Yuletide Letter: This year, almost entirely capslock free!
Dear Yuletide author,
Thank you so much for taking on one of my requested fandoms and writing a story just for me! You are awesome.
In general:
Dislikes: babyfic, kidfic, character bashing, sappy romance, mpreg, OTPs (in the sense that everyone is destined for one person, and one person only)
Specific fandoms, in alphabetical order, ahead. This gets long. I would be equally happy to receive a story in any of these fandoms! Pay no attention to the varying word counts in the details. :)
Babylon 5 - Catherine Sakai
Anything about Catherine Sakai would be wonderful, particularly anything that ignores the existence of the tie-in novel To Dream in the City of Sorrows. If you want some direction, I’d love to see something where she interacts with the major characters on the station (particularly the women), or where she’s on a job that ties into one of the show’s established story arcs (the Shadow war, one of the civil wars, a storyline of your choice), or really, anything you care to come up with where Catherine Sakai is at the centre of the story, and is AWESOME. Oh, and I like her relationship with Jeffery Sinclair, but I’d (probably) prefer that your story focus elsewhere.
The thing I don’t like about To Dream in the City of Sorrows is that Catherine Sakai is, for all intents and purposes, written out of the show. I am also skeptical that the (pretty awesome) off-again, on-again nature of her relationship with Jeffery Sinclair would lead her to follow him to Minbar (and especially to the past), even if they did get (very endearingly) engaged in the S1 finale. (I am cool with Sakai joining the Rangers, however!) If you set your story either sometime during the five years of the show, or before it starts, that would be great, because I am not at all familiar with any of the novel trilogies, Crusade, or even any of the movies except In the Beginning. (I would be a bad fan, except that Babylon 5 is only my favourite TV show ever.) If you want to bring any of the show’s other characters in, my favourites are Delenn, Londo, G’Kar, Ivanova, and Vir, and the only major character I’d prefer not to see a lot of is Lennier. My favourite things about the show are its grand scope, its characters, and the fact that everything matters, whether you realize it at the time or not. I would love to see some of Sakai’s competence (at her job, and/or with people) and her dry sense of humour. If you are the kind of person who finds this kind of thing at all useful, I have written Sakai, very briefly, here.
(If we don’t match on this fandom, and you are thinking of switching fandoms: Catherine Sakai appears in only a few S1 episodes. S1 is apparently available on Hulu if you are online in the United States. I would be perfectly happy with a story set in S1, even a story that has no knowledge of future events. How you will manage to watch S1 without wanting to mainline the entire show, I don’t even know.)
Hancock - Mary Embrey
Anything in this fandom that focuses on Mary, and overwrites her cardboard cut-out characterization in the movie, would be excellent. If you want some direction, something where Mary is using her powers-either in the past or the future-would be nice to see. As far as relationships in this fandom go, I like Mary/Hancock and Mary/Ray, and Mary/Ray/Hancock is pretty much my OT3. Feel free to play down any pairings, etc. that don’t work for you, though I’d prefer it if you didn’t completely ignore the existence of the two canon pairings I’ve listed.
If you decide to set your story in the past (and I am very curious about Mary’s past), I’d like for you not to appropriate any cultures for the sake of Mary’s journey. When I mentioned the future in my request, I was thinking the near future, but there is no reason at all why your fic couldn’t be set in the far future. If you are the kind of person who finds this kind of thing at all useful, I have written in this fandom here. (I will let you know that the part of my Mary characterization that doesn’t really work for me is my explanation for her return to superheroing. I am sure there is more to it than that, probably to do with why she stopped in the first place.) Writing about Mary’s powers is just a suggestion! I’d love anything that explores her character or where she gets to do stuff. Any story where Mary is all brave and vulnerable and scary-competent would be cool.
(If we don’t match on this fandom, and you are thinking of switching fandoms: Hancock is an American movie that came out in 2008. Vince Gilligan, who wrote awesome X-Files episodes, co-wrote it with Vincent Ngo. Will Smith is in it, and Jason Bateman and Charlize Theron. It has superheroes. I kind of like it a lot. I know it’s out on DVD, etc. It’s probably widely available.)
Katharine Kerr’s Deverry Cycle - Dallandra/Evandar/Rhodry
Gen, canon pairings, or the kind of complicated, awkward threesome where no more than two characters are ever on the same plane of existence at any one time-any of these would be awesome. (Okay, threesome fic would maybe be a bit more awesome, but as long as all three characters are featured, I’ll be happy.) Dalla is my favourite of the three, so I’d love to see her get a chance to shine. If you want some direction, something set around the characters’ time at Cengarn would be great. (Please don’t spoil me for the final book in the series, as I won’t be able to get my hands on a copy until January. Thanks!)
(It occurred to me that there is no reason why these three characters can’t, in fact, be on the same plane of existence together! I’m sorry for the confusion. It’s just, in canon, they never seem to be.) On reincarnation: I like it as a means of telling a story over time; I really dislike it as an OTP generator. (Though one of my favourite things about the series is recognizing old characters in new lives.) On dweomer: I appreciate it as a craft; I am gently bored by it as a system of magic. On gay characters in the Deverry series: they are non-existent in general, or non-existent in specific, not-good ways (Branoic/Maddyn, by structure of the series, should be canon), or cookie-cutter bad guys. Evandar/Rhodry is the closest thing to a positive slash pairing in this series, but even so, the relationship is shrouded in mystery. If you chose to set your story in a part of the timeline where Evandar/Rhodry is canon, I’d like it if you didn’t ignore the existence of their relationship, especially if you are acknowledging Dalla/Rhodry. (A gen story is always completely fine, too!) If you chose to write Evandar/Rhodry (and you totally don’t have to), I would like to see something that expands on what little we see canon, perhaps from Rhodry’s perspective. (If you do, please don’t forget that I love Dalla and would like to see her feature prominently. And that she and Evandar are in love.) If you write Dalla/Rhodry, please don’t have them act like they’re anything more than good friends who are sleeping together. (Unless you are writing, idk, some sort of AU where they fall in love.) From the way Evandar seduces Rhodry, I am convinced Dalla/Evandar/Rhodry is canon, so anything that smacks of threesome fic would be well-received. I like to see Rhodry rolling with punches (not literally, probably), Evandar as he starts thinking more like a person from the living world, and Dalla, well, doing anything really. We don’t know a lot about her, and I’d love to find out more, especially about her internal life. I mentioned that something set at the siege of Cengarn would not go amiss, but I also really like the city and people of Cerr Cawen, and the Westfolk and their lives on the grasslands (in part because both cultures are more advanced, socially, than Devarry is). I realize this is a lot of rambling, but this fandom’s canon is so big, and I’m trying to narrow it down somewhat. Oh, and I haven’t read far enough in the series to know if this would be applicable (I’m reading The Spirit Stone right now, and I plan on following it up with The Shadow Isle) but if Evandar shows up somewhere in there, and you want to write fic where Rhodry is Rori and Dalla is Dalla and Evandar is...idek, that could be really neat, as long as it doesn’t spoil me for the last book. Feel free to write anything, really, with these three characters.
(If we don’t match on this fandom, and and you are thinking of switching fandoms: Yeah, this probably isn’t the fandom you’re looking for. It’s a fifteen-book high fantasy series. With elves. If you are at all familiar with the series, the relevant books are A Time of Exile, A Time of Omens, Days of Blood and Fire, Days of Air and Darkness, The Red Wyvern, The Black Raven, and The Fire Dragon. Skip all the flashback sequences, and it’s like reading four massive books instead of seven. Still too much to read? I hear you. I mean, I love this series to bits, but I hear you. The last half of The Fire Dragon is your friend. Alternately, A Time of Exile would probably do it.)
Skim - Kimberly Keiko Cameron aka Skim
The comic is so short and so utterly fabulous that my first thought on finishing was “MORE, PLZ.” Anything in the spirit of the source would be perfect, but if you want some direction, I love Skim’s relationship with Katie. Friendship fic would be great, but so would femslash. Alternately, I’d like something about Skim and art, or Skim and Lisa, or just about Skim’s daily life in general-the episodic style of the comic really works for me. About the only thing I don’t think I’d like to see is Skim and Ms. Archer’s relationship continuing after canon. (References to her impact on Skim’s life would be fine, however.)
Really, I love this canon and its characters so much that I would be thrilled with anything. Something that focuses on one aspect of Skim’s life would be as welcome as something that touches on several. I could see something angsty here, or something really sweet and fluffy, or both. I’d like to see something set just after the end of canon, but this is in no way required. Something set before, during, or far after canon would be cool, too. I love the way the comic captures life from the perspective of a teenager who would be on the outside of life, looking in, except that she is crafting a life for herself. She’s smart and angry and confused and caring and talented and she likes girls, and I just want more of her. (Something that is clearly set in Canada would be a bonus.)
(If we don’t match on this fandom, and you are thinking of switching fandoms: Of the 95 books I’ve read so far this year, Skim totally makes my top five. It’s a very short comic, and it seems to have been widely reviewed, so I would hope it would be fairly easy to acquire or borrow. It came out in paperback (with a whitewashing of the original cover, ew) in May. You can read about the awesome here and here.)
Having said all that, optional details are totally optional. Consider them even more optional whenever I mention potential plots. I would love to be surprised with something I'm not expecting, and I would rather read something you are passionate about than something you feel you have to write. I mean it.
Have fun with your story, YT author! I can’t wait to see what you come up with.
Thank you so much for taking on one of my requested fandoms and writing a story just for me! You are awesome.
In general:
- I am all about gen, het, and f/f slash. I don’t dislike m/m slash, but chances are, if I’m digging a particular fandom, it’s because of the female characters.
- I love character exploration only slightly more than I do a good plot.
- If you are moved to write sex, I’d like it if it weren’t the only component of your story.
- It may be relevant, so I’ll say here that I am fine with consensual sex between underage characters.
- And with kink.
- I get a kick out of dark, angsty, twisted fic, but fluff can make me very happy, too.
- I am squicked by character embarrassment.
- If you make me laugh or cry, or laugh and cry, I will love you.
- I have written two of the characters I’ve requested. If you chose to read my versions (and you definitely don’t have to), please don’t let my characterizations confine you in any way!
- I am open to experimental styles and structures.
- If you are in doubt, I encourage you to go for it. I read all sorts of different stuff, and I’m sure I will appreciate your risk-taking.
Dislikes: babyfic, kidfic, character bashing, sappy romance, mpreg, OTPs (in the sense that everyone is destined for one person, and one person only)
Specific fandoms, in alphabetical order, ahead. This gets long. I would be equally happy to receive a story in any of these fandoms! Pay no attention to the varying word counts in the details. :)
Babylon 5 - Catherine Sakai
Anything about Catherine Sakai would be wonderful, particularly anything that ignores the existence of the tie-in novel To Dream in the City of Sorrows. If you want some direction, I’d love to see something where she interacts with the major characters on the station (particularly the women), or where she’s on a job that ties into one of the show’s established story arcs (the Shadow war, one of the civil wars, a storyline of your choice), or really, anything you care to come up with where Catherine Sakai is at the centre of the story, and is AWESOME. Oh, and I like her relationship with Jeffery Sinclair, but I’d (probably) prefer that your story focus elsewhere.
The thing I don’t like about To Dream in the City of Sorrows is that Catherine Sakai is, for all intents and purposes, written out of the show. I am also skeptical that the (pretty awesome) off-again, on-again nature of her relationship with Jeffery Sinclair would lead her to follow him to Minbar (and especially to the past), even if they did get (very endearingly) engaged in the S1 finale. (I am cool with Sakai joining the Rangers, however!) If you set your story either sometime during the five years of the show, or before it starts, that would be great, because I am not at all familiar with any of the novel trilogies, Crusade, or even any of the movies except In the Beginning. (I would be a bad fan, except that Babylon 5 is only my favourite TV show ever.) If you want to bring any of the show’s other characters in, my favourites are Delenn, Londo, G’Kar, Ivanova, and Vir, and the only major character I’d prefer not to see a lot of is Lennier. My favourite things about the show are its grand scope, its characters, and the fact that everything matters, whether you realize it at the time or not. I would love to see some of Sakai’s competence (at her job, and/or with people) and her dry sense of humour. If you are the kind of person who finds this kind of thing at all useful, I have written Sakai, very briefly, here.
(If we don’t match on this fandom, and you are thinking of switching fandoms: Catherine Sakai appears in only a few S1 episodes. S1 is apparently available on Hulu if you are online in the United States. I would be perfectly happy with a story set in S1, even a story that has no knowledge of future events. How you will manage to watch S1 without wanting to mainline the entire show, I don’t even know.)
Hancock - Mary Embrey
Anything in this fandom that focuses on Mary, and overwrites her cardboard cut-out characterization in the movie, would be excellent. If you want some direction, something where Mary is using her powers-either in the past or the future-would be nice to see. As far as relationships in this fandom go, I like Mary/Hancock and Mary/Ray, and Mary/Ray/Hancock is pretty much my OT3. Feel free to play down any pairings, etc. that don’t work for you, though I’d prefer it if you didn’t completely ignore the existence of the two canon pairings I’ve listed.
If you decide to set your story in the past (and I am very curious about Mary’s past), I’d like for you not to appropriate any cultures for the sake of Mary’s journey. When I mentioned the future in my request, I was thinking the near future, but there is no reason at all why your fic couldn’t be set in the far future. If you are the kind of person who finds this kind of thing at all useful, I have written in this fandom here. (I will let you know that the part of my Mary characterization that doesn’t really work for me is my explanation for her return to superheroing. I am sure there is more to it than that, probably to do with why she stopped in the first place.) Writing about Mary’s powers is just a suggestion! I’d love anything that explores her character or where she gets to do stuff. Any story where Mary is all brave and vulnerable and scary-competent would be cool.
(If we don’t match on this fandom, and you are thinking of switching fandoms: Hancock is an American movie that came out in 2008. Vince Gilligan, who wrote awesome X-Files episodes, co-wrote it with Vincent Ngo. Will Smith is in it, and Jason Bateman and Charlize Theron. It has superheroes. I kind of like it a lot. I know it’s out on DVD, etc. It’s probably widely available.)
Katharine Kerr’s Deverry Cycle - Dallandra/Evandar/Rhodry
Gen, canon pairings, or the kind of complicated, awkward threesome where no more than two characters are ever on the same plane of existence at any one time-any of these would be awesome. (Okay, threesome fic would maybe be a bit more awesome, but as long as all three characters are featured, I’ll be happy.) Dalla is my favourite of the three, so I’d love to see her get a chance to shine. If you want some direction, something set around the characters’ time at Cengarn would be great. (Please don’t spoil me for the final book in the series, as I won’t be able to get my hands on a copy until January. Thanks!)
(It occurred to me that there is no reason why these three characters can’t, in fact, be on the same plane of existence together! I’m sorry for the confusion. It’s just, in canon, they never seem to be.) On reincarnation: I like it as a means of telling a story over time; I really dislike it as an OTP generator. (Though one of my favourite things about the series is recognizing old characters in new lives.) On dweomer: I appreciate it as a craft; I am gently bored by it as a system of magic. On gay characters in the Deverry series: they are non-existent in general, or non-existent in specific, not-good ways (Branoic/Maddyn, by structure of the series, should be canon), or cookie-cutter bad guys. Evandar/Rhodry is the closest thing to a positive slash pairing in this series, but even so, the relationship is shrouded in mystery. If you chose to set your story in a part of the timeline where Evandar/Rhodry is canon, I’d like it if you didn’t ignore the existence of their relationship, especially if you are acknowledging Dalla/Rhodry. (A gen story is always completely fine, too!) If you chose to write Evandar/Rhodry (and you totally don’t have to), I would like to see something that expands on what little we see canon, perhaps from Rhodry’s perspective. (If you do, please don’t forget that I love Dalla and would like to see her feature prominently. And that she and Evandar are in love.) If you write Dalla/Rhodry, please don’t have them act like they’re anything more than good friends who are sleeping together. (Unless you are writing, idk, some sort of AU where they fall in love.) From the way Evandar seduces Rhodry, I am convinced Dalla/Evandar/Rhodry is canon, so anything that smacks of threesome fic would be well-received. I like to see Rhodry rolling with punches (not literally, probably), Evandar as he starts thinking more like a person from the living world, and Dalla, well, doing anything really. We don’t know a lot about her, and I’d love to find out more, especially about her internal life. I mentioned that something set at the siege of Cengarn would not go amiss, but I also really like the city and people of Cerr Cawen, and the Westfolk and their lives on the grasslands (in part because both cultures are more advanced, socially, than Devarry is). I realize this is a lot of rambling, but this fandom’s canon is so big, and I’m trying to narrow it down somewhat. Oh, and I haven’t read far enough in the series to know if this would be applicable (I’m reading The Spirit Stone right now, and I plan on following it up with The Shadow Isle) but if Evandar shows up somewhere in there, and you want to write fic where Rhodry is Rori and Dalla is Dalla and Evandar is...idek, that could be really neat, as long as it doesn’t spoil me for the last book. Feel free to write anything, really, with these three characters.
(If we don’t match on this fandom, and and you are thinking of switching fandoms: Yeah, this probably isn’t the fandom you’re looking for. It’s a fifteen-book high fantasy series. With elves. If you are at all familiar with the series, the relevant books are A Time of Exile, A Time of Omens, Days of Blood and Fire, Days of Air and Darkness, The Red Wyvern, The Black Raven, and The Fire Dragon. Skip all the flashback sequences, and it’s like reading four massive books instead of seven. Still too much to read? I hear you. I mean, I love this series to bits, but I hear you. The last half of The Fire Dragon is your friend. Alternately, A Time of Exile would probably do it.)
Skim - Kimberly Keiko Cameron aka Skim
The comic is so short and so utterly fabulous that my first thought on finishing was “MORE, PLZ.” Anything in the spirit of the source would be perfect, but if you want some direction, I love Skim’s relationship with Katie. Friendship fic would be great, but so would femslash. Alternately, I’d like something about Skim and art, or Skim and Lisa, or just about Skim’s daily life in general-the episodic style of the comic really works for me. About the only thing I don’t think I’d like to see is Skim and Ms. Archer’s relationship continuing after canon. (References to her impact on Skim’s life would be fine, however.)
Really, I love this canon and its characters so much that I would be thrilled with anything. Something that focuses on one aspect of Skim’s life would be as welcome as something that touches on several. I could see something angsty here, or something really sweet and fluffy, or both. I’d like to see something set just after the end of canon, but this is in no way required. Something set before, during, or far after canon would be cool, too. I love the way the comic captures life from the perspective of a teenager who would be on the outside of life, looking in, except that she is crafting a life for herself. She’s smart and angry and confused and caring and talented and she likes girls, and I just want more of her. (Something that is clearly set in Canada would be a bonus.)
(If we don’t match on this fandom, and you are thinking of switching fandoms: Of the 95 books I’ve read so far this year, Skim totally makes my top five. It’s a very short comic, and it seems to have been widely reviewed, so I would hope it would be fairly easy to acquire or borrow. It came out in paperback (with a whitewashing of the original cover, ew) in May. You can read about the awesome here and here.)
Having said all that, optional details are totally optional. Consider them even more optional whenever I mention potential plots. I would love to be surprised with something I'm not expecting, and I would rather read something you are passionate about than something you feel you have to write. I mean it.
Have fun with your story, YT author! I can’t wait to see what you come up with.