Dear Yuletide Author
Dear Yuletide Author,
Yaaay, you are my favourite and my best! No, for realsies.
All hyperbole aside, I am delighted that you enjoy at least one of the fandoms I've requested and I hope you have an absolute blast writing for it. That's really the most important thing. Regardless of length, regardless of genre or pairing, I am going to love whatever you write, Yulegoat, I guarantee it. It'd be great if you could use any of the prompts I'm going to give but ultimately, you're going to write this story the way it wants to come out and I am fine with that. I nominated most of these fandoms because I loved them and wanted more of them and if you feel the same, Yulegoat, then we're golden, truly. I want to read what you want to write.
Okeydoke, in general terms, I only have a few things I emphatically do not want: non-con and character death. Other than that, I am so easy it's embarrassing. I read a lot of slash and shipping fic, but fair play to you if that's not your thing. I also enjoy gen, het, or femmeslash. I like fic set in canon, whether post-canon, pre-canon, fix-it stories, or character studies. However, I also deeply enjoy cracked out AUs, the more ridiculous the better: fandoms in spaaace? Brilliant. Historical AUs: amazing. West Wing AUs, academia AUs, Sentinel AUs: you write it, and I shall call it squishy and it shall be mine and it shall be my squishy. I honestly love all sorts of fic, so write what you want and what you're most comfortable with. More specifically, I like witty badinage, occasional bitchiness, best friends becoming something more, enemies becoming something more, and reluctant allies (sing it with me!) becoming something more. I like tactical relationships with an edge, friendships that are solid in times of tribulation, gestures of loyalty and 'everybody knows they're in love but them' stories. I like labyrinthine political manoeuvring, slyness and cunning, unexpected and brutal honesty, unspoken bonds, and people saving each other and themselves. I love competence, pining, people who are clever and know it, self-possession, and found family. If any one of these sounds like something you are interested in writing, we are off to a great start, Yulegoat!
Some of the fandoms I requested this year are repeats, so requests may have info incorporated from previous letters (I am persistent!), but mostly I have tried to keep them current. So, this year's fandoms are:
Welcome to the Punch:
I have to be honest, mostly what I want from this fandom is slash. I don't feel like I'm to blame for this as much as McAvoy and Strong's commitment to long, emotionally fraught gazing at each other. I swear, at the end of the film, Jacob and Max should have little lockets commissioned containing each others' pictures so that they can swear deadly vengeance on their nemesis before bedtime (and then give the picture a little kiss). I could power my neighbourhood on their antagonistic sexual tension. So, write me anything Jacob/Max at all, if you are so inclined. Or you could write me a fix-it where Sarah never dies and she and Max are competent and jaded all over the shop, and Jacob is reluctantly intrigued by them and their jaded competence double act and then they gang up on him to take him down, if you know what I mean, AND I THINK YOU DO, YULEGOAT. I mean, hurrah for OT3s! Or a story where Ruan doesn't die and Jacob does whatever he has to do to get his son back safely. Hem hem. Alternatively, if you want to write me gen, I would be delighted! Tell me about Juka and how, as an honourable man, he comes to terms with the conspiracy perpetuated in the police's name, or tell me about Dean's nan and how she recovers from being held hostage. Tell me about when Max goes back to work and Internal Affairs are grilling him about his (sexually tense) relationship with Jacob (don't front, Max, we all saw it). Or write me the story about Max being sentenced to prison in the aftermath and having to survive as a known cop in jail (before Jacob puts him under his protection and Max is outraged!).
Wolfblood
Omg, season two is the motherflipping best. Everything about their precious little faces and deeply committed and earnest attempts to negotiate all sorts of pack relationships brings me joy, whether it's Maddy, Rhydian and Jana, or old-school Maddy, Tom, and Shannon. If you write me pack fic or anything with Maddy being terribly kind and grumpy and awesome, I will be delighted. (If you wanted to write me Rhydian and Maddy's super-awkward, terribly fraught first date, I would not be averse to that, either.) I should probably add that while the show has them going in a vaguely romantic direction and the actors are of age, I still see this as a children's show with child characters, so if you could keep it PG13-ish that would be great. Other than that, write me aaaaanything.
Rocknrolla
Hahahaha, where to start, beloved Yulegoat? Okay, I love One Two and Handsome Bob and would not be averse to be seeing more of their awkwardly romantic shenanigans. If it ends up as an actual relationship, then that would just be gravy. I love Mumbles with a deep and fervent passion for being the brains of the gang (as far as that goes) and being so utterly on the ball when it comes to feeeeeeelings and just being frankly smoking hot. Or if you're not a slasher, which is fair enough, I would love some backstory for Mumbles, or something about how the Wild Bunch was formed. Or how Cookie got off the gear. I deeply love how the Speeler is basically the Wild Bunch's little clubhouse, so anything set in there, with all the associated chat and half-arsed criminal planning, would be amazing too. Or what happens to Johnny's little shadow, Pete, after Johnny gets clean. Or an 18th century AU in thieves' cant. So basically anything at all.
Owl Service
Oh, the Owl Service. I would love any story about the permutations and incarnations of Lleu, Gronw and Blodeuwedd, whether it's the originals, or Nancy, Bertram and Huw or something about Gwyn, Roger and Alison. That said, I would not mind a bit if you want to write me a Gwyn/Alison/Roger threesome post-book with all their resentments and loyalty and the shifting balances and actual magic between them. I think they're all brilliant and bratty and ancient and hurt in their own way, and they function better together than apart. That said, I realise that this is not everybody's cup of tea so anything to do with the mythology and gender conflict inherent in the book would be amaaaaazing. A story where even their triumph doesn't break the cycle and a modern-day, multicultural Owl Service begins all over again would be awesome, or about whether Gwyn finishes school, or where Nancy ends up, or anything at all about Huw Halfbacon (perhaps how he lives as half handyman, half dewin?) would all be fantastic.
The Newsroom
All the banter, all the time! I would love to read anything in this fandom but a couple of things I would adore would be Sloan and Don's first date (I love you, Sloan Sabbith!), or Don's continuing adventures in fixing things, because the chair went so well! Or Will and Mac's bachelor/ette parties. If you wanted to throw a little Neal (and his adventures on the internet) into that mix, I would not object. Neal is my Newsroom squishy. Or even just write me a story about the controlled freneticism of a newsroom and the disasters which may befall: I used to work in a newsroom and always make sure gallery intercom is off before you say something disparaging about the interviewee, is all I'm saying. Ooh, or performance reviews funtimes with Charlie!
The most important thing about this is that you enjoy what you're writing, darling Yulegoat. I am going to love the hell out of it, regardless, so you do what you gotta do.
elle_dritch