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Daiya Exchange: Dear Author Letter
Hello, mystery creator!
Thank you so much for writing for me in this exchange. I'm a little bit sorry for my signup, which boils down to "I really hope you like Tanba and cross-fandom crackpairs because BOY DO I LOVE THEM." You're a trooper for getting matched with someone as ridiculous as I am and for trying to make me something nice in spite of that, haha.
For once, I made my signup itself pretty comprehensive. I wrote a little bit about the dynamic I see between each ship I requested, and for most of my requests I also gave a few prompts for scenarios I think would be fun to read about. If any of those things inspire you, great! If you have your own super awesome idea for one of these ships, that's also great! As long as you consider the things I like and avoid everything I really dislike, I'm sure I'll love whatever you create.
That said, the things I would prefer to absolutely not see in fanwork are the following: gratuitous angst for angst's sake, rape, abuse, physical assault, terminal or mental illnesses, homophobia as a plot device, jealousy as a plot device, pregnancy or child-rearing, and foot fetishes.
If you'd like a little more information on my tastes, please read this post about things I like and dislike seeing in fanfiction. In general, I love character-focused stories, strong narrative voices, thoughtful pacing, experimental plot structures (if you think you can pull it off), innovative language and vivid descriptions, and anything that plays with reader expectations only to subvert them in interesting ways.
In terms of content, I love themes about friendship and teamwork, rivalry and competition; I love explorations of leadership, authority, and mentorship, and I love to see power dynamics and mindgames playing out between characters. I love really fraught, tense relationships where characters challenge and push each other, but I also love quiet moments between characters with a focus on caretaking and domesticity.
In my sign-up, I put down that I'm fine with receiving manga spoilers, or with my creator avoiding them. This is true, but at the time of writing this letter I am anime-only. I'm not fussed about manga facts turning up in a story for me, but I would rather not receive something that's entirely focused around a single manga-only event. I'm just not interested in that kind of really strict-to-canon story in general.
If you'd like to write something compatible with canon, I gave a lot of prompts for that and I do love pre-canon explorations, future fic, and getting together stories. On the other hand, if you're even passingly interested in writing an AU, boy would I love to read one!! Please consider reading this post about the kinds of AUs I like and what I like to see in them, though the cliff notes version is: fantasy, science fiction, anything to do with crime (yakuza, mob, police, spies).
Anyway, this is all of the general stuff! I'm not going to expand on my prompts besides what I put in my sign-up, I just wanted the space to give my creator a little more comprehensive an idea of my taste. But on the off-chance you would like just one place to refer back to, all of my prompts are under the cut. Thanks again for writing for me!
Furuya/Tanba:
I find it really interesting how similar Tanba and Furuya actually are as characters. They're each pitchers who become the ace for the team, each socially isolated and arguably shy when they come to Seidou but also each determined to be strong for the team. I think Furuya and Tanba would be able to understand each other really well, and I'd like to see that.
Prompt ideas:
-Anything with Tanba mentoring Furuya more as a pitcher and growing from there. There's one scene where he gives Furuya advice about how to deal with Miyuki (blame him for things that go wrong, otherwise ignore him) and I want more of that and to see what that could become.
-Anything focusing on the pressure of being the ace and blossoming from that kind of common ground.
-Something with Furuya and Tanba staying in touch after Tanba graduates; I feel like Furuya doesn't initially seem the type to write and make phone calls but that friendship is so unfamiliar to him that he really would make the effort; give me long distance relationship.
-Literally anything where they kiss or sleep together I'm so serious, I thought about this ship once by accident and now I think it would be really sweet and supportive and I want to see that content.
-AUs! I'm always going to ask for AUs, especially ones where they're in positions that are just naturally tough and intimidating.
Ryousuke/Tanba:
Ryousuke is someone Tanba has known since his first year at Seidou, when all of their year was struggling to perform up to par. I like that they have this level of history, and that they will have seen each other grow into the formidable players they've become. I also love that they have such a contrast in personality; Ryousuke is sharp and merciless and self-assured, whereas Tanba still has a level of shyness and vulnerability underneath the tough ace exterior he's built for himself. Mostly, I love Ryousuke having a perfect read on Tanba and bullying the heck out of him because that's just, what he does, it's out of fondness, Ryousuke teases you because he likes you.
Prompt ideas:
-First year fic! I want to see Tanba and Ryousuke interacting before Ryousuke is quite so confident, and while Tanba is still a shy, nervous mess.
-Get together fic! I'd love to see how two people who are quite so stoic or aloof as them manage to start a relationship; they each have a facade that's the face they present to their team and to the public and I want to see them getting around that.
-Literally anything with Ryousuke teasing Tanba to provoke reactions, I am a creature of simple needs and it's my favorite thing.
-Any AU where Ryousuke has some sort of important position and Tanba is his stern-faced but soft-spoken bodyguard.
Miyuki/Tanba:
The thing I find most interesting about Miyuki and Tanba's relationship is that Tanba expresses outright his dislike for Miyuki and is transparent in his unwillingness to work with him as a catcher. I love that Miyuki seems to view this more as a challenge than as an insult, and that he works hard to earn Tanba's respect and to build a successful battery with him. I'd love to see this translated from the context of baseball into the context of a relationship.
Prompt ideas:
-Get together fic (it's always get together fic) focusing on what Miyuki has to do to get Tanba to even give him the time of day. Because Miyuki is definitely the pursuer in this circumstance.
-The fic where, under whatever circumstance, Tanba is the romantic pursuer. I feel like this would be far more uncommon with them (and with Tanba in general) so I'd love to see how that version of events comes about and plays out.
-Hatemance. I just really want the fic where Tanba's head says "I dislike this person and want nothing more to do with him than I have to" but his libido says "fucking go for it." Bonus points for Miyuki being entirely aware that Tanba doesn't LIKE him and reveling in the fact that Tanba is going to say yes to him anyway.
-Straight up FWB fic in general. The version of events where they figure out their battery and figure out how to sleep with each other along the way. It might not be romantic love but they worked out how to work with each other.
-Something paralleling the respect both Tanba and Miyuki clearly feel for Chris would be lovely. I'd like to see them bonding over the degree of respect and admiration they each have for Chris and reaching common ground through that. (though I'd prefer Miyuki's feelings not be portrayed as romantic; I prefer my chrismiyu entirely platonic.)
-AUs! I always have to mention that I love AUs.
Furuya/Miyuki/Eijun:
My ship of ships, the OT3 of my heart, my original most beloved pairing in daiya. I love the relationship in canon between each pair of these three characters and I love how they work together. I love the different ways in which Eijun and Furuya are each stubborn and difficult to work with, and I love that for Miyuki this is an ATTRACTION. I love that he sees them as a challenge and wants to rise to meet it, wants to make them better as pitchers and as people. I see Miyuki as very poly and very unhappy with monogamous commitment, so I also love this ship because I see it as an arrangement that's just enough to keep him busy and occupied and happy with it.
Prompt Ideas:
-Anything contrasting how Miyuki handles Eijun versus how Miyuki handles Furuya.
-Miyuki decides to clicker train his pitchers as a joke. It works better than he expected. Eijun has no idea he's being trained and would shout about it if he realized but boy is it successful; Furuya actually just likes falling back on this thing which means he doesn't have to think about a lot of decisions that are hard — Miyuki has an answer for that.
-The usual poly fare focusing on how they make the relationship work, what's special between each pair, how they handle jealousy, how they handle dates, how they handle sex, what are some activities only two of them will do together that the third isn't especially interested in/fussed about. That stuff.
-Anything focusing on Miyuki having commitment and intimacy issues, bonus for having two boyfriends making that easier on him. Please give me Miyuki playing Eijun and Furuya off onto each other when he just, needs to exit the affection thing.
-AUs! I love AUs, please give me almost all manner of AU.
Kageyama/Oikawa/Miyuki/Furuya:
Think about it this way: you have two captains who style themselves as the mastermind for their team and who choose to play the position that best lets them call shots, and you have their terrifyingly talented, boneheaded, socially dim-witted kouhais. There are really interesting parallels to be made between furumiyu and oikage, ones that are more interesting for all the ways the two relationships are very, very different, and I want to read about all of that.
For this OT4 I will take literally anything you can give me, I want to see oimiyu as parallels to each other, I want to see how Miyuki gets along with Oikawa's kouhai and vice versa, I want to see whether Furuya and Kageyama hit it off or maybe get into some kind of a fight. I want to see them playing each other's sports. Meeting through some generalized athletic event. I want to see how the different fragments of the relationship work, and work together — which pair(s) get together first, how do they bridge newly forming relationships between the four of them, how do they manage jealousy within their little constellation.
I am genuinely so serious about this pairing and I wish I was joking, but, I'm not, I want to see content for it real bad.
Oikawa/Miyuki:
Miyuki and Oikawa are two of the same type of person and I think they'd get along like a house on fire. They each have a facade they present to people — Oikawa with his charming pretty-boy persona, Miyuki in his role as the trickster, the troublemaker, the guy with a bad sense of humor who wants to wind you up — while also understanding people quite intuitively underneath, and using their outer face as a way of gauging people and manipulating them into whatever behavior either of them wants. I want to see them taking this crack at each other, knowing they're being seen through but prodding at each other's workings anyway. I think they each have difficulty letting anyone get in too close to them, but that they could manage alright with each other because if someone is enough like you, is there really anything left to surprise them with?
I don't have prompts for this one, I just wanna see them run headgames on each other and then kiss, but boy oh boy do I love AUs and I'll take twenty of them. Crime AUs in particular would be great for these two.
Kataoka/Oe:
Kataoka teaches classical Japanese literature. Oe joins the Karuta team not out of an initial love of the game, but because of her love for the poetry itself. I'd like to see them bond over the things they have in common.
Prompt Ideas:
-Kataoka sometimes spends his days off going to Karuta matches. Oe has grown up and become a reader. They meet at a tournament and things move from there.
-Literally anything where either one of them impresses the other with literature references and they bond over that.
-Kataoka comes to Oe's family store to purchase some traditional clothes for Plot Reasons. Oe sells to him / fits him for clothing / teaches him how to wear what he's purchasing.
-Traditional Japanese tea ceremony featuring Kataoka and Oe, I just want to see them in a situation with very particular standards of conduct and Oe pouring the tea would be nice.
-Mafia AU. Kataoka is head of a crime family and Oe is the arranged marriage trophy wife who isn't actually a trophy wife, Oe is far more capable and involved in The Family Business than she's given credit for. And she likes it that way.
-Tattoo Artist Oe AU. Bonus points for yakuza Kataoka. I just want Oe designing beautiful tattoos based off of literature and positioning them in the ideal way to flow with the architecture of a person's body, and I want her and Kataoka to talk about tattoo meanings.
Thank you so much for writing for me in this exchange. I'm a little bit sorry for my signup, which boils down to "I really hope you like Tanba and cross-fandom crackpairs because BOY DO I LOVE THEM." You're a trooper for getting matched with someone as ridiculous as I am and for trying to make me something nice in spite of that, haha.
For once, I made my signup itself pretty comprehensive. I wrote a little bit about the dynamic I see between each ship I requested, and for most of my requests I also gave a few prompts for scenarios I think would be fun to read about. If any of those things inspire you, great! If you have your own super awesome idea for one of these ships, that's also great! As long as you consider the things I like and avoid everything I really dislike, I'm sure I'll love whatever you create.
That said, the things I would prefer to absolutely not see in fanwork are the following: gratuitous angst for angst's sake, rape, abuse, physical assault, terminal or mental illnesses, homophobia as a plot device, jealousy as a plot device, pregnancy or child-rearing, and foot fetishes.
If you'd like a little more information on my tastes, please read this post about things I like and dislike seeing in fanfiction. In general, I love character-focused stories, strong narrative voices, thoughtful pacing, experimental plot structures (if you think you can pull it off), innovative language and vivid descriptions, and anything that plays with reader expectations only to subvert them in interesting ways.
In terms of content, I love themes about friendship and teamwork, rivalry and competition; I love explorations of leadership, authority, and mentorship, and I love to see power dynamics and mindgames playing out between characters. I love really fraught, tense relationships where characters challenge and push each other, but I also love quiet moments between characters with a focus on caretaking and domesticity.
In my sign-up, I put down that I'm fine with receiving manga spoilers, or with my creator avoiding them. This is true, but at the time of writing this letter I am anime-only. I'm not fussed about manga facts turning up in a story for me, but I would rather not receive something that's entirely focused around a single manga-only event. I'm just not interested in that kind of really strict-to-canon story in general.
If you'd like to write something compatible with canon, I gave a lot of prompts for that and I do love pre-canon explorations, future fic, and getting together stories. On the other hand, if you're even passingly interested in writing an AU, boy would I love to read one!! Please consider reading this post about the kinds of AUs I like and what I like to see in them, though the cliff notes version is: fantasy, science fiction, anything to do with crime (yakuza, mob, police, spies).
Anyway, this is all of the general stuff! I'm not going to expand on my prompts besides what I put in my sign-up, I just wanted the space to give my creator a little more comprehensive an idea of my taste. But on the off-chance you would like just one place to refer back to, all of my prompts are under the cut. Thanks again for writing for me!
Furuya/Tanba:
I find it really interesting how similar Tanba and Furuya actually are as characters. They're each pitchers who become the ace for the team, each socially isolated and arguably shy when they come to Seidou but also each determined to be strong for the team. I think Furuya and Tanba would be able to understand each other really well, and I'd like to see that.
Prompt ideas:
-Anything with Tanba mentoring Furuya more as a pitcher and growing from there. There's one scene where he gives Furuya advice about how to deal with Miyuki (blame him for things that go wrong, otherwise ignore him) and I want more of that and to see what that could become.
-Anything focusing on the pressure of being the ace and blossoming from that kind of common ground.
-Something with Furuya and Tanba staying in touch after Tanba graduates; I feel like Furuya doesn't initially seem the type to write and make phone calls but that friendship is so unfamiliar to him that he really would make the effort; give me long distance relationship.
-Literally anything where they kiss or sleep together I'm so serious, I thought about this ship once by accident and now I think it would be really sweet and supportive and I want to see that content.
-AUs! I'm always going to ask for AUs, especially ones where they're in positions that are just naturally tough and intimidating.
Ryousuke/Tanba:
Ryousuke is someone Tanba has known since his first year at Seidou, when all of their year was struggling to perform up to par. I like that they have this level of history, and that they will have seen each other grow into the formidable players they've become. I also love that they have such a contrast in personality; Ryousuke is sharp and merciless and self-assured, whereas Tanba still has a level of shyness and vulnerability underneath the tough ace exterior he's built for himself. Mostly, I love Ryousuke having a perfect read on Tanba and bullying the heck out of him because that's just, what he does, it's out of fondness, Ryousuke teases you because he likes you.
Prompt ideas:
-First year fic! I want to see Tanba and Ryousuke interacting before Ryousuke is quite so confident, and while Tanba is still a shy, nervous mess.
-Get together fic! I'd love to see how two people who are quite so stoic or aloof as them manage to start a relationship; they each have a facade that's the face they present to their team and to the public and I want to see them getting around that.
-Literally anything with Ryousuke teasing Tanba to provoke reactions, I am a creature of simple needs and it's my favorite thing.
-Any AU where Ryousuke has some sort of important position and Tanba is his stern-faced but soft-spoken bodyguard.
Miyuki/Tanba:
The thing I find most interesting about Miyuki and Tanba's relationship is that Tanba expresses outright his dislike for Miyuki and is transparent in his unwillingness to work with him as a catcher. I love that Miyuki seems to view this more as a challenge than as an insult, and that he works hard to earn Tanba's respect and to build a successful battery with him. I'd love to see this translated from the context of baseball into the context of a relationship.
Prompt ideas:
-Get together fic (it's always get together fic) focusing on what Miyuki has to do to get Tanba to even give him the time of day. Because Miyuki is definitely the pursuer in this circumstance.
-The fic where, under whatever circumstance, Tanba is the romantic pursuer. I feel like this would be far more uncommon with them (and with Tanba in general) so I'd love to see how that version of events comes about and plays out.
-Hatemance. I just really want the fic where Tanba's head says "I dislike this person and want nothing more to do with him than I have to" but his libido says "fucking go for it." Bonus points for Miyuki being entirely aware that Tanba doesn't LIKE him and reveling in the fact that Tanba is going to say yes to him anyway.
-Straight up FWB fic in general. The version of events where they figure out their battery and figure out how to sleep with each other along the way. It might not be romantic love but they worked out how to work with each other.
-Something paralleling the respect both Tanba and Miyuki clearly feel for Chris would be lovely. I'd like to see them bonding over the degree of respect and admiration they each have for Chris and reaching common ground through that. (though I'd prefer Miyuki's feelings not be portrayed as romantic; I prefer my chrismiyu entirely platonic.)
-AUs! I always have to mention that I love AUs.
Furuya/Miyuki/Eijun:
My ship of ships, the OT3 of my heart, my original most beloved pairing in daiya. I love the relationship in canon between each pair of these three characters and I love how they work together. I love the different ways in which Eijun and Furuya are each stubborn and difficult to work with, and I love that for Miyuki this is an ATTRACTION. I love that he sees them as a challenge and wants to rise to meet it, wants to make them better as pitchers and as people. I see Miyuki as very poly and very unhappy with monogamous commitment, so I also love this ship because I see it as an arrangement that's just enough to keep him busy and occupied and happy with it.
Prompt Ideas:
-Anything contrasting how Miyuki handles Eijun versus how Miyuki handles Furuya.
-Miyuki decides to clicker train his pitchers as a joke. It works better than he expected. Eijun has no idea he's being trained and would shout about it if he realized but boy is it successful; Furuya actually just likes falling back on this thing which means he doesn't have to think about a lot of decisions that are hard — Miyuki has an answer for that.
-The usual poly fare focusing on how they make the relationship work, what's special between each pair, how they handle jealousy, how they handle dates, how they handle sex, what are some activities only two of them will do together that the third isn't especially interested in/fussed about. That stuff.
-Anything focusing on Miyuki having commitment and intimacy issues, bonus for having two boyfriends making that easier on him. Please give me Miyuki playing Eijun and Furuya off onto each other when he just, needs to exit the affection thing.
-AUs! I love AUs, please give me almost all manner of AU.
Kageyama/Oikawa/Miyuki/Furuya:
Think about it this way: you have two captains who style themselves as the mastermind for their team and who choose to play the position that best lets them call shots, and you have their terrifyingly talented, boneheaded, socially dim-witted kouhais. There are really interesting parallels to be made between furumiyu and oikage, ones that are more interesting for all the ways the two relationships are very, very different, and I want to read about all of that.
For this OT4 I will take literally anything you can give me, I want to see oimiyu as parallels to each other, I want to see how Miyuki gets along with Oikawa's kouhai and vice versa, I want to see whether Furuya and Kageyama hit it off or maybe get into some kind of a fight. I want to see them playing each other's sports. Meeting through some generalized athletic event. I want to see how the different fragments of the relationship work, and work together — which pair(s) get together first, how do they bridge newly forming relationships between the four of them, how do they manage jealousy within their little constellation.
I am genuinely so serious about this pairing and I wish I was joking, but, I'm not, I want to see content for it real bad.
Oikawa/Miyuki:
Miyuki and Oikawa are two of the same type of person and I think they'd get along like a house on fire. They each have a facade they present to people — Oikawa with his charming pretty-boy persona, Miyuki in his role as the trickster, the troublemaker, the guy with a bad sense of humor who wants to wind you up — while also understanding people quite intuitively underneath, and using their outer face as a way of gauging people and manipulating them into whatever behavior either of them wants. I want to see them taking this crack at each other, knowing they're being seen through but prodding at each other's workings anyway. I think they each have difficulty letting anyone get in too close to them, but that they could manage alright with each other because if someone is enough like you, is there really anything left to surprise them with?
I don't have prompts for this one, I just wanna see them run headgames on each other and then kiss, but boy oh boy do I love AUs and I'll take twenty of them. Crime AUs in particular would be great for these two.
Kataoka/Oe:
Kataoka teaches classical Japanese literature. Oe joins the Karuta team not out of an initial love of the game, but because of her love for the poetry itself. I'd like to see them bond over the things they have in common.
Prompt Ideas:
-Kataoka sometimes spends his days off going to Karuta matches. Oe has grown up and become a reader. They meet at a tournament and things move from there.
-Literally anything where either one of them impresses the other with literature references and they bond over that.
-Kataoka comes to Oe's family store to purchase some traditional clothes for Plot Reasons. Oe sells to him / fits him for clothing / teaches him how to wear what he's purchasing.
-Traditional Japanese tea ceremony featuring Kataoka and Oe, I just want to see them in a situation with very particular standards of conduct and Oe pouring the tea would be nice.
-Mafia AU. Kataoka is head of a crime family and Oe is the arranged marriage trophy wife who isn't actually a trophy wife, Oe is far more capable and involved in The Family Business than she's given credit for. And she likes it that way.
-Tattoo Artist Oe AU. Bonus points for yakuza Kataoka. I just want Oe designing beautiful tattoos based off of literature and positioning them in the ideal way to flow with the architecture of a person's body, and I want her and Kataoka to talk about tattoo meanings.