Requests

Aug. 27th, 2020 05:44 pm
heartofstanding: (Henry V)
[personal profile] heartofstanding posting in [community profile] historiesficathon
This post contains everything you should need to know about making a request, including what fandoms are eligible, what you should and can include and an example request.

Requests


  • Requests are where you provide your writer with prompts for the fic you would like to receive.

  • You need to make 3 requests minimum and you can make up to 10 requests maximum. You are only guaranteed one fill, though you may receive treats.
  • At least one request MUST be for a play from one of the two tetralogies (Richard II/Henry IV/Henry V and Henry VI/Richard III). These plays are the most popular amongst our sign-ups so requesting fic for these plays makes it more likely that you will be able to get at least one request filled.

  • At least one request MUST be for a play from one of the two tetralogies (Richard II/Henry IV/Henry V and Henry VI/Richard III). These plays are generally the most popular amongst our sign-ups so requesting fic for these plays makes it more likely that you will be able to get at least one prompt filled.

  • Your remaining requests can be for any fandom that is part of the ficathon, whether it’s for the same play, another History play or for historical RPF./li>
  • We strongly recommend that you have at least one request that could be filled by anyone familiar with the tagged fandom.

  • Requests can be based on any genre (fluff, dark, smut, angst, romance, hurt/comfort, AU, crack, horror, sci-fi, fantasy, etc.), any relationship, and any relationship configuration (gen, het, slash, femslash, poly, orgies).

  • We allow requests and fills for any rating, gen to explicit. If you don’t wish to receive explicit fic, please note this in your do not wants.

  • We're open to whatever genre or pairing configuration -- gen, het, slash, femslash, poly, giant hilarious orgies, whatever, so feel free to request whatever you like.


Eligible Requests



Can I make requests based on a specific production?

You can! However, because we can’t promise that your writer will know this production (especially if it’s obscure and/or unfilmed) or wish to write fic about it, we do recommend that the bulk of your prompts are not about any one specific production.

If you want to request fic “inspired by” a production and don’t require fidelity to that production, you can include the details you want incorporated into the fill. For example, you could request a fic where Richard II’s monkey (as seen in The Hollow Crown) tells their side of the story but your writer may not write a fill that’s faithful to The Hollow Crown while still telling the story through the POV of a monkey owned by Richard II.

If you do want fic that is based on and faithful to a specific production, please make this clear in your request. It can be helpful to include some information about where your writer can watch or find out more about this specific production, including links if available.

Can I request fics based on a particular reading of the play or the historical events and personages?

We love to see prompts like this, so yes! Whether this particular reading comes from an academic essay, book, tumblr post, online article, meme, Twitter thread, edit, book, etc, feel free to request away. Your writer may not be familiar with this reading, so as above, we recommend you provide some details and links where appropriate so they can find out more if they want to.

Can I request fic centred on historical figures who don’t appear or aren’t mentioned in the plays?

Absolutely! These kinds of requests have been a staple of the ficathon for a long time.

Can I request and offer fic that engages with literature, art, music and other texts (e.g. the Wilton Diptych, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the Bedford Hours, Le Morte d'Arthur) contemporary to the events of the plays?

Definitely! However, because your writer may not be familiar with the text nor feel comfortable writing about them, we recommend you have a good range of prompts and, if you want, that you provide some information about the text (and any appropriate links) in order to tempt your writer. You can also request a crossover with any medieval or early modern text.

Ineligible Requests


  • This is not a fic exchange for canons that focus on the same or similar events and people as the History Plays (e.g. Starz’s The White Queen, Anthony Minghella's Two Planks and a Passion, Sharon Kay Penman’s The Sunne in Splendour). Requests and fills for these canons are not allowed.

  • We also do not allow requests for loose adaptations of the History plays such as My Own Private Idaho, The Black Adder, The King, Baraou no Souretsu (Requiem of the Rose King), etc.

  • Requests for a fic set in an author’s pre-existing AU are not allowed as we cannot guarantee the creator(s) will be matched with you or wish to write your request. e.g. you can request as many coffee shop AUs as you want but you can't request a fic set specifically in Jane Doe’s 10-part King John coffee shop AU.

  • Do not request actor RPF based on modern/contemporary productions. If you want fic about, e.g., Richard Burbage playing Richard III, that would be fine, but don't include RPF prompts about living people.

  • Please see Crossovers for specifics regarding crossovers and fusions.

  • If you're not clear whether something is acceptable, please ask!


Crossovers


  • Crossovers or fusions with other early modern and medieval texts (e.g. A Mirror for Magistrates, The Duchess of Malfi, The Canterbury Tales, The Lais of Marie de France, Sir Orfeo, Shakespeare’s other works) are permissible and very welcome.

  • These crossovers and fusions should not make up the bulk of your requests as we cannot guarantee you will be matched with a writer familiar with those texts.

  • If you would like to request a crossover, please request the fandom tag and any auxiliary tags (characters, relationships) here.

  • You may like to provide a short guide to where your writer might be able read, watch or listen to these texts and/or find out more about these texts, including links if available and legal.

  • Alternatively, if you may also like to give details about these texts as an option for your writer to incorporate without necessarily writing an explicit crossover (e.g. you can ask that your writer incorporate Richard, Duke of York’s ghost similarly to how he appears in A Mirror for Magistrates, speaking through his windpipe, but it is up to your writer whether they make it a true crossover or not).

  • Requests for crossovers with modern media such as Star Wars, Doctor Who and the Marvel Cinematic Universe are not permitted.


Request Form


  • You must tag at least one character and one fandom, and can tag up to 20 characters, 20 relationships and 10 fandoms.

  • If you need tags that are not already part of the tagset, please nominate them in the relevant tagset and mods will approve them ASAP. More details and links to the two tagsets are given above in Tag Nominations.

  • Please tag with care! Select only the tags that are relevant to your prompt (i.e. you don’t need to tag every character or relationship that could conceivably appear in a prospective fill), ensure that the relationship tag is the correct one (i.e. if you’re requesting fic focusing on a gen relationship, the tag shouldn’t be that one that indicates the relationship is romantic/sexual). If you’re requesting fic centred on a specific relationship, please make sure all characters in the ship are also tagged.

  • If you tag characters or relationships as suggestions for your writer, please note that in the description in case they think these characters must appear in the fill.

  • You may be as specific or as vague as you like in your request and you can include a list of likes and/or options/ideas for your writer to choose from.

  • If making a request based on a particular production, reading, early modern or medieval text, you may like to include a brief guide for your writer can familiarise themselves with the text. This might be as simple as saying where your writer can watch a specific production or providing a link to a website.

  • There is the option to add one url to your post. You can use this to add a link to anything that expands on your prompt, such as a letter similar to those used in the Yuletide fic exchanges, artwork, articles, or a YouTube clip. You should briefly explain what the link is in the description. If you would like to link to more than one website, you can also use HTML coding to add hyperlinks in the description.

  • All links posted should be safe and legal, i.e. you shouldn’t be posting links to piracy sites or to phishing websites.

  • Please note in your requests if you are opting in for treats (i.e. you have “Allow others to give me gift works outside gift exchanges and prompt memes” enabled in your preferences).

  • You are able to edit and add requests until sign-ups close.



Do Not Wants


  • You can include a list of “do not wants” (DNWs) in your requests for your writer to avoid, such as explicit fic, specific characters, pairings, characterisations, play interpretations, adaptation choices, kinks, narrative devices, tropes, etc.

  • Your DNWs should be clear, reasonable and easy to understand and enforce. For instance, if you’re requesting fic about the death of King John, you shouldn’t have “major character death” or “character death” as a DNW – better ones in that scenario would be “non-canonical character death” or “other character deaths”.

  • You do not need to add DNWs if they are not relevant to your request or are also part of our rules for fills, i.e. if you’re requesting a fic with only gen relationships (e.g. Richard II knighting the 12-year-old future Henry V), you do not need to tell your writer not to write an explicit fic and not feature incest between them as it would be against the rules for them to add such unrequested and controversial content.

  • Given how interrelated medieval royalty and nobility were, it is confusing at best and futile at worst, to have “incest” as a DNW. Most relationships, canonical and non-canonical, in this fandom are between cousins so unless you are specifically asking for an AU where they are not related, you should not have “incest” as a DNW. You may, however, list “non-requested pairings” or include the specific pairing(s) or type(s) of incest as DNWs (however, as a rule, no writer should be including pairings that are both non-canonical and unrequested in their fill).

  • Finally, while we do understand that DNWs are DNWs for a reason, this ficathon runs on the basic premise of “your kink is not my kink and that’s OK”, so please try to avoid sounding judgemental when listing your DNWs. It is enough to list your DNWs, you do not need to explain why they are DNWs or emphasise how you feel about them.




Example Request



You do not have to follow this example, it is only here as a guide.

Fandom: Henry IV - Shakespeare

Characters: Sir John Falstaff

Relationships: Sir John Falstaff & Prince Hal (Shakespeare)

Description:

At the end of Henry IV Pt 2, Falstaff fakes his death. Again. Shenanigans ensue.

Options/ideas:

- Does he do it to make Hal feel bad? How does Hal respond?

- Does he fail miserably and have to deal with the consequences (an angry Mistress Quickly?)

- Is he still kicking around in Henry VI’s reign? Does he live to annoy Richard III?

- My favourite Falstaff is Orson Welles so anything that uses his take on Falstaff is very welcome. Chimes at Midnight is part of the Criterion Collection in the US and I think it’s available on blu-ray in the UK.

- any ships and any characters you want to throw in is totally fine, you also don’t have to include any of the tagged characters or relationships except Falstaff.

DNWs: Falstaff dying at the end, fat-shaming.

Treats: opting-in

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