*blows off dust*
Hi, Yuletide author! Thank you so much for writing for me -- I really appreciate it, and I'm so excited to see whatever you come up with.
So first of all, what sorts of general guidelines can I offer?
+ All of my fandoms this year are historically oriented. Don't worry about that -- I mean, I guess if you offered one of these fandoms, you probably wouldn't worry too much. Anyway, I bring this up because I care much, much more about truth to characterization and to the spirit of canon than I do about sounding period. It's much more important that the ideas are period (unless, I guess, you're writing a modern AU). In particular, please don't feel obligated to write Shakespeare fic in verse -- in fact, I would prefer it if you didn't. Verse pastiche within fic is fine, though (I mean, one of the prompts is for Love's Labour's Lost which pretty much cries out for it), as is reference to extant contemporary poetry! If you choose the 14th Century RPF prompt, you can feel free to keep in mind that the characters are almost certainly really speaking either Middle English or French and apply Translation Convention.
+ If you are so inclined, I absolutely love AUs, as you may have noticed if you clicked through to the fic I wrote, so if you get an AU plotbunny, don't worry that it's too weird. I mean, I run a ficathon that gets at least two "is this AU too weird?" queries every year, and I have never once said yes. Because AUs ARE LOVE, and weird is love.
+ I am fine with gen, slash, and het alike, and am perfectly comfortable with pretty much any level of explicitness, as long as it is not, like, involving bodily fluids not normally involved in sex, or non-canon incest that would squick members of medieval royal families (I mean, the two obvious slash ships in Richard II are both between first cousins, which is fine), or non-con that isn't in the source canon. I also am totally down with polyamorous relationships, as I'm sure you've noticed since one of my prompts more or less requests it. ;)
+ I really like it in fic when everyone is sympathetic, or at least understandable, to some degree, even when they are assholes. (This probably applies the most to the Richard II request. Lots of assholes in that play.)
Now for the specific prompts:
Richard II - Shakespeare: Any Character
Absolutely anything about this play would ROCK, seriously. This is totally my standby "if you don't like the other prompts I will always be happy with this" prompt. There is actually a respectable (for a tiny little fandom) number of fics out there, but at this point, I actually wrote more than a few of them, and while they say "write the fic you want to read," it's nice when sometimes you don't have to. So I will be thrilled with anything you write!
I think this is pretty straightforward, isn't it? I am a glutton for Richard II fic of basically any kind and on any subject. I JUST LOVE IT SO MUCH OKAY. My favorite production of it, if you're interested, is the 2013 RSC version with David Tennant (which you should totally watch if you haven't seen it, even if you don't write this prompt), but obviously it doesn't have to be set in that universe.
14th Century CE RPF: Richard II (14th Century CE RPF), Anne of Bohemia Queen of England (14th Century CE RPF), Robert de Vere Duke of Ireland (14th Century CE RPF)
Okay, so there is a little bit of overlap here with my last request, but I like pre-play Richard as well! I've always been really interested in his relationships with both Anne and Robert and the way those two must have intersected, and would love to read fic about it. But really, anything about any of these characters or about Richard's life before Shakespeare's play picks up the story would be a delight.
I am a little bit sorry that I stuck you with two Richard-related prompts! I hope you are not too mad about that. One of the things that's always (well, since I got interested in reading about historical!Richard) struck me about the play is how well Shakespeare's characterization of him fits into what we know about him before the play -- he was happily married to Anne, and he clearly loved Robert de Vere even if their relationship wasn't sexual, and he lost both of them and was fucked up for life. But I like thinking about the three of them being a happy poly medieval triad for the little time they had.
Love's Labours Lost - Shakespeare: Any Character
This is such a great play for fanfic because of its open ending. Sequels are always welcome, of course! But the play also offers some intriguing options for backstory -- for instance, Rosaline and Berowne have that great little "Did not I dance with you in Brabant once?" exchange, and if you have an idea what that was about, that would also make for an excellent fic.
Again, I think a fairly straightforward prompt, if a wide-open one. This is a great play for general silliness, and I'd definitely like to see ensemble fic if possible, because it's also a fantastic ensemble piece. Again, anything you can think to do I'm sure will be a delight.
Finally, here's a link to my 2013 letter (I couldn't get my shit together to write a letter last year), which has links to all my letters since 2008. Other links that might be of interest include fic I've written, fic I've recced, more fic I've recced, and the ficathon I run. Obviously you don't have to read all this stuff, but just in case. :)
So first of all, what sorts of general guidelines can I offer?
+ All of my fandoms this year are historically oriented. Don't worry about that -- I mean, I guess if you offered one of these fandoms, you probably wouldn't worry too much. Anyway, I bring this up because I care much, much more about truth to characterization and to the spirit of canon than I do about sounding period. It's much more important that the ideas are period (unless, I guess, you're writing a modern AU). In particular, please don't feel obligated to write Shakespeare fic in verse -- in fact, I would prefer it if you didn't. Verse pastiche within fic is fine, though (I mean, one of the prompts is for Love's Labour's Lost which pretty much cries out for it), as is reference to extant contemporary poetry! If you choose the 14th Century RPF prompt, you can feel free to keep in mind that the characters are almost certainly really speaking either Middle English or French and apply Translation Convention.
+ If you are so inclined, I absolutely love AUs, as you may have noticed if you clicked through to the fic I wrote, so if you get an AU plotbunny, don't worry that it's too weird. I mean, I run a ficathon that gets at least two "is this AU too weird?" queries every year, and I have never once said yes. Because AUs ARE LOVE, and weird is love.
+ I am fine with gen, slash, and het alike, and am perfectly comfortable with pretty much any level of explicitness, as long as it is not, like, involving bodily fluids not normally involved in sex, or non-canon incest that would squick members of medieval royal families (I mean, the two obvious slash ships in Richard II are both between first cousins, which is fine), or non-con that isn't in the source canon. I also am totally down with polyamorous relationships, as I'm sure you've noticed since one of my prompts more or less requests it. ;)
+ I really like it in fic when everyone is sympathetic, or at least understandable, to some degree, even when they are assholes. (This probably applies the most to the Richard II request. Lots of assholes in that play.)
Now for the specific prompts:
Richard II - Shakespeare: Any Character
Absolutely anything about this play would ROCK, seriously. This is totally my standby "if you don't like the other prompts I will always be happy with this" prompt. There is actually a respectable (for a tiny little fandom) number of fics out there, but at this point, I actually wrote more than a few of them, and while they say "write the fic you want to read," it's nice when sometimes you don't have to. So I will be thrilled with anything you write!
I think this is pretty straightforward, isn't it? I am a glutton for Richard II fic of basically any kind and on any subject. I JUST LOVE IT SO MUCH OKAY. My favorite production of it, if you're interested, is the 2013 RSC version with David Tennant (which you should totally watch if you haven't seen it, even if you don't write this prompt), but obviously it doesn't have to be set in that universe.
14th Century CE RPF: Richard II (14th Century CE RPF), Anne of Bohemia Queen of England (14th Century CE RPF), Robert de Vere Duke of Ireland (14th Century CE RPF)
Okay, so there is a little bit of overlap here with my last request, but I like pre-play Richard as well! I've always been really interested in his relationships with both Anne and Robert and the way those two must have intersected, and would love to read fic about it. But really, anything about any of these characters or about Richard's life before Shakespeare's play picks up the story would be a delight.
I am a little bit sorry that I stuck you with two Richard-related prompts! I hope you are not too mad about that. One of the things that's always (well, since I got interested in reading about historical!Richard) struck me about the play is how well Shakespeare's characterization of him fits into what we know about him before the play -- he was happily married to Anne, and he clearly loved Robert de Vere even if their relationship wasn't sexual, and he lost both of them and was fucked up for life. But I like thinking about the three of them being a happy poly medieval triad for the little time they had.
Love's Labours Lost - Shakespeare: Any Character
This is such a great play for fanfic because of its open ending. Sequels are always welcome, of course! But the play also offers some intriguing options for backstory -- for instance, Rosaline and Berowne have that great little "Did not I dance with you in Brabant once?" exchange, and if you have an idea what that was about, that would also make for an excellent fic.
Again, I think a fairly straightforward prompt, if a wide-open one. This is a great play for general silliness, and I'd definitely like to see ensemble fic if possible, because it's also a fantastic ensemble piece. Again, anything you can think to do I'm sure will be a delight.
Finally, here's a link to my 2013 letter (I couldn't get my shit together to write a letter last year), which has links to all my letters since 2008. Other links that might be of interest include fic I've written, fic I've recced, more fic I've recced, and the ficathon I run. Obviously you don't have to read all this stuff, but just in case. :)