Yuletide letter, whoo!
Hi there, Author/Pinch-hitter/Treat-writer/Excellent person!
Let me say first off - thanks! I think you're nifty to write something in a tiny fandom we share! Above all, if you have a good time writing the story, that will shine through, and I guarantee that I'll enjoy it too.
I'm fairly catholic in my tastes; I read all of the following: gen, het, slash, humor, horror, angst, character-driven pieces, plotty pieces, AUs, canon-compliant fics, and more. I swoon for humor. I'm impressed by world-building, and I love seeing those little details that tell me you've thought about the realities of the place you're depicting. I adore quietly sorrowful stories. I quite enjoy romance and smut.
I'm okay with crossovers but don't go out of my way to read them, particularly for Yuletide. One thing I don't like is the fannish tendency to pair the same actors up in a number of universes - like writing Chris Evans or Anthony Mackie (or one of their characters) into a 'verse that includes Sebastian Stan (or one of his characters); I'd far prefer an OC.
I don't really enjoy unremittingly dark fic, and I don't want anything with a terribly unhappy ending, infidelity, dub-con, non-con, humiliation, power-play, or polyamory, please. I'm also not really a fan of holiday-themed stories, particularly since I don't celebrate any holiday occurring on the same timeline as Yuletide.
(I tend to do a lot of clickety-clicking once I have my assignment, but in case you'd rather just have a couple of straightforward links, here is my master fic list (stories are listed in the order in which I wrote them within each fandom) and here I am on AO3 under the name innie. I don't have a tumblr or twitter - I'm just on lj, dw, and AO3.)
Now on to the details, since I think I'm more likely to get a story that hits all of my buttons if I tell you what my buttons are for these fandoms. Listed alphabetically, because I really would be deliriously happy with a fic for any of these requests!
Kings: Jack Benjamin
Ah, this show wasn't perfect - ahem, David - but Sebastian Stan's Jack was a perfect character for me. He was flawed in interesting ways, generous in unexpected ways, and so compelling to watch. My biggest wish for the second season we never got was to know how Jack would cope with the horror of his imprisonment.
He did some terrible things in his quest for the throne, but not, I would argue, anything worse than some of the stuff David and Silas pulled. Jack's actions were never shown to be divinely sanctioned, and I wonder what he thought of that. I also want to know what he thought his reign would look like - if he planned to father children with a woman/his queen, if he meant to have a male consort, if he counted on Michelle to bear the children he would name his heirs.
At the beginning of the show, it looked like Rose was absolutely on his side and would back any play he made, but throughout the season she affirmed her commitment to Silas. How much did Jack see?
I only requested Jack because he's my focal point, but I'd love to read your take on his relationships with Lucinda, his sister, his mother, his father, Thomasina, and others. The only one I'd prefer you to steer clear of is David, because I found (the show version of) the character terribly boring (and unconvincingly played), and there are plenty of Jack/David stories available anyway. I don't think a fic in this fandom - particularly if it's set after S1, as I'd prefer - can be fluffy, but I'd love it if there were rays of light here rather than unrelenting misery. Jack retreating into his mind would be good, but so would Jack finding love with one of his guards, or Jack forming a real friendship with Lucinda.
The whole show is watchable here.
Mordant's Need - Stephen R. Donaldson: Castellan Lebbick
I'm going to quote myself about the appeal of this two-book series (here's a link to a pdf of the whole thing) - I adore how complicated the plot is, and how justified all of those complications turn out to be. I love Terisa and Geraden and Myste and Adept Havelock, but my favorite is clearly Castellan Lebbick. There's something so moving about his struggles to understand and adapt and serve even when he's given no incentive or reward or understanding; Terisa's summation of his "distress" (in Chapter 31) always hits me really hard.
So what I want is the Castellan's thoughts and/or actions, from any point in his life. We know he was married and loved his wife deeply. We know he carried scars from that marriage. We know he rose up to become the keeper of the king's castle. We know that he's friends with Artagel. By the time we meet him, he's flailing and trying so hard to master his impossible situation. I really want the Castellan to have (at least) one moment of happiness somewhere in the shitshow that is his life. It might be easiest to get there if his wife is still in the picture, but of course it's up to you.
Political Animals: T.J. Hammond, Douglas Hammond
Of course it's T.J. who caught my attention - played as he was by the lovely Sebastian Stan - and the relationship that interested me the most was between the twins. I'm a sucker for sibling relationships, and the dynamic of good son/bad son is interesting but not nearly all of the story. T.J. has talents that are of no political use (such as his music) and some that are (such as his charm), and Doug has a need to be liked, to be the savior, that makes him far more intriguing than his surface suggests. I recently got all worked up about T.J., which reminded me to add it to my Yuletide wish-list - just give me these two wonderful boys, please.
Sally Lockhart - Philip Pullman: Jim Taylor, Adelaide Bevan
I loved The Tin Princess so much - in my eyes, it eclipsed the original Sally-centric trilogy (which you don't need to know in order to read/enjoy this book). What I loved most was the absolute pull between Jim and Adelaide - seriously, their connection is blazingly hot and made me want to read more of them just tearing each other apart in bed - and the way they worked around and through their feelings and still got stuff done. They didn't mope; they accomplished. What I want is to know where things go from here, how Rudi and Becky changed them, how they organize their lives now, if Adelaide goes on stage and Jim writes. I always like to have some character work even in my porn - I like to recognize the characters I love even when they're naked and fucking - but this is the fandom in which you could write me PWP and I'd thank you for it.
Thank you so much! I know I will adore whatever you write for me - happy writing!
All the best,
kunju
This same entry also appears on Dreamwidth, at http://innie-darling.dreamwidth.org/455553.html.
Let me say first off - thanks! I think you're nifty to write something in a tiny fandom we share! Above all, if you have a good time writing the story, that will shine through, and I guarantee that I'll enjoy it too.
I'm fairly catholic in my tastes; I read all of the following: gen, het, slash, humor, horror, angst, character-driven pieces, plotty pieces, AUs, canon-compliant fics, and more. I swoon for humor. I'm impressed by world-building, and I love seeing those little details that tell me you've thought about the realities of the place you're depicting. I adore quietly sorrowful stories. I quite enjoy romance and smut.
I'm okay with crossovers but don't go out of my way to read them, particularly for Yuletide. One thing I don't like is the fannish tendency to pair the same actors up in a number of universes - like writing Chris Evans or Anthony Mackie (or one of their characters) into a 'verse that includes Sebastian Stan (or one of his characters); I'd far prefer an OC.
I don't really enjoy unremittingly dark fic, and I don't want anything with a terribly unhappy ending, infidelity, dub-con, non-con, humiliation, power-play, or polyamory, please. I'm also not really a fan of holiday-themed stories, particularly since I don't celebrate any holiday occurring on the same timeline as Yuletide.
(I tend to do a lot of clickety-clicking once I have my assignment, but in case you'd rather just have a couple of straightforward links, here is my master fic list (stories are listed in the order in which I wrote them within each fandom) and here I am on AO3 under the name innie. I don't have a tumblr or twitter - I'm just on lj, dw, and AO3.)
Now on to the details, since I think I'm more likely to get a story that hits all of my buttons if I tell you what my buttons are for these fandoms. Listed alphabetically, because I really would be deliriously happy with a fic for any of these requests!
Kings: Jack Benjamin
Ah, this show wasn't perfect - ahem, David - but Sebastian Stan's Jack was a perfect character for me. He was flawed in interesting ways, generous in unexpected ways, and so compelling to watch. My biggest wish for the second season we never got was to know how Jack would cope with the horror of his imprisonment.
He did some terrible things in his quest for the throne, but not, I would argue, anything worse than some of the stuff David and Silas pulled. Jack's actions were never shown to be divinely sanctioned, and I wonder what he thought of that. I also want to know what he thought his reign would look like - if he planned to father children with a woman/his queen, if he meant to have a male consort, if he counted on Michelle to bear the children he would name his heirs.
At the beginning of the show, it looked like Rose was absolutely on his side and would back any play he made, but throughout the season she affirmed her commitment to Silas. How much did Jack see?
I only requested Jack because he's my focal point, but I'd love to read your take on his relationships with Lucinda, his sister, his mother, his father, Thomasina, and others. The only one I'd prefer you to steer clear of is David, because I found (the show version of) the character terribly boring (and unconvincingly played), and there are plenty of Jack/David stories available anyway. I don't think a fic in this fandom - particularly if it's set after S1, as I'd prefer - can be fluffy, but I'd love it if there were rays of light here rather than unrelenting misery. Jack retreating into his mind would be good, but so would Jack finding love with one of his guards, or Jack forming a real friendship with Lucinda.
The whole show is watchable here.
Mordant's Need - Stephen R. Donaldson: Castellan Lebbick
I'm going to quote myself about the appeal of this two-book series (here's a link to a pdf of the whole thing) - I adore how complicated the plot is, and how justified all of those complications turn out to be. I love Terisa and Geraden and Myste and Adept Havelock, but my favorite is clearly Castellan Lebbick. There's something so moving about his struggles to understand and adapt and serve even when he's given no incentive or reward or understanding; Terisa's summation of his "distress" (in Chapter 31) always hits me really hard.
So what I want is the Castellan's thoughts and/or actions, from any point in his life. We know he was married and loved his wife deeply. We know he carried scars from that marriage. We know he rose up to become the keeper of the king's castle. We know that he's friends with Artagel. By the time we meet him, he's flailing and trying so hard to master his impossible situation. I really want the Castellan to have (at least) one moment of happiness somewhere in the shitshow that is his life. It might be easiest to get there if his wife is still in the picture, but of course it's up to you.
Political Animals: T.J. Hammond, Douglas Hammond
Of course it's T.J. who caught my attention - played as he was by the lovely Sebastian Stan - and the relationship that interested me the most was between the twins. I'm a sucker for sibling relationships, and the dynamic of good son/bad son is interesting but not nearly all of the story. T.J. has talents that are of no political use (such as his music) and some that are (such as his charm), and Doug has a need to be liked, to be the savior, that makes him far more intriguing than his surface suggests. I recently got all worked up about T.J., which reminded me to add it to my Yuletide wish-list - just give me these two wonderful boys, please.
Sally Lockhart - Philip Pullman: Jim Taylor, Adelaide Bevan
I loved The Tin Princess so much - in my eyes, it eclipsed the original Sally-centric trilogy (which you don't need to know in order to read/enjoy this book). What I loved most was the absolute pull between Jim and Adelaide - seriously, their connection is blazingly hot and made me want to read more of them just tearing each other apart in bed - and the way they worked around and through their feelings and still got stuff done. They didn't mope; they accomplished. What I want is to know where things go from here, how Rudi and Becky changed them, how they organize their lives now, if Adelaide goes on stage and Jim writes. I always like to have some character work even in my porn - I like to recognize the characters I love even when they're naked and fucking - but this is the fandom in which you could write me PWP and I'd thank you for it.
Thank you so much! I know I will adore whatever you write for me - happy writing!
All the best,
kunju
This same entry also appears on Dreamwidth, at http://innie-darling.dreamwidth.org/455553.html.