Yuletide!
Fellow Yuletider, hi!
Whee! Here we go again! (Alt: If it's your first time, welcome!) I hope you're excited and not freaking out too much.
My general likes/dislikes have tended to stay consistent through the years. Feel free to read back through the tags below, and this year's is below, if you want.
Things that I love!
Things I'd rather not read for Yuletide:
Rape/non-con, mpreg, partner betrayal, relationships breaking up. I have a major embarrassment/humiliation squick. Please don't show characters getting their hopes up, or getting excited, and then getting squished for it.
The Martian - Andy Weir
Choosing book or movie as my request was hard. I finally came down on the side of Mark's humor, and the *amazing* team that came and got him. If you're after springboard ideas, I'm allll about their wicked competency, and the phenomenal bonds between them that meant they all went "yup, willing calmly to die for each other, no question." I'd love to see more of them working together. I had pangs that we didn't get to see them with Mark in either book or movie: I was craving comfort and patching up and touch and hugs, because holy hell, 18 months is a long time to be alone, never mind in terrifying circumstances. Another and/or idea option: So long alone, in constant danger would super fuck someone up, doubleplus points for Ares/ground crew supporting him in the immediate and/or far trauma-aftermath of Mars. I know we have book here, but I 100% endorse Mark teaching baby astronauts back on earth.
Pairings? I'm partial to a side-serving of Watney/Beck, and a doctor's healing touch ;), but don't stress if that's not your cup of tea; I'm good with gen, or other pairings in the background.
There Will Come Soft Rains - Ray Bradbury
Wow. I first read this via the sign up lists, tbh, and was blown away. If you have an idea (pre-doom, during-doom, post-doom, anything!) run with it like crazy. If you're looking for a springboard: I love the idea of who/what came after, piecing together what happened last year, or hundreds of years later, or how it's remembered and what people are saying about it. Do we still have inane robots chanting stuff at us? What's the tech like? etc etc. A completely optional detail of my heart: I know the (in-fic, entirely fictional, self! Jesus) dog is long dead, but I'm sad for it anyway. A dog nursed back to health, or a hale and healthy dog as part of the research crew, or you know, just a beloved dog that lives past the end of the fic, would completely make my Yuletide. *wry grin*
Pet Sematary - Stephen King
I saw this listed, thought "huh, I loved that book", then saw the single character and stared, because my god, that's fantastic. So, writer, how she's doing? (I'm running under the assumption that Rachel killed Louis, and relatively soon after that was killed herself, but having now typed that, I can see that going any number of directions) Where's Ellie now? College? What do people think happened? What does *she* think happened? What does she know? What's she done/doing with that knowledge? I could see her, depending on what she knows, taking refuge in the hard sciences and skeptics, or swinging hard the other way and getting deep into the occult, or any combination in between. *quiet starry eyes at whoever thought to nominate this*
Brides of Christ (TV 1991)
Oh god. I just saw the first ep for the first time in so many years and it broke my heart in the best way. It's possibly the most tender friendship-into-relationship I've ever not-quite seen on screen. I'm interested in that journal, and if Paul kept pages, secretly. I want to see if they can reconcile their love with the love of God, and furtive, tentative making out and gah, my heart. 1,001 words of that would make me unbearably happy. If you wanted to go for advanced level, so to speak, I've also just seen Catherine's relatively calm acceptance, and then utter steadfast support when Paul decides to leave the convent. Had they gently drifted back to friends by that point? Being able to see the path of that relationship from beginning to beyond the series would be magic. (Side note on side characters, I adore Sister Ambrose so much. And I really appreciate that even Sister Agnus, by the end, is shown softened and human and with warmth towards Catherine, even if they're still on opposite sides of the fence.)
Whee! Here we go again! (Alt: If it's your first time, welcome!) I hope you're excited and not freaking out too much.
My general likes/dislikes have tended to stay consistent through the years. Feel free to read back through the tags below, and this year's is below, if you want.
Things that I love!
- This year, with these fandoms, I'm edging mostly towards gen, or already-established relationships that aren't the centre of the fic (major exception here: Brides of Christ). Relationships wise, femslash delights me in particular, but I'm also pleased for slash and het.
- I've worked a list of fandoms this year that contain or could contain a bunch of women. I'm all for skilled, well-rounded, messy, flawed humanely-written female characters, basically.
- I have a competency-kink a mile long. It doesn't matter what people are doing specifically, anything from teaching, to baking a cake, to putting together machinery. I just really enjoy watching people do things well with assurance and skill. See also: physical competency, the ability to kick someone's butt etc. :D
- Intimacy. I don't just mean sex or physical touch -- that ease you get with someone when you've been together forever, and can hang out in their personal space and never bump into them; all the inside jokes you build up; knowing they're okay or not okay at a glance. That sort of thing.
- Also! I struggle with plot at the best of times myself. If you find yourself writing a plotty epic, that's fantastic and go for your life. Or if you're sitting there thinking: 'they have to do stuff? ohshit.' I am A-OK with a thousand and one words of worldbuilding, or a lazy Sunday afternoon, or character study or whatever takes your fancy with these characters or this world, I suppose in the case of the Ray Bradbury.
Things I'd rather not read for Yuletide:
Rape/non-con, mpreg, partner betrayal, relationships breaking up. I have a major embarrassment/humiliation squick. Please don't show characters getting their hopes up, or getting excited, and then getting squished for it.
The Martian - Andy Weir
Choosing book or movie as my request was hard. I finally came down on the side of Mark's humor, and the *amazing* team that came and got him. If you're after springboard ideas, I'm allll about their wicked competency, and the phenomenal bonds between them that meant they all went "yup, willing calmly to die for each other, no question." I'd love to see more of them working together. I had pangs that we didn't get to see them with Mark in either book or movie: I was craving comfort and patching up and touch and hugs, because holy hell, 18 months is a long time to be alone, never mind in terrifying circumstances. Another and/or idea option: So long alone, in constant danger would super fuck someone up, doubleplus points for Ares/ground crew supporting him in the immediate and/or far trauma-aftermath of Mars. I know we have book here, but I 100% endorse Mark teaching baby astronauts back on earth.
Pairings? I'm partial to a side-serving of Watney/Beck, and a doctor's healing touch ;), but don't stress if that's not your cup of tea; I'm good with gen, or other pairings in the background.
There Will Come Soft Rains - Ray Bradbury
Wow. I first read this via the sign up lists, tbh, and was blown away. If you have an idea (pre-doom, during-doom, post-doom, anything!) run with it like crazy. If you're looking for a springboard: I love the idea of who/what came after, piecing together what happened last year, or hundreds of years later, or how it's remembered and what people are saying about it. Do we still have inane robots chanting stuff at us? What's the tech like? etc etc. A completely optional detail of my heart: I know the (in-fic, entirely fictional, self! Jesus) dog is long dead, but I'm sad for it anyway. A dog nursed back to health, or a hale and healthy dog as part of the research crew, or you know, just a beloved dog that lives past the end of the fic, would completely make my Yuletide. *wry grin*
Pet Sematary - Stephen King
I saw this listed, thought "huh, I loved that book", then saw the single character and stared, because my god, that's fantastic. So, writer, how she's doing? (I'm running under the assumption that Rachel killed Louis, and relatively soon after that was killed herself, but having now typed that, I can see that going any number of directions) Where's Ellie now? College? What do people think happened? What does *she* think happened? What does she know? What's she done/doing with that knowledge? I could see her, depending on what she knows, taking refuge in the hard sciences and skeptics, or swinging hard the other way and getting deep into the occult, or any combination in between. *quiet starry eyes at whoever thought to nominate this*
Brides of Christ (TV 1991)
Oh god. I just saw the first ep for the first time in so many years and it broke my heart in the best way. It's possibly the most tender friendship-into-relationship I've ever not-quite seen on screen. I'm interested in that journal, and if Paul kept pages, secretly. I want to see if they can reconcile their love with the love of God, and furtive, tentative making out and gah, my heart. 1,001 words of that would make me unbearably happy. If you wanted to go for advanced level, so to speak, I've also just seen Catherine's relatively calm acceptance, and then utter steadfast support when Paul decides to leave the convent. Had they gently drifted back to friends by that point? Being able to see the path of that relationship from beginning to beyond the series would be magic. (Side note on side characters, I adore Sister Ambrose so much. And I really appreciate that even Sister Agnus, by the end, is shown softened and human and with warmth towards Catherine, even if they're still on opposite sides of the fence.)