Dear Yuletide Writer
Sorry for the delay in posting the letter, but here it is. I may still do little tweaks and edits during the weekend if I realize something could be worded better etc. but you're safe going on based on what I've got here.
Fic likes: I love gen, femslash, slash, het; I love hurt/comfort, adventures, daily life moments and domesticity, angst (but hopefully with a happy/comforting ending), fluff, porn (though preferably so that the sex tells something about the characters), first times, established relationships, kisses, space, history, worldbuilding, character-centric fic, intelligent/geeky women, relationships between women, loyalty, friendship, found family, teamfic where applicable, characters coming to accept some previously neglected/repressed part of themselves, canon divergence AUs (various ”what if”s changing some event or element of the canon but still keeping the world basically the same), epistolary fics, crossovers with fandoms you know I like, etc. etc. Really a lot of things, so feel free to let your imagination roam as long as you respect my Do Not Wants / dislikes.
If you write a romantic/sexual relationship, there can be no sex or a little sex or lots of sex, however you like. Anything from handholding or sweet words to hot steamy sex is find by me, though I prefer no complete PWP.
Do Not Wants/Dislikes: graphic violence, gore and torture, rape/non-con, sexual abuse, incest, underage sex (by this I mean under 16, which is the age of consent in my country), character bashing, mpreg, wildly different AUs of the coffee shop / high school / werewolf etc. variety. It depends a bit on the canon how much violence/torture/abuse I can deal with, but generally, please not higher level than the canon. Please stay away from sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, and other such things. Please no 2nd person POV, it hardly ever works for me. In fic 1st person rarely works for me unless it’s in diary/epistolary format; the exception here would be Skuggserien, where the original canon is written in first person, so if you want to write the fic that way as well, it’s fine.
Le Comte de Monte-Cristo | Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
Characters: Eugénie Danglars, Louise d’Armilly
I love having what is as much a canon f/f relationship in a 19th century novel - it's pretty damn clear from the book that this is what the author intended, not just my wishful thinking. And that things don't turn out bad for them and that they're basically described sympathetically and positively, even if the narrative doesn't adore Eugénie quite as much as I do. Eugénie Danglars rocks my world.
I always want to know more about what happens to them after the events described in the book. How will their life (and their artistic careers) turn out? Alternatively, I'd love to see some of their courtship either before or during the times we see them in the book. How they become interested in each other, become aware of their feelings, and how their relationship progresses behind the scenes.
Wayfarers Series - Becky Chambers
Characters: Sidra, Tak
I adored the friendship between Sidra and Tak, especially the way it developed from Tak's fear and prejudice to strong friendship when she got to know and understand Sidra. Especially since they're both such geeks - I really love it when geekery connects two people! I’d love to see anything more with the two of them, either a friendship or romantic/sexual relationship. Tak can be in female, male or inbetween phase or any combination thereof. Though I do have a soft spot for female bonding.
Connection over their shared geekery, musings on outsider-ness, adventures or misadventures among their own little found family, mishaps involving Sidra’s extra bodies… Also, feel free to have them run into any characters from The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet as I adored that book to bits. I especially love Rosemary, Sissix, Kizzy, Dr. Chef, and Ohan.
If you go for a shippy story, it could be anything: say, an entertaining sexual adventure when Sidra decides to find out what this whole fuss with sex is all about, complete with endless research on Linkings, while Tak decides she is very happy to help her friend find out, and might be motivated by anything ranging from secret desire of Sidra to academic curiosity about artificial human bodies. Or perhaps slow growth of their intellectual connection and friendship to a confusing array of emotions that Sidra tries to make sense of. Or an experiment in dating, kissing or anything else that they might be curious about in the way of genderfluid alien and AI lady in artificial human body. Or whatever else you come up with!
Skuggserien (Shadow Series) - Maria Gripe
Character: Berta
This is one of the tiny fandoms of my heart, a book series I've loved ever since I was about 11 and reread more times than I know, but didn't even come to think that there are other people who love it until fairly recently (ie. last year's Yuletide where I received some lovely ficlets for the Rosengåva siblings). I've always loved and connected with Berta intensely, and she was probably one of the reasons I fell in love with the books so much, because I rarely found books with intelligent, introverted, quiet, observant heroines who didn't need to be changed and made more extraverted and to "fit in" more in order to matter. (Which isn't to say I didn't love the fourth book, though Carolin is very different. I adore it to bits. But the intelligence and observation apply there, too.)
I’d like to know what happens with Berta after the first three books. We only get glimpses of her life in the fourth book, filtered heavily through Carolin’s view, and don’t know anything of what follows. Does she become a doctor? Was she in love with Arild, and if so, what happens later? Does she find a man or a woman who will appreciate her for her intelligence, good heart, and loyalty, even if she is not beautiful or outwardly flashy? How does she view the World War, or the time after? The first three books are written from her point of view - at what period of her life does she want to tell that story? Any of these questions would be thrilling to see answered in a story.
Also, I’m endlessly fascinated by the complicated relationship Berta and Carolin have in the books, full of both pain and delight, secrets and trust, darkness and joy. Any new glimpse into the two of them together either during or after or in between the books would be lovely. Spending a special holiday together, discovering some hidden place only the two of them share, bonding over a book, talking about one of the plays Carolin performs in, an unwritten-as-yet moment of their lives in Rosengåva…
Finishing School - Gail Carriger
Characters: Sophronia Temmennick, Monique de Pelouse
I love their passionate enmity, Sophronia’s entirely biased narrative (I don’t think she realises how much she and Monique have in common) and the mutual grudging respect they start to form towards each other by the end. I would love to see a future scenario where they are forced to cooperate, and perhaps discover they like each other more than they like to admit, or have more in common than they like to know. If you want to go shippy, go ahead, I’ve shipped these two raucuously for some time, but I’m also very happy with a gen story, because the canon relationship is already delicious. I also adore Sophronia’s friendship with the other girls in her year, particularly Dimity, and ship Sophronia/Dimity in addition to Sophronia/Monique, so feel free to add Dimity and/or the other girls.
It could be fun to raise stakes by having them on opposing sides of an intrigue - or forced to cooperate because they’re for once on the same side. But anything less plotty-sounding is fine by me, too. And if you don’t want to write future-fic, some school antics or other scenes set during the series would be great as well!
I’m honestly not particularly interested in either of the m/f ships for Sophronia in the books, so if you could mostly ignore them, that would be terrific. Though I am entertained by Felix.
If you go for the shippy route, feel free to take a look at my Femslash Exchange prompt for them here. It has some of the same things as here, but is a little more detailed.
This entry was originally posted at https://auroracloud.dreamwidth.org/48313.html. Feel free to comment on either site.
Fic likes: I love gen, femslash, slash, het; I love hurt/comfort, adventures, daily life moments and domesticity, angst (but hopefully with a happy/comforting ending), fluff, porn (though preferably so that the sex tells something about the characters), first times, established relationships, kisses, space, history, worldbuilding, character-centric fic, intelligent/geeky women, relationships between women, loyalty, friendship, found family, teamfic where applicable, characters coming to accept some previously neglected/repressed part of themselves, canon divergence AUs (various ”what if”s changing some event or element of the canon but still keeping the world basically the same), epistolary fics, crossovers with fandoms you know I like, etc. etc. Really a lot of things, so feel free to let your imagination roam as long as you respect my Do Not Wants / dislikes.
If you write a romantic/sexual relationship, there can be no sex or a little sex or lots of sex, however you like. Anything from handholding or sweet words to hot steamy sex is find by me, though I prefer no complete PWP.
Do Not Wants/Dislikes: graphic violence, gore and torture, rape/non-con, sexual abuse, incest, underage sex (by this I mean under 16, which is the age of consent in my country), character bashing, mpreg, wildly different AUs of the coffee shop / high school / werewolf etc. variety. It depends a bit on the canon how much violence/torture/abuse I can deal with, but generally, please not higher level than the canon. Please stay away from sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, and other such things. Please no 2nd person POV, it hardly ever works for me. In fic 1st person rarely works for me unless it’s in diary/epistolary format; the exception here would be Skuggserien, where the original canon is written in first person, so if you want to write the fic that way as well, it’s fine.
Le Comte de Monte-Cristo | Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
Characters: Eugénie Danglars, Louise d’Armilly
I love having what is as much a canon f/f relationship in a 19th century novel - it's pretty damn clear from the book that this is what the author intended, not just my wishful thinking. And that things don't turn out bad for them and that they're basically described sympathetically and positively, even if the narrative doesn't adore Eugénie quite as much as I do. Eugénie Danglars rocks my world.
I always want to know more about what happens to them after the events described in the book. How will their life (and their artistic careers) turn out? Alternatively, I'd love to see some of their courtship either before or during the times we see them in the book. How they become interested in each other, become aware of their feelings, and how their relationship progresses behind the scenes.
Wayfarers Series - Becky Chambers
Characters: Sidra, Tak
I adored the friendship between Sidra and Tak, especially the way it developed from Tak's fear and prejudice to strong friendship when she got to know and understand Sidra. Especially since they're both such geeks - I really love it when geekery connects two people! I’d love to see anything more with the two of them, either a friendship or romantic/sexual relationship. Tak can be in female, male or inbetween phase or any combination thereof. Though I do have a soft spot for female bonding.
Connection over their shared geekery, musings on outsider-ness, adventures or misadventures among their own little found family, mishaps involving Sidra’s extra bodies… Also, feel free to have them run into any characters from The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet as I adored that book to bits. I especially love Rosemary, Sissix, Kizzy, Dr. Chef, and Ohan.
If you go for a shippy story, it could be anything: say, an entertaining sexual adventure when Sidra decides to find out what this whole fuss with sex is all about, complete with endless research on Linkings, while Tak decides she is very happy to help her friend find out, and might be motivated by anything ranging from secret desire of Sidra to academic curiosity about artificial human bodies. Or perhaps slow growth of their intellectual connection and friendship to a confusing array of emotions that Sidra tries to make sense of. Or an experiment in dating, kissing or anything else that they might be curious about in the way of genderfluid alien and AI lady in artificial human body. Or whatever else you come up with!
Skuggserien (Shadow Series) - Maria Gripe
Character: Berta
This is one of the tiny fandoms of my heart, a book series I've loved ever since I was about 11 and reread more times than I know, but didn't even come to think that there are other people who love it until fairly recently (ie. last year's Yuletide where I received some lovely ficlets for the Rosengåva siblings). I've always loved and connected with Berta intensely, and she was probably one of the reasons I fell in love with the books so much, because I rarely found books with intelligent, introverted, quiet, observant heroines who didn't need to be changed and made more extraverted and to "fit in" more in order to matter. (Which isn't to say I didn't love the fourth book, though Carolin is very different. I adore it to bits. But the intelligence and observation apply there, too.)
I’d like to know what happens with Berta after the first three books. We only get glimpses of her life in the fourth book, filtered heavily through Carolin’s view, and don’t know anything of what follows. Does she become a doctor? Was she in love with Arild, and if so, what happens later? Does she find a man or a woman who will appreciate her for her intelligence, good heart, and loyalty, even if she is not beautiful or outwardly flashy? How does she view the World War, or the time after? The first three books are written from her point of view - at what period of her life does she want to tell that story? Any of these questions would be thrilling to see answered in a story.
Also, I’m endlessly fascinated by the complicated relationship Berta and Carolin have in the books, full of both pain and delight, secrets and trust, darkness and joy. Any new glimpse into the two of them together either during or after or in between the books would be lovely. Spending a special holiday together, discovering some hidden place only the two of them share, bonding over a book, talking about one of the plays Carolin performs in, an unwritten-as-yet moment of their lives in Rosengåva…
Finishing School - Gail Carriger
Characters: Sophronia Temmennick, Monique de Pelouse
I love their passionate enmity, Sophronia’s entirely biased narrative (I don’t think she realises how much she and Monique have in common) and the mutual grudging respect they start to form towards each other by the end. I would love to see a future scenario where they are forced to cooperate, and perhaps discover they like each other more than they like to admit, or have more in common than they like to know. If you want to go shippy, go ahead, I’ve shipped these two raucuously for some time, but I’m also very happy with a gen story, because the canon relationship is already delicious. I also adore Sophronia’s friendship with the other girls in her year, particularly Dimity, and ship Sophronia/Dimity in addition to Sophronia/Monique, so feel free to add Dimity and/or the other girls.
It could be fun to raise stakes by having them on opposing sides of an intrigue - or forced to cooperate because they’re for once on the same side. But anything less plotty-sounding is fine by me, too. And if you don’t want to write future-fic, some school antics or other scenes set during the series would be great as well!
I’m honestly not particularly interested in either of the m/f ships for Sophronia in the books, so if you could mostly ignore them, that would be terrific. Though I am entertained by Felix.
If you go for the shippy route, feel free to take a look at my Femslash Exchange prompt for them here. It has some of the same things as here, but is a little more detailed.
This entry was originally posted at https://auroracloud.dreamwidth.org/48313.html. Feel free to comment on either site.