Dear Yule Writer,

[reflectedeve]

Well hello! I'm so sorry this letter is a little late--and thanks so much for writing for me! I love the books I requested, and I’m so excited that you’re into one or more of them too! Nice taste. ;)

If you’re the kind of person who likes to poke around past requests, you’ll notice that a couple of the ones here are repeats from previous years. Please know that this doesn’t mean I have a preference for those fandoms over the others I’ve just added, or vice versa! I promise, that’s not the case at ALL.

There are plentiful thoughts and prompts (and in several cases, links to promo posts) below. I’m just like this (and as a writer, I just like this kind of thing - lots of material to work with, I mean); believe me, I do not demand or expect you to adhere to my ideas! It would be lovely if you took a look to have a sense of my feelings about the characters/books, but ultimately the best stories are the ones where you follow your own vision, and in any case, I’d rather you enjoyed yourself writing something you want to write. Seriously, as far as I’m concerned, that’s what it’s all about. A story you’re invested in writing will delight me the most, by a mile.

Thank you again, and I really hope you have a blast!

(Oh, and treats are always welcome. <3)

General Likes | DNWs | Bounceback | A Half-Built Garden | October Daye | Plain Bad Heroines | Wayfarers | The Witch Family

General Likes

close tone/style matches to canon

humor

non-traditional languages/demonstrations of love/friendship

team/group/found family dynamics and bonding

close and/or complex sibling relationships and dynamics

focus on female characters and their relationships with each other (romantic, platonic, mentors, rivals, nemeses)

focus on canonically gender non-conforming characters

V-shaped or otherwise complex polyamorous relationships, with amicable metamours or interesting explorations of those dynamics

non-traditional family structures of all kinds

expanded worldbuilding (whether or not I request it as a “character”)

canon divergence AUs; fix-its, what-ifs, alternate endings, etc etc

caper fic, adventures and plot in general

pastiche, parody, playing with genre conventions, trope subversions, role reversals, metafiction

playing with power dynamics in romantic relationships (not only in a sexual context)

consequences, negotiation, communication, relationship work

happy/hopeful endings

smut, especially smut that fits into some kind of story or relationship development theme (I love a PWP, but you know, one that’s very character/story-specific, if that makes sense)

DNWs:

setting/time period AUs

"mundane"/"modern" AUs

AU-based fated or biologically deterministic romantic or sexual relationships*

unrequested crossovers

non-canon major character death

excessive (i.e. non-canon-typical) violence

grim or excessively dark overall tone/endings

”on-screen” child or animal harm

unrequested non-canonical pairings

infidelity (ethical non-monogamy is welcome)

incest

”on-screen” non-consensual sex

infantilization

Daddy/Mommy kink or terminology

kinks involving serious injury, bodily wastes, pregnancy, inflation, impossible penetration, fantastical anatomy except where canon-appropriate, and so forth

*Omegaverse, soulmates, etc - this doesn’t include specific canonical dynamics where those exist

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The Bounceback Series - L.X. Beckett
Cherub “Rubi” Whiting, Gimlet Barnes
My gift must feature all of my chosen character tags
Mini-Challenges: TransTide, Wrapping Paper

Promo post from last year

The duality of Rubi and Gimlet’s relationship is such a special delight. On the one hand, they have their gaming roles and rivalry, complete with all kinds of in-character tropey grandstanding and sexual tension. On the other, they’re both adults, fairly young ones, navigating very real life issues and choices - and trying to figure out what they can be to each other in those contexts, with an emphasis on healthy communication and relationship values. I love the idea of a story playing with the intersection of the public and the private, the fictional and the real, the flashy side AND the mundane domestic side, etc. Also, I’m a giant sucker for metafiction and in-universe media, so there’s that!

While I’ve chosen to focus my request on this pair, I am deeply fond of much of the cast (especially Drow, Frankie, Crane and Luce) and would welcome their inclusion - and of course, the book is absolutely packed with worldbuilding and plot threads, so if any piece of that in particular really speaks to you, I’d be thrilled if you run with that. AI, aliens, and conspiracies, oh my; all of that is my jam. I am a big lover of plotty fic, and shippy fic where the relationship development goes hand-in-hand with plot. Most of my prompts will be more focused on the relationship part, but don’t let that deter you!

Prompts/thematic thoughts:

the story of how they first met, or how their rivalry/attraction developed!

a particular game they played (pre-canon, probably) which lead to a steamy encounter.!

post-book story where they sort things out together! How do they cope with the remnants of Gimlet’s dissolving group marriage? How does Rubi handle dating someone with a kid? How do they sort out their public and private personas/dynamic?

Rubi won their bet … what is it like if they go on to play a game where they’re on the same side? How does Gimlet handle being a hero (possibly an antihero or reformed villain)? Conversely, what if Rubi tried out playing a villain, just for fun? (I suspect she would be bad at it, possibly hilariously so. What do you think?)

potentially fun framing for a post-book story: the public chatter about them getting together! gossip! Fans! (Ooh, I bet there’s fanfic … of them as their various in-game characters, and ‘RPF’ … that might be fun to play with.) Anything you want to do with in-universe media will delight me enormously.

smut would be very welcome (but certainly not required) - the ways in which IRL Gimlet is and isn’t like their villain persona, how that comes out in their flirting, and the very real caring underneath would be particularly fascinating in an explicit context, ahem.

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A Half-Built Garden - Ruthanna Emrys
Worldbuilding, Judy Wallach-Stevens, Cytosine, Tiffany di Asterion

My gift must feature all of my chosen character tags; or it may use exceptions I explain: I would prefer not to receive a worldbuilding-based story which does not include any of the major characters from the book. Otherwise, anything goes. Honestly, if you want to focus on completely different major characters from the book than the ones in the tagset, I’d be delighted with that too! The 4-character nomination limit has rarely been as much of a struggle for me; this book has such a big, wonderful cast.

Mini-Challenges: TransTide, Three Turtle Doves, Wrapping Paper

Promo Post

I love this book so much. It hits so many sweet spots for me: hopeful near-future sci-fi which takes a stab at imagining societal and environmental improvements, first contact, fascinating and original alien biology and societies, believable and complex culture clashes, queer/ethically non-monogamous family structures, interspecies romance, etc etc. I like how the book has both a very close local/community focus, and a vastly expansive one. I love so many of the characters individually and in combinations. And while I find the evolution of the corporate cultures a bit more of a stretch to my imagination than most other aspects of the story, that just makes me curious about picking at it.

Like I said, the 4-character nomination limit was hard for this fandom. I’m going to include one or two prompts below that focus on un-nominated characters that I’m also particularly interested in, but those are of course extra optional!

Thoughts/prompts:

The early days of Judy, Cytosine et al’s blended family life. Anything involving negotiating boundaries, roles, day-to-day life, etc. How do the aliens fit into life in the Chesapeake Watershed? How does multispecies parenting work, and what missteps get made (preferably nothing too dangerous/traumatizing)? What breakthroughs get made on either side?

Similarly, I’d love a peek at the pioneering multispecies family a few years (or more) down the road, whether you want to focus on something small and intimate (a day in the life type thing, a celebration or holiday, the transition between planet/space living in either direction, how school/education is working for the various kids) or something larger (the family as a lens on the larger societal changes and blending between the alien and Earth cultures, and also how that affects the different human sociopolitical groups).

Really, any aspect of expanded worldbuilding as focused through the family or its various members would be utterly delightful. Adaptive use of language (and skinsong), cultural exchange at any level, explorations of relationship dynamics, storytelling, technologies, childhood milestones/coming-of-age traditions, etc etc …!

Judy and Cytosine specifically have to rely on one another in some kind of tense social or parenting scenario, at any point in their shared future. I’d love to see how they support each other/how they’ve perhaps learned to work together, as well as any continuing underlying conflicts or areas of tension and how they navigate that.

On a different note, I adore Tiffany di Asterion, with tha’s blunt tendency to disregard social niceties within both the Watershed and Corporate settings, her cynicism, thon’s clever machinations and reluctant conscience, and of course, thon’s protectiveness towards Brend. The tiny taste of tha struggling to work/integrate with the rather earnest culture of the Watersheds that we get at the end of the book made me super happy, and I’d love to see more of how tha continues to struggle and grow, whether in the context of the Watershed, or exploring “the galaxy,” with Brend. While I think I’d prefer to focus on their/tha’s future, building on what we know of each character’s past would be a treat too.

Speaking of the Corporate characters … I have a massive soft spot for siblings, so exploring Brend and Adrien’s relationship at any point would be something I’d enjoy, including any potential (and potentially redemptive, for Adrien) reconciliation or reunion in the future. Adrien was clearly balancing some conflicting perspectives and values, and it would be nice to explore the complexity there in the context of eir relationship with eir sibling!

Speaking of siblings, anything focusing on Dori, Raven, Diamond and Chlorophyll, how they bond and relate to one another, and what it’s like for them growing up in a multispecies family, at any point in their lives, would be fabulous.

One more random character prompt: I could not get enough of Glycine’s immediate interest in human-style questioning about straddling or challenging their culture’s rather rigid gender roles. How might that continue to develop, both within their place as Cytosine’s mate (and, Cytosine’s strong feelings about the same roles), the existing alien family structure, and the newly-developing blended multispecies family structure?

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October Daye Series - Seanan McGuire
Cassandra Brown, Walther Davies, Arden Windermere, August Lorden

My gift must feature all of my chosen character tags; or it may use exceptions I explain: I’m fine with a story about Cassandra, Walther and Arden that does not include August, I’m fine with something Arden-centric, and I’m fine with a story about August that doesn’t include some or all of the other three!

Mini-Challenges: Family Matters, TransTide, Three Turtle Doves, Wrapping Paper

I’m a longtime reader at this point, and very attached to much of the ensemble cast/worldbuilding. I find the quality of the writing somewhat uneven across the series, but last year, Be the Serpent absolutely knocked my socks off, and after my pre-Sleep No More reread (and SNM itself, which I found to be substantially less impactful in execution, but still), I really want to play more in Toby et al’s sandbox, as it were.

There are lots of characters and groupings that I would love to read about, so here’s how I’ve necessarily narrowed it down for this year’s Yuletide. On the one hand, you have three of the most prominent members of the court at Muir Woods: Arden, the semi-reluctant queen with an unusual history of living among humans (and a foretold abdication in some unknown future), Walther, the creative, prickly runaway-royal-turned-innovative alchemist with one foot in human academia and research (an atmosphere I have ties to myself, ahem), and Cassandra, the queen’s apparently fairly unremarkable chatelaine who turns out to be a Firstborn and manages to hold things together impressively well when her younger siblings and her knowe/monarch are murderously besieged by her own mother (kind of). There’s so much more to explore with each of them, and their relationships with one another!

And then there’s August, who has become a whole lot more interesting to me since the events of Sleep No More and The Innocent Sleep. I have a huge thing for sibling relationships in fiction, so I’d been really hoping for more development between her and October for a long time, and then we got this whole AU life-long relationship which is now layered over reality in both of their memories. There’s so much to explore there! I also have really enjoyed reading the Patreon shorts about August and Simon settling into life in the Undersea, so if you’ve read those and want to build on them, I’m into it. Generally, I’m very interested in what the heck is going on in that girl’s head after everything she’s been through.

Other cast members emphatically welcome, naturally.

Thoughts/prompts:

Muir Woods court shenanigans: Arden messes up (in re: magic, or protocol, or who knows what else) … hijinks ensue!

Muir Woods court shenanigans: Walther messes up (something alchemical) … hijinks ensue!

Muir Woods court shenanigans: Cassandra’s Firstborn abilities do something surprising, hijinks and/or a little bit of angst ensue.

Something with Walther, Cassandra and Arden set at the university/in the mortal world. Hijinks most likely ensue, probably as a result of some combination of Faerie and mortal elements.

In general: Karen can come too. (The Brown brothers are also welcome.) I’m really fond of her, and a bit of Brown sisters/siblings bonding/supporting each other/learning about their abilities together would not go amiss as a story element if you felt so moved.

Possibly in combination with something above, I’d be interested in exploring some kind of semi-clandestine polyamorous arrangement with Arden/Cassandra and Cassandra/Walther (v-shaped, preferably; I’m not terribly interested in Arden/Walther, and I have a weakness for metamours being a thing), being navigated in a generally fairly functional and healthy way if also with amusing near-exposure or other shenanigans (because really, a queen isn’t supposed to date her chatelaine).

Arden’s ascent to the throne of the Mists wasn’t entirely enthusiastic or even willing, and she continues to vacillate between embracing the role and wanting to cut and run. Now, she has the memories of a completely different life; one where she was both braver, and on a very different path. What’s that like? How does it affect her outlook on life and her throne, and her relationship with her brother? Fleshing out more of the false memories encouraged.

I’m dying to read literally anything about how August and Toby relate to one another now, how they assimilate their conflicting memories and the feelings and opinions that went with each, etc. Maybe they have a little adventure, just the two of them, which helps them work some of that out? (Maybe an adventure that isn’t super strenuous, given Toby’s pregnancy, but hey. Something in the mortal world, which August still has so little experience with, could be fun?)

Tell me more about August hanging out at Toby’s house, baking with May, bonding with Rayseline and generally engaging with the whole chaotic household, teenagers, cats and all!

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Plain Bad Heroines - Emily L. Danforth
Elaine Brookhants, Merritt Emmons, Audrey Wells, Harper Harper

My gift must feature all of my chosen character tags; or it may use exceptions I explain:
I’m here for any character combination including Merritt Emmons, and I’m also here for a story (probably past-fic) about Elaine Brookhants that doesn’t feature the other three at all, if you feel so moved.

Mini-Challenges: Three Turtle Doves, Wrapping Paper

I have such complicated thoughts about this book! It’s so atmospheric and full of fascinating characters and ideas, conspiracies and mysteries. There’s quite a lot about supernatural underpinnings of the story that remain unexplained and unresolved, and while I’m fine with that in general, I think there’s quite a lot more to say about both the characters and the circumstances they’ve been living through. (Honestly? The structure/execution of the book feels a little messy and unfinished, ambiguity or not. One of those imperfect stories I love and would love to see built and improved on.)

One thing that I found quite frustrating was the way we never really got a look at Elaine’s motivations and feelings about everything. We know who she is, in the lineage of the Brookhants family, and that she had a behind-the-scenes hand in both Merritt’s book and the conceptualization of the movie. But just as her family history is revealed, she dies, and the other characters don’t even pause to consider her place in the overall narrative.

I also enjoyed the dynamics between Merritt, Audrey, and Harper quite a bit; the messy attraction between all three of them in different combinations, their very different backgrounds, personalities and perspectives and how those clashed at times, and the times they were there for one another in the face of Hollywood and the supernatural. (In shipping terms, I’m very here for Merritt/Harper/Audrey, Merritt/Audrey, or Merritt/Harper.)

Thoughts/prompts:

Elaine Brookhants backstory or perspective would be amazing. What was it like growing up with that family history, that legacy? She doesn’t exactly come off as either sinister or haunted, which is kind of striking, in the circumstances. How did the supernatural come into and affect her life, and how did she handle it? How did she wind up being the relatively strong and stable woman who mentored Merritt, and why was she so determined to get the story of Brookhants out?

After the end of the book, how does the Brookhants movie, and the Brookhants haunting (if that’s a good word for it) continue to affect Merritt, Audrey and Harper in their careers? Does it bring them back together, and how do they respond to that?

Fleshing out Merritt and Audrey’s interactions between the end of filming and the Cannes red carpet would certainly be fascinating!

Harper seems like a character with a lot to work through; her working-class childhood, her sudden success, the ways in which she is both Hollywood product and, internally, something of an outsider, and her instinct to toe the line with her director (which causes her conflict with Merritt) … she goes from being this tantalizing heartthrob center-of-attention to feeling a little bit like the third wheel, the one who has gotten used to being wanted left wanting. What does she take from that? Does it change anything about how she approaches her career, her fame, her relationships? Do she and Merritt ever manage to really get one another? How do her and Audrey’s somewhat opposite experiences of fame play off one another?

I’d love a peek at Merritt’s new book, including any meta touches (bits of interviews/press/fan reactions), and of course, how its writing and release affect her relationships with Harper and Audrey, and affect each of them (both in a personal and career context).

Do Merritt, Audrey and/or Harper ever wind up returning to Brookhants? Developing how they are connected to its story beyond the glimpses we had of their experiences during filming would be fascinating. Do they learn more about the unwritten parts of its history? About Elaine herself, and her intentions? Is there a way that they can placate the curse, or are they just managing to delay their ultimate doom?

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Wayfarers Series - Becky Chambers
Sidra, Tak, Pepper, Owl

My gift must feature all of my chosen character tags; or it may use exceptions: I’m looking for something Sidra-centric; I’m interested in her relationships with all three of the other characters, and because I’m invested in her place in community I’d certainly enjoy it if all three were mentioned, but I’m fine if one or two of them isn’t a major feature.

Mini-Challenges: TransTide, Wrapping Paper

Wayfarers is a series of four loosely-connected novels, all of which I love deeply; however, for Yuletide purposes I’m focused on the second book, A Close and Common Orbit. It’s one of my favorite books of all time! Dual narratives about two characters (a newly-installed AI navigating a humanoid body she was never designed to inhabit, and a genetically-engineered factory slave who escapes and survives and grows up to escape the rest of the way), featuring themes around creating family/a life out of nothing, disability and access, trauma and basically learning to be a person. All within the context of the wider Wayfarers universe, where fucked up things happen and various ruling institutions certainly suck, but a wide variety of species from across the galaxy manage to live together more or less in the spirit of curiosity, cultural exchange, and cooperation. (Happy sigh.)

You don’t need to focus on all four requested characters. I love them all and I certainly wouldn’t object if they all appeared. I will admit that Sidra is my favorite character, so I’m particular, any combination with her is particularly welcome. (I’d also be thrilled if other characters from the series were featured - as much or as little as you want.) Pepper and Owl’s relationship is also a favorite, and something I’d love to see developed more post-canon.

In shippy terms, I definitely ship Sidra with any/all three of the others to varying degrees. However: I would never want to see Pepper and Blue broken up (but I think Blue and Sidra would make interesting metamours).

Thoughts/prompts:

just … a “typical” night at Home;I adore the whole idea of the space and would really enjoy seeing it in action.

One night at Home, Captain Gapei Tem Seri is there having a drink during shore leave and observes Sidra and Tak being clueless about each other. Maybe she gives Tak some friendly advice/encouragement on the whole taboo interspecies dating front? Maybe Sidra seeks out HER advice?

Sidra decides to explore the concepts of dating and/or sex, to see whether/how they're for her. Tak, her usual partner in social exploration, takes her on a date - and some interesting emotional complications ensue?

Sidra explores the .. range of her sensory analogues, with either Tak or Pepper as a partner in exploration.

I am so fascinated by Sidra’s petbots. A story exploring the way they operate would be fabulous. What is it like for her to transition to and from the way she exists at Home, as opposed to out in the world? How does she experience her inputs on a typical evening? How do unsuspecting customers interact with the bots, and what is that like? What about her friends? Do they tease her through them in some way? Does she use them to flirt?

what is it LIKE for two unusual AIs with very different life experiences to share memory banks? That seems like a rather intense level of intimacy. What do Sidra and Owl learn from each other, and how does that relationship evolve?

How does reconnecting work/feel for Pepper and Owl? What happens between Owl waking up in the shuttle and her establishment at Home?

If you feel like tackling it, I’d be interested in bringing Jenks (potentially with some or all of the Wayfarer crew) back into the mix, now that Sidra’s established. There’s a lot to explore there (but please no Sidra/Jenks romance).

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The Witch Family - Eleanor Estes
Amy, Clarissa, Hannah (The Little Witch Girl), Lurie

My gift must feature all of my chosen character tags; or it may use exceptions I explain:
So while I’m not attached to the idea that you’ll focus on all four of these characters equally, the one thing I really don’t want is a focus on one/both of the “normal” girls (Amy and Clarissa) without either of the magical ones, and I’m not really interested in fic about Hannah and Lurie that doesn’t incorporate the “normal” girls at all, either. The interplay of “reality” and “fiction” is my favorite thing about this book. To keep it simple - please include at least one girl from each set (mundane and magical)!

Mini-Challenges: Queering the Tide, Wrapping Paper


Promo Post

I loved this book when I was a kid. Friendship, metafiction, playing with notions of right and wrong, brave little girls, found family … I mean, damn. (As an adult I find it a bit preachy and saccharine at times, but for the most part, it holds up beautifully.) And I’ve been really intrigued by the idea of future-fic for a while now!

As far as fic goes, I’d prefer things to ultimately be upbeat, but please feel free to reduce the schmaltz level a little and be realistic about the characters’ flaws (perhaps especially Amy’s). I’d also be thrilled if you kept to the historical setting (the book came out in 1960, so assuming the girls were 7, as they are in the story, that year …) - although if you decide to write shipfic, please try to keep the homophobia (internalized or otherwise) relatively light/decentered.

I’m fine with however you feel like interpreting the reality/fiction divide (especially as the girls age); if Hannah and Lurie really are just Amy’s stories, which she uses to explore ideas about life and herself, that’s fine! If realities keep bleeding together, that’s good too! I think I’d prefer not to lean into a lot of worldbuilding for the magical side along the lines of “this whole world existed in parallel already and Amy just tapped into it somehow” - I feel like in this case, that’s just a lot less interesting than the way that world interacts with/responds to Amy/the “real” girls’ lives and ideas.

I know that in the books, Hannah was supposed to never age, but I’d be more than happy with ditching that - having her evolve and grow with her creator seems a lot more interesting to me, and after all, I suspect that Amy will find herself changing her own supposedly “set” rules and perspective as she gets older, anyway …

Thoughts/prompts:

How do Amy and Clarissa’s friendship and storytelling evolve as they get older? How does Amy’s perspective on creativity, morality and magic evolve?

What do the girls grow up to do and be? How does their fictional world parallel/echo them? If they continue to cross over, what does that look like?

Hannah’s discovery of Lurie inside the glass hill very much had a romantic flavor to me from the first, even though I didn’t exactly recognize it as such when I was little. It could be interesting to explore how Amy and/or Clarissa might learn/figure out something about herself/themselves by noticing it in or between the other pair first.

In general, how might romance between any combination of the girls play out, parallel or contrast with each other, etc? (How might trying to figure out liking girls on the one hand, and dating a mermaid on the other, have parallels? Or what happens when you start falling for your own creation, or vice versa?)

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