Dear Author Yuletide Letter
Oct. 21st, 2014 03:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
breathedoutHello Yuletide story writer, and thanks so much for wanting to write a thing for me! You're the best, I'm so excited. \o/
I don't use this journal for anything except Dear Author letters, so if you want a sense of me and what I'm into beyond what I write here, you might want to check out my Tumblr or my AO3 page. If not, all the basics are below:
Major loves: Complex, driven, morally-grey women being complex, driven, and morally grey together. Weird narrative experimentation. Queer shit. Plot as the efflorescence of character. Porn as the efflorescence of character. Porn as the efflorescence of plot. (Basically I just have this strong belief that sex scenes can be a crucial and integrated part of storytelling, and I like demonstrations of that.) But I like non-sexual writing as well! Banter; situational humor; strong friendships between women; strong male/female friendships, too.
Major turnoffs: I have a pathological fear of pregnancy and childbirth; please to avoid if at all possible. This possibly goes without saying, especially given the fandoms I've chosen, but I am also not a fan of female character bashing, homophobia, or bigotry in any form. That said, I have a very firm grasp on the difference between the philosophy of the POV character and the philosophy of the author, and always evaluate them separately; and I have a pretty high tolerance for sketchy character-held beliefs as long as I don't feel they're being championed by the author as well. The same goes for sex scenes with consent issues, and just in general: I'm willing to go to dark and complicated places with you, as long as I feel like you're acknowledging their darkness and complexity.
Fandom-specific stuff (feel free to ignore if you like!):
Killers Kill; Dead Men Die by Annie Leibovitz (photoshoot - any f/f pairing)
This photoshoot is sort of my perpetual fic-exchange darling; I championed it during and after nominations, and I will pretty much adore anything you choose to do with it. I love noir fiction—its fog-thick atmosphere and its hard edges and murky morality—and I especially adore noir told from the POV of someone other than a straight white dude (in published fiction, I like Sara Paretski's VI Warshawski books and Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins ones, which skew classic noir in, respectively, white female and male African-American directions). I would LOVE LOVE LOVE some queer-female POV noir, I would just eat that up with a spoon, particularly if the female characters got to continue being as morally grey as their male counterparts in the genre. If you don't want to go the queer route, just female POV noir is also spectacular.
Based on the eleven nominated characters, there are about a dozen f/f pairings of various dynamics I could get behind 110%, including Songbird/Queenpin, Maiden Aunt/Aristocrat, Society Dame/Society Broad, some kind of complicated triangle involving Songbird/Thrush/Queenpin, Informer/Mystery Woman, Undercover Lady Cop as the POV character uncovering any of the above pairings. If you wanted to steer clear of the romance route, I'd also adore any of the above pairings as partners in criminal conspiracies — or both at once! I actually have a tag on Tumblr of story ideas generated by this photoset; feel free to use one, but no obligation at all. The world is seriously your oyster here, friend. You can do no wrong.
Scott & Bailey (Gill Murray/Julie Dodson)
As I said in my Femslashex letter, Gill/Julie is pretty much the pairing of my heart at the moment. Their casual comfort with each other; the bantering insults; the tangible substance of the years of relationship they have behind them. Do anything with them; I just want more of them. Write them as friends, write them as lovers, write them as friends-with-benefits, or friends-to-lovers; write them back in school, write Julie's reaction to Gill getting drunk at her 40th birthday party and running through the grass singing "I am Sixteen, Going on Seventeen"; write Gill getting hot & bothered by Julie's fabulous red heels and the slightly butch quality to the way her shirts fit; write Julie idly fantasizing about Gill's hands; write them post-S3, write an episode tag or an interstitial scene to any of the episodes they're in together (UGH the conversation where Julie is flustered by Karen Zalinski and Gill (eventually) reassures her! Or the way Gill handles being in the middle of things while Julie suspects Rachel of murder!). Write them back in the day, Julie taking Gill out for drinks during the depths of her divorce, and talking hard sense backed with tenderness into her. It's amazing how much substance the dynamic between these two women has assumed in the relatively small amount of screen time they share, and it leaves me greedy for anything more.
Carmilla by J. Sheridan LeFanu (Carmilla/Laura)
I debated about requesting Carmilla, because I try to always offer non-sexual as well as sexual options in my prompts, but LeFanu's original novel is so tawdry that I have a hard time imagining what to ask for here besides sexy Laura/Carmilla vampire shenanigans. If you're not into that, I say in all sincerity: write the story you feel called to write, my friend, and I will love it. Alternately, "Killers Kill; Dead Men Die" (my first fandom, above) is a photoshoot that takes five minutes to familiarize yourself with, and I'd love just about anything you could possibly do with that, shippy or not.
That said, if you're into sexy Laura/Carmilla vampire shenanigans, there's such a wealth of choice! Copy/pasted from my Femslashex letter: might I suggest: an angsty, guilt-and-lust-riddled Laura during a visit from Carmilla that she will later forget? An unreliable-narrator Laura who was actually aware of Carmilla's vampirism from Day One, and has been waiting to lure her back to her side ever since that glimpse of her as a child? A Laura who is less conflicted than Carmilla about Carmilla's predatory nature, and eggs her on to tell stories of her past bloody exploits while they're in bed together? A Laura who uses Carmilla's bond with her as blackmail to essentially domme the vampire? I AM UP FOR ANY OF IT. As you can probably tell I am especially delighted by the idea of a Laura who is much savvier and less the victim than she makes out in the "official"/canonical account, but seriously, any direction you take this is GOLD.
Chéri by Colette (Léa Lonval/Charlotte Peloux)
I can't really improve on what I wrote last year, so I am copy/pasting:
The long and the short of it is: I adore Stella Gibson. Gillian Anderson plays her with such understated complexity and not a lot of happiness, yet still manages to exude this raw, sexually charged charisma. Me being who I am I'd love to see her having complicated, mutually surprising sexual encounters with either of her female costars (Danielle or Reed); but if you're not feeling that, then I'd adore anything that dwells with Stella, what's going on in the depths of her, behind the stoic facade. And alternately, a lot of my Danny-specific rambling below could apply to their relationship in general, not just sexually.
If you are feeling the f/f sexual tension between Stella and her lady coworkers, all of the above still applies, and I'll also copy/paste this from my Femslashex letter:
I don't use this journal for anything except Dear Author letters, so if you want a sense of me and what I'm into beyond what I write here, you might want to check out my Tumblr or my AO3 page. If not, all the basics are below:
Major loves: Complex, driven, morally-grey women being complex, driven, and morally grey together. Weird narrative experimentation. Queer shit. Plot as the efflorescence of character. Porn as the efflorescence of character. Porn as the efflorescence of plot. (Basically I just have this strong belief that sex scenes can be a crucial and integrated part of storytelling, and I like demonstrations of that.) But I like non-sexual writing as well! Banter; situational humor; strong friendships between women; strong male/female friendships, too.
Major turnoffs: I have a pathological fear of pregnancy and childbirth; please to avoid if at all possible. This possibly goes without saying, especially given the fandoms I've chosen, but I am also not a fan of female character bashing, homophobia, or bigotry in any form. That said, I have a very firm grasp on the difference between the philosophy of the POV character and the philosophy of the author, and always evaluate them separately; and I have a pretty high tolerance for sketchy character-held beliefs as long as I don't feel they're being championed by the author as well. The same goes for sex scenes with consent issues, and just in general: I'm willing to go to dark and complicated places with you, as long as I feel like you're acknowledging their darkness and complexity.
Fandom-specific stuff (feel free to ignore if you like!):
Killers Kill; Dead Men Die by Annie Leibovitz (photoshoot - any f/f pairing)
This photoshoot is sort of my perpetual fic-exchange darling; I championed it during and after nominations, and I will pretty much adore anything you choose to do with it. I love noir fiction—its fog-thick atmosphere and its hard edges and murky morality—and I especially adore noir told from the POV of someone other than a straight white dude (in published fiction, I like Sara Paretski's VI Warshawski books and Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins ones, which skew classic noir in, respectively, white female and male African-American directions). I would LOVE LOVE LOVE some queer-female POV noir, I would just eat that up with a spoon, particularly if the female characters got to continue being as morally grey as their male counterparts in the genre. If you don't want to go the queer route, just female POV noir is also spectacular.
Based on the eleven nominated characters, there are about a dozen f/f pairings of various dynamics I could get behind 110%, including Songbird/Queenpin, Maiden Aunt/Aristocrat, Society Dame/Society Broad, some kind of complicated triangle involving Songbird/Thrush/Queenpin, Informer/Mystery Woman, Undercover Lady Cop as the POV character uncovering any of the above pairings. If you wanted to steer clear of the romance route, I'd also adore any of the above pairings as partners in criminal conspiracies — or both at once! I actually have a tag on Tumblr of story ideas generated by this photoset; feel free to use one, but no obligation at all. The world is seriously your oyster here, friend. You can do no wrong.
Scott & Bailey (Gill Murray/Julie Dodson)
As I said in my Femslashex letter, Gill/Julie is pretty much the pairing of my heart at the moment. Their casual comfort with each other; the bantering insults; the tangible substance of the years of relationship they have behind them. Do anything with them; I just want more of them. Write them as friends, write them as lovers, write them as friends-with-benefits, or friends-to-lovers; write them back in school, write Julie's reaction to Gill getting drunk at her 40th birthday party and running through the grass singing "I am Sixteen, Going on Seventeen"; write Gill getting hot & bothered by Julie's fabulous red heels and the slightly butch quality to the way her shirts fit; write Julie idly fantasizing about Gill's hands; write them post-S3, write an episode tag or an interstitial scene to any of the episodes they're in together (UGH the conversation where Julie is flustered by Karen Zalinski and Gill (eventually) reassures her! Or the way Gill handles being in the middle of things while Julie suspects Rachel of murder!). Write them back in the day, Julie taking Gill out for drinks during the depths of her divorce, and talking hard sense backed with tenderness into her. It's amazing how much substance the dynamic between these two women has assumed in the relatively small amount of screen time they share, and it leaves me greedy for anything more.
Carmilla by J. Sheridan LeFanu (Carmilla/Laura)
I debated about requesting Carmilla, because I try to always offer non-sexual as well as sexual options in my prompts, but LeFanu's original novel is so tawdry that I have a hard time imagining what to ask for here besides sexy Laura/Carmilla vampire shenanigans. If you're not into that, I say in all sincerity: write the story you feel called to write, my friend, and I will love it. Alternately, "Killers Kill; Dead Men Die" (my first fandom, above) is a photoshoot that takes five minutes to familiarize yourself with, and I'd love just about anything you could possibly do with that, shippy or not.
That said, if you're into sexy Laura/Carmilla vampire shenanigans, there's such a wealth of choice! Copy/pasted from my Femslashex letter: might I suggest: an angsty, guilt-and-lust-riddled Laura during a visit from Carmilla that she will later forget? An unreliable-narrator Laura who was actually aware of Carmilla's vampirism from Day One, and has been waiting to lure her back to her side ever since that glimpse of her as a child? A Laura who is less conflicted than Carmilla about Carmilla's predatory nature, and eggs her on to tell stories of her past bloody exploits while they're in bed together? A Laura who uses Carmilla's bond with her as blackmail to essentially domme the vampire? I AM UP FOR ANY OF IT. As you can probably tell I am especially delighted by the idea of a Laura who is much savvier and less the victim than she makes out in the "official"/canonical account, but seriously, any direction you take this is GOLD.
Chéri by Colette (Léa Lonval/Charlotte Peloux)
I can't really improve on what I wrote last year, so I am copy/pasting:
Basically, what I love about this novel is the dynamic between Léa Lonval and Charlotte Peloux. I love that their frenemy-ship predates Charlotte's son (Chéri); I love that it outlasts Léa's affair with him. I love that even though they are catty and critical of one another; even though they wound each other and hide from each other, and are products of an extremely male-centric culture; still, at the end of the day, the bond between them is the strongest thing in both their lives.
So I'd love some kind of story about Léa and Charlotte. I can't even decide if I prefer them as platonic, or as sexually involved, or as platonic frenemies who occasionally hate- or comfort-fuck. So really, however you want to roll is cool by me. I'd adore a pre-books story where they are young together and navigating their early affairs; I'd adore a post-Chéri story in which Charlotte comforts Léa in her typically backhanded yet unexpectedly sincere way. I'd REALLY adore a post-Fin de Chéri story where Léa comforts Charlotte (in a similarly complex way); or some combination of the last two ideas. Or a pre-Chéri story where Léa, in middle age, is just beginning to contemplate taking Charlotte's son as a lover: did they discuss it? Did Charlotte ask Léa to help him grow up a bit before Charlotte married him off? Were there ground rules between the two women? Did Léa report back, and did they laugh about it? Or did Charlotte hate it at first, and only gradually come to the acceptance we see in the second scene of the novel?
Or really, any Charlotte/Léa or Charlotte-and-Léa idea that occurs to you. I am all ears.
The Fall (Stella Gibson-centric, Stella Gibson/Reed Smith, Stella Gibson/Danielle Ferrington, Stella Gibson & Danielle Ferrington)So I'd love some kind of story about Léa and Charlotte. I can't even decide if I prefer them as platonic, or as sexually involved, or as platonic frenemies who occasionally hate- or comfort-fuck. So really, however you want to roll is cool by me. I'd adore a pre-books story where they are young together and navigating their early affairs; I'd adore a post-Chéri story in which Charlotte comforts Léa in her typically backhanded yet unexpectedly sincere way. I'd REALLY adore a post-Fin de Chéri story where Léa comforts Charlotte (in a similarly complex way); or some combination of the last two ideas. Or a pre-Chéri story where Léa, in middle age, is just beginning to contemplate taking Charlotte's son as a lover: did they discuss it? Did Charlotte ask Léa to help him grow up a bit before Charlotte married him off? Were there ground rules between the two women? Did Léa report back, and did they laugh about it? Or did Charlotte hate it at first, and only gradually come to the acceptance we see in the second scene of the novel?
Or really, any Charlotte/Léa or Charlotte-and-Léa idea that occurs to you. I am all ears.
The long and the short of it is: I adore Stella Gibson. Gillian Anderson plays her with such understated complexity and not a lot of happiness, yet still manages to exude this raw, sexually charged charisma. Me being who I am I'd love to see her having complicated, mutually surprising sexual encounters with either of her female costars (Danielle or Reed); but if you're not feeling that, then I'd adore anything that dwells with Stella, what's going on in the depths of her, behind the stoic facade. And alternately, a lot of my Danny-specific rambling below could apply to their relationship in general, not just sexually.
If you are feeling the f/f sexual tension between Stella and her lady coworkers, all of the above still applies, and I'll also copy/paste this from my Femslashex letter:
I really could go either way on pairing Stella with Danielle versus with Reed. To my mind, she has more of an immediate "click" with Reed: she's visibly intrigued during the scene in the second episode where Reed arrives on her motorbike; and she also seems to be visibly off-center during the scene where Reed shows her Olson's postmortem x-rays—which, for someone as unflappable as Stella, is saying something. That is in part because of her complicated feelings about Olson's death, certainly, but it could also have something to do with Reed, or a combination of the two. And Episode 1.4! The scene where they're going over the crime scene together, and then go out for a drink! Goodness me, the slightly macabre yet also oddly touching fic writes itself.
On the other hand, Danny is canonically gay, and I love the push/pull that happens between her and Stella as the show goes on. The show is so understated with its depictions that there's a lot of room for interpretation: to what degree does Stella interpret Danny's disclosure about getting rid of evidence that she had company, to be a power play? To what degree did Danny intend it that way? To what extent does Stella feel blackmailed into offering Danny the position as her right-hand woman? To what extent does Danny realize that? At what point does their dynamic shift away from one-ups-manship and into mutual regard (or has it? or will it in the future?), and how might sexual attraction map over that? I don't have ready answers but I find all these questions really intriguing, and I'd love any story that explored them a bit.
