Dear Yuletide Writer

[swan_tower]

Hello, Yulemouse, Yulegoat, or whatever Yulecritter you may be! Before we get down to brass tacks, I want to thank you. It's always a delight to receive a fic written just for me, and I can't wait to see what you come up with.

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.)

My username on AO3 is russian_blue, if you're the sort of Yuletider who looks through previous gifts and/or fics for data before you start writing. :-)

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Fandom: Gabriel Knight
Characters: Gabriel Knight, Grace Nakimura

This is the request that inspired me to create the Some Day My Fic Will Come mini-challenge. We are the few, the stubborn, the ones who obsessively ask for the same thing year after year!

If you didn’t match with me on this fandom, you probably aren’t going to write it, but juuuuust in case, I should mention that you can now buy all three games on GOG.com. Or you can buy novelizations of the first two games (not the third, unfortunately), or it looks like there are some Let's Play videos on Youtube. And there's an HD remake of the first game out now! (I've reviewed it here, if you're curious.)

Anyway, if you like the old Sierra point-and-click style adventure games, this series is really fun. (And not as horror-ish as the descriptions would have you believe: it's more a matter of horror tropes than lots of gore or jump moments.)

What I love about the source: These days, with companies like Bioware around, the notion of a computer game with character development and a genuinely dramatic plot isn't such a big deal. But back when I first played these, it was mind-blowing! There's still a lot of humour (because Sierra's like that), but it's used as leavening for some weightier stuff. I also loved the way Jensen made use of real-world history and folklore, and the sense that Gabriel was a flawed guy who was, step by step, becoming a better person.

What I'd love to get: Closure. Pleeeeeeeeease.

This is the downside to having actual character development: when the arc gets cut short, it leaves the audience hanging. The relationship between Gabe and Grace built up over three games, until they slept together in Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned, but they never really talked about it and then Grace bailed out and we didn't even get to read her note and auuuuuuuggggggggggggggh.

I'd like to see that hanging thread tied up. The closure could take whatever form you like, and be from whichever point of view you like, or both. Grace, presumably, was going to talk to that guy in India she'd been e-mailing, about how she could fight supernatural evil on her own terms. Maybe Gabe goes after her. Maybe he doesn't (I can see him not having the confidence to do so), and she shows up again a few years later, after becoming some kind of full-blown Schattenjäger equivalent herself. Maybe they run into each other without warning when they both go after the same supernatural beastie. I'd love to see Grace treated as Gabe's professional equal (I think she's always been his equal in personal terms), rather than a sidekick, and for him to accept her as such -- which is not to say he should have a personality transplant and suddenly be without flaws or blind spots, but I feel like he's been struggling with a lot of issues there, and it would nice to see him continue to grow.

I'd like there to be a happy ending eventually -- get your mind out of the gutter! I mean happy emotions! -- but I don't mind angst along the way. (Where "happy endings" are concerned, wink wink nudge nudge -- eh, I really care more about the emotional resolution. They can sleep together or not, as you like, but I'd prefer that not to be the main focus of the story.) If you have the time and energy, I would ADORE something plotty, with a supernatural threat they have to take care of. Flavor of threat is entirely up to you: rumour has it the fourth game would have taken place in Scotland and dealt with ghosts; run with that if you want, or grab any cool bits of folklore and history that you know and want to play with.

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Fandom: Elfquest
Characters: any

A repeat request, because this is a fandom I adore so much, I don't think I could ever get tired of it.

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: If you're willing to tackle something that isn't character-specific, I would love to get anything expanding the setting, whether geographically or historically. I've read possibly everything there is -- certainly I've read most of it, including the far-future Jink stuff, and the first volume of the Final Quest -- 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 actual canonical Wavedancers didn't really do it for me.) 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.

4) If you'd prefer to stick closer to the actual series rather than haring off into the wild blue yonder with your own ideas, I am cool with any of the nominated characters! (One of the reasons I can ask for Elfquest every year is, there are basically no characters I don't like.) Very brief rundowns on what I like about the ones from this year's tagset: Nightfall and Redlance, the way they reverse standard gender roles, and chose to forge their own bond rather than waiting for it to happen by chance. Strongbow and Moonshade, the way they stand up for tradition -- and how that gets treated as a good and necessary thing, rather than them being hidebound reactionaries that should be ignored. Skywise, his choice to give up his wolf blood and the effects that has on him and his relationships with others. We don't know as much about Huntress Skyfire and Rahnee the She-Wolf, but I've loved Skyfire since I saw that image of her in the very first volume, and Rahnee offers a really interesting angle on the Wolfriders when they were still in transition from being High Ones. If you offered "any" and want to narrow the field, I'm fond of Strongbow (two incidents in particular: his reaction to Timmain, and his bonding with Clearbrook over One-Eye and Kureel), and Skyfire would be a great entry point to my second prompt above. I'm especially interested in the individual characters of the various tribes and how they approach 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.

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!

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Fandom: Sengoku Avengers
Characters: any
Fandom: Jidaigeki X-Men
Characters: any

I'm combining my notes for these two because they have the same core concept, and what I'm looking for is more or less the same in both instances. Please don't take that as a sign that I'm less interested in either one, or less interested in this pair than my other fandoms -- nothing could be further from the truth!

What I love about the source: How awesome is this? Superheroes reinvented in a historical Japanese context! Okay, okay, I am a very special kind of nerd, and I know it. But I adore the way the artist worked in details of the time periods and the folklore, with things like Kaibutsu's ofuda or making Onryou an outright ghost.

What I'm looking for: Dude. ANYTHING. Anything at all that plays around with superpowered people in historical Japan. If there's a specific event or historical person or cultural detail you happen to know pretty well, and you want to use that as the basis for your story, GO FOR IT. I would be especially delighted to devour anything that makes use of Japanese folklore; that's already woven into a number of the characters' backgrounds, so if you want to do more like that (with religion or yokai or superstitions or what have you), I fall at your feet in glee. :-)

Character-wise, I'm totally cool with you using any of the characters, in any combination you like -- including mashing together these two canons, if that floats your boat. (There's also a Chambara JLA on his site, though I personally find their backstories less effective than the ones in these two sets.) You can also port other suitable characters in, if you have a brilliant idea for how to historical-Japanese-ify someone else from comics canon. And don't feel obliged to stick to every single detail of the backstories, either; in general I think they're cool and would love to see what a writer could do with them, but there are lots of ways they could be tweaked while still keeping to the original spirit of the thing. (For example, it would make a lot of sense if Kaminchu's people were Ainu or Ryukyuan or something like that. I would have no problem with a change of that sort.)

If "any characters; anything!" is too open-ended and you need some kind of direction to go in, I think the ladies of the Jidaigeki group are especially nifty, and in the Sengoku group, I think Kaibutsu, Kagami, and Raijin have the best backstories. (I got a Kaibutsu story last year that was faboo.) I really would be happy with any of them, though.

Pretty much the only thing I don't want is the usual continuity personalities with a historical Japanese paint job slapped on top. If I want normal Avengers fic, there is an endless ocean of it out there for me to read, and ditto the X-Men. Which is awesome, but the reason I'm asking for these versions is because I find the reinvention of the core concepts fascinating. I will eat that up with a spoon.

(Minor nitpicky note: the romanization of Takajyō's name annoys me. So please, if you include him, write it as Takajō or Takajou. Or Takazyō/Takazyou, which is at least still consistent -- but JSL kind of makes my eyeballs bleed, so.)

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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: While writing my Yuletide letter in a previous season, I came up with an idea that made me bounce in excitement at the mere thought of it. 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; 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 would give us a chance to see Christopher and Gabriel interacting when Christopher has grown out of being a twelve-year-old snot. :-P

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.

I got a story for this in a previous year, and could probably read a dozen more takes on it without getting tired of the idea. 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. (Cat and Gabriel don't have to appear, if you go this route.)

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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.

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. 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. Nonfiction-style worldbuilding. Second person pov without a really good reason.

Things That Are Nay: radical AUs 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 much prefer one continuous tale). Requested characters having only a cameo in the story, unless otherwise specified in the prompt. Gross-out humour. Humiliation. Characters being flat-out stupid. Bashing characters or canonical relationships. Torture porn, especially with female victims: go ahead and hurt characters, but don't make gore and suffering the whole point.

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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!

Comments

[sedesdraconis.livejournal.com]

Okay, this is starting to get weird.

*I was the guy with the baby that talked to you about Polynesian linguistics and Crusader Kings at this past BayCon. Also the guy with the much smaller baby at the your reading with Kowal at Borderlands the year before who gushed about how many of my interests your Tom o' Bedlam story hit.

*A couple months ago, I noticed you mentioned Celestial Matters. I have a huge soft spot for that book, but I've never met anyone else who'd read it (other than one or two people I handed it to).

*ElfQuest is one of the deep foundational stories in my mind. Started reading it when I was 8. Wrote a twenty page reading guide (http://www.sedesdraconis.com/index.php/Feature:ElfQuest_Reading_Guide) a couple years ago.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Heee! That's a fascinating set of interests to have overlap. :-)