Innumerable Stars 2020 Letter
Sep. 12th, 2020 03:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
grundyscribblingDear Innumerable Stars Author,
Hello! I hope you are as excited about the exchange as I am! I've done Innumerable Stars several times before and had a great experience. I hope the same will be true for you.
I've offered prompts, or as close to them as I get, below. But I don't want you to feel like I trying to restrict your creativity - if there's anything you're concerned about or want to run by me before you get too into writing, feel free to comment here (I have anonymous comments on and screened). As far as ratings go, I will read whatever you're moved to write. I am eager to see what you create!
First, the Do Not Wants. Aside from the first few, they are listed less because I never read them, than because I either need to be in a particular mood to read them, or because works featuring them are very hit or miss for me. I do not want you to invest your time and energy in something that I know will be anywhere from a toss-up to a long shot if I like it, or that I will only voluntarily read on a rainy weekend in November. (Just to be clear, I'm not saying my reading quirks make any sense whatsoever.) In my mind, the ideal outcome to an exchange is me enthusiastically telling you and the world how much I love what you wrote and bookmarking it for re-reading!
DNW
• A/B/O
• Unrequested kinks (including but not limited to BDSM, scat/waterworks, vomit, blood play)
• Graphic Torture/Violence
• Rape/non-con
• Incest (sibling/sibling, parent/child, parent figure/child – specifically, no Maedhros or Maglor with Elrond or Elros)
• Character Bashing - there are very few characters I loathe so please no character bashing
• A requested ship written as one-sided, delusional/only in someone’s head, no love there anymore, or a hateship.
• 1st or 2nd person narrator
• Breaking up canon pairings
• Modern AUs (coffee shop/college/etc.)
• AUs that grow out of major changes to canon events (ex: "Fëanor lives", "Galadriel dies in one of the Kinslayings")
• Genderswaps
• Plague/epidemic/pandemic
A couple Silmarillion-specific DNWS (you can skip this if you're writing Hobbit
• Narcissistic father Fëanor
• Abusive husband/father Eöl
• Evil Maeglin - I do not buy that Maeglin betrayed the city without being tortured, full stop
*As I've said I don't want breaking up of canon pairings, I should mention that Fingon/Maedhros is canon to me. Gwindor/Finduilas falls in the same 'canon to me' category.
Not Rising to the Level of DNW, but should not be a main focus
• Mpreg
• Unrequested slash/femslash
General Likes
• Textual ghosts/filling in the blanks - Tolkien only gave us names or the bare bones of what happened as often than not. There's so much space there...
• Complex characters - The only straight-up villain I can stomach is Morgoth, and even he didn't start out evil. (As for Fëanor, Gandalf is still a fan in the late Third Age!) The elves and men we read about are people with all the positives and negatives that entails.
• Loyalty/devotion - not just in romantic/sexual relationships, but in familial and friend relationships also.
• Meanwhile back in... - Aman? Nargothrond while Finrod is off with Beren? Doriath after Luthien runs away? Anywhere "off screen" from the main canon narrative.
• Reinterpreting the narrative/an alternate perspective on the main events. (What did Cirdan think? How would the events be different told by Men of the First Age? Do the elves have drinks in Aman while reading the Silmarillion and laugh uproariously at the version that gets taught as history?)
• Worldbuilding - details about locations, seasons, flora/fauna, food/drink, etc are wonderful.
• Not being strict about adherence to LaCE - I can write an essay about why I don't subscribe to LaCE being universally applied, or I can point you at other people's essays. Either way, strict LaCE isn't my fabric of choice.
• Happy moments, even in otherwise grim times
• Interaction between cultures
• Logistics/Trade/Manufacturing - where did stuff come from and how did it all work?
Specific to 2020
This year being quite rough, I would hugely appreciate if you could focus more on the good times and flashes of happiness and less on the angst and awfulness.
Not Strictly Canon Relationships I Like
-Caranthir/Haleth
-Ecthelion/Glorfindel
-Elimmirë/Findis
-Finwë/Miriel/Indis
Prompts, or at least vague ideas for my requests may be found below:
The Hobbit
I'm curious about the aftermath of the death of Smaug and the Battle of Five Armies (and its implications for the wider region, such as Mirkwood and Beorn's domain) that Bilbo didn't necessarily stick around to see. Rebuilding Dale, the reclaimed Kingdom Under the Mountain, Thranduil's reaction, what Beorn did next - there are all potential places to go, but others might also occur to you! I also wonder what Lobelia Sackville-Baggins made of everything - Bilbo disappearing, Bilbo re-appearing, the implications for the respectability of the Bagginses...
Silmarillion - the Second Age
This request is a jumble of Second Age thoughts - ideas include Elros building his new kingdom and meeting his wife, the effects of their choices on the relationship between Elros and Elrond, Elrond in the early Second Age doing whatever you think he was doing, Elrond founding Rivendell, or Elrond and Celebrian meeting or possibly getting together. Also, Celebrimbor. I've made an exception to my 'no AUs that involve a major change to canon' in case you're the person who wanted to write a Celebrimbor lives AU - I'm very curious what that would look like. I also adore the idea of Celebrian and Celebrimbor hanging out in Eregion before things got bad there.
Silmarillion - the Lindar
My basic idea here is 'needs more Lindar'! So much of what we see in the Silmarillion is from the Noldorin point of view, right down to the name given for Olwë's people. Let's see what the Lindar make of things. Could be at any point from the Years of the Trees on. I headcanon that Olwë's wife is Círdan's sister, but you are by no means bound to that.
Silmarillion - the hard to define one
As you can see, there is no clear-cut category here.
For the Celegorm groups, it would seem eminently reasonable to everyone involved that there is no reason Celegorm couldn't marry Luthien after Beren's inevitable death. Seeing as Mandos changed the rules and Luthien was going to die, Celegorm was willing to settle for marrying both of them and enjoying whatever time they had...which of course makes things a bit interesting when it comes to Elured & Elurin - and eventually Elrond & Elros. (Does Celegorm survive the Kinslaying at Doriath in this one? Up to you - I am giving you a pass to the 'no AUs from major changes to canon' DNW for this specific point should you choose to take it. Though I think the Kinslaying itself would still happen. Dior, no matter whose son he is, is not bound by the Oath as Celegorm and his brothers are...)
Thinking about Dior in relation to Celegorm made me realize I could do with more Dior/Nimloth, so if this is what moves you, write them with or without reference to Celegorm as you see fit.
I love Haleth/Caranthir. Please do not do anything terrible to these two if this is what you choose to write.
Curufin/Curufin's Wife is another thing I could do more with. Before the Darkening, after the Darkening, separated by an ocean, together in Beleriand, him coming back to her on his return to life in Aman - entirely up to you. Lots of scope to this one.
Círdan/Ossë is a pairing I did not know I wanted to read until I saw the tag. If you're responsible for this, now is your chance to convince me to help paddle your canoe. (Kayak?)
Elemmírë/Findis - how did these two meet? How did they get together (and when)? Do they have children? Pets? A house in the country? What's your take on them?
I think that was all the characters, right? (I almost called this request "the grab bag one".)
Hello! I hope you are as excited about the exchange as I am! I've done Innumerable Stars several times before and had a great experience. I hope the same will be true for you.
I've offered prompts, or as close to them as I get, below. But I don't want you to feel like I trying to restrict your creativity - if there's anything you're concerned about or want to run by me before you get too into writing, feel free to comment here (I have anonymous comments on and screened). As far as ratings go, I will read whatever you're moved to write. I am eager to see what you create!
First, the Do Not Wants. Aside from the first few, they are listed less because I never read them, than because I either need to be in a particular mood to read them, or because works featuring them are very hit or miss for me. I do not want you to invest your time and energy in something that I know will be anywhere from a toss-up to a long shot if I like it, or that I will only voluntarily read on a rainy weekend in November. (Just to be clear, I'm not saying my reading quirks make any sense whatsoever.) In my mind, the ideal outcome to an exchange is me enthusiastically telling you and the world how much I love what you wrote and bookmarking it for re-reading!
DNW
• A/B/O
• Unrequested kinks (including but not limited to BDSM, scat/waterworks, vomit, blood play)
• Graphic Torture/Violence
• Rape/non-con
• Incest (sibling/sibling, parent/child, parent figure/child – specifically, no Maedhros or Maglor with Elrond or Elros)
• Character Bashing - there are very few characters I loathe so please no character bashing
• A requested ship written as one-sided, delusional/only in someone’s head, no love there anymore, or a hateship.
• 1st or 2nd person narrator
• Breaking up canon pairings
• Modern AUs (coffee shop/college/etc.)
• AUs that grow out of major changes to canon events (ex: "Fëanor lives", "Galadriel dies in one of the Kinslayings")
• Genderswaps
• Plague/epidemic/pandemic
A couple Silmarillion-specific DNWS (you can skip this if you're writing Hobbit
• Narcissistic father Fëanor
• Abusive husband/father Eöl
• Evil Maeglin - I do not buy that Maeglin betrayed the city without being tortured, full stop
*As I've said I don't want breaking up of canon pairings, I should mention that Fingon/Maedhros is canon to me. Gwindor/Finduilas falls in the same 'canon to me' category.
Not Rising to the Level of DNW, but should not be a main focus
• Mpreg
• Unrequested slash/femslash
General Likes
• Textual ghosts/filling in the blanks - Tolkien only gave us names or the bare bones of what happened as often than not. There's so much space there...
• Complex characters - The only straight-up villain I can stomach is Morgoth, and even he didn't start out evil. (As for Fëanor, Gandalf is still a fan in the late Third Age!) The elves and men we read about are people with all the positives and negatives that entails.
• Loyalty/devotion - not just in romantic/sexual relationships, but in familial and friend relationships also.
• Meanwhile back in... - Aman? Nargothrond while Finrod is off with Beren? Doriath after Luthien runs away? Anywhere "off screen" from the main canon narrative.
• Reinterpreting the narrative/an alternate perspective on the main events. (What did Cirdan think? How would the events be different told by Men of the First Age? Do the elves have drinks in Aman while reading the Silmarillion and laugh uproariously at the version that gets taught as history?)
• Worldbuilding - details about locations, seasons, flora/fauna, food/drink, etc are wonderful.
• Not being strict about adherence to LaCE - I can write an essay about why I don't subscribe to LaCE being universally applied, or I can point you at other people's essays. Either way, strict LaCE isn't my fabric of choice.
• Happy moments, even in otherwise grim times
• Interaction between cultures
• Logistics/Trade/Manufacturing - where did stuff come from and how did it all work?
Specific to 2020
This year being quite rough, I would hugely appreciate if you could focus more on the good times and flashes of happiness and less on the angst and awfulness.
Not Strictly Canon Relationships I Like
-Caranthir/Haleth
-Ecthelion/Glorfindel
-Elimmirë/Findis
-Finwë/Miriel/Indis
Prompts, or at least vague ideas for my requests may be found below:
The Hobbit
I'm curious about the aftermath of the death of Smaug and the Battle of Five Armies (and its implications for the wider region, such as Mirkwood and Beorn's domain) that Bilbo didn't necessarily stick around to see. Rebuilding Dale, the reclaimed Kingdom Under the Mountain, Thranduil's reaction, what Beorn did next - there are all potential places to go, but others might also occur to you! I also wonder what Lobelia Sackville-Baggins made of everything - Bilbo disappearing, Bilbo re-appearing, the implications for the respectability of the Bagginses...
Silmarillion - the Second Age
This request is a jumble of Second Age thoughts - ideas include Elros building his new kingdom and meeting his wife, the effects of their choices on the relationship between Elros and Elrond, Elrond in the early Second Age doing whatever you think he was doing, Elrond founding Rivendell, or Elrond and Celebrian meeting or possibly getting together. Also, Celebrimbor. I've made an exception to my 'no AUs that involve a major change to canon' in case you're the person who wanted to write a Celebrimbor lives AU - I'm very curious what that would look like. I also adore the idea of Celebrian and Celebrimbor hanging out in Eregion before things got bad there.
Silmarillion - the Lindar
My basic idea here is 'needs more Lindar'! So much of what we see in the Silmarillion is from the Noldorin point of view, right down to the name given for Olwë's people. Let's see what the Lindar make of things. Could be at any point from the Years of the Trees on. I headcanon that Olwë's wife is Círdan's sister, but you are by no means bound to that.
Silmarillion - the hard to define one
As you can see, there is no clear-cut category here.
For the Celegorm groups, it would seem eminently reasonable to everyone involved that there is no reason Celegorm couldn't marry Luthien after Beren's inevitable death. Seeing as Mandos changed the rules and Luthien was going to die, Celegorm was willing to settle for marrying both of them and enjoying whatever time they had...which of course makes things a bit interesting when it comes to Elured & Elurin - and eventually Elrond & Elros. (Does Celegorm survive the Kinslaying at Doriath in this one? Up to you - I am giving you a pass to the 'no AUs from major changes to canon' DNW for this specific point should you choose to take it. Though I think the Kinslaying itself would still happen. Dior, no matter whose son he is, is not bound by the Oath as Celegorm and his brothers are...)
Thinking about Dior in relation to Celegorm made me realize I could do with more Dior/Nimloth, so if this is what moves you, write them with or without reference to Celegorm as you see fit.
I love Haleth/Caranthir. Please do not do anything terrible to these two if this is what you choose to write.
Curufin/Curufin's Wife is another thing I could do more with. Before the Darkening, after the Darkening, separated by an ocean, together in Beleriand, him coming back to her on his return to life in Aman - entirely up to you. Lots of scope to this one.
Círdan/Ossë is a pairing I did not know I wanted to read until I saw the tag. If you're responsible for this, now is your chance to convince me to help paddle your canoe. (Kayak?)
Elemmírë/Findis - how did these two meet? How did they get together (and when)? Do they have children? Pets? A house in the country? What's your take on them?
I think that was all the characters, right? (I almost called this request "the grab bag one".)
no subject
Date: 2020-09-14 01:18 am (UTC)1. Would you prefer a fic with or without sex in it in the first place?
2. My conception of both Celegorm and Osse has them pretty feral in bed, and I don't want to overstep and write kinky stuff you don't want. Specifically, are things like underwater breathplay, general roughness, biting, one person taking charge in the moment, manhandling, maybe some mild pain acceptable? Other things you do like or definitely don't want to see?
Again, I've got other ideas if that's not your thing at all, I just wanted to check where the line is between a wild night and your DNW's.
no subject
Date: 2020-09-14 01:07 pm (UTC)1. I leave this up to you - if that's where your inspiration goes, I'm game. I would rather you write an idea that you are enthused about than something that you feel 'meh, but I can make it work.'
2. Osse I can totally see being feral, and underwater breathplay makes sense for him. (I honestly haven't thought much about this pairing, just saw the tag and went, "hm, that sounds interesting.")
Celegorm I usually think of as enthusiastic but not intentionally rough. He gets carried away once in a while, but I doubt he's the only one in this trio (thruple?) guilty of that. Things I wouldn't want to see specific to Celegorm/Luthien/Beren is lack of respect or unfriendly rivalry between Celegorm and Beren, if that makes sense?
For both Osse and Celegorm: I'm ok with light biting, but nothing hard enough to draw blood. Intentional roughness or pain are not my cuppa in general. One person taking charge in the moment works, though I'm not sure that's necessarily always Celegorm or Osse. (One person taking charge so they can drive their partner(s) crazy in the very best of ways is wonderful.)
If I haven't been clear enough in my answers, please let me know - I'm not always at my most coherent first thing in the morning.