dear yuletide 2013
Oct. 6th, 2013 07:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
raspberryhunterDear yuletide writer,
Wow, thank you so much for offering to write a story in one of my crazy canons! I, uh, wrote a lot of words. I tend to do that. Feel free to ignore pretty much all of them — I love seeing how other people think about my favorite fandoms, and I love seeing interpretations that are different from mine (some of my favorite fics are the ones that made me look at things in a new way).
The People - Zenna Henderson (Any): I adore Zenna Henderson's People stories and always have, and just want more! The thing I love most about it, I think, is the effervescent joy, the childlike wonder, that permeates each page. But also... the moving depictions of familial and mentoring relationships; the utter sense of belonging: to a people, to a community, to a family (and which also plays into the teacher-child relationships she depicts); the drive to make things whole; the lovely understated way she's constantly drawing from Biblical imagery and quotations and tropes for the themes and images of the stories.
If you need ideas... I'd love to know what Shadow's story is; she's always been in a secondary role as Bethie-too or Remy's Shadow; how does she step into her own rightful place? Did Dr. Curtis learn anything from Dita? What's up with the Kroginolds' story -- they were always troublemakers; I imagine there's a story in how they grew up? But really anything with any character (or none at all, a new story with original characters would be quite excellent), with some of that joy and wonder in it, some of that exuberant borrowing and flavoring with Biblical tropes and quotes, would be totally lovely.
I will say that I tend to be more interested in the Earth stories than in Home or New Home, and I didn't like "Return" as well as some of the others (I guess I just don't like whiny narrators?), but hey, if your muse takes you there, go for it. I have a strong preference for a story that is at least mostly gen, but I'm open to either het or slash as long as canon pairings are respected (e.g., Valancy/Jemmy as a long-standing relationship is canon, and I'd rather Valancy didn't run off with Karen or something).
Tillerman Cycle - Cynthia Voigt (Any) I utterly love these books for how the characters are so multi-faceted and always have surprising sides to them, and are deeper than you think they are, like real people! I love how the characters have all kinds of things they think about, and not (as in so much YA) just one issue that defines them. I also love the emphasis on family, and the relationships between people (not just romantic -- family, friendships, community), and the friendships the Tillermans make with others, and how the characters have these interesting insights into their lives and other people's lives and how to live life, but they're never cliched thoughts.
I would love to read about what Jeff was thinking during the events of Seventeen Against the Dealer, or something about Maybeth, or something about what James does later in college and/or career (always been curious about that), or something about what Mina does in college and/or career (ditto), or the Tillerman uncle John who never does show up in the books, or whatever does happen to Mr. Lingerle (does he lose weight? does he get together with that woman he was visiting in Sons from Afar?)... or anything, really, about any and all of the characters. Since I think Dicey gets her fair share of POV time in the books, I do have a preference for non-Dicey POV (I don't mind her showing up as a character), but it would be just fine if that's what you want to write! I also have a preference for non-Homecoming fic, but again, whatever you'd like!
I have more thoughts about these books here.
Cordwainer Smith (Any) - If we matched on this I am first of all stunned and excited that you volunteered to write this at all (which sounds very difficult to me!), so thank you for that! So, inspired by the other letter in this fandom to tell you what I secretly wish for, I will say: what I would really, really love to get is essentially a new Cordwainer Smith story. If you need prompts — tell me more about the Lords and Ladies of the Instrumentality. How did Santuna become the Lady Alice More, and what does that even mean? Perhaps the Lords Jestocost one through six, how did they lay the foundation for the seventh of that name? Or tell me about the underpeople: more about the eagle people, and E'Telekeli? What is the mystery and the power of Space3? Tell me about the exploits of Dita of the Great South House after she became the greatest of the Go-Captains! What happened to the cat-people that Sudzal made? There are hints CS was going to do something with the robots — how do the robots fit in into the Rediscovery of Man?
And then there are all the tantalizing throwaway lines… what was the great cat scandal referenced in "Golden the Ship Was"? If you've read the later "On the [X] Planet" stories (and if you haven't that's fine, I don't like them as well anyway), what did the Robot, the Rat, and the Copt find in Space3, and how does the Old Strong Religion of the God Nailed High relate to CS's mythology? (ETA: If it's not clear, a story with original characters would be totally wonderful, and so would a story with one of the established characters -- I purposely didn't nominate any characters to give you full choice.)
In general: I absolutely adore the far-flung, totally-imaginative, across-the-stars-and-time, so-over-the-top-it-comes-back-around mythology that gathers up humans and underpeople and robots and I-don't-even-know-what in its nets; I love the way these stories evoke this amazing sense of a destiny for all of us that reaches across space and time; I love the way he examines questions of happiness and free will and equality; I love all the allusions and callbacks; I love the way his prose is almost more poetry than it is prose. Anything that can speak to some of that, even the tiniest part of it, would be SO AWESOME.
I love so much about these stories and would just love to get ANYTHING in this fandom. Really, aaaaaaanything! I love it all. There's so much to be explored.
(I'm not totally in love with Casher O'Neill or with Norstrilia-the-planet (or the novel) in general, or with the pinlighters, but hey, if that's where your muse takes you, I will love to see what you come up with! AAAAAAANYTHING.)
I have more thoughts about these books here.
Mabinogion (Arianrhod) - I have loved the Mabinogion ever since I was a kid, and even more when I got to study it for a short period of time (don't worry, I've forgotten most of what I learned :) ) — I love how it has all these callbacks and allusions to myth and the triads; I love all the little details, the tiny flashes of ironic humor that we see here and there ("Though I be not a lady…"), the hints of deeper allegiances and motifs.
I have always found Arianrhod incredibly fascinating and wondered what was going on with her. Did Gwydion know that she was not going to pass Math's test? Why didn't she protest or say anything about it, instead waiting until Math's test? (Surely, given the power and the implacability we see from her, she could have at least manufactured an excuse for not wanting to be subject to the test?) Why did she hate Lleu Llaw Gyffes so much, instead of Gwydion or Math? (It makes me sad that she hated him, even if it's understandable, and I would totally be up with a fic that gave her a more nuanced view towards him, or had a way of understanding the events of the Fourth Branch that didn't require her to utterly hate him.) What happened to Dylan, and did Arianrhod and he ever meet again? What happened to Arianrhod in the end? I just want her to have power and agency and understandable motivations. Political webs between her and Gwydion and Math and Lleu (and Goewin? and Cigfa? And…?) would be awesome as well.
Please feel free to reference any of the rest of the Mabinogion and/or any other bits of Welsh lit/myth; this will make me so happy! (Or, feel free not to :) ) (I also want to say: I adore the Mabinogion fic already on AO3. But it just makes me want more! :) )
Robots - Isaac Asimov (Susan Calvin): ETA 10-15-13: ...I was playing around with my signups, as I do, and I deleted my Asimov-SusanCalvin signup. And then signups closed. ARRRGH. If you came to this letter looking for my Susan Calvin prompt, I AM SO SORRY ABOUT THIS. Several other people are also asking for my beloved Susan Calvin for pretty much the identical reasons I was asking for her. Please consider one of these people! I promise to read any fic for any recipient that is written about The Awesomeness That Is Susan Calvin and squee about it, because I will consider it a present regardless of whose name is on it :)
General: Things I love (I don't expect all of these by any means, this is just a random sampling of Things I Like): I love worldbuilding fic and plotty fic because I can't write it myself, but by the same token I know it is hard to write and I certainly don't expect it. I love character-driven fic that thinks hard about the ramifications of characters' choices. I love for there to be some sort of character arc or characters (and/or the reader) coming to a greater understanding of something or someone during a fic. I love and adore friendship/partnerships, especially platonic ones, of all gender-variety. I love it when all the characters are understandable rather than straight-out villainous or malicious, or where expectations of malice are subverted. I am more a fan of gen than anything else, but I'm open to both het and slash, though I tend to be respectful of healthy overt canon pairings (which basically here means that I respect the Tillerman pairings and the People pairings).
Things I don't like: gratuitous violence or gratuitous character death. I'm not a huge fan of anything above PG-13 and will probably skim over anything really explicit unless something about the explicitness itself plays into character or plot development, in which case all bets are off :) I would prefer no darkfic or zany-AU for these fandoms, if that's okay (I'm usually happy with either, but not for these particular fandoms), except for Mabinogion -- I just realized that I would not say no to Arianrhod being the queen of a dystopian AU, or a stellar empire, as long as she retains her power and mystery, and if you want to write darkfic for Mabinogion, heck, Welsh stories always end in tragedy, go for it... (Fork-in-the-road AU is always welcomed.) (ETA 11-29-13: Sorry for the late notice, but it just occurred to me that Cordwainer Smith is often bittersweet or with endings that are surface-tragic, and I am ALL ABOUT THAT, that would be lovely. It's more the "rocks falls everyone dies" sort of darkfic I don't want -- I want there to be some hope!)
If you get stuck with your match… The Mabinogion is probably the smallest canon here (the Four Branches are the relevant bit). As for the others: The People is a large canon of work, but the stories are a fast read, and you could probably read a couple of them ("Ararat" is probably a must, and perhaps "Shadow on the Moon" to get the second-gen perspective) and get the feel of it pretty quickly -- I don't think Henderson herself worried too much about keeping everything strictly canon-compliant detail-wise. Cordwainer Smith are short stories, but a bit harder to find. I'd very much recommend We the Underpeople as the best introduction that's easily available in the US and cheap. If you happen to be in the UK, my favorite Smith anthology is The Rediscovery of Man. (I'd recommend "The Dead Lady of Clown Town," "Under Old Earth," "Alpha Ralpha Boulevard," and "The Ballad of Lost C'Mell," or some subset thereof, to get a sense of it.) Voigt is seven books long, but they are fast reads and probably available at your local library, and really if you read Sons from Afar you could write something on that one alone on James or Sammy, without reading the others, that would make me really really happy, or A Solitary Blue and Seventeen Against the Dealer (which do sort of need to be read as a pair) and something about Jeff, or Come a Stranger alone and something about Mina (although it's curiously hard to find).
Again, please write whatever you want. A lot of this is just my talking to myself; I want to know what you think of my beloved canons! And thank you again!
(Edited Cordwainer-Smith section 10-14-13, added AU/darkfic for Mabinogion and link to Cordwainer Smith 10-15-13. Edited darkfic sec 11-29-13.)
Wow, thank you so much for offering to write a story in one of my crazy canons! I, uh, wrote a lot of words. I tend to do that. Feel free to ignore pretty much all of them — I love seeing how other people think about my favorite fandoms, and I love seeing interpretations that are different from mine (some of my favorite fics are the ones that made me look at things in a new way).
The People - Zenna Henderson (Any): I adore Zenna Henderson's People stories and always have, and just want more! The thing I love most about it, I think, is the effervescent joy, the childlike wonder, that permeates each page. But also... the moving depictions of familial and mentoring relationships; the utter sense of belonging: to a people, to a community, to a family (and which also plays into the teacher-child relationships she depicts); the drive to make things whole; the lovely understated way she's constantly drawing from Biblical imagery and quotations and tropes for the themes and images of the stories.
If you need ideas... I'd love to know what Shadow's story is; she's always been in a secondary role as Bethie-too or Remy's Shadow; how does she step into her own rightful place? Did Dr. Curtis learn anything from Dita? What's up with the Kroginolds' story -- they were always troublemakers; I imagine there's a story in how they grew up? But really anything with any character (or none at all, a new story with original characters would be quite excellent), with some of that joy and wonder in it, some of that exuberant borrowing and flavoring with Biblical tropes and quotes, would be totally lovely.
I will say that I tend to be more interested in the Earth stories than in Home or New Home, and I didn't like "Return" as well as some of the others (I guess I just don't like whiny narrators?), but hey, if your muse takes you there, go for it. I have a strong preference for a story that is at least mostly gen, but I'm open to either het or slash as long as canon pairings are respected (e.g., Valancy/Jemmy as a long-standing relationship is canon, and I'd rather Valancy didn't run off with Karen or something).
Tillerman Cycle - Cynthia Voigt (Any) I utterly love these books for how the characters are so multi-faceted and always have surprising sides to them, and are deeper than you think they are, like real people! I love how the characters have all kinds of things they think about, and not (as in so much YA) just one issue that defines them. I also love the emphasis on family, and the relationships between people (not just romantic -- family, friendships, community), and the friendships the Tillermans make with others, and how the characters have these interesting insights into their lives and other people's lives and how to live life, but they're never cliched thoughts.
I would love to read about what Jeff was thinking during the events of Seventeen Against the Dealer, or something about Maybeth, or something about what James does later in college and/or career (always been curious about that), or something about what Mina does in college and/or career (ditto), or the Tillerman uncle John who never does show up in the books, or whatever does happen to Mr. Lingerle (does he lose weight? does he get together with that woman he was visiting in Sons from Afar?)... or anything, really, about any and all of the characters. Since I think Dicey gets her fair share of POV time in the books, I do have a preference for non-Dicey POV (I don't mind her showing up as a character), but it would be just fine if that's what you want to write! I also have a preference for non-Homecoming fic, but again, whatever you'd like!
I have more thoughts about these books here.
Cordwainer Smith (Any) - If we matched on this I am first of all stunned and excited that you volunteered to write this at all (which sounds very difficult to me!), so thank you for that! So, inspired by the other letter in this fandom to tell you what I secretly wish for, I will say: what I would really, really love to get is essentially a new Cordwainer Smith story. If you need prompts — tell me more about the Lords and Ladies of the Instrumentality. How did Santuna become the Lady Alice More, and what does that even mean? Perhaps the Lords Jestocost one through six, how did they lay the foundation for the seventh of that name? Or tell me about the underpeople: more about the eagle people, and E'Telekeli? What is the mystery and the power of Space3? Tell me about the exploits of Dita of the Great South House after she became the greatest of the Go-Captains! What happened to the cat-people that Sudzal made? There are hints CS was going to do something with the robots — how do the robots fit in into the Rediscovery of Man?
And then there are all the tantalizing throwaway lines… what was the great cat scandal referenced in "Golden the Ship Was"? If you've read the later "On the [X] Planet" stories (and if you haven't that's fine, I don't like them as well anyway), what did the Robot, the Rat, and the Copt find in Space3, and how does the Old Strong Religion of the God Nailed High relate to CS's mythology? (ETA: If it's not clear, a story with original characters would be totally wonderful, and so would a story with one of the established characters -- I purposely didn't nominate any characters to give you full choice.)
In general: I absolutely adore the far-flung, totally-imaginative, across-the-stars-and-time, so-over-the-top-it-comes-back-around mythology that gathers up humans and underpeople and robots and I-don't-even-know-what in its nets; I love the way these stories evoke this amazing sense of a destiny for all of us that reaches across space and time; I love the way he examines questions of happiness and free will and equality; I love all the allusions and callbacks; I love the way his prose is almost more poetry than it is prose. Anything that can speak to some of that, even the tiniest part of it, would be SO AWESOME.
I love so much about these stories and would just love to get ANYTHING in this fandom. Really, aaaaaaanything! I love it all. There's so much to be explored.
(I'm not totally in love with Casher O'Neill or with Norstrilia-the-planet (or the novel) in general, or with the pinlighters, but hey, if that's where your muse takes you, I will love to see what you come up with! AAAAAAANYTHING.)
I have more thoughts about these books here.
Mabinogion (Arianrhod) - I have loved the Mabinogion ever since I was a kid, and even more when I got to study it for a short period of time (don't worry, I've forgotten most of what I learned :) ) — I love how it has all these callbacks and allusions to myth and the triads; I love all the little details, the tiny flashes of ironic humor that we see here and there ("Though I be not a lady…"), the hints of deeper allegiances and motifs.
I have always found Arianrhod incredibly fascinating and wondered what was going on with her. Did Gwydion know that she was not going to pass Math's test? Why didn't she protest or say anything about it, instead waiting until Math's test? (Surely, given the power and the implacability we see from her, she could have at least manufactured an excuse for not wanting to be subject to the test?) Why did she hate Lleu Llaw Gyffes so much, instead of Gwydion or Math? (It makes me sad that she hated him, even if it's understandable, and I would totally be up with a fic that gave her a more nuanced view towards him, or had a way of understanding the events of the Fourth Branch that didn't require her to utterly hate him.) What happened to Dylan, and did Arianrhod and he ever meet again? What happened to Arianrhod in the end? I just want her to have power and agency and understandable motivations. Political webs between her and Gwydion and Math and Lleu (and Goewin? and Cigfa? And…?) would be awesome as well.
Please feel free to reference any of the rest of the Mabinogion and/or any other bits of Welsh lit/myth; this will make me so happy! (Or, feel free not to :) ) (I also want to say: I adore the Mabinogion fic already on AO3. But it just makes me want more! :) )
Robots - Isaac Asimov (Susan Calvin): ETA 10-15-13: ...I was playing around with my signups, as I do, and I deleted my Asimov-SusanCalvin signup. And then signups closed. ARRRGH. If you came to this letter looking for my Susan Calvin prompt, I AM SO SORRY ABOUT THIS. Several other people are also asking for my beloved Susan Calvin for pretty much the identical reasons I was asking for her. Please consider one of these people! I promise to read any fic for any recipient that is written about The Awesomeness That Is Susan Calvin and squee about it, because I will consider it a present regardless of whose name is on it :)
General: Things I love (I don't expect all of these by any means, this is just a random sampling of Things I Like): I love worldbuilding fic and plotty fic because I can't write it myself, but by the same token I know it is hard to write and I certainly don't expect it. I love character-driven fic that thinks hard about the ramifications of characters' choices. I love for there to be some sort of character arc or characters (and/or the reader) coming to a greater understanding of something or someone during a fic. I love and adore friendship/partnerships, especially platonic ones, of all gender-variety. I love it when all the characters are understandable rather than straight-out villainous or malicious, or where expectations of malice are subverted. I am more a fan of gen than anything else, but I'm open to both het and slash, though I tend to be respectful of healthy overt canon pairings (which basically here means that I respect the Tillerman pairings and the People pairings).
Things I don't like: gratuitous violence or gratuitous character death. I'm not a huge fan of anything above PG-13 and will probably skim over anything really explicit unless something about the explicitness itself plays into character or plot development, in which case all bets are off :) I would prefer no darkfic or zany-AU for these fandoms, if that's okay (I'm usually happy with either, but not for these particular fandoms), except for Mabinogion -- I just realized that I would not say no to Arianrhod being the queen of a dystopian AU, or a stellar empire, as long as she retains her power and mystery, and if you want to write darkfic for Mabinogion, heck, Welsh stories always end in tragedy, go for it... (Fork-in-the-road AU is always welcomed.) (ETA 11-29-13: Sorry for the late notice, but it just occurred to me that Cordwainer Smith is often bittersweet or with endings that are surface-tragic, and I am ALL ABOUT THAT, that would be lovely. It's more the "rocks falls everyone dies" sort of darkfic I don't want -- I want there to be some hope!)
If you get stuck with your match… The Mabinogion is probably the smallest canon here (the Four Branches are the relevant bit). As for the others: The People is a large canon of work, but the stories are a fast read, and you could probably read a couple of them ("Ararat" is probably a must, and perhaps "Shadow on the Moon" to get the second-gen perspective) and get the feel of it pretty quickly -- I don't think Henderson herself worried too much about keeping everything strictly canon-compliant detail-wise. Cordwainer Smith are short stories, but a bit harder to find. I'd very much recommend We the Underpeople as the best introduction that's easily available in the US and cheap. If you happen to be in the UK, my favorite Smith anthology is The Rediscovery of Man. (I'd recommend "The Dead Lady of Clown Town," "Under Old Earth," "Alpha Ralpha Boulevard," and "The Ballad of Lost C'Mell," or some subset thereof, to get a sense of it.) Voigt is seven books long, but they are fast reads and probably available at your local library, and really if you read Sons from Afar you could write something on that one alone on James or Sammy, without reading the others, that would make me really really happy, or A Solitary Blue and Seventeen Against the Dealer (which do sort of need to be read as a pair) and something about Jeff, or Come a Stranger alone and something about Mina (although it's curiously hard to find).
Again, please write whatever you want. A lot of this is just my talking to myself; I want to know what you think of my beloved canons! And thank you again!
(Edited Cordwainer-Smith section 10-14-13, added AU/darkfic for Mabinogion and link to Cordwainer Smith 10-15-13. Edited darkfic sec 11-29-13.)
no subject
Date: 2013-10-07 07:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-07 04:29 pm (UTC)Yes, yay Susan Calvin!