Yuletide
Dear Yule-Author:
These requests are in no order and though they're very different, I love all of them equally.
Generally speaking I would rather you wrote a story you loved and found easy to write and admire, than that you tried to fit into a box of what you think I'd like. There's very little that bothers me, and lots that I find impressive. Good writing, done with enjoyment, and including the characters I've referenced, completely trumps my interests.
Earthsea - Ursula K. LeGuin:
I requested Ged, Irian, Tenar and Kalessin. I suspect it's clear from that I'd love a story about dragons. Perhaps a story about the dragons on the Other Wind, perhaps dragon home life, perhaps a telling of one of the old stories of dragons that are hinted at. I have not met an Earthsea character I wasn't interested in so any other characters you wish to include will be welcomed and Ged is always my favourite for ever.
Things I love in the source: the thoughtfulness of Earthsea; the way power has great costs; the dragons' ferocity; Ged's gentleness. I love that the dragons are not per se interested in humankind, that they are not subservient to it or just there to add to humans' experience of the world. I am interested in the Other Wind, in the dragons' world without humans. I am also interested in love stories, the way that family and love are simultaneously primary and secondary to other questions of, you know, saving the world and stuff.
Dalziel and Pascoe - Reginald Hill:
I requested Edgar Wield and Edwin Digweed and suggested "maybe a crazy romance, maybe a cosy home with a menagerie that's driving Digweed bonkers, maybe a holiday with a hint of the fantastical." I consider them hilarious and fascinating. I also love the Pascoes and Shirley Novello and the big man himself. Any other characters welcomed.
Things I love in the source: the oddness and perfection of their romance, the potential for silliness, the way their life is a little bubble from the world of detectiving. I greatly enjoy detectiving though so if you want to bring some in, give them a murder on the orient express etc to solve that would be brilliant, but similarly and less ambitiously I'd welcome insights into their home life and love.
Bath Tangle - Georgette Heyer:
I requested Serena Carlow, Ivo Barrasford, Lady Spenborough (Fanny), Lord Spenborough (Serena's father). And said "I'd love to see Serena and Ivo creating their life together and taking each other on. To see Serena in a position she loves, but maybe learning something, and perhaps Ivo being taken down a peg. I'd love to see how they manage their inevitable disagreements. If het romance doesn't work for you I'd be very interested in Serena and Fanny friendship either pre or post the book?"
Things I love in the source: Politeness, people being constrained by circumstances, people and/or the author cleverly managing so everything ends happily. This story spoke volumes to me when I was a young teen. I still love it for its exceptional women (titian haired beauty! perfect young widow) and exceptional men and the re-ignition of love between two people who already know each other very well and feel very strongly about each other. Now that I'm no longer a young teen I also enjoy the entertaining mess of tangled intentions and multiple romances and ridiculousness. I have a fondness for Fanny, and her goodness and kindness and boringness too and find the friendship between Serena and Fanny sweet.
Note: Bath Tangle (like all Heyer) includes classism and sexism that can be jarring, though it's appropriate for the times in which it's set and hence difficult to over-write. If I were writing I'd likely work in any commentary I wanted to make as a writer somewhat subtly through story or narrative observation rather than through Serena coming to a sudden realisation that the world in which she lives values things that are not intrinsically valuable and hence turning over the whole fabric of society, but I think you should deal with it, or not, as best suits your writing and story.
**
THANK YOU and I hope you enjoy!
These requests are in no order and though they're very different, I love all of them equally.
Generally speaking I would rather you wrote a story you loved and found easy to write and admire, than that you tried to fit into a box of what you think I'd like. There's very little that bothers me, and lots that I find impressive. Good writing, done with enjoyment, and including the characters I've referenced, completely trumps my interests.
Earthsea - Ursula K. LeGuin:
I requested Ged, Irian, Tenar and Kalessin. I suspect it's clear from that I'd love a story about dragons. Perhaps a story about the dragons on the Other Wind, perhaps dragon home life, perhaps a telling of one of the old stories of dragons that are hinted at. I have not met an Earthsea character I wasn't interested in so any other characters you wish to include will be welcomed and Ged is always my favourite for ever.
Things I love in the source: the thoughtfulness of Earthsea; the way power has great costs; the dragons' ferocity; Ged's gentleness. I love that the dragons are not per se interested in humankind, that they are not subservient to it or just there to add to humans' experience of the world. I am interested in the Other Wind, in the dragons' world without humans. I am also interested in love stories, the way that family and love are simultaneously primary and secondary to other questions of, you know, saving the world and stuff.
Dalziel and Pascoe - Reginald Hill:
I requested Edgar Wield and Edwin Digweed and suggested "maybe a crazy romance, maybe a cosy home with a menagerie that's driving Digweed bonkers, maybe a holiday with a hint of the fantastical." I consider them hilarious and fascinating. I also love the Pascoes and Shirley Novello and the big man himself. Any other characters welcomed.
Things I love in the source: the oddness and perfection of their romance, the potential for silliness, the way their life is a little bubble from the world of detectiving. I greatly enjoy detectiving though so if you want to bring some in, give them a murder on the orient express etc to solve that would be brilliant, but similarly and less ambitiously I'd welcome insights into their home life and love.
Bath Tangle - Georgette Heyer:
I requested Serena Carlow, Ivo Barrasford, Lady Spenborough (Fanny), Lord Spenborough (Serena's father). And said "I'd love to see Serena and Ivo creating their life together and taking each other on. To see Serena in a position she loves, but maybe learning something, and perhaps Ivo being taken down a peg. I'd love to see how they manage their inevitable disagreements. If het romance doesn't work for you I'd be very interested in Serena and Fanny friendship either pre or post the book?"
Things I love in the source: Politeness, people being constrained by circumstances, people and/or the author cleverly managing so everything ends happily. This story spoke volumes to me when I was a young teen. I still love it for its exceptional women (titian haired beauty! perfect young widow) and exceptional men and the re-ignition of love between two people who already know each other very well and feel very strongly about each other. Now that I'm no longer a young teen I also enjoy the entertaining mess of tangled intentions and multiple romances and ridiculousness. I have a fondness for Fanny, and her goodness and kindness and boringness too and find the friendship between Serena and Fanny sweet.
Note: Bath Tangle (like all Heyer) includes classism and sexism that can be jarring, though it's appropriate for the times in which it's set and hence difficult to over-write. If I were writing I'd likely work in any commentary I wanted to make as a writer somewhat subtly through story or narrative observation rather than through Serena coming to a sudden realisation that the world in which she lives values things that are not intrinsically valuable and hence turning over the whole fabric of society, but I think you should deal with it, or not, as best suits your writing and story.
**
THANK YOU and I hope you enjoy!