Ari (creature of dust, child of God) (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
wisdomeagle) wrote2009-11-13 11:40 am
wisdomeagle) wrote2009-11-13 11:40 am
[yuletide letter] the year of the boarding school
Dear Yuletide author,
Thank you so much for signing up to write in one of my fandoms! I hope you will enjoy rereading, rewatching, or relistening to one of these sources, or that you'll discover something you'd never heard of that you love! I'm so happy that you'll be writing for me!
Pinch hitters and Yuletide Madness fairies, thanks for stopping by! :)
In General:
General likes and cool bits: Femslash, uneven power dynamics, school stories, fish-out-of-water stories, people learning new things, theology, philosophy, character studies, cool bits of magic, interesting worldbuilding, party games/drinking games, wings, glitter, and magical realism, interesting story structure, stories about creativity, inside jokes/refs and nods, breaking the fourth wall, omniscient narrators, detailed descriptions of fabric, cross-generational relationships, crossovers between fandoms I'm familiar with...
General squicks: Alcoholism that's not addressed in story. Maggots.
The Fandoms:
Fandom 1
Fandom: Roald Dahl - Matilda
What is it? A 240 page children's book, or a movie based on the book. I am familiar with both canons and would be happy with a story set in either one or a combination of both.
What's it about?: A supergenius six-year old and her pretty, pretty kindergarten teacher.
Where can you find it?: Your local library!
Why do I like it: I've always sympathized with Matilda because she's an exceptionally bright child and a bookworm. As I've grown older, the sympathy has grown stronger and I've become more and more attached to her relationship with Miss Honey -- both as a mother-substitute who fixes the inadequacies of Matilda's own parents and as a kindred spirit.
Where can you find more of my thoughts on this?: my Matilda tag!
Requested characters: Jennifer Honey/Matilda Wormwood
Do I mean the slash? Absolutely yes. If that makes you uncomfortable and you'd rather write a strictly mother-daughter teacher-student relationship, I completely understand. But I ship them in a romantic way. I would like to see both of them in the story, and I'd prefer it if neither of them were paired with male characters.
Optional details are optional:
Book or movieverse:
I would love Miss Honey/Matilda femslash of any variety, of any rating, with Matilda at any age.
Alternately I would love a fic where Matilda goes to boarding school when she gets older to learn how to channel her magic -- Matilda-at-Hogwarts would be great, or Matilda at your-invented-wizarding-school would be great. I'd love to see an older Matilda with powers and an exploration of how they manifest and how she deals with them.
Possible story summaries if you're stumped:
+Five games Matilda and Miss Honey play.
+Miss Honey helps Matilda to better understand the romantic relationships in the books she reads.
+Matilda and Miss Honey reevaluate their relationship when Matilda is older.
+Matilda and Miss Honey celebrate Christmas.
+Matilda goes to Hogwarts!
+When Matilda's magical powers resurface, she and Miss Honey must work out how to control them.
+Mixing with other superpowered kids for the first time, Matilda's self-understanding changes. But she's still uniquely special to her first teacher.
Or anything else that you think would be awesome!
Fandom 2
Fandom: Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Beethovens Last Night (album)
What is it? A rock opera!
What's it about?: ...Beethoven's last night! When death comes for him and he sees his whole life, regrets and all.
Where can you find it?: Lyrics and story are available on the official website. Your usual sources for music should have the actual songs.
Why do I like it: "Because it's just kind of epically awesome" is probably not an okay answer, huh? Okay, because it's brilliant writing with layered meaning and because I find the story deeply moving... a brilliant artist who can't hear his own compositions and whose life is full of regrets and broken dreams. The Theresa songs are two of my favorite love songs in the world and feel really right and true about my own relationship, especially the bittersweetness.
Requested characters: Theresa
What are my thoughts onyaoi shipping? This is the only request where het would be really great! I ship Theresa/Beethoven, and anything about them, happy or sad or bittersweet or sexy, would be great. I'd like Theresa femslash if that's what you'd like to write -- the other canonical female character is Fate, which would be interesting and cool, but if you want to write her with an original character or someone from history, that would be cool too! If you just want to write gen about Theresa's life pre- or post- Beethoven, that would also be great. I'd love to hear more of her story, since we hear most of Beethoven's story in the rock opera.
Optional details are optional:
Anything about Theresa -- Theresa/Beethoven het would be lovely, or Theresa/Fate femslash if you swing that way, or anything else about Theresa. Use whatever combination of research and imagination suits your writing style best. :)
Possible story summaries if you're stumped:
+Theresa and Ludwig share one exquisite moment.
+Weeping and joy -- Theresa listens to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
+Theresa and Ludwig don't need words.
+Theresa bargained with Fate long ago; now Fate's come to collect.
+Theresa's Last Night.
+Theresa returns to ordinary life after a candlelit evening in heaven.
+Theresa goes to boarding school! (... since all my other fandoms are school stories, why not make this one too?)
Or anything else that you think would be awesome!
Fandom 3
Fandom: Patrick Califia - The Finishing School
What is it? An erotic short story.
What's it about?: The last night Berenice and her daughter Clarissa spend together before Clarissa goes off to boarding school.
PLEASE READ THIS WARNING: This story has EXPLICIT underage mother/daughter BDSM. If that's something you would not enjoy, please don't read this story, since that's pretty much all it is. If this is making you squirm now, please don't read the rest of my thoughts on this fandom, since they all deal explicitly with this idea.
Where can you find it?: It is anthologized in Califia's Macho Sluts (nb: he was writing under the name "Pat Califia" at the time) and in Chloe Plus Olivia: An Anthology of Lesbian Literature from the Seventeenth Century to the Present ed. Lillian Faderman, which you can read on the train without having to cover the title with a brown paper bag.
Why do I like it: I first read this story when I was fourteen, and it pretty much permanently imprinted on my brain. I love the gorgeous lush writing and scene-setting, but mostly I love this because I find it so ridiculously hot. I'm not sure if it's more accurate to say that it fits all my kinks perfectly or that it is the source of all my kinks.
Requested characters: Clarissa
What are my thoughts onyaoi shipping? I ship Berenice/Clarissa, of course, and would like that relationship to remain intact, even if, hem, other things don't while Clarissa is at school. Any Clarissa femslash would be fine, but please no Clarissa het.
Optional details are optional:
Femslash, please. I would like anything in this universe. More Berenice/Clarissa (backstory or futurefic, and yes I mean that about the backstory), or Clarissa at finishing school, or anything else about the finishing school, the headmistress, the other girls who get sent there, any boarding school style story. I'm less interested in Berenice's past and relationship with Elise than in her relationship with Clarissa, and I would really not like a fix-it story or anything that overtly questions the morality of women whipping their sisters or keeping their daughters in bondage. This is my happy fantasy place, and I'd like it to stay that way.
Explain that last bit, please? I don't want a fic that deals with issues of consent. In my fantasy world, Clarissa is fully capable of consenting and does. I do not want a story that questions that fantasy.
Possible story summaries if you're stumped:
+Berenice punishes Clarissa.
+Clarissa comes home from finishing school and does indeed lose her virginity to Berenice.
+While at school, Clarissa Learns New Things.
+Clarissa keeps getting into mischief at school, and her mother is summoned. Berenice is Not Pleased.
+Berenice has a party and shows off Clarissa's skills.
+Clarissa has to learn to top and doesn't enjoy it at all until she figures out how to bottom from the top.
+... PWP.
Or anything else that you think would be awesome!
Fandom 4
Fandom: Cecily von Ziegesar - It Girl series
What is it? A series of trashy young adult novels, of which there are currently nine. It is a spin-off from the Gossip Girl book series.
What's it about?: A bunch of (mostly) rich kids at boarding school party too much and have ridiculously complicated interpersonal lives.
Where can you find it?: Your local library. The character I requested doesn't show up until book 3 (Reckless), and fades out of the scene a few books later.
Why do I like it: It's so ridiculous it's fun. It's unapologetically trashy. It has tons of my favorite tropes, like drunken hook-ups and teenagers and boarding school and parties and secret make-out sessions. And the girls are really the main point of the book, with boys in the background because most of the girls are straight. Uh huh.
Requested characters: Kara Whalen
What are my thoughts onyaoi shipping? I think I make them clear in the optional details -- any Kara femslash would be terrific and if Heath were kept out of the scene entirely, that would be awesome. I would like a bisexual or lesbian Kara equally much, but I'd much prefer femslash if the fic focuses on her relationship(s),
Optional details are optional:
Femslash, please. Any Kara/female pairing is fine -- Brett? Jenny? Callie? Tinsley? Serena, Blair, Vanessa, Avery, Jack, or Baby? Any would be fine (including, obviously, Gossip Girl crossovers), so long as it's Kara in love with, in lust with, or in like with a girl. Genfic about Kara's self-idenity -- her queerness, her geekiness, her feelings about her mom, Waverly, et al, would also be great. Please no Kara/Heath.
Possible story summaries if you're stumped:
+Kara meets up with [a female character from any fandom you and I share] and talking/kissing/making out/sex ensues.
+The world is not like a comicbook (except that sometimes it is).
+Six ridiculous outfits Kara has worn.
+The girls in black: Kara and Vanessa make merry toasting the downfall of civilization.
+Kara issues an ultimatum: they go public with their relationship, or they're breaking up.
+Kara goes to Writercon!
+Tinsley is everything Kara hates... so why is she so attractive?
+Jenny's kissed girls before and been unimpressed, but with Kara it's different.
+Kara's sick of boys leering at her making out with her girlfriend.
+Gossipgirl.net v. Waverly -- Gossip Girl style reporting on the Waverly scene. (Wouldn't pre-series Kara make a great Gossip Girl? Just sayin')
Or anything else that you think would be awesome!
Closing Words
I hope this helped more than it hindered. Please don't let me stunt your creativity. If you'd like more of the same, dear author: i am insane contains all previous Yuletide letters, and letters from other gift-giving ficathons. If you have a question about my tastes, you can take it through the mods per their procedures or contact my bff![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hermionesviolin, who is sure to know.
Happy Yuletide!
Love,
Ari (that is the name you'll find me under on the participant list)
Thank you so much for signing up to write in one of my fandoms! I hope you will enjoy rereading, rewatching, or relistening to one of these sources, or that you'll discover something you'd never heard of that you love! I'm so happy that you'll be writing for me!
Pinch hitters and Yuletide Madness fairies, thanks for stopping by! :)
In General:
General likes and cool bits: Femslash, uneven power dynamics, school stories, fish-out-of-water stories, people learning new things, theology, philosophy, character studies, cool bits of magic, interesting worldbuilding, party games/drinking games, wings, glitter, and magical realism, interesting story structure, stories about creativity, inside jokes/refs and nods, breaking the fourth wall, omniscient narrators, detailed descriptions of fabric, cross-generational relationships, crossovers between fandoms I'm familiar with...
General squicks: Alcoholism that's not addressed in story. Maggots.
Fandom: Roald Dahl - Matilda
What is it? A 240 page children's book, or a movie based on the book. I am familiar with both canons and would be happy with a story set in either one or a combination of both.
What's it about?: A supergenius six-year old and her pretty, pretty kindergarten teacher.
Where can you find it?: Your local library!
Why do I like it: I've always sympathized with Matilda because she's an exceptionally bright child and a bookworm. As I've grown older, the sympathy has grown stronger and I've become more and more attached to her relationship with Miss Honey -- both as a mother-substitute who fixes the inadequacies of Matilda's own parents and as a kindred spirit.
Where can you find more of my thoughts on this?: my Matilda tag!
Requested characters: Jennifer Honey/Matilda Wormwood
Do I mean the slash? Absolutely yes. If that makes you uncomfortable and you'd rather write a strictly mother-daughter teacher-student relationship, I completely understand. But I ship them in a romantic way. I would like to see both of them in the story, and I'd prefer it if neither of them were paired with male characters.
Optional details are optional:
Book or movieverse:
I would love Miss Honey/Matilda femslash of any variety, of any rating, with Matilda at any age.
Alternately I would love a fic where Matilda goes to boarding school when she gets older to learn how to channel her magic -- Matilda-at-Hogwarts would be great, or Matilda at your-invented-wizarding-school would be great. I'd love to see an older Matilda with powers and an exploration of how they manifest and how she deals with them.
Possible story summaries if you're stumped:
+Five games Matilda and Miss Honey play.
+Miss Honey helps Matilda to better understand the romantic relationships in the books she reads.
+Matilda and Miss Honey reevaluate their relationship when Matilda is older.
+Matilda and Miss Honey celebrate Christmas.
+Matilda goes to Hogwarts!
+When Matilda's magical powers resurface, she and Miss Honey must work out how to control them.
+Mixing with other superpowered kids for the first time, Matilda's self-understanding changes. But she's still uniquely special to her first teacher.
Or anything else that you think would be awesome!
Fandom: Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Beethovens Last Night (album)
What is it? A rock opera!
What's it about?: ...Beethoven's last night! When death comes for him and he sees his whole life, regrets and all.
Where can you find it?: Lyrics and story are available on the official website. Your usual sources for music should have the actual songs.
Why do I like it: "Because it's just kind of epically awesome" is probably not an okay answer, huh? Okay, because it's brilliant writing with layered meaning and because I find the story deeply moving... a brilliant artist who can't hear his own compositions and whose life is full of regrets and broken dreams. The Theresa songs are two of my favorite love songs in the world and feel really right and true about my own relationship, especially the bittersweetness.
Requested characters: Theresa
What are my thoughts on
Optional details are optional:
Anything about Theresa -- Theresa/Beethoven het would be lovely, or Theresa/Fate femslash if you swing that way, or anything else about Theresa. Use whatever combination of research and imagination suits your writing style best. :)
Possible story summaries if you're stumped:
+Theresa and Ludwig share one exquisite moment.
+Weeping and joy -- Theresa listens to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
+Theresa and Ludwig don't need words.
+Theresa bargained with Fate long ago; now Fate's come to collect.
+Theresa's Last Night.
+Theresa returns to ordinary life after a candlelit evening in heaven.
+Theresa goes to boarding school! (... since all my other fandoms are school stories, why not make this one too?)
Or anything else that you think would be awesome!
Fandom: Patrick Califia - The Finishing School
What is it? An erotic short story.
What's it about?: The last night Berenice and her daughter Clarissa spend together before Clarissa goes off to boarding school.
PLEASE READ THIS WARNING: This story has EXPLICIT underage mother/daughter BDSM. If that's something you would not enjoy, please don't read this story, since that's pretty much all it is. If this is making you squirm now, please don't read the rest of my thoughts on this fandom, since they all deal explicitly with this idea.
Where can you find it?: It is anthologized in Califia's Macho Sluts (nb: he was writing under the name "Pat Califia" at the time) and in Chloe Plus Olivia: An Anthology of Lesbian Literature from the Seventeenth Century to the Present ed. Lillian Faderman, which you can read on the train without having to cover the title with a brown paper bag.
Why do I like it: I first read this story when I was fourteen, and it pretty much permanently imprinted on my brain. I love the gorgeous lush writing and scene-setting, but mostly I love this because I find it so ridiculously hot. I'm not sure if it's more accurate to say that it fits all my kinks perfectly or that it is the source of all my kinks.
Requested characters: Clarissa
What are my thoughts on
Optional details are optional:
Femslash, please. I would like anything in this universe. More Berenice/Clarissa (backstory or futurefic, and yes I mean that about the backstory), or Clarissa at finishing school, or anything else about the finishing school, the headmistress, the other girls who get sent there, any boarding school style story. I'm less interested in Berenice's past and relationship with Elise than in her relationship with Clarissa, and I would really not like a fix-it story or anything that overtly questions the morality of women whipping their sisters or keeping their daughters in bondage. This is my happy fantasy place, and I'd like it to stay that way.
Explain that last bit, please? I don't want a fic that deals with issues of consent. In my fantasy world, Clarissa is fully capable of consenting and does. I do not want a story that questions that fantasy.
Possible story summaries if you're stumped:
+Berenice punishes Clarissa.
+Clarissa comes home from finishing school and does indeed lose her virginity to Berenice.
+While at school, Clarissa Learns New Things.
+Clarissa keeps getting into mischief at school, and her mother is summoned. Berenice is Not Pleased.
+Berenice has a party and shows off Clarissa's skills.
+Clarissa has to learn to top and doesn't enjoy it at all until she figures out how to bottom from the top.
+... PWP.
Or anything else that you think would be awesome!
Fandom: Cecily von Ziegesar - It Girl series
What is it? A series of trashy young adult novels, of which there are currently nine. It is a spin-off from the Gossip Girl book series.
What's it about?: A bunch of (mostly) rich kids at boarding school party too much and have ridiculously complicated interpersonal lives.
Where can you find it?: Your local library. The character I requested doesn't show up until book 3 (Reckless), and fades out of the scene a few books later.
Why do I like it: It's so ridiculous it's fun. It's unapologetically trashy. It has tons of my favorite tropes, like drunken hook-ups and teenagers and boarding school and parties and secret make-out sessions. And the girls are really the main point of the book, with boys in the background because most of the girls are straight. Uh huh.
Requested characters: Kara Whalen
What are my thoughts on
Optional details are optional:
Femslash, please. Any Kara/female pairing is fine -- Brett? Jenny? Callie? Tinsley? Serena, Blair, Vanessa, Avery, Jack, or Baby? Any would be fine (including, obviously, Gossip Girl crossovers), so long as it's Kara in love with, in lust with, or in like with a girl. Genfic about Kara's self-idenity -- her queerness, her geekiness, her feelings about her mom, Waverly, et al, would also be great. Please no Kara/Heath.
Possible story summaries if you're stumped:
+Kara meets up with [a female character from any fandom you and I share] and talking/kissing/making out/sex ensues.
+The world is not like a comicbook (except that sometimes it is).
+Six ridiculous outfits Kara has worn.
+The girls in black: Kara and Vanessa make merry toasting the downfall of civilization.
+Kara issues an ultimatum: they go public with their relationship, or they're breaking up.
+Kara goes to Writercon!
+Tinsley is everything Kara hates... so why is she so attractive?
+Jenny's kissed girls before and been unimpressed, but with Kara it's different.
+Kara's sick of boys leering at her making out with her girlfriend.
+Gossipgirl.net v. Waverly -- Gossip Girl style reporting on the Waverly scene. (Wouldn't pre-series Kara make a great Gossip Girl? Just sayin')
Or anything else that you think would be awesome!
Closing Words
I hope this helped more than it hindered. Please don't let me stunt your creativity. If you'd like more of the same, dear author: i am insane contains all previous Yuletide letters, and letters from other gift-giving ficathons. If you have a question about my tastes, you can take it through the mods per their procedures or contact my bff
hermionesviolin, who is sure to know.Happy Yuletide!
Love,
Ari (that is the name you'll find me under on the participant list)