grundyscribbling: galadriel smiling (Default)
[personal profile] grundyscribbling
Dear 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'm 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 cold weekend in January. (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)
• Character Bashing - there are very few characters I loathe so please no character bashing
• Graphic Torture/Violence
• Rape/non-con
• Incest (sibling/sibling, parent/child, parent figure/child – specifically, no Maedhros or Maglor with Elrond or Elros)
• 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 involve changing the bodily nature of the characters (Vampire AU, merfolk AU, etc.)
• Genderswaps
• Plague/epidemic/pandemic

A couple Silmarillion-specific DNWS:
• Narcissistic father Fëanor
• Abusive husband/father Eöl
• Evil Maeglin
• Terrible mother Elwing (Do the twins have Feelings about her leaving? Sure. Did she deliberately abandon them because all she cared about was the Silmaril? No thank you.)

*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 2021
I don't know about you, but living in interesting times is wearing on me. I would deeply 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
-Beren/Lúthien/Celegorm

Prompts, or at least vague ideas for my requests may be found below. All worldbuilding tags are guidelines only, use them as you see fit.

Request 1 - The Peredhil
Celegorm/Lúthien, Beren/Lúthien/Celegorm - guilty pleasure pairing or triad. (Dealer's choice.) If you take this one on, though, please no forced relationship/dubcon or bitterness at Beren on Celegorm's part. (If he's bitter, let it be at Namo getting involved to change the terms, or at fate in general for bringing him and Lúthien together too late.)

Celegorm & Eluréd & Elurín - ties in with the previous request. What do things look like if Celegorm and Lúthien were a thing? (Are they actually Celegorm's grandsons? Do they still end up abandoned in the forest, or do the surviving Fëanorions 'adopt' a pair of peredhil a generation sooner?)

Eluréd & Elurín - In Beleriand, in Mandos, in Aman, with or without the Choice of the Peredhil, anything you want to write about these two.

Elrond & Elros, Elrond/Celebrian - I adore anything about both these groups. (I do not expect any Elrond & Elros to be totally fluffy, just please don't make it Angst Dialled Up To Eleven.)

Elros/Elros's Wife - Any content for this pairing is good.


Elwing & Elrond, Elwing & Elrond & Elros, Elwing & Elros - Elwing and her son(s), seperately or together.

Daeron & Lúthien - I headcanon these two as siblings, but you're not bound to that.

Elwing & Melian - Do they meet in Aman? Did Melian see her great-granddaughter before she bugged out of Beleriand? What does this relationship look like?

Ulmo & Elwing - What does Elwing think about that whole 'saved her and her Silmaril' thing? Does she actually see/meet Ulmo at all? Does he just ignore her after that, or does he continue to take an interest?

Turgon & Earendil, Eärendil & Maeglin - Could be young Eärendil in Gondolin, Eärendil before he leaves Beleriand looking back at what he remembers, or even Eärendil reuniting with one or both in Aman (after they presumably are released from Mandos?)

Eärendil/Elwing - This seems like a pretty intense ship, and not just because they're the only two known peredhil in Beleriand getting together as what's left of the world falls apart. He's one of the last princes of the Noldor, she's the queen of what's left of the Iathrim. They had their kids at an age elves would consider scandalously young. And that's all before any maritime adventures and ending up in Aman...

Individual characters - feel free to run with someone's individual take on events, with or without the above groups.
Request 2 - I Have No Pithy Title For This One
What can I say here...it's all elves, and mostly Noldor or Noldor-adjacent elves. (I accept that description would probably really irritate both Ingwë and Olwë.) Some of them were part of the Flight of the Noldor, others were not. The ones that were not either did not go to Beleriand at all or only went as part of the War of Wrath. (Up to you who falls into the latter category.)

Míriel & Findis & Lalwen - Could be Míriel getting to know Finwë's daughters through her weaving, or could be Míriel returning to life at some point.

Nerdanel & Anairë & Eärwen - The Finwion Wives' Club. We know Anairë and Eärwen are friends, I generally think Nerdanel is on good terms with them also - her husband's rivalry with his brothers was his thing, not hers. Can be anytime from when it becomes apparent Eärwen and Finarfin are a couple on.

Anairë & Eärwen & Findis & Lalwen & Nerdanel - The girls. Are they all on good terms? Is someone the odd woman out? Again, anytime from when Eärwen and Finarfin get together on - while things are still good, during/after the destruction of the Trees and murder of Finwë, early First Age, War of Wrath, thereafter...there's a lot of scope in this one.

Anairë & Idril, Anairë & Maeglin - Anairë has two grandchildren, one she hasn't seen since she was a small child, the other she's never seen at all. Your choice if you want this to be Anairë in Beleriand during the War of Wrath trying to find out more about their lives, or Idril and/or Maeglin in Aman getting to know their grandmother (or avoiding getting to know their grandmother if that's your take?) Obviously if Maeglin's in Aman, he arrived via Mandos, so there's probably some issues there...

Aredhel & Findis & Galadriel & Lalwen - Finwë's daughters and Finwë's granddaughters. Aredhel and Galadriel may have had maternal aunts, but their paternal aunts would be their models for what a princess of the Noldor looks like. (And for Findis and Lalwen, it must have been nice to have some nieces after all those nephews.) If you do Lalwen in Beleriand, that relationship/role modelling didn't end with the Exile...

Aredhel & Galadriel & Amrod & Amras - I write them as the Fearsome Foursome, ride or die besties in Aman who were a bit at a loss when they found themselves on very different trajectories starting in Alqualondë. You however are not bound to that. What does the relationship between the youngest Finweans look like, in Aman or after? (I prefer Amrod dying at Losgar, so feel free to go that route if it suits you.)

Elemmírë/Findis - I see Elemmírë as a woman, but would not object to trans or NB Elemmírë. Elemmírë as a man would be off-putting, however. Could be the fluffiest fluff that ever did fluff or explorations of the political ramifications of Findis taking a mate from among the Vanyar and what effects that has on Noldorin politics (and possibly the rule of Queen Findis?)

Elenwë & Aredhel & Galadriel - any way you choose to write this. Did Aredhel and Galadriel detest Elenwë? Adore her? Something in between? Split the difference and one of them adored her while the other detested her? And what did Elenwë think of them?

Eärwen & Galadriel, Eärwen & Galadriel & Celebrían - Mothers & daughters, with the added complication of an ocean between them...

Indis & Ingwë, Ingwë & Findis, Ingwë & Finwë's children - He's not just the King of the Vanyar, he's Indis' brother and the uncle of her children. (Including Findis, who may have been the one left in charge when all her siblings buggered off in the Flight of the Noldor.) What do these relationships look like? Are Indis and Ingwë close? What are his thoughts as Fëanor makes her life difficult and her marriage deteriorates? We're told Indis goes to Valimar after Finwë's death - what is going on there?


Finwë & Ingwë & Olwë, Finwë & Olwë - With all the focus on Finwëan family drama, we don't see much about his relationships with the other two kings in Aman. Not only were they friends, one becomes his brother in law, the other is his youngest son's father in law. (And he was canonically also close to Elwë before that whole Melian thing...) Show me something about these relationships at any point from reaching Aman on.


Finwë/Indis/Míriel, Finwë/Míriel/Indis and their children - No one told the elves there were Rules about marriage until they got to Aman. So the Valar's ruling about marriage being one ner and one nis and the whole Statute of Finwë and Míriel made quite a mess. And no one knew how to explain it to the children...
Request 3 - Fëanor & family
What it says on the tin. The glorious House of Fëanor, including the wives. And those unofficially adopted peredhil from Sirion. Also, Huan. Plus Celebrimbor & Galadriel for Second Age family fun...

Request 4 - House of FIngolfin, with a side of Gondolin
Mostly the house/line of Fingolfin, with a little Glorfindel/Ecthelion thrown in since they spent the First Age hanging out with Turgon. In the case of Maeglin & Fingolfin, canon never mentions them meeting while they were both alive in Beleriand, though Maeglin may have seen his grandfather's body. So either canon didn't know about it or they're meeting in Mandos or after Mandos... Please note I do not enjoy/subscribe to Maeglin/Idril (even one-sided all on Maeglin's part.)

Request 5 - House of Finarfin
Finarfin's family - the least dysfunctional Finweans, or just ones whose dysfunction we hear less about because Fingolfin and Fëanor were dueling for the title of drama king? Featuring Eldalótë staying in Aman, Orodreth the married man (was his wife Sindarin? You decide!) and Gil-galad definitely somewhere in the line of Finarfin, though whether he's Orodreth's or Aegnor's is a question.
Request 6 - A mostly Lindarin grab bag
Mostly focusing on Olwë's family, but also with a few other characters thrown in I didn't have slots for in requests they otherwise fit in. We get so much about the Noldor, a little about the Sindar, and next to nothing about the Lindar - they're even referred to by Noldorin names in the Silmarillion! (I will meet you in the Denny's parking lot if you try to convince me they called themselves Teleri. Though I could be convinced they joke about 'Telerin time' the way real world groups talk about 'island time', 'Jewish standard time', etc.) I generally see them as having been friendly with the Noldor prior to the Exile but having both a language and culture of their own that sometimes surprises both sides with its differences. Ulmo and Uinen are in here because they're on good terms with the Lindar. Indis, Lalwen, and Aredhel are 'I didn't have room for them elsewhere', but I feel like if you made it all the way to here, you already have a handle on what I'm interested in with them. (If not, anonymous comments are on and screened, just ask.)

Date: 2021-09-15 01:20 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Hi! I have a couple questions:

1. With Findis, would it bother you if she's written as leaning towards her Vanyarin side and preferring to live in that culture?

2. Would you be ok if there's a scene with Elrond and Celebrian together with their kids, as well as a short one with Arwen's, in a larger work about peredhil parents?

3. Is something set against the backdrop of the War of Wrath (and/or the lead-up to it) ok? The story and interactions would definitely be happy ones :)

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