A letter to my Yuletide writer
Dear Yuletide writer
I did worry that this might be the year I broke the Yuletide matching process -- all 4 of my requests are character specific in very obscure book fandoms. So I really will be delighted with whatever you write and I hope my chosen characters aren't too daunting. However having said that and repeating myself a bit from last year --
I like character driven action plots; political cities; strong women; ambiguous characters; characters who are more competent than they appear; characters pretending to be morally worse than they are; people keeping or recovering their integrity; characters wresting grace out of chaos; characters striving for goals more important than their own happiness; characters putting honour and integrity above their own interests; complex characters; happy endings; people having to work for their happy endings; happy endings that suggest there is still more work to be done; people facing and overcoming real trials and difficulties; people who love each other working together; platonic love being as important as romantic love; lovers who value, trust and like each other; comrades who know they can rely on each other; people who support each other; music and stories; hope; compromise; messy relationships between characters, not necessarily romantic ones; stories that are driven by relationships, not necessarily romantic ones; protagonists who act and do things rather than just letting the story happen around them; flawed characters; likeable characters; characters living with integrity in societies that lack it; people who manage to change their worlds for the better; cynical characters who believe in people; intelligent writing; acts that have consequences; people being smart; people being competent; people beiing kind; people making their own families; ruthless characters acting with compassion; unexpected kindness; triple-crosses; second chances; duels of nerve; fluid power dynamics; a strong sense of place; characters who can do more than they think;
I also like long plotty gen, or stories where the romantic relationship is part of a larger plot. I like stories that spin-off canon or follow through implications that are there in canon but not dwelt on. I like stories focusing on relationships between characters I like anyway and characterisation that is canon based. I like stories that do different things at different levels
I don't like deathfic; torture (unless surrounded with a lot of comfort); unrelieved bleakness; happy endings that cheat; pure fluff; magical soul bonds; "love" that really needs a restraining order; characters who are too stupid to live. I love gen, would be happy with most ships within the characters I requested and except where I said things specifically in the details, but am bored by PWP and would rather no femslash and pretty much nothing that could be characterised as "kink". Having said that, if the story calls for sex, any rating you write is okay by me.