Dear Yuletide Author
I'm afraid a lot of this is cut and pasted from last year - I feel like I'm mad to sign up for yuletide, given that I couldn't even find time to write a proper new letter, but the very idea of not signing up for yuletide makes me too sad. It's also a bit of a placeholder: rough ideas only for my two 'new' fandoms, to be pondered over and fleshed out before assignments go out. Any passing person who knows the fandoms (is there much LJ traffic these days?) is welcome to give me prompt ideas!
Dear yuletide author,
Thank you so much for offering one (or, who knows, maybe more than one) of my fandoms!
I want this letter to be as helpful as possible, and as stress-free as possible, so if you're a writer full of ideas, then completely ignore all my optional details, but if you're looking blankly at your assignment and thinking help!, then I've tried to come up with as many different suggestions as possible, any of which you're welcome to run with, play with, or fiddle around to your heart's content. I'll link to my various recs pages in case you want to get a feel for what I've been reading lately, but I know time can be tight, and some writers might find that more off-putting that helpful, so again, use or not.
Okay, general stuff first.
I've requested three fandoms in which I'm genuinely equally happy to have gen or slash or canon het pairings - I know what it's like to panic at your yuletide assignment and worry you might end up writing the second-best option. In this case, no need for panic! Gen = ♥, slash = ♥, het = ♥. I read all ratings, so you can't go wrong there either. And ratings can be based on graphic language, violence, peril etc as well as sexual content, so I'll just add that I'm fine with any levels of those. Just as long as my characters are still alive at the end!
I like happy endings. I love snark and banter, developing relationships, a degree of schmoop, boys being boys, twisty plots, adventures, misunderstandings and little snap-shot of life moments. I love romance and drama and adventure and humour and crack. When it comes to relationship stories, I'm all about the journey - I love first times and UST. I often find little looks or casual brushes of fingers hotter than graphic porn. I enjoy clichés (huddling for warmth, pretending to be gay/a couple, secretly a robot/artificial intelligence), and I love AU's (boarding school, college, superheroes, dragons (of the sentient type), daemons (the His Dark Materials type), space adventures, robots, magic and more).
Crossovers or fusions can be great fun, so if you want to blend fandoms, or throw in characters from another fandom we're both familiar with (my LJ icons and recs pages are probably the best clues as to what fandoms I know), that'd be cool, whether it's as a major part of the plot or a blink-and-you'll-miss-it little touch. I'm always happy to hand-wave when it comes to timelines and fitting different characters in a story!
I gather one of the questions the yuletide mods get asked most is 'does my recipient like holiday stories?' - I'm easy either way!
I'm not easily squicked, and I don't have any triggers, but please don't kill any of my requested characters. I'd generally rather not have any non-con/rape (unless it's peripheral, and not of/by any of my requested characters) - the one exception here is Captive Prince where some of my optional details suggest a background of abuse. I normally don't like crossover pairings (I love crossovers, just not pairing people up from different fandoms if it breaks up a favourite pairing). I'm also not a fan of jealousy or possessiveness, first person point of view, dom/sub situations, meta fic, or English characters saying 'gotten'. *g*
My recs on pinboard, my AO3 bookmarks, and my recs on LJ.
Now my requests, in alphabetical order.
Another Country - Julian Mitchell, (Guy Bennett (Another Country - Julian Mitchell), Tommy Judd (Another Country - Julian Mitchell))
I read the play years ago and remember seeing the movie a couple of times (I think the movie prompted me to buy the play text), but it was one of those plays that I loved, but in a quiet way. I didn't really think about it, or feel at all fannish about it. What made me request it this year was seeing Jamie Lloyd's wonderful production at the Trafalgar Studios in London over the summer. Guy Bennett was played by Rob Callender who perfectly encapsulated Bennett's flirtatiousness and wit, but also his vulnerability and his sense of utter frustration and anger and betrayal and hurt when he realises just how hard his life is going to be due to his sexuality. I would love to see any sort of missing scene during his school life, his university years perhaps, political debate with Judd if that takes your fancy, or encounters with other boys (sexual or otherwise, at school or during the holidays). I'm less interested in his later life, so I'd rather the story focussed on his early years. If you want to pair him with Judd or Harcourt, I'm happy with either, or equally happy with an essentially gen story.
I'm also perfectly open to the idea of an AU, whether a serious one (perhaps setting it in a different era, and playing with the differing attitudes to homosexuality) or an utterly crazy AU (perhaps Bennett is a sentient artificial intelligence, or they're at a school in a world in which boys are trained alongside dragons), or any of the other AU ideas I've suggested in the general notes.
You've probably noticed that I've concentrated on Bennett: Judd fascinated me too, and I'd love a story with both of them, but I'm also open to you focussing primarily or even purely on Bennett (i.e. I absolve you of the need to write both characters, Bennett is the only essential!)
Captive Prince - S. U. Pacat (Laurent (Captive Prince), Damen (Captive Prince))
I've tried hard to think what it is exactly that I love so much about these books, and it's the combination of a myriad different things. I love the politics and strategising, I love that we have an unreliable narrator so we have to read between the lines to try to determine what's true. I love the slow build up of the romance and the impossibility of it (and the desperate hope that Laurent and Damen can work things out). I love the world-building. I'm utterly fascinated by Laurent in particular, the way the persona he presents to the world at large is so at odds with the way he is with people who matter.
A few suggestions. A scene (either from the books, or a missing scene) from Laurent's point of view: having either a different unreliable narrator, or, if we assume he knows Damon's identity (I suspect he does, but you go with your gut feeling) a more reliable narrator, would be interesting. Or possibly they met many years ago, boys innocently straying across country lines, friends for a day. Or a future fic, either what happens next or something a year or two down the line; maybe they're both kings by now - how would that work out? Or Damon revealing his identity to Laurent - when does he do it, how does Laurent react, did Laurent know? Or Damen working out that the Regent abused Laurent as a child - how does Damon respond and how does Laurent react to his secret being revealed (my theory is that Laurent's brother protected him from the Regent, so when Damon killed him, Laurent lost not just a brother but his protector - if you want to play with this idea, that'd be wonderful). Or one of the moments in the book where Damen wonders what if their lives had played out differently (e.g. if he'd gone to Auguste and brokered peace and met Laurent then).
Obviously the book itself is very explicit, but go for whatever you feel comfortable with rating-wise. I've deliberately included prompts that can be written as virtually gen fic, and prompts that could potentially end up porny - I'm fine with either. If you go the porn route, though, I'll just note that one of things I most enjoy about the sex scenes in the book is the degree of emotion in them - it's never just sex for sex sake.
The Gates, Nick Monohan, Dylan Radcliff
I need more Dylan in my life! His friendship with Nick in particular, whether you look at that as unlikely allies or something more. I really started to love these two characters in episode four when Dylan saved Nick's life. The dynamic between them is what really appeals - the growing but reluctant trust, the feeling that they shouldn't be friends but they can't help but like and respect each other.
I'm still sad that this show was cancelled. But it does leave room for all sorts of 'what happened next stories', and plenty of room to make up backstory on Dylan. Or you could go the AU route, and transplant the two of them somewhere else altogether - another place or time or universe even! Or transplant other characters into The Gates - criminals, lawyers, vampires, werewolves, they could all cause problems for Dylan and Nick.
A few optional ideas. A case-fic would be cool, the two of them working together. Or misunderstandings, Nick turning against Dylan for some reason, only to have Dylan save the day. Or maybe Dylan has to turn Nick into a vampire, forming a bond between them - what problems ensue?
Gen or slash, any rating.
The Queen's Thief - Megan Whalen Turner, (Costis (Queen's Thief), Eugenides (Queen's Thief))
I've requested two characters in this fandom, both Costis and Eugenides, but I'm perfectly happy with either a story centring on Costis without Eugenides or a story about the two of them. You might have guessed by my choice of characters that book three is my favourite of the four: while I found Eugenides fascinating from the start, and enjoyed the slow reveal in book one, I just absolutely loved seeing Eugenides through Costis' eyes in the third book (my love of unreliable narrators shining through again). It's fun being in the know as the reader when the point of view character is blatantly mis-reading the situation. I also liked Costis' friendship with Aris: I didn't request Aris as a character, but if you fancy writing a story about Costis and Aris at some time period when Eugenides isn't around, that's cool. I'm also equally comfortable with canon pairings, slash (Costis/Eugenides, Costis/Aris, Eugenides/OMC), or gen.
I shall try to come up with some proper ideas over the next week, but in the meantime [sorry, life overtook me, so I never did manage that] I have vague ideas that court intrigue in which Costis is constantly one step behind in understanding might be fun, as would be Eugenides training Costis to be a thief, or a missing scene from book 3, or telling us what was happening to Costis during the events of book four. Or some other idea you might have! Again, I'm more than open to AUs: turn the neighbouring countries into rival spaceships or planets, transplant them into the modern era or the future, add dragons or daemons! I know, I have no shame!
I hope that's helpful. Just remember, optional details are optional, so if you have a story in mind, do ignore all my suggestions-they're only there as prompts if you need them, not as stories I must have!
And finally, THANK YOU!
Signe
Dear yuletide author,
Thank you so much for offering one (or, who knows, maybe more than one) of my fandoms!
I want this letter to be as helpful as possible, and as stress-free as possible, so if you're a writer full of ideas, then completely ignore all my optional details, but if you're looking blankly at your assignment and thinking help!, then I've tried to come up with as many different suggestions as possible, any of which you're welcome to run with, play with, or fiddle around to your heart's content. I'll link to my various recs pages in case you want to get a feel for what I've been reading lately, but I know time can be tight, and some writers might find that more off-putting that helpful, so again, use or not.
Okay, general stuff first.
I've requested three fandoms in which I'm genuinely equally happy to have gen or slash or canon het pairings - I know what it's like to panic at your yuletide assignment and worry you might end up writing the second-best option. In this case, no need for panic! Gen = ♥, slash = ♥, het = ♥. I read all ratings, so you can't go wrong there either. And ratings can be based on graphic language, violence, peril etc as well as sexual content, so I'll just add that I'm fine with any levels of those. Just as long as my characters are still alive at the end!
I like happy endings. I love snark and banter, developing relationships, a degree of schmoop, boys being boys, twisty plots, adventures, misunderstandings and little snap-shot of life moments. I love romance and drama and adventure and humour and crack. When it comes to relationship stories, I'm all about the journey - I love first times and UST. I often find little looks or casual brushes of fingers hotter than graphic porn. I enjoy clichés (huddling for warmth, pretending to be gay/a couple, secretly a robot/artificial intelligence), and I love AU's (boarding school, college, superheroes, dragons (of the sentient type), daemons (the His Dark Materials type), space adventures, robots, magic and more).
Crossovers or fusions can be great fun, so if you want to blend fandoms, or throw in characters from another fandom we're both familiar with (my LJ icons and recs pages are probably the best clues as to what fandoms I know), that'd be cool, whether it's as a major part of the plot or a blink-and-you'll-miss-it little touch. I'm always happy to hand-wave when it comes to timelines and fitting different characters in a story!
I gather one of the questions the yuletide mods get asked most is 'does my recipient like holiday stories?' - I'm easy either way!
I'm not easily squicked, and I don't have any triggers, but please don't kill any of my requested characters. I'd generally rather not have any non-con/rape (unless it's peripheral, and not of/by any of my requested characters) - the one exception here is Captive Prince where some of my optional details suggest a background of abuse. I normally don't like crossover pairings (I love crossovers, just not pairing people up from different fandoms if it breaks up a favourite pairing). I'm also not a fan of jealousy or possessiveness, first person point of view, dom/sub situations, meta fic, or English characters saying 'gotten'. *g*
My recs on pinboard, my AO3 bookmarks, and my recs on LJ.
Now my requests, in alphabetical order.
Another Country - Julian Mitchell, (Guy Bennett (Another Country - Julian Mitchell), Tommy Judd (Another Country - Julian Mitchell))
I read the play years ago and remember seeing the movie a couple of times (I think the movie prompted me to buy the play text), but it was one of those plays that I loved, but in a quiet way. I didn't really think about it, or feel at all fannish about it. What made me request it this year was seeing Jamie Lloyd's wonderful production at the Trafalgar Studios in London over the summer. Guy Bennett was played by Rob Callender who perfectly encapsulated Bennett's flirtatiousness and wit, but also his vulnerability and his sense of utter frustration and anger and betrayal and hurt when he realises just how hard his life is going to be due to his sexuality. I would love to see any sort of missing scene during his school life, his university years perhaps, political debate with Judd if that takes your fancy, or encounters with other boys (sexual or otherwise, at school or during the holidays). I'm less interested in his later life, so I'd rather the story focussed on his early years. If you want to pair him with Judd or Harcourt, I'm happy with either, or equally happy with an essentially gen story.
I'm also perfectly open to the idea of an AU, whether a serious one (perhaps setting it in a different era, and playing with the differing attitudes to homosexuality) or an utterly crazy AU (perhaps Bennett is a sentient artificial intelligence, or they're at a school in a world in which boys are trained alongside dragons), or any of the other AU ideas I've suggested in the general notes.
You've probably noticed that I've concentrated on Bennett: Judd fascinated me too, and I'd love a story with both of them, but I'm also open to you focussing primarily or even purely on Bennett (i.e. I absolve you of the need to write both characters, Bennett is the only essential!)
Captive Prince - S. U. Pacat (Laurent (Captive Prince), Damen (Captive Prince))
I've tried hard to think what it is exactly that I love so much about these books, and it's the combination of a myriad different things. I love the politics and strategising, I love that we have an unreliable narrator so we have to read between the lines to try to determine what's true. I love the slow build up of the romance and the impossibility of it (and the desperate hope that Laurent and Damen can work things out). I love the world-building. I'm utterly fascinated by Laurent in particular, the way the persona he presents to the world at large is so at odds with the way he is with people who matter.
A few suggestions. A scene (either from the books, or a missing scene) from Laurent's point of view: having either a different unreliable narrator, or, if we assume he knows Damon's identity (I suspect he does, but you go with your gut feeling) a more reliable narrator, would be interesting. Or possibly they met many years ago, boys innocently straying across country lines, friends for a day. Or a future fic, either what happens next or something a year or two down the line; maybe they're both kings by now - how would that work out? Or Damon revealing his identity to Laurent - when does he do it, how does Laurent react, did Laurent know? Or Damen working out that the Regent abused Laurent as a child - how does Damon respond and how does Laurent react to his secret being revealed (my theory is that Laurent's brother protected him from the Regent, so when Damon killed him, Laurent lost not just a brother but his protector - if you want to play with this idea, that'd be wonderful). Or one of the moments in the book where Damen wonders what if their lives had played out differently (e.g. if he'd gone to Auguste and brokered peace and met Laurent then).
Obviously the book itself is very explicit, but go for whatever you feel comfortable with rating-wise. I've deliberately included prompts that can be written as virtually gen fic, and prompts that could potentially end up porny - I'm fine with either. If you go the porn route, though, I'll just note that one of things I most enjoy about the sex scenes in the book is the degree of emotion in them - it's never just sex for sex sake.
The Gates, Nick Monohan, Dylan Radcliff
I need more Dylan in my life! His friendship with Nick in particular, whether you look at that as unlikely allies or something more. I really started to love these two characters in episode four when Dylan saved Nick's life. The dynamic between them is what really appeals - the growing but reluctant trust, the feeling that they shouldn't be friends but they can't help but like and respect each other.
I'm still sad that this show was cancelled. But it does leave room for all sorts of 'what happened next stories', and plenty of room to make up backstory on Dylan. Or you could go the AU route, and transplant the two of them somewhere else altogether - another place or time or universe even! Or transplant other characters into The Gates - criminals, lawyers, vampires, werewolves, they could all cause problems for Dylan and Nick.
A few optional ideas. A case-fic would be cool, the two of them working together. Or misunderstandings, Nick turning against Dylan for some reason, only to have Dylan save the day. Or maybe Dylan has to turn Nick into a vampire, forming a bond between them - what problems ensue?
Gen or slash, any rating.
The Queen's Thief - Megan Whalen Turner, (Costis (Queen's Thief), Eugenides (Queen's Thief))
I've requested two characters in this fandom, both Costis and Eugenides, but I'm perfectly happy with either a story centring on Costis without Eugenides or a story about the two of them. You might have guessed by my choice of characters that book three is my favourite of the four: while I found Eugenides fascinating from the start, and enjoyed the slow reveal in book one, I just absolutely loved seeing Eugenides through Costis' eyes in the third book (my love of unreliable narrators shining through again). It's fun being in the know as the reader when the point of view character is blatantly mis-reading the situation. I also liked Costis' friendship with Aris: I didn't request Aris as a character, but if you fancy writing a story about Costis and Aris at some time period when Eugenides isn't around, that's cool. I'm also equally comfortable with canon pairings, slash (Costis/Eugenides, Costis/Aris, Eugenides/OMC), or gen.
I shall try to come up with some proper ideas over the next week, but in the meantime [sorry, life overtook me, so I never did manage that] I have vague ideas that court intrigue in which Costis is constantly one step behind in understanding might be fun, as would be Eugenides training Costis to be a thief, or a missing scene from book 3, or telling us what was happening to Costis during the events of book four. Or some other idea you might have! Again, I'm more than open to AUs: turn the neighbouring countries into rival spaceships or planets, transplant them into the modern era or the future, add dragons or daemons! I know, I have no shame!
I hope that's helpful. Just remember, optional details are optional, so if you have a story in mind, do ignore all my suggestions-they're only there as prompts if you need them, not as stories I must have!
And finally, THANK YOU!
Signe