Jump to: Do Not Wants
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Jump to: Requests, Prompts, and Fandom Specific Do Not Wants
Dear Yuletide author,
I’m
SweetPollyOliver on AO3. Thank you so much for offering one of my fandoms! I’m very excited to see what you make.
I’ve included some ideas and prompts for people who like to have those to refer to, but I actually really like being surpised, so don’t feel limited to what I’ve mentioned specifically if you have other ideas. Except for DNWs, everything I’ve said in this letter is extremely optional and I’ve only included what I have to give people who like a jumping off point some guidance into things I enjoy. Feel free to ignore whatever you don’t vibe with. I would much rather that you worked on something you really liked and enjoyed creating than that you were anxious the whole time worrying about my preferences. If I really, genuinely don’t want to get something in a gift, I have DNWed it, and other than that you’re golden.
There are quite a lot of my more general likes listed in this letter as well, but I have an exchange letter template that I wrote a while ago that I pulled them from where I just threw absolutely everything I could think of into it to give a lot of options, but it’s not the case that I only would like fics that include those specific things and nothing but those things. But, like I said, it's long, so I hope that it’s not too impenetrable. Read as much or as little of this letter as is helpful for you. I’ve added some hyperlinks that hopefully will help with navigating to the parts that you want to read, and some spoiler tags in the various sections to stop it becoming too much of a wall of text.
P.S. I think I wrote more ideas for some fandoms than others, but this is not because I would prefer to get a fic for one of those fandoms. I signed up last minute and am also just not very good at writing prompts at the best of times. I’ve also some kept some ideas that would have been good prompts in reserve to write myself at some point for a few of these, so it's really not that I don't care about those fandoms. If we’ve matched on something I’ve written less prompts and ideas for, please don’t worry that I have a strong preference for another fandom and that I'm only lukewarm on what we matched on: I am very highkey about absolutely all of these fandoms and a fic for any of them would make my day.
DNWs
I don’t mean to imply any judgement with any of my DNWs and some of them are things that I do enjoy from time to time in some contexts, but aren’t things that I’d like as part of a gift work/that I’m in a headspace for right now. But even for stuff I don’t like at all, that’s just a taste or personal comfort thing and I don’t think my tastes are Objectively Correct, or that I’m really right on for being uncomforable reading about certain things that other people enjoy in fiction.
SFW DNWs
- Non-canonical major character death
- First or second person narration
- dialects or accents spelled phonetically
- Reader insert characters.
- Mundane/modern AUs (e.g. college or coffee shop AUs, etc.)
- Harry Potter AUs/fusions or references to Harry Potter
- Pregnancy related DNWs:
- Dark fic/Grimdark fic. I’m fine with angsty or bittersweet fic or with stories that are framed as tragedies, but I do not want something that is primary intended to be disturbing, or that is unrelentingly miserable with no reprieve and no catharsis at the end.
- Fetishisation or romanticisation of members of a marginalised group.
- Intimate partner violence or abuse.
Return to beginningNSFW DNWs
- non-con or dub-con.
- Consensual non-consent or other rape fantasies.
- 24–7 D/s relationships.
- Master/slave relationships.
- Humiliation kink.
- Desperation kink.
- Edging.
- Chastity belts/cages, etc.
- Degradation kink.
- Erotic asphyxiation.
- Heavy pain play.
- Sadism.
- Sounding.
Return to beginningLikes
SFW likes (mostly—anything with additional elements that are NSFW is behind a spoiler tag and clearly marked as NSFW)
I went into a lot of detail for some of these, so I have added additional spoiler tags to cut for length where I felt it was getting wordy.- Fic that is largely canon compliant. Canon divergent AUs are great, fic that re-interprets or re-examines canon events with a different lens is also great. I am not especially reverent towards canon and non-canon compliant fic is not a problem, but I do really like fic that rattles the bars of its canonical confines while remaining within them (or stays within them for the most part). See also:
- Post-canon fic and prequel fic—especially ones that are:
- Character studies, especially of characters who are sparsely characterised or underutilised in canon.
- Missing scene fic.
Fic with a strong ensemble cast.AUs that are a completely different setting to canon, especially fusions with other canons such as Pacific Rim AUs or The Last Unicorn AUs (see DNWs for exceptions).Dramatic irony, especially when it’s comedic. That said, I love sincerity that is entirely unembarrassed of itself and does not try to deflate itself with irony.Witty or otherwise humorous dialogue.As you can probably tell from the last two listed likes, I prefer fics with a comedic tone, or at least a comedic tinge (which can be ironic and/or bitter, in fics that skew more towards the dramatic side of the comedy-drama spectrum). I like pretty dry and understated humour, but I am also just a fan of Funny more generally and I like a lot of things that are quite broad and hammy.Bittersweet or melancholy fics are also wonderful. I am always a sucker for regret and missed opportunities/wasted time.Quiet, domestic stories that have a sense of contentment about them.Exciting, dynamic stories that have a sense of uncertainty about them. I particularly really love stuff where I don’t know what’s going on for 85% of the fic and then it all clicks into place in the last 15% as reveals that were set up earlier start to fall like dominoes.Found family.Queer platonic partnerships. additional details
The character(s) can be aro and/or ace, and/or be sexually and/or romantically attracted to a different gender to their QPP, or they can just be queer platonic partners because that is the kind of relationship that suits them and not due to a mismatch/mutual incompatibility of sexual and/or romantic orientation. References to queer culture and history. This can be in conjunction with one or more queer ships, but can also be in a gen fic featuring one or more queer characters.Pining. additional details
I especially like this when the character in question’s feelings are actually requited and they’re just unaware (especially-especially if the reader is aware before the character is through clues given but not explicitly stated in the narration). Polyamory/non-monogamy, very much including forms of non-monogamy other than polyfidelitous triads, such as vee arrangements, polycules or open relationships etc. additional details
Your fic can be primarily about X/Y and have it as a background detail that this relationship is non-monogamous, if you like. I really like fic that is about X/Y, but X’s canonical relationship with Z also exists in the fic without anyone cheating or getting jealous. Emotionally intense and tempestuous co-dependent relationships, which can either get healthier over the course of the narrative or remain very much a "don’t try this at home" kind of depiction.Expolorations of gender, sexuality, disability, socioeconomic or sociopolitical themes inherent to or implied by the canon, or that resonate with the setting/time period/characters.Trans headcanonsKid fic.Knitting or other kinds of crafts, especially from authors who are crafters and especially-especially when it includes technical or jargon-y details.Speaking of jargon, I love STEM-y things being featured in fic.I also love wildly unrealistic and campy fake science escapades. Basically, if a bubbling, neon green liquid housed in a beaker that is smoking profusely appears in your fic then you are on the right track.Things relating to ageing. additional details, some NSFW.
Including, but not limited to: moments of wistfulness or melancholy about it, older characters having active and fulfilling sex lives, broader themes about ageing, or matter of fact inclusion of details about changes brought about with age. Feel free to include speculative/sci-fi stuff about ageing too if it fits the setting of your fic! Stuff about (wanted) pregnancy. I have some pregnancy related DNWs at the link here (please note: this link won't work if you haven't already clicked on the spoiler tag that the DNWs are under), so if this is an option you’re attracted to, please click through to see what I do not want from this kind of story. In terms of what I do like, some broad strokes are:additional details, some NSFW
- Realistic depictions of how pregnancy works in real world settings
- I tend not to like cis mpreg, but if it’s a campy fake science thing or magic gone awry (or magic as reproductive healthcare) then it can be fun.
- I do like fics about trans men being pregnant (I am a transmasc person who wants to have kids and is willing to get pregnant from a pragmatic point of view to do that, for whatever it’s worth), but prefer reading those kind of fics from trans, especially transmasculine, authors. You can go into dysphoria around being pregnant here, but try not to depict it very graphically please.
- Speculative biology relating to how non-humans reproduce in science fiction or fantasy settings is a lot of fun.
- breeding kink or unsafe sex
- Sex while pregnant. Can be a ‘I’m ten days overdue and I’m sick of eating spicy food to try and get things moving along, so let’s try the other thing’ kind of thing, or a more overt pregnancy kink thing
Since I mentioned it briefly in the above: speculative or canon alien physiology in settings where this is relevant.Inclusion of sensory and sensual details (which may or may not be erotic). Return to beginningNSFW likes
- Getting together and/or stuff with a first kiss (I know, how NSFW, lol) or first time having sex. I particularly like if first time sex scenes (and sex scenes generally) aren’t Perfect™ and things are a little awkward in a way that the characters can laugh about.
- First time bottoming and, more generally, first time doing X sex act or kink and/or characters realising that something they hadn’t given much thought to, or had assumed they wouldn’t be into, is something they’re really into. I’d prefer they go into it with a “Sure, I’ll try anything once” attitude rather than an “I’ll suffer through it for you 😥” attitude.
- Friends with benefits/platonic sex. This can turn into fuckbuddies-to-lovers, but it doesn’t have to. I am particularly partial to a character who wingmans for their fuckbuddy and gets them together with another love interest (whether or not the two friends continue to have platonic sex afterwards is fine either way).
- Non-penetrative sex.
additional details
The characters can be actively choosing not to have non-penetrative sex specifically because of practical concerns, such as them don’t want to risk pregnancy, or them wanting to fuck right the fuck now and not wanting to wait for an opportune time for anal, or a character having vaginismus, or one or more of the characters just not really liking penetration. It can also just be something with non-penetrative sex without the need to justify that choice in-text. I really like when fics don’t make a distinction between penetrative and non-penetrative sex in terms of what is considered to be “real” sex, e.g. things like characters referring to a time they had oral sex as, “When we fucked” in dialogue, or similar casual nods to non-penetrative sex also being sex.- Intercrural sex specifically. This can transition into penetrative sex or not.
- Oral sex of all varieties.
- Virginity kink, especially if the fic itself doesn’t buy into the social construction of virginity as a concept.
- Re: the above, I really it like, in general, when a work winks at the idea that kinky elements are just roleplay and not Real. Not for ‘don’t worry, it’s not real ketchup’ reasons or anything, I just think it gives a nice atmosphere and feel to the relationship and dynamic between the characters to imagine them being kinky together on purpose, as opposed to fics that play to the kink, but are not explicitly written to portray the characters as kinky, if that makes sense. I don’t mind if this is not something in play though, and I can definitely tell the difference between id-heavy smutty fan fiction and writing intended to be taken as a strictly literal account of how things are or should be.
Return to beginningRequested Fandoms and Fandom Specific DNWS
Blazing Saddles (1974)
Requested characters: Sheriff Bart, Jim “The Waco Kid”
While I do ship Bart and Jim, if you’d prefer to keep the relationship more true to canon, I am very happy to read a gen work about them too, since I wouldn’t ship them in the first place if I didn’t like their canon dynamic.Prompts and ideas
- I adore this movie in all of its fourth wall breaking, satirical glory and if you wanted to play around with the fourth wall and make it a bit meta, either with the occasional anachronistic joke, extended sequences, random bandstands in the desert, or in another way, that would be awesome to read, because I too have always wanted to go there.
- Any and all post-canon fics about the journey to nowhere special.
- Stuff that includes things about the 1970s ‘real’ world in the movie that’s outside the Western setting
- If you wanted to write a more earnest and straight take on the movie that draws on real world history, that could also be cool, and leading on from that I think that combining this approach with a meta approach can also lead to some interesting places.
- Fic set during canon where Bart and Jim just hang out and nothing particularly plotty happens is always a good time. Screwing optional, but certainly not unwelcome.
- Speaking of screwing, I am not at all averse to the scar from the bullet wound on Jim’s ass being featured in something smutty. Maybe it’s a ‘massaging your buddy’s scar tissue for him turned furiously fingering your buddy in the ass’ thing, maybe it’s a passing mention of it once clothes start coming off, maybe it’s something else entirely.
Fandom specific DNWs
- Uncensored use of the n-word. You could do a meta thing where the characters draw attention to it being bleeped out or something if you went the censored route, maybe?
- Ableist jokes about Mongo.
Return to beginningThe Producers (1968)
Requested characters: Leopold “Leo” Bloom, Max Bialystock
This is another one where I do ship the characters I’ve requested, but I am absolutely happy to read a more canon-aligned gen take on the relationship. I do think, platonic or otherwise, that Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom have such a touching relationship that is incredibly loving, considering it started with Bialy manipulating Bloom into white collar crime. Every time I watch this film I end up crying at the courtroom speech (“I was… this man… No one ever called me ‘Leo’ before! I mean, I know it’s not a big legal point, but even in kindergarten they used to call me ‘Bloom!’ I never sang a song before! I mean with someone else, I never sang a song with someone else before.”) 😭😭😭
As an autistic person, I strongly identify with Leo Bloom (the meltdowns over his blue blanket etc., the social isolation and then very strong and intense relationship with A friend, the rapid loss of composure once a social interaction does not go as expected, the ‘boring’ job involving numbers and great attention to detail, the list goes on) and while it wouldn’t really make a lot of sense to explicitly name him as such in a fanwork, I think writing him with that interpretation in mind could lead to some interesting and plausible ideas. This is not necessarily a prompt, but an example of something I’ve toyed with in the past is him having Max lie on him to squish him like a bug in a hyposensitive sensory seeking deep pressure way as opposed to the Nero jumping on Poppaea way.
As a person who has also been sunk by a society that demands success when all I can offer is failure, I find Max Bialystock to be an enormous mood as well, even if I tend to identify more with Bloom. I do however have a long and well documented weakness for sleazy con-men who are dapper, but also often shabbily or slovely presented (your Bernard Blacks, your Grunkle Stans, your Quark Deep Space Nineses, etc.), so I am of course madly in love with him and easily project that onto Leo, the character who I more actively identify with.Prompts and ideas
- Post-canon fic set in prison about them putting on Prisoners of Love
- A different post-canon scam? Maybe they successfully run off to Rio de Janeiro this time.
- On my most recent rewatch I was struck that Bialy is never shown to actively pursue sex with women in its own right. With the little old ladies, it’s basically sex work, and though he cat-calls women on the street from his window and ogles Ulla, any time Ulla propositions him he turns her down, often irritably, which makes me feel like he sees sexual relationships with women as primarily being a means to attain money or prestile (since Ulla’s job seems to mostly be to make him look rich and desireable). This is not like… a great lens through which to view all your interactions with women obviously, but it does make me wonder if he’s gay and/or ace for all that he’s presented as a volumptuary and a lech at face value.
- Another thing that struck me on my most recent rewatch was that reading Leo as a trans man could be interesting. While there weren’t as many trans men who were able to medically transition and/or live as men full time stealth in the 1960s, there weren’t none, so it’s not impossible. Lines like “No one ever called me Leo before” and “I’m Leo Bloom. I’m me! I can do whatever I want! I’m Leo Bloom!” really lend themselves to a trans reading imo, and his discomfort when he’s around gender conforming people, such as when he meets Roger de Bris and Roger is wearing a dress, and, to a lesser extent, in the “I’m not a madam: I’m a concierge” scene, get some more dimension if you read it as him being a stealth trans guy in his mid-thirties in 1967 being awkward around women who fall outside strictly conventional gender roles and petrified of being around visibly GNC men. Bloom’s story is about rejecting conformity and embracing crime—which is to say, living for himself and wanting more than living in a grey little room, going to a grey little job, leading a grey little life and counting other people’s money, and I think that escaping the prison of thinking he has to constantly police himself and never relax his inward gaze, because that’s the price of being able to be a man could definitely be a part of that. Basically ‘be gay do crime’ is what I’m getting at here.
- As I mentioned above, including details that suggest an autistic reading of Bloom would be cool, although I wouldn’t really be interested in an explicit diagnosis or calling him autistic on the page.
Fandom specific DNWs
- sympathetic depictions of Franz Liebkind or other Nazis.
- Casual homophobia played for laughs in a way that only punches down—I am open to depictions of lateral hostility from characters dealing with internalised homophobia
Return to beginningPorridge (TV 1974)
Requested characters Norman Stanley Fletcher, Lennie Godber
I revisited Porridge this year after not seeing it since my teens when I devoured the whole series on DVD, and I was hurtled back in time to watching it with slash goggles very firmly in place. I am still delighted to see Porridge through this lens, but a gen fic, or one where Godber is in a relationship with Denise or Ingrid as in canon, is also more than okay.
In a gen fic I’d like something fairly canon-typical in tone (although maybe that relied less on 1970s British sitcom-esque jokes at the expense of marginalised people), but if you wanted to get a bit more serious and talk about imprisonment in a less light-hearted way, that’s also something I’m very open to, and I do think that the show had moments of this. In a shippy Godber/Fletch fic, I’m also happy for lighthearted canon-typical hijinks, but including more serious elements such as internalised homophobia or being queer in prison is also definitely something I’d be interested in.Prompts and ideas
- Given that Fletch got married at 19 to his then-girlfriend due to an unplanned pregnancy, has been in and out of prison for his entire married life, does not describe his wife in terms that suggest a particularly strong attraction to her, and also mentions that thinking about sex in prison is a bad idea a number of times in canon… I think it is not impossible that he’s been gay the whole time and hasn’t had the chance to spend enough time around women to realise that about himself.
- Fletch’s not infrequent casual homophobia could also suggest that he has realised that he’s queer and he’s trying to distance himself from queerness, either because of internalised homophobia, or because prison is not the safest place to be queer and I can’t imagine that it being the 1970s made that any better, or both.
- Again, this may be the goggles talking, but it really seems to me like in the first few episodes Godber is trying his absolute best to fuck Fletch/signal that he would be up for it. I think maybe a five times fic along those lines could be fun.
- Departing from shippy territory, a fic about some kind of caper that Fletch pulls off, successfully or unsuccessfully, along the lines of the gambling ring where they played snakes and ladders or stealing eggs from the prison farm, would be a delight.
- Maybe something set post-canon (feel free to include stuff from the spinoff show Going Straight or the mockumentary Life Beyond the Box: Norman Stanley Fletcher that came out in 2003, but I haven’t seen the 2016 spin-off about Fletch’s grandson and I’m not keen to, so I’d prefer you avoiding including that) about how Fletch and Godber adapt after their respective releases. I think it’s not unlikely that Fletch, an habitual criminal who treats arrest as an occupation hazard, etc., etc., would be back in the nick at some point, but maybe you could play with the idea that he assumes this too but then it keeps not happening and he’s not sure what to do with himself.
Fandom specific DNWs
- Casual homophobia or racism played for laughs in a way that only punches down—I am open to depictions of lateral hostility from characters dealing with internalised homophobia.
Return to beginningDimension 20: Mentopolis
Requested characters: Hunch Curio, Dan Fucks, Conrad Schintz, Imelda Pulse
I was absolutely captivated watching this season of D20 when it was coming out this year. I felt completely bereft on Thursdays and had to limp on through the week until the next week when the new episode would come out on Wednesday. I love the silliness; the very broad, winking use of noir tropes; the puns; the worldbuilding; the characters and what their actions and characterisation implied about who Elias Hodge is as a person. It’s just… so good. I ship Dan Fucks and Hunch Curio, so I am very open to that if you were interested in writing it, and I also love Dan’s one-sidedly adversarial relationship with Conrad and how he (kind of?) softens toward him as the story goes on. Imelda’s utterly chaotic ‘I’ve got my finger on the button!’-ness is also just… absolutely fucking enchanting and I could watch Siobhan play that character for years and not get bored.
I mentioned in my signup form that I am happy to receive fic that just features Dan and Hunch, Conrad and Dan, Conrad and whoever, or something with Imelda either flying solo or with other characters, if you had an idea for something that you couldn’t think of a way to include all the requested characters in. I am, of course, also very happy to read something that does include all of my requested characters for this fandom!
Prompts and ideas
- I’m kind of kicking myself for not nominating worldbuilding as a character for the tagset, because I think a fic that explores the world of Mentopolis (and/or other parts of Elias Hodge) would be very cool, so if you had an idea that fleshed out (heh) the world more then I would be really pumped to read it.
- Similarly, go absolutely hog wild with puns if you want to, and feel more than free to include OCs that represent other concepts and parts of Elias Hodge’s personality as bit parts.
- Tropes! Tropes! Tropes! Femme fatales! Gumshoes! Gritty monologues! Being haunted by the past!
- Also though, maybe a post-canon fic where the ‘genre’ of Elias’ mind has shifted as he comes out of his Great Depression would be an interesting thing to explore?
- Just putting it out there, I am very very open to a fic where Hunch and Dan have some kind of nebulously defined FWB thing going on where they’ve both caught feelings but are being weird about it, either pre-, post-, during canon or any combination of the above.
- Something about Dan performatively hating Conrad to cover up for having a soft spot for him would also be very sweet.
- Something about Imelda would and her various wild impulses would be great, like ‘Five terrible ideas Imelda had and one that was actually pretty good’ or something.
- Something about Dan, Conrad and Imelda’s interactions with/relationships with Dan pre-canon (as well as any of the other main PCs you’d like to include who I haven’t requested, if you’d like to) would be very interesting to read.
Return to beginning Return to beginningDungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)
Requested characters: Xenk Yendar, Edgin Darvis
I could watch this movie every day for a month and not get sick of it, and I know that because I did. I do ship Xenk and Edgin, but I am very happy to read both shippy or gen fic about them. I just love how Edgin is so eyerollingly frustrated by Xenk and so sceptical of his sincerity and how funny Xenk clearly finds that. In a shippy interpretation, I feel like Edgin is like “Ugh, of course I would be into that idiot, with his stupid honour and goodness and dumb perfectly symmetrical face” and be very disappointed in himself about it while Xenk is like “Haha, you have a crush on me. That’s embarrassing.” Albeit in an understated and outwardly magnaimous way. In a gen fic, I think that you don’t… really have to change that up much? Except in it being romantic and/or sexual as opposed to more “Get befriended, idiot.”Prompts and ideas
- If you are familiar with D&D at all, I’d really love something that included mechanics and elements from the game itself.
- Xenk is another character who I read as autistic, although you wouldn’t necessarily call it that in a fantasy setting. That said, I do think there’s a bit more flexibility with it being a D&D thing as opposed to a more straightforward fantasy though, because there’s the implicit metanarrative of the game that’s being played by contemporary humans, see: stuff like Fantasy Costco in The Adventure Zone, so if you wanted to just use the word autistic that’s more than fine with me. But, anyway, I think that integrating that into his characterisation in an intentional way, like by having him infodump about non-Paladin related special interests or something would be fun.
- As I mentioned, I do like the one-sided antagonism vs fond amusement in their relationship and I would really like to see something that featured that.
- I would also be interested in reading about Edgin easing up enough to be more vulnerable and sincere with Xenk, with the greatest of reluctance, kicking and screaming all the way.
- Some kind of ‘casefic’ story involving a side quest that the two of them go on would be great. Or even some loosely connected vignettes of various side quests they go on that show their developing relationship/how they get better at working together. Perhaps the real loot is the friends we made along the way?
Return to beginningOnly Murders in the Building
Requested characters: Mabel Mora, Charles Hayden-Savage, Oliver Putnam, Theo Dimas
I love this show and the central intergenerational friendship at the core of it and how disasterous all of the characters I have requested are in their own unique ways. Mabel as an ageing Millennial who still hasn’t figured herself out and is getting anxious about hitting various ‘standard’ benchmarks of adulthood, Charles who is so closed off and awkward, Oliver and his bad financial decisions and selfishness, Theo and his strained relationship with his father and his social isolaton and his guilt (listen, he feels super bad about the whole manslaughter and then allowing someone else to go to prison for it and, I mean, who among us hasn’t robbed the dead of sentimental valuables on their person that their family intended to lay them to rest with? Also, consider this: he’s very cute and sometimes he is very sad).
Of the four characters I’ve requested, if you want to write shippy fic, I ship Mabel/Theo and Charles/Oliver, but I’m happy to read fic where any of them are with a canonical love interest, and gen fic about the central trio or that fleshes out how Theo and Mabel became closer between seasons two and three would be great.
You can write something that is just about Mabel and Theo; or just about Mabel, Oliver and Charles; or just about Oliver and Charles if you have an idea that you can’t find a way to include all four of them in.
Prompts and ideas
- If you have enough knowledge of Deaf culture that you’d feel confident writing about it, something that featured that would be very cool to read. How involved in the Deaf community is Theo? Is he as alienated from other Deaf people as he is from hearing society or does he have Deaf friends (maybe from school?) who he keeps in touch with? Does he introduce Mabel to them? Mabel could be a good reader surrogate for hearing readers who might be unfamiliar with various elements.
- A friend of mine once described my ‘brand’ as a fic writer as ‘middle aged men trying to be kind’ and ‘themes about the bittersweetness of ageing’ so do with that information what you will. And you can sub in ‘older’ for ‘middle aged’ here, probably, because even with the most generous of interpretations I think that middle aged is no longer the season of life that Charles and Oliver are in.
- If you felt up to a murder mystery I would absolutely not turn my nose up to that.
- Something about platonic love and friendship between non-family members being the most important relationships in a person’s life and that not being a sad or lonely thing.
- In terms of Charles/Oliver options, I really think Charles could plausibly be bi and like “Well I just won’t think about that, because it would be rude to not even try to be straight” and Oliver is also bi but sort of assumes that everyone is, especially in the theatre, and never gave it a lot of thought because he didn't expect to fall in love with a man, and then they both have very different third act sexuality revelations and get together and kiss about it.
Fandom specific DNWs
- Marking dialogue in ASL in a different way to spoken dialogue (e.g. writing it in italics or having verbal dialogue in quotation marks, but not ASL, etc.). Using a dialogue tag like ‘he signed’ instead of ‘he said’ is fine
- The terms ‘deaf/dumb’ or ‘deaf/mute’ being used neutrally to describe Theo—you can have a character call him that and not realise it's offensive, but it shouldn't be presented in narration as inoffensive or neutral
- Similarly, please do not describe deafness as a disability with no pushback from either Theo or the narration, as this is not how a lot of culturally Deaf people think of themselves and instead think of themselves as belonging to a linguistic minority.
Return to beginning
To anyone else reading letters to look for people to treat, hi there! I have gifts enabled on my AO3 account, so treat away if you so desire, and thank you for the kind thought.