Dear Yuletide Writer letter (2020)
Oct. 18th, 2020 05:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
twoamDear Yuletide Writer,
Thank you for writing for me! (And if you're just looking at my letter, thank you as well.) I'm really excited to see what you're going to create. I hope you find this letter helpful, although I realise that of course, optional details are optional (as they should be).
My AO3 name is![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
twoam
My general likes:
*Missing scenes
*Canon divergence
*Getting together
*Pining and longing, requited or unrequited
*Angst
*Realisation of feelings
*Accidental physical contact
*Hurt/comfort
*Miscommunication, mixed messages
*Communication without using words
*Scenery porn
*Sense of place and scene
*Nature
*Humour
*Bed sharing
*Letter writing, epistolary fic, in-universe forms, guidance, documents etc.
DNWs:
*Unrequested AUs (Canon divergence AUs are requested for all canons)
*Unrequested non-canon pairings,
*Current events
*Sole focus on social issues (e.g. racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia etc.)
*Unrequested non-canon character death (near death is okay)
*Graphic description of injuries/violence
*Cannibalism
*Vore
*Bodily fluids (sexual fluids, sweat and blood are okay, as is feeling nauseated as long as it doesn't lead to actual vomiting)
*Explicit sexual content with characters under 18
*Ageplay
*Non-con/dub-con
*Omegaverse
*D/s
*Genderswaps
Fandom: Blackadder
Requested characters: Edmund Blackadder (Blackadder Goes Fourth), Kevin Darling.
If you'd like to include any of the other characters too, please do. I am thinking of the rest of the cast from Blackadder Goes Fourth, but if you'd like to do a crossover with the other series, I am also interested in that.
Blackadder Goes Fourth is my favourite Blackadder series. It's a mixture of the setting, the excellent writing (so do Series Two and Three), and the characters. It is also very, very funny. I also enjoy how Blackadder having such an effective foil in Darling, someone who can equal him in smarts, and how it naturally means they absolutely hate each other. They've got a lot more in common than either of them would ever admit, and it drives them nuts. Yet they do bury the hatchet, for a while, in the final episode. Though I imagine that if they survive they'd be back at each other's throats soon enough. That's why I've requested both of them. I do ship them, and their antagonistic relationship towards each other is part of why, so if you do write them as a ship, I'd like them to still be argumentative even if they are shagging.
Prompts:
*What happened after they went over the top. Maybe they figured out a plan to get out of it together once they were up in No Man's Land, perhaps Blackadder has one of those moments of very good luck he gets occasionally. Maybe the Germans capture them, much to their relief.
*One of them survives going over the top but the other doesn't and decides to haunt the survivor as a ghost as his revenge, particularly if it was his fault that the bullet hit him because he was busy being such a distracting arse. I'm thinking very dark humour, but a more serious note in with it would be interesting too if you'd like to do a mixture, or take it more straight.
*Any sort of mission fic. It could be an actual good idea that inevitably goes wrong, or it was an absolutely terrible idea that never would have been approved by anyone halfway competent but they have Melchett as their leader.
*Anything that could be summed up as 'Blackadder probably would have got away with it if he hadn't been so smug and then immediately put his foot in it'.
*How did they meet for the first time? Was it when Darling got promoted into the position he's in during the series, or before then? Did they almost, for a moment, get along before it inevitably went to pot?
*Friends with benefits. Or enemies with benefits, more accurately for these two. It's slim pickings in the middle of a war, and that's all there is to it. At least, that's what they think there is to it, and would never admit to anything else.
*Pining. Angry, "I really hate your guts now but I also want to shag you" pining, or maybe something more low-key. I could see Blackadder realising Darling is pining and ruthlessly using it against him.
*Christmas in the trenches. You could do that first Christmas (the one where Blackadder was clearly off-side) or any other Christmas.
*Time travel, either backwards or forwards. This could be to another series of Blackadder – Blackadder II would be particular fun, seeing as how many people they know also show up there in, hmm, quite different form. Or it could be to any time of your choosing! I'd prefer to cut off going forward to 2015, however.
*Post WWI fic of any flavour. They could have been delighted to think they'd never see each other again but end up working together again, navigating an existing relationship while finding their way back into civilian life, they broke up during the war and end up getting back together after it was over...there's a lot that could be going on. I'd love to read your idea!
Fandom: Hot Fuzz
Requested characters: Nicholas Angel, Danny Butterman
If you'd like include any of the other characters too, please do.
This movie is one of my go-to movies if I need a laugh. It's so well crafted, I spot something new each time I watch it – last time it was the swords over the fireplace in the hotel setting up a Chekov's gun. The action's excellent, even if I have to watch the scenes with church-related injuries through my fingers each time. I enjoy the mundane British atmosphere, if you'd like to lean into that in your fic, too.
Part of what makes it work so well for me is Nick and Danny's relationship. I love how it develops over the course of the movie, and how they both change each other for the better. Nick lightens up a little, and Danny grows up a little too! Plus, they did give the canned love interest's dialogue to Danny. I like how a lot of their growing relationship is shown in small looks and glances as much as in what they're saying to each other. There's the moment where Danny hears Nick's been stabbed and turns to him in wonder. The first time Nick smiles is when he finally agrees to get a pint of lager and Danny's happy reaction to it. And of course, the way he looks over to Danny before saying that he's perfectly happy staying in Stanford, thanks. I would love something focusing on their relationship, I do ship it.
My prompts are slow-paced than the movie itself but if you'd like to put in more action, I would like that too.
Prompts:
*Anything that fills in that one year gap between the police station blowing up and the final scene. Perhaps that explosion made Nick realise exactly what Danny means to him, even more being than his partner.
*What happened when Nick accompanied Danny to hospital after the station blew up (because there's no way he let Danny go by himself), and after they got there. Nick refusing to leave and sleeping right there in his clothes until Danny wakes up again.
*Hurt/comfort. There's so much potential for this, from the station being blown up to something going wrong while on duty. Frantically trying to take care of the other? Yes please!
*Danny finally gets his peace lily.
*Doing paperwork together.
*Pining. I really enjoy pining, and would like it ether during the movie or post canon as they adjust to their new lives.
*The grand reopening of the rebuilt model village. Maybe they're both there as security, or are they the guests of honour? There could be a diorama of the Stanford show-down, with varying degrees of accuracy.
*The process of renovating the cottage. An intense discussion of what colour the wallpaper should be, the curtains, should it be blinds, was that the right kind of paste for the wallpaper, or disastrous DIY. Shopping trips to B&Q where Nick is laser focused and Danny keeps getting distracted. If you'd like to write sex on a wallpapering table, I'd be interested.
*Mundane stakes crime fighting.
*I can see Danny relating life to romantic movies too.
*Invasion of the living statues. They've all come down to Stanford and it's chaos. Even the floating Yodas start showing up and a legal solution is needed.
*A TV crew arrive to make a documentary about being a cop in Stanford. I feel like any TV producer would feel they've hit gold with these police officers, so please feel free to throw in any of the other cops in too.
*The arrival of the TV crew could make them reconsider their relationship by shaking up their routine and making them think about their lives, and also how it looks to everyone else. I'd rather the producers weren't trying to get them together, however.
Fandom: Maurice (1987)
Requested characters: Any in the tag set (Alec Scudder, Clive Durham, Maurice Hall).
If you'd like to include any of the other characters too, please do.
This movie gets me right in the heart every time I watch it. It's one of those movies where what's not said feels as important as what is said – it's about the deeds as well as the words, to half quote Maurice from the dinner with the Dean. It's beautifully shot, the settings are wonderful, and it is by far my favourite Hugh Grant movie. It just comes together very well, and it even has a happy ending at a time where that was nearly impossible. A lot of my prompts are more on the angsty side, however, particularly for Clive. I'm requesting both Maurice/Clive and Maurice/Alec, and Ada/Clive and Alec/Original Male Character for two specific prompts.
I've requested the movie, but I've read the book as well, if you do want to use anything from it. I'm aware of the short epilogue scene Forster wrote but decided not to use it, so go with what you'd like to write for anything set post-canon.
Period appropriate homophobia, sexism, attitudes towards mental health etc. is okay in this canon, as homophobia plays such a major role in this story and it would come up as part of some of my prompts. I don't want it to be the sole focus, however, and if you don't want to engage with that, that's absolutely fine too!
Prompts:
*What if Risley hadn't been caught and disgraced? I realise in the book Clive backs out for more nebulous reasons, but I'm curious to see what might have happened if Risley hadn't been sent down. Maybe Clive decides to try for longer, or perhaps some other incident pulls him and Maurice apart instead.
*Clive reliving his Cambridge days in his memories, nostalgia for his past with Maurice, who he's starting to realise has vanished permanently from his life. I imagine if the shine started to come off his marriage, this would only get more intense. The last scene of the movie, with Clive looking out of the window and recalling Maurice shouting up at him at college gets me every time.
*Any scenes expanding on Clive and Maurice's time at Cambridge together. It's a beautiful city, so scenery porn would be great. Give me the mists, the ancient buildings, the punts on the river, the falling leaves in autumn!
*Clive manages to go somewhere with his incredibly ill-conceived attempt at courting Ada because she reminds him of Maurice. I feel like this would be disastrous for all three of them (Ada, Clive and Maurice), and I would be interested in the emotional fall-out and angst, particularly if it got all the way to marriage. If you wanted it to go all the way to the marriage bed, too... For clarity, I am requesting Ada/Clive for this prompt.
*Maurice realising, at some point, that he's been incredibly unpleasant to his sisters and that they dislike him. Maybe he tries to fix it and makes it worse – particularly with Kitty, who really doesn't like him and might be frustrated by the social restrictions she faces while Maurice gets to do whatever he likes (as far as she's concerned).
*Anything about Alec's background and his past. I'm really interested in anything you'd like to explore. Alec clearly had some schooling, and his own life before it crossed over with Maurice's. I am requesting Alec/Original Male Character for this prompt if you'd like to explore that aspect of his life.
*Maurice takes the advice that he would do better in some place like France or Italy.
*Post WWI, Clive's rather traumatic experiences in the war leads him to actively find out where Maurice went, as a way of retreating back into the past. Perhaps he does manage to find him again, only to regret it when he realises exactly how serious Maurice was about his new life. Or maybe Maurice has vanished from the face of the earth, despite how hard he looks. In effect, angst!
*Anything set post-WWI would be very interesting. The world of the canon is gone within a few years of it ending. How are they adapting to the new world? How did their experiences during the war shape them? They're all of prime age to be conscripted early on in the war, but with Maurice and Alec escaping civilization at the end, perhaps they ended up not going and being somewhere else too. Go where you'd like to go with this,
*Alec does go to Buenos Aires, but on a different, later ship and with Maurice with him. I'd love to read about their voyage, their experiences in Buenos Aires and Argentina more generally. Maybe Buenos Aires doesn't give them the freedom they need and they go off to Patagonia. Landscape and scenery porn would be amazing.
Thank you for writing for me! (And if you're just looking at my letter, thank you as well.) I'm really excited to see what you're going to create. I hope you find this letter helpful, although I realise that of course, optional details are optional (as they should be).
My AO3 name is
My general likes:
*Missing scenes
*Canon divergence
*Getting together
*Pining and longing, requited or unrequited
*Angst
*Realisation of feelings
*Accidental physical contact
*Hurt/comfort
*Miscommunication, mixed messages
*Communication without using words
*Scenery porn
*Sense of place and scene
*Nature
*Humour
*Bed sharing
*Letter writing, epistolary fic, in-universe forms, guidance, documents etc.
DNWs:
*Unrequested AUs (Canon divergence AUs are requested for all canons)
*Unrequested non-canon pairings,
*Current events
*Sole focus on social issues (e.g. racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia etc.)
*Unrequested non-canon character death (near death is okay)
*Graphic description of injuries/violence
*Cannibalism
*Vore
*Bodily fluids (sexual fluids, sweat and blood are okay, as is feeling nauseated as long as it doesn't lead to actual vomiting)
*Explicit sexual content with characters under 18
*Ageplay
*Non-con/dub-con
*Omegaverse
*D/s
*Genderswaps
Fandom: Blackadder
Requested characters: Edmund Blackadder (Blackadder Goes Fourth), Kevin Darling.
If you'd like to include any of the other characters too, please do. I am thinking of the rest of the cast from Blackadder Goes Fourth, but if you'd like to do a crossover with the other series, I am also interested in that.
Blackadder Goes Fourth is my favourite Blackadder series. It's a mixture of the setting, the excellent writing (so do Series Two and Three), and the characters. It is also very, very funny. I also enjoy how Blackadder having such an effective foil in Darling, someone who can equal him in smarts, and how it naturally means they absolutely hate each other. They've got a lot more in common than either of them would ever admit, and it drives them nuts. Yet they do bury the hatchet, for a while, in the final episode. Though I imagine that if they survive they'd be back at each other's throats soon enough. That's why I've requested both of them. I do ship them, and their antagonistic relationship towards each other is part of why, so if you do write them as a ship, I'd like them to still be argumentative even if they are shagging.
Prompts:
*What happened after they went over the top. Maybe they figured out a plan to get out of it together once they were up in No Man's Land, perhaps Blackadder has one of those moments of very good luck he gets occasionally. Maybe the Germans capture them, much to their relief.
*One of them survives going over the top but the other doesn't and decides to haunt the survivor as a ghost as his revenge, particularly if it was his fault that the bullet hit him because he was busy being such a distracting arse. I'm thinking very dark humour, but a more serious note in with it would be interesting too if you'd like to do a mixture, or take it more straight.
*Any sort of mission fic. It could be an actual good idea that inevitably goes wrong, or it was an absolutely terrible idea that never would have been approved by anyone halfway competent but they have Melchett as their leader.
*Anything that could be summed up as 'Blackadder probably would have got away with it if he hadn't been so smug and then immediately put his foot in it'.
*How did they meet for the first time? Was it when Darling got promoted into the position he's in during the series, or before then? Did they almost, for a moment, get along before it inevitably went to pot?
*Friends with benefits. Or enemies with benefits, more accurately for these two. It's slim pickings in the middle of a war, and that's all there is to it. At least, that's what they think there is to it, and would never admit to anything else.
*Pining. Angry, "I really hate your guts now but I also want to shag you" pining, or maybe something more low-key. I could see Blackadder realising Darling is pining and ruthlessly using it against him.
*Christmas in the trenches. You could do that first Christmas (the one where Blackadder was clearly off-side) or any other Christmas.
*Time travel, either backwards or forwards. This could be to another series of Blackadder – Blackadder II would be particular fun, seeing as how many people they know also show up there in, hmm, quite different form. Or it could be to any time of your choosing! I'd prefer to cut off going forward to 2015, however.
*Post WWI fic of any flavour. They could have been delighted to think they'd never see each other again but end up working together again, navigating an existing relationship while finding their way back into civilian life, they broke up during the war and end up getting back together after it was over...there's a lot that could be going on. I'd love to read your idea!
Fandom: Hot Fuzz
Requested characters: Nicholas Angel, Danny Butterman
If you'd like include any of the other characters too, please do.
This movie is one of my go-to movies if I need a laugh. It's so well crafted, I spot something new each time I watch it – last time it was the swords over the fireplace in the hotel setting up a Chekov's gun. The action's excellent, even if I have to watch the scenes with church-related injuries through my fingers each time. I enjoy the mundane British atmosphere, if you'd like to lean into that in your fic, too.
Part of what makes it work so well for me is Nick and Danny's relationship. I love how it develops over the course of the movie, and how they both change each other for the better. Nick lightens up a little, and Danny grows up a little too! Plus, they did give the canned love interest's dialogue to Danny. I like how a lot of their growing relationship is shown in small looks and glances as much as in what they're saying to each other. There's the moment where Danny hears Nick's been stabbed and turns to him in wonder. The first time Nick smiles is when he finally agrees to get a pint of lager and Danny's happy reaction to it. And of course, the way he looks over to Danny before saying that he's perfectly happy staying in Stanford, thanks. I would love something focusing on their relationship, I do ship it.
My prompts are slow-paced than the movie itself but if you'd like to put in more action, I would like that too.
Prompts:
*Anything that fills in that one year gap between the police station blowing up and the final scene. Perhaps that explosion made Nick realise exactly what Danny means to him, even more being than his partner.
*What happened when Nick accompanied Danny to hospital after the station blew up (because there's no way he let Danny go by himself), and after they got there. Nick refusing to leave and sleeping right there in his clothes until Danny wakes up again.
*Hurt/comfort. There's so much potential for this, from the station being blown up to something going wrong while on duty. Frantically trying to take care of the other? Yes please!
*Danny finally gets his peace lily.
*Doing paperwork together.
*Pining. I really enjoy pining, and would like it ether during the movie or post canon as they adjust to their new lives.
*The grand reopening of the rebuilt model village. Maybe they're both there as security, or are they the guests of honour? There could be a diorama of the Stanford show-down, with varying degrees of accuracy.
*The process of renovating the cottage. An intense discussion of what colour the wallpaper should be, the curtains, should it be blinds, was that the right kind of paste for the wallpaper, or disastrous DIY. Shopping trips to B&Q where Nick is laser focused and Danny keeps getting distracted. If you'd like to write sex on a wallpapering table, I'd be interested.
*Mundane stakes crime fighting.
*I can see Danny relating life to romantic movies too.
*Invasion of the living statues. They've all come down to Stanford and it's chaos. Even the floating Yodas start showing up and a legal solution is needed.
*A TV crew arrive to make a documentary about being a cop in Stanford. I feel like any TV producer would feel they've hit gold with these police officers, so please feel free to throw in any of the other cops in too.
*The arrival of the TV crew could make them reconsider their relationship by shaking up their routine and making them think about their lives, and also how it looks to everyone else. I'd rather the producers weren't trying to get them together, however.
Fandom: Maurice (1987)
Requested characters: Any in the tag set (Alec Scudder, Clive Durham, Maurice Hall).
If you'd like to include any of the other characters too, please do.
This movie gets me right in the heart every time I watch it. It's one of those movies where what's not said feels as important as what is said – it's about the deeds as well as the words, to half quote Maurice from the dinner with the Dean. It's beautifully shot, the settings are wonderful, and it is by far my favourite Hugh Grant movie. It just comes together very well, and it even has a happy ending at a time where that was nearly impossible. A lot of my prompts are more on the angsty side, however, particularly for Clive. I'm requesting both Maurice/Clive and Maurice/Alec, and Ada/Clive and Alec/Original Male Character for two specific prompts.
I've requested the movie, but I've read the book as well, if you do want to use anything from it. I'm aware of the short epilogue scene Forster wrote but decided not to use it, so go with what you'd like to write for anything set post-canon.
Period appropriate homophobia, sexism, attitudes towards mental health etc. is okay in this canon, as homophobia plays such a major role in this story and it would come up as part of some of my prompts. I don't want it to be the sole focus, however, and if you don't want to engage with that, that's absolutely fine too!
Prompts:
*What if Risley hadn't been caught and disgraced? I realise in the book Clive backs out for more nebulous reasons, but I'm curious to see what might have happened if Risley hadn't been sent down. Maybe Clive decides to try for longer, or perhaps some other incident pulls him and Maurice apart instead.
*Clive reliving his Cambridge days in his memories, nostalgia for his past with Maurice, who he's starting to realise has vanished permanently from his life. I imagine if the shine started to come off his marriage, this would only get more intense. The last scene of the movie, with Clive looking out of the window and recalling Maurice shouting up at him at college gets me every time.
*Any scenes expanding on Clive and Maurice's time at Cambridge together. It's a beautiful city, so scenery porn would be great. Give me the mists, the ancient buildings, the punts on the river, the falling leaves in autumn!
*Clive manages to go somewhere with his incredibly ill-conceived attempt at courting Ada because she reminds him of Maurice. I feel like this would be disastrous for all three of them (Ada, Clive and Maurice), and I would be interested in the emotional fall-out and angst, particularly if it got all the way to marriage. If you wanted it to go all the way to the marriage bed, too... For clarity, I am requesting Ada/Clive for this prompt.
*Maurice realising, at some point, that he's been incredibly unpleasant to his sisters and that they dislike him. Maybe he tries to fix it and makes it worse – particularly with Kitty, who really doesn't like him and might be frustrated by the social restrictions she faces while Maurice gets to do whatever he likes (as far as she's concerned).
*Anything about Alec's background and his past. I'm really interested in anything you'd like to explore. Alec clearly had some schooling, and his own life before it crossed over with Maurice's. I am requesting Alec/Original Male Character for this prompt if you'd like to explore that aspect of his life.
*Maurice takes the advice that he would do better in some place like France or Italy.
*Post WWI, Clive's rather traumatic experiences in the war leads him to actively find out where Maurice went, as a way of retreating back into the past. Perhaps he does manage to find him again, only to regret it when he realises exactly how serious Maurice was about his new life. Or maybe Maurice has vanished from the face of the earth, despite how hard he looks. In effect, angst!
*Anything set post-WWI would be very interesting. The world of the canon is gone within a few years of it ending. How are they adapting to the new world? How did their experiences during the war shape them? They're all of prime age to be conscripted early on in the war, but with Maurice and Alec escaping civilization at the end, perhaps they ended up not going and being somewhere else too. Go where you'd like to go with this,
*Alec does go to Buenos Aires, but on a different, later ship and with Maurice with him. I'd love to read about their voyage, their experiences in Buenos Aires and Argentina more generally. Maybe Buenos Aires doesn't give them the freedom they need and they go off to Patagonia. Landscape and scenery porn would be amazing.
