Yuletide 2019: Dear Yulegoat
Hello, dear Yuletide author, and thank you so much for writing for me in one of these fandoms! It's gonna be great.
I'm not the best at prompts, though I do try, so I talk a lot about what I love about the canon & characters in question in hopes that it'll help spur something. Apologies if you hate long letters.
For stalking purposes, my masterlist of fic is here
ViaLethe on Ao3
tumblr
Previous Yuletide letters
Likes/dislikes:
Things I like: Relationships (romantic, platonic, familial, working, inescapable life-bond, whatever sort), het, gen, femslash, bisexuality, love stories, first time stories, adventures, character-driven pieces, wit and humor, bittersweet or melancholy moods, happy endings, ambiguity, sexual tension & pining, loyalty, dedication, co-dependent relationships, Us Against the World, found/chosen families, equality in relationships. I'm okay with any rating; smut (explicit or otherwise) is awesome!
Things I DNW: Non-canonical requested-character death, harm to animals, suicide, torture, graphic violence/gore, whump, woobification, second-person pov, a/b/o, scat, mundane AUs (ie high school, coffeeshop), baby/kidfic, pregnancy fic, character bashing, unrequested gender or sexual identity headcanons, racism, racekink, unrequested relationships with requested characters.
Fandoms:
Nine Coaches Waiting - Mary Stewart
*Linda Martin
*Raoul de Valmy
What I love about Nine Coaches Waiting:
This has been one of my very favorite books for years - I love the growing, creeping tension, Linda's foreboding that something isn't quite right with her employers, the way Philippe so clearly knows it too even if he doesn't have the words to express it. I also love the lush descriptions of the French countryside, the little towns, the flowers and woods and the beautiful Chateau de Valmy. Mary Stewart was wonderful at bringing locations to life and it really shows in this book.
Linda herself is fabulous - calm, practical, and steady on the outside, but inside she's a total romantic, obviously her poet father's daughter, who feels everything so deeply, whether it's empathy, passion, or a sense of duty. And I love that when danger threatens, she takes charge of the situation herself, and doesn't let her own private concerns overshadow keeping Philippe safe above all. As for Raoul, I blame him entirely for my love of tall, dark, charming and slightly arrogant men. I love that he's got that flippant exterior, but every so often there's flashes of a man underneath who's fairly lost - one who doesn't know if he's in love because he's never really felt love from anyone before, who's angry at the world because he's been trapped by his own father.
Prompts: I'd love to see what happened to Linda and Raoul after the story's over. Did they ever come back to Valmy, or did they avoid it entirely? A slice of their life with Philippe down at Raoul's place in Provence would be lovely. Or a story about some adventure they had while traveling - where did they go on their honeymoon? Paris, where they might have met with Monsieur Florimond, or maybe one of Mary Stewart's other favorite settings, like Greece or Scotland? A missing scene from the book would also be wonderful - I'd love to see that first date of theirs written out in greater detail. Wedding night fic wouldn't go amiss either, if you wanted to go a smutty route! Or what about an AU where Linda and Raoul don't manage to fix things between them at the end and Philippe schemes to bring them back together?
The Oracle Glass - Judith Merkle Riley
*Genevieve Pasquier
*Florent d'Urbec
What I love about The Oracle Glass:
Genevieve! She's my favorite fictional heroine ever, mostly because of her wit and the way she tries so desperately to control her life through logic, even though her actions are more often driven by impulse and emotion than she'd like to admit. She wants so badly to see herself as a cold, practical philosopher in control of everything, when in reality she's very passionate and emotional. I like the duality to her character, both in that way and in the more obvious disguise of the Marquise de Morville. I also like the way she makes bad choices, like her affair with Lamotte and her opium addiction, and then just does her best to solve them and move on. Her relationship with d'Urbec is absolutely fantastic, because of the way she's very reluctant to depend on anyone but herself, and the way he accepts this while proving to her over time that she can depend on him in the end. And of course d'Urbec is the perfect romantic hero - dark, tortured, intelligent, caring, and incredibly competent. Be still, my heart!
The very practical sort of magic practiced in the book is also something I love. Genevieve's ability to see the future in water is the only real 'magic' anyone ever does; the rest is just illusion, personality, and drugs. The theme of making people see what you want them to see, creating your own reality, is a very intriguing one.
The historical aspect is another of my favorite things. 17th century France is one of my favorite time periods, and I love the interaction between the royal court and the Parisian witches.
Prompts: What happens to Genevieve and d'Urbec after the end of the book - do they go on to have adventures in England? How do they balance the need to hide from the French police with Genevieve's oddball household, and her inability to not see the future wherever she goes? D'Urbec's mother and aunt were hilarious in their short sojourn in Paris; how well does Genevieve deal (or not) with becoming part of that family? I'd also love to see further insights into her predictive abilities - what other things might she have seen for the future? And what would happen if what she saw brought her into some kind of conflict with d'Urbec, for whatever reason?
The Expanse
*Julie Mao
What I love about The Expanse:
The possibilities of space, and what different people see in it.
When I started watching this show, I was immediately captivated by Julie, and waited the whole first season for someone to find her, to help her, to bring her into the main storylines - and of course we all know how that ended. Luckily I loved the show as a whole by then, but I've never let go of that disappointment, or the desire for more Julie! I want to know all about her as a person, what she felt and thought and what her larger goals would have been, and how they'd have changed following the discovery of the protomolecule. I love the whole 'privileged rich girl who turns against that and earnestly tries to make the world a better place' background she has, and I think it would have been fascinating to see how that might have played out with various combinations of the other characters. Speaking of which, I'd be happy seeing her shipped with just about anyone - my favorite characters are Bobbie, Chrisjen, Amos, and Drummer, but I also like Alex, Prax, Naomi, and Holden and would be fascinated to see how she'd end up interacting with any of them, whether in a romantic, sexual, or platonic context.
A note on Miller: I'm fairly indifferent to him in general, but I absolutely DNW Julie to reciprocate his feelings. If you want to include him, his obsessive pining thing is fine, as long as that's as far as it goes.
Considering what happens to her in canon, I'm totally fine with her dying if that's where your story takes you. Obviously a better ending for her would also be welcomed!
Prompts: Give me all the canon-divergent AUs! What would have happened if Julie hadn't been infected by the protomolecule and had been rescued by the Roci crew? What if she'd gone back to Earth and told Avasarala everything she knew and helped bring down her father? Or if she'd met up with Bobbie's squad and had to try to convince them Mars was being played? Something where she interacts with Drummer, either pre-canon or during canon, would be fascinating - how would Belter-to-the-core Drummer react to this wannabe rich girl from Earth? What if Julie had been with Amos and Prax when they were chasing down her father to rescue Prax's daughter? Or, sticking to canon, what was going on inside Julie after the protomolecule took her? Was there anything of 'Julie' really left there at all? There are so many possibilities here, I'd love to see what you come up with for her.
***
Hopefully this all gives you something to work with and some ideas! Please don't feel too restricted by what I've written; I'm fairly easy to please, and as long as your story features these characters doing things and having feelings of some sort in the process, I will be happy.
Have fun writing, and Happy Yuletide!
I'm not the best at prompts, though I do try, so I talk a lot about what I love about the canon & characters in question in hopes that it'll help spur something. Apologies if you hate long letters.
For stalking purposes, my masterlist of fic is here
ViaLethe on Ao3
tumblr
Previous Yuletide letters
Likes/dislikes:
Things I like: Relationships (romantic, platonic, familial, working, inescapable life-bond, whatever sort), het, gen, femslash, bisexuality, love stories, first time stories, adventures, character-driven pieces, wit and humor, bittersweet or melancholy moods, happy endings, ambiguity, sexual tension & pining, loyalty, dedication, co-dependent relationships, Us Against the World, found/chosen families, equality in relationships. I'm okay with any rating; smut (explicit or otherwise) is awesome!
Things I DNW: Non-canonical requested-character death, harm to animals, suicide, torture, graphic violence/gore, whump, woobification, second-person pov, a/b/o, scat, mundane AUs (ie high school, coffeeshop), baby/kidfic, pregnancy fic, character bashing, unrequested gender or sexual identity headcanons, racism, racekink, unrequested relationships with requested characters.
Fandoms:
Nine Coaches Waiting - Mary Stewart
*Linda Martin
*Raoul de Valmy
What I love about Nine Coaches Waiting:
This has been one of my very favorite books for years - I love the growing, creeping tension, Linda's foreboding that something isn't quite right with her employers, the way Philippe so clearly knows it too even if he doesn't have the words to express it. I also love the lush descriptions of the French countryside, the little towns, the flowers and woods and the beautiful Chateau de Valmy. Mary Stewart was wonderful at bringing locations to life and it really shows in this book.
Linda herself is fabulous - calm, practical, and steady on the outside, but inside she's a total romantic, obviously her poet father's daughter, who feels everything so deeply, whether it's empathy, passion, or a sense of duty. And I love that when danger threatens, she takes charge of the situation herself, and doesn't let her own private concerns overshadow keeping Philippe safe above all. As for Raoul, I blame him entirely for my love of tall, dark, charming and slightly arrogant men. I love that he's got that flippant exterior, but every so often there's flashes of a man underneath who's fairly lost - one who doesn't know if he's in love because he's never really felt love from anyone before, who's angry at the world because he's been trapped by his own father.
Prompts: I'd love to see what happened to Linda and Raoul after the story's over. Did they ever come back to Valmy, or did they avoid it entirely? A slice of their life with Philippe down at Raoul's place in Provence would be lovely. Or a story about some adventure they had while traveling - where did they go on their honeymoon? Paris, where they might have met with Monsieur Florimond, or maybe one of Mary Stewart's other favorite settings, like Greece or Scotland? A missing scene from the book would also be wonderful - I'd love to see that first date of theirs written out in greater detail. Wedding night fic wouldn't go amiss either, if you wanted to go a smutty route! Or what about an AU where Linda and Raoul don't manage to fix things between them at the end and Philippe schemes to bring them back together?
The Oracle Glass - Judith Merkle Riley
*Genevieve Pasquier
*Florent d'Urbec
What I love about The Oracle Glass:
Genevieve! She's my favorite fictional heroine ever, mostly because of her wit and the way she tries so desperately to control her life through logic, even though her actions are more often driven by impulse and emotion than she'd like to admit. She wants so badly to see herself as a cold, practical philosopher in control of everything, when in reality she's very passionate and emotional. I like the duality to her character, both in that way and in the more obvious disguise of the Marquise de Morville. I also like the way she makes bad choices, like her affair with Lamotte and her opium addiction, and then just does her best to solve them and move on. Her relationship with d'Urbec is absolutely fantastic, because of the way she's very reluctant to depend on anyone but herself, and the way he accepts this while proving to her over time that she can depend on him in the end. And of course d'Urbec is the perfect romantic hero - dark, tortured, intelligent, caring, and incredibly competent. Be still, my heart!
The very practical sort of magic practiced in the book is also something I love. Genevieve's ability to see the future in water is the only real 'magic' anyone ever does; the rest is just illusion, personality, and drugs. The theme of making people see what you want them to see, creating your own reality, is a very intriguing one.
The historical aspect is another of my favorite things. 17th century France is one of my favorite time periods, and I love the interaction between the royal court and the Parisian witches.
Prompts: What happens to Genevieve and d'Urbec after the end of the book - do they go on to have adventures in England? How do they balance the need to hide from the French police with Genevieve's oddball household, and her inability to not see the future wherever she goes? D'Urbec's mother and aunt were hilarious in their short sojourn in Paris; how well does Genevieve deal (or not) with becoming part of that family? I'd also love to see further insights into her predictive abilities - what other things might she have seen for the future? And what would happen if what she saw brought her into some kind of conflict with d'Urbec, for whatever reason?
The Expanse
*Julie Mao
What I love about The Expanse:
The possibilities of space, and what different people see in it.
When I started watching this show, I was immediately captivated by Julie, and waited the whole first season for someone to find her, to help her, to bring her into the main storylines - and of course we all know how that ended. Luckily I loved the show as a whole by then, but I've never let go of that disappointment, or the desire for more Julie! I want to know all about her as a person, what she felt and thought and what her larger goals would have been, and how they'd have changed following the discovery of the protomolecule. I love the whole 'privileged rich girl who turns against that and earnestly tries to make the world a better place' background she has, and I think it would have been fascinating to see how that might have played out with various combinations of the other characters. Speaking of which, I'd be happy seeing her shipped with just about anyone - my favorite characters are Bobbie, Chrisjen, Amos, and Drummer, but I also like Alex, Prax, Naomi, and Holden and would be fascinated to see how she'd end up interacting with any of them, whether in a romantic, sexual, or platonic context.
A note on Miller: I'm fairly indifferent to him in general, but I absolutely DNW Julie to reciprocate his feelings. If you want to include him, his obsessive pining thing is fine, as long as that's as far as it goes.
Considering what happens to her in canon, I'm totally fine with her dying if that's where your story takes you. Obviously a better ending for her would also be welcomed!
Prompts: Give me all the canon-divergent AUs! What would have happened if Julie hadn't been infected by the protomolecule and had been rescued by the Roci crew? What if she'd gone back to Earth and told Avasarala everything she knew and helped bring down her father? Or if she'd met up with Bobbie's squad and had to try to convince them Mars was being played? Something where she interacts with Drummer, either pre-canon or during canon, would be fascinating - how would Belter-to-the-core Drummer react to this wannabe rich girl from Earth? What if Julie had been with Amos and Prax when they were chasing down her father to rescue Prax's daughter? Or, sticking to canon, what was going on inside Julie after the protomolecule took her? Was there anything of 'Julie' really left there at all? There are so many possibilities here, I'd love to see what you come up with for her.
***
Hopefully this all gives you something to work with and some ideas! Please don't feel too restricted by what I've written; I'm fairly easy to please, and as long as your story features these characters doing things and having feelings of some sort in the process, I will be happy.
Have fun writing, and Happy Yuletide!