Dear Yuletide writer
Oct. 2nd, 2016 10:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dolorosa_12Thank you for writing for me!
I'm pretty easygoing about what type of fic you want to write for me. I read fic of any rating, and would be equally happy with plotty genfic or something very shippy. I read gen, femslash, het and slash, although I have a slight preference towards femslash, het, and gen that focuses on female characters. I mainly read fic to find out what happens to characters after the final page has turned or the credits have rolled, so I would particularly love to have futurefic of some kind. Don't feel you have to limit yourself to the characters I specifically mention — I'm happy with others being included if they fit with the story you want to tell.
General likes include feminism (and women's stories more broadly), found families, people with very different perspectives and/or life experiences coming together (either romantically, as friends, or as reluctant allies), human/non-human pairings, relationships with power imbalances, and characters reflecting on power and/or the reasons for their own powerlessness. My other favourite themes are dispossession and exile, and place and the way it shapes people — what do particular characters understand by 'home'? Can they return to it? Is home a place for them, or is it an age, or is it particular other people? Feel free to have a look around at my Ao3 profile as it should give you a good idea of the types of things I like to read.
Major dislikes and squicks: AUs, fusions and crossovers (except in certain circumstances, which I will outline below), excessive descriptions of bodily fluids, Mpreg, incest, or infidelity. I am only interested in shipfic if it focuses on the pairings I specifically mention in my prompts. There are several fandom-specific dislikes, which I will outline in the prompts below.
The Bone Season - Samantha Shannon (Canon consists of two books in a seven-book series: The Bone Season, and The Mime Order. There is also a pamphlet, On the Merits of Unnaturalness, set in the same universe, as well as a novella due to be released in December, but I do not expect you to have read either of these or include their contents in your fic)
Paige Mahoney, Arcturus Mesarthim | Warden
My favourite things about this series is the intricate alternative world Samantha Shannon has created, the pervasive sense of menace and threat experienced by all the characters, and the resulting fear they all feel and the way that fear governs their actions. I love Warden and Paige's tentative steps towards a relationship, and the resulting problems that ensue from this. I really appreciate the series' emphasis on compromises and bargaining, the way Paige weighs up her limited options in any given situation and tries to find something that she can live with, rather than something that would be ideal to her. I really enjoy the tensions and contradictions in Paige's existence: she has to undertake a risky occupation (as Jaxon's mollisher) and become part of a criminal underworld in order to gain a measure of freedom and safety.
I would be really interested in any fic that explores Paige and Warden's relationship, particularly the power imbalances, cultural differences, and the ways in which their relationship forces them to reflect on their respective identities as human and Rephaite. Missing moments from either their time together in Oxford or when Paige was in hiding in London would be fantastic. I also really enjoyed the characters' journeys to otherworldly regions, so it might be cool to see the two of them interacting somewhere like this - visiting each others' dreamscapes (or perhaps dealing with the weirdness of their two dreamscapes converging), making a dangerous foray into the realms of the Emim, or something along those lines. I really ship this pairing, so I'd love to read shipfic about them, but I'd also be keen to read gen that explored the complex world of the series, as long as it centred on these two characters.
I'm happy with any of the other characters from the series (both those in the tagset or out of it) appearing in your fic, but I would prefer that it not focus on Jaxon Hall if you choose to include him.
The Demon's Lexicon trilogy - Sarah Rees Brennan (Canon consists of a completed trilogy - The Demon's Lexicon, The Demon's Covenant, and The Demon's Surrender)
Mae Crawford, Nicholas "Nick" Ryves | Hnikarr
The appeal of this trilogy lies in its exploration of family, and I love that it depicts many different types of family - blood relatives, families of reluctant allies, found families and so on. Any fic dealing with this would be appreciated. I'm also a huge fan of human/non-human pairings, and I particularly enjoy stories that explore the way both halves of human/non-human couples feel about the somewhat alien nature of their partners. As you can probably imagine, for this reason I adore the pairing of Nick/Mae, and I would love to have fic that explores their relationship, particularly if offered insight into how Mae relates to Nick's demonic nature and how Nick feels about Mae's humanity.
I'd be really interested in post-canon fic that dealt with how Mae and Nick related to one another once the immediate supernatural threat had passed. What is their long-awaited first date like? How does Mae rise to the challenge of running the Goblin Market, and how does Nick help (or hinder) her with this? I'd really love a post-series fic dealing with the supernatural politics of this universe, particularly as they intersected and interfered with the characters' everyday lives. I also really enjoy the contrast between the two characters' ways of dealing with threats and problems - Nick charges in first with indiscriminate violence, while Mae considers the intricacies of a situation and then uses words as weapons - so what about fic which threw each of them out of their respective comfort zones and forced them to use one another's methods of facing down threats?
Again, I'd be very happy to see any other characters from this series appear, but I only ship canon pairings and particularly request no Nick/Jamie or Nick/Alan.
Deutschland 83 (Canon consists of an eight-episode TV series. It is in German, with English subtitles.)
Any characters.
My favourite things about this series are the way it juxtaposes the complicated, frightening politics of the time period with the smaller, more personal concerns of the characters, the pervading sense of anxiety and urgency, and the feeling of characters on both sides of the Iron Curtain that they are on the frontlines and constantly under siege. I also really appreciated the underlying humour of the series, the way that all the characters are operating in the dark, with incomplete knowledge of what is really going on, and are all slightly unprepared for the monumental problems with which they're faced. I also love the fact that while the audience is watching historical fiction - and thus has the benefit of hindsight and knows what will happen - the characters have no idea how things will end. I also really enjoyed the clash of cultures element - Martin's shock at arriving in the West, Yvonne's confusion when she makes the trip to East Berlin, and so on.
I would really love to read genfic for this canon that saw any combination of the characters in the tagset dealing with the ongoing politics of the last years of the Cold War, particularly something that emphasised their unpreparedness or unfamiliarity with their opposite number (so West German characters misunderstanding the East or vice versa). I'd particularly enjoy futurefic that brought characters back into contact with one another - Martin with any of the Edels, for example - or threw them together in some combination we haven't previously seen (Lenora, Tischbier, or Schweppenstette having to work with people in the West, and so on). The showrunners mentioned they were interested in making two follow-up series called Deutschland 86 and Deutschland 89 which brought the characters forward in time to those two years. What about a fic that took some or all of the nominated characters into one (or both) of those years?
An Ember in the Ashes - Sabaa Tahir (Canon consists of two books, An Ember in the Ashes and A Torch Against the Night, in a four-book series)
Laia, Elias Veturius
I particularly enjoy the escalating sense of threat and menace that pervades this series, and the way that it forces the characters to make decisions (choices about what to do, decisions about who to trust, decisions about what to endure) in great haste. I love the way the Elias/Laia relationship has developed, and particularly enjoy the clash of cultures, power imbalances and 'us against the world' mentality that the pair have. I love their principled stand against injustice, but also the fact that, due to their very realistic fears for their own and each others' safety, they have to make compromises and endure indignities and cruelties, and are at times absolutely terrified. I enjoy the rumblings of revolution that are slowly pervading the series' wider world, and the fact that these characters' decision to join this revolution is rooted in their deep, self-sacrificing love and sense of responsibility for other people.
I'd particularly enjoy to receive fic that explored Elias and Laia's relationship, especially something that delved into their different upbringings and how these shaped them, the power imbalances, and their growing supernatural abilities. How does Elias's new status at the end of Torch affect their relationship? What will their next steps be in challenging the Martial Empire? Genfic that saw the pair dealing with some new political or supernatural challenge would also be great. If you were interested in writing something quieter or more contemplative, what about using one of the myths or folk stories of Tahir's world as the springboard for a moment of calm in which the two characters told each other stories? Missing moments during their time together at Blackcliff might also be another interesting prompt - or what about a meeting before Laia began her undercover mission, perhaps when Elias slipped out and mingled with the non-Martial population, and the pair met but did not know each other?
I'm happy for you to use any other characters from the series in your fic, but I do not ship Elias and Helene romantically (the same goes for Laia and Keenan) and do not want to read about these pairings.
Pagan Chronicles - Catherine Jinks (canon consists of a completed five-book series: Pagan's Crusade, Pagan in Exile, Pagan's Vows, Pagan's Scribe, and Pagan's Daughter - the last book is known as Babylonne in the US)
Pagan Kidrouk, Babylonne Kidrouk, Isidore Orbus
This is the series of my heart when it comes to found families. I love that it's this multigenerational story of broken, damaged orphans finding each other, healing each other and making each other whole. I love the historical details, and the compassionate, empathetic, and forgiving way the characters deal with the realities of their world, and the fact that although Jinks doesn't shy away from her characters' religious faith, she shows that their observance and understanding of religion was more flexible and pluralistic than is generally portrayed in popular fictional depictions of the Middle Ages.
I would love any fic that dealt with any of these aspects of the series. I'm also really curious about the large gaps we have in canon, and would love to read about, for example, Pagan's experiences as a young student or when he started out as a canon lawyer, Isidore and Pagan rebuilding their lives after the events of Pagan's Scribe, or fic set in the future after Pagan's Daughter in which Isidore and Babylonne have adventures in Bologna. I'm also intrigued about Pagan's pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, and would love to know the reason behind it - for what reason was he seeking penance? I'd also be very open to a fix-it fic where Pagan didn't die before the events of Pagan's Daughter, as I would really love to see him actually interacting with Babylonne (possibly with Isidore as a traumatised bystander to the inevitable extremities of emotion, cutting sarcastic exchanges and furious verbal gymnastics that would follow any such encounter). I'm a passionate shipper of Babylonne/Isidore as a romantic pairing, and I nurse a secret wish to see how Pagan would react to discovering that the two of them had paired up.
I should also add that I don't ship anyone romantically in this series except Isidore and Babylonne.
Don't feel you have to stick rigidly within the bounds of my prompts. As long as your fic is focused on the characters I requested, I will be thrilled to receive anything you write for me, as these really are some of my most beloved fandoms of the heart, and the existence of any fic for them will make me extremely happy.
I'm pretty easygoing about what type of fic you want to write for me. I read fic of any rating, and would be equally happy with plotty genfic or something very shippy. I read gen, femslash, het and slash, although I have a slight preference towards femslash, het, and gen that focuses on female characters. I mainly read fic to find out what happens to characters after the final page has turned or the credits have rolled, so I would particularly love to have futurefic of some kind. Don't feel you have to limit yourself to the characters I specifically mention — I'm happy with others being included if they fit with the story you want to tell.
General likes include feminism (and women's stories more broadly), found families, people with very different perspectives and/or life experiences coming together (either romantically, as friends, or as reluctant allies), human/non-human pairings, relationships with power imbalances, and characters reflecting on power and/or the reasons for their own powerlessness. My other favourite themes are dispossession and exile, and place and the way it shapes people — what do particular characters understand by 'home'? Can they return to it? Is home a place for them, or is it an age, or is it particular other people? Feel free to have a look around at my Ao3 profile as it should give you a good idea of the types of things I like to read.
Major dislikes and squicks: AUs, fusions and crossovers (except in certain circumstances, which I will outline below), excessive descriptions of bodily fluids, Mpreg, incest, or infidelity. I am only interested in shipfic if it focuses on the pairings I specifically mention in my prompts. There are several fandom-specific dislikes, which I will outline in the prompts below.
The Bone Season - Samantha Shannon (Canon consists of two books in a seven-book series: The Bone Season, and The Mime Order. There is also a pamphlet, On the Merits of Unnaturalness, set in the same universe, as well as a novella due to be released in December, but I do not expect you to have read either of these or include their contents in your fic)
Paige Mahoney, Arcturus Mesarthim | Warden
My favourite things about this series is the intricate alternative world Samantha Shannon has created, the pervasive sense of menace and threat experienced by all the characters, and the resulting fear they all feel and the way that fear governs their actions. I love Warden and Paige's tentative steps towards a relationship, and the resulting problems that ensue from this. I really appreciate the series' emphasis on compromises and bargaining, the way Paige weighs up her limited options in any given situation and tries to find something that she can live with, rather than something that would be ideal to her. I really enjoy the tensions and contradictions in Paige's existence: she has to undertake a risky occupation (as Jaxon's mollisher) and become part of a criminal underworld in order to gain a measure of freedom and safety.
I would be really interested in any fic that explores Paige and Warden's relationship, particularly the power imbalances, cultural differences, and the ways in which their relationship forces them to reflect on their respective identities as human and Rephaite. Missing moments from either their time together in Oxford or when Paige was in hiding in London would be fantastic. I also really enjoyed the characters' journeys to otherworldly regions, so it might be cool to see the two of them interacting somewhere like this - visiting each others' dreamscapes (or perhaps dealing with the weirdness of their two dreamscapes converging), making a dangerous foray into the realms of the Emim, or something along those lines. I really ship this pairing, so I'd love to read shipfic about them, but I'd also be keen to read gen that explored the complex world of the series, as long as it centred on these two characters.
I'm happy with any of the other characters from the series (both those in the tagset or out of it) appearing in your fic, but I would prefer that it not focus on Jaxon Hall if you choose to include him.
The Demon's Lexicon trilogy - Sarah Rees Brennan (Canon consists of a completed trilogy - The Demon's Lexicon, The Demon's Covenant, and The Demon's Surrender)
Mae Crawford, Nicholas "Nick" Ryves | Hnikarr
The appeal of this trilogy lies in its exploration of family, and I love that it depicts many different types of family - blood relatives, families of reluctant allies, found families and so on. Any fic dealing with this would be appreciated. I'm also a huge fan of human/non-human pairings, and I particularly enjoy stories that explore the way both halves of human/non-human couples feel about the somewhat alien nature of their partners. As you can probably imagine, for this reason I adore the pairing of Nick/Mae, and I would love to have fic that explores their relationship, particularly if offered insight into how Mae relates to Nick's demonic nature and how Nick feels about Mae's humanity.
I'd be really interested in post-canon fic that dealt with how Mae and Nick related to one another once the immediate supernatural threat had passed. What is their long-awaited first date like? How does Mae rise to the challenge of running the Goblin Market, and how does Nick help (or hinder) her with this? I'd really love a post-series fic dealing with the supernatural politics of this universe, particularly as they intersected and interfered with the characters' everyday lives. I also really enjoy the contrast between the two characters' ways of dealing with threats and problems - Nick charges in first with indiscriminate violence, while Mae considers the intricacies of a situation and then uses words as weapons - so what about fic which threw each of them out of their respective comfort zones and forced them to use one another's methods of facing down threats?
Again, I'd be very happy to see any other characters from this series appear, but I only ship canon pairings and particularly request no Nick/Jamie or Nick/Alan.
Deutschland 83 (Canon consists of an eight-episode TV series. It is in German, with English subtitles.)
Any characters.
My favourite things about this series are the way it juxtaposes the complicated, frightening politics of the time period with the smaller, more personal concerns of the characters, the pervading sense of anxiety and urgency, and the feeling of characters on both sides of the Iron Curtain that they are on the frontlines and constantly under siege. I also really appreciated the underlying humour of the series, the way that all the characters are operating in the dark, with incomplete knowledge of what is really going on, and are all slightly unprepared for the monumental problems with which they're faced. I also love the fact that while the audience is watching historical fiction - and thus has the benefit of hindsight and knows what will happen - the characters have no idea how things will end. I also really enjoyed the clash of cultures element - Martin's shock at arriving in the West, Yvonne's confusion when she makes the trip to East Berlin, and so on.
I would really love to read genfic for this canon that saw any combination of the characters in the tagset dealing with the ongoing politics of the last years of the Cold War, particularly something that emphasised their unpreparedness or unfamiliarity with their opposite number (so West German characters misunderstanding the East or vice versa). I'd particularly enjoy futurefic that brought characters back into contact with one another - Martin with any of the Edels, for example - or threw them together in some combination we haven't previously seen (Lenora, Tischbier, or Schweppenstette having to work with people in the West, and so on). The showrunners mentioned they were interested in making two follow-up series called Deutschland 86 and Deutschland 89 which brought the characters forward in time to those two years. What about a fic that took some or all of the nominated characters into one (or both) of those years?
An Ember in the Ashes - Sabaa Tahir (Canon consists of two books, An Ember in the Ashes and A Torch Against the Night, in a four-book series)
Laia, Elias Veturius
I particularly enjoy the escalating sense of threat and menace that pervades this series, and the way that it forces the characters to make decisions (choices about what to do, decisions about who to trust, decisions about what to endure) in great haste. I love the way the Elias/Laia relationship has developed, and particularly enjoy the clash of cultures, power imbalances and 'us against the world' mentality that the pair have. I love their principled stand against injustice, but also the fact that, due to their very realistic fears for their own and each others' safety, they have to make compromises and endure indignities and cruelties, and are at times absolutely terrified. I enjoy the rumblings of revolution that are slowly pervading the series' wider world, and the fact that these characters' decision to join this revolution is rooted in their deep, self-sacrificing love and sense of responsibility for other people.
I'd particularly enjoy to receive fic that explored Elias and Laia's relationship, especially something that delved into their different upbringings and how these shaped them, the power imbalances, and their growing supernatural abilities. How does Elias's new status at the end of Torch affect their relationship? What will their next steps be in challenging the Martial Empire? Genfic that saw the pair dealing with some new political or supernatural challenge would also be great. If you were interested in writing something quieter or more contemplative, what about using one of the myths or folk stories of Tahir's world as the springboard for a moment of calm in which the two characters told each other stories? Missing moments during their time together at Blackcliff might also be another interesting prompt - or what about a meeting before Laia began her undercover mission, perhaps when Elias slipped out and mingled with the non-Martial population, and the pair met but did not know each other?
I'm happy for you to use any other characters from the series in your fic, but I do not ship Elias and Helene romantically (the same goes for Laia and Keenan) and do not want to read about these pairings.
Pagan Chronicles - Catherine Jinks (canon consists of a completed five-book series: Pagan's Crusade, Pagan in Exile, Pagan's Vows, Pagan's Scribe, and Pagan's Daughter - the last book is known as Babylonne in the US)
Pagan Kidrouk, Babylonne Kidrouk, Isidore Orbus
This is the series of my heart when it comes to found families. I love that it's this multigenerational story of broken, damaged orphans finding each other, healing each other and making each other whole. I love the historical details, and the compassionate, empathetic, and forgiving way the characters deal with the realities of their world, and the fact that although Jinks doesn't shy away from her characters' religious faith, she shows that their observance and understanding of religion was more flexible and pluralistic than is generally portrayed in popular fictional depictions of the Middle Ages.
I would love any fic that dealt with any of these aspects of the series. I'm also really curious about the large gaps we have in canon, and would love to read about, for example, Pagan's experiences as a young student or when he started out as a canon lawyer, Isidore and Pagan rebuilding their lives after the events of Pagan's Scribe, or fic set in the future after Pagan's Daughter in which Isidore and Babylonne have adventures in Bologna. I'm also intrigued about Pagan's pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, and would love to know the reason behind it - for what reason was he seeking penance? I'd also be very open to a fix-it fic where Pagan didn't die before the events of Pagan's Daughter, as I would really love to see him actually interacting with Babylonne (possibly with Isidore as a traumatised bystander to the inevitable extremities of emotion, cutting sarcastic exchanges and furious verbal gymnastics that would follow any such encounter). I'm a passionate shipper of Babylonne/Isidore as a romantic pairing, and I nurse a secret wish to see how Pagan would react to discovering that the two of them had paired up.
I should also add that I don't ship anyone romantically in this series except Isidore and Babylonne.
Don't feel you have to stick rigidly within the bounds of my prompts. As long as your fic is focused on the characters I requested, I will be thrilled to receive anything you write for me, as these really are some of my most beloved fandoms of the heart, and the existence of any fic for them will make me extremely happy.