Dear Unsent Letters Author

[hiddencait]

Dear Author,

You are amazing. I want to tell you that up front, because you are.

Please don’t stress about this assignment. Honestly, epistolary/found document style stories are one of my very favorite types of formats, and the fact that you’re going to write me an epistolary for one of my fave fandoms makes it that much better.  Also, I love gifts in general, so I’ll be chuffed to get a prize of any shape and size. Really, it’s a win/win from my perspective – so no stress needed on your part!

I know this letter is ridiculously long as I tend to babble and want to offer as much inspiration as possible, but don’t let that scare you off. As long as my DNWs are avoided, you’re basically guaranteed to write something I will love!

DNW:  Infertility/miscarriage; Covid; slave worlds; possession/mind control; prostitution; noncom/dubcon; requested character death; non-canon infidelity; love triangles/jealousy focus (I am far more fond of OT3ing it up); A/B/O; gangster/mob/noir settings; Modern AUs that remove canon SFF or historical elements; amnesia; loss of limb/amputations; mpreg; gender swap; teacher/student relationships; focus on drug abuse/alcoholism; or non-canon sibling incest. Please no 2nd person or 1st person POVs outside of the epistolary sections (Unless the source material for the fandom is in 1st person – then go for it!).  For M-rated fics, please no knife/blood/gun play (only in a sexual context – canon action scene type violence is fine); embarrassment/mocking of a Sub by their Dom; scat and/or watersports; rape-as-fantasy-scenes; and any kind of direct blow in a sexual connotation, including spanking/flogging.

Yes Please: Competency kink; slice of life/domestic fic; epistolary/found documents style stories (duh LOL); found family dynamics; crossovers between requested fandoms; crossovers with characters ending up at the Gertrude Hunt of Ilona Andrews’ Innkeeper Chronicles series; AUs (particularly Regency, Black Jewels trilogy verse, Sentinel/Guide, Old West, and Pacific Rim fusions); outsider POVs; post-apocalypse; supernatural elements like hauntings/werewolves/fae/etc.; fixit fics to bring back killed off characters; and 5 and 1 style fics. For M-rated fics, I particularly love dirty talk; Dom/Sub dynamic (Service Dom and Service Sub a plus); a Dom ordering their Sub around; hair-pulling; restraint i.e.: ropes/handcuffs/holding partner down; wall sex; shower sex; cramped vehicular sex; biting/marking (without major blood being drawn); mate bonds; “OMG we didn’t die” sex; and “sharing body heat” leading to sex.

Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen 
Colonel Brandon/Eleanor Dashwood
Format: Letters

This pairing is one that fandom totally sold me on. Elinor and Brandon really do feel like a better match than the ones they got, with a quiet glorious competence and respect between them that I could see growing into a strong, contented marriage. It might be a quieter love than one with Marianne involved, but that doesn’t mean it would be any less strong (honestly in my opinion I think that would be a stronger relationship!). I definitely do want shippyness for this fandom if possible though it definitely can be pre-ship. I would prefer if you didn’t kill off or thoroughly ruin Marianne to make it happen, but I do want my Brandon and Eleanor to end up together and happily in love instead of the attitude that they are just “settling” for each other. This is a fandom that I’d be especially game for crossovers for, especially with other Austin stories (Pride & Prejudice and Sanditon are my other faves) or the other fandoms requested here.

North and South – Elizabeth Gaskell
Margaret Hale/John Thornton
Format: Letters

Oh my HEART. In some ways, this book/mini series blows Jane Austen out of the water for me. Darcy who? John Thornton (as played by Richard Armitage of course) is easily my favorite Regency hero of all times: brooding, honest, and desperately in love with Margaret. Letters between the two as they fall in love, awkward letters to family members to announce their relationship, even gossip articles about the relationship in the society pages – I’d love absolutely anything for these two! I know it looks like I don’t have as much to say here as I do about some of the other requested fandoms, but honestly it’s because my brain just dissolves into swooning when I think about them and I lose any ability to articulate the things I love about them LOL.

Crimson Peak (2015) 
Edith Cushing/Thomas Sharpe, Edith Cushing/Alan McMichael/Thomas Sharpe, Edith Cushing/Alan McMichael
Format: Books and Articles; Journals and Diaries; Letters

Man this is so my aesthetic in the best of ways. The semi-sentient (and not remotely benevolent) mansion, the moths, the tragic siblings, the ghoooooooosts, Edith’s everything, Tom Hiddleston being utterly magnetic despite the truly terrible things he’s done (or allowed to be done), and Alan’s quite steady competence and support and surprise interest in ghosts along with Edith. I just loved this film. I have been surprised, however, by how few Thomas/Edith/Alan fics there are. Something about that nod between Alan and Thomas at the funeral and the moment of connection (literal with a knife LOL) at the entrance to the mansion really just worked for me. So yeah, if at all possible, I would love fix it fic to keep Thomas alive that ends up OT3’d. I have no idea how to get there: should it be after everything with Thomas surviving bc Alan is an amazing doctor? Have the three of them been negotiating this behind Lucille’s back throughout Edith’s courtship? Was Alan actually the one to win Edith’s hand but then realizes he and Edith are both still fascinated with Thomas and set out to woo him together, winning him free of the hold Lucille has over him? What if Edith and Alan never met Thomas in Buffalo, could their mutual interest in ghosts lead them to Allerdale Hall eventually? So. Many. Options)!  Alternately, if OT3 isn’t your thing, I’d be game for either Edith/Thomas or Edith/Alan working their way to as happy an ever after as is possible with all of their combined trauma (Edith/Alan ghost hunters/researchers would be love here). I would prefer NOT to have solely Thomas/Alan with Edith sidelined however. Also, please avoid discussions of Edith having infertility or miscarriages, and I’d prefer to have Lucille off screen as opposed to a very present side character to the requested three if that makes sense? Like ghost Lucille existing sure, but not a heavy focus on her in the present story timeline.

Post WWI Linked Ghost Story Romances – Simone St. James
Sarah Piper & Jillian Leigh; Sarah Piper & Jillian Leigh & Kitty Weekes & Jo Manders & Ellie Winter
Format: Letters

A friend dragged me kicking and screaming (occasionally literally thanks to the creepy factor lol) into this author’s ghost story romances, but I have loved every one of them so far and am super sad that I’m literally the only person who has written for any of the books (and only a single one in a previous Yuletide no less LOL). While not listed as a specific series, each of the books is set in the same timeframe, and there are little Easter egg mentions of various characters from earlier books showing up in the later books making all of this a true connected canon. The love interests are great, but the real stars are definitely the main characters of the ladies getting drawn into the ghostly world in one way or another. The one thing this series is lacking for me, however, are really great women friendships, and honestly, who better to be friends than these heroines? It’s not as if they could talk about what they’ve experienced with just anyone, now could they? While SILENCE OF THE DEAD is my fave, and I’ve read INQUIRY INTO LOVE AND DEATH most recently, all five of the books are a delight, and I’d love to see letters between any of these ladies or even something like a “Ladies Paranormalist Meeting” minutes. Mentions of the men from the series will of course be welcome, but I really want a focus on these women being friends and/or correspondents with each other.

An Inquiry into Love and Death – Simone St. James 
Jillian Leigh/Drew Merriken
Format: Books and Articles; Journals and Diaries; Letters

As I mentioned above, INQUIRY is the book I’ve read most recently for the series (and the only one already with an archive listing), so I figured I’d go ahead and request it separately. For Drew and Jillian, I would love a glimpse into how their courtship goes after she returns to University. This is a fandom where I think epistolary stories/romance would be especially fun, though I also wouldn’t mind seeing a few ghostly letters show up from her Father/Uncle as if he was able to follow her home and finally manage to almost be family from the other side as he never was capable of in life. But regardless, Drew and Jillian are a delight on their own! As far as books or journals, glimpses of the book Toby might have written or even a coauthored book by Toby and Jillian for a posthumous release could be really cool to play with.

Whew that’s it, I think! I’m impressed if you managed to read through all of this ridiculously long letter, but I appreciate it if you did and I’m so so excited to see what you come up with!