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Yuletide 2020 Letter
Hello, prospective future Yuletide writer! I am ![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
ErinPtah on the AO3, and here is my gift!fic wishlist this year.
General likes:
General DNWs:
Likes: The Acolyte's sweetness, earnestness, and willingness to fling herself wholeheartedly into whatever she cares about. The Old God's darkness, all possessive and controlling and ruthless. The minimalist art style, and how much power it gets out of small changes -- I'd love to see more fic play with the style of the text. I like Acolyte/Radiant Goddess fluff, in contrast with the scary parts of interacting with the Old God, but do appreciate the power of lesbian polyamory to save the universe.
Optional specific prompts:
- Extra angst from the Old God's mind-control powers. Things like "bringing the Radiant Goddess back to flaunt the mind-wiped Acolyte's new adoration," or "controlling the Acolyte's body but freeing up her mind for a while so she's aware of what's being done to her." You can carry it through to the recovery/aftermath, or just let it stand alone as a mid-canon missing scene.
- What was the Radiant Goddess's life like before her whole ascension happened? How did that influence the behavior and aesthetics of her followers? How much are the Radiant Goddess's temples modeled after vintage Old God temples, and how are they different?
- Role swap! Basically between any pairing of the main three, or switch the whole trio around. Probably easiest to get the cheerful Acolyte to be the divine champion of humanity, while the serious Radiant Goddess is her solemn favorite devotee...but if you can turn the Acolyte into the terrifying intergalactic threat, hats off to you.
Characters: Dorothy
Likes: Dorothy coming into her own as a magic-user. Oz's magitech. Ozma having weird gender issues. Diplomatic relationships with neighboring countries, especially Ev (Ozma of Oz) and the country of the Great Jinjin (Tik-Tok of Oz). Toto's deep nonverbal connection with Dorothy. Would enjoy a fic about Dorothy's bond with any of the other nominated characters (Toto, the Patchwork Girl, and/or Ozma).
Shippy or gen is fine, but please don't pair up Dorothy or Ozma with anyone but each other. I did a major Baum reread a few years ago; there are reaction posts on my land-of-Oz tag. Feel free to mine that for other canon feelings/potential story hooks.
Optional specific prompts:
- Dorothy/Ozma wedding fic. If Ozma's birthday was a book-defining event, the Royal Wedding of Oz must be even more extravagant. What are the Oz traditions here? What elements do Henry and Em suggest from Kansas-style weddings? How many more different magical countries (maybe from crossover series -- Narnia, Labyrinth, Wonderland, Arendelle) send guests? Who tries and fails to crash the party?
- A mini-adventure with Dorothy and the Patchwork Girl. Something that shows off how Scraps has brains as good as the Scarecrow, she's just a lot more whimsical in how she uses them.
- Dorothy goes back to the US for a visit (maybe to see all-grown-up Cousin Zeb? or his descendants?), and it's nothing but culture clashes now that she's grown up with Oz norms. Extra bonus points if she brings Ozma, who has it even worse.
Likes: Gideon in all her sarcastic, obstinate, sword jock lesbian glory. Gideon/Harrow with their weird hostile loyalty. Little details about space travel and the different living conditions/worldbuilding necessities on different planets. The casual absence of homophobia. Other favorite characters include Camilla and Palamedes, Isaac and Jeannemary, Cytherea, Coronabeth, and Magnus.
Full disclosure, I won't be able to read Harrow the Ninth until November -- so all of this is based on the first book, but don't worry about putting spoilers in your fic, I'll be fine with them by reveals.
Optional specific prompts:
- AU where the main characters are adults, came together as a group voluntarily, and are working toward a common goal. (Just not a mundane AU, as per DNWs.) They can still be dysfunctional and antagonistic, I just want some Team Feelings, you know? If you want to keep the worldbuilding close to canon, something like "Harrow is a starship captain, Gideon is her head of security, other characters round out the crew, and they have a Star-Trek-style adventure while studying an alien planet."
- Comedy with Gideon and Harrow doing something low-stakes together. Baking a cake? Playing a video game? Going for a boat ride? The important thing is, it's not life-or-death stakes if they fail. Up to you whether they pull it together and succeed, bicker and sabotage each other until it all goes down in flames, and/or end up making out and get too distracted to finish.
- Off-the-wall crossover prompt: the mining ship Red Dwarf finally returns to the solar system, only to find that in the past 3 million years it's been...overrun with necromancers? Rimmer is immediately on the "great, give me a new body" train, Kryten tries to prove to Harrow that he's not totally obsolete compared to her skeletons, Gideon and Lister bond over the horror of being isolated in the far reaches of space with nothing to get off to except porn mags and your insufferable best frenemy...
- hurt/comfort
- time travel
- culture clashes, especially one character in a fish-out-of-water situation
- taking a weird fantasy/SF situation and earnestly thinking through the logistics
- crossovers
- crossdressing
General DNWs:
- joyless issuefic
- character-bashing
- hurt where the hurt character's close family/friends/loved ones never care about offering comfort
- mundane AUs for fantasy/SF canons
- references to the current state of US politics (a fic with a pandemic in it would be fine, as long as the context is different)
- zombies (although it's fine to include canon-typical products of necromancy)
Lady of the Shard (Webcomic)
Characters: Any (Acolyte, Radiant Goddess, Old God, All-Goddess)Likes: The Acolyte's sweetness, earnestness, and willingness to fling herself wholeheartedly into whatever she cares about. The Old God's darkness, all possessive and controlling and ruthless. The minimalist art style, and how much power it gets out of small changes -- I'd love to see more fic play with the style of the text. I like Acolyte/Radiant Goddess fluff, in contrast with the scary parts of interacting with the Old God, but do appreciate the power of lesbian polyamory to save the universe.
Optional specific prompts:
- Extra angst from the Old God's mind-control powers. Things like "bringing the Radiant Goddess back to flaunt the mind-wiped Acolyte's new adoration," or "controlling the Acolyte's body but freeing up her mind for a while so she's aware of what's being done to her." You can carry it through to the recovery/aftermath, or just let it stand alone as a mid-canon missing scene.
- What was the Radiant Goddess's life like before her whole ascension happened? How did that influence the behavior and aesthetics of her followers? How much are the Radiant Goddess's temples modeled after vintage Old God temples, and how are they different?
- Role swap! Basically between any pairing of the main three, or switch the whole trio around. Probably easiest to get the cheerful Acolyte to be the divine champion of humanity, while the serious Radiant Goddess is her solemn favorite devotee...but if you can turn the Acolyte into the terrifying intergalactic threat, hats off to you.
Oz books
Characters: Dorothy
Likes: Dorothy coming into her own as a magic-user. Oz's magitech. Ozma having weird gender issues. Diplomatic relationships with neighboring countries, especially Ev (Ozma of Oz) and the country of the Great Jinjin (Tik-Tok of Oz). Toto's deep nonverbal connection with Dorothy. Would enjoy a fic about Dorothy's bond with any of the other nominated characters (Toto, the Patchwork Girl, and/or Ozma).
Shippy or gen is fine, but please don't pair up Dorothy or Ozma with anyone but each other. I did a major Baum reread a few years ago; there are reaction posts on my land-of-Oz tag. Feel free to mine that for other canon feelings/potential story hooks.
Optional specific prompts:
- Dorothy/Ozma wedding fic. If Ozma's birthday was a book-defining event, the Royal Wedding of Oz must be even more extravagant. What are the Oz traditions here? What elements do Henry and Em suggest from Kansas-style weddings? How many more different magical countries (maybe from crossover series -- Narnia, Labyrinth, Wonderland, Arendelle) send guests? Who tries and fails to crash the party?
- A mini-adventure with Dorothy and the Patchwork Girl. Something that shows off how Scraps has brains as good as the Scarecrow, she's just a lot more whimsical in how she uses them.
- Dorothy goes back to the US for a visit (maybe to see all-grown-up Cousin Zeb? or his descendants?), and it's nothing but culture clashes now that she's grown up with Oz norms. Extra bonus points if she brings Ozma, who has it even worse.
The Locked Tomb Trilogy - Tamsyn Muir
Characters: Harrow, GideonLikes: Gideon in all her sarcastic, obstinate, sword jock lesbian glory. Gideon/Harrow with their weird hostile loyalty. Little details about space travel and the different living conditions/worldbuilding necessities on different planets. The casual absence of homophobia. Other favorite characters include Camilla and Palamedes, Isaac and Jeannemary, Cytherea, Coronabeth, and Magnus.
Full disclosure, I won't be able to read Harrow the Ninth until November -- so all of this is based on the first book, but don't worry about putting spoilers in your fic, I'll be fine with them by reveals.
Optional specific prompts:
- AU where the main characters are adults, came together as a group voluntarily, and are working toward a common goal. (Just not a mundane AU, as per DNWs.) They can still be dysfunctional and antagonistic, I just want some Team Feelings, you know? If you want to keep the worldbuilding close to canon, something like "Harrow is a starship captain, Gideon is her head of security, other characters round out the crew, and they have a Star-Trek-style adventure while studying an alien planet."
- Comedy with Gideon and Harrow doing something low-stakes together. Baking a cake? Playing a video game? Going for a boat ride? The important thing is, it's not life-or-death stakes if they fail. Up to you whether they pull it together and succeed, bicker and sabotage each other until it all goes down in flames, and/or end up making out and get too distracted to finish.
- Off-the-wall crossover prompt: the mining ship Red Dwarf finally returns to the solar system, only to find that in the past 3 million years it's been...overrun with necromancers? Rimmer is immediately on the "great, give me a new body" train, Kryten tries to prove to Harrow that he's not totally obsolete compared to her skeletons, Gideon and Lister bond over the horror of being isolated in the far reaches of space with nothing to get off to except porn mags and your insufferable best frenemy...