Yuletide 2008 Letter
Dear Yuletide Writer,
Here are some more specific details about the fandoms and characters I requested, what it is about them I love, some suggestions, etc. ALL OF WHICH YOU ARE FREE TO IGNORE. WRITE WHAT YOU WANT TO WRITE I WILL LOVE IT I PROMISE!!
Anyway. So in general, I'm pretty easy about the type of fic I like. I do like dialogue, and accurate character voices. Pages and pages of introspection I could probably do without. Angst is awesome, wangst is not. Light and funny is made of yay. I have no problem with fluff at all. The 'five things' format always works, if you're stuck for an idea...
(Although, you know, please don't assume that just because I haven't mentioned a specific story type that I wouldn't be happy receiving it. If your speciality is soul-crushing angst, and you're not comfortable writing anything else, then by all means, bring on the soul-crushing angst. Or like if you enjoy writing plot-heavy character studies, then you are my hero because that shit is hard man. :D)
Um, it's probably fairly obvious, but I like girls, and love women characters. Focusing on them, and their interactions, will make me happy. Strangely, I quite like het too, even though it kind of requires the presence of boys. Yeah, I don't know what that's about, either. But basically anything girl-oriented, gen, girlslash, or het, will work for me.
At the end of the day, you're writing a story for me in a fandom I love, involving a character/characters I adore. You rock. I'll be happy with whatever you come up with, and I hope writing it will be fun and non-stressful. Feel free to take the story where you want, and ignore my ramblings here if none of it is particularly helpful.
Most importantly of all, thank you yuletide writer!
Wire in the Blood (tv) - Alex Fielding
Request: I'd just like something Alex-focused, please. Tony/Alex would be awesome if you can make it work, but the two of them in a gen setting would be good, too. Or just give me Alex - going about her day, on the job, or with her son, or backstory, or whatever!
First of all, please, if you're including any crime/casefile stuff, don't make it too rapey. Victimisation is a major squick for me. ...And so what am I doing watching this show? Two words: Simone Lahbib omg.
I first came to this show because Simone Lahbib was on it and she kind of owns my soul. And then I found that Alex is made of awesome, and frankly the dynamic she has with Tony kind of hits my het kink right between the eyes.
Extremely capable, no-nonsense woman, a guy who's brilliant yet kind of... completely hopeless. I am all over that. I particularly love that they've totally set up Alex as Tony's caretaker - making sure he doesn't throw himself off buildings, for instance. Bringing him home and feeding him. Literally saving him from near certain death on like three separate occasions...
And of course Alex has come to rely on him so much, at work and as a friend, as someone she trusts completely - and she's not the type of person who does that easily, or ever. It's companionable, built on trust and need and a general lack of any other decent options, far more than it is a red hot attraction, and I really love that sort of thing.
Anyway, if you think you can pull off this pairing, please do! But it is a difficult ship, I think, the tone of the show and the style of the characters don't really lend themselves to shmoopiness. And honestly, if Alex is there, being her awesome self, I will be so happy come Yuletide Day - sticking with gen will be fine by me!
(Also, for the record, I've seen season six now, and something based on the last episode would be awesome.)
Aliens series (movie) - Annalee Call/Ellen Ripley
Request: Something set after the movie would be nice, Call and Ripley making their way in a new world. Girlslash preferable. Aliens optional.
So this is like the femslashiest movie in existence. And I love it, I love Ripley, I love this universe. Call and Ripley, in the movie, are such distinctive characters - I love that Ripley is still Ripley, with the benefit of all her memories and experiences, but not Ripley, with the alien-ness creeping under her skin, snarky and world-weary and supremely confident. I love Call, the android with a heart of gold, who wants to be everything that she isn't, and hates herself for it.
I love Call's sense of melodrama, her bravery and compassion, and I love Ripley's dry, dark humour.
I believe Call/Ripley in the movie Alien Resurrection was COMPLETELY CANON. Don't even try to convince me otherwise.
Extra canon I'm familiar with (not that you, yuletide writer, need to be, but just so you know in case you wanted to use any of it): first of all, the director's cut of Alien Resurrection with the extended scenes and alternate ending. Also, the follow-up badfic pro-fic novel 'Original Sin'. In which Call and Ripley spend very little time making out. Or none, really. Weird.
Best Student Council aka Gokujou Seitokai (anime) - Ginga Kuon/Kinjo Nanaho
Request: Anything for this pairing would be beyond awesome. But I'd love something fun, playing off of these two strong personalities. They're equals and co-conspirators, and rivals and friends, and I love it!
Well, I know you didn't get matched with me because of this fandom, because I was the only one who either requested or offered it. *g* But just on the slim chance that you find my request intriguing and decide to track down the show and write this for me, here are my extra details:
THIS SHOW IS SO SILLY OMG I LOVE IT. And the two vice presidents are CLEARLY meant for each other. Because Nanaho kind of hates Kuon for being all poised and perfect and Kuon totally knows she is so hated, and at the same time they are best friends and Kuon buys her teddy bears and Nanaho just accepts that Kuon is really an evil spy because that's what friends do.
And they totally need to get married.
In fact, that's what you should write me: the story where the rest of the council decide Kuon and Nanaho should SO get married, and arrange a secret wedding for them, only they figure it out ahead of time because they are awesome and the council is LAME at keeping secrets, but they play along because they want to make everyone happy but MOSTLY because they totally want to get married themselves. Alternately, the fic where the council locks them in a closet together following an argument until they make up - and they end up making out instead - would be equally good. Or anything involving the bathing room. Or Nanaho's teddies. Or the secret nuclear missile silo under the mountain. Or helicopters. Or some kind of wacky scenario that requires Nanaho to pose as Kuon's boyfriend. Or competitions between the covert squad and the assault squad because that shit is gold.
...Okay I'll stop now.
Terry Pratchett - Discworld - Cheery Littlebottom/Granny Weatherwax/Polly Perks
Request: I would be so happy with a story about any of these three characters. Genfic, especially in the general tone of Discworld, would be loved and adored. Or if pairings are more your thing, then Granny/Nanny would be EPIC, as would Polly/Mal, or Cheery/Angua.
I chose these characters not because I want a fic with all three of them included - although you are certainly welcome to give that a go *g*, but to give you a range of options. I love them all!
I love Granny, I cannot express how very much I do. My favourite Discworld character without a doubt. Granny just, like, stalking around her herb garden, or headology-ing random locals would be the greatest thing ever. But interaction with other witches would make me squee to an embarrassing degree - Nanny, Magrat, Agnes, Tiffany, or you know, anyone. Yeah. And if you can pull off Granny/Nanny I will have your babies. I love their relationship. They are so my secret OTP.
If you're writing about Cheery (whom I love almost as much as Granny) then anything involving dwarfish gender identity, that would be most perfect. Cheery on the job? Cheery's forays into the world of dating as a liberated Dwarf female? Cheery hanging out with the other girls in the Watch? Other Ankh-Morpork characters I enjoy are Angua, Detritus, Nobby, Vetinari... pretty much everyone, actually, if you care to involve them. (Except Carrot. I'm a bit meh on the subject of Carrot. Weirdly he's like the only character in the entire Discworld canon that I dislike. Oh, also William de Word, but whatev.)
Polly! She's so fabulous, as is Monstrous Regiment in general. I'd love to see Polly after the book, how she does as a sergeant, openly serving as a woman - and Polly/Mal I consider to be pretty much canon, so by all means go with that if you want to!
I'm tempted to say I'd prefer an upbeat story in this fandom, but really, anything that comes close to recreating the tone of Discworld is probably not going to be exactly maudlin. So, er, never mind. *g*
Did I say thank you? THANK YOU YULETIDE WRITER. I HOPE YOU ENJOY WRITING FOR ME AND I'M SORRY IF MY REQUESTS ARE SUCKY AND CAUSE YOU PAIN.
Here are some more specific details about the fandoms and characters I requested, what it is about them I love, some suggestions, etc. ALL OF WHICH YOU ARE FREE TO IGNORE. WRITE WHAT YOU WANT TO WRITE I WILL LOVE IT I PROMISE!!
Anyway. So in general, I'm pretty easy about the type of fic I like. I do like dialogue, and accurate character voices. Pages and pages of introspection I could probably do without. Angst is awesome, wangst is not. Light and funny is made of yay. I have no problem with fluff at all. The 'five things' format always works, if you're stuck for an idea...
(Although, you know, please don't assume that just because I haven't mentioned a specific story type that I wouldn't be happy receiving it. If your speciality is soul-crushing angst, and you're not comfortable writing anything else, then by all means, bring on the soul-crushing angst. Or like if you enjoy writing plot-heavy character studies, then you are my hero because that shit is hard man. :D)
Um, it's probably fairly obvious, but I like girls, and love women characters. Focusing on them, and their interactions, will make me happy. Strangely, I quite like het too, even though it kind of requires the presence of boys. Yeah, I don't know what that's about, either. But basically anything girl-oriented, gen, girlslash, or het, will work for me.
At the end of the day, you're writing a story for me in a fandom I love, involving a character/characters I adore. You rock. I'll be happy with whatever you come up with, and I hope writing it will be fun and non-stressful. Feel free to take the story where you want, and ignore my ramblings here if none of it is particularly helpful.
Most importantly of all, thank you yuletide writer!
Wire in the Blood (tv) - Alex Fielding
Request: I'd just like something Alex-focused, please. Tony/Alex would be awesome if you can make it work, but the two of them in a gen setting would be good, too. Or just give me Alex - going about her day, on the job, or with her son, or backstory, or whatever!
First of all, please, if you're including any crime/casefile stuff, don't make it too rapey. Victimisation is a major squick for me. ...And so what am I doing watching this show? Two words: Simone Lahbib omg.
I first came to this show because Simone Lahbib was on it and she kind of owns my soul. And then I found that Alex is made of awesome, and frankly the dynamic she has with Tony kind of hits my het kink right between the eyes.
Extremely capable, no-nonsense woman, a guy who's brilliant yet kind of... completely hopeless. I am all over that. I particularly love that they've totally set up Alex as Tony's caretaker - making sure he doesn't throw himself off buildings, for instance. Bringing him home and feeding him. Literally saving him from near certain death on like three separate occasions...
And of course Alex has come to rely on him so much, at work and as a friend, as someone she trusts completely - and she's not the type of person who does that easily, or ever. It's companionable, built on trust and need and a general lack of any other decent options, far more than it is a red hot attraction, and I really love that sort of thing.
Anyway, if you think you can pull off this pairing, please do! But it is a difficult ship, I think, the tone of the show and the style of the characters don't really lend themselves to shmoopiness. And honestly, if Alex is there, being her awesome self, I will be so happy come Yuletide Day - sticking with gen will be fine by me!
(Also, for the record, I've seen season six now, and something based on the last episode would be awesome.)
Aliens series (movie) - Annalee Call/Ellen Ripley
Request: Something set after the movie would be nice, Call and Ripley making their way in a new world. Girlslash preferable. Aliens optional.
So this is like the femslashiest movie in existence. And I love it, I love Ripley, I love this universe. Call and Ripley, in the movie, are such distinctive characters - I love that Ripley is still Ripley, with the benefit of all her memories and experiences, but not Ripley, with the alien-ness creeping under her skin, snarky and world-weary and supremely confident. I love Call, the android with a heart of gold, who wants to be everything that she isn't, and hates herself for it.
I love Call's sense of melodrama, her bravery and compassion, and I love Ripley's dry, dark humour.
I believe Call/Ripley in the movie Alien Resurrection was COMPLETELY CANON. Don't even try to convince me otherwise.
Extra canon I'm familiar with (not that you, yuletide writer, need to be, but just so you know in case you wanted to use any of it): first of all, the director's cut of Alien Resurrection with the extended scenes and alternate ending. Also, the follow-up badfic pro-fic novel 'Original Sin'. In which Call and Ripley spend very little time making out. Or none, really. Weird.
Best Student Council aka Gokujou Seitokai (anime) - Ginga Kuon/Kinjo Nanaho
Request: Anything for this pairing would be beyond awesome. But I'd love something fun, playing off of these two strong personalities. They're equals and co-conspirators, and rivals and friends, and I love it!
Well, I know you didn't get matched with me because of this fandom, because I was the only one who either requested or offered it. *g* But just on the slim chance that you find my request intriguing and decide to track down the show and write this for me, here are my extra details:
THIS SHOW IS SO SILLY OMG I LOVE IT. And the two vice presidents are CLEARLY meant for each other. Because Nanaho kind of hates Kuon for being all poised and perfect and Kuon totally knows she is so hated, and at the same time they are best friends and Kuon buys her teddy bears and Nanaho just accepts that Kuon is really an evil spy because that's what friends do.
And they totally need to get married.
In fact, that's what you should write me: the story where the rest of the council decide Kuon and Nanaho should SO get married, and arrange a secret wedding for them, only they figure it out ahead of time because they are awesome and the council is LAME at keeping secrets, but they play along because they want to make everyone happy but MOSTLY because they totally want to get married themselves. Alternately, the fic where the council locks them in a closet together following an argument until they make up - and they end up making out instead - would be equally good. Or anything involving the bathing room. Or Nanaho's teddies. Or the secret nuclear missile silo under the mountain. Or helicopters. Or some kind of wacky scenario that requires Nanaho to pose as Kuon's boyfriend. Or competitions between the covert squad and the assault squad because that shit is gold.
...Okay I'll stop now.
Terry Pratchett - Discworld - Cheery Littlebottom/Granny Weatherwax/Polly Perks
Request: I would be so happy with a story about any of these three characters. Genfic, especially in the general tone of Discworld, would be loved and adored. Or if pairings are more your thing, then Granny/Nanny would be EPIC, as would Polly/Mal, or Cheery/Angua.
I chose these characters not because I want a fic with all three of them included - although you are certainly welcome to give that a go *g*, but to give you a range of options. I love them all!
I love Granny, I cannot express how very much I do. My favourite Discworld character without a doubt. Granny just, like, stalking around her herb garden, or headology-ing random locals would be the greatest thing ever. But interaction with other witches would make me squee to an embarrassing degree - Nanny, Magrat, Agnes, Tiffany, or you know, anyone. Yeah. And if you can pull off Granny/Nanny I will have your babies. I love their relationship. They are so my secret OTP.
If you're writing about Cheery (whom I love almost as much as Granny) then anything involving dwarfish gender identity, that would be most perfect. Cheery on the job? Cheery's forays into the world of dating as a liberated Dwarf female? Cheery hanging out with the other girls in the Watch? Other Ankh-Morpork characters I enjoy are Angua, Detritus, Nobby, Vetinari... pretty much everyone, actually, if you care to involve them. (Except Carrot. I'm a bit meh on the subject of Carrot. Weirdly he's like the only character in the entire Discworld canon that I dislike. Oh, also William de Word, but whatev.)
Polly! She's so fabulous, as is Monstrous Regiment in general. I'd love to see Polly after the book, how she does as a sergeant, openly serving as a woman - and Polly/Mal I consider to be pretty much canon, so by all means go with that if you want to!
I'm tempted to say I'd prefer an upbeat story in this fandom, but really, anything that comes close to recreating the tone of Discworld is probably not going to be exactly maudlin. So, er, never mind. *g*
Did I say thank you? THANK YOU YULETIDE WRITER. I HOPE YOU ENJOY WRITING FOR ME AND I'M SORRY IF MY REQUESTS ARE SUCKY AND CAUSE YOU PAIN.