Dear Yuletide Author
Dear Yuletide Author,
First off, thank you so much for a) having the awesome taste of sharing at least one of these rare fandoms with me, and b) for agreeing to write in one of these awesome rare fandoms. I can already tell you have THE most excellent taste. :D
As far as who I am and what I like in a story, I like well-written characterizations, I like my men to be well-rounded and three-dimensional, I like my women to be strong and in control of their own lives and wants and needs, and I love the push/pull of friends who are lovers (although I also love a good origin romance, too.) I love angst as long as it's pertinent to who the characters are and not a lazy plot device, I love slice of life/quiet fics as long as it makes sense for the characters, and I love fics that give me new insight to these characters I know and love.
Not really a fan of the following: Major Character Death, BDSM, watersports, mpreg, rape, a/b/o, and I have a really big problem with fridging the ladies (unless it's actually part of the canon plot) or ignoring them/writing them out of the story to get the male leads together.
Now, onto the fandoms and specifics about each one, and please keep in mind that these are only suggestions, and you don't have to use any of these ideas. I promise, I'll love whatever you write, because I know you're writing from the heart and out of the same love for the source material. Also, I LOVE AUs, so don't feel like you have to a be a slave to the canon story, either!!!
(Honestly, ALL AUs ARE WELCOME IN MY HOUSE!!!)
Beach Rats
I loved the open nature of how the film ended, but I was left wanting to know what happens next. I like to think that Frankie does some soul-searching about his life and the direction it's going, and I would love to read something that explores Frankie maybe coming out to his mother and dealing with his dad's illness and death, and (hopefully) going into rehab or at least finding himself a good therapist. And I'd love it if the fic included him finding Jeremy to apologize for his actions. (They can get together or not, up to you, but I'm partial to happy or hopeful endings here.)
Edge of Tomorrow
I unabashedly love the hell out of this movie and how it played with narrative conventions and how it upended the notion of the "heroic" arc. And I fell just as in love with Rita as Bill did - not just because she's a total badass, but because the film allowed her to be complex and interesting and scared and allowed her to fuck up. She's a fascinating character. And I'd love any and all fics dealing with what life is like for her now that the world's been saved and her services are no longer needed. And how she deals with a man who knows her so intimately that she's just met, and how he has to reintroduce himself to her all over again.
I'd also love a story dealing with Bill's PTSD and how screwed up he has to be from all of the traumas and deaths he's lived through and remembers, and how he's able to move past that. Gen fic is also fine for these two, although I wouldn't complain if they hooked up.
The Marriage of Aphrodite and Hephaestus (Greek Mythology)
Ah, the (other) Greek Mythology OTP of my heart, let me count the ways I love these two.
I've always adored Hephaestus for the brilliant, talented genius that he is, and how underrated he's always been in the Olympian pantheon. Without him and his gifts and his dedication to his craft, none of the other Olympians would have wielded as much power or gained as much favor from the mortals in their care. But he's so taken for granted, relegated to being almost a pariah among his fellow Gods, and only called upon when one of them want something from him. His loneliness and longing and mental fortitude and emotional openness, even in the face of all he's suffered...how could anyone resist?
And Aphrodite, seriously, was there ever a more willfully misunderstood woman in all of history (except possibly Helen of Troy)? She's so fascinating, and complex, and deserves so much more than to be simply the Hot, Nude Goddess. What must it be like to be the Goddess of Empathy and Love when everyone around her is so duplicitous and so hell-bent on screwing each other over because of some petty slight? How does she possibly stay sane (or does she) when all of her followers and acolytes, and even her family, mistake sexual tension for a lasting bond, and constantly besiege her to "make" someone fall in love with them, as if love is a party favor she can bestow on a whim?
I'm super easy with where you want to go with this - if you want to recount their early days with Hephaestus courting Aphrodite, or their arranged marriage and how they both learned to love each other (and if you wanted to go down the route of having them both be in love with other people - Athena & Ares, specifically - at the start of it and them growing into caring about each other and choosing each other, that's fine, too! They're Gods - fidelity wouldn't be a concept they'd know anything about, not really.)
I'm also fascinated by the idea of a modern variant on their story, and how that would translate, so if you wanted to bring them both into the present day, that's fine too!
Ideally, I'd like them to be happy with each other (and if you want to have them commiserating with Hades and Persephone as the only other Olympian couple with a "normal" and caring marriage, it wouldn't hurt my feelings. :D), but this is Greek Mythology, after all, so if you wanted to go for the tragic or unhappy ending, by all means, feel free.
Rock Of Ages
This movie was eighteen shades of RIDICULOUS fun and at the rock and roll beating heart of it was the utterly magnificent, and beautifully tragic, Stacee Jaxx. I love that he's this crazy mix of Jim Morrison and Axl Rose and that he's just lost and a little bit crazy and a lyrical genius and this brilliant frontman, but he is so fucked up on a personal level he can't even relate to the world or anyone in it.
I'm so not picky on where you go with this one - you can write a fic about Arsenal's early days, about some crazy drug and orgy-fueled night while the band was on tour, a quiet slice of life story with Stacee having some downtime (possibly with Dennis dropping by, since they're old friends) or a coda to the film with him enjoying his new-found lease on life. Het, gen, slash, it's all good. (And I think Stacee's tried it all anyway. :D) And I'd love for the music to be front and center, because that's the mistress that truly owns him and the only thing I think he truly cares about.
And if you want to include Drew as part of Stacee's adoring harem or his one night stand or his boyfriend or roadie or them going out on tour together and Stacee shepherding Drew in the ways of road life and navigating groupies, sound checks, the press, agents and promoters, etc, etc, I would love it.
Top Gun
The quintessential 80s movie, and quite possibly one of THE gayest films ever. Seriously, Mav and Ice are the prototypes for Enemies to Friends (to Lovers) and I am 1000000000000% here for it and them in all of their macho, swaggering, reckless, alpha glory.
I'm partial to post-film stories with these two - how they learn to be friends, how that translates into how they fly together and work together, what their competitive streak is like now that it's tempered with grief and maturity and camaraderie, if they stay at Top Gun or if they take combat missions on airline carriers instead, how flying has shaped and molded them, how the Navy has honed them into these brilliant tacticians, the sheer balls and nerves and stubbornness it takes to master flying a fighter jet and how that would translate into a relationship on the ground... just anything at all, really. Ideally, I'd like them to get together by the end, but if your muse takes you in a gen direction, that's fine. I just need more of their story. :)
Also, I know they're not including in my character list, but I adore Charlie and her particular brand of badass and smarts and her relationship with Mav, so if you wanted to include her in any story, please do. The same goes for Carole - I'd love to know how the dynamic between her & Pete changes with that Goose-shaped hole in their lives, and how they navigate around it and get each other through their grief (or do they?)
(And, honestly, just because I never see this, but if you wanted to write any scenes or an entire fic from Ice's POV, that would also be *chef's kiss*)
Ocean's Eleven Trilogy
Truthfully, I wasn't a big fan of Ocean's 12, so if you want to ignore that one, go for it. But 11 and 13 and 8 are all amazing, so feel free to borrow from those films. I'm good with caper fics, or how Danny and Rusty met fics or getting the band back together fics or the first con Danny and Debbie ever ran together as kids/young adults or Growing Up Ocean (with all of those expectations to be great con artists), or maybe a time Danny and Rusty worked with Debbie and Lou (I'm totally good with the Danny/Rusty and Debbie/Lou pairings, btw), it's all good. And whatever dynamics you want with Danny and the people in his life is fine. I just love the humor and shorthand and the competence kink and the history of the relationships he has with everyone. :) And, a post-Ocean's 8 fic also works (because I totally don't believe for a second that Danny is dead), so if you wanted to write that reunion between Danny and Debbie, feel free. :)
Thanks so much again, and happy writing!
Brenda
First off, thank you so much for a) having the awesome taste of sharing at least one of these rare fandoms with me, and b) for agreeing to write in one of these awesome rare fandoms. I can already tell you have THE most excellent taste. :D
As far as who I am and what I like in a story, I like well-written characterizations, I like my men to be well-rounded and three-dimensional, I like my women to be strong and in control of their own lives and wants and needs, and I love the push/pull of friends who are lovers (although I also love a good origin romance, too.) I love angst as long as it's pertinent to who the characters are and not a lazy plot device, I love slice of life/quiet fics as long as it makes sense for the characters, and I love fics that give me new insight to these characters I know and love.
Not really a fan of the following: Major Character Death, BDSM, watersports, mpreg, rape, a/b/o, and I have a really big problem with fridging the ladies (unless it's actually part of the canon plot) or ignoring them/writing them out of the story to get the male leads together.
Now, onto the fandoms and specifics about each one, and please keep in mind that these are only suggestions, and you don't have to use any of these ideas. I promise, I'll love whatever you write, because I know you're writing from the heart and out of the same love for the source material. Also, I LOVE AUs, so don't feel like you have to a be a slave to the canon story, either!!!
(Honestly, ALL AUs ARE WELCOME IN MY HOUSE!!!)
Beach Rats
I loved the open nature of how the film ended, but I was left wanting to know what happens next. I like to think that Frankie does some soul-searching about his life and the direction it's going, and I would love to read something that explores Frankie maybe coming out to his mother and dealing with his dad's illness and death, and (hopefully) going into rehab or at least finding himself a good therapist. And I'd love it if the fic included him finding Jeremy to apologize for his actions. (They can get together or not, up to you, but I'm partial to happy or hopeful endings here.)
Edge of Tomorrow
I unabashedly love the hell out of this movie and how it played with narrative conventions and how it upended the notion of the "heroic" arc. And I fell just as in love with Rita as Bill did - not just because she's a total badass, but because the film allowed her to be complex and interesting and scared and allowed her to fuck up. She's a fascinating character. And I'd love any and all fics dealing with what life is like for her now that the world's been saved and her services are no longer needed. And how she deals with a man who knows her so intimately that she's just met, and how he has to reintroduce himself to her all over again.
I'd also love a story dealing with Bill's PTSD and how screwed up he has to be from all of the traumas and deaths he's lived through and remembers, and how he's able to move past that. Gen fic is also fine for these two, although I wouldn't complain if they hooked up.
The Marriage of Aphrodite and Hephaestus (Greek Mythology)
Ah, the (other) Greek Mythology OTP of my heart, let me count the ways I love these two.
I've always adored Hephaestus for the brilliant, talented genius that he is, and how underrated he's always been in the Olympian pantheon. Without him and his gifts and his dedication to his craft, none of the other Olympians would have wielded as much power or gained as much favor from the mortals in their care. But he's so taken for granted, relegated to being almost a pariah among his fellow Gods, and only called upon when one of them want something from him. His loneliness and longing and mental fortitude and emotional openness, even in the face of all he's suffered...how could anyone resist?
And Aphrodite, seriously, was there ever a more willfully misunderstood woman in all of history (except possibly Helen of Troy)? She's so fascinating, and complex, and deserves so much more than to be simply the Hot, Nude Goddess. What must it be like to be the Goddess of Empathy and Love when everyone around her is so duplicitous and so hell-bent on screwing each other over because of some petty slight? How does she possibly stay sane (or does she) when all of her followers and acolytes, and even her family, mistake sexual tension for a lasting bond, and constantly besiege her to "make" someone fall in love with them, as if love is a party favor she can bestow on a whim?
I'm super easy with where you want to go with this - if you want to recount their early days with Hephaestus courting Aphrodite, or their arranged marriage and how they both learned to love each other (and if you wanted to go down the route of having them both be in love with other people - Athena & Ares, specifically - at the start of it and them growing into caring about each other and choosing each other, that's fine, too! They're Gods - fidelity wouldn't be a concept they'd know anything about, not really.)
I'm also fascinated by the idea of a modern variant on their story, and how that would translate, so if you wanted to bring them both into the present day, that's fine too!
Ideally, I'd like them to be happy with each other (and if you want to have them commiserating with Hades and Persephone as the only other Olympian couple with a "normal" and caring marriage, it wouldn't hurt my feelings. :D), but this is Greek Mythology, after all, so if you wanted to go for the tragic or unhappy ending, by all means, feel free.
Rock Of Ages
This movie was eighteen shades of RIDICULOUS fun and at the rock and roll beating heart of it was the utterly magnificent, and beautifully tragic, Stacee Jaxx. I love that he's this crazy mix of Jim Morrison and Axl Rose and that he's just lost and a little bit crazy and a lyrical genius and this brilliant frontman, but he is so fucked up on a personal level he can't even relate to the world or anyone in it.
I'm so not picky on where you go with this one - you can write a fic about Arsenal's early days, about some crazy drug and orgy-fueled night while the band was on tour, a quiet slice of life story with Stacee having some downtime (possibly with Dennis dropping by, since they're old friends) or a coda to the film with him enjoying his new-found lease on life. Het, gen, slash, it's all good. (And I think Stacee's tried it all anyway. :D) And I'd love for the music to be front and center, because that's the mistress that truly owns him and the only thing I think he truly cares about.
And if you want to include Drew as part of Stacee's adoring harem or his one night stand or his boyfriend or roadie or them going out on tour together and Stacee shepherding Drew in the ways of road life and navigating groupies, sound checks, the press, agents and promoters, etc, etc, I would love it.
Top Gun
The quintessential 80s movie, and quite possibly one of THE gayest films ever. Seriously, Mav and Ice are the prototypes for Enemies to Friends (to Lovers) and I am 1000000000000% here for it and them in all of their macho, swaggering, reckless, alpha glory.
I'm partial to post-film stories with these two - how they learn to be friends, how that translates into how they fly together and work together, what their competitive streak is like now that it's tempered with grief and maturity and camaraderie, if they stay at Top Gun or if they take combat missions on airline carriers instead, how flying has shaped and molded them, how the Navy has honed them into these brilliant tacticians, the sheer balls and nerves and stubbornness it takes to master flying a fighter jet and how that would translate into a relationship on the ground... just anything at all, really. Ideally, I'd like them to get together by the end, but if your muse takes you in a gen direction, that's fine. I just need more of their story. :)
Also, I know they're not including in my character list, but I adore Charlie and her particular brand of badass and smarts and her relationship with Mav, so if you wanted to include her in any story, please do. The same goes for Carole - I'd love to know how the dynamic between her & Pete changes with that Goose-shaped hole in their lives, and how they navigate around it and get each other through their grief (or do they?)
(And, honestly, just because I never see this, but if you wanted to write any scenes or an entire fic from Ice's POV, that would also be *chef's kiss*)
Ocean's Eleven Trilogy
Truthfully, I wasn't a big fan of Ocean's 12, so if you want to ignore that one, go for it. But 11 and 13 and 8 are all amazing, so feel free to borrow from those films. I'm good with caper fics, or how Danny and Rusty met fics or getting the band back together fics or the first con Danny and Debbie ever ran together as kids/young adults or Growing Up Ocean (with all of those expectations to be great con artists), or maybe a time Danny and Rusty worked with Debbie and Lou (I'm totally good with the Danny/Rusty and Debbie/Lou pairings, btw), it's all good. And whatever dynamics you want with Danny and the people in his life is fine. I just love the humor and shorthand and the competence kink and the history of the relationships he has with everyone. :) And, a post-Ocean's 8 fic also works (because I totally don't believe for a second that Danny is dead), so if you wanted to write that reunion between Danny and Debbie, feel free. :)
Thanks so much again, and happy writing!
Brenda