![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
#ITPE 2018
Dear Podficcer,
ITPE is one of my favorite times of the year and I'm so excited that it's here!
I’m putting lots of detail in this letter not to be overwhelming or because I’m super picky, but because I’m hoping lots of info will make it easier on you. Less guesswork, you know? But whatever you make me, I’m totally going to love it.
Likes:
- Fake married
Things I like in specific fandoms:
Buzzfeed Worth It
Mad Max Fury Road
- Post-canon & healing
- Mostly prefer gen, but Cheedo/the Dag is v. sweet.
- And Furiosa/Max if it takes the time to work through their trauma first
Brooklyn 99
- gen whole squad humor fic
- Jake/Amy
I’m on twitter @theshmaylor, also theshmaylor over on tumblr, and just shmaylor on AO3
That was a lot of things, but I hope it was useful. All of this was info to guide you and not anything to be 100% beholden to. Podficcer, you are a wonder and a delight, and I hope you have a ton of fun with this exchange. I can’t wait to listen <3
ITPE is one of my favorite times of the year and I'm so excited that it's here!
I’m putting lots of detail in this letter not to be overwhelming or because I’m super picky, but because I’m hoping lots of info will make it easier on you. Less guesswork, you know? But whatever you make me, I’m totally going to love it.
Likes:
- Fake married
- Accidentally married/woke up married
- secret married (my kingdom for a Worth It secret married fic)
- why do so many of my favorite tropes involve marriage?? who knows. (dating instead of married is also super legit for these tropes)
- Ladies being awesome
- Groundhog day/reincarnation (they keep meeting and/or dying over and over until they get it right)
- Emotional vulnerability is hard, but they're Trying Their Best
- piiiiining oh dear god the pining
- OT3s
- Origin stories and character studies
- I've been using the phrase "beautiful sharp-edged things" to describe a particular type of fic I love. Which uhhhh, I don't know if that helps, but maybe it gets a certain kind of feeling across??
- Groundhog day/reincarnation (they keep meeting and/or dying over and over until they get it right)
- Emotional vulnerability is hard, but they're Trying Their Best
- piiiiining oh dear god the pining
- OT3s
- Origin stories and character studies
- I've been using the phrase "beautiful sharp-edged things" to describe a particular type of fic I love. Which uhhhh, I don't know if that helps, but maybe it gets a certain kind of feeling across??
- Gentle fics that convey 'we know you have strong feelings about this thing and it hurts your heart, and we're going to take you in our cupped palms and quietly guide you through. and it might not be full sun on the other side, but at the very least there's a break in the clouds' (why yes I did crib that from a ridiculous twitter thread I wrote earlier this year)
- Robots. Crying about robots. Robots developing emotions because as humans we can't help but make them in our own image.
- i'm sorry this has all gotten extremely esoteric and poetic, why am i Like This. please ignore the above three things if they don't make any sense
- Usually I prefer things set in the canon universe better than full-on AUs.
Do not want:
- pregnancy fic, kid fic, or de-aged fic
- curtain fic (I like fluff, but not so much when there isn't any plot. I don't need much plot, but just...something?)
- heavy secondhand embarrassment
- infidelity
- i'm sorry this has all gotten extremely esoteric and poetic, why am i Like This. please ignore the above three things if they don't make any sense
- Usually I prefer things set in the canon universe better than full-on AUs.
Do not want:
- pregnancy fic, kid fic, or de-aged fic
- curtain fic (I like fluff, but not so much when there isn't any plot. I don't need much plot, but just...something?)
- heavy secondhand embarrassment
- infidelity
- unrequited love
- domestic violence and non-con. Mentions of it and canonical stuff are fine, but please nothing graphic that's been added to give a character A More Tragic Backstory. I'm good with dub-con though!
- Hazing. This one is a trigger, so even if it's tame, do not.
Overall, the maximum amount of violence/messed-up stuff I want from fic is proportional to the maximum amount of violence in the canon. Rogue One, everybody dies fic? Oh yeah, for sure. Serial killer AUs in Unsolved? Love em, let's do it. Worth It? Sorry, only pining and Soft ContentTM allowed here. Less violence than canon is always swell, but in terms of max violence, that's typically where the limit is.
- Hazing. This one is a trigger, so even if it's tame, do not.
Overall, the maximum amount of violence/messed-up stuff I want from fic is proportional to the maximum amount of violence in the canon. Rogue One, everybody dies fic? Oh yeah, for sure. Serial killer AUs in Unsolved? Love em, let's do it. Worth It? Sorry, only pining and Soft ContentTM allowed here. Less violence than canon is always swell, but in terms of max violence, that's typically where the limit is.
Any rating, general audiences through explicit, is a-okay. Not!fic is totally welcome too.
My own podfic is generally very self indulgent and recorded for me, so my works (that aren't group podfics) are a good indicator of what I like.
Things I like in specific fandoms:
Buzzfeed Worth It
- this is the fandom I'm drowning in the most right now <3333
- Andrew/Steven
- S O F T
- that mutual pining. hnnng (have you seen the way these boys look at each other??)
- Steven-moving-to-New-York angst
Buzzfeed Unsolved
- Ryan/Shane, Ryan/Shane/Sara
- Serial Killer AUs
- I'm ambivalent about the demon AUs! If it's well written and has other stuff I like, I'm all for it. But the trope in and of itself gives me no strong feelings of like or dislike
Killing Eve
- I just watched the whole show last week and I am in love???
- The Eve and Villanelle dynamic is the best thing to ever be
- I haven't ready any fic yet but there MUST be some deliciously messed up Eve/Villanelle and I want it
- The infidelity Do Not Want is retracted for this fandom
- The infidelity Do Not Want is retracted for this fandom
Leverage
- This is my forever fandom, and Eliot/Parker/Hardison is my forever ship. If it has the OT3, it can’t be wrong.
- Gen fic or case fic with the whole team is also my jam.
Star Wars - Rogue One
- THE SADDEST CANON. I LIKE TO SUFFER, OKAY.
- Pre-canon.
- Fic that ends where the movie ends. aka everyone dying, but it's hopeful and their sacrifice isn't in vain.
- Everybody lives AUs. Celebratory or growing through the trauma of their experience, all of it is good stuff.
- Dislike like "some die, some live" (somehow grief/mourning is a step too far for my sadness needs)
- This is my forever fandom, and Eliot/Parker/Hardison is my forever ship. If it has the OT3, it can’t be wrong.
- Gen fic or case fic with the whole team is also my jam.
Star Wars - Rogue One
- THE SADDEST CANON. I LIKE TO SUFFER, OKAY.
- Pre-canon.
- Fic that ends where the movie ends. aka everyone dying, but it's hopeful and their sacrifice isn't in vain.
- Everybody lives AUs. Celebratory or growing through the trauma of their experience, all of it is good stuff.
- Dislike like "some die, some live" (somehow grief/mourning is a step too far for my sadness needs)
- Gen team feels
- Cassian/K2
- K2-focused fic about what are emotions, when is a robot a person, all of that messy philosophical stuff
MCU
Ensemble/team fics are amazing. Even if it’s focused on a particular ship or character, I love the huge ensemble cast possibilities here, and I love fic where characters who don't interact in canon meet each other (and even though the netflix shows aren't part of my signup, spillover of characters from those shows is cool). Also, basically any f/f fic or female focused story is a go.
There is SO MUCH in this canon, but I'll list some favorites:
MCU
Ensemble/team fics are amazing. Even if it’s focused on a particular ship or character, I love the huge ensemble cast possibilities here, and I love fic where characters who don't interact in canon meet each other (and even though the netflix shows aren't part of my signup, spillover of characters from those shows is cool). Also, basically any f/f fic or female focused story is a go.
There is SO MUCH in this canon, but I'll list some favorites:
- Natasha Romanoff, especially her origin story
- Natasha/Clint
- Tony & Jarvis & all the robots
- crack-y team fic
- Natasha/Bucky, focused on their joint history as brain-washed assassins
- Natasha/Maria
- Darcy-is-the-only-sane-person-
- Allllll the female friendships
- Natasha/Clint
- Tony & Jarvis & all the robots
- crack-y team fic
- Natasha/Bucky, focused on their joint history as brain-washed assassins
- Natasha/Maria
- Darcy-is-the-only-sane-person-
- Allllll the female friendships
Mad Max Fury Road
- Post-canon & healing
- Mostly prefer gen, but Cheedo/the Dag is v. sweet.
- And Furiosa/Max if it takes the time to work through their trauma first
Brooklyn 99
- gen whole squad humor fic
- Jake/Amy
- Amy/Rosa
- Rosa/Gina
- This fandom is especially gold for fake married fics because undercover police work, and I 1000% endorse them.
Carmilla (webseries)
- Hollstein
- This fandom is especially gold for fake married fics because undercover police work, and I 1000% endorse them.
Carmilla (webseries)
- Hollstein
- Laf/Perry
- Continually sobbing over Danny Lawrence and how she has a spark inside her and fought so hard and then became what she was fighting against (aka Danny character studies or post-canon redemption. probably gen, but any f/f pairing that isn't endgame Danny/Laura is good)
The Queen's Thief
- Gen/Irene/Costis
- Costis is willing to do anything (anything *eyebrow waggle*) for his rulers
- Continually sobbing over Danny Lawrence and how she has a spark inside her and fought so hard and then became what she was fighting against (aka Danny character studies or post-canon redemption. probably gen, but any f/f pairing that isn't endgame Danny/Laura is good)
The Queen's Thief
- Gen/Irene/Costis
- Costis is willing to do anything (anything *eyebrow waggle*) for his rulers
- Gen is a little shit
Person of Interest
- oh man this fandom is so good for my robot-human relationships feels
- Root/Shaw, Root/Shaw/The Machine, Root/The Machine
- Weird transhumanism stuff that blurs the line between where Root ends and The Machine begins
- AUs where Root doesn't die
- fics where Root does die but then lives on in some way through The Machine
Odds and Ends
[aka tiny tiny fandoms and side things I didn't put on my sign-up]
- The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, Look there is absolutely zero Jenks/Lovey fic. But if somehow ANY were to appear between now and when you record, I would be ecstatic. I'm still really fucked up about that ending, please make it better
- Within the Wires, Hester/Oletta
- Beyond Belief, Frank/Sadie (and obviously Frank/Sadie/booze)
- I'm not really into crossovers/fusions most of the time, but Welcome to Night Vale fusions are great and are the exception!
Person of Interest
- oh man this fandom is so good for my robot-human relationships feels
- Root/Shaw, Root/Shaw/The Machine, Root/The Machine
- Weird transhumanism stuff that blurs the line between where Root ends and The Machine begins
- AUs where Root doesn't die
- fics where Root does die but then lives on in some way through The Machine
Odds and Ends
[aka tiny tiny fandoms and side things I didn't put on my sign-up]
- The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, Look there is absolutely zero Jenks/Lovey fic. But if somehow ANY were to appear between now and when you record, I would be ecstatic. I'm still really fucked up about that ending, please make it better
- Within the Wires, Hester/Oletta
- Beyond Belief, Frank/Sadie (and obviously Frank/Sadie/booze)
- I'm not really into crossovers/fusions most of the time, but Welcome to Night Vale fusions are great and are the exception!
I’m on twitter @theshmaylor, also theshmaylor over on tumblr, and just shmaylor on AO3
That was a lot of things, but I hope it was useful. All of this was info to guide you and not anything to be 100% beholden to. Podficcer, you are a wonder and a delight, and I hope you have a ton of fun with this exchange. I can’t wait to listen <3