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DEAR SHIP SWAP WRITER
Feb. 10th, 2016 04:47 pmHi there! I hope the New Year has been treating you well, and thanks for volunteering to write something for me.
My greatest loves in fan fiction (and in canon, to be honest) are character development and relationships. I do enjoy well-plotted stories, of course, but I get a lot of emotional satisfaction out of seeing the plot show me new things about characters that I love. Even a PWP can reveal heretofore unrealised aspects of a particular character’s personality, and I love it when they do. My favourite tropes tend to centre round things like found family, undying loyalty in the face of all common sense, you and me against the world vows, nemeses turned sworn comrades, reconciliations after rifts, and identity porn.
I dislike mundane AUs, so please keep the characters in their own settings and retain their own backstories and abilities/powers. Also, please, no non-con, no infidelity, no unasked for kinks. My tastes in sex scenes are pretty vanilla, though I do like to read explicit fic. Exceptions would be rough sex, fighting leading to fucking, and one partner holding the other down/using their full strength on them (consensually).
I have a basic preference for third person narration, and also for a fairly tight POV, rather than an omniscient narrator. That’s not a hard and fast rule though, so don’t feel bound by it if it doesn’t suit the story you want to tell.
*****
The Fast and the Furious (2001)
My nominations were originally for Fast and the Furious Series, but they somehow wound up under The Fast and the Furious (2001). That’s not a problem for me, given that the first film is very much my favourite, but I just wanted to be clear that I’m actually happy with you setting your fic anywhere in the series you’d like.
As you can see, I’ve requested a slash OTP, a threesome, a triad, and a foursome, and I am equally open to any of these combinations. I’ll go into more detail about how I see each one working in my letter, rather than try to pack it all into this box, but basically, I love all four of these characters a very great deal, so if they’re happy and together that’s bound to make me happy.
I’m not a fan of AUs, so please adhere to the canon universe, and the themes that were prominent in the film(s). I am so here for cops and robbers/identity porn/rifts and reconciliations/break ups and make ups/found family, etc etc. The one thing wildly outside canon I'd be keen to see is The Fast and the Furious IN SPACE.
Dominic Toretto/Brian O’Conner
I ship Dom and Brian pretty goddamn hard, and always have, so basically anything you write me exploring their relationship, at any point in the series, would be fantastic. (Maybe not after Furious 7 since I feel like that one was so family oriented it would suit the foursome better, but use your discretion.)
For me this film was a perfect storm of instant, undying, friendships, love at first sight, ambiguously charming and endearing designated “villains” with tragic backstories, police officers incapable of fulfilling their sworn duty in the face of said “villains”, and the fundamental identity porn involved in a guy who is not who he says he is, all bullet proof kinks of mine. I think what I love most about it is the sheer histrionic fervour with which Dom and Brian’s friendship unfolds. They’ve barely met before Dom is confiding his deepest, darkest secrets, and another five minutes after that Brian is throwing away his career and maybe even his freedom to save him. There’s no other explanation for that but love at first sight.
I do have one exception when it comes to AUs. My friends and I often used to joke that Faster and Furiouser Fifteen would be set in space. So give me all the wacky space adventures of outlaw Dom and interstellar agent Brian.
As far as ratings go, if you are so inclined then I would dearly love to read explicit fic. If you are not, however, then super intense feelings and emotions will do the trick as well. It’s that kind of thrill and passion and connection that I’m most interested in. If you do go the porn route then I have a few relevant kinks – basically we’re talking about size differential and man-handling. Before you say, “Are you crazy, lady? Brian is taller than Dom!”, let me say yes, I am well aware of that. That’s one of the things I like here – the fact that this kink works both ways in this pairing. I’d like to see them both trying to be in charge, and both giving it their best shot to shove each other around. Whoever comes out on top (literally and figuratively) is fine by me, let the story dictate that.
Dominic Toretto/Brian O’Conner/Letty Ortiz/Mia Toretto
It was far from a perfect film, but I have a lot of love in my heart for Furious 7 for how beautifully it built a happy ending in less than ideal circomestances. Dom, Brian, Letty, and Mia as a family are one of the great loves of my fannish life, and I’m feeling it more strongly than ever after Furious 7’s continued building of Brian and Mia’s young family, and its revelations about Dom and Letty. So if you want to explore that happy ending, I'd love something set after this movie. That said, I'd also love fic set at any other point in the series, and if it's set earlier I don't mind angst along the way as long as I have that happy ending to look forward to.
I can never get enough of the worldbuilding potential and relationship exploration of the sedoretu. I was lucky enough to get a wonderful fic in this verse for Yuletide last year, but I would lap up more with a giant spoon. On the other hand, if you’d rather write a more “traditional” foursome that puts itself together in “our” universe then that’d be just as welcome. Maybe a threesome born out of mourning Letty and trying to rebuild that becomes a foursome when she finds her way home?
Just one caveat here: I don’t want to see any kind of third wheel issues. No cheating, no reluctant sharing, no painful negotiations, just a wholehearted enthusiasm from everyone. They all love each other, and couldn’t possibly be happy without each other.
Dominic Toretto/Brian O’Conner/Mia Toretto
Brian and Mia are pretty damn adorable together, and together with Dom they’re such a wonderful little family, especially once baby Jack makes his appearance. Pretty much anything about them as an ass-kicking family unit would make me happy. I think I ship this as a lambda rather than a full triangle – my brotherly incest kink hasn’t spread quite this far yet. Never say never though. Certainly I’m perfectly comfortable with the siblings being closer than close, while maintaining that one final distance.
Poor Brian never stood a chance when the full force of the Torettos hit him, so show me the sibs setting their sights on him and launching a two front offensive, or a more gentle coming together in later, sadder times, or whatever takes your fancy. I’d be okay with this being set after Letty’s “death”, but if she’s alive then please have her happily moved on, not abandoned or pining
Dominic Toretto/Brian O’Conner/Letty Ortiz
Brian and Letty haven’t really had a lot of interaction onscreen, though I can definitely see grounds for an angsty coming together if you set your fic later in the series, and I loved the way Letty had her car in exactly the right place to rescue Brian from his epic cliff dive in Furious 7. Dom loves them both so much, though, that I feel sure his “gravity” would pull them both into orbit.
All three of them are very physical people, and I can imagine some scorching encounters between them. If you like to write explicit fic then I’m all for it, and would be pleased to read the three of them getting up to all kinds of wild shenanigans, up to and including double penetration, as long as Letty’s an equal partner and totally into it. If you prefer lower ratings, or more plot driven stories, then maybe tell me the story of how they all came together, or the big reunion after Letty’s resurrection, or really anything else you can think of. It’s hard to imagine a universe where they’d leave Mia out in the cold, though, so I’d appreciate a quick handwave whereby she was never interested in Brian in this context.
*****
The Man from UNCLE (2015)
Illya Kuryakin/Napoleon Solo
I just watched this film for the first time over the Christmas break, but have fallen quite madly in love with it, in all its stylish, stylised, glory, and watched it countless times since.
I'm a huge fan of antagonists falling for each other, so Illya and Napoleon's transition from foes to friends to something more works perfectly for me. I'd love to see some of that journey, whether the whole way or just the final step. Equally, I love a tale of comrades in arms who have a whole other relationship going on at the same time, and the way that that impacts their work, and/or the way the dangers thereof impact said relationship.
For me, a major part of the attraction is the setting, so if at all possible I'd love to have a fic recognisably set in the time period, ie 1963. That doesn't mean huge amounts of research on the Cold War if you're not a history buff -- though if you are please go ahead, by all means -- but please don't just handwave societal attitudes to homosexuality etc either. (You don't need to dwell on homophobia, whether external or internal, but let's have our spies be secretive at least.)
I love the Cold War as a historical period, but I also just love the conventions of the spy game genre -- I was practically raised on it as my dad was a big fan, both books and movies. That said, I don't need a complicated plot; some vague caper to act as a backdrop to Illya and Napoleon's relationship is more than fine with me. Likewise if your focus is on movie style shenanigans rather than politics, that's A-OK.
The one thing that does make a big difference is that I find it really jarring when reading fic set in the 1960s to suddenly stumble over supportive best friends and organisations that are oddly embracing of their agents' personal lives. Gaby might put her friendships first, but I still think Illya and Napoleon would go out of their way to conceal their relationship from her to avoid putting her in that position. UNCLE, and certainly the CIA and KGB, would absolutely have viewed a homosexual relationship as an intolerable security risk. If you find writing abut historical homophobia unpleasant then it's not something you need to explore, but I would very much prefer it if the relationship is kept under wraps.
Other than that, I am super interested in both Illya and Napoleon's backstories. Are they right when they psychobabble each other? Was it just a sense of adventure that drove Napoleon to join the army at sixteen? Does Illya have a genuine loyalty to the KGB, or does love of Mother Russia override the pain the state has caused him? How does their friendship, and then their affection for each other, grow?
I'm intrigued by the prospect of what would happen to Illya, in particular, if ties to UNCLE were somehow severed -- he's the one that's going to find himself stranded in hostile territory, unlike Napoleon and Gaby. I'm also dubious that the KGB would really ever allow him to return home after his extended time in the decadent West. Would he ever defect?
I just really love comrades who risk life and limb for each other. I like the stress it places on relationships, but also the way those relationships are intensified by omnipresent danger. I like extreme loyalty, and sticking together through thick and thin. I like the hothouse atmosphere created when you can't share how much you love someone with anybody else.
This ship hits a lot of relationship tropes I really like, and if the whim takes you I do enjoy reading explicit sex scenes, though I'm not much for kink. I do hugely enjoy evenly matched partners struggling for dominance however, and fighting leading to fucking as long as both parties are equally into it. I have a basic preference for Illya topping, but I can well imagine Napoleon making him work for it. If you're uncomfortable with higher ratings, please stick to what you’re comfortable with.
*****
The Chronicles of Riddick Series
Richard B. Riddick/Vaako
I love these wacky films, and while I prefer the setting of Chronicles for its space opera sense of grandeur, as far as time period goes I'd be equally happy with fic set after Riddick too.
I'd enjoy just about anything about Riddick and Vaako and their relationship. Enemies to friends to lovers is a favourite trope of mine, so something that explores that journey would be great. I'm also a big fan of rifts and reconciliations, break ups and make ups, so if you want to jump into the story somewhat later that'd be cool too.
If you're into worldbuilding, I'm always interested to see variations on both Riddick and Vaako's backstories -- what Furya and/or Vaako's unknown homeworld were like, how Necromonger society works, whether Vaako’s religious faith is genuine, whether Riddick could ever convert for real.
Some questions the film(s) left me with: Why do Necromongers, who explicitly don’t breed, get married? If regular purification leaves you unable to feel physical pain, how much physical pleasure can you feel? Or is it emotional pain it purges, in which case how do you form relationships if you can’t feel?
If Vaako and Riddick evolve some kind of relationship from rivalry to comradeship to friendship to love, how does that path work for Vaako? How much of the Necromonger Way does he have to give up? Were his “religious” convictions ever real, or was he motivated solely by ambition? We all began as something else –- what did Vaako begin as, and is there anything of it left? And what about Riddick? Does he overthrow Necromonger society the way Aereon and Imam and the others hoped he would? Does he ever convert? Does he just plain enjoy having an army and an armada at his back? If these two manage to learn to trust each other, what does the future hold?
This ship hits a lot of relationship tropes I really like, and if the whim takes you I do enjoy reading explicit sex scenes, though I'm not much for kink. I do hugely enjoy evenly matched partners struggling for dominance however, and fighting leading to fucking as long as both parties are equally into it. If you're uncomfortable with higher ratings, please stick to what you’re comfortable with.
One note: please don’t dwell on any kind of unpleasant outcome for Dame Vaako. She made a play for power in exactly the same way Vaako did, and is no more guilty for it.
*****
Hopefully there's something there that you can work with! Thank you again for writing for me.
My greatest loves in fan fiction (and in canon, to be honest) are character development and relationships. I do enjoy well-plotted stories, of course, but I get a lot of emotional satisfaction out of seeing the plot show me new things about characters that I love. Even a PWP can reveal heretofore unrealised aspects of a particular character’s personality, and I love it when they do. My favourite tropes tend to centre round things like found family, undying loyalty in the face of all common sense, you and me against the world vows, nemeses turned sworn comrades, reconciliations after rifts, and identity porn.
I dislike mundane AUs, so please keep the characters in their own settings and retain their own backstories and abilities/powers. Also, please, no non-con, no infidelity, no unasked for kinks. My tastes in sex scenes are pretty vanilla, though I do like to read explicit fic. Exceptions would be rough sex, fighting leading to fucking, and one partner holding the other down/using their full strength on them (consensually).
I have a basic preference for third person narration, and also for a fairly tight POV, rather than an omniscient narrator. That’s not a hard and fast rule though, so don’t feel bound by it if it doesn’t suit the story you want to tell.
*****
The Fast and the Furious (2001)
My nominations were originally for Fast and the Furious Series, but they somehow wound up under The Fast and the Furious (2001). That’s not a problem for me, given that the first film is very much my favourite, but I just wanted to be clear that I’m actually happy with you setting your fic anywhere in the series you’d like.
As you can see, I’ve requested a slash OTP, a threesome, a triad, and a foursome, and I am equally open to any of these combinations. I’ll go into more detail about how I see each one working in my letter, rather than try to pack it all into this box, but basically, I love all four of these characters a very great deal, so if they’re happy and together that’s bound to make me happy.
I’m not a fan of AUs, so please adhere to the canon universe, and the themes that were prominent in the film(s). I am so here for cops and robbers/identity porn/rifts and reconciliations/break ups and make ups/found family, etc etc. The one thing wildly outside canon I'd be keen to see is The Fast and the Furious IN SPACE.
Dominic Toretto/Brian O’Conner
I ship Dom and Brian pretty goddamn hard, and always have, so basically anything you write me exploring their relationship, at any point in the series, would be fantastic. (Maybe not after Furious 7 since I feel like that one was so family oriented it would suit the foursome better, but use your discretion.)
For me this film was a perfect storm of instant, undying, friendships, love at first sight, ambiguously charming and endearing designated “villains” with tragic backstories, police officers incapable of fulfilling their sworn duty in the face of said “villains”, and the fundamental identity porn involved in a guy who is not who he says he is, all bullet proof kinks of mine. I think what I love most about it is the sheer histrionic fervour with which Dom and Brian’s friendship unfolds. They’ve barely met before Dom is confiding his deepest, darkest secrets, and another five minutes after that Brian is throwing away his career and maybe even his freedom to save him. There’s no other explanation for that but love at first sight.
I do have one exception when it comes to AUs. My friends and I often used to joke that Faster and Furiouser Fifteen would be set in space. So give me all the wacky space adventures of outlaw Dom and interstellar agent Brian.
As far as ratings go, if you are so inclined then I would dearly love to read explicit fic. If you are not, however, then super intense feelings and emotions will do the trick as well. It’s that kind of thrill and passion and connection that I’m most interested in. If you do go the porn route then I have a few relevant kinks – basically we’re talking about size differential and man-handling. Before you say, “Are you crazy, lady? Brian is taller than Dom!”, let me say yes, I am well aware of that. That’s one of the things I like here – the fact that this kink works both ways in this pairing. I’d like to see them both trying to be in charge, and both giving it their best shot to shove each other around. Whoever comes out on top (literally and figuratively) is fine by me, let the story dictate that.
Dominic Toretto/Brian O’Conner/Letty Ortiz/Mia Toretto
It was far from a perfect film, but I have a lot of love in my heart for Furious 7 for how beautifully it built a happy ending in less than ideal circomestances. Dom, Brian, Letty, and Mia as a family are one of the great loves of my fannish life, and I’m feeling it more strongly than ever after Furious 7’s continued building of Brian and Mia’s young family, and its revelations about Dom and Letty. So if you want to explore that happy ending, I'd love something set after this movie. That said, I'd also love fic set at any other point in the series, and if it's set earlier I don't mind angst along the way as long as I have that happy ending to look forward to.
I can never get enough of the worldbuilding potential and relationship exploration of the sedoretu. I was lucky enough to get a wonderful fic in this verse for Yuletide last year, but I would lap up more with a giant spoon. On the other hand, if you’d rather write a more “traditional” foursome that puts itself together in “our” universe then that’d be just as welcome. Maybe a threesome born out of mourning Letty and trying to rebuild that becomes a foursome when she finds her way home?
Just one caveat here: I don’t want to see any kind of third wheel issues. No cheating, no reluctant sharing, no painful negotiations, just a wholehearted enthusiasm from everyone. They all love each other, and couldn’t possibly be happy without each other.
Dominic Toretto/Brian O’Conner/Mia Toretto
Brian and Mia are pretty damn adorable together, and together with Dom they’re such a wonderful little family, especially once baby Jack makes his appearance. Pretty much anything about them as an ass-kicking family unit would make me happy. I think I ship this as a lambda rather than a full triangle – my brotherly incest kink hasn’t spread quite this far yet. Never say never though. Certainly I’m perfectly comfortable with the siblings being closer than close, while maintaining that one final distance.
Poor Brian never stood a chance when the full force of the Torettos hit him, so show me the sibs setting their sights on him and launching a two front offensive, or a more gentle coming together in later, sadder times, or whatever takes your fancy. I’d be okay with this being set after Letty’s “death”, but if she’s alive then please have her happily moved on, not abandoned or pining
Dominic Toretto/Brian O’Conner/Letty Ortiz
Brian and Letty haven’t really had a lot of interaction onscreen, though I can definitely see grounds for an angsty coming together if you set your fic later in the series, and I loved the way Letty had her car in exactly the right place to rescue Brian from his epic cliff dive in Furious 7. Dom loves them both so much, though, that I feel sure his “gravity” would pull them both into orbit.
All three of them are very physical people, and I can imagine some scorching encounters between them. If you like to write explicit fic then I’m all for it, and would be pleased to read the three of them getting up to all kinds of wild shenanigans, up to and including double penetration, as long as Letty’s an equal partner and totally into it. If you prefer lower ratings, or more plot driven stories, then maybe tell me the story of how they all came together, or the big reunion after Letty’s resurrection, or really anything else you can think of. It’s hard to imagine a universe where they’d leave Mia out in the cold, though, so I’d appreciate a quick handwave whereby she was never interested in Brian in this context.
*****
The Man from UNCLE (2015)
Illya Kuryakin/Napoleon Solo
I just watched this film for the first time over the Christmas break, but have fallen quite madly in love with it, in all its stylish, stylised, glory, and watched it countless times since.
I'm a huge fan of antagonists falling for each other, so Illya and Napoleon's transition from foes to friends to something more works perfectly for me. I'd love to see some of that journey, whether the whole way or just the final step. Equally, I love a tale of comrades in arms who have a whole other relationship going on at the same time, and the way that that impacts their work, and/or the way the dangers thereof impact said relationship.
For me, a major part of the attraction is the setting, so if at all possible I'd love to have a fic recognisably set in the time period, ie 1963. That doesn't mean huge amounts of research on the Cold War if you're not a history buff -- though if you are please go ahead, by all means -- but please don't just handwave societal attitudes to homosexuality etc either. (You don't need to dwell on homophobia, whether external or internal, but let's have our spies be secretive at least.)
I love the Cold War as a historical period, but I also just love the conventions of the spy game genre -- I was practically raised on it as my dad was a big fan, both books and movies. That said, I don't need a complicated plot; some vague caper to act as a backdrop to Illya and Napoleon's relationship is more than fine with me. Likewise if your focus is on movie style shenanigans rather than politics, that's A-OK.
The one thing that does make a big difference is that I find it really jarring when reading fic set in the 1960s to suddenly stumble over supportive best friends and organisations that are oddly embracing of their agents' personal lives. Gaby might put her friendships first, but I still think Illya and Napoleon would go out of their way to conceal their relationship from her to avoid putting her in that position. UNCLE, and certainly the CIA and KGB, would absolutely have viewed a homosexual relationship as an intolerable security risk. If you find writing abut historical homophobia unpleasant then it's not something you need to explore, but I would very much prefer it if the relationship is kept under wraps.
Other than that, I am super interested in both Illya and Napoleon's backstories. Are they right when they psychobabble each other? Was it just a sense of adventure that drove Napoleon to join the army at sixteen? Does Illya have a genuine loyalty to the KGB, or does love of Mother Russia override the pain the state has caused him? How does their friendship, and then their affection for each other, grow?
I'm intrigued by the prospect of what would happen to Illya, in particular, if ties to UNCLE were somehow severed -- he's the one that's going to find himself stranded in hostile territory, unlike Napoleon and Gaby. I'm also dubious that the KGB would really ever allow him to return home after his extended time in the decadent West. Would he ever defect?
I just really love comrades who risk life and limb for each other. I like the stress it places on relationships, but also the way those relationships are intensified by omnipresent danger. I like extreme loyalty, and sticking together through thick and thin. I like the hothouse atmosphere created when you can't share how much you love someone with anybody else.
This ship hits a lot of relationship tropes I really like, and if the whim takes you I do enjoy reading explicit sex scenes, though I'm not much for kink. I do hugely enjoy evenly matched partners struggling for dominance however, and fighting leading to fucking as long as both parties are equally into it. I have a basic preference for Illya topping, but I can well imagine Napoleon making him work for it. If you're uncomfortable with higher ratings, please stick to what you’re comfortable with.
*****
The Chronicles of Riddick Series
Richard B. Riddick/Vaako
I love these wacky films, and while I prefer the setting of Chronicles for its space opera sense of grandeur, as far as time period goes I'd be equally happy with fic set after Riddick too.
I'd enjoy just about anything about Riddick and Vaako and their relationship. Enemies to friends to lovers is a favourite trope of mine, so something that explores that journey would be great. I'm also a big fan of rifts and reconciliations, break ups and make ups, so if you want to jump into the story somewhat later that'd be cool too.
If you're into worldbuilding, I'm always interested to see variations on both Riddick and Vaako's backstories -- what Furya and/or Vaako's unknown homeworld were like, how Necromonger society works, whether Vaako’s religious faith is genuine, whether Riddick could ever convert for real.
Some questions the film(s) left me with: Why do Necromongers, who explicitly don’t breed, get married? If regular purification leaves you unable to feel physical pain, how much physical pleasure can you feel? Or is it emotional pain it purges, in which case how do you form relationships if you can’t feel?
If Vaako and Riddick evolve some kind of relationship from rivalry to comradeship to friendship to love, how does that path work for Vaako? How much of the Necromonger Way does he have to give up? Were his “religious” convictions ever real, or was he motivated solely by ambition? We all began as something else –- what did Vaako begin as, and is there anything of it left? And what about Riddick? Does he overthrow Necromonger society the way Aereon and Imam and the others hoped he would? Does he ever convert? Does he just plain enjoy having an army and an armada at his back? If these two manage to learn to trust each other, what does the future hold?
This ship hits a lot of relationship tropes I really like, and if the whim takes you I do enjoy reading explicit sex scenes, though I'm not much for kink. I do hugely enjoy evenly matched partners struggling for dominance however, and fighting leading to fucking as long as both parties are equally into it. If you're uncomfortable with higher ratings, please stick to what you’re comfortable with.
One note: please don’t dwell on any kind of unpleasant outcome for Dame Vaako. She made a play for power in exactly the same way Vaako did, and is no more guilty for it.
*****
Hopefully there's something there that you can work with! Thank you again for writing for me.
