Dear Yuletide writer...
Oct. 21st, 2021 04:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dorindaHello, Writer! However you ended up writing something for me, I thank you--I'm glad and grateful we share these little fandoms. ♥
(And let me just say that you'll notice it's not uncommon for me to ask for many of the same fandoms from year to year. If you've written for me previously, please do not ever think this is because I don't still love your gift! I do--it's just that these fandoms are so small and I love them so much. And I am greedy. :D)
If you already have something in mind you think I'll like, go ahead and write it! I want you to enjoy yourself.
If more information about my preferences would help and inspire you, then here's some:
SOME OF MY GENERAL PREFERENCES:
* Hopeful/happy endings. Melancholy/bittersweet tones can work too, just not hopeless/grim please.
* Shipping if possible. Not mandatory in the non-canon pairings, of course--Optional Details Are Optional!--but if you're willing, please pair the characters up romantically/sexually (if you're not shipping them, please have their connection be at least as intense as it is in canon). On-page sex is fine but not required, whatever suits the story. I'm interested in things like:
Discovery, realization
Breaking through fears and repression and damaging levels of self-denial/self-control
Reaching out, finding refuge
Stumbling/falling, only to find they can catch each other
Those tiny moments of intensity and connection
* Some of the tropes and approaches I particularly like:
Trust
Loyalty
Worry
Protectiveness
Hurt/Comfort
Pining (eventually requited)
Tenderness, especially when unexpected
Angst (with a happy/hopeful resolution)
Uncovering a secret
A shell cracking to reveal vulnerability beneath
Physical care like tending wounds/washing/etc.
Nurturing with food/drink/warmth
Expressing deepest feelings with ordinary words (like, I love when there's some seemingly-innocuous phrase that they both know is actually a powerful declaration)
* Classic frameworks are always welcome! Including though not limited to:
Bedsharing
Huddling for warmth
Pretend couple
Discovering they became a couple without realizing
Undercover as a rentboy
Mistaken for a couple, including mistaken for sugar daddy/trade
Rescues
Suffering/sacrificing for the other
Stranded somewhere
Etc.
One jumps in the way of the other getting hurt? (Especially if the saved one is then mad about it?) One gets attacked and the other rises in wrath, GET BACK HE IS MINE? One awkwardly expresses the depth of his feelings with a painstakingly fried egg on toast? A desire to impress him, an effort to figure out how to be silently vulnerable with him, a need for him that he hadn't understood until now or had hidden while pining? Yes plz.
Big drama is good, quiet subtlety is good. ♥
Here are my signups, in alphabetical order: The Exorcist (TV), HIStory3: Trapped, Shetland, The Sting (1973).
The Exorcist (TV)
Marcus Keane
My signup:
I only listed Marcus, but I also love Tomas, as well as what we've seen of Peter. I would love some Marcus/Tomas and/or Marcus/Peter, if you're up for it. If not, a story centered on Marcus is great.
Marcus is my bulletproof-fave--so sensitive but so intensely strong and resilient even under torture; so fraught with emotion and pain but also quick to joke; fierce, but gentle (and the ways he lovingly comforts people while he fights their demons, A+++); with that terrible history and that training as a child-soldier; climbing right into Tomas’ life as well as his apartment; so frightened and vulnerable with Peter.
Special mention to Marcus's total queer-rough-trade aesthetic, A+++.
What happened during the six months between seasons 1 and 2? How did Marcus and Tomas come to trust each other, how did they move toward the "I don't wanna lose you"/"Then bring me back" place of season 2? Were there crisis moments, struggles with their own or each other's flaws? Were there rescues? Was there pining?
What about post-series? How do they deal with what happened? How do they reunite? Or feel free to handwave the specifics of the reunion itself and skip even further ahead...what are they doing in the future, as the demonic war intensifies?
Demons specialize in finding vulnerabilities to try to use them. Soft spots, self-image, shame, fears, secrets... What tactics might they try on Marcus, Marcus and Tomas, Marcus and Peter?
Marcus sees in Peter a glimpse of the normality he can't (shouldn't?) have. What if Marcus's secret life/history bleeds over into that normality and puts Peter at risk? (Angst and guilt? \o/ Though I bet Peter might be better able to handle it than Marcus expects...)
I have no problem with show-typical violence/horror tropes, and enjoy the trappings/customs/labyrinthine histories of the Catholic church (and this show's alternate-history church; feel free to do some worldbuilding if you want). Exorcisms and other aspects of their work are great, but you don’t have to focus on that if you don’t want to--I’m also into the between-times, befores and afters, the details of daily life, etc.
Happy or at least hopeful ending please!
HIStory3: Trapped
Any characters (The nominated characters are: Meng Shaofei, Tang Yi, Jack, Zhao-zi)
My signup:
This has been a comfort-rewatch for me, despite some of the difficult things that happen in it... I love the characters, and the way they're there for each other.
I love Meng Shaofei's dogged determination (both in his work and his personal life), and also the way his feelings for Tang Yi snuck up on him...he's usually emotionally fluent and skilled in talking to others, but doesn't seem to turn that perception on himself as often. But once he does realize his feelings, he accepts them without hesitation or guilt, just letting things be as they are. He has a peacefulness.
I love Tang Yi's determination as well, but his is more self-demanding and made of sharp steel--he tries so hard to be everything for those he loves (living and dead), and ends up nearly driving himself into the ground. He is endlessly loyal and courageous, but his protective shell made him brittle--he really grew over time, opening up his softer/fragile side with Meng Shaofei, willing to be emotionally vulnerable with him.
I love Zhao-zi's eccentricity and sweetness, undimmed by his past losses and whatever he might encounter on the job. He's a little weirdo, so resilient, so hard to figure out--just when Jack might think he has him typed (for instance, kidnap & intimidate, it works all the time on much harder men than this), Zhao-zi turns around and surprises him.
I love Jack's aura of wry experience, almost always with that small smile in his eyes and/or on his lips. He's the most morally flexible of all of them, making a life in grey areas, and seems potentially the best able to adapt and handle himself in any situation. Full of secrets, but clearly dazzled by someone who seems not to have any true secrets at all.
I love the show's many uses of food and cooking!
Special mention to Tang Yi and Jack without their shirts on, HOLY MOLEY SOMEONE CATCH ME.
I'd love to see more of either couple after the show...
* What happens during the prison term, to either or both of TY and MSF? What are the ramifications rippling through the local underworld, and the police force? How do they nurture their fledgling connection even when they're apart... What's it like when they're back together?
* Jack's entire life up to now has been a very different shape, full of risk and shades of grey, and that's what he seems used to. What does he do now, how does he adapt? How does he deal with ZZ's job? And the same for Zhao Zi--though I would love it if ZZ is surprising as usual, for instance having the least trouble adapting to a strange new situation. (Including their love life...what if ZZ surprises Jack there somehow too?)
I'd love to see more backstory...
* A scene from Tang Yi's youth with Tang Guodong? From Meng Shaofei's past with Li Lizhen? Maybe there are other things their fallible but loving mentors had in common, that TY and MSF find out more about.
* Anything about Jack's past, which is a tantalizing black box. How did he get where he is/how he is? How did he learn to play both sides? How have his emotions developed?
Happy or at least hopeful ending, please!
Shetland
Duncan Hunter, Jimmy Perez
My signup:
I love Jimmy's caretaking, idealism, his desire to do right and protect his islands and his people. I love his calm--and the times he loses his calm. I love Duncan's flexibility, sociability, compassion, sense of humor; I love his insight and the way he understands people, especially Jimmy.
And I love their relationship--their work as co-parents, the way they support each other, their history, their trust and vulnerability. Sometimes they bring out the worst--Jimmy's wish for Duncan to pull himself together can shade into self-righteousness; Duncan's wish for Jimmy to think past a black-and-white worldview can shade into immaturity. But they've been better and better for each other over time. Duncan comes to Jimmy as his automatic refuge in hard times; Jimmy in turn can stop pretending he has it all together, and lean on the supportive heart Duncan has beneath his casual exterior.
Special mention to Duncan being a total silver fox, and Jimmy having the coziest sweaters (plus, best hugs y/y?).
We know Jimmy has been openly suffering Empty Nest Syndrome since Cassie first started spreading her wings--but how's Duncan feeling about it? Does he fear losing Jimmy, now that their foundational reason for being so close is changing?
Jimmy seems to think he has to be alone and apart in order to do his job, but he forgets that Duncan has always somehow been an exception to that--can he get it through his head?
Duncan being traumatized/wet/cold in a blanket in season 5 was inspirational. Were there aftereffects of that event? (Jimmy is familiar with death up close, but Duncan isn't.) Or something else happens--a boat accident in an isolated spot?
Jimmy stepping between Duncan and the shotgun in season 4 was inspirational. Were there aftereffects of that? I love seeing Jimmy protect Duncan--but also, what about Duncan protecting Jimmy?
They were a de facto couple for so long, raising Cassie...do they eventually realize they are (or want to be) a couple in other ways as well? Did one wake up to the wish before the other, but kept it secret?
Post season 5 is great, but not necessary; set it anytime, or no time in particular. I might not have seen season 6 yet--no need to include it, though I don't mind if you do, if it's for a good purpose.
Happy or at least hopeful ending please!
The Sting (1973)
Henry Gondorff, Johnny Hooker
Inspirational (and educational!) links from a menswear blog, using plenty of screencaps:
https://bamfstyle.com/2013/12/31/the-sting-newman-tux/
https://bamfstyle.com/2016/08/11/sting-redford-tux/
https://bamfstyle.com/2013/08/19/sting-redford-gray-suit/
https://bamfstyle.com/2013/01/10/the-sting-brown-pinstripe/
https://bamfstyle.com/2013/01/28/sting-newman-brn-plaid/
My signup:
I love Henry's knowledge and competence, his history and status, his close and loyal inner circle. I love how protective and worried he gets, how he bears such weight on his shoulders. I love Johnny's eagerness to get involved and to learn, his neediness and hunger, even his risky-carelessness. The way he runs like a deer, the way his eyes glow across a crowded room.
Special mention to the way Henry and Johnny look in strap undershirts. Also: Henry's hat.
I love how their partnership changes, from awkward and uncertain to close and trusting, with barely-repressed emotional undertones. But there's that communication issue under the surface--Johnny keeping so many secrets, Henry aware he's hiding things and pleading with him to speak up ("You can't play your friends like marks, Hooker."). They depend on nuanced and wordless connection on the job, but backstage and onstage are different things, to Henry (even though he can still read Johnny either way). In the end he skips to the part where he discovered Johnny's secrets and protected him, but what's the aftereffect? Has Johnny learned to trust him more? Or is it going to take more time and effort?
What do they do after the end of the movie? Does Johnny get impatient? Does Henry teach him new things?
How was Henry taught his trade back in the day, and does it still work? Why didn't Henry have an apprentice already? Did he before, did it go badly, or is Johnny a surprise exception?
What if something goes wrong? Relying on the grifter community-- or, those times and places when all they have to rely on is each other.
What about Johnny being protective of Henry for a change?
A closeup on the Henry/Johnny relationship is great, but I also am totally into the whole parallel grifter society beneath the surface of the regular world, sort of a mixture of a huge extended family and an experienced repertory theater company. So if you want, feel free to paint a larger picture.
A new con, large or small, is welcome, but you don’t have to focus on that if you don’t want to. I’m also into the time between jobs (or offstage during a job), long train trips or fancy hotels or rides hitched in a dusty jalopy, risk-junkies on the road together.
If it becomes relevant, I ask that the good guys’ cons be against deserving targets--fitting the Robin Hoodish tone of the movie, where you go after the well-heeled and greedy, using their own greed to trap them. The con as reparative justice.
Happy or at least hopeful ending please!
Have fun writing, and thank you! *\o/*
(And let me just say that you'll notice it's not uncommon for me to ask for many of the same fandoms from year to year. If you've written for me previously, please do not ever think this is because I don't still love your gift! I do--it's just that these fandoms are so small and I love them so much. And I am greedy. :D)
If you already have something in mind you think I'll like, go ahead and write it! I want you to enjoy yourself.
If more information about my preferences would help and inspire you, then here's some:
SOME OF MY GENERAL PREFERENCES:
* Hopeful/happy endings. Melancholy/bittersweet tones can work too, just not hopeless/grim please.
* Shipping if possible. Not mandatory in the non-canon pairings, of course--Optional Details Are Optional!--but if you're willing, please pair the characters up romantically/sexually (if you're not shipping them, please have their connection be at least as intense as it is in canon). On-page sex is fine but not required, whatever suits the story. I'm interested in things like:
Discovery, realization
Breaking through fears and repression and damaging levels of self-denial/self-control
Reaching out, finding refuge
Stumbling/falling, only to find they can catch each other
Those tiny moments of intensity and connection
* Some of the tropes and approaches I particularly like:
Trust
Loyalty
Worry
Protectiveness
Hurt/Comfort
Pining (eventually requited)
Tenderness, especially when unexpected
Angst (with a happy/hopeful resolution)
Uncovering a secret
A shell cracking to reveal vulnerability beneath
Physical care like tending wounds/washing/etc.
Nurturing with food/drink/warmth
Expressing deepest feelings with ordinary words (like, I love when there's some seemingly-innocuous phrase that they both know is actually a powerful declaration)
* Classic frameworks are always welcome! Including though not limited to:
Bedsharing
Huddling for warmth
Pretend couple
Discovering they became a couple without realizing
Undercover as a rentboy
Mistaken for a couple, including mistaken for sugar daddy/trade
Rescues
Suffering/sacrificing for the other
Stranded somewhere
Etc.
One jumps in the way of the other getting hurt? (Especially if the saved one is then mad about it?) One gets attacked and the other rises in wrath, GET BACK HE IS MINE? One awkwardly expresses the depth of his feelings with a painstakingly fried egg on toast? A desire to impress him, an effort to figure out how to be silently vulnerable with him, a need for him that he hadn't understood until now or had hidden while pining? Yes plz.
Big drama is good, quiet subtlety is good. ♥
Here are my signups, in alphabetical order: The Exorcist (TV), HIStory3: Trapped, Shetland, The Sting (1973).
The Exorcist (TV)
Marcus Keane
My signup:
I only listed Marcus, but I also love Tomas, as well as what we've seen of Peter. I would love some Marcus/Tomas and/or Marcus/Peter, if you're up for it. If not, a story centered on Marcus is great.
Marcus is my bulletproof-fave--so sensitive but so intensely strong and resilient even under torture; so fraught with emotion and pain but also quick to joke; fierce, but gentle (and the ways he lovingly comforts people while he fights their demons, A+++); with that terrible history and that training as a child-soldier; climbing right into Tomas’ life as well as his apartment; so frightened and vulnerable with Peter.
Special mention to Marcus's total queer-rough-trade aesthetic, A+++.
What happened during the six months between seasons 1 and 2? How did Marcus and Tomas come to trust each other, how did they move toward the "I don't wanna lose you"/"Then bring me back" place of season 2? Were there crisis moments, struggles with their own or each other's flaws? Were there rescues? Was there pining?
What about post-series? How do they deal with what happened? How do they reunite? Or feel free to handwave the specifics of the reunion itself and skip even further ahead...what are they doing in the future, as the demonic war intensifies?
Demons specialize in finding vulnerabilities to try to use them. Soft spots, self-image, shame, fears, secrets... What tactics might they try on Marcus, Marcus and Tomas, Marcus and Peter?
Marcus sees in Peter a glimpse of the normality he can't (shouldn't?) have. What if Marcus's secret life/history bleeds over into that normality and puts Peter at risk? (Angst and guilt? \o/ Though I bet Peter might be better able to handle it than Marcus expects...)
I have no problem with show-typical violence/horror tropes, and enjoy the trappings/customs/labyrinthine histories of the Catholic church (and this show's alternate-history church; feel free to do some worldbuilding if you want). Exorcisms and other aspects of their work are great, but you don’t have to focus on that if you don’t want to--I’m also into the between-times, befores and afters, the details of daily life, etc.
Happy or at least hopeful ending please!
HIStory3: Trapped
Any characters (The nominated characters are: Meng Shaofei, Tang Yi, Jack, Zhao-zi)
My signup:
This has been a comfort-rewatch for me, despite some of the difficult things that happen in it... I love the characters, and the way they're there for each other.
I love Meng Shaofei's dogged determination (both in his work and his personal life), and also the way his feelings for Tang Yi snuck up on him...he's usually emotionally fluent and skilled in talking to others, but doesn't seem to turn that perception on himself as often. But once he does realize his feelings, he accepts them without hesitation or guilt, just letting things be as they are. He has a peacefulness.
I love Tang Yi's determination as well, but his is more self-demanding and made of sharp steel--he tries so hard to be everything for those he loves (living and dead), and ends up nearly driving himself into the ground. He is endlessly loyal and courageous, but his protective shell made him brittle--he really grew over time, opening up his softer/fragile side with Meng Shaofei, willing to be emotionally vulnerable with him.
I love Zhao-zi's eccentricity and sweetness, undimmed by his past losses and whatever he might encounter on the job. He's a little weirdo, so resilient, so hard to figure out--just when Jack might think he has him typed (for instance, kidnap & intimidate, it works all the time on much harder men than this), Zhao-zi turns around and surprises him.
I love Jack's aura of wry experience, almost always with that small smile in his eyes and/or on his lips. He's the most morally flexible of all of them, making a life in grey areas, and seems potentially the best able to adapt and handle himself in any situation. Full of secrets, but clearly dazzled by someone who seems not to have any true secrets at all.
I love the show's many uses of food and cooking!
Special mention to Tang Yi and Jack without their shirts on, HOLY MOLEY SOMEONE CATCH ME.
I'd love to see more of either couple after the show...
* What happens during the prison term, to either or both of TY and MSF? What are the ramifications rippling through the local underworld, and the police force? How do they nurture their fledgling connection even when they're apart... What's it like when they're back together?
* Jack's entire life up to now has been a very different shape, full of risk and shades of grey, and that's what he seems used to. What does he do now, how does he adapt? How does he deal with ZZ's job? And the same for Zhao Zi--though I would love it if ZZ is surprising as usual, for instance having the least trouble adapting to a strange new situation. (Including their love life...what if ZZ surprises Jack there somehow too?)
I'd love to see more backstory...
* A scene from Tang Yi's youth with Tang Guodong? From Meng Shaofei's past with Li Lizhen? Maybe there are other things their fallible but loving mentors had in common, that TY and MSF find out more about.
* Anything about Jack's past, which is a tantalizing black box. How did he get where he is/how he is? How did he learn to play both sides? How have his emotions developed?
Happy or at least hopeful ending, please!
Shetland
Duncan Hunter, Jimmy Perez
My signup:
I love Jimmy's caretaking, idealism, his desire to do right and protect his islands and his people. I love his calm--and the times he loses his calm. I love Duncan's flexibility, sociability, compassion, sense of humor; I love his insight and the way he understands people, especially Jimmy.
And I love their relationship--their work as co-parents, the way they support each other, their history, their trust and vulnerability. Sometimes they bring out the worst--Jimmy's wish for Duncan to pull himself together can shade into self-righteousness; Duncan's wish for Jimmy to think past a black-and-white worldview can shade into immaturity. But they've been better and better for each other over time. Duncan comes to Jimmy as his automatic refuge in hard times; Jimmy in turn can stop pretending he has it all together, and lean on the supportive heart Duncan has beneath his casual exterior.
Special mention to Duncan being a total silver fox, and Jimmy having the coziest sweaters (plus, best hugs y/y?).
We know Jimmy has been openly suffering Empty Nest Syndrome since Cassie first started spreading her wings--but how's Duncan feeling about it? Does he fear losing Jimmy, now that their foundational reason for being so close is changing?
Jimmy seems to think he has to be alone and apart in order to do his job, but he forgets that Duncan has always somehow been an exception to that--can he get it through his head?
Duncan being traumatized/wet/cold in a blanket in season 5 was inspirational. Were there aftereffects of that event? (Jimmy is familiar with death up close, but Duncan isn't.) Or something else happens--a boat accident in an isolated spot?
Jimmy stepping between Duncan and the shotgun in season 4 was inspirational. Were there aftereffects of that? I love seeing Jimmy protect Duncan--but also, what about Duncan protecting Jimmy?
They were a de facto couple for so long, raising Cassie...do they eventually realize they are (or want to be) a couple in other ways as well? Did one wake up to the wish before the other, but kept it secret?
Post season 5 is great, but not necessary; set it anytime, or no time in particular. I might not have seen season 6 yet--no need to include it, though I don't mind if you do, if it's for a good purpose.
Happy or at least hopeful ending please!
The Sting (1973)
Henry Gondorff, Johnny Hooker
Inspirational (and educational!) links from a menswear blog, using plenty of screencaps:
https://bamfstyle.com/2013/12/31/the-sting-newman-tux/
https://bamfstyle.com/2016/08/11/sting-redford-tux/
https://bamfstyle.com/2013/08/19/sting-redford-gray-suit/
https://bamfstyle.com/2013/01/10/the-sting-brown-pinstripe/
https://bamfstyle.com/2013/01/28/sting-newman-brn-plaid/
My signup:
I love Henry's knowledge and competence, his history and status, his close and loyal inner circle. I love how protective and worried he gets, how he bears such weight on his shoulders. I love Johnny's eagerness to get involved and to learn, his neediness and hunger, even his risky-carelessness. The way he runs like a deer, the way his eyes glow across a crowded room.
Special mention to the way Henry and Johnny look in strap undershirts. Also: Henry's hat.
I love how their partnership changes, from awkward and uncertain to close and trusting, with barely-repressed emotional undertones. But there's that communication issue under the surface--Johnny keeping so many secrets, Henry aware he's hiding things and pleading with him to speak up ("You can't play your friends like marks, Hooker."). They depend on nuanced and wordless connection on the job, but backstage and onstage are different things, to Henry (even though he can still read Johnny either way). In the end he skips to the part where he discovered Johnny's secrets and protected him, but what's the aftereffect? Has Johnny learned to trust him more? Or is it going to take more time and effort?
What do they do after the end of the movie? Does Johnny get impatient? Does Henry teach him new things?
How was Henry taught his trade back in the day, and does it still work? Why didn't Henry have an apprentice already? Did he before, did it go badly, or is Johnny a surprise exception?
What if something goes wrong? Relying on the grifter community-- or, those times and places when all they have to rely on is each other.
What about Johnny being protective of Henry for a change?
A closeup on the Henry/Johnny relationship is great, but I also am totally into the whole parallel grifter society beneath the surface of the regular world, sort of a mixture of a huge extended family and an experienced repertory theater company. So if you want, feel free to paint a larger picture.
A new con, large or small, is welcome, but you don’t have to focus on that if you don’t want to. I’m also into the time between jobs (or offstage during a job), long train trips or fancy hotels or rides hitched in a dusty jalopy, risk-junkies on the road together.
If it becomes relevant, I ask that the good guys’ cons be against deserving targets--fitting the Robin Hoodish tone of the movie, where you go after the well-heeled and greedy, using their own greed to trap them. The con as reparative justice.
Happy or at least hopeful ending please!
Have fun writing, and thank you! *\o/*
