Once Upon A Fic Letter
Feb. 10th, 2018 04:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
daisyninjagirlDear Once Upon A Fic Writer,
Thank you! I'm really looking forward to the story you're going to write, and I hope you have a good time with this exchange.
Thank you! I'm really looking forward to the story you're going to write, and I hope you have a good time with this exchange.
General Stuff About Me
This is one of those exchanges that seems made for AUs and crossovers and new adaptations, so go for your life if you would like to recast a story in another genre. I'm also just fine with Original Characters turning up and interacting with the fairy tale originals. The prompts I've given are optional, please have fun with what you choose to write, and I'm happy for you to write for any of the characters selected (Either/Or instead of And) if that's your preference. Also, stories that pass the Bechdel Test Are Love!
Squicks
I'm seriously not into non-consensual or underage sex. I also don't like graphic torture scenes or incest. Consensual BDSM isn't a squick for me (no problem with consenting adults doing what makes them happy), but it's also not something I'm particularly interested in reading about (sorry, if that's one of your things). I don't have a problem with where you want to write characters on the Kinsey Kaleidoscope with respect to pairings, but I guess I'm more interested in how characters' relationships work out with each other than erotica. (I generally read in the Gen and Teen brackets.)
Sneedronningen | The Snow Queen - Hans Christian Andersen
Requested: Gerta
The thing that I really remember about this story, I mean really remember from when I was a kid, was the story about the big mirror that the devils made, that makes everything ugly. And then it flies up to heaven and the smile gets wider and wider until it breaks. I think that image stuck with me forever because it's just such an apt description for some of the people I've met who always see the ugliest possible thing and assume other people have the worst possible motivation for everything they do - the easiest way for me to think about them is that they got a piece of glass stuck in their eye. So if you would like to write a fusion story or an AU that's about the mirror, then go for it. Moving on to my actual requested character, Gerta, she is one of those charmed souls who always sees the *best* in people, and as one of the world's cranky souls I envy her. Did she get some glass in her eye and it just happened to melt away? Do the people who help her feel conflicted - I want to help you because I like you *but* I also want you to stay and make me feel good about myself?
Hey Diddle Diddle
Requested: Any
This kind of rhyme really suits a comedy adaptation. Perhaps "Hey Diddle Diddle IN SPACE!" Or the inevitable Regency Romance crossover. The Swinging Cats of the Jazz Age? Or perhaps a pisstake of one of the 'scholarly' explanations that people have come up with over the years?
Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree
Requested: The Prince's Second Wife
I first read this literally while looking through the stories other people had nominated. I have to say that I think the Second Wife is quite something, and I'm not surprised that the prince wanted to stay married to her as well. Something about Gold-Tree's and the Second Wife's relationship with each other would be awesome. Or her own personal history? In these stories where a family member is just going out and trying to murder someone repeatedly over several years, there always seems to be this inevitability to it - "shrug, that's just their way, what can you do?" which the Second Wife seems to have completely escaped. Has she had past adventures of her own which have given her a better eye for spotting the horrific?
The Cat That Walked By Himself
Sleeping Beauty
Requested: Princesse | Sleeping Beauty
This is one of those stories where there are a _lot_ of different adaptations, so it's always interesting what a particular author wants to put in or emphasise. In this one, there's the scene where all the scullions and housekeepers and governesses and footmen go to sleep as well to be "ready with their service" but the King and Queen leave her there. It makes me thing of the elaborate tombs in Egypt and in China which are so lavish with their grave goods, so that the decedent can take them along into the afterlife. And what happened to the King and Queen? Did they go on to have more children? What do they tell them? It's interesting also that this Perrault version emphasises that there is awkwardness between the prince and Sleeping Beauty - her clothes are old-fashioned which the prince notices but doesn't point out, and he's enthusiastic but not articulate, and they keep the rest of the household _waiting for their supper_ because they're talking so much. And then, and then there's the final act with the Queen Mother the Ogre. What the heck? Everybody just seems to accept that her orders should be obeyed without question, even the Princesse, who is sad that her children are being taken away, but doesn't seem to do anything about it. So it's an odd ending. As another slightly random possibility, when I read this title in French I keep on wanting to mistranslate it as The Beauty in the Sleeping Wood, so if you would like to write a story on the magical properties of the wood itself, that could also be fun.
Requested: The Cat
The Cat that Walked by Himself is just one of those all time original characters - they won't take directions, they won't make bargains except under duress, they insist on their own independence - but yet, actually they _also_ really want a place by the fire and some warm fresh milk; and they can't bring themselves to leave the family alone until they get them.
I'm interested in the role of the Woman as the centre of the household and the keeper of the magic, who makes separate bargains to her husband; the Cat will negotiate with _her_ as his first choice. What do the Woman and the Cat talk about in the middle of the night when everyone else is asleep? An AU story about the Cat in a later period (or as a human with that personality) would also be interesting - what new kinds of bargains might be made?
The Cat that Walked by Himself is just one of those all time original characters - they won't take directions, they won't make bargains except under duress, they insist on their own independence - but yet, actually they _also_ really want a place by the fire and some warm fresh milk; and they can't bring themselves to leave the family alone until they get them.
I'm interested in the role of the Woman as the centre of the household and the keeper of the magic, who makes separate bargains to her husband; the Cat will negotiate with _her_ as his first choice. What do the Woman and the Cat talk about in the middle of the night when everyone else is asleep? An AU story about the Cat in a later period (or as a human with that personality) would also be interesting - what new kinds of bargains might be made?
Sleeping Beauty
Requested: Princesse | Sleeping Beauty
This is one of those stories where there are a _lot_ of different adaptations, so it's always interesting what a particular author wants to put in or emphasise. In this one, there's the scene where all the scullions and housekeepers and governesses and footmen go to sleep as well to be "ready with their service" but the King and Queen leave her there. It makes me thing of the elaborate tombs in Egypt and in China which are so lavish with their grave goods, so that the decedent can take them along into the afterlife. And what happened to the King and Queen? Did they go on to have more children? What do they tell them? It's interesting also that this Perrault version emphasises that there is awkwardness between the prince and Sleeping Beauty - her clothes are old-fashioned which the prince notices but doesn't point out, and he's enthusiastic but not articulate, and they keep the rest of the household _waiting for their supper_ because they're talking so much. And then, and then there's the final act with the Queen Mother the Ogre. What the heck? Everybody just seems to accept that her orders should be obeyed without question, even the Princesse, who is sad that her children are being taken away, but doesn't seem to do anything about it. So it's an odd ending. As another slightly random possibility, when I read this title in French I keep on wanting to mistranslate it as The Beauty in the Sleeping Wood, so if you would like to write a story on the magical properties of the wood itself, that could also be fun.
