dear lovely yuletide person

[fox]

Dear Lovely Yuletide Person,

Hello! I'm so pleased that you and I match on at least one fandom, and as long as you write something you enjoy, I will enjoy that you have written it. For further guidance, though, in the past couple years I've included the following list of things you may wish 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.

I will be back at some point with specific thoughts about each fandom, although optional details are optional, etc. In general, though, this year seems to have been a gen-focused year, in my requests, doesn't it. But I also like the slash (boys or girls, whichever seems called for) and the het, if that's what the story needs. Please don't worry about that. Other things I like, in a list from the last couple years 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 ellen_fremedon. 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.