#Yuletide letter

[scifihobbit]

Yuletide Letter 2023

I’ve been participating in Yuletide incredibly sporadically since 2009. I love it here! It's such a fun look at what we as fandom care about and such an incredible labor of love from everyone involved.

I'm scifihobbit over on AO3 as well. I am very open to treats. Thanks for reading my letter! (I didn't get this posted in time to include it with my sign-up, but maybe you found it anyway.) We all know the mantra, optional details are entirely optional, so, if you even see this letter, don't feel beholden to it, just use it as a jumping off point if you're so inclined.

I enjoy yuletide for so many different reasons. The gift work isn't the end-all be-all of it. (It's about the friends we made along the way!) So, if you're feeling anxious, know that I'm going to have a great time no matter what, so, have fun with it!

Things I'm a sucker for in general

Character studies

World-building

“There was only one bed”

Found families

Angst with a happy ending

Hurt/Comfort

Broken characters finding ways to heal each other in general

Using smarm to hide wildly low self-esteem

Extremely close, to the point of being unhealthily codependent, friendships

Playing with genre conventions. (i.e. Something that couldn’t be easily shelved in a bookstore that insists on having a literary fiction section and a sci-fi/fantasy section and a thriller section etc.)

Canon compliance. (This is not to say that I wouldn't enjoy a story that takes canon in an unexpected or unusual direction. Like I said, throw genre conventions out the window, but I would love the story to have emanated from somewhere in canon.)

Queers and queerness and queering

DNWs:

PWP (I'm not particularly prudish, I just like me some plot, or meandering conversation.)

AUs

1st person narration

2nd person narration

Major character death (that isn’t canonical)

mpreg (well.... Lower Decks pulled it off, but, in general.)

A/B/O

Non-canon unrequested romantic relationships

Rape/non-con

Fandom: Star Trek: Lower Decks (Cartoon) Characters: (any combination) Kayshon Samanthan Rutherford Shaxs Dr. T'ana

Request: It is hard to explain how much I adore this show. I was raised on Star Trek and this show never disappoints. Every episode leaves me with a smile plastered on my face basically the entire time. I love the entire crew (and especially the main 4), so I've just requested a FEW of my favorites, but feel free to write about anyone on the Cerritos and mix and match! A few prompts/ideas for my requested characters below. (But really, all of these prompts/ideas could apply to just about any of the crew. I just want to know more about them!)

Kayshon: I am still not over the concept of Kayshon! I love him as an addition to the crew so much. The Universal Translator is a constant source of fascination for me, so of course I love the Tamarians and their whole deal. Anything you want to do to explore that would be amazing. I'm also curious about how Kayshon navigates life on the ship and in Starfleet in general. (I love the little moment where Ransom uses a Tamarian phrase and Kayshon is touched.) What does he miss about Tamarian culture? What is he surprised and delighted by on the Cerritos? How does he spend his free time?

Rutherford: My perfect cinnamon roll of an engineer dealing with more trauma than any everyman ever should! I love his energy and optimism and eagerness, and am of course fascinated by his backstory. (If you want to explore that more you should absolutely feel free! But, also, it is a giant can of worms and if you would prefer not to touch it, completely understandable.) Despite what we've learned about Billups, I won't ever be able to stop shipping Rutherford with him at least a little bit, so, if you want to explore that, be my guest. (At the very least Rutherford has a competency crush on Billups and it is adorable.) Whatever engineering adventures you want to send him on I am thrilled to follow. Whatever downtime activities you want to drop him in I'm delighted to read.

Shaxs: I love Shaxs as grumpy mentor to all the floundering ensigns. I love his one-up-manship with Kira. I'm curious to know about his time in the resistance and what brought him to Starfleet. I'd love to see him interacting with other members of the crew (lower deckers or not.) His speech to Boimler about how security's there to protect the crew's emotional well-being too was so wonderful and I'd be delighted to see more of those "missions."

T'Ana: I love a grumpy doctor! (Bones is my fav. I'll be a Pulaski defender for life.) I want to know everything about T'Ana's backstory and what she gets up to in her off hours. What was her time at the academy like? So Caitians used to hunt Betazoids?? Does she indulge in some "most dangerous game" time in the holodeck? Who are her heroes in Starfleet? Who inspired her to be where she is? (Even if she'd never admit it.) What are her friendships with the rest of the crew like? Just give me T'ana content!

More Feelings: I asked for Lower Decks last year, too. So you can check out my 2022 Yuletide letter if you want even more of my giddy delight. Also, my Star Trek and LWD tags are overflowing on this blog.

In general, Vulcans are not my jam. And I find Jennifer kind of irritating... I'm usually annoyed by the mirror universe and section 31, but if there's any place they could be properly skewered, it's in Lower Decks. My Star Trek knowledge runs deep, but I'll admit I gave up on Discovery around the beginning of season 4, didn't finish Prodigy, and have never seen The Animated Series.

Also, since Star Trek essentially invented the AU, there is certainly some wiggle room here around my AU DNW.

Fandom: Severance (TV) Characters: Irving Bailiff Burt Goodman

Request: Irving and Burt ran away with my entire heart and I want so much more about them. This was one of those rare delightful times where I started shipping something not believing the show was going to go there, and then it did!

I would be happy to read about some of their innie's stolen moments. It would be interesting to know more about their life on the outside. (How did Irving take up painting? What kind of solace does he find in it? Why did either of them decide to go through with being "severed"?)

More Feelings: This show is just so good. I love all its weird mysteries (the goats? the green house?) Its aesthetic. The found family of the MDR division. This is another show where I'm incredibly fond of all the characters, so if you want to bring in more of them, please, feel free! I would love to see Irving talking to someone else in MDR about his relationship with/burgeoning feelings for Burt. Feel free to go wild hypothesizing what might have happened after the terrible-awful-no-good-very-bad cliffhanger of season one, or set things firmly within season one.

Fandom: Oppenheimer (Movie 2023) Characters: Leslie Groves J Robert Oppenheimer

Request: Leslie's fascination with Oppenheimer was so interesting to me. I did not expect to come away from this movie with warm feelings about the military general played by Matt Damon, but man, did I.

Anything you want to write exploring their relationship (platonic or romantic) I'd love to read. They're just such an extreme set of opposites that their begrudging admiration of each other is so interesting. Their dynamic is endlessly compelling. I love how intrigued Leslie is by Oppenheimer. I find Leslie's pragmatism vs. Oppenheimer's naivete fascinating.

What was day-to-day life for them like at Los Alamos? Did they ever run into each other years later? (I'm going to be honest, I know next-to-nothing about the actual history around these people, so feel free to play it fast and loose. But also, if you're the sort of writer who likes to get lost in the nitty-gritty, don't let me stop you!)

(Do I think they had "the world might end" sex before the first test? Yes. Yes I do.)

More Feelings: Are you detecting the theme of incredibly driven, rather geeky people being drawn to each other despite/because of their differences in these requests? (I might have just noticed it myself...) I've had a soft spot for Cillian Murphy for a long time now and he was stunning in this movie. Everyone was. It was incredibly well acted and I just feel like the scenes between Groves and Oppenheimer crackled. (Well, most of the movie did.) Again, thanks for reading this letter! Have so much fun! Happy Yuletide!

[caracalliope]

Dear Yuletide Writer letter 2023

Dear Author,

Hi! Thank you for writing for me. Hope the end of 2023 finds you well.

I’m requesting my absolute favorite things I’ve read and watched this year. My Optional Details are EXTREMELY optional: anything you write in these fandoms is going to bring me joy.  If you have any questions, anon asks are turned on.

My requests this year are: the Doctor Blake Mysteries, the Dom DM, Vespertine, Several People Are Typing..., The Seven (Dimension 20), Demon 79 (Black Mirror episode).

In general, I like romance! Kink! Friendship! Hurt/comfort! Characters knowing each other really well! Drama! Anguish! Loyalty! Weird AUs (especially BDSM AUs or historical/fantasy AUs)! Experimental or unusual formats (including 1st and 2nd person narration, epistolary, drabble sequences, etc.)! Ooh, also roleswap AUs.

Extremely optional specific details that please me:

Dogs. 

Kneeling, ritually or for any other reason.

Character A running a con on someone and character B rolling with it even though it wasn’t discussed beforehand.

Kisses on the wrist/shoulder/neck/knee/etc.

Painplay. Especially caning!

Characters having big feelings about their social role conflicting with what they want.

Righteous patricide (probably not applicable here, but if you can make it work, go for it)!

Characters learning about each other's passions and getting really into it.

General Do Not Wants: 

extremely unhappy endings with no hope of things ever changing, 

underage sex for characters 14 or younger,

ageplay where the character is roleplaying someone age 14 or younger,

drunk/high characters, 

noncon or abuse among the requested characters - it’s generally fine if it’s from a third party as a source of hurt/comfort,

and characters succumbing to uncontrollable instincts (heats, ruts, vampire instincts, ). This includes intense, all-consuming, uncontrollable, the-character-is-literally-a-different-person-now type subspace.

mentions of current IRL wars. Other current events are fine.

The Doctor Blake Mysteries

Characters: Lucien Blake, Jean Beazley

I am so pleased with this cozy show and its extremely creative, hard-working fandom! 

Lucien is a compelling lead; I love how much he loves his mom (even when he learns complicated things about her), and I enjoy his multifaceted kindness that coexists comfortably with him being an arrogant prick. Him changing his mind is delightful to me.

Jean is a magnificent foil and love interest. I love her many ties to the community, and the way she really understands people; her kindness is different than Blake’s, more pragmatic. I enjoy the way she defends him from threats, physical and otherwise. The scene where she calmly makes tea, and they negotiate with Hannam as a couple - magnificent!

For Yuletide, I’d love to read something adventurous or porny. Let them defeat enemies and fuck about it, is what I’m saying. Or if you prefer longing, I’d also love something about that period after they became friends but before they realized they’re in love.

I’d also enjoy a different-setting AU that explores their relationship. Feel free to throw in some more cool power differences there! You could also tilt the power in Jean’s favor if you like: say a D/s AU where she’s a dom but also his housekeeper, and Lucien is a sub but also a doctor! I like the way they navigate their canonical power difference with grace, but I’d also like to see it shook up a bit in fic.

Fandom-specific Do Not Wants:

Love triangles, jealousy. I like Mei Lin, but if she’s in the story, I prefer it to be set after the divorce, with Jean and Mei Lin being on relatively good terms.

Danny. A casual, one-off mention would be fine, but I would prefer him not to have any lines. All other secondary/supporting characters are 100% welcome (I love them all! Especially Charlie, Mattie, and Rose.)

Note: My blanket DNW for characters being drunk/high in the story does extend to Lucien! I know his drinking is a major characterization beat, and you’re welcome to mention it casually or delve into it. But for the duration of the fic, I’d prefer him to be sober.

A Dom DM - Make Some Noise (Sketch)

Any characters

Please feel free to treat it as an origific concept! You’re welcome to use any gender configuration for the characters. A good girl can be anybody.

Is this a nerdy couple who fuse their love of TTRPG with kink? How did this hobby fusion develop? Do they ever switch? Are there kinks they tried and decided they won’t do? What happens if they roll high?

(Very optionally, I like the headcanon that the sub’s failed kneeling roll is because of a physical disability. That sounds like a fun way for a couple to work out mid-scene communication! Maybe the dice are a metaphor?)

Or you could delve into it as an AU concept: maybe it’s characters trying kink in a universe operating under TTRPG rules? Or kink is innately tied in with magic somehow? Are there Kink Bards and Kink Rogues and Kink Level-Ups? Feel free to add any amount of convoluted fantasy/sci-fi worldbuilding to it. 

Fandom-specific Do Not Wants:

Outright RPF! I don’t mind RPF usually, but for this fandom, I prefer a degree of separation from the creators. Absolutely feel free to include other Brennan moments in your characterization (like his thoughts on DMing as submission). But please don’t have the dom character be named Brennan, and don’t base the other character on from the Dropout cast. 

Note: My noncon DNW applies, but I’d be perfectly happy with some bodice-ripping dubcon AU where the dom is a Dark Fuck Prince who is all “have them bathed and brought to my - hitherto dragonless - dungeons” and the sub is both horny and kind of hapless.

Vespertine Series - Margaret Rogerson

Characters: Artemisia, The Revenant, Leander

Absolutely obsessed with the FEELINGS between Artemisia and her revenant, as well as Artemisia and Leander. There is so much deliciousness packed into this book.

I love the revenant’s growing loyalty, the way its innate curiosity drove its need to understand its nun (my headcanon is that, when the Raven King was sundered, our revenant got his curiosity in the divorce); and conversely, Artemisia FINALLY found someone who sees all of her and understands the ways she tries to make the world better. She’s got all this strange, offputting kindness and resilience in her - she always did! And now she gets to nurture that and also take care of herself, and all that needed to happen was a lil bit of demonic possession. <3

Leander, meanwhile, is a loser, and I say this with all the love in my heart. I need him to be at least a little reverent about Artemisia. She’s his saint, he ought to kneel at her feet like a worm, etc. etc. but also he’s kind of micromanaging and she’s not doing anything the right and proper way. What’s a sad masochist to do!?!

In fic, I’d love to see the three of them build something love-filled and lasting. It’s up to interpretation exactly how the revenant and Leander would feel about each other! Speaking of sad masochists, I think this is a good OT3 - or platonic OT3 - for some kinkfic. Namely, Leander getting flogged by his saint, or, like in this post by Rogerson, offering up his body for Artemisia and the revenant to get to touch each other. ("Stop hitting Yourself!)

Fandom-specific Do Not Wants:

Please don’t give the revenant a separate permanent body! I like body sharing too much (see also: Malevolent podcast). Feel absolutely free to write a different-setting AU, but even if they’re high schoolers or space werewolves, let Artemisia and the revenant share a body.

Note: I like the revenant using it/its pronouns like in canon, but if that doesn’t work for you, please feel free to go with whatever you like! 

Several People Are Typing - Calvin Kasulke

Any characters

I’m so into this strange little Night Vale Does WFH Hell book, and I’m fond of all its characters. I nominated my faves, but if you’re fonder of someone else, please follow your heart. I like everyone in this office-slash-work-community-slash-layer-of-hell, and I like the way they’re all somewhat fond of each other. I love routine-loving Doug Smorin, Kerolyn of the skinks, and Louis C being too much of a dad to be fully involved in the Twilight Zone of it all.

Gerald/Pradeep is such a compelling gradual romance, I love that Gerald is the only one to call him Deepu, and I love the strange forced intimacy of, you know, just guys being dudes, taking each other of a good buddy’s flesh vessel while the good buddy has to find pleasure and maintain his humanity in the face of metaphorical and literal digital submersion of the self. I’d love to see more of their conversations. More weird intentional hedonism. Hanging out together. Finding meaning outside work or even, somehow, meaning in work.

Rob, meanwhile, has got the role of being the only sane one! Kind of! Who’s to say Lydia is any less real than Rob himself? Who’s to say she’s any less real than you or me? I love the surreality of the whole plotline. Maybe you could write about the wolves? Howling is a good theme for Yuletide.

Or write about dear, sweet, precious, horny Slackbot! It’s interesting that this book came out before ChatGPT got to be everywhere. Combine the two in some unholy way? 

I don’t know, please have fun. If you’d like to write an AU set at your job, or an AU where they’re all exchange mods or activists or members of a spreadsheet-centered polycule, that would be cool too.

Fandom-specific Do Not Wants:

Graphic descriptions of pet death. RIP to Bjärk loyalists but I’m different.

Please no fucking of Gerald’s body when nobody’s in it.

Fandom: Dimension 20: The Seven

Characters: Sam Nightingale, Antiope Jones

OKAY, I WON’T LIE: I ship these two like burning. I ship all of the Maidens on some level, but Sam/Antiope are my favorites and I think they fit together beautifully. BUT I also adore their friendship, and I would love to see more of their canon dynamic but in new situations.

Sam is a delight to me, the way she accurately recognizes when something is a terrible, self-destructive idea, and then she goes ahead to do it anyway. She’s got no reason to trust good things happening to her, and she lashes out preemptively because that’s better than trusting and getting screwed over (as by Penelope). BUT she’s also got a secret kindness and largesse, and I love the way it manifests towards Talura, towards Taffodil, possibly even towards random people they meet on their adventures.

And then Antiope is sort of the conceptual opposite of Sam: she KNOWS she’s loved and she knows where she belongs to - or, at least, where she’s supposed to belong to - but she’s struggling with her authentic sense of self. (Sam’s ALWAYS known who she is, and hence the conflict with her terrible mom, and maybe eventually the conflict with Penelope too.) Antiope is very practical and has BIG FEELINGS she’s keeping restrained, and I love the way she and Sam spark into conflicts, but Antiope is so dedicated to being a good leader, not just because she’s even-keeled but because she’s got a very good sense of the right justice/compassion balance.

In fic, I’d love to see them save each other from Situations. Whether they’re friends or lovers, I’d love them to have a femme-butch kind of dynamic? (If you watch Dirty Laundry, a recent episode had Aabria casually kiss a friend’s hand, and that is definitely, definitely something I can see Antiope doing too). Weird/wacky/sexy AUs seem especially interesting here, like goddess AUs, soulmate AUs, D/s AUs, etc.

Fandom-specific Do Not Wants:

Violent transphobia, worse than in canon. I loved Sam’s interactions with her mom, and her reluctance to be filmed, but I wouldn’t like to see transphobia interfere more intensely than that with her life.

Please no cheating/infidelity, or even friendship jealousy. I know Sam’s possessive, and I love that about her, but I’m not interested in “Antiope is spending more time with others” as a source of angst at this time.

Black Mirror: Demon 79 (TV 2023)

Characters: Nida Huq (Black Mirror: Demon 79), Gaap (Black Mirror: Demon 79)

I’ve been staring at this request like a deer in headlights for days now.

I just want more? Literally every second they spent together was perfect, and I want to revel in that feeling. So I apologize if this request turns out hazy: it’s not through a lack of love for the canon, I just don’t know in what direction to take my feelings.

Nida and Gaap? Are perfect. I have no idea if they’re friends or lovers or demon/apprentice or even some kind of subverted twisty demon/worshiper or whatever else. I’d love some post-canon fic set in the void. Bring in other demons? Make it hurt/comforty? Or just ignore the ending have them explore Earth. I love Gaap’s appearance being Boney M-inspired, and I think maybe the two of them should go clubbing. Or they could bring clubbing into the void? Oooh, or they could try out some outfits. Nida finally has a willing model, if she’s into that sort of thing.

I do appreciate the episode’s deeper themes too. Nida Versus Seventies British Fascism is a deeply satisfying story, and I love just how creepy and visceral that part turned out. I was initially going to say I don’t want a no-magic AU, but actually, I could really enjoy like a kitchen sink realism approach, as long as it still ends on SOME kind of victoriousness for Nida and Gaap.

The crux of this ship, to me, is that everything is almost entirely unbearable for Nida, but, she’s got a hammer and also a demon pal. And frankly the world is not worth saving if it keeps failing her.

Fandom-specific Do Not Wants:

Betrayal or perceived betrayal. They like each other despite everything, and even during their spat they’re sort of on each other’s side.

Edit: it also just occurred to me that they'd make for magnificent vampires together.

THANK YOU FOR READING

THIS LETTER GOT LONGER THAN I MEANT IT TO BE. I hope you find something here to spark an idea! But again feel free to go wherever your canon feelings take you

Hope you have a happy Yule!

[itsjuneofallthings]

dear yuletide writer, 

This is my second yuletide and I'm still as lost what to put in a letter as I was last year, but it didn't stop me then either!

So, just let me tell you: 

Thank you so much for writing for me!

I hope this letter helps to spark some inspiration and  you'll have the utmost fun writing and please, don’t just write for me! It’s first and foremost for you and I’m just a happy beneficiary!

This being said, let’s get started: 

Likes: 

M/M Pairings (But I don’t mind and also like good written M/F Pairings, or M/M/F)

Friendships

Found Family Dynamics

Soulmate-AUs

Hurt/Comfort (dealing with PTSD, trauma, phobics, you name it, and being taken care of, getting help and being loved) 

Slow Burn

Smut (including, blowjobs, handjobs, analsex, fingering, etc, just mind the dnws please :))

Porn with Plot

Angst

Fluff

Happy Endings

Cuddling

Tender Touches (holding the neck, caressing the cheek/lip, hand in hair)

kisses 

getting together

first times

DNW: 

A/B/O Dynamics

Rape/Non-Con

Incest

BDSM

Dom/Sub

Daddy-Kink

Underage

Abuse of animals

Bloodplay

Watersports

Impact Play

de-aging

humiliation

vampires/werwolves AU

reader-insert

My beloved fandoms are

The Hurog-Series

Seriously, I LOVE THE BOOKS!

Oreg got me after his first sentence and I kept falling deeper and deeper for him. 

I love his banter, his wit and his power, and I love that he, as the probably most powerful mage walking around, still has boundaries. 

I love his and Wardwicks dynamics, the friendship, love and trust they share and of course I love Wardwick, our little dumb looking hero with heart of gold and caring nature. 

I also really, really love Tisala because she is a wonderful, loving person and a fierce badass and she wouldn’t hesitate to put Ward back in his place if she had to. 

That being said:

I’d love to read something about Oreg being taken care of, I’m sure he still suffers from plenty of PTSD and he deserves hugs and love and soft strokes through his hair. 

Maybe, if you’d also like, a polyamourus relationship between the three of them, maybe just deep and reassuring friendship moments between the dragon and the hurogmeten. 

But there is also Seleg! And so much that happened between them and- there are so many things to explore and so many stories to tell! 

I'm already excited! 

Anyway, I’ll be happy! 

A Quiet Place

These movies. 

THESE MOVIES. 

I love the world, the always luring danger, the silence, the smallest sounds are doom, the atmosphere. 

I love Regan and I love Emmett and I love Regan and Emmett (But NOT as a romantic couple! This is really, really DNW!)

I love their dynamics, the speech barriers, the taking care, the father/daughter-big brother/little sister vibes

To be honest, I have no specific prompt, I’d just love to read some fics of them.

(okay, while I’m writing, maybe ASL lessons? Their own language? Gift giving? Taking care of emmetts wound (Not in a weird sexual way)? the fallout after the radio station? I don’t- I just- you know? You know. 

Olympus has fallen (Movies)

Mike Banning is a walking disaster and I love him for that. 

he and his (imho) boyfriend are kinda doomed from the start (how good can something run, when it is your job to literally take a bullet for your husband?) but they make it work, while screaming “DRAMA” and running from terrorists. 

Again, I guess, no prompts for this fandom, too?, but I don’t (really don’t) mind canon typical violence and speech. 

I’m pretty sure someone REALLY needs to start to look after Mike before he burns out (wouldn’t that be a lovely task for our beloved president asher?) So yes, he also deserves some comfort (and to be honest: therapy).

That being said, also Ben deserves his PTSD outburst, his nightterrors after nearly being killed by terrorist (twice!) and his fears and panic attacks being take care of (and therapy) 

But this doesn’t have to be a romantic relationship, great friendships are also this: great.

Maybe they didn’t even like each other at the beginning? (Mike can be bossy, to be fair) ;)

Chernobyl

My beloved. 

Boris and Valerie have written hurt, no comfort wide across their lovely faces in big, bolt letters but they deserve some comfort nonetheless, right? Right!

I’d like the fear and the glooming doom, the invisible death, lingering in every breath take, the fighting against windmills and against invisible, untouchable party members who just order something so utterly stupid that-! 

I like the ship of them because the ever present fear of being caught, (generally don’t like homophobia, but canon and period typical homophobia are such a great fuel for drama and hurt/comfort plots…) and that middle aged men can still find and fall in love. 

But also, the friendship between these two is awesome and I love to read more about them. 

So, that’s it. 

I hope this got you some insight, feel free to also browse my ao3 for more, it this isn’t enough. 

have a great yuletide!

And, again, thank you so much! 

lots of love

masked_madness 

[tabbyclaw]

Yep, I'm doing this. Crosssposting my Yuletide letter here just for the hell of it.

Overall I like stories that are more on the lighthearted side, fun with a bit of humor and a happy ending. Grand, world-saving plots are always great, but I love an adventure where the stakes are low and personally important to the characters, and when the plot gives them a chance to show off their competence and recognize the competence of the people around them. (Most of the characters I've requested are a bit pathetic or goofy to some degree or another and I absolutely encourage embracing that, but they're also good at what they do and I'd like them to have a chance to shine.) I don't like AUs that completely change the canon setting and circumstances, but I'm always interested to see what people do with "What if [canon event] happened differently?"-type AUs. Characters and their interactions are always the biggest thing I'm here for, so I'm definitely hoping for banter and casual physical affection, both platonic and romantic. And speaking of romantic, there are definitely some requests here where that's what I'm hoping for, although in all cases I will absolutely be happy with platonic relationships between the characters as well. For romantic stories I'm a sucker for mutual pining and accidental feelings realizations, and I love unusual and unexpected romantic moments and flirtation, where maybe this wouldn't look like flirting if anyone else was doing it, but when it's these specific characters it definitely is. I'm not keen on second-person POV, but first and third are equally welcome.

DNWs: explicit sex, unrequested non-canon pairings, unrequested identity headcanons, non-canon character death, tragic/bleak endings, mundane/modern/setting change AUs, non-canon severe illness/injury (canon-typical comedic, non-permanent injuries in cartoon canons are fine), animal harm.

Fandom-specific likes and prompts

Darkwing Duck Requested characters: Drake Mallard, Gosalyn Mallard, Launchpad McQuack

I'd really love some domesticity for this group, especially mixed in with the way their home lives intersect with the crimefighting. Navigating the early days of making it work as a household and as a family, and how that changes over time. Possibly as Gosalyn gets older Darkwing considers bringing her into the crimefighting business (maybe to fill in temporarily because Launchpad is unavailable for some reason, or maybe as a more permanent thing) and has to walk the parenting tightrope of "wanting to help my kid grow" and "wanting to keep my kid safe"? Or maybe a look at her relationship with Launchpad specifically, and how it differs from her relationship with her dad? Also, Launchpad is out there being a superhero's sidekick with no secret identity to protect him and it should be super easy to connect him to both his lives. I don't actually have any specific thoughts about that; it just makes me go "Hey, wait a minute" sometimes and I wanted to throw it out there. And I definitely ship Darkwing/Launchpad, so if the spirit moves you in that direction knock yourself out. (But nothing about them dealing with homophobia, please!)

Kung Fu Panda Requested characters: Tigress, Shifu

This is a request made mostly in hopes of fix-it fic. The original movie makes it clear enough how desperate Tigress is for Shifu's approval, and every time the extended materials dip into her backstory it just hammers home how long she's been chasing it and how much not getting it has affected her. What I'd really like to see is Shifu actually recognizing that post-canon (or at least post-first film) and making some effort to ease that pain and improve the relationship between them going forward. I don't need a huge dramatic blow-up with groveling, just something that says the first steps are being taken. (Maybe something tied to that still of the two of them eating noodles in the end credits? I always felt like that suggested some of the tension between them loosening up.) And if that whole thing feels like kind of a lot (fair), maybe something about what she was like growing up, before things got really difficult. I've always thought that her time with him must have overlapped with Tai Lung's (would Shifu have taken her in so readily if he was already bitter about his previous failure?), so what would that have been like, and how would that loss that she was too young to understand have affected their relationship?

Oxventure D&D Requested characters: Prudence, Corazon de Ballena

That reference I made in my general likes, to characters who are pathetic or goofy but still surprisingly competent? I was definitely counting the Oxventurers among those, and Corazon especially. I love how cool he thinks he is, and how cool Prudence actually is (well, you know, most of the time), and I love the chemistry between them when they're being terrible people who are trying very hard to pretend not to care and failing miserably at it. Especially when they're being a mix of terrible and caring towards each other. They play off each other so well and have so much chemistry that I'd love to see them doing almost anything together (unintentionally taking a day off in the same place? Secretly planning a job they don't think the rest of the guild will approve of?), but I do specifically ship it pretty hard and I am always down to see things go in that direction. Anything that involves accidentally realizing and/or revealing their feelings for each other would be great, and specifically I think these two would be perfect for a fake dating plot (as part of a plan that made sense at the time? To piss off Corazon's dad?) that gets more real than either of them ever intended it to.

Megamind Requested characters: Megamind, Roxanne Ritchi

Even when these two are in conflict there's a level of sincerity and familiarity between them that I love, and they're already pretty flirty and comfortable with each other from the very beginning of the movie. I'd be interested to see a pre-canon take on that, with the two of them gradually getting bolder and more familiar in their interactions as Megamind starts to develop an interest in Roxanne and Roxanne realizes that a) Megamind is basically harmless and b) it's really fun to push his buttons. If "Bernard" had never happened, would they have ever gotten to an 'openly interested in each other' stage on their own? Alternately, post-canon it would be fun to see the two of them learning to live in each other's worlds, with Roxanne helping Megamind get used to being around people and interacting with the public like just another citizen, and Roxanne getting used to being with someone who approaches everything in his life (including romance) with the same level of drama and spectacle he devotes to villainy.

[beautifulduckweed]

Dear Yuletide Author 2023

Shh! Listen—can you hear it? That weird humming sound? That's me, vibrating with joy and anticipation for everything that Yuletide brings, especially what you, dear Yuletide author, have in store for me.

I’m beautifulduckweed on AO3. Below is a list of likes, a short list of DNWs, as well as my requests for Yuletide. I've included prompts, but please know that they are ABSOLUTELY just suggestions and points of inspiration; feel free to deviate from them, or ditch them entirely and write me something else. God knows I can’t write my own dang stories without taking several wild left turns along the way.

Thanks so much for my gift, and I hope you have a blast writing.

💖🥰 Some things I like 🥰💖

Crackfic and mashups. No premise to stupid, no crossover too incongruous. Listen, recently someone in another exchange requested John Wick x Marie Kondo and I have legit lost sleep thinking about that.

Sexytimes. Please note that I absolutely do not require sex! Some of my favorite exchange gifts have featured absolutely zero sex on page. But if the smutty muse strikes—well, far be it for me to stop you. My tolerance is…high. No, higher. No, no, higher than that. Look, I’ve been a denizen of the Internet long enough that I subscribed to porn newsgroups, OK? My constitution is CAST IRON. I especially enjoy service topping, orgasm control (delayed? denied? forced? ruined? YES), femdoms, people coming untouched, multiple orgasms, overstimulation, improbable feats of horny stamina, people losing control while fucking, gangbangs, and threesomes/moresomes/orgies. I also really love first times, and people finally dropping their defenses and allowing themselves to be vulnerable during sex, and the STOP MAKING LOVE TO ME WHEN WE'RE FUCKING trope. I do have a small list of smut no’s in the Do Not Wants section.

Tropes. Some of my fave tropes are idiots to lovers (idiot4idiot4eva), friends to lovers, forced proximity, cramming attractive people into corsets, drag queen AUs, SFF AUs of every stripe (daemon? Pacific Rim? Superhero/supervillain? Vampires? Inception? Yes yes yessss). I absolutely adore the golden retriever/hissy feral cat dynamic. I also like two soft-hearted dinguses doing their best and trying to treat each other right. And ain't nothin' wrong with enemies who are obsessed with each other who OOPS realize their preoccupation may be more than mere antipathy.

I’d also like to note that much as I love a fic that’s like, a trope confetti cannon, I also really love having tropes (and expectations) subverted. Like, take your standard daemon AU. What would happen if the main character and their daemon…didn’t like each other? What if they were, in fact, mortal enemies? It would be so fucked! I would love to read about it!!!

Horror and gore. I love scary stories and horror; I have a really high tolerance for gore. If you want to lean into action sequences, gore, and body horror, I am (with a few exceptions, which I’m gonna list in the DNWs) gonna be totally cool with it. I basically jumped straight from Enid Blyton to Stephen King. My childhood media consumption was very normal why do you ask 😊

And other stuff. If you want to fuck around with the format of the fic, play around with structure, format, voice, POV, all of it, please do. Here for any weird shit you care to toss my way.

I also really love having my sense of what’s real and what’s not messed with. Like, is it ever possible to have a fully reliable narrator? What is the nature of truth and reality anyway? What role does the overall narratorial voice or framing device of the story play in our perception of the story? I regret to inform you that I'm writing this 100% sober; this is just how my brain is all the time.

😭🚫Do Not Wants 🚫😭

Pet death. I am totally fine with, like, random rabbit needs to be killed for dinner while out in the woods, or oh no, we have to defend ourselves from a charging hippo or hostile lizard from outer space.

Animal cruelty. Brief mentions of stuff happening in the past or whatever are fine; seeing an animal tortured on-page is a big no.

Major character death. Random minions, as always, can be sacrificed to the storytelling gods. NOTE: Major character undeath fine.

Kink and smut no’s: I’m not into blood, scat, vomit or piss. Please no noncon/dubcon where a woman is the victim. NOTE: sex pollen scenarios whereby everybody loses their mind simultaneously is totally fine, as is Fuck or Die.

Unhappy/hopeless endings. Bittersweet is fine; endings where it’s clear a cost has been paid and everybody’s changed etc. etc. also fine, but like, please don’t leave the characters absolutely miserable or unrelentingly tormented by their demons (unless the demons are sexy and the torment is also sexy).

Breakups without makeups: If I requested a canon pairing, or if you decide to write a shippy pairing, please leave their relationship intact at the end of the story. It can take a battering! Just don't break them—or my poor little heart—apart. NOTE: If you're writing a missing scene that takes place while or leads up to a period when the characters are canonically on a break, leaving them broken up or the fight unresolved is fine, because I know canon takes care of things.

🍪🧁Treats 🧁🍪

Are very yes. Love me some treats!!!

📝🎅The Requests 🎅📝

Fandom: The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting - K.J. Charles

Characters: Alice Fenwick, Marianne Loxleigh

Thoughts/Prompts: I am a simple bean, and all I want is Alice and Marianne having adventures. Maybe some lesbian porn. Or platonic lesbian BFF vibes. You can have 'em fall in love, or become platonic life partners, or fuck a lot and never fall in love, or start an elaborate grift or heist together. Like, wouldn’t it be hot if Marnie decided Alice needed some tutoring in the ways of fuckboys, lured one in, and used him to tutor Alice in the ways of satisfying herself while not getting pregnant? I’m seriously down for whatever.

Also, as with all of my fandom requests, please feel free to drag in as many other characters in as necessary. The more, the merrier; I just want Alice and Marnie’s relationship front and center.

Crack Prompts: Hey what about a vampire AU? Marnie as a vampire would be hot—hundreds of years of grifting, and GOD what the hell is up with this entirely-too-nice nerd oh WHOOPS turns out she’s her generation’s foremost vampire hunter. Alice as the vampire would also be amazing—Marnie tries to con Alice and discovers she’s bitten off more than she can chew (ba-dum-tish).

Vampire AU not your cuppa? How about crossovers with literally any other KJC universe? Stick ‘em in Magpies, or have them tangle with the Lilywhite Boys, solve a murder mystery with Pat and Fen, cosh some villains on the head with the Will Darling crew, accidentally fall into an orgy with the Murder, be pulled through time by one of the Green Men. I have read all the KJC books and extras. Go nuts.

Fandom: England Series - K.J. Charles

Characters: Bill Merton, Jimmy Yoxall

Thoughts/Prompts: Look, I love idiots, and these two are SUCH MAGNIFICENT IDIOTS. Jimmy is a giant doofus, and Bill thinks he's smarter, but all evidence points to him being at least as big an idiot when it comes to matters of the heart. I get all feral and heart-eyes over these two nincompoops. I will accept any and everything for these two: fics of the two of them getting to know each other during their university days, falling in love in London, THAT HORRIBLE FIGHT AFTER BEN HUR. Whatever. I ain't picky. I also said one time that they'd be great in Lower Decks and ever since then I may have brainwormed myself a little. They'd be so good in the USS Cerritos! Also down 2 clown with like, incongruous mashups---like John Wick? God, what if Jimmy Yoxall was just really weirdly good at murder, and Bill has to keep his stupid ass alive?

Opt-in for this specific fandom: waiving the breakup without makeup DNW for anything that takes place pre-Proper English events.

Fandom: Fire Island (Movie 2022)

Characters: Noah, Will

Thoughts/Prompts: Goddd, over a year later and it's still my favorite Pride and Prejudice adaptation to date. The found family vibes! Noah explicitly being non-monogamous! The dynamics between ALL the characters, but especially Noah and Howie!!! I am down for whatever for this fandom. Wanna write a big ole sweaty orgy? Have the entire crew go on a giant chaotic family vacation together? (Maybe even…the following year’s trip to Fire Island???). Somebody somehow manages to dare Will into entering a drag contest, and it’s gonna take everyone’s help to make this happen. Noah suddenly finds himself a TikTok sensation and gets into a weird Twitter beef with Taylor Swift.

Crack Prompts: These fools would be incredible in What We Do in the Shadows and Our Flag Means Death.

ALSO, oh my god: since this is a Pride and Prejudice retelling, how about sticking ‘em in a Regency romance novel? I’m inordinately fond of Loretta Chase, and the thought of these four idiots running amuck in the ton is giving me so much glee. Like, think of the Lord of Scoundrels retelling: Will is determined to rescue his idiot friend Charlie from the toils of Noah, a notorious rake, only to find himself reluctantly falling for Noah’s charms. And in the meanwhile, Charlie is falling in love with Howie….

[thecoziestbean]

Dear Yuletide Writer Letter 2023

Hi! Hello! How are you? Thank you so much for writing me something! I already think you're brilliant. This is my first Yuletide, and I am both very excited and very nervous. I hope something in here inspires you and that you have fun writing for me. I'm sure I'm going to have fun reading whatever you write. Again, thank you thank you thank you!

My Likes/Dislikes

Likes: enemies/rivals to lovers, villain fuckers, hard headed women, smut (especially smut that reveals something to one or more characters about themselves or their emotional states), "I can make them worse," forced proximity (road trips/travel, there was only one bed, locked in a closet, forced to work together to get out of a tricky situation, etc.), grumpy/sunshine, humor, character studies, character introspection, worldbuilding, I’m happy with canon settings or AUs (including modern ones), fairy tale & mythological elements, metaphors from the natural world, praise kink, soft dom, bratting/brat taming, manhandling, spanking, size kink (but not done to an extreme or in excessive, explicit detail)

Dislikes/DNWs: bugs of the creepy crawly variety, unprompted crossovers; unprompted genderbending; pregnancy and kidfic (ok if it’s not the main focus of the fic); cheating/infidelity (again, ok if it’s not the main focus of the fic); hurt/no comfort or totally hopeless endings; scat, watersports, vomit; incest; underage; mommy/daddy kink; forced noncon/assault (dubcon, and coercive noncon, including mindcontrol, is alright)

Prompts/Fandoms

Prompt 1: The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (TV)

Galadriel | Artanis

I’d love a character study of Galadriel, in particular her relationship to power (her own, political power, Sauron’s offer, etc.). Personally, I love the Galadriel x Sauron ship, but do not expect it here. I’d just ask that whatever you write not be anti-Haladriel.

My preferences for tone vary depending on character and setting. For this prompt, I’m comfortable with anything from fluff to tragic, I’d just ask for a heads up in the tags.

Some possible prompts could include Galadriel’s ongoing struggle against and temptation by Sauron, Galadriel learning to use Nenya, when/if/how Galadriel reveals the truth about Halbrand/Sauron to Elrond/Gil-galad/etc.

Prompt 2: Uprooted - Naomi Novik (Book)

Agnieszka

The Dragon | Sarkan

I’d love an exploration of Agnieszka & Sarkan’s romantic relationship post-canon. I like happy endings, but I'm open to what that might look like to you. If you'd like to incorporate the Wood as a character, that's fine, I'd just like the focus to be on Agnieszka and Sarkan.

Prompt 3: The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern (Book)

Celia Bowen

Marco Alisdair

I’d love an exploration of Celia and Marco's romantic relationship. Some possible prompt ideas: Celia and/or Marco creating one of the circus attractions for the other, rivals to lovers, or what happens to them post-canon. I like happy endings, but I'm open to what that might look like to you.

Prompt 4: The Bards of Bone Plain - Patricia McKillip (Book)

Princess Beatrice

I love character studies and stories that reflect on how characters have changed or how far they’ve come. I'd enjoy something like this for Princess Beatrice set during or post-canon. Feel free to use members of the Cle family if you'd like.

Treats are welcome! I'm so excited to read what you write, and can't thank you enough! Happy Yuletide!

xo - Cozy

[mustlovemustypages]

Yuletide 2022 Letter

Dear potential writer,

I hope this letter finds you well, but if not, then I hope this year’s Yuletide gives you an extra dose of happiness to diffuse these chaotic times. A great story can be the simplest way to turn around someone’s day and make life just a little bit brighter.

Thank you so much in advance for even taking the time to read this and consider writing for me. Due to the new requirement this year of opting in with treats, know that I am open and grateful for any that you may choose to write.

Below are my desired fandoms/pairings and story ideas, but please don’t feel stifled by the prompts. I’ve also listed my general likes and dislikes at the very bottom if you decide to go a different route.

Alpha and Omega by Patricia Briggs:

Characters: Leah Cornick and Bran Cornick

The world Patricia Briggs has created with Mercy Thompson and Alpha and Omega is ever-growing and continues to astound me with its complexity. It feels so real and has such a lush history that every surprise revelation is both shocking and simultaneously feels very organic to the story. I think the urban fantasy/paranormal aspects are handled very well, especially the werewolf dynamics and rules that Briggs has created.

One of the biggest shocks to me from the Alpha and Omega companion series is how much I’ve come to love Leah. I, like most readers, absolutely hated her when she was introduced in the Mercy Thompson books. But as we’ve come to learn more about her backstory and her relationship with Bran, I have a new level of understanding of why she is the way she is. She is so much stronger and more nuanced than I would have ever believed her capable. And while I still like Bran, he’s also a much more flawed person than I'd originally thought. I realize there are a lot of books in this world, so don’t worry about spoiling anything with your potential story. You can include as much or as little of the newer books as you’d like. I’m also going to keep my prompts relatively simple for this pairing. I only ask that Leah and Bran are not broken up. If you’d like to just write them in an adventure story without any romantic elements, that’s totally fine. I would like them to remain together, though.

Story ideas:

What are the dynamics like between Bran and Leah now that he knows more about her past? How has his understanding of her personality and actions changed with these revelations

For a long time, Bran and Leah were together without really being “together” in the emotional sense. I’d love to see them learning more about each other and falling in love all over again.

Leah is constantly full of surprises. What is something that she does that surprises Bran and/or the pack (preferably for the better), and how do they react?

While some of the more recent books have focused more strongly on Leah and Bran than in the beginning, I’d still not consider them the main characters so we don’t always get to see the full fallout of all their storylines. Taking any of the major plots involving them and giving their perspective or showing what happens later would be wonderful.

Becoming Elizabeth (TV 2022):

Characters: Elizabeth I of England and Robert Dudley 1st Earl of Leicester

There is so much that we don’t know about the inner workings of the Tudors. What we do know, though, is absolutely riveting. Who doesn’t love stories of royalty and betrayals and struggles for power? In a world that was dominated by men, Elizabeth I being a queen in her own right is part of what makes her so fascinating. Her refusal to marry just adds to the intrigue of what was going on in her mind during all of these important historical events that we only get glimpses of in books.

Becoming Elizabeth is the first show I’ve seen that dedicates so much story to the early years before Elizabeth even takes the throne. From feeling estranged from her only remaining family to being emotionally manipulated by a man twice her age, she is portrayed as such a flawed yet sympathetic character. The only ocassions where we see her actually act her age and be herself are when she’s with her friend, Robert Dudley, the only one who was truly on her side. We don’t know exactly what happened between the real life Elizabeth and Robert, but with the fictional show versions I wish circumstances were different and they could have found a way to be together. If you prefer them as just very supportive friends, most of the below prompts should still work, I would just ask little or no focus be placed on Robert's two marriages.

Story ideas:

I'm crushed we won't be getting future seasons to see Elizabeth take the throne. I'd love to see a story exploring the progression through her brother's death and sister's ascension to her finally becoming queen. How does Robert support her during any/all of these moments?

Even though I knew she was going to decline him, I still wanted to reach through the screen and shake some sense into our future queen when she turned down Robert's proposal. We know from history that Queen Elizabeth was plenty successful without a man at her side. But it doesn't make someone weak to want to be loved. What could have happened if the proposal was accepted?

I found the scene in episode 8 where Edward Seymour apologizes to Elizabeth for not stopping his brother's inappropriate actions very refreshing as we so rarely see in historical dramas any acknowledgment that these predatory behaviors are wrong. We even got an indirect acknowledgment from John Dudley when he was reading Kat's account of Elizabeth's treatment. It would be interesting to see how Elizabeth's perspective of Thomas Seymour and what he did shifts over time. We can assume that Robert knows some of what happened, but his realization that he may have gotten some of it wrong, reaction to the truth, and support to Elizabeth's emotional recovery would be a nice addition as well.

Political machinations and all of the scheming are part of what make these dramas so fun to watch! Departing from some of my more serious story ideas, I want to throw in a suggestion of just something bantery and tropey. Fake dating for political gain with ultimately friends to lovers! Throw in humorous exasperation from Edward Seymour and John Dudley who don't know how Elizabeth and Robert are so oblivious.

Fate: The Winx Saga (TV):

Characters: Riven and Musa

Despite this show’s flaws, I became instantly enamored with it. Season 2 was an improvement over season 1 in some ways, and a regression in others. One of the main positives that came out of the second season was more interactions between Musa and Riven. I was sold on them from their single (I think?) scene in the first season, and even though they still didn’t have a lot more screen time together, what they did have was *chef’s kiss*.

These two are so natural together and you can see that they genuinely enjoy being in each other’s presence. In season 1, they gave off more enemies-to-lovers vibes and I expected more of the same this season, which we got with their banter and butting heads over Musa’s specialist training. However, I was shocked by how soft Riven could also be with Musa from their discussion of Musa’s lost powers to the image of Riven carrying her prone form after battle. I’m so hopeful for another installment so we can get more relationship development and more of their insane chemistry!

Story ideas:

Episode 5 was a gift sent straight down from heaven. From Riven's pleased expression when we "saves" Musa from Terra's ministrations, to him trying to figure out what's bothering her when they're fighting, to him sitting down with Musa when she's stuck on the track and having a heart-to-heart... I want more soft Riven protecting Musa from her well-intentioned friends and having the serious conversations that need to be had. Whether it's about her not wanting her powers back in season 2 or her learning to cope with them next seadon (or something else entirely!).

It was no mistake the way the ending scenes of the second season were set up, with each fairy being comforted by a loved one. And of course Musa's comforter was in the form of Riven bring her the magic-supressing bracelets and them practicing together. We see you writers... Training sessions are practically their love language at this point. As they start to recognize their feelings for each other, what sorts of conversations do they have and what issues do they work out in the middle of a session?

I like to imagine Riven being the proud boyfriend when he hears of Musa's fighting skills coming in handy when reacuing Flora, while simultaneously being angry that she didn't have any back-up in a dangerous situation. Except, maybe as Sky has to remind him, Riven isn't Musa's boyfriend and perhaps he needs to stop being scared and avoiding the inevitable. This could even be set past season 2 when the gang getting Bloom back. There are a lot of opportunities for Riven to be the doting and overprotective not-quite-a-boyfriend.

Any type of enemies-to-lovers story you want to write would be welcome. There is so much potential here for some wonderfully angst-filled scenes! It could be reluctant allies as they work toward a common cause, fake dating to get information on someone, their friends trying to pair them up despite their protests, etc.

The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power (TV 2022):

Characters: Elrond Peredhel and Durin IV

To get this out of the way first, no, the first season was not perfect, nor was it even "good" at some points. There were many missteps with pacing and characterization. Still, I found myself sitting down each week to watch the newest episode, and I did become increasingly invested in the characters. In particular, I loved when the episodes focused on the dwarves. Durin was an immediate favorite of mine as I found him to have one of the most compelling storylines.

One thing I did appreciate with the direction the show took was the focus placed on Durin and Elrond's friendship. The actors were absolutely convincing in their portrayls of best friends that had been apart for years and were seeing each other again with a lot of history behind them. They were simultaneously heartwearming and hilarious together. Almost all of my laughs and cries were during their scenes, and each week my main wish was just to see more of their interactions and to hope they didn't become estranged. Durin and Elrond have so much going against them, but I think their bond of friendship is strong enough to prevail. I personally only see Durin and Elrond as friends so would prefer nothing overtly romantic between them. If you want to include a romance, I like all of the canon relationships (both within the show and in general Tolkien lore). I just ask that the main focus is on Durin and Elrond's friendship.

Story ideas:

All the backstory! How did their first meeting really go? It seems that Elrond was actually the one to save Durin, but the tale of the trolls sounds like a wild and hilarious time.

Durin was a better friend than I with how quickly he forgave Elrond for missing his wedding and the births of his children. I would have required a lot more groveling. Show me a Durin that is a little slower to forgive and makes Elrond do some crazy things to earn that forgiveness. Or if you want to go really off path here, change up history and have Elrond and Durin reconnect much sooner than two decades (late to the wedding perhaps?).

I truly have no predictions of how closely the show is going to follow canon given the contents of season 1. That being said, I think it would be interesting to see Durin's reaction to the rings being created, his conversations with Elrond about the rings (and perhaps Sauron), or just in general a scene(s) of Durin and Elrond conversing about the events that just took place. If you are familiar with the Tolkien canon and where the story may go, feel free to include pieces as you see fit without fear of spoiling.

All the times Durin and Elrond have supported each other over the years and have been more like brothers than just friends. Could be funny, serious, or both!

Things I don’t like:

Non-Con/Rape/BDSM/Sexual Violence/Graphic Sex – I like my characters to be happy and everything within ships to be 100% consensual, no question about it (mentions of non-con if it occurred in canon is fine). I also prefer plot over porn, especially with one-shots.

OT3s – Two people per romantic relationship, please. Any more than that makes me uncomfortable.

Character Bashing - Unless a character is a bad guy in canon, I don’t want to read hundreds of words about how awful they are, especially if they are one of the characters that I requested. Don’t take it out on the characters. If you hate my pairings, just write gen.

Things I love:

Hurt/Comfort – There is nothing I love more than one character comforting another. The hurt can be physical, psychological, or both.

Happy Endings – I’m all for the realistic endings… but if they could be plausible AND at least happy-ish, that would be amazing.

Expanded Scenes/Contorting Canon – Feel free to expand scenes and change up the canon to your heart’s content as long as it makes logical sense.

Humor/Banter/Snark – I thrive on this stuff.

Bonding/Building Relationships – Whether it be a friendship or a romantic relationship, I adore reading about two people growing closer together. When characters know each other so well that they can have conversations with just their eyes or anticipate the person’s next move (especially if it’s to the surprise/confusion of everyone around them), my shipper heart is thrilled.

Dark to Light - Seeing a character come out of a bad mindset or situation and get better is so satisfying.

Happy writing and I hope you get the Yuletide gift of your dreams!

- Maddy @mustlovemustypages (on Tumblr, Ao3, and FF.net)

[moscarific]

Yuletide Letter 2022!

Dear Exceptional Human (or possibly Truly Remarkable AI),

I am beyond delighted that you're writing for me! I’m a gold star Yuletide participant: I’ve signed up every year, and written at least one story every year, since the challenge began. That’s great news for you, because over the years, I’ve learned that the best Yuletide gifts are the ones that weren’t quite what I had expected, and also that gifts are satisfying and joyful for me as long as it’s clear that the author put effort and care into them. Basically, as long as you avoid my Do Not Wants and run spell check, I’m going to be over the moon with excitement at whatever you write for me.

My biggest non-obvious DNW is babyfic. No pregnancy, no babies, no little kids. I’m also a grumpy Jew, so I’d prefer not to receive stories with strong Christmas themes. The “five things” format is not my favorite. Please don’t center your story around ships that I did not ask for.

While questions of race and sexuality are baked into all of my requests this year, I am not looking for issuefic centered around negotiating those identities. I'd rather read about queer and/or BIPOC folks doing stuff in the world. Should you bring up how race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, and body type figure into doing stuff? Yes, please. Should the entire fic be a Socratic dialogue about how marginalization impacts the characters' lives? Not my first choice.

But I like a lot more things than I dislike! I usually read my Yuletide gift(s) while riding the L down to Chinatown for my family's annual dim sum feast, so please give me something to make me smile, laugh out loud at, or feel uncomfortably aroused by on public transportation. Porn is optional, obviously, but: oral sex, eroticized hands, exhibitionism, shower sex, gender play. I like experimental structures and styles, as well as more standard ones, and I am fine with whatever POV and tense you choose. If you are the kind of person who does multimedia or interactive fiction, or just clever footnotes, I am all for that. I love worldbuilding, whether it's adding detail to a sprawling space opera universe or fleshing out the local color of a small Southern town. I like stories that stick close to canon or present interesting “what if” canon divergences, and I also like superhero and In Space AUs.

I tend to write the fic I want to see in the world, so you’ll get a good sense of me by browsing my AO3 account. My AO3 bookmarks are a recs list, and therefore a great way to see what kinds of fic appeal to me and make me happy.

Here are the individual requests from my sign-up, with a little more detail added here and there. 

Barry (TV 2018): NoHo Hank, Cristobal Sifuentes

I love my quirky, funny murder show and its quirky, funny drug kingpins who made a great show even better in season 3 by falling in love with each other. Their romance is a laid-back and functional counterpoint to the turmoil of Barry and Sally, and I love that the power of love turned Hank into a goddamned superhero toward the end of the season. Physically, neither is a conventional leading man, and this makes their intimacy super hot to me - use their bodies and their desire for each other as it is, including Hank's alopecia. I'd be very happy with in-character fluff and/or porn that captures their dynamic and the tone of the show. The end of the season leads naturally into psychological and physical hurt/comfort, with an emphasis on the comfort side of that equation. I'd also enjoy a heist narrative that goes spectacularly wrong, a retelling of events from the show from their perspective, or an Actual Superpowers AU. If you're not enthusiastic about writing relationship-focused fic, lean into the heist/caper side of things or build backstory for one or both of the characters.

DNW: Stories centered around pregnancy, babies, or raising children. Strong Christmas/winter holiday themes. Featured or endgame romantic/sexual relationships other than Hank/Cristobal.  Extensive, graphic descriptions of homophobic violence or sexual violence. Phonetic representations of accents or "broken English" used for comedy (I'm especially sensitive to this when it comes to native Spanish speakers).

The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells: Murderbot, Asshole Research Transport

I have been devouring my way through this series, and all I want is more of these two dorks interacting. I absolutely ship them - on their own terms as two agender, asexual, aromantic beings with a tremendous need for reciprocal love and companionship. The far-future corporate-run space opera universe leaves huge scope and space for worldbuilding, both in its quotidian details and in the larger politics that Murderbot and ART often don't comprehend or care about. Since Murderbot's voice and unreliable perspective dominate the series, it would be cool to read a story in ART's voice. I would love a high-stakes story similar to the novels, but with ART as the primary hero and problem-solver. I would equally enjoy quieter, fluffier fic that shows the two characters building their relationship by bonding over serialized dramas or stuff that humans just don't understand.

DNW: Stories centered around pregnancy, babies, or raising children. Strong Christmas/winter holiday themes. Featured or endgame romantic/sexual relationships, period, for this fandom. A focus on intimate relationships other than Murderbot/ART. Sexual violence. Mundane, present-day, or historical AUs.

P-Valley (TV): Clifford "Uncle Clifford" Sayles, Lil Murda | LaMarques

Uncle Clifford/Lil Murda is one of the most romantic and real relationships I've seen on TV, and I want more of their journey together. Uncle Clifford's gender identity and presentation are so real and confident and complicated, and I love how her choice of wig and makeup (or choice not to wear them) communicate her state of mind. Lil Murda is the embodiment of "I Love How Men Love," and his evolving sense of himself as both a talented musician and a gay/queer man are portrayed with such humanity and realness. I love the two of them together in their quiet, playful, and sexy moments, and I also find them fascinating when their guarded and conflicted personalities create conflict and tension in their relationship. The lived-in world of Chucalissa is one of my favorite things about P-Valley, and I'd be delighted with fic that focuses on its quirks and history as seen through Uncle Clifford and/or Lil Murda's eyes. I don't know how you'd pull off a space opera or superhero AU, but if that challenge appeals to you, go for it. P-Valley does a beautiful job of weaving the COVID-19 pandemic into the narrative, so for this fandom and this fandom only, canon-consistent use of current events is welcome.

DNW: Stories centered around pregnancy, babies, or raising children. Strong Christmas/winter holiday themes. Featured or endgame romantic/sexual relationships other than Uncle Clifford/Lil Murda. Extensive, graphic descriptions of homophobic, transphobic, racist, or sexual violence. Misgendering characters or using non-canon pronouns for them. Phonetic representations of regional and AAVE accents.

Fire Island (Movie 2022): Max, Will, Noah

This is an either/or request, although I would prefer that all of my requested characters get at least a line or two. Max is the most underwritten character of the five friends in the movie, and I would love a story where he gets to shine in all his fat, black, femme, nerdy fabulousness. He's the opposite of the island's gym twink aesthetic in every way, but Noah says he gets more play than anyone else in the group - let's see that happen. I don't really ship him with any of the characters from the film, so feel free to pair him with an OC or a guest star from one of my other fandoms. Or tell a story about Max without a romantic focus that builds his backstory and point of view.

On the Noah/Will front, I love them and ship them and want them to be happy forever. How do they negotiate a long-distance relationship after the movie ends? How do they let down their emotional walls and deal with their hang-ups so they can be together? Go sexy, go silly, go angsty, go full Austen - just give me the next chapter in their love story.

DNW: Stories centered around pregnancy, babies, or raising children. Strong Christmas/winter holiday themes. Featured or endgame romantic/sexual relationships other than Noah/Will, Howie/Charlie, or Max/anybody. Extensive, graphic descriptions of homophobic, racist, or sexual violence. Misgendering characters or using non-canon pronouns for them.

[dual-domination]

Dear Yuletide Writer

Thank you for taking part here!

Fandoms requested:

镇魂 | Guardian - priest

盗墓笔记重启 | The Lost Tomb Reboot (TV)

绅探 | Detective L (TV)

许你浮生若梦 | Xǔ Nǐ Fú Shēng Ruò Mèng | Granting You a Dreamlike Life (TV)

DNWs: PWP - sex scenes that are part of the plot are okay-, BDSM, dub-con or non-con, a/b/o, genderbending/genderswap, mpreg, Gore/body horror, non M/M romantic/sexual relationships 

Likes: Romantic stuff in general, sex-positive asexual characters, crack/humor/comedy, angst, hurt/comfort, true friendship, crossover between two or more of the Fandoms in my list, AUs, best-friends lovers, memory issues, PTSD, childhood friends, moral or emotional crisis, crazy/weird friendships. I like a lot of things, I’d be happy with many many more things that are not in this list!

Treats welcome!

[cicaklah]

Dear Yuletide Author letter

Dear yuletide author,

Happy yuletide!! I'm super easy. I wear my interests on my sleeve but here's stuff I like:

Sex farce, misunderstandings, crack played earnest are my jam. Passionate and romantic sex. Competence.

Things I don't care about: edgy stuff without significant buildup, formal BDSM, the usual gamut of standard squicks.

No real preferences in terms of the oxventures and otps, I like any and all combinations. My otp in hitman is Diana/47, I don't really care about anyone else.

I also requested strange new worlds, I ship pike/Spock there, but pike should feel conflicted about it. Happy for any other fic if that's not your cup of tea.

As for lower decks: mariner/boimler OTP, I love them, sex farce forever.

Good luck and once again, happy yuletide!

[buckee]

yuletide 2023 letter

Dear Yuletide writer,

Happy Yuletide! This is my very first Yuletide, so I'm excited to be here--thanks for being my writer this year! <3 More under the cut:

GENERAL INFO

Likes:

Dead dove/darkfic/"Hydra Trash Party": Pretty much anything goes! Torture, horror, incest, kidnapping--you name it. I'm a particular fan of dubcon. Non-con is fine--but, tasteful, please.

Unhealthy (romantic) relationships: Anything that would be criminal in the real world, I'm game. Terrible, awful, unhealthy codependency. The dissolution of a marriage. Age gaps. Power imbalance. "It's not love, but it's all we have." Shared trauma. Divorce. Domestic abuse--I prefer verbal and emotional over physical, but I'm open to anything if it fits the characters. Overall, relationships between the story's villain and the story's protagonist--but there isn't a happy end, necessarily.

Miscellaneous: Being isolated in each other. Character studies. AUs where the villain wins. AUs where everyone in the world is gone but them. Hostage situations. Childhood best friends. Best friends breaking up. Ambiguous endings. "The love was there. It didn't save us. But it was there." Dating horror stories a la Fresh. Isolated settings (e.g. being stranded on a mountain, or trapped in a house with no one around for miles). Canon divergence. Enemies to lovers who are still enemies, but, more accurately, generalized relationships with someone you both love and despise. Stories set after canon. Stories set before canon. Stories that fill in the cracks of what happened in the narrative.

DNWs: Underage under 7. A/B/O dynamics. Gratuitously happy endings. Coffee shop AUs. FWB AU's. Stories about weddings (per the above, marriage is fine). Any focus on happy mother/daughter stories in general is a HARD DNW; unhappy ones are fine. Cutting as self-harm (any other self-harm is fine). Stories focused on family or friendship and not about intimate, romantic, or adversarial relationships. BDSM as a focus &/or practice of whatever sexual --I think it's boring.

...

THE HUNTSMAN FILMS

Characters: Ravenna, Snow White

I'd really like to see them in a psychosexual, if not fully sexual, relationship. I think Ravenna hates Snow too much for it to ever be normal (and I wouldn't want it to be!), but Ravenna is fixated on Snow White per the original fairy tale, and that kiss where she's disguised as Sam Clafflin is so intriguing. I wouldn't mind a character study; I wouldn't mind canon divergence. I don't mind sex in fic--I think the only thing I wouldn't want to see in this particular story is their relationship presented as healthy in any way. They're two women in competition, in beauty, etc. I also like the character of the Huntsman and the mirror (the first movie is my favorite) so seeing them would be great too!

Potential prompts:

Character study of Ravenna's (queer) sexuality, it's complications as someone whose power depends on the male gaze, and how she transmutes these feelings onto her stepdaughter.

AU where Ravenna takes care of Snow as she grows up, pretending to care for her. Perhaps some real feelings fall into the mix.

THE FORBIDDEN GAME

Characters: Jenny, Julian

I read these books at a crucial age and it remains one of my favorite series of the YA paranormal romance era. I'm forever sad we won't get to see Julian come back to Jenny in college, but I do love their story a ton as is. I think a lot of what I enjoy about their dynamic is spelled out in canon, so any approximation of that would be so lovely.

Potential prompts:

The "Julian comes back during Jenny's college years" story we never got!

Pre-canon divergence: Julian interacts with Jenny as a child, and has a relationship with her as she grows older.

An AU where Jenny surrendered to Julian in the first book--what would eternity look like with him? How would his appearance change over time? What does living in that horror-world do to Jenny?

POSSESSION

Characters: Jess, Roman

I adore the alternative ending where Jess and Roman have a sort of...understanding? I also love the one we get in canon! I love this relationship that's built on this weird, obsessive lie. Hence, I'm open to pretty much anything!

Potential prompts:

Roman survives, Jess has the baby, and they're a family. And it is tense, and it's terrible, and they're married for the rest of their lives.

I think the biggest thing I appreciate in a dark story is that the elements involved are not gratuitous--there's a sliding scale of horrific things, and I prefer to read things where these elements are present as features of a story, not the domineering force. That being said--I completely trust you, Yuletide writer! <3

I'm on twitter at @/villainkiss , if for whatever reason you'd like to take a peek into whatever I'm saying on socials (more dead dove stuff, typically). And treats are welcome as well!

Thanks again! Happy Yuletide. I'm really excited. :)

**NOTE: Updated on 10/22/23, as some text did not save in my post the first time.

[scifihobbit]

Yuletide Letter 2022

I’ve been participating in Yuletide incredibly sporadically since 2009. I love it here! And am always delighted when I remember to jump back in. So, here's to a great year! I'm scifihobbit over on AO3 as well. I should have it set so that I can receive treats. Thanks for reading my letter! And, of course, we all know the mantra, optional details are entirely optional.

Things I'm a sucker for in general

Character studies

“There was only one bed”

Found families

Angst with a happy ending

Hurt/Comfort

Broken characters finding ways to heal each other in general

Using smarm to hide wildly low self-esteem

World-building

Queers and queerness and queering

DNWs:

PWP

Modern AU

1st person narration (unless it’s epistolary or something like that.)

2nd person narration

Major character death (that isn’t canonical)

Babel – R. F. Kuang, Robin Swift, Ramiz Rafi Mirza

I loved this book so much. The world-building is incredible. I’m obsessed with the magic system. I’m always a sucker for footnotes. I loved the way this book made me think and the way it made all its characters understandable even if they were completely reprehensible. Robin and Ramy quickly stole my heart. (From that first night they spent together getting to know Oxford and I was sitting there like.... is this going to happen? Please? And then the book tortured me with so many subtle teases that I kept hoping, and, well, we know what happened next.) Anything about the two of them would be incredible. If you want to ship them, that's more than welcome! But I also really, truly adore their friendship, so I would be delighted with something not shippy, too. I'm fascinated by the dynamic among the whole quartet, so feel free to bring Victoire and Letty, too. I delighted in the scenes where they were all just being excited academic nerds together. I usually avoid AUs, but given how things ended, in this case I would make an exception. Or if you've got some brilliant idea for a fix-it fic, I would love to see it!

Prompts if you are looking for them:

- Some late night shenanigans/adventures during their first year when Oxford is still shiny and wonderful to them

- Robin and Ramy in Canton doing some more exploring of the city.

- Something that gets Robin and Ramy together. Either Robin finally realizing that Ramy's attracted to him and either acting on it or panicking about it. Or Ramy finally making a move. Or a drunken evening. (I'm always a sucker for a drunken evening leading to revelations.)

- Some alternative beautiful world where they both make it out of Oxford and visit Calcutta together

- Just the two of them nerding out about language or a new matchpair or something. Finding some interesting translations between the languages they grew up with.

A League of Their Own (TV 2022), Jess McCready, Lupe García, Beverly/Sarge

I was obsessed with this show before the first episode was over. (Honestly, probably, before the first episode even started, but the fact that it lived up to my queer heart’s expectations is pretty astounding.) I love just about everyone in the show, so whoever else wants to pop in the fic and say hello is great! (I'm desperately curious about Maybelle.) I'm happy for a fic with any and/or all of my requested characters. They're all amazing! (I'd really prefer for these three characters to be pretty firmly butch-identified and not gender queer in a more modern sensibility.) I still can't decide if I ship Lupe/Jess honestly—I do and I don't simultaneously—so feel free to go whatever direction you want with that.

Prompts if you are looking for them:

- Post-season, now that Beverly's let Jess know that they're "family" do they hang out more? What do they get up to? What sort of wisdom does Beverly have to impart?

- What is Beverly's life outside of being a chaperone?? Does she have a wife back home somewhere? Is she happily single? Does she have a community from her days serving in the military?

- Anything and everything about Jess and Lupe being buds. During the season. After the season. Next season.

- How did Jess and Lupe discover the gay bar? Separately or together? Who told who?

- When the team went on tour, what did Jess and Lupe get up to in the new towns?

- What's Beverly's relationship to the other chaperones like? It seems like they all mostly have some sort of understanding and I'd love to know how they work together to support their teams.

Star Trek: Lower Decks (Cartoon), Samanthan “Sam” Rutherford, Andy Billups

This show makes me so incredibly happy. I have been a trekkie more-or-less from birth. (A quick scroll through my tumblr will show you where my Trekkie heart lies: with the crew of DS9) Lower Decks somehow manages to tug on my heart strings, make my years of suffering through Enterprise feel worth it just so I can get the jokes about the Suliban, and be wildly irreverent while also honoring the core of what makes Trek Trek. (Not to be one of those fans, but whatever, I am.) Clearly, I could wax poetic at length about this show, but if you’ve offered to write it, you know how great it is. I love all the characters, so feel free to bring in whoever you want. (I’m sad I missed nominations and didn’t get a chance to stick Dr. T’Ana in the list. And I’m fascinated by Kayshon, so if either of them want to drop in for a cameo I won’t say no!) (I don’t ship Mariner/Boimler or Rutherford/Tendi)

For my fic, I just want Rutherford and Billups to hang out! I want them to be upbeat, awkward, engineering dorks together. (If you want to ship them in a way that doesn't ignore Billups's asexuality I'm all for it.) Usually I’m a no AU kind of person, but in the canon that literally invented AUs I’m obviously a bit more flexible.

Prompts if you are looking for them:

- Rutherford and Billups get stranded in a broken down ship somewhere and have to jerryrig it back together to get home to the Cerritos

- Billups's mom makes another uninvited appearance and Rutherford has to help Billups out of the situation through sheer engineering genius

- They meet in the holodeck to work on engineering puzzles together. Something does or does not go wrong?

- Billups has some sort of cursed interaction with Badgey?

- Did Rutherford take a class from Miles O'Brien at the academy?? Is Billups impressed by Miles's engineering know-how or has he never even heard of the guy?

Moon (2009)

I think this is a close to perfect movie. I’ve loved Sam Rockwell since back when he played Guy in Galaxy Quest. This movie tells its story so efficiently and in such a small, quiet way while still managing to reach in your chest and grab you by the heart. It’s one of those movies that leaves me with a sort of aching hope at the end, like, yes, that was exactly what it needed to be, but I want more. So, here I am, requesting it for Yuletide once again, because I can never get enough of the Sam Bells.

For a fic I want the Sam Bells to be sad and broken together and maybe inspire the tiniest bit of hope in each other after some long-term resentment and anger. Basically, I want the movie but MORE. I love Sam Rockwell. I love the concept the movie is built on. If you want to ship them I'd eat it up, (I have an unexplainable thing for self!cest in a sci-fi context) but I'm perfectly happy with these two broken angry guys trying to figure out their shit in a platonic way as well.

Prompts if you are looking for them:

- Which buildings mean what to them in the model they're making? What stories do they tell themselves and each other about the town?

- What if the memory copy in each clone isn't perfect and there are some things they realize they remember differently? How does that impact their relationship and senses of self?

[bgoodg]

Yuletide Letter

Thank you! Thank you Yuletide writer for having patience with me as I got this letter up and for having amazing tastes in small fandoms. Yuletide is one of my favorite fandom traditions and I’m so excited for this year’s fic and festivities. 

The Chronicle of Riddick Series: Riddick & Vaako

Okay, I just love movies that really go for it. And Chronicles of Riddick was that fucking movie. I love the larger universe that it introduces us to and the Necromongers. There’s something so captivating to me about fictional cults, especially ones like Necromongers that blend fanatical militarism with religion on that galactic scale. Riddick and Vaako are so fascinating together and I’d love anything with Vaako introducing Riddick to the culture and tradition of the Necromongers. It doesn’t have to be their murder, murder thing, maybe they have interesting art or food or  sacred temples. Vaako is a true believer and he wants to show that to Riddick. Cool with it being either a platonic advisor or romantic relationship. 

The Indian Lake Trilogy: Stephen Graham Jones: Jade & Letha

I haven’t read the second book in the series! Fine with spoilers but god I would love Jade getting a fucking break. Ghostface knows the girl deserves it. Maybe they get out of town and Jade gets to introduce her to one of her favorite cities. Jade is suddenly thrust into a “girls trip” movie and doesn’t know the thematic motifs. Maybe they go visit Letha’s family and suddenly it’s a Hallmark Rom-Com and poor Jade is just completely lost. Throw Jade and Letha into a new genre and let them smooch.

Dune: Lady Jessica or Leto or Paul or Gurney

So I love Gurney Halleck. Competent military dudes are my kryptonite. Competent and fiercely loyal? A recipe made just for me. I’d love anything exploring Gurney’s devotion to the House of Atreides. From Leto to Jessica to Paul: any or all. Maybe Leto and Gurney in their younger days before he was Lord Leto. Gurney watching Paul grow from a young pup to the Emperor. Gurney easing Lady Jessica’s pain after the loss of her husband and the loss of her son to the universe;s machinations. Romantic or platonic is good for any of the pairings.

General Do Not Wants:

Rape, torture, non-canonical main character death, ABO.

General Loves:

Worldbuilding, cult fanaticism, devotion, art and culture, pop culture references, hurt and comfort.

[spiritintheteapot]

Yuletide Letter 2023

Dear Yuletide Writer,

Thank you for offering a story in one of these awesome rare fandoms!

Some things I like (Gen):

Self-sufficiency and logistical planning. A character having a problem and taking initiative to solve it.

Stories that examine small, overlooked aspects of a world or a character. I like reading about strange ideas that don’t necessarily have top-selling tropes.

The mortifying ordeal of having to be in community (work, family, or elsewhere) with someone you just can’t stand. Petty drama and gossip!

Women chafing against the confines of their lives, and discovering healing friendships within and across gender lines, with people who also want women to be free.

Some things I like (shippy):

Established relationships, and the interpersonal dynamics that take time to arise between partners.

Partners supporting each other against outside conflicts.

Sex where partners switch between giving and receiving roles.

Sex with external vibrator use.

Verbal instructions during sex.

Stories that subvert stereotypes of butch women being dominant/aggressive/selfless in bed. (Bonus points when a butch woman puts on feminine clothing or underwear for an erotic context, when she won’t wear it for other occasions)

Global DNW:

Treats are welcome!

Any maturity level is A-okay for f/f ships.

DNW: content rated above G for other ships (e.g. m/f, m/m, poly ships)

DNW: sex scenes that feature anything phallic (e.g. a dildo), or any anal contact

DNW: non-con

DNW: significant torture, gore, body horror; I prefer you keep the work at a lighter level than the source material

DNW: “gross-out” humor

DNW: stories that don’t match a character’s canonical gender.

---

Ammonite - Nicola Griffith

Characters: Marghe, Thenike, Danner

I nominated this book because it is just too good to have no presence on the archive! I really enjoy the theme of different cultures learning to live side by side, and also how Marghe and Thenike slip into their relationship.

Suggested prompts: Danner meets Marghe and Thenike’s children–what does she think about them? Or, the story of Danner’s first handmade clothes on Jeep. Or, Marghe and Thenike working as viajeras and having to solve a mystery.

Elemental Logic - Laurie J. Marks 

Characters: Zanja, Karis

I nominated this series because it is criminally underrated, while being among the best queer fiction in print. I can’t say enough about the delicacy and originality of the magic system. I love the complexity of our heroines, and the practical, steadfast way they work for a long-awaited peace. I love these books so much that I hosted a year-long fandom event for them (shaftal.tumblr.com is where to find that)

Suggested prompts: I’d like a story about Zanja and Karis helping each other with a difficult problem, which could be set any time after the end of Fire Logic. I didn’t request any other characters, but I also nominated Clement and Seth--if you have read Earth Logic and like them as much as I do, you are welcome to give them large supporting roles. I’m also happy to see Zanja and Karis’s whole family in small supporting roles. Maybe Zanja must represent the interests of some Border People to Shaftal, but their needs are very different from the Ashawala’i? Maybe Karis must resolve the situation with the Basdown cow dogs? Maybe Ocean’s successor makes herself known?

Everything Leads To You - Nina LaCour

Characters: Emi, Ava

I nominated this book because it is the perfect queer teen romance, and because I recently moved to LA! I would love a story where the LA setting features heavily.

Suggested prompts: Emi and Ava go to WeHo Pride. Emi growing in her craft, and looking back at previous films she worked on and thinking about what she would do differently now. Do they get married, and if so when and how?

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Characters: Susie, Midge, Sophie

I nominated this show because of the strength of its case for Feminism 101, and because Susie is a butch character who feels like home. I ship Susie with Midge and Sophie equally (I’m not interested in a polyship for them but a love triangle could be okay), and I would be happy with a gen story about their working relationships as well.

Suggested prompts: Have we REALLY heard the last of Sophie Lennon? What’s it like for Susie at pivotal moments in LGBTQ history?

Star Trek: Lower Decks

Characters: Mariner, Tendi, T'Lyn

Somehow Lower Decks managed to be the perfect Star Trek series, consistently funny and interesting and deep.

Suggested prompts: Mariner noticing that T’Lyn is actually a Bad Girl (i.e. Mariner’s type). The lower deckers getting stuck on a planet and having to survive by ingenuity. Zany space shenanigans that influence the fic’s form, like an episode where everyone starts speaking in poetry.

This is How You Lose the Time War - Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone 

Characters: Red, Blue

A beautiful love story, with so many possibilities for fics with unusual stylistic elements.

Suggested prompts: Red and Blue’s post-canon adventures, either together or writing to one another again. Do they have to go undercover in a place they hate? Do they get unexpectedly attached to something in a thread of time that they have to prune? Does anyone cross paths with an earlier version of herself?

[glassrain83]

Dear Yuletide Writer 2023

I am GlassRain on AO3, and thank you for writing for my tiny fandom(s)!

I love all these characters and any fic about them will make me happy. If you already have an idea feel free to run with it. If you want extra prompts or ideas, that’s what this is for.

Yes please: gay stuff, outer space, magic. Non-con, dub-con, and mind control. Relationships where there’s a power imbalance but they also truly love each other and do the work to make it good. Relationships with size differences (not as in short human/tall human, as in human/building-sized dragon). Identity porn/any kind of reveal where the audience knows something and gets to enjoy watching the characters figure it out.

No thanks: Gore/body horror/graphic depictions of violence, embarrassment, extreme underage (teen characters having sex is fine), bodily fluids (except the usual ones for sex scenes), non-canon character death, mundane AUs.

Fandoms:

Leif & Thorn (Webcomic)

Characters: Leif, Thorn

Leif is a gardener in thrall to a mysterious debt, serving his native Sønheim at a foreign embassy. Thorn is a Knight of Ceannis who got severely burned while dragonslaying, and was rewarded with a cushy job guarding the embassy gates. Thorn doesn’t speak Leif’s language too well at first — but as they get to know each other, he finds a lot of reasons to learn.

Ongoing fantasy dramedy, with a cross-cultural romance and a great ensemble cast. (Read it here.) Leif/Thorn is canon, over a slow-burn arc that took about 5 years real-world time. They still have ongoing struggles around Leif’s control microchip, and Thorn’s effort to handle the unwanted power it gives him. Leif/Thorn/Kale is not canon yet, but the OT3 shipteasing is strong, so maybe in 5 more years?

The prompts are Leif/Thorn-centric but I will take fic about other characters too. Other ships on the side are fine, canon or non-canon, as long as you don’t break up the main couple.

Prompts:

Canon-divergence AU where Thorn joined the Secret Order of Monster Hunters, successfully assassinated the vampires in that one early storyline, and decided to rescue/steal Leif as a bonus. What? He was in the area anyway, he might as well.

Leif/Thorn where Leif still has the microchip, but Kale has his powers and facilitates a psychic link between them, so Thorn can’t possibly miss if he tries something Leif doesn’t like. Can be established Leif/Thorn/Kale or “whoops this turned into our first threesome.”

Holiday fic where Leif and Thorn share their traditions with each other. Warmth and fluffiness a plus.

Crossover prompt: the Leif & Thorn universe has a Fantasy Eurovision Song Contest..what does Fire Saga’s act look like in a world with widespread/commonplace magic?

Doctrine of Labyrinths - Sarah Monette

Characters: Felix, Mildmay

The Doctrine of Labyrinths is a series of fantasy novels by Sarah Monette. It is set in the secondary world of Meduse and tells the story of the adventures of the wizard Felix Harrowgate and his half-brother, former assassin Mildmay the Fox.

Lush fantasy melodrama full of codependence and great hurt/comfort. I have gotten Felix/Mildmay fic before and will keep prompting more of it until the end of time (or until a TV adaptation turns this into a megafandom, whichever comes first). Gen about them is also welcome.

Prompts:

Sci-fi/cyberpunk AU. Make the hocuses into hackers, the magical curses into corrupted cybernetics, the petty thieves into data pirates. Could be the alternate version of a canon event, or a whole new SF-themed plot twist.

Missing scene from Felix and Mildmay’s journey across the continent in book 1, something where Felix has a bad turn and Mildmay successfully calms him down. Just lean all the way into the h/c in their weird-but-deep sibling bond.

Guilty frantic brothercest. (During a time in canon when they’re both mentally capable of consenting.) Especially if it’s already an ongoing situation when the story starts, so it’s not a story about how they fell into it, but about how they can’t seem to get out.

If you are up for writing crossovers: it’s a crime that there are no Labyrinth crossovers yet. How would Felix and Mildmay face off against the Goblin King?

The Good Place (TV)

Characters: Tahani Al-Jamil

The series focuses on Eleanor Shellstrop, a woman who wakes up in the afterlife and is introduced by Michael to “The Good Place”, a highly selective Heaven-like utopia he designed, as a reward for her righteous life. She realizes that she was sent there by mistake and must hide her morally imperfect behavior and try to become a better, more ethical person.

Complete TV fantasy sitcom. Hard to summarize, because it dumps the whole premise on its head and starts doing something new about twice a season. I don’t ship Tahani with any of the male characters (or Janet), but would love either gen or f/f.

Prompts:

AU where Tahani was the one who was “mixed up” with a different “Tahani Al-Jamil”. Where is she placed instead of a creepy clown house? How does she cope? How does Vicky (or whoever) craft the role of her most torturously-unsuitable soulmate?

Kidfic about the terrible family dynamics in Tahani’s childhood. Especially things that her POV frames as happy, or fine, or at least justified…but the reader can tell how much it’s not.

Friendship fic with Eleanor and Tahani during their time on Earth. They couldn’t possibly know each other for a whole year without bonding.

[highkingpetermagnificent]

Dear Yuletide Writer:

First off, I want to say thank you for writing me a story! This is such a fun challenge, and I'm looking forward to whatever you write. I know I'll love it, so don't stress too much! :)

I want to include a list of tropes I like, tropes I don't like, definite DNWs, and then individual blurbs about each fandom I've requested. Just as an overall note, I'd like for the fic to be a G or T rating - I have nothing against pwp (porn without plot) fic, that's just not what I'm looking for from Yuletide. :) If it is M in the way that doesn't involve sex, that would be okay, but I'd rather stick with a G or T if that jives with your vision.

Also, just because I've given an idea doesn't mean you have to write it! It's just a prompt, feel free to take them or leave them.

(I've never written a Yuletide letter before, so bear with me!)

Tropes I like:

Only one bed - when two people have to share a bed, it's the perfect opportunity for awkwardness, intimacy, and the general sharing of feelings. Good stuff!

Mistaken for a couple - when two people who like each other and aren't sure if the other does, it's fun when someone reads the vibes and makes the assumption.

Modern AUs of fantasy worlds, keeping the magic - there's something that really makes my brain buzz of modern aus of fantasy but they're still elves, or they're still dragons, or they can still cast spells. (Do note that I still love canon fics. Don't feel like you HAVE to write a modern au!)

Noble sacrifices - risking harm or death for someone else

Slice of life - especially if it's slice of life after the story concludes. But I love any and all slice of life.

Tropes I'm not huge on:

Soulmarks - any flavor of this. matching soulmarks, eyes that change color when you see your soulmate, first words on your wrist, etc etc

Modern AUs of fantasy worlds with no magic

Hogwarts/magical school AUs

Next gen fic

Werewolf AUs

DNWs:

please no spiders. I am afraid of spiders! I know some of these canons involve spiders, and I just ask that we avoid depiction of them here.

no explicitly shown/depictions of rape

incest, even in the background

no characters trying to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge

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苍兰诀 | Love Between Fairy and Devil (TV)

Requested characters: Shangque, Jieli

I Love Them. Shangque is my favorite character in the drama in general - the combination of being very good at his job (being a dragon General, protecting the Moon Supreme) + good heart + some romance-related ineptitude makes for just a fantastic character, in my opinion. I know the fandom likes to call him a himbo, and he has his clueless moments, but the juxtaposition of the competence plus cluelessness is something I find fun. And he's sweet. :)

Jieli is such a fantastic counterpart to him - she's got a heart of gold, but circumstances have forced her to put up walls all around it. She's constantly lying, constantly trying to work behind the scenes to get herself ahead. And yet she does care -- she thinks it would be easier if she had no friends and cared for nobody, but the fact remains that she does care. Together, they make my brain go brr!

Ideas: Seeing them working together to accomplish a goal would be fun, or forcing Jieli to actually speak about her feelings. (Shangque confessing his feelings and forcing her to confront that would be fun too!) An angst-y fic set during the time they're apart late in the show is an idea. Another idea could be a fic set during the years Xiao Lanhua/Xiyun is waiting for Dongfang Qingcang to be reborn. How do they progress their relationship? I'm also down for other characters to be included in this fic, as long as the focus is on the two of them.

Pellinor - Alison Croggon

Requested characters: Maerad of Pellinor

The Books of Pellinor were my biggest book love growing up. The sense of vastness in the story, the wonderful characters, the lavish and evocative prose. Even when I reread it as an adult, it still holds up, in my opinion.

Maerad is the heart of the books. I love the journey she goes through, physically and emotionally. I love the real opening up and growth of her character. She feels like a real person, who is irrevocably changed by the end of the series. Yet though she goes through much, she never gives in completely to despair, and ends the series laughing and content. It's such a cathartic arc.

Ideas: I would love some epilogue fic for her, especially if it involves another character. Cadvan is a big one, but I would also love Hem, Silvia, Saliman, even Hekibel! (Especially Hekibel - I loved the frank conversation Maerad and Hekibel had in The Singing, and wished we'd had more of that. I felt like it was so refreshing to see Maerad interact with another woman, especially one who wasn't a Bard and had that very very human perspective.) Maerad/Cadvan is a ship I adore, so if you want to write that, I'd love that.

Ever - Gail Carson Levine

Requested characters: Kezi, Olus

I feel like this book is a dark horse when it comes to Gail Carson Levine's work. When I first read it as a tween, I honestly didn't care for it, but now as an adult, it really compels me. It feels like that quote that's "the gods have not been kind to us, but we rise to meet the stars anyway." I like the hope in the face of hopelessness about it.

Ideas: I'll admit that it's been a while since I've read this, so I'm really open for anything. I do think something that would be cool would be to switch POVs of certain scenes. I know the book does that to an extent, but it would be cool to take it even further, switching between the two characters or even to an outsider POV.

Wars of the Roses RPF

Requested characters: Marguerite d'Anjou | Margaret of Anjou (Wars of the Roses)

The Wars of the Roses is currently my historical fixation, and especially so its queens. I recently read Helen Maurer's excellent biography of Margaret of Anjou, and something that really struck me was how hard Margaret was working to both preserve the role of the English Queen and keep the monarchy intact while her husband was incapacitated. Because the Queen was always expected to be acting on her husband's behalf, she couldn't really... both take charge and yet be acting under supposed direction. But she still grabbed that challenge with both hands and really rose to the occasion, in my opinion, even to the point of taking on the war-laden parts of English Kingship. England had had warrior-queens before (Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians and Empress Matilda come to mind on first thought,) but this was incredibly late in the medieval period, and England had never been used to queens taking on this martial of an aspect before, in my opinion. I have an enormous amount of respect and admiration for her. She took an awful situation and really threw herself into making it work.

Ideas: She's somewhat enigmatic simply by virtue of the historical record being so far distant, but we do have a fair few of her letters, and one can get an idea of a very smart politically, a bit forceful woman. I'd love to explore the emotional side of her, perhaps during the periods when Henry VI was ill and she had to ensure both his, hers, and Prince Edward's safety. Another idea would be to explore her interactions with Anne Neville, simply because Anne Neville is another one of my historical blorbos and I would love that. Or Elizabeth Woodville! (Another blorbo. xD) Or delving into her relationship with Henry! Basically, I would really love something that put the focus on her emotional state and/or her relationships with others.

The Lord of the Rings Online

Requested characters: Candaith

LOTRO is my biggest most delightful discovery for the past few years. Best Lord of the Rings game, hands-down. It takes what's wonderful about the books and really runs with it -- I love the overarching theme of how people want to help each other, and generally they will try to do so as best as they can. And it's just so fun! Best adaptation of the Lord of the Rings, frankly.

And Candaith 😭 I love him. I love the tragedy of him, and I love the hope of him. The vision of him at the Fords never fails to make me cry. I feel like he's the first Ranger the player character really gets to know - there's other rangers in Bree-land, but it's always felt to me like I'm just running errands for them when we meet them first, and not actually getting to know them. (At first! I love Saeradan later, especially. But at first, I didn't really feel like we were friends.)

Ideas: How did he get the Weathertop posting? How did he interact with the others in the Lone Lands? How did he feel about his fellow Rangers, and did he have any special relationships with any of them? Did he ever get lonely for them? Was he ever at Annúminas, and how did he feel about it? Did he really think the restoration of the King was going to happen in his lifetime? Alternately: definitely not opposed to a fix-it of the whole Ring of Bebarahir situation.

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Thank you so much! Happy Yuletide! I know I'll love the fic, so don't stress too much, and remember that you don't have to follow any of the prompts if they don't speak to you. :) Have fun writing! Thank you again!