Dear Yuletide Author letter
Oct. 17th, 2018 02:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
starfishstarHere is my Dear Yuletide Author letter! Hello Yuletide Author! I'm so excited for Yuletide!
My requests:
221B Baker Towers:
The original description of this 'verse is HERE, for easy reference!
221B Baker Towers is SUCH a great concept, and so few fanworks exist for it. So I'll be thrilled to read anything in this world! Who is this Holmes? What makes him tick? What's it like when he’s on a case? Who is his Watson and what’s their friendship like? For inspiration, I point to sophistry's "like a spider in the centre of its web", which always gives me chills... Here the archenemy Holmes has to struggle against is not a man named Moriarty, but the great machinery of the state itself.
Some jumbled thoughts and prompts...
What is your headcanon for Holmes? How did he develop his skills, and what led him to solving cases? How does he navigate wielding his enormous skills in collaboration with a system that barely trusts and certainly doesn't respect him? Is he (officially or unofficially) a confidential informant, or does he have to talk (bribe?) his way onto crime scenes each time? And since the Holmes–Watson friendship is at the heart of every adaptation: how did this Holmes and Watson meet? Do they still share a flat in this 'verse? What's Watson's role in Holmes' investigations?
As for Watson – I just looked again at the 221B Baker Towers Tumblr and saw someone there suggested Watson is an immigrant from Afghanistan – not a British soldier who fought in Afghanistan, but someone from Afghanistan. This is so brilliant I can't get it out of my head...such an apt further way to interrogate who gets to count as British, and as canon, and as the center of the story. So if you think you've got enough knowledge or background to write it sensitively, I'd love to see an Afghan Watson.
I'm especially interested in who Holmes is here, and who his Watson is, but I'd also be interested to see them interacting with a 221B Baker Towers Lestrade or other police detective – perhaps this Lestrade (she?) grew up on the same estate, and now has to manage conflicting loyalties? Or...where does Mycroft stand in this world? What does his "minor government position" (or his actually-smarter-than-Sherlock-if-he-could-be-bothered-to-leave-his-armchair portrayal) look like in this 'verse?
Casefic would be particularly fitting for this fandom, of course, but I'll be happy to read absolutely anything of Holmes and Watson, or Holmes interacting with the world.
John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme:
I've requested "any" characters here, because to me much of the fun of this fandom (with its sprawling pool of sketches to choose from and almost no recurring characters) is seeing what characters other people pick out as their favorites!
So, want to write a Finnemore tall tale? John having another unfortunate encounter with the Voice in His Head? Or expand on single-sketch characters so obscure that even I, a very avid fan, might have to look up their names to figure out who they are? I'm good with it all!
DNW: The one thing I would say is that I'm not very interested in shipping characters who aren't already shipped on the show – I'd prefer genfic here. (If they *are* shipped on the show, though, that's fine! e.g. Train Driver/Train Manager is VERY heavily hinted at as being canonical, and I know there's a whole wing of the fandom who write that pairing, and I'm totally down with that! Just not that interested in adding shipping where it isn't already.)
In case it's helpful for inspiration...here is a very, very abbreviated list of just a very, very few of my favorite sketches:
– The Goldfish and King Neptune
– Before You're Thirty (Be kind, have fun)
– Captain Dinosaur song
– JFSP Accidentally
– Towels (‘Towels on the bed mean Sleepy Towels’)
– Horse Box
– A History of Choice
– No Further Questions
– Pet Tips
– Animal Designers Crisis
– New Friend (sniffer dog)
– The Interview Sketch - Ice Cream Van Painter
– Will The Train Manager Contact The Driver + Train Delay
– Belgium
– New Player Tutorial
– Voice in My Head
– Russian Revolution by Email
– Animal Interviews
– Three Guards (Tiger with a gun)
– and of course, pretty much any Since You Ask Me! (e.g. Denouement Parlour, Ghost Story (Eagling), Spies (A mole in the Zoo), Proposal, Family Curse (Wim-Bim-King-Sim-Sham), Murder Mystery (Turbot Bacardi), Train Adventure ('You are Uncles by trade?'), Crossing the Atlantic (Mr. Floofywhiskers), Ghost Story (Jacket pocket jacket pocket), Mysterious Trapdoor, etc. etc. etc. – and the Since You Ask Me that was the cast names as limericks!)
...but truly, I'm at least as interested to know what *your* favorites are, Yuletide Author! Go wild and surprise me. :-)
Seraphina – Rachel Hartman:
I've requested "any" characters here, because I'd be happy with any of the nominated characters...or any other characters, really! I just love Rachel Hartman's world-building, her characters, and the deep empathy of her writing.
If you've read Shadowscale as well, then I'd be interested to see what the dynamics of the Seraphina/Kiggs/Glisselda relationship are like – I don't mean anything explicit (I'm not particularly interested in sex scenes for this fandom) but what are their day-to-day interactions like? How do they manage to have a personal life amidst all the public and political scrutiny?
And if you've also read Tess of the Road, I'd be thrilled with anything about Tess! Maybe more interaction between her and Seraphina, finally coming to understand each other, as we got a little hint of in the book? Or just Tess on her own adventures.
But since this is technically a Seraphina book request, rather than an entire-Seraphina-series request, I'm totally, totally happy with something set in the first book's era, too! Anything with Seraphina and Orma would be fun. Or Abdo? Or bring in some minor character I haven't thought of in ages, and remind me why they're great!
DNW: Explicit scenes (sex & romance up to the level shown in the book is fine, but I'm not interested in explicit sex scenes); senseless violence (again, up to the level of the book itself is fine); and I'm not really interested in AUs – my interest is in the canon world and the dynamics between the characters within it.
My requests:
221B Baker Towers:
The original description of this 'verse is HERE, for easy reference!
221B Baker Towers is SUCH a great concept, and so few fanworks exist for it. So I'll be thrilled to read anything in this world! Who is this Holmes? What makes him tick? What's it like when he’s on a case? Who is his Watson and what’s their friendship like? For inspiration, I point to sophistry's "like a spider in the centre of its web", which always gives me chills... Here the archenemy Holmes has to struggle against is not a man named Moriarty, but the great machinery of the state itself.
Some jumbled thoughts and prompts...
What is your headcanon for Holmes? How did he develop his skills, and what led him to solving cases? How does he navigate wielding his enormous skills in collaboration with a system that barely trusts and certainly doesn't respect him? Is he (officially or unofficially) a confidential informant, or does he have to talk (bribe?) his way onto crime scenes each time? And since the Holmes–Watson friendship is at the heart of every adaptation: how did this Holmes and Watson meet? Do they still share a flat in this 'verse? What's Watson's role in Holmes' investigations?
As for Watson – I just looked again at the 221B Baker Towers Tumblr and saw someone there suggested Watson is an immigrant from Afghanistan – not a British soldier who fought in Afghanistan, but someone from Afghanistan. This is so brilliant I can't get it out of my head...such an apt further way to interrogate who gets to count as British, and as canon, and as the center of the story. So if you think you've got enough knowledge or background to write it sensitively, I'd love to see an Afghan Watson.
I'm especially interested in who Holmes is here, and who his Watson is, but I'd also be interested to see them interacting with a 221B Baker Towers Lestrade or other police detective – perhaps this Lestrade (she?) grew up on the same estate, and now has to manage conflicting loyalties? Or...where does Mycroft stand in this world? What does his "minor government position" (or his actually-smarter-than-Sherlock-if-he-could-be-bothered-to-leave-his-armchair portrayal) look like in this 'verse?
Casefic would be particularly fitting for this fandom, of course, but I'll be happy to read absolutely anything of Holmes and Watson, or Holmes interacting with the world.
John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme:
I've requested "any" characters here, because to me much of the fun of this fandom (with its sprawling pool of sketches to choose from and almost no recurring characters) is seeing what characters other people pick out as their favorites!
So, want to write a Finnemore tall tale? John having another unfortunate encounter with the Voice in His Head? Or expand on single-sketch characters so obscure that even I, a very avid fan, might have to look up their names to figure out who they are? I'm good with it all!
DNW: The one thing I would say is that I'm not very interested in shipping characters who aren't already shipped on the show – I'd prefer genfic here. (If they *are* shipped on the show, though, that's fine! e.g. Train Driver/Train Manager is VERY heavily hinted at as being canonical, and I know there's a whole wing of the fandom who write that pairing, and I'm totally down with that! Just not that interested in adding shipping where it isn't already.)
In case it's helpful for inspiration...here is a very, very abbreviated list of just a very, very few of my favorite sketches:
– The Goldfish and King Neptune
– Before You're Thirty (Be kind, have fun)
– Captain Dinosaur song
– JFSP Accidentally
– Towels (‘Towels on the bed mean Sleepy Towels’)
– Horse Box
– A History of Choice
– No Further Questions
– Pet Tips
– Animal Designers Crisis
– New Friend (sniffer dog)
– The Interview Sketch - Ice Cream Van Painter
– Will The Train Manager Contact The Driver + Train Delay
– Belgium
– New Player Tutorial
– Voice in My Head
– Russian Revolution by Email
– Animal Interviews
– Three Guards (Tiger with a gun)
– and of course, pretty much any Since You Ask Me! (e.g. Denouement Parlour, Ghost Story (Eagling), Spies (A mole in the Zoo), Proposal, Family Curse (Wim-Bim-King-Sim-Sham), Murder Mystery (Turbot Bacardi), Train Adventure ('You are Uncles by trade?'), Crossing the Atlantic (Mr. Floofywhiskers), Ghost Story (Jacket pocket jacket pocket), Mysterious Trapdoor, etc. etc. etc. – and the Since You Ask Me that was the cast names as limericks!)
...but truly, I'm at least as interested to know what *your* favorites are, Yuletide Author! Go wild and surprise me. :-)
Seraphina – Rachel Hartman:
I've requested "any" characters here, because I'd be happy with any of the nominated characters...or any other characters, really! I just love Rachel Hartman's world-building, her characters, and the deep empathy of her writing.
If you've read Shadowscale as well, then I'd be interested to see what the dynamics of the Seraphina/Kiggs/Glisselda relationship are like – I don't mean anything explicit (I'm not particularly interested in sex scenes for this fandom) but what are their day-to-day interactions like? How do they manage to have a personal life amidst all the public and political scrutiny?
And if you've also read Tess of the Road, I'd be thrilled with anything about Tess! Maybe more interaction between her and Seraphina, finally coming to understand each other, as we got a little hint of in the book? Or just Tess on her own adventures.
But since this is technically a Seraphina book request, rather than an entire-Seraphina-series request, I'm totally, totally happy with something set in the first book's era, too! Anything with Seraphina and Orma would be fun. Or Abdo? Or bring in some minor character I haven't thought of in ages, and remind me why they're great!
DNW: Explicit scenes (sex & romance up to the level shown in the book is fine, but I'm not interested in explicit sex scenes); senseless violence (again, up to the level of the book itself is fine); and I'm not really interested in AUs – my interest is in the canon world and the dynamics between the characters within it.
