Are You My Santa?

[thefourthvine]

Dear Santa,

Okay. I'm. Um. A little bit afraid that you're looking at your assignment right now and regretting ever signing up for Yuletide, because you got stuck with a crazy recipient OMG. Do not fear! I'm not crazy. Okay, I am, but not in a way that's harmful.

To you, anyway.

I know I went overboard with the details a bit, but I wanted to make sure you had a starting place if you needed one. If you can't do what I requested, or you think you can't do it well, details are optional.

If, on the other hand, you want to know more about what I like in fan fiction in general, or what I'm hoping for from Yuletide this year, read on.

I'm hoping that my story will be like the canon it's based on. I made these requests because I love the canons, after all, so I'm hoping the characters will sound like themselves, act like themselves, and think like themselves. For the fictional fandoms, I'm hoping the story will be similar in tone and content to the canon. For the historical fandoms, I'm hoping the details will be historically accurate and appropriate.

I'm hoping that my story won't be very dark or angsty. I'm great with tension and conflict in the middle, but I'm a big fan of happy endings. Witty dialog and humor are always a plus, if you can go there. I'm neutral about porn this year; if it fits in the story and it's what you want to write, then please do. If it doesn't work in the story, that's great, too. The story's the thing.

ETA: Like an idiot, I forgot to mention squicks. The first and most major one is animal harm - I just can't handle it in any form. And the other one is embarrassment. Minor embarrassment I can survive; major embarrassment leaves me fetal on the floor. So, um, those would be good to skip?

Fandom specifics:

For I, Robot, my ideal is actually a pairing story, though it can be of any rating or explicitness. I'd also be totally happy with a gen story that has a level of subtext similar to the Powell and Donovan short stories in the book. And, as I said, I'm really hoping for malfunctioning robots in space. Malfunctioning robots in space are the very essence of this canon, to me. I'd love to see Powell and Donovan work some kind of robot problem. And if that robot problem causes them to have we're-gonna-die or we're-locked-in-an-enclosed-space or we're-desperate-and-horny first-time sex? That would be golden.

For The Gold Bat, I have no preference between slash or gen. (If you do write slash, though, O'Hara and Moriarty are my first choice, followed very closely by Trever and Clowes - or Trevor and pretty much anyone of roughly his age.) One thing I don't think I made clear in the details is that it doesn't have to be set during the school years - feel free to age them up to university or whatever if you like. I'm hoping for something similar in tone and content to the school stories - light, humorous, filled with school politics and intrigue.

For James Cook and Joseph Banks, as I said, feel free to take it either to a gen or a slash place - extraordinary friendship or pairing, either is fabulous. I'd particularly be interested in something that acknowledges or explores the diversity of their backgrounds and their relative purposes and positions during the expedition. I'd love it to feel like the age of sail, too. If you need references or beta help, obviously I can't volunteer, but you could try kiss_me_hardy, which is basically tailored to suit your beta and research needs; I've left the community and will stay gone for the duration of Yuletide, so if you post members-only there, I won't be able to see it. And Australiana (and, OMG, maybe even a wombat!) is totally not necessary or expected, but if you can put that in there, I will bounce with joy.

And for Charles Baudelaire - if he's the fandom we share in common, I love you. And I'm so, so sorry. My fourth request is, traditionally, the place where I let my inner crazed fangirl come out and play, and I definitely went there this year. Basically, I want (lower-case 's') supernatural fiction with Charles Baudelaire's rather, um, unique world view as the guide, and Charles himself as a main character. If you can make it jibe with his life, I'd love it. (And if you need references for his life, let me know via the mods or however; I will so totally be happy to help!) Oh, and - I don't speak French, though I'm familiar enough with most of Les Fleurs du Mal that I'll at least understand the poems themselves. But for dialog and suchlike, English is definitely preferable.

Here's what's most important, though: I love all these fandoms. The existence of a story in any of them will make me happy. That it was written for me will make me deliriously happy.

And I already love you for volunteering to write for it.

Love,
TFV, your totally not crazy in any way recipient

Comments

[ileliberte.livejournal.com]

Random drop in to express Gold Bat love :) I think Wodehouse's school stories are the best of his work, I still have so much adoration for The White Feather. O'Hara and Moriarty were the ones with the ferret, right? I like how his characters kind of pop up here and there in the different school stories even when the focus characters are different. I keep forgetting the one where Clowes saved the headmaster's niece from having her bicycle stolen, but lots of love for that too. I kept hoping for a grown up follow up to Mike at Wrykyn but it was not to be *sigh*

[thefourthvine.livejournal.com]

Gold Bat woooo!

And, nope, the ferret-keepers were Renford and Harvey, who are too young for me to slash. They're, like, eleven or twelve, I think. O'Hara and Moriarty were the stereotypical Irish scofflaws with the broad accents and the tendency to start trouble - O'Hara was the one who lost the gold bat in the first place, at the base of the mayor's statue, which he and Moriarty were tarring and feathering.

I can't believe that I know all this crap off the top of my head. I've read these books way too many times.

And, and! There is a grown-up follow-up to Mike at Wrykyn - actually, several: the Psmith stories, including Mike and Psmith and Psmith, Journalist and so on. Mike is Psmith's, um, right-hand man. The Psmith stories aren't my favorites, but they do exist. (And eventually Psmith gets married, although he is the GAYEST CHARACTER IN ALL OF LITERATURE, beating even Georgette Heyer's romantic male leads in the field.)

*hearts the school stories SO DAMN MUCH*

(And, by the way, they're out of copyright, so you can get them all at Project Gutenberg if you want them on your PDA or whatever. So cool!)