soph (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sophia_sol) wrote2023-10-20 01:55 pm
sophia_sol) wrote2023-10-20 01:55 pm
Entry tags:
Dear Yuletide Writer 2023
Dear Yuletide Writer,
Thanks so much for writing for me! I'm excited to see whatever you come up with. Please see below for a list of my general likes, DNWs, and specifics for each of my requested fandoms.
Treats are welcome!
***
Things I generally love:
- canon divergence au
- seeing what happens before or after or between the lines of canon
- fun tropey nonsense with an underlayer of feelings
- the setting being fully present and relevant to the story and characters, whatever the setting happens to be
- happy or hopeful or bittersweet or tragic endings
- that thing where things going badly is inevitable because the characters are so exquisitely and exactly who they are that they couldn't make any other choices even if other choices would be better
- learning how to be a person who makes different choices. or not!
- I am a happy multishipper and I love major ships and rarepairs as well as gen, so please feel free to work in whatever ships you so desire, and of any gender configuration.
Please do not include:
- strong focus on pregnancy/childbirth/babies
- explicit sex as the main point of the piece (some explicit content is fine)
- a/b/o
- soulmates au
- cops as heroes
***
My Cousin Rachel - Daphne Du Maurier
Requested characters: Rachel Ashley, Louise Kendall
Please feel free to treat this as an OR request (Rachel OR Louise) but both is also good!
I read this book for the first time last year and it sent me feral for a week straight; I could not stop thinking about it, I wanted to talk about it with anyone I could pin down, I wrote a 2,000 word review of it because I had so many thoughts to get out. (you can read all those thoughts here if you're interested!)
In my initial outwelling of emotion, what I wanted most of anything was fic about RACHEL, and I continue to want it desperately. Her perspective on things is so systematically hidden from the reader behind Philip's POV, and I want to know more! Or maybe I want to be teased more about hidden information? :P
A five things fic could be really fun for this fandom, with different versions of Rachel POV on what might be going on from her perspective! Or different OTHER outside POV's other than Philip's! Fic about Rachel's ghost haunting Philip post-canon would be so much fun! pre-canon about Rachel in earlier stages of her life - has she always been this flighty and inconsistent and odd and kind? What inspired her love of gardens? Has Rachel ever had any female friends or mentors or lovers, and if so what happened to them? If Rachel IS a poisoner, where did she gain the knowledge and the will to use it?
There are so many possibilities of things to explore and I leave it to you, you're the boss, I just want more of SOMETHING so that I can go feral some more about Rachel.
(Please feel free to leave the question open-ended about whether Rachel poisoned anyone or not - or go ahead and answer it, if that's what your story needs. Either is fine!)
And THEN there's Louise! She's a young woman who's been completely indoctrinated into the kind of misogyny that Philip represents, never being given space by the men around her to actually form her own thoughts about anything. She has the potential to grow in all sorts of different directions depending on what influences are allowed into her life, I think. I'm even less clear on exactly what kind of stuff I want about Louise, but I'm down with a story that continues the creepy/awful vibes of canon (eg, if Louise does end up marrying Philip, showing what their post-marriage relationship is like) or of Louise managing to escape the claustrophobic society she's been trapped in for something else, and struggling to adapt to a different world and different views. And more Louise & Rachel (or Louise/Rachel?!) interaction would be great too! Or even Philip/Louise/Rachel for some truly unpleasant relationship vibes?
Debrief
Requested characters: Robert Alderidge, George Russell
Where to even start?! I played debrief and it changed me. It's such an incredible roleplaying experience and I loved it and these characters and the world they live in so much! I enjoyed the specifics of how my play-through went, and I've talked with friends about other variations, and all of it is good.
If you want to read a full run-down of my playthrough, it's here: https://sophia-sol.dreamwidth.org/448999.html
One of the cool things about Debrief being an RP is that it means the various iterations of Debrief that get played by different players are kind of like an awful timeloop. If Alderidge had ever trusted Russell with any of what was happening while he was alive, he could almost certainly have convinced him to give up the disruptor. But that level of trust was never actually an option! And so it plays out again and again in different games and in different ways, and in each iteration, Alderidge and Russell fail once again to successfully figure out how to break free of the cycle and make things actually work for a change. Agonizing regret is always waiting in the wings for them.
Something that plays with this idea could be really fun, if you can figure out how to make that happen, and I would love you forever!
But also there are so many different ways for Russell and Alderidge to love each other and to be miserable and focusing on one of the following would be amazing too:
What if the two of them had gone to the same university? I'm sure they still would have found other ways to agonizingly fail to communicate! There's a small chance things might have been very slightly better, but also it's very possible everything would be somehow even worse!
What if, of the two of them, it was Russell who was the dead ghost traitor instead of Alderidge? That is definitely ALSO not a story with a happy ending!
After I finished playing the game, I felt hesitant to read Alderidge's character sheet because it felt so invasive of his privacy, and it made me think about an au that involved telepathy. Accidental mind bonding would ALSO be agony, of an exciting new flavour!
All the ways they can fail to have a happy ending together compel me!
But also: I know of several other games of debrief along with mine where Alderidge pulled out a threat to haunt Russell for eternity, and Russell was like, you think that's a THREAT? If you want to examine their haunted future as the happiest ending together they're likely to get, that would be just everything to me.
(okay, okay, I keep going on about their misery and lack of communication, but if you CAN come up with an actual path towards happiness for them as well, I'm open to that too!)
The Raven Tower - Ann Leckie
Requested characters: Strength and Patience of the Hill, Kaluet hillside camp priest of Strength and Patience of the Hill
The Raven Tower is such a masterful work of the cool things you can do with POV, and Strength and Patience of the Hill compelled me from the start. The relationship Strength and Patience of the Hill has with the world and the people in it and the other gods is just endlessly fascinating to me.
There are many things to love about the book, but for the purpose of this exchange let's focus on Strength and Patience of the Hill's relationship with the human priests! It's a slow-developing relationship over time, from not even understanding that humans have any meaningful differences from other animals, to having a close and possessive feeling about the Hill's priests. The priest in the tagset is so important to the Hill, and yet the Hill only noticed how important she was after her death. Strength and Patience of the Hill has always had the leisure in the past to be a slow ponderer about things but human lives go by so quickly!
So I would love to read a story that fleshes out that god & priest relationship, whether from the pov of a priest, or Strength and Patience of the Hill, or others in the human communities the priests are part of; a close and intimate story, or a more sweeping one about cultural changes over time or something like that. I put a particular priest into the tagset because she's the most prominent priest in Strength and Patience of the Hill's history, but I'm equally happy with a story featuring her or featuring any other priests, mentioned in the book or not.
And if you're interested in more of my thoughts about the book as a whole, here's my book review from when I first read it: https://sophia-sol.dreamwidth.org/321255.html
Thanks so much for writing for me! I'm excited to see whatever you come up with. Please see below for a list of my general likes, DNWs, and specifics for each of my requested fandoms.
Treats are welcome!
***
Things I generally love:
- canon divergence au
- seeing what happens before or after or between the lines of canon
- fun tropey nonsense with an underlayer of feelings
- the setting being fully present and relevant to the story and characters, whatever the setting happens to be
- happy or hopeful or bittersweet or tragic endings
- that thing where things going badly is inevitable because the characters are so exquisitely and exactly who they are that they couldn't make any other choices even if other choices would be better
- learning how to be a person who makes different choices. or not!
- I am a happy multishipper and I love major ships and rarepairs as well as gen, so please feel free to work in whatever ships you so desire, and of any gender configuration.
Please do not include:
- strong focus on pregnancy/childbirth/babies
- explicit sex as the main point of the piece (some explicit content is fine)
- a/b/o
- soulmates au
- cops as heroes
***
My Cousin Rachel - Daphne Du Maurier
Requested characters: Rachel Ashley, Louise Kendall
Please feel free to treat this as an OR request (Rachel OR Louise) but both is also good!
I read this book for the first time last year and it sent me feral for a week straight; I could not stop thinking about it, I wanted to talk about it with anyone I could pin down, I wrote a 2,000 word review of it because I had so many thoughts to get out. (you can read all those thoughts here if you're interested!)
In my initial outwelling of emotion, what I wanted most of anything was fic about RACHEL, and I continue to want it desperately. Her perspective on things is so systematically hidden from the reader behind Philip's POV, and I want to know more! Or maybe I want to be teased more about hidden information? :P
A five things fic could be really fun for this fandom, with different versions of Rachel POV on what might be going on from her perspective! Or different OTHER outside POV's other than Philip's! Fic about Rachel's ghost haunting Philip post-canon would be so much fun! pre-canon about Rachel in earlier stages of her life - has she always been this flighty and inconsistent and odd and kind? What inspired her love of gardens? Has Rachel ever had any female friends or mentors or lovers, and if so what happened to them? If Rachel IS a poisoner, where did she gain the knowledge and the will to use it?
There are so many possibilities of things to explore and I leave it to you, you're the boss, I just want more of SOMETHING so that I can go feral some more about Rachel.
(Please feel free to leave the question open-ended about whether Rachel poisoned anyone or not - or go ahead and answer it, if that's what your story needs. Either is fine!)
And THEN there's Louise! She's a young woman who's been completely indoctrinated into the kind of misogyny that Philip represents, never being given space by the men around her to actually form her own thoughts about anything. She has the potential to grow in all sorts of different directions depending on what influences are allowed into her life, I think. I'm even less clear on exactly what kind of stuff I want about Louise, but I'm down with a story that continues the creepy/awful vibes of canon (eg, if Louise does end up marrying Philip, showing what their post-marriage relationship is like) or of Louise managing to escape the claustrophobic society she's been trapped in for something else, and struggling to adapt to a different world and different views. And more Louise & Rachel (or Louise/Rachel?!) interaction would be great too! Or even Philip/Louise/Rachel for some truly unpleasant relationship vibes?
Debrief
Requested characters: Robert Alderidge, George Russell
Where to even start?! I played debrief and it changed me. It's such an incredible roleplaying experience and I loved it and these characters and the world they live in so much! I enjoyed the specifics of how my play-through went, and I've talked with friends about other variations, and all of it is good.
If you want to read a full run-down of my playthrough, it's here: https://sophia-sol.dreamwidth.org/448999.html
One of the cool things about Debrief being an RP is that it means the various iterations of Debrief that get played by different players are kind of like an awful timeloop. If Alderidge had ever trusted Russell with any of what was happening while he was alive, he could almost certainly have convinced him to give up the disruptor. But that level of trust was never actually an option! And so it plays out again and again in different games and in different ways, and in each iteration, Alderidge and Russell fail once again to successfully figure out how to break free of the cycle and make things actually work for a change. Agonizing regret is always waiting in the wings for them.
Something that plays with this idea could be really fun, if you can figure out how to make that happen, and I would love you forever!
But also there are so many different ways for Russell and Alderidge to love each other and to be miserable and focusing on one of the following would be amazing too:
What if the two of them had gone to the same university? I'm sure they still would have found other ways to agonizingly fail to communicate! There's a small chance things might have been very slightly better, but also it's very possible everything would be somehow even worse!
What if, of the two of them, it was Russell who was the dead ghost traitor instead of Alderidge? That is definitely ALSO not a story with a happy ending!
After I finished playing the game, I felt hesitant to read Alderidge's character sheet because it felt so invasive of his privacy, and it made me think about an au that involved telepathy. Accidental mind bonding would ALSO be agony, of an exciting new flavour!
All the ways they can fail to have a happy ending together compel me!
But also: I know of several other games of debrief along with mine where Alderidge pulled out a threat to haunt Russell for eternity, and Russell was like, you think that's a THREAT? If you want to examine their haunted future as the happiest ending together they're likely to get, that would be just everything to me.
(okay, okay, I keep going on about their misery and lack of communication, but if you CAN come up with an actual path towards happiness for them as well, I'm open to that too!)
The Raven Tower - Ann Leckie
Requested characters: Strength and Patience of the Hill, Kaluet hillside camp priest of Strength and Patience of the Hill
The Raven Tower is such a masterful work of the cool things you can do with POV, and Strength and Patience of the Hill compelled me from the start. The relationship Strength and Patience of the Hill has with the world and the people in it and the other gods is just endlessly fascinating to me.
There are many things to love about the book, but for the purpose of this exchange let's focus on Strength and Patience of the Hill's relationship with the human priests! It's a slow-developing relationship over time, from not even understanding that humans have any meaningful differences from other animals, to having a close and possessive feeling about the Hill's priests. The priest in the tagset is so important to the Hill, and yet the Hill only noticed how important she was after her death. Strength and Patience of the Hill has always had the leisure in the past to be a slow ponderer about things but human lives go by so quickly!
So I would love to read a story that fleshes out that god & priest relationship, whether from the pov of a priest, or Strength and Patience of the Hill, or others in the human communities the priests are part of; a close and intimate story, or a more sweeping one about cultural changes over time or something like that. I put a particular priest into the tagset because she's the most prominent priest in Strength and Patience of the Hill's history, but I'm equally happy with a story featuring her or featuring any other priests, mentioned in the book or not.
And if you're interested in more of my thoughts about the book as a whole, here's my book review from when I first read it: https://sophia-sol.dreamwidth.org/321255.html