Yuletide Letter
Happy Yuletide! I hope you enjoy writing for me and I am desperately impatient to see what shows up this year :-).
In general:
I don't have any particular squicks or triggers - in fact I'm often quite keen on terrible things happening to characters :-). I'm not so keen on AU stuff or total fluffy no-problems curtainfic. I like pretty much all varieties of fic, although I'm not really looking for porn in these fandoms - sex in the course of character development or plot is fine though :).
BTW - I'm 'Kastaka' on AO3 - if you're my assigned writer you probably know this, but I was told some people were sad that letters didn't contain AO3 names and mine definitely doesn't match up, so I thought I'd put it in here!
Specific fandom summaries:
The Culture - Iain M. Banks:
Characters: Kabe Ischloear, Xoralundra
For this Yuletide I would like some aliens!
I am 100% down with anything you want to write about either of these characters if you have something in mind - also, I'm not expecting you to stick them both together, either will do!
If you don't have something in hand already: I'd like to see anything that shows off more of their culture.
With Kabe I'd love something from his earlier life, or how his dispatches are received back home, or what misunderstandings he fell into when he first came to the Culture. Or anything about how the Homomda live and tick as a people. Or - what was Kabe's opinion on the Idirian conflict - his people sided with the Idirians, then reluctantly abandoned them - did he agree with that before going to the Culture? How does he relate to the Idirian Remnant that his people took in?
With Xoralundra - we have so many _hints_ about the Idirians and their culture, but we mostly see them through the eyes of their enemies, or in extremis. Xoralundra has all kinds of interesting stories hinted at obliquely in the names of things like the Second Voluntary Purge, and I'd love to see the Battle of Twin Novae from the other side if you think you can pull that off; but literally any story from an Idirian perspective would be great - I loved the bits in Consider Phlebas where we saw the Idirians acting on their own motivations.
Neverwhere:
Characters: Anaesthesia, Hunter
I would be delighted to know more about either of these characters - I'm not expecting you to stick them both together (although you can if you like), either one will do!
Anaesthesia is an exception to not liking AUs - I am totally up for fix-it fic where she somehow makes it back from the bridge. But I'm equally good with something from her life among the ratspeakers - how do they operate day-to-day, what are their rituals, how do they live?
Hunter has so many untold stories in her past - the creatures she's alluded to have hunted, what is it between her and Serpentine, where did she come from and how did she first start to prove herself, what other things has she seen and strange sub-cultures has she lived within, how does she go about travelling the world between the great under-cities - what even _is_ between them for a traveler of the beneath, what can see you in the countryside, once you have gone to the other side?
Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey:
Characters: AIVAS, Fax
Again - I'm not expecting you to somehow merge these together, I just couldn't pick one :-).
A lot of Pern fanfic seems to want to sideline or ignore AIVAS, which I've always found rather a pity as I find AIVAS such a fascinating character - and the effects of the knowledge brought to Pern by AIVAS are fascinating too. I'd love to see more of the Crafters interacting with AIVAS; how they cope with the revelations, how AIVAS teaches them, what it's like to be a journeyman assigned to Landing... Or maybe a piece from AIVAS' own point of view? AIVAS is also an exception to not liking AUs - I'm good with AU-divergence fic in which AIVAS doesn't shut down, or is reactivated some time later, or gets discovered earlier.
I've always wanted to see more of Pern from Fax's perspective. Sure, he's the bad guy - but bad guys tend to have motivations that make sense to _them_, even if no-one else seems to understand. I'd love some tales of what set him on his path, what he thought of events as they unfolded. Or if you're not comfortable sympathising with him, tell me something about the fall of one of the Holds not covered in as much detail in the books - the story of the defenders and resistance that strove against him and didn't make it, but not for lack of effort or courage.
In general:
I don't have any particular squicks or triggers - in fact I'm often quite keen on terrible things happening to characters :-). I'm not so keen on AU stuff or total fluffy no-problems curtainfic. I like pretty much all varieties of fic, although I'm not really looking for porn in these fandoms - sex in the course of character development or plot is fine though :).
BTW - I'm 'Kastaka' on AO3 - if you're my assigned writer you probably know this, but I was told some people were sad that letters didn't contain AO3 names and mine definitely doesn't match up, so I thought I'd put it in here!
Specific fandom summaries:
The Culture - Iain M. Banks:
Characters: Kabe Ischloear, Xoralundra
For this Yuletide I would like some aliens!
I am 100% down with anything you want to write about either of these characters if you have something in mind - also, I'm not expecting you to stick them both together, either will do!
If you don't have something in hand already: I'd like to see anything that shows off more of their culture.
With Kabe I'd love something from his earlier life, or how his dispatches are received back home, or what misunderstandings he fell into when he first came to the Culture. Or anything about how the Homomda live and tick as a people. Or - what was Kabe's opinion on the Idirian conflict - his people sided with the Idirians, then reluctantly abandoned them - did he agree with that before going to the Culture? How does he relate to the Idirian Remnant that his people took in?
With Xoralundra - we have so many _hints_ about the Idirians and their culture, but we mostly see them through the eyes of their enemies, or in extremis. Xoralundra has all kinds of interesting stories hinted at obliquely in the names of things like the Second Voluntary Purge, and I'd love to see the Battle of Twin Novae from the other side if you think you can pull that off; but literally any story from an Idirian perspective would be great - I loved the bits in Consider Phlebas where we saw the Idirians acting on their own motivations.
Neverwhere:
Characters: Anaesthesia, Hunter
I would be delighted to know more about either of these characters - I'm not expecting you to stick them both together (although you can if you like), either one will do!
Anaesthesia is an exception to not liking AUs - I am totally up for fix-it fic where she somehow makes it back from the bridge. But I'm equally good with something from her life among the ratspeakers - how do they operate day-to-day, what are their rituals, how do they live?
Hunter has so many untold stories in her past - the creatures she's alluded to have hunted, what is it between her and Serpentine, where did she come from and how did she first start to prove herself, what other things has she seen and strange sub-cultures has she lived within, how does she go about travelling the world between the great under-cities - what even _is_ between them for a traveler of the beneath, what can see you in the countryside, once you have gone to the other side?
Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey:
Characters: AIVAS, Fax
Again - I'm not expecting you to somehow merge these together, I just couldn't pick one :-).
A lot of Pern fanfic seems to want to sideline or ignore AIVAS, which I've always found rather a pity as I find AIVAS such a fascinating character - and the effects of the knowledge brought to Pern by AIVAS are fascinating too. I'd love to see more of the Crafters interacting with AIVAS; how they cope with the revelations, how AIVAS teaches them, what it's like to be a journeyman assigned to Landing... Or maybe a piece from AIVAS' own point of view? AIVAS is also an exception to not liking AUs - I'm good with AU-divergence fic in which AIVAS doesn't shut down, or is reactivated some time later, or gets discovered earlier.
I've always wanted to see more of Pern from Fax's perspective. Sure, he's the bad guy - but bad guys tend to have motivations that make sense to _them_, even if no-one else seems to understand. I'd love some tales of what set him on his path, what he thought of events as they unfolded. Or if you're not comfortable sympathising with him, tell me something about the fall of one of the Holds not covered in as much detail in the books - the story of the defenders and resistance that strove against him and didn't make it, but not for lack of effort or courage.