Yuletide letter 2021
Oct. 17th, 2021 05:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
regshoeDear Yuletide Writer,
Thank you for writing me a fic in one of these lovely small fandoms! I'm![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
regshoe on AO3. I've said a little bit below about why I love each of the fandoms I've requested, and given a few prompts, but if you have a completely different idea you'd love to write then go ahead—I'll look forward to seeing whatever you come up with!
Some general likes:
—Places: a strong sense of place, and relationships between characters and places
—Descriptions of nature, especially birds
—Historical detail; exploration of historical societies and events and how the characters fit into them
—Religion and its meaning in characters' lives, especially the place of religion in society and how that interacts with characters' places in society
—Loyalty: characters who are unfailingly loyal to each other; characters facing conflicting loyalties, or struggling to choose between their existing loyalties and their feelings for another character
—Crossovers and stealth crossovers, with any Yuletide-sized fandoms I know; some specific ideas in the prompts!
—Characters finding comfort and a sense of rest in each other, especially amidst a hostile world or plot-related struggles; a sense that the characters in a ship are 'each other's people'
—Quietly significant physical intimacy: handholding, long hugs, cuddling, hair-stroking, and so on.
—Characters who are emotionally closed-off, defensively cynical after getting hurt in the past, a little too self-reliant, etc., opening up emotionally as they slowly come to trust another character. Learning to love, and learning to be loved
—Hurt/comfort! Characters seeing the person they love get hurt and realising how much they care about them, or revealing their feelings in their reaction; characters receiving comfort and realising how much they're loved
—Magic and the supernatural, especially otherworldly fairy-folklorish stuff
Do Not Wants: Graphic violence or body horror; explicit sex (implied/fade-to-black is fine); rape; AUs that place the characters in a different setting (canon divergence is fine, as is adding supernatural/fantasy elements to a mundane canon setting)
A Glass of Blessings - Barbara Pym
Piers Longridge
This is my favourite of Barbara Pym's novels. I love the social detail, the moments of whimsical humour, Wilmet's self-absorbed yet somehow charming narration, the emotional subtlety—but most of all I love Piers. I love the quiet sense of humour and the 'something vaguely unsatisfactory' that Wilmet fails to understand for most of the book, and how much Pym manages to convey of its significance despite her narrator, though I think it was the car number plates that really endeared him to me. I would like very much to know more about him!
You might explore his backstory, for instance. Wilmet's war backstory is such an important part of her character, but the little summary of what she knows about Piers's history doesn't mention the war. So what did he do? If I calculate correctly he'd have been a very young man when war broke out—perhaps the mentioned studies at Oxford or Cambridge were interrupted—and I can imagine that, wherever he was, it was a dramatic time to be figuring himself out and perhaps coming to terms with his sexuality, besides everything else going on. What was he like back then? Who did he meet, and what happened?
For something a bit lighter, I'd love anything developing Piers's relationship with Keith! This article from the Barbara Pym society sums them up: '‘Poor Piers’ has found a steady anchor in his life, and Keith a purpose.' —I think that's true and very sweet, and I'd love to know more about it. An exploration of their meeting at Piers's French class? A conversation between them after the scene where Wilmet first meets Keith? Keith trying to find some of Piers's number plates for him? Piers's remark that he likes Keith because he's so different from him in social background and personality—"It's much more agreeable to come home to some different remarks from the ones one's been hearing all day"—is interesting. Does Keith feel the same way about Piers's conversation and cultural non-overlap with him?
I'd enjoy an exploration of Piers's relationship with religion and church. He clearly knows a bit about church in general, and, given that, he's certainly in a position to have an interesting perspective on it. I'm intrigued by his statement that he goes 'where it suits me, and when' in London—I imagine him going round to all sorts of different churches and comparing the worship styles, congregations, sermons and so on. So where else does he go, besides St Luke's, who does he meet there (this could be an interesting place for a crossover), and what does he make of it all? The book makes so many intriguing links between 'different worlds', as Wilmet reflects in chapter 18—La Cenerentola, the coffee house, the retreat garden, the Church—what does Piers make of her view that 'the Church should be the place where all worlds could meet... if people remained outside it was our—even my—duty to bring them in.'?
The Jacobite Trilogy - D. K. Broster
Worldbuilding
I'm very excited about the new Worldbuilding option in Yuletide, and I thought that Flight of the Heron would be an especially interesting fandom in which to try it out—a book with a mostly mundane setting, with a rich historical background and some intriguing supernatural elements. Here are some ideas about what worldbuilding might mean for this fandom! I've not requested any characters besides Worldbuilding; I'd be equally happy with a story featuring the main characters (I ship Ewen/Keith and would love to see them together; I'm also very fond of Aunt Margaret and would enjoy a story featuring her) or with one that goes off somewhere else to explore the world.
You could develop the supernatural elements of the story further. Loch na h-Iolaire is described as 'like a fairy pool come upon in dreams'—what if that wasn't just a simile? I love the book's use of fate, and the heron as a significant 'messenger'—so what about the heron's point of view? Does it know what message it's bringing? What does it think of the whole thing? There are multiple individual herons involved—the one Lachlan shoots in the prologue, the one that startles Keith's horse and the one Ewen sees over the loch near the end—is there some kind of supernatural connection between them? Or you could do a fusion with a more definitely fantastical canon—Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, with all its English history and politics, could make an especially interesting combination with a story about English and Scottish enemies: does the Magician of Athodel have views on the '45, or what's the relationship between Johannites and Jacobites?
Or you could explore the invented history. How about a story where Keith and Ewen, happily together in some AU future, are curled up by the fireside at Ardroy on a dark winter's evening and Ewen tells Keith some stories from the history of the 'cadet branch of Cameron of Ardroy'? Who built the house at Ardroy, and what famed deeds did they do in the history of the Camerons? Or perhaps it's Aunt Margaret telling the story—I love what little we get of her and Keith interacting in canon, and this could be a lovely way to develop their relationship further. Perhaps the story is about some brave Cameron lady of a past generation whom she particularly admires!
Or perhaps you could explore how the story fits into the wider 'world' of classic Jacobite fiction, through a crossover! What on earth would Keith make of Edward Waverley, or Ewen of Fergus MacIvor? (I think they're kind of perfect opposites, in a way that could both be very funny and have a lot of story potential). What might happen a few years after the Rising if Ewen, and perhaps an AU surviving Keith, met Alan Breck Stewart and David Balfour? How does Ewen get along with his young neighbour Andrew Boyd?
Jill - E. A. Dillwyn
Gilbertina "Jill" Trecastle
This book is so much fun! Jill—selfish, outrageous, bold—is a great narrator, and I love reading her accounts of her adventures. I like how, while generally light-hearted and a bit silly, the book touches on more serious issues like medical abuse and the troubles of domestic servants; and I love the way Jill's relationship with the proud and nobly principled Kitty introduces a more serious emotional aspect to her own character.
I ship them; their relationship could well have gone in a femslashy direction at various points in the book, as Jill practically admits to us readers with all her talk of that strange, unaccountable fascination Kitty has for her. What might overturn Jill's resolve to 'put a check upon the inclination to be fascinated by her' and lead her to act on that 'sentimental, impractical folly' after all? Perhaps things get a bit more serious while they're escaping from the chapelle together—further peril, or a hurt/comfort situation, might lead to a confession... And then there are the post-canon possibilities—those ambivalent final lines about Kitty deserve some more development. Perhaps Kitty, widowed a few years later, meets Jill again (has Jill decided to reveal herself, or does Kitty recognise her accidentally?), the true story of her erstwhile travelling-maid comes out and Kitty discovers that 'romance' can 'come to life again' after all...
I'd love anything else exploring Jill's life post-canon. Her new position as a responsible landowner at Castle Manor presents some interesting possibilities, and I think it'd be a good place to build on the way the book brings in serious social issues and look—perhaps a bit more seriously than canon does—at the Victorian class system. How does Jill's time as a servant inform how she goes about 'looking after the interests—both physical and moral—of my tenants and poorer neighbours'? And what about the tenants' and poorer neighbours' perspective? I can't imagine they weren't aware of the whole 'daughter of the house runs away, disappears and then reappears several years later' situation—exploring what they think of it, and what they make of the way Jill goes about running her estate, could make for a really interesting outsider POV story. Or how does Jill deal with the historical changes of the next few decades; what's she doing at sixty? Perhaps she makes friends with other ladies in a similar position—does she know Adelaide Hebron of Oxgodby, for example?
For another crossover idea, I think Jill, with her combination of amorality, audacity and independent adventurousness, and of course her writing, would get on really well with Raffles and Bunny! (The periods don't quite match—1870s-80s for Jill, 1890s for the Raffles stories—but I don't think Jill is historically specific enough for it to matter). Kitty, with her strong moral principles, is also daring and courageous—she might well clash with Raffles, but perhaps they'd admire each other's sense of honour. Perhaps Raffles and Bunny's travels after Mr Justice Raffles take them to Corsica, where they get mixed up in the adventure of the penitenciers; or perhaps Raffles decides to burgle the Mervyns' house in Eaton Square and gets more than he bargained for...
Thank you for writing me a fic in one of these lovely small fandoms! I'm
Some general likes:
—Places: a strong sense of place, and relationships between characters and places
—Descriptions of nature, especially birds
—Historical detail; exploration of historical societies and events and how the characters fit into them
—Religion and its meaning in characters' lives, especially the place of religion in society and how that interacts with characters' places in society
—Loyalty: characters who are unfailingly loyal to each other; characters facing conflicting loyalties, or struggling to choose between their existing loyalties and their feelings for another character
—Crossovers and stealth crossovers, with any Yuletide-sized fandoms I know; some specific ideas in the prompts!
—Characters finding comfort and a sense of rest in each other, especially amidst a hostile world or plot-related struggles; a sense that the characters in a ship are 'each other's people'
—Quietly significant physical intimacy: handholding, long hugs, cuddling, hair-stroking, and so on.
—Characters who are emotionally closed-off, defensively cynical after getting hurt in the past, a little too self-reliant, etc., opening up emotionally as they slowly come to trust another character. Learning to love, and learning to be loved
—Hurt/comfort! Characters seeing the person they love get hurt and realising how much they care about them, or revealing their feelings in their reaction; characters receiving comfort and realising how much they're loved
—Magic and the supernatural, especially otherworldly fairy-folklorish stuff
Do Not Wants: Graphic violence or body horror; explicit sex (implied/fade-to-black is fine); rape; AUs that place the characters in a different setting (canon divergence is fine, as is adding supernatural/fantasy elements to a mundane canon setting)
A Glass of Blessings - Barbara Pym
Piers Longridge
This is my favourite of Barbara Pym's novels. I love the social detail, the moments of whimsical humour, Wilmet's self-absorbed yet somehow charming narration, the emotional subtlety—but most of all I love Piers. I love the quiet sense of humour and the 'something vaguely unsatisfactory' that Wilmet fails to understand for most of the book, and how much Pym manages to convey of its significance despite her narrator, though I think it was the car number plates that really endeared him to me. I would like very much to know more about him!
You might explore his backstory, for instance. Wilmet's war backstory is such an important part of her character, but the little summary of what she knows about Piers's history doesn't mention the war. So what did he do? If I calculate correctly he'd have been a very young man when war broke out—perhaps the mentioned studies at Oxford or Cambridge were interrupted—and I can imagine that, wherever he was, it was a dramatic time to be figuring himself out and perhaps coming to terms with his sexuality, besides everything else going on. What was he like back then? Who did he meet, and what happened?
For something a bit lighter, I'd love anything developing Piers's relationship with Keith! This article from the Barbara Pym society sums them up: '‘Poor Piers’ has found a steady anchor in his life, and Keith a purpose.' —I think that's true and very sweet, and I'd love to know more about it. An exploration of their meeting at Piers's French class? A conversation between them after the scene where Wilmet first meets Keith? Keith trying to find some of Piers's number plates for him? Piers's remark that he likes Keith because he's so different from him in social background and personality—"It's much more agreeable to come home to some different remarks from the ones one's been hearing all day"—is interesting. Does Keith feel the same way about Piers's conversation and cultural non-overlap with him?
I'd enjoy an exploration of Piers's relationship with religion and church. He clearly knows a bit about church in general, and, given that, he's certainly in a position to have an interesting perspective on it. I'm intrigued by his statement that he goes 'where it suits me, and when' in London—I imagine him going round to all sorts of different churches and comparing the worship styles, congregations, sermons and so on. So where else does he go, besides St Luke's, who does he meet there (this could be an interesting place for a crossover), and what does he make of it all? The book makes so many intriguing links between 'different worlds', as Wilmet reflects in chapter 18—La Cenerentola, the coffee house, the retreat garden, the Church—what does Piers make of her view that 'the Church should be the place where all worlds could meet... if people remained outside it was our—even my—duty to bring them in.'?
The Jacobite Trilogy - D. K. Broster
Worldbuilding
I'm very excited about the new Worldbuilding option in Yuletide, and I thought that Flight of the Heron would be an especially interesting fandom in which to try it out—a book with a mostly mundane setting, with a rich historical background and some intriguing supernatural elements. Here are some ideas about what worldbuilding might mean for this fandom! I've not requested any characters besides Worldbuilding; I'd be equally happy with a story featuring the main characters (I ship Ewen/Keith and would love to see them together; I'm also very fond of Aunt Margaret and would enjoy a story featuring her) or with one that goes off somewhere else to explore the world.
You could develop the supernatural elements of the story further. Loch na h-Iolaire is described as 'like a fairy pool come upon in dreams'—what if that wasn't just a simile? I love the book's use of fate, and the heron as a significant 'messenger'—so what about the heron's point of view? Does it know what message it's bringing? What does it think of the whole thing? There are multiple individual herons involved—the one Lachlan shoots in the prologue, the one that startles Keith's horse and the one Ewen sees over the loch near the end—is there some kind of supernatural connection between them? Or you could do a fusion with a more definitely fantastical canon—Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, with all its English history and politics, could make an especially interesting combination with a story about English and Scottish enemies: does the Magician of Athodel have views on the '45, or what's the relationship between Johannites and Jacobites?
Or you could explore the invented history. How about a story where Keith and Ewen, happily together in some AU future, are curled up by the fireside at Ardroy on a dark winter's evening and Ewen tells Keith some stories from the history of the 'cadet branch of Cameron of Ardroy'? Who built the house at Ardroy, and what famed deeds did they do in the history of the Camerons? Or perhaps it's Aunt Margaret telling the story—I love what little we get of her and Keith interacting in canon, and this could be a lovely way to develop their relationship further. Perhaps the story is about some brave Cameron lady of a past generation whom she particularly admires!
Or perhaps you could explore how the story fits into the wider 'world' of classic Jacobite fiction, through a crossover! What on earth would Keith make of Edward Waverley, or Ewen of Fergus MacIvor? (I think they're kind of perfect opposites, in a way that could both be very funny and have a lot of story potential). What might happen a few years after the Rising if Ewen, and perhaps an AU surviving Keith, met Alan Breck Stewart and David Balfour? How does Ewen get along with his young neighbour Andrew Boyd?
Jill - E. A. Dillwyn
Gilbertina "Jill" Trecastle
This book is so much fun! Jill—selfish, outrageous, bold—is a great narrator, and I love reading her accounts of her adventures. I like how, while generally light-hearted and a bit silly, the book touches on more serious issues like medical abuse and the troubles of domestic servants; and I love the way Jill's relationship with the proud and nobly principled Kitty introduces a more serious emotional aspect to her own character.
I ship them; their relationship could well have gone in a femslashy direction at various points in the book, as Jill practically admits to us readers with all her talk of that strange, unaccountable fascination Kitty has for her. What might overturn Jill's resolve to 'put a check upon the inclination to be fascinated by her' and lead her to act on that 'sentimental, impractical folly' after all? Perhaps things get a bit more serious while they're escaping from the chapelle together—further peril, or a hurt/comfort situation, might lead to a confession... And then there are the post-canon possibilities—those ambivalent final lines about Kitty deserve some more development. Perhaps Kitty, widowed a few years later, meets Jill again (has Jill decided to reveal herself, or does Kitty recognise her accidentally?), the true story of her erstwhile travelling-maid comes out and Kitty discovers that 'romance' can 'come to life again' after all...
I'd love anything else exploring Jill's life post-canon. Her new position as a responsible landowner at Castle Manor presents some interesting possibilities, and I think it'd be a good place to build on the way the book brings in serious social issues and look—perhaps a bit more seriously than canon does—at the Victorian class system. How does Jill's time as a servant inform how she goes about 'looking after the interests—both physical and moral—of my tenants and poorer neighbours'? And what about the tenants' and poorer neighbours' perspective? I can't imagine they weren't aware of the whole 'daughter of the house runs away, disappears and then reappears several years later' situation—exploring what they think of it, and what they make of the way Jill goes about running her estate, could make for a really interesting outsider POV story. Or how does Jill deal with the historical changes of the next few decades; what's she doing at sixty? Perhaps she makes friends with other ladies in a similar position—does she know Adelaide Hebron of Oxgodby, for example?
For another crossover idea, I think Jill, with her combination of amorality, audacity and independent adventurousness, and of course her writing, would get on really well with Raffles and Bunny! (The periods don't quite match—1870s-80s for Jill, 1890s for the Raffles stories—but I don't think Jill is historically specific enough for it to matter). Kitty, with her strong moral principles, is also daring and courageous—she might well clash with Raffles, but perhaps they'd admire each other's sense of honour. Perhaps Raffles and Bunny's travels after Mr Justice Raffles take them to Corsica, where they get mixed up in the adventure of the penitenciers; or perhaps Raffles decides to burgle the Mervyns' house in Eaton Square and gets more than he bargained for...
