DYW Letter
Hello, Yuletide writer!
First of all, I just want to say thank you very much in advance for whatever you're going to write! Last year was my first time doing Yuletide, and though I was more than a little nervous at first, I ended up having so much fun that I'm eagerly looking forward to what this year's edition might bring. So with that being said, here's a bit of general information about my fic preferences that I hope will prove helpful!
What I like: I'm a big fan of both het and gen. Genre-wise, pretty much anything goes! I would say most of what I read falls under the general categories of drama or romance, but I'm also fond of angst, fluff, crack, humor, etc. Smut is perfectly welcome if you're up for writing it, but by no means a necessity. Moving into somewhat more specific territory, I love fics that dig into characters' heads--what they're thinking and feeling, what drives them, how they interact and react to the world around them, and so on. The same is true of relationships--what makes this pairing tick? Why are they together? And so on. That's not to say that I need pages and pages of pondering and introspection, but even just a smattering of details that really help set the scene and make me feel like I'm right there in the middle of it with the characters will make me a happy reader. I also love love love awesome female characters being awesome. That doesn't necessarily have to equate to being physically kickass, either--it could be anything from a witty line of banter to a thoughtful conversation to a creative problem-solving method, just to scratch the surface.
What I'm not so into: Non-con of any kind is my absolute biggest squick. I probably should put dub-con in there too, just to be safe. Slash and femslash are also not my thing. Character bashing and blatant OOC behavior make me instantly hit the back button, and I would also prefer for character death to be avoided if at all possible. While I'm fine with an angsty story, I tend to stay away from extremely dark, crushing, punch-to-the-gut angst. I like my endings happy, or at least bittersweet and/or hopeful.
And now for a few fandom-specific notes:
Alpha Protocol - Whenever I play Alpha Protocol, my Mike always ends up with Mina. I know there are a billion different options for everything in this game, but this is one that I can never bring myself to change! She's the one person who interacts with Mike and helps him out almost constantly throughout the game, and I'm a bit of a sucker for the "good friends and/or colleagues become lovers" trope. I think the number one thing I would like to see would be a fic exploring exactly what happens after the game ends (assuming that they took down Halbech and rode off on the boat together into the sunset). How do they transition from all the recent craziness into a more "normal" existence? Or do they just give normal a miss altogether and carry on with the secret spy business? I think the possibilities for a post-endgame fic are pretty limitless. But really, when it comes to specific details, I'm not picky--there are a grand total of seven Alpha Protocol stories on FFN, and three of those are in Russian, so needless to say there's not much out there for these two. I would be happy to read just about anything!
Mass Effect - Unfortunately there wasn't any way to specify Shepard's gender on the sign-up form, so my number one request for a Mass Effect fic would be for Shepard to be female. Nothing against people who play male Shepards, but for me, she's always been a woman. The relationship between FemShep and Garrus is one of my favorite things about Mass Effect, whether it's romantic or just friends--but they are my OTP, so a shippy fic would be preferable! I would love to see something including Garrus' sister Solana and her thoughts on her brother having a human commander/best friend/lover. Cute or embarrassing tales about Garrus' childhood would be a plus. ;) I'm also a complete sucker for fics that explore the obstacles and complexities of an interspecies relationship, whether they be physical, social, cultural, etc. (Though if you go this route, I would ask for no outright fail!sex, please.) Those are just a couple of potential suggestions, though--I love all manner of stories about these two, so anything else that strikes your fancy would be fine by me.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars - I was mostly unimpressed with all the hype surrounding the introduction of Savage Opress last season...but once he finally made it to the screen, I found myself getting oddly attached to him. What caught my attention most of all was the twisted-yet-disturbingly-intriguing dominant/submissive relationship between him and Ventress--not to mention the whole situation with the Nightsisters taking the Zabrak males as "mates." Ever since those episodes aired, I've been dying for some fic exploring the implications of that alongside the power imbalance/struggle between Asajj and Savage. It could take place either during the "Nightsisters" arc itself, or afterward, whenever the two of them meet up again. Whether it stays completely kid-friendly or goes all the way up to full-blown hate!sex is up to you. (I have no shame.)
I should note that I haven't yet seen any of the Clone Wars episodes this season (they're all sitting on my DVR waiting for me to find some time to watch TV!), so it's entirely possible that Ventress and Savage have already run into each other again on the show. If so, no spoilers, please.
Oh, and I should also note that this fandom is one where my aforementioned preference for happy endings doesn't apply so much. Obviously Ventress and Savage don't have the type of relationship that particularly lends itself to happy endings!
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - Like pretty much anyone who's ever played KOTOR, I've always wondered exactly what happened to Revan after she took off for parts unknown. (Yeah, I know Drew Karpyshyn just wrote a book on that subject, but his Revan is a man and mine never was, so I'm giving his version a miss.) Given that at the end of KOTOR II, the Exile went into the unknown regions looking for Revan, it always made me wonder: what if the Exile did find Revan? What might she discover? And how might the encounter unfold given the history between the two of them? I would love a fic exploring any of those questions.
Now that I've practically written an entire essay, I think that about does it! I hope this info is helpful, and that you have happy holidays and a great Yuletide!
First of all, I just want to say thank you very much in advance for whatever you're going to write! Last year was my first time doing Yuletide, and though I was more than a little nervous at first, I ended up having so much fun that I'm eagerly looking forward to what this year's edition might bring. So with that being said, here's a bit of general information about my fic preferences that I hope will prove helpful!
What I like: I'm a big fan of both het and gen. Genre-wise, pretty much anything goes! I would say most of what I read falls under the general categories of drama or romance, but I'm also fond of angst, fluff, crack, humor, etc. Smut is perfectly welcome if you're up for writing it, but by no means a necessity. Moving into somewhat more specific territory, I love fics that dig into characters' heads--what they're thinking and feeling, what drives them, how they interact and react to the world around them, and so on. The same is true of relationships--what makes this pairing tick? Why are they together? And so on. That's not to say that I need pages and pages of pondering and introspection, but even just a smattering of details that really help set the scene and make me feel like I'm right there in the middle of it with the characters will make me a happy reader. I also love love love awesome female characters being awesome. That doesn't necessarily have to equate to being physically kickass, either--it could be anything from a witty line of banter to a thoughtful conversation to a creative problem-solving method, just to scratch the surface.
What I'm not so into: Non-con of any kind is my absolute biggest squick. I probably should put dub-con in there too, just to be safe. Slash and femslash are also not my thing. Character bashing and blatant OOC behavior make me instantly hit the back button, and I would also prefer for character death to be avoided if at all possible. While I'm fine with an angsty story, I tend to stay away from extremely dark, crushing, punch-to-the-gut angst. I like my endings happy, or at least bittersweet and/or hopeful.
And now for a few fandom-specific notes:
Alpha Protocol - Whenever I play Alpha Protocol, my Mike always ends up with Mina. I know there are a billion different options for everything in this game, but this is one that I can never bring myself to change! She's the one person who interacts with Mike and helps him out almost constantly throughout the game, and I'm a bit of a sucker for the "good friends and/or colleagues become lovers" trope. I think the number one thing I would like to see would be a fic exploring exactly what happens after the game ends (assuming that they took down Halbech and rode off on the boat together into the sunset). How do they transition from all the recent craziness into a more "normal" existence? Or do they just give normal a miss altogether and carry on with the secret spy business? I think the possibilities for a post-endgame fic are pretty limitless. But really, when it comes to specific details, I'm not picky--there are a grand total of seven Alpha Protocol stories on FFN, and three of those are in Russian, so needless to say there's not much out there for these two. I would be happy to read just about anything!
Mass Effect - Unfortunately there wasn't any way to specify Shepard's gender on the sign-up form, so my number one request for a Mass Effect fic would be for Shepard to be female. Nothing against people who play male Shepards, but for me, she's always been a woman. The relationship between FemShep and Garrus is one of my favorite things about Mass Effect, whether it's romantic or just friends--but they are my OTP, so a shippy fic would be preferable! I would love to see something including Garrus' sister Solana and her thoughts on her brother having a human commander/best friend/lover. Cute or embarrassing tales about Garrus' childhood would be a plus. ;) I'm also a complete sucker for fics that explore the obstacles and complexities of an interspecies relationship, whether they be physical, social, cultural, etc. (Though if you go this route, I would ask for no outright fail!sex, please.) Those are just a couple of potential suggestions, though--I love all manner of stories about these two, so anything else that strikes your fancy would be fine by me.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars - I was mostly unimpressed with all the hype surrounding the introduction of Savage Opress last season...but once he finally made it to the screen, I found myself getting oddly attached to him. What caught my attention most of all was the twisted-yet-disturbingly-intriguing dominant/submissive relationship between him and Ventress--not to mention the whole situation with the Nightsisters taking the Zabrak males as "mates." Ever since those episodes aired, I've been dying for some fic exploring the implications of that alongside the power imbalance/struggle between Asajj and Savage. It could take place either during the "Nightsisters" arc itself, or afterward, whenever the two of them meet up again. Whether it stays completely kid-friendly or goes all the way up to full-blown hate!sex is up to you. (I have no shame.)
I should note that I haven't yet seen any of the Clone Wars episodes this season (they're all sitting on my DVR waiting for me to find some time to watch TV!), so it's entirely possible that Ventress and Savage have already run into each other again on the show. If so, no spoilers, please.
Oh, and I should also note that this fandom is one where my aforementioned preference for happy endings doesn't apply so much. Obviously Ventress and Savage don't have the type of relationship that particularly lends itself to happy endings!
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - Like pretty much anyone who's ever played KOTOR, I've always wondered exactly what happened to Revan after she took off for parts unknown. (Yeah, I know Drew Karpyshyn just wrote a book on that subject, but his Revan is a man and mine never was, so I'm giving his version a miss.) Given that at the end of KOTOR II, the Exile went into the unknown regions looking for Revan, it always made me wonder: what if the Exile did find Revan? What might she discover? And how might the encounter unfold given the history between the two of them? I would love a fic exploring any of those questions.
Now that I've practically written an entire essay, I think that about does it! I hope this info is helpful, and that you have happy holidays and a great Yuletide!