Fandom 5K 2017
What a great idea for an exchange! I’m really excited to get to participate in the inaugural edition. :) I hope you are too!
So welcome, dear Fandom5K writer. :) Please know that it is incredibly hard to disappoint me. I’m like a kid in a candy store - unless it’s black licorice (i.e., on my squicks list), I pretty much covet anything and everything. I want you to write something you enjoy and love, in one of the fantastic fandoms we share. Does half a prompt inspire you, but you want to mix-and-match it with half of a prompt from another fandom section? Go for it! Do you want to ignore my fandom prompts and take your cue from one of my general likes instead? Fabulous! ♥
I’ve tried to make this letter easy to browse and read, with links and bullet points and all that jazz. Hopefully I succeeded! :)
[things I love] // [squicks and DNWs]
[Sense and Sensibility (1995)] // [Miss Marple - Agatha Christie]
[Wimsey] // [West Wing] // [US Politics RPF]
[Political Cartoons] // [Crossovers]
•• things I love ••
writing things
~ Unreliable narrators.
~ Epistolary fic.
~ Slow build.
~ In medias res.
~ Twist endings.
~ Rashomon style.
~ Noodle incidents.
~ Non-linear fic.
~ Worldbuilding.
~ Five-times fic.
~ Happy endings; earned happy endings.
~ Canon-divergence; codas; missing scenes.
romantic things
~ Falling in love (especially when the characters don’t realize that’s what they’re doing).
~ Characters in love who have difficulty making the first move (particularly if it’s mutual).
~ Established relationships (particularly the old-marriedness and cosy bits).
~ Kissing; thorough kissing.
~ Cuddling and domesticity.
~ Laughter and derailments and affection during sex.
plot things
~ Adventures.
~ Mysteries.
~ Characters with plans; characters with plans that go wrong; characters who adapt.
~ Teasing, snark, and banter.
~ Working through problems.
~ Competence and skill, both earned and innate.
~ Friendships; intimate friendships; developing friendships; trust and love and loyalty.
~ Cats.
general things
~ Any rating - G through NC-17. (If the latter, I am fond of plot and/or character moments in my porn.)
~ Any length. Stories all have natural lengths. Write what gives you joy.
~ Any type of pairing - femslash, slash, het, and gen friendships are all great. I do have a particular soft spot for femslash if you’re putting in background pairings.
~ I don’t have a preference between past and present tense. Whichever works for your story!
~ Crossovers and fusions are fine, as long as I have requested both/all fandoms in this or a prior exchange. (Or mentioned the fandom in a prompt, even if not officially requested.) That way I’m sure to know and enjoy the fandoms you’re crossing!
porn things
See my Yuleporn comment from 2015. :)
~
•• squicks and DNWs ••
~ Pain, horror, and death. This includes torture, gore, and BDSM. (In mystery canons, canon-typical murders are fine, as long as the graphic details aren’t exceptionally graphic.)
~ Anything but full consent. This includes non-con, dub-con, incest, and underage sex.
~ Animal harm. This includes bestiality, hunting, and animal death. (In Wimsey, it would be fine to mention that Denver enjoys hunting and include that as one of his topics of conversation, but I would not enjoy a fic set during one of his hunts.)
~ Bodily fluids.
~ Infidelity by requested characters. (If I’m requesting a non-canon ship and the characters already have a canon ship, please don’t give me infidelity-fic. I’m fine with either setting the fic before the beginning of the canon ship or doing a canon-divergence AU.)
~ Any form of abuse in the relationships or friendships of the requested characters. (Fine to include as, say, backstory as to why a murder victim became a murder victim, as long as the details are canon-typical and not exceptionally graphic.)
~ Unhappy endings; unrelieved angst or angst that doesn’t resolve into a hopeful or happy ending.
~ “Will they or won’t they” tension that resolves into “they won’t”. I love both friendship-fic and friends-to-lovers fic, and am thrilled to receive either; what I don’t want is cockblocky angst in which a ship I’ve requested ultimately decides to not to take the next step or ignores their attraction.
~ Racism, homophobia, and/or misogyny espoused by sympathetic characters.
~
FANDOM NUMBER ONE:
Sense and Sensibility (1995)
Requests: Christopher Brandon/Elinor Dashwood; Margaret Dashwood
Genre Requests: AU - Canon Divergence, Canon Style Plot, Character Development, Established Relationship, Fluff, Getting Together, Humor, Mystery/Procedural
I adore this movie. I love the book too, obviously, but movie!canon is my favorite because of Margaret’s increased role (I love her!) and because I feel like it was absolutely perfectly cast. Also I adore Emma Thompson to ridiculous levels.
I requested one ship and one character for this fandom. I’m perfectly thrilled with a fic that focuses on either of these choices - they’re what I primarily want to see. :) But if you find yourself wanting to add secondary ships and/or characters, or to write a fic that featured both Brandon/Elinor and Margaret, go right ahead! (To take only one possible example: a fic about Margaret that had Elinor & Margaret & Marianne, plus canon background ships.) I love a lot of different ships in this fandom, including all the canon ships, so feel free to go wild. The only exception is that I don’t ship Brandon/Willoughby or any incest.
The most basic idea of what I’m looking for is affection and happiness (this doesn’t mean no conflict or no plot, but I really like my characters and ships to be happy, at least by the end of the fic). Everything else is simply suggestions and ideas! :)
Prompts:
• You knew this one was coming. ;) How do Brandon and Elinor fall in love? (NB: I call him Brandon because that’s what I think of him as, but in the movie they disclose that his name is Christopher, and that works for me when it becomes time for first names. Or if you use him as the POV character.)
• Sweet fluff set between their engagement and their wedding. Possibly including them working together to solve some crisis (that doesn’t have to do with their relationship - I’m not interested in angst in their relationship). Kisses!
• Someone in their lives is murdered, and Brandon and Elinor have to figure out who did it! (Not any of the Dashwoods or Brandon’s adopted daughter as murderer or victim, please. Willoughby is fair game, though.) Or, less violently, perhaps there’s a sneak thief at work in the area, and they have to play detectives to find the culprit.
• Elinor and Brandon being there for Marianne or Margaret during the progression of either’s love life.
• As she gets to know him better, Elinor finds that Brandon has a devilish sense of humor. (Or vice versa. Or both.)
• Elinor and Brandon getting to know each other’s families. Elinor and Eliza (and her baby), Brandon and the Dashwood daughters, both of them and John & Fanny - any/all of the above.
• What adventures might Margaret have? (Optional: and what do her sisters think of them?) Does she travel the world and bring back souvenirs for her sisters’ children?
• Five times Margaret’s family tries to introduce her to the perfect match, and one time Margaret finds her on her own.
• Does Margaret fall in love with another Austen character from a different book (either gender, though I’d especially love femslash), and if so, what are her sisters’ reactions?
Please do feel free to consult my general likes to supplement these prompts! And thank you again for writing for me. ♥
~
FANDOM NUMBER TWO:
Miss Marple - Agatha Christie
Requests: Jane Marple; Jane Marple/Original Female Character
Genre Requests: Canon Style Plot, Established Relationship, Getting Together, Humor, Mystery/Procedural
Jane Marple is my heroine. She’s both utterly badass and utterly adorable, and I love stories that balance the two. Jane will solve murders and win hearts at the same time, and finish her knitting projects while she’s at it. She’s one of my favorite characters in fiction, so I will love any story about her, whether you set it when she’s ten or when she’s ninety.
I love the way Jane comes across as so sweetly dotty and harmless to people who don’t know her (including murderers whom she’s chasing), and how word of her skills spreads among people in the business. I love how she truly cares about her community, and thus does what she can to keep it humming along, while having an astute view of the seamier side of human nature. I love the way her detecting mind works, and how she solves big mysteries by seeing the patterns she’s observed in smaller mysteries.
My topmost, pie-in-the-sky wish would be for a casefic in which Jane was either already in a romantic relationship with a woman, or fell in love with her over the course of the case. But I don’t have my heart set on it, and I’d be totally thrilled with either a casefic sans romance or a romance sans casefic. :) The only thing I ask is that there be no angst in Jane’s love life (unless it’s of the “she might be a murderer! oh hooray, she isn’t” type).
Some prompts:
• Casefic! (You knew that was coming, lol.)
• An AU which adds a long-term female partner to Jane’s life and detecting career would be wonderful.
• Alternatively, a fic about Jane falling in love (whether as a younger woman or at her canonical advanced age) would be fantastic too!
• Outsider POV is one of my favorite writing styles. How does someone who’s not Jane (a detective? A village resident? A relative? A housemaid? A murderer? Jane’s long-term partner? A woman falling in love with Jane?) observe her habits and method during a murder case?
• Does Jane ever try her hand at writing a mystery? Alternatively, does she read mysteries and point out their flaws? (Perhaps to the woman she loves? Or to her cat?)
• What was the first murder Jane solved? Was that the first time she recognized her extraordinary deductive gifts, or were they previously useful in other contexts?
• Does Jane ever train an apprentice/join up with another detective? (Does she end up falling in love with her?)
• Crossovers with other mystery series are great! (Please no Sherlock, however, except perhaps as part of a five-times fic.) Jane and Poirot or Ariadne Oliver, Jane and Harriet or Peter or the Dowager Duchess, Jane and Nero Wolfe, Jane and Amelia Peabody, Jane and Phryne Fisher - I would love to read all of these. (NB: I do ship Jane/the Dowager Duchess and Jane/Amelia, but am happy to read friendship gen for them as well.)
Please do feel free to consult my general likes to supplement these prompts! And thank you again for writing for me. ♥
~
FANDOM NUMBER THREE:
Lord Peter Wimsey - Dorothy L. Sayers
Requests: The Dowager Duchess/Original Female Character; The Dowager Duchess & Harriet Vane; Helen Duchess of Denver & Harriet Vane; Harriet Vane/Peter Wimsey
Requested Genres: Canon Style Plot, Established Relationship, Fluff, Humor, Mystery/Procedural
First of all, this is one of my favorite fictional universes of all time. A fic about any of these relationships being in love/having fun/in the middle of adventures/solving a mystery together/telling each other stories/etc. will make me very happy indeed. :)
The Dowager Duchess/Original Female Character
• When Peter tells her about the murder he’s currently investigating, Honoria realizes with a jolt that the bereaved widow of the deceased is her girlhood sweetheart who she hasn’t seen in forty years. Can she help Peter clear her beloved’s name? And will love re-spark?
• As she gets to know Harriet, Honoria is reminded powerfully of the woman she loved.
• Peter or Peter & Harriet are in trouble! Honoria needs help to save him/clear their names/etc. She’ll have to go to the woman she thought she’d never speak to again.
• Honoria falls in love for the first time in her life, and is as giddy as a schoolgirl about it (much to Helen’s chagrin). [I didn’t request “Getting Together” as a genre for this fandom because I’m not interested in a getting together fic about Harriet/Peter, but for Honoria/OFC I’d totally enjoy it!]
• Honoria writes a letter home to Harriet & Peter from a cruise/Orient Express/American trip, and they read between the lines and realize that she’s fallen in love with someone she’s met along the way.
The Dowager Duchess & Harriet Vane
• Harriet & Honoria bonding doing just about anything.
• Peter is away on Foreign Office work. Harriet & Honoria have to solve a mystery while he’s away.
• Honoria tries her hand at writing a mystery (or other type of novel). What does Harriet think of it?
• Honoria and Harriet (& Peter if you want) go on a trip together. Does it stay uneventful? (If so, fluffy bonding is totally something I enjoy!) Does it turn dramatic? (Time to solve a murder/theft/etc.!)
• (during the courtship years) Peter is out in London when he happens upon a teashop in which (gasp!) he sees his mother & Harriet chatting together. What can they be talking about? Should he join them?
Helen Duchess of Denver & Harriet Vane
So my main prompt for this relationship is: Harriet & Helen are forced to work together somehow. Some ideas:
• Harriet & Helen are kidnapped by a murderer (do they know too much? Stumbled upon a clue? Happened upon a murder in process?) and have to work together to escape.
• Some indiscreet letters of Helen’s are being used to blackmail her. She can’t face going to Peter to help, so she comes to Harriet in confidence instead (even though it galls).
• Gerald either dies or runs off with a younger woman, and Harriet helps Helen put her life back together.
• Winifred (Helen’s daughter) has written a scandalous book, and actually sent it off to a publisher! Helen, blaming Harriet for this development, comes to her to ask her to try to get the manuscript back before it shames the family.
Harriet Vane/Peter Wimsey
• Harriet and Peter solve a domestic mystery together.
• Peter writes a mystery story for Harriet’s birthday. What’s his style, and what does Harriet think of it?
• Harriet and Peter enjoy setting up small mysteries/puzzles for the other to solve. But does Harriet always play exactly fair?
• I really enjoy canon-divergence AUs. How might Harriet & Peter have fallen in love in a slightly different universe? What if Harriet had never lived with Boyes, for example? What if Peter read one of her mysteries and then met her at a party? Etc.
• Outside-POV of Harriet & Peter’s relationship! I adore the letters at the beginning of Busman’s Honeymoon, so anything in that style would be fantastic. But also any story from outside POV, really. Helen, St. George, the Dowager, Gerald, Miss Climpson, an OC murderer caught by Harriet & Peter - they all sound great.
• Harriet tells Peter about the punt incident. They go punting again. ;)
• AU in which Peter is the detective novelist, and Harriet the detective who rescues him from the noose.
• Harriet spots the clues and deduces that they’re going to be grandparents before Peter does.
• Harriet and Peter solve a mystery at their thirtieth-wedding-anniversary party.
Please do feel free to consult my general likes to supplement these prompts! And thank you again for writing for me. ♥
~
FANDOM NUMBER FOUR:
West Wing
Requests: C.J. Cregg/Toby Ziegler, Ellie Bartlet/Donna Moss, Jed Bartlet/Leo McGarry, Abbey Bartlet/Jed Bartlet/Leo McGarry
Requested Genres: Canon Style Plot, Established Relationship, Fluff, Getting Together, Humor, Mystery/Procedural
The West Wing is one of my favorite TV shows. Its idealistic take on politics - a political world populated by basically-decent people trying to do the right thing, in which ‘wins’ are possible and the American people admire and value a President like Bartlet (and later Santos) - is pure comfort food for my soul, especially in the current circumstances.
Please no excessive angst within these relationships, and happy endings only. I much prefer the conflict in this fandom to be external and something the selected pair can face together.
My most general prompt: a canon-style plot that a) focuses on one or more of the requested relationships and b) ends happily. :)
Specific prompts:
C.J. Cregg/Toby Ziegler
• I would love a story about how their friendship turned into love! What was their first kiss like? How do they manage the work-home relationship? How do they handle it when they disagree on a political issue or about how to solve it?
• They get stuck on a tarmac together and spend the time flirting (without drawing the attention of any possibly-roving reporters).
• They announce their engagement and are congratulated by your favorite West Wing character(s).
• C.J. runs for office down the line and becomes (whatever office you want to write). Toby figures out how he fits into this new paradigm.
• Five times C.J. & Toby slept together, and one time it ended up being for good.
• Five times C.J. & Toby were attracted to each other, and one time they took the next step.
• C.J. or Toby (or both) leaves the other the funniest, most irreverent notes throughout their time at the White House. Even though it’s probably illegal to destroy them (Federal Records Act and all that), the recipient does anyway (although they keep a couple of the best for themselves). Or they don’t destroy any and a future historian writes a book about their friendship and the Bartlet White House based on the notes.
• The Santos White House gets in a pickle (whether that’s Congress being intransigent, an accidental ‘secret plan to fight inflation’ PR disaster, or aliens/supervillains arriving), and C.J. & Toby are called in to help out. It’s the first time they’ve had to work together since Toby’s pardon, and it takes a while to reestablish their old rhythm. (And rekindle their old relationship, or fall in love!)
• Was C.J. actually the leaker and Toby took the hit for her? Is that what he thought was happening, but actually neither of them was the leaker? (Who was?)
Ellie Bartlet/Donna Moss
• How did Ellie & Donna get together? Was it a kiss after a tipsy campaign party that turned into sex that turned into something more? Was the West Wing working on an issue that Ellie deeply cared about, and Josh deputized Donna to keep the inconvenient First-Daughter lobbying off his plate? Do they meet up by chance ten years after Jed leaves office, and find that their chemistry is off the charts?
• Ellie thought that once her father left office, she’d never have to deal with politics or politicians ever again. Then Will Bailey calls, and her fiancé Donna starts thinking about running for office…
• Five times Ellie was attracted to Donna (starting with a glimpse on the very first campaign, even?), and one time she finally got the courage to make a move.
• Ellie and Donna announce their engagement and are congratulated by your favorite West Wing character(s).
• Donna goes to Ellie to find out more about (science-related political issue), and realizes partway through the conversation that Ellie is shyly flirting with her.
• Jed finds Donna sneaking out of Ellie’s bedroom at night (I know she doesn’t live in the WH, but during the holidays perhaps), and is initially confused, thinking Josh sent her up to tell him about some political crisis, only for the penny to eventually drop.
• Josh comes over late at night to Donna’s apartment to check on something, and is surprised to find Secret Service standing guard.
Jed Bartlet/Leo McGarry
Abbey Bartlet/Jed Bartlet/Leo McGarry
I’m interested in two dynamics for this pair of ships. 1) Jed & Leo fell in love instead of Jed & Abbey (could still have Abbey as a friend if you like). 2) Abbey & Jed & Leo are in a loving V relationship with Jed as the point (up to you which one Jed fell in love with first). I didn’t really feel any romantic or sexual chemistry between Abbey and Leo (though they were definitely good friends and I love that), so with the exception of one prompt below I’d prefer to keep that side of the triangle a friendship.
• Who made the first move, Jed or Leo, and how did it happen?
• Leo once says of Jed, “We first met about thirty-two years ago, but our friendship began about eleven years ago.” If that’s a euphemism, and it was their relationship that began eleven years ago, after twenty-two years of friendship, why did it take 22 years for their friendship to develop into something else, and why did it finally change?
• Leo and Jed play chess together, and Jed uses flirtation as a distraction tactic.
• It’s Abbey who realizes first that Jed loves Leo as well as her, and she has to decide what that means for them.
• (the exception mentioned above) Leo has been Jed’s lover for eleven years, and he and Abbey have never felt any curiosity about sleeping together and completing the triangle. But now that’s changing… (Optional addition: much to Jed’s amusement and interest).
• (ooops, second exception) Sometimes Leo and Jed and Abbey sleep together, but Jed’s always the focus and there’s not really any Leo/Abbey. One night (perhaps on a celebration high after a legislative or political win?) that changes.
• (AU in which Leo is not picked as Santos’s VP and doesn’t die.) After Santos’s inauguration, Leo moves into the Manchester house with Jed and Abbey. (Optional: other West Wing characters’ reactions or non-reactions.)
• (AU in which Leo doesn’t die and becomes VP.) Jed and Abbey like to try to drop by incognito to surprise Leo at work. His staff/Santos’s staff is amused by sekrit-spy antics (it’s kinda hard to be incognito with Secret Service protection).
• Five times Jed and Leo almost get caught kissing in the Oval Office/White House, and one time they let someone catch them on purpose.
Please do feel free to consult my general likes to supplement these prompts! And thank you again for writing for me. ♥
FANDOM NUMBER FIVE:
US Politics RPF
Requests: Ruth Bader Ginsburg & Elena Kagan & Sonia Sotomayor; Hillary Clinton/Original Female Character; Hillary Clinton & The First Female President; The First LGBT President
Requested Genres: AU - Canon Divergence, Canon Style Plot, Fix-it fic, Fluff, Getting Together, Humor, Mystery/Procedural
For all of these relationships, I’d love a happy story. Not necessarily a conflict or plot-free story! There’s always plenty of conflict and plot in politics. But I’m much more on the West Wing side of fandom than the House of Cards side - I like my politics stories to be about flawed but good people who are genuinely trying to make the world a better place, not about cold realpolitik that’s all about political calculus and exploiting people. And I like my main characters to be generally happy and to succeed. :)
Ruth Bader Ginsburg & Elena Kagan & Sonia Sotomayor
My Supreme Court heroines! I respect these three women and their work immensely. Ruth has been my favorite Justice for forever, and Sonia and Elena have quickly joined her in recent years. (Sonia’s fiery dissent in Utah v. Strieff!)
Some prompts:
• What does Ruth think of Sonia and Elena when they join the Court? Does she show them the Supreme Court traditions and tell them historical/current secrets/scandals? Does she (in private) share her more candid impressions of the conservative judges/other political figures?
• Do Sonia and Elena look up to Ruth? What did they think about her before being appointed to the Court? Does she give them any advice? Do Sonia & Elena bond?
• Do the three of them have a secret code or codeword for when the conservative men on the court are being simply too infuriating and/or casually sexist?
• What do they think of Donald Trump behind closed doors?
• How might their professional relationship deepen into real friendship?
• Outsider POV is one of my favorite writing styles. To take only a couple of examples (feel free to create your own!), I’d love to see President Obama’s view of the three Justices, or the impressions of one of Ruth’s clerks as she watched the two new Justices adjusting to life on the Court, or the thoughts of one of the waitresses at their favorite lunchtime spots.
• Canon-divergence AU in which Ruth is Chief Justice! Or in which Barack became a Justice instead of President (perhaps being named by a President Hillary?)
• Their relationship as seen through the lens of a particular case’s slow progress through the Court’s system.
• A day in the life of oral arguments.
• What do the three Justices do to relax together?
• While I am primarily interested in gen friendships in this fandom, I am also open to Sonia/Elena shipfic. Tell me how they fell in love over briefs and drafts of opinions and half-drunk cups of coffee!
• I would also be interested in a fic about the aftermath of Obergefell v. Hodges, in which a lesbian Elena or Sonia found themselves unexpectedly overcome by emotion at being a part of this leap forward (while still recognizing how far we still have to go). (Bonus points if one/both of the others knew how much it meant to them.)
• An AU crossover with the West Wing in which the Justices are on the Court during the Santos Administration. (With or without the wonderful Evelyn Baker Lang.)
• Cats. For any or all of the Justices. Maybe they even bond over cats! Maybe Elena’s cat has kittens and Sonia adopts one! Are they named anything judicially related?
Hillary Clinton/Original Female Character
This ship is non-canon, obviously. I would love to see an AU that went canon-divergent at a place of your choice, as long as it stayed in the political realm (not a coffeeshop AU, in other words, unless that means Hillary is holding a town hall in a coffeeshop). I’m equally happy with an OFC who is in the political world or who is a non-politician. The only thing I definitely wouldn’t enjoy is a large age gap (more than 10 years).
• Hillary falls in love with a woman at Yale, not Bill, and dreams of the future.
• Hillary takes her oath of office (as President, Senator, Congresswoman, Governor - your choice) with her wife at her side. (Alternate: It’s Inauguration Day! Aaaand things aren’t going so smoothly, due to [shenanigans of choice]. Can Hillary and/or her wife save the day?)
• A quiet moment on a campaign bus, in the middle of a Supremely Hectic Day, between Hillary and the woman she loves.
• Five women Chelsea (or Hillary’s friends) set Hillary up with to disastrous results, and one that clicks.
• An unmarried Hillary becomes President in her 40s. Something happens (superhero regulation act in Congress? Attack on the White House that needs superhero intervention? Etc.), and she meets-cute a superheroine. True love never did run smooth…
• Hillary’s always busy, working late and flying around the country. But however busy she is, she’s never too busy to jot down a quick note, or memo, or love letter, or acerbically funny workplace commentary, to the woman she loves. (Optional addition(s): do some of these come to light in the email scandal? Is this how they get outed?)
Hillary Clinton & The First Female President
I would be equally happy with a complete OFC or a “first female President” who’s one of the rising Democratic stars. If the latter, I especially like Tammy Duckworth and Kamala Harris.
• Hillary on the campaign trail with the nominee. Sharing a quiet moment in the middle of a Supremely Hectic Day, perhaps, or compare/contrasting the current Republican nominee with Trump, or giving an introductory speech for the nominee.
• The nominee on the night she becomes President-Elect, thanking Hillary in her victory speech, while Hillary watches with complex feelings.
• Hillary as sage confidante, either on the trail, helping the transition team, or called in to the White House.
• There is a crisis and aliens attack/supervillains move on the White House/etc. It’s all hands on deck! Hillary comes to the White House and joins forces with the President to defend America.
• Five times Hillary helped/gave advice to/inspired the First Female President, and one time the FFP returned the favor.
The First LGBT President
I’m primarily interested in the First LGBT President being a woman, so the prompts below reflect that. But if you’d rather write one of a different gender, that’s totally fine!
I’m open to the First LGBT President being a complete OC (whether set in a fictionalized political universe or parachuted into our real one), a canon LGBT politician (say Tammy Baldwin), or a politician like Cory Booker who there are lots of rumors about. (But no Republicans, please, so no Lindsay Graham.)
Prompts:
• Everyone tells her that America isn’t ready for a lesbian President. But, well, she wants to be President, and she’s deeply in love with her wife, so America’s just going to have to be ready, now isn’t it?
• The President and the First Lady enjoy thinking about how scandalized most of the Presidents would be if they knew who was currently occupying their Oval Office. (And who is currently stealing kisses in the corner away from the cameras…)
• During the re-election campaign, there’s a scandal when the President’s caught on camera pinching the First Lady’s butt/they break their hotel bed having enthusiastic sex (a la Matt & Helen Santos)/there’s a hot mic moment in which the President starts teasing the First Lady about what they’re going to do later that night. But dammit, America’s just going to have to get used to happily married lesbian political leaders in love.
• The First Lady spearheads a policy push in her area of expertise and the President is so proud of her and just a super huge fan.
• The President and First Lady don’t buy into the Presidential golfing tradition. They’re big hikers instead. Congresspeople and Senators who want to get the President’s ear have to angle for an invitation on a weekend hike, and devoutly hope that they can keep up.
• Five proposal settings the President considers, and the one she decides to go with.
• The President is single, and everyone’s always trying to set her up with people. Partly because America loves her and wants her to be happy, and partly because of course every lobbyist and pressure group in Washington would love to have someone in the President’s bed. It takes everyone by surprise when it’s a superheroine who captures the President’s heart!
• A superheroine has been hardcore crushing on the President since the primaries, to the point where it’s kind of an open secret among her buddies. She maaaay have arm-wrestled (your superhero/ine of choice or an OC superhero/ine) to be the one to respond when (supervillain of choice or OC supervillain) attacked the White House during the new President’s first state dinner.
Please do feel free to consult my general likes to supplement these prompts! And thank you again for writing for me. ♥
~
FANDOM NUMBER SIX:
Political Cartoons (Ilic; Beeler; Sousa; Machado & Rodgers)
Request: Lady Justice/Lady Liberty
Requested Genres: Action/Adventure, Established Relationship, Fix-it fic, Getting Together, Humor, Worldbuilding
When I saw this set of cartoons, I knew immediately that I wanted ALL the fic for them! :)
I’m interested in pretty much anything about the Justice Girlfriends that’s upbeat with a happy ending. (Please don’t have Trump grope them, for instance.)
• How did they first meet? (When the Statue of Liberty was first erected?)
• How did they fall in love?
• Tell me a story about their adventures together! How do they defend each other and the country from those who try to chip away at the rights they protect?
• Do they interact with national symbols from other countries? Britannia, Marianne, Mother Russia, etc. (And what are those symbols like?)
• How do they cope with the Orange Menace? Who are their allies and what are their plans?
• Fix-it fic set in a universe in which they dethrone the Orange Menace is more than welcome.
These are only a few ideas - if you have any of your own, go for it! As long as it’s not angsty or sad, I’ll love it. :)
Please do feel free to consult my general likes to supplement these prompts! And thank you again for writing for me. ♥
~
FANDOM NUMBER SEVEN:
Crossovers
Requests: Jane Marple & Hercule Poirot; Hillary Clinton/Leia Organa
Requested Genres: Canon Style Plot, Fix-it fic, Getting Together, Humor, Mystery/Procedural
Jane Marple & Hercule Poirot
• What do they even think of each other? The idea of these two encountering each other cracks me up. How do they meet? Do they respect each other, or does that take a while?
• Poirot is a guest at a Tuesday Club meeting. He underestimates Jane, and finds out that you do that at your peril.
• Poirot is traveling (he seems to do that a lot) and a murder happens on the boat he’s traveling on. Does he initially suspect fluffy-spinster Jane? Does he fear she’ll be the next victim? Who figures out the solution first? (Or vice versa, from Jane’s POV.)
• Outside!POV - Hastings observes the two of them and draws his own idiosyncratic conclusions.
• A murderer with a flair for the dramatic sets a little competition up for his own amusement - whichever of them solves the mystery first will live, the other one will die.
• Jane, having encountered Poirot/worked with him on a case, compares him to someone she knows in St. Mary Mead.
• Jane and Poirot are both involved in a case, and both come to the correct solution, but from different perspectives/for different reasons/using different clues.
Hillary Clinton/Leia Organa
I’m happy with the crossover going either way (Hillary in Leia’s world or Leia in ours), or with a fusion in which the worlds collide.
• Leia has been reared in a very different political tradition. Her approach to a political situation that she and Hillary find themselves in is - unorthodox. But the more Hillary thinks about it, the more she likes the idea.
• Hillary wasn’t raised to fight an actual war. But when she finds herself in the Resistance or Rebellion, she rolls up her sleeves and pitches right in. Hillary with a blaster protecting Leia’s back… yes please.
• Young Hillary falling in love with young Leia, in either universe.
• Banished by Kylo to another universe when he couldn’t go through with killing her, Leia starts trying to figure out how to get home. That’s hard in a universe that doesn’t know about the Force. But Leia Organa never gives up, and she’s making friends and allies along the way. Also she might be falling in love…
• Hillary only interviewed for a senatorial aide position. She’s passionate about policy and wants to get things done (even though the Senate feels completely powerless these days). She never expected Senator Organa to retire and hand the reins over to his daughter - she never expected to find herself caught up in a rebel plot against the Empire - and she definitely never expected to find herself kissing the new Senator in the cockpit of the Tantive IV.
• Feel free to steal prompts from the other political fandoms in this letter! (West Wing and US Politics RPF.)
Please do feel free to consult my general likes to supplement these prompts! And thank you again for writing for me. ♥
~
Hopefully this letter has been helpful! :) If you want more info, feel free to check out my other fandoms for ideas, and/or my past letters (under the exchange letters tag). A lot of my favorite tropes and plotbunnies are panfandom (with variations, of course, for different characters), and can be stolen for other fandoms or used as inspiration.
Thank you again for offering one of my fandoms! ♥ I know I’ll love whatever you write. :)
So welcome, dear Fandom5K writer. :) Please know that it is incredibly hard to disappoint me. I’m like a kid in a candy store - unless it’s black licorice (i.e., on my squicks list), I pretty much covet anything and everything. I want you to write something you enjoy and love, in one of the fantastic fandoms we share. Does half a prompt inspire you, but you want to mix-and-match it with half of a prompt from another fandom section? Go for it! Do you want to ignore my fandom prompts and take your cue from one of my general likes instead? Fabulous! ♥
I’ve tried to make this letter easy to browse and read, with links and bullet points and all that jazz. Hopefully I succeeded! :)
[things I love] // [squicks and DNWs]
[Sense and Sensibility (1995)] // [Miss Marple - Agatha Christie]
[Wimsey] // [West Wing] // [US Politics RPF]
[Political Cartoons] // [Crossovers]
•• things I love ••
writing things
~ Unreliable narrators.
~ Epistolary fic.
~ Slow build.
~ In medias res.
~ Twist endings.
~ Rashomon style.
~ Noodle incidents.
~ Non-linear fic.
~ Worldbuilding.
~ Five-times fic.
~ Happy endings; earned happy endings.
~ Canon-divergence; codas; missing scenes.
romantic things
~ Falling in love (especially when the characters don’t realize that’s what they’re doing).
~ Characters in love who have difficulty making the first move (particularly if it’s mutual).
~ Established relationships (particularly the old-marriedness and cosy bits).
~ Kissing; thorough kissing.
~ Cuddling and domesticity.
~ Laughter and derailments and affection during sex.
plot things
~ Adventures.
~ Mysteries.
~ Characters with plans; characters with plans that go wrong; characters who adapt.
~ Teasing, snark, and banter.
~ Working through problems.
~ Competence and skill, both earned and innate.
~ Friendships; intimate friendships; developing friendships; trust and love and loyalty.
~ Cats.
general things
~ Any rating - G through NC-17. (If the latter, I am fond of plot and/or character moments in my porn.)
~ Any length. Stories all have natural lengths. Write what gives you joy.
~ Any type of pairing - femslash, slash, het, and gen friendships are all great. I do have a particular soft spot for femslash if you’re putting in background pairings.
~ I don’t have a preference between past and present tense. Whichever works for your story!
~ Crossovers and fusions are fine, as long as I have requested both/all fandoms in this or a prior exchange. (Or mentioned the fandom in a prompt, even if not officially requested.) That way I’m sure to know and enjoy the fandoms you’re crossing!
porn things
See my Yuleporn comment from 2015. :)
~
•• squicks and DNWs ••
~ Pain, horror, and death. This includes torture, gore, and BDSM. (In mystery canons, canon-typical murders are fine, as long as the graphic details aren’t exceptionally graphic.)
~ Anything but full consent. This includes non-con, dub-con, incest, and underage sex.
~ Animal harm. This includes bestiality, hunting, and animal death. (In Wimsey, it would be fine to mention that Denver enjoys hunting and include that as one of his topics of conversation, but I would not enjoy a fic set during one of his hunts.)
~ Bodily fluids.
~ Infidelity by requested characters. (If I’m requesting a non-canon ship and the characters already have a canon ship, please don’t give me infidelity-fic. I’m fine with either setting the fic before the beginning of the canon ship or doing a canon-divergence AU.)
~ Any form of abuse in the relationships or friendships of the requested characters. (Fine to include as, say, backstory as to why a murder victim became a murder victim, as long as the details are canon-typical and not exceptionally graphic.)
~ Unhappy endings; unrelieved angst or angst that doesn’t resolve into a hopeful or happy ending.
~ “Will they or won’t they” tension that resolves into “they won’t”. I love both friendship-fic and friends-to-lovers fic, and am thrilled to receive either; what I don’t want is cockblocky angst in which a ship I’ve requested ultimately decides to not to take the next step or ignores their attraction.
~ Racism, homophobia, and/or misogyny espoused by sympathetic characters.
~
FANDOM NUMBER ONE:
Sense and Sensibility (1995)
Requests: Christopher Brandon/Elinor Dashwood; Margaret Dashwood
Genre Requests: AU - Canon Divergence, Canon Style Plot, Character Development, Established Relationship, Fluff, Getting Together, Humor, Mystery/Procedural
I adore this movie. I love the book too, obviously, but movie!canon is my favorite because of Margaret’s increased role (I love her!) and because I feel like it was absolutely perfectly cast. Also I adore Emma Thompson to ridiculous levels.
I requested one ship and one character for this fandom. I’m perfectly thrilled with a fic that focuses on either of these choices - they’re what I primarily want to see. :) But if you find yourself wanting to add secondary ships and/or characters, or to write a fic that featured both Brandon/Elinor and Margaret, go right ahead! (To take only one possible example: a fic about Margaret that had Elinor & Margaret & Marianne, plus canon background ships.) I love a lot of different ships in this fandom, including all the canon ships, so feel free to go wild. The only exception is that I don’t ship Brandon/Willoughby or any incest.
The most basic idea of what I’m looking for is affection and happiness (this doesn’t mean no conflict or no plot, but I really like my characters and ships to be happy, at least by the end of the fic). Everything else is simply suggestions and ideas! :)
Prompts:
• You knew this one was coming. ;) How do Brandon and Elinor fall in love? (NB: I call him Brandon because that’s what I think of him as, but in the movie they disclose that his name is Christopher, and that works for me when it becomes time for first names. Or if you use him as the POV character.)
• Sweet fluff set between their engagement and their wedding. Possibly including them working together to solve some crisis (that doesn’t have to do with their relationship - I’m not interested in angst in their relationship). Kisses!
• Someone in their lives is murdered, and Brandon and Elinor have to figure out who did it! (Not any of the Dashwoods or Brandon’s adopted daughter as murderer or victim, please. Willoughby is fair game, though.) Or, less violently, perhaps there’s a sneak thief at work in the area, and they have to play detectives to find the culprit.
• Elinor and Brandon being there for Marianne or Margaret during the progression of either’s love life.
• As she gets to know him better, Elinor finds that Brandon has a devilish sense of humor. (Or vice versa. Or both.)
• Elinor and Brandon getting to know each other’s families. Elinor and Eliza (and her baby), Brandon and the Dashwood daughters, both of them and John & Fanny - any/all of the above.
• What adventures might Margaret have? (Optional: and what do her sisters think of them?) Does she travel the world and bring back souvenirs for her sisters’ children?
• Five times Margaret’s family tries to introduce her to the perfect match, and one time Margaret finds her on her own.
• Does Margaret fall in love with another Austen character from a different book (either gender, though I’d especially love femslash), and if so, what are her sisters’ reactions?
Please do feel free to consult my general likes to supplement these prompts! And thank you again for writing for me. ♥
~
FANDOM NUMBER TWO:
Miss Marple - Agatha Christie
Requests: Jane Marple; Jane Marple/Original Female Character
Genre Requests: Canon Style Plot, Established Relationship, Getting Together, Humor, Mystery/Procedural
Jane Marple is my heroine. She’s both utterly badass and utterly adorable, and I love stories that balance the two. Jane will solve murders and win hearts at the same time, and finish her knitting projects while she’s at it. She’s one of my favorite characters in fiction, so I will love any story about her, whether you set it when she’s ten or when she’s ninety.
I love the way Jane comes across as so sweetly dotty and harmless to people who don’t know her (including murderers whom she’s chasing), and how word of her skills spreads among people in the business. I love how she truly cares about her community, and thus does what she can to keep it humming along, while having an astute view of the seamier side of human nature. I love the way her detecting mind works, and how she solves big mysteries by seeing the patterns she’s observed in smaller mysteries.
My topmost, pie-in-the-sky wish would be for a casefic in which Jane was either already in a romantic relationship with a woman, or fell in love with her over the course of the case. But I don’t have my heart set on it, and I’d be totally thrilled with either a casefic sans romance or a romance sans casefic. :) The only thing I ask is that there be no angst in Jane’s love life (unless it’s of the “she might be a murderer! oh hooray, she isn’t” type).
Some prompts:
• Casefic! (You knew that was coming, lol.)
• An AU which adds a long-term female partner to Jane’s life and detecting career would be wonderful.
• Alternatively, a fic about Jane falling in love (whether as a younger woman or at her canonical advanced age) would be fantastic too!
• Outsider POV is one of my favorite writing styles. How does someone who’s not Jane (a detective? A village resident? A relative? A housemaid? A murderer? Jane’s long-term partner? A woman falling in love with Jane?) observe her habits and method during a murder case?
• Does Jane ever try her hand at writing a mystery? Alternatively, does she read mysteries and point out their flaws? (Perhaps to the woman she loves? Or to her cat?)
• What was the first murder Jane solved? Was that the first time she recognized her extraordinary deductive gifts, or were they previously useful in other contexts?
• Does Jane ever train an apprentice/join up with another detective? (Does she end up falling in love with her?)
• Crossovers with other mystery series are great! (Please no Sherlock, however, except perhaps as part of a five-times fic.) Jane and Poirot or Ariadne Oliver, Jane and Harriet or Peter or the Dowager Duchess, Jane and Nero Wolfe, Jane and Amelia Peabody, Jane and Phryne Fisher - I would love to read all of these. (NB: I do ship Jane/the Dowager Duchess and Jane/Amelia, but am happy to read friendship gen for them as well.)
Please do feel free to consult my general likes to supplement these prompts! And thank you again for writing for me. ♥
~
FANDOM NUMBER THREE:
Lord Peter Wimsey - Dorothy L. Sayers
Requests: The Dowager Duchess/Original Female Character; The Dowager Duchess & Harriet Vane; Helen Duchess of Denver & Harriet Vane; Harriet Vane/Peter Wimsey
Requested Genres: Canon Style Plot, Established Relationship, Fluff, Humor, Mystery/Procedural
First of all, this is one of my favorite fictional universes of all time. A fic about any of these relationships being in love/having fun/in the middle of adventures/solving a mystery together/telling each other stories/etc. will make me very happy indeed. :)
The Dowager Duchess/Original Female Character
• When Peter tells her about the murder he’s currently investigating, Honoria realizes with a jolt that the bereaved widow of the deceased is her girlhood sweetheart who she hasn’t seen in forty years. Can she help Peter clear her beloved’s name? And will love re-spark?
• As she gets to know Harriet, Honoria is reminded powerfully of the woman she loved.
• Peter or Peter & Harriet are in trouble! Honoria needs help to save him/clear their names/etc. She’ll have to go to the woman she thought she’d never speak to again.
• Honoria falls in love for the first time in her life, and is as giddy as a schoolgirl about it (much to Helen’s chagrin). [I didn’t request “Getting Together” as a genre for this fandom because I’m not interested in a getting together fic about Harriet/Peter, but for Honoria/OFC I’d totally enjoy it!]
• Honoria writes a letter home to Harriet & Peter from a cruise/Orient Express/American trip, and they read between the lines and realize that she’s fallen in love with someone she’s met along the way.
The Dowager Duchess & Harriet Vane
• Harriet & Honoria bonding doing just about anything.
• Peter is away on Foreign Office work. Harriet & Honoria have to solve a mystery while he’s away.
• Honoria tries her hand at writing a mystery (or other type of novel). What does Harriet think of it?
• Honoria and Harriet (& Peter if you want) go on a trip together. Does it stay uneventful? (If so, fluffy bonding is totally something I enjoy!) Does it turn dramatic? (Time to solve a murder/theft/etc.!)
• (during the courtship years) Peter is out in London when he happens upon a teashop in which (gasp!) he sees his mother & Harriet chatting together. What can they be talking about? Should he join them?
Helen Duchess of Denver & Harriet Vane
So my main prompt for this relationship is: Harriet & Helen are forced to work together somehow. Some ideas:
• Harriet & Helen are kidnapped by a murderer (do they know too much? Stumbled upon a clue? Happened upon a murder in process?) and have to work together to escape.
• Some indiscreet letters of Helen’s are being used to blackmail her. She can’t face going to Peter to help, so she comes to Harriet in confidence instead (even though it galls).
• Gerald either dies or runs off with a younger woman, and Harriet helps Helen put her life back together.
• Winifred (Helen’s daughter) has written a scandalous book, and actually sent it off to a publisher! Helen, blaming Harriet for this development, comes to her to ask her to try to get the manuscript back before it shames the family.
Harriet Vane/Peter Wimsey
• Harriet and Peter solve a domestic mystery together.
• Peter writes a mystery story for Harriet’s birthday. What’s his style, and what does Harriet think of it?
• Harriet and Peter enjoy setting up small mysteries/puzzles for the other to solve. But does Harriet always play exactly fair?
• I really enjoy canon-divergence AUs. How might Harriet & Peter have fallen in love in a slightly different universe? What if Harriet had never lived with Boyes, for example? What if Peter read one of her mysteries and then met her at a party? Etc.
• Outside-POV of Harriet & Peter’s relationship! I adore the letters at the beginning of Busman’s Honeymoon, so anything in that style would be fantastic. But also any story from outside POV, really. Helen, St. George, the Dowager, Gerald, Miss Climpson, an OC murderer caught by Harriet & Peter - they all sound great.
• Harriet tells Peter about the punt incident. They go punting again. ;)
• AU in which Peter is the detective novelist, and Harriet the detective who rescues him from the noose.
• Harriet spots the clues and deduces that they’re going to be grandparents before Peter does.
• Harriet and Peter solve a mystery at their thirtieth-wedding-anniversary party.
Please do feel free to consult my general likes to supplement these prompts! And thank you again for writing for me. ♥
~
FANDOM NUMBER FOUR:
West Wing
Requests: C.J. Cregg/Toby Ziegler, Ellie Bartlet/Donna Moss, Jed Bartlet/Leo McGarry, Abbey Bartlet/Jed Bartlet/Leo McGarry
Requested Genres: Canon Style Plot, Established Relationship, Fluff, Getting Together, Humor, Mystery/Procedural
The West Wing is one of my favorite TV shows. Its idealistic take on politics - a political world populated by basically-decent people trying to do the right thing, in which ‘wins’ are possible and the American people admire and value a President like Bartlet (and later Santos) - is pure comfort food for my soul, especially in the current circumstances.
Please no excessive angst within these relationships, and happy endings only. I much prefer the conflict in this fandom to be external and something the selected pair can face together.
My most general prompt: a canon-style plot that a) focuses on one or more of the requested relationships and b) ends happily. :)
Specific prompts:
C.J. Cregg/Toby Ziegler
• I would love a story about how their friendship turned into love! What was their first kiss like? How do they manage the work-home relationship? How do they handle it when they disagree on a political issue or about how to solve it?
• They get stuck on a tarmac together and spend the time flirting (without drawing the attention of any possibly-roving reporters).
• They announce their engagement and are congratulated by your favorite West Wing character(s).
• C.J. runs for office down the line and becomes (whatever office you want to write). Toby figures out how he fits into this new paradigm.
• Five times C.J. & Toby slept together, and one time it ended up being for good.
• Five times C.J. & Toby were attracted to each other, and one time they took the next step.
• C.J. or Toby (or both) leaves the other the funniest, most irreverent notes throughout their time at the White House. Even though it’s probably illegal to destroy them (Federal Records Act and all that), the recipient does anyway (although they keep a couple of the best for themselves). Or they don’t destroy any and a future historian writes a book about their friendship and the Bartlet White House based on the notes.
• The Santos White House gets in a pickle (whether that’s Congress being intransigent, an accidental ‘secret plan to fight inflation’ PR disaster, or aliens/supervillains arriving), and C.J. & Toby are called in to help out. It’s the first time they’ve had to work together since Toby’s pardon, and it takes a while to reestablish their old rhythm. (And rekindle their old relationship, or fall in love!)
• Was C.J. actually the leaker and Toby took the hit for her? Is that what he thought was happening, but actually neither of them was the leaker? (Who was?)
Ellie Bartlet/Donna Moss
• How did Ellie & Donna get together? Was it a kiss after a tipsy campaign party that turned into sex that turned into something more? Was the West Wing working on an issue that Ellie deeply cared about, and Josh deputized Donna to keep the inconvenient First-Daughter lobbying off his plate? Do they meet up by chance ten years after Jed leaves office, and find that their chemistry is off the charts?
• Ellie thought that once her father left office, she’d never have to deal with politics or politicians ever again. Then Will Bailey calls, and her fiancé Donna starts thinking about running for office…
• Five times Ellie was attracted to Donna (starting with a glimpse on the very first campaign, even?), and one time she finally got the courage to make a move.
• Ellie and Donna announce their engagement and are congratulated by your favorite West Wing character(s).
• Donna goes to Ellie to find out more about (science-related political issue), and realizes partway through the conversation that Ellie is shyly flirting with her.
• Jed finds Donna sneaking out of Ellie’s bedroom at night (I know she doesn’t live in the WH, but during the holidays perhaps), and is initially confused, thinking Josh sent her up to tell him about some political crisis, only for the penny to eventually drop.
• Josh comes over late at night to Donna’s apartment to check on something, and is surprised to find Secret Service standing guard.
Jed Bartlet/Leo McGarry
Abbey Bartlet/Jed Bartlet/Leo McGarry
I’m interested in two dynamics for this pair of ships. 1) Jed & Leo fell in love instead of Jed & Abbey (could still have Abbey as a friend if you like). 2) Abbey & Jed & Leo are in a loving V relationship with Jed as the point (up to you which one Jed fell in love with first). I didn’t really feel any romantic or sexual chemistry between Abbey and Leo (though they were definitely good friends and I love that), so with the exception of one prompt below I’d prefer to keep that side of the triangle a friendship.
• Who made the first move, Jed or Leo, and how did it happen?
• Leo once says of Jed, “We first met about thirty-two years ago, but our friendship began about eleven years ago.” If that’s a euphemism, and it was their relationship that began eleven years ago, after twenty-two years of friendship, why did it take 22 years for their friendship to develop into something else, and why did it finally change?
• Leo and Jed play chess together, and Jed uses flirtation as a distraction tactic.
• It’s Abbey who realizes first that Jed loves Leo as well as her, and she has to decide what that means for them.
• (the exception mentioned above) Leo has been Jed’s lover for eleven years, and he and Abbey have never felt any curiosity about sleeping together and completing the triangle. But now that’s changing… (Optional addition: much to Jed’s amusement and interest).
• (ooops, second exception) Sometimes Leo and Jed and Abbey sleep together, but Jed’s always the focus and there’s not really any Leo/Abbey. One night (perhaps on a celebration high after a legislative or political win?) that changes.
• (AU in which Leo is not picked as Santos’s VP and doesn’t die.) After Santos’s inauguration, Leo moves into the Manchester house with Jed and Abbey. (Optional: other West Wing characters’ reactions or non-reactions.)
• (AU in which Leo doesn’t die and becomes VP.) Jed and Abbey like to try to drop by incognito to surprise Leo at work. His staff/Santos’s staff is amused by sekrit-spy antics (it’s kinda hard to be incognito with Secret Service protection).
• Five times Jed and Leo almost get caught kissing in the Oval Office/White House, and one time they let someone catch them on purpose.
Please do feel free to consult my general likes to supplement these prompts! And thank you again for writing for me. ♥
FANDOM NUMBER FIVE:
US Politics RPF
Requests: Ruth Bader Ginsburg & Elena Kagan & Sonia Sotomayor; Hillary Clinton/Original Female Character; Hillary Clinton & The First Female President; The First LGBT President
Requested Genres: AU - Canon Divergence, Canon Style Plot, Fix-it fic, Fluff, Getting Together, Humor, Mystery/Procedural
For all of these relationships, I’d love a happy story. Not necessarily a conflict or plot-free story! There’s always plenty of conflict and plot in politics. But I’m much more on the West Wing side of fandom than the House of Cards side - I like my politics stories to be about flawed but good people who are genuinely trying to make the world a better place, not about cold realpolitik that’s all about political calculus and exploiting people. And I like my main characters to be generally happy and to succeed. :)
Ruth Bader Ginsburg & Elena Kagan & Sonia Sotomayor
My Supreme Court heroines! I respect these three women and their work immensely. Ruth has been my favorite Justice for forever, and Sonia and Elena have quickly joined her in recent years. (Sonia’s fiery dissent in Utah v. Strieff!)
Some prompts:
• What does Ruth think of Sonia and Elena when they join the Court? Does she show them the Supreme Court traditions and tell them historical/current secrets/scandals? Does she (in private) share her more candid impressions of the conservative judges/other political figures?
• Do Sonia and Elena look up to Ruth? What did they think about her before being appointed to the Court? Does she give them any advice? Do Sonia & Elena bond?
• Do the three of them have a secret code or codeword for when the conservative men on the court are being simply too infuriating and/or casually sexist?
• What do they think of Donald Trump behind closed doors?
• How might their professional relationship deepen into real friendship?
• Outsider POV is one of my favorite writing styles. To take only a couple of examples (feel free to create your own!), I’d love to see President Obama’s view of the three Justices, or the impressions of one of Ruth’s clerks as she watched the two new Justices adjusting to life on the Court, or the thoughts of one of the waitresses at their favorite lunchtime spots.
• Canon-divergence AU in which Ruth is Chief Justice! Or in which Barack became a Justice instead of President (perhaps being named by a President Hillary?)
• Their relationship as seen through the lens of a particular case’s slow progress through the Court’s system.
• A day in the life of oral arguments.
• What do the three Justices do to relax together?
• While I am primarily interested in gen friendships in this fandom, I am also open to Sonia/Elena shipfic. Tell me how they fell in love over briefs and drafts of opinions and half-drunk cups of coffee!
• I would also be interested in a fic about the aftermath of Obergefell v. Hodges, in which a lesbian Elena or Sonia found themselves unexpectedly overcome by emotion at being a part of this leap forward (while still recognizing how far we still have to go). (Bonus points if one/both of the others knew how much it meant to them.)
• An AU crossover with the West Wing in which the Justices are on the Court during the Santos Administration. (With or without the wonderful Evelyn Baker Lang.)
• Cats. For any or all of the Justices. Maybe they even bond over cats! Maybe Elena’s cat has kittens and Sonia adopts one! Are they named anything judicially related?
Hillary Clinton/Original Female Character
This ship is non-canon, obviously. I would love to see an AU that went canon-divergent at a place of your choice, as long as it stayed in the political realm (not a coffeeshop AU, in other words, unless that means Hillary is holding a town hall in a coffeeshop). I’m equally happy with an OFC who is in the political world or who is a non-politician. The only thing I definitely wouldn’t enjoy is a large age gap (more than 10 years).
• Hillary falls in love with a woman at Yale, not Bill, and dreams of the future.
• Hillary takes her oath of office (as President, Senator, Congresswoman, Governor - your choice) with her wife at her side. (Alternate: It’s Inauguration Day! Aaaand things aren’t going so smoothly, due to [shenanigans of choice]. Can Hillary and/or her wife save the day?)
• A quiet moment on a campaign bus, in the middle of a Supremely Hectic Day, between Hillary and the woman she loves.
• Five women Chelsea (or Hillary’s friends) set Hillary up with to disastrous results, and one that clicks.
• An unmarried Hillary becomes President in her 40s. Something happens (superhero regulation act in Congress? Attack on the White House that needs superhero intervention? Etc.), and she meets-cute a superheroine. True love never did run smooth…
• Hillary’s always busy, working late and flying around the country. But however busy she is, she’s never too busy to jot down a quick note, or memo, or love letter, or acerbically funny workplace commentary, to the woman she loves. (Optional addition(s): do some of these come to light in the email scandal? Is this how they get outed?)
Hillary Clinton & The First Female President
I would be equally happy with a complete OFC or a “first female President” who’s one of the rising Democratic stars. If the latter, I especially like Tammy Duckworth and Kamala Harris.
• Hillary on the campaign trail with the nominee. Sharing a quiet moment in the middle of a Supremely Hectic Day, perhaps, or compare/contrasting the current Republican nominee with Trump, or giving an introductory speech for the nominee.
• The nominee on the night she becomes President-Elect, thanking Hillary in her victory speech, while Hillary watches with complex feelings.
• Hillary as sage confidante, either on the trail, helping the transition team, or called in to the White House.
• There is a crisis and aliens attack/supervillains move on the White House/etc. It’s all hands on deck! Hillary comes to the White House and joins forces with the President to defend America.
• Five times Hillary helped/gave advice to/inspired the First Female President, and one time the FFP returned the favor.
The First LGBT President
I’m primarily interested in the First LGBT President being a woman, so the prompts below reflect that. But if you’d rather write one of a different gender, that’s totally fine!
I’m open to the First LGBT President being a complete OC (whether set in a fictionalized political universe or parachuted into our real one), a canon LGBT politician (say Tammy Baldwin), or a politician like Cory Booker who there are lots of rumors about. (But no Republicans, please, so no Lindsay Graham.)
Prompts:
• Everyone tells her that America isn’t ready for a lesbian President. But, well, she wants to be President, and she’s deeply in love with her wife, so America’s just going to have to be ready, now isn’t it?
• The President and the First Lady enjoy thinking about how scandalized most of the Presidents would be if they knew who was currently occupying their Oval Office. (And who is currently stealing kisses in the corner away from the cameras…)
• During the re-election campaign, there’s a scandal when the President’s caught on camera pinching the First Lady’s butt/they break their hotel bed having enthusiastic sex (a la Matt & Helen Santos)/there’s a hot mic moment in which the President starts teasing the First Lady about what they’re going to do later that night. But dammit, America’s just going to have to get used to happily married lesbian political leaders in love.
• The First Lady spearheads a policy push in her area of expertise and the President is so proud of her and just a super huge fan.
• The President and First Lady don’t buy into the Presidential golfing tradition. They’re big hikers instead. Congresspeople and Senators who want to get the President’s ear have to angle for an invitation on a weekend hike, and devoutly hope that they can keep up.
• Five proposal settings the President considers, and the one she decides to go with.
• The President is single, and everyone’s always trying to set her up with people. Partly because America loves her and wants her to be happy, and partly because of course every lobbyist and pressure group in Washington would love to have someone in the President’s bed. It takes everyone by surprise when it’s a superheroine who captures the President’s heart!
• A superheroine has been hardcore crushing on the President since the primaries, to the point where it’s kind of an open secret among her buddies. She maaaay have arm-wrestled (your superhero/ine of choice or an OC superhero/ine) to be the one to respond when (supervillain of choice or OC supervillain) attacked the White House during the new President’s first state dinner.
Please do feel free to consult my general likes to supplement these prompts! And thank you again for writing for me. ♥
~
FANDOM NUMBER SIX:
Political Cartoons (Ilic; Beeler; Sousa; Machado & Rodgers)
Request: Lady Justice/Lady Liberty
Requested Genres: Action/Adventure, Established Relationship, Fix-it fic, Getting Together, Humor, Worldbuilding
When I saw this set of cartoons, I knew immediately that I wanted ALL the fic for them! :)
I’m interested in pretty much anything about the Justice Girlfriends that’s upbeat with a happy ending. (Please don’t have Trump grope them, for instance.)
• How did they first meet? (When the Statue of Liberty was first erected?)
• How did they fall in love?
• Tell me a story about their adventures together! How do they defend each other and the country from those who try to chip away at the rights they protect?
• Do they interact with national symbols from other countries? Britannia, Marianne, Mother Russia, etc. (And what are those symbols like?)
• How do they cope with the Orange Menace? Who are their allies and what are their plans?
• Fix-it fic set in a universe in which they dethrone the Orange Menace is more than welcome.
These are only a few ideas - if you have any of your own, go for it! As long as it’s not angsty or sad, I’ll love it. :)
Please do feel free to consult my general likes to supplement these prompts! And thank you again for writing for me. ♥
~
FANDOM NUMBER SEVEN:
Crossovers
Requests: Jane Marple & Hercule Poirot; Hillary Clinton/Leia Organa
Requested Genres: Canon Style Plot, Fix-it fic, Getting Together, Humor, Mystery/Procedural
Jane Marple & Hercule Poirot
• What do they even think of each other? The idea of these two encountering each other cracks me up. How do they meet? Do they respect each other, or does that take a while?
• Poirot is a guest at a Tuesday Club meeting. He underestimates Jane, and finds out that you do that at your peril.
• Poirot is traveling (he seems to do that a lot) and a murder happens on the boat he’s traveling on. Does he initially suspect fluffy-spinster Jane? Does he fear she’ll be the next victim? Who figures out the solution first? (Or vice versa, from Jane’s POV.)
• Outside!POV - Hastings observes the two of them and draws his own idiosyncratic conclusions.
• A murderer with a flair for the dramatic sets a little competition up for his own amusement - whichever of them solves the mystery first will live, the other one will die.
• Jane, having encountered Poirot/worked with him on a case, compares him to someone she knows in St. Mary Mead.
• Jane and Poirot are both involved in a case, and both come to the correct solution, but from different perspectives/for different reasons/using different clues.
Hillary Clinton/Leia Organa
I’m happy with the crossover going either way (Hillary in Leia’s world or Leia in ours), or with a fusion in which the worlds collide.
• Leia has been reared in a very different political tradition. Her approach to a political situation that she and Hillary find themselves in is - unorthodox. But the more Hillary thinks about it, the more she likes the idea.
• Hillary wasn’t raised to fight an actual war. But when she finds herself in the Resistance or Rebellion, she rolls up her sleeves and pitches right in. Hillary with a blaster protecting Leia’s back… yes please.
• Young Hillary falling in love with young Leia, in either universe.
• Banished by Kylo to another universe when he couldn’t go through with killing her, Leia starts trying to figure out how to get home. That’s hard in a universe that doesn’t know about the Force. But Leia Organa never gives up, and she’s making friends and allies along the way. Also she might be falling in love…
• Hillary only interviewed for a senatorial aide position. She’s passionate about policy and wants to get things done (even though the Senate feels completely powerless these days). She never expected Senator Organa to retire and hand the reins over to his daughter - she never expected to find herself caught up in a rebel plot against the Empire - and she definitely never expected to find herself kissing the new Senator in the cockpit of the Tantive IV.
• Feel free to steal prompts from the other political fandoms in this letter! (West Wing and US Politics RPF.)
Please do feel free to consult my general likes to supplement these prompts! And thank you again for writing for me. ♥
~
Hopefully this letter has been helpful! :) If you want more info, feel free to check out my other fandoms for ideas, and/or my past letters (under the exchange letters tag). A lot of my favorite tropes and plotbunnies are panfandom (with variations, of course, for different characters), and can be stolen for other fandoms or used as inspiration.
Thank you again for offering one of my fandoms! ♥ I know I’ll love whatever you write. :)