Dear Yuletide Writer

[daisyninjagirl]

Dear Yuletide Writer,

 

Thank you! I'm really looking forward to the story you're going to write, and I hope you have a good time with this exchange.

 

General Stuff About Me

I've been participating in Yuletide for a few years 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 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.  

 

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. Consensual BDSM isn't a squick for me, but it's also not something I'm particularly interested in reading about; likewise I'd rather not have a story where pregnancy or infertility is the main focus, although as a minor detail is fine. I don't have a problem with where you want to write characters on the Kinsey Kaleidoscope with respect to pairings, but I guess I'm more interested in how characters' relationships work out with each other than erotica. 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 :-) )

 

Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen

(Henry Tilney)

 

I was really struck by a comment in the introduction to an edition of Northanger Abbey which suggested that Henry Tilney functions as an authorial stand in for Jane Austen.  She was about the same age as Tilney when she wrote the first draft of this novel, old enough to be a bit wiser than the 17 year olds being newly thrust into social life, and keen on digesting the nuances of a social situation or genre of novels and spitting out a summary in the form of a witty epithet - but when it counts, such as Catherine's embarrassingly Gothic flight of fancy, he retreats to a position of kindness, which is the kind of thing Austen's family had to say about her.  And for all that Henry comes equipped with the trappings of masculinity: boots and guns and greatcoats and a well built curricle that he drives well, he is equally confident navigating the paraphernalia of the women's world: novels and balls and the intricacies of muslin. 

 

I would really like a story that explores this idea of a person in both camps in a strongly gendered society, whether with Henry as someone who identifies as male and is confident in liking whatever he damn well likes, as a true androgyne, or perhaps as someone who, by modern standards, would be considered transgender or gay.

 

If that's not your thing, we're good!  How about a story of his married life?  Does his taste for reading Gothic novels parlay into a taste for writing them?  Does his love of teasing people ever get him into trouble?  Does Catherine ever get to be in the position of setting him straight and choosing to be terribly kind about it afterwards?  He has such a lovely relationship with his sister that more on that (and the mysterious Viscount of the laundry list) would be also very welcome.

 

Persuasion - Jane Austen

(Any/Or Frederick Wentworth, Captain Benwick, Admiral Croft, Anne Eliot.  Happy for Sophia Croft as well, but ran out of character slots.)

 

I would really love a prequel story.  Austen describes Frederick and Anne's original love affair as beginning with a gradual acquaintance, followed by very rapidly and deeply falling in love.  What did this slowburn romance look like?  Poor Anne is described as having no one to love at this time in her life - but did anyone notice what was going on?  This novel really emphasises to me the difference in the lives between Navy families who were trekking over the world, and the rural families for whom a 17 mile to the seaside was a major event.  How did that parlay into their original acquaintance?
 

Or what about a story of the navy?  Frederick makes a big point of telling people that he really wanted to be occupied in the year 6, which presumably translated to he was very risk averse and combat prone - great for his bank balance, but what was he like to be around at this time?  Captain Benwick seems to fill a special role in the trio of Wentworth, Harville and himself, almost as if his friends expect him to have all the finer feelings and sensitive delicacy on their behalf, and they're genuinely shocked when he falls in love with the cheerful but un-bookish Louisa.  And more on the life and times of the redoubtable Admiral and Mrs Croft, they are just so friendly, so brave, and so kind.
 

If you're not into prequels, than a happy ending after for any of my requested characters would be lovely.

 

(Note, I wrote this prompt for the novel, but if you found your way here from liking an adaptation, my favourite is the 1995 version starring Amanda Root and Ciarán Hinds.  This was still available on Youtube last I checked.)

Cotillion - Georgette Heyer

(Any/Or Kitty Charing, Frederick Standen, Lord Legerwood)

 

Oh, Kitty, you are such a darling creature, so desperate to be loved and so insistent on doing it on your own terms.  Not many writers can exceed the sheer burlesque of Frederick trying to follow the script of proposing while she's trying to nudge him onto a script sufficiently romantic for her raddled soul.  And it's interesting that Heyer's idea of a Mark 1 Hero is in this story turned into the villain, the glamorous but selfish Jack.
 

More stories of Kitty and Frederick getting into and out of scrapes would be lovely (or some prequel scenes of what they got up to as children that makes Kitty so sure she can bully the good natured Frederick.)  I also really enjoyed Lord Legerwood's friendly teasing of his son - lines like "you are your own defense" are such classics.  I feel like Lord Legerwood was himself a Mark II hero back in the day - I would love to hear some anecdotes of his own courting shenanigans.

Derkholm Series - Diana Wynne Jones

(Any/Or Claudia, Elda)

This series is a lot of fun, and it's got this incredible juxtaposition of a big scary problem that no one knows how to deal with smash in the middle of teenagers trying to work out who they are as people. It also has that very Diana Wynne Jones trait of wanting the protagonists to acknowledge their actions - to be able to say that maybe they did something for a selfish reason, or knew that they could have acted differently if they'd really wanted to, and *owning* that. I think that's a really powerful thing.

 

I'd love to see how the relationships between Elda and Flurian, and Claudia and Blade, work out. The books end with this real sense of "I've found the girl I want and nobody else will do, except she's *way* too young right now." I think both Flurian and Blade would care a lot about not being creepy about it - how would they work that out? Would there be benign introductions to other fellows, just to be sure? What kind of feelings do Elda and Claudia have back? Are there good ideas for helping each other out that turn out to be rather more complicated than expected, with hijinks ensuing? Do people fall in love, or do they end up friends, and what has to happen for them to work out what that relationship is going to be? Other prompts - Elda and Claudia having girl time and bonding with each other; what's it like when they finish at University and have to go into the wide world without the protective shell of their dorm buddies; convincing their families that actually they are grown up now, thank you very much (but what happens when they want to have a bit of a holiday of being tucked into bed as well?)

 

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.

Enola Holmes
(Enola Holmes, Viscount "Tewky" Tewksbury, Sherlock Holmes)

This is my cracky prompt for a cracky fandom - there's a point where Enola turns to the camera and asks "what should I do?" and I was shouting at the TV screen "DRESS TEWKY AS A GIRL!!!"  (So obvious, and so genre appropriate, you know? )  So I'd love a canon divergence AU or a sequel caper where dressing this very pretty boy up as a girl happens and is glorious.

 

I also loved Henry Cavill's portrayal of Sherlock as a confirmed bachelor who likes his life, and all of a sudden he needs to soften up and be emotionally present for his little sister.  And it's hard, and it costs him to do that work, and then he's got this scene where he's been told that Enola solved the case before he did and he's walking away with this spreading smile of pride and it's magic.  So more of Enola and Sherlock working out their relationship would also be great.