fleurlb | Dear Yuletide writer...

Happy Yuletide, dear anonymous writer. I am not a big one for the holidays, but for the last 11 years, Yuletide has been one of my favourite parts of the dark days of winter.

I'm delighted that we share some fannish interests (and possibly loves) and hope that you enjoy the creation process and have a good time this Yuletide. If prompts and extra information helps you, you've come to the right place. But if Optional Details are Optional is the way you roll, that's cool too.

My hard-and-fast DNWs list is fairly short. I do not want incest, non-con, porn without plot, child death or grievous injury (unless it's canon and even then, no need to dwell on the details), animal cruelty or abuse, scat/watersports/extreme kink, or first-person narration. Yeah, I know that last one is maybe a little weird, but I find first-person difficult to warm up to and it takes me out of the story.

In general, I love fan fiction. I love the way it lets me spend time with beloved characters. I love the way it opens up new adventures and possibilities. I love the way it lets me rethink and reimagine known worlds.

A word about The Pandemic Times - I would be delighted to read a story set in our pandemic or any other pandemic. If writing such a story would be good for you, by all means, do it. But if you are burned out on pandemics, feel free to hand wave Covid. (Also, if setting in present day but ignoring the present situation, there's no need to jump through hoops to scene set unless you want to!)

I love, love, love so many tropes. (And I also love stories that subvert tropes.) In no particularly order, I absolutely love the following tropes:

Fake dating

Using dating/relationships as a cover for a mission/con/job/plan

Secret weddings/marriages

Elopement, and accidental marriages

Unexpected tenderness

Hurt/comfort

Cooking comfort foods

Grand romantic gestures

Repressed feelings

Found families

Slow burning love that develops slowly through mundane activities

Starting a new life

Ghost stories

Spooky settings

Haunted houses

Stupid dares

Camping

Accidental demon summoning

Disasters – natural or manmade

Post-apocalytpic fights to survive

Man vs wilderness

Angst

Unresolved sexual tension

Zombies

Roads not taken in canon

Wacky roadtrips

That's quite a grab bag to choose from, but I would like anything from it. Here are a few starting points for a gift in any fandom:

A natural or manmade disaster strikes and characters must work together to save themselves and others

AU - The Zombie Apocalypse strikes - what is life like and how do the characters manage?

Character backstories - I love a good backstory!

The road not taken...what happens when a character makes a different decision than in canon. How does the story (and more importantly, the character) change as a result of the decision?

First times - first kisses, first loves, first day of school/prison/the army/whatever

5+1 (As in Five times X happened and 1 time it didn't) is a tried and true format - I'd eat any 5+1 with a spoon. (And it doesn't have to be 5 +1, it could be 3 or 7 or whatever works for you.)

Song fic - I don't even need to know the song. (But if you're a fan of The National, you literally cannot go wrong with any of their songs.)

Crossovers - I love crossovers like Whoa! They are seriously my favourite fandom genre. I would be delighted to see crossovers between any of my requests or with any of these fandoms: Friday Night Lights, Supernatural, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, The Good Place, The Big C, Stranger Things, Sons of Anarchy, or Leverage.

This letter is basically a gooey letter of all things I love, and it's only going to get worse as I get to my fandoms. I love each of these fandoms deeply and beyond all reason. And I think this love is even worse because I've not found any communities or places that love these shows the way I do.

Friday Night Lights - Whatever happened to Tim Riggins? Did he and Jason stay friends? I would love any kind of slice-of-life fic of them relating to each other. Reunion fic. Past adventure fic. Future adventure fic. Or slot them into any of my beloved tropes and I am sure it'll be delightful.

Last Tango in Halifax – This show is still my emotional home place. I return to it whenever I feel on the edge of depression because it makes me feel so many things. I ship Kate and Caroline like whoa and would love fix-it fic/AU where the senseless death does not happen. Basically, I love the people on this show and just want more of them interacting and being messy but loving and just trying to figure out life.

Bad Sisters - Recently finished this show and it's an absolute gem. I love the sisters and their relationship. Would love to see something from their past. How did Eva take over parenting her sisters? Have they ever had a holiday together? What happens after the last show in the series? Again, I am super easy and just want to see these awesome sisters being awesome together. For the record, Bibi is my favorite sister, but I love all of them. Feel free to give me a story that focuses on Bibi and less so on Eva and Becka.