Yuletide Letter

[daisyninjagirl]

 Dear Yuletide Writer,

 

Thank you for picking something I like! I hope you have a lovely time in this exchange, and also that someones writes something just as wonderful for you.

 

General Stuff About Me

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.   I'm not sure if poetry and interactive fiction are supposed to be opt-in for this exchange - but 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 requests are fine with Any/Or matching.

Treats?
Love them.  :-)  Thank you very much for considering writing one!

 

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 :-) ) 

 

"Kiss from a Rose" - Seal

So, I'm watching a 'What Makes This Song Great' video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hhgoli8klLA), and the commentator gets to a song that was ubiquitous for a reason in my teenage years, and I'm struck again by how interesting this song is, with its swirling, layered orchestrations, and the mediaeval feel to the instruments, and the sort of casual "la la la" intro, and the casual "did you know" introduction before Seal gets to talking about these really important things like someone brings light to the "dark side of [him]", and is his "power, [his] pleasure, [his] pain" - basically a lot of really intense feeling things, with this light, deliberately casual approach and then getting super deep super fast, which takes a lot of skill to do well. And the timing behind the drums coming in for the big bang part of the song is so precise, it's just perfectly made.

 

But also, I found out the story behind this song's creation, which is that Seal was poor and unknown and a friend had just given him a four track recorder, so he spent an afternoon thumbing through the manual, figuring out how to do layers of orchestration and music by singing instrumental parts, and basically not overthinking the melody or the words.  Then he threw it in a corner and didn't think about it for a few years, and the only reason it saw the light of day is that he played it to a friend, who talked it up to his producer, who finally succeeded in nagging him into recording it. Then it almost didn't make the album, but another friend heard the demos, and said she really liked 'that rose song'.  So that's a convoluted pathway to a hit, and if you would like to write some RPF versions of that story I would love it.  I also feel that the lyrics have a 'straight out of the subconscious' crypticness, and in fact, anytime someone asks Seal what they mean, he asks them what they think and then tells them they're right.  So: what do you think the lyrics mean?  Is it a medieval setting with a tower and a grave?  Is it a rose IN SPACE!!!  Do you prefer a more renaissance or modern feel?  Let me know what you think!

 

Jim Henson's The Storyteller

The Storyteller, The Dog, The Beggar (A Story Short)

 

I just love the interactions and how the storyteller weaves himself into the tales he tells, sometimes in small ways (one of the characters in a story told him the tale), or in bigger ones (The Beggar ends up with a big trade of favours and the Storyteller's wife).  I'd love to hear more stories about these characters interactions with each other.  Maybe a session of drinking and one-upmanship?    The Beggar seems like a very special person - what's his backstory like?  Does he have his own version of A Story Short?  Does he have more encounters with the Storyteller?  There's also another (unnominated) character who the Storyteller claims he knows (Mr Tinker from Fearnot) - am happy for him to come in and have shenanigans as well, if you should like him and his small mite of courage.

 

On a completely different tack, what kind of story would The Dog tell about himself?  Does he get to be the hero or a bystander?

 

Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

Colonel Brandon,Elinor Dashwood, John Willoughby, Margaret Dashwood

 

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?

- What kind of a girl does Margaret Dashwood grow up into?  Does she have her own romantic woes?

 

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 the Dashwood sisters either have, or are assumed to have, African ancestry?  How would that fit in with the intense Abolition politics of the time?

- What would have happened if Colonel Brandon had managed to marry the first Eliza (either by successfully convincing her to elope with him after all, or coming back with a good lawyer and helping her get an annulment.)  (Either back at the time, or how it would change the story in the time period of the novel in which he meets Elinor and Marianne?)

 

Swan Lake - Bourne

Any

 

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...?

 

 

Twos-day Tuesday (Web Series)

Destin Sandlin (Twos-day Tuesday), Matt Parker (Twos-day Tuesday), Tom Scott (Twos-day Tuesday), Worldbuilding (Twos-day Tuesday)

 

So... "Twos-day Tuesday" started off as a two based show-and-tell in honour of the day back in February when the time and date rolled over to 2:22 2/2/2022.  Which was fun - Matt Parker of Stand Up Maths invited a bunch of maths and science friends over to his channel, promised them that nothing would go wrong and... then things got progressively weirder.  They had rollover errors, and a hostile takeover from Smarter Every Day, and an increasing level of chaos until the universe crashed and Tom Scott had to reboot it because he'd fortuitously been off on his holidays somewhere else.  (Again.)  It's all very funny.  My story request for this is More Weirdness.  Meta is Better.  Is there a Brit Invasion of Alabama in retaliation?  How many times has Tom Scott had to restart the universe?  What happens on Threes-day Thursday?  Are there time loops?  People embarking on crazed expeditions to prevent something terrible happening?  Or even more happy show and tell?  Have fun!

 

Links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ffa8-S_71xo&t=468s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=267MQF1z2PU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XKuG7cA03A

Plus their charity link, Water Aid: www.wateraid.org

 

A Civil Contract - Georgette Heyer 
Jonathan Chawleigh,Julia Oversley,Lydia Deveril

This is the most atypical of all Heyer novels, which is why I think I love it the most - quiet love, and people doing a lot of relationship work, and the snobby characters having to think about their values.  I would love more of Jonathan Chawleigh and Lydia's general admiration of each other - how does their relationship develop?  Does Jonathan claw his way up to Lord Mayor?  Does Lydia ever get to be on the stage?  How does her husband deal with her enthusiastic step-uncle?  Is it possible for Julia to be redeemed?  Yes, she is a very melodramatic needy character - but I can't help noticing that her particular way of filling her need to be loved is to shower other people with affection.  Does she manage to grow up a bit?