DYW Letter
*hums while shamelessly copy-pasting chunks of last year's letter*
Hello, Yuletide writer! Thank you very much in advance for whatever you're going to write this year. :D Here's a bit of general information about my fic preferences that I hope will prove helpful.
What I like: I'm a big fan of both het and gen. Genre-wise, pretty much anything goes! I would say most of what I read falls under the general categories of drama or romance, but I'm also fond of angst, fluff, crack, humor, etc. Smut is perfectly welcome if you're up for writing it, but by no means a necessity. Moving into somewhat more specific territory, I love fics that dig into characters' heads--what they're thinking and feeling, what drives them, how they interact and react to the world around them, and so on. The same is true of relationships--what makes this pairing tick? Why are they together? And so on. That's not to say that I need pages and pages of pondering and introspection, but even just a smattering of details that really help set the scene and make me feel like I'm right there in the middle of it with the characters will make me a happy reader. I also love love love awesome female characters being awesome. That doesn't necessarily have to equate to being physically kickass, either--it could be anything from a witty line of banter to a thoughtful conversation to a creative problem-solving method, just to scratch the surface.
What I'm not so into: Rape/non-con of any kind is my absolute biggest squick. I probably should put dub-con in there too, just to be safe. Slash and femslash are also not particularly my thing, and I would prefer for character death to be avoided if at all possible. While I'm fine with an angsty story, I tend to stay away from extremely dark, punch-to-the-gut angst. I like my endings happy, or at least bittersweet and/or hopeful.
And now for a few fandom-specific notes:
Alpha Protocol - Every year I nominate and request this, ever hopeful. :p Whenever I play Alpha Protocol, my Mike always ends up with Mina. I know there are a billion different options for everything in this game, but this is one that I can never bring myself to change! She's the one person who interacts with Mike and helps him out almost constantly throughout the game, and I'm a bit of a sucker for the "good friends and/or colleagues become lovers" trope. I think the number one thing I would like to see would be a fic exploring exactly what happens after the game ends (assuming that they took down Halbech and rode off on the boat together into the sunset). How do they transition from all the recent craziness into a more "normal" existence? Or do they just give normal a miss altogether and carry on with the secret spy business? The possibilities for a post-endgame fic are pretty limitless. But really, when it comes to specific details, I'm not picky--there are zero Alpha Protocol stories on AO3 and only six on FFN (and three of those are in Russian), so needless to say there's not much out there. I would be happy to read just about anything!
Dragon Age: Blood Mage no Seisen | Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker - I fell in love with Cassandra practically from the moment she appeared onscreen in Dragon Age II, so I jumped at the chance to learn more about her in Dawn of the Seeker. I would love anything that delves further into her character--her backstory, her childhood, her relationship to her family, her path to becoming a Chantry Seeker, her personality and motivations, pretty much anything and everything that makes her tick. Could be set before, during, or after DotS; I'm not picky on that score. Basically anything Cassandra, and I'll be happy.
The Mummy - I'm an unabashed ancient history/Egyptology nerd, so for this fandom I would love to see something set in ancient Egypt focusing on Imhotep and Ancksunamun's relationship before the events of the movies. Their first meeting, how they fell in love, how they dealt with any qualms they might have had given the forbidden nature of the relationship, etc. Plus anything touching on the realities of daily life in ancient Egypt, Imhotep's duties as High Priest, the characters dealing with court politics and intrigue, and so on, would make me a very happy camper.
Star Wars: The Old Republic - While I really enjoyed the Sith Inquisitor storyline, I found myself wishing they had done more with it. The two things I especially wanted to see explored more in-depth were the Inquisitor's past as a slave, and the effect that all of the Force ghosts she collects would have on her psyche. (I know they did touch on the latter in the game itself, but I felt like they really only scratched the surface.) So I would love to see a story focusing on one or both of those issues. For example...what does it mean to be a slave in the Star Wars universe? How was she treated while enslaved? How did she stop being a slave--was she released, or did she escape, or something else altogether? Does she have any lingering trauma from her past? Once she becomes part of the Council, does she suffer any discrimination for being a former slave? Etc. And on the subject of the Force ghosts, I can only imagine the havoc it would wreak to have multiple different personalities literally housed in your body, so there has to be a goldmine of possibilities there. As for Andronikos, my Inquisitor did romance him and I consider him my favorite love interest in the game, so I would love to see a shippy fic about the two of them as well (though that's by no means a requirement).
I think that about does it, finally. :p I hope this info is helpful, and that you have happy holidays and a great Yuletide!
Hello, Yuletide writer! Thank you very much in advance for whatever you're going to write this year. :D Here's a bit of general information about my fic preferences that I hope will prove helpful.
What I like: I'm a big fan of both het and gen. Genre-wise, pretty much anything goes! I would say most of what I read falls under the general categories of drama or romance, but I'm also fond of angst, fluff, crack, humor, etc. Smut is perfectly welcome if you're up for writing it, but by no means a necessity. Moving into somewhat more specific territory, I love fics that dig into characters' heads--what they're thinking and feeling, what drives them, how they interact and react to the world around them, and so on. The same is true of relationships--what makes this pairing tick? Why are they together? And so on. That's not to say that I need pages and pages of pondering and introspection, but even just a smattering of details that really help set the scene and make me feel like I'm right there in the middle of it with the characters will make me a happy reader. I also love love love awesome female characters being awesome. That doesn't necessarily have to equate to being physically kickass, either--it could be anything from a witty line of banter to a thoughtful conversation to a creative problem-solving method, just to scratch the surface.
What I'm not so into: Rape/non-con of any kind is my absolute biggest squick. I probably should put dub-con in there too, just to be safe. Slash and femslash are also not particularly my thing, and I would prefer for character death to be avoided if at all possible. While I'm fine with an angsty story, I tend to stay away from extremely dark, punch-to-the-gut angst. I like my endings happy, or at least bittersweet and/or hopeful.
And now for a few fandom-specific notes:
Alpha Protocol - Every year I nominate and request this, ever hopeful. :p Whenever I play Alpha Protocol, my Mike always ends up with Mina. I know there are a billion different options for everything in this game, but this is one that I can never bring myself to change! She's the one person who interacts with Mike and helps him out almost constantly throughout the game, and I'm a bit of a sucker for the "good friends and/or colleagues become lovers" trope. I think the number one thing I would like to see would be a fic exploring exactly what happens after the game ends (assuming that they took down Halbech and rode off on the boat together into the sunset). How do they transition from all the recent craziness into a more "normal" existence? Or do they just give normal a miss altogether and carry on with the secret spy business? The possibilities for a post-endgame fic are pretty limitless. But really, when it comes to specific details, I'm not picky--there are zero Alpha Protocol stories on AO3 and only six on FFN (and three of those are in Russian), so needless to say there's not much out there. I would be happy to read just about anything!
Dragon Age: Blood Mage no Seisen | Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker - I fell in love with Cassandra practically from the moment she appeared onscreen in Dragon Age II, so I jumped at the chance to learn more about her in Dawn of the Seeker. I would love anything that delves further into her character--her backstory, her childhood, her relationship to her family, her path to becoming a Chantry Seeker, her personality and motivations, pretty much anything and everything that makes her tick. Could be set before, during, or after DotS; I'm not picky on that score. Basically anything Cassandra, and I'll be happy.
The Mummy - I'm an unabashed ancient history/Egyptology nerd, so for this fandom I would love to see something set in ancient Egypt focusing on Imhotep and Ancksunamun's relationship before the events of the movies. Their first meeting, how they fell in love, how they dealt with any qualms they might have had given the forbidden nature of the relationship, etc. Plus anything touching on the realities of daily life in ancient Egypt, Imhotep's duties as High Priest, the characters dealing with court politics and intrigue, and so on, would make me a very happy camper.
Star Wars: The Old Republic - While I really enjoyed the Sith Inquisitor storyline, I found myself wishing they had done more with it. The two things I especially wanted to see explored more in-depth were the Inquisitor's past as a slave, and the effect that all of the Force ghosts she collects would have on her psyche. (I know they did touch on the latter in the game itself, but I felt like they really only scratched the surface.) So I would love to see a story focusing on one or both of those issues. For example...what does it mean to be a slave in the Star Wars universe? How was she treated while enslaved? How did she stop being a slave--was she released, or did she escape, or something else altogether? Does she have any lingering trauma from her past? Once she becomes part of the Council, does she suffer any discrimination for being a former slave? Etc. And on the subject of the Force ghosts, I can only imagine the havoc it would wreak to have multiple different personalities literally housed in your body, so there has to be a goldmine of possibilities there. As for Andronikos, my Inquisitor did romance him and I consider him my favorite love interest in the game, so I would love to see a shippy fic about the two of them as well (though that's by no means a requirement).
I think that about does it, finally. :p I hope this info is helpful, and that you have happy holidays and a great Yuletide!