raspberryhunter (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
raspberryhunter) wrote2017-10-01 09:55 pm
raspberryhunter) wrote2017-10-01 09:55 pm
Entry tags:
Dear Yuletide 2017
Dear Yuletide Writer,
Thank you for writing for me! I seem to have written a lot, as I often do. Feel free to ignore these words — 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).
I think this is the first time ever I am requesting more than three fandoms!
Tillerman Cycle - Voigt - I've reread these books this year and have been blown away all over again by how amazing they are in terms of depth of character, thematic development of love and friendship and growing up and holding on and letting go and community and how we give to each other… I would love anything for these books. Any character. What you want to write, what interests you, that's what I want to hear about! I nominated some I love, but really any character at all would be wonderful, and in the spirit of how Voigt is always thinking about the humanity of all the characters — what does Jeff's college roommate think of the events of Seventeen? What is Mr. Lingerle's perspective? Can Johnny Tillerman, whom we never saw but who from Bullet's memory rather looked like he was going to follow in his father's toxic footsteps, figure himself out and have healthier relationships?
I have a whole lot more words about these books (with a lot more prompts) here. I haven't written up the last two books in this current reread, but I am really hoping to get to it before assignments go out. If/when I get around to it, I'll update this part with a link :) [ETA 10-10-17: I have now written up Sons and I am really going to try to get to Seventeen in the next two days or so!][ETA 10-19-17: I finally got this up, and now all posts show up in the above link. I am SO SORRY, writer, if you are writing for this one! Anyway, the series of posts in the above link now has prompts for all characters in the tagset and several more.]
I really, really want a Tillerman story to have a good ending, by which I don't mean an unalloyed happy ending — what I guess I mean here is I need a fic where the characters grow and learn, and where they're able to keep their family together, and I'm assured they're going to be OK, even if bad things happen in the meantime. Fic where Gram dies and the adult kids come together to figure it out as they've always figured it out? Great! Alternate-universe fic where Verricker meets James and Sammy and absolutely crushes them but Maybeth sees right through him and puts her brothers straight in the end? Bring it on! Alternate-universe fic where the kids never make it to Gram in Homecoming and get separated into orphanages forever? Or fic where Johnny propagates his father's ways without changing? Please no. Thank you!
Llyfr Taliesin: The Book of Taliesin - I honestly don't know much about these texts (except for Preideu Annwn — which I have asked for before and got really amazing things, and would love to get more!) but I really enjoy reading them. Explain them to me! One of the texts, many of the texts, tell me a story about what's going on. Tell me about the Battle of the Trees. What is going on with the different trees? What is going on with the multitude of forms? What is going to happen, or what has happened, with the Great Prophesy of Britain? Explain to me "the reconciliation of Lludd the Less." (Admit it, wouldn't that make a great title for a fic in general?) Tell me a story, is what I'm saying, about whatever strikes you as interesting or intriguing about these poems. Anything you want to bring in from Arthurian and/or Welsh lit/myth is fair game, of course, and will delight me, though is certainly not necessary at all.
The only online text I know of is here.
This is another one where I am open to anything. And here I am wide open — you want to do IF? SPAAAAACE AU? Any other kind of AU? Epistolary fic? Poetry? Experimental ficcing techniques? Art treat? Go for it!
And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill's Side - I got totally amazing Tiptree stories last year, at least one of which was explicitly based on this story, and I was going to try not to be greedy and nominate it again, but now that it is in the tag set let's just admit it: I am a greedy person who wants moooooore. (especially if they will be in the tag set properly this year grumble grumble, not that I am bitter on my authors' behalf).
This story, like all of Tiptree's stories, is about sex and despair and really about what it means to be human. "We're built to dream outwards." So: I want a story dealing with what that means, that humans are built to dream outwards (or not -- is that actually true?), whether it deals specifically with the situation set up in this story or whether it does something completely different with that sentence. Also, as Tiptree's stories have: love, sex, joy, despair, death, humanity, or biology — it doesn't have to be all of those, but I do contend that it should have at least one quotation from at least one piece of literature, if only in the title :) But anyway, I would really be happy with just about anything! I would ADORE to have a new Tiptree-esque story, whether it follows her style or draws ideas and themes from this story to be its own object. (I got both last year and was so excited about both!)
See also my letter from last here here. Note that, as in that letter, Tiptree is the one request I ever have where explicitness, particularly porn, is not only not discouraged but enthusiastically encouraged as long as (as Tiptree did) it's integral to the themes of the story. Which it is, for this particular story! (That being said, it's also just fine if it's not explicit :) ) The only request I have here is that if it's unrelenting intensely dark, please tag! Thanks!
Der Ring des Nibelungen (Brunnhilde, Sieglinde) - Another one where I am just going to be greedy again because the tag set allows me! I have gotten a lovely story about Loge and Brunnhilde (and tangentially Sieglinde) which was everything I could ask for, and it has just whetted my appetite for more Brunnhilde and Sieglinde. I would *love* an AU where Sieglinde survives and gets to actually parent Siegfried properly, maybe with Brunnhilde?? Or, if not parenting him together, how does it work when Brunnhilde meets Sieglinde again, and alt!Siegfried? Can they, now that they can work together (and if Siegfried is raised to be wise and observant instead of an idiotic brat) somehow still take down the gods without all dying horribly? (And how does it work if Siegfried is nice enough not to break Wotan's staff?)
If that's not something you're interested in, I love their interaction and the emotions they have together, that amazing scene where Brunnhilde and Sieglinde really connect through Sieglinde's future child… Maybe a very slight AU where they have a bit more time before Brunnhilde has to face Wotan? Can she impart any additional wisdom to help Sieglinde?
For this one I'm totally okay with dark (source canon is the end of the world, after all), but a) I don't want Brunnhilde/Siegfried if she is acting in an explicitly parental role towards him, or b) if Siegfried is nicer, I'd like that to have some sort of positive effect, even if overall it ends badly for Our Heroes.
Final Reflection - John M. Ford (Kethas, Krenn, Tagore) - And this one! This is possibly my favorite Star Trek novel, and John M. Ford is one of those formative authors for me — I love his allusions and the way you have to piece together what actually happened. (Also, by the way, whoever is reading this, I would LOVE to have a discussion of what is actually happening in this book! I think I have figured out most of the plot, but I'm not sure.) I love the detailed and alien culture and mindset of the Klingons he puts forth in this book (I read this before Klingon society was developed in Star Trek canon, so in many ways this has always been my personal canon) — the Perpetual Game (and even more than that, the way it stands in for religion in their society, and that he's given thought to it so that like any religion, there are people who have legitimate objections to it and others who simply don't believe in it), the structure that grows vs. the structure that dies — And the way Krenn uses the culture itself to further his own aims (and the way he was taught by Kethas and Tagore to do so)! And of course Tagore is a simply amazing character, the man who speaks peace and teaches Krenn about humans and about peace.
I would adore anything here that spoke to Ford's intricate worldbuilding and careful but inferred plotting. I am pretty much good with anything — this is an "or" rather than an "and" request; don't feel like you have to include all three. For that matter, if you want to concentrate on worldbuilding, you don't have to include any at all. I do really love the way Kethas, Krenn, and Tagore think about things, so I'd love to see some of that Thought Admiral/Captain thinky strategy and/or Tagore's humanistic (and alien to the Klingons) view even if it's through another character's experiences or thoughts.
Consuming canon: From shortest to longest:
The shortest would be Llyfr Taliesin — you could read one poem and write on it. The only online source I know of is here.
"And I Awoke and Found Me Here" is a short story (short! fewer than 4000 words), and can be found online here.
The Final Reflection is a fairly short book, but is dense, and it's taken me multiple readings to figure out what's going on. It is available used. It also seems to be available for Kindle.
The Tillerman Cycle books are all in print and seem to be generally available at libraries, and they are very fast reads.
Much of the Ring Cycle is available on Youtube. I'm basically imprinted on the Boulez version of Die Walkure with Donald McIntyre and Gwyneth Jones, available with English subs here (Acts I and II) and here (Act III). The Boulez version of Rheingold is also here.
I also rather liked the Sawallisch version of Walkure here (Part 1) and here (Part 2), although I think Wotan's hat is really weird.
Librettos are also available free on the web — English translations here and here, and probably other places of which I am unaware. I really like Andrew Porter's English translation, which is available on Amazon.
General: Things I love (I don't expect all of these by any means, this is just a sampling of Things That Make Me Happy): 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 most of all 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 het/slash/femslash. I am super on board with AU for Ring or Llfyr Taliesin if you would like to go that way, but would prefer no AUs for the others — except for fork-in-the-road type AUs, those are pretty much always welcome for any fandom! I am also totally open to alternative ways of telling stories -- IF, epistolary fic, what-have-you, I'm up for it!
Things I don't like: graphic gratuitous violence or gratuitous character death. (Death that makes logical sense within the story is fine, and is present in all my fandoms this year to varying degrees.) 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 :) (And see my note for Tiptree — very frequently, explicitness plays into her themes and characters.) Darkfic is fine for Ring and Tiptree and Taliesin, but see my note on unhappy endings for Voigt. I'd also prefer no vastly unhappy endings for the Ford (canon-level is fine).
Thank you for writing for me! I seem to have written a lot, as I often do. Feel free to ignore these words — 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).
I think this is the first time ever I am requesting more than three fandoms!
Tillerman Cycle - Voigt - I've reread these books this year and have been blown away all over again by how amazing they are in terms of depth of character, thematic development of love and friendship and growing up and holding on and letting go and community and how we give to each other… I would love anything for these books. Any character. What you want to write, what interests you, that's what I want to hear about! I nominated some I love, but really any character at all would be wonderful, and in the spirit of how Voigt is always thinking about the humanity of all the characters — what does Jeff's college roommate think of the events of Seventeen? What is Mr. Lingerle's perspective? Can Johnny Tillerman, whom we never saw but who from Bullet's memory rather looked like he was going to follow in his father's toxic footsteps, figure himself out and have healthier relationships?
I have a whole lot more words about these books (with a lot more prompts) here. I haven't written up the last two books in this current reread, but I am really hoping to get to it before assignments go out. If/when I get around to it, I'll update this part with a link :) [ETA 10-10-17: I have now written up Sons and I am really going to try to get to Seventeen in the next two days or so!][ETA 10-19-17: I finally got this up, and now all posts show up in the above link. I am SO SORRY, writer, if you are writing for this one! Anyway, the series of posts in the above link now has prompts for all characters in the tagset and several more.]
I really, really want a Tillerman story to have a good ending, by which I don't mean an unalloyed happy ending — what I guess I mean here is I need a fic where the characters grow and learn, and where they're able to keep their family together, and I'm assured they're going to be OK, even if bad things happen in the meantime. Fic where Gram dies and the adult kids come together to figure it out as they've always figured it out? Great! Alternate-universe fic where Verricker meets James and Sammy and absolutely crushes them but Maybeth sees right through him and puts her brothers straight in the end? Bring it on! Alternate-universe fic where the kids never make it to Gram in Homecoming and get separated into orphanages forever? Or fic where Johnny propagates his father's ways without changing? Please no. Thank you!
Llyfr Taliesin: The Book of Taliesin - I honestly don't know much about these texts (except for Preideu Annwn — which I have asked for before and got really amazing things, and would love to get more!) but I really enjoy reading them. Explain them to me! One of the texts, many of the texts, tell me a story about what's going on. Tell me about the Battle of the Trees. What is going on with the different trees? What is going on with the multitude of forms? What is going to happen, or what has happened, with the Great Prophesy of Britain? Explain to me "the reconciliation of Lludd the Less." (Admit it, wouldn't that make a great title for a fic in general?) Tell me a story, is what I'm saying, about whatever strikes you as interesting or intriguing about these poems. Anything you want to bring in from Arthurian and/or Welsh lit/myth is fair game, of course, and will delight me, though is certainly not necessary at all.
The only online text I know of is here.
This is another one where I am open to anything. And here I am wide open — you want to do IF? SPAAAAACE AU? Any other kind of AU? Epistolary fic? Poetry? Experimental ficcing techniques? Art treat? Go for it!
And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill's Side - I got totally amazing Tiptree stories last year, at least one of which was explicitly based on this story, and I was going to try not to be greedy and nominate it again, but now that it is in the tag set let's just admit it: I am a greedy person who wants moooooore. (especially if they will be in the tag set properly this year grumble grumble, not that I am bitter on my authors' behalf).
This story, like all of Tiptree's stories, is about sex and despair and really about what it means to be human. "We're built to dream outwards." So: I want a story dealing with what that means, that humans are built to dream outwards (or not -- is that actually true?), whether it deals specifically with the situation set up in this story or whether it does something completely different with that sentence. Also, as Tiptree's stories have: love, sex, joy, despair, death, humanity, or biology — it doesn't have to be all of those, but I do contend that it should have at least one quotation from at least one piece of literature, if only in the title :) But anyway, I would really be happy with just about anything! I would ADORE to have a new Tiptree-esque story, whether it follows her style or draws ideas and themes from this story to be its own object. (I got both last year and was so excited about both!)
See also my letter from last here here. Note that, as in that letter, Tiptree is the one request I ever have where explicitness, particularly porn, is not only not discouraged but enthusiastically encouraged as long as (as Tiptree did) it's integral to the themes of the story. Which it is, for this particular story! (That being said, it's also just fine if it's not explicit :) ) The only request I have here is that if it's unrelenting intensely dark, please tag! Thanks!
Der Ring des Nibelungen (Brunnhilde, Sieglinde) - Another one where I am just going to be greedy again because the tag set allows me! I have gotten a lovely story about Loge and Brunnhilde (and tangentially Sieglinde) which was everything I could ask for, and it has just whetted my appetite for more Brunnhilde and Sieglinde. I would *love* an AU where Sieglinde survives and gets to actually parent Siegfried properly, maybe with Brunnhilde?? Or, if not parenting him together, how does it work when Brunnhilde meets Sieglinde again, and alt!Siegfried? Can they, now that they can work together (and if Siegfried is raised to be wise and observant instead of an idiotic brat) somehow still take down the gods without all dying horribly? (And how does it work if Siegfried is nice enough not to break Wotan's staff?)
If that's not something you're interested in, I love their interaction and the emotions they have together, that amazing scene where Brunnhilde and Sieglinde really connect through Sieglinde's future child… Maybe a very slight AU where they have a bit more time before Brunnhilde has to face Wotan? Can she impart any additional wisdom to help Sieglinde?
For this one I'm totally okay with dark (source canon is the end of the world, after all), but a) I don't want Brunnhilde/Siegfried if she is acting in an explicitly parental role towards him, or b) if Siegfried is nicer, I'd like that to have some sort of positive effect, even if overall it ends badly for Our Heroes.
Final Reflection - John M. Ford (Kethas, Krenn, Tagore) - And this one! This is possibly my favorite Star Trek novel, and John M. Ford is one of those formative authors for me — I love his allusions and the way you have to piece together what actually happened. (Also, by the way, whoever is reading this, I would LOVE to have a discussion of what is actually happening in this book! I think I have figured out most of the plot, but I'm not sure.) I love the detailed and alien culture and mindset of the Klingons he puts forth in this book (I read this before Klingon society was developed in Star Trek canon, so in many ways this has always been my personal canon) — the Perpetual Game (and even more than that, the way it stands in for religion in their society, and that he's given thought to it so that like any religion, there are people who have legitimate objections to it and others who simply don't believe in it), the structure that grows vs. the structure that dies — And the way Krenn uses the culture itself to further his own aims (and the way he was taught by Kethas and Tagore to do so)! And of course Tagore is a simply amazing character, the man who speaks peace and teaches Krenn about humans and about peace.
I would adore anything here that spoke to Ford's intricate worldbuilding and careful but inferred plotting. I am pretty much good with anything — this is an "or" rather than an "and" request; don't feel like you have to include all three. For that matter, if you want to concentrate on worldbuilding, you don't have to include any at all. I do really love the way Kethas, Krenn, and Tagore think about things, so I'd love to see some of that Thought Admiral/Captain thinky strategy and/or Tagore's humanistic (and alien to the Klingons) view even if it's through another character's experiences or thoughts.
Consuming canon: From shortest to longest:
The shortest would be Llyfr Taliesin — you could read one poem and write on it. The only online source I know of is here.
"And I Awoke and Found Me Here" is a short story (short! fewer than 4000 words), and can be found online here.
The Final Reflection is a fairly short book, but is dense, and it's taken me multiple readings to figure out what's going on. It is available used. It also seems to be available for Kindle.
The Tillerman Cycle books are all in print and seem to be generally available at libraries, and they are very fast reads.
Much of the Ring Cycle is available on Youtube. I'm basically imprinted on the Boulez version of Die Walkure with Donald McIntyre and Gwyneth Jones, available with English subs here (Acts I and II) and here (Act III). The Boulez version of Rheingold is also here.
I also rather liked the Sawallisch version of Walkure here (Part 1) and here (Part 2), although I think Wotan's hat is really weird.
Librettos are also available free on the web — English translations here and here, and probably other places of which I am unaware. I really like Andrew Porter's English translation, which is available on Amazon.
General: Things I love (I don't expect all of these by any means, this is just a sampling of Things That Make Me Happy): 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 most of all 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 het/slash/femslash. I am super on board with AU for Ring or Llfyr Taliesin if you would like to go that way, but would prefer no AUs for the others — except for fork-in-the-road type AUs, those are pretty much always welcome for any fandom! I am also totally open to alternative ways of telling stories -- IF, epistolary fic, what-have-you, I'm up for it!
Things I don't like: graphic gratuitous violence or gratuitous character death. (Death that makes logical sense within the story is fine, and is present in all my fandoms this year to varying degrees.) 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 :) (And see my note for Tiptree — very frequently, explicitness plays into her themes and characters.) Darkfic is fine for Ring and Tiptree and Taliesin, but see my note on unhappy endings for Voigt. I'd also prefer no vastly unhappy endings for the Ford (canon-level is fine).