obstinatecondolement: Deanna Troi from Star Trek: The Next Generation shown from the shoulders up, standing in front of a painting of a planet (Default)

Challenge #13

Make a rec list! Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I think I've mainly recced fics for this challenge, or similar ones, in the past, and I remember regretting not reccing any vids, so I am here now to remedy my past self's oversight there. In no particular order, here are ten vids that I give my strongest possible endorsement to. There are content warnings for several of them that are listed in the AO3 works themselves that I have linked here, but, all other things being equal, I would absolutely recommend that you watch all of them whether you are familiar with the canons in question or not.

Fun, Fun, Fun by [archiveofourown.org profile] cosmic_llin

Fandom: Lower Decks (Beckett Mariner character study vid)
Song: Fun, Fun, Fun by the Beach Boys

This is a Beckett Mariner vid about her relationship to responsibility that [personal profile] cosmic_llin gifted me for [community profile] festivids last year. Full disclosure, many of the vids on this lists were gifts to me, and of those four were gifts I specifically got for Festivids 2022/2023, because it was an absolute banner year for me in terms of both the quantity and quality of vids that were so kindly gifted to me.

It's such a gorgeous, joyous vid that captures so much of what I love about Lower Decks in general and Mariner in particular. It's funny, irreverant, fond, and never afraid to be silly. Llin did a wonderful job with creating a strong narrative in this too about Beckett's relationship with her captain (who is also her mother) and fitting into the structure of Starfleet's hierarchy as an anarchic free spirit who will become a square peg to avoid fitting into round holes out of pique. I love her so, so much.

Get This Podcast Started by [archiveofourown.org profile] findmeinthealps

Fandom: Only Murders in the Building (Mabel Mora & Oliver Putnam & Charles Hayden-Savage ensemble vid)
Song: Get the Party Started by P!nk

This is another vid that was gifted to me last year for [community profile] festivids and was, I think, the first one of the vids I received that I watch post-reveals. It's an ensemble vid and an absolute non-stop riot. Alps is an amazing vidder and, like everyone I've recced here, I could honestly have a rec list of just their work, but to keep things trim I'm limiting myself to this one as an introduction to their oeuvre.

I love humour in vids so much and I think that ironic pairings of clips and lyrics can be so effective, which this vid just absolutely nails. It's also visually such a treat and marries the visuals and the music in such a satisfying way, with so many satisfying little moments that land on exactly the write musical cue, and the editing is as smooth as butter. If you're not familiar with the fandom, I also think it's a great sales pitch for it and what makes it so fun, as it centres on the central trio from the show and their various amateur (and amateurish) murder investigations

Be Okay by [archiveofourown.org profile] cosmic_llin

Fandom: A League of Their Own (2022) (Shirley Cohen character study vid)
Song: Be OK by Ingrid Michaelson

And now for something completely different! This Shirley Cohen vid was another gift that the lovely [personal profile] cosmic_llin made for me for [community profile] festivids last year and it was the second vid I watched. Even hot on the heels of the giddy fun of Get This Podcast Started, I welled up watching this within like a minute. I also cried again rewatching it when I was putting this list together and it hit me every bit as hard.

Llin is the only person who got two vids on the list, but I hope my naked partisanship can be excused here because I think that including both of the vids I've recommended here show her range really well. She's, of course, not unique in being able to nail more than one tone, but she pipped everyone else to the post by giving me two lovely vids last year and I wanted to include all my [community profile] festivids 2022 gifts, haha.

Content warning: discussion of OCD, homophobia and medical abuse

Shirley can be a polarising character, or at least certainly was when the show came out, and in a show that centred and celebrated queerness so much, a character who struggled with homophobia—which, in my reading of her (and I think this is a pretty surface level take, honestly) is a manifestation of her OCD and her obsessions about contamination, and I cannot despite a mentally ill young woman from the 1940s with a "masculine" interest and talent who was terrified of being gay, because it would mean she would "have" to be lobotomised. Shirley also faces the things that terrify her so she can disprove her own fears out of love of her queer friends. I think that honest and compassionate represtations of the less "relatable" and sympathetic manifestations of mental illness, in particular with stuff like OCD, is so important and this vid was just so, so pitch perfect in how it handled its subject matter.

There is a lot of repetition in the song's lyrics and the vid uses this to its advantage by using repeated refrains, in particular, "I just wanna be okay, be okay, be okay" to edit montages of visually similar clips together, often showing Shirley repeating the same compulsive rituals and movements in different scenes. This is so effective and really helps to centre Shirley's point of view and anxieties really solidly at the heart of the vid. And, having established this motif, then transitions away from it in the last section, and instead shows several different instances of Shirley being happy and joyful with her teammates in very visually different scenes over the refrain.

Tubthumping by [archiveofourown.org profile] usuallyhats

Fandom: Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (ensemble vid)
Song: Tumbthumping by Chumbawamba

The summary on AO3 for this vid is:

"If the existing plan fails, I make a new plan."
"So you make plans that fail."
"No!"

and... accurate. So, so accurate. I love each and every vid I've ever seen set to Tubthumping, but, truly, I am quite convinced by this one that Chumbawamba had D&D: Honor Among Thieves (2023) in the front of their minds when they were writing this back in 1997.

This is an ensemble vid and it is non-stop laugh a minute fun, very much in keeping with the tone of the movie. I saw this in the room when it premiered in [community profile] vidukon_cardiff last year, and it was a huge crowd pleaser. If you are a fan of plans ganging agley and people getting knocked down and getting up again, I cannot recommend this vid highly enough.

I won't spoil it for you, but the choice of clips for the "Oh, Danny boy, Danny boy, Danny boy" section makes me almost cry laughing no matter how many times I see it.

Pray Be Silent, and Join Me in a Dance by [archiveofourown.org profile] theletterelle

Fandom: Pride and Prejudice (1995) (Elizabeth Bennet/Fitzwilliam Darcy)
Song Shut Up and Dance by Walk the Moon, covered by Eric Wuest

Using this instrumental cover of Shut Up and Dance on strings was such an inspired choice for this vid and I am stunned to this day by how effective it is. There are several parts cutting to musicians at the various dances and balls featured in the vid and I find it very immersive. And fun!

'Shut Up and Dance' is also just such a fantastic song choice as-is for a P&P vid, given how much of the stop and start development of Lizzie and Darcy's relationship and their mutual fascination in each other, in all its cautiously spiky glory, involves dancing together and using this almost neoclassical arrangement of it just elevates the vid even further.

I Can Cook Too by [archiveofourown.org profile] Tafadhali

Fandom: Big Eden (Pike Dexter/Henry Hart)
Song: "I Can Cook Too" from On the Town, performed by Alysha Umphress

The last of the recs from my wonderful pile of the Festivids gifts I got last year! This is such a charming and fond little vid for a charming little movie I am so hopelessly fond of. It is just under a minute long, but feels exactly the length that it needs to be.

It centres Pike, the sweet, shy love interest of Big Eden, and his understated, modest courtship of Henry through cooking for him and does such a good job of showcasing Pike as the unqualified dreamboat that he is. Very sweet, very swoony: both the character and the vid.

I Want You to Want Me by [archiveofourown.org profile] hartknyx

Fandom: Much Ado About Nothing (1993) (Beatrice/Benedick, Claudio/Hero)
Song: I Want You to Want Me by Cheap Trick, covered by Letters to Cleo

Well, the last vid in the list was the last of my Festivid gifts from last year, but this vid is one that I got in Festivids 2020/2021, haha.

I will always hold the Kenneth Branagh adaptation of Much Ado very near and dear to my heart and I was unspeakably thrilled to be gifted this vid by [archiveofourown.org profile] hartknyx. It encapsulates everything I love about this adaptation so perfectly and it's so fun and makes such wonderful use of the physical comedy and delightful facial expressions and acting choices in the film. It's also really effective in how it shows Claudio's deep and profound regret over wronging Hero. I did watch this film very young, so maybe I was softer on Claudio then than I would be on a first viewing now, but I do think that Robert Sean Leonard is one of the more redeemed-in-my-eyes Claudio and I think this section of the vid shows why very well.

It was also such a fun choice to use a song from the 10 Things I Hate About You soundtrack for a vid to another film adaptation of a Shakespearean play! And, as I said at the time, even though there are a lot of repeated refrains in the lyrics, the vid never for one second feels anything but fresh and lively in how it rattles along. It also, as with the P&P vid, uses diegetic elements like showing a character playing a drum over the drum solo section that really, really work and marry the song to the visuals beautifully. Ten thousand out of ten stars, no notes.

Notice Me by [archiveofourown.org profile] lilly_the_kid

Fandom: Cobra Kai (Daniel LaRusso/Johnny Lawrence)
Song: Notice Me by Alexa Ray Joel

It does not matter how many times I see this vid, I fall in love with it again every time. It's so wonderfully adolescent and dumb in its portrayal of these fifty-something-year-old guys who re-light the flame of their teenage karate rivalry with each other almost four decades after the fact and become, once again, completely absorbed by thoughts of each other. Don't pretend you don't see me, baby!

This is just an all time favourite feel good vid for me and I love it to distraction.

Parachute by [archiveofourown.org profile] thingswithwings

Fandom: Leverage (Alec Hardison/Parker/Eliot Spencer)
Song: Parachute by Ingrid Michaelson

I almost cut this from my shortlist a few times, not because it is not phenomenal, but because I wondered whether there was anyone left in fandom who was not already well acquainted with its majesty. This is an absolute classic fanvid that everyone I know who I've mentioned it to, even if they're aren't into Leverage, even if they aren't into vids, has seen and was stunned by. But it will no doubt be new to some of you, so it would be a crime not to include it, and not the fun and morally-just kind of crime.

Parachute is such a wonderfully dynamic and active vid, both in terms of its use of movement through the visuals and its overall narrative arc and how each section flows into the next and progresses the central theme of the vid.

There is this wonderful bit near the start that transitions a section about Hardison and Parker's relationship into including Eliot and his relationships to both of them, where it cuts from Parker and Hardison jumping off a bridge onto a moving train, to Eliot landing in the middle of a brawl in a warehouse. The editing is utterly sublime and it's such a rewarding vid to watch closely every time I go back to it.

Batter Up! by [archiveofourown.org profile] videobaths

Fandom: Succession (Gerri Kellman character study, Gerri/Roman)
Song: Swing! by Ellie Dixon

Gerri alert! And, I mean, okay, do I think Gerri Kellman effectively utilised girl power by funneling money to cover up the worst abuses that occured under Logan Roy's leadership? No, and if she was real I would not be remotely sympathetic to the misogyny she faces as a cog in the machine of late stage capitalism and serving the interests of the richest people in the world. But also... she is a fictional character and she is baby girl and I love her very much and everyone who has ever patronised or overlooked her at WayStar or thrown her under the bus as a scapegoat should be publicly executed for crimes against Blorbo.

This wonderful vid was gifted to me by [archiveofourown.org profile] videobaths for the [community profile] womansplace exchange in 2023 (which I feel very bad about defaulting from and which I hope comes back this year so I can have another crack at it).

The pacing is so effective in this, both in how it builds the momentum of the vid from an excitement per second perspective and also in how it captures the fast pace of the world Gerri operates in and how sink or swim it is to survive in the waters she has been a shark in for decades. It is not constant go, go, go though and has great peaks and valleys in how it handles the pace and the length of each clip to reflect tone in the song.

The lyrics are also just... such a perfect fit for this vid "thought I left the oven on, 'cos your such a gaslight" and "if you're gonna play these games, I'll join in" are just so perfect for Gerri and the narrative thrust of this vid in particular.

The Gerri/Roman shippy sections are also just such an unparalled delight and it is always so fun seeing how actively she chose the awful series of decisions that led to their thing and how into it she is. "Now I'm lucid" oh, girl, are you? But I'm glad you had fun, you deserve it. Not... many of the other particulars that this particular relationship involved, but you deserved the fun part of a thrillingly terrible idea like getting involved with Roman Roy in the manner in which you did.

I pretty much rewatch this vid three times through every time I go back to it because it's so exciting, and it never, ever gets old.

obstinatecondolement: Deanna Troi from Star Trek: The Next Generation shown from the shoulders up, standing in front of a painting of a planet (Default)

Jump to: Likes
Jump to: Do Not Wants
Jump to: Requests, Fandom Specific Likes and Fandom Specific Do Not Wants

Dear podficcer,

I’m [archiveofourown.org profile] SweetPollyOliver/[twitter.com profile] unmanlygrief/[personal profile] obstinatecondolement/[tumblr.com profile] obstinatecondolement. Thank you so much for offering one of my fandoms! I’m very excited to see what you make.

I don’t have a preference regarding podfics with or without effects and music, so feel free to do whatever you would prefer. I generally take a long time listening to podfics longer than 10–30 minutes, because I get antsy and lose focus unless I have something to do with my hands—I don’t want to discourage you from making something longer if you want to, but I thought I’d just let you know about this upfront, so that if you did make a longer podfic for me, you weren’t worried that I didn't like it if it took me a while to listen to it in full and give you feedback. Regarding other preferences:

TL;DR, 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 and read as much or as little of this as you like.I am very easy to please, so try not to get stressed worrying about what I would like or dislike as much as you can avoid it. 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 don’t want something, I will DNW it, and other than that you’re golden. I will give some guidelines in case that’s what you’d prefer to work with, but they are just that: guidelines. Beyond my DNWs, I’m very happy for you to follow your own muse wherever it leads you. Also, I’ve structured this letter the way that I have so that you can jump around it easily and only read the parts that are relevant to you, so do not feel obligated to read the whole thing. I have only included so much and gone into so many specifics because I want to give you a range of options to use for inspiration if you feel stuck, or you want to have some insight into what I like before you started. I definitely would not only be happy with gifts that include the things I’ve included in my letter, and I do not want you to feel limited to things I have thought to include. I will also not be at all disappointed if you make me something that includes elements I didn’t mention specifically here whether it includes anything in my letter or not. I’m very happy to be given a gift that introduces me to new things to add to my list of likes! Like, really, I can’t stress enough that I am very easily won over by sincere enthusiasm from a creator and I love surprises, so I actively prefer when people create something for me that they’re really excited about than that they try to include things I’ve mentioned that they themselves feel meh about.

Minor bit of business here before we get started: please click on the spoiler tags to uncollapse the DNWs before you start reading the Likes section. You don’t have to read the DNWs first—basically, what’s going on is that I have a couple of anchor links from some of the things listed in my Likes to relevant exceptions I’d like people to steer clear of in the DNWs and those links only works if the DNW section is not collapsed behind its spoiler tag. The joys of HTML!

Likes

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 spoiler tags to cut for length where appropriate.
  • 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.
  • 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.
    additional detailsCharacters can have any kind of relationship to their family of origin in these kinds of fics—I am equally happy with fic about or featuring found families where the characters haven’t spoken to their parents in years and never intend to again and fic where one of the characters called their mom to talk to her about sourdough starter yesterday. Mixing and matching between these two extremes can be fun too!
  • Queer platonic partnerships.
    additional detailsThe 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 detailsI 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) but also when their feelings genuinely are one-sided.
  • Rarepairs.
    additional detailsIn most of my fandoms, I usually end up getting more and more niche over time. I love when my first reaction to seeing a ship tag is, “Huh?” but then when I read the fic I’m completely sold by the execution of it because it feels true to the canonical characterisation of the characters and the evolution of the relationship (or invention of it, if they’ve never met before in canon) is a natural extension of that, so feel free to include ships that you really love that I have not mentioned in my fandom specific likes, as long as I haven’t mentioned actively disliking them. Also, this probably goes without saying, but just in case: I am using an interpretation of “rarepair” here includes ships that involve more than two partners.
  • Polyamory/non-monogamy, very much including forms of non-monogamy other than polyfidelitous triads, such as vee arrangements, polycules or open relationships etc.
    additional detailsYour 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. For examples of the kind of thing I mean, [archiveofourown.org profile] cosmic_llin has some great fic where Deanna Troi is dating something who is not her canonical love interest Will Riker, while also being in an open relationship with Riker.
  • 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.
  • Unironic “issuefic.”
    additional detailsThis is a term that turns up in DNWs rather than likes in a lot of fandom exchange letters, in my experience, but I genuinely love reading about The Issues™. This can include, but is not limited to, things like disability theory adjacent themes, trans headcanons, depictions of characters being very deliberate and careful about respecting consent, unironic depictions of characters talking like they’re trying to get a good grade in therapy (maybe He Would Not Fucking Say That, but if we’re going to limit ourselves to what he would fucking do and say why not just call it quits on fandom and stick to canon, lol), examinations of the broader social context of the settings of various fandoms, middle aged men trying to be kind.
  • Kid fic.
    additional detailsI prefer if the kid seems broadly realistic for the age they are depicted as being, but what is typical at a certain age varies a lot (I certainly had a very spiky developmental profile myself as a child) so don’t stress about it.
  • 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.
    additional detailsAn example of what I mean is things like the stuff about mathematical proofs in [archiveofourown.org profile] astolat‘s Rodney McCay/John Sheppard fic Time in a Bottle. You don’t have to go into enormous depth here to get a lot of bang for your buck in terms of how much it will please me. I nearly swooned when I read the main character of the novel Hold Me by Courtney Milan mention something about something being three standard deviations above the mean.
  • I also love wildly unrealistic and campy fake science escapades.
    additional detailsThings à la this Karate Kid fic I wrote where a CEO character’s R&D department creates a super soldier who he falls in love with or this fic [archiveofourown.org profile] trinityofone wrote for the same ship where the CEO character uses fake science, again from his R&D department, to babytrap his love interest. Basically though, 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. In terms of that last one, I once wrote a fic where a character’s wrist started clicking after he fingered the woman he was having sex with for a long time, so stuff along those lines is great. That fic also had some sci-fi age-related stuff about the Phase where post-menopausal Betazoids’ sex drive quadruples or more, so 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, 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.
    additional details about what I do like (some NSFW) Including, but not limited to: cloyingly fluffy family fic, breeding kink (and/or risky sex) and overly specific and/or scientific details about pregnancy itself. These details can relate to real pregnancy or speculative/sci-fi pregnancies featuring alien physiology or artificial wombs, etc. Speculative/sci-fi pregnancy does not have to be realistic for me to enjoy it! Depictions of real pregnancy would ideally have a higher degree of realism though, as pregnancy has been a long standing special interest of mine. I don’t mean, by this though, that you have to give someone a difficult pregnancy because they’re over 36 and that’s “more realistic” or something (also, fwiw, my aunt had her first baby at 48 and she had a very healthy and active pregnancy with both of her children), just that I would prefer that any specifics that you mention are accurate (so no feeling the baby kick before 16 weeks, for example). If you want to write about someone having a difficult pregnancy, or complications like gestational diabetes, though, go right ahead! I would ask though that if you go this route that it’s more along the lines of h/c than something that ends tragically. Regarding abortion, where termination is discussed (if, for example, the pregnancy was unplanned and the potential parent is thinking about options) I would strongly prefer that it was in a pro-choice context, unless you really feel that one or more of the characters would be pro-life and the overall narrative itself did not endorse them on this. I’m totally open to angsty fic about infertility that does not end with the character becoming pregnant, however.
    Notes regarding mpreg and people other than cis women getting pregnantCis mpreg heavily depends on execution for me and I am generally not that interested in it—when I do read it, I prefer cis mpreg where pregnancy is not the norm for cis men in that universe and it’s contextually a fake science or magic-related thing. I am okay with trans mpreg, especially written by other transmasculine authors, and with other AFAB trans people getting pregnant as long as it is a wanted pregnancy and any depictions of dysphoria are not extremely graphic. If you would like to write a story where a trans woman or transfeminine or other AMAB trans person gets pregnant, then I’m totally open to that and my preferences for that align more closely to the ones I’ve mentioned for speculative/sci-fi pregnancy than to my preferences relating to cis men being depicted as being pregnant. Rather than wanting the pregnancy to be depicted as unusual or unique, as is my preferance for cis mpreg, I would prefer a fic where transition related healthcare has progressed or is on the cusp or progressing far enough to allow this kind of pregnancy to happen. Also, despite what I just said about preferring this kind of pregnancy not to be depicted as being singular in-universe, if you want to write fic where your character has gotten pregnant after being granted a wish by fairies, set in a universe where transition related healthcare has not, and will not in the near future, allow for AMAB people to get pregnant, go right ahead! This is relatively uncharted territory, fic-wise, to my knowledge, so go forth and be fruitful, as it were 😉 My only truly strong preference here would be that your character is pregnant due to wanting to be pregnant rather than for another reason.
  • Since I mentioned it briefly in the above bullet point: speculative or canon alien physiology in settings where this is relevant.
    additional details (mildly NSFW?)Can be related to non-human typical genital configurations like Spock’s various fanonical space!junk, or more along the lines of Spock’s heart being where a human’s liver would be, and him having copper based blood.
  • Inclusion of sensory and sensual details (which may or may not be erotic).
NSFW 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 detailsThe 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. I don’t particularly care about erotica being historical accurate or not (or, indeed, about erotica being strictly realistic in general—it can be fun to write realistic sex, but if you want to write impromptu anal fisting, go for it! I have, lol), so feel free to include it in a setting where it would be unlikely, e.g. the Golden Age of Piracy.
  • 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 moralistic 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 beginning

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.

SFW DNWs
  • First or second person narration, unless that is canon typical.
  • Mundane/modern AUs (e.g. college or coffee shop AUs, etc.), Harry Potter AUs/fusions, AUs or pre-canon fic where the characters are aged down.
    random tangent about Scooby DooAlthough, come to think of it, I’d love to see a fic, AU or post-canon, where characters were depicted as much older than they appear in canon, e.g. something like the gang from the original 1969 Scooby Doo cartoon in the modern day as 70-somethings … in this purely hypothetical Scooby Doo fic that nobody will ever write though, Scooby is obviously still alive, typical 8-10 year lifespan of a Great Dane be damned.
    (return to where you left off in Likes)
  • Pregnancy related DNWs:
    • Unwanted pregnancy.
    • Fic where a character is coerced or tricked into becoming pregnant, even if they come around to the idea and/or are not upset by it (babytrapping from the side of the gestational parent isn’t a problem for me, because it’s a bodily autonomy thing for me mainly and also I’m a hypocrite).
    • Fic where the overall narrative explicitly promotes a pro-life sentiment.
    • Pregnancy fic where the pregnancy ends in abortion (re: the apparent contradiction with the last bullet point, for me this is like “there was only one bed” fic where they resolve it with someone sleeping on the couch, because I like pregnancy fic and the kind I seek out start from a premise that the pregnancy is wanted, even if unplanned).
    • Fic where the pregnancy ends in miscarriage, unless the character does manage to carry a pregnancy to term (or after 12 weeks, with the implication that they will carry to term) by the end of the story and the miscarriages are not depicted graphically. (return to where you left off in Likes)
  • Dark 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.
  • More than passing depictions of bigotry. You do not have to engage in historical revisionism or erase bigotry that exists in canon or the real world and I do enjoy fic that engages with the broader social contexts of various fandom settings, but I do not want a fic that is centred primarily around experiences of bigotry.
  • Fetishisation or romanticisation of a marginalised group.
    additional detailsFor example: race play, fetishisation of trans people, fat fetishism, fetishisation of physically disabled people’s bodies, romanticisation of mental illness, etc. One exception is that I do have a weakness for clueless class privileged characters who are poverty tourists, à la the song Common People, so I will say that I’m generally neutral-to-positive on this one, provided the character whose socioeconomic circumstances are being romanticised explicitly thinks that the poverty tourist is being a privileged dick (regardless of whether they also still have, or want to have, sex and/or a relationship with them).
  • Intimate partner violence or other related forms of abuse.
    additional detailsI do like some specific ships where the characters are unhealthily obsessed with each other and mutually destructive, but I do not like fics where a character is primarily a victim of their partner rather than someone willingly walking into a lake of bad decisions with their partner and drowning, hand in unlovable hand. N.B. I don’t mean by this distinction that I think that anyone in a real life abusive relationship is culpable for the abuse they suffer in any way.
NSFW DNWs
  • Kink related DNWs:
    • Consensual non-consent or other rape fantasies.
    • 24–7 D/s relationships.
    • Master/slave relationships.
    • Humiliation kink. Non-kinky humiliation is fine.
    • Desperation kink.
    • Edging.
    • Chastity belts/cages, etc.
    • Degrading or insulting language in a kink context.
    • Erotic asphyxiation. Non-erotic choking is okay.
    • Heavy pain play. Light impact kink or discomfort from restraints is fine.
    • Sadism.
    • Sounding.
    • Things likely to edge near a hygiene squick.
  • Non-con or dub-con.
  • Characters consenting to sex they think they won’t like, whether they turn out to be right about this or not.
  • Detailed descriptions of sex that is painful or unpleasant.
    additional details While I love badsex where it all goes pear-shaped in a way that’s funny to both the reader and the characters, and I love fic where characters get better at communicating what they enjoy sexually and their sex life improving as a result, I really don’t want to read long or in-depth depictions of characters being subjected to sex they absolutely hate with a partner who is either unaware that they don’t like it, or doesn’t care, that never gets any better.
Return to beginning

Requests

Requested Fandoms (be wary of spoilers!)
LeverageThis can include the new show, Leverage: Redemption, or not depending on your preference. I ship Eliot Spencer/Alec Hardison/Parker, Alec Hardison/Parker, Nate Ford/Sophie Devereaux(/Jim Sterling), Sophie Devereaux/Harry Wilson, Breanna/literally any cool woman, and I am also a big fan of character studies and gen fic.
Fandom Specific DNWs
  • Sophie Devereaux/Parker
  • Sophie Devereaux/Eliot Spencer
  • Eliot Spencer/Maria Shipp (unless it’s not endgame)
  • Completely unironic implications that the cops/the System are a force for justice and good.
Willow (2022)Ngl, I am still absolutely devastated that this show was not only cancelled, but taken off Disney plus and I am Not going to get getting over it any time soon. I think it was so disrespectful to the young actors who put so much into their roles and to Warwick Davies who had returned this this role that he played at 19, because he cared so much about the character. But. Anyway. I really, really love all the characters in this show and there is no wrong move here. I love Kit Tanthalos so, so much, because she is so messy and intense and vulnerable in a way that you don’t often get to see female characters be—she is Blorbo. I love her canonical romance with Jade Claymore and also her intense Whatever with Elora Danan. If Jade weren’t in the picture, I would ship Kit/Elora to hell and back, but I also love seeing it as a sibling rivalry kind of thing? I am also very much in love with the other characters and I sigh happily over all of them on the regular, so if Kit isn’t calling to you then feel free to cast a wider net!
Fandom Specific DNWs
  • I don’t NoTP it or anything, but I haven’t been especially drawn to any of the Elora/Jade/Kit fic I’ve seen
  • Non-canonical character death
Sense8I’m possibly in the minority in that I really loved how Amor Vincit Omnia fit so much plot into the runtime of a single movie. I don’t love that it was necessary, but I really enjoyed the implications of the result, where the various sensates loved ones had to be looped in (often offscreen) and were immediately ride or die. Love that! Devotion is never not going to get me. Along with what seems like the majority of the fandom, I am obsessed with Kala Dandekar/Rajan Rasal/Wolfgang Bogdanow and I really, really love how neat Rajan and Wolfgang think the other is when they meet. All those scenes where Kala is having a crisis about how she could possibly choose between them and the sad necessity of breaking the heart of a good man no matter what she does and Rajan and Wolfgang are staring dreamily into each other’s eyes in the background and skimming stones across a lake while holding hands are just *chef’s kiss*
Fandom Specific DNWs
  • n/a
A League of Their Own (2022)Another show I am still spitting mad about the way it was treated by the streaming service it was produced by. Support the ongoing SAG-AFTRA and SWG strikes, guys! I love this show so much. The main canonical ships are all amazing, but I also really love the gen relationships and the comradery and solidarity that the characters have (or fail to have) for each other. I love Lupe García/Jess McCready, and both of their relationships with Esti González
, but there really is nowhere you could look in this show that I wouldn’t love.
Fandom Specific DNWs
  • Fic that portrays Bertie Hart as a GNC cis woman
  • Jess/Esti
  • Lupe/Esti
  • biphobia or bi erasure
The Karate Kid/Cobra KaiI have been very intense about this franchise for a few years now and I don’t see that stopping any time soon. I love Daniel LaRusso/Johnny Lawrence (which is far and away the biggest ship in the fandom), but I also love John Kreese/Terry Silver, Tory Nichols/Sam LaRusso(/Miguel Dias/Robby Keene), Daniel LaRusso/Amanda LaRusso(/Johnny Lawrence), Johnny Lawrence/Carmen Dias, and others. I really like how this fandom lends itself to fic about the cycle of violence and trauma, but also can be extremely silly.
Fandom Specific DNWs
  • Imitating Mr. Miyagi’s accent.
  • Anything that takes the idea that Daniel was “the real bully” or that he was (even partially) responsible for being bullied in the first movie. It’s okay from an IC POV, but not as something endorsed by the narrative itself.
  • Teen ships that are not Sam/Tory or a polyship that includes Sam and Tory
  • Contact mods for a sensitive DNW that I don't feel comfortable listing publicly
The Tick (2017)This show is incredibly charming and I love it to distraction. I ship Arthur Everest/the Tick, but I am also a huge Dot Everest/Overkill (aka Esteban aka Straight Shooter) shipper.
Fandom Specific DNWs
  • Arthur Everest/Dangerboat
  • Overkill/Miss Lint (aka Janet) (except as backstory)
  • The Tick’s suit coming off/molting off and him just having a normal human body beneath, to faciliate a sex scene. Weird xeno sex or bust!
SuccessionI was hesitant to watch Succession for the longest time, because I saw a lot of self deprecating jokes from fans of the show about stanning 1%er business majors and was like “Eh, pass” but then I heard that there is a canonical kinky affair between a younger (late 30s) man and an older (mid 60s) woman and was like oh okay, now this I gotta see! I just … love these terrible people so much. They suck (affectionate) (derogatory). I obviously ship Roman Roy/Gerri Kellman, but I am also a fan of Shiv Roy/Tom Wambsgans (I am of the opinion that she really does love him, which is very inconvenient and embarrassing for her) and gen Roy sibling family feels (of both the endearing and the less endearing kinds).
Fandom Specific DNWs
  • Tom Wambsgans/Greg Hirsch
  • Kendall Roy POV
Singin’ in the RainI love this movie so much! I am such a sucker for movies (and musicals, come to that) that are about ~showbusiness~ and take place behind the scenes for a lot of the action. I find it such a fun framing device and it’s a way to play with the fourth wall that I really like. I hardcore ship Don Lockwood/Kathy Selden/Cosmo Brown (and any pairing within those three, honestly) and I love how much fun they have together and the affectionate way they poke fun at each other and support one another.
Fandom Specific DNWs
  • I do love Lina Lamont, but anything that paints her as a tragic victim of patriarchy who did nothing wrong is a bit eyeroll-y to me.
CommunityThis show is really important to me, as I think it’s the first time I’ve seen a character who is coded autistic who really maps very closely onto my experience of latching onto narrative to understand the world. Abed Nadir is the Blorbo of all time. In terms of ships, I really like any variation on the theme of Abed Nadie/Annie Edison/Troy Barnes (both shippy and gen), and I am constantly five seconds away from dropping my TED Talk about how Jeff Winger/Shirley Bennett is criminally underrated. I also quite enjoy Jeff Winger/Dean Craig Pelton and I do think that queer sex might fix Jeff. Or at least be fun!
Fandom Specific DNWs
  • A focus on Britta Perry/Jeff Winger, Britta Perry/Troy Barnes, Jeff Winger/Annie Edison, or Britta Perry/Annie Edison
  • Britta Perry POV
Only Murders in the BuildingI love this intergenerational crime fighting friend group so damn much. I haven’t read a lot of fic, so I don’t know what is out there to pod, but I really ship Mabel Mora/Theo Dimas, Charles Hayden Savage/Oliver Putnam (I can really see them both being closeted up til now with varying degrees of self awareness about it, from Charles being like “Well, I’ll just not think about that” to Oliver never really thinking twice about it because he thinks everyone is a bit bi). I also like Mabel/any of her canonical love interests. I think this is a great fandom for a gen fic though, because it’s a mystery show about friendship. It would also be a fun one to pod, potentially, since it’s centred around the character’s creating a podcast!
Fandom Specific DNWs
  • I don’t know how likely this is, but nothing where anything bad happens to Winnie (Oliver’s dog)
Our Flag Means DeathI really feel like my life is now divided into pre-OFMD and post-OFMD, because apparently now blatant queer subtext between the main characters in a mainstream show that hasn’t been marketed as an LGBT show is like … not automatically queerbaiting? Sometimes it’s actually going to pay off??? That said, while I do absolutely adore Stede Bonnet/Ed (Blackbeard) Teach, I am really besotted with the ensemble cast and I love gen fic about them as well as shippy fic about other ships. I went completely hog wild writing Frenchie/Wee John fic when season one came out, but I also really like Jim Jimenez/Oluwande, Oluwande/Frenchie(/Wee John), Lucius Spriggs/Black Pete, Jim/Lucius and I feel like I could definitely be convinced of some sad post-S1 finale Frenchie/Jim fic. I also ship Izzy Hands/Lucius on principle and, again, I think that queer sex might fix Izzy. I feel like he is pretty unambiguously in love with Ed in canon, and I am not averse to him getting in on the main ship in Izzy/Ed/Stede fic.
Fandom Specific DNWs
  • Imitating Jim’s accent.
  • Imitating the way Black Pete’s cleft palate affects his speech.
  • Killing Lucius for real.
Good Omens (TV)I’m a lifelong fan of the book, but I was an avid lurker in the GO fandom in the early to mid–2000s, but I have only gotten into the TV fandom after the second season. Similarly to what I said about OFMD, again, truly it is a brave new world out there! I love Aziraphale/Crowley, but I have also fallen—nay plummetted, no vaguely santering about it—into shipping Beelzebub/Gabriel and I sigh dreamily over them several times a day. I also ship Newton Pulsifer/Anathema Device, fwiw, but I don’t know how much fic there is out there for them. I know that when I was doggedly looking in the early 2000s there wasn’t a lot, haha.
Fandom Specific DNWs
  • She/her or he/him pronouns used in narration to refer to Beelzebub, Muriel (the 37th degree angelic scrivener from S2), Pollution (the horseperson of the apocalypse who took over from Pestilence), or other characters who canonically use they/them pronouns. In-character mistakes are okay.
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.

obstinatecondolement: A robot, depicted as though the viewer is looking up at it, extending one bend arm towards the night sky while looking upwards (robot)
Dear Purimgifts creator,

I'm [archiveofourown.org profile] SweetPollyOliver! Thank you so much for offering one/some of my requested fandoms! I'm really excited to see what you cook up.

This is my first time participating in Purimgifts, so I am not very familiar with the culture specific to the exchange and how important or unimportant letter writing is considered to be, so please take this simply as an "if this is useful" kind of thing. I'm very easy to please, provided you steer clear of DNWs and the archive tags I have asked to be excluded in my sign-up (i.e. Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con and Underage), and I'd be much happier to think that you made something that you had a great time making than that you got stressed worrying about what I might like or dislike.

I'm writing a letter largely because in other exchanges I have participated in people tended to prefer having some level of guidance from their recip, but nothing I say here should be considered written in stone. Feel free to create a fanwork featuring any characters or ship, I am equally happy with something shippy or gen and I don't have a preference in terms of ratings. If I've strayed too far in the direction of not giving enough ideas, I'm really sorry. Prompts don't come very easily to me and I enjoy being surprised.

General likes, DNWs and fandom specific likes beneath the cut )

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obstinatecondolement: Deanna Troi from Star Trek: The Next Generation shown from the shoulders up, standing in front of a painting of a planet (Default)
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