Dear Chanukah Charry.
Hi, yuletide writer and Catchallthon writer! This letter is for both of you. I'd contemplated writing separate letters, or at least cut-tagging separately, but I realized that in both cases, I don't have much to say about my specific requests beyond what the requests say. I want to leave some leeway in the prompts - some creativity wiggle room - and really, in all cases, I'm flexible as to plot and setting and all that stuff.
My one very hard and fast request is, please, please focus on the characters I asked for, and don't throw in other characters even if they're your most favoritest ever, and don't include any pairings I didn't ask for. In every single case for both ficathons, I have asked for my very favorite characters and non-sekrit OTPs.
That said, I totally understand if my pairings are not your pairings and things go in a genfic direction. I love stories about friendship and would not be let down by that at all. Fandom doesn't have enough of them, especially stories about friendships between men, and I'd love to see more of that in the world.
On the other hand, if you can write me hot porn, I would love some hot porn, please.
No babies, no little kids, no pregnancy. This is very nearly a bulletproof squick.
Yay for banter! All of the fandoms I requested function a lot on sarcasm and verbal irony. I do like some kind of conflict or seriousness - curtainfic and PWP are not really my cup of tea - so the guideline here is, emotional or situational drama offset by sarcasm. If that makes sense. In most cases, if the balance between darkness and light is similar to that of the source material, you're doing it right.
I love unusual structures and stories that play with POV and tense.
I will probably be happiest with a story set in the characters' own universe, although I would get some cracky glee out of the AU where they're all ponies.
Give me some kind of description of the physical. I love sensual smut, and I equally love a whole paragraph about one kiss. Give me a sense of what their bodies are feeling, not just their hearts.
I am a cranky, grinchy Jewish atheist, and therefore, I would prefer not to receive fic with a strong holiday theme. No, not even Chanukah-themed.
Do not like: high school and rock band AUs, zombies, Bruce Springsteen, non-con, rigid gender roles, "five things" stories, Evan Lysacek.
Do like: magic in normally realistic/RPF fandoms, pirates, R.E.M., sex toys, genderplay, road trips, ambiguity, Muppets.
But the most important thing is, I'll be incredibly excited about and grateful for whatever you write for me. Thank you so much.
Much love,
Mosca
ETA: P.S. I just read that post where people were all agreeing in the comments that you should at least mention the fandoms you signed up for, so. For Yuletide: Grindhouse, Zoe/Kim, because they sit in the car and do Tarantino banter and stunts and how hot is that; Big Brother 9 RPF, James/Joshuah/Chelsia, because they are clearly all in love with each other and spent all that time in the sequester house and how many chances do you get to write about three canon bisexuals; Olympic Diving RPF, Thomas Finchum/David Boudia, because intense athletic training is always more fun with the love of your life; and Shear Genius RPF, which this post's icon pretty much sums up. For Catchallthon, Queer As Folk US, Emmett/Ted because in my heart I believe those crazy kids can work it out, and if not they can snark their way off into the sunset; Bones, Angela/Brennan because I have a huge crush on Angela and her "but I'm an artist" internal conflict, and how great is it to have a show where my two favorite characters are the two women; and Major League Baseball/NFL football, Alex Rodriguez/Tom Brady, because all the homophobic sports blogs had to work hard to convince us that wasn't happening.
My one very hard and fast request is, please, please focus on the characters I asked for, and don't throw in other characters even if they're your most favoritest ever, and don't include any pairings I didn't ask for. In every single case for both ficathons, I have asked for my very favorite characters and non-sekrit OTPs.
That said, I totally understand if my pairings are not your pairings and things go in a genfic direction. I love stories about friendship and would not be let down by that at all. Fandom doesn't have enough of them, especially stories about friendships between men, and I'd love to see more of that in the world.
On the other hand, if you can write me hot porn, I would love some hot porn, please.
No babies, no little kids, no pregnancy. This is very nearly a bulletproof squick.
Yay for banter! All of the fandoms I requested function a lot on sarcasm and verbal irony. I do like some kind of conflict or seriousness - curtainfic and PWP are not really my cup of tea - so the guideline here is, emotional or situational drama offset by sarcasm. If that makes sense. In most cases, if the balance between darkness and light is similar to that of the source material, you're doing it right.
I love unusual structures and stories that play with POV and tense.
I will probably be happiest with a story set in the characters' own universe, although I would get some cracky glee out of the AU where they're all ponies.
Give me some kind of description of the physical. I love sensual smut, and I equally love a whole paragraph about one kiss. Give me a sense of what their bodies are feeling, not just their hearts.
I am a cranky, grinchy Jewish atheist, and therefore, I would prefer not to receive fic with a strong holiday theme. No, not even Chanukah-themed.
Do not like: high school and rock band AUs, zombies, Bruce Springsteen, non-con, rigid gender roles, "five things" stories, Evan Lysacek.
Do like: magic in normally realistic/RPF fandoms, pirates, R.E.M., sex toys, genderplay, road trips, ambiguity, Muppets.
But the most important thing is, I'll be incredibly excited about and grateful for whatever you write for me. Thank you so much.
Much love,
Mosca
ETA: P.S. I just read that post where people were all agreeing in the comments that you should at least mention the fandoms you signed up for, so. For Yuletide: Grindhouse, Zoe/Kim, because they sit in the car and do Tarantino banter and stunts and how hot is that; Big Brother 9 RPF, James/Joshuah/Chelsia, because they are clearly all in love with each other and spent all that time in the sequester house and how many chances do you get to write about three canon bisexuals; Olympic Diving RPF, Thomas Finchum/David Boudia, because intense athletic training is always more fun with the love of your life; and Shear Genius RPF, which this post's icon pretty much sums up. For Catchallthon, Queer As Folk US, Emmett/Ted because in my heart I believe those crazy kids can work it out, and if not they can snark their way off into the sunset; Bones, Angela/Brennan because I have a huge crush on Angela and her "but I'm an artist" internal conflict, and how great is it to have a show where my two favorite characters are the two women; and Major League Baseball/NFL football, Alex Rodriguez/Tom Brady, because all the homophobic sports blogs had to work hard to convince us that wasn't happening.