Dear Yuletide Author 2022

[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!

Yuletide Mini-Challenges: Crueltide | Transtide | Yuleporn | Monstrous Tide

My ao3 username: serephemeral
Treats are welcome! 

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. Stories that deal with the general theme of "well, well, if it isn't the consequences of my own actions."
• Happy stories. Gentle, cozy stories. Fluff.
• Stories that weave hope into difficult or bittersweet circumstances. Stories about healing from trauma that don't do incredibly detailed, deep dives into the trauma.
• Also, stories about fucked up people doing fucked up things to one another and slowly becoming better. Traumatic situations and their fallout. Trauma that resolves by the end of the story; angsty stories that leave room for hope somewhere in the world of the story.
• 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

• 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, falling in love/lust with a captive (or captor), hurt/comfort, power imbalances. Running away from feelings and slowly accepting those feelings. People understanding one another on a deep level and alternately wounding and healing each other through that understanding.
• 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: Talking: dirty talk, talk that baits someone into sex, banter during sex. 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, fight sex, fingering, fisting, frotting/clothed sex, nonpenetrative sex, rough sex, pegging, scissoring, strap-ons, telepathy and mindfucking, fucking against a wall. Cocksucking and facefucking, particularly when a strap-on is involved. Light, medium, and heavy kink and bdsm (ropes and sensory deprivation = perennial delight); especially enjoy women domming. Dubcon of the variety that suggests both parties are really into it by the end of the encounter. Tentacles. Oviposition. Rough sex that does not lead to serious or lasting injuries. Power dynamics and power play with clearly negotiated limits; power dynamics and power play that stops short of nonconsensual sex.

DO NOT WANTS

• Unrequested prominent themes of ableism, abuse (emotional, physical, sexual), animal cruelty, 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 24/7 d/s relationships, abuse, cruelty, excessive control, and/or excessive jealousy as features of a romance.
• Infidelity. I'm fine with two characters established as a couple in canon deciding to open their relationship, but I prefer that all parties enthusiastically consent to it.
• Sex DNWs: 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, Queen Junn, and Dinara. 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 are Junn and Dinara doing with their lives? Both Junn and Dinara are such strong-willed characters, and I'd love to know more about potential fallout from Junn's involvement with Dinara's mother's death.

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: I'd enjoy reading a character study of these two via sex, particularly in the context of fic set several years after the end of the duology at a time when Ayla and Crier are having to navigate the worlds of politics and magic/alchemy as adults. I'd love to get a slice of the stressors on their relationship and how those stressors manifest in (and are worked out through) sex.

I'm also down for more fluffy directions! Proposal fic would be amazing: who proposes? how? is it flawlessly romantic? disastrously perfect? And, 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.

Junn/Dinara: I’m really into the idea of an AU where Junn and Dinara have an epic enemies-to-lovers romance. In such a scenario, I'd be happy if things simply didn't work out between June and Storme or if he's still in the picture and they work out a nonmonogamous relationship. I’m absolutely down for the idea of Junn and Dinara having rough, passionate sex, Dinara domming June, and Junn being on the receiving end of shockingly gentle sex. I desperately want to see both of them in vulnerable, hot moments.

 

Dimension 20: A Court of Fey and Flowers

I’ve requested Lady Chirp Featherfowl, Lord Squak Airavis, Esmé, and Suntar. Please feel welcome to focus on these characters individually or together -- you don't have to feature all four, but I'd love it if at least two make it into the fic. I am also fine with you including other characters from the ACoFaF canon in the narrative in significant ways as long as their inclusion doesn't eclipse the request character/s you decide to feature. Canon available via subscription. Spoilers for the recently-concluded campaign below.

General + Worldbuilding

This campaign brought me so much joy over the last several weeks, and I'd simply love to spend more time in the ACoFaF universe. If you're into worldbuilding, fic that explores the wider world of the fey realm -- the various courts (including ones we didn't see in the series), political intrigues, fey lore, romantic machinations -- would be a delight.

I had a difficult time narrowing down the characters I wanted to request because everyone is just that juicy, but I landed on my favorite Mature, Iconic, Hospitable, and Fearsome disaster cousins, the mortal woman who married into their family, and the princess of the Unseelie Court.

Chirp and Squak's unconditional love and devotion to one another is one of my favorite elements of the campaign. We're given snapshots of their centuries-long escapades, and if any of the little nuggets we got in-campaign spark your imagination to tell stories about their relationships with each other, with Grandfather, and with other fey, I'd be delighted to read something along those lines!

I'm also fascinated by Chirp's relationship with Esmé and would love to know how they met, fell in love, and decided to have a child together -- what draws Esmé to Chirp, and Chirp to Esmé? I'd love to read slice-of-life with them (and Peep), especially with an undercurrent of the threat of fey peril. Also, if you're inspired by the idea of Peep's (older) first drunken escapade with Squak, I'm SO down.

Suntar is such a quietly menacing character, and I'm so curious about what her life and experience in the Unseelie Court has been like: what drives her? Does Suntar secretly yearn to make a love match? I'd LOVE to read a deep dive into Suntar's internal workings -- her points of view over millennia of Blooms and fey life as she comes of age in her mother's court, and her impressions of and interactions with the Cousins over the years. After the end of the campaign, might her path cross the Cousins' and Esmé's... and if so, what relationships might form? 

Shipping + Smut

Chirp/Esme: I'm so fascinated by the dynamic of fey who fall for mortals and the ways that power dynamics play out in those relationships. I often enjoy reading stories where feelings, conflicts, and power dynamics are mapped out in romance and sex, and these two are no exception. I'd be so into reading romantic and/or smutty stories about how these two met, and would love it if you wanted to run with some of my romance + sex likes -- fake dating/marriage, enemies-to-lovers, rivalmance, or just a good-old-fashioned love at first sight story. I'd be very into reading toppy Esmé and submissive Chirp; service top Chirp also appeals.

Chirp/Suntar: Two archfey who are into a marriage of convenience prior to falling on separate sides of a conflict? Sounds like a juicy romance setup to me! Honestly, I'd be down to read almost anything with these two. Smut with feelings? Yes. Sprawling centuries-long slowburn romance? Yes. Chirp ordering Suntar around in bed (or vice versa)? Yes!

Chirp/Esmé/Suntar: Sometimes, what works well with two works even juicier with three! A post-campaign romance that involves Suntar falling for Chirp and Esmé fascinates me.

Chirp/Squak and Chirp/Squak/anyone and everyone else: It's rare that my taste in pairings involves two members of the same family, but these two... well, we know from the campaign that they have previously slept their way through the fey courts together, and that making separate matches is a bit of a departure for them. Their dynamic is just too fucking good for me not to be curious about how they might wind up doing, well, everything together, including sex, romance, and marriage.

 

The Rings of Power

I’ve requested Adar, Galadriel, Halbrand, and Isildur. Please feel welcome to focus on these characters in whatever combination you like, individually or together. You don't have to feature all four, but I would prefer that at least two be featured in the fic. I am also fine with you including other characters from the Rings of Power or the Tolkien Legendarium in significant ways as long as their inclusion doesn't eclipse the role of the requested characters. Canon available via subscription. Major spoilers for the recently-concluded first season below.

General

 

DNW Note: This is a canon where it may be difficult to write fic without touching on in-universe themes of abuse, and in-universe racism and slavery/forced servitude. I'm fine if those themes as presented in-canon are part of the story.

As a Tolkien fan, this show has me feeling complicated things. As a lover of beautiful people in messy relationships, this show has me HOOKED. While I side-eye a few of the choices they've made, for the most part I really enjoy the direction they're taking things. From a worldbuilding standpoint, I'm particularly interested in all things Númenor and all things Southlands/Mordor/Adar.

Adar may well be my favorite character in the show. I love that they give us one of the elves who was forced into the service of Morgoth and that they show him having a genuinely touching relationship with the Orcs, his children. Things that make me feel excited: sad, poetic character study of Adar throughout the ages; fierce, threatening Adar with a side of tenderness as he crafts a plan to make a home for his children; angsty Adar reflecting on power, desire, the gods, and his children. The hints we get about his relationship with Sauron Halbrand are so interesting to me, and I'm down to learn more about their history!

I'm really enjoying getting to know young Isildur -- I love his restlessness, brashness, and sense of yearning. I've been a little haunted by the line where Valandil tells him something like "I hope that one day you find something worth sacrificing everything for." It immediately brought to mind his quote from LotR: "But for my part I will risk no hurt to this thing: of all works of Sauron the only fair. It is precious to me, though I buy it with great pain." CHILLS. I'm so into the Númenorean themes of predestination versus choices that can alter the shape of future, and I'm curious how these weave with Isildur's character at this point in time.

I'm just dying to know what Sauron Halbrand was doing on a raft in the middle of Nowhere, The Ocean (floating on Ossë, Uinen, AND Ulmo? What was he thinking?). Dying to know why he saved Galadriel, dying to know what the fuck the plan was at any and all points, dying to know if he actually meant it when he said he was sorry about Finrod (give Charlie Vickers an Emmy for his facial expressions in the Blacksmith's shop already), dying to know if he actually does believe he's trying to repair his wrongs. Just... all the things. I'll happily read any and all the things.

The direction they've taken Galadriel is so compelling to me: I love that she's so consumed by a desire for justice and revenge that her singular focus prevents her from hearing wisdom or truly thinking through the consequences of her actions. I love that we see her both advocating trust to others and experiencing internal shatterings of trust multiple times over the course of the season. I'm so down to read something that explores these themes (and potentially her... grief? over MIA Celeborn)!

Shipping + Smut

DNW Note: This is a canon where I'm down for ship dynamics I often DNW -- specifically, cruelty, excessive control, jealousy, 24/7 d/s relationships, and very unequal power dynamics. I can imagine each of these pairings featuring those dynamics in really juicy ways, and in this instance, I waive those specific DNWs. I am down to read some fucked up filth! 

 

Adar/Isildur: I mean, we don't really know where either of them are relative to the other post-Orodruin eruption. If they wind up in the same location I'd be FASCINATED to read about any relationship that might develop. Adar has such a way with words, and Isildur is so brash and potentially impressionable... what might grow between them? What hot and deliciously filthy sex might they have?  

Adar/Sauron Halbrand: We know these two have a history. We know Adar believes that he killed Sauron and Sauron Halbrand does not appear to remember this fondly. All I'm saying is, with such a juicy past and gobs of interesting power dynamics, there has got to be room for fucked-up romance in their past. Were these two bangin' it out in Angband back in the day in mutual hatred, misery, and desire?

Galadriel/Sauron Halbrand: I didn't expect to be here, but if shipping them is wrong I don't want to be right. That final scene on the raft when he would make her a queen, beautiful and terrible as the dawn... that dagger against his throat... I DESPERATELY want to read her dominating him and him gladly, willingly submitting. I want to read the AU where she takes him up on the offer to bind him to the light and be bound to power -- especially the universe where it goes differently than he expects. I'm just so down for anything featuring these two!

 

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. 

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

. 

 

Widow's Captive - Logan Specter

I’ve requested the Widow, the Widow's Captive, and Worldbuilding. Please feel welcome to focus on these characters and/or the world in whatever combination you like. Canon available for free with slightly variant information here, here, and here.

General + Worldbuilding

DNW Note: For this canon, I am fine with including themes of abuse and harassment in fic.

I am simply in love with the sumptuous world this scarf offers up. Who is the Widow, and how came she to her nest? How did she come by her vast and varied collection of objects? We're told the Captive is a young noblewoman who foolishly attempted to navigate the Widow's lair and was caught in the web -- what drew her there? What are the circumstances and dynamics of the world outside this web, this lair? What happens immediately preceding the scene we're shown... and what happens after? 

Shipping + Smut

DNW Note: This is a canon where I'm down for dynamics I often DNW -- specifically, cruelty, excessive control, 24/7 d/s relationships, and very unequal power dynamics. I can imagine this pairing featuring those dynamics in very satisfying ways, and in this instance, I waive those specific DNWs. I am down to read some fucked-up filth! 

I love the eroticism of this image: the single tear and the single drip are just *chef's kiss.* I love the aspects of bondage, dominance, discipline, and submission, the explicit imagery of silken ties. I'd love to read hot dirty sex between these two, and I have a special soft spot for filthy sex that turns into tender intimacy. I can't help loving a dynamic that starts out a little fucked up and ends in piercing-but-soft romance, and it super appeals when applied to these two characters.