Once upon a fic Letter 2024
Feb. 20th, 2024 01:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flo_neljaDear Once_Upon_Fic Writer,
I'm glad we have fairy tales and myths in common! I'm sure you will write an awesome story! I signed as Nelja-in-English, Nelja is my usual pseud.
What I like: Worldbuilding, characters being clever and witty, foreshadowing, weird surrealist crack that makes sense, dreams or illusion themes, characters knowing and understanding each other well, unreliable narrators, ethical dilemmas, strong women, queer themes, horror themes.
What I prefer not to read: AUs except for canon divergence, character bashing, pandemics, cheating, humor based on misunderstandings or incompetence, post-canon/AU with a sad ending when the canon has a happy one (except specified otherwise), bashing of either science/rationality or magic/spirituality to make the other one look better.
Christabel - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Link: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Christabel;_Kubla_Khan;_The_Pains_of_Sleep_(1816)/Christabel
Characters: Christabel, Geraldine, Roland, Leoline
I'm interested in so many things in this story! Geraldine's origin: is she a ghost? a witch? a vampire? a changeling? is her father really who she pretends? how did she get supernatural powers? Is she doing gleeful evil, or does she have her own angsty story?
The relationship between the fathers: I like to imagine they were lovers or at least had UST, and that it's a part of their fight, and one of the reason they're so eager for reconciliation. You can write a full backstory without the girls and I'll be happy.
Erotic mind control: damn so hot. If you're here for f/f smut with all sweet angst and corruption themes, I'm here too! Christabel is a very sweet heroine for this.
More about Christabel's relationship with her mother (ghost mother!) would be very interesting too.
And of course, the elephant in the room: I'm dying to see a continuation of the story about what was Geraldine's actual plan about Roland, Leoline and Christabel, and if she will win! I read that Coleridge's original plans was to have Geraldine take the shape of Christabel's fiancé, it could be very interesting.
Lokasenna (Poetic Edda)
Link: http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe10.htm
Characters: Odin, Loki
I've always been intrigued by all the backstory between Loki and Odin alluded to in the text. There are a lot of details that could be expanded to give a full story.
"Remember, Othin, | in olden days
That we both our blood have mixed;
Then didst thou promise | no ale to pour,
Unless it were brought for us both."
or
Winters eight | wast thou under the earth,
Milking the cows as a maid,
(Ay, and babes didst thou bear;
Unmanly thy soul must seem.)"
or
"They say that with spells | in Samsey once
Like witches with charms didst thou work;
And in witch's guise | among men didst thou go;
Unmanly thy soul must seem."
I'd be up for an exploration of any of these stories! I like Odin and Loki as snarky friends, or as bitter ex-friends, and I like to read them as a ship too. I think humor suits their past well, even if it can of course be mixed with more serious themes.
Of course don't don't have to show both the characters, these are individual adventures, but it would be nice to have a hint about how the other knows the personal details.
If you invent fully a story though, I'd like it better if they're both in it (and would be very happy about it)
The Marsh King's Daughter - Hans Christian Andersen
Link: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Hans_Andersen%27s_fairy_tales_(Robinson)/The_Marsh_King%27s_Daughter
Characters: Helga
I love very much Helga's weird condition at the beginning of the tale, and I would be really interested in a fic exploring this duality. Does she have two sets of memories, or does she remember at days what her nights are like, and vice versa? How does she feel about it? If she doesn't remember, what does day!Helga think when other people talk about their dreams or their nights, and what does night!Helga know about the world?
Pure introspection is good, daily life scenes with her parents or the storks are good too! Dark themes are okay, but no bashing, and please don't kill any animal in the fic, especially not baby storks.
The Snow Queen - Hans Christian Andersen
Link: http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/hersholt/TheSnowQueen_e.html
Characters: The Robber Girl
I'd like some Robber Girl adventures!
It would be nice if she met some other characters, like the Old Woman who knew magic, or the Crows... Crossovers are good too! I have read basically all of Andersen's fairy tales, so feel free!
I love her natural cheerful violence, and how it's compensated by her rejecting her family and liking Gerda's way better.
I also like fics where she has a huge crush on Gerda. It can be conscious or not. It can be them going together in an adventure, post-canon, or in an AU where Gerda was caught by the Snow Queen and the Robber Girl comes to her rescue.
I'd love no bad ending, bittersweet endings are fine. I'm not here for breaking the Gerda/Kay or for cheating, but I'm open to polyamory (and Kay doesn't have to be in the fic in person either).
The Tragic Death of Cu Roi mac Dairi
Links: http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/celtic/ctexts/curoi.html
https://sejh.pagesperso-orange.fr/keltia/version-en/deathcuroi2.html
Characters: Cu Roi mac Dairi, Ferchertne
I love Curoi as a character a lot. He has the potential to be a very cartoonish character "turned upon the latter, thrust him into the earth to his armpits, cropped his hair with his sword, rubbed cow-dung into his head, and then went home", as much as a very tragic one. I love him as a no-nonsense character, or as a mysterious, fairy-like one.
I love the almost-mythological version where his soul is inside an apple inside a salmon: did he put it here? or was he born this way, and bards needed to prophetize where his soul actually was?
About bards, I ship Ferchertne->Curoi a bit, so don't hesitate to go here!
I'm glad we have fairy tales and myths in common! I'm sure you will write an awesome story! I signed as Nelja-in-English, Nelja is my usual pseud.
What I like: Worldbuilding, characters being clever and witty, foreshadowing, weird surrealist crack that makes sense, dreams or illusion themes, characters knowing and understanding each other well, unreliable narrators, ethical dilemmas, strong women, queer themes, horror themes.
What I prefer not to read: AUs except for canon divergence, character bashing, pandemics, cheating, humor based on misunderstandings or incompetence, post-canon/AU with a sad ending when the canon has a happy one (except specified otherwise), bashing of either science/rationality or magic/spirituality to make the other one look better.
Christabel - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Link: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Christabel;_Kubla_Khan;_The_Pains_of_Sleep_(1816)/Christabel
Characters: Christabel, Geraldine, Roland, Leoline
I'm interested in so many things in this story! Geraldine's origin: is she a ghost? a witch? a vampire? a changeling? is her father really who she pretends? how did she get supernatural powers? Is she doing gleeful evil, or does she have her own angsty story?
The relationship between the fathers: I like to imagine they were lovers or at least had UST, and that it's a part of their fight, and one of the reason they're so eager for reconciliation. You can write a full backstory without the girls and I'll be happy.
Erotic mind control: damn so hot. If you're here for f/f smut with all sweet angst and corruption themes, I'm here too! Christabel is a very sweet heroine for this.
More about Christabel's relationship with her mother (ghost mother!) would be very interesting too.
And of course, the elephant in the room: I'm dying to see a continuation of the story about what was Geraldine's actual plan about Roland, Leoline and Christabel, and if she will win! I read that Coleridge's original plans was to have Geraldine take the shape of Christabel's fiancé, it could be very interesting.
Lokasenna (Poetic Edda)
Link: http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe10.htm
Characters: Odin, Loki
I've always been intrigued by all the backstory between Loki and Odin alluded to in the text. There are a lot of details that could be expanded to give a full story.
"Remember, Othin, | in olden days
That we both our blood have mixed;
Then didst thou promise | no ale to pour,
Unless it were brought for us both."
or
Winters eight | wast thou under the earth,
Milking the cows as a maid,
(Ay, and babes didst thou bear;
Unmanly thy soul must seem.)"
or
"They say that with spells | in Samsey once
Like witches with charms didst thou work;
And in witch's guise | among men didst thou go;
Unmanly thy soul must seem."
I'd be up for an exploration of any of these stories! I like Odin and Loki as snarky friends, or as bitter ex-friends, and I like to read them as a ship too. I think humor suits their past well, even if it can of course be mixed with more serious themes.
Of course don't don't have to show both the characters, these are individual adventures, but it would be nice to have a hint about how the other knows the personal details.
If you invent fully a story though, I'd like it better if they're both in it (and would be very happy about it)
The Marsh King's Daughter - Hans Christian Andersen
Link: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Hans_Andersen%27s_fairy_tales_(Robinson)/The_Marsh_King%27s_Daughter
Characters: Helga
I love very much Helga's weird condition at the beginning of the tale, and I would be really interested in a fic exploring this duality. Does she have two sets of memories, or does she remember at days what her nights are like, and vice versa? How does she feel about it? If she doesn't remember, what does day!Helga think when other people talk about their dreams or their nights, and what does night!Helga know about the world?
Pure introspection is good, daily life scenes with her parents or the storks are good too! Dark themes are okay, but no bashing, and please don't kill any animal in the fic, especially not baby storks.
The Snow Queen - Hans Christian Andersen
Link: http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/hersholt/TheSnowQueen_e.html
Characters: The Robber Girl
I'd like some Robber Girl adventures!
It would be nice if she met some other characters, like the Old Woman who knew magic, or the Crows... Crossovers are good too! I have read basically all of Andersen's fairy tales, so feel free!
I love her natural cheerful violence, and how it's compensated by her rejecting her family and liking Gerda's way better.
I also like fics where she has a huge crush on Gerda. It can be conscious or not. It can be them going together in an adventure, post-canon, or in an AU where Gerda was caught by the Snow Queen and the Robber Girl comes to her rescue.
I'd love no bad ending, bittersweet endings are fine. I'm not here for breaking the Gerda/Kay or for cheating, but I'm open to polyamory (and Kay doesn't have to be in the fic in person either).
The Tragic Death of Cu Roi mac Dairi
Links: http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/celtic/ctexts/curoi.html
https://sejh.pagesperso-orange.fr/keltia/version-en/deathcuroi2.html
Characters: Cu Roi mac Dairi, Ferchertne
I love Curoi as a character a lot. He has the potential to be a very cartoonish character "turned upon the latter, thrust him into the earth to his armpits, cropped his hair with his sword, rubbed cow-dung into his head, and then went home", as much as a very tragic one. I love him as a no-nonsense character, or as a mysterious, fairy-like one.
I love the almost-mythological version where his soul is inside an apple inside a salmon: did he put it here? or was he born this way, and bards needed to prophetize where his soul actually was?
About bards, I ship Ferchertne->Curoi a bit, so don't hesitate to go here!
