Dear Yuletide Writer 2019
Hello! I'm Morbane on AO3. Thank you for reading!
This year's fandoms:
- Hive Mind (Amber, Claire - either)
- Sucker Punch (Rocket, Sweet Pea)
- The Chain - Fleetwood Mac
- The Lute Player - Fairy Tale (Queen)
- Swan Lake - ballet (Odile, Odette)
- Healer and Seer Series - Hanley (Torina, Dahmis, Landen)
Do-Not-Wants: harm to hands, addiction and substance abuse, amnesia*.
Additional DNW, for Lute Player: narrative support for religious conversion as a justification for war.
Additional DNW, for Healer and Seer: infidelity.
*Amnesia is OK generally for Healer and Seer, and is OK to be mentioned for Hive Mind if part of a background plot involving personality resets.
I would prefer not to receive interactive fiction. My ideal gift length for this challenge is between 200 and 20,000 words. (Drabbles can be hit-or-miss for me, so someone else might appreciate your effort more; if your story needs to be longer then 20,000 then go forth intrepid writer and follow your muse, but all else being equal, l like reading a lot of different things on the first day the collection opens.)
General likes
I love original characters, outsider character perspectives, and worldbuilding. I love competence and loyalty. I like uplifting and hopeful messages, and protagonists who champion them. I also like genuinely terrible characters and tragic arcs, and villains with strong motivations and critiques of the protagonists' goals. Characters are welcome in any shade of grey. I like seeing characters screw up and then learn (or not) from their mistakes. I love magical realism, dramatic weather, trains, telepathy, and dragons. I like getting a strong sense of time or place. For porn, I love telepathy, praise kink, and awkward-but-not-emotionally-disastrous sex; intense oh-god-I-can't-believe-it's-so-good sex; gentle and loving sex. I love emotional intimacy whether or not it comes with physical intimacy. I love mentors and protegé(e) relationships, and relationships between characters who are juggling multiple identities. I love seeing the relationship between two characters at one point in time, and then seeing it again when the relationship is very different. I'm just as interested in break-ups as get-togethers. I like Big Damn Hero moments, and also days in the life, or stories about people who are just trying to make it by in a weird world. I love it when authors incorporate something about which they have enthusiasm or specialized knowledge, however mundane or weird that thing is.
You're welcome to write in past or present tense, and in first, second, or third person. Epistolary and found-media formats are welcome.
Hive Mind Series - Janet Edwards
Amber, Claire
From my sign-up: Just one of these characters appearing is fine! This canon combines two things I adore: mundane, textured worldbuilding, and tropey, special protagonist telepaths whose abilities are crucial to the function of their society. I am so sold, so basically anything about either of these two characters would be great!
I liked seeing Amber's understanding of the Hive and how it works gradually expand, and I love that her thoughts on freedom and authority become gradually more complicated over the series as she settles into her role. Ethical quandaries welcome, though please no darker than the series itself. Or maybe she discovers a new side to her telepathic abilities - how does she handle it? I'd also enjoy seeing her interact with people outside her team, or not just in the context of being a telepath on duty. Lucas/Amber shipping welcome, but I'd prefer something with worldbuilding in it to a pure PWP or shipfic.
From what we see of Claire, she's both fascinating and impressive - the telepath role comes with immense pressure and she fulfilled it all her life. I'd love to get an impression of protocols and procedures from her early telepath days, and interactions (at whatever distance) with her fellow telepaths and with Hive authority. I'd love a story about Claire and her team figuring out the rules that Amber's team takes for granted - or possibly, having to deal with a rule or protocol that is obsolete by Amber's time.
If you do want to include both characters, some ideas: a case from late in Claire's life has an impact on Amber, and in dealing with it, Amber learns more about Claire; or, in parallel, two very similar cases and the different ways Claire and Amber handle them.
More prompts:
More general thoughts: I'm having a hard time coming up worldbuilding prompts that don't require (as far as I can tell) lots of plotting and planning, but I really would be happy with a day in the life that has some worldbuilding mixed in! And I do like Amber, and Amber and Lucas' relationship. Regarding that, I love how quickly and confidently each supports the other, and lightens their mood, when one of them is experiencing stress or doubts. I love that despite seeing herself as essentially ordinary, Amber doesn't feel any kind of inadequacy over how devoted Lucas is to her.
I plan to read Borderline as soon as it comes out but do not expect a story to be Borderline-compliant.
Sucker Punch (2011)
Rocket, Sweet Pea
From my sign-up: I love this world and I love these characters, their anger and love for each other and the size of the fight in them. I love that each explicitly chooses her own story - Sweet Pea stepping out of the chair, leaving; Rocket, running away (however much she regrets it), sacrificing herself. I would love fix-its and alternate universes and canon divergences, and I would love backstory and moments in the canon worlds and giving even more emotion to their tragedy and hope.
What were the other worlds like for the characters who weren't Baby Doll? What seemed real to them? What were the stories, before and after, of the worlds whose conflicts they entered? (Is Baby Doll's dancing truly mesmerizing, or is that only a metaphor/coincidence?)
In all three world levels, the women face incredible challenges, but their apparent power to face those challenges increases from asylum to club to combat party. What about a level beyond the world of open military conflict - what might that look like?
I like Baby Doll, but I'm also interested in a still-fantastical AU without her. Or one day: Sweet Pea comes back for Baby Doll (and possibly Rocket, if it's the asylum world and maybe she isn't dead).
More prompts:
More general thoughts: This is a polarising movie and I'm one who really enjoys it. I love the different fantasy worlds and the bitter, brutal glamour of the club; I love Baby Doll's and Sweet Pea's grief and anger that carries through the asylum setting. I love the way the themes of self-actualization and sacrifice are used.
You're welcome to disregard the final scene between Baby Doll and the High Roller; I prefer what the film said without it, and as it was unrated, it wasn't part of the movie I saw first in cinemas.
OK with Sweet Pea/Rocket shipping but please don't give me a Sweet Pea/Rocket PWP - something else as well, please! Also up for Rocket/Baby Doll, Sweet Pea/Baby Doll, Blondie/Amber.
I got a great story for Sucker Punch last year, but in this case, that just made me more excited to request it again - people who will write this canon for me are out there! Yessss!
The Chain - Fleetwood Mac (Song)
(no characters nominated)
From my sign-up: I love the atmosphere of this song. I love the way the wind and shadows and sunrise both ground the speaker in a particular place and moment, and somehow also manage to give it grandeur. I love the drama of the ultimatum, how simple and how open to interpretation it is. I've been asking for this song in the Jukebox exchange for several years; I figured I'd switch it up and try Yuletide this time.
I'd welcome a completely mundane expansion of the story of the speaker and the person they're addressing, fleshing out the characters. I'd also love something fantastical, perhaps springing off either 'running in the shadows' or 'you will never break the chain'. What lies have been told (on either side)? Why is this the moment? Flawed characters are welcome but I'd love the sense of big, complicated feelings to come through - I'm not sure I'd enjoy something for this song with characters that are merely petty and mockable.
More prompts:
More general thoughts: The open-ended nature of this canon makes it hard to prompt for - I want to see your interpretation!
I enjoy stories for songs that follow the general mood and sense, and I enjoy stories for songs that make sure all the lyrics are accounted for, and I enjoy stories for songs that focus on one particular line or metaphor and are basically written around that.
(If you're wondering why this particular song, out of many I've asked for in Jukebox several times, one reason is that I had the joy of seeing Fleetwood Mac in concert in September, and they opened with this, and so my love for it is both long-held and current.)
The Lute Player (Fairy Tale)
Queen
From my sign-up: I love this sparse story for its dramatic identity porn and also for the queen's immense courage and skill, but there's so much in the gaps and I want to know all of it.
Taking the story at face value: Was the queen always a musician? What other skills did she have that her husband underestimated? How did she come up with her plan, and how did she weigh it up? What was the queen and king's relationship like, going forward?
Complicating the story: The source I'm most familiar with (linked below) justifies the king's war, but I'm dubious. How does the queen feel about it? And then the king wants her to sell off his castles - is that going to work? I don't get an impression of the king as a wise and competent ruler, and also the queen doesn't trust his ministers, so possibly he hasn't surrounded himself with competent advisors either. I'm fascinated to know more about this court and also the diplomatic and economic tensions in this region of kingdoms!
Setting AUs welcome. Genderswapping the first king would also be welcome!
Fairy tale in the Lang Violet Fairy Book:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/641/641-h/641-h.htm#link2H_4_0009
More prompts:
More general thoughts: I've requested this story several times in the Once Upon a Fic exchange and once in Fandom5k; my prompts there may be helpful to you (though probably pretty similar). Regarding the DNW of religious conversion as a justification for war, including it in the story (or not) is fine, I just don't want "but of course we must convert these people" to be treated as unambiguously correct.
Лебединое озеро - Чайковски | Swan Lake - Tchaikovsky
Odile, Odette
From my sign-up: You're welcome to focus only on one of these two characters, but I'd prefer both at least be mentioned. The core story of this ballet is wonderfully dramatic and stirring, but there's so much to expand, explore, or complicate, and of course you can pick and choose among the variants in plot.
I'm fascinated by the character of Odile. What's in it for her? Is she a willing participant in von Rothbart's schemes, or coerced, or maybe playing her own game? Any take on her from 'as bad as she's drawn' to highly sympathetic is welcome. What were her interactions with Odette like before the encounter with Siegfried? In a version where von Rothbart is defeated and killed and the swans are freed, what happens to Odile, or what might happen?
Odette! What is it like for her to be cursed? Tell me about her relationships with the other swans - or Odile - or von Rothbart! Expand on how she fell into von Rothbart's captivity - or make up your own version. If following a 'tragic' ending where the swans are freed by Siegfried and Odette drowning, tell me about the feelings that led to that moment.
Other ideas: Odette and Odile are exes. Odette and Odile are sisters. Or Siegfried is also a woman - and if so, I'd love a study of their three different roles in contrast. Setting AUs welcome, and so is a story that stretches out the very short timeframe of the ballet's events into something much longer.
More prompts:
More general thoughts: I was a little nervous to request this because my introduction to the ballet was a beautifully illustrated book I had from childhood (the 1962 Splendour Book of Ballet) and I have since seen it performed, but only once. So I'm fascinated but not particularly knowledgeable. If you're basing your story off any specific version I'd be very grateful and interested to read pointers in the author's notes!
Healer and Seer Series - Victoria Hanley
Torina, Dahmis, Landen
From my sign-up: I briefly adored this book as a young teen, and when I happened to re-read it this year I was flooded with feelings for this dramatic noble trio and their adventures and their identity porn. I love that despite Landen turning himself into a proper romantic bandit, what he really gets excited about is getting to help Dahmis with his project of peace and good governance. I love that Torina emerges from her cosseted upbringing and then cruel betrayal with self-possession as her most prominent trait. I love Dahmis as the noble king pretty much played straight, but not isolated - I love that he is emphatically surrounded by friends and people who believe in what he's doing.
The OT3 is so close to canon. Please, make it so. Or if you can't make it work, please try to leave the possibility open. Resolved pining would be so great, including porn (with feelings!) Or canon divergence that allows for a different version of identity porn. Or post-canon fic as Landen and Torina both grapple with their new-old roles and try to do right by Bellandra and Dahmis considers other issues of ruling.
Maybe Torina's teenage education was slanted more towards future ruling, and she exchanged letters with Dahmis - who does not later recognise Vineda as his young royal correspondent? Maybe, after Vesputo puts a price on her head, Torina successfully challenges him without Landen's involvement - and reclaims the throne of Archeld without yet knowing Landen's fate? Maybe Dahmis takes Landen with him on a visit to the mysterious seer, and witnesses their first reunion?
More prompts:
More general thoughts: I realise I talked about 'the book' in my sign-up when this was actually nominated under the series tag. Sorry. I have read one of the other books but it was so long ago I don't actually remember which one, or anything else about it; please focus on The Seer and the Sword only!
Most of my prompts are plotty, requiring canon divergence - this is not demanded! That's just what I had ideas for. PWP is also OK or something before/during/after the canon that doesn't rule out the OT3 entirely. This entry is also posted at https://morbane.dreamwidth.org/44658.html. There are
comments. Please comment either here or there.
This year's fandoms:
- Hive Mind (Amber, Claire - either)
- Sucker Punch (Rocket, Sweet Pea)
- The Chain - Fleetwood Mac
- The Lute Player - Fairy Tale (Queen)
- Swan Lake - ballet (Odile, Odette)
- Healer and Seer Series - Hanley (Torina, Dahmis, Landen)
Do-Not-Wants: harm to hands, addiction and substance abuse, amnesia*.
Additional DNW, for Lute Player: narrative support for religious conversion as a justification for war.
Additional DNW, for Healer and Seer: infidelity.
*Amnesia is OK generally for Healer and Seer, and is OK to be mentioned for Hive Mind if part of a background plot involving personality resets.
I would prefer not to receive interactive fiction. My ideal gift length for this challenge is between 200 and 20,000 words. (Drabbles can be hit-or-miss for me, so someone else might appreciate your effort more; if your story needs to be longer then 20,000 then go forth intrepid writer and follow your muse, but all else being equal, l like reading a lot of different things on the first day the collection opens.)
General likes
I love original characters, outsider character perspectives, and worldbuilding. I love competence and loyalty. I like uplifting and hopeful messages, and protagonists who champion them. I also like genuinely terrible characters and tragic arcs, and villains with strong motivations and critiques of the protagonists' goals. Characters are welcome in any shade of grey. I like seeing characters screw up and then learn (or not) from their mistakes. I love magical realism, dramatic weather, trains, telepathy, and dragons. I like getting a strong sense of time or place. For porn, I love telepathy, praise kink, and awkward-but-not-emotionally-disastrous sex; intense oh-god-I-can't-believe-it's-so-good sex; gentle and loving sex. I love emotional intimacy whether or not it comes with physical intimacy. I love mentors and protegé(e) relationships, and relationships between characters who are juggling multiple identities. I love seeing the relationship between two characters at one point in time, and then seeing it again when the relationship is very different. I'm just as interested in break-ups as get-togethers. I like Big Damn Hero moments, and also days in the life, or stories about people who are just trying to make it by in a weird world. I love it when authors incorporate something about which they have enthusiasm or specialized knowledge, however mundane or weird that thing is.
You're welcome to write in past or present tense, and in first, second, or third person. Epistolary and found-media formats are welcome.
Hive Mind Series - Janet Edwards
Amber, Claire
From my sign-up: Just one of these characters appearing is fine! This canon combines two things I adore: mundane, textured worldbuilding, and tropey, special protagonist telepaths whose abilities are crucial to the function of their society. I am so sold, so basically anything about either of these two characters would be great!
I liked seeing Amber's understanding of the Hive and how it works gradually expand, and I love that her thoughts on freedom and authority become gradually more complicated over the series as she settles into her role. Ethical quandaries welcome, though please no darker than the series itself. Or maybe she discovers a new side to her telepathic abilities - how does she handle it? I'd also enjoy seeing her interact with people outside her team, or not just in the context of being a telepath on duty. Lucas/Amber shipping welcome, but I'd prefer something with worldbuilding in it to a pure PWP or shipfic.
From what we see of Claire, she's both fascinating and impressive - the telepath role comes with immense pressure and she fulfilled it all her life. I'd love to get an impression of protocols and procedures from her early telepath days, and interactions (at whatever distance) with her fellow telepaths and with Hive authority. I'd love a story about Claire and her team figuring out the rules that Amber's team takes for granted - or possibly, having to deal with a rule or protocol that is obsolete by Amber's time.
If you do want to include both characters, some ideas: a case from late in Claire's life has an impact on Amber, and in dealing with it, Amber learns more about Claire; or, in parallel, two very similar cases and the different ways Claire and Amber handle them.
More prompts:
- Another plot about characters transferring between Hives?
- More about family and friend relationships outside Amber's or Claire's unit?
- What other groups, like the Ramblers, are officially somewhat deviant but unofficially permitted for the good of the Hive?
- Who watches the watchers? What are the self-governance measures for the leaders of the Hive and those who have access to the most information?
- What was Claire's Sorting like, and her early days? What was the dynamic between the telepaths who existed at the time she was learning to be a telepath?
- Possibly darker: What level of selective breeding is practiced or permitted within the Hives?
- How do other Hives handle telepaths, or do they have more occurrences of different special mental/physical traits? Perhaps through Amber or Claire coming to learn about such things.
- The idea that knowledge of the solar system is restricted gave me pause. Wild headcanon theory: a large contingent of humanity left to settle throughout the galaxy, and those that were left behind were those who were psychologically or otherwise unsuited to leaving Earth. Play with that?
- As well as the ongoing survival of humanity, one of the principles of the Hive system seems to be a lighter/sustainable footprint on the Earth. Do the Hives engage in any active stewardship of, say, rare animals or ecosystems outside the Hives?
- Are there any cultural myths about earth spirits, or phenomena like earthquakes, to go along with the Hunter and Light Angel mythos?
- Amber is no longer the newest telepath.
More general thoughts: I'm having a hard time coming up worldbuilding prompts that don't require (as far as I can tell) lots of plotting and planning, but I really would be happy with a day in the life that has some worldbuilding mixed in! And I do like Amber, and Amber and Lucas' relationship. Regarding that, I love how quickly and confidently each supports the other, and lightens their mood, when one of them is experiencing stress or doubts. I love that despite seeing herself as essentially ordinary, Amber doesn't feel any kind of inadequacy over how devoted Lucas is to her.
I plan to read Borderline as soon as it comes out but do not expect a story to be Borderline-compliant.
Sucker Punch (2011)
Rocket, Sweet Pea
From my sign-up: I love this world and I love these characters, their anger and love for each other and the size of the fight in them. I love that each explicitly chooses her own story - Sweet Pea stepping out of the chair, leaving; Rocket, running away (however much she regrets it), sacrificing herself. I would love fix-its and alternate universes and canon divergences, and I would love backstory and moments in the canon worlds and giving even more emotion to their tragedy and hope.
What were the other worlds like for the characters who weren't Baby Doll? What seemed real to them? What were the stories, before and after, of the worlds whose conflicts they entered? (Is Baby Doll's dancing truly mesmerizing, or is that only a metaphor/coincidence?)
In all three world levels, the women face incredible challenges, but their apparent power to face those challenges increases from asylum to club to combat party. What about a level beyond the world of open military conflict - what might that look like?
I like Baby Doll, but I'm also interested in a still-fantastical AU without her. Or one day: Sweet Pea comes back for Baby Doll (and possibly Rocket, if it's the asylum world and maybe she isn't dead).
More prompts:
- Rocket or Sweet Pea's perspective on the worlds their battles take place on.
- One of the girls isn't real, or is a ghost, or, not all of them exist in the same world at the same time.
- The club is a brief mission, not an extended one.
- Changeling/ Dark faerie AU. Time travel shenanigans. Groundhog day. Angels and demons AU. Circus AU. Psychic powers AU.
- Something that blends the world levels in some way instead of alternating between them.
- Rocket fix-it! EVERYBODY FIX-IT. Even maybe Baby Doll's sister fix-it?
- Denizens of the other worlds show up to rescue the five main characters.
- Different meanings for map, fire, knife, key, mystery.
- None of the girls die/are overcome; they are scattered across worlds instead.
- Sweet Pea making a life for herself later.
- Crossovers or fusions with other rare canons I know!
More general thoughts: This is a polarising movie and I'm one who really enjoys it. I love the different fantasy worlds and the bitter, brutal glamour of the club; I love Baby Doll's and Sweet Pea's grief and anger that carries through the asylum setting. I love the way the themes of self-actualization and sacrifice are used.
You're welcome to disregard the final scene between Baby Doll and the High Roller; I prefer what the film said without it, and as it was unrated, it wasn't part of the movie I saw first in cinemas.
OK with Sweet Pea/Rocket shipping but please don't give me a Sweet Pea/Rocket PWP - something else as well, please! Also up for Rocket/Baby Doll, Sweet Pea/Baby Doll, Blondie/Amber.
I got a great story for Sucker Punch last year, but in this case, that just made me more excited to request it again - people who will write this canon for me are out there! Yessss!
The Chain - Fleetwood Mac (Song)
(no characters nominated)
From my sign-up: I love the atmosphere of this song. I love the way the wind and shadows and sunrise both ground the speaker in a particular place and moment, and somehow also manage to give it grandeur. I love the drama of the ultimatum, how simple and how open to interpretation it is. I've been asking for this song in the Jukebox exchange for several years; I figured I'd switch it up and try Yuletide this time.
I'd welcome a completely mundane expansion of the story of the speaker and the person they're addressing, fleshing out the characters. I'd also love something fantastical, perhaps springing off either 'running in the shadows' or 'you will never break the chain'. What lies have been told (on either side)? Why is this the moment? Flawed characters are welcome but I'd love the sense of big, complicated feelings to come through - I'm not sure I'd enjoy something for this song with characters that are merely petty and mockable.
More prompts:
- What are the lies?
- Why damn the dark and the light?
- What if the chain does keep them together?
- What if the 'you' being addressed is plural?
- Dark contracts with the Fae? Something IN SPACE? Something in a particular real-world setting or time you're very fond of?
- When the person (?) said they will never break the chain, is that a promise or a threat?
More general thoughts: The open-ended nature of this canon makes it hard to prompt for - I want to see your interpretation!
I enjoy stories for songs that follow the general mood and sense, and I enjoy stories for songs that make sure all the lyrics are accounted for, and I enjoy stories for songs that focus on one particular line or metaphor and are basically written around that.
(If you're wondering why this particular song, out of many I've asked for in Jukebox several times, one reason is that I had the joy of seeing Fleetwood Mac in concert in September, and they opened with this, and so my love for it is both long-held and current.)
The Lute Player (Fairy Tale)
Queen
From my sign-up: I love this sparse story for its dramatic identity porn and also for the queen's immense courage and skill, but there's so much in the gaps and I want to know all of it.
Taking the story at face value: Was the queen always a musician? What other skills did she have that her husband underestimated? How did she come up with her plan, and how did she weigh it up? What was the queen and king's relationship like, going forward?
Complicating the story: The source I'm most familiar with (linked below) justifies the king's war, but I'm dubious. How does the queen feel about it? And then the king wants her to sell off his castles - is that going to work? I don't get an impression of the king as a wise and competent ruler, and also the queen doesn't trust his ministers, so possibly he hasn't surrounded himself with competent advisors either. I'm fascinated to know more about this court and also the diplomatic and economic tensions in this region of kingdoms!
Setting AUs welcome. Genderswapping the first king would also be welcome!
Fairy tale in the Lang Violet Fairy Book:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/641/641-h/641-h.htm#link2H_4_0009
More prompts:
- In this version, though you don't have to follow it, it was three years between the king getting captured and the queen finding out what had happened to him. Why was his fate such a mystery? What did the queen do, what changes did she undergo, during that time? Was it difficult to keep the throne?
- What other plans did the queen consider and discard?
- Just an extrapolation of one of the scenes that are turning points would be good: the king leaving for war, and the queen's thoughts and expectations. The first bad news, and how the court adjusted to it. The king's thoughts on approaching his home again at last.
- This is a fairy tale with no magic. What might it look like with magic?
- Why did the queen have to, or choose to, keep up her disguise after rescuing the king?
- Setting AUs are welcome as long as the sense of the stakes remains. Or blend in elements from a different fairy tale (possibly another one I've written or requested before?).
- I also would just like a sense of setting, full stop. Give hints about these peoples' art, music, history, politics, architecture (and yes, beliefs)...
- More characters in general would be lovely. Ministers? People at the foreign king's court who helped the queen?
- I am not that interested in the king falling in love with the lute player, but I am interested in their developing friendship (and the queen's side of it) and what aspects of that relationship they were able to keep, going forward.
More general thoughts: I've requested this story several times in the Once Upon a Fic exchange and once in Fandom5k; my prompts there may be helpful to you (though probably pretty similar). Regarding the DNW of religious conversion as a justification for war, including it in the story (or not) is fine, I just don't want "but of course we must convert these people" to be treated as unambiguously correct.
Лебединое озеро - Чайковски | Swan Lake - Tchaikovsky
Odile, Odette
From my sign-up: You're welcome to focus only on one of these two characters, but I'd prefer both at least be mentioned. The core story of this ballet is wonderfully dramatic and stirring, but there's so much to expand, explore, or complicate, and of course you can pick and choose among the variants in plot.
I'm fascinated by the character of Odile. What's in it for her? Is she a willing participant in von Rothbart's schemes, or coerced, or maybe playing her own game? Any take on her from 'as bad as she's drawn' to highly sympathetic is welcome. What were her interactions with Odette like before the encounter with Siegfried? In a version where von Rothbart is defeated and killed and the swans are freed, what happens to Odile, or what might happen?
Odette! What is it like for her to be cursed? Tell me about her relationships with the other swans - or Odile - or von Rothbart! Expand on how she fell into von Rothbart's captivity - or make up your own version. If following a 'tragic' ending where the swans are freed by Siegfried and Odette drowning, tell me about the feelings that led to that moment.
Other ideas: Odette and Odile are exes. Odette and Odile are sisters. Or Siegfried is also a woman - and if so, I'd love a study of their three different roles in contrast. Setting AUs welcome, and so is a story that stretches out the very short timeframe of the ballet's events into something much longer.
More prompts:
- If both Odile and Odette survive, what is their relationship in the future?
- Filling out the setting would be wonderful, or hinting at a specific time (or era) and place (or region).
- I'm interested in Siegfried as someone on the cusp of a different point in his life - someone who is resisting entry into adulthood, and then passes swiftly through love and tragedy like some kind of sublimation. Tell me about all the emotional rollercoaster of these, basically, two days.
- Or draw it out! Maybe Siegfried and Odette's courtship has been going on for years.
- What are Odile's own hopes? Where do Odile and von Rothbart come from? Has von Rothbart mastered magic through some kind of devilish bargain, or because of study, or because he is not an ordinary human? How does Odile fit into any of this?
- Who are the other maidens who surround Odette?
- Mix in some elements of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale of the seven (or in some versions, eleven) swans?
- Cross over with The Chain (above)?
More general thoughts: I was a little nervous to request this because my introduction to the ballet was a beautifully illustrated book I had from childhood (the 1962 Splendour Book of Ballet) and I have since seen it performed, but only once. So I'm fascinated but not particularly knowledgeable. If you're basing your story off any specific version I'd be very grateful and interested to read pointers in the author's notes!
Healer and Seer Series - Victoria Hanley
Torina, Dahmis, Landen
From my sign-up: I briefly adored this book as a young teen, and when I happened to re-read it this year I was flooded with feelings for this dramatic noble trio and their adventures and their identity porn. I love that despite Landen turning himself into a proper romantic bandit, what he really gets excited about is getting to help Dahmis with his project of peace and good governance. I love that Torina emerges from her cosseted upbringing and then cruel betrayal with self-possession as her most prominent trait. I love Dahmis as the noble king pretty much played straight, but not isolated - I love that he is emphatically surrounded by friends and people who believe in what he's doing.
The OT3 is so close to canon. Please, make it so. Or if you can't make it work, please try to leave the possibility open. Resolved pining would be so great, including porn (with feelings!) Or canon divergence that allows for a different version of identity porn. Or post-canon fic as Landen and Torina both grapple with their new-old roles and try to do right by Bellandra and Dahmis considers other issues of ruling.
Maybe Torina's teenage education was slanted more towards future ruling, and she exchanged letters with Dahmis - who does not later recognise Vineda as his young royal correspondent? Maybe, after Vesputo puts a price on her head, Torina successfully challenges him without Landen's involvement - and reclaims the throne of Archeld without yet knowing Landen's fate? Maybe Dahmis takes Landen with him on a visit to the mysterious seer, and witnesses their first reunion?
More prompts:
- Dahmis breaks or circumvents his vow to the other kings not to warn Torina; Landen has to rescue both of them.
- Landen and Torina join forces to court Dahmis together.
- The Sword comes into play earlier somehow, or you involve other magic!
- Landen assassinates Vesputo, much earlier in events; Dahmis has lovelorn angst over passing judgment on him, until Torina appears to vindicate Landen.
- I'm usually neutral on baby plots, but in this case, something incredibly tropy about Torina carrying either Landen's or Dahmis' child and both of them doting on her would be welcome.
- Established relationship; any two of them in bed together with the third absent but the present two talking about their fantasies for the third.
- More towards worldbuilding: what are the correct uses of the Sword? How was it meant to be used? How will Landen grapple with that now?
- What exactly has been happening in Bellandra all this time? How do they go about rebuilding it? Fantasy bureaucracy and economics welcomed (although I'd prefer not to go all the way into deconstruction of monarchy tropes, peasant revolution now, etc!).
- LOYALTY and PINING and ATTEMPTS AT SELF-SACRIFICE and SUBTLE or GRAND GESTURES all would be amazing here.
More general thoughts: I realise I talked about 'the book' in my sign-up when this was actually nominated under the series tag. Sorry. I have read one of the other books but it was so long ago I don't actually remember which one, or anything else about it; please focus on The Seer and the Sword only!
Most of my prompts are plotty, requiring canon divergence - this is not demanded! That's just what I had ideas for. PWP is also OK or something before/during/after the canon that doesn't rule out the OT3 entirely. This entry is also posted at https://morbane.dreamwidth.org/44658.html. There are
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