potentialities

Dear Yuletide author,

I am so pleased that we share an interest in one of these fandoms and I can’t wait to read whatever you write for me this Yuletide!

I enjoy a wide variety of stories, all year round but especially at Yuletide. I love short, punchy stories and longer, plotter stories, explicitly smutty and/or kinky stories and coy stories that are all about the teasing and the implications, stories with some kind of meta angle to them and stories that engage with the source material 100% on its own terms, stories with ships that are canon and stories with ships that aren’t.

I am mayhap on AO3 as well. I have checked to make sure I have gifts enabled.

2024 National League Baseball RPF / Baseball RPF
Shohei Ohtani
Tyler Glasnow

I really love both of these guys as players and as personalities, and since they both ended up on my National League team this year I’ve enjoyed seeing them encounter each other, a little like a pair of unlikely animal friends. I first linked the two them together specifically because the broadcast happened to capture Tyler holding out his hand and getting Shohei to place his hand up against it for comparison in the dugout during a spring training game [Tumblr gifset], and that kind of encapsulates the vibe for me here. I’d love a fic that puts them together, in any sense of the word. It by no means has to be anything particularly serious between them.

I’d been familiar with Tyler as a pitcher with the Rays, but I only discovered Tyler as a raconteur once he came to the Dodgers, and I’d been missing out because this man is wildly entertaining whenever he opens his mouth. Not only will he turn an unforgettable phrase like “I’m a little radar slut, anyways,” [Instagram clip, YouTube full episode] or cheerfully volunteer that he wakes up four times a night to pee, he just generally has a propensity for striving to characterize himself and relating his backstory like he’s the first-person narrator of the novel of his life that absolutely delights me. I also love the way he talks about his pitching, including all those numbers that he loves, and assuming the risk of getting hurt, which of course, unfortunately, he is again.

Shohei’s approach to his self-presentation is virtually the opposite, presumably due to some combination of his natural inclinations and the relentless media coverage he receives. I was charmed by the way he handled the respective rollouts of his dog and his his marriage this season, both clearly quite considered and controlled introductions. The Ippei gambling debt bank fraud scandal breaking was something completely out of his control, which sucked, although as a silver lining it did give the Dodgers organization the opportunity to rally around him really early on, like an unplanned team-building exercise. It did not at all stop him from having a truly incredible season as a hitter and a baserunner while still rehabbing his pitching arm, which is bonkers. By all accounts and appearances, he’s had a lot of fun this year, including winning at least one playoff series at the time of this writing. The world had been deprived of postseason Shohei for too long!

Feel free to include any other Dodgers teammates, coaches, etc. as additional characters if you want them there, or even write more of an ensemble fic if you should happen to so desire. Also, I know this is completely out of left field, but at the Dodgers Foundation gala, they made a funny video asking players which teammate they would want to have with them during a zombie apocalypse, and Shohei opted for Tyler because he’s “tall, big and throws hard” [Instagram video]. This has lived rent-free in my brain since I saw it. If you, by any chance, want to do anything with it, up to and including a full-on zombie apocalypse fic, I’d be very much down for that.

Bonus links! Here’s a representative video of them chatting together in the dugout and here’s a nice photo of them getting off the plane together when everyone wore matching Dodgers sweatsuits for the trip.

DNW: wives/girlfriends in shipfic (fine to mention, include or avoid them otherwise, totally up to you), AUs where Shohei and Tyler aren’t professional baseball players

Plain Girl — Virginia Sorenson
Esther Lapp
Mary

I love how delicately and yet powerfully this book explores Esther’s thoughts and feelings—about her family, the Amish community, their way of life, and of course about her new friend Mary, whom she finds so beautiful, not just for her pretty dresses, but also things like her silky hair and her dimpled elbows as well as her wonderful kindness and tact in welcoming her to school and becoming her bosom friend. It’s written as a seduction and that seduction is a good thing, a fountain that sends forth sweet water and not bitter. I see flashes of an eroticism as well, like Esther touching Mary’s hair and finding it so beautiful that a shiver goes through her fingers and her heart starts to beat very fast, or Mary showing Esther her petticoat when they’re planning to change clothes with each other, which I find really lovely.

Even though they don’t end up wearing each other’s clothes at school they must do it eventually, somewhere, sometime! I’d love for that to be explored in a story, at any age or perhaps more than once, as they get older. Anything exploring their relationship and how it develops in the future would be wonderful. There’s a lot of potential for angst and difficulty but also for love and sharing. Esther, of course, has her new sister-in-law and her brother in her corner when it comes to blending the old and the new, with her parents much more tentatively open, but Mary’s family is wide open for exploration, and so are the rest of their peers. I’d love gen or getting together or established relationship or pre-ship fic all equally.

The Professor — Charlotte Brontë
Frances Evans Henri
Hunsden Yorke Hunsden
William Crimsworth

I am fascinated the role that Hunsden Yorke Hunsden plays in this story, who is of the things that makes it different from Vilette, which is essentially a heavily-revised second draft of The Professor. From the beginning he alternates between needling William and performing these extremely thoughtful favors for him, although it's not always easy for him to get under William's skin as William perversely enjoys some of his bluntness. He brings out such an interesting side of Frances when he meets her, too—I love that promptly she gets into three arguments with him in a row, and the third time she doesn't even believe in the argument she's making; she just wants to fight with him!

I'm particularly interested in a story set when William and Frances are living in England and Hunsden is their neighbor. I love how he has apparently latched onto their family in lieu of starting their own, especially the way he seems to practically be a coparent to Victor when he’s at home. I would love more about their daily life as it's sketched all too briefly in that last chapter, or a story about something that happens as Victor gets older and goes to school, which William worries about.

I would also love threesome fic! William would be almost hopelessly scandalized by the prospect, I think, and surely Frances too, but then with the dynamic both she and Hunsden have with William where they love to tease him I can imagine it working out somehow. I do love stories where characters fumble their way into unusual relationships or sexual practices without quite knowing what they're doing or having the usual vocabulary to talk about it, which is sort of what I would picture here. But I absolutely would be just as happy with a story that explores the dynamic among them some other way.

Dear Yuletide author,

I am so pleased that we share an interest in one of these fandoms and I can’t wait to read whatever you write for me this Yuletide!

I enjoy a wide variety of stories, all year round but especially at Yuletide. I love short, punchy stories and longer, plotter stories, explicitly smutty and/or kinky stories and coy stories that are all about the teasing and the implications, stories with some kind of meta angle to them and stories that engage with the source material 100% on its own terms, stories with ships that are canon and stories with ships that aren’t.

I am mayhap on AO3 as well. I have checked to make sure I have gifts enabled.

Chronos (Austins) Series — Madeleine L’Engle
Zachary Gray

I adore Zachary in all his messy, self-sabotaging glory. I think L’Engle must have felt something similar, since she brought him back in another book to enact virtually same scenario all over again, and then did it twice more in the Kairos books for good measure. I eat it up with a spoon every single time.

I’d love any any Zach-centric fic, especially one that explores what he might do next. I’ve always been particularly interested in his relationship with Vicky, which affected him profoundly and set the pattern that he gets caught up in repeating. I don’t necessarily think they would or should see each other again after what happened between them, but I do think it could be fascinating if they did, having both experienced more of life in the interim, if you wanted to explore that possibility. I’d love to see Uncle Douglas follow up on the desire he expressed to paint Zach; I feel like he could be a really interesting, positive figure in his life. But of course it’s completely up to you which other characters you want to include, if any.

I’ve requested this under Chronos, but of course Zachary is one of the characters who cross and connect Chronos and Kairos. Feel free to handle that canonical crossover in any way you like—you could fully disregard the books set in Kairos, fully incorporate the events, characters, and more fantastical elements from the Kairos books, or anything in between. Any of these approaches would interest me equally.

National Football League RPF
Patrick Mahomes
Travis Kelce

What happens when you pair a tight end who always gets open with a quarterback with a particular gift for extending plays? I try not to take the virtuosity of the Mahomes-to-Kelce connection for granted, but it can be hard when they’re so busy making the incredible look routine. They’re both so skilled at reading defenses and adjusting to what they see on the fly that sometimes it virtually amounts to mind reading. I love the big flashy plays, like the time they plotted together to get into field goal range to tie the divisional round game against the Bills, but I also love when Kelce is just the biggest, comfiest safety blanket when Mahomes needs to make a play over and over again. I love how they hype each other up on the field, and I love how they party it up together off the field. They seem like a couple of fun dudes who really enjoy each other’s company!

I’d love any kind of fic about them hooking up with each other, in the football sense or the romantic one. Maybe they really can hear each other’s thoughts, or they unlock that ability from playing together, and shenanigans ensue. Maybe they wake up married in Vegas when they’re partying there after winning the Super Bowl. Maybe Travis somehow ends up babysitting Pat’s kid(s) like they keep joking is a terrible idea that should never ever happen. Travis has definitely matured a lot since the days when he routinely racked up unsportsmanlike conducts for objectively hilarious but ill-advised things like flagging a ref; maybe Pat, a ray of human sunshine who speaks like he started media training in kindergarten, had some part in that. Or if there are any other ideas that inspire you, I want to read them!

DNWs: mentions of wives and girlfriends in pairing fic (if gen, do whatever you prefer!); mentions of Tyreek Hill off the field (as a teammate is fine, where applicable); AUs where Mahomes and Kelce aren’t football players

Plain Girl — Virginia Sorenson
Esther Lapp
Mary

I love how delicately and yet powerfully this book explores Esther’s thoughts and feelings—about her family, the Amish community, their way of life, and of course about her new friend Mary, whom she finds so beautiful, not just for her pretty dresses, but also things like her silky hair and her dimpled elbows as well as her wonderful kindness and tact in welcoming her to school and becoming her bosom friend. It’s written as a seduction and that seduction is a good thing, a fountain that sends forth sweet water and not bitter. I see flashes of an eroticism as well, like Esther touching Mary’s hair and finding it so beautiful that a shiver goes through her fingers and her heart starts to beat very fast, or Mary showing Esther her petticoat when they’re planning to change clothes with each other, which I find really lovely.

Even though they don’t end up wearing each other’s clothes at school they must do it eventually, somewhere, sometime! I’d love for that to be explored in a story, at any age or perhaps more than once, as they get older. Anything exploring their relationship and how it develops in the future would be wonderful. There’s a lot of potential for angst and difficulty but also for love and sharing. Esther, of course, has her new sister-in-law and her brother in her corner when it comes to blending the old and the new, with her parents much more tentatively open, but Mary’s family is wide open for exploration, and so are the rest of their peers. I’d love gen or getting together or established relationship or pre-ship fic all equally.

The Professor — Charlotte Brontë
Frances Evans Henri
Hunsden Yorke Hunsden
William Crimsworth

I am fascinated the role that Hunsden Yorke Hunsden plays in this story, who is of the things that makes it different from Vilette, which is essentially a heavily-revised second draft of The Professor. From the beginning he alternates between needling William and performing these extremely thoughtful favors for him, although it's not always easy for him to get under William's skin as William perversely enjoys some of his bluntness. He brings out such an interesting side of Frances when he meets her, too -- I love that promptly she gets into three arguments with him in a row, and the third time she doesn't even believe in the argument she's making; she just wants to fight with him!

I'm particularly interested in a story set when William and Frances are living in England and Hunsden is their neighbor. I love how he has apparently latched onto their family in lieu of starting their own, especially the way he seems to practically be a coparent to Victor when he’s at home. I would love more about their daily life as it's sketched all too briefly in that last chapter, or a story about something that happens as Victor gets older and goes to school, which William worries about.

I would also love threesome fic! William would be almost hopelessly scandalized by the prospect, I think, and surely Frances too, but then with the dynamic both she and Hunsden have with William where they love to tease him I can imagine it working out somehow. I do love stories where characters fumble their way into unusual relationships or sexual practices without quite knowing what they're doing or having the usual vocabulary to talk about it, which is sort of what I would picture here. But I absolutely would be just as happy with a story that explores the dynamic among them some other way.

The Story Girl series — L.M. Montgomery
Felicity King
Sara Stanley

I really appreciate the group dynamics among the six cousins and their two other playmates in these books but especially the simmering tension between Felicity and the Story Girl. Even though Felicity’s beauty and cookery are pitted against the Story Girl’s charisma and fancy clothes, I like that it’s not that they’re competing with each other over a love interest; they both want everyone to be more attracted to them than to their rival.

I’d love another childhood story set during the books, or something set when they see each other again some time in the future. If you fancy doing something with outsider POV, it could be particularly delightful to have Beverley narrate when there are things going on between them that go over his head entirely, but of course he needn’t even be involved at all. If you want to make me cry buckets, you could write something set around Cecily’s funeral, although conversely I’d happily join you in denial that she’s even consumptive in the first place. If you don’t end up writing Felicity/Story Girl then do feel free to let Felicity end up with Peter, if it’s something that comes up. I’d love, say, Felicity hand-feeding the Story Girl all her favorite good old-fashioned Canadian baked goods that she couldn’t get in France, or the Story Girl discovering that she likes sharing her Parisian silks with Felicity when she's the only one who gets to look at her wearing them, or anything that inspires you.

Trouble series — Stephanie Tromly
Philip Digby
Zoe Webster

I want to go back to Planet Digby! I ship Zoe/Digby like it was written specifically for me, which it might as well have been, and I crave more. The bickering is amazing, obviously, but I also love the combination of earnestness and irony when it comes to things like mental health and feelings, and the mixture of grounded realistic details and handwave-y rule of cool when it comes to their adventures.

I’d love some coping with long-distance relationships, or meeting up for dates (and/or pursuing leads) in New York City, or really anything at all as long as it’s set in the future and Zoe and Digby are together. The fade to black in the books is already scorchingly hot to me, so if you want to write pure porn with little to no plot, I would also be utterly thrilled. Zoe’s offhand mention of fandom in the first book never really comes up again, but if you wanted to pick that thread up and do a story with more fandom in it, it’d be fun (and I definitely approve of her taste in dark Harry Potter femslash!). Really, anything would be great.

Dear Yuletide author,

I am so pleased that we share an interest in one of these fandoms and I can’t wait to read whatever you write for me this Yuletide!

I enjoy a wide variety of stories, all year round but especially at Yuletide. I love short, punchy stories and longer, plotter stories, explicitly smutty and/or kinky stories and coy stories that are all about the teasing and the implications, stories with some kind of meta angle to them and stories that engage with the source material 100% on its own terms, stories with ships that are canon and stories with ships that aren’t.

I am also mayhap on AO3.

Colors in the Dreamweaver’s Loom series — Beth Hilgartner
Remarr
Vihena

The world of these books has always been so magical to me, especially the way that their quest brings Zan and the Five together in the first book. I love how Remarr and Vihena, the changelings, serve as foils to each other, and how they both have to deal with having their respective insecurities exposed by their companions’ mind-reading abilities. I remember assuming that they would get together when I was a kid and I’d still be interested in that, even as I’d be just as likely as an adult to read either or both of them as queer. Mostly, I’d like to see them finding a place of mutual respect that they never quite managed to maintain in the books, even if it’s difficult and painful.

Maybe they’re forced to work together again to help restore order to their world, or maybe Remarr composes a new song about Vihena’s great deeds with the sword, or maybe they’re already engaged and navigating two sets of wedding customs plus a whole clan of outraged Khedathi in-laws! I’d love absolutely anything that inspires you about these characters in this world.


The Great British Bake Off RPF
Mary Berry
Paul Hollywood

Paul and Mary were perfectly paired as judges and I’m still not over Mary leaving! They’re both so engaging on screen and they built up a delightful chemistry over the years. I particularly love to rewatch the Masterclass episodes, which are even more soothingly low-stakes than the main show, being composed entirely of baking and banter. I love all the usual things they tease each other relentless about, while at the same time being extremely courteous and appreciative as they go about their baking and sampling

If you fancy writing something more explicit, I’d love to read Mary cheerfully domming Paul as he plays up the mischief (but also shows off how good he is with his hands). Otherwise, I’d love absolutely anything that showcases the rapport of their working relationship, whether it be within the milieu of the show or not, perhaps wit a bit (or a lot) of classic GBBO innuendo.

DNW: References to Paul’s real-life relationship issues. Any other real-life biographical stuff is totally fine.


Green Sky Trilogy — Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Pomma D’ok
Teera Eld

I love the worldbuilding in these books, especially the cross-cultural friendship and partnership between Pomma and Teera. I love the radical utopianism of the Kindar but also how much they struggled with accepting the true nature of the Erdlings and integrating them into a new unified society. I'd really like to read a story about them growing up together as the Kindar and the Erdlings adjust to each other and return of spirit-powers, with as broad or as narrow a scope as you would like to imagine.

I think Pomma and Teera would be make an adorable couple and that you could also do incredibly fun setting-specific things with it—trying to keep your crush a secret from someone you can pense with? Gruntspreking to give you and your partner some privacy or engage in some bondage? Kiniporting sex toys, even? Not to mention differences in ideas about romantic relationships, which comes up in the books as well, athough of course only heterosexual relationships are mentioned. But it's also absolutely fine with me if you'd rather pair them off with other characters or with OCs or with no one; I wouldn't feel like you were breaking up my pairing or anything.

DNW: Incorporation of video game canon.


The Professor — Charlotte Brontë
Frances Evans Henri
Hunsden Yorke Hunsden
William Crimsworth

I am fascinated the role that Hunsden Yorke Hunsden plays in this story, who is of the things that makes it different from Vilette, which is essentially a heavily-revised second draft of The Professor. From the beginning he alternates between needling William and performing these extremely thoughtful favors for him, although it's not always easy for him to get under William's skin as William perversely enjoys some of his bluntness. He brings out such an interesting side of Frances when he meets her, too -- I love that promptly she gets into three arguments with him in a row, and the third time she doesn't even believe in the argument she's making; she just wants to fight with him!

I'm particularly interested in a story set when William and Frances are living in England and Hunsden is their neighbor. I love how he has apparently latched onto their family in lieu of starting their own, especially the way he seems to practically be a coparent to Victor when he’s at home. I would love more about their daily life as it's sketched all too briefly in that last chapter, or a story about something that happens as Victor gets older and goes to school, which William worries about.

I would also love threesome fic! William would be almost hopelessly scandalized by the prospect, I think, and surely Frances too, but then with the dynamic both she and Hunsden have with William where they love to tease him I can imagine it working out somehow. I do love stories where characters fumble their way into unusual relationships or sexual practices without quite knowing what they're doing or having the usual vocabulary to talk about it, which is sort of what I would picture here. But I absolutely would be just as happy with a story that explores the dynamic among them some other way.


Trouble Series — Stephanie Tromly
Philip Digby
Zoe Webster

I’m not ready to leave Planet Digby! I ship Zoe/Digby like it was written specifically for me, which it might as well have been, and I crave more. The bickering is amazing, obviously, but I also love the combination of earnestness and irony when it comes to like mental health and feelings, and the mixture of grounded realism and rule of cool when it comes to their adventures.

I’d love some coping with long-distance relationships, or meeting up for dates (and/or shenanigans) in New York City, or really anything at all as long as it’s set in the future and Zoe and Digby are together. Even the fade to black in the books is insanely hot to me, so if you want to write pure porn, I would also be thrilled. Zoe’s offhand mention of fandom in the first book never really come up again, but if you wanted to pick that thread up and do a fandom story, it could be fun (and I approve of her taste in Harry Potter femslash!). Really, anything would be great.

Dear Yuletide author,

I am so pleased that we share an interest in one of these fandoms and I can’t wait to read whatever you write this Yuletide!

I enjoy a wide variety of stories, all year round but especially at Yuletide. I like short, punchy stories and longer, plottier stories, explicitly porny and/or kinky stories and coy stories that are all about the teasing and the implications, stories with some kind of meta angle to them and stories that engage with the source material 100% on its own level, stories with ships that are canon and stories with ships that aren’t.

Colors in the Dreamweaver's Loom — Beth Hilgartner
Remarr
Vihena

I’ve always loved the world of these books, especially the way that the Five and Zan are woven together to complete their quest in the first book. I love how Remarr and Vihena, the changelings, are foils for each other, because I can’t get enough stories about girls who become swordmasters but there are nowhere near enough stories about boys who take Remarr’s character arc. I love how they both have to deal with exposing more of their insecurities than they intended because of their companions’ abilities. I always wanted them to get together, or just finally end up mutually respecting each other; it’s an odd sour note at the end of the second book that Vihena seems farther from that than she was earlier in the story.

Maybe the gods are involved in bringing them closer together again, especially since they have a more person connection to the new Trickster, or maybe they’re forced to work together to help restore order in their world. Maybe Remarr composes a song about Vihena’s great deeds that ends up being more revealing than he intends. Maybe skip straight to their marriage and how they navigate two sets of wedding customs plus a whole clan of outraged Khedathi in-laws! Or absolutely anything that inspires you about these characters in this world.

Idylls of the Queen — Phyllis Ann Karr
Kay
Mordred

I love Kay, murder mysteries, intertextuality and buddy cop-type dynamics, so this book already may as well have been written just for me. I’m not always a Mordred fan, but this book has my absolute favorite take on him, and I love Kay’s extremely grumpy brand of sympathy for him, especially when he feels all protective of him. The whole dynamic of them being two difficult people who get along better with each other than most people can get along with either of them is great.

I could easily see them getting in a fight that turns into angry, passionate, even really violent sex. Conversely Nimue’s threats to cast the spell of melancholia on anyone causing her trouble make me wonder what they would do if they both got hit by it at once. I’d love a story that riffs on any incident from Arthurian mythology the way the book does, or that plays up the murder mystery elements, or road trip tropes, or anything else.

The Professor — Charlotte Brontë
William Crimsworth
Hunsden Yorke Hunsden
Frances Evans Henri

I am fascinated the role that Hunsden Yorke Hunsden plays in this story, which is one of the things that makes it different from Vilette, which is essentially Brontë’s later draft of the same basic story. From the beginning he alternates between needling William and performing these extremely thoughtful favors for him, although it's not always easy for him to get under William's skin since William perversely enjoys some of his bluntness. He brings out such an interesting side of Frances when he meets her, too -- I love that promptly she gets into three arguments with him in a row, and the third time she doesn't even believe in the argument she's making; she just wants to fight with him!

I'm particularly interested in a story set when William and Frances are living in England and Hunsden is their neighbor. I love how he has apparently latched onto their family in lieu of starting their own, especially the way he seems to practically be a coparent to Victor when he’s at home. I would love more about their daily life as it's sketched all too briefly in that last chapter, or a story about something that happens as Victor gets older and goes to school, which William worries about.

I would also love threesome fic! William would be almost hopelessly scandalized by the prospect, I think, and surely Frances too, but then with the dynamic both she and Hunsden have with William where they love to tease him I can imagine it working out somehow. I do love stories where characters fumble their way into unusual relationships or sexual practices without quite knowing what they're doing or having the usual vocabulary to talk about it, which is sort of what I would picture. But I would be just as happy with a story that explores the dynamic among them some other way.

Dear Yuletide author,

I am so excited that we matched on one of these fandoms and I can’t wait to read whatever you write this Yuletide!

I enjoy a wide variety of stories, all year round but especially at Yuletide. I like short, punchy stories and longer, plottier stories, explicitly porny and/or kinky stories and coy stories that are all about the teasing and the implications, stories with some kind of meta angle to them and stories that engage with the source material 100% on its own level, stories with unusual pairings and stories that are strictly canon pairings only, if applicable.

Baseball RPF
Lorenzo Cain, Salvador Pérez

I love the close relationships among all the various Royals players, but the single most entertaining one for me would have to be the ongoing bromantic comedy starring Salvy and his beloved hermanito Lolo, now showing at an Instagram near you. I definitely ship it, but I would also adore a story about them as teammates. I love all the horseplay, the giggling, the amazing locker room music choices. I love the way Salvy gets hearts in his eyes and LoCain struggles to maintain a straight face as he tries to fend off the camera.

I also just love baseball and everything about it, so any and all baseball-specific stuff in a story would totally thrill me. I really enjoy RPF that incorporates various real life references along with the stuff that didn’t happen and is totally fictional and would prefer not to receive the sort AU where they are something other than baseball players.

The Professor - Charlotte Brontë
William Crimsworth, Frances Evans Henri, Hunsden Yorke Hunsden

I am fascinated the role that Hunsden Yorke Hunsden plays in this story, which is one of the things that makes it so different from Villette. From the beginning he alternates between needling William and performing these extremely thoughtful favors for him, although it's not always easy for him to get under William's skin since William perversely enjoys some of his bluntness. He brings out such an interesting side of Frances when he meets her, too -- I love that promptly she gets into three arguments with him in a row, and the third time she doesn't even believe in the argument she's making; she just wants to fight with him!

I'm particularly interested in a story set when William and Frances are living in England and Hunsden is their neighbor. I love how he has apparently latched onto their family in lieu of starting their own, especially the way he seems to practically be a coparent to Victor. I would love more about their daily life as it's sketched all too briefly in that last chapter, or a story about something that happens as Victor gets older and goes to school, as William worries about.

I would also love threesome fic! William would be almost hopelessly scandalized by the prospect, I think, and probably Frances too, but then with the dynamic both she and Hunsden have with William where they love to tease him I can imagine it working out somehow. I do love stories where characters fumble their way into unusual relationships or sexual practices without quite knowing what they're doing or having the usual vocabulary to talk about it, which is sort of what I would picture. But I also absolutely love them the way they already are together, so it is totally up to you.

The Woman in the Wall - Patrice Kindl
Anna Newland, Francis Albright

I'm especially interested in futurefic exploring how Anna interacts with the outside world, set any time after the events of the book. I love her highly distinctive perspective and her willingness to explore unfamiliar and intimidating things but also judge them. I'd be curious to see her navigating any or all of: a new home, the city of Chicago, the late 90s internet, and of course her new blended family. I don't have a strong preference for whether you get or keep Anna and Francis together, but I do find it fascinating that the first person Anna gets to know who is outside of her immediate family, which is such a huge step for her, ends up being brought into her immediate family after all, and how, if at all, she would explain the complexities of that relationship to outsiders.

Most of all I just love this very peculiar book, with its very implausible premise worked out in such extensive detail, and I'm interested in whatever story it should happen to inspire you to write.

I am mayhap on AO3 and mayhap on DW crossposted to mayhap on LJ for stalking purposes. Happy Yuletide!

Dear Yuletide author,

I am so excited that you share one of these fandoms with me! I am really looking forward to reading whatever you write for me in whichever of them it is!

I enjoy a wide range of things—short, punchy stories and longer plottier stories, explicitly porny and/or kinky stories and coy stories that are all about the teasing and the implications, stories with some kind of meta angle to them and stories that engage with the source material 100% on their own level. One thing I always enjoy is stories that are written in a very particular style or manner, like a set of letters or a faux-academic paper or something; if that sort of thing appeals to you, go wild!

I apologize in advance if my gen prompts are not very detailed, varied, or inspiring. This in no way reflects a desire not to receive gen (or canon relationships only, as applicable), which is something that I would absolutely be interested in reading for any of these sets of characters. It is purely a function of me being terrible at writing gen prompts.

The Bugle
Andy Zaltzman, John Oliver

It's not that The Bugle doesn't have a fandom—The Bugle fandom is pretty amazing!—but it does not, for the most part, write fic. One of my favorite things about The Bugle is the 'bullshit', i.e. the wildly counterfactual world that John and Andy (but let's be realistic, mostly Andy) narrate and/or act out in skits. I would totally love what is basically Bugle worldbuilding fic, based on anything that's ever been referenced on the show, a combination of multiple Bugle references, or completely original things in the Bugle house style. My other favorite thing about The Bugle is John and Andy's working relationship, especially when one of them manages to make the other start laughing uncontrollably during the podcast, and if you would rather write something that is set in something more closely approximating the real world, I would love to read gen or shippy fic about John and Andy working together and doing Bugle-y things. If you want to use the Bugle house style to do fandom or Yuletide meta somehow, those are things I always enjoy and think the Bugle format would lend itself to, or you could do any of many things that I haven't even thought of.

Dialogues — Plato
Socrates, Alcibiades

If Plato didn't want me to ship Socrates carnally, he shouldn't have given him such sizzling sexual tension with Alcibiades! Also with pretty much everyone present at the symposium, but especially with Alcibiades. I love the teasing and the reversal of the expected roles for the pursued and the pursuing. Although I desperately crave a physical consummation of their relationship, no matter how much it runs contrary to everything Plato stood for, you could absolutely also write something that continues the dynamic of Alcibiades pursuing and Socrates making him frantic with his refusal to reciprocate. Since Plato's dialogues are essentially Real Person Fiction, I feel like you can just as easily incorporate known biographical details or take only what is on the page as a complete work in itself to draw upon, as you prefer.

Frog and Toad
Frog, Toad

I loved these books when I was a kid and only realized later that they were my first exposure to a type of relationship that I always love (and tend to ship). I read an interesting interview with Arnold Lobel where he talked about not wanting to continue the series because he felt like the relationship between Frog and Toad was getting unhealthy, which frankly puts it even more in line with my shipping tendencies, although I was very surprised that he saw it as Frog controlling Toad when I tend more towards seeing Frog as the put-upon one in their relationship. I would also love a gen Frog & Toad story, or set of shorter stories in keeping with the original—and if you're inclined towards meta, I think a story where either or both of them do Yuletide would be hilarious. The one thing I ask is that if you do write explicit Frog/Toad—and I hasten again to reassure you that gen or far tamer shippy fic is also great—I would want it to involve realistic frog anatomy, i.e., cloacas instead of penes. (Incidentally, it turns out that there is no scientific distinction between frogs and toads, which are just another kind of frog. The more you know!) I promise you that I would in no way feel that this injured my childhood, although I completely understand if you would feel diferently.

The Once and Future King — T. H. White
Arthur Pendragon, Guenever, Lancelot du Lac

Each of three loves the other two and doesn't want to hurt them but finds themselves constrained to do so anyway. I'm not saying that a threesome would necessarily solve everything here, but I do believe that it could solve a lot of the things. Whether the inevitable ending is the same, but at least the three of them are able to share another kind of happiness with each other while it lasts, or in fact them being together and not lying to each other allows them to somehow overcome Mordred's scheming, I would be interested in exploring any possibility, sweet or bittersweet or angsty. I'm really interested in Lancelot's thing with sadism, where other people's pain interests him and he can't conceive of any ethical way to deal with this interest, and incline to the theory that he is in many ways White's self-insert character. If no version of the threesome and the timeline is gelling for you, I would also love any story about the three of them interacting in some way that shows them all caring about each other in spite of the underlying tension/guilt.

Trixie Belden series — Julie Campbell Tatham & Kathleen Kenny
Trixie Belden, Honey Wheeler

I absolutely adore Trixie and Honey's friendship and think they would make an incredibly adorable couple as well. I love how loyal and supportive they are of each other, especially when it comes to the ways in which they are opposites. I think the setting is really important in these books and would prefer that everyone doesn't suddenly have a computer and a cell phone—unless it is actually far futurefic, in which case, that is totally awesome and I would love to see what the Bob-Whites are doing in their seventies. I'd be cool with background or past Jim/Trixie in a romantic or friendship fic, but would prefer that it not be the focus of the story, and would also prefer no Honey/Brian or Mart/Di.

For stalking purposes, I am mayhap on Dreamwidth, crossposted to mayhap on Livejournal, and mayhap on AO3; on tumblr I am pinchofnutmeg, because mayhap was taken. Feel free to take a gander at these tags ("dear author" and "yuletide") for stuff from Yuletides past if you so desire. Happy Yuletide!

Dear Yuletide Writer,

Thank you for writing for me! I don't know who you are, but I love you kind of a lot already.

You may be skeptical of my love, pointing out that, as mentioned above, I don't actually know you, and thus it cannot possibly have a particularly sound basis. But seriously, just the fact that we matched on at least one (1) of these fandoms is an entirely sufficient condition, owing to the transitive nature of my overpowering love for them. I'll try to ramble on here a bit about my requests to hopefully give you something to be inspired by, but I really do mean it when I say that these are suggestions and possibilities, and that I specifically chose my fandom/character combinations for their potential to delight me in just about any conceivable way.

I am super-easy to please and I like a wide range of stories—short, punchy stories and longer, plottier stories, explicitly porny and/or kinky stories and coy stories that are all about the teasing and the implication, stories with some kind of meta angle to them and stories that engage with the source material 100% on its own terms.

I'm a bit of sucker for crossovers; I've read some brilliant ones for Yuletides past and I also find as a writer that starting from a crossover, like starting from a pairing, can be a good starting point to shake a story idea onto a blank page. I put together a list 2012 certified Yuletide-rare fandoms that I plan to read stories in, in case anything jumps out at you among, anything I've written in or about is obviously fair game, and if you have an idea for a crossover of your heart with a fandom not covered above, feel free to contact me through the mods! Conversely, feel free to ignore this option entirely and focus all of your attention on our awesome shared fandom, which is one of the following:

Curse Workers series — Holly Black
Cassel Sharpe
Lila Zacharov

I think these two have absolutely smoldering chemistry throughout the entire trilogy, and I would absolutely love a story about what they're like when they're not in an adversarial relationship--or, more realistically, a less adversarial relationship. Feel free to delve into the magical politics of the 'verse, which are awesome and fascinating, or to completely handwave the future magicopolitical situation if you're not writing that kind of story. A con story would be great fun, even--or maybe especially--if it's a very small or silly con. On the pornier side, I would love an exploration of Cassel's very obvious budding kinky side, including his early taste for masochism and submission (ear-piercing scene, whee!). If you want to write kinky, feel free to let your own tastes and/or characterizations lead you where they will under that general rubric; it'll be hotter and more convincing that way. My only squicks here are permanent non-decorative disfigurement (piercings or scarification would actually be kind of in character for this pairing...) and 24/7 D/s in a non-BDSM AU.

Elemental Logic series — Laurie J. Marks
Zanja na'Tarwein
Karis

I would love any kind of story about Zanja and Karis, whether that be set sometime after Water Logic or a missing scene from any of the books. You could write straight-up smut (this is pretty much always an option, really, I just wanted to throw it out there), or explore any aspect of the worldbuilding that catches your fancy—I especially love the use of the invented texts in the books, the glyphs and of course the four elements themselves. I love Emil/Medric and if you want to write them and it makes sense to have them as a background pairing or even a co-pairing in your story, go for it! If anyone is the primary focus, though, I would like it to be Zanja/Karis.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy — Douglas Adams
Zaphod Beeblebrox
Arthur Dent

This request is meant to encompass, in descending order of specificity (but NOT, I assure you, of preference!) Arthur/Zaphod, Arthur&Zaphod, or Zaphod solo character exploration fic. I adore Zaphod: his raging insecurities alternating with his raging egomania, his flamboyant use of galactic slang, his convoluted past as a confidence trickster, a galactic political figurehead sleeper agent and a smoke-filled room schemer, not necessarily in that order. I happen to be of the opinion that Zaphod's Zaphodness is particularly nicely highlighted by contrasting it with Arthur's essential Arthurness, because they are such opposites and spend so much time sniping at each other, which I am totally happy to read in a shippy way. It would be interesting to me, for example, if Arthur finally managed to unequivocally impress Zaphod in some way and maybe (even more remarkable) forced him to admit it somehow. Hitchhiker's canon being what it is, feel free to fold, spindle or mutilate the timeline(s) to find an appropriate setting for any story that you want to tell. Time travel is never not a bonus.

Although this fandom is nominated under books, I am 100% conversant with book canon and you can write for me without giving another version of canon a second thought, I have also listened to the radio dramas a lot over the years and I feel that I would be doing you a disservice as a Hitchhiker's fan and my Yuletide writer if I did not point out that a.) the radio dramas are exceedingly entertaining to listen to, b.) listening to audio versions of your Yuletide canon can be a fun way to do a canon review and/or get character voices into your head, and c.) the end of the second series, where it diverges the most sharply from book canon with the long subplot about the Lintillas, clone archaeologists, puts Arthur and Ford with Zaphod when he meets the man who runs the universe. The final episode has completely open ending which also happens to work as a great prompt for some Arthur/Zaphod hatesex or miscellaneous adversarial shenanigans, which I proffer for your inspection:

What does the future hold for our heroes now? What does the past or present hold for that matter?

Will Arthur Dent now embark on a terrible and protracted vendetta against Zaphod Beeblebrox? Will he be all right alone in the Universe with only the Infinite Improbability Drive, Marvin the Paranoid Android, Lintilla the archaeologist, Eddie the shipboard computer, a lot of chatty doors and a battered copy of The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy for company?

Will there ever be another series of that wholely remarkable and mystifying entity The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy? … Find out if you can!

So those are some questions that should be explored by someone, possibly you, at some juncture, possibly this one.

For stalking purposes, I am mayhap on Dreamwidth, crossposted to mayhap on Livejournal, and mayhap on AO3; on tumblr I am pinchofnutmeg, because mayhap was taken. Feel free to take a gander at these tags ("dear author" and "yuletide") for stuff from Yuletides past if you so desire.

Thanks again, and happy Yuletiding!

Dear yuletide Author,

Hi! I don't know who you are, but I love you already. You probably don't know who I am either, and I hope you don't hate me too much.

I've just noticed, firming up my signup for this year, that all my requests are really, really similar: two guys (they do seem to all be guys this year), one more histrionic and charismatic, the other one quieter and more readily underestimated, combined with some epic, over the top bonding. I'm pretty sure this means I have a type. *g* I would also like to stress once again that these are requests for which I would be happy to read the filthiest of explicit porn or the gen-est of whole non-sexual interactions, however inclination and inspiration takes you.

Here are my more specific requests/ramblings for general perusal:

British Comedian RPF – Noel Fielding & Russell Brand

I have watched the Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2006 more times that can conceivably be healthy and I would like some more Goth Detectives, please! I am more interested in the daft, surreal, erudite universe of trust and mutual respect that Noel and Russell generate when placed in proximity to each other than in their actual lives; the weirder, the better. If you're interested in incorporating Jimmy Carr, any of the other panelists, anything involving quizzes or quiz shows, anything involving the hypothetical Goth Detectives show, or anything meta or in-jokey like that, go for it! Pairing (any rating) or gen equally welcome.

Doctrine of Labyrinths – Sarah Monette – Felix Harrowgate & Mildmay Foxe

I adore Felix and Mildmay equally and I could never choose a favorite between them and any kind story that involves them interacting together in any context whatsoever will make me very happy. Optionally–because this is the optional details box!–I would definitely enjoy reading them as a pairing if that's something you'd want to make work somehow. (I think this pairing needs a good old-fashioned sex pollen fic, but that's an even more optional suggestion! Just throwing it out there.) Also completely optionally, if you want to write smut for this fandom but not, for whatever reason, Felix/Mildmay smut, I would definitely read any amount of post-Corambis Felix/Murtagh porn, although this is obviously optional since I have not requested Murtagh as a character and please disregard if you did not sign up to write him!

Psmith – P. G. Wodehouse – Mike Jackson & Rupert Psmith

Mike (the omnibus of Mike at Wrykyn and Mike and Psmith) was Wodehouse's favorite of his own books, and it's my favorite book of his too. Psmith is irresistible, of course, but Comrade Jackson's sterling qualities should not be overlooked. Pairing (any rating) or gen equally welcome.

Hi, you! I think it's so, so cool that you volunteered (at least one of) my requested fandoms, and I hope you don't totally hate the prompt(s) that I have given you! I am so excited about all of them, even though they may seem completely unrelated and kind of odd.

Neil Gaiman - The Graveyard Book, Nobody Evans aka Bod/Silas

I adore Silas! I'd really like a story about Silas and Bod and their relationship after the end of the book. It would be _plenty_ fine with me if that involved explicit sex, but it matters less to me whether you write this one as slash or gen, as long as their relationship is at the heart of it.

I just really do love Silas, and how almost-too-perfect he is as a guardian for young Bod, and how this situation is changing at the end of the book, and how it's going to change even more as Bod is growing up and Silas ... is still Silas.

Plato - Dialogues, Alcibiades/Socrates

I just think that everything would have turned out better if Alcibiades and Socrates had hooked up. Philosophy is sexy, yes, but philosophy in bed is sexier!

At about the age when a many people have an intoxicating but late regrettable philosophical fling with Ayn Rand, I was smitten with Plato. I now think even fewer of the proposals in The Republic would be at all advisable in real life, but I have always felt that Socrates should have slept with Alcibiades, even though I have been informed that I am missing the whole point of The Symposium. The whole point of The Symposium sucks, and they should have had sex. Maybe if they had, one of them wouldn't have been executed and the other exiled for being smartypantses; or perhaps it would have simply been all the more poignant. Either way!

Stieg Larsson -The Millennium series, Erika Berger/Lisbeth Salander/Mikael Blomkvist

I love all three of these characters and would be delighted to read about [them] in any combination (and also think they would make a fascinating threesome, sexual or otherwise).

So, these books ate my brain recently, and I've hardly stopped thinking about them since I finished reading The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. ( Cut for spoilers )

Hi, whoever got assigned to me! I love you! I hope you do not hate my requests too much!

This year, I made an assortment of requests, all, to me, equally delightful: one slash, one het, and one gen (well, sort of). In no particular order, they are:

Dorothy L. Sayers - Lord Peter series

Hilary Thorpe/The Viscount St George

This is the nonexistent pairing that ate my brain not too long ago. Very seriously, any story wherein the two of them interact with each other at all would make my yuletide. I like how Hilary is similar in temperament and ambition to how I would imagine a young Harriet, and I think St. George would take after his uncle in that respect as in so many others.

P. G. Wodehouse - Psmith

Mike/Psmith

I love them together, and I especially love the tropes of school stories and sports stories. As an American, I really have no idea what cricket is really all about, but I love reading about it anyway!

Elizabeth Peters - Vicky Bliss

Schmidt/fandom OTP!

So, I really enjoyed the new Vicky book. ( Cut for sort of spoilers )

Most of all, I really hope that you write a story that you truly enjoy. Thank you!