yuletide letter
MY YULETIDE ASSIGNMENT IS SO AWESOME HEE YAY WIN. <3<3<3<3<3!
(And my original assignment was REALLY NEAT too and I'm kind of tempted to write that one too! You know. In all my spare time.)
Dear Yuletide writer,
I know what you are thinking. You are thinking, "What kind of sick freak is my recipient, anyhow? Who requests Baby-Sitters Club het?" (Yes, I am sure that is the squickiest thing I requested. Yep.)
Okay. So. I'm Ari, and I'm a polyfictional Christian lesbian who's a fan of cross-gen and has Interests Not Suitable For LiveJournal. I'm a gigantic dork. I love fiction of all kinds. I'm a theology student. I'm a femslasher but didn't request any femslash this Yuletide. I bring my own subtext. I'd love it if you brought yours too. I love these source texts like squishy things and hope you do too. Thank you so much for volunteering to write, and I hope you have a blast reviewing some source material and writing something that you enjoy. Except for the one restriction noted in my sign-up -- no NC-17 Anne of Green Gables fic -- everything goes, including: kink, incest, boyslash, girlslash, het, three or moresomes, character death, background pairings I didn't request, [ETA] genderbending, genderplay, genderfrell, or any variation thereon[/eta] -- you shouldn't write these things if they don't appeal to you, but if that is the way the story moves you, feel free.
Mostly, I would love a story that in some way demonstrates love for the source -- I have great big litcrushes on Ann M. Martin and Father Greeley and Lucy Maud because they've written these universes that I adore, that I can dive into again and again and feel like coming home, because they've created these characters who I love like family, who were part of my growing up, who were my solace and my escape from the real world. The sourcetexts aren't perfect and it's fine to acknowledge that -- it's hard not to write BSC pastiche that isn't a little bit of a gentle parody, I think, and goodness knows Greeley has some skanky race and gender issues -- but really, I love these sources. I love the worlds, the characters, and I think the sense of innocence of all the series. (Yes. This is why I asked for slash and incest. I don't really get me, either.) I would love fic written in-the-style-of, and I'd love fic written in a completely different style so long as something in the writing remains true to the spirit of the texts, the important themes, the characters at their depths. I know that's hard to define, and don't worry about trying to figure out what I think is the spirit of the books. I'd rather you figure out what you love about the source and celebrate that in your fic.
[more specific tl;dr behind the cut]
Fandom specific:
If you are one of the 57 people who offered to write Anne of Green Gables fic: incest is great, gen is great. I will be happy either way. :) I hope you enjoy (re)reading!
If you are one of the 39 people who offered to write BSC fic, yay, OTP! This is where the "background pairings are great" thing comes to play -- I give intraclub girlslash three thumbs up -- and if you were really hoping to write about the girls, then cameos from Sharon/Richard would be great. So long as they're happily married (or adorably dating, or unhappily pining for each other -- I'm not picky!).
If you are the one other person who offered to write Main Street: Yay! Thank you! I will be happy with anything you write. I suggested some story ideas, but I would be satisfied with anything that strikes your fancy. I wrote some here about what I love about the series, but the short version is: EVERYTHING.
If you are one of the two other people who offered to write Greeleyverse: Yay! Blackie/Sean are definitely my OTP, but since I firmly believe they're half-in-love in the books, mimicking the canon will give me the subtext I want. If you want to write boyslash -- of any level of explicitness -- of course you should go right ahead. I do find some of Greeley's attitudes about women a bit bewildering, and there is occasionally some well-meaning but very problematic racial stuff, and it would be great if you didn't replicate those flaws, but I do love the books, especially Blackie. I love the passionate faith that is an utterly natural part of his life and narrative, I love his persona, I love his humor, I love his thoughtfulness, I love his dorkiness, and I really, really love how often he describes Sean as "handsome." :D
Some free unsolicited advice on (re)viewing source material:
If you're a pinchhitter or strapped for time, or if you can't write in the fandom you volunteered for and would like to try one of the others, or if you can't remember the series well enough to know what needs reviewing, here are my thoughts (which you can take with a grain of salt if you have a different idea!):
+Main Street: at three books long (and they're written at ~fourth grade reading level), this is the easiest read of the bunch. You could spend a VERY HAPPY afternoon catching up on canon. :)
+Anne of Green Gables: A (re)read of the first book (Anne of Green Gables proper) would probably give you all you need to know, though Marilla deepens a lot in Anne of Avonlea if you want extra credit.
+BSC: I would suggest regular series #4 for character/ship intro, Portrait Collection: Mary Anne's Book for a primer on Richard and Mystery #5 (I can't remember the title, but it's something about Mary Anne and an attic) for Richard backstory. Mary Anne and the Great Romance, Dawn and the Wicked Stepsister and Dawn's Family Feud are about building a new family. But really, any Dawn or Mary Anne books have the relationship at least as a background element. I will note that it's hard to understand the magic of this series if you're discovering it as an adult, and there's a lot of canon to absorb if this is your first go-round.
+Greeleyverse: this is another sprawling fandom. I would definitely recommend White Smoke for the 'ship, Thy Brother's Wife for Sean and Virgin and Martyr for Blackie. Any Blackie mystery (titled either Happy Are the ____ or The Bishop and ____) will demonstrate the adorableness of their relationship and tell you all you need to know about the characters.
Thank you so much for writing for me!
Love,
Ari
(And my original assignment was REALLY NEAT too and I'm kind of tempted to write that one too! You know. In all my spare time.)
Dear Yuletide writer,
I know what you are thinking. You are thinking, "What kind of sick freak is my recipient, anyhow? Who requests Baby-Sitters Club het?" (Yes, I am sure that is the squickiest thing I requested. Yep.)
Okay. So. I'm Ari, and I'm a polyfictional Christian lesbian who's a fan of cross-gen and has Interests Not Suitable For LiveJournal. I'm a gigantic dork. I love fiction of all kinds. I'm a theology student. I'm a femslasher but didn't request any femslash this Yuletide. I bring my own subtext. I'd love it if you brought yours too. I love these source texts like squishy things and hope you do too. Thank you so much for volunteering to write, and I hope you have a blast reviewing some source material and writing something that you enjoy. Except for the one restriction noted in my sign-up -- no NC-17 Anne of Green Gables fic -- everything goes, including: kink, incest, boyslash, girlslash, het, three or moresomes, character death, background pairings I didn't request, [ETA] genderbending, genderplay, genderfrell, or any variation thereon[/eta] -- you shouldn't write these things if they don't appeal to you, but if that is the way the story moves you, feel free.
Mostly, I would love a story that in some way demonstrates love for the source -- I have great big litcrushes on Ann M. Martin and Father Greeley and Lucy Maud because they've written these universes that I adore, that I can dive into again and again and feel like coming home, because they've created these characters who I love like family, who were part of my growing up, who were my solace and my escape from the real world. The sourcetexts aren't perfect and it's fine to acknowledge that -- it's hard not to write BSC pastiche that isn't a little bit of a gentle parody, I think, and goodness knows Greeley has some skanky race and gender issues -- but really, I love these sources. I love the worlds, the characters, and I think the sense of innocence of all the series. (Yes. This is why I asked for slash and incest. I don't really get me, either.) I would love fic written in-the-style-of, and I'd love fic written in a completely different style so long as something in the writing remains true to the spirit of the texts, the important themes, the characters at their depths. I know that's hard to define, and don't worry about trying to figure out what I think is the spirit of the books. I'd rather you figure out what you love about the source and celebrate that in your fic.
[more specific tl;dr behind the cut]
Fandom specific:
If you are one of the 57 people who offered to write Anne of Green Gables fic: incest is great, gen is great. I will be happy either way. :) I hope you enjoy (re)reading!
If you are one of the 39 people who offered to write BSC fic, yay, OTP! This is where the "background pairings are great" thing comes to play -- I give intraclub girlslash three thumbs up -- and if you were really hoping to write about the girls, then cameos from Sharon/Richard would be great. So long as they're happily married (or adorably dating, or unhappily pining for each other -- I'm not picky!).
If you are the one other person who offered to write Main Street: Yay! Thank you! I will be happy with anything you write. I suggested some story ideas, but I would be satisfied with anything that strikes your fancy. I wrote some here about what I love about the series, but the short version is: EVERYTHING.
If you are one of the two other people who offered to write Greeleyverse: Yay! Blackie/Sean are definitely my OTP, but since I firmly believe they're half-in-love in the books, mimicking the canon will give me the subtext I want. If you want to write boyslash -- of any level of explicitness -- of course you should go right ahead. I do find some of Greeley's attitudes about women a bit bewildering, and there is occasionally some well-meaning but very problematic racial stuff, and it would be great if you didn't replicate those flaws, but I do love the books, especially Blackie. I love the passionate faith that is an utterly natural part of his life and narrative, I love his persona, I love his humor, I love his thoughtfulness, I love his dorkiness, and I really, really love how often he describes Sean as "handsome." :D
Some free unsolicited advice on (re)viewing source material:
If you're a pinchhitter or strapped for time, or if you can't write in the fandom you volunteered for and would like to try one of the others, or if you can't remember the series well enough to know what needs reviewing, here are my thoughts (which you can take with a grain of salt if you have a different idea!):
+Main Street: at three books long (and they're written at ~fourth grade reading level), this is the easiest read of the bunch. You could spend a VERY HAPPY afternoon catching up on canon. :)
+Anne of Green Gables: A (re)read of the first book (Anne of Green Gables proper) would probably give you all you need to know, though Marilla deepens a lot in Anne of Avonlea if you want extra credit.
+BSC: I would suggest regular series #4 for character/ship intro, Portrait Collection: Mary Anne's Book for a primer on Richard and Mystery #5 (I can't remember the title, but it's something about Mary Anne and an attic) for Richard backstory. Mary Anne and the Great Romance, Dawn and the Wicked Stepsister and Dawn's Family Feud are about building a new family. But really, any Dawn or Mary Anne books have the relationship at least as a background element. I will note that it's hard to understand the magic of this series if you're discovering it as an adult, and there's a lot of canon to absorb if this is your first go-round.
+Greeleyverse: this is another sprawling fandom. I would definitely recommend White Smoke for the 'ship, Thy Brother's Wife for Sean and Virgin and Martyr for Blackie. Any Blackie mystery (titled either Happy Are the ____ or The Bishop and ____) will demonstrate the adorableness of their relationship and tell you all you need to know about the characters.
Thank you so much for writing for me!
Love,
Ari