(no subject)
IMPORTANT YULETIDE NOTE: I'll be away from my computer on the morning of the twenty-fifth; my family will be celebrating on Christmas Eve, and then I'll spend the morning and early afternoon driving six hours to get back home in time to feed my cats. I may or may not have a chance to get to your story before I leave, depending on when the archive opens--and if I don't, then I promise it's not a negative reflection on your writing prowess! It's much more a matter of how hungry I anticipate my kitties are.
Dear Yuletide Writer,
Hello, my dear writer! Thank you so very much for offering fic in what I freely acknowledge are Very Small Fandoms. The first thing that you should know, therefore, is that I will be happy with almost anything you write. If you love even one of these fandoms as much as I do, I trust you to produce a story that I'll want to read. I provide optional details and tropes that I enjoy because they'd be useful for me, if I were my writer, but as far as I'm concerned, they're just that: optional. Follow your muse when you write for me, and trust your own strengths.
I'm slash/het/gen/poly/ace-friendly and all-ratings-friendly, I love kinkfic, and I ADORE AUs, so don't worry too much about whether your idea is too outlandish or racy. I enjoy a wide variety of genres, from the venerable crackfic to the comedy of manners to the action-packed war story; I have no hangups regarding narrative person or tense. As a writer and a reader, I'm primarily interested in world-building and milieu, but if those aren't your strengths, do feel free to focus on character conflict or snarky banter--most of my requests this year are character-focused, which is unusual for me! A few of the tropes that I adore: Ensemble Pieces, Good Man in a Bad War, War as Continuation of Policy by Other Means, Scholar/Soldiers and Poet/Soldiers, Good Sons, Prodigal Sons, Good Sons Who Are Daughters, Twists at the End, Documents and Epistles, Language Games, Polymaths, Irreconcilable Moral Choices, Masochistic Idealists, Beautiful Monsters, Pygmalions and Apollos (who transubstantiate flesh and art), the Resisting Galatea (who refuses to be changed from art to flesh), the Mastered Marsyas (who permits himself, however reluctantly, to be changed from flesh to art), the Lone Man in a Hard Land, the Long Road Home, and You Can't Go Home Again.
There are really only two things that you can do that will make me unhappy--bash the characters, or write dubious consent. When I say 'dubious consent,' what I'm talking about is the kind of fic where 'I didn't hear a no' (or 'that "no" didn't sound very convincing') serves as grounds to press one's sexual attentions on another. I'd really prefer not to read that for my Yuletide fic. If you're writing Kyllikki fic, you're probably going to have to deal with sexual coercion in some form, so that one gets a pass--but please do acknowledge that her relationship with Lemminkäinen is abusive and coercive.
I've added some links to my prompts to give you some idea of what themes and literary references really interest me; I've also enabled anonymous commenting and turned off IP logging, so if you want further clarification, do feel free to ask for more!
*
Finnish Mythology -- Kyllikki, Joukahainen. I've requested both Kyllikki and Joukahainen, but I want to make clear that this is an OR, not necessarily an AND--I would be delighted with a fic about either one of them, so don't worry too much about trying to devise a plausible plot that includes both of them. For Kyllikki, I'm curious about what happens to her after her falling out with Lemminkäinen, and how she recovers from that abusive relationship. So much of the Kalevala is taken up with young women's laments over leaving their homes to serve a husband, but Kyllikki is kidnapped on top of that; she's forced into a marriage that she doesn't want and convinced under duress to give up her maiden dances. After seeing her broken like that, I want nothing more than to see her strong. For Joukahainen, who foolishly barters away his sister's hand in a magical duel, I'd like to see him taking responsibility for his actions. Aino killed herself rather than marry the man he had forced upon her; he was responsible for her death, and it's impossible for me to imagine that it doesn't haunt him. I want to see him taking what steps he can to make right what he's made wrong--learning to live with the guilt and letting it change him for the better.
There is a an English translation of the Kalevala available for free online, although it's not a perfectly literal one; if you're curious about this fandom, this is a great start! I've linked the most salient 'runes' in the request for ease of reference.
One of the elements that continually strikes me as I read the Kalevala is how fraught with failure it is, especially when the heroes go wooing--Aino would rather die than wed Väinämöinen; Ilmarinen forges the Sampo as a bridegift but ultimately loses it in the sea; Lemminkäinen goes seeking a more tractable wife and instead finds himself torn to pieces and strewn across the lakebed of Tuonela. In a narrative such as this one, in which even the heroes must fail vastly and paradigmatically, the narrative focus is not on victory but on endurance in the face of adversity. Where I see characters cast down by their circumstances or their failures, as with Kyllikki and Joukahainen, I want to see them endure. I want to see their strength and their courage, placed against their grief and guilt and self-reproach.
I love absolutely everyone in the Kalevala, though, so if you find yourself thinking, 'I knew I shouldn't have offered "any" in the characters blank,' fear not! I'll be just as happy with a story about Louhi or Ilmarinen or the Maiden of the Rainbow, if you're stumped on Kyllikki and Joukahainen. Other things that would be awesome: AUs of all kinds, slash (I am probably the only person in the world who ships Lemminkäinen/Joukahainen, and I would love to see Kyllikki with a lovely lady--ghost!Aino?), plotty gen. If you can come up with a compelling m/f pair, I'll take it, but het pairs in this canon seem to be doomed to suicide, betrayal, or being eaten by bears.
*
Edgar Huntly Or Memoirs of a Sleepwalker - Charles Brockden Brown -- Edgar Huntly, Waldegrave. Edgar's obsessive grief for Waldegrave is the initial, driving force behind his nightly sojourns into the forests and caverns; he can't rest until he has first put the dead to rest. If you're up for it, I would love to see you take this trope of the restless dead fully into the realm of the Gothic--is Edgar truly haunted by Waldegrave's ghost? When he walks in his sleep, is he going to meet his old friend? ... but if ghost stories really aren't your thing, I'd be more than happy reading about Edgar and Waldegrave's friendship before Waldegrave's untimely death. (I also ship Edgar/Waldegrave like mad; if you want to write their tragic love story, with or without ghosts, I will be thoroughly delighted.)
Like the Kalevala, Edgar Huntly is available in full online! It's a dreadfully weird book, in which the hero grieves his dead best friend so thoroughly that he starts sleepwalking, which transforms him into Rambo. Before you know it, he's eating raw panthers in the depths of a cavern whilst attempting to nurse a guilt-stricken Irishman through a nervous breakdown and shooting at (justifiably irate) Native Americans. I won't sugarcoat it: This book has got some seriously racist elements, and while Brown seems at least vaguely aware that the First Peoples are getting a pretty raw deal, they're still portrayed as more bloodthirsty and morally objectionable than Our Sleepwalking Hero ... who, the narrative makes quite clear, would himself benefit from being told to STOP HELPING about sixty times.
All of these elements, the panthers and the Irish murderers and the vexed politics of settlement, are not what interests me about the book--although I'd like you to treat them more respectfully and sensitively than Brown does, if you do touch on them. What interests me is Edgar as an unreliable narrator, and what's more, an unreliable narrator who spends most of the early part of the book not even being awake for the interesting stuff. What interests me is the book's Gothic fascination with hidden things, with buried objects and caverns as metaphors for secrecy, with the paranoia of sudden aloneness pitted against the fear of confession and its consequences. These elements, taken together, always inspire the question: Is Edgar ever truly alone? Who witnesses him in the dark spaces in which he is his most secret, private self? Waldegrave could be a key to that question, but he's dead--which means something different and full of possibilities, in a Gothic novel.
... and, admittedly, if you're up for it, I am intrigued by the possibility of horrifying and brutal and delightful Edgar/Waldegrave ghostsex. That, too.
*
Sengoku Basara -- Takenaga Hanbei, Toyotomi Hideyoshi (Sengoku Basara). Hanbei serves Hideyoshi and his ideal of uniting Japan--but Hideyoshi needs to be guided and directed, and Hanbei can provide that. They rely on each other, and I want you to write about that emotional, affective element of their reliance that Keiji had been so desperate to identify.
I'm primarily interested in the anime interpretation of these characters, rather than the game (all episodes at the link are freely and legally available). I'll still be able to follow you if you're writing primarily about the game, but the meditations on friendship and intimacy and loyalty in the anime are really what made me want to see fic about these two.
I fully acknowledge that, individually, Hanbei and Hideyoshi are awful people. They kill, kidnap, torture, and deceive; not only do they believe that the end justifies the means, but to an extent, they consider honorable conduct in war to be one of the barriers holding Japan back from true unification. In the world that Hideyoshi is building, strength is all--neither he nor Hanbei is a woobie, and treating them as such betrays not only their characterization but also their deeply-held values.
... and for all that, they're deeply, horribly, functionally codependent. Hideyoshi gives Hanbei's last days purpose and makes him feel powerful; Hanbei directs Hideyoshi's strength and reinforces his belief that his cause is righteous. Hideyoshi clearly cares for Hanbei and wants to see him take care of himself, for all Hanbei seems as though he'd be one of the weaklings who have no place in Hideyoshi's empire of the strong. For all Hanbei scorns the notion that he and Hideyoshi love and rely upon each other as friends do, he seems to wear his ruthlessness more to shelter Hideyoshi from the consequences of an intimate friendship than from true indifference. Together, they encourage one another to be their ideal selves, which is not at all the same thing as their best selves--and for all their efforts to crush compassion, they're kinder and more empathetic toward each other than toward anyone else in the cast.
If you're interested in a romantic friendship for these two, that's absolutely fine; if you're of a kink-writing bent, I'd love to see how these two handle D/s when each of them is to an extent a caretaker for the other. If you're not at all interested in those angles, though, I'd love to hear more about how their association came about and how they learned to rely on and believe in each other.
*
Addams Family (TV 1964) -- Morticia Addams, Gomez Addams. I love how Morticia and Gomez show their affection for each other--they're so obviously, passionately in love, so concerned for each other's ... really more ill-being than well-being ... and so in touch with each other's wants and cues. And they show that by torturing each other tenderly. I'd like some fic in the spirit of the show, focused on the domesticity of their days and how they face the world's little challenges as a (horrible, adorable) team.
This was a last-minute addition to my requests--I was sitting at home with my girlfriend, discussing what a perfect(ly awful) couple Morticia and Gomez were, and realized very suddenly, 'I can request fic about them for Yuletide!' As my optional details suggest, what I love most about this show is their dynamic, and how they support each other and poison each other and chain each other up and take care of their family together. These things are not portrayed as at all inimical to one another, for all the show's tongue is firmly planted in its cheek; what Morticia and Gomez happen to want is a life of suffering, and they lovingly choose to make each other suffer.
I'd be happy with a genfic--a 'missing episode' about their daily undeath and how they manage the travails of the family--but I'd also be quite happy with a shippy fic about their courtship and how they realized that they were perfect for each other. I'd even be happy with a fic about either Morticia or Gomez before their relationship, trying (or not trying) to fit into a world that has little room for monsters. I'm happy reading about their relationship with their kids, or seeing their relationship through their family's eyes; I do love ensemble pieces, so please don't feel as though you're only allowed to write about Morticia and Gomez! Part of what makes their relationship shine is how it fits into the broader dynamic of their extended family.
If you'd like a refresher on the series, this playlist has dozens of episodes for your enjoyment; however, I'm not a huge stickler for canonicity on long-running television series, and I don't expect you to know every single detail of every single episode! Tone and characterization are much more important to me, for this request.
Dear Yuletide Writer,
Hello, my dear writer! Thank you so very much for offering fic in what I freely acknowledge are Very Small Fandoms. The first thing that you should know, therefore, is that I will be happy with almost anything you write. If you love even one of these fandoms as much as I do, I trust you to produce a story that I'll want to read. I provide optional details and tropes that I enjoy because they'd be useful for me, if I were my writer, but as far as I'm concerned, they're just that: optional. Follow your muse when you write for me, and trust your own strengths.
I'm slash/het/gen/poly/ace-friendly and all-ratings-friendly, I love kinkfic, and I ADORE AUs, so don't worry too much about whether your idea is too outlandish or racy. I enjoy a wide variety of genres, from the venerable crackfic to the comedy of manners to the action-packed war story; I have no hangups regarding narrative person or tense. As a writer and a reader, I'm primarily interested in world-building and milieu, but if those aren't your strengths, do feel free to focus on character conflict or snarky banter--most of my requests this year are character-focused, which is unusual for me! A few of the tropes that I adore: Ensemble Pieces, Good Man in a Bad War, War as Continuation of Policy by Other Means, Scholar/Soldiers and Poet/Soldiers, Good Sons, Prodigal Sons, Good Sons Who Are Daughters, Twists at the End, Documents and Epistles, Language Games, Polymaths, Irreconcilable Moral Choices, Masochistic Idealists, Beautiful Monsters, Pygmalions and Apollos (who transubstantiate flesh and art), the Resisting Galatea (who refuses to be changed from art to flesh), the Mastered Marsyas (who permits himself, however reluctantly, to be changed from flesh to art), the Lone Man in a Hard Land, the Long Road Home, and You Can't Go Home Again.
There are really only two things that you can do that will make me unhappy--bash the characters, or write dubious consent. When I say 'dubious consent,' what I'm talking about is the kind of fic where 'I didn't hear a no' (or 'that "no" didn't sound very convincing') serves as grounds to press one's sexual attentions on another. I'd really prefer not to read that for my Yuletide fic. If you're writing Kyllikki fic, you're probably going to have to deal with sexual coercion in some form, so that one gets a pass--but please do acknowledge that her relationship with Lemminkäinen is abusive and coercive.
I've added some links to my prompts to give you some idea of what themes and literary references really interest me; I've also enabled anonymous commenting and turned off IP logging, so if you want further clarification, do feel free to ask for more!
*
Finnish Mythology -- Kyllikki, Joukahainen. I've requested both Kyllikki and Joukahainen, but I want to make clear that this is an OR, not necessarily an AND--I would be delighted with a fic about either one of them, so don't worry too much about trying to devise a plausible plot that includes both of them. For Kyllikki, I'm curious about what happens to her after her falling out with Lemminkäinen, and how she recovers from that abusive relationship. So much of the Kalevala is taken up with young women's laments over leaving their homes to serve a husband, but Kyllikki is kidnapped on top of that; she's forced into a marriage that she doesn't want and convinced under duress to give up her maiden dances. After seeing her broken like that, I want nothing more than to see her strong. For Joukahainen, who foolishly barters away his sister's hand in a magical duel, I'd like to see him taking responsibility for his actions. Aino killed herself rather than marry the man he had forced upon her; he was responsible for her death, and it's impossible for me to imagine that it doesn't haunt him. I want to see him taking what steps he can to make right what he's made wrong--learning to live with the guilt and letting it change him for the better.
There is a an English translation of the Kalevala available for free online, although it's not a perfectly literal one; if you're curious about this fandom, this is a great start! I've linked the most salient 'runes' in the request for ease of reference.
One of the elements that continually strikes me as I read the Kalevala is how fraught with failure it is, especially when the heroes go wooing--Aino would rather die than wed Väinämöinen; Ilmarinen forges the Sampo as a bridegift but ultimately loses it in the sea; Lemminkäinen goes seeking a more tractable wife and instead finds himself torn to pieces and strewn across the lakebed of Tuonela. In a narrative such as this one, in which even the heroes must fail vastly and paradigmatically, the narrative focus is not on victory but on endurance in the face of adversity. Where I see characters cast down by their circumstances or their failures, as with Kyllikki and Joukahainen, I want to see them endure. I want to see their strength and their courage, placed against their grief and guilt and self-reproach.
I love absolutely everyone in the Kalevala, though, so if you find yourself thinking, 'I knew I shouldn't have offered "any" in the characters blank,' fear not! I'll be just as happy with a story about Louhi or Ilmarinen or the Maiden of the Rainbow, if you're stumped on Kyllikki and Joukahainen. Other things that would be awesome: AUs of all kinds, slash (I am probably the only person in the world who ships Lemminkäinen/Joukahainen, and I would love to see Kyllikki with a lovely lady--ghost!Aino?), plotty gen. If you can come up with a compelling m/f pair, I'll take it, but het pairs in this canon seem to be doomed to suicide, betrayal, or being eaten by bears.
*
Edgar Huntly Or Memoirs of a Sleepwalker - Charles Brockden Brown -- Edgar Huntly, Waldegrave. Edgar's obsessive grief for Waldegrave is the initial, driving force behind his nightly sojourns into the forests and caverns; he can't rest until he has first put the dead to rest. If you're up for it, I would love to see you take this trope of the restless dead fully into the realm of the Gothic--is Edgar truly haunted by Waldegrave's ghost? When he walks in his sleep, is he going to meet his old friend? ... but if ghost stories really aren't your thing, I'd be more than happy reading about Edgar and Waldegrave's friendship before Waldegrave's untimely death. (I also ship Edgar/Waldegrave like mad; if you want to write their tragic love story, with or without ghosts, I will be thoroughly delighted.)
Like the Kalevala, Edgar Huntly is available in full online! It's a dreadfully weird book, in which the hero grieves his dead best friend so thoroughly that he starts sleepwalking, which transforms him into Rambo. Before you know it, he's eating raw panthers in the depths of a cavern whilst attempting to nurse a guilt-stricken Irishman through a nervous breakdown and shooting at (justifiably irate) Native Americans. I won't sugarcoat it: This book has got some seriously racist elements, and while Brown seems at least vaguely aware that the First Peoples are getting a pretty raw deal, they're still portrayed as more bloodthirsty and morally objectionable than Our Sleepwalking Hero ... who, the narrative makes quite clear, would himself benefit from being told to STOP HELPING about sixty times.
All of these elements, the panthers and the Irish murderers and the vexed politics of settlement, are not what interests me about the book--although I'd like you to treat them more respectfully and sensitively than Brown does, if you do touch on them. What interests me is Edgar as an unreliable narrator, and what's more, an unreliable narrator who spends most of the early part of the book not even being awake for the interesting stuff. What interests me is the book's Gothic fascination with hidden things, with buried objects and caverns as metaphors for secrecy, with the paranoia of sudden aloneness pitted against the fear of confession and its consequences. These elements, taken together, always inspire the question: Is Edgar ever truly alone? Who witnesses him in the dark spaces in which he is his most secret, private self? Waldegrave could be a key to that question, but he's dead--which means something different and full of possibilities, in a Gothic novel.
... and, admittedly, if you're up for it, I am intrigued by the possibility of horrifying and brutal and delightful Edgar/Waldegrave ghostsex. That, too.
*
Sengoku Basara -- Takenaga Hanbei, Toyotomi Hideyoshi (Sengoku Basara). Hanbei serves Hideyoshi and his ideal of uniting Japan--but Hideyoshi needs to be guided and directed, and Hanbei can provide that. They rely on each other, and I want you to write about that emotional, affective element of their reliance that Keiji had been so desperate to identify.
I'm primarily interested in the anime interpretation of these characters, rather than the game (all episodes at the link are freely and legally available). I'll still be able to follow you if you're writing primarily about the game, but the meditations on friendship and intimacy and loyalty in the anime are really what made me want to see fic about these two.
I fully acknowledge that, individually, Hanbei and Hideyoshi are awful people. They kill, kidnap, torture, and deceive; not only do they believe that the end justifies the means, but to an extent, they consider honorable conduct in war to be one of the barriers holding Japan back from true unification. In the world that Hideyoshi is building, strength is all--neither he nor Hanbei is a woobie, and treating them as such betrays not only their characterization but also their deeply-held values.
... and for all that, they're deeply, horribly, functionally codependent. Hideyoshi gives Hanbei's last days purpose and makes him feel powerful; Hanbei directs Hideyoshi's strength and reinforces his belief that his cause is righteous. Hideyoshi clearly cares for Hanbei and wants to see him take care of himself, for all Hanbei seems as though he'd be one of the weaklings who have no place in Hideyoshi's empire of the strong. For all Hanbei scorns the notion that he and Hideyoshi love and rely upon each other as friends do, he seems to wear his ruthlessness more to shelter Hideyoshi from the consequences of an intimate friendship than from true indifference. Together, they encourage one another to be their ideal selves, which is not at all the same thing as their best selves--and for all their efforts to crush compassion, they're kinder and more empathetic toward each other than toward anyone else in the cast.
If you're interested in a romantic friendship for these two, that's absolutely fine; if you're of a kink-writing bent, I'd love to see how these two handle D/s when each of them is to an extent a caretaker for the other. If you're not at all interested in those angles, though, I'd love to hear more about how their association came about and how they learned to rely on and believe in each other.
*
Addams Family (TV 1964) -- Morticia Addams, Gomez Addams. I love how Morticia and Gomez show their affection for each other--they're so obviously, passionately in love, so concerned for each other's ... really more ill-being than well-being ... and so in touch with each other's wants and cues. And they show that by torturing each other tenderly. I'd like some fic in the spirit of the show, focused on the domesticity of their days and how they face the world's little challenges as a (horrible, adorable) team.
This was a last-minute addition to my requests--I was sitting at home with my girlfriend, discussing what a perfect(ly awful) couple Morticia and Gomez were, and realized very suddenly, 'I can request fic about them for Yuletide!' As my optional details suggest, what I love most about this show is their dynamic, and how they support each other and poison each other and chain each other up and take care of their family together. These things are not portrayed as at all inimical to one another, for all the show's tongue is firmly planted in its cheek; what Morticia and Gomez happen to want is a life of suffering, and they lovingly choose to make each other suffer.
I'd be happy with a genfic--a 'missing episode' about their daily undeath and how they manage the travails of the family--but I'd also be quite happy with a shippy fic about their courtship and how they realized that they were perfect for each other. I'd even be happy with a fic about either Morticia or Gomez before their relationship, trying (or not trying) to fit into a world that has little room for monsters. I'm happy reading about their relationship with their kids, or seeing their relationship through their family's eyes; I do love ensemble pieces, so please don't feel as though you're only allowed to write about Morticia and Gomez! Part of what makes their relationship shine is how it fits into the broader dynamic of their extended family.
If you'd like a refresher on the series, this playlist has dozens of episodes for your enjoyment; however, I'm not a huge stickler for canonicity on long-running television series, and I don't expect you to know every single detail of every single episode! Tone and characterization are much more important to me, for this request.