Dear Femslash Exchange Writer...
Thank you for writing for me! I love this exchange and will be thrilled with whatever you write me.
General Loves:
Hurt-comfort - all h/c tropes that don't infantilize anyone are delicious to me. Injured and stuck without medical care on another planet/behind enemy lines/etc, bedside vigils, tender caretaking, stoic characters pretending they are JUST FINE right up until they collapse - I love it all. The only thing I don't like is characters getting tons of care taking lavished on them for minor illnesses like colds - that hits my infantilization button. (But fevers with delirium are lovely, especially if they make characters babble secrets or true feelings that they'd never in a million years admit to if sober.) Emotional h/c is also excellent.
Loyalty, conflicting loyalties, being torn between a cause or job and the woman she loves - I adore all that. I love knight's vows, royalty determined to do right by their responsibilities, soldiers' camaraderie, backstage bonding, and gangsters' codes. People belonging to some sort of in-group, whether they're post-apocalyptic survivors, dragonriders, fighter pilots, or cultural minorities, is always fascinating to me. So is being an outcast from a group.
I love bonding through shared hardship or a shared hard job, through both being outcasts or both having a secret. I love characters who trust each other with their lives. I also love characters who don't trust each other for good reasons, but are forced to work together/depend on each other.
I love butch/femme pairings. I also love many other sorts of pairings. But if you like that too and it suits the pairing, feel free to go to town in that direction.
I am fine with any type of relationship or smut level - established, beginning, friends-to-lovers, enemies-to-lovers, enemies having sizzling angry hatesex, smoldering sexual tension but no onstage sex, etc. Do what feels right for the characters and story.
Sex: I like BDSM, especially if it's extremely informal (like, the characters might not have even heard the term, they just know they like being pinned down/tying up their girlfriend/etc). I like bruising (spontaneous or ornamental), and rough and/or frantic/desperate sex. I like "let's have sex because we might die tomorrow/we might not survive the war." I like fingering and frottage, especially when partly clothed, reaching into clothes, touching through clothes, etc. I like praise, bondage, honor bondage, and characters discovering kinks for the first time. I like characters entering new or dangerous territory, like if they're control freaks or emotionally damaged and have never really relaxed and enjoyed themselves, or lost control, or cut loose before.
I like lavish descriptions of things, from food to clothing to scenery to the human body. I love all types of women's bodies, so whatever strikes you or you think would strike the characters as especially attractive, whether it's long clever fingers or delicately arched feet or battle scars or an Earth Mother figure, I will enjoy reading it. I like strong muscular women, voluptuous women, and little dainty-looking women.
I love sexy clothing, which could be slinky 40s dresses or battle-worn leathers. Scars and brands and tattoos are hot.
I like worldbuilding, whether it's of literal worlds or exploring the setting/culture of our real world.
I like any kind of writing, from completely straightforward to 5 Things to any sort of odd format that serves the story. I even like second person if there's a reason for it.
General DNWs: Issuefic, terminal illness, dementia, A/B/O, PWP, change-the-setting AUs (I like "this happened differently" AUs), body horror, non-canon human pregnancy and babies or a heavy focus on canon human pregnancy or babies (alien lizard babies, adorable kittens, etc are fine), infantilization, and the gross kinds of bodily waste (blood, sweat, and tears are fine).
Earthsea - Ursula K. Le Guin
Penthe/Yarrow
Penthe/Tenar
The first two books of this series are two of my favorite fantasies of all time. I like the others to varying degrees, but those are my favorites. I love the dragons as they were portrayed in the earlier books, the songs and poems and stories, and the herblore and wildlife lore and legends.
Penthe was such a bright, memorable character evoked in a very few scenes, and I shared Tenar's hope that she'd be happy somewhere else after the Tombs fell. Her great dream was to be a dancing girl in the big city (or a cook!); so, she wants freedom and sensual pleasures, good food and pretty things and to dance for someone other than the Nameless Ones, in dark and silence.
She was chosen as a priestess - could that been because someone sensed some sort of magical potential that she ended up going to the Archipelago to explore, and so ended up on Yarrow's island? (I can't think of a way Yarrow would end up in Kargad, but if you can, feel free.) Did she go to Gont specifically to find Tenar, or did Tenar return to the Kargish lands? I would also enjoy a stolen moment or canon AU with Tenar-as-Arha.
I think Yarrow and Penthe have a lot in common, personality-wise, and would get along well. They're both very earthy characters, though in different ways. And of course Arha and Penthe had that lovely relationship as girls - how might it have evolved if they stayed together or met again?
DNW: Character or animal death. Depressing endings. Sexual violence, child abuse, domestic violence, anything along those lines. Sex more explicit than canon (i.e., it can clearly be taking place but we don't know exactly what's going where when.)
The Stand - Stephen King
Dayna Jurgens/Lucy Swann
Fran Goldsmith/Dayna Jurgens
Nadine Cross/Fran Goldsmith
Dayna Jurgens/Susan Stern
Jenny Engstrom/Dayna Jurgens
Nadine Cross/Dayna Jurgens
Nadine Cross/Lucy Swann
I love this book for its haunting vision of travel across an empty America, its small community on the edge of destruction, and its characters. The book has really interesting female characters, and I'd love to see them take center stage and interact more with each other. [I also like the male characters, so please don't kill off Stu or Larry to allow for a relationship if you pick Fran or Lucy, just have them not romantically involved.] There's such an emphasis on choice and chance encounters becoming very significant, it would be interesting to see if how things might have changed to allow for different relationships, or how different relationships might have changed other events.
I would be happy with a day in the life/moment in time, or an untold adventure or some sort of canon AU, either during the book or a "what if some characters had met up earlier?" What if Nick (or someone else) had been just in time to prevent the bomb instead of just too late? What if different characters ended up in Boulder or in Vegas? I really liked how it wasn't a clear split between good and evil, with apparently basically decent people like Angie Hirschfeld ending up in Vegas and some real jerks in Boulder. What made people choose as they did? What if choice or chance led them another way? What if some of the people who meant to flee Vegas, like Jenny Engstrom, did so earlier and escaped or met up with the travelers on the road?
Nadine Cross is one of the most fascinating characters in the whole story. I love everything about her and also think her hair is really hot. ;) I would enjoy anything about Nadine - her past, a day in the life, an AU where she started in Vegas from the get-go. Feel free to go as dark as you like so long as it's not worse than canon, i.e., she should not stay a brain-damaged incubator.
I wonder what would have happened if Nadine had decided to defy Flagg's virginity command... with another woman. Flagg thought only penis-in-vagina sex counted as sex, but, well, he was the Devil. Maybe Nadine's sex with Harold didn't count not because of technicalities, but because she was faithful to Flagg in her heart - enough to obey his technicality-based rule. Or maybe Flagg was serious about the PIV (because of babies? because the Devil has crappy sexist rules?); what would happen if Nadine thought she was disobeying him, and he thought he still had a claim on her? Or some other variation!
Dayna Jurgens is the most traditionally badass character in the entire story, and I love that that role goes to a woman. I would love anything about Dayna - her backstory reflecting forward on what happens post-flu, a day in the life, a canon AU. Did she ever have a pre-flu encounter with Flagg? What if Dayna and Jenny, or Dayna and Nadine, had met post-flu but before they'd started their road trip - would they have parted, or would one have pulled the other to go in the other direction?
My DNW with Dayna is that I don't like the rape backstory in the extended edition; please don't use it or any other sexual violence. Other darkness is fine. She does heroically sacrifice herself, and if you do an AU I would be fine with that still happening, but in a different context. I wouldn't want to see her go over to the dark side or die pointlessly, though.
Lucy Swann seemed more potentially interesting than we mostly saw in canon. I thought one of her best moments was when she was telling Larry how people thought of her as a slut, but instead of being apologetic, she defended not only her desires, but her neediness - and that needing other people wasn't a bad thing. And then she got pregnant and dropped out of the plot. Alas. So, what if she hadn't ended up so much on the sidelines, either because she didn't get pregnant or that didn't automatically bench her? Or maybe there was interesting stuff happening on the sidelines that we just didn't see. My one DNW with Lucy is I'm not big on pregnancy or babyfic, so please avoid making her pregnancy and babies prominent in the story. With her it would be pretty easy to just not have her get pregnant
Fran Goldsmith is a great character, and I will make an exception for the "no pregnancy" thing because it's so central to her character and story. She also manages to do quite a lot regardless, like breaking into Harold's house, right up to the point where the men go on their journey and she waits to give birth. So as long as she's doing more than waiting to give birth, I will be happy. Her attempts to remember the world gone by, for better and for worse, were so haunting to me.
Jenny Engstrom's brief appearances in the book are really striking to me. How and why did she end up where she did? What if she'd chosen differently? Did she ever meet Flagg pre-flu in a strip club? One thing I don't think was ever made clear in canon was whether she was already living in Vegas pre-flu. If she was, I'd love to see her "where I was during the superflu" story; what was it like to watch the Devil ride into your own deserted hometown? And what the hell was her life like before that she kissed his boots? I will make an exception for my "no added sexual violence" DNW if you think it makes sense for her story.
Sue Stern was another character I would have liked to have seen more of. What we did see - rescuing the golden retriever, being on the council, recruiting Dayna as a spy - was very compelling. It felt like she could have been the heroine of a different book, so it would be nice to see her get a chance in the spotlight. DNW: extended edition rape backstory.
DNW: Graphic gross descriptions. On-page rape. Flagg's general rapeyness with Nadine is fine, and if you do an AU where Nadine survives her encounter with him, referencing it is fine too. Basically don't add additional rape to what's already in canon, and you're fine.
While scary, bittersweet, melancholy, or even hearbreaking moments (or a general mood) are fine - it's obviously not a fluffy canon - please don't do anything worse to the characters than happens in canon. If there's hurt, I'd like comfort too. If there's tragedy, I'd also like some hope.
Original Work
I'm fine with happy, hopeful, bittersweet, dark in a film noir sort of way, or dying together in a blaze of glory endings for any of these. Please no endings where one dies and one lives on in lonely despair.
Female Dragonrider/Female Dragonrider
I love dragons. And I love riders and pilots, and the tropes attached to them. Are the riders a respected part of society, respected but set apart from the social mainstream, disreputable and/or considered weird, or outcasts. Or are these the first two people who have ever managed to ride a dragon? How do you get a dragon? What is the role of dragonriders: couriers, military, sport, hobby...? Again, feel free to use whatever tropes go with whatever you choose. If they're essentially military, are they rivals on the same side, on opposites sides of a war, or fellow soldiers with all the camaraderie that entails?
Feel free to use any setting from a traditional high fantasy one to a terraformed planet where the dragons are alien creatures. Up to you whether the dragons speak, are telepathic, are empathic, communicate in colors or scents or something, or just use dragon body language. I'd like them to be a significant part of the story and tightly bonded with their riders, whatever they are.
Female Pilot/Female Enemy Pilot
I have long had a fascination with fighter pilots. I love the legends of chivalry, rivalry, codes of honor, death or glory, and so forth high in the skies, where you're fighting one on one, possibly with someone famous. Or someone you know. So, how do these two get to know each other? Do they have signature moves or articles of clothing or distinctive planes? Were they always on opposite sides, or is this a civil war or some other situation where they could have known each other pre-war? Is the entire story told in midair, with them never speaking but only being strangely attracted by each other's skills and honor? Does one get shot down, and the other decide to save her life or let her go? Do they meet after the war, or does it all end in flames? Are female pilots rare or common, or are all of them women?
Any era or setting, from historical to contemporary to fantasy to sf, is fine with the exception of any actual war going on right now, and Nazi/anyone pairings. If you like the trappings of some contemporary or historical setting but don't want to deal with real-life issues, feel free to use the trappings without the specific setting. i.e., feel free to have obviously WWI-based fighter pilots without feeling like you have to explain why they're women, or clearly-contemporary weapons without setting it in a specific RL war.
Female Hyperspace Test Pilot/Female Sentient Spaceship
I especially like the version of hyperspace where it's incredibly awesome in some way but also kills most people who enter it or will kill everyone eventually, or isn't deadly but is extremely taxing or painful or something, or is liable to give you visions and/or drive you insane and/or offer you artistic insight. Or something like that. Basically, I think hyperspace should be cooler and more dangerous than just instantaneous travel. I like the idea that the pilot willingly takes huge risks or even certain bad consequences to explore or be one with her beloved ship or...?
How does the hypership feel about her fragile human companion risking her life/sanity/health/ever seeing Earth again/etc? Think of the / as just denoting an intense and/or romantic relationship. Physical sex not necessary. However a hypership could totally be the sort where you jack in and enter some sort of VR or telepathic communion, and anything could happen there. Just saying.
Female Journalist/Female Vigilante
I find vigilantes fascinating. I'd like the vigilante to have some righteous rage, so I'd prefer this to be more serious rather than cracky. That is, humor is fine, I'd just rather not have the whole thing be jokey. I'd also like the vigilante to have reasonable reasons, even if her actions are OTT. Is the vigilante motivated by vengeance, disillusionment in the system, or idealism? Does the journalist know her real identity? If not, does she know both identities without realizing they're the same person? Does the journalist disapprove of the vigilante's methods or targets, or secretly (or not-so-secretly) agree with her? Does one or the other of them have their ideas changed by the end? Do they ever join forces or switch roles? Is there desperate, adrenaline-fueled sex in a dark alley or while wearing masks? Or phone sex?
I'd be fine with a contemporary setting, including one that uses any real-world issues, so long as it's not too preachy and RL people are not name checked. I'd also be fine with a historical or fantasy or sf setting.
Female Supersoldier/Female Journalist
I am SUCH a sucker for "people created with or given powers." I love the angst of being an experimental subject, "is this power a curse or a blessing," cool powers, conflicts of loyalties, etc. A lot of my prompts for "female vigilante" would also work for this pairing. Is the supersoldier a celebrity, and the journalist is openly covering her? Or on the run or held in a secret lab, and the journalist is in pursuit of a scoop? I'd love something that plays on their very different lives, and what they find in common despite that. Or if the journalist is a war correspondent, something on how surprisingly similar their experiences have been.
Do they end up on the run together? Banding together to bring down the military-industrial complex that created and enslaved the supersoldier? Or was she a volunteer, and the journalist is using her a rallying point with her full cooperation because Earth is being invaded by aliens and everyone needs to fight however they can? Does the supersoldiering process have drawbacks, like a shortened lifespan?
Female Mob Boss/Female Undercover Detective
I love mob movies. I love undercover tropes. And I have never seen anything where the mob boss and the undercover detective are both women, so that would be amazing. (I'm taking "detective" to mean either "private eye" or "undercover cop" - either is fine.) I think a mob boss can't be too young, so this could be a fascinating battle of wits between two very experienced people at the top of their game. Does the mob boss suspect the detective, and is having an affair in the hope of finding out for sure? Does the mob boss know for sure, and can't bring herself to pull the trigger (yet)? Was the detective appalled to find herself admiring the mob boss's ruthlessness and intelligence, and finding that super hot? Are they just playing each other, or has one or both fallen in love... and even if there is love involved, is that enough to stop them from destroying each other?
Female Rabbi/Female Golem
Why does the rabbi create the golem? How does the golem feel about being created, and her purpose? What's it like having your life bound up in writing that can be erased? Is the word of life the traditional one, or something else? Is their actual relationship hidden and forbidden? Can the golem pass as human, or really not? A lot of tropes more commonly applied to robots and androids could come into play here: what does it mean to be human, how can you know that you're self-willed, etc.
I would be an ideal audience for this story because 1) I'm Jewish and really enjoy the culture, and additionally am fascinated by golem and magical rabbi folklore, and so will enjoy any cultural/folkloric references you make, 2) I wasn't raised Jewish so you don't need to do extensive research and any mistakes will fly over my head. On that note, it doesn't have to be contemporary; I'm fine with handwaving a female rabbi in any historical period. This is the kind of premise that could go anywhere from very dark to complete comedy. I'd like something more on the serious side - humor is fine, but don't make the whole story jokey.
Female Space Marine/Mysterious Female Stowaway
I love space Marines/military sf tropes. Are they fighting aliens? Exploring new worlds? Trapped on a spaceship during an alien infiltration or plague? And just who is the mysterious stowaway? Someone who didn't make the cut for Space Marines but is determined to prove herself even by highly unconventional means? Someone with a personal mission that involves a specific Space Marine? Or was she just desperate to get away from something or somewhere, or desperate to get to somewhere, and the spaceship was convenient (up to the point where she got caught)? Does she have surprising skills or powers that come in handy, even if she can't fight? This could be a good butch/femme pairing.
Military officer desperate to redeem her honor/Loyal subordinate trying to keep her alive
The loyalty kink and hurt-comfort just writes itself, doesn't it? An officer trying to go out in a blaze of glory or just not caring if she comes back from the suicide mission she just volunteered for or deciding this is the perfect opportunity to go berserker, and her subordinate who's just as determined that she will come back - I love everything about this.
What happened to her honor, anyway? A frame-up? A deliberate choice to sacrifice honor for some greater good? Or did she legit do something wrong (by our standards, or just hers?) and is trying to make good? Is her subordinate trying to clear her name so she won't have to sacrifice herself, or out there literally shielding her with her body, or both? Why is the subordinate so loyal? Was she around when the officer's honor was broken? Did she have something to do with why it happened, like maybe the officer made her fateful choice to protect her loyal subordinate who is now attempting to return the favor?
Any era or setting, from historical to contemporary to fantasy to sf, is fine with the exception of any actual war going on right now. If you like the trappings of some contemporary or historical setting but don't want to deal with real-life issues, feel free to use the trappings without the specific setting. i.e., feel free to have obviously WWI-based fighter pilots without feeling like you have to explain why they're women, or clearly-contemporary weapons without setting it in a specific RL war.
Tale of the Five Series - Diane Duane
Eftgan/Segnbora
Goddess/Original Rodmistress
Goddess/Segnbora
I love the sense of wonder mixed with mundane detail, with the doors leading to other worlds where if you reach your hand through you can feel the heat of the air, the innkeeper who turns out to be the Goddess, telepathy that can be wondrous or just annoying, the tenderness and love the characters feel for each other, the sweet sensuality, the defiant optimism in a world that is centrally constructed around the acknowledgment of death, and the beauty and harshness of the flame that everyone wants and that kills you young.
If you write Segnbora, I would like to see a story focusing on her before she met Hasai, or with the dragons temporarily not inhabiting her, or not having the dragons be a huge focus. It’s not that I don’t like the dragons, it’s that they tend to take over and I'm more interested in her than them. I really liked what we saw of Eftgan and would love a story about one of their pre- or post-series adventures. I'd also love a day-in-the-life or a missing scene in the book continuity - did any of them ever step through one of those doors to another world? Appearances by any other canon characters are fine - I love everyone - but not necessary.
The Goddess is one of my favorite fictional deities, and I'd love to see her visiting Segnbora or a Rodmistress for healing sex (her scene with Herewiss is one of my favorites in the whole series) or to set her a task or simply dropping in - I also loved the scene of cleaning up the little temple.
For all the pairings, I'm fascinated by the flame and how it's used, and by its price, so I'd be interested in a story featuring that. I also love the mythology woven into the world. Do they meet the Goddess or the Shadow or some other figure from myth in some other aspect that the ones we see in canon?
DNW: Canon character or animal death. (Deaths of monster animals like the nightmare are fine.) If someone dies in canon, referencing it is fine, but please don't kill any canon characters who don't die in canon. Depressing endings. Bittersweet is fine, and I love the specific type of bittersweet in this canon, of self-sacrifice and heroic last stands and willingly giving one's life to a doomed but righteous cause. I am fine with an OC Rodmistress heroically sacrificing her life. Referencing Segnbora's canon rape backstory is fine but please don't add additional rape to what's already in canon.
Crossposted to https://rachelmanija.dreamwidth.org/2212720.html. Comment here or there.
General Loves:
Hurt-comfort - all h/c tropes that don't infantilize anyone are delicious to me. Injured and stuck without medical care on another planet/behind enemy lines/etc, bedside vigils, tender caretaking, stoic characters pretending they are JUST FINE right up until they collapse - I love it all. The only thing I don't like is characters getting tons of care taking lavished on them for minor illnesses like colds - that hits my infantilization button. (But fevers with delirium are lovely, especially if they make characters babble secrets or true feelings that they'd never in a million years admit to if sober.) Emotional h/c is also excellent.
Loyalty, conflicting loyalties, being torn between a cause or job and the woman she loves - I adore all that. I love knight's vows, royalty determined to do right by their responsibilities, soldiers' camaraderie, backstage bonding, and gangsters' codes. People belonging to some sort of in-group, whether they're post-apocalyptic survivors, dragonriders, fighter pilots, or cultural minorities, is always fascinating to me. So is being an outcast from a group.
I love bonding through shared hardship or a shared hard job, through both being outcasts or both having a secret. I love characters who trust each other with their lives. I also love characters who don't trust each other for good reasons, but are forced to work together/depend on each other.
I love butch/femme pairings. I also love many other sorts of pairings. But if you like that too and it suits the pairing, feel free to go to town in that direction.
I am fine with any type of relationship or smut level - established, beginning, friends-to-lovers, enemies-to-lovers, enemies having sizzling angry hatesex, smoldering sexual tension but no onstage sex, etc. Do what feels right for the characters and story.
Sex: I like BDSM, especially if it's extremely informal (like, the characters might not have even heard the term, they just know they like being pinned down/tying up their girlfriend/etc). I like bruising (spontaneous or ornamental), and rough and/or frantic/desperate sex. I like "let's have sex because we might die tomorrow/we might not survive the war." I like fingering and frottage, especially when partly clothed, reaching into clothes, touching through clothes, etc. I like praise, bondage, honor bondage, and characters discovering kinks for the first time. I like characters entering new or dangerous territory, like if they're control freaks or emotionally damaged and have never really relaxed and enjoyed themselves, or lost control, or cut loose before.
I like lavish descriptions of things, from food to clothing to scenery to the human body. I love all types of women's bodies, so whatever strikes you or you think would strike the characters as especially attractive, whether it's long clever fingers or delicately arched feet or battle scars or an Earth Mother figure, I will enjoy reading it. I like strong muscular women, voluptuous women, and little dainty-looking women.
I love sexy clothing, which could be slinky 40s dresses or battle-worn leathers. Scars and brands and tattoos are hot.
I like worldbuilding, whether it's of literal worlds or exploring the setting/culture of our real world.
I like any kind of writing, from completely straightforward to 5 Things to any sort of odd format that serves the story. I even like second person if there's a reason for it.
General DNWs: Issuefic, terminal illness, dementia, A/B/O, PWP, change-the-setting AUs (I like "this happened differently" AUs), body horror, non-canon human pregnancy and babies or a heavy focus on canon human pregnancy or babies (alien lizard babies, adorable kittens, etc are fine), infantilization, and the gross kinds of bodily waste (blood, sweat, and tears are fine).
Earthsea - Ursula K. Le Guin
Penthe/Yarrow
Penthe/Tenar
The first two books of this series are two of my favorite fantasies of all time. I like the others to varying degrees, but those are my favorites. I love the dragons as they were portrayed in the earlier books, the songs and poems and stories, and the herblore and wildlife lore and legends.
Penthe was such a bright, memorable character evoked in a very few scenes, and I shared Tenar's hope that she'd be happy somewhere else after the Tombs fell. Her great dream was to be a dancing girl in the big city (or a cook!); so, she wants freedom and sensual pleasures, good food and pretty things and to dance for someone other than the Nameless Ones, in dark and silence.
She was chosen as a priestess - could that been because someone sensed some sort of magical potential that she ended up going to the Archipelago to explore, and so ended up on Yarrow's island? (I can't think of a way Yarrow would end up in Kargad, but if you can, feel free.) Did she go to Gont specifically to find Tenar, or did Tenar return to the Kargish lands? I would also enjoy a stolen moment or canon AU with Tenar-as-Arha.
I think Yarrow and Penthe have a lot in common, personality-wise, and would get along well. They're both very earthy characters, though in different ways. And of course Arha and Penthe had that lovely relationship as girls - how might it have evolved if they stayed together or met again?
DNW: Character or animal death. Depressing endings. Sexual violence, child abuse, domestic violence, anything along those lines. Sex more explicit than canon (i.e., it can clearly be taking place but we don't know exactly what's going where when.)
The Stand - Stephen King
Dayna Jurgens/Lucy Swann
Fran Goldsmith/Dayna Jurgens
Nadine Cross/Fran Goldsmith
Dayna Jurgens/Susan Stern
Jenny Engstrom/Dayna Jurgens
Nadine Cross/Dayna Jurgens
Nadine Cross/Lucy Swann
I love this book for its haunting vision of travel across an empty America, its small community on the edge of destruction, and its characters. The book has really interesting female characters, and I'd love to see them take center stage and interact more with each other. [I also like the male characters, so please don't kill off Stu or Larry to allow for a relationship if you pick Fran or Lucy, just have them not romantically involved.] There's such an emphasis on choice and chance encounters becoming very significant, it would be interesting to see if how things might have changed to allow for different relationships, or how different relationships might have changed other events.
I would be happy with a day in the life/moment in time, or an untold adventure or some sort of canon AU, either during the book or a "what if some characters had met up earlier?" What if Nick (or someone else) had been just in time to prevent the bomb instead of just too late? What if different characters ended up in Boulder or in Vegas? I really liked how it wasn't a clear split between good and evil, with apparently basically decent people like Angie Hirschfeld ending up in Vegas and some real jerks in Boulder. What made people choose as they did? What if choice or chance led them another way? What if some of the people who meant to flee Vegas, like Jenny Engstrom, did so earlier and escaped or met up with the travelers on the road?
Nadine Cross is one of the most fascinating characters in the whole story. I love everything about her and also think her hair is really hot. ;) I would enjoy anything about Nadine - her past, a day in the life, an AU where she started in Vegas from the get-go. Feel free to go as dark as you like so long as it's not worse than canon, i.e., she should not stay a brain-damaged incubator.
I wonder what would have happened if Nadine had decided to defy Flagg's virginity command... with another woman. Flagg thought only penis-in-vagina sex counted as sex, but, well, he was the Devil. Maybe Nadine's sex with Harold didn't count not because of technicalities, but because she was faithful to Flagg in her heart - enough to obey his technicality-based rule. Or maybe Flagg was serious about the PIV (because of babies? because the Devil has crappy sexist rules?); what would happen if Nadine thought she was disobeying him, and he thought he still had a claim on her? Or some other variation!
Dayna Jurgens is the most traditionally badass character in the entire story, and I love that that role goes to a woman. I would love anything about Dayna - her backstory reflecting forward on what happens post-flu, a day in the life, a canon AU. Did she ever have a pre-flu encounter with Flagg? What if Dayna and Jenny, or Dayna and Nadine, had met post-flu but before they'd started their road trip - would they have parted, or would one have pulled the other to go in the other direction?
My DNW with Dayna is that I don't like the rape backstory in the extended edition; please don't use it or any other sexual violence. Other darkness is fine. She does heroically sacrifice herself, and if you do an AU I would be fine with that still happening, but in a different context. I wouldn't want to see her go over to the dark side or die pointlessly, though.
Lucy Swann seemed more potentially interesting than we mostly saw in canon. I thought one of her best moments was when she was telling Larry how people thought of her as a slut, but instead of being apologetic, she defended not only her desires, but her neediness - and that needing other people wasn't a bad thing. And then she got pregnant and dropped out of the plot. Alas. So, what if she hadn't ended up so much on the sidelines, either because she didn't get pregnant or that didn't automatically bench her? Or maybe there was interesting stuff happening on the sidelines that we just didn't see. My one DNW with Lucy is I'm not big on pregnancy or babyfic, so please avoid making her pregnancy and babies prominent in the story. With her it would be pretty easy to just not have her get pregnant
Fran Goldsmith is a great character, and I will make an exception for the "no pregnancy" thing because it's so central to her character and story. She also manages to do quite a lot regardless, like breaking into Harold's house, right up to the point where the men go on their journey and she waits to give birth. So as long as she's doing more than waiting to give birth, I will be happy. Her attempts to remember the world gone by, for better and for worse, were so haunting to me.
Jenny Engstrom's brief appearances in the book are really striking to me. How and why did she end up where she did? What if she'd chosen differently? Did she ever meet Flagg pre-flu in a strip club? One thing I don't think was ever made clear in canon was whether she was already living in Vegas pre-flu. If she was, I'd love to see her "where I was during the superflu" story; what was it like to watch the Devil ride into your own deserted hometown? And what the hell was her life like before that she kissed his boots? I will make an exception for my "no added sexual violence" DNW if you think it makes sense for her story.
Sue Stern was another character I would have liked to have seen more of. What we did see - rescuing the golden retriever, being on the council, recruiting Dayna as a spy - was very compelling. It felt like she could have been the heroine of a different book, so it would be nice to see her get a chance in the spotlight. DNW: extended edition rape backstory.
DNW: Graphic gross descriptions. On-page rape. Flagg's general rapeyness with Nadine is fine, and if you do an AU where Nadine survives her encounter with him, referencing it is fine too. Basically don't add additional rape to what's already in canon, and you're fine.
While scary, bittersweet, melancholy, or even hearbreaking moments (or a general mood) are fine - it's obviously not a fluffy canon - please don't do anything worse to the characters than happens in canon. If there's hurt, I'd like comfort too. If there's tragedy, I'd also like some hope.
Original Work
I'm fine with happy, hopeful, bittersweet, dark in a film noir sort of way, or dying together in a blaze of glory endings for any of these. Please no endings where one dies and one lives on in lonely despair.
Female Dragonrider/Female Dragonrider
I love dragons. And I love riders and pilots, and the tropes attached to them. Are the riders a respected part of society, respected but set apart from the social mainstream, disreputable and/or considered weird, or outcasts. Or are these the first two people who have ever managed to ride a dragon? How do you get a dragon? What is the role of dragonriders: couriers, military, sport, hobby...? Again, feel free to use whatever tropes go with whatever you choose. If they're essentially military, are they rivals on the same side, on opposites sides of a war, or fellow soldiers with all the camaraderie that entails?
Feel free to use any setting from a traditional high fantasy one to a terraformed planet where the dragons are alien creatures. Up to you whether the dragons speak, are telepathic, are empathic, communicate in colors or scents or something, or just use dragon body language. I'd like them to be a significant part of the story and tightly bonded with their riders, whatever they are.
Female Pilot/Female Enemy Pilot
I have long had a fascination with fighter pilots. I love the legends of chivalry, rivalry, codes of honor, death or glory, and so forth high in the skies, where you're fighting one on one, possibly with someone famous. Or someone you know. So, how do these two get to know each other? Do they have signature moves or articles of clothing or distinctive planes? Were they always on opposite sides, or is this a civil war or some other situation where they could have known each other pre-war? Is the entire story told in midair, with them never speaking but only being strangely attracted by each other's skills and honor? Does one get shot down, and the other decide to save her life or let her go? Do they meet after the war, or does it all end in flames? Are female pilots rare or common, or are all of them women?
Any era or setting, from historical to contemporary to fantasy to sf, is fine with the exception of any actual war going on right now, and Nazi/anyone pairings. If you like the trappings of some contemporary or historical setting but don't want to deal with real-life issues, feel free to use the trappings without the specific setting. i.e., feel free to have obviously WWI-based fighter pilots without feeling like you have to explain why they're women, or clearly-contemporary weapons without setting it in a specific RL war.
Female Hyperspace Test Pilot/Female Sentient Spaceship
I especially like the version of hyperspace where it's incredibly awesome in some way but also kills most people who enter it or will kill everyone eventually, or isn't deadly but is extremely taxing or painful or something, or is liable to give you visions and/or drive you insane and/or offer you artistic insight. Or something like that. Basically, I think hyperspace should be cooler and more dangerous than just instantaneous travel. I like the idea that the pilot willingly takes huge risks or even certain bad consequences to explore or be one with her beloved ship or...?
How does the hypership feel about her fragile human companion risking her life/sanity/health/ever seeing Earth again/etc? Think of the / as just denoting an intense and/or romantic relationship. Physical sex not necessary. However a hypership could totally be the sort where you jack in and enter some sort of VR or telepathic communion, and anything could happen there. Just saying.
Female Journalist/Female Vigilante
I find vigilantes fascinating. I'd like the vigilante to have some righteous rage, so I'd prefer this to be more serious rather than cracky. That is, humor is fine, I'd just rather not have the whole thing be jokey. I'd also like the vigilante to have reasonable reasons, even if her actions are OTT. Is the vigilante motivated by vengeance, disillusionment in the system, or idealism? Does the journalist know her real identity? If not, does she know both identities without realizing they're the same person? Does the journalist disapprove of the vigilante's methods or targets, or secretly (or not-so-secretly) agree with her? Does one or the other of them have their ideas changed by the end? Do they ever join forces or switch roles? Is there desperate, adrenaline-fueled sex in a dark alley or while wearing masks? Or phone sex?
I'd be fine with a contemporary setting, including one that uses any real-world issues, so long as it's not too preachy and RL people are not name checked. I'd also be fine with a historical or fantasy or sf setting.
Female Supersoldier/Female Journalist
I am SUCH a sucker for "people created with or given powers." I love the angst of being an experimental subject, "is this power a curse or a blessing," cool powers, conflicts of loyalties, etc. A lot of my prompts for "female vigilante" would also work for this pairing. Is the supersoldier a celebrity, and the journalist is openly covering her? Or on the run or held in a secret lab, and the journalist is in pursuit of a scoop? I'd love something that plays on their very different lives, and what they find in common despite that. Or if the journalist is a war correspondent, something on how surprisingly similar their experiences have been.
Do they end up on the run together? Banding together to bring down the military-industrial complex that created and enslaved the supersoldier? Or was she a volunteer, and the journalist is using her a rallying point with her full cooperation because Earth is being invaded by aliens and everyone needs to fight however they can? Does the supersoldiering process have drawbacks, like a shortened lifespan?
Female Mob Boss/Female Undercover Detective
I love mob movies. I love undercover tropes. And I have never seen anything where the mob boss and the undercover detective are both women, so that would be amazing. (I'm taking "detective" to mean either "private eye" or "undercover cop" - either is fine.) I think a mob boss can't be too young, so this could be a fascinating battle of wits between two very experienced people at the top of their game. Does the mob boss suspect the detective, and is having an affair in the hope of finding out for sure? Does the mob boss know for sure, and can't bring herself to pull the trigger (yet)? Was the detective appalled to find herself admiring the mob boss's ruthlessness and intelligence, and finding that super hot? Are they just playing each other, or has one or both fallen in love... and even if there is love involved, is that enough to stop them from destroying each other?
Female Rabbi/Female Golem
Why does the rabbi create the golem? How does the golem feel about being created, and her purpose? What's it like having your life bound up in writing that can be erased? Is the word of life the traditional one, or something else? Is their actual relationship hidden and forbidden? Can the golem pass as human, or really not? A lot of tropes more commonly applied to robots and androids could come into play here: what does it mean to be human, how can you know that you're self-willed, etc.
I would be an ideal audience for this story because 1) I'm Jewish and really enjoy the culture, and additionally am fascinated by golem and magical rabbi folklore, and so will enjoy any cultural/folkloric references you make, 2) I wasn't raised Jewish so you don't need to do extensive research and any mistakes will fly over my head. On that note, it doesn't have to be contemporary; I'm fine with handwaving a female rabbi in any historical period. This is the kind of premise that could go anywhere from very dark to complete comedy. I'd like something more on the serious side - humor is fine, but don't make the whole story jokey.
Female Space Marine/Mysterious Female Stowaway
I love space Marines/military sf tropes. Are they fighting aliens? Exploring new worlds? Trapped on a spaceship during an alien infiltration or plague? And just who is the mysterious stowaway? Someone who didn't make the cut for Space Marines but is determined to prove herself even by highly unconventional means? Someone with a personal mission that involves a specific Space Marine? Or was she just desperate to get away from something or somewhere, or desperate to get to somewhere, and the spaceship was convenient (up to the point where she got caught)? Does she have surprising skills or powers that come in handy, even if she can't fight? This could be a good butch/femme pairing.
Military officer desperate to redeem her honor/Loyal subordinate trying to keep her alive
The loyalty kink and hurt-comfort just writes itself, doesn't it? An officer trying to go out in a blaze of glory or just not caring if she comes back from the suicide mission she just volunteered for or deciding this is the perfect opportunity to go berserker, and her subordinate who's just as determined that she will come back - I love everything about this.
What happened to her honor, anyway? A frame-up? A deliberate choice to sacrifice honor for some greater good? Or did she legit do something wrong (by our standards, or just hers?) and is trying to make good? Is her subordinate trying to clear her name so she won't have to sacrifice herself, or out there literally shielding her with her body, or both? Why is the subordinate so loyal? Was she around when the officer's honor was broken? Did she have something to do with why it happened, like maybe the officer made her fateful choice to protect her loyal subordinate who is now attempting to return the favor?
Any era or setting, from historical to contemporary to fantasy to sf, is fine with the exception of any actual war going on right now. If you like the trappings of some contemporary or historical setting but don't want to deal with real-life issues, feel free to use the trappings without the specific setting. i.e., feel free to have obviously WWI-based fighter pilots without feeling like you have to explain why they're women, or clearly-contemporary weapons without setting it in a specific RL war.
Tale of the Five Series - Diane Duane
Eftgan/Segnbora
Goddess/Original Rodmistress
Goddess/Segnbora
I love the sense of wonder mixed with mundane detail, with the doors leading to other worlds where if you reach your hand through you can feel the heat of the air, the innkeeper who turns out to be the Goddess, telepathy that can be wondrous or just annoying, the tenderness and love the characters feel for each other, the sweet sensuality, the defiant optimism in a world that is centrally constructed around the acknowledgment of death, and the beauty and harshness of the flame that everyone wants and that kills you young.
If you write Segnbora, I would like to see a story focusing on her before she met Hasai, or with the dragons temporarily not inhabiting her, or not having the dragons be a huge focus. It’s not that I don’t like the dragons, it’s that they tend to take over and I'm more interested in her than them. I really liked what we saw of Eftgan and would love a story about one of their pre- or post-series adventures. I'd also love a day-in-the-life or a missing scene in the book continuity - did any of them ever step through one of those doors to another world? Appearances by any other canon characters are fine - I love everyone - but not necessary.
The Goddess is one of my favorite fictional deities, and I'd love to see her visiting Segnbora or a Rodmistress for healing sex (her scene with Herewiss is one of my favorites in the whole series) or to set her a task or simply dropping in - I also loved the scene of cleaning up the little temple.
For all the pairings, I'm fascinated by the flame and how it's used, and by its price, so I'd be interested in a story featuring that. I also love the mythology woven into the world. Do they meet the Goddess or the Shadow or some other figure from myth in some other aspect that the ones we see in canon?
DNW: Canon character or animal death. (Deaths of monster animals like the nightmare are fine.) If someone dies in canon, referencing it is fine, but please don't kill any canon characters who don't die in canon. Depressing endings. Bittersweet is fine, and I love the specific type of bittersweet in this canon, of self-sacrifice and heroic last stands and willingly giving one's life to a doomed but righteous cause. I am fine with an OC Rodmistress heroically sacrificing her life. Referencing Segnbora's canon rape backstory is fine but please don't add additional rape to what's already in canon.
Crossposted to https://rachelmanija.dreamwidth.org/2212720.html. Comment here or there.