Dear Yuletide Writer letter
Oct. 14th, 2012 08:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skazka- Reservoir Dogs (1992)
- Ballets Russes RPF
- Hebrew Bible/Tanakh
- (maybe Lawrence Of Arabia)
ETA: DYW letter inside! Details updated 10/1/12.
Oh man -- happy Yuletide in advance! If you’re writing for me or just stopping by, rest assured that you are the best, and I’m excited for everything you have to share! This is my fourth year doing Yuletide, and every year I have far too much fun; you can usually catch me hanging out in #yuletide on IRC. If anything about this letter is unclear, or you’d like elaboration on what I mean by something, feel free to ask via Hippo. (If you simply want to pre-Yule stalk me, I'm Skazka on AO3 too, and Skabritches on Tumblr.)
Things I’d like to see:
Storywise, I love atmospheric fic, historical AUs/pastiches and gothic settings, dreamy atmospheres, original-flavor fic or works in the style of the original. Expressive friendships and characters whose personalities complement each other, whose particular abilities and deficiencies work together to make them stronger as a unit than they are apart, or once they are apart because of their contact with the other one they’re a stronger, more functioning individual for it. Trying to boil down what’s funny about funny fic is a bit of a futile exercise, but I do like humorous elements and witty/idiosyncratic narrators. Side references to the original work or other works (especially if it’s an AU) absolutely thrill me. Some of my favorite horror elements are creeping otherworldly horror, cosmic horror writ small and gothic creepiness, stuff that might be supernatural and might be mundane.
Smutwise, I love historical sex practices, intercrural sex, and intimacy that is not precisely platonic but not within the formal bounds of sexual activity either. Eating together, reading together, crying on one another, wound-checking, banal domestic activities. Eccentric characters being eccentric in bed! Or sex scenes that fulfill the purposes that another kind of scene might on top of conveying fun porn, important character dynamic changes, plot points, anything being revealed about the characters in question and how they relate to one another once the clothes come off. Suggestive but non-explicit sex scenes/mentions of sex seems to be a favorite of mine for some reason, it’s just like a little kick of electrifying fun stuff without the Now They’re Gonna Do It buildup. All different levels of intimacy are cool in fic, and gen is always welcome.
If you intend to write me id-stroking fun stuff -- stuff where something’s gone wrong or someone’s experienced a particular trauma or something heavy is weighing on Character A’s mind and they don’t know how to broach the subject and it’s eating them up inside and Character B notices something’s up and asks and gives them the opportunity to let it all out, even if Character B initially doesn’t grasp what’s up with Character A to start with, or they’re initially incorrect in their assessment of the situation? That is my favorite kind of slightly convoluted hurt/comfort! Basically anything that gives Character A an opportunity or an excuse to say their bit and tell their story and get help as necessary, without the scariness of being the first to speak up. Something happening that makes it impossible for Character A to deny something’s up would be fine too -- stereotypically in the case of trauma that’d be something like Character A melting down in Character B’s presence, or being forced to confront something they’ve been putting off because it reminds them of their experiences -- but Character B being perceptive enough to notice something up with their friend (or lover, or very familiar enemy) is a big part of the charm for me. Again, this is totally not necessary to my Yuletide experience or even just something that’d be nice to get -- it’s like the hurt-comfort big guns, and I will be thrilled, whether what you write me has a smidgen of h/c in it or not.
I’m pretty into pain and suffering (both of the angst variety and the physical hurt variety) and while I like BDSM plenty, I’m not super into in-universe scene negotiations and safewords -- optimally if Character X is getting struck by Character Y, it need not be from hostility but I’d prefer it were in earnest within that universe, not a detached kind of play. (If you’re more comfortable writing play and stuff that’s in-universe explicitly negotiated, I do like kinky scenes that are relatively light-hearted and low-pressure, not Super Serious S&M With All The Trappings.) I am not particularly into SSC-style negotiated domination/submission, bondage for its own sake or as the centerpiece in a beautiful bouquet of kinkiness, master/slave stuff or slave AUs. Kinks I’m really not into are knifeplay, needleplay, ageplay, and spanking. (Other kinds of impact play are fine and great, and actual non-play combat stabbing etc. isn’t a problem.)
For non-sexy kinks and tropes I’m not into, I’m not really into kidfic (people suddenly having or becoming children) or issue!fic, meaning fic that by (well-intentioned) attempts to address a particular societal ill or underrepresented group, or critique and remedy its place in the source canon, eclipses to the point of omission the actual characters and storyline it features. If you'd be happier writing a meta piece about a particular theme or -ism in a work, I would be happier to read it than to have that encorporated less than successfully into the body and structure of a fic. A fic where trans!Jonathan is shown and mentioned as facing opposition and familial difficulty in the course of Jonathan’s existence is fine -- a narrative exclusively about Trans 101-style explanations of what being transgender is, and about how horrible life-endingly miserable it is to be transgender and how everyone will hate her (or him or them) is not super what I want for Yule this year. I am cautiously excited about genderbent and gender-diversified stuff in general, whether a story that happens to have swapped pronouns and names and identities (and no big societal overhauls to match in comparison with the canon version of that society) or one that happens to have trans* characters or one in which the repercussions of role-swaps to different genders and sexes is played out at length, but I would prefer no “suddenly x wakes up a different sex because of space pollen/magic macguffins”.
Darkfic, suicide and character death, noncon and dubcon, mental illness, violence, and in-character prejudices are totally fine and dandy for my Yuletide fic -- use incentive tags if you like or choose not to warn, however you’re comfortable.
Squicks
I am squicked by lack of aftercare being eroticized after consensual BDSM and that whole sex trope where characters are “practicing” on each other, particularly between women (like “teaching” someone to kiss or please a man in preparation for their wedding night, for instance.) I would prefer not to receive fic with child grooming for purposes of sexual abuse, eating disorders and related thought processes, or incest. Tamar is something of an exception to the last one -- the bulk of her appearance in 2 Samuel is related to her sexual assault by her brother, so don’t feel like you have to reach to omit it, but I’d prefer it not to be portrayed as an attraction Tamar reciprocates, or something darkly romantic. LoA fic (and for that matter, Ballets Russes fic) might also conceivably touch on disordered eating issues in a sidelong way -- complicated issues with one's own body and its abilities, and with food vis-à-vis eating and not eating; if it's not the centerpiece of the fic I'm on board, but I would prefer and appreciate a warning if it's addressed more than in passing.
Okay now, on to the actual fandoms!
Reservoir Dogs (1992 Quentin Tarantino film)
Stuff I am super-interested in: Culture shock for Freddy, moments where he was highly aware of how different he was from the Dogs vs. moments he was surprised to find himself in sync, and moments where the camaraderie/acting in unison was already familiar to him from his career as a cop -- I’m also interested in the moments where he seems uncomfortable (him wincing during the big dick bit) or where he’d have to conceal his own discomfort, acting, rehearsals, and personas, which we see especially with the Commode Story. What’s with the wedding ring? Is it a prop, a tangible reminder of his persona, a remembrance of an actual past relationship? Freddy builds himself a persona from fictional badasses (cool! supercool! fucking Baretta!) and seems to be mildly fannish himself, with his giant Silver Surfer poster and F4 references, even if that’s a holdover from dorkier days gone by. How does he feel putting on a role? I love the way he crumbles under unbearable pressure (the panic that he’s going to die while in an excruciating amount of pain, for example) and how intimately aware he is that even as he enjoys himself and even as he grows comfortable in his role, he’s playing a very high-stakes game.
I’m really interested in the relationship between Orange and White; are they roughly on the same page with how they relate to one another? Are they under the impression that that’s the case? Orange’s true identity as a police officer drives a pretty big wedge between them, but before that’s revealed, does White conceive of himself as a mentor to Orange’s inexperienced youth, or is he simply keeping an associate out of trouble? Does Orange think they’re friends, bros even, while White’s operating under the impression they’re more or less coworkers in a risky profession until the moment Orange is freaking out in the backseat of the car he’s driving? (That scene is one of my favorites in all cinema, damn. It’s so viscerally stressful and panicky but also almost ridiculous, as well as comical.)
Also -- identities, personas, and names.
We have a whole scene in RD talking about the importance of none of the crew knowing each other’s real names, and then the significance of White telling Orange his own first name, and Marvin Nash and Freddy Newandyke exchanging identities as soon as they’re alone together, Nash briefly drifting back into the category of being a real person and not just a cop -- later on, Orange’s disclosure of his real identity, as a police officer and the rat they’ve been looking for, is what gets him killed. There’s a practical side to this for a bunch of criminals, obviously, but I love it all over the place and would love to see it explored. White being able to draw a line between real people and cops interests me -- it’s obviously an occupational plus, but the moment of realization that transforms everything he’s just been through is a terrible thing.
Also! I am totally down with alternate endings, AUs where events went down differently or took place in alternate realities. I can’t think of another period conducive to that particular kind of heist setup, but hey, given the existence of the Pulp Bard project -- maybe something in that vein? The heisty aspects of the plot are fun for me but I’m fine with seeing the whole cast of characters or general conceit recontexualized in a way that transforms the finished product radically. Shout-outs to other Tarantino films are fabulous, the theory that they’re all knit together in one universe is a favorite of mine.
Ballets Russes RPF
(specifically Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes; if you got really excited to write about the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo -- that’s not my area of familiarity but I wouldn’t say no to it either!)
I find Diaghilev himself as an individual a bit of a mystery -- the fact that he’s so often mythologized as a domineering Byronic taskmaster muddies the waters, but I find his real ability to be both affectionate and very cruel in the name of guidance interesting. I would be really (morbidly) interested in scenes from Vaslav and Sergei’s relationship as it began to turn sour, the professional stress and disillusionment alongside Vaslav’s nascent mental illness. The passages in his Diary where Nijinsky discusses having and seeking out straight sex -- with no small amount of furtive guilt, whether that was present in the moment or an element added in the later recollection -- shed a lot of light on his sexual landscape as an individual for me rather than as a sinuous, gender-bending, electrifying performer; the contrast between his persona as an object of sexual desire from all genders and what his own desire might have been is striking and tense.
If you’re comfortable writing about Romola and Nijinsky in their later lives, after the end of Vaslav’s career as a performer, I’m very interested in the two of them together. To what degree was Romola aware of Vaslav’s family history with mental illness and disability, and his personal history with Lvov? I’d love to see something during the timespan in which the Diary was written, or if you want to go really Romola-centric, her processes of editing that manuscript and that which was doctored, tweaked or omitted. Vaslav’s interactions with his daughter as expressed in his diary, his judgment on her and his fears that he’d hurt her or that she would spiritually damage herself, are all salient to what I’d like to read about. (If you’re not comfortable writing kids or specifically writing Kyra as a character, don’t feel pressured to -- likewise, if you’re not comfortable writing about mental illness or a specific take on whatever was up with Nijinsky’s health after a while I respect and understand choosing another period to write about. If you’d rather not write exclusively character-focused stuff I’d love to see ensemble fic about the creative processes behind Jeux, l’Apres-Midi d’un Faune, or Le Sacre du Printemps.
Please steer clear of the tradition of Tragic Madness(tm) surrounding Vaslav’s condition (as a mentally ill person I find the way the end of Vaslav’s career or the moment of his fall from Diaghilev’s good graces is often treated like his actual literal death troubling) or assumptions of rankest bad faith on Romola’s part. While I doubt she was particularly enlightened about mental illness, ableism, or homophobia, there were other reasons to be concerned about her husband’s personal history and the way his last relationship had ended than sheer homophobia for its own sake. There are troubling and potentially fucked-up elements in their marriage worth exploration and remark, but seeing Romola dismissed as a sort of demonic groupie and proto-Yoko who split up a totally rad flawless queer duo with her gross lady-ness really frustrates me.
Hebrew Bible
ETA: As per the new tagging, this should be uploaded/filed under 'Tanakh' rather than 'Hebrew Bible', as far as I can tell.
This year I am requesting characters and narratives pretty exclusively contained to 1 and 2 Samuel. They can also be taken as two different sets of characters and two different narratives -- either David and Jonathan doing their thing together, and then the familial tragedy set up with Absalom and Tamar with Tamar’s sexual assault by her brother Amnon.
For David and Jonathan --
Why I love it: I love the depth of friendship between these two and how effusive they are in one another’s company. Whether you choose to portray their relationship as romantic, sexual, both, or neither, I am totally interested in their bond and its origins and limits. I am a huge sucker for the way Jonathan defends David on numerous occasions -- and the drama of Saul being Jonathan’s father and that tension. Also, weeping. I love the weeping. (And exceeding, depending how you’re feeling.) Big moments for me that sparked my imagination for fic interpretations, whether a straight-up ficcish retelling or an alternate take, were the moment Jonathan and David are kind of bound together for good -- when their souls cleave together , Jonathan speaking in David’s favor at 1 Samuel 19 and again at 1 Samuel 20, them going out into the field at 1 Samuel 20:11, and later, David’s lament for both Saul and Jonathan. Is there a tension between Jonathan’s familial ties and his position of confidence with his father and his sympathies with David? (Which one could see as practically beyond his own control.) Jonathan sides with David even to the extent that his own father turns against them both; if his bond with David is not entirely organic, but is something spiritual or situational or otherwise forced upon them, how does that feel? Basically -- secret meetings, private counsels, embraces! (If you don’t want to write about David and Jonathan as a pair and would prefer to write about David separately, I love the significance of David repeatedly sparing Saul, and his role as a psalmist. I’m not riveted by the story of David and Bathsheba, but I’ll be happy with anything you write.)
For my second two requested characters, Absalom and Tamar: I was really struck by how terrible the story of Tamar’s rape is -- David was the one who sent Tamar to her brother’s side to make him a meal, and when she’s pleading with Amnon she asks him to speak with their father the king about his intent -- the matter of whether David would have even allowed such a marriage aside, the shadow of David as king is over this whole story, grim as it is. I find everything about Tamar interesting and I find her a very sympathetic figure; anything you could write featuring her that doesn’t erase her status as a survivor of assault would be of definite interest to me. I’d be really interested in what becomes of her in the aftermath of her brother’s sexual assault, her desolation and grief as a private response to those events and not exclusively a social experience of shame. Absalom clearly has not and does not forgive Amnon for what he does to Tamar; why then did he wait two full years to kill him? If he was indeed waiting for the right time to strike, how could he bear the wait and his building hatred with his sister living (in my translation “as a desolate woman”) in his house? How much did David know of what occurred before the day of Amnon’s murder made what had happened clear?
As a caveat, I would prefer you handle the explicitly faith elements of this story (David being God’s anointed, etc.) seriously and without derision, though feel free to write according to a specific religious/faith tradition or take bits and pieces of several. If you aren’t comfortable writing a Religious Story for Yuletide I totally understand -- no pressure. If you really aren’t comfortable, treat the narrative as a straight political drama, I’ll be all over that too.
Lawrence Of Arabia (1962)
I’m a pretty big fan of T.E. Lawrence as an individual (rather than the character played by Peter O’Toole) too, so if you write something reconciling the film’s account with Ned’s account (reconciling that with reality is a bit of a tall order) or touching upon one in the other, as what might have been or should have been, that’d be cool. I find the rather more brittle and sometimes physically unwell Lawrence of Seven Pillars of Wisdom captivating; how much does that map onto film!Lawrence, anyhow? (I’m also a big fan of, as film depictions of Lawrence go, the unofficial sequel film with Ralph Fiennes as Lawrence -- which I will point you in the direction of links for, if you’re interested in giving that a look! It’s basically fanfic itself dealing with disillusionment and loss of focus at war’s end, with some pretty gripping and melancholy friendships and a take on Lawrence’s character I very much enjoyed. It also touches on racism/imperialism more forthrightly, if that's of interest.) Lawrence after Deraa both interests and worries me, and so naturally I want fic all about it -- the film is both rather coy and surprisingly graphic. Beyond the immediate psychological (and in a weird way, ideological) effect on Lawrence, Ali’s responses or attempt at responses (contrasted with English non-comprehension) are heavy and full of potential for exploration. All of his relationships and friendships fascinating, and other people’s responses to his bone-deep strangeness as much as whatever in him grasps to feign being like other people, or being at home as one who ultimately has not much of a home anywhere.
(Pretty unrelatedly -- Auda is also super cool but I can’t totally wrap my head around him. Something exploring him in depth rather than as a comic foil to Lawrence’s Western-ness would be really rad. Contrasting them is fine, but the film itself doesn’t feature a huge range of dimension for him.)
Given that this is a rather... epic canon, I would love to see alternate takes or AUs scrutinizing it from all angles or drawing out scenes that weren’t shown. And if you want a not-necessarily-cracky-but-slightly-out-there AU idea I would die for -- write me trans!Lawrence fic. (In which I push together all of my areas of interest and shout NOW KISS, idk.) As one anon put it, “AN ENTIRE AU IN WHICH LAWRENCE IDENTIFIES AS FEMALE AND NEVER TELLS ANYBODY”. (That was originally a response to the “garlands for the conqueror, flowers for the man”/“I’m none of these things” thing, for an idea of context. I would also be all over a fic with transmasculine!Lawrence, since for whatever reason actual!Ned being a slight but tenacious pocket Hercules resonates with me on that front.) I am also hella fond of the Lawrence-as-literal-mad-prophet AU that’s sprung out of Mercedes Lackey’s short story in Fiddler Fair and carmarthen’s ensuing fic, if you feel up for contributing to that or drawing off of similar elements of scalding, unnerving AU mindfuck.
