Dear Yuletide Author 2020
Oct. 26th, 2020 02:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwynThank you for signing up to write a story for me! I'm always very excited at this time of year, because I love gift-giving and receiving.
Some of the things I enjoy most: happy endings, romance, humor and banter, ships (slash or het), gen, character studies, plotty fics with wonderful worldbuilding, fluff or drama, hijinx and shenanigans. I love first times and falling in love, people finding one another after being apart, friendships, and relationships between people who are equals. Friends to lovers might be my ultimate trope, and found families is right up there too. What I love about my fandoms is the canon universe they inhabit, so I'm not really into mundane AUs, however what-if AUs (canon-divergence) can be really cool--I love it when someone comes up with a story off of one element being changed!
Tropes and approaches I enjoy are hopeful or positive endings even if it's not necessarily a happy-ever-after, protectiveness (without posessiveness or jealousy), hurt/comfort, partners against the world, people who enjoy nurturing others through food or care. The classics are great: time travel/time loops, competence kinks, having to share a bed, huddling for warmth and/or stranded somewhere (blizzard! cave-in!), situations where one suffers or sacrifices for the other, rescues, everybody lives!, etc. Genre can be fun: someone discovers they have superpowers, or is trapped in a time loop, or finds themselves somewhere but they don't know how they got there. That kind of thing can be really fun while still being in the canon 'verse.
Things I Do Not Want: I would really appreciate not having BDSM/anything particularly sex kink-oriented, ABO/mpreg and that sort of thing (usually, if there are initials used for it, it's a safe bet I'm not into it), non-con of any type, emotional abuse, any kind of animal harm (I have a fandom listed here where they might do animal experiments and I just would prefer that not be made explicit). I'm not into kidfic as a story focus, but some of my fandoms have characters with children, so having them interact with their kids is totally fine. I dislike jealousy, and related to that, love triangles, though open marriage/polyamory type situations can be fine if everyone involved is accepting. I've battled grief and depression for a while and dealt with cancer recently, so something that might make me more depressed or fic about illnesses or death would not be my first choice, but if that's the direction your story goes, I'm also not the kind of person who'd freak out about it. Please, no sportsball or characters spending a lot of time talking/thinking about it.
Fandoms:
The Adjustment Bureau: I know this movie is not perfect and has a fair number of questionable things, but I love it so and a large part of why I do is Harry Mitchell. I just adore Anthony Mackie in his soft sweaters and his gentle demeanor and his fetching hats, and I'd love to know more about him. (I've always had this fantasy that Sam Wilson is basically Harry Mitchell if he was granted the life of a human.) Do the Adjustors even get to be humans, or would they want to be? What was it like for Harry to work on both David's and David's dad's timelines? How does he feel about helping David and Elise and going against his own organization? Do they have private lives, and what would Harry's be? If you wanted to put Harry with another character, that's totally fine, or just write Harry, I know I'll be thrilled.
Fast Color: This is such a beautiful movie and a fascinating if underexplored world they've built. I'd love to know more about just everything, especially what happens to Bo after the ending. I have always loved stories where two people who loved each other reconnect later in life after separating (what I kind of call Winter of Our Lives stories), and it would be amazing to see what happens between Bo and Dean, maybe while she's doing whatever happens with the agency. It's clear they loved each other but ended up apart, and I would love to know why, or what they will do now that Bo is determined not to hide her powers anymore. Or obviously a story about what happens with Ruth could be great--do the two of them, Bo and Ruth, make up for some of that lost time? Can they reconnect and have that relationship they were denied for so long? What about Bo and Ruth and Dean as a family unit--I love Ruth going on a mission with Lilah, but I'd also really love to see the family unit in their new future. They've lost so much, can they get it back?
Black Mirror: Striking Vipers: I generally find this series to be so bleak, but the thought of Anthony Mackie and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II meeting in virtual reality and having sex blew my mind so I had to watch it. Unfortunately, I thought the show really wussed out on the queer aspect of this otherwise really interesting story and kind of straightwashed it, so I confess I'd love to see this be reexamined in a fic. Like, there seemed to be a lot more going on with the kiss-and-fight in the rain than they were telling us (I didn't believe that "nothing" for an instant), and it would be really cool to have the queer put back into it, have them look deeper into just what they're doing and what they truly want from each other. Friends to lovers is a favorite trope, so I feel like more could be plumbed from this story if you were so inclined. If that isn't your cup of tea, though, then maybe a look at the open marriage Danny seems to have created, and what Karl's doing with his life in between his VR sessions with Danny, would be an interesting direction. How did Danny set that up? Is Karl still dating women, even if it's not as good as what he has with Danny?
Better Off Ted: I'm a little late to the party by having only just recently discovered this show after years of meaning to watch it, and I'm only halfway through the show right now, but I've fallen very much in love with Lem and Phil, and would love a story focused on them. If you want to make it some Phlem slash (does not have to be overtly sexual), that would be aces, but if that's not your thing, then just a story about their oddball friendship would be wonderful. I loved their medieval fight club hijinks, I love it when Lem addresses what it's like to be a Black man in science, and his earnestness is adorable. I also am really fond of how they balance each other out; one guy's quirks and blind spots are where the other has strengths and wisdom, they're often saving the other one from himself or his bad decisions, and that is super cute to me. If you can pull off science banter, I will be in awe, and they seem ripe for some hilarious genre action like accidental time travel or superpowers.
Some of the things I enjoy most: happy endings, romance, humor and banter, ships (slash or het), gen, character studies, plotty fics with wonderful worldbuilding, fluff or drama, hijinx and shenanigans. I love first times and falling in love, people finding one another after being apart, friendships, and relationships between people who are equals. Friends to lovers might be my ultimate trope, and found families is right up there too. What I love about my fandoms is the canon universe they inhabit, so I'm not really into mundane AUs, however what-if AUs (canon-divergence) can be really cool--I love it when someone comes up with a story off of one element being changed!
Tropes and approaches I enjoy are hopeful or positive endings even if it's not necessarily a happy-ever-after, protectiveness (without posessiveness or jealousy), hurt/comfort, partners against the world, people who enjoy nurturing others through food or care. The classics are great: time travel/time loops, competence kinks, having to share a bed, huddling for warmth and/or stranded somewhere (blizzard! cave-in!), situations where one suffers or sacrifices for the other, rescues, everybody lives!, etc. Genre can be fun: someone discovers they have superpowers, or is trapped in a time loop, or finds themselves somewhere but they don't know how they got there. That kind of thing can be really fun while still being in the canon 'verse.
Things I Do Not Want: I would really appreciate not having BDSM/anything particularly sex kink-oriented, ABO/mpreg and that sort of thing (usually, if there are initials used for it, it's a safe bet I'm not into it), non-con of any type, emotional abuse, any kind of animal harm (I have a fandom listed here where they might do animal experiments and I just would prefer that not be made explicit). I'm not into kidfic as a story focus, but some of my fandoms have characters with children, so having them interact with their kids is totally fine. I dislike jealousy, and related to that, love triangles, though open marriage/polyamory type situations can be fine if everyone involved is accepting. I've battled grief and depression for a while and dealt with cancer recently, so something that might make me more depressed or fic about illnesses or death would not be my first choice, but if that's the direction your story goes, I'm also not the kind of person who'd freak out about it. Please, no sportsball or characters spending a lot of time talking/thinking about it.
Fandoms:
The Adjustment Bureau: I know this movie is not perfect and has a fair number of questionable things, but I love it so and a large part of why I do is Harry Mitchell. I just adore Anthony Mackie in his soft sweaters and his gentle demeanor and his fetching hats, and I'd love to know more about him. (I've always had this fantasy that Sam Wilson is basically Harry Mitchell if he was granted the life of a human.) Do the Adjustors even get to be humans, or would they want to be? What was it like for Harry to work on both David's and David's dad's timelines? How does he feel about helping David and Elise and going against his own organization? Do they have private lives, and what would Harry's be? If you wanted to put Harry with another character, that's totally fine, or just write Harry, I know I'll be thrilled.
Fast Color: This is such a beautiful movie and a fascinating if underexplored world they've built. I'd love to know more about just everything, especially what happens to Bo after the ending. I have always loved stories where two people who loved each other reconnect later in life after separating (what I kind of call Winter of Our Lives stories), and it would be amazing to see what happens between Bo and Dean, maybe while she's doing whatever happens with the agency. It's clear they loved each other but ended up apart, and I would love to know why, or what they will do now that Bo is determined not to hide her powers anymore. Or obviously a story about what happens with Ruth could be great--do the two of them, Bo and Ruth, make up for some of that lost time? Can they reconnect and have that relationship they were denied for so long? What about Bo and Ruth and Dean as a family unit--I love Ruth going on a mission with Lilah, but I'd also really love to see the family unit in their new future. They've lost so much, can they get it back?
Black Mirror: Striking Vipers: I generally find this series to be so bleak, but the thought of Anthony Mackie and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II meeting in virtual reality and having sex blew my mind so I had to watch it. Unfortunately, I thought the show really wussed out on the queer aspect of this otherwise really interesting story and kind of straightwashed it, so I confess I'd love to see this be reexamined in a fic. Like, there seemed to be a lot more going on with the kiss-and-fight in the rain than they were telling us (I didn't believe that "nothing" for an instant), and it would be really cool to have the queer put back into it, have them look deeper into just what they're doing and what they truly want from each other. Friends to lovers is a favorite trope, so I feel like more could be plumbed from this story if you were so inclined. If that isn't your cup of tea, though, then maybe a look at the open marriage Danny seems to have created, and what Karl's doing with his life in between his VR sessions with Danny, would be an interesting direction. How did Danny set that up? Is Karl still dating women, even if it's not as good as what he has with Danny?
Better Off Ted: I'm a little late to the party by having only just recently discovered this show after years of meaning to watch it, and I'm only halfway through the show right now, but I've fallen very much in love with Lem and Phil, and would love a story focused on them. If you want to make it some Phlem slash (does not have to be overtly sexual), that would be aces, but if that's not your thing, then just a story about their oddball friendship would be wonderful. I loved their medieval fight club hijinks, I love it when Lem addresses what it's like to be a Black man in science, and his earnestness is adorable. I also am really fond of how they balance each other out; one guy's quirks and blind spots are where the other has strengths and wisdom, they're often saving the other one from himself or his bad decisions, and that is super cute to me. If you can pull off science banter, I will be in awe, and they seem ripe for some hilarious genre action like accidental time travel or superpowers.
