Dear fellow letter writer,
I am very much looking forward to reading your story - and grateful. All the prompts are just suggestions; if you have very different ideas, go for them. Also, I enjoy a broad range from fluff to angst, so whatever suits you best works fine with me.
General DNW: I'm okay with characters who canonically loathe other characters expressing that opinion as a part of the story, but there's a difference between this and character bashing, i.e.: if you always loathed character X, please don't use the story you're writing for me for venting, vent elsewhere.
Canon specific DNW, see below for individual canons.
General Preferences: I'm easy. The format of this exchange seems immensely suitable to exploring feelings and thoughts without having to provide plot to go with them. (Not that I'm against plot if you can use the letter format to provide one.) I like complications and contradictory elements in relationships - affection and resentment intermingled, dislike but also respect, that kind of thing.
On to the fandoms.
18th Century Frederician RPF
No restrictions here; if letters and diaries aren't to your taste, I'm open for modern day AUs where the characters text each other or start a twitter war. Or a sci fi AU where resentful logs are dictated. If you do want to stay in the original era, here are some ideas: Frederick the Great and Maria Theresa were each other's arch nemesis, and communicated through third parties (ambassadors, mostly), so much I years ago enjoyed imagining how encounters would have gone, I'd love to read unsent letters between them, throughout the decades of rivalry. (If you want to add poignant irony, teen Archduchess MT writing an encouraging letter to imprisoned Crown Prince Friedrich would also work. ) For the two Kattes, Hans Herrmann and his father Hans Heinrich, I'm imagining Hans Heinrich trying to understand what motivated his son after his death and trying to work through the grief and surpressed rage by writing a letter to his dead child. For the two Hohenzollern brothers, Friedrich and Heinrich, I can see anything from Heinrich's replies to Friedrich's taunting Marwitz letters to Heinrich, during the last years of his life when he's moving into Wusterhausen for some months and reading Wilhelmine's memoirs for the first time, thinking about his dead family, brother Fritz included. For Lehndorff and Heinrich, we have in rl Lehndorff's diary, but the original diaries editor said there were also over 900 letters, which seem to have been lost in WWII, so I'd love to read some letter excerpts portraying their relationship through the decades, ups and downs, including Lehndorff's reaction to Heinrich's death (lost in WWII along with part of his papers). And then there's other dysfunctional ruling family. Having read several biographies of Joseph II now, I was struck by the description of his relationship with his mother as "(S)he had been a bulwark on which he needed to lean even while he was pummelling it with his fists", and how once she was dead and he was finally free to rule as he pleased, he missed her, so Joseph writing to his dead mother would really work for me. But all of these are just possible prompts, not musts. As I said: any combination, any format would make me happy.
Babylon 5:
Dear old fandom of my heart, how I love you still! Definitely no AU here, please. Possible prompts:
- G'Kar and Londo corresponding during G'Kar's years of travelling with Lyta; there is of course a lot Londo can't say, but G'Kar is good at reading between the lines (even if they're not literal lines); or just a single message which the Keeper then forces Londo to destroy
- Vir and Londo: messages showing their changing relationship from irritated ambassador and new lost attache through the show years to the years after; Vir and Londo, too, can communicate in hints
- Londo and Timov: what did their post "Soul Mates" communication look like? Be it a single Timov message sharply commenting on Londo's rise or a series of messages, anything would be great
- Vir and Lennier: two stressed aides, plenty of opportunity for messages, sent in whichever fashion! Both during the show canon era or later, when Lennier is on the run and Vir is maybe one of the few people he can talk to
DNW: I'm not that keen on Peter David's Centauri trilogy. There are parts of it I like - Senna, for example, or Timov coming back into Londo's life for a while - but even more parts I dislike, especially the world building or lack of same for the Centauri. So unless you've set your heart on it, if possible, don't use the book canon.
Alias (TV):
What can I say? Arvin Sloane, the show's antagonist, is just one of my all time favourite characters. And must have had a great many messages unsent over the decades of intense, convoluted relationships, whether to any of the Bristows (Jack, Sydney) or Irina Derevko, or Nadia (Or, if you want to go very dark, a lot of time to compose them in his head post canon. Ahem.) And I like the Spy Parents (and their relationship) nearly as much. Maybe Irina, during her years as Laura Bristow, occasionally made a diary in whichever form for emotional release which she then destroyed. Maybe Jack, once he finally found out the truth about her (and that she was alive), wrote one long letter he then tore up? Also, I freely confess that I'd have preferred it if the show had ended with s4 (minuts the obvious cliffhanger), so if you want to go AU from there and, say, have Jack, Irina and Sloane actually communicate and figure out a way to save Nadia via hidden messages or something like that - I'd be all for it. Or: the decades lock Jack & Arvin relationship in mission briefing protocols, from their time as young agents till the end. Or: Nadia's diary during s4, trying to figure out the complicated pesudo family she ended up with, and whether her father truly has changed or not. The possibility are endless! I'll even take secret messages from Rambaldi....
17th Century CE Stuarts RPF
Speaking of messed up families:
- Elizabeth Stuart Queen of Bohemia "The Winter Queen" and her father, James VI and I: presumably she had a lot to say to him (and maybe he to her) about that whole exercise in realpolitik where he washes his hands of her and her family as the worst war in Europe for centuries explodes around them - and yet she was once a favourite child...
- Lucy Hay Countess of Carlisle & Henrietta Maria: Lucy changed sides several times in the Civil War and Henrietta Maria confiding in her just the wrong information was a key turning point in the Civil War, and yet she ended up on the royalist side just in time for the Restoration; Henrietta Maria wasn't the forigiving type, but they kept in touch through the exile years - gimme some of those letters, indicating how on earth that relationship worked for them!
- James Scott Duke of Monmouth & Mary II & William III: first cousins who were very close when he was in exile, staying with them, enough to stun a lot of observers with how well they got along, not least because there were several elephants in the room (her father - who kept complaining about Monmouth's presence -, the fact that any claim Monmouth made on the throne was by necessity a rival claim to not just her father's but their own); and then there's the way William would successfully pull of what Monmouth tried in vain after his death, having learned from his mistakes. So, letters between the three of them, or diary entries, or maybe a letter from either Mary or William to dead Monmouth years later - all this I'd love to read.
General DNW: I'm okay with characters who canonically loathe other characters expressing that opinion as a part of the story, but there's a difference between this and character bashing, i.e.: if you always loathed character X, please don't use the story you're writing for me for venting, vent elsewhere.
Canon specific DNW, see below for individual canons.
General Preferences: I'm easy. The format of this exchange seems immensely suitable to exploring feelings and thoughts without having to provide plot to go with them. (Not that I'm against plot if you can use the letter format to provide one.) I like complications and contradictory elements in relationships - affection and resentment intermingled, dislike but also respect, that kind of thing.
On to the fandoms.
18th Century Frederician RPF
No restrictions here; if letters and diaries aren't to your taste, I'm open for modern day AUs where the characters text each other or start a twitter war. Or a sci fi AU where resentful logs are dictated. If you do want to stay in the original era, here are some ideas: Frederick the Great and Maria Theresa were each other's arch nemesis, and communicated through third parties (ambassadors, mostly), so much I years ago enjoyed imagining how encounters would have gone, I'd love to read unsent letters between them, throughout the decades of rivalry. (If you want to add poignant irony, teen Archduchess MT writing an encouraging letter to imprisoned Crown Prince Friedrich would also work. ) For the two Kattes, Hans Herrmann and his father Hans Heinrich, I'm imagining Hans Heinrich trying to understand what motivated his son after his death and trying to work through the grief and surpressed rage by writing a letter to his dead child. For the two Hohenzollern brothers, Friedrich and Heinrich, I can see anything from Heinrich's replies to Friedrich's taunting Marwitz letters to Heinrich, during the last years of his life when he's moving into Wusterhausen for some months and reading Wilhelmine's memoirs for the first time, thinking about his dead family, brother Fritz included. For Lehndorff and Heinrich, we have in rl Lehndorff's diary, but the original diaries editor said there were also over 900 letters, which seem to have been lost in WWII, so I'd love to read some letter excerpts portraying their relationship through the decades, ups and downs, including Lehndorff's reaction to Heinrich's death (lost in WWII along with part of his papers). And then there's other dysfunctional ruling family. Having read several biographies of Joseph II now, I was struck by the description of his relationship with his mother as "(S)he had been a bulwark on which he needed to lean even while he was pummelling it with his fists", and how once she was dead and he was finally free to rule as he pleased, he missed her, so Joseph writing to his dead mother would really work for me. But all of these are just possible prompts, not musts. As I said: any combination, any format would make me happy.
Babylon 5:
Dear old fandom of my heart, how I love you still! Definitely no AU here, please. Possible prompts:
- G'Kar and Londo corresponding during G'Kar's years of travelling with Lyta; there is of course a lot Londo can't say, but G'Kar is good at reading between the lines (even if they're not literal lines); or just a single message which the Keeper then forces Londo to destroy
- Vir and Londo: messages showing their changing relationship from irritated ambassador and new lost attache through the show years to the years after; Vir and Londo, too, can communicate in hints
- Londo and Timov: what did their post "Soul Mates" communication look like? Be it a single Timov message sharply commenting on Londo's rise or a series of messages, anything would be great
- Vir and Lennier: two stressed aides, plenty of opportunity for messages, sent in whichever fashion! Both during the show canon era or later, when Lennier is on the run and Vir is maybe one of the few people he can talk to
DNW: I'm not that keen on Peter David's Centauri trilogy. There are parts of it I like - Senna, for example, or Timov coming back into Londo's life for a while - but even more parts I dislike, especially the world building or lack of same for the Centauri. So unless you've set your heart on it, if possible, don't use the book canon.
Alias (TV):
What can I say? Arvin Sloane, the show's antagonist, is just one of my all time favourite characters. And must have had a great many messages unsent over the decades of intense, convoluted relationships, whether to any of the Bristows (Jack, Sydney) or Irina Derevko, or Nadia (Or, if you want to go very dark, a lot of time to compose them in his head post canon. Ahem.) And I like the Spy Parents (and their relationship) nearly as much. Maybe Irina, during her years as Laura Bristow, occasionally made a diary in whichever form for emotional release which she then destroyed. Maybe Jack, once he finally found out the truth about her (and that she was alive), wrote one long letter he then tore up? Also, I freely confess that I'd have preferred it if the show had ended with s4 (minuts the obvious cliffhanger), so if you want to go AU from there and, say, have Jack, Irina and Sloane actually communicate and figure out a way to save Nadia via hidden messages or something like that - I'd be all for it. Or: the decades lock Jack & Arvin relationship in mission briefing protocols, from their time as young agents till the end. Or: Nadia's diary during s4, trying to figure out the complicated pesudo family she ended up with, and whether her father truly has changed or not. The possibility are endless! I'll even take secret messages from Rambaldi....
17th Century CE Stuarts RPF
Speaking of messed up families:
- Elizabeth Stuart Queen of Bohemia "The Winter Queen" and her father, James VI and I: presumably she had a lot to say to him (and maybe he to her) about that whole exercise in realpolitik where he washes his hands of her and her family as the worst war in Europe for centuries explodes around them - and yet she was once a favourite child...
- Lucy Hay Countess of Carlisle & Henrietta Maria: Lucy changed sides several times in the Civil War and Henrietta Maria confiding in her just the wrong information was a key turning point in the Civil War, and yet she ended up on the royalist side just in time for the Restoration; Henrietta Maria wasn't the forigiving type, but they kept in touch through the exile years - gimme some of those letters, indicating how on earth that relationship worked for them!
- James Scott Duke of Monmouth & Mary II & William III: first cousins who were very close when he was in exile, staying with them, enough to stun a lot of observers with how well they got along, not least because there were several elephants in the room (her father - who kept complaining about Monmouth's presence -, the fact that any claim Monmouth made on the throne was by necessity a rival claim to not just her father's but their own); and then there's the way William would successfully pull of what Monmouth tried in vain after his death, having learned from his mistakes. So, letters between the three of them, or diary entries, or maybe a letter from either Mary or William to dead Monmouth years later - all this I'd love to read.