cyphomandra (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cyphomandra) wrote2014-10-25 09:13 pm
cyphomandra) wrote2014-10-25 09:13 pm
Entry tags:
Yuletide!
Dear Yuletide writer,
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 (including this sentence, which is copied over from multiple other letters!). 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 as long as it fits with the characters, although pages of explicit anatomical detail are unlikely to be my thing. I like stories that make me remember why I love the original inspiration as well as stories that make me think about it differently. I like characters who are part of their worlds, even when they struggle against them.
I would like an ending that is not a total downer - ambivalent is fine and bittersweet is great, so don't feel you have to end with everyone dancing blithely in a circle of daisies or whatever. I prefer no earthquakes and no child or animal harm (if you're writing in Pandemic these last two might be a bit tricky, so just not painful on-stage descriptions).
Requests:
I love Pandemic as much as it's possible to love a game where you can actually lose in the first round without anyone ever getting a turn. I think my gaming group only won our first game (after quite a few attempts) when I insisted we all swap seats after job role assignment. I love that it's a cooperative game, too, and the shared sense of triumph at the (occasional) victory.
You can do pretty much anything with this and I’d be happy. Imaginary expansion sets? The diary of a CDC worker dealing with the inexplicable invasion of cities by large wooden cubes? Player rebellion at being sent all over the place by the dispatcher before they've managed to pack their socks, let alone their research notes? Go wild.
I am looking more for stories about Pandemic as a game (fourth wall breakage and all) rather than self-enclosed stories about epidemics, but apart from that, whatever. I am theoretically not adverse to crossovers, although you would have to pick through my lj/dw to see what I'm familiar with and it's not all that helpful for anything outside books and manga; on the other hand, a crossover with William Sleator's Interstellar Pig, my favourite imaginary board game, would be absolutely brilliant. With regard to similar games, I am familiar with and fond of Catan and most of its variants, Dominion (ditto), Princes of Florence, Ticket to Ride, Citadels, Iron Dragon, Agricola, Seven Wonders, Arkham Horror, Forbidden Desert, Kill Dr Lucky and whatever that Arthurian one is where one of you is a traitor and we always seem to run out of grails.
I imprinted on these books at a young age, and then watched the BBC adaptation when I was only a little older. Yes, the female characters are atrociously underserved 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, later, the bug planted on Will. And I loved Will himself with all his flaws (short tempered, impulsive, and unthinking, but loyal and heroic despite this).
I have received fic for this before and enjoyed it – a retelling from the Masters' point of view - but as stated above I've always loved Will as a character and would like to see him again. I'm happy with AU - what if the confrontation between Will and his Master went differently, for example - pre or post canon, outtakes, or even crackier rewrites - genderswap would be fascinating, for a start, and then there's all those canonical tentacles...
It's possibly a bit cheeky to request a nonMarlows character in the Marlows fandom! I like Anquetil, and I like Traitor, which does a lot of very interesting character work while making you (well, me) wonder what Forest would have done with more space and an adult audience. I think he's the only adult viewpoint she ever uses (although I am happy to be corrected).
I like intelligence agents who are not glamorous or exciting, and who suffer a general lack of acclaim for their quiet competence, and Anquetil fits in nicely. I like seeing him work, and I like his determination to do the right thing despite everything. I would be happy with pretty much anything about him; Foley (not a nominated character, so don't feel compelled) is the obvious foil, with anything from their shared past to Anquetil's duty-bound attendance at Foley's funeral fair game. I'm not opposed to slash between the two of them but am not really looking for a romance - I would see the emotions relating to any such encounter as dysfunctional at best!
I would also be happy with Anquetil in later years, possibly encountering any of the Marlows - Nicola on her solo round the world journey? Giles impulsively endangering some top-secret mission by having a better idea? Lawrie requiring an escort for a tour behind the Iron Curtain? I am happy with roaming wildly all over the Marlows timeline but do have a fondness for Cold War spy stories. (I would be especially thrilled if you wanted to do an older Anquetil as handler for the equanimous Pomona Todd, secret agent extraordinaire! Um.) Again, though, I haven't requested any of these characters, and if you just want to show Anquetil taking the (repaired) Golden Enterprise out for a sail, go for it. I have absolutely no sailing experience but enjoy reading about it.
Above all, enjoy your Yuletide!
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 (including this sentence, which is copied over from multiple other letters!). 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 as long as it fits with the characters, although pages of explicit anatomical detail are unlikely to be my thing. I like stories that make me remember why I love the original inspiration as well as stories that make me think about it differently. I like characters who are part of their worlds, even when they struggle against them.
I would like an ending that is not a total downer - ambivalent is fine and bittersweet is great, so don't feel you have to end with everyone dancing blithely in a circle of daisies or whatever. I prefer no earthquakes and no child or animal harm (if you're writing in Pandemic these last two might be a bit tricky, so just not painful on-stage descriptions).
Requests:
I love Pandemic as much as it's possible to love a game where you can actually lose in the first round without anyone ever getting a turn. I think my gaming group only won our first game (after quite a few attempts) when I insisted we all swap seats after job role assignment. I love that it's a cooperative game, too, and the shared sense of triumph at the (occasional) victory.
You can do pretty much anything with this and I’d be happy. Imaginary expansion sets? The diary of a CDC worker dealing with the inexplicable invasion of cities by large wooden cubes? Player rebellion at being sent all over the place by the dispatcher before they've managed to pack their socks, let alone their research notes? Go wild.
I am looking more for stories about Pandemic as a game (fourth wall breakage and all) rather than self-enclosed stories about epidemics, but apart from that, whatever. I am theoretically not adverse to crossovers, although you would have to pick through my lj/dw to see what I'm familiar with and it's not all that helpful for anything outside books and manga; on the other hand, a crossover with William Sleator's Interstellar Pig, my favourite imaginary board game, would be absolutely brilliant. With regard to similar games, I am familiar with and fond of Catan and most of its variants, Dominion (ditto), Princes of Florence, Ticket to Ride, Citadels, Iron Dragon, Agricola, Seven Wonders, Arkham Horror, Forbidden Desert, Kill Dr Lucky and whatever that Arthurian one is where one of you is a traitor and we always seem to run out of grails.
I imprinted on these books at a young age, and then watched the BBC adaptation when I was only a little older. Yes, the female characters are atrociously underserved 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, later, the bug planted on Will. And I loved Will himself with all his flaws (short tempered, impulsive, and unthinking, but loyal and heroic despite this).
I have received fic for this before and enjoyed it – a retelling from the Masters' point of view - but as stated above I've always loved Will as a character and would like to see him again. I'm happy with AU - what if the confrontation between Will and his Master went differently, for example - pre or post canon, outtakes, or even crackier rewrites - genderswap would be fascinating, for a start, and then there's all those canonical tentacles...
It's possibly a bit cheeky to request a nonMarlows character in the Marlows fandom! I like Anquetil, and I like Traitor, which does a lot of very interesting character work while making you (well, me) wonder what Forest would have done with more space and an adult audience. I think he's the only adult viewpoint she ever uses (although I am happy to be corrected).
I like intelligence agents who are not glamorous or exciting, and who suffer a general lack of acclaim for their quiet competence, and Anquetil fits in nicely. I like seeing him work, and I like his determination to do the right thing despite everything. I would be happy with pretty much anything about him; Foley (not a nominated character, so don't feel compelled) is the obvious foil, with anything from their shared past to Anquetil's duty-bound attendance at Foley's funeral fair game. I'm not opposed to slash between the two of them but am not really looking for a romance - I would see the emotions relating to any such encounter as dysfunctional at best!
I would also be happy with Anquetil in later years, possibly encountering any of the Marlows - Nicola on her solo round the world journey? Giles impulsively endangering some top-secret mission by having a better idea? Lawrie requiring an escort for a tour behind the Iron Curtain? I am happy with roaming wildly all over the Marlows timeline but do have a fondness for Cold War spy stories. (I would be especially thrilled if you wanted to do an older Anquetil as handler for the equanimous Pomona Todd, secret agent extraordinaire! Um.) Again, though, I haven't requested any of these characters, and if you just want to show Anquetil taking the (repaired) Golden Enterprise out for a sail, go for it. I have absolutely no sailing experience but enjoy reading about it.
Above all, enjoy your Yuletide!