Dear Yuletide Writer
I am very unfussy about Yuletide. To make me even less fussy, this year I have requested four fandoms in which I have not only never received a story, I have never even seen a story. So I will be easy to please.
If you have any questions about my tastes, coraa or oyceter can put you on the right path. If you want to do all your own stalking, my regular LJ is rachelmanija.
I like plot, adventure, action, heroism, sacrifice, hard choices, camaraderie, luscious descriptions of food and landscape, a strong sense of place, worldbuilding, trauma and healing, and hurt/comfort with the emphasis on comfort (not necessarily sexual). I'm fine with original characters. I enjoy gen. I also enjoy relationships of any sort, but I especially like femmeslash, female friendships, and the camaraderie between soldiers, martial artists, jumpship pilots, and the members of sworn sisterhoods.
I don’t like babies, completely plotless stories, stories whose main purpose is to make a political point, or vomit. For the canons I’m requesting, I don’t want crossovers or the sort of AU that changes the setting (like a high school AU). Canon-based AUs (“What if this had gone differently?”) are fine.
If you get stuck on the canon you matched on, all these canons are fairly easy to pick up. Caught in Crystal and Dreamsnake are single, easy-read novels, and Northwest Smith is a single story collection. “Thousand Worlds” is a lot of scattered stories, but you’d only need to read the ones I linked, given that it’s the setting rather than the characters that I’m interested in.
George R. R. Martin - "Thousand Worlds"
Characters: Any
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," "Tower of Ashes," "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. Alternatively, I love the brief references to legendary characters like Celia Marcyan and Erika Stormjones, so maybe you could tell a story about one of them. Or if you have a great idea involving one of the existing characters, feel free. (If you're dying to write something based on Dying of the Light, though, I have to warn you that I really only liked Gwen in that novel.)
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. I’d love to see gay or lesbian relationships, non-romantic relationships, or simply a different take on straight relationships.
Dreamsongs: Volume I
(collects most of the Thousand Worlds stories.)
A Song for Lya
The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr
. Great story. Only 99 cents!
The Glass Flower
Vonda N. McIntyre - Dreamsnake
Character: Snake
Why I love it: I love the entire concept. I love the biology. I love the post-apocalypticness. I love Snake. I love Melissa. I love the sense of caring and hope and love that pervades the story, the way that terrible things happen but people try to make them better, and people can always, as long as they live, choose to change themselves, change the lives of others, change the ways of the world. And I love the snakes.
What I’d like: I do not particularly love Arevin, so ideally your story would not involve him. Ditto any of the villains. I’d like a story either about Snake and Melissa post-novel, or about Snake’s earlier adventures. Gen is fine, but if you want to do a romantic or sexual relationship, I would love to see Snake with another woman.
Dreamsnake. Only $4.99!
C. L. Moore - Northwest Smith
Character: Northwest Smith
Why I love it: The unabashed pulpiness, the lush and dangerous sexuality, the disquieting intimations of things man was not meant to know, the noirish sensibility, and the bittersweet texture of regret beneath all the manly adventuring. “Shambleau” would be a great story even without the killer last line, but it’s the regret and vulnerability in the last line that makes it unforgettable. My favorite stories are “Shambleau” and “Scarlet Dream.”
What I’d like: Anything that captures the flavor, the atmosphere, and the concerns of the original. You could do a solo Northwest Smith story, or team him with Yarol the Venusian. I’ve read all the Jirel stories if you want to do a crossover. (An exception to my no crossover rule, given that Moore already wrote a (kind of disappointing) crossover story. I bet you could do a better one.)
Gen would be fine, slash or het would also be fine. I like Moore’s (invariably dangerous or doomed) women and female aliens. And finally, I have to excerpt this paragraph, which really makes me wonder about Smith’s relationship with Yarol:
The little Venusian lay a few steps away, one cheek pressing the ground and his yellow curls gay against the moss. With closed eyes he looked like a seraph asleep, all the lines of hard living and hard fighting relaxed and the savageness of his dark gaze hidden. Even in his deadly peril Smith could not suppress a little grin of appreciation as he staggered the half-dozen steps that parted them and fell to his knees beside his friend’s body.
Pretty on the outside, decadent, dangerous, alien, and predatory on the inside: exactly Smith’s cup of tea, if you ask me. If you want to go there, feel free to explore the decadent/dangerous/alien/etc aspects, but please do make it consensual. Yarol is constantly rescuing Smith, and I feel that in the depths of his cold little heart, Yarol does genuinely care about him.
Speaking of which, I generally don’t like non-con - not for Yuletide, anyway - but “Shambleau” is dubcon at best and I love it. Now that I think about it, Smith gets dubconned quite a bit. Seriously, every other story he’s getting mind-controlled or vampirized in some very sexual-sounding manner, torn between enjoying ecstasies beyond mortal ken and escaping before it kills him, etc. So if you want to write canon-appropriate hot alien dubcon with someone other than Yarol, go for it.
Yvala
. Only 99 cents to read the story I excerpted above, and see what I mean by sexualized mind-control.
Northwest Smith
Patricia C. Wrede - Lyra
Characters: Kayl, Barthelmy
This prompt is for Caught In Crystal, which I recently re-read.
Why I love it: I was fascinated by the Sisterhood of Stars - I am a total sucker for fellowships of badass girls. I was especially intrigued by the demon-friends. And I liked all the different races of people in the world.
What I’d like: I would love a story about Kayl’s Star Cluster before they encountered the thing in the tower, either while they were still in school or off somewhere having adventures. I picked Kayl and Barthelmy as characters to ensure that my recipient had read Caught in Crystal, but I would equally enjoy a story about original characters in a Star Cluster. If you want to write femmeslash, that would be totally appropriate. Gen would also be fine. But I picked this canon for its female-centric qualities, so whatever you do, please focus on the women or girls.
I realize that it would be difficult to write a Sisterhood-centric story post-novel. But if you liked having protagonists who are adult women with adult responsibilities, maybe you could figure out some reason why Kayl and Barthelmy have to go on another adventure (with or without kids in tow) and maybe have them meet up with some other current or ex Sisters. Or you could do an AU where Evla and Varevice survived the tower. (If you do that, please do figure out some way to keep Kayl’s kids; it would be too depressing if she never had them at all.)
Plot ideas (feel free to ignore): Are there any girls in the Sisterhood who are demons themselves? Are there demon demon-friends? Or maybe a story in which the demon has a different role, and her best friend or girlfriend is the demon-friend. There could be girls who belong to the other races of Lyra.
Kayl’s group wants to be the best; what about the girls who aren’t the best? There could be a Star Cluster of girls whom no one else wanted in their Star Cluster, maybe girls who are barely hanging in there, but of course turn out to be awesome in their own way.
Caught in Crystal: A Lyra Novel
If you have any questions about my tastes, coraa or oyceter can put you on the right path. If you want to do all your own stalking, my regular LJ is rachelmanija.
I like plot, adventure, action, heroism, sacrifice, hard choices, camaraderie, luscious descriptions of food and landscape, a strong sense of place, worldbuilding, trauma and healing, and hurt/comfort with the emphasis on comfort (not necessarily sexual). I'm fine with original characters. I enjoy gen. I also enjoy relationships of any sort, but I especially like femmeslash, female friendships, and the camaraderie between soldiers, martial artists, jumpship pilots, and the members of sworn sisterhoods.
I don’t like babies, completely plotless stories, stories whose main purpose is to make a political point, or vomit. For the canons I’m requesting, I don’t want crossovers or the sort of AU that changes the setting (like a high school AU). Canon-based AUs (“What if this had gone differently?”) are fine.
If you get stuck on the canon you matched on, all these canons are fairly easy to pick up. Caught in Crystal and Dreamsnake are single, easy-read novels, and Northwest Smith is a single story collection. “Thousand Worlds” is a lot of scattered stories, but you’d only need to read the ones I linked, given that it’s the setting rather than the characters that I’m interested in.
George R. R. Martin - "Thousand Worlds"
Characters: Any
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," "Tower of Ashes," "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. Alternatively, I love the brief references to legendary characters like Celia Marcyan and Erika Stormjones, so maybe you could tell a story about one of them. Or if you have a great idea involving one of the existing characters, feel free. (If you're dying to write something based on Dying of the Light, though, I have to warn you that I really only liked Gwen in that novel.)
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. I’d love to see gay or lesbian relationships, non-romantic relationships, or simply a different take on straight relationships.
Dreamsongs: Volume I
(collects most of the Thousand Worlds stories.)
A Song for Lya
The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr
. Great story. Only 99 cents!
The Glass Flower
Vonda N. McIntyre - Dreamsnake
Character: Snake
Why I love it: I love the entire concept. I love the biology. I love the post-apocalypticness. I love Snake. I love Melissa. I love the sense of caring and hope and love that pervades the story, the way that terrible things happen but people try to make them better, and people can always, as long as they live, choose to change themselves, change the lives of others, change the ways of the world. And I love the snakes.
What I’d like: I do not particularly love Arevin, so ideally your story would not involve him. Ditto any of the villains. I’d like a story either about Snake and Melissa post-novel, or about Snake’s earlier adventures. Gen is fine, but if you want to do a romantic or sexual relationship, I would love to see Snake with another woman.
Dreamsnake. Only $4.99!
C. L. Moore - Northwest Smith
Character: Northwest Smith
Why I love it: The unabashed pulpiness, the lush and dangerous sexuality, the disquieting intimations of things man was not meant to know, the noirish sensibility, and the bittersweet texture of regret beneath all the manly adventuring. “Shambleau” would be a great story even without the killer last line, but it’s the regret and vulnerability in the last line that makes it unforgettable. My favorite stories are “Shambleau” and “Scarlet Dream.”
What I’d like: Anything that captures the flavor, the atmosphere, and the concerns of the original. You could do a solo Northwest Smith story, or team him with Yarol the Venusian. I’ve read all the Jirel stories if you want to do a crossover. (An exception to my no crossover rule, given that Moore already wrote a (kind of disappointing) crossover story. I bet you could do a better one.)
Gen would be fine, slash or het would also be fine. I like Moore’s (invariably dangerous or doomed) women and female aliens. And finally, I have to excerpt this paragraph, which really makes me wonder about Smith’s relationship with Yarol:
The little Venusian lay a few steps away, one cheek pressing the ground and his yellow curls gay against the moss. With closed eyes he looked like a seraph asleep, all the lines of hard living and hard fighting relaxed and the savageness of his dark gaze hidden. Even in his deadly peril Smith could not suppress a little grin of appreciation as he staggered the half-dozen steps that parted them and fell to his knees beside his friend’s body.
Pretty on the outside, decadent, dangerous, alien, and predatory on the inside: exactly Smith’s cup of tea, if you ask me. If you want to go there, feel free to explore the decadent/dangerous/alien/etc aspects, but please do make it consensual. Yarol is constantly rescuing Smith, and I feel that in the depths of his cold little heart, Yarol does genuinely care about him.
Speaking of which, I generally don’t like non-con - not for Yuletide, anyway - but “Shambleau” is dubcon at best and I love it. Now that I think about it, Smith gets dubconned quite a bit. Seriously, every other story he’s getting mind-controlled or vampirized in some very sexual-sounding manner, torn between enjoying ecstasies beyond mortal ken and escaping before it kills him, etc. So if you want to write canon-appropriate hot alien dubcon with someone other than Yarol, go for it.
Yvala
. Only 99 cents to read the story I excerpted above, and see what I mean by sexualized mind-control.
Northwest Smith
Patricia C. Wrede - Lyra
Characters: Kayl, Barthelmy
This prompt is for Caught In Crystal, which I recently re-read.
Why I love it: I was fascinated by the Sisterhood of Stars - I am a total sucker for fellowships of badass girls. I was especially intrigued by the demon-friends. And I liked all the different races of people in the world.
What I’d like: I would love a story about Kayl’s Star Cluster before they encountered the thing in the tower, either while they were still in school or off somewhere having adventures. I picked Kayl and Barthelmy as characters to ensure that my recipient had read Caught in Crystal, but I would equally enjoy a story about original characters in a Star Cluster. If you want to write femmeslash, that would be totally appropriate. Gen would also be fine. But I picked this canon for its female-centric qualities, so whatever you do, please focus on the women or girls.
I realize that it would be difficult to write a Sisterhood-centric story post-novel. But if you liked having protagonists who are adult women with adult responsibilities, maybe you could figure out some reason why Kayl and Barthelmy have to go on another adventure (with or without kids in tow) and maybe have them meet up with some other current or ex Sisters. Or you could do an AU where Evla and Varevice survived the tower. (If you do that, please do figure out some way to keep Kayl’s kids; it would be too depressing if she never had them at all.)
Plot ideas (feel free to ignore): Are there any girls in the Sisterhood who are demons themselves? Are there demon demon-friends? Or maybe a story in which the demon has a different role, and her best friend or girlfriend is the demon-friend. There could be girls who belong to the other races of Lyra.
Kayl’s group wants to be the best; what about the girls who aren’t the best? There could be a Star Cluster of girls whom no one else wanted in their Star Cluster, maybe girls who are barely hanging in there, but of course turn out to be awesome in their own way.
Caught in Crystal: A Lyra Novel