Dear Yuletide Writer 2017

[thegirlwiththemouseyhair]

 

Dear writer,

First, thanks so much for signing up and offering to write for me (or thinking of treating me)! I really appreciate it.

Second, if you have a story you’re dying to write for any of these obscure canons, write it! I’m not writing this letter to make you less inspired. However, if you want to get a sense of what I like and/or use my suggestions as prompts, then I hope the following will be helpful.

 

General Likes

- I love character-driven pieces with complicated, passionate relationships that mix angst and happiness. Characters + relationships = what I go to fan fiction for. Care, nurturing, and intimacy between characters, even when you wouldn't expect it, are a big part of that, too.

 

- I love interesting interplays between characters who are very different and come together in said complicated relationships, and have a chance of working well or being terrible together. Age gaps and power differentials are really interesting too - basically things that make you put the characters and their relationships in the spotlight and under scrutiny.

 

- Lately, I’ve been writing a lot of ‘apology’ fics - relationships that have gone wrong, where the partners try to make it up to each other and accept responsibility. I guess those kinds of scenes, of relationships on the brink or at a turning point, have a lot of fodder for angst and bitterness and sniping but also hope, and I’d like to see someone else’s take on this trope. Happy endings are not necessarily required, because the ambiguity itself is good.

 

- I like AU’s that adapt some of the canon and its drama and problems into a different setting. I feel like in all these canons there are some core elements that I wouldn’t want to do without, either in the plot or characters/relationships or both, but seeing how those elements would play out in a different context fascinates me. I’ll try to point out some of those “essential elements” under specific fandoms so you can better see what I mean.

 

- AU settings/tropes I like: daemon AU’s, the Hunger Games setting, Gothic horror, sex work… Feel free to comment and ask anonymously if you have another AU or fusion type idea (someone once wrote me my Velvet Goldmine OTP released into the plot of Kingsman: The Secret Service, and I was overjoyed). Somehow, I don’t think I’ve ever read a coffee shop AU, so if you want to sell me on, say, Velvet Goldmine or Eagle of the Ninth coffee shop fic, that could be super awesome. I’m just less comfortable with AU’ing Dorian Gray so if we match on that fandom, please don’t get any more adventurous than a modern AU/adaptation.

 

Do Not Want

- Anything physically gross or squicky e.g. MPREG, bodily fluids…. Yeah, I’m pretty vanilla. The only kinky thing I’m really OK with is slight BDSM in sex/hard sex.

- I’m also not usually big on paragraphs and paragraphs of smut; I find lengthy sex scenes can become really mechanical, and I get uncomfortable with that.

- No non-con, child abuse, animal abuse, incest, or graphic violence/torture.

- No alpha/beta/omega.

- This is weird, but I really dislike crossing over canons just to ship two characters played by the same actor. It’s a huge, probably irrational, pet peeve of mine. Releasing characters from one canon into the setting or plot of another is awesome, but what feels like the fan fic equivalent of ripping spacetime just to make two characters played by the same actor hang out with each other bug me.

 

Specific Fandoms

 

The Eagle of the Ninth

Sometimes, a family is an ex-Roman Centurion invalided out of his Legion, his Celtic former slave husband, his Romano-Celtic wife and their pet wolf - and I love it. I recently reread this book for the first time in quite a few years, and was struck by the incredible love that develops between Marcus and Esca, and the very interesting implication that Marcus sees both Cottia (whom I like) and Esca as family by the end of the novel. I also love this period in history, and am a sucker for as much historical accuracy as possible (though I realize neither of us are experts - at least, the odds that you’re a Roman Britain expert are low and I get that). If you could try to explore a plausible-ish take on sexuality in this period that would be amazing. I’m also super interested in how, or whether, the bond Marcus and Esca develop at their meeting and on their adventures could cross the gulf into sexual love. Finally, while I don’t normally think in terms of multishipping, I really couldn’t get over the way Marcus basically meets both his future husband and his future wife at the same time at the same gladiator games in honour of Saturnalia (’oh, what a night/late December 117 AD…’). Make of that what you will.

 

I feel like the master/slave dynamic and the initial distrust due to being from enemy cultures which gradually turns to such closeness is non-negotiable in this fandom (you know, even if you somehow adapt it to a coffee shop), and I’d really like to see Cottia in there, too. Also, I’m a sucker for animal symbolism in general, so the imagery of hounds and birds and foxes is right up my alley (and would make, say, a daemon AU easy if rather obvious).

 

The Picture of Dorian Gray

OK, I’m not even entirely sure what to say about this parent text, except that it means a ton to me, and I’m rather sensitive about reading or writing fic for 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 than I might be with other canons.

 

I also know that competing with Oscar Wilde on his own turf of beautiful, flowery prose, heavy literary/artistic references and eternally quotable bon mots is probably beyond most of us (I’ve written for this fandom in the past, so I know from personal experience). Feel free to come at it a bit sideways if you can - exploring a more minor character’s perspective, e.g. Sybil or Alan? A contemporary retelling - also known as that staple of fan fic, the modern AU? Using the novel as a framing device for some parallel story? Who knows? Again, if sideways works for you that’d be awesome!

 

A couple other suggestions, though: I absolutely adore Basil and his tormented, painful love for Dorian. Basil Hallward deserved so much better. 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; he just talks a big game).

 

Velvet Goldmine

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 power dynamic that you don’t see everyday and that I love seeing explored. Fics that either problematize that dynamic more (especially with teenage Arthur), or explore how it could become healthier and more equal (when Arthur’s older?) just fascinate me. Also, feel free to use any of the nominated characters, or really any character, to tell a story if you write for this fandom. <3

Too many plot bunnies I’ve thought about over too many re-watches and writing too much fic of my own... (Seriously, sorry about the inconsistency between this and all my other requests...)

• Was Curt Arthur’s first time? This may be implausible given the whole groupie thing in canon but it would be sweet.
• 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. How would that play out when he apparently does meet Curt in the 80’s? There could be so much mind screwy angst and such a damaged Arthur (sorry, Arthur)...
• Like I said under my general likes, AU’s in different settings or borrowing settings from other canons (‘fusions’), as long as you keep the “tortured celebrity”/ “adoring, insignificant fan” dynamic in place. Or a rent boy/sex work AU?
• Arthur and his family.
• Arthur having another boyfriend and Curt coming between them - which of course Arthur’s OK with, because he’s had complicated, unresolved, unhealthy feelings for Curt for however long, and he'll definitely let the teenage fanboy crush ruin what was supposed to be an adult relationship - or, if this is when Arthur’s a teenager, his relationship with, say, one of the Flaming Creatures...
• I love the implication that glam brought people together, from school girls to drag queens to the random nostalgic “I love this song!” guy at the bar in the end when 2HB comes on the jukebox, so working that in somehow would be great.
• Does Curt sometimes call Arthur ‘Brian’ by accident, even when you’d think he should have moved on - or does it become a sexual kink/thing, ‘punishing’ Curt’s evil sellout ex? (I try not to view Brian that negatively, but I could see why Curt and Arthur might joke about it - or you could go full-on Scott Pilgrin where Arthur levels up and ‘fights’ Curt’s evil ex Brian (or evil exes?) to be with Curt…)
• 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 is.)