Yuletide letter
Nov. 12th, 2010 12:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mari4212Dear Yuletider,
I'm just going to sit here and squee at you for a bit, one, for agreeing to write in any of these categories, and two, because you are awesome and I know I'm going to love whatever you come up with. So, start with this. If it's in that fandom, and has the characters I picked in it, I am going to squee with delight and love you forever, no matter what plotbunny takes control of you.
General guidelines for any fandom of mine:
I have no objections to gen, het, or slash, nor to ratings ranging from g to a hard NC-17, though all of my prompts started out in my head as gen. I do squick out on infidelity, so if you want to write a pairing where the characters in canon already have an SO, please make sure you introduce a reason why the original pairing either broke up or that it’s an au where they weren’t together. I’m also not fond of incest, rape, or sexual assault, and you have to work really hard to convince me that including any of those as a plot element was necessary. I love female characters, and even when I didn’t request them, assume that I’m positive/neutral to the other female characters in the canon, and wouldn’t like them bashed. (Actually, you can probably assume that for any character in the fandoms I’ve requested.) I also don’t like racism, sexism, religious bashing or homophobia to be portrayed positively. If you really want to place it in as an issue to be addressed, please do not glorify it. I’m not looking for deathfic in any of my requests, but if you end up going with it with what you get out of one of these requests, I will not be upset. I like characters of color, and will probably enjoy it if you bring in one of the canonical characters of color in any of my fandoms, even if I didn’t specifically request them. In terms of general story likes and dislikes, I enjoy character pieces, I like humor, I like people actually talking to each other and not always misunderstanding what the other person is getting at. I also like angst and drama, though I do like it if it’s not something that could easily be cleared up in five minutes of honest communication. I like friendships and mentorship as much as I like romance, moreso sometimes. I’m okay with the ending not being all the way happy, as long as it makes sense for the characters involved. I’m not majorly interested in straight tragedy.
Fandom specifics:
So, as to my requests. I'll include them below, along with a whole bunch of squeeing about the characters and the larger media.
Hand of Isis, by Jo Graham
I'm specifically looking for something about Iras's storyline. Her relationship with Cleopatra, what led to her awareness of how she related to men, her responsibility as Treasurer...anything cool and interesting with her, as Jo Graham's said that her plotline was the one to suffer the most in the length cuts she had to make.
I've got a squee post I wrote this summer, when Stealing Fire was released, explaining how much I loved Jo Graham's writing and these books. Hand of Isis is in many ways my favorite of the three books in the universe, though of course I love different sections of each individual book. I love the strong bonds of female friendship and sisterhood present in this book, how each of the three primary women is very different, and those differences are presented as okay. I love the exploration of duty and making a powerful commitment to your land, your sister/queen, and your deities, and how this was more important, in the long run, for both Charmain and Iras than any other relationship. Like I said, I really want more Iras, because she got the most cuts to her plotline and development. Anything you give me on her I'll enjoy. Does she have any of Charmain's visions of the past and future, or like I said in the plot, how does she view her relationships with Cleopatra and Charmain? I'm just, the world needs more Iras, and if it can get more Cleopatra and Charmain at the same time, I will laugh and squee and cheer, lots.
Disney's The Little Mermaid, Ariel adjusting to life on land, learning more about who Eric is and who they are together as a couple, missing things she'd taken for granted in the water, like her father or always having a sister to confide in about something.
Okay, so we're going to ignore the sequel movie that came out about Ariel's daughter and the random character warping in there, okay? What I want is something fascinating about Ariel after the movie. I don't even know, give me court drama that she has to learn how to navigate, or a moment where, because of her past, she does something incredible that leaves Eric/the kingdom gaping because they didn't know it was possible. Or give me something that shows that Ariel accepts what she had to give up to come to the surface, that shows where she misses having so many siblings, or being able to move in three dimensions, or what have you. This is probably the part in me that always wants to know what happens next, at the end of fairy tales, and this is an excuse to get it.
The Lost World
Marguerite and either Veronica or Summerlee, bonus Roxton is bonus. Marguerite's evolution and vulnerability. That's the general prompt. If you want something really specific, the fic that I've had in my head for this fandom is somehow getting late season 3 Marguerite interacting with the other explorers circa season 1. I don't know how, maybe Marguerite collapses after More than Human and when she revives, it's the season 3 personality/memories. I never got around to figuring out how all of the characters would react, I just always wanted to see them confronted by how much Marguerite grows over the course of the seasons, and how much all their relationships evolved.
So, this is my hangover fandom from last year that I didn't get a fill on. Which is okay, because the prompts I did get fills on were awesome, don't get me wrong, but it just makes me want to see this one filled even more. You can check out my earlier letter for more fandom squee, but up top is the short version, as I just pretty much love Marguerite lots, and find her a fascinating character. Do anything with that, and I'll love it.
Mulan. Just, Mulan is awesome and I love her friendship with the boys, her hints of more with Shang, her relationship with her father and grandmother.
This is the one I have the least thought out in my head, beyond a wish to know what happens next. (And, as is par for the course with Disney, I don't really deal much at all with the sequel, though it at least had a plotline that felt less contrived than the sequel to Little Mermaid.) If you care to do something with the original Chinese legend and culture, as well as some of the bits of this, I will love you forever. If you chose to stay straight in the Disney context, that's fine to. Just, you know, take Mulan in her awesome, creative, intelligent bamfiness, and play with it. I do love Shang as well, and I'd love to see more with Mulan's family, but have at it.
And if you were matched up with me on this fandom, I'll give you this bit of inspiration/soundtrack: Jackie Chan singing Be a Man in Mandarin. Just to get you in the mood.
I'm just going to sit here and squee at you for a bit, one, for agreeing to write in any of these categories, and two, because you are awesome and I know I'm going to love whatever you come up with. So, start with this. If it's in that fandom, and has the characters I picked in it, I am going to squee with delight and love you forever, no matter what plotbunny takes control of you.
General guidelines for any fandom of mine:
I have no objections to gen, het, or slash, nor to ratings ranging from g to a hard NC-17, though all of my prompts started out in my head as gen. I do squick out on infidelity, so if you want to write a pairing where the characters in canon already have an SO, please make sure you introduce a reason why the original pairing either broke up or that it’s an au where they weren’t together. I’m also not fond of incest, rape, or sexual assault, and you have to work really hard to convince me that including any of those as a plot element was necessary. I love female characters, and even when I didn’t request them, assume that I’m positive/neutral to the other female characters in the canon, and wouldn’t like them bashed. (Actually, you can probably assume that for any character in the fandoms I’ve requested.) I also don’t like racism, sexism, religious bashing or homophobia to be portrayed positively. If you really want to place it in as an issue to be addressed, please do not glorify it. I’m not looking for deathfic in any of my requests, but if you end up going with it with what you get out of one of these requests, I will not be upset. I like characters of color, and will probably enjoy it if you bring in one of the canonical characters of color in any of my fandoms, even if I didn’t specifically request them. In terms of general story likes and dislikes, I enjoy character pieces, I like humor, I like people actually talking to each other and not always misunderstanding what the other person is getting at. I also like angst and drama, though I do like it if it’s not something that could easily be cleared up in five minutes of honest communication. I like friendships and mentorship as much as I like romance, moreso sometimes. I’m okay with the ending not being all the way happy, as long as it makes sense for the characters involved. I’m not majorly interested in straight tragedy.
Fandom specifics:
So, as to my requests. I'll include them below, along with a whole bunch of squeeing about the characters and the larger media.
Hand of Isis, by Jo Graham
I'm specifically looking for something about Iras's storyline. Her relationship with Cleopatra, what led to her awareness of how she related to men, her responsibility as Treasurer...anything cool and interesting with her, as Jo Graham's said that her plotline was the one to suffer the most in the length cuts she had to make.
I've got a squee post I wrote this summer, when Stealing Fire was released, explaining how much I loved Jo Graham's writing and these books. Hand of Isis is in many ways my favorite of the three books in the universe, though of course I love different sections of each individual book. I love the strong bonds of female friendship and sisterhood present in this book, how each of the three primary women is very different, and those differences are presented as okay. I love the exploration of duty and making a powerful commitment to your land, your sister/queen, and your deities, and how this was more important, in the long run, for both Charmain and Iras than any other relationship. Like I said, I really want more Iras, because she got the most cuts to her plotline and development. Anything you give me on her I'll enjoy. Does she have any of Charmain's visions of the past and future, or like I said in the plot, how does she view her relationships with Cleopatra and Charmain? I'm just, the world needs more Iras, and if it can get more Cleopatra and Charmain at the same time, I will laugh and squee and cheer, lots.
Disney's The Little Mermaid, Ariel adjusting to life on land, learning more about who Eric is and who they are together as a couple, missing things she'd taken for granted in the water, like her father or always having a sister to confide in about something.
Okay, so we're going to ignore the sequel movie that came out about Ariel's daughter and the random character warping in there, okay? What I want is something fascinating about Ariel after the movie. I don't even know, give me court drama that she has to learn how to navigate, or a moment where, because of her past, she does something incredible that leaves Eric/the kingdom gaping because they didn't know it was possible. Or give me something that shows that Ariel accepts what she had to give up to come to the surface, that shows where she misses having so many siblings, or being able to move in three dimensions, or what have you. This is probably the part in me that always wants to know what happens next, at the end of fairy tales, and this is an excuse to get it.
The Lost World
Marguerite and either Veronica or Summerlee, bonus Roxton is bonus. Marguerite's evolution and vulnerability. That's the general prompt. If you want something really specific, the fic that I've had in my head for this fandom is somehow getting late season 3 Marguerite interacting with the other explorers circa season 1. I don't know how, maybe Marguerite collapses after More than Human and when she revives, it's the season 3 personality/memories. I never got around to figuring out how all of the characters would react, I just always wanted to see them confronted by how much Marguerite grows over the course of the seasons, and how much all their relationships evolved.
So, this is my hangover fandom from last year that I didn't get a fill on. Which is okay, because the prompts I did get fills on were awesome, don't get me wrong, but it just makes me want to see this one filled even more. You can check out my earlier letter for more fandom squee, but up top is the short version, as I just pretty much love Marguerite lots, and find her a fascinating character. Do anything with that, and I'll love it.
Mulan. Just, Mulan is awesome and I love her friendship with the boys, her hints of more with Shang, her relationship with her father and grandmother.
This is the one I have the least thought out in my head, beyond a wish to know what happens next. (And, as is par for the course with Disney, I don't really deal much at all with the sequel, though it at least had a plotline that felt less contrived than the sequel to Little Mermaid.) If you care to do something with the original Chinese legend and culture, as well as some of the bits of this, I will love you forever. If you chose to stay straight in the Disney context, that's fine to. Just, you know, take Mulan in her awesome, creative, intelligent bamfiness, and play with it. I do love Shang as well, and I'd love to see more with Mulan's family, but have at it.
And if you were matched up with me on this fandom, I'll give you this bit of inspiration/soundtrack: Jackie Chan singing Be a Man in Mandarin. Just to get you in the mood.