let me hear your voice tonight (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
alexseanchai) wrote2018-10-18 04:50 pm
alexseanchai) wrote2018-10-18 04:50 pm
Entry tags:
Yuletide 2018 letter
ɬax̣ayam! Dia dhaoibh! Khairete! Hello!
My AO3 name is![[personal profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/20438-2015779/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
AlexSeanchai (EllieMurasaki), and let me reassure you at the jump that optional details are optional. I tend to babble, I really do, and I think my copy-paste from earlier letters gets longer every letter!
I should advise you up front that I am a Hellenic polytheist, ancestor worshipper, and animist, and I am really hoping to see, anywhere it might come up, respect for my religious beliefs. This hope is an optional detail, but I want to highlight the DNW of "Disrespect to my religious beliefs".
I should also advise you up front that I am a queer trans feminist and disability activist standing firmly in opposition to fascism, capitalism, and white supremacy, and I am really hoping to see stories that dance to that tune. This hope is an optional detail (and also modern politics aren't necessarily relevant to the story you're writing at all, I observe), but I want to highlight the DNW of "Disrespectful treatment of [insert marginalized group here]."
Please do not take the extent to which I discuss any canon as indication of any sort of preference as to which canon I receive.
I am explicitly open to crossovers between my requests. I am totally here for poetry treats (or poetry full assignment if you are nuts like me—for srs I'm nuts), and interactive and/or choose-your-own-adventure fiction. Also genderbending, racebending, queer headcanons, trans and genderqueer headcanons, neurodivergent headcanons, and other flavors of respectful representation of marginalized people. Also AUs generally, with special highlight to whatsynecdochic refers to as the Ten Minutes AU, and special highlight to setting-change AUs (including but not limited to modern library, modern coffee shop, Library of Alexandria, Jonathan's Coffee-House...). (That said, don't take my examples of setting-change AUs as particular suggestions unless you want to! Though a Library of Alexandria AU or a Jonathan's Coffee-House AU of any of my requested stories would be fucking awesome, actually...)
Challenges, therefore, it'd be fun for you to participate in: Chromatic Yuletide; Yulepoem; Yuleporn; Femslash Festivus; Misses Clause; Yuletide Madness Drabble Invitational; Interactive Fiction; Two for One; Yulebuilding. Where relevant, the link is to my comment.
———
Likes: FEMSLASH. GEN. Het centering and empowering the woman. Polyamory. Ladies being awesome. People of color being awesome. Queer people being awesome. Trans and genderqueer people being awesome. People of minority religions (especially polytheists, ancestor worshippers, and animists) being awesome. Disabled people being awesome. Autistic and otherwise neurodivergent people being awesome. Mentally ill people being awesome. Competence kink. Nonperfect people having nonperfect relationships (whether familial, platonic, romantic, or sexual) but all parties are good people trying to make the relationship work as best they know how. Ordinary people caught in extraordinary events. Worldbuilding!
Likes if you're leaning porny: vanilla is a lovely thing but also there's bondage, body modification, endurance, nipple play (okay, really breast play, but![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
kink_wiki doesn't have a tag for that), sensation play, temperature play, impact play with the emphasis on play, toys toys toys, soft sensuous things, and writing.
Dislikes: Underage sexual activity. Non-consensual sexual activity and anything that contributes to rape culture. Anything that sets off my embarrassment squick—avoid public humiliation, for instance. Anything sexy involving eating or excreting (though if you want to write food porn in the sense of conveying what a tasty meal the characters are having, go to town) (and no, this doesn't bar one character eating out another, as long as there's no food in that bit). Disrespectful treatment of polytheism, ancestor worship, and/or animism. Disrespectful treatment of [insert marginalized group here]. Magically healed disability. "Idiot ball" (which trope needs a less ableist name). Sexual and/or romantic relationships that break the xkcd 314 rule, which is to say, if a character's age is x, the youngest someone they're involved with can be is ((x/2) + 7) and the oldest someone they're involved with can be is 2(x - 7)—immortal characters break the letter of this rule as a matter of course, so use your judgment on how to abide by its spirit.
Specific to Emelan, I do not want romantic or sexual relationships between any of my requested characters.
———
Knit One Girl Two - Shira Glassman
Clara Ziegler, Danielle Solomon
a contemporary queer Jewish artistic romance novella available on Kindle
Clara dyeing fiber. Danielle painting. Both being fannish together. (I'm less convinced that Clara or Danielle would sign up for Yuletide than that Cora of Learning Curves would, but if you want to look at the Yuletider!Cora prompt below and adapt it for Clara or Danielle, go for it!) One teaching her art to the other. The LGBTQ meetup. Happy queer Jewish women. I am not myself Jewish but I'd love to see a respectfully done story in which Clara and Danielle being queerly Jewish is very up-front crucial to their characters. (If you want to write something holiday-y, this is not the canon to write Christmas fic, obviously, but you've got the High Holy Days and Pesach and Purim and...) I also nominated Jasmine and I'm more than happy to see something focusing on that sisterly relationship with background Clara/Danielle (in which case Danielle need not necessarily appear in person).
Learning Curves - Ceillie Simkiss
Cora McLaughlin, Elena Mendez
a contemporary queer neurodivergent law studen romance novella available on Kindle with a short story collection coming out Oct 21 on Kindle; there is also a flash fiction available on CeillieSimkiss.com—the content is password-protected to be newsletter-subscriber-exclusive, but if you go to the homepage and sign up to the newsletter, you should get the password no problem
Cora's literary tastes. Elena's culinary experiments. Either or both at work. Either or both having fun. Happy queer neurodivergent women. If you, o writer, are ADHD like Cora or anxiety like Elena, or otherwise demographically matching one of the ways in which either lead is marginalized, #ownvoices the hell out of that. Both characters feel like social justice activists to me, so maybe something low-key activisty?
...write Cora signing up for Yuletide, I dare you. Triple bonus points and loving you forever if you write a second fic or a fic-in-fic as Cora! This would have to be either a treat to another of my prompts (with AU magic applied to the other contemporary canons, probably) or a gift for a fictional participant who is requesting a canon it's in-character for Cora to offer. (I checked with the mods before finalizing my signup.) Honestly if going the fic-in-fic route you could probably get away with less than 1K for one or the other canon as long as the whole fic totals 1K+? I'd be cool with that, anyway. and I do not care if I don't even know Cora's choice of canon, because given Cora's canonical literary tastes, I want to get to know any canon Cora likes enough to fic!
(...ODAO. just saying.)
The Mistletoe Inn (2017)
Kim Ross, Zeke | H. T. Cavell
a contemporary het romance-authors romance movie supposedly available on YouTube (but don't trust any of those links, augh, they're all different movies!) and probably going to replay on Hallmark Channel at some point in Christmas movie season (it is ahemable, but if you find a better link, lemme know)
Kim and Zeke supporting the crap out of each other's writing. Kim and Zeke drawing inspiration for their own writing from each other. Kim and Zeke co-writing. It would be epic fun if you genderswap Zeke to be anything but a cis man (but ODAO). I also nominated Samantha (and I'm currently having a small anxiety over whether that's the right name for the friend Kim makes during canon—I certainly meant to nominate Kim's new friend, anyway), and something focusing on that strong friendship between women with background Kim/Zeke would rock too (in which Zeke need not necessarily appear in person). And, hell, any of these three might sign up for Yuletide themselves! (See the Yuletider!Cora prompt above.)
Emelan - Tamora Pierce
Sandrilene fa Toren, Trisana Chandler, Daja Kisubo, Briar Moss
an eleven-novel series available from your local library or favorite bookstore
Duchess Sandrilene fa Toren coping with the loss (or stepping-down-in-her-favor, but if you want to write sadfic, go with loss) of Duke Vedris. Tris at Lightsbridge, writing thesis papers galore; bonus points for Glaki also at Lightsbridge. Briar deliberately healing after the chronologically most recent canon. Daja and Trader culture. All of the four being de facto rulers of Emelan even though Sandry (as of Duke Vedris's death or stepping down) is the only de jure ruler. Any of the four hardcore rocking their craft. Any of the four moderately rocking one of the other three's craft. Any of the four, as adults, continuing to look to any of their teachers for guidance. Any of the four continuing to act as teacher to their student(s) as of the second quartet. (Except Tris and Glaki; Tris is Glaki's mama now and I will hear no argument, though I suppose you can argue wrt this parenthetical that ODAO. :P I say to that.) Any of the four pre-series. Any of the four establishing a sexual and/or romantic relationship with an outside party that, though it is vitally important to them and to their sexual and/or romantic partner(s), is still—and is entirely understood on all sides to be—thoroughly secondary to the bond between these four. (Queer this canon up!)
You need not include more than one of my requested characters. Actually, if you decide to worldbuild—we haven't seen a lot of academic magic; how's it work in contrast to ambient? go in depth about the arts/crafts aspect of any flavor of ambient magic; tell me about the religions, the histories, the economies—you honestly need not include any of my requested characters at all. Except maybe in passing, or—hey, know what'd be cool? Historical survey from a century or two later focused on one or more of these four!
My AO3 name is
I should advise you up front that I am a Hellenic polytheist, ancestor worshipper, and animist, and I am really hoping to see, anywhere it might come up, respect for my religious beliefs. This hope is an optional detail, but I want to highlight the DNW of "Disrespect to my religious beliefs".
I should also advise you up front that I am a queer trans feminist and disability activist standing firmly in opposition to fascism, capitalism, and white supremacy, and I am really hoping to see stories that dance to that tune. This hope is an optional detail (and also modern politics aren't necessarily relevant to the story you're writing at all, I observe), but I want to highlight the DNW of "Disrespectful treatment of [insert marginalized group here]."
Please do not take the extent to which I discuss any canon as indication of any sort of preference as to which canon I receive.
I am explicitly open to crossovers between my requests. I am totally here for poetry treats (or poetry full assignment if you are nuts like me—for srs I'm nuts), and interactive and/or choose-your-own-adventure fiction. Also genderbending, racebending, queer headcanons, trans and genderqueer headcanons, neurodivergent headcanons, and other flavors of respectful representation of marginalized people. Also AUs generally, with special highlight to what
synecdochic refers to as the Ten Minutes AU, and special highlight to setting-change AUs (including but not limited to modern library, modern coffee shop, Library of Alexandria, Jonathan's Coffee-House...). (That said, don't take my examples of setting-change AUs as particular suggestions unless you want to! Though a Library of Alexandria AU or a Jonathan's Coffee-House AU of any of my requested stories would be fucking awesome, actually...)Challenges, therefore, it'd be fun for you to participate in: Chromatic Yuletide; Yulepoem; Yuleporn; Femslash Festivus; Misses Clause; Yuletide Madness Drabble Invitational; Interactive Fiction; Two for One; Yulebuilding. Where relevant, the link is to my comment.
Likes: FEMSLASH. GEN. Het centering and empowering the woman. Polyamory. Ladies being awesome. People of color being awesome. Queer people being awesome. Trans and genderqueer people being awesome. People of minority religions (especially polytheists, ancestor worshippers, and animists) being awesome. Disabled people being awesome. Autistic and otherwise neurodivergent people being awesome. Mentally ill people being awesome. Competence kink. Nonperfect people having nonperfect relationships (whether familial, platonic, romantic, or sexual) but all parties are good people trying to make the relationship work as best they know how. Ordinary people caught in extraordinary events. Worldbuilding!
Likes if you're leaning porny: vanilla is a lovely thing but also there's bondage, body modification, endurance, nipple play (okay, really breast play, but
kink_wiki doesn't have a tag for that), sensation play, temperature play, impact play with the emphasis on play, toys toys toys, soft sensuous things, and writing.Dislikes: Underage sexual activity. Non-consensual sexual activity and anything that contributes to rape culture. Anything that sets off my embarrassment squick—avoid public humiliation, for instance. Anything sexy involving eating or excreting (though if you want to write food porn in the sense of conveying what a tasty meal the characters are having, go to town) (and no, this doesn't bar one character eating out another, as long as there's no food in that bit). Disrespectful treatment of polytheism, ancestor worship, and/or animism. Disrespectful treatment of [insert marginalized group here]. Magically healed disability. "Idiot ball" (which trope needs a less ableist name). Sexual and/or romantic relationships that break the xkcd 314 rule, which is to say, if a character's age is x, the youngest someone they're involved with can be is ((x/2) + 7) and the oldest someone they're involved with can be is 2(x - 7)—immortal characters break the letter of this rule as a matter of course, so use your judgment on how to abide by its spirit.
Specific to Emelan, I do not want romantic or sexual relationships between any of my requested characters.
Knit One Girl Two - Shira Glassman
Clara Ziegler, Danielle Solomon
a contemporary queer Jewish artistic romance novella available on Kindle
Clara dyeing fiber. Danielle painting. Both being fannish together. (I'm less convinced that Clara or Danielle would sign up for Yuletide than that Cora of Learning Curves would, but if you want to look at the Yuletider!Cora prompt below and adapt it for Clara or Danielle, go for it!) One teaching her art to the other. The LGBTQ meetup. Happy queer Jewish women. I am not myself Jewish but I'd love to see a respectfully done story in which Clara and Danielle being queerly Jewish is very up-front crucial to their characters. (If you want to write something holiday-y, this is not the canon to write Christmas fic, obviously, but you've got the High Holy Days and Pesach and Purim and...) I also nominated Jasmine and I'm more than happy to see something focusing on that sisterly relationship with background Clara/Danielle (in which case Danielle need not necessarily appear in person).
Learning Curves - Ceillie Simkiss
Cora McLaughlin, Elena Mendez
a contemporary queer neurodivergent law studen romance novella available on Kindle with a short story collection coming out Oct 21 on Kindle; there is also a flash fiction available on CeillieSimkiss.com—the content is password-protected to be newsletter-subscriber-exclusive, but if you go to the homepage and sign up to the newsletter, you should get the password no problem
Cora's literary tastes. Elena's culinary experiments. Either or both at work. Either or both having fun. Happy queer neurodivergent women. If you, o writer, are ADHD like Cora or anxiety like Elena, or otherwise demographically matching one of the ways in which either lead is marginalized, #ownvoices the hell out of that. Both characters feel like social justice activists to me, so maybe something low-key activisty?
...write Cora signing up for Yuletide, I dare you. Triple bonus points and loving you forever if you write a second fic or a fic-in-fic as Cora! This would have to be either a treat to another of my prompts (with AU magic applied to the other contemporary canons, probably) or a gift for a fictional participant who is requesting a canon it's in-character for Cora to offer. (I checked with the mods before finalizing my signup.) Honestly if going the fic-in-fic route you could probably get away with less than 1K for one or the other canon as long as the whole fic totals 1K+? I'd be cool with that, anyway. and I do not care if I don't even know Cora's choice of canon, because given Cora's canonical literary tastes, I want to get to know any canon Cora likes enough to fic!
(...ODAO. just saying.)
The Mistletoe Inn (2017)
Kim Ross, Zeke | H. T. Cavell
a contemporary het romance-authors romance movie supposedly available on YouTube (but don't trust any of those links, augh, they're all different movies!) and probably going to replay on Hallmark Channel at some point in Christmas movie season (it is ahemable, but if you find a better link, lemme know)
Kim and Zeke supporting the crap out of each other's writing. Kim and Zeke drawing inspiration for their own writing from each other. Kim and Zeke co-writing. It would be epic fun if you genderswap Zeke to be anything but a cis man (but ODAO). I also nominated Samantha (and I'm currently having a small anxiety over whether that's the right name for the friend Kim makes during canon—I certainly meant to nominate Kim's new friend, anyway), and something focusing on that strong friendship between women with background Kim/Zeke would rock too (in which Zeke need not necessarily appear in person). And, hell, any of these three might sign up for Yuletide themselves! (See the Yuletider!Cora prompt above.)
Emelan - Tamora Pierce
Sandrilene fa Toren, Trisana Chandler, Daja Kisubo, Briar Moss
an eleven-novel series available from your local library or favorite bookstore
Duchess Sandrilene fa Toren coping with the loss (or stepping-down-in-her-favor, but if you want to write sadfic, go with loss) of Duke Vedris. Tris at Lightsbridge, writing thesis papers galore; bonus points for Glaki also at Lightsbridge. Briar deliberately healing after the chronologically most recent canon. Daja and Trader culture. All of the four being de facto rulers of Emelan even though Sandry (as of Duke Vedris's death or stepping down) is the only de jure ruler. Any of the four hardcore rocking their craft. Any of the four moderately rocking one of the other three's craft. Any of the four, as adults, continuing to look to any of their teachers for guidance. Any of the four continuing to act as teacher to their student(s) as of the second quartet. (Except Tris and Glaki; Tris is Glaki's mama now and I will hear no argument, though I suppose you can argue wrt this parenthetical that ODAO. :P I say to that.) Any of the four pre-series. Any of the four establishing a sexual and/or romantic relationship with an outside party that, though it is vitally important to them and to their sexual and/or romantic partner(s), is still—and is entirely understood on all sides to be—thoroughly secondary to the bond between these four. (Queer this canon up!)
You need not include more than one of my requested characters. Actually, if you decide to worldbuild—we haven't seen a lot of academic magic; how's it work in contrast to ambient? go in depth about the arts/crafts aspect of any flavor of ambient magic; tell me about the religions, the histories, the economies—you honestly need not include any of my requested characters at all. Except maybe in passing, or—hey, know what'd be cool? Historical survey from a century or two later focused on one or more of these four!