Yuletide letter
Dec. 30th, 2012 09:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cyphomandraDear Yuletide person,
Thank you for writing for me! Really, I'll be happy just seeing what you do with whichever one of these fandoms you've signed up for, but feel free to read through these notes as well.
What I like hasn't changed much from previous years - in general terms I like plot (particularly if you can surprise me with characters doing consistent but unexpected things), humour, and justified angst, singly or simultaneously. I am not all that fond of the present tense, but can be sucked in if the story drags me along. I have no problem with sexual content (slash or het - Hands Off! is slashy in a low-key way, the central pairing for Santa Olivia is f/f, and I don't really have strong opinions for the Tripods - hmm. Although I've just realised the Masters have canonical tentacles :) ) as long as it's consistentish with the tone of the source, and as long as it's not written either like an anatomy textbook or via excessively tortured metaphors. I like stories that make me remember why I love the original inspiration and stories that make me think about it differently. I like world-building, and characters who are part of those worlds, even when they fight against aspects of them.
Last year I asked for an earthquake ban for personal reasons; I'm less sensitive about it now, but would probably prefer them not to be a major feature. I can cope with unhappy endings without slitting my wrists, but probably prefer either happy or bittersweet. If you want to do something out there with the source, I'm pretty much up for it as long as I can recognise the original characters and their story, and I guess probably the only thing I don't want is a Santa Olivia American high school AU (with or without werewolves. Sorry.). Above all, enjoy what you write, and go with that even if it veers off from these suggestions!
Sono Te Wo Dokero! Hands Off! Despite the fact that I've only got around to mentioning v1-4 on my lj, I've read the whole series. I love all three leads, their abilities, and the way the story manages to balance humour with its darker themes. Basically, I'm looking for the chance to catch up with the characters again (within or after the series), whether or not they're doing anything more than arguing...
And I'm unhappy with Kotarou forgetting what happened at the ending, so if you felt like fixing that I'd be thrilled (also, feel free to microchip him in the extremely likely event of him getting kidnapped YET AGAIN).
Santa Olivia - Jacqueline Carey. This is my favourite post-apocalyptic lesbian werewolf urban fantasy romance ever (obviously, there’s a lot of competition!). I never really got into the Kushiel series, but I picked this up in the bookstore and couldn’t put it down again – great pace, great characters, very lean writing. I love the town and its people, and the way Loup does and doesn’t belong there. And her romance with Pilar is just great.
In terms of fic, I’ve picked Martin and Loup as characters, but don’t feel you have to put them both on stage at the same time; I’d just really like a story that uses Loup and Martin’s origins, whether you go into Martin’s past (what were the experiments like? What was he like, before then?), or Loup’s future, or just have the story focussing on Loup’s nonhuman nature in her everyday life I haven’t read the sequel – I’ve heard mixed things about it, and thought I’d wait, so if you have don’t feel bound by whatever happens there (or, you know, if it didn’t work for you feel free to change it!).
The Tripods - John Christopher. I imprinted on these books at a young age, and then watched the BBC adaptation when I was only a little older, and for all its odd costuming choices I thought it worked pretty well. Yes, the female characters are atrocious and the series is determinedly Eurocentric, but I loved the set-up; the division between the toxic world of the Masters and the controlled, limited world the Capped humans live in, the tensions between those fighting back, the body horror aspects of the Capping and the bug planted on Will. And I loved Will himself with all his flaws (short tempered, impulsive, unthinking – he’s still a great character).
I think you could pretty much go anywhere with fic for this. I wasn’t wild about the official prequel, but a different take on the arrival of the Tripods (somewhere outside Europe?) would be fascinating, or life inside the cities (if you could, come up with an alternative explanation for the Masters collecting dead beautiful human women I would be thrilled!), or what happens afterwards – will everything fall apart again? Are there more aliens out there? Have the Masters done this before, and did it work? Or take it AU – what if the final attack doesn’t succeed? What happens if the Masters’ plan goes ahead?
I’ve listed Will as a character because I like him, but obviously if your story has moved around in time it may be difficult to have him there. Cameos, references, distant ancestors etc will all be perfectly acceptable for this. Freezing his head in a jar for future generations could also be considered...
Thank you for writing for me! Really, I'll be happy just seeing what you do with whichever one of these fandoms you've signed up for, but feel free to read through these notes as well.
What I like hasn't changed much from previous years - in general terms I like plot (particularly if you can surprise me with characters doing consistent but unexpected things), humour, and justified angst, singly or simultaneously. I am not all that fond of the present tense, but can be sucked in if the story drags me along. I have no problem with sexual content (slash or het - Hands Off! is slashy in a low-key way, the central pairing for Santa Olivia is f/f, and I don't really have strong opinions for the Tripods - hmm. Although I've just realised the Masters have canonical tentacles :) ) as long as it's consistentish with the tone of the source, and as long as it's not written either like an anatomy textbook or via excessively tortured metaphors. I like stories that make me remember why I love the original inspiration and stories that make me think about it differently. I like world-building, and characters who are part of those worlds, even when they fight against aspects of them.
Last year I asked for an earthquake ban for personal reasons; I'm less sensitive about it now, but would probably prefer them not to be a major feature. I can cope with unhappy endings without slitting my wrists, but probably prefer either happy or bittersweet. If you want to do something out there with the source, I'm pretty much up for it as long as I can recognise the original characters and their story, and I guess probably the only thing I don't want is a Santa Olivia American high school AU (with or without werewolves. Sorry.). Above all, enjoy what you write, and go with that even if it veers off from these suggestions!
Sono Te Wo Dokero! Hands Off! Despite the fact that I've only got around to mentioning v1-4 on my lj, I've read the whole series. I love all three leads, their abilities, and the way the story manages to balance humour with its darker themes. Basically, I'm looking for the chance to catch up with the characters again (within or after the series), whether or not they're doing anything more than arguing...
And I'm unhappy with Kotarou forgetting what happened at the ending, so if you felt like fixing that I'd be thrilled (also, feel free to microchip him in the extremely likely event of him getting kidnapped YET AGAIN).
Santa Olivia - Jacqueline Carey. This is my favourite post-apocalyptic lesbian werewolf urban fantasy romance ever (obviously, there’s a lot of competition!). I never really got into the Kushiel series, but I picked this up in the bookstore and couldn’t put it down again – great pace, great characters, very lean writing. I love the town and its people, and the way Loup does and doesn’t belong there. And her romance with Pilar is just great.
In terms of fic, I’ve picked Martin and Loup as characters, but don’t feel you have to put them both on stage at the same time; I’d just really like a story that uses Loup and Martin’s origins, whether you go into Martin’s past (what were the experiments like? What was he like, before then?), or Loup’s future, or just have the story focussing on Loup’s nonhuman nature in her everyday life I haven’t read the sequel – I’ve heard mixed things about it, and thought I’d wait, so if you have don’t feel bound by whatever happens there (or, you know, if it didn’t work for you feel free to change it!).
The Tripods - John Christopher. I imprinted on these books at a young age, and then watched the BBC adaptation when I was only a little older, and for all its odd costuming choices I thought it worked pretty well. Yes, the female characters are atrocious and the series is determinedly Eurocentric, but I loved the set-up; the division between the toxic world of the Masters and the controlled, limited world the Capped humans live in, the tensions between those fighting back, the body horror aspects of the Capping and the bug planted on Will. And I loved Will himself with all his flaws (short tempered, impulsive, unthinking – he’s still a great character).
I think you could pretty much go anywhere with fic for this. I wasn’t wild about the official prequel, but a different take on the arrival of the Tripods (somewhere outside Europe?) would be fascinating, or life inside the cities (if you could, come up with an alternative explanation for the Masters collecting dead beautiful human women I would be thrilled!), or what happens afterwards – will everything fall apart again? Are there more aliens out there? Have the Masters done this before, and did it work? Or take it AU – what if the final attack doesn’t succeed? What happens if the Masters’ plan goes ahead?
I’ve listed Will as a character because I like him, but obviously if your story has moved around in time it may be difficult to have him there. Cameos, references, distant ancestors etc will all be perfectly acceptable for this. Freezing his head in a jar for future generations could also be considered...
