Dear Yuletide Letter!
Dear Yuletide writer: First off, thank you so much in advance! I deliberately picked some very offbeat fandoms this year and I already love you just for being willing to write one of them. I want you to have fun with this story--no one needs more stress this time of year!--so always follow your heart and write what makes your muses sing. That's the best kind of story!
ETA: And you're an extra extra extra saint for pinch hitting with five days to go! I LOVE YOU!
One thing all my requests have in common is that I love stories where the main characters trust and respect each other. It can be slash or gen, but I like characters with a strong positive connection who have been through a lot together. There can be anger or distrust in the beginning or middle (looking at the Banks and Grahame-Smith) but I'll be happiest if at the end there's a bond of respect between the two. Have that, and honestly the details and the plot are far less important; I'll enjoy whatever you write!
Iain Banks, The Culture (Player of Games): Gurgeh/Flere-Imsaho. I loved the interaction between these two characters, and I saw a lot of affection toward Gurgeh in the little drone, much of it hidden by Gurgeh's POV, but hinted at throughout the story (and made fairly clear in the epilogue). I would love to see these two meet again after the events of the book, whether Flere-Imsaho is in disguise or not. I was also very enamored of the Culture as Banks describes it and would love to see your take on life there. Gurgeh and Flere-Imsaho's interaction can take any form you like, but I wouldn't have any problem with seeing your version of a sex scene between the two--I haven't read any of Banks's other Culture books so I don't know what their take on human/machine relationships is, but I find it difficult to believe it's taboo, given their laissez-faire attitudes. But I'd be thrilled with anything that has the two meet again and gives some extra details of life in the Culture.
Seth Grahame-Smith, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Henry/Abe. The possibilities for fic set after the main events of the book dizzy and delight me. I would love to see something that follows Abe's new life across the last hundred and fifty years, and see how his relationship with Henry goes. Surely Abe could not have been happy at first! How do they get to that final photograph, what are their lives like? Although it's totally optional, I'd be extra-thrilled to see a romantic relationship eventually develop between the two of them--but please don't have anything explicit have happened when Abe was still alive and married. Mega squeeing bonus points for Abraham Lincoln fighting Nazi vampires, MY GOD I WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER.
Chushingura (The Loyal 47 Ronin): Oishi/Asano. I just watched this (the 1960s movie version, although you can use any version that appeals as your base canon) this year and was devastated by it. I would so love to see a lightly slashy version of the story from Oishi's POV. I don't need anything explicit, although hey, if you want to go there I'd have no problem with that either. Please don't change the basic plot or the ending, but show me Oishi's thoughts at some of the key moments--Asano's suicide, the "sparrow's funeral" scene, the final battle, his last moments. You can be as slow and reflective as you like, that'd fit the canon just fine.
Guy Gavriel Kay, Lions of al-Rassan. Ammar/Rodrigo. The masked Carnival in Ragosa is obviously a pivotal night in the book, both for the plot and the relationships. I'd love to see an AU take where Rodrigo goes out masked that night instead of staying in, and Ammar meets him instead of Jehane, and...things go from there. I loved Ammar/Jehane, but oh, respectful enemy warriors tug at my heartstrings so, and I crave fic that makes their bond just a bit more physical than it is in the book. If you wish to continue the story after that scene and play out the implications, you can change the ending to something happier or keep the original, either is good. If you'd rather not break up Ammar and Jehane, I'd be quite happy with a comradely tryst during the winter campaign--and if you'd rather avoid slash completely, a scene with them and any of the other characters you like during the winter campaign, just bantering and being soldiery together, would be wonderful. I'm really easy to please with this one, just have fun and follow some of the tone of Kay's book and I'm happy.
Again, thank you so much in advance and I hope you have fun writing whatever you pick! Relax, enjoy yourself, and see what happens! ^-^
ETA: And you're an extra extra extra saint for pinch hitting with five days to go! I LOVE YOU!
One thing all my requests have in common is that I love stories where the main characters trust and respect each other. It can be slash or gen, but I like characters with a strong positive connection who have been through a lot together. There can be anger or distrust in the beginning or middle (looking at the Banks and Grahame-Smith) but I'll be happiest if at the end there's a bond of respect between the two. Have that, and honestly the details and the plot are far less important; I'll enjoy whatever you write!
Iain Banks, The Culture (Player of Games): Gurgeh/Flere-Imsaho. I loved the interaction between these two characters, and I saw a lot of affection toward Gurgeh in the little drone, much of it hidden by Gurgeh's POV, but hinted at throughout the story (and made fairly clear in the epilogue). I would love to see these two meet again after the events of the book, whether Flere-Imsaho is in disguise or not. I was also very enamored of the Culture as Banks describes it and would love to see your take on life there. Gurgeh and Flere-Imsaho's interaction can take any form you like, but I wouldn't have any problem with seeing your version of a sex scene between the two--I haven't read any of Banks's other Culture books so I don't know what their take on human/machine relationships is, but I find it difficult to believe it's taboo, given their laissez-faire attitudes. But I'd be thrilled with anything that has the two meet again and gives some extra details of life in the Culture.
Seth Grahame-Smith, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Henry/Abe. The possibilities for fic set after the main events of the book dizzy and delight me. I would love to see something that follows Abe's new life across the last hundred and fifty years, and see how his relationship with Henry goes. Surely Abe could not have been happy at first! How do they get to that final photograph, what are their lives like? Although it's totally optional, I'd be extra-thrilled to see a romantic relationship eventually develop between the two of them--but please don't have anything explicit have happened when Abe was still alive and married. Mega squeeing bonus points for Abraham Lincoln fighting Nazi vampires, MY GOD I WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER.
Chushingura (The Loyal 47 Ronin): Oishi/Asano. I just watched this (the 1960s movie version, although you can use any version that appeals as your base canon) this year and was devastated by it. I would so love to see a lightly slashy version of the story from Oishi's POV. I don't need anything explicit, although hey, if you want to go there I'd have no problem with that either. Please don't change the basic plot or the ending, but show me Oishi's thoughts at some of the key moments--Asano's suicide, the "sparrow's funeral" scene, the final battle, his last moments. You can be as slow and reflective as you like, that'd fit the canon just fine.
Guy Gavriel Kay, Lions of al-Rassan. Ammar/Rodrigo. The masked Carnival in Ragosa is obviously a pivotal night in the book, both for the plot and the relationships. I'd love to see an AU take where Rodrigo goes out masked that night instead of staying in, and Ammar meets him instead of Jehane, and...things go from there. I loved Ammar/Jehane, but oh, respectful enemy warriors tug at my heartstrings so, and I crave fic that makes their bond just a bit more physical than it is in the book. If you wish to continue the story after that scene and play out the implications, you can change the ending to something happier or keep the original, either is good. If you'd rather not break up Ammar and Jehane, I'd be quite happy with a comradely tryst during the winter campaign--and if you'd rather avoid slash completely, a scene with them and any of the other characters you like during the winter campaign, just bantering and being soldiery together, would be wonderful. I'm really easy to please with this one, just have fun and follow some of the tone of Kay's book and I'm happy.
Again, thank you so much in advance and I hope you have fun writing whatever you pick! Relax, enjoy yourself, and see what happens! ^-^