King of exchanges letter 2021
Aug. 21st, 2021 11:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
maidenjediHere we are again! Something about Stephen King and summer, y'all....
I probably seem awfully boring, because I really have two SK loves and all others don't quite move me to want all the fanfics. But honestly, I think the worldbuilding and character activity possibilities are *endless* in these two worlds, and that's why I keep coming back to them. I have ideas but would love to see what you come up with!
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 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.
And now....
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. Ghosts who serve as a Greek chorus, warning the travelers or commenting on their adventures from beyond.
Group: Peter Goldsmith/Carla Goldsmith - A marriage that lasts in spite of very different personalities, but then again, we saw it at the end and only through Frannie's eyes. What if they both survive Captain Trips? What if Frannie died as a child, not Fred? Tell me something about their story from their own POVs, or through the eyes of a neighbor (maybe one of Flagg's incarnations, or a spy? Or someone utterly unrelated to the drama who just watches). Back up Captain Trips to the beginning of Peter and Carla's marriage; they don't have kids yet, but the plague has come, so how does that accelerate or change their character growth? Finally - break my heart and retell the story of Carla's death that King tells us, from Peter's POV (or switch them up).
Group: Amy Lauder & Frannie Goldsmith - Besties in a world without plague, and then the only ones left alive. Amy survives instead of Harold; what changes and what stays the same? I think of them a lot like King's Anne Shirley and Diana Barry, with Fran as Anne and Amy as Diana. Tell me stories from their childhood. Frannie was a fan of hobbits and Middle Earth, it seems, so was Amy, as well? Recast Amy as the heroine and Frannie as the best friend who grows apart. Lots and lots of possibilities. Please no romance.
Group: 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. Yvonne in Nadine's role. Yvonne lives, Larry does not.
Group: Larry Underwood & The Tattered Remnants - In which Larry doesn't flee LA and is there when Captain Trips strikes. Every other major character is present for a concert by weird coincidence. Flagg is a member of the band and the cause of the break-up. Larry haunted by the ghosts of band members on the road to Vegas. Captain Trips doesn't happen - does Larry go back to LA, do the Tattered Remnants make it big?
Group: Alice Underwood & Larry Underwood - Mother-son road trip! Alice survives Captain Trips and heads out of NY with Larry. Pre-CT, Alice goes to LA to scrape Larry's sorry hide off a whiskey-soaked couch. The confrontation that leads to Larry leaving NY the first time. Alice taking Larry to a park for a catch after his dad dies. Alice saving Larry from Nadine in some way - or saving both of them from Flagg. Alice in the years between Larry leaving and returning, keeping the space open in her heart for him but never quite admitting it.
IT:
Beverly Marsh - How and why she leaves Derry. A different path where she's the only one to stay and remember, not Mike. Being the heroine of her own story - she doesn't marry Tom Rogan, she escapes her father, she isn't anyone's victim. A different encounter with Pennywise the first time. Finds a way out that doesn't involve sex! Beverly as the central character. Beverly as she was written, but after everything, and breaking the narrative to be the heroine anyway.
Richie Tozier - Adult Richie and all his flaws on full display. Richie as the last to forget, keeping the flame alive as long as he can. Richie and his continuing battle with Pennywise decades later. Richie doesn't join the Losers - how his life is different because of it.
Ben Hanscom - In Hemingford Home, and the first day or so as he remembers his friends. The temptation to stay and what might keep him there. A crossover with The Stand - he knows Mother Abagail and seeks her advice. Ben never leaves Derry the first time and has to be the one to make the calls to get them all home.
Group: Richie Tozier & Stanley Uris & Bill Denbrough - As teenagers, trying to remember why they're friends, trying to keep the friendship alive. Never forgetting, but leaving Derry, and keeping in touch. How they became friends at all, before It. All the ways male friendship has a last impact - Bill being shaped by Richie's sense of humor and Stan's seriousness, Richie and Stan always looking for a "Bill" in their lives later. These three after the final defeat of It - Stan lives! Or Stan's gone, and Richie and Bill have to make sense of it. Please no romance.
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.. Monster-hunting together on a day when none of the others is able to be there. Adults, far removed from It, meeting for the first time.
I probably seem awfully boring, because I really have two SK loves and all others don't quite move me to want all the fanfics. But honestly, I think the worldbuilding and character activity possibilities are *endless* in these two worlds, and that's why I keep coming back to them. I have ideas but would love to see what you come up with!
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 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.
And now....
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. Ghosts who serve as a Greek chorus, warning the travelers or commenting on their adventures from beyond.
Group: Peter Goldsmith/Carla Goldsmith - A marriage that lasts in spite of very different personalities, but then again, we saw it at the end and only through Frannie's eyes. What if they both survive Captain Trips? What if Frannie died as a child, not Fred? Tell me something about their story from their own POVs, or through the eyes of a neighbor (maybe one of Flagg's incarnations, or a spy? Or someone utterly unrelated to the drama who just watches). Back up Captain Trips to the beginning of Peter and Carla's marriage; they don't have kids yet, but the plague has come, so how does that accelerate or change their character growth? Finally - break my heart and retell the story of Carla's death that King tells us, from Peter's POV (or switch them up).
Group: Amy Lauder & Frannie Goldsmith - Besties in a world without plague, and then the only ones left alive. Amy survives instead of Harold; what changes and what stays the same? I think of them a lot like King's Anne Shirley and Diana Barry, with Fran as Anne and Amy as Diana. Tell me stories from their childhood. Frannie was a fan of hobbits and Middle Earth, it seems, so was Amy, as well? Recast Amy as the heroine and Frannie as the best friend who grows apart. Lots and lots of possibilities. Please no romance.
Group: 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. Yvonne in Nadine's role. Yvonne lives, Larry does not.
Group: Larry Underwood & The Tattered Remnants - In which Larry doesn't flee LA and is there when Captain Trips strikes. Every other major character is present for a concert by weird coincidence. Flagg is a member of the band and the cause of the break-up. Larry haunted by the ghosts of band members on the road to Vegas. Captain Trips doesn't happen - does Larry go back to LA, do the Tattered Remnants make it big?
Group: Alice Underwood & Larry Underwood - Mother-son road trip! Alice survives Captain Trips and heads out of NY with Larry. Pre-CT, Alice goes to LA to scrape Larry's sorry hide off a whiskey-soaked couch. The confrontation that leads to Larry leaving NY the first time. Alice taking Larry to a park for a catch after his dad dies. Alice saving Larry from Nadine in some way - or saving both of them from Flagg. Alice in the years between Larry leaving and returning, keeping the space open in her heart for him but never quite admitting it.
IT:
Beverly Marsh - How and why she leaves Derry. A different path where she's the only one to stay and remember, not Mike. Being the heroine of her own story - she doesn't marry Tom Rogan, she escapes her father, she isn't anyone's victim. A different encounter with Pennywise the first time. Finds a way out that doesn't involve sex! Beverly as the central character. Beverly as she was written, but after everything, and breaking the narrative to be the heroine anyway.
Richie Tozier - Adult Richie and all his flaws on full display. Richie as the last to forget, keeping the flame alive as long as he can. Richie and his continuing battle with Pennywise decades later. Richie doesn't join the Losers - how his life is different because of it.
Ben Hanscom - In Hemingford Home, and the first day or so as he remembers his friends. The temptation to stay and what might keep him there. A crossover with The Stand - he knows Mother Abagail and seeks her advice. Ben never leaves Derry the first time and has to be the one to make the calls to get them all home.
Group: Richie Tozier & Stanley Uris & Bill Denbrough - As teenagers, trying to remember why they're friends, trying to keep the friendship alive. Never forgetting, but leaving Derry, and keeping in touch. How they became friends at all, before It. All the ways male friendship has a last impact - Bill being shaped by Richie's sense of humor and Stan's seriousness, Richie and Stan always looking for a "Bill" in their lives later. These three after the final defeat of It - Stan lives! Or Stan's gone, and Richie and Bill have to make sense of it. Please no romance.
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.. Monster-hunting together on a day when none of the others is able to be there. Adults, far removed from It, meeting for the first time.
