Dear Yuletide Author Letter 2013
Dear Yuletide Author,
Hello hello hello!!! Thank you so much for taking part in Yuletide - I absolutely can't wait to read your piece! I'm sorry this letter is coming a bit late - I was pretty busy and then I got a bit sick, so things have been delayed. -_-'
In general, I tend to like character studies or stories that expand upon small details in the canon. I do like angsty stuff, but I am also partial to fluff. I tend to like stories that focus less on the sex and more on the lead-up to romance, but if it fits in with the story, then I enjoy all the way up to NC-17.
Now on to the specific requests!
Request #1: Secret (Band)
Jeon Hyosung, Jung Hana | Zinger, Song Jieun, Han Sunhwa
I have a lot of thoughts on Secret. They are probably my biggest Kpop fandom at the mo (I may or may not be an admin for a Secret fansite...) and I think they're fascinating on the whole. They were the first idol ventures of TS Entertainment, which was certainly not a large company and which didn't have any placehold in the idol market. So Secret really came out of nothing and you could see that in how their initial living conditions weren't so great (basement idols) and how they really had to fight to get the opportunities they acquired. And then the girls themselves have their own histories to deal with - they had lengthy training periods and failed groups and personal issues in general. I also think they're interesting in that they don't really fit the idol mold exactly - the idol marketing strategy is to build a dedicated following that obsessively tracks every aspect of the idol's life. But Secret doesn't seem to have that same kind of following nor do they exactly play to that strategy (For example, Starlight Moonlight makes no sense as an idol venture as it catered to middle-aged and older audiences). Of course, this means that it's harder for them to have explosions of popularity like idols, although it might make for more longevity? Anyway, I feel like Secret is rather unique in the idol world and so I would love something exploring these behind-the-scenes. Seriously though, I'd love anything because there really isn't much Secret fic.
Hyosung - Ah, Jeon-leadah. Hyosung always has a smile on her face and is incredibly bubbly on camera, but if you look closely, you can see her backbone of steel going through her. She's clearly gone through so much with the failure of Five Girls and her father passing away and now she has to be leader of a group that really had so many obstacles in front of them. And she is actually a great leader - she has kept the group together through all those struggles and you can also see it in little moments like when she wipes their tears or how in Strong Heart, Sunhwa mentioned that Hyosung gave Sunhwa the window to trust her in sharing pain. So I'd love to see something that gives us a glimpse into these struggles and demonstrates her strength to them. Or a happy piece with Hyosung being friendly and outgoing as she does. :)
Hana - Being an idol clearly wasn't Hana's first choice. Hana has struggled with her dreams to be a hip-hop artist and then playing up the idol elements that Secret requires - She still doesn't get many opportunities to create her own music as she does co-write many Secret songs but she hasn't had any songs by herself (even Amazinger was with Marco) and she hasn't able to produce her own songs. She also is given the fewest opportunities other than just the Secret promotions and so she has the least exposure, which I think takes a toll on her self-esteem. On top of that, I feel like Hana has some body image issues (perhaps more so than Hyosung, although Hyosung's body image issues are also interesting) as she isn't stick-thin and yet she always angles her selcas to make her look skinnier and she has often heard comments attacking her body. So there are a lot of issues at play with Hana that I'd love to see explored - or surprise me! Even within the dearth of Secret fics, there tend to be even less of Hana.
Jieun - Jieun is, in my opinion, the least entertainer-y of the bunch. That is, she is clearly a singer as she has great musical talent (although that is often overlooked because her tone/style isn't belting and flashy and people often think that that's the only kind of good singing) but she doesn't go into things with the calculating mindset to figure out how best to pander to audiences and the like. Jieun seems to genuinely be an honest-to-goodness sweet girl and there's this sense of innocence about her. As she's said in Immortal Song 2 (which I also have a lot of feelings about), she's never gone into anything with the willingness to step on people in order to get to the top. But the entertainment biz is a cruel world, and so I feel like she often gets hurt. So an angsty fic of this sort would be great, especially considering that "False Hope" allows the perfect setting for that - or anything fluffy, because Jieun is a fluffy gal.
Sunhwa - Sunhwa is also absolutely fascinating. She gets a lot of hate, especially because of her 'blank paper' image and because people misunderstand her straightforward friendliness to be devious. The 'blank paper' image is clearly not that true - Sunhwa clearly has a keen intuition for entertainment, and that requires a type of intelligence. But this means that Sunhwa is very mindful of her image - to the point where she internalizes any hurt or struggle that she has. This also means that Sunhwa is especially harsh on herself and I think this especially comes to play when she questions her position in the group. The other members have labels like lead vocal or rapper or leader, but she's not the representative for any of those things. She's given the label of 'face' and 'visual' which, quite frankly, doesn't really mean anything except that she's pretty. She's supposed to be the one going to variety shows and things with this mysterious 'star quality' but I don't think she always believes that she actually has it. So I'd love to see a piece where we crack through her shell and actually see her vulnerable. Or something happy, because Sunhwa is hilarious.
Request #2: The Newsroom
Sloan Sabbith, Don Keefer, Neal Sampat, Maggie Jordan
The Newsrooooooom. Ah this show stirs up quite the controversial feelings, what with all the hate-watching and the feminist critiques, etc. etc. I for one thoroughly enjoy it (although it definitely stands to improve in some fields, but then again, I suppose what show doesn't?) and I love the urgency of the newsroom setting playing against slower developments of other relationships and things in the characters' lives. Political/current events do not necessarily have to play a large role in the story, if you're writing this request. I would be just as happy with a story that focuses on their lives outside of the newsroom or before the newsroom. I do love a good origin story.
Sloan Sabbith - I. LOVE. HER. Sloan Sabbith is my favorite. As much as Sloan claims to be bad with people skills, she actually seems to me to be quite observant and often even astute about the people around her. But I do love those moments when Sloan is adorably awkward and delightfully...naive? Childlike? I dunno, the moments where she says things like "Holy cow!" or sulks with a straw in her mouth like a preteen. I also find the fact that she teaches so great - what made her go into teaching? What made her go into news media when she could've easily gone into the finance/business world or gone wholly into academia? More interesting than that to me, though, are her friendships with the other characters. I love her dynamic with Will and I also think her relationships with Mac and Maggie are interesting because if I recall correctly, she doesn't really have other friends, does she? And then, of course, Don. Ahhhhh I love Sloan and Don as a pair and I've been shipping them since the first season, so the second season finale definitely made me happy. A piece about the two of them as they were dancing around admitting their feelings for each other would be wonderful - I especially love when Don admits that Sloan is way more brilliant than he is and rather than be intimidated, he's just kinda in awe of her. And when Sloan makes Don laugh and basically I think Don is just deeply enamored and he's not as good at hiding it as Sloan was. Anyway, now I'm starting to go off on a Don tangent, soooo...
Don Keefer - Man, we all thought Don was just a massive bag of dicks at the beginning and my, has that changed. Character development, eh? So I want to know what Don was like before he moved to the show with Elliot (I love their bromance btw so I would totally be down for Elliot involvement in a story about Don) - what was the dynamic like in the newsroom? Don seems to be the kind of guy who always has some sort of scathing reply at the ready, but what kind of thing gets him to be stunned silent? (Answer: A lot of things Sloan Sabbith-related ha)
Neal Sampat - I do really adore Dev Patel (although Anwar was a bit of a useless character on Skins, but whatever) and I feel like we just didn't have enough Neal. I would be heartily amused by a humorous take on what Neal does and what his writing process is to write blog entries and tweets and how Neal gets into the shoes of Will as he tries to write as a mouthpiece for Will - I can totally picture Neal having some sort of ritual or something to get him in the zone. Or, since Neal is often more for comedic use, what about something deep about Neal's backstory that we don't know yet that he's been holding close?
Maggie - Ah, Maggie. She and Jim were beginning to become a bit insufferable, but you know what, I understand the insufferable-ness in terms of her character and her development. I think her relationship with Lisa is fascinating and their confrontation was excellent (I hope there's more of Lisa in the show, as I really like her). Maggie is certainly perceived by the other characters to be young and cutesy and sweet, and she used to feel comfortable in that kind of role and I think even actively play into that (Heck, even her name fits into that as it's a diminutive for Margaret). So I'd like to see that interplay between what she used to be and what she is now that she had to, well, grow up.
Request #3: Tower Prep
Suki Sato, Ian Archer, Don Finch, Gabe Forrest
Suki - Suki's my favorite. She is supposed to be playing second fiddle to CJ, and I think that reflects an interesting aspect of her character - you see bits of it in the dream sequence of that dream episode. Speaking of, I'd love to see a delving into that dream. I also think her family dynamic is intriguing, so more about growing up in the Sato household would be great as well. I also avidly ship Suki with Ian, so if you ship them, I'd love to see a piece of this pairing.
Ian - So, to me, Ian has a tad bit of a hero complex going on. I'd be really intrigued by something in which this hero complex gets him in trouble and he's taken down a peg or two. Also, the first episode gave a little glimpse into what his life was like before Tower Prep and I'd be interested in a backstory about him.
Don - In case you need a refresher, Don is one of Ian’s initial roommates (the red-head) who rather disappeared after that first episode. I also shipped him with Suki (like everyone else), based on the small scene where she’s in Ian’s bed pretending to be him and talking with Don and Ray about her. I would also be interested in some sort of backstory of Don, perhaps where he went after that first episode.
Gabe - Gabe is just adorable. I'd love some more delving into his character, going further than just his funny exterior. In terms of prompts, perhaps going into why hypersuasion is his power or a story making light of why Señor Guapo is so important to him.
Request #4: Never Been Kissed
Guy Perkins, Aldys
I actually watched this movie for the first time with my roomie a few months ago, and I am requesting this purely because I think there ought to be more Guy x Aldys fic because man, there is so much potential for some great stories. I would be totally psyched to have some fabulous fluff in the spirit of this and other 90's rom-coms. Or just some backstory.
Request #5: Skins (UK)
Chris Miles, Emily Fitch, James Cook, Tony Stonem
Chris - Ah Chris. Chris was often the source of humor but his character also packed some emotional punches. I'd just love to see more of Chris in any way, really, except for the whole Angie storyline. I'm not really a big fan of that plot, I'm sorry to say. Maybe some stories about his family life?
Emily - I'm not too big of a Naomily shipper, so I would actually prefer minimal involvement of Naomily. I don't mind it being present, but I'd prefer for it to not be the center of the story. I would more be interested in Emily as an individual or her relationship with her sister. The Fitch family is such an intriguing cast of characters, and I'd love to see more of that.
Cook - Well, now that we've seen Cook all through this last season too, we theoretically have more information on Cook than many of the other characters, and yet, there is still so much we don't know! I am a Ceffy shipper, but not so ardent of one that I need it to be in the piece. I would just love to know more about Cook's inner psyche, really. Or more about his relationship with Freddie and JJ.
Tony - To be honest, I personally don’t really understand Tony at all (Hopefully this means that I am not as manipulative as he is?) so anything that explains his development would be great. I am also particularly interested in his relationship with Effy (No Stonemcest, though, please) as a framework for understanding his personality.
Request #6: 착한남자 | The Innocent Man
Kang Maru, Seo Eun-gi
Man, this drama was such a roller-coaster. Something about these two as a couple at any crazy stage of their relationship would be great - I will say that I am especially fond of Eungi's cute spelling/grammatical errors when she's starting to regain function, so something revolving around that could be a starting point, if you'd like a more specific idea to jump off from? But seriously, anything!
Maru - I love his relationships with Choco and with Jaegil, so I would appreciate more on that. I will say that I'm not all that interested in his doctor-ing so if you could steer away from that, that would be great, but I'm not vehemently opposed to it either.
Eungi - I loved watching all of the changes in Eungi as the series went on. HBIC!Eungi at the beginning is especially excellent as well as Just-Starting-To-Recover!Eungi and of course, Epilogue!Eungi. In fact, if you want to take a stab at your take on the epilogue, I'd be interested in reading that!
Alrighty then, whew! That was super long. These are really just suggestions and hopefully I helped to get your imaginative creative gears going. You're also welcome to try delving into my psyche through my other social media things. I really appreciate your participation and I'm grateful for anything you write, so thank you again!
With love,
Clara