Yuletide Letter
Oct. 7th, 2013 12:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerHello, dear Yuletide author! I am fairly easy to please, as I like most things: gen, het, femmeslash, slash, OT3s, ridiculous adventure. Deliciously bittersweet fic is delightful, and so are fluff and rainbows and fun.
Likes
- Characters who understand each other, even if they sometimes drive each other up the wall
- Loyalty, especially characters doing stupidly amazing things out of loyalty for each other
- Characters who are passionate about something (aside from just each other) – who love their work, their art, their stamp-collecting, anything
- Hurt/comfort fics
- Friendship
- Witty banter
- Cuddling
- “Five things…” stories
- Epistolary fic
Dislikes
- Non-canonical character death
Black Swan
Characters: Nina Sayers, Lily
WERESWANS. IT WOULD EXPLAIN SO MUCH.
On a less cracktastic note, I would also love a story about Nina and Lily trying to put Nina’s life back together after the events of Black Swan.
This movie! I love Nina so much - I realize the ending is ambiguous, but I am super invested in Nina surviving the end of the movie, so please keep her alive. I love the gothicness, not just in the imagery but in the cramped, claustrophobic feel of the movie that grows from Nina’s isolation - it would make for an excellent fairy tale retelling or simply gothic-tinged magical realism.
And I love how Lily helps Nina break out of that isolation, just a little bit. I love Lily: she’s the most positive and supportive force in Nina’s life, despite having her own issues, and I love the way that she fights to create a friendship with Nina despite the fact that Thomas is trying to pit them against each other.
(I loathe Thomas. Feel free to ignore Thomas insofar as it is possible. I tend to think Nina needs to get away from ballet in order to restore her mental health anyway,, so feel free to send her somewhere else. Gothic asylum? Waitressing job at a shadowy cafe? Maybe she and Lily go to Europe, and there could be castles and chateau and deep shadowy forests?)
I am really feeling the atmospheric possibilities for Black Swan fic.
I tend to read Nina as having a crush on Lily that she has no idea how to deal with, but Lily may not reciprocate those feelings - and given that Nina’s been hallucinating about killing Lily, any relationship, friendship or romantic, is going to be rather fraught.
Code Name Verity - Elizabeth Wein
Characters: Julie, Maddie
THIS BOOK OH MY HEART. I don’t want a fix-it for the Event, but I would love something set before: Maddie and Julie having a lovely time together, riding around the countryside or having tea or just chatting by the fireside. And possibly making out.
I don’t tend to see Maddie & Julie as having a full-blown romantic relationship (not least because it’s the forties, there would be some angst, I do not think I can handle Maddie & Julie angst). But there’s definitely a romantic element to the intensity of their friendship, and I could see them exploring that physically without ever going quite far enough that they have to face that head-on. It could be very bittersweet.
Another thought: a tropetastic story involving Maddie & Julie cuddling for warmth would be amazing.
Also - and this is even more optional than my other optional details that are optional! - but I would be happy with CNV crossed over with anything in the world. I already got the perfect Ballet Shoes and CNV crossover last year (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
anomilygrace’s The Surly Bonds of Earth), but there are so many other World War II era stories that it could be crossed over with!
The Montmaray Journals (Julie meets Sophie and Veronica at a high society event! They bond over people who mistake them for English!), I Capture the Castle (Maddie and Cassandra meet after the war!), The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - okay, I don’t have a specific idea for that one, but it’s the right time period!
Or Sherrie Smith’s Flygirl! So, okay, there is a literal ocean between Ida Mae and England, but she’s a pilot, oceans are clearly as nothing. Right? Right?
It occurs to me that I might read too many Depression and World War II era books.
Dostana
Characters: Neha, Sam, Kunal
I love the chemistry these three have together, either as friends or as an OT3. I'd love a story about the fun the three of them had together while Sam and Kunal were still living in Neha's apartment. The song montages show them getting up to all kinds of crazy awesome things together, and I'd love to read about that.
Alternatively, I’d love a post-movie fic where they realize their latent OT3 potential. Maybe Neha can repay them for the wonderful dates they took her on (amusement park! At night!) with some amazing plan of her own?
I love this movie so much! These three are so obviously meant for each other; their friendship and possibly eventually OT3ness fills me with joy. And the movie is so effortlessly, effervescently joyful and silly and full of brilliant song and dance montages. Like so:
The chemistry between all three leads! The awesomeness of Neha! - "Why yes," her dancing says, "I am the hottest girl in the world."
Finally, if neither of the prompts from my sign-up are doing it for you, I've thought of another possibility: Kunal and Neha come down with something or other, and Sam has to make use of his mad nursing skills. Kunal and Neha get "I am awesome at my job!" moments in the movie; let's give one to Sam, too!
Queen’s Thief - Megan Whalen Turner
Characters: Eugenides, Costis, Attolia
I adore this series endlessly: the style, sparse but evocative; the ancient/Renaissance/AU Greece setting; the characters - oh, the characters! I love Eugenides’ wit and trickery, and Attolia’s general imperious toughness, and Costis’ sense of duty and honor; and the intertwining of personal and political loyalty in these stories.
OH THE LOYALTY. Write anything about any of these characters being stupidly loyal to each other, and I will probably jump up and down shrieking with glee.
I adore the relationships between the characters. Attolia/Gen is this wonderful, compelling combination and adorable and FULL OF TRUST ISSUES. I also think Costis has a ridiculous adorable crush on Gen, so if you can write Costis/Gen that would be amazing, especially if you can make it make sense with Gen/Attolia.
If that doesn’t float your boat, then Eugenides Does Something Stupid and has to be rescued by his queen and/or his faithful bodyguard is probably good for endless entertainment.
Sword Song - Rosemary Sutcliff
Characters: Aud
LADY AUD’S ADVENTURES IN ICELAND. Trolls, geysers, Icelandic ponies! I would be so excited to get fic about an older woman having adventures, you have no idea.
Or, alternatively: how did Muirgoed and Aud come to be friends, despite the whole former-queen-turned-slave thing?
Seriously, Iceland adventures. I so, so wanted to follow Lady Aud rather than Bjarni when she sailed out of the book. THERE COULD BE TROLLS. Also geysers! Also those adorable Icelandic ponies with long hair!
Alternatively, if plotty troll adventures sound terrifying, I would also adore a story about Aud and Muirgoed - either how they came to be friends, or perhaps the two of them sitting by the peat fire in Iceland, drinking mulled ale or whatever hot drink it is that medieval Icelanders enjoyed (I don’t know very much about Iceland), and reminiscing about their pasts.
Likes
- Characters who understand each other, even if they sometimes drive each other up the wall
- Loyalty, especially characters doing stupidly amazing things out of loyalty for each other
- Characters who are passionate about something (aside from just each other) – who love their work, their art, their stamp-collecting, anything
- Hurt/comfort fics
- Friendship
- Witty banter
- Cuddling
- “Five things…” stories
- Epistolary fic
Dislikes
- Non-canonical character death
Black Swan
Characters: Nina Sayers, Lily
WERESWANS. IT WOULD EXPLAIN SO MUCH.
On a less cracktastic note, I would also love a story about Nina and Lily trying to put Nina’s life back together after the events of Black Swan.
This movie! I love Nina so much - I realize the ending is ambiguous, but I am super invested in Nina surviving the end of the movie, so please keep her alive. I love the gothicness, not just in the imagery but in the cramped, claustrophobic feel of the movie that grows from Nina’s isolation - it would make for an excellent fairy tale retelling or simply gothic-tinged magical realism.
And I love how Lily helps Nina break out of that isolation, just a little bit. I love Lily: she’s the most positive and supportive force in Nina’s life, despite having her own issues, and I love the way that she fights to create a friendship with Nina despite the fact that Thomas is trying to pit them against each other.
(I loathe Thomas. Feel free to ignore Thomas insofar as it is possible. I tend to think Nina needs to get away from ballet in order to restore her mental health anyway,, so feel free to send her somewhere else. Gothic asylum? Waitressing job at a shadowy cafe? Maybe she and Lily go to Europe, and there could be castles and chateau and deep shadowy forests?)
I am really feeling the atmospheric possibilities for Black Swan fic.
I tend to read Nina as having a crush on Lily that she has no idea how to deal with, but Lily may not reciprocate those feelings - and given that Nina’s been hallucinating about killing Lily, any relationship, friendship or romantic, is going to be rather fraught.
Code Name Verity - Elizabeth Wein
Characters: Julie, Maddie
THIS BOOK OH MY HEART. I don’t want a fix-it for the Event, but I would love something set before: Maddie and Julie having a lovely time together, riding around the countryside or having tea or just chatting by the fireside. And possibly making out.
I don’t tend to see Maddie & Julie as having a full-blown romantic relationship (not least because it’s the forties, there would be some angst, I do not think I can handle Maddie & Julie angst). But there’s definitely a romantic element to the intensity of their friendship, and I could see them exploring that physically without ever going quite far enough that they have to face that head-on. It could be very bittersweet.
Another thought: a tropetastic story involving Maddie & Julie cuddling for warmth would be amazing.
Also - and this is even more optional than my other optional details that are optional! - but I would be happy with CNV crossed over with anything in the world. I already got the perfect Ballet Shoes and CNV crossover last year (
anomilygrace’s The Surly Bonds of Earth), but there are so many other World War II era stories that it could be crossed over with! The Montmaray Journals (Julie meets Sophie and Veronica at a high society event! They bond over people who mistake them for English!), I Capture the Castle (Maddie and Cassandra meet after the war!), The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - okay, I don’t have a specific idea for that one, but it’s the right time period!
Or Sherrie Smith’s Flygirl! So, okay, there is a literal ocean between Ida Mae and England, but she’s a pilot, oceans are clearly as nothing. Right? Right?
It occurs to me that I might read too many Depression and World War II era books.
Dostana
Characters: Neha, Sam, Kunal
I love the chemistry these three have together, either as friends or as an OT3. I'd love a story about the fun the three of them had together while Sam and Kunal were still living in Neha's apartment. The song montages show them getting up to all kinds of crazy awesome things together, and I'd love to read about that.
Alternatively, I’d love a post-movie fic where they realize their latent OT3 potential. Maybe Neha can repay them for the wonderful dates they took her on (amusement park! At night!) with some amazing plan of her own?
I love this movie so much! These three are so obviously meant for each other; their friendship and possibly eventually OT3ness fills me with joy. And the movie is so effortlessly, effervescently joyful and silly and full of brilliant song and dance montages. Like so:
The chemistry between all three leads! The awesomeness of Neha! - "Why yes," her dancing says, "I am the hottest girl in the world."
Finally, if neither of the prompts from my sign-up are doing it for you, I've thought of another possibility: Kunal and Neha come down with something or other, and Sam has to make use of his mad nursing skills. Kunal and Neha get "I am awesome at my job!" moments in the movie; let's give one to Sam, too!
Queen’s Thief - Megan Whalen Turner
Characters: Eugenides, Costis, Attolia
I adore this series endlessly: the style, sparse but evocative; the ancient/Renaissance/AU Greece setting; the characters - oh, the characters! I love Eugenides’ wit and trickery, and Attolia’s general imperious toughness, and Costis’ sense of duty and honor; and the intertwining of personal and political loyalty in these stories.
OH THE LOYALTY. Write anything about any of these characters being stupidly loyal to each other, and I will probably jump up and down shrieking with glee.
I adore the relationships between the characters. Attolia/Gen is this wonderful, compelling combination and adorable and FULL OF TRUST ISSUES. I also think Costis has a ridiculous adorable crush on Gen, so if you can write Costis/Gen that would be amazing, especially if you can make it make sense with Gen/Attolia.
If that doesn’t float your boat, then Eugenides Does Something Stupid and has to be rescued by his queen and/or his faithful bodyguard is probably good for endless entertainment.
Sword Song - Rosemary Sutcliff
Characters: Aud
LADY AUD’S ADVENTURES IN ICELAND. Trolls, geysers, Icelandic ponies! I would be so excited to get fic about an older woman having adventures, you have no idea.
Or, alternatively: how did Muirgoed and Aud come to be friends, despite the whole former-queen-turned-slave thing?
Seriously, Iceland adventures. I so, so wanted to follow Lady Aud rather than Bjarni when she sailed out of the book. THERE COULD BE TROLLS. Also geysers! Also those adorable Icelandic ponies with long hair!
Alternatively, if plotty troll adventures sound terrifying, I would also adore a story about Aud and Muirgoed - either how they came to be friends, or perhaps the two of them sitting by the peat fire in Iceland, drinking mulled ale or whatever hot drink it is that medieval Icelanders enjoyed (I don’t know very much about Iceland), and reminiscing about their pasts.
