stockingsandseams

Dear Author,

Hello! Thanks for being willing to write one of my favourite characters; I'm looking forward to reading whatever you come up with! The only thing I do have to say is that you should feel free to ignore anything I have to say if you've got a better idea - I'd be excited to see more fic about my favourite characters full stop, so don't worry if you find a particular prompt unworkable (and, um, I'm sorry if that's the case).

In general, I enjoy darkfic, angst, AUs and romance (although not necessarily in the same fic). My favourite narrative tropes include identity porn, stoic lady badasses struggling with ALL OF THESE EMOTIONS, and competence kinks; I often find fics which centre around poor communication a little frustrating but it would totally be in character for some of these women (as much as I love Kirigiri, I can understand why Naegi didn't really know what to do with that) so I know that it can be done well. I would really appreciate a heads-up if your fic is going to include references to sexual abuse, non-con or dub-con, unless it's a canon incident you're referring to in passing (Kalinda/Nick, for example, read as abusive to me in a lot of ways; depending on the writer, Natasha's relationship with Ivan has sometimes been genuinely loving and mutually healthy or else sexually abusive).

Marvel (Monica Rambeau, Yelena Belova, Natasha Romanoff)

Prompt: As you can probably tell, I love the games of codenames and secret identities in superhero comics, and I love the way canon deals with these three in particular! If you are interested in writing the sort of spy-fi and/or superhero adventure that they would have in canon, please go ahead because I could eat up that sort of story with a spoon & I love these women far too much to not get excited by any kind of fic for them at all, really. For Yelena, maybe something about her codenames and her relationship to Natasha? I'd love to see something more about Monica's feelings on what it meant to be Captain Marvel as well as something more introspective about her decision to go solo after the Avengers, and for Natasha, a fic which dealt more with the spy side of her heroism and the "shades of grey" she deals in would be fantastic.

For Monica, I'd love to see something either about what her codenames have meant for her & her decision to superheroine it up under her real name for now. She has an interesting line in Captain Marvel when she smacks down Frank by pointing out that she still has rent to pay & anything about the ways she balances kicking ass and saving the day with her daily life would be brilliant. I've read, and loved, Nextwave too, so if you're more familiar with that version of Monica and would like to write about her, go for it! I'd love anything set post-canon, when we get to see what her version of "Anything we want" really entails, or else anything dealing with how she got the nickname "Avengers mom". I love that sort of teasing I-don't-get-paid-enough-to-deal-with-this-shit relationship she has with her team, or something going into her old relationship with the Avengers in that 'verse would be awesome. Actually, anything about 616!Monica and her past with the Avengers would be great too - I've always been interested in how she felt about going solo, whether that's with a more introspective piece or not. As far as shipping goes, I ship her/Steve Rogers & Monica/Carol Danvers but I'm good with anything for her, really.

For Yelena, I love her ambition, I love her strength, I love how much she hates Natasha even as she tries desperately to become her and then, later, to usurp her place completely. But I also love the glimpses we have of her in 'Breakdown', which underline the fact that this was a life she chose, and she has a family of her own & a life outside the spy stuff. I love that she worked hard to become (a) Black Widow; I love that she never thought of it as something that was done to her, or something where she didn't have a choice. I do ship her and Natasha, but anything less shippy about the real obsessional nature of Yelena's attitude towards both Natasha and their codename would be all sorts of delicious too.

For Natasha, I love how deeply she loves people, I love her incredible competence, I love the way her stories have always dealt with these big Societal Issues as well as the typical 'here's a problem; send a hero to smash it!' trajectory of a lot of comic arcs (like Natasha saving people from committing suicide, or stopping human trafficking, too). Anything which deals with the way Natasha navigates the world in shades of grey, or her relationship with her codename, or the awful things she chooses to do (Breakdown, Secret Avengers #20) in order to achieve her goals ("I wanted to save you!" OH MY HEART) would be aces! As I said, I ship Natasha/Yelena but really Natasha/pretty much any Marvel woman is probably one of my OTPs for her - and though I like some of her canon ships, I'd rather not read about them in a fic here.

Good Wife (TV) (Kalinda Sharma, Diane Lockhart, Elsbeth Tascioni)
This is one of my favourite shows, and I love how all the women seem to embody these very different types of strength. Whether you write gen or want to write something more shippy is all good, but I'm really interested in seeing the ways they get the job done. I'd love to read a story focused on their work, because their approaches are so different and yet so awesome to see done well, but if you'd rather go in a different direction, their personal lives are something that we mostly just get a few hints of - Diane's confidence is gorgeous & I love all the glimpses into her dating life and the time and energy she has invested in the firm. I like how Elsbeth almost seems to play up the scatty nervousness as a means of disarming the people who go against her, and Kalinda's investigative work (or the outright violence she employs sometimes to protect herself and the people she cares about) is incredible.

As I said, I'm interested in reading more about their legal work, but I'd also love more information about their personal lives. \i would particularly love to read about any of these women teaming up with either one of the others or some other character in order to make their case, and I'm a frightful multishipper & I enjoy every pairing, no matter how cracky.

For Elsbeth, I'd love something on the connection between her work persona and who she is when she's off the clock; I love the way that her schemes have even blindsided Will and Alicia because they're so accustomed to presenting a very strong, professional front that the moments when Elsbeth has seen an approach they haven't taste so sweet.

When it comes to Kalinda, I would read just about anything - I love to watch her work on the show because she seems so cool on the surface, but then there are all these undercurrents of tension & subtle emotion in her scenes and it's really gorgeous. Something more introspective, maybe about her relationship with Alicia or how much she's changed since the first season would be awesome. I'm one of those rare fans who didn't really hate the Nick storyline - it felt really rushed but I found it unsatisfying more because of the way it was paced & promoted than anything else (I thought it was clearly abusive & Kalinda was just trying to survive it rather than that "50 shades" description I kept seeing), so anything which fleshed out where Kalinda was during this arc would also be great.

For Diane, I think the workplace politics and the way she manages them are fascinating, and anything about how she keeps the firm going would be fantastic. I'd also love to read something about the interest she takes in mentoring lawyers like Alicia or, alternatively, something about the way she marries her own personal politics to the courtroom culture. I want to know ALL OF THE THINGS about her personal life outside work, too, and the show doesn't seem willing to give that much away right now, so that would be awesome too!

Dangan Ronpa (Oogami Sakura, Ikusaba Mukuro, Asahina Aoi, Celestia Ludenberg, Kirigiri Kyouko, Enoshima Junko)
I really like how all the girls are so different from one another, and none of them feel as though they are at all constrained by the stereotypes the game is kind of riffing off. Anything about their relationships to one another either pre-canon (whether that's before they arrive at the academy or during their time as classmates) or post-canon would be just brilliant, as would anything about the decisions they make which Naegi doesn't witness - such as Kirigiri's investigating - during the game itself.

I would also enjoy reading about the backstories which freetime events hint at - Mukuro (as Junko) mentions her own childhood, and I'd be fascinated to learn more about Kirigiri's journey to becoming an SHSL Detective as well as Sakura's past with the one man stronger than her. Celestia's scheming is brilliant, and I'd be interested in something more introspective for her - perhaps some more insight into her plans, and just how long a game she was running with the nighttime rule? I'd like to see anything between Mukuro and Junko which wasn't shippy, because incest isn't really my cup of tea, and Aoi is super cute - I'd love to read anything about her relationship with Sakura, before or after Sakura's death, or else her perspective on the Bad End.

Any canon-divergent AU, looking at all the different murders which could have been committed along the way, would be absolutely brilliant - I'd also enjoy something more shippy. I read anything apart from incest, but I have a particularly soft spot for Aoi/Sakura and Kirigiri/anyone, especially if she never loses that awkward standoffishness she has in canon.

If you, for whatever reason, want to pick up a new canon quickly, Dangan Ronpa is a visual novel of which an English translation is available on the Something Awful forums. You will need an account for the next few weeks as the paywall is up, but that should be down soon. Otherwise, the canon for either Yelena Belova or Nextwave!Monica is probably the shortest and most easily available - Nextwave is available through the Marvel digital store if you want to buy it, but the comics in which Yelena plays a big role are harder to find legally. Elsbeth Tascioni is the character on the Good Wife whose canon review would only be a few episodes long as Kalinda and Diane have been in almost every episode. I've had to do the same thing in an exchange once before and that was pretty rough.

I hope that helps, writer, and that you have all the luck in the world & receive something wonderful yourself! Thank you again,

stockingsandseams