Yuletide - I love this time of year
Dear Yuletide author
Thank you so much for offering to write for me! I seem to have run on at great length in my requests, so I'm not going to go into a great deal more detail on the individual fandoms here, but I do want to stress that I know that optional details are optional and that I really would like pretty much anything with my requested characters. It's also worth saying that a lot of the length of my requests is in the vein of "maybe this!" "Or maybe that!" "Or here's something else that would be really cool too!" I hope that might give you a feel for what I love in the source material, but I don't necessarily expect you to write any one of my "maybe"s and I certainly don't expect you to write all of them.
Slightly unusually for me, three of my four requests are actually shippy. (I'm usually a gen writer myself). All three pairings are actually canonical, so I'm hoping you won't have too many problems with the mere idea of any of them, but I'd be okay with anything from a story all about the lurrve through to a story with them doing something entirely unrelated to their relationship. I admit that all three pairings are OTPs for me though, so if you really can't see them together please go gen rather than breaking them up. On the fourth request, I've no problem with you pairing Tanaqui up with someone but I've no stronger desire for relationship fic than for gen.
Drawing heavily on last year's letter, things I don't like include deathfic; incest; torture (unless surrounded with a lot of comfort); unrelieved bleakness; happy endings that cheat; pure fluff; "love" that really needs a restraining order and characters who are too stupid to live. I'm generally bored by PWP (although if the story calls for sex, then any rating you write is okay by me) and would rather no femslash and no very strong kink.
Random things I do like (I don't expect any or all of them and some of them wouldn't work with particular prompts or fandoms); 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; 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; music and stories; hope; compromise; messy relationships between characters, (not necessarily romantic ones); stories that are driven by relationships, (not necessarily romantic ones); 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; 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 being 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; stories that follow through implications that are there in canon but not dwelt on; stories focusing on relationships between characters I like anyway; stories that do different things at different levels.
And in case you feel like looking into a different fandom from the one where we match or just so I can pimp my fandoms to other people on my friends list, here's a brief, non-spoilery description of each one and the reasons why I love it. (I'm also putting my requests at the end of this post, but they are highly spoilery for the end of each story.)
The Philadelphia story -- a film starring Katherine Hepburn as an heiress trying to do the expected thing, Cary Grant as her ex-husband and James Stewart as the reporter who gatecrashes her second wedding. Should still be readily available. I love it for the banter and wit, second chances, the fact that characters actually change and grow, the way Tracy and Dex actually "get" each other and so do Tracy and Mike and for the scene in the early hours of the morning where Cary Grant is very sober and James Stewart is very drunk. (I'm explicitly not asking for slash in this fandom though as it would break up my OTP). There are a couple of unfortunate gender issues among the awesome - you'll see that my ideal fic would tackle them rather than ignore them.
The Fire's Stone -- a stand-alone fantasy novel by Tanya Huff with a princess trying to get out of an arranged marriage, the dissolute prince she's been betrothed to and a street thief all needing to track down the magical artefact that will save the Prince's country. I love it for the strong relationships between the three protagonists, the way that they have non-stupid motivations for the things they do and face real consequences of their weaknesses and the way they completely resist being slotted into neat categories as hero(ine), sidekick and love interest. The fact that the setting is not generic Euro-fantasyland doesn't hurt either. The book is out of print, but quite a quick read if you can track down a copy and is also included in the omnibus Of Darkness Light and Fire (the other novel in the omnibus is unrelated).
Seaward -- another stand-alone novel, this time YA fantasy, from Susan Cooper (who wrote The Dark Is Rising). Calliope is a western teenager; Westerly has been torn from a country which seems to be undergoing a violent coup. They meet in a hostile and mystical world where they appear to be pawns in a literal game between Lugan and the sinister Lady Taranis. I love the mythic feel of the story and the allusions that are only half explained, but more than that I love the characters and the very real relationship that develops as they cling together. And Lugan and Taranis are awesome characters too. This may also be out of print, but should be available secondhand. It's a coming of age story, a quest fantasy and an interracial romance (though the author doesn't do a great deal with the cross-cultural elements).
The Dalemark Quartet by Diana Wynne Jones -- not stand-alone, but well worth reading and as the books are children's/YA they are quite quick to read. Although it's not as well-known as her Chrestomanci series, this jostles with Howl's Moving Castle as my favourite DWJ book. It starts in a fantasy world similar to ours perhaps 200 years ago, on the brink of industrialisation with travelling singers (minstrels!) involved in revolutionary plots. The second book is in the same era, but with largely unrelated characters and the third book dives back into the country's prehistory. And without wanting to spoil anything, the fourth book pulls strands from all the other three together as well as touching on the modern era. I love this series for the characters, the world building, the way the different strands are woven together in the end, for times when music might also be magic and for the endnotes written in the style of modern historical commentary. In order, the books are; Cart and Cwidder; Drowned Ammet; The Spellcoats; The Crown of Dalemark.
And finally for reference, these are my requests -- please note that they generally spoil the endings if you haven't read the originals.
Susan Cooper - Seaward - Calliope/Westerly
I'd really like to see Cally and West meeting again in our world. I'd love you forever if you can include a background of real-world unrest/violent coups/refugees that ties in with West's backstory in the book but I won't need that to be happy with the fic. Things I love in the book include the mythological feel (selkie hands etc) and the really vivid relationship between the two of them; but I also like the idea that although it's a sacrifice to return to what may be a harsh reality, their lives will be real and they and their love will both grow there in a way that they couldn't in Lugan's country. (The promise that they will remember when they meet each other again so what they've gone through in the book won't be lost is an important part of the ending for me.) I also enjoy Lugan and Taranis as characters, but don't need them to be in your story. I'd be happy with any mood from one that incorporates magic/myth to one that was very realist.
Diana Wynne Jones - Dalemark Quartet - Tanaqui
I'd pretty much like any Tanaqui story set at any time in Dalemark's history, though preferably not a missing scene from any of the books. I'd particularly like anything with her using weaving magic or that delves into what it means to be undying. Was she "the witch Cennoreth" who went in search of Gull ("the hero Gunn")? What was she doing while her daughter was determined to believe her husband was undying? Just how much power does she have? Why did she choose to live a retired life, weaving in a cottage rather than staying young and travelling like Duck or fading into myth and legend like Old Ammet and Libby Beer? What changes does she see in Dalemark between prehistory and the present day? Do include any other canon characters or none. I love the "historical" footnotes at the back of the books, but certainly don't need them in your story. Gen is great but if you do pair her up I'd prefer not femslash.
Tanya Huff - The Fire's Stone - Aaron/Darvish
I'm hankering for Darvish/Aaron set after the book ends and please don't make it OT3. (I'm happy to see Chandra in the fic but one of the things I love about the book is that the relationships between the protagonists are equally important without being the same and for me a threesome blurs that line.) That said, there's a million things about the guys I'd like to know -- how do they each adapt to life in Chandra's court? Only Darvish has an official role: does that cause problems? Would Darvish manage sobriety and monogamy (assuming he tried*)? Could Aaron trust him and feel secure in their relationship? Why wasn't there more kissing/sex in their last scene together? Hurt/comfort would be fine (though not required), but please don't leave them miserable in the end.
*I should say that I prefer monogamy and think Aaron would too - I just also think Darvish has been very much in the habit of casual drink and casual sex.
The Philadelphia Story - C.K. Dexter Haven/Tracy Lord
I'd really adore Tracy/Dex set after the end of the film that takes seriously their histories and the history between them, but still manages to come to a happy resolution where they know and trust and value each other as well as loving each other. By "history" I mean things like he is an alcoholic and hit her when he was drunk, even though he's now sober and non-violent; she has absorbed a lot of really unhelpful messages about it being her responsibility to make other people happy along with gaining the courage to live life passionately. If your heart quails at that (and I can see why it would) then anything with snarky interaction between the two of them, and the affection showing through.