Sakura Exchange 2025: Letter
Apr. 19th, 2025 07:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Dear writer
Thanks for creating for me - whether you are my assigned writer or creating a treat, I really appreciate it and can't wait to see what you've made!
General Preferences:
LIKES:
This varies a bit by fandom, so please see those specific sections (for instance, there are some specific fandoms/ships where I prefer darker stuff, and most stuff below is relatively fluffy/lighthearted) but here are some general ideas of what sort of fic I enjoy.
I love a lot of the fandom cliches, particularly Only One Bed, fake dating turned real, friends to lovers. Can never get enough of those.
I’m a big fan of reading about characters in a relationship growing as people together, discovering new sides to themselves, figuring out how to live or raise kids together, etc.
I like soulmate AUs a LOT so long as the characters still get some chance to develop feelings organically, whether or not they are already aware of their soulmate status. Stuff where they find out before they are in love and kind of fight it at first, but end up getting to know and falling for the person anyway — love it, can’t get enough.
Big into people falling in love with someone they'd never expect.
I really love outside character perspectives/reactions on a particularly unexpected relationship.
If you have characters from different cultures, countries, worlds, planets, etc. I really really love stuff that explores cultural differences in relationship norms (regardless of the nature of the specific relationship, I love this between friends, colleagues, etc. too as well as lovers) and where characters share their cultures with each other.
Some things I really like for smut fic: Oral sex, especially cunnilingus or rimming. Strap-ons. Motorboating, nipple play (no clamps though), boobs/chest focus. Marking, including/especially scent-marking but also stuff like leaving scars. Femdom in F/M. Creative and weird uses of non-human biology in sex in sci-fi and fantasy scenarios.
GENERAL DNWs, no exceptions:
ABO/Omegaverse of any kind | Animal death/abuse/harm | Autistic or neurodivergent headcanons as main focus of the story | Bathroom kinks | Breathplay or other potentially life-threatening kink | Child sexual abuse, including in backstories (unless it is canonical. Note that a character having been abused as a child in some other way does not mean that "child sexual abuse" is canonical) | Daddy kink | Detailed violence/torture/gore | Explicit physical abuse | Extreme underage (i.e. younger than the age when teens typically start having consensual sex IRL) | Feederism or other weight-fetishization | Focus on feminine grooming rituals (such as doing each others' hair/makeup) in F/F | Genital mutilation (such as sounding) | Issuefic. Feel free to give your characters strong opinions and explore fraught issues, but the key word there is explore; I don't want to feel like I'm being lectured to or taught a lesson | Jewish or Muslim characters with uncircumcised penises | Lifestyle BDSM | Loss of intelligence/Flowers for Algernon plots | Making canonically LGBTQ+ characters cis/straight | Men domming women | Mpreg-specific: butt babies, surprise uteruses, or other stuff that's implausible to whatever fictional universe you're in | Negative/stigmatizing discussion of abortion | Pre-relationship/UST that never resolves in romance/ship fic | Pregnancy in a female character (unless in the background) | Rape/non-con | Sexual orientation headcanons that "contradict" their romantic and sexual relationships or "if it's you, it's okay" | “Soulmate AUs” where the main couple are not actually soulmates | Using feminizing terms for male characters | Women giving up their ambitions/careers/dreams for a relationship treated as romantic/desirable/ideal, especially in F/M
GENERAL DNWs, with specific exceptions for specific fandoms/characters:
Ace/aro/demisexual/demiromantic headcanons (exception: I'm fine with ace and/or aro Yang in LOGH if he's not in a ship) | Amnesia/memory loss (okay with this for Sailor Moon or Utena, as long as the memories come back by the end) | AUs that change the setting or central relationship significantly* (exception: a version of the canon where bigotries around sexuality/gender exist less or don't exist is fine for LOGH) | PIV in smut (this is not really my personal preference ever, but I'm fine with it in requested het ships unless otherwise noted, and taking my other smut preferences into account) | Trans/non-binary headcanons for focus characters (specifically headcanons, does not apply to canonically trans/non-binary characters) (exception: fine with it in any fandoms where it isn't prohibited in the signup, provided it isn't used to make same-gender combos F/M or to add in more PIV)
*Setting changes means like significant shifts in place/time or worldbuilding, like a sci-fi AU for a realistic fiction work, or moving a historical or futuristic work to the present day. It does not mean plot-divergence, or smaller worldbuilding changes (e.g. a soulmate AU) in an otherwise similar universe. You can use your best judgment on where to draw the line, obviously. "Central relationship" changes are stuff like changing people's ages, genders/sexes, species, etc. or "reversing" in-canon character dynamics (like giving characters each other's jobs or social roles).
Usually DNW, with broader exceptions for certain fandoms or ships, please look at the specific fandom:
Abusive relationships between requested characters/pairings/that are non-canonical | Big power differentials between members of the main couple in ship fic | Cheating on main couple in ship fic | Major Character Death | Whump/dark fic (as stated in some of the fandom sections, I'm never really a fan of full-on "Hurt No Comfort," but I'm cool with and even prefer darker themes for some fandoms)
Additional caveats:
Consent: Characters do not have to give explicit verbal consent to be considered "consenting." Characters being drunk/high/stoned is fine as long as they're both clearly into it, and as long as they're not clearly way past the point where they could say no IRL (just use your best judgment here, I'm just really tired of fics where one beer is treated like a "dubcon" situation).
Dubcon: I do not want any outright non-con/rape, but I am fine with some degree of dubcon as long as it's a situation where the person would be interested in that other person if they were clear-headed (or whatever the case may be), where it's more of a catalyst to acting on real feelings, and also where whomever is not "dubconned" isn't intentionally taking advantage of the other party. I prefer mutual dubcon, and I especially enjoy the classic tropes like "sex pollen," pon-farr/fuck-or-die stuff with sci-fi and fantasy races, etc.
Fandom-Specific Preferences:
So I requested most of these for previous exchanges, and my preferences are pretty similar this time around! Here are the letters for those:
Thanks for creating for me - whether you are my assigned writer or creating a treat, I really appreciate it and can't wait to see what you've made!
General Preferences:
LIKES:
This varies a bit by fandom, so please see those specific sections (for instance, there are some specific fandoms/ships where I prefer darker stuff, and most stuff below is relatively fluffy/lighthearted) but here are some general ideas of what sort of fic I enjoy.
I love a lot of the fandom cliches, particularly Only One Bed, fake dating turned real, friends to lovers. Can never get enough of those.
I’m a big fan of reading about characters in a relationship growing as people together, discovering new sides to themselves, figuring out how to live or raise kids together, etc.
I like soulmate AUs a LOT so long as the characters still get some chance to develop feelings organically, whether or not they are already aware of their soulmate status. Stuff where they find out before they are in love and kind of fight it at first, but end up getting to know and falling for the person anyway — love it, can’t get enough.
Big into people falling in love with someone they'd never expect.
I really love outside character perspectives/reactions on a particularly unexpected relationship.
If you have characters from different cultures, countries, worlds, planets, etc. I really really love stuff that explores cultural differences in relationship norms (regardless of the nature of the specific relationship, I love this between friends, colleagues, etc. too as well as lovers) and where characters share their cultures with each other.
Some things I really like for smut fic: Oral sex, especially cunnilingus or rimming. Strap-ons. Motorboating, nipple play (no clamps though), boobs/chest focus. Marking, including/especially scent-marking but also stuff like leaving scars. Femdom in F/M. Creative and weird uses of non-human biology in sex in sci-fi and fantasy scenarios.
GENERAL DNWs, no exceptions:
ABO/Omegaverse of any kind | Animal death/abuse/harm | Autistic or neurodivergent headcanons as main focus of the story | Bathroom kinks | Breathplay or other potentially life-threatening kink | Child sexual abuse, including in backstories (unless it is canonical. Note that a character having been abused as a child in some other way does not mean that "child sexual abuse" is canonical) | Daddy kink | Detailed violence/torture/gore | Explicit physical abuse | Extreme underage (i.e. younger than the age when teens typically start having consensual sex IRL) | Feederism or other weight-fetishization | Focus on feminine grooming rituals (such as doing each others' hair/makeup) in F/F | Genital mutilation (such as sounding) | Issuefic. Feel free to give your characters strong opinions and explore fraught issues, but the key word there is explore; I don't want to feel like I'm being lectured to or taught a lesson | Jewish or Muslim characters with uncircumcised penises | Lifestyle BDSM | Loss of intelligence/Flowers for Algernon plots | Making canonically LGBTQ+ characters cis/straight | Men domming women | Mpreg-specific: butt babies, surprise uteruses, or other stuff that's implausible to whatever fictional universe you're in | Negative/stigmatizing discussion of abortion | Pre-relationship/UST that never resolves in romance/ship fic | Pregnancy in a female character (unless in the background) | Rape/non-con | Sexual orientation headcanons that "contradict" their romantic and sexual relationships or "if it's you, it's okay" | “Soulmate AUs” where the main couple are not actually soulmates | Using feminizing terms for male characters | Women giving up their ambitions/careers/dreams for a relationship treated as romantic/desirable/ideal, especially in F/M
GENERAL DNWs, with specific exceptions for specific fandoms/characters:
Ace/aro/demisexual/demiromantic headcanons (exception: I'm fine with ace and/or aro Yang in LOGH if he's not in a ship) | Amnesia/memory loss (okay with this for Sailor Moon or Utena, as long as the memories come back by the end) | AUs that change the setting or central relationship significantly* (exception: a version of the canon where bigotries around sexuality/gender exist less or don't exist is fine for LOGH) | PIV in smut (this is not really my personal preference ever, but I'm fine with it in requested het ships unless otherwise noted, and taking my other smut preferences into account) | Trans/non-binary headcanons for focus characters (specifically headcanons, does not apply to canonically trans/non-binary characters) (exception: fine with it in any fandoms where it isn't prohibited in the signup, provided it isn't used to make same-gender combos F/M or to add in more PIV)
*Setting changes means like significant shifts in place/time or worldbuilding, like a sci-fi AU for a realistic fiction work, or moving a historical or futuristic work to the present day. It does not mean plot-divergence, or smaller worldbuilding changes (e.g. a soulmate AU) in an otherwise similar universe. You can use your best judgment on where to draw the line, obviously. "Central relationship" changes are stuff like changing people's ages, genders/sexes, species, etc. or "reversing" in-canon character dynamics (like giving characters each other's jobs or social roles).
Usually DNW, with broader exceptions for certain fandoms or ships, please look at the specific fandom:
Abusive relationships between requested characters/pairings/that are non-canonical | Big power differentials between members of the main couple in ship fic | Cheating on main couple in ship fic | Major Character Death | Whump/dark fic (as stated in some of the fandom sections, I'm never really a fan of full-on "Hurt No Comfort," but I'm cool with and even prefer darker themes for some fandoms)
Additional caveats:
Consent: Characters do not have to give explicit verbal consent to be considered "consenting." Characters being drunk/high/stoned is fine as long as they're both clearly into it, and as long as they're not clearly way past the point where they could say no IRL (just use your best judgment here, I'm just really tired of fics where one beer is treated like a "dubcon" situation).
Dubcon: I do not want any outright non-con/rape, but I am fine with some degree of dubcon as long as it's a situation where the person would be interested in that other person if they were clear-headed (or whatever the case may be), where it's more of a catalyst to acting on real feelings, and also where whomever is not "dubconned" isn't intentionally taking advantage of the other party. I prefer mutual dubcon, and I especially enjoy the classic tropes like "sex pollen," pon-farr/fuck-or-die stuff with sci-fi and fantasy races, etc.
Fandom-Specific Preferences:
So I requested most of these for previous exchanges, and my preferences are pretty similar this time around! Here are the letters for those:
- Fire Emblem: Three Houses: Purim Gifts 2024 for F/F ships, Just Married or Sakura Exchange 2023 for all ships
- Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu / Legend of Galactic Heroes: Yuletide 2023 (I requested somewhat different characters there, but should still give a good idea of what I like in terms of general tropes and dynamics)
- Revolutionary Girl Utena: Yuletide 2023
- Sailor Moon: This is my first time requesting this somehow? So I don't have a preexisting letter, though I'm working on these for other fandoms. The main thing here is to follow what I discuss in the signup prompt, and earlier in this letter for my general fandom preferences. I'm a big fan with these ships of soulmates/connections to their past lives in the Moon Kingdom. More specifically with particular ships: I love stuff with Haruka/Michiru about how they initially get together and discover their lesbian identities, and also am most into smut with this ship; with Ami/Rei and Minako/Rei I'm big into opposite-attracts stuff, and with Ami/Rei stuff set relatively early in season 1, soon after Rei is first awakened as a Senshi. With Kunzite/Zoisite, I would also love to see backstory - does their relationship date back to their time in the Moon Kingdom, and when they were Prince Endymion's friends before the Dark Kingdom recruited them? Whether or not you go that route, how did they get together, and what's caused their relationship to last? What do they love so much about each other? I overall prefer stuff to focus on the anime or the manga, but not Sailor Moon Crystal; and in Minako/Rei's case, I also like the live-action TV series' take on them.
- Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence: Go based on what's in the letter. In terms of prompts, I'd really like both missing-scenes that explore a sexual or romantic relationship between Celliers and Yonoi, but also potential alternate, happier endings where they're able to be together. Also big on smut here, and angst! (but with a happy ending.) If you don't think you can make a happy ending happen here, I am fine with it happening mid-canon without where they eventually go from there specified.