Fanfic Exchange Letter

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Dear writer person,

This is my first time doing a proper letter for an exchange. And on a crossover one no less, which makes everything all the weirder. But in a good way, I hope. First off, some general stuff!

Things I Like: Endings ranging from the bittersweet to happy. Excitement. Weirdness. Exploration of the complex consequences of some casually established setting detail. Banter between characters. Angst, soul-searching, and contemplation of the nature of reality, so long as it goes somewhere. Fusions that are all about setting. Femslash. Women getting to do cool things.

Things I Dislike: (Most of these are things I could like in the right circumstances, but am not looking for in a fanfic exchange.) Tragedy. Grimdark. Cracky, goofy weirdness. Shipping being the entire plot. Extensive character introduction/meeting sequences. General gore and squick. PWP, though smut's fine if it's not the whole story. Embarrassment and revenge plots. Children being cute.

For my requests, I've grouped the fandoms by a rough sort of theme. So, on to the sets!


Group 1: Fairy Tales, A Song of Ice and Fire, Haibane Renmei, Persona 4

This set--despite the second entry--is sort of the contemplative group. Pondering the nature of reality! What's true and right in a difficult world! The strange type of morality that comes from very strange circumstances! I'd love to see something in the philosophical line here. Not just someone sitting around thinking, but dealing with the moral/ethical/metaphysical questions raised by the setting and its events.

Fairy Tales: I like the iconic nature of these, but I also like subversions and looking into the human oddity of the sort of people who end up in these stories. (Think Euripides' take on characters, rather than Sophocles.) The characters of any of the other settings running through a fairy tale plot could be really interesting.

A Song of Ice and Fire: Sansa and Arya are my favorite characters, and they call up a lot of fairy tale archetypes. (The clever youngest child. The pretty, good sister.) But there's also a place for taking some of the (many, many) dead characters of the series into Haibane Renmei's setting, and seeing what those characters do there, waking up amnesiac from those eggs.

Haibane Renmei: Any dead character from another setting would fit in really well here, as mentioned above. I'm not specifically interested in the characters of this series so much as the setting, so crossing those characters into another world wouldn't be as much fun for me. But it'd still be neat to see what's done there.

Persona 4: The otherworldliness and confrontation of dark desires could hook really well into Haibane Renmei. (Really, what doesn't go with that series?) And there are enough mythological creatures floating around as personas that you could slot fairy tale characters in there as well. The most challenging crossover would probably be Persona 4 and ASoI&F, but seeing the characters from each of those places argue about the nature of reality and fate and choices could be fascinating.


Group 2: Pokemon, Avatar: The Last Airbender, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Fairy Tales

This is more of the light-hearted set. It has room for adventure and fun, and I'd really like a happy ending on whatever shows up here. It's a great set for the high energy kinds of stories, or something on the funny side.

Pokemon: I've mostly played the games, and only watched a few seasons of the anime, but I adore the world. It's so whole-heartedly attached to its Pokemon Do Everything premise! And the self-awareness of some characters makes the ridiculousness work even better. (If I have any favorite characters from here, it'd be Team Rocket. Naturally.) They could rampage through any of the other settings on a perfectly standard episode plot, or you could work pokemon into the other settings as part of the ecosystem. (AtLA is halfway there, with its skunkbears and what not.) Making the MLP characters into pokemon would be...strange, but interesting. Who wouldn't want to choose Rainbow Dash in a sudden battle?

Avatar: The Last Airbender: As much as I love the pokemon ecology, I also love the -bending system. It's a really interesting magical system that I'd like to see more of, whether it's ported into other setting, or pulling other characters into this setting to deal with it.

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Twilight Sparkle is not only the best pony, but a great excuse for falling into any other world. Making her attempt to analyze the logic of fairy tales (or pokemon ecology) might well lead to another Pinkie Keen style breakdown, which...okay, I love seeing Twilight hit the end of her rope, too.

Fairy Tales: If the previous set was Brothers Grimm, this is the Disney edition. It's a great place to do fusions, whether it's Sleeping Rarity or Jessie and the Seven Dwebbles.


Group 3: Greek & Roman Mythology, Fairy Tales, Persona 4, Welcome to Night Vale, Pacific Rim

Here's where I've slotted the stuff that's weird, and creepy weird. Not necessarily horror, but the darker kind of strange. This place is where I'd like setting exploration most of all, and I think it'd lend itself really well to fusions rather than straight characters-meeting-up types of crossovers.

Greek & Roman Mythology: I'm not going to be picky on details here, given how much the details varied even in the "canon". It's like comics continuity; you can keep reworking the basic stories over and over again. Which means there's no reason not to send Prometheus to Night Vale, or explore Dionysus incident with those dolphins and what not in the dreamy fairy tale world of pseudo-Europe.

Fairy Tales: As in both places above, it's a great route for fusions. Taking a classic plot and stuffing it into another setting and set of characters is always fun.

Persona 4: The crossover with Pacific Rim practically writes itself, given the Persona/Jaeger similarities and the importance of a strong relationship with other people to power your punching abilities. But I'd also love to see the Persona 4 plot arising in Night Vale...or even in late Republican Rome. Did Octavian fall into a reflecting pool and fight the monsters of an earlier age, to save his city? Could be!

Welcome to Night Vale: Take anything strange from another setting, and let it walk right through. I would love to hear Cecil report on the transforming swans blocking traffic near the elementary school, or see Carlos investigate the power readings that suddenly spring up around a certain teenager every time they spend a bit more time with their friends.

Pacific Rim: Much as I love the characters of this setting, it's practically built for fusions. Pulling another set of characters in as Jaeger pilots is a classic fanfic premise for a reason. That said, the Greek gods are almost alien enough to be a menace of their own. Desperate jaeger pilots storming Mount Olympus to try to prevent the apocalypse? I'd read it.