Dear Yuletide Author 2014!
Oct. 20th, 2014 08:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
measured_wordsDear Amazing Yuletide Author:
Thanks, first of all, for writing! That is really the most important thing, and I will be delighted with whatever I wind up getting. I am scamming most of this from my last year’s letter (including this line!), so hopefully it will retain some amount of coherency.
So first of all.... Generally speaking, I like stories that tell me a little bit more about the characters or the world they live in. I like stories with plot - with adventure, intrigue, and wacky hijinks. I also like stories that are more focused on character exploration – I don't need action if I have interesting introspection. I like both insider and outsider PoV stuff, and I feel like it is perfectly legit to write a story about a character that isn't from their perspective. I enjoy stories that are very emotionally intense, whether that means they are spilling over with ~feels~ or dark and unrelenting in tone – I enjoy horror, especially psychological horror, but also feel-good fluff.
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 appreciate it. If you include porn, 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, though I think porn can certainly *be* the main action, so to speak, as long as it is showing me something new about characters or their relationship. I'm really hard to squick – I can handle the weird stuff, so to speak, so don't be afraid to show me your kinks! More than anything, when it comes (heh) to porn I want to be able to believe that the sex I'm reading is in character for whoever I'm reading about – not necessarily that it is something they want, but that the reactions I'm reading are true to whoever is having them, if that makes any sense.
If you are looking to find out more about me, I have a more mundane and fairly neglected lj/dw over atelanya, and I am I am often online in the yuletide chat (which you can find out how to access here), either as Lan-chilling, hippo-Lan, or some other similar configuration of Lan-somethingorother. I am also Measured_Words on AO3 :)
On to the specifics! Please note that these are in no meaningful order. Also, Optional Details are Optional - I hope these will give you some ideas if you need them, and some helpful insights into what I love about the canons and the characters, but if you have other ideas I haven't thought of feel free to run with them as well :D
Hadestown - Anais Mitchell
Any - nominated: Hades, Persephone, Orpheus, Eurydice
Hadestown is a folk opera retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth. The whole thing is up on youtube - check out the playlist above!
I would seriously love to see more fic about any of the relationships in the musical, but I admit that I am most interested in things that cut through or across the relationship lines, like Hades/Eurydice, or Persephone/Orpheus, or even Persephone/Eurydice and Hades/Orpheus! I am happy whether those relationships are shippy or gen, and whatever rating you want to make them, but I would like to see more of those dynamics explored, especially in relation to how they affect what happens in the story as presented in the musical, or after it. Hades/Eurydice is heavily hinted, at the very least, and I'd like to see exactly what he has in mind for his little songbird once she comes to him in desperation - or what happens between them at the end of things. Persephone/Orpheus interests me because they both strike me as fairly worldly in ways that the other characters don't approach. Maybe they've encountered each other before? I also like the idea of Orpheus, once he is in Hadestown, being willing to do whatever is necessary to find Eurydice, including seducing/being seduced by Persephone. She seems very sympathetic to him in her later conversation with Hades, too, and I would love to see anything that expounds on their interaction once he stumbles into her bar. Or - since Persephone does leave Hadestown - what if she ever encounters Orpheus later? With Hades/Orpheus, there is of course an excellent hatesex opportunity, and more of the same 'willing to do whatever it takes' attitude: for Orpheus, it's getting Eurydice back, and for Hades, it's maintaining his hard earned control. With Persephone/Eurydice, I think there is more room for a mentorship, or protective or sympathetic relationship. I'm sure Eurydice isn't the first little 'Songbird' Hades has brought home, and I'd love to see someone's take on what Persephone thinks of that!
Getting back to the main couples, I love the relationship between Hades and Persephone in this, because this Persephone is so much more mature. They clearly care for each other but they both clearly have their own things going on and have managed to come to some kind of arrangement. Does Hades really not know what she is up to? If he does know, why does he indulge her? How exactly has their relationship changed, and how do they both feel about that - really this could apply to any part of Canon. What are things like between them after Hades refuses to let Eurydice go? With Eurydice/Orpheus, I love how naive she is so comparatively - she asks the more practical questions, but she trust his answers and his general devil-may-care attitude. Despite this attitude, he's very cynical about the world. How did they get together? Feel free to expand about any of the parts of canon, especially the long trek home and how and why everything went wrong there, and what it says about their relationship. What exactly is it that Orpheus can't bring himself to trust in the end - is it her? is it Hades? Something else?
I would absolutely be delighted with fic that focuses on any one of the characters, outside of a relationship as well, including people's lives outside of Hadestown, before or after canon where applicable. Some things I generally love about them: Persephone's maturity and independence; Hades's belief in himself as some kind of underdog who has clawed himself up from nothing and knows what is best, and his willingness to do whatever he sees necessary to maintain his power; the dichotomy of Orpheus's worldliness and his lack of concern for mundane problems; Eurydice's naive hopefulness contrasted with her desperation and how what she encounters/endures in Hadestown changes her (or not).I like the other characters as well, such as Hermes and the Fates, so feel free to use them as well if you are inspired!
The Death of the Necromancer - Martha Wells
Arisilde Damal
I love this book - it remains my favourite of Wells's novels. I love the setting - Victorian gaslight fantasy - and I love that the protagonists are of ambiguous morals. Arisilde and Nicholas vie for my favourite character, but I decided to focus this year! I assure you that I will be happy with just about anything Arisilde related, but I am particularly story-hungry for more about him pre-canon - what was he like before he became an opium addict out of spite? How did he come to that decision - was it really a conscious choice or was it more justified escapism? Or little of both? How did his relationships change? I am fascinated by how he got to this point in his life, basically, and I love everything that makes him who he is - his brilliance, his spaciness, his cheerfulness contrasted by his moroseness.
If that's not something of particular interest to you as a writer - how about something about him post-canon, putting his life back together, getting more involved in Nicholas' schemes, with the Villiers institute, or just being his benignly-absent-minded self? Adventures with Nicholas and the gang? I don't know that there is much room to play in the text itself, but feel free to prove me wrong! I am happy for whatever other characters you might want to include as well, including OCs.
In The Flesh
Shirley Wilson
I just got into this fandom a little before the Yuletide season started picking up, and it's fantastic! It's looking at a lot of interesting social stuff through the lense of a post-zombie-apocalypse lense. I love the main characters tons, and I love the secondary characters and I love the world with its slightly wacky levels of technology. Lookin' at you Mrs. 'Filming things on a webcam and distributing them on VHS!' Anyway! I am pretty confident that we should get lots of good fic for the main folks, and I thought I would focus my request on my favourite of the secondary characters: Shirley Wilson, Philip's mom.
She's just so earnest, and cheerful! She wants to help people, and she's not afraid to take risks or to go against the community. That doesn’t mean she is fantastic, but she learns, and she tries and she really means well! I would love to see a story that focuses on her life and experiences in Roarton, and I think she's involved in enough things, either centrally or peripherally, to offer some good hooks. Please feel free to use any of the other characters from the show, as well! Here are a few ideas for prompts that occurred to me, but if you have another idea please go wild! All Shirley all the time :D How did Shirley decide that she wanted to help PDS sufferers? Shirley making her rounds, checking up on folks, either pre-canon or at any point between – post canon would be interesting as well, considering what Philip may be able to tell her about Amy. Shirley hosting another group session for families. Shirley dealing with Philip, just in general, or specifically post canon. Shirley backstory! Who is Philip's dad, anyway? How did she become a nurse, and was she any better at that? I could keep going, but I think that should give some ideas.
Whatever you write me in any fandom, wonderful author person, I am sure to love it, so thank you!
Thanks, first of all, for writing! That is really the most important thing, and I will be delighted with whatever I wind up getting. I am scamming most of this from my last year’s letter (including this line!), so hopefully it will retain some amount of coherency.
So first of all.... Generally speaking, I like stories that tell me a little bit more about the characters or the world they live in. I like stories with plot - with adventure, intrigue, and wacky hijinks. I also like stories that are more focused on character exploration – I don't need action if I have interesting introspection. I like both insider and outsider PoV stuff, and I feel like it is perfectly legit to write a story about a character that isn't from their perspective. I enjoy stories that are very emotionally intense, whether that means they are spilling over with ~feels~ or dark and unrelenting in tone – I enjoy horror, especially psychological horror, but also feel-good fluff.
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 appreciate it. If you include porn, 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, though I think porn can certainly *be* the main action, so to speak, as long as it is showing me something new about characters or their relationship. I'm really hard to squick – I can handle the weird stuff, so to speak, so don't be afraid to show me your kinks! More than anything, when it comes (heh) to porn I want to be able to believe that the sex I'm reading is in character for whoever I'm reading about – not necessarily that it is something they want, but that the reactions I'm reading are true to whoever is having them, if that makes any sense.
If you are looking to find out more about me, I have a more mundane and fairly neglected lj/dw over at
elanya, and I am I am often online in the yuletide chat (which you can find out how to access here), either as Lan-chilling, hippo-Lan, or some other similar configuration of Lan-somethingorother. I am also Measured_Words on AO3 :) On to the specifics! Please note that these are in no meaningful order. Also, Optional Details are Optional - I hope these will give you some ideas if you need them, and some helpful insights into what I love about the canons and the characters, but if you have other ideas I haven't thought of feel free to run with them as well :D
Hadestown - Anais Mitchell
Any - nominated: Hades, Persephone, Orpheus, Eurydice
Hadestown is a folk opera retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth. The whole thing is up on youtube - check out the playlist above!
I would seriously love to see more fic about any of the relationships in the musical, but I admit that I am most interested in things that cut through or across the relationship lines, like Hades/Eurydice, or Persephone/Orpheus, or even Persephone/Eurydice and Hades/Orpheus! I am happy whether those relationships are shippy or gen, and whatever rating you want to make them, but I would like to see more of those dynamics explored, especially in relation to how they affect what happens in the story as presented in the musical, or after it. Hades/Eurydice is heavily hinted, at the very least, and I'd like to see exactly what he has in mind for his little songbird once she comes to him in desperation - or what happens between them at the end of things. Persephone/Orpheus interests me because they both strike me as fairly worldly in ways that the other characters don't approach. Maybe they've encountered each other before? I also like the idea of Orpheus, once he is in Hadestown, being willing to do whatever is necessary to find Eurydice, including seducing/being seduced by Persephone. She seems very sympathetic to him in her later conversation with Hades, too, and I would love to see anything that expounds on their interaction once he stumbles into her bar. Or - since Persephone does leave Hadestown - what if she ever encounters Orpheus later? With Hades/Orpheus, there is of course an excellent hatesex opportunity, and more of the same 'willing to do whatever it takes' attitude: for Orpheus, it's getting Eurydice back, and for Hades, it's maintaining his hard earned control. With Persephone/Eurydice, I think there is more room for a mentorship, or protective or sympathetic relationship. I'm sure Eurydice isn't the first little 'Songbird' Hades has brought home, and I'd love to see someone's take on what Persephone thinks of that!
Getting back to the main couples, I love the relationship between Hades and Persephone in this, because this Persephone is so much more mature. They clearly care for each other but they both clearly have their own things going on and have managed to come to some kind of arrangement. Does Hades really not know what she is up to? If he does know, why does he indulge her? How exactly has their relationship changed, and how do they both feel about that - really this could apply to any part of Canon. What are things like between them after Hades refuses to let Eurydice go? With Eurydice/Orpheus, I love how naive she is so comparatively - she asks the more practical questions, but she trust his answers and his general devil-may-care attitude. Despite this attitude, he's very cynical about the world. How did they get together? Feel free to expand about any of the parts of canon, especially the long trek home and how and why everything went wrong there, and what it says about their relationship. What exactly is it that Orpheus can't bring himself to trust in the end - is it her? is it Hades? Something else?
I would absolutely be delighted with fic that focuses on any one of the characters, outside of a relationship as well, including people's lives outside of Hadestown, before or after canon where applicable. Some things I generally love about them: Persephone's maturity and independence; Hades's belief in himself as some kind of underdog who has clawed himself up from nothing and knows what is best, and his willingness to do whatever he sees necessary to maintain his power; the dichotomy of Orpheus's worldliness and his lack of concern for mundane problems; Eurydice's naive hopefulness contrasted with her desperation and how what she encounters/endures in Hadestown changes her (or not).I like the other characters as well, such as Hermes and the Fates, so feel free to use them as well if you are inspired!
The Death of the Necromancer - Martha Wells
Arisilde Damal
I love this book - it remains my favourite of Wells's novels. I love the setting - Victorian gaslight fantasy - and I love that the protagonists are of ambiguous morals. Arisilde and Nicholas vie for my favourite character, but I decided to focus this year! I assure you that I will be happy with just about anything Arisilde related, but I am particularly story-hungry for more about him pre-canon - what was he like before he became an opium addict out of spite? How did he come to that decision - was it really a conscious choice or was it more justified escapism? Or little of both? How did his relationships change? I am fascinated by how he got to this point in his life, basically, and I love everything that makes him who he is - his brilliance, his spaciness, his cheerfulness contrasted by his moroseness.
If that's not something of particular interest to you as a writer - how about something about him post-canon, putting his life back together, getting more involved in Nicholas' schemes, with the Villiers institute, or just being his benignly-absent-minded self? Adventures with Nicholas and the gang? I don't know that there is much room to play in the text itself, but feel free to prove me wrong! I am happy for whatever other characters you might want to include as well, including OCs.
In The Flesh
Shirley Wilson
I just got into this fandom a little before the Yuletide season started picking up, and it's fantastic! It's looking at a lot of interesting social stuff through the lense of a post-zombie-apocalypse lense. I love the main characters tons, and I love the secondary characters and I love the world with its slightly wacky levels of technology. Lookin' at you Mrs. 'Filming things on a webcam and distributing them on VHS!' Anyway! I am pretty confident that we should get lots of good fic for the main folks, and I thought I would focus my request on my favourite of the secondary characters: Shirley Wilson, Philip's mom.
She's just so earnest, and cheerful! She wants to help people, and she's not afraid to take risks or to go against the community. That doesn’t mean she is fantastic, but she learns, and she tries and she really means well! I would love to see a story that focuses on her life and experiences in Roarton, and I think she's involved in enough things, either centrally or peripherally, to offer some good hooks. Please feel free to use any of the other characters from the show, as well! Here are a few ideas for prompts that occurred to me, but if you have another idea please go wild! All Shirley all the time :D How did Shirley decide that she wanted to help PDS sufferers? Shirley making her rounds, checking up on folks, either pre-canon or at any point between – post canon would be interesting as well, considering what Philip may be able to tell her about Amy. Shirley hosting another group session for families. Shirley dealing with Philip, just in general, or specifically post canon. Shirley backstory! Who is Philip's dad, anyway? How did she become a nurse, and was she any better at that? I could keep going, but I think that should give some ideas.
Whatever you write me in any fandom, wonderful author person, I am sure to love it, so thank you!
