Yuletide Letter 2022
Oct. 22nd, 2022 07:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chthonic_cassandraDear Yuletide Writer,
Thank you so very much for writing for me! I am a long-time YT participant (year 16, I think?) who looks forward to this exchange as one of my favorite parts of the year, and I am beyond grateful to you for writing a story for me this time. This year I am requesting three novels which I deeply love, and about which I would be thrilled to receive any kind of story about my requested character(s); I am excited to see what you come up with, and I'm sure that wherever your inspiration takes you will be a joy for me to find out.
Since treats are opt-in this year: yes, I'm happy to receive them! If you happen to read my requests and feel inspired by them, go right ahead.
If you are the kind of writer for whom more information about a recipient's tastes and interests is helpful, you can find me at AO3 of course here. I'm also 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.” This still goes! And I want to emphasize it especially because this year I've requested Dracula, which is also the fandom I've written in the most, so please don't look at my AO3 and feel like you for some reason need to match my own head canons and interpretations! Please, no pressure on that front!
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; 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
And prompts!
The Masquerade Series - Seth Dickinson
Character: Iscend Comprine
Prompt:
This is a request from last year, at which point my mind had been totally taken over by The Tyrant Baru Cormorant. I have a little more distance from that first reading experience now, but I am still over come with it. And I still want more of 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! I am happy to see any characters, nominated or not, included. 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.
Note 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.
Dracula - Bram Stoker
Characters: Mina, Jonathan, Dracula
Prompt:
Dracula Dracula Dracula!!! Fandom of my heart forever and ever. This past six months, in which Dracula Daily has exploded and so many other people have gotten newly into the book that I love so much, has been joyful and surreal for me, but I am still (always) hungry for more fic, and most of all for fic about Mina, Jonathan, and Dracula in a some kind of triangulation with one another, in any possible relational variant of what that might mean.
I am fascinated with the messy complexity of Mina and Jonathan's shared trauma at Dracula's hands, and the varying ways that each of them respond to their own and each other's victimization; likewise, I am interested in how Dracula, in his predation, treats Jonathan and Mina in parallel and different ways, and all the possibilities of how to understand his motivations in doing that. There's some much going on in this triangle that is so rich and dark and intriguing, but the book never gives us the three of them all interacting together, and I'd love to read your take on what that would look like.
I'd be interested in an OT3 story bringing all of them together, whether consensually or not - I'd be happy for this to go as dark and fucked up and dub- or non-con as you want - or in any relationship variant, shippy or not, as long as I get some interaction between the trio. There are so many narrative possibilities! Are Mina and Jonathan keeping Dracula captive, or is Dracula keeping Mina and Jonathan captive? What if Mina's vampire transformation is completed and both Dracula and Jonathan have to deal with the aftermath of that? What if some other adversary comes into play and Jonathan and Mina have to put their vengeance against Dracula aside to work with him in some way? Or any other scenario that your mind can construct! If you can work Dracula's brides into the story in some way that would be most welcome, though by all means not required.
A couple notes re DNWs for this fandom: I love many of the characters in this book, and there are so many adaptations which vilify them, and this makes me sad. I am totally into seeing Jonathan and Mina represented in complex and morally nuanced ways, but I would prefer a story that doesn't make one of them into the villain, especially in order to clear the way for the other to be paired with Dracula. (I also feel this way about Dracula's brides, who I didn't request but who I feel very tenderly towards as characters, if they do show up in your story.) Also I would prefer no extensive focus on the asylum/institutionalization element of the novel.
Some things I love in canon: epistolarity!!!; the love and care the characters have towards each other; everyone is poly (both the heroes and the villains); everyone is a nerd (both the heroes and the villains); Dracula's weird syntax; Mina and her train tables and her shorthand; Jonathan's silence acquiescence to Mina's wish to be killed if she transforms versus his private willingness to be a vampire with her so she doesn't have to go into that dark land alone; the mental connection between Dracula and Mina and her using it against him; the tense intensity of the castle scenes; buried Shakespeare echoes everywhere; everyone is traumatized
Sunshine - Robin McKinley
Characters: Rae "Sunshine" Seddon, Constantine
Prompt:
This book is one of my favorites for comfort reading, and also one of my favorite vampire texts; my only disappointment about it is that there has never been a proper sequel! There's so much more about Sunshine's story, and that of all the side characters, that could be told.
For this Yuletide, I would be interested in a story that gives us more of Sunshine and Constantine; I'd be interested either in a story that expands on the novel's own wonderful tonal combination of the horrific and the comforting, where vampires exist right alongside cinnamon rolls, or in one that takes the world McKinley created in a different and perhaps darker direction, maybe by giving us more of Constantine's perspective. I would be interested in hearing more about Constantine's backstory, his perspective on the events of the novel and on his relationship with Sunshine, or in further adventures that the two of them could have after the events of the book (I don't have a long of canon divergence ideas readily coming to my mind for this fandom, but if you do I'd be happy to have those too!).
I love how McKinley implies this whole underground world of vampire and sorcerer drama that the humans are oblivious to, and I would have a lot of fun with a story that gave us more of a window into that world, and perhaps showed Sunshine beginning to navigate it more in depth after beginning to come into her power as we see her do in the book. Baking scenes are welcome but not required.
Some things I love in canon: you can get kidnapped by vampires and still have to get up in the morning to bake cinnamon rolls; people caring about each other and trying to look out even in imperfect ways; genuinely horrific vampires; trauma alongside joys both small and large; Sunshine's determination and love of gothic novels; Constantine's reticence; playing with the vampire romance trope without going to the expected places with it; baking!!
Thank you so very much for writing for me! I am a long-time YT participant (year 16, I think?) who looks forward to this exchange as one of my favorite parts of the year, and I am beyond grateful to you for writing a story for me this time. This year I am requesting three novels which I deeply love, and about which I would be thrilled to receive any kind of story about my requested character(s); I am excited to see what you come up with, and I'm sure that wherever your inspiration takes you will be a joy for me to find out.
Since treats are opt-in this year: yes, I'm happy to receive them! If you happen to read my requests and feel inspired by them, go right ahead.
If you are the kind of writer for whom more information about a recipient's tastes and interests is helpful, you can find me at AO3 of course here. I'm also 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.” This still goes! And I want to emphasize it especially because this year I've requested Dracula, which is also the fandom I've written in the most, so please don't look at my AO3 and feel like you for some reason need to match my own head canons and interpretations! Please, no pressure on that front!
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; 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
And prompts!
The Masquerade Series - Seth Dickinson
Character: Iscend Comprine
Prompt:
This is a request from last year, at which point my mind had been totally taken over by The Tyrant Baru Cormorant. I have a little more distance from that first reading experience now, but I am still over come with it. And I still want more of 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! I am happy to see any characters, nominated or not, included. 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.
Note 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.
Dracula - Bram Stoker
Characters: Mina, Jonathan, Dracula
Prompt:
Dracula Dracula Dracula!!! Fandom of my heart forever and ever. This past six months, in which Dracula Daily has exploded and so many other people have gotten newly into the book that I love so much, has been joyful and surreal for me, but I am still (always) hungry for more fic, and most of all for fic about Mina, Jonathan, and Dracula in a some kind of triangulation with one another, in any possible relational variant of what that might mean.
I am fascinated with the messy complexity of Mina and Jonathan's shared trauma at Dracula's hands, and the varying ways that each of them respond to their own and each other's victimization; likewise, I am interested in how Dracula, in his predation, treats Jonathan and Mina in parallel and different ways, and all the possibilities of how to understand his motivations in doing that. There's some much going on in this triangle that is so rich and dark and intriguing, but the book never gives us the three of them all interacting together, and I'd love to read your take on what that would look like.
I'd be interested in an OT3 story bringing all of them together, whether consensually or not - I'd be happy for this to go as dark and fucked up and dub- or non-con as you want - or in any relationship variant, shippy or not, as long as I get some interaction between the trio. There are so many narrative possibilities! Are Mina and Jonathan keeping Dracula captive, or is Dracula keeping Mina and Jonathan captive? What if Mina's vampire transformation is completed and both Dracula and Jonathan have to deal with the aftermath of that? What if some other adversary comes into play and Jonathan and Mina have to put their vengeance against Dracula aside to work with him in some way? Or any other scenario that your mind can construct! If you can work Dracula's brides into the story in some way that would be most welcome, though by all means not required.
A couple notes re DNWs for this fandom: I love many of the characters in this book, and there are so many adaptations which vilify them, and this makes me sad. I am totally into seeing Jonathan and Mina represented in complex and morally nuanced ways, but I would prefer a story that doesn't make one of them into the villain, especially in order to clear the way for the other to be paired with Dracula. (I also feel this way about Dracula's brides, who I didn't request but who I feel very tenderly towards as characters, if they do show up in your story.) Also I would prefer no extensive focus on the asylum/institutionalization element of the novel.
Some things I love in canon: epistolarity!!!; the love and care the characters have towards each other; everyone is poly (both the heroes and the villains); everyone is a nerd (both the heroes and the villains); Dracula's weird syntax; Mina and her train tables and her shorthand; Jonathan's silence acquiescence to Mina's wish to be killed if she transforms versus his private willingness to be a vampire with her so she doesn't have to go into that dark land alone; the mental connection between Dracula and Mina and her using it against him; the tense intensity of the castle scenes; buried Shakespeare echoes everywhere; everyone is traumatized
Sunshine - Robin McKinley
Characters: Rae "Sunshine" Seddon, Constantine
Prompt:
This book is one of my favorites for comfort reading, and also one of my favorite vampire texts; my only disappointment about it is that there has never been a proper sequel! There's so much more about Sunshine's story, and that of all the side characters, that could be told.
For this Yuletide, I would be interested in a story that gives us more of Sunshine and Constantine; I'd be interested either in a story that expands on the novel's own wonderful tonal combination of the horrific and the comforting, where vampires exist right alongside cinnamon rolls, or in one that takes the world McKinley created in a different and perhaps darker direction, maybe by giving us more of Constantine's perspective. I would be interested in hearing more about Constantine's backstory, his perspective on the events of the novel and on his relationship with Sunshine, or in further adventures that the two of them could have after the events of the book (I don't have a long of canon divergence ideas readily coming to my mind for this fandom, but if you do I'd be happy to have those too!).
I love how McKinley implies this whole underground world of vampire and sorcerer drama that the humans are oblivious to, and I would have a lot of fun with a story that gave us more of a window into that world, and perhaps showed Sunshine beginning to navigate it more in depth after beginning to come into her power as we see her do in the book. Baking scenes are welcome but not required.
Some things I love in canon: you can get kidnapped by vampires and still have to get up in the morning to bake cinnamon rolls; people caring about each other and trying to look out even in imperfect ways; genuinely horrific vampires; trauma alongside joys both small and large; Sunshine's determination and love of gothic novels; Constantine's reticence; playing with the vampire romance trope without going to the expected places with it; baking!!
