dear yuletide writer
So you and I were matched! Maybe you're here because you like police procedurals with an international twist like Crossing Lines. Maybe you dig the time travel in All Our Yesterdays or the teens turned soldiers in The Tomorrow series. Maybe you're like me and just can't get over how excellent On the Jellicoe Road is. Maybe you were charmed by Hart of Dixie, despite your best efforts not to be. Either way, you're here, and I'm excited! Whatever the fandom, I look forward to seeing what you come up with.
A little about myself before we jump into requests! I go by galfridian everywhere, including AO3. (Here I am on Twitter and Tumblr.) I love sci-fi and great books and fandom (even on its worst days).
About my likes and dislikes: I love tropes! Alternate universes, apocalypses, crossovers, fake relationships, found families, and time travel (just to name a few), they're all great.
I also like character studies, world building, banter and UST, slow-build romance, hurt/comfort, angstfic, crackfic, casefic, and awesome love triangles that end in OT3s.
I dislike a/b/o, abuse, bestiality, dub-con/non-con, gore, incest, character bashing, and stupid love triangles that don't end in OT3s.
If you have questions, just PM weasleytook!
On to the requests!
ALL OUR YESTERDAYS
Finn Abbott, Marina "Em" Marchetti
All Our Yesterdays had me at: "You have to kill him." The protagonist has to kill someone she loves for the betterment of the world? Exactly the flavor of angst I love! Then I discovered that this book also involved TIME TRAVEL. Well, you saw my list of likes! Naturally, I was hooked.
It did not disappoint. The characters are great. The book has three central characters (Finn, James, and Marina), but really it feels more like six because in many ways, the younger Finn, James, and Marina are so different from their future selves. The time travel is excellent, particularly how it's perceived and used by different characters.
I requested Finn and Marina, the book's two intrepid time travelers, because I most enjoyed seeing the two versions of them (both as individuals as a pair). The greatest contrast between present and future selves is Marina and Em, but you can see bits of Em blossoming in Marina as the story unfolds. Obviously, I would like to see Finn and Marina romantically involved in a fic, but I would be perfectly content without that.
Here's several prompts, in case you need them, Writer!
- Before All Our Yesterdays, Finn and Marina tried (and failed) to stop the Doctor fourteen times. Tell me about a few of those.
- In reference to the novel's upcoming sequel, the author has said, "The future didn't turn out quite the way [Marina and James] planned." I'd love your take on that.
- The author has said that she got the idea for the book while watching Terminator on TV one night. That could be an awesome crossover/fusion.
- Maybe something with a little less time travel and killer robots from the future: What else happens in the new timeline created by the end of the book? What do Finn and Marina do with their lives?
CROSSING LINES
Eva Vittoria, Sebastian Berger
I have a weakness for police procedurals, particularly when interesting character dynamics are in play. Crossing Lines has characters from five countries, each with unique histories, brought together to investigate international crimes.
I loved several of the characters, but Eva Vittoria and Sebastian Berger are my favorites. Eva is a survivor of the La Cosa Nostra mafia wars in Italy and the only member of the team hailing from a military unit. She's been part of many covert operations. She's just cool. Sebastian is a German techie with a gambling addiction. He's the inventor of a device called the Scan-gen which reconstructs crime scenes. Sebastian is quiet, keeps to himself, and seems to be hiding quite the history.
Eva and Sebastian worked together more toward the end of season one, particularly in the two-part finale, so I would love to see more of that dynamic. If you want to throw in a little romance too, I would totally be into that. Or if you would just prefer to write more about Eva or Sebastian than both of them, that would be excellent too.
Again, here are a few prompts.
- Things were tense between Eva and Sebastian in the season finale because her former co-workers took hold of his software and were blackmailing him. I'd love to see how the rest of that situation plays out.
- I'm so interested in Eva's life with La Cosa Nostra. Maybe some ghosts from that time in her life surface, maybe during an investigation in Italy.
- Maybe a casefic where Eva and Sebastian are separated from the rest of the group and have to rely on each other to survive -- the soldier and the techie.
HART OF DIXIE
Lemon Breeland, Wade Kinsella
Let's be honest, Hart of Dixie is a little ridiculous. But it's ridiculous in an endearing, entertaining way. This show has some lovable characters, which is probably why I enjoy it so much. It's one of those shows where even your grouchy, stubborn boss is actually a good guy, and where enemies have ridiculous feuds but can still unite to accomplish something great, and where the mayor has a pet alligator and that's okay.
And Lemon Breeland and Wade Kinsella, well, they're both ridiculous. Both they're also both endearing and really, really entertaining. Lemon is brilliant and calculating and headstrong and a little self-centered. Wade is reckless and often irresponsible, but he's honest about who he is. And Lemon and Wade together, with all that history and the George and Tansy and Zoe of it all, I just love it. I love that these two own the Rammer Jammer together now, I love that they support each other, and I also love that they bicker and try to outsmart each other.
I also really enjoy Annabeth and Tansy, so if you want to incorporate them into the story, please feel free!
So here's a few prompts to give you an idea where my head is with them right now.
- I'm dying a little over this fake relationship plot. I don't know how long it'll last, but regardless, I would absolutely love more of this. You know how this goes, Writer, fake dating leading to real feelings. And you just know Wade and Lemon would handle those feelings just so well.
- I love that Lemon and Wade have known each other since high school. I know she was with George during that, but I would love to see a glimpse of just the two of them during that time. Romantic or not, that's your call.
- Maybe something that does address the George and Tansy and Zoe of it all. Maybe one slightly drunk conversation at the Rammer Jammer late one night, maybe the two of them moving on from it. Anything!
ON THE JELLICOE ROAD
Tate Markham, Webb Schroeder
I read On the Jellicoe Road over two years ago and have raved about it to anyone who would listen since. I loved it all: The flashbacks to the accident on the Jellicoe Road and the connections formed from it, the war games of the present and how they reveal clues from the past, and all the great relationships.
I requested Tate and Webb because I'm so interested in the four (or five, if you include Jude). I loved Tate and Webb as individuals and as a pair -- Tate with her "wild hair and grin" who loses Webb and loses her way. Like I mentioned in my likes/dislikes, I'm into found families, and that's what these four (or five) had, but we saw just so little of it. Tell me more. Please include Narnie, Jude, and Fitz if you want to, but I would like the focus to be on Tate and Webb.
Prompts for you, Writer, if you need them.
- Tell me more about Webb and Tate's time together. What didn't the book show us? How did Tate survive the immediate aftermath of Webb's death?
- In the book, Taylor often dreams of Webb as the boy in the tree. What if she isn't the only one to dream of him that way?
- What if Webb had survived, but the loss of her sister and parents was still too much for Tate? What would have happened to Webb and Taylor?
- Maybe just something with the four (or five). Maybe specifically on the night of the crash and the days immediately following.
THE TOMORROW SERIES
Ellie Linton, Homer Yannos
This is another weakness of mine: Teens stumbling into adulthood by sparking and/or fighting a revolution. It's why I loved The Hunger Games, it's why Red Dawn is great (in all its cheesy 80s glory). This series gave me so much of that...and it was awesome. These characters dealt with horrors they never dreamt they would and fought for their homes and families.
Since Ellie was the narrator, we see the change and evolution in her most clearly, and I love her. Sometimes she doesn't see straight, sometimes she's bull-headed, sometimes she's vulnerable, but she's a leader. She believes in surviving and fighting. And Homer, well, I admire how he uses the invasion and war to step up and become more, to show a different side to himself. They're both instinctive and brave and leaders and I love them for it.
I also love Ellie and Home together. I'll be honest, I'm not a fan of Lee, and I definitely do not ship Lee/Ellie at all. Include any of the other characters in your story, I'm fine, but try to use Lee very little (if at all). Otherwise, a few things you might do are...
- Write a missing scene from the war, a time when Ellie came to Home for advice or comfort...or maybe more.
- If you're into it, maybe a post-series AU. Ignore The Ellie Chronicles. Give me your spin on where Ellie's life went after the war.
- Or you can write something post-series and canon compliant but with a focus on how these two leaders adjusted to life without a war, these two people who were so used to having each other near their whole lives.
And that's it, dear Writer. Thank you for writing for me! I hope your Yuletide is wonderful!