Rietta89

 Dear Lovely Author,

Thank you so much for writing for me! I absolutely adore crime and detection as a genre and casefic in general so I am so excited about this exchange! I’ve included lots of relationships and vague ideas below, so whichever fandom you’re here for, I hope there’s something that sparks inspiration! Canon-specific DNWs are included at the end of each fandom section of this letter, and I’ve added my general likes and DNWs at the end, along with a special formatting request. Have fun writing – I’m sure to love what you create! <3

Biggles Series – W.E. Johns

Biggles & Algy & Ginger & Bertie & Erich

For this relationship, I would really love a canon-typical casefic set post-Hatchet, wherein Erich joins the others in the field. I’ll happily leave the details of the case to you, but I’d really like a fic that focuses on Erich and how he fits in with the team in this situation – especially if he’s been brought in on the case because they are relying on one of his special skills such as his fluency in multiple languages. Hurt/comfort is one of my favourite things and I’d love it see it in abundance, with Erich as one of the hurt parties, powering through injury or illness to the point of collapse because he feels like he has something to prove. If that injury or illness is a head injury or the effects of a non-consensually administered drug, that would be right to my id – I’d be good with either a real-life drug such as a sedative, or a canon-typical invented drug like a truth serum. Basically just throw Erich into the field and whump him and I am guaranteed to love your gift! If you want to bring the Biggles/Erich tag in on this, either overtly or implied, I’d be delighted, but if that’s not what you signed up for, don’t worry, I’d enjoy a gen take on this too.

 

Biggles/Erich

Biggles & Erich

Whilst I would enjoy a post-Hatchet canon-typical casefic for this pairing, focusing on them in the field together (maybe on an undercover operation?), what I’d really love for this pairing would be a less canon-typical kind of case – I think it would be really fun to take these characters (at any point in the canon timeline!) and throw them into a Golden Age of Crime style setting. I really love locked room murders, tales where the heroes are trapped somewhere with a murderer as the body count rises, and classic detective fiction tropes such as country house murders, ‘the body in the library’, ‘the butler did it’, etc. I feel like the ‘trapped’ trope especially would be amazing with these characters – just imagine Biggles & Erich stormbound or snowbound together, either as enemies or friends or lovers (or all of the above!), and having to work together (or against each other, in the enemy era?) to try and stay alive and figure out who is responsible for the crime. So much potential for suspenseful atmosphere and oodles of the UST that is my own particular catnip!

Some settings that might work well for this pairing/concept: a remote hotel (on an island or halfway up a mountain, for instance); a long-distance sleeper train; a weekend house party at a country manor.

 

Solo: Bertie

Bertie is my favourite character and it would be lovely to receive a casefic that focuses on him! There’s so much scope for different kinds of casefics, either on the canon-typical side or leaning into my favourite detective fiction tropes, and I’d be delighted with anything you came up with, set at any point during his personal timeline.

A few ideas:

-       A canon-typical SAP case where the action follows Bertie throughout rather than Biggles

-       Maybe Algy and Bertie have a case to solve entirely by themselves whilst Biggles and Ginger are away investigating another matter?

-       A country house murder mystery set at Chedcombe

-       Bertie on leave (from either the RAF or the SAP) stumbling across a mystery

-       A pre-WWII fic where Bertie has some kind of puzzle to solve at Oxford, or during his racing days in Monaco (Anything from who’s been fixing the boat race or just why was old Stodders sent down to money-laundering in the casinos of Monaco or a full-scale murder mystery)

-       Towser as his trusty sidekick, solving a mystery together at Rawlham, or at the flight school they were posted to immediately prior. For this prompt, I’d be happy with either an ‘ordinary’ kind of mystery or one with some creepy, atmospheric supernatural elements such as ghosts, as long as the fic isn’t too gory.

-       The other officers of 666 Squadron stave off boredom by setting up small mysteries for the unsuspecting Bertie to detect

 

Biggles-specific DNWs: any kind of romantic relationship for Bertie; tears/welling up by anyone other than Marie (I love how stoic these characters all are!); addressing or referring to Biggles as ‘James’; romantic interactions between Algy & EvS (their slash vibe is all about the hatesex for me); Algy having any kind of romantic or sexual thoughts about Ginger prior to WWII; spoilers for SAP-era books unless you know for sure I’ve read them (post-Hatchet and post-Terai whump is fine); fic set  during any novel or short story (unless specifically requested); detailed discussion of EvS’s actions during WWII.

 

Doctor Who (1963)

John Benton/Mike Yates

John Benton & Mike Yates

Benton & Yates are my darlings and I would love a fic that focuses on them! I love the dynamic between them; how they work so well together and so obviously care about one another – Mike’s insistence on taking Benton to escort the missile and Benton’s clear concern over Mike’s disappearance in The Mind of Evil melt my heart every time.

There’s so much scope for different settings and styles of case: canon-typical ‘alien of the week’ fic; strange happenings to be investigated whilst they’re on leave or in their post-UNIT life; or more detection-based alien-free fic… if you’ve given my boys a starring role, you can’t really go wrong whatever you choose! I’m happy to leave the details of the case to you, but I’ve included some ideas and suggestions below:

-       UNIT-based canon-typical ‘alien of the week’ fic, but Yates is running the show because the Brigadier is stuck somewhere else on the planet (possibly at a UNIT conference in Geneva, or on leave somewhere exotic) and cannot get back to England in time to take the reins. (If you want to include the Brigadier dealing with the same threat from a different country, or barking orders in frustrated telecommunication from Geneva, that could be fun – think The Daemons when he’s stuck outside the heat barrier.)

-       Benton & Yates experiencing an alien invasion after they’ve both left UNIT – having to rely on one another to survive, and dealing with all the memories and emotions that stirs up.

-       Benton & Yates investigating Mysterious Happenings either post-UNIT or whilst they’re both on leave – perhaps aliens are behind it, or perhaps there is a Perfectly Normal Explanation.

-       Benton & Yates experiencing Feelings Realisation whilst trapped in an isolated country house with a murderer and a spate of innocent civilians whom they feel a duty to protect.

 

John Benton & Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart & Mike Yates

John Benton & Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart & Harry Sullivan

My very favourite era of Doctor Who is the Third Doctor, and a large part of that is because I adore the UNIT family. I do also adore Jon Pertwee’s Doctor, who will forever be my favourite regeneration, but I think it would be really fun to see a story where UNIT have to defend the Earth without the Doctor’s help. So I’d love a canon-typical alien invasion casefic along those lines, set either between The Five Doctors and The Green Death (featuring Benton, Yates and the Brigadier) or around the time of The Android Invasion, when Harry, Benton and the Brigadier were the main UNIT characters.

 

Sarah Jane Smith/Harry Sullivan

Solo: Sarah Jane Smith

Solo: Harry Sullivan

Sarah and Harry are two of my very favourite companions, and I would love a fic that centres on either or both of them. I love their relationship – how clearly fond of each other they are, and how they bicker like an old married couple. I love Harry’s gentlemanly ways and his self-deprecating humour and how he always puts other people first; and I love Sarah’s grit and determination and independent spirit, and her intelligence and curiosity, which make her such a good journalist as well as such a good companion. I would very much enjoy a fic set after they have both parted company with the Doctor, wherein one or both of them has something mysterious to investigate. (I think Sarah would pursue a mystery relentlessly the moment she caught a sniff of it, whilst Harry would need to have it thrust upon him, but would get extremely invested in it once his interest was caught.) Whether the Mysterious Thing is down to aliens, or has a completely terrestrial explanation, or is something supernatural, is entirely up to you – I’ll thoroughly enjoy the journey to any of those outcomes.

 

Who-specific DNWs: Sarah behaving like a damsel in distress unless it’s a deliberate act

 

The Brokenwood Mysteries

Jared Morehu/Mike Shepherd

Solo: Jared Morehu

Jared is hands-down my favourite character, and I adore his relationship with Mike. They make an odd couple, but it’s abundantly obvious how much they enjoy each other’s company, and the way they banter from the very first moment they meet is RTMI. They share a tenacity and a level of intuition that makes them a great investigative team, even if Jared’s involvement is always off the book. I’d love to see an investigation conducted solely by the two of them – perhaps they’ve gone on holiday and stumbled across a murder whilst away? Having them work together as amateur sleuths would be great fun, especially if the local police refuse Mike’s offers of help because it’s not his jurisdiction, and then he turns around and outsmarts them with one of his infamous hunches.

I’d also love a canon-typical casefic set back in Brokenwood, but written entirely from Jared’s perspective (preferably featuring lots of late evenings on Mike’s couch with a good bottle of red wine!); or any kind of non-police investigation where Jared is the one doing the detecting.

 

Sam Breen & Kristin Sims

Daniel Chalmers & Kristin Sims

Solo: Kristin Sims

I love both iterations of Mike’s team, and I think it would be really fun to have a fic where Kristin gets to take charge, and she and Daniel or Sam solve the case without any input from Mike. (Think the episodes Stone Cold Dead or Here’s to You, Mrs Robinson but completely minus Mike; feel free to include as much or as little Gina as you’d like.)

I’d also love a fic that focuses just on Kristin – maybe a pre-series case she investigated with Gary McLeod, or a flashback to her investigating something at college whilst studying for her psych degree, or she finally gets away for a much-needed holiday only to find a dead body floating in the hotel swimming pool?

 

Solo: Jean Marlowe

Solo: Trudy Neilson

Solo: Frankie “Frodo” Oades

I really love the small town feel of The Brokenwood Mysteries, and how all the recurring characters bring a warmth and familiarity to proceedings. It would be really fun to have a fic where someone who isn’t part of the C.I.B. investigates something mysterious in Brokenwood, and has their moment in the spotlight. It wouldn’t necessarily need to be a murder – it could be something as trivial-seeming as Mrs Marlowe investigating a salacious rumour, or Frodo solving the Mystery of the Missing Tortoise. But if you think you could make a murder work (such as Trudy Neilson taking matters into her own hands when Doug Randall’s body is found), then go for it!

 

Sam Breen & Mike Shepherd & Kristin Sims

Daniel Chalmers & Mike Shepherd & Kristin Sims

I love the whole C.I.B. team (both iterations of it) and how they interact, so I’d really enjoy a casefic featuring the whole team (with as much or as little Gina as you’d like!) based on any trope from the Golden Age of detective fiction – such as country house mysteries, ‘the body in the library’, ‘the butler did it’ etc. I’m particularly fond of locked room murders; or how about a mysterious death at a 1930s-themed wedding at a country hotel?

 

Brokenwood-specific DNWs: spoilers for any episode beyond Season 10; any mention of Beth (let me live in my happy little Mike/Jared bubble please, even if you write post-Season-7 gen fic for me!)

 

General Likes & DNWs

General likes: banter; tropes (especially forced proximity); slow-burning romances; tales of getting together; friends to lovers; enemies to lovers; established relationship fluff; character development through sex; pining; searing UST; even more searing resolution of UST; teamwork; sarcastic humour; character-driven fic; fic about deep affection between two characters – either platonic (for & ships) or romantic (for / ships); Found Family vibes.

General DNWs: major character death (unless specifically requested); overly graphic/gory depictions of injuries (I'm a tad squeamish!); harm to animals; AU settings/genres unless specifically requested; canon-typical racism; unrequested slash ships featuring major characters (OCs and minor characters can romance each other as much as they like!); romantic relationships between major canon characters and OCs; anachronisms (as far as possible); hopeless endings; hurt without comfort; WWII setting (unless specifically requested); any reference whatsoever to Nazis; fic with a heavy focus on politics; any kind of character-bashing.

Sex scene DNWs: non-con; scat; breath-play; blood-play; use of correct anatomical terms; crude euphemisms for ‘vagina’; loss of virginity (unless specifically requested). (Dubcon in the shape of sex pollen/aliens made them do it/etc is fine.)
 

I'm happy with any fic rating from G to E; whatever you're comfortable writing!

I have gifts enabled, and would be delighted to receive fanfic treats.

 

Finally, a special request: I am neurodivergent, and can find it difficult to get into a fic when all the lines are different lengths. If you’d be kind enough to justify the alignment of your gift (you can do this in the Rich Text editor) I would be very very grateful! <3