Dear Yuletide Author
Dear Future Author:
Hiiiii :) Thank you so much for writing me a fic, I know it is going to be awesome. I'm pretty easy to please with fic and I like a wide range of settings. My list of what I don't like in fic is far shorter than what I'm willing to read and it's all below the numbered requests found in the Read More... I'm more often on tumblr with the same username, though it's very One Direction which is my current fandom black hole. My AO3 bookmarks are probably a better judge of what I like.
1. The Martian (2015)
Chris Beck, Mark Watney, Beth Johansson, Melissa Lewis
I walked out of the movie wanting Johansson/Beck/Watney for some reason - he's the asexual counterpart to them in a triad, and they've got to explain that to their kid/Hermes crew or maybe they get him used to touching again after the rescue. Do they happen as a relationship aboard the Hermes on the way home or after, is it an open secret in NASA or just among the crew?
I'm also curious about how Lewis got along with the civilian crew in the beginning, appearing so straight-laced military. I think that could be friction to friendship between her and Watney and/or Beck, or flip it and reverse it - how did the guy who loves sarcastic banter handle having to toe the line? (I headcanon Lewis as career military.) How did Lewis & Johannsen get along, being so different (take-charge & nerd) and being the only two women aboard for months on end. There's so much potential for world-building post-film, and between the Hermes return and the epilogue/Mark teaching.
2. Jurassic Park (movies)
Raptor Squad, Owen Grady, Alan Grant, Claire Dearing
I love the raptor squad and was very sad at the end of the film. You can give me Owen raising them as babies to teenagers, AU movie ending where he rides off into the sunset with ALL of them or just Owen being protective and nearly feral because he's spent too much time around his girls. (I know Hoskins is not a character but you can practically see everyone's hackles rise in when he is nearby and I love the potential for a fight/protectiveness to the extreme.) Maybe Owen introduces Claire to them, and she gets along fine (to his surprise) as it's post-film and she's changed. Just how changed is she, by the events of the film? I love that she is a career-first woman who is quite clear to her sister about the lack of wanting kids! Heels in the jungle, yes you can run in them. Give me more on Claire being a BAMF businesswoman and not taking shit from anyone. Does the park reopen, does she still have her job or is she stuck in court with all the lawsuits, or maybe witness protection.
Alternately, what if Alan Grant manages to step back on the island - is raptor therapy a thing, how would that go over? World-building is also a grand thing here. Maybe the dinosaurs are like dæmons and Own goes through life feeling halved until his boots land on Isla Nubar for some eggs, maybe he can talk to them telepathically or he sees their yips and barks as colors like a synthesthete. I don't know, you can dream up an AU and I'll be very happy so long as it's raptors and/or Claire.
3. Justified
Tim Gutterson, Raylan Givens, Loretta McCready, Boyd Crowder
I love this show, please forgive me that I haven't gotten to season 5 or 6 yet! (damn grad school.) Tim is my favorite, closely followed by Raylan. What does Tim think of the Lexington office after yet another Raylan-caused dramatic situation, has he ever been to visit Boyd on his own without Raylan and how did that conversation go exactly? I'd also happily read about Loretta causing trouble in yet another home or an AU where she meets Raylan as an adult, having grown up under Mags Bennett (or not.) Everything is so entwined in Harlan, it never ceases to amaze me. I also love Boyd Crowder's speech patterns, they're so different to anyone else in Harlan - where/when was he influenced to talk like a Shakespearan snake-handling preacher? Does he have a soft spot for Tim being they were both in the Army, or just by dint of being a colleague of Raylan's? What does being favored by Boyd Crowder even mean?
Ah, maybe an AU where Boyd and Tim are both home off-duty and run into each other. If AUs for this show are even a thing. Maybe Raylan introduces them, maybe he doesn't want to be anywhere near them because they shouldn't work so well together but they do and that's bad for everyone else around them. A serial killer AU wouldn't go amiss with that last line.
4. St Trinian's (2007)
Kelly Jones, Polly
One of my favorite feel-good films, girls kicking ass and being awesome and bonding together against a larger entity/rival school. So the film starts with Annabelle new at St. Trinian's, but what about before that time: Was Kelly always a Goth or did it take her some time to settle in; was she homesick or always coolly confident, how was her time as First Year? It seems like she gets along quite well with Polly, was that a difficult friendship at the beginning? (or more than friends!) Now that Kelly works for MI7, does she keep tabs on the St Trinian's girls? What do alumni functions look like for the school?
I'm also very happy with crossovers for any of these: maybe Owen Grady and Tim Gutterson were the only two on the GI Bill in their class. Is Claire Dearing a graduate of St. Trinian's?
Things I like in general: over-protectiveness, found family, h/c, struggling to ask for help and getting it anyway, unlikely friendships, and darkfic. I like happy or ambiguous/hopeful endings best.
Things I don't like: scat, public sex, humiliation, major character death
These are all suggestions for plots but you can write world-building for any of the four canons and I will be thrilled. I like canon and AU settings equally, timestamps or alternate POVs from a canon event. Crossovers are totally cool if that tickles your fancy also.
I hope this letter was useful, future author. More importantly, I hope you have fun writing!