devilwithabirddress

Dear Podficcer,
Hello! I'm DevilWithABirdDress! Thank you for reading my letter. I’d like to specifically say that I’m a-okay with repods, treats being used for both this and bingos/etc, and treats that are part of an ongoing series. Genfic and shipping are both lovely.

My AO3 bookmarks are all recs, and my "to pod" bookmarks are all hidden so you can feel free to reference those (though I still would prefer no gifts with explicit sex, even though I have bookmarks with it in writing).

Fandoms (in no particular order):

Étoile - Cheyenne!!! Cheyenne Toussaint! Her passion! Her rants! Her adorable accent! Her inexplicable relationship with her mother! She’s just fantastic. Also anything featuring Susu who is so adorable and funny. This fandom is new and tiny so really anything about anyone would still be amazing.

Marvel - Recently rewatched CA:tWS and the hyperfixation has reignited - Steve/Bucky(+/Peggy)(+/Sam)(+/Natasha), or Clint Barton/Bucky (no Steve bashing pls). Any combo on that multiship so long as the boys out of time are also in love. I know Stucky fandom is dauntingly huge so if you need an easy grab know that the author leveragehunters (Monkeygreen) is an all-time favorite of mine and has BP (this is an optional detail, only use if helpful!). Also anything that's just Natasha-centric or Sam-centric, genfic or non. I’m big on themes of recovery, acceptance, and dealing with what’s in front of you for this fandom. (Adventure and missionfic are ofc always welcome as well.)

Star Trek: Lower Decks - Beckett Mariner be still my little gay heart. And also pretty much everyone else, the entire cast are amazing characters. Shippy or gen, most anything goes! Any Starbase-80 shenanigans or anything relating to the Fissure Quest crew (if you haven't seen season 5 don't look up those two things, spoilers!)

Star Trek: Discovery - I adore Adira/Gray, they're so sweet and perfect and interesting, definitely my favorite ship in the show. I also love Michael (her getting to be a badass OR her getting a well-deserved break), Saru (glorious non-human cultural identity) and either or both Philippa Georgiou(s).

Star Trek: DS9 - Right now the ships I’m looking at for romance-focused DS9 are Garak/Julian or Jadzia Dax/Lenara Kahn. I love them so. All-team genfic or focused on any of those characters is also good, plus Sisko & Jake’s healthy familial relationship is solid gold and I’d love to see anything centering them.

The Mandalorian - I’m very invested in wholesome dad genfics. Protective wrathful warrior parent yessssss. Alternately, Bo Katan and Cobb Vanth are both excellent characters who deserve some POV time if you feel so inclined. Shipwise (always optional), I really enjoy Din/Luke, I love them being adorable co-dads, and Luke unlearning being a martyr figure now that he’s survived the war (or timeline shifting and Din is part of the rebellion or…) (look I love AUs). Also here for Cobb/Din. Not interested in Boba/Din-focused stories, not a squick though so background is totally fine.

The Witcher - Jaskier as the Sandpiper, Yen finding a way to be happy, any wolfpack bonding. Most ships are a-okay with me (Jaskier/Yen(+/Geralt) is a favorite), though not personally into any of the younger wolves slashed with Vesemir, nor everyone/Jaskier.

Deadloch - very much anything, Cath/Dulcie/Eddie would be amazing or anything featuring Sharelle or Abby would be extra awesome, sooo many good characters in this show.

Alex Rider - Honestly I just love so many of the characters and their friendships, Kyra, Tom, Jack, Yassen. I’m craving someone rescuing Alex after he’s gotten hurt and giving the boy actual useful emotional support. Also always and forever adore character studies.

Clone Wars - I love the clones so much, so anything focusing on them, gen or shippy. Themes of struggling with the concept of personhood are SO GOOD. Open to clone/clone or clone/jedi ships. No Plo Koon slash though, he’s General Buir in my heart.

Discworld - particularly Vetinari, the old witches, Moist, Tiffany Aching and Vimes (and their attached casts), though I won’t say no to wizard shenanigans! My beloved rarepair is Vetinari/Moist but there’s (checks notes) yeah there’s 10 of those on ao3 and half aren’t in English so feel free to do something else.

Fullmetal Alchemist - preferably post-canon, divergence is a-okay, any version, I love Ed’s post-god-punching emotional journey to figuring out what he’s supposed to do now that he’s essentially peaked as a chaos-atheist. I watched the first anime years before Brotherhood, so I meant the All Media Types on this fandom.

Stargate SG-1 - I'd take a pretty wide range of stories for this fandom, love to see Samantha & Daniel having nerd sidequests or Teal'c dealing with either his own culture (worldbuilding!!) or reacting to inexplicable human nonsense. Really anything that hits my general tropes too. (My fav SG: Atlantis character is always and forever Ronon, if that comes up.)

Lockwood & Co. - I’ve only seen the show for this fandom (planning on reading soon) so nothing that relies on knowledge after book 2. Otherwise I just? Love these characters? George especially. Mission fic or just fluff. These kiddos all need hugs.

Batfam - Anything highlighting the bond between Damian & Dick (familial and/or platonic). I have feelings about them. ;__; Also Bruce & Dick, especially early Dick stories about losing his parents and becoming Robin, or ones where he leaves to become Nightwing and they have to resolve their issues. And Babs! Anything highlighting what a badass Oracle is.

General beloved tropes:

Adventure! Let’s go on a quest! Curse breaking! Puzzle-solving!
Touch starved person gets healthy contact
Asexual relationships, bonus points for non-sexual physical intimacy
Bodyswap
Triads!
Curses! I love them so much I’m listing them twice. Animal transformation, silence, sneeze every time you lie, true love’s kiss needed to save your life but *gasp* you’re sure it’s unrequited, etc.!
Enemies to Lovers and/or Enemies to Friends
Exes to Lovers
Fantasy/Magic AUs, urban magic or swords and sorcery are both great!
Hurt/Comfort
Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery
Post-canon adventures, completely non-canon-compliant is also good!
Time Loops!
Rarepairs!
Character Studies!
Role-reversal e.g. Jaskier the Witcher and Geralt the Bard, Obi-wan the soldier and Cody the jedi, etc. etc.!
Soulmate AUs - the more contrived the matchmaking gimmick the better!
Star Trek Fusion AUs
Mercyfic
Crackfic, shenanigans & humor

Do Not Want:

Permanent Major Character Death (temporary or faked is fine)
Sexually explicit works (implied/vague is fine)
Self harm, especially cutting (“need to remove a cursemark” or other utilitarian reasons is fine, just NOT mental health related)
Actual suicide - attempts are iffy but not a hard line if part of wider angst, but no successes
Doctor/Patient or Teacher/Student relationships
High School/College AUs
Sad endings, Hurt/No Comfort, overly ambiguous endings
Underage or Age Play
No “slavery is normal and accepted” or Handmaid’s Tale-esque worlds
No dom/sub relationships, sexual or non.
“Reader” as a character

Thanks for reading! Reach out to the mods if you need me to expand on specifics and I would be happy to. I am so excited to see what everyone creates. I hope you have a delightful summer swap!
DevilWithABirdDress

FOR THE MODS: Hey mods! I'm open to recording pretty much anything not in my DNWs for the fandoms I offered that aren't listed above. No gore or character bashing preferably.

So you want to write a Dear Podficcer letter! There are many excellent ways to write a letter; this is just going to cover one style to help get you past the dreaded blank page part of writing.

Briefly, there are four main sections in this style: an opening bit, your general likes, your general do not wants, and fandom-specific info.

Remember: you are not being graded on this letter, nor will you be held to its contents for the rest of your fandom career. If you, like me, get stressed worrying that you might forget a fandom or contradict yourself or or or…. don’t! It’s okay! This is just a starter kit to help someone make you a gift you’ll enjoy, not a binding document to encompass all past and future interests. If this is NOT something you worry about, good job you’re already doing great.

That said! Here we go:

Your Intro:

The beginning of a letter is typically a short greeting – often just “Dear podficcer,” or “Hello!” and maybe mentioning you’re excited for the exchange. After that the intro section is a good place to put technical details like:

Are you okay with repods?
Are you okay if people use gifts for you to also fill things like Bingo challenges?
Do you like music/sfx, or do you need at least a version without? (Are there specific kinds of sfx/music you can’t deal with, like sudden startling noises, or music under dialogue?)
Would you be happy to receive a pod of something you wrote?
Are your public bookmarks a rec-list of your interests, or is it more of a sortable marked for later list?
Do you enjoy chatty cold reads? What about multivoices?
How do you feel about crossovers?

You don’t need to include all of these details, but I’d definitely recommend including any you feel strongly about.

General Likes:

Next is your general likes! This is for all non-fandom-specific info on what you like.

Consider including categories of items like:

Emotional tone: do you like fluff? Hurt/Comfort? Angst? Happy Endings?
Tropes you like! What’s a trope that you’ll always click on? Time travel? Only One Bed? Enemies-to-Friends? Outsider POV?
Shipping details: Do you only want genfic? Do you only want slash? Do you crave sweet sweet polyships? Would you be delighted to get femslash? Are you open to anything, do you not mind shipping but want it to not be the focus, etc. etc.
Ratings: Please always include what ratings you would like to receive – people usually err on the side of caution, so if you only want E-rated works don’t be shy! Tell us! There are some delightfully prolific smut podficcers waiting for your ask. If you don’t want G-rated works, mention it! It’s a great resource for your gifter(s) to narrow down your interests.
If you’re including E-ratings: kinks? PWP or only stories that happen to have sex?
Major Archive Warnings: opt-in to common things that other people would opt out of, if you do want to see them.
Character-specific details: do you like the main character to have specific characteristics? Disability representation? Characters of color? Queer characters? Women? Reader-insert?

If you’re struggling to think of things you like, you can go look at your bookmarks and your own works for inspiration. I would recommend always including at least some details that have searchable AO3 tags, so your creator can filter on a few ideas.

Try to avoid the siren-song of embarrassed self-deprecation – remember, if you put yourself down, you’re also putting down everyone else who shares your interests.

General Dislikes (DNWs):

Okay now we’re ready for your Do Not Wants (commonly abbreviated DNWs). This is a section for anything you, well, don’t want. Some folks also include a less-strict “possibly not”/“iffy tropes” list. You very much can! Go for it! I personally do not, so I’m keeping things simple here.

(Note that you can include DNWs of things that you have sometimes enjoyed! I occasionally include “DNW: time travel” even though some of my very favorite fics are time travel. I do this because SOME time travel stories explain how they’re getting around causality in an inconsistent way that makes my brain angry (callin’ you out Marvel Endgame), and I genuinely cannot explain the difference between “good causality explanation” and “evil bad hate causality explanation” in a way that someone else could be expected to abide to. Feel free to insert “kink that sometimes you love and sometimes tips into extreme discomfort and you only know the line when you yourself find it” into this explanation. Again, your mission in this letter is to make it easy for your creator to make something you’ll like (and hard to make something you’d hate), not to create rules about your own enjoyment.)

You may have thought of some DNWs while working on your likes! Take note of those if you did. It follows much the same pattern, except the first:

Squicks & triggers: Anything not captured in the rest of the categories that would make you x-out of any work, or at least have you gritting your teeth ‘til it’s over.
Emotional tone! Do you avoid fluff? Are you too stressed in your daily life for sad endings? Fear not! You can tell us!
Tropes! Do you dislike mutual pining? Do you carry secret rage in your heart for bodyswaps? Is medical inaccuracy the bane of your existence?
Ratings: I’d recommend repeating this in both sections, it’s important!
Character-specific details: some days you just do not want to read about someone with your own job, y'know?
Kinks! It's okay to not like things. Simply saying you do not like something is not, by itself, kink-shaming. Just don’t be rude!
Major Archive Warnings: Tell us which ones you avoid.

NOTE: You DO NOT have to explain yourself for a DNW. It is your creator’s job to listen to your likes & dislikes without requiring a justification. I would, in fact, urge you not to give a reason, both because I would rather not normalize the idea that it’s anyone’s business why, and because a lot of explanations I’ve seen end up nearly or outright kinkshaming. Just say “DNW: Sex in a bed”, simple, clear, and you are totally golden with no collateral damage.

You CAN add clarifying details (i.e. after my “No Major Character Death” I add “temporary or faked is fine”), especially for common things that happen in your fandom(s).

Fandom Details:

Alright we’re ready for fandom specifics! I like to write this last so my brain is warmed up to what I do and don’t like, but I usually include it before the general likes/dislikes section in the written document. Order can be whatever makes sense to you!

Most exchanges in the podfic community require at least three fandoms, but many encourage more so the mods have options for matching. If you’re going for the minimum 3, I would recommend having at least one large-ish fandom with at least 4-5 other podficcers in it. That said, DO include your small fandoms! Maybe you’ll inspire someone who’d never even heard of it to go searching. This happens more than you’d expect!

Write up a list of your fandoms. After you have the list, add notes to each fandom on what you’d like to see specific to that world and characters. Your notes don’t need to be long (though they can be!), and you don’t need to restate your general dos/don’ts. Things you could include about each fandom:

Who’s your favorite character? Your favorite platonic relationships? Your favorite romantic ship(s)?
Are there characters/ships that you don’t want to see? Is it okay if they’re background or do you need no mention at all?
Does this fandom have its own standard AUs that you like or dislike?
Is there character bashing in your fandom that you can’t stand and need your creator to avoid?
Does this fandom have a SPECIFIC exception to one (or more) of your DNWs? For example: you don’t want gifts with enemies-to-lovers trope EXCEPT there is one pairing in one fandom that caught you by surprise and fills you with secret glee against all expectations.
How close do you want to stay to canon? Canon-compliant only? Fix-its but not fully separate AUs? Post-canon, pre-canon, missing scenes?
Do you like a specific author who happens to have BP?
No matter what, make sure you at least say something you like about the original canon; it can be so helpful for a creator to gauge what vibes you’re wanting from your pods.

PLEASE include something about each fandom you signed up with. Your creator may be matched with you on any of these fandoms, give them all somewhere to start. For small fandoms it is honestly totally fine to just say “I would love anything in this fandom, it’s so rare to find” so long as you mean that. If you can't think of anything to request in a fandom, consider taking that fandom off your list for this exchange.

EXTRA BITS AND BOBS:

Hosting! You can host your letter anywhere you’ll be able to have a stable link. (Do NOT host on AO3, it’s not a permanent fanwork and would therefore be a TOS violation.) Make sure it’s accessible to users who aren’t logged in, since there’s no guarantee your creator will have an account on that site. Ask a friend to test or open a private/incognito browsing window to see if you can access it without your login.
What if you remember something after the exchange is underway? If it’s a fun little extra fandom or trope, you can honestly just pop it in the letter – I’d recommend marking it with a different font color or bold, and the date you added it. If it’s something serious like a non-negotiable DNW, add it AND message the mods so they can tell your creator. Some people will have downloaded/copied your letter for ease of use, and won’t see updates.

Dear Podficcer,

Hello! I’m DevilWithABirdDress on AO3! Thank you for reading my letter! I’d like to specifically say that I’m a-okay with repods, treats being used for both this and bingos/etc, and treats that are part of an ongoing series. Genfic and shipping are both lovely.

My AO3 bookmarks are all recs, and my "to pod" bookmarks are all hidden so you can feel free to reference those (though I still would prefer no gifts with explicit sex, even though I have bookmarks with it in writing).

Fandoms (in no particular order):

9-1-1 - fell headfirst into the fandom this Summer (the gifsets got me) and eeeeee I love all the blorbos. Pretty open to anything! I just love the show. Would love to see any fic featuring Hen and/or Chimney as the main heroes of the narrative. Also Maddie! Especially if it acknowledges her traumas and she gets to be a badass. Eddie! I adore him! His complex ideas of fatherhood and his emotional struggles and the support he gets and give with Bobby and etc. etc he's so good. Anything focusing on the dispatch center crew (Sue and Josh my beloved). Please no bashing of the women characters, that is a solid DNW for me. Stories where Shannon lives and the divorce actually happens get bonus points, even if it’s just background. And I do absolutely ship Buck/Eddie, Buck/Tommy, Buck/Eddie/Tommy.

The Murderbot Diaries - Genuinely hard to narrow down interests in this fandom! Mensah! of course! Polyamorous queer spacepresident of my heart. ART! My very favorite character, I love its POV, anything with superpowerful AI spaceship shenanigans. Three! How’s it feeling? there’s been kinda a lot? Murderbot itself! Delightful! Love to see it exploring its new position in the world (i.e. not being a piece of equipment). Murderbot/&ART is my fav ship to explore but I’m open to a lot.

Star Trek: DS9 - Right now the ships I’m looking at for romance-focused DS9 are Garak/Julian or Jadzia Dax/Lenara Kahn. I love them so. All-team genfic or focused on any of those characters is also good, plus Sisko & Jake’s healthy familial relationship is solid gold and I’d love to see anything centering them.

The Witcher - Jaskier as the Sandpiper, Yen finding a way to be happy, any wolfpack bonding. Jaskier/Yennefer/Geralt as a disaster trio. Most ships are a-okay with me, though not personally into any of the younger wolves slashed with Vesemir, nor everyone/Jaskier.

Batfam - Anything highlighting the bond between Damian & Dick. I have feelings about them . ;__; Also Bruce & Dick, especially early Dick stories about losing his parents and becoming Robin, or ones where he leaves to become Nightwing and they have to resolve their issues (familial and/or platonic with the previously named characters, I ship Dick pretty much exclusively with Wally West or Marvel's Clint Barton). Oh and anything highlighting what a badass Oracle is. I have such love for Babs!

Stargate SG-1 - Mission fic, Teal’c-centric, Carter-centric, Daniel-centric, honestly I’m here for a LOT in this fandom, so, like, this space intentionally left blank: go for it. I do enjoy fics where Daniel gets to go to Atlantis. As far as ships, anything besides Jack/Carter is fine. My OT3 is Jack/Daniel/Teal’c, but Jack/Daniel is my second place. I do know Atlantis fandom so crossovers are fine, but nothing with a lot of McShep as the center of attention.

Alex Rider - Honestly I just love so many of the characters and their friendships, Kyra, Tom, Jack, Yassen. I’m craving someone rescuing Alex after he’s gotten hurt and giving the boy actual useful emotional support. Also always and forever adore character studies.

Deadloch - very much anything, Cath/Dulcie/Eddie would be amazing or anything featuring Sharelle or Abby or Miranda & Tammy would be extra awesome, sooo many good characters in this show.

Fullmetal Alchemist - preferably post-canon, divergence is a-okay, any version, no Ed/Winry as main ship, I love Ed’s post-god-punching emotional journey to figuring out what he’s supposed to do now that he’s essentially peaked as a chaos-atheist. I watched the first anime years before Brotherhood, so I meant the All Media Types on this fandom. I do consume a possibly excessive amount of Roy/Ed so just explicitly gonna opt-in there, but genfic or rarepairs are also good!

Marvel - I’m back into Winterhawk (Bucky Barnes/Clint Barton) again, so anything with that pairing! Love their mutual "my best friend is like really impressive" energy, and pspsps the "mind control aftermath and recovery" aspects are delicious. Though I also adore mundane AUs with circus!Clint. Aaaand since Stucky is such a broad category I’m gonna just say anything written by the author Monkeygreen aka leveragehunters. I’m big on themes of recovery, acceptance, and dealing with what’s in front of you for this fandom. And missionfic!
- Falcon & The Winter Soldier - Honestly can't go wrong with this show. Love Bucky/Sam romantically and Bucky&Sam platonically. Snark, action heroes, complex political disasters, Sam being just so goddamn good all the time. Bonus points awarded for appearances of Sam's sister.

General beloved tropes:

Adventure! Let’s go on a quest! Curse breaking! Puzzle-solving!
Touch starved person gets healthy contact
Asexual relationships, bonus points for non-sexual physical intimacy
Bodyswap
Triads!
Curses! I love them so much I’m listing them twice. Animal transformation, silence, sneeze every time you lie, true love’s kiss needed to save your life but *gasp* you’re sure it’s unrequited, etc.!
Enemies to Lovers and/or Enemies to Friends
Exes to Lovers
Fantasy/Magic AUs, urban magic or swords and sorcery are both great!
Hurt/Comfort
Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery
Post-canon adventures, completely non-canon-compliant is also good!
Time Loops!
Rarepairs!
Character Studies!
Role-reversal e.g. Jaskier the Witcher and Geralt the Bard, Obi-wan the soldier and Cody the jedi, etc. etc.!
Soulmate AUs - the more contrived the matchmaking gimmick the better!
Star Trek Fusion AUs
Mercyfic
Crackfic, shenanigans & humor

Do Not Want:

Permanent Major Character Death (temporary or faked is fine)
Sexually explicit works (implied/vague is fine)
Self harm, especially cutting (“need to remove a cursemark” or other utilitarian reasons is fine, just NOT mental health related)
Actual suicide - attempts are iffy but not a hard line if part of wider angst, but no successes
Doctor/Patient or Teacher/Student relationships
High School/College AUs
Sad endings, Hurt/No Comfort, overly ambiguous endings
Underage or Age Play
No “slavery is normal and accepted” or Handmaid’s Tale-esque worlds
No dom/sub relationships, sexual or non.
“Reader” as a character

Thanks for reading! Reach out to the mods if you need me to expand on specifics and I would be happy to. I am so excited to see what everyone creates. I hope you have a delightful exchange!
DevilWithABirdDress

FOR THE MODS: Hey mods! I'm open to recording pretty much anything not in my DNWs for all the fandoms listed above, so feel free to match me with someone with other ships and favorite characters.