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blindmadness) wrote2022-10-21 11:10 am
blindmadness) wrote2022-10-21 11:10 am
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Dear Yuletide Author,
Hello hello! I'm so delighted to make your acquaintance (well, sort of)! Thank you so much for offering one of the tiny fandoms of my heart -- I already know I'm going to love whatever you write for me, so consider the pressure off. While I'd love it if you stuck to the loose premises of what I'm looking for, worked in a few of the things I'm extra fond of, and/or fulfilled one of my prompts, I know I enjoy Yuletide most when I get an idea that I absolutely love and have a fantastic time writing, so that's what I want for you, too. If you had fun writing the fic, I'm going to have fun reading it, so please follow your heart here!!
In terms of things I'd ideally want out of a fic, though, broadly speaking, I love character- rather than plot-driven stories (not that the two can't happily coexist, of course, but my favorite stories tend to follow an emotional arc or a relationship development rather than characters dealing with an external conflict or a really intricate plot) with happy or at least hopeful endings (I'm fine with a more bittersweet hinting-at-the-light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel type ambiguity, but would strongly prefer more overt happiness, and I really and truly do not want any serious or lasting tragedy involved).
My major DNWs are needles (I have a huge phobia and would deeply rather no mention of them at all, but if it does come up, please please please keep it brief and be sure to clearly warn for me!) and significant involvement of serious issues beyond those explored in canon (e.g. racism, homophobia, character death, serious assault/injury, etc. etc.). By "beyond those explored in canon," I mean, for example, that Darius from Darius the Great faces racism and homophobia in the books, as well as the death of a family member, so while I would prefer a story in that fandom not focus on any of those experiences, mention or minor involvement of them or reflection on his experiences with them/how they've shaped him wouldn't feel out of place or be too upsetting to me. But I would really not want a story where, say, Spirit Falls is a hotbed of bigotry or a story focusing on the misogyny and oppression the woman in "Till We Meet Again" faces through the years. Basically, don't feel like you have to go to enormous lengths to avoid those things where they're present, but don't insert them unnecessarily or make them a significant focus of the story.
More generally, here are some of my likes and dislikes:
Likes: banter, UST/pining/slow burn, first kisses/makeouts that don't immediately lead to sex (either by design or by accidental interruption), gross fluffy ridiculous romcom-y tropes, people being very competent at what they do (and other people, ahem, enjoying it), little canon easter eggs, found families, intricate tangles of relationships among large groups of people, cute animals, puns, and the general concept of hope and humanity's essential goodness triumphing over darkness and existential despair! (Especially this year, oh dear god.) (That extra note originated in 2020 but let's just call it a now ever-present feeling! Sob.)
Dislikes: misogyny in m/m relationships/demonization of female characters for the sake of m/m, misogynistic dirty talk (e.g., "slut"/"whore"), noncon/dubcon, infidelity, excessive jealousy/possessiveness, excessive kinky elements, A/B/O, mpreg, daddy kink, first- or second-person POV, and contrived miscommunication conflicts that could be resolved with a single, simple statement of clarification! (Except maybe in Spirit Falls, for obvious reasons.)
I generally tend to be a fan of both AUs and explicit porn, but my preferences will differ based on fandom, so I'll include specific notes regarding my feelings re both in each fandom's prompt section!
Some additional references include my trope sorter and kink sorter results -- the rankings should be treated pretty flexibly, as the first half-dozen or so on each list are all pretty close together in terms of things I love! I am also blindmadness on AO3.
Now, having said all of that -- on to the fandoms! (Note: three out of four of these are what I've affectionately termed some Greatest Hits from prior letters, aka requests I really enjoyed writing and would have loved to receive, but sadly went unfilled. When deciding whether to do Yuletide this year, I found myself not feeling a lot of instinctive desires or new fannish enthusiasm, so I revisited old letters and found that some of the prompts still sparked a lot of joy -- so I'm reusing them here in hopes that maybe they'll also spark something in someone else this time around!)
Darius the Great Series - Adib Khorram
• Darius Kellner
I love Darius so, so much, and getting to see more of how his life is playing out in the sequel to the first book felt like such a gift -- so, of course, I want far more! What happens next for him? Does he end up going to college after all, or if not, what alternate path does he take? What does his love life look like? (I'm totally open to any options here, be it Chip or Sohrab or getting back together with Landon or someone entirely new! Or no one at all, for now!) Maybe a classic "teenage crushes lose touch and reconnect at [important event] as adults" fic? Anything that further spins out the future for Darius and lets me spend more time with him (and the people who love him) is just going to absolutely delight me.
These books have stayed with me since I first read them last year; they struck such a lovely note of honesty and earnestness about so many facets of the teenage experience -- depression, coming to terms with your sexuality, child-of-immigrants life -- and they simply made me feel SO many emotions. I just fell completely in love with Darius as a character; what a sweet lovely GOOD boy trying so hard!! The first book resonated with me more deeply, but I'm on the record as an enormous fan of Lighter And Softer sequels which have less plot but more emotions after the more tumultous actual plots of a first book, so I truly adored the sequel. And it turns out when I get more of something I love, I... end up wanting even more of it?? I MEAN, THAT'S WHY WE'RE ALL HERE IN SPIRIT, RIGHT??
So -- that's exactly what I want! More from canon! What comes next for Darius? What does he do after high school -- college after all, or a break, or trade school, or work, or something else entirely? How does it go for him? Does he also take a break from romance for a while, or does he date around to figure out what he wants, or does he find true love with someone already in his life? (I'm totally fine with him casually dating OCs, but would prefer them not be his endgame, or for an endgame romance with OCs not to be the main focus of the story; on that front, I am completely fine with whether you have him end up with Sohrab or Chip or even getting back together with Landon, if you can pull it off!) How does his relationship with his family develop over time? Does he go back to Iran and how does he feel about it if it does? (If you can speak to the child-of-immigrants place from personal experience, I would deeply love that -- my family's from a very different region of the world, but a LOT of those feelings really resonate with me, so I'd love to have those explored more in fic.)
Alternately, if you wanted to do fic set much further in the future rather than directly after the events of the books, I'd love that too -- maybe an important moment in Darius's life begetting a familial/platonic/romantic bonding moment, or a classic kind of "friends/significant others lose touch over the years but reunite at an important future event"? I'd love to see this included either way, but especially if we go further into the future, I really want to see the important relationships in Darius's life -- how his relationship with his parents (especially his dad) and grandparents and Laleh have evolved, and I ALWAYS want Sohrab to be a huge part of his life, whether platonic or romantic (no preference either way!). If they lose touch for a few years and reconnect later on, that's totally fine, or if you just allude to them still being BFFs rather than make it a focus on the story, completely okay -- I just want them to end the fic still in one another's lives, in whatever capacity. Really, all I want is to see what comes next for Darius and for him to be as loved as he deserves, in whatever way you want to emphasize.
I'd prefer no AUs for this, unless you can think of a really interesting canon-divergent one -- I have no immediate suggestions in mind, but definitely welcome seeing how different choices on Darius's part might have played out for him! I'd also prefer no PWP, though porn is totally fine as long as Darius is above 18 (references to him being sexually active as a minor are also totally fine, I just don't need to see it in detail!). Also, while I'm usually not a huge fan of first-person POV in fic, since that's how the canon is written, I'd be okay with it for this fandom in particular, if that's what comes more easily to you.
The Martian (2015)
• Mark Watney, Melissa Lewis
I love these two so much, so pretty much anything that explores their relationship, either platonic as in canon or turning it romantic, is so very welcome. What were their initial interactions like? How about some idle moments on the way to Mars, or while they were there? Bonding again after Mark gets rescued? (If shippy: at what point in their working relationship do they sleep together? Are they already together when the movie happens, and so it adds a new tension to Lewis thinking he's dead and then realizing he isn't? Are they both pining unresolvedly until Mark gets rescued? That degree of "thank god you're alive" sex must be truly epic!) How about an AU in which Lewis gets left on Mars alongside Mark, and the two of them have to survive together? (Arguing about disco! Huddling for warmth! Lots of pining and UST potential!) Or if Lewis gets left there instead of Mark-- how would the crew deal? Or-- really, anything else that focuses on their lives before the mission or what happens to them after!
I do love the rest of the crew a whole lot too, so I very much encourage them being present here. Extremely optional additional prompt: I also very much ship everyone in some happy communal poly tangle, so if you wanted to write Ares Crew OT6, I'd be absolutely thrilled. No pressure if not, of course, but if inspiration strikes! (And if not, I'm comfortable with any combination of ships, canon or otherwise, monogamous or otherwise. I love everyone's relationships, be they platonic or romantic, so anything that highlights how much everyone loves each other -- even if the focus is Mark and Melissa! -- would delight me immensely.)
I first saw this movie while it was in theaters, courtesy of my dad, who loved the book and was really excited about the adaptation. I, meanwhile, was not super enthused; I'm not generally into survival stories, and space doesn't hold special interest for me, so I figured I'd just tag along without really expecting to enjoy it much. And, uh... boy, was I wrong! I didn't expect the story to be so much less about survival and so much more about the endurance of the human spirit and the way that humanity comes together when called to lend a hand to others-- a theme I very, very much do enjoy! I didn't expect to fall so in love with the humor and personality of the characters, and I'm thrilled I saw it in theaters for the ridiculous scenery porn of Mars. I've watched it probably a dozen times since then at least (and don't think for a second I don't still get teary-eyed at the Starman montage), and now consider it to be one of my favorite movies. (I've probably tweeted some variation of "The Martian is on TV so I'm watching The Martian," like, ten times in the past few years.)
Mark and Melissa are my two favorite characters (though I adore the entire crew and more than welcome their presence in fic -- these two are the just only ones I'd be okay with a fic focusing on exclusively); I feel like it's impossible not to either read the book or watch the movie and not want Mark to be your best friend, and Lewis just hits so many tropes that I love in leader figures, especially female ones (plus she's played by my love Jessica Chastain, always a bonus!). There's so much emotion between them -- easy teasing in the beginning, Lewis's guilt over leaving Mark behind, Mark asking her to be the one to tell his parents if he dies, and the obvious overflow of affection at the end when she's the one to rescue him. (And in the book, he names a geographical feature of Mars after her!!) I ship it, but mostly because I ship pretty much every permutation of Ares Crew OT6; if you'd prefer keeping it platonic, I'm equally invested in their relationship either way, so I'll provide both gen and shippy prompts and will be happy with either! (If you do go a shippy route, please, as requested earlier, either handwave away Lewis's husband, split them up, or have them be in an open relationship.)
There's a lot that's implicit in the relationship Mark and Melissa have in the movie, so many moments of bonding that we don't get to see but that we understand must have happened. So-- how did they first meet? Did they get along right away or did it take a while? Some idle moments in their downtime on the way to Mars or while they were there? Bonding again on their way back home, after Mark gets rescued? Scenes from long after Mars? I welcome either humor or softer moments, since it's obvious there's a lot of affection and trust among the crew. (If shippy, I'm extremely here for either getting-together or established-relationship fic. At what point do they first sleep together? I can see fun options both ways-- how much more guilt Lewis would feel if they were already together when Mark gets left on Mars, or how intense the pining would be if she thought he was dead and he thought he might die. Either way, it sets up some TRULY fabulous "thank god you're alive" sex!) I've also recently been totally enraptured by the idea of an AU in which Lewis, as threatened, does end up stranded on Mars alongside Mark; how does that change things? Does the story arc end up altered in any way because of it? Does Mark feel better getting to yell at Lewis's face about her terrible taste in music? (There's so much hurt/comfort and UST potential if this goes a shippy route, too!) I'm very into role reversal AUs, too, so-- what if Lewis gets left on Mars on her own instead of Mark? How does that go? How does she cope, and how does the crew cope without her? (That's about the extent of AUs I'd like for this fandom; their scenario is SO SPECIFIC, I can't imagine reading about them in any other context! Though of course if you come up with some other canon-divergent AU, feel free to run with that, too.)
Now, if you'll indulge me, I'd like to dip briefly into the Extremely Optional portion of this prompt, because the genuine desire of my heart for this fandom (even in a fic that focuses primarily on Mark and Melissa) is, as I said earlier, Ares Crew OT6. And as I said, I nominated these two characters because they're the only characters I'd be just as happy seeing on their own-- but I love the entire crew so, so much, and I love them all together, so if you do want to write them in some glorious poly tangle, I'd be absolutely over the moon (pun not intended) (OR IS IT??). I feel like adding a romantic element makes the emotional tension of the movie all the higher-- are they all together when Mark gets stranded, and what does that mean for them? Do the five of them get together while mourning Mark, and how does he fit back into that? Has there ever been a human being more deserving of a gentle, loving gangbang by his entire crew than Mark Watney after his rescue, I ask you?? These are, again, just some 100% optional extras floating around my mind; as is, I'm perfectly fine with whatever romantic configuration, canon or otherwise, takes place among these characters. Either way, though, I absolutely encourage cameos from everyone else in the crew, even if Mark&Melissa are primarily centered. (And as I've mentioned a couple of times here, I have also read the book, so feel free to intertwine book&movie canon here!)
Till We Meet Again - Dave Brosha (Photo Series)
• Woman, Man
True love across decades and very different lives is a theme that's always resonated in my heart, and this photo series captures it so perfectly, so I desperately want anything that fleshes it out more. What are these two like, and how -- and why -- do they keep coming together, again and again? A focus on one of the lives with allusions to the others, snippets from multiple versions, following them through one life with flashbacks to the others -- however you want to do it, I'm going to love it. I'm down for either a deeply purely romantic or a more bittersweet tone here, because even if things end badly in one life, we know they're going to get the chance to do it all over again.
Seeing these photographs hit me like a punch to the gut -- I am an absolute sucker for a reincarnation story (25 Lives, anyone??), and these pictures truly play out like the absolute ultimate. There's simply so much character in them, so much personality and longing, and SO many gaps that can be filled in -- it was practically begging to be a Yuletide prompt, and I'm so glad to have seen other letters requesting it after I nominated it for the first time last year!
So -- yeah, tell me their story! Is there a reason these two keep being resurrected and meeting one another? Is there a purpose to be fulfilled, after which it'll all end, or are they destined to repeat it again and again forever? Do both of them know about it -- are they born knowing, or do they have to discover it every time? Are there any other forces at play -- anyone else who always joins them in their lives, or guides them through it? (This obviously takes place in our world, but I'm fine with you going extremely mundane about it -- it just happens, and no one knows how or why -- or extremely high-concept -- gods! monsters! destiny! urban fantasy galore! -- or anything in between.) Are there lives in between the pictures that we didn't see depicted there?
And, of course, there are SO many directions you can take this love story, and I am here for ALL OF THEM. Maybe they find each other and fall in love in every life! Maybe there are some lives where it's unrequited, or feelings are conflicted in some way (maybe the woman is married but still feels a connection to the man! maybe they get married but one of them dies young! maybe they have some fundamental incompatibility but can't stop thinking about one another!), or lives where one of them pines while the other has no idea they exist! Do they only remember their past lives after they kiss, or does one of them know but the other doesn't? (Do they try to tell the other and meet resistance??) You might notice that I'm hitting on some more bittersweet themes here, and while that's usually not the route I want my Yuletide fics to go, with a premise like this -- knowing that no matter how this life ends, there's another one that could end better just around the corner -- I'm fine with any tone or any ending short of full-on Crueltide tragedy and would definitely be okay with more angst than fluff here; there's simply SO much potential for heartwrenching agony and I'm honestly quite here for it, as long as there's at least a TOUCH of hope by the very end.
I'm completely fine with however this is structured -- whether we see bits from all the lives, or a focus on one with allusion to others, or a deeper dive into one with flashbacks to the others, or even if you want to fill in the gaps with other lives in time periods not depicted! I'm honestly not even sure HOW an AU of this premise would work, ha, so let's stick with canon here; I'm also completely fine with porn, but would prefer no PWP -- a fic that's mostly porn with lots of feelings or incorporation of the reincarnation themes, though, would be totally fine. (Emotions can be plot too, okay!!)
(I'll also note here that while obviously our present day and COVID is a part of this canon, I would prefer a fic that doesn't exclusively focus on the COVID picture -- it's fine to involve it and to address it directly, but I'd prefer it to be part of a larger story or presented in concert with at least one prior life, if you do choose to include it. We've gotten some distance from the worst of the pandemic, but it's still a little too real for me to want TOO much of it in my Yuletide happy place escapism, so thank you in advance!)
We Are A Picturesque Small Town And We Refuse To Be The Setting For Your RomCom (McSweeney’s)
• (none)
There is simply so much here for lovers of romance, among which I proudly count myself -- the possibilities are endless for either playing it straight, subverting it, or zigzagging it! Give me the irritated townspeople cutting off all romcom meet-cutes before they've even had a chance to start; give me a couple falling in love despite their best efforts. Give me the backstory that led to this document being created to begin with -- what's the origin story of Spirit Falls? Give me the obvious story hook for Chet Anderson! Honestly, anything that embraces this tongue-in-cheek tropefest/trope-blocker of a premise will thoroughly delight me.
I am a vocal and profound lover of all things romance -- shipfic, romance novels, romcoms, Hallmark nonsense -- so when I saw this article, my thoughts basically went as follows: a. lol, b. OMG YULETIDE FANDOM. :") This is the only new fandom addition to this letter that otherwise encompasses Greatest Hits, so that's how excited I am about it!
There's simply SO much potential contained in this letter, all of it absolutely delightful. There's the obvious questions about backstory: what is it about Spirit Falls that kept bringing people there to fall in love, to such an extent that the town has banded together and put this creed together? (Is it legally binding?? Some lawyerly humor about the best way to construct this to actually make it legal and enforceable would be so hilarious.) Show me the cascade of meet-cutes that brought about this cynicism -- or was the town founded by refugees from other picturesque small towns who were so tired of the cheer and love that they wanted to found an oasis apart from all of that? Or is this an unpopular opinion -- did the town curmudgeon put this together and the rest of the town actually loves the romcom shenanigans? (Do all the happy couples who have settled there read this op-ed in the paper and laugh about it?) Give me snippets of each of the circumstances that inspired each of the numbered points!
Or give me present-day -- obviously the rom-com lure of the town is too strong to be stopped by a mere letter of intent, so what happens as the shenanigans continue? Show me the townspeople desperately attempting to stop all the meet-cutes that abound (doesn't ANYONE read the rules before arriving??). Give me a love story set among said shenanigans -- what if two of the townspeople trying to foil all the romance happen to fall in love along the way? What if a couple is having meet-cutes under the radar as the more obvious ones are all getting foiled? What if the couple the townspeople are trying to stop from falling in love just keep coming together despite all the obstacles (or BECAUSE of them -- the classic For Want Of A Nail)? What if the townspeople THINK they're preventing a romance but the couple in question is just friends or coworkers or whatever (and maybe they fall in love anyway...)? Or maybe the rules work too well and the town has to save itself from the sudden lack of tourist dollars and encourage love stories happening after all -- or maybe a couple arrives that's clearly so perfectly suited for one another that the town has to go back on its word and get them together by any means necessary (and they're all SO mad about it)?
Or, you know, there's the very obvious Chet Anderson hook at the very end -- give me his story! Play it straight or subvert it or zigzag back and forth between embracing and subverting the romcom!
I am fine with any gender or combination thereof for the couples involved in any of these prompts; I'd also love a HEA, of course, but I'm also fine with any of these situations leading to a fully amicable breakup/let's-just-stay-friends or whatever other resolution, just as long as no one ends up hurt. I'd prefer no AUs because the premise is so solid, and I'm fine with explicit sex as long as it's not the main focus of the fic. Just give me the love of romcoms and the subversive humor that defines the article and I'll be thrilled!
In terms of things I'd ideally want out of a fic, though, broadly speaking, I love character- rather than plot-driven stories (not that the two can't happily coexist, of course, but my favorite stories tend to follow an emotional arc or a relationship development rather than characters dealing with an external conflict or a really intricate plot) with happy or at least hopeful endings (I'm fine with a more bittersweet hinting-at-the-light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel type ambiguity, but would strongly prefer more overt happiness, and I really and truly do not want any serious or lasting tragedy involved).
My major DNWs are needles (I have a huge phobia and would deeply rather no mention of them at all, but if it does come up, please please please keep it brief and be sure to clearly warn for me!) and significant involvement of serious issues beyond those explored in canon (e.g. racism, homophobia, character death, serious assault/injury, etc. etc.). By "beyond those explored in canon," I mean, for example, that Darius from Darius the Great faces racism and homophobia in the books, as well as the death of a family member, so while I would prefer a story in that fandom not focus on any of those experiences, mention or minor involvement of them or reflection on his experiences with them/how they've shaped him wouldn't feel out of place or be too upsetting to me. But I would really not want a story where, say, Spirit Falls is a hotbed of bigotry or a story focusing on the misogyny and oppression the woman in "Till We Meet Again" faces through the years. Basically, don't feel like you have to go to enormous lengths to avoid those things where they're present, but don't insert them unnecessarily or make them a significant focus of the story.
More generally, here are some of my likes and dislikes:
Likes: banter, UST/pining/slow burn, first kisses/makeouts that don't immediately lead to sex (either by design or by accidental interruption), gross fluffy ridiculous romcom-y tropes, people being very competent at what they do (and other people, ahem, enjoying it), little canon easter eggs, found families, intricate tangles of relationships among large groups of people, cute animals, puns, and the general concept of hope and humanity's essential goodness triumphing over darkness and existential despair! (Especially this year, oh dear god.) (That extra note originated in 2020 but let's just call it a now ever-present feeling! Sob.)
Dislikes: misogyny in m/m relationships/demonization of female characters for the sake of m/m, misogynistic dirty talk (e.g., "slut"/"whore"), noncon/dubcon, infidelity, excessive jealousy/possessiveness, excessive kinky elements, A/B/O, mpreg, daddy kink, first- or second-person POV, and contrived miscommunication conflicts that could be resolved with a single, simple statement of clarification! (Except maybe in Spirit Falls, for obvious reasons.)
I generally tend to be a fan of both AUs and explicit porn, but my preferences will differ based on fandom, so I'll include specific notes regarding my feelings re both in each fandom's prompt section!
Some additional references include my trope sorter and kink sorter results -- the rankings should be treated pretty flexibly, as the first half-dozen or so on each list are all pretty close together in terms of things I love! I am also blindmadness on AO3.
Now, having said all of that -- on to the fandoms! (Note: three out of four of these are what I've affectionately termed some Greatest Hits from prior letters, aka requests I really enjoyed writing and would have loved to receive, but sadly went unfilled. When deciding whether to do Yuletide this year, I found myself not feeling a lot of instinctive desires or new fannish enthusiasm, so I revisited old letters and found that some of the prompts still sparked a lot of joy -- so I'm reusing them here in hopes that maybe they'll also spark something in someone else this time around!)
Darius the Great Series - Adib Khorram
• Darius Kellner
I love Darius so, so much, and getting to see more of how his life is playing out in the sequel to the first book felt like such a gift -- so, of course, I want far more! What happens next for him? Does he end up going to college after all, or if not, what alternate path does he take? What does his love life look like? (I'm totally open to any options here, be it Chip or Sohrab or getting back together with Landon or someone entirely new! Or no one at all, for now!) Maybe a classic "teenage crushes lose touch and reconnect at [important event] as adults" fic? Anything that further spins out the future for Darius and lets me spend more time with him (and the people who love him) is just going to absolutely delight me.
These books have stayed with me since I first read them last year; they struck such a lovely note of honesty and earnestness about so many facets of the teenage experience -- depression, coming to terms with your sexuality, child-of-immigrants life -- and they simply made me feel SO many emotions. I just fell completely in love with Darius as a character; what a sweet lovely GOOD boy trying so hard!! The first book resonated with me more deeply, but I'm on the record as an enormous fan of Lighter And Softer sequels which have less plot but more emotions after the more tumultous actual plots of a first book, so I truly adored the sequel. And it turns out when I get more of something I love, I... end up wanting even more of it?? I MEAN, THAT'S WHY WE'RE ALL HERE IN SPIRIT, RIGHT??
So -- that's exactly what I want! More from canon! What comes next for Darius? What does he do after high school -- college after all, or a break, or trade school, or work, or something else entirely? How does it go for him? Does he also take a break from romance for a while, or does he date around to figure out what he wants, or does he find true love with someone already in his life? (I'm totally fine with him casually dating OCs, but would prefer them not be his endgame, or for an endgame romance with OCs not to be the main focus of the story; on that front, I am completely fine with whether you have him end up with Sohrab or Chip or even getting back together with Landon, if you can pull it off!) How does his relationship with his family develop over time? Does he go back to Iran and how does he feel about it if it does? (If you can speak to the child-of-immigrants place from personal experience, I would deeply love that -- my family's from a very different region of the world, but a LOT of those feelings really resonate with me, so I'd love to have those explored more in fic.)
Alternately, if you wanted to do fic set much further in the future rather than directly after the events of the books, I'd love that too -- maybe an important moment in Darius's life begetting a familial/platonic/romantic bonding moment, or a classic kind of "friends/significant others lose touch over the years but reunite at an important future event"? I'd love to see this included either way, but especially if we go further into the future, I really want to see the important relationships in Darius's life -- how his relationship with his parents (especially his dad) and grandparents and Laleh have evolved, and I ALWAYS want Sohrab to be a huge part of his life, whether platonic or romantic (no preference either way!). If they lose touch for a few years and reconnect later on, that's totally fine, or if you just allude to them still being BFFs rather than make it a focus on the story, completely okay -- I just want them to end the fic still in one another's lives, in whatever capacity. Really, all I want is to see what comes next for Darius and for him to be as loved as he deserves, in whatever way you want to emphasize.
I'd prefer no AUs for this, unless you can think of a really interesting canon-divergent one -- I have no immediate suggestions in mind, but definitely welcome seeing how different choices on Darius's part might have played out for him! I'd also prefer no PWP, though porn is totally fine as long as Darius is above 18 (references to him being sexually active as a minor are also totally fine, I just don't need to see it in detail!). Also, while I'm usually not a huge fan of first-person POV in fic, since that's how the canon is written, I'd be okay with it for this fandom in particular, if that's what comes more easily to you.
The Martian (2015)
• Mark Watney, Melissa Lewis
I love these two so much, so pretty much anything that explores their relationship, either platonic as in canon or turning it romantic, is so very welcome. What were their initial interactions like? How about some idle moments on the way to Mars, or while they were there? Bonding again after Mark gets rescued? (If shippy: at what point in their working relationship do they sleep together? Are they already together when the movie happens, and so it adds a new tension to Lewis thinking he's dead and then realizing he isn't? Are they both pining unresolvedly until Mark gets rescued? That degree of "thank god you're alive" sex must be truly epic!) How about an AU in which Lewis gets left on Mars alongside Mark, and the two of them have to survive together? (Arguing about disco! Huddling for warmth! Lots of pining and UST potential!) Or if Lewis gets left there instead of Mark-- how would the crew deal? Or-- really, anything else that focuses on their lives before the mission or what happens to them after!
I do love the rest of the crew a whole lot too, so I very much encourage them being present here. Extremely optional additional prompt: I also very much ship everyone in some happy communal poly tangle, so if you wanted to write Ares Crew OT6, I'd be absolutely thrilled. No pressure if not, of course, but if inspiration strikes! (And if not, I'm comfortable with any combination of ships, canon or otherwise, monogamous or otherwise. I love everyone's relationships, be they platonic or romantic, so anything that highlights how much everyone loves each other -- even if the focus is Mark and Melissa! -- would delight me immensely.)
I first saw this movie while it was in theaters, courtesy of my dad, who loved the book and was really excited about the adaptation. I, meanwhile, was not super enthused; I'm not generally into survival stories, and space doesn't hold special interest for me, so I figured I'd just tag along without really expecting to enjoy it much. And, uh... boy, was I wrong! I didn't expect the story to be so much less about survival and so much more about the endurance of the human spirit and the way that humanity comes together when called to lend a hand to others-- a theme I very, very much do enjoy! I didn't expect to fall so in love with the humor and personality of the characters, and I'm thrilled I saw it in theaters for the ridiculous scenery porn of Mars. I've watched it probably a dozen times since then at least (and don't think for a second I don't still get teary-eyed at the Starman montage), and now consider it to be one of my favorite movies. (I've probably tweeted some variation of "The Martian is on TV so I'm watching The Martian," like, ten times in the past few years.)
Mark and Melissa are my two favorite characters (though I adore the entire crew and more than welcome their presence in fic -- these two are the just only ones I'd be okay with a fic focusing on exclusively); I feel like it's impossible not to either read the book or watch the movie and not want Mark to be your best friend, and Lewis just hits so many tropes that I love in leader figures, especially female ones (plus she's played by my love Jessica Chastain, always a bonus!). There's so much emotion between them -- easy teasing in the beginning, Lewis's guilt over leaving Mark behind, Mark asking her to be the one to tell his parents if he dies, and the obvious overflow of affection at the end when she's the one to rescue him. (And in the book, he names a geographical feature of Mars after her!!) I ship it, but mostly because I ship pretty much every permutation of Ares Crew OT6; if you'd prefer keeping it platonic, I'm equally invested in their relationship either way, so I'll provide both gen and shippy prompts and will be happy with either! (If you do go a shippy route, please, as requested earlier, either handwave away Lewis's husband, split them up, or have them be in an open relationship.)
There's a lot that's implicit in the relationship Mark and Melissa have in the movie, so many moments of bonding that we don't get to see but that we understand must have happened. So-- how did they first meet? Did they get along right away or did it take a while? Some idle moments in their downtime on the way to Mars or while they were there? Bonding again on their way back home, after Mark gets rescued? Scenes from long after Mars? I welcome either humor or softer moments, since it's obvious there's a lot of affection and trust among the crew. (If shippy, I'm extremely here for either getting-together or established-relationship fic. At what point do they first sleep together? I can see fun options both ways-- how much more guilt Lewis would feel if they were already together when Mark gets left on Mars, or how intense the pining would be if she thought he was dead and he thought he might die. Either way, it sets up some TRULY fabulous "thank god you're alive" sex!) I've also recently been totally enraptured by the idea of an AU in which Lewis, as threatened, does end up stranded on Mars alongside Mark; how does that change things? Does the story arc end up altered in any way because of it? Does Mark feel better getting to yell at Lewis's face about her terrible taste in music? (There's so much hurt/comfort and UST potential if this goes a shippy route, too!) I'm very into role reversal AUs, too, so-- what if Lewis gets left on Mars on her own instead of Mark? How does that go? How does she cope, and how does the crew cope without her? (That's about the extent of AUs I'd like for this fandom; their scenario is SO SPECIFIC, I can't imagine reading about them in any other context! Though of course if you come up with some other canon-divergent AU, feel free to run with that, too.)
Now, if you'll indulge me, I'd like to dip briefly into the Extremely Optional portion of this prompt, because the genuine desire of my heart for this fandom (even in a fic that focuses primarily on Mark and Melissa) is, as I said earlier, Ares Crew OT6. And as I said, I nominated these two characters because they're the only characters I'd be just as happy seeing on their own-- but I love the entire crew so, so much, and I love them all together, so if you do want to write them in some glorious poly tangle, I'd be absolutely over the moon (pun not intended) (OR IS IT??). I feel like adding a romantic element makes the emotional tension of the movie all the higher-- are they all together when Mark gets stranded, and what does that mean for them? Do the five of them get together while mourning Mark, and how does he fit back into that? Has there ever been a human being more deserving of a gentle, loving gangbang by his entire crew than Mark Watney after his rescue, I ask you?? These are, again, just some 100% optional extras floating around my mind; as is, I'm perfectly fine with whatever romantic configuration, canon or otherwise, takes place among these characters. Either way, though, I absolutely encourage cameos from everyone else in the crew, even if Mark&Melissa are primarily centered. (And as I've mentioned a couple of times here, I have also read the book, so feel free to intertwine book&movie canon here!)
Till We Meet Again - Dave Brosha (Photo Series)
• Woman, Man
True love across decades and very different lives is a theme that's always resonated in my heart, and this photo series captures it so perfectly, so I desperately want anything that fleshes it out more. What are these two like, and how -- and why -- do they keep coming together, again and again? A focus on one of the lives with allusions to the others, snippets from multiple versions, following them through one life with flashbacks to the others -- however you want to do it, I'm going to love it. I'm down for either a deeply purely romantic or a more bittersweet tone here, because even if things end badly in one life, we know they're going to get the chance to do it all over again.
Seeing these photographs hit me like a punch to the gut -- I am an absolute sucker for a reincarnation story (25 Lives, anyone??), and these pictures truly play out like the absolute ultimate. There's simply so much character in them, so much personality and longing, and SO many gaps that can be filled in -- it was practically begging to be a Yuletide prompt, and I'm so glad to have seen other letters requesting it after I nominated it for the first time last year!
So -- yeah, tell me their story! Is there a reason these two keep being resurrected and meeting one another? Is there a purpose to be fulfilled, after which it'll all end, or are they destined to repeat it again and again forever? Do both of them know about it -- are they born knowing, or do they have to discover it every time? Are there any other forces at play -- anyone else who always joins them in their lives, or guides them through it? (This obviously takes place in our world, but I'm fine with you going extremely mundane about it -- it just happens, and no one knows how or why -- or extremely high-concept -- gods! monsters! destiny! urban fantasy galore! -- or anything in between.) Are there lives in between the pictures that we didn't see depicted there?
And, of course, there are SO many directions you can take this love story, and I am here for ALL OF THEM. Maybe they find each other and fall in love in every life! Maybe there are some lives where it's unrequited, or feelings are conflicted in some way (maybe the woman is married but still feels a connection to the man! maybe they get married but one of them dies young! maybe they have some fundamental incompatibility but can't stop thinking about one another!), or lives where one of them pines while the other has no idea they exist! Do they only remember their past lives after they kiss, or does one of them know but the other doesn't? (Do they try to tell the other and meet resistance??) You might notice that I'm hitting on some more bittersweet themes here, and while that's usually not the route I want my Yuletide fics to go, with a premise like this -- knowing that no matter how this life ends, there's another one that could end better just around the corner -- I'm fine with any tone or any ending short of full-on Crueltide tragedy and would definitely be okay with more angst than fluff here; there's simply SO much potential for heartwrenching agony and I'm honestly quite here for it, as long as there's at least a TOUCH of hope by the very end.
I'm completely fine with however this is structured -- whether we see bits from all the lives, or a focus on one with allusion to others, or a deeper dive into one with flashbacks to the others, or even if you want to fill in the gaps with other lives in time periods not depicted! I'm honestly not even sure HOW an AU of this premise would work, ha, so let's stick with canon here; I'm also completely fine with porn, but would prefer no PWP -- a fic that's mostly porn with lots of feelings or incorporation of the reincarnation themes, though, would be totally fine. (Emotions can be plot too, okay!!)
(I'll also note here that while obviously our present day and COVID is a part of this canon, I would prefer a fic that doesn't exclusively focus on the COVID picture -- it's fine to involve it and to address it directly, but I'd prefer it to be part of a larger story or presented in concert with at least one prior life, if you do choose to include it. We've gotten some distance from the worst of the pandemic, but it's still a little too real for me to want TOO much of it in my Yuletide happy place escapism, so thank you in advance!)
We Are A Picturesque Small Town And We Refuse To Be The Setting For Your RomCom (McSweeney’s)
• (none)
There is simply so much here for lovers of romance, among which I proudly count myself -- the possibilities are endless for either playing it straight, subverting it, or zigzagging it! Give me the irritated townspeople cutting off all romcom meet-cutes before they've even had a chance to start; give me a couple falling in love despite their best efforts. Give me the backstory that led to this document being created to begin with -- what's the origin story of Spirit Falls? Give me the obvious story hook for Chet Anderson! Honestly, anything that embraces this tongue-in-cheek tropefest/trope-blocker of a premise will thoroughly delight me.
I am a vocal and profound lover of all things romance -- shipfic, romance novels, romcoms, Hallmark nonsense -- so when I saw this article, my thoughts basically went as follows: a. lol, b. OMG YULETIDE FANDOM. :") This is the only new fandom addition to this letter that otherwise encompasses Greatest Hits, so that's how excited I am about it!
There's simply SO much potential contained in this letter, all of it absolutely delightful. There's the obvious questions about backstory: what is it about Spirit Falls that kept bringing people there to fall in love, to such an extent that the town has banded together and put this creed together? (Is it legally binding?? Some lawyerly humor about the best way to construct this to actually make it legal and enforceable would be so hilarious.) Show me the cascade of meet-cutes that brought about this cynicism -- or was the town founded by refugees from other picturesque small towns who were so tired of the cheer and love that they wanted to found an oasis apart from all of that? Or is this an unpopular opinion -- did the town curmudgeon put this together and the rest of the town actually loves the romcom shenanigans? (Do all the happy couples who have settled there read this op-ed in the paper and laugh about it?) Give me snippets of each of the circumstances that inspired each of the numbered points!
Or give me present-day -- obviously the rom-com lure of the town is too strong to be stopped by a mere letter of intent, so what happens as the shenanigans continue? Show me the townspeople desperately attempting to stop all the meet-cutes that abound (doesn't ANYONE read the rules before arriving??). Give me a love story set among said shenanigans -- what if two of the townspeople trying to foil all the romance happen to fall in love along the way? What if a couple is having meet-cutes under the radar as the more obvious ones are all getting foiled? What if the couple the townspeople are trying to stop from falling in love just keep coming together despite all the obstacles (or BECAUSE of them -- the classic For Want Of A Nail)? What if the townspeople THINK they're preventing a romance but the couple in question is just friends or coworkers or whatever (and maybe they fall in love anyway...)? Or maybe the rules work too well and the town has to save itself from the sudden lack of tourist dollars and encourage love stories happening after all -- or maybe a couple arrives that's clearly so perfectly suited for one another that the town has to go back on its word and get them together by any means necessary (and they're all SO mad about it)?
Or, you know, there's the very obvious Chet Anderson hook at the very end -- give me his story! Play it straight or subvert it or zigzag back and forth between embracing and subverting the romcom!
I am fine with any gender or combination thereof for the couples involved in any of these prompts; I'd also love a HEA, of course, but I'm also fine with any of these situations leading to a fully amicable breakup/let's-just-stay-friends or whatever other resolution, just as long as no one ends up hurt. I'd prefer no AUs because the premise is so solid, and I'm fine with explicit sex as long as it's not the main focus of the fic. Just give me the love of romcoms and the subversive humor that defines the article and I'll be thrilled!