Dear Jukebox DJ 2020
Apr. 6th, 2020 06:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
minutia_rDear Jukebox DJ,
Hi there! May I compliment you on either your excellent taste in music or your willingness to try something new and write fic about it, or both? In any case, I’m really looking forward to reading what you come up with.
(I've only requested fic for my main gift, but I would be thrilled to receive either fic or art treats! Podfic is not really my thing, so if you're thinking, "I would like to make a nice thing for Minutia, I wonder what she'd like?" the answer is probably not "Podfic"--but if you're thinking "I have been seized with inspiration by one of these prompts, I must do a podfic for it, it is my artistic vision, but wouldn't it be weird to gift podfic to someone who just said she doesn't like podfic?" then the answer is that I will be very flattered and listen to it and probably like it.)
I don’t expect you to treat every line of the song/frame of the video as canon the way you might for a book or TV show. If you want to do a close reading of the text, that’s cool! If some phrase or image or mood from the song or video suggests a story to you, then run with that and don’t worry too much about contradicting or fitting the rest of the canon in around it--and especially don’t worry about the prompts in this letter, which are really just there to give you ideas in case you’re stuck.
However, I do have a few Do Not Wants:
DNW (general):
-Long fic. Anything more than about 5000 words or so and I start getting anxious about reading and commenting in a timely fashion while still giving the story the attention it deserves, so I’d just rather you didn’t.
-Purely introspective stories with no action or character interaction
-Choose-Your-Own-Adventure/interactive/game-style fic
-Body image issues. I don’t mind brief mentions, but please don’t spend a lot of time dwelling on a character hating their body.
-It-was-only-a-dream type endings
DNW (smut):
-Sounding
-Infantilization
-That thing where one or more of the people involved doesn’t know what sex is or realize they’re having it
-Religion kink--like, using religious paraphernalia as sex toys, religious garb acting as fetish wear, or kinking on breaking religious vows of chastity. Sex with gods, devils, demons, or while being a god is okay and even great though.
-One partner calling out another’s name during orgasm
General likes (fic): I really like all kinds of fic, from silly fluff, action and adventures and worldbuilding to smut and hurt/comfort. Feel free to take it darker, too: violence, character death, betrayal, consent issues sexual and otherwise, bad things happening to characters I like AND characters I like doing bad things. I’m open to different POVs and tenses, and unusual fic formats like poetry and epistolary/documentary fic. In terms of romance and/or sex, I like any number of participants (as long as there are few enough that you can keep track of all the anatomy) and any gender combination. In general, I'm open to alternate gender interpretations of characters in the songs/videos.
A brief and really not exhaustive list of story elements I especially like: Comfort after a nightmare, self-sacrifice, loyalty and trust issues, elections, platonic bed-sharing, hugs, language geekery, communication issues, breakups (either the kind where the original relationship is eventually patched up, or where the people involved manage to forge a different but still mutually satisfactory type of relationship afterward, or where nothing is okay again and everything hurts), ethical dilemmas, food porn and food preparation, parenting/childcare, exploration of canon-appropriate religious themes.
General likes (art): Bright palettes with jewel tones, especially turquoise and rose, but also monochrome with lots of shading. Curves, soft bellies and big noses; also, hair. The kind of character portrait where a lot of thought has gone into details of clothing, hairstyle, etc even if nothing in particular is happening. Loose sketchy comick-y things that illustrate a character moment or interaction. Hair-touching, face-touching, hand kissing, forehead kissing, hugs from behind. I also like things that incorporate text and images in various ways, like calligraphy, comics, maps and diagrams, and I’m really fond of watercolors and Art Nouveau-inspired stylings.
If you want to make me smut, here are a few of my (many) favorite kinks: D/s dynamics, informal kink negotiation that feels true to the dynamic of those particular characters (although under-negotiated kink or the assumption that the negotiation has taken place offscreen are also a-ok), magic/superpowers/highly advanced technology or whatever unique features of the setting or characters being used for sexual purposes, improvised restraints and sex toys, blades, slicing/tearing off clothes, fingers in mouths, loyalty kink, trust kink, praise kink--especially the kind where the praised party is somewhat reluctant or embarrassed to accept the praise (creepy praise kink like e.g. in scenario where a rapist praises their victim for being good while threatening them is also great), one or more participants not getting off during the scene but enjoying it anyway, semi-public or outdoor sex, awkward sex, situations where different participants have different understandings of what’s going on (as in, A thinks the sex is consensual but B is actually mind-controlled, or A is putting on a show for C, who unbeknownst to B is watching the whole thing, or A thinks it’s a casual hookup but B is in love and afraid to mention it because they don’t want to ruin what they’ve got, or whatever.) In general, I like a lot of weird stuff (and vanilla stuff too!) so if there’s something you want to write or draw, unless I’ve specifically DNW’d it, it’s probably okay.
Crossovers with outside fandoms aren't encouraged in this exchange, but if you wanted to cross over two or more of the songs I'm requesting, I wouldn't mind at all.
Alibi - Dessa (Song) youtube | lyrics
I'm intrigued by the family relationship of the narrator and the interlocutor: are they biological family? Did they grow up together? What's their shared history like, and how did they end up on different paths? I also want to know what, exactly, the interlocutor needs an alibi for. One possibility is that the narrator might be planning on killing the interlocutor's no-good lover before the lover can involve, implicate, or hurt them further, and I'd like to see how that plays out. Is the interlocutor aware of the narrator's plans? Will they try to stop the narrator? If forced to choose between their lover and the narrator, what will they do?
Carnival of Rust - Poets of the Fall (Music Video) youtube | lyrics
I love the creepy atmosphere of this video. I'm curious about the identity of the masked woman, why she wants the doll and what exactly she has to pay for it. The ticket at the end of the video reads "Cor Cordis" which means "Heart of the Heart" and reminds me (along with the gambling/transactional nature of the narrative) of the quote from the Vorkosigan Saga, "The one thing you can't trade for your heart's desire is your heart." I'm intrigued by the possibility that the doll represents the woman's true identity which she's somehow misplaced, and is now desperately trying to regain, and in general by the themes of masks and hidden/shifting identities, of real people vs. automatons and dolls, which run through the video.
Cold - Mean Mary (Song) youtube with lyrics in the description
I get the feeling that the narrator of this song is a ghost, although they may not realize it at first. What exactly did happen in September, and how much time has the narrator lost--years, decades, centuries? Was the interlocutor their lover when they were alive, or is it a stranger whom they’re mistaking for their lost lover? I’m interested in the different tones this story could take, anything from pure horror to a meet-cute, and the tragic, happy, or bittersweet ways it could end.
Daydreaming - Scenic Route to Alaska (Music Video) youtube with lyrics in the description
There are so many possibilities of what could be happening here--is the protagonist a clone? In a time loop? The victim of a mad science experiment? Caught in a simulation? Whatever it is, their disorientation and terror come through really strongly and I’d love a story that captured some of that feeling. I’d also like to know what changes in circumstance cause some versions of the protagonist to be so hostile and violent, others apparently friendly, and still others just trying to muddle through the best they can.
Diamonds and Rust - Joan Baez (Song) youtube | lyrics
Space ghosts! Messy breakups! Relativistic effects on an already rocky relationship? Time travel? I love how this song blends a very mundane, personal story with science-fictional and possibly fantastical elements--yeah, those are probably meant to be metaphors, but they’re real in my heart! The mood I get from this is one of mourning for a lost relationship combined with acceptance that the narrator can’t get it back and might not want to even if they could, and I’d love to see that feeling interrogated with space travel and/or time paradoxes.
Mean Well - Dear Reader (Music Video) youtube | lyrics
The lyrics suggest someone suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, or an experiment of Mad Science abandoned by their creator. I really dig the old-timey monster-movie aesthetic of the video, and the juxtaposition of the creepy and the mundane; the jerky and repetitive images might hint at the narrator being somehow unglued in time, stuck in a time loop or plagued by visions of the future/past? I'm interested in the relationship between the narrator and the individual they're addressing, and also about the people/other creatures attached to the "eyes everywhere" and if, in fact, they mean well.
Oleander - Sarah Harmer (Song) youtube | lyrics
Is the narrator of this song singing to a woman, or to a houseplant? If you just look at the words, it might be a houseplant--but it's a houseplant she's got weirdly intense feelings towards. I like to think that this is the story of a human woman and her nature-spirit ex-girlfriend who she would like to get back together with. I like the sense that the narrator has realized and learned from the mistakes that she made the first time around, and I would be interested in either a happy or bittersweet ending.
Rattlin' Bones - Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson (Song) youtube | lyrics
The refrain "smoke don't rise..." suggests a world where the physical laws the narrator is familiar with don't apply anymore--maybe a post-apocalyptic scenario, or an underworld/otherworld. I'm intrigued by Sorrow as a personified figure, and want to know why the narrator left their home and their love, and why they're so determined to avoid making a deal with either the Devil or God. I also like the interpretation that the narrator is a miner working in a real-life underworld, but I'd rather have a story that combines mining with the supernatural than a purely mundane one about mining.
If for some reason you want to stalk me, I am dead easy to stalk; I'm minutia_r (or occasionally minutia-r) all over the internet: here, AO3, tumblr, deviantart, ff.net, and probably one or two other places I don't recall off-hand.
Thank you! You are awesome, I am really looking forward to seeing what you make for me, and I hope you get great stories and/or art out of this exchange, too!
Hi there! May I compliment you on either your excellent taste in music or your willingness to try something new and write fic about it, or both? In any case, I’m really looking forward to reading what you come up with.
(I've only requested fic for my main gift, but I would be thrilled to receive either fic or art treats! Podfic is not really my thing, so if you're thinking, "I would like to make a nice thing for Minutia, I wonder what she'd like?" the answer is probably not "Podfic"--but if you're thinking "I have been seized with inspiration by one of these prompts, I must do a podfic for it, it is my artistic vision, but wouldn't it be weird to gift podfic to someone who just said she doesn't like podfic?" then the answer is that I will be very flattered and listen to it and probably like it.)
I don’t expect you to treat every line of the song/frame of the video as canon the way you might for a book or TV show. If you want to do a close reading of the text, that’s cool! If some phrase or image or mood from the song or video suggests a story to you, then run with that and don’t worry too much about contradicting or fitting the rest of the canon in around it--and especially don’t worry about the prompts in this letter, which are really just there to give you ideas in case you’re stuck.
However, I do have a few Do Not Wants:
DNW (general):
-Long fic. Anything more than about 5000 words or so and I start getting anxious about reading and commenting in a timely fashion while still giving the story the attention it deserves, so I’d just rather you didn’t.
-Purely introspective stories with no action or character interaction
-Choose-Your-Own-Adventure/interactive/game-style fic
-Body image issues. I don’t mind brief mentions, but please don’t spend a lot of time dwelling on a character hating their body.
-It-was-only-a-dream type endings
DNW (smut):
-Sounding
-Infantilization
-That thing where one or more of the people involved doesn’t know what sex is or realize they’re having it
-Religion kink--like, using religious paraphernalia as sex toys, religious garb acting as fetish wear, or kinking on breaking religious vows of chastity. Sex with gods, devils, demons, or while being a god is okay and even great though.
-One partner calling out another’s name during orgasm
General likes (fic): I really like all kinds of fic, from silly fluff, action and adventures and worldbuilding to smut and hurt/comfort. Feel free to take it darker, too: violence, character death, betrayal, consent issues sexual and otherwise, bad things happening to characters I like AND characters I like doing bad things. I’m open to different POVs and tenses, and unusual fic formats like poetry and epistolary/documentary fic. In terms of romance and/or sex, I like any number of participants (as long as there are few enough that you can keep track of all the anatomy) and any gender combination. In general, I'm open to alternate gender interpretations of characters in the songs/videos.
A brief and really not exhaustive list of story elements I especially like: Comfort after a nightmare, self-sacrifice, loyalty and trust issues, elections, platonic bed-sharing, hugs, language geekery, communication issues, breakups (either the kind where the original relationship is eventually patched up, or where the people involved manage to forge a different but still mutually satisfactory type of relationship afterward, or where nothing is okay again and everything hurts), ethical dilemmas, food porn and food preparation, parenting/childcare, exploration of canon-appropriate religious themes.
General likes (art): Bright palettes with jewel tones, especially turquoise and rose, but also monochrome with lots of shading. Curves, soft bellies and big noses; also, hair. The kind of character portrait where a lot of thought has gone into details of clothing, hairstyle, etc even if nothing in particular is happening. Loose sketchy comick-y things that illustrate a character moment or interaction. Hair-touching, face-touching, hand kissing, forehead kissing, hugs from behind. I also like things that incorporate text and images in various ways, like calligraphy, comics, maps and diagrams, and I’m really fond of watercolors and Art Nouveau-inspired stylings.
If you want to make me smut, here are a few of my (many) favorite kinks: D/s dynamics, informal kink negotiation that feels true to the dynamic of those particular characters (although under-negotiated kink or the assumption that the negotiation has taken place offscreen are also a-ok), magic/superpowers/highly advanced technology or whatever unique features of the setting or characters being used for sexual purposes, improvised restraints and sex toys, blades, slicing/tearing off clothes, fingers in mouths, loyalty kink, trust kink, praise kink--especially the kind where the praised party is somewhat reluctant or embarrassed to accept the praise (creepy praise kink like e.g. in scenario where a rapist praises their victim for being good while threatening them is also great), one or more participants not getting off during the scene but enjoying it anyway, semi-public or outdoor sex, awkward sex, situations where different participants have different understandings of what’s going on (as in, A thinks the sex is consensual but B is actually mind-controlled, or A is putting on a show for C, who unbeknownst to B is watching the whole thing, or A thinks it’s a casual hookup but B is in love and afraid to mention it because they don’t want to ruin what they’ve got, or whatever.) In general, I like a lot of weird stuff (and vanilla stuff too!) so if there’s something you want to write or draw, unless I’ve specifically DNW’d it, it’s probably okay.
Crossovers with outside fandoms aren't encouraged in this exchange, but if you wanted to cross over two or more of the songs I'm requesting, I wouldn't mind at all.
Alibi - Dessa (Song) youtube | lyrics
I'm intrigued by the family relationship of the narrator and the interlocutor: are they biological family? Did they grow up together? What's their shared history like, and how did they end up on different paths? I also want to know what, exactly, the interlocutor needs an alibi for. One possibility is that the narrator might be planning on killing the interlocutor's no-good lover before the lover can involve, implicate, or hurt them further, and I'd like to see how that plays out. Is the interlocutor aware of the narrator's plans? Will they try to stop the narrator? If forced to choose between their lover and the narrator, what will they do?
Carnival of Rust - Poets of the Fall (Music Video) youtube | lyrics
I love the creepy atmosphere of this video. I'm curious about the identity of the masked woman, why she wants the doll and what exactly she has to pay for it. The ticket at the end of the video reads "Cor Cordis" which means "Heart of the Heart" and reminds me (along with the gambling/transactional nature of the narrative) of the quote from the Vorkosigan Saga, "The one thing you can't trade for your heart's desire is your heart." I'm intrigued by the possibility that the doll represents the woman's true identity which she's somehow misplaced, and is now desperately trying to regain, and in general by the themes of masks and hidden/shifting identities, of real people vs. automatons and dolls, which run through the video.
Cold - Mean Mary (Song) youtube with lyrics in the description
I get the feeling that the narrator of this song is a ghost, although they may not realize it at first. What exactly did happen in September, and how much time has the narrator lost--years, decades, centuries? Was the interlocutor their lover when they were alive, or is it a stranger whom they’re mistaking for their lost lover? I’m interested in the different tones this story could take, anything from pure horror to a meet-cute, and the tragic, happy, or bittersweet ways it could end.
Daydreaming - Scenic Route to Alaska (Music Video) youtube with lyrics in the description
There are so many possibilities of what could be happening here--is the protagonist a clone? In a time loop? The victim of a mad science experiment? Caught in a simulation? Whatever it is, their disorientation and terror come through really strongly and I’d love a story that captured some of that feeling. I’d also like to know what changes in circumstance cause some versions of the protagonist to be so hostile and violent, others apparently friendly, and still others just trying to muddle through the best they can.
Diamonds and Rust - Joan Baez (Song) youtube | lyrics
Space ghosts! Messy breakups! Relativistic effects on an already rocky relationship? Time travel? I love how this song blends a very mundane, personal story with science-fictional and possibly fantastical elements--yeah, those are probably meant to be metaphors, but they’re real in my heart! The mood I get from this is one of mourning for a lost relationship combined with acceptance that the narrator can’t get it back and might not want to even if they could, and I’d love to see that feeling interrogated with space travel and/or time paradoxes.
Mean Well - Dear Reader (Music Video) youtube | lyrics
The lyrics suggest someone suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, or an experiment of Mad Science abandoned by their creator. I really dig the old-timey monster-movie aesthetic of the video, and the juxtaposition of the creepy and the mundane; the jerky and repetitive images might hint at the narrator being somehow unglued in time, stuck in a time loop or plagued by visions of the future/past? I'm interested in the relationship between the narrator and the individual they're addressing, and also about the people/other creatures attached to the "eyes everywhere" and if, in fact, they mean well.
Oleander - Sarah Harmer (Song) youtube | lyrics
Is the narrator of this song singing to a woman, or to a houseplant? If you just look at the words, it might be a houseplant--but it's a houseplant she's got weirdly intense feelings towards. I like to think that this is the story of a human woman and her nature-spirit ex-girlfriend who she would like to get back together with. I like the sense that the narrator has realized and learned from the mistakes that she made the first time around, and I would be interested in either a happy or bittersweet ending.
Rattlin' Bones - Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson (Song) youtube | lyrics
The refrain "smoke don't rise..." suggests a world where the physical laws the narrator is familiar with don't apply anymore--maybe a post-apocalyptic scenario, or an underworld/otherworld. I'm intrigued by Sorrow as a personified figure, and want to know why the narrator left their home and their love, and why they're so determined to avoid making a deal with either the Devil or God. I also like the interpretation that the narrator is a miner working in a real-life underworld, but I'd rather have a story that combines mining with the supernatural than a purely mundane one about mining.
If for some reason you want to stalk me, I am dead easy to stalk; I'm minutia_r (or occasionally minutia-r) all over the internet: here, AO3, tumblr, deviantart, ff.net, and probably one or two other places I don't recall off-hand.
Thank you! You are awesome, I am really looking forward to seeing what you make for me, and I hope you get great stories and/or art out of this exchange, too!
