Yuletide Letter
Dear Yuletide Writer,
I've read and loved Yuletide stories for years, but this is the first year I've participated and not just benefited from the hard work of others. :-) Most of my fandoms have been bigger, sprawling, chaotic messes of creativity, so this solo approach is new to me...but what that means to me, I think, is that if you love what you're writing, that will shine through, so please follow your heart. I would rather read a brilliant story you loved writing than one trying to hit a checklist of my favourite things.
That being said, if you're looking for inspiration, here are a few of my favourite things:
Fic-Kinks
- Competency (kink, such a kink, omg)
- Respect
- Power dynamics (testing boundaries, defining relative status, all the way to SSC s/D if you so desire)
- Characters (they are why I love fandoms--I deeply appreciate plot, but I have to love the characters and the journey they're on in the story)
- Developing relationships (see also: characters)
- Conflict/Tension/Heartache (not angst for the sake of it, but legitimate obstacles that must be overcome)
- Slow build/Friends or colleagues becoming lovers (the journey!)
- Snark, sass, and banter (snarky characters are my Achilles heel)
- Slash (without a doubt, this is my comfort zone)
- Queerness (semi-recently I've been exposed to and really deeply appreciate reading respectful explorations of asexual and transgender romantic relationships--please don't think that interpreting a character as asexual would be in any way disappointing or unsatisfying for me)
- Magical/Ritual sex (IDEK, it is my secret shame and delight, I eat it up like popcorn)
- Biological imperative (much like the above...Veela, werewolves, going into heat, I find it addictive when approached well)
Anti-kinks
- Non-con (although I would bend this for a respectful treatment of a survivor if that is where you find yourself drawn)
- Torture (I cannot really handle it. Safe-Sane-Consensual BDSM does not fall into this category for me)
- Discrimination (misogyny, racism, homophobia etc.--again, unless it's there for a good reason necessary for the story, not condoned)
Disclosure
- There is not a lot I haven't written, I think...for various challenges, I've tried out mpreg, knotting, needle kink, crack!fic...in summary, I live in a glass house, and will not be throwing any stones. If you want to try something out, please consider me a safe place to try it.
- I also love podfic, so if you feel more comfortable reading aloud than posting your story, I would be overjoyed with either option.
- If you want to poke around to see what I like, my fics are here in my journal or here on Ao3, and my recs are here on del.icio.us.
- I am well over 18 and comfortable with any level of explicitness and adult content.
Fandom-specific
Exiles: I love Val and Alin, and their relationship. They are friends and lovers and partners, very different people but still equals with different strengths and talents and vulnerabilities, both a little broken by the world and their pasts, but unshakable in their relationship and faith/belief in one other. We only ever see them through the eyes of others in The Ruins of Ambrai, but so much is revealed through those glimpses of them together. Their backstory, or missing scenes, or a canon divergence...any of that would thrill me.
Swordspoint: ...A theme is going to develop here, wherein it's very, very obvious that I love the snarky high-caste character and low-caste swordman-who-loves-him pairings. I didn't realize it was quite that specific until just now, but there you go. Richard and Alec. I love them egregiously. You can just C&P the whole paragraph above and apply it here, honestly.
Matthew Swift: This is the only one of my fandoms that I don't have a pairing or relationship for, because what I love is Matthew himself (obviously with Angels On Board) and the world of the series, and how Matthew interacts with other characters and the world around him. I find Kelly delightful, and Dana amazing, and Penny as well, but you can go completely to town on this one and I will be beside myself no matter what.
Valdemar: I read Last Herald-Mage when I was still an adolescent, and I really do feel like my entire world changed. There were characters I could identify with, people just like me, and they could have lovers and partners and at the same time were not defined or limited by their sexuality in any way. That revelation and those two characters, Vanyel and Tylendel, are why that trilogy has such a special place in my heart, decades after I grew out of the teenage angst phase. They were so important to me, and they had so little time together. A divergence from canon where they get to be grown up and deal with whatever new challenges that brings would put me over the moon.
Necromancer Chronicles: This might have been the first actual novel I read featuring both a transgender character and polyamory, and I couldn't stop thinking about it. I loved the way it was handled, the emotional complexity and conflicted characters, the gradual build and shift and the messy tangle of feelings, and the physical negotiations and implications. I wanted to read another three novels just about Savedra, Ashlin, and Nikos. I have in fact pouted furiously at the lack of them in other books, because I want more. Any exploration of their unorthodox relationship and situation would be amazing.
If you have any questions, IP logging is off, please feel free to ask.
And thank you so much for writing. ♥
I've read and loved Yuletide stories for years, but this is the first year I've participated and not just benefited from the hard work of others. :-) Most of my fandoms have been bigger, sprawling, chaotic messes of creativity, so this solo approach is new to me...but what that means to me, I think, is that if you love what you're writing, that will shine through, so please follow your heart. I would rather read a brilliant story you loved writing than one trying to hit a checklist of my favourite things.
That being said, if you're looking for inspiration, here are a few of my favourite things:
Fic-Kinks
- Competency (kink, such a kink, omg)
- Respect
- Power dynamics (testing boundaries, defining relative status, all the way to SSC s/D if you so desire)
- Characters (they are why I love fandoms--I deeply appreciate plot, but I have to love the characters and the journey they're on in the story)
- Developing relationships (see also: characters)
- Conflict/Tension/Heartache (not angst for the sake of it, but legitimate obstacles that must be overcome)
- Slow build/Friends or colleagues becoming lovers (the journey!)
- Snark, sass, and banter (snarky characters are my Achilles heel)
- Slash (without a doubt, this is my comfort zone)
- Queerness (semi-recently I've been exposed to and really deeply appreciate reading respectful explorations of asexual and transgender romantic relationships--please don't think that interpreting a character as asexual would be in any way disappointing or unsatisfying for me)
- Magical/Ritual sex (IDEK, it is my secret shame and delight, I eat it up like popcorn)
- Biological imperative (much like the above...Veela, werewolves, going into heat, I find it addictive when approached well)
Anti-kinks
- Non-con (although I would bend this for a respectful treatment of a survivor if that is where you find yourself drawn)
- Torture (I cannot really handle it. Safe-Sane-Consensual BDSM does not fall into this category for me)
- Discrimination (misogyny, racism, homophobia etc.--again, unless it's there for a good reason necessary for the story, not condoned)
Disclosure
- There is not a lot I haven't written, I think...for various challenges, I've tried out mpreg, knotting, needle kink, crack!fic...in summary, I live in a glass house, and will not be throwing any stones. If you want to try something out, please consider me a safe place to try it.
- I also love podfic, so if you feel more comfortable reading aloud than posting your story, I would be overjoyed with either option.
- If you want to poke around to see what I like, my fics are here in my journal or here on Ao3, and my recs are here on del.icio.us.
- I am well over 18 and comfortable with any level of explicitness and adult content.
Fandom-specific
Exiles: I love Val and Alin, and their relationship. They are friends and lovers and partners, very different people but still equals with different strengths and talents and vulnerabilities, both a little broken by the world and their pasts, but unshakable in their relationship and faith/belief in one other. We only ever see them through the eyes of others in The Ruins of Ambrai, but so much is revealed through those glimpses of them together. Their backstory, or missing scenes, or a canon divergence...any of that would thrill me.
Swordspoint: ...A theme is going to develop here, wherein it's very, very obvious that I love the snarky high-caste character and low-caste swordman-who-loves-him pairings. I didn't realize it was quite that specific until just now, but there you go. Richard and Alec. I love them egregiously. You can just C&P the whole paragraph above and apply it here, honestly.
Matthew Swift: This is the only one of my fandoms that I don't have a pairing or relationship for, because what I love is Matthew himself (obviously with Angels On Board) and the world of the series, and how Matthew interacts with other characters and the world around him. I find Kelly delightful, and Dana amazing, and Penny as well, but you can go completely to town on this one and I will be beside myself no matter what.
Valdemar: I read Last Herald-Mage when I was still an adolescent, and I really do feel like my entire world changed. There were characters I could identify with, people just like me, and they could have lovers and partners and at the same time were not defined or limited by their sexuality in any way. That revelation and those two characters, Vanyel and Tylendel, are why that trilogy has such a special place in my heart, decades after I grew out of the teenage angst phase. They were so important to me, and they had so little time together. A divergence from canon where they get to be grown up and deal with whatever new challenges that brings would put me over the moon.
Necromancer Chronicles: This might have been the first actual novel I read featuring both a transgender character and polyamory, and I couldn't stop thinking about it. I loved the way it was handled, the emotional complexity and conflicted characters, the gradual build and shift and the messy tangle of feelings, and the physical negotiations and implications. I wanted to read another three novels just about Savedra, Ashlin, and Nikos. I have in fact pouted furiously at the lack of them in other books, because I want more. Any exploration of their unorthodox relationship and situation would be amazing.
If you have any questions, IP logging is off, please feel free to ask.
And thank you so much for writing. ♥