Dear Yulegoat 2015
Hi, friend! Thank you so much for offering one of my tiny fandoms -- I am so excited to read whatever you write, and I hope you will have a wonderful time writing for me! This post has some general information about stuff I like/don't like, because I prefer it when my recipient gives me extra stuff to go on, but if you prefer to just go from the prompts, you don't have to read any of this. I want you to write the story you want to write. If there is ever a question in your heart as to whether you should fulfill some nitpicking optional detail in my request or write the story you have dreamed of writing since you offered the fandom, go with the story of your dreams, because if you love writing it, I'm sure I'll love reading it! The purpose of this post is to make your life easier, not harder. (If you want even more information about me, which I don't think anyone would but I know some people like to read their recipient's blog, I'm meretricula everywhere -- AO3, LJ, DW, and Tumblr. I'm somewhat more active on Tumblr these days than anywhere else.)
Likes: Happiness. I want everybody to be happy or at least not overtly miserable at the end of the fic. They can suffer and be angsty in the beginning or middle but please please please let the ending be sunshine and rainbows or the promise of sunshine and rainbows on the not-too-distant horizon. I'm also happy to get a fic that's 100% fluffy sunshine and rainbows all the way through. I'm a big fan of tropes where characters have a lot of history between them -- friends to lovers, childhood sweethearts, best frenemies, sibling relationships, etc. -- and you'll see those popping up a lot in my prompts. Basically I'm ALL ABOUT THE FEELINGS. I'm not a big fan of porn for porn's sake but if you're happier writing about people expressing their feelings via sex, that's great too! Some of the canons I've requested lend themselves more to sexy feels than others; I've indicated the ones where I'm not comfortable receiving adult content.
I also like: lots of background detail; tropes and cliches; subverted/inverted tropes and cliches; lots of dialogue; limited third person POV; canon settings, canon divergences AND alternate universes; food; competence; found families; mixed media/documentation fic.
Dislikes: major character death; humiliation; intense angst; graphic violence and gore; noncon and dubcon; first and second person POV; experimental grammar and formatting.
Request #1: Shadows - Robin McKinley (Maggie, Takahiro)
I really enjoyed both the world-building and character development in Shadows, but it suffers from the same problem as a lot of Robin McKinley's books -- you get to the end and go, wait, THAT'S IT? We just got to the good part! So I would be very open to something along the same lines as canon, just, you know, more of it. (I have no idea how you would do an AU of that book anyway, although if you have been struck with irresistible inspiration, go with god, my friend; I trust you.) I'd be fine with anything that takes place before, during, or after the events of the book. Maybe something from Takahiro's perspective? Did he develop romantic feelings for Maggie as suddenly as she realized she liked him like that, or was it more of a slow build for him? If you'd rather do outsider-POV, what does Val think about these teenagers going all gooey-eyed in the middle of the revolution? I really like Maggie and Takahiro as a couple (friends to lovers and childhood sweethearts are some of my favorite tropes) so I'd be happy with straight-up shipfic, or something else with them being cute in the background if that's more your speed, although I would prefer that things stay PG-13 or under in this fandom. (Make-outs are fine; teenage stressing about how to stage the perfect first time while trying to overthrow the government is fine; parental destruction of perfect first time planning with well-meaning "chats" about prophylaxis is fine; please don't actually describe Takahiro and Maggie's first time in explicit detail.) As a side note, I absolutely adored the level of detail that McKinley put into the animal characters of the book, and if you wanted to include Majid and his inexplicable fondness for Takahiro (and/or Maggie's relationship with Mongo or any of the other Family members) that would be amazing! I also really enjoyed Val and Jill's interactions with Maggie, and I like Casimir as a character, although not as a romantic option for Maggie. Honestly, there wasn't anything I didn't like about the book aside from the fact that it ended, so feel free to explore whatever about it strikes your fancy and I'm sure I'll love it!
Request #2: A Countess Below Stairs - Eva Ibbotson (Susie Rabinovitch, Tom Byrne)
I loved Susie and Tom's relationship in A Countess Below Stairs and I was really bummed that aside from the one scene at the dress ball, we didn't really get to see them interacting. Anything with Tom and Susie will make me happy, so go wherever the spirit leads you! What does Susie think about all the craziness going on with Rupert's wedding? What is their married life like? Or their early courtship? Or the seventeen other times Tom proposed to Susie? Or their wedding? If you feel up to it, I would really love details about the role Jewish tradition plays in their life together -- maybe their first major holiday together? (But only if you want to and feel comfortable with that!) I also adore their families and friends, so feel free to include as large an ensemble cast as you like. This is another canon where I really love the feel of the original (Eva Ibbotson's prose, Eva Ibbotson's character descriptions, Eva Ibbotson's dialogue, ughhh, why is she SO GOOD AT EVERYTHING) and would be super happy to get something in the same vein as canon, whether it's pre-canon, missing scene or alternate POV during the events of the book, or post-canon. (Also in keeping with the feeling of the canon, I would prefer no explicit sex in this fandom.) That said, if you really want to make them space pirates or college students or whatever and you can think of a way to make that work, go for it! The sky's the limit. Or the final frontier, if you're writing Star Trek AUs. Whichever!
Request #3: Three Sisters Island Trilogy - Nora Roberts (Mia Devlin, Ripley Todd)
Friend, I love me some Nora Roberts. I have grown up along with her writing, and I would fight a bear if that bear made disparaging remarks about La Nora's writing or the romance novel industry in general. THAT SAID, I cannot help but thinking that the Three Sisters Island trilogy exhibits a terrible flaw in that for some reason Mia and Ripley never act upon the sizzling sexual tension they have going? And in fact the super obvious WITCHCRAFT = LESBIANISM, Ripley's I'M NOT A WITCH panic = gay panic metaphor is never employed? (God, in retrospect even Lulu being heterosexual offends me. Lulu embodies "crotchety old bookstore lesbian" even more than Ripley embodies "sports lesbian".) If you would please correct this glaring error for me, I will be the happiest recipient imaginable on Yuletide morning. Heck, if you wanted to take the "witchcraft = lesbianism" premise to its logical extreme and make Zack a girl so Nell can also discover a new side to her sexuality, I would be so there for that. (Side note: I love all the descriptions of Nell's cooking in the books, so feel free to include as much food porn as you like, if you're inclined!) If you're not comfortable writing femslash (which I totally understand! it is by definition a super heterosexual canon) I would also be happy with something about Ripley and Mia's friendship -- maybe something about how them being friends as kids even though they have completely opposite personalities and like completely different things, or Ripley stealthily trying to do nice things for Mia after they friend-broke up (and then stridently denying that she did any such thing)? I really like details about small-town life and how everybody is up in everybody's business on Three Sisters Island, so meddling neighbors and family members (what the heck did Ripley's parents think when she summarily declared her BFF persona non grata?) would be very welcome, as would cameos from Lulu, Nell and Zack. However, whether you're going the friendship or femslash route, please don't include Mac or Sam. Any rating is fine with me for this fandom, but my main interest is in the "we snipe at each other but really we love each other" dynamic between Mia and Ripley, so please don't feel obligated to write me porn. Have fun writing whatever you're comfortable with and I'm sure I enjoy reading it!
Request #4: Tennis RPF (Dinara Safina, Marat Safin)
First off, yes, I am requesting incest RPF for Yuletide, the bears in santa hats will shortly be arriving to drag me down to hell, etc., etc. Hopefully I will see you there?
I arrived in tennis fandom too late to really fall for Marat in all his bizarre glory, but I showed up just in time to get my heart broken into tiny pieces by Dinara. She was the first women's tennis player that I got really attached to, that clay court season when she was absolutely flattening everyone and then self-destructed in the final of the French Open against Svetlana Kuznetzova and I just. Dinara. :( :( :( Plus all the stuff with her kind of borderline-abusive coach and breaking her back and being forced to retire at age 25 and basically, rooting for Dinara was an exercise in pain but I just wanted nice things to happen to her SO. MUCH. So I kind of fixated on her relationship with Marat as apparently the one nice thing that she actually did have in her life? Friend, they were both so proud to be the only brother-sister combo to be ranked #1 in the world it was the cutest thing ever. Every time Marat stuck up for Dinara in the "Slamless #1" debate my shriveled black heart grew three sizes. If you're down for going to Incest RPF for Yuletide Hell with me, I would love a story of any rating about them at any point in their lives. (But please no noncon, dubcon, or underage sex!) Feel free to dip deep in the well of hurt/comfort -- god knows there's enough canon to support it. I just ask that there be a happy ending and no unrequited feelings, especially on Dinara's part. (For example: feel free to have Marat feel jealous and displaced by Dinara's creepy-intense relationship with her coach, but I would prefer not to read about Dinara feeling jealous of Marat's girlfriends. I'm kind of oversensitive to the ugly duckling narrative that gets assigned to Dinara a lot of the time.) If you're not joining me in the special hell -- which is totally okay! -- I basically want the same kind of story, only no romantic overtones. Tell me about baby Safins in Spain feeling homesick and trying to get each other perfect New Year's presents! Tell me about Marat gritting his teeth over how badly he wants to swoop in and rescue Dinara from Zeljko! Tell me about that one Hopman Cup where they got to play together! Tell me about how proud Marat was when Dinara medaled at the Olympics! Tell me about Dinara and Marat getting their lives together post-tennis, both separately and together! Tell me about Dinara learning to bake and using Marat as her guinea pig! I'm fine with AUs as well if you want, so feel free to make them royalty or Hunger Games contestants or what have you so long as they still get their happy ending. Have fun!
Happy Yuletiding, friend! It truly is the best time of the year. :)
Likes: Happiness. I want everybody to be happy or at least not overtly miserable at the end of the fic. They can suffer and be angsty in the beginning or middle but please please please let the ending be sunshine and rainbows or the promise of sunshine and rainbows on the not-too-distant horizon. I'm also happy to get a fic that's 100% fluffy sunshine and rainbows all the way through. I'm a big fan of tropes where characters have a lot of history between them -- friends to lovers, childhood sweethearts, best frenemies, sibling relationships, etc. -- and you'll see those popping up a lot in my prompts. Basically I'm ALL ABOUT THE FEELINGS. I'm not a big fan of porn for porn's sake but if you're happier writing about people expressing their feelings via sex, that's great too! Some of the canons I've requested lend themselves more to sexy feels than others; I've indicated the ones where I'm not comfortable receiving adult content.
I also like: lots of background detail; tropes and cliches; subverted/inverted tropes and cliches; lots of dialogue; limited third person POV; canon settings, canon divergences AND alternate universes; food; competence; found families; mixed media/documentation fic.
Dislikes: major character death; humiliation; intense angst; graphic violence and gore; noncon and dubcon; first and second person POV; experimental grammar and formatting.
Request #1: Shadows - Robin McKinley (Maggie, Takahiro)
I really enjoyed both the world-building and character development in Shadows, but it suffers from the same problem as a lot of Robin McKinley's books -- you get to the end and go, wait, THAT'S IT? We just got to the good part! So I would be very open to something along the same lines as canon, just, you know, more of it. (I have no idea how you would do an AU of that book anyway, although if you have been struck with irresistible inspiration, go with god, my friend; I trust you.) I'd be fine with anything that takes place before, during, or after the events of the book. Maybe something from Takahiro's perspective? Did he develop romantic feelings for Maggie as suddenly as she realized she liked him like that, or was it more of a slow build for him? If you'd rather do outsider-POV, what does Val think about these teenagers going all gooey-eyed in the middle of the revolution? I really like Maggie and Takahiro as a couple (friends to lovers and childhood sweethearts are some of my favorite tropes) so I'd be happy with straight-up shipfic, or something else with them being cute in the background if that's more your speed, although I would prefer that things stay PG-13 or under in this fandom. (Make-outs are fine; teenage stressing about how to stage the perfect first time while trying to overthrow the government is fine; parental destruction of perfect first time planning with well-meaning "chats" about prophylaxis is fine; please don't actually describe Takahiro and Maggie's first time in explicit detail.) As a side note, I absolutely adored the level of detail that McKinley put into the animal characters of the book, and if you wanted to include Majid and his inexplicable fondness for Takahiro (and/or Maggie's relationship with Mongo or any of the other Family members) that would be amazing! I also really enjoyed Val and Jill's interactions with Maggie, and I like Casimir as a character, although not as a romantic option for Maggie. Honestly, there wasn't anything I didn't like about the book aside from the fact that it ended, so feel free to explore whatever about it strikes your fancy and I'm sure I'll love it!
Request #2: A Countess Below Stairs - Eva Ibbotson (Susie Rabinovitch, Tom Byrne)
I loved Susie and Tom's relationship in A Countess Below Stairs and I was really bummed that aside from the one scene at the dress ball, we didn't really get to see them interacting. Anything with Tom and Susie will make me happy, so go wherever the spirit leads you! What does Susie think about all the craziness going on with Rupert's wedding? What is their married life like? Or their early courtship? Or the seventeen other times Tom proposed to Susie? Or their wedding? If you feel up to it, I would really love details about the role Jewish tradition plays in their life together -- maybe their first major holiday together? (But only if you want to and feel comfortable with that!) I also adore their families and friends, so feel free to include as large an ensemble cast as you like. This is another canon where I really love the feel of the original (Eva Ibbotson's prose, Eva Ibbotson's character descriptions, Eva Ibbotson's dialogue, ughhh, why is she SO GOOD AT EVERYTHING) and would be super happy to get something in the same vein as canon, whether it's pre-canon, missing scene or alternate POV during the events of the book, or post-canon. (Also in keeping with the feeling of the canon, I would prefer no explicit sex in this fandom.) That said, if you really want to make them space pirates or college students or whatever and you can think of a way to make that work, go for it! The sky's the limit. Or the final frontier, if you're writing Star Trek AUs. Whichever!
Request #3: Three Sisters Island Trilogy - Nora Roberts (Mia Devlin, Ripley Todd)
Friend, I love me some Nora Roberts. I have grown up along with her writing, and I would fight a bear if that bear made disparaging remarks about La Nora's writing or the romance novel industry in general. THAT SAID, I cannot help but thinking that the Three Sisters Island trilogy exhibits a terrible flaw in that for some reason Mia and Ripley never act upon the sizzling sexual tension they have going? And in fact the super obvious WITCHCRAFT = LESBIANISM, Ripley's I'M NOT A WITCH panic = gay panic metaphor is never employed? (God, in retrospect even Lulu being heterosexual offends me. Lulu embodies "crotchety old bookstore lesbian" even more than Ripley embodies "sports lesbian".) If you would please correct this glaring error for me, I will be the happiest recipient imaginable on Yuletide morning. Heck, if you wanted to take the "witchcraft = lesbianism" premise to its logical extreme and make Zack a girl so Nell can also discover a new side to her sexuality, I would be so there for that. (Side note: I love all the descriptions of Nell's cooking in the books, so feel free to include as much food porn as you like, if you're inclined!) If you're not comfortable writing femslash (which I totally understand! it is by definition a super heterosexual canon) I would also be happy with something about Ripley and Mia's friendship -- maybe something about how them being friends as kids even though they have completely opposite personalities and like completely different things, or Ripley stealthily trying to do nice things for Mia after they friend-broke up (and then stridently denying that she did any such thing)? I really like details about small-town life and how everybody is up in everybody's business on Three Sisters Island, so meddling neighbors and family members (what the heck did Ripley's parents think when she summarily declared her BFF persona non grata?) would be very welcome, as would cameos from Lulu, Nell and Zack. However, whether you're going the friendship or femslash route, please don't include Mac or Sam. Any rating is fine with me for this fandom, but my main interest is in the "we snipe at each other but really we love each other" dynamic between Mia and Ripley, so please don't feel obligated to write me porn. Have fun writing whatever you're comfortable with and I'm sure I enjoy reading it!
Request #4: Tennis RPF (Dinara Safina, Marat Safin)
First off, yes, I am requesting incest RPF for Yuletide, the bears in santa hats will shortly be arriving to drag me down to hell, etc., etc. Hopefully I will see you there?
I arrived in tennis fandom too late to really fall for Marat in all his bizarre glory, but I showed up just in time to get my heart broken into tiny pieces by Dinara. She was the first women's tennis player that I got really attached to, that clay court season when she was absolutely flattening everyone and then self-destructed in the final of the French Open against Svetlana Kuznetzova and I just. Dinara. :( :( :( Plus all the stuff with her kind of borderline-abusive coach and breaking her back and being forced to retire at age 25 and basically, rooting for Dinara was an exercise in pain but I just wanted nice things to happen to her SO. MUCH. So I kind of fixated on her relationship with Marat as apparently the one nice thing that she actually did have in her life? Friend, they were both so proud to be the only brother-sister combo to be ranked #1 in the world it was the cutest thing ever. Every time Marat stuck up for Dinara in the "Slamless #1" debate my shriveled black heart grew three sizes. If you're down for going to Incest RPF for Yuletide Hell with me, I would love a story of any rating about them at any point in their lives. (But please no noncon, dubcon, or underage sex!) Feel free to dip deep in the well of hurt/comfort -- god knows there's enough canon to support it. I just ask that there be a happy ending and no unrequited feelings, especially on Dinara's part. (For example: feel free to have Marat feel jealous and displaced by Dinara's creepy-intense relationship with her coach, but I would prefer not to read about Dinara feeling jealous of Marat's girlfriends. I'm kind of oversensitive to the ugly duckling narrative that gets assigned to Dinara a lot of the time.) If you're not joining me in the special hell -- which is totally okay! -- I basically want the same kind of story, only no romantic overtones. Tell me about baby Safins in Spain feeling homesick and trying to get each other perfect New Year's presents! Tell me about Marat gritting his teeth over how badly he wants to swoop in and rescue Dinara from Zeljko! Tell me about that one Hopman Cup where they got to play together! Tell me about how proud Marat was when Dinara medaled at the Olympics! Tell me about Dinara and Marat getting their lives together post-tennis, both separately and together! Tell me about Dinara learning to bake and using Marat as her guinea pig! I'm fine with AUs as well if you want, so feel free to make them royalty or Hunger Games contestants or what have you so long as they still get their happy ending. Have fun!
Happy Yuletiding, friend! It truly is the best time of the year. :)