Yuletide 2016
Yuletide is upon us again! A pre-emptive thank you for writing for me. My letter keeps getting longer every year, Frankensteined together out of bits of previous letters. I hope this isn't a problem.
General likes:
-slice of life
-character studies
-pining (requited, unrequited, I love it all)
-angst
-fluff
-humor
-porn (plot usually preferred, but PWP is not a problem either)
General dislikes:
-AUs/fusions (I have a couple exceptions in my specific prompts)
-graphic violence/gore (that doesn’t mean no violence at all, just don’t dwell on the details)
-deathfic (unless it's canon death)
-kidfic (unless there are canon kids, but there aren't in any of the fandoms I'm requesting)
If you want to write sex: I like fairly vanilla sex scenes mostly -- light bondage is great, anything involving serious pain/injury or body fluids not typically associated with sex, not so much. (Though I love cumplay, for some reason.) I'm fine with super graphic PWPs, if that's where your inclinations take you, but feel free to fade to black or not write any sex at all if you prefer! In-character canon-compliant gen is also great. I'll list my ships in the specific fandoms, but that doesn't mean you should feel obligated to write shipfic.
I feel like browsing what I've written and bookmarked on ao3 is a pretty good indication of the kind of thing I like. But honestly, I'm REALLY not very picky. Optional details are ENTIRELY OPTIONAL - don't feel the need to use any of them if you don't want to. I'd rather have you enjoy yourself than stress over trying to write the perfect fill. These are all canons I love and just want more (or in a couple cases, any) fic for in general.
On to the prompts!
Adventureland (2009)
Characters: James, Joel
I spent half the movie thinking Joel was in love with James and was only excited to be making out with a girl because he was relieved that that might mean he wasn't gay. The movie didn't exactly support this position in the end -- but it didn't exactly denounce it, either. I'd love to see that explored, whether it remains one-sided from Joel or not. (I like Em, but I think she and James could end up breaking up without demonizing her at all, if that's a route you want to take.) I really liked the amusement park setting of the film, and wouldn't mind seeing them revisit it in the future, but Joel going to visit James in New York would be interesting, too. Maybe Joel lets James read a manuscript he's writing and wants his opinion, or maybe they're just hanging out talking philosophy or seeing the sights.
The Bronze (2016)
Characters: Hope, Stan, Ben
I'm one of the eight people who saw this movie in the theater, and I really liked it. Hope herself is a horribly abrasive person, but what I took from the movie was a strange sense of relief that even someone that mean and selfish could start to become a better person. I'd love anything set post-movie about that struggle. I love her relationship with her dad and how she's started to take some baby steps to repair it; anything about the two of them trying to have a healthier relationship would be great. Maybe doing some "bonding" stuff, like taking a vacation together. Ben is basically the most adorable person ever; I find myself wondering how he and Stan get along. Also, I can see his and Hope's very different views on pre-marital sex putting a strain on their relationship, and anything that explored that could be interesting.
I'd also not say no to a threesome Hope/Ben/Lance fic if you can figure out how to make it work! (...this is why I'm requesting this and not attempting to write it myself, ha.)
Cloverfield (2008)
Characters: Hud, Lily
I just saw this movie for the first time earlier this year, and it FREAKED ME RIGHT THE HELL OUT. Hud and Lily were my favorite characters, and also, I think it'd would be very easy to write canon-bending AUs where they both live. (Just have Hud get on Lily's helicopter and have it unambiguously make it to safety, boom, done.)
What I most want from this is post-movie fic where they have to live with what happened and try to move on with their lives. Lily seems a lot tougher than Hud, but maybe she isn't. And as stupid as the characters could sometimes be in their actions, I actually thought Hud's devotion to Rob was kind of moving, if somewhat ill-advised. Do they end up with PTSD? Survivor's guilt? Do they just try to bury themselves in other things and not think about it? Has the incident brought them closer, or do they avoid each other because they'd prefer not to remember that night? And how is the world in general reacting to the monster attack?
Also, in a Hud Lives scenario, does he have his camera and the tape, or did it end up left behind with Rob? Does he ever watch it, or did the government confiscate it? Am I asking way too many questions?
Silicon Valley (TV)
Characters: Jared, Erlich
I love the whole cast of this show, and Richard is actually my favorite. Jared/Erlich is the weird tiny OTP of my heart, though. I just love how both of them are so concerned with Richard's well-being in their own ways, and I think their personalities balance each other out really well. I started shipping them because of the season 2 finale (the little smile Erlich gives Jared when he starts coding - it did things to my heart) and in s3 Erlich actually trusted Jared with his financial situation, which was oddly touching. For all that fandom jokes about them being the “mom and dad” of Pied Piper there’s not much out there for the pairing that I didn’t write myself. But if you don’t want to write shippy stuff anything where they’re interacting is honestly great. Whether they're teaming up to mutually help Richard or find themselves opposing him and hating it, or just having a Julia Roberts movie marathon or something equally silly, I'd just like anything involving the two of them spending time together and realizing that they actually do get along.
I don’t have any NOTPs in this fandom, but I’m slightly burned out on Jared/Richard and prefer it when it’s one-sided from Jared. Relatedly, I kind of like the idea of Jared and Erlich both being in love with Richard, Richard being hopelessly straight, and the two of them bonding over that.
Sunspring
Characters: Any (H, H2, C)
If you haven’t seen Sunspring/don’t know what it is, please check it out! It’s only nine minutes long total: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY7x2Ihqjmc And if you matched with me via Silicon Valley or The Bronze, Thomas Middleditch is in it, bonus!
To summarize, it’s a weird sci fi short film written by an AI. To me, the most fascinating thing about it is the way it shows how humans try really hard to assign meaning even to things that objectively don’t have meaning. I’ve heard various interpretations about what’s “really” happening in the film, and of course the computer wasn’t actually “intending” anything. The filmmakers had to interpret its output in a filmable way, and then we as viewers try to interpret it as a coherent story.
So: What do YOU think is going on? I personally feel like H2 killed C and H is taking the fall for it, but I don’t know why I think that, exactly. Heck, maybe C isn’t even actually dead; you can read the text of the script and it’s not actually specified (in fact, it really doesn’t sound like he is.) There’s definitely a weird, dark, surreal tone to the film, especially the end, and I think it could be fun to explore and expand on. Where are they and what are they doing? What the heck does H mean when he says he “got on this rock with a child and then [he] left the other two”? (Hm, maybe one of these fandoms does have a canon child involved after all.) Or maybe something about young people selling their blood for money, which is apparently a thing in this universe. Is that blood in the bag H is holding at the end? If so, whose blood is it?
General likes:
-slice of life
-character studies
-pining (requited, unrequited, I love it all)
-angst
-fluff
-humor
-porn (plot usually preferred, but PWP is not a problem either)
General dislikes:
-AUs/fusions (I have a couple exceptions in my specific prompts)
-graphic violence/gore (that doesn’t mean no violence at all, just don’t dwell on the details)
-deathfic (unless it's canon death)
-kidfic (unless there are canon kids, but there aren't in any of the fandoms I'm requesting)
If you want to write sex: I like fairly vanilla sex scenes mostly -- light bondage is great, anything involving serious pain/injury or body fluids not typically associated with sex, not so much. (Though I love cumplay, for some reason.) I'm fine with super graphic PWPs, if that's where your inclinations take you, but feel free to fade to black or not write any sex at all if you prefer! In-character canon-compliant gen is also great. I'll list my ships in the specific fandoms, but that doesn't mean you should feel obligated to write shipfic.
I feel like browsing what I've written and bookmarked on ao3 is a pretty good indication of the kind of thing I like. But honestly, I'm REALLY not very picky. Optional details are ENTIRELY OPTIONAL - don't feel the need to use any of them if you don't want to. I'd rather have you enjoy yourself than stress over trying to write the perfect fill. These are all canons I love and just want more (or in a couple cases, any) fic for in general.
On to the prompts!
Adventureland (2009)
Characters: James, Joel
I spent half the movie thinking Joel was in love with James and was only excited to be making out with a girl because he was relieved that that might mean he wasn't gay. The movie didn't exactly support this position in the end -- but it didn't exactly denounce it, either. I'd love to see that explored, whether it remains one-sided from Joel or not. (I like Em, but I think she and James could end up breaking up without demonizing her at all, if that's a route you want to take.) I really liked the amusement park setting of the film, and wouldn't mind seeing them revisit it in the future, but Joel going to visit James in New York would be interesting, too. Maybe Joel lets James read a manuscript he's writing and wants his opinion, or maybe they're just hanging out talking philosophy or seeing the sights.
The Bronze (2016)
Characters: Hope, Stan, Ben
I'm one of the eight people who saw this movie in the theater, and I really liked it. Hope herself is a horribly abrasive person, but what I took from the movie was a strange sense of relief that even someone that mean and selfish could start to become a better person. I'd love anything set post-movie about that struggle. I love her relationship with her dad and how she's started to take some baby steps to repair it; anything about the two of them trying to have a healthier relationship would be great. Maybe doing some "bonding" stuff, like taking a vacation together. Ben is basically the most adorable person ever; I find myself wondering how he and Stan get along. Also, I can see his and Hope's very different views on pre-marital sex putting a strain on their relationship, and anything that explored that could be interesting.
I'd also not say no to a threesome Hope/Ben/Lance fic if you can figure out how to make it work! (...this is why I'm requesting this and not attempting to write it myself, ha.)
Cloverfield (2008)
Characters: Hud, Lily
I just saw this movie for the first time earlier this year, and it FREAKED ME RIGHT THE HELL OUT. Hud and Lily were my favorite characters, and also, I think it'd would be very easy to write canon-bending AUs where they both live. (Just have Hud get on Lily's helicopter and have it unambiguously make it to safety, boom, done.)
What I most want from this is post-movie fic where they have to live with what happened and try to move on with their lives. Lily seems a lot tougher than Hud, but maybe she isn't. And as stupid as the characters could sometimes be in their actions, I actually thought Hud's devotion to Rob was kind of moving, if somewhat ill-advised. Do they end up with PTSD? Survivor's guilt? Do they just try to bury themselves in other things and not think about it? Has the incident brought them closer, or do they avoid each other because they'd prefer not to remember that night? And how is the world in general reacting to the monster attack?
Also, in a Hud Lives scenario, does he have his camera and the tape, or did it end up left behind with Rob? Does he ever watch it, or did the government confiscate it? Am I asking way too many questions?
Silicon Valley (TV)
Characters: Jared, Erlich
I love the whole cast of this show, and Richard is actually my favorite. Jared/Erlich is the weird tiny OTP of my heart, though. I just love how both of them are so concerned with Richard's well-being in their own ways, and I think their personalities balance each other out really well. I started shipping them because of the season 2 finale (the little smile Erlich gives Jared when he starts coding - it did things to my heart) and in s3 Erlich actually trusted Jared with his financial situation, which was oddly touching. For all that fandom jokes about them being the “mom and dad” of Pied Piper there’s not much out there for the pairing that I didn’t write myself. But if you don’t want to write shippy stuff anything where they’re interacting is honestly great. Whether they're teaming up to mutually help Richard or find themselves opposing him and hating it, or just having a Julia Roberts movie marathon or something equally silly, I'd just like anything involving the two of them spending time together and realizing that they actually do get along.
I don’t have any NOTPs in this fandom, but I’m slightly burned out on Jared/Richard and prefer it when it’s one-sided from Jared. Relatedly, I kind of like the idea of Jared and Erlich both being in love with Richard, Richard being hopelessly straight, and the two of them bonding over that.
Sunspring
Characters: Any (H, H2, C)
If you haven’t seen Sunspring/don’t know what it is, please check it out! It’s only nine minutes long total: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY7x2Ihqjmc And if you matched with me via Silicon Valley or The Bronze, Thomas Middleditch is in it, bonus!
To summarize, it’s a weird sci fi short film written by an AI. To me, the most fascinating thing about it is the way it shows how humans try really hard to assign meaning even to things that objectively don’t have meaning. I’ve heard various interpretations about what’s “really” happening in the film, and of course the computer wasn’t actually “intending” anything. The filmmakers had to interpret its output in a filmable way, and then we as viewers try to interpret it as a coherent story.
So: What do YOU think is going on? I personally feel like H2 killed C and H is taking the fall for it, but I don’t know why I think that, exactly. Heck, maybe C isn’t even actually dead; you can read the text of the script and it’s not actually specified (in fact, it really doesn’t sound like he is.) There’s definitely a weird, dark, surreal tone to the film, especially the end, and I think it could be fun to explore and expand on. Where are they and what are they doing? What the heck does H mean when he says he “got on this rock with a child and then [he] left the other two”? (Hm, maybe one of these fandoms does have a canon child involved after all.) Or maybe something about young people selling their blood for money, which is apparently a thing in this universe. Is that blood in the bag H is holding at the end? If so, whose blood is it?