Dear Yuletide Author 2019
Dear Yuletide 2019 Author,
Thank you! I'm already happy and flattered that you would take the time to write a gift for me.
All of my previous posts about Yuletide are public under my Yuletide tag, so you can see what kinds of stories I've received, written, and liked in the past.
Things I Love
Gen. Strong friendship. Found family. Romance. Bechdel-passing. Feminism. Inclusivity of genders and sexualities. Femslash. Smart people getting to show their intelligence; competent people getting to do what they're best at. Stories that replicate the tone and style of the original. Stories about people making discoveries about themselves: discovering their inner strength, discovering that they're in love, discovering the strength of their friendship. Plot. Well-researched history. Snappy dialogue. Casefic. (if you write me casefic, I will be your friend forever!)
And, most of all, I love crossovers! If you find inspiration for one of these, it would be an amazing Yuletide present! It can be a crossover between two of the fandoms I've requested, or with an outside one. For outside ones, Harry Potter and Doctor Who are the ones I’d love most. So, The Ministerio del Tiempo team goes to 1830s Mexico or Cuba and crosses over with Benjamin January and Co.; or goes to 1960s Oxford and Dorothea figures out that they're _really_ not from around here. (Irene's from the 1960s - did they give her a mission close to home?) One of the Doctor’s companions goes to Dr. Bright for therapy. Jean McBrien worked with Dorothea Frazil at Bletchley, and they reunite to solve a case later on. Or, whatever inspiration strikes you!
Absolute Do Not Want
Explicit sex or violence. Rape, non-con, dubcon. Incest. Humiliation. (Seriously, I can't even watch The Office because humiliation makes me cringe so hard.) Sexual relationships between adults and teens. Violence against children, child abuse, or other children-in-peril. Physical or psychological torture. Misogyny, homophobia, and other bigotry. And please, no 'they act like they hate each other but that's actually because they're in love,' unless that's already been established in canon. I want "no" to mean "no."
Would Rather Not Have
The Five Things structure. Angst. Death. Plotless character studies. AUs. Non-canonical pairings that I haven't specified in my request.
Benjamin January Mysteries. Rose Vitrac January, Dominique Vieillard, Hannibal Sefton, Benjamin January
I'm happy with a story about any or all of these characters, at any point during the series.
What I love about this series: The New Orleans setting: its social complexity, racial diversity, music, history. The emotional authenticity of everyone's strengths and weaknesses. The way it respects the characters' pasts. The complications of friendship and family. The way each mystery is so deeply embedded in the fabric of its society. I also respect how the series doesn't look away from the legacy of slavery, racism, and trauma, both in the characters' lives and in the wider world. I absolutely understand that some of those elements need to be in this story if it's going to do justice to the original and the historical reality. However, I would strongly prefer a story that is not primarily about racism, slavery, or trauma.
About the characters specifically: I love Dominique's emotional intelligence, unabashed femininity, perceptiveness, and skillful navigation of New Orleans' racial divisions and her own place within them. I love Rose's intellect, gentleness, pragmatism, and the little flashes of daring and bravery that are getting more frequent as time goes on. (The cross-dressing is especially excellent.) I love Hannibal's loyalty, haplessness, accidental charisma, stealth competence, and fast-talking.
My first choice is a story in which Rose and Dominique team up to solve a case. Maybe it's while Benjamin is away; maybe it's a case that he can't investigate on his own: just as he takes on cases that other people can't (or won't) investigate, maybe Rose and Dominique have taken on one that Benjamin can't or won't. How do Rose and Dominique work together? What are their detective methods like? How do they rescue Hannibal (because you know he'll need to be rescued!)
If you'd like to do a solo story, I'd love to see Hannibal on his own. Maybe you could show what he was doing during one of the many times when he was offstage working on Benjamin's behalf, trying to bluff his way out of a tight situation.
El Ministerio del Tiempo: any character
What I Love About This Show: Time travel is one of my fandom catnips. I love the idea of people from all eras mingling together and finding common bonds. I love the mix of the magical and the mundane: Roman soldiers and Regency gentry standing in line in the Ministry cafeteria; government audits; laptops in the 16th century, doors that can open up into closets or courtyards or bathrooms.
I even love the wackiness of their time-travel rules: that time keeps moving forward so that there’s always a Ministry at the end of time, that cellphones work at any era in the past (?), that the doors work in Spain defined politically rather than geographically (??)
Most of all, I love the debates about the ethics of time travel. Why do we need to keep history the same? Why can’t we change things for the better? Why can’t we save the people we love? I really wish that the show had fully grappled with the uglier aspects of Spanish history, and the moral conflicts that come from being unable to change them. S3 was a start, but they could have - and should have! - done more.
I love ensemble stories and casefic, so my first choice would be an ensemble story about The Team going on a mission.
If you want a solo story, I'd prefer it to be about Amelia or Irene. Amelia/Irene romance would make me super extra happy! They're both so intelligent and competent, and Amelia has just a tiny bit of ruthlessness in her that would make her a good fit with Irene. I would love to see them as a Ministry power couple, going on missions and fixing history for the better.
I love Amelia's intelligence, flexibility, integrity, and curiosity. I love how she grows into a leader; I love how she grapples with the ethics of time travel and what she's personally willing to do to make a mission succeed. I was also extremely disappointed that the show ended with Amelia offstage! I'd love to see a story about her coming back to the Ministry after having dealt with her family, or about what she did with her time offstage.
I love Irene’s confidence, moral ambivalence, pragmatism, and extreme competence. I’d love to see her being badass and competent as a field agent! How did she work for justice within the boundaries of the Ministry? How does she balance her drive for justice with her increasing investment in the Ministry's administration? Most of all, I’d love to see Irene being happy. Happy with Nuria or Amelia or Rocio; happy with her work; anything.
I’d also be happy with a general “life in the Ministry” story. I really really love the way Ministry apartments work - how spooky and wonderful is it that there are always hundreds of people living in the same apartment at different times? Or, something about the mechanics of the doors, or figuring out how to communicate across time, or something like that.
The Bright Sessions, any character.
What I Love About This Podcast: I love its inclusivity: the way it shows people of all kinds of sexualities and religions and backgrounds. I respect the way it represents the complexities of mental illness. I love the slow build of the conspiracy. I love the way it acknowledges that there are no easy answers to any of the characters’ problems, and the way it makes them repeatedly reconsider their ideals as their situations change. I love the found family that grows out of the story, and the loving trust that the characters discover for each other - and yet, the relationships are authentically complicated and difficult, and trust needs to be rebuilt after it’s lost.
I would be happy to receive a story about any or all of the nominated characters, set at any time during the show or after. I've also listened to all of The AM Archives, so I'd be happy to have a story that incorporates that canon as well. (Owen! Sniff.)
Here are a few of my favorites, and a few ideas for each.
Adam and/or Caleb. I rooted for these two so hard through the whole series. I’d love to see more! I love their goofiness; I love how authentically awkward they are about their emotions; I love their deep devotion to each other. What happens when they go away to college? How does Adam help Caleb deal with the difficulties of living in a dorm? How do they grow as individuals and as a couple? What happens when each of them meets other atypicals at college? (I would adore seeing Adam being a good ally to the atypical community at Yale.) What finally makes them (sniffle) break up? I love them as a couple, but I really appreciate the way that the show represents their understanding that their relationship would have to end someday.
Sam: What I want to see most about Sam is one of her time-travel missions to learn about atypicals. How far back does she go? What does she discover? Are there any interesting historical figures that turn out to be atypical? Or, for another angle on Sam: I loved seeing how her friendship with Joan evolved near the end of the series - how their relationship became more equal and more intimate, but also more complicated and tense because of their increasingly entangled professional and personal ties. I’d love to see more of that.
Rose: I love thinking about Rose’s happy all-atypical family! It would be great to see some domestic scenes. What was it like for Rose as a kid when she didn’t necessarily realize that her family wasn’t like everyone else's? What are Jewish holidays like at her house? Or, it would be cool to carry forward Rose’s relationship with Emily. What happens when Rose tells her about her abilities? It would also be interesting to see the evolution of Rose’s attitude towards the AM after more of its dark secrets come out. Does she still feel that it's beneficial? Would she try to change it from the inside, or would she start to advocate more drastic action? Who would she turn to for advice?
Dr Bright and Owen Green: I'm much more interested in their present-day relationship than their past: I really like the dynamics of their interactions as exes and professional colleagues. I appreciate all of their debates about the ethics of the AM and whether it can - or should - be saved at all.
Endeavour, Dorothea Frazil
Oops, I forgot to nominate this one, so I missed the chance to get more characters in. But I'm glad Dorothea got nominated - I really like her!
What I love about this show in general: the puzzle-piece mysteries, the trails of complicated clues, the characters' resolve in pushing back against pessimism and corruption. I love the literary fusions - the Great Gatsby and Lion in Winter episodes were fabulous. If you wanted to do one of those, it would be AMAZING. Maybe Hamlet or Macbeth, since both of those feature murders? Or something else if that inspires you.
I love Dorothea's intelligence, pragmatism, journalistic drive, and deep knowledge of the community and its past. I'd love to see her solving a case on her own when the police can't or won't - maybe because of the corruption that shows up in S5; maybe for some other reason. Or, more about her backstory. How did she get her start in journalism? What did she do during the war? (A Bletchley Circle crossover would be THE BEST.) Or, maybe some kind of supernatural occurrence - what would happen with Dorothea's skepticism pushing up against actual proof of the supernatural? A ghost story, a crossover or fusion with some other fandom that involves magic - Harry Potter, or Strange and Norrell. (Where does Jim Strange’s family come from?)
If you'd like to bring in other members of the ensemble, that would be great too, especially Endeavour, de Bryn, Truelove, and Bright. But if you want to stick to a solo story about Dorothea, I'd be really happy with that as well.
Bletchley Circle San Francisco, any character.
What I love about this show: the women's resourcefulness, resilience, and competence. The intense friendship and found-family dynamic. The way that it includes all of San Francisco society, including marginalized people. The way that it intertwines social change with the mysteries: thwarted expectations, fighting back against society's repression. The way the characters both major and minor find ways to empower themselves - I respect that the stories depict multiple ways to do that, the difficulty of those choices, and the sense of insecurity that goes along with that struggle.
I love Jean's pragmatism, leadership, and sense of responsibility towards the younger women in her life. I would love a story that shows more of her badassness and leadership. I'd also be interested in seeing her continue the journey of figuring out how she feels about San Francisco. What does she like about it that makes her want to keep living there. Would she ever become an American citizen?
I love Hailey's optimism, ingenuity, and competence. I'd love to see her showing more of her awesome mechanical skills, and in a happy relationship with another woman. Her connections with the San Francisco arts scene are fun too: she never really felt like she fit into that subculture, but is there something there that would appeal to her?
I love Iris's dedication to her family. I respect the way the show depicts her struggles to balance her desire to keep her children safe - especially her son - with her belief in the causes that they're supporting. And I respect Iris's understanding of her own competence, and her desire to hold onto the fulfillment that she found in her work during the war.
I love the way Olivia navigates her professional environment, and the show depicts her learning more and more ways to support her friends while still flying under the radar. I'd love to see her advancing professionally, and/or taking a more active role in investigating one of the mysteries.
(Millie wasn't in the tagset so I couldn't nominate her, but I like her too, and I'd be happy to see her in an ensemble story.)
As for the kinds of plots I'd like to see: it would be great to have another story that dealt with San Francisco history. More on the gentrification/community organizing in Fillmore, or in another neighborhood. Maybe a flash-forward 10 years or so, to the protests in Berkeley in 1968-1969 - I'd love to see how all of the characters developed over that decade.
Thank you! I'm already happy and flattered that you would take the time to write a gift for me.
All of my previous posts about Yuletide are public under my Yuletide tag, so you can see what kinds of stories I've received, written, and liked in the past.
Things I Love
Gen. Strong friendship. Found family. Romance. Bechdel-passing. Feminism. Inclusivity of genders and sexualities. Femslash. Smart people getting to show their intelligence; competent people getting to do what they're best at. Stories that replicate the tone and style of the original. Stories about people making discoveries about themselves: discovering their inner strength, discovering that they're in love, discovering the strength of their friendship. Plot. Well-researched history. Snappy dialogue. Casefic. (if you write me casefic, I will be your friend forever!)
And, most of all, I love crossovers! If you find inspiration for one of these, it would be an amazing Yuletide present! It can be a crossover between two of the fandoms I've requested, or with an outside one. For outside ones, Harry Potter and Doctor Who are the ones I’d love most. So, The Ministerio del Tiempo team goes to 1830s Mexico or Cuba and crosses over with Benjamin January and Co.; or goes to 1960s Oxford and Dorothea figures out that they're _really_ not from around here. (Irene's from the 1960s - did they give her a mission close to home?) One of the Doctor’s companions goes to Dr. Bright for therapy. Jean McBrien worked with Dorothea Frazil at Bletchley, and they reunite to solve a case later on. Or, whatever inspiration strikes you!
Absolute Do Not Want
Explicit sex or violence. Rape, non-con, dubcon. Incest. Humiliation. (Seriously, I can't even watch The Office because humiliation makes me cringe so hard.) Sexual relationships between adults and teens. Violence against children, child abuse, or other children-in-peril. Physical or psychological torture. Misogyny, homophobia, and other bigotry. And please, no 'they act like they hate each other but that's actually because they're in love,' unless that's already been established in canon. I want "no" to mean "no."
Would Rather Not Have
The Five Things structure. Angst. Death. Plotless character studies. AUs. Non-canonical pairings that I haven't specified in my request.
Benjamin January Mysteries. Rose Vitrac January, Dominique Vieillard, Hannibal Sefton, Benjamin January
I'm happy with a story about any or all of these characters, at any point during the series.
What I love about this series: The New Orleans setting: its social complexity, racial diversity, music, history. The emotional authenticity of everyone's strengths and weaknesses. The way it respects the characters' pasts. The complications of friendship and family. The way each mystery is so deeply embedded in the fabric of its society. I also respect how the series doesn't look away from the legacy of slavery, racism, and trauma, both in the characters' lives and in the wider world. I absolutely understand that some of those elements need to be in this story if it's going to do justice to the original and the historical reality. However, I would strongly prefer a story that is not primarily about racism, slavery, or trauma.
About the characters specifically: I love Dominique's emotional intelligence, unabashed femininity, perceptiveness, and skillful navigation of New Orleans' racial divisions and her own place within them. I love Rose's intellect, gentleness, pragmatism, and the little flashes of daring and bravery that are getting more frequent as time goes on. (The cross-dressing is especially excellent.) I love Hannibal's loyalty, haplessness, accidental charisma, stealth competence, and fast-talking.
My first choice is a story in which Rose and Dominique team up to solve a case. Maybe it's while Benjamin is away; maybe it's a case that he can't investigate on his own: just as he takes on cases that other people can't (or won't) investigate, maybe Rose and Dominique have taken on one that Benjamin can't or won't. How do Rose and Dominique work together? What are their detective methods like? How do they rescue Hannibal (because you know he'll need to be rescued!)
If you'd like to do a solo story, I'd love to see Hannibal on his own. Maybe you could show what he was doing during one of the many times when he was offstage working on Benjamin's behalf, trying to bluff his way out of a tight situation.
El Ministerio del Tiempo: any character
What I Love About This Show: Time travel is one of my fandom catnips. I love the idea of people from all eras mingling together and finding common bonds. I love the mix of the magical and the mundane: Roman soldiers and Regency gentry standing in line in the Ministry cafeteria; government audits; laptops in the 16th century, doors that can open up into closets or courtyards or bathrooms.
I even love the wackiness of their time-travel rules: that time keeps moving forward so that there’s always a Ministry at the end of time, that cellphones work at any era in the past (?), that the doors work in Spain defined politically rather than geographically (??)
Most of all, I love the debates about the ethics of time travel. Why do we need to keep history the same? Why can’t we change things for the better? Why can’t we save the people we love? I really wish that the show had fully grappled with the uglier aspects of Spanish history, and the moral conflicts that come from being unable to change them. S3 was a start, but they could have - and should have! - done more.
I love ensemble stories and casefic, so my first choice would be an ensemble story about The Team going on a mission.
If you want a solo story, I'd prefer it to be about Amelia or Irene. Amelia/Irene romance would make me super extra happy! They're both so intelligent and competent, and Amelia has just a tiny bit of ruthlessness in her that would make her a good fit with Irene. I would love to see them as a Ministry power couple, going on missions and fixing history for the better.
I love Amelia's intelligence, flexibility, integrity, and curiosity. I love how she grows into a leader; I love how she grapples with the ethics of time travel and what she's personally willing to do to make a mission succeed. I was also extremely disappointed that the show ended with Amelia offstage! I'd love to see a story about her coming back to the Ministry after having dealt with her family, or about what she did with her time offstage.
I love Irene’s confidence, moral ambivalence, pragmatism, and extreme competence. I’d love to see her being badass and competent as a field agent! How did she work for justice within the boundaries of the Ministry? How does she balance her drive for justice with her increasing investment in the Ministry's administration? Most of all, I’d love to see Irene being happy. Happy with Nuria or Amelia or Rocio; happy with her work; anything.
I’d also be happy with a general “life in the Ministry” story. I really really love the way Ministry apartments work - how spooky and wonderful is it that there are always hundreds of people living in the same apartment at different times? Or, something about the mechanics of the doors, or figuring out how to communicate across time, or something like that.
The Bright Sessions, any character.
What I Love About This Podcast: I love its inclusivity: the way it shows people of all kinds of sexualities and religions and backgrounds. I respect the way it represents the complexities of mental illness. I love the slow build of the conspiracy. I love the way it acknowledges that there are no easy answers to any of the characters’ problems, and the way it makes them repeatedly reconsider their ideals as their situations change. I love the found family that grows out of the story, and the loving trust that the characters discover for each other - and yet, the relationships are authentically complicated and difficult, and trust needs to be rebuilt after it’s lost.
I would be happy to receive a story about any or all of the nominated characters, set at any time during the show or after. I've also listened to all of The AM Archives, so I'd be happy to have a story that incorporates that canon as well. (Owen! Sniff.)
Here are a few of my favorites, and a few ideas for each.
Adam and/or Caleb. I rooted for these two so hard through the whole series. I’d love to see more! I love their goofiness; I love how authentically awkward they are about their emotions; I love their deep devotion to each other. What happens when they go away to college? How does Adam help Caleb deal with the difficulties of living in a dorm? How do they grow as individuals and as a couple? What happens when each of them meets other atypicals at college? (I would adore seeing Adam being a good ally to the atypical community at Yale.) What finally makes them (sniffle) break up? I love them as a couple, but I really appreciate the way that the show represents their understanding that their relationship would have to end someday.
Sam: What I want to see most about Sam is one of her time-travel missions to learn about atypicals. How far back does she go? What does she discover? Are there any interesting historical figures that turn out to be atypical? Or, for another angle on Sam: I loved seeing how her friendship with Joan evolved near the end of the series - how their relationship became more equal and more intimate, but also more complicated and tense because of their increasingly entangled professional and personal ties. I’d love to see more of that.
Rose: I love thinking about Rose’s happy all-atypical family! It would be great to see some domestic scenes. What was it like for Rose as a kid when she didn’t necessarily realize that her family wasn’t like everyone else's? What are Jewish holidays like at her house? Or, it would be cool to carry forward Rose’s relationship with Emily. What happens when Rose tells her about her abilities? It would also be interesting to see the evolution of Rose’s attitude towards the AM after more of its dark secrets come out. Does she still feel that it's beneficial? Would she try to change it from the inside, or would she start to advocate more drastic action? Who would she turn to for advice?
Dr Bright and Owen Green: I'm much more interested in their present-day relationship than their past: I really like the dynamics of their interactions as exes and professional colleagues. I appreciate all of their debates about the ethics of the AM and whether it can - or should - be saved at all.
Endeavour, Dorothea Frazil
Oops, I forgot to nominate this one, so I missed the chance to get more characters in. But I'm glad Dorothea got nominated - I really like her!
What I love about this show in general: the puzzle-piece mysteries, the trails of complicated clues, the characters' resolve in pushing back against pessimism and corruption. I love the literary fusions - the Great Gatsby and Lion in Winter episodes were fabulous. If you wanted to do one of those, it would be AMAZING. Maybe Hamlet or Macbeth, since both of those feature murders? Or something else if that inspires you.
I love Dorothea's intelligence, pragmatism, journalistic drive, and deep knowledge of the community and its past. I'd love to see her solving a case on her own when the police can't or won't - maybe because of the corruption that shows up in S5; maybe for some other reason. Or, more about her backstory. How did she get her start in journalism? What did she do during the war? (A Bletchley Circle crossover would be THE BEST.) Or, maybe some kind of supernatural occurrence - what would happen with Dorothea's skepticism pushing up against actual proof of the supernatural? A ghost story, a crossover or fusion with some other fandom that involves magic - Harry Potter, or Strange and Norrell. (Where does Jim Strange’s family come from?)
If you'd like to bring in other members of the ensemble, that would be great too, especially Endeavour, de Bryn, Truelove, and Bright. But if you want to stick to a solo story about Dorothea, I'd be really happy with that as well.
Bletchley Circle San Francisco, any character.
What I love about this show: the women's resourcefulness, resilience, and competence. The intense friendship and found-family dynamic. The way that it includes all of San Francisco society, including marginalized people. The way that it intertwines social change with the mysteries: thwarted expectations, fighting back against society's repression. The way the characters both major and minor find ways to empower themselves - I respect that the stories depict multiple ways to do that, the difficulty of those choices, and the sense of insecurity that goes along with that struggle.
I love Jean's pragmatism, leadership, and sense of responsibility towards the younger women in her life. I would love a story that shows more of her badassness and leadership. I'd also be interested in seeing her continue the journey of figuring out how she feels about San Francisco. What does she like about it that makes her want to keep living there. Would she ever become an American citizen?
I love Hailey's optimism, ingenuity, and competence. I'd love to see her showing more of her awesome mechanical skills, and in a happy relationship with another woman. Her connections with the San Francisco arts scene are fun too: she never really felt like she fit into that subculture, but is there something there that would appeal to her?
I love Iris's dedication to her family. I respect the way the show depicts her struggles to balance her desire to keep her children safe - especially her son - with her belief in the causes that they're supporting. And I respect Iris's understanding of her own competence, and her desire to hold onto the fulfillment that she found in her work during the war.
I love the way Olivia navigates her professional environment, and the show depicts her learning more and more ways to support her friends while still flying under the radar. I'd love to see her advancing professionally, and/or taking a more active role in investigating one of the mysteries.
(Millie wasn't in the tagset so I couldn't nominate her, but I like her too, and I'd be happy to see her in an ensemble story.)
As for the kinds of plots I'd like to see: it would be great to have another story that dealt with San Francisco history. More on the gentrification/community organizing in Fillmore, or in another neighborhood. Maybe a flash-forward 10 years or so, to the protests in Berkeley in 1968-1969 - I'd love to see how all of the characters developed over that decade.