raspberryhunter

Dear Yuletide 2025

2025-10-16T03:11:55Z

Dear Yuletide Writer,

I have written Lots of Words this year. Feel free to ignore these ideas and use your own — 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). Also, please don't read anything into the amount of stuff I have written for each fandom, which has more to do with how much free time I had when I wrote the various sections than anything else; I would be extremely pleased to receive anything for any of these, otherwise I would not have requested them. :D

I am happy to receive treats!

( General (things I love, DNWs) )

( Sieben Jahre - Tanja Kinkel (Any) )

( Some Desperate Glory - Emily Tesh (Lin, Avi) )

( Her Smoke Rose Up Forever - Tiptree )

( The Secret Garden - Simon/Norman (Worldbuilding, Neville) )

( Dune - Frank Herbert (Irulan, Chani, Jessica, Margot - any two) )

( The Tillerman Cycle - Cynthia Voigt (any) )

( Where to find canon: )

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Dear Yuletide 2024

2024-10-13T03:37:47Z

Dear Yuletide Writer,

My Yuletide Tradition is to write Way Too Many Words in my letter. Feel free to ignore these ideas and use your own — 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). Also, please don't read anything into the amount of stuff I have written for each fandom, which has more to do with how much free time I had when I wrote the various sections than anything else; I would be extremely pleased to receive anything for any of these, otherwise I would not have requested them. :D

I am happy to receive treats!

( General (including things I love and DNWs): )

( Some Desperate Glory (Lin, Avi), spoilers )

( Translation State (Teacher), spoilers )

( 18th Century CE Frederician RPF (Fritz, Heinrich, Voltaire) )

( Nethack )

( Scholomance (Li Shanfeng, Olivia Rhys-Lake), spoilers: )

comments

dear candyhearts

2024-01-05T04:53:55Z

Hi! Thanks for writing for me! Also, please don't read in anything to the sections having variable length; mostly what it means is that if I had previous cut and paste it made the section longer ;) This is really just a rehash of my signup prompts, but maybe it's nice to have it all together.

( General stuff. )

( Canons: Babylon 5 (fic and art), Tillerman Cycle (fic), Star Trek: Rihannsu (fic and art), 16th CE RPF (fic and art), 18th CE RPF (fic and art), The King's Touch (fic and art), Earthsea (art; fic for treats) )

comments

Dear Yuletide 2023

2023-10-21T05:17:11Z

Dear Yuletide Writer,

Please feel absolutely free to ignore these ideas and use your own — 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). Also, please don't read anything into the amount of stuff I have written for each fandom; I would be extremely pleased to receive anything for any of these, otherwise I would not have requested them. :D

I am happy to receive treats!

General (including things I love and DNWs)

:
I am open to most things! I am a fan of gen, but I'm totally open to het/slash/femslash. I very much welcome alternative ways of telling stories -- IF, epistolary fic, text messages/tweets, poetry, DW-thread-comments, what-have-you, yes please!! Crossovers would also be more than fine between these fandoms. Darkfic/character death is great and even encouraged for at least some of these fandoms (though please tag and check the fandom-specific DNWs). I absolutely love fork-in-the-road type AUs for any fandom. For setting-changed AUs, I would adore them for Turandot and Frederician RPF, but not for the others. I'm good with most things as long as you tag for it so I know what I'm getting into!

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. 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 deep friendship/partnerships, especially platonic ones, of all gender-variety. I love loyalty and duty bonds (and I have a special place in my heart for physical expressions of fealty bonds, like kneeling or ritualized oath-swearing). I love it when all the characters are understandable rather than straight-out villainous or malicious, or where expectations of malice are subverted. I love when something or some implication is clear to the reader that is not clear to the characters, or some subset of the characters, because we have knowledge (about the actual canon, for example) that they don't have.

DNW: PWP; unrequested noncanon poly; graphic gratuitous violence/gore; infidelity involving characters whose fidelity is an important part of their character (e.g. Brother Thomas) or involving characters who plausibly or canonically have faithful romantic relationships (like Jeff/Dicey). (I have no problems with infidelity that plausibly occurs in canon.) For tragic/dark endings: Please check the canon-specific DNWs, as for some of my requested fandoms/characters I don't want them to hvae an unhappy ending, or an ending with no hope. But if I don't have a canon-specific DNW about it, then tragedy/death/whatever is fine -- and encouraged! -- if tagged. Please no references to current politics/current events.

Tillerman Cycle - Voigt (Any)

I am blown away by how amazing these books 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 requested some I love, and I have a couple of prompts I'm super interested in, 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? Other minor characters? Toby? Brother Thomas? I have gotten some amaaaaazing fic for this fandom, and I am greedy so I want more :D

I nominated Brother Thomas specifically because although I already loved Brother Thomas because of his cheerful snarkiness, the last time I reread A Solitary Blue he broke my heart with his crisis of faith -- the part where he keeps on his habit because he's not sure he would put it on again if he took it off? Oh, Thomas <3 Horace Greene seems to think it's an issue of living in love, which clearly harks back to his own experiences; is he being perceptive or is he projecting? I would just love to read more about this. I totally see Brother Thomas, Horace Greene, and Jeff Greene as a family; whether you want to write Thomas/Horace as a ship or not is up to you (and certainly it is complicated by Thomas' vows), write this in whatever way is true to your conception of the characters and I will love it -- I'd just request that Thomas not break his vows, so if there were a sexual relationship it would have to be after giving up his vocation. I only care very much that all three of them are bonded by love. (And the different kinds of families bonded by love, of course, is a major theme of the Tillerman books.) I think that there is some textual evidence that he remains a monk -- at the end of Come a Stranger, years later, he's referred to as Brother Thomas -- but I'm happy to read about it either way and I think either way could be super interesting; I would like you to tag if he doesn't remain a monk :)

And Mina Smiths! I just madly adore Come a Stranger and its moving depiction of her family and community, and how they are a whole entity. <3 What happens to Mina? How does she find law school? I imagine it will be interesting for her trying to juggle her career ambitions and romance; how might this play out? I kinda ship her and Tamer's son Samuel in a "if they met again as grownups they might really understand each other well" kind of way -- what would it be like if they met again as grownups? How does her friendship with Dicey progress? Does it change as they pursue their careers and their lives with their families and communities (however that looks)?

Maybeth never got a book! If she had gotten a book, what would it look like? Gram thinks she needs an older man to take care of her -- okay, I must admit that I have a veeeeery low opinion of Gram's romantic picker in the books, and I would LOVE for her to be proven wrong about this. Does Maybeth even need a romantic relationship at all? Does she stay at the farm as a beloved unmarried matriarch at the center of a ton of siblings and friends and nieces and nephews (and chickens?? hee) who are always making life interesting? In general, how does she strike a balance between listening to her more-intellectually-capable family and making her own heart-capable decisions? Given that her upbringing had so much more support than her mother's, can she avoid her mother's fate? (Yes. The answer here should be yes. :P :) ) (I got TWO amazing Maybeth fics, but what I'm saying here is that there is no such thing as too much Maybeth, y/y??)

I love Jeff Greene very much, and would love to read anything you would like to write about him. What was Jeff thinking during the events of Seventeen Against the Dealer — how does he deal with being at college, having a new separate group of friends, seeing Dicey drift away from him, what is he thinking when she suddenly says she wants to marry him? He's so empathic, he probably knows something of what's going on with her — but how much? And clearly his past family relationships affect the way he thinks about all of this… does he ever talk to the Professor about what's going on with him and Dicey? Or Brother Thomas? What do they think of it? (In general, I'm super curious about both of them as well and the surprising depths that are revealed in them. What happens to them?) Does he ever talk to the other Tillermans about Dicey? We know that he talks to them about other things, and I'd love to see those conversations too, the way he keeps up his relationships with them even while it seems his relationship with Dicey is imploding.

I have a whole lot more words about these books (with a lot more prompts) in the series of posts here.

Canon-specific DNWs: My no-infidelity DNW also includes infidelity of Thomas with respect to God (though of course it's not infidelity if he breaks up with God, so to speak). 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 together, even if bad things happen in the meantime. 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!

Turandot (Turandot, Liu)

I adore this opera and at the same time it totally hurts my head. There is the repeated, moving theme of sacrifice (but only for ROMANTIC LOVE!); the whole lovely idea of vulnerability, of putting your life in someone else's hands (this would have worked much better IF IT HADN'T BEEN FOR THE PART WHERE SHE JUST TORTURED AND KILLED HIS FRIEND); the concept of the ice maiden thawing, growing up and gaining the emotions of remorse and regret (IF ONLY IT HADN'T BEEN AS A RESPONSE TO SEXUAL HARASSMENT KISS); the feminist sensibilities of Turandot (if only they hadn't manifested in her KILLING PEOPLE, also in being completely betrayed in the last act); the incredibly sweet Timur-Liu filial relationship (terribly shortchanged by the revelation she's only taking care of him because Calaf smiled at her WHAT).

Write me a story where Turandot and Liu have a relationship that doesn't depend on Calaf! Friendship, loyalty-liege, rivalry, mentoring, romantic, frenemy, professional partners, whatever, I'm up for it. What about a story where there's some sort of loyalty and/or friendship between Turandot and Liu, either retconning the opera or having it develop somehow within the course of the opera, either would be wonderful. (I have got a story like this and it was absolutely gorgeous, and I am greedy and want more!) Or! What if Turandot and Liu were actually rival powers playing a dark game here (with Calaf a pawn?), for reasons you will tell me in the fic? Or! write me a total AU! I would adore academia-Turandot (Professor Turandot, grad-student Liu, Calaf as a... oh, I don't know, project manager in industry? Administrator? Admin assistant?), lawyer draaaaama, SPAAAAACE, cyberpunk, opera singers (would that not be beautifully meta??), random-fantasy-land, whatever!

I have no problems with Calaf being a major character (and would in fact rather he appear than not, although honestly feel free to change his character so he's less of a total jerk); however, if the story is going to be a happy ending (not dark) for both Turandot and Liu, I'd like him not to be killed by Turandot. (In general, character death is fine for this fandom. I am totally fine with her killing him in a less happy or darker story, or if he dies for some other reason. But come on Turandot, you can't just go around killing people because you feel like it and expect a happy ending, even if they are tenors!) I definitely do NOT want Liu to die specifically for Calaf (although again if she dies for any other reason that's fine!)

Canon DNW: Pairings that are both non-canon and non-requested, Turandot or Liu murdering another character if the story is not meant to otherwise be dark. Liu dying for Calaf.

Un Ballo in Maschera (Renato, Amelia)

I feel like Renato and Amelia are possibly the only couple in Verdi, maybe in any of the operas I've ever watched, that had a marriage of long standing that was actually mostly functional. ~~until the opera takes place, I guess~~ At least, I assume this from their son presumably being older than a baby, and that they seem to have gotten along pretty well until Amelia got a crush on Riccardo. (And she is willing to do a pretty scary thing she totally doesn't want to do for her marriage's sake, and she never talks about not loving Renato, and indeed has lots of nice things to say about him when she's trying to fend off Riccardo.)

I have this headcanon that Renato and Amelia, until the events of Ballo, were a power couple where Amelia helped Renato ferret out, say, plots against Riccardo :D I would love to see a story like that set pre-Ballo. I will say that although I find Amelia being awesome totally supported by canon, the power-couple thing isn't maybe quite, so if you'd rather just write a story about Amelia being awesome in the company of Renato, that would be great too! If you do pre-Ballo fic, I would prefer relatively little angst for Amelia regarding Riccardo -- a little is fine, some disquieting attraction is fine, but I'd like this to be set before she develops a full-on crush on him.

Or I would love to see them wrestle post-canon with the events of the opera. I feel like Amelia would stop Renato from doing anything too drastic afterwards, and maybe they'd be able to figure out how to pick up their lives? (I would love a more mature-rated fic where some of this angst and recovery happened in bed, because of course it would have to. Or not! Your choice.)

It occurs to me that hot angsty makeup sex (or hot making out -- I could totally imagine Renato couldn't deal with sex right then) after Act III Scene 1 might be really interesting -- is Renato trying not to be attracted to her because he thinks she has betrayed him, or is he desperate for her affection despite himself? Or both? Is Amelia trying to distract Renato from his vengeance? Renato seems like he's probably usually extremely restrained; is there something in her that is turned on by all the emotions he's having, even though he's angry?

Although I don't mind dark up to the level of canon (yes to all the betrayal and subsequent guilt angst!) please let Renato, Amelia, and Oscar live, I don't care if it's unrealistic :)

18th Century CE Frederician RPF (Fritz, Voltaire, Heinrich)

I would prefer all three characters; however, I am aware that some of my prompts don't lend themselves to all three showing up in a major way, so I'm happy for one of the three to have a more cameo role. This includes Voltaire showing up only in snarky quotes (real or made-up is fine!), which I am more than happy with :D

I got pulled into this fandom a while back and have been finding myself totally enthralled by the relationships between this set of characters. I am fascinated by Fritz' brother Heinrich, who had an extremely dysfunctional love/hate relationship with his brother (where Fritz treated him in a way that was strongly reminiscent of the way that his father treated him, and Heinrich alternately fought against it and knuckled down to it).

And then there's Voltaire, who is just awesome in the way that he Could Not Let Things Go (which had both good and bad consequences), and his hateship-can't-live-with-him-can't-live-without-him with Fritz is just hilarious :D

Some thoughts/prompts, but don't feel restricted to these:

-Voltaire has to rescue Frederick the Great from being taken captive (by Maria Theresia??) by the power of his pen, which Fritz is NOT happy about! (About being beholden to Voltaire, that is, who is obviously neeeeever going to let Fritz live this down.) Meanwhile, Heinrich is regent...

-This fandom in SPAAAAACE, can you imagine the space battles between Maria Theresia and Fritz, and Heinrich as a SPAAAACE general :D (SPAAACE Abbess Amalie, y/y??) Or really any AU! Time-traveling? Corporate? Magic with dragons? Magic AU European history in Scholomance world?? Yes please!

-Anything with Heinrich and Catherine the Great/Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst being BFFs, I think it is hilarious and awesome that this is canon. Really, anything! I would particularly love the AU where Heinrich has to marry Sophie and this devolves into them double-crossing and back-stabbing each other, as long as they were able to remain friends and enjoying each other's company even while plotting against each other :D

-Fritz Freaky-Friday bodyswitch! Fritz/Heinrich? Fritz/someone else, like Fritz/Mme Pompadour?? Can you imagine how Voltaire would react?! ~~assuming he didn't die of laughter~~ Would it be great for Fritz to have to depend on Émilie Du Châtelet, of all people, to be the architect of figuring out how to get them to switch back, y/y? :D

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? What did Karen find when she went Outside? What was Valancy's life like as an Old One? 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? 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).

But really anything with any character. Or none at all! A new story with original characters would be AMAZING. If it has some of that joy and wonder in it, some of that exuberant borrowing and flavoring with Biblical tropes and quotes, it will be totally lovely and I will love it.

Canon-specific DNW: Please no unhappy endings for this canon!

comments

Dear Candy Hearts

2023-01-08T03:52:50Z

Thank you for writing for me! I am going to try to get something better up soon, but if I don't, then write what you would like!

comments

Dear Yuletide

2022-10-21T05:10:17Z

General (including things I love and DNWs)

:
I am open to most things! I am a fan of gen, but I'm totally open to het/slash/femslash. I very much welcome alternative ways of telling stories -- IF, epistolary fic, text messages/tweets, poetry, DW-thread-comments, what-have-you, yes please!! Crossovers would also be more than fine between these fandoms. Darkfic/character death is great and even encouraged for at least some of these fandoms (though please tag and check the fandom-specific DNWs). I absolutely love fork-in-the-road type AUs for any fandom. For setting-changed AUs, I would adore them for the RPF categories, but not for the others. Basically I'm okay with most things as long as you tag for it so I know what I'm getting into!

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. 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 deep friendship/partnerships, especially platonic ones, of all gender-variety. I love loyalty and duty bonds (and I have a special place in my heart for physical expressions of fealty bonds, like kneeling or ritualized oath-swearing). I love it when all the characters are understandable rather than straight-out villainous or malicious, or where expectations of malice are subverted. I love when something or some implication is clear to the reader that is not clear to the characters, or some subset of the characters, because we have knowledge (about the actual canon, for example) that they don't have.

DNW: PWP; unrequested noncanon poly; graphic gratuitous violence/gore; infidelity involving characters whose fidelity is an important part of their character (e.g. Consort Jing, Brother Thomas) or involving characters who plausibly or canonically have faithful romantic relationships (like Jeff/Dicey). (I have no problems with infidelity that plausibly occurs in canon, like the Emperor.) For tragic/dark endings: Please check the canon-specific DNWs, as for some of my requested fandoms/characters I don't want them to hvae an unhappy ending, or an ending with no hope. But if I don't have a canon-specific DNW about it, then tragedy/death/whatever is fine -- and encouraged! -- if tagged. Please no references to current politics/current events.

Tillerman Cycle - Voigt (Any)

I am blown away by how amazing these books 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 requested some I love, and I have a couple of prompts I'm super interested in, 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? Other minor characters? Toby? Brother Thomas? I have gotten some amaaaaazing fic for this fandom, and I am greedy so I want more :D

I nominated Brother Thomas specifically because I reread A Solitary Blue last year, and I already loved Brother Thomas because of his cheerful snarkiness, but then he broke my heart with his crisis of faith -- the part where he keeps on his habit because he's not sure he would put it on again if he took it off? Oh, Thomas <3 Horace Greene seems to think it's an issue of living in love, which clearly harks back to his own experiences; is he being perceptive or is he projecting? I would just love to read more about this. I totally see Brother Thomas, Horace Greene, and Jeff Greene as a family; whether you want to write Thomas/Horace as a ship or not is up to you (and certainly it is complicated by Thomas' vows), write this in whatever way is true to your conception of the characters and I will love it -- I'd just request that Thomas not break his vows, so if there were a sexual relationship it would have to be after giving up his vocation. I only care very much that all three of them are bonded by love. (And the different kinds of families bonded by love, of course, is a major theme of the Tillerman books.) I think that there is some textual evidence that he remains a monk -- at the end of Come a Stranger, years later, he's referred to as Brother Thomas -- but I'm happy to read about it either way and I think either way could be super interesting; I would like you to tag if he doesn't remain a monk :)

And Mina Smiths! I just madly adore Come a Stranger and its moving depiction of her family and community, and how they are a whole entity. <3 What happens to Mina? How does she find law school? I imagine it will be interesting for her trying to juggle her career ambitions and romance; how might this play out? I kinda ship her and Tamer's son Samuel in a "if they met again as grownups they might really understand each other well" kind of way -- what would it be like if they met again as grownups? How does her friendship with Dicey progress? Does it change as they pursue their careers and their lives with their families and communities (however that looks)?

Maybeth never got a book! If she had gotten a book, what would it look like? Gram thinks she needs an older man to take care of her -- okay, I must admit that I have a veeeeery low opinion of Gram's romantic picker in the books, and I would LOVE for her to be proven wrong about this. Does Maybeth even need a romantic relationship at all? Does she stay at the farm as a beloved unmarried matriarch at the center of a ton of siblings and friends and nieces and nephews (and chickens?? hee) who are always making life interesting? In general, how does she strike a balance between listening to her more-intellectually-capable family and making her own heart-capable decisions? Given that her upbringing had so much more support than her mother's, can she avoid her mother's fate? (Yes. The answer here should be yes. :P :) ) (I got TWO amazing Maybeth fics, but what I'm saying here is that there is no such thing as too much Maybeth, y/y??)

I love Jeff Greene very much, and would love to read anything you would like to write about him. What was Jeff thinking during the events of Seventeen Against the Dealer — how does he deal with being at college, having a new separate group of friends, seeing Dicey drift away from him, what is he thinking when she suddenly says she wants to marry him? He's so empathic, he probably knows something of what's going on with her — but how much? And clearly his past family relationships affect the way he thinks about all of this… does he ever talk to the Professor about what's going on with him and Dicey? Or Brother Thomas? What do they think of it? (In general, I'm super curious about both of them as well and the surprising depths that are revealed in them. What happens to them?) Does he ever talk to the other Tillermans about Dicey? We know that he talks to them about other things, and I'd love to see those conversations too, the way he keeps up his relationships with them even while it seems his relationship with Dicey is imploding.

I have a whole lot more words about these books (with a lot more prompts) in the series of posts here.

Canon-specific DNWs: My no-infidelity DNW also includes infidelity of Thomas with respect to God, as mentioned above. 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 together, even if bad things happen in the meantime. 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!

琅琊榜 | Nirvana in Fire (TV) (Consort Jing)

This show, wow. All the complicated characters and plot twists and identity shenanigans, and deep deep bonds of loyalty and friendship and family, and private vs. public duty, the wonderful ensemble scenes, and awesome female characters and awesome moms of both the good and evil persuasions. And of course the most awesome mom of them all is Consort Jing. She's super nice, super smart, super perceptive, is playing the long game -- but can be ruthless when that's called for. She is just the best.

I basically want anything with her! Some ideas (but write whatever you would like with her!):

-I never got over the throwaway line where she went into the palace to doctor Consort Chen and then she never came out again, gahhhh. Surely she, even years back, was canny and thoughtful enough to get out of having to marry the Emperor, and it doesn't sound like the sort of life she'd choose -- so what happened? Did the Emperor threaten/blackmail her in some way? Was she trying to protect Consort Chen?

-Anything about her navigating the tricky politics of the Inner Court. Consort Jing and Consort Chen solving mysteries together? Go for it!!

-The last scene with her and the Emperor is one where she finally shows her true feelings about the Chiyan case and he is angry with her -- and we know he dies a while later -- but what happens in between? (My headcanon is that she nurses him through that -- but what would that have been like? What is their relationship like then? Gosh.)

-Post-canon fic where she takes a break from being Empress Dowager (or whatever her title would be after the Emperor dies) and wanders around as the itinerant doctor she was before she was a concubine, and at some point runs across Fei Liu or perhaps Lin Chen. (And/or, if you wanted to make it a fix-it AU, Lin Shu...)

-...actually, now that I think about it, anything with Consort Jing and Lin Chen together, set at any point during, pre, or post canon, would be hilarious and I am so up for that!

-I don't think Consort Jing gets to talk much to Nihuang or Xia Dong in canon, but wouldn't that be amazing?

Canon-specific DNW: I do not want Consort Jing to have an ending of death or despair. I would like her to live, and even if terrible things happen to her or those she loves, let her move toward grace and acceptance as she's so good at doing in canon. (Character death for anyone else is fine.)

The Scholomance (Li Shanfeng, Olivia Rhys-Lake) this is an OR request. There are SPOILERS for Golden Enclaves within this cut!

I love these books, and I love El's determination to do the right thing -- but also it was Li Shanfeng and Olivia Rhys-Lake who captured my attention in Golden Enclaves, because they were the ones who did the horrible realpolitik calculations. They were the ones who, with their eyes wide open, did terrible, awful things -- for what they thought was the greater good. For what even might have been the greater good. It gets glossed over a bit, but it's clearly a thing that El was able not to have to make hard unethical decisions because Ophelia and Shanfeng (and Deepthi!) did. I want more about how complicated it all was for them! Or, for another prompt: sprocket said to me, what about the AU where Li Shanfeng applies his energies to breaking the enclave-building secrecy spells instead of making forty new maw-mouths?? What kind of world does that look like?

18th Century CE Frederician RPF (Fritz, Voltaire, Heinrich)

The Instrumentality of Mankind - Cordwainer Smith (Any)

I have just gotten the most amazing stories for this fandom, and as long as someone keeps nominating it I will keep requesting it :) What I would really, really love to get is essentially a new Cordwainer Smith story, but write me what you would like. 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? (I got an absolutely wonderful story for this, but that doesn't mean I am not a greedy person who would love to see other takes as well :D ) 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? Or 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? 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.

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'm not totally in love with Casher O'Neill or with Norstrilia-the-planet (or the novel) in general, or with the pinlighters, and I'd rather not have AU for this one, but hey, if that's where your muse takes you, I will love to see what you come up with!)

I have more thoughts about these books here.

Canon-specific DNW: Dark is fine -- canon can get very dark -- please tag (if only so I can get excited for the dark content! :D ), but also I don't want utter rocks-fall-everyone-dies despair, thanks! (I guess rocks-fall-almost-everyone-dies describes "Under Old Earth," lol, so that would be fine, but it doesn't end in despair...)

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? 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).

But really anything with any character. Or none at all! A new story with original characters would be AMAZING. If it has some of that joy and wonder in it, some of that exuberant borrowing and flavoring with Biblical tropes and quotes, it will be totally lovely and I will love it.

Canon-specific DNW: Please no unhappy endings for this canon!

Where to find canon / How much canon:

The Tillerman series is seven books, but they're fast reads. Available at most libraries/bookstores.

I don't know where to find Nirvana in Fire currently, but I'm sure the folks at nirvana_in_fire would know and be more than happy to help! It's 54 episodes! but they go very quickly :)

The three Scholomance books should be available at your local bookstore :D (The first two should also be available at your library, but the last one is probably on hold at the library...) Fast reads!

Frederician RPF now has its own community at rheinsberg, and if there's any character that you are interested in, clicking on the tag for that character will give you a wealth of information. Note that the tags are by the Anglicized name, so Heinrich, for example, comes out as "Prince Henry of Prussia."

Cordwainer Smith are short stories, and just a couple of them would probably suffice to get the general idea, but they are certainly quite 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.)
If you live in Canada, many of Smith's stories have been uploaded to gutenberg.ca! including all the ones mentioned above except "Alpha Ralpha Boulevard.

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. The complete People stories are available on kindle for $9.99 (and cheaper for a used copy).

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dear trick-or-treater

2022-09-16T04:03:23Z

Dear trick-or-treater,

Thank you for writing for me! I am very excited to get anything from any of these fandoms :D Feel free to use your own ideas or prompts — 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). Also, please don't read anything into the amount of stuff I have written for each fandom; I would be extremely pleased to receive anything for any of these, otherwise I would not have requested them. (Since I'm low on time right now, if I've requested the fandom before or if I wrote it early in the letter process, it's more likely to have a lot of stuff written for it.)

For ToT in particular: I interpret trick/treat in the broadest possible way. "Trick" just means I want you to delve into more of the darkness and messiness of the canon. It could have a happy ending, could have a dark ending, could have character death, adultery, people finding out terrible secrets, people's brains getting stuffed into machines, the supernatural, zombie pumpkins, ...I'd love to see whatever you want to write. I'd ask you to tag for dark elements if not already present in canon, but if you tag than go for it!
"Treat," for a dark canon, means something at least slightly happier than what canon gives us. (Sundial, looking at you -- anything happier than "rocks fall everyone dies" counts, including major character death!) For a lighter canon, you can go as dark as you want during the story itself, but I all I mean by "treat" is that I want happy endings for Our Heroes :) Does not have to be fluff (and in fact I tend not to be a big fan of fluff). Cute zombie pumpkins also welcome here :)

( General: )

Canons:

( Babylon 5 )

( 18th C CE RPF )

( Les Contes d'Hoffman )

( Pelléas et Mélisande - Debussy/Maeterlinck )

( Sundial - Catriona Ward )

( Revelator - Daryl Gregory )

( Verity - Colleen Hoover )

( Portal (Video Game) )

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Dear Yuletide Writer 2021

2021-10-20T19:21:06Z

Dear Yuletide Writer,

My Yuletide Tradition is to write Way Too Many Words in my letter. Feel free to ignore these ideas and use your own — 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). Also, please don't read anything into the amount of stuff I have written for each fandom; I would be extremely pleased to receive anything for any of these, otherwise I would not have requested them. :D

( General: )

( Tillerman Cycle - Voigt (Any) )

( 琅琊榜 | Nirvana in Fire (TV) (Consort Jing) )

( The Scholomance (Worldbuilding) )

( The Matter of Seggri (Worldbuilding) )

( 18th Century CE Frederician RPF (Frederick, Voltaire, Heinrich) )

( 16th Century CE Hapsburgs RPF (Any) )

( Where to find canon / How much canon: )

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Dear blackboxexchange

2021-06-19T19:44:07Z

Hi! I am SO SORRY that I didn't come back and finish my letter when I said I would. Hopefully this hasn't been too much of a problem for you! I honestly think I don't have too much to add to the cut and paste I had before. The one thing I would really like to add is that I adore all these operas and I would love ANYTHING you want to write about them -- the prompts etc. in the letter should not be taken too seriously, I am really just interested to know what you think about these operas/plays and these characters!

Because of time constraints I've just cut and pasted from previous letters. One thing I do not generally have in those letters is art: I would LOVE art for these fandoms! I adore acts of fealty (like, one character kneeling to another) and loyalty, or really just any two characters interacting in any way, e.g., La Muse and the Four Villains looking at each other suspiciously? Any sort of complicated emotions (or a scene that would be reminiscent of a complicated emotion, like Posa and Carlos with a letter between them, lol) would be just amazing.

( Added some general notes (again cut and paste from previous letters) )

( Opera/play fandoms! :D )

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Dear RMSE

2021-05-23T05:34:31Z

Hi!

I think this is the first time I've signed up officially for RMSE? I'm excited! Feel free to write what you want! If you would like to write unresolved pining and UST, I absolutely love that. If you would like to write dark sexytimes, I love that too! Romance without sex is fine; sex without romance is fine; romance + sex is also fine; a relationship that is perhaps not best described as romance or sex but involves the characters having ~FEELINGS~ about and for each other is something I adore! And/or if you have a plot for which a slash pairing is firmly there but not necessarily the be-all and end-all of the story, yes please! As long as a relationship between these characters is somewhere in the story, I would basically just love stories about these fandoms :D

Please don't read anything into the amount I've written per fandom, I would love any of these!

( General: )

( Fandoms: Fountainead, Don Carlos - Verdi, Don Carlos - Schiller, 18th Century Frederician RPF, Tillerman Cycle )

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Dear Yuletide 2020

2020-10-18T21:52:31Z

Dear Yuletide Writer,

Yet again I have written Way Too Many Words. Feel free to ignore these ideas and use your own — 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). Also, please don't read anything into the amount of stuff I have written for each fandom; I would be extremely pleased to receive anything for any of these, otherwise I would not have requested them. :D

( General: )

( Pelléas et Mélisande - Debussy/Maeterlinck )

( Евгений Онегин | Eugene Onegin - Tchaikovsky )

( Tillerman Cycle - Voigt )

( 琅琊榜 | Nirvana in Fire (TV) )

( Circle of Voltaire RPF )

( 18th Century CE Frederician RPF )

( Where to find canon / How much canon: )

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Dear Yuletide 2019

2019-10-29T04:47:36Z

Dear Yuletide Writer,

Yet again I have written Way Too Many Words. Feel free to ignore these ideas and use your own — 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). Also, please don't read anything into the amount of stuff I have written for each fandom; I would be extremely pleased to receive anything for any of these, otherwise I would not have requested them. I have gotten some wonderful stories for some of these canons, and I want mooooore :D

( General: )

( Pelléas et Mélisande - Debussy/Maeterlinck )

( The Instrumentality of Mankind - Cordwainer Smith )

( The People - Zenna Henderson )

( Taliessin through Logres - Charles Williams )

( 琅琊榜 | Nirvana in Fire (TV) )

( 18th Century CE Frederician RPF )

( Where to find canon / How much canon: )

(Edited 10-29-19 to make more readable, organize better, and add prompts.)
(Edited 10-30-19 to add prompts for Frederician RPF and welcome setting-changed AU for Charles Williams.)
(Edited 11-4-19 to add/clarify prompts for CW, NiF, and F-RPF.)

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Dear Chocolate Box 2019

2019-01-05T01:45:00Z

Dear chocolate box creator,

Thank you for writing for me! I am very excited to get anything from any of these fandoms :D Feel free to use your own ideas or prompts — 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). Also, please don't read anything into the amount of stuff I have written for each fandom; I would be extremely pleased to receive anything for any of these, otherwise I would not have requested them.

( General: )

Canons:

( Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga )

( Les Contes d'Hoffman - Offenbach/Barbier )

( Simon Boccanegra )

( Un Ballo in Maschera - Verdi )

( Portal (Video Game) )

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Dear Yuletide 2018

2018-10-11T02:44:31Z

Dear Yuletide writer,

Uh, apparently it is my Yuletide tradition to write Way Too Many Words. Feel free to ignore these ideas and use your own — 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). Also, please don't read anything into the amount of stuff I have written for each fandom; I would be extremely pleased to receive anything for any of these, otherwise I would not have requested them. (In fact, this is the first year I've ever bumped up against the max number of allowable requests!) I have gotten some wonderful stories for some of these canons, and I want mooooore :D

( General: )

( Der Ring des Nibelungen (Brunnhilde, Sieglinde) )

( Macbeth - Shakespeare (Macbeth, Three Witches) )

( Turandot - Turandot, Liu )

( La Clemenza di Tito - Mozart (Tito, Sesto, Vitellia, Servilia) )

( Don Carlo(s) - Verdi (Rodrigo) )

( Don Carlos - Schiller (Any) )

(lightly edited 10-22-18 to stress that (a) I am happy with gen or ships for all relationships mentioned here, and (b) I love lots of ways of telling stories)

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Dear ToT writer

2018-09-13T05:13:37Z

Dear ToT writer,

Thank you for writing for me! I am very excited to get anything from any of these fandoms :D Feel free to use your own ideas or prompts — 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). Also, please don't read anything into the amount of stuff I have written for each fandom; I would be extremely pleased to receive anything for any of these, otherwise I would not have requested them.

Also, I would be totally happy to see any of these people interact with zombie pumpkins! (Or any sort of horror/supernatural-ish kind of thing, but zombie pumpkins seem both horror-occult-ish and kinda cute, which is a combination I am super here for. Pet bats? Friendly ghosts?) Olivier and her team defend Briggs from an invasion of alchemy-animated zombie pumpkins! Cave Johnson has the Aperture scientists make ill-advised robot zombie pumpkins that just want to be your friend! Rodrigo takes up his sword (...but not the executioner's axe! :D ) and defends Filippo and Carlo from zombie pumpkins! ~~and then Philip and Carlos get into a fight as to which of them Rodrigo likes more~~ The strength of Don Alvaro's grief for the di Vargases scares off the zombie pumpkin invasion! Tatyana's cute zombie pumpkin pal helps her get over Onegin and fall properly in love with Gremin! Or something :)

( General: )

Canons:

( Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga )

( Евгений Онегин | Eugene Onegin - Aleksandr Pushkin, Tchaikovsky/Pushkin )

( Don Carlos | Don Carlo - Verdi/du Locle/Méry )

( La Forza del Destino - Verdi/Piave )

( Portal (Video Game) )

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Dear Yuletide 2017

2017-10-02T05:05:34Z

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 )

( Llyfr Taliesin: The Book of Taliesin )

( And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill's Side - Tiptree )

( Der Ring des Nibelungen )

( The Final Reflection - John M. Ford )

( Consuming canon: )

( General: )

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Dear Yuletide 2016

2016-10-03T18:22:56Z

Dear Yuletide Writer,

Thank you for writing for me! I, er, seem to have written a lot of words this year. 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). Please do not feel like you need to follow any of my prompts!

( Her Smoke Rose Up Forever )

( Tillerman Cycle )

( Der Ring des Nibelungen )

( General. )

Consuming canon: The shortest (though IMO the most difficult) is no doubt Tiptree; you could just read one short story and write a fic based on it. The list of short stories in Smoke is here:

( The list of stories: )

Googling many of these will give you text, some of which is even legal. For example, here is an official web reprint of "Love is the Plan the Plan is Death".

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.

The Tillerman Cycle books are all in print and seem to be generally available at libraries, and they are very fast reads (probably faster than Tiptree despite being more pages, and certainly much more calming and affirming to read). Writing about Jeff only would take reading A Solitary Blue and Seventeen Against the Dealer. Writing about Mina would mostly involve reading Come A Stranger and probably at least skimming Seventeen Against the Dealer. James or Sammy or Maybeth would probably involve reading most of the books, but particularly Dicey's Song and Sons From Afar and Seventeen.

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Dear Jukebox 2016

2016-04-06T04:40:35Z

Dear Jukebox Operator,

Thanks so much for writing one of my songs! I really love all these songs, as well as have questions about them, and I'm sure I'll love whatever you write! (This letter is geared towards fanfic, as it's what I know most about, but I would adore fanart or podfic treats :) )

( General. )

I have some suggestions below, but really, feel free to do whatever idea these songs give you. I picked these songs because they seem to have a lot of stories hidden in them, and if you find a story that's totally different from the ones I see offhand (and have thus provided vague prompts for), then I would be so thrilled to see that additional interpretation of the song. I love seeing how other people think about things. PLEASE feel free to totally ignore anything written below.

( Songs. )

Seriously, if you wanted to write a story that was just inspired by the imagery in these songs, I would be so up with that. I want you to take one (or more!) of these songs and make something fascinating out of them, however you feel is the best way to do that, so don't let anything I've written here stop you from doing what YOU want to do with any of these songs! And thank you!

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Dear Yuletide 2015

2015-10-16T23:57:45Z

Dear yuletide writer,

Thank you for writing for me! 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).

( Der Ring des Nibelungen, Miss Marple, Susan Calvin, and Mabinogion. )

( General. )

Consuming canon: I think all my canons are fairly easy to find this year. The easiest to find and shortest canon here is the Mabinogion. I grew up with the Charlotte Guest version which is available via Gutenberg. I also found a great translation with footnotes online here. (The Fourth Branch is the only part of the Mabinogion where Arianrhod appears.)

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.

Most of the Susan Calvin stories are all collected in I, Robot, which is easily available at libraries and online. There are more sprinkled here and there -- I think All the Robot Stories has them all -- but the ones in I, Robot would be enough to go off of; my favorites are "The Evitable Conflict" and "Intuition," the latter of which isn't in I, Robot.

And the Miss Marple books and stories are, of course, easily accessible in libraries and online. Lucy Eyelesbarrow appears in 4:50 from Paddington, which was published in the US as What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw. (She's mostly the same character in every book, so reading one or two would be enough to go off of.)

ETA 10-19-15 to add more prompts for Miss Marple and to add that AUs are welcome.

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dear jukebox 2015

2015-04-11T06:59:48Z

Dear Jukebox Operator,

Thanks so much for writing one of my songs! I really love all these songs, as well as have questions about them, and I'm sure I'll love whatever you write!

I have some suggestions below, but really, feel free to do whatever idea these songs give you. I picked these songs because they seem to have a lot of stories hidden in them, and if you find a story that's totally different from the ones I see offhand (and have thus provided vague prompts for), then I would be so thrilled to see that additional interpretation of the song.

Chanson de Melisande (Youtube, lyrics) - This is just a spooky song. Why are the daughters blind? Why are they locked up? Why are they expecting a prince, and why doesn't he come? What happens once the light goes out? This could be either dark and tragic or have an ending where they somehow manage to escape. Or both!

Ordinary Town - Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer (Youtube, lyrics) - "Go home, go home" the mayor cried when jesus came to city hall, 'cause /This is an ordinary town, and the prophet stands alone/ This is an ordinary town and we crucify our own... I am curious about the story where Jesus comes to town and the Mayor tells him to go away because they are busy crucifying their own, thank you very much, he's just going to have to get crucified somewhere else... but really anything about this song would be very neat, don't feel like you have to be restricted to that!

They Can't Take That Away from Me - George Gershwin and Ira Gerswin (Song): Youtube, lyrics. Okay, this is the one where I actually want something specific: the dark sci-fi AU where memory wipes are on the table. If you signed up hoping to do a more conventional take, well… convince me! :) (I don't remember anything about Crazy for You, so don't worry about that canon at all.)

Der Zwerg - Franz Schubert: Youtube, lyrics. Another one I fell in love with during last year's Jukebox! What's going on? I suppose a love triangle would be the most "straightforward" explanation, but it just seems like there might be a more interesting story there, especially given the complicated and sometimes contradictory-seeming actions of the characters. (Especially given that the queen can... hear the stars prophesy to her? What?)

The Hymn of Acxiom - Vienna Teng: Youtube, lyrics. I really think this song is so interesting -- okay, especially because I think the voice-combining is neat, but it also goes well with the song content. I feel that we have a very great need to be accepted for what we are and to be known, and that's the promise of religion -- and of data science for shopping. And though in principle I don't like that various retailers know so much about me, in practice I seem to delight in giving them information and cookies and so on. It would be interesting to have a fic that looked at that tension in some way. (Crossovers are great in general; this one seems like it might lend itself very well if you are into that. Basilio as either the victim or master of the voices? The dwarf driven mad by the culture of conspicuous consumption? BRING IT ON.)

In quegli anni - Mozart/Da Ponte: Youtube, lyrics. Basilio's aria from Le Nozze di Figaro has always both delighted and baffled me. The story of how Don Basilio learned that "with a skin of an ass one may escape shame, danger, dishonor, and death" has really nothing to do with what's going on at the time (maybe thematically, sure, but not emotionally or narratively -- watching the opera one feels like the action just stops for Basilio to tell his story, then starts again). It's a metaphorical story, right? If so, what was the real story behind it? What was the shame and dishonor that Basilio escaped? How did Dame Common Sense give him the skin of the ass? Or: if you take it to be a literal story, how did that even happen? (Did Basilio somehow wander into the corner of a fairy tale, as a supporting character? If so, what happened when he met the main characters?) Of course, I do NOT expect you to know anything about Nozze. Since Basilio is reminiscing about when he was a young man of quite different personality, you certainly need not know anything about his current personality. For that matter, feel free to name the main character something besides Basilio if you prefer. And set it in spaaaace, or random SF/fantasy milieu, or a contemporary setting, or whatever, of course!

General: Things I love (I don't expect these by any means, this is just a random sampling of Things I Like): I love worldbuilding fic and plotty fic because I have a hard time writing 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 (although in these songs I don't know that it's a thing for any of them). 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.

Things I don't like: gratuitous violence; 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 :) Darkfic is fine for any of these, as is any kind of AU (fantasy, SF, corporate, academia, cyberpunk ...?)

Seriously, if you wanted to write a story that was just inspired by the imagery in these songs, I would be so up with that. I want you to take one (or more!) of these songs and make something fascinating out of them, however you feel is the best way to do that, so don't let anything I've written here stop you from doing what YOU want to do with any of these songs! And thank you!

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Dear yuletide 2014

2014-10-16T15:25:58Z

Dear yuletide writer,

Wow, thank you so much for offering to write a story in one of my crazy canons! 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).

( In random order: Preiddeu Annwn (The Spoils of Annwn); Church Going - Philip Larkin (poem); The Instrumentality of Mankind - Cordwainer Smith )

Consuming canon: I have two small-canon poem fandoms this year: "Church Going" and Preiddeu Annwn." Either of these would take about five minutes to consume. Cordwainer Smith are short stories, and just a couple of them would probably suffice to get the general idea, but they are certainly quite 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.)

(Edited 10-30-14 because I really do like all gender-variety of friendships, and to say happy endings and dark endings are both great!)

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dear jukebox 2014

2014-05-01T03:33:53Z

Dear jukebox writer,

Thanks so much for writing one of my songs! I really love all these songs, as well as have questions about them, and I'm sure I'll love whatever you write!

I have some suggestions below, but really, feel free to do whatever idea these songs give you. I picked these songs because they seem to have a lot of stories hidden in them, and if you find a story that's totally different from the ones I see offhand (and have thus provided vague prompts for), then I would be so thrilled to see that additional interpretation of the song.

Chanson de Melisande (Youtube, lyrics) - This is just a spooky song. Why are the daughters blind? Why are they locked up? Why are they expecting a prince, and why doesn't he come? What happens once the light goes out? This could be either dark and tragic or have an ending where they somehow manage to escape. Or both!

Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd) (Youtube, lyrics) - Okay, I know (vaguely) the history to this song, and that it's supposed to be a tribute to Syd Barrett etc. etc., but like all good songs, I think there's a lot more there that could be explored and fic written about. Who are the two lost souls? (One answer is a split personality, of course, but I feel like there could be a more compelling explanation.) Why are they in a fishbowl? Why the ironic refrain, "Wish you were here"? The heaven-from-hell, blue skies from pain, green fields from a cold steel rail… seems like it was just meant for a spaaaaace AU, or a cyberpunk AU, or a dystopian AU… It really seems like it could make a really great science-fiction story -- or really any kind of story: a coffeeshop of quiet desperation?

Ordinary Town - Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer (Youtube, lyrics) - "Go home, go home" the mayor cried when jesus came to city hall, 'cause /This is an ordinary town, and the prophet stands alone/ This is an ordinary town and we crucify our own... I am curious about the story where Jesus comes to town and the Mayor tells him to go away because they are busy crucifying their own, thank you very much, he's just going to have to get crucified somewhere else... but really anything about this song would be very neat, don't feel like you have to be restricted to that!

Wings (Wild ARMs 3) (English Version) - Samantha Newark: Youtube, lyrics I discovered this song during last Jukebox when I kinda fell in love with it. I don't want anything about the video game (which I know nothing about in any case). It seems to me like it's calling out for an epic SF or fantasy story... though any other way you'd like to interpret it would be awesome. (Perhaps the "corridors" refer to hallways in a university history department? WHO KNOWS.)

They Can't Take That Away from Me - George Gershwin and Ira Gerswin (Song): Youtube, lyrics. Okay, this is the one where I actually want something specific: the dark sci-fi AU where memory wipes are on the table. If you signed up hoping to do a more conventional take, well… convince me! :) (I don't remember anything about Crazy for You, so don't worry about that canon at all.)

Der Zwerg - Franz Schubert: Youtube, lyrics. Another one I fell in love with during last year's Jukebox! What's going on? I suppose a love triangle would be the most "straightforward" explanation, but it just seems like there might be a more interesting story there, especially given the complicated and sometimes contradictory-seeming actions of the characters. (Especially given that the queen can... hear the stars prophesy to her? What?)

General: Things I love (I don't expect these by any means, this is just a random sampling of Things I Like): I love worldbuilding fic and plotty fic because I have a hard time writing 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 (although in these songs I don't know that it's a thing for any of them). 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.

Things I don't like: gratuitous violence; 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 :) Darkfic is fine for any of these, as is any kind of AU (fantasy, SF, corporate, academia, cyberpunk ...?)

Seriously, if you wanted to write a story that was just inspired by the imagery in these songs, I would be so up with that. I want you to take one (or more!) of these songs and make something fascinating out of them, however you feel is the best way to do that, so don't let anything I've written here stop you from doing what YOU want to do with any of these songs! And thank you!

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dear rarewomen

2014-02-27T02:59:58Z

Apparently... I... am... signing up for rarewomen, against my better judgement. (sprocket, I blame you.) But work should have either exploded or not by the time I have to get around to writing a story, I guess!

I have used the "or" matching to its fullest extent. Anything with any of these characters would be awesome!

Fandoms:

Gunnerkrigg Court (Any) - I loooooved the Yuletide fics this year. I cannot get enough of GC! Jones being her phlegmatic self! Or: Janet -- what would her father do if he learned about her romance? Why is it such a big deal? What secrets does she know, being the headmaster's daughter? Or: what mysteries about Surma do we not know? Or: friendship between Surma and Anja. Or: Anja noticing something that turns out to be important. Or: do Anja and Jones ever talk? About what? Or: show me something of the mother-daughter dynamic between Anja and Kat. For more on what I love about GC, see this post.

Alliance-Union - C. J. Cherryh (Ariane Emory I, II) - ARI. Let me see Ari I being her deliciously horribly-practical, super-intelligent self. Or Ari II learning to be horribly practical and super intelligent. Or Ari II learning from Ari I. Or, well, anything. I've only read Cyteen, and have not read Cyteen II. For more about what I love about Cyteen, see this post.

Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold (Lotus Durona, Ekaterin Vorsoisson Vorkosigan, Alys Vorpatril) - ollipop hooked me, last rarewomen, on Lotus Durona, and I love ollipop's story very much and want more. Tell me more about Lotus' Deal with the Baron, or why she hates Lilly so much as to name her clone after her (or is it hate?). Or: I desperately want Ekaterin to be the heroine of her own story! Let her get to do something awesome, something that owes nothing to Miles (or where Miles plays second fiddle to her). Or: we know Alys is awesome already! Let's see more of it! (I don't have a post on why I love the Vorkosigan saga... it's just been part of my life for so long that it just never occurred to me to post on it... the closest is my dear author letter here.)

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dear invisible-ficathon writer

2014-02-10T17:58:03Z

Wow, thank you for writing me a fic! I am sooooo excited to get a fic about any of these canons. Please don't feel bound by any of my words -- I want to know what you think of these canons!

[Some bookkeeping before I start talking about canon. What I have here is the maximum I expect you to have read to write the prompt -- these should all be five-minute-ish fandoms. If you just read a paragraph and see something that sparks your interest, don't even feel like you need to have read the entire excerpts I quote (e.g., don't feel like you need to have read the entire excerpt of Melusine). I mean, if you want to read more, knock yourself out -- I love all these books and think they're certainly worth reading more of -- but I definitely don't expect it.)
The Horn of Joy is from A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle (particularly Chs 4 and 11).
The Book of Gramarye is from The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper, in the chapter of that name.
The Fairy Melusine is from Possession by A.S. Byatt (the most relevant bits are the excerpt at the very beginning of Ch 16 and the discussion in the last couple of pages of Ch 3, from which I've taken the "cosmic battles").
Coriakin's Spellbook is from Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis, Ch 10.]

Now for the canons! (I always write staggeringly varying amounts; be assured I want all of these very much, just -- the ones that live in the academic world are easier for me to get wordy about.) ( Horn of Joy, Book of Gramarye, Fairy Melusine, and Coriakin's Spellbook. )

Thanks again! :)

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dear yuletide 2013

2013-10-07T03:11:29Z

Dear 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).

( In random order: The People - Zenna Henderson; Tillerman Cycle - Cynthia Voigt; Instrumentality of Man - Cordwainer Smith; Mabinogion )

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.)

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