Dear Yuletide Author . . .
First of all, thank you so much for writing for me! Yuletide is probably the best time of the year, and I look forward to it so much. Honestly, I will adore anything at all you write for me - just the fact that I'm getting a story in one of my tiny little fandoms is just brilliant.
But if you'd like a better idea of my likes and dislikes, here you go:
Likes:
- Banter of any kind. It can be the friendly kind or the I'd-cheerfully-rip-your-rib-cage-out-and-use-it-as-a-hat kind. It can be sly and in-character (Jossian banter, Sorkin-esque banter, New Who-type banter) or it can just be two people snarking at each other in general.
- Slash. No really, I have my slash goggles locked and loaded for virtually all of my fandoms. That being said, I'm absolutely not opposed to het. And hey, you can always try a nice threesome and make me break the sound barrier with my squeeing.
- Characterization. You want to see what would happen if Sean and Christian opened up a B&B together instead of becoming plastic surgeons, have at it. Just convince me that they're the same guys I've been seeing on my television every week, and we're good. You want Jake and Elwood to bond with their cellmates by listening to bad disco? Or decide that Justin Crowe's going to forsake his whole world-domination thing in favor of becoming the Carnivale's new tarot card reader? Uh uh - then we have problems. I heart these characters, flaws and all. Seriously - character-driven stories = A+.
- Twisty sexual dynamics. Go ahead, get as porny and smutty as you want. Make it voyeuristic, incestuous, borderline BDSM, full of power games and dub-con, threesomes or moresomes, have fun with the setting - just have at it.
- Missing scenes, character studies, and post-eps. They're like my crack. I can't get enough.
Dislikes:
- Fluff. Sure, I like a happy ending once in a while, but give me a hopelessly ambiguous or dark and creepifying ending any day. Stories involving insulin overload, gratutitous h/c, and rape=love make me want to cry and throw things.
- Hardcore BDSM, watersports, hardcore bloodplay, scat, non-con or anything like that. I like kink, but there's a difference between "using a feather and using the whole chicken".
- Most conventional pairings. If it's canon and het, chances are I'm not too fond of it. C'mon - surprise me!
- ABSOLUTELY NO MPREG. NONE. FOR ANY REASON, INCLUDING COMIC POTENTIAL.
- OCs. I'm really more of a canon fan, so staying within the pool of canon characters is generally a good idea with me.
- Bad spelling/grammar. Seriously, spell-check is EVERYONE'S friend. And a good beta reader is worth their weight in gold. I'm not trying to be a terrible person or make generalizations, but the difference between an "okay" story and a "great" story can be in good spelling and grammar.
Regarding the specific requests - which I tried to make as helpful and detailed as possible:
1) Swingtown: This show is my total guilty pleasure. I adore everything about it, and while yes, Tom/Trina/Janet is my OT3, I love most of the other characters as well. Stories involving anyone but Laurie, Roger, and the younger kids (BJ, Ricky, and Sam) will make me turn cartwheels. I think the cheese factor of the show overshadowed a lot of tricky dynamics - especially with Bruce and Susan's introduction to polyamory - so I'd love it if you ecplored a little of that in the course of your story. And really, I cannot stress enough - Tom, Trina, and Janet are LOVE. Anything at all with them will make me deliriously happy.
2) Burn Notice: I've read some great fic for this show, but everything seems to focus on Michael. I adore Michael, don't get me wrong, but what would be brilliant would be something from Fi or Sam's POV. Backstory, relationship dynamics, banterfests, anything that gives me more of a sense of who they are. Especially Sam. Sam = PURE LOVE. Should you feel like shipping, I could seriously, seriously get behind some kinky Sam/Fi (with optional Michael).
3) Indiana Jones: This movie is my childhood, and Indy/Marion was one of my first ships. Backstory for them would make my year, but I'd also love to get a look at either Mutt or Henry and what they've learned in their travels. I adore the underlying religious themes in IJ - Raiders and Crusade, obviously, but Crystal Skull has a little of it - and some ruminations on faith, belief, obsession, quests would be lovely.
4) Jeff and Michael Shaara's Civil War Trilogy: I have to quote my post from last year, because it hasn't changed - "should you write this for me, I will quite possibly declare myself your slave for life. Anything with Mira Hancock would be brilliant, though I'm heavily inclined toward a Mira/Win/Lew threesome. Porn or no porn, if you write my three favorite characters in an adult relationship and in-character historically, I will love you forever. And James Longstreet, in any form, is absolute gold." Oh, and bethbethbeth wrote me this gorgeous story in this fandom last year, which is, to my knowledge, the ONLY Shaaraverse fic written.
Thank you so much for bearing with my yammering. Happy Yuletide!