Dear Yuletide Author 2014
Things I like: character development, relationship development, banter, banter during sex, kissing, hot in-character porn, family dynamics, friendship dynamics, found families, stupid loyalty, stupid bravery, snark, fluff, fun and silliness, shenanigans, AUs, cross-dressing, competency, backstory, pining, domesticity, cuddling for warmth, roadtrips. Stories with a strong sense of place. Boys/girls who fail at having feelings. Boys/girls who fail at communicating. OTOH, ppl being super blunt and brash abt feelings and the consequences of this is also awesome! Awkwardness! I really like consensual D/s dynamics. Gen, het, slash. Happy endings. Bittersweet endings. Gratuitous historical, literary or otherwise academic references. Basically anything interesting and in-character. Just enjoy!
Things I don't like: non-con, dub-con, out-there fetishy stuff, mpreg, deathfic, genderswap, anything ooc, unnecessary flowery language, and so on. PWP is AWESOME, just stay away from the kind of PWP where you can insert anyone's name in place of the characters' and it wouldn't make a difference. I just love my characters! Which is the same reason I'm more for character-driven rather than plot-driven stuff, although plot can be GREAT as long as it doesn't overshadow any character/relationship development.
The bottom line, though, is just enjoy what you write and I'll enjoy it too. I'm not even close to as fussy as I think I maybe come across.
The Blacklist: Donald Ressler/Elizabeth Keen
I'm super into the idea of something developing between these guys! I'm not fussy about how you go about it; slow-build or pre-slash is good, as is fuckbuddies as a ~coping mechanism, both of them pretending they don't have feelings, sweet little insignificant gestures that show they care even as they can't or won't say it out loud. Basically, whatever you feel works best!
Enlisted: Pete Hill/Derrick Hill/Randy Hill
Oh God, I love this show SO MUCH. My favourite thing is the relationships between the brothers, because I am a sucker for sibling dynamics. I'm equally happy with slash or gen, so if the incest thing bothers you, don't worry at all, but otoh, if you're cool with it and want to, that's great! Everything and everyone in this show makes me happy, and I'm sure if you nominated to write this then the same goes for you, so just have as much fun with this as you want!
I don't have a lot of helpful extra stuff to add here, because like I said, I just love EVERYTHING. But I guess if I'm pinpointing stuff, Randy is probably my secret fave. I just love how open and honest he is about how much he loves his brothers, his hero-worship of Pete, his everything with Derrick. (Also his propensity for taking his clothes off given half an opportunity, that's pretty great.) I love how Derrick is frustrated by and helplessly fond of Randy. I love how the two of them are SO DIFFERENT and don't always get each other but there's still so much love. I love Derrick and Pete teaming up to do nice things for Randy. I love the combination of Pete being a great leader and big brother, but also how he's sometimes so clueless and belligerent and childish. I love how in the end, what matters most to him is his team and his family, and he'll always come through for them no matter how much it costs or what he has to give up. I love the whole storyline about him adjusting to having people, and figuring out the balance between being there for them, letting them be there for him, and also having his own space. I love every single one of the other characters too, maybe especially Cody and BFFs Perez/Park/Robinson, so include them as much as you'd like!
Orange Is The New Black: Lorna Morello/Nicky Nichols/Poussey Washington/Tasha 'Taystee' Jefferson
So I'm super into both Lorna/Nicky and Poussey/Taystee. I love the relationships they've carved for themselves inside the prison; I think they're beautiful just the way they are and I'd be happy with a slice of life piece for either (you def don't have to do both, unless you want to!). If you want to do something with a bit more movement and plot, that's just as awesome! I totally don't require happy endings of the mutual-feelings variety. I'd love it, don't get me wrong, but I also love the whole concept of maintaining such a strong friendship with unrequited romantic feelings from one person, how both of them deal with that individually, and how they deal with it together too.
I love the idea that in the Lorna/Nicky relationship, Nicky sometimes maybe wants more from Lorna. Possibly not in the most clearly definied way; she doesn't even know if she wants a ~relationship, but occasionally she'll find herself kind of absently wishing that she could just have...more. I lovelovelove how Nicky is so sure of Lorna, that despite Lorna's faults and obsessions Nicky still KNOWS she's a beautiful person, and I like the idea of Lorna slowly realising that she has all this capacity for love and devotion and it doesn't always have to be a bad thing, doesn't always have to go to a dark or destructive place, that Nicky knows she's fucked up and done crazy things but somehow still doesn't hate her, and so maybe loving Nicky is a more healthy and rewarding thing for her. Maybe it's easier, because Nicky already knows her so well and believes in her goodness so much that Lorna doesn't have to prove anything to her. Nicky loves her already, you know, so Lorna doesn't have to try so hard. I'm not expressing myself very well here, but I hope you get what I'm trying to say!
This is all optional, of course, I just like to gush! Like I said in my signup, unrequited stuff, especially in this fandom with their already-awesome friendships, is just as great. Basically everything about all four girls is awesome and I'm happy with anything at all!
ESPN FC World Cup 2014 RPF: Alexi Lalas/Michael Ballack
Sadly my World Cup coverage was not ESPN, but I saw some of Alexi's tweets during and I love Micha from way, way back, so I find myself intrigued by the pairing. Everyone seemed to enjoy their coverage so much! I'm super into broadcast teams, especially when it's sports. I love in-jokes and ridiculousness and the consequences of spending so much time around each other, the exhilaration and adrenaline of the tournament and being punch-drunk from so many long hours and so much bottled up energy. I love how relaxed and exuberant and hilarious Lalas seems, and how Micha is quieter and a little bit more serious when he talks, but then he just sits back and watches Alexi being all loud and ridic with this slightly confused, pretty indulgent smile. I'm also into how they seem to have a lot of differing opinions, but almost definitely appreciate each other for that. Especially during the World Cup, when it's all just a big FOOTBALL IS SO AWESOME party and the most important thing is that you get that, and that you love it. It's boring when no one ever disagrees, anyway.
Like I said, not having had this no-doubt delightful coverage, I don't know a huge amount about their broadcast shenanagins. I'm into everything it seems to be, though, so write all about it! Expand on whatever aspect of their relationship you want! I love how happy Micha was after Germany v Brazil and how Alexi kept making him pose for dumb photos. And Micha was totally onboard because Germany. I love Alexi's ridiculous tweets. You could tell me how Micha reacts to them! There are no doubt a BUNCH of fantastic scenarios for the first time they actually hook up, and straight up World Cup porn is totally fine, as is something with more buildup and detail about their everyday relationship. Both would be more than amazing! I just feel there's a lot of opportunity here for fun and banter and dudes being idiots over football (and possibly also each other). I don't know much about the rest of the team, but feel free to include them too! Basically, if you're familiar enough with the broadcast to offer to write about it, I'm sure you know them a lot better than me, and I'm so excited to read what you come up with! (Also, if I'm hideously wrong about anything here, just ignore me totally.)
Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters: Hansel/Gretel
This is one of my requests from last year, and since we get so many noms this year I thought I'd go ahead and retry for some of the stuff that didn't get written! Basically this is another homage to my thing for siblings, and any variation on that theme is fine by me!
Despite how dumb most of this movie was, I'm still kind of charmed by it because of the whole siblings thing, which is a weakness of mine anyplace anytime. I'm not so into the ending of it-- the whole oh no they weren't abandoned actually it was a misunderstanding and their parents sacrificed themselves Disney bullshit. I just want to read about a brother and sister who have serious abandonment issues and are completely fucked up-- they're cripplingly codependent and fiercely protective of no one but each other, and they have a lot of one night stands in the apartment they share, usually at the same time because they go out together and pick up together, and in the morning they interrogate the others' conquest over a terrifying breakfast and freak them the fuck out until they leave, and then they high five and sit on the couch watching movies all day and pretend they dont want to bone. And occasionally go out and hunt witches and are totally badass, I guess.
If you're not into incest you can ignore the whole wanting to bone thing and just stick with the codependent siblings theme, which is totally cool with me!
I'm also cool with either canon-compliant or modern AU setting, although lbr, it practically is an AU already.
As always, optional details are optional, and I'm positive I'll adore whatever you write! I'm vlieger on ao3 and szallj on pinboard; if you want to get more an idea of what I read/write, these should be very useful to you. I also have a twitter (@szallj), although it's locked, but if you do want to hit me up with a request, I probably won't make the connection :p I'm also vlieger on tumblr, if that would be of any help!
Thanks in advance, awesome author! ♥