Yuletide Letter 2016
Dear Yuletide Writer,
Hi! And thanks in advance for writing for me. I've tried to give a mix of both general and more specific prompt ideas this year, but please don't feel like you have to pick one of the specific ones if you've got a different story idea that you'd rather write. I'm really pretty flexible about what I read.
You can find me on AO3 as Nomad (nomadicwriter). I have some miscellaneous bookmarks there and also a gen recs comm at nomads_gen_recs if you want more of an idea of the sort of fics I like.
General Likes and Dislikes
I Love:
* Frenemies! Enemies or rivals who respect each other or find themselves forced to work together.
* Emotionally repressed characters wrestling with awkward feelings and failing at demonstrating them.
* Canon-divergent AUs that explore how changing one small thing might alter events.
* Outside POVs where other people observe how the characters interact with each other.
I'm Cool With:
* Gen fic - please don't think I'm just offering it as an out and I'd rather have shipfic! I ♥ gen.
* Both het and slash pairings: I'm flexible about shipping and have no unbreakable OTPs.
* Darkfic, character death and unhappy endings if you want to go there. (But fluff or comedy is fine too!)
* OCs and Character/OC pairings if the story you're telling requires them.
I Don't Really Like:
* Explicit sex scenes.
* Scenes of characters being embarrassed/humiliated, especially played for comedy.
* Established relationships. (I can buy most ships, but only if the fic shows me how they got together.)
* AUs that transplant characters into completely different settings or change basic rules of the universe.
Fandom specific details:
Arrested Development
Request:
+ Gob Bluth
I'd love anything that runs with the revelations about Gob's sexuality in season four, whether it's backstory fic, a resolution to the Forget-Me-Now cliffhanger, or exploration of where Gob goes from here. Gob finally discovering something he's good at (probably completely by accident) or baffling himself and everyone else by being an unexpectedly successful company president would be great too. And I'm always here for Bluth family antics, whether it's canon-level disastrous or brief unexpected moments where they actually manage to be good for each other. On the whole I'd prefer fic with at least some degree of silliness/comedy (even if it's really dark humour) rather than pure angst and drama in this fandom.
Pairings: Gob/Tony would be great, as would Gob/Gary, Gob/other dudes, inclusion of any canon relationships, or gen. I'm not really into outright incest relationships between the Bluth siblings, but canon levels of pseudo-incestuous shenanigans are cool.
A few more specific story prompts if you need ideas:
- Gob panic-outing himself to the media to avoid a "Bluth Company discriminates against gay people" scandal, only for the rest of the family to assume it's not true.
- The family being trapped into acting blasé about Gob showing up with a boyfriend because they don't want to admit they weren't paying attention when he told them about it.
- Gob finding his niche as a magician by becoming a combination magician-stripper, comedy magician, etc.
- An AU where Gob actually does have genuine magical powers like Oscar believes, they're just deeply faily and unreliable ones.
- A rare moment or moments in Gob's life when he actually gets to be an older brother figure to one of his siblings.
More Info:
I love everybody in this bar! Seriously, I love the whole ensemble, and if you want to involve any of the other characters, go wild. In case you do, here are a bunch more possible prompt ideas to play with:
- George Snr. discovering he isn't Michael's father either, meaning Gob is his only biological son.
- Lucille hitting it off with Tony Wonder while they're waiting to meet Gob, both of them unaware that they're talking about the same guy.
- An AU where the Bluths raised Lindsay as Gob's twin instead of Michael's.
- Tobias repeatedly catching Gob and Tony in compromising positions and always mistaking it for something completely innocent.
- Gob and Maeby bonding over their similar skills in breaking and entering, pimping, and forging IDs.
- George Michael and Gob becoming confidantes post-s4 while George Michael's on the outs with his father.
- Oscar impersonating George turning out to be the father figure Gob has always needed.
And if you want to take on the Lucille 2 mystery, I am always up for theories on that.
Potentially Useful Links:
* Arrested Development Wiki
* Episode Transcripts
From Eroica With Love
Request:
+ Klaus von dem Eberbach
I'm here for pretty much any fic about what makes Klaus tick and how his mind works! Pre-canon backstory, fic about what his coworkers or neighbours think of him, or especially any exploration of his sexuality would be particularly great. (I'm not usually into explicit sex scenes, but given Klaus's huge issues around sex I'm okay with them in this fandom if it's an important part of the story.) Canon style wacky spyjinks are always welcome, as are darker, more serious espionage stories, and I always love a good future fic about how Klaus's priorities might change as he gets older.
Pairings: Klaus/Dorian is great, but I'm not an OTPer and would be just as happy to read Klaus/Z, Klaus/G, or other pairings, canon-levels of slashy UST, or gen. I can buy Klaus as either gay or asexual (not that he'd know or use that term) but can't really imagine him in a functional het relationship (though feel free to include dysfunctional ones).
A few more specific story prompts if you need ideas:
- A mission where the characters encounter supernatural or sci-fi elements: vampires, werewolves, time travel, etc.
- Fic set during Klaus's childhood being raised by his father and butler, or anything involving his father.
- An AU where Klaus and Dorian meet at a different point in their lives: maybe after Klaus is retired and missing excitement in his life, or as teenagers when Dorian's parents send him to Klaus's boarding school.
- Farcical shenanigans when Klaus tries to find a suitably handsome man to distract Dorian's attention from him, his target assumes that Klaus is the one who's interested, and Dorian gets jealous.
- Klaus having to fake his death for some reason, or reacting to Dorian faking his.
More Info:
I'm super flexible about what I'll read in this fandom - I love the way the combination of the light-hearted tone and the more gritty Cold War setting means anything from fluffy screwball comedy to espionage thriller fits equally well.
I love the KGB characters as adversaries or prickly temporary allies, and Klaus dealing with his hapless Alphabets, annoying boss and sentimental butler, plus I have a weird soft spot for James, so really, feel free to include any of the extended cast you want. I quite like Z/G as a side pairing as well.
I've requested Eroica before, so if something from one of my older letters grabs you more than this one, go ahead and run with that - it all still applies.
Potentially Useful Links:
* My Eroica prompts from previous Yuletides: 2015, 2014, 2013
* Eroica fandom primer I wrote for smallfandomfest
Fantastic Four (Comicverse)
Request:
+ Victor von Doom
+ Reed Richards
My heart belongs to Doctor Doom, but I do really like Reed Richards too. I would love anything that plays with the ways the two of them are similar, or how easily their destinies could have swapped over and made Victor the hero and Reed the villain. I'm always on board for stories where they have to work together against a common threat, and especially when Doom does something genuinely heroic from the purely petty motive of getting to rub Reed's nose in the fact that he saved the day when Reed couldn't. Fic set during their time at college together or anything that involves Doom's pre-armour backstory would be particularly ace.
Pairings: I'm totally up for Reed/Doom, especially set in the college era, but gen is fine too. I like Reed/Sue too, and am happy to read Doom paired with pretty much anybody, het or slash.
A few more specific story prompts if you need ideas:
- College-era fic with Reed and Victor teaming up against a magical threat.
- Time-travel shenanigans where Reed gets to visit Victor's childhood, or fic where he has to deal with Doom having been de-aged to a child.
- Post-apocalyptic fic where Reed and Doom are some of the few (or even the only ones) left at the end of everything, working together to turn back time and save the world.
- Reed visiting an alternate universe where Doom is working with the good guys and AU-Reed is the villain.
- Reed being forced to turn to Doom to get help for his family.
More Info:
I'm pretty well read up on my F4 history and most of Doom's major appearances in other books, so if you want to run with something from a canon storyline, go for it. I'd also welcome inclusion of any of the rest of the Fantastic Four cast, or crossovers with other 616 or Ultimateverse comics and characters. (Please no MCU crossovers, though.)
My favourite versions of Doom are as written by Jonathan Hickman and John Byrne, where he may be volatile, petty and dangerous, but he genuinely does think he's doing what's best for his people and that conquering the world is the best way to save it. And I like Reed the way he's depicted in the Fantastic Four books, flawed but always placing his family above all else.
I've requested this fandom before, so if you want to write something based on any of my older prompts, that would be fine too.
Potentially Useful Links:
* My F4 prompts from previous Yuletides: 2015, 2014, 2012, 2011
* My LJ community doomfans
* A compilation of versions of Doctor Doom's origin story
The Rat Patrol
Request:
+ Hans Dietrich
+ Jack Moffitt
+ Sam Troy
I love all the "honourable enemies" tropes in this show: the tense truces, the constant pretexts for Dietrich and the Rats to end up working together, the times they show their respect for each other or help each other out for humanitarian reasons. Any sort of story along those lines would be fantastic. I'd also enjoy anything that explores the subthread running through season two of Dietrich's increasing discomfort with his orders and willingness to go against them.
Pairings: Gen is fine, but I'm also up for any slash pairing among the trio if you're inspired that way.
A few more specific story prompts if you need ideas:
- Dietrich and the Rats both held captive by a third party and having to work together to escape.
- The Rats being the ones to take Dietrich prisoner for once.
- A chance meeting in neutral territory when both sides are off-duty.
- Dietrich under investigation on suspicion of assisting the Rat Patrol.
- A post-war encounter where they unexpectedly run into each other again in peacetime.
More Info:
I've asked for both Moffitt and Troy as my two favourite Rats, but you don't have to include both if you've got a story idea that works better with just one - it's the dynamic of Dietrich interacting with any or all of the Rats that interests me more than the specific characters involved.
Given that it's a wartime canon, tragedy and character death are okay if you want to go there, but I'd be just as happy with something more lighthearted and hopeful in tone too. If you go the slash/UST routine I'd prefer some acknowledgement of the attitudes of the time, but it doesn't have to be an angst-fest dwelling on that.
Potentially Useful Links:
* My Rat Patrol prompts from previous Yuletides: 2015, 2013, 2012
* The Sun Compass fan site has info on the vehicles, equipment, etc. featured in the series
Anyway, please don't stress about sticking too close to the letter of any of these requests - they're basically just lists of Stuff I Would like in case you need the inspiration, but I'll happily read almost anything if it's about my favourite characters. Hope you enjoy writing for me!
Hi! And thanks in advance for writing for me. I've tried to give a mix of both general and more specific prompt ideas this year, but please don't feel like you have to pick one of the specific ones if you've got a different story idea that you'd rather write. I'm really pretty flexible about what I read.
You can find me on AO3 as Nomad (nomadicwriter). I have some miscellaneous bookmarks there and also a gen recs comm at nomads_gen_recs if you want more of an idea of the sort of fics I like.
General Likes and Dislikes
I Love:
* Frenemies! Enemies or rivals who respect each other or find themselves forced to work together.
* Emotionally repressed characters wrestling with awkward feelings and failing at demonstrating them.
* Canon-divergent AUs that explore how changing one small thing might alter events.
* Outside POVs where other people observe how the characters interact with each other.
I'm Cool With:
* Gen fic - please don't think I'm just offering it as an out and I'd rather have shipfic! I ♥ gen.
* Both het and slash pairings: I'm flexible about shipping and have no unbreakable OTPs.
* Darkfic, character death and unhappy endings if you want to go there. (But fluff or comedy is fine too!)
* OCs and Character/OC pairings if the story you're telling requires them.
I Don't Really Like:
* Explicit sex scenes.
* Scenes of characters being embarrassed/humiliated, especially played for comedy.
* Established relationships. (I can buy most ships, but only if the fic shows me how they got together.)
* AUs that transplant characters into completely different settings or change basic rules of the universe.
Fandom specific details:
Arrested Development
Request:
+ Gob Bluth
I'd love anything that runs with the revelations about Gob's sexuality in season four, whether it's backstory fic, a resolution to the Forget-Me-Now cliffhanger, or exploration of where Gob goes from here. Gob finally discovering something he's good at (probably completely by accident) or baffling himself and everyone else by being an unexpectedly successful company president would be great too. And I'm always here for Bluth family antics, whether it's canon-level disastrous or brief unexpected moments where they actually manage to be good for each other. On the whole I'd prefer fic with at least some degree of silliness/comedy (even if it's really dark humour) rather than pure angst and drama in this fandom.
Pairings: Gob/Tony would be great, as would Gob/Gary, Gob/other dudes, inclusion of any canon relationships, or gen. I'm not really into outright incest relationships between the Bluth siblings, but canon levels of pseudo-incestuous shenanigans are cool.
A few more specific story prompts if you need ideas:
- Gob panic-outing himself to the media to avoid a "Bluth Company discriminates against gay people" scandal, only for the rest of the family to assume it's not true.
- The family being trapped into acting blasé about Gob showing up with a boyfriend because they don't want to admit they weren't paying attention when he told them about it.
- Gob finding his niche as a magician by becoming a combination magician-stripper, comedy magician, etc.
- An AU where Gob actually does have genuine magical powers like Oscar believes, they're just deeply faily and unreliable ones.
- A rare moment or moments in Gob's life when he actually gets to be an older brother figure to one of his siblings.
More Info:
I love everybody in this bar! Seriously, I love the whole ensemble, and if you want to involve any of the other characters, go wild. In case you do, here are a bunch more possible prompt ideas to play with:
- George Snr. discovering he isn't Michael's father either, meaning Gob is his only biological son.
- Lucille hitting it off with Tony Wonder while they're waiting to meet Gob, both of them unaware that they're talking about the same guy.
- An AU where the Bluths raised Lindsay as Gob's twin instead of Michael's.
- Tobias repeatedly catching Gob and Tony in compromising positions and always mistaking it for something completely innocent.
- Gob and Maeby bonding over their similar skills in breaking and entering, pimping, and forging IDs.
- George Michael and Gob becoming confidantes post-s4 while George Michael's on the outs with his father.
- Oscar impersonating George turning out to be the father figure Gob has always needed.
And if you want to take on the Lucille 2 mystery, I am always up for theories on that.
Potentially Useful Links:
* Arrested Development Wiki
* Episode Transcripts
From Eroica With Love
Request:
+ Klaus von dem Eberbach
I'm here for pretty much any fic about what makes Klaus tick and how his mind works! Pre-canon backstory, fic about what his coworkers or neighbours think of him, or especially any exploration of his sexuality would be particularly great. (I'm not usually into explicit sex scenes, but given Klaus's huge issues around sex I'm okay with them in this fandom if it's an important part of the story.) Canon style wacky spyjinks are always welcome, as are darker, more serious espionage stories, and I always love a good future fic about how Klaus's priorities might change as he gets older.
Pairings: Klaus/Dorian is great, but I'm not an OTPer and would be just as happy to read Klaus/Z, Klaus/G, or other pairings, canon-levels of slashy UST, or gen. I can buy Klaus as either gay or asexual (not that he'd know or use that term) but can't really imagine him in a functional het relationship (though feel free to include dysfunctional ones).
A few more specific story prompts if you need ideas:
- A mission where the characters encounter supernatural or sci-fi elements: vampires, werewolves, time travel, etc.
- Fic set during Klaus's childhood being raised by his father and butler, or anything involving his father.
- An AU where Klaus and Dorian meet at a different point in their lives: maybe after Klaus is retired and missing excitement in his life, or as teenagers when Dorian's parents send him to Klaus's boarding school.
- Farcical shenanigans when Klaus tries to find a suitably handsome man to distract Dorian's attention from him, his target assumes that Klaus is the one who's interested, and Dorian gets jealous.
- Klaus having to fake his death for some reason, or reacting to Dorian faking his.
More Info:
I'm super flexible about what I'll read in this fandom - I love the way the combination of the light-hearted tone and the more gritty Cold War setting means anything from fluffy screwball comedy to espionage thriller fits equally well.
I love the KGB characters as adversaries or prickly temporary allies, and Klaus dealing with his hapless Alphabets, annoying boss and sentimental butler, plus I have a weird soft spot for James, so really, feel free to include any of the extended cast you want. I quite like Z/G as a side pairing as well.
I've requested Eroica before, so if something from one of my older letters grabs you more than this one, go ahead and run with that - it all still applies.
Potentially Useful Links:
* My Eroica prompts from previous Yuletides: 2015, 2014, 2013
* Eroica fandom primer I wrote for smallfandomfest
Fantastic Four (Comicverse)
Request:
+ Victor von Doom
+ Reed Richards
My heart belongs to Doctor Doom, but I do really like Reed Richards too. I would love anything that plays with the ways the two of them are similar, or how easily their destinies could have swapped over and made Victor the hero and Reed the villain. I'm always on board for stories where they have to work together against a common threat, and especially when Doom does something genuinely heroic from the purely petty motive of getting to rub Reed's nose in the fact that he saved the day when Reed couldn't. Fic set during their time at college together or anything that involves Doom's pre-armour backstory would be particularly ace.
Pairings: I'm totally up for Reed/Doom, especially set in the college era, but gen is fine too. I like Reed/Sue too, and am happy to read Doom paired with pretty much anybody, het or slash.
A few more specific story prompts if you need ideas:
- College-era fic with Reed and Victor teaming up against a magical threat.
- Time-travel shenanigans where Reed gets to visit Victor's childhood, or fic where he has to deal with Doom having been de-aged to a child.
- Post-apocalyptic fic where Reed and Doom are some of the few (or even the only ones) left at the end of everything, working together to turn back time and save the world.
- Reed visiting an alternate universe where Doom is working with the good guys and AU-Reed is the villain.
- Reed being forced to turn to Doom to get help for his family.
More Info:
I'm pretty well read up on my F4 history and most of Doom's major appearances in other books, so if you want to run with something from a canon storyline, go for it. I'd also welcome inclusion of any of the rest of the Fantastic Four cast, or crossovers with other 616 or Ultimateverse comics and characters. (Please no MCU crossovers, though.)
My favourite versions of Doom are as written by Jonathan Hickman and John Byrne, where he may be volatile, petty and dangerous, but he genuinely does think he's doing what's best for his people and that conquering the world is the best way to save it. And I like Reed the way he's depicted in the Fantastic Four books, flawed but always placing his family above all else.
I've requested this fandom before, so if you want to write something based on any of my older prompts, that would be fine too.
Potentially Useful Links:
* My F4 prompts from previous Yuletides: 2015, 2014, 2012, 2011
* My LJ community doomfans
* A compilation of versions of Doctor Doom's origin story
The Rat Patrol
Request:
+ Hans Dietrich
+ Jack Moffitt
+ Sam Troy
I love all the "honourable enemies" tropes in this show: the tense truces, the constant pretexts for Dietrich and the Rats to end up working together, the times they show their respect for each other or help each other out for humanitarian reasons. Any sort of story along those lines would be fantastic. I'd also enjoy anything that explores the subthread running through season two of Dietrich's increasing discomfort with his orders and willingness to go against them.
Pairings: Gen is fine, but I'm also up for any slash pairing among the trio if you're inspired that way.
A few more specific story prompts if you need ideas:
- Dietrich and the Rats both held captive by a third party and having to work together to escape.
- The Rats being the ones to take Dietrich prisoner for once.
- A chance meeting in neutral territory when both sides are off-duty.
- Dietrich under investigation on suspicion of assisting the Rat Patrol.
- A post-war encounter where they unexpectedly run into each other again in peacetime.
More Info:
I've asked for both Moffitt and Troy as my two favourite Rats, but you don't have to include both if you've got a story idea that works better with just one - it's the dynamic of Dietrich interacting with any or all of the Rats that interests me more than the specific characters involved.
Given that it's a wartime canon, tragedy and character death are okay if you want to go there, but I'd be just as happy with something more lighthearted and hopeful in tone too. If you go the slash/UST routine I'd prefer some acknowledgement of the attitudes of the time, but it doesn't have to be an angst-fest dwelling on that.
Potentially Useful Links:
* My Rat Patrol prompts from previous Yuletides: 2015, 2013, 2012
* The Sun Compass fan site has info on the vehicles, equipment, etc. featured in the series
Anyway, please don't stress about sticking too close to the letter of any of these requests - they're basically just lists of Stuff I Would like in case you need the inspiration, but I'll happily read almost anything if it's about my favourite characters. Hope you enjoy writing for me!