elen_nare | Fic Corner scribbler letter 2018

Dear Fic Corner Scribbler,

First, thank you so much for this! Here are things I like or dislike in general, and ideas for each fandom. I know this looks rather long, but I'm just trying to make it as detailed as possible in case that makes it easier for you. I adore each and every one of these books, so getting fic for any of them will make me a very, very happy person!

General stuff:

Ratings-wise, I’m fine with anything. I’m fine with (of age, consensual) sex scenes if that’s where the story’s going - though gen fic is equally awesome! I’m not too fond of highly detailed graphic violence, but if it’s absolutely necessary to your fic, go ahead.

Feel free to look through my LJ for inspiration :) There's a masterlist of fic and a link to tumblr on the sidebar, too.

Story-wise: A good plot, a character piece, an exploration of friendship or romance, an adventure, a quiet moment, a missing scene, a different POV to the canon... Any and all of these are great! Gen, het, slash, femslash, are all fine. I'm not a huge fan of AUs. With crossovers it depends on the fandoms; if they're the same time period or could otherwise reasonably meet, I enjoy them.

Things I like: friendship, friends helping each other out, humour, banter, nerdiness, science, happy (or happy-ish at least, not overwhelming despair) endings, worldbuilding, sibling love (and family interactions in general)...and a great many other things! These were just the first that came to mind.

Things I dislike: suicide (I’d prefer it if you didn’t kill anyone - other than canon deaths - but if you absolutely must, please avoid suicide!), noncon/dubcon, incest, gratuitous violence, underage sex, unrelieved gloom and angst, character/ship bashing.

Fandom specific:

Obviously, all optional details are optional! I'm just giving them in case you're interested :) Spoilers abound I’m afraid, so if there’s something on here you’re interested in reading and haven’t yet, I’d avoid that section. In all of them, feel free to include any other characters, nominated or not.

Swallows and Amazons - any

This is one of my favourite book series ever. I love the way there’s never a sense of just “playing pretend” – they are (to themselves, at least) pirates or explorers or miners or an arctic expedition or martyrs or picts... I like how everyone works together, and how hard they work – how they all bring something to the team, and how they’re all valued. I like how they can be friends without having to be all the same; how they respect each other, even if they don’t see eye to eye on some things. A few ideas (you can also check my fic corner and yuletide tags, I pulled a few prompts at random from old letters, but I request this fandom a lot):

Childhood adventures at the lake? A missing moment from any of the books would be lovely… Going up to the mine again to see how it’s progressed? Another trip to Secret Water? Nancy giving the Ds sailing lessons?
Or a bit later on, when the elders are already adults and it’s just the younger ones at the Lakes ...is Titty Captain and Roger Mate of the Swallow now? Do the Ds take charge more as they grow? Is anyone sailing the Amazon? (Who's doing the cooking without Susan and Peggy?!)
Writing Peter Duck in the old wherry in winter - or writing Missee Lee, when did they do that? Another winter holiday? As letters during term-time (horrifying any teacher tasked with checking their post)?
As adults, pre, during, or post war – what do they do, how does the war affect them? I can see Dick and Dorothea at Bletchley Park, Nancy in the SOE or the Wrens? (And I headcanon Jim, and possibly Timothy as (ex) Intelligence).
The houseboat battle Nancy was planning at the end of Pigeon Post, and which Jim calmly roped Timothy into - I like to think it happened before the Walkers decamped for Pin Mill.
The Swallows and Amazons adopting Timothy as another uncle - and proceeding to include him in their plans and generally walk all over him just like they (especially Nancy) do to Jim!
If you’re pulled in a shippy direction, my favourite ships for the nominated characters are John/Nancy, Dick/Titty, Tom/Dorothea, and Jim/Timothy - but I can also see Nancy/Dorothea, or Titty/Dorothea. Not a huge fan of Timothy (or Jim) with any of the younger ones, in my head there's too much of an age gap there.

Wayward Children series - Jack Wolcott

I absolutely love this series - I’ve always enjoyed portal fantasies, and the way these books handle it fascinates me. And Jack, Jack my darling mad scientist who is so very tried by the world, who has such impossible choices laid on her shoulders, I love Jack so very much. I enjoy the precision in the way she uses her words, as if they were a scalpel; how she's... usually truthful but not necessarily honest, if that makes sense? Like the *massive* omissions from her explanation of why they were thrown out of their world; or how she says she's "searching for the formula to get them back", which is true in a way if you read it as "trying to solve the horrible choice between leaving her sister behind or killing her", but not true in the "trying to open her door" sense she intends people to read it. A few ideas:

Anything about her time in the Moors, learning from Dr Bleak, courting Alexis, growing up and apart from Jill.
Right after their return from the Moors - how does she cope with it all, losing her home, not knowing what happened to Alexis, dealing with Jill? Do their parents try to fit them back into their boxes again? (What box is their brother being forced into?)
Her time at the school, before Nancy arrives? Or after, when she suddenly kind of has friends?
What happens after she returns to the Moors? Did Dr Bleak bring Alexis back? Does Jack manage to bring Jill back, and if so how does Jill deal with not being able to become a vampire now?
There's some fascinating differences between what she relates and what we see in "Down Among the Sticks and Bones" sometimes, like her "Jill was the smart one" versus more of a "Jillian is the brave and sporty one" - those could be interesting to explore? Maybe they come from what she most wanted and saw Jill as being allowed to have?

The Worst Witch - Mildred Hubble, Maud Moonshine, Enid Nightshade

These were some of my favourite books as a child. I loved the boarding school setting, and the differences magic introduced into it (this was before Harry Potter ;) ). And I really enjoyed these three and their friendship, I'd love to see more of it! Note, I've only read The Worst Witch, The Worst Witch Strikes Again, A Bad Spell for the Worst Witch, and The Worst Witch Saves the Day.

Mildred getting into trouble yet again with HB - exploding potion? backfiring spell? accidentally breaking arcane and obscure rules?
Enid dragging the other two into trouble (she would, you know - just look at the monkey/cat and off-key singing incidents).
Visiting each other during the holidays.
Training their cats - maybe with Maud and Enid’s help, Mildred finally manages to get Tabby to enjoy/not absolutely loathe flying?
Canon scenes from Maud or Enid’s perspective(s).
Maud and Enid becoming proper friends after Maud makes friends with Mildred again.
Conspiring to foil Ethel.