Yuletide 2024 Letter
Oct. 16th, 2024 11:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
starfishstarHello dear yule goat, and thank you for writing for me!
General notes: I’m starfishstar on AO3 and on DW.
Likes: A focus on character interactions, be that friendship or romance or family. Found family dynamics. Humor and banter. UST (all the UST) as long as it resolves by the end. Happy or hopeful endings: angst and complexity are fine – I like stories that are realistic! – but I do need at least some degree of hope. Basically, if you love these characters, I know I'll love anything you want to write about them. <3
DNW: Just the big ones: please no major character death, non-con/dub-con, or graphic violence.
Treats: Very much yes please! (And btw I'm a big fan of the yearly Yuletide Madness Drabble Invitational. Any drabble treats will be accepted with great delight!) (I've also opted into the MultiLingYule minichallenge, for receiving gifts in languages other than English.)
FANDOMS
Graceling Realm Series – Kristin Cashore
Characters: any
I chose "any" characters, to leave open the widest possible matching possibilities. But if you want some ideas of combinations I'd enjoy reading about...
-- any combination of Bitterblue, Katsa, Po, Giddon, along with any others of their friends and supporters and chosen family. (For example: Helda!) I love these characters, how they banter and tease but are always looking out for each other. I love the big-sibling, little-sibling relationship Bitterblue has with both Katsa and Po, how she looks up to them, and is sometimes baffled by them, and wants to be close to them. How does their friendship evolve and grow as Bitterblue continues to grow into her own person in her young adulthood? I'm also a big sap for Giddon's undying devotion to Bitterblue. And of course I'll always love Katsa and Po and their wild, glorious (and sometimes dramatic) mostly-shared life, how they go off on their own various adventures, but always find their way back to each other.
-- Raffin/Bann – there can never be enough! We only get little glimpses of them and I want to know more about who they are, separately or together. Raffin, the reluctant future king, who doesn't want to rule but knows he should, because he'll be so much better than his brutal father. And Bann, friend and confidante and lover to a future king... Can they ever be public about their relationship? How do they balance the equality of their partnership with the imbalance of their public roles? Or just give me happy Raffin/Bann content of any stripe :-)
-- Giddon/Po – out of nowhere, a couple years ago while diving back into canon as I wrote a Po & Giddon friendship fic, I found myself surprised by some seriously shippy feels for them. The period in Bitterblue where Giddon learns Po's secret, and is incandescently furious with him, but they gradually work through it... How much more intense might that be (the Grace reveal and their subsequent falling out) if Giddon and Po's feelings for each other were more than platonic? (I love Katsa/Po undyingly, but for this Giddon/Po prompt I don't mind how you handle it; this relationship could be instead of the canonical Katsa/Po, or potentially it could be in addition, since Katsa and Po are implied to have an open relationship.)
-- Fire/Brigan, or Fire with anyone else in her world. Sort of harder to prompt for these characters, since they're so separate from the rest of the Graceling Realm world! But I love Fire, and the arc of (sometimes painful) self-discovery she embarks on over the course of the novel, and the sacrifices and love she's able to give those around her despite everything she's been through. I think Fire and Brigan have an unbelievably gentle, mature, beautiful relationship – in some ways my favorite in the whole series, for the work they put in together to finally end up where they end up. I'm also always here for fics about Fire and her motherly relationship with Hanna!
Seraphina – Rachel Hartman
Characters: any
When people make me name just one favorite book (a ridiculous concept, truly!) I tend to say Seraphina. I am awed by the empathy Rachel Hartman shows to all of her characters.
I nominated Seraphina, Tess, Glisselda, and, Orma, because I had to choose four characters to nominate, but I'd be happy to read about anyone in this world!
I'm interested in Seraphina & Tess and their deep failure to understand each other. Now that they've both had a chance to do some growing up and find their place in the world, might they be able to begin to become sisters to each other?
I'm interested in Seraphina/Glisselda/Kiggs – I read that right, right, that the three of them are a polyamorous trio of one type or another...? What is their daily life like, behind the royal facade? When they get precious moments just to be themselves, what is that like? Or just give me Seraphina & Kiggs & Glisselda bantering together in the behind-the-scenes of running a kingdom.
I'm interested in Seraphina & Orma, with their awkward, dragonish, but very loving bond. Orma is such a good uncle – he doesn't always understand Seraphina, yet he always looks out for her. And we never really got enough resolution to Orma's heartbreaking arc of having to try to regain his memories. Give me happy endings, please??
Or anything else! Other characters, other worldbuilding? Dragon-human relations? Quigutl-human relations? More of the southern seas and polar regions?
John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme
Characters: any
JFSP!! My god how I love John Finnemore's brain. He's truly one of my favorite writers, in any genre or medium. I love his humor and I love his kindness and I love the fiendishly clever and intricate complexity with which he constructs a plot. And I love the spiraling heights of absurd wordplay!
I will never, ever say no to another "Since You Ask Me..." tale. There can never be enough.
Or do anything else you want in this world! I dare you to go as bizarre with it as you can. ;-)
All-of-a-Kind Family Series – Sydney Taylor
Characters: any
What a sweet surprise to come across this in the tagset! I grew up on these books, loving how the All-of-a-Kind Family stories gave me a little window into earlier generations of my own family, who were also Eastern European Jewish immigrants in turn-of-the-century New York City.
Admittedly, I haven't reread any of the books in a long time (though they're sitting right on my shelf, so I can pick them up for a refresher any time if needed!) so I don't really have specific prompts in mind; just know that I'll love anything you want to write about any of these 5 sisters, their parents, and their friends and neighbors!
.
General notes: I’m starfishstar on AO3 and on DW.
Likes: A focus on character interactions, be that friendship or romance or family. Found family dynamics. Humor and banter. UST (all the UST) as long as it resolves by the end. Happy or hopeful endings: angst and complexity are fine – I like stories that are realistic! – but I do need at least some degree of hope. Basically, if you love these characters, I know I'll love anything you want to write about them. <3
DNW: Just the big ones: please no major character death, non-con/dub-con, or graphic violence.
Treats: Very much yes please! (And btw I'm a big fan of the yearly Yuletide Madness Drabble Invitational. Any drabble treats will be accepted with great delight!) (I've also opted into the MultiLingYule minichallenge, for receiving gifts in languages other than English.)
FANDOMS
Graceling Realm Series – Kristin Cashore
Characters: any
I chose "any" characters, to leave open the widest possible matching possibilities. But if you want some ideas of combinations I'd enjoy reading about...
-- any combination of Bitterblue, Katsa, Po, Giddon, along with any others of their friends and supporters and chosen family. (For example: Helda!) I love these characters, how they banter and tease but are always looking out for each other. I love the big-sibling, little-sibling relationship Bitterblue has with both Katsa and Po, how she looks up to them, and is sometimes baffled by them, and wants to be close to them. How does their friendship evolve and grow as Bitterblue continues to grow into her own person in her young adulthood? I'm also a big sap for Giddon's undying devotion to Bitterblue. And of course I'll always love Katsa and Po and their wild, glorious (and sometimes dramatic) mostly-shared life, how they go off on their own various adventures, but always find their way back to each other.
-- Raffin/Bann – there can never be enough! We only get little glimpses of them and I want to know more about who they are, separately or together. Raffin, the reluctant future king, who doesn't want to rule but knows he should, because he'll be so much better than his brutal father. And Bann, friend and confidante and lover to a future king... Can they ever be public about their relationship? How do they balance the equality of their partnership with the imbalance of their public roles? Or just give me happy Raffin/Bann content of any stripe :-)
-- Giddon/Po – out of nowhere, a couple years ago while diving back into canon as I wrote a Po & Giddon friendship fic, I found myself surprised by some seriously shippy feels for them. The period in Bitterblue where Giddon learns Po's secret, and is incandescently furious with him, but they gradually work through it... How much more intense might that be (the Grace reveal and their subsequent falling out) if Giddon and Po's feelings for each other were more than platonic? (I love Katsa/Po undyingly, but for this Giddon/Po prompt I don't mind how you handle it; this relationship could be instead of the canonical Katsa/Po, or potentially it could be in addition, since Katsa and Po are implied to have an open relationship.)
-- Fire/Brigan, or Fire with anyone else in her world. Sort of harder to prompt for these characters, since they're so separate from the rest of the Graceling Realm world! But I love Fire, and the arc of (sometimes painful) self-discovery she embarks on over the course of the novel, and the sacrifices and love she's able to give those around her despite everything she's been through. I think Fire and Brigan have an unbelievably gentle, mature, beautiful relationship – in some ways my favorite in the whole series, for the work they put in together to finally end up where they end up. I'm also always here for fics about Fire and her motherly relationship with Hanna!
Call Me By Your Name (2017)
Characters: any
My Yuletide forever fandom <3 I find this film an achingly beautiful portrait of being on the cusp of adulthood and falling in first love, and what exquisite agony both of those things can be. Tell me any story of Elio/Oliver: the longing before they confess their feelings, the stolen moments once they’ve come together, the bittersweetness as the summer rushes to its close. Or tell me a story of after that summer, whatever your version is. (Do they stay together? Find each other again 20 years later? Something in between?)
I love Elio's parents, too, how they give him space to grow while also being there to catch him if he falls. I'd enjoy seeing their dynamic with Elio – or with Oliver.
Fandom-specific DNW: Plot points/characters from “Find Me”; treating female characters dismissively (i.e., please either don’t include Marzia in the fic at all, or let her be a fully developed character in her own right).
"Jewltide" bonus prompt: I'm Jewish, and I love that these characters are Jewish and that it's part of what draws them to each other. For all that he has more hang-ups in other ways, Oliver is more confident and open in his Judaism than Elio's family is, and that's new and exciting for Elio. If you're Jewish, or can write about Judaism knowledgeably/sensitively, I'm always hungry for a fic that involves Judaism being an important point of connection between them. Celebrating a holiday or tradition together? Sharing favorite family foods? Discovering unexpected differences between the traditions they grew up with (Oliver in the US, Elio in Italy)? Or anything else that acknowledges their Jewishness as a shared identity and something that draws Elio to Oliver – there's a parallel there, of them being both queer and Jewish, and that both of those are identities that set Elio and Oliver somewhat apart from many of the other young people around them and connect them to each other.
Characters: any
My Yuletide forever fandom <3 I find this film an achingly beautiful portrait of being on the cusp of adulthood and falling in first love, and what exquisite agony both of those things can be. Tell me any story of Elio/Oliver: the longing before they confess their feelings, the stolen moments once they’ve come together, the bittersweetness as the summer rushes to its close. Or tell me a story of after that summer, whatever your version is. (Do they stay together? Find each other again 20 years later? Something in between?)
I love Elio's parents, too, how they give him space to grow while also being there to catch him if he falls. I'd enjoy seeing their dynamic with Elio – or with Oliver.
Fandom-specific DNW: Plot points/characters from “Find Me”; treating female characters dismissively (i.e., please either don’t include Marzia in the fic at all, or let her be a fully developed character in her own right).
"Jewltide" bonus prompt: I'm Jewish, and I love that these characters are Jewish and that it's part of what draws them to each other. For all that he has more hang-ups in other ways, Oliver is more confident and open in his Judaism than Elio's family is, and that's new and exciting for Elio. If you're Jewish, or can write about Judaism knowledgeably/sensitively, I'm always hungry for a fic that involves Judaism being an important point of connection between them. Celebrating a holiday or tradition together? Sharing favorite family foods? Discovering unexpected differences between the traditions they grew up with (Oliver in the US, Elio in Italy)? Or anything else that acknowledges their Jewishness as a shared identity and something that draws Elio to Oliver – there's a parallel there, of them being both queer and Jewish, and that both of those are identities that set Elio and Oliver somewhat apart from many of the other young people around them and connect them to each other.
Seraphina – Rachel Hartman
Characters: any
When people make me name just one favorite book (a ridiculous concept, truly!) I tend to say Seraphina. I am awed by the empathy Rachel Hartman shows to all of her characters.
I nominated Seraphina, Tess, Glisselda, and, Orma, because I had to choose four characters to nominate, but I'd be happy to read about anyone in this world!
I'm interested in Seraphina & Tess and their deep failure to understand each other. Now that they've both had a chance to do some growing up and find their place in the world, might they be able to begin to become sisters to each other?
I'm interested in Seraphina/Glisselda/Kiggs – I read that right, right, that the three of them are a polyamorous trio of one type or another...? What is their daily life like, behind the royal facade? When they get precious moments just to be themselves, what is that like? Or just give me Seraphina & Kiggs & Glisselda bantering together in the behind-the-scenes of running a kingdom.
I'm interested in Seraphina & Orma, with their awkward, dragonish, but very loving bond. Orma is such a good uncle – he doesn't always understand Seraphina, yet he always looks out for her. And we never really got enough resolution to Orma's heartbreaking arc of having to try to regain his memories. Give me happy endings, please??
Or anything else! Other characters, other worldbuilding? Dragon-human relations? Quigutl-human relations? More of the southern seas and polar regions?
John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme
Characters: any
JFSP!! My god how I love John Finnemore's brain. He's truly one of my favorite writers, in any genre or medium. I love his humor and I love his kindness and I love the fiendishly clever and intricate complexity with which he constructs a plot. And I love the spiraling heights of absurd wordplay!
I will never, ever say no to another "Since You Ask Me..." tale. There can never be enough.
Or do anything else you want in this world! I dare you to go as bizarre with it as you can. ;-)
All-of-a-Kind Family Series – Sydney Taylor
Characters: any
What a sweet surprise to come across this in the tagset! I grew up on these books, loving how the All-of-a-Kind Family stories gave me a little window into earlier generations of my own family, who were also Eastern European Jewish immigrants in turn-of-the-century New York City.
Admittedly, I haven't reread any of the books in a long time (though they're sitting right on my shelf, so I can pick them up for a refresher any time if needed!) so I don't really have specific prompts in mind; just know that I'll love anything you want to write about any of these 5 sisters, their parents, and their friends and neighbors!
.
