badritual | once_upon

Dear Creator,

I like gen, het, slash, femslash, poly-ships (poly-v too), etc. You're welcome to interpret my character noms as any, rather than all, though you're free to include all characters in a fic if you want! I'm also okay with not including all of the nominated characters. Also, if you want to include non-nominated characters, I'm absolutely okay with that too!

I have used parts of previous letters to compose the body of this letter. If anything is confusing, or you have any questions or need clarification, you can reach me through the mods!

A lot of these fandoms and prompts/ideas are repeat requests, including fandoms I've already received amazing fic for. I really just love the fandom/idea to be requesting it again; it's not meant to be a slight against the authors or fic I've received in the past!

If none of my ideas/prompts catch your attention, I'm totally fine with mixing and matching some of my tropes/likes/freeforms/etc. to come up with a story! I also may not have prompts for every pairing/fandom. If you need some ideas, feel free to reach out to me through the mods.

What I Love
DNWs
Stuff I Like
La Barbe bleue | Bluebeard - Charles Perrault
Beauty and the Beast - Joseph Jacobs
The Heavenly Maiden and the Wood Cutter - Zong Dog-Bong
The Herd Boy and the Weaving Maiden - Dr. R. Wilhelm
Little Brier-Rose - Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
Room for One More (Urban Legend)
The Slit-Mouthed Woman (Japanese Urban Legend)
The Velvet Ribbon (Folk Tale)
The White Gown (Urban Legend)
장화홍련전 | Janghwa Hongryeon Jeon | The Story of Rose Flower and Red Lotus

What I Love: I'm currently really into gothic romance/gothic horror/horror of any stripe really. I also adore difficult/complicated relationships, and questions with no easy answers. I love ambiguous/happy for now/sad endings, things that make me think, and are not necessarily tied up with a neat pretty bow. But that's not to say I don't enjoy a happy ending! If you don't think a HEA is workable I'm totally fine with that.

My main DNWs are listed below. Exceptions will be noted:

DNWs:
• domestic violence/abuse
• violence against animals/animal death
• A/B/O, BDSM, and kneeling 'verses
• mpreg
• watersports/scat
• horror that centers on mental institutions/hospitals/etc.
• mundane AUs

Stuff I Like:
• gothic/gothic romance/horror/ghost stories!!!
• gothic romance/romantic horror
• space gothic (think Event Horizon and the Alien series)
• cosmic horror
• body horror
• monsters!!! sentient monsters!!! monsters that just wanna eat things!!! i like monsters!!!
• What happens after the fairytale ends?
• bodyswap
• casefic
• time travel/time loops/time fuckery
• pining / pining for someone while in a relationship with them)
• mind-games/manipulation
• ghosts/hauntings/etc. (literal and metaphorical)
• houses that want to eat you
• nature that wants to eat you
• eldritch architecture/architecture that wants to eat you (fwiw i adore the evilbuildings tumblr, which has some examples of buildings i could see hungering for human flesh)
• morally gray/immoral angels
• the monstrous feminine / female monsters / feminine horror
• miscommunication (within reason)
• poly/poly-v relationships
• enemies to lovers
• friends to lovers to enemies to lovers
• friends to enemies to lovers
• unhealthy/codependent relationships
• obsession/obsessive relationships
• relationships with a power imbalance (i.e. mentor/pupil, priest/parishioner, older partner/younger partner, queen/subject, etc.)
• power imbalances/power dynamics/power dynamics inverted (i.e. the student in the professor/student relationship has all the power, parishioner has power over the priest, subject controls the queen, etc)
• characters facing/dealing with mortality (of their lives, their livelihoods, careers, etc.)
• platonic soulmates
• amnesiafic
• epistolary/social media pastiche
• future fic
• ensemble fic
• complicated relationships
• professional/career-related jealousy
• Ritual sex/resurrection rituals
• small town AUs (small town in the suburban gothic sense rather than cute, quaint villages and whatnot)

La Barbe bleue | Bluebeard - Charles Perrault
Source

La Barbe bleue | Bluebeard
La dernière femme de la Barbe bleue | Bluebeard's Last Wife
L'avant-dernière femme de la Barbe bleue | Bluebeard's Penultimate Wife
La première femme de la Barbe bleue | Bluebeard's First Wife

^*I'll make an exception here for references to past domestic abuse given that it's Bluebeard, but I would prefer it to remain offscreen and/or non-graphic. I'm okay with other forms of violence/assault/horror/etc.

Prompts/ideas:
I adore any and all interpretations of this story, from the original tale to movies like Crimson Peak, Elizabeth Harvest, and Ex Machina.

As always, I love IN SPACE!!! AUs. Maybe Bluebeard's a sentient space-ship intent on devouring its last inhabitant, rather than a man manipulating or tricking a wife. Or perhaps he and his wife are space travellers trapped in space together. They could even be aliens!

Or you could take a look at the tale with modern eyes. Maybe, rather than a new husband and wife, they're a businessman and a new employee, or professor and their student.

Or you could sexswap them, with Bluebeard as an older woman. Maybe the new spouse is a younger man or woman, or not even a spouse but a new employee or co-worker. How do these changes alter the story?

I will honestly be happy with anything as long as it doesn't dwell on my DNWs. The ideas are just that, ideas. Feel free to use some or all or none of them!
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Beauty and the Beast - Joseph Jacobs
Source

Beauty (Beauty and the Beast - Joseph Jacobs)
Beast (Beauty and the Beast - Joseph Jacobs)

Plot/ideas:
I welcome any and all AU takes on Beauty and the Beast, from sci-fi/fantasy to horror to modern to dystopia to erotica to cyberpunk and everything in between. Especially gothic romance/horror.

What if, instead of a beast, the Beast is an eldritch horror~! I'm kidding. Unless...?

I'd really love a deeper exploration of the characters/themes...while set in space. But if that doesn't float your boat, I'll take literally anything about these characters and story. I love it and love all the many versions out there.

Beauty had fallen in love with the Beast; is loving the prince much of an adjustment? Does Beauty ever find herself missing the beast? How do they cope in the aftermath of the fairytale? What happens "and they all lived happily ever after," after the fairytale ends?
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The Heavenly Maiden and the Wood Cutter - Zong Dog-Bong
Source 1 | Source 2

Wood Cutter (The Heavenly Maiden and the Wood Cutter)
Heavenly Maiden (The Heavenly Maiden and the Wood Cutter)
The Wood Cutter's Mother (The Heavenly Maiden and the Wood Cutter)

Prompts/ideas:
I grew up with the Korean version of this fairy tale and it (and all the other versions I've read, including this one) has a special place in my heart. You could update it to the modern day or set it in the future, or—drumroll—in outer space!

Rather than a heavenly maiden, maybe she's a space princess and the wood cutter is a space pirate. Or perhaps she's now a pop star and the wood cutter is her fan/admirer! How does a new setting/era/careers/etc. affect the story?

Or you could give me a continuation of the original tale: a fix-it? A follow-up? Maybe a character piece for the heavenly maiden, exploring how she feels about the fact she was technically deceived by the wood cutter into a life together?
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The Herd Boy and the Weaving Maiden - Dr. R. Wilhelm
Source 1 | Source 2

White Jade Ruler (The Herd Boy and the Weaving Maiden)
Weaving Maiden (The Herd Boy and the Weaving Maiden)
Herd Boy (The Herd Boy and the Weaving Maiden)
The Yellow Cow (The Herd Boy and the Weaving Maiden)

Prompts/ideas:
I also grew up with the Korean version of this tale, too. Fairytales just seem well-suited to space AUs, and I know I suggest space AUs a lot, but I think this story would really work as one.

Or you could stick with the fairy tale and write a moment where the Weaving Maiden and the Herd Boy are able to have some time together after the events of the story.

Or what about a modern AU? How would you update the fairy tale to the modern age?

You could focus on one of the other characters, like the White Jade Ruler or the Yellow Cow, and get their take on the Weaving Maiden and Herd Boy's relationship.

As ever, I adore pastiche and epistolary, so if you could work that in somehow that would be cool too!
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Little Brier-Rose - Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
Source

Little Brier-Rose (Little Brier-Rose - Grimm)
Prince (Little Brier-Rose - Grimm)
Thirteenth Wise Woman (Little Brier-Rose - Grimm)

Prompts/ideas:
Like many other requests I've made for this challenge, I enjoy most of the takes on Sleeping Beauty/Little Brier-Rose/etc. from Grimm to Disney to Anne Rice.

Feel free to throw the characters into a space AU, a gothic/horror setting, or even some other fantasy setting. I'm also up for queer interpretations/variations, with the prince becoming a princess. I'm fine with dub/noncon along the lines of the Anne Rice Sleeping Beauty retellings.

Backstory on the thirteenth wise woman would also be fascinating (while steering away from material like Maleficent as I'm not familiar with the movies).

If you could figure out how to work out a story focusing on Brier Rose and the wise woman, that could be interesting too. Maybe in this instance, the princess possesses some magic of her own?
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Room for One More (Urban Legend)
Source

Young Woman (Room for One More)
Strange Man (Room for One More)

Prompts/ideas:
I know I request this fandom quite a bit, but I just really love all the possibilities one could take with this tale!

I'd really adore if you played with the story elements. Maybe instead of a mysterious man, the portent of doom is an old radio or a haunted twitter account. Maybe a character in her favorite TV show starts seemingly talking to her directly, or her neighbor starts treating her oddly. Maybe they're in space, in a gothic castle, or exploring the center of the earth.

Whatever you come up with, I'm sure I'll love it! Have fun with it!
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The Slit-Mouthed Woman (Japanese Urban Legend)
Source 1 | Source 2

Slit-Mouthed Woman's Victim (The Slit-Mouthed Woman)
Samurai Husband (The Slit-Mouthed Woman)
Kuchisake-onna | The Slit-Mouthed Woman (The Slit-Mouthed Woman)

^*I'm fine with non-graphic/offscreen domestic violence for this fandom

Prompts/ideas:
A modern feminist and/or queer update to this urban legend could be interesting! Update it for the modern day, send them to outer space, or put a horror/slasher movie spin on it (or borrow from the plot of a movie, if you wanted). Give the slit-mouthed woman a happier ending, put her to rest, let her get revenge on her samurai husband, and/or find a victim. Did Kuchisake-onna have children? If so, what does her child think of their mother's legacy? Does she visit her child?
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The Velvet Ribbon (Folk Tale)
Source

The Woman with the Velvet Ribbon
The Husband (The Velvet Ribbon)

Prompts/ideas:
I read a version of this tale in the Alvin Schwartz book (you can find a reading of the Green Ribbon here). This story possibly has its roots in the French Revolution, and I wouldn't be opposed to a story set during this time period (the source link goes a little into some of the history, including the macabre practices that sprouted up during the Reign of Terror).

I'm curious about the girl's backstory: is she a corpse, or a spirit? How did she lose her head in the first place?

If you decided to update the tale I'd love something set during the '50s or '60s, maybe with a gothic/giallo bent.
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The White Gown (Urban Legend)
Source

Any Character

Prompts/ideas:
I love this story and am most familiar with the Alvin Schwartz version. No characters were nominated, but I would be fine with something involving one or more of the following: the girl, her boyfriend, her mother, the dress shop owner, undertaker's assistant, and/or the dress's previous owner.

I'd love a gothic/horror story but I also wouldn't mind something a bit humorous: maybe something from the perspective of the undertaker's assistant who steals the dress, and the corpse he takes it off of.
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장화홍련전 | Janghwa Hongryeon Jeon | The Story of Rose Flower and Red Lotus

Janghwa | Rose Flower (The Story of Rose Flower and Red Lotus)
Hongryeon | Red Lotus (The Story of Rose Flower and Red Lotus)
Stepmother (The Story of Rose Flower and Red Lotus)
Eldest Son | First Son (The Story of Rose Flower and Red Lotus)

Prompts/ideas:
There have been a few modern adaptations of this story, including A Tale of Two Sisters and the American remake, The Uninvited. You can mine those for story/plot/etc., or you can stick to the original tale. You can also retell it with original characters of your own!

Throw the characters into a modern AU, or set it in the future. Maybe put them in outer space, a dystopian post-apocalypse, or even put them in another fairy tale. I love this story so much and will be happy with anything you write about these characters.
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Once again, I'd like to stress that my prompts/ideas are only suggestions! Please don't feel constrained by them! Mix and match my likes/prompts/ideas/etc. as you please, or come up with something completely on your own without my input. They're just meant as a guide if you need it.

You can check out my other dear author letters here and here for a better idea of the kind of tropes I like! If you need any clarification please contact me through the mods and I'll get back to you ASAP.

once_upon_fic letter

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