Dear Ladystuck gifter,
Let me just say right off the bat - besides thank you! - that I know my prompts have quite a lot going on and (re-)reassure you that I don't expect you to hit everything there or even most things! That would be ridiculous. I tried to phrase all the suggestions as suggestions, but if in doubt, always do what you're comfortable with or would seem the most fun!
The same goes for this letter, a loving revamp of the old letter. :B
These clarifications are mainly directed at fic writers, but if you're an artist or interested in doing art, I will be really happy with what you make of these characters and themes. Some of them are really rare, so I will be delighted just to see them. Again, thank you!
Okay, so here we go.
Three of five prompts are about old ladies canoodling! I know! I'm a menace! Unless you're also into old ladies getting their ship on, in which case, isn't it a shame we're meeting through ladystuck and thus may not be able to wave excitedly at each other for several months? If elderly guardians are not your thing, there's always the lovely and-now-with-canon-support S.S.JadeRoxy, or
anyone with Jadesprite, my heart's weepy (cry)baby. And when I say ship, I mean interacting in a meaningful way. I don't need to see Nanna and Grandma snogging (although that'd be awesome too). In case it's relevant, I have no particular Beforan headcanons I must see, although I'd like it not to be a utopia. In case it's relevant, I'm not interested in seeing Caliborn redeemed or even at all. (If you did either of those things, though, I would still enjoy the heck out of whatever you create because I'm sure you'd do it thoughtfully and it'd be great.)
As you can probably tell, I really like throw-away cameos, pesterlog-styled conversations, and dialogue in general. I like my girls smart, sharp, savvy (I imagine you do too). I have a Prospit-bias, which... is probably starting to show, and a bit of a human one, which definitely shows! I like balance and having full sets, so if, say, you mention Rose in the prompt with Jade and Roxy, I'd also like at least a whiff of Jane. Also, I would be interested in seeing queer sexual orientations or gender identities for. . . pretty much any of these women, whether it's casually taken for granted in the fic proper or addressed and developed as a plot item. Wow, but don't feel pressured to make this happen.
I'm a polymultishipper and I love gen so... I would love it if you shipped things and I'd love it if you didn't. However, I don't really like romantic jealousy as a motivator (possessiveness can be okay) or cheating/adultery-centric drama. Pining for impossible love is a tricky one – I like bittersweet resignation, but desperation wrapped in self-pity often bothers me. I like subtly dysfunctional relationships, but also comfortable, biffle ones. I like power of friendship and nebulous categories of love; if the love is undeniable, but the results are still inevitably catastrophic, well, ... fantastic.
Feel free to take liberties with canon-compliance, tone/ambiance, and levels of explicitness, EVEN IF I specified something in here or in my prompts. I enjoy all ships, most kinks, and nothing squicks me, although I do like problematic elements (say, power differentials) to be addressed if not resolved. I like all of the characters in Homestuck so if you toss any others in, I would be delighted, but please treat them . . . not kindly, necessarily, but respectfully. Do terrible things to them, but do it with love.
As a general note of interests, I like identity politics and mutable boundaries of the self. Questions of sentience fall under here for all those of debatable humanity (dreambubble memory-projections, evil clones and AU counterparts, artificial intelligence and robots, anthropomorphic personifications, etc). Free-will, consent, self-determination, all that good stuff. One reason there are so many Guardians in my prompts!
I really like funky meta, pseudoscience, speculative game mechanics, and the good old dramatic ironies. I like creepy, furtive politics as much as domestic fluff.
Other random things I tend to enjoy seeing: transportation (events taking place on trains, ships, motorbikes, cars, etc); expertise and instruction (when something like tuning a piano or oceanic currents is explained and somehow paralleled to a storyline); extreme temperatures; excessive banter and weighty silences; thoughtful genderfuckary; when a character experiences unexpected fondness or empathy for someone not necessarily deserving (including themselves).
In terms of art, I am often drawn to: unusual hours of the day; unusual weather conditions; high contrast, high saturation, dramatic lighting; low saturation, soft lighting, subdued effects; limited color pallets; monochrome; unusual perspectives; repetitive architecture stretching back (bridges, staircases, traintracks, etc). Not all at the same time. Ah, this is silly, I like most things, including surprises: I defer to your judgment!
Mixing elements - from here or between prompts - is totally okay; on the flipside, only use what works for you, and don't don't DON'T stress out about including everything. If you have your own ideas, I will probably like those too, so run with them! I feed on the fannish energy of others, so if you're excited about what you're doing, I will be too.
Whew! A lot of these probably aren't even relevant to my prompts. I hope that wasn't too overwhelming and that you have some fun ideas! Thank you a ton, and please have a good time!
~ whilst
Ladystuck 2013 Requests