Dear Yuletide Writer
Oct. 13th, 2023 04:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
swan_towerWelcome, Yulemouse/Yulegoat/Yulecritter of whatever sort! Thank you so much -- Yuletide is always a real treat for me, and I look forward to seeing what you write.
The optional details below are optional; they are also, shall we say, a bit long. Please do not be put off by this. It's mostly me babbling about why I like the sources, and then offering a variety of tidbits that I hope will be useful to you. Basically, I'm just trying to feed the plotbunnies. (There are also more general notes about my tastes at the bottom.) (Also, way too many parenthetical asides.) Fandoms are in alphabetical order.
My username on AO3 is russian_blue, if you're the sort of Yuletider who trawls through previous gifts and/or fics for data before you start writing. :-)
***
Fandom: The Chronicles of Chrestomanci
Characters: Christopher Chant, Cat Chant, Gabriel de Witt
What I love about the source: Unlike most people, I read The Lives of Christopher Chant first, and so I always view this series through a Christopher lens, rather than a Cat one. I have a biiiiiig weak spot for characters whose power occasionally outstrips their ability to figure out what they're doing with it, and I really liked watching Christopher mature.
What I'd love to get: We know from the short story "Stealer of Souls" that Christopher took over as Chrestomanci and Cat arrived at the castle while Gabriel was still alive, which means that for a while there, you had no less than three nine-lived enchanters running around at once. How badass would it be if all three of them worked together on something? Especially given the wild differences in their personalities -- Cat earnest and young, Christopher sarcastic and adult, and Gabriel strict and old -- but all of them throwing around gobsmackingly large amounts of power, often in casual ways. I have no particular vision of what incident would involve all three of them (and I've gotten several fills for this prompt before, all different); you can run with whatever suits your fancy. But I love the idea of seeing three Chrestomancis go to town on some problem, especially since it gives us a chance to see Christopher and Gabriel interacting when Christopher has grown out of being a twelve-year-old snot. :-P
Alternatively, if you prefer: re-reading my posts about DWJ's books, I noticed that in Charmed Life Christopher tells Cat how many lives he has left, and it's one fewer than at the end of The Lives of Christopher Chant. I don't think the books ever explain what happened to that one; I'd love to read your ideas about it! If you do this, Cat doesn't have to appear in the story (since it would take place before he arrives at the Castle, probably), and I don't mind if it's more of a "five things" story (e.g. "Eight Ways Christopher Nearly Lost His Life and One Way He Actually Did" or whatever), although -- per my comment below -- those normally don't float my boat so much.
I also have a (very optional!) crossover request involving this series, which is an idea that has really just possessed my brain and not let go. A passing reference in "Warlock at the Wheel" makes it clear that Chrestomanci's multiverse is the same as that in The Homeward Bounders. Which means that it's possible for Christopher to meet up with Jamie Hamilton.
What would Christopher (as an adult and Chrestomanci, not, I think, as a kid) say to Jamie? How long has Jamie been wandering, by the time the two of them run into each other? Do they meet up in Christopher's world, or somewhere out in the Anywheres? It isn't the sort of encounter that could fix anything, I imagine, though Christopher would probably offer to try; the anchor has to keep moving, and even Chrestomanci can't change that. But the encounter could be really intense. For all his sarcasm and flaws, I think Christopher would have a deep empathy for what Jamie's going through and why. If that fires your imagination the way it did mine, then I'd love to read the result. (If you go this route, none of the other requested characters have to appear in the story unless you really want them to. I'm more interested in the dynamic Christopher would have with Jamie.)
***
Fandom: Elfquest
Characters: Worldbuilding
What I love about the source: Oh god, where do I start? This was, for many years, the only comic book I had ever read. It's still one of the deep foundational stories in my mind. I love how well-realized the characters are, and the capacity for the narrative to be about the ensemble and subsets thereof, rather than being just Cutter's story with everybody else playing bit parts. I love the way conflict is handled, never being casually dismissed, or treated as if violence is a get-out-of-jail-free card for everything. I love the consequences, and the fact that the characters experience both real losses and real victories. And I've got a big ol' soft spot for the soul-names thing, and the various bonds that can be created from that, both voluntary and not, both good and bad.
If you need to refresh your memory or want to get in on this awesome series, virtually all of it is available for free online.
What I'd love to get: While I love the characters in this canon, what I've always really craved in fic is just stuff that expands the setting, whether geographically or historically. I've read most of the series, basically lacking only the second half of the Skywise bit -- though nothing after Kings of the Broken Wheel hit me quite as deeply. There's so much richness there, and also so much open space to develop new things. Possible angles include:
1) A story about a tribe of your own devising, either meeting one of the canonical groups or off doing their own thing. This could explore an environment not already covered (previous gifts have included subterranean volcanic elves, polar-bear-riding elves, and arctic aquatic elves), or be your own take on something the canon already touched on. (I love the idea of sea elves, for example, but the canonical Wavedancers didn't quite do it for me.) Or -- since I've finally caught up on the Final Quest arc -- more about the Rootless Ones? My academic background is in anthropology, so elves adapting socially and physically to different environments is really interesting to me -- which sounds high-falutin', but really what I mean is yay cool stuff!
2) A historical incident for any of the canonical groups. Life under a past Wolfrider chief, early days of the Sun Village, Go-Backs vs. trolls, the Gliders before they fell into decadence and apathy -- a story about any of those would be cool. The High Ones right after the fall. Etc. Whatever strikes your fancy.
3) Human contact. This one could combine with any of the other prompts. Maybe your invented tribe runs into humans, or has even learned to co-exist with them in (non-warped-Glider-style) peace. Or maybe there were other contacts that we haven't been told about, for the canonical tribes or individual characters therefrom. We've already had a few examples of how that could go, but there's room for a lot more variety. My main DNW here is that I'm not super into the Djun material, and so I'd prefer not to get anything that uses that as its focus.
I'm especially interested in how being a member (by birth or adoption) of a particular tribe shapes the way a character approaches different situations, the things that are unique to being an elf (long life, soul name, magical gifts) and how they handle those things culturally or psychologically, etc. Stories about Recognition or other kinds of soulbonds, or the development/use/ethics/consequences of magic powers, are great.
Really, I just want MOAR ELFQUEST DAMMIT, whether it's following the existing material somewhere new or breaking fresh ground entirely. Whatever idea you have, if you think I'll like it, then go for it!
***
Fandom: Fire and Hemlock
Characters: Polly Whittacker, Thomas Lynn
What I love about the source: When I was nine or ten years old, I finished reading this book, set it down, and decided, I want to be a writer. This book made me who I am today -- even though I couldn't explain the ending if you paid me.
What I'd love to get: So, last year a friend linked me to this essay, which finally -- FINALLY! -- makes me feel like I grok the ending! I understand why the confrontation with Morton Leroy goes the way it does, and how that resolves the relationship between Polly and Tom!
And it made me crave a fic from Tom's perspective, about that relationship, because . . . yeah, there's some thorny stuff there. Tom is indeed using Polly, maintaining their connection even though he knew it put her in danger, because that's his only hope of escaping his own fate. I got a lovely fic for this last year, but the "omg I understand at last" feeling is still fresh enough that I'm eager to roll around in more takes on the idea.
I want to be clear, though: I am NOT looking for a story that treats their relationship as false, with Tom coldly manipulating a young girl's feelings for his own benefit. I absolutely believe he developed a sincere attachment (and, again to be clear: an attachment that was one of friendship, not sexual attraction, until after Polly severed their ties and vanished from his life for several years). But I wouldn't at all mind a story that looks at their situation from the other side, the side that knows from the start what kind of danger Tom is in, what he stands to lose if somebody -- Polly -- can't save him. He's not very old himself when Polly first meets him, though his glasses and bleached look and the general mentality of kids means she assumes he is; I don't believe we know his exact age, but when I imagine being young and caught in the trap he's in . . . yeah. Add in the essay's idea that the two of them are narratively shaping each other, and there's a lot of potential there.
But even if this isn't the canon you matched on, if you're a fan of this novel, I highly recommend that essay I linked above. It made for fascinating reading.
(Oh, and on the off chance that essay vanishes, because it's the internet and that kind of thing can happen: I have saved the text of it to my computer and will happily share it upon request.)
***
More generally: These days I try to split my general commments into clear divisions, on the grounds that it might be more convenient for my writer. These are grouped in descending order of how much I want them, with DNWs at the bottom.
Things That Are Yay: plot! (Casefic, etc. If you have the time and energy -- I know it can be a lot of work.) Exploration of character motivations, exploration/expansion of the setting. Fic that could fit into canon. Drama, up to and including aaaaaangst. Characters getting whumped on and being comforted afterward. Witty humour, especially if it's used as the jab to set up the dramatic roundhouse that follows. Unshakeable loyalty. Enemies having to work together for a good reason. Characters revealing a hidden layer. Siblings, or people with equally close relationships even if they don't share blood.
Things That Are A-okay: violence, up to a point (see below). Non-explicit sex (doesn't have to be immediate fade-to-black, but not looking for a whole scene of detailed action). AUs of the "what if this event went differently?" sort. Inclusion of nominated characters I didn't request. Inclusion of canonical characters who haven't been nominated. Original characters as needed for the story (in the case of my Elfquest prompt, the whole story can be OCs if you like). Most povs, tenses, narrative formats, etc.
Things That Are Meh: straight-up character introspection, where it's basically just their inner monologue. Nonfiction-style worldbuilding, like it's from an encyclopedia or something. Second person pov unless it really ties into the story concept somehow. Non-canonical ships unless specifically requested (ships between OCs are fine).
Things That Are Nay: AUs that alter the basic premise like coffee shop, genderswaps, a/b/o, etc. Explicit smut and its associated kinks/tropes. "Five Things"-type stories (I've read some good ones, but that format rarely does it for me; I strongly prefer one continuous tale). Requested characters having only a cameo in the story, unless otherwise specified in the prompt. Gross-out humour. Humiliation. Bashing characters or canonical relationships. Torture porn, especially with female victims: go ahead and hurt characters, but don't make suffering or gore the whole point of the exercise. And for this year, no disease references or plots, please.
***
As mentioned before, I'm russian_blue on AO3, so feel free to rummage around in the entrails of what I’ve got there if you need more data on what I like. And above all: have fun!
The optional details below are optional; they are also, shall we say, a bit long. Please do not be put off by this. It's mostly me babbling about why I like the sources, and then offering a variety of tidbits that I hope will be useful to you. Basically, I'm just trying to feed the plotbunnies. (There are also more general notes about my tastes at the bottom.) (Also, way too many parenthetical asides.) Fandoms are in alphabetical order.
My username on AO3 is russian_blue, if you're the sort of Yuletider who trawls through previous gifts and/or fics for data before you start writing. :-)
***
Fandom: The Chronicles of Chrestomanci
Characters: Christopher Chant, Cat Chant, Gabriel de Witt
What I love about the source: Unlike most people, I read The Lives of Christopher Chant first, and so I always view this series through a Christopher lens, rather than a Cat one. I have a biiiiiig weak spot for characters whose power occasionally outstrips their ability to figure out what they're doing with it, and I really liked watching Christopher mature.
What I'd love to get: We know from the short story "Stealer of Souls" that Christopher took over as Chrestomanci and Cat arrived at the castle while Gabriel was still alive, which means that for a while there, you had no less than three nine-lived enchanters running around at once. How badass would it be if all three of them worked together on something? Especially given the wild differences in their personalities -- Cat earnest and young, Christopher sarcastic and adult, and Gabriel strict and old -- but all of them throwing around gobsmackingly large amounts of power, often in casual ways. I have no particular vision of what incident would involve all three of them (and I've gotten several fills for this prompt before, all different); you can run with whatever suits your fancy. But I love the idea of seeing three Chrestomancis go to town on some problem, especially since it gives us a chance to see Christopher and Gabriel interacting when Christopher has grown out of being a twelve-year-old snot. :-P
Alternatively, if you prefer: re-reading my posts about DWJ's books, I noticed that in Charmed Life Christopher tells Cat how many lives he has left, and it's one fewer than at the end of The Lives of Christopher Chant. I don't think the books ever explain what happened to that one; I'd love to read your ideas about it! If you do this, Cat doesn't have to appear in the story (since it would take place before he arrives at the Castle, probably), and I don't mind if it's more of a "five things" story (e.g. "Eight Ways Christopher Nearly Lost His Life and One Way He Actually Did" or whatever), although -- per my comment below -- those normally don't float my boat so much.
I also have a (very optional!) crossover request involving this series, which is an idea that has really just possessed my brain and not let go. A passing reference in "Warlock at the Wheel" makes it clear that Chrestomanci's multiverse is the same as that in The Homeward Bounders. Which means that it's possible for Christopher to meet up with Jamie Hamilton.
What would Christopher (as an adult and Chrestomanci, not, I think, as a kid) say to Jamie? How long has Jamie been wandering, by the time the two of them run into each other? Do they meet up in Christopher's world, or somewhere out in the Anywheres? It isn't the sort of encounter that could fix anything, I imagine, though Christopher would probably offer to try; the anchor has to keep moving, and even Chrestomanci can't change that. But the encounter could be really intense. For all his sarcasm and flaws, I think Christopher would have a deep empathy for what Jamie's going through and why. If that fires your imagination the way it did mine, then I'd love to read the result. (If you go this route, none of the other requested characters have to appear in the story unless you really want them to. I'm more interested in the dynamic Christopher would have with Jamie.)
***
Fandom: Elfquest
Characters: Worldbuilding
What I love about the source: Oh god, where do I start? This was, for many years, the only comic book I had ever read. It's still one of the deep foundational stories in my mind. I love how well-realized the characters are, and the capacity for the narrative to be about the ensemble and subsets thereof, rather than being just Cutter's story with everybody else playing bit parts. I love the way conflict is handled, never being casually dismissed, or treated as if violence is a get-out-of-jail-free card for everything. I love the consequences, and the fact that the characters experience both real losses and real victories. And I've got a big ol' soft spot for the soul-names thing, and the various bonds that can be created from that, both voluntary and not, both good and bad.
If you need to refresh your memory or want to get in on this awesome series, virtually all of it is available for free online.
What I'd love to get: While I love the characters in this canon, what I've always really craved in fic is just stuff that expands the setting, whether geographically or historically. I've read most of the series, basically lacking only the second half of the Skywise bit -- though nothing after Kings of the Broken Wheel hit me quite as deeply. There's so much richness there, and also so much open space to develop new things. Possible angles include:
1) A story about a tribe of your own devising, either meeting one of the canonical groups or off doing their own thing. This could explore an environment not already covered (previous gifts have included subterranean volcanic elves, polar-bear-riding elves, and arctic aquatic elves), or be your own take on something the canon already touched on. (I love the idea of sea elves, for example, but the canonical Wavedancers didn't quite do it for me.) Or -- since I've finally caught up on the Final Quest arc -- more about the Rootless Ones? My academic background is in anthropology, so elves adapting socially and physically to different environments is really interesting to me -- which sounds high-falutin', but really what I mean is yay cool stuff!
2) A historical incident for any of the canonical groups. Life under a past Wolfrider chief, early days of the Sun Village, Go-Backs vs. trolls, the Gliders before they fell into decadence and apathy -- a story about any of those would be cool. The High Ones right after the fall. Etc. Whatever strikes your fancy.
3) Human contact. This one could combine with any of the other prompts. Maybe your invented tribe runs into humans, or has even learned to co-exist with them in (non-warped-Glider-style) peace. Or maybe there were other contacts that we haven't been told about, for the canonical tribes or individual characters therefrom. We've already had a few examples of how that could go, but there's room for a lot more variety. My main DNW here is that I'm not super into the Djun material, and so I'd prefer not to get anything that uses that as its focus.
I'm especially interested in how being a member (by birth or adoption) of a particular tribe shapes the way a character approaches different situations, the things that are unique to being an elf (long life, soul name, magical gifts) and how they handle those things culturally or psychologically, etc. Stories about Recognition or other kinds of soulbonds, or the development/use/ethics/consequences of magic powers, are great.
Really, I just want MOAR ELFQUEST DAMMIT, whether it's following the existing material somewhere new or breaking fresh ground entirely. Whatever idea you have, if you think I'll like it, then go for it!
***
Fandom: Fire and Hemlock
Characters: Polly Whittacker, Thomas Lynn
What I love about the source: When I was nine or ten years old, I finished reading this book, set it down, and decided, I want to be a writer. This book made me who I am today -- even though I couldn't explain the ending if you paid me.
What I'd love to get: So, last year a friend linked me to this essay, which finally -- FINALLY! -- makes me feel like I grok the ending! I understand why the confrontation with Morton Leroy goes the way it does, and how that resolves the relationship between Polly and Tom!
And it made me crave a fic from Tom's perspective, about that relationship, because . . . yeah, there's some thorny stuff there. Tom is indeed using Polly, maintaining their connection even though he knew it put her in danger, because that's his only hope of escaping his own fate. I got a lovely fic for this last year, but the "omg I understand at last" feeling is still fresh enough that I'm eager to roll around in more takes on the idea.
I want to be clear, though: I am NOT looking for a story that treats their relationship as false, with Tom coldly manipulating a young girl's feelings for his own benefit. I absolutely believe he developed a sincere attachment (and, again to be clear: an attachment that was one of friendship, not sexual attraction, until after Polly severed their ties and vanished from his life for several years). But I wouldn't at all mind a story that looks at their situation from the other side, the side that knows from the start what kind of danger Tom is in, what he stands to lose if somebody -- Polly -- can't save him. He's not very old himself when Polly first meets him, though his glasses and bleached look and the general mentality of kids means she assumes he is; I don't believe we know his exact age, but when I imagine being young and caught in the trap he's in . . . yeah. Add in the essay's idea that the two of them are narratively shaping each other, and there's a lot of potential there.
But even if this isn't the canon you matched on, if you're a fan of this novel, I highly recommend that essay I linked above. It made for fascinating reading.
(Oh, and on the off chance that essay vanishes, because it's the internet and that kind of thing can happen: I have saved the text of it to my computer and will happily share it upon request.)
***
More generally: These days I try to split my general commments into clear divisions, on the grounds that it might be more convenient for my writer. These are grouped in descending order of how much I want them, with DNWs at the bottom.
Things That Are Yay: plot! (Casefic, etc. If you have the time and energy -- I know it can be a lot of work.) Exploration of character motivations, exploration/expansion of the setting. Fic that could fit into canon. Drama, up to and including aaaaaangst. Characters getting whumped on and being comforted afterward. Witty humour, especially if it's used as the jab to set up the dramatic roundhouse that follows. Unshakeable loyalty. Enemies having to work together for a good reason. Characters revealing a hidden layer. Siblings, or people with equally close relationships even if they don't share blood.
Things That Are A-okay: violence, up to a point (see below). Non-explicit sex (doesn't have to be immediate fade-to-black, but not looking for a whole scene of detailed action). AUs of the "what if this event went differently?" sort. Inclusion of nominated characters I didn't request. Inclusion of canonical characters who haven't been nominated. Original characters as needed for the story (in the case of my Elfquest prompt, the whole story can be OCs if you like). Most povs, tenses, narrative formats, etc.
Things That Are Meh: straight-up character introspection, where it's basically just their inner monologue. Nonfiction-style worldbuilding, like it's from an encyclopedia or something. Second person pov unless it really ties into the story concept somehow. Non-canonical ships unless specifically requested (ships between OCs are fine).
Things That Are Nay: AUs that alter the basic premise like coffee shop, genderswaps, a/b/o, etc. Explicit smut and its associated kinks/tropes. "Five Things"-type stories (I've read some good ones, but that format rarely does it for me; I strongly prefer one continuous tale). Requested characters having only a cameo in the story, unless otherwise specified in the prompt. Gross-out humour. Humiliation. Bashing characters or canonical relationships. Torture porn, especially with female victims: go ahead and hurt characters, but don't make suffering or gore the whole point of the exercise. And for this year, no disease references or plots, please.
***
As mentioned before, I'm russian_blue on AO3, so feel free to rummage around in the entrails of what I’ve got there if you need more data on what I like. And above all: have fun!
