Writing I love...
So this began life as a "dear Yuletide author" letter, but it probably serves as least as well as a guide to the kinds of things I like in fiction (not just fan fiction) and I hope also as a list of reasons why the three book fandoms I made my requests in are absolutely awesome and need more love. If you are my Yuletide author, please remember that the lists below are as much about what I love in published fiction is in fan fiction, that I know that some of the things I love really won't work with the requests I've made and that trying to include them all would quickly drive you insane :-)
Things I like --
Character driven action plots; political cities (think Berylon from Song for the Basilisk, or Cardegoss in Chalion); strong women; ambiguous characters, especially if they're women; characters who are more competent than they appear; characters pretending to be morally worse than they are; people keeping or recovering their integrity, especially in situations where that's hard; characters wresting grace out of chaos; characters striving for goals more important than their own happiness; characters putting honour and integrity above love and their own interests; complex characters; happy endings; people having to work for their happy endings; happy endings that suggest there is still more work to be done; people facing and overcoming real trials and difficulties; people who love each other working together; platonic love being as important as romantic love; lovers who value, trust and like each other; comrades who know they can rely on each other; people who support each other; music and stories; hope; compromise; messy relationships between characters, not necessarily romantic ones; stories that are driven by relationships, not necessarily romantic ones; protagonists who act and do things rather than just letting the story happen around them; flawed characters; likeable characters; characters living with integrity in societies that lack it; people who manage to change their worlds for the better; cynical characters who believe in people; intelligent writing; acts that have consequences; people being smart; people being competent; fantasy in settings that aren't mediaeval Europe; people making their own families; ruthless characters acting with compassion; unexpected kindness; triple-crosses; second chances; duels of nerve; fluid power dynamics; a strong sense of place; characters who can do more than they think;
In fan fiction I like long plotty gen, or stories where the romantic relationship is part of a larger plot. I like stories that spin-off canon or follow through implications that are there in canon but not dwelt on. I like stories focusing on relationships between characters I like anyway and characterisation that is canon based. I like stories that do different things at different levels, (except where I don't).
Some of my favourite authors are Lois McMaster Bujold, Megan Whalen Turner, Diana Wynne Jones (especially Ingary and Dalemark), Patricia Finney, Patricia McKillip (especially Song for the Basilisk and the Riddle Master Trilogy). My favourite LMB book is Memory. I'm sure I will love the Lymond series, but I've only read book one so far. A book is most likely to leave me cold if I don't care what happens to the characters or whether or not they succeed. So my yuletide author starts with a built in advantage because I love all the characters I've requested. I was slightly shocked during Yuletide signups to realise how many series I couldn't offer because of only having read books one or two -- a lot of things by Sharon Shinn come into that category. Please do recommend in the comments other things you think I might like.
In fanfiction, I'm not fond of prequels, missing scenes or anything where canon already tells me what happens next. I'm also not fond of extreme AUs -- e.g. the characters are all in a modern high school -- although I can be very fond of "what if..." stories that can break off from any point in canon and take the story in another direction. (Although the specific detailed requests I've made for Yuletide pretty much all pick up at the end of the stories in the books). I don't like character assassination, especially if it's to justify that heros doing things that would otherwise be horribly cruel.
Sex scenes tend to bore me and I often skim read them unless the specific detail of what is going on seems to be very important for developing characterisation, plot or relationship. If the sex really does do something important to the story (and with some of my requests it might) then feel free to go for as high a rating as you need to make the story work, but it's totally not something I require and I'd hate to get a story that was basically PWP. I wouldn't enjoy incest or chan. Also, not BDSM or most types of kink -- I suspect that this is a subset of not being particularly interested in sex scenes for their own sake.
More general things I don't like -- Deathfic; torture (unless surrounded with a lot of comfort); unrelieved bleakness; an authorial message that the world is hopeless and nothing can be changed (I'm actually thinking more of profic offenders here, though I wouldn't much enjoy that message in a Yuletide gift); pure fluff or schmoop; resolution of costly situations without actual cost; deus ex machina endings; love equating to a complete personality transplant; love conquers all -- especially when there is no reason love is relevant to the issues at stake; love seeming so important that all responsibilities and integrity is sacrificed for it; fated mates and soul bonds; particularly soul bonds meaning the relationship works by magic with no need to get to know each other or work for each other's good; romantic love that would require a restraining order in real life; one-dimensional gods; "good" characters belittling other people; characters, especially women, who are too stupid to live; people we are told are brave/clever/good but never given any evidence to show it; characters who don't spot things that a seven-year-old reader does; authorial condemnation for things that were actually reasonable decisions in hard circumstances; authorial support for things that would be unjustifiable if they hadn't been done by the heros; the author generally telling me what I should think in contradiction of the story s/he is showing me (why yes, I am thinking of RTD)
Again dear author, please do remember that I'm talking generally about what I like, not what I expect you to put into my story!
I didn't plan it this way, but all three of my requests have certain similarities of theme (although I did offer some alternatives). All three of them include characters I love and all of them are characters that the books leave in good or at least optimistic places, but also places that involve relationships, romantic or not, that are complicated, unconventional or unacceptable in their setting. All the books leave me with reasonable confidence that the characters are going to make things work out, but all of them also leave me with the feeling that there is a lot more to be said about just how things do work and what happens along the way. I'd love to see the characters making good in their lives and supporting good things for each other in spite of the obstacles they are all undoubtedly going to face. In any case, I'd really like the focus to be on the characters I've requested, unless you go for the specific alternative scenarios in my Song for the Basilisk request.
I will be cut tagging the specific requests as they all contain spoilers for the books
Fandom 1; Song for the Basilisk by Patricia McKillip
I read this relatively recently and it is not the easiest book to find, but it was a total joy to read. It hits pretty much all my buttons -- a strong presence of the city, political intrigue, characters I really care about (and not just the hero), strong women, ambiguity, strength manifesting itself in unconventional ways and the everpresent music of scholars and bards.
I asked for Caladrius and Luna and my detailed request was "I'd love to see Caladrius/Luna set after the book ends -- not so much love conquers all as love in among all the politics of Berylon and the weight of their own history and identities and being able to make a future for themselves without abdicating their other passions and responsibilities. Or Caladrius on his return to the hinterlands asking what it means to be a bard, what he finds there and what he becomes. Or what happens after the destruction of Luny and what the bards do next to preserve, recover or rebuild their music and tradition -- bonus points there for including Hollis. Or a story with two or more of these things. Including music in the plot would be a great thing. Feel free to ignore my character requests if you go for the Luny or hinterlands options. No death fic or pwp please.". Who am I kidding? I could request a dozen stories I'd love from this book alone.
Fandom 2; the Benjamin January series by Barbara Hambly
This is a series of murder mysteries set in 1830s New Orleans. Benjamin January himself is a joy of a character -- a Paris trained surgeon, with a tragic past, he has returned to the Louisiana leaving his wife dead of the plague in France. He is intelligent, perceptive and has a sense of integrity and justice (and sometimes righteous anger) that runs bone deep even when the entire world around him is at its worst. He is also a "free man of color", the son of a plantation slave and a white man's mistress, who supports himself as a pianist, New Orleans having no use for a doctor who is not white. (So in fact it is another series which is full of music, especially Die upon a Kiss). I wouldn't advise anyone to read these books back to back -- the mysteries can start seeming a little same-ish -- but then the books I really read to ask whodunit. I love the sense of place, the merciless detail of the setting (though it can be heart-wrenching to read), the compassion humanity and dignity of the central characters and the developing bonds between them. If this were a created world, you would expect a fitting resolution to the books to involve the protagonist changing his world for the better; as it is, January can solve a murder, but he cannot create justice in his society, or even free a single slave. And that makes the books hit hard.
And now my confession, and my apology if my Yuletide author offered "any" characters in this fandom. Because I didn't ask for Benjamin himself, or scientifically trained Rose who dreams her dreams despite how unacceptable they are for someone of her sex and race, or Benjamin's full-sister Olympe. No, I asked for Dominique, Henri and Chloe.
My detailed request was "A story about Dominique, Henri and Chloe anytime from the end of Wet Grave onwards. I'd particularly like to see more interaction between Dominique and Chloe, but not femslash or OT3 please. And it would be lovely to see how their unconventional status quo stands up to the unpleasant pressures of their society. Perhaps a story exploring Henri finding out about a friendship between his wife and his mistress, or how Dominique reacts if Chloe wants to know the child she might never have herself, or the way Chloe's youth and her hard-nosed business ability work against each other (and does this come up against Dominique's own strengths?), or about what happens if other people (maybe Chloe and Henri's family, but maybe Dominique's mother and friends) realise just how they are living their lives. Lots of local detail would be great and so would including Ben, but I'd definitely like the focus to be on Dominique, Chloe and Henri. No death fic or pwp please." This wasn't because there are not a lot of other stories with other characters that really deserve writing in this universe, but because I would love to see these three, relatively minor, characters create a way of life that can work for them on their terms despite everything their world can throw at them. I thought that Die upon a Kiss and Wet Grave really dealt well with the precariousness of Dominique's life an happiness. But although some truly dark or despondent stories would certainly be possible in the world of the books (and then it all became too hard and Dominique's lover abandoned her and she was forced onto the streets to support her children, before ultimately dying of cholera...), I'd really like a hopeful story. I don't want you to dismiss the difficulties, but I'd love to see them overcome. I specifically asked for not OT3 or femslash because it feels that that would be an easy way out, removing issues rather than tackling them and I'd really rather Chloe develops into a strong woman with her own happy-enough ending without her frigidity being magically solved. However I do understand that the details in Yuletide requests are optional, and I do realise that I've made a hard enough request with the characters alone.
Fandom 3; the Fire's Stone by Tanya Huff
This is another hard to find book that I love insanely for its characters. (It was reprinted as part of a combined volume, but the story it was packaged with is not nearly so good). The setting is vaguely Indian (the names, the racial make up and the general visual "feel" seem Indian, although the religion is very closely linked to the way magic works in this world and neither the religion nor the geography has real-world parallels that I can identify.) The plot sounds somewhat generic -- a wastrel prince, the neighbouring princess who does not want an arranged marriage to him and an outlander thief search for a stolen doodad to prevent the destruction of the kingdom. But the joy for me is in the details. For a start, this is one of the few books I can think of that genuinely has three main characters; they are all important, they are all given time on the page, each of them has a significant and developed relationship with each of the other two and it is truly not possible to break them down into stereotypes of "hero", "love interest" and "sidekick". They act with intelligence and common sense but not perfection or supernatural knowledge; their strengths are real but come with natural failings. And the author follows through on the consequences of her characterisation; for example Darvish is a drunken and debauched Prince -- this doesn't just lead to tortured angst, but to alcoholism and STDs (even if the healers' magic makes this not as dreadful as it could be).
My detailed request was "I'd really like to read Aaron /Darvish focusing on their relationship just after the book ends. It would be great to have Chandra present too, but not as part of a threesome -- one of the things I like about the book, and particularly its resolution is that there are really strong bonds between all three of them, but the bonds are not the same and don't need to be the same to be important and powerful. Maybe one or more of the following; Aaron making a place for himself in Chandra's court despite having no defined "job" there; Darvish exposed to the temptations to return to his old dissolute ways (and hopefully overcoming them); Chandra realising that regardless of her love life she already has strong responsibilities and commitments that temper total absorption in magic; the difference between Aaron and Darvish's previous experience, sexual, romantic or otherwise; factions within Chandra's court courting either or both of the guys to advance their own causes (and may
be playing divide and conquer?); Chandra using magic; Aaron working out what commitments Darvish has made to him and how secure he can be when he has no pulic role in this relationship (communication and miscommunication are both good here!) No death fic or pwp please although any rating is okay". I think that speaks for itself really and is probably the most obvious request based on the book. Again, I asked for not OT3 because I like the delicate, but asymmetrical balance in which the relationships are left at the end of the book, although I honestly think that there would be quite a lot of talking things out, trying to live them out and possibly misunderstandings before they really made them work.
And that is far greater length than anybody probably wants to read, but it's a good place to refer back to if anyone wants to know my tastes in fiction. I stuck with three requests, because these were the three fandoms in which I knew not only that I wanted a story in this world, but that I passionately wanted one about specific characters. If I had had to extend to four requests, the fourth would have involved either Megan Whalen Turner's thief series or Diana Wynne Jones's Dalemark quartet, with either of Lois McMaster Bujold major worlds as a fallback.
Things I like --
Character driven action plots; political cities (think Berylon from Song for the Basilisk, or Cardegoss in Chalion); strong women; ambiguous characters, especially if they're women; characters who are more competent than they appear; characters pretending to be morally worse than they are; people keeping or recovering their integrity, especially in situations where that's hard; characters wresting grace out of chaos; characters striving for goals more important than their own happiness; characters putting honour and integrity above love and their own interests; complex characters; happy endings; people having to work for their happy endings; happy endings that suggest there is still more work to be done; people facing and overcoming real trials and difficulties; people who love each other working together; platonic love being as important as romantic love; lovers who value, trust and like each other; comrades who know they can rely on each other; people who support each other; music and stories; hope; compromise; messy relationships between characters, not necessarily romantic ones; stories that are driven by relationships, not necessarily romantic ones; protagonists who act and do things rather than just letting the story happen around them; flawed characters; likeable characters; characters living with integrity in societies that lack it; people who manage to change their worlds for the better; cynical characters who believe in people; intelligent writing; acts that have consequences; people being smart; people being competent; fantasy in settings that aren't mediaeval Europe; people making their own families; ruthless characters acting with compassion; unexpected kindness; triple-crosses; second chances; duels of nerve; fluid power dynamics; a strong sense of place; characters who can do more than they think;
In fan fiction I like long plotty gen, or stories where the romantic relationship is part of a larger plot. I like stories that spin-off canon or follow through implications that are there in canon but not dwelt on. I like stories focusing on relationships between characters I like anyway and characterisation that is canon based. I like stories that do different things at different levels, (except where I don't).
Some of my favourite authors are Lois McMaster Bujold, Megan Whalen Turner, Diana Wynne Jones (especially Ingary and Dalemark), Patricia Finney, Patricia McKillip (especially Song for the Basilisk and the Riddle Master Trilogy). My favourite LMB book is Memory. I'm sure I will love the Lymond series, but I've only read book one so far. A book is most likely to leave me cold if I don't care what happens to the characters or whether or not they succeed. So my yuletide author starts with a built in advantage because I love all the characters I've requested. I was slightly shocked during Yuletide signups to realise how many series I couldn't offer because of only having read books one or two -- a lot of things by Sharon Shinn come into that category. Please do recommend in the comments other things you think I might like.
In fanfiction, I'm not fond of prequels, missing scenes or anything where canon already tells me what happens next. I'm also not fond of extreme AUs -- e.g. the characters are all in a modern high school -- although I can be very fond of "what if..." stories that can break off from any point in canon and take the story in another direction. (Although the specific detailed requests I've made for Yuletide pretty much all pick up at the end of the stories in the books). I don't like character assassination, especially if it's to justify that heros doing things that would otherwise be horribly cruel.
Sex scenes tend to bore me and I often skim read them unless the specific detail of what is going on seems to be very important for developing characterisation, plot or relationship. If the sex really does do something important to the story (and with some of my requests it might) then feel free to go for as high a rating as you need to make the story work, but it's totally not something I require and I'd hate to get a story that was basically PWP. I wouldn't enjoy incest or chan. Also, not BDSM or most types of kink -- I suspect that this is a subset of not being particularly interested in sex scenes for their own sake.
More general things I don't like -- Deathfic; torture (unless surrounded with a lot of comfort); unrelieved bleakness; an authorial message that the world is hopeless and nothing can be changed (I'm actually thinking more of profic offenders here, though I wouldn't much enjoy that message in a Yuletide gift); pure fluff or schmoop; resolution of costly situations without actual cost; deus ex machina endings; love equating to a complete personality transplant; love conquers all -- especially when there is no reason love is relevant to the issues at stake; love seeming so important that all responsibilities and integrity is sacrificed for it; fated mates and soul bonds; particularly soul bonds meaning the relationship works by magic with no need to get to know each other or work for each other's good; romantic love that would require a restraining order in real life; one-dimensional gods; "good" characters belittling other people; characters, especially women, who are too stupid to live; people we are told are brave/clever/good but never given any evidence to show it; characters who don't spot things that a seven-year-old reader does; authorial condemnation for things that were actually reasonable decisions in hard circumstances; authorial support for things that would be unjustifiable if they hadn't been done by the heros; the author generally telling me what I should think in contradiction of the story s/he is showing me (why yes, I am thinking of RTD)
Again dear author, please do remember that I'm talking generally about what I like, not what I expect you to put into my story!
I didn't plan it this way, but all three of my requests have certain similarities of theme (although I did offer some alternatives). All three of them include characters I love and all of them are characters that the books leave in good or at least optimistic places, but also places that involve relationships, romantic or not, that are complicated, unconventional or unacceptable in their setting. All the books leave me with reasonable confidence that the characters are going to make things work out, but all of them also leave me with the feeling that there is a lot more to be said about just how things do work and what happens along the way. I'd love to see the characters making good in their lives and supporting good things for each other in spite of the obstacles they are all undoubtedly going to face. In any case, I'd really like the focus to be on the characters I've requested, unless you go for the specific alternative scenarios in my Song for the Basilisk request.
I will be cut tagging the specific requests as they all contain spoilers for the books
Fandom 1; Song for the Basilisk by Patricia McKillip
I read this relatively recently and it is not the easiest book to find, but it was a total joy to read. It hits pretty much all my buttons -- a strong presence of the city, political intrigue, characters I really care about (and not just the hero), strong women, ambiguity, strength manifesting itself in unconventional ways and the everpresent music of scholars and bards.
I asked for Caladrius and Luna and my detailed request was "I'd love to see Caladrius/Luna set after the book ends -- not so much love conquers all as love in among all the politics of Berylon and the weight of their own history and identities and being able to make a future for themselves without abdicating their other passions and responsibilities. Or Caladrius on his return to the hinterlands asking what it means to be a bard, what he finds there and what he becomes. Or what happens after the destruction of Luny and what the bards do next to preserve, recover or rebuild their music and tradition -- bonus points there for including Hollis. Or a story with two or more of these things. Including music in the plot would be a great thing. Feel free to ignore my character requests if you go for the Luny or hinterlands options. No death fic or pwp please.". Who am I kidding? I could request a dozen stories I'd love from this book alone.
Fandom 2; the Benjamin January series by Barbara Hambly
This is a series of murder mysteries set in 1830s New Orleans. Benjamin January himself is a joy of a character -- a Paris trained surgeon, with a tragic past, he has returned to the Louisiana leaving his wife dead of the plague in France. He is intelligent, perceptive and has a sense of integrity and justice (and sometimes righteous anger) that runs bone deep even when the entire world around him is at its worst. He is also a "free man of color", the son of a plantation slave and a white man's mistress, who supports himself as a pianist, New Orleans having no use for a doctor who is not white. (So in fact it is another series which is full of music, especially Die upon a Kiss). I wouldn't advise anyone to read these books back to back -- the mysteries can start seeming a little same-ish -- but then the books I really read to ask whodunit. I love the sense of place, the merciless detail of the setting (though it can be heart-wrenching to read), the compassion humanity and dignity of the central characters and the developing bonds between them. If this were a created world, you would expect a fitting resolution to the books to involve the protagonist changing his world for the better; as it is, January can solve a murder, but he cannot create justice in his society, or even free a single slave. And that makes the books hit hard.
And now my confession, and my apology if my Yuletide author offered "any" characters in this fandom. Because I didn't ask for Benjamin himself, or scientifically trained Rose who dreams her dreams despite how unacceptable they are for someone of her sex and race, or Benjamin's full-sister Olympe. No, I asked for Dominique, Henri and Chloe.
My detailed request was "A story about Dominique, Henri and Chloe anytime from the end of Wet Grave onwards. I'd particularly like to see more interaction between Dominique and Chloe, but not femslash or OT3 please. And it would be lovely to see how their unconventional status quo stands up to the unpleasant pressures of their society. Perhaps a story exploring Henri finding out about a friendship between his wife and his mistress, or how Dominique reacts if Chloe wants to know the child she might never have herself, or the way Chloe's youth and her hard-nosed business ability work against each other (and does this come up against Dominique's own strengths?), or about what happens if other people (maybe Chloe and Henri's family, but maybe Dominique's mother and friends) realise just how they are living their lives. Lots of local detail would be great and so would including Ben, but I'd definitely like the focus to be on Dominique, Chloe and Henri. No death fic or pwp please." This wasn't because there are not a lot of other stories with other characters that really deserve writing in this universe, but because I would love to see these three, relatively minor, characters create a way of life that can work for them on their terms despite everything their world can throw at them. I thought that Die upon a Kiss and Wet Grave really dealt well with the precariousness of Dominique's life an happiness. But although some truly dark or despondent stories would certainly be possible in the world of the books (and then it all became too hard and Dominique's lover abandoned her and she was forced onto the streets to support her children, before ultimately dying of cholera...), I'd really like a hopeful story. I don't want you to dismiss the difficulties, but I'd love to see them overcome. I specifically asked for not OT3 or femslash because it feels that that would be an easy way out, removing issues rather than tackling them and I'd really rather Chloe develops into a strong woman with her own happy-enough ending without her frigidity being magically solved. However I do understand that the details in Yuletide requests are optional, and I do realise that I've made a hard enough request with the characters alone.
Fandom 3; the Fire's Stone by Tanya Huff
This is another hard to find book that I love insanely for its characters. (It was reprinted as part of a combined volume, but the story it was packaged with is not nearly so good). The setting is vaguely Indian (the names, the racial make up and the general visual "feel" seem Indian, although the religion is very closely linked to the way magic works in this world and neither the religion nor the geography has real-world parallels that I can identify.) The plot sounds somewhat generic -- a wastrel prince, the neighbouring princess who does not want an arranged marriage to him and an outlander thief search for a stolen doodad to prevent the destruction of the kingdom. But the joy for me is in the details. For a start, this is one of the few books I can think of that genuinely has three main characters; they are all important, they are all given time on the page, each of them has a significant and developed relationship with each of the other two and it is truly not possible to break them down into stereotypes of "hero", "love interest" and "sidekick". They act with intelligence and common sense but not perfection or supernatural knowledge; their strengths are real but come with natural failings. And the author follows through on the consequences of her characterisation; for example Darvish is a drunken and debauched Prince -- this doesn't just lead to tortured angst, but to alcoholism and STDs (even if the healers' magic makes this not as dreadful as it could be).
My detailed request was "I'd really like to read Aaron /Darvish focusing on their relationship just after the book ends. It would be great to have Chandra present too, but not as part of a threesome -- one of the things I like about the book, and particularly its resolution is that there are really strong bonds between all three of them, but the bonds are not the same and don't need to be the same to be important and powerful. Maybe one or more of the following; Aaron making a place for himself in Chandra's court despite having no defined "job" there; Darvish exposed to the temptations to return to his old dissolute ways (and hopefully overcoming them); Chandra realising that regardless of her love life she already has strong responsibilities and commitments that temper total absorption in magic; the difference between Aaron and Darvish's previous experience, sexual, romantic or otherwise; factions within Chandra's court courting either or both of the guys to advance their own causes (and may
be playing divide and conquer?); Chandra using magic; Aaron working out what commitments Darvish has made to him and how secure he can be when he has no pulic role in this relationship (communication and miscommunication are both good here!) No death fic or pwp please although any rating is okay". I think that speaks for itself really and is probably the most obvious request based on the book. Again, I asked for not OT3 because I like the delicate, but asymmetrical balance in which the relationships are left at the end of the book, although I honestly think that there would be quite a lot of talking things out, trying to live them out and possibly misunderstandings before they really made them work.
And that is far greater length than anybody probably wants to read, but it's a good place to refer back to if anyone wants to know my tastes in fiction. I stuck with three requests, because these were the three fandoms in which I knew not only that I wanted a story in this world, but that I passionately wanted one about specific characters. If I had had to extend to four requests, the fourth would have involved either Megan Whalen Turner's thief series or Diana Wynne Jones's Dalemark quartet, with either of Lois McMaster Bujold major worlds as a fallback.