Dear Yulegoat
Okay, so this is kind of rather early, but I am procrastinating anyway, so doing this comes in as a handy excuse. First off, thanks for signing up for Yuletide and writing me a gift! It's been a lot of fun last year, and I am sure it is going to be a lot of fun all around again this year.
Soooo... some general things first:
Triggers and severe squicks: Please do not write me a deathfic, regardless of how romantic or clever or deep or whatever you think it may be, I trigger on deathfics, and it would not be a nice thing to have happen at Christmas. The very same goes for character aging and permanent crippling, don't. I also hate hurt-hurt (without even a bit of comfort) and crossovers, with a vengeance, please no, not at all. While there have been occasional crossovers I liked, I am that particular, that you won't hit my taste, I guarantee that. Lastly, please do not do the "romantic/marriage/children" thing, nor any religious content. None of my requested fandoms really canonically tolerate this anyway and it's something I also very much dislike.
Apart from the above I am pretty laid back: gen, het, slash (m/m), I like it all (though I really really prefer hot slash with proper emotions and real erotic action). I prefer characters to stay largely in character, and I tend to like canon. AU is really depending on the AU, so if you write as if it could have taken place within the canon, that ought to be fine. I do not mind lots of angst, as long as it doesn't turn suicidal. Non-con and rape are no problem either, hurt-comfort is fine, as are BDSM, real torture, fetish and anything kinky. And if you really want to write pure holiday fluff - if it is funny and cute, I will also like it!
I'm firmly hetero, so reading f/f slash or f/f UST is normally doing the opposite of arousing me. I'm also not exactly a friend of what currently is considered "a strong female character," especially where that includes bitchiness, snarky language (I do hate that whether from a man or a woman, it's just uncouth and impolite), superiority/lording it over males, denigration of males or inequality of males. I have such an extremely fine-tuned and sensitive justice-detector that most of the current US-centric post-feminism and female-enablism makes me squirm and shudder with distaste for its onesidedness. I don't squick, but sure as hell don't enjoy either. Instead, if you bring on the guys, I'll love you. I like broken alphamales or partial-only alphamales, as well as males who do not fit that overcome ranking spiel at all. If you can write a female resting well in herself, and equal to whoever else, then I will like that. Just don't make an act out of it.
You won't alienate me with an all-male cast, nor with an ethnically homogenous one, though I dislike outright racism (mark here: not writing about lots of races other than what is predominant for your own cultural environment isn't what I consider racist). I have no problem, obviously, with homosexual characters, but please don't turn two so far hetero guys into gays just because they had sexual contact with each other. That's because a) they'd much more likely be bisexual than homosexual, and b) males can and do have curiosity fucks just the way women do. I'm ultra-logical in mindset, so switching sexual orientations like snipping fingers isn't something I could follow.
1. UFO
When it comes to UFO I am a bit of a canon-nazi, please do not twist the characters out of character as seen in the series, e.g. Alec Freeman is definitely no boozing, incompetent Australian, Doug Jackson is really no nazi-surgeon and Ed Straker isn't randy Mr. Superstud, and try to stay within basic canon. I do not mind ret-conning the series to present day, but I'd hate to read that SID is the nightporter at the studio and Paul the barman on Moonbase. In general I like stories which pick up repeating themes of UFO, like duty and compassion, friendship, having to make harsh decisions, and being brought to a dark edge and teetering on it, possibly with a morally difficult solution. However, if you wrote a juicy PWP between Waterman and Straker I would love it to death as well! BTW, you can add any other of the canon characters or even OC ones if you want, as long as you stay within UFO's verse.
Here is a good online source for canon data: http://shadopedia.com
Favourite episodes are: Confetti Check A-O.K., Subsmash, Mindbender, Kill Straker!, Court Martial and Question of Priorities
2. Pets
Whether you call him Victor (as IMDB does) or Vincent (as it is the case in the movie) is of no import really. If you've seen the movie you already know it is sexploitation of the heaviest kind. If not, have fun watching ;-), it is REALLY seventies!
I have to confess I found Stackman and his misguided sadism utterly sexy, misogyny and all. What I'd really love to read is how he could come to terms with it, in a legal manner. This can really be anything, from a long talk with someone more experienced about behaviour as his, to him realising about things on his own, or someone less friendly pointing it out to him. But I'd also take anything else, like the aftermath of what happened, or how he adjusts to life without his precious female inmates.
3. Madame Claude
Bishop created an utterly chilling killer with a minuscule amount of screen time, I find Smith just as attractive as Delon's Costello or Reno's Lèon. I'd seriously love to see more stories about him, stories which use his qualities..
4. Journey to the Far Side of the Sun (1969)
There was a fantastic scene with Neuman and Poulson in a bar, and at a later stage Neuman turned out to be capable of killing quite nonchalantly. Poulson on the other hand was somewhat manipulated by his US centric patriotic feelings and was played like a violin, including some of the people Neuman worked for. Yet both men made a charming couple in that bar. I think there might be more to those two meeting and interacting. Any which way you like to engineer that!
And what I need to stress - I firmly believe in Yuletide being something both parties need to get something out of. It's not just about writing the very best gift, it also is about having the nicest possible writing experience and giving a rare fandom a really nice story. So please do not feel pressurised into writing something you don't feel up to, just because I said I like it. The only thing I really hope you will respect is what I enumerated as being my triggers and severe squicks. Don't do those, else do whatever you feel most comfortable with - and if it's Straker and Waterman having a friendly beer together discussing the refitting of Skydiver, instead of hefty slash between those two men, then that's perfectly alright!
Soooo... some general things first:
Triggers and severe squicks: Please do not write me a deathfic, regardless of how romantic or clever or deep or whatever you think it may be, I trigger on deathfics, and it would not be a nice thing to have happen at Christmas. The very same goes for character aging and permanent crippling, don't. I also hate hurt-hurt (without even a bit of comfort) and crossovers, with a vengeance, please no, not at all. While there have been occasional crossovers I liked, I am that particular, that you won't hit my taste, I guarantee that. Lastly, please do not do the "romantic/marriage/children" thing, nor any religious content. None of my requested fandoms really canonically tolerate this anyway and it's something I also very much dislike.
Apart from the above I am pretty laid back: gen, het, slash (m/m), I like it all (though I really really prefer hot slash with proper emotions and real erotic action). I prefer characters to stay largely in character, and I tend to like canon. AU is really depending on the AU, so if you write as if it could have taken place within the canon, that ought to be fine. I do not mind lots of angst, as long as it doesn't turn suicidal. Non-con and rape are no problem either, hurt-comfort is fine, as are BDSM, real torture, fetish and anything kinky. And if you really want to write pure holiday fluff - if it is funny and cute, I will also like it!
I'm firmly hetero, so reading f/f slash or f/f UST is normally doing the opposite of arousing me. I'm also not exactly a friend of what currently is considered "a strong female character," especially where that includes bitchiness, snarky language (I do hate that whether from a man or a woman, it's just uncouth and impolite), superiority/lording it over males, denigration of males or inequality of males. I have such an extremely fine-tuned and sensitive justice-detector that most of the current US-centric post-feminism and female-enablism makes me squirm and shudder with distaste for its onesidedness. I don't squick, but sure as hell don't enjoy either. Instead, if you bring on the guys, I'll love you. I like broken alphamales or partial-only alphamales, as well as males who do not fit that overcome ranking spiel at all. If you can write a female resting well in herself, and equal to whoever else, then I will like that. Just don't make an act out of it.
You won't alienate me with an all-male cast, nor with an ethnically homogenous one, though I dislike outright racism (mark here: not writing about lots of races other than what is predominant for your own cultural environment isn't what I consider racist). I have no problem, obviously, with homosexual characters, but please don't turn two so far hetero guys into gays just because they had sexual contact with each other. That's because a) they'd much more likely be bisexual than homosexual, and b) males can and do have curiosity fucks just the way women do. I'm ultra-logical in mindset, so switching sexual orientations like snipping fingers isn't something I could follow.
1. UFO
When it comes to UFO I am a bit of a canon-nazi, please do not twist the characters out of character as seen in the series, e.g. Alec Freeman is definitely no boozing, incompetent Australian, Doug Jackson is really no nazi-surgeon and Ed Straker isn't randy Mr. Superstud, and try to stay within basic canon. I do not mind ret-conning the series to present day, but I'd hate to read that SID is the nightporter at the studio and Paul the barman on Moonbase. In general I like stories which pick up repeating themes of UFO, like duty and compassion, friendship, having to make harsh decisions, and being brought to a dark edge and teetering on it, possibly with a morally difficult solution. However, if you wrote a juicy PWP between Waterman and Straker I would love it to death as well! BTW, you can add any other of the canon characters or even OC ones if you want, as long as you stay within UFO's verse.
Here is a good online source for canon data: http://shadopedia.com
Favourite episodes are: Confetti Check A-O.K., Subsmash, Mindbender, Kill Straker!, Court Martial and Question of Priorities
2. Pets
Whether you call him Victor (as IMDB does) or Vincent (as it is the case in the movie) is of no import really. If you've seen the movie you already know it is sexploitation of the heaviest kind. If not, have fun watching ;-), it is REALLY seventies!
I have to confess I found Stackman and his misguided sadism utterly sexy, misogyny and all. What I'd really love to read is how he could come to terms with it, in a legal manner. This can really be anything, from a long talk with someone more experienced about behaviour as his, to him realising about things on his own, or someone less friendly pointing it out to him. But I'd also take anything else, like the aftermath of what happened, or how he adjusts to life without his precious female inmates.
3. Madame Claude
Bishop created an utterly chilling killer with a minuscule amount of screen time, I find Smith just as attractive as Delon's Costello or Reno's Lèon. I'd seriously love to see more stories about him, stories which use his qualities..
4. Journey to the Far Side of the Sun (1969)
There was a fantastic scene with Neuman and Poulson in a bar, and at a later stage Neuman turned out to be capable of killing quite nonchalantly. Poulson on the other hand was somewhat manipulated by his US centric patriotic feelings and was played like a violin, including some of the people Neuman worked for. Yet both men made a charming couple in that bar. I think there might be more to those two meeting and interacting. Any which way you like to engineer that!
And what I need to stress - I firmly believe in Yuletide being something both parties need to get something out of. It's not just about writing the very best gift, it also is about having the nicest possible writing experience and giving a rare fandom a really nice story. So please do not feel pressurised into writing something you don't feel up to, just because I said I like it. The only thing I really hope you will respect is what I enumerated as being my triggers and severe squicks. Don't do those, else do whatever you feel most comfortable with - and if it's Straker and Waterman having a friendly beer together discussing the refitting of Skydiver, instead of hefty slash between those two men, then that's perfectly alright!