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Yuletide Letter 2010
Dear Yuletide Writer,
This is my very first Yuletide and second fic exchange ever, so I hope this letter is not too vague or unreasonable! I usually don't read or write much fanfiction, but being a tag wrangler at AO3 I was sucked in by the irresistible fandom list. I kept wanting to claim fandoms to wrangle, until I realised that wrangling is much more fun (and pointful) when the fandoms have stories in them! So here I am.
Going through the requests in alphabetical order (edited for alphabetisation fail):
Biggles Series - W. E. Johns: Erich von Stalhein, James "Biggles" Bigglesworth
If you've seen the film The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, the opening scene (approx. 1:15 into this) where the boys run around with their arms outstretched pretending to be fighter pilots? That was me at that age.
I love the Biggles books for all the idiotic reasons that ten-year-old boys love them! With the addition that I feel so sorry for von Stalhein. He believes in the Prussian Virtues, tries to live up to them and suppress his overemotional streak, and most of the time he succeeds--But. Being the antagonist in this sort of book he can never win: he's plagued with idiot commanders and incompetent subordinates, his bosses don't value or support him, and after being the rescue object in Buries a Hatchet he quietly falls apart, simultaneously running from his old self and longing to go back.
And I thought, surely there'd be loads of von Stalhein fic! But--shock horror--there isn't any! Yet. And I would love it so much if you wrote some for me. I'd particularly love to see how he adjusts (or fails to adjust) to some aspect of life outside the Service--and in England, of all places! I love the yummy chemistry between Biggles and von Stalhein in the books, so slash would be lovely if you're comfortable with it, or a friendship fic, or just von Stalhein without Biggles is fine too. The logistics is up to you: it could be an adventure where he learns to let go of the past (or goes out in a blaze of glory), or h/c, or getting comfortably drunk as the Wall comes down and he's finally able to go home, or anything else that works for you.It could even be non-con MPreg curtain!fic if you insist. (Maybe I shouldn't have said that...)
Pickupability: depends on whether you read the books as a child. If so, at least skim through Biggles Flies East, Biggles Buries a Hatchet and Biggles Looks Back; if not, it's a series of 98 massively faily (but easy to read) novels and short story collections, some of which are out of print, so it might be easier to go for either of the fandoms below.
Resources: here is the Wikipedia article, and here is the fan forum where you can request digital copies of out-of-print volumes and find in-depth discussions.
Classical Greece and Rome History & Literature RPF: Antinous
Ever since being struck by how much Western Europe is still The Giant Antinous Shrine, I've been fascinated by this character--and his gorgeous downcast eyes, OMG!--and the vaguely creepy cult associated with all. Those. Thousands. Of. Statues. So although Classical Greece and Rome History & Literature RPF is a big fandom with loads of interesting characters I'd really love a story about Antinous in particular.
And as long as Antinous is a main character I'd be very happy with whatever you decide to write about. Growing up in occupied Bithynia? Picking mosaic patterns for the villa? Culture clash while on the road? Being stuck serving ambrosia for eternity or suffering from, ahem, Osiris issues? Yes, to all those ideas (I've come up with them off the top of my head just now) and anything else you can think of! (Except maybe not a murder-mystery? You'd have to sell it quite strongly to convince me that his death was murder.)
Also, Hadrian is one of my favourite emperors, so if you're happy to write slash, any sort of Hadrian/Antinous of any rating in any situation at all (yes, including the Osiris issues) would make me very, very grateful!
Language: English is best, but if you feel the need to write in Latin or Classical Greek, then go for it!
Pickupability: as a historical RPF fandom where the canon is scattered between online, printed and archaeological sources, this one is not really recommended as Plan B unless you a) are already fairly familiar with the material, or b) love to research.
Resources: here is the Wikipedia article with a few images, links and suggested further reading. The link is mainly for jumpstarting the squee, and I'll link to a couple of photo galleries of Antinous statuary and Hadrian's villa when I get around to uploading them. I'm not sure what else would be useful, since I'm assuming that if you know the fandom you'll have your own resources?
Moomins Series - Tove Jansson: The Snork Maiden
SO MUCH LOVE! I love every aspect of this series, from the whimsical adventures to the tone that's silly and perilous and comforting and bleak all at once to the adorable characters, but what really gets to me is how it reflects the author's love for the real world--it's obvious the characters were based on Jansson's family and friends and other real people and that she glomps them to death. Even the Groke, who turns out in the end to be a total woobie.
So any Moominverse story that approaches the feel of the originals will put me in my happy place! Write about your favourite character; I love them all! (I requested the Snork Maiden because my other requests are male- and slash-heavy, so this fandom is a good alternative if you prefer to write females or het.) If you like specific prompts, what about a missing-scene-style ensemble fic where someone comes to stay or makes a discovery? Or the Snork Maiden or Moominmamma being powerful and effective and feminine all at once? Or filling in the background for one of the supporting or minor characters?
Language: unfortunately I don't read Swedish, so English please, or at least a translation?
Pickupability: these are short chapter books and you only need to read one or two to grok the series, which makes this fandom the easiest to pick up if Plan A goes to custard. The books get bleaker as the series progresses, although never to the point of explicit violence or character death; other than depictions of traditional class structures and gender roles, this series is generally fail-free.
Resources: here is the Wikipedia article, here is Tove Jansson's Amazon.com page and here and here are a couple of samples of her writing style. (The Snork Maiden is the pretty blonde one.)
The Silmarillion - J. R. R. Tolkien: Angrod, Aredhel, Eönwë, Mablung of Doriath
Argh! What to say? As you can tell by my username, this is my primary fandom (probably because it's the only one here that is a fandom) and it's so hard to choose! After a lot of wibbling, I ended up requesting four characters with an OR operator, i.e. there's no need to write a story containing all of them at once; any one will do! I'd love to receive a story about any of:--
1) Angrod - straightforward and outspoken, and as a vassal lord of a minor fiefdom he's in that interesting second tier of leadership (reminds me of my line manager, actually, who has to be the best. Boss. Ever.)
2) Aredhel - a combination of Valkyrie and Swan Maiden from a nightmare version of the Wayland story
3) Eönwë - just like St Michael, but preferably less blond. It's that combination of power and obedience...
4) Mablung of Doriath - there's a pattern developing here!
Or if you don't like those ones then pick any minor Beleriand elf (or maybe even Tevildo or any of his thanes) and I will love your fic, I promise!
Whether you write gen, het, slash and/or femslash; dark and/or fluffy; affirmative and/or transformative; plotty, character study, pron and/or crack; vanilla and/or kink; Sil-canon and/or HoM-e-canon--I'll take anything. Well, almost anything; I'd prefer not to get serious fic that seriously advocates for marital infidelity in this fandom. Srsly.
Pickupability: it's only one book and related to LotR at that, but the style and content can both be difficult--skim an online summary and read just the relevant bits of the text if you're struggling with the prose, but you'd probably want to skip this fandom if you don't want to be dealing with multiple major character death, dark themes and a fair amount of fail over the holidays.
Resources: here is the Wikipedia article, here is the Reference Library at the Silmarillion Writers' Guild and here is the SWG's Yahoo group, where you can access information from the HoM-e books.
General Notes
I write mostly gen and a little bit of het, slash and femslash and will read all combinations of the above. Teh pron isn't what really attracts me to fanfic, but I'm more than willing to read any rating and/or kink (at least all the ones I'm aware of) if there's something else (anything else!) to the story. As you can tell from the fandom notes, I don't mind violence and "mature themes", including character death.
I'd be unconditionally happy to receive fic in any genre, with one possible exception. Around Christmastime I prefer humour to be generous (think Alexander McCall Smith) rather than cynical (think early Pratchett), so if you write a satire I might need a couple of days to get into the mood to respond properly to it! In general, I prefer the authorial voice to lean towards the compassionate and understanding rather than the bitter or dispassionate.
I love my fandoms despite their being faily in all sorts of ways, and equally I don't have any problems reading depictions of -isms in fic, even unexamined ones, especially when they're appropriate to the canon. (Um, just so you don't think I'm a rabid racist or anything, in real life I'm a bisexual female PoC unionist with chronic illnesses and a mild disability.)
Phew, I think that's everything covered. There's probably a lot more detail here than you need, and the example prompts are only there for inspiration purposes. My tastes are broad and my favourite kind of story is when the author really loves and believes in what they're writing, so if you have a story idea that isn't covered here, or even contradicts something I've said I liked, please go ahead and write it! I love surprises and I'm sure I'll love whatever it is you decide to write!
Thank you so much for reading through all that! And thank you even more for writing for me!
Addendum (21/11/2010): I've just realised that writers like to find out about their recipients through reading their journals or googling them. I'm afraid I don't really feel comfortable unlocking the entries on this journal, and Tevildo is a common pseudonym. So I'll link to my profile at PI, a beta reading service where I'm currently active. My reading tastes are much broader than what I'm able (or was prompted) to write or have the patience to beta, though, so please don't be misled by what you find!
Addendum (23/11/2010): I forgot to add that if this letter is too vague, please feel free to ask me anything via the mods!
Love and purrs,
Tevildo
This is my very first Yuletide and second fic exchange ever, so I hope this letter is not too vague or unreasonable! I usually don't read or write much fanfiction, but being a tag wrangler at AO3 I was sucked in by the irresistible fandom list. I kept wanting to claim fandoms to wrangle, until I realised that wrangling is much more fun (and pointful) when the fandoms have stories in them! So here I am.
Going through the requests in alphabetical order (edited for alphabetisation fail):
Biggles Series - W. E. Johns: Erich von Stalhein, James "Biggles" Bigglesworth
If you've seen the film The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, the opening scene (approx. 1:15 into this) where the boys run around with their arms outstretched pretending to be fighter pilots? That was me at that age.
I love the Biggles books for all the idiotic reasons that ten-year-old boys love them! With the addition that I feel so sorry for von Stalhein. He believes in the Prussian Virtues, tries to live up to them and suppress his overemotional streak, and most of the time he succeeds--But. Being the antagonist in this sort of book he can never win: he's plagued with idiot commanders and incompetent subordinates, his bosses don't value or support him, and after being the rescue object in Buries a Hatchet he quietly falls apart, simultaneously running from his old self and longing to go back.
And I thought, surely there'd be loads of von Stalhein fic! But--shock horror--there isn't any! Yet. And I would love it so much if you wrote some for me. I'd particularly love to see how he adjusts (or fails to adjust) to some aspect of life outside the Service--and in England, of all places! I love the yummy chemistry between Biggles and von Stalhein in the books, so slash would be lovely if you're comfortable with it, or a friendship fic, or just von Stalhein without Biggles is fine too. The logistics is up to you: it could be an adventure where he learns to let go of the past (or goes out in a blaze of glory), or h/c, or getting comfortably drunk as the Wall comes down and he's finally able to go home, or anything else that works for you.
Pickupability: depends on whether you read the books as a child. If so, at least skim through Biggles Flies East, Biggles Buries a Hatchet and Biggles Looks Back; if not, it's a series of 98 massively faily (but easy to read) novels and short story collections, some of which are out of print, so it might be easier to go for either of the fandoms below.
Resources: here is the Wikipedia article, and here is the fan forum where you can request digital copies of out-of-print volumes and find in-depth discussions.
Classical Greece and Rome History & Literature RPF: Antinous
Ever since being struck by how much Western Europe is still The Giant Antinous Shrine, I've been fascinated by this character--and his gorgeous downcast eyes, OMG!--and the vaguely creepy cult associated with all. Those. Thousands. Of. Statues. So although Classical Greece and Rome History & Literature RPF is a big fandom with loads of interesting characters I'd really love a story about Antinous in particular.
And as long as Antinous is a main character I'd be very happy with whatever you decide to write about. Growing up in occupied Bithynia? Picking mosaic patterns for the villa? Culture clash while on the road? Being stuck serving ambrosia for eternity or suffering from, ahem, Osiris issues? Yes, to all those ideas (I've come up with them off the top of my head just now) and anything else you can think of! (Except maybe not a murder-mystery? You'd have to sell it quite strongly to convince me that his death was murder.)
Also, Hadrian is one of my favourite emperors, so if you're happy to write slash, any sort of Hadrian/Antinous of any rating in any situation at all (yes, including the Osiris issues) would make me very, very grateful!
Language: English is best, but if you feel the need to write in Latin or Classical Greek, then go for it!
Pickupability: as a historical RPF fandom where the canon is scattered between online, printed and archaeological sources, this one is not really recommended as Plan B unless you a) are already fairly familiar with the material, or b) love to research.
Resources: here is the Wikipedia article with a few images, links and suggested further reading. The link is mainly for jumpstarting the squee, and I'll link to a couple of photo galleries of Antinous statuary and Hadrian's villa when I get around to uploading them. I'm not sure what else would be useful, since I'm assuming that if you know the fandom you'll have your own resources?
Moomins Series - Tove Jansson: The Snork Maiden
SO MUCH LOVE! I love every aspect of this series, from the whimsical adventures to the tone that's silly and perilous and comforting and bleak all at once to the adorable characters, but what really gets to me is how it reflects the author's love for the real world--it's obvious the characters were based on Jansson's family and friends and other real people and that she glomps them to death. Even the Groke, who turns out in the end to be a total woobie.
So any Moominverse story that approaches the feel of the originals will put me in my happy place! Write about your favourite character; I love them all! (I requested the Snork Maiden because my other requests are male- and slash-heavy, so this fandom is a good alternative if you prefer to write females or het.) If you like specific prompts, what about a missing-scene-style ensemble fic where someone comes to stay or makes a discovery? Or the Snork Maiden or Moominmamma being powerful and effective and feminine all at once? Or filling in the background for one of the supporting or minor characters?
Language: unfortunately I don't read Swedish, so English please, or at least a translation?
Pickupability: these are short chapter books and you only need to read one or two to grok the series, which makes this fandom the easiest to pick up if Plan A goes to custard. The books get bleaker as the series progresses, although never to the point of explicit violence or character death; other than depictions of traditional class structures and gender roles, this series is generally fail-free.
Resources: here is the Wikipedia article, here is Tove Jansson's Amazon.com page and here and here are a couple of samples of her writing style. (The Snork Maiden is the pretty blonde one.)
The Silmarillion - J. R. R. Tolkien: Angrod, Aredhel, Eönwë, Mablung of Doriath
Argh! What to say? As you can tell by my username, this is my primary fandom (probably because it's the only one here that is a fandom) and it's so hard to choose! After a lot of wibbling, I ended up requesting four characters with an OR operator, i.e. there's no need to write a story containing all of them at once; any one will do! I'd love to receive a story about any of:--
1) Angrod - straightforward and outspoken, and as a vassal lord of a minor fiefdom he's in that interesting second tier of leadership (reminds me of my line manager, actually, who has to be the best. Boss. Ever.)
2) Aredhel - a combination of Valkyrie and Swan Maiden from a nightmare version of the Wayland story
3) Eönwë - just like St Michael, but preferably less blond. It's that combination of power and obedience...
4) Mablung of Doriath - there's a pattern developing here!
Or if you don't like those ones then pick any minor Beleriand elf (or maybe even Tevildo or any of his thanes) and I will love your fic, I promise!
Whether you write gen, het, slash and/or femslash; dark and/or fluffy; affirmative and/or transformative; plotty, character study, pron and/or crack; vanilla and/or kink; Sil-canon and/or HoM-e-canon--I'll take anything. Well, almost anything; I'd prefer not to get serious fic that seriously advocates for marital infidelity in this fandom. Srsly.
Pickupability: it's only one book and related to LotR at that, but the style and content can both be difficult--skim an online summary and read just the relevant bits of the text if you're struggling with the prose, but you'd probably want to skip this fandom if you don't want to be dealing with multiple major character death, dark themes and a fair amount of fail over the holidays.
Resources: here is the Wikipedia article, here is the Reference Library at the Silmarillion Writers' Guild and here is the SWG's Yahoo group, where you can access information from the HoM-e books.
General Notes
I write mostly gen and a little bit of het, slash and femslash and will read all combinations of the above. Teh pron isn't what really attracts me to fanfic, but I'm more than willing to read any rating and/or kink (at least all the ones I'm aware of) if there's something else (anything else!) to the story. As you can tell from the fandom notes, I don't mind violence and "mature themes", including character death.
I'd be unconditionally happy to receive fic in any genre, with one possible exception. Around Christmastime I prefer humour to be generous (think Alexander McCall Smith) rather than cynical (think early Pratchett), so if you write a satire I might need a couple of days to get into the mood to respond properly to it! In general, I prefer the authorial voice to lean towards the compassionate and understanding rather than the bitter or dispassionate.
I love my fandoms despite their being faily in all sorts of ways, and equally I don't have any problems reading depictions of -isms in fic, even unexamined ones, especially when they're appropriate to the canon. (Um, just so you don't think I'm a rabid racist or anything, in real life I'm a bisexual female PoC unionist with chronic illnesses and a mild disability.)
Phew, I think that's everything covered. There's probably a lot more detail here than you need, and the example prompts are only there for inspiration purposes. My tastes are broad and my favourite kind of story is when the author really loves and believes in what they're writing, so if you have a story idea that isn't covered here, or even contradicts something I've said I liked, please go ahead and write it! I love surprises and I'm sure I'll love whatever it is you decide to write!
Thank you so much for reading through all that! And thank you even more for writing for me!
Addendum (21/11/2010): I've just realised that writers like to find out about their recipients through reading their journals or googling them. I'm afraid I don't really feel comfortable unlocking the entries on this journal, and Tevildo is a common pseudonym. So I'll link to my profile at PI, a beta reading service where I'm currently active. My reading tastes are much broader than what I'm able (or was prompted) to write or have the patience to beta, though, so please don't be misled by what you find!
Addendum (23/11/2010): I forgot to add that if this letter is too vague, please feel free to ask me anything via the mods!
Love and purrs,
Tevildo