isabelquinn (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
isabelquinn) wrote2019-01-01 03:44 pm
isabelquinn) wrote2019-01-01 03:44 pm
Chocolate Box 2019
Dear Chocolate Box writer/artist,
Thank you for creating something for me! I'm not fussy, and I'm very excited about everything in by signup — each request is something I really really want and I can’t wait to see what you create.
Also, all the prompts in this letter are just suggestions. If one of my prompts sparks an idea, great! If you have you own idea, also great! There are billions of ideas out there that would never occur to me, so please don’t feel restricted by my prompts.
At AO3, I'm![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
isquinnabel.
Quick Links
General Likes/DNWs
Crossover Fandom: Baby-Sitters Club/Stranger Things
Crossover Fandom: Grim Fandango/The Good Place
Lost
Baby-Sitters Club
General Info
General Likes:
General DNWs:
Crossover Fandom (fic only)
Baby-Sitters Club/Stranger Things (fic only)
--Stranger Things Kids & Kristy (Baby-sitters Club) & Mary Anne (BSC) & Claudia (BSC) & Stacey (BSC)
--Will Byers (Stranger Things) & Claudia Kishi (Baby-Sitters Club)
--Dustin Henderson (Stranger Things) & Mallory Pike (Baby-Sitters Club)
--Maxine “Max” Mayfield (Stranger Things) & Kristy Thomas (Baby-Sitters Club)
I love these characters, I love these settings, and I love taking canons like BSC that are (more or less) based in reality and bringing in some Stranger Things weirdness/creepiness. As far as crossing over the worlds goes, if it’s easier, feel free to fuse them together and handwave it (e.g. a fic that takes for granted that Stoneybrook was the setting of Stranger Things all along, or that the BSC characters have lived in Hawkins all along). Or maybe they're neighbouring towns (feel free to handwave their canonical different locations, or maybe that can be incorporated as part of the weirdness!). Or maybe a BSC character has moved to Hawkins, or is visiting family (e.g. maybe Stacey’s family moved to Hawkins instead of Stoneybrook). Maybe the characters meet each other in a non-Stoneybrook setting from the BSC universe, like Camp Mohawk. Or maybe maybe a Stoneybrook character is having dreams about the Upside Down, and that's how the connection happens.
Whatever the crossover setup, I would really love something set in canon era. These fandoms share an 80s setting, which is part of what makes this crossover so much fun.
Prompts:
(as mentioned earlier, don't feel limited by what I've written here. The intent here is to help spark fic ideas, not to limit you to one specific dynamic with these characters. Feel free to use your own idea, or mix and match which prompts you use for which characters)
Stranger Things Kids & Kristy & Mary Anne & Claudia & Stacey: I don't have specific prompts for the entire group beyond the general suggestions I wrote above: I'd love to involve the BSC girls in Stranger Things weirdness! This prompt is a bit of a wildcard. I love this whole group of BSC kids and Stranger Things kids and I would definitely enjoy a fic involving everyone, but also feel free to limit the characters to whoever you wish if fitting them all in is too much.
Mallory & Dustin: I nominated Mallory & Dustin because I love the idea of that combination — they’re both very nerdy, but not in quite the same way. Plus Dustin owns his nerdiness in a way that Mallory sometimes does, but she can be very awkward. I suspect Mallory would feel some combination of “wow you’re very annoying” and “wow I’m very comfortable with who I am when I’m around you”. Plus Mallory has always been particularly into in solving mysteries, so she'd be a committed addition to this world. Maybe Mal and Dustin have always known each other, or maybe Mallory is Barb's cousin and the Pikes are spending some time in Hawkins for support.
Claudia & Will: They’re very different people — Claudia is outgoing and recognisably cool, while Will is much quieter and nerdier. But they both love drawing and creating, and they’re both really good kids. A friendship between them might not be immediate, but I can see them developing a friendship. Or maybe Claudia, in Stoneybrook, has started dreaming about the Upside Down, and is meeting (and communicating) with Will there. Maybe she's also drawing/painting/sculpting the things she sees there, and maybe that world is starting to seep into Stoneybrook.
Max & Kristy: These two would be dynamite together. I can’t decide if they’d be friends immediately or if they’d grate against each other at first. I could see Max spending a lot of time at Kristy’s place (whether it’s back in pre-Watson days on Bradford Court, or at the sprawling noisy Thomas-Brewer house in the rich neighborhood), and Kristy being intrigued by skateboarding. Or maybe they meet at Camp Mohawk (maybe they're both CITs?) and some Stranger Things weirdness starts happening at camp.
Fandom-specific DNWs:
Grim Fandango/The Good Place (fic only)(vague season 1 spoilers for The Good Place ahead)
--Manny Calavera (Grim Fandango) & Chidi Anagonye (The Good Place)
--Manny Calavera (Grim Fandango) & Eleanor Shellstrop (The Good Place)
--Manny Calavera (Grim Fandango) & Jason Mendoza (The Good Place)
--Manny Calavera (Grim Fandango) & Tahani Al-Jamil (The Good Place)
These two afterlife canons could be such a great combination! Grim Fandango has been one of my favourite canons for a long, long time, and I love the idea of bringing any of the human Good Place characters into its world. Any one of them as a new arrival in Manny’s office, while he tries in vain to find a non-terrible travel package for them would be amazing. Alternately, maybe they’re elsewhere in the game!
Eleanor: Maybe Eleanor is embracing her trashiness and is obsessed with the cat track in Rubacava, or maybe she’s a frequent visitor to the Calavera Cafe. Or maybe she doesn’t qualify for any travel package at all, and has to work for the DOD like Manny. Maybe she’s also a travel agent getting screwed by a corrupt system, or maybe she’s a temp secretary while Eva’s off sick or something. Maybe she’s worked out that something is wrong and, whatever the context Manny meets her, she's actually an LSA agent.
Chidi: Chidi and his indecision could be a really fun way to disrupt canonical Grim Fandango events. What if Manny is waiting impatiently at the balloon vendor because Chidi can’t decide what to get? Or maybe he’s used to Chidi’s indecision causing delays at the Calavera Cafe bar, and knows a good way to deal with him? Or maybe he enlists Chidi to help Terry articulate the Sea Bees’ problems in that Rubacava puzzle, but it backfires somehow?
Tahani: Tahani would do okay in Rubacava, surely there’d be a need for party planning in that town. I can’t imagine Manny having much patience with her, which would be very entertaining. What if Tahani is trying to negotiate use of the Calavera Cafe for some event or other and Manny has to deal with her? What if the Blue Casket crowd are all huge fans of Kamilah, and Manny inadvertently strikes a nerve?
Jason: Oh boy, Manny having to deal with Jason would be so delightful. I’m honestly struggling to come up with prompts other than “!!!!!!!!!!!!” but if you write these two together, I will absolutely love it.
Fandom-specific DNWs:
Lost (fic only)(spoilers for Lost ahead)
Juliet Burke/James "Sawyer" Ford
Fandom has (understandably!) largely moved on from Lost, but Sawyer/Juliet are still up there as one of my favourite romantic pairings ever and I’m not sure I can quite articulate why. I think their shared “we are stranded on this island in the wrong decade and we’ve been through some life-threatening shit together and we need to keep our real origin secret” situation just clicks for me. I love them as part of the larger Stranded in the Seventies Ensemble, I love them as a pairing, and I love them both as characters in their own right. Other members of the Stranded in the Seventies Ensemble are welcome for cameos, as long as the fic remains focussed on Sawyer/Juliet.
I would love fic set in 70s Dharmaville. I love the pretending-to-be-married trope with this pairing, especially when real feelings enter the mix and UST starts rearing its head (and feel free to either resolve that UST or leave it unresolved). Forced proximity is a lot of fun in this context, e.g. sharing a bed, or squeezed into in a small space together. Maybe the line between friendship and romance just becomes messy and undefined for awhile — e.g. maybe a drunk hookup happens, and things become weird. I love hurt/comfort, both physical and emotional, e.g. illness, injury, or one/both are really struggling with the weirdness of their situation. I love seeing them slowly learn things about each other. I love incremental growth in trust, e.g. someone very guarded (either or both of them!) shows some vulnerability. I love shared interests, e.g. anything related to books, or maybe reminiscing about music that doesn’t exist yet, or maybe passing time in the Dharma games room (maybe messing around with trick shots at the pool table, or maybe discovering some kid-oriented board game that starts a bout of nostalgia).
I’m also open to canon divergence AU, especially they-stay-on-the-sub-and-nobody-dies AUs. What if they stayed on the sub? Where would they go? How would they build a life together in the real world 70s? How do they deal with the reality of living the same decades they’ve already lived while in the actual world, instead of on the island?
I’m also open to setting change AU — specifically, I’ve always been intrigued by a Hunger Games AU with these two as victors, I think because it taps into a very intense version of that “we have both been through something that few others can understand” vibe, and for the hurt/comfort possibilities. What districts are they each from? How do they get each other through the stress of life as a victor? Are either or both of them reaped into the 75th games? Are they involved in the plan to break the arena? Any Hunger Games characters would be welcome as cameos, as long as the fic remains focussed on Sawyer/Juliet.
Fandom-specific DNWs:
Baby-Sitters Club (art only)
--Claudia Kishi & Stacey McGill & Mary Anne Spier & Kristy Thomas
--Claudia Kishi & Dawn Schafer
--Kristy Thomas & Jessi Ramsay
--Mallory Pike & Stacey McGill
--Stacey McGill & Mary Anne Spier
Baby-Sitters Club art!!!! My preference would be to keep everyone at their canon ages. I have some prompts if it’s helpful, but when it comes to art style I’m not fussy. I’d be very excited to get some more BSC art in the world, and I’d love to see BSC characters drawn in your particular style.
For general prompts, even something as simple as walking home from school would be wonderful. Fashion choices are such a big part of how these characters are written, so a pair or group of BSC characters walking home from school together, having fun together while dressed in their particular style would be amazing. Or hanging out in someone’s bedroom, or eating food.
Specific prompts:
Kristy & Mary Anne & Claudia & Stacey: Any of those general prompts would be very welcome with these four <3 Alternately, I’d love a piece of cover art interpreted in your own drawing style (or whatever is your medium of choice!). My favourite covers with this group are Kristy’s Great Idea (a classic!) and Mary Anne Misses Logan (roller skating!). If you’re open to adding Dawn, additional favourite covers include Stacey’s Choice (ice cream!) and Dawn’s Big Move (hanging out at the lockers!).
Claudia & Dawn: carrying forward the food idea from above, Claud and Dawn’s polar opposite food choices would be fun as art, e.g. Claudia with an armful (and mouthful) of M&Ms and Twinkies and Doritos, while Dawn eats an apple. Or maybe they’re creating something together, e.g. maybe Dawn's building a bird feeder and Claudia’s painting it. Or maybe Claudia’s painting a portrait of Dawn.
Kristy & Jessi: these two are an unusual combination but with potential for some fun art. They’re both very athletic but in different ways, so one of them teaching the other something would be really cool! E.g. Maybe Jessi is unsuccessfully teaching Kristy how to pirouette, or maybe Kristy is teaching Jessi how to pitch and Jessi is going about it in a very Ballet-esque way.
Mallory & Stacey: These two would be an excellent pair for simply walking home together, maybe laughing at a dumb joke. Or maybe Stacey is doing Mallory’s hair in some adventurous style, and Mallory is excited/apprehensive. Or maybe they’re hanging out in the Pikes’ backyard, each reading a book.
Stacey & Mary Anne: These two spent a lot of time at Sea City together, so something beachy or on the boardwalk (games! Ferris wheel!) could be really cool, or maybe something set in NYC.
Thank you for creating something for me! I'm not fussy, and I'm very excited about everything in by signup — each request is something I really really want and I can’t wait to see what you create.
Also, all the prompts in this letter are just suggestions. If one of my prompts sparks an idea, great! If you have you own idea, also great! There are billions of ideas out there that would never occur to me, so please don’t feel restricted by my prompts.
At AO3, I'm
Quick Links
General Likes/DNWs
Crossover Fandom: Baby-Sitters Club/Stranger Things
Crossover Fandom: Grim Fandango/The Good Place
Lost
Baby-Sitters Club
General Info
General Likes:
- I love a wide range of tones, including (but not limited to) angsty, sad & miserable, joyful & happy, terrifying, funny, and whimsical.
- Terrible circumstances creating tight bonds between people.
- All kinds of friendships e.g. lifelong best friends, belligerent/reluctant friendships, and everything in between.
- Bizarre, cracky premises taken seriously.
- I have a preference for third person narration, even if the source material is written in first person.
- Past and present tense are both fine.
- Worldbuilding.
- For the romantic pairing: hurt/comfort, kissing, unresolved sexual tension, situational forced proximity (e.g. bed sharing, hiding in a closet, etc), first times, pretending to be married.
General DNWs:
- Sexual content for the romantic pairing is welcome, but please no PWP.
- Excessive gore. Canon-level violence is totally fine. (If you’re writing a crossover, I mean the level of the more violent canon, i.e. if you’re writing Stranger Things/Baby-Sitters Club, Stranger-Things-level violence is totally fine!)
- Character bashing
- Parody
- Major character death
Crossover Fandom (fic only)
Baby-Sitters Club/Stranger Things (fic only)
--Stranger Things Kids & Kristy (Baby-sitters Club) & Mary Anne (BSC) & Claudia (BSC) & Stacey (BSC)
--Will Byers (Stranger Things) & Claudia Kishi (Baby-Sitters Club)
--Dustin Henderson (Stranger Things) & Mallory Pike (Baby-Sitters Club)
--Maxine “Max” Mayfield (Stranger Things) & Kristy Thomas (Baby-Sitters Club)
I love these characters, I love these settings, and I love taking canons like BSC that are (more or less) based in reality and bringing in some Stranger Things weirdness/creepiness. As far as crossing over the worlds goes, if it’s easier, feel free to fuse them together and handwave it (e.g. a fic that takes for granted that Stoneybrook was the setting of Stranger Things all along, or that the BSC characters have lived in Hawkins all along). Or maybe they're neighbouring towns (feel free to handwave their canonical different locations, or maybe that can be incorporated as part of the weirdness!). Or maybe a BSC character has moved to Hawkins, or is visiting family (e.g. maybe Stacey’s family moved to Hawkins instead of Stoneybrook). Maybe the characters meet each other in a non-Stoneybrook setting from the BSC universe, like Camp Mohawk. Or maybe maybe a Stoneybrook character is having dreams about the Upside Down, and that's how the connection happens.
Whatever the crossover setup, I would really love something set in canon era. These fandoms share an 80s setting, which is part of what makes this crossover so much fun.
Prompts:
(as mentioned earlier, don't feel limited by what I've written here. The intent here is to help spark fic ideas, not to limit you to one specific dynamic with these characters. Feel free to use your own idea, or mix and match which prompts you use for which characters)
Stranger Things Kids & Kristy & Mary Anne & Claudia & Stacey: I don't have specific prompts for the entire group beyond the general suggestions I wrote above: I'd love to involve the BSC girls in Stranger Things weirdness! This prompt is a bit of a wildcard. I love this whole group of BSC kids and Stranger Things kids and I would definitely enjoy a fic involving everyone, but also feel free to limit the characters to whoever you wish if fitting them all in is too much.
Mallory & Dustin: I nominated Mallory & Dustin because I love the idea of that combination — they’re both very nerdy, but not in quite the same way. Plus Dustin owns his nerdiness in a way that Mallory sometimes does, but she can be very awkward. I suspect Mallory would feel some combination of “wow you’re very annoying” and “wow I’m very comfortable with who I am when I’m around you”. Plus Mallory has always been particularly into in solving mysteries, so she'd be a committed addition to this world. Maybe Mal and Dustin have always known each other, or maybe Mallory is Barb's cousin and the Pikes are spending some time in Hawkins for support.
Claudia & Will: They’re very different people — Claudia is outgoing and recognisably cool, while Will is much quieter and nerdier. But they both love drawing and creating, and they’re both really good kids. A friendship between them might not be immediate, but I can see them developing a friendship. Or maybe Claudia, in Stoneybrook, has started dreaming about the Upside Down, and is meeting (and communicating) with Will there. Maybe she's also drawing/painting/sculpting the things she sees there, and maybe that world is starting to seep into Stoneybrook.
Max & Kristy: These two would be dynamite together. I can’t decide if they’d be friends immediately or if they’d grate against each other at first. I could see Max spending a lot of time at Kristy’s place (whether it’s back in pre-Watson days on Bradford Court, or at the sprawling noisy Thomas-Brewer house in the rich neighborhood), and Kristy being intrigued by skateboarding. Or maybe they meet at Camp Mohawk (maybe they're both CITs?) and some Stranger Things weirdness starts happening at camp.
Fandom-specific DNWs:
- This is already in general DNWs, but please no parody.
- Please no “baby-sitter and charge” dynamic. These characters are all middle schoolers, I’d really love for them to remain peers.
Grim Fandango/The Good Place (fic only)(vague season 1 spoilers for The Good Place ahead)
--Manny Calavera (Grim Fandango) & Chidi Anagonye (The Good Place)
--Manny Calavera (Grim Fandango) & Eleanor Shellstrop (The Good Place)
--Manny Calavera (Grim Fandango) & Jason Mendoza (The Good Place)
--Manny Calavera (Grim Fandango) & Tahani Al-Jamil (The Good Place)
These two afterlife canons could be such a great combination! Grim Fandango has been one of my favourite canons for a long, long time, and I love the idea of bringing any of the human Good Place characters into its world. Any one of them as a new arrival in Manny’s office, while he tries in vain to find a non-terrible travel package for them would be amazing. Alternately, maybe they’re elsewhere in the game!
Eleanor: Maybe Eleanor is embracing her trashiness and is obsessed with the cat track in Rubacava, or maybe she’s a frequent visitor to the Calavera Cafe. Or maybe she doesn’t qualify for any travel package at all, and has to work for the DOD like Manny. Maybe she’s also a travel agent getting screwed by a corrupt system, or maybe she’s a temp secretary while Eva’s off sick or something. Maybe she’s worked out that something is wrong and, whatever the context Manny meets her, she's actually an LSA agent.
Chidi: Chidi and his indecision could be a really fun way to disrupt canonical Grim Fandango events. What if Manny is waiting impatiently at the balloon vendor because Chidi can’t decide what to get? Or maybe he’s used to Chidi’s indecision causing delays at the Calavera Cafe bar, and knows a good way to deal with him? Or maybe he enlists Chidi to help Terry articulate the Sea Bees’ problems in that Rubacava puzzle, but it backfires somehow?
Tahani: Tahani would do okay in Rubacava, surely there’d be a need for party planning in that town. I can’t imagine Manny having much patience with her, which would be very entertaining. What if Tahani is trying to negotiate use of the Calavera Cafe for some event or other and Manny has to deal with her? What if the Blue Casket crowd are all huge fans of Kamilah, and Manny inadvertently strikes a nerve?
Jason: Oh boy, Manny having to deal with Jason would be so delightful. I’m honestly struggling to come up with prompts other than “!!!!!!!!!!!!” but if you write these two together, I will absolutely love it.
Fandom-specific DNWs:
- Bringing Manny over to the Good Place universe. It just doesn’t interest me as much as the other way around!
Lost (fic only)(spoilers for Lost ahead)
Juliet Burke/James "Sawyer" Ford
Fandom has (understandably!) largely moved on from Lost, but Sawyer/Juliet are still up there as one of my favourite romantic pairings ever and I’m not sure I can quite articulate why. I think their shared “we are stranded on this island in the wrong decade and we’ve been through some life-threatening shit together and we need to keep our real origin secret” situation just clicks for me. I love them as part of the larger Stranded in the Seventies Ensemble, I love them as a pairing, and I love them both as characters in their own right. Other members of the Stranded in the Seventies Ensemble are welcome for cameos, as long as the fic remains focussed on Sawyer/Juliet.
I would love fic set in 70s Dharmaville. I love the pretending-to-be-married trope with this pairing, especially when real feelings enter the mix and UST starts rearing its head (and feel free to either resolve that UST or leave it unresolved). Forced proximity is a lot of fun in this context, e.g. sharing a bed, or squeezed into in a small space together. Maybe the line between friendship and romance just becomes messy and undefined for awhile — e.g. maybe a drunk hookup happens, and things become weird. I love hurt/comfort, both physical and emotional, e.g. illness, injury, or one/both are really struggling with the weirdness of their situation. I love seeing them slowly learn things about each other. I love incremental growth in trust, e.g. someone very guarded (either or both of them!) shows some vulnerability. I love shared interests, e.g. anything related to books, or maybe reminiscing about music that doesn’t exist yet, or maybe passing time in the Dharma games room (maybe messing around with trick shots at the pool table, or maybe discovering some kid-oriented board game that starts a bout of nostalgia).
I’m also open to canon divergence AU, especially they-stay-on-the-sub-and-nobody-dies AUs. What if they stayed on the sub? Where would they go? How would they build a life together in the real world 70s? How do they deal with the reality of living the same decades they’ve already lived while in the actual world, instead of on the island?
I’m also open to setting change AU — specifically, I’ve always been intrigued by a Hunger Games AU with these two as victors, I think because it taps into a very intense version of that “we have both been through something that few others can understand” vibe, and for the hurt/comfort possibilities. What districts are they each from? How do they get each other through the stress of life as a victor? Are either or both of them reaped into the 75th games? Are they involved in the plan to break the arena? Any Hunger Games characters would be welcome as cameos, as long as the fic remains focussed on Sawyer/Juliet.
Fandom-specific DNWs:
- Mentioned in general DNWs, but to clarify: please no major character death, even the canonical one. Please either set your fic before it happens, or canon-divergence AU where everyone lives. If you choose to write a Hunger Games AU, one fearing for the other’s life is very welcome, but please keep everyone alive.
Baby-Sitters Club (art only)
--Claudia Kishi & Stacey McGill & Mary Anne Spier & Kristy Thomas
--Claudia Kishi & Dawn Schafer
--Kristy Thomas & Jessi Ramsay
--Mallory Pike & Stacey McGill
--Stacey McGill & Mary Anne Spier
Baby-Sitters Club art!!!! My preference would be to keep everyone at their canon ages. I have some prompts if it’s helpful, but when it comes to art style I’m not fussy. I’d be very excited to get some more BSC art in the world, and I’d love to see BSC characters drawn in your particular style.
For general prompts, even something as simple as walking home from school would be wonderful. Fashion choices are such a big part of how these characters are written, so a pair or group of BSC characters walking home from school together, having fun together while dressed in their particular style would be amazing. Or hanging out in someone’s bedroom, or eating food.
Specific prompts:
Kristy & Mary Anne & Claudia & Stacey: Any of those general prompts would be very welcome with these four <3 Alternately, I’d love a piece of cover art interpreted in your own drawing style (or whatever is your medium of choice!). My favourite covers with this group are Kristy’s Great Idea (a classic!) and Mary Anne Misses Logan (roller skating!). If you’re open to adding Dawn, additional favourite covers include Stacey’s Choice (ice cream!) and Dawn’s Big Move (hanging out at the lockers!).
Claudia & Dawn: carrying forward the food idea from above, Claud and Dawn’s polar opposite food choices would be fun as art, e.g. Claudia with an armful (and mouthful) of M&Ms and Twinkies and Doritos, while Dawn eats an apple. Or maybe they’re creating something together, e.g. maybe Dawn's building a bird feeder and Claudia’s painting it. Or maybe Claudia’s painting a portrait of Dawn.
Kristy & Jessi: these two are an unusual combination but with potential for some fun art. They’re both very athletic but in different ways, so one of them teaching the other something would be really cool! E.g. Maybe Jessi is unsuccessfully teaching Kristy how to pirouette, or maybe Kristy is teaching Jessi how to pitch and Jessi is going about it in a very Ballet-esque way.
Mallory & Stacey: These two would be an excellent pair for simply walking home together, maybe laughing at a dumb joke. Or maybe Stacey is doing Mallory’s hair in some adventurous style, and Mallory is excited/apprehensive. Or maybe they’re hanging out in the Pikes’ backyard, each reading a book.
Stacey & Mary Anne: These two spent a lot of time at Sea City together, so something beachy or on the boardwalk (games! Ferris wheel!) could be really cool, or maybe something set in NYC.