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HELLO YULETIDE AUTHOR. First of all, thank you for your patience! This letter is complete as of 10/31/21.
What a year it's been, huh? Above all I hope you enjoy yourself writing this story. I'm not in it for anything super dark or tragic this year given the state of the world, but I hope I've given you enough room to write something you have fun with. If you have any questions feel free to contact the mods to pass questions along for me.
DNWs: graphic violence, rape, major character death, general grimdarkness, infidelity, bearding, homophobia, fat hate, watersports, scat, eye and dental trauma.
Likes: Some angst and pain is okay if there's a happy ending. Friendships, bonds forged in adversity, banter, romance, trust. AUs are generally fine, especially if you do something interesting with them. I'm fine with explicit content for all of these fandoms!
In The Heights (2021)
Abuela Claudia (In The Heights (2021))
This request is the most detailed because it's something I've been thinking about specifically since I saw the movie this summer. I've loved the show for years and years, and I have a lot of emotions about everybody in the cast of characters. And while the movie made some changes I don't agree with (#justiceforcamila) there are parts that I loved. And most of those were the quiet moments with Claudia, her wisdom and her dignity, and her clear love for everyone around her. I'm also biased in that I've been lucky enough to have multiple great-aunts and surrogate grandmothers who were New Yorkers and who were incredibly positive influences in my life.
So! I think there's a lot of room in this prompt for you to explore, and New York over the years has so much history to delve into. Maybe look at her relationships with a younger Kevin and Camila, or welcoming Usnavi's parents and their new baby to the block. Or love affairs that went nowhere! (Any gender is fine and could be super interesting!) (I would be okay with period-typical homophobia here if necessary, but would prefer nothing involving outright gay-bashing.) Feel free to use material from the stage show if you want, "Everything I Know" makes me cry every damn time.
Kushiel's Legacy - Jacqueline Carey
Phèdre nó Delaunay
Ohhhh this series. Is it imperfect? Yes. Is it over-the-top? Yes. Do I love it anyway? SUPER YES. I thought about tagging worldbuilding but decided against it just to offer more room to writers, but there's so much in this setting that I would love to see explored. And Phedre is already so interested in travel and language and learning about others. We get exciting stories from the books but there are also huge stretches of time where we don't see anything, and while I named a few possibilities up in the official signup, there are so many more that could be spun out. As far as pairings, I do adore the canon ones I mentioned, and I love her relationship with Hyacinthe too. However, I'd be just as content with gen or friendship-focused fic. And with missing scenes - from her childhood, from the ten years of peace between books 2 and 3, from Imriel's adolescence. Or things set after the Imriel books! Phedre as a grandmother and her reactions to that would be spectacular. (It has been a while since I read Imriel's trilogy and the Naamah series so I have fewer opinions on that stuff.) Or go TRULY wild and write a modern AU! Or set it in space and have Phedre as a space courtesan! Pretty much anything sounds great.
Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (2017)
Elizabeth Marston, Olive Byrne
This was on my to-watch list for ages, but I finally got round to it this year and really enjoyed it. And unsurprisingly the film focuses on Bill and his journey, and on the creation of Wonder Woman, but I was much more intrigued by Elizabeth and Olive. The jealousy it starts off with is tiresome and predictable BUT it ends up in a very interesting and wonderful place for their relationship, and I really loved that it was a triad rather than a V-shaped relationship. It's not smooth or easy, and of course it couldn't be, but the idea that it's worth fighting for is lovely. And while I would be really interested in something after the movie and Bill's death, I would also love basically anything with Elizabeth and Olive. (Side note: I also enjoy that it starts at Radcliffe, since I lived in that neighborhood for a while, and if you want to do anything fun with the Cambridge setting that would extra delight me!)
Stardust (2007)
Tristran Thorn, Yvaine
Oh, Stardust. I enjoy the book, but the movie hits all those Princess-Bride-loving bits of my brain and lights them right up. I love that Yvaine ultimately saves the day, that she and Tristran save each other and grow from hatred to friendship to true love.
I also thought about requesting worldbuilding for this, so if you're interested in exploring Stormhold and the other realms beyond the wall, please have at it! I love things that take fairy-tale settings and rules and run with them (see also the Enchanted Forest Chronicles) so if there are other stories you'd like to have Tristran and Yvaine wander through, please feel free. This section is less detailed because basically I just want more of what we get, which I think gives a lot of room for interpretation.
What a year it's been, huh? Above all I hope you enjoy yourself writing this story. I'm not in it for anything super dark or tragic this year given the state of the world, but I hope I've given you enough room to write something you have fun with. If you have any questions feel free to contact the mods to pass questions along for me.
DNWs: graphic violence, rape, major character death, general grimdarkness, infidelity, bearding, homophobia, fat hate, watersports, scat, eye and dental trauma.
Likes: Some angst and pain is okay if there's a happy ending. Friendships, bonds forged in adversity, banter, romance, trust. AUs are generally fine, especially if you do something interesting with them. I'm fine with explicit content for all of these fandoms!
In The Heights (2021)
Abuela Claudia (In The Heights (2021))
The absolute best part of this movie was Paciencia y Fe and Olga Merediz deserves an Oscar. And the staging of that song, and all the other little moments with her, made me desperately want something focused on Claudia this Yuletide. The song tells us about her childhood and coming to America and New York, and we know that she never had kids - but there's so much more about her life that we never see. Did she have passionate love affairs that went nowhere? Was she too afraid of making waves and losing her job? Did she get books on birds out of the library and dream of seeing something besides the pigeons of New York? Tell me a story about Claudia, who she was besides the neighborhood's abuela.
This request is the most detailed because it's something I've been thinking about specifically since I saw the movie this summer. I've loved the show for years and years, and I have a lot of emotions about everybody in the cast of characters. And while the movie made some changes I don't agree with (#justiceforcamila) there are parts that I loved. And most of those were the quiet moments with Claudia, her wisdom and her dignity, and her clear love for everyone around her. I'm also biased in that I've been lucky enough to have multiple great-aunts and surrogate grandmothers who were New Yorkers and who were incredibly positive influences in my life.
So! I think there's a lot of room in this prompt for you to explore, and New York over the years has so much history to delve into. Maybe look at her relationships with a younger Kevin and Camila, or welcoming Usnavi's parents and their new baby to the block. Or love affairs that went nowhere! (Any gender is fine and could be super interesting!) (I would be okay with period-typical homophobia here if necessary, but would prefer nothing involving outright gay-bashing.) Feel free to use material from the stage show if you want, "Everything I Know" makes me cry every damn time.
Kushiel's Legacy - Jacqueline Carey
Phèdre nó Delaunay
The Phedre books are comfort reads for me, and I spent the past year rereading her trilogy and sinking into the lavish, ridiculous, exquisite world of Terre d'Ange. I'm really open to a huge number of things focusing on Phedre, including her canon relationships or focusing just on unseen moments with her. Possible ideas:
- her relationship with Nicola L'Envers and what happened when Phedre gave her the lover's token
- literally anything with Joscelin, I love that dork
- one of the branching possibilities we see with Melisande in book 3
- time spent with Ysandre that's not in the middle of war
- missing scenes with Alcuin and Delaunay
These are just jumping-off points, though, so don't feel married to any of them!
Ohhhh this series. Is it imperfect? Yes. Is it over-the-top? Yes. Do I love it anyway? SUPER YES. I thought about tagging worldbuilding but decided against it just to offer more room to writers, but there's so much in this setting that I would love to see explored. And Phedre is already so interested in travel and language and learning about others. We get exciting stories from the books but there are also huge stretches of time where we don't see anything, and while I named a few possibilities up in the official signup, there are so many more that could be spun out. As far as pairings, I do adore the canon ones I mentioned, and I love her relationship with Hyacinthe too. However, I'd be just as content with gen or friendship-focused fic. And with missing scenes - from her childhood, from the ten years of peace between books 2 and 3, from Imriel's adolescence. Or things set after the Imriel books! Phedre as a grandmother and her reactions to that would be spectacular. (It has been a while since I read Imriel's trilogy and the Naamah series so I have fewer opinions on that stuff.) Or go TRULY wild and write a modern AU! Or set it in space and have Phedre as a space courtesan! Pretty much anything sounds great.
Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (2017)
Elizabeth Marston, Olive Byrne
This movie! This movie is so weird and yet I love it. And I really love Elizabeth and Olive and the turns their relationship takes. I'd love something for these two and their unconventional family, especially after the end of the film. How do they feel about what becomes of Wonder Woman? Does the relationship not work without Bill? Does it evolve into something stronger? Don't feel bound (heh) by actual history here, I'm perfectly happy to read about their imagined adventures. Maybe Olive takes over writing the comic under a pseudonym.
This was on my to-watch list for ages, but I finally got round to it this year and really enjoyed it. And unsurprisingly the film focuses on Bill and his journey, and on the creation of Wonder Woman, but I was much more intrigued by Elizabeth and Olive. The jealousy it starts off with is tiresome and predictable BUT it ends up in a very interesting and wonderful place for their relationship, and I really loved that it was a triad rather than a V-shaped relationship. It's not smooth or easy, and of course it couldn't be, but the idea that it's worth fighting for is lovely. And while I would be really interested in something after the movie and Bill's death, I would also love basically anything with Elizabeth and Olive. (Side note: I also enjoy that it starts at Radcliffe, since I lived in that neighborhood for a while, and if you want to do anything fun with the Cambridge setting that would extra delight me!)
Stardust (2007)
Tristran Thorn, Yvaine
More adventures! I love the hints from the book that these two went off adventuring on the regular and would be delighted to see some of that. Or just portraits of Tristran and Yvaine's life together -- there's still so much about the human world, even a magical one, that Yvaine hasn't experienced even if she's observed it. And Tristran has so much still to learn about Stormhold, to say nothing of the fact that he's literally just been crowned king when he has no idea what he's doing. Is Yvaine the real power behind the throne? I just want more of these two being together, bickering but ultimately incredibly fond of each other.
Oh, Stardust. I enjoy the book, but the movie hits all those Princess-Bride-loving bits of my brain and lights them right up. I love that Yvaine ultimately saves the day, that she and Tristran save each other and grow from hatred to friendship to true love.
I also thought about requesting worldbuilding for this, so if you're interested in exploring Stormhold and the other realms beyond the wall, please have at it! I love things that take fairy-tale settings and rules and run with them (see also the Enchanted Forest Chronicles) so if there are other stories you'd like to have Tristran and Yvaine wander through, please feel free. This section is less detailed because basically I just want more of what we get, which I think gives a lot of room for interpretation.
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