botherd

Dear Yuletide Writer,

Firstly, YOU'RE AWESOME. Thank you so much for writing me a fic! My golden rule of fic exchanges is this: the fic I'm most interested in reading is the fic you're most interested in writing. If you write what inspires you I'm sure it'll be great. I always write super long letters for this kind of thing but the idea is to give you lots of options, not to limit you; if you don't want any further guidance, feel free to ignore all of this! There are really no hard and fast rules as to what I like to read, and while I have some general squicks I don't have any triggers you need to avoid.

I like fic that feels like canon, and I like happy or hopeful or at least bittersweet endings. I like a bit of angst, or at least tension and conflict, but I'm not really a fan of stories that are unrelentingly dark. When it comes to romantic relationships I vastly prefer the build-up and UST and getting-together to established relationships, unless the relationship is already established in canon.

Other general likes: snark and banter, introspection, wacky hijinks, bittersweet moments, longing, girls kissing, gay angst, loyal friendships, unrequited love, sense of place, backstory, slice of life, intimacy, family, identity.

General dislikes: character death, non-con, dirty talk, PWP, pregnancy/babies/kids, first person narration.

For Sophie's World I'd prefer not to get porn; for the other fandoms I'm happy for you to write whatever rating you're comfortable with. I'm not really interested in AUs where they're pirates or space cowboys or anything that's very different from canon but I don't mind AUs that diverge slightly from canon events. I'd prefer no crossovers even if you're sure that I like the other fandom.

Fandom-specific thoughts:

Sofies verden | Sophie's World - Jostein Gaarder: Sophie Amundsen, Hilde Møller Knag

This book had a massive impact on me when I was 13/14 - not just because of the philosophy, but because it opened up so many storytelling possibilities that I hadn't considered before. Feel free to go as meta as you like! I'm not necessarily looking for a philosophy essay, but would still love philosophical elements to be included if you're up for that. Maybe some feminist/queer theory, if that interests you? Or if you want to focus more on the characters, I would love to know what happens when Sophie escapes the book - and then ends up in your fic. :D

Oh, the possibilities for meta. I LOVE metafiction, and I'm hoping that if you offered to write in this fandom then you do too! I would love to see Sophie and Hilde interacting (with Hilde freaking out about interacting with a fictional character and realising she's fictional herself) but if you wanted to write about Hilde reading more of Sophie's adventures with Alberto (or maybe Hilde could start writing about Sophie herself?) that would be awesome too. As I said in my optional details, I'm not expecting any kind of philosophical essay here, although if there's an area of philosophy that you're particularly interested in and would like to explore, I'd be happy to read it. Gen or Sophie/Hilde femslash would be equally loved.

Girls: Marnie Michaels/Jessa Johansson

I ship it hard and would love to see these two figuring out their shit and realising what they mean to each other. Lots of UST would be gorgeous. If femslash isn't your thing I'd love to read about their friendship, whether that's something fun and silly like the show can sometimes be or something more serious.

I felt like episode 8 should have been the story of these two falling for each other but it wasn't, so I'd love to read that story for Yuletide! (Feel free to handwave Jessa getting married in the finale if you want as I doubt it would last that long anyway.) I think they both have a lot of growing to do together and separately - Marnie is only just starting to learn how to be less uptight and Jessa really has no idea how to be serious and committed. If you're not into femslash then gen would be great too. Maybe some backstory about when they first met? Feel free to include Hannah and Shoshanna as I like them both too, but I'm not so interested in any of the dudes.

Pretty Little Liars: Emily Fields/Paige McCullers

I have ALL THE FEELINGS for these two and would love anything that explores their relationship, whether that's something set now, or filling in the gaps when they sort of dated back in season one. I'd really love it if you gave them a happy ending, because I think they've suffered enough in canon.

Oh, Emily/Paige. ♥ I love that Emily is growing more strong and assertive, and I love that Paige is deeply flawed but still manages to be an awesome girlfriend because she loves Emily so much. I'd like to see them having fun together at a time when they're not being terrorised by A, or I'd like a bit of angst/conflict as long as it turns out okay. I love the other Liars, particularly Spencer, so I think it would be fun to see their perspectives on the Emily/Paige relationship, and I also like both Emily and Paige's backstory with Ali if you want to write about that. I'd also love to know more about what was going on with Paige during all the episodes where she wasn't around. If you like writing plotty stories, it would be fun to see Emily and Paige taking on A together. Really, anything with them would make me happy!

Cracks (2009): Di Radfield/Fiamma Coronna

I'd love femslash for these two; the midnight feast scene made me ship it and I'd love to see if they could fall for each other. (For obvious reasons, feel free to go slightly AU if you want to explore beyond the scope of the film.) If femslash isn't your thing, gen that explores their complex, messy dynamic would be great too.

Super-specific prompt time, which you are of course perfectly free to ignore: I think an AU where Di finds Miss G and Fiamma in the wood just before it's too late would be fascinating. What would Di and Fiamma's interactions be like once they're both on the same page re. Miss G? Would Di find herself falling for Fiamma, and could Fiamma reciprocate? What about if they met years later? If those ideas doesn't interest you, I'd love a missing scene from the film - ensemble fic with the rest of the team would also be fun, as would anything about Di and/or Fiamma's relationship with Miss G. Or maybe you could write about Di going on adventures after the film, and maybe even meeting someone new?

These are all just suggestions to hopefully spark some ideas for you, but you don't have to use any of them. I just want you to have fun and write something that makes you happy. And if you need any clarifications on anything, don't forget that you can email your questions to the Yuletide mods and they can pass them on to me.

♥ botherd

- So, Happy New Year, I guess! I think my fannish New Year resolution is to WRITE MOAR, although we'll see how it goes. There are a few things I have vague ideas for, but I'm so bad at actually getting round to writing them.

- About a million years after everyone else, I saw Harry Potter! (Actually the cinema was really surprisingly full, so I guess lots of other people hadn't got round to seeing it yet.) Needless to say, it was awesome; I'd forgotten just how much I love these characters, and I spent a large part of it just squeeing over the trio. ALSO, totally shipping Harry/Hermione, which came as a surprise. (DANCING, OMG. ♥) And then at the end I totally shipped Bellatrix/Hermione, just for how wrong it was.

- I'm more excited than I should be about Pretty Little Liars starting up again tomorrow, although I can't really remember what happened in the last episode. I think I need to rewatch, although all my TV watching time at the moment is taken up with rewatching Downton Abbey. I LOVE THAT SHOW SO MUCH. I actually think I might write fic for it, because Sybil/Gwen needs to happen.

- There's a bunch of Yuletide fic that I still need to read, but for some reason I always find myself less likely to read Yuletide stuff post-reveal. Am I just weird, or are other people like this too? It's like between Christmas and New Year there's all this mad Yuletide excitement and it just evaporates on New Year's Day.

- I can't believe Gaga's new album isn't going to be out until fucking MAY. How am I supposed to survive?! D:

Happy Christmas, everyone! Unless you don't celebrate, in which case: Happy Doctor Who Day! I love you all, flist, and I hope you have a wonderful day. ♥ My day is going to be fairly quiet, just the immediate family (mum, dad, brother), and is basically going to involve lots of eating, lots of drinking, and lots of flailing over Doctor Who. I LOVE CHRISTMAS.

I absolutely have to rec my Yuletide fic, not out of obligation but out of SHEER LOVE: In Translation; Downton Abbey; Matthew/Mary. OH MY GOD, THIS FIC. HEARTS IN MY EYES. Anyone with even a passing interest in Downton Abbey needs to read this because it's wonderful in more ways than I can possibly say. It's beautifully written and full of all of my favourite things, oh my God. I read it like an hour ago and still can't get over it.

And I've just seen that I have a Yuletide Madness treat waiting for me to unwrap tomorrow, which makes me feel completely spoilt! IDK if my writers are reading this, but if so, THANK YOU. ♥

- ( X Factor )

- Yuletide assignments aren't out yet and it's making me antsy! I really just want to know what I'm writing because whatever I get, I'm going to need to do quite a bit of ~research. I did, however, get my girlsgunsfic assignment, and I have lots of options! I just need to decide what to choose. I only signed up right at the last minute because I wasn't sure whether two holiday fic exchanges would be a bit much, but I think it's going to be fun. (Actually, I guess I should write a Dear girlsgunsfic Writer letter? Maybe later.)

- I still haven't seen the new Harry Potter film! Clearly I need to get on that.

- WORK TOMORROW. Mondays are the worst.

Dear Yuletide Writer,

( Um, this is as long as your fic needs to be )

Just watched the Doctor regenerate! I'm really looking forward to seeing Matt Smith as Eleven (plus his pretty, pretty companion), I have to say. I'm kind of tired of David Tennant's face.

In other news, the Yuletide author reveal's happened, so here's what I wrote:

London, Under a Raincloud (Imagine Me & You, Luce/Rachel)
Unwritten (FlashForward, Janis Hawk, kind of femslashy gen)

I'm not reposting them over here because I'm lazy (and I don't really expect anyone to be interested) but I think you can comment without an AO3 account, should you wish.

Also, because I'm totally self-indulgent and like to blather on about my writing, I thought I'd do that 'Fic I've Written This Year' meme (except it's last year now, but whatevs).

( I don't expect anyone to actually read all this )

Yuletide pinch-hit: uploaded! (Story #1467, I think.) Now I have to finish my original assignment, and the scary Yuletide countdown clock o' DOOM is telling me that I only have 3 hours and 44 minutes to do so. *hyperventilates*

OMG, I am SO GLAD we get to edit our stories after the final deadline this year. AO3 = BEST EVER.

ETA: main story finished and uploaded! (#1620) *collapses*

I hadn't realised that it's been nearly a week since I last posted. Um, I don't have much to report? Mostly I've just been working on 2ndyearstories, which is fun and stressful in about equal measure. But people seem to be enjoying it, which definitely makes the effort worthwhile.

And then once I've done with that I have Yuletide, ARGH. I stupidly grabbed a pinch hit (it was calling me!) so that's twice the amount I need to write, and on top of that, for my original assignment I might end up writing in a fandom that I didn't sign up for and have only started getting into now because I wasn't sparking any ideas for the fandom we originally matched on. *facepalm* It's not a small amount of canon either, but at least I'm enjoying it a lot. And then there's skins_holiday and apocabigbang! D: Somebody stop me from signing up for any more fic challenges, PLEASE.

Have a music rec! Dirt Poor Robins - The Cage. I've been looking for this album for the longest time, ever since I heard a couple of tracks a year or two ago (including their awesome cover of 'Eleanor Rigby'). I really want the actual CD because it's a concept album and apparently the liner notes add a lot, but I can't find it anywhere online. Amazon and iTunes don't even have the full album to download! But at least I have the full album now, and I LOVE it. ♥

Dear Yuletide Writer,

( In which I ramble )

I made a fic masterlist, which isn't very long, but whatever, all the cool kids have masterlists these days. It's weird, though; I thought I'd generally become more confident about sharing my writing - posting fic doesn't fill me with quite the same sense of horror/dread as it always used to do, although I still don't like it - but seeing it all together makes me feel all squirmy and self-conscious. Ack. Also, I suck at writing summaries.

(That was actually my 1500th post, btw, in almost six years.)

In happier news, Yuletide nominations are open! And, oh, the list of nominated fandoms makes me very happy indeed. Last year was my first Yuletide and I had the best time, not only with writing but also reading so many awesome fics in fandoms that I'd never even think of for most of the year. I mean, I'd never think to look for or write fic for something like Sophie's World, but someone nominated it this year and the prospect of fic for it fills me with glee. :D I'm going to have serious trouble whittling dow my requests to just four.