skieswideopen (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
skieswideopen) wrote2024-03-09 02:51 pm
skieswideopen) wrote2024-03-09 02:51 pm
Entry tags:
Dear Unsent Letters Author
Dear Unsent Letters Author,
Thank you so much for writing for me!
My letter includes some general likes and dislikes, along with the prompts I included in my sign-up. If that's more than you need, please feel free to skip the letter and just use my sign-up as a starting point. If it's not enough, trying scroll back through the "dear author" tag, because most of these are fandoms I've requested before. Also, feel free to mix prompts between fandoms if it makes sense.
I'm![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
skieswideopen at AO3 as well, and I love treats.
Requested Fandoms: Covert Affairs | Signora Volope | Star Trek: Discovery
Things I Like:
* Competence. So much love for watching competent characters be competent!
* Secrets coming out, by choice, chance, or necessity.
* Equal partnerships in romantic relationships.
* Brief moments of emotional vulnerability from generally stoic or reserved characters.
* Heroic characters being heroic: doing the right thing, saving people, sacrificing themselves for others, etc.
* Stories that pick up dropped plot threads.
* Stories that explore how characters respond to unexpected situations.
* First times of various kinds (first kiss, first date, first night together, first day on the job, etc.).
* Forced proximity (handcuffed together, snowed in, trapped together in an elevator, etc.).
* Truth serum/in vino veritas/midnight confessions. (See my love of secrets coming out.)
* Undercover as a couple (or spontaneously posing as a couple to avoid detection).
* Post-apocalyptic, trapped-in-the-wilderness or mid-disaster survival scenarios.
* Time loops and dealing with the consequences when the loop ends.
* Time loops or time travel where our heroes try to prevent disaster.
* Heading home for weddings, funerals, high school reunions, holidays, etc. Alternately, family or old friends showing up.
Things I Don't Want:
* AUs that alter the setting, premise, or initial character backgrounds, unless otherwise noted.
* A/B/O or 24/7 BDSM.
* Unrequested poly involving requested characters.
* Infidelity in a requested relationship, either the two of them cheating on each other or either one cheating on someone else in order to be together, unless it occurs in canon. (Infidelity in other contexts is fine.)
* Significant permanent mental or physical injuries to requested characters that don't occur in canon, especially any sort of amputation. (However, killing requested characters is fine unless otherwise noted.)
* References to current real-world U.S. politics or the war in the Gaza.
* Extended text message or social media conversations. (Short exchanges are fine.)
Other Things:
* I'm flexible on both genre and rating: plot-driven, character-driven, action, introspection, casefic, slice of life ... it's all good. So is anything from G to E. If you're interested in explicit sex, I prefer the sort moves the plot forward or that reveals something about the character(s).
* I'm fine with character death, including main and requested characters, unless otherwise noted.
* Background non-con is fine if it's helpful for the story, but I'd rather not receive a story that focuses on the rape of a requested character.
* I'm okay with references to the pandemic.
* I'm not a big fan of explicit torture or gore.
* I generally prefer happy, hopeful, and bittersweet endings to utterly bleak ones.
* I dislike plots that revolve around misunderstandings that could be cleared up with a simple conversation or that hinge on characters making foolish mistakes that they wouldn't make in canon.
Covert Affairs
Requested Relationship: Eyal Lavin/Annie Walker
Annie and Eyal are both ridiculously competent, with the multiple languages, the ability to improvise a cover story at the drop of a hat, and generally being able to talk or fight their way out of every situation, and I love that about them. I enjoy the early tension, when there's attraction but also competition, and I love the deep friendship and absolute trust that develops between them later. I'm particularly fond of the way Eyal habitually looks out for Annie without demanding that she never put herself in danger, and the way they both walk each other back from doing things they shouldn't.
There are obviously a few geopolitical obstacles to their being together as a couple as long as they work for their respective agencies, with formal rules against it and also the knowledge that a relationship could be used as leverage. Those obstacles can be addressed or ignored as you like. I'd just love to see them together, whether it's a story about how they get together, trying to maintain a relationship while keeping their careers, or something post-series where one or both of them has moved on from the spy business, allowing them to be openly together.
If you want to go post-series, feel free to have Eyal's reconciliation with his ex-wife and Annie's relationship with Ryan McQuaid just not work out, or otherwise have them out of the picture.
Prompts:
* A relationship in code: Keeping in touch between visits without their agencies catching on.
* Their relationship begins not through their joint missions, but through the letters/emails they send each other in between.
* Letters written during a disaster (held prisoner? trapped by a natural disaster? on the run? After an apocalypse?) that one never expects the other to read.
* A secret journal charting the development of their relationship.
* If you're feeling more melancholy: love letters written and burned, unsent.
* Sharing emails of everyday life while apart.
* Telling the story of their relationship through letters to third parties (e.g., Annie's sister, Eyal's mother, a friend, another relative)
Signora Volpe
Requested Relationship: Sylvia Fox/Giovanni Riva
This is another show about two smart, highly competent people who develop an appreciation for the other's professional skills, which is a premise I enjoy. They both have their secrets and they both know it and knows the other knows it, and they don't let it stop them.
This show isn't particularly interested in gritty reality, or at least not more than selectively — see, for example, Sylvia's seemingly endless supply of money, many helpful contacts even though she no longer works for MI6, and her delightfully decrepit house, with romantically crumbling stone and no signs of mould. I'm perfectly fine with sticking with that tone, only bringing in the kinds of darkness you're interested in exploring in the story while blithely ignoring inconvenient realities. Although if you'd like to address one or more of these factors, you're free to do that as well.
Prompts:
* Flirty or conversational emails to keep in touch between times they see each other
* Sylvia offers email advice on a case while travelling, or vice versa
* Riva gets the opportunity to read reports from Sylvia's time at MI6
* A diary of a developing relationship
* Sylvia exchange messages with Adam about Riva
* Letters written in a dangerous time
Star Trek: Discovery
Requested Relationship: Charles Vance & none
Vance is my favourite 32nd-century Star Trek character: tough but fair, idealistic and compassionate, and willing to blow up his own ship if it's necessary to save the Federation, or sacrifice himself to save others. I'd love more insight into him, or something that fills in his background a bit, or perhaps illuminates his relationship with someone else, whether through personal or professional logs, news articles from a key moment, a profile by a journalist, or perhaps excerpts from books or articles he wrote, contrasted against actual events or by themselves revealing something about the author.
I requested "Vance & none," but if you want to explore his character through messages exchanged with someone else--his family, an old friend, a parent, a colleague--I will happily read that too.
Prompts:
* A profile on Vance when he first becomes commander-in-chief of Starfleet.
* His personal log, with his hopes and fears when first promoted to admiral.
* His take on his first meeting with Rillak, or on hearing that she's been elected.
* His personal log when he's deciding to send away his family, or when he's adjusting to having them back.
* His reactions to first learning about Discovery.
* Letters written/messages recorded going into a desperate situation, to be remembered by.
* Messages exchanged with a friend about events/life/each other.
Thank you so much for writing for me!
My letter includes some general likes and dislikes, along with the prompts I included in my sign-up. If that's more than you need, please feel free to skip the letter and just use my sign-up as a starting point. If it's not enough, trying scroll back through the "dear author" tag, because most of these are fandoms I've requested before. Also, feel free to mix prompts between fandoms if it makes sense.
I'm
Requested Fandoms: Covert Affairs | Signora Volope | Star Trek: Discovery
Things I Like:
* Competence. So much love for watching competent characters be competent!
* Secrets coming out, by choice, chance, or necessity.
* Equal partnerships in romantic relationships.
* Brief moments of emotional vulnerability from generally stoic or reserved characters.
* Heroic characters being heroic: doing the right thing, saving people, sacrificing themselves for others, etc.
* Stories that pick up dropped plot threads.
* Stories that explore how characters respond to unexpected situations.
* First times of various kinds (first kiss, first date, first night together, first day on the job, etc.).
* Forced proximity (handcuffed together, snowed in, trapped together in an elevator, etc.).
* Truth serum/in vino veritas/midnight confessions. (See my love of secrets coming out.)
* Undercover as a couple (or spontaneously posing as a couple to avoid detection).
* Post-apocalyptic, trapped-in-the-wilderness or mid-disaster survival scenarios.
* Time loops and dealing with the consequences when the loop ends.
* Time loops or time travel where our heroes try to prevent disaster.
* Heading home for weddings, funerals, high school reunions, holidays, etc. Alternately, family or old friends showing up.
Things I Don't Want:
* AUs that alter the setting, premise, or initial character backgrounds, unless otherwise noted.
* A/B/O or 24/7 BDSM.
* Unrequested poly involving requested characters.
* Infidelity in a requested relationship, either the two of them cheating on each other or either one cheating on someone else in order to be together, unless it occurs in canon. (Infidelity in other contexts is fine.)
* Significant permanent mental or physical injuries to requested characters that don't occur in canon, especially any sort of amputation. (However, killing requested characters is fine unless otherwise noted.)
* References to current real-world U.S. politics or the war in the Gaza.
* Extended text message or social media conversations. (Short exchanges are fine.)
Other Things:
* I'm flexible on both genre and rating: plot-driven, character-driven, action, introspection, casefic, slice of life ... it's all good. So is anything from G to E. If you're interested in explicit sex, I prefer the sort moves the plot forward or that reveals something about the character(s).
* I'm fine with character death, including main and requested characters, unless otherwise noted.
* Background non-con is fine if it's helpful for the story, but I'd rather not receive a story that focuses on the rape of a requested character.
* I'm okay with references to the pandemic.
* I'm not a big fan of explicit torture or gore.
* I generally prefer happy, hopeful, and bittersweet endings to utterly bleak ones.
* I dislike plots that revolve around misunderstandings that could be cleared up with a simple conversation or that hinge on characters making foolish mistakes that they wouldn't make in canon.
Covert Affairs
Requested Relationship: Eyal Lavin/Annie Walker
Annie and Eyal are both ridiculously competent, with the multiple languages, the ability to improvise a cover story at the drop of a hat, and generally being able to talk or fight their way out of every situation, and I love that about them. I enjoy the early tension, when there's attraction but also competition, and I love the deep friendship and absolute trust that develops between them later. I'm particularly fond of the way Eyal habitually looks out for Annie without demanding that she never put herself in danger, and the way they both walk each other back from doing things they shouldn't.
There are obviously a few geopolitical obstacles to their being together as a couple as long as they work for their respective agencies, with formal rules against it and also the knowledge that a relationship could be used as leverage. Those obstacles can be addressed or ignored as you like. I'd just love to see them together, whether it's a story about how they get together, trying to maintain a relationship while keeping their careers, or something post-series where one or both of them has moved on from the spy business, allowing them to be openly together.
If you want to go post-series, feel free to have Eyal's reconciliation with his ex-wife and Annie's relationship with Ryan McQuaid just not work out, or otherwise have them out of the picture.
Prompts:
* A relationship in code: Keeping in touch between visits without their agencies catching on.
* Their relationship begins not through their joint missions, but through the letters/emails they send each other in between.
* Letters written during a disaster (held prisoner? trapped by a natural disaster? on the run? After an apocalypse?) that one never expects the other to read.
* A secret journal charting the development of their relationship.
* If you're feeling more melancholy: love letters written and burned, unsent.
* Sharing emails of everyday life while apart.
* Telling the story of their relationship through letters to third parties (e.g., Annie's sister, Eyal's mother, a friend, another relative)
Signora Volpe
Requested Relationship: Sylvia Fox/Giovanni Riva
This is another show about two smart, highly competent people who develop an appreciation for the other's professional skills, which is a premise I enjoy. They both have their secrets and they both know it and knows the other knows it, and they don't let it stop them.
This show isn't particularly interested in gritty reality, or at least not more than selectively — see, for example, Sylvia's seemingly endless supply of money, many helpful contacts even though she no longer works for MI6, and her delightfully decrepit house, with romantically crumbling stone and no signs of mould. I'm perfectly fine with sticking with that tone, only bringing in the kinds of darkness you're interested in exploring in the story while blithely ignoring inconvenient realities. Although if you'd like to address one or more of these factors, you're free to do that as well.
Prompts:
* Flirty or conversational emails to keep in touch between times they see each other
* Sylvia offers email advice on a case while travelling, or vice versa
* Riva gets the opportunity to read reports from Sylvia's time at MI6
* A diary of a developing relationship
* Sylvia exchange messages with Adam about Riva
* Letters written in a dangerous time
Star Trek: Discovery
Requested Relationship: Charles Vance & none
Vance is my favourite 32nd-century Star Trek character: tough but fair, idealistic and compassionate, and willing to blow up his own ship if it's necessary to save the Federation, or sacrifice himself to save others. I'd love more insight into him, or something that fills in his background a bit, or perhaps illuminates his relationship with someone else, whether through personal or professional logs, news articles from a key moment, a profile by a journalist, or perhaps excerpts from books or articles he wrote, contrasted against actual events or by themselves revealing something about the author.
I requested "Vance & none," but if you want to explore his character through messages exchanged with someone else--his family, an old friend, a parent, a colleague--I will happily read that too.
Prompts:
* A profile on Vance when he first becomes commander-in-chief of Starfleet.
* His personal log, with his hopes and fears when first promoted to admiral.
* His take on his first meeting with Rillak, or on hearing that she's been elected.
* His personal log when he's deciding to send away his family, or when he's adjusting to having them back.
* His reactions to first learning about Discovery.
* Letters written/messages recorded going into a desperate situation, to be remembered by.
* Messages exchanged with a friend about events/life/each other.