Dear Chocolate Box author...
Dear Chocolate Box author,
Better late than never, right? Thank you for bearing with me posting this! Feel free to ask anonymously in the comments if you have any questions. <3
Rivers of London
Peter/Nightingale
I moved to London a few years ago and read the first Rivers of London book shortly after I'd moved. My immediate feeling reading them was stupid excitement at the fact that I had been to a lot of those places and that Peter's loving but not remotely idealised version of London rang true to me, even as someone who has known life outside the Big Smoke and grew up somewhere closer to the Herefordshire village of Foxglove Summer than to Peter's beloved home within the boundary of the M25.
That said, I definitely value the books for more than just the novelty of their setting. Who could fail to be taken in by Peter as a narrator? And then there's the fact that Peter has this amazing rapport with a backwards-ageing, card-carrying magical DI whom he initially thinks is trying to pick him up and with whom he lives. And they have these stupidly complementary skills and fantastic banter and they never talk about their actual issues but they show plenty of appreciation of one another. Oh, this ship.
Which brings me to - things I think are/would be awesome in Peter/Nightingale fic:
- Peter being surprisingly competent and Nightingale not being surprised at all.
- Any kind of awkward grudging acknowledgement that feelings are a thing (which, let's be honest, they'd pretty much both be able to do less than grudgingly in other circumstances, they're both just not quite comfortable pushing forward with the thing between them given the power/status structures they're embedded in). This could include: Peter making a bit of an unintentional confession and having a freak out and ultimately having to have Nightingale talk him down, or some kind of established relationship fic where they consider how they got to be in that place.
- I've always wanted to write a sort of ridiculous future fic about the implications of the whole backwards-ageing thing on their relationship. I have this image of Peter looking in a mirror one day and realising that Nightingale looks younger than him now. Hell, maybe Peter ages backwards, too, after a while, maybe they keep ageing back and forth for centuries. Who knows. So, if this interests you, too, dear author, go for it.
- Casefic is of course one of the most treasured and wonderful things in this fandom - because who doesn't want to see Peter and Nightingale doing what they do best and solving magical crime? So, if you have the patience and desire to write a wonderful mystery about queer goings on in Londontown (or anywhere else for that matter), go right ahead.
Some other things/tropes that I really love in this fandom are:
- Unsurprisingly, based on the above: London things! Though if you don't know much about London, don't feel you have to do a load of research just for this.
- Like just about everyone in this fandom, I am totally behind hurt/comfort for this ship, whether it's Nightingale's recovery from the end of book 1 or Peter being sad or wounded, it's all good.
Hockey RPF
Sidney Crosby/Evgeni Malkin
Something terrible happened to me last year and I got sucked into a whirlwind of hockey rpf fic. I say "terrible" but what I mean is "surprisingly beautiful and awesome" because I've gone from being alarmed that I know the names of loads of ice hockey players because of fanfic to watching a lot of NHL games and spending at least three evenings a week at an ice rink learning to play hockey myself. This is a ship which has literally changed my life. Whenever one of my incredible new host of hockey friends asks me why I'm a Pens fan, I always attribute it to the friend who got me into the fandom rather than confessing that it's because of fanfic accounts of Crosby and Malkin's epic romance. But, really, it's 100% because I spent hundreds of hours reading adorable fic about Sid and Geno. I am very happy about all of it.
As a note, you're totally welcome and encouraged to include other players from the Pens or elsewhere, including those nominated. I have a massive soft spot for a lot of other hockey players (for instance, Flower is my all time fave and Ovi is fanfic gold).
In this fandom, I really love cute hockey player domesticity (maybe they move in together by accident or just enjoy hanging out after a game); team antics; fic about my beautiful ship getting together; coming out fic (possibly involving adorable You Can Play videos); fic about winning the Stanley Cup together (they've done it twice now and it is not getting old!)
I guess I tend toward preferring cute fluff in this fandom but I am also all for a bit of angst and emotional crisis, too. I don't mind injuries but would prefer they weren't career-ending (unless there's also some kind of silver lining/upside). Essentially, I love these boys and I want them to be happy.
The Accountant
Christian Wolff/Braxton
So this movie was kind of unexpectedly great, right?
And I haven't written this part of my letter yet because I am an idiot - and also spent way too much of my weekend prepping for a date with an actual accountant. Harhar, jokes on me, but at least this one probably doesn't murder people. I hope. I feel like that would be kind of awkward. Also, he does not wear a pocket protector.
Also, dear author, I know I am the only person in the exchange who offer to write this beautiful ship. So I'll fill this in shortly just in case someone decides to treat me with it but I hope you'll forgive me for skipping it for now.
Better late than never, right? Thank you for bearing with me posting this! Feel free to ask anonymously in the comments if you have any questions. <3
Rivers of London
Peter/Nightingale
I moved to London a few years ago and read the first Rivers of London book shortly after I'd moved. My immediate feeling reading them was stupid excitement at the fact that I had been to a lot of those places and that Peter's loving but not remotely idealised version of London rang true to me, even as someone who has known life outside the Big Smoke and grew up somewhere closer to the Herefordshire village of Foxglove Summer than to Peter's beloved home within the boundary of the M25.
That said, I definitely value the books for more than just the novelty of their setting. Who could fail to be taken in by Peter as a narrator? And then there's the fact that Peter has this amazing rapport with a backwards-ageing, card-carrying magical DI whom he initially thinks is trying to pick him up and with whom he lives. And they have these stupidly complementary skills and fantastic banter and they never talk about their actual issues but they show plenty of appreciation of one another. Oh, this ship.
Which brings me to - things I think are/would be awesome in Peter/Nightingale fic:
- Peter being surprisingly competent and Nightingale not being surprised at all.
- Any kind of awkward grudging acknowledgement that feelings are a thing (which, let's be honest, they'd pretty much both be able to do less than grudgingly in other circumstances, they're both just not quite comfortable pushing forward with the thing between them given the power/status structures they're embedded in). This could include: Peter making a bit of an unintentional confession and having a freak out and ultimately having to have Nightingale talk him down, or some kind of established relationship fic where they consider how they got to be in that place.
- I've always wanted to write a sort of ridiculous future fic about the implications of the whole backwards-ageing thing on their relationship. I have this image of Peter looking in a mirror one day and realising that Nightingale looks younger than him now. Hell, maybe Peter ages backwards, too, after a while, maybe they keep ageing back and forth for centuries. Who knows. So, if this interests you, too, dear author, go for it.
- Casefic is of course one of the most treasured and wonderful things in this fandom - because who doesn't want to see Peter and Nightingale doing what they do best and solving magical crime? So, if you have the patience and desire to write a wonderful mystery about queer goings on in Londontown (or anywhere else for that matter), go right ahead.
Some other things/tropes that I really love in this fandom are:
- Unsurprisingly, based on the above: London things! Though if you don't know much about London, don't feel you have to do a load of research just for this.
- Like just about everyone in this fandom, I am totally behind hurt/comfort for this ship, whether it's Nightingale's recovery from the end of book 1 or Peter being sad or wounded, it's all good.
Hockey RPF
Sidney Crosby/Evgeni Malkin
Something terrible happened to me last year and I got sucked into a whirlwind of hockey rpf fic. I say "terrible" but what I mean is "surprisingly beautiful and awesome" because I've gone from being alarmed that I know the names of loads of ice hockey players because of fanfic to watching a lot of NHL games and spending at least three evenings a week at an ice rink learning to play hockey myself. This is a ship which has literally changed my life. Whenever one of my incredible new host of hockey friends asks me why I'm a Pens fan, I always attribute it to the friend who got me into the fandom rather than confessing that it's because of fanfic accounts of Crosby and Malkin's epic romance. But, really, it's 100% because I spent hundreds of hours reading adorable fic about Sid and Geno. I am very happy about all of it.
As a note, you're totally welcome and encouraged to include other players from the Pens or elsewhere, including those nominated. I have a massive soft spot for a lot of other hockey players (for instance, Flower is my all time fave and Ovi is fanfic gold).
In this fandom, I really love cute hockey player domesticity (maybe they move in together by accident or just enjoy hanging out after a game); team antics; fic about my beautiful ship getting together; coming out fic (possibly involving adorable You Can Play videos); fic about winning the Stanley Cup together (they've done it twice now and it is not getting old!)
I guess I tend toward preferring cute fluff in this fandom but I am also all for a bit of angst and emotional crisis, too. I don't mind injuries but would prefer they weren't career-ending (unless there's also some kind of silver lining/upside). Essentially, I love these boys and I want them to be happy.
The Accountant
Christian Wolff/Braxton
So this movie was kind of unexpectedly great, right?
And I haven't written this part of my letter yet because I am an idiot - and also spent way too much of my weekend prepping for a date with an actual accountant. Harhar, jokes on me, but at least this one probably doesn't murder people. I hope. I feel like that would be kind of awkward. Also, he does not wear a pocket protector.
Also, dear author, I know I am the only person in the exchange who offer to write this beautiful ship. So I'll fill this in shortly just in case someone decides to treat me with it but I hope you'll forgive me for skipping it for now.