brightknightie | Everywoman exchange '23 "Dear Author" letter

Dear Everywoman Author:

Hi! Thank you for sharing these fandoms and loving their female characters! I’m sure that whatever you most want to celebrate and explore in these characters and their worlds will make a lovely story. If you’d like more story thoughts from me, read on.

Across all fandoms, in the proverbial nutshell:

Want: I love good guys (gender-neutral "guys") being good (especially when it's hard to be good!), the power of friendship, self sacrifice, striving, plot-rich adventures, character-rich downtime interludes between adventures, tragedies, triumphs, faith appropriate to the character, awareness of canon (AUs are most lovely when they consciously keep pinging canon), history, mystery, and story-size underlying metaphors for real life. I do lean heavily gen, but canon relationships are welcome, and thoughtfully developed non-canon relationships can be very nice indeed, too.

Do not want: I'd very much prefer not to receive a story that is pro-evil; explicitly brutal, gory, or sexual; uses concepts like mpreg*, omegaverse, etc.; or has bigotry that goes unquestioned/unpunished, including anti-religion.

Clarification: Where I've requested individual characters in the exchange, rather than groups, this doesn't mean that I necessarily want you to literally write a totally solo story (though of course you may if you want to). Rather, I'd like that selected character to be the focus of the story, and for you to select or create other appropriate characters to accompany her in whatever way leads to the best story that you most want to tell.

* Mpreg is, of course, canon in The Journey to the West in the Kingdom of Women. It therefore gets a very special, very JttW, limited exception, if you'd like to deploy it per canon to make your story all it should be. I do enjoy the Kingdom of Women very much! I'd rather mpreg not be the primary focus of the story, though.

Fandom by fandom:

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

This is one of the most tightly executed movies I've ever seen. It's so marvelous! Chef's kiss! I had not previously seen the original Puss in Boots. I barely remembered the Shrek movies. But this! I heard the buzz, and it was so true. It should have been last year's best picture. Please, if you would like to, show me more about Kitty Softpaws, Goldy, or Mama Bear. A side adventure? An interlude between adventures? A reunion down the road? Backsliding toward crime but with a heart of gold? (My Kitty headcanon is that her declawing represents a disability and/or inflicted trauma, and she takes it, uses it, and never lets anything hold her back an inch. Puss and his anxiety have much to learn from her, if only by example.)

Marvel Cinematic Universe

I've been a Marvel Comics fan ever since I can remember and an MCU fan since Iron Man. Loki has always been around, causing trouble, occasionally contributing excellently to this plot or that (eternal kudos to Adams and Claremont for X-Men Annual #9 and its Alpha Flight and New Mutants associates). But I never cared about Loki as a character until I met Sylvie in their TV show. I'm fascinated by her. Please, if you would like to, show me something more, perhaps about her family, her growing up, her isolation and her reaching out, her grand scheme, her favorite apocalypse to take refuge in? Her extreme dislike for being called "a Loki?"

(If you happen to want to tag in other MCU (or 616) characters, feel free to go wherever your story takes you. I like them all in their different ways. In passing, I note that I am currently utterly enthralled by Jed MacKay's Doctor Strange run starring Clea equally with Stephen. The Scarlet Witch has been my favorite superhero since Marvel Team-up Annual #5 (!) and I am still mad at Byrne and now Raimi, too, for brutally, cavalierly demolishing her established canon (Wanda/Vision forever). And Illyana Rasputin and Danielle Moonstar and I go way, way, waaaaaay back.)

Pokemon GO

I'm level 50, Team Valor. I'm a PvP player rather than a shiny hunter; I actually won 1 local Silph Cup tournament. I have spent waaaaay more time in this game than I should have. And I know a fair assortment of the main-series games/anime lore. Just a few possible concepts:

Sierra: What's the story behind Sierra's Strange Eggs project? What's the story behind her being the Team GO Rocket eggs/breeding lead? Or dark-type specialist? What's a Community Day like as she sees it?
Candela: What about a story where she decides to stop battling Team GO Rocket piecemeal and defeat them en masse once and for all? Or something about what has the coming of PvP meant for her, as the PvP specialist among the team leaders? Or what it's like being here in our world? (My head-canon is that she's from Unova). What's a Community Day like for her, with all the incoming Pokemon to tag and release back to the wild?

JttW: Journey to the West (Monkey King)

I discovered Journey to the West via the amazing, rollicking, animatic retelling by Red of "Overly Sarcastic Productions" (which you must check out if you love this story! so fun!) and also the version on the "Myths & Legends" podcast. Since then, I've watched a children's retelling and a "Lost in Adaptation" analysis, read Julia Lovell's abridged translation of the original, and am now almost halfway through the unabridged, academic translation by Anthony C. Yu (endnotes. so many endnotes.). I'm a Patreon supporter of the "Journey of the Monkey King" podcast and I follow several JttW accounts on Twitter, including Journey to the West Research. I've also read and adored the present-day JttW sequel "Genie Lo" YA novels by F.C. Yee (more, please!) and enjoyed Monkey Around by Jadie Jang. (And I watched American-born Chinese on Disney+. YMMV.) Whether you're here for the deep allegories, the snarky hilarity, or both, I'm with you.

Just a few possible scenarios:

Guanyin: How about another incident in which Guanyin is not immediately at her very best (like when her pet goldfish went rogue)? Or another time in which Monkey challenges what seems to be cruel from her (like the migraine headband)?
White Bone Demon: Everyone wants to eat Tripitaka, but few get as close as the White Bone Demon! What if she manages to return and try again, either by escaping her afterlife punishment or by rigging her next incarnation or another method?
Lady Iron Fan: Perhaps some AUing, in which Sandy (usually our most compassionate pilgrim) convinces Monkey that they should openly ally with her to achieve their ends, instead of deceiving and fighting her? Or maybe something about being Red Boy's mother, before or after he goes to serve Guanyin? Or put the Bull Demon King in his place by 2023 standards, good golly.

D&DC: Dungeons & Dragons (the ‘80s cartoon)

I love all the usual adventures and would love to share more of them. I’m intrigued by the possibilities of stories of our gang grown up, whether in the Realm or back here, and also by stories that reveal more than the faint clues we have about their lives back home, before or after the Realm. I enjoy stories of them in the midst of growing up, and every kind of quest for or journey home from the Realm or back to the Realm. (Any romances should please suit their ages and eras, whether 1980s teenagers or 2020s adults.)

All the requested characters are intriguing, delightful, and welcome in their own ways! Here are just a few possible scenarios for a few of them:

Diana: Perhaps a story where Diana is temporarily injured and she has to deal with her deep fears of her body betraying her while still winning through the adventure of the week? Or maybe Hank is unavailable in some way and Diana has to lead and has to exercise authority in unfamiliar ways for everyone's good? What about exploring how Diana feels about where her hard-earned acrobatic skills end and her javelin's magically-bestowed enhancements begin? Or how does Diana process being, weirdly, nearly the only Black person in the Realm in that era -- maybe the kids could finally get somewhere in the Realm that doesn't look like Old Europe and Diana's not the one who visually stands out?
Sheila: Who is Sheila when she's not the big sister or the little mother -- does she really yet know herself? when and how does she find out? Or perhaps a story tackling the relationship or tension between her thief/rogue invisibility and her fear of being alone? Maybe a between-the-adventures interlude with Sheila being very brave in her own way, and one of the others truly appreciating it? Or, my new pet theory, what if Sheila skipped a grade back at kindergarten, which is why she's younger than the others, and is actually The Smart One, and the others don't know, because she's always hidden it?
Martha: If Martha and/or her parents were once Dungeon Master's pupils, what was her, or were her parents', Weapons of Power from the Dragon's Graveyard, and what happened to the weapons? Perhaps a tale of Martha relating -- or refusing to relate -- her backstory to our gang, trying to send them a message? Maybe an interlude in the future where we see she's moved on from her one canon appearance stronger and happier and more satisfied with her life than we found her?

BSG78: Battlestar Galactica (the original)

In my imagination, since childhood, this canon always feels like it must actually be several seasons long, and I’ve just somehow missed many episodes that absolutely must exist. All the requested characters are loved and welcomed! Here are just a few possible scenarios for just a few of them:

Cassiopeia: Maybe something with Cassiopeia as a medtech treating civilians, or mentoring new medtechs? Perhaps she and Starbuck on a date, but she's the one who gets urgently called in to work, not him, because her job is super important, too? Perhaps, delicately, Cassiopeia helping Athena get the counseling that I believe Athena sorely needs, as part of exploring what the heck the fleet is doing (or failing to do) about metal health care for an entire populace with PTSD, perhaps somehow drawing on Cassiopeia's training as a socialator, even, to kick them into gear on this?
Serina: Maybe her involvement in setting up the fleet civilian communications network before she died? Maybe the reactions of the volunteers staffing that network -- maybe Rigel and Orion? somehow also even Aurora? -- to the news of her becoming a pilot, or the news of her death?
Sheba: Speaking of what the fleet is doing or failing to do about mental health, can we maybe get Sheba some kind of counseling after the incidents with Iblis getting in her head? Medical, philosophical, religious, something? Or, completely different, perhaps a flashback of life as Cain's daughter?

Highlander

I love the underlying fairy tale of the cursed blessing, the doom and endurance, and how it's a metaphor for real life. I most enjoy the first two seasons. I also love the historical content and parallels between past and present. All the requested characters are delightful and welcome! Here are just a few possible scenarios:

Tessa: Maybe a story with a villain to be overcome with Tessa able to be instrumental in the defeat in the ordinary world, not needing swords? Maybe a story about how she regarded Michelle when she and Duncan were friends with Michelle's parents? Maybe a story where Tessa internally deals with her jealousy and Duncan internally deals with his “she was your woman”-style nonsense and they both laugh at themselves and grow closer?
Anne: Maybe when and what (if anything) does Anne learn about Richie's death and Duncan's consequent breakdown? Or perhaps a between-adventures interlude of Anne in Duncan's life while her daughter is growing up, with them both still caring very much, though their romantic love is long laid to rest?
Alexa: Perhaps, wholly from her perspective, none of Methos's, one of the days in Santorini? Maybe even one of the days while he has gone away for canon appearances or immortal necessities, and then he returns to her? Or maybe from the perspective of an original character there who has been watching them both, and has different information and speculations?

Forever Knight

There's not a lot I can say that isn't already in my DW profile and in every "Dear Author" letter I've ever written. I still deeply love Forever Knight, especially its first season, and all its metaphors and colliding genres. I'm rooting for Nick and those on his side, for hope and humanity and second chances. And I know they don't come easily or without pain and loss, so I also appreciate tragic stories and character death. I'd be delighted to read a new adventure or an interlude between adventures; a flashback or a flash-forward; an AU that branches off canon at a specific moment or a missing scene that tucks perfectly inside an episode.

I'm fond of all the characters, and you should follow wherever they most interest you! But just a couple of ideas for just a couple of characters: Urs is the most significant exception to my general gen preference, because I am always longing to pair her up with Nick, somehow, and for the two of them to be stronger together, for each other, than apart, for themselves. And Rebecca (from "Dying for Fame") is so vibrant and yet still such an enigma, as canon never explains what the silent guy with the polaroids and gun actually knew and intended, never mind what Rebecca takes from that life when she's reborn into a new one, whether she recovers who she once was or is someone wholly new (inside, I mean, not just her alias).

In the unlikely event you'd like more, try my "likes & dislikes" tag here on DW. It has my past "Dear Author" letters for assorted exchanges, including all past EveryWoman events, plus a few chatty posts about things I like and dislike in fanfic. Or you might try my standing likes & dislikes post. I last updated it in '21, but not much has changed!

Thank you so much!