Dear Id Pro Quo '24 Author

[robberbaroness]

Welcome and thank you, potential writer! I had to join this exchange when I saw so many wonderful tags. 

General likes:  Fairy tales, gothic literature, film noir, revenge tragedies, bodice rippers, melodrama, dark comedy, heroine/villain/hero love triangles, heroine/villain dynamics, rescue romance, mythology, maledom (non and dubcon are welcome), bdsm, bondage, character studies, what-if AUs, genre swapping AUs, vampires, folklore, knight and lady dynamics, epistolary fic

General DNWs: Pushing away female characters, fetish universes, character bashing, fully mundane AUs for fantastical settings, unrequested identity headcanons, abrupt character death (bad guy death at the end of the story is fine), comeplay, scat or “showers” of any kind, extreme underage, characters in porn described as ugly

DC Animated Universe (Timmverse)

Clark Kent/Lois Lane/Bruce Wayne

"Who did this to you?" 

Aggressor reveals noncon details to victim's loved ones in order to taunt them 

Alternate Universe - Small Town Cult 

Angst with a Happy Ending 

Bondage 

Character has to fake being evil for reasons 

Character A rescues character B from captivity & repeated rape; lovingly helps them recover
Dimensional Travel - Having To Impersonate Alternate Evil Version of Self 

Emotional Hurt/Comfort 

Gothic Romance 

A Is Kidnapped and B Will Burn Down the World to Get A Back Safely 

My Moral Compass Is "What Do I Need To Do To Protect You?" 

Morally good character outlasts tormentor trying to corrupt them 

Noncon victim is snarky and defiant

Obsession - Character A gets revenge on someone who has hurt Character B 

Protectiveness

Protectiveness - Normally Gentle Character A Gets Scarily Protective When B Is Hurt

Rescue 

Rescuing your alternate lover from another dimension

Whump

I love Batman and Superman the Animated Series so much, and I especially love how both the protagonists end up head over heels in love with and protective of Lois Lane! (She even shows up in Bruce’s sad “Ones that got away” slideshow in Batman Beyond!) And so, what my id wants is more of that. Put Lois in a whumpy situation, and have the boys rescue her. The depth of whump can be variable- saved in the nick of time or after trauma happens- and Lois can do some heroism of her own too, as she did in the show! There are many potential bad guys for this- the various evil alternate versions of Clark and Bruce, Lex Luthor, and while I’m less keen on Joker, Two Face and Rupert Thorn work well. Let me see some loving melodrama!

The Lost Boys (Movies)

David/Star/Dwayne

Gothic Romance 

Ridiculously Gothic Atmosphere 

Aggressor reveals noncon details to victim's loved ones in order to taunt them 

Alternate Universe - Pirate 

bridal carry 

Character very much wants to be ravished; gets in a little over their head 

Captivity 

Dubcon - victim deliberately enters dangerous situations 

Dubcon - victim ends up enjoying themselves 

Hunted with rape as the penalty for getting caught 

Myth or Fairy Tale Setting/Retelling/Themes 

One Character Kidnaps the Other To Be Their Plaything 

Vampires - Blood Drinking - Human character gets off on being bitten by vampire 

Whump 

Dub/Noncon - Sex to Prove Loyalty 

Bondage Forcibly Stripped and Manhandled During Captivity

My first vampire crushes! Let me see what it was like for Star to be property of the hottest gang of bad boys in the world. Was she kidnapped or seduced? What degree of dubcon or noncon might have been involved? Were the boys ever nice to her, or was she just their victim? You can goth it up with alternate universes like pirates or fairy tales or 19th century gothics, or just try and carry that atmosphere into the 1980s. It can be set specifically before or during the plot of the movie, or continuity can be vague. The bad-trip cave scene after the blood drinking in the movie gives a great feeling of hallucinogenic eroticism, and I would love if you could capture some of that. I’m excited to see what you do! Star/Michael is fine as a side ship.

Outlander (TV)

Claire Beauchamp/Jonathan "Black Jack" Randall

Dub/noncon - raped in front of loved one(s) 

Captivity 

Noncon - Held down & Manhandled 

Falsely Gentle Threatening Touches 

Forced to dance with captor 

Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe 

Non-consensually groping someone while they're tied up or otherwise immobilised Non-consensual Candlelit Dinner 

One Character Kidnaps the Other To Be Their Plaything 

Sexual Slavery 

Stock & Pillory 

Aggressor reveals noncon details to victim's loved ones in order to taunt them 

Whump 

Obsession - Obsessed Character A Thought They Hated Character B But It's Love Instead 

I only know the first season/book, but I was extremely intrigued by this villain who so closely resembled Claire’s lost love even as he was being incredibly cruel- but for better or for worse, it didn’t end up playing with that much. What if it had? What if Jack, already such a psychologically fucked-up man, found that his obsession with Jamie had now grown into an obsession with his wife as well? What if the way she acted so familiar towards him and yet also so afraid proved infuriatingly seductive? This can happen any time in the first book, in addition to or instead of what he does to Jamie, instead of or a continuation of his attack on her when she’s trying to reach the stones, etc. I don’t want Jack to just be going after Claire to upset or as a proxy for Jamie, but feel free to explore the psychological twistiness or all this. If you want to play with the lines of consent, you can mess with Claire’s head, with any lingering feelings for her first husband coming out in unhappy ways when being manhandled by his doppleganger. Claire/Jamie is a good thing to include as well, but you can leave him out if that's not your thing and do a scene when he first meets and menaces her at the beginning. I just want to see this nasty man be nasty to our heroine!

Crossover Fandom

Bruce Wayne (Batman - Television 1966) & Bruce Wayne (Batman - Nolan Movies)

the power of unusual friendship saves the day 

Crack Treated Seriously
Mentor/Protegee
Accidental found family acquisition

And now, for something a lot more lighthearted! When watching Batman Beyond, I started to wonder what it would have been like with different generations of film and tv Batmen. You don’t have to follow that formula specifically (although you can!) but I’d love to see friendship, mentorship, and saving the day shared between a cheery and a grim version of the same character. Maybe Christian Bale is Adam West’s nephew (and named after him) or maybe they’re from alternate universes like the comic The Wrong Earth. Maybe 60s Batman trained 00s Batman, or maybe they meet each other while both established. Both should be smart and capable even if their approaches surprise each other. If this sounds fun, please go for it!