A lot of the ships I’ve requested imply either magic or a vaguely historical setting, so this section is about what I like if you intend to go into that direction.
I’m super into worldbuilding that includes stories and ballads and mythology. That is, a world that’s built with words and that recognizes the importance of that in peoples’ lives. I also like to see that used to highlight people’s relationship to their society’s past: do they agree with those values? Do they want to discover secrets about it? Combined with my love of formal experimentation and this is a blank check to include any poetry epic you want into the story.
When it comes to magic, I really like magical systems that either treat it as science or where magic is so commonplace there really isn’t a ‘system’ in place. Magic being used for mundane tasks and not being so flashy, you know? Magical realism, in the sense of stories where the marvelous happens and nobody bats an eye, is something I’m really into as well.
I’m very into stories set when a society is going through upheaval but maybe the characters can’t tell or maybe they’re not in the center of the stage. There are ideological conflicts, people demanding change, technological advancement, systems on the brink of collapse, weariness, etc.
I love swashbuckling adventures, heists, murder mysteries, stories about exploring ancient ruins, encounters with the supernatural, and ghost stories. The kind of story that includes somebody riding into the night carrying a desperate last message or a bundle with a mysterious baby. Or maybe a pretty girl running across the forest in her nightgown, illuminated only by the moonlight. Witchy rituals, cursed tomes or paintings, and towns with dark secrets are a fantastic addition.
If you want to write something more interpersonal, I love a good comedy of manners or court intrigue. Annoying aunts, aristocrats well-dressed but badly behaved, servants who are too done with this shit and are about to poison everybody, masquerade balls, and ennui.
As I said, I’m also very much into slice-of-life. You know, bringing a place back to life, rebuilding a life somewhere new, dealing with a family’s past, etc. I don’t know, the type of story that’s told in two timelines because the heiress has found her great-grandmother’s letters. Or the type of story that describes the garden in lots of detail and is set in an adorable cottage.