Yuletide 2017
Sep. 20th, 2017 01:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miramiraHi! Thanks for writing for me. I'll try to keep this as simple as possible, so let's dive right in, shall we?
Obviously worldbuilding and exploring un(der)explored areas of canon are a connecting theme between all of these requests, but dialogue, character development, some kind of plot (whether adventure-driven or introspective), and choices that don't have right or easy answers are also appreciated. I'm also fond of crossovers, so in addition to the intra-author suggestions provided in a few of the prompts, feel free to browse past letters for ideas if you're so inclined (just try to concentrate on the Yuletide-sized fandoms if at all possible). My only real DNWs are graphic torture and unrelenting darkfic; I'm okay with characters dying and complicated endings, but I'd like to be left with some ray of hope, or at least feeling like the sacrifices weren't for nothing.
If you're looking to write romance - which you certainly don't have to be - I tend to prefer het or femslash to slash, and canon pairings where they exist (exceptions are noted under the relevant fandom). My kinks are mostly limited to light bondage, though I do like magic users getting creative with their abilities, and I'd rather read about imperfect encounters that reveal something or move the story along or just provide comic relief than mind-blowing orgasms. DNWs include noncon (alluding to canonical incidents in a character's backstory is fine), body fluids not typically associated with sex, and improbable biology (e.g. tentacles, A/B/O).
Okay, on to prompts. Please don't get too stressed about trying to fulfill the optional details; I'm more concerned that you enjoy the writing process. (Also, just FYI, if you matched on one of the books and that's not working out, 17776 and Roundtable Rival don't take much time to review.) Good luck, and I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with!
17776: What Football Will Look Like in the Future - Jon Bois
Nine, Ten, Juice
I still don't entirely know what to make of this little experiment in multimedia speculative fiction, except that I am very sad there isn't more of it. I've requested the main satellites because the human characters in the tagset didn't grab me as much, but feel free to treat this as a worldbuilding request. I'm particularly fascinated by Game 27 - what's it like staying in the house, or working at the Bojangles, or being one of the original players? who built the wall? what was so important about the brown mustard? - but feel free to pick a different example, or create your own. Or if you'd rather delve into the larger questions of everyone's mysterious immortality, or whether the Bulb being broken signifies something greater, I'm definitely interested.
Of course, if you just want to pick a random topic for Nine, Ten, and Juice to natter on about and see where it takes them, I'd be happy with that, too. Especially if you want to delve into Ten and Juice's earlier days, or what they did/do while waiting for Nine to "wake up" and how being a trio now affects them.
The Bone Clocks - David Mitchell
Any
As terrifying as it is, the last section of this book is the one that's seared it into my brain, and I really want to know what happens next. Well, I have a general inkling what might happen next - if you want to take that little Prescience namedrop and link it to the Sonmi and/or Zachry sections of Cloud Atlas, I certainly won't complain - but I'd like some more concrete reassurance that Lol and Rafiq really had a chance to help Marinus ensure civilization and kindness stand a fighting chance. If you were hoping to write about the two of them becoming siblings, or an unrelated part of Marinus's lives (I picked up on The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet reference, too, though I confess I wasn't quite as excited by that one), or Horology and the Anchorites in general, though, please do.
The Long Earth Series - Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter
Any
IMO, this series is a bit of a one-trick pony when it comes to storytelling, but it's a really good trick for anyone who loves worldbuilding. I'm particularly interested in the Jokers, unexpected linkages between worlds, isolated intelligences, and other discoveries that rank low on the probability scale (including places where physics as we know it might break down enough to make the seemingly fantastical possible), so explore and speculate away. Feel free to experiment with format, too; if you decide to write a research paper, I'd appreciate some Pratchett-style footnotes or other less-than-academic commentary to liven it up a bit, but I will be highly impressed with your dedication.
If you are here for something more character-driven, I'd be happy to see more of Maggie being a good leader (including a run for office, maybe?), or Monica and Sally navigating the early days of exploration, or Sister Agnes just trying to make the world a better place one Doors reference at a time. Interesting backdrops still appreciated, though.
Roundtable Rival - Lindsey Stirling
Any
I do want to know more about the characters: where they come from, how long they've been practicing their craft, how open they are about it, whether these are the roles they want to be playing, whether they have a history (romantic or otherwise). But I also want to know everything about how music works in this world. Are all conflicts that can't be solved with words handled this way? Is it a thing anyone can learn - and by extension, is everyone who picks up an instrument handling a weapon - or do you need to have a special talent? Do local entertainers always function as a type of (un)official law enforcement? Is dancing considered a separate ability? What about singing? How frequently do musicians go bad, and how does that affect their place in society?
Shades of Magic - V.E. Schwab
Kell, Lila, Rhy
There's plenty of room for worldbuilding here if you're not really that interested in the characters: I'd love to see what it was like in the days when magic flowed more freely between the Londons, or the leadup to Red's decision to save itself and the immediate aftermath for White. If you're going to explore the rest of Arnes and the lands beyond, though, I'd like that to be in the context of what happened next for Kell and Lila. Or you could focus on Rhy growing into his role as king, or what happens when they all reunite, or some incident from their past, or the truth about Kell's family, or what might have happened had Lila grown into her magic in Gray London, or some other scenario entirely.
Feel free to play fast and loose with ships on this one, as long as it doesn't involve character bashing. Just because I'm not requesting Holland doesn't mean you can't use him, and I'm even open to Kell/Rhy, provided there's some acknowledgment it's not entirely healthy.
The Years of Rice and Salt - Kim Stanley Robinson
Any
There's a lot of room to play with some of the gaps between one life and the next, and not just in the bardo. I'd be particularly interested in hearing more about Sultana Katima or the Kerala and their efforts to be progressive leaders, or Kioyaki and Peng and their fight for independence, or Idelba and Budur's lives in Nsara, or a life that didn't get covered. Or you could take a page (so to speak) from the way many of the sections echo the writing styles of the periods they're set in, and retell a famous event or work of literature whether it involves any of the jati or not, while taking the cultural and historical changes into account.
And then, of course, there's the future. If you're feeling insanely ambitious, I'd love to see what Robinson's Mars trilogy looks like in this timeline: how do the differing geopolitics change the power struggles and personal dynamics, and which characters map to each other? If you've got your own idea of where the arc of this history is headed, though, go for it.
Obviously worldbuilding and exploring un(der)explored areas of canon are a connecting theme between all of these requests, but dialogue, character development, some kind of plot (whether adventure-driven or introspective), and choices that don't have right or easy answers are also appreciated. I'm also fond of crossovers, so in addition to the intra-author suggestions provided in a few of the prompts, feel free to browse past letters for ideas if you're so inclined (just try to concentrate on the Yuletide-sized fandoms if at all possible). My only real DNWs are graphic torture and unrelenting darkfic; I'm okay with characters dying and complicated endings, but I'd like to be left with some ray of hope, or at least feeling like the sacrifices weren't for nothing.
If you're looking to write romance - which you certainly don't have to be - I tend to prefer het or femslash to slash, and canon pairings where they exist (exceptions are noted under the relevant fandom). My kinks are mostly limited to light bondage, though I do like magic users getting creative with their abilities, and I'd rather read about imperfect encounters that reveal something or move the story along or just provide comic relief than mind-blowing orgasms. DNWs include noncon (alluding to canonical incidents in a character's backstory is fine), body fluids not typically associated with sex, and improbable biology (e.g. tentacles, A/B/O).
Okay, on to prompts. Please don't get too stressed about trying to fulfill the optional details; I'm more concerned that you enjoy the writing process. (Also, just FYI, if you matched on one of the books and that's not working out, 17776 and Roundtable Rival don't take much time to review.) Good luck, and I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with!
17776: What Football Will Look Like in the Future - Jon Bois
Nine, Ten, Juice
I still don't entirely know what to make of this little experiment in multimedia speculative fiction, except that I am very sad there isn't more of it. I've requested the main satellites because the human characters in the tagset didn't grab me as much, but feel free to treat this as a worldbuilding request. I'm particularly fascinated by Game 27 - what's it like staying in the house, or working at the Bojangles, or being one of the original players? who built the wall? what was so important about the brown mustard? - but feel free to pick a different example, or create your own. Or if you'd rather delve into the larger questions of everyone's mysterious immortality, or whether the Bulb being broken signifies something greater, I'm definitely interested.
Of course, if you just want to pick a random topic for Nine, Ten, and Juice to natter on about and see where it takes them, I'd be happy with that, too. Especially if you want to delve into Ten and Juice's earlier days, or what they did/do while waiting for Nine to "wake up" and how being a trio now affects them.
The Bone Clocks - David Mitchell
Any
As terrifying as it is, the last section of this book is the one that's seared it into my brain, and I really want to know what happens next. Well, I have a general inkling what might happen next - if you want to take that little Prescience namedrop and link it to the Sonmi and/or Zachry sections of Cloud Atlas, I certainly won't complain - but I'd like some more concrete reassurance that Lol and Rafiq really had a chance to help Marinus ensure civilization and kindness stand a fighting chance. If you were hoping to write about the two of them becoming siblings, or an unrelated part of Marinus's lives (I picked up on The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet reference, too, though I confess I wasn't quite as excited by that one), or Horology and the Anchorites in general, though, please do.
The Long Earth Series - Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter
Any
IMO, this series is a bit of a one-trick pony when it comes to storytelling, but it's a really good trick for anyone who loves worldbuilding. I'm particularly interested in the Jokers, unexpected linkages between worlds, isolated intelligences, and other discoveries that rank low on the probability scale (including places where physics as we know it might break down enough to make the seemingly fantastical possible), so explore and speculate away. Feel free to experiment with format, too; if you decide to write a research paper, I'd appreciate some Pratchett-style footnotes or other less-than-academic commentary to liven it up a bit, but I will be highly impressed with your dedication.
If you are here for something more character-driven, I'd be happy to see more of Maggie being a good leader (including a run for office, maybe?), or Monica and Sally navigating the early days of exploration, or Sister Agnes just trying to make the world a better place one Doors reference at a time. Interesting backdrops still appreciated, though.
Roundtable Rival - Lindsey Stirling
Any
I do want to know more about the characters: where they come from, how long they've been practicing their craft, how open they are about it, whether these are the roles they want to be playing, whether they have a history (romantic or otherwise). But I also want to know everything about how music works in this world. Are all conflicts that can't be solved with words handled this way? Is it a thing anyone can learn - and by extension, is everyone who picks up an instrument handling a weapon - or do you need to have a special talent? Do local entertainers always function as a type of (un)official law enforcement? Is dancing considered a separate ability? What about singing? How frequently do musicians go bad, and how does that affect their place in society?
Shades of Magic - V.E. Schwab
Kell, Lila, Rhy
There's plenty of room for worldbuilding here if you're not really that interested in the characters: I'd love to see what it was like in the days when magic flowed more freely between the Londons, or the leadup to Red's decision to save itself and the immediate aftermath for White. If you're going to explore the rest of Arnes and the lands beyond, though, I'd like that to be in the context of what happened next for Kell and Lila. Or you could focus on Rhy growing into his role as king, or what happens when they all reunite, or some incident from their past, or the truth about Kell's family, or what might have happened had Lila grown into her magic in Gray London, or some other scenario entirely.
Feel free to play fast and loose with ships on this one, as long as it doesn't involve character bashing. Just because I'm not requesting Holland doesn't mean you can't use him, and I'm even open to Kell/Rhy, provided there's some acknowledgment it's not entirely healthy.
The Years of Rice and Salt - Kim Stanley Robinson
Any
There's a lot of room to play with some of the gaps between one life and the next, and not just in the bardo. I'd be particularly interested in hearing more about Sultana Katima or the Kerala and their efforts to be progressive leaders, or Kioyaki and Peng and their fight for independence, or Idelba and Budur's lives in Nsara, or a life that didn't get covered. Or you could take a page (so to speak) from the way many of the sections echo the writing styles of the periods they're set in, and retell a famous event or work of literature whether it involves any of the jati or not, while taking the cultural and historical changes into account.
And then, of course, there's the future. If you're feeling insanely ambitious, I'd love to see what Robinson's Mars trilogy looks like in this timeline: how do the differing geopolitics change the power struggles and personal dynamics, and which characters map to each other? If you've got your own idea of where the arc of this history is headed, though, go for it.