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Yuletide 2021 Letter
Oct. 22nd, 2021 10:38 pmHello Author!
Thank you so much for spending time to create something for me! I’m excited to see what you come up with! First off, this letter doesn’t cover everything that I like, but rather focuses on broad themes. Also, please don’t feel pressured to fit your creation to every little thing included – optional details are optional, of course!
For transparency, I’ve historically been a serial very late commenter on exchange fics. If I don’t leave kudos/comments right away, it’s not you, it’s most definitely me. I promise a comment is coming, it might just take me awhile.
Happy Yuletide, and happy writing!
(Note: Most of this letter was copied from previous exchanges I’ve participated in).
Things I'm Not Into (DNWs) ꜛ
- Rape/Non-con
- PWP/Explicit Sex
- Incest
- Descriptions of Graphic Violence
- Asphyxiation/Choking/Strangulation
- Unhappy Endings/Hopeless Endings (Angst is fine, though)
- Non-Canonical Named Character Death (Characters who are dead in canon are fair game; random henchmen or OCs needed for casefic, etc. are fine).
- Apocalypse/Zombie AUs
Things I'm Into (Likes) ꜛ
Below are a few themes/tropes that I like that can be applied to any fandom. In general, I’m not super prescriptive with my prompts, but rather I try to dig into what and why I love certain things. (Overarching themes are in bold, with sub-themes in italics).Platonic Relationships – I love friendship. Gen fics are my jam. I’m always a sucker for platonic cuddling, hair ruffling, and just people being protective/supportive of each other. Hair ruffling and forehead kisses are like my ultimate weakness. There’s something about platonic casual affection that gets me every time. I also love friends feeling comfortable sharing their vulnerabilities and trusting each other.
Families of Choice/Found Family – This is pretty much my favorite trope of all time. People choosing to be each other’s families and just platonically loving each other is my favorite thing in the entire world.
Protective/Supportive Friends – I love friends defending each other and supporting each other no matter what. Characters finding, building, and accepting unconditional friendship is wonderful (especially if it’s something they’re not used to).
Relationship Negotiation – I really love characters having to figure out their relationships (both platonic and romantic), especially when they have to navigate an inherent uneven power dynamic (e.g., monetary differences, class differences, other complex relationships, etc.). I just really love characters talking to each other and being vulnerable with each other about who they are, their insecurities, and choosing to make the relationship work, regardless of everything else.Trust – I love fics that focus on the trust and building of trust between two (or more) characters. People accepting the unconditional love and trust of another person and realizing it’s real is one of my favorite things. A character explicitly or implicitly declaring their trust in someone will make me squee every single time.
Communication – People talking out their issues and trusting each other with their entire being, just gives me the all the feels. I especially love when people have to deal with their (and each other’s) insecurities and have to be vulnerable to each other. This also includes the misunderstandings trope, especially if/when the characters eventually work it out in the end!
Emotional Hurt/Comfort – This goes hand-in-hand with my love of fics exploring healthy communication, trust, and relationship negotiation. I love the intimacy of emotional hurt/comfort. Emotional hurt/comfort has always hit me in the feels a lot stronger than physical whump hurt/comfort. I think this is because it forces characters to trust and be vulnerable with each other. I love being able to read characters bare their entire selves on the way to a resolution.Opt-Ins/Additional Info ꜛ
Welcome to the section that is everything that didn’t fit somewhere else – feel free to skip if unhelpful!I’m happy to receive art, multimedia fics, poetry/drabbles, or other non-traditional transformative works! I absolutely love seeing an interesting/different/unusual take on fanworks!
Also, the real reason for the creation of this section: AUs! I always love a fun alternate universe, whether you play it straight or add a twist. I'd be happy with a canon-universe story for all my requests, but if you want to go the AU-route, an incomplete list of AUs that I’m always excited to read include: famous/not famous, fae/fairies, urban fantasy, coffee shop, breakfast club, and soulmates (platonic, romantic, or something else entirely)!
Finally, I tend to find myself drawn to concept- and character-driven fic.
Fandom Specific ꜛ
I’m very easy to please, so if you touch on any of the general likes above, I’ll be delighted! I’ve also added specific information below for each of the fandoms I requested (in alphabetical order). Again, I’m generally not very specific with my prompts, rather preferring to give you broad thematic elements and character relationships to work with.| Batman: Wayne Family Adventuresꜛ | |
| Characters | Any (Cassandra Cain, Dick Grayson, Duke Thomas, Jason Todd, Stephanie Brown, Tim Drake) |
| Availability | Webtoon |
I’ve always had a passing interest in BatFam, since I’m always looking for more canon found family fandoms, but I’ve never known where to start with the comics (and traditional comics-based media also seems more interested in the “vigilante/superhero” aspects, for obvious reasons). This easily digestible, free webtoon was exactly what I never knew I needed.
I absolutely love the perspective of this webcomic! Seeing all of the characters outside of the traditional superhero action, and instead, being able to see behind the scenes and having them deal with “normal” life is such a fun concept! I especially love the relationships between the characters—getting to see most of the characters interact in Favoritism (Ep. 6) and Vigilante Bingo (Ep. 7) is a lot of fun, but the (at the time of writing) current arc with Duke and his crush, where we delve into particular character dynamics (Duke & Dick; Duke & Stephanie) is also great!
I really love all the kids in the family (and the addition of perpetually tired father, Bruce Wayne/Batman, is the cherry on top). I honestly can’t choose a favorite character! I’d love to see a fic explore more of their relationships with each other and how they navigate their family dynamic. Duke moving into the manor is a big change—it would be interesting to see how they all adjusted. I think I’d prefer a fic that focuses on the entire ensemble or the relationship(s) between a subset of characters rather than a singular character exploration, because all the characters play off each other so well and it’s just a good time to see them interact.
Finally, I love the humor in the webcomic—the best way to describe it is that it’s just a lot of fun. I’m smiling the entire time I’m reading it! That being said, I’d love a fic that digs a bit deeper into their lives—being a vigilante is stressful, and that’s not even considering that they have to both work and live with their family/co-workers (and keep up with their day-to-day non-super lives too!)
An Addendum: My Knowledge of DC Comics Canon(s):
I know that some authors may want to integrate fun easter eggs or references to other DC Comics material, so I thought it may be nice to give a bit of background on my canonical DC knowledge, if you’re one of those people (but 100% feel free to ignore the following paragraph, if you’re not!)
I was kind of obsessed with the original run of Young Justice cartoon and have been using that has the backbone of all my DC knowledge ever since. (My favorite character was Dick Grayson, if that helps). I still haven’t watched season 3 (and now 4?) or have read any of the YJ comics, though. I’ve seen bits and pieces of other various DC animated cartoons, movies, and CW television shows, but nothing in-depth enough worth commenting on. I’ve only seen one DCEU movie in its entirety. (It was Shazam, which I loved). I read the Batwoman comic for a college class half a decade ago, but the only other comics knowledge I have is the big stuff that trends on social media. Finally, my DC “fanon” knowledge is mostly pulled from “all media types” fanfic and thePandaRedd’s TikTok skit compilations.
| Ghosts (TV 2019)ꜛ | |
| Characters | Mike (Ghosts TV 2019) |
| Availability | HBOMax (USA); BBC iPlayer (UK) |
Ghosts has been a show that’s popped up here and there on my social media for the last couple years, and I’m so glad that I finally made time to watch it. This also marks second year in a row that I’m requesting a found family television show with ghosts (following Julie and the Phantoms in 2020).
While everyone in the show is great, I requested Mike because I think he’s such a wonderful (and sometimes underutilized) character. I adore his relationship with Alison – she has near-death experience, starts seeing ghosts, and Mike just goes with it. There’s no question in his eyes that they’re in this together, even if that means owning a money pit of a house that haunted by ghosts that only his wife can see.
I also love his relationships with the ghosts and would love to see that explored more. I’d especially love to explore how he learns to live with, communicate, and negotiate his relationship(s) with housemates he can’t see or hear. (It’s also an absolute shame that his “ghost board” is such a throwaway detail in the show!)
I’ve specifically requested only Mike, because I love all the other characters and didn’t want to influence or force you write about a certain subset of characters. Feel free to take this request in any direction you’d like regarding whom you want Mike to interact with!
As far as thematic elements to pull from the show, I think that it does an exemplary job at balancing humor and heartfelt moments. I also appreciate that all the characters are complex ghosts/human beings—they’re not necessarily good people, but they’re not irredeemable either. It’s a show about friendship and time and memory and kindness. It’s about a group of people who are thrown into an impossible situation and come out all the better for it. (And after the last couple years of everything that’s happened in real world, Ghosts was a story I needed this year).
| Mighty Ducks: Game Changersꜛ | |
| Characters | Any (Sofi Hanson Bhatt, Lauren Gibby, Logan LaRue, Maya Kasper) |
| Availability | Disney+ |
Mighty Ducks is one of those nostalgia fandoms that I don’t think I’ll ever grow out of, and this show marks the first time in my lifetime that we’ve gotten new canon Mighty Ducks material. I really love this show for what is was! I wasn’t expecting it to be “cinema” or anything, but as far as a modern follow-up series goes, I think it does a pretty good job at capturing what made the original trilogy good and updating it for a 2021 audience. I actually really love the twist that the Ducks are now the antagonist team!
My favorite character was Logan, and I wish the series had more time to explore his character! We get to see his dad show up to the hockey moms’ meeting, know about his pancake flipping prowess, and his lack of hockey-prowess, but I would have loved to see the show explore his relationships to the Don’t Bothers and experience moving to a new place. (It’s a pity that Logan wasn’t invited in the sleepover episode, and he wasn’t the only one who missed out!)
The relationship we did get to see explored was between the girls! I love the episode where Maya and Lauren become closer friends and have to navigate their old friend group(s), along with their new friends on the Don’t Bothers. (And LARPing seems like it would be a great hockey-bonding exercise!) The “girls night” moments during the ninth episode are also a lot of fun! The original trilogy never really got to explore relationships between the girls on the team, so I really appreciate that this show took that direction. I’d love to read fic that explores their friendship more or their experiences in a relatively male-dominated sport!
As far as my favorite episode goes, I’d be remiss to say anything but the tenth episode—the show really goes “full Mighty Ducks” during the finale. I think that’s where the heart of the show really comes out. It’s a lot of fun to see the show lean into the same tropes that the movies did!
Finally, feel free to put additional characters that weren’t nominated into the fic, if needed. (Even cameos from the OG Ducks!)
