raspberryhunter (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
raspberryhunter) wrote2011-11-17 09:36 pm
raspberryhunter) wrote2011-11-17 09:36 pm
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Dear yuletide 2011
Dear lovely Yuletide writer,
First, thank you! This is my first year of Yuletide, and I am excited! I wrote a bunch of stuff below to give you a feel for how I think about things in case you want to know, and prompts in case you're the sort of author who wants them, but feel free to ignore all of it if your fic-writing takes you in another direction, because I know how that is -- I am excited that you are writing for my fandom (whatever it might be) and I will be excited to get a fic from you!
Tillerman Saga - Cynthia Voigt. 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!
The Dragon Waiting - John M. Ford. I really love John M. Ford for completely opposite reasons to why I love Voigt: for how he weaves in all kinds of knowledge and allusions; I also love how his plots are so intricate that you have to read the story twice to figure it out; and I absolutely love the incredibly detailed alternate universe in Dragon with its evil Byzantium. Any of that in the fic would be marvelous, though I DO NOT require any of it!
What I'd really love to read about is the fall of Byzantium (if Cynthia/Dimi/Hywel/Gregory succeed in their quest), but it occurs to me that this might be really hard to do, and I certainly don't expect it! I'd love to read about future England in this alternate world (what do Queen Elizabeth or Henry VIII look like in this universe -- do the Tudors ever take the throne, or are they minor noblemen, or what? Hywel and Gregory would still be alive then, presumably) or really anywhere after the events of Dragon. Or something with none of the characters at all, but set in the Dragon universe, would be lovely (though in that case I would have a preference for some historical figure -- don't care which one, or what nationality -- making an appearance) -- we never see the Beautiful City itself; what's it like and what are the rulers like and who do they correspond to in our universe?
But, you know, I think this must be an incredibly hard fandom to write, and John M. Ford must be a really difficult author to write fic about. So feel free to TOTALLY IGNORE what I said above and write what you feel like; I would love ANYTHING related to this book.
Vorkosigan Saga - Bujold. Now, Bujold has got both the character depth of Voigt and the detailed world-building plottiness of Ford, as well as a humor all her own. And I really, really love Simon Illyan and think there cannot be enough fic about him! I love his loyalty and his love for the Vorkosigans and how he grows from being the puppy dog in Shards to the mature Illyan of the later books. I love how he's not Vor but cares enough to make Vor real, and the hard decisions he has to make in the books.
I'd love to read the missing scene where he gets together with Alys (or really any missing scene from the books), or a plotty adventure where he gets to be the hero, or a fic where he talks to Gregory, or a fic where he and Ivan (whom I also adore) have a Talk, or a fic that is really about Ivan or Alys or Gregory or Ekaterin or... whomever, and where Illyan is in a supporting role, because he also does that really well. I also adore Philomytha's Aral Vorkosigan's Dog and would be happy regarding it as canon! I'd also be fine with mild Illyan/Aral before Cordelia came to Barrayar, as long as it adhered to canon relationships otherwise.
In general:
Things I love: See here for what makes me really fall in love with things, and here for what makes me squee with happiness. Friendships and partnerships yay!
Things I prefer: if there is romance, then I do prefer canon romance, or at least vaguely canon-supported romance, unless it's specifically AU. (I don't tend to like slash when it's written about characters that are canon het, but if you can make a good case for canon-ish slash, then it's fine; see Illyan/Aral above. Sammy and Maybeth are also characters where I don't see any canon that they're definitely het; everyone else, I think, that I'm interested in for these fandoms is demonstrably het.) I am not a huge fan of romance for romance's sake; I am much more a fan of friendship turning into romance (and would read that all day).
Things I don't like: gratuituous violence or character death. (If it's logical, then I don't mind. For example, you could sell me on a scene where Hywel is corrupted by magic after bringing down Byzantium, because he has nothing left to drive him. Though a happy ending for him would also be totally fine!) I'm not a huge fan of anything above PG-13 (again unless logically required by the story); you can write it, but I'll probably skip the scene.
If you get stuck on what you were matched with... 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). Dragon Waiting is probably the fandom here with the smallest total page count, as it's only one book, but it's rather harder to find and is more complicated to follow. (Unfortunately, Vorkosigan is many books long, and I can't countenance starting at Memory without reading the rest! On the other hand, they are free e-books (except for Memory) from the Free Baen Library, so there's that!)
Thank you again!
First, thank you! This is my first year of Yuletide, and I am excited! I wrote a bunch of stuff below to give you a feel for how I think about things in case you want to know, and prompts in case you're the sort of author who wants them, but feel free to ignore all of it if your fic-writing takes you in another direction, because I know how that is -- I am excited that you are writing for my fandom (whatever it might be) and I will be excited to get a fic from you!
Tillerman Saga - Cynthia Voigt. 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!
The Dragon Waiting - John M. Ford. I really love John M. Ford for completely opposite reasons to why I love Voigt: for how he weaves in all kinds of knowledge and allusions; I also love how his plots are so intricate that you have to read the story twice to figure it out; and I absolutely love the incredibly detailed alternate universe in Dragon with its evil Byzantium. Any of that in the fic would be marvelous, though I DO NOT require any of it!
What I'd really love to read about is the fall of Byzantium (if Cynthia/Dimi/Hywel/Gregory succeed in their quest), but it occurs to me that this might be really hard to do, and I certainly don't expect it! I'd love to read about future England in this alternate world (what do Queen Elizabeth or Henry VIII look like in this universe -- do the Tudors ever take the throne, or are they minor noblemen, or what? Hywel and Gregory would still be alive then, presumably) or really anywhere after the events of Dragon. Or something with none of the characters at all, but set in the Dragon universe, would be lovely (though in that case I would have a preference for some historical figure -- don't care which one, or what nationality -- making an appearance) -- we never see the Beautiful City itself; what's it like and what are the rulers like and who do they correspond to in our universe?
But, you know, I think this must be an incredibly hard fandom to write, and John M. Ford must be a really difficult author to write fic about. So feel free to TOTALLY IGNORE what I said above and write what you feel like; I would love ANYTHING related to this book.
Vorkosigan Saga - Bujold. Now, Bujold has got both the character depth of Voigt and the detailed world-building plottiness of Ford, as well as a humor all her own. And I really, really love Simon Illyan and think there cannot be enough fic about him! I love his loyalty and his love for the Vorkosigans and how he grows from being the puppy dog in Shards to the mature Illyan of the later books. I love how he's not Vor but cares enough to make Vor real, and the hard decisions he has to make in the books.
I'd love to read the missing scene where he gets together with Alys (or really any missing scene from the books), or a plotty adventure where he gets to be the hero, or a fic where he talks to Gregory, or a fic where he and Ivan (whom I also adore) have a Talk, or a fic that is really about Ivan or Alys or Gregory or Ekaterin or... whomever, and where Illyan is in a supporting role, because he also does that really well. I also adore Philomytha's Aral Vorkosigan's Dog and would be happy regarding it as canon! I'd also be fine with mild Illyan/Aral before Cordelia came to Barrayar, as long as it adhered to canon relationships otherwise.
In general:
Things I love: See here for what makes me really fall in love with things, and here for what makes me squee with happiness. Friendships and partnerships yay!
Things I prefer: if there is romance, then I do prefer canon romance, or at least vaguely canon-supported romance, unless it's specifically AU. (I don't tend to like slash when it's written about characters that are canon het, but if you can make a good case for canon-ish slash, then it's fine; see Illyan/Aral above. Sammy and Maybeth are also characters where I don't see any canon that they're definitely het; everyone else, I think, that I'm interested in for these fandoms is demonstrably het.) I am not a huge fan of romance for romance's sake; I am much more a fan of friendship turning into romance (and would read that all day).
Things I don't like: gratuituous violence or character death. (If it's logical, then I don't mind. For example, you could sell me on a scene where Hywel is corrupted by magic after bringing down Byzantium, because he has nothing left to drive him. Though a happy ending for him would also be totally fine!) I'm not a huge fan of anything above PG-13 (again unless logically required by the story); you can write it, but I'll probably skip the scene.
If you get stuck on what you were matched with... 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). Dragon Waiting is probably the fandom here with the smallest total page count, as it's only one book, but it's rather harder to find and is more complicated to follow. (Unfortunately, Vorkosigan is many books long, and I can't countenance starting at Memory without reading the rest! On the other hand, they are free e-books (except for Memory) from the Free Baen Library, so there's that!)
Thank you again!