Dear Yuletide Writer
Dear Yuletide Writer,
Firstly, YOU'RE AWESOME. Thank you so much for writing me a fic! My golden rule of ficathons is this: the fic I'm most interested in reading is the fic you're most interested in writing. If you write what inspires you I'm sure it'll be great. I always write super long letters for this kind of thing but the idea is to give you lots of options, not to limit you; if you don't want any further guidance, feel free to ignore all of this! There are really no hard and fast rules as to what I like to read, and while I have some general squicks I don't have any triggers you need to avoid.
I like fic that feels like canon, and I like happy or hopeful or at least bittersweet endings. I like a bit of angst, or at least tension and conflict, but I'm not really a fan of stories that are unrelentingly dark. When it comes to romantic relationships I much prefer the build-up and UST to established relationships, although fic showing development within an established relationship can be good too. Other general likes: snark and banter, introspection, wacky hijinks, bittersweet moments, forbidden love, gay angst, loyal friendships, unrequited love, backstory, slice of life, intimacy, family, identity, feminism.
General dislikes: character death, non-con, uneven power dynamics in sexual relationships, PWP, pregnancy/babies/kids, first person narration.
I'm happy to read any ratings, so write whatever you feel comfortable with.
Fandom-specific thoughts:
Fringe: Alternate Olivia/Olivia Dunham
Selfcest is my biggest kink and I totally ship it, but I'd be equally happy with gen. I love Olivia so much and I'm intrigued by the similiarities and differences between the two versions, and how their different worlds shape their lives.
Olivia Dunham is pretty much my ideal woman, so TWO OLIVIAS = HEAVEN FOR ME. I loved their scenes together in the season two finale and I'd love to see them interact again in any capacity, with all the weirdness that talking to another version of yourself must entail. Or, like on the show, you could explore their parallel lives (maybe Alt!Olivia before we knew her?) and show how their different circumstances change them, as well as the ways in which they're the same. Really, anything would make me happy! I should probably point out that I really don't ship Olivia/Peter, mostly because Olivia has always read as queer to me. If you wanted to write Olivia as queer even without pairing her with Alt!Olivia, that would be awesome.
Downton Abbey: Mary Crawley
Mary is my newest TV girlfriend and I'd love to read absolutely anything about her - her life when she was younger, conflict with her siblings and family, interaction with the servants (I especially love Anna), how she deals with the changing world.
LADY MARY. ♥ ♥ ♥ This show is a really new obsession for me (I just watched it all within the last week) but I haven't been able to stop thinking about Mary. I love her layers - the cold, proper exterior, the stubbornness, the impulsivity, the vicious streak, the affection. I love the conflict between what she wants to do with her life and what she ought to do, especially with the backdrop of women's lib and the war. I'd love something with her sisters (I adore Sybil, but I also enjoy how Mary and Edith are absolutely heinous towards each other), or any sort of family interaction would be awesome, especially with any of the other Crawley women - I love it when they snipe at each other, and I love the underlying affection. Or maybe something about Mary as she was growing up? I'd love to see how she turned into the person she is. I like Mary/Matthew - a rarity, as I never normally go for the main het ship! - so something about them would also be good, although I'd prefer no porn. I love the push and pull of their relationship. Alternatively, I'm always up for femslash and if you wanted to slash her with someone - Anna, maybe, or an OFC? After all, all the men are about to go to war! - that would be awesome too. Basically, anything you want to write - I just want to read more about Mary.
Lady Gaga (musician): Lady Gaga/Jo Calderone
I don't even know how this would work, I just know that I ship it! I think this pairing raises all kinds of interesting questions about gender, identity, and sexuality, so I'd love to see themes like that.
Yeah, IDEK. (For anyone reading this who might not be familiar, Jo Calderone is Lady Gaga in drag.) I'm going to leave this wide open because I'm not sure how you'd want to approach this one . I have no expectations, I just know that I've been intrigued by this idea ever since the Vogues Hommes Japan shoot came out and I'd love to see how it might be explored in fic. /unhelpful ETA: Having thought about it, I think I'd like some sort of acknowledgement that they're the same person - that is, I'm not looking for an AU where they're two distinct, separate people, because I think that would be sort of going against why the concept is so intriguing. Not sure if that's much more help, but at least it's something?
Telephone (music video): Honey B/Lady Gaga
This video is so fun and ridiculous and super gay, and I'd love fic in a similar vein. I think it's pretty much canon that Gaga and Honey B were in a relationship in the video and I'd love to see that fleshed out.
Stolen from my femslash10 letter, because I'm lazy: 'Telephone' is my favourite video of Gaga's by a long shot because its sensibility is everything I love about anything: it is a) completely ridiculous, and b) amazingly gay. I love the stylised Tarantino vibe and think that kind of style fic would be awesome, but you can take it wherever you like. It's kind of hard for me to wax lyrical on the ~characters because, you know, it's just a music video, there's not a whole lot of depth there, but I would love to see them explored more. You could make the fic fun, you could make it dark - whatever you're inspired to do, really. Any fic at all about this video would be awesome.
And that, as they say, is that. Yuletide is always the highlight of my fannish year and I hope you have just as much fun with it as I always do!
♥ botherd
Firstly, YOU'RE AWESOME. Thank you so much for writing me a fic! My golden rule of ficathons is this: the fic I'm most interested in reading is the fic you're most interested in writing. If you write what inspires you I'm sure it'll be great. I always write super long letters for this kind of thing but the idea is to give you lots of options, not to limit you; if you don't want any further guidance, feel free to ignore all of this! There are really no hard and fast rules as to what I like to read, and while I have some general squicks I don't have any triggers you need to avoid.
I like fic that feels like canon, and I like happy or hopeful or at least bittersweet endings. I like a bit of angst, or at least tension and conflict, but I'm not really a fan of stories that are unrelentingly dark. When it comes to romantic relationships I much prefer the build-up and UST to established relationships, although fic showing development within an established relationship can be good too. Other general likes: snark and banter, introspection, wacky hijinks, bittersweet moments, forbidden love, gay angst, loyal friendships, unrequited love, backstory, slice of life, intimacy, family, identity, feminism.
General dislikes: character death, non-con, uneven power dynamics in sexual relationships, PWP, pregnancy/babies/kids, first person narration.
I'm happy to read any ratings, so write whatever you feel comfortable with.
Fandom-specific thoughts:
Fringe: Alternate Olivia/Olivia Dunham
Selfcest is my biggest kink and I totally ship it, but I'd be equally happy with gen. I love Olivia so much and I'm intrigued by the similiarities and differences between the two versions, and how their different worlds shape their lives.
Olivia Dunham is pretty much my ideal woman, so TWO OLIVIAS = HEAVEN FOR ME. I loved their scenes together in the season two finale and I'd love to see them interact again in any capacity, with all the weirdness that talking to another version of yourself must entail. Or, like on the show, you could explore their parallel lives (maybe Alt!Olivia before we knew her?) and show how their different circumstances change them, as well as the ways in which they're the same. Really, anything would make me happy! I should probably point out that I really don't ship Olivia/Peter, mostly because Olivia has always read as queer to me. If you wanted to write Olivia as queer even without pairing her with Alt!Olivia, that would be awesome.
Downton Abbey: Mary Crawley
Mary is my newest TV girlfriend and I'd love to read absolutely anything about her - her life when she was younger, conflict with her siblings and family, interaction with the servants (I especially love Anna), how she deals with the changing world.
LADY MARY. ♥ ♥ ♥ This show is a really new obsession for me (I just watched it all within the last week) but I haven't been able to stop thinking about Mary. I love her layers - the cold, proper exterior, the stubbornness, the impulsivity, the vicious streak, the affection. I love the conflict between what she wants to do with her life and what she ought to do, especially with the backdrop of women's lib and the war. I'd love something with her sisters (I adore Sybil, but I also enjoy how Mary and Edith are absolutely heinous towards each other), or any sort of family interaction would be awesome, especially with any of the other Crawley women - I love it when they snipe at each other, and I love the underlying affection. Or maybe something about Mary as she was growing up? I'd love to see how she turned into the person she is. I like Mary/Matthew - a rarity, as I never normally go for the main het ship! - so something about them would also be good, although I'd prefer no porn. I love the push and pull of their relationship. Alternatively, I'm always up for femslash and if you wanted to slash her with someone - Anna, maybe, or an OFC? After all, all the men are about to go to war! - that would be awesome too. Basically, anything you want to write - I just want to read more about Mary.
Lady Gaga (musician): Lady Gaga/Jo Calderone
I don't even know how this would work, I just know that I ship it! I think this pairing raises all kinds of interesting questions about gender, identity, and sexuality, so I'd love to see themes like that.
Yeah, IDEK. (For anyone reading this who might not be familiar, Jo Calderone is Lady Gaga in drag.) I'm going to leave this wide open because I'm not sure how you'd want to approach this one . I have no expectations, I just know that I've been intrigued by this idea ever since the Vogues Hommes Japan shoot came out and I'd love to see how it might be explored in fic. /unhelpful ETA: Having thought about it, I think I'd like some sort of acknowledgement that they're the same person - that is, I'm not looking for an AU where they're two distinct, separate people, because I think that would be sort of going against why the concept is so intriguing. Not sure if that's much more help, but at least it's something?
Telephone (music video): Honey B/Lady Gaga
This video is so fun and ridiculous and super gay, and I'd love fic in a similar vein. I think it's pretty much canon that Gaga and Honey B were in a relationship in the video and I'd love to see that fleshed out.
Stolen from my femslash10 letter, because I'm lazy: 'Telephone' is my favourite video of Gaga's by a long shot because its sensibility is everything I love about anything: it is a) completely ridiculous, and b) amazingly gay. I love the stylised Tarantino vibe and think that kind of style fic would be awesome, but you can take it wherever you like. It's kind of hard for me to wax lyrical on the ~characters because, you know, it's just a music video, there's not a whole lot of depth there, but I would love to see them explored more. You could make the fic fun, you could make it dark - whatever you're inspired to do, really. Any fic at all about this video would be awesome.
And that, as they say, is that. Yuletide is always the highlight of my fannish year and I hope you have just as much fun with it as I always do!
♥ botherd