Dear Yuletide Santa
Dear Yuletide Santa:
DO NOT BE AFRAID! I apologise for the mostly friends-locked-ness of my journal. As you can see, my geeking out for the last two years has mostly been about customising dolls and Star Trek (2009). But you can take a stroll through the meme tag to learn a bit more about me, and my fiction also says a lot about my tastes. I'm mostly a gen/het writer, with a dash of slash and femmeslash thrown in, but my reading tastes are a lot broader than my writing tastes.
I know it's terrifying and maddening to try and get a read on someone who keeps herself to herself, even fannishly. All my previous yuletide Dear Santa letters are here. And here are some general LJC things you should know:
I am not always one of those "happily ever after" curtain-fic types. While I am a romantic, I don't expect Shakespeare Comedy Weddings to end every story. That's probably pretty obvious, but the posts I've made in the past about characters and what I enjoy about their interactions in canon, and the potential that exists for those relationships to be explored and grow and change. But I really do dig the relationships in canon, and love to see those explored--as well as their potential explored.
I love character development. I love humour. I love stories that capture the feel and tone of the source. I love stories that experiment with the boundaries of tone and feel of the source. I love missing scene stories A LOT. I love epistolary novels. I love dialogue. I love cheese--the variety from a can, as well as a lovely brie with some sliced apples and maybe some $6 wine. I love 3rd person limited. I love 1st person. I find 3rd person omniscient difficult to achieve, personally, and rarely see it actually work without just coming across as 3rd person limited that jumps from POV to POV. But if you can do it, then GO ON, MY SON, sez I. I think 2nd person is actually a trick played by authors on an unsuspecting public, and am wary and distrustful of it, on principle. But likewise, if it makes you glee, then who am I to stand in the way of glee?
I love really kickass chicks who are flawed and real and strong and smart and clever and make mistakes, and own their mistakes, and take chances, and stick to their guns, and trust their instincts. I love their partners and husbands and fathers and brothers and sons and boyfriends and ex-boyfriends and confidants and adversaries.
Right, so, here are my requests:
Fandom: Meg Cabot - Heather Wells series
Characters: Heather Wells, Cooper Cartwright
Request: Since Heather's the narrator and we only ever see him through her eyes, I'd love something from Cooper's POV--either from before the books, such as when his father first introduced him to Heather--or during. How did his idea of Heather change over time? When did he first fall for her?
Fandom: The Man From Atlantis
Characters: Dr Elizabeth Merrill/Mark Harris
Request: Elizabeth is always so adamant that her relationship with Mark is platonic--in a "methinks the lady doth protest too much" kind of way. But after "Deadly Carnival" where Mark has a little kiss and cuddle from the owner of the carnival, I wonder if *he* sees his relationship with Elizabeth as platonic? He certainly enjoyed kissing Charlene. What if that gives him a new perspective on his friendship with Elizabeth? How would she react?
Fandom: The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)
Characters: Thomas Crown, Catherine Banning, Michael McCann
Request: I have this mental image of Tommy Crown and Catherine Banning passing in and out of each other's lives--kinda sorta like Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle, only without actual bullwhips (unless, you know, you wanted to go there). As in, they are the great loves of each other's lives, but they can't be in close proximity for more than a few weeks before things get explosive and messy and painful and potentially dangerous. My thought is, how does McCann deal with Catherine coming back to HIM every time she and Crown part ways? How does he deal with being her fall-back, when he's kinda insanely in love with her himself?
Fandom: Downton Abbey
Characters: Gwen, Tom Branson, Sybil Crawley
Request: I'd love to see where the three of them are in 1918, after the armistice. Especially if they're still together (especially if they're still together in a bohemian poly relationship-- either Sybil/Branson and Sybil/Gwen, or OT3).
I am a total geek about research, this I admit openly. I fell in love with Downton Abbey because of my absolute adoration of Gosford Park and while the resources here may not help completely with Edwardian fiction, it's a good place to start if you're worried about finding sources. I actually compiled most of the research when I was writing Gosford for yuletide several years in a row, and wanted to share them in the hopes that it would encourage more fans of the film to write fiction based on it. I was really captivated by Sybil's friendships with Branson and Gwen that cross the class barriers in ways she is and isn't aware of, and I'd love to see where they end up someday--just a what if, wish-fulfilment sort of desire.
My love of Man From Atlantis comes from a childhood spent watching reruns in black and white on a local UHF station and re-reading the novelisations over and over again all through high school and then again a few years back when I got the series on DVD. I recognise that the first telefilm is the best of them, and the series itself veers into insane cheese. But I am a fan of cheese. From Brie to the kind of spray cheese that comes out of a can. I have 'shipped Mark and Elizabeth from the start, and was always sad!face that the show never explored a romantic relationship between them, but I am a total junkie for their friendship. And I am always a fan of the stranger-in-a-strange-land aspect of the show. However, feel free to leave Miller and CW out of the picture if you have a low tolerance for them--I admit I often do.
Thomas Crown Affair is TOTALLY A GUILTY PLEASURE. My take on them has pretty much been that Tommy is Bruce Wayne without the childhood trauma, and Catherine is his Selina Kyle. THE WOMAN. They may not be built for the long term, but I imagine their short terms are pretty damned awesome. I am also a huge fan of heists, and the Magrite job in the film is one of my all-time favourites ever in the history of ever., But I am also a fan of downtime, and little character moments. And I have huge affection for McCann, who I see as the kind of guy Catherine would go to when she was beer, pizza, and to watch a football game on a Sunday. I also can see her being totally clueless as to how messed up she makes him just dropping in now and then for pizza, beer, and whatever. Unrequited love is a bullet-proof kink of mine, and always has been.
OMG HEATHER WELLS. Where to begin? They're the kind of cosy mysteries that I can devour in a day, but the adventures in the Death Dorm aren't really why I love them. I love Heather in all her bodega-friend-chicken-loving glory. I love her issues, I love her crushes, I love her narrative voice, and I love seeing a woman my size being portrayed as desirable and attractive in today's creepy size-0 obsessed culture.
Mostly, I love yuletide. So don't worry. It'll all be okay. I promise. Because it's a pressie, and pressies are awesome.
Being me, I can point you toward resource posts for one (and soon to be two) of my requested fandoms.
cheers,
LJC
P.S. anonymous comments are screened (and IP logging is switched off for the duration of Yuletide Writing Season), but you can leave one with questions, if you need to! Or you can email me via Elyn, who always entertains me muchly with her additional fake queries so as to not tip me off as to what story you're actually writing.
DO NOT BE AFRAID! I apologise for the mostly friends-locked-ness of my journal. As you can see, my geeking out for the last two years has mostly been about customising dolls and Star Trek (2009). But you can take a stroll through the meme tag to learn a bit more about me, and my fiction also says a lot about my tastes. I'm mostly a gen/het writer, with a dash of slash and femmeslash thrown in, but my reading tastes are a lot broader than my writing tastes.
I know it's terrifying and maddening to try and get a read on someone who keeps herself to herself, even fannishly. All my previous yuletide Dear Santa letters are here. And here are some general LJC things you should know:
I am not always one of those "happily ever after" curtain-fic types. While I am a romantic, I don't expect Shakespeare Comedy Weddings to end every story. That's probably pretty obvious, but the posts I've made in the past about characters and what I enjoy about their interactions in canon, and the potential that exists for those relationships to be explored and grow and change. But I really do dig the relationships in canon, and love to see those explored--as well as their potential explored.
I love character development. I love humour. I love stories that capture the feel and tone of the source. I love stories that experiment with the boundaries of tone and feel of the source. I love missing scene stories A LOT. I love epistolary novels. I love dialogue. I love cheese--the variety from a can, as well as a lovely brie with some sliced apples and maybe some $6 wine. I love 3rd person limited. I love 1st person. I find 3rd person omniscient difficult to achieve, personally, and rarely see it actually work without just coming across as 3rd person limited that jumps from POV to POV. But if you can do it, then GO ON, MY SON, sez I. I think 2nd person is actually a trick played by authors on an unsuspecting public, and am wary and distrustful of it, on principle. But likewise, if it makes you glee, then who am I to stand in the way of glee?
I love really kickass chicks who are flawed and real and strong and smart and clever and make mistakes, and own their mistakes, and take chances, and stick to their guns, and trust their instincts. I love their partners and husbands and fathers and brothers and sons and boyfriends and ex-boyfriends and confidants and adversaries.
Right, so, here are my requests:
Fandom: Meg Cabot - Heather Wells series
Characters: Heather Wells, Cooper Cartwright
Request: Since Heather's the narrator and we only ever see him through her eyes, I'd love something from Cooper's POV--either from before the books, such as when his father first introduced him to Heather--or during. How did his idea of Heather change over time? When did he first fall for her?
Fandom: The Man From Atlantis
Characters: Dr Elizabeth Merrill/Mark Harris
Request: Elizabeth is always so adamant that her relationship with Mark is platonic--in a "methinks the lady doth protest too much" kind of way. But after "Deadly Carnival" where Mark has a little kiss and cuddle from the owner of the carnival, I wonder if *he* sees his relationship with Elizabeth as platonic? He certainly enjoyed kissing Charlene. What if that gives him a new perspective on his friendship with Elizabeth? How would she react?
Fandom: The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)
Characters: Thomas Crown, Catherine Banning, Michael McCann
Request: I have this mental image of Tommy Crown and Catherine Banning passing in and out of each other's lives--kinda sorta like Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle, only without actual bullwhips (unless, you know, you wanted to go there). As in, they are the great loves of each other's lives, but they can't be in close proximity for more than a few weeks before things get explosive and messy and painful and potentially dangerous. My thought is, how does McCann deal with Catherine coming back to HIM every time she and Crown part ways? How does he deal with being her fall-back, when he's kinda insanely in love with her himself?
Fandom: Downton Abbey
Characters: Gwen, Tom Branson, Sybil Crawley
Request: I'd love to see where the three of them are in 1918, after the armistice. Especially if they're still together (especially if they're still together in a bohemian poly relationship-- either Sybil/Branson and Sybil/Gwen, or OT3).
I am a total geek about research, this I admit openly. I fell in love with Downton Abbey because of my absolute adoration of Gosford Park and while the resources here may not help completely with Edwardian fiction, it's a good place to start if you're worried about finding sources. I actually compiled most of the research when I was writing Gosford for yuletide several years in a row, and wanted to share them in the hopes that it would encourage more fans of the film to write fiction based on it. I was really captivated by Sybil's friendships with Branson and Gwen that cross the class barriers in ways she is and isn't aware of, and I'd love to see where they end up someday--just a what if, wish-fulfilment sort of desire.
My love of Man From Atlantis comes from a childhood spent watching reruns in black and white on a local UHF station and re-reading the novelisations over and over again all through high school and then again a few years back when I got the series on DVD. I recognise that the first telefilm is the best of them, and the series itself veers into insane cheese. But I am a fan of cheese. From Brie to the kind of spray cheese that comes out of a can. I have 'shipped Mark and Elizabeth from the start, and was always sad!face that the show never explored a romantic relationship between them, but I am a total junkie for their friendship. And I am always a fan of the stranger-in-a-strange-land aspect of the show. However, feel free to leave Miller and CW out of the picture if you have a low tolerance for them--I admit I often do.
Thomas Crown Affair is TOTALLY A GUILTY PLEASURE. My take on them has pretty much been that Tommy is Bruce Wayne without the childhood trauma, and Catherine is his Selina Kyle. THE WOMAN. They may not be built for the long term, but I imagine their short terms are pretty damned awesome. I am also a huge fan of heists, and the Magrite job in the film is one of my all-time favourites ever in the history of ever., But I am also a fan of downtime, and little character moments. And I have huge affection for McCann, who I see as the kind of guy Catherine would go to when she was beer, pizza, and to watch a football game on a Sunday. I also can see her being totally clueless as to how messed up she makes him just dropping in now and then for pizza, beer, and whatever. Unrequited love is a bullet-proof kink of mine, and always has been.
OMG HEATHER WELLS. Where to begin? They're the kind of cosy mysteries that I can devour in a day, but the adventures in the Death Dorm aren't really why I love them. I love Heather in all her bodega-friend-chicken-loving glory. I love her issues, I love her crushes, I love her narrative voice, and I love seeing a woman my size being portrayed as desirable and attractive in today's creepy size-0 obsessed culture.
Mostly, I love yuletide. So don't worry. It'll all be okay. I promise. Because it's a pressie, and pressies are awesome.
Being me, I can point you toward resource posts for one (and soon to be two) of my requested fandoms.
cheers,
LJC
P.S. anonymous comments are screened (and IP logging is switched off for the duration of Yuletide Writing Season), but you can leave one with questions, if you need to! Or you can email me via Elyn, who always entertains me muchly with her additional fake queries so as to not tip me off as to what story you're actually writing.