ionthesparrow (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ionthesparrow) wrote2013-10-12 09:58 pm
ionthesparrow) wrote2013-10-12 09:58 pm
yuletide letter!
Dearest New Yuletide Friend/Writer Assigned To Me/Author Person:
(Sorry about the delay - there was, uh, hockey?)
Hi. I'm, uh, new at this, so I apologize in advance if I fuck this letter up somehow. But - I'm really excited to be here? I mean, I had sort of heard about Yuletide, but this is the first time I've actually gotten off my ass to participate. So, yay. Okay, here goes:
What I Look For in Stories
I mean, really, I'm like the easiest person to please. I read all kinds of different stuff, and I've found things in almost every corner of fandom that I've liked. There's no one theme/kink/trope/plot point that's going to make me hate your story, and I'm basically impossible to offend. I got into fandom by reading slash of all ratings, but these days I'm equally likely to be pleased by slash or gen, or even the odd het story.
Things that will make me click on a story super, super fast: coming of age stories, dealing-with-sexual-identity stories, stories about queerness or gender identity. AUs of all kinds, especially sci-fi AUs (Space! Psychics! His Dark Materials fusions!), plotty stories, soul-bond stories of any and all kinds, slice-of-life stories, hurt/comfort, angst, pining. Humor, especially dark humor. Melancholy (and, I should say, I love both happy and not-happy endings equally).
And car chases, a good car chase never hurt anything.
Things that I will probably not click on as fast (unless someone recs it to me): PWP, anything labeled “pure fluff”, kidfic.
(which is not to say I haven’t enjoyed stories from all of those genres. I mean, hell, I wrote kidfic once. And it’s not that I don’t enjoy seeing domestic fluffy happiness – it’s just that I really enjoy the angst of getting to the happy domestic fluffiness).
Prompt-specific Stuff
Catch-22, Joseph Heller – Yossarian and Minderbinder
Things I love about this book: Oh, man – what is there to not love about this book? The absurdity. The humor. The dialogue. The exasperation with which Yossarian faces the world, his cynicism, and at the same time his fierce love of life. Where are the Snowdens of yesteryear still fucking gets me every time. And Milo! I love his ridiculous pragmatism, elevated to the absurd. I can’t really picture either of them in a sexual relationship, but that said, I’m open to being sold on it. I’d really love to see A Day in the Life type stories. Or a What Happens After story. And any other characters you’d like to include are, of course, a bonus.
Darkover series , Marion Zimmer Bradley – Danilo Syrtis, Regis Hastur
I’ll be completely honest: I don’t actually remember these books that well. I think I remember that some of them were enjoyable, and some of them were awful? But here’s the thing, back in the day (lo these many years ago) when I was a (closeted) queer youth, desperately reading between the lines looking for any sort of reflection of self, the relationship between Syrtis and Hastur was a certifiable bonanza. And the themes of that relationship (growing up, queerness, recovery from abuse, boyhood friendship, best bro-hood, loyalty) are still the themes I look for in stories today. (Is that embarrassing? I can’t tell anymore). And magic. Who doesn’t like magic?
I’d love to see more of their lives, more of their relationship – platonic, not platonic – go crazy. I’d love to see their story lifted out of the Darkover universe and mapped out somewhere else. Modern royalty AU? Sports AU? But basically if you write anything incorporating the themes I just mentioned, I’ll be thrilled.
A Separate Peace, John Knowles – Gene & Phinny
Oh god, this book. This book is, like, sneakily emotionally destructive. I sort of hated this book when I read it in school, but when I re-read it as an adult I fucking loved it. I mean, if you’re into boys-being-besties and angst and growing up, it’s everything you could ever want – plus it’s set against a backdrop of impending war and death. I mean, goddamn.
I always read this book as though Phinny had an unrequited crush on Gene, so if you did anything like that I would die of happiness. Although, in this case, requiting and sex would totally be a bonus, too. I’d love to just see more of what their time at school was like, but if you, say, made A Separate Peace into a crazy Space AU, where they’re in a Space Colony on the edge of a Space War, I would be pretty fucking impressed.
I’m not really sure how I would feel about a “Fix-it” type story that gave them a happy ending… I mean guilt and regret is sort of the point here, right? But if that’s where the creative spirit moves you, I’d love to see how it turns out.
National Football League RPF – Colin Kaepernick
Dude, Colin Kaepernick looks really fucking good naked. Just sayin’. What does Colin Kaepernick get up to when he’s naked? Hell, what does he get up to when he’s clothed? He’s such a strange man in so many ways, so determined to be his own person, so insanely physically gifted, and yet almost – innocent? child-like? – in interviews.
Maybe Colin Kaepernick is an actual 49er, panning for gold? Maybe Colin Kaepernick exists in an alternate universe where Alex Smith was never injured? Or maybe he and Smith are soulbonded? Maybe Colin Kaepernick can actually transform into the antelope he so resembles when he runs? What is a day in the life of Colin Kaepernick? Gen, slash, het all equally good here.
This Is The End (2013) – Jay Baruchel
End of the world stories are some of my favorites, and Jay Baruchel is one of my favorites, so this was an easy pick. Who does Jay Baruchel fuck at the end of the world? How does Jay Baruchel avoid getting fucked at the end of the world? Why does he hate Jonah Hill so much? What’s heaven like? What’s hanging out with Seth Rogan like? ALL VALID QUESTIONS THAT NEED ANSWERS.
Dark Tower, Stephen King – Roland, Cuthbert, and Alain
In these books, I loved the flashbacks we got to see of the friendship among these three guys, even if it all ends horribly. I love the sort of crumbling-empire world King created for Roland’s boyhood. I’d love to see more of any of that. Slash, gen, your pick. More of Roland’s reflections and regret? How they met? Childhood shenanigans? The characters mapped onto something incredibly mundane like an office-AU? All awesome
In Conclusion and Other Notes:
… wow, these prompts are all embarrassingly similar in a lot of ways. Uh. I guess I have a type when it comes to media I love. Go figure.
But really, I just wanted to say how excited I am to participate in this exchange. I’m so stoked at the idea of anything in any of these fandoms, so, you know, knock yourself out.
Thanks!
(Sorry about the delay - there was, uh, hockey?)
Hi. I'm, uh, new at this, so I apologize in advance if I fuck this letter up somehow. But - I'm really excited to be here? I mean, I had sort of heard about Yuletide, but this is the first time I've actually gotten off my ass to participate. So, yay. Okay, here goes:
What I Look For in Stories
I mean, really, I'm like the easiest person to please. I read all kinds of different stuff, and I've found things in almost every corner of fandom that I've liked. There's no one theme/kink/trope/plot point that's going to make me hate your story, and I'm basically impossible to offend. I got into fandom by reading slash of all ratings, but these days I'm equally likely to be pleased by slash or gen, or even the odd het story.
Things that will make me click on a story super, super fast: coming of age stories, dealing-with-sexual-identity stories, stories about queerness or gender identity. AUs of all kinds, especially sci-fi AUs (Space! Psychics! His Dark Materials fusions!), plotty stories, soul-bond stories of any and all kinds, slice-of-life stories, hurt/comfort, angst, pining. Humor, especially dark humor. Melancholy (and, I should say, I love both happy and not-happy endings equally).
And car chases, a good car chase never hurt anything.
Things that I will probably not click on as fast (unless someone recs it to me): PWP, anything labeled “pure fluff”, kidfic.
(which is not to say I haven’t enjoyed stories from all of those genres. I mean, hell, I wrote kidfic once. And it’s not that I don’t enjoy seeing domestic fluffy happiness – it’s just that I really enjoy the angst of getting to the happy domestic fluffiness).
Prompt-specific Stuff
Catch-22, Joseph Heller – Yossarian and Minderbinder
Things I love about this book: Oh, man – what is there to not love about this book? The absurdity. The humor. The dialogue. The exasperation with which Yossarian faces the world, his cynicism, and at the same time his fierce love of life. Where are the Snowdens of yesteryear still fucking gets me every time. And Milo! I love his ridiculous pragmatism, elevated to the absurd. I can’t really picture either of them in a sexual relationship, but that said, I’m open to being sold on it. I’d really love to see A Day in the Life type stories. Or a What Happens After story. And any other characters you’d like to include are, of course, a bonus.
Darkover series , Marion Zimmer Bradley – Danilo Syrtis, Regis Hastur
I’ll be completely honest: I don’t actually remember these books that well. I think I remember that some of them were enjoyable, and some of them were awful? But here’s the thing, back in the day (lo these many years ago) when I was a (closeted) queer youth, desperately reading between the lines looking for any sort of reflection of self, the relationship between Syrtis and Hastur was a certifiable bonanza. And the themes of that relationship (growing up, queerness, recovery from abuse, boyhood friendship, best bro-hood, loyalty) are still the themes I look for in stories today. (Is that embarrassing? I can’t tell anymore). And magic. Who doesn’t like magic?
I’d love to see more of their lives, more of their relationship – platonic, not platonic – go crazy. I’d love to see their story lifted out of the Darkover universe and mapped out somewhere else. Modern royalty AU? Sports AU? But basically if you write anything incorporating the themes I just mentioned, I’ll be thrilled.
A Separate Peace, John Knowles – Gene & Phinny
Oh god, this book. This book is, like, sneakily emotionally destructive. I sort of hated this book when I read it in school, but when I re-read it as an adult I fucking loved it. I mean, if you’re into boys-being-besties and angst and growing up, it’s everything you could ever want – plus it’s set against a backdrop of impending war and death. I mean, goddamn.
I always read this book as though Phinny had an unrequited crush on Gene, so if you did anything like that I would die of happiness. Although, in this case, requiting and sex would totally be a bonus, too. I’d love to just see more of what their time at school was like, but if you, say, made A Separate Peace into a crazy Space AU, where they’re in a Space Colony on the edge of a Space War, I would be pretty fucking impressed.
I’m not really sure how I would feel about a “Fix-it” type story that gave them a happy ending… I mean guilt and regret is sort of the point here, right? But if that’s where the creative spirit moves you, I’d love to see how it turns out.
National Football League RPF – Colin Kaepernick
Dude, Colin Kaepernick looks really fucking good naked. Just sayin’. What does Colin Kaepernick get up to when he’s naked? Hell, what does he get up to when he’s clothed? He’s such a strange man in so many ways, so determined to be his own person, so insanely physically gifted, and yet almost – innocent? child-like? – in interviews.
Maybe Colin Kaepernick is an actual 49er, panning for gold? Maybe Colin Kaepernick exists in an alternate universe where Alex Smith was never injured? Or maybe he and Smith are soulbonded? Maybe Colin Kaepernick can actually transform into the antelope he so resembles when he runs? What is a day in the life of Colin Kaepernick? Gen, slash, het all equally good here.
This Is The End (2013) – Jay Baruchel
End of the world stories are some of my favorites, and Jay Baruchel is one of my favorites, so this was an easy pick. Who does Jay Baruchel fuck at the end of the world? How does Jay Baruchel avoid getting fucked at the end of the world? Why does he hate Jonah Hill so much? What’s heaven like? What’s hanging out with Seth Rogan like? ALL VALID QUESTIONS THAT NEED ANSWERS.
Dark Tower, Stephen King – Roland, Cuthbert, and Alain
In these books, I loved the flashbacks we got to see of the friendship among these three guys, even if it all ends horribly. I love the sort of crumbling-empire world King created for Roland’s boyhood. I’d love to see more of any of that. Slash, gen, your pick. More of Roland’s reflections and regret? How they met? Childhood shenanigans? The characters mapped onto something incredibly mundane like an office-AU? All awesome
In Conclusion and Other Notes:
… wow, these prompts are all embarrassingly similar in a lot of ways. Uh. I guess I have a type when it comes to media I love. Go figure.
But really, I just wanted to say how excited I am to participate in this exchange. I’m so stoked at the idea of anything in any of these fandoms, so, you know, knock yourself out.
Thanks!