Yuletide Letter
Dear Yuletide Writer,
Happy Yuletide! Are you excited? I'm excited. I'll try my best to make sure you're still excited at the end of this letter. I very strongly believe that stories are better if the writer had fun. So ignore whatever you need to ignore. I know some people like specific prompts and others don't, so I'll try to give you something specific and something not so specific for every fandom. And again, if those don't do it for you, feel free to ignore it all.
I would only ask you to not write the following things: Stories where people have sex but the state of consent is unclear. (I don't mind non-con if you want to go there, but please just don't make a character go through with something they're not sure about, or decide that they like it halfway through. This will be relevant to one of the Being Human prompts below.) Incest. Mpreg. Cruelty against animals.
I like gen, het, slash, femmeslash equally. I love crossovers, any and all kinds of crossovers. If you should want to write me a crossover, you can get a good overview over my fandoms with a look at my LJ tag list and my AO3 bookmarks; I'm also on Tumblr. If you should choose to write me a Hunger Games crossover, I should warn you that I despise Haymitch/Effie with a fiery passion; otherwise it's hard to turn me off with a pairing choice. I like stories about people figuring out their sexual identity, or other LGBTQ themes - bonus if those aren't romances. I like diversity. I like hard plot, things going boom & a good gun fight, stories that teach me something I didn't know before, psychological stories, recovery stories. I like all genres - from dark and twisted to crack comedy. There's no narrative choice that would bother me. If you feel like 2nd POV future tense is the ideal choice for your story, go for it; you're the writer, you know best.
The Martian (2015)
I liked both the movie and the book, and you should feel free to draw on the book, or ignore it entirely, whatever works for you. I didn't sign up for a particular character for this fandom, because I'm more interested in the story than in the individual characters. All characters would be lovely.
As for specific prompts, I'd really like a story that details one of the Hermes crew's decision to go on this mission, and stay on this mission -- how did they decide to be an astronaut, how did they react to being chosen for the mission, what's their reaction to Mark's death and not-death and the decision to fly back to Mars? I'd just like to get to know one of these people better.
I'd also enjoy a story that shows us more about how people back on Earth work on bringing Watney home, slice-of-life kind of things or something that gives an insight into how these people's lives were influenced by the events. They went from a pretty regular job to round-the-clock availability for over a year at the very least, after all. Or something about the organizational efforts, or the engineering challenges or the marketing problems, if that's your cuppa. Hell, if you want to write the story of the old Pathfinder crew being brought in and doing their thing, I'd be all for it.
The book gave me a liking for Mindy the satellite tech / space voyeur and I'd enjoy a story where she meets Watney after his return to Earth. Must be weird observing the guy for so long and then meeting him in the flesh. (and just to be clear, I don't expect you to know the book to fill this prompt) Or maybe something about Mindy commiserating with Rich the math genius one night in the cafeteria. If you'd like to write Mark's POV, a story about how he meets these people who helped bring him home would also be fascinating.
Lastly, a documentary style story or anything about what people make of the events ten, twenty, thirty years in the future could be very interesting.
Political Animals
I remember how much I wanted to see this show when it was first out, but I couldn't get my hands on it. (I'm not an American) I redisovered it when Sebastian Stan became a fandom thing and was excited to find it on Netflix then. I signed up for his character TJ, who intrigues me a lot. I also really like Anne, who was not available to choose as a character; but if you should feel inspired to write about her, go for it! So one prompt that immediately comes to mind would be a story where the two of them get to know each other better and bond. Or maybe they don't manage to bond! It would be nice to see TJ helping her (out) in some way, see him be there for someone; that'd be a good experience for him to make. I enjoy realism as much as I enjoy a happy ending, so you should happily go for the outcome you like better.
I'd also enjoy a story that looks at the Presidential family from the outside, be it through the eyes of the media, a secret service person, a paparazzo, a maid. The other way around, I'd enjoy a story that addresses how TJ deals with the constant public attention, especially when he's still younger and trying to figure himself out. I found striking the scene when he hooked up with that random guy in the pilot, and just knew that the other guy had wanted to fuck him ever since he was a teenager in the White House. There's something so forlorn in that. As a third variation of that prompt, I'd also be curious about Anne's observations of the family dynamics, as she's somebody who used to know the Presidential family from the media and suddenly gets to see them from the inside. Obviously, if you can keep a story for this prompt TJ-centered, that'd be great, but if you should have a great plot bunny where he doesn't quite fit, don't force it.
I spent the last year doing a lot of reading on addiction for a story I was writing, so I would love any story that deals with TJ's drug addiction - how he developed it, how he handles it. Or what about his underlying issues? What would he tell a therapist at any point in time? Does he ever make half-assed plans to get away and live in Europe or on a remote island? What is it that he really wants? Does he even know? How would he figure out things to want that he can have, too? And what about that budding alcohol problem he seems to foster - how can he ever even sober up with a family that constantly reaches for another scotch bottle?
To get back to the crossover prompt from above, if you'd want to write a story where he just meets another fandom's character in a bar and takes something positive away from the encounter, go for it.
Being Human UK
I practically inhaled Being Human when I first watched it, and then I mourned the lack of fanfic for the fandom. So basically, just by writing any story, you would be doing the world a service, as far as I'm concerned. ;)
I requested Mitchell, who intrigues me. I like how conflicted he is, how he often just doesn't manage to be as good a person as he wants to be. I think I'd just about enjoy any story about him. Feel free to go dark and gory, if that's your thing. If you're into history, I'd love anything about his past, maybe something that shows us what life was like (for him and/or others) at an earlier point in time. Or for all that he seems pretty well-adjusted to the modern day, something about how any old ideas he has, any old upbringing would clash with his current life. There's a fair chance he was an Irish Catholic; if you know your way around that topic, maybe something about that, since I understand that catholic education sticks for a long time. (here's where I should clarify that I'm an atheist, and my interest in this topic is purely academic. I like stories about people struggling with things they were raised to believe.)
I thought the canonic Mitchell/Annie was an interesting premise, but it was so problematic. As much as I like Mitchell, by choosing him, Annie just seemed to go back to her old pattern of dating abusive guys. (not that he's abusive, but he's troubled, he's closed off and he killed a whole bunch of people on a train when he lost control. He just doesn't strike me as the right guy in her situation) The other way around, I was quite uncomfortable with how she kept pushing him to have sex even though he was having issues with it, issues that reminded me of the way abuse victims may struggle with sex. If you wanted to write a story that addresses any of these things, I'd be delighted. And don't get me wrong, happy endings are perfectly fine. It's just that the relationship wouldn't be all puppies and roses and I'd like to see that addressed in a story. Like I said above, I have trouble reading stories where people have sex although they're not sure they want to; so if you could avoid showing that in this story, that would be wonderful; if they get started but end up not going through, that'd be no problem.
More generally, I'd also enjoy a story that shows us a little more of vampire life / vampire culture -- just some general worldbuilding. Or a story about somebody on the outside - police, journalist, neighbor - trying to make sense of the supernatural activity everywhere around.