Dear Yuletide Writer
Hi! First, let me congratulate you on excellent taste in tiny fandoms. :D I love all these fandoms, so if my optional details fill you with a deep and abiding sense of 'meh' or 'WTF', write what does grab you and I'm sure I will love it.
Things I like: Girls (and women) being awesome. Determination and courage in the face of obstacles. Fantasy worlds extrapolated into their future. Dialogue. Snark. Details of world-building. Characters Figuring Stuff Out (which is what makes me read everything from Hatchet to military SF) and generally being clever and competent. Farming. Awkward outsiders finding friendship and a place in the world. Epistolary or other documentary narrative. Most of my requests this year are more gen than shippy, but in case it comes up, I like buddy pairings better than antagonist pairings: Ron/Hermione rather than Harry/Draco. I read both slash and het.
Things I don't like: Incest, rape, explicit torture/physical cruelty, animal harm, desperately unhappy endings (though bittersweet is fine, if that's where the fic takes you), major character death (other than canon deaths).
1. Marlows - Antonia Forest (Nicola Marlow)
Nicola Marlow is one of my all-time favourite characters, so anything involving her would make me incredibly happy. I slightly prefer the school books to the holiday books, so a school fic would be lovely - perhaps the term after Run Away Home, or what happens if Craven ever does decide to get to the bottom of Nicola being left off the junior netball team. That said, if a holiday story is what strikes your fancy, I'd love that too, especially if it deals with the fallout after Run Away Home. (I've read and enjoyed Spring Term, but I don't consider it canon. Feel free to include events from that or not, whichever works for you.)
Recycling my request ahoy! I got an awesome fic in this fandom two years ago, but I always want more Marlows. Other characters I like are Miranda, Tim, Patrick and Rowan. Well, everyone, really, though I'm less interested in Ginty. I also share Miranda's fondness for Miss Cromwell. I love AF's distinctive way with dialogue and punctuation, I love Tim's sarcasm and Miranda's decided opinions, and I love Nicola's friendships and her slightly baffled way of navigating them.
2. Tir Tanagiri - Jo Walton
For this one, I'd love to see a story focusing on worldbuilding - I love the magic system, with gods that are numinous and real, and invocations that actually work. What happens to the gods when the White God starts taking over? Alternatively, what was life like before the period of the books, when more people knew the old hymns? I also love that the books hold up a dark mirror to our own legends. Walton gives us Arthur and the Táin Bó Cúailnge; another thing I'd love to see is a saga of the Jarns. Or details of daily life - what Sulien's childhood was like, maybe, or life in the alae, or what things are like at home for the Jarns or the Malmish.
I love these books to pieces. I love the worldbuilding and the way Walton plays with real-world legends and history. I love the characters - Sulien (whose determination and tactlessness are immensely appealing to me), Urdo, Sulien's family, the members of the alae. I love the pervading sense of the numinous - one of my favourite scenes is when Urdo meets the goddess on Foreth Hill. Anything you want to write in this fandom would be amazing - I just want to see more of this world and/or these characters.
(Obviously this is one fandom where mention of rape might become necessary. If it does, that's fine, but I'd prefer it not to be a focus of the story.)
3. Old Kingdom - Garth Nix (Sabriel)
The interplay between Ancelstierre and the Old Kingdom fascinates me, so I'd love to see something that explores that. Sabriel's life in Ancelstierre really intrigues me - we get so little of it in the book, but Wyverley College seems a fully rounded setting, full of interesting characters. I'd love to see some of Sabriel's friendship with Sulyn and Ellimere, or see more of the classes, or find out what school was like for Sabriel before she became the confident prefect we see in canon. Or perhaps a state visit to Ancelstierre between Sabriel and Lirael - the visit in Abhorsen doesn't seem to have been their first. Or even something about the early days of the two kingdoms (Sabriel is obviously optional here), when the Wall was first built.
I love the magic system in these books, and the sense of mystery that pervades Death and the lore about the Wall, the Charter and the Nine. I also love Ancelstierre, and the way the Ancelstierrans cope (or not) with the weirdness that crops up near the Wall. Sabriel is my favourite character (I love determination and badassery), but I basically love everyone and everything in these books. I'm more interested in gen than pairing fic, but I'd love to read anything you come up with.
4. Protector of the Small - Tamora Pierce (Keladry of Mindelan)
I have a deep and dreadful longing for crack in this fandom, and would absolutely adore one of those fics where someone from our world (or similar - OCs and crossovers both welcome) gets sucked into Tortall and has to find their feet. Or something set in a modernised Tortall (Kel is obviously optional here) would be totally fun, especially with the modern characters reading/finding stuff out about/looking back at the canon era. Or if you don't want to go the cracktastic direction (for which I don't blame you), Kel femslash would be brilliant, or anything with Kel being awesome and proving the doubters wrong. I'd love to see what she gets up to after Lady Knight, for example.
I've been wanting a fic with someone from our world getting sucked into Tortall and having to find their feet/get a job/possibly but not necessarily save the world, because figuring out how to live in a new world hits my Figuring Stuff Out narrative kink. I also have a fondness for secondary fantasy worlds getting aged up, as it were, into modern time periods, so if that appeals to you, I'd love to read it.
As for the non-crack, femslash would be great (I don't have a fixed OTP for Kel, but possible pairings that occur to me: Aly, Daine, Yuki), but gen is totally cool too. Adventure-fic, friendship fic (I have a particular soft spot for Neal and Owen), post-series fic, missing scenes from canon, I'm pretty easy. :D
5. Emberverse - S.M. Stirling
Worldbuilding! I'd love to get to know Corvallis or the Dominions a bit better, for instance, or if you're burning to write a story about how your own area survives the Change, I would be all over that. Or else maybe something set in the early years of the quasi-Viking community in Maine, or a story that fills in some of the gap between Dies the Fire and The Protector's War. Or anything that grabs you, really. Preferably in the early years after the Change, but I wouldn't say no to, for instance, Matti taking over the reins of government from her mother. I'm a lot more interested in the day-to-day details of survival (especially farming and learning how to build new technology within the constraints of the setup) than I am in the war stuff, but I do enjoy politics, if that's what appeals to you about the series.
Things I love about this 'verse: Farming. Engineering. Bikes. Low-tech trains. Quasi-Vikings. Oregon. I'm down with basically any character, OCs included, except Norman Arminger and his feudal goons. (I mean, they can be in the fic if that fits what you want to write, but I'd rather not have their POV - reading about Evil alignments makes me uncomfortable.)
If contact with outside groups comes into your story, I would love it if there were some majority-POC groups who weren't, you know, pirates. (Why can't the Haida be traders, for instance? Grrrr.) I'm also not wedded to details of canon outside the settings we see first-hand in the books, so if you're writing about an area you know, feel free to change stuff as you see fit.
Also posted at Dreamwidth.
Things I like: Girls (and women) being awesome. Determination and courage in the face of obstacles. Fantasy worlds extrapolated into their future. Dialogue. Snark. Details of world-building. Characters Figuring Stuff Out (which is what makes me read everything from Hatchet to military SF) and generally being clever and competent. Farming. Awkward outsiders finding friendship and a place in the world. Epistolary or other documentary narrative. Most of my requests this year are more gen than shippy, but in case it comes up, I like buddy pairings better than antagonist pairings: Ron/Hermione rather than Harry/Draco. I read both slash and het.
Things I don't like: Incest, rape, explicit torture/physical cruelty, animal harm, desperately unhappy endings (though bittersweet is fine, if that's where the fic takes you), major character death (other than canon deaths).
1. Marlows - Antonia Forest (Nicola Marlow)
Nicola Marlow is one of my all-time favourite characters, so anything involving her would make me incredibly happy. I slightly prefer the school books to the holiday books, so a school fic would be lovely - perhaps the term after Run Away Home, or what happens if Craven ever does decide to get to the bottom of Nicola being left off the junior netball team. That said, if a holiday story is what strikes your fancy, I'd love that too, especially if it deals with the fallout after Run Away Home. (I've read and enjoyed Spring Term, but I don't consider it canon. Feel free to include events from that or not, whichever works for you.)
Recycling my request ahoy! I got an awesome fic in this fandom two years ago, but I always want more Marlows. Other characters I like are Miranda, Tim, Patrick and Rowan. Well, everyone, really, though I'm less interested in Ginty. I also share Miranda's fondness for Miss Cromwell. I love AF's distinctive way with dialogue and punctuation, I love Tim's sarcasm and Miranda's decided opinions, and I love Nicola's friendships and her slightly baffled way of navigating them.
2. Tir Tanagiri - Jo Walton
For this one, I'd love to see a story focusing on worldbuilding - I love the magic system, with gods that are numinous and real, and invocations that actually work. What happens to the gods when the White God starts taking over? Alternatively, what was life like before the period of the books, when more people knew the old hymns? I also love that the books hold up a dark mirror to our own legends. Walton gives us Arthur and the Táin Bó Cúailnge; another thing I'd love to see is a saga of the Jarns. Or details of daily life - what Sulien's childhood was like, maybe, or life in the alae, or what things are like at home for the Jarns or the Malmish.
I love these books to pieces. I love the worldbuilding and the way Walton plays with real-world legends and history. I love the characters - Sulien (whose determination and tactlessness are immensely appealing to me), Urdo, Sulien's family, the members of the alae. I love the pervading sense of the numinous - one of my favourite scenes is when Urdo meets the goddess on Foreth Hill. Anything you want to write in this fandom would be amazing - I just want to see more of this world and/or these characters.
(Obviously this is one fandom where mention of rape might become necessary. If it does, that's fine, but I'd prefer it not to be a focus of the story.)
3. Old Kingdom - Garth Nix (Sabriel)
The interplay between Ancelstierre and the Old Kingdom fascinates me, so I'd love to see something that explores that. Sabriel's life in Ancelstierre really intrigues me - we get so little of it in the book, but Wyverley College seems a fully rounded setting, full of interesting characters. I'd love to see some of Sabriel's friendship with Sulyn and Ellimere, or see more of the classes, or find out what school was like for Sabriel before she became the confident prefect we see in canon. Or perhaps a state visit to Ancelstierre between Sabriel and Lirael - the visit in Abhorsen doesn't seem to have been their first. Or even something about the early days of the two kingdoms (Sabriel is obviously optional here), when the Wall was first built.
I love the magic system in these books, and the sense of mystery that pervades Death and the lore about the Wall, the Charter and the Nine. I also love Ancelstierre, and the way the Ancelstierrans cope (or not) with the weirdness that crops up near the Wall. Sabriel is my favourite character (I love determination and badassery), but I basically love everyone and everything in these books. I'm more interested in gen than pairing fic, but I'd love to read anything you come up with.
4. Protector of the Small - Tamora Pierce (Keladry of Mindelan)
I have a deep and dreadful longing for crack in this fandom, and would absolutely adore one of those fics where someone from our world (or similar - OCs and crossovers both welcome) gets sucked into Tortall and has to find their feet. Or something set in a modernised Tortall (Kel is obviously optional here) would be totally fun, especially with the modern characters reading/finding stuff out about/looking back at the canon era. Or if you don't want to go the cracktastic direction (for which I don't blame you), Kel femslash would be brilliant, or anything with Kel being awesome and proving the doubters wrong. I'd love to see what she gets up to after Lady Knight, for example.
I've been wanting a fic with someone from our world getting sucked into Tortall and having to find their feet/get a job/possibly but not necessarily save the world, because figuring out how to live in a new world hits my Figuring Stuff Out narrative kink. I also have a fondness for secondary fantasy worlds getting aged up, as it were, into modern time periods, so if that appeals to you, I'd love to read it.
As for the non-crack, femslash would be great (I don't have a fixed OTP for Kel, but possible pairings that occur to me: Aly, Daine, Yuki), but gen is totally cool too. Adventure-fic, friendship fic (I have a particular soft spot for Neal and Owen), post-series fic, missing scenes from canon, I'm pretty easy. :D
5. Emberverse - S.M. Stirling
Worldbuilding! I'd love to get to know Corvallis or the Dominions a bit better, for instance, or if you're burning to write a story about how your own area survives the Change, I would be all over that. Or else maybe something set in the early years of the quasi-Viking community in Maine, or a story that fills in some of the gap between Dies the Fire and The Protector's War. Or anything that grabs you, really. Preferably in the early years after the Change, but I wouldn't say no to, for instance, Matti taking over the reins of government from her mother. I'm a lot more interested in the day-to-day details of survival (especially farming and learning how to build new technology within the constraints of the setup) than I am in the war stuff, but I do enjoy politics, if that's what appeals to you about the series.
Things I love about this 'verse: Farming. Engineering. Bikes. Low-tech trains. Quasi-Vikings. Oregon. I'm down with basically any character, OCs included, except Norman Arminger and his feudal goons. (I mean, they can be in the fic if that fits what you want to write, but I'd rather not have their POV - reading about Evil alignments makes me uncomfortable.)
If contact with outside groups comes into your story, I would love it if there were some majority-POC groups who weren't, you know, pirates. (Why can't the Haida be traders, for instance? Grrrr.) I'm also not wedded to details of canon outside the settings we see first-hand in the books, so if you're writing about an area you know, feel free to change stuff as you see fit.
Also posted at Dreamwidth.