Dear Yuletide Writer
Oct. 19th, 2013 12:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
grey_bardDear Yuletide Writer,
Okay, first off, don't panic! It's not that I'm really asking you for bizarre moresomes, it's just that there are several specific characters I would like you to pick from. Okay? Cool. I'm very okay with optional details being optional, though I definitely want at least ONE of the non-optional requested characters to be the main character of the story.
Personally, I am not into incest, statutory rape, non-canonical character betrayal* by a fellow hero or adultery. (Poly is not adultery, to my mind, nor is any sort of standing agreement.)
I love adventure, plot, humor, heroism and friendship alone or in any combination you can give me. I would appreciate it if you did not genderswap non-canonically genderswapped female characters into men, or AU alien, robot or supernatural characters into humans. Otherwise, AUs are fine with me.
Just please, make at least one of the requested characters the main character.
I'm including extra extra optional details with a few fic plots I would enjoy for each fandom in case you are the kind of author who prefers that kind of detail. I would enjoy fics with completely different plots just as much, so don't feel bound by them at all!
The fandoms here are not ranked in any kind of order. I'd be equally thrilled to see any of them in my inbox on Yuletide. Some of the things I am asking for are not just rare, they're super-rare. In at least one case there are literally no fics on the entire internet for it. Just by trying, you are making me very, very happy.
*Character betrayal, to my mind, includes murder, attempted murder, rape, stealing your significant other, or in any other way behaving in an evil fashion toward a character or their loved ones. If it didn't happen in canon, I really super don't want to see it.
The Fandoms:
Safehold Series - David Weber
Character: Merlin Athrawes | Nimue Alban
Original prompt: Merlin is a transgender, transhuman robot whose self-imposed mission is to tempt and seduce a (fallen back into) renaissance society into the wonders of modernity. That's amazing. I would love fic exploring any of these aspects of the story!
Also interesting to me are the robot out of time issues, the adjustment to suddenly being an ancient secret robot issues, the adjusting to life in a theocracy issies, the humanity survived its planned extinction sense of relief or Merlin's past as Nimue, all of which were more implied than observed. Any take on Merlin's gender or identity issues (or none) you want works for me, as long as Merlin is still competent and fascinating.
More (extra, extra optional) details if you want them: One possible plot I would really enjoy is Merlin sneaking into enemy territory in disguise on a secret mission! Another would be teaming up with Ahnzhelyk Phonda (or whatever she's calling herself this week) to Scarlet Pimpernel some dissidents to safety!
Nantucket trilogy - S.M. Stirling
Characters: Marian Alston, Swindapa Kurlelo
Original prompt: I ship Marian Alston/Swindapa Kurlelo a lot, okay? Heroic military leader saves and falls in love with beautiful barbarian princess done, unironically, with two women in those roles? Canonically f/f, and they go on to be warrior life-partners, married ever after? What's not to love! Exploring any or all of this - their adventures in between the books, their relationship, Swindapa's point of view on the events of the first book - would work great for me.
If you want to write gen fic about one or the other of of them before they met, that would work for me too. I do not absolutely need to have both of them
What I would not like is an exploration Swindapa's life in the time just before the book, when she is being raped and enslaved by her tribal enemies, or fics set long after the books, about them getting old, having marital trouble and/or dying.
More (extra, extra optional) details if you want them: The two of them fighting off bandits or pirates or something, using a Cunning Plan would be an example of a plot that would really work for me. Alternately exploring the Bronze Age American mainland together in the early days!
Mother of Demons - Eric Flint
Characters: Guo, Ushulubang, Dhowifa OR Nukurren (Any of the four nominated characters, I hit "any")
Guo, Ushulubang, Dhowifa, Nukurren - all the nominated characters, I love all of these characters in their Bronze Age four-gender land squid glory, together or separately.
Their heroism, their interesting personalities, their worldbuilding. I would like fic about any of the nominated characters, apart or together. Stories exploring further fact that they're at ground zero for the early days of a major new religion, their experiences getting to know a new species (humans), or fic set in the Anshac empire that is so important to their lives but never seen on screen, would be amazing. Before, during or after the book works for me.
More (extra, extra optional) details if you want them: Ushulubang and the early days of the Way - sort of like the New Testament only with way more carousing and drinking and being land squids would be an amazing story. Or Nukurren's vastly bemused future, living with a bunch of holy pilgrim gukuy and crazy humans would also be an example of something that would rock my socks.
The Course of Empire - Eric Flint & K.D. Wentworth
Characters: Aille krinnu ava Pluthrak | Aille krinnu ava Terra, Kaln krinnu ava Krant, Wrot krinnu Hemm vau Wathnak | Wrot krinnu Aille vau Terra OR Yaut krinnu Jithra vau Pluthrak | Yaut krinnu ava Terra
(Any of the four nominated characters, I hit "any")
Alien politics of sea lion-like aliens changing their society by building a new clan/political faction! The Bond of Ebezon, a secretive monastic society of elders scheming to fix their culture for its own good! discovering the joys of a clan that doesn't think creativity is weird!
Fic about any or all of the nominated Jao characters works for me. Shipping any Jao (or none) with each other works (Except Oppuk, who's awful) for me. Humans can totally be a part of the story, but I would like one of the nominated Jao as the main character.
What I am not interested in is stories about the Jao's original conquest of Earth before the books.
More (extra, extra optional) details if you want them: Kaln joins Terra taif and makes friends, both Jao and human, who invent stuff with her, and she drives her engineering professors crazy! Alternately, Yaut appears impassive on the surface but is at his wits end trying to get enthusiastic humans to fit a Jao social structure, not to mention all those wacky outcast Jao who eagerly joined up!
Now You See Me (2013)
Character: Henley Reeves
Was the Eye originally real or did Dylan make it real? Was it originally real but revived by Dylan or someone else? Does it actually offer real magical powers or just the chance to use illusion powerfully for something beyond entertainment? I'm fascinated by those issues raised but unanswered by the movie.
Henley is my under-used favorite, so I would love fic about her or teamfic with her as the main character, set during or after the movie. Plots I am interested in include stories in which the Four Horsemen or the Eye are pulling off magic adventures, scheming up their next plan (or the next aspect of the movie's plan), or discovering more about the Eye. Exploration of the interaction between the magician characters as the year of the movie goes on, or after the movie, would be a great aspect to include.
What I am not interested in is fic set before the movie, fic not about Henley or fic purely about their personal lives.
More (extra, extra optional) details if you want them: Henley learns more about the Eye while setting up a new illusion with Dylan is a plot that has real potential! Alternately Henley's point of view on carrying out a new scam with Dylan and the Four Horsemen.
Les Contes d'Hoffman - Offenbach/Barbier
Character: La Muse | Nicklausse
The Muse, The Muse, the wonderful, sly, ambiguous, funny muse. The Muse/Hoffmann? The Muse backstory? The Muse having adventures as Nicklausse? The Muse popping up in different eras or with different artists, in crossovers with other Yuletide fandoms or in AUs? I do not care, as long as it is about The Muse.
More (extra, extra optional) details if you want them: Hoffmann gets himself into yet more ridiculous situations and The Muse alternately is amused by them and extricates him from them. Alternately, The Muse (platonically) seduces a key member of Eddie and the Cruisers or Jem and the Holograms or some other fictional musical group into doing their best work.
P.S. Check back in a couple days for links to some of these fandoms legally for free!
Okay, first off, don't panic! It's not that I'm really asking you for bizarre moresomes, it's just that there are several specific characters I would like you to pick from. Okay? Cool. I'm very okay with optional details being optional, though I definitely want at least ONE of the non-optional requested characters to be the main character of the story.
Personally, I am not into incest, statutory rape, non-canonical character betrayal* by a fellow hero or adultery. (Poly is not adultery, to my mind, nor is any sort of standing agreement.)
I love adventure, plot, humor, heroism and friendship alone or in any combination you can give me. I would appreciate it if you did not genderswap non-canonically genderswapped female characters into men, or AU alien, robot or supernatural characters into humans. Otherwise, AUs are fine with me.
Just please, make at least one of the requested characters the main character.
I'm including extra extra optional details with a few fic plots I would enjoy for each fandom in case you are the kind of author who prefers that kind of detail. I would enjoy fics with completely different plots just as much, so don't feel bound by them at all!
The fandoms here are not ranked in any kind of order. I'd be equally thrilled to see any of them in my inbox on Yuletide. Some of the things I am asking for are not just rare, they're super-rare. In at least one case there are literally no fics on the entire internet for it. Just by trying, you are making me very, very happy.
*Character betrayal, to my mind, includes murder, attempted murder, rape, stealing your significant other, or in any other way behaving in an evil fashion toward a character or their loved ones. If it didn't happen in canon, I really super don't want to see it.
The Fandoms:
Safehold Series - David Weber
Character: Merlin Athrawes | Nimue Alban
Original prompt: Merlin is a transgender, transhuman robot whose self-imposed mission is to tempt and seduce a (fallen back into) renaissance society into the wonders of modernity. That's amazing. I would love fic exploring any of these aspects of the story!
Also interesting to me are the robot out of time issues, the adjustment to suddenly being an ancient secret robot issues, the adjusting to life in a theocracy issies, the humanity survived its planned extinction sense of relief or Merlin's past as Nimue, all of which were more implied than observed. Any take on Merlin's gender or identity issues (or none) you want works for me, as long as Merlin is still competent and fascinating.
More (extra, extra optional) details if you want them: One possible plot I would really enjoy is Merlin sneaking into enemy territory in disguise on a secret mission! Another would be teaming up with Ahnzhelyk Phonda (or whatever she's calling herself this week) to Scarlet Pimpernel some dissidents to safety!
Nantucket trilogy - S.M. Stirling
Characters: Marian Alston, Swindapa Kurlelo
Original prompt: I ship Marian Alston/Swindapa Kurlelo a lot, okay? Heroic military leader saves and falls in love with beautiful barbarian princess done, unironically, with two women in those roles? Canonically f/f, and they go on to be warrior life-partners, married ever after? What's not to love! Exploring any or all of this - their adventures in between the books, their relationship, Swindapa's point of view on the events of the first book - would work great for me.
If you want to write gen fic about one or the other of of them before they met, that would work for me too. I do not absolutely need to have both of them
What I would not like is an exploration Swindapa's life in the time just before the book, when she is being raped and enslaved by her tribal enemies, or fics set long after the books, about them getting old, having marital trouble and/or dying.
More (extra, extra optional) details if you want them: The two of them fighting off bandits or pirates or something, using a Cunning Plan would be an example of a plot that would really work for me. Alternately exploring the Bronze Age American mainland together in the early days!
Mother of Demons - Eric Flint
Characters: Guo, Ushulubang, Dhowifa OR Nukurren (Any of the four nominated characters, I hit "any")
Guo, Ushulubang, Dhowifa, Nukurren - all the nominated characters, I love all of these characters in their Bronze Age four-gender land squid glory, together or separately.
Their heroism, their interesting personalities, their worldbuilding. I would like fic about any of the nominated characters, apart or together. Stories exploring further fact that they're at ground zero for the early days of a major new religion, their experiences getting to know a new species (humans), or fic set in the Anshac empire that is so important to their lives but never seen on screen, would be amazing. Before, during or after the book works for me.
More (extra, extra optional) details if you want them: Ushulubang and the early days of the Way - sort of like the New Testament only with way more carousing and drinking and being land squids would be an amazing story. Or Nukurren's vastly bemused future, living with a bunch of holy pilgrim gukuy and crazy humans would also be an example of something that would rock my socks.
The Course of Empire - Eric Flint & K.D. Wentworth
Characters: Aille krinnu ava Pluthrak | Aille krinnu ava Terra, Kaln krinnu ava Krant, Wrot krinnu Hemm vau Wathnak | Wrot krinnu Aille vau Terra OR Yaut krinnu Jithra vau Pluthrak | Yaut krinnu ava Terra
(Any of the four nominated characters, I hit "any")
Alien politics of sea lion-like aliens changing their society by building a new clan/political faction! The Bond of Ebezon, a secretive monastic society of elders scheming to fix their culture for its own good! discovering the joys of a clan that doesn't think creativity is weird!
Fic about any or all of the nominated Jao characters works for me. Shipping any Jao (or none) with each other works (Except Oppuk, who's awful) for me. Humans can totally be a part of the story, but I would like one of the nominated Jao as the main character.
What I am not interested in is stories about the Jao's original conquest of Earth before the books.
More (extra, extra optional) details if you want them: Kaln joins Terra taif and makes friends, both Jao and human, who invent stuff with her, and she drives her engineering professors crazy! Alternately, Yaut appears impassive on the surface but is at his wits end trying to get enthusiastic humans to fit a Jao social structure, not to mention all those wacky outcast Jao who eagerly joined up!
Now You See Me (2013)
Character: Henley Reeves
Was the Eye originally real or did Dylan make it real? Was it originally real but revived by Dylan or someone else? Does it actually offer real magical powers or just the chance to use illusion powerfully for something beyond entertainment? I'm fascinated by those issues raised but unanswered by the movie.
Henley is my under-used favorite, so I would love fic about her or teamfic with her as the main character, set during or after the movie. Plots I am interested in include stories in which the Four Horsemen or the Eye are pulling off magic adventures, scheming up their next plan (or the next aspect of the movie's plan), or discovering more about the Eye. Exploration of the interaction between the magician characters as the year of the movie goes on, or after the movie, would be a great aspect to include.
What I am not interested in is fic set before the movie, fic not about Henley or fic purely about their personal lives.
More (extra, extra optional) details if you want them: Henley learns more about the Eye while setting up a new illusion with Dylan is a plot that has real potential! Alternately Henley's point of view on carrying out a new scam with Dylan and the Four Horsemen.
Les Contes d'Hoffman - Offenbach/Barbier
Character: La Muse | Nicklausse
The Muse, The Muse, the wonderful, sly, ambiguous, funny muse. The Muse/Hoffmann? The Muse backstory? The Muse having adventures as Nicklausse? The Muse popping up in different eras or with different artists, in crossovers with other Yuletide fandoms or in AUs? I do not care, as long as it is about The Muse.
More (extra, extra optional) details if you want them: Hoffmann gets himself into yet more ridiculous situations and The Muse alternately is amused by them and extricates him from them. Alternately, The Muse (platonically) seduces a key member of Eddie and the Cruisers or Jem and the Holograms or some other fictional musical group into doing their best work.
P.S. Check back in a couple days for links to some of these fandoms legally for free!