Yuletide Letter!
Nov. 11th, 2009 09:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
measured_wordsDear Author
This is my first time... be gentle. Or, actually, don't. Thanks, first of all, for writing :) I am intending to keep this pretty short I think, but I hope it will help. (ETA: Short, HA!)
So first of all.... I like stories with plot - with adventure, intrigue, character exploration and development. I also like stories that are more focused on character exploration, however - things don't necessarily need to happen, if things are happening interesting in someone’s head. If that even makes any sense outside of *my* head, which is questionable :p Although I like introspection but not excessive angsting.
I like porn, but I do not require it. If you have a preference for or against in whatever you wind up writing, knock yourself out, I will likely appreciate it. I prefer it to be somehow relevant to the story – either it develops character relationships, or is vital to some zany caper or what have you. I’m not a big fan of pwp or sex thrown into a story randomly. Porn can certainly *be* the main action, so to speak, but I like it better if it is more than just some random bodies pressing up against each other in interesting ways. I also don't like major deviations from cannon - that is, I don't like people to act out of character, and I'm not a huge fan of AU's unless they're very clever. Funny is good, but not required.
On to the specifics!
1. Francis James Child - English and Scottish Popular Ballads I am a huge fan of folk ballads. I like stories that flesh out the tales as told, that explore variations in story, that explore what happened afterward, or what came before. I know that 'any' isn't always helpful if you're looking for inspiration, so here are some of the ones from the Yuletide list that I am already familiar with: Bessy Belle and Mary Gray, Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight, Lamkin, Tam Lin, The Demon Lover, Twa Corbies, The Wife of Usher's Well, and Thomas Rhymer. I said in my submission letter that I am happy to read about things I'm *not* familiar with though, and this is absolutely true! If you've got a favourite ballad, or can think of some clever way to combine a few, or whatever, knock yourself out :)
2. The Death of the Necromancer - Martha Wells: Nicholas Valiarde/Inspector Ronsard. This might be the only fandom where I actually picked a specific paring, heh. I went with this request since it was on the list of unrequested fandoms and it seemed like a lot of people were offering it, but I really do like Wells’s world. Nicholas is such a fascinating, um.... we'll call him a protagonist ;) I would love a story about him and Arisilde (this is what I get for dithering about whether I should sign up - though why no one *else* wants to read about young opium addled sorcerers, I cannot understand!) , but I will be just as happy for some good cat-and-mousing between Nicholas and the inspector :) Porny or not, as you prefer :D
3. The Shadow (movie): Well I picked 'any' again, but the only specific character offered was Lamont, so hey ;) I like and am familiar with most versions of The Shadow, so if you want to branch out, that's cool. I like action-y stories, which would work well here, but I also like stories about how background people are affected by The Shadow, directly or indirectly. If that doesn’t appeal, how about Lamont trying to establish himself as a respectable wealthy young man about town after having been off in the Orient for god knows how long running an opium gang ;)
4. H. P. Lovecraft - Cthulhu Mythos: Any again! My love for the Mythos is probably best explained by saying that I went as The King in Yellow for Hallowe'en this year. I gave people nightmares. I admit I'm something of a purist, in that I prefer the original works by HPL (and Clark Ashton Smith) to the stuff of some of the writers that came later, like Derleth. I don't need my Great Old Ones to be explained, I just need them to be disturbing and otherworldly and inexplicable to minds that have not been properly unbent. I, uh, also don't believe that they have any carnal appetites the way we mortals might think of them, Shub-Niggurath being a possible exception o_O This does not apply to cultists and investigators, however :D
There, I hope that is helpful! And thanks again :)
This is my first time... be gentle. Or, actually, don't. Thanks, first of all, for writing :) I am intending to keep this pretty short I think, but I hope it will help. (ETA: Short, HA!)
So first of all.... I like stories with plot - with adventure, intrigue, character exploration and development. I also like stories that are more focused on character exploration, however - things don't necessarily need to happen, if things are happening interesting in someone’s head. If that even makes any sense outside of *my* head, which is questionable :p Although I like introspection but not excessive angsting.
I like porn, but I do not require it. If you have a preference for or against in whatever you wind up writing, knock yourself out, I will likely appreciate it. I prefer it to be somehow relevant to the story – either it develops character relationships, or is vital to some zany caper or what have you. I’m not a big fan of pwp or sex thrown into a story randomly. Porn can certainly *be* the main action, so to speak, but I like it better if it is more than just some random bodies pressing up against each other in interesting ways. I also don't like major deviations from cannon - that is, I don't like people to act out of character, and I'm not a huge fan of AU's unless they're very clever. Funny is good, but not required.
On to the specifics!
1. Francis James Child - English and Scottish Popular Ballads I am a huge fan of folk ballads. I like stories that flesh out the tales as told, that explore variations in story, that explore what happened afterward, or what came before. I know that 'any' isn't always helpful if you're looking for inspiration, so here are some of the ones from the Yuletide list that I am already familiar with: Bessy Belle and Mary Gray, Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight, Lamkin, Tam Lin, The Demon Lover, Twa Corbies, The Wife of Usher's Well, and Thomas Rhymer. I said in my submission letter that I am happy to read about things I'm *not* familiar with though, and this is absolutely true! If you've got a favourite ballad, or can think of some clever way to combine a few, or whatever, knock yourself out :)
2. The Death of the Necromancer - Martha Wells: Nicholas Valiarde/Inspector Ronsard. This might be the only fandom where I actually picked a specific paring, heh. I went with this request since it was on the list of unrequested fandoms and it seemed like a lot of people were offering it, but I really do like Wells’s world. Nicholas is such a fascinating, um.... we'll call him a protagonist ;) I would love a story about him and Arisilde (this is what I get for dithering about whether I should sign up - though why no one *else* wants to read about young opium addled sorcerers, I cannot understand!) , but I will be just as happy for some good cat-and-mousing between Nicholas and the inspector :) Porny or not, as you prefer :D
3. The Shadow (movie): Well I picked 'any' again, but the only specific character offered was Lamont, so hey ;) I like and am familiar with most versions of The Shadow, so if you want to branch out, that's cool. I like action-y stories, which would work well here, but I also like stories about how background people are affected by The Shadow, directly or indirectly. If that doesn’t appeal, how about Lamont trying to establish himself as a respectable wealthy young man about town after having been off in the Orient for god knows how long running an opium gang ;)
4. H. P. Lovecraft - Cthulhu Mythos: Any again! My love for the Mythos is probably best explained by saying that I went as The King in Yellow for Hallowe'en this year. I gave people nightmares. I admit I'm something of a purist, in that I prefer the original works by HPL (and Clark Ashton Smith) to the stuff of some of the writers that came later, like Derleth. I don't need my Great Old Ones to be explained, I just need them to be disturbing and otherworldly and inexplicable to minds that have not been properly unbent. I, uh, also don't believe that they have any carnal appetites the way we mortals might think of them, Shub-Niggurath being a possible exception o_O This does not apply to cultists and investigators, however :D
There, I hope that is helpful! And thanks again :)
