Yuletide 2016
Dear Yuletide writer,
Thank you so much for writing for me! You're incredible and I hope this year will be awesome for you too. I'm sorry I took so long with my letter! Let's not keep you any longer. Time to get down to business!
Things I Will Give Flowers For
- Fluff and angst in moderation
- Hurt/Comfort
- "What If..." AUs
- Fusions of any of the following fandoms: Puella Magi Madoka Magica, The Hunger Games, Battle Royale (first three for Crueltide fandoms only), Harry Potter/Hogwarts, and Pokemon.
- Earn Your Happy Ending trope (the more crapsack the world, the more satisfying!)
- Unusual/Unlikely friendships
- Found families
- Psychological horror
- World-building and character-driven pieces
- Emotions and wibbliness in smutfic
- Stories where hope and kindness are valued as the ultimate strength that triumphs over cruelty and cynicism (ex. Series ending to Puella Magi Madoka Magica, True Pacifist ending in Undertale, Mother 1+2)
- Happy/Bittersweet/Ambigious/Twist/Hopeful endings
- De/Reconstruction of and bending of fairy-tale tropes (Utena wouldn't be on this list if I didn't. ;D)
- Post-apocalypse and/or dystopian settings without zombies
- Robots/Machines/Androids/Cyborgs
- Eldritch abominations
- Enemy Mine, aka enemies/rivals working together
- Stories that start out cute and fluffy but turn out to be scary and disturbing (ex. Eversion, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Dreaming Mary)
- On that note, scary cute things. :D
Things I Want Burned in a Fire
- Issuefic
- Toxic masculinity (unless deconstructed)
- Misogyny/slut-shaming/Madonna-Whore complex and Nice Guyism (unless deconstructed)
- Romantic and sexual love being bashed as "inferior" in gen and friendship fic, and vice-versa.
- Ace/Aro glorification or demonization. See above.
- Bi erasure/demonization and biphobic stereotypes
- Rape & sexual abuse*
- Graphic depiction of drugs and alcohol
- Love triangles in all shapes, sizes, and polygons.
- Infidelity
- Third Act Misunderstanding, Liar Revealed, and the Break His Heart to Save Him** tropes.
- Mpreg/Pregnancy/Miscarriage/Abortion
- Eating disorders
- Excessive child/animal abuse and death. While I'm more lenient with this for darker fandoms, I'm especially squeamish about animal cruelty at best and angry at worst (ex. Cannibal Holocaust, the "puppy scene" in Elfen Lied) so I'd rather you didn't include it.
- Incest***
- Pedophilia
- Zombies, vampires, and werewolves
- A/B/O AUs
- High school/College/Coffeeshop AUs
- All-hurt-and-no-comfort fic
- People with faith in humanity being treated as childish and stupid by the narrative.
* + *** Canon-typical mentions in Utena is fine, as long as it's not the primary focus of the fic.
** Shoo the Dog is fine, because at least the affected party knows why it's happening.
The only fandom I'm interested in seeing shipping and smutty content for this year is Revolutionary Girl Utena. Crueltide and Interactive Fiction is open to all fandoms. You can take a look at my Crueltide likes & dislikes (and Yuleporn kinks and non-kinks) here. :)
NES Godzilla Creepypasta
Characters: Red, Solomon, Face, Melissa
Dayum, this pasta. It's held up after all these years. ;; This creepypasta has always been one of my favorites due to the amazing spritework and sheer atmosphere building. Sure, it gets a little cheesy at times, but everything else is so good it becomes Narm Charm. Red aka "the hellbeast" has always been one of my favorite villains... some time after listening to the pasta again, I awkwardly lay there in bed at 4 AM worried he'd pop out of my closet or something. With UNFORGIVING COLD looping in my head. Fun times. Out of all my fandoms, this would be the most accessible; I humongously advise you to watch the whole thing in one sitting so it doesn't break the mood. :o Interactive fanficcers? Let this fandom be your playground. ;D
- What's Solomon's deal with Red? Why did Red despise him since the beginning? What made Solomon decide to do a Heel-Face-Turn and join Godzilla and the crew?
- FACE is so fascinating to me because of his Blue & Orange Morality. Is it how he's always been or was he warped by living inside the game's universe for so long? Are the weird loops on the Television "levels" things he sees in his old world or everyday life? His "Do you miss me?" question is so heartwrenching, especially considering what happens to him later. It's probably the most "human" we've seen of him, so a fic about that would punch me in the feels so perfectly. ;;
- Who on earth IS Melissa? I like to think she's a fellow Godzilla nerd like Zachary was and probably played the game long before she met him. What was her playthrough like? The (incomplete) Godzilla Creepypasta sequel confirmed my belief that the NES Godzilla cartridge contains a version of the game individual to the player, like a video game version of Silent Hill (the place). Losing to Red is a Foregone Conclusion, but I'd like to see Melissa fight to the bitter end (and when you consider she got a Game Over, it's damn impressive she survived against Red this long IRL) Even when her soul is trapped in eternal suffering, I love the idea of Melissa still having agency and fighting back until she's finally able to save herself, the monsters, and her boyfriend.
- Speaking of Melissa playing and failing the game, did FACE and Solomon use to be human? Were they also regular Godzilla fans who owned the NES cartridge previously? It'd explain their vast knowledge of the game and their seemingly ambigious nature (FACE offering Zachary monsters and taking them away, Solomon being OP and memetic)? Did they figure Zachary would keep playing the game and decide they might as well help him? (FACE in secret, Solomon directly)
Chip's Challenge
Characters: Chip, Melinda
Holy shit. This is my childhood! ;; I used to play this game in my aunt's house on my uncle's computer for ages. I even remember working together with my cousins and uncle to beat all the puzzles! So you bet I was excited to see this on Yuletide.
- What was Chip's relationship with Melinda as he navigates her "Clubhouse?" Why is the Bit Buster Club so exclusive? Is it because the puzzles required to enter are so dangerous? I imagine Melinda being like a non-evil version of GLaDOS from Portal, so it'd be neat to see her mentor Chip like that.
- Unfortunately, I have only played the Windows version of Chip's Challenge, so I had no idea there was a sequel on Steam until I looked it up. ;; I'm totally open to the idea of a midquel connecting the two games though! It makes me happy to see Chip & Melinda teaming up in the sequel, I can tell you that. Did that happen as a result of Melinda's growing respect for Chip and their developing bond? Weirdly enough, I didn't know there was a romance between Chip & Melinda (or completely forgotten that aspect from the game manual) so I always assumed Chip wanted to join the Bit Busters Club because he's a gigantic nerd genius and the Rare Female Nerd happened to be in charge. So while I won't mind mentions of a romance between them, I'm more interested in the Mentor/Challenger aspect of their relationship and prefer it to stay gen.
Paper Mario
Characters: Twink, Peach
- I was floored to see Twink nominated at Yuletide. I've always loved this little guy and adored watching him grow and do whatever he can for Peach despite his inexperience and lack of powers. Oh, and the part where he stood up to Kammy during the Final Battle? Crowning Moment of AWESOME. Anyway, tell me about Twink! What's it like growing up in Starborn Valley? Monstar turning out to be a bunch of scared Star Kids trying to protect their home made me sad for some reason. Had something serious and awful happened to the valley before? Was Monstar ever "defeated" and resulted in the loss of Star Kids, which made the remaining ones even more determined to rise to Star Haven? (While I do allow Crueltide for this fandom, please keep it mild and canon-typical. I'm open to darkfic since the Mario series is definitely full of Nightmare Fuel, but blood/gore/guts everywhere and absolute hopelessness feels OOC) Mid-game, how do Peach and Twink pass idle time when they're not sneaking around the castle? Does Peach tell him about past adventures? Finally, what about post-game? What kind of Star Spirit does Twink end up becoming? I always had the odd headcanon that he grew up to be a healer in contrast to Geno's offensive magic, but feel free to do whatever you like! Speaking of Geno, I am indeed familiar with Super Mario RPG, so feel free to mix lore from the game with Paper Mario's if you're familiar with both and you're up for it. tl;dr I'm mostly all about the world-building regarding stars and what happens to Twink before, during, and after the game. :3
Revolutionary Girl Utena
Characters: Kanae, Kozue, Juri, Shiori
I think this show revolutionized my life. <.< Let's see, we got complex characters, gorgeous animation, badass music, PSYCHOLOGICAL SYMBOLISM GALORE, a fuck-you to gender roles and the idea of girls-loving-girls as "childish," standing up yourself and your beliefs even when the entire world is against who you are, shredding toxic masculinity to itty bitty little pieces, deconstructing the most harmful aspects of fairy-tales, and the defiance of destiny and established norms to build your own identity and your own roads. It's such a big part of my life and a huge influence in my writing and aaaaaaa this show.
- What happened to Kanae Ohtori? She never showed up in the final episode and it's implied she's been poisoned to death. :( So lets have a fic about her "waking up" and escaping Ohtori and her fiance. Let's explore what's holding her back and keeping her stuck inside Akio's Never Neverland, and how she finally gains the strength to save herself the way Anthy did. Does she talk to any of the students here? Have any of them influenced her decision to stand up for herself and reject Akio's lies? I've fancied the idea of Kanae and Kozue getting to know each other. Those two seem like complete opposites: Kozue gives no damns what people think about her while Kanae is the one pure snowflake left in Ohtori (or is she? What actually defines "innocence"? DUN DUN DUN. Miki didn't escape, so neither would Kanae. Better to live free than die "innocent.") But beyond the surface, Kozue has a soft heart and protective of those weaker than her (see: the baby birds) and Kanae has her own anger as shown in her Black Rose episode. Whether they become friends or lovers is up to you. :)
- Ahhh, Juri/Shiori. The scene where Shiori confronts Juri after her elevator confession gives me chills in all the right ways. How did these two meet and become friends anyway? Does Shiori have a particular memory of Juri where she especially simultaneously hated/loved her (before Ruka and the brown-haired guy from Juri's flashbacks)? How did the two reconcile their relationship after Ruka's death? Basically I'm all up for watching those two heal and detox. ;; I wonder how Shiori would fare as a fencing opponent post-series as well. What would a fencing match between them be like?
Once again, I'm excited for your fanfic and eternally grateful for your patience. I hope you have a fantastic Yuletide!
Your Recipient,
Puri
This post has been crossposted with Dreamwidth at http://shamanicshaymin.dreamwidth.org/137935.html. Pick your poison. Mwoiiiiiiiing~!
Thank you so much for writing for me! You're incredible and I hope this year will be awesome for you too. I'm sorry I took so long with my letter! Let's not keep you any longer. Time to get down to business!
Things I Will Give Flowers For
- Fluff and angst in moderation
- Hurt/Comfort
- "What If..." AUs
- Fusions of any of the following fandoms: Puella Magi Madoka Magica, The Hunger Games, Battle Royale (first three for Crueltide fandoms only), Harry Potter/Hogwarts, and Pokemon.
- Earn Your Happy Ending trope (the more crapsack the world, the more satisfying!)
- Unusual/Unlikely friendships
- Found families
- Psychological horror
- World-building and character-driven pieces
- Emotions and wibbliness in smutfic
- Stories where hope and kindness are valued as the ultimate strength that triumphs over cruelty and cynicism (ex. Series ending to Puella Magi Madoka Magica, True Pacifist ending in Undertale, Mother 1+2)
- Happy/Bittersweet/Ambigious/Twist/Hopeful endings
- De/Reconstruction of and bending of fairy-tale tropes (Utena wouldn't be on this list if I didn't. ;D)
- Post-apocalypse and/or dystopian settings without zombies
- Robots/Machines/Androids/Cyborgs
- Eldritch abominations
- Enemy Mine, aka enemies/rivals working together
- Stories that start out cute and fluffy but turn out to be scary and disturbing (ex. Eversion, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Dreaming Mary)
- On that note, scary cute things. :D
Things I Want Burned in a Fire
- Issuefic
- Toxic masculinity (unless deconstructed)
- Misogyny/slut-shaming/Madonna-Whore complex and Nice Guyism (unless deconstructed)
- Romantic and sexual love being bashed as "inferior" in gen and friendship fic, and vice-versa.
- Ace/Aro glorification or demonization. See above.
- Bi erasure/demonization and biphobic stereotypes
- Rape & sexual abuse*
- Graphic depiction of drugs and alcohol
- Love triangles in all shapes, sizes, and polygons.
- Infidelity
- Third Act Misunderstanding, Liar Revealed, and the Break His Heart to Save Him** tropes.
- Mpreg/Pregnancy/Miscarriage/Abortion
- Eating disorders
- Excessive child/animal abuse and death. While I'm more lenient with this for darker fandoms, I'm especially squeamish about animal cruelty at best and angry at worst (ex. Cannibal Holocaust, the "puppy scene" in Elfen Lied) so I'd rather you didn't include it.
- Incest***
- Pedophilia
- Zombies, vampires, and werewolves
- A/B/O AUs
- High school/College/Coffeeshop AUs
- All-hurt-and-no-comfort fic
- People with faith in humanity being treated as childish and stupid by the narrative.
* + *** Canon-typical mentions in Utena is fine, as long as it's not the primary focus of the fic.
** Shoo the Dog is fine, because at least the affected party knows why it's happening.
The only fandom I'm interested in seeing shipping and smutty content for this year is Revolutionary Girl Utena. Crueltide and Interactive Fiction is open to all fandoms. You can take a look at my Crueltide likes & dislikes (and Yuleporn kinks and non-kinks) here. :)
NES Godzilla Creepypasta
Characters: Red, Solomon, Face, Melissa
Dayum, this pasta. It's held up after all these years. ;; This creepypasta has always been one of my favorites due to the amazing spritework and sheer atmosphere building. Sure, it gets a little cheesy at times, but everything else is so good it becomes Narm Charm. Red aka "the hellbeast" has always been one of my favorite villains... some time after listening to the pasta again, I awkwardly lay there in bed at 4 AM worried he'd pop out of my closet or something. With UNFORGIVING COLD looping in my head. Fun times. Out of all my fandoms, this would be the most accessible; I humongously advise you to watch the whole thing in one sitting so it doesn't break the mood. :o Interactive fanficcers? Let this fandom be your playground. ;D
- What's Solomon's deal with Red? Why did Red despise him since the beginning? What made Solomon decide to do a Heel-Face-Turn and join Godzilla and the crew?
- FACE is so fascinating to me because of his Blue & Orange Morality. Is it how he's always been or was he warped by living inside the game's universe for so long? Are the weird loops on the Television "levels" things he sees in his old world or everyday life? His "Do you miss me?" question is so heartwrenching, especially considering what happens to him later. It's probably the most "human" we've seen of him, so a fic about that would punch me in the feels so perfectly. ;;
- Who on earth IS Melissa? I like to think she's a fellow Godzilla nerd like Zachary was and probably played the game long before she met him. What was her playthrough like? The (incomplete) Godzilla Creepypasta sequel confirmed my belief that the NES Godzilla cartridge contains a version of the game individual to the player, like a video game version of Silent Hill (the place). Losing to Red is a Foregone Conclusion, but I'd like to see Melissa fight to the bitter end (and when you consider she got a Game Over, it's damn impressive she survived against Red this long IRL) Even when her soul is trapped in eternal suffering, I love the idea of Melissa still having agency and fighting back until she's finally able to save herself, the monsters, and her boyfriend.
- Speaking of Melissa playing and failing the game, did FACE and Solomon use to be human? Were they also regular Godzilla fans who owned the NES cartridge previously? It'd explain their vast knowledge of the game and their seemingly ambigious nature (FACE offering Zachary monsters and taking them away, Solomon being OP and memetic)? Did they figure Zachary would keep playing the game and decide they might as well help him? (FACE in secret, Solomon directly)
Chip's Challenge
Characters: Chip, Melinda
Holy shit. This is my childhood! ;; I used to play this game in my aunt's house on my uncle's computer for ages. I even remember working together with my cousins and uncle to beat all the puzzles! So you bet I was excited to see this on Yuletide.
- What was Chip's relationship with Melinda as he navigates her "Clubhouse?" Why is the Bit Buster Club so exclusive? Is it because the puzzles required to enter are so dangerous? I imagine Melinda being like a non-evil version of GLaDOS from Portal, so it'd be neat to see her mentor Chip like that.
- Unfortunately, I have only played the Windows version of Chip's Challenge, so I had no idea there was a sequel on Steam until I looked it up. ;; I'm totally open to the idea of a midquel connecting the two games though! It makes me happy to see Chip & Melinda teaming up in the sequel, I can tell you that. Did that happen as a result of Melinda's growing respect for Chip and their developing bond? Weirdly enough, I didn't know there was a romance between Chip & Melinda (or completely forgotten that aspect from the game manual) so I always assumed Chip wanted to join the Bit Busters Club because he's a gigantic nerd genius and the Rare Female Nerd happened to be in charge. So while I won't mind mentions of a romance between them, I'm more interested in the Mentor/Challenger aspect of their relationship and prefer it to stay gen.
Paper Mario
Characters: Twink, Peach
- I was floored to see Twink nominated at Yuletide. I've always loved this little guy and adored watching him grow and do whatever he can for Peach despite his inexperience and lack of powers. Oh, and the part where he stood up to Kammy during the Final Battle? Crowning Moment of AWESOME. Anyway, tell me about Twink! What's it like growing up in Starborn Valley? Monstar turning out to be a bunch of scared Star Kids trying to protect their home made me sad for some reason. Had something serious and awful happened to the valley before? Was Monstar ever "defeated" and resulted in the loss of Star Kids, which made the remaining ones even more determined to rise to Star Haven? (While I do allow Crueltide for this fandom, please keep it mild and canon-typical. I'm open to darkfic since the Mario series is definitely full of Nightmare Fuel, but blood/gore/guts everywhere and absolute hopelessness feels OOC) Mid-game, how do Peach and Twink pass idle time when they're not sneaking around the castle? Does Peach tell him about past adventures? Finally, what about post-game? What kind of Star Spirit does Twink end up becoming? I always had the odd headcanon that he grew up to be a healer in contrast to Geno's offensive magic, but feel free to do whatever you like! Speaking of Geno, I am indeed familiar with Super Mario RPG, so feel free to mix lore from the game with Paper Mario's if you're familiar with both and you're up for it. tl;dr I'm mostly all about the world-building regarding stars and what happens to Twink before, during, and after the game. :3
Revolutionary Girl Utena
Characters: Kanae, Kozue, Juri, Shiori
I think this show revolutionized my life. <.< Let's see, we got complex characters, gorgeous animation, badass music, PSYCHOLOGICAL SYMBOLISM GALORE, a fuck-you to gender roles and the idea of girls-loving-girls as "childish," standing up yourself and your beliefs even when the entire world is against who you are, shredding toxic masculinity to itty bitty little pieces, deconstructing the most harmful aspects of fairy-tales, and the defiance of destiny and established norms to build your own identity and your own roads. It's such a big part of my life and a huge influence in my writing and aaaaaaa this show.
- What happened to Kanae Ohtori? She never showed up in the final episode and it's implied she's been poisoned to death. :( So lets have a fic about her "waking up" and escaping Ohtori and her fiance. Let's explore what's holding her back and keeping her stuck inside Akio's Never Neverland, and how she finally gains the strength to save herself the way Anthy did. Does she talk to any of the students here? Have any of them influenced her decision to stand up for herself and reject Akio's lies? I've fancied the idea of Kanae and Kozue getting to know each other. Those two seem like complete opposites: Kozue gives no damns what people think about her while Kanae is the one pure snowflake left in Ohtori (or is she? What actually defines "innocence"? DUN DUN DUN. Miki didn't escape, so neither would Kanae. Better to live free than die "innocent.") But beyond the surface, Kozue has a soft heart and protective of those weaker than her (see: the baby birds) and Kanae has her own anger as shown in her Black Rose episode. Whether they become friends or lovers is up to you. :)
- Ahhh, Juri/Shiori. The scene where Shiori confronts Juri after her elevator confession gives me chills in all the right ways. How did these two meet and become friends anyway? Does Shiori have a particular memory of Juri where she especially simultaneously hated/loved her (before Ruka and the brown-haired guy from Juri's flashbacks)? How did the two reconcile their relationship after Ruka's death? Basically I'm all up for watching those two heal and detox. ;; I wonder how Shiori would fare as a fencing opponent post-series as well. What would a fencing match between them be like?
Once again, I'm excited for your fanfic and eternally grateful for your patience. I hope you have a fantastic Yuletide!
Your Recipient,
Puri
This post has been crossposted with Dreamwidth at http://shamanicshaymin.dreamwidth.org/137935.html. Pick your poison. Mwoiiiiiiiing~!