Fandom 5k Letter
Dear Author,
Hi! Thanks for writing me a fic, you awesome human, you. Also, yay for fandoms and characters we both like. I'll start with an overview of general stuff and then get into the more "nitty-gritty," but honestly, unless your big idea that's making you super excited has one of my DNWs, just go there. If you enjoy writing it, I'll enjoy reading it.
Stuff I LOVE: hurt/comfort, particularly the "learning to be loved" trope, orphans, hiding injury/illness, found family, good character development, happy endings, sickfic, I mean, slave and hooker AUs, but those kind of take a lot of work, animals, well done BDSM
Stuff that either really upsets me or actually ends with me spending days nauseated and unhappy: character death, partner betrayal, unhappy endings, poorly done BDSM, self-harm/suicide
Stuff I just don't like: mpreg, scat/roman showers, incest, character-bashing, open-ended endings (hopeful is fine, I just don't like "well, this COULD be hopeful, or everyone could get hit by a bus in the next moment.")
Okay, now a breakdown by fandom/relationship.
DCU: As a general concept, the reason I love the superhero genre is (1) I like found families, and Avengers and JL (or YJ, or TT, or you batfam or superfam or WHATEVER) give me those, and (2) I like vulnerability in characters who are otherwise incredibly strong, and that's sort of the realm of the superhero.
Midnighter & Apollo & Dick Grayson: I love that both Apollo and M are experiments, that they are people who have been taken apart and sewn back together, not of their own accord, and that, nonetheless, they do the best they can to protect and serve others at large. I love their oversized love for each other, and their emotional maturity. I love their intelligence and their humanity.
And Dick Grayson, I mean...Dick is human. Plain old ordinary human. And he runs with superhumans like it's nothing. He LEADS them like he was meant to be there. He gives everything of himself for others. He was raised by a vigilante and yet still believes in the rule of law. He has the same code as Batman, but he also has more capacity to forgive failure--he forgives Bruce it all the time. Dick isn't perfect. He has anger issues, and sometimes he lets them rule him. But dear lord does he try.
Combining any of those things about these characters in a setting where they're working together or just hanging out together or WHATEVER will make me happy.
Bruce Wayne: I'm not really interested in grimdark!Bruce or Batman. I'm into the guy who still believes in Gotham despite pretty much every reason not to, the guy who loves his kids, who is kind to children when being Batman, and often empathetic toward his villains.
Chess -- I know this is weird, but I actually like the ending of Chess. I like that Anatoly puts his family first, and that Florence has a second chance to HAVE a family, at least for a bit. I'd be really interested in anything about Anatoly with his wife or his sons, trying to make the best go of it they can, or Florence trying to connect with her father, figuring herself out as someone who's not just someone else's significant other.
MCU -- As a general concept, the reason I love the superhero genre is (1) I like found families, and Avengers gives me that, and (2) I like vulnerability in characters who are otherwise incredibly strong, and that's sort of the realm of the superhero.
Steve Rogers/Clint Barton: Clint's loyalty to Cap is endlessly enjoyable to me. Clint has a million reason to distrust other men and figures of authority, but basically from the first point he meets Cap, he's willing to follow him. Anything exploring that element of their relationship would be awesome, but also, little pieces of life, like Clint showing Cap one of his favorite movies from his teenage years, or the two of them doing something they never got to do as kids together.
Natasha, Steve, and Wanda: Almost anything, honestly. Early in her Avengers days, when Wanda is still really working through her grief, and maybe these two help her with that. Or the three of them touching on the way they're all kind of products of something, Erskine, the Red Room, Hydra... Or, again, I am seriously always up for any of these characters doing silly things together that they would not have gotten to do growing up.
Steve/Natasha or Steve & Natasha: I enjoy the contradiction between these two, and how I feel like they often bring out the best in each other. I love that she comes to Peggy's funeral simply so he won't be alone, because he has been so often, that her driving need in CW is to keep the team together, but she can forgive Steve his path because she understands that nothing is black and white.
Shuri & T'Challa: I love their sibling bond. Give me him taking her to Disneyland or Coachella once they've finished at the new community center, or her helping to figure out ways to bring their influence to the outside world, or stories about them growing up or really, anything with them being brother and sister.
Shuri: Give me stories about her teaching other girls her age science and math at the outreach center, about her dealing with the fact that her father's actions created Erik, and that Erik was her cousin, and in the aftermath, I'm betting that's a lot to process. Give me stories about her relationship developing with Ramonda now that T'Challa is king and has different duties than before, maybe about her feeling a little left behind. I'm just interested in her as a person.
Wynonna Earp: These three kill me. Wynonna's sense of duty and family, Dolls' chewy insides, Docs' desire for family. I don't care if they're romantically involved or not. I like the former, but really, I'm just interested in how they affect and change each other, how for the most part, their driving need is to protect and save the others. I love that we find out this season that Dolls taught Jeremy a pull up because I think it speaks to how, when he sees a need in someone, he actually works to fulfill it. And Docs' quiet grief over the baby kills me, as does Wynonna's. Just tell me stories about these people caring about each other, even if maybe it's about their surprise at that.
Hi! Thanks for writing me a fic, you awesome human, you. Also, yay for fandoms and characters we both like. I'll start with an overview of general stuff and then get into the more "nitty-gritty," but honestly, unless your big idea that's making you super excited has one of my DNWs, just go there. If you enjoy writing it, I'll enjoy reading it.
Stuff I LOVE: hurt/comfort, particularly the "learning to be loved" trope, orphans, hiding injury/illness, found family, good character development, happy endings, sickfic, I mean, slave and hooker AUs, but those kind of take a lot of work, animals, well done BDSM
Stuff that either really upsets me or actually ends with me spending days nauseated and unhappy: character death, partner betrayal, unhappy endings, poorly done BDSM, self-harm/suicide
Stuff I just don't like: mpreg, scat/roman showers, incest, character-bashing, open-ended endings (hopeful is fine, I just don't like "well, this COULD be hopeful, or everyone could get hit by a bus in the next moment.")
Okay, now a breakdown by fandom/relationship.
DCU: As a general concept, the reason I love the superhero genre is (1) I like found families, and Avengers and JL (or YJ, or TT, or you batfam or superfam or WHATEVER) give me those, and (2) I like vulnerability in characters who are otherwise incredibly strong, and that's sort of the realm of the superhero.
Midnighter & Apollo & Dick Grayson: I love that both Apollo and M are experiments, that they are people who have been taken apart and sewn back together, not of their own accord, and that, nonetheless, they do the best they can to protect and serve others at large. I love their oversized love for each other, and their emotional maturity. I love their intelligence and their humanity.
And Dick Grayson, I mean...Dick is human. Plain old ordinary human. And he runs with superhumans like it's nothing. He LEADS them like he was meant to be there. He gives everything of himself for others. He was raised by a vigilante and yet still believes in the rule of law. He has the same code as Batman, but he also has more capacity to forgive failure--he forgives Bruce it all the time. Dick isn't perfect. He has anger issues, and sometimes he lets them rule him. But dear lord does he try.
Combining any of those things about these characters in a setting where they're working together or just hanging out together or WHATEVER will make me happy.
Bruce Wayne: I'm not really interested in grimdark!Bruce or Batman. I'm into the guy who still believes in Gotham despite pretty much every reason not to, the guy who loves his kids, who is kind to children when being Batman, and often empathetic toward his villains.
Chess -- I know this is weird, but I actually like the ending of Chess. I like that Anatoly puts his family first, and that Florence has a second chance to HAVE a family, at least for a bit. I'd be really interested in anything about Anatoly with his wife or his sons, trying to make the best go of it they can, or Florence trying to connect with her father, figuring herself out as someone who's not just someone else's significant other.
MCU -- As a general concept, the reason I love the superhero genre is (1) I like found families, and Avengers gives me that, and (2) I like vulnerability in characters who are otherwise incredibly strong, and that's sort of the realm of the superhero.
Steve Rogers/Clint Barton: Clint's loyalty to Cap is endlessly enjoyable to me. Clint has a million reason to distrust other men and figures of authority, but basically from the first point he meets Cap, he's willing to follow him. Anything exploring that element of their relationship would be awesome, but also, little pieces of life, like Clint showing Cap one of his favorite movies from his teenage years, or the two of them doing something they never got to do as kids together.
Natasha, Steve, and Wanda: Almost anything, honestly. Early in her Avengers days, when Wanda is still really working through her grief, and maybe these two help her with that. Or the three of them touching on the way they're all kind of products of something, Erskine, the Red Room, Hydra... Or, again, I am seriously always up for any of these characters doing silly things together that they would not have gotten to do growing up.
Steve/Natasha or Steve & Natasha: I enjoy the contradiction between these two, and how I feel like they often bring out the best in each other. I love that she comes to Peggy's funeral simply so he won't be alone, because he has been so often, that her driving need in CW is to keep the team together, but she can forgive Steve his path because she understands that nothing is black and white.
Shuri & T'Challa: I love their sibling bond. Give me him taking her to Disneyland or Coachella once they've finished at the new community center, or her helping to figure out ways to bring their influence to the outside world, or stories about them growing up or really, anything with them being brother and sister.
Shuri: Give me stories about her teaching other girls her age science and math at the outreach center, about her dealing with the fact that her father's actions created Erik, and that Erik was her cousin, and in the aftermath, I'm betting that's a lot to process. Give me stories about her relationship developing with Ramonda now that T'Challa is king and has different duties than before, maybe about her feeling a little left behind. I'm just interested in her as a person.
Wynonna Earp: These three kill me. Wynonna's sense of duty and family, Dolls' chewy insides, Docs' desire for family. I don't care if they're romantically involved or not. I like the former, but really, I'm just interested in how they affect and change each other, how for the most part, their driving need is to protect and save the others. I love that we find out this season that Dolls taught Jeremy a pull up because I think it speaks to how, when he sees a need in someone, he actually works to fulfill it. And Docs' quiet grief over the baby kills me, as does Wynonna's. Just tell me stories about these people caring about each other, even if maybe it's about their surprise at that.