![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Dear Yuletide Writer 2018
Oct. 8th, 2018 07:04 pm( Letter below )
General dislikes:
- Anything physically gross or squicky e.g. MPREG, bodily fluids…. Yeah, I’m pretty vanilla.
Other ideas: I actually don’t have a huge number of prompts, so I’m doing this by character…
Second, if you have a story you want to write for any of these obscure canons, write it! I’m not trying to make you less inspired. However, if you want prompts and/or a sense of what I like, then I hope the following will be helpful.
General likes: I love character-driven pieces. For shipping, I like complicated, passionate relationships that mix angst and happiness. Characters + relationships = what I go to fan fiction for. Care, nurturing, and intimacy between characters (whether it’s shippy or gen), especially when you wouldn't expect it, are great, too.
- I love interesting interplays between characters who are very different and have those complicated relationships. Especially with shipping, I love those relationships that could either work really well, or be an angst-filled disaster. Age gaps and power differentials are really interesting too (well, perhaps better in fiction than real life) - basically things that make you put the characters and their relationships in the spotlight and under scrutiny.
- I like some AU’s, but am picky. I state below the fandoms where I’m cool with AU ideas and what kind.
General dislikes:
- Anything physically gross or squicky e.g. MPREG, bodily fluids…. Yeah, I’m pretty vanilla.
- I’m also not usually big on paragraphs and paragraphs of smut.
- DNW: non-con, child abuse, animal abuse, incest, graphic violence/torture, or alpha/beta/omega.
- This is weird, but I really dislike crossovers of canons just to have two characters played by the same actor hanging out together. It squicks me. Releasing characters from one canon into the setting or plot of another as an AU is cool, but the ‘two different roles of one actor hanging out’ bugs me.
- This is weird, but I really dislike crossovers of canons just to have two characters played by the same actor hanging out together. It squicks me. Releasing characters from one canon into the setting or plot of another as an AU is cool, but the ‘two different roles of one actor hanging out’ bugs me.
Specific fandoms
Velvet Goldmine
Characters: any
Characters: any
I ask for this movie every Yuletide. I adore Curt/Arthur and love the contrast/balance they have, as well as the scope for infinite angst or happy endings, either post-movie or in AUs where they spend more time together after the rooftop. Also, Curt being this rock star idol to Arthur’s ordinary fan boy creates a weird power dynamic that you don’t see everyday and that I love exploring. Fics that either problematize that dynamic (especially with teenage Arthur), or explore how it could become healthier and more equal (when Arthur’s older?) fascinate me. Finally, this movie has some great and perhaps underappreciated women characters as well, so incorporating Mandy and/or Shannon, giving some of their perspective, etc, would be awesome. If you need to, feel free to use or refer to other, non-nominated characters as well.
Ideas, most of which ship Curt/Arthur so hard:
- Shannon, who starts out all shy, mousy, and quiet, but moulds her life on her obsession with Brian, could be a really interesting foil for Arthur, who’s shy, mousy, and quiet, and whose life is so moulded by his fandom for Brian and his sexual encounter with Curt. Fic looking at that would be so cool.
- Was Curt Arthur’s first time? May be implausible, given the whole groupie thing, but...
- Some viewers have the theory that the rooftop scene didn’t happen and was all in Arthur’s head. I disagree, but, damn, that could be a hell of a story, where Arthur’s haunted by this fantasy that never even happened.
- AU’s in different settings or borrowing settings from other canons, as long as you somehow keep the “tortured celebrity”/ “adoring, insignificant fan” dynamic between Curt/Arthur. For example, coffee shop AU where Arthur’s the barista to awesome, aspiring stars Curt and Brian? Gothic horror AU? Vampires? Feel free to leave an anon comment or contact me through the mods if you want to run an AU idea by me.
- Arthur standing up to Curt/back-talking him - especially in AU’s where they’re together when Arthur’s just a teenager, even if he's totally out of his depth (see also: young Arthur trying to take care of Curt - again, I love how weird and complicated this power dynamic can be.)
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Characters: any
Characters: any
I’m not even entirely sure what to say about this book, except that it means a ton to me, and I’m rather sensitive about it (and about professional adaptations - don’t get me started). That’s why I’m less adventurous about, say, weird fusion AU’s or sex scenes here than I might be with other canons. (Though I’ve written some modern AU for this, and would be cool with someone else’s take on that idea.) I also know that competing with Oscar Wilde on his own turf of beautiful, flowery, aesthetic Victorian language and iconic quotes is pretty much impossible, so don’t worry about that. Feel free to come at the text a bit sideways, e.g., exploring a more minor character like Sybil, or even an OC’s look at Dorian/this book’s plot, or something like that.
Other ideas: I actually don’t have a huge number of prompts, so I’m doing this by character…
- Lord Henry. I love the character so much (and think he’s more of a little shit than a committed devil figure deliberately corrupting Dorian into murderous evil; I am inclined to agree with Basil’s assessment of Lord Henry). I feel like adaptations always get him wrong, and miss that chaotic ‘little shit’ aspect. I know his wit and cleverness are super hard to write, but writing about him, or his influence on Dorian or whatever, would be so cool.
- Basil Hallward. I absolutely adore Basil and his tormented, painful love for Dorian. Basil deserved so much better. I feel like there’s a lot you can look at in his relationship with Dorian (talk about unhealthy and complicated), his idealisation of Dorian, and how, unwittingly, he may have been something of a bad influence himself by being too flattering/worshipful/spineless, despite his good intentions.
- Sibyl Vane. Hoo boy, if any character needed a chance to show some agency (that doesn’t all revolve around a man), or speak up for herself, it’s Sibyl, who absolutely deserves more attention/reimagining.
The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club
Characters: any (I messed this up in the Letters app and selected a few characters, but really, I'm down for any)
OK, so I’ve been obsessing over these books and Theodora Goss (... to the point of tracking down and reading her PhD thesis when I was withdrawing from her writing) for the past year. I feel like I’ve spent my life waiting for these books. I love the characters, but I also love this massive Victorian crossover dealing with ‘monsters’; I feel these books handle that angle way better than similar series. I love the characters Theodora Goss created, her attention to period detail, and the world and idea behind the books, and would be interested in seeing more about that.
Characters: any (I messed this up in the Letters app and selected a few characters, but really, I'm down for any)
OK, so I’ve been obsessing over these books and Theodora Goss (... to the point of tracking down and reading her PhD thesis when I was withdrawing from her writing) for the past year. I feel like I’ve spent my life waiting for these books. I love the characters, but I also love this massive Victorian crossover dealing with ‘monsters’; I feel these books handle that angle way better than similar series. I love the characters Theodora Goss created, her attention to period detail, and the world and idea behind the books, and would be interested in seeing more about that.
Other ideas:
- Seeing the heroines from these books maybe interact with other women of Victorian literature that I’m into. I’m psyched that the next book will feature Helen Vaughan from The Great God Pan, and would be really interested to see, say, Goss’s characters interacting with female monster survivors Lizzie and Laura from Goblin Market, or Sibyl Vane from The Picture of Dorian Gray.
- I absolutely love Theodora Goss’s take on Jekyll/Hyde and Mary and Diana’s relationship with him. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is probably my favourite of the source texts Goss draws on, and I cannot get enough of the way she uses that book to fuel her own characters’ growth and stories. Touching on that would be great, if it inspires you.
- Daily life and practicalities. I love all the attention to those details, all the household management and domestic economy for the league of extraordinary (and monstrous) ladies.
