I wish I was a mermaid and was friends with all the fish

Dear writer:

Thank you so much for writing me a fic! I'm sure it's going to be amazing, and I'm so looking forward to reading it. These are some ideas/extra information/things that would make me especially happy, but if my optional details don't work for you, or if you already have an idea in mind, I'd much rather get a great story you're really excited about than something mediocre tailored exactly to my requests.

You can find me on AO3 as Zhailei.

( General information )

( Andromeda )

( Big Time Rush )

( Bodacious Space Pirates )

( Code Geass )

( The Dark Knight Legacy )

( DC Comics )

( Miss Match )

( Samurai Flamenco )

( Stargate )

( Wizards of Waverly Place )

(This is still a slight work in progress. Please forgive me - I've been without internet access the better part of the last two weeks, and am desperately trying to cobble this together as quickly as possible!)

Dear author/vidder/artist:

Hi there! First of all, I'm so, so sorry this is going up late, and I hope it didn't cause you any stress - and if you've already started writing, or had an amazing idea, please feel free to go with that and not worry about my latter. If, on the other hand, you've been hanging out for some prompts, here they are!

In general: I love ensemble fics, banter, makeouts, unresolved (and resolved) sexual tension, romantic comedy, action/adventure, wacky hijinks, humour, crack, PWPs, apocafic, and ridiculous AUs. I'm not super into angst, and I prefer fics where characters interact with people and do things over introspective character studies. I really, really, love tropes and clichés, and totally ridiculous, over the top plots, the more shameless the better. I love first times, and secret relationships, and casual hookups, and ex-girlfriends and boyfriends, and rekindling old relationships. I love people being in love without having to say it, and people who are obviously in love but maybe don't realise it, and ridiculously overblown romantic gestures where one person completely embarrasses themselves, and small gestures that mean a whole lot more than they seem to. Most of all, I love characters who are genuinely really into each other. I'm happy to read any rating, and smut is welcome but absolutely not necessary. (Though if you're writing for Shipswap, please do have the characters actually hook up in some way in the story. Makeouts = <3).

You can find me on AO3 as Zhailei.

( Beyond Panels )

( Space Swap )

( Shipswap )

SO APPARENTLY I AM ALIVE AFTER ALL, WHAT UP INTERNETS?

Ahem. So. I finished my first semester of grad school! Classes are over, exams are over, placements are over. And now I have a whole month off, which is so ridiculous I can barely even process it right now. In a good way. My time will be my own again! I can barely even remember what that's like.

Anyway, onto Things That Are More Fun (But Are Not News, Some Of Them Happened In April, Whatever, I Have Been Gone For A Really Long Time):

- I finished bsg_remix (which I still haven't reposted here, oops!). And I got two awesome remixes in return: Sharon by frolicndetour, and The Marble And The Sculptor by olaf47.

- I had to drop out of Remix Redux, sadface. But I still received a remix (which I feel guilty about, but it's awesome, so): Fair Play by penknife.

- ... and chaos_thon, too.

- But, my help_haiti fic is actually coming along! It has a plot and an outline and words and everything! And it's only four and a half months late and counting ...

- And I signed up for femslash10, double yay! Because, did I mention I HAVE A WHOLE MONTH OFF? (Although: I did not ask for Tawni/Sonny femslash, even though I really wanted it, because nobody signed up to write Sonny With A Chance. I also did not ask for the WOWP/PPP crossover where Alex has to take care of this princessy chick, ugh! and why is she cute?, even though I really want to read that, too, because half my requests are already about people shaped like Demi and Selena, and I figured that was maybe enough. Probably.)

- I thought I would have more to say here, because of how I've been gone for, like, five months. I actually do have a lot of things I wanted to post, but haven't on account of how they're no longer really relevant. Like, Things That Are Gay: All Disney Shows Ever (aka. WHY TAWNI AND SONNY ARE FOREVER SOUL MATES, IT'S CANON DAMMIT!, AND IF YOU THOUGHT STEVIE WAS REMOTELY STRAIGHT I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT SHOW YOU WERE WATCHING, SERIOUSLY.) And Legend of the Seeker (spoilers: it's over! I'm sad!), and how I watched (and loved!) this season of Doctor Who, but that's over too, and Things That Are Gay, Part Two: I'm actually watching Pretty Little Liars and I kind of love it, even though it's ridiculous. Okay, that one is more current, but whatever.

[#1] remixthedrabble authors have been revealed! I ended up writing three fics:

Should Fall Apart (The End Is The Beginning Is The End Remix) (Firefly - Mal/Inara - PG-13 - 100 words) It isn't at all the way she imagined it. Spoilers for the entire series, including Serenity. A remix of Should Fall Apart by trialia.

Is There A Box For "I'm Totally Gay?" (The Cover Girl Remix) (Gossip Girl - Blair/Jenny - PG - 100 words) She thinks about kissing the gloss right off Blair's lips. A remix of Not Your Girl by sionnain.

Confessor (The Intergalactic Communication Remix) (Stargate SG-1/Farscape - Cameron, Aeryn - PG - 100 words) She is only a soldier. A remix of untitled by kernezelda.


And I got five remixes written for me, which is totally awesome:

Know Thyself (Battlestar Galactica - Sharon - G - 100 words) by juliet42. A remix of Eight.

The Hard Prayer (The Sacrificial Wolf Remix) (Battlestar Galactica - Helo, Sharon - PG - 100 words) by paperflowered. A remix of After Me Comes The Flood.

The End Of The World (In 5 Steps Or Less): The Dubious Remix (Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Xander/Buffy - PG - 100 words) by crevanfox. A remix of The End Of The World, In Five Steps Or Less.

When I Grow Up (The Blood And Gore Remix) (Farscape - Aeryn - PG-13 - 100 words) by crevanfox. A remix of When I Grow Up.

Delegation (Lost Souls Remix) (Dead Like Me/Reaper - Gladys, George, Sam - PG - 100 words) by lotus0kid. A remix of Lost Souls.


[#2] I wrote fic for oxoniensis' porn battle:

Boredom Fades, But Infidelity's For Keeps (CW RPF - Alona Tal/Danneel Harris - PG-13 - 1348 words) She fucking hates these things, she really does.

I meant to write more, but I got some bad news last week and went MIA for a few days. Anyway, I'm still happy that I participated.


[#3] bsg_pornbattle prompts are up! It doesn't start until the 26th, but I already can't wait. I missed out on writing anything the last round, so I'm going to try to get a jump on my remaining fic obligations to make sure I've got the free time this round.


[#4] I got my fic in for bsg_remix (on time!), and I'm 99% sure I know what I'm going to write for remixredux09. And it's awesome. I can't wait for the BSG Remix fics to go live!

Fandoms written in 2008: Battlestar Galactica, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dark Angel, Doctor Who, Farscape, Firefly, Firefly RPF, Friday Night Lights, Gilmore Girls, Gossip Girl RPF, High School Musical RPF, How I Met Your Mother, Miss Match, NCIS, The Office, The Office RPF, One Tree Hill, One Tree Hill RPF, She's The Man, Smallville, Sports Night, Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Supernatural, Torchwood, Torchwood RPF, The West Wing.

Number of fics: 92
Word count: 70,000
Total fandoms: 28
RPF: 7
Crossovers: 2

( The rest of the questions )

( 2008 fic masterlist )

My Sweet Charity fic is finished and posted!

Ask Me No Secrets And I'll Tell You No Lies (Stargate SG-1 - Sam/Vala - NC-17 - 2724 words) Vala isn't easy to figure out, but Sam's a quick learner. (Or, four times Sam and Vala were nearly caught, and one time they weren't.)

Established relationships aren't usually my thing, so this was interesting to write, particularly for a pairing I'd never written before. In the end, I think I'm reasonably happy with it; Sam/Vala was one of those pairings I'd thought about writing a few times but never really got around to, so I'm glad I finally did. And it means my most pressing fic deadline has been taken care of, which only leaves a couple of holiday ficathons and my long-overdue Fall Fandom Free-For-All fic that need to be finished before the end of the year. Which is totally do-able, and means I might actually have time to clear up some more overdue or half-finished fics, get a start on my birthday fics, and maybe even write something that's just for me.

Speaking of birthday fics, give me your requests here. It's my birthday-slash-holiday season gift, and gives me something fun to do for my birthday, so please ask for something!

Nine fics this month, in six fandoms plus a couple of crossovers:


Dark Angel

Consolation Prize (Original Cindy/OFC - PG - 230 words) "She is so checking me out."


Doctor Who

Genealogy (Eight - G - 100 words) "I'm half-human." Spoilers up to episode 4:13 - Journey's End.

Supersonic (Rose/Sarah Jane - PG-13 - 100 words) There are many uses for a sonic screwdriver (or sonic lipstick).


She's The Man

Token (Olivia/Viola - PG - 130 words) She tells herself it's for charity.


Stargate SG-1

The Case Of The Missing Jello (Among Others) (Teal'c, Vala - PG - 1228 words) Five times Teal'c and Vala cheated.


Torchwood

Fitter Happier (Gwen/Martha - PG-13 - 2859 words) After Martha joins Torchwood, she and Gwen land themselves in a series of sticky situations. Spoilers up to episode 2:13 - Exit Wounds.


The West Wing

In Da Club (Ensemble - PG-13 - 200 words) "This is a strip club."


Crossovers

Dead Man's Party (Studio 60/Sports Night - Jeannie/Kim - PG-13 - 297 words) Just another Studio 60 wrap party.

Sunset Boulevard (The West Wing/Studio 60 - Ginger/Jeannie - PG-13 - 300 words) Sam's already complained twice about being offered jobs in development, and Ginger's not even sure what that is.


Most of these were written for International Day of Femslash plus the femslash08 fic exchange (you can blame talumin for the crossover prompts). The Case of the Missing Jello was written for sg_fignewton's Teal'c Alphabet Soup, and Genealogy was my contribution to post-Journey's End fic - unofficially subtitled "In which Eight is not a lying liar who lies, but in fact just got his tenses a bit mixed up," because the entire concept amuses me. It also reminds me that I was watching the Doctor Who movie a few weeks ago and stopped partway through (which is something I did to at least three movies in the past month), so I should really finish that.

We all have them, right? Those pairings we love, or maybe are just a little interested in, but which - for whatever reason - simply aren't popular. Maybe it interferes with a fandom's OTP, maybe it features one or more minor characters, maybe it's a het pairing in a primarily slash fandom (or vice versa). Maybe it's completely cracktastic - the two characters have never actually met in fandom, or there's no good reason to ship them other than just because. Or maybe the pairing is actually canon, but is pretty much loathed (or simply ignored) by fandom in general. And sometimes you just wish someone would come along and say, "Hey, I can write that for you!"

Well, why don't we give it a shot? Comment here with any or all of your favourite unpopular pairings, in any fandom you like, and see if maybe there's somebody out there who will write it. Check out other peoples' wish lists, and if there's a fandom you're familiar with, and a pairing you're not completely opposed to, have a go at it. It can be comment!fic, a snippet, whatever - but come give it a shot, try something new, and help spread the love of unconventional pairings.

[What qualifies as an unpopular pairing? As a general rule, if you couldn't compile a rec list without a) including every fic you've ever read, or b) at all, it probably belongs here.]

Fandoms currently represented: Farscape, Firefly, Gilmore Girls, Grey's Anatomy, One Tree Hill, Roswell, Sports Night, Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1, The West Wing, Veronica Mars, Wonderfalls.

As per a slightly random conversation in talumin's journal:

Daniel Jackson/Lara Croft: Awesome pairing, y/y?

So, I'm pretty sure I know what story I'll be remixing for remixredux08, and I'm very excited about it. There are still a few fics I've yet to read, but my mind keeps returning to this particular one, and I'm getting actual (as opposed to potential) ideas in my head, and I like them a lot. So it's pretty much a done deal, even if I'm probably still going to read the others for completeness' sake.

Also, I think my iTunes agrees, if the current music choice is anything to go by ;)

I watched Ark Of Truth after (finally) finishing SG-1, and ( spoilery comments ) I really, really must write Unending tags.

In related news, today is the last day to write LeapGate fic; there are so many prompts I want to write for, which may be why I've decided to forgo sleep. There are some excellent fics there, too, so you should check them out.