Yuletide Letter
Dear esteemed Yule Goat,
First of all: Thank you, thank you, thank you! This is my first year doing Yuletide--I’m new enough that I don’t even know why I just called you a Yule Goat, and when I Googled it, I ended up reading more than I wanted to about Scandinavia. (Although I guess now I can identify those random animals in the set of straw Christmas ornaments I bought at Ikea.)
Here are a few notes on what I’d like to see in a story. My first choice is slash (and I’ve written my requests to reflect that), but I’d also be happy with gen or friendship fic. (I’m also fine with het and femslash as story elements, as long as they’re not the main focus.) What I’m really interested in is the relationship between these characters, and while I’d love to see that relationship have a romantic or sexual component, it’s not necessary. Any tone is fine--humor, angst, fluff--but I prefer happy endings. Or at least endings that tip the scale more to the side of happy than unhappy; it doesn’t have to be all rainbows and kitties, but I don’t want to come to the end feeling like Ryan Seacrest and I should just go ahead and make that suicide pact. (We could Tweet about it!) My biggest “don’t” would be character death. If you write sex, I’m not crazy about BDSM, d/S or non-con.
If you do end up writing slash, it can be as explicit or as non-explicit as you like. I love first-time stories and stories about feelings developing or deepening. I love seeing long-simmering sexual tension finally come to the surface. Slice-of-life stories are good, too, especially if there's humor, and I like stories where the characters end up in an unusual situation that makes them see each other in a new way. I also love coming out stories and stories dealing with sexuality-related themes, whether or not there’s any actual sex. (Just in case I haven’t been clear, though? I’m A-OK with the sex.)
Since three of my four requests are RPF, I wanted to say a few things about that. What I want most from this kind of story is to be a fly on the wall. I want to be behind the scenes, soaking up the atmosphere. In a way, you have more leeway writing RPF, because it’s a lot less clear what constitutes “canon” or “out of character.” If you write me a Mad Men fic in which Sal goes on for three pages about what kind of ammo he likes to use for duck hunting, I might question your fan credentials a little bit. But fuck if I know how Simon Cowell spends his weekends. So you know, just keep it fairly realistic. I know the basics of these people’s lives--or at least the parts of their lives that have been made public--but I’m not the kind of detail-oriented fangirl who knows whether James Marsters is allergic to mangoes and afraid of snakes AND OH MY GOD, YOU HAVE HIM EATING MANGOES IN THE REPTILE HOUSE AT THE ZOO AND MY CHRISTMAS IS RUINED!!!
Basically, I’m a cheap date. Keep my guys alive, give them a happy ending (or, you know, a “happy ending”), and I’ll love you forever.
With gratitude and fuzzy feelings,
Delilah Joy
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By the way, for anyone interested, these are my requests:
RequestFandom1: RPF - American Idol S1-6
RequestFandomChar1: Ryan Seacrest/Simon Cowell
RequestDetail1: I'd love a Ryan/Simon slash story of any rating, tone or subject. Here's my personal mythology about these guys, which you don't have to adhere to, but which might give you some idea of my ideal fanfic: I would bet money that these two are or have been involved in real life, though I'm not tinhatty about it. In my mind at least, they're in a long-term relationship (since fairly early in the show), though they're not exclusive or overly sentimental about it. They're both driven men, for whom career comes first, but they share a sense of humor and have good sex and spend time together whenever they can. I'm interested in fiction that shows scenes from the relationship itself (first time or behind the scenes on the show or just day-to-day interaction), but I'm also interested in the dynamics behind it: how does the "hiding in plain sight" joking around on the show affect the relationship? What's it like conducting a courtship on national TV, while (sort of) pretending you're only joking? What's the cost of having to pretend you're just friends? How does the long-distance thing work for them? What happens in the dressing rooms after the cameras turn off? (Okay, that last one was a little less of an intellectual puzzle. PWP is fine, too. I'm easy, as long as they're not terribly out of character.) If you don't know much about this fandom, you might want to go to YouTube and do a search for Rymon; there are a bunch of videos that people have compiled of significant on-air moments between the two of them.
RequestFandom2: Mad Men
RequestFandomChar2: Don Draper/Pete Campbell/Salvatore Romano
RequestDetail2: I want Mad Men slash. It could be Pete/Don or Don/Sal or Sal/Pete. Could be sexy--first time or secret assignation or business trip that turns into a tryst--or it could focus more on UST or the early stages of attraction. I love the show for its complex characters and the way it immerses the viewer so completely in the time period. You can make the period details as prominent or as.not-prominent as you want. I'm assuming that if you're interested in writing this fandom, that appeals to you, but it doesn't have to be a big part of it. And I'm not a huge stickler for historical accuracy; just don't have anyone driving a Prius. :-)
RequestFandom3: RPF - Buffy-Angelverse
RequestFandomChar3: Anthony S. Head/David Boreanaz/James Marsters
RequestDetail3: Ideally, what I'd like most would be RPF slash between Anthony Stewart Head and Nicholas Brendon or James Marsters and Nicholas Brendon, but NB isn't on the list. (I didn't take part in the nomination round; maybe next year.) So, failing that, I'd be interested in slash between Anthony Stewart Head and James Marsters or James Marsters and David Boreanaz. (If for some reason, the third possible pairing--ASH and DB--works best for you, then go for it, but my preference is one of the other two.) Also, I'd prefer it if the fic takes place on the Buffy set, rather than the Angel set, but I'm not dead-set against doing it the other way. Something that takes place after the shows go off the air would work for me, too. A few ideas: JM goes to ASH for help with his English accent. DB and JM discuss the possibility that their characters have a sexual history together, and whether they should incorporate that into their portrayals. JM and DB run into each other at an audition after the shows have ended and finally act on their long-simmering attraction. ASH and JM work a fan convention together. If there's sex involved, I'd prefer there to be no BDSM or D/s. Besides the interaction between the actors, I'm interested in life in Hollywood and what it might have been like behind-the-scenes at "Buffy." I haven't seen that much Buffy RPF, but my favorite story is "Between the Legitimate Parts" by Miriam Heddy, which you could read if you wanted to (though, obviously, it's fine if you don't). More than anything else, I'm hoping for characterization that feels realistic, but how you interpret that is up to you, since (I'm assuming) none of us actually know these people in RL.
RequestFandom4: RPF - American Idol S8
RequestFandomChar4: Ryan Seacrest/Simon Cowell
RequestDetail4: Same notes as above. I just wanted to use this as my extra request, since this pairing is a possibility in both of them. I don't have a preference as to which season the story takes place in.