burglebezzlemen (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
burglebezzlemen) wrote2020-10-22 06:41 pm
burglebezzlemen) wrote2020-10-22 06:41 pm
Dear Author: Yuletide 2020
Happy Yuletide! I always enjoy the Yuletide season, and I look forward to seeing what you come up with. :)
I love all of these characters, and I will be delighted to get a gift for any of them. If I have more prompts for a given character or canon, it just means I had more ideas and/or was requesting more characters, not that I want it more.
I’m also here for something different, if you have a story you’d love to tell about one of the characters I’ve requested (provided it doesn’t run into a DNW). Some of my favorite gifts have been ones I would never have thought to prompt! And I hope you also feel free to mix and match, take part of a prompt and leave the rest, etc.
GENERAL LIKES | DNWs | EARTH GIRL | GIANT DAYS | HIVE MIND | LOCK IN
General Likes
DNWs
I tend to prefer canon-typical levels of sexual content, which for these canons would mean nothing particularly explicit. I’m not interested in smut/porn as the main focus of the fic.
My DNWs for these canons:
Earth Girl series: Amalie Roche
I adore Amalie, and I’d love to see more about her. The prequel novella featuring her - Frontier - is my favorite and most-reread part of the Earth Girl series. I also enjoyed the new stories about Amalie and Krath in the latest story collection, so no need to worry about spoilers if you’ve read that one. And if you haven’t, no worries - I know that collection just came out and isn’t even out in hard copy yet, and I totally get it if you haven’t been able to read it.
Ship-wise, I do like Amalie and Krath together, and would prefer to not see them broken up on-screen. However, I’m also fine with Krath not being included in the fic or just being an unexplored part of Amalie’s past. I’m also open to seeing Amalie with someone else of whatever gender. I would also love gen fic about just Amalie, friendship fic, etc. Some of my other favorite minor characters in the series are Candace, Jerez, Playdon, and Dalmora.
If you’re curious for some of my thoughts about where the series overall might be going, I have a couple potentially spoilery predictions here.
-Obvious prompt is obvious, but: Fortuna! What is the alien homeworld like on the surface? What types of things do they find?
-How does the Tactics team decide to tell the rest of the archaeologists the truth about the chimera? How does Amalie (or Amalie and Krath) react to the news? (It must be interesting for Krath, being on the inside of a Military cover-up again.)
-Does Amalie ever meet Captain Mobele again?
-Amalie comes back from Fortuna to find that panda mice have taken the galaxy by storm! I’d imagine actual panda mice wouldn’t be allowed through the interstellar gate controls, but what if panda mice were the next big trend in cute things for decor, clothing, etc.? And maybe the twins, who seemed enterprising, set up a lemonade-stand-style Panda Mouse Experience for visitors from off-world. Have a real panda mouse sleep in YOUR shoe!
-This one is a bit spoiler-y for the new story collection, but: More about Amalie’s future meetings with Kellan and Inessa Jain. We know that Kellan and Inessa are super-famous on Miranda, but Miranda is just one backwater world of 200-odd worlds in Epsilon Sector, and I can’t imagine anyone on the other worlds has heard of them or cares. Amalie, meanwhile, has gone from the nobody their son screwed over to probably the best-known and most-loved figure in the entire sector. We know the Jains (or Kellan Jain, at least) have dynastic aspirations, and Amalie’s the only person currently in a position to give Miranda any sort of cred. How does that play out? Is Amalie always as willing to go along with the Jains for the sake of Miranda, or does she have less patience with them in the future? Or does Inessa Jain ever become more of a human than a legendary figure to Amalie, and do they get to know one another on a more equal footing?
Giant Days: Susan, Daisy, and Esther
Giant Days! I love this comic and everyone in it. :D
I kept up with this one in the floppies, so I’ve read everything. But if you’ve only read part of the canon so far, that’s totally fine — I’m interested in stuff set anywhere in the story.
My biggest ship in this canon is their friendship! Gen friendship fic would be amazing. If you are into shipfic, I adore Susan/McGraw and Daisy/Saffy, and I’d be fine with fic focusing more on one of those two couples than on the three mains if you want to go that route. I also really enjoyed Ed/Nina, if you want to include them as a background ship. And finally, Esther and Dean make great antagonists, although I’m not sure I ship it. I DNW Daisy/any male character(s).
If you’re familiar with the Greater Tackleford Universe, I’ve read Bobbins (original flavor, Bobbins.horse, and New Bobbins), Bad Machinery, and Destroying History. I haven’t read Scary Go Round. If you want to pull someone in from the larger universe, I especially love Shelley, Amy, and Charlotte.
-The flat is haunted. Esther is delighted at first, but it turns out the ghost has more in common… with DAISY??
-Susan and McGraw buy their first flat. Too bad it’s haunted by the ghost of a very bad handyman… or maybe just by the ghost of all of the former owner’s terrible DIY projects.
-I feel like this comic is right on my wavelength with the accidental drugging plotlines (Daisy and the Poundland cold medicine, Susan at the music festival, etc.). If that's something you’re into, keep it coming.
-Susan’s (canonical) work experience as a PI fascinates me, and I’ve loved every single time it’s come up in the comic. What else could happen to make her use those skills? Maybe Daisy or Esther don’t know they need her help… but they do. Or another noir story from Susan’s perspective could be amazing!
-McGraw, possibly with assistance, comes up with a series of increasingly ridiculous plots to try to steal and clean Susan’s laptop.
-Esther, looking to make more money than the comics shop allows, starts a business selling glitter-stuffed envelopes for revenge delivery, and does surprisingly well. Then someone starts placing orders to be sent to Susan. (Or Daisy!)
-I feel like this would be an amazing canon for a State-Mandated Ghost Hunters AU! For a gen take, maybe Daisy and Susan end up as the ghost speaker and ghost fighter, and Esther is just, like, so offended not to be included. Or maybe it’s an AU where Susan and McGraw haven’t yet reconciled, and they get called to serve together. Awkward! But I bet McGraw could make a mean scythe.
-Daisy comes up with an unusual solution to one of her mentee’s problems.
-I absolutely adore Daisy/Saffy! I’d love more about them. ♥ Daisy deserves someone kind and good… and maybe a bit Susan-like in her willingness to bend the rules for results. :D
Hive Mind: Gregas
I adore this series, and I’ve loved every new book more than the one before. Borderline did some amazing things with the canon (and if you haven’t read it, I’m very sorry, but these prompts are full of spoilers).
I’m super-excited for Hive Mind 5, and based on mentions on Janet Edwards’ website, it seems like that may or may not be out before Yuletide reveals. If it is, I plan on reading it right away, so spoilers for that would be totally fine. That being said, I would never expect my gift to be updated for new canon that came out during the writing period, and a gift consistent with canon as of right now would be lovely. (The timing for release of new canon is tough with this series and Yuletide, and the delays on getting paperbacks out makes that even harder.)
I adore all the characters in the Hive Mind series, but Borderline had me wanting more fic about Gregas in particular. He really came into his own in this book, and I loved learning more about him.
If you want to include ships, hooking Gregas up with an OC of whatever gender is fine. I’m fine with relationships of equals between characters still on Teen Level, although I do not want to see explicit fic/porn for them. In terms of background ships, I adore Amber/Lucas and would prefer to not see them break up. For background characters, I love everyone in Amber’s unit, and I’m particularly fond of Amber, Lucas, Beckett, Nicole, and Buzz. I’d also love to see more of Gregas trying to deal with Wesley, or see Gregas in his new Teen Level corridor.
-Gregas’ Lottery! What DOES Lottery do with a borderline telepath who can take down a full-grown man at age 14 with no training? He’s going to be a spy, right? Or something like that?
-Gregas feels like an awesome opportunity for a Zeppo plotline, because Amber’s always dealing with Hive-altering, high-stakes cases, and usually isn’t reading the minds of the non-Strike Team members of her unit apart from Lucas. What unexpected minor drama does Gregas pick up on and try to solve for her while she’s dealing with bigger things?
-I’d love to see more of Gregas settling in in the new Teen Level area he’s moved to. Does he still see Wesley, and what does Wesley think about the move?
-What are the Teen Games for the Law Enforcement area teens?
-What types of stories do the Teen Level Law Enforcement teens tell about Light Angel? And how does Gregas cope with knowing that’s his sister? Does he ever let the secret slip?
Lock In: Chris Shane
I adore the world of Lock In, and I'd love to get some fic exploring the world.
I've requested Chris Shane for my requested character. I would like to note that I am happy with any amount of Chris. Outsider POV? Fic in the form of narrative investigative journalism article about one of Chris's cases, where Chris shows up briefly? Online message board where people discuss Chris? All good! Or a first-person story from Chris' POV. Also good!
For other characters, I like Leslie, Chris's parents, and Chris's housemates, and I'd be happy to see any of them show up, or even to see a story from one of their perspectives in which Chris is a side character. I'm also open to OCs. I don't ship Chris with anyone in the books currently, but if you do want an old flame OC of whatever gender to show up with a new problem, or in a casefic, that could be interesting!
I like what Scalzi did with keeping Chris' gender undefined. My preference would be keeping things similar to canon, where Chris doesn't have on-screen assigned pronouns at all. I get that it's tricky to do that, though! If you do end up needing to give Chris a pronoun, I would prefer they over he or she. I DNW Chris referred to by "it" or neopronouns.
-Vann and Chris get assigned to the Lock In universe's version of The X-Files! I would imagine Vann does NOT want to believe. :D What type(s) of cases might they be looking at?
-Urban legends! I love urban legends, and I especially love seeing them in worlds where they get wrapped up into the worldbuilding. We got to see someone die IRL when their threep got killed in Head On. What other urban legends might come true and require Chris and Leslie's attention? Or what urban legends might Chris unwittingly or deliberately inspire? What ghost stories do Hadens tell?
-More tales of Chris destroying threeps! Are there super-heavy-duty threep companies that approach Chris as a test user? How do the tests go wrong? Something like an internal report about all of Chris’s prior threep destruction could also be hilarious.
-How do Hadens prepare for emergencies? Like snow storms, blackouts, hurricanes, etc.? I'd imagine they're more vulnerable to power cuts -- is that something Chris and his housemates are prepared for?
-Justin & Justine. I know Scalzi well enough as an author to suspect that he's never going to explain this one. I'd love to see your take on it! What's going on there?
-I also really enjoyed Tayla and Tony, if you want to write something more slice-of-life, about the housemates and what things are like when Chris isn't in the middle of a case that's going to end in destruction.
I love all of these characters, and I will be delighted to get a gift for any of them. If I have more prompts for a given character or canon, it just means I had more ideas and/or was requesting more characters, not that I want it more.
I’m also here for something different, if you have a story you’d love to tell about one of the characters I’ve requested (provided it doesn’t run into a DNW). Some of my favorite gifts have been ones I would never have thought to prompt! And I hope you also feel free to mix and match, take part of a prompt and leave the rest, etc.
GENERAL LIKES | DNWs | EARTH GIRL | GIANT DAYS | HIVE MIND | LOCK IN
General Likes
- Slice of life
- Domestic scenes
- Cooking and food
- General shenanigans and hijinkery
- Outdoor activities and the great outdoors
- Get-together fic
- Established relationships
- Characters solving problems
- Small towns, whether heartwarming or creepy
- Ghost stories
- Cryptids
- Cursed objects
- Thrift score/eBay purchase gone wrong
- Someone gets turned into an unusual animal
- The Hangover and/or Waking Up In Vegas and/or accidental marriage plotlines
- Someone is accidentally drugged; someone else takes care of them
- Gothic themes, whether subverted or played straight
- Exploring new places together
- Vacations gone awry
- Groundhog Day/time loop
- Cross-time communication, where something like a journal/letterbox/website/whatever is able to let characters communicate across time
- Alternate universe body swap, where characters from the canon universe we know are swapped or transferred to an alternate universe and have to find their way back
- Stuck in the bathroom/elevator/wherever
- Characters coming up with MacGyver-style solutions to problems
- Trapped/stranded by the weather
- Abandoned houses, whether exploring or fixing them up
- Five Times fic
- Urban legend AUs or fic involving in-universe urban legends
- State-Mandated Ghost Hunting AU
- Undercover as a couple
- Casefic, especially unusual cases
- That fic where the characters have to go to a remote island or resort, possibly while pretending to be a couple, in order to investigate a haunting/why everyone has been invited and someone’s killing them off one-by-one/other mystery here
DNWs
I tend to prefer canon-typical levels of sexual content, which for these canons would mean nothing particularly explicit. I’m not interested in smut/porn as the main focus of the fic.
My DNWs for these canons:
- Dubcon, noncon, underage, or fic focusing on explicit porn/kink content
- Major character death. Temporary MCD or minor character death in service of a casefic are fine.
- Unrequested poly, open relationships, or incest
- Serious or terminal illness
- Cannibalism
- Animal harm/cruelty
- Ghost cats
- For Giant Days: Daisy/any male character
- For Lock In: Use of neopronouns or "it" for Chris Shane
Earth Girl series: Amalie Roche
I adore Amalie, and I’d love to see more about her. The prequel novella featuring her - Frontier - is my favorite and most-reread part of the Earth Girl series. I also enjoyed the new stories about Amalie and Krath in the latest story collection, so no need to worry about spoilers if you’ve read that one. And if you haven’t, no worries - I know that collection just came out and isn’t even out in hard copy yet, and I totally get it if you haven’t been able to read it.
Ship-wise, I do like Amalie and Krath together, and would prefer to not see them broken up on-screen. However, I’m also fine with Krath not being included in the fic or just being an unexplored part of Amalie’s past. I’m also open to seeing Amalie with someone else of whatever gender. I would also love gen fic about just Amalie, friendship fic, etc. Some of my other favorite minor characters in the series are Candace, Jerez, Playdon, and Dalmora.
If you’re curious for some of my thoughts about where the series overall might be going, I have a couple potentially spoilery predictions here.
-Obvious prompt is obvious, but: Fortuna! What is the alien homeworld like on the surface? What types of things do they find?
-How does the Tactics team decide to tell the rest of the archaeologists the truth about the chimera? How does Amalie (or Amalie and Krath) react to the news? (It must be interesting for Krath, being on the inside of a Military cover-up again.)
-Does Amalie ever meet Captain Mobele again?
-Amalie comes back from Fortuna to find that panda mice have taken the galaxy by storm! I’d imagine actual panda mice wouldn’t be allowed through the interstellar gate controls, but what if panda mice were the next big trend in cute things for decor, clothing, etc.? And maybe the twins, who seemed enterprising, set up a lemonade-stand-style Panda Mouse Experience for visitors from off-world. Have a real panda mouse sleep in YOUR shoe!
-This one is a bit spoiler-y for the new story collection, but: More about Amalie’s future meetings with Kellan and Inessa Jain. We know that Kellan and Inessa are super-famous on Miranda, but Miranda is just one backwater world of 200-odd worlds in Epsilon Sector, and I can’t imagine anyone on the other worlds has heard of them or cares. Amalie, meanwhile, has gone from the nobody their son screwed over to probably the best-known and most-loved figure in the entire sector. We know the Jains (or Kellan Jain, at least) have dynastic aspirations, and Amalie’s the only person currently in a position to give Miranda any sort of cred. How does that play out? Is Amalie always as willing to go along with the Jains for the sake of Miranda, or does she have less patience with them in the future? Or does Inessa Jain ever become more of a human than a legendary figure to Amalie, and do they get to know one another on a more equal footing?
Giant Days: Susan, Daisy, and Esther
Giant Days! I love this comic and everyone in it. :D
I kept up with this one in the floppies, so I’ve read everything. But if you’ve only read part of the canon so far, that’s totally fine — I’m interested in stuff set anywhere in the story.
My biggest ship in this canon is their friendship! Gen friendship fic would be amazing. If you are into shipfic, I adore Susan/McGraw and Daisy/Saffy, and I’d be fine with fic focusing more on one of those two couples than on the three mains if you want to go that route. I also really enjoyed Ed/Nina, if you want to include them as a background ship. And finally, Esther and Dean make great antagonists, although I’m not sure I ship it. I DNW Daisy/any male character(s).
If you’re familiar with the Greater Tackleford Universe, I’ve read Bobbins (original flavor, Bobbins.horse, and New Bobbins), Bad Machinery, and Destroying History. I haven’t read Scary Go Round. If you want to pull someone in from the larger universe, I especially love Shelley, Amy, and Charlotte.
-The flat is haunted. Esther is delighted at first, but it turns out the ghost has more in common… with DAISY??
-Susan and McGraw buy their first flat. Too bad it’s haunted by the ghost of a very bad handyman… or maybe just by the ghost of all of the former owner’s terrible DIY projects.
-I feel like this comic is right on my wavelength with the accidental drugging plotlines (Daisy and the Poundland cold medicine, Susan at the music festival, etc.). If that's something you’re into, keep it coming.
-Susan’s (canonical) work experience as a PI fascinates me, and I’ve loved every single time it’s come up in the comic. What else could happen to make her use those skills? Maybe Daisy or Esther don’t know they need her help… but they do. Or another noir story from Susan’s perspective could be amazing!
-McGraw, possibly with assistance, comes up with a series of increasingly ridiculous plots to try to steal and clean Susan’s laptop.
-Esther, looking to make more money than the comics shop allows, starts a business selling glitter-stuffed envelopes for revenge delivery, and does surprisingly well. Then someone starts placing orders to be sent to Susan. (Or Daisy!)
-I feel like this would be an amazing canon for a State-Mandated Ghost Hunters AU! For a gen take, maybe Daisy and Susan end up as the ghost speaker and ghost fighter, and Esther is just, like, so offended not to be included. Or maybe it’s an AU where Susan and McGraw haven’t yet reconciled, and they get called to serve together. Awkward! But I bet McGraw could make a mean scythe.
-Daisy comes up with an unusual solution to one of her mentee’s problems.
-I absolutely adore Daisy/Saffy! I’d love more about them. ♥ Daisy deserves someone kind and good… and maybe a bit Susan-like in her willingness to bend the rules for results. :D
Hive Mind: Gregas
I adore this series, and I’ve loved every new book more than the one before. Borderline did some amazing things with the canon (and if you haven’t read it, I’m very sorry, but these prompts are full of spoilers).
I’m super-excited for Hive Mind 5, and based on mentions on Janet Edwards’ website, it seems like that may or may not be out before Yuletide reveals. If it is, I plan on reading it right away, so spoilers for that would be totally fine. That being said, I would never expect my gift to be updated for new canon that came out during the writing period, and a gift consistent with canon as of right now would be lovely. (The timing for release of new canon is tough with this series and Yuletide, and the delays on getting paperbacks out makes that even harder.)
I adore all the characters in the Hive Mind series, but Borderline had me wanting more fic about Gregas in particular. He really came into his own in this book, and I loved learning more about him.
If you want to include ships, hooking Gregas up with an OC of whatever gender is fine. I’m fine with relationships of equals between characters still on Teen Level, although I do not want to see explicit fic/porn for them. In terms of background ships, I adore Amber/Lucas and would prefer to not see them break up. For background characters, I love everyone in Amber’s unit, and I’m particularly fond of Amber, Lucas, Beckett, Nicole, and Buzz. I’d also love to see more of Gregas trying to deal with Wesley, or see Gregas in his new Teen Level corridor.
-Gregas’ Lottery! What DOES Lottery do with a borderline telepath who can take down a full-grown man at age 14 with no training? He’s going to be a spy, right? Or something like that?
-Gregas feels like an awesome opportunity for a Zeppo plotline, because Amber’s always dealing with Hive-altering, high-stakes cases, and usually isn’t reading the minds of the non-Strike Team members of her unit apart from Lucas. What unexpected minor drama does Gregas pick up on and try to solve for her while she’s dealing with bigger things?
-I’d love to see more of Gregas settling in in the new Teen Level area he’s moved to. Does he still see Wesley, and what does Wesley think about the move?
-What are the Teen Games for the Law Enforcement area teens?
-What types of stories do the Teen Level Law Enforcement teens tell about Light Angel? And how does Gregas cope with knowing that’s his sister? Does he ever let the secret slip?
Lock In: Chris Shane
I adore the world of Lock In, and I'd love to get some fic exploring the world.
I've requested Chris Shane for my requested character. I would like to note that I am happy with any amount of Chris. Outsider POV? Fic in the form of narrative investigative journalism article about one of Chris's cases, where Chris shows up briefly? Online message board where people discuss Chris? All good! Or a first-person story from Chris' POV. Also good!
For other characters, I like Leslie, Chris's parents, and Chris's housemates, and I'd be happy to see any of them show up, or even to see a story from one of their perspectives in which Chris is a side character. I'm also open to OCs. I don't ship Chris with anyone in the books currently, but if you do want an old flame OC of whatever gender to show up with a new problem, or in a casefic, that could be interesting!
I like what Scalzi did with keeping Chris' gender undefined. My preference would be keeping things similar to canon, where Chris doesn't have on-screen assigned pronouns at all. I get that it's tricky to do that, though! If you do end up needing to give Chris a pronoun, I would prefer they over he or she. I DNW Chris referred to by "it" or neopronouns.
-Vann and Chris get assigned to the Lock In universe's version of The X-Files! I would imagine Vann does NOT want to believe. :D What type(s) of cases might they be looking at?
-Urban legends! I love urban legends, and I especially love seeing them in worlds where they get wrapped up into the worldbuilding. We got to see someone die IRL when their threep got killed in Head On. What other urban legends might come true and require Chris and Leslie's attention? Or what urban legends might Chris unwittingly or deliberately inspire? What ghost stories do Hadens tell?
-More tales of Chris destroying threeps! Are there super-heavy-duty threep companies that approach Chris as a test user? How do the tests go wrong? Something like an internal report about all of Chris’s prior threep destruction could also be hilarious.
-How do Hadens prepare for emergencies? Like snow storms, blackouts, hurricanes, etc.? I'd imagine they're more vulnerable to power cuts -- is that something Chris and his housemates are prepared for?
-Justin & Justine. I know Scalzi well enough as an author to suspect that he's never going to explain this one. I'd love to see your take on it! What's going on there?
-I also really enjoyed Tayla and Tony, if you want to write something more slice-of-life, about the housemates and what things are like when Chris isn't in the middle of a case that's going to end in destruction.