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Oh yes, it's letter time!
What? A post to my own personal dreamwidth? It must be October and time for a Dear Author letter. Well, here we have it. My nineteenth Yuletide, and still going strong! (If you're just scoping out letters and finds something that interests you, treats are enabled on my account.)
Requested fandoms this year:
* Elsinore (Video Game)
* The Frogs - Sondheim/Shevelove/Lane
* Love's Labour's Lost (2000)
* The Outbursts of Everett True (Comics)
* Tress of the Emerald Sea - Brandon Sanderson
* When you see a lore video for a franchise you know nothing about (Short Film - Sir Matteus)
The letter itself proceeds behind the cut!
Dear Yuletide Author,
Hi! If you have or will browse through my other assorted Dear Author letters over the years, you'll probably notice I've cribbed a good portion of this letter (including pretty much this entire preface) from them, with some changes. You know how it goes. Besides, plagiarizing from yourself is the only plagiarizing that's actually reasonably ethical! :p
That said, hello! Welcome to my letter, I hope it helps to alleviate any possible stress over your assignment instead of making it worse. I've tossed out some generalities in my assignment itself, but I know some of those are a bit more loose than others. Which on the one hand gives you a lot of leeway, but on the other can be a bit intimidating, so I'll be trying to spitball a few ideas in each fandom to give you a starting point if you feel like you need one.
If you're trying to glean my personality or general demeanor from my journal here, then I am extremely sorry for its sparseness over the last few years, but feel free to check out my tumblr, my twitter (which has now been supplanted by my bsky, or even my reddit account if those are the kind of thing that helps you out. If you could care less, then great, carry on!
My general likes include banter, happy endings (although I am perfectly fine with bittersweet or even sad if that's where your muse takes you), throwing in little canon details that you might miss on first read but totally make you squee come the second time around, wit, humor, dramatic irony, and missing scenes. I also like slice-of-life stuff, as is kind of evident some of my requests this year, although what a slice-of-life looks like certainly depends on the life in question.
As much as I love fic that feels like it could fit right into canon, I also have a soft spot for AUs, so if you get bitten by an AU bug, go right ahead, I'll more than likely adore it. Another thing that I often like is outsider POVs, so if you get a bunny that involves that, I would be completely on board.
Dislikes aren't many. Unless otherwise specified, I'm not really a huge fan of major character death for Yuletide. Also, and I really doubt this will be much of a problem, but in the interest of full disclosure, depiction of injury to fingernails or toenails skeeves me out more than I can even begin to describe, so if somehow you have a bunny where that might come up, even if it wouldn't really fit in the majority of the fandoms I requested, maybe try to avoid it? Other than that, though, I won't really have much trouble with where you decide to take the fic!
Also, don't feel tied down to only the characters I've requested. You can totally feel free to add ones that aren't listed, even in a reasonably large capacity, as long as (this probably goes without saying) you keep the focus on the requests. :)
And now that I've blathered on quite long enough, on to my requests! It'll go as follows. The requests themselves, a little bit on the fandom, how to access it (should you either need a refresher or decide you just cannot write what we matched on and need to write something else badly!) and why I love it, and then a bit more elaboration on my requests themselves (And please, do not take the order or relative lengths of the various elaborations as any indicator as to which fandoms I want more. I would be overly thrilled with a gift in ANY of them!)
Enjoy the prompts, and have fun writing!
-![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
dizmo
Elsinore (Video Game)
* Ophelia
I've seen every ending the game has to offer, and somehow still I'd love *more*. What other roads can you see Ophelia walking down? How does she get there? Feel free to use absolutely anyone the game has to offer, or if you feel like, do what the game itself did and pull from the broader Shakespearean multiverse! Although if nothing really grabs at you as far as a different ending option, I'd love to see some interesting slice of life moments for Ophelia as she navigates the strangeness that living in a time loop must be. (X Ways Ophelia Kicked Hamlet Out of Her Room in the Morning, anyone?)
Elsinore! Available on Steam. Be Ophelia! Time loop your way through Hamlet! Try to make it not a tragedy! Fail to make it not a tragedy, but sometimes, at least, it's less a tragedy than others! Exceptionally well-woven story loops and some huge surprises here and there. Love this game to bits.
My prompt says it all! This is one of the very few fandoms where I honestly wouldn't prefer a perfectly happy ending, because none of them really are in the canon, although there are some where she manages to wring out at least some happiness on the way, so that's certainly an option! I'm also not kidding about pulling in other Shakespeareans if you're so inclined, although please don't be obliged, obviously. There's a wide list of tragic characters that would lead to intriguing interplay... or even the clash that could result of someone from a comedy influencing this deeply disturbed castle of Elsinore. But if there are any other 'I wish I could do that instead' endings you thought of while playing, I'd also love to see how you see them shaking out! If the new ending idea doesn't work out for you, I do love the slice-of-timeloop-life idea too. You have to do something to keep it from being monotonous.At least until that 'something' just turns into becoming slightly eldritch horror and just killing everyone with a word. Whatever you write, enjoy it!!
--
The Frogs - Sondheim/Shevelove/Lane
* Ariadne
* Dionysos
The bits the show shows of the Dionysos and Ariadne relationship are just so sweet! I'd love to see more of it! Whether it's pre-canon and an exploration of the brief time they had together, up to and including exploring her death, during canon, expanding on their chat in Hades, or even post-canon, where maybe he comes back and visits! I just wish I'd gotten more of them! And now I can!
The Frogs! A very limited run show loosely based on the Aristophanes original! You can find the OBC soundtrack on Spotify, Apple Music, and of course other spots where music can be acquired. Sadly no proshot exists of the show although in the way of many musicals, it's possible to find on youtube anyway. It's funny, fun, and moving by turns and absolutely worth every moment spent listening!
I love the tantalizing bits we get of the Dionysos and Ariadne's relationship. (I get "Ariadne" stuck in my head with remarkable frequency ever since discovering the show.) Obviously this is one of those exceptions to not preferring character death in Yuletide fics, as the canon itself very much explores it, including in the context of their relationship, so if you want to cover Ariadne's death in what you write for me, I'd certainly welcome it. I'd just love to see more of this Dionysus and this Ariadne. They're so sweet.
--
Love's Labour's Lost (2000)
* No characters nominated
Ah, terrifying Yuletide carte blanche! When I nominated this one, I didn't nominate any of the characters specifically because I realized that I'd love to read more about *any* of them in this setting. Although I'm sure you'll get bonus points if anyone randomly starts singing an old '30s classic tune, it's far from a requirement. But the vibe making this particular play a musical set in this particular time is kind of a fascinating one and I'd love to see what you come up with!
Kenneth Branagh turning one of Shakespeare's lesser-known plays and turning it into a jukebox musical set in the 1930s? Why yes. Yes, this is a thing that happened. (Sadly it is not currently part of any streaming service, but it is available on hoopla and also available to purchase or rent at all the usual suspects.) Color-coded courting? Bursting into random songs at any moment? The looming shadow of WWII? An unbelievable cast list? Why yes, it's all in there, and it's odd, but at least in my opinion, it somehow manages to work!
If we matched on this fandom, I love you for knowing about it at all, first of all, and I'm delighted that you want to play around in it, second of all! I'll toss out a few prompt ideas here in case you need one, but if none move you or even if you don't want to look at all, by all means, go with whatever you want to write. I'll love you for it. So to get the muse ball rolling... How determined were the guys to actually stick to their pact in the first place? Did they even try?... How about some more behind the scenes of the assorted schemes running throughout the show?... We get some snippets of the character's war experiences as the movie reaches towards a conclusion (LLL always has a mood turn at the end but talk about enhancing it...), an expansion on some of them may be interesting.... How does the eventual reunion go? Does it work out in the end? Or really anything your heart desires!!
--
The Outbursts of Everett True (Comics)
* Everett True
I just want to see more of Everett doing what he does, dishing out well-deserved smackdowns. Whether they're in his original time period, you modernize him, or you toss him in some wild AU or another canon entirely, give me more of this curmudgeon who really is right more often than he's wrong
Everett! Small comic strips that ran from 1905 to 1927! A huge swath of them can be found here, free of charge, and there's also a collection that was published back in 2015 on Amazon. (Keep in mind while browsing that the vast majority of these strips are fine, you will occasionally run into some unfortunate results of the time period in which they were being produced.) It's basically all a simple premise. Everett True runs into someone who's being rude or idiotic in panel one, Everett True... responds in panel two. Simple... and even a hundred or years more later, many of them are still incredibly relatable!
Here's one where my prompt says it all. The canon is simple enough and is easily expanded on or even transposed to other situations! (Also if you want to make use of Everett's wife, who does show up in some strips letting him feel the consequences of his blindspots, do feel free!) Have fun with this one, use the curmudgeon as you'd like!!
--
Tress of the Emerald Sea - Brandon Sanderson
* Charlie
* Tress
I think these two are just so... sweet! I would love to see anything with them, really! Pre-canon, as they get to know each other and become each other's gloves, missing scenes from when it's Tress and Huck, before the curse gets broken, or even post-canon, and the world opening itself up to them, captain/sprouter with her loyal valet/storyteller. Feel free, also, to include any and all of the rest of the crew, as I love each and every one of them to an unsettling degree.
Tress! The first of Brandon Sanderson's kickstarter novels! And I was ridiculously charmed by it from the beginning. Hoid's narration had me grinning and the general almost comfortable nature of the story is like the reading equivalent of wrapping yourself in a fuzzy blanket.
So yes! Tress and Charlie! There's something nice about a relationship that's... comfortable, and where they grow and change, but do it together. It means there are multiple places you can take it and multiple things you can do with it! I'll spitball a few ideas now, but don't at all feel beholden to them. They're just available if you need them. What was their first meeting like? How about a series of the stories Charlie would tell Tress as their friendship and relationship grew, and her reactions? How about Charlie's point of view on their finally meeting again in the brig of the Oot's Dream? Any of the experiments as Tress is learning sprouting with Huck by her side to assist, or, as I said, anything post-canon! I'd love to explore one or more or the other seas we know nothing about if you feel up to inventing new spores! The world is your oyster!
--
When you see a lore video for a franchise you know nothing about (Short Film - Sir Matteus)
* Worldbuilding
Honestly, this is going to be about as open-ended as a request will be, which I know can be intimidating for Yuletide, but the video just offers so many delightful little teasers about things that could very obviously be expounded on that I give you all the rein you'd like to go into whatever you'd like, big or small! If you want specific prompts to either work from or maybe flip something in your brain that might give you a different idea, feel free to check my letter!
This video, people. Just. Oh man. It's found over here and it's a shade over a minute and a half of absolute gold. I consistently am cackling at this video whenever I watch it (which is admittedly more often than I'm sure the creator intended) and then promptly find myself just saying 'Arrrerrorer' with my very best R-rolls. It's exactly what it says on the tin and it's so very true to the experience of fantasy franchises, speaking as someone who's been a fan of a lot of them and as someone who has friends and family (and a husband!) who's into some that I'm not familiar with. It teases you into wanting more and that's why I'm here!
That said, what I said in my signup is true. Anything you feel like writing spurred by the video, I would be perfectly delighted by. That said, I will now proceed to throw some half-baked ideas against the wall in case they either knock something loose in you or you want to take them and fully bake them. Here we go! What would live have been like for the Berkel Clans before leaving the land of Sus? What was the inciting incident in 1815 of 8 of the TA time that caused so many to leave? Are the Fuuuuuuk really as cowardly as advertised? What exactly was Klug-Klug up to? Have any stories from the Great War? How were Arrrerror's relations with the land of KepKep? What is up with Fussili Paganini anyway? How about those barely alluded to wizards? What was life like for any single member of one of the Berkel Clans at any point in the timeline? Any star-crossed inter-clan relationships? Murder mysteries? Adventuring parties? What sort of holidays do they have? What's coming of age like? Heroes? Villains not mentioned in this video? Little day to day dramas? Seriously, give me aaaanything! I will be beyond happy with it!
Requested fandoms this year:
* Elsinore (Video Game)
* The Frogs - Sondheim/Shevelove/Lane
* Love's Labour's Lost (2000)
* The Outbursts of Everett True (Comics)
* Tress of the Emerald Sea - Brandon Sanderson
* When you see a lore video for a franchise you know nothing about (Short Film - Sir Matteus)
The letter itself proceeds behind the cut!
Dear Yuletide Author,
Hi! If you have or will browse through my other assorted Dear Author letters over the years, you'll probably notice I've cribbed a good portion of this letter (including pretty much this entire preface) from them, with some changes. You know how it goes. Besides, plagiarizing from yourself is the only plagiarizing that's actually reasonably ethical! :p
That said, hello! Welcome to my letter, I hope it helps to alleviate any possible stress over your assignment instead of making it worse. I've tossed out some generalities in my assignment itself, but I know some of those are a bit more loose than others. Which on the one hand gives you a lot of leeway, but on the other can be a bit intimidating, so I'll be trying to spitball a few ideas in each fandom to give you a starting point if you feel like you need one.
If you're trying to glean my personality or general demeanor from my journal here, then I am extremely sorry for its sparseness over the last few years, but feel free to check out my tumblr, my twitter (which has now been supplanted by my bsky, or even my reddit account if those are the kind of thing that helps you out. If you could care less, then great, carry on!
My general likes include banter, happy endings (although I am perfectly fine with bittersweet or even sad if that's where your muse takes you), throwing in little canon details that you might miss on first read but totally make you squee come the second time around, wit, humor, dramatic irony, and missing scenes. I also like slice-of-life stuff, as is kind of evident some of my requests this year, although what a slice-of-life looks like certainly depends on the life in question.
As much as I love fic that feels like it could fit right into canon, I also have a soft spot for AUs, so if you get bitten by an AU bug, go right ahead, I'll more than likely adore it. Another thing that I often like is outsider POVs, so if you get a bunny that involves that, I would be completely on board.
Dislikes aren't many. Unless otherwise specified, I'm not really a huge fan of major character death for Yuletide. Also, and I really doubt this will be much of a problem, but in the interest of full disclosure, depiction of injury to fingernails or toenails skeeves me out more than I can even begin to describe, so if somehow you have a bunny where that might come up, even if it wouldn't really fit in the majority of the fandoms I requested, maybe try to avoid it? Other than that, though, I won't really have much trouble with where you decide to take the fic!
Also, don't feel tied down to only the characters I've requested. You can totally feel free to add ones that aren't listed, even in a reasonably large capacity, as long as (this probably goes without saying) you keep the focus on the requests. :)
And now that I've blathered on quite long enough, on to my requests! It'll go as follows. The requests themselves, a little bit on the fandom, how to access it (should you either need a refresher or decide you just cannot write what we matched on and need to write something else badly!) and why I love it, and then a bit more elaboration on my requests themselves (And please, do not take the order or relative lengths of the various elaborations as any indicator as to which fandoms I want more. I would be overly thrilled with a gift in ANY of them!)
Enjoy the prompts, and have fun writing!
-
Elsinore (Video Game)
* Ophelia
I've seen every ending the game has to offer, and somehow still I'd love *more*. What other roads can you see Ophelia walking down? How does she get there? Feel free to use absolutely anyone the game has to offer, or if you feel like, do what the game itself did and pull from the broader Shakespearean multiverse! Although if nothing really grabs at you as far as a different ending option, I'd love to see some interesting slice of life moments for Ophelia as she navigates the strangeness that living in a time loop must be. (X Ways Ophelia Kicked Hamlet Out of Her Room in the Morning, anyone?)
Elsinore! Available on Steam. Be Ophelia! Time loop your way through Hamlet! Try to make it not a tragedy! Fail to make it not a tragedy, but sometimes, at least, it's less a tragedy than others! Exceptionally well-woven story loops and some huge surprises here and there. Love this game to bits.
My prompt says it all! This is one of the very few fandoms where I honestly wouldn't prefer a perfectly happy ending, because none of them really are in the canon, although there are some where she manages to wring out at least some happiness on the way, so that's certainly an option! I'm also not kidding about pulling in other Shakespeareans if you're so inclined, although please don't be obliged, obviously. There's a wide list of tragic characters that would lead to intriguing interplay... or even the clash that could result of someone from a comedy influencing this deeply disturbed castle of Elsinore. But if there are any other 'I wish I could do that instead' endings you thought of while playing, I'd also love to see how you see them shaking out! If the new ending idea doesn't work out for you, I do love the slice-of-timeloop-life idea too. You have to do something to keep it from being monotonous.
--
The Frogs - Sondheim/Shevelove/Lane
* Ariadne
* Dionysos
The bits the show shows of the Dionysos and Ariadne relationship are just so sweet! I'd love to see more of it! Whether it's pre-canon and an exploration of the brief time they had together, up to and including exploring her death, during canon, expanding on their chat in Hades, or even post-canon, where maybe he comes back and visits! I just wish I'd gotten more of them! And now I can!
The Frogs! A very limited run show loosely based on the Aristophanes original! You can find the OBC soundtrack on Spotify, Apple Music, and of course other spots where music can be acquired. Sadly no proshot exists of the show although in the way of many musicals, it's possible to find on youtube anyway. It's funny, fun, and moving by turns and absolutely worth every moment spent listening!
I love the tantalizing bits we get of the Dionysos and Ariadne's relationship. (I get "Ariadne" stuck in my head with remarkable frequency ever since discovering the show.) Obviously this is one of those exceptions to not preferring character death in Yuletide fics, as the canon itself very much explores it, including in the context of their relationship, so if you want to cover Ariadne's death in what you write for me, I'd certainly welcome it. I'd just love to see more of this Dionysus and this Ariadne. They're so sweet.
--
Love's Labour's Lost (2000)
* No characters nominated
Ah, terrifying Yuletide carte blanche! When I nominated this one, I didn't nominate any of the characters specifically because I realized that I'd love to read more about *any* of them in this setting. Although I'm sure you'll get bonus points if anyone randomly starts singing an old '30s classic tune, it's far from a requirement. But the vibe making this particular play a musical set in this particular time is kind of a fascinating one and I'd love to see what you come up with!
Kenneth Branagh turning one of Shakespeare's lesser-known plays and turning it into a jukebox musical set in the 1930s? Why yes. Yes, this is a thing that happened. (Sadly it is not currently part of any streaming service, but it is available on hoopla and also available to purchase or rent at all the usual suspects.) Color-coded courting? Bursting into random songs at any moment? The looming shadow of WWII? An unbelievable cast list? Why yes, it's all in there, and it's odd, but at least in my opinion, it somehow manages to work!
If we matched on this fandom, I love you for knowing about it at all, first of all, and I'm delighted that you want to play around in it, second of all! I'll toss out a few prompt ideas here in case you need one, but if none move you or even if you don't want to look at all, by all means, go with whatever you want to write. I'll love you for it. So to get the muse ball rolling... How determined were the guys to actually stick to their pact in the first place? Did they even try?... How about some more behind the scenes of the assorted schemes running throughout the show?... We get some snippets of the character's war experiences as the movie reaches towards a conclusion (LLL always has a mood turn at the end but talk about enhancing it...), an expansion on some of them may be interesting.... How does the eventual reunion go? Does it work out in the end? Or really anything your heart desires!!
--
The Outbursts of Everett True (Comics)
* Everett True
I just want to see more of Everett doing what he does, dishing out well-deserved smackdowns. Whether they're in his original time period, you modernize him, or you toss him in some wild AU or another canon entirely, give me more of this curmudgeon who really is right more often than he's wrong
Everett! Small comic strips that ran from 1905 to 1927! A huge swath of them can be found here, free of charge, and there's also a collection that was published back in 2015 on Amazon. (Keep in mind while browsing that the vast majority of these strips are fine, you will occasionally run into some unfortunate results of the time period in which they were being produced.) It's basically all a simple premise. Everett True runs into someone who's being rude or idiotic in panel one, Everett True... responds in panel two. Simple... and even a hundred or years more later, many of them are still incredibly relatable!
Here's one where my prompt says it all. The canon is simple enough and is easily expanded on or even transposed to other situations! (Also if you want to make use of Everett's wife, who does show up in some strips letting him feel the consequences of his blindspots, do feel free!) Have fun with this one, use the curmudgeon as you'd like!!
--
Tress of the Emerald Sea - Brandon Sanderson
* Charlie
* Tress
I think these two are just so... sweet! I would love to see anything with them, really! Pre-canon, as they get to know each other and become each other's gloves, missing scenes from when it's Tress and Huck, before the curse gets broken, or even post-canon, and the world opening itself up to them, captain/sprouter with her loyal valet/storyteller. Feel free, also, to include any and all of the rest of the crew, as I love each and every one of them to an unsettling degree.
Tress! The first of Brandon Sanderson's kickstarter novels! And I was ridiculously charmed by it from the beginning. Hoid's narration had me grinning and the general almost comfortable nature of the story is like the reading equivalent of wrapping yourself in a fuzzy blanket.
So yes! Tress and Charlie! There's something nice about a relationship that's... comfortable, and where they grow and change, but do it together. It means there are multiple places you can take it and multiple things you can do with it! I'll spitball a few ideas now, but don't at all feel beholden to them. They're just available if you need them. What was their first meeting like? How about a series of the stories Charlie would tell Tress as their friendship and relationship grew, and her reactions? How about Charlie's point of view on their finally meeting again in the brig of the Oot's Dream? Any of the experiments as Tress is learning sprouting with Huck by her side to assist, or, as I said, anything post-canon! I'd love to explore one or more or the other seas we know nothing about if you feel up to inventing new spores! The world is your oyster!
--
When you see a lore video for a franchise you know nothing about (Short Film - Sir Matteus)
* Worldbuilding
Honestly, this is going to be about as open-ended as a request will be, which I know can be intimidating for Yuletide, but the video just offers so many delightful little teasers about things that could very obviously be expounded on that I give you all the rein you'd like to go into whatever you'd like, big or small! If you want specific prompts to either work from or maybe flip something in your brain that might give you a different idea, feel free to check my letter!
This video, people. Just. Oh man. It's found over here and it's a shade over a minute and a half of absolute gold. I consistently am cackling at this video whenever I watch it (which is admittedly more often than I'm sure the creator intended) and then promptly find myself just saying 'Arrrerrorer' with my very best R-rolls. It's exactly what it says on the tin and it's so very true to the experience of fantasy franchises, speaking as someone who's been a fan of a lot of them and as someone who has friends and family (and a husband!) who's into some that I'm not familiar with. It teases you into wanting more and that's why I'm here!
That said, what I said in my signup is true. Anything you feel like writing spurred by the video, I would be perfectly delighted by. That said, I will now proceed to throw some half-baked ideas against the wall in case they either knock something loose in you or you want to take them and fully bake them. Here we go! What would live have been like for the Berkel Clans before leaving the land of Sus? What was the inciting incident in 1815 of 8 of the TA time that caused so many to leave? Are the Fuuuuuuk really as cowardly as advertised? What exactly was Klug-Klug up to? Have any stories from the Great War? How were Arrrerror's relations with the land of KepKep? What is up with Fussili Paganini anyway? How about those barely alluded to wizards? What was life like for any single member of one of the Berkel Clans at any point in the timeline? Any star-crossed inter-clan relationships? Murder mysteries? Adventuring parties? What sort of holidays do they have? What's coming of age like? Heroes? Villains not mentioned in this video? Little day to day dramas? Seriously, give me aaaanything! I will be beyond happy with it!