Aurora (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
auroracloud) wrote2018-08-22 01:52 pm
auroracloud) wrote2018-08-22 01:52 pm
Entry tags:
Dear Femslash Exchange creator
Dear Femslash Exchange writer,
Thank you for offering to write any of these fandoms and relationships! They’re all relationships of my heart that delight me, so I’m sure to be happy that you write me any of these. So the letter is mostly just to give you more ideas of what I like and some prompts in the case you’re the sort of writer who works better with prompts; but you don’t have to use any of the prompts or include any of my specific likes, or you can turn them into something different. All I specifically ask is that you do heed to my DNWs. They’re either things I explicitly don’t want, sometimes just plain can’t deal with for my emotional health, or just things that I’m so finicky about when I do read them that it’s better to not take chances with a gift fic. But otherwise, feel free to go wild and do what suits you best!
I start by giving general likes and DNWs, then the same specifically for sex in the case you want to write sex into the story and are wondering what I’m okay with; and then prompts and/or other comments and ideas for each fandom and relationship. How much I write for each fandom/relationship doesn’t tell anything about how much I want it; I’ll be delighted by any of these. Some I’ve simply copied from previous exchange letters, and I may have gone on longer in some letters than in others.
General likes:
- happy endings
- Emotions. All the emotions! You probably can't go too emotional with me. Though if you prefer more restrained, that's fine, too.
- Mild to moderate angst with a happy/comforting/hopeful ending
- Hurt/comfort (leaning rather towards the comfort than the hurt)
- Friendship and found/chosen family
- Friends to lovers scenario
- Historical settings, and little historical details when writing historical settings/fandoms
- Space things
- Daily slices of life
- Humour in or between serious/emotional moments
- Banter
- Canon divergence AUs (what if…)
- Missing scenes
- What happened before, what will happen after
- Underappreciated characters or ones with low self-esteem finding validation, confidence, appreciation
- Women being awesome, women supporting each other.
- LGBTQ+ characters
- Characters enjoying some form of culture, e.g. books, theatre, music, dance (I’m a ballet enthusiast), paintings etc. or geeking out over things like history, science, tech, languages etc.
- Relationship-wise, I’m happy with anything from the most general-audiences handholding and loving looks to full-out porn, and anything in between. Though I do like my porn to have some plot beyond just the sex descriptions, but the plot can be about the characters’ emotional experiences or how their relationship is portrayed in the sex.
General dislikes and Do Not Wants
- Gore, descriptive violence, permanent character death.
- Serious horror, especially body horror. Mild to moderate gothic horror is fine.
- War (as a backdrop is fine, like Napoleonic wars as a backdrop to regency era stories)
- Torture
- Biphobia, bi erasure
- Rigid and extreme butch/femme roles
- Characters feeling suicidal or doing self-harm. I sometimes enjoy such fics when the theme is handled well, but I can’t nearly always read them, so it’s better not to offer them in a gift.
- Domestic abuse or abusive relationships, especially between the requested characters or any canon pairing they are/have been in.
- Non-con, underage sex (under 16), characters being uncomfortable with the sex they’re having, including characters agreeing to a kink they don’t like because they’re afraid of the other’s reaction
- Character bashing, including of non-requested characters. If you don’t like a particular character, just leave them out of the story.
- A/B/O scenarios
- Unrequested kinks, especially those involving bodily fluids.
- Wildly different AUs of the coffee shop / high school / college / werewolf / vampire / pirates / etc. variety. I prefer sticking to the canon universe or close to it. Canon divergence is fine.
If you want to write sex, here’s the kind of stuff I’m likely to enjoy. I’ve got a few kinks and tropes listed, but I’m rarely into heavy kink scenarios. I prefer focusing on feelings and the development of characters/relationships. And obviously you don't need to try to put all, most or any of these in. They're just suggestions if you want to go there.
Sex likes
- tenderness and gentleness
- Kissing
- Attention to neck, hands, mouth, breasts, thighs, any spots with particularly sensitive skin
-Cunnilingus and other oral attentions
- Light spanking, light BDSM
- Wall sex
- Shower sex
- Outdoors sex
- Semi-public sex with a tiny thrill of the risk of getting caught, but not too blatant
- At least one participant partially clothed
- Lots of attention on removing garments (works particularly nicely with period stuff)
- Playfulness, humour, banter during or after sex
- Teasing
- Playing with hair, caressing with hair, etc.
- Breasts, body worship
- Legs, thighs, calves, ankles
- Moderate dirty talk, if it fits the characters
- Sex in unorthodox places: on the roof, in the garden, on a piano, in the TARDIS, etc.
- Sex pollen or aliens made them do it, as long as the characters involved wanted each other already, and the trope just helps them overcome inhibitions or have even more enthusiastic sex than they usually do
Sex things I’m not into/DNWs
- Much focus on sex toys; I prefer human parts in contact with human parts. But hey, if they want some extra help in being able to fuck each other, that’s okay, just don't make it the main focus.
- One partner humiliating, denigrating or pressuring the other.
- Any kink involving bodily fluids (though wet and messy kisses are fine)
- Breathplay/knifeplay/bloodplay
- Rigid dom/sub roles
- Age play
- Mommy/daddy kink
- Anything where someone agrees to a kink they’re not into only because the partner wants it and they don’t feel they can/should refuse
- generally, any serious consent issues, or consent play. Also please not very dubious consent; aliens made them do it or sex pollen are fine, as long as the characters in question do want it anyway.
Doctor Who
General Doctor Who note: I’m quite into cross-era stuff, so feel free to do that sort of stuff if it floats your boat. I’ve seen all of New Who, and love all Doctors and most companion; I’ve discovered Classic Who only recently, but I’ve seen enough to have at least an idea of most of the characters. However, I don’t like the Third Doctor or his era in general, I’ve seen very little of the Sixth Doctor, and I haven’t seen/heard any Eighth Doctor. I totally look forward to Thirteen.
Heather (Doctor Who: The Pilot)/Bill Potts
I love love love Bill (possibly my favourite New Who companion), and I wish we’d have seen more of her, and more of her story with Heather. While I loved lesbian love saving the day, I felt their story was left woefully underexplored, so I turn to fanfic to see more of them.
Prompts
- some of their adventures after the end of S10
- AU where they spend more time together when at least one of them is still fully human, maybe even go travelling with the Doctor together
- Heather helping Bill come to terms with everything that happened to her. Lots of hurt/comfort potential here.
- I would also love to see more of Heather's past explored. She seemed sad and lonely in The Pilot, and lacking confidence both in herself and her feelings towards Bill. What happened to her before we met her? What kind of journey did she take?
- Also, it could be fun to have them meet some other Whoniverse character, since they can go anywhere. Feel free to combine with any other Whoniverse relationships I’ve requested, or prompts I’ve given.
Martha Jones/Bill Potts
I love these two — Martha is definitely my favourite underrated companion — and I feel like they’d get along well and complete each other. Plus, they’re both super hot! There’s lots of potential for them to meet in different periods of their lives, etc.
Prompts:
- Twelve meets up with Martha for any reason during the S10 era, maybe he needs her expertise or misses her or just happens to meet her; Bill and Martha meet there, and crush on each other.
- They run into each other when Martha is travelling with Ten and Bill is travelling with Twelve. Timey-wimey hijinks ensue. Or perhaps Bill comforts Martha for her trials during S3.
- Somehow Bill and Twelve end up around for the Human Nature / the Family of Blood episode. Ten/John Smith won’t have any idea, but they influence the story in some way. Bill and Martha have a tryst.
- Bill meets Martha in her new time-and-space travelling existence after S10.
- AU for the S10 finale, so Bill doesn’t get turned into a Cyberman, and in whatever way she ends up adventuring with Martha at some point after that.
Martha Jones/Rose Tyler
I love both of them, especially Martha but also Rose, and it bugs me how the canon sets them up as rivals, though they could probably have a great time together and appreciate each other. Aaaaand I find both of them distractingly hot and the thought of them together also distractingly hot.
Prompts:
- an AU where Rose doesn't go back to Pete's World after Journey's End, but instead hangs around, and eventually gets together with Martha
- Rose returns later and meets up with Martha
- an alternate Martha that Rose meets in Pete's World
- While dimension-cannoning to find the Doctor in S4, Rose meets Martha. Maybe later in her time line, maybe during her adventures with the Doctor or Torchwood, maybe during the Year That Never Was.
- Awesome adventuring lady-duo, saving the world or just gallivating around the universe together
- domestics. I bet they have really different opinions about how to do household things, and it could lead to hilarious results.
- saving the Doctor together but eventually each finding the other hotter than the Doctor is
- date night (which could be interesting as they'd probably have very different ideas about a date)
Zoe Heriot/Isobel Watkins
I’ve only recently gotten into Classic Who (yay Twitch marathon for a crash course) and fell head over heels for all of the Second Doctor era, and totally want to femslash Zoe. She and Isobel had a lovely, fun relationship in Invasion, and I’d love to read more stories where that relationship goes beyond friendship.
Prompts:
- missing scenes during Invasion. Maybe something happened during the photography session. Did Isobel try to seduce Zoe with the music they were listening to? Photographer getting to know her model leads to unexpected confessions? Sexy photographs? And how many days did they have between the vanquishing of the Cybermen and the end of the story, anyway?
- Maybe Zoe can introduce Isobel to future time when nobody bats an eye about same-sex relationships. Or maybe Isobel is totally fine with that to start with, and she's the one to teach Zoe there's more to life than astrophysics and she can actually heed her feelings and desires, not only her logic. (Though astrophysics is awesome.)
- AU where Isobel joins the TARDIS crew and travels time and space with them. (How does she get along with the rest of the team, anyway? How batty do she and Zoe drive Jamie? What will she find in the TARDIS wardrobe?)
- The Doctor later returns Zoe to Isobel because Zoe just can't let go of her and wants to ask her for a date.
- The Doctor, Zoe and Jamie travel to some other time and place, maybe a few years onwards when Isobel is a up-and-coming photo journalist travelling somewhere and they find new threats together!
- Zoe and Isobel team up to fight crime and save the world, whether it's Zoe staying with Isobel or Isobel joining Zoe on her travels.
- Some later incarnation of the Doctor who can control his/her TARDIs picks up Zoe, undoes the memory wipe, and takes her to meet Isobel. Or a Season 6B Second Doctor does the same (I totally believe in Season 6B, and see no reason why the Doctor wouldn't pick up Zoe at some point as well.)
For the record, I’m a big Two/Jamie shipper as well, so if you feel like including them as a couple in the background / as a part of the story, you’re more than welcome. But obviously this fic is primarily about the girls anyway. If you prefer to not write Two and Jamie into the story or write them as just really good friends, that’s fine by me. I love all Two era team interactions, shippy or not.
Le Comte de Monte-Cristo
Eugénie Danglars/Louise d'Armilly (Dumas)
I love having what is as much a canon f/f relationship in a 19th century novel - it's pretty damn clear from the book that this is what the author intended, not just my wishful thinking. And that things don't turn out bad for them and that they're basically described sympathetically and positively, even if the narrative doesn't adore Eugénie quite as much as I do. Eugénie Danglars rocks my world, and Louise is a lovely counterpoint even if we don’t know that much about her.
What happens to them after the events described in the book. How will their life (and their artistic careers) turn out?
some of their courtship either before or during the times we see them in the book. How they become interested in each other, become aware of their feelings, and how their relationship progresses behind the scenes.
Anything involving music, their musical careers, rehearsing, four-handed piano playing, etc.
Original Work:
Mezzo in Pants/Soprano, Opera singer/Opera singer
These are both such thrilling ideas. I love classical music and the world of performing arts, and I always wish the ladies got together either behind the scenes or on the scene. Feel free to do any setting you like - historical, contemporary, futuristic, urban fantasy, space, a grand opera house like the Met, a tiny touring production company, whatever. I’d absolutely love if the piece they’re rehearsing/performing affected their relationship in some way.
Regency Debutante/Her Little Sister's Governess, Regency Debutante/Regency Debutante, Regency Lady/Crossdressing Regency Lady, Regency Spinster/Regency Spinster, Victorian Lady/Crossdressing Victorian Lady
I love historical fiction and want more historical f/f. These are all thrilling ideas that already have prompts built into them. In crossdressing cases, I’d still prefer not to have a really strong divide between the ”male” and the ”female” of the relationship, and you’re welcome to subvert expections. However, crossdressing in a period with strict gender norms does bring delicious possibilities, like hiding the relationship in plain sight, ”Oh, finally I found a man who actually attracts me! Wait, she’s a woman, now that explains it,” or just generally exploring gender norms and expectations.
As for regency debutantes, I just super much adore the idea of subverting this very typical character from regency het romances and having her be into women instead. The governess scenario brings lots of opportunities to spend time with her in the intimity of home, though also possible class divides. There may be an age difference or not. I also love women connecting over learning or reading, especially in that age. A debutante falling for another debutante - who is it? Her best friend, her enemy, the sister of the man who courts her, just someone lovely who catches her eye at the ball?
And Regency Spinster/Regency Spinster - in this age where women were expected to mainly spend time in the company of their own sex, it wasn’t necessarily that hard for two women to live together in a marriage-like relationship without the society batting an eye, as long as they have the financial means to live together rather than with their families (and don’t have nosy servants). There’s so much potential to explore in that!
Stranded Time Traveler/Resident of That Time,
I looooove time travel, and there needs to be more time travel romance between women. You could do all sorts of things depending on which time periods they’re from. Maybe the time traveller is from a more accepting period than the time she’s stranded in and has to navigate that setting; maybe she thinks she’s from a more accepting period but history has some surprises for her; maybe she lands into a time period which has no problems with same-sex relationships while her own period does. Or maybe both time periods have pretty much the same attitude, and the differences are elsewhere. They’re all interesting possibilities. In any case I’d love for the cultural differences to factor into the story somehow, having to navigate their different expectations. However, I’d prefer the main point of the story isn’t just about difficulties of accepting you’re not straight.
Bonus points for navigating things like language not staying the same throughout centuries, different standards about really everyday things like clothes, food, health etc.
Thank you for offering to write any of these fandoms and relationships! They’re all relationships of my heart that delight me, so I’m sure to be happy that you write me any of these. So the letter is mostly just to give you more ideas of what I like and some prompts in the case you’re the sort of writer who works better with prompts; but you don’t have to use any of the prompts or include any of my specific likes, or you can turn them into something different. All I specifically ask is that you do heed to my DNWs. They’re either things I explicitly don’t want, sometimes just plain can’t deal with for my emotional health, or just things that I’m so finicky about when I do read them that it’s better to not take chances with a gift fic. But otherwise, feel free to go wild and do what suits you best!
I start by giving general likes and DNWs, then the same specifically for sex in the case you want to write sex into the story and are wondering what I’m okay with; and then prompts and/or other comments and ideas for each fandom and relationship. How much I write for each fandom/relationship doesn’t tell anything about how much I want it; I’ll be delighted by any of these. Some I’ve simply copied from previous exchange letters, and I may have gone on longer in some letters than in others.
General likes:
- happy endings
- Emotions. All the emotions! You probably can't go too emotional with me. Though if you prefer more restrained, that's fine, too.
- Mild to moderate angst with a happy/comforting/hopeful ending
- Hurt/comfort (leaning rather towards the comfort than the hurt)
- Friendship and found/chosen family
- Friends to lovers scenario
- Historical settings, and little historical details when writing historical settings/fandoms
- Space things
- Daily slices of life
- Humour in or between serious/emotional moments
- Banter
- Canon divergence AUs (what if…)
- Missing scenes
- What happened before, what will happen after
- Underappreciated characters or ones with low self-esteem finding validation, confidence, appreciation
- Women being awesome, women supporting each other.
- LGBTQ+ characters
- Characters enjoying some form of culture, e.g. books, theatre, music, dance (I’m a ballet enthusiast), paintings etc. or geeking out over things like history, science, tech, languages etc.
- Relationship-wise, I’m happy with anything from the most general-audiences handholding and loving looks to full-out porn, and anything in between. Though I do like my porn to have some plot beyond just the sex descriptions, but the plot can be about the characters’ emotional experiences or how their relationship is portrayed in the sex.
General dislikes and Do Not Wants
- Gore, descriptive violence, permanent character death.
- Serious horror, especially body horror. Mild to moderate gothic horror is fine.
- War (as a backdrop is fine, like Napoleonic wars as a backdrop to regency era stories)
- Torture
- Biphobia, bi erasure
- Rigid and extreme butch/femme roles
- Characters feeling suicidal or doing self-harm. I sometimes enjoy such fics when the theme is handled well, but I can’t nearly always read them, so it’s better not to offer them in a gift.
- Domestic abuse or abusive relationships, especially between the requested characters or any canon pairing they are/have been in.
- Non-con, underage sex (under 16), characters being uncomfortable with the sex they’re having, including characters agreeing to a kink they don’t like because they’re afraid of the other’s reaction
- Character bashing, including of non-requested characters. If you don’t like a particular character, just leave them out of the story.
- A/B/O scenarios
- Unrequested kinks, especially those involving bodily fluids.
- Wildly different AUs of the coffee shop / high school / college / werewolf / vampire / pirates / etc. variety. I prefer sticking to the canon universe or close to it. Canon divergence is fine.
If you want to write sex, here’s the kind of stuff I’m likely to enjoy. I’ve got a few kinks and tropes listed, but I’m rarely into heavy kink scenarios. I prefer focusing on feelings and the development of characters/relationships. And obviously you don't need to try to put all, most or any of these in. They're just suggestions if you want to go there.
Sex likes
- tenderness and gentleness
- Kissing
- Attention to neck, hands, mouth, breasts, thighs, any spots with particularly sensitive skin
-Cunnilingus and other oral attentions
- Light spanking, light BDSM
- Wall sex
- Shower sex
- Outdoors sex
- Semi-public sex with a tiny thrill of the risk of getting caught, but not too blatant
- At least one participant partially clothed
- Lots of attention on removing garments (works particularly nicely with period stuff)
- Playfulness, humour, banter during or after sex
- Teasing
- Playing with hair, caressing with hair, etc.
- Breasts, body worship
- Legs, thighs, calves, ankles
- Moderate dirty talk, if it fits the characters
- Sex in unorthodox places: on the roof, in the garden, on a piano, in the TARDIS, etc.
- Sex pollen or aliens made them do it, as long as the characters involved wanted each other already, and the trope just helps them overcome inhibitions or have even more enthusiastic sex than they usually do
Sex things I’m not into/DNWs
- Much focus on sex toys; I prefer human parts in contact with human parts. But hey, if they want some extra help in being able to fuck each other, that’s okay, just don't make it the main focus.
- One partner humiliating, denigrating or pressuring the other.
- Any kink involving bodily fluids (though wet and messy kisses are fine)
- Breathplay/knifeplay/bloodplay
- Rigid dom/sub roles
- Age play
- Mommy/daddy kink
- Anything where someone agrees to a kink they’re not into only because the partner wants it and they don’t feel they can/should refuse
- generally, any serious consent issues, or consent play. Also please not very dubious consent; aliens made them do it or sex pollen are fine, as long as the characters in question do want it anyway.
Doctor Who
General Doctor Who note: I’m quite into cross-era stuff, so feel free to do that sort of stuff if it floats your boat. I’ve seen all of New Who, and love all Doctors and most companion; I’ve discovered Classic Who only recently, but I’ve seen enough to have at least an idea of most of the characters. However, I don’t like the Third Doctor or his era in general, I’ve seen very little of the Sixth Doctor, and I haven’t seen/heard any Eighth Doctor. I totally look forward to Thirteen.
Heather (Doctor Who: The Pilot)/Bill Potts
I love love love Bill (possibly my favourite New Who companion), and I wish we’d have seen more of her, and more of her story with Heather. While I loved lesbian love saving the day, I felt their story was left woefully underexplored, so I turn to fanfic to see more of them.
Prompts
- some of their adventures after the end of S10
- AU where they spend more time together when at least one of them is still fully human, maybe even go travelling with the Doctor together
- Heather helping Bill come to terms with everything that happened to her. Lots of hurt/comfort potential here.
- I would also love to see more of Heather's past explored. She seemed sad and lonely in The Pilot, and lacking confidence both in herself and her feelings towards Bill. What happened to her before we met her? What kind of journey did she take?
- Also, it could be fun to have them meet some other Whoniverse character, since they can go anywhere. Feel free to combine with any other Whoniverse relationships I’ve requested, or prompts I’ve given.
Martha Jones/Bill Potts
I love these two — Martha is definitely my favourite underrated companion — and I feel like they’d get along well and complete each other. Plus, they’re both super hot! There’s lots of potential for them to meet in different periods of their lives, etc.
Prompts:
- Twelve meets up with Martha for any reason during the S10 era, maybe he needs her expertise or misses her or just happens to meet her; Bill and Martha meet there, and crush on each other.
- They run into each other when Martha is travelling with Ten and Bill is travelling with Twelve. Timey-wimey hijinks ensue. Or perhaps Bill comforts Martha for her trials during S3.
- Somehow Bill and Twelve end up around for the Human Nature / the Family of Blood episode. Ten/John Smith won’t have any idea, but they influence the story in some way. Bill and Martha have a tryst.
- Bill meets Martha in her new time-and-space travelling existence after S10.
- AU for the S10 finale, so Bill doesn’t get turned into a Cyberman, and in whatever way she ends up adventuring with Martha at some point after that.
Martha Jones/Rose Tyler
I love both of them, especially Martha but also Rose, and it bugs me how the canon sets them up as rivals, though they could probably have a great time together and appreciate each other. Aaaaand I find both of them distractingly hot and the thought of them together also distractingly hot.
Prompts:
- an AU where Rose doesn't go back to Pete's World after Journey's End, but instead hangs around, and eventually gets together with Martha
- Rose returns later and meets up with Martha
- an alternate Martha that Rose meets in Pete's World
- While dimension-cannoning to find the Doctor in S4, Rose meets Martha. Maybe later in her time line, maybe during her adventures with the Doctor or Torchwood, maybe during the Year That Never Was.
- Awesome adventuring lady-duo, saving the world or just gallivating around the universe together
- domestics. I bet they have really different opinions about how to do household things, and it could lead to hilarious results.
- saving the Doctor together but eventually each finding the other hotter than the Doctor is
- date night (which could be interesting as they'd probably have very different ideas about a date)
Zoe Heriot/Isobel Watkins
I’ve only recently gotten into Classic Who (yay Twitch marathon for a crash course) and fell head over heels for all of the Second Doctor era, and totally want to femslash Zoe. She and Isobel had a lovely, fun relationship in Invasion, and I’d love to read more stories where that relationship goes beyond friendship.
Prompts:
- missing scenes during Invasion. Maybe something happened during the photography session. Did Isobel try to seduce Zoe with the music they were listening to? Photographer getting to know her model leads to unexpected confessions? Sexy photographs? And how many days did they have between the vanquishing of the Cybermen and the end of the story, anyway?
- Maybe Zoe can introduce Isobel to future time when nobody bats an eye about same-sex relationships. Or maybe Isobel is totally fine with that to start with, and she's the one to teach Zoe there's more to life than astrophysics and she can actually heed her feelings and desires, not only her logic. (Though astrophysics is awesome.)
- AU where Isobel joins the TARDIS crew and travels time and space with them. (How does she get along with the rest of the team, anyway? How batty do she and Zoe drive Jamie? What will she find in the TARDIS wardrobe?)
- The Doctor later returns Zoe to Isobel because Zoe just can't let go of her and wants to ask her for a date.
- The Doctor, Zoe and Jamie travel to some other time and place, maybe a few years onwards when Isobel is a up-and-coming photo journalist travelling somewhere and they find new threats together!
- Zoe and Isobel team up to fight crime and save the world, whether it's Zoe staying with Isobel or Isobel joining Zoe on her travels.
- Some later incarnation of the Doctor who can control his/her TARDIs picks up Zoe, undoes the memory wipe, and takes her to meet Isobel. Or a Season 6B Second Doctor does the same (I totally believe in Season 6B, and see no reason why the Doctor wouldn't pick up Zoe at some point as well.)
For the record, I’m a big Two/Jamie shipper as well, so if you feel like including them as a couple in the background / as a part of the story, you’re more than welcome. But obviously this fic is primarily about the girls anyway. If you prefer to not write Two and Jamie into the story or write them as just really good friends, that’s fine by me. I love all Two era team interactions, shippy or not.
Le Comte de Monte-Cristo
Eugénie Danglars/Louise d'Armilly (Dumas)
I love having what is as much a canon f/f relationship in a 19th century novel - it's pretty damn clear from the book that this is what the author intended, not just my wishful thinking. And that things don't turn out bad for them and that they're basically described sympathetically and positively, even if the narrative doesn't adore Eugénie quite as much as I do. Eugénie Danglars rocks my world, and Louise is a lovely counterpoint even if we don’t know that much about her.
What happens to them after the events described in the book. How will their life (and their artistic careers) turn out?
some of their courtship either before or during the times we see them in the book. How they become interested in each other, become aware of their feelings, and how their relationship progresses behind the scenes.
Anything involving music, their musical careers, rehearsing, four-handed piano playing, etc.
Original Work:
Mezzo in Pants/Soprano, Opera singer/Opera singer
These are both such thrilling ideas. I love classical music and the world of performing arts, and I always wish the ladies got together either behind the scenes or on the scene. Feel free to do any setting you like - historical, contemporary, futuristic, urban fantasy, space, a grand opera house like the Met, a tiny touring production company, whatever. I’d absolutely love if the piece they’re rehearsing/performing affected their relationship in some way.
Regency Debutante/Her Little Sister's Governess, Regency Debutante/Regency Debutante, Regency Lady/Crossdressing Regency Lady, Regency Spinster/Regency Spinster, Victorian Lady/Crossdressing Victorian Lady
I love historical fiction and want more historical f/f. These are all thrilling ideas that already have prompts built into them. In crossdressing cases, I’d still prefer not to have a really strong divide between the ”male” and the ”female” of the relationship, and you’re welcome to subvert expections. However, crossdressing in a period with strict gender norms does bring delicious possibilities, like hiding the relationship in plain sight, ”Oh, finally I found a man who actually attracts me! Wait, she’s a woman, now that explains it,” or just generally exploring gender norms and expectations.
As for regency debutantes, I just super much adore the idea of subverting this very typical character from regency het romances and having her be into women instead. The governess scenario brings lots of opportunities to spend time with her in the intimity of home, though also possible class divides. There may be an age difference or not. I also love women connecting over learning or reading, especially in that age. A debutante falling for another debutante - who is it? Her best friend, her enemy, the sister of the man who courts her, just someone lovely who catches her eye at the ball?
And Regency Spinster/Regency Spinster - in this age where women were expected to mainly spend time in the company of their own sex, it wasn’t necessarily that hard for two women to live together in a marriage-like relationship without the society batting an eye, as long as they have the financial means to live together rather than with their families (and don’t have nosy servants). There’s so much potential to explore in that!
Stranded Time Traveler/Resident of That Time,
I looooove time travel, and there needs to be more time travel romance between women. You could do all sorts of things depending on which time periods they’re from. Maybe the time traveller is from a more accepting period than the time she’s stranded in and has to navigate that setting; maybe she thinks she’s from a more accepting period but history has some surprises for her; maybe she lands into a time period which has no problems with same-sex relationships while her own period does. Or maybe both time periods have pretty much the same attitude, and the differences are elsewhere. They’re all interesting possibilities. In any case I’d love for the cultural differences to factor into the story somehow, having to navigate their different expectations. However, I’d prefer the main point of the story isn’t just about difficulties of accepting you’re not straight.
Bonus points for navigating things like language not staying the same throughout centuries, different standards about really everyday things like clothes, food, health etc.