To My yuletide Author
Thank you for signing up to write a story for me! You're one of 12 people (one of whom was me) who offered to write for The Parent Trap, one of 7 people (one of whom was me) who offered to write for Heinlein's multiverse, and/or one of 9 people (one of whom was me) who offered to write for Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?, and I love you for that alone.
If you check out my userinfo, you'll find a 'thon policy which implores that you be true first and foremost to the prompt and your muse, and to consider whether I'd like a story as, at most, a secondary concern. I stand by that, but I also recognize there is a sense that a yuletide story is explicitly a gift in a way which most 'thon fics aren't, so feel free to surf through this journal to get a feel for me (let me note that nothing to see here is my incest tag), and here's a little bit more, if you are interested, to help you understand how I relate to the specific texts and characters in the fandoms I've requested and what I might like.
I'm drawn to what I call will-to-poweriness, the adolescent fantasy, the desire to exceed oneself that also draws me to things like superhero comics (one of my fandoms is, indeed, X-Men) and fantasy shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer (which is my main fandom). My especial kink is children and teenagers who prove themselves to be the equals (or betters) to adults because they are just that awesome. All of this comes through in my requests, I think. There is a clear will-to-poweriness in Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?, most of all in Carmen herself, of course, beyond good and evil, doing whatever she wants whenever she wants because she can, stealing things for no good reason except as an expression of her superiority, the former ACME agent engaged in a perpetual game of cat and mouse. But also, on one level, in Zach and Ivy, the young (!!) ACME agents who pursue her, and on another level, in Player, just as much a teenager, radically empowered within the world of the game she plays and manipulates, Carmen's eternal antagonist. And likewise in The Parent Trap with Annie and Hallie and in Heinlein's novels with Laz and Lor; both sets of twins are constantly getting the better of the adults who surround them, setting up their own "parent traps" so to speak.
This, actually, is where my interest in incest comes from: with these radically autonomized figures no real problematization of consent is possible, an argument I make more fully in this post from 2006. But don't feel like you have to write incest if you've matched up with me on Heinlein or on The Parent Trap; I'd much prefer experiencing the characters as you see them behaving in-character as you see them than twisted out of shape to force them into bed with each other. The most important thing is to preserve the canon dynamics--I have my trusty 'cest goggles for everything else. Although if you throw me a bone in making it subtexty, that's wonderful too. (Finding a way too insert gratuitous nudity or close touching into The Parent Trap shouldn't be too difficult. Getting Laz and Lor to wear any clothes at all might be.)
Although, really, Laz/Lor is pretty much canon, no? But there is a way in (my corners of, I don't know whence you hail) fandom that we use sex as a metaphor for emotional intimacy, so that twincest becomes the deepest, strongest type of interpersonal communion imaginable--and this is the dynamic I'm looking for with Annie/Hallie and Laz/Lor, the way their strongest bond is to each other, and if you feel most comfortable providing that bond in a non-sexual way that's still absolutely wonderful.
I read The Parent Trap as a romance between Hallie Parker and Annie James, in much the way that my flister wisdomeagle reads the movie Matilda as a romance between Matilda Wormwood and Jennifer Honey. As a femslasher and a 'cest fan, I immediately make the jump to a sexualized romance, but it doesn't have to be; there is also the model of romantic friendship, as discussed in these posts. But I'd also like them to be will-to-powery, so if you could include some mention of them still taking advantage of their identical appearances in order to manipulate others that would be great.
In Where on Earth I'm fascinated by the way that the relationship between the Player and Carmen so easily reads as slashy, and by the level of investment they've each placed in their antagonism. I'm interested in finding out more about the way in which Player relates to what is essentially a character in a video game, and the way in which Carmen, as a liminal entity, relates to the Player. And I'm interested, although significantly less so than I am in character issues, in how the whole edifice works on a meta-level: not only does Carmen herself recognize Player's existence in the framing scenes, but so do Zach, Ivy, and the Chief within the game/cartoon itself.
Nota Bene: Player was deliberately androgyne in the series--she is, on some level, Everyman--and was played by both male and female actors in the course of its run, but Player has always been female in my head, even before I myself had a sexuality as such. And one of the things I'm looking for is the shift from general to specific, away from Player as Everyman to Player as one specific young woman playing a video game with her own life story in need of telling.
I have less to say about Heinlein. I love the books (my favorite book ever is Time Enough for Love), love all the characters but Laz and Lor most of all, and would cherish the chance to get to spend some more time with them.
Thank you again for writing a story for me. Be true to your own muse, and I'm sure I'll love the result!
Yours in La Mancha,
Episkopos Reverend Alixtii O'Krul V, TRL
Church of St. Jesu the Heretic, Discordian
If you check out my userinfo, you'll find a 'thon policy which implores that you be true first and foremost to the prompt and your muse, and to consider whether I'd like a story as, at most, a secondary concern. I stand by that, but I also recognize there is a sense that a yuletide story is explicitly a gift in a way which most 'thon fics aren't, so feel free to surf through this journal to get a feel for me (let me note that nothing to see here is my incest tag), and here's a little bit more, if you are interested, to help you understand how I relate to the specific texts and characters in the fandoms I've requested and what I might like.
I'm drawn to what I call will-to-poweriness, the adolescent fantasy, the desire to exceed oneself that also draws me to things like superhero comics (one of my fandoms is, indeed, X-Men) and fantasy shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer (which is my main fandom). My especial kink is children and teenagers who prove themselves to be the equals (or betters) to adults because they are just that awesome. All of this comes through in my requests, I think. There is a clear will-to-poweriness in Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?, most of all in Carmen herself, of course, beyond good and evil, doing whatever she wants whenever she wants because she can, stealing things for no good reason except as an expression of her superiority, the former ACME agent engaged in a perpetual game of cat and mouse. But also, on one level, in Zach and Ivy, the young (!!) ACME agents who pursue her, and on another level, in Player, just as much a teenager, radically empowered within the world of the game she plays and manipulates, Carmen's eternal antagonist. And likewise in The Parent Trap with Annie and Hallie and in Heinlein's novels with Laz and Lor; both sets of twins are constantly getting the better of the adults who surround them, setting up their own "parent traps" so to speak.
This, actually, is where my interest in incest comes from: with these radically autonomized figures no real problematization of consent is possible, an argument I make more fully in this post from 2006. But don't feel like you have to write incest if you've matched up with me on Heinlein or on The Parent Trap; I'd much prefer experiencing the characters as you see them behaving in-character as you see them than twisted out of shape to force them into bed with each other. The most important thing is to preserve the canon dynamics--I have my trusty 'cest goggles for everything else. Although if you throw me a bone in making it subtexty, that's wonderful too. (Finding a way too insert gratuitous nudity or close touching into The Parent Trap shouldn't be too difficult. Getting Laz and Lor to wear any clothes at all might be.)
Although, really, Laz/Lor is pretty much canon, no? But there is a way in (my corners of, I don't know whence you hail) fandom that we use sex as a metaphor for emotional intimacy, so that twincest becomes the deepest, strongest type of interpersonal communion imaginable--and this is the dynamic I'm looking for with Annie/Hallie and Laz/Lor, the way their strongest bond is to each other, and if you feel most comfortable providing that bond in a non-sexual way that's still absolutely wonderful.
I read The Parent Trap as a romance between Hallie Parker and Annie James, in much the way that my flister wisdomeagle reads the movie Matilda as a romance between Matilda Wormwood and Jennifer Honey. As a femslasher and a 'cest fan, I immediately make the jump to a sexualized romance, but it doesn't have to be; there is also the model of romantic friendship, as discussed in these posts. But I'd also like them to be will-to-powery, so if you could include some mention of them still taking advantage of their identical appearances in order to manipulate others that would be great.
In Where on Earth I'm fascinated by the way that the relationship between the Player and Carmen so easily reads as slashy, and by the level of investment they've each placed in their antagonism. I'm interested in finding out more about the way in which Player relates to what is essentially a character in a video game, and the way in which Carmen, as a liminal entity, relates to the Player. And I'm interested, although significantly less so than I am in character issues, in how the whole edifice works on a meta-level: not only does Carmen herself recognize Player's existence in the framing scenes, but so do Zach, Ivy, and the Chief within the game/cartoon itself.
Nota Bene: Player was deliberately androgyne in the series--she is, on some level, Everyman--and was played by both male and female actors in the course of its run, but Player has always been female in my head, even before I myself had a sexuality as such. And one of the things I'm looking for is the shift from general to specific, away from Player as Everyman to Player as one specific young woman playing a video game with her own life story in need of telling.
I have less to say about Heinlein. I love the books (my favorite book ever is Time Enough for Love), love all the characters but Laz and Lor most of all, and would cherish the chance to get to spend some more time with them.
Thank you again for writing a story for me. Be true to your own muse, and I'm sure I'll love the result!
Yours in La Mancha,
Episkopos Reverend Alixtii O'Krul V, TRL
Church of St. Jesu the Heretic, Discordian