not a dear author letter

[lea_hazel]

But it will be.

I swear i will fill this in by the 15th.

I can usually read most things. I don't favor gore, and I see more than enough depictions of sexual violence already, so I'd rather neither of those. I love reading about unhealthy relationships as long as they are not glossed or presented as being even more devoted and special than healthy relationships. I usually consider jealousy and possessiveness under that clause, mostly because fic tends to amplify them. Reading about violent characters justifying their acts as care does tend to set me off.

I love things! I love tropes and A/Us and crossovers and crack and drama and angst and humor and violence and fluff and porn. And I am a firm believer in the idea that anything can be written well, so I don't usually place broad blanket dislikes on entire genres. Obviously some work better for me than others.

I love polyfic. I like stories where characters can have multiple relationships that don't compete. Female friendship and female mentorship. Gender fluidity, third genders, agender, especially in human characters as opposed to aliens. Anti-heroes and reluctant heroes, self-preservation instincts and uncomfortable morally gray for the greater good choices. Characters nerding out over their favorite things. Heroes getting downtime.

Exes hooking up, arranged marriages that don't quite end in love, resentful hatesex, friends with benefits, other relationships that are kinda messed up but not overly idealized.

Now, what fandoms/pairings did I sign up for?

Kushiel's Legacy: Moirin is the best. I hope to read the final book in the trilogy before the exchange goes live, but even if not, I'm not averse to spoilers in this case. I adore Moirin and Jehanne's relationship and that's why I picked it over the others that I'd nominated. I love that Jehanne is gentle and affectionate but not magnanimously so. I like Moirin's covert self-absorption. This being Naamah's trilogy I of course love that their relationship is so casually poly without needing to be a model of perfection, because people are human and jealousy happens.

With Phedre and Ysandre, I'm looking for something a little less overtly romantic. Their relationship is driven by loyalty and devotion and admiration, and I would like to see this addressed more explicitly than in canon. Not a typical flowers-and-candles romance, but still a deep and abiding love that can't be shaken.

Dragon Age: Hello, writer. Odds are pretty high that this is the section you'll be focusing on, so I'll elaborate most here.

First, a link to last year's letter. It's not ultra-detailed, but still. Oh! And my Dragon Age tag on Tumblr.

I tried to list a variety of pairings, and per the exchange guidelines I do love them all equally. Warden/Leliana is as canonical as any although there is little fic, and so a "traditional" romance fic would be lovely, just following the arc of their relationship over the course of the game, or a post-epilogue reunion. I love custom wardens so feel free to use your own or invent a new one. A dwarf commoner would delight me to no end but I truly do love all origins and see merit in all of them.

Warden/Anora is a trickier pairing. As I see it in its raw form it has an underlying adversarial element even under the friendliest of circumstances, which tends to charge it with a certain kind of tension. It does not necessarily have to revolve around a shared interest in politics, although that does provide an excellent backdrop. Anora is one of my all-time favorite characters and so I always look forward to seeing her depicted as brilliantly manipulative in a way that's dark and scary but not evil.

Merrill/Isabela and Merrill/Bethany are two great favorites of mine. I like to see them both build on canonical interactions, and expand upon them. At its core the relationship between Merrill and Isabela is a friendship between equals, with all that implies. I do see their separation between acts 2&3 as important but not central to their relationship. Bethany is different. Her interactions with Merrill have an ambivalent flavor and I think any relationship that developed between them would be complex and take a long time to get to a point of trust. I have a minor distaste for virgin!Merrill, but it's much more important to me that virginity does not equal knowing nothing about sex or sexual pleasure.

Branka/Hespith receives curiously little attention for being canon. I'd love to see a pre-canon interaction between them, whether in the good days or along the path of corruption.

Shianni/Lanaya is one of my cherished crack pairings. I think they'd play nicely off each other and that they have endless potential to be developed in every possible direction. Shianni claims an unofficial leadership position at a very young age, and Lanaya inherits one that's more formal, but not necessarily recognized by the wider world. Both of them are in conflict with their environment. Yes, both of them also have sexual violence in their past, but I'd prefer that not be a focus.

Dumbing of Age, Order of the Stick, Soon I Will Be Invincible etc.: strong suspicion that I'm the only writer who signed up for these. As they are rare fandoms, anything at all would delight me.