dear Yuletide writer
Oct. 15th, 2012 12:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kindkitDear Yuletide writer,
First of all, thank you for writing for me. I'm thrilled that you share my interest in one of these fandoms, and I can't wait to read your story.
What follows is a little more information about what I like and don't like. But I want to say right away that I hope you will write a story you find interesting and enjoy writing, even if it doesn't exactly fit what I mention here. It could well turn out to be the story I didn't know I wanted.
Two of my favorite things are characterization and worldbuilding. I love to hear more about characters: their history, their hopes and fears, their secrets, their little quirks. And I love visiting unexplored corners of a world, whether it's a POW camp in Germany or the very different kind of camp to be found at the Marine Commando Club in Paddington. Details are divine; plot is, for me, non-compulsory. (If you write plot, I envy your skill and would be glad to have plot in my story. But if you don't, I'd be just as pleased with a slice-of-life tale or some in-depth characternavel-gazing introspection.)
I love male/male slash, but if that's not your cup of tea, gen is absolutely welcome! I've tried to give gen prompts as well as slashy ones for each request. I'm not much interested in het, though, so I'd rather the story didn't focus on a heterosexual relationship.
Along similar lines, if you do write a pairing story, don't feel obliged to include a sex scene if you'd rather not or if you don't think it develops the characters or the emotional arc. Some stories need a sex scene and others don't; I'm not a huge fan of porn for porn's sake, and I'm every bit as happy with a nonexplicit story as a porntastic one. If you do include a sex scene, my taste is pretty vanilla; in particular I'm not a fan of hitting, humiliation (I have a huge embarrassment squick), or formalized dominance/submission dynamics.
In general I enjoy a wide range of styles and tones. I like happy stories and melancholy stories, straightforward narratives and stylistic experiments, missing scenes and metacommentary, canon-compliance and what-ifs, backstory and futurefic. Feel free to take an idea and run with it.
There are a few things that distress or squick me, however. I ask that you not write something that features a rape scene, or even an off-screen rape that's a major story element. Also, while I'm fine with stories including or addressing issues of homophobia and transphobia, I'd rather not receive something terribly bleak about the victimization of queer characters.
In terms of genre, I like AUs of the "what if X canonical event happened differently," type, but not "all the characters are vampires/mobsters/high school students" AUs. As for crossovers, I tend to consider (almost) everything set during the World Wars as part of one big fandom, so if you want to cross, for example, Life and Death of Colonel Blimp with Biggles or The Wooden Horse with The Charioteer, feel free! While we're on the subject of genre, Christmas-themed stories are welcome for any of my requested fandoms, especially if they're slightly bittersweet rather than pure fluff. I not-so-secretly love Christmas; however, I am an atheist and I'm not especially interested in a story that's religious (writing from the POV of Christian or culturally-Christian characters is absolutely fine, but I'd rather not feel that the story itself is promoting a religious view).
For any of my requests, you're welcome to include any other characters from the source, not just the ones I specifically requested.
Below, I've reposted my requests along with a few additional comments in some cases. There are also links to my posts about the fandoms, in case you find that kind of thing helpful.
1) Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
Characters: Clive Candy, Angela "Johnny" Cannon, Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff
Since I'd like Johnny to be included, at least part of the story will need to be set in 1943, but if you wanted to include scenes from Clive and/or Theo's earlier years, that would be great. I'd love a story about Clive and Theo, as old men, coming to realize the importance of their love for each other (whether that love finds sexual expression or not) and how much it's been an anchor and a constant in their lives. Along with this, or as an alternative to it, it would be great to read something focusing on the experience of war and how it's shaped either or both of them. I'd be fascinated, for example, to see how Theo's memories of the First World War might differ from Clive's rather rosy-colored view of it as honorable.
I'd also be very interested in something from Johnny's point of view; I'm intrigued that she prefers to be called "Johnny." Is Johnny genderqueer, or perhaps a trans* man who either hasn't fully realized it or can't fully express it? To what extent is the war, with its opportunity for women to enter "male" jobs etc., a liberation for Johnny? Does knowing Clive and Theo--two men with a complicated emotional history together, and who've had to challenge convention in many ways--affect Johnny's self-understanding and self-acceptance?
Additional Notes: If you do choose to write Johnny as a trans* man, please don't focus on the disjuncture between his biology and his identity, and in particular, please please don't show him being exposed or humiliated by biology (e.g. unwanted pregnancy, menstruation). These are squicks and on bad days triggers for me, as is a strong focus on body dysphoria. I don't mean that you have to write Johnny being perfectly happy with his female-shaped body (that's something I often find troublesome from the other direction), but I'd rather the story didn't dwell on dysphoria, self-hatred, or body shame. Similarly, because of the body issues it brings up, I'd prefer no sex scene in a story in which Johnny is a trans* man. (Incidentally, because of the canonical boyfriend, if Johnny is trans* I would tend to see him as gay, hence my interest in what Clive and Theo's relationship means to him.) What I mean, to try to put it briefly, is that a story about the identity side of being trans*, such as the freedom and relief of finding one's identity, the pleasures and also difficulties of performing gender, and the intertwining of identification and desire that a gay trans* man can feel towards other men, would be more enjoyable for me than a story about the physical obstacles.
I have a brief post about the film here if you'd like to see more of my reactions to it.
Source Availability: The film is fairly readily available to buy or rent (I rented it from Netflix).
2) Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch
Character: Thomas Nightingale
Nightingale is my favorite character and I've love some backstory from any period of his life, although I confess to being especially interested in the Second World War: what did sorcerers do in the war, and what happened at Ettersberg? How did Nightingale cope with so much loss, and how has it affected him over the years? My head-canon is that Nightingale is gay, and a story dealing with that, especially in any period prior to the British decriminalization of homosexuality in 1967, would be great. It could be very intimate, focusing on self-discovery or relationships (did he lose a lover at Ettersberg?), or more political, or focused specifically on the issues of being a gay man who is also a sorcerer (did that world provide a refuge or did it have the same prejudices as elsewhere, or something in between?). If you want to write something in the present day, I'd love to see how Peter Grant coming into Nightingale's life as pupil and friend affects Nightingale after so many years of solitude, or Nightingale's reaction to the realization that magic isn't dying out after all.
Additional Notes: Nothing to add here, really. I posted about the books here if you want to know more about the things I loved and the few things I didn't.
Source Availability: All three books in the series so far are in print and available as paperbacks and e-books.
3) Round the Horne
Characters: Julian, Sandy
I just want to see them being their irrepressible selves and having fun. Maybe a night out at the Marine Commando Club (whose name piques my interest) or a closer look at one of their business ventures? The more Polari, double entendres, and camp, the better. I can picture Julian and Sandy as either friends or a couple, so take their relationship in whichever direction you'd like. Some seriousness and realism about the situation of gay men in pre-decriminalization Britain in fine, but I really don't want to see them go through tragedy--I love their defiance and laughter and the way they are much, much too fantabulosa to be pitiable. You can ignore the revelation in the last RtH episode that the characters are married to women, unless you want to mesh that in with them also being awesome gay men.
Additional Notes: When I think of Julian and Sandy, on either a Watsonian or Doyleist level, the phrase that comes to mind is "getting away with it." Julian and Sandy get away with being outrageously gay in a persecuting society, while their sketches on Round the Horne get away with lines like Julian being described as "a miracle of dexterity at the cottage upright." There's a liberation in that kind of subversion, and a politics too. Their camp is what you might call untamed camp, ferocious and sexual and challenging, not the tamed, commodified camp of the "gay best friend" stereotype. Julian and Sandy are closer to Joe Orton than to Jack from Will and Grace. There's a sketch in which Sandy urges an upset Julian to "mince tall." That's all I really want from a story about them--to see them mincing tall.
Source Availability: Not great in the US, although there are some "best of" compilations for sale. The complete series is available in the UK in four shockingly expensive sets. There are some clips on YouTube, including this delightful clip of Kenneth Williams and Hugh Paddick playing Julian and Sandy one last time, on the Terry Wogan show in 1987. But unless you have hundreds to spend, if you want the complete series you might need to look into *ahem* other alternatives for finding it.
4) The Wooden Horse series - Eric Williams
Characters: John Clinton, Peter Howard
These books offer a lot of story opportunities. I'd be thrilled with anything from a vignette of everyday life in a POW camp to a missing scene from their escape or a future fic about what happens after they arrive back in England, but I would like the focus to be in some way about their relationship with each other. I tend to think, based on the way Peter describes John, that Peter is on some level in love with him, and I'd be very happy to see that addressed, whether that means a sexual or romantic relationship between them, a more-or-less awkward encounter, or just a lot of longing. I'd also love to see what their intimacy means to them and their own self-understanding. Peter, for example, was married; does loving John make him think of himself as queer, or does he think of it as due to circumstances and the absence of women? But if you don't want to take the Peter-John relationship in that direction, a gen story focusing on their friendship would also be great.
Additional Notes: I've posted about The Wooden Horse here and its prequel The Tunnel here. I love both books and would be happy with a story set during either one (or after both). John and Peter were of course based on real people; you're welcome to either borrow from what's known of their real lives or treat them as entirely fictional characters. And I want to re-emphasize what I said earlier about including characters I haven't specifically requested: in the POW camps especially there were a lot of people around, so please populate your story at will!
Source Availability: Both books are easily findable as recent re-releases or old secondhand copies. But beware! Williams created edited versions of both books for young readers, taking out all potentially controversial content including a remarkable discussion of homosexuality in The Wooden Horse. These edited versions seem to be more readily available than the unedited ones, and booksellers generally don't bother telling you which one they're offering. So if you're buying online, e-mail the seller and ask; if you can examine the book yourself, check the copyright page and Williams's preface, if any. In my posts on the books, I've tried to include some of the expurgated content, but there's a lot.
First of all, thank you for writing for me. I'm thrilled that you share my interest in one of these fandoms, and I can't wait to read your story.
What follows is a little more information about what I like and don't like. But I want to say right away that I hope you will write a story you find interesting and enjoy writing, even if it doesn't exactly fit what I mention here. It could well turn out to be the story I didn't know I wanted.
Two of my favorite things are characterization and worldbuilding. I love to hear more about characters: their history, their hopes and fears, their secrets, their little quirks. And I love visiting unexplored corners of a world, whether it's a POW camp in Germany or the very different kind of camp to be found at the Marine Commando Club in Paddington. Details are divine; plot is, for me, non-compulsory. (If you write plot, I envy your skill and would be glad to have plot in my story. But if you don't, I'd be just as pleased with a slice-of-life tale or some in-depth character
I love male/male slash, but if that's not your cup of tea, gen is absolutely welcome! I've tried to give gen prompts as well as slashy ones for each request. I'm not much interested in het, though, so I'd rather the story didn't focus on a heterosexual relationship.
Along similar lines, if you do write a pairing story, don't feel obliged to include a sex scene if you'd rather not or if you don't think it develops the characters or the emotional arc. Some stories need a sex scene and others don't; I'm not a huge fan of porn for porn's sake, and I'm every bit as happy with a nonexplicit story as a porntastic one. If you do include a sex scene, my taste is pretty vanilla; in particular I'm not a fan of hitting, humiliation (I have a huge embarrassment squick), or formalized dominance/submission dynamics.
In general I enjoy a wide range of styles and tones. I like happy stories and melancholy stories, straightforward narratives and stylistic experiments, missing scenes and metacommentary, canon-compliance and what-ifs, backstory and futurefic. Feel free to take an idea and run with it.
There are a few things that distress or squick me, however. I ask that you not write something that features a rape scene, or even an off-screen rape that's a major story element. Also, while I'm fine with stories including or addressing issues of homophobia and transphobia, I'd rather not receive something terribly bleak about the victimization of queer characters.
In terms of genre, I like AUs of the "what if X canonical event happened differently," type, but not "all the characters are vampires/mobsters/high school students" AUs. As for crossovers, I tend to consider (almost) everything set during the World Wars as part of one big fandom, so if you want to cross, for example, Life and Death of Colonel Blimp with Biggles or The Wooden Horse with The Charioteer, feel free! While we're on the subject of genre, Christmas-themed stories are welcome for any of my requested fandoms, especially if they're slightly bittersweet rather than pure fluff. I not-so-secretly love Christmas; however, I am an atheist and I'm not especially interested in a story that's religious (writing from the POV of Christian or culturally-Christian characters is absolutely fine, but I'd rather not feel that the story itself is promoting a religious view).
For any of my requests, you're welcome to include any other characters from the source, not just the ones I specifically requested.
Below, I've reposted my requests along with a few additional comments in some cases. There are also links to my posts about the fandoms, in case you find that kind of thing helpful.
1) Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
Characters: Clive Candy, Angela "Johnny" Cannon, Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff
Since I'd like Johnny to be included, at least part of the story will need to be set in 1943, but if you wanted to include scenes from Clive and/or Theo's earlier years, that would be great. I'd love a story about Clive and Theo, as old men, coming to realize the importance of their love for each other (whether that love finds sexual expression or not) and how much it's been an anchor and a constant in their lives. Along with this, or as an alternative to it, it would be great to read something focusing on the experience of war and how it's shaped either or both of them. I'd be fascinated, for example, to see how Theo's memories of the First World War might differ from Clive's rather rosy-colored view of it as honorable.
I'd also be very interested in something from Johnny's point of view; I'm intrigued that she prefers to be called "Johnny." Is Johnny genderqueer, or perhaps a trans* man who either hasn't fully realized it or can't fully express it? To what extent is the war, with its opportunity for women to enter "male" jobs etc., a liberation for Johnny? Does knowing Clive and Theo--two men with a complicated emotional history together, and who've had to challenge convention in many ways--affect Johnny's self-understanding and self-acceptance?
Additional Notes: If you do choose to write Johnny as a trans* man, please don't focus on the disjuncture between his biology and his identity, and in particular, please please don't show him being exposed or humiliated by biology (e.g. unwanted pregnancy, menstruation). These are squicks and on bad days triggers for me, as is a strong focus on body dysphoria. I don't mean that you have to write Johnny being perfectly happy with his female-shaped body (that's something I often find troublesome from the other direction), but I'd rather the story didn't dwell on dysphoria, self-hatred, or body shame. Similarly, because of the body issues it brings up, I'd prefer no sex scene in a story in which Johnny is a trans* man. (Incidentally, because of the canonical boyfriend, if Johnny is trans* I would tend to see him as gay, hence my interest in what Clive and Theo's relationship means to him.) What I mean, to try to put it briefly, is that a story about the identity side of being trans*, such as the freedom and relief of finding one's identity, the pleasures and also difficulties of performing gender, and the intertwining of identification and desire that a gay trans* man can feel towards other men, would be more enjoyable for me than a story about the physical obstacles.
I have a brief post about the film here if you'd like to see more of my reactions to it.
Source Availability: The film is fairly readily available to buy or rent (I rented it from Netflix).
2) Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch
Character: Thomas Nightingale
Nightingale is my favorite character and I've love some backstory from any period of his life, although I confess to being especially interested in the Second World War: what did sorcerers do in the war, and what happened at Ettersberg? How did Nightingale cope with so much loss, and how has it affected him over the years? My head-canon is that Nightingale is gay, and a story dealing with that, especially in any period prior to the British decriminalization of homosexuality in 1967, would be great. It could be very intimate, focusing on self-discovery or relationships (did he lose a lover at Ettersberg?), or more political, or focused specifically on the issues of being a gay man who is also a sorcerer (did that world provide a refuge or did it have the same prejudices as elsewhere, or something in between?). If you want to write something in the present day, I'd love to see how Peter Grant coming into Nightingale's life as pupil and friend affects Nightingale after so many years of solitude, or Nightingale's reaction to the realization that magic isn't dying out after all.
Additional Notes: Nothing to add here, really. I posted about the books here if you want to know more about the things I loved and the few things I didn't.
Source Availability: All three books in the series so far are in print and available as paperbacks and e-books.
3) Round the Horne
Characters: Julian, Sandy
I just want to see them being their irrepressible selves and having fun. Maybe a night out at the Marine Commando Club (whose name piques my interest) or a closer look at one of their business ventures? The more Polari, double entendres, and camp, the better. I can picture Julian and Sandy as either friends or a couple, so take their relationship in whichever direction you'd like. Some seriousness and realism about the situation of gay men in pre-decriminalization Britain in fine, but I really don't want to see them go through tragedy--I love their defiance and laughter and the way they are much, much too fantabulosa to be pitiable. You can ignore the revelation in the last RtH episode that the characters are married to women, unless you want to mesh that in with them also being awesome gay men.
Additional Notes: When I think of Julian and Sandy, on either a Watsonian or Doyleist level, the phrase that comes to mind is "getting away with it." Julian and Sandy get away with being outrageously gay in a persecuting society, while their sketches on Round the Horne get away with lines like Julian being described as "a miracle of dexterity at the cottage upright." There's a liberation in that kind of subversion, and a politics too. Their camp is what you might call untamed camp, ferocious and sexual and challenging, not the tamed, commodified camp of the "gay best friend" stereotype. Julian and Sandy are closer to Joe Orton than to Jack from Will and Grace. There's a sketch in which Sandy urges an upset Julian to "mince tall." That's all I really want from a story about them--to see them mincing tall.
Source Availability: Not great in the US, although there are some "best of" compilations for sale. The complete series is available in the UK in four shockingly expensive sets. There are some clips on YouTube, including this delightful clip of Kenneth Williams and Hugh Paddick playing Julian and Sandy one last time, on the Terry Wogan show in 1987. But unless you have hundreds to spend, if you want the complete series you might need to look into *ahem* other alternatives for finding it.
4) The Wooden Horse series - Eric Williams
Characters: John Clinton, Peter Howard
These books offer a lot of story opportunities. I'd be thrilled with anything from a vignette of everyday life in a POW camp to a missing scene from their escape or a future fic about what happens after they arrive back in England, but I would like the focus to be in some way about their relationship with each other. I tend to think, based on the way Peter describes John, that Peter is on some level in love with him, and I'd be very happy to see that addressed, whether that means a sexual or romantic relationship between them, a more-or-less awkward encounter, or just a lot of longing. I'd also love to see what their intimacy means to them and their own self-understanding. Peter, for example, was married; does loving John make him think of himself as queer, or does he think of it as due to circumstances and the absence of women? But if you don't want to take the Peter-John relationship in that direction, a gen story focusing on their friendship would also be great.
Additional Notes: I've posted about The Wooden Horse here and its prequel The Tunnel here. I love both books and would be happy with a story set during either one (or after both). John and Peter were of course based on real people; you're welcome to either borrow from what's known of their real lives or treat them as entirely fictional characters. And I want to re-emphasize what I said earlier about including characters I haven't specifically requested: in the POW camps especially there were a lot of people around, so please populate your story at will!
Source Availability: Both books are easily findable as recent re-releases or old secondhand copies. But beware! Williams created edited versions of both books for young readers, taking out all potentially controversial content including a remarkable discussion of homosexuality in The Wooden Horse. These edited versions seem to be more readily available than the unedited ones, and booksellers generally don't bother telling you which one they're offering. So if you're buying online, e-mail the seller and ask; if you can examine the book yourself, check the copyright page and Williams's preface, if any. In my posts on the books, I've tried to include some of the expurgated content, but there's a lot.
