dear yuletide author
Dear yuletide author,
Sorry you got stuck with me! Okay, no, really, I really do hope that my fandom and character choices are everything you'd hoped for and that my additional thoughts/ideas don't horrify you or make you dread writing for me or think you won't be able to write something I'll be into. Because, really, as long as it's in one of these fandoms, I'm sure I'll love it.
This is my first year taking part in this wonderful event so fingers crossed I'm not doing this massively wrong. (I did look at some other participants' letters just to check - but you never know.) On my sign-up form, I gave some other details about the sort of things I'd be excited to see in the fic and some of this letter is just going to be a repetition of that stuff but, hey, again, if you don't dig it, you know you're free to ignore it, right?
I am, as you can probably tell, a big ol' slash shipper but I am at least as into character study and platonic relationships as I am into stuff driven by actual homoerotic desire/gay relationships between characters so, if you aren't into slash, don't feel like you need to write it to make me happy because you seriously don't.
Anyway, yeah, the part of my letter where I go "don't think of this as a list of demands!" is almost over. But please don't think of this as a list of demands or anything, okay? If you have things you want to do with the fandoms and characters on my sign-up which are miles away from what I wrote on my form then feel free to pursue those!
So, about my requested fandoms, in alphabetical order (because that's diplomatic and non-preferential because I love them all equally), here goes:
Coriolanus is a play that I love a lot (like a lot) and I'd be happy for you, dear author, to use any staging or adaptation of it as a basis for your fic (including the 2011 movie, if that's your thing). In common with a lot of people, the thing I find fascinating about Coriolanus is the relationship between Caius Martius ("Coriolanus") and Tullus Aufidius. Because, man, there is a lot of tension there and such an insane mixture of admiration and resentment and competition and just yes, it's beautiful, okay? And the pair of them are just such beautifully flawed individuals. So, I'm leaving this totally open and just saying that anything which explores either/both of them as characters and the way they relate to/think about each other would be fucking fantastic. I don't mind if it's set before the play or any place during it - or, even, if you're going for an Aufidius-centric fic, after it. I'm easy. I really am.
Next up: and, yeah, okay, I just realised that all of these ships are betrayal!ships, I think I have a problem. But, yeah, The Losers. I have only seen the movie but I am down with the inclusion of elements from the comics if you've read them. The characters I am most interested in here are Clay and Roque because, y'know, I have a serious right-hand man/the boss shipping problem as well as a betrayal!ship problem. To me, these two read as having a serious, long term professional & personal relationship (which may or may not also be a gay relationship) and I am so into that. Roque argues with Clay a lot but they also trust each other, right? And Roque is so not impressed by Clay's women, as evidenced by canon, and hey maybe he's jealous, I don't know. (; What I am trying to say is that I'd love a fic which deals with any facet of their relationship, at any point during/before/after canon or within a canon or non-canon au - just so long as they are their glorious selves and have glorious issues. Yep. Or, y'know, you could just write a fabulous team caper!fic which includes a little bit of Clay/Roque interaction. That would be amazing.
I have a feeling that this letter is getting less and less coherent as I go on. Oops. It's only going to go downhill from here because Reservoir Dogs. Do I even need to say anything else? I still vividly remember watching this film for the first time with my uni roommate and her lying down on the floor and refusing to talk to me afterwards because she was so heartbroken about the ending. I'm still not sure she's wholly forgiven me for making her watch it. And, yes, the main cause of the hearbreak was, of course, the horrible tragedy of Orange/White and the betrayal and the, oh god, seriously, why did you say that? Did you really have to tell him the truth just then? Oh fucking hell but he did so much for you. *gross sobbing* And, yeah, I am basically up for anything about Orange and White, I don't care what it is because oh godddd. Though, yeah, because the ending broke my heart so much, I am curious about alternate endings, like what if Orange never said he was a cop and they both ended up alive, with White in prison? Or what if Orange told White he was a cop right after he was shot and White dropped him at the hospital? Stuff like that. I'm not sure how I'd feel about a non-canon au with these guys since I'm not sure they could ever really be the same without the incredible canon betrayal which broke me (and my housemate) - but, if you can make that work, then feel free to run with it. I am basically giving you free reign to break my heart however you want with these two (or try to put it together, I do not care).
In closing, I have become increasingly aware, whilst writing this letter, that all my ships here are angsty betrayal ships and you're free to go with that and make it miserable but I'm equally happy (sad?) if you choose to write about the better times these guys had, before they became so heartbreaking. So, yeah, angsty fic, fluffy fic, plotty fic, introspective fic, slashy fic, gen fic, it's all good. And could I get much more vague? Yeah, I know, sorry. I probably just could have written on my sign up "anything about [character names here], shippy or gen" and saved you all this weird rambling.
I really hope you're reaching the end of this letter with joy in your heart, shipper feels in your soul, and anticipation (rather than dread) at the prospect of writing for me. Thank you so much for signing up and offering at least one of these magnificent fandoms.
Have fun this yuletide and I hope you have an amazing holiday season!
xx
outboxed (a.k.a. fallencrest)