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Entry tags:
once_upon_fic letter
Dear Creator,
I have used parts of previous letters to compose the body of this letter. 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 specific prompts for every pairing/fandom I've requested. 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!
I'm open to treats! Fic and art for all.
I have used parts of previous letters to compose the body of this letter. 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 specific prompts for every pairing/fandom I've requested. 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!
I'm open to treats! Fic and art for all.
Table of Contents
- What I Love
- DNWs
- Stuff I Like
- The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs (Urban Legend)
- The Heavenly Maiden and the Wood Cutter - Zong Dog-Bong
- The Herd Boy and the Weaving Maiden - Dr. R. Wilhelm
- La Barbe bleue | Bluebeard - Charles Perrault
- La Belle et la Bête | The Beauty and the Beast - Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve
- Little Briar-Rose - Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
- Phantom Passenger That Wants A Ride Home (Urban Legend)
- Room for One More (Urban Legend)
- The Slit-Mouthed Woman (Japanese 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 romcoms, enemies-to-lovers, 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.
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 (fine with these tropes appearing as "one offs", not interested in universes structured around them)
• mpreg
• watersports/omorashi/scat
• mundane AUs (i.e. coffee shop, flower shop, cafe, high school/college, etc)
• vampire/werewolf AUs for non-supernatural fandoms/fandoms where they don't appear or exist (canon vampires/werewolves in supernatural-based fandoms are fine!)
• horror that centers on mental institutions/hospitals/etc.
• inclusion of current real world events (i.e. war in Ukraine, US politics/Trump, SCOTUS decisions, covid, etc.)
Stuff I Like:
• gothic/gothic romance/horror/ghost stories!!!
• southern gothic/midwestern gothic/suburban gothic/urban gothic/regional gothic in general
• space gothic (think Event Horizon and the Alien series)
• cosmic horror
• body horror
• monsters!!! sentient monsters!!! monsters that just wanna eat things!!!
• eldritch architecture/houses/houses that want to eat you
• eldritch nature/nature that wants to eat you
• eldritch spaceships/planets/etc. (that want to eat you)
• bodyswap
• gray morality/shady ethics/etc.
• forced/close proximity
• time travel/time loops/time fuckery
• pining
• ghosts/hauntings/etc.
• 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 inverted (i.e. the student in the professor/student relationship has/gains the power, parishioner has/gains power over the priest, subject controls the queen, etc.)
• manipulation/mindgames (especially mutual manipulation/mindgames)
• characters facing/dealing with mortality (of their lives, their livelihoods, careers, etc.)
• age gap
• platonic soulmates
• amnesiafic
• epistolary/social media pastiche
• future fic
• casefic
• ensemble fic
• found family/families of choice
• complicated relationships
• professional/career-related jealousy
• ritual sex/resurrection rituals
• public consummation of marriage
• witchcraft/witches
• scary/creepy/spooky interpretations of fairytales/mythology/folklore/etc.
• deals gone wrong (supernatural demon deals/deals with the devil literally or figuratively... not talking like business deals that fall through, although if that was a metaphor for something...)
• small town AUs (small town in the suburban gothic sense rather than cute, quaint villages and whatnot)
The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs (Urban Legend)
source
Pairings:
The Man Upstairs
Child Being Babysat
Babysitter
Prompts/ideas:
Give me a version of the story where the babysitter turns the tables on the man upstairs. Or, you can't go wrong with setting it in outer space! Claustrophobic space gothic for the win! Or go meta with it and give me the social media pastiche...
Maybe mash up this urban legend with a modern horror movie setting/scenario, like Happy Death Day, Halloween, or Scream, for example. I like time loops/time travel and slasher/horror movies. I also love the atmosphere of Taxi Driver and Joyce Carol Oates' Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been, so something set in the '60s/'70s would be right up my alley.
If none of my ideas strikes you, please feel free to play with my tags/freeforms/likes/etc to come up with something!
Additional notes: If you want to write something non-platonic and/or explicit, I'd prefer the babysitter to be 16 or older (and the child not be involved). I'd also prefer the babysitter not to be cis male.
I tend to leave art specifics up to the individual artist. The only thing I'm not really into is chibi art, but other than that anything goes.
Return to the Table of Contents
The Heavenly Maiden and the Wood Cutter - Zong Dog-Bong
source 1 | source 2
Pairings/characters:
Wood Cutter
Heavenly Maiden
The Wood Cutter's Mother
Prompts/ideas:
I grew up with the Korean version of this fairy tale and it has a special place in my heart. Maybe update it to the modern day, or set it in the future, or in outer space! Rather than a heavenly maiden, maybe she's a space princess and the wood cutter is a space pirate or an alien prince or explorer. Or perhaps she's now a pop star and the wood cutter is an admirer!
There are many versions of this tale, or similar stories; perhaps the maiden and woodcutter are reincarnated every generation and forced to re-experience their tragic tale until they get it right...
If none of my ideas strikes you, please feel free to play with my tags/freeforms/likes/etc to come up with something!
Additional notes: N/A
I tend to leave art specifics up to the individual artist. The only thing I'm not really into is chibi art, but other than that anything goes.
Return to the Table of Contents
The Herd Boy and the Weaving Maiden - Dr. R. Wilhelm
source 1 | source 2
Pairings/characters:
White Jade Ruler
Weaving Maiden
Herd Boy
The Yellow Cow
Prompts/ideas:
I grew up with the Korean version of this tale, too. Fairy tales just seem well-suited to space AUs, and I know I suggest space AUs a lot, but I think this one 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 fairy tale. What about something from an outsider perspective?
What about a modern AU? How would you update the fairy tale to the modern age?
If none of my ideas strikes you, please feel free to play with my tags/freeforms/likes/etc to come up with something!
Additional notes: N/A
I tend to leave art specifics up to the individual artist. The only thing I'm not really into is chibi art, but other than that anything goes.
Return to the Table of Contents
La Barbe bleue | Bluebeard - Charles Perrault
source 1 | source 2
Pairings/characters:
La barbe bleue | Bluebeard
L'avant-dernière femme de la Barbe bleue | Bluebeard's Penultimate Wife
One of Bluebeard's Intermediate Wives
La première femme de la Barbe bleue | Bluebeard's First Wife
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, and books like Catherynne M. Valente's Comfort Me With Apples and Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber.
I would love if you reinterpreted the tale in space. Maybe Bluebeard's a sentient space ship intent on devouring the last inhabitant, rather than a menacing husband. Or perhaps he and his wife are space travellers trapped in space together. Maybe they're aliens!
Or take a look at it with modern eyes. Maybe, rather than a new husband and wife, they're a businessman and a new employee, or professor and his new student.
You could even 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? Feel free to take the story to new and unfamiliar places. Look at it from a queer lens, if that interests you!
Tell me more about the penultimate wife; did she ever get close to getting free of Bluebeard? Perhaps, in a twist, she does manage to save herself and she's able to pass on her knowledge to the last wife...
I'd also be really interested in epistolary storytelling and outsider POV with the Bluebeard tale; maybe the story is retold as a found footage film or a series of correspondence between one of the wives and someone outside Bluebeard's castle?
If none of my ideas strikes you, please feel free to play with my tags/freeforms/likes/etc to come up with something!
Additional notes: Bluebeard's last wife wasn't nominated but I'm more than happy if you want to include her, or write something from her perspective.
I tend to leave art specifics up to the individual artist. The only thing I'm not really into is chibi art, but other than that anything goes.
Return to the Table of Contents
La Belle et la Bête | The Beauty and the Beast - Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve
source
Pairings/characters:
Belle | Beauty
La Bête | The Beast
La Sœur Aînée | The Eldest Sister
Le Marchand | The Merchant
Prompts/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! Or a shapeshifter?
I'm also a fan of what-if/canon-adjacent AUs, post-canon/what happens after, and missing scenes. I'd also love a deeper exploration of the themes.
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 after the fairytale ends, and "and they all lived happily ever after"?
If none of my ideas strikes you, please feel free to play with my tags/freeforms/likes/etc to come up with something!
Additional notes: I'm pro-Beastfucking.
I tend to leave art specifics up to the individual artist. The only thing I'm not really into is chibi art, but other than that anything goes.
Return to the Table of Contents
Little Briar-Rose - Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
source 1 | source 2
Pairings/characters:
Little Briar-Rose
Twelfth Wise Woman
Thirteenth Wise Woman
The Frog
Prompt/ideas:
Like many other requests I've made for this challenge, I enjoy most of the takes on Sleeping Beauty/Little Briar-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. 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 Briar Rose and the wise women, that could be interesting too. Maybe in this instance, the princess possesses some magic of her own?
Something from the perspective of the frog might be fun too!
If none of my ideas strikes you, please feel free to play with my tags/freeforms/likes/etc to come up with something!
Additional notes: N/A
I tend to leave art specifics up to the individual artist. The only thing I'm not really into is chibi art, but other than that anything goes.
Return to the Table of Contents
Phantom Passenger That Wants A Ride Home (Urban Legend)
source
Pairings/characters:
Dead Girl
Dead Girl's Mother
Driver
Prompts/ideas:
I've gotten some wonderful fills for this fandom; I keep requesting it because I feel like there are so many depths to plumb!
We often get the POV of the driver, but what about the dead girl, or her mother? Maybe the girl, her mother, and/or the driver are stuck in a groundhog's day-like time loop. Or maybe change the setting to outer space, or set it well into the future. How does a new setting change things? I also quite enjoy the Twilight Zone's take on the phantom passenger, The Hitch-Hiker, and the way it ratchets up the psychological tension and ambiguity until the twist ending.
I'd adore a fresh take on a familiar, oft-told legend. Interpret the story, its characters and themes as loosely as you wish. Or come up with a different angle on the characters. Whatever you want to do, I'm interested in reading it! I love when old tales are twisted in new and creative ways, and have no specific requirements for things I'd like to see.
If none of that strikes you, perhaps an AU! Fantasy, horror, and future/space AUs are favorites of mine and I'd love a version of this story set in space, or in the distant future. Maybe the girl is an alien trying to hitch a ride across the galaxy. Perhaps her mother is a necromancer trying to bring her dead daughter back and the driver is a ferryman. Whatever the case, have fun with it!
If none of my ideas strikes you, please feel free to play with my tags/freeforms/likes/etc to come up with something!
Additional notes: N/A
I tend to leave art specifics up to the individual artist. The only thing I'm not really into is chibi art, but other than that anything goes.
Return to the Table of Contents
Room for One More (Urban Legend)
source
Pairings/characters:
Young Woman
Strange Man
Prompts/ideas:
I've always loved this story, ever since reading a version of it in the Alan Schwartz book as a kid. Those illustrations still haunt me to this day, lol.
I'm more interested in character archetypes/types than characters from the original story. You can write a story centered around completely original characters, or transpose characters from other media (Sam and Dean Winchester, Luke Skywalker, Sidney Prescott, Benoit Blanc, etc.) to the setting of the urban legend. Or you can go with the characters from the original tale.
Breathe new life into an old story! Or rewrite the old story for a modern audience. Maybe instead of a mysterious man, the portent of doom is an old radio or a haunted twitter account. Maybe the young woman and strange man are a couple whose relationship begins to go wrong, or they're a pair of con artists, or a father and daughter. Who knows! Have fun with it!
If none of my ideas strikes you, please feel free to play with my tags/freeforms/likes/etc to come up with something!
Additional notes: N/A
I tend to leave art specifics up to the individual artist. The only thing I'm not really into is chibi art, but other than that anything goes.
Return to the Table of Contents
The Slit-Mouthed Woman (Japanese Urban Legend)
source 1 | source 2
Pairings/characters:
Kuchisake-onna | The Slit-Mouthed Woman
Samurai Husband
The Slit-Mouthed Woman's Victim
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? Does her child visit her?
If none of my ideas strikes you, please feel free to play with my tags/freeforms/likes/etc to come up with something!
Additional notes: I'll make an exception for domestic violence, considering the source material.
I tend to leave art specifics up to the individual artist. The only thing I'm not really into is chibi art, but other than that anything goes.
Return to the Table of Contents
장화홍련전 | Janghwa Hongryeon Jeon | The Story of Rose Flower and Red Lotus
source 1 | source 2
Pairings/characters:
Hongryeon | Red Lotus
Janghwa | Rose Flower
Stepmother
Eldest Son | First Son
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.
If none of my ideas strikes you, please feel free to play with my tags/freeforms/likes/etc to come up with something!
Additional notes: N/A
I tend to leave art specifics up to the individual artist. The only thing I'm not really into is chibi art, but other than that anything goes.
Return to the Table of Contents
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.