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Dear Yuletide Writer (2021)
Oct. 15th, 2021 10:39 pmDear Yuletide Writer,
Thank you for picking something I like! I hope you have a lovely time this festive season, and also that someones writes something just as wonderful for you.
Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen (Any)
I have thrown in some AU suggestions for funsies. As always, pick up anything you like, and don't mind the rest. (I do love a happy ending, though, even if we have to go through bittersweet to get there.)
Canon Prompts:
- I find it really interesting how the novel really really emphasises that Elinor and Brandon are very good friends, to the point where interested bystanders are expecting him to make an offer for her. What are their respective married lives like as platonic friends and neighbours? How do they manage potential jealousies in their spouses?
- For that matter, the climax of the novel doesn't win Marianne for Brandon, he wins the right to court her. What are those gentle two years in which she's visiting with his neighbour like? What are the things that change her opinions from pity to attachment?
- We hear about Brandon's ill-fated sister-in-law Eliza Brandon, and her not quite so ill-fated ward Eliza Williams, but we never get to see them directly. Their story line is so confrontationally gothic, so much so that whenever the very sensitive and well-mannered Brandon talks about them, his speech breaks out in emdashes. What were these two young women like? Can we see how the story happens from their point of view? Because the elder Eliza's story is so sad, hopefully if you choose this prompt, the story can end on at least the glimmer of a happy note.
AU Prompts:
- One of the nice background details I recently found out about the 1995 movie is that Emma Thompson and Greg Wise (the actor of Willoughby) met on the set and Fell In Love, and are married to this day. How would an AU in which Elinor and Willoughby get together work out? (Happy endings preferred.)
- Canonically, Elinor and Marianne are both dark in their hair and eyes, and Marianne has a brown complexion. What's the AU in which they either have, or are assumed to have, African ancestry? How would that fit in with the intense Abolition politics of the time?
- Eliza Brandon's marriage to Brandon's older brother was coerced, and therefore illegal, and therefore she could have got an annulment if she'd had a good lawyer on her side. What would it have been like if Brandon had come home early from India and helped her out? (Either back at the time, or in the time period of the novel in which he meets Elinor and Marianne?)
Twelfth Night 1996 - (Viola/Cesario, Olivia, Feste, Count Orsino)
I saw this Imogen Stubbs adaptation back when it originally came out (yes, I'm old), and it remains one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. I love the great delicacy of the adaptation in taking a laugh where there's a laugh to be had, but using it to counterpoint the savagery of the emotions that the characters are dealing with. I also love how Viola and Olivia are paired characters, who both need a reason to smile again, and how that works out through the machinations of their not-really romance with each other, and how Viola's interactions with Orsino are a series of moments where she has to go out of her comfort zone with smoking and fencing and horse riding, and literally learning how to throw her heart over a fence when she's riding. How does that need that both of them have follow them into married life? And, oh gosh, my favourite throwaway moment is when Viola and Orsino are playing billiards and she accidentally manages a trick shot and has to fake being nonchalant about it. Do they ever play billiards again?
Finally, Feste in this version is a very fractured individual - was he always like this? did something happen to him? He and Olivia find such obvious comfort in each other - how long have they known each other, how did Feste come to be attached to her household?
The Masqueraders - Georgette Heyer (Robin, Prudence)
I quite like this as an adventure story, and it has charm both for the fact that the menfolk get to wear brightly coloured coats and jewelled buckles just as much as the women do, and a general more louche, more dangerous feeling of the setting compared to Heyer's more delicate regency fare.
I really enjoy the fragmentary bits and pieces we hear of Robin and Prue's adventures with the old gentleman. I would love to read more about their shady past, or their married future. What was Prue's relationship with her mother like, and how is it different to Robin's? Also, Robin takes the failure '45 Rebellion much more to heart than Prue and their father do: would you like to write more about his involvement in the Rebellion? Had he already met Charles Stewart in Italy or France? How did he get on with Bonnie Prince Charlie? When Sir Tony is discussing his intention to marry Prue with Robin, Robin is really clear that he considers himself the responsible man of the family whose permission must be asked - what are some of the past butting heads incidents between him and his Dad? What's the AU in which Prue did have to fight that duel with Rensley?
Also, since I've separately asked for Twelfth Night - I'm a bit curious. Do Robin and Prue admire that play and its sister As You Like It, or do they critique it for technique?
The Windrose Chronicles (Joanna Sheraton, Stonne Caris, Pellicida)
I am just now rereading this series after some years and had a seriously bad moment when I realised that my copy of The Silicon Mage was permanently lost and it's out of print (found a SH copy, thankfully.) Man, the second novel in the series is so thoroughly bleak and cold and exhausting, with little moments of comfort tucked in every now and then, and a happy ending truly seized from the jaws of death. Reading it now I'm older: I'm always impressed how these novels are so tightly compressed and plotted: every named item in Joanna's capacious handbag/backpack is going to come in useful sometime, every minor incident along the way will turn out to be important to the plot.
Some prompts!
- Caris and Pella make a very odd odd couple. We hear a fragment about their ever after: rumours flying, but Pella was so very pregnant, and Caris so very stolid, that they weren't getting very far. Would you like to write more about what happens to them? Does Pella have any children by Caris? By the end of the second novel, Pella's husband seems to have started respecting her judgement and character - does she lean into having a governance role of the Empire?
- Caris changes from being an agent of death to wanting to be a healer. I love that ghost phrase we hear from Suraklin in his final showdown where he remembers the Archmage advising Caris to be a healer not a sasennan. How does this journey work out for him?
- Joanna several time talks about her relationship with her mother being difficult. Joanna reads to me like she's on the Autism Awesome end of the ASD spectrum (very detailed, very passionate, has a hard time figuring most people out), and, as I get older, the more I wonder if Joanna's mother was awkwardly trying to help out her awkward daughter, rather than being demanding for the sake of it. Does their relationship change over time? How does adding Antryg to the mix change things?
(While Magister Magus doesn't make the character list, any cameos by him will be much enjoyed.)
Miss Climpson mentions once that she had wanted to be a lawyer, but her father had strong opinions about education for women. Tell me about the canon divergent AU in which this terrifying creature existed. Time and place AUs are welcome, I just want to bask in the awesomeness of Kitty Climpson, KC (or QC depending on period). More casefic with Miss Climpson would also be awesome, so would her beetling about apologising through Lord Peter's and Harriet's Happily Ever After.
Swan Lake - Bourne (The Girlfriend, The Prince)
I saw this for the first time a couple of years ago and it really really blew my mind. I had had no idea that ballet (dance theatre?) could be like that, I can just spend the whole show watching people's faces rather than looking at the dancing because this, and I have now come to find out, all of Bourne's choreographies focus on story and character, and the dance steps are in service to that, rather than a wall of women in tutus moving in unison, and counting how many fouettes. I love how there's always jokes and moments for the supporting characters being popped in every time there's a little gap in the main story, and I love the texture, how it's never clear how much of this is magical realism vs the Prince dissociating from reality, and I love how in this version it's the Prince who has to be rescued.
Prompts:
- I just love the Girlfriend so damn much! She's this happy, bubblegum pink girl breaking into the sordid dark red and grey life of the palace, as much of an intrusion into the Prince's unhappiness as the Swan/Stranger. I love how she alone, of all the guests at the ball, seems to be worried about the Stranger, and how, even with her self-interest, she does actually try to look out for the Prince time and time again. Tell me more about her! How did she get invited into the Prince's orbit in the first place? Does she survive the night of the ball? Would she believe what the Prince had to say about swans?
- This starts with the Prince having nightmares about swans, and ends with the same staging but as a peaceful embrace, a moment of grace. What are the Prince's dreams like as he's a child? How do they develop over time? What is the splendid view he was interrupted from watching as a child, so that he could go and shake hands instead?
AU Prompt:
- What if it didn't have to be a tragedy? What if the Prince and the Queen had managed to bring themselves to touch each other, just enough? What if the Stranger had been appreciated but turned down? What if the Swan had managed to defeat the other swans? What if the Girlfriend was just slightly less embarrassing? Or the Prince hadn't seen her take the money? What if...?
Thank you for picking something I like! I hope you have a lovely time this festive season, and also that someones writes something just as wonderful for you.
General Stuff About Me
I've been participating in Yuletide for a while now and really enjoying it - both for the writing and the sheer cheerful juggernaut nature of the event. ;-) Some things I've noticed about myself is that I tend to enjoy more stories that are reasonably consistent with the original canon - so sequels and prequels and inbetween scenes and canon divergence AUs, and I love it when a minor character gets their story expanded or someone does a nifty bit of world building on some little detail and makes it all make sense. Apparently, poetry and interactive fiction are supposed to be opt-in now - if you've got an idea that works best in these formats - go for it! Original characters are also fine, and I've seen some AUs and crossovers that have really blown me away, so please take this paragraph as an 'optional details are optional' section and write the story that will make you happy. The prompts I've given are also optional, please have fun with what you choose to write. Also, stories that pass the Bechdel Test Are Love.
All my prompts are for Either/Any/Or use any combination of suggested characters that works for you.
Squicks and Do Not Wants
All my prompts are for Either/Any/Or use any combination of suggested characters that works for you.
Squicks and Do Not Wants
I'm seriously not into non-consensual or underage sex. I also don't like graphic torture scenes or incest. I'm not much interested in reading a story about consensual BDSM; or where pregnancy or infertility is the main focus. I'm more interested in how characters' relationships work out with each other than erotica and I would rather not get an M or E rated story. I think it would be hard to link my current prompts to current world events, but please don't try, I want some escapism! (Ta :-) )
Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen (Any)
I have thrown in some AU suggestions for funsies. As always, pick up anything you like, and don't mind the rest. (I do love a happy ending, though, even if we have to go through bittersweet to get there.)
Canon Prompts:
- I find it really interesting how the novel really really emphasises that Elinor and Brandon are very good friends, to the point where interested bystanders are expecting him to make an offer for her. What are their respective married lives like as platonic friends and neighbours? How do they manage potential jealousies in their spouses?
- For that matter, the climax of the novel doesn't win Marianne for Brandon, he wins the right to court her. What are those gentle two years in which she's visiting with his neighbour like? What are the things that change her opinions from pity to attachment?
- We hear about Brandon's ill-fated sister-in-law Eliza Brandon, and her not quite so ill-fated ward Eliza Williams, but we never get to see them directly. Their story line is so confrontationally gothic, so much so that whenever the very sensitive and well-mannered Brandon talks about them, his speech breaks out in emdashes. What were these two young women like? Can we see how the story happens from their point of view? Because the elder Eliza's story is so sad, hopefully if you choose this prompt, the story can end on at least the glimmer of a happy note.
AU Prompts:
- One of the nice background details I recently found out about the 1995 movie is that Emma Thompson and Greg Wise (the actor of Willoughby) met on the set and Fell In Love, and are married to this day. How would an AU in which Elinor and Willoughby get together work out? (Happy endings preferred.)
- Canonically, Elinor and Marianne are both dark in their hair and eyes, and Marianne has a brown complexion. What's the AU in which they either have, or are assumed to have, African ancestry? How would that fit in with the intense Abolition politics of the time?
- Eliza Brandon's marriage to Brandon's older brother was coerced, and therefore illegal, and therefore she could have got an annulment if she'd had a good lawyer on her side. What would it have been like if Brandon had come home early from India and helped her out? (Either back at the time, or in the time period of the novel in which he meets Elinor and Marianne?)
Twelfth Night 1996 - (Viola/Cesario, Olivia, Feste, Count Orsino)
I saw this Imogen Stubbs adaptation back when it originally came out (yes, I'm old), and it remains one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. I love the great delicacy of the adaptation in taking a laugh where there's a laugh to be had, but using it to counterpoint the savagery of the emotions that the characters are dealing with. I also love how Viola and Olivia are paired characters, who both need a reason to smile again, and how that works out through the machinations of their not-really romance with each other, and how Viola's interactions with Orsino are a series of moments where she has to go out of her comfort zone with smoking and fencing and horse riding, and literally learning how to throw her heart over a fence when she's riding. How does that need that both of them have follow them into married life? And, oh gosh, my favourite throwaway moment is when Viola and Orsino are playing billiards and she accidentally manages a trick shot and has to fake being nonchalant about it. Do they ever play billiards again?
Finally, Feste in this version is a very fractured individual - was he always like this? did something happen to him? He and Olivia find such obvious comfort in each other - how long have they known each other, how did Feste come to be attached to her household?
The Masqueraders - Georgette Heyer (Robin, Prudence)
I quite like this as an adventure story, and it has charm both for the fact that the menfolk get to wear brightly coloured coats and jewelled buckles just as much as the women do, and a general more louche, more dangerous feeling of the setting compared to Heyer's more delicate regency fare.
I really enjoy the fragmentary bits and pieces we hear of Robin and Prue's adventures with the old gentleman. I would love to read more about their shady past, or their married future. What was Prue's relationship with her mother like, and how is it different to Robin's? Also, Robin takes the failure '45 Rebellion much more to heart than Prue and their father do: would you like to write more about his involvement in the Rebellion? Had he already met Charles Stewart in Italy or France? How did he get on with Bonnie Prince Charlie? When Sir Tony is discussing his intention to marry Prue with Robin, Robin is really clear that he considers himself the responsible man of the family whose permission must be asked - what are some of the past butting heads incidents between him and his Dad? What's the AU in which Prue did have to fight that duel with Rensley?
Also, since I've separately asked for Twelfth Night - I'm a bit curious. Do Robin and Prue admire that play and its sister As You Like It, or do they critique it for technique?
The Windrose Chronicles (Joanna Sheraton, Stonne Caris, Pellicida)
I am just now rereading this series after some years and had a seriously bad moment when I realised that my copy of The Silicon Mage was permanently lost and it's out of print (found a SH copy, thankfully.) Man, the second novel in the series is so thoroughly bleak and cold and exhausting, with little moments of comfort tucked in every now and then, and a happy ending truly seized from the jaws of death. Reading it now I'm older: I'm always impressed how these novels are so tightly compressed and plotted: every named item in Joanna's capacious handbag/backpack is going to come in useful sometime, every minor incident along the way will turn out to be important to the plot.
Some prompts!
- Caris and Pella make a very odd odd couple. We hear a fragment about their ever after: rumours flying, but Pella was so very pregnant, and Caris so very stolid, that they weren't getting very far. Would you like to write more about what happens to them? Does Pella have any children by Caris? By the end of the second novel, Pella's husband seems to have started respecting her judgement and character - does she lean into having a governance role of the Empire?
- Caris changes from being an agent of death to wanting to be a healer. I love that ghost phrase we hear from Suraklin in his final showdown where he remembers the Archmage advising Caris to be a healer not a sasennan. How does this journey work out for him?
- Joanna several time talks about her relationship with her mother being difficult. Joanna reads to me like she's on the Autism Awesome end of the ASD spectrum (very detailed, very passionate, has a hard time figuring most people out), and, as I get older, the more I wonder if Joanna's mother was awkwardly trying to help out her awkward daughter, rather than being demanding for the sake of it. Does their relationship change over time? How does adding Antryg to the mix change things?
(While Magister Magus doesn't make the character list, any cameos by him will be much enjoyed.)
Lord Peter Wimsey - Dorothy L. Sayers (Miss Climpson)
Miss Climpson mentions once that she had wanted to be a lawyer, but her father had strong opinions about education for women. Tell me about the canon divergent AU in which this terrifying creature existed. Time and place AUs are welcome, I just want to bask in the awesomeness of Kitty Climpson, KC (or QC depending on period). More casefic with Miss Climpson would also be awesome, so would her beetling about apologising through Lord Peter's and Harriet's Happily Ever After.
Swan Lake - Bourne (The Girlfriend, The Prince)
I saw this for the first time a couple of years ago and it really really blew my mind. I had had no idea that ballet (dance theatre?) could be like that, I can just spend the whole show watching people's faces rather than looking at the dancing because this, and I have now come to find out, all of Bourne's choreographies focus on story and character, and the dance steps are in service to that, rather than a wall of women in tutus moving in unison, and counting how many fouettes. I love how there's always jokes and moments for the supporting characters being popped in every time there's a little gap in the main story, and I love the texture, how it's never clear how much of this is magical realism vs the Prince dissociating from reality, and I love how in this version it's the Prince who has to be rescued.
Prompts:
- I just love the Girlfriend so damn much! She's this happy, bubblegum pink girl breaking into the sordid dark red and grey life of the palace, as much of an intrusion into the Prince's unhappiness as the Swan/Stranger. I love how she alone, of all the guests at the ball, seems to be worried about the Stranger, and how, even with her self-interest, she does actually try to look out for the Prince time and time again. Tell me more about her! How did she get invited into the Prince's orbit in the first place? Does she survive the night of the ball? Would she believe what the Prince had to say about swans?
- This starts with the Prince having nightmares about swans, and ends with the same staging but as a peaceful embrace, a moment of grace. What are the Prince's dreams like as he's a child? How do they develop over time? What is the splendid view he was interrupted from watching as a child, so that he could go and shake hands instead?
AU Prompt:
- What if it didn't have to be a tragedy? What if the Prince and the Queen had managed to bring themselves to touch each other, just enough? What if the Stranger had been appreciated but turned down? What if the Swan had managed to defeat the other swans? What if the Girlfriend was just slightly less embarrassing? Or the Prince hadn't seen her take the money? What if...?
