Dear author letter...
Note: My AO3 name is TeaRoses
Dear Yuletide author:
Thank you so much for offering to write a fic for me. I know I will enjoy it. I did put some guidelines and suggestions in this letter but optional details are optional and I wouldn't want to see you frustrated by my letter.
Here are some things I am totally OK with: Fluff. Angst. Fluffy angst. Angsty fluff. Gen. Femslash. M/M slash. Het. Alternate Timeline. Alternate Universe. Serious fic. Funny fic.
Here are a few things I especially like, but this is just for your consideration. I would love a fic just as much even if it doesn't have any of these. Kissing. Cuddling. People dressing up in fancy clothes. Mysterious and surreal scenes. Unrequited love becoming requited. People quoting literature or poetry. Hurt/comfort, including emotional hurt/comfort. Telephone conversations. Internet conversations.
There are a few things I definitely don't want in my fic. I'm not saying they are all the same type of thing because they definitely aren't. These are: Any kink involving severe pain, injury, playing with body fluids, or humiliation. Mpreg. Rape or dubious consent. Pedophilia. Someone having a miscarriage. Cannibalism. (This includes pokemon being eaten.) Incest. Fart jokes. (Specifically just that. Other types of silly humor are totally fine.) Extended descriptions of people hunting animals or eating meat. (Mentioning it is fine.)
Also please no polyamorous relationships, even though they might be a good solution in at least one of my requests. I think they are an awesome thing in real life, and I hate even listing it, but I just don't want any in my fic this year.
However there is one thing I want to emphasize: I want to read the fic you want to write. If you are sitting there thinking "She doesn't really say, but I wonder if she'd like a fic about _____," the answer is yes. I write a letter because some authors really love suggestions, not because I want a fic designed to my exact specifications.
Also there are no writing styles or perspectives that I categorically don't like. Feel free to use the first person or anything else you want if that's what you think works for the story.
These are my requests. I may have more to say about some than others but I love them all equally and I'm looking forward to anything you might write.
Die Ärzte: Farin Urlaub, Bela B
I would love a fic about Farin and Bela. I just love how fun these guys are and how they have so much history together, and the fact that they turn the stage gay up to eleven doesn't hurt! Really anything would be great, a slash or gen fic set at any time in their lives.
I don't want a sad ending with this prompt, and I hope that doesn't put a burden on you as a writer. I don't mean the fic has to be sunshine and rainbows, just that no one ends up broken-hearted or miserable or dead. I also don't want any bashing of anyone's real-life partner, past or present. Feel free not to mention them at all. But handle it however you want as long as no one is bashed.
Other than that, go anywhere you want with it, whatever works for you. A gen fic is just as welcome as a slash fic. You could even go wild with this and write some AU where they're vampires or pirates or whatever sounds fun to you. Feel free to include Rod in a non-romantic way if you want, though of course you don't have to.
A few ideas I'm throwing out: Bela meeting Farin when Farin returns home from a vacation, or going along with him. Events in the fic turning out to be the inspiration for song lyrics. Bela and Farin playing practical jokes on each other. (Or on Rod if you do want to include him.)
Smut is welcome but of course totally optional.
Note: I do talk about how fun they are but if you want to go somewhere more serious and angsty with this I could really get into that too. I just don't want a sad ending.
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Celebi, Jupitoru | Grovyle
I love these games way too much. They are such a combination of cute and scary and just so much fun. I love the characterization. It's kind of funny that the pokemon in this game get way more characterization that the humans in the main series games.
I've always been charmed by the relationship between Celebi and Grovyle and I was so happy to see them get nominated this year. I'm curious about their backstory - they seem to know each other very well. How did Grovyle meet a human in the first place and was Celebi involved with that at all? I'm also curious about what happened to them after game events (going with their side story in Explorers of Sky.) Then again an in-game fic would also be great, since they end up being very central to the plot.
I think it's hinted pretty strongly that Celebi has some romantic feelings for Grovyle, but we don't really know his feelings. So a ship fic would be fine and so would a gen fic. I would really rather not read actual smut about Pokemon however.
Die Perfekte Diktatur: Narrator, Narrator's Love Interest
Honestly the first time I read the lyrics to this song I was blown away by it. I think it packs a heck of a lot of story and world-building into one song. I'm curious about the narrator -- Is he simply evil, did something happen to make him that way, did he ever really love the love interest at all? They knew each other since they were kids, was that before the regime took over? Does he really witness the execution and how does he feel?
Obviously this is a very depressing song, so don't be afraid to write a depressing fic. That said, if you have an idea that goes in another direction that's fine too.
I refer to the Narrator as "he" because it's a male singer singing the song, but the song clearly isn't meant to be about Farin Urlaub so in my opinion it doesn't even have to be about a man. I'm also not particularly attached to the love interest being any particular gender. (Also it doesn't actually say they are/were in love, I just refer to the other character as "love interest" for convenience. So if you want to write a fic where they never had that kind of relationship that's fine too.)
Here is a link to my English translation of the song: http://lyricstranslate.com/en/die-perfekte-diktatur-perfect-dictatorship.html (Note: I am not fluent in German but my friend who is a native speaker edited the translation.)
The song itself is on Youtube as a live performance. The original studio version is available on iTunes in the U.S., Germany, and possibly other places.
Caritas Spot: Ich rette die Welt (Caritas Commercial): Little boy dressed as Batman, Little boy dressed as Superman, Little girl
I found this commercial while looking for Madsen songs on Youtube and I was so charmed by it. Every year I mean to nominate it and somehow don't, so this year I finally did.
Really whatever inspires you would be fun for this. It seems to me like a good setting for magical adventures of some kind, perhaps rescuing people or saving the world or the immediate area, but a fic that's just about a bunch of kids doing acts of kindness would be great too. How exactly did they get inspired to do this? Or maybe when they're grown up they look back on their childhoods? Maybe they become adult superheros, or maybe they just become adults who had interesting childhoods?
A few notes: While adventure and a certain amount of danger are fine, I'd rather the fic doesn't contain anything dark and terrible happening to children. Also, there is another little boy who I think is dressed as Spider-man who for some reason I didn't end up nominating -- feel free to include him or not. Just so you know, references to the "real" grown-up superheros are of course fine but please keep in mind that I only know them from popular movies so in-jokes from the comics will go right over my head.
Here is a link to the commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6VE_DWDSrM
Dear Yuletide author:
Thank you so much for offering to write a fic for me. I know I will enjoy it. I did put some guidelines and suggestions in this letter but optional details are optional and I wouldn't want to see you frustrated by my letter.
Here are some things I am totally OK with: Fluff. Angst. Fluffy angst. Angsty fluff. Gen. Femslash. M/M slash. Het. Alternate Timeline. Alternate Universe. Serious fic. Funny fic.
Here are a few things I especially like, but this is just for your consideration. I would love a fic just as much even if it doesn't have any of these. Kissing. Cuddling. People dressing up in fancy clothes. Mysterious and surreal scenes. Unrequited love becoming requited. People quoting literature or poetry. Hurt/comfort, including emotional hurt/comfort. Telephone conversations. Internet conversations.
There are a few things I definitely don't want in my fic. I'm not saying they are all the same type of thing because they definitely aren't. These are: Any kink involving severe pain, injury, playing with body fluids, or humiliation. Mpreg. Rape or dubious consent. Pedophilia. Someone having a miscarriage. Cannibalism. (This includes pokemon being eaten.) Incest. Fart jokes. (Specifically just that. Other types of silly humor are totally fine.) Extended descriptions of people hunting animals or eating meat. (Mentioning it is fine.)
Also please no polyamorous relationships, even though they might be a good solution in at least one of my requests. I think they are an awesome thing in real life, and I hate even listing it, but I just don't want any in my fic this year.
However there is one thing I want to emphasize: I want to read the fic you want to write. If you are sitting there thinking "She doesn't really say, but I wonder if she'd like a fic about _____," the answer is yes. I write a letter because some authors really love suggestions, not because I want a fic designed to my exact specifications.
Also there are no writing styles or perspectives that I categorically don't like. Feel free to use the first person or anything else you want if that's what you think works for the story.
These are my requests. I may have more to say about some than others but I love them all equally and I'm looking forward to anything you might write.
Die Ärzte: Farin Urlaub, Bela B
I would love a fic about Farin and Bela. I just love how fun these guys are and how they have so much history together, and the fact that they turn the stage gay up to eleven doesn't hurt! Really anything would be great, a slash or gen fic set at any time in their lives.
I don't want a sad ending with this prompt, and I hope that doesn't put a burden on you as a writer. I don't mean the fic has to be sunshine and rainbows, just that no one ends up broken-hearted or miserable or dead. I also don't want any bashing of anyone's real-life partner, past or present. Feel free not to mention them at all. But handle it however you want as long as no one is bashed.
Other than that, go anywhere you want with it, whatever works for you. A gen fic is just as welcome as a slash fic. You could even go wild with this and write some AU where they're vampires or pirates or whatever sounds fun to you. Feel free to include Rod in a non-romantic way if you want, though of course you don't have to.
A few ideas I'm throwing out: Bela meeting Farin when Farin returns home from a vacation, or going along with him. Events in the fic turning out to be the inspiration for song lyrics. Bela and Farin playing practical jokes on each other. (Or on Rod if you do want to include him.)
Smut is welcome but of course totally optional.
Note: I do talk about how fun they are but if you want to go somewhere more serious and angsty with this I could really get into that too. I just don't want a sad ending.
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Celebi, Jupitoru | Grovyle
I love these games way too much. They are such a combination of cute and scary and just so much fun. I love the characterization. It's kind of funny that the pokemon in this game get way more characterization that the humans in the main series games.
I've always been charmed by the relationship between Celebi and Grovyle and I was so happy to see them get nominated this year. I'm curious about their backstory - they seem to know each other very well. How did Grovyle meet a human in the first place and was Celebi involved with that at all? I'm also curious about what happened to them after game events (going with their side story in Explorers of Sky.) Then again an in-game fic would also be great, since they end up being very central to the plot.
I think it's hinted pretty strongly that Celebi has some romantic feelings for Grovyle, but we don't really know his feelings. So a ship fic would be fine and so would a gen fic. I would really rather not read actual smut about Pokemon however.
Die Perfekte Diktatur: Narrator, Narrator's Love Interest
Honestly the first time I read the lyrics to this song I was blown away by it. I think it packs a heck of a lot of story and world-building into one song. I'm curious about the narrator -- Is he simply evil, did something happen to make him that way, did he ever really love the love interest at all? They knew each other since they were kids, was that before the regime took over? Does he really witness the execution and how does he feel?
Obviously this is a very depressing song, so don't be afraid to write a depressing fic. That said, if you have an idea that goes in another direction that's fine too.
I refer to the Narrator as "he" because it's a male singer singing the song, but the song clearly isn't meant to be about Farin Urlaub so in my opinion it doesn't even have to be about a man. I'm also not particularly attached to the love interest being any particular gender. (Also it doesn't actually say they are/were in love, I just refer to the other character as "love interest" for convenience. So if you want to write a fic where they never had that kind of relationship that's fine too.)
Here is a link to my English translation of the song: http://lyricstranslate.com/en/die-perfekte-diktatur-perfect-dictatorship.html (Note: I am not fluent in German but my friend who is a native speaker edited the translation.)
The song itself is on Youtube as a live performance. The original studio version is available on iTunes in the U.S., Germany, and possibly other places.
Caritas Spot: Ich rette die Welt (Caritas Commercial): Little boy dressed as Batman, Little boy dressed as Superman, Little girl
I found this commercial while looking for Madsen songs on Youtube and I was so charmed by it. Every year I mean to nominate it and somehow don't, so this year I finally did.
Really whatever inspires you would be fun for this. It seems to me like a good setting for magical adventures of some kind, perhaps rescuing people or saving the world or the immediate area, but a fic that's just about a bunch of kids doing acts of kindness would be great too. How exactly did they get inspired to do this? Or maybe when they're grown up they look back on their childhoods? Maybe they become adult superheros, or maybe they just become adults who had interesting childhoods?
A few notes: While adventure and a certain amount of danger are fine, I'd rather the fic doesn't contain anything dark and terrible happening to children. Also, there is another little boy who I think is dressed as Spider-man who for some reason I didn't end up nominating -- feel free to include him or not. Just so you know, references to the "real" grown-up superheros are of course fine but please keep in mind that I only know them from popular movies so in-jokes from the comics will go right over my head.
Here is a link to the commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6VE_DWDSrM