Amy (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
brightknightie) wrote2013-02-18 02:57 pm
brightknightie) wrote2013-02-18 02:57 pm
Entry tags:
2013 Rarewomen Author Letter
Dear 2013 ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
rarewomen Ficathon Exchange Author,
Thank you for accepting my prompts in this game! That you received them means that you're a fan of FK, HL, YB or BSG'78, so I'm looking forward to meeting you (if we don't already know each other) once the stories are revealed.
I have a standing "Fanfic Likes and Dislikes" post (on LJ and (on DW). It covers pretty much everything anyone could want to know about what floats or sinks my boat as a fanfiction reader, at ridiculous length. (Feel free to skip it!) In short, I love canonicity, history, sad songs, steadfastness, and struggles for the good and right; I dislike kinks, out-of-character, absurdity, lack of consequences, and depicting evil as admirable. That said, I'm sure I will both enjoy and appreciate anything you're moved to write in our shared fandom!
Please mix, match or isolate the listed characters within each fandom as suits your imagination. While some can overlap, others obviously do not belong in the same stories! (These are "or" requests, not "and.")
These four are the dearest fandoms of my heart. Specifically about the rare characters requested:
Janette (recurring in first and second seasons, plus "The Human Factor," and referenced in "Black Buddha, Part 1" and "Last Knight") seems oddly rare in fanfiction for a character so prominent. I believe that her third-season absence alone does not explain her neglect. Of Janette's many contributions to FK, my favorite ways to view her are as the personification of Nick's deep, complicated roots in the vampirism he rightly resists, and as Nick's fellow, equal, but differently-coping, victim of Lacroix's abuse. Her accomplishments and entanglements as a businesswoman are also important. There are many opportunities to fill in what Janette was doing off-screen, while Nick's (or Lacroix's) story unfolded on-screen! There are even more to launch new stories, exploring FK's themes from where she has chosen to stand.
Urs ("Black Buddha, Part 2," "Hearts of Darkness," "Trophy Girl," "Ashes to Ashes") had more potential than canon ever got around to exploring. She has a conscience and self-awareness, yet she is dependent by habit and choice. She is neither precisely Vachon's kind of vampire nor Nick's. Music's place in her life may be important. Vachon's remark that she is [in HoD] as when he first knew her reveals that there have been times she was different. Among romances, I have a taste for involving Urs with Nick in hopes of them being stronger together than apart, knocking third-season off-track, and saving everyone... Third-season FK is one of the rare places where I kick canon while it's down.
Tracy (recurring in third season), in an ideal storytelling world, should have been spun off into her own series and developed her own themes. But as Nick's partner in his series, Tracy comes to echo his dilemmas in a mortal, modern, female way, especially with her family issues. One of the things I enjoy in Tracy is her AtA statement that a romance would never have worked between her and Vachon; she's recognizing this fact and moving on, not pining or contorting her life to fit his (well, any more than knowing about vampires contorts it, anyway).
Lisa (“Father Figure”), the brave but self-blaming comics fan, and Alix (“Amateur Night”), the earnest but self-centered movie star, both of whom learn from their mistakes, intrigue me and merit more stories filling in their lives and spinning out their roles in FK's themes. Lisa can re-emerge into Nick’s life years later as an adult, of course. Perhaps with identity issues, from her mother’s early death and/or her First Nations heritage and assimilated milieu? Perhaps fulfilling her declaration that they should get together and fight the forces of evil again sometime? Alix might interact with Schanke again in a “red-carpet premiere” story for the movie they made (for all that Schanke’s role is essentially scenery), or interact with Natalie (who is evidently a fan of her films), or perhaps even have some kind of entertainment-business encounter with Janette or Urs.
(I should perhaps explain that while Fleur ("Be My Valentine," referenced in "Fallen Idol" and "Last Knight") is one of my favorite FK characters, I didn't request her because I prefer to write her adventures myself. By all means, please feel free to mention her, or bring her on stage as needed!)
Last I checked, there was only one YB story on the AO3, and... I wrote it. I'm not too choosy about recruiting more! ~grin~ The series begins too fluffy for my taste, but it quickly settles out into a joyful mix of sobriety and tongue-in-cheek goofiness, adventure and morality, and it overflows with the unrealized potential of every one of its characters.
Jacqueline is the show's premise, though in such a strong ensemble not its star. Her quest for justice is the motivating force larger than any individual mission. And though the show rarely touched on it explicitly, the historical gender roles... oh, my! I understand that her impersonation of a man was itself technically a crime at that time, never mind the other price on her head. (Have you ever wondered whether perhaps YB was inspired by Tamora Pierce's Alanna? Not as much as by Dumas, obviously! But perhaps just a bit...) I like to find Jacqueline's dedication to justice, to the musketeers, and to France, indomitable -- not to be diverted by any temptation.
I wondered whether it might be neat to bring Liana ("Enchanted") back for another scheme, and to have her defeated not by Jacqueline's chromosomal immunity to her magic (an absurdly wielded -- yet completely canonical! -- Convenient Plot Device, in my opinion), but by teamwork among the Musketeers, or the hidden cleverness of the Queen preserving the kingdom for her son.
But, truly, any YB character who catches your fancy will tickle me: Charlotte? Emanuelle? Elise? Even Mimou? Go for it! (I couldn't nominate quite all of them.) Any canon-friendly gen scenario? I'm there! Romance? Well, please just tread carefully, if that's all right to ask. d'Artagnan's happy ending may be Jacqueline's hand in marriage, but Jacqueline's happy ending is the downfall of Mazarin and the safety of France with her hand on her sword! (Not to mention the sure exposure a pregnancy would bring.) How Jacqueline feels about her choices and her identity as a woman is fascinating territory, but... one of the others might be better material for a romance story?
I believe that HL's Tessa epitomizes the rare woman character, unjustly neglected and underrated by her own fandom. Granted, Tessa is difficult to write! Because of the language issue, she doesn't achieve as strongly characteristic a voice on screen as many do, and because of her modern French background, her past can seem paradoxically less accessible to English-speaking fanwriters than even characters with distant historical backgrounds. But I love her strength, capability, determination and commitment. I admire her (while acknowledging her stumbling blocks). I also think, to this day, that she and Duncan are the best genre couple ever. I love how evenly matched they are in their relationship, despite Duncan's "head start" on life; I love their mutuality.
Randi (recurring through first season through "Band of Brothers"), Angie ("The Road Not Taken," "Revenge is Sweet" and a phone call in "See No Evil"), Michelle ("Rite of Passage") and Rachel (“Homeland,” “Deliverance,” “Promises”) are all also favorite characters of mine -- not just among HL's women, but among all HL's characters. I rooted for them each to return in canon, but obviously never got much satisfaction.
(I love the early seasons of HL more than the later seasons. The Duncan/Tessa&Richie family unit is a particular favorite trope, both before and after Tessa's death.)
Serina has been a favorite ever since I was a small child watching this series with my family, at once and at different ages a mother-figure and an identification. Cassiopeia is a newer favorite since I grew up and came to understand her (and her writers, directors, actress, and cultural context) better; I cannot but be uncomfortable with her original career, but I entirely endorse her determination and self-possession in every position in which she finds herself. As apparently the only woman on the Council of Twelve during the entire series, Tinia gets my support, and Rigel, the officer with the braids who relays command directives to operations, is a pretty, serene enigma. (Neither Athena nor Sheba are dear personal favorites, but I would be happy to read thoughtful, mature approaches to either or both of them -- that is, not eliding their struggles and sometimes poor choices.)
Again, thank you for playing this game in one of my best-beloved fandoms! I hope that you have loads of fun writing, and I look forward to reading your story.
Best wishes,
Amy
[Brightknightie]
rarewomen Ficathon Exchange Author,Thank you for accepting my prompts in this game! That you received them means that you're a fan of FK, HL, YB or BSG'78, so I'm looking forward to meeting you (if we don't already know each other) once the stories are revealed.
I have a standing "Fanfic Likes and Dislikes" post (on LJ and (on DW). It covers pretty much everything anyone could want to know about what floats or sinks my boat as a fanfiction reader, at ridiculous length. (Feel free to skip it!) In short, I love canonicity, history, sad songs, steadfastness, and struggles for the good and right; I dislike kinks, out-of-character, absurdity, lack of consequences, and depicting evil as admirable. That said, I'm sure I will both enjoy and appreciate anything you're moved to write in our shared fandom!
Please mix, match or isolate the listed characters within each fandom as suits your imagination. While some can overlap, others obviously do not belong in the same stories! (These are "or" requests, not "and.")
These four are the dearest fandoms of my heart. Specifically about the rare characters requested:
Forever Knight
Characters: Janette Ducharme, Urs, Lisa Cooper, Alix Logan, Tracy Vetter
Prompt: "Nor do people light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house." --or-- "Not many sounds in life, and I include all urban and all rural sounds, exceed in interest a knock at the door."
Parameters: Gen preferred, or Nick/Janette or Nick/Urs. No kinks, NC-17 or wild AUs, please; no master/convert or human/vampire. And please, no "dark" -- that is, no promoting vampirism as admirable/desirable. Thank you!
Janette (recurring in first and second seasons, plus "The Human Factor," and referenced in "Black Buddha, Part 1" and "Last Knight") seems oddly rare in fanfiction for a character so prominent. I believe that her third-season absence alone does not explain her neglect. Of Janette's many contributions to FK, my favorite ways to view her are as the personification of Nick's deep, complicated roots in the vampirism he rightly resists, and as Nick's fellow, equal, but differently-coping, victim of Lacroix's abuse. Her accomplishments and entanglements as a businesswoman are also important. There are many opportunities to fill in what Janette was doing off-screen, while Nick's (or Lacroix's) story unfolded on-screen! There are even more to launch new stories, exploring FK's themes from where she has chosen to stand.
Urs ("Black Buddha, Part 2," "Hearts of Darkness," "Trophy Girl," "Ashes to Ashes") had more potential than canon ever got around to exploring. She has a conscience and self-awareness, yet she is dependent by habit and choice. She is neither precisely Vachon's kind of vampire nor Nick's. Music's place in her life may be important. Vachon's remark that she is [in HoD] as when he first knew her reveals that there have been times she was different. Among romances, I have a taste for involving Urs with Nick in hopes of them being stronger together than apart, knocking third-season off-track, and saving everyone... Third-season FK is one of the rare places where I kick canon while it's down.
Tracy (recurring in third season), in an ideal storytelling world, should have been spun off into her own series and developed her own themes. But as Nick's partner in his series, Tracy comes to echo his dilemmas in a mortal, modern, female way, especially with her family issues. One of the things I enjoy in Tracy is her AtA statement that a romance would never have worked between her and Vachon; she's recognizing this fact and moving on, not pining or contorting her life to fit his (well, any more than knowing about vampires contorts it, anyway).
Lisa (“Father Figure”), the brave but self-blaming comics fan, and Alix (“Amateur Night”), the earnest but self-centered movie star, both of whom learn from their mistakes, intrigue me and merit more stories filling in their lives and spinning out their roles in FK's themes. Lisa can re-emerge into Nick’s life years later as an adult, of course. Perhaps with identity issues, from her mother’s early death and/or her First Nations heritage and assimilated milieu? Perhaps fulfilling her declaration that they should get together and fight the forces of evil again sometime? Alix might interact with Schanke again in a “red-carpet premiere” story for the movie they made (for all that Schanke’s role is essentially scenery), or interact with Natalie (who is evidently a fan of her films), or perhaps even have some kind of entertainment-business encounter with Janette or Urs.
(I should perhaps explain that while Fleur ("Be My Valentine," referenced in "Fallen Idol" and "Last Knight") is one of my favorite FK characters, I didn't request her because I prefer to write her adventures myself. By all means, please feel free to mention her, or bring her on stage as needed!)
Young Blades
Characters: Jacqueline Roget, Queen Anne (Anne of Austria), Liana the Sorceress
Prompt: Perhaps a story where Liana returns to scheme with Mazarin, and is thwarted by Jacqueline or Queen Anne (in cooperation with other characters, of course)? Or Queen Anne discerns Jacqueline's secret? Or Jacqueline reminisces or learns about one or both of her parents? (If Monsieur Roget was once a musketeer's lackey, or even somehow across class lines a musketeer himself, he apparently never told Jacqueline, while yet teaching his children advanced swordplay and filling their heads with musketeer stories. Madame Roget is a complete mystery, besides her early death and apparently happy marriage and family life.)
Parameters: Gen preferred (but flirtation and UST okay). No kinks, NC-17 or wild AUs, thanks. And, please, no blaming Mazarin's evil on the whole Church. Thank you!
Last I checked, there was only one YB story on the AO3, and... I wrote it. I'm not too choosy about recruiting more! ~grin~ The series begins too fluffy for my taste, but it quickly settles out into a joyful mix of sobriety and tongue-in-cheek goofiness, adventure and morality, and it overflows with the unrealized potential of every one of its characters.
Jacqueline is the show's premise, though in such a strong ensemble not its star. Her quest for justice is the motivating force larger than any individual mission. And though the show rarely touched on it explicitly, the historical gender roles... oh, my! I understand that her impersonation of a man was itself technically a crime at that time, never mind the other price on her head. (Have you ever wondered whether perhaps YB was inspired by Tamora Pierce's Alanna? Not as much as by Dumas, obviously! But perhaps just a bit...) I like to find Jacqueline's dedication to justice, to the musketeers, and to France, indomitable -- not to be diverted by any temptation.
I wondered whether it might be neat to bring Liana ("Enchanted") back for another scheme, and to have her defeated not by Jacqueline's chromosomal immunity to her magic (an absurdly wielded -- yet completely canonical! -- Convenient Plot Device, in my opinion), but by teamwork among the Musketeers, or the hidden cleverness of the Queen preserving the kingdom for her son.
But, truly, any YB character who catches your fancy will tickle me: Charlotte? Emanuelle? Elise? Even Mimou? Go for it! (I couldn't nominate quite all of them.) Any canon-friendly gen scenario? I'm there! Romance? Well, please just tread carefully, if that's all right to ask. d'Artagnan's happy ending may be Jacqueline's hand in marriage, but Jacqueline's happy ending is the downfall of Mazarin and the safety of France with her hand on her sword! (Not to mention the sure exposure a pregnancy would bring.) How Jacqueline feels about her choices and her identity as a woman is fascinating territory, but... one of the others might be better material for a romance story?
Highlander
Characters: Tessa Noel, Randi McFarland, Angie Burke, Michelle Webster, Rachel MacLeod
Prompt: Perhaps a story with a mortal villain to be overcome (like "Bad Day in Building A" or "Deadly Medicine") with Tessa bravely involved (like "See No Evil" and "Eyewitness")? Perhaps a story from when Tessa and Duncan were friends of Michelle's parents, and Michelle was a child? Or Angie or Michelle reacting to Tessa's or Richie's deaths? (Richie's public "death" on the motorcycle track, I mean.) Or Randi re-entering canon later, elsewhere, working as the true investigative journalist she always wanted to be... or pushed out of journalism altogether? Or Michelle in the present day, getting news that one of her parents is dying? Or Rachel's subsequent government career, per her entry in The Watcher Chronicles?
Parameters: Duncan/Tessa or gen preferred (other canonically-feasible romances okay as needed). No kinks, NC-17 or wild AUs, thanks. No student/teacher. And please, no Zeist, The Source or Horsemen (but Methos okay if needed). Thank you!
I believe that HL's Tessa epitomizes the rare woman character, unjustly neglected and underrated by her own fandom. Granted, Tessa is difficult to write! Because of the language issue, she doesn't achieve as strongly characteristic a voice on screen as many do, and because of her modern French background, her past can seem paradoxically less accessible to English-speaking fanwriters than even characters with distant historical backgrounds. But I love her strength, capability, determination and commitment. I admire her (while acknowledging her stumbling blocks). I also think, to this day, that she and Duncan are the best genre couple ever. I love how evenly matched they are in their relationship, despite Duncan's "head start" on life; I love their mutuality.
Randi (recurring through first season through "Band of Brothers"), Angie ("The Road Not Taken," "Revenge is Sweet" and a phone call in "See No Evil"), Michelle ("Rite of Passage") and Rachel (“Homeland,” “Deliverance,” “Promises”) are all also favorite characters of mine -- not just among HL's women, but among all HL's characters. I rooted for them each to return in canon, but obviously never got much satisfaction.
(I love the early seasons of HL more than the later seasons. The Duncan/Tessa&Richie family unit is a particular favorite trope, both before and after Tessa's death.)
Battlestar Galactica (1978)
Characters: Cassiopeia, Serina
Prompt: "Gold and love affairs are difficult to hide." --or-- "The one thing you can't trade for your heart's desire is your heart."
Parameters: Gen or Starbuck/Cassiopeia or Apollo/Serina preferred (other canonically-feasible romances okay as sidelights if needed). No kinks, NC-17 or wild AUs, thanks. No supposing that Boxey is not Serina's biological son, please (for me, on-screen canon overrides the novelization). Thank you!
Serina has been a favorite ever since I was a small child watching this series with my family, at once and at different ages a mother-figure and an identification. Cassiopeia is a newer favorite since I grew up and came to understand her (and her writers, directors, actress, and cultural context) better; I cannot but be uncomfortable with her original career, but I entirely endorse her determination and self-possession in every position in which she finds herself. As apparently the only woman on the Council of Twelve during the entire series, Tinia gets my support, and Rigel, the officer with the braids who relays command directives to operations, is a pretty, serene enigma. (Neither Athena nor Sheba are dear personal favorites, but I would be happy to read thoughtful, mature approaches to either or both of them -- that is, not eliding their struggles and sometimes poor choices.)
Again, thank you for playing this game in one of my best-beloved fandoms! I hope that you have loads of fun writing, and I look forward to reading your story.
Best wishes,
Amy
[Brightknightie]