Dear Fic Corner Scribbler....

[betony]

Before I say anything else: dear scribbler, you've very kindly volunteered to write one of these fandoms, and that very fact fills me with utter delight. Thank you in advance for whatever you will write; as I've said before, my experience with exchanges is that authors can usually come up with fics far more brilliant than I can imagine, much less prompt, so please think of the following suggestions as just that. I very much hope that whatever you feel inspired to write is something you genuinely enjoy, so before anything else, have fun! However, if you'd like some more ideas, please feel free to click through! (As a warning, though, it is rather long. Erm. Sorry about that.)

General likes: humor/snark, long plotty fic, canon pairings, retellings or resonance with myth/folklore/etc., worldbuilding, idealism, playing with or twisting tropes, AUs with subtle callbacks to canon, and women being awesome in multiple (not just Strong Female Character, to quote Kate Beaton) ways. I also adore backstory or behind-the-scenes fic, and will always, always love outsider POVs and unreliable narrators.
General dislikes: explicit sex/violence/gore, consent issues, fics that hinge solely on hurt/comfort or angst/hopelessness.

The Squire's Tales
Any
I love these books, especially the constant snark and dorky references to obscure Arthurian mythology, as well as the genuine goodness of the characters! That being said (...spoilers for a book series released years ago follow?) my favorite years are those between The Savage Damsel and the Dwarf and The Lioness and Her Knight, and therefore, unsurprisingly: I love Lynet and Gary, and their banter and practicality and the life they build away from Camelot and excitement--but I'm sure excitement eventually finds them anyway. I love Gawain and Terence, and the way they are absolutely loyal to each other no matter what (in between exasperation and insults, of course); a story about one of their offscreen adventures would be really neat! I love Terence and Eileen and would always be interested in hearing about how the two of them managed to keep their relationship under wraps for sixteen years. And of course I love Arthur; this series's quiet, kind, dryly funny Arthur is one of my favorite versions of the character, and something from his perspective during these years would be quite interesting. Arthur getting to participate in, if not outright have, an adventure of his own would be great! But let's be honest, mostly I just want to visit with the characters and canon just one more time and I'll pretty much be thrilled with whatever you want to write!

Crown Duel
All
I think one of my potential prompts is best summed up by this reply to osprey_archer in the brainstorming post:
*nods* Yes, exactly; I adore Mel/Shevraeth, of course, but at the same time I've always craved pre-canon fic for the younger generation. The snippets of their interactions in Court Duel are so interesting; it's like they're halfway caught between trying to protect each other (with the secret fan language) and trying to tear each other apart in the hopes of self-preservation. We only get the narrative through Mel and Danric, who are both never at Court in that particular atmosphere, but I can't help wondering: what would that do to all the rest left behind?
So! Pre-series fic about Tamara, and Savona, and Nee, and any other Court characters you’d like to include would be terribly wonderful. If you’d like something a bit more ship-focused, Tamara/Savona has fascinated me for ages; how they keep on coming back to each other despite their many quarrels, against the backdrop of fraught Court politics, and at some point even calm down enough to have kids! In terms of other relationships that fascinate me, Mel and Tamara and their prickly loyalty is great, as is Nee and Tamara’s awkward cousinly relationship (and Tamara comes close to being the one person Nee speaks ill of—why is that? Does their relationship ever get better?) Also Bran and Nee, and what a relief he must have been after Galdran’s court would be marvelous! Or Bran and Mel, post-Court Duel, dealing with the fact that his little sister is going to be Queen. Basically, anything with any of these characters would be great!

The Perilous Gard
Any
OHHH THIS BOOK ♥. Kate/Christoper was an early OTP, and Kate one of my dearest heroines for how very atypical she is—basically, she gets everything she ever wanted by being surly and practical and plain-spoken, and her character arc over the novel is one of my favorites ever. So of course anything more with either of those two options would be so close to my heart. Otherwise, I find both Kate and Christopher’s relationships with their respective siblings to be fascinating—how do those change over the years? How were they different before the novel begins, or how do they change afterwards? Or I offer up this plot bunny as I’ve had this bizarre fondness for Alicia that I’ve never been able to explain: an AU where Alicia replaces or accompanies Kate on her exile and also stumbles into the world of the fairies; what happens next: Alicia/Lord Geoffrey? Alicia/one of the Fairy Folk? Alicia/her own previously-unknown awesomeness?

The Outlaws of Sherwood
Maid Marian, Robin Hood, Cecily of Norwell, Will Scarlet
Er, if it’s not apparent already, I have something of a soft spot for Robin Hood retellings, but Outlaws of Sherwood comes close to being one of the One True Versions of my heart. These four characters in particular are my special favorites, so anything with them should be excellent, but if you’d prefer a specific prompt: we know from canon that Marian is childhood friends with Will, but also with Robin (although neither knows the other); she’s also close enough to Cecily that Cecil goes out of his way to avoid her when Marian visits. How does a young Marian balance all these relationships? I’m also really fascinated by Aethelreda and her position in Marian’s household, so if you’d like to, feel free to add her in, as well, particularly since her interactions with Will suggests she knows him and his sister quite well, but also since she seems to at least have heard about Robin, too!

Kate and Cecelia series
All
This is another fandom where I love pretty much all the characters, so anything you’d like to write would be stellar! Kate and Cecy’s friendship and loyalty to each other is amazing, and anything from further magical misadventures to the story of what really happened with Squire Bryant’s goat would be marvelous. If you’d like to write shippy fic, I do find Kate/Thomas, both as individuals and in terms of their relationships, slightly more entertaining than Cecy/James, but I am very fond of both couples. As a final note, though, Aunt Elizabeth really interests me; particularly her relationship with her previous fiancé, given the effect it has upon her in the first book, so any sort of backstory on her (or more about her relationship with Mr. Wrexton) would also be great!

Enola Holmes series
Enola Holmes, Sherlock Holmes, Mycroft Holmes, Cecily Alistair
This series is utterly adorable, and I love it to bits. Most of all, though, I’m intrigued by the relationship between Enola and her brothers; I love that she earns their respect for her skills rather than them taking pity on her, and I love that they finally let her go their own way. Anything about the Holmeses in the future, working together or simply learning to be more a family, would be amazing. Similarly, I love that Enola has this close friendship with Lady Cecily, except I never really feel that she gets to really sit down and interact with Cecily other than during times of crises in the books. So something where both of them actually develop their friendship a bit more would, I think, be rather nice. Finally, given the source material, if you feel inspired to produce any sort of casefic, whether or not it incorporates any of the above ideas, that would be amazing as well!

Power of Three
Adara, Gest, Hathil, Banot
Well, naturally there was going to be some DWJ on this list at some points ☺. Power of Three is one of my favorite one-offs because of the fantastic worldbuilding we get, so first off, anything that expands on that would be lovely. Moreover, we get so much of the story through the perspective of the kids, I’ve always wanted to know more about the adults. That is,what is it like to actually be Chief for Gest, particularly when he's famous for his adventures? Can you tell me more about Adara, so determined to make up for her brother’s crime that she single-handedly makes herself into the wisest woman around? What is Banot's take on the events on the novel, not to mention Hathil's? How do all the different adults deal with having to work together post-canon, given all the political aspects that the kids, understandably, sort of gloss over?

In conclusion, dear scribbler, I hope at least some of these prompts manage to fire your imagination (and also that your eyes haven’t glazed over reading this awfully long letter. Sorry again about that!), and also that you have a wonderful time in this exchange as well! Thank you once again for having the impeccable taste to sign up for one of these fandoms, and I look forward to being able to squee about them together after reveals!