king of exchanges letter 2020
Jul. 24th, 2020 04:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
maidenjediYAY KING OF EXCHANGES IS BACK!
(If you're seeing this and thinking, what is that, it's an all-stories, all-adaptations Stephen King fanfiction exchange. Check it out! You can sign up through July 28 at![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
kingofexchanges)
So totally thrilled for this. A bit sad to report that my general wheelhouse for King remains limited - but you know what, I think we all need the comfort of the familiar this summer, so I'm not gonna stress over it. I hope you, Dear Writer, are as excited to write as I am to read - and while I have some thoughts for you, I give you leave to do what you will!
Some things about my likes/DNWs: I prefer angst over fluff, I like happy endings that come after struggle or discord as much as I love angsty cliffhangers that keep the work grounded in the fandom's reality. I love character studies and backstories and worldbuilding. I love minor characters. Not into pregnancy AU, high school or university AU, or modern AU. BUT I love canon-divergence or AUs within the given universe (a different meet-cute, or a different ending, for example). While I love angst, I don't love trauma, especially of the sexual variety. Not really into a lot of kink or graphic sex. Love friendship, team-building, friends-to-lovers, unrequited pining, requited pining that's more complicated than those involved want. Absolutely DNW non-canonical character death, rape/dub-con, sexual violence of any kind, body horror, A/B/O, or underage sex; because this is Stephen King, I feel the need to add that while I accept these are horror stories, my personal preference is for creepy over horrific. I think even horror is best when it's about what's creeping under the bed versus having whatever it is chew up its victim in graphic detail.
Without further ado, some prompts (which, again, you are totally free to ignore if you already had an idea!), etc:
The Stand:
First, Worldbuilding! Any and all plague stories are welcome (yes, even during this Time of COVID), as are post-plague stories about characters we never meet. Are there communities of any kind that form outside of the Vegas/Boulder realm? What do they look like? Is there perhaps a community of kids somewhere - say, in the 11-13 age range - surviving despite the odds? The book tells us that Boulder continues to grow into winter. Who are the stragglers, and why are they so late to the game exactly? I'd be interested to know if anyone involved in the development of Captain Trips, or in deploying it to other countries, ends up in Vegas or Boulder. Also, what does the plague look like in other countries - is the devastation as total, and are there similar battles for the souls of survivors elsewhere? Link to other King stories or not at will, so long as world of The Stand is center stage.
Alice Underwood & Amy Lauder & Rita Blakemoor & Peter Goldsmith & Ray Flowers - This is a grouping of characters who died in the novel, and what I'd like to see is this group living, and moving West together (all as one group, or break them off into other groups). I'd like to hear about how they end up surviving in the first place. Do they end up, all together, in Boulder or in Vegas, or splitting up between locations? Are they part of a community that doesn't join in at Boulder or Vegas? Alternately, tell one or all of their stories separate from the others, as survivors with any of the main cast.
Amy Lauder & Fran Goldsmith - I'd love all the prequel stories about their friendship! Foreshadowing of what's to come always welcome, of course. I'd also like to see Amy survive Captain Trips and travel with Fran, with or without Harold (here's where you're welcome to break my non-canonical character death thing). Is Amy a tool of Flagg's the way Harold was? How does having Amy with her change Fran's arc, if at all? Another idea - Amy still dies, but she's haunting Fran for whatever reason.
Larry Underwood & The Tattered Remnants - An AU where Captain Trips doesn't happen and Larry Underwood becomes a bonafide star with the Remnants along for the ride. Is this a world in which Flagg controls things differently than if there'd been a plague? Or, does the plague happen later, and the band is affected? Non-AU stories about Larry and the band in their pre-fame days.
Larry Underwood/Yvonne - In which Yvonne lives, or you tell the story of the best World Series ever. Yvonne lives and goes West? Yvonne lives and meets Larry again in Boulder or on the way to Boulder? Larry survives Vegas and finds Yvonne on the road back?
Carla Goldsmith & Randall Flagg - Okay, hear me out. Carla faces Flagg, pre-plague or later, and it either ends with Flagg being chased off or Carla succumbing to Flagg's design. Flagg using Carla's grief over Fred. Flagg as the instigator for the showdown Carla has with Fran. Carla survives and goes West, with Fran or with others, and has Flagg dreams - what are they?
IT:
Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh - All the happy endings for these two. But also - they meet in the years between, do they recognize each other? Do they hook up and run away together? Do they see each other but don't quite remember?
The Losers Club - Group bonding, as kids, or later, after Pennywise is defeated. The forgetting, how it goes, how they let go or fight letting go. They don't forget as grown-ups. They are friends who never have to defeat the supernatural, but ordinary growing up still takes them, one by one. Bittersweet or victorious, or both!
Beverly Marsh/Richie Tozier - As teenagers, or in their twenties, the last to forget. The first to forget, except each other. Going to the movies, holding hands, Richie with awkward Voices and Bev with gangly limbs. Richie makes her laugh.
Crossover Fandom:
Yeah, it's all The Stand/IT. :-)
Stu Redman & Bill Denbrough - No shipping, please. These guys are leaders, Good Guys, etc. Do they ever meet, and do they bond over those roles? How does Bill fit in to the group in Boulder? Does it never really get that far - does Bill stumble into Hap's one day, long before Captain Trips, writing a story or wanting to and meets Stu? Stu's not much of a reader, but Bill Denbrough's books speak to him.
The Losers Club & Randall Flagg - Cut and dried! They've defeated It, but are they a match for Flagg? What side do they take - do they split up? Does Captain Trips happen right after they've beat It, or is there a fresh coming-together for the new battle, a few years later? Or, does Captain Trips happen before they're called home to Derry, and they reunite along the road West? Does the Losers Club take center stage in the battle, or are they side players and (mostly) happy to be so?
Carla Goldsmith & Peter Goldsmith & Bill Denbrough's Parents - Coming together over grief from losing Fred and George. Knowing each other casually (maybe Bill's parents move to Ogunquit, or vacation there) and yet having a weird bond. The Goldsmiths live in Derry (Frannie is too young to remember this) and that's how they know the Denbroughs.
Amy Lauder & Fran Goldsmith & Beverly Marsh & Kay McCall - A very unlikely girls club, but tell me their story! Are they friends in college, and maybe that's all it is, nothing supernatural? Or, they meet at a party playing with a Ouija board that spells out their fates - are those their novel fates, or does it play out differently for them? Do they meet later, during Captain Trips and after? Are Amy and Fran caught up in what happens in Derry? Amy survives Captain Trips in the company of Bev and/or Kay, and the group of four comes together from that?
Beverly Marsh & Dayna Jurgens - Same as above generally, but maybe Bev and Dayna meet on the road to Vegas, or in Vegas. Beverly as wise and jaded, Dayna as maybe too idealistic. A bit of unrequited and unconsummated will-they-won't-they, but any romance is not the center or the point of them meeting. Dayna in Derry, as a kid - is she a Loser, or someone else Beverly knows?
Stan Uris & Whitney Horgan & Barry Grieg - I mostly want Stand and Barry to end up in Vegas with Whitney. It's a really unlikely trio, but I'm interested in knowing first how Stan would survive to get there in the first place. The three of them on the road before Vegas, meeting by accident. Stan as a voice of doom, Barry as a realist, Whitney the glue. Whitney doesn't end up with Flagg at all because he meets one or both of them first - he doesn't go to Boulder, but he wanders, with Stan & Barry or not. Have Stan and Barry had encounters with Flagg? What does that look like?
(If you're seeing this and thinking, what is that, it's an all-stories, all-adaptations Stephen King fanfiction exchange. Check it out! You can sign up through July 28 at
kingofexchanges)So totally thrilled for this. A bit sad to report that my general wheelhouse for King remains limited - but you know what, I think we all need the comfort of the familiar this summer, so I'm not gonna stress over it. I hope you, Dear Writer, are as excited to write as I am to read - and while I have some thoughts for you, I give you leave to do what you will!
Some things about my likes/DNWs: I prefer angst over fluff, I like happy endings that come after struggle or discord as much as I love angsty cliffhangers that keep the work grounded in the fandom's reality. I love character studies and backstories and worldbuilding. I love minor characters. Not into pregnancy AU, high school or university AU, or modern AU. BUT I love canon-divergence or AUs within the given universe (a different meet-cute, or a different ending, for example). While I love angst, I don't love trauma, especially of the sexual variety. Not really into a lot of kink or graphic sex. Love friendship, team-building, friends-to-lovers, unrequited pining, requited pining that's more complicated than those involved want. Absolutely DNW non-canonical character death, rape/dub-con, sexual violence of any kind, body horror, A/B/O, or underage sex; because this is Stephen King, I feel the need to add that while I accept these are horror stories, my personal preference is for creepy over horrific. I think even horror is best when it's about what's creeping under the bed versus having whatever it is chew up its victim in graphic detail.
Without further ado, some prompts (which, again, you are totally free to ignore if you already had an idea!), etc:
The Stand:
First, Worldbuilding! Any and all plague stories are welcome (yes, even during this Time of COVID), as are post-plague stories about characters we never meet. Are there communities of any kind that form outside of the Vegas/Boulder realm? What do they look like? Is there perhaps a community of kids somewhere - say, in the 11-13 age range - surviving despite the odds? The book tells us that Boulder continues to grow into winter. Who are the stragglers, and why are they so late to the game exactly? I'd be interested to know if anyone involved in the development of Captain Trips, or in deploying it to other countries, ends up in Vegas or Boulder. Also, what does the plague look like in other countries - is the devastation as total, and are there similar battles for the souls of survivors elsewhere? Link to other King stories or not at will, so long as world of The Stand is center stage.
Alice Underwood & Amy Lauder & Rita Blakemoor & Peter Goldsmith & Ray Flowers - This is a grouping of characters who died in the novel, and what I'd like to see is this group living, and moving West together (all as one group, or break them off into other groups). I'd like to hear about how they end up surviving in the first place. Do they end up, all together, in Boulder or in Vegas, or splitting up between locations? Are they part of a community that doesn't join in at Boulder or Vegas? Alternately, tell one or all of their stories separate from the others, as survivors with any of the main cast.
Amy Lauder & Fran Goldsmith - I'd love all the prequel stories about their friendship! Foreshadowing of what's to come always welcome, of course. I'd also like to see Amy survive Captain Trips and travel with Fran, with or without Harold (here's where you're welcome to break my non-canonical character death thing). Is Amy a tool of Flagg's the way Harold was? How does having Amy with her change Fran's arc, if at all? Another idea - Amy still dies, but she's haunting Fran for whatever reason.
Larry Underwood & The Tattered Remnants - An AU where Captain Trips doesn't happen and Larry Underwood becomes a bonafide star with the Remnants along for the ride. Is this a world in which Flagg controls things differently than if there'd been a plague? Or, does the plague happen later, and the band is affected? Non-AU stories about Larry and the band in their pre-fame days.
Larry Underwood/Yvonne - In which Yvonne lives, or you tell the story of the best World Series ever. Yvonne lives and goes West? Yvonne lives and meets Larry again in Boulder or on the way to Boulder? Larry survives Vegas and finds Yvonne on the road back?
Carla Goldsmith & Randall Flagg - Okay, hear me out. Carla faces Flagg, pre-plague or later, and it either ends with Flagg being chased off or Carla succumbing to Flagg's design. Flagg using Carla's grief over Fred. Flagg as the instigator for the showdown Carla has with Fran. Carla survives and goes West, with Fran or with others, and has Flagg dreams - what are they?
IT:
Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh - All the happy endings for these two. But also - they meet in the years between, do they recognize each other? Do they hook up and run away together? Do they see each other but don't quite remember?
The Losers Club - Group bonding, as kids, or later, after Pennywise is defeated. The forgetting, how it goes, how they let go or fight letting go. They don't forget as grown-ups. They are friends who never have to defeat the supernatural, but ordinary growing up still takes them, one by one. Bittersweet or victorious, or both!
Beverly Marsh/Richie Tozier - As teenagers, or in their twenties, the last to forget. The first to forget, except each other. Going to the movies, holding hands, Richie with awkward Voices and Bev with gangly limbs. Richie makes her laugh.
Crossover Fandom:
Yeah, it's all The Stand/IT. :-)
Stu Redman & Bill Denbrough - No shipping, please. These guys are leaders, Good Guys, etc. Do they ever meet, and do they bond over those roles? How does Bill fit in to the group in Boulder? Does it never really get that far - does Bill stumble into Hap's one day, long before Captain Trips, writing a story or wanting to and meets Stu? Stu's not much of a reader, but Bill Denbrough's books speak to him.
The Losers Club & Randall Flagg - Cut and dried! They've defeated It, but are they a match for Flagg? What side do they take - do they split up? Does Captain Trips happen right after they've beat It, or is there a fresh coming-together for the new battle, a few years later? Or, does Captain Trips happen before they're called home to Derry, and they reunite along the road West? Does the Losers Club take center stage in the battle, or are they side players and (mostly) happy to be so?
Carla Goldsmith & Peter Goldsmith & Bill Denbrough's Parents - Coming together over grief from losing Fred and George. Knowing each other casually (maybe Bill's parents move to Ogunquit, or vacation there) and yet having a weird bond. The Goldsmiths live in Derry (Frannie is too young to remember this) and that's how they know the Denbroughs.
Amy Lauder & Fran Goldsmith & Beverly Marsh & Kay McCall - A very unlikely girls club, but tell me their story! Are they friends in college, and maybe that's all it is, nothing supernatural? Or, they meet at a party playing with a Ouija board that spells out their fates - are those their novel fates, or does it play out differently for them? Do they meet later, during Captain Trips and after? Are Amy and Fran caught up in what happens in Derry? Amy survives Captain Trips in the company of Bev and/or Kay, and the group of four comes together from that?
Beverly Marsh & Dayna Jurgens - Same as above generally, but maybe Bev and Dayna meet on the road to Vegas, or in Vegas. Beverly as wise and jaded, Dayna as maybe too idealistic. A bit of unrequited and unconsummated will-they-won't-they, but any romance is not the center or the point of them meeting. Dayna in Derry, as a kid - is she a Loser, or someone else Beverly knows?
Stan Uris & Whitney Horgan & Barry Grieg - I mostly want Stand and Barry to end up in Vegas with Whitney. It's a really unlikely trio, but I'm interested in knowing first how Stan would survive to get there in the first place. The three of them on the road before Vegas, meeting by accident. Stan as a voice of doom, Barry as a realist, Whitney the glue. Whitney doesn't end up with Flagg at all because he meets one or both of them first - he doesn't go to Boulder, but he wanders, with Stan & Barry or not. Have Stan and Barry had encounters with Flagg? What does that look like?
