Purim Gifts Letter
Dear Purim Treat-a-thon Writer,
Hooray! I am super excited to be doing this exchange! I can't wait to see *whatever* you're going to make for me.
1) I really like stories about resistance, which is what a lot of these canons are. There are Bad Things out there, forces of power that are working against Our Heroes, and Our Heroes are going to get themselves out, and maybe save each other at their best. I like stories about people breaking free, at high cost, not without losses, not without pain, but being free in the end. Probably the clearest place I've ever talked about this is in the meta I wrote for my long fic Machines of Freedom, which is here. I also like stories of personal struggle against one's own warring desires, preferences, and impulses--where the struggle is rooted in the personal, rather than the bigger picture.
2) I really like fic that sticks really, really close to canon in order to fuck with it, subvert it, change its rules, particularly when that becomes a way to undo things that canon got grossly wrong. If you've got a way in on that, go for it. But these are such short little pieces that I'm also cool with all sorts of other things, like character studies, little interstitial things that fill in holes in canon, or what-have-you. Pretty much, if it is a good story about people I love, I want to read it.
3) I definitely don't mind porny stuff. (This is an understatement of epically epic proportions. My wife makes fun of how much porn I read.) So, porny stuff, or non-explicit romance, is totally fine. But it's not necessary at all, and generally I want that sort of thing to derive organically from a greater story, whether it's canon or the story the fic is telling. For couples I seriously ship (in this context, Mulder/Scully or John/Sherlock), I like PWPs, but I prefer at least a little bit of plot. I am fine with kink--I like it, actually--but, again, I really need to understand why the kink's there, what work it does for these people in this place. (My personal kinkometer hovers at the light end of the spectrum--a little tying up, a little slapping around, a little remember-who-you-belong-to, that sort of thing.)
4) Given the tone of the ficathon, I am totally cool with crack and cheerful fic. I also have a love of absurd tropes in fic being done with panache--the one-room-left-in-the-motel, the AMTDI, the undercover-married, whatever, I love it. If you want to write something more serious, that's fine; I will say that I don't want major character death or the onscreen death of children.
Sherlock (BBC). I recently fell into this fandom like I was falling off the roof of a hospital. And I hit the ground hard. For this fandom, I really want fic about one of the three major female characters: Sally Donovan, Molly Hooper, and Irene Adler. I love Sally's strength, purpose, and willingness to argue, and I don't blame her in the least for the events of The Reichenbach Fall; she was doing what she thought was best, and the conclusions she drew were not ridiculous. I love Molly's timidness, and the way she rises to strength over the course of the series. (Every scene with her in Reichenbach breaks my heart.) Irene is just a fuckin' badass, and I want her moral ambivalence and strength to come through clearly. Also, if you wanted to somehow construe Mycroft as The Evil Vizier, I would be all over that shit.
The X-Files. This is my first real fandom, and still tied with Sherlock for my heart. I'm a Mulder/Scully shipper in a pretty serious way, and would rather not see them paired with anyone else, but I'm fine with gen fic. For my money, Mulder's Jewish, and so is his mother (I'm ambivalent about his father, but if you really want to write Bill Mulder fic, go for it). (For that matter, I could, if pressed, make a convincing case for The Cigarette Smoking Man as an Evil Vizier, and therefore everybody's covered.) I'm not really interested in any of the other major characters on the show, except in a passing way. I also have a, um, fairly extensive post-2012 universe I've done a lot of writing in (which follows from this fic), and I would be cool with other people writing in it if they wanted.
Fringe. This show, it broke my heart in the best way. My favorite character is Astrid, and I also really love Olivia. I ship them, but I don't mind if elements of canon Peter/Olivia work into your story, because, well, canon. In particular, I am very into Brown-Betty-verse Esther/Olivia. I am fascinated by the Over There versions of our heroes as much as the Over Here versions, so write either one. Oh, and I really love Walter, so if he crops up as a marginal character, I will be happy. (Longer thoughts on Walter in my old Yuletide letter.) I'm not as big a fan of the season-five universe, but if you feel called to write Etta or other bits of the resistance, I will be happy to read them!
Doctor Who. I'm a New Who only fan, and don't know old canon; I also haven't seen anything after The Wedding of River Song. I am not the hugest Rose fan, but I think a really lovely fic about her could convince me. I've loved each post-Rose companion dearly, though I think Donna remains my favorite after sober reflection (big section about her in this meta). But The Master is probably an Evil Vizier, which makes Martha the most appropriate character. I love River and Amy as well, from what I've seen of them. Er, I've just named every female character who is in more than one episode from series 3 through 5, sorry. I'm basically a gen person in this fandom, though I ship Amy/Rory.
The West Wing. I've never really read TWW fic outside of when people I know write it or there's a porn battle or something, but I adore the show and the characters and would love little incisive pieces of them as gifts. Roughly, I prefer the earlier season to the later, ship every single canon pairing on the show (even both Josh/Donna and Josh/Amy, which I don't quite get but, hey, it's how my brain works), and my favorite characters are CJ (who is in the meta linked above), Toby, and Josh. At this very second, fic about Toby would break my heart into little pieces, but that might just be the mood I'm in.
Battlestar Galactica. Kara Thrace is my TV girlfriend, especially in the early seasons; I love Laura Roslin (she's in the meta linked above); I ship Kara/Sam and Adama/Roslin, but am not dogmatic; fic about any female character is awesomesauce.
Scandal. OH MY GOD THIS SHOW. THIS SHOOOOOOOWWWW. What I love about it is that they have ratcheted up the EVIL so high, and yet I still care intimately about all of these characters. I want everybody to be OK, even though they are all TERRIBLE FUCKING PEOPLE. I'd love to read about Olivia, or about Mellie, or about any of the other female characters; I don't know if anyone's canonically Jewish, but go for it if you want; I'd also love to see someone understanding either Cyrus (who I love, despite his evil) or Hollis Doyle (who I love to hate) as an evil vizier, and what that would mean for the other characters.
Buffy. This is an old fandom, but jeez, I love it. WILLOW FIC PLEASE. WILLOW/TARA FIC PLEASE. WICCAN REINTERPRETATION OF PURIM PLEASE. OR, YOU KNOW, ANYTHING. Willow is in the redhead meta linked above!
In conclusion, I am really looking forward to whatever you want to make me! You can ask me questions if you want! Thank you in advance!
-Amal
This entry was originally posted at http://amalnahurriyeh.dreamwidth.org/81604.html. You can comment in either location. There are currently
comments at Dreamwidth.
Hooray! I am super excited to be doing this exchange! I can't wait to see *whatever* you're going to make for me.
1) I really like stories about resistance, which is what a lot of these canons are. There are Bad Things out there, forces of power that are working against Our Heroes, and Our Heroes are going to get themselves out, and maybe save each other at their best. I like stories about people breaking free, at high cost, not without losses, not without pain, but being free in the end. Probably the clearest place I've ever talked about this is in the meta I wrote for my long fic Machines of Freedom, which is here. I also like stories of personal struggle against one's own warring desires, preferences, and impulses--where the struggle is rooted in the personal, rather than the bigger picture.
2) I really like fic that sticks really, really close to canon in order to fuck with it, subvert it, change its rules, particularly when that becomes a way to undo things that canon got grossly wrong. If you've got a way in on that, go for it. But these are such short little pieces that I'm also cool with all sorts of other things, like character studies, little interstitial things that fill in holes in canon, or what-have-you. Pretty much, if it is a good story about people I love, I want to read it.
3) I definitely don't mind porny stuff. (This is an understatement of epically epic proportions. My wife makes fun of how much porn I read.) So, porny stuff, or non-explicit romance, is totally fine. But it's not necessary at all, and generally I want that sort of thing to derive organically from a greater story, whether it's canon or the story the fic is telling. For couples I seriously ship (in this context, Mulder/Scully or John/Sherlock), I like PWPs, but I prefer at least a little bit of plot. I am fine with kink--I like it, actually--but, again, I really need to understand why the kink's there, what work it does for these people in this place. (My personal kinkometer hovers at the light end of the spectrum--a little tying up, a little slapping around, a little remember-who-you-belong-to, that sort of thing.)
4) Given the tone of the ficathon, I am totally cool with crack and cheerful fic. I also have a love of absurd tropes in fic being done with panache--the one-room-left-in-the-motel, the AMTDI, the undercover-married, whatever, I love it. If you want to write something more serious, that's fine; I will say that I don't want major character death or the onscreen death of children.
Sherlock (BBC). I recently fell into this fandom like I was falling off the roof of a hospital. And I hit the ground hard. For this fandom, I really want fic about one of the three major female characters: Sally Donovan, Molly Hooper, and Irene Adler. I love Sally's strength, purpose, and willingness to argue, and I don't blame her in the least for the events of The Reichenbach Fall; she was doing what she thought was best, and the conclusions she drew were not ridiculous. I love Molly's timidness, and the way she rises to strength over the course of the series. (Every scene with her in Reichenbach breaks my heart.) Irene is just a fuckin' badass, and I want her moral ambivalence and strength to come through clearly. Also, if you wanted to somehow construe Mycroft as The Evil Vizier, I would be all over that shit.
The X-Files. This is my first real fandom, and still tied with Sherlock for my heart. I'm a Mulder/Scully shipper in a pretty serious way, and would rather not see them paired with anyone else, but I'm fine with gen fic. For my money, Mulder's Jewish, and so is his mother (I'm ambivalent about his father, but if you really want to write Bill Mulder fic, go for it). (For that matter, I could, if pressed, make a convincing case for The Cigarette Smoking Man as an Evil Vizier, and therefore everybody's covered.) I'm not really interested in any of the other major characters on the show, except in a passing way. I also have a, um, fairly extensive post-2012 universe I've done a lot of writing in (which follows from this fic), and I would be cool with other people writing in it if they wanted.
Fringe. This show, it broke my heart in the best way. My favorite character is Astrid, and I also really love Olivia. I ship them, but I don't mind if elements of canon Peter/Olivia work into your story, because, well, canon. In particular, I am very into Brown-Betty-verse Esther/Olivia. I am fascinated by the Over There versions of our heroes as much as the Over Here versions, so write either one. Oh, and I really love Walter, so if he crops up as a marginal character, I will be happy. (Longer thoughts on Walter in my old Yuletide letter.) I'm not as big a fan of the season-five universe, but if you feel called to write Etta or other bits of the resistance, I will be happy to read them!
Doctor Who. I'm a New Who only fan, and don't know old canon; I also haven't seen anything after The Wedding of River Song. I am not the hugest Rose fan, but I think a really lovely fic about her could convince me. I've loved each post-Rose companion dearly, though I think Donna remains my favorite after sober reflection (big section about her in this meta). But The Master is probably an Evil Vizier, which makes Martha the most appropriate character. I love River and Amy as well, from what I've seen of them. Er, I've just named every female character who is in more than one episode from series 3 through 5, sorry. I'm basically a gen person in this fandom, though I ship Amy/Rory.
The West Wing. I've never really read TWW fic outside of when people I know write it or there's a porn battle or something, but I adore the show and the characters and would love little incisive pieces of them as gifts. Roughly, I prefer the earlier season to the later, ship every single canon pairing on the show (even both Josh/Donna and Josh/Amy, which I don't quite get but, hey, it's how my brain works), and my favorite characters are CJ (who is in the meta linked above), Toby, and Josh. At this very second, fic about Toby would break my heart into little pieces, but that might just be the mood I'm in.
Battlestar Galactica. Kara Thrace is my TV girlfriend, especially in the early seasons; I love Laura Roslin (she's in the meta linked above); I ship Kara/Sam and Adama/Roslin, but am not dogmatic; fic about any female character is awesomesauce.
Scandal. OH MY GOD THIS SHOW. THIS SHOOOOOOOWWWW. What I love about it is that they have ratcheted up the EVIL so high, and yet I still care intimately about all of these characters. I want everybody to be OK, even though they are all TERRIBLE FUCKING PEOPLE. I'd love to read about Olivia, or about Mellie, or about any of the other female characters; I don't know if anyone's canonically Jewish, but go for it if you want; I'd also love to see someone understanding either Cyrus (who I love, despite his evil) or Hollis Doyle (who I love to hate) as an evil vizier, and what that would mean for the other characters.
Buffy. This is an old fandom, but jeez, I love it. WILLOW FIC PLEASE. WILLOW/TARA FIC PLEASE. WICCAN REINTERPRETATION OF PURIM PLEASE. OR, YOU KNOW, ANYTHING. Willow is in the redhead meta linked above!
In conclusion, I am really looking forward to whatever you want to make me! You can ask me questions if you want! Thank you in advance!
-Amal
This entry was originally posted at http://amalnahurriyeh.dreamwidth.org/81604.html. You can comment in either location. There are currently
comments at Dreamwidth.