Hello!

Thank you so much for offering one of my fandoms! You clearly have excellent taste. I am a firm believer of "optional details are optional", so feel free to use these comments as inspiration, or write something entirely else. Most of all, I'd like you to write a story that you're happy with.

In general, I really admire any story that can do plot, action, and/or humor well, because I personally am bad at writing those things. On the other hand, I also like character studies, poetic language (which is my polite term for purple prose; it is hard to be too purple for my taste), angst, and introspection, which is why I write them. I like dark themes and happy endings (though probably not in the same story). I like fun stories, the sort that make you smile to read them, but am not so fond of fluff. I like nuances (hmm, that is probably the worst request ever. I like it when authors complicate things?). I really love stories that dig deep, exploring a world or a character's interior. Most of the characters I love are pretty fucked up on the inside, but are also capable of great strength. I like that balance, not a woobie but not a standard hero either. Most of my favorite characters can be encapsulated by the Hemingway quote, "The world breaks everyone and afterward many are stronger at the broken places". That's what really gets me: the refusal to give up, even when it's pointless.

I tend to like a lot of dysfunction in my fictional relationships. They can be happy, but I'm not terribly fond of lots of sap or schmoop, or really any sort of overt romance. I much prefer the unspoken to the outright-stated. Pretty much all of my requests revolve around a relationship (whether you chose to write that as gen or romantic), and I really love reading about how people work (or don't) together. How do they help one another? How do they hurt? How do they understand or misunderstand? What is easy between them, and what is complicated; what is spoken and what is not? Etc. In general, I like my couples to succeed together, but I like it to be hard to get there.

Do not feel obligated to include Christmas (or whatever fantasy-equivalent winter holiday is appropriate to the fandom), but if you want to, feel free. I absolutely adore AUs, whether completely different universes (everyone's in high school! everyone has daemons! everyone is a pirate! And also a vampire!), or the "what if this character had made a different choice?" sort. I think AUs are a fantastic way of exploring what is essential to a character's personality, and what is merely surface, and that's what I find most interesting about them. It's so interesting to explore how a different setting/upbringing/choice might or might not change a person.

Porn is always welcome, of any variety (m/m, f/m, f/f, poly, kinky, vanilla, monogamous or not), and I have a comment elaborating on some of the things I like here. I don't have any squicks or triggers, so write whatever appeals to you. However, don't feel obligated if you don't like to write it. I like G-rated shippy or gen stories too!

Several of the canons I've requested deal with fraught real-life issues (slavery, racism, sexism, religious oppression, to name just a few), and if you want to write a story that tackles these head-on, I would be very into that. If you'd like to avoid them and write happy shipfic, I would like that too! I would, however, prefer not to get issuefic, which I define as a story more interested in teaching a lesson than in the characters themselves.

There's very little in fic that I outright refuse to read; a good story will convince me to like almost anything.

I've written several meta posts about the sort of things that I love in stories. You can use these for inspiration, if you like:
My Top 10 Story Kinks
My favorite 'cool bits'
What I look for in OTPs
If you're interested, my own stories are (mostly) on AO3, but the complete list of them is collected here. I've written for some of the fandoms I requested, though that doesn't mean you have to write the same sort of stories that I do! One of my favorite things is to see the way different people have different takes on the same story.

( My Requests: Benjamin January Mysteries - Barbara Hambly; Swordspoint Series - Ellen Kushner; Gentlemen of the Road - Michael Chabon; Titus Andronicus - Shakespeare; Django Unchained (2012) )

So, I just found out about polybigbang! I am very tempted to sign up, because obvious threesome is obvious, and you even get (potentially) fanart! But I've never written anything 10k long. But on the third hand, I have written things that aren't too much shorter, and the rough draft isn't even due until October. So I can't decide. Also I don't have any plot ideas, which would probably be helpful.

Anyone else considering this? Anyone else done a big bang?

MY YULETIDE STORY IS GREAT!! The Long Way 'Round - Pitch Perfect, PG-13, Beca/Chloe. It is funny and sweet and the dialogue is spot-on to the movie, and it is just so happy-making and wonderful. You should read it. And if you haven't seen the movie, you should watch it because it's amazing, and then read this story.

I think the story that I wrote is pretty obvious, but on the other hand, there are 1,500 stories, which is a lot to wade through. If anyone guesses what I wrote, I will write you a drabble!

Hello!

I love you already. Thank you so much for offering one of my fandoms! You clearly have excellent taste. I am a firm believer of "optional details are optional", so feel free to use these comments as inspiration, or to write something entirely else. I'm pretty much guaranteed to like whatever you do, mainly because I've usually forgotten what I requested by the time Yuletide opens, and so it's all a happy surprise.

In general, I really admire any story that can do plot, action, and/or humor well, because I personally am bad at writing those things. On the other hand, I also like character studies, poetic language (which is my polite term for purple prose; it is hard to be too purple for my taste), angst, and introspection, which is why I write them. I like dark themes and happy endings (though probably not in the same story). I like fun stories, the sort that make you smile to read them, but am not so fond of fluff. I like nuances (hmm, that is probably the worst request ever. I like it when authors complicate things?). I really love stories that dig deep, exploring a world or a character's interior. Most of the characters I love are pretty fucked up on the inside, but are also capable of great strength. I like that balance, not a woobie but not a standard hero either. Most of my favorite characters can be encapsulated by the Hemingway quote, "The world breaks everyone and afterward many are stronger at the broken places". That's what really gets me: the refusal to give up, even when it's pointless.

I tend to like a lot of dysfunction in my fictional relationships. They can be happy, but I'm not terribly fond of lots of sap or schmoop, or really any sort of overt romance. I much prefer the unspoken to the outright-stated. Pretty much all of my requests revolve around a relationship (whether you chose to write that as gen or romantic), and I really love reading about how people work (or don't) together. How do they help one another? How do they hurt? How do they understand or misunderstand? What is easy between them, and what is complicated; what is spoken and what is not? Etc. In general, I like my couples to succeed together, but I like it to be hard to get there.

Do not feel obligated to include Christmas (or whatever fantasy-equivalent winter holiday is appropriate to the fandom), but if you want to, feel free. I absolutely adore AUs, whether completely different universes (everyone's in high school! everyone has daemons! everyone is a pirate! And also a vampire!), or the "what if this character had made a different choice?" sort. I think AUs are a fantastic way of exploring what is essential to a character's personality, and what is merely surface, and that's what I find most interesting about them. It's so interesting to explore how a different setting/upbringing/choice might or might not change a person.

Porn is always welcome, of any variety (m/m, f/m, f/f, poly, kinky, vanilla, monogamous or not), but don't feel obligated if you don't like to write it. I don't have any squicks or triggers, so write whatever appeals to you.

My dislikes include OOC, even for the sake of humor. I don't like songfic? Although it would be appropriate for Pitch Perfect, now that I think about it. Man, dislikes are hard. In short, I will be pleased with any story you write. Thank you in advance!

I've written several meta posts about the sort of things that I love in stories. You can use these for inspiration, if you like:
My Top 10 Story Kinks
My favorite 'cool bits'
What I look for in OTPs
If you're interested, my own stories are (mostly) on AO3, but the complete list of them is collected here. I've written for some of the fandoms I requested, though that doesn't mean you have to write the same sort of stories that I do! One of my favorite things is to see the way different people have different takes on the same story.

( My Requests: Yami no Matsuei; Swordspoint Series - Ellen Kushner; Pitch Perfect (2012); Japanese History RPF )

Thank you so much for offering one of my fandoms! You clearly have excellent taste. I am a firm believer of "optional details are optional", so feel free to use these comments as inspiration, or write something entirely else.

In general, I really admire any story that can do plot, action, and/or humor well, because I personally am bad at those things. On the other hand, I also like character studies, poetic language, angst, or introspection, which is why I write them. I like dark themes and happy endings (though probably not in the same story). I like fun stories, the sort that make you smile to read them, but am not so fond of fluff. I like nuances (hmm, that is probably the worst request ever. I like it when authors complicate things?). I really love stories that dig deep, exploring a world or a character's interior. Most of the characters I love are pretty fucked up on the inside, but are also capable of great strength. I like that balance, not a woobie but no a standard hero either. I tend to like a lot of dysfunction in my fictional relationships. They can be happy, but I'm not terribly fond of lots of sap or schmoop, or really any sort of overt romance. I much prefer the unspoken to the outright-stated. Do not feel obligated to include Christmas (or whatever fantasy-equivalent winter holiday is appropriate to the fandom), but if you want to, feel free. I love AUs, whether crazy ones like High School AUs (OMG! give all the characters daemons! That would be awesome!), or the sort of "what if this character had made a different choice?". Porn is always welcome, of any variety (m/m, f/m, f/f, poly, kinky, vanilla), but don't feel obligated if you don't like to write it. I don't have any squicks or triggers, so write whatever appeals to you.

My dislikes include OOC, even for the sake of humor. I don't like songfic? Man, dislikes are hard. In short, I will be pleased with any story you write. Thank you in advance!

I've written several meta posts about the sort of things that I love in stories. Feel free to use them if you want more information:
My Top 10 Story Kinks
My favorite 'cool bits'
What I look for in OTPs
If you're interested, my own stories are collected here.

( My Requests: Swordspoint Series - Ellen Kushner; Mahabharata - Vyasa; Slenderman mythos; Akkadian Empire RPF )

Seen in a few places, but most recently from threewalls:

If you were asked to pick one scene, one shot, one detail, one moment of some kind out of all the things I've made and say "This, this, for whatever reason, I remember, this is something that struck home with me, that I wanted to keep," what would it be?

1. OH MY GOD IT IS SO COLD HERE. It snowed enormous amounts (okay, like, an inch. Maybe two) in Cardiff on Friday, and I very nearly induced frostbite in my toes in the process of discovering that my boots are not waterproof. On the one hand, this means I do not have to feel guilty about throwing them away when I head back to the US and don't have space in my luggage for them. On the other hand, I may not be able to last that long with hole-y boots.

2. Today I am in London, where it has not snowed, but is EVEN COLDER than Cardiff, OMG. Have I mentioned that I hate winter? Just in case you didn't know.

3. I am staying in an AMAZING hotel right now. The room we had reserved was not ready when we checked it, so we got bumped up to a suite-like thing, and it is enormous and fantastic and I feel very decadent.

4. Yesterday we went to Cardiff castle, which is actually more of a Victorian mansion than a castle, having been entirely remodeled in the late 1800s. I've been in a lot of old mansions and museums and historical tours and that sort of thing, but I have never before been in a building where I literally could not imagine it as a single-family home. It was just... unreal. I mean, look at this. That is the ceiling of their sitting room! And not even their main sitting room. My mind cannot comprehend such a lifestyle.

5. I am working on a story that's making me really happy. I'll probably be looking for a beta in a day or two, so let me know if anyone's interested. I'll post more details when I'm closer to the point where I won't be embarrassed for other people to look at it.

Hello!

I love you already. You may feel free to ignore this letter, or to pick and choose any details you like and discard others. You are writing me a story! That's really all that matters.

I've written several meta posts about the sort of things that I love in stories. You can use these for inspiration, if you like:
My Top 10 Story Kinks
My favorite 'cool bits'
What I look for in OTPs
If you're interested, my own stories are collected here.

In general: I really admire any story that can do plot and/or humor well, because I personally am bad at those things. On the other hand, I also like character studies, poetic language, angst, or introspection, which is why I write them. I like dark themes and happy endings (though probably not in the same story). I like fun stories, but not fluff. I like nuances (hmm, that is probably the worst request ever. I like it when authors complicate things?). Do not feel obligated to include Christmas (or whatever fantasy-equivalent winter holiday is appropriate to the fandom), but if you want to, feel free. My dislikes include OOC, even for the sake of humor. I'm not terribly fond of lots of sap or schmoop. I don't like songfic? Man, dislikes are hard. In short, I will almost certainly have forgotten what I requested by December, and will be pleased with any story you write. Thank you in advance!


( The requests I made )

Nominations for Yuletide are open, in case you have somehow managed to not hear. Here's my nominations:

Yami no Matsuei (So. Excited.)
Swordspoint (Also. Pretty. Awesome.)
Michael Chabon - Gentlemen of the Road (I need to post about this book to encourage y'all to read it. Basically, it's the best thing ever. It's what would happen if Swordspoint were written by Fritz Leiber, Richard was a big black Jewish guy, and Alec was a tall skinny long-haired student tall skinny long-haired surgeon. But do not worry, there is still swordfighting and cross-dressing girls and so much slash! Also, there are elephants. I LOVE IT SO MUCH. It even comes with pictures.)
Sarah Waters - Fingersmith (Maud and Sue are so fucked up, I adore it.)
RPF - Heian Japan (To quote daegaer: "Of all the fic exchanges in all the world, Yuletide is surely the one that could provide a story made up of snidely exquisite poems fired off between Lady Murasaki and Sei Shonagon". And the world needs that story.)
Jacqueline Carey - Kushiel series (So much awesome world-building in these books, so few characters I care about.)

One remixthedrabble drabble finished! Now to poke at the other...