Dear Yuletide Author, 2015 Edition

[aegistheia]

Dear Yuletide Author,

Thank you for writing! You’re the bestest. I’ve plagiarized parts from my previous letter for the applicable bits and formatting, so don’t be alarmed if this looks somewhat familiar if/when you rifle through my journal.

Please behold this four-part letter for you! It’s archived on both Livejournal and Dreamwidth.

1. ABOUT ME
2. PREFERENCES
3. FANDOM-SPECIFIC TALK
  i. 7 Seeds
  ii. Paprika
  iii. Le Petit Prince
  iv. Neuromancer
  v. Gentlemen Bastard
4. HELPFUL STUFF MAYBE

---


1. ABOUT ME

Here are some general items of note about my fandom and fic reading approach, in no particular order:

• I LOVE READING FIC. I am so excited! You are going to do so well. I love you already. I love what you are going to write already. You are going to be okay. THANK YOU.


• I’m largely in fandom for relationships. That said, I’m primarily not a shipper. I love relationships in its basest definition: "the way in which two or more people, groups, countries, etc., talk to, behave toward, and deal with each other; ...the way in which two or more people or things are connected." (From the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.) I am interested in relationships of all sorts, be it familial, platonic, in service, physical, romantic, polyamorous, complicated, destined soul bond ~*beyond all time*~, etc. THE ENTIRE SPECTRUM OF POSSIBLE RELATIONSHIPS. So while I do read romantic and erotic fanfiction, it’s not my primary fare in most fandoms because I read everything that twigs my interest regardless of how the pairings/moresomes/lack thereof/gen cast pan out; as long as the relationships make sense in context of the story, I’m on board. When I do select shipfic to read I tend to prefer open relationships and/or polyamory. When I mention “relationship” in this letter, assume the broadest interpretation (i.e. characters interacting) unless I specify.


• Treasured fics that I reread all the time tend to be predominantly gen and/or plot/theme-focused.


• As long as a story portrays its characters and/or plot with coherent development throughout its run with intact internal logic, I can almost always be convinced to read it, even if it contains viewpoints and interpretations at vast odds with canon or general fanon or my own. This is also what’s getting me in trouble with my exponentially growing to-read list. So while I’ve given some guidelines/suggestions/prompts, please feel free to deviate without compunction. That said, I do have some things I prefer not to read right now. You will find them listed in PREFERENCES below, and some fandom-specific details in their relevant sections.


• I love seeing implications that characters have lives and relationships beyond the ones in focus in the story.


• I am down for crossovers and AUs like the ocean floor. Stories that reflect and contrast the original source’s main themes and/or plot in their alternate settings will render me into a puddle on the floor.


• I love stories that show respect for their characters. I also like reading stories where characters respect, or grow to respect, each other. Relationship development over time yes!

2. PREFERENCES

My cup of tea: Character interaction of any sort! Give me conflict, developed or developing! Slice of life with no conflict! Crack! Odd happenings! I like seeing characters bounce off each other with snappy dialogue and/or sarcastic narrative. I also like meditative moments filled with lyrical introspection. Family (especially found families) and platonic relationships make me squirm with delight. So do developing romance and sexual tension. Blatant respect makes me so happy. I’d love it if you shove them out the door on an adventure or lock them in their towns to putter about for the day! Hurt/comfort makes up a significant part of my id vortex’s event horizon.

NSFW: Consent. Sensory descriptions, sensual, loving, gentle, rough, descriptive, fade to black. Please don’t feel the need to write sex scenes, though; I enjoy them but I read them more as part of the story as a whole, and less for their own sake.

Not my cup of tea for this challenge: Infidelity or betrayals, unless directly relevant to story theme/development. Lack of communication in supposedly healthy relationships. Extreme embarrassment (I have a pretty sensitive embarrassment squick).

NSFW: Lack of consent. Dubcon is okay only if the negotiations beforehand are also included and consent is at least clearly implied. The word “cum”.


3. FANDOM-SPECIFIC TALK

1. 7 Seeds
   
   Requested characters: Nijiko, Shishigaki Ran
   Keywords: Mostly Gen, Respect, Character Exploration/Development, Worldbuilding, Coming of Age, Background Ensemble Fic?
   
   I adore 7 Seeds for its varied cast, well-researched environments, and ridiculously detailed worldbuilding! The author’s really showing her work. And the characters! I especially love the equal balance of trait spectra across the characters, how unrepentantly competent they are, and the inevitable conflicts that arise when strong-willed people with common goals and varied priorities walk together.
   
   As this story does focus on the importance of teamwork, I’d love to read about more or less anybody (ensemble fic welcome! But not required!) and the various (mis)adventures they might get into on such a potentially hostile world. I just ask that a bit more attention be paid to Nijiko and Ran. I’m also interested in their developing relationships with their teams and each other as they grow into themselves. I don’t ship these two ladies together, but I don’t mind being convinced if that’s the ship you’re aboard!
   
   I’ve finished volume 26, but I plan to catch up to volume 28 (or further, if more chapters in volume 29 becomes available to read), so feel free to explore through the entire course of the published series, or to extrapolate beyond.
   
   Random fact: I can’t actually choose a favourite character due to how much I love the entire ensemble cast, but I will fight to the death for Natsu being the patron saint of bravery.


2. Paprika
   
   Requested characters: Chiba Atsuko
   Keywords: Worldbuilding, Character Exploration/Development, Feminism, Optional crossovers
   
   How rarely do we see a woman as the most active person on a professional team! Please tell me more about Chiba Atsuko the career woman. Tell me how she developed Paprika as her dream alter ego, and how she came up with the theory of dream therapy. Tell me of her motives and her drives and her passions. Tell me of the lessons she learned as she made her way slowly through the ranks and obstacles of her profession, as she found the family that is her team, as she honed her skills and faced down obstacles in modern classist, sexist Japan. Tell me about her mistakes and her wounds and her triumphs. Tell me more, please.
   
   If you wish to incorporate other fandoms into this as a crossover (Inception was partially inspired by this, after all) then by all means! It doesn’t necessarily have to be a fandom I’m familiar with, either; all I ask is that it be accessible to anybody without prior knowledge of that fandom.
   
   Random fact: Parade by Hirosawa Susumu is one of my favourite songs in my entire music library.
   


3. Le Petit Prince
   
   Requested characters: Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince)
   Keywords: Wisdom, Life, de Saint-Exupéry’s graceful narrative style
   
   This is the first book I’d ever read that made me cry hard enough to sob. There’s something in the way de Saint-Exupéry writes that moves me in a way very few other books have managed.
   
   I dearly love every character in the book. I’d love to read any extension to the story from anybody’s perspective, as long as the Little Prince is involved in some way. Perhaps the reader is now the pilot, listening to the Prince share more of his stories. Or perhaps the reader is the Prince’s silent companion as he walks forward on his chosen path. All I’m really hoping for is more of that atmospheric heartbreak couched by wisdom.
   
   Random fact: “You become responsible, forever, for what you’ve tamed” remains to this day one of my guiding principles for life.


4. Neuromancer
   
   Requested characters: Molly Millions
   Keywords: Character Exploration/Development, Worldbuilding
   
   My lady of mysteries deserves a solid backstory. Please tell me more about her! Tell me about her motives, her wants and needs, her pleasures and her pains. Surprise me with some of her other exploits and plots. Build me a world through her mirror eyes. I don’t doubt she sees the Sprawl much differently compared to Case, as a woman. Intrigue and heist elements would also be massively welcome!
   
   I’ve finished Count Zero and am on schedule to finish Mona Lisa Overdrive before winter deepens much further, so please feel free to play around with the entire trilogy’s canon as desired.
   
   Random fact: More than anything, I appreciate the way William Gibson has put his finger on the cultural sources that became the revolution that is cyberpunk, as well as his efforts to flesh his universe out in such a global fashion.


5. Gentlemen Bastard
   
   Requested characters: Zamira Drakasha, Ezri Delmastro
   Keywords: Character Exploration/Development, Humour, Angst, Slice of Life, Scott Lynch’s irreverent writing style (i.e. lots of humour and swearing and layers within layers)
   
   MY LADIES. I’d love to read more about Zamira Drakasha and Ezri Delmastro at high sea, whether before they came across Red Messenger, during the events of Red Seas under Red Skies, or after, when they are picking up the pieces left behind. Please feel free to involve anybody else in this.
   
   I’ve finished The Republic of Thieves, so please explore the universe beyond that point if you wish.
   
   Random Fact: I’ve always imagined that the Captain and Lieutenant earned their Elderglass together... and that they had mutually and silently left the offensive weaponry to Lieutenant Del, and the defensive armour to the Captain. For reasons they’ve never spoken about with anyone else. Yes/no?

4. HELPFUL STUFF MAYBE

I keep accounts open on Tumblr (current primary), Livejournal, Dreamwidth, and AO3. I explore different fandoms on each account (except for DW, which is a backup of LJ); you are welcome to explore with impunity.

Here are some interesting things to get you started:

“But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.” - C. S. Lewis

“Power is the ability not just to tell the story of another person, but to make it the definitive story of that person.” -Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

“There is no such thing as a painless lesson.” - Fullmetal Alchemist, Arakawa Hiromu

-The sea doesn’t change as the earth changes;
it doesn’t lie.
You ask the sea, what can you promise me
and it speaks the truth; it says erasure.-
- Louise Glück, excerpt from March

Eg veit i himmerik ei borg by Sissel

---

I hope this was helpful! I’M SO EXCITED. Thanks again! Happy writing! I’ll see you come December!

Aegis