fiercelydreamed (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
fiercelydreamed) wrote2009-11-12 07:09 pm
fiercelydreamed) wrote2009-11-12 07:09 pm
Entry tags:
Dear Yuletide Writer
First off, can I just say that I'm thrilled by just the idea of you? Thank you so much for offering to write one (or more) of these fandoms! I think I've only ever found fic for one of them, so the idea that I'm going to get to read more delights me.
So, I'm trying to think what would be helpful for you to know about me. First off: I love stories where things don't go to formula or to plan. I really dig it when the story doesn't go how I expect (or get there by the expected path), or when the characters make choices that a Generic Person would not make. So if at any point you find yourself hit with an idea that seems a little odd or off-kilter, don't feel like you ought to shy away -- I'll probably adore it.
There are relatively few elements I wouldn't want to see in my Yulefic. If you decide to write a fic toward the darker end of the spectrum, I'd prefer it's not completely without hope. I'm okay with violence, but would rather not have a story that prominently features torture, abuse, or rape, especially used for the purpose of creating vulnerability or just setting up some h/c. (Obviously, canonically dark characters and dark events are fine: I really wouldn't expect, say, a unicorns-and-kittens coda to Jennifer's Body.) I genuinely meant it when I said I'm happy with gen, het, slash, or femmeslash, but I have a hard time connecting to really traditionally-written romances (prototypic example: masculine hero, swooning heroine, traditional gender roles, missionary position yet passionately orgasmic sex). Similarly, I don't observe Christmas, so I don't tend to get much out of holiday fics.
Things that fill me with glee: plottiness; sharp and canonically-rooted characterization and dialogue; engrossingly neat ideas; people exploring or blurring their own identities; funny lines (especially in unfunny situations); ballsy women; minorities and queer people in stories that aren't Very Special Episodes; a vivid turn of phrase; people who change; people who aren't always good people; anti-heroes; compelling villains; people who end up in relationships that aren't what they expected; well-earned happy endings; endings that leave possibilities open and unanswered; sex that doesn't go down like I expected; unconventional romantic relationships; meaningful platonic relationships; mistakes; transformation; metaphysics; subversion; sharp-tongued narrators; viewpoint characters who don't see everything; people who sometimes Miss the Boat; blurred realities; superpowers; ordinary people confounding people with superpowers; group bonding; group bondage; meta; reappearance of the dead and the missing where it's not just fix-it fic; heartbreak; mytharcs; post-apocalypses; stories that dig into the imperfections and problems of the source text; grand adventures; totally mundane yet bizarre minor occurrences; and people calling shit like it is. Oh, and I also love a lot of other stuff, too.
On my requests, I'm just going to give you a little more information about what it is that spoke to me in these fandoms. Please don't feel bound by it -- like I said, I love stories that confound my expectations. I'm just going into this in case something I say sparks an idea for you. Text in italics is what I put in the request form (hence the repetition).
Jennifer's Body: I'd love to see a story about Needy after the end of the movie (your call on how far after). I'm particularly interested in what she does with her power and in how she navigates the "normal" world and the people in it. I'm fine with gen, het, or femmeslash -- no preference on whether or not there's sexual content. If it's het, I prefer unconventional dynamics, and for either het or femmeslash, I prefer consensual sex (though BDSM and powerplay are a-ok by me).
The thing that I really love about Needy is that she isn't just a victim, that she's transformed by what happens in a way that makes her flawed and also powerful. I love the way the movie turns both slasher-tropes and fairy-tales on their heads, and the way that Megan and Needy were by far the most important people in each other's lives. I love Needy's bloody justice, and I would love to see her move on with her life without overcoming, forgetting, or losing the marks of what happened.
Angels in America: I'd love a story about any of these three characters post-Perestroika. I'm particularly curious about the idea of Belize and/or Prior crossing paths with Harper again, and who she's become, but that's far from the only story I'd want to see. If you choose to focus only on one of the three, I'd prefer Belize or Harper. Gen, het, slash, and femmeslash are all fine with me, provided there's consent.
I love Belize's sharp edges, and his sharp tongue, and his intolerance for bullshit, and the lengths he'll go to once he's invested in someone. I love Harper for her loose hold on reality and the way that she'll catch hold of the thing that's really true in a situation, that no one else wants to see or acknowledge, and that her sly sense of humor and proportion never fades even when her heart is breaking. I love Prior for his flustered, flamboyant, funny and desperate struggles in the face of what he's told is brutal, is destiny. And I love how very, very queer he is. And great googly moogly, I love Tony Kushner's dialogue.
Runaways: Gert's by far my favorite character in the series, so I'd love anything centered on her -- especially anything that takes place chronologically after her death (fix-it not required). I also dig Chase and Victor as characters and would be happy to see fic about either of them. I'm fine with gen, het, slash, or femmeslash. Consensual sex only, please, if you choose to write sexual content, and when it comes to het, I prefer unconventional dynamics and dislike anything traditionally romantic.
I live in hope that Gert -- chunky, mouthy, blunt, harsh, brilliant, beautiful Gert -- will someday reappear in canon, and I hope that however she does, her death won't have been a fake-out. I want it to have been real for her, or for her to come back different for it. I identify more with her than just about any female comics character I've ever encountered. I love how undone Chase is by her, and then by losing her. I love how he never shakes the dumbass surfer fratboy-in-waiting vibe, how he doesn't really think that much of himself, how he can never really say the right thing, and so blindingly stupid acts of heroism become the only way he can express how much he gives a shit about the others. I love how Victor is a freakin' robot and still most days he's the sanest one of the bunch, I love that he's a geek, and I love his baffled teenage frustration at the drama he's blundered into. FYI, I could so easily buy any of these three paired (or trio'd!) off in any combination. Also, Brian K. Vaughan's cutting dialogue and pop-culture in-jokes have made him my favorite comics writer.
Lilo & Stitch: I'd love to see Lilo twenty years later. Gen, het, and femmeslash are all fine by me. Weird careers, hijinks, and intergalactic encounters are also all pluses.
This movie came out after I'd lost all faith in Disney (excepting the Pixar collaborations), and it may be my favorite cel animation ever. Lilo! I love her. I love her perspective. I love her inability to make a small mistake, and how hard she'll try to fix her screw-ups. I loved, btw, that this movie wasn't a romance, and that her small family was never idolized or written off as unfixable. I want her life to be as off-kilter and improbable as her childhood, and for her to like it that way. Also, I adore Stitch, and I will probably pee my pants with glee if you even reference Cobra Bubbles.
If you have any questions, please feel free to send them to me through the Yuletide mods or leave them as anonymous comments. Whatever you do, I hope you pick something that you really want to write, because I think that an author's delight in their own story always makes it burn a little brighter. I'm already excited to see what you'll do.
Thank you again for making me a present!
So, I'm trying to think what would be helpful for you to know about me. First off: I love stories where things don't go to formula or to plan. I really dig it when the story doesn't go how I expect (or get there by the expected path), or when the characters make choices that a Generic Person would not make. So if at any point you find yourself hit with an idea that seems a little odd or off-kilter, don't feel like you ought to shy away -- I'll probably adore it.
There are relatively few elements I wouldn't want to see in my Yulefic. If you decide to write a fic toward the darker end of the spectrum, I'd prefer it's not completely without hope. I'm okay with violence, but would rather not have a story that prominently features torture, abuse, or rape, especially used for the purpose of creating vulnerability or just setting up some h/c. (Obviously, canonically dark characters and dark events are fine: I really wouldn't expect, say, a unicorns-and-kittens coda to Jennifer's Body.) I genuinely meant it when I said I'm happy with gen, het, slash, or femmeslash, but I have a hard time connecting to really traditionally-written romances (prototypic example: masculine hero, swooning heroine, traditional gender roles, missionary position yet passionately orgasmic sex). Similarly, I don't observe Christmas, so I don't tend to get much out of holiday fics.
Things that fill me with glee: plottiness; sharp and canonically-rooted characterization and dialogue; engrossingly neat ideas; people exploring or blurring their own identities; funny lines (especially in unfunny situations); ballsy women; minorities and queer people in stories that aren't Very Special Episodes; a vivid turn of phrase; people who change; people who aren't always good people; anti-heroes; compelling villains; people who end up in relationships that aren't what they expected; well-earned happy endings; endings that leave possibilities open and unanswered; sex that doesn't go down like I expected; unconventional romantic relationships; meaningful platonic relationships; mistakes; transformation; metaphysics; subversion; sharp-tongued narrators; viewpoint characters who don't see everything; people who sometimes Miss the Boat; blurred realities; superpowers; ordinary people confounding people with superpowers; group bonding; group bondage; meta; reappearance of the dead and the missing where it's not just fix-it fic; heartbreak; mytharcs; post-apocalypses; stories that dig into the imperfections and problems of the source text; grand adventures; totally mundane yet bizarre minor occurrences; and people calling shit like it is. Oh, and I also love a lot of other stuff, too.
On my requests, I'm just going to give you a little more information about what it is that spoke to me in these fandoms. Please don't feel bound by it -- like I said, I love stories that confound my expectations. I'm just going into this in case something I say sparks an idea for you. Text in italics is what I put in the request form (hence the repetition).
Jennifer's Body: I'd love to see a story about Needy after the end of the movie (your call on how far after). I'm particularly interested in what she does with her power and in how she navigates the "normal" world and the people in it. I'm fine with gen, het, or femmeslash -- no preference on whether or not there's sexual content. If it's het, I prefer unconventional dynamics, and for either het or femmeslash, I prefer consensual sex (though BDSM and powerplay are a-ok by me).
The thing that I really love about Needy is that she isn't just a victim, that she's transformed by what happens in a way that makes her flawed and also powerful. I love the way the movie turns both slasher-tropes and fairy-tales on their heads, and the way that Megan and Needy were by far the most important people in each other's lives. I love Needy's bloody justice, and I would love to see her move on with her life without overcoming, forgetting, or losing the marks of what happened.
Angels in America: I'd love a story about any of these three characters post-Perestroika. I'm particularly curious about the idea of Belize and/or Prior crossing paths with Harper again, and who she's become, but that's far from the only story I'd want to see. If you choose to focus only on one of the three, I'd prefer Belize or Harper. Gen, het, slash, and femmeslash are all fine with me, provided there's consent.
I love Belize's sharp edges, and his sharp tongue, and his intolerance for bullshit, and the lengths he'll go to once he's invested in someone. I love Harper for her loose hold on reality and the way that she'll catch hold of the thing that's really true in a situation, that no one else wants to see or acknowledge, and that her sly sense of humor and proportion never fades even when her heart is breaking. I love Prior for his flustered, flamboyant, funny and desperate struggles in the face of what he's told is brutal, is destiny. And I love how very, very queer he is. And great googly moogly, I love Tony Kushner's dialogue.
Runaways: Gert's by far my favorite character in the series, so I'd love anything centered on her -- especially anything that takes place chronologically after her death (fix-it not required). I also dig Chase and Victor as characters and would be happy to see fic about either of them. I'm fine with gen, het, slash, or femmeslash. Consensual sex only, please, if you choose to write sexual content, and when it comes to het, I prefer unconventional dynamics and dislike anything traditionally romantic.
I live in hope that Gert -- chunky, mouthy, blunt, harsh, brilliant, beautiful Gert -- will someday reappear in canon, and I hope that however she does, her death won't have been a fake-out. I want it to have been real for her, or for her to come back different for it. I identify more with her than just about any female comics character I've ever encountered. I love how undone Chase is by her, and then by losing her. I love how he never shakes the dumbass surfer fratboy-in-waiting vibe, how he doesn't really think that much of himself, how he can never really say the right thing, and so blindingly stupid acts of heroism become the only way he can express how much he gives a shit about the others. I love how Victor is a freakin' robot and still most days he's the sanest one of the bunch, I love that he's a geek, and I love his baffled teenage frustration at the drama he's blundered into. FYI, I could so easily buy any of these three paired (or trio'd!) off in any combination. Also, Brian K. Vaughan's cutting dialogue and pop-culture in-jokes have made him my favorite comics writer.
Lilo & Stitch: I'd love to see Lilo twenty years later. Gen, het, and femmeslash are all fine by me. Weird careers, hijinks, and intergalactic encounters are also all pluses.
This movie came out after I'd lost all faith in Disney (excepting the Pixar collaborations), and it may be my favorite cel animation ever. Lilo! I love her. I love her perspective. I love her inability to make a small mistake, and how hard she'll try to fix her screw-ups. I loved, btw, that this movie wasn't a romance, and that her small family was never idolized or written off as unfixable. I want her life to be as off-kilter and improbable as her childhood, and for her to like it that way. Also, I adore Stitch, and I will probably pee my pants with glee if you even reference Cobra Bubbles.
If you have any questions, please feel free to send them to me through the Yuletide mods or leave them as anonymous comments. Whatever you do, I hope you pick something that you really want to write, because I think that an author's delight in their own story always makes it burn a little brighter. I'm already excited to see what you'll do.
Thank you again for making me a present!
no subject
And and and ... I'm trolling Yuletide letters. Just wanted to say, OMG, LILO AND STITCH TOTALLY RESTORED MY FAITH IN DISNEY TOO! Someone should write this for you. *nods* Or else ... come NYR stories ...
no subject
no subject
(Anonymous) 2009-12-04 02:58 pm (UTC)(link)