dear yuletide writer
Salutations, O Yuletide writer! Thank you for offering to write a story in one of my obscure-ish fandoms. Please be reassured that I will be equally happy whichever you choose to write, because I love all these worlds and these characters very, very much.
Some general stuff about my tastes: Explicit sex (slash, het, or femslash) is okay, non-explicit sex is okay, no sex is okay, but any sex should be in believable language for that era or fandom. UST, gen, whatever. It's all good. In general I don't care for PWP - I need at least a little context. That said, all my requests are pretty gen.
Two of my requests name only a single character, and one names none, so as to give you, o writer mine, the largest possible choice of what kind of story to write and who to include in it. If you don't like my suggestions, feel free to take things in whatever direction you like and/or include characters I haven't mentioned. I like crossovers, but if you choose to write one, please make sure (either through checking my fic, tags, or asking my friends) that I know the other source.
I generally prefer plot (as in, things happening; doesn't have to be elaborate or long), past tense, a clear narrative, and lots of dialogue. But write something that hooks me hard, and all other considerations go out the window.
And now, on to the fandoms:
Cadfael Chronicles (Sister Magdalen)
I started reading these books this summer, and oh, what a wonderful series this is! (In fact, I have not yet read all of them - I'm carefully rationing them because when they are done, they're done - but I will almost certainly have finished them by December 25th, so don't worry about spoilers if you're writing this for me.) One thing I really love is that the women are complex, strong, interesting characters despite the constraints placed on them by medieval society. I adored Avice of Thornbury in The Leper of Saint Giles, and was delighted when she re-appeared as the briskly competent Sister Magdalen in later books.
I'd be happy with anything about this character, but I would particularly love to read the account of her life after she enters the cloister: how did she use her talents to rise to her de facto leadership position? Or give me a story about her dealing with a problem among the sisters, or helping a runaway bride-to-be decide whether to take vows or return to her father, or advising a woman in a similar position to her old life. You can include Brother Cadfael if you like, but you don't have to. And I don't mind a background romance in the story (het, slash, or femslash) but please keep it to whatever original characters you introduce - I'd prefer Sister Magdalen's role to be gen.
Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater (Noah)
I have just finished this book, and LOVE LOVE LOVE. (Note that as of making my request, I have only read the first book of this series, but I will have read the second by December 25th. So you can base your story on the first book only if you like, but you're welcome to take into account the second book if it's applicable, as it won't spoil me.) Speaking of spoilers, my request is a bit of a spoiler for the first book, so I'm going to spoiler-hide it in case anyone's reading for the other sources.
( skip) I had figured out pretty early on that Noah might be a ghost, so it was delightful to have that finally come out in the story - and I actually did not figure out that he was Czerny for some time, though that was an obvious connection. Anyway, since none of the story is from Noah's point of view - that's what I want! What's it like being dead? How did he make his way into Gansey's circle? How does he see the boys, and Blue, and the world around him? How do things change for him as the story progresses, with its revelations?
I kind of multi-ship everyone together, so if you want to incorporate any (het or slash) relationships among the Raven Boys and Blue, with or without Noah, that's fine. (But no Noah/Barrington, please?) I'd also prefer that you not simply retell a canon scene from Noah's POV; please give me something new.
Space Vehicles (Opportunity, Spirit)
Okay, a long time ago - before I even knew about Anthropomorfic - I used to avidly read spiritrover and opportunitygrrl. I loved their sibling rivalry, their excitement about exploring, their whole teenage-girl "Woohoo, I'm on Mars! This is cool!" vibe. This (I'm embarrassed to say!) is my headcanon characterization of these rovers, and a story based on the feel of these journals would be awesome. (Though I would appreciate it if spiritrover used proper capitalization!) But if you've got a completely different conception of these characters - male, female, neither - go ahead and convince me. (And if you want to throw in Curiosity, feel free! I have no preconceived notion of that rover!)
I am not a fan of incest, so if you write Opportunity and Spirit as siblings I would prefer no romantic relationship between them. (If your story makes it clear that they are not siblings, I don't mind romance! They can also, I don't know, be rivals over Curiosity or something.) As I said above, though I see them as teenage girl siblings, I'm totally open to any other interpretation, male, female, genderless - but if you do make them genderless, I would prefer the standard English pronoun 'it' rather than 'xie' or any other coinage.
The Way - Fastball (Song)
The story told by this song (here is the video, which - I kind of hate, actually, but you can listen to the song, anyway) always evokes to me a science fiction story I vaguely remember reading, set in a somewhat depressive dystopian future where things are bleak and polluted and everyone's miserable, in which an organization is offering people the chance to start anew, in an Eden, a beautiful land with rich soil and bright sunshine and plenty of opportunity, but they have to give this organization everything they own in payment - "after all, you won't need any of that there, and you'll never be able to return." And a man decides they are scammers preying on the hopeful, and he doesn't buy in, but instead follows them to their so-called transporter. And he watches scornfully as the hopeful people who have cut all their ties to the world go into their transporter...and he sees one brief flash of a beautiful world with blue sky, he smells the fresh air - and then they all disappear.
I want this couple to somehow have found a place like this, an Eden that they think they can get to. How did they discover its existence? Are they just deluded? Is it real? Do they make it there? What IS there, when they arrive? How is it that they translate off this plane of existence to this utopia? Or give me their children's view on their parents' crazy quest. Maybe they find their parents years later, not aged, in their utopia. Maybe they get mysterious postcards. Or maybe they're dead by the side of the road. I don't know - you tell me!
Have fun! Write something you enjoy writing, and I will enjoy reading it! And if you're just stumbling upon this through the letters page, I am signed up as
Isis.
Also posted on Dreamwidth where there are
comments.
Some general stuff about my tastes: Explicit sex (slash, het, or femslash) is okay, non-explicit sex is okay, no sex is okay, but any sex should be in believable language for that era or fandom. UST, gen, whatever. It's all good. In general I don't care for PWP - I need at least a little context. That said, all my requests are pretty gen.
Two of my requests name only a single character, and one names none, so as to give you, o writer mine, the largest possible choice of what kind of story to write and who to include in it. If you don't like my suggestions, feel free to take things in whatever direction you like and/or include characters I haven't mentioned. I like crossovers, but if you choose to write one, please make sure (either through checking my fic, tags, or asking my friends) that I know the other source.
I generally prefer plot (as in, things happening; doesn't have to be elaborate or long), past tense, a clear narrative, and lots of dialogue. But write something that hooks me hard, and all other considerations go out the window.
And now, on to the fandoms:
Cadfael Chronicles (Sister Magdalen)
I started reading these books this summer, and oh, what a wonderful series this is! (In fact, I have not yet read all of them - I'm carefully rationing them because when they are done, they're done - but I will almost certainly have finished them by December 25th, so don't worry about spoilers if you're writing this for me.) One thing I really love is that the women are complex, strong, interesting characters despite the constraints placed on them by medieval society. I adored Avice of Thornbury in The Leper of Saint Giles, and was delighted when she re-appeared as the briskly competent Sister Magdalen in later books.
I'd be happy with anything about this character, but I would particularly love to read the account of her life after she enters the cloister: how did she use her talents to rise to her de facto leadership position? Or give me a story about her dealing with a problem among the sisters, or helping a runaway bride-to-be decide whether to take vows or return to her father, or advising a woman in a similar position to her old life. You can include Brother Cadfael if you like, but you don't have to. And I don't mind a background romance in the story (het, slash, or femslash) but please keep it to whatever original characters you introduce - I'd prefer Sister Magdalen's role to be gen.
Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater (Noah)
I have just finished this book, and LOVE LOVE LOVE. (Note that as of making my request, I have only read the first book of this series, but I will have read the second by December 25th. So you can base your story on the first book only if you like, but you're welcome to take into account the second book if it's applicable, as it won't spoil me.) Speaking of spoilers, my request is a bit of a spoiler for the first book, so I'm going to spoiler-hide it in case anyone's reading for the other sources.
( skip) I had figured out pretty early on that Noah might be a ghost, so it was delightful to have that finally come out in the story - and I actually did not figure out that he was Czerny for some time, though that was an obvious connection. Anyway, since none of the story is from Noah's point of view - that's what I want! What's it like being dead? How did he make his way into Gansey's circle? How does he see the boys, and Blue, and the world around him? How do things change for him as the story progresses, with its revelations?
I kind of multi-ship everyone together, so if you want to incorporate any (het or slash) relationships among the Raven Boys and Blue, with or without Noah, that's fine. (But no Noah/Barrington, please?) I'd also prefer that you not simply retell a canon scene from Noah's POV; please give me something new.
Space Vehicles (Opportunity, Spirit)
Okay, a long time ago - before I even knew about Anthropomorfic - I used to avidly read spiritrover and opportunitygrrl. I loved their sibling rivalry, their excitement about exploring, their whole teenage-girl "Woohoo, I'm on Mars! This is cool!" vibe. This (I'm embarrassed to say!) is my headcanon characterization of these rovers, and a story based on the feel of these journals would be awesome. (Though I would appreciate it if spiritrover used proper capitalization!) But if you've got a completely different conception of these characters - male, female, neither - go ahead and convince me. (And if you want to throw in Curiosity, feel free! I have no preconceived notion of that rover!)
I am not a fan of incest, so if you write Opportunity and Spirit as siblings I would prefer no romantic relationship between them. (If your story makes it clear that they are not siblings, I don't mind romance! They can also, I don't know, be rivals over Curiosity or something.) As I said above, though I see them as teenage girl siblings, I'm totally open to any other interpretation, male, female, genderless - but if you do make them genderless, I would prefer the standard English pronoun 'it' rather than 'xie' or any other coinage.
The Way - Fastball (Song)
The story told by this song (here is the video, which - I kind of hate, actually, but you can listen to the song, anyway) always evokes to me a science fiction story I vaguely remember reading, set in a somewhat depressive dystopian future where things are bleak and polluted and everyone's miserable, in which an organization is offering people the chance to start anew, in an Eden, a beautiful land with rich soil and bright sunshine and plenty of opportunity, but they have to give this organization everything they own in payment - "after all, you won't need any of that there, and you'll never be able to return." And a man decides they are scammers preying on the hopeful, and he doesn't buy in, but instead follows them to their so-called transporter. And he watches scornfully as the hopeful people who have cut all their ties to the world go into their transporter...and he sees one brief flash of a beautiful world with blue sky, he smells the fresh air - and then they all disappear.
I want this couple to somehow have found a place like this, an Eden that they think they can get to. How did they discover its existence? Are they just deluded? Is it real? Do they make it there? What IS there, when they arrive? How is it that they translate off this plane of existence to this utopia? Or give me their children's view on their parents' crazy quest. Maybe they find their parents years later, not aged, in their utopia. Maybe they get mysterious postcards. Or maybe they're dead by the side of the road. I don't know - you tell me!
Have fun! Write something you enjoy writing, and I will enjoy reading it! And if you're just stumbling upon this through the letters page, I am signed up as
Isis.
Also posted on Dreamwidth where there are
comments.