Dear Yuletide Writer,
Hi! First of all, thanks so much for signing up to write for one of my pet fandoms. :) Second of all, thanks for taking the time to read this letter. It’s long winded mostly because this is my yearly excuse to ramble on about all things fandom related and obscure, and I enjoy the hell out of it. See, you haven’t even written anything yet and already you are providing fannish holiday glee just by existing. Rest assured that I’m going to adore anything that you write -- I’m easy to please. Optional details are 110 percent optional, and I love surprises. I’m not easily squicked. I’m okay with anything from the mildest gen to the raciest of lemons, and I like darkness and fluff in equal measure.
I’m Chiana606 both here and on Archive of Our Own (as well as most other places that you can find me on the internet.). I also have a fanfiction.net account under the name Elisabeth Harker.
Some general things I like (not a check list):
Friendship -- I think it’s a very important dynamic, and every bit as important and interesting as romance. Stories exploring the friendship between two or more characters are great. It can be an element of a romantic relationship too, if you choose to go that route.
Failed or otherwise complicated romance - If I actively ship two characters, that’s a clear sign that things didn’t work out for them in canon. I crave the will they? - won’t they?, pining, and tension. That doesn’t mean that I don’t have any desire to see my favorite characters happily in love, but I like some twists and turns along the way, and resolution isn’t 100 percent necessary.
Faults - I enjoy characters who aren’t perfect and make mistakes, and sometimes make choices that aren’t completely sympathetic. I also like characters trying to overcome their faults.
Hurt/comfort - I like it to the point where I’ll find myself searching the internet for hurt/comfort fics in any fandom that I’m reasonably familiar with, even ones I’m not terribly fond of. Weirdly, it tends to be the characters I like the most who I want to see really shattered. Ideally reactions are on par with whatever is happening to the character -- for example, I probably wouldn’t enjoy a fic about a strong character curled up in a ball having hysterics over a paper cut. Other than that, though, you can’t really go wrong.
The Light in the Piazza
Characters: Franca, Clara, Fabrizio
The Light in the Piazza has a beautiful score, and it’s a wonderfully atmospheric musical. It painted such a vivid and stunning picture of Italy. I tend to see the show as an exploration of the nature of love, both the positive life-affirming side of it, and the darker undertones. While it seems on the surface to have a fairytale happy ending, it’s clear how ambiguous and fragile that ending is. There’s a note of desperation in Margaret’s “Love if you can now my Clara, Love if you can and be loved.” at the end of “Fable”.
I want to see what happens after the curtain closes. How does Clara deal with being left behind in Italy when her mother leaves? Is she truly able to cope with the demands of married life? Does Fabrizio remain enchanted with her? Will he ever regret marrying her? If they have problems, how do the work them out, or fail to work them out? What about the age difference?
What about Franca? I found her story incredibly heartbreaking, particularly since she seemed like such a strong and intelligent character. How does her relationship with Giuseppe progress?
On one hand, I’d love to read a story in which Fabrizio and Clara solve whatever problems they have initially, and learn to live happily ever after in a way that is solid and permanent, or a bit of fun romantic fluff.
On the other hand, a steamy torrid affair between Fabrizio and Franca could also be very appealing. I don’t think I’d want to read a story where Fabrizio ever came to hate Clara, but I’d like to see things get a little more complicated than the starry-eyed romance of the musical. If you’re not in a Fabrizio/Clara type of mood, a fic about Franca and Clara interacting (even doing simple things like grocery shopping together) would also be interesting.
A story about Clara and Fabrizio’s first Christmas together could be interesting, and I could see it ranging anywhere from sweet, to bittersweet, to disastrous, or all three at once. I don’t have my heart set on Christmas fic, though, and I’m sure any plotline you choose to go with will be fascinating.
As far as I can tell, there is *no* fan fic on the internet for Light in the Piazza, and it would be cool to see some come into existence.
Huge
Character - Becca
This one is a new fandom for me, but I’m already quite fond of it. I like how diverse the characters are, and the themes of self-acceptance and body politics throughout the show.
I’ve requested Becca because she’s just so nerdy, and I love her for it. I like how her face just lights up and she gets all excited when talking about things like runes or LARPING, even when she’s discussing it with people who don’t share her enthusiasm. I also like how most of the time she seems very shy, and like the kind of person who could be easily walked all over, but then she’ll suddenly do something over the top and kick-ass… her talent show dance, for example, had me completely shocked, but in a good way. I was expecting her to shrink away from performing, but instead she completely rocked it.
You’re welcome to go anywhere you want with Becca, and explore any of her relationships. I think her interactions with Alistair were pretty cute, but fic about her and any of the other characters, or even about her and her life at home away from camp victory would all be fine. Something about how she views her body through weight-loss and weight-gain would also be interesting.
One funny idea I had is that out of all the characters that I like, Becca is the most likely to know about yuletide. If you wanted to write something about Becca and yuletide that would be cool. Would she drive herself crazy trying to choose which fandoms to nominate? Would she be struck with incredible writers block upon receiving her assignment? Would she decide to describe the entire history of yuletide to Will one day?
If you wanted to go for a different angle, a fic about the councilors (Shay, George, and Poppy) and how they view the campers could be interesting. There’s a scene in one episode where the three of them are drinking together before Dorothy runs into them. I’d love to know what they were talking about. Alternately, a story dealing with Poppy and how she was when she was a camper would also be cool (maybe she could be telling stories from that time to Becca?).
Little Women
Characters: Jo and Laurie
I love Little Women. I’ve read it far too many times. I’ve read the sequels. I’ve read the supernatural mash-ups. Stalk fanfiction.net ready to pounce upon the rare and elusive new story the minute it’s published. The whole thing is kind of obsessive, really.
There are a lot of things that I like about the books. The dialogue is one of the things that really draws me to Louisa May Alcott’s writing style. Some of the conversations in the Little Women series are epic, and I just enjoy the way that the characters talk to each other. I also like how the story can move between seeming like a morality tale at one moment, and seeming torridly romantic or sensational the next (I know that the Little Women series is much different than Alcott’s sensation stories, but I feel like I can see a hint in them in places like Laurie’s failed proposal, Dan’s imprisonment, or Emil’s shipwreck). I like how the characters are both deeply faulted and essentially good, and there’s something very nice about how they manage to care for and love each other even through the worst misadventures.
Jo and Laurie are two particular favorites of mine. With Jo I like how prickly she is, how awkward she can be, how hard she tries to be good and how it isn’t easy for her. I’m interested in anything that explores gender and sexuality as it relates to Jo. I like that she has big dreams, and I love her strength and her devotion to her family.
With Laurie I like how wild and exuberant he can be, and how the different March sisters each seem to bring out a different aspect of his personality. I also like how despite all of his mischief, and how he can go too far with things sometimes, he’s incredibly kind at the core. I like his tendency towards romantic notions, and those flashes of seriousness he sometimes shows.
I’m a fan of the Jo/Laurie relationship, and I enjoy Jo/Laurie interactions whether they’re simple friendship, not-so-simple romantically tinged friendship, one-sided romance, or mutual romance. Passionate!Laurie and Prickly!Jo is awesome.
I have a definite thing for Laurie/Jo hurt/comfort fics, with Jo as the hurting party. Basically, I grant you full permission to do terrible things to Jo, if you feel so inclined. ( a couple of prompts in this vein - What if father March never made it back from the war? Or what if after the failed proposal Laurie didn’t go to Europe but stayed at his Grandfather’s house, and he and Jo were estranged until things started going wrong with Beth. Bonus points for some interaction between Laurie and Beth or Jo and Beth, since I also love Beth… in particular I’ve always wanted Laurie to get a chance to say goodbye to her. If the first two scenarios are too intensely depressing, you could always just give Jo the flu or something.).
Cheerier fics are also fine. Stories about Jo and Laurie when they are younger having fun together always make good reads. I also like the idea of both Jo and Laurie having certain things they would tell the other that they wouldn’t tell anybody else, so maybe a story about them sharing secrets of some kind? Or stuff set during Jo’s Boys or Little Men with Jo and Laurie reminiscing about things they used to do, or talking about their spouses. Something about Jo and Laurie talking about the boys at the Plumfield school would be cool, particularly Nat, since Laurie took a special interest in him. Or something dealing with how they might view the relationship between Nan and Tommy, since it in some ways mirrors their own… actually, I’m a big fan of Nan, so I would be just as happy with a Nan fic with a bit of Jo/Laurie friendship in the background as I would with a straight up Jo/Laurie fic. I hate the idea of Nan and Tommy ever having a successful romance, but I love Tommy’s pursuit and their relationship, and really want some reassurance that they remained friends after Tommy got married. Maybe Laurie or Jo could help that along? It could be interesting to see how Nan would react if she knew that Laurie had proposed to Jo at one point.
The one thing I don’t want to see is a story that vilifies Amy or Bhaer. AU is fine - kill Amy and Bhaer off if you feel like it, marry Amy off to Fred and leave Bhaer a bachelor, or do whatever you please as long as Amy and Bhaer aren’t suddenly Evil. However, if you choose to stick to the canon timeline, I’d prefer Jo’s marriage to Bhaer and Laurie’s marriage to Amy be portrayed in a loving way as they are the books. I don’t have any problem with the Jo/Bhaer ship (I sometimes write it, even) or Laurie/Amy, and I don’t think I’d a enjoy a story about Laurie and Jo having a torrid extra-marital affair behind their backs.
Finally, I’d just like to say that I like Little Women enough that if you wanted to ignore this entire note and write about another character entirely, I’d be absolutely fine with that. I like them all and can happily read about any one of them.