Dear Yuletide Writer

[castiron]

Dear Yuletide writer,

First, thank you! I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

I think I put most of this in the noms form, but repeating here anyway.

In general:: I like happy or at least hopeful endings. I'm usually okay with slash, het, or gen; I'm not crazy about 'cest. Gore and graphic violence are squicks; I'd rather not read about any non-con sex that isn't in the source material.


1. The Golden Name Day series by Jennie Lindquist

These were some of my absolutely favorite books as a child; I loved the depictions of Swedish-American culture and the hints of Polish-American culture, the depictions of New England, the relationships between the characters, everything. These are the books that make me rail against Life Plus 70 copyright terms; it's a crying shame that they're unavailable because the author's heirs can't be bothered to bring them back into print.

This is NOT a fandom where I want a cracky "please ruin my childhood memories" fic; I want a fic that's true to the spirit of the original stories. While I lean gen on this fandom, I don't consider slash inherently cracky. In fact, I'd be fine with a slash pairing if that's the story that calls you, but given the time period, I would consider "Nancy and Elsa or Alex and Ben are out of the closet and everyone's vocally cool with it!" to be cracky. "These two same-sex characters live together, and everyone acts like they're just housemates" I'd buy.

The series takes place in 1909-1910, which means that most of the main characters will be hitting adulthood around when the United States enters World War I. I'd particularly like a story about Alex. What is he doing with his life as an approximately 18-year-old? How does he cope with seeing other young men his age enlisting, when his disability prevents him? Is he romantically interested in any of the characters from the books, or in an OC, or is that not on his radar at this time? What is he planning to do for a career? What interests has he discovered?

Other possibilities I'd be interested in: Any story about the characters as adults. Something set 20-30 years later, where the characters are teaching their children about their Swedish heritage. Elsa travels to Sweden to see where her family came from. if you want to go beyond nominated characters, a story about Martha and her choice to keep house for Uncle Sven (did she choose it out of duty, or did she decide she'd rather live on the farm with her uncle than marry?); a story about Elsa's friendship with Mr. Sandborn. Swedish funeral and mourning traditions when one of the older family members dies. Swedish wedding traditions when one of the characters marries.


2. Om Shanti Om

I love this movie, but one of the small things that bugs me about it is that Om Kapoor's mother largely disappears from the story. I would love a story where Mrs. Kapoor meets Mrs. Makhija. Mrs. Makhija knows about Om's past life, but does Mrs. Kapoor ever find out (and if so, how does she react)? Or does she simply wonder why her son has suddenly taken an interest in this aging ex-actress?


3. T. Tembarom by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

"I just want fic for this story to exist" probably isn't helpful. So. I'm curious about Tembarom and Ann's life after their marriage -- where do they end up settling? What does Tembarom do for an occupation, since he's certainly not going to just live off of his father-in-law's Invention? How does Ann balance caring for Tembarom with caring for her father?

Alternatively, a story about Lady Joan would be interesting. Can she and Jem cope with finally being happy, or do they still struggle? How do they fit in with the local social scene? Do they spend most of their time at Temple Barholm, or do they travel and have adventures?

4. The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie

I love Strength and Patience of the Hill; I'm also fascinated by the Myriad and wonder what their POV would look like. So, anything about these two's friendship would delight me. An incident many years in the past? The Myriad's POV of coming to S&P's rescue? What happens afterwards, and how the Myriad and company move S&P back to their hill? The Myriad checking in with S&P to let them know how Eolo and Tikaz fared after their escape? The Myriad and S&P in the world's equivalent of modern times? (What if the Myriad was thinking of going back into space?) Up to you.

5. Captain Marvel (2019)

There was not enough of Maria Rambeau in the movie. Give me more of her -- her friendship with Carol, flying planes for Dr. Wendy Lawson (I would happily watch a whole movie of those three testing planes and interacting), whatever moves you.

6. Godzilla, King of the Monsters (2019)

Well, my main wish during the movie was that Mark Russell had died at the claws of one of the monsters, because I despised that character to the depths of my being. But he's not a nominated character, so....

Godzilla's POV would be fascinating. How do they see the world? (I mess with the household Godzilla fan by pointing out that we really don't know Godzilla's sex or gender, so why do we give G male pronouns? So if you want to write female Godzilla or genderqueer Godzilla (and what does gender expression even look like for a kaiju?), go for it.)

I loved Dr. Serizawa and found his death emotionally moving; I'd love more of his life, or coming up with some magical way that he survived, or have him reincarnated as Minilla!