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DON'T PANIC.
This is a very long letter with lots of stuff, but DO NOT PANIC. I'm actually fairly easy to please; I am very rarely disappointed with a ficathon story. I write long and detailed Dear Author letters because I find such things helpful when I'm writing for other people; if you are like me, here you go! If your style is different and a detailed letter makes you feel hemmed-in, feel free to do what works for you.
The most important thing for me in a fic is that the characters are well-written and recognizably themselves. Even when I don't like a character, I don't go in for character-bashing. If nothing else, if the rest of this letter is too much or my kinks just don't fit yours, just concentrate on writing a good story with everyone in character and good spelling and grammar and I will almost certainly love what you come up with.
One thing: I do have an embarrassment squick, which makes humor kind of hit-or-miss sometimes. The kind of humor where someone does something embarrassing and the audience is laughing at them makes me uncomfortable because I identify too much with the person getting laughed at, so instead of being funny it is squicky. On the other hand, the kind of humor where the audience is laughing with the characters I really enjoy.
If you want to make me the happiest recipient ever, here are some other things to keep in mind (not all of which will apply to all fandoms):
I like strong women, and I love the acknowledgment that strength comes in many forms, of which the kinds put forward by modern western feminism are only a few. I like cultural diversity, and to know that culture matters to people, but I don't like it when non-western culture is fetishized or exoticised. I like quirky characters. I like unreliable narrators. I like acknowledgment that different people can have different points of view without either of them being wrong. I like stories that engage with problematic aspects of the source, and which deal with privilege in one way or another. If you don't know what I mean by privilege, here are a few links: White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, and possibly the Spock/Uhura Racefail Prevention Post and associated links.
I like plotty, gen stories, and plotty stories in general, but I don't like explicit sex, particularly when it's just thrown in for teh porn. If there's going to be sex, there needs to be a reason for it within the story--it advances the plot, or characterization, or something (and, again, if you have to do it, please don't make it explicit). I'm asexual; a lot of the time I don't even bother to read the sex scenes. Romance is awesome (as long as both are in character and the romantic plot doesn't hinge on one or both of them being an idiot), but sex-for-the-sake-of-sex is pretty boring to me. I generally prefer no slash.
I love worldbuilding. Sometimes I find exploring the corners of a world or universe to be as fun (or sometimes more fun) than reading stories set in it. I want to know what's behind the curtain. I love hearing about the economics, the politics, the religion, the clothing, the history, all of that kind of stuff. And I want to know why it matters--how is all this cultural background stuff affecting the characters, the plot, everything. You don't have to do deep worldbuilding, but I'll probably enjoy it if you do.
I enjoy crossovers, if you would like to write one, but prefer them with fandoms I'm familiar with (check my tags). I have kind of a high bar for crossovers, though. Either the two universes have to fit together very well or it should be hilarious crackfic. Examples with mostly non-Yuletide fandoms: I can buy Jack O'Neill finding out about slayers and paying Rupert Giles a visit. I can buy the Criminal Minds team investigating "notorious terrorist" Sarah Connor. I can buy the Doctor showing up just about anywhere. I don't buy B5 suddenly appearing next to DS9 because the Star Trek universe and the B5 universe are just too different from one another. If it's not plausible that the two fictional universes coexist or (within the world of the two universes) that they could meet through a portal/wormhole/whatever, I tend to spend most of the fic going "wait, what?" instead of enjoying it.
I like AUs, but not complete AUs (i.e. no highschool or college or coffee shop AUs, etc.). I like fork-in-the-road type AUs, where one thing is different and the changes all result from that one thing, and you explore what might have been if such-and-such happened. Crackfic is really hit and miss for me, sometimes I love it and sometimes I can't stand it. Basically, if it's the characters we know and love in an insane situation, that's okay. If they're OOC or parodied in order to make something funny ... it's not funny to me. I like angst, but not complete and unrelieved angst, and not angst of the type that people cause themselves, i.e. "I love him/her/it but he/she/it could never love me, so I will go off in a corner and cry rather than talk about it and take a chance on a possibility of relationship!" just makes me roll my eyes. Yes, I know people do it in real life, but it annoys me there too. Please no apocafic.
Cat Pictures Please - Naomi Kritzer
AI (Cat Pictures Please)
This awesome short story can be found free online at Clarkesworld Magazine. The AI is the only character you absolutely have to have, but I'd love to see more of the others. I'm particularly interested in the worldbuilding, and the AI's internal life, and just anything to expand this beautiful short story. There is SO MUCH room for exploration. I want to know What Happens Next, and What the Humans Think about all this, and what other stuff the AI has been up to, and anything that expands this idea would be great. Do other AIs happen by accident, and how does this AI deal with them? What do the targets of the AI think when all of a sudden they start seeing a bazillion ads for mental health clinics or how to come out to their wives or whatnot? What do people think of a dating service funded by cat pictures? I would prefer no creepy negative AI stuff; I like (in this universe, anyway) AIs that are genuinely good and helpful and want to do the right thing.
Random Harvest (1942)
Charles Rainier, Paula Ridgeway | Margaret Hanson, Biffer (Random Harvest), Kitty Chilcet
I don't need all the characters; my favorites are Charles and Paula, but I do like Kitty and the Biffer as well. If Kitty and/or the Biffer don't fit into your story, you do not have to shove them in. If, conversely, you have a really awesome Kitty and/or Biffer story, you do not have to put Charles and Paula in the foreground. I love this movie for its melodrama, for the luminous Greer Garson, for the way I spend the last half of the movie crying into my hanky and pleading with Paula to just TELL HIM already. I love how deliciously angsty it is, with such a wonderfully happy ending. But I would also love a good dose of common sense put in somehow. So you could go either for more melodrama or for less. (If you're foregrounding the Biffer, I would think less melodrama would be the way to go, because he's a pretty down-to-earth guy.)
For me, this story cries out either for AUs or for post-canon stories. What if he hadn't recovered his original memories? What if he'd remembered, but hadn't forgotten Paula? What if the baby lived? What if she'd told him the truth, either right away in the interview for secretary or when he started seeing Kitty or when he asked her to marry him? What if they'd gotten caught leaving town and he'd had to go back to the hospital? And if canon stays the same, what happens now that he knows the truth? Is he upset that she knew and didn't tell him? Is Charles the same personality as Smitty? They've both changed and grown a lot over the course of the movie--how does that affect their relationship? Was she expecting that magically everything would go back to the way it was when they were young and in love? Was he expecting that knowing the truth would magically make him feel more whole? Then there's Kitty: what about her? What else is she doing besides pining for her step-uncle? She's a smart, determined, principled woman--would love to see more of her.
Metropolis: The Chase Suite - Janelle Monae
Cindi Mayweather, DJ Crash Crash, Anthony Greendown, Maestra (Metropolis: the Chase Suite)
I love these three albums and the associated art and videos. For me, the characters are great, but the worldbuilding is what fascinates me; you do not have to include all (or even any) of the characters I requested if you get a great idea for something else. I don't have any specific prompts or plot bunnies, but here are some things to think about (mix and match as your fancy takes you):
The worldbuilding is exquisite, and makes me hunger for more. We only get a taste of this future. I want to know what makes it tick. I want to know about race relations, and the way human-droid relations map (or don't) onto modern white-black relations. I want to know how the economy works--these droids have some measure of autonomy and money, obviously, DJ Crash-Crash's primary audience seems to be his fellow droids. How does that work, and how did it develop? I want to know about computers and the differences (and similarities) between how droids think and how humans think. I want to know about Cindi's relationship with Anthony Greendown, how it developed and what happened to it once she goes on the run. I want to know about Cindi's relationship to her fellow droids (particularly the other Alpha Platinum 9,000s) and what it means to her (and to them) to be the Archandroid. I want to know about DJ Crash-Crash and his radio show. I want to know about the nightclub Cindi works in in Prime Time. I want to know about all the backstage stuff at the Metropolis Droid Auctions. I want to know more about the insane asylum and how magic, dancing, and technology interact. I want to know about that button at the side of the droids' heads, and what it means that when they push it they turn Black. I want to know more about Cindi's experiences while time traveling. Feel free to explore any or none of these ideas.
Caprica
Tamara Adama.
Things what I would love (pick any, all, or none as you like): something exploring Tauron culture, and culture clashes thereof. We know all about Joseph and Sam Adama's delicate relationship with their homeland, and a little bit about the first William Adama's relationship with all things Tauron, but not much about Tamara and Tauron. So, that would be great. Also! Cylons! I want to know what happens with the Cylons! We know (basically) what happened with Lacy and Zoe after the show ended, and their interaction with Cylons, but Tamara didn't get a new body and she didn't become the Reverend Mother, so what happened to her? Was she still around during the Cylon War, and if so what was her role? Was she still there, a ghost in the machine, when the Final Five showed up? What was her role in the Cylon culture? Not to mention, what does she think of her Dad and his new family?
There cannot be too much Tamara fic. I LOVE her, and wish the show had focused on her and her family more than on the Graystones and Sister Clarice. (Lacy, also, is awesome, and I suppose Zoe wasn't bad either, if she hadn't been the focus.) This was truly the show of the awesome girls, and it had potential if it hadn't been cancelled. (If you wanted to do something about her and Bill Adama from BSG meeting--particularly in some kind of complicated plot involving the Rebel Cylons and the Final Five--that would probably not be in the spirit of Yuletide but I would not complain. At all.)
This is a very long letter with lots of stuff, but DO NOT PANIC. I'm actually fairly easy to please; I am very rarely disappointed with a ficathon story. I write long and detailed Dear Author letters because I find such things helpful when I'm writing for other people; if you are like me, here you go! If your style is different and a detailed letter makes you feel hemmed-in, feel free to do what works for you.
The most important thing for me in a fic is that the characters are well-written and recognizably themselves. Even when I don't like a character, I don't go in for character-bashing. If nothing else, if the rest of this letter is too much or my kinks just don't fit yours, just concentrate on writing a good story with everyone in character and good spelling and grammar and I will almost certainly love what you come up with.
One thing: I do have an embarrassment squick, which makes humor kind of hit-or-miss sometimes. The kind of humor where someone does something embarrassing and the audience is laughing at them makes me uncomfortable because I identify too much with the person getting laughed at, so instead of being funny it is squicky. On the other hand, the kind of humor where the audience is laughing with the characters I really enjoy.
If you want to make me the happiest recipient ever, here are some other things to keep in mind (not all of which will apply to all fandoms):
I like strong women, and I love the acknowledgment that strength comes in many forms, of which the kinds put forward by modern western feminism are only a few. I like cultural diversity, and to know that culture matters to people, but I don't like it when non-western culture is fetishized or exoticised. I like quirky characters. I like unreliable narrators. I like acknowledgment that different people can have different points of view without either of them being wrong. I like stories that engage with problematic aspects of the source, and which deal with privilege in one way or another. If you don't know what I mean by privilege, here are a few links: White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, and possibly the Spock/Uhura Racefail Prevention Post and associated links.
I like plotty, gen stories, and plotty stories in general, but I don't like explicit sex, particularly when it's just thrown in for teh porn. If there's going to be sex, there needs to be a reason for it within the story--it advances the plot, or characterization, or something (and, again, if you have to do it, please don't make it explicit). I'm asexual; a lot of the time I don't even bother to read the sex scenes. Romance is awesome (as long as both are in character and the romantic plot doesn't hinge on one or both of them being an idiot), but sex-for-the-sake-of-sex is pretty boring to me. I generally prefer no slash.
I love worldbuilding. Sometimes I find exploring the corners of a world or universe to be as fun (or sometimes more fun) than reading stories set in it. I want to know what's behind the curtain. I love hearing about the economics, the politics, the religion, the clothing, the history, all of that kind of stuff. And I want to know why it matters--how is all this cultural background stuff affecting the characters, the plot, everything. You don't have to do deep worldbuilding, but I'll probably enjoy it if you do.
I enjoy crossovers, if you would like to write one, but prefer them with fandoms I'm familiar with (check my tags). I have kind of a high bar for crossovers, though. Either the two universes have to fit together very well or it should be hilarious crackfic. Examples with mostly non-Yuletide fandoms: I can buy Jack O'Neill finding out about slayers and paying Rupert Giles a visit. I can buy the Criminal Minds team investigating "notorious terrorist" Sarah Connor. I can buy the Doctor showing up just about anywhere. I don't buy B5 suddenly appearing next to DS9 because the Star Trek universe and the B5 universe are just too different from one another. If it's not plausible that the two fictional universes coexist or (within the world of the two universes) that they could meet through a portal/wormhole/whatever, I tend to spend most of the fic going "wait, what?" instead of enjoying it.
I like AUs, but not complete AUs (i.e. no highschool or college or coffee shop AUs, etc.). I like fork-in-the-road type AUs, where one thing is different and the changes all result from that one thing, and you explore what might have been if such-and-such happened. Crackfic is really hit and miss for me, sometimes I love it and sometimes I can't stand it. Basically, if it's the characters we know and love in an insane situation, that's okay. If they're OOC or parodied in order to make something funny ... it's not funny to me. I like angst, but not complete and unrelieved angst, and not angst of the type that people cause themselves, i.e. "I love him/her/it but he/she/it could never love me, so I will go off in a corner and cry rather than talk about it and take a chance on a possibility of relationship!" just makes me roll my eyes. Yes, I know people do it in real life, but it annoys me there too. Please no apocafic.
Cat Pictures Please - Naomi Kritzer
AI (Cat Pictures Please)
This awesome short story can be found free online at Clarkesworld Magazine. The AI is the only character you absolutely have to have, but I'd love to see more of the others. I'm particularly interested in the worldbuilding, and the AI's internal life, and just anything to expand this beautiful short story. There is SO MUCH room for exploration. I want to know What Happens Next, and What the Humans Think about all this, and what other stuff the AI has been up to, and anything that expands this idea would be great. Do other AIs happen by accident, and how does this AI deal with them? What do the targets of the AI think when all of a sudden they start seeing a bazillion ads for mental health clinics or how to come out to their wives or whatnot? What do people think of a dating service funded by cat pictures? I would prefer no creepy negative AI stuff; I like (in this universe, anyway) AIs that are genuinely good and helpful and want to do the right thing.
Random Harvest (1942)
Charles Rainier, Paula Ridgeway | Margaret Hanson, Biffer (Random Harvest), Kitty Chilcet
I don't need all the characters; my favorites are Charles and Paula, but I do like Kitty and the Biffer as well. If Kitty and/or the Biffer don't fit into your story, you do not have to shove them in. If, conversely, you have a really awesome Kitty and/or Biffer story, you do not have to put Charles and Paula in the foreground. I love this movie for its melodrama, for the luminous Greer Garson, for the way I spend the last half of the movie crying into my hanky and pleading with Paula to just TELL HIM already. I love how deliciously angsty it is, with such a wonderfully happy ending. But I would also love a good dose of common sense put in somehow. So you could go either for more melodrama or for less. (If you're foregrounding the Biffer, I would think less melodrama would be the way to go, because he's a pretty down-to-earth guy.)
For me, this story cries out either for AUs or for post-canon stories. What if he hadn't recovered his original memories? What if he'd remembered, but hadn't forgotten Paula? What if the baby lived? What if she'd told him the truth, either right away in the interview for secretary or when he started seeing Kitty or when he asked her to marry him? What if they'd gotten caught leaving town and he'd had to go back to the hospital? And if canon stays the same, what happens now that he knows the truth? Is he upset that she knew and didn't tell him? Is Charles the same personality as Smitty? They've both changed and grown a lot over the course of the movie--how does that affect their relationship? Was she expecting that magically everything would go back to the way it was when they were young and in love? Was he expecting that knowing the truth would magically make him feel more whole? Then there's Kitty: what about her? What else is she doing besides pining for her step-uncle? She's a smart, determined, principled woman--would love to see more of her.
Metropolis: The Chase Suite - Janelle Monae
Cindi Mayweather, DJ Crash Crash, Anthony Greendown, Maestra (Metropolis: the Chase Suite)
I love these three albums and the associated art and videos. For me, the characters are great, but the worldbuilding is what fascinates me; you do not have to include all (or even any) of the characters I requested if you get a great idea for something else. I don't have any specific prompts or plot bunnies, but here are some things to think about (mix and match as your fancy takes you):
The worldbuilding is exquisite, and makes me hunger for more. We only get a taste of this future. I want to know what makes it tick. I want to know about race relations, and the way human-droid relations map (or don't) onto modern white-black relations. I want to know how the economy works--these droids have some measure of autonomy and money, obviously, DJ Crash-Crash's primary audience seems to be his fellow droids. How does that work, and how did it develop? I want to know about computers and the differences (and similarities) between how droids think and how humans think. I want to know about Cindi's relationship with Anthony Greendown, how it developed and what happened to it once she goes on the run. I want to know about Cindi's relationship to her fellow droids (particularly the other Alpha Platinum 9,000s) and what it means to her (and to them) to be the Archandroid. I want to know about DJ Crash-Crash and his radio show. I want to know about the nightclub Cindi works in in Prime Time. I want to know about all the backstage stuff at the Metropolis Droid Auctions. I want to know more about the insane asylum and how magic, dancing, and technology interact. I want to know about that button at the side of the droids' heads, and what it means that when they push it they turn Black. I want to know more about Cindi's experiences while time traveling. Feel free to explore any or none of these ideas.
Caprica
Tamara Adama.
Things what I would love (pick any, all, or none as you like): something exploring Tauron culture, and culture clashes thereof. We know all about Joseph and Sam Adama's delicate relationship with their homeland, and a little bit about the first William Adama's relationship with all things Tauron, but not much about Tamara and Tauron. So, that would be great. Also! Cylons! I want to know what happens with the Cylons! We know (basically) what happened with Lacy and Zoe after the show ended, and their interaction with Cylons, but Tamara didn't get a new body and she didn't become the Reverend Mother, so what happened to her? Was she still around during the Cylon War, and if so what was her role? Was she still there, a ghost in the machine, when the Final Five showed up? What was her role in the Cylon culture? Not to mention, what does she think of her Dad and his new family?
There cannot be too much Tamara fic. I LOVE her, and wish the show had focused on her and her family more than on the Graystones and Sister Clarice. (Lacy, also, is awesome, and I suppose Zoe wasn't bad either, if she hadn't been the focus.) This was truly the show of the awesome girls, and it had potential if it hadn't been cancelled. (If you wanted to do something about her and Bill Adama from BSG meeting--particularly in some kind of complicated plot involving the Rebel Cylons and the Final Five--that would probably not be in the spirit of Yuletide but I would not complain. At all.)
