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dear lovely yuletide writer
(I don't have anything against "Dear Yule Goat", you understand, but I don't know, somehow in my head, despite all the evidence from everyone about the honest-to-god Yule Goat and everything, small ruminants don't say "festive". Go figure.)
BUT. This is a letter elaborating on my details for my lovely new Yuletide friend.
DEAR LOVELY NEW YULETIDE FRIEND,
Hi! As I've said in other years, the very fact that you are writing me a story is just the most marvelous thing and yay. If you write a story you like in one of the fandoms we share, I will be pleased. But in case you really can't go on without Additional Guidance, I'll repeat what I said last year about Things You Might Want To Avoid If Your Purpose Is Specifically To Please Fox:
Oh, dear, specifics about specific fandoms, beyond what's in the optional-details-are-optional. Hmm.
Let's see.
My Fair Lady - what I like about Higgins is that he is an almost entirely unreliable narrator, and what I like about Pickering is that he is incredibly patient (with both Higgins and Eliza, now that I think about it). w/r/t the above character-bashing, I'd prefer that a story about Higgins and Pickering look at them in the context of the show, rather than disregarding or otherwise demeaning Eliza; if you find that you need to do something about her, I may mention that I don't hate Freddy as much as other people seem to, so it's okay with me if she doesn't either.
Master and Commander - here I am doomed to be unhelpful, I'm afraid, because I am in the giddy relatively-early phase of attachment to this fandom - I know, I'm late! - and therefore you really do know the characters and the canon better than I do. I like the contrast between Jack's practical expertise or sea-smarts and Stephen's theoretical expertise or book-smarts, and I like how they fit. :-)
Gilbert & Sullivan - so, yeah, I chose four operas, because the operas are listed as characters. Please, please, please don't feel that you have to include elements of all of them. The G&S operas I know best are Pinafore, Patience, Pirates, Gondoliers, Mikado, Iolanthe, and Sorcerer. You are certainly welcome to write an insane crossover of mad hijinks with characters from all of these, but I don't think I could do that, so don't fret. If you'd rather tell me what happened after the finale of any of these operas, that'd be fine too. Or if you'd rather tell the story of some character who has a name but only because s/he has two solo lines to sing, also fine. Really.
Very broadly speaking, I like the slash. Boys or girls, whichever seems called for. I also like the het and the gen if that's what the story needs. Please don't worry about that either. Other things I like, in a list from last year that happens for some reason to include only things beginning with "s":
BUT. This is a letter elaborating on my details for my lovely new Yuletide friend.
DEAR LOVELY NEW YULETIDE FRIEND,
Hi! As I've said in other years, the very fact that you are writing me a story is just the most marvelous thing and yay. If you write a story you like in one of the fandoms we share, I will be pleased. But in case you really can't go on without Additional Guidance, I'll repeat what I said last year about Things You Might Want To Avoid If Your Purpose Is Specifically To Please Fox:
- RPF - this is pretty much my bullet-proofiest squick, in fact probably the only thing about which I will go ahead and use the word "squick" instead of something milder like "preference against". I could go into a whole thing about my boundary issues, but there's not really any need, because look what I requested -- how on earth would it even come up. For the record, in my confused little mind historical figures are not the same as public figures, so I've written in fandoms Based On A True Story before without a tremor. It's hard to know where the cutoff is, though, so probably best to avoid it altogether unless you're prepared to consult with a professional (i.e., someone who knows me well and can explain this better than I can).
- character bashing - this can be overt ("That cow; I never liked her" out of the mouth of someone who never gave any evidence in canon of disliking the person in question) or more subtle (narrative that makes a smart person stupid, a normal-looking person hideous, a strong person weak, a kind person cruel), but no matter how it turns up, it kind of bugs me. I mean: if there are plot-driven reasons for the characterization, fine, but I do hope you won't have character A kick character B all around in the dirt just because you've never cared for character B, you know?
The more-subtle version of this is, in particular cases, sometimes called "feminizing" a character, or, much less offensively, "infantilizing" one (because it so often turns up in slash, where the -- sigh -- more submissive, usually also smaller and younger, party is mysteriously emotionally dependent on the other, given to random crying jags, etc., etc., so he is the "girl" and the dominant, bigger, stronger, older, etc. one is the "boy" (or (i know, nested parentheses, sorry) the "man", which, if you think about it, calling that "feminizing" infantilizes women, doesn't it, even before the girl/man opposition, which it may be best if I just stop now before I really go off the point)). I prefer that this not happen, at least not without a good solid maybe-someone-got-hit-on-the-head reason. - um. - Really, that's it. I think I'm pretty difficult to bug.
Oh, dear, specifics about specific fandoms, beyond what's in the optional-details-are-optional. Hmm.
Let's see.
My Fair Lady - what I like about Higgins is that he is an almost entirely unreliable narrator, and what I like about Pickering is that he is incredibly patient (with both Higgins and Eliza, now that I think about it). w/r/t the above character-bashing, I'd prefer that a story about Higgins and Pickering look at them in the context of the show, rather than disregarding or otherwise demeaning Eliza; if you find that you need to do something about her, I may mention that I don't hate Freddy as much as other people seem to, so it's okay with me if she doesn't either.
Master and Commander - here I am doomed to be unhelpful, I'm afraid, because I am in the giddy relatively-early phase of attachment to this fandom - I know, I'm late! - and therefore you really do know the characters and the canon better than I do. I like the contrast between Jack's practical expertise or sea-smarts and Stephen's theoretical expertise or book-smarts, and I like how they fit. :-)
Gilbert & Sullivan - so, yeah, I chose four operas, because the operas are listed as characters. Please, please, please don't feel that you have to include elements of all of them. The G&S operas I know best are Pinafore, Patience, Pirates, Gondoliers, Mikado, Iolanthe, and Sorcerer. You are certainly welcome to write an insane crossover of mad hijinks with characters from all of these, but I don't think I could do that, so don't fret. If you'd rather tell me what happened after the finale of any of these operas, that'd be fine too. Or if you'd rather tell the story of some character who has a name but only because s/he has two solo lines to sing, also fine. Really.
Very broadly speaking, I like the slash. Boys or girls, whichever seems called for. I also like the het and the gen if that's what the story needs. Please don't worry about that either. Other things I like, in a list from last year that happens for some reason to include only things beginning with "s":
- scruffy. longitudinal studies have shown that in TV and movies, I like when the boys don't shave for a couple of days. Make of that what you will.
- stoicism. (I didn't request Wimseyverse, but one time I was talking to someone about Dorothy L Sayers, and saying how I love Peter Wimsey best because he was so brave all that time he was in love with Harriet and she wasn't in love with him. Extrapolate as needed.)
- snark, but I do like it better witty than snippy.
- um. This is where I turn it over to my flist, who are welcome to comment on this post or whom you are welcome to contact in whatever mod-compliant ways exist. The best able to analyze my sensibilities is almost certainly
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ellen_fremedon (and sanj, but she is swamped with schoolwork, aie!). If she can't help you, she can at least probably -- possibly after tricking me with well-disguised hypothetical questions -- point you at someone who can.