Dear Yuletide Writer (2013 edition)
First of all, good luck! I'm all over the place once again and I will be truly amazed and grateful that I've got a match. (Or a pinch hitter! I've gotten pinch hitters before and I love you, too! You chose me! You brave, weird souls, you.)
So, first the big picture then a little more specificity on what I like about each request.
My Yuletide philosophy: this might be the only chance to get a story in a certain fandom. I'm not going to get too caught up in pairings and specifics. I'd rather get a good, solid, re-readable story to set the bar and attract more fans.
I get into some specific prompt ideas down in the fandom sections. If any of them spark something for you, great. If not, don't worry. What I've got listed here is more atmospheric; these are broader story elements and themes that I find attractive.
I’ve requested a bit of everything this year, from rough and tumble action to RPF to magical justice to noir archetypes to total crack. I like each of those genres but I also love to see them mixed up. I like days-in-the-life and I like the fate of the world at stake. I like romance and subtext, slash and het and gen. I like snark and banter and people being really good at what they do.
If I have to make a choice, I'll go with voice and atmosphere over plot -- again, this might be the only story I read in this fandom and I'd like something that truly evokes it. But I'm also greedy, so a kick-ass plot would be very nice. Please put it right next to the pony, the plastic rocket ship, and the keys to Tyler Hoechlin.
For purposes of Yuletide, I'd rather not see: PWPs, totally downbeat endings, character death -- okay, clearly with Killers Kill that's not a hard and fast rule! (And noir kind of implies downbeat or at least ambiguous endings so….) Use your own judgment. I'm not a fragile flower. Normally I’d ask you to stay away from fantasy and/or sci-fi AUs but I think this year everything except S.W.A.T. could lend itself to those tropes if you get inspired. And hey, I’m willing to be convinced about S.W.A.T.
That said, I was a bit specific in my request details as to story prompts. If any of them spark something for you, great. If not, don't worry. In the end, I'm easy. I like good writing. Write a story that you enjoy, that you're proud of, that you're thrilled will be one the stories people point to when they talk about this little fandom. Write that story and we'll both be happy.
Face Off (TV) RPF ( Face Off)
Character(s): Glenn Hetrick, McKenzie Westmore, Neville Page, Ve Neill
A few weeks ago, when Glenn said something like, "That was uninspired and inadequate," I got hit by the thought -- hey, what if they were critiquing porn?
And then I suddenly realized the huge opportunities for crack and/or meta that the format and the personalities offered. Hopefully you’ll look at it and go, "Ooooo! I could do ________________ with that!" A fictional season, a team battling actual monsters or aliens (and getting graded on it), the judges dropping into other universes and critiquing the creatures - go for it. :D
Also, I have an inexplicable crush on Glenn. There's something about his steampunk dandy werewolf aesthetic that gets me. (Until I realize that he's the real-life version of Barf from Spaceballs. Then I faceplam. Oh, dear.)
Now You See Me (2013) ( Now You See Me [Amazon instant video] | Now You See Me [IMDb listing])
Characters: Dylan Rhodes, Merritt McKinney, Henley Reeves, Jack Wilder
Really, what can I say except MAGICAL JUSTICE!
Tell me about the Four Horsemen coming together as a team, with Dylan pulling the strings behind the scenes. Or how they learned their craft, putting on small shows or pulling petty cons while he surveilled them and he put his plans in motion. What do they do after they join the Eye? Their faces are all over the news and Dylan has a whole life as "Dylan Hunt, FBI" - now what? Is there a next big target? Is there a hierarchy behind the Eye sending them out on missions?
This is definitely a fandom in which I’d accept real magic or concrete explanations or a mixture of both. MAGICAL JUSTICE!
S.W.A.T. ( S.W.A.T. [IMDb listing])
Caracters: Chris Sanchez, Jim Street
I really like teamwork and families of choice. There’s a lot to work with here, from the team dealing with T.J.’s betrayal to Street handling Gamble being not just an asshole but an actual criminal. There’s Chris balancing work that she really loves with being a good mother and still feeling like a woman (I love the idea of her and Jim being bros or even friends with benefits, assuming he doesn’t get back with Boxer’s sister).
I enjoyed how the movie showed the team’s camaraderie as they trained and the balance between the tense and the ridiculous when they used the battering ram/grapple "Polish Penetrator" to take down the guy’s whole house. Competent, snarky, bent-but-not-broken people having each other’s backs in life-and-death situations are like catnip to me.
Also, I am in no way a weapons or tactics expert so don’t feel like I’m looking for nuts-and-bolts realistic facts. A thin veneer of "that sounds pretty plausible" is fine!
Sears Appliances (TV Commercials) ( Task Force: Chicago [Youtube] | Connecting Flights [Youtube])
Characters: Task Force: Chicago female cop, Task Force: Chicago male cop, Eddie, Shannon
The perfect Five Minute Fandom!
Let’s assume that the airport in Connecting Flights is O’Hare. That keeps things nice and tidy.
Are shiny appliances randomly appearing in your way a new thing that the good people of Chicago are dealing with? Is it just the price you pay for living in the Windy City? Is the Task Force motto "Protect, Serve, and Watch Where You’re Going"? Is one of our adorable bloggers actually couriering the stolen diamonds? Is one of them an undercover Task Force member? Both of them? Are they the artistic, carefree younger siblings of the hardass, tough talking cops? Who’s the black sheep of the family?
But most importantly -- how do you live when a refrigerator could be lurking anywhere, handing traumatic brain injuries out like candy at Halloween?
Killers Kill; Dead Men Die - Annie Leibovitz ( Killers Kill; Dead Men Die - Annie Leibovitz [Vanity Fair photo shoot])
Oh, so hard to narrow down who I’m interested in! (All of them, so feel free to pull in anyone you need for your story.)
Characters: Tilda Lydeker | The Aristocrat (Helen Mirren), Alma Lydeker | The Maiden Aunt (Judi Dench), Laura Lydeker | The Heiress (Kirsten Dunst), Rebecca Lydeker | The Skirt (Naomi Watts)
I’ve listed the actresses’ names for convenience. :D I’d love to know what kinds of secrets the Lydeker women are hiding. We’ve got two generations of sisters so there’s plenty of opportunity for history to repeat itself. There’s the truth of Alma’s birth, the many lovers of Tilda, Laura’s (real or fake?) amnesia, Rebecca’s amateur sleuthing… jealousies, rivalries, secrets, and lies. No one can love - or hate - you more than your sister.
And what of the elusive Lydekers in the middle (Rebecca and Laura’s parents, their father apparently being Tilda’s brother and Alma’s half-brother)? What secrets do they hide in those lemon groves?
I love noir and it’s all about style. Live fast, drink hard, keep a lady-like gun in your evening bag, and protect the family honor at all costs.
Don’t worry about the tissue-thin plot offered up in the captions on the photo shoot. Go wherever the spirit of Chandler and Hammett leads you (down these dark streets a (wo)man must go….) and don’t be a sucker for a pretty face.
Go forth and may the Spirit of the Yuletide Hippo be with you!
This entry was originally posted at http://ladyvyola.dreamwidth.org/166303.html.
So, first the big picture then a little more specificity on what I like about each request.
My Yuletide philosophy: this might be the only chance to get a story in a certain fandom. I'm not going to get too caught up in pairings and specifics. I'd rather get a good, solid, re-readable story to set the bar and attract more fans.
I get into some specific prompt ideas down in the fandom sections. If any of them spark something for you, great. If not, don't worry. What I've got listed here is more atmospheric; these are broader story elements and themes that I find attractive.
I’ve requested a bit of everything this year, from rough and tumble action to RPF to magical justice to noir archetypes to total crack. I like each of those genres but I also love to see them mixed up. I like days-in-the-life and I like the fate of the world at stake. I like romance and subtext, slash and het and gen. I like snark and banter and people being really good at what they do.
If I have to make a choice, I'll go with voice and atmosphere over plot -- again, this might be the only story I read in this fandom and I'd like something that truly evokes it. But I'm also greedy, so a kick-ass plot would be very nice. Please put it right next to the pony, the plastic rocket ship, and the keys to Tyler Hoechlin.
For purposes of Yuletide, I'd rather not see: PWPs, totally downbeat endings, character death -- okay, clearly with Killers Kill that's not a hard and fast rule! (And noir kind of implies downbeat or at least ambiguous endings so….) Use your own judgment. I'm not a fragile flower. Normally I’d ask you to stay away from fantasy and/or sci-fi AUs but I think this year everything except S.W.A.T. could lend itself to those tropes if you get inspired. And hey, I’m willing to be convinced about S.W.A.T.
That said, I was a bit specific in my request details as to story prompts. If any of them spark something for you, great. If not, don't worry. In the end, I'm easy. I like good writing. Write a story that you enjoy, that you're proud of, that you're thrilled will be one the stories people point to when they talk about this little fandom. Write that story and we'll both be happy.
Face Off (TV) RPF ( Face Off)
Character(s): Glenn Hetrick, McKenzie Westmore, Neville Page, Ve Neill
A few weeks ago, when Glenn said something like, "That was uninspired and inadequate," I got hit by the thought -- hey, what if they were critiquing porn?
And then I suddenly realized the huge opportunities for crack and/or meta that the format and the personalities offered. Hopefully you’ll look at it and go, "Ooooo! I could do ________________ with that!" A fictional season, a team battling actual monsters or aliens (and getting graded on it), the judges dropping into other universes and critiquing the creatures - go for it. :D
Also, I have an inexplicable crush on Glenn. There's something about his steampunk dandy werewolf aesthetic that gets me. (Until I realize that he's the real-life version of Barf from Spaceballs. Then I faceplam. Oh, dear.)
Now You See Me (2013) ( Now You See Me [Amazon instant video] | Now You See Me [IMDb listing])
Characters: Dylan Rhodes, Merritt McKinney, Henley Reeves, Jack Wilder
Really, what can I say except MAGICAL JUSTICE!
Tell me about the Four Horsemen coming together as a team, with Dylan pulling the strings behind the scenes. Or how they learned their craft, putting on small shows or pulling petty cons while he surveilled them and he put his plans in motion. What do they do after they join the Eye? Their faces are all over the news and Dylan has a whole life as "Dylan Hunt, FBI" - now what? Is there a next big target? Is there a hierarchy behind the Eye sending them out on missions?
This is definitely a fandom in which I’d accept real magic or concrete explanations or a mixture of both. MAGICAL JUSTICE!
S.W.A.T. ( S.W.A.T. [IMDb listing])
Caracters: Chris Sanchez, Jim Street
I really like teamwork and families of choice. There’s a lot to work with here, from the team dealing with T.J.’s betrayal to Street handling Gamble being not just an asshole but an actual criminal. There’s Chris balancing work that she really loves with being a good mother and still feeling like a woman (I love the idea of her and Jim being bros or even friends with benefits, assuming he doesn’t get back with Boxer’s sister).
I enjoyed how the movie showed the team’s camaraderie as they trained and the balance between the tense and the ridiculous when they used the battering ram/grapple "Polish Penetrator" to take down the guy’s whole house. Competent, snarky, bent-but-not-broken people having each other’s backs in life-and-death situations are like catnip to me.
Also, I am in no way a weapons or tactics expert so don’t feel like I’m looking for nuts-and-bolts realistic facts. A thin veneer of "that sounds pretty plausible" is fine!
Sears Appliances (TV Commercials) ( Task Force: Chicago [Youtube] | Connecting Flights [Youtube])
Characters: Task Force: Chicago female cop, Task Force: Chicago male cop, Eddie, Shannon
The perfect Five Minute Fandom!
Let’s assume that the airport in Connecting Flights is O’Hare. That keeps things nice and tidy.
Are shiny appliances randomly appearing in your way a new thing that the good people of Chicago are dealing with? Is it just the price you pay for living in the Windy City? Is the Task Force motto "Protect, Serve, and Watch Where You’re Going"? Is one of our adorable bloggers actually couriering the stolen diamonds? Is one of them an undercover Task Force member? Both of them? Are they the artistic, carefree younger siblings of the hardass, tough talking cops? Who’s the black sheep of the family?
But most importantly -- how do you live when a refrigerator could be lurking anywhere, handing traumatic brain injuries out like candy at Halloween?
Killers Kill; Dead Men Die - Annie Leibovitz ( Killers Kill; Dead Men Die - Annie Leibovitz [Vanity Fair photo shoot])
Oh, so hard to narrow down who I’m interested in! (All of them, so feel free to pull in anyone you need for your story.)
Characters: Tilda Lydeker | The Aristocrat (Helen Mirren), Alma Lydeker | The Maiden Aunt (Judi Dench), Laura Lydeker | The Heiress (Kirsten Dunst), Rebecca Lydeker | The Skirt (Naomi Watts)
I’ve listed the actresses’ names for convenience. :D I’d love to know what kinds of secrets the Lydeker women are hiding. We’ve got two generations of sisters so there’s plenty of opportunity for history to repeat itself. There’s the truth of Alma’s birth, the many lovers of Tilda, Laura’s (real or fake?) amnesia, Rebecca’s amateur sleuthing… jealousies, rivalries, secrets, and lies. No one can love - or hate - you more than your sister.
And what of the elusive Lydekers in the middle (Rebecca and Laura’s parents, their father apparently being Tilda’s brother and Alma’s half-brother)? What secrets do they hide in those lemon groves?
I love noir and it’s all about style. Live fast, drink hard, keep a lady-like gun in your evening bag, and protect the family honor at all costs.
Don’t worry about the tissue-thin plot offered up in the captions on the photo shoot. Go wherever the spirit of Chandler and Hammett leads you (down these dark streets a (wo)man must go….) and don’t be a sucker for a pretty face.
Go forth and may the Spirit of the Yuletide Hippo be with you!
This entry was originally posted at http://ladyvyola.dreamwidth.org/166303.html.