Dear Yuletide Personage
Sep. 27th, 2017 08:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
melmilloHello, dear writer!
It's my fifth Yuletide! How time flies! I've had a great time four years running and I am sure this year will be just the same. Thank you so much for writing for me--I hope that you will have a happy fall and winter season, and that you'll find my requests fun to write, or at least an interesting challenge. I have a deep affection for all the fandoms and characters I've requested, so I'm sure I'll love whatever you produce!
I do not have much of a text-blogging presence in fandom namespace any longer, but my AO3 name is melmillo, and I quietly tumblr under the name smallmonday.
Below is some basic blab about my reading preferences, and reposts of my official requests plus some specific thoughts on each request/fandom.
General thoughts:
--If you're writing something shippy or involving a romantic/sexual relationship, actual sex scenes are great but absolutely not required! If your writing preference is for UST or fade-to-black then please don't make yourself go bonkers trying to churn out something explicit--I would much rather you not make yourself miserable trying to write something that's beyond your comfort level. Unless otherwise specified in a request itself, consent of all levels, dub-con, and non-con are all fine. (Given the choice between dub- or non-con my preference leans more toward the former, but non-con is also okay and won't squick me.)
--I have no real preferences in terms of POV or tense, as long as it's consistent and clear. First-, second-, and third-person POVs are all fine. I love character studies and meditative pieces just as much as plottier stories, and I'm also happy with various forms of stories like five-times fics and document/epistolary fics and so on.
- I'm fine (sometimes more than fine!) with things like uneven power dynamics, mentions of mistreatment/captivity/torture of people, creepy imagery, gore that isn't extreme, etc. My general DNWs and squicks are:
- blatant character-bashing
- mundane/modern AUs
- A/B/O of any kind
- body fluids besides blood, sweat, and tears
- damage to eyes, teeth, fingernails, and inner ears
- incredibly detailed descriptions of insects and arachnids (general mentions are fine!)
- graphic violence to/torture of animals (again, not a problem if it's mentioned or described generally--I just don't want the gory details)
If you want more guidance about some other squick (or kink), please feel free to get in touch with me through the mods, or drop an anon comment here!
--Remember, optional details are optional! I want this to be a good Yuletide for you, and that means writing something you're excited about. If you think you have a great idea that fits the fandom/characters I've asked for but isn't mentioned in my babble, go for it!
Fandom: The Wolf of Winter - Paula Volsky
Characters: Varis, Shalindra
What it is and where to find it: A single-volume fantasy novel by Paula Volsky, centered on a Russian-esque kingdom with a tradition of dangerous and forbidden necromantic magic and told from the points of view of the villain-protagonist-turned-antagonist Varis and his niece (and more straightforward protagonist) Shalindra. Much of the book has them entirely separate as Varis intrigues and necromances his way to the top of the political heap while Shalindra and her brother flee to other lands for safety, but the last quarter of the book brings them together as captor and captive--by which time Shalindra's just happened to learn a little necromancy herself....
Out of print, alas, but many used copies are available on Amazon and elsewhere.
Official request and further thoughts:
I'm requesting both Varis and Shalindra as characters, but I don't need them both to appear on-screen or in POV--what I'm really just dying to get is some kind of fic that gives me another taste of their interactions with and impact on each other. Their time together is one of the most interesting parts of the book for me, but necessity of pacing means that the weeks of time Shalindra spends as Varis's hostage/'guest' gets swept past rather quickly, so a fic expanding on that time period is one thing I'd love to see. A couple of sentences, for examples, mention that once Shalindra is being kept in better conditions she and Varis usually dine together, so what did that look like? What did they talk about? (Dinner scenes that are tense or emotionally charged in some way are one of my favorite things to read, so this is one of those skimmed-over details that I desperately wish we had an actual example of in the book!) I have to admit I'm also darkly tempted by the thought of an AU where the proposed marriage went through for whatever reason--how in the world would both of them have navigated that relationship?--or where Shalindra didn't quite have the strength to ask Varis to take her out of the crypt, and gave in to the unspoken offer of further instruction in necromancy.
Varis's POV scene during some point of Shalindra's captivity could be really interesting, too. We only get a few scenes from his perspective in the latter part of the novel, but the couple of times we do his thoughts about Shalindra are very striking--particularly that scene were he's in a post-necromancy waking nightmare and thinks of her face and her voice as a point of light and sanity in the madness. Something about his first impressions of her once she's been captured, maybe, or his thoughts after the crypt scene?
Or I'd love to see some kind of Shalindra fic set post-canon, as the conclusion is a pretty interesting happy-yet-not ending--Shalindra's been too changed to celebrate her brother's victory and Varis's defeat the way she once would have, and certain elements of her world are already starting to feel grating, unsatisfying, or dull to her. So I always wonder: what is she going to do from now on? Is she truly going to manage to resist the lure of necromancy for the rest of her life? Or would she take advantage of her new position and resources--a titled noble, with time and money and the research skills that come from her years as an enforced scholar at Fruce--and begin exploring the forbidden art again?
Given the situation Varis is in at the book's conclusion (spifflicated in that shack in the woods and so ragged and dishelved that the few patrols who've come across him haven't recognized him), it's very unlikely that Shalindra will encounter him again after the book's end--but if she did turn back to necromancy and let a sufficient number of years pass, might she able to summon his ghost? Would she try to do it, if only to assuage her own curiosity about him and why he'd let her go? I don't know how lucid a ghost!Varis would be--I can't remember if we see any ghosts of spifflicates in the book--but the two of them having one last conversation and their previous power dynamic of captor/captive being so completely reversed into necromancer/ghost is an idea I can't get out of my brain.
If I've got my dates right I would have read The Wolf of Winter when I was about 11 or 12, and it left a huge number of chilly skeletal bone-prints all over my impressionable young mind. I think it was one of the first'grown-up' fantasy novels I read that wasn't drawing solely on Standard Medieval Western Europe for its setting, and also probably the first one that centered so heavily on necromantic magic as a plot element. And it was peppered with certain narrative devices and tropes that I'd later come to love wholeheartedly: a cold but somewhat sympathetic protagonist growing into an antagonist; stretches of affiability/understanding between the protagonist and the antagonist even if they're working at cross-purposes; a good character being truly, truly tempted by something the antagonist offers them. Looking back at it these days it has its flaws, but it's a book that's always stuck with me and is a frequent reread--I still have the original paperback copy that I first read ages ago.
And Shalindra and Varis and their interaction left such an impression that I always find it surprising that their actual time together comes so late in the book, and is barely more than 100 pages of content. The impact the two of them have on each other feels so strongly drawn in that small amount of space! In spite of their antagonism they have points of similarity and common aspects in their histories/personalities/experiences that they've never found echoed in another person. You understand why Shalindra is uneasily drawn to Varis and finds him easy to talk to about personal and painful things even though she knows better; why Varis, who goes through the entire book manipulating everyone with an ice-cool lack of emotion, feels an unspoken--affinity? affection?--for Shalindra, enough to let her go at the end even though it dooms him. And you understand why the memory of her and that moment can still break through his madness at the end, just a little, and why Shalindra feels somehow bereft once he's gone. It's a short but potent portrayal of two semi-kindred spirits getting pulled into each other's orbit for a little bit before fate and their own actions yank them apart again, and I wish there'd been just a tiny bit more of it.
So, yes, any story that draws on this stuff that I can't stop blabbing about would make me a happy reader. :D
Fandom: The Blending Series - Sharon Green
Characters: Jovvi Hafford, Tamrissa Domon
What it is and where to find it: A five-book fantasy series (with a three-book sequel series) set in world where everyone is born with a 'talent' allowing them to manipulate one of five elements: earth, fire, air, water, and spirit (which can affect/manipulate emotions). A group comprised of these five talents is called a Blending, and the series centers on a particular Blending chosen to compete for the rulership of their country. Jovvi is the Spirit talent and a former courtesan; Tamrissa is the Fire talent who's only recently gotten out of an abusive marriage thanks to her husband's death. The two of them meet in the first book and quickly form a supportive friendship.
Out of print in physical format, but both the main series and sequel series are available as e-books on Amazon--the first book, Convergences, is here.
Official request and further thoughts:
If gen fic is your speed, anything that draws from the warm and genuine friendliness that Jovvi and Tamrissa have in the books would delight me. Their initial connection and developing relationship was one of the best parts of the first couple of volumes for me and I was always a little disappointed that we didn't get more of that as the books went on, so any kind of fic that includes a good dose of that would be a treat for me--anything from fluffy curtainfic (shopping! tea-drinking! doing anything pleasant and fun to distract themselves from the conspiracy they've gotten wrapped up in!) to something more tense and dramatic where they're supporting each other through upsetting moments. It would have been nice to get a more emotional scene after Jovvi's near-kidnapping in the second book, or one when they reunite after they've BOTH been kidnapped in the fourth book, so filling in that gap would be lovely!
If you want to write smut, there's always fixing that illogical canon fact of 'Everyone having sex with each other will make your Blending stronger--oh, but only the men with the women, of course! No same-sex hookups here!' Maybe it turns out that all the Blending partners really do need to couple off and bang each other at least once; maybe Jovvi and Tamrissa think and talk it through and come to the logical conclusion that even though they weren't told *they* had to have sex with each other, they should probably do so just in case. (Maybe one or both of them have been tentatively drawn to the other, and they're just using 'for the good of the Blending' as an excuse!) Or--we know Tamrissa's former husband was rough and cruel during sex, and in the books her first sexual experience after him is with Rion, which...okay, sure, go for the guy who literally just lost his virginity a few days ago, whatever. How about instead she goes to Jovvi, who's highly skilled in this area and has the added bonus of a Spirit talent that can help keep Tamrissa feeling safe, calm, and comfortable throughout? Or there's that bit where Tamrissa learns from Jovvi that Fire talents really do have the ability to arouse people by 'setting their blood on fire'--maybe Jovvi could suggest that if Tamrissa would like to learn how to get better at it, she can practice on Jovvi?
If you'd like to do something AUish, I'd adore a fic about the two of them skipping out of the main plot and whatever prophecy nonsense was going on and doing their own thing. Maybe they leave the city (or the entire country) and just live in peaceful reclusive bliss elsewhere. Maybe they do what Jovvi suggests in the first book and become an awesome courtesan duo and make scads of money at it. Maybe they, IDK, use their High talents to become elegant upper-class spies or adventuresses or something. I just love the idea of them ditching their somewhat aggravating canon love interests and going off to live a happy life of luxury, indulging in chocolate and beautiful clothes and great sex (with each other and maybe with whatever men they feel like) for the rest of their days.
Gosh, I can't believe I'm asking for fic about this series! But since there actually seems to be some interest in writing for it, I can't quite stop myself. For who are reading this letter and are unfamiliar with these books, they are...not great. I know it's not really good form to say negative things about a canon you're requesting, but I can't deny that the series has major problems with worldbuilding, plot, prose, characterization, pacing--it's all almost uniformly inconsistent and terrible. And yet they've got a really interesting setup and a comforting predictable narrative and gobs of iddy "the protagonists are so beautiful and so intelligent and so correct in their opinions and everyone working against them is foolish and easily defeated" appeal, which is why every now and then I pick up a volume and reread a bit even as my brain is going "ugh, why?!". I've wanted fic about Jovvi and Tamrissa specifically for years because to me their friendship felt like one of the only genuine relationships in the whole dang series--that scene where Tamrissa decides to share some of her hoarded chocolate (more valuable than diamonds in this setting!) with Jovvi, and Jovvi comforts a nervous Tamrissa by telling her "You now have me on your side" is one of the things about the books I looked back on with actual fondness and the thought of "Yeah, that part actually was pretty good" instead of a mix of embarrassment, exasperation, and facepalming.
If you want to write for this fandom, please do not feel like you need to adhere to the overarching canon plot about conspiracies and invaders and destiny and all that mess, or to keep strictly within the timeline of the events in the canon and its sequels, or to the specifics of its worldbuilding--god knows most of the details about the world in the books don't make a lot of sense to begin with. Also, if you can only get your hands on the first couple of e-books or don't have time to do a full reread, do not let that put you off. I honestly do not remember a lot of anything past the third book myself, and never even made it to the sequel series, so there's very little chance of my kicking up a fuss because you forget about some random detail mentioned in specific paragraph in book five. OTOH, if your id happens to align with this canon, do please indulge it as much as you like!
Fandom: The Dark Tower - Stephen King
Characters: Gabrielle Deschain
What it is and where to find it: Stephen King's dark fantasy/weird western/occasional horror/??? magnum opus about gunslinger Roland Deschain and his companions/ka-tet questing to find the eponymous Dark Tower + a cast of thousands (well, a couple hundred, at least) + leapfrogging meta-crossovers with other Stephen King works. Gabrielle Deschain is Roland's mother; she appears very little in the books as herself but has a significant presence through her impact on certain characters and events.
Complete in...seven books? Eight books? Seven and a half? Until King decides to write something else for it, at least. :D Available everywhere, I think!
Official request and further thoughts:
Oh dear, where to start with Gabrielle? I think what I'd most love to see in general is a fic that lets her be the central focus and doesn't come through Roland's point of view. I like Roland well enough (I don't know if you can get through the series if you don't!) but sometimes the hints of other stories happening around and behind him make me wish I could nudge him out of the way for a little bit to get a better look at what's going on, and Gabrielle's a major instance of that. Her life and death, what she does and what's done to her, have a tremendous effect on Roland and thus on the course of the books as a whole--but so much of what we get of her in the canon is as a shadow and a memory filtered through the particular cast of Roland's recollection and emotions, and that's such a limited view of her. I realize the canon is pretty overstuffed with material as it is, but it's still frustrating to me that Gabrielle's living her way through an entire damn operatic tragedy in service to the overall story but gets so little time of her own as an actual character. There's that one critical scene of her on-page in The Gunslinger, and the broken snippets of her own thoughts in the note she leaves for Roland in The Wind Through the Keyhole--and, arguably, the story about Tim in The Wind Through the Keyhole *might* have touches of her personality and mindset hidden in the details too, since Roland's trying to tell it exactly as it was told to him by Gabrielle....
That's not a lot! So I'd adore just about any kind of fic that moves her into the foreground of the story. Something about the early days of her marriage and her time as the Lady of Gilead? We never find out much about what ladies of Gabrielle's sort do in their day-to-day life, so that could be fertile ground for exploration. A better look at the webs and threads of the Steven-Gabrielle-Marten saga? I would love ANY perspective other than Roland's on Gabrielle and her role in that whole fucked-up situation, honestly, or anything that really dug down to the marrow of the Gabrielle/Steven and Gabrielle/Marten relationships. Exactly what went on during her time in Debaria after the affair? What was she thinking about? How did she interact with the sisters there? Even something about her childhood and upbringing, if you feel like going totally off the map of what we know about her! There are little slivers of dropped info about her that could spin off into an interesting story: the fact that we know her father's name (TWO names, actually, since King and his editor apparently weren't keeping close track of that) but not her mother's; her own various names from her homeland; the rhymes and stories she told Roland.... What sort of things did she like to do? What did she hope for herself in her life? Which of the things she did were choices she made herself, and which were ones other people (or ka) made for her? I'd also be happy to see canon-divergent fic, if you want to play around with what-ifs and might-have-happeneds. I don't know if it's possible to pull out a happy ending for her (though if inspiration strikes I certainly won't discourage you!), but so much of what happens in the books is the result of people making specific decisions at specific moments--we have that one instance of Gabrielle at Debaria struggling to make the correct choice, and choosing what she does because she feels it's demanded of her. It could be interesting to see instances where she--or the people around her--make different choices throughout her life, and how that wrenches the overall story of her and the world in different directions!
I suppose this is my "The interest I have in this character is completely disproportionate to their amount of page/screentime" request this year! I had a hard time getting this written and I'm not sure why, unless it's just that there's so much jammed up in my head I didn't know where to even start. Part of me kind of wanted to slam my hands down on an imaginary desk and yell, "Gabrielle was not given proper attention by the canon, FIX IT" and leave it at that, but that's not especially helpful as a request. :D There have actually been a few Gabrielle-centric fics popping up recently, and I've read and enjoyed them, but this is a situation where I could probably devour of dozens of stories about a character and find all of them interesting and worthwhile reading. There's just so muchwe never get to fully learn about her or her life--I remember when I first read The Gunslinger (and IIRC it was long enough ago that I would have read the original version, not the revised one) I kept lingering over the few bits that mentioned Gabrielle and wishing I could physically get hold of them and stretch them out to see just what was going on with her. And as I've reread the books over the years all the statements other people make ABOUT her that seem meant to make her more sympathetic and even mitigate her actions--Steven saying that she was more sinned against than sinning, the Man in Black saying she bent but never broke, even King in the introduction to Wind Through the Keyhole offering the upsettingly vague statement that the affair was "mostly against her will" (what the hell does that mean, King?)--just make me simultaneously sad and grumpy at the same time. She gets bruised by the world and the people around her in just about every way she can--mentally, emotionally, physically--but she never really gets to move out of the background. I'd just love for her and some part of her story receive the attention they deserve.
In terms of tone, lightness or a canonical level of darkness are both fine with me--I'm equally as interested in seeing Gabrielle in a happier moment or time as I am in seeing her at her lowest or most conflicted. I love the weird western/fantasy/post-tech mishmash of the setting and culture, so if you'd enjoy playing around with that and making up places, customs, history, etc. to fill the canon worldbuilding, please feel free! I also have no particular headcanons about Gabrielle's physical appearance, so if that becomes an aspect then drawing on the books or the comics or the movie or whatever you like would all be fine with me.
I think that's everything, but again, if there's anything I can clarify, don't hesitate to drop a comment or ask via the mods. Many thanks, dear writer!
It's my fifth Yuletide! How time flies! I've had a great time four years running and I am sure this year will be just the same. Thank you so much for writing for me--I hope that you will have a happy fall and winter season, and that you'll find my requests fun to write, or at least an interesting challenge. I have a deep affection for all the fandoms and characters I've requested, so I'm sure I'll love whatever you produce!
I do not have much of a text-blogging presence in fandom namespace any longer, but my AO3 name is melmillo, and I quietly tumblr under the name smallmonday.
Below is some basic blab about my reading preferences, and reposts of my official requests plus some specific thoughts on each request/fandom.
General thoughts:
--If you're writing something shippy or involving a romantic/sexual relationship, actual sex scenes are great but absolutely not required! If your writing preference is for UST or fade-to-black then please don't make yourself go bonkers trying to churn out something explicit--I would much rather you not make yourself miserable trying to write something that's beyond your comfort level. Unless otherwise specified in a request itself, consent of all levels, dub-con, and non-con are all fine. (Given the choice between dub- or non-con my preference leans more toward the former, but non-con is also okay and won't squick me.)
--I have no real preferences in terms of POV or tense, as long as it's consistent and clear. First-, second-, and third-person POVs are all fine. I love character studies and meditative pieces just as much as plottier stories, and I'm also happy with various forms of stories like five-times fics and document/epistolary fics and so on.
- I'm fine (sometimes more than fine!) with things like uneven power dynamics, mentions of mistreatment/captivity/torture of people, creepy imagery, gore that isn't extreme, etc. My general DNWs and squicks are:
- blatant character-bashing
- mundane/modern AUs
- A/B/O of any kind
- body fluids besides blood, sweat, and tears
- damage to eyes, teeth, fingernails, and inner ears
- incredibly detailed descriptions of insects and arachnids (general mentions are fine!)
- graphic violence to/torture of animals (again, not a problem if it's mentioned or described generally--I just don't want the gory details)
If you want more guidance about some other squick (or kink), please feel free to get in touch with me through the mods, or drop an anon comment here!
--Remember, optional details are optional! I want this to be a good Yuletide for you, and that means writing something you're excited about. If you think you have a great idea that fits the fandom/characters I've asked for but isn't mentioned in my babble, go for it!
Fandom: The Wolf of Winter - Paula Volsky
Characters: Varis, Shalindra
What it is and where to find it: A single-volume fantasy novel by Paula Volsky, centered on a Russian-esque kingdom with a tradition of dangerous and forbidden necromantic magic and told from the points of view of the villain-protagonist-turned-antagonist Varis and his niece (and more straightforward protagonist) Shalindra. Much of the book has them entirely separate as Varis intrigues and necromances his way to the top of the political heap while Shalindra and her brother flee to other lands for safety, but the last quarter of the book brings them together as captor and captive--by which time Shalindra's just happened to learn a little necromancy herself....
Out of print, alas, but many used copies are available on Amazon and elsewhere.
Official request and further thoughts:
I'm requesting both Varis and Shalindra as characters, but I don't need them both to appear on-screen or in POV--what I'm really just dying to get is some kind of fic that gives me another taste of their interactions with and impact on each other. Their time together is one of the most interesting parts of the book for me, but necessity of pacing means that the weeks of time Shalindra spends as Varis's hostage/'guest' gets swept past rather quickly, so a fic expanding on that time period is one thing I'd love to see. A couple of sentences, for examples, mention that once Shalindra is being kept in better conditions she and Varis usually dine together, so what did that look like? What did they talk about? (Dinner scenes that are tense or emotionally charged in some way are one of my favorite things to read, so this is one of those skimmed-over details that I desperately wish we had an actual example of in the book!) I have to admit I'm also darkly tempted by the thought of an AU where the proposed marriage went through for whatever reason--how in the world would both of them have navigated that relationship?--or where Shalindra didn't quite have the strength to ask Varis to take her out of the crypt, and gave in to the unspoken offer of further instruction in necromancy.
Varis's POV scene during some point of Shalindra's captivity could be really interesting, too. We only get a few scenes from his perspective in the latter part of the novel, but the couple of times we do his thoughts about Shalindra are very striking--particularly that scene were he's in a post-necromancy waking nightmare and thinks of her face and her voice as a point of light and sanity in the madness. Something about his first impressions of her once she's been captured, maybe, or his thoughts after the crypt scene?
Or I'd love to see some kind of Shalindra fic set post-canon, as the conclusion is a pretty interesting happy-yet-not ending--Shalindra's been too changed to celebrate her brother's victory and Varis's defeat the way she once would have, and certain elements of her world are already starting to feel grating, unsatisfying, or dull to her. So I always wonder: what is she going to do from now on? Is she truly going to manage to resist the lure of necromancy for the rest of her life? Or would she take advantage of her new position and resources--a titled noble, with time and money and the research skills that come from her years as an enforced scholar at Fruce--and begin exploring the forbidden art again?
Given the situation Varis is in at the book's conclusion (spifflicated in that shack in the woods and so ragged and dishelved that the few patrols who've come across him haven't recognized him), it's very unlikely that Shalindra will encounter him again after the book's end--but if she did turn back to necromancy and let a sufficient number of years pass, might she able to summon his ghost? Would she try to do it, if only to assuage her own curiosity about him and why he'd let her go? I don't know how lucid a ghost!Varis would be--I can't remember if we see any ghosts of spifflicates in the book--but the two of them having one last conversation and their previous power dynamic of captor/captive being so completely reversed into necromancer/ghost is an idea I can't get out of my brain.
If I've got my dates right I would have read The Wolf of Winter when I was about 11 or 12, and it left a huge number of chilly skeletal bone-prints all over my impressionable young mind. I think it was one of the first'grown-up' fantasy novels I read that wasn't drawing solely on Standard Medieval Western Europe for its setting, and also probably the first one that centered so heavily on necromantic magic as a plot element. And it was peppered with certain narrative devices and tropes that I'd later come to love wholeheartedly: a cold but somewhat sympathetic protagonist growing into an antagonist; stretches of affiability/understanding between the protagonist and the antagonist even if they're working at cross-purposes; a good character being truly, truly tempted by something the antagonist offers them. Looking back at it these days it has its flaws, but it's a book that's always stuck with me and is a frequent reread--I still have the original paperback copy that I first read ages ago.
And Shalindra and Varis and their interaction left such an impression that I always find it surprising that their actual time together comes so late in the book, and is barely more than 100 pages of content. The impact the two of them have on each other feels so strongly drawn in that small amount of space! In spite of their antagonism they have points of similarity and common aspects in their histories/personalities/experiences that they've never found echoed in another person. You understand why Shalindra is uneasily drawn to Varis and finds him easy to talk to about personal and painful things even though she knows better; why Varis, who goes through the entire book manipulating everyone with an ice-cool lack of emotion, feels an unspoken--affinity? affection?--for Shalindra, enough to let her go at the end even though it dooms him. And you understand why the memory of her and that moment can still break through his madness at the end, just a little, and why Shalindra feels somehow bereft once he's gone. It's a short but potent portrayal of two semi-kindred spirits getting pulled into each other's orbit for a little bit before fate and their own actions yank them apart again, and I wish there'd been just a tiny bit more of it.
So, yes, any story that draws on this stuff that I can't stop blabbing about would make me a happy reader. :D
Fandom: The Blending Series - Sharon Green
Characters: Jovvi Hafford, Tamrissa Domon
What it is and where to find it: A five-book fantasy series (with a three-book sequel series) set in world where everyone is born with a 'talent' allowing them to manipulate one of five elements: earth, fire, air, water, and spirit (which can affect/manipulate emotions). A group comprised of these five talents is called a Blending, and the series centers on a particular Blending chosen to compete for the rulership of their country. Jovvi is the Spirit talent and a former courtesan; Tamrissa is the Fire talent who's only recently gotten out of an abusive marriage thanks to her husband's death. The two of them meet in the first book and quickly form a supportive friendship.
Out of print in physical format, but both the main series and sequel series are available as e-books on Amazon--the first book, Convergences, is here.
Official request and further thoughts:
If gen fic is your speed, anything that draws from the warm and genuine friendliness that Jovvi and Tamrissa have in the books would delight me. Their initial connection and developing relationship was one of the best parts of the first couple of volumes for me and I was always a little disappointed that we didn't get more of that as the books went on, so any kind of fic that includes a good dose of that would be a treat for me--anything from fluffy curtainfic (shopping! tea-drinking! doing anything pleasant and fun to distract themselves from the conspiracy they've gotten wrapped up in!) to something more tense and dramatic where they're supporting each other through upsetting moments. It would have been nice to get a more emotional scene after Jovvi's near-kidnapping in the second book, or one when they reunite after they've BOTH been kidnapped in the fourth book, so filling in that gap would be lovely!
If you want to write smut, there's always fixing that illogical canon fact of 'Everyone having sex with each other will make your Blending stronger--oh, but only the men with the women, of course! No same-sex hookups here!' Maybe it turns out that all the Blending partners really do need to couple off and bang each other at least once; maybe Jovvi and Tamrissa think and talk it through and come to the logical conclusion that even though they weren't told *they* had to have sex with each other, they should probably do so just in case. (Maybe one or both of them have been tentatively drawn to the other, and they're just using 'for the good of the Blending' as an excuse!) Or--we know Tamrissa's former husband was rough and cruel during sex, and in the books her first sexual experience after him is with Rion, which...okay, sure, go for the guy who literally just lost his virginity a few days ago, whatever. How about instead she goes to Jovvi, who's highly skilled in this area and has the added bonus of a Spirit talent that can help keep Tamrissa feeling safe, calm, and comfortable throughout? Or there's that bit where Tamrissa learns from Jovvi that Fire talents really do have the ability to arouse people by 'setting their blood on fire'--maybe Jovvi could suggest that if Tamrissa would like to learn how to get better at it, she can practice on Jovvi?
If you'd like to do something AUish, I'd adore a fic about the two of them skipping out of the main plot and whatever prophecy nonsense was going on and doing their own thing. Maybe they leave the city (or the entire country) and just live in peaceful reclusive bliss elsewhere. Maybe they do what Jovvi suggests in the first book and become an awesome courtesan duo and make scads of money at it. Maybe they, IDK, use their High talents to become elegant upper-class spies or adventuresses or something. I just love the idea of them ditching their somewhat aggravating canon love interests and going off to live a happy life of luxury, indulging in chocolate and beautiful clothes and great sex (with each other and maybe with whatever men they feel like) for the rest of their days.
Gosh, I can't believe I'm asking for fic about this series! But since there actually seems to be some interest in writing for it, I can't quite stop myself. For who are reading this letter and are unfamiliar with these books, they are...not great. I know it's not really good form to say negative things about a canon you're requesting, but I can't deny that the series has major problems with worldbuilding, plot, prose, characterization, pacing--it's all almost uniformly inconsistent and terrible. And yet they've got a really interesting setup and a comforting predictable narrative and gobs of iddy "the protagonists are so beautiful and so intelligent and so correct in their opinions and everyone working against them is foolish and easily defeated" appeal, which is why every now and then I pick up a volume and reread a bit even as my brain is going "ugh, why?!". I've wanted fic about Jovvi and Tamrissa specifically for years because to me their friendship felt like one of the only genuine relationships in the whole dang series--that scene where Tamrissa decides to share some of her hoarded chocolate (more valuable than diamonds in this setting!) with Jovvi, and Jovvi comforts a nervous Tamrissa by telling her "You now have me on your side" is one of the things about the books I looked back on with actual fondness and the thought of "Yeah, that part actually was pretty good" instead of a mix of embarrassment, exasperation, and facepalming.
If you want to write for this fandom, please do not feel like you need to adhere to the overarching canon plot about conspiracies and invaders and destiny and all that mess, or to keep strictly within the timeline of the events in the canon and its sequels, or to the specifics of its worldbuilding--god knows most of the details about the world in the books don't make a lot of sense to begin with. Also, if you can only get your hands on the first couple of e-books or don't have time to do a full reread, do not let that put you off. I honestly do not remember a lot of anything past the third book myself, and never even made it to the sequel series, so there's very little chance of my kicking up a fuss because you forget about some random detail mentioned in specific paragraph in book five. OTOH, if your id happens to align with this canon, do please indulge it as much as you like!
Fandom: The Dark Tower - Stephen King
Characters: Gabrielle Deschain
What it is and where to find it: Stephen King's dark fantasy/weird western/occasional horror/??? magnum opus about gunslinger Roland Deschain and his companions/ka-tet questing to find the eponymous Dark Tower + a cast of thousands (well, a couple hundred, at least) + leapfrogging meta-crossovers with other Stephen King works. Gabrielle Deschain is Roland's mother; she appears very little in the books as herself but has a significant presence through her impact on certain characters and events.
Complete in...seven books? Eight books? Seven and a half? Until King decides to write something else for it, at least. :D Available everywhere, I think!
Official request and further thoughts:
Oh dear, where to start with Gabrielle? I think what I'd most love to see in general is a fic that lets her be the central focus and doesn't come through Roland's point of view. I like Roland well enough (I don't know if you can get through the series if you don't!) but sometimes the hints of other stories happening around and behind him make me wish I could nudge him out of the way for a little bit to get a better look at what's going on, and Gabrielle's a major instance of that. Her life and death, what she does and what's done to her, have a tremendous effect on Roland and thus on the course of the books as a whole--but so much of what we get of her in the canon is as a shadow and a memory filtered through the particular cast of Roland's recollection and emotions, and that's such a limited view of her. I realize the canon is pretty overstuffed with material as it is, but it's still frustrating to me that Gabrielle's living her way through an entire damn operatic tragedy in service to the overall story but gets so little time of her own as an actual character. There's that one critical scene of her on-page in The Gunslinger, and the broken snippets of her own thoughts in the note she leaves for Roland in The Wind Through the Keyhole--and, arguably, the story about Tim in The Wind Through the Keyhole *might* have touches of her personality and mindset hidden in the details too, since Roland's trying to tell it exactly as it was told to him by Gabrielle....
That's not a lot! So I'd adore just about any kind of fic that moves her into the foreground of the story. Something about the early days of her marriage and her time as the Lady of Gilead? We never find out much about what ladies of Gabrielle's sort do in their day-to-day life, so that could be fertile ground for exploration. A better look at the webs and threads of the Steven-Gabrielle-Marten saga? I would love ANY perspective other than Roland's on Gabrielle and her role in that whole fucked-up situation, honestly, or anything that really dug down to the marrow of the Gabrielle/Steven and Gabrielle/Marten relationships. Exactly what went on during her time in Debaria after the affair? What was she thinking about? How did she interact with the sisters there? Even something about her childhood and upbringing, if you feel like going totally off the map of what we know about her! There are little slivers of dropped info about her that could spin off into an interesting story: the fact that we know her father's name (TWO names, actually, since King and his editor apparently weren't keeping close track of that) but not her mother's; her own various names from her homeland; the rhymes and stories she told Roland.... What sort of things did she like to do? What did she hope for herself in her life? Which of the things she did were choices she made herself, and which were ones other people (or ka) made for her? I'd also be happy to see canon-divergent fic, if you want to play around with what-ifs and might-have-happeneds. I don't know if it's possible to pull out a happy ending for her (though if inspiration strikes I certainly won't discourage you!), but so much of what happens in the books is the result of people making specific decisions at specific moments--we have that one instance of Gabrielle at Debaria struggling to make the correct choice, and choosing what she does because she feels it's demanded of her. It could be interesting to see instances where she--or the people around her--make different choices throughout her life, and how that wrenches the overall story of her and the world in different directions!
I suppose this is my "The interest I have in this character is completely disproportionate to their amount of page/screentime" request this year! I had a hard time getting this written and I'm not sure why, unless it's just that there's so much jammed up in my head I didn't know where to even start. Part of me kind of wanted to slam my hands down on an imaginary desk and yell, "Gabrielle was not given proper attention by the canon, FIX IT" and leave it at that, but that's not especially helpful as a request. :D There have actually been a few Gabrielle-centric fics popping up recently, and I've read and enjoyed them, but this is a situation where I could probably devour of dozens of stories about a character and find all of them interesting and worthwhile reading. There's just so muchwe never get to fully learn about her or her life--I remember when I first read The Gunslinger (and IIRC it was long enough ago that I would have read the original version, not the revised one) I kept lingering over the few bits that mentioned Gabrielle and wishing I could physically get hold of them and stretch them out to see just what was going on with her. And as I've reread the books over the years all the statements other people make ABOUT her that seem meant to make her more sympathetic and even mitigate her actions--Steven saying that she was more sinned against than sinning, the Man in Black saying she bent but never broke, even King in the introduction to Wind Through the Keyhole offering the upsettingly vague statement that the affair was "mostly against her will" (what the hell does that mean, King?)--just make me simultaneously sad and grumpy at the same time. She gets bruised by the world and the people around her in just about every way she can--mentally, emotionally, physically--but she never really gets to move out of the background. I'd just love for her and some part of her story receive the attention they deserve.
In terms of tone, lightness or a canonical level of darkness are both fine with me--I'm equally as interested in seeing Gabrielle in a happier moment or time as I am in seeing her at her lowest or most conflicted. I love the weird western/fantasy/post-tech mishmash of the setting and culture, so if you'd enjoy playing around with that and making up places, customs, history, etc. to fill the canon worldbuilding, please feel free! I also have no particular headcanons about Gabrielle's physical appearance, so if that becomes an aspect then drawing on the books or the comics or the movie or whatever you like would all be fine with me.
I think that's everything, but again, if there's anything I can clarify, don't hesitate to drop a comment or ask via the mods. Many thanks, dear writer!
no subject
Date: 2017-09-28 11:35 am (UTC)(To be fair: I was only disappointed at the third reread. Before that, the idea of people having sex with people other than their SO and those people still being their friends and alive at the end of the series felt quite ... daring? Um. This might say more about the books I'd read up until then than about this series.)
I have no memory of the sequel series whatsoever, other than a rehash of the plot gap because of [SPOILERS]. They go ... somewhere? And do ... something?
no subject
Date: 2017-09-28 08:02 pm (UTC)I was much the same! The first time I read the books I was still a fairly sheltered young teen, so I was mostly gawping that there was so much explicit sex and that characters were hooking up with characters who weren't their very obvious designated love interest. It wasn't until a few years later that I started to realize the lack of logic in the 'het pairings ONLY!' aspect.
I vaguely remember the blurbs for the sequel books...something about yet another invading army, maybe? And more two-dimensional evil people scheming against Our Heroes at home? Whatever they were about, the covers were definitely gorgeous. You were wasted on these books, Thomas Canty!