Yuletide letter 2014
Hello!
I'm so excited you're my Yuletide author! Clearly you have excellent taste in fandoms ;)
I'm going to list some things I like, and love, and some things I don't really love, and some random ideas. Of course you don't have to be bound by these! If you do find your muse following these lines, I would be endlessly pleased but please also feel free to write the story that you want to write!
Things I love
Look, there's no denying it. Hurt/comfort just about pushes all my buttons, as long as the characters stay in character and don't suddenly become helpless and needy and just a target for Florence Nightingale syndrome (which, admittedly, is totally what I have). In fact, the exact opposite appeals most to me - my favourite trope is when a character is sick/injured and just pushes through, being a totally BAMF, to the point of collapse (it's a thing! I will totally melt into a puddle of squeeing, happy fangirl for that, especially if there's a buildup to it). But yeah. Hurt/comfort. Slightly more on the hurt than the comfort, but comfort is totally delicious too.
I also really love character dynamics and interesting dialogue and character details and discovery. Keeping characters in character is totally beautiful for me, because the characters are who I love to begin with! I especially appreciate it when men act like men and not like helpless teenagers :)
Plot! I know not everyone has the time to write plot and that's A-OK! I just get a huge thrill out of long and plotty fics that are also all about character, so I thought I'd just mention it here in case, dear Yuletide author, you were considering it, so that you would know that I would be extremely appreciative of your efforts.
Things I really don't love
Out-of-character characters. Romantic relationships, either slash or het - unless they're long, slow-build ones. Established couples are kind of boring unless they're very peripheral and canon. Non-canon nicknames, especially for the Musketeers. Non-happy endings (normally they would be fine! But I don't want to cry on Christmas!).
1. The Three Musketeers - Alexander Dumas
The new BBC series is fun but I've loved the book since I was a child. Specifically, I've been in love with Athos since I was a child - his noble nature, his intelligence, his wisdom, his very upperclass upbringing and ideals vs his despair, his melodrama, his tendency to lose himself to alcohol, his carelessness about whether he lives or dies. I would love something that explores the character of Athos (particularly his good qualities, but also his less shining ones).
And then, I'm an incurable hurt/comfort junkie, so if for Yuletide you give me book-flavoured, in-character!Athos who for whatever reason pushes himself until he falls over/passes out and then gets back up and keeps going then oh my god, I swear you will hear me squeal from the other side of the world and if it's long and plotty and friendshippy I will literally send you cookies.
Please, gen only - there are some pairings I love to slash but I think true and loyal friendship is a wonderful quality that's often overlooked in favour of romance or smut (not that those are bad things!).
D'Artagnan is totally optional :P Even though he's our hero, I find him kind of annoying so would prefer him to be a lens for the reader or towards the background if he's featured at all.
I really love Dumas' writing - it's extremely purple but also clever, funny and evocative. Athos in the books is also a completely different character to Athos of the BBC series, so for this prompt I would really love to see book!Athos and not BBC!Athos.
2. Jack Reacher series - Lee Child
Oh, Reacher. You're my guilty pleasure, my long-haul-trip read. There's something eminently satisfying in knowing that no matter how tough and scary and uncertain the world is, Reacher is ready and waiting and all set to smash the bad guys into oblivion.
For Yuletide, I'd love to see that subverted bit. I'm an incurable hurt/comfort junkie. I want Reacher to need someone else's help for once. Is he injured in a critical situation where bad guys still need subduing? Trapped in a completely foreign location? Strapped to a bomb/injected with a toxin/stuck on a bus that will explode if it goes below 50/caught in some other time critical and physically limiting situation? Does he hole up sick in a dodgy motel during a snow storm? Up to you dear author, but I would like to see Reacher being vulnerable for a change. How does he react? He's independent and proud, but also very polite and pragmatic. If h/c isn't your thing, perhaps this is just about Reacher teaming up, out of necessity, with someone who is as badass as he is and the two of them causing unimaginable amounts of mayhem in the name of the greater good.
Or it could be an introspective - I think in one of the books, Reacher thinks back about his old army comrades and how they have all moved on with their lives, but he himself is rather unchanging through the books (unless you could the first book, in which he fights someone and promptly throws up). When Reacher isn't blowing up the world, does he stop to philosophise?
Or, I would even totally love a Jack Reacher Christmas Special, whatever that entails :)
Feel free to bring in some OCs (as long as they're not Mary Sues) or reintroduce some of our old friends.
3. The Musketeers (2014) - BBC TV Show
I've been a longtime fan of the Dumas book but the BBC show has reignited the fun in the musketeers! I really enjoy the gorgeousness of the scenery, the liveliness of the storylines (although to be honest, some of them are quite silly) and of course, the camaraderie between the boys.
Give me a passionate, larger-than-life, warm, grinning Porthos who is actually a huge badass who terrifies people that don't know him well. Give me romantic, charming, sensitive and utterly ruthless Aramis. Give me BAMF, damaged, well-educated, self-destructive, trying-not-to-form-bonds-but-totally-failing Athos. Individually or (better yet) all together.
I'm loving all the amazingly creative AUs that are out there. I'd be totally happy to see just about any kind of AU, especially those which keep the military/bodyguard/violence aspect, but I would also equally adore something that has them living in a cottage (or something) somewhere just being THEM and happy and together and surrounded by beautiful things and imagery. Or, a fic set in the showverse would be just as wonderful!
Things that are amazing: someone who's hurt but totally being a BAMF and powering through regardless; and/or stories that are designed for so much warm and fuzzy that I can't even (still in-character though, please!)
Things to avoid please: pairings, whether het or slash. I would really like this to be a gen fic focussing on friendship, please. Also, nicknames. It's a thing. I'm sorry. Finally: I can totally live without D'Artagnan. Happy for him to be handwaved away, but if he must be included I'd prefer him in a background role. Also Savoy/Marsac for Aramis. There are plenty of wonderful fics out there about that, but I'd like to see his focus somewhere else for this one.
The End.
Thank you so much, dear Yuletide author! I hope you have fun writing and I'm looking forward so much to reading your work! <3