Dear Sutcliff Swap Writer

[osprey_archer]

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A multifandom exchange for fiction and art based on the works of Rosemary Sutcliff

Yes! Sutcliff Swap approaches! Everyone should sign up, and there should be many many Sutcliff stories!

Here follows my Sutcliff swap letter.

Welcome, Sutcliff Swap creator! I like ALL THE THINGS: slash, femmeslash, het, OT3s, gen, epic stories involving trolls, etc.

Some helpful lists:

Likes:
• Characters who understand each other, even if they sometimes drive each other up the wall
• Loyalty, especially characters doing stupidly amazing things out of loyalty for each other
• Relationships with trust issues, either because the characters can't trust each other but want to, or because they trust each other without reservation
• Relationships that are difficult but affectionate
• Angst leavened by humor, or humor leavened by angst
• A sense of place (scenery porn!)
• Hurt/comfort fics
• Pining
• Cuddling, for warmth or otherwise
• OT3s
• And of course hound metaphors.

Dislikes
• Non-canonical character death (I mean, it is Sutcliff, you can’t swing a cat without hitting a dead character. But I’d like the ones who made it through to stay that way.)
• Character bashing



Frontier Wolf – Lucius

Two ideas for you! Because I am generous that way.

Hilarion says that the Frontier Wolves are the “scum and scrapings of the Empire.” But it’s hard to imagine anyone describing sweet, serious Lucius that way, so…how did he end up in Castellum? Did the fact that he’s kind of awkward irritate one of his commanding officers? Did he intervene to show someone mercy, and get punished for it? So many possbilities!

Alternatively, for cracky delight: Lucius/Hilarion. Opposites attract! Always fun! And think of the possibilities for unrequited love: either Hilarion has a crush on Lucius which is visible FROM SPACE but apparently not to Lucius, or Lucius pines after Hilarion from afar because Hilarion is so funny and easily likeable and all the things Lucius is afraid he isn’t.


Sword Song – Lady Aud

Lady Aud! How I love Lady Aud! Let me quote to you from my review of Sword Song:

“She has a former Irish queen as her handmaiden, and they are clearly BFFs in the Marcus & Esca mold. She sails gracefully out of the story to Iceland, and how I longed to go with her instead of Bjarni. Especially if she meets trolls or something!”

Seriously, Lady Aud has adventures on Iceland. It would be epic! Trolls are optional, as are geysers, but both are encouraged. (And possibly her former Irish queen BFF is involved, too? Really, anything fleshing out their relationship a bit more would be interesting.)


Knight’s Fee – Gisela

Please don’t feel constrained to write just about Gisela – I’d also be happy with Gisela/Randal (or Gisela/Randal/Herluin, for the most random Sutcliff OT3 ever!).

But I want to see more of Gisela, because even for a Sutcliff love interest Gisela is underdeveloped. And what little we see of her is not very appealing: when we first meet her she’s smacking a servant around.

The snobbery is clearly an important part of her character, so I don’t want to just ignore it. But I want to see more facets of her character, more of her relationship with Randal (maybe Gisela and Herluin could sing together?) – basically just more, so she feels like a real character rather than a random intrusion in the book. The lady of a castle had a lot of work to do: maybe something about her settling in after her inevitable marriage to Randal?


Blood Feud – Anders/Thormod

Pre-blood feud boyish fumbling, bittersweet because we know what comes after! Or flashbacks of that during the blood feud, because ~feelings~. It could illustrate Thormod in a rare moment of uncertainty (and maybe show something about how he feels about Jestyn, too…), or Anders angsting about how he needs to Viking up.

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Ooh, Motetus's art is so good. I wonder if it's on Tumblr.... (by which I mean, I wonder if that particular picture is--I already follow Motetus on Tumblr, so I know that in general it is.)

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Well, she has a tumblr: here (http://motetus.tumblr.com/). I don't know if her art is on it, but maybe!

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Ha, I think your edit and my comment crossed on the wires...

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

LOL, yep. But thank you!