#Gen ABO Worldbuilding

[lulurhythm]

This incredible piece was done by Nebi for the story “Why So Serious?” by Lulu_Rythmea & @huntressundone on AO3.

Guys. The DETAIL. I’m freaking out over here.

[101maverick]

a kind of faith prevails

julodinae_sunsets

This one is sooo good, a/b/o verse with o!Jason Todd and it’s done soo welllll

Category is Gen, and i swear if you’ve been having baby fever lately (as i have lol) this fic is the perfect one for you.

Filled with copious amounts of angst and some much needed comfort in the end, this fic has an amazing dynamic between Jason and Damian, and also Jason and Tim, and Jason and Alfred, and Jason and everyone honestly!! It’s beautiful.

The worldbuilding is also amazing, one thing to know about me is that i’m a sucker for good worldbuilding and aus and the abo in this one is fleshed out really nicely :)

[dianaraven]

2, 7, 12 for the ask game😏

😏

2 - Go to your AO3 “Works” page, to the sidebar with all the filters, and click the drop-down arrow for “Additional Tags.” What are your top 3-5 most used tags? Do you think they accurately represent your writing habits?

1 - Fluff 2 - Angst 3 - Kissing 4 - Crack 5 - H/C

Shockingly.. yeah. I'm actually floored I have so many fluffy fics, but I guess that's because I did a bunch of event weeks so most of those are fluff, and so are a bunch of short one-shots I wrote a few years ago to stretch my creative muscles. That I have 5 crack fics (out of 82 works) is uh wow. Not as many as I would have thought because I do like my crack fics. They're just a lot of fun to write. Insanely, my tags go from 18 - 13 - 5 so like… apparently im just bad at tagging my fics? Which is kinda crazy cuz I have 82 on my ao3?? Wild. Maybe I should go through and retag.

The only one that really shocks me is the kissing tag lol. I guess that's a tag for the fluff fics? Wild. Cuz even though most of my fics are shipfics, for a while I was a completely gen writer. Insane.

7 - Any worldbuilding you’re particularly proud of?

Yes, in my OtR fic. There isn't a lot of worldbuilding within that fic but I have an entire world built and outline written lol. I'm probably never going to write it though, it's just so long the fic would be enormous.

Also in my RR!verse! I'm very proud of my reimagining of Tim!robin reversals where he actually acts like tim (and not jason) /s (kinda)

12 - Are there any tropes you used to dislike but have grown on you?

Actually yes. I used to be really squicked out by de-aging fics (not age-regression, that's still not my thing), especially when their significant other was supposed to help take care of them, but in the new fandom I'm in, I've found a bunch that deal with it very well and actually write the kid-aged character like a real kid which is a big annoyance of those types of fics too. (5 y/o do NOT speak like yoda!!! neither do 3 y/o!!!) Also…. a/b/o. I'm still very picky on abo that I'll read, but it used to be an absolute 'no' until I ran out of fics in one fandom, rip.

ask me questions about my fics/writing

[narutobookshelf]

A post about Gai and Kakashi in my gen abo AU

Look, if my mark on this fandom is gonna be “that weird chick who wrote a huge, sweeping, gen abo AU” then imma do it in style, alright. And that includes midnight tumblr rambles when I should be sleeping because I have work in the morning.

THIS IS ABOUT MY GEN ABO AU. SORRY TO DISAPPOINT ANYONE WHO WAS LOOKING FOR LITERALLY ANYTHING ELSE.

I’ve talked about this at length with @fandomanddenial and @rizas-mustang because they are amazing at helping me worldbuilding this hell I’ve dragged them into.

It came about when I was figuring out how ruts work in my AU and I came to the conclusion that a lot of ruts are basically just surges in testosterone. Functionally. Whether or not that is entirely accurate chemically is tbd. Which means that when alpha jōnin go into rut, you have highly trained and powerful killers with heightened aggression and impaired judgment. (Not completely eliminated, but they still won’t be thinking 100% clearly)

To counteract this, a lot of Konoha alphas, regardless of rank, have what is basically a “rut buddy system” which is a lot less dirty than it sounds. (For most people). Every alpha has a friend or two or more of comparable power level and skill to themselves that when they are in a rut of the not-actually-sex-happening kind they go blow off steam with. Sparring, running D ranks with, running foot races. Literally, anything that helps wear out whoever is in a rut, with someone capable of not being killed by them. Usually, these friends/colleagues are other alphas.

Gai and Kakashi are each other’s rut buddies and have been for a very long time.

Because let's be honest, who else is there?

There is a lot of trust involved. Letting someone that close when you are that distracted and vulnerable. Trusting them not to hurt you and also to not let you hurt them.

This also means that there is a good chance that Team Gai and Team Seven meet for the first time earlier in this au then they did in canon. Because one day when Team Seven is on a D-rank, Gai comes storming up, Lee, Tenten, and Neji trailing behind and is all “RIVAL I CHALLENGE YOU! LET US SEE WHO CAN CLIMB THE HOKAGE MONUMENT THE MOST TIMES WITHOUT CHAKRA!”

And Kakashi just looks at him, looks at their genin, puts Icha Icha away and shrugs.

“Sure. Sakura, you’re in charge.”

[silverutahraptor]

Raptor’s Naruto F/F Fic Recs

It’s Fanfic Writer Appreciation Day today, so I decided to make a list of something dear to my heart: some of my favorite Naruto F/F fics. This list mostly is from what I’ve read recently, could find in my AO3 bookmarks or are from friends—I’m sure there are many more amazing F/F fics I’ve read (and sadly can’t recall atm) or haven’t read yet!

It’s mostly gonna be Founders Era because who am I kidding here XD As always, please mind the tags when you click on one of these! Banner made by the lovely @phlebasphoenician​ ❤️

  you're raptor 'round my heart by @silent-silver-slip: female!Izuna/female!Tobirama. kind of a Jurassic Park AU. Crack. Rated T. Completed. I love it so much there are DINOSAURS and it’s so funny asdbhjhbasd

  No Apologies for Being also by @silent-silver-slip: female!Izuna/Mito/female!OC. Canon Divergence. Rated Gen. Completed. They take down the patriarchy together I’m not kidding 😍😍😍😍😍

  petals for armor by @the-formerone: Mito/Hinata. Canon Divergence. Arranged Marriage. Rated Explicit. Completed. This is some EXCELLENT smut AND it has plot, too! Really well written with a wonderful rarepair 👀👀👀👀

  before you also by @the-formerone: Mito/Sakura. Time Travel Fix-It. Rated Mature. Completed. EXCELLENT WORDLBUILDING and plot and just hnnnnnng I think of this fic a lot! One of my all-time favorite “Sakura in the Warring States Period” fics! 

  Growing Together by @phlebaswrites​: Touka/Mito (as second main pairing besides Tobirama/Hashirama).  Romantic Comedy Fix-It. Warnings: contains cousin incest (Touka/Mito here) and sibling incest (Hashi/Tobi). Rated Explicit. Complete. Has pining and wedding rituals and REALLY good f/f smut. 

  Keep on rocking baby 'til the night is gone by drelfina: female!Tobirama/female!Madara. Modern AU PwP. Rated Explicit. Complete. one of the few MadaTobi fics I will willingly read. It’s REALLY GOOD femslash y’all.

  The Price of Peace also by drelfina: female!Hashirama/female!Madara. Genderswap AU with Period Accurate Gender Roles. Rated T. Complete. Achingly beautiful What If in which Hashirama and Madara are both married off to the Daimyo.

  Knifepoint by @good-grievance: female!Izuna/female!Tobirama. Non-traditional ABO AU (TobiIzu are both omegas). Rated Explicit. Completed. READ THIS RIGHT NOW! Y’all this is one of the BEST A/B/O fics I’ve ever read with STEAMING hot smut! All while also having excellent worldbuilding, character interactions and plot!!

  Twisting Fate by @mira--mira​: female!Hashirama/female!Madara. Genderswap AU. Rated T. In progress. Only one chapter yet and I’m already absolutely hooked! Incredibly interesting worldbuilding and the HashiMada dynamic is already giving me LIFE.

  and the fourth flies by grit: Sakura/Kushina. Sakura as trans Minato via timetravel/reincarnation. Rated Mature. Completed. I am STILL thinking of this fic years after reading it, the worldbuilding and writing is just SO good!

  Sing as their bones go marching in again by @faeflowerfeline: Sakura/Ino. BAMF Sakura with the Mokuton. Rated T. Complete. This one I also still think about a lot. Mokuton!Sakura has a special place in my heart and combined with Sakura/Ino I just instantly go all !!!!!

[aromantic-eight]

This is part of a series of gen fic recs I’m making for Genuary 2021, organized by fandom. I’ll be putting these together quick, and many of these I have not read in a long time, so they’ll mostly just have a length range, either some general content tags I used for organizing or AO3 tags depending on the age of the bookmark, the summary, and a hopefully-still-working link.

This one:

Young Avengers (Marvel) / (And Hawkeye!Kate)

The Invasion (will not be televised) by Norickayer (PG-13)

Words: 50-100k

Tags: plotty, Crossover, drama, mentions of self harm, nonbinary character

(Unfinished/Dropped) In a world without superheroes, six teenagers stumble upon a dying alien who gives them the power to shape-shift. America, Eli, Kate, Tommy, Serrure, Billy, and Teddy are the only people who can stand against the alien invasion- because they’re the only ones who know about it. When one of them confesses to being a member of the invasion force, well- That’s just the beginning of the story.

Note: I love this fic so much.

 Freewill by Norickayer (PG-13)

Words: 1-5k

Tags: humor, AU – ABO, friendship, worldbuilding, trans character

“Wait, this makes no sense,” Loki complained. Teddy glanced back at his gerry-rigged presentation board. As he suspected, he’d drawn the diagram correctly. Teddy began to regret offering this lesson on human sexuality to his alien teammates. (An absolutely gen A/B/O fic, because of reasons.)

 (Series) The Saga of Loki: Hero of Earth-616 by Norickayer

Words: 25,528

Tags: canon divergence, genderqueer character, within-marvel crossovers

AKA: Loki & America's Excellent Adventure

In hopes of escaping the gravitational pull of old stories, Loki goes on a quest through the multiverse to create some new ones. With Wiccan, Hulkling, and Prodigy guiding the way and Miss America along for the ride, what could possibly go wrong?

 There Are Times For Patience, And This Is Not One Of Them by atti (attilatehbun) (PG-13)

Words: 1-5k

Tags: humor, arguments, Billy & Tommy

Vaguely antagonistic brotherly bonding.

 what's my age again? by verity (PG-13)

Words: 1-5k

Tags: friendship, humor, sign language, banter, background America/Kate

A for effort, H-A-W-K-E-Y-E, Kate says as soon as she frees herself from her harness. They really need to come up with a real sign instead of just fingerspelling all the time. Maybe miming drawing a bow, then pointing to the eyes. Something cool. You have to get over your boner for that boomerang arrow. "Did you just sign 'angry penis'?" Sam says, distracted from his unresolved sexual tension with Natasha. "Whatever," Kate says. She flips her hair. "I'm learning."

 please don't say you love me (cause i might not say it back) by tommyshepherdd (atimeforflores) (PG)

Words: 1-5k

Tags: AU - Soulmates, hurt/comfort,  angst, background relationships, focus is on Billy & Tommy familial bonding

Tommy really should have figured that he wouldn't get a happy ending with his soul-mate.

 coffee shop interlude by becausefandom (PG)

Words: 1-5k

Tags: fluff, chance meeting

If you’d told Kate Bishop a week ago that the guy who comes into the coffee shop every Wednesday, who orders a large black coffee and hums along every time Taylor Swift comes on the store’s playlist, was the Winter Soldier, she’d have laughed in your face.

 First Year by Kali Cephirot (10AlliraDream84) (PG)

Words: 500-1k

Tags: Hogwarts AU, humor, friendship

Seven children going to Hogwarts for the first time, and how they become friends.

 Waiting by the Phone by Kali Cephirot (10AlliraDream84) (PG)

Words: 1-5k

Tags: friendship, humor, fluff, hijinks

Or three times Clint got ditched because Kate had to be with her team and one time he wasn't.

 You never call me when you're sober by Norickayer (PG-13)

Words: 500-1k

Tags: friendship, nonbinary character, alcohol

“Hey you hipster piece of shit, how some you never hang out with us anymore?” Kate Bishop croons into the phone about three decibels above the appropriate volume for such a call. “Just because you’re an evil betraying shitlord doesn’t mean you can’t call once in a while.”

 Life-changing Field Trips with Loki by Norickayer (PG)

Words: 1-5k

Tags: Crossover/AU, nonbinary character, suspicion, humor

Team Avatar barely escaped from Ba Sing Se intact, thanks to the help of a mysterious musician they found under Lake Laogai. America has barely a month left to master two elements and defeat Fire Lord Odin when a familiar figure walks right into their camp. (scenes from a Young Avengers/Avatar:The Last Airbender fusion)

 And It's Magic by Norickayer (PG)

Words: 1-5k

Tags: AU, fluff

“Billy, tell your patron god to stop stealing my pop-tarts!” Kate demands, brandishing an empty Pop-Tart box. “Loki can’t be my patron god,” Billy reminds her, “I’m Jewish.” Loki makes a ‘hurt’ face. “You wound me, Billy.” “Not as much as I will if you don’t stop stealing my stuff,” Kate warns, throwing the box into Loki’s face. (In which the presence of werewolves and vampires doesn't change much)

 grab a blanket, brother by Traincat (PG-13)

Words: 10-50k

Tags: found families, character study

Wherein Tommy Shepherd moves in with the Kaplans, freaks out, runs to Canada, goes looking for trouble, accidentally stalks the Avengers and tries to figure out his families. All of them.

 Duende by Ardatli (R)

Words: 10-50k

Tags: Au – no powers, crossover with criminal minds, suspicion, kidnapping, background pairings

duen•de [dwen-de; English doo-en-dey] noun. Having soul, a heightened state of emotion, expression and authenticity. Or, 'that one where the Young Avengers are college professors, and the BAU is investigating the campus.' A Profs!AU/Criminal Minds crossover.

Note: This is part of a very shippy series, but if I remember correctly this fic does not focus on that much.

 Stained in the Blood (of a whole generation) by Ardatli (R)

Words: 10-50k

Tags: AU – no powers, crossover with criminal minds, background pairings

A string of brutal deaths brings the FBI’s vaunted Behavioural Analysis Unit to New York City on the trail of a serial arsonist. But when the UnSub appears to target a young man named William Kaplan, it becomes clear that nothing at all is what it seems...

[damoselcastel]

2020 Author’s Notes

A yearly-sum-up of my personal thoughts for my written works in 2020 (ones with chapters updates count too), like I’ve done before. All of the fic I listed can be found on my AO3. 

JANUARY

Sub Rosa - a FE3H Edelgard/Hubert fic My 2019 Nagamas gift fic for an at-the-time rarepair. I must admit, in previous FEs I was rather 'meh' on most lord/retainer ships, but boy has Three Houses really delivered in selling the undying loyalty of two boys to their lords. This fic was a bit of a struggle for me to write, cause at the time I was really conflicted on how to feel about Edelgard as a character and honestly didn't have many good ones... but writing this helped me come to terms and cement my fondness for the ship.

FEBRUARY

Lip Service - a nsfw FE3H Edel/Hu fic Thinking so much on El/Hu as a ship, the naughtier dynamics of them as a couple came to mind. This fic is simply one such thought excercise, though I've seen many META posts and other fics on why their dynamic would be inverted... but I personally enjoy the idea that Edel's the one in charge, always, and the Hu enjoys being manhandled. (it also serves as a fun foil for how I write the other 3H lord/retainer ship)

MAY

Feast - a Skies of Arcadia fic Written for the Eternal Skies zine, and as of yet to be posted publicly. A two-page long fic starring Urala and the crew members. I always loved the base-building and crew gathering system in SoA, so it was a treat to be able to write for them.

JUNE

Nectaring - a nsfw FE3H Dedue/Dimitri fic That foil to the El/Hu dynamic, where they're rough and demanding I picture DimiDue being soft and tender with each other. This fic is a weird mix of Fodlan worldbuilding, post-AM headcanons, and naughty ship dynamics. It's around this time I definitely knew, the Blue Lions class were my favs.

JULY Litany - a FE drabble collection Added some drabbles, FE3H and otherwise... I've still got prompts I want to work on, for this, hm.

AUGUST

Easy as Pie - gen FE3H Dedue+Mercedes fic I've had this idea of a character cooking pie with not-modern/dated kitchen tech, and when Dedue's birthday came up it came together. Despite Ashe, Flayn, and Annette having explicitly cooking supports with Dedue, Mercedes and her dessert specialty felt most natural to fit the guide role. I also really like their supports and how the two of them get on together...was also nice to get Cyril adn Dimitri in on planning a birthday surprise for Dedue. Just a fluffy feel-good fic.

OCTOBER

Hunger Pangs - a FE16 ABO childhood fic Prequel to Sense of Taste, where it's mostly the Faerghus four being cute kids and sfw. I've notice the trope very rarely ever deals with questions of like, what it's like pre-puberty with all that presentation weirdness. And then I'm once again wasting Faerghus headcanons by sticking it somewhere no one will read them.

DECEMBER

Off Call - a FE14 modern AU Marx/Hinoka Unchilled this drabble series by writing about the Covid quarantine. But really, it's just a tiny glimpse of what I've been dealing with at work, so vent posting? Fleckerl - a FE3H Dedue/Mercedes fic Cowritten with @mrmissmrsrandom for the 'A Lost Ballroom of Gold’ zine. Yet to be publicly posted.

[x-i-l-verify]

3, 7, 8, 12, 18, 30! :D

Thanks for sending me an ask! :D

3. Do you write fics from start or finish, or jump around? For the most part, I do tend to write fics chronologically, with the rare exception of those scenes that are so vivid that they have to be expunged ASAP.

7. Which part of writing do you struggle with most? Dialogue. TT_TT And also writing transition scenes, those are the worst.

8. Do you listen to music while you write? If so, share a song that’s been inspiring you lately. Not usually, surprisingly enough. I tend to prefer silence when I write, with very few exceptions. I normally listen to music only when I’m brainstorming fics.

12. Is there a trope you haven’t written yet but really want to? I actually would very much like to write an ABO fic sometime. I find the concept of different secondary gender and pack dynamics incredibly interesting, and there’s really so much you can do with world and culture building in these types of AUs, but so often it’s just used as a p0rn trope with no depth or actual thought behind it. If I want gen ABO fics, it’s becoming increasingly obvious I’m going to have to write them myself.

18.  What is a line/scene you’re really proud of? Give us the DVD commentary for that scene. “Filthy!” the moon rabbit exclaimed in a voice that seemed far too deep for such a small body. He charged at the two monsters and scurried in frantic circles around a thoroughly bemused and slightly terrified Hoyoung, looking increasingly frazzled. “Wind and stars, you’re filthy! What did you do, roll in every single mud puddle from here to Incheon?” He gave a dismayed gasp as he saw the dirt smudges Hoyoung had left behind him on the floor. He dashed back into the closet and emerged with a rag clutched in his paws. “Nope!” He scrubbed at the nearest smudge with his rag until he’d mopped up every speck of dirt. “Nope!” He moved on to the next. “Nope!” He grabbed a leaf that had dislodged from Hoyoung’s fur and popped it viciously into his mouth. “Nope!” I really loved writing moon rabbit!Hongbin’s whole introduction in Hiraeth. He brought this really fun, frenetic burst of energy to the fic that I think it sorely needed. Getting to reference Niffty’s introduction in the Hazbin Hotel pilot was a nice bonus (as she was my icon for a good half a year). :P

30.Tell us an idea for a longfic you want to write in the future. Well, one of the aforementioned ABO genfics for one, got the whole plot and worldbuilding pretty well sorted out, I just... well, I lost basically all the story and worldbuilding notes I’d accumulated for it due to reasons I’d rather not recount for the sake of my blood pressure, so that killed my motivation to write it almost stone cold dead. I may get back around to it someday, but trying to rewrite 20+ pages of outline is going to be hell, I can already tell. >.< But on a lighter note, I do have quite a few ideas for a multichapter fic set in my urban fantasy Jellyfish family AU that may possibly get written after I get another oneshot for it out of my system. It’s still in the plotting stage, but I've already hammered out the basics.

[muffintonic]

My fanfic trope tier list! (I saw @fanfic-inator795 do this the other day and thought it looked fun, haha.) Make your own here!

Placement reasoning under the cut.

S

Friends to Lovers: excellent, very natural that your lover would also be your friend.

Slow Burn: I like getting absorbed in a story, and the speed that I read at means I need longer ones so i’m not like, “Aww, man, that was it?” Also, the slow burns usually allow for progression at a more realistic pace as well as character development/analysis.

Mutual Pining: two people who love each other and eventually get together....Nice.

Missing Scenes: I am very nosey about characters i’m invested in, and sometimes I feel like whole other episodes and such could have been based off of what isn’t shown in between scenes.

A

Sharing a Bed: I like seeing the different ways that people contrive the bed-sharing to happen, haha. Also, there’s usually a lot of funny moments when getting to see the characters’ panicked thoughts. (The Kico WIP i’ve been sporadically working on since 2015 involves this, haha.)

Established Relationship: we don’t usually get to see this in media, so it’s refreshing!

Fluff: usually goes hand-in-hand with the above, and sometimes it’s nice to just know there’s nothing but happytimes happening.

Huddle for Warmth: similar to the bed sharing one, it’s all about the setting....with a side of either fluff or panicking, haha.

Fairytale AU: i’m a sucker for fantasy, and it’s fun to see which fairytales people use and their personal takes on them.

Magic AU: see above.

B

Fix it Fic: i’m not usually dissatisfied with how canon handles things, so this type of fic is, like, solely reserved for BOTW, bwaha. I’ve been really into BOTW since I got it/finished it last summer, though, so i’ve been reading a lot of The Champions Survive/Get Resurrected stuff and the ones i’ve read have had excellent worldbuilding and such.

Hurt Comfort: the intimacy of patching someone up/the thought behind it....Nice.

Fake Relationship: I am again a sucker for contrived coincidences, panicking, and realizations (another trope in my Kico WIP, though it only appears a little and is fake married). These sometimes come with angst though, which is why it’s not higher.

Gen Fic: I don’t often see these, but I...like the idea of them (I have an eternal WIP of my own for WBB that’s combined with Missing Scenes)? Also, sometimes the world isn’t built quite enough or we don’t get to see it utilized to its full extent in canon.

Humor: I wasn’t sure if this meant, like, fics written solely for comedic purposes or something, but I took it to mean having funny moments in them?? I love comedy above all else (which is why most of the A tier tropes are A tier--the inherent funniness of the situations to me).

In Vino Veritas: having what’s hidden in a character’s heart be exposed in a way that usually results in later panic....Nice (as evidenced by my own take in that one Perryshmirtz fic I did, haha). However, i’m not a big fan of alcohol for numerous reasons, which is why it’s not higher.

Soulmate AU: I don’t often find versions of these that I like, but when I do they’re pretty good. Worldbuilding and slow burn is a must for these.

Coffee Shop AU: I never really liked these before I got into BOTW....hmmm. Maybe it’s because I don’t really like characters from, like, slice-of-life/normal universes being changed into something even MORE mundane/too much like real life?? It’s fine if it’s an adventure story being calmed down, haha (but, like, ONLY adventure--I don’t like the idea of fantasy stories like Strange Magic getting dulled down to that extent).

C 

*most of the tropes here are only not a D because I reserved D for the ones I hate/am most apathetic towards

Arranged Marriage: I don’t usually see these done well (bad characterization/not enough worldbuilding), and arranged marriage is still a thing that happens nowadays in real life so it’s kind of.....

Body Swap: I’ve only found a few renditions of this that I like, namely the funny ones where they’re all like “Wow so this is how it feels like to be a teeny tiny--” *gets punched.* Unfortunately, most of the ones for this trope are, like, either somehow super angsty or have consent problems.

Canon Divergence: another one that rarely has good characterization/logical divergence/follows the established rules already set in canon while being a take on “But what if THIS had accidentally happened instead.”

Historical AU: as someone who minored in History in undergrad, boy howdy is history a touchy thing to make fanfic about. I think there’s only been one AU of this that i’ve liked, and it was for a movie that already had its own version of history/the original canon wasn’t based on our world at all.

Time Loop: kind of a scary thing to think about.

Royalty AU: being a good leader is hard, which means there’s usually not a lot of time for gallivanting. Despite this, there tends to be a lot of that (and poor worldbuilding) in these types of fics.

Amnesia Fic: I don’t like it when someone forgets their loved ones.

First Kiss: I think first kisses are over romanticized. First kiss with the person who is now your lover? Good. First kiss overall? No.

Angst: reality (and sometimes the canon) is dark enough, thanks. Light angst with a happy ending is fine, but I seriously hate characters being subjected to one painful thing after another (I once read an entire published book where that was the case and I was just....so infuriated by the end).

Enemies to Lovers: rarely done to my taste. The two people have to be relatively on the same moral spectrum otherwise this DOESN’T WORK as a good/functioning relationship. Like, you can’t pair off someone who, say, killed their dad, spearheaded a war against innocents, and tortured the other person with the other person. Even when it’s someone who, for example, tried to destroy the entire universe, continually emotionally abused their only friend, laid siege to innocents despite knowing that it was wrong, killed the parent of that other person’s best friend, and physically/emotionally abused that other person, it’d be extremely short-sighted to pair them with that other person without AT LEAST them acknowledging how completely toxic they’ve been and spending a good amount of time (roughly equal or greater to how long they’ve been horrible) establishing that they have indeed changed and are making progress towards reparations and even betterment. Perryshmirtz? Good. Butterfly Bog? Also good. Those are the only two good examples I can think of.

College AU: pretty much in the same boat as the Coffee Shop AU, but sometimes I disagree with what majors get picked for the characters, haha. Good choice for characters around that age, but for some reason I don’t like it when characters get de-aged to make this work. I have yet to see one for older characters that keeps them that age--older people go to college! There was, like, a mom in my Abnormal Psychology class in undergrad!

D

ABO: horribly graphic, mostly non/dubcon, and reduces people to their biology.

Crossover: the media i’m invested in are usually so vastly different from one another that my brain just refuses to have them mix.

Dark Fic: like Angst, but worse. No thanks.

Major Character Death: I read the fix-it-fics to AVOID this, bwahaha!

High School AU: similar to College AU where I dislike characters being de-aged for this, which is unfortunately common. Also, Your Experiences Are Not Universal.

Crack Fic: I am generally a stickler for canon. Boo, absurdity!

Miscommunication: JUST FREAKING OPEN YOUR PIE-HOLE AND TALK TO EACH OTHER.

Pregnancy Fic: not a big fan of the idea of pregnancy in general (the squishing of the organs, mood swings and whatever, that thing where your blood pressure can get super high randomly, dying in childbirth, postpartum depression, etc).

Love Triangle: these can usually be solved by either 1) poly relationship 2) maybe DON’T choose the “bad boy” that disrespects you and is emotionally distant?????

Unhappy Ending: WHY would I want this??????? See: Angst

Unrequited Love: similar to the above.

PWP: maybe it’s my aceness talking, but to quote Doof: “Backstory, backstory, backstory!”

Sex Pollen: too much like PWP, but with more consent problems

Bang or Die: see above

Baby Fic: similar to Pregnancy + I....can’t really imagine a lot of my favorite ships with kids?? Like, Butterfly Bog/Potionless and Panlie, sure. Doof already has Vanessa/Norm and Perry is an uncle......maybe Po and Tigress if they adopt?? I feel like they could also just be teachers together and their students would be their “kids.” Meh.

[thatbubbleguppy]

Rec-It Weekend (19WK51)

The Phi of Life by Terias

Rating:  Teen and Up

Pairing(s):  Gen (implied eventual EraserMight)

If you guys couldn’t tell, I am a sucker for ABO (aka Omegaverse) that’s more worldbuilding than actual smut although I also won’t say no to worldbuilding and smut hehe. This fic is making the rec list because of this latest chapter (chapter four, to be precise), due to the intriguing way Terias establishes how society would handle this unique biology and all the hurdles that come with it, including the processes society has created to work around them.

Go give this fic some love!! <3

[betareaderwanted]

Beta wanted for MCU/Game of Thrones fanfic

Fandom - MCU (Specifically Black Panther/Iron Man) and Game of Thrones Ship - Assorted M/M & F/F main ships: killchalla, tonyrhodey, sambucky, cersei centric, dany centric Rating - Gen to Explicit (mostly long fic) Warnings - Some stories deal with non con/dubious morality/canon typical violence and some are abo Type of beta reading - continuity checks, grammar and pronunciation, worldbuilding help and a second pait of eyes How to contact - tjadakaa on tumblr or twitter, izarriddle@gmail.com Status: I have complete fics that just need a once over, and a couple in progress ones i have drafted 2-5 chapters in advance.  Additional notes: if you want to know if you're able to beta or not check out my ao3. Penname: BabaTunji 

[nautilusopus]

Hi! 2, 23, 44

2. Favorite genre of fic?

Plot-heavy introspective found family shit. 

I don’t know why considering the source material but no one fucking writes this in the VII fanbase so I’m in actual goddamn hell trying to find anything to read. I actually haven’t found a fic that fits those criteria in nearly two years. Gotta do all the goddamn work around here. 

Shit, I’m even willing to skimp on the “plot heavy/introspective” aspect because I know how obnoxious that can be to write, but you would THINK finding found family stuff in this fanbase would be waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay easier than it actually is. What the hell’s wrong with everyone? How do you guys even stomach reading things that don’t have the found family stuff???

23. Biggest turn-offs in fic? 

Crisis Core/Dirge/Compilation in general, as well as anything not tagged as Gen, but y’all know me so I feel like that’s kind of a cop-out answer. In terms of specifics,

1. CRISIS CORE TIME TRAVEL FIX-IT.

Please stop writing Crisis Core Time Travel. Please. I’m begging you. We have enough of them and they’re all goddamn identical. Just write something new. Come up with a non-Crisis Core Time Travel story. Please. You were handed this cool-ass setting with all these great characters and you do nothing with it and proceed to ignore everyone for all those one-note prequel dickcheeses just because they’re fuckable twinks. 

It’s all of my least favourite tropes combined:

Samey plot

Ignoring Avalanche/the implication that one only person Cloud ever gave a shit about was Zack (MAYBE Aeris), as if we didn’t spend 60 hours establishing in no uncertain terms how much they all meant to him.

In particular ignoring Tifa because she’s “in the way”

Aeris being reduced to a plot device/footnote

Shinra Apologism 

my soft soldier boys uwu

An overall blatant misinterpretation of fundamental themes of the original game

WaAaaaaAAaaaAaaAacky War Crimes! 

Did I mention samey plot because good lord I have read every possible permutation of this fic and if I ever see another one ever again it’ll be too soon.

The Fifth Act represents everything wrong with this fanbase and the culture it perpetuates and is 80% responsible for the fact that the fan content created is basically a fucking monoculture and I will never forgive it for this.

2. ABO. Less of a gripe and more of an observation, but it really does say a lot to how prevalent it is that I saw someone advertising their fic to potential betas with the caveat that it was ABO/Mpreg but “doesn’t contain any kinks”. 

Buddy…

3. That particular brand of Cloti/Clerith fluff in general. Inexplicable Sexually Aggressive Warrior Poet Cloud and His White Picket Fence House And Two Point Five Kids. Bad. What is the POINT of having a disaster battle couple if you’re gonna do that to them? Also excuse you cloud gets pegged

4. E-rating coupled with non-gen tag. I’m here to read a story, not watch people fuck. 

5. Vincent, believe it or not. I like Vincent as a character, but often times in fic he comes pre-packaged with all of the worst of what the fanbase has to offer, including being involved in Time Travel Fix-It, the stupid “What If Vincent Was The Father?” theory, Acknowledgement of Dirge, Virgin Mary Lucrecia, and once again the softening of Shinra’s atrocities, this time in the form of skirting around the fact that Vincent was a Turk, and the implications of what he would have had to do as part of his job. It’s not enough to automatically disqualify a fic the way the others are, but seeing Vincent in the tags as a prominent character is always a warning sign for me. Doubly so if Lucrecia’s there too. 

Yeah yeah I’m judgy as hell, whatever. At least I have the decency of doing this in the privacy of my own blog unlike A CERTAIN COMMUNITY COUGH COUGH.

44. How fluffy is too fluffy?

I mean I’m violently allergic to romance in the first place so I have an extremely low fluff tolerance in general. If I’m gonna read it, I prefer to find stuff with interesting domestic headcanons/worldbuilding showcasing how everyone’s lives intertwine or whatever. More “Cloud, Yuffie, and Nanaki are the only ones that actually enjoy swimming and keep picking stupid places to do it in/Tifa keeps trying to use Cloud to test out recipes but he’ll eat anything so it takes her a while to figure out he’s not a reliable source of feedback”, less “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways/I composed you this song to show you how much I care”. 

[howlingmoonrise]

Dear Yuletide Author

hello and thank you for signing up for yuletide, i hope you have fun during the challenge!

i ramble a lot so my letter is under a readmore (i put everything in one post so you don’t have to juggle links around). obviously you don’t have to follow any of the things i put in here, but hopefully this will help you out!

general things i like

PINING. I’M SUCH A SLUT FOR PINING ALL THE PINING ULTRA PINING SUPER PINING. i have SO MUCH FUN reading about idiots in love who aren’t together yet and i far prefer it to fics with already established relationships. this is also applicable to when they know the other is in love with them but they can’t act on it for some reason.

i’m down for either gen or romantic!! what really does it for me is the developing relationship, platonic or otherwise, and the character dynamics and interactions and all the little moments in between. stuff like developing trust and finding kinship and growing respect for the other and subconsciously learning to lean on the other over anyone else is far more important for me than any kissing will ever be (though kissing is also nice if you wanna go down that route lmao)

i love love LOVE enemies/rivals-?to-friends?-to-lovers and bickering pairs in general, as you can probably tell by my choice in character! it’s so much fun and it gives us so many opportunities for character and relationship developments :D

continuing from the above points, nothing kills me as much as characters that bicker all the time but in the end they rely on the other and go to each other before they go to anyone else, whether they realize it or not

i REALLY like the canon and characters for all the fandoms i picked, so sticking at least to their characterizations and the overall “tone” of canon is a huge plus!! “missing scenes” and “what if” canon-divergent situations are excellent, as are continuations from where canon left us! that being said, i also enjoy more conceptual AUs and i’ve put more details about those a little further below. rule of thumb is that i enjoy AUs where the focus remains more on the relationship itself and how it works on such a setting than on the worldbuilding for it.

fun tropes i enjoy (sorry, these are a bit romance-leaning but if you’re not into that they can probably be adapted somehow): fake dating, accidentally got roped into x and shenanigans of all sorts keep happening, misunderstood confessions, groundhog day au, one or both the characters having stupid levels of denial while technically in a relationship and just not realizing it like What Do You Mean We’re Dating??, that sorta thing.

TROPE SUBVERSION ALL THE WAY!

general things i dislike

kidfics. babyfics. next gen fics. pregnancy fics, or even pregnancy discussed in the fic is a major squick of mine. the one exception i make for kidfics is for petshop of horrors when it comes to chris and the pets, as they already belong in canon, but no babies or children otherwise please.

future fics in general, actually. what i enjoy is the relationship development, so huge time skips make me feel like we missed way too much. one exception to this is post-canon petshop of horrors, for obvious reasons.

i usually don’t like most angst stuff since it feels a bit gratuitous to me when it comes to most fandoms and characters. the one exception for this is psoh (see below if you’re picking this fandom - and wow psoh seems to be the exception to everything huh) or when it’s a more introspective sort of fic. as a result of this, i’d pass on most content with major character death, sexual abuse, self-harm, the like, though of course there are always exceptions to the rule and you’re free to write as you wish!

hard AUs are a bit ugh to me. by this i mean AUs that rely heavily on setting, such as high school AUs, harry potter AUs, that sort of thing. i DO however enjoy stuff like siren AUs and soulmate AUs, depending on the concept and on the fandom. more details in their own sections if you enjoy writing those!

i heavily dislike things involving cheating/infidelity, sickfics, and genderbending of any kind is a bit ehhhh for me, as are concepts such as ABO. hard pass on stuff like dysphoria and deep diving into most mental illnesses, too (with a possible exception for depression when it comes to psoh). 

script-based or roleplay fic is not really my preferred format, i really enjoy prose instead of nearly all dialogue!

if you’re going for nsfw

kinks

moderate sadomasochism, uncommon forms of bondage (plants, stuck with strange substance or in awkward position, the shadows from p&tf as restraints, etc), choking/breathplay, xenophilia and tentacles/alien genitals (shadowplay in p&tf, non-human genitals for the staryk lord, etc), moderate degradation, edging/desperation play, ladies topping and calling the shots, bloodplay/knifeplay, long hair/hair pulling (staryk lord, leon orcot), sharp nails/claws (staryk lord, charlotte la bouff, count d; miryem mandelstam having them is actually preferable to the staryk lord now that i think of it), lowkey cannibalism imagery (count d re:leon orcot)

squicks

scat, vomit, praise kink, daddy or baby kink, vore, forced feminization, pet play, gore, abuse, abo, anything involving pregnancy at all

--

PETSHOP OF HORRORS

i’m usually not very partial to angst but GODS does psoh throw that out of the window, so feel more than free to run with it if you wanna go down that route.  psoh is RIPE for angst. we got two people with abandonment and inadequacy issues: leon who decided to leave his whole life behind to chase someone who gave him life and then left and initially didn’t even bother to do it with any sort of goodbyes, and d who is supremely fucked up by his upbringing and had to push leon off the ark to continue his family’s mission and let drop one (1) single tear that he was not supposed to cry over a human. those fuckers. those idiots. i love them so much.

THAT BEING SAID, i also!!!! love slice of life shit for them!!!!!!!! GODS i love how much they bicker but then they turn around and the other is the person they rely on the most and who they trust implicitly above all others and how they keep roping each other into ridiculous shenanigans. neither of them are particularly communicative with a few rare exceptions, so there’s also a lot of room there for introspection and unspoken affection on both sides, which i LOVE. my son leon in particular is also super underestimated when it comes to his intelligence and tolerance for gay shit both in canon and fandom, and he performs ridiculous leaps of logic and instinct that somehow turn out to be right but that are super ???? for everyone else involved, and that’s always fun to see. hell, just another missing scene where leon brings d some cake and they banter fondly over tea is A++++ to me!!

nsfw???? bring it!!! this is the one fandom where you’re more than free to go super dark and kinky if you wanna, or if you wanna write tender loving reunion sex where d cries a little while leon is loving and disbelieving and so very careful that’s also excellent! i don’t have a particular preference on who tops either, it’s fun either way, but i tend to see leon more as a sub/masochist >u> i can also see it going a bit dark with those two, especially considering d and his kind (implied to eat human flesh and being predators more than once) so bloodplay and cannibalistic thoughts could be fun. re: d’s genitals (as are hotly debated in the fandom), i usually prefer either a dick or triple threat d, though some fun plant-man shenanigans also have their place here.

all in all, psoh is the most excellent genre triangle where i’d be super happy to receive anything on the slice-of-life/angst/smut corners! (also, slash is 3249823% acceptable if you couldn’t tell by my ranting, as is a hint of crack)

if you’re thinking going AU on this one, my suggestions are of slight universe alterations instead of major world AUs. examples could be soulmate AUs (trope subversion would be GREAT here, aka foreign script they didn’t initially recognize, or only Ds having soulmates while humans do not, or the same scenario as the last but leon DOES have it on his skin and just keeps it hidden because Normal Humans Don’t Have Birth Tattoos, or d never expected to have one because his kind is dead and yet when he pushes leon from the ark the soulmate bond is forged, etc), a different first meeting, or even missed connections when they did not know each other yet; something like papa being alive and brady bunch-ing it up with them and chris would also be both excellent and hilarious. epistolary form for those two is also fun! if you wanna go full universe AU, something like a vampire hunter leon could be very interesting >u>

--

SPINNING SILVER

WHERE DO I EVEN START. miryem and the staryk lord were my favourite part of the book; if the book was only their story i would have already been more than satisfied. the rest of the book is also excellent, but those two???? that story was far too great. enemies to allies to lovers is one of my favourite tropes, and this is one of the examples that just keeps proving me right. the slowly growing respect, the wariness when they both know what the other is capable of, the staryk lord getting hit with the hots for his wife when she manages the impossible and then miryem being unable to just let it go when he’s imprisoned and defeated. ACTUALLY lemme just grab that line of thought and bring up that moment when he was sorrowful and resigned when miryem didn’t argue further for the three rooms full of gold and he thought she would not succeed and that she would have to die for it. that, right there? those moments of renewed respect, those moments sudden longing for something they did not know they wanted? those are the things that kill me.

tonally, i love the sort of writing in canon too much to ask for anything different, though you’re by no means obliged to keep to it or to 1st person pov (i have a love-hate relationship with 1st person pov, ngl). missing moments from the novel or moments from the period of time they spent either courting or apart would be GREAT. for those two i actually don’t mind it too much if they’re already established, if it’s early on in the relationship when they’re still learning how to step around one another. the staryk lord flabbergasted or in awe of miryem is always Excellent(TM). bits of worldbuilding and staryk culture would be fun as applied to their relationship (such as the names thing, or courting habits, etc) as are AUs such as soulmates or alternate meetings and the like. if you’re wanting to go full universe AU, keeping some fairytale elements would be great!

if you’re going for nsfw? the name kink, holy shit that would be so goooood. the staryk lord being a bit of a masochist under miryem’s hands would also be great, and inhuman staryk genitals and erogenous zones/acts would be great to play with such as human body heat affecting them in different ways from normal, etc. bringing in his long hair would be a major plus. the build-up for the actual act is the best, so miryem and the staryk lord being super hot for each other while either denying it internally pre-relationship or being unable to go through with it post-relationship due to several factors (busy dealing with their people, no privacy, etc) would be EXCELLENT. so much fun can be had here!

--

PRINCESS AND THE FROG

i am 100% aware this is a weird-ass pairing but gods, the possibilities. it has so much potential. there are few things i like quite as much as a villain and a good person developing a strange sort of kinship with each other. this doesn’t have to mean in a romantic way, obviously! as i said, for me it’s the building understanding and reluctant respect that i really love, far more than the actual romance. 

ideas, ideas, ideas. i’m aware this is a rare relationship to either portray or ask for, so i’m gonna try to give some more concrete-ish ones for you to build up on if you have no clue as to how to approach this. we could have canonverse with charlotte dealing with the shadowman in some other matter while the main plot is occurring, making him feel somewhat guilty about the whole marriage plot with laurence-turned-naveen; cue introspection or an entirely different outcome. or a post-canon sort of hades&persephone plot, with charlotte curious despite herself and tempted to listen to a shadow/dead/whatever!dr facilier when she’s the only one that can hear him, or her being dragged Beneath as well in a freak accident and then charming him into helping her back to the surface/living world (very, veeeeery reluctantly on his part, at least at the start, he might have even be thinking of tricking her but then change his mind when the time comes to do it). i think dr facilier wouldn’t be sure how to deal with charlotte’s particular brand of personality and good humour, and it’d throw him off his rhythm a lot - that sort of thing is always super fun to write. 

soulmate au in canon would work pretty well, but with this pairing? FULL WORLD AU IS YOURS FOR THE TAKING. keeping to the shadowman sort of thing to her normal bougie self would be a major plus; it’s one of her charms. also, charlotte thinking that she wants one thing (her prince, for example) while keeping getting drawn to him time and time again could work on pretty much any era or setting. vice-versa for him, thinking he wants to be rid of her but coming to realize he’d actually miss her if she were to be gone. OR, charlotte deciding she wants this sullen manipulative bastard and manipulating HIM into taking her out and hanging out with her would be hilarious.

if you wanna do nsfw, i have only one major request: charlotte calling the shots/topping. i think this arrangement would be entirely in character for both of them (dr facilier would prob also enjoy having someone else do all the work lol) considering her go-getter attitude, but keeping in mind his manipulative personality i’d be more comfortable if she had some control over what was happening. ASIDE FROM THAT, dyou know what would be fun? a little darkness, and by that i mean consider dr facilier’s shadow joining in on the fun. shadows would also be an interesting sort of constraint. also i know i said charlotte calling the shots, but she can be constrained by the shadows while being amused by it or being used for it to happen (the latter case implying it’s not the first time that they’ve used it in bed play), or charlotte could team up with Shadow to do it to facilier instead. charlotte using her nails and facilier being a bit of a sub/masochist would also be pretty good!

(actually in general it’d be really fun if there was some complicity between charlotte and facilier’s shadow in general, regardless of nsfw or not. the shadow being wrapped around her little finger is an excellent concept, especially if facilier isn’t too fond of her just yet lmfao.) 

thank you for reading all my rambling, and i hope you have fun!

[forthegothicheroine]

Dear Yuletide Author

There were a lot of really great things nominated this year, so picking out my favorites was a lot of fun!  Thank you for choosing one of my requests, I’m super excited to see what you come up with.

I’m RobberBaroness on AO3, by the way!

General likes: Worldbuilding, hard-won happy endings, F/M, maledom (dubcon or noncon are okay, as long as they are acknowledged as such), historical AUs, fairy tale motifs, female-centric stories, gen friendship stories.

General dislikes: ABO, snuff fic, scat, mundane AUs, character bashing, female characters pushed aside.

Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty: A Gothic Romance (characters: Aurora, Caradoc, Leo)

This ballet was absolutely made for me, I swear.  Victorian vampires, Tchaikovsky, and a gothic heroine wooed by both an adorable hero and a sexy villain.  You can tell me stories about the characters I listed, or dive into the world of the story.  What exactly is the deal with the vampiric fairies?  How does Aurora deal with awakening in a new time, with a new being?  As far as shipping goes, I could enjoy creepy Caradoc/Aurora, sweet Leo/Aurora, or some kind of power play combination of all three.  I just want to revel in this world, so you should as well!

Hope: The Other Side of Adventure (characters: the Princess, the Hero, the Duke)

This iphone game broke my heart.  If you signed up for a different canon, I encourage you to check it out anyway- it’s free, despite the fakeout towards the end about adding a quarter.  It’s about what the kidnapped princess in old video games goes through while her hero goes on his adventure, and her growing despair, fear and anger feel so real.  You can show me more of that, or let me see what the hero is up to- is he fighting hard to save her while none of the secondary characters seem to grasp the severity of the situation, or is he fucking around collecting stars while she suffers?  And what’s the Duke’s angle on this?  Although I found out about this game via an article that said the princess really needed to listen to some Beyonce and get empowered, I don’t want that attitude- I certainly wouldn’t be able to break out of a locked castle by sheer empowerment.  I keep requesting this every year, and someday I’ll get it!

Frankenstein (Movies- Hammer) (characters: Victor Frankenstein, Elizabeth Lavenza

Peter Cushing as Hammer Frankenstein is my ultimate villain crush, and I’m really curious about his relationship with Elizabeth.  He more or less forced her into marriage, then neglected her on their wedding night.  What’s up with that?  We see him having an affair with the maid, and he did go to some effort to set all this up, so is he just only into sex when it’s somehow coercive?  And what’s with all his threats to have Elizabeth meet the Creature, only to save her when she actually does?  I’d love dark ship fic for this, but if that’s not where you want to go, just character studies for one or both of them would be fine.

Darkest Dungeon (character: Grave Robber)

My girl!  My beautiful snarky thieving girl!  Her dialogue and her backstory comic reveal her to be an impoverished noblewoman driven to crime by a man’s debts (either her husband or father, depending on how you interpret the comic) so you could play with that.  What if the Heir or Heiress is someone who knew her from the old days?  I personally ship her with either the Houndmaster (ex cop and ex criminal!) or the Highwayman/Dismas (ex criminals united!) but you don’t have to do that if it’s not your jam.  You could also just dramatize a funny incident that happened in a playthrough of yours, and I’m happy to see stuff from Crimson Court or Color of Madness if you want.

Also, silly idea, but I could go for a 20th century creepy small town Twin Peaks-y AU.  Use that or don’t, as you will!

Kushiel’s Legacy

My request this year is the same as last year, because I got such a great gift from this prompt: Night Court worldbuilding!  Show me your favorite House and what life is like there, either during sexual encounters or in downtime.  I’d be especially interested in what the Mandrake or Valerian houses are like for adepts who enjoy bdsm but don’t have Phaedre’s extreme masochism, but I’d also be happy to see just what the hell they do in Bryony or a magical Gentian encounter, or really anything.  I don’t like how this series handles Jewish and Romani people, so that’s my only real “don’t” there, but if you think you can handle those issues more sensitively then go for it.  You can use canon characters from the main trilogy or have the story entirely populated by OCs.  I tend to prefer m/f pairings, but it’s not the end-all be-all if it’s something else.

The Brides of Dracula (characters: Marianne Danielle, Van Helsing)

Peter Cushing as Hammer Van Helsing is my ultimate hero crush, and this movie is my favorite in the whole series.  I love the hints of his feelings for Marianne, and their embrace at the end warms my heart.  Given that he’s married with children in later movies, I always like to think that these two married after the events of Brides.  Tell me about them!  They can deal with trauma of their last encounter, have another run-in with Baron Meinster, meet the actual for-real Dracula, or even have normal cute fluff.  If you really don’t want to ship them, then I’ll take gen interactions- how about Marianne becoming his pupil in vampire hunting, or them having to cleanse the remaining town and school of Meinster’s progeny?  

Whatever you picked, yuletide writer, thank you so much!

[songofsunset]

Yuletide letter

my yuletide letter is here!

Hello! Thank you for your patience!

I think I covered the specific fandoms pretty well in my submitted prompts, although the best fics are ones the author enjoyed writing, so don’t feel constrained by them if there’s something else that strikes your fancy! I like these fandoms a lot and will enjoy anything related to them :)

As far as general tropes and fic preferences-

I prefer to read more gen-ish fics, and I don’t think there’s anything I specifically ship in these fandoms, but you do you! Will I say no to computron/bjornruffian? I am in the transformers fandom, absolutely not lmao

I have a special fondness for Outsider POV in any context. Whenever canon is buck wild, or even entirely normal in their context but someone else would have no damn way to know that, and it ends with someone squinting in the direction of canon and going ‘what the fuck’? Delightful in any iteration. It’s also a fun chance for worldbuilding and seeing the people in the setting who get less focus! 

I love AUs and worldbuilding. Tropes like wingfic, time loops, time travel fix-its, identity shenanigans/reveal, and even ABO (leaning more towards the ‘how do multiple genders and different senses impact society/the plot’ side of things). Identity reveal is an especially fun one in some of these fandoms tbh hahaha

With stories firmly grounded in canon, I think there’s always so much to explore about the characters, and the context they live in, how they got here, and how they approach each other. I will trust your judgement about what strikes your fancy!  Thanks so much!!! :) :) :)

[anduniela]

Innumerable Stars 2019 letter

Hello dear writer,

I’m really happy to be a part of this exchange again. Thank you very much for crafting a story for me, I really can’t wait to read it :)

I’m on a bit of a campaign for more canon-compliant gen fics, and I’m afraid it shows in my DNWs ;) Friendship and family are such important types of relationship and are IMHO so sadly underrepresented in fandom. Even for the Finrod/Amarie prompt I wouldn’t like the “romance” to be the main focus (a successful long-lasting romantic relationship needs, IMHO to be also a friendship/camaraderie). 

On a scale from ‘canon? what canon?’ to purist I’m much closer to the second one. I love this world; that’s why I want to read and write about it. Canon, of course, includes the HoMe so if you’d rather go with something from it, feel free to (just, please, no Round Arda and no Lost Tales shenanigans).

The worldbuilding tags are very much a grab ‘em all affair for me, so feel free to choose whichever you fancy or just ignore them altogether. I honestly don’t want to constrain you too much [yeah, right ;D]. Please avoid the DNWs and write me friendships, and I’ll be happy.

DNWs

non-canon pairings (yes, that includes Maedhros/Fingon)

explicit sexual content/porn

slash

incest

mpreg

ABO

rape/non-con

focus on classical romance tropes (yes, even for the Finrod/Amarie one)

(heck, I just want gen :P)

infidelity/cheating on a spouse/SO (I choose to follow LaCE in that Elven marriage is contracted through sex and the spouses are literally bound soul to soul for all the ages of Arda, and while separation/divorce is possible, remarriage is not)deconstructions of canon

changing canon to fit headcanons, plots, etc.

evil Valar, Elves generally hating and/or dismissing Valar (they’re not infallible but neither are they terrible)

either of the Enemies portrayed as ‘misunderstood’

different setting/mundane AUs (canon divergence is ok if you want it, though for this year’s prompts I’d rather not)

genderswap and other characteristics change

bringing modern issues into M-e

movieverse

LIKES

fleshing out the canon/gapfillers

setting-appropriate customs & manners, including but not limited to socially imposed formality/hierarchy 

world-building: details about customs, clothing, buildings, economy, food & drink including agriculture, the military, etc.

deep friendships & platonic relationships, including sworn loyalty of a ‘feudal’/hierarchical kind

deep loyalty and devotion in general

physical expressions of love (yes, friendship is love): forehead kisses, hand kisses where appropriate, embraces, touches, caresses, other small gestures of affection, glances & smiles across the room, seeing to the other’s needs as a gesture of love, etc.

honor & duty, including dramatic self-sacrifices (feel free to go as cheesy here as you like ;P)

hurt/comfort, feel free to go quite high on hurt, as long as there is also an equal amount of comfort

re: h/c captivity, restraints, wounds, emotional hurt, including betrayal of trust (some torture is fine, but please don’t go all the way up to E, and don’t brush it off later)

generally trust, both broken and kept & loyalty/love tested

Elven judiciary (as long as it’s not simply a rip-off of the modern)

hope/estel, eucatastrophe

feel free to write about mature, serious issues

I hope you’ll have fun all the same xD and please feel free to contact me via Tumblr should you need any clarification. 

Love,

Andúniel

(Yes, this is mostly a rip-off from my previous year’s letter, I’m afraid 😅).