Measured Words

Hello Creators!

I thought what with the way exchanges have been going lately, with the autoapp providing signup details and such, and the fact that I don't always have time these days to write detailed letters, that it would be a good idea to create a letter that discusses some of the general things I enjoy in exchange fanworks. So this is that - it will probably get revised over time. It might not always be perfectly applicable to every exchange, but hopefully it will still be helpful, and I'll revise as I think of useful stuff.

Starting with what's been my letter boilerplate more or less, for a while:

Generally speaking, I like fanworks that tell me a little bit more about the characters or the world they live in. I am a historian and an anthropology person, so I love to understand how things came to be - I like to ask questions. Sometimes canon gives you little crumbs to follow and you can play connect the dots and fill in the missing picture. Sometimes it doesn't, and it can be fun to take what is known about the canon world and invent whole cloth an explanation that fits those rules. Even canons that are very tight often leave questions hanging about their details, like 'hang on, who is making all these magical weapons' or 'who exactly is paying for this millennia old conflict?' I'm happy to have an exploration of a question that doesn't have a clear resolution.

For ships, I'm really interested in the dynamics of relationships - what people are bringing to the table, what do they want to get, what do they want to give, and what happens where the needs and desires of two individuals meet. Do they compliment or conflict? Do they build up or tear down? How do they resolve? I think there are lots of ways of getting at these questions as well, from throwing them into wacky hijinks to see how they execute (or not) a particular caper, to throwing them in bed and seeing what they want when they're there. So, I'm not necessarily looking for any kind of introspection in a story, I just want to know a little more about what makes these people work (or not) as a unit. I know there are some really talented artists out there, as well as writers, and I'm interested to see how these can be conveyed visually as well as textually.

I like stories with plot - with adventure, intrigue, and wacky hijinks/crack. I also like stories that are more focused on character exploration – I don't need action if I have interesting introspection. I like both insider and outsider PoV stuff, and I feel like it is perfectly legit to write a story about a character that isn't from their perspective. I enjoy stories that are very emotionally intense, whether that means they are spilling over with ~feels~ or dark and unrelenting in tone – I enjoy horror, especially psychological horror, but also feel-good fluff and total cracky silliness. I am into both Crueltide and Yuleporn, so if those are your jam, please have at! I'm also open to other sub-challenges, if my requests fit the bill and you're inspired :) I am up for IF and other format shenanigans as well, including poetry.

I like porn, but I do not require it. If you have a preference for or against in whatever you wind up writing, knock yourself out, I will appreciate it. If you include porn, I prefer it to be somehow relevant to the story – either it develops character relationships, or is vital to some zany caper or what have you. I’m not a big fan of pwp, though I think porn can certainly *be* the main action, so to speak, as long as it is showing me something new about characters or their relationship. I'm really hard to squick, so don't be afraid to show me your kinks! More than anything, when it comes (heh) to porn I want to be able to believe that the sex I'm reading is in character for whoever I'm reading about – not necessarily that it is something they want, but that the reactions I'm reading are true to whoever is having them, if that makes any sense. I like power dynamics, negotiation, all levels of consent (enthusiastic consent, ambiguous consent, dubcon, noncon), all kinds of sex (vaginal, anal, oral, intercrural, frottage, clothed, semiclothed, public, whatever!) knifeplay, breathplay, bdsm, blood, loyalty, kissing...a million other things I'm probably not thinking of. Basically, this is me.

I'm okay with any rating for whatever reason they may be rated that way. I like things that are scary and creepy and straight up horrific, but I also like things that a cute or funny or fluffy. I don't need happy endings, but I do enjoy them. If you have different ideas though, lemme have 'em! I like character introspection, I like world building, I like plot. I like porn, but I prefer plot to go with it. Really, go wild! I'm pretty easy to please!

As far as art goes, I should also note that I am interested in a variety of body shapes/sizes/colours, and I am also interested in symbolic representation and stylized art as well as more representational perspectives, as long as the requested characters are in some way identifiable in the piece.

If you are a podficer or a podfic team - I am a big fan of podcasted/podficed short fiction, but I don't know if I can give any specific likes/dislikes /o\

Dear Spacer,

Thanks, first of all, for writing! That is really the most important thing, and I will be delighted with whatever I wind up getting. I'm following my usual practice of cribbing heavily from other older letters, so hopefully it will retain some amount of coherency.

So first of all.... Generally speaking, I like stories that tell me a little bit more about the characters or the world they live in. I like stories with plot - with adventure, intrigue, and wacky hijinks. I also like stories that are more focused on character exploration – I don't need action if I have interesting introspection. I like both insider and outsider PoV stuff, and I feel like it is perfectly legit to write a story about a character that isn't from their perspective. I enjoy stories that are very emotionally intense, whether that means they are spilling over with ~feels~ or dark and unrelenting in tone – I enjoy horror, especially psychological horror, but also feel-good fluff.

I am definitely up for explicit stories for any of the requested "/" pairings! I don't have a list of specific squicks - I'm pretty open to stuff, and the delivery is really what's important. More than anything, when it comes (heh) to porn I want to be able to believe that the sex I'm reading is in character for whoever I'm reading about – not necessarily that it is something they want, but that the reactions I'm reading are true to whoever is having them, if that makes any sense. As for kinks, I like power dynamics, negotiation, all levels of consent (enthusiastic consent, ambiguous consent, dubcon, noncon), all kinds of sex (vaginal, anal, oral, intercrural, frottage, clothed, semiclothed, public, whatever!) knifeplay, breathplay, bdsm, blood, loyalty, kissing...a million other things I'm probably not thinking of. Basically, this is me.

As far as art goes, I should also note that I am interested in a variety of body shapes/sizes/colours, and I am also interested in symbolic representation and stylized art as well as more representational perspectives, as long as the requested characters are in some way identifiable in the piece.

I've never requested a vid before, so I am really curious as to what you might be able to do with these requests - I'm sorry if they aren't helpful, but anything that demonstrates or highlights or reveals aspects of characters or relationships would be cool! Totally down for crack here, also.

And now to the specifics!

( Voltron: Legendary Defender )

( Cthulhu Mythos - Fandom )

( Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types )

( Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies) )

Dear Night Vale Author...

Weird at last! Thank you for offering something that I have requested - I hope I have given you some helpful ideas to work with, but please, write the story that interests you! In terms of general likes and so on, I am pretty easy to please. I don't have any serious squicks or triggers. I like things that are creepy, and dark, and funny, and fluffy. I like character driven stories and plotty fic, and introspection and worldbuilding. Not necessarily in combination! I like smut, but I like there to be something to go along with it - smut that is part of the plot, or gives some kind of insight into the characters. I don't need a happy ending, but I do welcome them. Write me something you are comfortable with, even if it isn't exactly what I've got in my optional details, and I will probably love it.

Night Vale often feels to me like something that could have been lifted directly out of my brain, so creepyness/weirdness in line with that the show dishes out is lovely. One of the things I love about Night Vale is that so much of the darkness is right out there in the open, rendered almost mundane by how relatively common it all becomes. Despite this, there are still secret and real conspiracies going on behind the scenes. People take so much for granted that they - at least most residents - have stopped questioning the weirdness. "Some mysteries aren’t questions to be answered, but just a kind of opaque fact, a thing which exists to be not known." I love that dynamic, and of course I am desperately curious to know more about the characters and scenarios I have requested. I'll repeat them here for convenience:

( Requests under the cut! )