soph (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sophia_sol) wrote2014-10-19 03:11 pm
sophia_sol) wrote2014-10-19 03:11 pm
Dear Yuletide Author letter
DEAR AUTHOR,
I am so excited to know that you are going to be writing me a fic in one of my fandoms! I already know you have excellent taste, since you offered to write one of these fandoms, so have no fear that I will enjoy whatever it is you write for me, and I hope you have fun writing.
Please feel free to not read this post if you don't want to; I totally understand that different people have different approaches to this kind of thing. But if you DO want to see me rambling happily (and hopefully usefully) about myself and my fandoms, read on! :D
First of all, in terms of fanfiction in general, I am pretty broad in my tastes! I love worldbuilding, I love character studies, I love complicated politics, I love romance, I love angst, I love fluff, I love ridiculousness, I love explorations of canon, I love -- agh, it is hard to list all the things, because really, SO MANY THINGS.
Obviously not all the things are relevant for the fandoms I've requested, but really, go where your heart takes you and I promise I will be delighted. Do not be afraid to get tragic on me, or ridiculously fluffy! You can be serious or snark-tastic, you can warm-hearted or cynical, you can be bleak or beautiful or ridiculous or anything else you care to imagine. (though if you go in the more heartbreaking directions I would appreciate if there were at least a tiny wee bit of hopefulness at the end.)
A few things I particularly enjoy:
1. Competence ftw. People who are really good at something, whatever that thing is -- especially if it's surprising to the people around them.
2. People who care deeply about each other, whether that's romantic or friendship or family or found-family or something else entirely.
3. Fic that isn't dude-centric. I like reading about female characters!
4. Fannish tropes. Telepathic bonds! marriage of convenience! bodyswap! robots! time-travel! AUs! etc! so many sweet tropes! (please note though that I am not particularly interested in zombies, vampires, werewolves, apocalypses, or true destined soulmates.)
But please feel free to ignore anything from that list that doesn't fit or isn't relevant or isn't something that interests you.
I just have two requests of things I would rather you avoid:
1. Explicit sex. Nothing wrong with it, I just personally don't find reading it to be terribly interesting.
2. Embarrassing situations. I have a strong embarrassment squick, and would rather not have to read my gift through my fingers! Mostly what this means is avoiding conversations where characters are speaking at cross-purposes without realizing it, resulting in awkward misunderstandings. Or where characters overhear something without all of the context, resulting in awkward misunderstandings. Basically awkward misunderstandings in general, really, especially if said misunderstandings are treated as funny!
And now on with the stuff about each specific fandom!
Comrade Cosmos
characters requested: Comrade Cosmos, Emperor of Entropy
Okay so this is a fictional comic (complete with fictional fandom!) found in the novel Mending the Moon by Susan Palwick. (Here's the book thoughts post I made about Mending the Moon after reading it if you would find such a thing useful.) I was just so delighted by the way CCverse and its fandom were portrayed in the book! It's a complicated and interesting and imperfect comic series with an extremely real-feeling fandom; Palwick clearly knows what she's talking about. I was delighted by every paragraph describing what the fandom is like.
And you know, for this request, I am open to SO MANY different things! Fic about the comic itself, fic about the fandom for the comic, metafic, whatever. Maybe you want to write CC/EE slash (which, as the book says, is extremely popular within the fandom). Maybe you want to write fixit fic for the way the comic jumped the shark. Maybe you want to write rule 63 fic about the comic, maybe you want to write about academics writing their thesis on the comic, maybe you want to write about the fanculture of the fandom, maybe you want to write about EE and birthdays, maybe you want to write about something else entirely. I really do not care and just would love to read what you have to say about this comic or its fandom or its creators or its place in broader comics fandom or WHATEVER. I requested CC and EE but you don't have to include both or either if you don't want to; I really would be happy with just about anything.
(gen, slash, femslash, poly, and het are all fine)
The African Queen, by CS Forester
Requested character: Rose Sayer
When I first read this book (here's the book thoughts post I made about The African Queen after reading it if you would find such a thing useful) the first thing I did upon finishing was go online to see if I could find any fic for it because I DESPERATELY NEEDED FIC but no, all I could find was a fic about the movie. And that's not the same thing, given the changes between book and movie!
Reading this book, I was really captivated by the character of Rose. I loved how she blossomed when she took on this self-appointed mission - discovered herself to be so very capable, and brave, and how for the first time in her life she felt happy and fulfilled. And then the end of the book happened and she had to go back to being a Proper British Lady, which is not a life role she is best suited for at all.
So my immediate impulse was that I want fic about Rose after the book NOT accepting her fate as a Proper British Lady, and going off and having further adventures instead. And that is definitely a thing I would love to read! But it is not the only thing I would love to read. Anything about Rose and her relationship with herself and her abilities and her place in the world would be amazing - fic about her in childhood, fic about when/why/how she first went to central Africa with her missionary brother, fic about her in her post-book role of Proper British Lady and how she finds ways to be herself regardless, and so on and so forth. Basically: ROSE BEING ROSE PLSKTHX.
(gen, femslash, poly, and het are all fine)
The Day Boy and the Night Girl, by George MacDonald
Requested character: Nycteris
Can be found online here
I've always really enjoyed this story - I've been into fairy tales my whole life and although George MacDonald is extremely uneven in quality, this is one of his best. (here's the book thoughts post I made about MacDonald's Complete Fairy Tales after reading it if you would find such a thing useful - it has a paragraph about this particular story.)
Really all I want here is any sort of fic about Nycteris, because she is GREAT. As I said in my post about the book, I love how Nycteris is brave and clever and caring and inquisitive and does her very best to understand the world despite the extremely paltry education she received, and persists despite any fear she might be feeling. So anything about her would be A+! Pre-canon, finding ways and means to learn and understand what bits she can despite the way she's raised; post-canon, as she's learning to understand the broader world she's now introduced to; or whatever! (I'm sorry, I'm having more trouble coming up with good prompts for this request than for my others, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't still be delighted by a wide variety of things.) Just: NYCTERIS AWWW YEAH.
(gen, femslash, poly, and het are all fine)
With much love,
Sophia
I am so excited to know that you are going to be writing me a fic in one of my fandoms! I already know you have excellent taste, since you offered to write one of these fandoms, so have no fear that I will enjoy whatever it is you write for me, and I hope you have fun writing.
Please feel free to not read this post if you don't want to; I totally understand that different people have different approaches to this kind of thing. But if you DO want to see me rambling happily (and hopefully usefully) about myself and my fandoms, read on! :D
First of all, in terms of fanfiction in general, I am pretty broad in my tastes! I love worldbuilding, I love character studies, I love complicated politics, I love romance, I love angst, I love fluff, I love ridiculousness, I love explorations of canon, I love -- agh, it is hard to list all the things, because really, SO MANY THINGS.
Obviously not all the things are relevant for the fandoms I've requested, but really, go where your heart takes you and I promise I will be delighted. Do not be afraid to get tragic on me, or ridiculously fluffy! You can be serious or snark-tastic, you can warm-hearted or cynical, you can be bleak or beautiful or ridiculous or anything else you care to imagine. (though if you go in the more heartbreaking directions I would appreciate if there were at least a tiny wee bit of hopefulness at the end.)
A few things I particularly enjoy:
1. Competence ftw. People who are really good at something, whatever that thing is -- especially if it's surprising to the people around them.
2. People who care deeply about each other, whether that's romantic or friendship or family or found-family or something else entirely.
3. Fic that isn't dude-centric. I like reading about female characters!
4. Fannish tropes. Telepathic bonds! marriage of convenience! bodyswap! robots! time-travel! AUs! etc! so many sweet tropes! (please note though that I am not particularly interested in zombies, vampires, werewolves, apocalypses, or true destined soulmates.)
But please feel free to ignore anything from that list that doesn't fit or isn't relevant or isn't something that interests you.
I just have two requests of things I would rather you avoid:
1. Explicit sex. Nothing wrong with it, I just personally don't find reading it to be terribly interesting.
2. Embarrassing situations. I have a strong embarrassment squick, and would rather not have to read my gift through my fingers! Mostly what this means is avoiding conversations where characters are speaking at cross-purposes without realizing it, resulting in awkward misunderstandings. Or where characters overhear something without all of the context, resulting in awkward misunderstandings. Basically awkward misunderstandings in general, really, especially if said misunderstandings are treated as funny!
And now on with the stuff about each specific fandom!
Comrade Cosmos
characters requested: Comrade Cosmos, Emperor of Entropy
Okay so this is a fictional comic (complete with fictional fandom!) found in the novel Mending the Moon by Susan Palwick. (Here's the book thoughts post I made about Mending the Moon after reading it if you would find such a thing useful.) I was just so delighted by the way CCverse and its fandom were portrayed in the book! It's a complicated and interesting and imperfect comic series with an extremely real-feeling fandom; Palwick clearly knows what she's talking about. I was delighted by every paragraph describing what the fandom is like.
And you know, for this request, I am open to SO MANY different things! Fic about the comic itself, fic about the fandom for the comic, metafic, whatever. Maybe you want to write CC/EE slash (which, as the book says, is extremely popular within the fandom). Maybe you want to write fixit fic for the way the comic jumped the shark. Maybe you want to write rule 63 fic about the comic, maybe you want to write about academics writing their thesis on the comic, maybe you want to write about the fanculture of the fandom, maybe you want to write about EE and birthdays, maybe you want to write about something else entirely. I really do not care and just would love to read what you have to say about this comic or its fandom or its creators or its place in broader comics fandom or WHATEVER. I requested CC and EE but you don't have to include both or either if you don't want to; I really would be happy with just about anything.
(gen, slash, femslash, poly, and het are all fine)
The African Queen, by CS Forester
Requested character: Rose Sayer
When I first read this book (here's the book thoughts post I made about The African Queen after reading it if you would find such a thing useful) the first thing I did upon finishing was go online to see if I could find any fic for it because I DESPERATELY NEEDED FIC but no, all I could find was a fic about the movie. And that's not the same thing, given the changes between book and movie!
Reading this book, I was really captivated by the character of Rose. I loved how she blossomed when she took on this self-appointed mission - discovered herself to be so very capable, and brave, and how for the first time in her life she felt happy and fulfilled. And then the end of the book happened and she had to go back to being a Proper British Lady, which is not a life role she is best suited for at all.
So my immediate impulse was that I want fic about Rose after the book NOT accepting her fate as a Proper British Lady, and going off and having further adventures instead. And that is definitely a thing I would love to read! But it is not the only thing I would love to read. Anything about Rose and her relationship with herself and her abilities and her place in the world would be amazing - fic about her in childhood, fic about when/why/how she first went to central Africa with her missionary brother, fic about her in her post-book role of Proper British Lady and how she finds ways to be herself regardless, and so on and so forth. Basically: ROSE BEING ROSE PLSKTHX.
(gen, femslash, poly, and het are all fine)
The Day Boy and the Night Girl, by George MacDonald
Requested character: Nycteris
Can be found online here
I've always really enjoyed this story - I've been into fairy tales my whole life and although George MacDonald is extremely uneven in quality, this is one of his best. (here's the book thoughts post I made about MacDonald's Complete Fairy Tales after reading it if you would find such a thing useful - it has a paragraph about this particular story.)
Really all I want here is any sort of fic about Nycteris, because she is GREAT. As I said in my post about the book, I love how Nycteris is brave and clever and caring and inquisitive and does her very best to understand the world despite the extremely paltry education she received, and persists despite any fear she might be feeling. So anything about her would be A+! Pre-canon, finding ways and means to learn and understand what bits she can despite the way she's raised; post-canon, as she's learning to understand the broader world she's now introduced to; or whatever! (I'm sorry, I'm having more trouble coming up with good prompts for this request than for my others, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't still be delighted by a wide variety of things.) Just: NYCTERIS AWWW YEAH.
(gen, femslash, poly, and het are all fine)
With much love,
Sophia
no subject