Yuletide Letter 2015
Dear Yuletide Writer,
I am very excited about Yuletide this year (or rather every year) and I'm very happy that we apparently both love one of those fandoms below. Thank you for writing a fic for me and for taking the time to have a look at this letter. My letters tend to get long and rambling, I hope you don't mind that. I obviously don't expect you to include every single thing I've mentioned in this letter because I'm pretty sure that's impossible anyway. But I always prefer to write longer letters and give you more things to choose from rather than leave you with two prompts you might both hate (and I'm terrible at not being wordy, there's that).
I've listed some general likes and dislikes, followed by a long list of tropes and kinks I enjoy. Again, those are just there to give you some ideas, don't feel like you have to cram all of that stuff into one fic. Then there are some fandom-specific sections with a whole bunch of prompts. I've copied&pasted a lot from previous exchange letters, but that's simply because my likes and interests haven't really changed much recently.
I hope that you'll find something in this letter that you'll enjoy writing, some prompt that interests you or some tropes that you like. I absolutely love all the fandoms and characters I've requested and I'm excited to receive a fic about any of them, so as long as you try to include a few of my likes and don't include any of my DNWs, I'm sure I will love your fic. :D
I use the same name on AO3 and tumblr as here.
Things I like:
- I generally like ship fic (mostly slash): I adore first time fics, but I also like established relationships, I like porn as much as I like more subtle sexual tension, I like fluffier things and I like filthy smut. I also adore plotty fics in which a bunch of other things happen to my ship as well, so it doesn't have to be all romance/porn. For all my fandoms I've listed one or several ships I would enjoy reading about.
- if you'd rather write gen/if you don't ship my ships/if you want to combine any of the following things with a ship, I also like: background stories about a character's past, first meetings and impressions (especially if we didn't get to see that in canon), missing scenes from canon, plotty future/post-canon fics that explore where these characters are going, plotty what-if fics that explore what would have happened if a character had made a different choice, fics from a different POV than usual in canon, fics from an outside POV ...
- in general, I am most interested in characters and character interactions and development of relationships over time, whether shippy or not; I also love casefic and plotty fics, but I'd still love there to be some focus on the characters
- I would love to receive porn in my fic, although I'd rather not get a complete PWP. There is, however, no need to include porn if you don't like to write porn or if it just doesn't fit into your fic.
- I'm fine with dark themes (violence, noncon, depression, whatever you need for the plot, I have no particular triggers, though I'd rather not get super graphic gore or animal deaths) and I enjoy angsty fics, but I'd prefer if my fic wasn't completely tragic. It doesn't have to be all sunshine and rainbows, but a bit of hope would be nice, and I'd rather my favourite characters/ships get a happy or semi-happy ending, even if they have to go through terrible things before they get it.
Things I do not like:
- major character death, especially of my favourite characters, and completely tragic/dark endings
- crossovers (unless explicitly requested), fusions, complete AUs (a bit of canon divergence is fine, but no high school AUs, coffee shop AUs, supernatural AUs etc.). The only exception: I like daemon fics a lot. (As in His Dark Materials daemons.)
- please don't include any ships (including canon ships) I didn't explicitly request
- genderbend fics of any kind, mpreg, A/B/O, characters being vampires/werewolves/anything but human (unless they already aren't human in canon, of course)
- I don't mind noncon as such, but please no noncon between my requested ships; a bit of dubcon due to power imbalances is okay, though, as long as everyone ends up enjoying themselves
- permanently unrequited love for my ships (pining is fine, initially unrequited love is fine, thinking for a while that it's unrequited is fine, but I wouldn't want the fic to end with "A loves B and B doesn't love A back")
- I have a major pet peeve for epithets like "the blond one said this", "the taller man did that", "the soldier replied". Please use people's names and pronouns. I'd also rather not get a fic written in the 1st or 2nd person.
Other tropes and kinks I like:
Again, I know this list is long and I obviously don't expect you to include all of this stuff. But if they generally fit into your fic and if they're things that you like to write about, I would love it if you included any of the following themes/tropes/kinks (listed in no particular order):
Non-sexual:
- themes like loyalty, codependency, obsession, trust, and commitment issues
- complicated, codependent, obsessive family relationships (whether incestuous or not)
- characters dealing with moral dilemmas, having to question their principles, or simply wanting to do things they think they shouldn't be doing. This can be anything from "doing this would shake my entire worldview" to "maybe I shouldn't screw my boss".
- intimacy, familiarity, people knowing about each other's everyday habits/hang-ups (especially in contrast to how nobody else knows them that well)
- difficulties to express feelings verbally and non-verbal expressions of affection
- age differences
- protectiveness/going ballistic when the other one is threatened
- jealousy/possessiveness
- us-against-the-world
- hurt/comfort, taking care of each other
- sharing food/drinks/cigarettes/clothes
- sleep-related themes (sharing a bed, falling asleep on the other's shoulder, waking the other, having dreams about each other, comforting the other after nightmares etc.)
Sexual:
- clothes fetishisation (sex between a dressed and an undressed person; one of them having a thing for the other's clothes (tailored suits, uniforms, leather gloves/boots/jackets, silk shirts etc.); people dressing/undressing each other; someone casual cleans up nicely, someone who's always prim and proper looks dishevelled for once)
- asphyxiation/breathplay/choking, touching/kissing/biting/petting the other's throat/neck, oversensitive necks, hickeys, marking
- characters losing control in bed (speechlessness, whimpering, moaning, shivering, begging)
- messiness (sweat, come play, dishevelled clothes, dishevelled hair, breathlessness etc.)
- first time sex (i.e. first time between the two characters; exploring each other's bodies, finding out slowly what the other one likes)
- small gestures of affection/casual touching/discreet PDA; accidental touching/stimulation
- seduction (sweet talking, dirty talk, teasing, eyefucking)
- sexual fantasies, daydreaming, masturbation, especially before the characters get together
- massages, backrubs, stroking the other's hair
- friction, frottage, intercrural (anal is fine, too, obviously)
- banter/teasing (during sex and otherwise)
- competence kink/admiration
- praise kink
- body worship, people being madly attracted to each other, getting distracted because they're staring at each other
- scars and their history
- hand fetish (strong/soft/rough/calloused/gentle hands, long fingers, handling guns/knives/cigarettes etc., kissing the other's wrists/fingers)
- beards and stubble, beard burn on the other person's cheek/neck/thighs ...
- voice/accent kink
- oral fixation (licking/biting one's lips, drinking from beer bottles, smoking)
- oral sex, rimming
- light bondage/restraints (pinning someone down, holding their wrists, holding their mouth shut with one hand, blindfolds, actually tying them up, collars), D/s overtones (ordering the other to undress, to kneel, to hold still etc.) - for my requested ships I'm more into casual D/s that slowly develops over time than into very formalised, minutely negotiated BDSM
- gun/knife play
- sex on tables/sofas/against walls etc. (sex in beds is great, too)
About my fandoms:
The Raven Cycle
Ronan Lynch, Richard Gansey III
I mostly love these books for the characters. My absolute favourite is Ronan (how original of me) - I'd especially love to find out more about his family history, the whole greywaren thing, and the beginnings of his friendship with Gansey. There's so much in canon that's only hinted at about Ronan and I'd love any fic that fleshes this out. The same goes for Gansey, even if it's somewhat less obvious with him. But there are hidden depths to him that he hides so well in his attempts to be the responsible one, the one who's there for his friends, to the point where he doesn't really let himself dwell on his own issues a lot of the time. I also find the magical part of these books fascinating, mostly Ronan's dream magic and everything linked to it (less so Cabeswater and the Glendower quest, but I don't mind those either). And I'm really in love with the Barns.
I also adore most other characters in this series and am perfectly okay with them appearing as well. I'm particularly a fan of Declan and Niall, and the whole Lynch clan fascinates me a lot: Declan and Ronan's complicated relationship (and how it changed after their father's death), that messy obsessive love between Niall and Ronan, Ronan's love for the Barns, Gansey's love for the Barns, Gansey getting to meet Ronan's family, Gansey's kinda conflicted relationship with Declan when it comes to taking care of Ronan ... So some of my prompts include the other Lynches as well, but obviously you shouldn't feel obliged to include them if you don't like writing about them. I also love Adam a lot and am always happy to see him in fics; I'm not the biggest fan of Blue and Noah, but I don't mind them appearing as long as the whole fic isn't about them. And I love Kavinsky for the horrible mess he is, he entertains me to no end.
My OTP in this fandom is Ronan/Gansey so I'd love to receive shipfic about them, but I also love fics exploring their super intense friendship if that's more your thing. I also ship the following ships if you want to include those as well: Declan/Adam (my other endgame OTP besides Ronan/Gansey), Ronan/Declan, Ronan/Niall, Declan/Niall, Niall/Declan/Ronan, Niall/Ronan/Gansey, Gansey/Ronan/Declan, Niall/Gansey, and I love Ronan/Kavinsky as the unhealthy mess it is in canon, but I'm not interested in fluffy happy takes on that ship. I would, by the way, be perfectly okay with getting a fic about just Ronan/Declan, Ronan/Niall, Gansey/Ronan/(Declan and/or Niall) or Declan/Adam, if you don't particularly feel like writing Ronan/Gansey. I have some prompts for those ships in other exchange letters from this year: Declan/Adam, Lynchcest.
I do not ship Ronan/Adam and Blue/Gansey in any way, so I would ask you not to include those ships in my fic. Not even a little bit. I do love Ronan and Adam's friendship, though, and Adam and Gansey's friendship, just nothing romantic/sexual.
A few fic ideas, feel free to combine them in any way:
- any fic about the beginnings of Ronan and Gansey's friendship: how Gansey befriended Ronan, what Ronan was like before his father died, how they grew so close etc.
- Gansey at the Barns, Gansey meeting Niall and Declan, Gansey's wonder and awe at the place
- anything set around the time of Niall's death: Ronan's immediate reaction, how he changed afterwards, how Gansey felt about the whole thing, when exactly Ronan moved into Monmouth etc. If you want to include Declan in this as well, I'd love that.
- creepy dream magic, Ronan's nightmares, Ronan's dreamworld (any overlap with Niall's dreamworld? shared dreams?), Ronan and Gansey being there for each other on insomniac nights
- what's up with the devil Ronan saw Niall shoot? I'd generally be interested in anything that explores how religious Ronan is (and I'm assuming Niall was just as religious) and how this affects and is affected by his dream abilities.
- getting together fic! I always love those. I'd especially be interested to see if/how their relationship changes once sex becomes a part of it, and how exactly that happened. I'm good with any scenario for this - Ronan being in denial about being in love with his best friend and Gansey going for it, Gansey being a bit repressed and Ronan going for it, slow UST build-up until they just can't stay away from each other ... Whatever works for you.
- what if they had already started a sexual relationship before Niall's death, but Niall's death put an end to that? Because Ronan was depressed and not even remotely in the mood, because he needed a friend rather than a lover, because Gansey felt like he had to take care of Ronan now and didn't want to take advantage of him ... I'd love to see that idea explored. Although I would of course be happiest if they eventually got back together.
- outside POVs: the rest of the gang, Kavinsky, Declan and Matthew, Gansey's family ... Bonus if people already assumed they were together even before they were.
- I'm always here for plotty fics that continue the canon storyline, just with less of the 'true love' and Blue/Gansey stuff that I don't like about canon. ;) Especially if you write something about Gansey dying and then somehow being brought back to life, for example by Ronan dreaming him back to life. I'd love to see how Ronan deals with losing him (probably really, really badly), how dying would change Gansey, what Gansey would do with himself with his Glendower quest over etc.
- generally, this ship is made for D/s, so if you want to write something kinky in that direction, go for it. And while dom!Gansey is kind of the more obvious thing to go with (and I love it), I don't mind Ronan topping Gansey every now and then.
- I'd love to see Ronan taking care of Gansey because most of the time it's the other way around, but I think they both need each other equally.
Furious 7 (2015)
Deckard Shaw, Owen Shaw
I only watched Furious 7 this summer because I love Jason Statham, expecting nothing but a fun action movie. Instead (or rather on top of the fun action movie) I got an awesome, terrifying, cool villain on a roaring rampage of revenge because someone had dared to hurt his little brother, and me being me I ended up shipping them of course. Went back to watch Fast & Furious 6 so I could meet the little brother before he was in a coma, and he didn't disappoint either, all meticulous and ruthless and with a not so well hidden sadistic streak. Those two just hit so many of my buttons: ruthless bad guys who would do anything for each other, who are all they have in the world and who don't give a damn about anyone else. But I figure their relationship is also pretty complex: they don't seem to work together all the time (since Owen has his well functioning little team while Deckard seems more the One Man Army type), so maybe they don't actually like working together all that much? Maybe their relationship is kinda tumultuous and they sometimes need time away from each other? Or maybe it's just a pragmatic decision and they actually hate being apart?
Another thing that fascinates me is that, according to the files we see in the movies, Deckard is eight years older than Owen. Meaning Owen was still a kid when Deckard joined the military and all but let him behind and could only visit a few times a year - was there resentment about that or not? (I'm oddly fond of bb!Owen all but demanding that Deckard kill their father if he's leaving, but if you want to go with something less obvious than an asshole father, that's fine by me, too.) I figure Owen must have had one hell of a case of hero worship, since he followed pretty much exactly in his brother's footsteps, while Deckard probably didn't take his little brother all that seriously at first. I'd love to see something about that, too, about Deckard realising that his little brother has grown up and is a bamf in his own right now (something like a first time fic set around the time that Owen joined the military would be great, for example). I love Owen's manipulative, sociopathic streak and how he likes to play the people around him (possibly including his brother), while Deckard kinda more straightforward and pragmatic and so used to cleaning up his little brother's messes when necessary. I'm okay with their relationship being complicated and messy at times, but I do want them to love each other deep down.
I'll be honest and admit that I mostly want shipfic about them (I'm not sure if anyone but me and the few other people who ship them even wants to write/read about them?), so my prompts will have a rather shippy tilt. But if you don't ship them, I wouldn't mind a non-incestuous exploration of their relationship and how it changed over time (I can still always pretend the incest happens later ;)) - I think many of my prompts can be written both as ship fic and as gen.
A few fic ideas, feel free to combine them in any way:
- Deckard is 8 years older than Owen, so Owen was still a kid when Deckard joined the military: how did that go? Was there any resentment on Owen's side? Did he just have a big case of hero worship, since he followed his brother's example as soon as he could?
- at what point did they go from big brother/little brother to equals?
- how did they both manage to get kicked out of the SAS? Did they fuck up? Did one of them fuck up and the other followed him into exile, so to speak? Did they get blamed for someone else's mistake? Did they get greedy and start making money on the side? Or anything about that time the military sent a ton of Special Forces guys to kill Deckard and they failed?
- post-canon fic: either Deckard breaking out of prison and being there while Owen recovers, or Owen waking up from his coma and getting back to his feet and breaking his brother out of prison (I'd prefer if Owen wasn't permanently crippled or anything like that; it's an action movie, people can survive horrific injuries with not much more than a few scars, right?). How does almost dying/getting locked up change their relationship? Roaring rampage of revenge y/y? (While I like the protagonists of the F&F movies, I'm not so emotionally attached to them that I wouldn't happily read about the Shaw brothers getting their revenge against them.)
- if you go the shippy route, any kind of first time fic would be great. When did the incestuous obsession with each other start? When they were still pretty young? Did teenage Owen somehow manipulate his big brother into giving him what he wants? I'm fine with underage as long as Owen is at least 15ish by the time they actually sleep with each other, and I'm cool with Owen fantasising about his brother/being all around inappropriate towards him even when he's younger. Or did it only start when they were in the military together and Deckard saw Owen more as an equal than as his little brother? Did it only start after they got kicked out of the military?
- also for shipfic: for this pairing I love obsessive pining, voyeurism before they get together (i.e. watching each other screw other people), possessiveness/jealousy ("I will kill you if you ever let anyone else fuck you" and the like), rough sex, completely obsessive incestuous codependency, being horrible people to everyone but each other, delighting in each other's horribleness, delighting in each other's badassery, sweaty rough sparring, gun/knife play, kinking on being brothers - basically go kinky if you like.
- if you want to write weird threesomes in which Deckard makes Owen screw a girl to make sure his little brother is straight, while he's in the room, and Owen spends the whole time staring at Deckard ... that would be awesome, as long as the focus is on the brothers and not on the girl.
And there's a Furious 7/Expendables crossover prompt further down in the Expendables section, if you're interested.
Blitz (2011)
Tom Brant, Porter Nash
One of the many many movies I've seen because of my very predictable thing for Jason Statham, but Blitz is actually a really good movie that I enjoyed in a lot of ways. The best thing about it to me (other than Aiden Gillen being hilariously creepy) is the relationship between Nash and Brant, the banter and dickishness on the one side, but there's also a lot of respect and trust on the other side, and it's there pretty much from the start (I love how Brant just shows up at Nash's door to tell him about all his problems basically a day after they met). I'd love to see anything that explores how their relationship develops further after the movie or something exploring what was going on between them during the movie. And I ship them, in case that wasn't clear. ;) I'd really prefer shipfic for these two, but I think some of my prompts can be tweaked into a gen exploration of their friendship, if that's more your thing. I think it's obvious that Brant trusts Nash and is willing to rely on him, and Nash seems very amused by everything Brant chooses to be, so I think all of that would be very entertaining to read about it even without any shippiness.
A few fic ideas, feel free to combine them in any way:
- casefic would be cool, especially if they again use rather unconventional methods to solve the case
- Brant is an asshole and it entertains me to no end, so if you want to write fic about Brant being an asshole to everyone (and Nash being both exasperated and reluctantly amused by it), that'd be great (especially if somewhere in between there are moments of him very much not being an asshole to Nash)
- more instances of Brant showing up at Nash's house in the middle of the night to talk to him, generally any exploration of both their issues and how they cope with them and how they maybe help each other cope
- speaking of issues, we got a glimpse at where Nash's issues come from, but not what messed up Brant so much - just the job in general? any specific cases? something not directly work-related? I'm always a sucker for background fic exploring how characters became the people they are in canon, who their family is, if they're still in touch with their family, any past relationships - and for other characters finding out about their partner's past.
- first time fic! during the movie (maybe even during that first night that Brant shows up at Nash's place, or later during the movie) or after the movie, and how does that go? Do they grow closer and are repressed about their feelings for ages before Brant finally gets over himself? Do they hook up one night and then not talk about it for ages? Do they keep hooking up and not talking about it until Nash insists they talk about it? Does Brant get a jealousy fit next time Nash dates another guy?
- I have a thing for Nash topping from the bottom (bonus for humiliating dirty talk about how Brant is a brute and not good for much except for fucking him, and Brant getting off on all the things Nash says to him). You absolutely don't have to write them that way, but if you like writing that sort of thing, I'm so here for it. All my kinks in the kink list up there apply, and especially D/s and bondage and dirty talk and I don't think I mentioned collars but collars are great? Oh, and both of them kinking on how differently built they are, Brant's bulk vs. Nash being all skinny.
- considering Brant's whole macho persona, I wouldn't be surprised if he has one hell of a case of internalised homophobia - and that he's either completely in denial about being gay, or regularly screwing guys but kind of hating himself for it. So feel free to do something with that: does it impact when/how he and Nash get together? Does it impact their relationship because Nash has to deal with being out while dating a guy who's in the deepest closet ever and has no intention of ever leaving it?
And while I said I didn't like crossovers and didn't actually request Rivers of London this year, if you are familiar with Rivers of London and feel like writing a crossover, go ahead. Because if you want to give me the hilarity of Tom Brant having a fit because MAGIC EXISTS and thinking he's losing his mind, Brant meeting Nightingale and Peter (and finding Nightingale obnoxious, while Peter would probably find Brant obnoxious), Nash trying to get his partner to behave like a civilised person around the gentlemen who can apparently do magic, Brant being buddies with or absolutely hating Seawoll ... then I certainly won't complain. :D
The Expendables
Barney Ross, Lee Christmas
These movies are my happy place because I sometimes can't believe something that perfectly tailored to my interests exists in the world (I just realised that I'm requesting three movie canons with Jason Statham this year - I guess I really, really love the guy, huh? Or maybe he's just in a lot of really homoerotic movies). Anyway, my favourite thing about The Expendables (other than all the explosions, cool stunts, general banter, and tons of action stars I love together in one movie series) is Barney and Lee basically behaving like an old married couple for three movies. I love their banter, I love Lee constantly insulting Barney like it's his job, Lee getting a massive jealousy fit every time Barney as much as looks at another guy, Barney aggressively disapproving of Lee's girlfriend. I love how well they know each other and how they are equally batshit crazy when it comes to fights (I mean, they're so obviously not just in this business for the money, but for the fun of it).
I ship them like crazy and I think that's not exactly rare in this fandom? But just in case I'm getting matched to someone who doesn't ship them, feel free to adapt these prompts for gen. Especially for my background/pre-canon prompts, that shouldn't be much of a problem.
A few fic ideas, feel free to combine them in any way:
- background stuff for either one or both of them - something about Lee's time in the SAS (and why he left to become a mercenary with an obviously fake name in the US), something about Barney's past (what did he do before the Expendables? something about the beginnings of the Expendables with Stonebanks? if you want to include past Barney/Stonebanks, that could be really interesting - especially if Barney decided not to sleep with anyone on his team again after that), something about how they first met, how they started working together, how they became such good friends.
- any sort of hurt/comfort, or just one of them getting injured on a mission/almost dying; lots of fretting, being idiots about their injuries ("it's just a scratch"), being horrified by the idea of losing each other
- one of them saving the other's life, especially if it's at risk of his own life, and especially if it's still pretty early on in their friendship
- getting together fic. I'm getting the impression that they reached their "old married couple" behaviour long before they actually slept with each other, especially since Lee is still doing his best to date women in the first and even second movie. So I'd love a fic that explores how they got past their potential hang-ups or worrying about losing their partner/BFF. My headcanon is that Barney is pretty okay with being gay and not even particularly secretive about it, while Lee is somewhat more repressed - but if you see them differently, that's cool by me, too. Either way, though, I'm pretty sure there's at least some repression and internalised homophobia going on that they might have to deal with. If you also include Lee's weird jealousy whenever he feels like Barney might like someone else better than him, that'd be great. Maybe that's what pushes him to finally act on his gigantic thing for Barney?
- generally anything exploring Lee's jealousy: when Barney goes on and on about how great Billy the Kid is in the second movie, when he gets himself a complete new team in the third movie ... Lee is not very good at sharing, is he? I'm cool with other ships like Barney/Billy or Barney/Smilee before Barney and Lee get together (though I should add that I don't ship Barney/Gunner) and with threesomes (especially for Barney/Lee/Smilee, I'd love to read that, e.g. with Barney and Lee topping the hell out of Smilee and Smilee being a brat about it), but more as an occasional occurrence than as a long-term poly arrangement. I'm pretty OTPish about Barney/Lee, so while I'm fine with either of them screwing around earlier in the fic, I would like things to end with them together. I just also love Barney's paternal streak with both Billy and Smilee, I love how much he cares about them, and I love how jealous Lee gets because of that.
- if you like to write porn, this ship is just made for knifeplay and gunplay (in addition to all the other kinks that I already listed in the general section). And for rough sweaty adrenalin-fuelled post-mission sex. And for some D/s overtones (I have a slight preference for top!Barney, but switching or Lee topping are great, too). And loyalty kink (the whole brothers-in-arms thing, relying on each other until the bitter end, never giving each other up even under torture, all that).
And another exception to the "no crossovers" rule, but I wouldn't mind it at all if Lee and the Shaw brothers from the Fast&Furious movies knew each other from their SAS days. I don't know, maybe Owen screwed Lee when Deckard wasn't around/when Owen wanted to make Deckard jealous (I'm totally okay with dubcon and Owen abusing his officer status to get what he wants from Lee). And then Owen got Lee kicked out of the Army because he's a little shit like that. Or Deckard got him kicked out as punishment for laying a hand on his brother. And maybe the Shaw brothers and the Expendables have to work together for some mission and Lee is Not Amused. I don't know, if you like the idea of mixing up those two canons, feel free.
Aaaand I think that's about it. I did say my letters get embarrassingly long. Like I said, I hope that you find something in all this rambling that you'll enjoy writing about, and I'm looking forward to whatever you'll end up writing for me. :D
Thanks!
linndechir
I am very excited about Yuletide this year (or rather every year) and I'm very happy that we apparently both love one of those fandoms below. Thank you for writing a fic for me and for taking the time to have a look at this letter. My letters tend to get long and rambling, I hope you don't mind that. I obviously don't expect you to include every single thing I've mentioned in this letter because I'm pretty sure that's impossible anyway. But I always prefer to write longer letters and give you more things to choose from rather than leave you with two prompts you might both hate (and I'm terrible at not being wordy, there's that).
I've listed some general likes and dislikes, followed by a long list of tropes and kinks I enjoy. Again, those are just there to give you some ideas, don't feel like you have to cram all of that stuff into one fic. Then there are some fandom-specific sections with a whole bunch of prompts. I've copied&pasted a lot from previous exchange letters, but that's simply because my likes and interests haven't really changed much recently.
I hope that you'll find something in this letter that you'll enjoy writing, some prompt that interests you or some tropes that you like. I absolutely love all the fandoms and characters I've requested and I'm excited to receive a fic about any of them, so as long as you try to include a few of my likes and don't include any of my DNWs, I'm sure I will love your fic. :D
I use the same name on AO3 and tumblr as here.
Things I like:
- I generally like ship fic (mostly slash): I adore first time fics, but I also like established relationships, I like porn as much as I like more subtle sexual tension, I like fluffier things and I like filthy smut. I also adore plotty fics in which a bunch of other things happen to my ship as well, so it doesn't have to be all romance/porn. For all my fandoms I've listed one or several ships I would enjoy reading about.
- if you'd rather write gen/if you don't ship my ships/if you want to combine any of the following things with a ship, I also like: background stories about a character's past, first meetings and impressions (especially if we didn't get to see that in canon), missing scenes from canon, plotty future/post-canon fics that explore where these characters are going, plotty what-if fics that explore what would have happened if a character had made a different choice, fics from a different POV than usual in canon, fics from an outside POV ...
- in general, I am most interested in characters and character interactions and development of relationships over time, whether shippy or not; I also love casefic and plotty fics, but I'd still love there to be some focus on the characters
- I would love to receive porn in my fic, although I'd rather not get a complete PWP. There is, however, no need to include porn if you don't like to write porn or if it just doesn't fit into your fic.
- I'm fine with dark themes (violence, noncon, depression, whatever you need for the plot, I have no particular triggers, though I'd rather not get super graphic gore or animal deaths) and I enjoy angsty fics, but I'd prefer if my fic wasn't completely tragic. It doesn't have to be all sunshine and rainbows, but a bit of hope would be nice, and I'd rather my favourite characters/ships get a happy or semi-happy ending, even if they have to go through terrible things before they get it.
Things I do not like:
- major character death, especially of my favourite characters, and completely tragic/dark endings
- crossovers (unless explicitly requested), fusions, complete AUs (a bit of canon divergence is fine, but no high school AUs, coffee shop AUs, supernatural AUs etc.). The only exception: I like daemon fics a lot. (As in His Dark Materials daemons.)
- please don't include any ships (including canon ships) I didn't explicitly request
- genderbend fics of any kind, mpreg, A/B/O, characters being vampires/werewolves/anything but human (unless they already aren't human in canon, of course)
- I don't mind noncon as such, but please no noncon between my requested ships; a bit of dubcon due to power imbalances is okay, though, as long as everyone ends up enjoying themselves
- permanently unrequited love for my ships (pining is fine, initially unrequited love is fine, thinking for a while that it's unrequited is fine, but I wouldn't want the fic to end with "A loves B and B doesn't love A back")
- I have a major pet peeve for epithets like "the blond one said this", "the taller man did that", "the soldier replied". Please use people's names and pronouns. I'd also rather not get a fic written in the 1st or 2nd person.
Other tropes and kinks I like:
Again, I know this list is long and I obviously don't expect you to include all of this stuff. But if they generally fit into your fic and if they're things that you like to write about, I would love it if you included any of the following themes/tropes/kinks (listed in no particular order):
Non-sexual:
- themes like loyalty, codependency, obsession, trust, and commitment issues
- complicated, codependent, obsessive family relationships (whether incestuous or not)
- characters dealing with moral dilemmas, having to question their principles, or simply wanting to do things they think they shouldn't be doing. This can be anything from "doing this would shake my entire worldview" to "maybe I shouldn't screw my boss".
- intimacy, familiarity, people knowing about each other's everyday habits/hang-ups (especially in contrast to how nobody else knows them that well)
- difficulties to express feelings verbally and non-verbal expressions of affection
- age differences
- protectiveness/going ballistic when the other one is threatened
- jealousy/possessiveness
- us-against-the-world
- hurt/comfort, taking care of each other
- sharing food/drinks/cigarettes/clothes
- sleep-related themes (sharing a bed, falling asleep on the other's shoulder, waking the other, having dreams about each other, comforting the other after nightmares etc.)
Sexual:
- clothes fetishisation (sex between a dressed and an undressed person; one of them having a thing for the other's clothes (tailored suits, uniforms, leather gloves/boots/jackets, silk shirts etc.); people dressing/undressing each other; someone casual cleans up nicely, someone who's always prim and proper looks dishevelled for once)
- asphyxiation/breathplay/choking, touching/kissing/biting/petting the other's throat/neck, oversensitive necks, hickeys, marking
- characters losing control in bed (speechlessness, whimpering, moaning, shivering, begging)
- messiness (sweat, come play, dishevelled clothes, dishevelled hair, breathlessness etc.)
- first time sex (i.e. first time between the two characters; exploring each other's bodies, finding out slowly what the other one likes)
- small gestures of affection/casual touching/discreet PDA; accidental touching/stimulation
- seduction (sweet talking, dirty talk, teasing, eyefucking)
- sexual fantasies, daydreaming, masturbation, especially before the characters get together
- massages, backrubs, stroking the other's hair
- friction, frottage, intercrural (anal is fine, too, obviously)
- banter/teasing (during sex and otherwise)
- competence kink/admiration
- praise kink
- body worship, people being madly attracted to each other, getting distracted because they're staring at each other
- scars and their history
- hand fetish (strong/soft/rough/calloused/gentle hands, long fingers, handling guns/knives/cigarettes etc., kissing the other's wrists/fingers)
- beards and stubble, beard burn on the other person's cheek/neck/thighs ...
- voice/accent kink
- oral fixation (licking/biting one's lips, drinking from beer bottles, smoking)
- oral sex, rimming
- light bondage/restraints (pinning someone down, holding their wrists, holding their mouth shut with one hand, blindfolds, actually tying them up, collars), D/s overtones (ordering the other to undress, to kneel, to hold still etc.) - for my requested ships I'm more into casual D/s that slowly develops over time than into very formalised, minutely negotiated BDSM
- gun/knife play
- sex on tables/sofas/against walls etc. (sex in beds is great, too)
About my fandoms:
The Raven Cycle
Ronan Lynch, Richard Gansey III
I mostly love these books for the characters. My absolute favourite is Ronan (how original of me) - I'd especially love to find out more about his family history, the whole greywaren thing, and the beginnings of his friendship with Gansey. There's so much in canon that's only hinted at about Ronan and I'd love any fic that fleshes this out. The same goes for Gansey, even if it's somewhat less obvious with him. But there are hidden depths to him that he hides so well in his attempts to be the responsible one, the one who's there for his friends, to the point where he doesn't really let himself dwell on his own issues a lot of the time. I also find the magical part of these books fascinating, mostly Ronan's dream magic and everything linked to it (less so Cabeswater and the Glendower quest, but I don't mind those either). And I'm really in love with the Barns.
I also adore most other characters in this series and am perfectly okay with them appearing as well. I'm particularly a fan of Declan and Niall, and the whole Lynch clan fascinates me a lot: Declan and Ronan's complicated relationship (and how it changed after their father's death), that messy obsessive love between Niall and Ronan, Ronan's love for the Barns, Gansey's love for the Barns, Gansey getting to meet Ronan's family, Gansey's kinda conflicted relationship with Declan when it comes to taking care of Ronan ... So some of my prompts include the other Lynches as well, but obviously you shouldn't feel obliged to include them if you don't like writing about them. I also love Adam a lot and am always happy to see him in fics; I'm not the biggest fan of Blue and Noah, but I don't mind them appearing as long as the whole fic isn't about them. And I love Kavinsky for the horrible mess he is, he entertains me to no end.
My OTP in this fandom is Ronan/Gansey so I'd love to receive shipfic about them, but I also love fics exploring their super intense friendship if that's more your thing. I also ship the following ships if you want to include those as well: Declan/Adam (my other endgame OTP besides Ronan/Gansey), Ronan/Declan, Ronan/Niall, Declan/Niall, Niall/Declan/Ronan, Niall/Ronan/Gansey, Gansey/Ronan/Declan, Niall/Gansey, and I love Ronan/Kavinsky as the unhealthy mess it is in canon, but I'm not interested in fluffy happy takes on that ship. I would, by the way, be perfectly okay with getting a fic about just Ronan/Declan, Ronan/Niall, Gansey/Ronan/(Declan and/or Niall) or Declan/Adam, if you don't particularly feel like writing Ronan/Gansey. I have some prompts for those ships in other exchange letters from this year: Declan/Adam, Lynchcest.
I do not ship Ronan/Adam and Blue/Gansey in any way, so I would ask you not to include those ships in my fic. Not even a little bit. I do love Ronan and Adam's friendship, though, and Adam and Gansey's friendship, just nothing romantic/sexual.
A few fic ideas, feel free to combine them in any way:
- any fic about the beginnings of Ronan and Gansey's friendship: how Gansey befriended Ronan, what Ronan was like before his father died, how they grew so close etc.
- Gansey at the Barns, Gansey meeting Niall and Declan, Gansey's wonder and awe at the place
- anything set around the time of Niall's death: Ronan's immediate reaction, how he changed afterwards, how Gansey felt about the whole thing, when exactly Ronan moved into Monmouth etc. If you want to include Declan in this as well, I'd love that.
- creepy dream magic, Ronan's nightmares, Ronan's dreamworld (any overlap with Niall's dreamworld? shared dreams?), Ronan and Gansey being there for each other on insomniac nights
- what's up with the devil Ronan saw Niall shoot? I'd generally be interested in anything that explores how religious Ronan is (and I'm assuming Niall was just as religious) and how this affects and is affected by his dream abilities.
- getting together fic! I always love those. I'd especially be interested to see if/how their relationship changes once sex becomes a part of it, and how exactly that happened. I'm good with any scenario for this - Ronan being in denial about being in love with his best friend and Gansey going for it, Gansey being a bit repressed and Ronan going for it, slow UST build-up until they just can't stay away from each other ... Whatever works for you.
- what if they had already started a sexual relationship before Niall's death, but Niall's death put an end to that? Because Ronan was depressed and not even remotely in the mood, because he needed a friend rather than a lover, because Gansey felt like he had to take care of Ronan now and didn't want to take advantage of him ... I'd love to see that idea explored. Although I would of course be happiest if they eventually got back together.
- outside POVs: the rest of the gang, Kavinsky, Declan and Matthew, Gansey's family ... Bonus if people already assumed they were together even before they were.
- I'm always here for plotty fics that continue the canon storyline, just with less of the 'true love' and Blue/Gansey stuff that I don't like about canon. ;) Especially if you write something about Gansey dying and then somehow being brought back to life, for example by Ronan dreaming him back to life. I'd love to see how Ronan deals with losing him (probably really, really badly), how dying would change Gansey, what Gansey would do with himself with his Glendower quest over etc.
- generally, this ship is made for D/s, so if you want to write something kinky in that direction, go for it. And while dom!Gansey is kind of the more obvious thing to go with (and I love it), I don't mind Ronan topping Gansey every now and then.
- I'd love to see Ronan taking care of Gansey because most of the time it's the other way around, but I think they both need each other equally.
Furious 7 (2015)
Deckard Shaw, Owen Shaw
I only watched Furious 7 this summer because I love Jason Statham, expecting nothing but a fun action movie. Instead (or rather on top of the fun action movie) I got an awesome, terrifying, cool villain on a roaring rampage of revenge because someone had dared to hurt his little brother, and me being me I ended up shipping them of course. Went back to watch Fast & Furious 6 so I could meet the little brother before he was in a coma, and he didn't disappoint either, all meticulous and ruthless and with a not so well hidden sadistic streak. Those two just hit so many of my buttons: ruthless bad guys who would do anything for each other, who are all they have in the world and who don't give a damn about anyone else. But I figure their relationship is also pretty complex: they don't seem to work together all the time (since Owen has his well functioning little team while Deckard seems more the One Man Army type), so maybe they don't actually like working together all that much? Maybe their relationship is kinda tumultuous and they sometimes need time away from each other? Or maybe it's just a pragmatic decision and they actually hate being apart?
Another thing that fascinates me is that, according to the files we see in the movies, Deckard is eight years older than Owen. Meaning Owen was still a kid when Deckard joined the military and all but let him behind and could only visit a few times a year - was there resentment about that or not? (I'm oddly fond of bb!Owen all but demanding that Deckard kill their father if he's leaving, but if you want to go with something less obvious than an asshole father, that's fine by me, too.) I figure Owen must have had one hell of a case of hero worship, since he followed pretty much exactly in his brother's footsteps, while Deckard probably didn't take his little brother all that seriously at first. I'd love to see something about that, too, about Deckard realising that his little brother has grown up and is a bamf in his own right now (something like a first time fic set around the time that Owen joined the military would be great, for example). I love Owen's manipulative, sociopathic streak and how he likes to play the people around him (possibly including his brother), while Deckard kinda more straightforward and pragmatic and so used to cleaning up his little brother's messes when necessary. I'm okay with their relationship being complicated and messy at times, but I do want them to love each other deep down.
I'll be honest and admit that I mostly want shipfic about them (I'm not sure if anyone but me and the few other people who ship them even wants to write/read about them?), so my prompts will have a rather shippy tilt. But if you don't ship them, I wouldn't mind a non-incestuous exploration of their relationship and how it changed over time (I can still always pretend the incest happens later ;)) - I think many of my prompts can be written both as ship fic and as gen.
A few fic ideas, feel free to combine them in any way:
- Deckard is 8 years older than Owen, so Owen was still a kid when Deckard joined the military: how did that go? Was there any resentment on Owen's side? Did he just have a big case of hero worship, since he followed his brother's example as soon as he could?
- at what point did they go from big brother/little brother to equals?
- how did they both manage to get kicked out of the SAS? Did they fuck up? Did one of them fuck up and the other followed him into exile, so to speak? Did they get blamed for someone else's mistake? Did they get greedy and start making money on the side? Or anything about that time the military sent a ton of Special Forces guys to kill Deckard and they failed?
- post-canon fic: either Deckard breaking out of prison and being there while Owen recovers, or Owen waking up from his coma and getting back to his feet and breaking his brother out of prison (I'd prefer if Owen wasn't permanently crippled or anything like that; it's an action movie, people can survive horrific injuries with not much more than a few scars, right?). How does almost dying/getting locked up change their relationship? Roaring rampage of revenge y/y? (While I like the protagonists of the F&F movies, I'm not so emotionally attached to them that I wouldn't happily read about the Shaw brothers getting their revenge against them.)
- if you go the shippy route, any kind of first time fic would be great. When did the incestuous obsession with each other start? When they were still pretty young? Did teenage Owen somehow manipulate his big brother into giving him what he wants? I'm fine with underage as long as Owen is at least 15ish by the time they actually sleep with each other, and I'm cool with Owen fantasising about his brother/being all around inappropriate towards him even when he's younger. Or did it only start when they were in the military together and Deckard saw Owen more as an equal than as his little brother? Did it only start after they got kicked out of the military?
- also for shipfic: for this pairing I love obsessive pining, voyeurism before they get together (i.e. watching each other screw other people), possessiveness/jealousy ("I will kill you if you ever let anyone else fuck you" and the like), rough sex, completely obsessive incestuous codependency, being horrible people to everyone but each other, delighting in each other's horribleness, delighting in each other's badassery, sweaty rough sparring, gun/knife play, kinking on being brothers - basically go kinky if you like.
- if you want to write weird threesomes in which Deckard makes Owen screw a girl to make sure his little brother is straight, while he's in the room, and Owen spends the whole time staring at Deckard ... that would be awesome, as long as the focus is on the brothers and not on the girl.
And there's a Furious 7/Expendables crossover prompt further down in the Expendables section, if you're interested.
Blitz (2011)
Tom Brant, Porter Nash
One of the many many movies I've seen because of my very predictable thing for Jason Statham, but Blitz is actually a really good movie that I enjoyed in a lot of ways. The best thing about it to me (other than Aiden Gillen being hilariously creepy) is the relationship between Nash and Brant, the banter and dickishness on the one side, but there's also a lot of respect and trust on the other side, and it's there pretty much from the start (I love how Brant just shows up at Nash's door to tell him about all his problems basically a day after they met). I'd love to see anything that explores how their relationship develops further after the movie or something exploring what was going on between them during the movie. And I ship them, in case that wasn't clear. ;) I'd really prefer shipfic for these two, but I think some of my prompts can be tweaked into a gen exploration of their friendship, if that's more your thing. I think it's obvious that Brant trusts Nash and is willing to rely on him, and Nash seems very amused by everything Brant chooses to be, so I think all of that would be very entertaining to read about it even without any shippiness.
A few fic ideas, feel free to combine them in any way:
- casefic would be cool, especially if they again use rather unconventional methods to solve the case
- Brant is an asshole and it entertains me to no end, so if you want to write fic about Brant being an asshole to everyone (and Nash being both exasperated and reluctantly amused by it), that'd be great (especially if somewhere in between there are moments of him very much not being an asshole to Nash)
- more instances of Brant showing up at Nash's house in the middle of the night to talk to him, generally any exploration of both their issues and how they cope with them and how they maybe help each other cope
- speaking of issues, we got a glimpse at where Nash's issues come from, but not what messed up Brant so much - just the job in general? any specific cases? something not directly work-related? I'm always a sucker for background fic exploring how characters became the people they are in canon, who their family is, if they're still in touch with their family, any past relationships - and for other characters finding out about their partner's past.
- first time fic! during the movie (maybe even during that first night that Brant shows up at Nash's place, or later during the movie) or after the movie, and how does that go? Do they grow closer and are repressed about their feelings for ages before Brant finally gets over himself? Do they hook up one night and then not talk about it for ages? Do they keep hooking up and not talking about it until Nash insists they talk about it? Does Brant get a jealousy fit next time Nash dates another guy?
- I have a thing for Nash topping from the bottom (bonus for humiliating dirty talk about how Brant is a brute and not good for much except for fucking him, and Brant getting off on all the things Nash says to him). You absolutely don't have to write them that way, but if you like writing that sort of thing, I'm so here for it. All my kinks in the kink list up there apply, and especially D/s and bondage and dirty talk and I don't think I mentioned collars but collars are great? Oh, and both of them kinking on how differently built they are, Brant's bulk vs. Nash being all skinny.
- considering Brant's whole macho persona, I wouldn't be surprised if he has one hell of a case of internalised homophobia - and that he's either completely in denial about being gay, or regularly screwing guys but kind of hating himself for it. So feel free to do something with that: does it impact when/how he and Nash get together? Does it impact their relationship because Nash has to deal with being out while dating a guy who's in the deepest closet ever and has no intention of ever leaving it?
And while I said I didn't like crossovers and didn't actually request Rivers of London this year, if you are familiar with Rivers of London and feel like writing a crossover, go ahead. Because if you want to give me the hilarity of Tom Brant having a fit because MAGIC EXISTS and thinking he's losing his mind, Brant meeting Nightingale and Peter (and finding Nightingale obnoxious, while Peter would probably find Brant obnoxious), Nash trying to get his partner to behave like a civilised person around the gentlemen who can apparently do magic, Brant being buddies with or absolutely hating Seawoll ... then I certainly won't complain. :D
The Expendables
Barney Ross, Lee Christmas
These movies are my happy place because I sometimes can't believe something that perfectly tailored to my interests exists in the world (I just realised that I'm requesting three movie canons with Jason Statham this year - I guess I really, really love the guy, huh? Or maybe he's just in a lot of really homoerotic movies). Anyway, my favourite thing about The Expendables (other than all the explosions, cool stunts, general banter, and tons of action stars I love together in one movie series) is Barney and Lee basically behaving like an old married couple for three movies. I love their banter, I love Lee constantly insulting Barney like it's his job, Lee getting a massive jealousy fit every time Barney as much as looks at another guy, Barney aggressively disapproving of Lee's girlfriend. I love how well they know each other and how they are equally batshit crazy when it comes to fights (I mean, they're so obviously not just in this business for the money, but for the fun of it).
I ship them like crazy and I think that's not exactly rare in this fandom? But just in case I'm getting matched to someone who doesn't ship them, feel free to adapt these prompts for gen. Especially for my background/pre-canon prompts, that shouldn't be much of a problem.
A few fic ideas, feel free to combine them in any way:
- background stuff for either one or both of them - something about Lee's time in the SAS (and why he left to become a mercenary with an obviously fake name in the US), something about Barney's past (what did he do before the Expendables? something about the beginnings of the Expendables with Stonebanks? if you want to include past Barney/Stonebanks, that could be really interesting - especially if Barney decided not to sleep with anyone on his team again after that), something about how they first met, how they started working together, how they became such good friends.
- any sort of hurt/comfort, or just one of them getting injured on a mission/almost dying; lots of fretting, being idiots about their injuries ("it's just a scratch"), being horrified by the idea of losing each other
- one of them saving the other's life, especially if it's at risk of his own life, and especially if it's still pretty early on in their friendship
- getting together fic. I'm getting the impression that they reached their "old married couple" behaviour long before they actually slept with each other, especially since Lee is still doing his best to date women in the first and even second movie. So I'd love a fic that explores how they got past their potential hang-ups or worrying about losing their partner/BFF. My headcanon is that Barney is pretty okay with being gay and not even particularly secretive about it, while Lee is somewhat more repressed - but if you see them differently, that's cool by me, too. Either way, though, I'm pretty sure there's at least some repression and internalised homophobia going on that they might have to deal with. If you also include Lee's weird jealousy whenever he feels like Barney might like someone else better than him, that'd be great. Maybe that's what pushes him to finally act on his gigantic thing for Barney?
- generally anything exploring Lee's jealousy: when Barney goes on and on about how great Billy the Kid is in the second movie, when he gets himself a complete new team in the third movie ... Lee is not very good at sharing, is he? I'm cool with other ships like Barney/Billy or Barney/Smilee before Barney and Lee get together (though I should add that I don't ship Barney/Gunner) and with threesomes (especially for Barney/Lee/Smilee, I'd love to read that, e.g. with Barney and Lee topping the hell out of Smilee and Smilee being a brat about it), but more as an occasional occurrence than as a long-term poly arrangement. I'm pretty OTPish about Barney/Lee, so while I'm fine with either of them screwing around earlier in the fic, I would like things to end with them together. I just also love Barney's paternal streak with both Billy and Smilee, I love how much he cares about them, and I love how jealous Lee gets because of that.
- if you like to write porn, this ship is just made for knifeplay and gunplay (in addition to all the other kinks that I already listed in the general section). And for rough sweaty adrenalin-fuelled post-mission sex. And for some D/s overtones (I have a slight preference for top!Barney, but switching or Lee topping are great, too). And loyalty kink (the whole brothers-in-arms thing, relying on each other until the bitter end, never giving each other up even under torture, all that).
And another exception to the "no crossovers" rule, but I wouldn't mind it at all if Lee and the Shaw brothers from the Fast&Furious movies knew each other from their SAS days. I don't know, maybe Owen screwed Lee when Deckard wasn't around/when Owen wanted to make Deckard jealous (I'm totally okay with dubcon and Owen abusing his officer status to get what he wants from Lee). And then Owen got Lee kicked out of the Army because he's a little shit like that. Or Deckard got him kicked out as punishment for laying a hand on his brother. And maybe the Shaw brothers and the Expendables have to work together for some mission and Lee is Not Amused. I don't know, if you like the idea of mixing up those two canons, feel free.
Aaaand I think that's about it. I did say my letters get embarrassingly long. Like I said, I hope that you find something in all this rambling that you'll enjoy writing about, and I'm looking forward to whatever you'll end up writing for me. :D
Thanks!
linndechir