Dear Yulegoat,
I love you and the fact that you matched with me. In the past I have been a big fanfic reader (see: most of this journal, plus my recs list which are linked in the side-bar), but recently, I don't read so much. However, I can't imagine a Christmas without Yuletide, and reading a story from any of the fandoms below would make my year.
Here's last year's letter, which may be helpful. A bit about what I like in fics, in general: I have relatively flexible tastes. I like slash best of all, and my fandoms are generally femslashy in their orientation; I also like gen, especially "ideas" gen which asks questions or has an original take on the canon or is of a darker flavour. I do read and enjoy het, though I often give it a lower priority because I tend to enjoy it more when it's not explicit (sex is okay, full-on porn less so) and when the relationships it deals with are not domestic bliss. One-night stands or tragic romance (where appropriate), though, totally do it for me with het.
In terms of kinks, I am open minded and happy with all sorts of weird and wonderful and difficult and gross things, as long as they are believable and fit with the character and the fandom. My main squick is anything to do with pregnancy, childbirth, or a large presence of young children (before school age). So none of that, pretty please, but anything else is fair game.
Themes and motifs I am kind of crazy about are power and control in their many forms and senses; a struggle to construct a life/make sense of the world; analyses of relationships which acknowledge the specific/small ways they are difficult or bring joy; memory and its problems; how characters see themselves, others and the relationships between them. I like takes on canon which change the tone or emphasis, but I do not usually enjoy AUs where everyone's suddenly in space.
My suggestions are just that and if there's a story you really want to write that doesn't match them - go ahead. I am truly grateful to receive a gift for these fandoms and characters.
Fandom: The Worst Witch
Characters: Mildred Hubble, Constance Hardbroom
For me, their relationship is the most interesting part of the show. From the initial animosity through lots of conflict and occasional moments of kindness/connection, I love all of it. In a long tradition of enjoying teacher/student relationships, I also sort of ship it (judge quietly) so femslash would be super-duper; after Mildred leaves school is a-okay but, attracted as I am to complicated power dynamics, I don't want them to disappear just because she's left (though of course they would change). Gen looking at their relationship (not everything is about sex/romance!) would also make me very happy. As an individual character I am most interested in Miss Hardbroom, so a fic focussing on her would also be awesome. What makes her tick? Can you tell me things about her/her life that the show doesn't show me? Her relationship with Miss Cackle also interests me - it seems like it's quite significant for her. She strikes me as isolated even if one doesn't interpret her as lonely, so something looking at that might be interesting, too. From any of these suggestions, I suppose what I want most is something that twists the fun-filled faintly silly plots of the show to a starker, more adult perspective.
Fandom: New Tricks
Characters: Det. Supt. Sandra Pullman
Sandra is amazing. She's one of my favourite characters on TV, and I am so, so attracted to her no-nonsense attitude coupled with the issues she has around strength and vulnerability. I like the idea that she's usually happy at work with her team, even if she sometimes gets pissed off, but that life outside seems to be a bit less simple for her. I would love to read Sandra gen-type stuff, with angst. Maybe meaningless sex. Other things that might be interesting for me would be a story where she looks back at her childhood/education (did you see the school reunion episode?) or some examination of her relationship with her mother... I think the latter is very well portrayed in the show - relatively nuanced in its portrayal of fleeting moments of intimacy, irritation and absence - and would love to see more of that, how it's changed over time, evidence of when (if there was a starting point) it started to be so fraught or something like that. Including relationships with the team as a chosen family would be welcomed.
Fandom: Cybill
Characters: Cybill Sheridan, Maryann Thorpe, Zoey Woodbine, Jeff Robbins
I ship Cybill/Maryann like there's no tomorrow, but that's not the only option here. I love Cybill and Maryann's friendship/maintext in all its forms, so if you want to write about them having wacky canonesque adventures, go ahead! I also like Jeff. I dunno, he's just the better husband. I don't mind if he's having sexytimes with Maryann or Cybill or just deep thoughts about his trailer. Any examination of relationships between two of the characters - you know, they go on an adventure together and we see how things unfold between them, they have a phone conversation or whatever - would also be great, especially if it's a little bit subtle or ambiguous. HOWEVER, if you do decide to write Cybill/Maryann, I'd love to read a story where their relationship fits into canon as best as possible - queer people exist in the canon and are talked about, and neither Maryann or Cybill are canonically queer (that we know of), so I think that needs to be addressed. I don't think them suddenly falling in love is going to cut it - I would want some acknowledgement of their history. I hope that makes sense!
Thank you for reading! Happy Yuletide.
Love,
gems
Here's last year's letter, which may be helpful. A bit about what I like in fics, in general: I have relatively flexible tastes. I like slash best of all, and my fandoms are generally femslashy in their orientation; I also like gen, especially "ideas" gen which asks questions or has an original take on the canon or is of a darker flavour. I do read and enjoy het, though I often give it a lower priority because I tend to enjoy it more when it's not explicit (sex is okay, full-on porn less so) and when the relationships it deals with are not domestic bliss. One-night stands or tragic romance (where appropriate), though, totally do it for me with het.
In terms of kinks, I am open minded and happy with all sorts of weird and wonderful and difficult and gross things, as long as they are believable and fit with the character and the fandom. My main squick is anything to do with pregnancy, childbirth, or a large presence of young children (before school age). So none of that, pretty please, but anything else is fair game.
Themes and motifs I am kind of crazy about are power and control in their many forms and senses; a struggle to construct a life/make sense of the world; analyses of relationships which acknowledge the specific/small ways they are difficult or bring joy; memory and its problems; how characters see themselves, others and the relationships between them. I like takes on canon which change the tone or emphasis, but I do not usually enjoy AUs where everyone's suddenly in space.
My suggestions are just that and if there's a story you really want to write that doesn't match them - go ahead. I am truly grateful to receive a gift for these fandoms and characters.
Fandom: The Worst Witch
Characters: Mildred Hubble, Constance Hardbroom
For me, their relationship is the most interesting part of the show. From the initial animosity through lots of conflict and occasional moments of kindness/connection, I love all of it. In a long tradition of enjoying teacher/student relationships, I also sort of ship it (judge quietly) so femslash would be super-duper; after Mildred leaves school is a-okay but, attracted as I am to complicated power dynamics, I don't want them to disappear just because she's left (though of course they would change). Gen looking at their relationship (not everything is about sex/romance!) would also make me very happy. As an individual character I am most interested in Miss Hardbroom, so a fic focussing on her would also be awesome. What makes her tick? Can you tell me things about her/her life that the show doesn't show me? Her relationship with Miss Cackle also interests me - it seems like it's quite significant for her. She strikes me as isolated even if one doesn't interpret her as lonely, so something looking at that might be interesting, too. From any of these suggestions, I suppose what I want most is something that twists the fun-filled faintly silly plots of the show to a starker, more adult perspective.
Fandom: New Tricks
Characters: Det. Supt. Sandra Pullman
Sandra is amazing. She's one of my favourite characters on TV, and I am so, so attracted to her no-nonsense attitude coupled with the issues she has around strength and vulnerability. I like the idea that she's usually happy at work with her team, even if she sometimes gets pissed off, but that life outside seems to be a bit less simple for her. I would love to read Sandra gen-type stuff, with angst. Maybe meaningless sex. Other things that might be interesting for me would be a story where she looks back at her childhood/education (did you see the school reunion episode?) or some examination of her relationship with her mother... I think the latter is very well portrayed in the show - relatively nuanced in its portrayal of fleeting moments of intimacy, irritation and absence - and would love to see more of that, how it's changed over time, evidence of when (if there was a starting point) it started to be so fraught or something like that. Including relationships with the team as a chosen family would be welcomed.
Fandom: Cybill
Characters: Cybill Sheridan, Maryann Thorpe, Zoey Woodbine, Jeff Robbins
I ship Cybill/Maryann like there's no tomorrow, but that's not the only option here. I love Cybill and Maryann's friendship/maintext in all its forms, so if you want to write about them having wacky canonesque adventures, go ahead! I also like Jeff. I dunno, he's just the better husband. I don't mind if he's having sexytimes with Maryann or Cybill or just deep thoughts about his trailer. Any examination of relationships between two of the characters - you know, they go on an adventure together and we see how things unfold between them, they have a phone conversation or whatever - would also be great, especially if it's a little bit subtle or ambiguous. HOWEVER, if you do decide to write Cybill/Maryann, I'd love to read a story where their relationship fits into canon as best as possible - queer people exist in the canon and are talked about, and neither Maryann or Cybill are canonically queer (that we know of), so I think that needs to be addressed. I don't think them suddenly falling in love is going to cut it - I would want some acknowledgement of their history. I hope that makes sense!
Thank you for reading! Happy Yuletide.
Love,
gems