Trick or Treat 2023
Sep. 10th, 2023 11:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sincereouslyHello, creator!
I'm so excited to see what you come up with for this exchange! Hope you have a great time with it. Prompts are here if you want them, but if you have another idea that's inspiring you I'm happy to see that too.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me through the mods. I'm also sincereously on AO3.
General fic likes:
Worldbuilding (especially magical, religious and cultural worldbuilding)
Encounters with the supernatural, particularly ghosts
Characters using or attempting to use magic or other supernatural forces
Maybe-magic-maybe-mundane events
Canon divergence
Introspection
Humor
Suspense
Unreliable narrators
Dramatic irony
Moments of quiet intimacy during breaks in the action (especially good for missing scenes in between what we see in canon)
Complicated women, and complicated relationships between complicated women
Slowly building intimacy/respect together - slow burn in general
Taking care of injured people
Forced proximity (undercover together, trapped together, accidental/arranged marriage, fake dating, only one bed, etc.)
Elaborate plans that may or may not work out
Improvising new plans as you go along
"That's an extremely bad plan, of course I'm in" type situations and interpersonal dynamics
Getting in way over your head but throwing yourself headfirst into the plan anyway
Repressed characters learning to let go
Struggling against temptation/the Dark Side/inner demons (and giving in)
Mind control/possession (and resisting mind control/possession)
Unusual formats, including in-universe documents
Five + one things structure
General art likes
Depictions of canon rooms, houses, and landscapes (also includes maps and set designs)
Characters with bloody hands
Characters doing ordinary things with very un-ordinary things happening in the background
Black-and-white or greyscale with pops of color
Light - from warm glows illuminating the whole space to chiaroscuro
Any art style is great!
General DNWs:
Character bashing
Non-canonical child death
Setting change AUs (ex. coffeeshop, high school, modern AU, etc.)
Time travel AUs
Explicitly stated sexuality labels for characters whose sexuality is not canonically defined
Formalized dom/sub relationships
Ageplay
Omegaverse
Mpreg
Excretory kinks
Rape/noncon (dubcon - sex pollen with both/all characters dosed, sex in arranged marriages, fuck-or-die, etc. - are fine)
Underage under 15 and unrequested non-canonical ships with 20+ year age gaps (mentions of canon examples of both are acceptable, but please don't make them the focus of the fic)
Animal abuse
Fic devoted primarily to examining real-world issues/-isms (please don't feel that you have to avoid them, but I'd rather they not be the entirety of what the work is about)
Hopeless endings (endings can be dark, but not without any shred of hope)
For both fic and art, please keep the level of violence at about what it is in canon.
FANDOMS
Arsenic and Old Lace
Requested Characters: Abby Brewster, Martha Brewster, Mortimer Brewster, Elaine Harper
Canon-specific DNWs: Canon-divergent death of any requested characters.
A classic movie with dead body shenanigans, the nicest murderers you’ll ever meet, and one very frazzled Cary Grant. What could be better for Halloween? I love the humor in this, the contrast of sweetness with horror lurking underneath (like the poisoned elderberry wine), and watching it has been a Halloween tradition for me for years.
I like Mortimer/Elaine, and I’m also happy with gen-focused works for this canon.
Prompts
- I’d love to see more of Abby and Martha’s history - how they grew up (their dad had a laboratory and seemed to be pretty wonky himself), raising Mortimer and getting to know Elaine, some of their early kills…
- During Mortimer and Elaine’s courtship, Abby and Martha decide to make a love potion for the lovebirds.
- Abby and Martha are throwing a Halloween party! And during the party, they find a lonely old gentleman who they think might need some of their special charity...
- Post-canon, Mortimer and Elaine just...have a house in Brooklyn with thirteen dead bodies in the basement. How do they handle that?
- The ghosts of the dead men start coming around. How do the inhabitants deal with that? Abby and Martha would probably just set out a nice tea for them, but Mortimer and Elaine would probably be less sanguine.
Carrie
Requested Characters: Carrie White, Margaret White, Sue Snell
Canon-specific DNWs: Canon-divergent death of Sue Snell.
Each of these characters have such raw pain guiding their lives and actions, and seeing how they express that hurt - for better or for worse - is so fascinating to me. The mundane setting tinged with the supernatural (or at least a kind of natural that includes things like telekinesis) also opens up a lot of fun worldbuilding possibilities that any of these characters can explore.
Ship preferences: Carrie/Sue and/or canon pairings
Prompts
- Any requested character having a moment of vulnerability, for whatever reason, in front of one or more other requested characters. They all have to put up such a strong front to other people; what happens when that front fails?
- I liked how much the book drew on in-universe documents to build its narrative, and I’d love to see other documents - Carrie’s schoolwork? religious pamphlets Margaret wrote? Sue’s book?
- Carrie doesn’t go to the prom and gets the chance to practice her power in smaller forms of vengeance/revenge in high school. How might she experiment with the power? How does she keep it secret or not? Is there ever a point where she crosses the line?
- Carrie's power is exposed earlier and she goes on the run from being captured and contained by the government/a company/various and sundry nefarious forces, either on her own or with Sue or Margaret.
- Anything on Margaret’s past and how she developed her twisted religious views - was there any specific incident that gave her such a horror of roadhouses, or did it slowly build up over time? This could also work with five-times structures (five lessons Margaret taught Carrie, etc.)
- Margaret herself has the carrier gene for TK - what would have happened if she had gotten the power? How would it have changed her religious views and the way she raised Carrie?
- Sue becomes a leading TK researcher and mentors another young TK-positive girl. Carrie’s ghost - figurative or real - may also make an appearance
Psycho
Requested Characters: Lila Crane, Marion Crane, Sam Loomis, Norman Bates, Mother/Norman's alter
Canon-specific DNWs: Canon-divergent deaths of Marion or Lila, or complete disappearance of Mother/Norman's alter while Norman survives. Canon deaths are fine, as is non-canonically killing off Norman or Sam.
I enjoy all the things that are not as they seem in this canon, about the sides of the characters that they hide from everyone, sometimes including themselves. There’s a lot of horror, but it’s understated and happens more in people’s heads (including those of the audience).
Shipwise I like Marion/Sam, Marion/Norman, and Sam/Norman. None of these ships have to be portrayed as straightforwardly romantic and can definitely go to dark places (particularly those involving Norman, because, well, dude has issues). I don't mind incorporating aspects of the books/sequel movies but would prefer a focus on this specific movie, and I'm also fine with ignoring the books/sequels if you'd like to explore something different.
Prompts
- What was Norman's life like in that spooky house and that run-down motel with only Mother for company? What did the other townsfolk, including Sam, think of him? It's not unlikely that the knife that killed Marion came from Sam's hardware store...
- Mother's perspective on the events of the movie, or on living in the mental hospital after canon. How much is she aware of the things she's done and/or the things Norman blames her for? How much does she see herself as separate from or a part of Norman, and how does she express that understanding?
- Marion's ghost appears - haunting her killer, leading her sister and/or lover to the truth of what happened to her, just taking out her frustration on everything in sight, etc.
- Marion isn’t attacked in the shower, and later comes to live in Fairvale with Sam without telling him what she did. She and Norman now have the weird position of having shared some secrets with each other but kept plenty of others - what happens when she runs into him again? Does Lila or Sam ever suspect what happened? Are the police still after Marion, or do they ever get suspicious about Norman?
- Anything about Lila's grief, and Sam's, post-canon. Marion was one of the few people either of them had left and she died a couple of weeks before Christmas, poor guys. I'd also be interested in seeing Lila confront Norman/Mother, or making a desperate attempt to reach Marion beyond the grave.
I'm so excited to see what you come up with for this exchange! Hope you have a great time with it. Prompts are here if you want them, but if you have another idea that's inspiring you I'm happy to see that too.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me through the mods. I'm also sincereously on AO3.
General fic likes:
Worldbuilding (especially magical, religious and cultural worldbuilding)
Encounters with the supernatural, particularly ghosts
Characters using or attempting to use magic or other supernatural forces
Maybe-magic-maybe-mundane events
Canon divergence
Introspection
Humor
Suspense
Unreliable narrators
Dramatic irony
Moments of quiet intimacy during breaks in the action (especially good for missing scenes in between what we see in canon)
Complicated women, and complicated relationships between complicated women
Slowly building intimacy/respect together - slow burn in general
Taking care of injured people
Forced proximity (undercover together, trapped together, accidental/arranged marriage, fake dating, only one bed, etc.)
Elaborate plans that may or may not work out
Improvising new plans as you go along
"That's an extremely bad plan, of course I'm in" type situations and interpersonal dynamics
Getting in way over your head but throwing yourself headfirst into the plan anyway
Repressed characters learning to let go
Struggling against temptation/the Dark Side/inner demons (and giving in)
Mind control/possession (and resisting mind control/possession)
Unusual formats, including in-universe documents
Five + one things structure
General art likes
Depictions of canon rooms, houses, and landscapes (also includes maps and set designs)
Characters with bloody hands
Characters doing ordinary things with very un-ordinary things happening in the background
Black-and-white or greyscale with pops of color
Light - from warm glows illuminating the whole space to chiaroscuro
Any art style is great!
General DNWs:
Character bashing
Non-canonical child death
Setting change AUs (ex. coffeeshop, high school, modern AU, etc.)
Time travel AUs
Explicitly stated sexuality labels for characters whose sexuality is not canonically defined
Formalized dom/sub relationships
Ageplay
Omegaverse
Mpreg
Excretory kinks
Rape/noncon (dubcon - sex pollen with both/all characters dosed, sex in arranged marriages, fuck-or-die, etc. - are fine)
Underage under 15 and unrequested non-canonical ships with 20+ year age gaps (mentions of canon examples of both are acceptable, but please don't make them the focus of the fic)
Animal abuse
Fic devoted primarily to examining real-world issues/-isms (please don't feel that you have to avoid them, but I'd rather they not be the entirety of what the work is about)
Hopeless endings (endings can be dark, but not without any shred of hope)
For both fic and art, please keep the level of violence at about what it is in canon.
FANDOMS
Arsenic and Old Lace
Requested Characters: Abby Brewster, Martha Brewster, Mortimer Brewster, Elaine Harper
Canon-specific DNWs: Canon-divergent death of any requested characters.
A classic movie with dead body shenanigans, the nicest murderers you’ll ever meet, and one very frazzled Cary Grant. What could be better for Halloween? I love the humor in this, the contrast of sweetness with horror lurking underneath (like the poisoned elderberry wine), and watching it has been a Halloween tradition for me for years.
I like Mortimer/Elaine, and I’m also happy with gen-focused works for this canon.
Prompts
- I’d love to see more of Abby and Martha’s history - how they grew up (their dad had a laboratory and seemed to be pretty wonky himself), raising Mortimer and getting to know Elaine, some of their early kills…
- During Mortimer and Elaine’s courtship, Abby and Martha decide to make a love potion for the lovebirds.
- Abby and Martha are throwing a Halloween party! And during the party, they find a lonely old gentleman who they think might need some of their special charity...
- Post-canon, Mortimer and Elaine just...have a house in Brooklyn with thirteen dead bodies in the basement. How do they handle that?
- The ghosts of the dead men start coming around. How do the inhabitants deal with that? Abby and Martha would probably just set out a nice tea for them, but Mortimer and Elaine would probably be less sanguine.
Carrie
Requested Characters: Carrie White, Margaret White, Sue Snell
Canon-specific DNWs: Canon-divergent death of Sue Snell.
Each of these characters have such raw pain guiding their lives and actions, and seeing how they express that hurt - for better or for worse - is so fascinating to me. The mundane setting tinged with the supernatural (or at least a kind of natural that includes things like telekinesis) also opens up a lot of fun worldbuilding possibilities that any of these characters can explore.
Ship preferences: Carrie/Sue and/or canon pairings
Prompts
- Any requested character having a moment of vulnerability, for whatever reason, in front of one or more other requested characters. They all have to put up such a strong front to other people; what happens when that front fails?
- I liked how much the book drew on in-universe documents to build its narrative, and I’d love to see other documents - Carrie’s schoolwork? religious pamphlets Margaret wrote? Sue’s book?
- Carrie doesn’t go to the prom and gets the chance to practice her power in smaller forms of vengeance/revenge in high school. How might she experiment with the power? How does she keep it secret or not? Is there ever a point where she crosses the line?
- Carrie's power is exposed earlier and she goes on the run from being captured and contained by the government/a company/various and sundry nefarious forces, either on her own or with Sue or Margaret.
- Anything on Margaret’s past and how she developed her twisted religious views - was there any specific incident that gave her such a horror of roadhouses, or did it slowly build up over time? This could also work with five-times structures (five lessons Margaret taught Carrie, etc.)
- Margaret herself has the carrier gene for TK - what would have happened if she had gotten the power? How would it have changed her religious views and the way she raised Carrie?
- Sue becomes a leading TK researcher and mentors another young TK-positive girl. Carrie’s ghost - figurative or real - may also make an appearance
Psycho
Requested Characters: Lila Crane, Marion Crane, Sam Loomis, Norman Bates, Mother/Norman's alter
Canon-specific DNWs: Canon-divergent deaths of Marion or Lila, or complete disappearance of Mother/Norman's alter while Norman survives. Canon deaths are fine, as is non-canonically killing off Norman or Sam.
I enjoy all the things that are not as they seem in this canon, about the sides of the characters that they hide from everyone, sometimes including themselves. There’s a lot of horror, but it’s understated and happens more in people’s heads (including those of the audience).
Shipwise I like Marion/Sam, Marion/Norman, and Sam/Norman. None of these ships have to be portrayed as straightforwardly romantic and can definitely go to dark places (particularly those involving Norman, because, well, dude has issues). I don't mind incorporating aspects of the books/sequel movies but would prefer a focus on this specific movie, and I'm also fine with ignoring the books/sequels if you'd like to explore something different.
Prompts
- What was Norman's life like in that spooky house and that run-down motel with only Mother for company? What did the other townsfolk, including Sam, think of him? It's not unlikely that the knife that killed Marion came from Sam's hardware store...
- Mother's perspective on the events of the movie, or on living in the mental hospital after canon. How much is she aware of the things she's done and/or the things Norman blames her for? How much does she see herself as separate from or a part of Norman, and how does she express that understanding?
- Marion's ghost appears - haunting her killer, leading her sister and/or lover to the truth of what happened to her, just taking out her frustration on everything in sight, etc.
- Marion isn’t attacked in the shower, and later comes to live in Fairvale with Sam without telling him what she did. She and Norman now have the weird position of having shared some secrets with each other but kept plenty of others - what happens when she runs into him again? Does Lila or Sam ever suspect what happened? Are the police still after Marion, or do they ever get suspicious about Norman?
- Anything about Lila's grief, and Sam's, post-canon. Marion was one of the few people either of them had left and she died a couple of weeks before Christmas, poor guys. I'd also be interested in seeing Lila confront Norman/Mother, or making a desperate attempt to reach Marion beyond the grave.