jaegermighty (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
moirariordan) wrote2018-04-30 03:31 pm
moirariordan) wrote2018-04-30 03:31 pm
NPT 2018
Hi! I'm so sorry I'm late with this. I had the entire letter done yesterday, ready for sign ups to go out, and then my computer blue screened and I LOST IT ALL, so I had to take the night off to breathe deeply and drink martinis. I'm here now though, thanks for having me, tip your waiters, etc.
I'm pretty easy going about this stuff, I really just appreciate you writing something for me. If you focus on the characters I chose here, chances are I'll like it, because I picked ones that I'm always down to read about no matter what. So relax, have fun with it. Write something you wanna write, but I'll give you plenty of prompts to run with if it helps.
Some general stuff I like - worldbuilding, plotty stuff, new takes on tropes and cliches, time travel! AUs, both the kind where you mess with canon events to make things turn out differently, and the kind where they're all ballet dancers in NYC or whatever. Relationship studies, character studies. Polyamory! People being competent at stuff that I don't know how to do. Romantic comedies!
My only hard no is rape/dubious consent and/or the aftermath of such. I'm also not a huge fan of porn without plot, or sex scenes in general, unless they have a plot purpose. It's not that I'm opposed to them in principle, it just doesn't do anything for me so I end up skimming those parts in fic anyway.
Les Miserables
Enjolras/Eponine
Can't do the accents on my computer, sorry about it. Anyway, I like this pairing because I really like Eponine, and I think she deserves an epic love story with someone who loves her back. I like a lot of the popular fanon ships, but there's plenty of E/R fic, you know? Plenty of fic for the other Amis as well, but not so much Eponine - she's usually like, the background character. Which is fine, I think she gets a lot of good stuff in fandom as it is, but I'd really like a story where she's the main character who gets the guy in the end after a series of mishaps and misunderstandings.
I like Enjolras too, I like that he seems very self-aware, and observant about other people's strengths and weaknesses. I think what people forget about him as well is that the "capable of being terrible" line refers to the fact that he kills people, not that he's like, mean at the meetings or whatever, so I'd be interested in something that digs into that side of things. One thing that frustrates me about the musical is that the politics behind what they're doing are sort of...simplified? I mean, by necessity, because nobody ever accused Hugo of being concise, but - there's still something lost when your big revolutionary scenes don't have much context, you know? Anyway. Side rant.
I'm more familiar with the book than the musical (I've only seen the movie, and just once) but one thing that I always thought was interesting was that Enjolras is very separated from the rest of the characters - much moreso than in the musical. Like, he's not really friends with any of them, and I think it's not just because he knows that he's leading them into battle eventually, but also because that's how he's capable of dedicating himself so wholeheartedly to a concept. I'd be interested in a set up where that tactic gets tested, nudge nudge, wink wink.
Eponine in the book is my favorite because she's so mouthy!! I was so surprised the first time I read one of her scenes with Marius, because in the musical she's just sad and tragic, you know. I mean, it's hard to prescribe personalities to any of them really, because Hugo is using them as symbols for bigger things, but - in the book she's chatty and cynical and she's got this hard edged sense of humor. But she's also got this terrible self-deprecation, and this bone deep hopelessness that just infects everything she does and says. It's this intoxicating mix, and honestly, if she hadn't latched onto Marius so tightly from childhood, I think she would have been susceptible to the political stuff the Amis were percolating. She's got the perfect personality to die in a failed revolution, if you know what I mean.
So most of this comes from my impressions of the book, but again, I'm up for whatever. I talked a little about the different characterizations in my sign up, so pick the one you like and run with it. I like AUs, so don't feel obligated to set your story in 19th century Paris (I mean! unless you want to!!). Have fun!
Heroes
Claire & Peter
Claire/Peter
Claire/Peter/Niki
Peter/Niki
Simone/Isaac/Peter
Simone/Peter
So, if I could have picked individual characters I would have, and my caveat for this fandom is that I don't care too much about the arrangement of these pairings. If you signed up for Peter/Niki but you really like Niki/Claire, I really think you should go for it, because that would be super interesting and something I would like to read. As long as you don't focus on a character I didn't include here, I'm good.
I don't have specific prompts for you because mostly I'm just interested in urban superhero stuff, and the different potential stories that you can come up with for this canon. I picked these people because they have the coolest powers, in my opinion, and the show wasn't always great about following through with plotlines due to the ridiculous number of characters they tried to write about, so I feel like there was just so much more that could have happened - especially with like, Simone and Isaac, who got killed off WAY too early, or Niki, who never really got to interact much with anyone else outside her family. (Before she was killed off. Also. Ugh.)
I like time travel, I like plotty plot plots, I like epic, sweeping romance and I really like when you take high concept ideas like superpowers and put them in a real world context - how does the government react, how do you do your taxes when you get insurance payouts for "acts of superheroes," how do you negotiate relationships with people who could literally kill you with a blink of their eyes, etc etc.
One thing that would be cool for this fandom is reincarnation - especially since we know that Claire's power (and Peter's) would allow them to live forever, theoretically. I always thought it would be cool if Adam showed up and recognized somebody because he knew them in 1930s London as someone else, or something. Or maybe two hundred years from now, Claire's still around, taking care of everybody's kids, and she runs into somebody in another body. Or - just that concept in general, which is exTREMELY eerie, that Claire and Peter are so hard to kill that they're literally going to just keep going on as they are forever until somebody kills them the right way. Like, literal immortals, is what they are. You have to cut their head off and then bury it miles away. What a WEIRD HORRIBLE POWER TO HAVE.
All of these abilities are extremely creepy and horrible in different ways - that was kind of the show's strength, that it wasn't just "ooh I can fly!" it was also like, "oh shit, I killed my sister-in-law accidentally." The sort of horror twist with a lot of these characters - I can paint the future but only if I'm high, and I only see bad things; I have super strength but only when I'm disassociating and not in control of my actions; etc etc - it's like those genie stories, when you get your deepest wish fulfilled but in the most terrible, horrifying way. It's so interesting, and I'm really into stories that deal with that on a day to day level, or that explore the different ways how that could really, really fuck you up.
So basically - choose who you like, write a pairing if you want, but I'm more interested in plot for this one, anyway. Just have fun!!
Star Wars
Padme/Obi-Wan
So, by now you probably know that I like star crossed romance stuff. But the reason I like that is because I like that dynamic of two people who aren't supposed to be together for some reason. It's unexpected, somehow. Like they're on opposite sides of a war, or their friends think they wouldn't get along, or they're married to other people, whatever. That element of "there are so many reasons not to do this but fuck it let's go for it anyway" is extremely my shit.
Padme and Obi-Wan I like, because they're very similar, and there are just these hints in the movies that they really are friends, but we don't actually see much of it. So there's just potential there, really, and that's my sweet spot, with fanfiction. Plus, I'm not an Anakin fan, and sympathizing villains makes me uncomfortable!! So basically it's perfect in every way.
Some prompts -
Charmed
Chris Halliwell
Chris/Bianca
Chris's plotline was the coolest thing this show ever did, mostly because of the amazing bait and switch they pulled about who he was. It also was one of the darkest things ever, but they still only hinted at that part of it - not just because of the literal apocalypse they were talking about, but I also think it revealed some ugly things about their family's dynamics with each other - both present and future hypothetical.
Love Bianca, love the pairing. Anything set in the original timeline would be ace - how'd they meet, how'd they fall in love. How did he convince her to join his cause? Was there an actual rebellion, or was it just him and like, a few other people trying not to die? How did Wyatt take over, how did the sisters die? I am partial to the line of thinking that Chris knew what was happening before anyone else, but because he was so young he couldn't articulate it, or even recognize what it was, because how do you explain to your mom that your big brother creeps you out when you're alone together? I am also partial to the line of thinking that there was a lot of shit that Chris was holding against the sisters because of things that happened when he was growing up, and that was proooobably the reason he didn't get along that well with Phoebe or Paige until after they found out he was their nephew.
There's something really cool about the fact that Chris fell in love with a demon, just like Phoebe, but managed to make it work with her the way Phoebe couldn't with Cole. Something that digs into that, and how Phoebe must feel about it (changed or unchanged future), and how that must inevitably color Bianca's interactions with the rest of the family?
Cole in general, I think ended in a pretty cool place in canon, and I've always had this idea about a fic where Chris can see him in that weird limbo/purgatory place for some reason, so growing up he has this helpful demon ghost telling him how to do stuff and teaching him weirdo spells that freak his family out. Could be funny, could be dark, either way, I'm INTO IT.
(Or maybe the Chris that died ended up in limbo with Cole?? That has potential!!)
Love starcrossed stuff, and Bianca and Chris are set up perfectly for that kind of thing in the changed future. Like, "see you on the street but I already know you, also, I've been dreaming about you since I was six, also we can't date publicly because my family might vanquish you!!" windswept romance kind of stuff. I'm a sucker for anything where new!Chris gets old!Chris's memories - or EVEN MORE, when old!Chris wakes up in new!Chris's time, no explanation. Another fic idea I've had is that new!Chris dies, for some tragic horrible reason, but instead of actually dying, he just gets replaced with the Chris from the old timeline, who has no idea what's going on and his last memory is getting stabbed and dying in his mom's attic. So if you wanna take that one, please do.
Time travel shit! Everybody (but Chris) was just super duper careless about preserving the timeline, so seeing the actual consequences of that would be ACE. Like you could get pretty dark with this kind of thing - timelines colliding, people disappearing, Butterfly Effect type stuff where the slightest change just throws everything into chaos. If you wanna go there, I'm on board!!
Hopefully there's something here you like. Have fun!!
Gilmore Girls
Jess & Jimmy
Jess & April
So, I love Jess to pieces, he's my guy, but I don't ship Jess/Rory, which makes finding fic difficult. Let me clarify - I don't mind Jess/Rory, but I also don't care that much. So there's my dilemma.
What I really want is Jess gen! Jess fic about his family, about his emotional health, about him navigating adult life with his weird, specific baggage. I picked Jimmy and April as the characters to pair him with, but any of his family members would be great.
Some prompts!
I'm pretty easy going about this stuff, I really just appreciate you writing something for me. If you focus on the characters I chose here, chances are I'll like it, because I picked ones that I'm always down to read about no matter what. So relax, have fun with it. Write something you wanna write, but I'll give you plenty of prompts to run with if it helps.
Some general stuff I like - worldbuilding, plotty stuff, new takes on tropes and cliches, time travel! AUs, both the kind where you mess with canon events to make things turn out differently, and the kind where they're all ballet dancers in NYC or whatever. Relationship studies, character studies. Polyamory! People being competent at stuff that I don't know how to do. Romantic comedies!
My only hard no is rape/dubious consent and/or the aftermath of such. I'm also not a huge fan of porn without plot, or sex scenes in general, unless they have a plot purpose. It's not that I'm opposed to them in principle, it just doesn't do anything for me so I end up skimming those parts in fic anyway.
Les Miserables
Enjolras/Eponine
Can't do the accents on my computer, sorry about it. Anyway, I like this pairing because I really like Eponine, and I think she deserves an epic love story with someone who loves her back. I like a lot of the popular fanon ships, but there's plenty of E/R fic, you know? Plenty of fic for the other Amis as well, but not so much Eponine - she's usually like, the background character. Which is fine, I think she gets a lot of good stuff in fandom as it is, but I'd really like a story where she's the main character who gets the guy in the end after a series of mishaps and misunderstandings.
I like Enjolras too, I like that he seems very self-aware, and observant about other people's strengths and weaknesses. I think what people forget about him as well is that the "capable of being terrible" line refers to the fact that he kills people, not that he's like, mean at the meetings or whatever, so I'd be interested in something that digs into that side of things. One thing that frustrates me about the musical is that the politics behind what they're doing are sort of...simplified? I mean, by necessity, because nobody ever accused Hugo of being concise, but - there's still something lost when your big revolutionary scenes don't have much context, you know? Anyway. Side rant.
I'm more familiar with the book than the musical (I've only seen the movie, and just once) but one thing that I always thought was interesting was that Enjolras is very separated from the rest of the characters - much moreso than in the musical. Like, he's not really friends with any of them, and I think it's not just because he knows that he's leading them into battle eventually, but also because that's how he's capable of dedicating himself so wholeheartedly to a concept. I'd be interested in a set up where that tactic gets tested, nudge nudge, wink wink.
Eponine in the book is my favorite because she's so mouthy!! I was so surprised the first time I read one of her scenes with Marius, because in the musical she's just sad and tragic, you know. I mean, it's hard to prescribe personalities to any of them really, because Hugo is using them as symbols for bigger things, but - in the book she's chatty and cynical and she's got this hard edged sense of humor. But she's also got this terrible self-deprecation, and this bone deep hopelessness that just infects everything she does and says. It's this intoxicating mix, and honestly, if she hadn't latched onto Marius so tightly from childhood, I think she would have been susceptible to the political stuff the Amis were percolating. She's got the perfect personality to die in a failed revolution, if you know what I mean.
So most of this comes from my impressions of the book, but again, I'm up for whatever. I talked a little about the different characterizations in my sign up, so pick the one you like and run with it. I like AUs, so don't feel obligated to set your story in 19th century Paris (I mean! unless you want to!!). Have fun!
Heroes
Claire & Peter
Claire/Peter
Claire/Peter/Niki
Peter/Niki
Simone/Isaac/Peter
Simone/Peter
So, if I could have picked individual characters I would have, and my caveat for this fandom is that I don't care too much about the arrangement of these pairings. If you signed up for Peter/Niki but you really like Niki/Claire, I really think you should go for it, because that would be super interesting and something I would like to read. As long as you don't focus on a character I didn't include here, I'm good.
I don't have specific prompts for you because mostly I'm just interested in urban superhero stuff, and the different potential stories that you can come up with for this canon. I picked these people because they have the coolest powers, in my opinion, and the show wasn't always great about following through with plotlines due to the ridiculous number of characters they tried to write about, so I feel like there was just so much more that could have happened - especially with like, Simone and Isaac, who got killed off WAY too early, or Niki, who never really got to interact much with anyone else outside her family. (Before she was killed off. Also. Ugh.)
I like time travel, I like plotty plot plots, I like epic, sweeping romance and I really like when you take high concept ideas like superpowers and put them in a real world context - how does the government react, how do you do your taxes when you get insurance payouts for "acts of superheroes," how do you negotiate relationships with people who could literally kill you with a blink of their eyes, etc etc.
One thing that would be cool for this fandom is reincarnation - especially since we know that Claire's power (and Peter's) would allow them to live forever, theoretically. I always thought it would be cool if Adam showed up and recognized somebody because he knew them in 1930s London as someone else, or something. Or maybe two hundred years from now, Claire's still around, taking care of everybody's kids, and she runs into somebody in another body. Or - just that concept in general, which is exTREMELY eerie, that Claire and Peter are so hard to kill that they're literally going to just keep going on as they are forever until somebody kills them the right way. Like, literal immortals, is what they are. You have to cut their head off and then bury it miles away. What a WEIRD HORRIBLE POWER TO HAVE.
All of these abilities are extremely creepy and horrible in different ways - that was kind of the show's strength, that it wasn't just "ooh I can fly!" it was also like, "oh shit, I killed my sister-in-law accidentally." The sort of horror twist with a lot of these characters - I can paint the future but only if I'm high, and I only see bad things; I have super strength but only when I'm disassociating and not in control of my actions; etc etc - it's like those genie stories, when you get your deepest wish fulfilled but in the most terrible, horrifying way. It's so interesting, and I'm really into stories that deal with that on a day to day level, or that explore the different ways how that could really, really fuck you up.
So basically - choose who you like, write a pairing if you want, but I'm more interested in plot for this one, anyway. Just have fun!!
Star Wars
Padme/Obi-Wan
So, by now you probably know that I like star crossed romance stuff. But the reason I like that is because I like that dynamic of two people who aren't supposed to be together for some reason. It's unexpected, somehow. Like they're on opposite sides of a war, or their friends think they wouldn't get along, or they're married to other people, whatever. That element of "there are so many reasons not to do this but fuck it let's go for it anyway" is extremely my shit.
Padme and Obi-Wan I like, because they're very similar, and there are just these hints in the movies that they really are friends, but we don't actually see much of it. So there's just potential there, really, and that's my sweet spot, with fanfiction. Plus, I'm not an Anakin fan, and sympathizing villains makes me uncomfortable!! So basically it's perfect in every way.
Some prompts -
- Would love alternate takes on the plot of the movies - what if Padme decided not to appeal to the Senate, and instead stayed on Naboo and fought? What if she did go to Coruscant, but decided not to return? The Trade Federation had lots of political clout, so they could have made the invasion seem legitimate if given enough time and opportunity. How would that have changed things? I've had this idea for years about a dethroned Queen Amidala claiming asylum at the Jedi Temple, and I've never had the time to write it, so please take it if you wanna, because I'd really like to read it.
- What if she'd survived? (The obvious one). A Padme who married Anakin and gave birth to the twins would be very, very different than a Padme who fell in love with Obi-Wan instead. Or a Padme who didn't fall in love with anyone - who just watched the downfall of her republic with horror, and now is involved with the fight to bring it back. Time travel/alternative universe travel tropes would be really fun with something like this.
- One thing that was super interesting in Rogue One was that we saw the in-fighting in the factions of the rebellion - because of course not everybody agreed on how to do things. Which side is Padme on, which side is Obi-Wan on? What are the politics of the rebellion anyway, and how does it hinder/help their efforts from time to time?
- Padme has two nieces, Ryoo and Pooja - her sister's daughters. Have ALWAYS wanted a fic where one of them is force sensitive, and Obi-Wan helps hide/train them after Order 66. If you're trying to decide which of these prompts I Truly Want, this is the one.
- Clone Wars era - Padme going on missions!! Or something set between ep1 and 2 - when she's still the Queen, but after the invasion, or perhaps after she's stepped down as Queen, but before she runs for Senate? The sort of "case fic" type stories where they go on a mission and solve a mystery are SO much fun. Would be totally down for that.
Charmed
Chris Halliwell
Chris/Bianca
Chris's plotline was the coolest thing this show ever did, mostly because of the amazing bait and switch they pulled about who he was. It also was one of the darkest things ever, but they still only hinted at that part of it - not just because of the literal apocalypse they were talking about, but I also think it revealed some ugly things about their family's dynamics with each other - both present and future hypothetical.
Love Bianca, love the pairing. Anything set in the original timeline would be ace - how'd they meet, how'd they fall in love. How did he convince her to join his cause? Was there an actual rebellion, or was it just him and like, a few other people trying not to die? How did Wyatt take over, how did the sisters die? I am partial to the line of thinking that Chris knew what was happening before anyone else, but because he was so young he couldn't articulate it, or even recognize what it was, because how do you explain to your mom that your big brother creeps you out when you're alone together? I am also partial to the line of thinking that there was a lot of shit that Chris was holding against the sisters because of things that happened when he was growing up, and that was proooobably the reason he didn't get along that well with Phoebe or Paige until after they found out he was their nephew.
There's something really cool about the fact that Chris fell in love with a demon, just like Phoebe, but managed to make it work with her the way Phoebe couldn't with Cole. Something that digs into that, and how Phoebe must feel about it (changed or unchanged future), and how that must inevitably color Bianca's interactions with the rest of the family?
Cole in general, I think ended in a pretty cool place in canon, and I've always had this idea about a fic where Chris can see him in that weird limbo/purgatory place for some reason, so growing up he has this helpful demon ghost telling him how to do stuff and teaching him weirdo spells that freak his family out. Could be funny, could be dark, either way, I'm INTO IT.
(Or maybe the Chris that died ended up in limbo with Cole?? That has potential!!)
Love starcrossed stuff, and Bianca and Chris are set up perfectly for that kind of thing in the changed future. Like, "see you on the street but I already know you, also, I've been dreaming about you since I was six, also we can't date publicly because my family might vanquish you!!" windswept romance kind of stuff. I'm a sucker for anything where new!Chris gets old!Chris's memories - or EVEN MORE, when old!Chris wakes up in new!Chris's time, no explanation. Another fic idea I've had is that new!Chris dies, for some tragic horrible reason, but instead of actually dying, he just gets replaced with the Chris from the old timeline, who has no idea what's going on and his last memory is getting stabbed and dying in his mom's attic. So if you wanna take that one, please do.
Time travel shit! Everybody (but Chris) was just super duper careless about preserving the timeline, so seeing the actual consequences of that would be ACE. Like you could get pretty dark with this kind of thing - timelines colliding, people disappearing, Butterfly Effect type stuff where the slightest change just throws everything into chaos. If you wanna go there, I'm on board!!
Hopefully there's something here you like. Have fun!!
Gilmore Girls
Jess & Jimmy
Jess & April
So, I love Jess to pieces, he's my guy, but I don't ship Jess/Rory, which makes finding fic difficult. Let me clarify - I don't mind Jess/Rory, but I also don't care that much. So there's my dilemma.
What I really want is Jess gen! Jess fic about his family, about his emotional health, about him navigating adult life with his weird, specific baggage. I picked Jimmy and April as the characters to pair him with, but any of his family members would be great.
Some prompts!
- California fic! The spin-off that never was: what if it'd worked out for him to stay in California with Jimmy? Also, he has a STEPSISTER. LILY IS HIS SISTER. Let's talk. About. That.
- Backstory on Jimmy and Liz and what went down when Jess was a kid would also be amazing. Also, why did Liz get to the point where she kicked him out? It clearly wasn't so serious that she wasn't still attempting to be a mom afterwards, or that she didn't take him back when he moved home briefly. It just seems like a really thorny relationship, where neither of them are really clearly in the right or in the wrong - it's just that Liz seems to not be a very functional person when we first meet her, so you can imagine what kind of effect that had on a thirteen year old Jess. Or a sixteen year old Jess, getting shipped off to a strange town to live with a relative he barely knows.
- April fic! April and Jess fic. One thing I want is an AU where Luke always knew about her, and was helping to raise her from the beginning. So when Jess comes to live with him, he's also living with his weirdo kid cousin who he secretly really likes hanging out with, don't tell anybody.
- Jess and April post canon, as adults, would be extremely hilarious, I think. Like they're both ridiculous people, and April doesn't seem to have a sense of humor at all, whereas Jess is the most sarcastic, deadpan person on the face of the earth, so I bet when they talk it's just Jess trying and failing to wind her up and April thinking he's the weirdest person ever. They say they don't like each other but if anybody ELSE says that they get an invitation to MEET ME OUTSIDE, BUDDY. Also I bet they argue about philosophy. Like, a lot.
- Life changes! I love reading that kind of real life fiction stuff, that's just about how people deal with normal shit in their own highly specific weird way. Like April gets married, or Lily has a baby and suddenly Jess is now UNCLE JESS (holy shit). Something about Jess's publishing house, and the guys we met briefly that run it with him - or about his writing career - is he successful? Is he like one of those indie authors that goes to conventions and shit? I bet he'd HATE having fans. That would be hilarious.
- Doula? Who is Doula, what's she like, does Jess consider himself her brother or just a weird, older person that used to live with her mom back in the day? I cannot imagine that he doesn't have some shit to work through about Liz's second attempt at a family (like the first attempt didn't work out, so now she's out on round two?). Let's talk about that.