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Dear Yuletide Writer
Dear Author:
Hello and happy Yuletide! Thanks for choosing one of my fandoms and thank you in advance for the story! I always find that the writing is the most enjoyable, rewarding part of Yuletide and I hope you feel the same way. I really want you to enjoy the writing process and be happy with what you write, so the prompts are here purely for your convenience and to get the plot bunnies stirring (hopping?). If none of them appeal to you, feel free to go in a different direction.
For the shippy requests, it is totally fine to include sexual content as long as it's not just porn without plot. Porn rooted in plot or in characterization is my preference if you want to write porn at all. But porn is by no means necessary--I will read any rating at all.
I love canon divergence, but please no AUs that change the setting--I don't want to read stuff set in high school or coffee shops or with superheroes or whatever.
DNWS: PWP, character-bashing, infidelity, "onscreen" rape/non-con, AUs that change the setting, unmitigated fluff (some fluff is fine, but please temper it with other things), insta!love, humiliation, bathroom humor, OOC, baby fic (meaning fic that focuses on the ship having/adopting a child. Incidental children are fine). For porn, I like dom/sub dynamics, but other than that, I'm not really into kinky stuff.
General likes: angst, especially if it ends happily; hurt/comfort; mutual pining; in character characters; complicated relationships between women; friendships; good worldbuilding; longfic; characters having conflicting viewpoints/moral perspectives but neither of them being wrong; outsider povs; location/setting as character; good people trying to do the right thing; bad people trying to do the right thing; found families; total devotion/us against the world dynamics; anything that explores religion or faith thoughtfully; politics; documents or scholarly work within the canon (excerpts from somebody's dissertation on something from the canon? yes please!).
Also! Third person >>>>>>>>>> first person, just fyi. (Unless it's epistolary. I do love me some epistolary stories.)
Fandom-specific thoughts:
The Radiant Emperor Series - Shelley Parker-Chan
General Ouyang, Wang Baoxiang, Zhu Chongba | Zhu Yuanzhang
So my request for this fandom is either a) something about Zhu and Ouyang's ~bond~ and/or b) something about Ouyang's ghost entourage, and/or c) something Lord Wang-focused. It's fine to include any characters from the book, but I'd appreciate if the focus was on one or both or all of those three things. (If you want to include all three characters interacting? Awesome!)
[A note: pronouns are complicated when it comes to Zhu. Most of the narration of the book from Zhu's pov uses she/her pronouns, obviously, but if you want to use he or they pronouns in the story you write, please do. I think if Zhu were living today, she would use "they" pronouns, but also you could read her big announcement/renaming of herself at the end as her saying, "Actually, I'm a he." So I leave that decision up to you.]
Some things I really love about the canon that might lead to story ideas:
+ This mystical bond between Zhu and Ouyang. They both defy gender norms by existing--Ouyang because of what was done to him, Zhu because of the choices she makes. But they are both the last of their families, incredibly strong personalities, and major players on the imperial stage. I find the differences between them really interesting too--that Ouyang is so intentional about everything he does and that Zhu kind of flails around till she figures out a way to make things go her way--her ability to think on her feet is so fun. I just think they're both so interesting and all the more so in light of each other. I would be thrilled with anything about them interacting in any way, the ways they inherently understand each other and the ways they find each other baffling.
+ THE GHOSTS FOLLOWING OUYANG AROUND. That is so, so, so cool and I would absolutely love to see more of that.
+ Zhu's complicated relationship with gender. By which I mean: Zhu has a profound understanding of what women experience/are subjected to even if she doesn't really identify as a woman. I really love that.
+ Wang being incredibly competent with a skill-set that is a) absolutely necessary to the empire's existence, b) associated with the underclass/the defeated, and c) scorned by the ruling class. I would love any fic that explores how he became so good at all that stuff or something where he's appreciated for it. Basically I'm rabid about this guy embodying a Song dynasty kind of masculinity and thus completely failing to embody a Yuan dynasty kind of masculinity. The two are in opposition in such interesting ways. Also he's so smart and everyone around him is choosing to be ignorant in ways that must be absolutely infuriating to him.
+ The worldbuilding. Anything that further explores the Manifest or the more supernatural elements of the story would be appreciated.
Mara Daughter of the Nile - Eloise Jarvis McGraw
Mara, Sheftu, Inanni
My most-read book of all time! I reread this book so many times during middle and high school that I have sections of it memorized. For this fandom, I'll take Mara/Sheftu if you want to write something shippy, but otherwise I am happy with gen focusing on interactions between any of these three characters.
Prompt-ish thoughts:
+ Mara's arc, from exclusively focused on her own survival to actually caring about the people around her, is so fantastic. Anything further fleshing this out is appreciated.
+ An AU where Mara meets one or both of the other two in completely different circumstances. I don't even know what this would entail, but I'm sure I'd enjoy whatever you come up with.
+ An AU where Inanni stays in Egypt and her husband learns to respect her. If you want to go further and have her and Thutmose fall in love, that's great too! I'd especially love if this features Mara and/or Sheftu in supporting roles (Inanni and Thutmose talking to their bffs?).
+ The scene where Sheftu goes into the tomb. Idk, man. That's just some good stuff and I think it could be cool to see from his perspective.
+ I don't really want a story that's set pre-book, but if you want to tell me more about Mara's background against a canon or post-canon backdrop, that's awesome. Or heck--Sheftu or Inanni's backgrounds, too!
+ If you want to do the work of making Sheftu/Mara/Inanni an actual threesome, go for it!
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke
Worldbuilding
*bangs on the table* WORLDBUILDING. With this fandom, I am ravenous for anything that replicates the feel of the book (footnotes welcome!), especially the wild, fae York-adjacent magic. If you want to bring in some canon side characters like the Raven King or Catherine of Winchester, that would be great, but I am not really wanting anything focused on the characters from the novel. I'm all about the atmosphere, the eerie magic, the sense of history, the scholarly bent, the pastiche of the 19th century novel, etc.
I don't have any specific prompts to share with you, but since you're brave enough to agree to write worldbuilding for this fandom, I am confident that anything you write will be wonderful.
This Is New Gehesran Calling - Rebecca Fraimow
Any character and/or worldbuilding
So I did request some characters for this one, but it's not necessary to include any/all of them in the story. What I want is some more of those ~diaspora feels~ and you're welcome to explore that either through the requested characters or any other characters (or OCs). I'd love to learn more about New Gehesran culture, the specifics of why it fell and why all the characters are in exile, further bonding via pirate radio, other ways the exiles keep New Gehesran culture alive, etc.
Piranesi - Susanna Clarke
Worldbuilding
Once again, I am asking you for worldbuilding. As with JS&MN, I'm not looking for something really character-focused here, though if you want to incorporate any of the canon characters or use them to explore the worldbuilding, that's cool. I want to know more about the House and what other dimensions might exist in this universe and how they interact with each other.
Honestly, my dream would be something fixing/address/mitigating the Euro-centrism of the worldbuilding. Do people with different cultural heritages experience this House differently? Did it used to be more...culturally equitable but then Colonialism/Imperialism happened? Idk. The exclusivity of Classical Western cultural in the book was the thing that irked me the most about it, despite really appreciating so many other things about it. So if you want to kinda...fix that (or at least have someone recognize how screwed up it is), please please do.
I understand, though, if you don't feel up to that, so maybe backstories about the skeletons and how they came to the House? A story of someone exploring it but escaping? More stuff about the film that was made and people's reaction to it?
Again, thank you so much for writing for me and I hope you have a wonderful Yuletide experience!
Hello and happy Yuletide! Thanks for choosing one of my fandoms and thank you in advance for the story! I always find that the writing is the most enjoyable, rewarding part of Yuletide and I hope you feel the same way. I really want you to enjoy the writing process and be happy with what you write, so the prompts are here purely for your convenience and to get the plot bunnies stirring (hopping?). If none of them appeal to you, feel free to go in a different direction.
For the shippy requests, it is totally fine to include sexual content as long as it's not just porn without plot. Porn rooted in plot or in characterization is my preference if you want to write porn at all. But porn is by no means necessary--I will read any rating at all.
I love canon divergence, but please no AUs that change the setting--I don't want to read stuff set in high school or coffee shops or with superheroes or whatever.
DNWS: PWP, character-bashing, infidelity, "onscreen" rape/non-con, AUs that change the setting, unmitigated fluff (some fluff is fine, but please temper it with other things), insta!love, humiliation, bathroom humor, OOC, baby fic (meaning fic that focuses on the ship having/adopting a child. Incidental children are fine). For porn, I like dom/sub dynamics, but other than that, I'm not really into kinky stuff.
General likes: angst, especially if it ends happily; hurt/comfort; mutual pining; in character characters; complicated relationships between women; friendships; good worldbuilding; longfic; characters having conflicting viewpoints/moral perspectives but neither of them being wrong; outsider povs; location/setting as character; good people trying to do the right thing; bad people trying to do the right thing; found families; total devotion/us against the world dynamics; anything that explores religion or faith thoughtfully; politics; documents or scholarly work within the canon (excerpts from somebody's dissertation on something from the canon? yes please!).
Also! Third person >>>>>>>>>> first person, just fyi. (Unless it's epistolary. I do love me some epistolary stories.)
Fandom-specific thoughts:
The Radiant Emperor Series - Shelley Parker-Chan
General Ouyang, Wang Baoxiang, Zhu Chongba | Zhu Yuanzhang
So my request for this fandom is either a) something about Zhu and Ouyang's ~bond~ and/or b) something about Ouyang's ghost entourage, and/or c) something Lord Wang-focused. It's fine to include any characters from the book, but I'd appreciate if the focus was on one or both or all of those three things. (If you want to include all three characters interacting? Awesome!)
[A note: pronouns are complicated when it comes to Zhu. Most of the narration of the book from Zhu's pov uses she/her pronouns, obviously, but if you want to use he or they pronouns in the story you write, please do. I think if Zhu were living today, she would use "they" pronouns, but also you could read her big announcement/renaming of herself at the end as her saying, "Actually, I'm a he." So I leave that decision up to you.]
Some things I really love about the canon that might lead to story ideas:
+ This mystical bond between Zhu and Ouyang. They both defy gender norms by existing--Ouyang because of what was done to him, Zhu because of the choices she makes. But they are both the last of their families, incredibly strong personalities, and major players on the imperial stage. I find the differences between them really interesting too--that Ouyang is so intentional about everything he does and that Zhu kind of flails around till she figures out a way to make things go her way--her ability to think on her feet is so fun. I just think they're both so interesting and all the more so in light of each other. I would be thrilled with anything about them interacting in any way, the ways they inherently understand each other and the ways they find each other baffling.
+ THE GHOSTS FOLLOWING OUYANG AROUND. That is so, so, so cool and I would absolutely love to see more of that.
+ Zhu's complicated relationship with gender. By which I mean: Zhu has a profound understanding of what women experience/are subjected to even if she doesn't really identify as a woman. I really love that.
+ Wang being incredibly competent with a skill-set that is a) absolutely necessary to the empire's existence, b) associated with the underclass/the defeated, and c) scorned by the ruling class. I would love any fic that explores how he became so good at all that stuff or something where he's appreciated for it. Basically I'm rabid about this guy embodying a Song dynasty kind of masculinity and thus completely failing to embody a Yuan dynasty kind of masculinity. The two are in opposition in such interesting ways. Also he's so smart and everyone around him is choosing to be ignorant in ways that must be absolutely infuriating to him.
+ The worldbuilding. Anything that further explores the Manifest or the more supernatural elements of the story would be appreciated.
Mara Daughter of the Nile - Eloise Jarvis McGraw
Mara, Sheftu, Inanni
My most-read book of all time! I reread this book so many times during middle and high school that I have sections of it memorized. For this fandom, I'll take Mara/Sheftu if you want to write something shippy, but otherwise I am happy with gen focusing on interactions between any of these three characters.
Prompt-ish thoughts:
+ Mara's arc, from exclusively focused on her own survival to actually caring about the people around her, is so fantastic. Anything further fleshing this out is appreciated.
+ An AU where Mara meets one or both of the other two in completely different circumstances. I don't even know what this would entail, but I'm sure I'd enjoy whatever you come up with.
+ An AU where Inanni stays in Egypt and her husband learns to respect her. If you want to go further and have her and Thutmose fall in love, that's great too! I'd especially love if this features Mara and/or Sheftu in supporting roles (Inanni and Thutmose talking to their bffs?).
+ The scene where Sheftu goes into the tomb. Idk, man. That's just some good stuff and I think it could be cool to see from his perspective.
+ I don't really want a story that's set pre-book, but if you want to tell me more about Mara's background against a canon or post-canon backdrop, that's awesome. Or heck--Sheftu or Inanni's backgrounds, too!
+ If you want to do the work of making Sheftu/Mara/Inanni an actual threesome, go for it!
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke
Worldbuilding
*bangs on the table* WORLDBUILDING. With this fandom, I am ravenous for anything that replicates the feel of the book (footnotes welcome!), especially the wild, fae York-adjacent magic. If you want to bring in some canon side characters like the Raven King or Catherine of Winchester, that would be great, but I am not really wanting anything focused on the characters from the novel. I'm all about the atmosphere, the eerie magic, the sense of history, the scholarly bent, the pastiche of the 19th century novel, etc.
I don't have any specific prompts to share with you, but since you're brave enough to agree to write worldbuilding for this fandom, I am confident that anything you write will be wonderful.
This Is New Gehesran Calling - Rebecca Fraimow
Any character and/or worldbuilding
So I did request some characters for this one, but it's not necessary to include any/all of them in the story. What I want is some more of those ~diaspora feels~ and you're welcome to explore that either through the requested characters or any other characters (or OCs). I'd love to learn more about New Gehesran culture, the specifics of why it fell and why all the characters are in exile, further bonding via pirate radio, other ways the exiles keep New Gehesran culture alive, etc.
Piranesi - Susanna Clarke
Worldbuilding
Once again, I am asking you for worldbuilding. As with JS&MN, I'm not looking for something really character-focused here, though if you want to incorporate any of the canon characters or use them to explore the worldbuilding, that's cool. I want to know more about the House and what other dimensions might exist in this universe and how they interact with each other.
Honestly, my dream would be something fixing/address/mitigating the Euro-centrism of the worldbuilding. Do people with different cultural heritages experience this House differently? Did it used to be more...culturally equitable but then Colonialism/Imperialism happened? Idk. The exclusivity of Classical Western cultural in the book was the thing that irked me the most about it, despite really appreciating so many other things about it. So if you want to kinda...fix that (or at least have someone recognize how screwed up it is), please please do.
I understand, though, if you don't feel up to that, so maybe backstories about the skeletons and how they came to the House? A story of someone exploring it but escaping? More stuff about the film that was made and people's reaction to it?
Again, thank you so much for writing for me and I hope you have a wonderful Yuletide experience!