Yuletide letter
Dear Yuletide writer,
First of all, thank you for writing for me. I'm thrilled that you share my interest in one of these fandoms, and I can't wait to read your story.
What follows is a little more information about what I like and don't like. But I want to say right away that I hope you will write a story you find interesting and enjoy writing, even if it goes in a different direction from the things I mention here. It could well turn out to be the story I didn't know I wanted.
The thing that speaks to me most in a fanfic is character exploration. I love getting to know characters with more depth and intimacy than in canon, as well as seeing them in a new light or from a new perspective. Character studies and stories that focus on emotional developments rather than outside events work well for me. I certainly would be happy to read something plotty if you enjoy writing plot (and if you do, I envy you!), but I look at plot as a bonus rather than a requirement.
Something else I adore is worldbuilding, whether it's a fantasy world with magic, an alternate history, or the real world we live in. I love the details of material culture (one reason I'm fannish about Melissa Scott's novels is that they pay such attention to the clothes characters wear and the food they eat) but also, or especially, the details of the social world: who's got what kinds of power, how people relate to one another, their jokes and superstitions and traditions and what they do for fun. I will happily wallow in this kind of stuff, so if you like worldbuilding, go wild!
I'm not terribly picky about genre, style, or tone. I like happy stories and melancholy stories, straightforward narratives and stylistic experiments, missing scenes and metafictions, canon-compliance and what-ifs, backstory and futurefic. Feel free to take an idea and run with it. But just one caveat: while I enjoy AUs of the "what if X canonical event happened differently" sort, I don't care for AUs that completely alter the premise (such as coffeeshop AUs and high-school AUs as well as things like omegaverse and BDSM 'verses). I love the original settings too much to want to lose them in an AU.
You'll notice from my prompts that I love male/male slash, but if that's not your cup of tea, gen is absolutely welcome. I've tried to give gen prompts as well as slashy ones for each request. I'm not much interested in het, though, so I'd rather the story didn't focus on a heterosexual relationship.
If you choose to write slash for me, don't feel obliged to include a sex scene if you'd rather not or if you don't think it develops the characters or the emotional arc. Some stories need a sex scene and others don't; I'm not a huge fan of porn for porn's sake, and I'm every bit as happy with a nonexplicit story as a porntastic one. If you do include a sex scene, my tastes are pretty vanilla.
I should mention my two strong Do Not Wants. Please avoid any rape scenes or even offscreen rape as a focus of the story. (One of my requested fandoms has a character who was raped in canon, and brief mentions of this backstory are okay if necessary.) Also, while I'm fine with stories including or addressing issues of homophobia and transphobia, I'd rather not receive something terribly bleak and hopeless that's all about the victimization of queer characters.
Below are my specific requests, plus information about source availability.
Cloudburst At Shingle Street - Thomas Dolby (Song) (any)
Dolby has said that this song was inspired by the rumor/legend that began during the Second World War about an attempted German invasion at Shingle Street (a town on the eastern coast of England) that was foiled by a secret weapon: pipelines buried in the beach that when activated worked like huge upward-pointing flamethrowers. I'd like a story that connects in some way to this background, but beyond that, pretty much anything goes. You could focus on the narrator: is/was he one of the invaders? is he now a ghost? Where is he, when is he, what does he understand of what has happened/is happening to him? If he's a ghost, how many other ghosts are there? Who is the "you" he loves? (If you address this, I'd prefer that it not be a heterosexual relationship. But a friendship story is absolutely fine if m/m isn't your thing.)
You could also go in a more world-building direction: perhaps a story about someone who worked on the defenses at Shingle Street, a civilian who witnessed something, a War Office official trying to hush things up, or a later historian investigating the rumors. How about a secret guidebook to the haunted beach at Shingle Street, a psychic's impressions of it, or an exploration of the physical detritus of war (the beach, the pipes, the "vest of plaster" and "boots of concrete")? No idea is too weird, here.
Source: The song (with what seems to be the official video) is here on YouTube, and a mostly accurate transcription of the lyrics (it leaves out a word in the line "and pave the beach") is here. There's a brief discussion of the song's background/inspiration here and a much more detailed account of the Shingle Street rumors here. The latter is written by someone who believes the invasion attempt really happened; I don't think there's any plausible evidence that it did, but it's still a helpful site.
Death by Silver - Melissa Scott and Amy Griswold (Ned Mathey, Julian Lynes)
One of my favorite things about this book is the way magic is a normal, ordinary part of the world--it's not special or mystical or secret. I'd love to see a more detailed exploration of how magic works, either in the literal procedural sense or in the social sense. For the latter, I'm especially intrigued by issues of class: what's the relationship between using magic and being a gentleman? What is it about magic that makes fixing a gate (for example) acceptable gentleman's work? I think this could connect interestingly to Ned and Julian's backgrounds and aspirations, or could be a hook to hang a casefic on if you like writing casefic.
My other favorite thing is the Ned/Julian relationship and it would be cool if you wanted to focus on that. I'd love to see what they're like together post-book, when they're not so anxious, furtive, and hurried. Alternatively, I'm very interested in backstory from their university years--it's not a great time for their personal relationship, but it's so intense.
I'd prefer not to get a story that focuses on their school years and the terrible things they went through. Mentions are fine, though.
Source: In print and available as an e-book.
First World War RPF (Wilhelm II of Germany)
Don't feel you have to set your story during the war! I just couldn't think what else to call the fandom when I nominated it. Also, don't feel you have to research yourself into exhaustion If you know the period really well or love research and want to write a fic that gets the color of every uniform exactly right, that's awesome, but if not, the emotional development of the story matters more to me than small details. I won't be nitpicky and probably wouldn't have the knowledge to be anyway.
I'm fascinated by many things about Wilhelm, such as his love/hate relationship with England and his English relatives and his obsession with all things military, but especially (I might as well admit it) by the marked homoeroticism of his emotional life. A story about his tender friendship with Eulenberg would be very welcome, as would be something about his reaction to the tremendous scandal that erupted around Eulenberg in 1907.
I'd also love a story dealing with his relationship with his cousins George V and Nicholas II, especially in the context of the war: family histories, personal affection and hatred, political rivalries, all that good stuff. Something about his earlier English relatives, such as his grandmother Queen Victoria, his mother, or Edward VII, would also be good. Or if you wanted to try your hand at the cracked-out scenario I fondly call "cousincest threesome prevents WWI" that would be great! (And if the cousincest threesome fails to prevent WWI, that works for me too.)
Full Monty (1997) (Gary Schofield, Nathan Schofield)
One of the great things about this movie is the loving father/son dynamic between Gaz and Nathan. I'm also intrigued by how involved Nathan is in the strip show plan--he's even there at auditions and rehearsals. I'd love to see Nathan's view of it all, either during the movie or later, when he's an adult. If you wanted to make Nathan gay, with the rehearsals etc. helping to awaken his knowledge of his sexuality, that would be great! (Two major caveats, though: please no incestuous feelings, and no sexual contact between movie-age Nathan --I think he's about 12?--and any adult man. Nathan feeling an attraction or having a crush is fine. And if Nathan's 16 or over in your story, then I have no problem with him having sex.) I'd also be very happy with gen father-son fic, and in fact I'd love for Nathan and Gaz's relationship to be an important element in whatever story you choose to write.
Source: Widely available on DVD.
Laundry series - Charles Stross (James Angleton)
The books never go into Angleton's POV, which is a shame because his mind must be a strange and perhaps terrifying place. I'd love a story about, well, what it's like to be Angleton, with his demonic nature that he's chosen to humanize--to some extent, anyway. Backstory about him becoming humanish would be very cool--I'm especially interested in his years as a teacher, but I'd also be delighted by something about his work for the Laundry (how much does he believe in the Laundry's mission, and how did he come to ally himself with humans against the rest of the multiverse?) or about him working with Bob, taking him on as an apprentice and coming to feel, I think, an affection for him. (What is affection even like for Angleton?) Futurefic that addresses the events of The Rhesus Chart, whether it ends happily or not, would also be welcome.
Source: Readily available in print and as ebooks.
Points - Melissa Scott and Lisa A. Barnett (Istre b'Estorr)
Istre intrigues me and I always wish he was more of a presence in the books. I have tons of unanswered questions that could be the basis for a story. How exactly does necromancy work, how did he become a necromancer, what kind of research and teaching does he do at the university? (I would eat up an "academic politics in Astreiant" story like candy.) What was it like for him growing up in Chadron, where necromancy is taboo? What was the full story of his friendship with the late king of Chadron? What about his personal ghosts--who were they and why do they hang around him? What draws such a mild seeming man, and one who can see ghosts, to dueling? Does he have a leman or someone he's involved with? (If you address this, I'd strongly prefer that Istre's love interest be a man--I'm just not into het.) What about other friends besides Nico?
You're more than welcome to include other characters from the novels, including Rathe and Eslingen, so long as the story stays focused on Istre. I'd love to know more about Istre and Nico's friendship, for example, or whether Istre and Philip overcome their mutual caution and become real friends.
Incidentally, I haven't read Fair's Point yet but I probably will have done by Christmas. I'm told it doesn't add anything new to what we know of Istre's background.
Source: Available as ebooks and (I believe) in print again.
Crossposted at Dreamwidth (
comments); you can comment here or there.
First of all, thank you for writing for me. I'm thrilled that you share my interest in one of these fandoms, and I can't wait to read your story.
What follows is a little more information about what I like and don't like. But I want to say right away that I hope you will write a story you find interesting and enjoy writing, even if it goes in a different direction from the things I mention here. It could well turn out to be the story I didn't know I wanted.
The thing that speaks to me most in a fanfic is character exploration. I love getting to know characters with more depth and intimacy than in canon, as well as seeing them in a new light or from a new perspective. Character studies and stories that focus on emotional developments rather than outside events work well for me. I certainly would be happy to read something plotty if you enjoy writing plot (and if you do, I envy you!), but I look at plot as a bonus rather than a requirement.
Something else I adore is worldbuilding, whether it's a fantasy world with magic, an alternate history, or the real world we live in. I love the details of material culture (one reason I'm fannish about Melissa Scott's novels is that they pay such attention to the clothes characters wear and the food they eat) but also, or especially, the details of the social world: who's got what kinds of power, how people relate to one another, their jokes and superstitions and traditions and what they do for fun. I will happily wallow in this kind of stuff, so if you like worldbuilding, go wild!
I'm not terribly picky about genre, style, or tone. I like happy stories and melancholy stories, straightforward narratives and stylistic experiments, missing scenes and metafictions, canon-compliance and what-ifs, backstory and futurefic. Feel free to take an idea and run with it. But just one caveat: while I enjoy AUs of the "what if X canonical event happened differently" sort, I don't care for AUs that completely alter the premise (such as coffeeshop AUs and high-school AUs as well as things like omegaverse and BDSM 'verses). I love the original settings too much to want to lose them in an AU.
You'll notice from my prompts that I love male/male slash, but if that's not your cup of tea, gen is absolutely welcome. I've tried to give gen prompts as well as slashy ones for each request. I'm not much interested in het, though, so I'd rather the story didn't focus on a heterosexual relationship.
If you choose to write slash for me, don't feel obliged to include a sex scene if you'd rather not or if you don't think it develops the characters or the emotional arc. Some stories need a sex scene and others don't; I'm not a huge fan of porn for porn's sake, and I'm every bit as happy with a nonexplicit story as a porntastic one. If you do include a sex scene, my tastes are pretty vanilla.
I should mention my two strong Do Not Wants. Please avoid any rape scenes or even offscreen rape as a focus of the story. (One of my requested fandoms has a character who was raped in canon, and brief mentions of this backstory are okay if necessary.) Also, while I'm fine with stories including or addressing issues of homophobia and transphobia, I'd rather not receive something terribly bleak and hopeless that's all about the victimization of queer characters.
Below are my specific requests, plus information about source availability.
Cloudburst At Shingle Street - Thomas Dolby (Song) (any)
Dolby has said that this song was inspired by the rumor/legend that began during the Second World War about an attempted German invasion at Shingle Street (a town on the eastern coast of England) that was foiled by a secret weapon: pipelines buried in the beach that when activated worked like huge upward-pointing flamethrowers. I'd like a story that connects in some way to this background, but beyond that, pretty much anything goes. You could focus on the narrator: is/was he one of the invaders? is he now a ghost? Where is he, when is he, what does he understand of what has happened/is happening to him? If he's a ghost, how many other ghosts are there? Who is the "you" he loves? (If you address this, I'd prefer that it not be a heterosexual relationship. But a friendship story is absolutely fine if m/m isn't your thing.)
You could also go in a more world-building direction: perhaps a story about someone who worked on the defenses at Shingle Street, a civilian who witnessed something, a War Office official trying to hush things up, or a later historian investigating the rumors. How about a secret guidebook to the haunted beach at Shingle Street, a psychic's impressions of it, or an exploration of the physical detritus of war (the beach, the pipes, the "vest of plaster" and "boots of concrete")? No idea is too weird, here.
Source: The song (with what seems to be the official video) is here on YouTube, and a mostly accurate transcription of the lyrics (it leaves out a word in the line "and pave the beach") is here. There's a brief discussion of the song's background/inspiration here and a much more detailed account of the Shingle Street rumors here. The latter is written by someone who believes the invasion attempt really happened; I don't think there's any plausible evidence that it did, but it's still a helpful site.
Death by Silver - Melissa Scott and Amy Griswold (Ned Mathey, Julian Lynes)
One of my favorite things about this book is the way magic is a normal, ordinary part of the world--it's not special or mystical or secret. I'd love to see a more detailed exploration of how magic works, either in the literal procedural sense or in the social sense. For the latter, I'm especially intrigued by issues of class: what's the relationship between using magic and being a gentleman? What is it about magic that makes fixing a gate (for example) acceptable gentleman's work? I think this could connect interestingly to Ned and Julian's backgrounds and aspirations, or could be a hook to hang a casefic on if you like writing casefic.
My other favorite thing is the Ned/Julian relationship and it would be cool if you wanted to focus on that. I'd love to see what they're like together post-book, when they're not so anxious, furtive, and hurried. Alternatively, I'm very interested in backstory from their university years--it's not a great time for their personal relationship, but it's so intense.
I'd prefer not to get a story that focuses on their school years and the terrible things they went through. Mentions are fine, though.
Source: In print and available as an e-book.
First World War RPF (Wilhelm II of Germany)
Don't feel you have to set your story during the war! I just couldn't think what else to call the fandom when I nominated it. Also, don't feel you have to research yourself into exhaustion If you know the period really well or love research and want to write a fic that gets the color of every uniform exactly right, that's awesome, but if not, the emotional development of the story matters more to me than small details. I won't be nitpicky and probably wouldn't have the knowledge to be anyway.
I'm fascinated by many things about Wilhelm, such as his love/hate relationship with England and his English relatives and his obsession with all things military, but especially (I might as well admit it) by the marked homoeroticism of his emotional life. A story about his tender friendship with Eulenberg would be very welcome, as would be something about his reaction to the tremendous scandal that erupted around Eulenberg in 1907.
I'd also love a story dealing with his relationship with his cousins George V and Nicholas II, especially in the context of the war: family histories, personal affection and hatred, political rivalries, all that good stuff. Something about his earlier English relatives, such as his grandmother Queen Victoria, his mother, or Edward VII, would also be good. Or if you wanted to try your hand at the cracked-out scenario I fondly call "cousincest threesome prevents WWI" that would be great! (And if the cousincest threesome fails to prevent WWI, that works for me too.)
Full Monty (1997) (Gary Schofield, Nathan Schofield)
One of the great things about this movie is the loving father/son dynamic between Gaz and Nathan. I'm also intrigued by how involved Nathan is in the strip show plan--he's even there at auditions and rehearsals. I'd love to see Nathan's view of it all, either during the movie or later, when he's an adult. If you wanted to make Nathan gay, with the rehearsals etc. helping to awaken his knowledge of his sexuality, that would be great! (Two major caveats, though: please no incestuous feelings, and no sexual contact between movie-age Nathan --I think he's about 12?--and any adult man. Nathan feeling an attraction or having a crush is fine. And if Nathan's 16 or over in your story, then I have no problem with him having sex.) I'd also be very happy with gen father-son fic, and in fact I'd love for Nathan and Gaz's relationship to be an important element in whatever story you choose to write.
Source: Widely available on DVD.
Laundry series - Charles Stross (James Angleton)
The books never go into Angleton's POV, which is a shame because his mind must be a strange and perhaps terrifying place. I'd love a story about, well, what it's like to be Angleton, with his demonic nature that he's chosen to humanize--to some extent, anyway. Backstory about him becoming humanish would be very cool--I'm especially interested in his years as a teacher, but I'd also be delighted by something about his work for the Laundry (how much does he believe in the Laundry's mission, and how did he come to ally himself with humans against the rest of the multiverse?) or about him working with Bob, taking him on as an apprentice and coming to feel, I think, an affection for him. (What is affection even like for Angleton?) Futurefic that addresses the events of The Rhesus Chart, whether it ends happily or not, would also be welcome.
Source: Readily available in print and as ebooks.
Points - Melissa Scott and Lisa A. Barnett (Istre b'Estorr)
Istre intrigues me and I always wish he was more of a presence in the books. I have tons of unanswered questions that could be the basis for a story. How exactly does necromancy work, how did he become a necromancer, what kind of research and teaching does he do at the university? (I would eat up an "academic politics in Astreiant" story like candy.) What was it like for him growing up in Chadron, where necromancy is taboo? What was the full story of his friendship with the late king of Chadron? What about his personal ghosts--who were they and why do they hang around him? What draws such a mild seeming man, and one who can see ghosts, to dueling? Does he have a leman or someone he's involved with? (If you address this, I'd strongly prefer that Istre's love interest be a man--I'm just not into het.) What about other friends besides Nico?
You're more than welcome to include other characters from the novels, including Rathe and Eslingen, so long as the story stays focused on Istre. I'd love to know more about Istre and Nico's friendship, for example, or whether Istre and Philip overcome their mutual caution and become real friends.
Incidentally, I haven't read Fair's Point yet but I probably will have done by Christmas. I'm told it doesn't add anything new to what we know of Istre's background.
Source: Available as ebooks and (I believe) in print again.
Crossposted at Dreamwidth (
comments); you can comment here or there.