Dear Yuletide author!

[maharetr]

Dear Yuletide author!

Hello! I hope you're excited, and not freaking out too badly! I'm probably going to be switching between the two pretty rapidly :). I hope we've matched on something that you're like 'hell, yeah, this is going to be awesome.' Or feel free to check out something else on my request list, obviously.

As always, optional details are optional. If you've looked at my character list and gone 'hells yeah, I'd love to write X about them!' go write X to your heart's content.

Things that I love!

• I am delighted by gen, het, slash and femslash equally. Femslash makes my heart sing, but is probably harder to come by in my requested fandoms, so no stress :P


• I have a competency-kink a mile long. It doesn't matter what people are doing specifically, anything from baking a cake to putting together machinery. I just really enjoy watching people do things well with assurance and skill. See also: physical competency, the ability to kick someone's butt etc. :D


• Intimacy. I don't just mean sex or physical touch -- that ease you get with someone when you've been together forever, and can hang out in their personal space and never bump into them; all the inside jokes you build up; knowing they're okay or not okay at a glance. That sort of thing.


• Happy endings, although looking at my fandom list, that might be a bit of a stretch *laughs* I'd totally go for bittersweet 'things are still fucked, but we're still together and hanging in there' in its place :D


• Also! I struggle with plot at the best of times myself. If you find yourself writing a plotty epic, that's fantastic and go for your life. Or if you're sitting there thinking: 'they have to do stuff? ohshit.' I am A-OK with a thousand and one words of worldbuilding, or lazy Sunday afternoon sex, or character study or whatever takes your fancy with these characters

Things I'd rather not read for Yuletide:
Rape/non-con; (major) character death (random people getting shot in The Suburbs, for example, is fine); mpreg; partner betrayal. I have a major embarrassment/humiliation squick. Please don't show characters getting their hopes up, or getting excited, and then getting squished for it.



The Suburbs – Arcade Fire (music video)
The video clip is here on YouTube. There is also the actual short film by Spike Jonze called Scenes from the Suburbs. If you can track that down, it'll give you character names, and clarify relationships a little, and you can get a sense of how they talk. What the short film doesn't give you is any more idea of what the hell is going on. (Dear Spike Jonze, I'm saddened that your short film has less narrative structure than the video clip) What that does do is leave the door wide open for you, writer! :D There are so many places you could take this!

(Cheat sheet: the girl's name is Zoe. The guy who limps home at the start of the clip is Kyle. The guy who gets the Significant Haircut and who beats the shit out of Kyle is called Winter. Zoe and Winter are a couple, Kyle and Winter are [were?] best friends)

I was entranced by, like... they’re young, and they’re learning how to navigate not just relationships with each other, but also with a world that’s deeply fucked right now. I burningly want like, tentative, careful making out, potentially not just canon Zoe/Winter, but also like, Kyle/Winter, and maybe Zoe/Kyle/Winter, plus what living in a war zone does to you, and how much it fucks you up.

Or you could do a more narrative-specific story: Why does Winter cut his hair? Why does Winter beat the shit out of Kyle? Why is Kyle limping home alone when the other had been sprinting to try and save him etc. etc.

Or, alternately, as a fic written entirely of worldbuilding that doesn’t even need to mention the characters: Why are they at war with each other? Propaganda pieces, and newspaper articles, and military reports on the ‘enemy incursion’ that launched from the suburb over...


Alliance-Union by C. J. Cherryh
I loved Cyteen and Regenesis, but I'm craving Justin/Grant fic to round out the experience for me. The fact that their relationship is canon delights my soul, and those little touches (the horrifying note under Justin's pillow; the delightful moments in the morning after Justin gets back from Playns etc) has left me craving so much more of it. (See above for stuff I love about intimacy) They were under so much pressure for so long and I'd love to see how they helped each other through. I'm happy for there to be explicit sex, fade to black, or no sex at all. Take it where ever you're comfortable :)

Alternately, I am always, always up for Catlin and Florian being competent and awesome. I'd rather they weren't explicitly a couple, but if you happen to have a bunny that includes them being together, then I'm game :)


The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan

The Lost Thing is a book and a short film. The trailer for the short film is here. The full movie is 15 minutes long, so you know... *whistles*You could absolutely write a fic based on the short film, and it would be awesome. That said, if you have a way of tracking down the book, Shaun Tan has inserted a hundred little tiny world building details, sometimes literally into the margins. This was one of those picture books that I read cover to cover in a few minutes in the shop, and then spent 40 minutes on the train poring over all the details. The film will absolutely equip you to write fic for it, though, just to reiterate. :D

I was captivated by this world. I love the main story of the Lost Thing and the boy, but I'm equally interested in how this world works, and was especially taken by the idea of the Things living in the cracks. If you're fishing for ideas, you could tell the story of the Janitor. Of the one that goes out from the utopia and lives in the corners of this sterile, soulless world, trying to help others. What's the tape recorder thing on her/his/its back for, for example? Is it part of their body? etc etc.

Texts from last night

Oh, god, Yuletide author. I’m pretty sure here is where we matched, right? *laughs* Feel free to take any one of the above, if you’d like to try your hand at it. If not, could you write me a basketball game? This one?:

“Playing basket ball at the park with random people that showed up at 1am. the division of teams is based on what drugs people are on" (link)

Maybe with a dessert of: “I told you I was good to drive / dumbass I drove... you sat in the passengers seat and steered with a paper plate” link) As the sun comes up. And yeah, I know it's not a 'real' text. I still find it hilarious :D

Pick whatever drugs you’re most experienced with take your fancy! I’d rather not watch hideously traumatic trips, but anything else is pretty fair game (minus squick list, of course, if you would :))



If you have any questions, contact meghanc, and she’ll ask me and get an answer back to you.

Wow, that got long. To sum up! Optional details are optional; go have a ball :D