Yuletide 2012: Dear Yulegoat Letter
And so it begins...Yuletide season!
Hello, Yuletide Writer! So, we both love Yuletide, we both love at least one of these fandoms, and we both love these particular characters? This is going to be awesome.
I've tried to write down why I love the fandoms and characters I've chosen specifically, but first, a general idea of what I like and don't like in a story:
Things I like: Relationships (romantic, familial, friendships, working, inescapable life-bond, whatever sort), het, gen, femslash, love stories, first time stories, adventures, character-driven pieces, wit and humor, a bittersweet or melancholy mood/ending, happy endings, women saving men, people depending on each other, balanced/equal relationships. I'm okay with any rating; smut (explicit or otherwise) is fine but not in any way necessary.
Things I don't like: Main character death, harm to animals, suicide, torture, graphic violence, rape, whumpage, female characters written as weak or helpless, submissive men, second-person pov, baby/kidfic, pregnancy fic, character bashing.
I have written for two of these fandoms; if you think that would be at all helpful to you, my Secret Garden fics are here:
To Remember You in the Entire (Colin/Mary/Dickon), PG
Life Is Changing, crossover with A Little Princess, (Colin Craven/Sara Crewe), PG
And my Norse Mythology fics are here:
For I Have Sinned (Sif/Loki), PG-13
Soon, All We Will Have (Sif/Loki), PG-13
And now, on to the details!
Black Ships
*Gull
*Aeneas
What I love about Black Ships:
Everything. I know that isn't very helpful, but seriously, everything. I love the epic scope, the massive journey across the known world, with all the different cultures they encounter along the way, while trying to preserve their own. I love the doomed sense of nobility that these people have; a few shiploads of people being all that remains of a huge and proud city like Troy, determined to hang on to their own culture and find their own place in the world again. I love the way the mythic is made real - nobody exactly performs magic, because it's just sort of inherent to the world they live in. I love the sailing, the sense of freedom and adventure and seeking a home.
And I love the characters. I love that Aeneas, Gull, and Xandros are all in love with each other, more or less, and they all know it, and this doesn't cause jealous fits or passionate affairs, just...people managing with what they can give each other. They all repress their feelings, at certain times, to do what's best for someone else, or best for their people as a whole, and manage to move on rather than brooding. I like that sense of responsibility, and the faith they all have in each other, that no matter what their romantic relationships and feelings might be, they can each rely on the others to be there for them, always.
Specifics: Anything about Gull and Aeneas. Something about how their relationship changed and developed after Xandros died would be fantastic. Or a story about how they work together as both a leader and his adviser and friends as well during the journey, or an AU where they ended up together.
I'm also okay with a Xandros/Gull/Aeneas threesome relationship (or, heck, a Gull/Aeneas/Xandros/Lavinia foursome) - if that's your dream story to write, go for it.
The Secret Garden
*Mary Lennox
*Colin Craven
What I love about The Secret Garden:
The sense that's it's really about a whole bunch of lost people finding each other, and finding out they aren't so strange and alone as they might have thought. I think this is why Mary and Colin appeal to me the most - I love Dickon as well (seriously, who doesn't love Dickon?), but there's always that sense that he'd have been perfectly content without the garden, as he still has his family, his animals, etc, whereas Mary and Colin would have been lost without it.
I love the sense of secrecy and otherworldly-ness about it as well, both the garden itself and the house in general - the bit where Mary and Colin go exploring on a rainy day was always one of my favorite parts - as well as the tiny bit of gothic mystery present through the hints we get about Colin's mother, before we finally learn how she died and how the garden came to be the way it is.
I also love that Colin and Mary are both very difficult characters, in that neither of them are perfect, sweet children. They can both be selfish and rude and incredibly stubborn, and part of the fun of the book is watching them stand up to each other where no one ever has before, and then watching them repress those instincts when they start caring about other people more than themselves. The way they understand and accept each other, as well as violently hate the worse parts of each other is just perfect - I always think it has to be because they recognize themselves so clearly in the other, both the bad and the good, what they are and what they have the potential to be.
Specifics:
Mary and Colin are one of my oldest OTPs, so something with them grown up a bit and romantically involved would be lovely. I'd also love to read about them traveling the world to continue their explorations, or an examination of the way their relationship - with each other, with the garden, with the other characters - might grow and change as they get older.
Norse Mythology
*Sif
*Loki
What I love about Norse Mythology:
I admit my love for these two characters in particular does come from the recent movies. But Norse Mythology is so spectacular on its own due to the complexity of the world it's placed in, with the various worlds residing in Yggdrasil, the bifrost connecting them, and all the different creatures and monsters residing in them. It's a world just begging for more detailed stories.
As to Loki and Sif in particular, I love all the little hints that could add up to something, namely the Loki-cutting-Sif's-hair story and his lines to her in the Lokaseanna:
I alone know, as I think I do know,
your love beside Thor,
and that was the wicked Loki.
I also love their dynamic as it relates to Thor, with Sif being his dutiful wife and Loki his adventuring buddy who he sometimes beats up for being a jerk.
Specifics: Tell me what was up with the whole hair-cutting thing. Or if you want to go with a more modern view of the characters, tell me about an adventure they went on together, and having to work together despite Loki's being...Loki.
I'd also enjoy an exploration of their dynamics with Thor and/or Sigyn, if that's a direction that interests you.
***
Hopefully this all gives you something to work with and some ideas! Please don't feel too restricted by what I've written; I'm fairly easy to please, and as long as your story features these characters doing things together and having feelings of some sort in the process, I will be happy.
Have fun writing, and Happy Yuletide!
Hello, Yuletide Writer! So, we both love Yuletide, we both love at least one of these fandoms, and we both love these particular characters? This is going to be awesome.
I've tried to write down why I love the fandoms and characters I've chosen specifically, but first, a general idea of what I like and don't like in a story:
Things I like: Relationships (romantic, familial, friendships, working, inescapable life-bond, whatever sort), het, gen, femslash, love stories, first time stories, adventures, character-driven pieces, wit and humor, a bittersweet or melancholy mood/ending, happy endings, women saving men, people depending on each other, balanced/equal relationships. I'm okay with any rating; smut (explicit or otherwise) is fine but not in any way necessary.
Things I don't like: Main character death, harm to animals, suicide, torture, graphic violence, rape, whumpage, female characters written as weak or helpless, submissive men, second-person pov, baby/kidfic, pregnancy fic, character bashing.
I have written for two of these fandoms; if you think that would be at all helpful to you, my Secret Garden fics are here:
To Remember You in the Entire (Colin/Mary/Dickon), PG
Life Is Changing, crossover with A Little Princess, (Colin Craven/Sara Crewe), PG
And my Norse Mythology fics are here:
For I Have Sinned (Sif/Loki), PG-13
Soon, All We Will Have (Sif/Loki), PG-13
And now, on to the details!
Black Ships
*Gull
*Aeneas
What I love about Black Ships:
Everything. I know that isn't very helpful, but seriously, everything. I love the epic scope, the massive journey across the known world, with all the different cultures they encounter along the way, while trying to preserve their own. I love the doomed sense of nobility that these people have; a few shiploads of people being all that remains of a huge and proud city like Troy, determined to hang on to their own culture and find their own place in the world again. I love the way the mythic is made real - nobody exactly performs magic, because it's just sort of inherent to the world they live in. I love the sailing, the sense of freedom and adventure and seeking a home.
And I love the characters. I love that Aeneas, Gull, and Xandros are all in love with each other, more or less, and they all know it, and this doesn't cause jealous fits or passionate affairs, just...people managing with what they can give each other. They all repress their feelings, at certain times, to do what's best for someone else, or best for their people as a whole, and manage to move on rather than brooding. I like that sense of responsibility, and the faith they all have in each other, that no matter what their romantic relationships and feelings might be, they can each rely on the others to be there for them, always.
Specifics: Anything about Gull and Aeneas. Something about how their relationship changed and developed after Xandros died would be fantastic. Or a story about how they work together as both a leader and his adviser and friends as well during the journey, or an AU where they ended up together.
I'm also okay with a Xandros/Gull/Aeneas threesome relationship (or, heck, a Gull/Aeneas/Xandros/Lavinia foursome) - if that's your dream story to write, go for it.
The Secret Garden
*Mary Lennox
*Colin Craven
What I love about The Secret Garden:
The sense that's it's really about a whole bunch of lost people finding each other, and finding out they aren't so strange and alone as they might have thought. I think this is why Mary and Colin appeal to me the most - I love Dickon as well (seriously, who doesn't love Dickon?), but there's always that sense that he'd have been perfectly content without the garden, as he still has his family, his animals, etc, whereas Mary and Colin would have been lost without it.
I love the sense of secrecy and otherworldly-ness about it as well, both the garden itself and the house in general - the bit where Mary and Colin go exploring on a rainy day was always one of my favorite parts - as well as the tiny bit of gothic mystery present through the hints we get about Colin's mother, before we finally learn how she died and how the garden came to be the way it is.
I also love that Colin and Mary are both very difficult characters, in that neither of them are perfect, sweet children. They can both be selfish and rude and incredibly stubborn, and part of the fun of the book is watching them stand up to each other where no one ever has before, and then watching them repress those instincts when they start caring about other people more than themselves. The way they understand and accept each other, as well as violently hate the worse parts of each other is just perfect - I always think it has to be because they recognize themselves so clearly in the other, both the bad and the good, what they are and what they have the potential to be.
Specifics:
Mary and Colin are one of my oldest OTPs, so something with them grown up a bit and romantically involved would be lovely. I'd also love to read about them traveling the world to continue their explorations, or an examination of the way their relationship - with each other, with the garden, with the other characters - might grow and change as they get older.
Norse Mythology
*Sif
*Loki
What I love about Norse Mythology:
I admit my love for these two characters in particular does come from the recent movies. But Norse Mythology is so spectacular on its own due to the complexity of the world it's placed in, with the various worlds residing in Yggdrasil, the bifrost connecting them, and all the different creatures and monsters residing in them. It's a world just begging for more detailed stories.
As to Loki and Sif in particular, I love all the little hints that could add up to something, namely the Loki-cutting-Sif's-hair story and his lines to her in the Lokaseanna:
I alone know, as I think I do know,
your love beside Thor,
and that was the wicked Loki.
I also love their dynamic as it relates to Thor, with Sif being his dutiful wife and Loki his adventuring buddy who he sometimes beats up for being a jerk.
Specifics: Tell me what was up with the whole hair-cutting thing. Or if you want to go with a more modern view of the characters, tell me about an adventure they went on together, and having to work together despite Loki's being...Loki.
I'd also enjoy an exploration of their dynamics with Thor and/or Sigyn, if that's a direction that interests you.
***
Hopefully this all gives you something to work with and some ideas! Please don't feel too restricted by what I've written; I'm fairly easy to please, and as long as your story features these characters doing things together and having feelings of some sort in the process, I will be happy.
Have fun writing, and Happy Yuletide!