"Dear Writer" letter for Jukebox Fest
Dear writer,
Thank you for participating in this exchange and I’m thrilled that we’ve matched on at least one of these songs. This is mostly my free-association as to what the songs mean to me and how I see a fic unfolding, but if your muse takes you in a different direction, be my guest.
I’m not terribly interested in schmoop or fluff, but these are mostly pop songs, so happy endings can happen. I’m fine with either slash/het/femslash/OT3 etc. I’m find with explicit or fade to black. Mild kink along the lines of rough talk, voyeurism, bondage, etc are fine, but let’s try and avoid scat/watersports and the goodies in that aisle of the supermarket. (However sex in the supermarket is fine.)
Please NO MPREG!!!
Halfway To Paradise-Billy Fury
I’ve always considered this song the ultimate fag-hag anthem, “I want to be your lover, but your friend is all I’ll stay.” And I’d love to see some nice angsty fic along those lines, either from the POV of the person singing OR the object of their passion regretting it just as much. I also wouldn’t mind if they find some way to be together. I’m NOT endorsing gay erasure, but if there’s a way to find a happy ending for that scenario, I’d love to read it and bisexuality is real as well.
King of Spain-Moxy Fruvous
I just love the goofiness and good feeling of this song, so anything about the King and his adventures in Canada that captures that feeling is fine. Or something about “unspeakable Queen Lisa.” What made her so bad? Is she just misunderstood? Is she in cahoots with the double?
I know Him So Well-John Barrowman & Daniel Boys
One of my favorite gender-flipped recordings. Pretty much anyway you want to take the pain of this triangle is fine with me. Does he choose “security” or “fantasy and freedom?” Or do they both lose him and end up together?
Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow-Bryan Ferry
I’m so captivated by the obvious world-weariness in Bryan’s rendition. ANYTHING from the POV of this jaded and cynical older man who’s had so many women and is now facing this beautiful young gold-digger and still asking the question to which he KNOWS the answer. Anything about the past that has led him here. Or conversely, the girl’s thoughts. Is she calculating or does she really care about him?
Viva La Vida-Coldplay
I’m obsessed with the melody and the chorus, so anything that could have happened to him before, when he ruled the world is fine and why he now hears Jerusalem bells ringing. I know we're not requesting existing characters from history or fiction, but I sort of hear the song as Richard the Lionheart and King Philip on crusade, so maybe something about two characters during that period, caught between their passions and the cause they supposedly serve, as well as their religious convictions. Or make it a metaphor and have that relationship between two present-day soldiers?
Or really, anything the song says to you.
Goodbye Sam, Hello Samantha
I’ll be surprised, but thrilled if I match on this. I know it’s basically just a goofy happy pop song, but I think there’s a world of potential gender-queer in the lyrics. Is the singer leaving a homosexual relationship for a heterosexual one and why? Has his sexuality shifted or is rejecting his former self because of outside reasons. How does Sam feel watching his lover walk away. Is the singer on the verge of gender reassignment? What has brought him to this point? Or anything else where you see these lyrics going on the spectrum.
Thank you for participating in this exchange and I’m thrilled that we’ve matched on at least one of these songs. This is mostly my free-association as to what the songs mean to me and how I see a fic unfolding, but if your muse takes you in a different direction, be my guest.
I’m not terribly interested in schmoop or fluff, but these are mostly pop songs, so happy endings can happen. I’m fine with either slash/het/femslash/OT3 etc. I’m find with explicit or fade to black. Mild kink along the lines of rough talk, voyeurism, bondage, etc are fine, but let’s try and avoid scat/watersports and the goodies in that aisle of the supermarket. (However sex in the supermarket is fine.)
Please NO MPREG!!!
Halfway To Paradise-Billy Fury
I’ve always considered this song the ultimate fag-hag anthem, “I want to be your lover, but your friend is all I’ll stay.” And I’d love to see some nice angsty fic along those lines, either from the POV of the person singing OR the object of their passion regretting it just as much. I also wouldn’t mind if they find some way to be together. I’m NOT endorsing gay erasure, but if there’s a way to find a happy ending for that scenario, I’d love to read it and bisexuality is real as well.
King of Spain-Moxy Fruvous
I just love the goofiness and good feeling of this song, so anything about the King and his adventures in Canada that captures that feeling is fine. Or something about “unspeakable Queen Lisa.” What made her so bad? Is she just misunderstood? Is she in cahoots with the double?
I know Him So Well-John Barrowman & Daniel Boys
One of my favorite gender-flipped recordings. Pretty much anyway you want to take the pain of this triangle is fine with me. Does he choose “security” or “fantasy and freedom?” Or do they both lose him and end up together?
Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow-Bryan Ferry
I’m so captivated by the obvious world-weariness in Bryan’s rendition. ANYTHING from the POV of this jaded and cynical older man who’s had so many women and is now facing this beautiful young gold-digger and still asking the question to which he KNOWS the answer. Anything about the past that has led him here. Or conversely, the girl’s thoughts. Is she calculating or does she really care about him?
Viva La Vida-Coldplay
I’m obsessed with the melody and the chorus, so anything that could have happened to him before, when he ruled the world is fine and why he now hears Jerusalem bells ringing. I know we're not requesting existing characters from history or fiction, but I sort of hear the song as Richard the Lionheart and King Philip on crusade, so maybe something about two characters during that period, caught between their passions and the cause they supposedly serve, as well as their religious convictions. Or make it a metaphor and have that relationship between two present-day soldiers?
Or really, anything the song says to you.
Goodbye Sam, Hello Samantha
I’ll be surprised, but thrilled if I match on this. I know it’s basically just a goofy happy pop song, but I think there’s a world of potential gender-queer in the lyrics. Is the singer leaving a homosexual relationship for a heterosexual one and why? Has his sexuality shifted or is rejecting his former self because of outside reasons. How does Sam feel watching his lover walk away. Is the singer on the verge of gender reassignment? What has brought him to this point? Or anything else where you see these lyrics going on the spectrum.