Dear 2011 Yuletide Santa
First of all, thanks so much for writing for me, and given that three out of the four fandoms I requested this year are teeny-tiny, I'm thrilled that someone else might be interested in them, too! I always try to give my Yuleauthors (Yulethors?) a lot of options because I know the matching process isn't always exact. That being said, if the prompts really aren't working for you and there's another story you want to tell, feel free to ditch the prompts entirely and do your own thing -- I'll still want to read that story.
Things I'm drawn to in fic! The list I have over here is still valid. To summarize: I love CONFLICT and CONSEQUENCES, whatever forms they might take; I love seeing how the macro- affects the micro-; I love struggle and recovery and things that don't come easily and things that don't work out as planned and things that must be dealt with and strength that comes from unexpected places.
I also like: facepunching, moral complexity, the occasional happy ending, the occasional less-literal-more-euphemistic happy ending, cocky sons-of-bitches, long slow seductions, people who never get to make out, people who do get to make out, people who have to jump through rings of fire before they can make out, goofballs, brilliant and self-destructive people (who are also sometimes goofballs), and issues of agency and authority.
I like the phenomenon known as manpain, which itself is shorthand for the suppression of emotions in the face of adversity. I don't like it when women specifically are suppressing these emotions because of gendered violence. A woman being unable to articulate her love for another woman because she sees her making out with some dude is fine. A woman unable to articulate as much because she's been abused by said dude is less fine. I really don't like infallible protagonists, ignoring consequences, Big Misunderstandings, romanticizing or excusing dark content, and easy answers.
I'm comfortable with any and all ratings and quite a few pairings, too, as long as you make me believe the sex/violence/etc. within the context of the story. I definitely like porn, and a lot of my prompts lend themselves rather well to that if you're so inclined, but porn isn't necessary if that isn't your thing. Genrewise, I like everything from romance to horror to humor, as long as there's conflict in it somewhere. (So non-sequitur-derived humor and fluff/sap don't really do it for me.) Happy endings are fine, unhappy endings are fine, endings that are a little bit of both are fine, as long as the characters have earned them through their actions and through the consequences of those actions. I am generally not a big fan of fix-it fic, and am not interested in reading it for any of the canons I requested.
Chaos Walking - Patrick Ness
Davy Prentiss, David Prentiss, Ben Moore
So there are a few stories I'd love to see for this fandom, and I'd be equally happy with any of them. I'm really interested in backstory!fic for these three characters, though in Davy's case, I'd also love to see more of his journey over the course of The Ask and The Answer: how his perspectives on Todd and on his father change (and what he thinks of Todd's changes), how he deals with his growing discomfort with what he's being asked to do, what questions and fears and desires he's forced to confront. Davy's initiation into manhood also fascinates me. What happened to him? Did he know what he was in for? Who did he kill? How did he feel about about the entire process, and did that change over the course of it?
There's also a lot of juicy backstory to mine for Mayor Prentiss, and I'd love to see your take on his experiences during the Spackle War and how they led him to develop his method of controlling his Noise -- and when he realized he could control others with it. The revelation at the end of Monsters of Men that he can hear the Noise of the entire planet, and that it's not in his nature to not try and control it, fascinates me too.
Ben's a character I can't get enough of, and I'd love to know about his experiences with the Spackle War and the resulting changes in Prentisstown, and particularly how all of that played out in his friendship with Todd's mother. The interplay between Ben and the Sky also intrigues me, and I'd love to see their conversations, their exchange of worldviews, and how Ben learns to use his Noise like one of the Land.
I threw out a lot of options for this one, I know, but I want to stress that you certainly don't have to try to incorporate all of them in one fic! Pick the seed of a story that interests you the most and see how that one grows. I'll add that I'm drawn a lot to the world of Chaos Walking, to the interplay of emptiness and intimacy, frontier life and futuristic technology, and that I'd love to see the effect of the world itself on any of the characters I requested. I'm more interested in the aftermath of the war than in the war itself, because I always found the violence in Chaos Walking more effective when it was frighteningly personal, but if you have a good war story in mind, go ahead and tell it.
Given the events of the canon, a fair amount of these requests involve the depiction or at least presence of gendered violence. If you'd prefer not to focus on that, I completely understand (it's hard for me to read, too); if you do go there, I ask that the violence visited upon the women of Prentisstown not be treated as a vehicle for a man's angst.
(If you decide to write about Ben, I'm also very interested in his relationship with Cillian -- I read it as a romantic relationship, given how Todd and 1017 and Ben himself describe their bond, and I'd love to see that at least acknowledged, but you don't have to make that the focus of the story.)
Wolves of Mercy Falls series by Maggie Stiefvater
Isabel Culpeper, Cole St. Clair
There are a lot of either missing or only hinted-at moments between Cole and Isabel over the course of the series, and I'd love to see you fill in the blanks and tell me more about one of them. We know that sometime after Cole re-infected Grace, Isabel propositioned him and he turned her down. How did that play out? Why did Isabel need to ask, and why did Cole say no? I'm also dying to know what happened after Chapter Fifty-eight, which lasts all of three lines and ends with Cole telling Isabel to ask him in. Does she? What does he want? What happens after that? A post-series story about the development of Cole and Isabel's relationship after she goes back to California would also be more than welcome, whether it's a series of phone conversations or whether Cole does actually manage to visit her there or whether it's something in-between.
I know at least two out of three of these requests imply sex, or at least attempts at sex, and while I'm all for that, I'm also fine with scenes of them trying to work out what their relationship is, exactly. I'm drawn to the contrast between Isabel and Cole and Sam and Grace -- Sam and Grace face a number of of trials, but they know how they feel and what they want, and Isabel and Cole are on more uncertain ground. They're both carrying a lot of pain around, and they're both struggling with how to process that, and I find that struggle a lot more compelling than the resolution. I don't want things to end on a bad note (in the long term, at least), but I don't want everything to be neatly resolved, either. Make it complicated! Make it fraught! I promise I'll eat it up with a spoon.
Suikoden V
Lucretia Merces and Lelei
I love these two so much, and getting to see the development of their relationship would make me squeak with joy. According to Oboro, Lelei was one of Lucretia's guards at Agate Prison and "fell for her pretty -- I MEAN, she was moved by Lucretia's plight." So just how did Lucretia win Lelei over? (I think it's safe to say that Lucretia's plight wasn't the only thing that moved Lelei.) How did Lelei's feelings for Lucretia shift over time -- and how aware was she both of Lucretia's pretty face and Lucretia's possible ulterior motives? When did Lucretia start teaching Lelei strategy? Postgame fic for these two would also be awesome. We know they disappeared together, and that Lelei reappeared some time later as a brilliant strategist in her own right. Where did they go? What conflicts did they find themselves involved in, and what role did they play in those. (Did they run into any Silverbergs?)
And if you want to go the straight-up porn route with these two, that's fine by me.
The wording of my request focuses a lot on what drew Lelei to Lucretia, but I'm also curious about what drew Lucretia to Lelei. I really dislike interpretations of Lelei as Lucretia's dupe, or interpretations where Lucretia only seduces Lelei to gain her loyalty. I don't think Lucretia would spend so much time training Lelei if she didn't recognize her potential (and if she didn't actually like spending time with her), and I think Lelei can be both devoted to her Lady and self-aware enough to recognize what Lucretia's getting out of all of this. In fact, I rather like the idea that Lelei knowing what Lucretia's up to doesn't diminish her devotion at all.
Though I don't necessarily need to see porn in this one -- though god knows I'd be all over the porn if you do want to head in that direction -- I do want Lucretia and Lelei to be clearly acknowledged as lovers. Between Oboro's investigation results, the nature of some of Lucretia and Lelei's conversations (and Lelei standing guard inside Lucretia's room), and what both of them do after the game's end, I feel that the canon makes an unambiguous statement about the nature of their relationship even if the Prince never walks in on them making out. And quite frankly, there are few enough canonically queer characters in JRPGs, let alone canonically queer women in relationships in JRPGs, that erasing this one makes me extremely uncomfortable.
Othello - Shakespeare
Iago, Emilia
Iago and Emilia don't have a whole lot of direct interaction in the play, but what they do have -- and what they say about each other -- fascinates me. They've been married for quite some time, we know; how did they meet? What did they first think about each other, and how did that change? What secrets have they learned to keep? Emilia's "I think it is the husband's fault if wives do fall" monologue is especially interesting in this regard. Is she speaking from personal experience, and if so, what happened? Iago mentions in the very beginning of the play that there are rumors that Othello has slept with Emilia -- is that true?
Quick note: don't feel as though this one has to be in play format or verse format. If you're inclined in that direction, go you, but I'd love to sink my teeth into some good prose, too. Iago and Emilia have always been one of the most fascinating couples in Shakespeare to me, in large part because there's so much history there, and so much knowledge that they have of each other -- and a lot of self-awareness, too. I wonder if they ever loved each other at all (and in some ways I think it's more interesting if they did), and I wonder how their relationship soured to the state that it's in during the play. Emilia in particular intrigues me -- she doesn't seem to have many illusions about the kind of man her husband is, but she still steals the handkerchief for him. Why? What does she think he's up to?
Thanks so much, Yuletide Santa. I can't wait to see what you come up with!
- Puel/Aquila
.
Things I'm drawn to in fic! The list I have over here is still valid. To summarize: I love CONFLICT and CONSEQUENCES, whatever forms they might take; I love seeing how the macro- affects the micro-; I love struggle and recovery and things that don't come easily and things that don't work out as planned and things that must be dealt with and strength that comes from unexpected places.
I also like: facepunching, moral complexity, the occasional happy ending, the occasional less-literal-more-euphemistic happy ending, cocky sons-of-bitches, long slow seductions, people who never get to make out, people who do get to make out, people who have to jump through rings of fire before they can make out, goofballs, brilliant and self-destructive people (who are also sometimes goofballs), and issues of agency and authority.
I like the phenomenon known as manpain, which itself is shorthand for the suppression of emotions in the face of adversity. I don't like it when women specifically are suppressing these emotions because of gendered violence. A woman being unable to articulate her love for another woman because she sees her making out with some dude is fine. A woman unable to articulate as much because she's been abused by said dude is less fine. I really don't like infallible protagonists, ignoring consequences, Big Misunderstandings, romanticizing or excusing dark content, and easy answers.
I'm comfortable with any and all ratings and quite a few pairings, too, as long as you make me believe the sex/violence/etc. within the context of the story. I definitely like porn, and a lot of my prompts lend themselves rather well to that if you're so inclined, but porn isn't necessary if that isn't your thing. Genrewise, I like everything from romance to horror to humor, as long as there's conflict in it somewhere. (So non-sequitur-derived humor and fluff/sap don't really do it for me.) Happy endings are fine, unhappy endings are fine, endings that are a little bit of both are fine, as long as the characters have earned them through their actions and through the consequences of those actions. I am generally not a big fan of fix-it fic, and am not interested in reading it for any of the canons I requested.
Chaos Walking - Patrick Ness
Davy Prentiss, David Prentiss, Ben Moore
So there are a few stories I'd love to see for this fandom, and I'd be equally happy with any of them. I'm really interested in backstory!fic for these three characters, though in Davy's case, I'd also love to see more of his journey over the course of The Ask and The Answer: how his perspectives on Todd and on his father change (and what he thinks of Todd's changes), how he deals with his growing discomfort with what he's being asked to do, what questions and fears and desires he's forced to confront. Davy's initiation into manhood also fascinates me. What happened to him? Did he know what he was in for? Who did he kill? How did he feel about about the entire process, and did that change over the course of it?
There's also a lot of juicy backstory to mine for Mayor Prentiss, and I'd love to see your take on his experiences during the Spackle War and how they led him to develop his method of controlling his Noise -- and when he realized he could control others with it. The revelation at the end of Monsters of Men that he can hear the Noise of the entire planet, and that it's not in his nature to not try and control it, fascinates me too.
Ben's a character I can't get enough of, and I'd love to know about his experiences with the Spackle War and the resulting changes in Prentisstown, and particularly how all of that played out in his friendship with Todd's mother. The interplay between Ben and the Sky also intrigues me, and I'd love to see their conversations, their exchange of worldviews, and how Ben learns to use his Noise like one of the Land.
I threw out a lot of options for this one, I know, but I want to stress that you certainly don't have to try to incorporate all of them in one fic! Pick the seed of a story that interests you the most and see how that one grows. I'll add that I'm drawn a lot to the world of Chaos Walking, to the interplay of emptiness and intimacy, frontier life and futuristic technology, and that I'd love to see the effect of the world itself on any of the characters I requested. I'm more interested in the aftermath of the war than in the war itself, because I always found the violence in Chaos Walking more effective when it was frighteningly personal, but if you have a good war story in mind, go ahead and tell it.
Given the events of the canon, a fair amount of these requests involve the depiction or at least presence of gendered violence. If you'd prefer not to focus on that, I completely understand (it's hard for me to read, too); if you do go there, I ask that the violence visited upon the women of Prentisstown not be treated as a vehicle for a man's angst.
(If you decide to write about Ben, I'm also very interested in his relationship with Cillian -- I read it as a romantic relationship, given how Todd and 1017 and Ben himself describe their bond, and I'd love to see that at least acknowledged, but you don't have to make that the focus of the story.)
Wolves of Mercy Falls series by Maggie Stiefvater
Isabel Culpeper, Cole St. Clair
There are a lot of either missing or only hinted-at moments between Cole and Isabel over the course of the series, and I'd love to see you fill in the blanks and tell me more about one of them. We know that sometime after Cole re-infected Grace, Isabel propositioned him and he turned her down. How did that play out? Why did Isabel need to ask, and why did Cole say no? I'm also dying to know what happened after Chapter Fifty-eight, which lasts all of three lines and ends with Cole telling Isabel to ask him in. Does she? What does he want? What happens after that? A post-series story about the development of Cole and Isabel's relationship after she goes back to California would also be more than welcome, whether it's a series of phone conversations or whether Cole does actually manage to visit her there or whether it's something in-between.
I know at least two out of three of these requests imply sex, or at least attempts at sex, and while I'm all for that, I'm also fine with scenes of them trying to work out what their relationship is, exactly. I'm drawn to the contrast between Isabel and Cole and Sam and Grace -- Sam and Grace face a number of of trials, but they know how they feel and what they want, and Isabel and Cole are on more uncertain ground. They're both carrying a lot of pain around, and they're both struggling with how to process that, and I find that struggle a lot more compelling than the resolution. I don't want things to end on a bad note (in the long term, at least), but I don't want everything to be neatly resolved, either. Make it complicated! Make it fraught! I promise I'll eat it up with a spoon.
Suikoden V
Lucretia Merces and Lelei
I love these two so much, and getting to see the development of their relationship would make me squeak with joy. According to Oboro, Lelei was one of Lucretia's guards at Agate Prison and "fell for her pretty -- I MEAN, she was moved by Lucretia's plight." So just how did Lucretia win Lelei over? (I think it's safe to say that Lucretia's plight wasn't the only thing that moved Lelei.) How did Lelei's feelings for Lucretia shift over time -- and how aware was she both of Lucretia's pretty face and Lucretia's possible ulterior motives? When did Lucretia start teaching Lelei strategy? Postgame fic for these two would also be awesome. We know they disappeared together, and that Lelei reappeared some time later as a brilliant strategist in her own right. Where did they go? What conflicts did they find themselves involved in, and what role did they play in those. (Did they run into any Silverbergs?)
And if you want to go the straight-up porn route with these two, that's fine by me.
The wording of my request focuses a lot on what drew Lelei to Lucretia, but I'm also curious about what drew Lucretia to Lelei. I really dislike interpretations of Lelei as Lucretia's dupe, or interpretations where Lucretia only seduces Lelei to gain her loyalty. I don't think Lucretia would spend so much time training Lelei if she didn't recognize her potential (and if she didn't actually like spending time with her), and I think Lelei can be both devoted to her Lady and self-aware enough to recognize what Lucretia's getting out of all of this. In fact, I rather like the idea that Lelei knowing what Lucretia's up to doesn't diminish her devotion at all.
Though I don't necessarily need to see porn in this one -- though god knows I'd be all over the porn if you do want to head in that direction -- I do want Lucretia and Lelei to be clearly acknowledged as lovers. Between Oboro's investigation results, the nature of some of Lucretia and Lelei's conversations (and Lelei standing guard inside Lucretia's room), and what both of them do after the game's end, I feel that the canon makes an unambiguous statement about the nature of their relationship even if the Prince never walks in on them making out. And quite frankly, there are few enough canonically queer characters in JRPGs, let alone canonically queer women in relationships in JRPGs, that erasing this one makes me extremely uncomfortable.
Othello - Shakespeare
Iago, Emilia
Iago and Emilia don't have a whole lot of direct interaction in the play, but what they do have -- and what they say about each other -- fascinates me. They've been married for quite some time, we know; how did they meet? What did they first think about each other, and how did that change? What secrets have they learned to keep? Emilia's "I think it is the husband's fault if wives do fall" monologue is especially interesting in this regard. Is she speaking from personal experience, and if so, what happened? Iago mentions in the very beginning of the play that there are rumors that Othello has slept with Emilia -- is that true?
Quick note: don't feel as though this one has to be in play format or verse format. If you're inclined in that direction, go you, but I'd love to sink my teeth into some good prose, too. Iago and Emilia have always been one of the most fascinating couples in Shakespeare to me, in large part because there's so much history there, and so much knowledge that they have of each other -- and a lot of self-awareness, too. I wonder if they ever loved each other at all (and in some ways I think it's more interesting if they did), and I wonder how their relationship soured to the state that it's in during the play. Emilia in particular intrigues me -- she doesn't seem to have many illusions about the kind of man her husband is, but she still steals the handkerchief for him. Why? What does she think he's up to?
Thanks so much, Yuletide Santa. I can't wait to see what you come up with!
- Puel/Aquila
.