Dear Yulegoat
Hello, dear Yuletide writer! I'm so happy that you are going to be writing me a fic for one of my fandoms. I have some of my likes/dislikes below and some more thoughts about each canon and possible prompts, but if you already have an idea you want to write do not fear, I will be happy to read anything with these characters! Seriously, I always write way too much detail in these things, don't let it overwhelm you or think that you HAVE to write a certain thing, mostly I write so much because I want you to have lots of options and feel very free.
General likes:
I love all kinds of AUs, all the time -- canon divergence, new setting, fusion, any kind!
Scifi/fantasy tropes -- amnesia, time loop, telepathy, etc.
Fanfic tropes -- road trips, stuck together somehow, curtain fic, etc.
Robots
Epic friendships
World building -- any little details you add to canon are delightful!
Ensembles
Humor of all kinds; lighthearted, dark/gallows humor, snarky banter, sarcasm, etc.
Bittersweet fic, dark fic, bleak fic, or fic that doesn't always have a perfectly happy ending -- especially appropriate for Dead Like Me, but even in the other three it could be interesting to see some darker stuff
Ladies hanging with other ladies/having each other's backs/having actual real conflicts and relationships, even if those relationships are complicated or contentious. Bechdel Test passing is great, as is the Misses Clause Challenge
General dislikes:
Humiliation humor
Outright porn (I prefer Teen or Mature rating to a hard Explicit, if you end up writing Gina/Rosa or any combination of George/Mason/Daisy)
Fic with no plot -- the plot can be as simple as "Wendy and MM go to the store to buy batteries", as long as there is a story and not just introspective sitting around
A note: All of these fandoms are pretty short to get through, if you think maybe you can't write the fandom we matched on after all. The Derkholm Series is actually just two short YA novels, Middleman has 12 episodes and an un-produced 13th episode (plus a couple of comic books, but I like the tv show canon better), Dead Like Me is two seasons, and Brooklyn Nine Nine is just starting its fourth season.
Derkholm Series - Diana Wynne Jones
Claudia, Elda
I'd really love to see a continuation from where Year of the Griffin leaves off! What is the University like once it's run by actual competent instructors? Does Elda bring Claudia home to Derkholm over vacation? Or does Elda go to the Empire with Claudia to make sure everyone treats her right? Does Wermacht ever get free of the bar stool and make trouble for them?
I do think Claudia/Blade and Elda/Flury are cute, but you don't have to include the guys or the ships if you don't like, I'd really love to read more friend adventures. Also if you want to include any of the rest of the friend group (especially Olga!) that's cool with me.
I love Elda for how fearless and joyful and loyal she is (telling Claudia to come stay with her and saying blithely that she'll tear anyone apart if they try to get her!) and I love Claudia for her wisdom and humor and how she always tries to put a good face on things, even if she's wistful about it (and when she's too polite to tell Wermacht he's a creep but then she gets all tongue tied! Oh, sweetie). Really I love the whole friend group, Olga and Ruskin and Felim and Lukin as characters and all the relationships between them, but most of all I want to see Claudia and Elda.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Gina Linetti, Jake Peralta, Ray Holt, Rosa Diaz
The friendships on this show SLAY ME. I really especially love Gina & Jake (and that Chelsea and Andy were actually friends growing up) and I love Rosa & Captain Holt being silent and stoic together, but any combination of these four is pure joy for me.
You don't have to include all four characters, or not all four equally, if that's where your muse takes you. I ship Gina/Rosa a little bit, but honestly a friendship focused gen between any two (or three! Or ALL FOUR!!) of these characters would be a delight. And, I mean, I love everyone on the show, so you can include them too.
I feel like there's a bunch of missing scene fic that I would love to see -- Jake and Rosa's Academy days! Gina getting advice from Holt on how to befriend Kevin (Holt's advice is terrible)! -- but I also adore casefic and would be down to see some fun AUs for this fandom, too. The only thing I ask is please no humiliation humor; the show, like many sitcoms, will sometimes go that route and I do not care for it thanks.
Okay so when I was signing up I came up with possible prompt ideas for all of the combos of characters, then I thought it was excessive. Then I decided to give them to you anyway:
-Gina getting advice from Holt on how to make Kevin like her (Holt's advice is terrible)
-Literally anything from Jake and Rosa's Academy days
-Gina and Rosa finding Babylon, or other things they do to cope with the fact that they work with a bunch of dudes all day
-I DIE LAUGHING every time I think about Captain Holt showing Jake those pictures of him hula hooping, and obviously the Halloween episodes are a treasure, what other mind games has Holt played on Jake?
-Literally anything from Jake and Gina's childhood/adolescence, or something from their past interacts with their lives now somehow. Do they go to high school reunion together? Does one of Jake's perps end up being an ex-boyfriend of Gina's, and if so is Jake the one who recognizes him and Gina is just like "who are you again"?
-I adore Holt and Rosa being emotionally terrible together but also understanding each other (the dinner party "no one needs to know you have sisters" is fantastic, and the episode where Holt helps Rosa through her break up with Marcus is one of the most meaningful episodes of television I've ever seen), so anything where they have to deal with emotions or small talk or mingling -- is there a some kind of fancy dinner they get roped into? Do Charles and Amy force them to make a scrapbook?
I love the tone of the show and it's sense of humor, how it so often comes from a place of people caring for each other rather than trying to tear each other down. It could be really fun to see that tone and sense of humor played out in a new setting, too. For some reason I'm flashing on this idea of Jake and Rosa going on a medieval-esque quest together, but literally any setting/AU would be fun.
Dead Like Me
Daisy Adair, Georgia Lass, Mason
These three are a mess. And together they're...still a mess, but less so. They're all so needy, for attention and affection and validation, and I really want to see them taking care of each other -- badly, reluctantly, without admitting that they're trying to be nice to each other, but taking care of each other all the same.
I ship them in a vague OT3 sort of way, or in a Mason is pining for Daisy or George or both kind of way, but gen is lovely too! I have seen Life After Death so you can use that canon or ignore it; I primarily love the show but if you have a great idea that's post-Life After Death that works for me. Also, AUs. I will always read AUs. If you want to make these three into a shady and not-very-successful criminal syndicate, I am down for that. Hollywood AU? Really anything with these three being a trainwreck is gold.
I love the bittersweet tone of the show but I know that can be really hard to pull off in a fanfic, so I'm open for anything -- hurt/comfort, slice of life, darkfic, even something sort of fluffy or curtainfic-y. Do they have spring cleaning to try to fix up the house (and the house ends up worse than it started but they got some good laughs out of it)? Does someone have a particularly tough reaping to do and the other two help them through it? Are there problems on Halloween with someone recognizing George, and Daisy and Mason have to cover for her?
The Middleman
The Middleman, Wendy Watson
I LOVE the Middleduo! There's a million fun things that I love about the show -- the pop culture references, the heavily stylized dialogue, the chyrons, the ridiculous villains of the week -- but really it comes down to how much I love these two characters.
There's about a billion comic book adventures and scifi scenarios we didn't get to see Wendy and MM tackle, so any of those would be grand. Telepathy! Clones! Amnesia! I'd also be down for more low-key hangouts, maybe Wendy teaches MM how to decapitate zombies in Gutwrencher 3, and he's horrified and drags her to go see a nice wholesome movie instead. Or, like, literally any AU you can think of, that would be amazing.
I don't really ship them and I'm not super invested in Middleman/Lacey or Wendy/Tyler (I don't want you to BASH the ships or the characters, just, you don't need to include any shipping), I just really want a fic that focuses on the deep bond of friendship between a struggling artist and her superhero mentor.
So many of my favorite scenes from the show are scenes of MM and Wendy supporting each other. I LOVE the "brother/woman friend" scene in my icon, and when MM sets off a truth bomb at Pip's gallery opening (and Wendy trying to get his name out of him!), and Wendy's Code 47...I guess a lot of these are emotional payoff moments following an adventure or something angsty, which would be a great type of thing to see in a fic! But you could also do something lower pressure for the characters. Or, an adventure that doesn't turn out well...
I also really love when we get to see their differences clashing, even just something as simple as MM liking country music and Wendy being like, "Really??", so anything where they can have a difference of opinion (but still appreciate each other) would be great.
General likes:
I love all kinds of AUs, all the time -- canon divergence, new setting, fusion, any kind!
Scifi/fantasy tropes -- amnesia, time loop, telepathy, etc.
Fanfic tropes -- road trips, stuck together somehow, curtain fic, etc.
Robots
Epic friendships
World building -- any little details you add to canon are delightful!
Ensembles
Humor of all kinds; lighthearted, dark/gallows humor, snarky banter, sarcasm, etc.
Bittersweet fic, dark fic, bleak fic, or fic that doesn't always have a perfectly happy ending -- especially appropriate for Dead Like Me, but even in the other three it could be interesting to see some darker stuff
Ladies hanging with other ladies/having each other's backs/having actual real conflicts and relationships, even if those relationships are complicated or contentious. Bechdel Test passing is great, as is the Misses Clause Challenge
General dislikes:
Humiliation humor
Outright porn (I prefer Teen or Mature rating to a hard Explicit, if you end up writing Gina/Rosa or any combination of George/Mason/Daisy)
Fic with no plot -- the plot can be as simple as "Wendy and MM go to the store to buy batteries", as long as there is a story and not just introspective sitting around
A note: All of these fandoms are pretty short to get through, if you think maybe you can't write the fandom we matched on after all. The Derkholm Series is actually just two short YA novels, Middleman has 12 episodes and an un-produced 13th episode (plus a couple of comic books, but I like the tv show canon better), Dead Like Me is two seasons, and Brooklyn Nine Nine is just starting its fourth season.
Derkholm Series - Diana Wynne Jones
Claudia, Elda
I'd really love to see a continuation from where Year of the Griffin leaves off! What is the University like once it's run by actual competent instructors? Does Elda bring Claudia home to Derkholm over vacation? Or does Elda go to the Empire with Claudia to make sure everyone treats her right? Does Wermacht ever get free of the bar stool and make trouble for them?
I do think Claudia/Blade and Elda/Flury are cute, but you don't have to include the guys or the ships if you don't like, I'd really love to read more friend adventures. Also if you want to include any of the rest of the friend group (especially Olga!) that's cool with me.
I love Elda for how fearless and joyful and loyal she is (telling Claudia to come stay with her and saying blithely that she'll tear anyone apart if they try to get her!) and I love Claudia for her wisdom and humor and how she always tries to put a good face on things, even if she's wistful about it (and when she's too polite to tell Wermacht he's a creep but then she gets all tongue tied! Oh, sweetie). Really I love the whole friend group, Olga and Ruskin and Felim and Lukin as characters and all the relationships between them, but most of all I want to see Claudia and Elda.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Gina Linetti, Jake Peralta, Ray Holt, Rosa Diaz
The friendships on this show SLAY ME. I really especially love Gina & Jake (and that Chelsea and Andy were actually friends growing up) and I love Rosa & Captain Holt being silent and stoic together, but any combination of these four is pure joy for me.
You don't have to include all four characters, or not all four equally, if that's where your muse takes you. I ship Gina/Rosa a little bit, but honestly a friendship focused gen between any two (or three! Or ALL FOUR!!) of these characters would be a delight. And, I mean, I love everyone on the show, so you can include them too.
I feel like there's a bunch of missing scene fic that I would love to see -- Jake and Rosa's Academy days! Gina getting advice from Holt on how to befriend Kevin (Holt's advice is terrible)! -- but I also adore casefic and would be down to see some fun AUs for this fandom, too. The only thing I ask is please no humiliation humor; the show, like many sitcoms, will sometimes go that route and I do not care for it thanks.
Okay so when I was signing up I came up with possible prompt ideas for all of the combos of characters, then I thought it was excessive. Then I decided to give them to you anyway:
-Gina getting advice from Holt on how to make Kevin like her (Holt's advice is terrible)
-Literally anything from Jake and Rosa's Academy days
-Gina and Rosa finding Babylon, or other things they do to cope with the fact that they work with a bunch of dudes all day
-I DIE LAUGHING every time I think about Captain Holt showing Jake those pictures of him hula hooping, and obviously the Halloween episodes are a treasure, what other mind games has Holt played on Jake?
-Literally anything from Jake and Gina's childhood/adolescence, or something from their past interacts with their lives now somehow. Do they go to high school reunion together? Does one of Jake's perps end up being an ex-boyfriend of Gina's, and if so is Jake the one who recognizes him and Gina is just like "who are you again"?
-I adore Holt and Rosa being emotionally terrible together but also understanding each other (the dinner party "no one needs to know you have sisters" is fantastic, and the episode where Holt helps Rosa through her break up with Marcus is one of the most meaningful episodes of television I've ever seen), so anything where they have to deal with emotions or small talk or mingling -- is there a some kind of fancy dinner they get roped into? Do Charles and Amy force them to make a scrapbook?
I love the tone of the show and it's sense of humor, how it so often comes from a place of people caring for each other rather than trying to tear each other down. It could be really fun to see that tone and sense of humor played out in a new setting, too. For some reason I'm flashing on this idea of Jake and Rosa going on a medieval-esque quest together, but literally any setting/AU would be fun.
Dead Like Me
Daisy Adair, Georgia Lass, Mason
These three are a mess. And together they're...still a mess, but less so. They're all so needy, for attention and affection and validation, and I really want to see them taking care of each other -- badly, reluctantly, without admitting that they're trying to be nice to each other, but taking care of each other all the same.
I ship them in a vague OT3 sort of way, or in a Mason is pining for Daisy or George or both kind of way, but gen is lovely too! I have seen Life After Death so you can use that canon or ignore it; I primarily love the show but if you have a great idea that's post-Life After Death that works for me. Also, AUs. I will always read AUs. If you want to make these three into a shady and not-very-successful criminal syndicate, I am down for that. Hollywood AU? Really anything with these three being a trainwreck is gold.
I love the bittersweet tone of the show but I know that can be really hard to pull off in a fanfic, so I'm open for anything -- hurt/comfort, slice of life, darkfic, even something sort of fluffy or curtainfic-y. Do they have spring cleaning to try to fix up the house (and the house ends up worse than it started but they got some good laughs out of it)? Does someone have a particularly tough reaping to do and the other two help them through it? Are there problems on Halloween with someone recognizing George, and Daisy and Mason have to cover for her?
The Middleman
The Middleman, Wendy Watson
I LOVE the Middleduo! There's a million fun things that I love about the show -- the pop culture references, the heavily stylized dialogue, the chyrons, the ridiculous villains of the week -- but really it comes down to how much I love these two characters.
There's about a billion comic book adventures and scifi scenarios we didn't get to see Wendy and MM tackle, so any of those would be grand. Telepathy! Clones! Amnesia! I'd also be down for more low-key hangouts, maybe Wendy teaches MM how to decapitate zombies in Gutwrencher 3, and he's horrified and drags her to go see a nice wholesome movie instead. Or, like, literally any AU you can think of, that would be amazing.
I don't really ship them and I'm not super invested in Middleman/Lacey or Wendy/Tyler (I don't want you to BASH the ships or the characters, just, you don't need to include any shipping), I just really want a fic that focuses on the deep bond of friendship between a struggling artist and her superhero mentor.
So many of my favorite scenes from the show are scenes of MM and Wendy supporting each other. I LOVE the "brother/woman friend" scene in my icon, and when MM sets off a truth bomb at Pip's gallery opening (and Wendy trying to get his name out of him!), and Wendy's Code 47...I guess a lot of these are emotional payoff moments following an adventure or something angsty, which would be a great type of thing to see in a fic! But you could also do something lower pressure for the characters. Or, an adventure that doesn't turn out well...
I also really love when we get to see their differences clashing, even just something as simple as MM liking country music and Wendy being like, "Really??", so anything where they can have a difference of opinion (but still appreciate each other) would be great.