Just a general and optional reference for exchanges! I won't make huge changes to my DNWs between exchanges, just maybe add a couple things I remember I really like for inspiration! Please note that unless I have DNWed something in an exchange-official letter or sign-up, the DNWs here are optional. 💚 HumiliatedRook

General Likes and DNWs

Likes
General, genres, styles

Character and relationship studies!!!
- When both plot and character study are woven together that is excellent, but if I had to trade off one, I’ll take character study and anticlimactic character-driven or relationship-driven plots over anything
- Character moments through slice-of-life works really well here!
Canon fill-ins
Adventure, angst, but for the most part I'm okay with sad endings, too!), canon-typical plots, fantasy, sci-fi, humor/comedy, mysteries, casefic, romance, slice of life, domestic, fluff, hurt/comfort, emotional whump
Endings that are happy, peaceful, reflective/bittersweet, open/ambiguous, angsty (preferences for specific prompts when specified; specific angsty DNWs specified when relevant)
Expanded or missing scenes
Parallels and canon callbacks
Bonding and building relationships
x+1 times
AUs (unless otherwise specified): canon divergences; canon infused with magic/fantasy/sci-fi (telepathy, time loops, etc); fusions or genre shifts (mythology/god, Harry Potter, etc); tropes (roommates, neighbors), the rest (mall, coffeeshop, restaurant, modern, regency, epic fantasy, etc)
- In an AU I love epic world-building but it’s definitely not a requirement! A slice of the world or just a single scene is cool, too
G through E rating acceptable

Details

Couples at any stage of their romantic relationship making each other better, explicitly and subconsciously, and picking up each other's habits. Also, the conflict of good intentions gone wrong, miscommunications, etc.
Competence, drive, ambition, and characters in their element (or their path to getting to competence).
(Eventual) genuine affection and respect belying snark, teasing, banter, antagonism, humor, sarcasm
Mythological (any pantheon or culture or religion works) or literary references
Exploration or allusions to philosophy, physics, math, science, engineering
Motifs and symbols, like recurring common objects that people don’t usually pay attention to, like a scrapbook or a necklace or a ring
Collections of objects
Epistolary elements (letters, texts/emails/digital communication, published material)
Written gore for dark!characters and dark!universes (without glorifying violence)
Dreams, haunting spirits from the past, time travel to meet a different version of oneself
Details about side characters, including background pairings
Characters of color having independence (being conscious of racial dynamics in inter-racial friendships or romances)
Introspection, character-defining choices (dealing with even non-canonical character illness and death are fine!)
Worldbuilding, description, detail for setting, emotions, etc
- History, especially in period dramas
- Current events, latest fashion trends, favorite foods, zeitgeist things, etc, and how they might affect the characters
People sharing their expertise/hobbies (including you, writer!). Go full pretentious on your knowledge base, or niche hobby. I’ll love it. I adore how my first-ever ship (Beth/Benny) click over chess, but I'd also love an AU where they connect over something else, like computer science or medicine or law or baseball or backgammon or Go or libraries or books or piano or orchestra or ANYTHING. REALLY, I’ll love all the detail you can add. My love for detail also applies to other ships and fandoms.

Gen relationships

Found family or family feels: the complexity that is the dynamic between diverse, powerful people; group-dynamic competence porn
Conflicts/complexity added to the friendship: what pushes or evolves a friendship beyond what we see in canon? What happens when characters act selfishly or miss an important detail?
Female friendships, but also all kinds of friendships with inside jokes, loyalty, mutual admiration and respect and pride in each other, betting pools, roughhousing/physical affection
People bringing unique skill sets/powers to the table (and then finding cool combinations for their skills/powers)
Plots/heists planned and executed
Small hiccups and conflicts
Wishes, superstitutions
Snark and teasing and even outright antagonism

Romantic relationships

Pre-relationship and getting together plots
- Pining/yearning/longing (can be mutual), the gamut of unresolved to resolved sexual tension, romantic almosts (kissing, having sex), flirting, lingering touches, denial, interrupted (almost) kisses and intense moments, veiled confessions, “I love you” confessions (especially during an intense moment/fight/sex); the buildup and/or aftermath of "I love you"; defining ambiguous romantic relationships
- [Enemies/rivals to] friends to lovers and all the banter and antagonism that comes with it
- Enemies/rivals/friends with benefits catching feelings
- And there was only one [critically scarce resource]
- Fake dating, secret dating, slow burns, marriage of convenience
- Time looping together leads to realizations!
- “We just kissed/slept together/did something unmistakably romantic and it might be a really bad idea, but we’re definitely not gonna do it again,” and then they absolutely do it again.
- Finding the way back to someone after breaking up
Established relationships
- Spending time together: studying together, late-night or early morning walks, grocery shopping, picking up habits or quirks from each other ("oh god am I turning into you??"), surprise visits, road trips/traveling
- “Taking the next step” questions: do we move in together? If I propose marriage, when and how?
- Simple demonstrations of affection through small actions, gifts, attention, photographs
  - Attempts to try things out of comfort zone, with varying mileage of success: planning a party, surprises, novel date ideas, etc.
  - Saying or demonstrating "I love you" without actually saying "I love you"
- "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue"
- Trust when others might not trust
- “I’m mad at you but I can’t help smiling because I love you anyway”
- Creative or unusual kisses
- Bonding and time together

Smut

I'm pretty vanilla in terms of kinks, but most positions work for me!
Teasing!!!
- Banter, hand/mouth stuff, solo action, lots of foreplay, striptease
Minor/fully consensual powerplay dynamics: light D/S, playing games, silence, obedience, restraints, fighting, surprise, choking, rough sex (hate sex, quick and dirty sex, angry sex), hair pulling, holding each other down, losing control, leaving marks
Characterization
Feelings: show me how close characters are and how they feel, discovering each other
- Competitiveness, can’t-hold-back (not making it to the bed), romance, trust, enthusiasm, intensity, tenderness, vulnerability, desperation, desire to please (hand/mouth exploration), laughing/having fun with it, angst, happiness, conflict, jealousy, surprise, hate, jealousy, ambiguity (can’t make out expressions, or feelings)
- Alternatively, fantasies and dreams (especially when compared to reality!)
Environment/sensory experiences
- Attention to jewelry
- Mirrors

Art/visual

Portraits
- Symbolism through position or objects or outfits
- I enjoy characters that are dynamic or in motion, but that’s not a requirement
- Moods: any but especially combative/tough/fierce/strong or affectionate
Art sliced from the universe
- Photographs they take, candid photographs of them, newspaper articles/headlines, moments in time or snapshots
Action sequences
Any narrative likes, including and especially AU versions of characters
Abstract expressionist backgrounds to represent emotions
Dramatic/contrasting lighting
Unconventional or dramatic perspectives (aerial, side profile, etc)
Details on outfits (especially pretty or unusual!) and facial expressions
Landscapes/cityscapes that give backdrops for details/expansions/worldbuilding/seasons
Accurate human anatomy (non-nsfw)
Colors: glowing and rich tones and palettes, grayscale, minimal palettes, sepia, monochromatic, black and white with some color as accent, blues, reds, deep purple and bright green combo, color symbolism
Highly stylized things: art nouveau, art deco, tarot, medieval manuscripts, high fashion sketches, pop art, graffiti art, hyperrealism/oil painting hyperrealism with bright colors, comic art, geometric designs and mosaics, Greek vase painting and other classical/ancient/traditioanl styles
Medium: anything, traditional, digital, etc
Layout: anything
Moods: anything

DNWs

General, genres, styles

I prefer no first-person POV except for epistolary/non-fiction text
The following AUs: A/B/O, soulmate/soulmark AUs, society is organized around kink-based identities/preferences

Details, relationships

Character-bashing
Marriage infidelity (more casual, non-serious relationship infidelity is fine)
Pregnancy or parenting or accidental acquisition of non-canonical children for requested ships (babysitting is fine)

Smut

Explicit and/or extreme (16 or younger) underage relationships or sex, one-sided nsfw fantasies about underage characters
Owner/slave, teacher/student, majorly unbalanced power dynamics or significant age gaps unless ship is requested
Incest
Rape or noncon
Emphasis on the sexiness of genitalia size or breast size or virginity
Abuse, age regression, “fuck or die,” BDSM, anal, pegging, body swap for smut purposes, gore/violence for smut purposes, roleplay (petplay, disability, etc), foot worship, more than two people involved/orgies, getting caught/public exhibitionism (sneaking off in a public area to a secret location is fine), humiliation, voyuerism, pain, furry/plushies/tentacles, genital torture, sex pollen/curses, scat/watersports, raceplay

Art and visual

Excessive floral motifs, nsfw, gore/violence, leaning too much into anime/manga/chibi (influences are fine!), digital edits, animation concept art, human characters as anthropomorphic objects or animals

The Queen’s Gambit (TV)

Jump to: fandom preferences and DNWs

Fandom preferences (no obligation to include any of these!)

Details
- References to real-life chess players (time-period-accurate is awesome but as someone who has tried this before, it’s freaking hard)
- In this US- and Euro-centric period drama, I really wish there had been more diversity that reflects the chess landscape then and today. If you write side chess players or characters, I’d love to know what countries they come from, as well as what cultures or styles they bring to the TQG universe. They don’t need to be central characters; I’ll just be happy imagining the range of skin tones and cultures.
- If you write chess, I love the emotions of a game. Even metaphors (no matter how overdone you think they are!) and small chess details are great – I’ll love anything written about the game, really. Be insanely creative! (Or just make chess a background thing, I love that too.)
Background ships
- Beth/Benny, Hilton/Arthur, Hilton/Arthur/Cleo, Jolene/Other Characters, Matt/Levertov, Townes/Roger, canon relationships
- Friendships: Beth & Everyone, Everyone & Everyone

Fandom-specific DNWs

If Beth and Benny appear, I would prefer they end up either together (background is okay) or with no one at all. Beth's canon relationships (past Beth/Harry, past Beth/Tim, and one-sided Beth/Townes) are fine!
Real-life chess players appearing but demonstrating even period-typical sexism/racism/other villainous characteristics unless there is historical evidence. If they're competitive or analyzing Beth's strengths and weaknesses, that's more than fine. If you want to write sexism/racism/etc, please use a fictional or OC chess player.
Beth collecting friends as “trophies” or people accusing her of such; the Moscow Invitational making Beth World Champion; any American TQG character defecting; international players defecting unless their family accompanies them; sexual violence; physically abusive backstories; race-bending characters. If you read my past letters, I’ve DNWed specific relationships for Townes, Jolene, and Annette, but I am flexible here!

Encanto (2021)

Jump to: fandom preferences and DNWs

Fandom preferences (no obligation to include any of these!)

Details about Colombian culture!! Village celebrations and traditions; coming-of-age celebrations; how weddings work.

Fandom-specific DNWs

Changing the Madrigals' heritage to another ethnicity/country/history. I'd prefer to keep it rooted in Colombia.
Alma’s alienation of her family isn’t to be excused, but I don’t really enjoy seeing her bashed or painted as an unforgivable villain or having to continue to apologize for her past actions more than we see in canon. Productive bonding or spending time together is sufficient for me.
A canon-divergence AU where they don’t get their gifts back at the end
Physical or extreme emotional abuse/neglect

Doctor Who (2005)

Jump to: fandom preferences and DNWs

Fandom preferences (no obligation to include any of these!)

So, Doctor Who canon is a LOT - I find things to love about every era I've seen, so I am happy to bend to your perspective of characters and canon.

Fandom-specific DNWs

Rose becoming permanently immortal.
Doctor/Companion romances besides Rose, one-sided past Martha, and River Song.

Eternals (2021)

Jump to: fandom preferences and DNWs

Fandom preferences (no obligation to include any of these!)

Descriptions of ASL
Sympathy (not excuses) for all the major Eternals, including Ajak, Ikaris, and Sprite.
I like Sersi, but I don’t ship her with anyone and am happy when she’s alone. I don’t really care for Dane as a character, so if you include him, I prefer he be in the background.

Fandom-specific DNWs

Please keep the universe specific to Eternals, with no or minimum wider MCU references, although references or lore from the Eternals comics I appreciate! Non-canon established relationships are welcome, but for requested ships I would prefer they stay with the person I specified or no one at all.