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Yuletide!
I've got my Yuletide assignment! And I think I'm somewhere between "Oh wow, this could be so much fun!" and "Oh shit." Which I understand is the normal response to Yuletide. *g* And now, my Yule letter.
(Also, extremely belatedly, I realized I'd better add that I'm signed up as Sholio, which is also my AO3 name! Just to avoid any confusion...)
Dear Author Who Is Writing For Me:
If you are reading this, thank you so much for writing a story for me! :)
The important thing to know about me is .. I'm fairly easy to please. I will probably be thrilled with any story you write for me. Basically, anything from an intricately plotted mystery to 1000 words of goofy banter is going to make me happy. The information below (as well as my rather detailed requests) is merely to give you a general idea of my reading preferences, not to be taken as a set of absolute guidelines. And you don't have to work in every character that I requested in each of my fandoms; I just picked the characters that I most wanted to see interact, but if you have an idea that only involves one of them, go for it!
My very favorite thing ever is friendship gen. I love stories about families, either the kind who are related by blood, or the kind we create for ourselves. I am equally fond of thrilling adventures and the quiet interludes between thrilling adventures. I enjoy hurt/comfort -- mainly the comfort part -- but I like it best as a side effect of the plot rather than the entire plot (having said that, though, if someone writes me flat-out h/c in any of my fandoms I'm sure not going to complain!). Angst with a happy ending, especially presumed-dead-but-not-really, chokes me up in all kinds of embarrassing ways. I love clever, twisty plots, but I also love just watching the characters being cute or funny or prickly together. I enjoy outsider viewpoints that use an OC or a very minor canon character as a window onto the main characters. I don't really go for sappy, hearts-and-flowers romance, but I love reading about couples who are intellectual equals and work together as partners; I also love stories that deal with how becoming part of a couple affects a character's interactions with their pre-existing circle of friends and family.
In all of my requested fandoms, my preference is for canon pairings only (with that one exception in the Wiseguy request). If you pretty much only write romance and none of the canon couples do it for you, then pairing off a main character with an OC is a good compromise (I'm pretty much cool with that across the board -- het/slash/femslash/3+-somes are all just fine as long as you can make it believable for that character) ... with the caveat that incest pairings are an ironclad squick for me, and I'd also really rather not see a canon pair broken up to pair someone off with another character. I think these are my only real "do not wants".
If you want to do a story that deconstructs the deficiencies of the source text (sexism/racism/whatever) I'm fine with that, although for a Yuletide gift I'd really prefer to have it done with sympathy and affection for the characters, even when they're being asshats. For example, I know that Wiseguy is extremely poor at portraying its female characters, so if you'd like to do a story in which Nona Poe (whom I love, FYI) gets to save the day, or something that offers a more sympathetic look at Jenny McPike, or whatever, then go for it! But I'd rather not get a story that makes Jenny an innocent victim and Frank a heartless, abusive tool of the patriarchy. And I'd rather not get an Afterschool Special "and then they saw the error of their ways and lived happily ever after!" type ending if you plan to tackle serious material. And the fact that I've put this in here as an option obviously doesn't mean you have to -- all of my requested fandoms are those in which I'm "Yay! Squee! Canon!" about the canon, so I would love to get a story that's all "Yay! Squee! Canon!" too.
I got so detailed with my requests that I don't think I have a whole lot else to say about my individual fandoms, but I'll repeat my requests here for your convenience; I've seen other people doing that and it seems like a good idea. Please don't feel too confined by my detailed requests -- I just wanted to make sure that you had something solid to work with in each of my fandoms. And like I said above, definitely don't feel like you have to work in every single character I requested if it doesn't fit the story.
Lois McMaster Bujold, Vorkosigan series:
My request: I really adore Mark, especially watching him figure out how to be part of a family for the first time in his life. Mark and Miles h/c of any sort would TOTALLY make my Christmas, but really, I would like anything dealing with his and Miles's interaction as brothers (happy, sweet, funny, angsty, sad), with or without other family members. I also love Mark/Kareen, so anything dealing with them would be cool too. My two big "do not wants" are breaking up Mark and Kareen, or Mark/Miles slash; I'm pretty cool with anything else. Post-Mirror Dance would be nice -- because that's when Mark's relationships with the others start to take off -- but if you have an idea elsewhere in the timeline, go for it!
And that pretty much says it all. *g* I got into this series with "Brothers in Arms" and "Mirror Dance", and fell hard and fast for Mark -- I just adore the prickly, sarcastic little bastard, I really do. I think Kareen is awesome and I love the way that she's managed to grow beyond her conservative upbringing without losing her close connection to her family. I really love Miles too, but he's been so thoroughly explored in the books that I'm really more interested in stories examining the Vorkosigan family in general than those dealing specifically with him. Also, Cordelia is the awesomest thing that ever awesomed.
Georgette Heyer, "The Foundling":
My request: I don't want Gilly/Gideon as a pairing, please. My fondest wish is for something focused on Gilly and Gideon's friendship, or Gilly and Gideon and Harriet, either before or after Gilly and Harriet's wedding. I love all three characters; I think Harriet is awesome and wish she'd had a bigger role in canon. I also love Gideon's teasing protectiveness of Gilly and imagine it would extend to Harriet also. Kidfic would be nifty; I can imagine wee sickly Gilly looking up to his big athletic cousin, Harriet pwning the boys ('cuz she totally would!), and wee cousins having wee adventures! Another possible idea would be something to do with the mention of Gideon being wounded at Waterloo -- maybe his family's reaction or his recuperation? Really, anything that involves the family's closeness would make me happy, from light fluff to heavy angst.
I found an HTML version of this book online, and uploaded it for you to my webspace here (clicking this link will download a zipped file). I don't read a whole lot of Regency, so an authentic period voice, while a great bonus, is not nearly as important to me as the characters are.
Wiseguy:
My request: My favorite thing in this show is the friendship between Frank, Vinnie and Dan/Lifeguard, and I would absolutely love to have a gen story featuring some combination of these characters. A short casefile story woud be wonderful, especially with h/c, but gen/friendship stories are uncommon enough in this fandom that I'd love anything I could get -- fluffy or angsty, dark or sweet, a character development moment, a missing scene or tag for an episode. (One thing, though -- please, no season four-era fic unless it's a fixit.) Or, if you want more options, another thing that I would love to see is an aftermath story for the Lynchboro arc dealing with those characters. I'm really more of a gen fan and would love to see a story focused on Volchek and Rogo's friendship, but I'm not bothered by the idea of Volchek/Rogo slash or a Volchek/Rogo/Lacey threesome. Mainly, I'm interested in how things work out for the town and the characters after the end of "Meltdown".
Right, not much to add to this one. Check my Wiseguy tag for my small amount of Wiseguy fic/vid/meta; that might give you a better idea of what appeals to me in the series, and why.
Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, Death Gate Cycle:
My request: I have been wanting Alfred and Haplo friendship fic FOREVER. Post-series would be awesome, but a missing scene or even AU (if the urge takes you that way) is good too! If you need a plot direction, maybe something about the search for Haplo and Marit's daughter, or helping other Patryns out of the Labyrinth in general, or trying to work out the political situation in the Nexus, or Alfred dropping by to visit Haplo and Marit at "home" (wherever "home" is at the moment). I like Marit and think she and Haplo are good together, so please don't break them up. I love h/c, daring rescues and "presumed dead but not really"; but I also like quiet downtime and warm friendship or family moments.
Another request of detailed self-explanitude, I think. I guess I can also mention that "Fire Sea" is my favorite book, and pretty much every scene in which Haplo and Alfred interact a lot in canon makes me a happy fangirl. I wasn't expecting to like Marit when she was introduced and then ended up loving the heck out of her. I'm thrilled by the idea of anything that deals with the characters post-canon, but something from earlier in canon would be nice too ... anything would be good, really.
(Also, extremely belatedly, I realized I'd better add that I'm signed up as Sholio, which is also my AO3 name! Just to avoid any confusion...)
Dear Author Who Is Writing For Me:
If you are reading this, thank you so much for writing a story for me! :)
The important thing to know about me is .. I'm fairly easy to please. I will probably be thrilled with any story you write for me. Basically, anything from an intricately plotted mystery to 1000 words of goofy banter is going to make me happy. The information below (as well as my rather detailed requests) is merely to give you a general idea of my reading preferences, not to be taken as a set of absolute guidelines. And you don't have to work in every character that I requested in each of my fandoms; I just picked the characters that I most wanted to see interact, but if you have an idea that only involves one of them, go for it!
My very favorite thing ever is friendship gen. I love stories about families, either the kind who are related by blood, or the kind we create for ourselves. I am equally fond of thrilling adventures and the quiet interludes between thrilling adventures. I enjoy hurt/comfort -- mainly the comfort part -- but I like it best as a side effect of the plot rather than the entire plot (having said that, though, if someone writes me flat-out h/c in any of my fandoms I'm sure not going to complain!). Angst with a happy ending, especially presumed-dead-but-not-really, chokes me up in all kinds of embarrassing ways. I love clever, twisty plots, but I also love just watching the characters being cute or funny or prickly together. I enjoy outsider viewpoints that use an OC or a very minor canon character as a window onto the main characters. I don't really go for sappy, hearts-and-flowers romance, but I love reading about couples who are intellectual equals and work together as partners; I also love stories that deal with how becoming part of a couple affects a character's interactions with their pre-existing circle of friends and family.
In all of my requested fandoms, my preference is for canon pairings only (with that one exception in the Wiseguy request). If you pretty much only write romance and none of the canon couples do it for you, then pairing off a main character with an OC is a good compromise (I'm pretty much cool with that across the board -- het/slash/femslash/3+-somes are all just fine as long as you can make it believable for that character) ... with the caveat that incest pairings are an ironclad squick for me, and I'd also really rather not see a canon pair broken up to pair someone off with another character. I think these are my only real "do not wants".
If you want to do a story that deconstructs the deficiencies of the source text (sexism/racism/whatever) I'm fine with that, although for a Yuletide gift I'd really prefer to have it done with sympathy and affection for the characters, even when they're being asshats. For example, I know that Wiseguy is extremely poor at portraying its female characters, so if you'd like to do a story in which Nona Poe (whom I love, FYI) gets to save the day, or something that offers a more sympathetic look at Jenny McPike, or whatever, then go for it! But I'd rather not get a story that makes Jenny an innocent victim and Frank a heartless, abusive tool of the patriarchy. And I'd rather not get an Afterschool Special "and then they saw the error of their ways and lived happily ever after!" type ending if you plan to tackle serious material. And the fact that I've put this in here as an option obviously doesn't mean you have to -- all of my requested fandoms are those in which I'm "Yay! Squee! Canon!" about the canon, so I would love to get a story that's all "Yay! Squee! Canon!" too.
I got so detailed with my requests that I don't think I have a whole lot else to say about my individual fandoms, but I'll repeat my requests here for your convenience; I've seen other people doing that and it seems like a good idea. Please don't feel too confined by my detailed requests -- I just wanted to make sure that you had something solid to work with in each of my fandoms. And like I said above, definitely don't feel like you have to work in every single character I requested if it doesn't fit the story.
Lois McMaster Bujold, Vorkosigan series:
My request: I really adore Mark, especially watching him figure out how to be part of a family for the first time in his life. Mark and Miles h/c of any sort would TOTALLY make my Christmas, but really, I would like anything dealing with his and Miles's interaction as brothers (happy, sweet, funny, angsty, sad), with or without other family members. I also love Mark/Kareen, so anything dealing with them would be cool too. My two big "do not wants" are breaking up Mark and Kareen, or Mark/Miles slash; I'm pretty cool with anything else. Post-Mirror Dance would be nice -- because that's when Mark's relationships with the others start to take off -- but if you have an idea elsewhere in the timeline, go for it!
And that pretty much says it all. *g* I got into this series with "Brothers in Arms" and "Mirror Dance", and fell hard and fast for Mark -- I just adore the prickly, sarcastic little bastard, I really do. I think Kareen is awesome and I love the way that she's managed to grow beyond her conservative upbringing without losing her close connection to her family. I really love Miles too, but he's been so thoroughly explored in the books that I'm really more interested in stories examining the Vorkosigan family in general than those dealing specifically with him. Also, Cordelia is the awesomest thing that ever awesomed.
Georgette Heyer, "The Foundling":
My request: I don't want Gilly/Gideon as a pairing, please. My fondest wish is for something focused on Gilly and Gideon's friendship, or Gilly and Gideon and Harriet, either before or after Gilly and Harriet's wedding. I love all three characters; I think Harriet is awesome and wish she'd had a bigger role in canon. I also love Gideon's teasing protectiveness of Gilly and imagine it would extend to Harriet also. Kidfic would be nifty; I can imagine wee sickly Gilly looking up to his big athletic cousin, Harriet pwning the boys ('cuz she totally would!), and wee cousins having wee adventures! Another possible idea would be something to do with the mention of Gideon being wounded at Waterloo -- maybe his family's reaction or his recuperation? Really, anything that involves the family's closeness would make me happy, from light fluff to heavy angst.
I found an HTML version of this book online, and uploaded it for you to my webspace here (clicking this link will download a zipped file). I don't read a whole lot of Regency, so an authentic period voice, while a great bonus, is not nearly as important to me as the characters are.
Wiseguy:
My request: My favorite thing in this show is the friendship between Frank, Vinnie and Dan/Lifeguard, and I would absolutely love to have a gen story featuring some combination of these characters. A short casefile story woud be wonderful, especially with h/c, but gen/friendship stories are uncommon enough in this fandom that I'd love anything I could get -- fluffy or angsty, dark or sweet, a character development moment, a missing scene or tag for an episode. (One thing, though -- please, no season four-era fic unless it's a fixit.) Or, if you want more options, another thing that I would love to see is an aftermath story for the Lynchboro arc dealing with those characters. I'm really more of a gen fan and would love to see a story focused on Volchek and Rogo's friendship, but I'm not bothered by the idea of Volchek/Rogo slash or a Volchek/Rogo/Lacey threesome. Mainly, I'm interested in how things work out for the town and the characters after the end of "Meltdown".
Right, not much to add to this one. Check my Wiseguy tag for my small amount of Wiseguy fic/vid/meta; that might give you a better idea of what appeals to me in the series, and why.
Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, Death Gate Cycle:
My request: I have been wanting Alfred and Haplo friendship fic FOREVER. Post-series would be awesome, but a missing scene or even AU (if the urge takes you that way) is good too! If you need a plot direction, maybe something about the search for Haplo and Marit's daughter, or helping other Patryns out of the Labyrinth in general, or trying to work out the political situation in the Nexus, or Alfred dropping by to visit Haplo and Marit at "home" (wherever "home" is at the moment). I like Marit and think she and Haplo are good together, so please don't break them up. I love h/c, daring rescues and "presumed dead but not really"; but I also like quiet downtime and warm friendship or family moments.
Another request of detailed self-explanitude, I think. I guess I can also mention that "Fire Sea" is my favorite book, and pretty much every scene in which Haplo and Alfred interact a lot in canon makes me a happy fangirl. I wasn't expecting to like Marit when she was introduced and then ended up loving the heck out of her. I'm thrilled by the idea of anything that deals with the characters post-canon, but something from earlier in canon would be nice too ... anything would be good, really.
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Oh good, this is my exact feeling, glad to know I'm not alone! ^^;;
(and hee, your Haplo & Alfred request sounded exactly like my own!)
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One of the things I'm really enjoying about seeing Yuletide letters pop up on my flist is discovering other people who are into some of the same obscure things I am!
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*fdl* This is pretty much why I sign up for Yuletide, for those moments of "OMG what possessed me?!?" terror and angst :) The best thing about Yuletide is clinging to others who are going through the same thing, so welcome aboard! :)
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Hey, were you the person who asked for Mark/Kareen last year? I saw that request in the New Years' Resolution list and really wanted to write it, but life got away from me this year and I never got around to it. However, if your request doesn't get filled in the regular rounds of Yuletide (sadly Vorkosigan wasn't a fandom I offered, so there wasn't any chance of getting matched on that), I just might take a stab at it -- I want Mark and Kareen adventures like burning, even if I have to break down and write them myself. :D
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I have thought about writing it myself as well, but the Vorkosigan universe is one of those fandoms that I'm kind of intimidated about writing. Also, Vorkosiverse fans tend to be, ahem, detailed-oriented. Which is good, but not lessening the intimidation factor any.
The only piece I've actually put out there on the internets is Aral gen; I think it's pretty decent, but I had a few canon name flubs since I didn't have all the books handy.
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You wrote Aral gen? Got a link? :D
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I wrote it several years ago it's a bit clunky, but it was my first-ever ficathon story! It's set during Emperor Yuri's War, when Aral is eleven.
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