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sophia_sol) wrote2015-10-16 09:08 pm
sophia_sol) wrote2015-10-16 09:08 pm
Dear Yuletide Author letter
The Yuletide letters post is up, which means it's time to post my letter! Which I definitely totally haven't already had written for over a month already......
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 I am sure that I will enjoy whatever it is you write for me, and I hope you have fun writing.
If you want to know more about my likes/dislikes and my thoughts about each fandom, please 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 politics, I love angst, I love fluff, I love ridiculousness, I love explorations of canon, I love AUs, 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 will be delighted. (though if you go in the more heartbreaking directions I would appreciate if there were at least a bit of hopefulness at the end.)
In terms of shipping, I'm fine with gen, femslash, slash, het, poly, whatever you feel fits the story. No incest or underage, please.
A few things I particularly enjoy:
1. Competence ftw. People who are really good at something, whatever that thing is. I also really enjoy if this is 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. People whose relationships with each other (platonic or otherwise) are complicated.
4. Fic that isn't dude-centric. I like reading about female characters!
5. Fannish tropes. Telepathic bonds! marriage of convenience! bodyswap! robots! time-travel! AUs! etc! so many sweet tropes! (please note though that I am not personally interested in zombies, vampires, werewolves, apocalypses, true destined soulmates, or modern AUs for these fandoms.)
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 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!
The Princess Curse, by Merrie Haskell
Requested characters: Any
(characters in tagset: Reveka, Dragos)
Pretty much Reveka and Lord Dragos are SO AMAZING and SO INTERESTING and I WANT ALL THE FANFICTION about either or both of them. Lord Dragos backstory from pre-king-of-the-underworld days? Lord Dragos backstory about him becoming lord of the underworld and being new and awkward and not knowing everything and trying and failing and all that? Reveka growing further into her role as queen of the underworld? Reveka and Dragos learning to know each other better over the years? A fic about Reveka and Dragos politicking in the underworld???
Although actually I'm just into this book (and its worldbuilding!) in general so don't necessarily feel bound by the characters in the tagset. I would also be interested in fic like, for example: more about the functioning of the underworld, Alethe’s nymph’s backstory, fic about whatever’s up with Reveka’s handmaid Thela. And so on! SO MANY OPTIONS and I would love any of them, including things I haven't mentioned here!
Please note that I'm less interested in reading a romance narrative about Reveka/Dragos, although their romance could certainly be an aspect in a story about other things if you want. Please avoid having anything romantic/sexual happening between them while Reveka is underage.
If you would find it helpful, here's the review I wrote of The Princess Curse when I first read it.
Wives & Daughters, by Elizabeth Gaskell
Requested character: Cynthia
My review of Wives & Daughters is extremely relevant to this request because pretty much the entire thing is about my Cynthia feels. I have a lot of Cynthia feels!
What I'm looking for here is a fic that is more in sympathy with Cynthia than the novel is. This could be the most AU of AUs, it could be a strictly canon fic, it could be plotty or plotless, it doesn't have to focus on the issues at hand, it could be ANYTHING, I don't care, I just love Cynthia, flaws and all, and want to read more about her. Please feel free to include Molly too if you want (Molly's great! I love Molly a lot!) but don't feel you have to.
Some ideas, just off the top of my head, so if you like working from prompts you have something to work with: a missing scene from canon about Molly and Cynthia's friendship, a space AU, Cynthia and her marriage post-canon, Cynthia's relationship with other girls while at boarding school, an AU where Mrs Kirkpatrick and Mr Gibson marry when Cynthia and Molly are much younger so Cynthia grows up with Molly as a sister, an AU where Cynthia doesn't succeed in freeing herself from her engagement with Mr Preston and ends up having to marry him, an AU where dragons exist (a la the Temeraire series, and I have no idea what would happen in this AU but I would be interested to find out!).
I'm fine with her marriage at the end being read as platonic or romantic, and you can also feel free to ignore the marriage if you want to. Please don't write Cynthia/Molly for me, as that gets too close to my incest squick.
Please also note that I have not seen the TV miniseries and would prefer fic to be based off the book.
Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812
Requested characters: Natasha, Helene
Let me preface this by saying that I know the musical only via the official soundtrack and have not seen it performed (though I wish I could!). I've read part of War & Peace but gave up in frustration because I hated Pierre and also found everyone in the military parts of the story boring. (Here's my war & peace liveblogging if you would find that interesting or relevant.) So if you too know the fandom only via the soundtrack that is TOTALLY COOL. (Or if you know more than I do please feel free to incorporate as much or as little of what you know from musical performance or from book as you so desire.) (Oh and here's my fandom tag for this fandom)
I find the interactions between Natasha and Helene so interesting. Natasha clearly admires Helene in a way that can be read as sexual or envious or both ("oh that neck, oh those pearls!") as well as looking up to her as a person whose opinions she can trust (her reaction to Helene after the song "Charming"). And Helene seems interested in Natasha as well (hah, see the whole song "Charming"!). And they are so different from each other and have very different perspectives and life experiences.
One of my early thoughts after getting obsessed with this musical was that I would be super interested in the AU where Helene is Natasha's bad news seducer instead of Anatole. Because I CAN TOTALLY SEE IT and I think it would be so interesting! And probably just as tragic if in different ways. So yes: if you feel up to writing Helene/Natasha I would be super happy! I would also be very happy to read gen about the two of them though; this would also be an unhealthy and interestingly complicated relationship and I am just as there for platonic relationships as romantic/sexual relationships. Feel free to write this either canon-compliant or as an AU.
Happy writing!
Sophia
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 I am sure that I will enjoy whatever it is you write for me, and I hope you have fun writing.
If you want to know more about my likes/dislikes and my thoughts about each fandom, please 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 politics, I love angst, I love fluff, I love ridiculousness, I love explorations of canon, I love AUs, 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 will be delighted. (though if you go in the more heartbreaking directions I would appreciate if there were at least a bit of hopefulness at the end.)
In terms of shipping, I'm fine with gen, femslash, slash, het, poly, whatever you feel fits the story. No incest or underage, please.
A few things I particularly enjoy:
1. Competence ftw. People who are really good at something, whatever that thing is. I also really enjoy if this is 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. People whose relationships with each other (platonic or otherwise) are complicated.
4. Fic that isn't dude-centric. I like reading about female characters!
5. Fannish tropes. Telepathic bonds! marriage of convenience! bodyswap! robots! time-travel! AUs! etc! so many sweet tropes! (please note though that I am not personally interested in zombies, vampires, werewolves, apocalypses, true destined soulmates, or modern AUs for these fandoms.)
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 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!
The Princess Curse, by Merrie Haskell
Requested characters: Any
(characters in tagset: Reveka, Dragos)
Pretty much Reveka and Lord Dragos are SO AMAZING and SO INTERESTING and I WANT ALL THE FANFICTION about either or both of them. Lord Dragos backstory from pre-king-of-the-underworld days? Lord Dragos backstory about him becoming lord of the underworld and being new and awkward and not knowing everything and trying and failing and all that? Reveka growing further into her role as queen of the underworld? Reveka and Dragos learning to know each other better over the years? A fic about Reveka and Dragos politicking in the underworld???
Although actually I'm just into this book (and its worldbuilding!) in general so don't necessarily feel bound by the characters in the tagset. I would also be interested in fic like, for example: more about the functioning of the underworld, Alethe’s nymph’s backstory, fic about whatever’s up with Reveka’s handmaid Thela. And so on! SO MANY OPTIONS and I would love any of them, including things I haven't mentioned here!
Please note that I'm less interested in reading a romance narrative about Reveka/Dragos, although their romance could certainly be an aspect in a story about other things if you want. Please avoid having anything romantic/sexual happening between them while Reveka is underage.
If you would find it helpful, here's the review I wrote of The Princess Curse when I first read it.
Wives & Daughters, by Elizabeth Gaskell
Requested character: Cynthia
My review of Wives & Daughters is extremely relevant to this request because pretty much the entire thing is about my Cynthia feels. I have a lot of Cynthia feels!
What I'm looking for here is a fic that is more in sympathy with Cynthia than the novel is. This could be the most AU of AUs, it could be a strictly canon fic, it could be plotty or plotless, it doesn't have to focus on the issues at hand, it could be ANYTHING, I don't care, I just love Cynthia, flaws and all, and want to read more about her. Please feel free to include Molly too if you want (Molly's great! I love Molly a lot!) but don't feel you have to.
Some ideas, just off the top of my head, so if you like working from prompts you have something to work with: a missing scene from canon about Molly and Cynthia's friendship, a space AU, Cynthia and her marriage post-canon, Cynthia's relationship with other girls while at boarding school, an AU where Mrs Kirkpatrick and Mr Gibson marry when Cynthia and Molly are much younger so Cynthia grows up with Molly as a sister, an AU where Cynthia doesn't succeed in freeing herself from her engagement with Mr Preston and ends up having to marry him, an AU where dragons exist (a la the Temeraire series, and I have no idea what would happen in this AU but I would be interested to find out!).
I'm fine with her marriage at the end being read as platonic or romantic, and you can also feel free to ignore the marriage if you want to. Please don't write Cynthia/Molly for me, as that gets too close to my incest squick.
Please also note that I have not seen the TV miniseries and would prefer fic to be based off the book.
Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812
Requested characters: Natasha, Helene
Let me preface this by saying that I know the musical only via the official soundtrack and have not seen it performed (though I wish I could!). I've read part of War & Peace but gave up in frustration because I hated Pierre and also found everyone in the military parts of the story boring. (Here's my war & peace liveblogging if you would find that interesting or relevant.) So if you too know the fandom only via the soundtrack that is TOTALLY COOL. (Or if you know more than I do please feel free to incorporate as much or as little of what you know from musical performance or from book as you so desire.) (Oh and here's my fandom tag for this fandom)
I find the interactions between Natasha and Helene so interesting. Natasha clearly admires Helene in a way that can be read as sexual or envious or both ("oh that neck, oh those pearls!") as well as looking up to her as a person whose opinions she can trust (her reaction to Helene after the song "Charming"). And Helene seems interested in Natasha as well (hah, see the whole song "Charming"!). And they are so different from each other and have very different perspectives and life experiences.
One of my early thoughts after getting obsessed with this musical was that I would be super interested in the AU where Helene is Natasha's bad news seducer instead of Anatole. Because I CAN TOTALLY SEE IT and I think it would be so interesting! And probably just as tragic if in different ways. So yes: if you feel up to writing Helene/Natasha I would be super happy! I would also be very happy to read gen about the two of them though; this would also be an unhealthy and interestingly complicated relationship and I am just as there for platonic relationships as romantic/sexual relationships. Feel free to write this either canon-compliant or as an AU.
Happy writing!
Sophia