Dear Yuletide Author 2021

[serephemeral]

 

Dear Yuletide Author,

Hi! Thanks so much for the time and energy you are putting into this exchange. I wish you an ease-filled writing process, and I hope that you have as much fun writing this story as I will surely have reading it! 

In this letter: some things I enjoy in stories, my DNWs, my requests, and some prompts. With the exception of my DNWs, please take or leave these as is most useful to you in your creative process. If you're really excited about a prompt of mine, awesome! If your own inspiration wants to take you elsewhere, go for it! 

My ao3 username: serephemeral

LIKES

• Character-driven narratives, stories driven equally by plot and character, plotty stories with lots of juicy character development.
• Queer stories. I am bi/queer and have a giant soft spot for tender, nuanced portrayals of queer identities and queer love.
• Women loving each other, whether platonically, romantically, sexually, complicatedly, or all of the above.
• Characters making messy life choices that land them in delightfully awkward/occasionally painful situations. Characters learning and growing from the consequences of those choices.
• Happy stories. Gentle, cozy stories. Stories that weave hope into difficult or bittersweet circumstances. Stories about healing from trauma that don't do incredibly deep dives into the trauma. 
• Moments where characters show up for one another in little ways that demonstrate deep affection and care. 
• Splashes of worldbuilding that convey the intricacy and vibrancy of the world beyond the story. Worldbuilding that focuses on mythology, history, and evolution of magical arts.
• AU space opera settings. Worldbuilding within those settings that gets into the intersections of magic and science + the history of space travel and exploration, and how these things interact with and re-shape existing mythologies.

Romance and Sex-Specific Likes

• Some dynamics I enjoy: banter, banter that leads to deep conversations, characters being very competent at what they do and admiring each other's competence, characters holding one another after a big emotional event, touch contact that leads to blushing/yearning.
• Romance tropes I enjoy: slowburn, pining, desire that builds like a thunderstorm and then -- boom! Rivalmances. Enemies to lovers. Fake dating/marriage to real dating/marriage. Falling in love/lust with the mark.
• I enjoy reading romance that features monogamy, ethical non-monogamy, and polyamory. My polyamory taste tends toward ot3s or foursomes simply because my brain sometimes has difficulty keeping track of larger polycules in fic.
• Smutty things I like -- Touching: first touches, hand-holding, face-touching, fingers/palms on necks, backs, thighs, wrists, in hair. Kissing: gentle, rough, everything in between. Biting. Fucking: ass play, cunnilingus, fingering, fisting, strap-on sex, pegging, scissoring, fucking against a wall. Cocksucking/facefucking in m/m smut; cocksucking/facefucking in m/f smut where the man is going down on/being fucked by a strap-on. Light to medium kink and bdsm (ropes and sensory deprivation = perennial delight). Tentacles. Oviposition. Rough sex that does not lead to serious or lasting injuries. Power dynamics and power play with clearly negotiated limits.

DO NOT WANT

• Unrequested prominent themes of ableism, abuse (emotional, physical, sexual), fatshaming, gender-based violence, harassment, homophobia, misogyny and gender discrimination, racism, rape, slavery, sexual assault, or transphobia. 
• Graphic descriptions of violence and gore. Mentions of violence and wounds or injuries is okay; please no graphic, detailed descriptions.
• Forced religious conversion.
• High school, college, or coffee shop AUs; unrequested modern-day or real-world AUs; unrequested crossovers.
• Suicide and/or death of a requested character.

Romance and Sex-Specific Do Not Wants

• Adult/minor romantic or sexual relationships.
• Unrequested abuse, cruelty, excessive control, and/or excessive jealousy as features of a romance.
• Incest.
• Infidelity.
• Sex DNWs: 24/7 d/s relationships; age play; a/b/o; daddy or mommy kink; fetishized fatness or weight; forced and/or fetishized pregnancy; master/slave relationships; misogyny in erotic play; rape/noncon; scat; sex acts that incorporate food outside of foreplay (happy if Partner A feeds Partner B a grape during a romantic dinner/while in bed; do not like whipped cream trails over bodies, fruit inserted into bodily orifices during sex, Cosmo-tips scenarios for incorporating food into sex); watersports.

If a character has experienced any of the things mentioned in my DNWs as part of their canon storyline, I am fine with this being referenced and used as part of their character arc as long as it is not the primary driver of the plot and/or new elements of character development. 

Same for worldbuilding/universe consistency; if a canon I've requested has elements of any of the above as part of in-universe worldbuilding, please don't feel like you need to break the world in order to write me fic -- I'm fine if said elements are still a part of the world so long as they aren't a huge, central focus of the story. I request and strongly prefer that no new storylines with elements from my DNWs be added. 

Thank you so much for your care in writing this story. On to my requests and prompts! 

Crier's War Series - Nina Varela

I’ve requested Crier, Ayla, and Queen Junn. Please feel welcome to focus on these characters in whatever combination you like. I am also fine with you including other characters from the Crier’s War duology (Crier’s War, Iron Heart) in the narrative as long as their inclusion doesn't eclipse the role of the requested characters. Canon available for purchase.

General + Worldbuilding

There is so much in this canon that delights me. I came for the enemies-to-lovers f/f, and stayed for the richness of Nina Varela's world. Everything about the Automae, the process of Design and midwifery, the alchemical and magical lore, the sprinklings of ancient myth and legend are fascinating to me! I’m particularly interested in alchemy as it channels magic in this world, and would love to read more about the development of alchemy in a pre-or-post-canon setting.  

I'd deeply enjoy anything from small snapshots of post-Treaty-of-Thalen life to sprawling political drama as Rabu, Varn, and Tarreen navigate the shifts in power on the continent of Zulla. I'm so drawn to the idea of Ayla developing her alchemical knowledge and pursuing training as a Maker or a Midwife, and very into the potential for her to keep digging into the mystery of H. and Thomas Wren...

What else: how might Crier continue to blossom as a weaver of stories and a driving force in shifting Automae relationships to power? What is Junn doing with her life? (Every decision Junn makes fascinates me and I just want to get inside her brain and heart and bask in the sharpness, the messiness, the deeply guarded tenderness.) 

In short: Political epic? Yes. Slice-of-life? Yes. Quest to refine the art of making alchemical robot hearts? Yes. This feels like a canon that could take on a million different wildly satisfying forms, and I'll be so excited to read any of them. 

Shipping + Smut 

Ayla/Crier: wife goals. I long for proposal fic (who proposes? how? is it flawlessly romantic? disastrously perfect?). Wedding fic for these two would be fantastic! If you're inclined to write about years-into-the-future Ayla and Crier, this is one canon where I'd be truly excited to read babyfic. Imagining the process Ayla and Crier deciding to become parents (to a human or Automa child, or both) is a delight to me. 

I'd also be very down to read first time fic, honeymoon fic, fuck-in-the-library-fic…

Junn/Crier/Ayla or Junn/Crier or Junn/Ayla: I’m really into the idea of Junn instructing Ayla and Crier in the ways of leadership...and the ways of sex. I’m here for Junn domming people and Junn being on the receiving end of shockingly gentle sex. I desperately want to see her in vulnerable, hot moments. If something about her dynamic with either Ayla or Crier calls to you -- or something about the three of them together appeals -- I’d love to read about it! 

 

Oz - L. Frank Baum 

I’ve requested Dorothy, Ozma, Glinda, and The Queen of Ev. Please feel welcome to focus on these characters individually or together. I am also fine with you including other characters from the Oz canon in the narrative as long as their inclusion doesn't eclipse these two. Canon available for free.

General + Worldbuilding

I love the whimsy of Oz, the cheery fantastic and the razor's-edge danger that come with living in and loving Oz. Tonally, I'd love to read something that is very rooted in the Oz of L. Frank Baum's series, but that tackles mature themes. I'm perpetually curious about magic in Oz -- how it functions, how magic users learn to tap into their power, what it feels like to wield that power, and connections with elements and specific geographic locations. This is a fandom where I'd prefer no modern-day real-world AUs, if possible. 

Internal canon can often be wildly inconsistent, and although we don't really witness any of the characters who are young in the series maturing much beyond childhood/adolescence, I've long wondered about how older versions of Dorothy and Ozma would experience their world. Do they become fiercely protective of one another? Tender and gentle-hearted peacemakers? Magic users who are beautiful and terrible as the dawn, all shall love them and despair? A little of all of the above? 

I'm very down to read fic that reflects on Ozma's gender in a joyful, nontraumatic context. Trans woman Ozma/genderqueer femme Ozma are so important to me.

I’m also curious about what it’s like to be a powerful established adult magic user/ruler in Oz, and that’s where my love of Glinda comes in. What’s it like to have a book that tells you literally everything that happens in the world? How does one deal with that responsibility, and the temptations that might come with that? What’s a typical day in the life of Glinda the Good like, anyway? This is also part of my curiosity around the Queen of Ev: what’s it like to be a dowager Queen of Ev, a mother to many children, and a powerful woman in this world? Do she and Glinda ever meet up and chat about life? 

Shipping + Smut

Dorothy/Ozma: I long to know how these two realize they are in love. Mutual pining would be so, so good for me. The possibility of shipfic set amidst a lightly political plot is appealing to me. What would it be like to fall in love with the ruler of all Oz? What would it be like to fall in love with the Dorothy Gale? Have they always known, or is it something that happens gradually for both of them, and each one thinks it'll be impossible because of their responsibilities/because the other doesn't feel the same way and they don't want to ruin things?

I would love to read the two of them doing things like soft queer rituals of hair-brushing and styling, sitting with each other and talking about feelings, dressing (and undressing) each other in soft silk gowns -- and/or hard queer femmes Dorothy and Ozma kicking magical ass, getting a little bruised and battered, kissing in the heat of adventure. I'd enjoy a wide variety of smut with them! Anything from tender, sweet kisses and gentle fucking to them getting rough and kinky with each other. 

Glinda/Queen of Ev: So...what IS it like to have a book that tells you literally everything that happens in the world...and what’s a sorceress to do when she stumbles across the intimate personal activities of a dowager Queen across the desert? I long to know what these two might make of each other and get up to in bed. 

P.S. Oz is a canon where I could find some of my more kinky tastes (tentacles, oviposition) really delightful. 

 

The Turner Series - Courtney Milan 

I’ve requested Ash, Mark, Richard, and Smite. Please feel welcome to focus on these characters in whatever combination you like - you don't have to feature all four, but I would prefer at least two being featured in the fic. I am also fine with you including other characters from the Turner Series in the narrative as long as their inclusion doesn't eclipse the role of the requested characters. Canon available for purchase.

General

I just love these sweet traumatized brothers and their sweet traumatized ass of a brother-in-law/former best friend-slash-lover-turned frenemy. Thinking in terms of gen fic, here’s what has come to mind: fic about a time when Richard and Smite had a pleasant day together just being good friends, either during their time in school or post-Unraveled. Fic of Ash, Mark, and Smite being brotherly, possibly in the context of Ash having a toddler and Mark and Smite (and Richard!) figuring out how to be uncles. A comic hijinks fic involving all of the brothers trying to put together a party/a gift/a Plot Device of Choice for their wives/significant others, and everything goes wrong until it goes very right. 

Shipping + Smut 

Richard/Smite: I NEEDED these two to fuck in canon and I’m parched out here with the absence of Richard/Smite content on ao3.  Writer, if you want to get these dudes a room, Just The One Bed, and some lube, I am all in. Some potential ideas: 

• Richard and Smite: Bitter Exes Fall In Love And Make it Work fic. 
• Richard and Smite gently, sweetly, perhaps somewhat awkwardly lose their virginity together? 
• Richard comforts Smite after night terrors, Smite gets Smite about it, they have sex about it. 
• Richard and Smite deciding to face their long-simmering feelings, very complicated past, and unresolved sexual tension, either in an AU setting or with Miranda's blessing?

 

Top 5 Rat Movies I Made Up - JP Brammer: Gym Rat  

I’ve requested Jim, Ma, Vinny, and Worldbuilding. Please feel welcome to focus on these characters and/or the world in whatever combination you like. Canon available for free.

General + Worldbuilding

The moment I finished reading JP Brammer’s genius newsletter post “Top 5 Rat Movies I Made Up,” I knew I would be requesting one or more of the fake rat movies for Yuletide. This newsletter moved and delighted me in ways that I cannot fully articulate, and I would be utterly thrilled to receive fic featuring this canon. 

This is a canon featuring a fake version of Vinny from Jersey Shore playing opposite a rat named Jim and Jim’s mother, a rat affectionately known as “Ma” -- I don’t even know how to follow up on that with worldbuilding requests, save to say that I’m down. 

This is a canon made for real-world AUs, so my general DNW does not apply here...if you want to write about the cast of Jersey Shore meeting a rat named Jim who becomes a world-famous powerlifter, may the muses bless your pen! I feel like this canon could take really satisfying meta forms -- fic in the form of a film review, a list of Rotten Tomatoes reviews, fan forum posts, fic within fic...the possibilities are boundless. Or, if you are inspired to write a more detailed version of the story of Gym Rat as outlined in the newsletter... go for it! 

Shipping + Smut 

Vinny/Jim: Do I want to read about a fictionalized version of Vinny from Jersey Shore and a rat named Jim falling in bromance-to-romance love? Yes. Yes, I do. The mere thought of such a pairing is so delightfully overwhelming to me that I have no idea what else to prompt or ask for; I’d be over the moon to read a...rat/Jersey Shore castmember romance... set within the plot of a movie or a romance that happens post-fake-movie-canon while they’re bros living in an apartment together.

If you wish to write these two fucking, godspeed and more power to you, I look very forward to reading the result.  I would strongly prefer smut featuring Jim/Vinny to be anthropomorphized/furry style rather than zoophilic.

 

Top 5 Rat Movies I Made Up - JP Brammer: Legends of the Great Below 

I’ve requested British Rat 1, British Rat 2, Rat Girl Hero, and Worldbuilding. Please feel welcome to focus on these characters and/or the world in whatever combination you like. Canon available for free.

General + Worldbuilding

Of all the fake rat movies mentioned in JP Brammer’s newsletter, Legends of the Great Below was the one that tugged most at my heartstrings and made me want to know more about the world JP gives us hints of. Like, if you wanted to write a whole expanded version of the movie plot JP describes, that would be incredible...and I’d also love to read more about the world! How does the Great Below turn human trash into armor and weapons? Are there whole mystical quests like The Sword in the Stone that are really just rats grabbing a dull fork out of a trash heap? What legends do they tell about The Above Place? Who are the heroes of the Great Below? In addition to grabbing some junk treasure from The Above Place, how does one become a rat knight -- is there a process of squireship, learning courtly graces, etc? What’s their mythology like?  

This, too, is a canon made for real-world AUs, so my general DNW does not apply here. As with Gym Rat, I feel like this canon could take really satisfying meta forms -- fic in the form of a film review, a list of Rotten Tomatoes reviews, fan forum posts, fic within fic. And truly, if you are inspired to write a more detailed version of the story of Legends of the Great Below as outlined in the newsletter, that would be amazing! 

Note: technically, there are two British actors name-dropped for the role of one rat in the newsletter. The context is “Ideally, there would be some British rats” and then JP goes on to name-drop two different actors (Ian McKellen and Ewan McGregor) for the role of a single “powerhouse” rat. I chose to take the British rats, plural, idea and nominate British Rat #1 and British Rat #2, imagining that perhaps each actor could have a role. However, my headcanon here doesn’t need to determine what you do. :) This world is your oyster!

Shipping + Smut 

If you want to write love and sex into this world, I’m down. A love interest for Rat Girl Hero? Yes. An f/f love interest for Rat Girl Hero? HELL yes. The British Rats falling in love/existing as an old gay married rat couple? Double hell yes! Other romances that exist in this world, in the form of myth or original characters? I’m here for it!