My Dear Yuletide Writer letter for 2009 (kind of long, I'm afraid)
Dear Yuletide Writer,
First, you’re totally awesome for offering any of these tiny but much-loved-by-me fandoms. Maybe I already know you, considering how small most of these fandoms are, but in any case I’ll provide some extra info here. This is kind of long, sorry if it’s too long and rambly. I tried my best not to make it too long-winded. Don't be too intimidated by it - I'm not trying to set down lots of guidelines to follow, just making suggestions and saying everything I am okay with, plus noting a few definite preferences that I would like you to keep in mind if you can.
General: I love gen, slash, femmeslash and het, and I’m usually fine with threesomes. I also love friendship and family stuff. So from that perspective I’m easy to please - I love a lot of stuff! For squicks, I don’t like incest, or non-consensual sex, so please none of those. Any rating is fine, sex or no sex, descriptive sex or not (though I can be turned off by lots of mechanical details and really crude words unless they seem to be required by character voice). Dark stuff, vampiric stuff where applicable, and some amount of violence are all fine, but I’m grossed out by really gorey stuff and strong violence.
How to find more info about my preferences: You can check out the musical communities I’m a member of, especially magyar_musicals where I’m quite active (even if you’re not basing your fics on the Hungarian productions, the thoughts and reviews I’ve posted there may tell you more about what I like and how I tend to see the character). I have a fic journal of my own at spiegelsaal though it’s not super-active and may not be at all useful to the particular fandom you’re writing, depending. If you need extra info, contact venefica32 or possibly cricep (though with Tanz, only venefica32). They’ve promised to answer or pass on the questions.
In my fandom-specific notes I sometimes mention favourite actors etc. but you don’t have to base the character on my favourites, especially as there’s not always even much video material on them - I just mention them in the case you know them and want to take that into account, or want to check out those actors to get an idea of how I like to see the character. I do recommend you check out the video links etc. just because they’re awesome.
Fandom-specific stuff; first I put the request details in italics, and then other comments.
Tanz der Vampire (Alfred)
Details: Above all, I just want a fic with Alfred, because he’s my favourite character. I’m good with gen, het or slash, and any rating. I’d prefer Alfred as a human, but vampire Alfred is also okay. The main thing I’d ask is that he be portrayed sympathetically, and not as exceedingly stupid, because I love him and see him as sweet, naïve and well-meaning, not as annoying or stupid.
If you want prompts, here are some suggestions: something before the musical, like how Alfred became the Professor’s assistant or what happened on their way to Transylvania. Or Alfred reacting to something in the musical that we don’t see his reaction to. Or Alfred having a longer encounter with Krolock than what we see in the show. Or some kind of AU. Or more dream stuff. Or some kind of a pairing fic - I’m good with Alfred being paired up with either Herbert, Sarah, Krolock or Magda, and threesomes are also fine (except involving both Herbert and Krolock because I don’t like incest even when the parties have been vampires for hundreds of years). But anything else you come up with is great, too, I just want some Alfred!
Like I said, Alfred is my favourite character. I’ve noticed this is not so common, and therefore I’m linking to this picture and video spam post I made of my three favourite Hungarian Alfreds (besides them I also love Aris Sas of the original Vienna production). You don’t need to base your interpretation on one of them, but this post might give some ideas as to what I love about this character and how I enjoy seeing him portrayed, so perhaps it will give some inspiration. Besides, it’s lots of eye and ear candy. Even if you, dear writer, don’t love Alfred as much as I do, I hope you’ll look for what’s interesting and likeable about him. That’s the most important thing, portraying him sympathetically. I also don’t like exceedingly dumb Alfreds. He can certainly be comical, clueless and screw up like he does in the musical, but I like him and don’t think he’s an idiot, just very human, naive and insecure.
If you want extra info from someone who knows my thoughts well, contact venefica32. She loves Alfred, too, and has seen most of the shows I have, and we talk about it a lot. It might also be possibly to have access to some extra material that way. My reviews, which I’ve posted at magyar_musicals and other communities, may also be interesting if you want to read more of my thoughts about the show and the character.
Roméo et Juliette (Benvolio)
Details: Something with Benvolio, I’d like to see more stuff with him! Either gen or slash is fine. While I’ve nothing against het in general, I can’t think of het pairings I’d want to see Benvolio in, though if it’s a minor detail or a subplot that he’s involved with some girl (an OC), that’s fine. You’re more than welcome to include Romeo or Mercutio in some way, or just one of them, but you don’t have to. Any sort of slash involving the other boys is fine.
If you want prompts, here are a few suggestions: A story showing (maybe pre-musical) how much Romeo’s and/or Mercutio’s friendship means to Benvolio; Benvolio’s reactions to Romeo being in love with Juliet and ignoring his friends’ advice because of her; or Benvolio after the musical, dealing with the loss of his friends and doing his own part in overcoming the divisive hatred. Or just any buddy story or slash story that occurs to you, before or during the musical. You could go AU, too, especially if you want to do slash and have Romeo have a sudden epiphany about who he really loves so that he and Benvolio can run off to Timbuktu (or Mantua) together. If you don’t want to write about Romeo or Mercutio, you could write an encounter between Benvolio and Tybalt, or write some gen about him and Lady Montague. But anything else is good, too!
Any amount of angst, comedy, fluff, sex or no sex is fine, and moderate amount of violence is okay, but no really gorey stuff, please.
I guess I love Benvolio because I’m generally a sucker for the sidekicks and the loyal friends and the ones who survive and have to deal with the aftermath of the catastrophe. Most of my prompt ideas are somehow about his relationship to Romeo and Mercutio because it’s the friendship aspect that most appeals to me about Benvolio, but you can also write about him with other characters instead - after all, I only requested Benvolio, not all three. Loving the friendship doesn’t mean I don’t love slash as much - in fact, I see Benvolio as being canonically in unrequited love with Romeo, but you don’t have to go that way if it doesn’t appeal to you. I normally see it as being unrequited, but if you’d like to write something sweet where Benvolio actually does get something with Romeo after lots of longing, I would also be happy to see that. Any other slashy options involving the boys are fine, too: Benvolio being in unrequited love with Romeo and also having an affair with Mercutio; Benvolio and Mercutio both pining after Romeo, either having an affair with each other or not; Romeo and Mercutio having an affair while Benvolio pines for Romeo (but this shouldn’t destroy the friendship between the boys); or a threesome or any of the boys having separate affairs with the other two. If you write him with Tybalt it can be slash or not, but if you write him and Lady Montague then I don’t want any sort of pairing fic between them.
My favourite Benvolio is Kerényi Miklós Máté of the Hungarian production (2nd cast, not guy on the DVD) but you don’t need to base your interpretation on him, especially if you haven’t even seen him. Use any Benvolio you like or just your own internal Benvolio not based on anyone particular. If you have seen them and want to write them, my favourite Romeo and Mercutio are Szerényi László and Szabó Dávid respectively, but again, you can use any versions you like. Especially since it’s hard to find much material on these boys, so it only can apply if you have seen them live.
Szentivánéji álom (Oberon/Titania)
Details: I have two suggestions here. Either post-musical dealing with the consequences of their becoming human, hopefully with comical results that show it’s not so easy for fairies to suddenly live human life. Or an AU where they don’t go human but Titania rather gets even with Oberon some other way, for example by making him fall madly in love with someone else in turn. You can include any number of other canon characters, and you can feel free to pair up either Oberon or Titania with other characters than each other. Gen, slash, femmeslash and het are all fine, and you can have them involved with multiple characters at the same time, as long as you deal with it in a pretty lighthearted manner instead of loads of angst.
Note: please no descriptive bestiality and no references to Titania feeling sexually abused or traumatized (rather than just grossed out and offended) by the Bottom-as-donkey stuff.
If you’re offering this, I probably know you, and if I don’t we should friend each other after the author reveal. :P But anyway, I love the show but I find the end solution of Titania and Oberon going human a bit weird. So I’d love playing around with it in some way - either show its comical consequences when it’s not going to be so easy fairies to live a human life, or go AU and have them remain fairies, finding some other solution to the conflict. (Making Oberon fall in love with one of the four lovers he tried so hard to unite is in favour as a solution, but you can also choose someone else, for example one of the less romantic humans like someone from the actors troupe.)
For slash I especially like Oberon/Lysander, but that’s in no way required, and on the other hand Oberon/Demetrius is also fine, or Titania with one of the girls, and threesomes are fine, too.
Note: any references to sex with Bottom-as-donkey or other animal-like creatures are to be kept as non-descriptive as possible, and I don’t like the sexual abuse notions that sometimes rise with the way the Titania/Bottom scene has been directed, so if you must deal with Titania’s reactions to that stuff, I’d rather you just had Titania feel grossed out and offended than sexually abused and wounded. I think this show is just supposed to be lots of beautiful lighthearted fun with sparkly fairies and pretty dreaminess, and anything that could be emotionally harsh and traumatic is out of place there.
My favourite Titania/Oberon pair is Nikolett/Zsolt (see here for their duet which is made of awesome), but any combinations are fine, or just a generic Titania/Oberon of your mind.
You can make use of the magical love flower juice as much as you like, or not use it at all, whichever you prefer.
Mozart! (Baroness von Waldstätten)
Details: I’d be curious to see more of the Baroness than we see in the musical. Explore her motivations or her reactions to something that happens in the story, or just write her interacting with another canon character in some way. She doesn’t have to be the main focus of the story if that doesn’t work for you, but I’d love to get a bit more characterization and background for her than the musical gives us.
If somehow this doesn’t work for you at all, you can also ignore my character request and write about some other character(s). It’s not like there’s an excess of Mozart! fic about any characters, I’ll be happy anyway!
Not much to add here; I’ve seen the Hungarian version live lots of times but I also like other versions of the show. My favourite Baronesses are Carin Filipcic and Füredi Nikolett, but I haven’t yet seen one that I disliked so you’re welcome to base yours on any actress. If you feel like writing some kind of a pairing fic, I’m okay with any pairings except that my mind refuses to consider the idea of her with Leopold. And if you pair her up with Wolfgang or Nannerl, they should be adults, otherwise I’m fine with it.
Here’s a link for Nikolett’s Baroness: http://fnikolett.extra.hu/csillagokar.mpg
(Another vid, since that one’s kind of small: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np15JVmSoU0)
And Carin’s: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQVv1_AXxcw
I love the show and there’s not enough fic for it, so this is the one thing where you can ignore my character request if you realize it somehow doesn’t work for you. Then just write anything you like.
Anyway, whatever you decide to do, I’ll probably be thrilled for fic about these fandoms and characters, and I thank you and wish you happy Yuletiding!
Yours in Yuletide love,
Valancy
First, you’re totally awesome for offering any of these tiny but much-loved-by-me fandoms. Maybe I already know you, considering how small most of these fandoms are, but in any case I’ll provide some extra info here. This is kind of long, sorry if it’s too long and rambly. I tried my best not to make it too long-winded. Don't be too intimidated by it - I'm not trying to set down lots of guidelines to follow, just making suggestions and saying everything I am okay with, plus noting a few definite preferences that I would like you to keep in mind if you can.
General: I love gen, slash, femmeslash and het, and I’m usually fine with threesomes. I also love friendship and family stuff. So from that perspective I’m easy to please - I love a lot of stuff! For squicks, I don’t like incest, or non-consensual sex, so please none of those. Any rating is fine, sex or no sex, descriptive sex or not (though I can be turned off by lots of mechanical details and really crude words unless they seem to be required by character voice). Dark stuff, vampiric stuff where applicable, and some amount of violence are all fine, but I’m grossed out by really gorey stuff and strong violence.
How to find more info about my preferences: You can check out the musical communities I’m a member of, especially magyar_musicals where I’m quite active (even if you’re not basing your fics on the Hungarian productions, the thoughts and reviews I’ve posted there may tell you more about what I like and how I tend to see the character). I have a fic journal of my own at spiegelsaal though it’s not super-active and may not be at all useful to the particular fandom you’re writing, depending. If you need extra info, contact venefica32 or possibly cricep (though with Tanz, only venefica32). They’ve promised to answer or pass on the questions.
In my fandom-specific notes I sometimes mention favourite actors etc. but you don’t have to base the character on my favourites, especially as there’s not always even much video material on them - I just mention them in the case you know them and want to take that into account, or want to check out those actors to get an idea of how I like to see the character. I do recommend you check out the video links etc. just because they’re awesome.
Fandom-specific stuff; first I put the request details in italics, and then other comments.
Tanz der Vampire (Alfred)
Details: Above all, I just want a fic with Alfred, because he’s my favourite character. I’m good with gen, het or slash, and any rating. I’d prefer Alfred as a human, but vampire Alfred is also okay. The main thing I’d ask is that he be portrayed sympathetically, and not as exceedingly stupid, because I love him and see him as sweet, naïve and well-meaning, not as annoying or stupid.
If you want prompts, here are some suggestions: something before the musical, like how Alfred became the Professor’s assistant or what happened on their way to Transylvania. Or Alfred reacting to something in the musical that we don’t see his reaction to. Or Alfred having a longer encounter with Krolock than what we see in the show. Or some kind of AU. Or more dream stuff. Or some kind of a pairing fic - I’m good with Alfred being paired up with either Herbert, Sarah, Krolock or Magda, and threesomes are also fine (except involving both Herbert and Krolock because I don’t like incest even when the parties have been vampires for hundreds of years). But anything else you come up with is great, too, I just want some Alfred!
Like I said, Alfred is my favourite character. I’ve noticed this is not so common, and therefore I’m linking to this picture and video spam post I made of my three favourite Hungarian Alfreds (besides them I also love Aris Sas of the original Vienna production). You don’t need to base your interpretation on one of them, but this post might give some ideas as to what I love about this character and how I enjoy seeing him portrayed, so perhaps it will give some inspiration. Besides, it’s lots of eye and ear candy. Even if you, dear writer, don’t love Alfred as much as I do, I hope you’ll look for what’s interesting and likeable about him. That’s the most important thing, portraying him sympathetically. I also don’t like exceedingly dumb Alfreds. He can certainly be comical, clueless and screw up like he does in the musical, but I like him and don’t think he’s an idiot, just very human, naive and insecure.
If you want extra info from someone who knows my thoughts well, contact venefica32. She loves Alfred, too, and has seen most of the shows I have, and we talk about it a lot. It might also be possibly to have access to some extra material that way. My reviews, which I’ve posted at magyar_musicals and other communities, may also be interesting if you want to read more of my thoughts about the show and the character.
Roméo et Juliette (Benvolio)
Details: Something with Benvolio, I’d like to see more stuff with him! Either gen or slash is fine. While I’ve nothing against het in general, I can’t think of het pairings I’d want to see Benvolio in, though if it’s a minor detail or a subplot that he’s involved with some girl (an OC), that’s fine. You’re more than welcome to include Romeo or Mercutio in some way, or just one of them, but you don’t have to. Any sort of slash involving the other boys is fine.
If you want prompts, here are a few suggestions: A story showing (maybe pre-musical) how much Romeo’s and/or Mercutio’s friendship means to Benvolio; Benvolio’s reactions to Romeo being in love with Juliet and ignoring his friends’ advice because of her; or Benvolio after the musical, dealing with the loss of his friends and doing his own part in overcoming the divisive hatred. Or just any buddy story or slash story that occurs to you, before or during the musical. You could go AU, too, especially if you want to do slash and have Romeo have a sudden epiphany about who he really loves so that he and Benvolio can run off to Timbuktu (or Mantua) together. If you don’t want to write about Romeo or Mercutio, you could write an encounter between Benvolio and Tybalt, or write some gen about him and Lady Montague. But anything else is good, too!
Any amount of angst, comedy, fluff, sex or no sex is fine, and moderate amount of violence is okay, but no really gorey stuff, please.
I guess I love Benvolio because I’m generally a sucker for the sidekicks and the loyal friends and the ones who survive and have to deal with the aftermath of the catastrophe. Most of my prompt ideas are somehow about his relationship to Romeo and Mercutio because it’s the friendship aspect that most appeals to me about Benvolio, but you can also write about him with other characters instead - after all, I only requested Benvolio, not all three. Loving the friendship doesn’t mean I don’t love slash as much - in fact, I see Benvolio as being canonically in unrequited love with Romeo, but you don’t have to go that way if it doesn’t appeal to you. I normally see it as being unrequited, but if you’d like to write something sweet where Benvolio actually does get something with Romeo after lots of longing, I would also be happy to see that. Any other slashy options involving the boys are fine, too: Benvolio being in unrequited love with Romeo and also having an affair with Mercutio; Benvolio and Mercutio both pining after Romeo, either having an affair with each other or not; Romeo and Mercutio having an affair while Benvolio pines for Romeo (but this shouldn’t destroy the friendship between the boys); or a threesome or any of the boys having separate affairs with the other two. If you write him with Tybalt it can be slash or not, but if you write him and Lady Montague then I don’t want any sort of pairing fic between them.
My favourite Benvolio is Kerényi Miklós Máté of the Hungarian production (2nd cast, not guy on the DVD) but you don’t need to base your interpretation on him, especially if you haven’t even seen him. Use any Benvolio you like or just your own internal Benvolio not based on anyone particular. If you have seen them and want to write them, my favourite Romeo and Mercutio are Szerényi László and Szabó Dávid respectively, but again, you can use any versions you like. Especially since it’s hard to find much material on these boys, so it only can apply if you have seen them live.
Szentivánéji álom (Oberon/Titania)
Details: I have two suggestions here. Either post-musical dealing with the consequences of their becoming human, hopefully with comical results that show it’s not so easy for fairies to suddenly live human life. Or an AU where they don’t go human but Titania rather gets even with Oberon some other way, for example by making him fall madly in love with someone else in turn. You can include any number of other canon characters, and you can feel free to pair up either Oberon or Titania with other characters than each other. Gen, slash, femmeslash and het are all fine, and you can have them involved with multiple characters at the same time, as long as you deal with it in a pretty lighthearted manner instead of loads of angst.
Note: please no descriptive bestiality and no references to Titania feeling sexually abused or traumatized (rather than just grossed out and offended) by the Bottom-as-donkey stuff.
If you’re offering this, I probably know you, and if I don’t we should friend each other after the author reveal. :P But anyway, I love the show but I find the end solution of Titania and Oberon going human a bit weird. So I’d love playing around with it in some way - either show its comical consequences when it’s not going to be so easy fairies to live a human life, or go AU and have them remain fairies, finding some other solution to the conflict. (Making Oberon fall in love with one of the four lovers he tried so hard to unite is in favour as a solution, but you can also choose someone else, for example one of the less romantic humans like someone from the actors troupe.)
For slash I especially like Oberon/Lysander, but that’s in no way required, and on the other hand Oberon/Demetrius is also fine, or Titania with one of the girls, and threesomes are fine, too.
Note: any references to sex with Bottom-as-donkey or other animal-like creatures are to be kept as non-descriptive as possible, and I don’t like the sexual abuse notions that sometimes rise with the way the Titania/Bottom scene has been directed, so if you must deal with Titania’s reactions to that stuff, I’d rather you just had Titania feel grossed out and offended than sexually abused and wounded. I think this show is just supposed to be lots of beautiful lighthearted fun with sparkly fairies and pretty dreaminess, and anything that could be emotionally harsh and traumatic is out of place there.
My favourite Titania/Oberon pair is Nikolett/Zsolt (see here for their duet which is made of awesome), but any combinations are fine, or just a generic Titania/Oberon of your mind.
You can make use of the magical love flower juice as much as you like, or not use it at all, whichever you prefer.
Mozart! (Baroness von Waldstätten)
Details: I’d be curious to see more of the Baroness than we see in the musical. Explore her motivations or her reactions to something that happens in the story, or just write her interacting with another canon character in some way. She doesn’t have to be the main focus of the story if that doesn’t work for you, but I’d love to get a bit more characterization and background for her than the musical gives us.
If somehow this doesn’t work for you at all, you can also ignore my character request and write about some other character(s). It’s not like there’s an excess of Mozart! fic about any characters, I’ll be happy anyway!
Not much to add here; I’ve seen the Hungarian version live lots of times but I also like other versions of the show. My favourite Baronesses are Carin Filipcic and Füredi Nikolett, but I haven’t yet seen one that I disliked so you’re welcome to base yours on any actress. If you feel like writing some kind of a pairing fic, I’m okay with any pairings except that my mind refuses to consider the idea of her with Leopold. And if you pair her up with Wolfgang or Nannerl, they should be adults, otherwise I’m fine with it.
Here’s a link for Nikolett’s Baroness: http://fnikolett.extra.hu/csillagokar.mpg
(Another vid, since that one’s kind of small: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np15JVmSoU0)
And Carin’s: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQVv1_AXxcw
I love the show and there’s not enough fic for it, so this is the one thing where you can ignore my character request if you realize it somehow doesn’t work for you. Then just write anything you like.
Anyway, whatever you decide to do, I’ll probably be thrilled for fic about these fandoms and characters, and I thank you and wish you happy Yuletiding!
Yours in Yuletide love,
Valancy