Dear Yuletide Author
Dear Yuletide Author,
It's that time of year again, and you know what that means - desperately trying to winnow down requests and offers and trying to figure out how to make this Yuletide The Best Ever for us all. Apologies in advance if this letter is longer than 90% of Yuletide fics!
General notes on what I like and dislike:
First of all, the most important thing to me about fandom is the characters. Characterization is King and all that, I am super excited about anything, from firmly-in-canon wacky AUs to beloved fandom tropes. As long as the characters are real, I am happy.
I LOVE Tropes. Love, love, love. (Pretend marriages? Road trips? Everybody has super powers? Set in outerspace or with them everyone-as-spies or in a bakery? All is beautiful. It can be comical or angsty or plotty or sweet or action-filled or whatever. Write to your comfort! )
Things I don't want: In general, I don't have a lot of squicks, but I can say I don't want S&A incest and for Yuletide, no death!fic, pretty please!, and if your fic goes angsty or dark, that it have a happy/hopeful ending.
Regarding TEH SEX: I am not big on Porn-without-Plot, or blow-by-blow descriptions of where every hand/mouth/tentacle is at every second. Emotions-based porn, or joking, or laughter, or works more for me. Beyond that, I am happy with any rating whatsoever, and with m/m, f/m, or f/f. IF you go a shipping route on a fic, I prefer relationship buildup and development far, far more than fics that start with an established relationship. I am absolutely happy with fade-to-blacks if writing porn makes you uncomfortable, because really, it's the emotional aspect of ship fics that hits my kinks!
On the 'childhood books' theme, on any of them I would be intrigued by a teen-or-adult modernization, same characters but set in 2013 instead of canon. Or the future!fic (canon or modernized).
My specific prompts:
Baby-Sitters Club - Ann M. Martin
Janine Kishi
Optional Details:
Prompts, both specific and vague, depending on your comfort level!
I adore 'outsider pov', and think it could be amazing with Janine on the club/her sister/etc (but still a story about Janine, not just a retelling of what's going on in the book!)
I would love to see her hook up/bond with Charlie Thomas, either opposites attract, or desperation during yet another contrived 'all the BSC members go on vacation together and don't understand that vacation means NOT BABYSITTING' so Janine and Charlie are thrown together ALL THE TIME.
And I am always warm and welcoming and fuzzy to future!fic or modernization!fic (of any of the cast, really, if you are suddenly going oh god, why did I offer Janine/Any?!) - send them off to college or first jobs or ten years into the future or strand them on a deserted island.
Or go wild and crazy - write that fic in which Morbidda Destiny really IS the name of Mrs. Porter and Karen was right all along, because Magic is REAL but oops, Karen isn't magical, but David Michael IS and he's the one who gets the letter into whatever the US version of Hogwarts is and Karen is just BITTER. Just have fun with it.
Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
Susan Walker (Swallows and Amazons)
Things I would love to see:
Susan-at-school ... what is she like? Is she a golden god at the school? Kind of a weirdo outcast who only lives for the summers? What kinds of adventures does she get up to or rescue people from? Does she get lake!sick? I can see so many possibilities from her personality, and I would love to see all or any of them. (Actually, I would love this fic for Susan or Peggy or Nancy, because oh man, you just know there's some serious contrast going on.) Writing letters back and forth with Peggy (often dictated by Nancy, but you know you can't get her to put pen to paper)
Shipwrecked-on-a-deserted island fic, with or without her siblings or the other kids (in her teens would be amazing, but also as an adult, I want her stepping up and being super awesome)
Or man, I would love to see ship!fic (pun intended) between Susan and Tom Dudgeon, because they have such different backgrounds and yet share the same love of sailing and the same super!competence and I don't know, it would make me super happy to see. C'mon, Dorothea, work up some introductions.
Weird and crazy AUs absolutely welcome, if you suddenly want to know what would have happened if the Walkers were the ones that had stumbled into Narnia or fell into a portal into an alternate universe or traveled in time.
I love ALL THE WALKERS AND BLACKETTS and Ds, so again, if for some reason you are going blank on writing Susan, I am totally flexible in my Swallows and Amazon love.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Ray Holt
Time to roll the dice and hope we're not Jossed between now and December!
I love Captain Ray Holt, he is just so dry and god, all of the canon facts (his husband! the trip to bermuda! the treasured photographs being destroyed - he is such a sentimentalist with a deadpan face! - the fact that nobody can read him, ugh, it just makes me so happy)
I would love to see ANY of those events (or future ones!) that he briefly mentioned fleshed out. I want to see what his life outside the station is like. Does he have 3 cats? Do he and his husband have kids? I love comedy, obviously, but a serious exploration would be beautiful. (Thoughtful? Hurt/comfort? Angst-with-a-happy-ending? All gorgeous)
If you are now regretting offering Ray Holt and/or Any, it's ok! I would be absolutely excited to receive something funny and charming and canonish about the station as a whole. Or go AU, give them superpowers and have them fighting crime a totally different way!
Or in-an-AU where the Captain isn't married (cheating IS one of my few fic turnoffs) have Holt/Peralta forced to go undercover as a couple to catch a criminal or on a road trip together. Or something sweet and angsty with Boyle/Holt, that would also be deeelightful. (Boyle needs SO MANY HUGS)
The Good Wife (TV)
Cary Agos
Normally, I am not into requesting ship!fic to almost exclusivity, but oh man, would I not love one with Cary and either Childs, Will, or Peter? Yes, yes I would. (and I know I said in my Brooklyn Nine Nine optionals cheating is a squick, so Alicia/Peter would definitely need to be over for that pairing to work, but all things considered from canon, handwaving it over is fine) Angsty, slightly sweet, sometimes snarky, it would all be so good. In universe!canon or in an AU of pretty much any kind, because it's really about characterization for me with Cary, rather than him being a lawyer. (He's driven, he's smart, he's got his daddy!issues, he's loyal and thus surprised by betrayal and yet he still lets himself trust again)
Or! Cary/Zach would be amazing as well, if a totally different dynamic, because god, the issues that would cause with Zach's parents? Eli's reaction/damage control? (if non AU?) So.much.scope.
Ditto for Cary/Grace, because man, when signups closed I hadn't had a chance to watch ep 3 of this season, but then I DID and I could ALSO SEE THAT AND WOULD BE OVERJOYED
Alternatively, if you are not into writing m/m would be SUPER HAPPY to receive Florrick and Agos, Attorneys at Law fic! NOTHING made me squeak harder in joy than the season finale when they decided to go ahead and I would love, love, love to see that play out in fic. L O V E. Triumph of the underdogs! Debates on if they have to split an assistant again! Possible guest appearances by some of our favorite alternate counsel, judges, or clients :) Even shippy, as long as it's a long, slow build (it's a thing.)
I forgot to mention this in my signups, but I would prefer no Alicia/Will no matter what you end up doing with Cary. And I am not big on Cary/Kalinda as a ship, although as friends I love it
Thank you SO MUCH for writing for me! I hope you enjoy every second of the experience and your own Yuletide dreams are fulfilled!
love,
swmbo
PS. I've included the S&A books for reference if you need a refresher! Mobi files can be read via the kindle app, or changed to another format via calibre. And Brooklyn Nine Nine is available right now on Hulu, and past seasons of The Good Wife on both Hulu and Amazon Prime streaming, if that is helpful at all! And I'm just guessing/counting on you being familiar enough with BSC that you can write it in your sleep because there is just Too Much To Upload/Sort.
I'm not a fan of the fictional 'verse within the S&A books, so I didn't include those two.
File 1:
File Name: Pigeon Post - Arthur Ransome.mobi
File 2:
File Name: Swallowdale - Arthur Ransome.mobi
File 3:
File Name: Winter Holiday - Arthur Ransome.mobi
File 4:
File Name: Coot Club - Arthur Ransome.mobi
File 5:
File Name: We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea - Arthur Ransome.mobi
File 6:
File Name: Secret Water - Arthur Ransome.mobi
File 7:
File Name: The Big Six_ A Novel - Arthur Ransome.mobi
File 8:
File Name: The Picts & the Martyrs - Arthur Ransome.mobi
File 9:
File Name: Great Northern_ - Arthur Ransome.mobi
File 10, belated, red-faced :)
File Name: Swallows and Amazons
Happy Yuletide, ALL!
It's that time of year again, and you know what that means - desperately trying to winnow down requests and offers and trying to figure out how to make this Yuletide The Best Ever for us all. Apologies in advance if this letter is longer than 90% of Yuletide fics!
General notes on what I like and dislike:
First of all, the most important thing to me about fandom is the characters. Characterization is King and all that, I am super excited about anything, from firmly-in-canon wacky AUs to beloved fandom tropes. As long as the characters are real, I am happy.
I LOVE Tropes. Love, love, love. (Pretend marriages? Road trips? Everybody has super powers? Set in outerspace or with them everyone-as-spies or in a bakery? All is beautiful. It can be comical or angsty or plotty or sweet or action-filled or whatever. Write to your comfort! )
Things I don't want: In general, I don't have a lot of squicks, but I can say I don't want S&A incest and for Yuletide, no death!fic, pretty please!, and if your fic goes angsty or dark, that it have a happy/hopeful ending.
Regarding TEH SEX: I am not big on Porn-without-Plot, or blow-by-blow descriptions of where every hand/mouth/tentacle is at every second. Emotions-based porn, or joking, or laughter, or works more for me. Beyond that, I am happy with any rating whatsoever, and with m/m, f/m, or f/f. IF you go a shipping route on a fic, I prefer relationship buildup and development far, far more than fics that start with an established relationship. I am absolutely happy with fade-to-blacks if writing porn makes you uncomfortable, because really, it's the emotional aspect of ship fics that hits my kinks!
On the 'childhood books' theme, on any of them I would be intrigued by a teen-or-adult modernization, same characters but set in 2013 instead of canon. Or the future!fic (canon or modernized).
My specific prompts:
Baby-Sitters Club - Ann M. Martin
Janine Kishi
Optional Details:
Prompts, both specific and vague, depending on your comfort level!
I adore 'outsider pov', and think it could be amazing with Janine on the club/her sister/etc (but still a story about Janine, not just a retelling of what's going on in the book!)
I would love to see her hook up/bond with Charlie Thomas, either opposites attract, or desperation during yet another contrived 'all the BSC members go on vacation together and don't understand that vacation means NOT BABYSITTING' so Janine and Charlie are thrown together ALL THE TIME.
And I am always warm and welcoming and fuzzy to future!fic or modernization!fic (of any of the cast, really, if you are suddenly going oh god, why did I offer Janine/Any?!) - send them off to college or first jobs or ten years into the future or strand them on a deserted island.
Or go wild and crazy - write that fic in which Morbidda Destiny really IS the name of Mrs. Porter and Karen was right all along, because Magic is REAL but oops, Karen isn't magical, but David Michael IS and he's the one who gets the letter into whatever the US version of Hogwarts is and Karen is just BITTER. Just have fun with it.
Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
Susan Walker (Swallows and Amazons)
Things I would love to see:
Susan-at-school ... what is she like? Is she a golden god at the school? Kind of a weirdo outcast who only lives for the summers? What kinds of adventures does she get up to or rescue people from? Does she get lake!sick? I can see so many possibilities from her personality, and I would love to see all or any of them. (Actually, I would love this fic for Susan or Peggy or Nancy, because oh man, you just know there's some serious contrast going on.) Writing letters back and forth with Peggy (often dictated by Nancy, but you know you can't get her to put pen to paper)
Shipwrecked-on-a-deserted island fic, with or without her siblings or the other kids (in her teens would be amazing, but also as an adult, I want her stepping up and being super awesome)
Or man, I would love to see ship!fic (pun intended) between Susan and Tom Dudgeon, because they have such different backgrounds and yet share the same love of sailing and the same super!competence and I don't know, it would make me super happy to see. C'mon, Dorothea, work up some introductions.
Weird and crazy AUs absolutely welcome, if you suddenly want to know what would have happened if the Walkers were the ones that had stumbled into Narnia or fell into a portal into an alternate universe or traveled in time.
I love ALL THE WALKERS AND BLACKETTS and Ds, so again, if for some reason you are going blank on writing Susan, I am totally flexible in my Swallows and Amazon love.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Ray Holt
Time to roll the dice and hope we're not Jossed between now and December!
I love Captain Ray Holt, he is just so dry and god, all of the canon facts (his husband! the trip to bermuda! the treasured photographs being destroyed - he is such a sentimentalist with a deadpan face! - the fact that nobody can read him, ugh, it just makes me so happy)
I would love to see ANY of those events (or future ones!) that he briefly mentioned fleshed out. I want to see what his life outside the station is like. Does he have 3 cats? Do he and his husband have kids? I love comedy, obviously, but a serious exploration would be beautiful. (Thoughtful? Hurt/comfort? Angst-with-a-happy-ending? All gorgeous)
If you are now regretting offering Ray Holt and/or Any, it's ok! I would be absolutely excited to receive something funny and charming and canonish about the station as a whole. Or go AU, give them superpowers and have them fighting crime a totally different way!
Or in-an-AU where the Captain isn't married (cheating IS one of my few fic turnoffs) have Holt/Peralta forced to go undercover as a couple to catch a criminal or on a road trip together. Or something sweet and angsty with Boyle/Holt, that would also be deeelightful. (Boyle needs SO MANY HUGS)
The Good Wife (TV)
Cary Agos
Normally, I am not into requesting ship!fic to almost exclusivity, but oh man, would I not love one with Cary and either Childs, Will, or Peter? Yes, yes I would. (and I know I said in my Brooklyn Nine Nine optionals cheating is a squick, so Alicia/Peter would definitely need to be over for that pairing to work, but all things considered from canon, handwaving it over is fine) Angsty, slightly sweet, sometimes snarky, it would all be so good. In universe!canon or in an AU of pretty much any kind, because it's really about characterization for me with Cary, rather than him being a lawyer. (He's driven, he's smart, he's got his daddy!issues, he's loyal and thus surprised by betrayal and yet he still lets himself trust again)
Or! Cary/Zach would be amazing as well, if a totally different dynamic, because god, the issues that would cause with Zach's parents? Eli's reaction/damage control? (if non AU?) So.much.scope.
Ditto for Cary/Grace, because man, when signups closed I hadn't had a chance to watch ep 3 of this season, but then I DID and I could ALSO SEE THAT AND WOULD BE OVERJOYED
Alternatively, if you are not into writing m/m would be SUPER HAPPY to receive Florrick and Agos, Attorneys at Law fic! NOTHING made me squeak harder in joy than the season finale when they decided to go ahead and I would love, love, love to see that play out in fic. L O V E. Triumph of the underdogs! Debates on if they have to split an assistant again! Possible guest appearances by some of our favorite alternate counsel, judges, or clients :) Even shippy, as long as it's a long, slow build (it's a thing.)
I forgot to mention this in my signups, but I would prefer no Alicia/Will no matter what you end up doing with Cary. And I am not big on Cary/Kalinda as a ship, although as friends I love it
Thank you SO MUCH for writing for me! I hope you enjoy every second of the experience and your own Yuletide dreams are fulfilled!
love,
swmbo
PS. I've included the S&A books for reference if you need a refresher! Mobi files can be read via the kindle app, or changed to another format via calibre. And Brooklyn Nine Nine is available right now on Hulu, and past seasons of The Good Wife on both Hulu and Amazon Prime streaming, if that is helpful at all! And I'm just guessing/counting on you being familiar enough with BSC that you can write it in your sleep because there is just Too Much To Upload/Sort.
I'm not a fan of the fictional 'verse within the S&A books, so I didn't include those two.
File 1:
File Name: Pigeon Post - Arthur Ransome.mobi
File 2:
File Name: Swallowdale - Arthur Ransome.mobi
File 3:
File Name: Winter Holiday - Arthur Ransome.mobi
File 4:
File Name: Coot Club - Arthur Ransome.mobi
File 5:
File Name: We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea - Arthur Ransome.mobi
File 6:
File Name: Secret Water - Arthur Ransome.mobi
File 7:
File Name: The Big Six_ A Novel - Arthur Ransome.mobi
File 8:
File Name: The Picts & the Martyrs - Arthur Ransome.mobi
File 9:
File Name: Great Northern_ - Arthur Ransome.mobi
File 10, belated, red-faced :)
File Name: Swallows and Amazons
Happy Yuletide, ALL!