See the blazing Yule before us!
Dear Yuletide author,
Thank you for offering to write me a story! This is the first Yuletide I have participated in, and I am super excited. Squee! (This is also my excuse for this super-long letter.)
First, please take this entire letter as a collection of gentle suggestions. I am sure I will like whatever you write, but I know that I generally am more creative within some sort of framework. So I'll tell you a little about what I like to read in case that helps you decide where to go with my request. Also, I'm sorry to make your life more difficult by being friends-only. My userinfos do have a little about what fandoms I read in, though.
I haven't written very much, but you can find two of my stories at the Archive of Our Own. You can also see my fic bookmarks on Delicious; I even have a tag for my all-time favorites.
My favorites are usually in science fiction/fantasy and general fiction genres. I love humor, crack, adventure, or romance, or all of the above at the same time. I'll fall over myself with glee about anything involving amnesia, parallel or alternate universes, gender- or bodyswap, parody, musicals, telepathy, or superpowers. What can I say, tropes make me happy!
There are a few things I don't like, too: betrayal/adultery, humiliation, possessiveness, non-con, incest, heavy bsdm. Under-age sex and cross-gen pairings are sometimes squicky for me. These aren't hard and fast rules (I've been in RPS fandoms where the major pairing was built on adultery! By definition!), but more an indication of directions I would prefer you not go in.
Gen, het, and slash are all fine with me.
All this aside, you're the writer! Let the characters take you somewhere--I'm sure I'll love where you go with them.
My requests:
Meg Cabot - The Mediator series (book series)
Character: Suze
Meg Cabot, author of The Princess Diaries series, wrote this series about a girl who can see and talk to ghosts under a nom de plume. Suze is 16 and lives with her blended family in southern California, where she helps ghosts solve their problems (rather like in the film The Sixth Sense) and pines for the most handsome man she's ever met, Jesse. He seems to like her, too--but he's a ghost! This series is just my kind of crack--sarcastic heroine, supernatural/fantasy elements, and delightfully formulaic plots, with *just* enough characterization to hold it together.
I'd love to see just about anything from a story about Suze helping a ghost (it might be a great opportunity to do a crossover/fusion) to something that might clear up some of the inconsistencies in the books (I swear Paul used to have a younger brother!). Canon ships are fine, but don't feel you need to stick to them.
Gordon Korman - I Want to Go Home! (book)
Character: Rudy Miller
Canadian Gordon Korman wrote his first book, This Can't Be Happening at MacDonald Hall!, at age 14 and went on to turn it into a series. This book, I Want to Go Home!, is a stand-alone, but it's my favorite. Affable Mike goes to camp expecting to have a nice, normal summer, but instead he meets weird, negative, sarcastic--but incredibly smart and talented--Rudy Miller and, to his great surprise, has the best summer ever.
Rudy is one of my favorite characters of all time, so as long as there's Rudy I'll be delighted. Although I do enjoy Mike/Rudy as a slash pairing, don't feel bound by that. One possibility might be a story set at camp in the future, possibly involving Chip.
Being Erica (TV show)
Characters: Dr. Tom and Erica Strange
This Canadian show is midway through its second season, and there are sharing communities on LJ for it. Erica Strange is 31 and her life is going nowhere--dead-end job, no boyfriend, family she can't connect with. She meets a mysterious therapist who offers to help--by sending her back in time to fix her regrets.
I'd love to read something about Dr. Tom and the other therapists and how the therapy system works, or something that touches on those mysteries. Please feel free to include canon pairings or unconventional ones as you see fit; a gen or friendship fic is also welcome. My favorite characters are Erica, Tom, Kai, and Brent, but I'll enjoy reading anything in this universe.
Note: I'm up-to-date with this series, but please feel free to set your story anywhere in the timeline.
Madeleine L'Engle - Austin, Murray, O'Keefe families (book series)
Characters: Charles Wallace and Meg Murray O'Keefe
The Murray/O'Keefe section of this wide-ranging series of slightly-connected stories begins with A Wrinkle In Time; Charles Wallace has the most screen time in that and my favorite, A Swiftly Tilting Planet. These classic children's fantasy novels are beautifully written and have fantastic world-building; I feel like I lived in them for much of my childhood!
I've always wanted to hear more about Charles Wallace. I leave the
what, why, and which entirely up to you.
Thank you again, Yuletide author! I look forward to hearing from you on December 25th.
Love,
Cinco