Thank you for tagging me @mailrebel! I'm answering on the Zelda sideblog since it's fic-focused lol.
slowburn or love at first sight // fake dating or secret dating // enemies to lovers or best friends to lovers // there’s only one bed or long-distance correspondence // hurt/comfort or amnesia // fantasy au or modern au // mutual pining or domestic bliss // smut or fluff // canon-compliant or fix-it // reincarnation or character death // one-shot or multi-chapter // kid fic or road trip fic // arranged marriage or accidental marriage // high-school romance or middle-age romance // time travel or isolated together // neighbors or roommates // sci-fi au or magic au // body swap or genderbent // angst or crack // apocalyptic or mundane // happy ending or unhappy ending
Putting expanded thoughts under a cut.
slowburn When it's done well, it's worth the time it takes to get there - I'm a journey-not-destination person, even though I tend to be more concise in my own writing.
fake dating just has so much hilarious potential even if it doesn't end in real romance
enemies to lovers So this is a tough one, because I think this one is really hard to write WELL. But it can be very satisfying to watch characters break down each other's walls and work through things. Kintsugi, y'know?
there’s only one bed Endlessly wonderful situation to put characters in, especially when you think about how hard it is to sleep next to someone for the first time (very. it's very hard.)
hurt/comfort is the niche I LIVE in; breaking down traumas, poking the wound, and then figuring out how to help it heal, whether that's emotional or physical. no, this doesn't say ANYTHING about me. Shoo.
fantasy au So like... most of what I engage with is sci-fi/fantasy already, and I find modern AU's kind of boring LOL. ESPECIALLY when you're dealing with royalty in your fantasy setting, and then you translate it to "oh they're a billionaire CEO in this modern AU" Bleh.
mutual pining It's that good good slow burn stuff! I LIVE for the build of tension, the almost, the unrealized potential.
smut I think, since I'm more interested in charged emotions, fluff is just sometimes a nothingburger for me, BUT they are not mutually exclusive, and I do enjoy both.
canon-compliant but it REALLY depends on the media. I think worldbuilding is a fun puzzle when you try to do it within canon's parameters. I also sometimes watch/read something mediocre, do not stop thinking about it for days, and then submit my husband to several ted talks on "this is why the story sucks and doesn't work, this is what they COULD'VE done, and if you don't stop me I WILL write/do art about it."
character death GIVE. ME. GRIEVING.
one-shot I tend to read more bite-sized fics. I LOVE little character study nuggets, I eat that shit UP.
road trip fic because I think being trapped in a vehicle/travel situation is super interesting to explore. And I do NOT think that every ship could, should, or would have children, OR be good parents. A huge pet peeve is when a romantic fic's 'happy ending' is the couple finding out they're pregnant. That's not what everyone's happiness looks like...
arranged marriage has SO much delightful potential both for angst and also just a slower paced 'getting to know one another' character development. good stuff.
middle-age romance Maybe it's my age, but I do think we've got a lot of teens falling in love and not enough exploration of older romantic dynamics. What is it like to be someone's second, third, sixth love? What is it like to love someone for ten, twenty years? What is it like to find love at an older age, maybe when you thought you couldn't?
isolated together Again just a fun character dynamic to explore, but also? Time travel is SO hard to pull off well - even for most books/tv.
neighbors but both can be fun to explore - i guess it just depends on how many walls you want between them
sci-fi au or magic au I legit don't know LOL. Again my interests are mostly sci-fi/fantasy anyway.
body swap can be so so fun to explore when you fully consider it; what makes the character themself? what physical properties do they miss about themselves? what can they understand from each other by being this way? I think "gender-bending" can be equally compelling, but I don't feel that it's often handled well without getting into gender stereotypes because it requires a lot more nuance. How does this character identify with their perceived gender? how do they express it? If their gender is changed for the sake of a fic, how does that expression change? Do their character traits change? Should they?
angst all day every day!
mundane Most fiction already has a streak of the apocalyptic in it. I think fanfiction exists in this interesting space where we CAN explore the mundane, the quiet, the things that the media itself had to gloss over in order to make room for the larger narrative. We live for the filler episode. What does this character's downtime look like? how did they spend the space between those two major plot events? There's also a lot more importance in the 'mundane' than you think, and it's incredibly effective even IN an apocalyptic narrative. I forget the quote, but it's something about zooming in. The further you zoom in, the smallest detail you can capture and write about, the stronger your story will be. We resonate with the mundane.
happy ending BUT I love a bittersweet ending most of all. Sometimes the most satisfying ending is a compromise.
