Dear Yuletide Writer, 2014
Hello, lovely fellow Yuletider! I’m really happy that we’ve been matched. You obviously have excellent taste, since you’ve offered one of my fandoms. ;) But seriously, thank you for writing for me, and I’m really excited to see what you create. You’re awesome. ♥
Things I love: adventures, falling in love (especially when the characters don’t realise that’s what they’re doing), unreliable narrators, slow build, characters with plans, characters with plans that go wrong, characters in love who have difficulty making the first move (particularly if the person they're pining for is in love with them too and having similar troubles), epistolary fic, teasing, snark, established relationships (particularly the old-marriedness and cosy bits), kissing, thorough kissing, worldbuilding, magic, working through problems, laughter and derailments and affection during sex, cuddling, domesticity, happy endings. ( More porn likes, if that’s your thing.)
Dislikes and squicks: character-bashing (I adore all the characters I’ve nominated), gore, scat, torture, bestiality, under-age sex, incest, non-con. Also, I’m a vegan. This isn’t a big deal usually - feel free to have people eating cheeseburgers in the background or whatever. It’s only a squick for me if the eating of animals is graphic, dwelt on at length, and/or raw.
On to the fandoms and ships!
(Final note: I’m trying something slightly different this Yuletide, which is to be relatively concise. Feel free to check out earlier exchange letters to get a fuller sense of things/situations/plotbunnies I like, if you’re into that. :) Many of my plotbunnies and general likes could easily carry over into other fandoms.)
♥ ♥ ♥
~//~
FANDOM NUMBER ONE:
Honor Harrington Series - David Weber
Characters: Shannon Foraker, Michelle Henke
SPOILERS BELOW
Michelle Henke and Shannon Foraker are my favourite characters in this series - although I love lots of people in it - and I just love the idea of them being in a relationship (or a friendship, if you are a gen writer). I think their personalities would work really well together, and they’d be a formidable force to help Manticore and Haven transform themselves into allies.
It’d be hard for you to go wrong with these two. :) Either falling-in-love (gen option: becoming friends) or established relationship works for me. Also, whenever you want to set a Shannon & Michelle story, that's great with me - I'm equally happy with a fic that slots into the canon timeline, or one that either looks into the future or has a canon-divergence to have them meet earlier/differently.
Ideas: Michelle showing Shannon around Manticoran technology? Michelle introducing Shannon to Elizabeth and/or Honor? Shannon being all tacticially-awesome (sorry, I am not tactically-awesome, but I love reading about it) and wowing Michelle? Worldbuilding starring the two of them? A look at how good (or bad) the two of them are at diplomacy? Porn? Everything is good. :) I love five-times fic, and cultural differences, and domestic moments. I love solving mysteries, and grace under pressure, and banter, and waking up in bed together. I love cuddling, and porn, and laughter during sex. I especially love how Shannon & Michelle have very different strengths, so a story that highlighted that could be really cool - maybe they're teaching a seminar or running a battle simulation together/against each other, or something like that? I also have this idea of one of them writing (or dictating?) a journal article, with the other chiming in with corrections/additions.
Finally, one of my biggest issues with the Honor Harrington series is the absence of queer characters. Weber isn't anti-LGBT (he's no Orson Scott Card), and I believe Word of God is that Admiral Sarnow is gay and that will be revealed in a coming book, but Weber's done a pretty bad job of giving us queer characters so far. If you wanted to work some worldbuilding in as to what being queer in the HH universe would be like, that would be more than all right with me! (But don't feel the need to focus on that exclusively - in fact, I'd prefer there not to be an exclusive focus.)
♥ ♥ ♥
~//~
FANDOM NUMBER TWO:
Benjamin January Mysteries - Barbara Hambly
Characters: Dominique Janvier Viellard, Chloe Viellard
SPOILERS BELOW
I love the world of Benjamin January. It’s so rich and interesting. I love pretty much all the main characters, but the two I’m asking for here is Dominique and Chloe. I’m just really interested in their relationship. Chloe is very young when she marries Henri, and not only does she seem to be uninterested in a sexual relationship with him, she seems to be happy that he has Dominique and in fact befriends her.
I’d be happy reading these two however you see their relationship. If you write Chloe as an asexual lesbian who falls in love with Dominique, that’s great. If you write her as a sexual lesbian who gradually realizes she’s just as much in love with Dominique as Henri is, that’s great too. If you write the story of how they become platonic friends, I’d love that as well. If you write Henri succumbing to cholera and Dominique and Chloe later falling in love and moving away to Boston or somewhere to live together in scandalous happiness, that’s also wonderful. Falling-in-love romance (gen option: developing a close friendship) and plotty (or fluffy) established-relationship are both good with me. :) If you like mysteries and want to write one, go to town, but it’s not a necessity or anything.
Ideas: Perhaps Chloe and Dominique could collaborate on something, or one of them could teach the other about something they were especially good at. (I love how they have very different strengths!) Perhaps they could play a game together, while Minou's daughter plays on the floor with her baby toys. Perhaps they could solve a mystery - either a little domestic mystery, or a broader mystery (whether on their own or assisting Ben is both fine with me). Or tell me the story of how they fell in love! (I adore the friends-to-lovers trope SO much.) For this fandom, I'm open to first-person POV (from either woman) and/or epistolary fic, if your brain moves in either/both of those directions. (Not a requirement!) I also love the Mayerlings, and if you wanted to incorporate them somehow, feel free.
I love Chloe’s mind and curiosity, and Dominique’s sweetness. I love their entire personalities! Anything that keeps them them will make me very happy.
♥ ♥ ♥
~//~
FANDOM NUMBER THREE:
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café - Fannie Flagg
Characters: Idgie Threadgoode, Ruth Jamison
SPOILERS BELOW
I listened to this book on audiobook while at the gym, without having the slightest idea in advance of the plot. My face when I realized Idgie & Ruth were going to end up together must have been quite a picture! I love, love them, and I will love any fic you write me about them together. More about them falling in love/being in love? When Ruth comes back to town and moves in with Idgie? When they start the café together? Their different parenting styles? An adventure they had together? I love outside-POV, so if you wanted to tell me a story about Idgie & Ruth in the characteristic style of Dot Weems, I’d enjoy that a lot. Or if you want to look at the history of the time through the prism of Idgie & Ruth’s relationship, that’s great too!
I love five-times fic, and domesticity, and found-families (I love the found-family atmosphere of the café! Sipsey is one of my favorites), and intimate moments that are mundane (someone doing laundry, someone fixing food for someone, someone rubbing someone’s shoulders). I’d also love fic that explored Idgie’s alternate identity as Railroad Bill, and what that means for her and Ruth. And if you love Eva Bates as much as I do, feel free to include her as well. (Though oddly, while I’m usually all for threesomes, I only see Idgie/Ruth as a duo.)
[Note: I asked for book fic on purpose - I haven’t seen the movie, but I’ve been told that they change it so Ruth was in love with Idgie’s brother and never got over him, instead of Ruth being in love with Idgie. Needless to say, this is not a change I’m a fan of, and I’m a Ruth/Idgie shipper all the way. :)]
♥ ♥ ♥
~//~
FANDOM NUMBER FOUR:
Monstrous Regiment - Terry Pratchett
Characters: Sergeant Jackrum
SPOILERS BELOW
Sergeant Jackrum is my favorite character in Monstrous Regiment, although I also love pretty much all the regiment. First things first: pronouns! I am happy with a) an outside POV that uses male pronouns because the POV is only aware of him as a man, b) Jackrum identifying as a man, or c) Jackrum identifying as a woman who has assumed a male identity. Basically, I’m willing to go with what you feel Jackrum would identify as. I personally think of him with male pronouns, but I am also perfectly willing to read a fic with female pronouns. (My one request is that the story not be focused on Jackrum’s gender identity. I’m fine with whatever you pick, but a story that was all about Jackrum thinking about identity wouldn’t be for me.)
Okay, pronouns over. I would love basically any story about Jackrum. Perhaps you want to write about how she enlisted in the first place, and her early years. Or about how she first blackmailed/persuaded an officer to let her stay in post. Or about an unseen adventure over the years. Or, the beginning of Monstrous Regiment from his perspective, dealing with all the new recruits. Or really any part of Monstrous Regiment from his POV (I feel like his POV would be great!) Or about the meeting between him & his son’s family at the end of the book.
I love five-times fic, and characters with plans (especially if the plans go wrong and they have to improvise), and unreliable narrators, and worldbuilding, and “day in the life” stories, and adventures, and mysteries, and grappling with unfamiliar technology. I love Jackrum’s mentoring of the recruits in his own inimitable way. I love the way he deals with officers, and his schemes, and how frickin’ awesome he is at the end of the book. Tell me a story about Jackrum, and you will have a very happy recipient. :)
♥ ♥ ♥
~//~
Okay, hopefully I’ve kept to my resolution of being more concise this time, while still giving you enough info and ideas! If you still want more, do check out my other fandoms for ideas, and/or my past letters. A lot of my beloved tropes and plotbunnies are panfandom (with variations, of course, for the different beloved characters.)
Thank you again for offering to write one of these fandoms, dear writer! I know I’ll love your fic. Happy writing! ♥ ♥ ♥
Things I love: adventures, falling in love (especially when the characters don’t realise that’s what they’re doing), unreliable narrators, slow build, characters with plans, characters with plans that go wrong, characters in love who have difficulty making the first move (particularly if the person they're pining for is in love with them too and having similar troubles), epistolary fic, teasing, snark, established relationships (particularly the old-marriedness and cosy bits), kissing, thorough kissing, worldbuilding, magic, working through problems, laughter and derailments and affection during sex, cuddling, domesticity, happy endings. ( More porn likes, if that’s your thing.)
Dislikes and squicks: character-bashing (I adore all the characters I’ve nominated), gore, scat, torture, bestiality, under-age sex, incest, non-con. Also, I’m a vegan. This isn’t a big deal usually - feel free to have people eating cheeseburgers in the background or whatever. It’s only a squick for me if the eating of animals is graphic, dwelt on at length, and/or raw.
On to the fandoms and ships!
(Final note: I’m trying something slightly different this Yuletide, which is to be relatively concise. Feel free to check out earlier exchange letters to get a fuller sense of things/situations/plotbunnies I like, if you’re into that. :) Many of my plotbunnies and general likes could easily carry over into other fandoms.)
♥ ♥ ♥
~//~
FANDOM NUMBER ONE:
Honor Harrington Series - David Weber
Characters: Shannon Foraker, Michelle Henke
SPOILERS BELOW
Michelle Henke and Shannon Foraker are my favourite characters in this series - although I love lots of people in it - and I just love the idea of them being in a relationship (or a friendship, if you are a gen writer). I think their personalities would work really well together, and they’d be a formidable force to help Manticore and Haven transform themselves into allies.
It’d be hard for you to go wrong with these two. :) Either falling-in-love (gen option: becoming friends) or established relationship works for me. Also, whenever you want to set a Shannon & Michelle story, that's great with me - I'm equally happy with a fic that slots into the canon timeline, or one that either looks into the future or has a canon-divergence to have them meet earlier/differently.
Ideas: Michelle showing Shannon around Manticoran technology? Michelle introducing Shannon to Elizabeth and/or Honor? Shannon being all tacticially-awesome (sorry, I am not tactically-awesome, but I love reading about it) and wowing Michelle? Worldbuilding starring the two of them? A look at how good (or bad) the two of them are at diplomacy? Porn? Everything is good. :) I love five-times fic, and cultural differences, and domestic moments. I love solving mysteries, and grace under pressure, and banter, and waking up in bed together. I love cuddling, and porn, and laughter during sex. I especially love how Shannon & Michelle have very different strengths, so a story that highlighted that could be really cool - maybe they're teaching a seminar or running a battle simulation together/against each other, or something like that? I also have this idea of one of them writing (or dictating?) a journal article, with the other chiming in with corrections/additions.
Finally, one of my biggest issues with the Honor Harrington series is the absence of queer characters. Weber isn't anti-LGBT (he's no Orson Scott Card), and I believe Word of God is that Admiral Sarnow is gay and that will be revealed in a coming book, but Weber's done a pretty bad job of giving us queer characters so far. If you wanted to work some worldbuilding in as to what being queer in the HH universe would be like, that would be more than all right with me! (But don't feel the need to focus on that exclusively - in fact, I'd prefer there not to be an exclusive focus.)
♥ ♥ ♥
~//~
FANDOM NUMBER TWO:
Benjamin January Mysteries - Barbara Hambly
Characters: Dominique Janvier Viellard, Chloe Viellard
SPOILERS BELOW
I love the world of Benjamin January. It’s so rich and interesting. I love pretty much all the main characters, but the two I’m asking for here is Dominique and Chloe. I’m just really interested in their relationship. Chloe is very young when she marries Henri, and not only does she seem to be uninterested in a sexual relationship with him, she seems to be happy that he has Dominique and in fact befriends her.
I’d be happy reading these two however you see their relationship. If you write Chloe as an asexual lesbian who falls in love with Dominique, that’s great. If you write her as a sexual lesbian who gradually realizes she’s just as much in love with Dominique as Henri is, that’s great too. If you write the story of how they become platonic friends, I’d love that as well. If you write Henri succumbing to cholera and Dominique and Chloe later falling in love and moving away to Boston or somewhere to live together in scandalous happiness, that’s also wonderful. Falling-in-love romance (gen option: developing a close friendship) and plotty (or fluffy) established-relationship are both good with me. :) If you like mysteries and want to write one, go to town, but it’s not a necessity or anything.
Ideas: Perhaps Chloe and Dominique could collaborate on something, or one of them could teach the other about something they were especially good at. (I love how they have very different strengths!) Perhaps they could play a game together, while Minou's daughter plays on the floor with her baby toys. Perhaps they could solve a mystery - either a little domestic mystery, or a broader mystery (whether on their own or assisting Ben is both fine with me). Or tell me the story of how they fell in love! (I adore the friends-to-lovers trope SO much.) For this fandom, I'm open to first-person POV (from either woman) and/or epistolary fic, if your brain moves in either/both of those directions. (Not a requirement!) I also love the Mayerlings, and if you wanted to incorporate them somehow, feel free.
I love Chloe’s mind and curiosity, and Dominique’s sweetness. I love their entire personalities! Anything that keeps them them will make me very happy.
♥ ♥ ♥
~//~
FANDOM NUMBER THREE:
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café - Fannie Flagg
Characters: Idgie Threadgoode, Ruth Jamison
SPOILERS BELOW
I listened to this book on audiobook while at the gym, without having the slightest idea in advance of the plot. My face when I realized Idgie & Ruth were going to end up together must have been quite a picture! I love, love them, and I will love any fic you write me about them together. More about them falling in love/being in love? When Ruth comes back to town and moves in with Idgie? When they start the café together? Their different parenting styles? An adventure they had together? I love outside-POV, so if you wanted to tell me a story about Idgie & Ruth in the characteristic style of Dot Weems, I’d enjoy that a lot. Or if you want to look at the history of the time through the prism of Idgie & Ruth’s relationship, that’s great too!
I love five-times fic, and domesticity, and found-families (I love the found-family atmosphere of the café! Sipsey is one of my favorites), and intimate moments that are mundane (someone doing laundry, someone fixing food for someone, someone rubbing someone’s shoulders). I’d also love fic that explored Idgie’s alternate identity as Railroad Bill, and what that means for her and Ruth. And if you love Eva Bates as much as I do, feel free to include her as well. (Though oddly, while I’m usually all for threesomes, I only see Idgie/Ruth as a duo.)
[Note: I asked for book fic on purpose - I haven’t seen the movie, but I’ve been told that they change it so Ruth was in love with Idgie’s brother and never got over him, instead of Ruth being in love with Idgie. Needless to say, this is not a change I’m a fan of, and I’m a Ruth/Idgie shipper all the way. :)]
♥ ♥ ♥
~//~
FANDOM NUMBER FOUR:
Monstrous Regiment - Terry Pratchett
Characters: Sergeant Jackrum
SPOILERS BELOW
Sergeant Jackrum is my favorite character in Monstrous Regiment, although I also love pretty much all the regiment. First things first: pronouns! I am happy with a) an outside POV that uses male pronouns because the POV is only aware of him as a man, b) Jackrum identifying as a man, or c) Jackrum identifying as a woman who has assumed a male identity. Basically, I’m willing to go with what you feel Jackrum would identify as. I personally think of him with male pronouns, but I am also perfectly willing to read a fic with female pronouns. (My one request is that the story not be focused on Jackrum’s gender identity. I’m fine with whatever you pick, but a story that was all about Jackrum thinking about identity wouldn’t be for me.)
Okay, pronouns over. I would love basically any story about Jackrum. Perhaps you want to write about how she enlisted in the first place, and her early years. Or about how she first blackmailed/persuaded an officer to let her stay in post. Or about an unseen adventure over the years. Or, the beginning of Monstrous Regiment from his perspective, dealing with all the new recruits. Or really any part of Monstrous Regiment from his POV (I feel like his POV would be great!) Or about the meeting between him & his son’s family at the end of the book.
I love five-times fic, and characters with plans (especially if the plans go wrong and they have to improvise), and unreliable narrators, and worldbuilding, and “day in the life” stories, and adventures, and mysteries, and grappling with unfamiliar technology. I love Jackrum’s mentoring of the recruits in his own inimitable way. I love the way he deals with officers, and his schemes, and how frickin’ awesome he is at the end of the book. Tell me a story about Jackrum, and you will have a very happy recipient. :)
♥ ♥ ♥
~//~
Okay, hopefully I’ve kept to my resolution of being more concise this time, while still giving you enough info and ideas! If you still want more, do check out my other fandoms for ideas, and/or my past letters. A lot of my beloved tropes and plotbunnies are panfandom (with variations, of course, for the different beloved characters.)
Thank you again for offering to write one of these fandoms, dear writer! I know I’ll love your fic. Happy writing! ♥ ♥ ♥