My sweet beleaguered Yuletide writer, I write to you at last! I can't apologize enough for the delay; my brain hasn't been working too well lately. Let me stress again that you are amazing, there is no actual way you could make something out of these requests that I don't adore, and above all I hope that you write the story that you want to write. Stories need conviction, not compliance. I also want to apologize for screwing up with my original "letter" as I think I made it seem more pregnant than it really should have been -- although my requests WERE rushed and brief by my wordy-ass standards, I have no twists to spring on you and I don't have a lot to add to what are basically open-ended prompts. More than anything this letter is just a collection of information, links, and supplemental material that you might find useful (and if you don't work that way, then please feel free to disregard it!). And if you wanted to and had time, you could mine a lot more general information from any of the following although you should absolutely not feel obligated to:

my DW/LJ (these two tags especially deal heavily with my ~feelings~ and priorities regarding fiction)
my tumblr, which lately is mostly fashion but is fully searchable and is pretty well tagged for fannish stuff
my fic, the most recent of which is at AO3 along with some old favorites, and my entire back catalogue at delicious

AND MANY MORE! But it is December so Imma try not to overwhelm you with links to stuff you can find if for some reason you wish to.

I've had an epiphany, and that's that really, everything boils down to one simple value - NUANCE. Absolutes are fucking boring, as well as unknown in nature. Maybe this is what drives me to consider the reasoning of villains, seek the dark side of heroes, and cherish the cracks in a perfect veneer -- the universe is much too complex for me to be interested in obviousness and black-or-white.

Some things I don't like in stories: God, destiny, or babies. Relationships with large power imbalances that aren't upended in one way or another. Prose so obscure I can't tell what's actually going on. Gratuitous porn. Gratuitous sentimentality. Shame. Romance being held up as more important than any other kind of relationship. Memory wipes. Rape. "Nice Guys" and privileged dudely angst. Misogyny. Bad grammar. Canon errors.

Some things I do like in stories: Girls!! Being friends, lovers, enemies, family. Het, gen, femslash. Plot. Lyricism. Vignettes. 5 things. "What if" AUs. Music. Pop culture. Goofiness. Sex that means something. The end of innocence, both before and after. Big ideas. The occasional murder. Nerdiness. Worthy adversaries, quiet partner-y love, Gryffindor/Ravenclaw, shadow doubles, mutually assured Swan Lake destruction. Male/female friendship, especially lesbian/straight dude. Sociopolitical dystopias. Joy. Absurdism. Fractured fairy tales. Onanism. Fucked up things that are treated as such. Detail. Consequences. Sense of place. Slice of life.

All my requests include characters of color, and while I hope that doesn't change anything for you or the story, I do ask that you treat those aspects with awareness.

AND NOW! Request time!!

Parks and Recreation (Leslie Knope, Andy Dwyer, April Ludgate, Ron Swanson, Gen) I just want a fix of my beloved Parks and Recreation before January. April and Andy are precious and I love Leslie and Ron's harmonious opposition, as well as their relationships with the other two -- but don't feel constrained by these characters! I love the whole cast, as well as the sense of place Pawnee holds, and just want a slice of the awesomeness.

Honestly, I was inspired to request this by Mayor Gunderson's dog, and the raccoon infestation, and Shawna Malway-Tweep, and Joan Callamezzo -- all the recurring details that make Pawnee a 21st century Springfield that expands with every episode and yet feels totally anchored. If you know what I mean. April is kiiiinda my favorite, but so is everybody else, especially Leslie. I love how Leslie and Ron's relationship evolves from, like, "Boy's Club" to "Hunting Trip" and "Ron and Tammy" to "Woman of the Year" and "Galentine's Day" to "Freddy Spaghetti." So it's fair to say I ship them some and if you want to go in that direction it's cool by me, but I also ship Leslie/Ann and Leslie/Dave and probably Leslie/Mean Ben, and am intrigued by Ron and Wendy, plus the other Tammy, SO REALLY WHATEVER. (Here is my only actual story idea: Leslie and Ron take Andy and April to a WNBA game for their respective mentoring needs. Hijinks ensue?) And yes, I mean it about loving the whole cast. Go nuts.



Scott Pilgrim (Knives Chau, Kim Pine, F/F) Knives Chau is absolutely too cool for Scott Pilgrim (although I actually do like comics!Scott in all his doofiness), and I would like a story about her. If you'd like to explore her hookup with Kim and what followed or preceded that would be rad but if not any story about Knives, her relationships (with people and with music), or her life would be great.

I don't really know this fandom that well, but I just fell in love with Knives when I saw the movie and was delighted to find out she hooked up with Kim (whose mysterious history with Scott intrigues me) when I speed-read the comic. I have a long history with the "leftover ladies" of love triangles (I call it Anyanka Syndrome and you can doubtless find more about it in my LJ) and I think the fact that she is in such a liminal place in her life really calls to me. I too was a dorky teenage punk rocker trying not to be a groupie, so I extra relate on that score. If you want to look at her experience as a Chinese-Canadian, cool. If you want to bring in other characters from the comic (especially of the Scott Pilgrim love interest set, or Wallace who is glorious) or talk about her life at college with a bunch of OCs, also cool.



Vampire Diaries (TV) Bonnie Bennett, Caroline Forbes, F/F) I'd love to see an exploration of what's become of the best-friendship between Bonnie and Caroline now that Caroline is a vampire. Femslash or friendship. I also would just like to hear more about their lives now -- Caroline is still attending high school! Drinking blood! Socializing with the guy who abused and fed on her! Meanwhile Bonnie has her family and Lucy (I wouldn't mind Bonnie/Lucy either) and so much going on! Basically anything with the two of them would be wonderful.

Oh my gosh. Remember this? How far we've come! I love it, but I'm also frustrated with the show not giving this relationship its due, and how many issues it has been ignoring. I'm really interested in Caroline as a monster, now, and how she processes what she is while still going through her old motions. She's been controlled and abused a lot and I think that's worth dealing with, plus now she's kinda-sorta mortal enemies with her BFF! On Bonnie's side, I think the strain of being the moral high ground and watchdog must kill her, besides the fact that she's been teaching herself witchcraft from Emily's grimoire all this time. Whoever you want to focus on is fine, and if you want to bring in any other female characters, especially the vampires and witches, go for it! I'm not wild about Caroline/Matt and I Do Not Want Caroline/Tyler or Bonnie/Jeremy, but I'm interested in the Salvatores' relationships with both girls, and so far I am not opposed to Bonnie/Luka although I haven't seen the newest episode yet.

If you do this request please do check out my TVD fanmix, Lost/Girls, which is about the lady vampires of the show, and is a really good resource for what I'm interested in wrt lady vampirism. Besides Anna WHOM I MISS WITH EVERY FIBER OF MY BEING. (Interestingly, Caroline has so far circumvented the archetype of the lusty lady vampire -- almost too much?)



Community RPF (Alison Brie, Donald Glover, Gillian Jacobs, F/M) Alison Brie/Dong Lover, please! They are both such funny, multitalented, interesting (not to mention sexy) people, and what could make a better match than a boy who makes dirty rap and a girl who loves it? I find Don's whole creative anxiety thing especially compelling -- check out his Childish Gambino lyrics; also Alison's "Worst Laid Plans" sex essay. I'm not sure where Gillian fits in with all this, but I think she's fantastic and the other day she and Don swapped Twitters for an hour, which is good enough for me.

I don't have a lot to add idea-wise other than that it occurred to me that if you are searching for a Gillian subplot, I am very much enamored of her nascent friendship with Mindy Kaling, which as far as I can tell consists of a few irl run-ins and a few friendly tweets back and forth. (If you're trying to write this and wrangle Twitter archives, I am super sorry. I know that's a tall order.) So Gillian + or / Mindy would be a welcome addition if you need one.

I do have some links though!

Alison's sex essay.
Don's lyrically fascinating rap project, Childish Gambino.
I choose to interpret this as love!
OMG I LOVE THEM BOTH
Remember that time they tweeted this and a picture of themselves drinking from tiny alcohol bottles on a plane?
And also remember that time he was supposed to be Spider-Man and Alison immediately volunteered her services as Mary Jane?

I know there's a lot of room for interpretation in RPF. For my take, check out this old (but no less true) post of mine. And a couple of my favorite Office RPF pieces: Mindy/BJ & ensemble.

THAT IS IT. I'm so, so, so sorry you had to wait this long -- I realize it's pretty anticlimactic! I hope I haven't royally screwed you over and I really do mean it that I will be delighted with whatever you deliver! Merry Happy, sweet Yuleperson. <3

tris b.


[Special thanks to M. for her help with this letter. Seriously, guys, ISSUES.]
[Slightly modified from original form which included a link to a locked post. doh]