Gen Exchange Letter
Hello dear gen writer! I'm so glad you decided to participate in this very valuable exchange. I hope you have as much fun crafting your piece as I surely will consuming it!
I have below my standard likes/dislikes list, and some feeling about and prompts for each of my fandoms, but what's most important to me is that you have a good time writing it! Don't force yourself to write a prompt just cause I put it up, because enthusiastic fic-writing is the best. If it's good for you, it's a lot more likely to be good for me.
Standard likes/dislikes list:
AU sublist:
Canon AUs rock, wherein one thing changes and everything after that changes accordingly, or where the universe is intact but most other things are different. This is opposed to a total AU (which I also dig), wherein characters meet at:
School or college (students or teachers)
Any sort of professional workplace, from a general store to the UN- massive bonus points if the author has RL experience in said setting
Crossovers are cool: Here is a list of my fandoms: http://meatball42.livejournal.com/8879.html
Sports AU- I will marry you for this, particularly if you actually teach me about the sport. Ping pong to Olympic diving, idc.
Fusions- HDM is an utter winner, ABO is fine as long as it's more complicated than a straight-up romance.
Genderflipped canon AU is great, particularly if gender is not the focus, or any sort of creatively built alternate universe gender/sexual dynamic system. Wordl-building is great, even if you're lazy and don't do too much, I'm not egging you on for a novel here ;)
Racebending is win, end of.
Incubus/succubus AUs, whether a complete AU or just an alternate change to canon, are a soft spot.
Writing dislikes:
Instantaneous or inexplicably fast attraction/relationship/sex. Pointless fic, IMO, unless you want PWP.
Mental torture without H/C or extensive physical torture or rape without H/C. I like it as a plot point, but I care more about the characters than the acts themselvs, so focus on the former, por favor.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes: I have specific prompts below, but for any 'pairing' I could go for a band AU or the pair/group going on vacation together.
Any & Simon Williams: I love the story arc for this character so much, and I wish we could see what they would have done with him in a third season! I'll take literally pretty much anything for this, but mainly my idea is to see him start to fit into the Avengers team. Does someone in particular befriend him? Maybe Jan? Is there anyone he doesn't get along with? How do he and Tony repair the rift between them so that they can work together? I'd love any one-on-one ideas, or a team dinner or anything, or a five times fic, that would be stellar, like five avengers Simon liked/didn't like +1, etc.
Clint Barton & Carol Danvers: The main reason I like Carol on EMH is that her voice actor does the best screams and yelps in battle. It really sells my mental image of Carol as someone who gives her 110% to battle. And Hawkeye doesn't have the sort of Truth Justice and Freedom personality of the archetypical superhero, because he's more like an actual person who happens to be kick-ass. I think these two would get along, with their feet on the (metaphorical) ground, while the others might take things too seriously. Anything with them sparring, pranking, palling around, arguing, competing (lord can you just see this?), basically being bros.
Clint Barton & Hulk: [[I don't have more prompts for this because I want it more, but because I have them left over from shippy exchanges and recycled.]]
This Brotp tho. I adore that these two got along so well, and that they manage to argue and get over it and remain friends through the ups and downs of team living. Additionally, I love anything that incorporates Bruce into their relationship, because Bruce and Clint have a different relationship than Clint and Hulk. Really, any two-person friendship here is actually a carefully navigated three-person friendship, so mainly my two ideas for this ship are a) friendship fun fluff or b) explorations of this interesting situation.
Some prompts: How did Bruce and/or Hulk feel about the team after being freed from the shock collar in S2? Did their long imprisonment affect the way they felt about Clint and/or the team?
Prank war.
Hulk discovers yoga/meditation/tai chi.
Scaled eating contest.
Clint picks Bruce for Secret Santa. Not Hulk, Bruce. His quest to find an even okay present.
Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov: I really liked Natasha's presence on this show, from her legit triple-agenting with Hydra for Fury (fuckin' badass) to her relationship with Clint, where she did what she needed to do and threw him into prison, but also risked her cover to save his life. While most of my ideas for this show are fluffy, I would like something a little deeper here, because these two have such a fascinating relationship arc on the show. Doesn't have to be shippy, though; the characters are for sure complex enough to make gen interesting.
Some prompts: [These are recycled from shippy exchanges, but they do not have to be shippy]
Although they're working together again, it's still hard to overcome the pain her last mission caused.
Natasha calls for help and Clint ditches the Avengers. Mixed reactions from his teammates.
Natasha's opening hazing matches with her teammates are each, quietly, joined with a shovel talk.
Living and working together as Avengers is different from anything they've done before. Shifting a relationship from partners to teammates.
Clint Barton & Hulk & Natasha Romanov: (Could also be read with Bruce added or replacing Hulk. Hey, I said I like complex characters, right?) Clint and Bruce/Hulk's relationship is the best thing on this show to me. And the relationship between Clint and Natasha, made up as it is of duty, betrayal, hate, romance? Super awesome. Basically anything for this group will make me very happy.
Some prompts: Natasha and Bruce | Hulk get trapped in a cave-in and the team has to- very carefully- get them out. Predictably, Clint loses his shit. Underground, however, Bruce | Hulk and Natasha have a real conversation for the first time.
When Natasha joins the team, Hulk and/or Bruce stops hanging out with Clint, assuming he/they are being replaced. Natasha rolls her eyes and fixed thing.
Unexpectedly, Natasha and Hulk get along super well. Everyone else backs away in fear.
Janet Van Dyne & The Vision: Just as Jan was the one most willing to accept Hulk when he first joined the team, I can see her seeing it as nothing less than her God/whatever-given duty to make Vision's entry to the team, and his entry to humanity, as easy and fun! as possible. I'd love to see anything about her actively helping or passively supporting Vision as he learns how the Avengers work as flawed and human individuals, helping along his philosophical or ethical development, and also any basic living things like figuring out food as a cultural artifact when he doesn't need to eat and also his density is variable. If he helps her out anywhere, like fighting skills or fashion marketing or being a surprisingly awesome personal shopper, that's fantastic too.
Steve Rogers & Tony Stark: What with the Skrull Invasions, the planet hating him afterwards, getting mind-controlled by the Purple Man, Bucky's mysterious reapparance as a mindy-windy asshole, Steve's had a rough time of it. Any sort of shippy H/C focused on him would be nice.
This version of Tony is so much nicer and friendlier than the MCU version, but there are still hints of the unhappy backstory that has made him a popular woobie in MCU fandom. I haven't read much A:EMH woobie!Tony, and I'd really like too! Especially since he seems like he wouldn't complain much, which would just make it sadder! :')
Although I mainly like fluff in this fandom, I /really/ like it here! Or fluffy H/C. Or they adopt a puppy, basically I love this ship you can't go wrong.
Tony is determined that his team of misfits and strays is going to have a fantastic Christmas. [optional: This goes pear-shaped in several ways.]
I know sex pollen is usually a shippy trope, but that is a weird idea to me in many ways, probably because it's used as a get-together trope, which is weird to me. I'd be intersted in seeing sex pollen written as not shippy; maybe they manage to overcome it, or make out and it's awkward, but please have them stay friends after this weird experience.
Marvel Cinematic Universe
James "Bucky" Barnes & Sam Wilson: Lord. Post-Civil War, or set in that mystical AU land where everyone is happy and nothing hurts (jk hurt is fine). I'd love to see Bucky and Sam having to do a mission together, whether that's an actual real-world mission or something like getting Steve and [character of your choice] together, or even beating another pair in some training contest, idk. Basically, explore that hate... something relationship the movie teased :) Or, something like one or both of them feels obliged to be friends for Steve's sake, and how that works or doesn't work.
James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Sam Wilson: RELATIONSHIPS I DIDN'T KNOW I NEEDED UNTIL CIVIL WAR: James "Rhodey" Rhodes and Sam Wilson. UGH the 'trying to keep these idiot white boys from killing themselves' club is a combination of two of my favorite people in this 'verse. They're both the sort to think about things before they make decisions, and they're both intelligent enough to have legitimate considered discussions (as seen in their ONE scene together *cries*) so I'd love for them to just-
Prompt: I want them to be that extremely solid relationship that either e) no one else notices because theres no drama and they're not super-showy or b) everyone takes for granted. Not like The Epic Broship of X and Y. I want to see them sitting off to the side as everyone else runs around like chicekns with their heads cut off, and they offer sage advice and discuss things they read in the newspaper and make references no one gets and make investment portfolios (I have a weakness for adult relationships, by which I mean maturity, not porn).
SPACE AU. I hate Space AUs but I think I'd love it with them. 2 flybois working for the Rebellion, how about that? Or... I really don't know space AUs. But do it!
Canon missing scene: Sam and Rhodey's first training session or first meeting or first actual talk over drinks after the first training session.
Steve and Natasha spend half their time gossiping about their lost loves, and Vision and Wanda are clearly working their way up to weird magical semi-solid banging, so Sam and Rhodey become friends almost by default.
Natasha Romanov & Tony Stark: I am so confused by the juxtaposition of two ethically complex characters with conflicting motivations who were introduced with actual chemistry and oppositional methods and later were put to work together-- in a fandom that somehow does not find them an intruiging combination. I don't care if this is set during Iron Man 2 or after Civil War, in a parallel universe where Natalie really is a secretary who happens to enjoy MMA or in a soulmate AU, as long as these two get to play around with their wide range of personality quirks and skillsets.
ANY TYPE of sports AU, gymnastics, roller derby, Olympics, football coaching, intramural ping pong, idc.
Language tutoring.
Canon fic, there's a mole in Stark Industries. Natalie Rushman returns to help flush them out.
After Tony and Pepper break up Tony is quietly a mess. Natasha decides to step in, for the sake of the team.
Post-Civil War, Tony and Natasha staged their argument so they could work the system in secret.
Any type of fic, canon divergence, complete AU, where Tony and Natasha are besties and/or cuddle a lot.
Anything related to actual development of friendship fic between Ultron and CW.
Nick Fury & Natasha Romanov: I was sort of shocked to rewatch Iron Man two and see the interaction between Natasha and Nick. And then in Cap2, there was a lot of trust and a lot of lying there. I want to know what kind of history they've got; what's your headcanon for how they can rely on each other so much? What about post-Cap2? Was there a breaking of faith there, or just a change in direction? Ultron established that Fury was still at work and Maria Hill was working with him; was Natasha as well? Did this affect her relationships with her teammates?
Nick Fury & Tony Stark: When Fury appears in the Barton's farmhouse in Ultron, Tony is very much on the defensive, until Fury says 'I'm not the director of anybody. I'm just an old man, who cares very much about you.' And then Tony starts blabbing all his innermost fears. What's the backstory there? When did they start getting close? Was it before or after Tony said 'his secrets have secrets'? And what is their relationship like now, that Tony would trust Fury with his fears even after finding out he'd been lied to? What is it like after? I'll take anything from childhood (and whatever comics concepts you want to include) through the murky land beyond Civil War.
James "Bucky" Barnes & Natasha Romanov: So many ways to slice this. Do they have some past relationship? Or does Natasha just want recognition for surviving the Soldier twice? If they did know each other before, was their relationship romantic? How will they navigate that dynamic with the current situation? How would Steve or any current romantic partners feel about the discovery? If it wasn't, was it anything like working together as Avengers? Will their methods gel, or deviate? Can they even work together at all? If they didn't know each other before, how hard would it be for such understandably paranoid characters to work together, or even to see the other beside a trusted friend? Would they be in competition? What if they were forced to work together? None of this is prompts, I'm sorry, but that's the idea.
Also, if you want to go not with the Civil War canon, I'll take your headcanons of any of the above in that factory-standard living-in-the-Tower verse where Bucky joins the team. Also more than acceptable is any mundane AU< particularly if they have to work together in an office environment of some sort and it's less than perfectly smooth.
Bartimaeus Trilogy
Bartimaeus & Kitty Jones: Whyyyyy did they not have more time? Basically anything set after the trilogy. Maybe the new government needs Bartimaeus' help. Maybe Kitty visits the Other Place again. Maybe some other magician summons Bartimaeus and he makes a pit stop to visit; or he's set against Kitty or the new government. Basically anything that lets them interact move after her game-changing trip.
I have below my standard likes/dislikes list, and some feeling about and prompts for each of my fandoms, but what's most important to me is that you have a good time writing it! Don't force yourself to write a prompt just cause I put it up, because enthusiastic fic-writing is the best. If it's good for you, it's a lot more likely to be good for me.
Standard likes/dislikes list:
- Happy endings, or at least fulfilling sad endings. But generally happy endings. I like my angst to be healed by the end.
- I really adore misunderstandings in general, and two-sided miscommunications, like when characters are having an argument, or one overhears a convo that means one thing to one side and something totally different to the other.
- My all-time fav: self-deprecation. Character thinks they don't deserve the relationship/promotion/happy life for some reason = excuse for plotty/character-developmenty/shippy H/C! Preferably if it doesn't dissolve into blatant whump just for the sake of h/c, but I like it to hurt me in the chest.
- I don't mind fluff, but I prefer emotional stories, whatever the emotion. This is inclusive of love, angst, anger, anything.
AU sublist:
Canon AUs rock, wherein one thing changes and everything after that changes accordingly, or where the universe is intact but most other things are different. This is opposed to a total AU (which I also dig), wherein characters meet at:
School or college (students or teachers)
Any sort of professional workplace, from a general store to the UN- massive bonus points if the author has RL experience in said setting
Crossovers are cool: Here is a list of my fandoms: http://meatball42.livejournal.com/8879.html
Sports AU- I will marry you for this, particularly if you actually teach me about the sport. Ping pong to Olympic diving, idc.
Fusions- HDM is an utter winner, ABO is fine as long as it's more complicated than a straight-up romance.
Genderflipped canon AU is great, particularly if gender is not the focus, or any sort of creatively built alternate universe gender/sexual dynamic system. Wordl-building is great, even if you're lazy and don't do too much, I'm not egging you on for a novel here ;)
Racebending is win, end of.
Incubus/succubus AUs, whether a complete AU or just an alternate change to canon, are a soft spot.
Writing dislikes:
Instantaneous or inexplicably fast attraction/relationship/sex. Pointless fic, IMO, unless you want PWP.
Mental torture without H/C or extensive physical torture or rape without H/C. I like it as a plot point, but I care more about the characters than the acts themselvs, so focus on the former, por favor.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes: I have specific prompts below, but for any 'pairing' I could go for a band AU or the pair/group going on vacation together.
Any & Simon Williams: I love the story arc for this character so much, and I wish we could see what they would have done with him in a third season! I'll take literally pretty much anything for this, but mainly my idea is to see him start to fit into the Avengers team. Does someone in particular befriend him? Maybe Jan? Is there anyone he doesn't get along with? How do he and Tony repair the rift between them so that they can work together? I'd love any one-on-one ideas, or a team dinner or anything, or a five times fic, that would be stellar, like five avengers Simon liked/didn't like +1, etc.
Clint Barton & Carol Danvers: The main reason I like Carol on EMH is that her voice actor does the best screams and yelps in battle. It really sells my mental image of Carol as someone who gives her 110% to battle. And Hawkeye doesn't have the sort of Truth Justice and Freedom personality of the archetypical superhero, because he's more like an actual person who happens to be kick-ass. I think these two would get along, with their feet on the (metaphorical) ground, while the others might take things too seriously. Anything with them sparring, pranking, palling around, arguing, competing (lord can you just see this?), basically being bros.
Clint Barton & Hulk: [[I don't have more prompts for this because I want it more, but because I have them left over from shippy exchanges and recycled.]]
This Brotp tho. I adore that these two got along so well, and that they manage to argue and get over it and remain friends through the ups and downs of team living. Additionally, I love anything that incorporates Bruce into their relationship, because Bruce and Clint have a different relationship than Clint and Hulk. Really, any two-person friendship here is actually a carefully navigated three-person friendship, so mainly my two ideas for this ship are a) friendship fun fluff or b) explorations of this interesting situation.
Some prompts: How did Bruce and/or Hulk feel about the team after being freed from the shock collar in S2? Did their long imprisonment affect the way they felt about Clint and/or the team?
Prank war.
Hulk discovers yoga/meditation/tai chi.
Scaled eating contest.
Clint picks Bruce for Secret Santa. Not Hulk, Bruce. His quest to find an even okay present.
Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov: I really liked Natasha's presence on this show, from her legit triple-agenting with Hydra for Fury (fuckin' badass) to her relationship with Clint, where she did what she needed to do and threw him into prison, but also risked her cover to save his life. While most of my ideas for this show are fluffy, I would like something a little deeper here, because these two have such a fascinating relationship arc on the show. Doesn't have to be shippy, though; the characters are for sure complex enough to make gen interesting.
Some prompts: [These are recycled from shippy exchanges, but they do not have to be shippy]
Although they're working together again, it's still hard to overcome the pain her last mission caused.
Natasha calls for help and Clint ditches the Avengers. Mixed reactions from his teammates.
Natasha's opening hazing matches with her teammates are each, quietly, joined with a shovel talk.
Living and working together as Avengers is different from anything they've done before. Shifting a relationship from partners to teammates.
Clint Barton & Hulk & Natasha Romanov: (Could also be read with Bruce added or replacing Hulk. Hey, I said I like complex characters, right?) Clint and Bruce/Hulk's relationship is the best thing on this show to me. And the relationship between Clint and Natasha, made up as it is of duty, betrayal, hate, romance? Super awesome. Basically anything for this group will make me very happy.
Some prompts: Natasha and Bruce | Hulk get trapped in a cave-in and the team has to- very carefully- get them out. Predictably, Clint loses his shit. Underground, however, Bruce | Hulk and Natasha have a real conversation for the first time.
When Natasha joins the team, Hulk and/or Bruce stops hanging out with Clint, assuming he/they are being replaced. Natasha rolls her eyes and fixed thing.
Unexpectedly, Natasha and Hulk get along super well. Everyone else backs away in fear.
Janet Van Dyne & The Vision: Just as Jan was the one most willing to accept Hulk when he first joined the team, I can see her seeing it as nothing less than her God/whatever-given duty to make Vision's entry to the team, and his entry to humanity, as easy and fun! as possible. I'd love to see anything about her actively helping or passively supporting Vision as he learns how the Avengers work as flawed and human individuals, helping along his philosophical or ethical development, and also any basic living things like figuring out food as a cultural artifact when he doesn't need to eat and also his density is variable. If he helps her out anywhere, like fighting skills or fashion marketing or being a surprisingly awesome personal shopper, that's fantastic too.
Steve Rogers & Tony Stark: What with the Skrull Invasions, the planet hating him afterwards, getting mind-controlled by the Purple Man, Bucky's mysterious reapparance as a mindy-windy asshole, Steve's had a rough time of it. Any sort of shippy H/C focused on him would be nice.
This version of Tony is so much nicer and friendlier than the MCU version, but there are still hints of the unhappy backstory that has made him a popular woobie in MCU fandom. I haven't read much A:EMH woobie!Tony, and I'd really like too! Especially since he seems like he wouldn't complain much, which would just make it sadder! :')
Although I mainly like fluff in this fandom, I /really/ like it here! Or fluffy H/C. Or they adopt a puppy, basically I love this ship you can't go wrong.
Tony is determined that his team of misfits and strays is going to have a fantastic Christmas. [optional: This goes pear-shaped in several ways.]
I know sex pollen is usually a shippy trope, but that is a weird idea to me in many ways, probably because it's used as a get-together trope, which is weird to me. I'd be intersted in seeing sex pollen written as not shippy; maybe they manage to overcome it, or make out and it's awkward, but please have them stay friends after this weird experience.
Marvel Cinematic Universe
James "Bucky" Barnes & Sam Wilson: Lord. Post-Civil War, or set in that mystical AU land where everyone is happy and nothing hurts (jk hurt is fine). I'd love to see Bucky and Sam having to do a mission together, whether that's an actual real-world mission or something like getting Steve and [character of your choice] together, or even beating another pair in some training contest, idk. Basically, explore that hate... something relationship the movie teased :) Or, something like one or both of them feels obliged to be friends for Steve's sake, and how that works or doesn't work.
James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Sam Wilson: RELATIONSHIPS I DIDN'T KNOW I NEEDED UNTIL CIVIL WAR: James "Rhodey" Rhodes and Sam Wilson. UGH the 'trying to keep these idiot white boys from killing themselves' club is a combination of two of my favorite people in this 'verse. They're both the sort to think about things before they make decisions, and they're both intelligent enough to have legitimate considered discussions (as seen in their ONE scene together *cries*) so I'd love for them to just-
Prompt: I want them to be that extremely solid relationship that either e) no one else notices because theres no drama and they're not super-showy or b) everyone takes for granted. Not like The Epic Broship of X and Y. I want to see them sitting off to the side as everyone else runs around like chicekns with their heads cut off, and they offer sage advice and discuss things they read in the newspaper and make references no one gets and make investment portfolios (I have a weakness for adult relationships, by which I mean maturity, not porn).
SPACE AU. I hate Space AUs but I think I'd love it with them. 2 flybois working for the Rebellion, how about that? Or... I really don't know space AUs. But do it!
Canon missing scene: Sam and Rhodey's first training session or first meeting or first actual talk over drinks after the first training session.
Steve and Natasha spend half their time gossiping about their lost loves, and Vision and Wanda are clearly working their way up to weird magical semi-solid banging, so Sam and Rhodey become friends almost by default.
Natasha Romanov & Tony Stark: I am so confused by the juxtaposition of two ethically complex characters with conflicting motivations who were introduced with actual chemistry and oppositional methods and later were put to work together-- in a fandom that somehow does not find them an intruiging combination. I don't care if this is set during Iron Man 2 or after Civil War, in a parallel universe where Natalie really is a secretary who happens to enjoy MMA or in a soulmate AU, as long as these two get to play around with their wide range of personality quirks and skillsets.
ANY TYPE of sports AU, gymnastics, roller derby, Olympics, football coaching, intramural ping pong, idc.
Language tutoring.
Canon fic, there's a mole in Stark Industries. Natalie Rushman returns to help flush them out.
After Tony and Pepper break up Tony is quietly a mess. Natasha decides to step in, for the sake of the team.
Post-Civil War, Tony and Natasha staged their argument so they could work the system in secret.
Any type of fic, canon divergence, complete AU, where Tony and Natasha are besties and/or cuddle a lot.
Anything related to actual development of friendship fic between Ultron and CW.
Nick Fury & Natasha Romanov: I was sort of shocked to rewatch Iron Man two and see the interaction between Natasha and Nick. And then in Cap2, there was a lot of trust and a lot of lying there. I want to know what kind of history they've got; what's your headcanon for how they can rely on each other so much? What about post-Cap2? Was there a breaking of faith there, or just a change in direction? Ultron established that Fury was still at work and Maria Hill was working with him; was Natasha as well? Did this affect her relationships with her teammates?
Nick Fury & Tony Stark: When Fury appears in the Barton's farmhouse in Ultron, Tony is very much on the defensive, until Fury says 'I'm not the director of anybody. I'm just an old man, who cares very much about you.' And then Tony starts blabbing all his innermost fears. What's the backstory there? When did they start getting close? Was it before or after Tony said 'his secrets have secrets'? And what is their relationship like now, that Tony would trust Fury with his fears even after finding out he'd been lied to? What is it like after? I'll take anything from childhood (and whatever comics concepts you want to include) through the murky land beyond Civil War.
James "Bucky" Barnes & Natasha Romanov: So many ways to slice this. Do they have some past relationship? Or does Natasha just want recognition for surviving the Soldier twice? If they did know each other before, was their relationship romantic? How will they navigate that dynamic with the current situation? How would Steve or any current romantic partners feel about the discovery? If it wasn't, was it anything like working together as Avengers? Will their methods gel, or deviate? Can they even work together at all? If they didn't know each other before, how hard would it be for such understandably paranoid characters to work together, or even to see the other beside a trusted friend? Would they be in competition? What if they were forced to work together? None of this is prompts, I'm sorry, but that's the idea.
Also, if you want to go not with the Civil War canon, I'll take your headcanons of any of the above in that factory-standard living-in-the-Tower verse where Bucky joins the team. Also more than acceptable is any mundane AU< particularly if they have to work together in an office environment of some sort and it's less than perfectly smooth.
Bartimaeus Trilogy
Bartimaeus & Kitty Jones: Whyyyyy did they not have more time? Basically anything set after the trilogy. Maybe the new government needs Bartimaeus' help. Maybe Kitty visits the Other Place again. Maybe some other magician summons Bartimaeus and he makes a pit stop to visit; or he's set against Kitty or the new government. Basically anything that lets them interact move after her game-changing trip.