Dear Spacer
26 Feb 2017 17:47![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
extrapenguinHere's my letter! Kerbal Space Program, Uplift, and Original Works, fanfic for all, plus fanvid for KSP.
If you have specialist knowledge of anything at all that could possibly be finagled into the narrative, please do, I'd love to read it.
I tend to prefer fics that are about an (external) thing happening (eg. There is an engineering malfunction!) more than fics that are about a trope (eg. Accidental Baby Acquisition or what-have-you). I appreciate this can be a fuzzy line to tread, but I hope this helps you in your ficcraft.
For pretty much everything, I absolutely adore competence, especially in women. Competence, ambition, determination, use of every tool at her disposal.
The archetype I uncritically adore is the Scientist: the smart, competent person who is absolutely thrilled to have discovered something, anything new. To have understood one more piece of the universe.
Other aspects I appreciate in characters are the ability to enjoy adrenaline thrills, curiosity, knowing WTF they're doing or at least pretending that they do, and women lifting heavy objects. Creativity and creative problem-solving. Knowing the rules and exploiting them.
For serious things, gambits, schemes, and pile-ups of the aforementioned are welcome, should you wish to try your hand at it.
I prefer anti-heroes and grey-and-grey morality to black-and-white morality and generic idealized heroes who do no wrong. Sure, the morality can be dark grey and light grey, but the villains should have some motivation beyond "because we're evil" and the heroes should be human (or alien) and not be avatars of perfect goodness.
For light-hearted things, I like the sort of "sane person against the Universe" dynamic found in Connie Willis' "In the Late Cretaceous" and/or this Vorkosigan fic by Ankaret. Life is absurd, and bureaucracy even more so. Red tape and counterproductive regulations are a theme that can have me doubled-over laughing. Light-grey-and-light-grey morality.
Please, no slapstick or anything based on embarrassing people.
Character: Valentina Kerman
The mad, bad space adventures of Valentina Kerman, certified badass and probable adrenaline addict thrill seeker! Batshit space missions to Mun and beyond on a spacecraft made entirely of duct tape? Having to capture asteroids to redeem the reputation of the space program? Advancing the knowledge of Kerbalkind on a solo mission to Eeloo? Building a base on Duna?
I'm okay with any of the whoopses – fail!parachute deployment, explosions, crashes, any disaster possible – as long as no-one dies.
If you're a vidder, my song suggestions are Amaranthe - 1 000 000 light-years, Amaranthe - Razorblade, Nightwish - Sagan, Rammstein - Sonne, and Stratovarius - Hunting High and Low, should you want some idea of where to start.
I really love the OTT space opera hijinks! Dolphins: I love them. The more focus on the dolphins, the better. Trinary is cool. I like Creideiki/Hikahi. And Keepiru! (The humans and chimp with them, not all that much.)
Character: Creideiki
Creideiki's space adventures pre-Streaker: What did he do to get chosen? Why did he choose to investigate the Shallow Cluster? Or, how about the galactic escape adventure: How do they reach Earth? Did he ever have to deal with galactic bureaucracy?
Note: please don't dwell excessively on Creideiki's head injury. Mentions are fine if relevant, but please no misery porn or a fic focusing on it.
Character: Hikahi
Hikahi's space adventures pre-Streaker: What did she do to get chosen? She's a very sensible dolphin; how does she keep order? Does she have any favorite Trinary metaphors? What's her relationship to Trinary and Anglic? Or, how about the galactic escape adventure: How do they reach Earth?
Relationship: Creideiki/Hikahi
How did they get together? Did they know each other before the mission? How do they code-switch between Anglic and Trinary, and when? Or, how about the galactic escape adventure: How do they reach Earth?
Note: please don't dwell excessively on Creideiki's head injury. Mentions are fine if relevant, but please no misery porn or a fic focusing on it.
Worldbuilding: Galactic Bureaucracy
HOW DOES IT WORK. What is the recruitment process like? How many millennia's worth of archaic rules without sunset clauses have built up, and how do the bureaucracies deal with them? What's our alien employee doing there? What's the job like? What terribad hilarious dreadful customers do they have to deal with? Are they the liaison officer? A pilot? Do they have to interpret Galactic Law?
Worldbuilding: Trinary
What's it like to think in Trinary all day? How does it affect dolphin views of art? What are the images that are considered most poetic, and why?Do they How often do they use Trinary to subtly or not-so-subtly troll humans? What does a Trinary courtship look like? What're dolphins' favorite wordplays?
Worldbuilding: Ecosystem of Planet Around Red Dwarf Star
What's it like? How do the plant-analogues get their energy from the low-energy star? If it's tidally locked, how does that affect the native life's characteristics? What about a very slowly rotating planet? What kind of life would evolve there?
Worldbuilding: Non-Earthlike Planetary Environments
Extreme worlds, whether due to pressure, temperature, gravity, or something else! What does the world look like? (Here's a chapter on planetology from a xenology perspective for inspiration.)
Worldbuilding: Human Settlements on Non-Earthlike Planetary Environments
Human settlements on one of the above! How does living underground/in domes/forever in shelter from the acid rain affect the psyche of the individuals and the community? How do they build in such environments?
Worldbuilding: TRAPPIST-1 System Sentient Native Life
What's it like to live around a red dwarf star with so many planets in the habitable zone? Did each planet get its own sentient life, or just nonsentient plant-and-animal-analogues? Did they master space travel and colonize the rest of the system early?
Likes
- competence porn
- tea
- humor
- snark (if mutual)
- fun
- zaniness
- exposition
- loving descriptions of landscapes, space, whatever
- enthusiasm
- Shown Their Work details
- xenobiology
- generic nerdery and science feels
If you have specialist knowledge of anything at all that could possibly be finagled into the narrative, please do, I'd love to read it.
I tend to prefer fics that are about an (external) thing happening (eg. There is an engineering malfunction!) more than fics that are about a trope (eg. Accidental Baby Acquisition or what-have-you). I appreciate this can be a fuzzy line to tread, but I hope this helps you in your ficcraft.
Dislikes
- character death
- humiliation
- embarrassment
- incest
- pregnancy/children/motherhood
- violence to fingers or eyes
- noncanonical permanent disability or the acquiring of such
- animal harm (especially negative outcomes for horses)
- sexism
- setting change AUs
- plots based entirely on miscommunication
- pure introspection/character study/slice of life or angst
Original Characters & misc notes
For pretty much everything, I absolutely adore competence, especially in women. Competence, ambition, determination, use of every tool at her disposal.
The archetype I uncritically adore is the Scientist: the smart, competent person who is absolutely thrilled to have discovered something, anything new. To have understood one more piece of the universe.
Other aspects I appreciate in characters are the ability to enjoy adrenaline thrills, curiosity, knowing WTF they're doing or at least pretending that they do, and women lifting heavy objects. Creativity and creative problem-solving. Knowing the rules and exploiting them.
For serious things, gambits, schemes, and pile-ups of the aforementioned are welcome, should you wish to try your hand at it.
I prefer anti-heroes and grey-and-grey morality to black-and-white morality and generic idealized heroes who do no wrong. Sure, the morality can be dark grey and light grey, but the villains should have some motivation beyond "because we're evil" and the heroes should be human (or alien) and not be avatars of perfect goodness.
For light-hearted things, I like the sort of "sane person against the Universe" dynamic found in Connie Willis' "In the Late Cretaceous" and/or this Vorkosigan fic by Ankaret. Life is absurd, and bureaucracy even more so. Red tape and counterproductive regulations are a theme that can have me doubled-over laughing. Light-grey-and-light-grey morality.
Please, no slapstick or anything based on embarrassing people.
Kerbal Space Program
Character: Valentina Kerman
The mad, bad space adventures of Valentina Kerman, certified badass and probable adrenaline addict thrill seeker! Batshit space missions to Mun and beyond on a spacecraft made entirely of duct tape? Having to capture asteroids to redeem the reputation of the space program? Advancing the knowledge of Kerbalkind on a solo mission to Eeloo? Building a base on Duna?
I'm okay with any of the whoopses – fail!parachute deployment, explosions, crashes, any disaster possible – as long as no-one dies.
If you're a vidder, my song suggestions are Amaranthe - 1 000 000 light-years, Amaranthe - Razorblade, Nightwish - Sagan, Rammstein - Sonne, and Stratovarius - Hunting High and Low, should you want some idea of where to start.
Uplift saga – David Brin
I really love the OTT space opera hijinks! Dolphins: I love them. The more focus on the dolphins, the better. Trinary is cool. I like Creideiki/Hikahi. And Keepiru! (The humans and chimp with them, not all that much.)
Character: Creideiki
Creideiki's space adventures pre-Streaker: What did he do to get chosen? Why did he choose to investigate the Shallow Cluster? Or, how about the galactic escape adventure: How do they reach Earth? Did he ever have to deal with galactic bureaucracy?
Note: please don't dwell excessively on Creideiki's head injury. Mentions are fine if relevant, but please no misery porn or a fic focusing on it.
Character: Hikahi
Hikahi's space adventures pre-Streaker: What did she do to get chosen? She's a very sensible dolphin; how does she keep order? Does she have any favorite Trinary metaphors? What's her relationship to Trinary and Anglic? Or, how about the galactic escape adventure: How do they reach Earth?
Relationship: Creideiki/Hikahi
How did they get together? Did they know each other before the mission? How do they code-switch between Anglic and Trinary, and when? Or, how about the galactic escape adventure: How do they reach Earth?
Note: please don't dwell excessively on Creideiki's head injury. Mentions are fine if relevant, but please no misery porn or a fic focusing on it.
Worldbuilding: Galactic Bureaucracy
HOW DOES IT WORK. What is the recruitment process like? How many millennia's worth of archaic rules without sunset clauses have built up, and how do the bureaucracies deal with them? What's our alien employee doing there? What's the job like? What terribad hilarious dreadful customers do they have to deal with? Are they the liaison officer? A pilot? Do they have to interpret Galactic Law?
Worldbuilding: Trinary
What's it like to think in Trinary all day? How does it affect dolphin views of art? What are the images that are considered most poetic, and why?
Original Works
Worldbuilding: Ecosystem of Planet Around Red Dwarf Star
What's it like? How do the plant-analogues get their energy from the low-energy star? If it's tidally locked, how does that affect the native life's characteristics? What about a very slowly rotating planet? What kind of life would evolve there?
Worldbuilding: Non-Earthlike Planetary Environments
Extreme worlds, whether due to pressure, temperature, gravity, or something else! What does the world look like? (Here's a chapter on planetology from a xenology perspective for inspiration.)
Worldbuilding: Human Settlements on Non-Earthlike Planetary Environments
Human settlements on one of the above! How does living underground/in domes/forever in shelter from the acid rain affect the psyche of the individuals and the community? How do they build in such environments?
Worldbuilding: TRAPPIST-1 System Sentient Native Life
What's it like to live around a red dwarf star with so many planets in the habitable zone? Did each planet get its own sentient life, or just nonsentient plant-and-animal-analogues? Did they master space travel and colonize the rest of the system early?