Dear Yuletide Writer, 2019

[hopefulnebula]

Dear Yuletide Writer,

Hi there! If you're reading this, you have pretty great taste in at least one fandom. So thank you in advance for writing for me!

I really don't have too much introductory to say this time. You may notice that I've copied and pasted a lot of this from previous years' prompts and letters - it's been a very busy/rough year for me and I'm running especially low on spoons as the weather gets colder. Please don't take this as me preferring one fandom over another, or anything like that.

As usual, I've got general things in the first cut and actual prompts & further info in the second one. The third cut is content warnings for one of my requests, since the source material is amazing but risks touching on triggers for a lot of people.

As a fan, I'm pretty easygoing. I love quite a lot of things, and I'm not squicked out by a lot. I have some issues regarding characters with disabilities, though, which I trust won't be problematic given the nature of my requests. Please, don't "cure" or otherwise erase the disabilities/differences of characters, and don't resort to problematic tropes ("Rain Man" is not research), and you're good. :) In each of my requests, I love the way these characters are portrayed in their respective canons, so if you stay true to that, I'll be happy.

Other things I don't like: glorification of the nasty things people do to each other (if you're going to have them in the story, that's fine, but please treat them like the terrible things they are) and gratuitous gore.

Now that that's out of the way, a non-exhaustive list of the general things I like:

- Fiction that's in the spirit of the source material. I love me some "original flavor" fic (not linking to the TVTropes page because then you'll never get anything written). Explore the things that the canon doesn't explore in a way that the canon would do it, and I'll be a happy camper.
- Non-human/human-but-neurologically-atypical characters not thinking the way neurotypical humans do, without being caricatures of themselves.
- Unexpected/odd POVs (external POVs of relationships, for instance).
- Epistolary fiction (that is, stories told in the form of letters/e-mails/telegrams/notes sent by carrier pigeon sent between characters)
- Strong character voices (I love hearing the characters speak the lines I read in my head).
- Stories that explore the characters' reactions to things around them (what makes them who they are? How does that relate to how they react to things now?)
- Anything that passes the Bechdel test (has at least two female main characters who communicate with each other about something other than a man)
- Past-fic, future-fic, missing scenes, sets of vaguely connected drabbles, weirdly formatted fics, plotless "slice of life" fics, fix-it fics, and probably about a hundred other things I could think of.
- AUs, particularly of the "what-if" variety.
- I like happy endings, but I also like it when things don't end exactly as the protagonist plans. I like bittersweet and even sad endings. But please don't make it a "rocks fall, everyone dies" ending. There should be something happy or hopeful to grab onto.

I'm open to all ratings, so write whatever you're comfortable writing, and while my prompts tend to lean toward gen-ness, I do like to read romance as well, so if you're a shipper of any sort, please don't feel obligated to avoid it for my sake.

And with that, on to the spoilery stuff.




Alphas - Anna and/or Gary

What is Anna's day-to-day life like? How does she work with her local community? How and why did she join Red Flag? How did she get to such a high position in the group? What was her childhood like? How did she create her language, and who was the first person to understand it for what it was? Who does she work with at Red Flag, and what are their interactions like? What have her interactions with Stanton Parrish been like, and what did she do to piss him off?

How did Anna and Gary's relationship go from Gary hanging up on Anna to Gary disobeying orders to try to save her life? What was their correspondence like? What does she think of him?

Fic about Gary is also most welcome! Something highlighting his relationships with the rest of the team? Yes, please. Or an episode tag would be awesome too. Or Gary's driving lessons. Or a post-series fic (taking the finale into account or handwaving it, I don't care) would also be amazing. What is he doing five years from now? Ten? (Has he taken over Red Flag and led it in a non-violent direction? Is he making oodles of money as a consultant on the side? Who knows? You do!) The world needs more Gary.

(If you only want to write about one character or the other for this prompt, that's cool with me.)

I've loved Anna since the second they introduced her.

I love antagonists who aren't necessarily wrong (though I obviously don't condone Red Flag's methods). I love that they make her relatable, but obviously very different from "normal" humans. I even love that she's been misdiagnosed all her life because none of her doctors knew about alphas. I love how sympathetic she is. I love that she and Gary bonded so quickly.

One thing that fascinates me as well is the possibility that her ability might allow her to understand what people mean versus what they actually say.

(From a Watsonian perspective, I hate how she died. From a Doylian perspective, I totally understand it and am fascinated by the implications. This isn't to say I desperately want an AU where she lives, though I'm definitely open to that possibility, and I'd be kind of fascinated to see what Anna-ten-years-from-now would be up to.)

And then there's Gary. Gary, Gary, Gary. I love how they (both the showrunners and the characters) treat Gary as an individual. His autism is an integral part of who he is, but he's not the token oddball or the savant or the Very Special Episode The Writers Put In So Neurotypical Viewers Can Feel Good About Themselves. (And speaking of which, this show is literally the only time I've encountered the word "neurodiversity" in mass media. Which says quite a lot.) Sometimes it's helpful, and sometimes it's debilitating. He does get the lion's share of the funny moments, but it's not in an exploitative way.

In short: Anna and Gary are both the best. If you can make them be the best together, all the better. If not, they're still the best! (Best-ness is not zero sum.)

Exit/Corners - Any

I said "any" and I mean it. One of my favorite things about E/C is the interactions between the characters, and their ever-shifting dynamics as they learn more about each other. There's a lot of stuff that happens during the course of the game that we never get to see because Ink isn't there. (Also the drink-testing conversation Aether mentions in one of the good endings - we never actually see that in game, but it might be fun to include a missing scene like that). Fill in the negative space! There's also a lot of potential for exploring some characters' relationships with their Contacts, and the conversations they have. Or: how do the remaining characters end up surviving/thriving after the end of the game? Are the people in charge right in their calculations that the players will eventually forgive them?

First things first, and this paragraph alone is non-spoilery: E/C is... well, not a five-minute fandom, but a "whoops, it's 3am" fandom, and it's the most easily accessible of all of my requests. If you like visual novels with light (but skippable) puzzles and meaningful choices, the genre of "we all woke up in this place none of us has seen before and a shadowy force is making us participate in a creepy, potentially lethal game," and complex, engaging characters, the VN is available for free at http://exitcorners.com/. MASSIVE CONTENT WARNINGS are listed in a cut at the very bottom of this post; this is a brilliant game but it's definitely not for everyone. Also, these prompts are largely based on the best ending, whose save code you can find in this comment at the E/C subreddit. Feel free to disregard that, though, and go with whichever ending you choose, if that's the direction your muse takes you.

So I'm requesting this even though the game isn't technically finished, because the story's pretty much done and the last chapter is going to be more of a wrap-up/epilogue. I mean it when I say that my favorite part of the game is the character interactions. I'd love to see something from Aether's point of view, since she's clearly going to view the other characters differently than they view each other. I'd like to see further backstory or flashes-forward for any of the characters - how does Liza come to terms with what she knows about her family, and what they've done to her? Does Ink actually become a detective? What steps does Rae take to repair his social life, post-game? Does Sent communicate privately with anyone else during the game? (I was this close to nominating Sent, so if you want to write them, please go to town. Maybe their observations of the nominated characters? It's up to you.) Does the remaining crew stay friendly years later? How do they cope?


HDM - Iorek, Lyra

Welcome to one thing I request every year no matter what. (At least until the poorly-tagged fusions that don't actually include HDM make it ineligible. Sigh.) If you want, you can completely ignore the characters I've chosen (more on that later in the prompt).

This year I'd love to see what happens with Lyra and Iorek after the end of The Amber Spyglass. I imagine they'd definitely keep in touch with each other, but how? And what do they say to each other? How does Iorek fare as leader, as the North freezes over once again? Do they confide in each other? How does their relationship shift as Lyra grows?

Alternately, I'd love to hear stories, myths, and legends from any of the other worlds we see. If there's a geographic area and/or time period you love, I'd love to see what life is like in that time/place in Lyra's world - create a character and send them on an adventure in Lyra's world. Or you know those snippets of documents/other materials in Lyra's Oxford and Once Upon a Time in the North? Excerpts from things like that - from any world - would be amazing as well (and if you go this route, don't feel obligated to include my requested characters).

I've loved this series for nearly 20 years now and I think it'll always be one of the fandoms of my heart. I especially love the worldbuilding and the depth of the characters.

As much as I love HDM, there's not much I can say here that isn't also included in my prompt. There's the worldbuilding as mentioned above - seriously anything is welcome, from folk tales to pop culture to figuring out how organized sports work in a world where people's souls are tangible and you can't touch any but your own - but also the characters. I love the bit of post-series Lyra we see in Lyra's Oxford (and the supplemental ephemera in Once Upon a Time in the North. There's really no way she wouldn't keep in touch with her friends. While I'm only requesting Lyra and Iorek, it'd be interesting to see her continued communication with Serafina Pekkala and John Faa (and the other Gyptians) as well. Perhaps she's doing research on the North for school?

For the more bear-specific prompts: show me life in the world of the bears. Maybe Iorek's decision to move south, or their historical interactions with the various groups of humans they've come across. Also, fun fact: Polar bears usually have twins. This feels relevant somehow.


Jake 2.0 - Jake

What other effects do the nanites have on Jake later on? What happens as his allies in the NSA all end up being promoted and the government tries to keep him right where he is? As he gains more control over himself, how does everybody around him react? How does Jake keep up the friendships he had pre-nanites, even as he becomes more and more involved in his job? (He's already had one best friend moved "out of the way" in the name of security. How does that inform his future decisions?)

I got into this show quite a few years ago and enjoyed the crap out of it. I love the way the showrunners implemented the idea (which, yes, has been done before, but they hang enough lampshades on that fact to fill a lightbulb store, which is one of the things I love). I love the banter between Jake and Kyle, the relationship between Jake and Diane, the protective relationship Lou has with everyone. I love how Jake grows into his new role. Having nanites enhancing every part of him they can reach surely has to change how he sees the world, and the show touches on that somewhat, but I'd love if whatever you end up writing explores that even a little.

A final note: I'm fine shipping Jake with either Diane or Kyle (or both!), if that's what you're interested in writing. If you don't want to write romance, that's no big deal either. I'm open to all possibilities on that front.



Sunshine - Any

Who's your favorite character or characters? Tell me about them. Ensemble fic would also be lovely. What didn't they learn in training that they wish they had? Who won the bet as to when Capa and Mace would finally snap at each other for the first time? How do they pass the time as they get farther from Earth? How did they join the program in the first place? How did they initially react to the loss of Icarus I? What coping mechanisms do they develop, both for dealing with each other and for not having anyone else? ("Anyone" includes Icarus, of course, though these questions probably don't apply to her. I do love me some AIs though.) Anything you can think of, for any character or combination of characters, would be great.

This is one of my "deserted island" films. I love the themes it explores and the choices they have to make and the juxtaposition of what happens to them with what happens to the crew of Icarus I. I love the colors, I love the sound, I love the music (omg the music). I love the foreshadowing and the interactions and the tough decisions with tougher consequences. I even love the ending even though it's a completely different feel from the rest of the movie.

And seriously, don't feel limited to the prompts in the request. They're just potential jumping-off points. If one of them grabs you, great. If not, you can find something else.

One note I feel I should mention: I know a lot of the fic for Sunshine is Capa/Mace slash. I'm cool with Capa/Mace if that's what you want to write, but I also won't be disappointed if you don't. (It's the same with pairings in general for the fandom, really, but this seems to be the big one.)


Thanks again for writing for me! I look forward to seeing what you have in store. If you have questions or need to reach me, you can go through the mods.

Love and bunnies,

Neb.


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(Adding this text as a warning to anyone using a screenreader who doesn't want to be spoiled for Exit/Corners. Content notes are below.)

E/C is an amazing game, but it does include (in no particular order) blood/gore, limb amputation, gaslighting/manipulation, abusive parents, transphobia, suicide references, and character death. (Back to the prompt.)