Yuletide yay!
Hello Yuletide author! First, THANK YOU!!! This is only my second Yuletide. I'm mostly just excited to be getting a story in one of my requested fandoms so really, that's half the thing done. :) I hope the writing process is fun and makes you happy as well!
In case you're curious, my letter from last year's Yuletide is here -- it's largely the same except that two requested fandoms are different.
ABOUT ME
I've been reading fanfic for around thirteen years now, in a wide variety of fandoms, pairings and genres. I've got a recs LJ here (although rarely updated) in case that helps you get a sense of my tastes. More specifically--
I like:
- sex scenes which don't fade to black just when you get to the good stuff, but which also don't take over the story
- happy endings, but you can certainly put the characters through all kinds of crazy hell before then
- pairings with a history or a long-established relationship of one type, e.g. friends or partners, who then become sexual and/or romantic
- plot, but by that I mean I just want something to happen--even if you write 1000 words of the characters just talking to each other, that would be fine!
- With regard to het pairings, I am TOTALLY FINE with characters--especially women--who've had some physically intimate experience prior to their current partner, even if that wasn't exactly being a good girl for their particular culture. Actually, I kind of like it a lot.
I don't like:
- vignettes, by which I mean stories where a single character is just sitting and thinking, and not interacting with anyone or anything (see above re: plot)
- female characters being treated as bad guys for pairing purposes, or who get physically or emotionally abused (but if they can fight back somehow, that helps)
- alternate universes, at least not for these requests
- embarrassment or humiliation
- With regard to slash pairings, I actually kind of prefer not knowing too much about characters' intimate experiences prior to their current partner.
If you do happen to write explicit sex in your story, I'm all for it! Here are some loose guidelines for my kinks and squicks:
- please no sex involving blood, urine or excrement
- I don't really find spanking or BDSM hot, but I do like dub-con and some non-con
- oral sex, characters who talk during sex but then get incoherent, characters who can't even manage to get all their clothes off in time...ALL GOOD!
- I like a hot, messy, passionate, descriptive kiss. Could be used to kick things off or occur during or after or as a preview for later. :)
ABOUT MY REQUESTS
I've included a link or two in brackets beneath each request for places where I've talked previously about the fandom or the pairing, in case that helps illuminate what I like.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Julian Bashir
I requested only Julian Bashir as a character to enable more flexible matching under this year's system.
Bashir/O'Brien is my OTP for this fandom -- I have such a thing for friends becoming lovers. That said, Miles does have a family he's devoted to, so I'd love a story which was realistic about that. (I'm not so sure Julian/Ezri will last long, but I can believe it's serious.) I would actually be okay with infidelity if it's well-handled, with character depth for all involved, and neither Keiko nor Ezri are made into horrible people. Basically, here's the plot bunny I've been wishing for years that someone would write: Julian goes to visit Miles in San Francisco where he's teaching at Starfleet Academy, and they get to reminiscing and telling war stories and figuring out their friend dynamic again, and...what happens after that is up to you! :)
If Bashir/O'Brien doesn't work for you, I'm also intrigued by Bashir interacting with Kira, because comparatively the show didn't give them a lot of one-on-one time and yet I think of them as two characters who exemplify the show's makeshift unexpected family theme: their personalities are quite different but over the years they've managed to work pretty well together and even become friends of a sort. A story about them doesn't have to be shippy to be satisfying (but of course I'm aware of the actors' relationship offscreen). And Bashir interacting with Sisko one-on-one would be cool too: something that highlights the fact that Sisko is Bashir's commanding officer (maybe even one of his first?), but that he's also a pretty unconventional one for Starfleet.
If none of the above is inspiring, well, I love almost the entire cast of this show. Feel free to play!
[I said here that "Bashir and O'Brien getting drunk together in "Explorers" is all cute and stuff, but Bashir and O'Brien trying to break into Quark's in "Family Business" to get their dart board back is ♥ ♥ ♥!" And here is a little Star Trek meme I did with a couple of paragraphs about why DS9 in particular is my favorite.]
Breaking Bad
Jesse Pinkman, Skyler White, Gustavo Fring
Jesse is my favorite -- he is, yes, a woobie, but so much more than that as well. I love how he just needs to freaking believe in himself, and keeps almost getting there but keeps getting set back by Walter and circumstances, how he loves kids (and the interesting contrast with his distant relationship with his little brother), how he's actually pretty damn smart (every time he demonstrates he's learned something from Walter, like the lab contamination stuff, I just want to draw hearts around him) and how this season he was the only thing keeping Walt and Mike from destroying each other.
I have complicated feelings about Skyler -- she's grown on me over the course of the show but I felt that this season showed a Skyler essentially trapped and hamstrung by her own feelings of guilt. She's afraid of Walter, yes, but I think she's also afraid of what she saw in herself, the consequences of her actions with Ted. I kept wanting her to turn the tables on Walter, to dominate, or to just get out. But I understood why she couldn't.
The show gave us two tantalizing interactions between Jesse and Skyler this season. I'd like a story where they team up. Doesn't have to be to take Walt down -- it could just be them finding a way to escape. Sex would be fine, especially if it's used to highlight the problematic relationships they've already had on the show: Jane, Andrea, Ted, Walter.
Alternatively, I'd be interested in Skyler/Walter backstory: more about how they met and got together, how much Skyler knows about what happened with Gretchen, how Walter went from being a cocky scientist full of dreams to a cowed high school chemistry teacher (and how Skyler herself might have contributed to that metamorphosis).
As for Mr. Fring, I would be happy with more backstory about how he got from Chile to New Mexico, his dealings with the cartel over the years, how he set up his drug distribution empire, or just a missing scene exploring his relationship with Jesse or Mike.
[My Breaking Bad LJ tag is here.]
Footloose (1984)
Ariel Moore
I requested only Ariel Moore as a character to enable more flexible matching under this year's system.
I've watched this movie at least once a year since I was a little kid and I've always thought it was so much more than a teen dance movie. I really empathize with Ariel's desire to get out of her small town, and how Ren's arrival shook up the toxic and unhealthy relationship she had at the time with her father (who, at heart, was still a good and thoughtful man) and with her friends (because she was such a user and was pretty self-centered and self-destructive).
In fanfic, I want to know what happens next: I'd like Ariel to go to one of those colleges far away, maybe in a big city, and have her eyes opened to the wide world outside of Beaumont (Bomont? sources differ). Then I'd like to see her come back home to face all of her mistakes/regrets/memories: how have her experiences changed her perspective on her childhood and teenage years? What's it like seeing her old friends again, particularly Rusty and Ren? How does she feel, with that time and distance, about the loss of her brother and how her parents dealt with that?
Austin & Murry-O'Keefe Families - Madeleine L'Engle
Adam Eddington, Vicky Austin
A Ring of Endless Light is another childhood favorite which I've read probably once a year. I've read most of the Austin & Murry-O'Keefe books multiple times, but this one's my favorite. Basically, I'm just looking for future fic. Adam and Vicky don't have to be together romantically, but I'd like them to both be in the story somehow. Slight preference for something from Adam's perspective which shows how he feels about Vicky, mostly because Ring and Troubling a Star are from her perspective, but please go with whatever works best for you. Bonus points for bringing in members of the Murry family; even more bonus points if those members are Meg and/or Charles Wallace.
[A number of years ago I wrote a big meta post here about these books, in which I explored the themes of Naming and kything-as-communion -- I'd love it if your story dealt with these themes as well.]
In conclusion, and once again, THANK YOU, mystery author! I can't wait to read whatever you come up with. ♥!
This post has
comments at its original location at http://hesychasm.dreamwidth.org/255121.html. Please comment there or here.
In case you're curious, my letter from last year's Yuletide is here -- it's largely the same except that two requested fandoms are different.
ABOUT ME
I've been reading fanfic for around thirteen years now, in a wide variety of fandoms, pairings and genres. I've got a recs LJ here (although rarely updated) in case that helps you get a sense of my tastes. More specifically--
I like:
- sex scenes which don't fade to black just when you get to the good stuff, but which also don't take over the story
- happy endings, but you can certainly put the characters through all kinds of crazy hell before then
- pairings with a history or a long-established relationship of one type, e.g. friends or partners, who then become sexual and/or romantic
- plot, but by that I mean I just want something to happen--even if you write 1000 words of the characters just talking to each other, that would be fine!
- With regard to het pairings, I am TOTALLY FINE with characters--especially women--who've had some physically intimate experience prior to their current partner, even if that wasn't exactly being a good girl for their particular culture. Actually, I kind of like it a lot.
I don't like:
- vignettes, by which I mean stories where a single character is just sitting and thinking, and not interacting with anyone or anything (see above re: plot)
- female characters being treated as bad guys for pairing purposes, or who get physically or emotionally abused (but if they can fight back somehow, that helps)
- alternate universes, at least not for these requests
- embarrassment or humiliation
- With regard to slash pairings, I actually kind of prefer not knowing too much about characters' intimate experiences prior to their current partner.
If you do happen to write explicit sex in your story, I'm all for it! Here are some loose guidelines for my kinks and squicks:
- please no sex involving blood, urine or excrement
- I don't really find spanking or BDSM hot, but I do like dub-con and some non-con
- oral sex, characters who talk during sex but then get incoherent, characters who can't even manage to get all their clothes off in time...ALL GOOD!
- I like a hot, messy, passionate, descriptive kiss. Could be used to kick things off or occur during or after or as a preview for later. :)
ABOUT MY REQUESTS
I've included a link or two in brackets beneath each request for places where I've talked previously about the fandom or the pairing, in case that helps illuminate what I like.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Julian Bashir
I requested only Julian Bashir as a character to enable more flexible matching under this year's system.
Bashir/O'Brien is my OTP for this fandom -- I have such a thing for friends becoming lovers. That said, Miles does have a family he's devoted to, so I'd love a story which was realistic about that. (I'm not so sure Julian/Ezri will last long, but I can believe it's serious.) I would actually be okay with infidelity if it's well-handled, with character depth for all involved, and neither Keiko nor Ezri are made into horrible people. Basically, here's the plot bunny I've been wishing for years that someone would write: Julian goes to visit Miles in San Francisco where he's teaching at Starfleet Academy, and they get to reminiscing and telling war stories and figuring out their friend dynamic again, and...what happens after that is up to you! :)
If Bashir/O'Brien doesn't work for you, I'm also intrigued by Bashir interacting with Kira, because comparatively the show didn't give them a lot of one-on-one time and yet I think of them as two characters who exemplify the show's makeshift unexpected family theme: their personalities are quite different but over the years they've managed to work pretty well together and even become friends of a sort. A story about them doesn't have to be shippy to be satisfying (but of course I'm aware of the actors' relationship offscreen). And Bashir interacting with Sisko one-on-one would be cool too: something that highlights the fact that Sisko is Bashir's commanding officer (maybe even one of his first?), but that he's also a pretty unconventional one for Starfleet.
If none of the above is inspiring, well, I love almost the entire cast of this show. Feel free to play!
[I said here that "Bashir and O'Brien getting drunk together in "Explorers" is all cute and stuff, but Bashir and O'Brien trying to break into Quark's in "Family Business" to get their dart board back is ♥ ♥ ♥!" And here is a little Star Trek meme I did with a couple of paragraphs about why DS9 in particular is my favorite.]
Breaking Bad
Jesse Pinkman, Skyler White, Gustavo Fring
Jesse is my favorite -- he is, yes, a woobie, but so much more than that as well. I love how he just needs to freaking believe in himself, and keeps almost getting there but keeps getting set back by Walter and circumstances, how he loves kids (and the interesting contrast with his distant relationship with his little brother), how he's actually pretty damn smart (every time he demonstrates he's learned something from Walter, like the lab contamination stuff, I just want to draw hearts around him) and how this season he was the only thing keeping Walt and Mike from destroying each other.
I have complicated feelings about Skyler -- she's grown on me over the course of the show but I felt that this season showed a Skyler essentially trapped and hamstrung by her own feelings of guilt. She's afraid of Walter, yes, but I think she's also afraid of what she saw in herself, the consequences of her actions with Ted. I kept wanting her to turn the tables on Walter, to dominate, or to just get out. But I understood why she couldn't.
The show gave us two tantalizing interactions between Jesse and Skyler this season. I'd like a story where they team up. Doesn't have to be to take Walt down -- it could just be them finding a way to escape. Sex would be fine, especially if it's used to highlight the problematic relationships they've already had on the show: Jane, Andrea, Ted, Walter.
Alternatively, I'd be interested in Skyler/Walter backstory: more about how they met and got together, how much Skyler knows about what happened with Gretchen, how Walter went from being a cocky scientist full of dreams to a cowed high school chemistry teacher (and how Skyler herself might have contributed to that metamorphosis).
As for Mr. Fring, I would be happy with more backstory about how he got from Chile to New Mexico, his dealings with the cartel over the years, how he set up his drug distribution empire, or just a missing scene exploring his relationship with Jesse or Mike.
[My Breaking Bad LJ tag is here.]
Footloose (1984)
Ariel Moore
I requested only Ariel Moore as a character to enable more flexible matching under this year's system.
I've watched this movie at least once a year since I was a little kid and I've always thought it was so much more than a teen dance movie. I really empathize with Ariel's desire to get out of her small town, and how Ren's arrival shook up the toxic and unhealthy relationship she had at the time with her father (who, at heart, was still a good and thoughtful man) and with her friends (because she was such a user and was pretty self-centered and self-destructive).
In fanfic, I want to know what happens next: I'd like Ariel to go to one of those colleges far away, maybe in a big city, and have her eyes opened to the wide world outside of Beaumont (Bomont? sources differ). Then I'd like to see her come back home to face all of her mistakes/regrets/memories: how have her experiences changed her perspective on her childhood and teenage years? What's it like seeing her old friends again, particularly Rusty and Ren? How does she feel, with that time and distance, about the loss of her brother and how her parents dealt with that?
Austin & Murry-O'Keefe Families - Madeleine L'Engle
Adam Eddington, Vicky Austin
A Ring of Endless Light is another childhood favorite which I've read probably once a year. I've read most of the Austin & Murry-O'Keefe books multiple times, but this one's my favorite. Basically, I'm just looking for future fic. Adam and Vicky don't have to be together romantically, but I'd like them to both be in the story somehow. Slight preference for something from Adam's perspective which shows how he feels about Vicky, mostly because Ring and Troubling a Star are from her perspective, but please go with whatever works best for you. Bonus points for bringing in members of the Murry family; even more bonus points if those members are Meg and/or Charles Wallace.
[A number of years ago I wrote a big meta post here about these books, in which I explored the themes of Naming and kything-as-communion -- I'd love it if your story dealt with these themes as well.]
In conclusion, and once again, THANK YOU, mystery author! I can't wait to read whatever you come up with. ♥!
This post has
comments at its original location at http://hesychasm.dreamwidth.org/255121.html. Please comment there or here.