Fairtytale Inspired Dear Creator Letter

[isoxys]

Hello fellow fairytale enthusiast! Thank you for taking the time to read my letter (and sorry that it is so late!!) Here, I've included some general info on likes and DNWs, as well as some fairytale specific likes, and some fandom specific prompts - feel free to poke around and see if anything inspires you. But also, I'm just so excited to see what you come up with!!

Fairytale-Specific Likes:
-When the fae are rakish and horny and dumb as rocks. Shitty Tam Lin boys in leather pants. Absolute fae fuccbois. I cannot get enough of this.
- But also when the fae are elegant and suave and scary
-Really just any sort of fae trickery
-Dark fairytale aesthetics/tropes
-Subversions of fairytale narratives
-Women taking on knight/prince/rescuer roles in fairytales
-Ballads and ballad logic
-Woodcut or engraving inspired fairytale illustrations
-Period settings for fairytale stories
-Urban fantasy settings for fairytale stories

General Likes:
- hurt/comfort (and hurt no comfort >:D )
- pining and slow-burn
- pre-slash and other fic where couples are not quite together yet/in the process of getting together
- polyamory (and poly relationship negotiation)
- messy/imperfect relationships and characters just being a mess
- shipped characters as exes
- friends to lovers, and fluff which shows the little things characters love about each other
- trust kink / loyalty kink
- angst and existential angst
- power dynamics with sexual tension (not necessarily acted upon, but could be!)
- nemeses being forced to team up
- horror, especially cosmic horror/eldritch horror, but other sorts of spooky are great too
- queer headcanons, especially transmasc headcanons
- scenes that are dark/violent but also surprisingly wholesome
- deleted scenes/alternate interpretations of canon scenes

Art likes:
- trippy colors
- limited or monochrome color palates
- intense black linework/crosshatching
- art deco, art nouveau, german expressionism, medieval woodcut style
- cyberpunk and glitch art
- religious motifs
- classical art references
- Comics!! And other storytelling mediums

Smut likes:
- characterization revealed by sex / plot relevant sex (less of a fan of PWP)
- fingering/handjobs as the climactic sex act
- nipple play
- kink discovery
- kink negotiation/communication (but tbh I also love shit where they don’t communicate)
- rough sex/fighting which becomes sexual (love love love when this is combined with kink discovery in a “characters fighting realize they’re both into it” kinda way)
- bondage/restraint
- Ghost sex/magic sex
- Hands (and too many hands)
- Characters working through hangups about sex

Do Not Wants:
- A/B/O
- violent noncon (dubcon fine)
- jealousy/possessiveness played as proof of a character’s love (played as unhealthy but hot is ok though!!)
- legal marriage as main focus of a romance story
- mommy/daddy kink, ageplay, or sexualized infantilization
- sexualized feminization/forced feminization
- sexual submission framed as a character needing to “relax” or “turn off their brain”
- bimbofication/kink where becoming horny or hotter makes a character “dumber”
- pregnancy kink
- referring to men’s chest as “tits”
- 2nd person/readerfic
- underage/extreme age gap ships
- smut involving characters under 16

General Barbara Allen/Hanahaki AU Note

ok ok so hear me out but I'm really into this idea of a Barbara Allen-specific Hanahaki concept - basically, Barbara Allen is a traditional ballad about a hard-hearted woman rejecting a man who dies of love for her, and then out of his grave grows a rose and out of hers a briar. So my hanahaki concept is hanahaki except once person is dying of love in the form of a rose growing in their chest, and the other person is dying of being hard-hearted in the form of a briar choking their chest - and if the hard hearted person lets the other person die of hanahaki, then they also die of their thing. So that's what I mean for all the ships where I listed Barbara Allen as a freeform, if you wanna write it!

But also, more broadly, I like the idea of Barbara Allen elements basically meaning any fuck-or-die or dying of love scenario where one of the love interests just says "then perish." 

Revolutionary Girl Utena

Utena/Anthy

Honestly this series is already such a brilliant deconstruction of fairytale prince tropes already, and I am so pumped for the idea of fic or art that uses other fairytale stories or imagery to explore that in any way.

With Utena and Anthy, I'm just so obsessed with the idea of their love overcoming all the shit they've gone through together, so much so that it literally reorders the universe - and I'm excited about what that looks like in fairytale universes!

fandom specific DNW: no sexual content for this pairing, please!

Breaking A Curse/Must Complete Impossible Tasks/Trials of Love

I'm such a sucker for the agressively martyr4martyr thing that Utena and Anthy have going on with each other, so I'm really here for stories about either of them rescuing the other one - especially if it plays in interesting ways with Utena's status as a "prince" and Anthy's status as a "witch". AUs of the swords-of-hate setup where either Utena or Anthy needs to complete various trials or quests in order to save the other? Fairytale AUs where Anthy needs to manipulate Utena into doing non-duel-related trials of love - perhaps for nefarious purposes - how does she feel about it? 

Inspired by Tam Lin/Tam Lin Elements

Janet is a girl who is so princegender, and tbh, Tam Lin is just a guy who is so bridegender and I wanna see an utena concept that plays with this. I feel like there's just a lotta parallels there to milk - after all, Tam Lin's main defining traits are that he is known to live in a rose garden, and he has an abusive ex. I kinda imagine Anthy as Tam Lin and Utena as Janet in this situation but honestly, go wild

Dark Fairytale Tropes/Into The Woods Fusion

Tbh I had no idea where I was going with this but I threw it in because Into the Woods and Utena are two of my favorite deconstructions of fairytales and I just like the idea of exploring how to meld those two works of media's messages

Selkies

Half-formed thought, but I'm interested in how Selkie skin tropes parallel Anthy's role as the Rose Bride in various ways. AU where Anthy is a selkie? How do the whole mechanics of the Rose Bride system work in that world?

Reality Turns Dreamlike When True Love Is Near

I like when the show gets really surreal (or the totally dreamlike vibes of the utena movie) so thought this would be a fun trope to play with with the pre-existing surrealism

Putting Your Heart In A Hidden Box

This felt like Anthy energy, also, seemed to intersect in cool ways with the show's imagery of being trapped in coffins.

Steampunk AU

I just thought his sounded lit and I wanna see costume designs. Thinking about what the planetarium projector in the chairman's office looks like in a steampunk au....

Rose of Versailles

Oscar/Andre

Ah yes, the classic slow-burn friends to lovers to tragically dying in each other's arms on the battlefield together trope. I'd watch these guys sacrifice themselves for each other all day long. But also, love to see them getting to be happy together!

As a general note for this ship, I really like the interpretation that (whether or not you read Oscar as a trans guy or a butch girl) that there's something masc4masc about Andre and Oscar's relationship, and that Oscar is specifically attracted to Oscar's masculinity in a way that he understands as queer

Cursed character/breaking a curse/must complete impossible tasks

I'm really just a sucker for any trope involving these two sacrificing themselves for each other, or pushing themself to the limits and overcoming all odds for the other. I'm here for any configuration of rescuer and rescuee, and tbh what I like so much about this ship is it so often goes both ways!

Must Compete In Tourmanent To Win Prince(ss) Hand In Marriage

I'm imagining a kinda Atalanta-esque scenario with Oscar as a nobleman's daughter having to marry whoever wins a tournament and Andre competing for her hand - but she also hates the whole thing for genderfeels reasons. Maybe Andre's competing not intending to marry her but just t save her from being married off to another winner. Maybe Oscar already has her own plan to compete and win herself? Is Andre helping her? 

The prince *is* the brave knight

I just like the idea of fic that plays with the cross-class aspect of Oscar and Andre's relationship and this seems like a cool trope for it

Steampunk AU

All I have to say is steampunk French Revolution, HELL YEAH

Howl's Moving Castle

Sophie/Howl

putting your heart in a box/stolen heart

Included as obligatory tags because it does happen in canon, and I love that part of canon and am really here for anything that includes it

Tam Lin Fusion/Tam Lin AU

I'm imagining like, Sophie venturing into Carterhaugh unafraid because surely heartless fae boy Howl would only steal the hearts of pretty girls? And then giving a lot of hassle to the rakish guy who acosts here while she's picking flowers. Also, the scene in the movie where Sophie is holding onto Howl while Sulliman tries to transform him into a monster had really good Tam Lin energy. But honestly, any of Howl's complicated exes would make a great Queen of Faerie in this adaptation

Beauty and the Beast

Yeah I'm not immune to the monsterfucker aspects of this ship

Labyrinth

Sarah/Jareth

Fae Bargains/Outsmarting a Fae Creature/Must Complete Impossible Tasks/Clever Ways to Break A Curse/Lady Isobel and the Elf Knight

I wanna see Sarah pulling a fast one on Jareth with fae logic!! Down for alternate scenes/endings to the film, but also encounters between the two of them later in life.
Specific to the Lady Isobel and the Elf Knight thing, I just love that story so much and in general like the idea of Sarah using Jareth's infatuation with her against him in a Lady Isobel kinda way :D

Creative Infusion of Magic Into The Mundane

I am really taken with the idea that Sarah continues to interface with the world of the goblin city and its creatures for the rest of her life as an adult, and I am really curious what that looks like for her! How does she balance presumably having a normal day job with occasionally encountering little impish creatures, or having to be careful with how she uses the word "wish" in casual conversation? Does she have repeat encounters with Jareth in the more mundane world, and what do those look like? 

The Hazards of Love

Margaret/William
Margaret/The Rake
The Rake/The Queen

This funky lil' rock opera is such an obligatory fairytale text for me - I would love a fairytale style rewrite or fairytale inspired art of any of the scenes getting into more detail about the plot points which the Decemberists paint in such broad and evocative strokes!
Tbh also for people reading this letter for other fandoms, The Hazards of Love hits every single one of my favorite fairytale tropes and is just a great guide to what I like

Urban Fantasy

I'm intrigued by what a modern AU of the Hazards of Love looks like!

The Wild Hunt/Lost in an Enchanted Forest/Dark Fairytale Elements

I love how violent and dangerous the world of the Hazards of Love is and tbh would love anything that leans into the fae forest horror of it

The Darkest Part of the Forest

Ben/Severin

tbh I think we as a fairtytale linking community have been snoozing on this totally excellent book and this totally excellent ship. It's the exact fae absolute nightmare 4 human sweaterboi kinda thing I love to see. I think the bit in the book where they're kissing and Severin says "Is it wrong that I like that you tremble? That you flinch?" and Ben says "...I'm pretty sure it's not ideal!" is a good summary of what I like about the dynamic.

Tam Lin Au/Tam Lin Fusion

I feel like this story already has a bunch of Tam Lin elements but I'm interested in what a full Tam Lin AU of it would look like - especially keeping the urban fantasy setting (...yes yes I know Holly Black wrote a whole other book that is that and I like that book so much too. But I need every story I like to be Tam Lin)

Eating Fae Food

Ben getting in over his head trying fae food at a party Severin brings him to? (what does Ben do for food when he's living in the fae court?) Or maybe its an alternative getting-together scenario for the two of them? 

Urban Fantasy/Creative Magical Elements In The Mundane

I'm just generally interested in how Ben and Severin balance being a human/fae couple, in either of their settings. When they're at Ben's place, how does he have to acomodate Severin's various fae rules and afflictions? When they're in the fae court, how does Severin need to protect Ben from various glamors and enchantments? 

putting your heart in a hidden box/trials of love/magical deals and contracts/accidentally pissing off a fae

I'm very into any scenario where Ben has to rescue Severin from fae nonsense, especially if its got a heavy dose of hurt/comfort!

 

Whoop, ok, thank you for reading all that!!!