Yuletide Letter 2020
Oct. 24th, 2020 11:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chthonic_cassandraDear Yuletide Writer,
I can't believe it's time for Yuletide already! This has been the craziest of years, but I am so overjoyed to still have Yuletide as a constant in all of it (this is, I think, my 14th Yuletide?), and I so deeply appreciate you writing for me. Two of my prompts this year are repeats from previous years which I am still holding out hope for; the other two are for fandoms that I have newly gotten into this year, and with which I have fallen head-over-heels in love. I would be so amazingly thrilled to read a story about any of them.
In case you want more information about my tastes: My AO3 is of course here. I'm on Tumblr, where I am probably most active, as chthonic-cassandra. I’ve previously said: “I tend to write meditative female character-centric gen about trauma recovery, and/or fucked-up dub-con darkfic, and those are both totally things I love to read about as well, but neither of those are your style, no worries! I also really, really love romance (particularly in poly relationships), sexy D/s stuff, and world-building or plot-heavy casefic; I’m just not as good at writing any of those.” All that still goes, so if you read one of my own fics and think that it’s seriously not your style, please don’t worry about trying to match it! I am an omnivorous and ravenous reader.
Some things I like in fic: smart, prickly, messed-up characters especially when they’re interacting with other smart, prickly messed-up characters; complicated or tense relationship negotiation; power dynamics (sexual or not, and either set and formalized or in constant flux); poly relationships; moments of hope/resilience within suffering; canon divergence (‘what if?’ AUs), darkfic/horror, D/s and related kink (especially bondage, humiliation, pain - either healthy and negotiated kink or also fucked-up dub or non-con stuff); moral ambiguity, or characters dealing with situations where there are no good choices; depictions of trauma recovery or otherwise putting one’s life together after devastation; characters who are smart and competent and passionate about things; allusion, experimention, meta-fictional stuff, playfulness with form and language; historical details and world-building; pastiche; things in general being complicated and messy and nuanced
Some things I’d prefer not to read about: dub-con which involves ‘they secretly wanted it’ or ‘they didn’t want it at first but then learned they actually did’ tropes (other kinds of dub- or non-con are fine); any kind of "it was all in their head" mental illness AU; traumatic events treated as jokes or insignificant; setting-changing AUs; crossovers (with the exception of Penny Dreadful, which is itself a crossover, and for which more gothic crossovers would be fine and welcome); slapstick humor; PWP (any level of explicit content is fine, but I’m in it mostly for the characters); heavy focus on bodily fluids other than blood; focus on animal harm, or meat preparation; focus on pregnancy or being a parent of young children; sexual content with anyone younger than late adolescence; dogs; explicit discussion of disordered eating
Now to the prompts!
Something Dark and Holy - Emily Duncan
Characters: Nadya, Marzenya, Malachiasz
Prompt:
Ahh these books! So dark and delicious and full of all the angst I want about faith, heresy, magic. I adore them. They also left me desperately wanting more about Nadya and her religious faith. Her faith, and specifically her worship of her patron goddess Marzenya, is such a deep and fundamental part of her character, and while her faith encounters so many challenges and ruptures over the course of the two books we've gotten so far, although we find her left in a place of devastating questioning by the end of the second book, that faith, as a deep part of who she is, still remains, even in a fractured form.
I would love to read a story focused on Nadya's faith, and specifically her relationship with Marzenya, however you, dear writer, understand and imagine that relationship. I have a lot of interest in the romantic/sexual dimensions of relationships between gods and their worshippers, but I am not fixated on this interpretation of Nadya's faith, and would love to see whatever you come up with.
Some things that I would love to read about - something from Marzenya's perspective, maybe her view on the events of the first two novels (especially during the period when Nadya cannot hear her voice!) or a story that gives us a window into her own history, about which we get such intriguing hints; scenes from Nadya's earlier life as she first develops her power and builds relationships with her gods; canon divergence AUs that give Marzenya a more active role in the story as it stands; something playing with the wild and amazing ending of Ruthless Gods; a more extreme AU in which Nadya uses her powers more ruthless and assertively from the beginning and ends up as the leader of Kalyazin she was meant to be, with Marzenya at her side (and what would her relationship with Malachiasz look like in that scenario?) - I would love anything.
I have requested Malachiasz as well because I adore him and his relationship with Nadya, and seeing him interacting with Marzenya would be absolutely fascinating, but if you have a Nadya and Marzenya-focused story idea that Malachiasz doesn't fit into, please don't worry about including him.
This is included in my DNWs above, but I want to emphasize especially for this fandom that I would prefer not to get a story that treats Nadya's religious experiences as madness or mental illnesss.
Some things I love in canon: all these young, fucked-up people trying their desperate best to make the world better; blood magic!; the lushly gothic-slavic atmosphere in all its richness; everybody is traumatized; the Ruthless Gods scene on the altar (oh my god); religious faith as thorny, religious faith as something with teeth; the monstrous and the beautiful are so close; cosmic horror; body horror; messy political alliances.
Penny Dreadful (tv)
Characters: Vanessa Ives, Hecate Poole
Prompt:
So. Penny Dreadful is the show of my heart and I am still carrying a torch for it these several years on, but that moment in S2 when Vanessa and Hecate see each other for the first time across the crowded ballroom, and then Vanessa starts hallucinating blood raining from the ceiling? And then they kiss in an ambiguous rivalry/flirtation moment? And then they never interact again? Most frustrating tease ever.
I would be interested in any ideas you have for giving us the interaction the show didn’t, and am open to whatever directions you want them to go in. Enemies-to-allies(-to maybe lovers)? Darkfic of their continued battle, or of one taking the other captive? Deliciously fucked-up family dynamics with Evelyn and Sir Malcolm continuing their relationship? I could think of scenarios upon scenarios, but I’m really open to wherever your imagination takes you. Likewise, I’d be totally into something shippy with them, but just as equally interesting in gen that deals with their parallel journeys towards understanding their own agency in these epic mystical conflicts into which they were both dragged. I’m into the question of how their volatile and intense personalities might play off each other; please do run with it.
I love both Vanessa and Hecate as trauma survivors who are messy and ugly in their survival, who lash out and hurt others but are also trying to figure out how to live in their world, with their experiences. Penny Dreadful is also an amazing ensemble cast, and I would be happy to see other characters making appearances (maybe especially Seward, Dracula, Evelyn - or Brona/Lily, who doesn’t really interact much with either of these women, would also be an interesting counterpoint), but I’d prefer the focus of whatever you write stay primarily on Hecate and Vanessa, especially rather than the male characters who have largely gotten more attention in fic. Likewise, I’m fine with Vanessa/Ethan, but if that pairing is present, I’d rather it not be the main center of the fic.
DNW similar as above: the show is nuanced on the issue of Vanessa's supernatural experiences and mental illness, but I really do not want to read a "it was actually all in her head story."
Some things I love in canon: straight-up unapologeticaly going for the gothic atmosphere and narrative and world; colonialism and patriarchy as horror stories in themselves; spiders!; everything about Vanessa; people can make bad choices and still be worthy of compassion; clever and intricate allusion in the crossovering; polymorphous perversity; believing implausible trauma narratives as essential to defeat evil; Lily’s anti-libertine club; pretty dresses
Additional optional note about this fandom: So, I’m a pretty long-term Dracula fan, that’s probably my primary fandom over the years. Penny Dreadful’s engagement with its Dracula characters and material was…inconsistent, and sometimes weird. I personally loved pretty much all the S3 stuff (Florence Seward and her secretary Renfield!), but was really frustrated by the S1 material (her name is Mina but she’s acting more like Lucy and the narrative gives her nothing to do?). If you, my writer, are interested in the Dracula crossover element and want to more extensively explore and reconcile that, I would be up for it, but there’s no pressure on that front whatsoever.
Les Liaisons Dangereuses - Choderlos de Laclos
Characters: Madame de Tourvel, Marquise de Merteuil
Prompt:
The Marquise de Merteuil and Tourvel never really interact in Les liaisons dangereuses! This has always bothered me. We get Mertueil making snide remarks about Tourvel’s clothing, we know they’ve interacted socially, we know Merteuil is devouring all the details of Tourvel’s conquest but…that’s really all we get, for the most part. And I always wanted more; it felt like a missing piece to the elaborate polygon of relationships which is this book.
I feel like Tourvel is the moral center of the book in a lot of ways, and Merteuil’s underestimation of her is crucial to the plot, but also means their interaction could be electric and exciting. Tourvel has actual principles, and Merteuil doesn’t believe in those principles! What would that look like between them? Merteuil/Tourvel would be really cool, whether it entailed a straightforward power dynamic with Merteuil in control or something more unexpected and shifting. But a more ideological or intellectual contest would also really excite me. What if Tourvel became aware of the extent of Merteuil’s manipulations in her life and decided to do something about it? What if Merteuil decided to mess with Valmont by manipulating Tourvel directly? What if Tourvel somehow ended up as a support to Cecile, and Merteuil had to step in order to keep her long game moving? I’d be okay with some degree of Tourvel/Valmont/Merteuil for this prompt, but I’d prefer for the interactions between the women to be foregrounded, even if Valmont is the vehicle to get them there.
Some things I love in canon: epistolarity (2nd greatest epistolary novel in history!); character revealed through text; libertines are fascinating and hilarious but also ultimately self-deceiving hypocrites; everyone is manipulating everyone else and we the readers get to watch; how insidious dynamics of coercion are; Merteuil as an object of admiration and horror and tragedy; going back and forth across the razor-thin line between fun, sexy seduction and the horror of coercion; did I mention epistolarity?
The Masquerade Series - Seth Dickinson
Characters: Iscend Comprine
Prompt:
Oh my. Okay, so I adored the first two books in the Masquerade series, but The Tyrant Baru Cormorant was on just a whole other level and it has totally taken over my mind for the past few weeks. Just so incredible, on every level. I am in awe and I want more right now.
Most particularly, the character I was left wanting more of was Iscend. I adore her, and the way that her story shows how humanity and agency can still exist even within the context of such deeply insidious and devastatingly global conditioning. The steps that she takes to regain her agency move me and fill me with so much excitement (using her own trigger word on herself! using her own trigger word on herself!). I loved the scene with Baru in which she describes the pleasure she felt during her training as an act of resistance, and the way she explains her reasoning behind sexually engaging with Baru.
I would love a story focused on Iscend in any way, whatever part of her life you would like to explore. Something that takes us beyond the end of Tyrant and shows Iscend continuing her journey to find her autonomy would be amazing, as would a story that shows us her life before her appearance in the series. I would be especially interested in some exploration of Iscend's relationship with Torrinde, which we can only assume from hints about how Torrinde feels about and engages with the Clarified. If you are interested in getting inside Iscend's mind and showing us what her internal experience looks like, I would be over the moon.
I don't particularly ship Iscend with anyone, but wouldn't say no to some complexly power dynamic-y stuff between her and Baru; if you have another ship for her I'd also be willing to be sold on it! Also feel free to take your story as dark as you want to with some of the more thorny parts of canon, or the hints we get about how horrific the training the Clarified receive is.
Not re DNWs for this fandom: for this prompt I would be okay with a story that deals with the sexually abusive implications of the Masquerade's policies in childhood education/the training of the Clarified, but I would want this content to be treated as traumatic and not titillating.
Some things I love in canon: the danger of becoming the evil you are trying to fight; Trim and compassion and the resistance which is being a human connected to other humans; twists and double-crossing to the end and back; decolonization in all its messy nuances; showing thought and revelation; characters who are deeply lovable and deeply awful; loving depictions of queerness, nonbinary identity, and disability.
I can't believe it's time for Yuletide already! This has been the craziest of years, but I am so overjoyed to still have Yuletide as a constant in all of it (this is, I think, my 14th Yuletide?), and I so deeply appreciate you writing for me. Two of my prompts this year are repeats from previous years which I am still holding out hope for; the other two are for fandoms that I have newly gotten into this year, and with which I have fallen head-over-heels in love. I would be so amazingly thrilled to read a story about any of them.
In case you want more information about my tastes: My AO3 is of course here. I'm on Tumblr, where I am probably most active, as chthonic-cassandra. I’ve previously said: “I tend to write meditative female character-centric gen about trauma recovery, and/or fucked-up dub-con darkfic, and those are both totally things I love to read about as well, but neither of those are your style, no worries! I also really, really love romance (particularly in poly relationships), sexy D/s stuff, and world-building or plot-heavy casefic; I’m just not as good at writing any of those.” All that still goes, so if you read one of my own fics and think that it’s seriously not your style, please don’t worry about trying to match it! I am an omnivorous and ravenous reader.
Some things I like in fic: smart, prickly, messed-up characters especially when they’re interacting with other smart, prickly messed-up characters; complicated or tense relationship negotiation; power dynamics (sexual or not, and either set and formalized or in constant flux); poly relationships; moments of hope/resilience within suffering; canon divergence (‘what if?’ AUs), darkfic/horror, D/s and related kink (especially bondage, humiliation, pain - either healthy and negotiated kink or also fucked-up dub or non-con stuff); moral ambiguity, or characters dealing with situations where there are no good choices; depictions of trauma recovery or otherwise putting one’s life together after devastation; characters who are smart and competent and passionate about things; allusion, experimention, meta-fictional stuff, playfulness with form and language; historical details and world-building; pastiche; things in general being complicated and messy and nuanced
Some things I’d prefer not to read about: dub-con which involves ‘they secretly wanted it’ or ‘they didn’t want it at first but then learned they actually did’ tropes (other kinds of dub- or non-con are fine); any kind of "it was all in their head" mental illness AU; traumatic events treated as jokes or insignificant; setting-changing AUs; crossovers (with the exception of Penny Dreadful, which is itself a crossover, and for which more gothic crossovers would be fine and welcome); slapstick humor; PWP (any level of explicit content is fine, but I’m in it mostly for the characters); heavy focus on bodily fluids other than blood; focus on animal harm, or meat preparation; focus on pregnancy or being a parent of young children; sexual content with anyone younger than late adolescence; dogs; explicit discussion of disordered eating
Now to the prompts!
Something Dark and Holy - Emily Duncan
Characters: Nadya, Marzenya, Malachiasz
Prompt:
Ahh these books! So dark and delicious and full of all the angst I want about faith, heresy, magic. I adore them. They also left me desperately wanting more about Nadya and her religious faith. Her faith, and specifically her worship of her patron goddess Marzenya, is such a deep and fundamental part of her character, and while her faith encounters so many challenges and ruptures over the course of the two books we've gotten so far, although we find her left in a place of devastating questioning by the end of the second book, that faith, as a deep part of who she is, still remains, even in a fractured form.
I would love to read a story focused on Nadya's faith, and specifically her relationship with Marzenya, however you, dear writer, understand and imagine that relationship. I have a lot of interest in the romantic/sexual dimensions of relationships between gods and their worshippers, but I am not fixated on this interpretation of Nadya's faith, and would love to see whatever you come up with.
Some things that I would love to read about - something from Marzenya's perspective, maybe her view on the events of the first two novels (especially during the period when Nadya cannot hear her voice!) or a story that gives us a window into her own history, about which we get such intriguing hints; scenes from Nadya's earlier life as she first develops her power and builds relationships with her gods; canon divergence AUs that give Marzenya a more active role in the story as it stands; something playing with the wild and amazing ending of Ruthless Gods; a more extreme AU in which Nadya uses her powers more ruthless and assertively from the beginning and ends up as the leader of Kalyazin she was meant to be, with Marzenya at her side (and what would her relationship with Malachiasz look like in that scenario?) - I would love anything.
I have requested Malachiasz as well because I adore him and his relationship with Nadya, and seeing him interacting with Marzenya would be absolutely fascinating, but if you have a Nadya and Marzenya-focused story idea that Malachiasz doesn't fit into, please don't worry about including him.
This is included in my DNWs above, but I want to emphasize especially for this fandom that I would prefer not to get a story that treats Nadya's religious experiences as madness or mental illnesss.
Some things I love in canon: all these young, fucked-up people trying their desperate best to make the world better; blood magic!; the lushly gothic-slavic atmosphere in all its richness; everybody is traumatized; the Ruthless Gods scene on the altar (oh my god); religious faith as thorny, religious faith as something with teeth; the monstrous and the beautiful are so close; cosmic horror; body horror; messy political alliances.
Penny Dreadful (tv)
Characters: Vanessa Ives, Hecate Poole
Prompt:
So. Penny Dreadful is the show of my heart and I am still carrying a torch for it these several years on, but that moment in S2 when Vanessa and Hecate see each other for the first time across the crowded ballroom, and then Vanessa starts hallucinating blood raining from the ceiling? And then they kiss in an ambiguous rivalry/flirtation moment? And then they never interact again? Most frustrating tease ever.
I would be interested in any ideas you have for giving us the interaction the show didn’t, and am open to whatever directions you want them to go in. Enemies-to-allies(-to maybe lovers)? Darkfic of their continued battle, or of one taking the other captive? Deliciously fucked-up family dynamics with Evelyn and Sir Malcolm continuing their relationship? I could think of scenarios upon scenarios, but I’m really open to wherever your imagination takes you. Likewise, I’d be totally into something shippy with them, but just as equally interesting in gen that deals with their parallel journeys towards understanding their own agency in these epic mystical conflicts into which they were both dragged. I’m into the question of how their volatile and intense personalities might play off each other; please do run with it.
I love both Vanessa and Hecate as trauma survivors who are messy and ugly in their survival, who lash out and hurt others but are also trying to figure out how to live in their world, with their experiences. Penny Dreadful is also an amazing ensemble cast, and I would be happy to see other characters making appearances (maybe especially Seward, Dracula, Evelyn - or Brona/Lily, who doesn’t really interact much with either of these women, would also be an interesting counterpoint), but I’d prefer the focus of whatever you write stay primarily on Hecate and Vanessa, especially rather than the male characters who have largely gotten more attention in fic. Likewise, I’m fine with Vanessa/Ethan, but if that pairing is present, I’d rather it not be the main center of the fic.
DNW similar as above: the show is nuanced on the issue of Vanessa's supernatural experiences and mental illness, but I really do not want to read a "it was actually all in her head story."
Some things I love in canon: straight-up unapologeticaly going for the gothic atmosphere and narrative and world; colonialism and patriarchy as horror stories in themselves; spiders!; everything about Vanessa; people can make bad choices and still be worthy of compassion; clever and intricate allusion in the crossovering; polymorphous perversity; believing implausible trauma narratives as essential to defeat evil; Lily’s anti-libertine club; pretty dresses
Additional optional note about this fandom: So, I’m a pretty long-term Dracula fan, that’s probably my primary fandom over the years. Penny Dreadful’s engagement with its Dracula characters and material was…inconsistent, and sometimes weird. I personally loved pretty much all the S3 stuff (Florence Seward and her secretary Renfield!), but was really frustrated by the S1 material (her name is Mina but she’s acting more like Lucy and the narrative gives her nothing to do?). If you, my writer, are interested in the Dracula crossover element and want to more extensively explore and reconcile that, I would be up for it, but there’s no pressure on that front whatsoever.
Les Liaisons Dangereuses - Choderlos de Laclos
Characters: Madame de Tourvel, Marquise de Merteuil
Prompt:
The Marquise de Merteuil and Tourvel never really interact in Les liaisons dangereuses! This has always bothered me. We get Mertueil making snide remarks about Tourvel’s clothing, we know they’ve interacted socially, we know Merteuil is devouring all the details of Tourvel’s conquest but…that’s really all we get, for the most part. And I always wanted more; it felt like a missing piece to the elaborate polygon of relationships which is this book.
I feel like Tourvel is the moral center of the book in a lot of ways, and Merteuil’s underestimation of her is crucial to the plot, but also means their interaction could be electric and exciting. Tourvel has actual principles, and Merteuil doesn’t believe in those principles! What would that look like between them? Merteuil/Tourvel would be really cool, whether it entailed a straightforward power dynamic with Merteuil in control or something more unexpected and shifting. But a more ideological or intellectual contest would also really excite me. What if Tourvel became aware of the extent of Merteuil’s manipulations in her life and decided to do something about it? What if Merteuil decided to mess with Valmont by manipulating Tourvel directly? What if Tourvel somehow ended up as a support to Cecile, and Merteuil had to step in order to keep her long game moving? I’d be okay with some degree of Tourvel/Valmont/Merteuil for this prompt, but I’d prefer for the interactions between the women to be foregrounded, even if Valmont is the vehicle to get them there.
Some things I love in canon: epistolarity (2nd greatest epistolary novel in history!); character revealed through text; libertines are fascinating and hilarious but also ultimately self-deceiving hypocrites; everyone is manipulating everyone else and we the readers get to watch; how insidious dynamics of coercion are; Merteuil as an object of admiration and horror and tragedy; going back and forth across the razor-thin line between fun, sexy seduction and the horror of coercion; did I mention epistolarity?
The Masquerade Series - Seth Dickinson
Characters: Iscend Comprine
Prompt:
Oh my. Okay, so I adored the first two books in the Masquerade series, but The Tyrant Baru Cormorant was on just a whole other level and it has totally taken over my mind for the past few weeks. Just so incredible, on every level. I am in awe and I want more right now.
Most particularly, the character I was left wanting more of was Iscend. I adore her, and the way that her story shows how humanity and agency can still exist even within the context of such deeply insidious and devastatingly global conditioning. The steps that she takes to regain her agency move me and fill me with so much excitement (using her own trigger word on herself! using her own trigger word on herself!). I loved the scene with Baru in which she describes the pleasure she felt during her training as an act of resistance, and the way she explains her reasoning behind sexually engaging with Baru.
I would love a story focused on Iscend in any way, whatever part of her life you would like to explore. Something that takes us beyond the end of Tyrant and shows Iscend continuing her journey to find her autonomy would be amazing, as would a story that shows us her life before her appearance in the series. I would be especially interested in some exploration of Iscend's relationship with Torrinde, which we can only assume from hints about how Torrinde feels about and engages with the Clarified. If you are interested in getting inside Iscend's mind and showing us what her internal experience looks like, I would be over the moon.
I don't particularly ship Iscend with anyone, but wouldn't say no to some complexly power dynamic-y stuff between her and Baru; if you have another ship for her I'd also be willing to be sold on it! Also feel free to take your story as dark as you want to with some of the more thorny parts of canon, or the hints we get about how horrific the training the Clarified receive is.
Not re DNWs for this fandom: for this prompt I would be okay with a story that deals with the sexually abusive implications of the Masquerade's policies in childhood education/the training of the Clarified, but I would want this content to be treated as traumatic and not titillating.
Some things I love in canon: the danger of becoming the evil you are trying to fight; Trim and compassion and the resistance which is being a human connected to other humans; twists and double-crossing to the end and back; decolonization in all its messy nuances; showing thought and revelation; characters who are deeply lovable and deeply awful; loving depictions of queerness, nonbinary identity, and disability.
no subject
Date: 2020-10-27 08:20 pm (UTC)