18. Dear Yuletide Writer 2023
Oct. 15th, 2023 06:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aranciataDear Yuletide writer,
Wow. Whew. Zounds, and such. Another year almost gone, another Yuletide upon us. Amazing how they just keep coming. And they don't stop coming and they don't stop coming. Okay. Hi.
First, thank you very much for writing something for me! Wow!!! That is huge and I am so excited to meet your words and, eventually, you. There is no gift more special than fic tailored to one's specific tastes in my objectively correct opinion. I will try my very best not to make this complicated for you. If you don't vibe with anything in this letter, that is totally fine—optional details are optional, so on, so forth. You are the master of your own destiny and also partially mine I guess. Steer clear of my DNWs and it should be smooth sailing. Can you tell I am currently enjoying the live action adaptation of One Piece.
Second, here are other places to find me if you need them or it would be helpful: Twitter, Tumblr, AO3.
And finally, I am sending you all my wishes for warmth, comfort, health, and safety as the year comes to a close. Please look after yourself.
Fandom-specific prompts and ramblings to follow, but honestly any of the ships/canons I'm requesting mixed with one or a few of the ODAO tropes listed below is guaranteed to get me cartwheeling. Metaphorically. Maybe also physically?
Wow. Whew. Zounds, and such. Another year almost gone, another Yuletide upon us. Amazing how they just keep coming. And they don't stop coming and they don't stop coming. Okay. Hi.
First, thank you very much for writing something for me! Wow!!! That is huge and I am so excited to meet your words and, eventually, you. There is no gift more special than fic tailored to one's specific tastes in my objectively correct opinion. I will try my very best not to make this complicated for you. If you don't vibe with anything in this letter, that is totally fine—optional details are optional, so on, so forth. You are the master of your own destiny and also partially mine I guess. Steer clear of my DNWs and it should be smooth sailing. Can you tell I am currently enjoying the live action adaptation of One Piece.
Second, here are other places to find me if you need them or it would be helpful: Twitter, Tumblr, AO3.
And finally, I am sending you all my wishes for warmth, comfort, health, and safety as the year comes to a close. Please look after yourself.
Fandom-specific prompts and ramblings to follow, but honestly any of the ships/canons I'm requesting mixed with one or a few of the ODAO tropes listed below is guaranteed to get me cartwheeling. Metaphorically. Maybe also physically?
I AM INTO (ODAO): unpacking canon traumatic events, the pining-longing-yearning triptych, character studies, ship studies, the 5 times + 1 time format, epistolary fic, nonlinear narratives, almost kisses, drunken confessions, angst with a happy ending, emotional hurt/comfort, fake/pretend relationships, found families, FRIENDSHIPS (especially unlikely ones), friends to lovers, worldbuilding, WOMEN, unresolved romantic/emotional tension, WOMEN, the tender miracle of human connection in whatever form it may take, nature imagery, "What Comes After" as a concept (basically anything post-canon)
I AM NOT INTO (DNWs): big ones first—rape, incest, underage, abuse of any kind (if it's a canon part of a character's backstory, just don't be gratuitous). beyond that—heavy or detailed gore, marriage/pregnancy fic, established relationship fic (with certain exceptions), first person POV (unless it's epistolary), character bashing, angst with no happy ending, actually unrequited love (for any ships I request), high school/college/coffee shop/florist/tattooist AUs, modern AUs (for fandoms that take place in the past/a fantasy world/whatever)
EXTREMELY OPTIONAL NSFW LIKES: pegging, praise kink, phone sex, friends with benefits and navigating the territory thereof, somebody's fingers being in somebody's mouth as like a trust thing but also as a sexy thing, femdom, cute endearing human clumsiness, face-sitting (and cunnilingus from any angle tbh), guided masturbation, a little blowjob between friends, distraction kink (is that a thing?), sex that leads to an impulsive and ill-timed "i love you," sex that is quite possibly more talking than actual sex
——————————
One Piece (Live Action TV 2023)
requesting: Nami, Monkey D. Luffy, Roronoa Zoro
I literally cannot believe this is happening to me. One Piece wasn't supposed to get me. I was supposed to be immune to all of the major shounen. Naruto didn't get me! Bleach didn't get me! For so, so, so many formative years of my life One Piece didn't get me! And then Iñaki Godoy had to exist.
As a consequence of being so so taken with the live action Netflix adaptation of One Piece I have come to learn many more facts about One Piece than I would have once cared to imagine. That is to say, spoilers are fine. But the bulk of my investment is channeled into the live action version.
I also do want to be clear that despite requesting Nami + Luffy + Zoro only I love all of the Straw Hats with all my heart and cannot imagine any of them without each other. I would just like the Romance Dawn Trio's love for each other to be the centerpiece. If you like me are wearing your romance glasses then I love the throuple that is Nami/Luffy/Zoro, and I love Nami/Zoro, and I love Nami/Luffy, and I love Luffy/Zoro. But I love Nami most of all so like the IDEAL arrangement is the throuple. I don't headcanon Luffy as aroace.
The romance of the high seas! The wonder of trust! The miracle of companionship! The willingness to sacrifice anything for one's nakama! Zoro being unable to commit to literally anything without it being a VOW with his HAND laid over his HEART! The way Luffy stares at Nami's mouth! Usopp! All of these are things I love about OPLA.
As prompts go:
- The Straw Hats take bets and propose theories as to how Luffy got his scar. None of them are prepared for the actual answer. Nami/Luffy self-harm survivors vibe optional.
- Nami and Zoro realize they are both in love with Luffy. They overthink it. He does not. Just any kind of OT3 negotiation would be so wonderful. Their love for each other is so powerful.
- Slice of life visit to an island of your choice. Exploring! Shopping! Jigs to sea shanties by candlelight in a bar optional? SHIPPY jigs to sea shanties in a bar by candlelight optional?! TO HERE'S A HEALTH?!?!?!
- My brain is so simple but really any arrangement of Nami/Luffy/Zoro kissing or being crewmates with benefits or WHATEVER. Here for it.
- Nami or Luffy or Zoro get grievously injured protecting the other and so many emotions are had. There is a FALL-OUT. Usopp must keep the peace. I'm just spitballing here.
- My absolute dream is a Nami character study combined with her relationships with each of the Straw Hats we've met so far... run with this as much as you like.
Very OK with any of these ships for treat purposes—Nami/Luffy/Zoro, Nami/Luffy, Nami/Zoro, Luffy/Zoro, Luffy/Usopp, Luffy/Sanji, Kaya/Usopp, Buggy/Shanks, Shanks/Mihawk, Luffy/Koby, Koby/Helmeppo...I didn't request over half of these just putting it out there into the universe.
NSFW is okay for this fandom!
2013 was my first Yuletide, and I requested Super 8 because it was my favorite movie at the time. Lo and behold I did get a fic for it, which was stupendous. I ended up re-watching this tiny gem of a film last year in honor of its ten-year anniversary (God) and my love for it was rekindled, albeit from a different angle. Namely: what are the kids like when they are twenty-somethings and still have not processed their trauma? So that is what I would LOVE to read about.
Joe and Alice's relationship was very special to me and the way it was written was brilliant: how she is the first one to look his grief in the eye, without apology but with total kindness, and how he is the first one to look at hers right back. What are their lives like ten or so years on? Did they drift apart and then find each other again? (My favorite scenario.) Is there a high school reunion in Lillian that brings all the friends back together, and do they end up confronting what they went through, at the bar that's been there forever or on the living room floor of someone's parents' house or out in an empty field at midnight, all of them half drunk and half in love with each other? I want to see this movie get the It Chapter Two treatment. I want to see Alice and Joe fall in love as adults who've been through more than anyone else can understand. I want to see Joe and Charles, still the best of friends even if time and distance have separated them for a while. I just want to know what happens to all of them, and I want it to be about friendship and love and getting better, and being the only few people in this world who look up at the stars and see something nobody else does. Just give me more, more, more!!!
P.S. I think Cary and Martin would definitely fall in love with each other as adults. Would love to see them doing that in any capacity, foreground or background.
No NSFW for this fandom, please.
Klute (1971)
requesting: John Klute, Bree Daniels
The Bear (TV 2022)
requesting: Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto, Sydney Adamu
I have only watched season one so far but will surely have watched season two by the time posting comes around, so please don't hold back! I really adored these two and their dynamic, romantic or platonic or friends with benefits or whatever else. I love that Sydney has this grounding presence for Carmy but is still a blazingly ambitious person herself. I love that they drive each other to do better in a way that's not reliant on fear or intimidation (which Carmy in particular has been made by). I love the inherent romanticism of cooking... and the choice to do it for someone close to you when it's your 24/7 exhausting JOB to do it for strangers day in and day out.
Sydney is my favorite of the two so I would adore her POV, if you're up for it, but absolutely no pressure.
As prompts go:
- What do their commutes look like and is it theoretically possible for the two of them to sit on the same train well past their respective stops just because they're so absorbed in each other's company? Do they part ways quietly when they realize their mistake or do they go on a little adventure i.e. to a small local restaurant, a place of personal significance to one of them (completely by accident), a movie...?
- Sydney's dad comes into The Bear unannounced. Everyone gives it their all to impress him, especially Carmy.
- Sydney gets her first tattoo.
- Carmy and Sydney close the restaurant together after either a very bad or a very good day. Who gets to be in charge of the aux for the restaurant speakers and does The Eagles' "Love Will Keep Us Alive" play just wondering. How fraught can you make the boring-ass tasks of cleaning up a restaurant? CHALLENGE.
NSFW is okay for this fandom!
Oh Nancy. Nancy Nancy Nancy. What was that last season, my beloved? What were we doing?
I unfortunately really did not vibe with the final season of Nancy Drew, a show that up until that point had been one of my favorites in recent years. The show's treatment of Alice was probably the most unforgivable to me. And putting Nancy through so much of a psychological and emotional beating felt borderline sadistic, idk. So really, truly, and quite honestly, Yuletide writer, I would be at peace if we just pretended that the fourth season of Nancy Drew did not happen. Death curse is in effect, Ace doesn't know about it, &c.
That canon divergence is strongly preferred, but also, I know that all of this is a matter of taste and don't want to be restrictive! There were parts of season 4 that I did enjoy and would be glad to see you run with, like the Drew Crew going their separate ways, Nancy and Ace chasing supernatural phenomena up and down the East Coast in Florence Mulder and Scully style... so if you do want to honor the show's ending, those things I am open to. Please feel free to reach out to the mods if you want clarification. <3 Thank you for dealing with my grouchiness.
My ships are Nancy/Ace, Nancy/George, and Nick/George. Feel free to slap these onto any of my ODAO likes and I will be ecstatic.
As prompts go:
- Fake dating for any of the three ships named above, and any resultant Feelings. I'm not picky about the context but Undercover Reasons are always delicious.
- More of how Nancy and George knew each other in high school please. Were they ever paired up for a group project and DID Nancy have a crush.
- I like to imagine that there's ONE dish at the Claw that Nancy can make perfectly. And would love for it to be just the thing that Ace has the munchies for one night while they're on a closing shift together.
- Epistolary-style fic of Nancy writing emails or letters to Ace (or the Drew Crew as a whole) after leaving town.
- The Drew Crew solving ANY canon Nancy Drew mystery but the one I would love to see the absolute most is The Secret of Shadow Ranch. If you can swing this, OMG. I will die. Ghost horse!
- Just an Ace character study, just in general. I want to put him under a microscope.
- Make up an absurd Horseshoe Bay tradition and make everyone participate in it.
- George and Nick's gradual arc toward getting back together again... returning to Horseshoe Bay for the Nace Wedding and rekindling their romance now that they are healthier and more stable adults...
- Your own take on how the death curse gets broken. Go BANANAS!
NSFW is okay for this fandom!
I AM NOT INTO (DNWs): big ones first—rape, incest, underage, abuse of any kind (if it's a canon part of a character's backstory, just don't be gratuitous). beyond that—heavy or detailed gore, marriage/pregnancy fic, established relationship fic (with certain exceptions), first person POV (unless it's epistolary), character bashing, angst with no happy ending, actually unrequited love (for any ships I request), high school/college/coffee shop/florist/tattooist AUs, modern AUs (for fandoms that take place in the past/a fantasy world/whatever)
EXTREMELY OPTIONAL NSFW LIKES: pegging, praise kink, phone sex, friends with benefits and navigating the territory thereof, somebody's fingers being in somebody's mouth as like a trust thing but also as a sexy thing, femdom, cute endearing human clumsiness, face-sitting (and cunnilingus from any angle tbh), guided masturbation, a little blowjob between friends, distraction kink (is that a thing?), sex that leads to an impulsive and ill-timed "i love you," sex that is quite possibly more talking than actual sex
——————————
One Piece (Live Action TV 2023)
requesting: Nami, Monkey D. Luffy, Roronoa Zoro
I literally cannot believe this is happening to me. One Piece wasn't supposed to get me. I was supposed to be immune to all of the major shounen. Naruto didn't get me! Bleach didn't get me! For so, so, so many formative years of my life One Piece didn't get me! And then Iñaki Godoy had to exist.
As a consequence of being so so taken with the live action Netflix adaptation of One Piece I have come to learn many more facts about One Piece than I would have once cared to imagine. That is to say, spoilers are fine. But the bulk of my investment is channeled into the live action version.
I also do want to be clear that despite requesting Nami + Luffy + Zoro only I love all of the Straw Hats with all my heart and cannot imagine any of them without each other. I would just like the Romance Dawn Trio's love for each other to be the centerpiece. If you like me are wearing your romance glasses then I love the throuple that is Nami/Luffy/Zoro, and I love Nami/Zoro, and I love Nami/Luffy, and I love Luffy/Zoro. But I love Nami most of all so like the IDEAL arrangement is the throuple. I don't headcanon Luffy as aroace.
The romance of the high seas! The wonder of trust! The miracle of companionship! The willingness to sacrifice anything for one's nakama! Zoro being unable to commit to literally anything without it being a VOW with his HAND laid over his HEART! The way Luffy stares at Nami's mouth! Usopp! All of these are things I love about OPLA.
As prompts go:
- The Straw Hats take bets and propose theories as to how Luffy got his scar. None of them are prepared for the actual answer. Nami/Luffy self-harm survivors vibe optional.
- Nami and Zoro realize they are both in love with Luffy. They overthink it. He does not. Just any kind of OT3 negotiation would be so wonderful. Their love for each other is so powerful.
- Slice of life visit to an island of your choice. Exploring! Shopping! Jigs to sea shanties by candlelight in a bar optional? SHIPPY jigs to sea shanties in a bar by candlelight optional?! TO HERE'S A HEALTH?!?!?!
- My brain is so simple but really any arrangement of Nami/Luffy/Zoro kissing or being crewmates with benefits or WHATEVER. Here for it.
- Nami or Luffy or Zoro get grievously injured protecting the other and so many emotions are had. There is a FALL-OUT. Usopp must keep the peace. I'm just spitballing here.
- My absolute dream is a Nami character study combined with her relationships with each of the Straw Hats we've met so far... run with this as much as you like.
Very OK with any of these ships for treat purposes—Nami/Luffy/Zoro, Nami/Luffy, Nami/Zoro, Luffy/Zoro, Luffy/Usopp, Luffy/Sanji, Kaya/Usopp, Buggy/Shanks, Shanks/Mihawk, Luffy/Koby, Koby/Helmeppo...I didn't request over half of these just putting it out there into the universe.
NSFW is okay for this fandom!
——————————
Super 8 (2011)
requesting: Joe Lamb, Alice Dainard
Super 8 (2011)
requesting: Joe Lamb, Alice Dainard
2013 was my first Yuletide, and I requested Super 8 because it was my favorite movie at the time. Lo and behold I did get a fic for it, which was stupendous. I ended up re-watching this tiny gem of a film last year in honor of its ten-year anniversary (God) and my love for it was rekindled, albeit from a different angle. Namely: what are the kids like when they are twenty-somethings and still have not processed their trauma? So that is what I would LOVE to read about.
Joe and Alice's relationship was very special to me and the way it was written was brilliant: how she is the first one to look his grief in the eye, without apology but with total kindness, and how he is the first one to look at hers right back. What are their lives like ten or so years on? Did they drift apart and then find each other again? (My favorite scenario.) Is there a high school reunion in Lillian that brings all the friends back together, and do they end up confronting what they went through, at the bar that's been there forever or on the living room floor of someone's parents' house or out in an empty field at midnight, all of them half drunk and half in love with each other? I want to see this movie get the It Chapter Two treatment. I want to see Alice and Joe fall in love as adults who've been through more than anyone else can understand. I want to see Joe and Charles, still the best of friends even if time and distance have separated them for a while. I just want to know what happens to all of them, and I want it to be about friendship and love and getting better, and being the only few people in this world who look up at the stars and see something nobody else does. Just give me more, more, more!!!
P.S. I think Cary and Martin would definitely fall in love with each other as adults. Would love to see them doing that in any capacity, foreground or background.
No NSFW for this fandom, please.
——————————
Klute (1971)
requesting: John Klute, Bree Daniels
WHAT IS THEIR LIFE LIKE AFTER THE MOVIE?! I wish I had a more detailed prompt but that's literally all I want. A like, slice of life examination of what happens when Bree moves back to Pennsylvania, which I imagine would in fact be shit for her—does she go back to New York, does he follow her, do they drift apart and find each other again years later, do they stick together and learn each other in harmless and ordinary circumstances, does her cat like Klute, is the sex good? Bree Daniels is just one of my favorite characters ever; I would be so thrilled to see you run away with any headcanons you might have about her, what came before, what comes after, how she copes with it all, the battered but powerful love she has inside of her. Blagh! Love this movie.
NSFW is okay for this fandom!
——————————
The Bear (TV 2022)
requesting: Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto, Sydney Adamu
I have only watched season one so far but will surely have watched season two by the time posting comes around, so please don't hold back! I really adored these two and their dynamic, romantic or platonic or friends with benefits or whatever else. I love that Sydney has this grounding presence for Carmy but is still a blazingly ambitious person herself. I love that they drive each other to do better in a way that's not reliant on fear or intimidation (which Carmy in particular has been made by). I love the inherent romanticism of cooking... and the choice to do it for someone close to you when it's your 24/7 exhausting JOB to do it for strangers day in and day out.
Sydney is my favorite of the two so I would adore her POV, if you're up for it, but absolutely no pressure.
As prompts go:
- What do their commutes look like and is it theoretically possible for the two of them to sit on the same train well past their respective stops just because they're so absorbed in each other's company? Do they part ways quietly when they realize their mistake or do they go on a little adventure i.e. to a small local restaurant, a place of personal significance to one of them (completely by accident), a movie...?
- Sydney's dad comes into The Bear unannounced. Everyone gives it their all to impress him, especially Carmy.
- Sydney gets her first tattoo.
- Carmy and Sydney close the restaurant together after either a very bad or a very good day. Who gets to be in charge of the aux for the restaurant speakers and does The Eagles' "Love Will Keep Us Alive" play just wondering. How fraught can you make the boring-ass tasks of cleaning up a restaurant? CHALLENGE.
NSFW is okay for this fandom!
——————————
Nancy Drew (TV 2019)
requesting: Ace, Nancy Drew, George Fan, Ned Nickerson
Nancy Drew (TV 2019)
requesting: Ace, Nancy Drew, George Fan, Ned Nickerson
Oh Nancy. Nancy Nancy Nancy. What was that last season, my beloved? What were we doing?
I unfortunately really did not vibe with the final season of Nancy Drew, a show that up until that point had been one of my favorites in recent years. The show's treatment of Alice was probably the most unforgivable to me. And putting Nancy through so much of a psychological and emotional beating felt borderline sadistic, idk. So really, truly, and quite honestly, Yuletide writer, I would be at peace if we just pretended that the fourth season of Nancy Drew did not happen. Death curse is in effect, Ace doesn't know about it, &c.
That canon divergence is strongly preferred, but also, I know that all of this is a matter of taste and don't want to be restrictive! There were parts of season 4 that I did enjoy and would be glad to see you run with, like the Drew Crew going their separate ways, Nancy and Ace chasing supernatural phenomena up and down the East Coast in Florence Mulder and Scully style... so if you do want to honor the show's ending, those things I am open to. Please feel free to reach out to the mods if you want clarification. <3 Thank you for dealing with my grouchiness.
My ships are Nancy/Ace, Nancy/George, and Nick/George. Feel free to slap these onto any of my ODAO likes and I will be ecstatic.
As prompts go:
- Fake dating for any of the three ships named above, and any resultant Feelings. I'm not picky about the context but Undercover Reasons are always delicious.
- More of how Nancy and George knew each other in high school please. Were they ever paired up for a group project and DID Nancy have a crush.
- I like to imagine that there's ONE dish at the Claw that Nancy can make perfectly. And would love for it to be just the thing that Ace has the munchies for one night while they're on a closing shift together.
- Epistolary-style fic of Nancy writing emails or letters to Ace (or the Drew Crew as a whole) after leaving town.
- The Drew Crew solving ANY canon Nancy Drew mystery but the one I would love to see the absolute most is The Secret of Shadow Ranch. If you can swing this, OMG. I will die. Ghost horse!
- Just an Ace character study, just in general. I want to put him under a microscope.
- Make up an absurd Horseshoe Bay tradition and make everyone participate in it.
- George and Nick's gradual arc toward getting back together again... returning to Horseshoe Bay for the Nace Wedding and rekindling their romance now that they are healthier and more stable adults...
- Your own take on how the death curse gets broken. Go BANANAS!
NSFW is okay for this fandom!
——————————
Thank you so, so much again for writing for me. There were a lot of stories to love this year. I hope that you are safe and warm and happy wherever you are, and wish you every kindness in the new year.
Love,
Brella
Love,
Brella
