Dear Yuletide Writer 2018
This letter is for Napkins, which is my name on AO3 as well!
First off, thank you so, so much for signing up and for offering one of the fandoms we matched on! This is my third year doing Yuletide, and hopefully this letter will be useful to you! I’m generally really easy to please; I like the whole gamut of fiction and a whole mess of tropes in there.
Continuing with my trend, as requesting femslashy canons resulted in some beautiful work that I loved the past two years, I thought why stop a good thing! Some returning fandoms, some new, but again with the theme of close female friendships that could easily hint at something more but for Reasons the canon didn’t go there (or did!). There's a ship in each request that I would be so thrilled to get shipfic from, but at its core are nuanced friendship dynamics that are fascinating to me if you want to keep it platonic that I would be equally thrilled to receive fic about.
My dislikes are pretty few, so let’s start off with them: character death/permanent injury, pregnancy/kidfic, and serious issues not already brought up in canon (think homophobia, political stands, self-harm, abuse, trans headcanons, etc). I am all for sexual content, and rough sex is fine, but none of these relationships should be antagonistic, so no dubcon/noncon or sex with violence at its core, please. Also no bodily fluids that don't have a standard place in sexual encounters, please.
I’ll talk about the fandoms I requested and some specific prompts below, and please feel free to ignore or add anything as you want, but here are some general tropes and prompts I enjoy:
AUs of all shapes and sizes, fake dating, Christmas/other holidays,winter or other cold-weather activities, domesticity, hurt/comfort - especially with illnesses, character introspection/exploration, friends to lovers, banter that can easily accidentally slip into hints about actual feelings, and found family. I really will love anything that you write, this is more to give you an idea of my likes and reasons for them, so thank you so much again!
Atelier:
Requested characters: Any
The perfect balm to a week spent at home sick! Like Devil Wears Prada but where everyone is actually a decent person and the side characters all get attention and good storylines and their own growth, it gave my feverish mind beautiful, lingerie-filled distractions and more. I love Mayu’s journey to finding herself and concentrating her passion from being someone who was originally only interested in new fabrics and creating new fabrics to someone who put that knowledge of fabrics and their best uses to expressing her own brand of comfort and beauty and personality. I love her friendship with Sarii and was screaming at my television in joy when she sent the coffee shop owner to forget the coffee beans and pick up her girlfriend from the airport instead so she could be in the big fashion show. Their friendship, while a side thread, was so charming every time it showed up, and I love that Sarii got to see all of Mayu’s frustrations and first ventures into sewing her own lingerie, which no one else ever did. Even after becoming an international supermodel, she does her best to come back and walk the finale of the show, joking that her price is merely a date with Mayu.
And then there’s President Nanjo, who has an amazing depth. I love that at the start we’re prepared for her to be harsh and critiquing and stubborn and for her to be a sort of antagonist against Mayu’s journey to find her growth in this industry, but instead she’s harsh and critiquing, and stubborn, but also supportive, as she also finds ways to grow and learn new things from Mayu, with whom she seems to share more than just a similar name.
Ice Princess
Requested characters: Gen and Casey
You know you’ve grown up when you rewatch a movie you enjoyed as a teenager, but now side with the adults and their decisions. But there’s so much heart to this movie that I hardly mind. Most of what I got out of a rewatch of this movie was that I wanted more of Gen and Casey and their friendship and how they see what they want out of life in each other’s positions. Casey is fascinated with Gen and her skating and can’t understand why she’d ever want to give it up and Gen is entranced with Casey and her “normal” life and is devastated when her mother costs Casey her chance at sectionals. It’s clear that she doesn’t feel the same way towards the other girls who train at the rink, that the way that Casey loves skating in a way she doesn’t catches her attention. I’d love to see something set later - it’s implied that Tina would continue to be Casey’s coach in any continuing skating career, so there’s plenty of opportunity for Gen and Casey to continue to be in each other’s lives. Maybe Gen helps out with choreography for some of Casey’s programs or has to take over as the coaching crew during a competition if her mother can’t make it. I do ship it, but I would absolutely be fine with something focusing more on the skating.
Emelan
Requested characters: Lark and Rosethorn
This series has been one that I’ve returned to time and time again, even though I get a different enjoyment out of it as an adult than as a preteen/teenager, obviously. Since the kids are the focus of the series, there’s a lot left to the imagination when it comes to their mentors! I’m especially drawn to the relationship between Lark and Rosethorn, whether you want to interpret their relationship as a deep platonic friendship or something more. I will eat up with a spoon anything having to do with the two of them and their relationship and feel like I will always want things with them. I love how both of them embody strength and discipline in very different ways and how they are very much at the core of this found family, even as the kids start to split off and have their own adventures and apprentices. How’d this all start? I'm absolutely fascinated with the tidbits about Lark's early travels and adventures - maybe their paths crossed long before Winding Circle! How’d they decide that they wanted to stay at Discipline? How much changed after Rosethorn’s stroke? Did Lark have to find out the hard way how particular Rosethorn is about her garden? How do they find a moment’s peace/spend that moment together when the kids are around? This could be set any time in their friendship/relationship, really I just think it would be something neat to explore! If you do want to go shippy, I am all for sexual content here.
Uprooted
Requested characters: Agnieszka and Kasia
This book was so imaginative and fun; I love fairy-tales and the origins of them, so the story of the creation of the Wood and the involvement of Baba Jaga’s magic made this book an instant love. I love magic rooted in very personal intentions - the way Agnieszka’s magic was closer to the old magics where the words themselves mattered less than the intention and the feeling of the rhythm was one of my favorite things about the worldbuilding, especially when it called back to the Wood and its origins.
The friendship between Kasia and Agnieszka was one of my favorite things - it felt really true to a good, strong friendship that really backed up the loving details that Agnieszka gave to Kasia in the beginning (the character trope of one character saying how amazing their friends are while waving off their own strength and charms is such a weakness). They both overcame so much for each other and literally bared their souls to each other! They’re both so dedicated to each other, all the more strongly for seeing the dark parts of each other’s thoughts. I do think there’s likely more than friendship between them, and I’d love to see Kasia come back and live with Agnieszka in the wood and help her rebuild it. Maybe down the line in the future, since they both have a much longer lifespan - do rumors start about the witch in the woods and her knightly guardian? Or something from their childhood - we know how Agnieszka thought Kasia was fairy-tale material and how Kasia carried some jealousy for Agnieszka’s home life and freedom - were there any moments where if they had known the signs, Agnieszka would have clearly been magical? Or Kasia’s thoughts between when Agnieszka was taken by the Dragon and when she returned to the village?
If you are okay writing them as a couple (I would also be okay with Agnieszka and Sarkan having an open relationship where Kasia lives with them and they all explore the magics that transformed Kasia and what it means for the Wood and Polnya, which is partly where I was expecting the book to go once I accepted that Agnieszka/Kasia was not going to be endgame), I’d love to see anything I mentioned before with a shippier slant! Maybe the healing/healed Wood is really comforting to Kasia when she returns from the seaside and she shows her appreciation to Agnieszka; or maybe it’s the feeling of Agnieszka’s magic in particular, since it’s so tied to the Valley and both of their homes.
Ocean's 8
Requested Characters: Any
I had such a hard time pinning down which characters I would like or limiting it at all that I finally just picked Any. And I really would be so, so down for anything involving any of the women! I love heist stories so much, as much as I love supportive female friendships, so this movie was downright made for me. How are things down the road? Do they pull any more jobs together, big or small? Call up the others when they can't sleep or have a dumb question? How they normally wouldn't mix together but clearly do and work so well together when it comes down it was such a wonderful part of the whole thing.
As with the other requests, I am fine with gen, but I am also fine with just about any ship you can come up with! I feel like there were a lot of nights spent over in the loft, up in each other's business, and whether you want to set something back then, or build off of it, please feel free! I ship Lou and Debbie together the strongest and would love to see how they came together, or come back together in the future, but I also do not have strong feelings keeping me from enjoying any other pairings with them. Really, anything you do I'm likely to love!
First off, thank you so, so much for signing up and for offering one of the fandoms we matched on! This is my third year doing Yuletide, and hopefully this letter will be useful to you! I’m generally really easy to please; I like the whole gamut of fiction and a whole mess of tropes in there.
Continuing with my trend, as requesting femslashy canons resulted in some beautiful work that I loved the past two years, I thought why stop a good thing! Some returning fandoms, some new, but again with the theme of close female friendships that could easily hint at something more but for Reasons the canon didn’t go there (or did!). There's a ship in each request that I would be so thrilled to get shipfic from, but at its core are nuanced friendship dynamics that are fascinating to me if you want to keep it platonic that I would be equally thrilled to receive fic about.
My dislikes are pretty few, so let’s start off with them: character death/permanent injury, pregnancy/kidfic, and serious issues not already brought up in canon (think homophobia, political stands, self-harm, abuse, trans headcanons, etc). I am all for sexual content, and rough sex is fine, but none of these relationships should be antagonistic, so no dubcon/noncon or sex with violence at its core, please. Also no bodily fluids that don't have a standard place in sexual encounters, please.
I’ll talk about the fandoms I requested and some specific prompts below, and please feel free to ignore or add anything as you want, but here are some general tropes and prompts I enjoy:
AUs of all shapes and sizes, fake dating, Christmas/other holidays,winter or other cold-weather activities, domesticity, hurt/comfort - especially with illnesses, character introspection/exploration, friends to lovers, banter that can easily accidentally slip into hints about actual feelings, and found family. I really will love anything that you write, this is more to give you an idea of my likes and reasons for them, so thank you so much again!
Atelier:
Requested characters: Any
The perfect balm to a week spent at home sick! Like Devil Wears Prada but where everyone is actually a decent person and the side characters all get attention and good storylines and their own growth, it gave my feverish mind beautiful, lingerie-filled distractions and more. I love Mayu’s journey to finding herself and concentrating her passion from being someone who was originally only interested in new fabrics and creating new fabrics to someone who put that knowledge of fabrics and their best uses to expressing her own brand of comfort and beauty and personality. I love her friendship with Sarii and was screaming at my television in joy when she sent the coffee shop owner to forget the coffee beans and pick up her girlfriend from the airport instead so she could be in the big fashion show. Their friendship, while a side thread, was so charming every time it showed up, and I love that Sarii got to see all of Mayu’s frustrations and first ventures into sewing her own lingerie, which no one else ever did. Even after becoming an international supermodel, she does her best to come back and walk the finale of the show, joking that her price is merely a date with Mayu.
And then there’s President Nanjo, who has an amazing depth. I love that at the start we’re prepared for her to be harsh and critiquing and stubborn and for her to be a sort of antagonist against Mayu’s journey to find her growth in this industry, but instead she’s harsh and critiquing, and stubborn, but also supportive, as she also finds ways to grow and learn new things from Mayu, with whom she seems to share more than just a similar name.
Ice Princess
Requested characters: Gen and Casey
You know you’ve grown up when you rewatch a movie you enjoyed as a teenager, but now side with the adults and their decisions. But there’s so much heart to this movie that I hardly mind. Most of what I got out of a rewatch of this movie was that I wanted more of Gen and Casey and their friendship and how they see what they want out of life in each other’s positions. Casey is fascinated with Gen and her skating and can’t understand why she’d ever want to give it up and Gen is entranced with Casey and her “normal” life and is devastated when her mother costs Casey her chance at sectionals. It’s clear that she doesn’t feel the same way towards the other girls who train at the rink, that the way that Casey loves skating in a way she doesn’t catches her attention. I’d love to see something set later - it’s implied that Tina would continue to be Casey’s coach in any continuing skating career, so there’s plenty of opportunity for Gen and Casey to continue to be in each other’s lives. Maybe Gen helps out with choreography for some of Casey’s programs or has to take over as the coaching crew during a competition if her mother can’t make it. I do ship it, but I would absolutely be fine with something focusing more on the skating.
Emelan
Requested characters: Lark and Rosethorn
This series has been one that I’ve returned to time and time again, even though I get a different enjoyment out of it as an adult than as a preteen/teenager, obviously. Since the kids are the focus of the series, there’s a lot left to the imagination when it comes to their mentors! I’m especially drawn to the relationship between Lark and Rosethorn, whether you want to interpret their relationship as a deep platonic friendship or something more. I will eat up with a spoon anything having to do with the two of them and their relationship and feel like I will always want things with them. I love how both of them embody strength and discipline in very different ways and how they are very much at the core of this found family, even as the kids start to split off and have their own adventures and apprentices. How’d this all start? I'm absolutely fascinated with the tidbits about Lark's early travels and adventures - maybe their paths crossed long before Winding Circle! How’d they decide that they wanted to stay at Discipline? How much changed after Rosethorn’s stroke? Did Lark have to find out the hard way how particular Rosethorn is about her garden? How do they find a moment’s peace/spend that moment together when the kids are around? This could be set any time in their friendship/relationship, really I just think it would be something neat to explore! If you do want to go shippy, I am all for sexual content here.
Uprooted
Requested characters: Agnieszka and Kasia
This book was so imaginative and fun; I love fairy-tales and the origins of them, so the story of the creation of the Wood and the involvement of Baba Jaga’s magic made this book an instant love. I love magic rooted in very personal intentions - the way Agnieszka’s magic was closer to the old magics where the words themselves mattered less than the intention and the feeling of the rhythm was one of my favorite things about the worldbuilding, especially when it called back to the Wood and its origins.
The friendship between Kasia and Agnieszka was one of my favorite things - it felt really true to a good, strong friendship that really backed up the loving details that Agnieszka gave to Kasia in the beginning (the character trope of one character saying how amazing their friends are while waving off their own strength and charms is such a weakness). They both overcame so much for each other and literally bared their souls to each other! They’re both so dedicated to each other, all the more strongly for seeing the dark parts of each other’s thoughts. I do think there’s likely more than friendship between them, and I’d love to see Kasia come back and live with Agnieszka in the wood and help her rebuild it. Maybe down the line in the future, since they both have a much longer lifespan - do rumors start about the witch in the woods and her knightly guardian? Or something from their childhood - we know how Agnieszka thought Kasia was fairy-tale material and how Kasia carried some jealousy for Agnieszka’s home life and freedom - were there any moments where if they had known the signs, Agnieszka would have clearly been magical? Or Kasia’s thoughts between when Agnieszka was taken by the Dragon and when she returned to the village?
If you are okay writing them as a couple (I would also be okay with Agnieszka and Sarkan having an open relationship where Kasia lives with them and they all explore the magics that transformed Kasia and what it means for the Wood and Polnya, which is partly where I was expecting the book to go once I accepted that Agnieszka/Kasia was not going to be endgame), I’d love to see anything I mentioned before with a shippier slant! Maybe the healing/healed Wood is really comforting to Kasia when she returns from the seaside and she shows her appreciation to Agnieszka; or maybe it’s the feeling of Agnieszka’s magic in particular, since it’s so tied to the Valley and both of their homes.
Ocean's 8
Requested Characters: Any
I had such a hard time pinning down which characters I would like or limiting it at all that I finally just picked Any. And I really would be so, so down for anything involving any of the women! I love heist stories so much, as much as I love supportive female friendships, so this movie was downright made for me. How are things down the road? Do they pull any more jobs together, big or small? Call up the others when they can't sleep or have a dumb question? How they normally wouldn't mix together but clearly do and work so well together when it comes down it was such a wonderful part of the whole thing.
As with the other requests, I am fine with gen, but I am also fine with just about any ship you can come up with! I feel like there were a lot of nights spent over in the loft, up in each other's business, and whether you want to set something back then, or build off of it, please feel free! I ship Lou and Debbie together the strongest and would love to see how they came together, or come back together in the future, but I also do not have strong feelings keeping me from enjoying any other pairings with them. Really, anything you do I'm likely to love!