transposable_element: (Default)
transposable_element ([personal profile] transposable_element) wrote2016-07-22 12:56 pm

Dear NFE writer

First, thank you! I'm looking forward to this so much, and I hope you're having fun writing.

As for what I like and don't like, mostly the answer is "it depends." At the moment I'm looking for something relatively light-hearted and fun, although if you're using the Andrew Ketterly prompt I could see it going fairly dark. There are very few things I would say a flat-out no to: graphic torture; extended graphic violence; incest; rape. If you want to write about the worst impulses of human nature, then I prefer to see it leavened with loyalty, courage, and kindness. I prefer gen, but a little romance is fine.

Things I especially like:
  • world-building
  • backstory, both for characters and the world itself
  • underdogs
  • characters being in character (acknowledging that people's interpretations of the same character differ)
  • a world that feels rich and real
  • unexpected or incongruous friendships
  • romance that goes against gender and/or sex stereotypes
  • actually, anything that goes against gender and/or sex stereotypes
  • snappy dialog
  • non-sentimentalized parent-child relationships
  • cultural complexity
  • political complexity
  • characters working through difficult problems
  • mythology and folklore
  • slice of life stories
  • things I wouldn't think of myself (like what? I don't know!)
Most of all, I hope you write a story that you like and that makes you happy.