Dear Yuletide Writer....
Dear Yuletide writer,
I am very unfussy about Yuletide. To make me even less fussy, this year I have requested three of four fandoms in which I have not only never received a story, I have never even seen a story. So I will be happy with anything so long as you don’t do something I specifically disrequested.
As for specific disrequests, please, no incest, no non-con, no dub-con, no under-age/over-age sex, and no vomit. AUs are fine if they come from canon what-if, but I don't like ones set in another world entirely. That is, no “Mirrim, Menolly, and Kylara are vampires/pirates/vampirates/American Idol contestants.” If I requested a fandom, it’s partly because I like the setting it has. (Though now that I mention it, if anyone wanted to write me a stocking stuffer where they’re all on Project Runway or Top Chef, that could be hilarious.)
If you have any questions about my tastes in fiction, oyceter or coraa can put you on the right path.
If you’re interested in diversity, note that two of my fandoms (Thousand Worlds and “The Mountain”) could star characters of absolutely any race, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, etc.
In general, and this will be more appropriate for some canons than others, I like adventure, action, heroism, friendship, luscious descriptions of food and landscape, a strong sense of place, and hurt/comfort with the emphasis on comfort (not necessarily sexual). I don’t usually like curtainfic, babies, and stories with no plot whatsoever.
All my fic is linked at a sticky post at the top of this LJ, if you’d like to check it out.
Willo Davis Roberts’ The Girl with the Silver Eyes
Characters: Katie Welker.
Why I love it: I loved this book SO MUCH when I was a little girl, and I’ve re-read it several times as an adult and I still love it. I love the comedy, the sweetness, the well-drawn supporting cast, and of course, the psychic kids and their budding friendships.
What I’d like: I always wished Roberts would write a sequel, with the kids attending psychic school, exploring their abilities, getting to know each other, meeting non-silver-eyed psychic kids, and having adventures. But since she didn’t, you can write it for me!
I don’t mind if you want to write in a more sophisticated style, use more YA themes, or age the kids up a bit (or not - something in Roberts’ own style would be great), but please don’t write anything porny, even if you do catch the kids when they’re teenagers. If you write them in psychic kid school, diversity in their classmates would be good and is canonically implied. Please don’t write anything sad or depressing.
On Amazon: The Girl With the Silver Eyes (Apple Paperbacks)
The Mountain - song by Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer
Characters: Narrator
Why I love it: It’s so beautiful and evocative, and yet almost entirely ambiguous. Is the mountain, which is clearly metaphorical, also literal? Is anything in the song literal? Is the narrator a hero, a mystic, a con artist, a prophet, an obsessed seeker, a lunatic, all of the above, or something completely different? Is it a good thing for the mountain to be all that you see? When and where is it set? Is it realism or fantasy or something in between?
What I’d like: Absolutely any interpretation, story, and style that seems true to you and inspires you. If you offered this at all, you’re the right person to write it.
On Amazon: Tanglewood Tree
Live performance at a folk festival: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILgEavonpQU
Anne McCaffrey's Pern
Character: Mirrim.
I loved Mirrim in Dragonsong (Harper Hall Trilogy)
, and was thrilled when she impressed Path. And then there was the misogyny-fest that was The White Dragon (Dragonriders of Pern Vol 3)
. OH ANNE MCCAFFREY NO.
Please give me the awesome, dragon-riding Mirrim who should have been. Feel free to either ignore or work with post-Impression canon, though I’d prefer to keep that damn computer offstage or AU it up so they never found the thing. Pairings are fine but not necessary; I love her with Menolly, either as friends or romantically, but any pairing emphasizing equality, respect, and consent would work for me.
If that request doesn’t work for you, I’d be thrilled with anything set in the Dragonflight/Dragonsong/Dragonquest time, starring any or all of the following: Mirrim, Menolly, T’gellan, F’nor, G’sel, Brekke, Lessa, and/or their respective dragons and firelizards. Or go further back into the past and write about Lytol when he was L’tol.
What I loved about McCaffrey was the intensity of dragon/rider relationships, the military-esque camaraderie of the Weyr, the poignance of misfits finding a purpose and a home, and the shameless wish-fulfillment of the whole set-up.
What I did not love was the unconscious sexism, classism, homophobia, and glamorized rape. I was fine with the in-canon sexism that Menolly and Mirrim struggled with, because McCaffrey recognized that it was a problem. I was creeped out by what she didn't seem to recognize, like the all-male Weyrleader meeting in Dragonquest, the drudges, etc. So if you want to address Mirrim facing sexism and so forth that's totally fine, and if you want to not even get into that sort of thing and have bronze riders having lots of totally accepted gay sex and Weyrwomen having summit meetings, that's fine too. But I'm not really looking for a story whose main purpose is deconstructing Pern.
For instance, I'm fine with making F’nor a nice guy who did not actually rape Brekke. But I'm not really looking for a story in which she realizes that he raped her and angsts about it and the point is that rape is bad. (Or for a story where rape is good, but I doubt anyone would write that one anyway.) Again, just give me Mirrim being awesome, and I'll be happy.
I am totally fine with dragon-mating as long as the humans already wanted to have sex, realized in that moment that they wanted to have sex, etc -- just don't make it be a case where they didn't want to but were overcome by dragon-lust or regret it afterward.
George R. R. Martin’s “Thousand Worlds”
Characters: Any
These are collected in various editions: try Dreamsongs (two volumes), A Song for Lya, Sandkings, Portraits of My Children, Nightflyers, etc.
Why I love it: The grand sweeping romance of it all, the multitude of strange aliens and planets, the sense of great panoramas and infinite depths of history, the bittersweet quality of most of the stories, the beauty and the awe of the idea of a thousand worlds.
My favorite stories are “The Stone City,” the ultimate “romance of space” story with its perfect last line, “A Song for Lya” for its doomed romance and emotional intensity and weird yet plausible culture, “The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr” for more doomed romance and fairytale imagery, “The Glass Flower” for a plausible happy ending for once, and “Sandkings” for worldbuilding, structure, and intensity. “Bitterblooms,” “The Stone Tower,” “Nightflyers,” and “The Way of Cross and Dragon” are good too.
What I’d like: Most of the stories don’t have room for more tales of their protagonists, so I was thinking more of original characters in Martin’s world, based on his settings and tone. They don’t have to be set anywhere he directly described, just feel like they’re taking place in the same universe. But if you have an idea for a story involving his existing characters, go for it!
The form made me pick characters, but you don't actually have to write about Holt, Lya, or the rather unlikely event of Holt meeting Lya. I wanted to pick "any."
I mentioned doomed romance a lot, but feel free to either not do that or to use your own version of what that might mean - Martin’s work for me by sheer intensity, but I am not into his particular hang-ups about male-female relationships, which can shade into misogyny. I’d love to see gay or lesbian relationships, non-romantic relationships, or simply a different take on straight relationships. I also think his thing about romance (in the non-sexytimes sense) being destroyed by science is ridiculous, so no need to mimic that.
View on Amazon: Dreamsongs: Volume I
I am very unfussy about Yuletide. To make me even less fussy, this year I have requested three of four fandoms in which I have not only never received a story, I have never even seen a story. So I will be happy with anything so long as you don’t do something I specifically disrequested.
As for specific disrequests, please, no incest, no non-con, no dub-con, no under-age/over-age sex, and no vomit. AUs are fine if they come from canon what-if, but I don't like ones set in another world entirely. That is, no “Mirrim, Menolly, and Kylara are vampires/pirates/vampirates/American Idol contestants.” If I requested a fandom, it’s partly because I like the setting it has. (Though now that I mention it, if anyone wanted to write me a stocking stuffer where they’re all on Project Runway or Top Chef, that could be hilarious.)
If you have any questions about my tastes in fiction, oyceter or coraa can put you on the right path.
If you’re interested in diversity, note that two of my fandoms (Thousand Worlds and “The Mountain”) could star characters of absolutely any race, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, etc.
In general, and this will be more appropriate for some canons than others, I like adventure, action, heroism, friendship, luscious descriptions of food and landscape, a strong sense of place, and hurt/comfort with the emphasis on comfort (not necessarily sexual). I don’t usually like curtainfic, babies, and stories with no plot whatsoever.
All my fic is linked at a sticky post at the top of this LJ, if you’d like to check it out.
Willo Davis Roberts’ The Girl with the Silver Eyes
Characters: Katie Welker.
Why I love it: I loved this book SO MUCH when I was a little girl, and I’ve re-read it several times as an adult and I still love it. I love the comedy, the sweetness, the well-drawn supporting cast, and of course, the psychic kids and their budding friendships.
What I’d like: I always wished Roberts would write a sequel, with the kids attending psychic school, exploring their abilities, getting to know each other, meeting non-silver-eyed psychic kids, and having adventures. But since she didn’t, you can write it for me!
I don’t mind if you want to write in a more sophisticated style, use more YA themes, or age the kids up a bit (or not - something in Roberts’ own style would be great), but please don’t write anything porny, even if you do catch the kids when they’re teenagers. If you write them in psychic kid school, diversity in their classmates would be good and is canonically implied. Please don’t write anything sad or depressing.
On Amazon: The Girl With the Silver Eyes (Apple Paperbacks)
The Mountain - song by Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer
Characters: Narrator
Why I love it: It’s so beautiful and evocative, and yet almost entirely ambiguous. Is the mountain, which is clearly metaphorical, also literal? Is anything in the song literal? Is the narrator a hero, a mystic, a con artist, a prophet, an obsessed seeker, a lunatic, all of the above, or something completely different? Is it a good thing for the mountain to be all that you see? When and where is it set? Is it realism or fantasy or something in between?
What I’d like: Absolutely any interpretation, story, and style that seems true to you and inspires you. If you offered this at all, you’re the right person to write it.
On Amazon: Tanglewood Tree
Live performance at a folk festival: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILgEavonpQU
Anne McCaffrey's Pern
Character: Mirrim.
I loved Mirrim in Dragonsong (Harper Hall Trilogy)
, and was thrilled when she impressed Path. And then there was the misogyny-fest that was The White Dragon (Dragonriders of Pern Vol 3)
. OH ANNE MCCAFFREY NO.
Please give me the awesome, dragon-riding Mirrim who should have been. Feel free to either ignore or work with post-Impression canon, though I’d prefer to keep that damn computer offstage or AU it up so they never found the thing. Pairings are fine but not necessary; I love her with Menolly, either as friends or romantically, but any pairing emphasizing equality, respect, and consent would work for me.
If that request doesn’t work for you, I’d be thrilled with anything set in the Dragonflight/Dragonsong/Dragonquest time, starring any or all of the following: Mirrim, Menolly, T’gellan, F’nor, G’sel, Brekke, Lessa, and/or their respective dragons and firelizards. Or go further back into the past and write about Lytol when he was L’tol.
What I loved about McCaffrey was the intensity of dragon/rider relationships, the military-esque camaraderie of the Weyr, the poignance of misfits finding a purpose and a home, and the shameless wish-fulfillment of the whole set-up.
What I did not love was the unconscious sexism, classism, homophobia, and glamorized rape. I was fine with the in-canon sexism that Menolly and Mirrim struggled with, because McCaffrey recognized that it was a problem. I was creeped out by what she didn't seem to recognize, like the all-male Weyrleader meeting in Dragonquest, the drudges, etc. So if you want to address Mirrim facing sexism and so forth that's totally fine, and if you want to not even get into that sort of thing and have bronze riders having lots of totally accepted gay sex and Weyrwomen having summit meetings, that's fine too. But I'm not really looking for a story whose main purpose is deconstructing Pern.
For instance, I'm fine with making F’nor a nice guy who did not actually rape Brekke. But I'm not really looking for a story in which she realizes that he raped her and angsts about it and the point is that rape is bad. (Or for a story where rape is good, but I doubt anyone would write that one anyway.) Again, just give me Mirrim being awesome, and I'll be happy.
I am totally fine with dragon-mating as long as the humans already wanted to have sex, realized in that moment that they wanted to have sex, etc -- just don't make it be a case where they didn't want to but were overcome by dragon-lust or regret it afterward.
George R. R. Martin’s “Thousand Worlds”
Characters: Any
These are collected in various editions: try Dreamsongs (two volumes), A Song for Lya, Sandkings, Portraits of My Children, Nightflyers, etc.
Why I love it: The grand sweeping romance of it all, the multitude of strange aliens and planets, the sense of great panoramas and infinite depths of history, the bittersweet quality of most of the stories, the beauty and the awe of the idea of a thousand worlds.
My favorite stories are “The Stone City,” the ultimate “romance of space” story with its perfect last line, “A Song for Lya” for its doomed romance and emotional intensity and weird yet plausible culture, “The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr” for more doomed romance and fairytale imagery, “The Glass Flower” for a plausible happy ending for once, and “Sandkings” for worldbuilding, structure, and intensity. “Bitterblooms,” “The Stone Tower,” “Nightflyers,” and “The Way of Cross and Dragon” are good too.
What I’d like: Most of the stories don’t have room for more tales of their protagonists, so I was thinking more of original characters in Martin’s world, based on his settings and tone. They don’t have to be set anywhere he directly described, just feel like they’re taking place in the same universe. But if you have an idea for a story involving his existing characters, go for it!
The form made me pick characters, but you don't actually have to write about Holt, Lya, or the rather unlikely event of Holt meeting Lya. I wanted to pick "any."
I mentioned doomed romance a lot, but feel free to either not do that or to use your own version of what that might mean - Martin’s work for me by sheer intensity, but I am not into his particular hang-ups about male-female relationships, which can shade into misogyny. I’d love to see gay or lesbian relationships, non-romantic relationships, or simply a different take on straight relationships. I also think his thing about romance (in the non-sexytimes sense) being destroyed by science is ridiculous, so no need to mimic that.
View on Amazon: Dreamsongs: Volume I