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Dear Yuletide Author
Oct. 12th, 2013 11:47 pmHello, and thank you in advance for writing for me! I'm sure I'll love whatever you come up with, and I hope you have lots of fun writing it!
As always, optional details are optional, so feel absolutely free to ignore this letter if your inspiration pulls you in a different direction.
As you may have guessed from perusing the optional details on my requests, I like reading stories that take place post-canon. I also like stories that explore areas that canon doesn't really focus on--"missing scenes" or the viewpoints of characters who don't get as much of a voice in-canon.
I also enjoy in-universe document type fics--that is, things such as news articles, field guides, book excerpts, and the like, written from an in-universe perspective. (I don't know that I've ever seen a cookbook done in this style, but I'm sure there's one out there somewhere. I have, however, seen an annotated bibliography.)
I'm a fan of AUs, too. I'm particularly interested in in-spite-of-a-nail-type scenarios, when one little thing goes differently than in canon, which sets the story spinning in an entirely different direction.
So far as pairings go, I like f/f most of all, but I enjoy het and m/m too. But romance is hardly necessary--I do love me some good genfic. There are so many wonderful kinds of non-romantic relationships people can have with each other, be they bonds of blood, or friendship--I like to see the dynamics of all sorts of relationships explored.
(Please note--I'll be mentioning spoilers for the fandoms in their respective sections, so if you haven't played/watched one or more of them, and wish to remain unspoiled, you may want to skip past those sections.)
Final Fantasy VI
By the end of the game, the world's been saved from Kefka... but it's been heavily damaged in the process. The landscape has been radically altered, and entire cities have been razed. The Warring Triad and Kefka are gone, and magic itself disappeared along with them. There's a lot of rebuilding to do--and I imagine that the party members will all have different ways of going about it. Edgar will naturally head back to Figaro, and Terra has her children in Mobliz to take care of, but where some of the others will go is left a bit more ambiguous. I'd love to see your take on what one or more of the characters wind up doing post-game.
There's also the fact that, for four of the party members--Terra, Celes, Relm, and Strago--the loss of magic was the loss of something that had been part of them for all (or in Celes's case, nearly all) of their lives. I can't help but wonder how they'd react to that.
(Or is there a way to return magic to the world, somehow? And if so, does everyone think that's a good thing?)
Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena
(I know I mentioned spoilers already, but I'll say it again--if you haven't seen the series, and ever plan to, you should probably skip this part, as it contains spoilers of epic proportions. I'll leave a nice block of white space at the end of this section, so you can tell when it's over even if you're scrolling quickly.)
I read somewhere that, the first time you watch SKU, you watch it for Utena.
But the second time, you watch it for Anthy.
Anthy's quite an enigma the first time around. She appears completely passive, showing little emotion, simply going along with the duels.
But by the end of the series, it's clear that she was anything but a passive pawn. She was one of the two chessmasters.
She's not a helpless victim--though she's still victimized. She's not innocent--she literally stabs Utena in the back. She's not a helpless waif for a prince to save--in the end, she saves herself... yet is inspired to do so by a princely girl (who, in turn, was inspired to be a prince when, as a young girl grieving over her parents' death, Dios let her see Anthy's suffering, so it kind of comes full circle).
Anthy's lived for what's implied to be a very, very long time indeed, working alongside her brother to find a way to restore him, suffering the sword-blows of the world's hatred, covertly manipulating the duelists (and how many fruitless rounds of the dueling game have there been?)
And what, exactly, is she getting out of all this? The hope--almost certainly growing slimmer and slimmer over time, to the point of almost-nonexistence--that her brother can regain his nobility. To say her relationship with Akio is incredibly unhealthy is an understatement. Still, it's a relationship that, until the end of the series, Anthy doesn't manage to extricate herself from--it takes a full-blown revolution to get Anthy out from her coffin.
Utena's the one featured in the show's title, so it only makes sense that the show follows her viewpoint, but it's Anthy's story, too. I'd like to see a bit more of her perspective.
It would be wonderful to see what happens once Anthy leaves Ohtori. Does she ever find Utena? What happens when she does? Does she ever meet any of the other duelists again, in the outside world?
Star Control
I'm most familiar with Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters (as it's the only one I've actually played), but that's the one that seems to get the most fannish attention, so far as I've seen (and it's the one all the nominated characters are from). I do know enough about the plot of the other two games to enjoy fic set in those, too, so if the story that calls you is set during the first or third games, go for it! (Please also feel free to ignore Star Control 3, if you wish--I get the impression that it's not all that well liked among a large portion of the fanbase, and I've got no problems with a fic set after Star Control II that is non-compliant with the events of 3.)
I really love the universe, with all its colorful alien species. The Spathi are adorable little cowards (which makes it kind of funny that I force Fwiffo to do the bulk of the fighting in the early game. I like Spathi Eluders, and free Eluders are even better!) The Pkunk are endearingly full of new-age fluffiness (and I like their ships, as well). The Yehat are proud warrior pterodactyl-people--what's not to love about that? The Orz are bizarre, goofy, fat tentacled parrot-fish beings... yet they have this ominous air about them. I could go on and on. Even the Ur-Quan, the primary villains of the first two games, end up being sympathetic to an extent, thanks to their backstory.
There are a lot of wonderful stories that could be told. You could write about something from the setting's backstory (like something from the era of the Sentent Milieu--maybe the first encounters between Ur-Quan and Taalo?) or that happens nearer to the events of the games (Fwiffo's POV on the happenings in StarConII might be fun!) As always, future-fic is also loved--I'd be interested in seeing something about what happens in the immediate aftermath of the defeat of the Ur-Quan.
Cookie Clicker
I'm honestly interested in any story you can come up with based on a game about clicking a giant cookie.
There's not really any plot to speak of, but for all that, there's a number of possible story hooks. You could write about the trials and travails of an up-and-coming baker who somehow goes from making cookies no one wants to eat to using freaking antimatter converters to produce ludicrous numbers of cookies that are adored by all. And then there's all the delightful absurdity going on in the news ticker, from cookies attracting aliens and elder gods to misguided attempts at tourism in the cookieverse to swarms of adorable kittens wearing hard hats and suits.
As always, optional details are optional, so feel absolutely free to ignore this letter if your inspiration pulls you in a different direction.
As you may have guessed from perusing the optional details on my requests, I like reading stories that take place post-canon. I also like stories that explore areas that canon doesn't really focus on--"missing scenes" or the viewpoints of characters who don't get as much of a voice in-canon.
I also enjoy in-universe document type fics--that is, things such as news articles, field guides, book excerpts, and the like, written from an in-universe perspective. (I don't know that I've ever seen a cookbook done in this style, but I'm sure there's one out there somewhere. I have, however, seen an annotated bibliography.)
I'm a fan of AUs, too. I'm particularly interested in in-spite-of-a-nail-type scenarios, when one little thing goes differently than in canon, which sets the story spinning in an entirely different direction.
So far as pairings go, I like f/f most of all, but I enjoy het and m/m too. But romance is hardly necessary--I do love me some good genfic. There are so many wonderful kinds of non-romantic relationships people can have with each other, be they bonds of blood, or friendship--I like to see the dynamics of all sorts of relationships explored.
(Please note--I'll be mentioning spoilers for the fandoms in their respective sections, so if you haven't played/watched one or more of them, and wish to remain unspoiled, you may want to skip past those sections.)
Final Fantasy VI
By the end of the game, the world's been saved from Kefka... but it's been heavily damaged in the process. The landscape has been radically altered, and entire cities have been razed. The Warring Triad and Kefka are gone, and magic itself disappeared along with them. There's a lot of rebuilding to do--and I imagine that the party members will all have different ways of going about it. Edgar will naturally head back to Figaro, and Terra has her children in Mobliz to take care of, but where some of the others will go is left a bit more ambiguous. I'd love to see your take on what one or more of the characters wind up doing post-game.
There's also the fact that, for four of the party members--Terra, Celes, Relm, and Strago--the loss of magic was the loss of something that had been part of them for all (or in Celes's case, nearly all) of their lives. I can't help but wonder how they'd react to that.
(Or is there a way to return magic to the world, somehow? And if so, does everyone think that's a good thing?)
Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena
(I know I mentioned spoilers already, but I'll say it again--if you haven't seen the series, and ever plan to, you should probably skip this part, as it contains spoilers of epic proportions. I'll leave a nice block of white space at the end of this section, so you can tell when it's over even if you're scrolling quickly.)
I read somewhere that, the first time you watch SKU, you watch it for Utena.
But the second time, you watch it for Anthy.
Anthy's quite an enigma the first time around. She appears completely passive, showing little emotion, simply going along with the duels.
But by the end of the series, it's clear that she was anything but a passive pawn. She was one of the two chessmasters.
She's not a helpless victim--though she's still victimized. She's not innocent--she literally stabs Utena in the back. She's not a helpless waif for a prince to save--in the end, she saves herself... yet is inspired to do so by a princely girl (who, in turn, was inspired to be a prince when, as a young girl grieving over her parents' death, Dios let her see Anthy's suffering, so it kind of comes full circle).
Anthy's lived for what's implied to be a very, very long time indeed, working alongside her brother to find a way to restore him, suffering the sword-blows of the world's hatred, covertly manipulating the duelists (and how many fruitless rounds of the dueling game have there been?)
And what, exactly, is she getting out of all this? The hope--almost certainly growing slimmer and slimmer over time, to the point of almost-nonexistence--that her brother can regain his nobility. To say her relationship with Akio is incredibly unhealthy is an understatement. Still, it's a relationship that, until the end of the series, Anthy doesn't manage to extricate herself from--it takes a full-blown revolution to get Anthy out from her coffin.
Utena's the one featured in the show's title, so it only makes sense that the show follows her viewpoint, but it's Anthy's story, too. I'd like to see a bit more of her perspective.
It would be wonderful to see what happens once Anthy leaves Ohtori. Does she ever find Utena? What happens when she does? Does she ever meet any of the other duelists again, in the outside world?
Star Control
I'm most familiar with Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters (as it's the only one I've actually played), but that's the one that seems to get the most fannish attention, so far as I've seen (and it's the one all the nominated characters are from). I do know enough about the plot of the other two games to enjoy fic set in those, too, so if the story that calls you is set during the first or third games, go for it! (Please also feel free to ignore Star Control 3, if you wish--I get the impression that it's not all that well liked among a large portion of the fanbase, and I've got no problems with a fic set after Star Control II that is non-compliant with the events of 3.)
I really love the universe, with all its colorful alien species. The Spathi are adorable little cowards (which makes it kind of funny that I force Fwiffo to do the bulk of the fighting in the early game. I like Spathi Eluders, and free Eluders are even better!) The Pkunk are endearingly full of new-age fluffiness (and I like their ships, as well). The Yehat are proud warrior pterodactyl-people--what's not to love about that? The Orz are bizarre, goofy, fat tentacled parrot-fish beings... yet they have this ominous air about them. I could go on and on. Even the Ur-Quan, the primary villains of the first two games, end up being sympathetic to an extent, thanks to their backstory.
There are a lot of wonderful stories that could be told. You could write about something from the setting's backstory (like something from the era of the Sentent Milieu--maybe the first encounters between Ur-Quan and Taalo?) or that happens nearer to the events of the games (Fwiffo's POV on the happenings in StarConII might be fun!) As always, future-fic is also loved--I'd be interested in seeing something about what happens in the immediate aftermath of the defeat of the Ur-Quan.
Cookie Clicker
I'm honestly interested in any story you can come up with based on a game about clicking a giant cookie.
There's not really any plot to speak of, but for all that, there's a number of possible story hooks. You could write about the trials and travails of an up-and-coming baker who somehow goes from making cookies no one wants to eat to using freaking antimatter converters to produce ludicrous numbers of cookies that are adored by all. And then there's all the delightful absurdity going on in the news ticker, from cookies attracting aliens and elder gods to misguided attempts at tourism in the cookieverse to swarms of adorable kittens wearing hard hats and suits.
