Yuletide Dear Author: Now The Real Thing!
Text will go here as soon as I finish gushing in Yuletide glee!
WELL THAT TOOK LONGER THAN IT SHOULD HAVE. So sorry, Author!
Dear Yuletide Writer:
First off, thank you for offering to write one of my beloved tiny fandoms! I’m so excited they got in this year and I can’t wait to see what glorious words you come up with.
General likes: I like character moments and witty dialog and fun plots and little details coming back. I’m fond of interesting gender dynamics and female characters being awesome and various queer themes. I like it when darker implications of canon are fleshed out, and I also like pure joyful fluff. And snark. I pretty much never don’t like snark.
I generally like interesting story devices-textbook excerpt? Mythology? Letters? I’m fine with both first and third (two of my canons are in third!). I’m a little more leery of second, but if you think of an interesting way to use it, I won’t say no to that either!
General dislikes: I’m not looking for porn, and if there’s pairings (gen is good too!), I’m not a big fan of sappy stuff. Snark is more my native language! I’m also really not fond of possessiveness or jealousy.
Action/adventure violence is fine, but I’m more likely to enjoy it at a PG-PG13 level than R!
I really don’t like extended awkward misunderstandings…like, misunderstanding is fine, but having characters continually not asking the obvious questions is awkward and painful to me.
And now, the specific fandoms!
Star Trek: Fortunes of War - Any (Piper, Sarda, Merete, Scanner)
Oh man, nostalgia central for me. Had these books growing up, and they still make me laugh whenever I go back to reread them. My favorite thing is probably Piper’s snarky internal monolog.
Ideas: Adventure fic is always fun, if you like to plot! Or maybe something when they were in the academy? Futurefic with Captain Piper on her (second) command? I totally ship Piper/Sarda, but I don’t think they’re figured it out yet. Or gen, I love gen! Friendship fic! Teamfic! Single character pieces! Maybe more adventure on the Banana Republic! Maybe a drinking contest with some Klingons! Maybe Piper and Scanner snarking about EVERYTHING! Maybe Merete and Scanner string in silent confusion at the humans’ shenanigans! Maybe a cameo by Scanner’s Gorn roommate!
Seriously, I’m just throwing stuff out in glorious glee. Go wild!
Star’s Reach: - Any (Berry, Trey, Eleen, Thu)
A new favorite! I really love the worldbuilding here, and how you get to see what’s going on in bits and pieces. Also, I only had four slots to nominate here, but don’t feel limited to those characters. In fact, feel free to disregard all of them and go for OCs and worldbuilding. Future history? Alien pen pals? Maybe something about first contact while everything was falling apart?
One squick that’s relevant here: burying alive. So maybe don’t focus on that one bit.
If you feel like it, I was really interested in the gender dynamics here, too-both the lines between men and women, and how they’re different but still there, and also the status of tweens and maybe how that could change because of Berry. But if gender studies isn’t your deal, no worries!
Another detail I also like was the sound changes and little linguistic details. But again, if you’re not an amateur (or professional!) linguist, don’t sweat it.
The occult imagery is interesting too! A tarot theme could be interesting, given the Rememberers-or alien astrology? It wasn’t in there, but it could be!
There could be another of Trey’s notebooks, or some of the collected stories about Thu, or more about Eleen’s time at the Versity, or something about Berry (and Sam?)-maybe something from when he was a kid, or after he was elected!
Hellspark - Any (Tocohl, Maggy, Alfvaen, Geremy, Buntec, Edge-of-Dark, swift-Kalat, Nevelen Darragh)
Oh man, I was SO EXCITED when I found out there was actually a small but extant set of Yuletiders who were into Hellspark!
I love the worldbuilding and “voice” here, as well as the (admittedly exaggerated) linguistics. I love all the little details that show up offhandedly and build on each other to make the story-world what it is!
I’d love to see a bit of one of the planets mentioned, or maybe something with Maggy and Geremy’s ship! Maybe something of Hellspark itself! Maybe some cute Alfvaen/swift-Kalat or snarky Buntec/Edge-of-Dark! (Friendship or shippy or ???, it’s all good to me!)
Or the Spookjes! They didn’t get nominated, but they’re cool too if you want to! In fact, you have my permission to ignore the nomination and write and character at ALL, no matter how obscure, if that’s what you want to do!
But as for who DID gey nominated-!
Let’s see…Tocohl and Maggy, doing, like…anything, pretty much! Or the survey team members, doing another survey! Or morose Geremy acting as a judge’s aid to Nevelen Darragh! Case study? Maybe past-fic about how they rescued Alfvaen?
Or even just two completely random characters doing a thing. Buntec and Darragh at a bar. Geremy and swift-Kalat at a botany conference. Maggy and Edge-of-Dark looking for a kidnapped Tocohl. I have absolutely no idea but I would be giddy with happiness at pretty much anything!
WELL THAT TOOK LONGER THAN IT SHOULD HAVE. So sorry, Author!
Dear Yuletide Writer:
First off, thank you for offering to write one of my beloved tiny fandoms! I’m so excited they got in this year and I can’t wait to see what glorious words you come up with.
General likes: I like character moments and witty dialog and fun plots and little details coming back. I’m fond of interesting gender dynamics and female characters being awesome and various queer themes. I like it when darker implications of canon are fleshed out, and I also like pure joyful fluff. And snark. I pretty much never don’t like snark.
I generally like interesting story devices-textbook excerpt? Mythology? Letters? I’m fine with both first and third (two of my canons are in third!). I’m a little more leery of second, but if you think of an interesting way to use it, I won’t say no to that either!
General dislikes: I’m not looking for porn, and if there’s pairings (gen is good too!), I’m not a big fan of sappy stuff. Snark is more my native language! I’m also really not fond of possessiveness or jealousy.
Action/adventure violence is fine, but I’m more likely to enjoy it at a PG-PG13 level than R!
I really don’t like extended awkward misunderstandings…like, misunderstanding is fine, but having characters continually not asking the obvious questions is awkward and painful to me.
And now, the specific fandoms!
Star Trek: Fortunes of War - Any (Piper, Sarda, Merete, Scanner)
Oh man, nostalgia central for me. Had these books growing up, and they still make me laugh whenever I go back to reread them. My favorite thing is probably Piper’s snarky internal monolog.
Ideas: Adventure fic is always fun, if you like to plot! Or maybe something when they were in the academy? Futurefic with Captain Piper on her (second) command? I totally ship Piper/Sarda, but I don’t think they’re figured it out yet. Or gen, I love gen! Friendship fic! Teamfic! Single character pieces! Maybe more adventure on the Banana Republic! Maybe a drinking contest with some Klingons! Maybe Piper and Scanner snarking about EVERYTHING! Maybe Merete and Scanner string in silent confusion at the humans’ shenanigans! Maybe a cameo by Scanner’s Gorn roommate!
Seriously, I’m just throwing stuff out in glorious glee. Go wild!
Star’s Reach: - Any (Berry, Trey, Eleen, Thu)
A new favorite! I really love the worldbuilding here, and how you get to see what’s going on in bits and pieces. Also, I only had four slots to nominate here, but don’t feel limited to those characters. In fact, feel free to disregard all of them and go for OCs and worldbuilding. Future history? Alien pen pals? Maybe something about first contact while everything was falling apart?
One squick that’s relevant here: burying alive. So maybe don’t focus on that one bit.
If you feel like it, I was really interested in the gender dynamics here, too-both the lines between men and women, and how they’re different but still there, and also the status of tweens and maybe how that could change because of Berry. But if gender studies isn’t your deal, no worries!
Another detail I also like was the sound changes and little linguistic details. But again, if you’re not an amateur (or professional!) linguist, don’t sweat it.
The occult imagery is interesting too! A tarot theme could be interesting, given the Rememberers-or alien astrology? It wasn’t in there, but it could be!
There could be another of Trey’s notebooks, or some of the collected stories about Thu, or more about Eleen’s time at the Versity, or something about Berry (and Sam?)-maybe something from when he was a kid, or after he was elected!
Hellspark - Any (Tocohl, Maggy, Alfvaen, Geremy, Buntec, Edge-of-Dark, swift-Kalat, Nevelen Darragh)
Oh man, I was SO EXCITED when I found out there was actually a small but extant set of Yuletiders who were into Hellspark!
I love the worldbuilding and “voice” here, as well as the (admittedly exaggerated) linguistics. I love all the little details that show up offhandedly and build on each other to make the story-world what it is!
I’d love to see a bit of one of the planets mentioned, or maybe something with Maggy and Geremy’s ship! Maybe something of Hellspark itself! Maybe some cute Alfvaen/swift-Kalat or snarky Buntec/Edge-of-Dark! (Friendship or shippy or ???, it’s all good to me!)
Or the Spookjes! They didn’t get nominated, but they’re cool too if you want to! In fact, you have my permission to ignore the nomination and write and character at ALL, no matter how obscure, if that’s what you want to do!
But as for who DID gey nominated-!
Let’s see…Tocohl and Maggy, doing, like…anything, pretty much! Or the survey team members, doing another survey! Or morose Geremy acting as a judge’s aid to Nevelen Darragh! Case study? Maybe past-fic about how they rescued Alfvaen?
Or even just two completely random characters doing a thing. Buntec and Darragh at a bar. Geremy and swift-Kalat at a botany conference. Maggy and Edge-of-Dark looking for a kidnapped Tocohl. I have absolutely no idea but I would be giddy with happiness at pretty much anything!