Yuletide Letter
It's about Starlight Express, Dracula: the Musical, and Little Women. If you're not in Yuletide (or idly curious about my thoughts on fandom) this is a very skippable post.
Dear Yuletide Writer,
Hi! First of all, thank you so much for signing up to write in one of my small fandoms, and endeavoring to write a story for me. I’m absolutely sure that I will like anything that you write. I’m chiana606 on AO3, and Elisabeth Harker on fanfiction.net and maybe a couple of other odd corners of the web for the google-savvy and stalker-inclined (…and those resigned to a bit of boringness on the part of their yuletide recipient, I suppose).
My list of dislikes is much shorter than my list of likes, and I’m not terribly squickable (the few that I have are fandom specific). Gen, het, slash, and femmeslash are all fine. Stories rated from G to M are also all okay, though I’d prefer that anybody participating in the sorts of scenes that give M stories their rating not be underage. The ebola virus freaks me out, but I’m going to take a wild guess and say that wasn’t what you were planning on writing about anyway.
In terms of things that I like, I definitely have a big thing for hurt/comfort fics of nearly any variety (particularly of the sort where the hurting party is initially struggling to deal with things on their own, but ultimately can’t). Dark!fic is also well-received. I also love stories that explore interactions between characters who don’t interact much in canon, anything with great dialogue, cheery holiday fic (I’ve been living in China for the last four years, and quite separated from the typical Christmas experience, and as a result find myself quite enjoying a good Christmas story), friendship with a touch of unrequited love, friendship that turns into romance, non-romantic relationships that are so intense that they can verge on romance at times, first time intimate experiences, secret-sharing, non-sexual sleeping together, and so many other things. Some themes that tend to interest me is morality as it relates to the world in which the characters live, and also gender and sexuality within the settings of the various fandoms I’ve chosen. AUs that take one or two small aspects of the story and change them and explore how the characters would react to those changes are wonderful. I in no way expect anybody to try and include all the things I’ve listed here in one story, and if you don’t include any of it that’s fine as well. I like surprises, and seeing what other people get from my favorite source materials.
Now on to the fandoms! Stuff from the signup sheet is in italics, with some expanded thoughts beneath it. I’m the kind of writer who loves receiving prompts, so I’ve included quite a bit here. Feel free to disregard them or use them as you see fit! For fandoms that I’ve requested “any” in I’ve tried to include two prompts for each of the available characters in that fandom. I’ve also written quite a bit about Starlight Express and Little Women in previous yuletide letters (alas, the last time I requested Dracula was before I knew about yuletide letters
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Starlight Express
Characters: Any
Optional details: I’d love a story dealing with any of the Starlight Express characters. Fics set before, after, or during the big race are all fine. Starlight Express is a huge nostalgia fandom for me, so I can’t imagine any story that I wouldn’t like.
Further Optional details: I think of I was 13 or 14 when I first got into Starlight Express. It’s definitely the fandom that I’ve been interested in the longest. I wanted to see the show for nearly five years before I got my first (and thus far, only) chance with the US tour. I cosplayed Dinah and it was fun and wonderful. With Starlight Express I’m most attracted to the quirkiness of it, and how much it changes from one production to another. I find it fascinating how the stories and characters have been reinterpreted so many times. It’s a fun thing to read fic for, because the canon strikes me as being quite open-ended, and there are many ways to read the characters and their motivations. My favorite production is probably the original 1984 London (which happens to have a pretty thorough cast recording available), but feel free to use the canon from whatever production you are most familiar with, or mix and match elements. My pet ‘ship is CB/Dinah. Rusty/Pearl is cute, and in theory I like the idea of Rusty/Dinah.
Specific Prompts:
Rusty - *How does her get up the courage to ask Pearl to be his partner before the race, and how does that conversation go? *I’d love to see a conversation between him and Dinah, considering they share a similar underdog status in the musical.
CB - * Why did he sing the song “There’s Me”? Was he trying to use Dinah, just being crazy, or does he genuinely feel affectionate towards her? * What happened to him after the races? * Pre-race interactions between him and any other character, and what he actually thinks of them under his smiley exterior.
Pearl - * Her talking and gossiping with the other coaches about the engines. Maybe she initially had a crush on Rusty but they dissuaded her from it? *Making up with Dinah post race.
Dinah -- * How did she initially meet and “win” Greaseball? * Does she always join the other coaches in teasing the freight trains, or is she sometimes sympathetic to them? *For a short time in the London production the song “There’s Me” was sung by Dustin (before being cut entirely). How would things go if it had been him?
Other - Coach femmeslash???
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Dracula: The Musical (Frank Wildhorn)
Characters: Mina Harker, Jonathan Harker
Optional Details: I would love a story about Mina and Jonathan after the curtain closes. The whole episode with Dracula is such a dramatic and terrifying event. How do they carry on and pick up with their lives after?
Further Optional Details: I saw the Broadway production of Dracula the musical six times during its very short run. I can’t overstate how much I’d like to see it again. My favorite thing about the show was the dream/nightmare like atmosphere, and the superb acting. As far as songs go, I love Life After Life, Before the Summer Ends, and If I Could Fly the most. I’m a big fan of the Dracula story in general, but the reason I chose the musical is that I really enjoyed the musical’s portrayal of Mina and Jonathan. I like that Mina is a strong character who is able to participate in her being rescued from Dracula’s clutches (by drawing maps, etc.) rather than just waiting for the men to do all of it for her, but I also like how her relationship with Dracula straddles the line between horrifying and romantic. I like her struggle to remain herself and stay true to her promises to Jonathan despite Dracula’s enchantment. As for Jonathan, I don’t always find him terribly sympathetic in the original novel, but in the musical songs like “Before the Summer Ends” give him a depth of feeling that I really enjoy.
I’d love a story that stats of immediately after the curtain closes in Dracula (Mina has killed Dracula, and the others have just arrived on the scene), or something set months or years down the line, showing what effects the whole Dracula ordeal would continue to have on Mina and Jonathan’s life even once things have returned to normal (if indeed they do. The musical lacks the resolution of Mina and Jonathan living together with baby Quincy, so maybe they go off to be vampire hunters or something instead.). I like all of the characters in the musical, so feel free to include them as you see fit.
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Little Women Series
Characters: Any
Optional Details: I’m a big fan of Little Women as well as its sequels. I’ll gladly read anything that you want to write about any character or pairing. See my letter for further details, or don’t look at it, and have fun writing whatever you feel most inspired to write.
More Optional Details: Any really does mean any. I like all of the characters, and I’m very flexible pairing-wise. Little Women is probably the only fandom that I have a couple of squicks in - I’d rather not see any romance fics between characters with a large age difference (with the exception of Jo/Bhaer, which I’m 120 percent okay with), or any sibling incest. Or any extra-marital affairs. Everything else is fair game.
I love the Little Women series because the characters all have flaws to deal with and try to overcome, and because most of them are good at the core while still being very far from perfect. I like that the characters make mistakes. I like how the books can go back and forth between feeling like a terribly moral children’s story, to being torridly romantic (Laurie’s proposal to Jo) or full of tragedy and adventure (Emil’s shipwreck, Dan’s stint in prison). I love that there are lots and lots of characters, leaving pretty much endless possibilities for story fodder.
In terms of ‘shipping, Jo/Laurie is what drew me to the fandom originally. I love the way those two interact, and I’m equally fine with romantic pieces, friendship only pieces, and everything in between. Any kind of Hurt/Comfort story with Jo as the hurting party and Laurie as the comforting would be pretty much an immediate hit with me.
That said, I also find all (yes, all!) of the other characters and relationships in Little Women interesting, and often find myself wishing there was more fic out there for them. The second generation characters in particular don’t seem to get a lot of stories focusing on them (and the few that there are are almost all thanks to this lovely thing called Yuletide… You might have heard of it.)
So here are some prompts about the characters that made the yuletide list this year. Stories about characters outside the yuletide list are also totally fine, but prompts for every character would quickly make this letter a gazillion pages long.
Jo -
* Femmeslash between her and an OC. I like the idea of a lesbian Jo and how she would deal with that in her time period. Also a story where she told Laurie (or Beth?) or one of them somehow found out would be interesting.
* Alternately something about how she interacts with her gender at different stages of her life could be interesting.
* Stuff about the very beginning of her marriage to Bhaer, or the days leading up to it.
* Marriage advice from Meg or Amy before her marriage to Bhaer, or stuff about the three sisters talking about their respective spouses.
Jo /& Laurie --
*AU - Father March dies in Washington. This could actually be spun into a story about any or all of the surviving characters, but prompting this thing with a Jo/Laurie interaction focus is something I feel compelled to do in any place where prompting may happen. So there it is. Jo/Laurie dead father hurt/comfort.
Laurie -
* Early marriage stuff between him and Amy. Or their wedding.
* What he got up to in Europe while being Lazy Laurence.
* Something about how he came to choose Nat as a pupil for Jo’s school (I imagine he might see a lot of parallels between Nat and himself) or conversations with him and Nat at different points in the Little Men / Jo’s Boy’s storyline.
Beth -
* Her last letter to Amy.
* AU where she doesn’t die. What would she do instead?
*Anything with interaction between her and Laurie.
Bhaer -
* His reaction to Jo telling him about any big events in her life that he wasn’t present for (Laurie’s proposal to her, Beth’s life and death).
* Something about the development of his attraction to Jo from his point of view.
* Interactions between him and Jo’s other family members. What would he and Meg, for example, talk about if sat in a room together for an hour or two while Jo’s off doing something else?
Nan -
* Concord has been overtaken by zombies, and Nan is the one doctor who might be able to find a way to find an anecdote. Um…maybe Dan could help too, in a more defensive, less scientific way (This is another thing that I prompt all the time. But really, if anybody in the Little Women universe could handle a zombie invasion, it’s Nan.).
* Femmeslash between her and Daisy or Bess. Or an unrequited and confusing crush on her part.
* Anything about her relationship with Tommy Bangs. When did she decide she didn’t want to marry him, considering she was pretty keen on it as a kid. In what ways is his friendship valuable enough to her that she doesn’t just cut him off entirely once he starts displaying unwanted romantic notions? Did she ever think that maybe she could love him?
Tommy -
* He’s a terrible doctor, but when Nan falls ill he notices before she does.
* He and Dora host a party for the old Plumfield set at his house, or he tells her stories about Plumfield.
Dan -
* Relationship stuff with him and Bess or him and Nat.
* Letters he sends to Plumfield after Jo’s Boys.
* Reactions of various people at Plumfield when they hear about his death.
Nat -
* How he first meets Laurie, and interactions between him and Dan before he arrives at Plumfield.
* Ways that he tells Daisy he loves her before he’s allowed to say it.
* Him asking advice from Laurie about how to get Daisy to marry him (and Meg to approve of the match).
* How does Demi feel about Nat being in love with his sister? Does he ever manage to give him a bit of encouragement?
Dear Yuletide Writer,
Hi! First of all, thank you so much for signing up to write in one of my small fandoms, and endeavoring to write a story for me. I’m absolutely sure that I will like anything that you write. I’m chiana606 on AO3, and Elisabeth Harker on fanfiction.net and maybe a couple of other odd corners of the web for the google-savvy and stalker-inclined (…and those resigned to a bit of boringness on the part of their yuletide recipient, I suppose).
My list of dislikes is much shorter than my list of likes, and I’m not terribly squickable (the few that I have are fandom specific). Gen, het, slash, and femmeslash are all fine. Stories rated from G to M are also all okay, though I’d prefer that anybody participating in the sorts of scenes that give M stories their rating not be underage. The ebola virus freaks me out, but I’m going to take a wild guess and say that wasn’t what you were planning on writing about anyway.
In terms of things that I like, I definitely have a big thing for hurt/comfort fics of nearly any variety (particularly of the sort where the hurting party is initially struggling to deal with things on their own, but ultimately can’t). Dark!fic is also well-received. I also love stories that explore interactions between characters who don’t interact much in canon, anything with great dialogue, cheery holiday fic (I’ve been living in China for the last four years, and quite separated from the typical Christmas experience, and as a result find myself quite enjoying a good Christmas story), friendship with a touch of unrequited love, friendship that turns into romance, non-romantic relationships that are so intense that they can verge on romance at times, first time intimate experiences, secret-sharing, non-sexual sleeping together, and so many other things. Some themes that tend to interest me is morality as it relates to the world in which the characters live, and also gender and sexuality within the settings of the various fandoms I’ve chosen. AUs that take one or two small aspects of the story and change them and explore how the characters would react to those changes are wonderful. I in no way expect anybody to try and include all the things I’ve listed here in one story, and if you don’t include any of it that’s fine as well. I like surprises, and seeing what other people get from my favorite source materials.
Now on to the fandoms! Stuff from the signup sheet is in italics, with some expanded thoughts beneath it. I’m the kind of writer who loves receiving prompts, so I’ve included quite a bit here. Feel free to disregard them or use them as you see fit! For fandoms that I’ve requested “any” in I’ve tried to include two prompts for each of the available characters in that fandom. I’ve also written quite a bit about Starlight Express and Little Women in previous yuletide letters (alas, the last time I requested Dracula was before I knew about yuletide letters
-----------------------------------------------
Starlight Express
Characters: Any
Optional details: I’d love a story dealing with any of the Starlight Express characters. Fics set before, after, or during the big race are all fine. Starlight Express is a huge nostalgia fandom for me, so I can’t imagine any story that I wouldn’t like.
Further Optional details: I think of I was 13 or 14 when I first got into Starlight Express. It’s definitely the fandom that I’ve been interested in the longest. I wanted to see the show for nearly five years before I got my first (and thus far, only) chance with the US tour. I cosplayed Dinah and it was fun and wonderful. With Starlight Express I’m most attracted to the quirkiness of it, and how much it changes from one production to another. I find it fascinating how the stories and characters have been reinterpreted so many times. It’s a fun thing to read fic for, because the canon strikes me as being quite open-ended, and there are many ways to read the characters and their motivations. My favorite production is probably the original 1984 London (which happens to have a pretty thorough cast recording available), but feel free to use the canon from whatever production you are most familiar with, or mix and match elements. My pet ‘ship is CB/Dinah. Rusty/Pearl is cute, and in theory I like the idea of Rusty/Dinah.
Specific Prompts:
Rusty - *How does her get up the courage to ask Pearl to be his partner before the race, and how does that conversation go? *I’d love to see a conversation between him and Dinah, considering they share a similar underdog status in the musical.
CB - * Why did he sing the song “There’s Me”? Was he trying to use Dinah, just being crazy, or does he genuinely feel affectionate towards her? * What happened to him after the races? * Pre-race interactions between him and any other character, and what he actually thinks of them under his smiley exterior.
Pearl - * Her talking and gossiping with the other coaches about the engines. Maybe she initially had a crush on Rusty but they dissuaded her from it? *Making up with Dinah post race.
Dinah -- * How did she initially meet and “win” Greaseball? * Does she always join the other coaches in teasing the freight trains, or is she sometimes sympathetic to them? *For a short time in the London production the song “There’s Me” was sung by Dustin (before being cut entirely). How would things go if it had been him?
Other - Coach femmeslash???
---------------------------------------------
Dracula: The Musical (Frank Wildhorn)
Characters: Mina Harker, Jonathan Harker
Optional Details: I would love a story about Mina and Jonathan after the curtain closes. The whole episode with Dracula is such a dramatic and terrifying event. How do they carry on and pick up with their lives after?
Further Optional Details: I saw the Broadway production of Dracula the musical six times during its very short run. I can’t overstate how much I’d like to see it again. My favorite thing about the show was the dream/nightmare like atmosphere, and the superb acting. As far as songs go, I love Life After Life, Before the Summer Ends, and If I Could Fly the most. I’m a big fan of the Dracula story in general, but the reason I chose the musical is that I really enjoyed the musical’s portrayal of Mina and Jonathan. I like that Mina is a strong character who is able to participate in her being rescued from Dracula’s clutches (by drawing maps, etc.) rather than just waiting for the men to do all of it for her, but I also like how her relationship with Dracula straddles the line between horrifying and romantic. I like her struggle to remain herself and stay true to her promises to Jonathan despite Dracula’s enchantment. As for Jonathan, I don’t always find him terribly sympathetic in the original novel, but in the musical songs like “Before the Summer Ends” give him a depth of feeling that I really enjoy.
I’d love a story that stats of immediately after the curtain closes in Dracula (Mina has killed Dracula, and the others have just arrived on the scene), or something set months or years down the line, showing what effects the whole Dracula ordeal would continue to have on Mina and Jonathan’s life even once things have returned to normal (if indeed they do. The musical lacks the resolution of Mina and Jonathan living together with baby Quincy, so maybe they go off to be vampire hunters or something instead.). I like all of the characters in the musical, so feel free to include them as you see fit.
----------------------------------------
Little Women Series
Characters: Any
Optional Details: I’m a big fan of Little Women as well as its sequels. I’ll gladly read anything that you want to write about any character or pairing. See my letter for further details, or don’t look at it, and have fun writing whatever you feel most inspired to write.
More Optional Details: Any really does mean any. I like all of the characters, and I’m very flexible pairing-wise. Little Women is probably the only fandom that I have a couple of squicks in - I’d rather not see any romance fics between characters with a large age difference (with the exception of Jo/Bhaer, which I’m 120 percent okay with), or any sibling incest. Or any extra-marital affairs. Everything else is fair game.
I love the Little Women series because the characters all have flaws to deal with and try to overcome, and because most of them are good at the core while still being very far from perfect. I like that the characters make mistakes. I like how the books can go back and forth between feeling like a terribly moral children’s story, to being torridly romantic (Laurie’s proposal to Jo) or full of tragedy and adventure (Emil’s shipwreck, Dan’s stint in prison). I love that there are lots and lots of characters, leaving pretty much endless possibilities for story fodder.
In terms of ‘shipping, Jo/Laurie is what drew me to the fandom originally. I love the way those two interact, and I’m equally fine with romantic pieces, friendship only pieces, and everything in between. Any kind of Hurt/Comfort story with Jo as the hurting party and Laurie as the comforting would be pretty much an immediate hit with me.
That said, I also find all (yes, all!) of the other characters and relationships in Little Women interesting, and often find myself wishing there was more fic out there for them. The second generation characters in particular don’t seem to get a lot of stories focusing on them (and the few that there are are almost all thanks to this lovely thing called Yuletide… You might have heard of it.)
So here are some prompts about the characters that made the yuletide list this year. Stories about characters outside the yuletide list are also totally fine, but prompts for every character would quickly make this letter a gazillion pages long.
Jo -
* Femmeslash between her and an OC. I like the idea of a lesbian Jo and how she would deal with that in her time period. Also a story where she told Laurie (or Beth?) or one of them somehow found out would be interesting.
* Alternately something about how she interacts with her gender at different stages of her life could be interesting.
* Stuff about the very beginning of her marriage to Bhaer, or the days leading up to it.
* Marriage advice from Meg or Amy before her marriage to Bhaer, or stuff about the three sisters talking about their respective spouses.
Jo /& Laurie --
*AU - Father March dies in Washington. This could actually be spun into a story about any or all of the surviving characters, but prompting this thing with a Jo/Laurie interaction focus is something I feel compelled to do in any place where prompting may happen. So there it is. Jo/Laurie dead father hurt/comfort.
Laurie -
* Early marriage stuff between him and Amy. Or their wedding.
* What he got up to in Europe while being Lazy Laurence.
* Something about how he came to choose Nat as a pupil for Jo’s school (I imagine he might see a lot of parallels between Nat and himself) or conversations with him and Nat at different points in the Little Men / Jo’s Boy’s storyline.
Beth -
* Her last letter to Amy.
* AU where she doesn’t die. What would she do instead?
*Anything with interaction between her and Laurie.
Bhaer -
* His reaction to Jo telling him about any big events in her life that he wasn’t present for (Laurie’s proposal to her, Beth’s life and death).
* Something about the development of his attraction to Jo from his point of view.
* Interactions between him and Jo’s other family members. What would he and Meg, for example, talk about if sat in a room together for an hour or two while Jo’s off doing something else?
Nan -
* Concord has been overtaken by zombies, and Nan is the one doctor who might be able to find a way to find an anecdote. Um…maybe Dan could help too, in a more defensive, less scientific way (This is another thing that I prompt all the time. But really, if anybody in the Little Women universe could handle a zombie invasion, it’s Nan.).
* Femmeslash between her and Daisy or Bess. Or an unrequited and confusing crush on her part.
* Anything about her relationship with Tommy Bangs. When did she decide she didn’t want to marry him, considering she was pretty keen on it as a kid. In what ways is his friendship valuable enough to her that she doesn’t just cut him off entirely once he starts displaying unwanted romantic notions? Did she ever think that maybe she could love him?
Tommy -
* He’s a terrible doctor, but when Nan falls ill he notices before she does.
* He and Dora host a party for the old Plumfield set at his house, or he tells her stories about Plumfield.
Dan -
* Relationship stuff with him and Bess or him and Nat.
* Letters he sends to Plumfield after Jo’s Boys.
* Reactions of various people at Plumfield when they hear about his death.
Nat -
* How he first meets Laurie, and interactions between him and Dan before he arrives at Plumfield.
* Ways that he tells Daisy he loves her before he’s allowed to say it.
* Him asking advice from Laurie about how to get Daisy to marry him (and Meg to approve of the match).
* How does Demi feel about Nat being in love with his sister? Does he ever manage to give him a bit of encouragement?