Night on Fic Mountain Swap letter
Hello friend!
I love writing for exchanges, and I'm so excited to do so again.
Let’s talk about things I like and dislike, generally.
Love: Getting together stories. Tropes, especially for comedy fandoms (think roadtrips, broken elevators, anything that requires characters to spend time together). Ensemble fic, even more than shippy stuff (with an exception or two). Related, but found families are my thing, and most fandoms I read reflect that love. Spy AUs: a total bulletproof fandom kink. Banter. Flirting. Friends setting up friends. Hijinx.
Loathe: Baby/pregnancy fic, or spending much time with canon children. Major OCs- I nominate fandoms because I want to spend time with the characters I love. Kinky fic, since I’m extraordinarily picky about kink!fic. Soulmates. Religion. Fluff. Incest. Rape. Character-bashing. Gross-out humor. Miracles.
Additional details: I’m fine with sexytimes, as long as it’s not PWP. Or fading to black is totally cool too. Action scenes make my eyes glaze over. I’m a big fan of dialogue and things happening over introspection. And I’m not big on alternative POVs on canon scenes.
If you want to see my fandom story recs, click here. If you want to see what fic I’ve written, click here. If you want to see my tumblr, click here, and if you want to see an occasionally-contradictory list of fic things I love, click here.
Fandoms!
(in no particular order)
The Mindy Project
Danny
Mindy
This show is utterly ridiculous. There's so much they do wrong (see Mindy Lahiri is a Racist, if you can watch it not through your fingers in embarrassment) but these two they always nail perfectly. I didn't mean to fall in love with them (thanks for that, rikyl) but I absolutely adore them. The back half of season two has been particularly amazing, and the breakup (and subsequent puppy faces) have been wonderful. They are so into each other. But I like them at all stages of their relationship, from the contempt at the beginning of season 1 to Danny pining to secret dating to post-breakup Mindy pining to a season finale I presume (but am not spoiled on) will involve them getting back together.
(note: I write some pretty weird fic for these two. Don't feel you have to write that sort of thing!)
Peter wasn't nominated, but I also adore him, so if you want to write him in, I'd enjoy that. He has amazing friend chemistry with Mindy, which I've been loving ever since Josh's wedding. Also, I've loved pretty much all of Mindy's boyfriends, so if you want to throw one of them in, that's always fun. In particular, I loved Josh and pre-dating befuddled lawyer Cliff.
Some prompts:
- Fake dating. Danny and Mindy, obviously, but also Mindy/Peter, if you'd enjoy writing him, would be amazing. I'm thinking that would be great prior to Mindy/Danny hooking up, or now, in the post-breakup stage, as a probably-futile attempt to make Danny jealous
- Mindy takes Danny shopping
- Stuff they have to do to hide their relationship from the office
- AUs. This fandom especially seems ripe for this sort of thing, since they are the ultimate rom-com couple, so basically any major rom com you've ever loved could probably get the Mindy/Danny treatment
- Obviously, this canon is live for another two weeks, so I'll update this at the end of the season
- And while I'm generally not into crossovers, I once wrote a drabble about Mindy and Jake Peralta on a date, so if you happen to be familiar with both canons I'd be into it. I also really liked when Max Greenfield was on the show, and obviously his character wasn't New Girl's Schmidt, but if you wanted to set up Schmidt and Mindy, I'd love that too.
Happy Endings
any
This show was basically perfect, let's be real. The snappy dialogue, the Chicago setting, the amazing characters. I adored it, and it's gone now, and watching the actors on New Girl and The Mindy Project just isn't the same.
I'm partial to the ensemble, but if you'd rather focus on two or three characters, that's lovely too. Also, Dave wasn't nominated because I could only nominate five characters, but I love him too, so feel free to write him if you'd like.
Prompts:
- Penny and Max open a business together
- Alex and Dave, post-breakup
- Jane helping Alex get over her breakup
- The gang goes to see a Cubs game (note: I know nothing of baseball, so you probably also need not know anything about baseball), goes to the Taste of Chicago, or does some other Chicago-y thing
- Road trip!
- I think this fandom is ripe for AUs, so go nuts if you want.
Veep
Dan
Selina
Amy
This show really surprised me. The first season was- fine, it was fine, but the second season just blew me out of the water. Everything came together, and it hit all cylinders for me. The jokes, the relationships, the way that everyone's really pretty selfish and awful, but still delightful to watch.
I picked three characters. Selina, I love. She's hilarious and mean and self-centered and smart. One of my favorite details about her is how she's often not really listening to the people she's talking to, a fact that becomes especially obvious when talking to civilians. It seems to be mirrored in DC, as everyone who matters really isn't listening to anyone. Dan's an unfeeling robot, who sometimes cracks a little, like when Amy's boyfriend shows up. And he's on a journey of self-discovery. I think the talk with Danny at the end of the season was important; he's getting older, and isn't really making the impact he wants. Clearly, he's got a lot, maybe too much, riding on the upcoming election. Amy is so awesomely competent, and one of the few characters in media to not want kids (and no one, besides her mom, is demonizing her for it). She's so dedicated- check out when her dad was laid up- and what is her life like, exactly, given that she's always at work?
Ship-wise, I'm into Dan/Amy like whoa. If you hooked them up, or had them thinking about hooking up, or comparing/contrasting relationship over the years, whatever, I'm into it. Bonus points if Dan has to interact with Ed for whatever reason. Other that that, I don't have ships, so gen is totally awesome. I do have one anti-ship: I'd prefer not to see Andrew. I buy the relationship, which makes watching Selina's IQ drop in his presence all the more painful.
I love the entire ensemble, so feel free to throw in whatever characters you want.
Some prompts:
- Amy/Dan, fake dating for some reason
- Selina, interacting with normals. The episode "Alicia" was probably my favorite ever, and I think Alicia is going to pop up again this season, so if she's somehow involved that would be diving
- Dinner party, involving whomever you'd like
- Campaign trail shenanigans
- Jonah wasn't nominated, but if you'd enjoy writing him, this is something I'd love to see
- Obviously, this is a living canon, so if something else pops up, I'll come back and mention it.
Don't Trust the B in Apt 23
June, Chloe, James Van Der Beek, Luther
I love this show SO MUCH. It was delightfully off-the-wall, with this amazing female center of chaos you don't get to see on tv very often. June was adorable, living RPF James Van Der Beek was amazing, and Luther was delightfully wicked. I love them all together, but you can also write about whatever combination you'd find fun.
If you want to write ensemble fic, go for it. If you want to write a ship, I absolutely multi-ship all the characters, who always seemed about three drinks away from hooking up. With comedy fandoms, I always love tropes, from spin-the-bottle to road trips to being forced to share a bed, whatever. A fic that reads like a missing episode or storyline is amazing. Some prompts, if you're interested:
- Chloe teaching June her hard-partying ways. Maybe they have a girls night, and the boys tag along.
- James throws a party and invites his Hollywood brethren, who either show up as living RPF versions of themselves, or don't show up at all, and he has to deal with that
- Luther trying to give June a makeover
- June trying to make it in the corporate world
- James is working on a show- Dancing with the Stars or otherwise- and takes along one or more of the characters with him
- Actual actor James Van Der Beek just started the mostly awful CBS comedy Friends with Better Lives, so if you wanted to write something about that, that could be hilarious.
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
Nick/Norah
I saw this movie back in theaters in the halcyon days of aught eight, two years after reading the book, and oh! but I loved them both. Neither was prefect, and New York is laughably easy to navigate/park, but they captured that senior year feeling so well, and I've always loved Rachel Cohn, and coming of age stories in general. Somehow, there's NO FANDOM for them, and I don't know how, since they're both precious, plus there's fake dating! I'd think this would be catnip for authors.
So with this, feel free to have fun! While I hope you steer clear of super angsty breakup fic, I'd love to see whatever with these two. AUs! Dating in college! Breaking up and getting back together when they're 25! Learning to reconcile what they wanted when they were 18 with what they have when they're older! Since I identified strongly with the narrative of the two of them growing up, I'd love to see them learning age-appropriate lessons.
I've read the book and watched the movie, so feel free to pick and choose canon. The only really strong preference I have is that Norah's the one that gets off when the two of them hook up that first time, because I love that, and it's fairly rare in literature to worry about a teenage girl's orgasms.
That should be everything! As always, if you need additional clarification, please feel free to reach out to throwingpens. She may write her answer in all caps, but she gets me, fandom-wise.
Thanks!
Diaphenia