Dear Yuletide Writer 2017
Dear Yuletide Writer,
Thank you in advance! The Yuletide Exchange is one of my favorite traditions and always brightens my holiday season. I'm looking forward to your story no matter what so don't stress and just write what inspires you. This letter is to give you a general idea of my fandom likes and DNWs. Optional details and prompts are just to give you ideas if you want them, don't feel you have to commit to a particular prompt or anything. Also, please don't feel you have to include every nominated character in your story. As long as at least one of the selected characters is a major focus I'm completely happy.
General Likes:
- Stories that are generally upbeat or end on a positive note (Oniisama E is the exception here where you can lay on the angst with a trowel)
- Fill in the blanks: missing scenes, future fic, and backstories
- Character interactions, all of these fandoms have some great character dynamics
- Canon divergence AUs and historical AUs
- Historical and cultural details
- Genre pastiches and genre mashups
- Queer themes and couples
General DNWs:
- Rape/Graphic violence or gore/Suicide
- Non-canon character death
- Infidelity
- Second person narrative
- Stories focused on illness/injuries/medical procedures especially terminal illnesses/conditions
- Issuefic
- Abuse, gaslighting, things of that nature
Any rating is okay, I'm more than fine with anything from G to NC-17 or AO3's General to Explicit rating. You can write smut or gen or anything in between. Sexually explicit content or PWP is fine too, but please age up any characters who are children/underage to at least their mid-late teens if you're going that route. If you have fun writing it I promise you I will enjoy reading it!
If you want to write something explicit I have some prompts and likes over at the Yuleporn Mini-Challenge. However, don't feel pressured to write explicit content if that's not your thing. I have written and received stories of all ratings that I dearly love.
Warning: most requests contain spoilers for major plot points of the media in question.
Oniisama E ~ Dear Brother
Characters: Asaka Rei Henmi Takehiko Misonoo Nanako
What It is & Where to Find It: A 39 episode shoujo TV anime based on the 1970s manga by Riyoko Ikeda (Rose of Versailles). A middle class girl enters an elite high school and finds herself caught up in the drama of her classmates. Soap opera melodrama ensues. Trigger warnings for suicide ideation, eating disorders, substance abuse, self-harm, incest ideation, emotional manipulation, bullying. Was crowd-sourced for English subtitled DVD release, but went quickly out of print as the publisher went under. Can be found streaming free at Viki and sometimes on Youtube.
Optional Details: I am all about the tormented melodrama with streaks of hope of this series. The complex relationships, the awful manipulations, the terrible class-ism, and all the intense homoerotic longings. I love all the characters nominated as well as Mariko, Tomoko, and the Ichinomiya siblings. However, you don’t have to include all the nominated characters in your story. Focusing on one of them or one of them with other members of the extended cast is more than okay.
I'd love to see some missing scenes, what-if scenario AUs, or post-canon fic. Pre-canon isn't especially interesting to me as all the big stuff we saw in flashbacks, but if you've got a pre-canon story you're burning to tell by all means go ahead. This is one canon where I'm totally okay with dark themes if you want to go there because of the source material, but please keep it canon-typical (ex. dub-con situations, suicide ideation, etc are fine but onscreen non-con, onscreen suicide are not). Personally I like the show's mix of light and dark, hope and despair, but you can go lighter or darker as you choose.
My only big DNW for this series is focus on Kaoru's cancer. I've had several family members die from cancer complications and I don't need to relive the horror in fiction. References to her mastectomy or cancer or even her manga canon death is fine, but I do not want a whole story about her diagnosis, treatment, etc. Seriously, I cannot emphasize this enough.
I have a lot of ships for this series that include but not limited to: Nanako x Rei, Nanako x Mariko, Nanako x Tomoko, Nanako x Tomoko x Mariko, Aya x Mariko, Mariko x Kaoru, Kaoru x Rei, Henmi x Takashi, Fukiko x Rei, Fukiko x Nanako. Canon pairings of Kaoru x Henmi and one sided Fukiko x Henmi are fine, but I wouldn't want them to be the full focus of the story. Gen is totally fine too! I'm very interested in the platonic familial bond of Nanako and Henmi, I always hoped Nanako would find out Henmi is indeed her (step)brother and for them to be able to spend time together as family.
Additional Prompts: What if Rei didn't die? Would she and Nanako have progressed in their already pretty romantic relationship? Now that Aya and Mariko have come to understand each other is there hope for friendship or more on the horizon? Does Fukiko ever learn from her mistakes and grow as a person or does she continue to rely on seduction and manipulation? Henmi and Takashi seem to have a pretty deep bond, did they ever have romantic feelings for each other as well? I also loved Lady Borgia and Lady Mona Lisa's coup attempt and the fall-out. I'm also down with femslash for them, either with each other or other sorority members. Really my all time OTPs are Nanako x Rei, Henmi x Takashi, and Mariko x Aya so I would love to see any of them find happiness together if you dig it, too. You could go full AU, but I’d rather see canon divergent AU or historical AU and not modern AU or coffee shop AU. Magical school Seiran could be interesting though, how would magic change or not change things in this setting?
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Hot Fuzz
Characters: Nicholas Angel, Danny Butterman
What It Is & Where to Find It: An action comedy film by Edgar Wright about a London super cop who’s forcibly transferred to an idyllic country town. Available on DVD, Bluray, and streaming on various platforms including Netflix.
Optional Details & Prompts: This is one of my favorite films of all time so I’m keen on anything for these characters. I love the small town charm/creepiness. I love the characters, but most especially overachiever Nicholas and genial Danny. I ship them hard though if you want to keep them as platonic friends for your fic I’m happy but please don’t pair them with anyone else. You could do missing scenes, canon divergence, future fic, or go AU - I’m not really interested in pre-movie set stories. The whole cast makes me laugh so you can add as much or as little of the supporting cast as you like. It’s been ten years since the film, where would the characters be ten years from them? What obscure local traditions or holidays does Sanford observe that bewilder Nicholas? What about an historical AU set in an earlier era of British history (ex. the police as Regency era parish constables and magistrates)? No AUs that take them out of the British setting, please, I’m quite attached to the cultural influences at play. Adding magic would be fun if you're into that! Anything from encounters with the fair folk or other spirits or gods of the region or a full Hogwarts or Aurors AU.
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Oz - L. Frank Baum
Characters: Glinda the Good, Dorothy Gale, Button-Bright, Princess Ozma
What It Is & Where to Find It: A fourteen book series of children’s fantasy written in the early 20th century. All of the books authored by Baum himself are in the public domain and can be found free at Project Gutenberg or the entire collection extremely cheap on Kindle or Nook. Only the first three books really need to be read in order and not all characters appear in every novel.
Optional Details & Prompts: You can choose any one of the characters listed above, you don’t have to have all of them in your story. Also free to add whichever Oz companions to accompany them as long as the focus is on one of the above characters.
I adore the world of Oz and especially Baum's core series of fourteen books even if the continuity is wibbly-wobbly at best concerning lore/worldbuilding. I love the magic, the whimsy, the weird dark undercurrents, the sense of adventure, and the big found-family and friendships that come out the adventures. I love that Baum's Oz was heavily influenced by his wife Maud's progressive suffragist family.
Feel free to set your story pre-series, post-series, during series (I'm only counting Baum's 14 Oz novels as canon here, please no focus on characters/scenarios from non-Baum authored Oz works). I love missing scenes, alternate POVs, what-if scenarios, future fic. I love character studies just as much as world building or adventures. Feel free to pick and choose what elements you enjoy from Baum's worldbuilding or even reconcile his many retcons if it pleases you. You could also send the characters out into one of the other magical lands in the stories (Ev, Ix, the Vegetable Kingdom) or have them back in the United States using magic and getting into high jinks.
Like many readers I'm very intrigued by Ozma and her glossed over transition from Tip to Ozma. While I totally understand why it wasn't talked about in the books, what would it have been like to go from ragtag peasant boy Tip to the princess of an empire? Do you interpret Ozma as nonbinary, genderqueer, genderfluid, trans, etc? Baum also retcons her from being a mortal to making her a full on fairy queen, so please feel free to use either or both in your story as you please. I ship Ozma/Dorothy, but please age them up to mid-teens if they're going to do anything more than Disney level bashful kissing.
Button Bright is a joy, I like him best when he's older and semi-competent like in Sky Island compared to his first appearance in Road to Oz where he's younger and much sillier. Feel free to add in Trot or Cap'n Bill too since they're such great chums. My rare ship here is Button Bright x Ojo as they ended up becoming companions in the later books, if you dig it too I would prefer them both aged up to at least mid-late teenagers if they're going to go beyond handholding or fairly chaste kissing. Platonically I like Button Bright hanging out with Trot, Poly, Ojo as he does in canon but feel free to have him interact with characters he doesn't necessarily know all that well in canon.
I love wise Glinda and her army of gal pals in Quadling Country, though she really is the series' Gandalf in that she has great power and foresight but intervenes very little. We never get too much in her head and I'd love to see what she thinks of her beloved Oz. She also tutors many characters in canon in the ways of magic - how does she view her various pupils? I also like the other assorted witches we see in canon, not just the Wicked Witches of the East and West, but also Mombi or passive magic users like Princess Langwidere of Ev. If you want to go the ship route I'd love to see Glinda with another lady, either one of the aforementioned witches or with one of her handmaidens/soldiers or a completely original character.
Dorothy is the plucky recurring heroine who eventually becomes an honorary princess of Oz. I love her friendships and easy acceptance of the strange people and situations she encounters. You could write about before she lives in Oz, how she's faring in Kansas in between Oz excursions, or after she becomes a permanent resident. I do ship Ozma x Dorothy, but if you're going to go beyond handholding/fairly chaste kissing I would prefer them both aged up to at least mid-late teenagers.
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Moby Dick
Characters: Ishmael, Queequeg
What It Is & Where to Find It: A deliciously overambitious mid-19th century novel about life on a whaling ship. In print and free at Project Gutenberg.
Optional Details & Prompts: I hate to be heavy handed here, but considering this novel’s pop culture standing I’m going to be blunt: no Ahab centric stories and no stories based heavily around abridged versions or movie versions of the story (though feel free to use them as a guide for character visuals if that's your thing). This is a request for the novel and for the characters of Ishmael and/or Queequeg only.
Right, now on to the good stuff.
The first eleven chapters of this novel is a love story between Ishmael and Queequeg. Seriously, if you haven’t read it in a while go back and enjoy how actual queer author Melville details about how married they are and going out of their way to share a bed even in situations where it’s unnecessary and suspicious. So that, more of that please. I love how they forged a deep connection despite being hampered by culture and language barriers. You could do missing scenes of Ishmael and Queequeg continuing their matelotage aboard the Pequod or fix-it where Queequeg also survives the shipwreck or go canon divergence where they found another ship to join instead of the Pequod.
However, if you are not down with Ishmael and Queequeg as a couple I would love to see their friendship and their interactions with other sailors aboard the Pequod. Chapter 40 is devoted to showcasing that there are sailors of every ethnicity and nationality aboard, what kind of traditions or superstitions would they be bringing from their home cultures? Ishmael is canonically a school teacher between his sailing contracts (merchant and whaling), what might he have taught his students? I love that all the harpooneers are men of color (Tashtego, Daggoo, Fedallah), but much like Queequeg they fall prey to stereotypes at times in the book. Melville did have sailing experience with men of all backgrounds, but was limited by his cultural bias. Feel free to have Queequeg or the other harpooneers act/speak more appropriate to their respective cultural backgrounds than the broad caricatures we got in the book. A few fic authors have tried their hand at Queequeg POV retellings and stories and I've loved them all so don't think you have to go with Ishmael POV just because the novel does.
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Tokyo Babylon
Characters: Sakurazuka Seishirou, Sumeragi Subaru, Sumeragi Hokuto
What It Is & Where to Find It: An early 1990s shoujo manga about twin teenage occultists helping the downtrodden in Tokyo. In-print in omnibus format by Dark House Comics, but older copies of previous translations can be found used quite cheaply and some scanlations are still floating around the internet.
Optional Details & Prompts: Tokyo Babylon is ambitious and flawed, but it’s a fascinating look at Bubble Economy era Japan through the eyes of manga writers who were pretty young themselves. I really love the main cast and I was extremely disappointed that while alternate Seishirou and Subaru showed up in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles and its spin-offs, Hokuto never does. I would love to see anything with a lot of Hokuto in it, either sibling hijinks with Subaru or her going off to solve ‘cases’ in Tokyo on her own. Feel free to change the ending of the story, what if Subaru was the one who paid the price of the Bet and it was Hokuto who ended up as the lone twin? What if both twins survived, what would they do next?
I’m also okay with whatever you want to do with Seishirou, either make him as creepy and maladaptive as the series or go full AU where he is just a vet helping out occultist teens. If you’re going to do AUs beyond canon divergent AUs, I just ask that you keep the setting in Japan (either Tokyo or Kyoto) as most of the commentary and issues surrounding the characters is about Japanese society. That said you could go actor AU (Subaru and Hokuto as former child stars), werewolf/vampire AU (because Hokuto would rock either aesthetic), historical AU (Meiji or Taisho era are great for showing modernity/tradition conflicts), or magical girl AU (Hokuto with all the powers and fighting evil by moonlight?). I’m not interested in X/1999 era/setting fic unless the focus is strongly on Hokuto and not so much on the other ‘dragons.’ However future fic with middle-aged Sumeragi twins would be more than loved.
I ship Seishirou x Subaru, both as an unhealthy ship and as a ‘what-if-they-got-their-heads-on-straight’ healthy ship so feel free to do either. I’m invested in queer Hokuto so feel free to give her a girlfriend (the gaijin girl, an OC, or someone in the Clamp school multiverse like Kuu Hououji) or leave her queer and single - no Seishirou x Hokuto or Kakyou x Hokuto please and no Sumeragi twincest.
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Anne with an E (TV)
Characters: Anne Shirley, Diana Barry
Where It Is & Where to Find It: A CBC and Netflix co-production adaptation of Anne of Green Gables. Can be found on Netflix and other streaming platforms.
Optional Details and Prompts: I’ve loved the Anne books for years and I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed this adaptation. As heartwarming as the first two Sullivan adaptations and Avonlea series were sometimes you just want non-sentimental historical fiction and Anne with an E delivers. I thought Anne’s coping with PTSD was handled in a way that made sense for her background and opened up more layers to the character. Anything with Anne and her relationships would be golden, her trying to become family with the Cuthberts, her shaky friendship with Jerry, her devotion to Diana, her kinship with Josephine, or her reaching out to Gilbert. I’m more into the Anne/Diana ship and not super big on the Anne/Gilbert, but I’m very happy with gen here, too. If you’re doing future fic feel free to incorporate or leave out material/plot points from later book events or pull other Montgomery books (this adaptation draws from the Emily books and some short stories so you could do the same if you like). This adaptation gets a bit heavy handed with the trauma at points and while I don’t mind angst in a story I do prefer stories to end on a hopeful or at least bittersweet note rather than endless despair. Some prompts that come to mind: Anne and Diana deciding they want to be lady-married like Josephine and Gertrude, Anne becoming interested in suffrage or labor rights as a young woman, Anne pursuing her writing career instead of teaching, Diana finding a career rather than becoming a housewife, etc. I also wouldn't be adverse to OT3 poly Anne x Gilbert x Diana if you have a way to make it work in this universe. If you're more inclined to family stories I'd love to see the Cuthberts sharing more of their family history with Anne or Anne teaching them new things or having them discover new hobbies.
Once more I thank you for taking on the challenge! I hope your Yuletide experience is delightful and full of pleasant surprises!
Much love,
Jougetsu