Dear Old Fandomer

[calliatra]

Dear Old Fandomer,

Great to see someone else loves one of these old fandoms as much as I do! And thanks so much for writing or drawing for me – I’m looking forward to your creation, and I hope you have a ton of fun with it!
 

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Quick Info:

I go by Calliatra everywhere. You can find me mainly on ao3 and tumblr. You can find my letters for previous exchanges here.

Anon commenting is enabled here, so if there’s anything you’d like clarified, feel free to ask! (Or, hey, if you just want to chat, that’s very welcome, too.) And of course feel free to contact me via mod anytime. 

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General Notes:

• I love both first person and third person POV. Same goes for past and present tense. I’ll also happily read more experimental things (drabble collections, future tense, non-linear progression, you name it)! …Just don’t go all Finnegans Wake, ‘k?


• Any and all prompts are only suggestions. If they don’t work for you, feel free to change or completely ignore them!


• In case you’d like additional prompts: A List of My Favorite Tropes (With Explanations)


• You may notice I have more to say about some fandoms than others, but that honestly has nothing to do with how much I love them. I would be absolutely thrilled to receive fic or art for any of fandoms I’ve requested here!

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Do Not Want

General:

• character death (Mentioning canon character death or killing an OC is fine, as long as you don’t dwell on the grief.)


• unhappy endings (I don’t need perfect fairy tale endings or anything, but I do like them to be at least hopeful.)


• overwhelming angst


• gore, graphic violence, or intense suffering


• humiliation or serious embarrassment (seriously, I have such an embarrassment squick, please spare me)


• an imbalance of power in romantic relationships (anything from D/s to teacher/student)


• cheating (on a romantic partner)


• the concepts of One True Love and Destiny


• PWP


• non-canon ships (unless you know I ship them or at least don’t mind them)


• too much introspection or ‘navel-gazing’


• pregnancy and kidfic


• bashing any characters, especially women


• body image issues, or any character being criticized for their body (up to and including being complimented on having “improved” it)

Art Specific:

• caricatures


• flashing gifs


• neon colors


• explicit porn (I have no problem with nudity or sexual situations or anything, I just tend to find pure porn kind of boring.)

 

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Likes!

Fic Specific:

• interactions between charactersand closer looks at the dynamics of their relationship(s). Can be gen or shippy, I adore it either way, especially between characters who are at least to some degree fond of each other.


• subtlety. I love it when I have to read a fic twice to really understand everything that was implied.


• atmosphere!Anything that transports into the feel of a different place or world.


• humor,especially wordplay and language-based humor.


• surprises!


• playing with tropes. Invert them, subvert them, deconstruct them, whatever – anything other than playing them straight is always a fantastic kind of surprise! (Though there are a good few that I really love seeing played straight, as well.)


• mysteries. Not just the traditional crime-related ones, but really any kind at all. I love being intrigued! And I adore it when all the pieces finally come together in the end.


• psychological stories: stories about conflicts between people or within them, and how they deal with them.


• communication. Whether it’s talking, texting, letter writing, hand signals, body language, or Morse code, I love it when characters communicate with each other. And I love it even more when they find innovative ways to do it.


• Getting Together/First Time fics.Possibly my favorite thing in the world. I just really love that moment when all that tension finally gets resolved, and all the various ways that can happen!


• friends-to-lovers/slow burn relationships


• explorations of queer themes.I really love seeing queerness from the POV of different characters, in different times throughout history, and/or in other universes. (Though I prefer these kinds of stories to be written by people who are queer themselves, so if you’re not, maybe go with something else.)


• a deliberate use of language.I absolutely adore it when language is used to set or match a specific tone, atmosphere, genre, POV, or anything like that! Or when it’s part of the plot somehow! I just… language. ♥

Art Specific:

• lighting. I really love interestingly and/or unusually lit scenes, plays with light and shadow, chiaroscuro, all that sort of thing.


• color schemes. Whether it’s a theme or a limited color palette or something else, I always enjoy kind of unusually colored pictures.


• highlights. I adore a few dabs of a bright and/or contrasting color to direct or dazzle the eye, especially in pictures with a limited palette.


• underwater scenes. I just absolutely adore the colors, the way the light falls, and the beautiful otherworldly atmosphere of underwater pictures!


• kissing. This one’s a simple one: I just really like seeing my OTPs kiss, and I don’t really get much of that in canon.


• gazing into each other’s eyes. Another OTP thing I can’t get enough of! And I also love it as a gen thing when the situation calls for it.


• touching. Whether romantic or platonic, caring touches always make my heart melt!


• facial expressions. I love it both when they show one emotion so clearly they radiate it, and when they’re full of nuance, open to interpretation, and almost tell a whole story on their own.


• simple backgrounds, made of lights, textures, colors, shapes, or similar. (Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy seeing complex and detailed ones as well, but I know they’re a ridiculous amount of work, so I want you to know that I truly, deeply love abstract, simplistic backgrounds.)


• tight(ish) spaces, where characters are forced close together, and the camera can’t get too much distance either. I love the intimate atmosphere of that!


• my favorite colors, in case that’s relevant, are blues and greens, but also light, yellowish-orange fire tones. I’m also oddly fond of browns. My least favorite color is probably purple, followed by pale pink.

 
 

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M*A*S*H

Hawkeye/Trapper, Hawkeye & Margaret

What I Like About This Fandom

First and foremost and forever: The characters! Them, and their complex relationships and genuine growth. And the incredible heart, and beautiful found-family-ness of it all! But also, of course, the humor (oh the wonderful wordplay! the hysterical hijinks!), and the way it’s interwoven so well with the drama. And hey, I’m not exactly saying no to the moral messages, either.

About the Relationships

Hawkeye/Trapper: This is a bit of a complicated one… I ship them, but I don’t see them as being a “true love” (i.e. “can’t be happy with anyone except each other”) kind of pairing – at least not during the war. I see it as a friendship-growing-into-something-more/slow burn kind of thing that definitely moves into romantic/sexual territory, but doesn’t get the chance (before Trapper goes home) to firmly establish itself there. Related to that, I also don’t imagine them as monogamous (again, at least not during the war), but as having their own thing that’s more or less separate from their dates with the nurses. (Which could easily be a source of tension and possibly unspoken conflict…)

Despite all that, I do want them to live happily ever after together. So I like to imagine them finding their way back to each other after the war, and making it work. If you’re more interested in that sort of thing, rather than anything set during the war, go for it! I’d love it.

For anything set during the war, my personal headcanon is that Hawkeye is bi, and fairly open about it, while Trapper is still coming to terms with his attraction to men. That being said, I have absolutely no problem with different interpretations!

 

Hawkeye & Margaret: Their friendship is something I really enjoy seeing play out. I love the way they clash so much, personality-wise, but when Hawkeye shows Margaret some basic respect, and she shows him some basic tolerance, suddenly they suddenly fit together well and complement each other. And watching them slowly figure that out and work with it is just wonderful. The growth of their friendship is probably my absolute favorite development on the show!

Things I particularly love are seeing them work together in tense and dangerous situations, when their professionalism makes everything else take a backseat, and, by contrast, completely quiet situations, where they might both the lulled into being a bit open and sincere.

 

Fandom-Specific Notes/Likes/DNWs

• All the other canon characters are very welcome! (Though I’d prefer if you don’t give Frank Burns a central role.)
• I honestly can’t stand the way the show played sexism and especially sexual assault (including forced kisses) for laughs. Please don’t do that.

 

Prompts

Fic Specific:

• A quiet conversation that digs deep.


• A midnight meeting.


• Shenanigans and hijinks! Possibly involving a fish.


• An unconventional approach to comforting a friend.


• A soap opera.

Art Specific:

• Very out of uniform on a very hot day.


• A midnight meeting.


• Painting new signs.


• Playing with a flag.


• Painting fingernails.

 
 

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Star Trek: The Original Series

Chapel & Uhura, Chapel/Uhura

 

What I Like About This Fandom

I love the feeling of this show. The optimism, the positivity, and the good relationships among the crew. All the characters are so wonderfully mature and reasonable and calm, which I absolutely adore. And I love how much the show tried to have a message of social justice and diversity as part of its belief in a better future. (Also, not gonna lie, the 60s visuals with bright colors and theatre-like lighting really appeal to me, too.)

 

About the Relationships

Chapel & Uhura: I really like these two, especially Uhura, and I’m always sad we didn’t get to see more of them on the show. They’re both really interesting people, and I like to imagine them being very good friends. And hey, that very weird, but also kind of lovely scene in The Changeling where Uhura has to re-learn English totally supports that.

With Uhura, I get the strong impression that she’s a very sensitive and sensual person, who feels things deeply, and wants to feel them deeply, but also knows perfectly how to stay cool and collected. She’s calm under pressure, quietly professional, but totally kickass when the situation calls for it. She can improvise, she can play people if necessary, and she has a fantastic, understated sense of humor. (“Sorry, neither” is one of my all-time favorite lines in TOS.)

Chapel, on the other hand, doesn’t even try to hide how much she cares. She’s very empathetic and driven to help people, and she doesn’t hesitate to get personally involved. I get the impression that she really likes being a nurse, but I wonder sometimes if she misses the research work she used to do. Or if she has the chance to do some research on the Enterprise?

Both Uhura and Chapel are very warm and social people (though Uhura might be more outgoing, or simply more comfortable in the spotlight) and I can imagine them developing a friendship very quickly. Which is really the main thing I’d love to see: them being friends. Whether that means supporting each other during difficult times, having fun during good times, or just having lunch together on a normal day is totally up to you. Though I have to say, I’d also love to see them doing their jobs, and what that involves, or maybe some of the weird stuff that happens on and to the Enterprise from their perspective.

Chapel/Uhura: Basically all of the above, but with bonus lesbians. (Or bi or pan women, or whichever way you want to go there. I’m good with anything.) I’d love something about them getting together, but honestly, as long as they’re happy together, any point in their relationship would be wonderful to see.

 

Fandom-Specific Notes/Likes/DNWs

• All other characters are welcome to show up, but I’d prefer anyone from the main cast to stay in the background.
• I’d make an exception for Bones, though, because I like to imagine that he and Chapel have a very close working relationship.

 

Prompts

Fic Specific:

• A normal day goes off the rails.


• Saving the day together.


• Gossip. 


• While the men are away…


• An involuntary sleepover.

Art Specific:

• Power failure.


• Laughing together.


• Getting dressed.


• In command.


• Gently touching.

 
 

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Star Trek: Voyager

Janeway & Tuvok, Janeway & Chakotay

 

What I Like About This Fandom

Janeway is my favorite captain, with her compassionate, approachable manner, and the way she manages to combine diplomacy with a no-bullshit attitude. I love the way she, the officers, and the entire crew grow to become a big family, and all the relationships that develop there. And I really like the atmosphere of them being completely on their own in the middle of unfamiliar space, with both the dangers and the freedom that brings. 

About the Relationships

Janeway & Tuvok: I love their friendship so much! Tuvok, who keeps so much distance between himself and most of the crew, and who often has so little patience for human (and other non-Vulcan) feelings and intuitions, has so much respect for, faith in, and affection for Janeway! And Janeway, who cares about everyone, but holds herself to a higher standard and confides in few, will confide in and trust herself to Tuvok. I always adore those small moments, but they are just that: small. And I always end up wanting more of them.

Either just more in the sense of more time spent on them, or in the sense of going deeper, getting more heavily emotional. I’d also really love more insight into how their friendship developed in the first place, who they both were when they first met, and what drew them together.

Really anything that has Janeway and Tuvok doing something together and relating to each other would be amazing.

 

Janeway & Chakotay: Theirs is another friendship I really like. The dynamics of it, with Chakotay so willing to stand in the back, and be the supporting one while Janeway takes on the challenges, are really refreshing, and wonderful to see. And of course I love the incredible warmth and empathy between them, the way they completely trust and rely on and open up to each other.

I also really like they way romantic attraction is definitely there, and silently acknowledged by both of them, but then mutually set aside in favor of friendship. That’s just the kind of subtlety and nuance I adore! So if that’s something you’d like to examine, play with, or even push to its limits, that’d be wonderful.

 

Fandom-Specific Notes/Likes/DNWs

• All other canon characters are welcome.
• Please don’t get into the whole Tuvok vs. Neelix thing, or focus too much on Neelix.

 

Prompts

Fic Specific:

• Janeway got dark in season 5. What was some of the aftermath?


• Quiet understanding, quiet support.


• Stuck having to play Captain Proton again.


• Telepathic and very indiscreet aliens.


• More holodeck adventures! Maybe reluctantly in the Wild West?

Art Specific:

• Falling asleep together.


• Arachnia, very reluctant queen of the spider people.


• A holodeck cowboy program.


• Attempting to cook.


• Light touching, casual or not.

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Starsky & Hutch

Starsky/Hutch

 

What I Like About This Fandom

Above all, I love Starsky and Hutch, and their partnership. But also the mood and atmosphere of the show – serious in the face of real problems, but always somehow still optimistic. And, oh man, the incredible amount of compassion it has for the downtrodden and marginalized! And also, I admit it, the wonderful, slightly grungy, 70s aesthetic.

 

About the Relationships

Starsky/Hutch:

Their partnership is basically everything I’ve ever wanted in fiction. I love the way they work together, play together, struggle together, and just plain love each other. It almost doesn’t matter whether it’s platonic or romantic, because there’s just so much love.

Seeing them work together, anticipating and complementing each other, is always great, especially when they’re practically reading each other’s minds. Even better is seeing them have fun together – I adore their banter, and honestly, just seeing them happy is a wonderful treat. On the other hand, since it happens so rarely, seeing them fight is also and all the more thrilling, and definitely something I enjoy seeing. Well, as long as they make up again, anyway.

Most of all, though, I love how much trust they have between them, and how open they are with each other. The way they aren’t afraid to be vulnerable around each other, actually talk to each other about how they’re feeling, and can always depend on the other to be there when they need him, that kind of emotional intimacy is something I can never get enough of.

 

Fandom-Specific Notes/Likes/DNWs

• Any and all other characters from the show are welcome to make an appearance!

• Post-SR fics are some of my favorite things.

• I really can’t stand it when Starsky and Hutch treat a woman like a prize to be won, and compete for her – I find that awful in every way. Please don’t do anything like that.

• Starsky and Hutch addressing each other by first names always sounds kinda weird to me, so I'd prefer it if you stuck to canon names and nicknames.

 

Prompts

Fic Specific:

• One of them gets mind-reading powers.


• There’s more to one of Hutch’s plants than meets the eye.


• Undercover as actors in a haunted house.


• Undercover in a theatre.


• Car trouble.

Art Specific:

• Dancing together.


• Repotting one of Hutch’s plants.


• Huddling for warmth while asleep.


• Goofing around, really happy.


• In drag.

 

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