Dear Yuletide Writer 2025,
Oct. 19th, 2025 06:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chronicbookwormThanks for writing me a story! Should you so want, I can be found at both Tumblr and AO3 also as ChronicBookworm, for any stalking purposes.
In general, I like most things. I’m a multishipper, and I read slash, het, femslash, and gen. I also like most genres: fluff, angst, adventure, case fic, humour, get-together, established relationship, character study, slice of life/domestic, you name it – or a mix of them all! I’m very fond of long, plotty fic, but don’t feel pressure, I’ll be just as happy with something short and sweet!
The prompts below are there to help, not box you in, so please feel free to write/make something different if none of my prompts below grab your imagination or inspiration strikes you in a different direction. If I request the shippy version of a relationship, I am also very happy to consume the gen version (it sometimes but not always goes the other way as well – feel free to check via the mods if you’re at all unsure). This goes even if the prompts are romantic in nature – I’m also very fond of deep platonic relationships that are the most important to the characters and relationships that straddle the line between platonic and romantic.
The length of the sections has nothing to do with how much I want the request, only with how many different ideas/questions I have for each. I want to read them all very badly, so I’m sure I’ll love whatever you write!
This got quite long – feel free to just read the parts that are relevant to you.
General Likes
Do Not Want
The Gilded Age
The Goblin Emperor
Kulla-Gulla Series
Mansfield Park
Peer Gynt
Pride
Sense and Sensibility
• kindness as a choice, characters who are kind even when it’s difficult
• characters who are principled and who stick to their principles, characters who grapple with what being a moral person is
• protectiveness, characters who are willing to sacrifice themselves or their comfort for others (either because that’s just who they are or because they feel strongly for the other character)
• loyalty and devotion, both strong, reciprocated loyalty, and more complicated forms such as conflicting loyalties, loyalty to the undeserving, one-sided loyalty, etc.
• characters who trust each other and are rewarded for it, characters who trust people they shouldn’t
• “us against the world” plots and relationships (whether it’s true or just what the characters imagine)
• found families, especially ones that don’t try to fit characters into traditional family roles but instead lets them be close and prioritise each other like family on their own terms
• ride or die friendships, characters that are very intense about each other (whether it is platonically or romantically)
• relationships that straddle the line between platonic and romantic
• friends to lovers
• pining
• quiet romances, love that grows slowly, love that creeps up on characters without them realising it
• gentleness and tenderness
• respect as an integral part of relationships, listening to your partners and friends, being considerate of their needs
• arranged marriages (both platonic and romantic versions)
• marriages of convenience (both platonic and romantic versions), including lavender marriages
• hurt/comfort, trauma recovery
• grief and mourning
• characters who are expecting or used to being hurt (verbally or physically) who are then shown warmth and kindness
• characters navigating power differentials and power dynamics
• characters dealing with political problems, complicated politics, courtly and political intrigue, politics in general
• characters uniting forces against a common enemy, shifting alliances, uncertain alliances
• partisan and resistance movements, small groups of people going up against or being pursued by large, powerful governments or organisations
• cultural differences, characters trying to communicate when they have wildly different expectations or frameworks for understanding the world
• explorations of faith of various kinds and what it means to different people, including but not limited to explorations of religions and religiosity
• complicated and messy relationships (platonic, romantic or familial)
• conflicts between characters based on differences in opinions, wants, and needs (rather than misunderstandings or erroneous assumptions), conflicts between characters without easy solutions, conflicts between characters where neither side is completely right or completely wrong
• moral dilemmas, trying to do the right thing in situations where there is no good choice, doing the right thing even when it costs the characters
• characters making mistakes and dealing with the consequences, characters reacting to situations in non-optimal ways, characters lashing out due to pain or trauma
• secrets (both kept and revealed)
• characters working with limited knowledge
• competent characters, characters being recognised for their competence
• women supporting other women
• period-typical attitudes, explorations of the various and diverse strategies marginalised people used to adapt (or not) to their prescribed social roles, exercising agency in different ways when the social structures are set up to deny that agency
• canon divergence
• fix-it fic
• outsider POV
• case fic/mission fic, adventures
• time travel (both Peggy Sue style and physical time travel)
• worldbuilding
• longfic
• explicit sex (fade to black or references to sex are fine, including noncon/rape)
• non-canonical changes to human anatomy or physiology (such as mpreg, omegaverse, soulmarks, etc.)
• teacher/student (if it’s relevant, please set any romance sometime after they've stopped being teacher/student)
• readerfic (named OCs are OK, even as love interests)
• non-canonical incest (including between adopted or foster family members and biological family members who don’t know they’re related. Cousin incest and canon-typical Targaryen incest are OK)
• non-canonical infidelity (real or imagined) or jealousy within romantic relationships unless prompted (open relationships and jealousy as a path to feelings discovery are OK. Infidelity in the context of a loveless arranged marriage is OK)
• more than 3-year age gaps for any ships involving characters 16 years or younger (except in Westeros canons)
• sex involving characters under 15 (except for relationships involving Joffrey Baratheon), setting a date when the character is considered "old enough"/"legal" for sex and fixating on that date
• modern-day terminology for sexual and gender identities in historical or fantasy canons
• characters being ostracised by their friends and loved ones
• public embarrassment, humiliation
• character or ship bashing (characters being biased against each other and the narration reflecting that bias and/or highlighting characters’ negative traits is OK, but please don’t give characters negative traits that they don’t have in canon or make everything that goes wrong the fault of one character, unless that character is canonically capital-E Evil (e.g. Palpatine, the White Witch, or similar villains))
• hopeless endings, grimdark tone (sad and bittersweet endings are OK, including major character death of requested characters or ships, as long as there is some hope that the (surviving) characters’ situation will improve and that they’ll be happy in the future)
• unrequested setting change AUs (merging crossover universes into one or having characters from one universe dimension travel to the other by either hand-wavey or explained means are all fine)
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Peggy Scott
Gladys Russell
Aurora Fane
My gift must feature one or more of my chosen character tags (giver's choice)
Ah, the Gilded Age! I really like the characters in all their petty and snobbish glory, their intrigues, successes and failures! I love the glimpse into a by-gone world, and how the ultra-rich of that time lived. Having been brought up on English costume dramas, I really like seeing the American side of it—the way they look to Europe to imitate, but are also determined to find their own identity. I love how each character has moments when they’re sympathetic and ones when they’re really not!
The three characters I’ve chosen all have different stories, and while they sometimes touch on each other, I don’t expect you to include more than one of the related characters in the story.
The prompts below will contain spoilers for season 3.
Peggy is so wonderful, and I really hope she gets her happy ending with Dr Kirkland! I love her passion for justice and her interest in politics, I love how she is determined to be a writer, and I love how compassionate she is—how her very first act on the show was offering to pay the passage for a fellow traveller in need, even while risking prejudice and rejection for it. I love her cleverness and how she deal with the dual prejudice she faces, from both her sex and her skin colour, but that she keeps her spirits up and keeps her compassionate outlook on life. I also love the look into upper-class Black society at the time, and would love to see something exploring that!
I would like anything that focuses on Peggy—her past with Elias Finn, or what if Finn hadn’t caved to Peggy’s father’s pressure and their marriage was still valid? What would their life have been like? Or what if he had, but she hadn’t lost consciousness delivering her baby, and had to fight to keep her baby, and bringing him up as essentially an unwed mother?
Or something canon-compliant—how does she deal with Mrs Kirkland, how does she get on with Mr Kirkland, how does her life with him look like?
I would love to see more about Gladys settling into life as a Duchess! She might have dealt with Lady Sarah, but I’m sure there are still challenges facing her in trying to win over the English aristocracy—and in getting Sidmouth back on its feet! How do she and Hector go about doing that, and do they disagree on the best approach? What kind of issues do they face with managing the castle and the lands, or with the tenant farmers?
I would also be very interested in seeing their relationship develop—they seem to be gaining a solid footing already, with friendship that might become more!
Or what if she hadn’t married Hector? What if she’d convinced George to stand up to Bertha, or if Billy had had the courage to speak to George? What would her life be like if she stayed in New York?
Poor Aurora! I really felt for her this season, and would love to see what her life in Newport is like—who associates with her, who has dropped her, what does she do to fill her time? I would love to see her embody the maxim “living well is the best revenge”—I want to see her live her best life on her own, filled with friendship and meaning and joy! I love how even as she does stick to the society rules and does gatekeep, she’s never cruel, and how she’s willing to take new people under her wing and guide them in society (Marion, Bertha—albeit under pressure). And I love that she was the only white person who came to Peggy’s talk—that shows her character!
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Arbelan Drazharan
Chenelo Drazharan
My gift must feature one or more of my chosen character tags (giver's choice)
This is such a nice comfort read book! I loved Maia finding his feet in court, how he started to flourish and come into his own, and how he, through his kindness and consideration, managed to win people over and start making changes for the better, and I'd love to see that through the perspective of Arbelan or Chenelo – or a story of their early days at court, under Varenechibel, or during their relegations, anything about these two disfavoured Empresses will be bound to delight me!
I would also be incredibly happy with something that features both and lets them have a relationship. The two Drazharan who were relegated by Varenechibel should definitely get to meet and bitch about him—or share experiences and support each other, and get their vengeance by basically ruling the ladies’ side of the court and being trusted and valued advisors to Edrehasivar the Emperor as well as beloved mentors to Maia the person. What would their relationship be like, how well would they get on, would there be anything that separated them: their experiences of both the Court, Varenechibel, and their respective relegation, is likely to be quite different? Besides, Arbelan would be old enough to be Chenelo’s mother, so while they’re equals socially (more or less, officially, at least), the age might play a role in how they relate to each other?
What if they were relegated together: if Chenelo and Maia were relgated to Cethoree instead of Isvaroë? How would they have got along in isolation? How would Arbelan have dealt with Chenelo’s illness and raising Maia? I imagine that might have led to a better fate for all of them: giving Arbelan company and a child to dote on, almost like a grandchild, and Chenelo an older woman she could turn for support and guidance, and to help her through her illness. Perhaps she even survived in these circumstances?
Or, what if it’s not due to Maia’s ascendancy to Emperor that they’re both recalled to court, but due to Nemolis’, or one of his other brothers? How would they get on with Empress Sheveän? Would there be a battle of wills between them, or would they have to be more subtle about their alliance-building and influence? Or Empress Stano, if Ciris was the sole survivor? I imagine she would be more easily led by the two older women, but if Sheveän was still around, she might make life difficult for them!
I’d also be incredibly interested in seeing how the women’s court functions, politics among the ladies—both their own politics, but also how they move things in the national politics that’s usually seen as the men’s domain, how they wield influence over other ladies and over men, the different factions among the women – not just Csoru’s faction and Csethiro’s, but what other factions, among the older ladies, and to what extent does it mirror the men’s factions, what Csethiro is like as the Empress, Vedero’s circle and who is included in it, and how it interacts with other factions in the women’s court, what role Arbelan has at court and how she fits in, or what role Chenelo would have in Maia’s court if she survived – or what role Chenelo or Arbelan had before their relegations, when they were the Empress?
I would love something about Arbelan, at any time point! Her early life with Varenechibel would be interesting to explore: what was court like under Varevesena? What was Arbelan like as Empress, or before he was even crowned? What was Varenechibel like in his early reign, or as Crown Prince? What political issues were on the agenda, and how did Arbelan manage them? What conflicts did she have to navigate?
What was her life like during relegation? What did she do during the days, who did she interact with? How did she settle back into court after her relegation—did she still have friends? What was her relationship with the other women of the Drazhada family? What was her role at court? She was one of the first courtiers Maia let in behind his guard—I’d love to see more about their relationship, how she advised him and guided him. And how did that affect her standing at court? Was she ever courted for a second marriage after Varenechibel’s death, and how did she react to that?
Or, what if she had been able to give Varenechibel children—what if her miscarried child had survived to be born? What if she’d given him a son—obviously that would have changed the course of the story a great deal, since he wouldn’t have been able to marry any of his subsequent wives. What would have happened to him and his family instead? What would the Curneisei have done instead? Or what if her child had been a daughter for her to cherish? Would he still have relegated her, or would they have tried to make the best of it? How would he have treated her and their daughter? What would her daughter’s fate have been, and how would the succession of the Drazhada line be secured?
Or, if you want to write shipfic, I have prompts for Arbelan with Maru, Berenar or an OC in my Fic in a Box letter, here: https://chronicbookworm.dreamwidth.org/16295.html#GoblinEmperor – but I would also be happy for you to pair her with any character you think fits (outside my DNWs)!
I would love to see an AU where Chenelo came to court with Maia, and helped him settle in, could give him the guidance and support he needed when he was floundering in the beginning! What would Maia be like raised by his mother? Would his resentment of his father be as deep, given they were still relegated, or would he be more understanding given he hadn’t spent eight years being abused by a bitter relative who cared nothing for him, but instead with his mother? What would Chenelo’s feelings about her ex-husband and her relegation be? How would she cope with being back at court? Would she feel out of place, due to the changes or due to being a goblin in an elf court, or would she find that without Varenechibel there, she was free to make court her own and set up her own power faction at court? She would be in a completely different position, as the Emperor’s beloved mother, as opposed to the unwanted fourth wife in a political marriage that the Emperor didn’t want and had in fact been manipulated into! How would that influence how she dealt with the court when she came back—those who had shunned her before who now want to be in her good graces (or would they still shun her due to being a goblin?)—did she have any allies then, and would they still be around to welcome her back, or would they have run afoul of Varenechibels’ temper and court politics? What would she have made of Sheveän—would she have handled the situation differently? Perhaps Stano would have joined her household instead, or she might have nurtured that contact in a way Maia couldn’t and found out about Sheveän’s plans that way?
What would the relationship between Chenelo and Maia as an adult be like? What sort of difficulties would they face? Would they have arguments, what about, and how would they play out and be resolved?
What would her relationship with Vedero be like? Would they be cordial allies, or friends? They’re basically the same age (I think Chenelo is six years older than Vedero, if I’ve got my maths right?), but their positions would be very different, with Chenelo counted to the matrons, the widowed Empress, and Vedero an unmarried lady: how would that play into their dynamics? Presumably their interests would align, in giving women more freedom to determine their own lives, but they might have different ways of going about it, different networks they are tied to: it might even benefit them to not to be seen to be too close to each other? Or maybe they want to present a united front? Whatever their relationship is, both of them would probably be savvy enough to know that they would have to consider the political implications and how to present it to the public! And they would have very different experiences of Varenechibel, as well as very different experiences of the court and court politics.
Or what about her relationship with Csethiro? I think the relationship between Chenelo and Csethiro would be really fascinating to explore—how each of them relate to their role in court, the different ways they take to fulfil it, and how they work together to further their agenda and Maia’s agenda! Csethiro as someone who is unconventional but still knows and is comfortable in court settings would be very interesting to contrast with Chenelo, who is marked as an outsider by her appearance, and whose previous time at court, one can infer, was miserable. How active would Chenelo be in Maia’s choice of wife, and what would her take on Csethiro be (whether or not she was actively involved)? What does Csethiro think of her mother-in-law? How do they balance their own agendas, their shared agendas, and what Maia wants? Do they move in different circles, and how do they combine their social lives, and how much do they keep them separate? What kinds of causes do they champion, either together or apart?
Or what about an AU where Chenelo reconciles with her father, and he names Maia his heir? How would she fit in back in Barizhan? How would Maia adapt? How would she get on with her sisters? Would the Great Avar recognize them in these circumstances? How would her relationship with her father be—would all be forgiven, or would she still feel some resentment over being traded away to Varenechibel and left in relegation for however many years?
Or, if you want to write shipfic, I have prompts for Chenelo with Lord Deshehar or and OC or a lavender marriage with Thara in my Fic in a Box letter, here: https://chronicbookworm.dreamwidth.org/16295.html#GoblinEmperor – but I would also be happy for you to pair her with any character you think fits (outside my DNWs)!
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Gulla
Herman Hermansson
Emma Hermansson
Linnea Hermansson
My gift must feature all of my chosen character tags; or it may use exceptions I explain in the form: I am fine with Gulla and any of the other three or any of the non-nominated Hermansson children
What I really like about this book series is how frankly it deals with the poverty and misery of the poor in Sweden at the turn of the century, and the class divide between the rich and the poor, but that it’s also so firmly anchored in the characters and their conflicts and friendships. I like the optimism and belief in humanity that despite everything permeates the books, but also the anger at the deep injustices that shines though, even though Gulla herself is not a very angry person.
I love Gulla’s righteousness, her warm heart, her dutifulness, how she doesn’t let go of her past even when society all around her is telling her to, and how she doesn’t feel ashamed of having been poor. I like how she buckles down and gets on with the job in front of her, and I like how she doesn’t budge when she feels strongly about something.
You don’t need to use all three Hermansson characters, I’d be happy to see Gulla interact with any of them, and if you want to add the other sisters instead/as well as Linnea, that would also be super welcome!
I would love to see anything with Gulla and the Hermanssons—either while she was there or after she has found her grandfather and become Gunilla Sylvester! That would be so interesting—they weren’t there for the process: they send a twelve-year-old off because they don’t need her any more, and then when they meet again, she’s grown up to become the granddaughter and heir of the main landowner in the area! How do they react—do they even recognise her? And how does she react? Is there any awkwardness—she was so fond of them, and they of her, and now there’s a class gulf between them! Maybe Linnea gets involved in the suffrage movement—since it united women of all classes, she might have been invited to a meeting at Höje run by Gulla? Or maybe they run into each other in town? Or maybe Hermansson comes to ask for a favour of Patron (not sure what it might be, since he’s an independent farmer and not one of Patron’s tenants), and meets Gulla? What happens to Linnea, and her sisters? Do they marry farmers? Do they marry up, into the growing middle class in the town? Do they go to school and become professional young women (can the Hermanssons afford that)?
Or something about when Gulla was their helpmeet, and her position in the house as kind of a daughter, but only when it pleased the Hermanssons, and how the girls saw her almost as another sister, but one they could boss around and who had to do what they (well… their parents) said? Linnea might have taken advantage of that, but I don’t think Viola or Rosa would have, and Maj and Lillen were too young to know what was going on, I think? And Emma, who liked Gulla, who needed Gulla, but who sometimes resented her and needed to put her in her place—but who could also be so kind and loving? And Hermansson, who was so kind, and who really did grow fond of her (but not enough to justify keeping her on, because she was another mouth to feed, they needed a boy, not a girl once Emma grew well again and the daughters could help out).
I realise that this book series is probably just one step above “non-existent German book found only at fictional flea markets,” but honestly, I would absolutely be over the moon if someone else knew about this series and wrote it for me!
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Fanny Price
Fanny is probably Austen’s most divisive heroines, but I love her! I like that she’s quiet, serious, unassuming, and self-sacrificing to a flaw, how she’s always ready to be helpful and looks out for the needs of others, but she still won’t budge when everyone around her is trying to persuade her into something she thinks is wrong, and even how she can be a little judgemental and harsh on others, sometimes. I like that inner strength she has, that allows her to endure both Mansfield and Portsmouth, but also that she does sometimes struggle with jealousy and when her own desires conflict with what she thinks is right and proper – and how she chooses what is right when she’s forced to choose. I also like her Romanticism, her genuine delight in nature, and her love of poetry!
I’d really like a story that highlights those qualities – and I’d also really like her to be happy and valued, and to escape the confines of her socially prescribed role as a nobody in Mansfield – and to find an identity of her own and place that she can make hers. Maybe she becomes a Lady of a grand estate (either Mansfield through Tom, or some other estate)? Maybe she becomes an author and writes improving tracts for young ladies? Maybe she becomes a social reformer? Maybe she becomes part of the Clapham sect, somehow? Or maybe you have another idea in mind for what happens to her – I’m open to anything, as long as she’s happy! Feel free to make this a crossover with any other Jane Austen canon – I’m happy see her shipped with any “good” character, major or minor, male or female (defined as character the Austen narrative sympathises with, i.e. no Willoughbys or Elizabeth Elliots, but Darcys or Mariannes are welcome!), or for you to create your own OCs to pair her with.
I have prompts for Fanny paired with either male or female original characters, or Tom Bertram here:
https://chronicbookworm.dreamwidth.org/16295.html#Mansfield
I also have crossover pairings for Fanny paired with Norrington (from PotC), Benwick (from Persuasion), Pullings (from Master and Commander 2003) or Bingley (from Pride and Prejudice) here:
https://chronicbookworm.dreamwidth.org/16295.html#CrossoverNavy
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Characters: Solveig
My gift must feature all of my chosen character tags (if 0: any from tag set)
Solveig has always fascinated me, as we get so little of her in the play – and many of her scenes are mostly there to further Peer’s narrative (e.g. the scene where he runs away, and the final scene). I’d love to see her fleshed out and given her own narrative.
What made her stay her entire life and wait for Peer? It seems like such an incomprehensible decision – what was she thinking? When did she realise he wasn’t coming back (or at least not anytime soon)? Did she ever doubt? What did she think had happened? How did she manage in the forest all alone? What did she do? How did she fill her days? Did she interact with the village at all, and how did those interactions go? The final scene shows her dressed for church, which implies she did go to the village for church at least (unless it’s merely symbolic). How did she deal with her father, the vicar?
What if she’d followed Peer on his adventures? How would that have changed events of the play?
Or what if Peer hadn’t run off? What if he hadn’t gone off with Ingrid from Hægstad, and he and Solveig could have lived in the town? Would they have been able to have a respectable life together, or would Peer’s lower status, nature and reputation have put insurmountable obstacles in the path for them? Or what if he’d stayed with Solveig after the Green-clad One came? How would things have turned out for them together in the little cabin in the forest? What would have happened to the Green-clad One’s child? Would Solveig have rejected or resented the child, or resented Peer, or would she have accepted the child, the way she accepted all of Peer’s misdeeds at the end of the play?
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My gift must feature all of my chosen character tags (if 0: any from tag set)
I love this film! The warmth between the characters, the two separate communities coming together, the friendships, the support they give each other – it’s all so very heart-warming and hopeful! Of course, there are plenty of complications, too, if you want something to sink your teeth in, I’d love something dealing with the complexities and problems of the world we live in and the difficult issues these characters face.
Maybe an elaboration of what we saw in the film with Gethin and the Welsh contingent, being welcomed home, finding his way back to Wales after 16 years?
Jonathan and Gethin are of course incredibly sweet and funny together, and they balance each other very well, with the more flamboyant Jonathan and the quieter Gethin – I’d love something that explores their relationship in more depth!
Or something about Mark and Mike, with the firebrand leader and the practical one who actually gets things organised and done? The film hinted that Mike has feelings for Mark – what if Mark returns them? It can be a happy, sweet story about finding love, or about them being torn between activism or domesticity, or even something about living with AIDS and the impact that has on their friendship/relationship?
What does LGSM do after the strike? Do they stay together, or do they drift apart? I’m especially interested in the parallels and differences between Joe and Steph on one side and Jonathan and Gethin on the other, with the different generations of gay people interacting? How different is it? What challenges did Jonathan and Gethin face that Joe and Steph don’t, and what challenges do Joe and Steph face that Jonathan and Gethin didn’t?
And what happens to the Welsh contingent after the strike? How do they find new ways of organising the community and staying together? How long does the mine stay open, and what happens next? Who finds a new job, who doesn’t?
Maybe something about Dai, Hefina, and Sian, bonding over being official and unofficial leaders of a community that is so dependent on the doomed mine?
Or something about Dai and the miners, after the strike? There must be very complicated emotions going back to work after so long, especially knowing that they’ve been defeated and it’s only a matter of time until the mine closes. I really like Dai, how down-to-earth he is, how caring and open, how he rolls with things, and how his quiet demeanour hides an iron core. How did he and Margaret meet? How did he get involved with union politics? Had he been involved for a long time, or did he become more active during the strike? What happens after the strike? Does he find another job when the pit closes? Does he stay involved with politics, or does he fade into the background after the strike?
Or Dai and Mark sharing experiences of the importance of keeping morale up, building on the beautiful friendship they had in the film and the metaphor of the old banner with two hands clasped? Working out how to maintain the links between LGSM and Dulais even after the strike?
Or about Hefina—such a strong character! What was her history like, how did she and her husband meet? What challenges did they face in their marriage? They don’t seem to have any kids—was that by choice or did they have to grapple with unwilling childlessness? Maybe something with Hefina and the neighbourhood kids—Carl and Kevin, or Johnny and Lee? How did she come to wield such influence over the town, and was she ever challenged?
Or something about her and Cliff when they were young? How close were they? What did they get up to? How did Hefina come to realise he was gay in 1968?
Maybe something about Cliff, finding his people in the Gay Poetry and Literature Society? Bonding with Gethin about their love for the written word, and with Jonathan over their love for the spoken word? Going to plays put on by Out Loud? Performing in plays put on by Out Loud? Finding love? Does it come easily for him, or does he struggle with internalised homophobia? Does he meet someone in London or in Wales, and if it’s in London, does the distance pose problems? How is his relationship with Maureen and his nephews? How was his relationship with his brother, and how did things change when his brother died? What support could he give them when the boys were young, and did Maureen’s pride allow her to accept it, or were there tensions there? Does he come out, and does that change things? At least Johnny came around to accepting LGSM, but does that stretch to Cliff – when it’s not just some abstract gay people in London, but his uncle? Does Lee ever come around?
Or something about Sian? I love how strong and caring Sian is, and how she finds her courage and her strength during the mining crisis, how she stands up for what she believes is right, and how she gets down and does what needs to be done. Maybe something about her at university studying Welsh language? Is it a culture shock? How does she get on with the other students? Does she feel alienated as a mature student with rather different life experiences and expectations compared to the other students, or does she find a group of people to fit in with (the 80s was just after the great university expansion and before the introduction of tuition fees, so there would probably be a fair few other students with working-class backgrounds there – maybe she finds her people among them, even if they might be a bit younger than her, or with the other mature students)? Does she struggle balancing her education and her family, and how do they adjust to the change of having a breadwinner and a homemaker to two breadwinners? And how does she get started in politics? Maybe something about her first campaign to become MP? Or her early days in Westminster?
I also love the relationship between Sian and Joe: how quickly they take to each other, how she’s there for him and supports him when he’s struggling, and how she’s not afraid of telling his family what a treasure they’re wasting. I really liked the scene when she drives him back to London and he falls asleep, and he looks so young and she looks so fond of him - maybe she has some maternal feelings for him, even though she’s not that much older than he is?
It would also be interesting to see Martin and Joe interact – they’re both quite quiet and reserved, which might make it awkward and tense to start off with, even though we know they become great friends by the end of the film.
I really don’t mind if the story’s set pre-, during or post canon, I’d just love anything that explores the relationships between these characters! Again, feel free to include any other non-nominated characters if you want to – I love all of them!
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Characters: Colonel Brandon, Elinor Dashwood, Edward Ferrars
My gift must feature all of my chosen character tags; or it may use exceptions I explain in the form: I am OK with any two of three
I’m happy with a gift that features any two out of three for this request, but if you want to write about all three of them in a relationship, or friendship between them, or one couple and their friend, then feel free! I like them all – how good they are, how practical, and how they put others above themselves. I like how they keep their feelings close to their chests, and how oftentimes, they express their feelings through actions, rather than words, and how you have to read the subtext to know what they are thinking and feeling.
Perhaps Elinor and Edward marry? Maybe Edward and Elinor marry after he’s been disinherited and Lucy’s thrown him over, and they move into the unmarried Brandon’s parsonage, just as in canon? Maybe then he manages to fall for both his good friends at the same time, and worries that he’s taking advantage of them, as their living standards to some extent depend on him (meanwhile they’re worrying that they’re taking advantage of him, as he’s being so generous towards them).
Or maybe Edward and Elinor marry before canon starts (maybe he avoids being disinherited, or maybe they have to rely on charity from their good friend Brandon), and they console and help Brandon as he’s searching for Eliza Williams, and feelings develop as they mutually support and help one another?
Or maybe Brandon and Elinor marry, instead? Elinor was among the earliest in her family to express appreciation for Brandon, so maybe the appreciation turns to love, and believing Edward to be lost to her, accepts a marriage to him instead? Except then it turns out Edward isn’t lost to her, and she has to deal with loving two men at the same time?
Perhaps Elinor and Brandon enter into a marriage of convenience for her family’s sake – and then Edward enters back into her life and feelings develop in all directions… Maybe Edward and Brandon fall in love first, and that helps Elinor also fall in love with Brandon, her husband?
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In general, I like most things. I’m a multishipper, and I read slash, het, femslash, and gen. I also like most genres: fluff, angst, adventure, case fic, humour, get-together, established relationship, character study, slice of life/domestic, you name it – or a mix of them all! I’m very fond of long, plotty fic, but don’t feel pressure, I’ll be just as happy with something short and sweet!
The prompts below are there to help, not box you in, so please feel free to write/make something different if none of my prompts below grab your imagination or inspiration strikes you in a different direction. If I request the shippy version of a relationship, I am also very happy to consume the gen version (it sometimes but not always goes the other way as well – feel free to check via the mods if you’re at all unsure). This goes even if the prompts are romantic in nature – I’m also very fond of deep platonic relationships that are the most important to the characters and relationships that straddle the line between platonic and romantic.
The length of the sections has nothing to do with how much I want the request, only with how many different ideas/questions I have for each. I want to read them all very badly, so I’m sure I’ll love whatever you write!
This got quite long – feel free to just read the parts that are relevant to you.
General Likes
Do Not Want
The Gilded Age
The Goblin Emperor
Kulla-Gulla Series
Mansfield Park
Peer Gynt
Pride
Sense and Sensibility
General likes
• kindness as a choice, characters who are kind even when it’s difficult
• characters who are principled and who stick to their principles, characters who grapple with what being a moral person is
• protectiveness, characters who are willing to sacrifice themselves or their comfort for others (either because that’s just who they are or because they feel strongly for the other character)
• loyalty and devotion, both strong, reciprocated loyalty, and more complicated forms such as conflicting loyalties, loyalty to the undeserving, one-sided loyalty, etc.
• characters who trust each other and are rewarded for it, characters who trust people they shouldn’t
• “us against the world” plots and relationships (whether it’s true or just what the characters imagine)
• found families, especially ones that don’t try to fit characters into traditional family roles but instead lets them be close and prioritise each other like family on their own terms
• ride or die friendships, characters that are very intense about each other (whether it is platonically or romantically)
• relationships that straddle the line between platonic and romantic
• friends to lovers
• pining
• quiet romances, love that grows slowly, love that creeps up on characters without them realising it
• gentleness and tenderness
• respect as an integral part of relationships, listening to your partners and friends, being considerate of their needs
• arranged marriages (both platonic and romantic versions)
• marriages of convenience (both platonic and romantic versions), including lavender marriages
• hurt/comfort, trauma recovery
• grief and mourning
• characters who are expecting or used to being hurt (verbally or physically) who are then shown warmth and kindness
• characters navigating power differentials and power dynamics
• characters dealing with political problems, complicated politics, courtly and political intrigue, politics in general
• characters uniting forces against a common enemy, shifting alliances, uncertain alliances
• partisan and resistance movements, small groups of people going up against or being pursued by large, powerful governments or organisations
• cultural differences, characters trying to communicate when they have wildly different expectations or frameworks for understanding the world
• explorations of faith of various kinds and what it means to different people, including but not limited to explorations of religions and religiosity
• complicated and messy relationships (platonic, romantic or familial)
• conflicts between characters based on differences in opinions, wants, and needs (rather than misunderstandings or erroneous assumptions), conflicts between characters without easy solutions, conflicts between characters where neither side is completely right or completely wrong
• moral dilemmas, trying to do the right thing in situations where there is no good choice, doing the right thing even when it costs the characters
• characters making mistakes and dealing with the consequences, characters reacting to situations in non-optimal ways, characters lashing out due to pain or trauma
• secrets (both kept and revealed)
• characters working with limited knowledge
• competent characters, characters being recognised for their competence
• women supporting other women
• period-typical attitudes, explorations of the various and diverse strategies marginalised people used to adapt (or not) to their prescribed social roles, exercising agency in different ways when the social structures are set up to deny that agency
• canon divergence
• fix-it fic
• outsider POV
• case fic/mission fic, adventures
• time travel (both Peggy Sue style and physical time travel)
• worldbuilding
• longfic
DNWs
• explicit sex (fade to black or references to sex are fine, including noncon/rape)
• non-canonical changes to human anatomy or physiology (such as mpreg, omegaverse, soulmarks, etc.)
• teacher/student (if it’s relevant, please set any romance sometime after they've stopped being teacher/student)
• readerfic (named OCs are OK, even as love interests)
• non-canonical incest (including between adopted or foster family members and biological family members who don’t know they’re related. Cousin incest and canon-typical Targaryen incest are OK)
• non-canonical infidelity (real or imagined) or jealousy within romantic relationships unless prompted (open relationships and jealousy as a path to feelings discovery are OK. Infidelity in the context of a loveless arranged marriage is OK)
• more than 3-year age gaps for any ships involving characters 16 years or younger (except in Westeros canons)
• sex involving characters under 15 (except for relationships involving Joffrey Baratheon), setting a date when the character is considered "old enough"/"legal" for sex and fixating on that date
• modern-day terminology for sexual and gender identities in historical or fantasy canons
• characters being ostracised by their friends and loved ones
• public embarrassment, humiliation
• character or ship bashing (characters being biased against each other and the narration reflecting that bias and/or highlighting characters’ negative traits is OK, but please don’t give characters negative traits that they don’t have in canon or make everything that goes wrong the fault of one character, unless that character is canonically capital-E Evil (e.g. Palpatine, the White Witch, or similar villains))
• hopeless endings, grimdark tone (sad and bittersweet endings are OK, including major character death of requested characters or ships, as long as there is some hope that the (surviving) characters’ situation will improve and that they’ll be happy in the future)
• unrequested setting change AUs (merging crossover universes into one or having characters from one universe dimension travel to the other by either hand-wavey or explained means are all fine)
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The Gilded Age
Characters
Peggy Scott
Gladys Russell
Aurora Fane
My gift must feature one or more of my chosen character tags (giver's choice)
General Thoughts
Ah, the Gilded Age! I really like the characters in all their petty and snobbish glory, their intrigues, successes and failures! I love the glimpse into a by-gone world, and how the ultra-rich of that time lived. Having been brought up on English costume dramas, I really like seeing the American side of it—the way they look to Europe to imitate, but are also determined to find their own identity. I love how each character has moments when they’re sympathetic and ones when they’re really not!
The three characters I’ve chosen all have different stories, and while they sometimes touch on each other, I don’t expect you to include more than one of the related characters in the story.
The prompts below will contain spoilers for season 3.
Peggy
Peggy is so wonderful, and I really hope she gets her happy ending with Dr Kirkland! I love her passion for justice and her interest in politics, I love how she is determined to be a writer, and I love how compassionate she is—how her very first act on the show was offering to pay the passage for a fellow traveller in need, even while risking prejudice and rejection for it. I love her cleverness and how she deal with the dual prejudice she faces, from both her sex and her skin colour, but that she keeps her spirits up and keeps her compassionate outlook on life. I also love the look into upper-class Black society at the time, and would love to see something exploring that!
I would like anything that focuses on Peggy—her past with Elias Finn, or what if Finn hadn’t caved to Peggy’s father’s pressure and their marriage was still valid? What would their life have been like? Or what if he had, but she hadn’t lost consciousness delivering her baby, and had to fight to keep her baby, and bringing him up as essentially an unwed mother?
Or something canon-compliant—how does she deal with Mrs Kirkland, how does she get on with Mr Kirkland, how does her life with him look like?
Gladys
I would love to see more about Gladys settling into life as a Duchess! She might have dealt with Lady Sarah, but I’m sure there are still challenges facing her in trying to win over the English aristocracy—and in getting Sidmouth back on its feet! How do she and Hector go about doing that, and do they disagree on the best approach? What kind of issues do they face with managing the castle and the lands, or with the tenant farmers?
I would also be very interested in seeing their relationship develop—they seem to be gaining a solid footing already, with friendship that might become more!
Or what if she hadn’t married Hector? What if she’d convinced George to stand up to Bertha, or if Billy had had the courage to speak to George? What would her life be like if she stayed in New York?
Aurora
Poor Aurora! I really felt for her this season, and would love to see what her life in Newport is like—who associates with her, who has dropped her, what does she do to fill her time? I would love to see her embody the maxim “living well is the best revenge”—I want to see her live her best life on her own, filled with friendship and meaning and joy! I love how even as she does stick to the society rules and does gatekeep, she’s never cruel, and how she’s willing to take new people under her wing and guide them in society (Marion, Bertha—albeit under pressure). And I love that she was the only white person who came to Peggy’s talk—that shows her character!
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The Goblin Emperor
Characters
Arbelan Drazharan
Chenelo Drazharan
My gift must feature one or more of my chosen character tags (giver's choice)
General Thoughts
This is such a nice comfort read book! I loved Maia finding his feet in court, how he started to flourish and come into his own, and how he, through his kindness and consideration, managed to win people over and start making changes for the better, and I'd love to see that through the perspective of Arbelan or Chenelo – or a story of their early days at court, under Varenechibel, or during their relegations, anything about these two disfavoured Empresses will be bound to delight me!
I would also be incredibly happy with something that features both and lets them have a relationship. The two Drazharan who were relegated by Varenechibel should definitely get to meet and bitch about him—or share experiences and support each other, and get their vengeance by basically ruling the ladies’ side of the court and being trusted and valued advisors to Edrehasivar the Emperor as well as beloved mentors to Maia the person. What would their relationship be like, how well would they get on, would there be anything that separated them: their experiences of both the Court, Varenechibel, and their respective relegation, is likely to be quite different? Besides, Arbelan would be old enough to be Chenelo’s mother, so while they’re equals socially (more or less, officially, at least), the age might play a role in how they relate to each other?
What if they were relegated together: if Chenelo and Maia were relgated to Cethoree instead of Isvaroë? How would they have got along in isolation? How would Arbelan have dealt with Chenelo’s illness and raising Maia? I imagine that might have led to a better fate for all of them: giving Arbelan company and a child to dote on, almost like a grandchild, and Chenelo an older woman she could turn for support and guidance, and to help her through her illness. Perhaps she even survived in these circumstances?
Or, what if it’s not due to Maia’s ascendancy to Emperor that they’re both recalled to court, but due to Nemolis’, or one of his other brothers? How would they get on with Empress Sheveän? Would there be a battle of wills between them, or would they have to be more subtle about their alliance-building and influence? Or Empress Stano, if Ciris was the sole survivor? I imagine she would be more easily led by the two older women, but if Sheveän was still around, she might make life difficult for them!
I’d also be incredibly interested in seeing how the women’s court functions, politics among the ladies—both their own politics, but also how they move things in the national politics that’s usually seen as the men’s domain, how they wield influence over other ladies and over men, the different factions among the women – not just Csoru’s faction and Csethiro’s, but what other factions, among the older ladies, and to what extent does it mirror the men’s factions, what Csethiro is like as the Empress, Vedero’s circle and who is included in it, and how it interacts with other factions in the women’s court, what role Arbelan has at court and how she fits in, or what role Chenelo would have in Maia’s court if she survived – or what role Chenelo or Arbelan had before their relegations, when they were the Empress?
Arbelan Drazharan
I would love something about Arbelan, at any time point! Her early life with Varenechibel would be interesting to explore: what was court like under Varevesena? What was Arbelan like as Empress, or before he was even crowned? What was Varenechibel like in his early reign, or as Crown Prince? What political issues were on the agenda, and how did Arbelan manage them? What conflicts did she have to navigate?
What was her life like during relegation? What did she do during the days, who did she interact with? How did she settle back into court after her relegation—did she still have friends? What was her relationship with the other women of the Drazhada family? What was her role at court? She was one of the first courtiers Maia let in behind his guard—I’d love to see more about their relationship, how she advised him and guided him. And how did that affect her standing at court? Was she ever courted for a second marriage after Varenechibel’s death, and how did she react to that?
Or, what if she had been able to give Varenechibel children—what if her miscarried child had survived to be born? What if she’d given him a son—obviously that would have changed the course of the story a great deal, since he wouldn’t have been able to marry any of his subsequent wives. What would have happened to him and his family instead? What would the Curneisei have done instead? Or what if her child had been a daughter for her to cherish? Would he still have relegated her, or would they have tried to make the best of it? How would he have treated her and their daughter? What would her daughter’s fate have been, and how would the succession of the Drazhada line be secured?
Or, if you want to write shipfic, I have prompts for Arbelan with Maru, Berenar or an OC in my Fic in a Box letter, here: https://chronicbookworm.dreamwidth.org/16295.html#GoblinEmperor – but I would also be happy for you to pair her with any character you think fits (outside my DNWs)!
Chenelo Drazharan
I would love to see an AU where Chenelo came to court with Maia, and helped him settle in, could give him the guidance and support he needed when he was floundering in the beginning! What would Maia be like raised by his mother? Would his resentment of his father be as deep, given they were still relegated, or would he be more understanding given he hadn’t spent eight years being abused by a bitter relative who cared nothing for him, but instead with his mother? What would Chenelo’s feelings about her ex-husband and her relegation be? How would she cope with being back at court? Would she feel out of place, due to the changes or due to being a goblin in an elf court, or would she find that without Varenechibel there, she was free to make court her own and set up her own power faction at court? She would be in a completely different position, as the Emperor’s beloved mother, as opposed to the unwanted fourth wife in a political marriage that the Emperor didn’t want and had in fact been manipulated into! How would that influence how she dealt with the court when she came back—those who had shunned her before who now want to be in her good graces (or would they still shun her due to being a goblin?)—did she have any allies then, and would they still be around to welcome her back, or would they have run afoul of Varenechibels’ temper and court politics? What would she have made of Sheveän—would she have handled the situation differently? Perhaps Stano would have joined her household instead, or she might have nurtured that contact in a way Maia couldn’t and found out about Sheveän’s plans that way?
What would the relationship between Chenelo and Maia as an adult be like? What sort of difficulties would they face? Would they have arguments, what about, and how would they play out and be resolved?
What would her relationship with Vedero be like? Would they be cordial allies, or friends? They’re basically the same age (I think Chenelo is six years older than Vedero, if I’ve got my maths right?), but their positions would be very different, with Chenelo counted to the matrons, the widowed Empress, and Vedero an unmarried lady: how would that play into their dynamics? Presumably their interests would align, in giving women more freedom to determine their own lives, but they might have different ways of going about it, different networks they are tied to: it might even benefit them to not to be seen to be too close to each other? Or maybe they want to present a united front? Whatever their relationship is, both of them would probably be savvy enough to know that they would have to consider the political implications and how to present it to the public! And they would have very different experiences of Varenechibel, as well as very different experiences of the court and court politics.
Or what about her relationship with Csethiro? I think the relationship between Chenelo and Csethiro would be really fascinating to explore—how each of them relate to their role in court, the different ways they take to fulfil it, and how they work together to further their agenda and Maia’s agenda! Csethiro as someone who is unconventional but still knows and is comfortable in court settings would be very interesting to contrast with Chenelo, who is marked as an outsider by her appearance, and whose previous time at court, one can infer, was miserable. How active would Chenelo be in Maia’s choice of wife, and what would her take on Csethiro be (whether or not she was actively involved)? What does Csethiro think of her mother-in-law? How do they balance their own agendas, their shared agendas, and what Maia wants? Do they move in different circles, and how do they combine their social lives, and how much do they keep them separate? What kinds of causes do they champion, either together or apart?
Or what about an AU where Chenelo reconciles with her father, and he names Maia his heir? How would she fit in back in Barizhan? How would Maia adapt? How would she get on with her sisters? Would the Great Avar recognize them in these circumstances? How would her relationship with her father be—would all be forgiven, or would she still feel some resentment over being traded away to Varenechibel and left in relegation for however many years?
Or, if you want to write shipfic, I have prompts for Chenelo with Lord Deshehar or and OC or a lavender marriage with Thara in my Fic in a Box letter, here: https://chronicbookworm.dreamwidth.org/16295.html#GoblinEmperor – but I would also be happy for you to pair her with any character you think fits (outside my DNWs)!
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Kulla-Gulla series
Characters:
Gulla
Herman Hermansson
Emma Hermansson
Linnea Hermansson
My gift must feature all of my chosen character tags; or it may use exceptions I explain in the form: I am fine with Gulla and any of the other three or any of the non-nominated Hermansson children
General Thoughts
What I really like about this book series is how frankly it deals with the poverty and misery of the poor in Sweden at the turn of the century, and the class divide between the rich and the poor, but that it’s also so firmly anchored in the characters and their conflicts and friendships. I like the optimism and belief in humanity that despite everything permeates the books, but also the anger at the deep injustices that shines though, even though Gulla herself is not a very angry person.
I love Gulla’s righteousness, her warm heart, her dutifulness, how she doesn’t let go of her past even when society all around her is telling her to, and how she doesn’t feel ashamed of having been poor. I like how she buckles down and gets on with the job in front of her, and I like how she doesn’t budge when she feels strongly about something.
You don’t need to use all three Hermansson characters, I’d be happy to see Gulla interact with any of them, and if you want to add the other sisters instead/as well as Linnea, that would also be super welcome!
I would love to see anything with Gulla and the Hermanssons—either while she was there or after she has found her grandfather and become Gunilla Sylvester! That would be so interesting—they weren’t there for the process: they send a twelve-year-old off because they don’t need her any more, and then when they meet again, she’s grown up to become the granddaughter and heir of the main landowner in the area! How do they react—do they even recognise her? And how does she react? Is there any awkwardness—she was so fond of them, and they of her, and now there’s a class gulf between them! Maybe Linnea gets involved in the suffrage movement—since it united women of all classes, she might have been invited to a meeting at Höje run by Gulla? Or maybe they run into each other in town? Or maybe Hermansson comes to ask for a favour of Patron (not sure what it might be, since he’s an independent farmer and not one of Patron’s tenants), and meets Gulla? What happens to Linnea, and her sisters? Do they marry farmers? Do they marry up, into the growing middle class in the town? Do they go to school and become professional young women (can the Hermanssons afford that)?
Or something about when Gulla was their helpmeet, and her position in the house as kind of a daughter, but only when it pleased the Hermanssons, and how the girls saw her almost as another sister, but one they could boss around and who had to do what they (well… their parents) said? Linnea might have taken advantage of that, but I don’t think Viola or Rosa would have, and Maj and Lillen were too young to know what was going on, I think? And Emma, who liked Gulla, who needed Gulla, but who sometimes resented her and needed to put her in her place—but who could also be so kind and loving? And Hermansson, who was so kind, and who really did grow fond of her (but not enough to justify keeping her on, because she was another mouth to feed, they needed a boy, not a girl once Emma grew well again and the daughters could help out).
I realise that this book series is probably just one step above “non-existent German book found only at fictional flea markets,” but honestly, I would absolutely be over the moon if someone else knew about this series and wrote it for me!
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Mansfield Park
Characters:
Fanny Price
General Thoughts
Fanny is probably Austen’s most divisive heroines, but I love her! I like that she’s quiet, serious, unassuming, and self-sacrificing to a flaw, how she’s always ready to be helpful and looks out for the needs of others, but she still won’t budge when everyone around her is trying to persuade her into something she thinks is wrong, and even how she can be a little judgemental and harsh on others, sometimes. I like that inner strength she has, that allows her to endure both Mansfield and Portsmouth, but also that she does sometimes struggle with jealousy and when her own desires conflict with what she thinks is right and proper – and how she chooses what is right when she’s forced to choose. I also like her Romanticism, her genuine delight in nature, and her love of poetry!
I’d really like a story that highlights those qualities – and I’d also really like her to be happy and valued, and to escape the confines of her socially prescribed role as a nobody in Mansfield – and to find an identity of her own and place that she can make hers. Maybe she becomes a Lady of a grand estate (either Mansfield through Tom, or some other estate)? Maybe she becomes an author and writes improving tracts for young ladies? Maybe she becomes a social reformer? Maybe she becomes part of the Clapham sect, somehow? Or maybe you have another idea in mind for what happens to her – I’m open to anything, as long as she’s happy! Feel free to make this a crossover with any other Jane Austen canon – I’m happy see her shipped with any “good” character, major or minor, male or female (defined as character the Austen narrative sympathises with, i.e. no Willoughbys or Elizabeth Elliots, but Darcys or Mariannes are welcome!), or for you to create your own OCs to pair her with.
I have prompts for Fanny paired with either male or female original characters, or Tom Bertram here:
https://chronicbookworm.dreamwidth.org/16295.html#Mansfield
I also have crossover pairings for Fanny paired with Norrington (from PotC), Benwick (from Persuasion), Pullings (from Master and Commander 2003) or Bingley (from Pride and Prejudice) here:
https://chronicbookworm.dreamwidth.org/16295.html#CrossoverNavy
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Peer Gynt
Characters: Solveig
My gift must feature all of my chosen character tags (if 0: any from tag set)
General thoughts
Solveig has always fascinated me, as we get so little of her in the play – and many of her scenes are mostly there to further Peer’s narrative (e.g. the scene where he runs away, and the final scene). I’d love to see her fleshed out and given her own narrative.
What made her stay her entire life and wait for Peer? It seems like such an incomprehensible decision – what was she thinking? When did she realise he wasn’t coming back (or at least not anytime soon)? Did she ever doubt? What did she think had happened? How did she manage in the forest all alone? What did she do? How did she fill her days? Did she interact with the village at all, and how did those interactions go? The final scene shows her dressed for church, which implies she did go to the village for church at least (unless it’s merely symbolic). How did she deal with her father, the vicar?
What if she’d followed Peer on his adventures? How would that have changed events of the play?
Or what if Peer hadn’t run off? What if he hadn’t gone off with Ingrid from Hægstad, and he and Solveig could have lived in the town? Would they have been able to have a respectable life together, or would Peer’s lower status, nature and reputation have put insurmountable obstacles in the path for them? Or what if he’d stayed with Solveig after the Green-clad One came? How would things have turned out for them together in the little cabin in the forest? What would have happened to the Green-clad One’s child? Would Solveig have rejected or resented the child, or resented Peer, or would she have accepted the child, the way she accepted all of Peer’s misdeeds at the end of the play?
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Pride
Characters: Any (Dai Donovan, Cliff, Sian, Hefina, Mark, Joe “Bromley Cooper”, Gethin, Jonathan)
My gift must feature all of my chosen character tags (if 0: any from tag set)
General thoughts
I love this film! The warmth between the characters, the two separate communities coming together, the friendships, the support they give each other – it’s all so very heart-warming and hopeful! Of course, there are plenty of complications, too, if you want something to sink your teeth in, I’d love something dealing with the complexities and problems of the world we live in and the difficult issues these characters face.
Maybe an elaboration of what we saw in the film with Gethin and the Welsh contingent, being welcomed home, finding his way back to Wales after 16 years?
Jonathan and Gethin are of course incredibly sweet and funny together, and they balance each other very well, with the more flamboyant Jonathan and the quieter Gethin – I’d love something that explores their relationship in more depth!
Or something about Mark and Mike, with the firebrand leader and the practical one who actually gets things organised and done? The film hinted that Mike has feelings for Mark – what if Mark returns them? It can be a happy, sweet story about finding love, or about them being torn between activism or domesticity, or even something about living with AIDS and the impact that has on their friendship/relationship?
What does LGSM do after the strike? Do they stay together, or do they drift apart? I’m especially interested in the parallels and differences between Joe and Steph on one side and Jonathan and Gethin on the other, with the different generations of gay people interacting? How different is it? What challenges did Jonathan and Gethin face that Joe and Steph don’t, and what challenges do Joe and Steph face that Jonathan and Gethin didn’t?
And what happens to the Welsh contingent after the strike? How do they find new ways of organising the community and staying together? How long does the mine stay open, and what happens next? Who finds a new job, who doesn’t?
Maybe something about Dai, Hefina, and Sian, bonding over being official and unofficial leaders of a community that is so dependent on the doomed mine?
Or something about Dai and the miners, after the strike? There must be very complicated emotions going back to work after so long, especially knowing that they’ve been defeated and it’s only a matter of time until the mine closes. I really like Dai, how down-to-earth he is, how caring and open, how he rolls with things, and how his quiet demeanour hides an iron core. How did he and Margaret meet? How did he get involved with union politics? Had he been involved for a long time, or did he become more active during the strike? What happens after the strike? Does he find another job when the pit closes? Does he stay involved with politics, or does he fade into the background after the strike?
Or Dai and Mark sharing experiences of the importance of keeping morale up, building on the beautiful friendship they had in the film and the metaphor of the old banner with two hands clasped? Working out how to maintain the links between LGSM and Dulais even after the strike?
Or about Hefina—such a strong character! What was her history like, how did she and her husband meet? What challenges did they face in their marriage? They don’t seem to have any kids—was that by choice or did they have to grapple with unwilling childlessness? Maybe something with Hefina and the neighbourhood kids—Carl and Kevin, or Johnny and Lee? How did she come to wield such influence over the town, and was she ever challenged?
Or something about her and Cliff when they were young? How close were they? What did they get up to? How did Hefina come to realise he was gay in 1968?
Maybe something about Cliff, finding his people in the Gay Poetry and Literature Society? Bonding with Gethin about their love for the written word, and with Jonathan over their love for the spoken word? Going to plays put on by Out Loud? Performing in plays put on by Out Loud? Finding love? Does it come easily for him, or does he struggle with internalised homophobia? Does he meet someone in London or in Wales, and if it’s in London, does the distance pose problems? How is his relationship with Maureen and his nephews? How was his relationship with his brother, and how did things change when his brother died? What support could he give them when the boys were young, and did Maureen’s pride allow her to accept it, or were there tensions there? Does he come out, and does that change things? At least Johnny came around to accepting LGSM, but does that stretch to Cliff – when it’s not just some abstract gay people in London, but his uncle? Does Lee ever come around?
Or something about Sian? I love how strong and caring Sian is, and how she finds her courage and her strength during the mining crisis, how she stands up for what she believes is right, and how she gets down and does what needs to be done. Maybe something about her at university studying Welsh language? Is it a culture shock? How does she get on with the other students? Does she feel alienated as a mature student with rather different life experiences and expectations compared to the other students, or does she find a group of people to fit in with (the 80s was just after the great university expansion and before the introduction of tuition fees, so there would probably be a fair few other students with working-class backgrounds there – maybe she finds her people among them, even if they might be a bit younger than her, or with the other mature students)? Does she struggle balancing her education and her family, and how do they adjust to the change of having a breadwinner and a homemaker to two breadwinners? And how does she get started in politics? Maybe something about her first campaign to become MP? Or her early days in Westminster?
I also love the relationship between Sian and Joe: how quickly they take to each other, how she’s there for him and supports him when he’s struggling, and how she’s not afraid of telling his family what a treasure they’re wasting. I really liked the scene when she drives him back to London and he falls asleep, and he looks so young and she looks so fond of him - maybe she has some maternal feelings for him, even though she’s not that much older than he is?
It would also be interesting to see Martin and Joe interact – they’re both quite quiet and reserved, which might make it awkward and tense to start off with, even though we know they become great friends by the end of the film.
I really don’t mind if the story’s set pre-, during or post canon, I’d just love anything that explores the relationships between these characters! Again, feel free to include any other non-nominated characters if you want to – I love all of them!
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Sense and Sensibility
Characters: Colonel Brandon, Elinor Dashwood, Edward Ferrars
My gift must feature all of my chosen character tags; or it may use exceptions I explain in the form: I am OK with any two of three
General thoughts
I’m happy with a gift that features any two out of three for this request, but if you want to write about all three of them in a relationship, or friendship between them, or one couple and their friend, then feel free! I like them all – how good they are, how practical, and how they put others above themselves. I like how they keep their feelings close to their chests, and how oftentimes, they express their feelings through actions, rather than words, and how you have to read the subtext to know what they are thinking and feeling.
Elinor and Edward:
Edward and Elinor are of course the canon couple, and I loved the pining of the books, and how they’re both good people who would sacrifice their own happiness for others, and yet find happiness together in the end. I’d love either something set after canon, exploring their lives in the parsonage, or maybe a canon divergence. Maybe Edward wasn’t engaged to Lucy Steele, and was free to offer for Elinor earlier – which would save them from the unhappiness of being apart, but might also cause other problems, with his family’s disapproval of her, and their expectations that he’ll become a great man (I think Elinor is probably of high enough status that they’d really disapprove of the match, but wouldn’t necessarily disinherit him like they did with Lucy, but it would still be awkward).Elinor and Brandon:
Elinor and Brandon share a lot in the book – I really liked how Elinor was one of the only characters to appreciate him for a long time, and I can definitely see how they could be happy together, if Edward married Lucy and Brandon wasn’t pining over Marianne. Their friendship was really sweet, and I loved how he confided in Elinor and trusted her judgement and respected her as a friend and as a person.Brandon and Edward:
Edward and Brandon don’t interact much in the book, but that just leaves the path open for the imagination! Maybe they bond over being awkward around women, and find they both have the same reason why…Maybe they meet before canon, at school or later? Maybe an AU in which Mrs Ferrars bullies Edward into the army? (You can avoid my adultery/infidelity DNW by either having them both be unmarried, or by having their wives be fully informed and supportive of the situation – in that case I’d like the wives to be treated with respect and to also get something out of the marriage, so it doesn’t feel like they’re being used – maybe they’re more interested in women than men, or perhaps they just want the freedom of being a married woman without the constraints of having an interfering husband, or anything else you can think of).Elinor and Edward and Brandon:
I’m very fond of sensible people coming to practical solutions! Perhaps a married couple living with a very good “bachelor friend” of theirs would probably be (just) within the bounds of regency propriety. I’d love to see how they came to the arrangement, and how they live. Who is the married couple, and who is the “bachelor friend”?Perhaps Elinor and Edward marry? Maybe Edward and Elinor marry after he’s been disinherited and Lucy’s thrown him over, and they move into the unmarried Brandon’s parsonage, just as in canon? Maybe then he manages to fall for both his good friends at the same time, and worries that he’s taking advantage of them, as their living standards to some extent depend on him (meanwhile they’re worrying that they’re taking advantage of him, as he’s being so generous towards them).
Or maybe Edward and Elinor marry before canon starts (maybe he avoids being disinherited, or maybe they have to rely on charity from their good friend Brandon), and they console and help Brandon as he’s searching for Eliza Williams, and feelings develop as they mutually support and help one another?
Or maybe Brandon and Elinor marry, instead? Elinor was among the earliest in her family to express appreciation for Brandon, so maybe the appreciation turns to love, and believing Edward to be lost to her, accepts a marriage to him instead? Except then it turns out Edward isn’t lost to her, and she has to deal with loving two men at the same time?
Perhaps Elinor and Brandon enter into a marriage of convenience for her family’s sake – and then Edward enters back into her life and feelings develop in all directions… Maybe Edward and Brandon fall in love first, and that helps Elinor also fall in love with Brandon, her husband?
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