Dear Rarewomen Author letter
I feel like I’m writing a Dear Yuetide Writer letter which is kinda cool :) Anyways, thank you for writing for me. I want to say first that I don’t have many favorite female characters but the ones I do like are dear to me and I’m just super excited at the prospect of seeing fic with them!
GENERAL STUFF
Parings/Sex/Ratings:
I would enjoy het and/or gen. I do have some favorite parings that I would absolutely love to see and I’ll point them out in case you would like to work with them. I would prefer to not have femslash. I love love-triangles but not so much threesomes and/or polyamory. I’d also prefer to not have incest (Helene/Anatole are the exception) and parings with large age disparity (over 15 yrs) unless specifically stated otherwise. I don’t like pedophilia and I would prefer that all characters involved in sexual situations/relationships be 16 or older.
I’m comfortable with all ratings up to R. PWP just isn’t my thing though; I would prefer a focus on the romantic/emotional aspect of a relationship and some semblance of a plot/point. I don’t care much for BDSM and heavy kink (scat, watersports, bloodplay, necro, etc). I don’t really mind dub-con but not non-com/rape. MPreg, cross-dressing, and genderbending/genderswap are turn offs (I like my women feminine, at least to whatever point they are so in canon). As is bestiality.
Genres/Themes (and such):
I love angst! But fluff/humor when appropriate is also cool. I definitely don’t mind things like Dark!fic and character death. I’m not the biggest fan of crack!fic/parody. AUs of the “what if” variety are fine and I do enjoy well-done modernizations of historical (set pre-1850) fandoms, but not so much radical AUs that subvert the universe (genderswaping the cast, setting a modern fandom as a fairytale, turning a historical fandom all Sifi, etc).
I like well-rounded characters. Give me characters that have motives and feeling and don’t look like a stereotype cardboard cut-out. I also realize that characterization is fairly up to interpretation but just don’t give me something obviously intentionally out of characters. PLEASE don’t bash any of my requested characters or just any characters in general just to be safe :)
SPECIFIC FANDOMS/WOMEN
Harry Potter
Gabrielle Delacour. I ship post-war Gabrielle/Ron and/or Gabrielle/Draco. I wonder about how it was for Gabrielle to have such an outstanding sister, what achievements of her own did she have, or maybe she didn’t and how that would effect her. If shipped with Ron I would love to see them overcoming some similar issues like family insecurities and inferiority complexes. If shipped with Draco…I don’t have anything specific in mind at all, honestly. Lol, they just look good together in my head, I guess. But maybe something romantic, courtship, maybe a French setting…
Cassiopeia Black. She’s one of those Blacks who aren’t REALLY canon in the Canon Purist sense but JKR has her little Black Family Tree which is where I got Cass from and since HP likes to stick everything into canon, I guess it flies :) Here are my thought on her: She’s pureblood witch, a Black, growing up in the first half of the 20th century. Her younger brother is a squib. How does this reflect on her and her family, how does she deal with this? Marius is disowned, but when does this happen? How well does Cassiopeia remember this? What do Purebloods DO with disowned children? (This can be dark as you like, btw :) ).
The Borgias
Sancia. Ok, I admit, I’m lobbying for a sexy and/or sweet Sancia/Juan fic. Sexy not meaning PWP but just something sassy and evocative like in canon :) I want her to like him…a lot lol. This paring just turns me on. For a gen scenario…maybe Sancia and Alfonso causing all sorts of trouble as kids as she seems like the cheeky, mischievous sort. I wish I could be more helpful and specific but really, think of it as an extra chance to surprise me with something unexpectedly awesome <3
War and Peace
I can’t not squee over this fandom, honestly. I love it to death and I love these girls and I love a whole bunch of the boys in this fandom too so sorry if this gets long *sheepish*
Helene Kuragin. I’m constantly on the fence about Helene. She is so manipulative and ruthless at times but there’s so much strength in there too and she’s so fascinating that it’s hard to just ignore her. She’s gorgeous, she knows how to get what she wants in a society ruled by men and it seems to me like she’s very close to her father and her younger brother (Anatole). I kind of feel like a lot of her manipulation is a passive-aggressive response to social pressure and expectations. And Pierre was just an awful choice and she, sadly, realized just how awful. Dolokhov/Helene are a HUGE LOVE of mine. They’re great on a whole spectrum of genres and themes. A pre-book teenage romance, their affair after Helene’s marriage, and exploration of the class issues standing between them… I think they can range anywhere from sweet and beautiful, if hopeless, romance to something dark, passionate, complicated and possibly selfish. I think with them I would love to see a “mature” relationship. I think they’re both characters that put up with a lot. On a more scandalous note the Anatole/Helene paring is about the only incest paring I ship. It’s just hinted at in canon and it’s just a rumor, but these two have massive chemistry. (I blame the 2007 miniseries for this honestly.) Just please, don’t normalize it, incest isn’t really a normative behavior nor should it be. But I would love to see this very close brother-sister relationship with a sexual tension (unresolved or not) layer and how this effects them and their lives. I see this as a darker, more angsty fic but you can take it wherever it takes you, so to speak. Honestly, though, I would love anything with Helene and Anatole and maybe the rest of the Kuragins. Gen works just as well here.
Sonya Rostov. I’m not sure what prompt to give you but let me just say that I love her and I’m sure I would be pleased with just about anything you write centered on her. (Although…I don’t like Natasha so maybe…something with less Natasha rather than more would be nice.) She is a character I relate to a lot and is probably my favorite female character in lit (or, like, anywhere). I love her ability to sacrifice her happiness for that of others and I love how she is still a strong woman in her own way without being a feminist at all. It's an inner sort of strength that isn't always obvious at first sight. Dolokhov/Sonya is a het OTP of mine. I really they could both have a happy ending. I wouldn’t mind an AU where Sonya accepts his proposal or at some point realizes Nikolai isn’t worth waiting for or something. I would even more love a post-war fic because then Nikolai is married and Sonya has no ties to him anymore. (I think this is important because I somehow feel it would have diminished Sonya in Dolokhov’s eyes had she “jumped” men at the time that he proposed.) I would love-love-love for them to have a happy ending together. I think this could be such a sweet pairing! However, I would enjoy a Pierre/Sonya paring, as strange as that might sound I think Sonya is a better match for Pierre than Natasha anyways. A canon Nikolai/Sonya paring is fine too. Ooooh, maybe an affair during Nikolai’s marriage once he’s realized he made a mistake leaving Sonya ;)
Lise Bolkonski (nee Meinen). Poor Lise. No, really, Bolkonski is such an ass to her for like no reason. I don’t think she was happy in this marriage as much as she wanted for it to work. I don’t want a Lise who is so in love with Bolkonski that she is blind to his faults and to how horrible he is to her as I don’t think she was in canon and that’s part of why she was so unhappy. I think an angsty exploration of their marriage would be interesting. I, actually, ship Lise with Hippolyte Kuragin. I kind of see this as a pre-marriage romance of Lise’s. Maybe she can compare the two men, maybe it’s a love triangle! (I’m not Bolkonki’s greatest fan in case you weren’t sure.) IDK, maybe Lise’s musings on being pregnant or something for gen?
Vera Rostov. Her parents’ least favorite child… HOW DO YOU EVEN HAVE A LEAST FAVORITE CHILD? Vera seems a lot more practical and reserved of the Rostov children and I would definitely be interested in seeing an exploration of that. How does it feel to have a younger sister who is the silliest, most foolish thing ever but who manages to gobble up all the attention anyways? If you would like to ship her canonicaly with Berg, then I would like to see how Vera’s life turned out since we don’t see her in the epilogue. But the paring I would especially like to see if you would like to write it, is Dolokhov/Vera. They just somehow fit, I guess. No prompt here whatsoever so whatever takes you fancy.
Anyways, this is all just me going on and on and drowning in squee. Optional details are optional of course, but these were some ideas of what I’d love to see in case you’re interested. Have fun writing!
~Alley
GENERAL STUFF
Parings/Sex/Ratings:
I would enjoy het and/or gen. I do have some favorite parings that I would absolutely love to see and I’ll point them out in case you would like to work with them. I would prefer to not have femslash. I love love-triangles but not so much threesomes and/or polyamory. I’d also prefer to not have incest (Helene/Anatole are the exception) and parings with large age disparity (over 15 yrs) unless specifically stated otherwise. I don’t like pedophilia and I would prefer that all characters involved in sexual situations/relationships be 16 or older.
I’m comfortable with all ratings up to R. PWP just isn’t my thing though; I would prefer a focus on the romantic/emotional aspect of a relationship and some semblance of a plot/point. I don’t care much for BDSM and heavy kink (scat, watersports, bloodplay, necro, etc). I don’t really mind dub-con but not non-com/rape. MPreg, cross-dressing, and genderbending/genderswap are turn offs (I like my women feminine, at least to whatever point they are so in canon). As is bestiality.
Genres/Themes (and such):
I love angst! But fluff/humor when appropriate is also cool. I definitely don’t mind things like Dark!fic and character death. I’m not the biggest fan of crack!fic/parody. AUs of the “what if” variety are fine and I do enjoy well-done modernizations of historical (set pre-1850) fandoms, but not so much radical AUs that subvert the universe (genderswaping the cast, setting a modern fandom as a fairytale, turning a historical fandom all Sifi, etc).
I like well-rounded characters. Give me characters that have motives and feeling and don’t look like a stereotype cardboard cut-out. I also realize that characterization is fairly up to interpretation but just don’t give me something obviously intentionally out of characters. PLEASE don’t bash any of my requested characters or just any characters in general just to be safe :)
SPECIFIC FANDOMS/WOMEN
Harry Potter
Gabrielle Delacour. I ship post-war Gabrielle/Ron and/or Gabrielle/Draco. I wonder about how it was for Gabrielle to have such an outstanding sister, what achievements of her own did she have, or maybe she didn’t and how that would effect her. If shipped with Ron I would love to see them overcoming some similar issues like family insecurities and inferiority complexes. If shipped with Draco…I don’t have anything specific in mind at all, honestly. Lol, they just look good together in my head, I guess. But maybe something romantic, courtship, maybe a French setting…
Cassiopeia Black. She’s one of those Blacks who aren’t REALLY canon in the Canon Purist sense but JKR has her little Black Family Tree which is where I got Cass from and since HP likes to stick everything into canon, I guess it flies :) Here are my thought on her: She’s pureblood witch, a Black, growing up in the first half of the 20th century. Her younger brother is a squib. How does this reflect on her and her family, how does she deal with this? Marius is disowned, but when does this happen? How well does Cassiopeia remember this? What do Purebloods DO with disowned children? (This can be dark as you like, btw :) ).
The Borgias
Sancia. Ok, I admit, I’m lobbying for a sexy and/or sweet Sancia/Juan fic. Sexy not meaning PWP but just something sassy and evocative like in canon :) I want her to like him…a lot lol. This paring just turns me on. For a gen scenario…maybe Sancia and Alfonso causing all sorts of trouble as kids as she seems like the cheeky, mischievous sort. I wish I could be more helpful and specific but really, think of it as an extra chance to surprise me with something unexpectedly awesome <3
War and Peace
I can’t not squee over this fandom, honestly. I love it to death and I love these girls and I love a whole bunch of the boys in this fandom too so sorry if this gets long *sheepish*
Helene Kuragin. I’m constantly on the fence about Helene. She is so manipulative and ruthless at times but there’s so much strength in there too and she’s so fascinating that it’s hard to just ignore her. She’s gorgeous, she knows how to get what she wants in a society ruled by men and it seems to me like she’s very close to her father and her younger brother (Anatole). I kind of feel like a lot of her manipulation is a passive-aggressive response to social pressure and expectations. And Pierre was just an awful choice and she, sadly, realized just how awful. Dolokhov/Helene are a HUGE LOVE of mine. They’re great on a whole spectrum of genres and themes. A pre-book teenage romance, their affair after Helene’s marriage, and exploration of the class issues standing between them… I think they can range anywhere from sweet and beautiful, if hopeless, romance to something dark, passionate, complicated and possibly selfish. I think with them I would love to see a “mature” relationship. I think they’re both characters that put up with a lot. On a more scandalous note the Anatole/Helene paring is about the only incest paring I ship. It’s just hinted at in canon and it’s just a rumor, but these two have massive chemistry. (I blame the 2007 miniseries for this honestly.) Just please, don’t normalize it, incest isn’t really a normative behavior nor should it be. But I would love to see this very close brother-sister relationship with a sexual tension (unresolved or not) layer and how this effects them and their lives. I see this as a darker, more angsty fic but you can take it wherever it takes you, so to speak. Honestly, though, I would love anything with Helene and Anatole and maybe the rest of the Kuragins. Gen works just as well here.
Sonya Rostov. I’m not sure what prompt to give you but let me just say that I love her and I’m sure I would be pleased with just about anything you write centered on her. (Although…I don’t like Natasha so maybe…something with less Natasha rather than more would be nice.) She is a character I relate to a lot and is probably my favorite female character in lit (or, like, anywhere). I love her ability to sacrifice her happiness for that of others and I love how she is still a strong woman in her own way without being a feminist at all. It's an inner sort of strength that isn't always obvious at first sight. Dolokhov/Sonya is a het OTP of mine. I really they could both have a happy ending. I wouldn’t mind an AU where Sonya accepts his proposal or at some point realizes Nikolai isn’t worth waiting for or something. I would even more love a post-war fic because then Nikolai is married and Sonya has no ties to him anymore. (I think this is important because I somehow feel it would have diminished Sonya in Dolokhov’s eyes had she “jumped” men at the time that he proposed.) I would love-love-love for them to have a happy ending together. I think this could be such a sweet pairing! However, I would enjoy a Pierre/Sonya paring, as strange as that might sound I think Sonya is a better match for Pierre than Natasha anyways. A canon Nikolai/Sonya paring is fine too. Ooooh, maybe an affair during Nikolai’s marriage once he’s realized he made a mistake leaving Sonya ;)
Lise Bolkonski (nee Meinen). Poor Lise. No, really, Bolkonski is such an ass to her for like no reason. I don’t think she was happy in this marriage as much as she wanted for it to work. I don’t want a Lise who is so in love with Bolkonski that she is blind to his faults and to how horrible he is to her as I don’t think she was in canon and that’s part of why she was so unhappy. I think an angsty exploration of their marriage would be interesting. I, actually, ship Lise with Hippolyte Kuragin. I kind of see this as a pre-marriage romance of Lise’s. Maybe she can compare the two men, maybe it’s a love triangle! (I’m not Bolkonki’s greatest fan in case you weren’t sure.) IDK, maybe Lise’s musings on being pregnant or something for gen?
Vera Rostov. Her parents’ least favorite child… HOW DO YOU EVEN HAVE A LEAST FAVORITE CHILD? Vera seems a lot more practical and reserved of the Rostov children and I would definitely be interested in seeing an exploration of that. How does it feel to have a younger sister who is the silliest, most foolish thing ever but who manages to gobble up all the attention anyways? If you would like to ship her canonicaly with Berg, then I would like to see how Vera’s life turned out since we don’t see her in the epilogue. But the paring I would especially like to see if you would like to write it, is Dolokhov/Vera. They just somehow fit, I guess. No prompt here whatsoever so whatever takes you fancy.
Anyways, this is all just me going on and on and drowning in squee. Optional details are optional of course, but these were some ideas of what I’d love to see in case you’re interested. Have fun writing!
~Alley