Dear Yuletide writer 2013
Dear writer, the following is in case you prefer to have more details to work with. If not, go have fun writing and enjoy your Yuletide experience!
I'd be thrilled to get femslash of any rating, and I also gladly read gen, poly, slash and het (though admittedly I generally prefer het to be understated/non-explicit or platonic). Platonic or asexual romantic relationships are lovely. Kink is fine and fun, but I'm generally more interested in characterisation than sex qua sex. I don't have any triggers you need to worry about, though I'd be happier to not read humiliation/embarrassment played for laughs or stories that assume everyone is straight. And I’m in favour in all sorts of diversity in fic.
Apart from English, I read Swedish, French and Spanish (and some Norwegian, Danish & Portuguese), if you'd want to play around with language.
Some things I love: intelligent meta fic, plotty capers, slices of life, worldbuilding, thoughtful or just plain fun alternate universes. Queer women, unconventional love stories, competence, unassuming strength of character, families of choice, geekiness, dancing, everything related to oceans and the sea (lighthouses, sailing, salt), androgyny, genderqueerness, girls in love.
There are a few requests here that I've made before and some that are new - I'd be equally happy with fic for any of them.
As you like it - Shakespeare
Celia | Aliena, Rosalind | Ganymede
Rosalind and Celia run away and have adventures! With crossdressing, secret identities and hijinks! Either as lovers, as sister-like best friends for ever, or something complicated in between. Any setting, any time period - maybe they're among the French resistance in WWII, or anarchists in the Spanish civil war, or in a fairytale forest, or in space...
(Or, you know, Celia contemplating "And wheresoe'er we went, like Juno's swans, Still we went coupled and inseparable" in Shakespearean verse would also be great. But extremely optional.)
Recently I saw a version of As you like it set in the 30s, with swing music, dancing and resistance fighters, and that was really great. My favourite thing about the play though is the strength of the bond between Celia and Rosalind - of course Celia is going to follow Rosalind into an unknown future when she's banished, anything else is unthinkable. All tropes are welcome here, if you want to be playful and lighthearted. But darker or more introspective stuff is fine too. (I'm not really sold on Rosalind/Orlando, but if you are and can make it work while keeping Celia as the most important person in Rosalind's life, go for it.)
His Dark Materials
Lyra Belaqua
Lyra (and Pan), growing up. Re-learning how to read the alethiometer, writing a dissertation on something important, finding friends and family in her Oxford... I'd love to see Lyra growing into an activist academic, busily engaged in changing the world for the better among and beyond the scholars of her childhood.
Oh, how I loved His Dark Materials - the fantastic worldbuilding, the intricate storytelling, the philosophy, and the characters. Lyra especially I've always adored - the ways she's so fiercely independent, intelligent and street smart, but at the same time she's compassionate and forms strong emotional bonds. And she has so much agency within the story, she makes flawed decisions and takes responsibility for them.
Lyra/Will is one of the few het romances that I'm really fond of - in large part because of the ending; I have such a soft spot for that kind of tragic-heroic self-sacrificing story. So I'm not asking you to undo the Lyra/Will angle, but I'm really not looking for get-them-back-together fic either. Lyra's future relationships could go anywhere. Since the original world is so interesting here, I'd also rather stay in that than have Lyra in an total AU.
But really, give me anything with Lyra in focus here and I'll be happy.
Literary RPF
Karin Boye
That time Karin Boye went to Berlin in the early thirties, hung out with poets and lesbians, got comfortable with loving women and seduced the woman who became her partner for life.
Or Karin Boye being avant-garde, modernist and running a socialist/anti-fascist magazine in the twenties (while being queer).
Or having improbable adventures/connections with any woman writer you like - Edith Södergran, Selma Lagerlöf, Tove Jansson, Virgina Woolf...
Boye is one of the writers of my heart. Some resources: wiki, project Runeberg, her poetry in English translation. Apart from her poetry I also adore her dystopian novel Kallocain: wiki, full text translation. Highly recommended!
For this request, I would really be thrilled to get anything from total literary geekery, historical realism with as much research and detail as you like, femslashy fluff or wild AUs. If it inspires you, go for it.
Sofies verden | Sophie's World - Jostein Gaarder
Sofie Amundsen | Sophie Amundsen, Hilde Møller Knag
The world is even bigger than she thought. Take Sophie beyond the scope of the white, western male canon of philosophy. I have a lot of love for feminist, queer and postcolonial thought in particular, but you could bring in anything from any other part of the world.
Other potential ideas if you don't feel like delving into theory: Sophie/Hilde after the end of the novel, femslash or gen, or, what to do when you're a fictional girl on the loose in the wide, wide world.
Sophie's World turned my fourteen year old mind upside down the first time I read it, and I'd love for Sophie to get a little more revolution to shake things up. My favourite thing about the book is that feeling of endless possibilities, of the world around you not being what it seems at first glance, and I also love the character interactions, so you can’t go wrong here, really!
Stick It (2006)
Haley has an adventure! With lots of attitude and crazy gymnastics.
Or, what do you do when you realise it's not really you against the world anymore? I'd love to see Haley continue exploring teamwork and solidarity, messing up the system from the inside. Or gymnastics at college, or Haley having a fling/romance with any of the girls from the movie.
I love the tongue-in-cheek tone of this movie, all the focus on the relationships between the gymnasts in the team, that it's about achieving things you didn't think you could. And the gymnastics, the things they can do with their bodies, wow. Also Haley is so great. I personally would see her as queer (lesbian or bi), but very laid-back about it. Romance is not the most important thing in her life. If you don't feel like writing femslash, I'd probably prefer gen.
Wishing you a good time writing,
Emei
This post has
comments on Dreamwidth. You're welcome to comment there using OpenID.
I'd be thrilled to get femslash of any rating, and I also gladly read gen, poly, slash and het (though admittedly I generally prefer het to be understated/non-explicit or platonic). Platonic or asexual romantic relationships are lovely. Kink is fine and fun, but I'm generally more interested in characterisation than sex qua sex. I don't have any triggers you need to worry about, though I'd be happier to not read humiliation/embarrassment played for laughs or stories that assume everyone is straight. And I’m in favour in all sorts of diversity in fic.
Apart from English, I read Swedish, French and Spanish (and some Norwegian, Danish & Portuguese), if you'd want to play around with language.
Some things I love: intelligent meta fic, plotty capers, slices of life, worldbuilding, thoughtful or just plain fun alternate universes. Queer women, unconventional love stories, competence, unassuming strength of character, families of choice, geekiness, dancing, everything related to oceans and the sea (lighthouses, sailing, salt), androgyny, genderqueerness, girls in love.
There are a few requests here that I've made before and some that are new - I'd be equally happy with fic for any of them.
As you like it - Shakespeare
Celia | Aliena, Rosalind | Ganymede
Rosalind and Celia run away and have adventures! With crossdressing, secret identities and hijinks! Either as lovers, as sister-like best friends for ever, or something complicated in between. Any setting, any time period - maybe they're among the French resistance in WWII, or anarchists in the Spanish civil war, or in a fairytale forest, or in space...
(Or, you know, Celia contemplating "And wheresoe'er we went, like Juno's swans, Still we went coupled and inseparable" in Shakespearean verse would also be great. But extremely optional.)
Recently I saw a version of As you like it set in the 30s, with swing music, dancing and resistance fighters, and that was really great. My favourite thing about the play though is the strength of the bond between Celia and Rosalind - of course Celia is going to follow Rosalind into an unknown future when she's banished, anything else is unthinkable. All tropes are welcome here, if you want to be playful and lighthearted. But darker or more introspective stuff is fine too. (I'm not really sold on Rosalind/Orlando, but if you are and can make it work while keeping Celia as the most important person in Rosalind's life, go for it.)
His Dark Materials
Lyra Belaqua
Lyra (and Pan), growing up. Re-learning how to read the alethiometer, writing a dissertation on something important, finding friends and family in her Oxford... I'd love to see Lyra growing into an activist academic, busily engaged in changing the world for the better among and beyond the scholars of her childhood.
Oh, how I loved His Dark Materials - the fantastic worldbuilding, the intricate storytelling, the philosophy, and the characters. Lyra especially I've always adored - the ways she's so fiercely independent, intelligent and street smart, but at the same time she's compassionate and forms strong emotional bonds. And she has so much agency within the story, she makes flawed decisions and takes responsibility for them.
Lyra/Will is one of the few het romances that I'm really fond of - in large part because of the ending; I have such a soft spot for that kind of tragic-heroic self-sacrificing story. So I'm not asking you to undo the Lyra/Will angle, but I'm really not looking for get-them-back-together fic either. Lyra's future relationships could go anywhere. Since the original world is so interesting here, I'd also rather stay in that than have Lyra in an total AU.
But really, give me anything with Lyra in focus here and I'll be happy.
Literary RPF
Karin Boye
That time Karin Boye went to Berlin in the early thirties, hung out with poets and lesbians, got comfortable with loving women and seduced the woman who became her partner for life.
Or Karin Boye being avant-garde, modernist and running a socialist/anti-fascist magazine in the twenties (while being queer).
Or having improbable adventures/connections with any woman writer you like - Edith Södergran, Selma Lagerlöf, Tove Jansson, Virgina Woolf...
Boye is one of the writers of my heart. Some resources: wiki, project Runeberg, her poetry in English translation. Apart from her poetry I also adore her dystopian novel Kallocain: wiki, full text translation. Highly recommended!
For this request, I would really be thrilled to get anything from total literary geekery, historical realism with as much research and detail as you like, femslashy fluff or wild AUs. If it inspires you, go for it.
Sofies verden | Sophie's World - Jostein Gaarder
Sofie Amundsen | Sophie Amundsen, Hilde Møller Knag
The world is even bigger than she thought. Take Sophie beyond the scope of the white, western male canon of philosophy. I have a lot of love for feminist, queer and postcolonial thought in particular, but you could bring in anything from any other part of the world.
Other potential ideas if you don't feel like delving into theory: Sophie/Hilde after the end of the novel, femslash or gen, or, what to do when you're a fictional girl on the loose in the wide, wide world.
Sophie's World turned my fourteen year old mind upside down the first time I read it, and I'd love for Sophie to get a little more revolution to shake things up. My favourite thing about the book is that feeling of endless possibilities, of the world around you not being what it seems at first glance, and I also love the character interactions, so you can’t go wrong here, really!
Stick It (2006)
Haley has an adventure! With lots of attitude and crazy gymnastics.
Or, what do you do when you realise it's not really you against the world anymore? I'd love to see Haley continue exploring teamwork and solidarity, messing up the system from the inside. Or gymnastics at college, or Haley having a fling/romance with any of the girls from the movie.
I love the tongue-in-cheek tone of this movie, all the focus on the relationships between the gymnasts in the team, that it's about achieving things you didn't think you could. And the gymnastics, the things they can do with their bodies, wow. Also Haley is so great. I personally would see her as queer (lesbian or bi), but very laid-back about it. Romance is not the most important thing in her life. If you don't feel like writing femslash, I'd probably prefer gen.
Wishing you a good time writing,
Emei
This post has
comments on Dreamwidth. You're welcome to comment there using OpenID.