IS 2024 letter
Sep. 1st, 2024 12:46 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 am eager to see what you create!
I've been brief in this year's signup - August ran me ragged on pretty much all fronts, so I did my signup last minute in a hurry.
I'm afraid as a result I don't really have 'prompts' so much as 'vague notions' this round. 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 and comment screening on. (At least, I hope I do.) As far as ratings go, I will read whatever you're moved to write.
A word on 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 them are very hit or miss for me. I don't want you putting your creative energy into something that 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 day in November. (Just to be clear, I'm not saying my reading quirks make any sense whatsoever. Only that I have them and I'm doing my best to steer you clear of them.)
Finally, I would deeply appreciate if you could focus more on the good times and flashes of happiness and less on the angst and awfulness. I'm not asking for pure fluff, but please no dark/downer endings or "everyone dies". Eucatastrophe is good.
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 (unless specifically requested)*
• 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
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.
**Specific exception: Smith of Wootton Major.
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 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?
Not Strictly Canon Relationships I Like (Whether I requested them or not)
•Caranthir/Haleth
•Ecthelion/Glorfindel
•Elimmirë/Findis
•Finwë/Miriel/Indis
•Beren/Lúthien/Celegorm
I don't really have solid prompts this year, just handwavery.
Request 1 - The Silmarillion
I've done only one Silm request this round. It's a bit of a grab bag, but largely characters or relationships I would love to see more of. Worldbuilding tags are good guidelines, but not restrictions. Feel free to explore the difference between the Noldor and the Lindar (on either side of the sea, throughout the timeline) and the lives of the characters who aren't 'onscreen' much in canon.
Request 2 - Smith of Wootton Major
The tags are good guidelines on this one. I'm open to seeing Wootton Major in modern times - note this is the one fandom where I did NOT list modern AUs as a DNW. (Not thinking so much coffee shop or college AU as just what the story might look like happening in our own time. Or a historic time, if you like. Maybe Wootton Major during the Commonwealth - can't see the people who banned Christmas being ok with the Feast of Good Children - or WWII?) I will be tickled pink if you involve GBBO, more so if you dare put Paul Hollywood in contact with the King of Faery.
Request 3 - The Hobbit (book)
I have no specific prompts here, but I like seeing more of the world hinted at but not dealt with in the book - life in the halls of Thranduil, and family relationships and friendships that must have existed, like Bilbo and the Old Took or Bilbo and his parents. The worldbuilding tags are good guidelines.
Request 4 - Crossovers
This one's a grab bag!
Worldbuilding tags are guidelines not requirements or restrictions.
I like the idea of hobbits interacting with elves of Aman or First Age elves. I mean, what would Fëanor interacting with Lobelia Sackville-Baggins look like? Or Gaffer Gamgee? (Perhaps the Shire might teach him some chill? Then again, perhaps not?)
Open to the possibility that Arwen & Elros happens in the afterlife. Arwen & Eärwen could be prior to her choice or either side thinking about/reacting to it. Many ways to do Aegnor/Andreth & Arwen/Aragorn, and they don't necessarily need to all be in the same place/time at once.
And of course, I always enjoy the Fox or Huan.
Requst 5 - LotR movies
The tags are a pretty good guide on this one. I'm mostly hung up on the royals of Rohan - in the movies, we barely get a hint of the relationships that exist between Eowyn, Eomer, Theoden, and Theodred prior to Gandalf, Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas showing up. Did Theodred and/or Eomer have any idea what Wormtongue was up to? (Feel free to go the Theodred lives AU route!) Alternately, what was Eowyn's take on that? In the movie as in the books, we see as much or more of the reactions of others as we do Eowyn's own reaction/thoughts on her situation.
I will also not object to some sweet Eowyn/Faramir or Celeborn/Galadriel...
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 am eager to see what you create!
I've been brief in this year's signup - August ran me ragged on pretty much all fronts, so I did my signup last minute in a hurry.
I'm afraid as a result I don't really have 'prompts' so much as 'vague notions' this round. 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 and comment screening on. (At least, I hope I do.) As far as ratings go, I will read whatever you're moved to write.
A word on 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 them are very hit or miss for me. I don't want you putting your creative energy into something that 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 day in November. (Just to be clear, I'm not saying my reading quirks make any sense whatsoever. Only that I have them and I'm doing my best to steer you clear of them.)
Finally, I would deeply appreciate if you could focus more on the good times and flashes of happiness and less on the angst and awfulness. I'm not asking for pure fluff, but please no dark/downer endings or "everyone dies". Eucatastrophe is good.
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 (unless specifically requested)*
• 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
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.
**Specific exception: Smith of Wootton Major.
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 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?
Not Strictly Canon Relationships I Like (Whether I requested them or not)
•Caranthir/Haleth
•Ecthelion/Glorfindel
•Elimmirë/Findis
•Finwë/Miriel/Indis
•Beren/Lúthien/Celegorm
I don't really have solid prompts this year, just handwavery.
Request 1 - The Silmarillion
I've done only one Silm request this round. It's a bit of a grab bag, but largely characters or relationships I would love to see more of. Worldbuilding tags are good guidelines, but not restrictions. Feel free to explore the difference between the Noldor and the Lindar (on either side of the sea, throughout the timeline) and the lives of the characters who aren't 'onscreen' much in canon.
Request 2 - Smith of Wootton Major
The tags are good guidelines on this one. I'm open to seeing Wootton Major in modern times - note this is the one fandom where I did NOT list modern AUs as a DNW. (Not thinking so much coffee shop or college AU as just what the story might look like happening in our own time. Or a historic time, if you like. Maybe Wootton Major during the Commonwealth - can't see the people who banned Christmas being ok with the Feast of Good Children - or WWII?) I will be tickled pink if you involve GBBO, more so if you dare put Paul Hollywood in contact with the King of Faery.
Request 3 - The Hobbit (book)
I have no specific prompts here, but I like seeing more of the world hinted at but not dealt with in the book - life in the halls of Thranduil, and family relationships and friendships that must have existed, like Bilbo and the Old Took or Bilbo and his parents. The worldbuilding tags are good guidelines.
Request 4 - Crossovers
This one's a grab bag!
Worldbuilding tags are guidelines not requirements or restrictions.
I like the idea of hobbits interacting with elves of Aman or First Age elves. I mean, what would Fëanor interacting with Lobelia Sackville-Baggins look like? Or Gaffer Gamgee? (Perhaps the Shire might teach him some chill? Then again, perhaps not?)
Open to the possibility that Arwen & Elros happens in the afterlife. Arwen & Eärwen could be prior to her choice or either side thinking about/reacting to it. Many ways to do Aegnor/Andreth & Arwen/Aragorn, and they don't necessarily need to all be in the same place/time at once.
And of course, I always enjoy the Fox or Huan.
Requst 5 - LotR movies
The tags are a pretty good guide on this one. I'm mostly hung up on the royals of Rohan - in the movies, we barely get a hint of the relationships that exist between Eowyn, Eomer, Theoden, and Theodred prior to Gandalf, Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas showing up. Did Theodred and/or Eomer have any idea what Wormtongue was up to? (Feel free to go the Theodred lives AU route!) Alternately, what was Eowyn's take on that? In the movie as in the books, we see as much or more of the reactions of others as we do Eowyn's own reaction/thoughts on her situation.
I will also not object to some sweet Eowyn/Faramir or Celeborn/Galadriel...
