Dear Yuletide Santa 2009!
Dear Yuletide Santa,
Hi! Hi! OMG! This is my first ever Yuletide! I'm just so grateful to you for signing up, and for taking the time and effort to write a story just for me!
You've been assigned a dyed-in-the-wool hurt/comfort fan, I'm afraid. I'm not sure it's cool to admit that anymore (was it ever?), but I cannot deny my true nature. I'm totally willing to deal with a little bit of OOC-ness in order to reach maximum h/c levels, but not too much; my favorite fic ever is one that manages to incorporate really intense h/c while also being relatively in-character and plausible.
I prefer emotional ouchies to physical ones, generally, but a combination works too. I dig old skool One Character Has A Nightmare And The Other One Comforts Him-type setups. Tears and hugs and soothing shushing are what I crave (God, I am so, so uncool) as long as they're not insanely unwarranted or over the top. Again, it's the plausible or at least kinda-plausible h/c fic that really gets me wet.
Speaking of... I love me some slash! I very much prefer first-times rather than established relationship stories. If the h/c leads to the first time...hurrah! NC-17 stories are wonderful, but not required--any rating is fine. Of course, there's always the possibility that your muse isn't speaking to you in slash this Yule. Admittedly my requests will naturally lean slashy, but I do read and write gen, too--and I will totally love you no matter what, I promise!
I like an even mix of description and dialogue, maybe a tad heavier on the dialogue side. Very close attention to grammar, spelling, and consistent formatting is deeply, deeply appreciated!
Things I don't care for: Deathfic or any permanent parting of the ways, kidfic, het, threesomes, first-person POV, a character going blind, crossovers. And while I love it when characters cry, I get a little crabby when authors use the word "weep" to describe it. :)
Additional fandom-specific info:
Knight Rider (1982)
I would love to see something that focused on the emotional aftermath of "Junkyard Dog" ( The One Where KITT Gets Dumped In The Acid Pit), particularly from Michael's perspective. In the episode, KITT loses a lot of his confidence and Michael has to give him a series of pep talks. But what about Michael's confidence? It's so wrenching when he's unable to do anything in response to KITT's desperate calls for help. Along with experiencing straight-up guilt about it, I feel like even the happy-go-lucky Michael might start to develop concerns about the unique emotional ramifications of his relationship with an AI. Acknowledging those concerns might require some prodding from his subconscious and/or KITT... Would love to see Michael start having nightmares about the trauma (while sleeping in KITT, natch).
Whether you go at them via slash or gen, Michael and KITT's relationship is amazing to me is the way it subverts the typical man-machine dichotomy. Three cheers for dichotomy subversion! (And trauma and nightmares and guilt. Oh, my!) Wait--did I say Michael/KITT slash? Why yes, yes I did! The best story I've read in this genre can be found here; another good one is here. Each of these fics approaches the "Um, but it's a car?" issue in a unique way, and there are surely a bunch of other ways to go about it. Canonically, for the most part, Michael acts like this super-straight guy who sleeps with a different woman each week, then is presumably all, "Gotta hit the road in my hot car, bye!" I actually think if you combine KITT's sexy black hardware and vaguely queer, cultured accent with the emotional intensity and permanence of his and Michael's relationship, you end up with something that could turn Michael on pretty explosively.
Back to the Future
I'm a much bigger fan of the first movie than I am of the second and third, so I'm not at all opposed to AU's that either pretend the sequels didn't happen or that alter their course somehow. A few prompts, any of which I'd love: How would Marty deal with the post-traumatic stress of witnessing Doc's shooting--twice? How would Marty cope with two sets of memories tangled up in his head, and how would his relationship with Doc be affected? What if Clara did fall from the train to her death--in the grief, chaos, and very short time, how would Marty convince Doc to get in the DeLorean, and what would happen afterward?
This is sort of my primordial fandom, and it's all about Marty and Doc for me. In the first movie, though we only get glimpses of their 1985 relationship, I feel like there's a remarkable artlessness and sense of balance to it. The age difference is definitely a major factor in how they relate, and there is some student/teacher, assistant/mentor stuff going on. But whereas a lot of fans favor a father/son thing, I actually don't see too much of that dynamic between them in the first movie at all--and what I see of it in the sequels, I don't like. Other characterization bugaboos: the idea that Marty is stupid and that Doc is purely rational and scientific. Marty is actually pretty articulate, resourceful, and good on his feet, and Doc runs nearly as much on emotion as he does on science. I'm also not really into stories featuring Marty as a little kid or Marty and Doc's first meeting, unless perhaps they're part of the prompt where Marty's dealing with his memories being all kafuzzled--just as long as those scenarios aren't the whole story. :) I'm willing to read stuff involving Jennifer or Clara as long as the kids (Jules and Verne) aren't in it too much, and as long as the focus stays on Marty and Doc. Otherwise, if you write something hurt/comfort-y between these guys, I'm pretty much guaranteed to fall all over it! I think it could be extremely interesting to reverse the expected scenario and put Marty in the position of comforter and Doc as comfortee; OTOH, I'm also very interested in the scarier psychological effects of terrorists and time traveling on poor Marty. And yep, I definitely am into slashing them, too: I believe the attachment of a teenaged boy with poor male role models to an older, high-energy, affectionate, socially ostracized male could well lead to something very complicated. I wonder whether they've often had to deal with rumors about the nature of their relationship to begin with...and then what if the rumors were true? Please be careful and thoughtful with this genre if you do decide to tackle it, though! Um, obviously I have way too many ideas for this fandom--an inclusion of any or all of them would be terrific.
Chicago Hope
I'd love something set during the first two seasons, before Jeffrey got custody of Alan's daughter and left Chicago Hope. A first-time slash story between Jeffrey and Aaron would be amazing, maybe with one of them realizing his feelings through the nudgings of another character (Alan? Phillip?), then being cranky and in denial for a while, and then finally acting on it. It would also be neat to flesh out exactly what happened the night Jeffrey's wife drowned their son--though I'd be grateful if that could be done in flashback/recollection form, rather than have the whole fic take place in that time period.
I feel like Jeffrey Geiger and Aaron Shutt were like the baby Denny Crane and Alan Shore from Boston Legal (another David E. Kelley show), what with the touching and the craziness and the declarations of love every episode. If you do go for the idea of slashing them, I would love to see a special focus on their first kiss, which I imagine would be incredibly powerful given the emotional current that's constantly running between them as it is. Also, in the episode " Shutt Down," Jeffrey touches on the events of the night that his wife drowned their son, Joey. He recounts Aaron having held him, and having told him that no matter what he was thinking or feeling in that moment, he needed to forget it all and simply put his trust in Aaron. *sniff* As I mentioned in my request, I would love to see that whole thing expounded upon in flashback/recollection form. Brownie points, too, for taking special care with Jeffrey and Aaron's Jewish-inflected speaking patterns.
Alien Nation
I can't find any George/Matt slash on the internet and would love to see some. It would be especially cool to read the details of their negotiating the physical/sexual differences between them; there were definitely some same-sex couples in Matt and Cathy's Tenctonese/human sex class! There was also an episode where it was discovered that Tenctonese women respond sexually to the note F sharp above high C, which happens to be the same tone used during tests of the Emergency Broadcast System. Do Tenctonese men have an equivalent, perhaps?
I really enjoy the themes of minority oppression and assimilation on the show. I also *heart* Matt. He insists on maintaining this machismo, devil-may-care persona, when all you need to do is poke at him the slightest bit to get to the gooey center. I might prefer a focus on his emotional baggage over George's. I haven't been able to find any slash between these two and really would love some if you're feelin' it, though you'll have the challenge of writing around their respective partners. Bonus points for humans speaking Tenctonese and affectionate temple-touching (the latter between Matt and George in a platonic context would be awesome, too)! For research purposes, Wikipedia has a pretty good primer on Tenctonese culture and physiology (even if it does spell Matt's last name wrong). Oh, and I'm not wild about the TV movies, but I do consider them canon.
EEEEE! Yuletide Santa, thank you so much! Please enjoy some Bailey's and butterscotch cookies, and please do not stress on my account. I mean, I know this letter is stupid long, but that's just 'cause I talk a lot. Do the best you can and have a great time! Thank you so much!
Excitedly and gratefully yours,
squonkfan
Hi! Hi! OMG! This is my first ever Yuletide! I'm just so grateful to you for signing up, and for taking the time and effort to write a story just for me!
You've been assigned a dyed-in-the-wool hurt/comfort fan, I'm afraid. I'm not sure it's cool to admit that anymore (was it ever?), but I cannot deny my true nature. I'm totally willing to deal with a little bit of OOC-ness in order to reach maximum h/c levels, but not too much; my favorite fic ever is one that manages to incorporate really intense h/c while also being relatively in-character and plausible.
I prefer emotional ouchies to physical ones, generally, but a combination works too. I dig old skool One Character Has A Nightmare And The Other One Comforts Him-type setups. Tears and hugs and soothing shushing are what I crave (God, I am so, so uncool) as long as they're not insanely unwarranted or over the top. Again, it's the plausible or at least kinda-plausible h/c fic that really gets me wet.
Speaking of... I love me some slash! I very much prefer first-times rather than established relationship stories. If the h/c leads to the first time...hurrah! NC-17 stories are wonderful, but not required--any rating is fine. Of course, there's always the possibility that your muse isn't speaking to you in slash this Yule. Admittedly my requests will naturally lean slashy, but I do read and write gen, too--and I will totally love you no matter what, I promise!
I like an even mix of description and dialogue, maybe a tad heavier on the dialogue side. Very close attention to grammar, spelling, and consistent formatting is deeply, deeply appreciated!
Things I don't care for: Deathfic or any permanent parting of the ways, kidfic, het, threesomes, first-person POV, a character going blind, crossovers. And while I love it when characters cry, I get a little crabby when authors use the word "weep" to describe it. :)
Additional fandom-specific info:
Knight Rider (1982)
I would love to see something that focused on the emotional aftermath of "Junkyard Dog" ( The One Where KITT Gets Dumped In The Acid Pit), particularly from Michael's perspective. In the episode, KITT loses a lot of his confidence and Michael has to give him a series of pep talks. But what about Michael's confidence? It's so wrenching when he's unable to do anything in response to KITT's desperate calls for help. Along with experiencing straight-up guilt about it, I feel like even the happy-go-lucky Michael might start to develop concerns about the unique emotional ramifications of his relationship with an AI. Acknowledging those concerns might require some prodding from his subconscious and/or KITT... Would love to see Michael start having nightmares about the trauma (while sleeping in KITT, natch).
Whether you go at them via slash or gen, Michael and KITT's relationship is amazing to me is the way it subverts the typical man-machine dichotomy. Three cheers for dichotomy subversion! (And trauma and nightmares and guilt. Oh, my!) Wait--did I say Michael/KITT slash? Why yes, yes I did! The best story I've read in this genre can be found here; another good one is here. Each of these fics approaches the "Um, but it's a car?" issue in a unique way, and there are surely a bunch of other ways to go about it. Canonically, for the most part, Michael acts like this super-straight guy who sleeps with a different woman each week, then is presumably all, "Gotta hit the road in my hot car, bye!" I actually think if you combine KITT's sexy black hardware and vaguely queer, cultured accent with the emotional intensity and permanence of his and Michael's relationship, you end up with something that could turn Michael on pretty explosively.
Back to the Future
I'm a much bigger fan of the first movie than I am of the second and third, so I'm not at all opposed to AU's that either pretend the sequels didn't happen or that alter their course somehow. A few prompts, any of which I'd love: How would Marty deal with the post-traumatic stress of witnessing Doc's shooting--twice? How would Marty cope with two sets of memories tangled up in his head, and how would his relationship with Doc be affected? What if Clara did fall from the train to her death--in the grief, chaos, and very short time, how would Marty convince Doc to get in the DeLorean, and what would happen afterward?
This is sort of my primordial fandom, and it's all about Marty and Doc for me. In the first movie, though we only get glimpses of their 1985 relationship, I feel like there's a remarkable artlessness and sense of balance to it. The age difference is definitely a major factor in how they relate, and there is some student/teacher, assistant/mentor stuff going on. But whereas a lot of fans favor a father/son thing, I actually don't see too much of that dynamic between them in the first movie at all--and what I see of it in the sequels, I don't like. Other characterization bugaboos: the idea that Marty is stupid and that Doc is purely rational and scientific. Marty is actually pretty articulate, resourceful, and good on his feet, and Doc runs nearly as much on emotion as he does on science. I'm also not really into stories featuring Marty as a little kid or Marty and Doc's first meeting, unless perhaps they're part of the prompt where Marty's dealing with his memories being all kafuzzled--just as long as those scenarios aren't the whole story. :) I'm willing to read stuff involving Jennifer or Clara as long as the kids (Jules and Verne) aren't in it too much, and as long as the focus stays on Marty and Doc. Otherwise, if you write something hurt/comfort-y between these guys, I'm pretty much guaranteed to fall all over it! I think it could be extremely interesting to reverse the expected scenario and put Marty in the position of comforter and Doc as comfortee; OTOH, I'm also very interested in the scarier psychological effects of terrorists and time traveling on poor Marty. And yep, I definitely am into slashing them, too: I believe the attachment of a teenaged boy with poor male role models to an older, high-energy, affectionate, socially ostracized male could well lead to something very complicated. I wonder whether they've often had to deal with rumors about the nature of their relationship to begin with...and then what if the rumors were true? Please be careful and thoughtful with this genre if you do decide to tackle it, though! Um, obviously I have way too many ideas for this fandom--an inclusion of any or all of them would be terrific.
Chicago Hope
I'd love something set during the first two seasons, before Jeffrey got custody of Alan's daughter and left Chicago Hope. A first-time slash story between Jeffrey and Aaron would be amazing, maybe with one of them realizing his feelings through the nudgings of another character (Alan? Phillip?), then being cranky and in denial for a while, and then finally acting on it. It would also be neat to flesh out exactly what happened the night Jeffrey's wife drowned their son--though I'd be grateful if that could be done in flashback/recollection form, rather than have the whole fic take place in that time period.
I feel like Jeffrey Geiger and Aaron Shutt were like the baby Denny Crane and Alan Shore from Boston Legal (another David E. Kelley show), what with the touching and the craziness and the declarations of love every episode. If you do go for the idea of slashing them, I would love to see a special focus on their first kiss, which I imagine would be incredibly powerful given the emotional current that's constantly running between them as it is. Also, in the episode " Shutt Down," Jeffrey touches on the events of the night that his wife drowned their son, Joey. He recounts Aaron having held him, and having told him that no matter what he was thinking or feeling in that moment, he needed to forget it all and simply put his trust in Aaron. *sniff* As I mentioned in my request, I would love to see that whole thing expounded upon in flashback/recollection form. Brownie points, too, for taking special care with Jeffrey and Aaron's Jewish-inflected speaking patterns.
Alien Nation
I can't find any George/Matt slash on the internet and would love to see some. It would be especially cool to read the details of their negotiating the physical/sexual differences between them; there were definitely some same-sex couples in Matt and Cathy's Tenctonese/human sex class! There was also an episode where it was discovered that Tenctonese women respond sexually to the note F sharp above high C, which happens to be the same tone used during tests of the Emergency Broadcast System. Do Tenctonese men have an equivalent, perhaps?
I really enjoy the themes of minority oppression and assimilation on the show. I also *heart* Matt. He insists on maintaining this machismo, devil-may-care persona, when all you need to do is poke at him the slightest bit to get to the gooey center. I might prefer a focus on his emotional baggage over George's. I haven't been able to find any slash between these two and really would love some if you're feelin' it, though you'll have the challenge of writing around their respective partners. Bonus points for humans speaking Tenctonese and affectionate temple-touching (the latter between Matt and George in a platonic context would be awesome, too)! For research purposes, Wikipedia has a pretty good primer on Tenctonese culture and physiology (even if it does spell Matt's last name wrong). Oh, and I'm not wild about the TV movies, but I do consider them canon.
EEEEE! Yuletide Santa, thank you so much! Please enjoy some Bailey's and butterscotch cookies, and please do not stress on my account. I mean, I know this letter is stupid long, but that's just 'cause I talk a lot. Do the best you can and have a great time! Thank you so much!
Excitedly and gratefully yours,
squonkfan