if it's October, it must be the beginning of Yulemas!
Dear Yulegoat:
Another Yuletide is upon us! I’m very happy that you’ll be writing me a fic--I really can’t wait to see what you’re going to make of my requests, which I realize are a little bit south of mainstream. This year I decided that, for the first time, I was going to put some real thought into what I’d like to receive (this is my third Yuletide, and for the first two I paid more attention to what I would offer than to what I might get). This is also the first year that I’m asking for fandoms that I’m not offering myself, since I thought that would spice everything up in an interesting way. You won’t find too much about me by stalking--I really only use LJ to read some blogs and to write my Dear Yulegoat letters, and I don’t really have a presence on Tumblr. You can read my fics on AO3--you’ll see that they’re mostly about Alicia/Kalinda from The Good Wife, which will always remain the fem slash pairing of my heart, even as canon has become wretchedly disappointing. But basically, I read a lot, watch a lot of movies, and am WAY too involved in television. If you write me a fic that explores complex feelings and gives me glimpses into characters beyond what we’re presented with canonically, I’ll be a very happy person. Don’t stress over this assignment--follow your muse, wherever it may lead!
So, without further ado, here are my asks:
Boyhood (2014)
I loved this movie--it deserved every bit of the hype that it received, and it should have received more. What I really grooved on were all the untold stories that were there; we had to skip over so much, and we had very little in the way of traditional narrative closure. I liked Mason fine as a character, but what really interest me are the supporting characters whose stories are never fully told. If you want to tell me more about Olivia’s journey to become the confident professor that she ends up being, or about what happened to Randy and Mindy after Mason’s family left them, I’ll be a very happy person. But any extension of this world in any way would please me very much.
Casablanca (1942)
This has been one of my favorite movies for a long, long time. I’m particularly interested in something from Ilsa’s perspective==was she just a prize to be passed between Rick and Victor as they gazed at each in manly accord at the sacrifices each was making, or was she really pulling the strings and controlling her own fate in a way that isn’t obvious in the movie? Yes, what I’m really hoping for is some sort of feminist retelling of the story, but if that isn’t your thing, anything that gives me some backstory of the characters, or some sense of what happened when the war finally end, would be much appreciated.
Felicity
I think there are two kinds of Felicity fans out there--the ones who thought that the final six episodes of season four were the stupidest things ever, and the kind who thought that they were brilliant meta-commentaries on the show as a whole, and hilarious in their own right. I’m in Camp B--I loved those episodes, which of course proved much more prophetic about what J. J. Abrams was going to turn into than anyone ever realized at the time. All this is by way of saying that I’d love any story that gave me an update on how Ben and Felicity are doing in the ten years since the show ended, and if you can manage to weave in Meghan, witchcraft, and time travel, I’ll be your slave for life.
Huge
This is one where truly anything goes--any character or combination of characters would make me incredibly happy. This was a brilliant show that was cancelled far too soon--it wasn’t one that could probably have sustained itself more than a few seasons at most, but it had so many more stories to tell when it was wrenched away from us, and the characters were all becoming deeper and more interesting with every passing episode. It was so unusual in style, and so brave, that I’m not surprised that it couldn’t make it, but I’d love it if some of what made it special could live on in fic. I was delighted to see it nominated this year, and I hope it generates some new stories for all of us to enjoy.
So that’s it! I’m very happy to make your acquaintance, and I hope you enjoy writing as much as I’ll enjoy reading what you give me. Happy holidays!