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Dear Yuletide Santa!
(The first part is cut-and-pasted from last year's Dear Yuletide Santa letter, as it still stands.)
To my![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
yuletide writer:
Yes, I can't shut up once I start typing. Don't be scared by the length; it's all optional. :D
First off, thank you! I will be thrilled with whatever I get, so you don't need to worry. :D I am extremely easy to please and very nice that way.
Let me give you a bit more detail on my tastes - but if you find you need to write the story in a certain way, then you go ahead and do that. I don't care what rating you write it, although I tend to prefer sensuality to porn, in general.
A few things I especially like in fic:
-- male/female relationships that aren't necessarily romantic
-- hell, any sort of friendship that isn't necessarily romantic
-- humor
-- plot
-- good characterization
-- a strong voice
What I don't particularly like:
-- schmoop
-- songfic
-- mpreg
-- non-con
-- AU
-- introspective navel-gazing unless there's a really good twist at the end
-- for some reason, in pre-modern settings first-person narration tends to grate on me. I think it's because the voice usually sounds too modern for the setting.
I don't quite grok shipping and will read any pairing the writer can convince me of within the confines of the story, with the exception of the personal squicks of underage/overage or teacher[mentor]/student character pairings (sweet puppy-love, school-age romances, unrequited crushes younger characters have on older excepted), so if you've got an OTP feel free to indulge yourself, no matter what the genders/numbers involved. :D Gen is just fine, also. I tend to prefer that romance not the be the focal point of a story, anyway, as I figure if I wanted to be reading a romance novel, I'd be reading a romance novel instead of the fandoms below.
Some of my Cool Bits include: being in the moment while feeling its transience, mono no aware, illusion, the night of a full moon, the terrible weight of the past, the journey is more important than the destination, exotic perfumes, moral ambiguity, secrets, liminality, legends, the changing of the seasons, the end of an era, secret passages, ruins, notes in the margins of books, a solitary journey to an unknown destination, love/hate relationships, a sense of time passing, the edge between civilization and the unknown, the moments before an era fades away, the deep forest, mysterious mountains, rivers, landscapes lost in mist, lost civilizations, incense, what happens after the fairy tale is over, crossroads, moonlight, traveling, ancient buildings, trading routes, mysteries never fully explained, a sense of deep time, shelter from a storm, history affecting the present, people who belong to past eras, the haunting sound of a bamboo flute, a sense of the numinous, beauty found in the mundane, small unexpected delights, relationships that aren't necessarily romantic, love or friendship expressed in atypical ways, the landscape as integral to the story, the landscape or city as a character, the Welsh sense of hiraeth - once defined to me as 'nostalgia for a past that never was'. (And I wrote the Cool Bits Story Generator, if you want more ideas.:D)
Now for the individual fandoms. These are guidelines, not requirements: I'd rather read a story you felt good writing than a story that had to be forced into a shape I dictated. If you prefer working without prompts, do so.
Mononoke aka Ayakashi: Bakeneko - I love the aesthetics of this anime, from the look to the way the facts of the matter at hand always need to be unpacked from the layers of misunderstanding, misdirection, and lies they're swaddled in. As you can probably tell from my choices, I have a serious love for Japanese and Chinese folklore and mythology. You may already be aware of the Obakemono Project; if not, it may help you.
As for prompts: well, the standard formula of the Medicine Seller coming across a mononoke of sorts and solving the mystery appeals to me. :) He seems to be eternal, of sorts, at least appearing in the same form throughout history, so placing him in a different era of Japanese history, either past or present, might be interesting.
Qwan - Again, the mythic/legendary elements here call me in. I also like the Taoist prostitute Shaga and the cheerful con man Chikei, and the womanizing sleaze Ukitsu. I chose Qwan as a character because I'd like him in there, or even just mentioned at some point if you can do it, but perhaps you could follow one of the other three's stories and reveal a bit of their past or their present? Or maybe a more standard demon-hunt with Chikei and Qwan before serious plot started happening in the manga? Or if you've got a better idea, go for it! Bonus points if it involves/is about the sort of strange Chinese folkloric creatures you find in Chinese bestiaries.
But there's little enough canon material that I'll go along with whatever works for you, even if it doesn't mention Qwan. :)
(It's been long enough since I last looked at it that I can't quite remember if his name is spelled Chikei or Chieki. Bad fan! Bad, bad fan!)
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou aka Records of a Yokohama Shopping Trip - Despite my mention of plottiness above, I have a deep love for the sort of story where nothing really happens: pastoral stories that dwell on the beauty of everyday life, small discoveries that warm the heart, and mono no aware: the beauty to be found in transience. Along with cycles of seasons, and time passing, and mysteries of the past, and wondering who went before you and who will come after you, and what they will/did think, and if they'd wonder about you. All of which YKK has in spades. :) I chose the Misago as a character because she's a symbol of all that, but she doesn't need to be the focus of the story, she could just be mentioned in passing.
As for prompts? Hmm... I could say "just another day in the life" but that would describe almost all of the stories. XD What about a traveler passing through the area? Maybe looking for something? Or something about the mysteries of growing up? Or something about how the characters mark the turn of the seasons, or an annual festival?
Aria - The reasons I like this are much the same as the reasons I like YKK. Aria doesn't have the mysterious apocalypse that changed the world that YKK had, but it has a lot of the same emphasis on the beauty of the everyday and finding small, unexpected delights around the corner. I tend to prefer the manga stories to the anime, but I'll be OK with whatever version you work with. :) My current favorite story is the one in the manga one where Akari visits the island made to look like the large Inari shrine in Kyoto and runs into the fox wedding - the mix of unworldly and mundane and not being able to quite tell where one goes from one to the other hits me just right. Although the anime story that so far appeals the most to me is the one where Akari delivers a letter to a man long dead: the sense of obligation fulfilled, along with the love of Aqua and Neo-Venezia, small happy moments, and the bittersweet sense of loss mixed with the sense that those who have gone before us are somehow still here, part of the landscape.
I think what also appeals to me about Aria is the city of Neo-Venezia itself as a character, with Akari exploring it and falling more deeply in love with it. Perhaps that might be an idea for you. Or Akari exploring more of the world outside the city? It doesn't have to be Akari, it's just that she's the first character I tend to think of, since she's the outsider becoming an insider. XD The prompts for YKK could also work here.
To my
yuletide writer:Yes, I can't shut up once I start typing. Don't be scared by the length; it's all optional. :D
First off, thank you! I will be thrilled with whatever I get, so you don't need to worry. :D I am extremely easy to please and very nice that way.
Let me give you a bit more detail on my tastes - but if you find you need to write the story in a certain way, then you go ahead and do that. I don't care what rating you write it, although I tend to prefer sensuality to porn, in general.
A few things I especially like in fic:
-- male/female relationships that aren't necessarily romantic
-- hell, any sort of friendship that isn't necessarily romantic
-- humor
-- plot
-- good characterization
-- a strong voice
What I don't particularly like:
-- schmoop
-- songfic
-- mpreg
-- non-con
-- AU
-- introspective navel-gazing unless there's a really good twist at the end
-- for some reason, in pre-modern settings first-person narration tends to grate on me. I think it's because the voice usually sounds too modern for the setting.
I don't quite grok shipping and will read any pairing the writer can convince me of within the confines of the story, with the exception of the personal squicks of underage/overage or teacher[mentor]/student character pairings (sweet puppy-love, school-age romances, unrequited crushes younger characters have on older excepted), so if you've got an OTP feel free to indulge yourself, no matter what the genders/numbers involved. :D Gen is just fine, also. I tend to prefer that romance not the be the focal point of a story, anyway, as I figure if I wanted to be reading a romance novel, I'd be reading a romance novel instead of the fandoms below.
Some of my Cool Bits include: being in the moment while feeling its transience, mono no aware, illusion, the night of a full moon, the terrible weight of the past, the journey is more important than the destination, exotic perfumes, moral ambiguity, secrets, liminality, legends, the changing of the seasons, the end of an era, secret passages, ruins, notes in the margins of books, a solitary journey to an unknown destination, love/hate relationships, a sense of time passing, the edge between civilization and the unknown, the moments before an era fades away, the deep forest, mysterious mountains, rivers, landscapes lost in mist, lost civilizations, incense, what happens after the fairy tale is over, crossroads, moonlight, traveling, ancient buildings, trading routes, mysteries never fully explained, a sense of deep time, shelter from a storm, history affecting the present, people who belong to past eras, the haunting sound of a bamboo flute, a sense of the numinous, beauty found in the mundane, small unexpected delights, relationships that aren't necessarily romantic, love or friendship expressed in atypical ways, the landscape as integral to the story, the landscape or city as a character, the Welsh sense of hiraeth - once defined to me as 'nostalgia for a past that never was'. (And I wrote the Cool Bits Story Generator, if you want more ideas.:D)
Now for the individual fandoms. These are guidelines, not requirements: I'd rather read a story you felt good writing than a story that had to be forced into a shape I dictated. If you prefer working without prompts, do so.
Mononoke aka Ayakashi: Bakeneko - I love the aesthetics of this anime, from the look to the way the facts of the matter at hand always need to be unpacked from the layers of misunderstanding, misdirection, and lies they're swaddled in. As you can probably tell from my choices, I have a serious love for Japanese and Chinese folklore and mythology. You may already be aware of the Obakemono Project; if not, it may help you.
As for prompts: well, the standard formula of the Medicine Seller coming across a mononoke of sorts and solving the mystery appeals to me. :) He seems to be eternal, of sorts, at least appearing in the same form throughout history, so placing him in a different era of Japanese history, either past or present, might be interesting.
Qwan - Again, the mythic/legendary elements here call me in. I also like the Taoist prostitute Shaga and the cheerful con man Chikei, and the womanizing sleaze Ukitsu. I chose Qwan as a character because I'd like him in there, or even just mentioned at some point if you can do it, but perhaps you could follow one of the other three's stories and reveal a bit of their past or their present? Or maybe a more standard demon-hunt with Chikei and Qwan before serious plot started happening in the manga? Or if you've got a better idea, go for it! Bonus points if it involves/is about the sort of strange Chinese folkloric creatures you find in Chinese bestiaries.
But there's little enough canon material that I'll go along with whatever works for you, even if it doesn't mention Qwan. :)
(It's been long enough since I last looked at it that I can't quite remember if his name is spelled Chikei or Chieki. Bad fan! Bad, bad fan!)
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou aka Records of a Yokohama Shopping Trip - Despite my mention of plottiness above, I have a deep love for the sort of story where nothing really happens: pastoral stories that dwell on the beauty of everyday life, small discoveries that warm the heart, and mono no aware: the beauty to be found in transience. Along with cycles of seasons, and time passing, and mysteries of the past, and wondering who went before you and who will come after you, and what they will/did think, and if they'd wonder about you. All of which YKK has in spades. :) I chose the Misago as a character because she's a symbol of all that, but she doesn't need to be the focus of the story, she could just be mentioned in passing.
As for prompts? Hmm... I could say "just another day in the life" but that would describe almost all of the stories. XD What about a traveler passing through the area? Maybe looking for something? Or something about the mysteries of growing up? Or something about how the characters mark the turn of the seasons, or an annual festival?
Aria - The reasons I like this are much the same as the reasons I like YKK. Aria doesn't have the mysterious apocalypse that changed the world that YKK had, but it has a lot of the same emphasis on the beauty of the everyday and finding small, unexpected delights around the corner. I tend to prefer the manga stories to the anime, but I'll be OK with whatever version you work with. :) My current favorite story is the one in the manga one where Akari visits the island made to look like the large Inari shrine in Kyoto and runs into the fox wedding - the mix of unworldly and mundane and not being able to quite tell where one goes from one to the other hits me just right. Although the anime story that so far appeals the most to me is the one where Akari delivers a letter to a man long dead: the sense of obligation fulfilled, along with the love of Aqua and Neo-Venezia, small happy moments, and the bittersweet sense of loss mixed with the sense that those who have gone before us are somehow still here, part of the landscape.
I think what also appeals to me about Aria is the city of Neo-Venezia itself as a character, with Akari exploring it and falling more deeply in love with it. Perhaps that might be an idea for you. Or Akari exploring more of the world outside the city? It doesn't have to be Akari, it's just that she's the first character I tend to think of, since she's the outsider becoming an insider. XD The prompts for YKK could also work here.
no subject
I thought you were going to wait a while!!
no subject
I'm actually on the fence about Qwan - I might dump it and go for Okami or Blade of the Immortal or something else. Hmmmm.
no subject
I'm having a similar quandary about Chabon's Gentlemen of the Road ... would it be worth it? When there are plenty of authors wanting to write Master Li, Legal Drug (which I hadn't even thought of before seeing the current listings ... I'm so mad that CLAMP suspended that!), MacAvoy's Black Dragon, SDK, and E. Nesbit's Psammead? (I suppose the Nesbit can occur some other years ... it's a classic, after all. But heck, 5 people have already offered it ... .)
no subject