thegirlwiththemouseyhair | Dear Yuletide Writer letter (Reply)

Hello Yuletide writer,

First, I just wanna say at the outset that I really appreciate the thought of getting a story. A thousand words isn’t nothing - heck, nothing is, well, nothing - and I really appreciate the effort that goes into writing “my” own fic for me, so thanks so much!

I’m also trying not to be picky. These are suggestions to try to give you some possible prompts, but really, they’re just guidelines, not actual rules. (Actually, they’re optional prompts, not actual rules, and not really guidelines either, but you know I couldn’t pass up a decent Jack Sparrow reference.) As always, feel free to go in a different direction if your muse demands it!

What I like in general
Hm, I can like a lot of random stuff so this is hard to say. I love slash, and I love contrasts in slash - e.g. in temperament, appearance, background, etc. I don’t usually get as passionate about het pairings or gen those same contrasts can work in friendships and of course straight pairings. (I asked for het in Cats so it’s not that I’m anti-het - just usually slashy stuff grabs me even more.) But above all I like characters and relationships, and slash, het and gen stories can all scratch that itch equally well.

I like angst. Angst with happy or at least hopeful endings is perhaps the best thing ever. I don’t usually go for paragraphs and paragraphs of porn, but how many paragraphs of that could we even fit into a relatively short piece like this? I’m also a sucker for romance, particularly relationships where you can just see the strong bonds between the characters and how they can balance each other out.

Specific fandoms
Request 1: Velvet Goldmine
I will admit I’ve adored this movie for a long time and became even more crazy-obsessed with it than ever in the last year. My mission has been to spread the gospel of Velvet Goldmine and try to inspire more fic and more attention for it so really, getting anything on this would be awesome. That said, I really ship Curt/Arthur. I guess they scratch that contrast-and-balance itch very well, and there’s so much scope for angst or happiness, post-movie or AUs/slice of life moments when Arthur’s younger, etc. Arthur’s the character I identify with most but I’d be happy to read Curt-centric stuff; I’d also love to see a good piece that explores Mandy more, possibly in connection with any or all of the other characters. While I’m less into Brian and the Curt/Brian ship, well, see above - I’d just be thrilled to get anything in this fandom and see it get more love.

Request 2: Bowie RPF
Um, it’s not that I’m so crazy about Velvet Goldmine that I effectively tried to ask for it twice - nope, not at all, lol. Right. Anyway, I’m not usually into RPF at all. However, I find the whole mythos surrounding this period in music to be absolutely fascinating. (Glam rock and dessert teas - that’s me! I literally currently have my keys on a DIY keychain of that famous picture of David Bowie, Lou Reed and Iggy Pop.) I love all the potential for homoeroticism and gender bending in this cutting edge seventies music scene, so there might be a lot of stuff a writer could do with that. Lastly, I feel that being a bit tongue in cheek about this kind of RPF would be awesome (for example, Bowie’s cover of Let’s Spend the Night Together always puts a huge smile on my face because of that whole Mick Jagger thing; it’s sort of fun to hear/read about, the whole sex, drugs and rock’n’roll thing, you know?) Being playful about this idea could be good if anyone chooses to write it.

Request 3: The Picture of Dorian Gray
I have read this book literally too many times to count over the last ten years; it changed my life and I could probably write a high school/early college level paper on Oscar Wilde with my eyes closed. That said, Oscar Wilde was just a phenomenal writer and I understand that competing with him right on his own turf (beautiful prose, witty and eternally quotable dialogue, etc) may not be fun? Believe me, I sympathize. If you do this fandom, feel free to come at it sideways - contemporary retelling? Using the novel as a framing device for some parallel but different story? Who knows? Again, if sideways works for you that’d be awesome! A couple suggestions though: I absolutely adore Basil and his tormented, painful love for Dorian. I also agree with Basil’s assessment of Harry when he says that Harry is really not that bad (my interpretation is that he’s not nearly as evil and heartless as Dorian becomes, for example). Feel free to draw on different ideas/interpretations if they inspire you more than mine, though!

Request 4: Cats
And now for something completely different, I have actually never read anything for this fandom and only saw the play for the first time last month in Toronto. However, I know and love the soundtrack and I adore cats (the real four-legged kind, dawww) so stories with cat protagonists and a little cat society are just awesome. The production I was at seemed to ship Victoria/Mr Mistoffelees so (as I said in the sign up blurb) I kind of took that idea home with me. However, rut really, any direction you want to go in is fine.

Thanks again! I’m a total noob, wasn’t even sure I was going to do this till half an hour before sign ups closed, and didn’t get my sign up in till the last minute. (I can be a bit indecisive and a bit last minute - but don’t worry, not with my own Yuletide story!) I am, however, totally thrilled to be participating and really grateful to my mystery writer!