the deep moans round with many voices

I did a little thought experiment on myself while reading Andre Norton's Uncharted Stars, where I mentally rewrote the two secondary characters (Ryzk and Zilwrich) as female. There was no plot requirement for those people to be male, so why not? That one change improved the book immeasurably.

I think I'm going to start applying that technique to other Norton books (and what the hell, probably to any classic sci-fi and fantasy I read or reread). It really does drive home how the absence of women is as much a problem as bad depictions of women, you know? *sigh*

Changing Zilwrich's gender required no rewrites whatsoever: injured alien archaeologist is not a gendered plot role. I think if Ryzk had been written as female from the start, their introduction scene would need to be slightly altered because a drunk woman alone in a seedy bar is a different vibe from a drunk man alone in a seedy bar... but hey, maybe that would make the scene in question a bit less morally iffy! (If you wanted to be more drastic in the rewriting, it could result in two secondary characters -- Ryzk and a companion -- that could heighten some later tension in terms of divisions of opinion among the spaceship crew, but that's a more ambitious proposition.) Other than that, literally nothing that needed to be changed to make Ryzk a completely reasonable depiction of a woman, because there was nothing particularly gendered about that depiction in the first place aside from pronouns and that bar scene.

I now kind of want to reread the book and swap some background characters as well. Let's have female shady gem dealers! Female space pirates! Female squid-crustacean aliens who communicate via gesture-to-sound interfaces! Female hardscrabble ice planet merchants who've been dreaming of recreating a legendary trade their parent made! Etcetera.

I have, over the years, become more and more committed to the idea that unless there's a pressing plot or character reason for a character to be male, they should be female by default. (Cis and trans both welcome!)

I have been thinking this past year or so that nonbinary is also a good option. I need to start making random characters nonbinary as well -- this is a little trickier, particularly when working in somebody else's sandbox that has gender assumptions pre-installed, but challenge is good for the soul, yeah?

...

Anyway, bed now. :)

It's NFE reveal day! So I can now say that I wrote two stories: my original assignment and a pinch hit. I will talk about each in a separate post.

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Twelve Views of Port Paravel (3406 words) by Elizabeth Culmer
Fandom: Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Original Characters
Additional Tags: Boats and Ships, Merchants and Trading, Calormen, Age of Winter (Narnia), Slavery, Angst and Tragedy, Unhappy Ending

Summary: Khoshet was in Tash's nest as the ship drew near the coast, and so he was the first to see not the shore but a strange black cloud above it.

Or, the fall of Port Paravel, as seen by the crew of a Calormene merchant ship and the trading staff in the port.

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This was my pinch hit, written for songsmith. Basically, I saw songsmith's prompts come through as a pinch hit request and leapt upon them because the one about a Calormene perspective on Jadis's conquest of Narnia and the start of the Winter hit me like a ton of bricks and I had to write it. I wasn't even quite sure how I'd deal with that subject, but it was seriously like a compulsion. I couldn't not. Even if I hadn't gotten the pinch hit, I would have written it as a treat once the prompt had been brought to my attention.

I'm not exactly sure when I hit on the idea of a merchant ship witnessing the fall of Port Paravel. I think it was a gradual process -- like, I wanted to do a multiple POV story, but initially there was going to be a POV from the ship, and then one from the merchant company's headquarters back in Calormen, and maybe one from someone in the court at Tashbaan reacting to the sudden dearth of [fill in northern commodity], and so on. But once I started writing about the ship, it was all about that ship and the warehouse staff from the port, and it very quickly became more focused in time as well, with the edge of panic brought on by knowing Jadis would arrive very soon... and then, in the final scene, she arrives a good twelve hours before anyone's predictions. (I had to. Drama demanded it.)

As with my assignment story, I completely gave up on the idea of anonymity. I mean, I suppose other people could use my Calormene pantheon. It is free for anyone to run with! But I figured that would probably give me away, along with the whole... mmm... culture clash themes? And also, of course, I have made a minor fandom name for myself as a person who does Calormene worldbuilding. *wry* But like I said, I couldn't not write the story.

This is a time where the judicious application of deadline adrenaline worked beautifully, though I did have to go back and make a few minor typo corrections and such after the archive went live, which is the unfortunate side effect of writing that way. I find that it can be very useful in turning off the self-critical part of my brain and forcing me to write from my id, which is good for vividness! It is less good for SPAG details. *wry*

I know it may seem a bit unrealistic to have so many women on board a ship when Calormen feels like a very patriarchal country, but I justify it by means of religion. Basically, you need a few women on board to act as stand-ins for the goddess Zardeenah so that Sokda, the god of the sea and storms (and horses, though that's less relevant here) will look favorably upon your ship. To go to sea with no women on board is to invite disaster. And while a lot of young women will sail as Handmaids for a year or two to build some savings, see the world, and maybe meet a spouse they didn't grow up seeing every day in the same small coastal village, many others will make sailing their career. There are a fair number of married couples on Calormene ships, and while it's a bit unusual for a woman to be a captain without a husband to act as co-captain, it's certainly not unheard of.

Also, I will put women in my fiction if I want to and you can't stop me, no matter what you think of my justifications. :p

Found via rthstewart

So, first of all, I am not entirely sure what is meant by "fandoms" in this context. Ones I write fic for? Ones I read fic for? Ones I read fic for without ever consuming the canon? Ones where I consume the canon and have no further interest? Interpretation is hard.

But anyway, I will give it a shot!

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If fandoms were lovers...

The one who seduced you and screwed you over and broke your heart in a million pieces and laughed about it. ...I don't think I actually have a fandom this applies to. I mean, yeah, there are things I've started reading or watching and then fallen out of love with, but I can't think of anything that's broken my heart by turning to shit. Unless you're talking about out-of-canon stuff, such as revelations about authors' real-life behavior? In which case I do find it somewhat awkward to reread Marion Zimmer Bradley's books at this point, or Orson Scott Card's work, even if I still find the books themselves valuable.

If we're just talking straight-up stories that I love passionately and which broke my heart, I think the champion is still The Lions of Al-Rassan. But I'm sure that story wasn't laughing at me.

The old flame you don't see very often any more but whom you still really enjoy getting together with for a few drinks and maybe a pleasant nostalgic romp in the sheets. Harry Potter.

The mysterious dark gothy one whom you used to sit up with talking until 3a.m. at weird coffeehouses and with whom you were quite smitten until you realized they really were fucking crazy. I mean, the Black Jewels series is legit fucking crazy, but that's why I like it in the first place, so... *hands* This goes for Angel Sanctuary as well.

The one you spent a whole weekend in bed with and who drank up all your liquor, and whom you'd still really like to get together with again although you're relieved they don't actually live in town. ...Saiyuki, maybe? For which I wrote four stories once upon a time to exorcise some meta that got stuck in my head, and which I do mean to go back and read more of someday. Or maybe Gormenghast. I wrote one Gormenghast fic ages ago, and have always vaguely regretted not doing more to play around with that canon's absolutely batshit worldbuilding.

The Steady. The Chronicles of Narnia, which I have been having productive discussions and arguments with since I was eight years old. *wry*

The alluring stranger whom you've flirted with at parties but have never got really serious with. Possibly Leverage. I keep meaning to try watching that series, but never actually getting around to it.

The one you hang out with and have vague fantasies about maybe having a thing with but ultimately you're just good friends because the friendship is there but the chemistry isn't. Most of the MCU, to be honest. (Except Daredevil, because reasons. *shifty eyes*)

The one your friends keep introducing you to and who seems really cool except it's never really gone anywhere. I dunno, really. You could probably fill in any audiovisual media thing here and be relatively accurate. Oh! Wait, no, I know: Fullmetal Alchemist. Which is a wonderful manga series and I keep just not clicking with it, which annoys me because I want to love it and can't quite get there and so am stuck with admiration instead.

The one who's slept with all your friends, and you keep looking at them and thinking, "How did they land all these utterly fabulous people?" See the audiovisual media part of the previous answer. But I guess more specifically Game of Thrones. Which from the first season has sounded kind of unpleasant to me, what with the sexposition and so on, but hey. De gustibus non est disputandum. *wry*

The one who gave you the best damned summer of your life and who you measure all other potential partners against. Homestuck! ;)

The one you recently met at a party and would like to get to know better and who you think you might have a crush on. Annoyingly, the canons I've been into most recently have been book series that are all Yuletide-eligible, so. Not lots of opportunity there. (To name names: Yoon Ha Lee's Machineries of Empire series, Martha Wells's Raksura series and Murderbot series, and N. K. Jemisin's Inheritance trilogy and Dreamblood duology.)

The old flame that you wouldn't totally object to hooking up with again for a one night romp if only they cleaned themselves up a bit. Naruto. (Except we never exactly broke up. It's just a long-distance relationship and I am ignoring vast swathes of canon Because Reasons and also there is no sequel or weird anime movies, okay. Got it? Good.)

Your hot new flame. Alas, I don't have one. It is very frustrating. :(

The one who stole your people's hearts. I am interpreting this as a fandom that has swept many of my internet acquaintances off their feet, rather than something I wrote that everyone inexplicably likes best. At the moment this seems to be Good Omens, but I'm okay with that. I'm not in love myself, but it's nice to sort of vicariously experience other people's infatuation, and I am well-enough in like that I don't particularly mind not being deeply involved in this tangent.

And a bonus courtesy of syrena_of_the_lake: The one you’re embarrassed to admit you like, because your friends will all say you're too good for them. Oh, don't even get me started. The list of fandoms for which I read amazingly terrible fic is longer than both my legs put together -- and this is quite deliberate, since there are some power-kink tropes I find excruciating if I know the canon well enough to see how OOC they are, but find hot like burning if they're applied to characters with whom I'm only vaguely familiar via internet osmosis. *wry*

Also I found the Gor novels weirdly sexy when I was in high school. This is probably because the first one I read is the one where the main character gets caught and turned into a slave himself, and I do have both a power-kink and a torture-kink, so. :p

minutia_r tagged me in the 10 characters meme: List ten of your favorite characters in ten different fandoms and then tag ten people

In no particular order:

1. Chronicles of Narnia - Still Edmund, I think, though he has never been ahead by a very large margin and it's grown smaller over the years. I am awfully fond of almost all the characters. (Jadis is my second-favorite in general, and probably my most favorite for writing.)

2. Homestuck - This is tricky! Uh. Can I say Rose, Jade, Dave, Terezi, Karkat, Aradia, Roxy, Jane, Kanaya, Meenah, and Damara all together? It is really hard to make distinctions any more finely graded than that, and anyway which one of that set I like best shifts from day to day.

3. Harry Potter - Probably Harry, giant unobservant doofus that he is. Secondarily Hermione and Ginny. I love Ron lots in canon, but find him fannishly uninteresting.

4. Naruto - Team 7. (By which I mean Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke.) You can't make me subdivide further. *resolve face*

5. Star Trek: AOS - Spock, Kirk, and Uhura.

6. Angel Sanctuary - Kira Sakuya. (Yes, this includes all incarnations.) Secondarily Setsuna and Sara.

7. Enchanted Forest Chronicles - Morwen, obviously! :DDD

8. Darkangel Trilogy - Aeriel, I think. It is her story, and I so desperately want her to be happy.

9. Daredevil (MCU) - Matt. Secondarily Karen and Elektra. (I may find a reckless disregard for one's personal safety, a possibly unhealthy level of determination, and a willingness to deal violence more attractive than I really ought to. Also, someone should write me that threesome...)

10. Dark Is Rising sequence - Blodwen Rowlands! *evil grin* For reasons that are spoilers. But after her, Will, Jane, and Bran in no particular order.

In conclusion, I am kind of terrible at having favorite characters. This is not surprising -- I am terrible at having a favorite anything in any category. I like too many things and I don't want to rank them. *hands*

Secondary conclusion: I do tend to like main characters, insofar as any given canon even has a main character rather than an ensemble. They aren't always in my top tier, but if I don't like them at all, I tend to stop reading.

I am, as always, terrible at tagging so please consider yourself tagged if you want to play! :)

Note: I am repurposing my stock Yuletide letter here, which is why some of the sections may seem slightly off-topic for a single fandom exchange.

Hi, and thank you in advance for writing a story for me! I'm pretty easy to please -- unless you write context-free porn, I'll be thrilled just to get a response to one of my prompts. *grin* But I realize that's not terribly helpful, so here's the (very!) long version. (I am sorry for the tl;dr, but I like to talk about things I love and I figure more details are better than fewer.)

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( General Information )

Okay. On to specific prompts.

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( Aravis Meets Rabadash )

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( Lucy/Sea Girl Femslash )

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( The Telmarine Court )

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( Rilian's Everyday Life While Enchanted )

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( Pure Worldbuilding )

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And that is that.