ysobel | Dear Yuletide Writer

Dear Yuletide person:

Hi! I am ridiculously happy you are writing for me :D You probably don't know me, so here's some info on what I like and don't like when it comes to exchange fic.

General likes: Stuff that feels like canon or an extension of canon. Stuff that turns canon on its head. Exploration of worldbuildingy things. Angst. Humor. Crack. Zombies. Recognizable characters. Gen. Not-gen (het, boyslash, femslash, threesomes, poly, whatever; kink or vanilla). Um, obviously you don't have to do all these things in the same fic!

General dislikes: Character bashing. Violence to the point of explicit gore. Mpreg. Rape that is presented as being ♥romantic♥ (although dubcon/consent play is fine, especially if it's either consentual consent play or presented as an ungood thing). I have an embarrassment/humiliation squick, so would appreciate avoiding that territory. Also I would prefer no deliberate cruelty to animals.

#

Fandoms as requested:

(with the info that these are in pretty random order, and do not represent preference order)

Into the Woods - Sondheim/Lapine

This is one of my favorite musicals *ever*. I love Act I's intertwining of fairy tales, but even more I love Act II's deconstruction, dumping everything on its head and showing that Actions Have Consequences. It is wonderful storytelling and I just love it to pieces.

Note: If you are familiar with ITW only through the 2014 movie, you are missing out. The movie butchered the storyline, left out important parts, mixed things together wrong, and generally is not as awesome as the stage production.

But do not despair! The stage production was filmed in 1991 for PBS, and is quite well-done. It is available through Amazon, both as a dvd and as instant video; it is available on YouTube, though I can't vouch for the legality of that one; and there are also free and potentially legaler versions of Into the Woods on YouTube, often high school productions.

If you wish prompts, here are some possibilities: I am oddly fascinated with the Princes (what was it like for them growing up?) and the fact that not only are they stuck in their characterizations (insert rant here about how the 2014 film leaving out Agony (reprise), which -- while not the movie's worst cut -- made the Princes different) but they don't seem to break free of their roles the way some characters do. Are there ever consequences for them? Do they ever stop chasing the unattainable? Or: Who does the Baker's Son grow up to be? What does his dad teach him, or fail to? Does he have his own fairy tale story to take part in? If not, does he feel lost without it? Or: Give me more on the Witch, either as a young witch learning the craft, or a teenage witch rebelling against her role, or why the heck she needed those particular ingredients (and how did she know).

#

Glitch (Video Game)

I MISS GLITCH SO MUCH ;_; Even still.

If you aren't familiar with it, Glitch was an online Flashed-based game with a whimsical feel (Eggs from an egg plant! Milk from butterflies! Fireflies give you serenity!) and a remarkably friendly, helpful congregation of players. Both the game and its player base encouraged being helpful, being nice, and collaborating -- so very different than the resource competition and griefing that many MMOs foster. Unfortunately, it no longer exists.

The recent release of the Art of Glitch book has made me nostalgic, and I know that I can't get Glitch back, but fic can give me a bit of that. Feel free to write about either Glitch-that-was or Glitch-that-is-now (for surely they all still exist even though the game interface isn't there). Note: I would prefer something set within the universe without fourth wall breakage, e.g. any Glitchen involved are the Glitchen and not people playing a video game.

#

The Windrose Chronicles - Barbara Hambly - Antryg Windrose

This is one of my favorite book series -- a fantasy novel about a 1980s-era computer programmer who finds herself teaming up with a warrior from another world, as well as a not particularly sane (but very charming and also powerful) wizard from the same other world, in order to save both their worlds.

I will warn you that the first two books (Silent Tower and Silicon Mage) feel more like two halves of a single story, rather than a story and its sequel. The third book (Dog Wizard) is sequelier. They are available as Kindle e-books and as Audible audiobooks (with decent narration, even) as well as regular paperbacks; libraries also may have them. There is a fourth book (Strangers at the Wedding) that is in the same universe but has no Antryg; there are also some short stories in this universe, available from amazon or the author's website, but I have not read them.

I just ... I absolutely adore Antryg, and can't get enough of him, either in his past (and given Suraklin, feel free to play with consent and go as dark as you like) or present/future (either Antryg alone or Antryg/Joanna).

The Little Mermaid (1989)

Some possibilities: What if they kissed in time - what happens next? no one ever said getting her voice back was part of the bargain, for instance. or: What if Ariel wants to go home for a visit; what if the prince comes to meet the inlaws? Triton can make the one change, mermaid to human, so surely he could do the other. or: What happens when they have children? do they know who/what their mother is? or: What was Ursula like before she got banished? (Tentacle porn is fine but not required.) or: What happens when Ariel grows up, and discovers that walking isn’t as much fun as she thought, that swimming with legs is ungainly and awkward, that singing is totally different in both feel and sound? Or, if you want, go somewhere else! You can even play with AUs (mermaids in space?), or crossovers with other Disney princesses (maybe Belle turns her love of books into a love of reading?)

#

Please note: I am firmly in the camp of "optional details are OPTIONAL". Some writers find unspecified "any" requests to be vague and scary, so I wanted to provide at least some info if useful. I am in no way implying that these are the only topics that will make me happy. Any of the requested fandoms will be equally awesome; anything you chose to write, regardless of whether or not I've mentioned it, will be equally awesome.

So perhaps most important, write something you enjoy!