femslashex Dear Author letter

[nenya_kanadka]

Dear FemslashEx Author:

You are writing me a story--a femslash story all for me! Thank you so much! :D

Since we've matched on at least one fandom and pairing, we obviously share good taste. I'm really looking forward to seeing what you write me, and will probably love it. In case you're looking for a more specific idea of my tastes, here are some general things I'm into, and a couple of notes/prompts for the fandoms I requested. You absolutely don't have to do all of this, but feel free to use any of it that sparks your interest. (This kind of got long, but it's mostly because I picked so many damn pairings for Babylon 5. :P)


Things I like:

• Ladies who are totally into each other: pining and flirting! Snuggling and teasing and sexing! Friends-to-lovers is great, and so is foe!yay. I am totally down with tropes like huddling for warmth or having to pretend to be girlfriends/married, or saving each other from danger, or making out frantically while trying to keep quiet. Significant touches and looks, callbacks to canon moments...all fantastic. Women who find each other intriguing and hot are right up my alley.


• Adventures! I've ended up picking a lot of science fiction fandoms, and I'm always delighted if any of the wormholes/magic/aliens or galactic politics/asskicking/spaceships comes up in the plot. I appear to have something of a competence kink, so I love it when people are just really good at what they do, whether that means being a physically strong woman with a gun, a smart science!lady, or someone who is skilled with language and diplomacy. Some of these pairings have women with quite different temperaments: maybe Together They Fight Crime?


• Porn: why yes, don't mind if you do! I'm a fan of sexual tension, especially if it gets resolved, and I'm into both PWP and stories that integrate more plot. A slow sweet buildup or shoving each other into a wall and having hot sex: either is great! :D And if it seems like the story is tending towards tying someone up or getting a bit kinky, that's also relevant to my interests. On the other hand, if writing porn isn't your thing, please don't stress out: I will also love a story with a lot of feelings that doesn't get explicit. Sometimes the hottest thing can be a look or a quiet touch or a nonsexual expression of loyalty. Emotional engagement is probably my primary kink--people wanting things, and wanting each other.


• Other stuff: Found families, being part of a community, sex that doesn't have to involve penetration, threesomes (basically any of my fandoms where I have multiple pairings involving the same person, I'd be perfectly fine with turning it into some kind of OT3+). I'm also fine with "everyone is gay" or "everyone is bi" universes (obviously focused on the f/f pairings because of the nature of this fest), with Barrayar being the one society on the list that I don't think that would work for.

Things I don't want:

• Unhappy endings, especially because it's femslash. Everybody lives! None of the main characters are tragically left alone forever.


• Rape or noncon. I would strongly prefer not to have this in the story, and not to have it brought up as backstory, whether canon or not. It just makes me focus on the trauma rather than whatever else is going on in the fic. :(


• Pregnancy/kid!fic, with the exception of one fandom (LOST) below. It just doesn't do much for me, though I'm fine with references to canon pregnancy if it's not the focus of the fic.


• Character or ship bashing. I'm completely happy to ignore all the dudes ever and have AUs where the f/f pairing has always been together, but I actually like most of the other characters in these fandoms, and would rather hear how great the ladies are than how much the guys suck. Same goes for any rival femslash pairings, if applicable. (Prince Serg, however, can DIAF.)


• A couple of tropes and kinks: bloodplay, scat, and watersports aren't really my thing. Mundane AUs (high schools, bands, coffee shops) are usually far less interesting to me than the canon settings. On the other hand, the kind of AU where a canon detail is changed and we see where that leads can be super interesting. I'd say spaceship AUs are also awesome, except I think most of these are already set in spacegoing societies. :P


• I'm a little bit bored with coming out stories. I'd rather have the sexuality angst, if any, be about "Does she like me?" than "Oh God am I gay?" or "What will people think?"

Fandoms:

Babylon 5:
Delenn/Shaal Mayan, Delenn/Susan Ivanova, Delenn/Anna Sheridan, Delenn/Lyta Alexander, Delenn/Catherine Sakai

I, um, Delenn? :D

Basically, I love her to tiny little pieces, and there are so many wonderful women she could click with. Apologies in advance for the herd of teal deer below. :)

• Delenn/Mayan: I have always loved that Delenn had a canon female friend from back home who she's known forever. What was their relationship like when they were young? What does Mayan, as a Minbari, think of Delenn's associations on Babylon 5 and her choice to become part-human? All kinds of lovely intra-Minbari stories could be told on this subject, and I'd love them all.



• Susan/Delenn: Ivanova the Strong and Delenn the Wise: I love imagining them making a new beginning together post-Sleeping In Light, and I'm also always up for AUs where Delenn chose Susan instead of John as her human spouse. (Or even where Susan/Delenn happened in season 3/4 instead of Marcus-->Susan, in the wake of Susan's heartbreak over Talia.) And let me note that that hair/shower scene was in an episode where all the other subplots were about soulmates. :D I don't think either of them would cheat on John or Talia, but otherwise, go to town. What, indeed, would Susan Ivanova make of the bazillion Minbari courtship rituals?



• Delenn/Anna: What if Anna weren't evil? What if she lived? I'd love to see what they'd make of each other. Especially since in f/m/f love triangles my tendency is to say "Don't fight over the guy, you two are far more interesting together!"



• Delenn/Lyta: Lyta Alexander takes so. much. fucking. shit. from the universe, and Delenn is at times emblematic of the forces that use her for their own ends (the Vorlons, the Alliance) and at times someone who does or could help her. Delenn has a tendency towards selective truths in the service of the greater good, and I think Lyta would be likely to call her on it if she thinks she's bullshitting. I can see this being a contentious relationship, but also a passionate one.



• Delenn/Catherine Sakai: humans, Minbari, Chrysalises, the Rangers, Valen...these two are in a position to have unique viewpoints on that entire part of the Babylon 5 mythos. Did they meet early on, in season 1 or before? Or if you're going with the To Dream In The City of Sorrows novel, did they meet on Minbar while Cathy was in Ranger training? Catherine's one of those people who might have been both in Earthforce during the Earth/Minbari War and later in the Rangers. I've also always been curious about Delenn's incarnation in Valen's day, and if Cathy went back in time with Jeff, then...? My recent unexpected Catherine Sakai feelings would be intrigued by anything in this category.

LOST:
Danielle Rousseau/Kate Austen, Danielle Rousseau/Claire Littleton, Kate Austen/Claire Littleton

Okay, so maybe I have a thing for characters played by Mira Furlan. :P

I'm really interested in the parallels between Danielle and Claire (the whole thing with the Island and their children) and between Danielle and Kate (as physically-capable survivors). I also adore how Kate tries to take care of Claire. Hell, give me a threeway if you like--that one episode where they went looking for medical supplies together gave me all the feelings. :) I'd also love to see an AU where everyone survives, and Danielle and Alex come to live with the rest of them, or they all make it back to the mainland together.

Note that I have mostly only watched the episodes with Danielle in them, and some of the finale arc, so please, please don't feel like you have make all the crazy LOST twists and turns match up! That said, if you know and love this canon, I won't mind if you refer to stuff I haven't seen yet.


Star Trek: Deep Space Nine:
Jadzia Dax/Kira Nerys, Jadzia Dax/Lenara Kahn, Ezri Dax/Lenara Kahn, Ezri Dax/Jadzia Dax, Kira Nerys/Kasidy Yates

Kira/Dax is the obvious one here: the two female leads who come from such different places and build such a strong friendship. Jadzia with her lifetimes of experience and playful personality, and Kira with her practicality informed by the Occupation and her passionate, fierce heart--the scientist and the warrior, the Federation agnostic and the Bajoran believer. Anything with their adventures, their approach to emotions and sex, their silly holodeck adventures or a trip to Risa or them saving the day in some war or other, or exploring Bajoran or Trill culture--all great.

I also have a huge soft spot for Dax/Kahn, and Trills in general. Lenara is fucking gorgeous, okay, and I adored her and Jadzia being science nerds together. Could they have found a way around the Reassociation taboo? Could we just have gotten a way longer sex scene? Pining with some kind of happy ending? While I'm definitely happy to read "Jadzia lives" AUs, I also like Ezri, and feel like Ezri/Lenara is as much a possible part of the story as Torias/Nilani and Jadzia/Lenara. On that note, Ezri Tigan or Ezri Dax and her relationship to Jadzia Dax (whether they ever met in person before one or both of them was joined, or whether it's during the Zhian'tara ceremony with past hosts, or just in memories) is a great topic too. (And totally allowed to go to the sex place, if you like. With or without Kira or Lenara...you see what I mean about threesomes being fine!)

Kira/Kasidy is something of a rarepair--I think I've read exactly one fic for them over the years. :P I haven't read all the post-series 'relaunch' novels, but I can see them banding together after the end of the show: Kira, suddenly in charge of DS9 when Bajor's joining the Federation; Kas, expecting the Emissary's kid when she might not even believe in the Prophets. What does the personal life of two women in the spotlight look like? Going back a few seasons, there's also Kasidy as a supplier for the Maquis, and Kira's history with the Resistance--I'd love to see something exploring that. Feel free to bring in people like Ro Laren or Lupaza or anybody like that, if you end up going that direction. :)


The Middleman:
Lacey Thornfield/Wendy Watson

I love how these two tease each other and have each other's backs. Any kind of focus on their friendship (turning into lovers, naturally) would make me very happy, as would any exploration of how they met and what they did before Wendy became a Middleman. I'd also love to see them work out a lifestyle that let Wendy be a badass supersecret spy and still have time for art and love.

Note: This is something of a gimme fandom, 12 episodes of an awesome genre-aware ABC series, now available on DVD.


Vorkosigan Saga:
Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan/Alys Vorpatril, Ludmilla "Drou" Droushnakovi/Kareen Vorbarra

Oh, God, ALL the fealty feelings for Drou and Kareen. Strong tall brave Drou, and her quieter, exhausted, but no less fiercely brave lady. Alys helping Cordelia adjust to the Barrayaran court insanity and Cordelia's sharp-eyed commentary and Betan cultural mores could also make a good story; so could any exploration of their lives as they grow older and gain their own kinds of power.

Note: Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga is a long series, but the initial Cordelia/Alys friendship and all the Drou/Kareen are in the novel Barrayar.


As always, feel free to poke around the fanfiction and recs tags on my journal, or check out my AO3 account, if you want to see what kinds of things I read and write.

Comments

[muccamukk]

That's a nice letter. I'm going to edit mine to look more like yours, as it's more clear.

[nenya_kanadka]

wakes up And here I was, thinking mine was too generic and should be more like yours! Hah. falls back t sleep

[muccamukk]

I mostly meant the bullet points.

though you do kind of need to fill in entire fandoms :D

[nenya_kanadka]

I have now written ALLLL the things. O.O And embiggened the entry width so it's somewhat more legible.

[sentienceimmutable]

Man, you would be fun to write for. :D

[nenya_kanadka]

Hee! Well, I gotta fill in the rest of the fandom details (poor author, I hope she (?) doesn't mind a slight wait, as assignments went out today), but you know, you are perfectly welcome to use any of this as a prompt if you ever want to! XD

And how are you? :D

ETA: Have now nattered on at length re: fandoms and pairings. Whew!

[sentienceimmutable]

I have lost my writing mojo for the moment, not that I ever really had much of it, but everything's a bit quiet on that front right now. *g* But I still think all your prompts sound like a rockin' lot of fun.

I'm okay! Had some good days, had some bad days. You know, the usual. What about you?

[nenya_kanadka]

Doing pretty well, really! Bracing self for fall, when I traditionally get depressed, but so far it's going well. Pouting because my recipient for femslashex has not yet put up her dear author letter. :P

[queenof1000days]

Have you seen THIS and THIS?

[nenya_kanadka]

Eeee! I can't do unsubtitled video, but from what I gather by clicking links, there will be a new comic next year? :D Do you know if there will be any more live action? (Natalie Morales seems enthused about the show on Twitter, at least. <3)

[queenof1000days]

It was pretty much Javier saying the date and asking if Natalie and Brit were going to be there and then saying he would be there as well. Live action as in tv episodes? Not that I've heard, but they're going to do a table read of a comic in 2014. (Yeah, she does. It's nice when actors are enthused about shows. She's said that she would like it if fans would do an 'Art Crawl' complete with fist in the air at any cons she happens to be at. <3!)

[nenya_kanadka]

Art crawl! .o/

[queenof1000days]

Art crawl! .o/ Also, I can't find the video, but Matt Kesslar's officially in as well.