lots of feelings about books (+ one music video)
IT'S THAT BEAUTIFUL TIME OF THE YEAR! WHEN I RETURN TO MY DREAMWIDTH! TO POST A "DEAR YULETIDE AUTHOR" LETTER!
Hello hello, dearest yuletide writer! I am so delighted that you are writing for me in one of these small (and this year, kind of work-intensive) fandoms! As always, my first priority is that you have FUN writing for me! If there's something you've been dying to write, please take this opportunity to write it-I'm going to love anything you write for me in any of these fandoms. ♥
As you know, all optional details are optional, but here are some further specifics about what I tend to enjoy:
- families and found families
- enemy love stories
- revenge
- world-building, backstory, and future fic
- history and storytelling
- porn with feelings
- kink negotiations
- polyamory and poly negotiations
- kid fic
- people who talk about their feelings; alternatively, people who are bad at talking about their feelings
- shenanigans, heists, and adventures
I'm pretty relationship-focused, but all of my requests this year are especially interested in the worlds of these fandoms, and I would love a story that expands and explores those universes - as well as the characters and their relationships (sexy and/or otherwise). Interesting relationship dynamics and found families are my bulletproof forever loves. I care a lot about canon, but that doesn't mean you have to treat canon with reverence. I like plot, and I like sex and romance that is integral to the plot; I also enjoy genfic, so if you don't want to write porn, that is okay! I like dialogue, and people who are too smart or witty or dangerous for their own good, and moral ambiguity. I like humor, and realism, and the fantastic, and the ridiculous. I like queerness. I like revenge, and people who fight (and/or commit) crime. I like laughter in the face of despair. I like things that are bittersweet, and happy endings, and sad endings, and the inevitable.
There are not a lot of things that I really dislike, but I would generally prefer that you avoided rape, noncon, extreme torture, and excessive gore-except where canonical or canon-appropriate. I also can't do zombies, and would appreciate if you warned for any non-canonical character death. I don't respond well to characters becoming objects of ridicule for no reason, or to pointless meanness - call it an embarrassment squick. I am pretty quickly turned off by major stylistic and grammatical errors, and unexplained and/or irregular POV switches. (I know this sounds really pretentious, but stylistic errors and inconsistencies pull me out of stories much faster than anything else.)
My AO3 (including bookmarks from yuletides past) and tumblr are public (although I haven't been on tumblr for a few months, so it's not very up to date), and my yuletide tag on dreamwidth is mostly public. You should, of course, also feel free to stalk me on the internet or ask my friends for help!
SPOILERS FOR SOME STUFF BEHIND THE CUT (i.e., don't read the Lymond Chronicles request if you haven't read the books. I AM SERIOUS.)
Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch
Peter Grant, Thomas Nightingale
Is The Hanging Tree ever going to come out?? I AM TIRED OF WAITING. YOU ARE PROBABLY TIRED OF WAITING. WE ARE ALL TIRED OF WAITING. THANK GOD THERE IS YULETIDE.
For real, though, I am definitely not asking you to make up for a whole absent book (unless you feel really motivated…), but I would absolutely adore casefic. I also love character and relationship development, and I think this universe offers a lot of opportunities for both. What does happen after Foxglove Summer? What do the Rivers have up their sleeves next? Not to mention the Faceless Man and Lesley? I am always delighted to read Peter/Nightingale, but it's certainly not required; I like the canon relationships, too, and I love the Peter-and-Nightingale partnership in whatever form it takes. I also love everyone else, so if you would rather write a story about Lesley or Abdul or Molly or Bev or Tyburn or Stephanaopoulos (or all of the above and then some), in which Peter and Nightingale are less central, please feel free to do so! In other words, I encourage you to play around in this universe in whatever way(s) you would like.
Lymond Chronicles - Dorothy Dunnett
Francis Crawford, Philippa Somerville
Canonically, both Francis and Philippa have crossdressed for fun/justice. Canonically, both Francis and Philippa have well-developed senses of the ridiculous, and enjoy rooftop chases, poetry, and melodrama. Additionally: the Master of the Revels' prop warehouse. So I feel like what is really missing is an after-the-end-of-the-adventure adventure, in which (finally happily married, oh my god, can we talk about how satisfying that ending is, I will never get over this) Francis and Philippa get up to some ridiculous costumed shenanigans and also probably have lots of sex in drag. JUST SAYING. You can go anywhere you want with this, but I'd love to see more of Francis and Philippa working together (and/or Mr and Mrs Smith-ing their way around Scotland, let's be honest), and also all the totally amazing kinky sex they’re going to have, if you're up for writing that. (I also love everyone, so please feel free to write in other characters - fictional or historical.)
Captive Prince - C.S. Pacat
Damen, Laurent
Here's the thing: I love this series, and I really enjoyed Kings Rising, but OH MY GOD WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE END OF THE BOOK?? I am so on board with combining the kingdoms, it's amazing! But how do they make it happen? I want 100,000 words of post-series political intrigue in which Damen and Laurent have to work together and use their many resources and their very different talents to build a new kingdom as consorts, while ALSO having tons of sex. Obviously you do not have to write 100,000 words, but I would love to know a little more about how they go about building their kingdom - either immediately after the end of the book (which would be awesome), or later. If you wanted to write something set in the more distant future, that would be really cool, too. I'd love to see how they're seen in the future of their own universe, as well as what they're like as older and more established rulers. As with the other requests, I picked two central characters, but you should feel free to include any other characters you want, including original ones!
Amelia Peabody - Elizabeth Peters
Ramses Emerson, Nefret Forth Emerson, David Todros
It's been a long time since I read this series, and I've been holding off on requesting it for years, because I always feel like I should be more specific in the details of my request. But the truth is that I'm just perpetually sad that there's not more (any??) Younger Generation OT3 out there in the world for me to read and love. You don't have to write the OT3 if you don't want to, obviously - canon relationships and gen are totally fine, or Lia could come along too and make it an OT4 or a sedoretu - but I love the David/Ramses/Nefret trio so much, and I would love a story that played around with the dynamics of their interconnected relationships (friendship, romance, blood brothers, incredible UST, betrayal, love…), and the ways the three of them both do and don't fit in with the rest of their family. This could be anywhere in canon, and you should feel free to mess around with history and canon events to your heart's content.
Genghis Khan - Miike Snow (Music Video)
Any
I'm including a fifth request in part because I feel a little bad about the fact that my other requests are all for super time-consuming work-intensive canons (Captive Prince is definitely the easiest of the four, if you want to write something we didn't match on, and it's still a trilogy). But I also feel like I made this music video happen with my mind. I still don't completely believe it's real?! It's like, my id in three minutes?!
So anyway: TELL ME EVERYTHING. You could go anywhere with this request, honestly - tell me about the beautiful courtship of the supervillain and the secret agent! Tell me about the supervillain's wife getting revenge! How DID the supervillain and his new secret agent (former secret agent? does he stay a secret agent?) husband end up with custody of the kids? What even IS this universe? Any story you want to tell here will delight me utterly. And if all the other canons seem overwhelming, you could watch this video at least 1,000 times in the same amount of time it would take to read one Dunnett book! If you haven't seen the video, it's here, and it's amazing.
Thanks again for writing for me! And have fun!! I can't wait to see what you come up with!
xo
Olivia
Originally posted at oliviacirce @ dreamwidth. If you'd like, comment there using OpenID.
Hello hello, dearest yuletide writer! I am so delighted that you are writing for me in one of these small (and this year, kind of work-intensive) fandoms! As always, my first priority is that you have FUN writing for me! If there's something you've been dying to write, please take this opportunity to write it-I'm going to love anything you write for me in any of these fandoms. ♥
As you know, all optional details are optional, but here are some further specifics about what I tend to enjoy:
- families and found families
- enemy love stories
- revenge
- world-building, backstory, and future fic
- history and storytelling
- porn with feelings
- kink negotiations
- polyamory and poly negotiations
- kid fic
- people who talk about their feelings; alternatively, people who are bad at talking about their feelings
- shenanigans, heists, and adventures
I'm pretty relationship-focused, but all of my requests this year are especially interested in the worlds of these fandoms, and I would love a story that expands and explores those universes - as well as the characters and their relationships (sexy and/or otherwise). Interesting relationship dynamics and found families are my bulletproof forever loves. I care a lot about canon, but that doesn't mean you have to treat canon with reverence. I like plot, and I like sex and romance that is integral to the plot; I also enjoy genfic, so if you don't want to write porn, that is okay! I like dialogue, and people who are too smart or witty or dangerous for their own good, and moral ambiguity. I like humor, and realism, and the fantastic, and the ridiculous. I like queerness. I like revenge, and people who fight (and/or commit) crime. I like laughter in the face of despair. I like things that are bittersweet, and happy endings, and sad endings, and the inevitable.
There are not a lot of things that I really dislike, but I would generally prefer that you avoided rape, noncon, extreme torture, and excessive gore-except where canonical or canon-appropriate. I also can't do zombies, and would appreciate if you warned for any non-canonical character death. I don't respond well to characters becoming objects of ridicule for no reason, or to pointless meanness - call it an embarrassment squick. I am pretty quickly turned off by major stylistic and grammatical errors, and unexplained and/or irregular POV switches. (I know this sounds really pretentious, but stylistic errors and inconsistencies pull me out of stories much faster than anything else.)
My AO3 (including bookmarks from yuletides past) and tumblr are public (although I haven't been on tumblr for a few months, so it's not very up to date), and my yuletide tag on dreamwidth is mostly public. You should, of course, also feel free to stalk me on the internet or ask my friends for help!
SPOILERS FOR SOME STUFF BEHIND THE CUT (i.e., don't read the Lymond Chronicles request if you haven't read the books. I AM SERIOUS.)
Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch
Peter Grant, Thomas Nightingale
Is The Hanging Tree ever going to come out?? I AM TIRED OF WAITING. YOU ARE PROBABLY TIRED OF WAITING. WE ARE ALL TIRED OF WAITING. THANK GOD THERE IS YULETIDE.
For real, though, I am definitely not asking you to make up for a whole absent book (unless you feel really motivated…), but I would absolutely adore casefic. I also love character and relationship development, and I think this universe offers a lot of opportunities for both. What does happen after Foxglove Summer? What do the Rivers have up their sleeves next? Not to mention the Faceless Man and Lesley? I am always delighted to read Peter/Nightingale, but it's certainly not required; I like the canon relationships, too, and I love the Peter-and-Nightingale partnership in whatever form it takes. I also love everyone else, so if you would rather write a story about Lesley or Abdul or Molly or Bev or Tyburn or Stephanaopoulos (or all of the above and then some), in which Peter and Nightingale are less central, please feel free to do so! In other words, I encourage you to play around in this universe in whatever way(s) you would like.
Lymond Chronicles - Dorothy Dunnett
Francis Crawford, Philippa Somerville
Canonically, both Francis and Philippa have crossdressed for fun/justice. Canonically, both Francis and Philippa have well-developed senses of the ridiculous, and enjoy rooftop chases, poetry, and melodrama. Additionally: the Master of the Revels' prop warehouse. So I feel like what is really missing is an after-the-end-of-the-adventure adventure, in which (finally happily married, oh my god, can we talk about how satisfying that ending is, I will never get over this) Francis and Philippa get up to some ridiculous costumed shenanigans and also probably have lots of sex in drag. JUST SAYING. You can go anywhere you want with this, but I'd love to see more of Francis and Philippa working together (and/or Mr and Mrs Smith-ing their way around Scotland, let's be honest), and also all the totally amazing kinky sex they’re going to have, if you're up for writing that. (I also love everyone, so please feel free to write in other characters - fictional or historical.)
Captive Prince - C.S. Pacat
Damen, Laurent
Here's the thing: I love this series, and I really enjoyed Kings Rising, but OH MY GOD WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE END OF THE BOOK?? I am so on board with combining the kingdoms, it's amazing! But how do they make it happen? I want 100,000 words of post-series political intrigue in which Damen and Laurent have to work together and use their many resources and their very different talents to build a new kingdom as consorts, while ALSO having tons of sex. Obviously you do not have to write 100,000 words, but I would love to know a little more about how they go about building their kingdom - either immediately after the end of the book (which would be awesome), or later. If you wanted to write something set in the more distant future, that would be really cool, too. I'd love to see how they're seen in the future of their own universe, as well as what they're like as older and more established rulers. As with the other requests, I picked two central characters, but you should feel free to include any other characters you want, including original ones!
Amelia Peabody - Elizabeth Peters
Ramses Emerson, Nefret Forth Emerson, David Todros
It's been a long time since I read this series, and I've been holding off on requesting it for years, because I always feel like I should be more specific in the details of my request. But the truth is that I'm just perpetually sad that there's not more (any??) Younger Generation OT3 out there in the world for me to read and love. You don't have to write the OT3 if you don't want to, obviously - canon relationships and gen are totally fine, or Lia could come along too and make it an OT4 or a sedoretu - but I love the David/Ramses/Nefret trio so much, and I would love a story that played around with the dynamics of their interconnected relationships (friendship, romance, blood brothers, incredible UST, betrayal, love…), and the ways the three of them both do and don't fit in with the rest of their family. This could be anywhere in canon, and you should feel free to mess around with history and canon events to your heart's content.
Genghis Khan - Miike Snow (Music Video)
Any
I'm including a fifth request in part because I feel a little bad about the fact that my other requests are all for super time-consuming work-intensive canons (Captive Prince is definitely the easiest of the four, if you want to write something we didn't match on, and it's still a trilogy). But I also feel like I made this music video happen with my mind. I still don't completely believe it's real?! It's like, my id in three minutes?!
So anyway: TELL ME EVERYTHING. You could go anywhere with this request, honestly - tell me about the beautiful courtship of the supervillain and the secret agent! Tell me about the supervillain's wife getting revenge! How DID the supervillain and his new secret agent (former secret agent? does he stay a secret agent?) husband end up with custody of the kids? What even IS this universe? Any story you want to tell here will delight me utterly. And if all the other canons seem overwhelming, you could watch this video at least 1,000 times in the same amount of time it would take to read one Dunnett book! If you haven't seen the video, it's here, and it's amazing.
Thanks again for writing for me! And have fun!! I can't wait to see what you come up with!
xo
Olivia
Originally posted at oliviacirce @ dreamwidth. If you'd like, comment there using OpenID.