Just Married Exchange letter
Jun. 4th, 2021 10:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meteordustDear Just Married Writer,
Thank you so much for offering to write a story for me! I love all these fandoms, and the tropes I've nominated, and I'm really keen to see what you do in them! I've also provided some extra prompts in case you're looking for inspiration, but I'd also love to see whatever other ideas capture your imagination.
For me, it's about the characters and their interactions. I'm not a stickler about researching canon details, as long as the spirit of the characters and the flavour of their world is there. I want to see adventures that might have been, or missing moments from between scenes, or a slice of their daily lives, or where the future might take them.
LIKES: Some of the things I enjoy in stories are: undying loyalty, personal bravery, risking self to protect others, displaying cool competence, big damn hero moments, special everyday moments, banter, hijinks, confessions exposing emotional vulnerability, conversations loaded with unspoken meaning, tough people showing a soft side, and soft people showing a tough side. Some of my favorite tropes and genres are: amnesia, angst with a happy ending, animal transformation, arranged marriage, bodyswap, cosmic horror, curtainfic, five things fic, getting together, hurt/comfort, mutual requited pining, mystery solving, road trips, sex pollen, slice of life, stranded together, and time travel.
DISLIKES: I generally prefer optimistic stories in exchanges, so I'm not keen on anything that is brutally violent or hopelessly bleak. However, I don't mind darkness during the story, as long as there is a glimmer of light at the end. Endings that are bittersweet or ambiguous are also fine.
DO NOT WANT: Noncon or dubcon, underage, bleak endings, crossovers, setting change AUs like high school, coffee shop, or omegaverse (but canon divergence AUs are fine).
RATING: I'm fine with explicit sex, but it's usually not the most important part of the story for me.
STYLE: I'm fine with first, second, or third person. I'm fine with past or present tense. I'm fine with stories of any length, including stories that start in media res or consist of a scene that implies a larger plot.
INTERACTIVE FICTION: I like interactive fiction and would welcome it.
I've listed more details under each individual request.
I hope this helps. Have fun writing!
Yours sincerely,
meteordust
(AO3 name Serenade)
***
Request 1: Fall of Ile-Rien - Martha Wells - fanfic
Relationships: Tremaine/Ilias/Giliead
What I love: This series is such a comfort read for me! I love the characters and their worlds, and I just want to spend more time hanging out with them. I love how the relationship between Tremaine and Ilias develops, through the stages of trust, respect, friendship, admiration, and love. I love that Ilias and Giliead are each other's Most Important Person, whatever the exact form of their love. I love that Ilias thinks Tremaine and Giliead are similar in many ways. I'm open to triangular or V-shaped relationships between these three. I love exploring the cultural differences between Ile-Rien and Cineth, and seeing people bridge the divide with goodwill and kindness.
Freeform tags:
* Accidental Marriage - Included Unwitting Third Party In Marriage Accidentally
I love that when the council insists on a marriage to seal the alliance, Tremaine calls their bluff and agrees to marry Ilias. What if some tradition or law means that Giliead is unexpectedly looped into the marriage too? Maybe because they are both from Andrien House? Maybe because of the role of the Chosen Vessel?
* Marriage of Convenience - To Extend Legal Rights/Protections To Partner
I love learning about Cineth's matriarchal society, where women are the landowners and can take more than one husband. When it looks like Giliead might lose his position in the community, Ilias suggests to Tremaine that she could marry Giliead too, to put him under her protection. What if they actually went through with it?
Fandom Specific Do Not Want: Ilias was adopted into the same family as Giliead, when his own cast him out. I am open to their relationship being platonic or romantic, but if the latter, I don't want emphasis on it being forbidden or transgressive. Maybe it's not a big taboo for their situation, or maybe they're just discreet. Either way, I'd like them to have the same kind of easy affection as in canon.
***
Request 2: Seafort Saga - David Feintuch - fanfic
Relationships: Nicholas Seafort/Edgar Tolliver
What I love: Nick and Edgar being loyal and sacrificing! Stoic suffering, angsty feelings, and cathartic comfort. I also love their deep affection and fond exasperation. I love how Nick inspires Edgar, and how Edgar understands Nick. Edgar followed Nick into exile! They canonically bicker like a married couple!
Freeform tags:
Marriage - Regularly Being Mistaken as a Married Couple Leads to Real Marriage
I love the idea of Nick and Edgar moving into a new neighbourhood, or joining a new social circle, or travelling somewhere on holiday, and getting mistaken for a married couple. Either because of their close intimacy, or because of some other misunderstanding. Do they go along with it, for diplomatic reasons? Maybe this is what finally gets them to admit their feelings for each other?
* Established Marriage - Old Married Couple
I love the idea of Nick and Edgar growing old together. Celebrating their wedding anniversary? Or getting married late in life? What does a retired Nick Seafort even do? Are Nick and Edgar the terror of their local bingo hall or homeowner association? What does a day of quiet happiness look like for them? Are they still ready to leap into action during some dire crisis?
Fandom Specific Do Not Want: I don't want infidelity. For their canon relationships, I'd be happy with any of the following: after it ends, alternate universe where it never happened, or just not mentioned.
***
Request 3: The Mandalorian - fanfic
Relationships: Din Djarin/Bo-Katan Kryze
What I love: What do I love more than a prickly character with hidden depths? Two prickly characters who get to discover the hidden depths of each other! I love that Din and Bo-Katan are operating in wildly different dimensions, and get exasperated with each other, but also manage to find points of connection despite that. (I love their conversation after Bo-Katan's face reveal and Din's outraged shock, but I also love her heroic intro flying in to save him from drowning, and him bravely tanking shots in the corridor to cut a path for the rest of them.)
Freeform tags:
* Political Marriage - Strengths Balance Each Other Unexpectedly Well
Din is a political novice suddenly plunged into Mandalorian politics. But maybe his fresh perspective and unusual experiences can actually solve problems a different way. Bo-Katan is a veteran of war and politics. But maybe her background and skills have surprising relevance to fixing bounty hunter troubles. Or even better, they come up with plans together that they would not have been able to achieve separately.
* Political Marriage - Spouse Becomes Targeted by Enemies of Other Spouse
Bo-Katan's history means no shortage of people with personal grudges or political agendas, who might try to get at her by going after her new husband. Or what if Din's past comes calling, and Bo-Katan has to deal with disgruntled clients, vengeful targets, and rival bounty hunters? I would especially love if they discovered protective feelings they didn't realise they had.
Note: I haven't watched The Clone Wars or Rebels, but I don't mind spoilers, and I'm fine for you to include those characters and events, as long as the story can be understood without having watched them.
Fandom Specific Do Not Want: I don't want the characters to have obligatory sex, eg because of a requirement to consummate the marriage. If they have sex, I want them to feel some level of attraction.
***
Thank you so much for offering to write a story for me! I love all these fandoms, and the tropes I've nominated, and I'm really keen to see what you do in them! I've also provided some extra prompts in case you're looking for inspiration, but I'd also love to see whatever other ideas capture your imagination.
For me, it's about the characters and their interactions. I'm not a stickler about researching canon details, as long as the spirit of the characters and the flavour of their world is there. I want to see adventures that might have been, or missing moments from between scenes, or a slice of their daily lives, or where the future might take them.
LIKES: Some of the things I enjoy in stories are: undying loyalty, personal bravery, risking self to protect others, displaying cool competence, big damn hero moments, special everyday moments, banter, hijinks, confessions exposing emotional vulnerability, conversations loaded with unspoken meaning, tough people showing a soft side, and soft people showing a tough side. Some of my favorite tropes and genres are: amnesia, angst with a happy ending, animal transformation, arranged marriage, bodyswap, cosmic horror, curtainfic, five things fic, getting together, hurt/comfort, mutual requited pining, mystery solving, road trips, sex pollen, slice of life, stranded together, and time travel.
DISLIKES: I generally prefer optimistic stories in exchanges, so I'm not keen on anything that is brutally violent or hopelessly bleak. However, I don't mind darkness during the story, as long as there is a glimmer of light at the end. Endings that are bittersweet or ambiguous are also fine.
DO NOT WANT: Noncon or dubcon, underage, bleak endings, crossovers, setting change AUs like high school, coffee shop, or omegaverse (but canon divergence AUs are fine).
RATING: I'm fine with explicit sex, but it's usually not the most important part of the story for me.
STYLE: I'm fine with first, second, or third person. I'm fine with past or present tense. I'm fine with stories of any length, including stories that start in media res or consist of a scene that implies a larger plot.
INTERACTIVE FICTION: I like interactive fiction and would welcome it.
I've listed more details under each individual request.
I hope this helps. Have fun writing!
Yours sincerely,
meteordust(AO3 name Serenade)
***
Request 1: Fall of Ile-Rien - Martha Wells - fanfic
Relationships: Tremaine/Ilias/Giliead
What I love: This series is such a comfort read for me! I love the characters and their worlds, and I just want to spend more time hanging out with them. I love how the relationship between Tremaine and Ilias develops, through the stages of trust, respect, friendship, admiration, and love. I love that Ilias and Giliead are each other's Most Important Person, whatever the exact form of their love. I love that Ilias thinks Tremaine and Giliead are similar in many ways. I'm open to triangular or V-shaped relationships between these three. I love exploring the cultural differences between Ile-Rien and Cineth, and seeing people bridge the divide with goodwill and kindness.
Freeform tags:
* Accidental Marriage - Included Unwitting Third Party In Marriage Accidentally
I love that when the council insists on a marriage to seal the alliance, Tremaine calls their bluff and agrees to marry Ilias. What if some tradition or law means that Giliead is unexpectedly looped into the marriage too? Maybe because they are both from Andrien House? Maybe because of the role of the Chosen Vessel?
* Marriage of Convenience - To Extend Legal Rights/Protections To Partner
I love learning about Cineth's matriarchal society, where women are the landowners and can take more than one husband. When it looks like Giliead might lose his position in the community, Ilias suggests to Tremaine that she could marry Giliead too, to put him under her protection. What if they actually went through with it?
Fandom Specific Do Not Want: Ilias was adopted into the same family as Giliead, when his own cast him out. I am open to their relationship being platonic or romantic, but if the latter, I don't want emphasis on it being forbidden or transgressive. Maybe it's not a big taboo for their situation, or maybe they're just discreet. Either way, I'd like them to have the same kind of easy affection as in canon.
***
Request 2: Seafort Saga - David Feintuch - fanfic
Relationships: Nicholas Seafort/Edgar Tolliver
What I love: Nick and Edgar being loyal and sacrificing! Stoic suffering, angsty feelings, and cathartic comfort. I also love their deep affection and fond exasperation. I love how Nick inspires Edgar, and how Edgar understands Nick. Edgar followed Nick into exile! They canonically bicker like a married couple!
Freeform tags:
Marriage - Regularly Being Mistaken as a Married Couple Leads to Real Marriage
I love the idea of Nick and Edgar moving into a new neighbourhood, or joining a new social circle, or travelling somewhere on holiday, and getting mistaken for a married couple. Either because of their close intimacy, or because of some other misunderstanding. Do they go along with it, for diplomatic reasons? Maybe this is what finally gets them to admit their feelings for each other?
* Established Marriage - Old Married Couple
I love the idea of Nick and Edgar growing old together. Celebrating their wedding anniversary? Or getting married late in life? What does a retired Nick Seafort even do? Are Nick and Edgar the terror of their local bingo hall or homeowner association? What does a day of quiet happiness look like for them? Are they still ready to leap into action during some dire crisis?
Fandom Specific Do Not Want: I don't want infidelity. For their canon relationships, I'd be happy with any of the following: after it ends, alternate universe where it never happened, or just not mentioned.
***
Request 3: The Mandalorian - fanfic
Relationships: Din Djarin/Bo-Katan Kryze
What I love: What do I love more than a prickly character with hidden depths? Two prickly characters who get to discover the hidden depths of each other! I love that Din and Bo-Katan are operating in wildly different dimensions, and get exasperated with each other, but also manage to find points of connection despite that. (I love their conversation after Bo-Katan's face reveal and Din's outraged shock, but I also love her heroic intro flying in to save him from drowning, and him bravely tanking shots in the corridor to cut a path for the rest of them.)
Freeform tags:
* Political Marriage - Strengths Balance Each Other Unexpectedly Well
Din is a political novice suddenly plunged into Mandalorian politics. But maybe his fresh perspective and unusual experiences can actually solve problems a different way. Bo-Katan is a veteran of war and politics. But maybe her background and skills have surprising relevance to fixing bounty hunter troubles. Or even better, they come up with plans together that they would not have been able to achieve separately.
* Political Marriage - Spouse Becomes Targeted by Enemies of Other Spouse
Bo-Katan's history means no shortage of people with personal grudges or political agendas, who might try to get at her by going after her new husband. Or what if Din's past comes calling, and Bo-Katan has to deal with disgruntled clients, vengeful targets, and rival bounty hunters? I would especially love if they discovered protective feelings they didn't realise they had.
Note: I haven't watched The Clone Wars or Rebels, but I don't mind spoilers, and I'm fine for you to include those characters and events, as long as the story can be understood without having watched them.
Fandom Specific Do Not Want: I don't want the characters to have obligatory sex, eg because of a requirement to consummate the marriage. If they have sex, I want them to feel some level of attraction.
***
