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dear yuletide writer
Hello!
Another year, another Yuletide! Whether you're an experienced pro or trying out Yuletide for the first time, I hope you have a fantastic time writing. I always find that the writing is the most enjoyable, rewarding part of Yuletide and I hope you feel the same way. Thanks so much for agreeing to write for one of my fandoms! Of course you don't have to choose any of the prompts here, but I know they can be helpful, so I hope some of my thoughts below will inspire you.
Some quick general thoughts:
+ Please no other-world AUs where Hawker is a high-school bad boy or Annika works in a modern coffee shop or something. AUs that explore what-if's within the same canonical world are great though! (I think we're calling this canon divergence.)
+ Also great: missing scenes, future fic, etc.
+ No porn please! Sexual content is fine, but I don't want a fic focused on it.
+ Go as angsty as you want, but I do prefer a mostly happy ending.
+ Crossovers are fine if you go through my tumblr and know I'm into the fandom and the character.
+ Never worry your fic is too long! If you want to write a novel, do it! Though of course don't feel the pressure to write something massive either.
+ Have fun!
Some things I like: mutual pining, (post-)apocalyptic AUs, happy marrieds, couples who are good to each other, focus on female friendships, unreliable narrators, location/setting as character, good people trying to do the right thing, competent women, women mentoring each other, wordplay, hurt/comfort, outsider povs, hurt/comfort, friends-to-lovers, found families.
Things I hate: cheating/infidelity, humiliation, embarrassing scenarios, fridging, broad humor, bathroom humor, non-con of any kind, incest.
Code Name Verity series - Elizabeth Wein
Julie Beaufort-Stuart
I love Julie. Write me some Julie fic and I'll be happy. AUs, missing scenes, whatever. Julie and Maddie being BFFs, Julie and Maddie being in love, Julie bonding with Jamie or any of her brothers, I don't care. I also loved The Pearl Thief so bringing in any characters from that will be more than fine with me.
I didn't request any other characters because Julie is my matter of interest, but I would love it if you want to include Maddie and/or Jamie.
Optional prompts:
+ AU where Julie lives, of course. How does she escape? Or skip right past that and go right to the kind of life she builds (hopefully with Maddie) post-War.
+ Any missing scenes, especially from early in the Julie/Maddie friendship. I'd definitely be interested in some scenes featuring the banalities of war and how the girls deal with them.
+ Anything referencing Julie being--canonically!--bi
+ Growing up in the Beaufort-Stuart family. In a castle. With lots of brothers. This could make for some fun stories.
+ Julie lives AU: Julie in the 60s. Wouldn't that be fun? She'd be getting into middle age, but she wouldn't let that stop her!
Spymaster Series - Joanna Bourne
Adrian "Hawker" Hawkhurst, Justine DeCabrillac, Thomas "Pax" Paxton, Camille Leyland | Sara Baldoni
The Spymaster world is so beautiful and rich! I chose my favorite couples from my favorite of the books, but rest assured that if you want to bring anyone else into the story--Annique? Lazarus? Galba? Whoever!--that would be wonderful, though I'd prefer one of the characters I chose to be the focus. (The only exception: if you want to write about what it's like growing up in the Doyle household, go for it. See below.) I know they're romance novels, so of course a lot of romance is great, but I'd definitely prefer to see it balanced with one of the other aspects of the series--suspense, twisty plotting, subtle humor, danger--and no porn, please.
Optional prompts:
+ Pax gets to know the Baldoni family and they're super overwhelming of course. Cami is amused.
+ Anything where Pax and Cami are super competent.
+ Any of Hawker and Justine's encounters over the years. Maybe case!fic where they have to solve a murder or find a hidden artifact or something together?
+ So Doyle and Maggie adopt a bunch of abandoned kids and raise them to be smart and deadly. I would read the heck out of a fic about what that household is like.
The Star of Kazan - Eva Ibbotson
Annika Winter, Zedekiah Malakov, Pauline Koblitz, Stefan Bodek
My lovely book! I'm really wanting post-book fic about the kids growing up. I love all the supporting characters, though, so work in Ellie or the Professors or whoever if you want to! I also love this book as a love letter to pre-War Vienna, so add as much city-porn as you want. I ship Annika/Zed and Stefan/Pauline, but gen fic is of course fantastic too.
Optional prompts:
+ The kids grow up and fulfill their ambitions. Annika is the best chef in Vienna, Zed rides with the Lipizzaners, Stefan is an engineer, and Pauline is whatever you want--a writer, maybe? I like people fulfilling their dreams and finding out that reality is different than they thought it would be but still being satisfied with what they've accomplished.
+ Stalwart Stefan is in love with agoraphobic Pauline. She's oblivious until she's not and then she's confused, but they get a happy ending. (I just think a romance between them would be so hilarious and sweet.)
+ The Great War isn't that far away. I would read fic about them living through it, which of course will be pretty dark, though hopefully with at least a semi-happy ending.
Anastasia - Flaherty/Ahrens/McNally
Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanov Grand Duchess of Russia, Dimitri | Dmitry
Give me all the missing Anya/Dmitry scenes!!! (Or, you know, just one.) I want anything at all about them getting to know each other and falling in love (and not knowing it). I'd especially love anything where they're super married and really oblivious to the fact. (Nothing super mushy because they aren't mushy people, at least at this point where they don't know they care about each other yet. I am very, very into people showing how much they care about each other in ways that aren't traditionally romantic and without verbalizing any of it. I think that would fit Anya and Dmitry very well.)
Optional prompts:
+ Comparing survival skills, being secretly impressed by the things the other can do/things the other has lived through
+ Getting frustrated with each other during princess lessons
+ One or the other realizing they're attracted and being super not happy about it
+ Any kind of working together or standing up for each other
+ I also really enjoy people thinking they're romantically involved and them being indignant but continuing to be super married.
+ Or, you know, one where they both do realize how they feel about each other and there's lots of good old-fashioned mutual pining.
+ An AU where Anya isn't really Anastasia and they're just too abandoned kids who've managed to find each other. I'd be interested in what the emotional fallout of finding out that she's not Anastasia would be like for Anya and how Dmitry could help her through that.
+ An AU where the Revolution doesn't happen, but they manage to find each other.
Radiance - Catherynne M. Valente
Severin Unck, Mary Pellam, Violet El-Hashem, Vincenza Mako
Radiance is a wild, weird journey and I love the world it created. Really what I want from this fandom is a deeper exploration of the movie-making community on the moon. I requested four ladies who are all involved in that world, and I’d love fic of any of them, but I’d also be fine if you want to create OCs (though I admit I want the focus to be on women). Basically Hollywood-on-the-moon is what I’m requesting—I’m very much a classic Hollywood fan, both the films and the behind-the-scenes world and adding the space opera element to it makes me too happy. Don’t feel like you have to imitate Valente’s style (that would be way too overwhelming for me to attempt), but if you want to, go for it!
I also want to add that one of the most interesting things about the world-buliding of the book is that it’s clearly a more multicultural 20th century: there are many characters whose names show mixed cultural/national heritage, there’s different countries colonizing different planets so presumably there’s less colonization on earth, there seems to be some level of interaction between nations to create space travel. There are lots of hints of alternate lines history has taken, so any of those that you want to explore is okay with me!
Optional prompts:
+ Anything about Severin and any of her “mothers”
+ Mary Pellam establishing her career
+ A view of some of the events of the book from Vincenza’s pov
+ Something exploring the making of one of Severin’s films
+ So much of real-life Hollywood was influenced by 20th century history—films about the “common man” and also escapist screwball comedies in the 30s because of the Depression, war propaganda in the 40s showing up onscreen and the Canteen and male stars going off to war behind the scenes, the Blacklist and HUAC and conformity and consumerism in the 50s. Radiance is obviously operating in a very, very different timeline, so how would the different historical context affect movie-making? If there’s No WWII, no rise of the Soviet Union and Communism, what is there instead? How does the colonizing of the other planets in the solar system affect what is portrayed on film?
Thank you in advance for the fic, and I hope you have a wonderful Yuletide!
Another year, another Yuletide! Whether you're an experienced pro or trying out Yuletide for the first time, I hope you have a fantastic time writing. I always find that the writing is the most enjoyable, rewarding part of Yuletide and I hope you feel the same way. Thanks so much for agreeing to write for one of my fandoms! Of course you don't have to choose any of the prompts here, but I know they can be helpful, so I hope some of my thoughts below will inspire you.
Some quick general thoughts:
+ Please no other-world AUs where Hawker is a high-school bad boy or Annika works in a modern coffee shop or something. AUs that explore what-if's within the same canonical world are great though! (I think we're calling this canon divergence.)
+ Also great: missing scenes, future fic, etc.
+ No porn please! Sexual content is fine, but I don't want a fic focused on it.
+ Go as angsty as you want, but I do prefer a mostly happy ending.
+ Crossovers are fine if you go through my tumblr and know I'm into the fandom and the character.
+ Never worry your fic is too long! If you want to write a novel, do it! Though of course don't feel the pressure to write something massive either.
+ Have fun!
Some things I like: mutual pining, (post-)apocalyptic AUs, happy marrieds, couples who are good to each other, focus on female friendships, unreliable narrators, location/setting as character, good people trying to do the right thing, competent women, women mentoring each other, wordplay, hurt/comfort, outsider povs, hurt/comfort, friends-to-lovers, found families.
Things I hate: cheating/infidelity, humiliation, embarrassing scenarios, fridging, broad humor, bathroom humor, non-con of any kind, incest.
Code Name Verity series - Elizabeth Wein
Julie Beaufort-Stuart
I love Julie. Write me some Julie fic and I'll be happy. AUs, missing scenes, whatever. Julie and Maddie being BFFs, Julie and Maddie being in love, Julie bonding with Jamie or any of her brothers, I don't care. I also loved The Pearl Thief so bringing in any characters from that will be more than fine with me.
I didn't request any other characters because Julie is my matter of interest, but I would love it if you want to include Maddie and/or Jamie.
Optional prompts:
+ AU where Julie lives, of course. How does she escape? Or skip right past that and go right to the kind of life she builds (hopefully with Maddie) post-War.
+ Any missing scenes, especially from early in the Julie/Maddie friendship. I'd definitely be interested in some scenes featuring the banalities of war and how the girls deal with them.
+ Anything referencing Julie being--canonically!--bi
+ Growing up in the Beaufort-Stuart family. In a castle. With lots of brothers. This could make for some fun stories.
+ Julie lives AU: Julie in the 60s. Wouldn't that be fun? She'd be getting into middle age, but she wouldn't let that stop her!
Spymaster Series - Joanna Bourne
Adrian "Hawker" Hawkhurst, Justine DeCabrillac, Thomas "Pax" Paxton, Camille Leyland | Sara Baldoni
The Spymaster world is so beautiful and rich! I chose my favorite couples from my favorite of the books, but rest assured that if you want to bring anyone else into the story--Annique? Lazarus? Galba? Whoever!--that would be wonderful, though I'd prefer one of the characters I chose to be the focus. (The only exception: if you want to write about what it's like growing up in the Doyle household, go for it. See below.) I know they're romance novels, so of course a lot of romance is great, but I'd definitely prefer to see it balanced with one of the other aspects of the series--suspense, twisty plotting, subtle humor, danger--and no porn, please.
Optional prompts:
+ Pax gets to know the Baldoni family and they're super overwhelming of course. Cami is amused.
+ Anything where Pax and Cami are super competent.
+ Any of Hawker and Justine's encounters over the years. Maybe case!fic where they have to solve a murder or find a hidden artifact or something together?
+ So Doyle and Maggie adopt a bunch of abandoned kids and raise them to be smart and deadly. I would read the heck out of a fic about what that household is like.
The Star of Kazan - Eva Ibbotson
Annika Winter, Zedekiah Malakov, Pauline Koblitz, Stefan Bodek
My lovely book! I'm really wanting post-book fic about the kids growing up. I love all the supporting characters, though, so work in Ellie or the Professors or whoever if you want to! I also love this book as a love letter to pre-War Vienna, so add as much city-porn as you want. I ship Annika/Zed and Stefan/Pauline, but gen fic is of course fantastic too.
Optional prompts:
+ The kids grow up and fulfill their ambitions. Annika is the best chef in Vienna, Zed rides with the Lipizzaners, Stefan is an engineer, and Pauline is whatever you want--a writer, maybe? I like people fulfilling their dreams and finding out that reality is different than they thought it would be but still being satisfied with what they've accomplished.
+ Stalwart Stefan is in love with agoraphobic Pauline. She's oblivious until she's not and then she's confused, but they get a happy ending. (I just think a romance between them would be so hilarious and sweet.)
+ The Great War isn't that far away. I would read fic about them living through it, which of course will be pretty dark, though hopefully with at least a semi-happy ending.
Anastasia - Flaherty/Ahrens/McNally
Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanov Grand Duchess of Russia, Dimitri | Dmitry
Give me all the missing Anya/Dmitry scenes!!! (Or, you know, just one.) I want anything at all about them getting to know each other and falling in love (and not knowing it). I'd especially love anything where they're super married and really oblivious to the fact. (Nothing super mushy because they aren't mushy people, at least at this point where they don't know they care about each other yet. I am very, very into people showing how much they care about each other in ways that aren't traditionally romantic and without verbalizing any of it. I think that would fit Anya and Dmitry very well.)
Optional prompts:
+ Comparing survival skills, being secretly impressed by the things the other can do/things the other has lived through
+ Getting frustrated with each other during princess lessons
+ One or the other realizing they're attracted and being super not happy about it
+ Any kind of working together or standing up for each other
+ I also really enjoy people thinking they're romantically involved and them being indignant but continuing to be super married.
+ Or, you know, one where they both do realize how they feel about each other and there's lots of good old-fashioned mutual pining.
+ An AU where Anya isn't really Anastasia and they're just too abandoned kids who've managed to find each other. I'd be interested in what the emotional fallout of finding out that she's not Anastasia would be like for Anya and how Dmitry could help her through that.
+ An AU where the Revolution doesn't happen, but they manage to find each other.
Radiance - Catherynne M. Valente
Severin Unck, Mary Pellam, Violet El-Hashem, Vincenza Mako
Radiance is a wild, weird journey and I love the world it created. Really what I want from this fandom is a deeper exploration of the movie-making community on the moon. I requested four ladies who are all involved in that world, and I’d love fic of any of them, but I’d also be fine if you want to create OCs (though I admit I want the focus to be on women). Basically Hollywood-on-the-moon is what I’m requesting—I’m very much a classic Hollywood fan, both the films and the behind-the-scenes world and adding the space opera element to it makes me too happy. Don’t feel like you have to imitate Valente’s style (that would be way too overwhelming for me to attempt), but if you want to, go for it!
I also want to add that one of the most interesting things about the world-buliding of the book is that it’s clearly a more multicultural 20th century: there are many characters whose names show mixed cultural/national heritage, there’s different countries colonizing different planets so presumably there’s less colonization on earth, there seems to be some level of interaction between nations to create space travel. There are lots of hints of alternate lines history has taken, so any of those that you want to explore is okay with me!
Optional prompts:
+ Anything about Severin and any of her “mothers”
+ Mary Pellam establishing her career
+ A view of some of the events of the book from Vincenza’s pov
+ Something exploring the making of one of Severin’s films
+ So much of real-life Hollywood was influenced by 20th century history—films about the “common man” and also escapist screwball comedies in the 30s because of the Depression, war propaganda in the 40s showing up onscreen and the Canteen and male stars going off to war behind the scenes, the Blacklist and HUAC and conformity and consumerism in the 50s. Radiance is obviously operating in a very, very different timeline, so how would the different historical context affect movie-making? If there’s No WWII, no rise of the Soviet Union and Communism, what is there instead? How does the colonizing of the other planets in the solar system affect what is portrayed on film?
Thank you in advance for the fic, and I hope you have a wonderful Yuletide!