Crackpots and these women
Dear Yuletide Writer,
This letter has been edited! I forgot to include The Scarlet Pimpernel because I am an idiot!
Hi! You're probably staring at my requested fandoms and going 'Wow, that girl watches a lot of costume drama'. This is true. Partly it's the hawt sexual repression, partly it's the clothes. That episode of DQ:MW where Jane Seymour is clad only in a corset and bloomers at one point? Sort of killed me.
I like smut, but I am also happy with non-smut - and, in fact, gen fic. I like unresolved sexual tension and that moment when it finally gets resolved.
I like angst, unconventional pairings and messed-up relationships. I also seem to like female protagonists who aren't really girls' girls, so any slightly awkward female bonding scenes are always appreciated.
I like gutsy, self-righteous women, the kind of woman who'd be called an activist if she was around now. Basically, I like shows based on their female protagonist more likely than not. Pre/post-series fic is awesome, as is solo fic (not that kind....but that's OK, too!) that focuses on their careers rather than their romantic pairings.
So here is a guide to my personal fanon, which you may use or reject at will.
Dr Michaela 'Mike' Quinn
She's smart, geeky, clumsy and she's got a heart as big as the entire state of Colorado. She's also always right (except for those times where she learns a Valuable Lesson).
If you could write Mike/Hank or Sully/Mike/Hank, I would have endless amounts of respect for you. I believe that Mike/Sully/Cloud Dancing is slightly canon, and that Miss Dorothy is a little bit gay for Dr Mike and that if he wasn't a member of the clergy, the Reverend could fall in love with a woman like Mike - as it is, he wants the kind of love she has with Sully, and a big family of his own. I love that it's canon that her first few times with Sully weren't all that great, and I'd love to see that explored. I also firmly believe that Sully talked her into Doing It on her desk at the clinic at least once. And that Hank probably overheard it. But mostly I love that she's so determined to do the right thing, even when it's not always best for her or the people around her.
Dr Eleanor Bramwell
She's a judgemental, hypocritical Daddy's girl, but if you need her help she will move heaven and earth to help you, no matter what the personal cost. Hint: it's usually high. Falls in love too easily but she could never love anyone as much as the Thrift.
It's true - well-behaved women never make history. I'd be in favour of post-series fic although I don't see her marriage lasting for a second. I don't think she was ever in love with Marsham, but if you made me buy it then I would probably buy you a drink. I think Sidney worships her from afar, Ethel Carr would want to be her if she had the courage and the cash, and that with time Eleanor and her new stepmother would get on famously and gang up against Robert.
Harriet Vane
She knows she should be writing Srs Bzns literature....but dammit, crime novels are more fun (so is sleuthing).
If Lord Peter didn't keep asking her to marry him, she would quite happily be his mistress. And she once, in an effort to get her feelings for him out of her system, tried to write a trashy romance novel about a British aristocrat with Issues and a sassy young novelist. No-one ever saw it until Peter made her show it to him and now he teases her mercilessly and refers to himself as a romantic hero. If she misses one more deadline because she was out fighting crime with her husband, her publisher will give her a stern talking to. Again.
Marguerite Blakeney, aka La St Juste
She's the cleverest woman in Europe. Most of the time.
I'd love to see pre-TSP Marguerite fic, dealing with her life as an actress, her relationship with Armand (which can be romantic/sexual if you want) and her Revolutionary politics. Various adaptations of TSP have included a major Marguerite/Chauvelin emphasis which I really don't get from the books but I'd like to see in fic. Failing that, Marguerite rescuing Percy, or gratuitous snarking at a ball. Pre-novel, post-wedding angst is also a favourite.
Then again, if you have a better idea - write it! If it's fic about any of those women, I will like it. If, for whatever reason, you're not comfortable writing any of the main female characters I've suggested and would rather boyslash it - Sully/Cloud Dancing, Marsham/Robert or Marsham/O'Neill, Lord Peter/Bunter and Percy/Chauvelin or Percy/Armand will do.
Thanks again,
ladyvivien
xoxo
This letter has been edited! I forgot to include The Scarlet Pimpernel because I am an idiot!
Hi! You're probably staring at my requested fandoms and going 'Wow, that girl watches a lot of costume drama'. This is true. Partly it's the hawt sexual repression, partly it's the clothes. That episode of DQ:MW where Jane Seymour is clad only in a corset and bloomers at one point? Sort of killed me.
I like smut, but I am also happy with non-smut - and, in fact, gen fic. I like unresolved sexual tension and that moment when it finally gets resolved.
I like angst, unconventional pairings and messed-up relationships. I also seem to like female protagonists who aren't really girls' girls, so any slightly awkward female bonding scenes are always appreciated.
I like gutsy, self-righteous women, the kind of woman who'd be called an activist if she was around now. Basically, I like shows based on their female protagonist more likely than not. Pre/post-series fic is awesome, as is solo fic (not that kind....but that's OK, too!) that focuses on their careers rather than their romantic pairings.
So here is a guide to my personal fanon, which you may use or reject at will.
Dr Michaela 'Mike' Quinn
She's smart, geeky, clumsy and she's got a heart as big as the entire state of Colorado. She's also always right (except for those times where she learns a Valuable Lesson).
If you could write Mike/Hank or Sully/Mike/Hank, I would have endless amounts of respect for you. I believe that Mike/Sully/Cloud Dancing is slightly canon, and that Miss Dorothy is a little bit gay for Dr Mike and that if he wasn't a member of the clergy, the Reverend could fall in love with a woman like Mike - as it is, he wants the kind of love she has with Sully, and a big family of his own. I love that it's canon that her first few times with Sully weren't all that great, and I'd love to see that explored. I also firmly believe that Sully talked her into Doing It on her desk at the clinic at least once. And that Hank probably overheard it. But mostly I love that she's so determined to do the right thing, even when it's not always best for her or the people around her.
Dr Eleanor Bramwell
She's a judgemental, hypocritical Daddy's girl, but if you need her help she will move heaven and earth to help you, no matter what the personal cost. Hint: it's usually high. Falls in love too easily but she could never love anyone as much as the Thrift.
It's true - well-behaved women never make history. I'd be in favour of post-series fic although I don't see her marriage lasting for a second. I don't think she was ever in love with Marsham, but if you made me buy it then I would probably buy you a drink. I think Sidney worships her from afar, Ethel Carr would want to be her if she had the courage and the cash, and that with time Eleanor and her new stepmother would get on famously and gang up against Robert.
Harriet Vane
She knows she should be writing Srs Bzns literature....but dammit, crime novels are more fun (so is sleuthing).
If Lord Peter didn't keep asking her to marry him, she would quite happily be his mistress. And she once, in an effort to get her feelings for him out of her system, tried to write a trashy romance novel about a British aristocrat with Issues and a sassy young novelist. No-one ever saw it until Peter made her show it to him and now he teases her mercilessly and refers to himself as a romantic hero. If she misses one more deadline because she was out fighting crime with her husband, her publisher will give her a stern talking to. Again.
Marguerite Blakeney, aka La St Juste
She's the cleverest woman in Europe. Most of the time.
I'd love to see pre-TSP Marguerite fic, dealing with her life as an actress, her relationship with Armand (which can be romantic/sexual if you want) and her Revolutionary politics. Various adaptations of TSP have included a major Marguerite/Chauvelin emphasis which I really don't get from the books but I'd like to see in fic. Failing that, Marguerite rescuing Percy, or gratuitous snarking at a ball. Pre-novel, post-wedding angst is also a favourite.
Then again, if you have a better idea - write it! If it's fic about any of those women, I will like it. If, for whatever reason, you're not comfortable writing any of the main female characters I've suggested and would rather boyslash it - Sully/Cloud Dancing, Marsham/Robert or Marsham/O'Neill, Lord Peter/Bunter and Percy/Chauvelin or Percy/Armand will do.
Thanks again,
ladyvivien
xoxo