(no subject)
It's Yuletide time! Welcome to my Yule letter/pimp post!
[GENERAL GUIDELINES]
Basically-- if you're writing fic for me, I love you. I'm going to be happy, just to be able to share my squee.
You'll notice I throw a lot of ideas out-- feel free to take one, take many, take none. I always have fifteen billion ideas floating around, and I know how hard it can be to settle on something once the assignments come in. So I'm offering options, just to give you an idea of what's going on in my head.
Other General Info:
I like: Plot, adventures, banter and dry humor, nerdly things like zombie apocalypses and NPR, over the top AUs (steampunk, noir, organized crime, harem...), power-play, gen, slash, femslash, het, any rating under the sun (for violence OR sex), feminism and fics that pass the Bechdel Test, interesting narrative voices and/or concepts
I don't like: Deathfic, gratuitous angst, character-bashing, introspective character pieces, five times fic
THE REQUEST: Dragon Prince - Melanie Rawn (Ianthe of Princemarch, Sioned of River Run)
I love everything this series chooses to be. It's fun and cheesy and fantasy, which the best thing in the world.
I've always thought that Ianthe had a serious hate-crush on Sioned and part of the reason she was so vicious and fucked up was that whole "you must marry a guy and expand the empire or your useless" thing when maybe she didn't want to do that. Ianthe's always been one of my favorite characters because she's brilliant and ruthless and clearly takes joy in clever plans that go well. Of course, being the villain in a cheesy fantasy, she got no depth whatsoever, aside from that whole sexually liberated, taking male consorts thing (which is AWESOME, okay.) Sioned is also awesome and brilliant and kick ass. Her hesitance in the first book while she decided what she really wanted to do was pretty great, as was the fact that she promptly made friends with Tobin and pretty much every character not designated "villain". It seems like up through Ianthe's death, they're playing a game of brinkmanship. (Which isn't to say I don't like Sioned and Rohan together. They're bookTP and totally awesome.)
As for prompts, I normally prefer plotty fic to introspection. I feel like the whole sunrunner thing lends itself well to espionage, so political thriller, or murder mysteries or something would be great. If you want to do plot-what-plot involving these two-- either sex or just the sort of dancing around/pigtail pulling that would be great. Threesomes with Rohan-- also acceptable! Hell, if you want to do an AU where they end up together instead of Sioned marrying Rohan-- or alternately, an AU end to the trilogy, where Ianthe never died in the fire. Or something where she knew about her powers all along. Or Sioned, I don't know, realizing ahe kind of did think Ianthe was attractive.
NOTE: I have only read the first book in the second trilogy. :( Please don't reference stuff from after that, if you end up writing futurefic.
Okay, like I said, I think this series is the cheesiest fantasy series in the WORLD and in a lot of ways it's one of my first nostalgia fandoms. If you haven't read them, they are kind of ridiculously long (Like, GRR Martin-long), but they're quick reads despite that and rather less depressing than a lot of high fantasy. It's silly in the way that "adult fantasy" that takes itself way too seriously can be. A lot of the main protagonists actively enjoy each others' company and that's as much integral to the book as the politics and dragon-slaying.
The Series: I want to say "if this wasn't the matched fandom you should go out and read them right the fuck now', but you really need to enjoy ridiculous high fantasy novels about politics and a dude who's the prince of a desert and some people who communicate via sunlight. Needless to say, there's magic in there somewhere. And a LOT of politics. It's full of cheese. If it sounds interesting to you, pretty much ever used bookstore I have ever been to has at least one copy of these books. I think they spawn on bookshelves or something. You can probably also find digital copies on the internet.
That said, I kinda asked for a semi-serious plotty story. But if you want to run with the "it's cheesy fantasy" and want to write about Ianthe rescuing princesses or something silly, I say get down with your nerd self and run with it.
THE REQUEST: Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (Any)
This series cries out for gen fic. Maybe a mystery where they don't use their powers? Or a huanted house that's not a haunted house. Scary stories are my bag, baby. If you like that sort of thing, go for it. Feel free to try and scare me. If you like to write non-scary stories, crime-fighting adventures are nice, but a totally fluffy "here's how they hang out in their free time and keeping failing to hold onto jobs" fic is also great.
ALTERNATIVELY, I ship everyone/everyone-- SERIOUSLY. So, if you'd rather write shippy fic, I'd be happy. I know the series doesn't like to do that kind of fanservice, but sexytiems or awkward first dates (or Numata and/or Karatsu and/or Yata getting really drunk and sloppy makeouts) also appeals.
I guess my only thing is that I'm not big on really really angsty fic. Some angst is okay, but happy endings, plz. Certainly no main character death, even if it is a series about dead bodies.
I picked "Any" for this fandom because I just couldn't make up my mind about what I wanted. There are so many characters, and I love all of them. And, again, if you don't want to write pairing-driven fic, I like horror stories and gen fantasy and creepypasta, so anything scary and gen would also work.
The Series: The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (黒鷺死体宅配便 Kurosagi Shitai Takuhaibin?) is a horror manga series written by Eiji Ōtsuka and drawn by Housui Yamazaki. It's up to 13 Japanese volumes, 11 of which have been translated into English.
The series follows five recent graduates of a Buddhist academy, each with a different skill or power, mostly related to corpses. These powers include Karatsu's ability to channel the voice of a spirit trapped in a corpse, Makino's embalming skills, and Yata and his alien-possessed hand-puppet. The group uses their supernatural powers and skills to form a company to get fulfill the last wishes of dead people and-- hopefully-- get paid for it. It's both a horror manga and a crime manga, and despite being gory and terrifying, it's also extremely funny, with (obviously) a rather dark sense of humor. The characters care for each other a great deal, and their constantly strapped-for cash business is as much a source of humor as it is a source of community. The realistic art style and top-notch translation makes it something definitely worth reading, for those with a strong stomach.
The first 6 volumes can be found in scanlation here. It's worth a look, even if we didn't match on this fandom. Trigger warning for gore and bodily squick, though. If detached body parts bother you, this is not the manga for you.
THE REQUEST: That Guy With the Glasses (Nostalgia Chick, Nella) I ship it. I mean, come on. They're BFFs and Lindsay will listen to Nella ramble about My Little Ponies and Nella will try to hold back interdimensional elemental forces of evil for Lindsay. It's meant to be. I just want fic of them being awkward and nerdy together. it can be relationshippy or friendshippy, but I love them being BFFs. Dark Nella is ALSO fantastic, though, as long as the fic isn't too dark and angsty about it. Or if you're also a nerd, and want to parody other stupid nerdy plot arcs like, I don't know, one of the Q episodes in Star Trek TNG or Portal or Captain Planet (yes I know Nostalgia Critic did it already. Hush.)
I love the world-building, too. So if you want to bring in other NChick characters or the Critic or Ask That Guy, or Linkara, that'd be awesome too.
NOTE: I haven't finished Suburban Knights and I don't read ALL the Team That Guy stuff, so please stick to NChick, That Guy, and Linkara
I'm not entirely certain what else to say. I watch this series as much for the dysfunction junction cast as the actual reviews. I do like academic pop culture criticism, so if that's your bag, baby, go for it. But I like the characterizations-- I love Nella being an nerdy womanchild, who's not really that beaten down even though she gets shoved around by everyone (if you want to go with the business woman-version of Nella from the Thanks For The Feedback episode, or Dark Nella, they're both awesome too), and Lindsay being kind of oblivious and sociopathic and hapless. I love both the Makeover Fairy and Drs Tease and Block too. Like I said, the dysfunction junction part of the show it amazing. They're all so fucked up, and that's what makes it funny. Please make it funny. Stay true to that tone of cheesy self-indulgence.
The Series: That Guy With the Glasses is a video community centered around one guy (That Guy/Doug Walker), who does a number of online video comedy series, including Bum Reviews (starring Chester A Bum), Five-Second Movies, and Nostalgia Critic (He remembers it so you don't have to!). The community tends towards nerdiness and self-deprecating sarcasm. The most popular videos by far are the Nostalgia Critic reviews which are exactly what it says on the tin-- video reviews of 80s and 90s media. The characters are quirky, the humor is adult and occasionally a bit bitter.
The characters I'm requesting come from a spin-off series-- Lindsay Ellis is The Nostalgia Critic's distaff counterpart, Nostalgia Chick. Unlike the Critic himself, whose reviews are mostly one-man-shows, NChick has expanded into an ensemble cast of nerdy womanchildren and assorted other weirdos, including a sexy scientist, a slightly crazed fairy, and Lord Macguffin. Even if you didn't match up with me on this, it's a gimme fandom, and also both extremely smart and lots of fun. I'd suggest at least watching The Smurfette Principle and The Grease review.
THE REQUEST: Twisted Disney Princesses (Mulan, Jasmine, Tiana) Yes, I know the rules technically say that you have to have ALL the requested characters in your fic. I am telling you specifically that I want only one-- two at most if you can find a legitimate way to combine them. I don't think these Disney Princesses work as well together as the originals.
These requests are just for fic of the ART. Much as I love the art, I find his backstories to be a little uninspired. If you want to use parts of his versions to fuel your story, that's fine, but I prefer the idea that this isn't "Bad End" princesses, but versions of them who were never good (or possibly princesses) in the first place. I'm totally okay with you completely departing from the Disney version at anywhere along the timeline.
I like scary stories. Try and scare me! You can do a "how they became this way" story, or a "what happens when they met their princes" story, or even a modern fic about these legends (or people) who still appear somewhere in the world.
Also-- I like happy endings, but I don't think these princesses need or want a "happily ever after". Please no "and Aladdin/Naveen/Shang kissed them and they were purified and lived happily ever after in heterosexual wedded bliss."
Scary stories and scary art. What else is there to say? Like I said, set it at any time in the Disney story timeline, or create something new. One thing I'd ask, though, is that their major malfunction not be predicated on the guys. No getting dumped and going crazy. Which is not to say the princes can't be present, just that I think that it's doing these women a disservice to have their stories revolve solely around the male characters. Also, I'd love it if any story written in these universes passed the Bechdel test, although don't feel pressured to formulate your story around something like that.
If you choose to write about Tiana, I would prefer if you tried to treat the religion of Vodou itself with respect. Try not to demonize practitioners in general.
The Series: This is even more of a gimme fandom than the previous one. Artist Jeffrey Thomas created a “Twisted Princess” series, taking some of Disney's finest characters and giving them a turn for the macabre. I don't care what we matched on, you need to go take a look at them on his DevArt Profile.
I hope that helps some, dear yulewriter.
[GENERAL GUIDELINES]
Basically-- if you're writing fic for me, I love you. I'm going to be happy, just to be able to share my squee.
You'll notice I throw a lot of ideas out-- feel free to take one, take many, take none. I always have fifteen billion ideas floating around, and I know how hard it can be to settle on something once the assignments come in. So I'm offering options, just to give you an idea of what's going on in my head.
Other General Info:
I like: Plot, adventures, banter and dry humor, nerdly things like zombie apocalypses and NPR, over the top AUs (steampunk, noir, organized crime, harem...), power-play, gen, slash, femslash, het, any rating under the sun (for violence OR sex), feminism and fics that pass the Bechdel Test, interesting narrative voices and/or concepts
I don't like: Deathfic, gratuitous angst, character-bashing, introspective character pieces, five times fic
THE REQUEST: Dragon Prince - Melanie Rawn (Ianthe of Princemarch, Sioned of River Run)
I love everything this series chooses to be. It's fun and cheesy and fantasy, which the best thing in the world.
I've always thought that Ianthe had a serious hate-crush on Sioned and part of the reason she was so vicious and fucked up was that whole "you must marry a guy and expand the empire or your useless" thing when maybe she didn't want to do that. Ianthe's always been one of my favorite characters because she's brilliant and ruthless and clearly takes joy in clever plans that go well. Of course, being the villain in a cheesy fantasy, she got no depth whatsoever, aside from that whole sexually liberated, taking male consorts thing (which is AWESOME, okay.) Sioned is also awesome and brilliant and kick ass. Her hesitance in the first book while she decided what she really wanted to do was pretty great, as was the fact that she promptly made friends with Tobin and pretty much every character not designated "villain". It seems like up through Ianthe's death, they're playing a game of brinkmanship. (Which isn't to say I don't like Sioned and Rohan together. They're bookTP and totally awesome.)
As for prompts, I normally prefer plotty fic to introspection. I feel like the whole sunrunner thing lends itself well to espionage, so political thriller, or murder mysteries or something would be great. If you want to do plot-what-plot involving these two-- either sex or just the sort of dancing around/pigtail pulling that would be great. Threesomes with Rohan-- also acceptable! Hell, if you want to do an AU where they end up together instead of Sioned marrying Rohan-- or alternately, an AU end to the trilogy, where Ianthe never died in the fire. Or something where she knew about her powers all along. Or Sioned, I don't know, realizing ahe kind of did think Ianthe was attractive.
NOTE: I have only read the first book in the second trilogy. :( Please don't reference stuff from after that, if you end up writing futurefic.
Okay, like I said, I think this series is the cheesiest fantasy series in the WORLD and in a lot of ways it's one of my first nostalgia fandoms. If you haven't read them, they are kind of ridiculously long (Like, GRR Martin-long), but they're quick reads despite that and rather less depressing than a lot of high fantasy. It's silly in the way that "adult fantasy" that takes itself way too seriously can be. A lot of the main protagonists actively enjoy each others' company and that's as much integral to the book as the politics and dragon-slaying.
The Series: I want to say "if this wasn't the matched fandom you should go out and read them right the fuck now', but you really need to enjoy ridiculous high fantasy novels about politics and a dude who's the prince of a desert and some people who communicate via sunlight. Needless to say, there's magic in there somewhere. And a LOT of politics. It's full of cheese. If it sounds interesting to you, pretty much ever used bookstore I have ever been to has at least one copy of these books. I think they spawn on bookshelves or something. You can probably also find digital copies on the internet.
That said, I kinda asked for a semi-serious plotty story. But if you want to run with the "it's cheesy fantasy" and want to write about Ianthe rescuing princesses or something silly, I say get down with your nerd self and run with it.
THE REQUEST: Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (Any)
This series cries out for gen fic. Maybe a mystery where they don't use their powers? Or a huanted house that's not a haunted house. Scary stories are my bag, baby. If you like that sort of thing, go for it. Feel free to try and scare me. If you like to write non-scary stories, crime-fighting adventures are nice, but a totally fluffy "here's how they hang out in their free time and keeping failing to hold onto jobs" fic is also great.
ALTERNATIVELY, I ship everyone/everyone-- SERIOUSLY. So, if you'd rather write shippy fic, I'd be happy. I know the series doesn't like to do that kind of fanservice, but sexytiems or awkward first dates (or Numata and/or Karatsu and/or Yata getting really drunk and sloppy makeouts) also appeals.
I guess my only thing is that I'm not big on really really angsty fic. Some angst is okay, but happy endings, plz. Certainly no main character death, even if it is a series about dead bodies.
I picked "Any" for this fandom because I just couldn't make up my mind about what I wanted. There are so many characters, and I love all of them. And, again, if you don't want to write pairing-driven fic, I like horror stories and gen fantasy and creepypasta, so anything scary and gen would also work.
The Series: The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (黒鷺死体宅配便 Kurosagi Shitai Takuhaibin?) is a horror manga series written by Eiji Ōtsuka and drawn by Housui Yamazaki. It's up to 13 Japanese volumes, 11 of which have been translated into English.
The series follows five recent graduates of a Buddhist academy, each with a different skill or power, mostly related to corpses. These powers include Karatsu's ability to channel the voice of a spirit trapped in a corpse, Makino's embalming skills, and Yata and his alien-possessed hand-puppet. The group uses their supernatural powers and skills to form a company to get fulfill the last wishes of dead people and-- hopefully-- get paid for it. It's both a horror manga and a crime manga, and despite being gory and terrifying, it's also extremely funny, with (obviously) a rather dark sense of humor. The characters care for each other a great deal, and their constantly strapped-for cash business is as much a source of humor as it is a source of community. The realistic art style and top-notch translation makes it something definitely worth reading, for those with a strong stomach.
The first 6 volumes can be found in scanlation here. It's worth a look, even if we didn't match on this fandom. Trigger warning for gore and bodily squick, though. If detached body parts bother you, this is not the manga for you.
THE REQUEST: That Guy With the Glasses (Nostalgia Chick, Nella) I ship it. I mean, come on. They're BFFs and Lindsay will listen to Nella ramble about My Little Ponies and Nella will try to hold back interdimensional elemental forces of evil for Lindsay. It's meant to be. I just want fic of them being awkward and nerdy together. it can be relationshippy or friendshippy, but I love them being BFFs. Dark Nella is ALSO fantastic, though, as long as the fic isn't too dark and angsty about it. Or if you're also a nerd, and want to parody other stupid nerdy plot arcs like, I don't know, one of the Q episodes in Star Trek TNG or Portal or Captain Planet (yes I know Nostalgia Critic did it already. Hush.)
I love the world-building, too. So if you want to bring in other NChick characters or the Critic or Ask That Guy, or Linkara, that'd be awesome too.
NOTE: I haven't finished Suburban Knights and I don't read ALL the Team That Guy stuff, so please stick to NChick, That Guy, and Linkara
I'm not entirely certain what else to say. I watch this series as much for the dysfunction junction cast as the actual reviews. I do like academic pop culture criticism, so if that's your bag, baby, go for it. But I like the characterizations-- I love Nella being an nerdy womanchild, who's not really that beaten down even though she gets shoved around by everyone (if you want to go with the business woman-version of Nella from the Thanks For The Feedback episode, or Dark Nella, they're both awesome too), and Lindsay being kind of oblivious and sociopathic and hapless. I love both the Makeover Fairy and Drs Tease and Block too. Like I said, the dysfunction junction part of the show it amazing. They're all so fucked up, and that's what makes it funny. Please make it funny. Stay true to that tone of cheesy self-indulgence.
The Series: That Guy With the Glasses is a video community centered around one guy (That Guy/Doug Walker), who does a number of online video comedy series, including Bum Reviews (starring Chester A Bum), Five-Second Movies, and Nostalgia Critic (He remembers it so you don't have to!). The community tends towards nerdiness and self-deprecating sarcasm. The most popular videos by far are the Nostalgia Critic reviews which are exactly what it says on the tin-- video reviews of 80s and 90s media. The characters are quirky, the humor is adult and occasionally a bit bitter.
The characters I'm requesting come from a spin-off series-- Lindsay Ellis is The Nostalgia Critic's distaff counterpart, Nostalgia Chick. Unlike the Critic himself, whose reviews are mostly one-man-shows, NChick has expanded into an ensemble cast of nerdy womanchildren and assorted other weirdos, including a sexy scientist, a slightly crazed fairy, and Lord Macguffin. Even if you didn't match up with me on this, it's a gimme fandom, and also both extremely smart and lots of fun. I'd suggest at least watching The Smurfette Principle and The Grease review.
THE REQUEST: Twisted Disney Princesses (Mulan, Jasmine, Tiana) Yes, I know the rules technically say that you have to have ALL the requested characters in your fic. I am telling you specifically that I want only one-- two at most if you can find a legitimate way to combine them. I don't think these Disney Princesses work as well together as the originals.
These requests are just for fic of the ART. Much as I love the art, I find his backstories to be a little uninspired. If you want to use parts of his versions to fuel your story, that's fine, but I prefer the idea that this isn't "Bad End" princesses, but versions of them who were never good (or possibly princesses) in the first place. I'm totally okay with you completely departing from the Disney version at anywhere along the timeline.
I like scary stories. Try and scare me! You can do a "how they became this way" story, or a "what happens when they met their princes" story, or even a modern fic about these legends (or people) who still appear somewhere in the world.
Also-- I like happy endings, but I don't think these princesses need or want a "happily ever after". Please no "and Aladdin/Naveen/Shang kissed them and they were purified and lived happily ever after in heterosexual wedded bliss."
Scary stories and scary art. What else is there to say? Like I said, set it at any time in the Disney story timeline, or create something new. One thing I'd ask, though, is that their major malfunction not be predicated on the guys. No getting dumped and going crazy. Which is not to say the princes can't be present, just that I think that it's doing these women a disservice to have their stories revolve solely around the male characters. Also, I'd love it if any story written in these universes passed the Bechdel test, although don't feel pressured to formulate your story around something like that.
If you choose to write about Tiana, I would prefer if you tried to treat the religion of Vodou itself with respect. Try not to demonize practitioners in general.
The Series: This is even more of a gimme fandom than the previous one. Artist Jeffrey Thomas created a “Twisted Princess” series, taking some of Disney's finest characters and giving them a turn for the macabre. I don't care what we matched on, you need to go take a look at them on his DevArt Profile.
I hope that helps some, dear yulewriter.