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yuletide 2020 letter
Hi, Yuletide writer! I'm so delighted that you're writing something for me! The most important thing is that you have fun doing this, so as always, optional details are optional, but I do have specifics if that will help you find a direction.
Things I generally enjoy:
- found families and characters loving and supporting one another
- characters navigating messy, complicated relationships, especially ones that started out badly or antagonistically and are now finding new shapes
- shared histories between characters, especially ones that have insular experiences that would be inaccessible to people who hadn't experienced them, and the ways in which it affects those characters' relationships
- porn with feelings
- worldbuilding, backstory, future fic
DNWs: rape, noncon, excessive violence or gore (canon-appropriate levels are fine, and my requests this year do have levels of violence or gore in them, but I'd prefer you didn't lean heavily on those aspects). Mundane AUs are generally not my thing, and for this year's fandoms I'm more interested in elaborations on canon than any kind of AU, though this is a less hardline DNW than the rest. Emotionally rough stories are fine, but I'd like one with a happy ending this year, even if it's temporary or complicated.
My AO3 is public if you want further indications of my taste!
Please note that all of my requests are very spoilery for their canons.
Specific canons:
Eight Days of Luke - Diana Wynne Jones
David Allard, Luke
I love this book so much! I love the pieces of Norse myth that it draws from, and I adore David and Luke's relationship. I very strongly feel that at some point in David's future they should kiss, and if you're interested in writing David/Luke in a romantic context I would be delighted, but I'd also be happy with a nonshippy story that plays with mythology more, or the way that Luke continues to insert himself in David's life in various weird ways. I didn't select Astrid as one of my nominated characters because I don't require her in your story, but if you do want to write about Astrid and David's attempts to make it work as a family in addition to whatever is going on with Luke, that would be delightful! I'd also love appearances by any other gods of your choosing.
The Locked Tomb Trilogy | Gideon the Ninth Series - Tamsyn Muir
Any
I am flinging myself joyfully at the "any character" category for this series because I absolutely mean it: any characters that you want to write about, I'll love. A quick rundown of some stuff I would be especially delighted with:
- Gideon/Harrow! I'm interested in anything about these awkward codependent weirdos and their combative loyal relationship! Bonus points if it takes place post-HtN and Gideon and Harrow have to navigate sharing a body, but all Gideon/Harrow content is good content.
- God and his Lyctors! I loved whatever bizarre thing was going on with him and Augustine and Mercymorn! There's so much history to mine here, between them and with their cavaliers. What was it like when they were first at Canaan House? What ways have all of them become their own strange insular society? What exactly happened to the other Lyctors? I'd love to see any of this.
- Literally anything about Alecto, WHAT IS GOING ON, feel free to speculate wildly, write about her revenges, write about her relationship with God, throw Harrow a bone (haha) and let her make out with her creepy dead girlfriend, any Alecto content you want!
- Ianthe and Coronabeth's relationship is fascinating to me, either how it was before the events of the books or how it might progress next. This is a relevant time to mention that sibling incest is not among my DNWs, and if you wanted to take their weird gothic vibe in that direction I'd be very interested in that story, but that is by no means a requirement in a story about them.
- Palamedes and Camilla! I adore the Sixth and would read literally anything about them, from a slice of life about them being nerds at the Sixth House pre-canon to ... whatever fascinating bodysharing resurrection situation is implied at the end of HtN! I'm not especially interested in a romantic relationship with them, because I find their intensity about one another very satisfying either way, but if you do read Camilla's love as romantic and want to write a shippy fic, I'll be happy with that regardless.
- I honestly adored Ortus and would love to read some of his terrible epic poetry, or perhaps watch him kiss the ghost of his beloved hero Nonius.
Obviously these are not all the listed characters, but if you offered a specific set that I haven't mentioned, GREAT, I'm very here for whatever very niche Locked Tomb interest you have. I am in general fascinated by the bizarre worldbuilding, and I love the intensity and variety of the various necromancer/cavalier relationships, so anything to do with those would be wonderful.
The Ten Thousand Doors of January - Alix E. Harrow
Jane Irimu, January Scholar | January Scaller
Because this is one of my favorite recent portal fantasies, I would be especially interested in reading the portal fantasy part of it, and would therefore really enjoy any exploration of what's behind some of the doors that January is repairing. I'm more interested in what comes after canon than shading in what came before, although I would enjoy missing scenes or weaving in the story of Jane's past. Both Jane and January are in my requests because I love their friendship and would love to see more of it; I also very, very much want Jane to get to return to her door, and her husband and wives, and to introduce them to January! I would especially enjoy the story of Jane's homecoming. (I'm not especially interested in January and Samuel's romance, although if it's a background element of your story I won't mind; similarly, I really enjoyed January's parents, but was satisfied with where canon left them, so I won't mind their inclusion but would prefer the focus be elsewhere.)
The Wicked + The Divine
Laura Wilson | Persephone, Baphomet (The Wicked + The Divine), Cassandra Igarashi | Urdr, Dionysus (The Wicked + The Divine)
I am really delighted with this year's nominated characters, because they're a great list of my favorites! My specific request is fix-it fic for Baph, because when your best friend and your ex-who-is-also-your-friend are both retired underworld gods now exploring what it means to have magic that is less bounded by narrative structures, surely they must be able to rescue you from being dead! I do realize that this is a very specific and potentially plot-heavy brief, and is by no means the only story I'm interested in! I'd also love any story about Laura and Cass's romance post-canon: how they finally work out how to be together, how they work out how to stay together, what they do with their lives, what sorts of ongoing relationships they have with other members of the pantheon. Meanwhile, I ship Baph/Dio a whole heck of a lot, so if you want to write me a romantic story about them -- either of the filling in missing bits of canon or the fix-it variety -- I would love it, but I'd also really enjoy a story about their friendship. And I'm happy for anyone else from the pantheon to appear in your story as well! I have particular affection for Luci and Inanna, but the only god I'm not interested in reading about is Woden.
Thank you again for writing for me! Have fun, and I'm so excited to see what you come up with :)
Things I generally enjoy:
- found families and characters loving and supporting one another
- characters navigating messy, complicated relationships, especially ones that started out badly or antagonistically and are now finding new shapes
- shared histories between characters, especially ones that have insular experiences that would be inaccessible to people who hadn't experienced them, and the ways in which it affects those characters' relationships
- porn with feelings
- worldbuilding, backstory, future fic
DNWs: rape, noncon, excessive violence or gore (canon-appropriate levels are fine, and my requests this year do have levels of violence or gore in them, but I'd prefer you didn't lean heavily on those aspects). Mundane AUs are generally not my thing, and for this year's fandoms I'm more interested in elaborations on canon than any kind of AU, though this is a less hardline DNW than the rest. Emotionally rough stories are fine, but I'd like one with a happy ending this year, even if it's temporary or complicated.
My AO3 is public if you want further indications of my taste!
Please note that all of my requests are very spoilery for their canons.
Specific canons:
Eight Days of Luke - Diana Wynne Jones
David Allard, Luke
I love this book so much! I love the pieces of Norse myth that it draws from, and I adore David and Luke's relationship. I very strongly feel that at some point in David's future they should kiss, and if you're interested in writing David/Luke in a romantic context I would be delighted, but I'd also be happy with a nonshippy story that plays with mythology more, or the way that Luke continues to insert himself in David's life in various weird ways. I didn't select Astrid as one of my nominated characters because I don't require her in your story, but if you do want to write about Astrid and David's attempts to make it work as a family in addition to whatever is going on with Luke, that would be delightful! I'd also love appearances by any other gods of your choosing.
The Locked Tomb Trilogy | Gideon the Ninth Series - Tamsyn Muir
Any
I am flinging myself joyfully at the "any character" category for this series because I absolutely mean it: any characters that you want to write about, I'll love. A quick rundown of some stuff I would be especially delighted with:
- Gideon/Harrow! I'm interested in anything about these awkward codependent weirdos and their combative loyal relationship! Bonus points if it takes place post-HtN and Gideon and Harrow have to navigate sharing a body, but all Gideon/Harrow content is good content.
- God and his Lyctors! I loved whatever bizarre thing was going on with him and Augustine and Mercymorn! There's so much history to mine here, between them and with their cavaliers. What was it like when they were first at Canaan House? What ways have all of them become their own strange insular society? What exactly happened to the other Lyctors? I'd love to see any of this.
- Literally anything about Alecto, WHAT IS GOING ON, feel free to speculate wildly, write about her revenges, write about her relationship with God, throw Harrow a bone (haha) and let her make out with her creepy dead girlfriend, any Alecto content you want!
- Ianthe and Coronabeth's relationship is fascinating to me, either how it was before the events of the books or how it might progress next. This is a relevant time to mention that sibling incest is not among my DNWs, and if you wanted to take their weird gothic vibe in that direction I'd be very interested in that story, but that is by no means a requirement in a story about them.
- Palamedes and Camilla! I adore the Sixth and would read literally anything about them, from a slice of life about them being nerds at the Sixth House pre-canon to ... whatever fascinating bodysharing resurrection situation is implied at the end of HtN! I'm not especially interested in a romantic relationship with them, because I find their intensity about one another very satisfying either way, but if you do read Camilla's love as romantic and want to write a shippy fic, I'll be happy with that regardless.
- I honestly adored Ortus and would love to read some of his terrible epic poetry, or perhaps watch him kiss the ghost of his beloved hero Nonius.
Obviously these are not all the listed characters, but if you offered a specific set that I haven't mentioned, GREAT, I'm very here for whatever very niche Locked Tomb interest you have. I am in general fascinated by the bizarre worldbuilding, and I love the intensity and variety of the various necromancer/cavalier relationships, so anything to do with those would be wonderful.
The Ten Thousand Doors of January - Alix E. Harrow
Jane Irimu, January Scholar | January Scaller
Because this is one of my favorite recent portal fantasies, I would be especially interested in reading the portal fantasy part of it, and would therefore really enjoy any exploration of what's behind some of the doors that January is repairing. I'm more interested in what comes after canon than shading in what came before, although I would enjoy missing scenes or weaving in the story of Jane's past. Both Jane and January are in my requests because I love their friendship and would love to see more of it; I also very, very much want Jane to get to return to her door, and her husband and wives, and to introduce them to January! I would especially enjoy the story of Jane's homecoming. (I'm not especially interested in January and Samuel's romance, although if it's a background element of your story I won't mind; similarly, I really enjoyed January's parents, but was satisfied with where canon left them, so I won't mind their inclusion but would prefer the focus be elsewhere.)
The Wicked + The Divine
Laura Wilson | Persephone, Baphomet (The Wicked + The Divine), Cassandra Igarashi | Urdr, Dionysus (The Wicked + The Divine)
I am really delighted with this year's nominated characters, because they're a great list of my favorites! My specific request is fix-it fic for Baph, because when your best friend and your ex-who-is-also-your-friend are both retired underworld gods now exploring what it means to have magic that is less bounded by narrative structures, surely they must be able to rescue you from being dead! I do realize that this is a very specific and potentially plot-heavy brief, and is by no means the only story I'm interested in! I'd also love any story about Laura and Cass's romance post-canon: how they finally work out how to be together, how they work out how to stay together, what they do with their lives, what sorts of ongoing relationships they have with other members of the pantheon. Meanwhile, I ship Baph/Dio a whole heck of a lot, so if you want to write me a romantic story about them -- either of the filling in missing bits of canon or the fix-it variety -- I would love it, but I'd also really enjoy a story about their friendship. And I'm happy for anyone else from the pantheon to appear in your story as well! I have particular affection for Luci and Inanna, but the only god I'm not interested in reading about is Woden.
Thank you again for writing for me! Have fun, and I'm so excited to see what you come up with :)