Dear Author: Purimgifts 2021 Placeholder

[opalmatrix]

Thank you so much for writing treats for me! Here are some general preferences of mine. Please look for a more complete letter this coming weekend.

Preferences

I Don't Like:

• Sickly-sweet, coy, cutesy romantic stuff (anything in the "tee-hee-hee, is he looking at me?" category is definitely out)
• Extensive use of epithets, or epithets that don't match the character POV (no one should think of his or her long-time lover as "the green-eyed man," for example): these will throw me right out of a story (for more about epithets, see this)
• Characters acting out of character, especially if the purpose is to force them into a relationship (doubly bad if that relationship is romantic or sexual)
• By-the-numbers, every-action-described sex (a/k/a Ikea Erotica - link goes to TVTropes). Note that actual sex is fine (I love me some sexy stories) — just don't like it when the descriptions turn into a set of exact stage directions.
• Mpreg, rape, forced sex (including sex pollen and fuck-or-die), hatesex. Dubcon is OK, especially the sort when the reluctant partner really wants the other person but is just not quite feeling ready yet or doesn't think se wants it in this particular way but gets off on it anyway.
• Humiliation or betrayal (without a damn good plot reason) of a character by a friend or lover
• A/B/O and related kinks/tropes, incest (unless canon), scat/watersports/emetophilia, tentacles, non-human genitalia.

I Like:

• Strong characterization (including character-appropriate dialog: no earthy, uneducated characters using $100 words)
• Positive emotional payoffs that are well-earned
• Passions that are strong without being mushy/fluffy
• Moments of realization — satori
• Friendships - although I am a romantic person, not every relationship must be romantic (I do like the trope of friends becoming lovers, however)
• Wry and even dark humor in the course of a more serious story
• And I like any of the following "cool bits":
  • hurt-comfort
  • family-of-choice, nakama, or True Companions
  • being cozy indoors when it's rainy or snowing
  • an autumn leaf or item of clothing as the only bit of color in a bleak landscape
  • leaning comfortably against a friend or lover; feeling them chuckle or speak
  • a study or library as a refuge against the outside world
  • food porn
  • romantic partners who are both competent
  • water sounds: rain, a brook, waves
  • the little spots of light that sift through a canopy of trees onto the ground beneath
  • cynics with secretly soft hearts
  • in-jokes among family members or close friends
  • snark, whether on the part of the narrator or from a character (this should not be *mean*, just apt and funny)
  • unexpected gifts that turn out to be Just Right
  • shopping or low-tension planning scenes, where people are working together to pick things out
  • caper-type operations: crazy elaborate plans that work out well in the end, especially if parts of them are silly/funny

I'm quite content with both straight and gay relationships. I do tend to ship the canon relationships, unless it's a character who has had no clear relationships shown in the story. I'm not comfortable with sexual relationships shown in children under the age of, say, 14 or so, and even then it's better in context (teens with other teens or in a societal setting where girls expect to marry by 16-18 anyway).