NFE 2025: Dear Author

It's the most wonderful time of the year again! This is pretty much a repeat of last year's letter, but at least I'm consistent. 

Dear Author, thank you in advance! Please feel free to mix and match elements from my different prompts and follow your heart's desire. Wherever you take it, I will be delighted to read your story — and I hope you have fun writing it! 

Things I like:

• Witty banter and humor
• Competent, complex, multi-dimensional characters
• Friendship, found family, friends-to-lovers, slow burn
• Plot, adventures, space duels, intrigue, mysteries and spy stories
• Nature, especially lakes, woods, mountain, prairies, and the night sky
• Shipping preferences: m/f, f/f or gen
• I prefer happy endings to tragedy, but I also have a soft spot for ambiguity and bittersweet. Eerie and eldritch is fun too. I am not normally big on straight-up horror... but I will absolutely make an exception for my dark!Narnia prompts!
• A strong sense of place. The differences between places, the little things that set someplace apart or bind people together even across languages and cultures... Whether you want to delve into worldbuilding or just give me a glimpse, I'll love it.
• Talking animals and mythological creatures, especially those with little screen time. Wolves and crows are particular favorites, but I’d love any creatures (real or mythological) you want to use to populate your story! 
• Sirens. See also: my username. (The Lorelei, Greek bird-women, mermaid-like, feral or sensual — any mythology or interpretation you like!)
• World War II spy stories
• AUs that hold true to both the spirit and setting of the original — canon compliant or divergent “what ifs” are wonderful, and I hold a special place in my heart for Everyone Lives, Nobody Dies (or Everyone Lives, Nobody Leaves). I’m not usually a fan of mundane coffeeshop-style AUs, unless set in modern!Narnia, a.k.a. Museumverse. 
• Stories with gloriously diverse characters, rich full lives in both Narnia and Spare Oom, filled with faith and hope but not dogma, intellectually enriching, and all the tapestry of creation in both worlds.
• Speaking of which, re: other Narniaverses – I adore Rthverse, if you are so inclined (please check with Ruth)! Remember Kangarooverse? Me too, I love it! Want to expand on your own existing 'verse? Please do! Want to play in someone else's verse? Please ask them first! 
• Crossovers and fusions: I love them! I enjoy having all my favorite characters get together and explore new worlds and dynamics, with or without the conceit of magic rings and the Wood between Worlds.

Things I don't like:

• Noncon, incest, gore

Compared to previous years, I have deleted my standard "character bashing" item compared to last year, because of one of my prompts. A nuance there: while I do take issue with the traditional "lipstick and nylons" variation on the problem of Susan, I love seeing other perspectives. So I will put it this way: if the story is set in *canon Narnia,* I'd prefer to avoid character bashing (e.g. depictions of Susan as a shallow woman fallen away from the grace of Narnia, or Aslan as a cruel, manipulative god). If your story is AU, though, or told from an outside or unreliable perspective, all bets are off! (E.g., Narnian mythos through Jadis' eyes - maybe she tells the true history and the one we know is mere propaganda, or maybe her version is wildly distorted, either is great! Maybe modern Narnians debate whether Susan – or all Four – were the faithless monarch(s) who abandoned them - that would be a great story too.) 

Basically, wherever the story takes you, I'll be very happy to go along for the ride. Thank you again!