Dear Yuletide Writer
Dear Yuletide Writer,
Firstly, I would like to say thank you for the time and effort that you are willing to put into making me a wonderful winter-holiday gift :) I know I seem to have a lot more ideas for some fandoms than others but I would be ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTED to receive fic in any of the fandoms I asked for. Now, I suppose you are here looking for details, so without further ado…
GENERAL STUFF
Parings/Sex/Ratings:
Likes:
-SLASH
-Het and gen
-love-triangles
-All ratings up to R
-A focus on the romantic/emotional aspect of a relationship and some semblance of a plot/point rather than just sex.
-UST. Resolved is probably better than not, however, if "not" is more appropriate for the paring than that's great too.
Dislikes/Rather-Nots
-Femslash as a major focus (I don’t have a problem with it, I just don’t ship fem in these fandoms)
-Threesomes/moresomes and polyamory
-Incest (unless specifically asked for)
-Parings with large age disparity (over 15 years) unless specifically asked for
-Pedophilia (please keep minors in sexual relationships with adults 16 and over; if both partners are teens 14-15 is ok if treated appropriately.)
-NC-17 and PWPs
-BDSM and heavy kink (scat, watersports, bloodplay, necro, etc)
-Humiliation (both sexual and not)
-Non-con/rape (dub-con that leans toward/ends up as consensual is ok)
-MPreg
-Cross-dressing and genderbending/genderswap
-Bestiality.
Genres/Themes (and such):
I love angst! I LOVE hurt/comfort. Especially of the m/m variety ;) Fluff and mush are lovely. Cuddling/snuggling and adorable!fic are great too.
I definitely don’t mind things like Dark!fic and character death.
Humor is fine too. Give me adorable banter or - where appropriate - family and/or friendship fic and I’m sure you’ll put a smile on my face :) However, I’m not the biggest fan of crack!fic/parody. AUs of the “what if” variety are fine and I do enjoy well-done modernizations of historical (set pre-1850) fandoms, but not so much radical AUs that subvert the universe (genderswaping the cast, setting a modern fandom as a fairytale, turning a historical fandom all Sifi, etc).
I like well-rounded characters. Give me characters that have motives and feeling and don’t look like a stereotype cardboard cut-out. I really enjoy complicated relationships and relationship dynamics, especially if there is fodder for that in canon. I also realize that characterization is fairly up to interpretation but just don’t give me something obviously intentionally out of characters. PLEASE don’t bash any of my requested characters.
I find glorification and normalization of bullying (especially of children) very upsetting. Please don't excuse this sort of behavior. I don't think it would come up in these fandoms/requests but just in case.
I feel like most other things are fandome specific so…onward to the fandoms!
Impact (2008)
Characters Requested: Roland Emerson
HERE you can find links to where you can stream the canon.
This was such a fun and emotionally involving movie. Even with all of its faults and scientific flaws (which I hardly notice anyway since science isn’t my strong suit *cough*). I love Roland and I was really sad that he had to die, but it almost adds to the appeal of the character.
Ok let’s talk about Roland/Alex. I wasn’t even shipping this paring until…until the last 15 or so minutes of the movie happened. Alex’s idiotic heroism - “we’re not leaving anyone behind!” - and how strangely sad he looks on the flight back home when you’d think he’d be jumping for joy at having saved the planet and going back to his kids (and apparently the woman he’d had a crush on at least before but they just have no chemistry IMO). There is just something about this tense UST almost feeling that is there between them, especially when they make eye contact or smile at each other (like in that scene right before Roland is told they’ve found Martina). So I would love a shippy fic with them. For something pre-film... well they’ve obviously met each other before so, have they worked together? Did they, perhaps, meet as university students at some awesome international student conference? Seriously, whatever strikes your fancy. The only thing is: I love Martina. I really do and I thought she and Roland were really cute in the movie so I would appreciate it if there was as little actual cheating as possible (like…emotional cheating within the movie canon timeline is alright if treated sensitively). Basically, what I mean, I guess, is I’d rather Martina not be tossed aside with little thought. She’s obviously a huge part of Roland’s life in the movie and he loves her, I don’t want that to be nullified.
As a gen or het-leaning option: I would love to read about Roland’s feelings during the lunar mission or before it, while they are still figuring out what to do with the situation. Maybe a character study piece or his college days (with badass OCs if you’d like!) Also, he and Martina are gonna have a baby and Roland seems really happy about this but I can just imagine that after the whole “yay!” reaction wears off he’d think about it and be like “oh-oh I have no idea what to do with a baby” because, well, Roland is one of those workaholic types who has a really hard time growing up and you know…being responsible and mature and doing ~settled down things.
I’m not, however, looking for a full-blown het romance fic here this year.
Barber of Siberia (1998)
Characters Requested: Andre Tolstoi/Count Polievsky
You can find the full canon on YouTube HERE in 2 parts. Turn on Captions on the player (white square in the bottom right corner) to see English subtitles.
I LOVE cadet boys. Especially in this movie. The interactions between the boys are always so entertaining and amusing and the sense of friendship you get is so awesome. If you don’t want to write slash, adorable friendship!fic would be awesome. Maybe something dealing with the consequences of the duel. Polievsky’s guilt, him and Andrei rebuilding their friendship, hurt/comfort - it’s all good.
I do ship these two pretty hard and I would love to see a shippy slash fic with them. First time, UST, jealousy, hurt/comfort, general cuteness, cuddling, post-movie angst - I love it all! I would LOVE to know what was going on in their heads before, during and after the duel and if there was some cuddling afterwards. When Polievsky spoke to Jane after the duel he said that he wanted to “knock the envy” out of himself, but what if he meant jealousy? Or, maybe, a tearful goodbye before Andrei is shipped off to Siberia? The fact that they would have to hide their relationship from their friends (?) makes it even more exciting! For something less heavy, again, drunken fun and exploits and visits to the gypsies (or actresses or something) which end in snogging each other in the slay/carriage on the way back, would be wonderful. I feel like I’m not being super coherent but I just have so many feelings about these two and I would love to see them together.
I’m not terribly fond of Jane and her and Andrei’s love story doesn’t really interest me, so I would appreciate it if the story didn’t dwell on her more than necessary for the plot/topic.
How the Steel Was Tempered
Requested Characters: Pavel Korchagin/Fyodor Zhukhrai
I’ve had a hard time finding this book for free online in English, but I think you can get a kindle version on Amazon very-very cheaply. There is also the 1975 miniseries version which is here on youtube, albeit in Russian. I’d be lying if I said that this request wasn’t inspired at least in part by the miniseries.
So. Communists. Yes, this fandom doesn’t exactly lend itself well to ~romance. I actually think this is the first fandom where I had pause ‘shipping people. But I would love to see some epic UST between Zhukhrai and Pavel. Unresolved would probably be more in character here but you know, whatever rocks your boat. In the book there is that whole scene where Pavel saves Fyodor from arrest and then gets arrested himself for freeing a convict. There’s just this romantic undertone of “my life for his” in that whole thing and their entire dynamic has a hero-worshipy sort of layer to it. If you’ve seen the miniseries this aspect is amplified even more along with the UST (I mean, they live together for a time there).
I’m especially interested in the civil war period. Or maybe a/the reunion right after it. The falling in love, the being in love, the worrying about each other…and all of this unspoken, at least in any degree that goes beyond friendship and mentorship. Wow, I feel like I’m being really unhelpful but yea: UST, angst, unspoken feelings because ~communism, and yet strong feelings always have a way of breaking the surface.
Although, now that I think about it, if the age difference/characterization issues/etc makes writing slash too awkward, I would be up for gen mentorship fic, like the time during the civil war when Fyodor is living with Pavel and teaches him how to fight well/properly and talks about the bright future etc. (As a note: I'm not of the communist persuasion, especially in the extreme form in this canon, however I'm also very anti-monarchy so monarchy and aristocracy-bashing would not offend me in the slightest.)
War and Peace
Requested Characters: Any (Dolokhov, Sonya, Pierre, Anatole)
[as a disclaimer becasue this has been an issue before]Because this has been an issue before: "Any" in Yuletide refers to "any of the NOMINATED characters". I have listed here all the characters that were nominated this year and have provided paring and gen prompts for all of them.
RE Dolokhov’s first name: I’m use to the translated version - Theodore - and I’ll use that in this letter but if you’re used to the transliterated version - Fyodor - feel free to use that in the fic. I’m not fussed at all. (Same goes for other variants ei: Nikolai v Nicholas. Whatever you’re comfortable with.)
The book is in the public domain so finding it free online shouldn’t be an issue, but if you need somewhere to start HERE is one place you can try.
Let’s start with: I ADORE THIS FANDOM OMG and have wanted a fic in it for ages. Barring a couple of hard and fast deal-breakers, I’ll be pretty happy with most things you could possibly think of centered around one of those four characters or any combination therefore.
Deal breakers: First, Bolkonskis. I’m not a fan of that entire family so I would prefer to not have them as a focus or part of the main paring. I’m fine with them in love triangles of angst, but I’d rather these characters be generally absent or peripheral (or as the antagonists or just angst-causers for the main paring, if you like). Second, Pierre/Natasha. ETA: (thirdly,) for parings with Dolokhov - please have him be the "top". I have a tendency to squick out if he isn't. Other than that, I’m not picky.
I’ll go through slash parings first, then het parings, then maybe some more babbling and gen prompts/ideas for each of the characters.
Slash
Dolokhov/Anatole are my OTP of all time! I adore them together. I think Theodore really does love the boy SO MUCH. He obviously tries to take care of him in his own way (see scene where Theodore tries to talk Anatole out of running away with Natasha). And canon even says that Anatole “genuinely loves” Dolokhov :D You could do anything with them! Happy, fluffy summertime fic. Banter, first time, UST (especially at a ball ;) ), friendship-turned-more, drunk fooling around - it all works! As does mushy hurt/comfort. As does awfully angsty war!fic. How does Theodore take Anatole’s death at Borodino? What about that whole Anatole/Natasha thing? How does that fit in? Not to say that their relationship has to be flawless. With someone like Theodore it’s never going to be. I’m sure there would be plenty of jealousy and cheating and hurting each other (probably unintentional on Anatole’s end and intentional on Dolokhov’s). There’s just so much chemistry between them! Can you tell how excited I am? Just do whatever you think fits and I’ll be falling over with squealing delight.
Anatole/Pierre! I especially like the idea of this being a start-of-book or pre-book paring. Maybe they got together in Paris during Pierre’s time at University? They’re both just such boyish sweethearts (Pierre changes but he starts like that, at least!). I can also imagine a Pierre/Anatole/Dolokhov (not necessarily in that order) triangle. You could play an Anatole/Pierre/Andrei Bolkonski triangle if you want, but in this case I would like to see Pierre being pretty torn over the whole thing. Post-war angst and regret is always a go.
Dolokhov/Nikolai was actually the first paring I shipped in this fandom. They’re very cute, I think. I’d love to see a scene from that summer they spent together in Moscow after the duel when Nikolai’s family is out in the country. Or maybe a post-duel hurt/comfort fic? Throwing someone like Dolokhov into a situation where he’s hurt and vulnerable can be so interesting. Or Nikolai’s reaction to the card game? Why such a “messy” break-up? (We know in canon it’s Sonya but was it really?)
Dolokhov/Petya - this is canon. No really.
[and I quote]"Really!" he cried, "you are such a hero! Oh, how fine, how splendid! How I love you!"
"All right, all right!" said Dolokhov. But Petya did not let go of him and Dolokhov saw through the gloom that Petya was bending toward him and wanted to kiss him. Dolokhov kissed him, laughed, turned his horse, and vanished into the darkness.
-- Book 14, Chapter 9
This, and just the whole French Camp Expedition episode is SO intense and sparks are flying all over the place. Petya’s hopelessly in love if you ask me. And Dolokhov is uncharacteristically gentle with him…
Ok, I know I said Bolkonskis are deal breakers, but if you can make a Dolokhov/Andrei Bolkonski paring work in character I’d be interested in seeing what you do with it. Actually, I think I would be pretty happy with any Dolokhov slash paring within reason (see age difference rule above).
Het
Dolokhov/Sonya! How I want her to have a happy ending and how sad it is that Dolokhov is never even mentioned in the epilogue. I wouldn’t mind an AU where Sonya accepts his proposal or at some point realizes Nikolai isn’t worth waiting for or something. I would even more love a post-war fic because then Nikolai is married and Sonya has no ties to him anymore. (I think this is important because I somehow feel it would have diminished Sonya in Theodore’s eyes had she “jumped” men at the time that he proposed.) I would love-love-love for them to have a happy ending together. I think this could be such a sweet pairing!
Dolokhov/Helene! They’re great on a whole spectrum of genres and themes. A pre-book teenage romance, their affair after Helene’s marriage, and exploration of the class issues standing between them… I think they can range anywhere from sweet and beautiful, if hopeless, romance to something dark, passionate, complicated and possibly selfish. I think with them I would love to see a “mature” relationship. I think they’re both characters that put up with a lot. I think there’s lots of pressure on Helene from society and her father to be a certain way and I think that leaves its mark. (I’m seriously thinking about the Christina Aguilera song “Reflection” right now.)
Anatole/Natasha! The one Natasha paring I honestly love. These two are so…gah! It’s so teenage romance/first love and they completely lose their heads. I wish I knew what prompt to give you but I’m pretty sure that anything - even just a canon-tight expansion on their romance - would be fantastic! I’d rather not have dark!fic with them or anything like that but angst is certainly fine. This was the one time I really sympathized with Natasha and I think Anatole was not devious at all here. Immature and irresponsible? Sure. But he’s not some evil seducer, more like a boy who gets the biggest crush in the world and allows his imagination to run away with him.
Anatole/Helene. They’re the incest exception. It’s just hinted at in canon and it’s just a rumor, but these two have massive chemistry. (I blame the 2007 miniseries for this honestly.) Just please, don’t normalize it, incest isn’t really a normative behavior nor should it be. But I would love to see this very close brother-sister relationship with a sexual tension (unresolved or not) layer and how this effects them and their lives. I see this as a darker, more angsty fic but you can take it wherever it takes you, so to speak.
Pierre/Sonya may seem like a strange paring but I would be interested in seeing how something like that might play out. I’d really rather he’d ended up with her than Natasha to begin with. Post-war is preferable but, you know, whatever takes your fancy.
Gen and etc
Dolokhov is obviously close to his mother and sister. But where is his father? Did he die? If yes, was it something tragic like a duel? Did Theodore know him at all? How did this effect Theodore and his personality growing up? Or maybe a tender moment with his little sister. (She’s a hunchback; we don’t know to what extent but either way, given that time’s medicine there were bound to be health issues involved.) He’s supposed to be an awesome brother. Let’s see that! Anatole and Dolokhov Friendship!fic would be very-very welcome if you don’t like slash. I would love to read about their antics, either as young men or something from their childhood together. Dolokhov’s older so he’d be like an older brother, holding a mentor/protector role. Basically, Dolokhov is my absolute love and I’d love just about anything that allows him to be awesome (in which ever way that is).
Anatole is so misunderstood by fandom. At least that’s what it feels like to me. I feel like people think that he does what he does while understanding the consequences. Honestly, I think he doesn’t. He just doesn’t THINK it through. Not a good trait, but thoughtlessness and immaturity is not the same thing as causing intentional harm. I would love a Kuragin family!fic. Anatole and Helene (in a non-incest way) and their relationship or maybe Anatole’s relationship with his older brother. We don’t get a lot of Hippolyte in canon. Are they close? If no, why not? Is it the age difference or something else? How does the family deal with his death in the war?
A fic about Pierre’s friendship with Anatole and how that fell apart would be interesting. I feel like canon isn’t quite clear WHAT EXACTLY went wrong between them. There isn’t any definitive scene or narrative segment. If this doesn’t work…I've had this idea...so Pierre was being set up as a Decembrist and I think it would be really awesome if Dolokhov got involved in that movement as well and they met each other at one of the secret society meetings and just the whole shock of "what is HE doing here" and then them having to work together. They seem to make some nice steps in canon toward getting over their issues and I would love to see some sort of mutual respect build between them. They would never see eye to eye but I'd love to see a working relationship between them develope, maybe both starting to see something in each other that they didn't see before. What I'm not interested in is the heavy-duty philosophizing and religious themes that Pierre (and Tolstoy) engages in in canon. I'd would really appreciate a very much secular, light-on-philosophy fic.
Sonya! I’m not sure what prompt to give you but let me just say that I love her and I’m sure I would be pleased with just about anything you write centered on her. She is a character I relate to and identify with a lot and is probably my favorite female character in lit (or, like, anywhere). I love her ability to sacrifice her happiness for that of others and I love how she is still a strong woman in her own way without being a feminist at all. It's an inner sort of strength that isn't always obvious at first sight. Admittedly, I would rather see something with her as a child while her parents were still alive (what happened to them anyway?) or maybe her bonding with Nikolai's or Natasha's kids and being the favorite aunt or something, rather than being all subservient to the Rostovs, especially Nikolai and Natasha becasue they both betrayed her in the end and that has always angered me. Also, I would love a Dolokhov-Sonya pseudo-friendship type fic (if the paring doesn't like work) like in the situation where Anatole and Natasha wanted to run away. I can totally see Dolokhov going to Sonya, telling her "the plan" and being all like "we can't let them do this, but I don't want anyone (mainly Anatole but that's not the point) to get un-fixably hurt by this" and they figure out that the best way to do it is let the plan run but then Sonya would rat Natasha out so that their aunt can stop her. (Or you can totally ignore that becasue it was WAY too specific. I'll shut up now.)
I know all that looks like a LOT. Please don’t stress over it. These are all just things I love but optional details are optional and you can write whatever wonderful plot bunnies pop into your head. I would just appreciated if you avoided my turn-offs and if you want to follow what I wrote here then that’s bonus points. But I’m sure I will love whatever story you chose to write!
Happy writing! Happy Yuletide!
~Alley
Firstly, I would like to say thank you for the time and effort that you are willing to put into making me a wonderful winter-holiday gift :) I know I seem to have a lot more ideas for some fandoms than others but I would be ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTED to receive fic in any of the fandoms I asked for. Now, I suppose you are here looking for details, so without further ado…
GENERAL STUFF
Parings/Sex/Ratings:
Likes:
-SLASH
-Het and gen
-love-triangles
-All ratings up to R
-A focus on the romantic/emotional aspect of a relationship and some semblance of a plot/point rather than just sex.
-UST. Resolved is probably better than not, however, if "not" is more appropriate for the paring than that's great too.
Dislikes/Rather-Nots
-Femslash as a major focus (I don’t have a problem with it, I just don’t ship fem in these fandoms)
-Threesomes/moresomes and polyamory
-Incest (unless specifically asked for)
-Parings with large age disparity (over 15 years) unless specifically asked for
-Pedophilia (please keep minors in sexual relationships with adults 16 and over; if both partners are teens 14-15 is ok if treated appropriately.)
-NC-17 and PWPs
-BDSM and heavy kink (scat, watersports, bloodplay, necro, etc)
-Humiliation (both sexual and not)
-Non-con/rape (dub-con that leans toward/ends up as consensual is ok)
-MPreg
-Cross-dressing and genderbending/genderswap
-Bestiality.
Genres/Themes (and such):
I love angst! I LOVE hurt/comfort. Especially of the m/m variety ;) Fluff and mush are lovely. Cuddling/snuggling and adorable!fic are great too.
I definitely don’t mind things like Dark!fic and character death.
Humor is fine too. Give me adorable banter or - where appropriate - family and/or friendship fic and I’m sure you’ll put a smile on my face :) However, I’m not the biggest fan of crack!fic/parody. AUs of the “what if” variety are fine and I do enjoy well-done modernizations of historical (set pre-1850) fandoms, but not so much radical AUs that subvert the universe (genderswaping the cast, setting a modern fandom as a fairytale, turning a historical fandom all Sifi, etc).
I like well-rounded characters. Give me characters that have motives and feeling and don’t look like a stereotype cardboard cut-out. I really enjoy complicated relationships and relationship dynamics, especially if there is fodder for that in canon. I also realize that characterization is fairly up to interpretation but just don’t give me something obviously intentionally out of characters. PLEASE don’t bash any of my requested characters.
I find glorification and normalization of bullying (especially of children) very upsetting. Please don't excuse this sort of behavior. I don't think it would come up in these fandoms/requests but just in case.
I feel like most other things are fandome specific so…onward to the fandoms!
Impact (2008)
Characters Requested: Roland Emerson
HERE you can find links to where you can stream the canon.
This was such a fun and emotionally involving movie. Even with all of its faults and scientific flaws (which I hardly notice anyway since science isn’t my strong suit *cough*). I love Roland and I was really sad that he had to die, but it almost adds to the appeal of the character.
Ok let’s talk about Roland/Alex. I wasn’t even shipping this paring until…until the last 15 or so minutes of the movie happened. Alex’s idiotic heroism - “we’re not leaving anyone behind!” - and how strangely sad he looks on the flight back home when you’d think he’d be jumping for joy at having saved the planet and going back to his kids (and apparently the woman he’d had a crush on at least before but they just have no chemistry IMO). There is just something about this tense UST almost feeling that is there between them, especially when they make eye contact or smile at each other (like in that scene right before Roland is told they’ve found Martina). So I would love a shippy fic with them. For something pre-film... well they’ve obviously met each other before so, have they worked together? Did they, perhaps, meet as university students at some awesome international student conference? Seriously, whatever strikes your fancy. The only thing is: I love Martina. I really do and I thought she and Roland were really cute in the movie so I would appreciate it if there was as little actual cheating as possible (like…emotional cheating within the movie canon timeline is alright if treated sensitively). Basically, what I mean, I guess, is I’d rather Martina not be tossed aside with little thought. She’s obviously a huge part of Roland’s life in the movie and he loves her, I don’t want that to be nullified.
As a gen or het-leaning option: I would love to read about Roland’s feelings during the lunar mission or before it, while they are still figuring out what to do with the situation. Maybe a character study piece or his college days (with badass OCs if you’d like!) Also, he and Martina are gonna have a baby and Roland seems really happy about this but I can just imagine that after the whole “yay!” reaction wears off he’d think about it and be like “oh-oh I have no idea what to do with a baby” because, well, Roland is one of those workaholic types who has a really hard time growing up and you know…being responsible and mature and doing ~settled down things.
I’m not, however, looking for a full-blown het romance fic here this year.
Barber of Siberia (1998)
Characters Requested: Andre Tolstoi/Count Polievsky
You can find the full canon on YouTube HERE in 2 parts. Turn on Captions on the player (white square in the bottom right corner) to see English subtitles.
I LOVE cadet boys. Especially in this movie. The interactions between the boys are always so entertaining and amusing and the sense of friendship you get is so awesome. If you don’t want to write slash, adorable friendship!fic would be awesome. Maybe something dealing with the consequences of the duel. Polievsky’s guilt, him and Andrei rebuilding their friendship, hurt/comfort - it’s all good.
I do ship these two pretty hard and I would love to see a shippy slash fic with them. First time, UST, jealousy, hurt/comfort, general cuteness, cuddling, post-movie angst - I love it all! I would LOVE to know what was going on in their heads before, during and after the duel and if there was some cuddling afterwards. When Polievsky spoke to Jane after the duel he said that he wanted to “knock the envy” out of himself, but what if he meant jealousy? Or, maybe, a tearful goodbye before Andrei is shipped off to Siberia? The fact that they would have to hide their relationship from their friends (?) makes it even more exciting! For something less heavy, again, drunken fun and exploits and visits to the gypsies (or actresses or something) which end in snogging each other in the slay/carriage on the way back, would be wonderful. I feel like I’m not being super coherent but I just have so many feelings about these two and I would love to see them together.
I’m not terribly fond of Jane and her and Andrei’s love story doesn’t really interest me, so I would appreciate it if the story didn’t dwell on her more than necessary for the plot/topic.
How the Steel Was Tempered
Requested Characters: Pavel Korchagin/Fyodor Zhukhrai
I’ve had a hard time finding this book for free online in English, but I think you can get a kindle version on Amazon very-very cheaply. There is also the 1975 miniseries version which is here on youtube, albeit in Russian. I’d be lying if I said that this request wasn’t inspired at least in part by the miniseries.
So. Communists. Yes, this fandom doesn’t exactly lend itself well to ~romance. I actually think this is the first fandom where I had pause ‘shipping people. But I would love to see some epic UST between Zhukhrai and Pavel. Unresolved would probably be more in character here but you know, whatever rocks your boat. In the book there is that whole scene where Pavel saves Fyodor from arrest and then gets arrested himself for freeing a convict. There’s just this romantic undertone of “my life for his” in that whole thing and their entire dynamic has a hero-worshipy sort of layer to it. If you’ve seen the miniseries this aspect is amplified even more along with the UST (I mean, they live together for a time there).
I’m especially interested in the civil war period. Or maybe a/the reunion right after it. The falling in love, the being in love, the worrying about each other…and all of this unspoken, at least in any degree that goes beyond friendship and mentorship. Wow, I feel like I’m being really unhelpful but yea: UST, angst, unspoken feelings because ~communism, and yet strong feelings always have a way of breaking the surface.
Although, now that I think about it, if the age difference/characterization issues/etc makes writing slash too awkward, I would be up for gen mentorship fic, like the time during the civil war when Fyodor is living with Pavel and teaches him how to fight well/properly and talks about the bright future etc. (As a note: I'm not of the communist persuasion, especially in the extreme form in this canon, however I'm also very anti-monarchy so monarchy and aristocracy-bashing would not offend me in the slightest.)
War and Peace
Requested Characters: Any (Dolokhov, Sonya, Pierre, Anatole)
[as a disclaimer becasue this has been an issue before]Because this has been an issue before: "Any" in Yuletide refers to "any of the NOMINATED characters". I have listed here all the characters that were nominated this year and have provided paring and gen prompts for all of them.
RE Dolokhov’s first name: I’m use to the translated version - Theodore - and I’ll use that in this letter but if you’re used to the transliterated version - Fyodor - feel free to use that in the fic. I’m not fussed at all. (Same goes for other variants ei: Nikolai v Nicholas. Whatever you’re comfortable with.)
The book is in the public domain so finding it free online shouldn’t be an issue, but if you need somewhere to start HERE is one place you can try.
Let’s start with: I ADORE THIS FANDOM OMG and have wanted a fic in it for ages. Barring a couple of hard and fast deal-breakers, I’ll be pretty happy with most things you could possibly think of centered around one of those four characters or any combination therefore.
Deal breakers: First, Bolkonskis. I’m not a fan of that entire family so I would prefer to not have them as a focus or part of the main paring. I’m fine with them in love triangles of angst, but I’d rather these characters be generally absent or peripheral (or as the antagonists or just angst-causers for the main paring, if you like). Second, Pierre/Natasha. ETA: (thirdly,) for parings with Dolokhov - please have him be the "top". I have a tendency to squick out if he isn't. Other than that, I’m not picky.
I’ll go through slash parings first, then het parings, then maybe some more babbling and gen prompts/ideas for each of the characters.
Slash
Dolokhov/Anatole are my OTP of all time! I adore them together. I think Theodore really does love the boy SO MUCH. He obviously tries to take care of him in his own way (see scene where Theodore tries to talk Anatole out of running away with Natasha). And canon even says that Anatole “genuinely loves” Dolokhov :D You could do anything with them! Happy, fluffy summertime fic. Banter, first time, UST (especially at a ball ;) ), friendship-turned-more, drunk fooling around - it all works! As does mushy hurt/comfort. As does awfully angsty war!fic. How does Theodore take Anatole’s death at Borodino? What about that whole Anatole/Natasha thing? How does that fit in? Not to say that their relationship has to be flawless. With someone like Theodore it’s never going to be. I’m sure there would be plenty of jealousy and cheating and hurting each other (probably unintentional on Anatole’s end and intentional on Dolokhov’s). There’s just so much chemistry between them! Can you tell how excited I am? Just do whatever you think fits and I’ll be falling over with squealing delight.
Anatole/Pierre! I especially like the idea of this being a start-of-book or pre-book paring. Maybe they got together in Paris during Pierre’s time at University? They’re both just such boyish sweethearts (Pierre changes but he starts like that, at least!). I can also imagine a Pierre/Anatole/Dolokhov (not necessarily in that order) triangle. You could play an Anatole/Pierre/Andrei Bolkonski triangle if you want, but in this case I would like to see Pierre being pretty torn over the whole thing. Post-war angst and regret is always a go.
Dolokhov/Nikolai was actually the first paring I shipped in this fandom. They’re very cute, I think. I’d love to see a scene from that summer they spent together in Moscow after the duel when Nikolai’s family is out in the country. Or maybe a post-duel hurt/comfort fic? Throwing someone like Dolokhov into a situation where he’s hurt and vulnerable can be so interesting. Or Nikolai’s reaction to the card game? Why such a “messy” break-up? (We know in canon it’s Sonya but was it really?)
Dolokhov/Petya - this is canon. No really.
[and I quote]"Really!" he cried, "you are such a hero! Oh, how fine, how splendid! How I love you!"
"All right, all right!" said Dolokhov. But Petya did not let go of him and Dolokhov saw through the gloom that Petya was bending toward him and wanted to kiss him. Dolokhov kissed him, laughed, turned his horse, and vanished into the darkness.
-- Book 14, Chapter 9
This, and just the whole French Camp Expedition episode is SO intense and sparks are flying all over the place. Petya’s hopelessly in love if you ask me. And Dolokhov is uncharacteristically gentle with him…
Ok, I know I said Bolkonskis are deal breakers, but if you can make a Dolokhov/Andrei Bolkonski paring work in character I’d be interested in seeing what you do with it. Actually, I think I would be pretty happy with any Dolokhov slash paring within reason (see age difference rule above).
Het
Dolokhov/Sonya! How I want her to have a happy ending and how sad it is that Dolokhov is never even mentioned in the epilogue. I wouldn’t mind an AU where Sonya accepts his proposal or at some point realizes Nikolai isn’t worth waiting for or something. I would even more love a post-war fic because then Nikolai is married and Sonya has no ties to him anymore. (I think this is important because I somehow feel it would have diminished Sonya in Theodore’s eyes had she “jumped” men at the time that he proposed.) I would love-love-love for them to have a happy ending together. I think this could be such a sweet pairing!
Dolokhov/Helene! They’re great on a whole spectrum of genres and themes. A pre-book teenage romance, their affair after Helene’s marriage, and exploration of the class issues standing between them… I think they can range anywhere from sweet and beautiful, if hopeless, romance to something dark, passionate, complicated and possibly selfish. I think with them I would love to see a “mature” relationship. I think they’re both characters that put up with a lot. I think there’s lots of pressure on Helene from society and her father to be a certain way and I think that leaves its mark. (I’m seriously thinking about the Christina Aguilera song “Reflection” right now.)
Anatole/Natasha! The one Natasha paring I honestly love. These two are so…gah! It’s so teenage romance/first love and they completely lose their heads. I wish I knew what prompt to give you but I’m pretty sure that anything - even just a canon-tight expansion on their romance - would be fantastic! I’d rather not have dark!fic with them or anything like that but angst is certainly fine. This was the one time I really sympathized with Natasha and I think Anatole was not devious at all here. Immature and irresponsible? Sure. But he’s not some evil seducer, more like a boy who gets the biggest crush in the world and allows his imagination to run away with him.
Anatole/Helene. They’re the incest exception. It’s just hinted at in canon and it’s just a rumor, but these two have massive chemistry. (I blame the 2007 miniseries for this honestly.) Just please, don’t normalize it, incest isn’t really a normative behavior nor should it be. But I would love to see this very close brother-sister relationship with a sexual tension (unresolved or not) layer and how this effects them and their lives. I see this as a darker, more angsty fic but you can take it wherever it takes you, so to speak.
Pierre/Sonya may seem like a strange paring but I would be interested in seeing how something like that might play out. I’d really rather he’d ended up with her than Natasha to begin with. Post-war is preferable but, you know, whatever takes your fancy.
Gen and etc
Dolokhov is obviously close to his mother and sister. But where is his father? Did he die? If yes, was it something tragic like a duel? Did Theodore know him at all? How did this effect Theodore and his personality growing up? Or maybe a tender moment with his little sister. (She’s a hunchback; we don’t know to what extent but either way, given that time’s medicine there were bound to be health issues involved.) He’s supposed to be an awesome brother. Let’s see that! Anatole and Dolokhov Friendship!fic would be very-very welcome if you don’t like slash. I would love to read about their antics, either as young men or something from their childhood together. Dolokhov’s older so he’d be like an older brother, holding a mentor/protector role. Basically, Dolokhov is my absolute love and I’d love just about anything that allows him to be awesome (in which ever way that is).
Anatole is so misunderstood by fandom. At least that’s what it feels like to me. I feel like people think that he does what he does while understanding the consequences. Honestly, I think he doesn’t. He just doesn’t THINK it through. Not a good trait, but thoughtlessness and immaturity is not the same thing as causing intentional harm. I would love a Kuragin family!fic. Anatole and Helene (in a non-incest way) and their relationship or maybe Anatole’s relationship with his older brother. We don’t get a lot of Hippolyte in canon. Are they close? If no, why not? Is it the age difference or something else? How does the family deal with his death in the war?
A fic about Pierre’s friendship with Anatole and how that fell apart would be interesting. I feel like canon isn’t quite clear WHAT EXACTLY went wrong between them. There isn’t any definitive scene or narrative segment. If this doesn’t work…I've had this idea...so Pierre was being set up as a Decembrist and I think it would be really awesome if Dolokhov got involved in that movement as well and they met each other at one of the secret society meetings and just the whole shock of "what is HE doing here" and then them having to work together. They seem to make some nice steps in canon toward getting over their issues and I would love to see some sort of mutual respect build between them. They would never see eye to eye but I'd love to see a working relationship between them develope, maybe both starting to see something in each other that they didn't see before. What I'm not interested in is the heavy-duty philosophizing and religious themes that Pierre (and Tolstoy) engages in in canon. I'd would really appreciate a very much secular, light-on-philosophy fic.
Sonya! I’m not sure what prompt to give you but let me just say that I love her and I’m sure I would be pleased with just about anything you write centered on her. She is a character I relate to and identify with a lot and is probably my favorite female character in lit (or, like, anywhere). I love her ability to sacrifice her happiness for that of others and I love how she is still a strong woman in her own way without being a feminist at all. It's an inner sort of strength that isn't always obvious at first sight. Admittedly, I would rather see something with her as a child while her parents were still alive (what happened to them anyway?) or maybe her bonding with Nikolai's or Natasha's kids and being the favorite aunt or something, rather than being all subservient to the Rostovs, especially Nikolai and Natasha becasue they both betrayed her in the end and that has always angered me. Also, I would love a Dolokhov-Sonya pseudo-friendship type fic (if the paring doesn't like work) like in the situation where Anatole and Natasha wanted to run away. I can totally see Dolokhov going to Sonya, telling her "the plan" and being all like "we can't let them do this, but I don't want anyone (mainly Anatole but that's not the point) to get un-fixably hurt by this" and they figure out that the best way to do it is let the plan run but then Sonya would rat Natasha out so that their aunt can stop her. (Or you can totally ignore that becasue it was WAY too specific. I'll shut up now.)
I know all that looks like a LOT. Please don’t stress over it. These are all just things I love but optional details are optional and you can write whatever wonderful plot bunnies pop into your head. I would just appreciated if you avoided my turn-offs and if you want to follow what I wrote here then that’s bonus points. But I’m sure I will love whatever story you chose to write!
Happy writing! Happy Yuletide!
~Alley