing or moresome. The only pairing I explicitly am not comfortable with in this is Annelise/Wes. At the moment, canon is the right kind of bad-idea-wrong-reasons-playing-with-it-anyway, but I don't actually need any more.
I don't need fluff, but I don't need it darker than canon. Backstory stuff would also be great.
Hope you have fun writing this and see you in December!
This entry was also posted at http://jamjar.dreamwidth.org/113619.html.