Dear ShipSwap Writer or Artist

[calliatra]

Dear ShipSwap Writer or Artist,

Hi! It’s so nice to (virtually) meet you! Thank you so much for taking the time to create something for me. I hope you have fun with it!

To give you an idea of what I like and don’t like, I’m going to write a bit here about my general tastes, as well as my thoughts on each fandom and pairing. Now, you may notice that I have more to say about some of those than others, but that doesn’t mean I love them more. All the ships I requested are ones that I would absolutely love see!

A special note if you’re creating fanart:
I know some of my details are largely geared towards fanfic, but that’s just because that’s what I know more about. I would definitely love fanart just as much! To even it out a bit, I’ve added some fanart-specific info as to my Likes and DNWs (though most of both applies to art as well as fic), and I’ve written a more art-specific prompt for every pairing – I hope that’s helpful. (If it’s not, feel free to ignore it and draw whatever you feel inspired to!)

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Do Not Want

These things really aren’t my kind of thing, and I’d rather they didn’t appear in any fic I’m reading. (Though that doesn’t mean I object to them on principle. I really don’t, with most of them.)

• character death
• unhappy endings
• excessive angst
• gore/graphic violence
• humiliation or serious embarrassment (seriously, I have such an embarrassment squick, please spare me)
• an imbalance of power in romantic relationships (anything from teacher/student to D/s)
• cheating (on a romantic partner)
• the concept of “one true love”
• PWP
• pure navel-gazing
• pregnancy and kidfic
• crack!fic
• quite a lot of kinks (I know that’s very unspecific, but I’m easily squicked, so you’re best off not including any kinks at all.)
• sexism/bashing female characters
• homophobia and transphobia (unless the narrative makes it clear that that's not cool)

Art Specific:

• flashing gifs
• explicit porn

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Likes

• 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 going on and everything that was implied.

• atmosphere! Set up one that envelops me and transports me to the world and feel of the fic, and I’ll love you forever.

• humor, especially wordplay and language-based humor. It’s not that I want only comedy; I very much enjoy serious stories as well, but my favorite ones tend to have at least a dash of humor here and there.

• 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. I tend to ship what I ship because the characters like each other a lot already, and I like the way they like each other. And want more of it. (As a result, I’m not a big fan of AUs where the characters skip from first meeting to romance almost immediately – erasing their original relationship pretty much takes away the thing I loved about them in the first place.)

• 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 have to say, 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 good and careful use of language. I have a definite weakness for a somewhat poetic style of writing (if it suits the theme and the characters of a story), but I also love the clear prose of more plotty, or subject-oriented fic. I just… language. <3

Art Specific:

• lighting. I love interestingly lit scenes, plays with light and shadow, that sort of thing.

• color schemes. This is kind of hard to explain (I’m not an artist, so I don’t know the right vocabulary for this), but basically, I like it when colors work well together and sort of match each other – not by being very similar or something, but just by doing the opposite of clashing? I tend to prefer that to “realistically” colored pictures where everything just has the same color it would in real life/canon. I also often like pictures where only a few different colors were used.

• 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. ^^

 

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Fandom: Fake News FPF
Pairing: Jon/“Stephen”

Optional Prompt: “Siri! What do I do now?”

[I mean it when I say optional! (I know the optional details are already optional, but think of this as extra optional.) You can use it verbatim, take it as a jumping-off point for a plot, or ignore it completely if you have a different idea you want to go with. Or anything else – whatever works for you! The prompt is just there to offer you some inspiration if you need or want it. :) ]

I love the magical, ridiculous, comical, gritty, scifi-fantasy pundit AU world you get when you take the Report seriously. It’s full of more contradictions than a single fic could possibly contain, so I love to see them explored in different, original, and equally contradictory ways in different fics. The whole universe is held together within the reach of suspended disbelief by “Stephen” and his quasi-immunity to cognitive dissonance, and it’s the most fascinating thing.

And I love “Stephen Colbert” himself, in all his fractured glory. He’s loud, and harsh, and angry, but also loving, caring, and even thoughtful on occasion. He’s overconfident, but also frightened, rude, but also charming, and hardened, but also so very childlike, especially in wonder.

I could probably write a twenty page essay about him and without pausing to think, but I’ll spare you and my keyboard and leave it at saying: There’s really pretty much no way for you to go wrong here. There are a thousand facettes to and interpretations of this character, with plenty of canon material to support each one. And I really love reading about all of them!

I just, y’know, want whatever version of him, in whatever world, to end up with Jon. (Who is totally allowed to have his own in-depth characterization, plot arc, struggles, etc. I’m totally in support of that, and I love reading it! …But it’s “Stephen’s” world that fascinates me.)

Oh, but I should mention: I’d rather not have any smut/porn for this. It’s just not what I’m interested in, here.

Art Specific: I’d love silly/humorous drawings that tell or imply a story!

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Fandom: Star Trek TOS
Pairing: Kirk/McCoy

Optional Prompt: “That’s a damn fool idea!”

[I mean it when I say optional! (I know the optional details are already optional, but think of this as extra optional.) You can use it verbatim, take it as a jumping-off point for a plot, or ignore it completely if you have a different idea you want to go with. Or anything else – whatever works for you! The prompt is just there to offer you some inspiration if you need or want it. :) ]

What I like about Kirk and Bones is, first and foremost, their friendship. I love the way they’re comfortable, honest, and open with each other, whether that means talking to the other about something that’s bothering them, or unhesitatingly disagreeing with the other. They have a sort of understated complete trust in the other, which makes it possible for them to take risks with each other and with their relationship.

I like to imagine their relationship based on that, not a fiercely passionate or overwhelmingly romantic one, but more like friendship that meandered into something more. Which is something they’re both aware of – their friendship is the most important thing to them; everything else is a bonus, and built on that foundation.

Now, the thing is, I’m a Kirk/Spock shipper. I can’t help it; it’s the OTP to end all OTPs. (Well, to me, at least.) And I’m not terribly good at being a multishipper. So while I do very much ship Kirk/Bones, I basically only do it in settings where Spock isn’t a factor. Preferably either pre-series or very early in the series. And I don’t see them as “endgame,” but rather as mutually agreeing to go back to just being friends. Which is not something you need to focus on at all, though – I’m more than fine with them just being a happy couple! I’d just prefer to not, y’know, have epilogues set thirty years later where they’re still a couple. (…I’m starting to see that I’m kind of weird about this ship. Sorry.)

Art Specific: Smiles. I think I’d really enjoy seeing these two smiling at and/or because of each other!

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Fandom: MASH (TV)
Pairing: Hawkeye/Trapper

Optional Prompt: “Well, that’s something.”

[I mean it when I say optional! (I know the optional details are already optional, but think of this as extra optional.) You can use it verbatim, take it as a jumping-off point for a plot, or ignore it completely if you have a different idea you want to go with. Or anything else – whatever works for you! The prompt is just there to offer you some inspiration if you need or want it. :) ]

Oh goodness, I don’t even know where to start with these two. I have too many (recently stirred-up) feelings!

I love Hawkeye. I love his sense of humor, his practicality, his sass, his ambiguous (performance of) sexuality (my headcanon is that he’s bisexual, but feel free to use your own interpretation), his campness, his sarcasm, his morality, his angst, and his perseverance. I love his willingness to admit to feelings and make himself vulnerable in complete disregard of the macho ideal of his time, and his willingness to care about others. And so much more.

He’s obviously not without his flaws – he can be righteous, selfish, and even cruel, he loses perspective of things, and he often lacks respect for women – but I think some of his best moments are when he’s made to realize them.

With Trapper, I love the way he’s more grounded, less likely to lose touch with reality completely, and generally less introspective. He complements Hawkeye that way. And while Trapper’s not unselfish, he is very driven to take care people (like the way he runs a kind of unofficial clinic for the locals in his free time) – seeing that side of him explored is one of my favorite things. He also conforms a bit more to social expectations (especially in performing masculinity and heterosexuality) than Hawkeye does, which is all kinds of intriguing (and also a good source of potential conflict between the two of them).

The two of them are good together, and they need each other, that much is canon. As for the rest… obviously 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. (Though that, too, could easily be a source of tension and possibly unspoken conflict.)

Now, despite the impression you might have just gotten in the paragraph above, Hawkeye and Trapper are definitely approaching OTP-status with me. I 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 writing 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, and generally enjoy reading them!

I don’t think I need to say this, given all the other things I’ve already said… but since from what I gather this used to be a common thing in fandom: I really don’t want either Trapper (or Hawkeye, for that matter) to be a bastard who’s just using Hawkeye (or Trapper).

Finally, in case you’re not overwhelmed with information yet, some specific things I really like in this fandom:

• the cuddling-for-warmth trope


• a nice balance between banter and more serious moments (like the show itself tends to


• people giving each other advice and sympathy despite not really (or not at all) understanding what’s going on

The one fandom-specific thing I absolutely do not want is nastiness towards Margaret Houlihan. I know she’s not a terribly well fleshed-out character yet in the early seasons, but I love her to pieces, and the way the show in general, and Hawkeye and (especially!) Trapper in particular treat her so often makes me cringe and/or want to hit things. That doesn’t mean everyone has to love her, or anything, but please let’s take out some of the gross sexism and general awfulness. If she mostly gets called any version of her name or rank rather than “Hot Lips,” and no one sexually assaults her, that’s already fifty steps in the right direction.

Art Specific: I’d kind of love to see art of Hawkeye and Trapper touching. It could be anything from a hand on the shoulder to dancing together – I just really like seeing them be physically affectionate!

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Fandom: The West Wing
Pairing: Josh/OMC

Okay, I admit, here I have a fairly specific scenario in mind. But, given that it involves an OC, that shouldn’t be too much of a surprise?

Prompt: Josh Lyman isn’t homophobic, but he’s definitely straight. Definitely, absolutely, no question about it. So there’s no way he could be falling for a man. And if his friends and colleagues think they notice a change in him, they’re definitely, definitely wrong. …Right?

I just think it would be really fun (not to mention a fascinating character study!) to see Josh’s denial, realization, and inevitable freakout(s). And, well, also to see Josh falling in love completely unintentionally. I’d prefer it to be more of a comedy/dramedy thing than too much serious angst. I’d be delighted if the fic involved some kind of coming out (Does Josh come out to his friends slowly, step by step? Or does he accidentally tumble out of the closet head over heels? Does any of this reach the public? If so, to what reaction?), but I’d be equally happy if you take this in a different direction I haven’t even thought of.

The OMC’s character is totally up to you, but he should basically be a good guy, someone who makes a (reasonably) good fit for Josh. (So, y’know, probably someone fairly patient, and stuff.) But their relationship doesn’t need to work out in the end; I’m fine if this ends on a (way-back-to) canon path.