Yuletide letter
Oct. 9th, 2016 07:42 pmDear Yuletide Writer,
Thank you so much for offering to write a story for me! I love all these fandoms, and I'm really keen to see what you do in them! I've provided some prompts in case you're looking for inspiration, but I'd also love to see whatever other ideas capture your imagination.
For me, it's about the characters and their relationships. I'm not a stickler for canon details, as long as the spirit of the characters and the flavour of their world is there. I want to see adventures that might have been, or missing moments from between scenes, or a slice of their daily lives, or where the future might take them.
LIKES: Some of the things I enjoy in stories are: undying loyalty, personal bravery, big damn hero moments, special everyday moments, subtle tension, conversations loaded with unspoken meaning, tough people showing a soft side, and soft people showing a tough side. I also like tropes such as amnesia, bodyswap, sex pollen, and undercover as a couple.
DISLIKES: I generally prefer optimistic stories for Yuletide, so I'm not keen on anything that is brutally violent or depressingly bleak. However, I don't mind darkness as long as there is a glimmer of light. Bittersweet endings are also fine.
SHIPPING: I'm a slash fan, but I also enjoy gen, het, and femslash. I'm fine with explicit sex, but it's usually not the most important part of the story for me.
STYLE: I'm fine with first, second, or third person. I'm fine with past or present tense. I'm fine with stories of any length, including stories that start in media res.
CROSSOVERS: I would prefer no crossovers with other canons.
AUS: I like seeing the characters in their own settings, so I would prefer no alternate universes like high school, coffee shop, or omegaverse. However, I like alternate universes where something happened differently in canon.
INTERACTIVE FICTION: I like interactive fiction and would welcome it.
I hope this helps. Have fun writing!
Yours sincerely,
meteordust
(Yuletide signup name Serenade)
***
Request 1
Fandom: Falcon by Mark Smith and Jamie Thomson
Characters: Falcon, Agidy Yelov
Details: I've always been fascinated by Yelov and the complicated relationship Falcon has with him - once chief and subordinate, now renegade and enforcer. I'd love to see any story where they cross paths, whether they're working together, or hunting each other, or having a doomed torrid affair. I also like the interactions between Falcon and the other Special Agents, so I'd be interested in anything from dramatic joint missions to the office Christmas party. I'm not that fussed about continuity, given it's a gamebook series, and I like alternate universes too. (Incidentally, in my head, I think of Falcon as male, but gender ambiguity is also cool!)
Resources: There are six books in this series. However, I would be perfectly happy with a story based only on the first book. They are out of print, but they can be found secondhand on AbeBooks, eBay, and Amazon. Falcon at Demian's Gamebook Web Page contains brief information about the series. PDFs of the books used to be available for download at Home of the Underdogs, but not anymore, although copies of the archive seem to float around on filesharing sites. There is also a community playthrough of the entire series on the RPG.net forums, although I haven't read the whole thread.
***
Request 2
Fandom: The Golden Swan - Nancy Springer
Characters: Dair, Frain
Details: Destined soulbonds! Loyalty! Magic! Shapeshifting! I love that Dair is a wolf learning how to be a man, and that Frain is a healer who cannot heal his own wounds. I love that Dair feels immediate instinctive loyalty, and that Frain only gradually grows to care for him deeply. I ship them, but am equally happy to read about their friendship. I'd love to see missing scenes during their time in the palace of the king or during their perilous quest, or new adventures after the events of canon. I would prefer that any sex scenes only involve characters in human form, not animal form.
Note: This is the fifth and final book in a loosely connected series called The Book of Isle. It refers to earlier events, but can be read as a standalone. It's been many years since I read the other books, so my memory is pretty hazy. You're welcome to reference them or not, as you like.
Resources: The Golden Swan is available new in ebook format, and can be found secondhand in paperback format.
***
Request 3
Fandom: Chronicles of Amber - Roger Zelazny
Characters: Flora
Details: Flora is kind of a chameleon to me - I like the contradictions in her character, and I'd be happy for you to interpret her in your own way. Maybe she's not powerful but attaches herself to powerful people (as Corwin's gaoler and Eric's minion), maybe she's secretly a BAMF (keeping a hand grenade in her purse and punching out rival queens). I'd enjoy either serious or cracky fic. Is she trying to plan a dinner party or prepare for a date, while everyone else in Amber is scrambling to deal with the latest worldshaking crisis? Is she forced to go on a road trip with her least favourite relative? Is there something she does better than anyone else, that comes in useful unexpectedly?
Note: I prefer the main focus to be interactions with canon characters, rather than with original characters or historical figures. My favourite of the books is probably Sign of the Unicorn, for all the familial scheming and snark. I don't have any particular shipping preferences for Flora, so if you want to include shipping, feel free to write whoever you want.
Resources: The First Chronicles of Amber are five books that focus on Corwin, and the Second Chronicles of Amber are another five that focus on his son Merlin. Some fans only like the first series, but I like both. They are all in print and should be available in bookstores and libraries, but often as omnibus collections.
Thank you so much for offering to write a story for me! I love all these fandoms, and I'm really keen to see what you do in them! I've provided some prompts in case you're looking for inspiration, but I'd also love to see whatever other ideas capture your imagination.
For me, it's about the characters and their relationships. I'm not a stickler for canon details, as long as the spirit of the characters and the flavour of their world is there. I want to see adventures that might have been, or missing moments from between scenes, or a slice of their daily lives, or where the future might take them.
LIKES: Some of the things I enjoy in stories are: undying loyalty, personal bravery, big damn hero moments, special everyday moments, subtle tension, conversations loaded with unspoken meaning, tough people showing a soft side, and soft people showing a tough side. I also like tropes such as amnesia, bodyswap, sex pollen, and undercover as a couple.
DISLIKES: I generally prefer optimistic stories for Yuletide, so I'm not keen on anything that is brutally violent or depressingly bleak. However, I don't mind darkness as long as there is a glimmer of light. Bittersweet endings are also fine.
SHIPPING: I'm a slash fan, but I also enjoy gen, het, and femslash. I'm fine with explicit sex, but it's usually not the most important part of the story for me.
STYLE: I'm fine with first, second, or third person. I'm fine with past or present tense. I'm fine with stories of any length, including stories that start in media res.
CROSSOVERS: I would prefer no crossovers with other canons.
AUS: I like seeing the characters in their own settings, so I would prefer no alternate universes like high school, coffee shop, or omegaverse. However, I like alternate universes where something happened differently in canon.
INTERACTIVE FICTION: I like interactive fiction and would welcome it.
I hope this helps. Have fun writing!
Yours sincerely,
(Yuletide signup name Serenade)
***
Request 1
Fandom: Falcon by Mark Smith and Jamie Thomson
Characters: Falcon, Agidy Yelov
Details: I've always been fascinated by Yelov and the complicated relationship Falcon has with him - once chief and subordinate, now renegade and enforcer. I'd love to see any story where they cross paths, whether they're working together, or hunting each other, or having a doomed torrid affair. I also like the interactions between Falcon and the other Special Agents, so I'd be interested in anything from dramatic joint missions to the office Christmas party. I'm not that fussed about continuity, given it's a gamebook series, and I like alternate universes too. (Incidentally, in my head, I think of Falcon as male, but gender ambiguity is also cool!)
Resources: There are six books in this series. However, I would be perfectly happy with a story based only on the first book. They are out of print, but they can be found secondhand on AbeBooks, eBay, and Amazon. Falcon at Demian's Gamebook Web Page contains brief information about the series. PDFs of the books used to be available for download at Home of the Underdogs, but not anymore, although copies of the archive seem to float around on filesharing sites. There is also a community playthrough of the entire series on the RPG.net forums, although I haven't read the whole thread.
***
Request 2
Fandom: The Golden Swan - Nancy Springer
Characters: Dair, Frain
Details: Destined soulbonds! Loyalty! Magic! Shapeshifting! I love that Dair is a wolf learning how to be a man, and that Frain is a healer who cannot heal his own wounds. I love that Dair feels immediate instinctive loyalty, and that Frain only gradually grows to care for him deeply. I ship them, but am equally happy to read about their friendship. I'd love to see missing scenes during their time in the palace of the king or during their perilous quest, or new adventures after the events of canon. I would prefer that any sex scenes only involve characters in human form, not animal form.
Note: This is the fifth and final book in a loosely connected series called The Book of Isle. It refers to earlier events, but can be read as a standalone. It's been many years since I read the other books, so my memory is pretty hazy. You're welcome to reference them or not, as you like.
Resources: The Golden Swan is available new in ebook format, and can be found secondhand in paperback format.
***
Request 3
Fandom: Chronicles of Amber - Roger Zelazny
Characters: Flora
Details: Flora is kind of a chameleon to me - I like the contradictions in her character, and I'd be happy for you to interpret her in your own way. Maybe she's not powerful but attaches herself to powerful people (as Corwin's gaoler and Eric's minion), maybe she's secretly a BAMF (keeping a hand grenade in her purse and punching out rival queens). I'd enjoy either serious or cracky fic. Is she trying to plan a dinner party or prepare for a date, while everyone else in Amber is scrambling to deal with the latest worldshaking crisis? Is she forced to go on a road trip with her least favourite relative? Is there something she does better than anyone else, that comes in useful unexpectedly?
Note: I prefer the main focus to be interactions with canon characters, rather than with original characters or historical figures. My favourite of the books is probably Sign of the Unicorn, for all the familial scheming and snark. I don't have any particular shipping preferences for Flora, so if you want to include shipping, feel free to write whoever you want.
Resources: The First Chronicles of Amber are five books that focus on Corwin, and the Second Chronicles of Amber are another five that focus on his son Merlin. Some fans only like the first series, but I like both. They are all in print and should be available in bookstores and libraries, but often as omnibus collections.