Dear Yuletide Author.....
Hi, Yuletide Author! Thank you for signing up and thank you in advance for what you're going to write. I've been doing Yuletide long enough that it feels like a genuine tradition, and I am excited!
Generally, things you should know about my likes/dislikes: I prefer angst over fluff, I like happy endings that come after struggle or discord, I love character studies and backstories. I love minor characters in fic, the chance to flesh out what we don't see on the page or screen. Not into pregnancy AU, high school or university AU, or modern AU. While I love angst, I don't love trauma, especially of the sexual variety. Not into threesome pairings in any of my requested fandoms and prefer femslash if any slash (though not graphic). This year I've been pretty obsessed with costume drama, so my requests reflect that. I'm on Tumblr as Maidenjedi and my AO3 profile is linked here, too (also, Maidenjedi).
Three of my fandoms this year are represented on page and screen. I've watched all the versions available and read the novels, so feel free to cross those lines in your story if you choose one of those.
Specifics under the cut! Yay! And again, THANK YOU!!!
The Americans
Looking for a story about one of the more offscreen characters in Season 3. Pastor Tim, Sandra, or Henry - or somehow about some combination of the three - what is happening with them while the major characters are involved in their scheming? How is Henry coping with essentially being ignored, especially by Paige? How does Pastor Tim handle things like Philip and Elizabeth showing up at his doorstep to demand Paige come home? What does he suspect? Or, tell me a story about him that no one in his family would guess at, since they aren't really watching. What about Sandra - what does she notice and wonder, but also, tell me more about the divorce from her perspective. Frank Gaad - I added him because we only see Gaad as an FBI division director. Can you give me his backstory? (Huge bonus points if you can link him to other fandoms' fictional FBI men who may or may not have served in Vietnam....ideas include Walter Skinner and Jack Crawford [from the novels, not the Hannibal series]) On Pastor Tim - I don't mind you speculating on his reaction to Paige's phone call, but I'd prefer something about his suspicions/thoughts/actions before the call. Or HIS backstory - how did he become a pacifist religious activist? Was there a specific event that led him there?
Not included in the nominations are the unnamed, unseen characters, but I'd also love to read Americans fic that focuses on Philip's or Elizabeth's parents, during WWII.
Suite Française
I fell in love with this movie and the novel over the summer this year. I admit that Matthias Schoenaerts is why. Anyway, as I knew all summer that I would, I nominated this fandom, which at the time had just two stories on AO3. :-)
Forbidden romance is a kink of mine I didn't realize I had until I watched this movie, and read the book. So please play that up! Bruno/Lucile - can you give them a relatively happy ending, even with all the angst that necessarily comes with their relationship? Have them meet again during the war, or just after, or decades later. I'm all for AU here, too, maybe Bruno and Lucile in an earlier French/German conflict, or in a different countries, similar backgrounds. I'd also be up for Bruno alone, before and after he meets Lucile. As for Benoît and Madeleine, I'd love to know more about how they came to be together, how Benoît fares in the Resistance. How does Madeleine live without him, does it affect how she feels about him? Could Benoît and Lucile have an affair in Paris? Really, as long as you include romance, anything set in this universe works for me.
Persuasion
My favorite Jane Austen novel. I love that Anne is older, that her story is more complicated than you might notice at first, that her happy ending overcomes huge obstacles (Frederick might have died in the war, she turned down others because she hadn't gotten over him, her family disapproved, her mother-figure disapproved - there are just a lot of problems!!). So.....
I have always wanted to read more about how Charles Musgrove's affections transferred from Anne to Mary. Did Anne consciously attract him in the first place? Was Lady Russell involved in that somehow? Was Mary specifically coquettish and more vibrant than Anne? How did Anne turn Charles down, if she did? I'd also be up for an AU where Anne marries Charles after all - leaving Frederick out of it, what does that do to Mary's prospects? Another idea - a story not about the romances at all, but about Lady Russell's relationship with Anne and Mary in the wake of their mother's death. It never seems that Mary is particularly affected, but she had to have been quite little - while her later relationship with Lady Russell is non-existent, how was it in those dark, early days? Same goes with Elizabeth, though she's not nominated. A final, darker thought - Anne agrees to marry Charles, but Frederick comes back, just before the wedding. How does Mary end up with Charles if that happens?
North and South
Oh my word. I love the novel so, so much, and I adore the miniseries. This is one story I never want anyone to remake, because the 2004 version is just perfection.
As much as I love it, I want my fanfiction to mess with it. AUs! Alternate storylines! Characters stuck where they should not be!
AU ideas, drastic and not-so-drastic: the Thorntons have to uproot to the South and end up in Helstone Parish, where they meet the Hales; Bessy Higgins lives to see Margaret marry Mr. Thornton; Margaret is far more injured than it originally appears. As much as I love the train scene, I also really love the angst and will they-won't they throughout. Another idea - maybe the train scene goes quite differently and Margaret doesn't board the train to Milton with Mr. Thornton, and he follows her to London to court her there in competition with Henry Lennox. Maybe Margaret doesn't go to Milton at all. Edith figures out that Margaret is in love, but mistakes the lucky man, and hilarity (awkward, of course) ensues. Edith comes to Milton for a visit - what are her opinions of Bessy Higgins, the strike, Mr. Thornton, etc? Edith comes to Milton after Margaret's injury and is there for all that happens, what does her presence do to encourage Margaret? A really wild AU idea - Bessy Higgins and John Thornton, scandal. O_o
Posted originally at Dreamwidth, http://maidenjedi.dreamwidth.org/881496.html. Comment here or there. All fanfiction posts will originate at Dreamwidth.
Generally, things you should know about my likes/dislikes: I prefer angst over fluff, I like happy endings that come after struggle or discord, I love character studies and backstories. I love minor characters in fic, the chance to flesh out what we don't see on the page or screen. Not into pregnancy AU, high school or university AU, or modern AU. While I love angst, I don't love trauma, especially of the sexual variety. Not into threesome pairings in any of my requested fandoms and prefer femslash if any slash (though not graphic). This year I've been pretty obsessed with costume drama, so my requests reflect that. I'm on Tumblr as Maidenjedi and my AO3 profile is linked here, too (also, Maidenjedi).
Three of my fandoms this year are represented on page and screen. I've watched all the versions available and read the novels, so feel free to cross those lines in your story if you choose one of those.
Specifics under the cut! Yay! And again, THANK YOU!!!
The Americans
Looking for a story about one of the more offscreen characters in Season 3. Pastor Tim, Sandra, or Henry - or somehow about some combination of the three - what is happening with them while the major characters are involved in their scheming? How is Henry coping with essentially being ignored, especially by Paige? How does Pastor Tim handle things like Philip and Elizabeth showing up at his doorstep to demand Paige come home? What does he suspect? Or, tell me a story about him that no one in his family would guess at, since they aren't really watching. What about Sandra - what does she notice and wonder, but also, tell me more about the divorce from her perspective. Frank Gaad - I added him because we only see Gaad as an FBI division director. Can you give me his backstory? (Huge bonus points if you can link him to other fandoms' fictional FBI men who may or may not have served in Vietnam....ideas include Walter Skinner and Jack Crawford [from the novels, not the Hannibal series]) On Pastor Tim - I don't mind you speculating on his reaction to Paige's phone call, but I'd prefer something about his suspicions/thoughts/actions before the call. Or HIS backstory - how did he become a pacifist religious activist? Was there a specific event that led him there?
Not included in the nominations are the unnamed, unseen characters, but I'd also love to read Americans fic that focuses on Philip's or Elizabeth's parents, during WWII.
Suite Française
I fell in love with this movie and the novel over the summer this year. I admit that Matthias Schoenaerts is why. Anyway, as I knew all summer that I would, I nominated this fandom, which at the time had just two stories on AO3. :-)
Forbidden romance is a kink of mine I didn't realize I had until I watched this movie, and read the book. So please play that up! Bruno/Lucile - can you give them a relatively happy ending, even with all the angst that necessarily comes with their relationship? Have them meet again during the war, or just after, or decades later. I'm all for AU here, too, maybe Bruno and Lucile in an earlier French/German conflict, or in a different countries, similar backgrounds. I'd also be up for Bruno alone, before and after he meets Lucile. As for Benoît and Madeleine, I'd love to know more about how they came to be together, how Benoît fares in the Resistance. How does Madeleine live without him, does it affect how she feels about him? Could Benoît and Lucile have an affair in Paris? Really, as long as you include romance, anything set in this universe works for me.
Persuasion
My favorite Jane Austen novel. I love that Anne is older, that her story is more complicated than you might notice at first, that her happy ending overcomes huge obstacles (Frederick might have died in the war, she turned down others because she hadn't gotten over him, her family disapproved, her mother-figure disapproved - there are just a lot of problems!!). So.....
I have always wanted to read more about how Charles Musgrove's affections transferred from Anne to Mary. Did Anne consciously attract him in the first place? Was Lady Russell involved in that somehow? Was Mary specifically coquettish and more vibrant than Anne? How did Anne turn Charles down, if she did? I'd also be up for an AU where Anne marries Charles after all - leaving Frederick out of it, what does that do to Mary's prospects? Another idea - a story not about the romances at all, but about Lady Russell's relationship with Anne and Mary in the wake of their mother's death. It never seems that Mary is particularly affected, but she had to have been quite little - while her later relationship with Lady Russell is non-existent, how was it in those dark, early days? Same goes with Elizabeth, though she's not nominated. A final, darker thought - Anne agrees to marry Charles, but Frederick comes back, just before the wedding. How does Mary end up with Charles if that happens?
North and South
Oh my word. I love the novel so, so much, and I adore the miniseries. This is one story I never want anyone to remake, because the 2004 version is just perfection.
As much as I love it, I want my fanfiction to mess with it. AUs! Alternate storylines! Characters stuck where they should not be!
AU ideas, drastic and not-so-drastic: the Thorntons have to uproot to the South and end up in Helstone Parish, where they meet the Hales; Bessy Higgins lives to see Margaret marry Mr. Thornton; Margaret is far more injured than it originally appears. As much as I love the train scene, I also really love the angst and will they-won't they throughout. Another idea - maybe the train scene goes quite differently and Margaret doesn't board the train to Milton with Mr. Thornton, and he follows her to London to court her there in competition with Henry Lennox. Maybe Margaret doesn't go to Milton at all. Edith figures out that Margaret is in love, but mistakes the lucky man, and hilarity (awkward, of course) ensues. Edith comes to Milton for a visit - what are her opinions of Bessy Higgins, the strike, Mr. Thornton, etc? Edith comes to Milton after Margaret's injury and is there for all that happens, what does her presence do to encourage Margaret? A really wild AU idea - Bessy Higgins and John Thornton, scandal. O_o
Posted originally at Dreamwidth, http://maidenjedi.dreamwidth.org/881496.html. Comment here or there. All fanfiction posts will originate at Dreamwidth.