Yuletide!

[alasse_irena]

Dear Yuleperson,

First, my apologies that this letter has been delayed so long. I have been down the academic well for some time, and only lately pulled myself out. So if you’ve gone ahead and started writing already, 1) I am deeply impressed, as you are much more organised and proactive than me, and 2) keep on doing whatever it is you’re doing, don’t feel like you have to scrap it because I didn’t explicitly mention space opera AUs in this letter.

Second, thank you for writing me a thing! I have the utmost faith in your ability to make something I’ll like. I promise I am generally easy to please, and I enjoy many kinds of things, so feel free to go anywhere from fluffy fluffy fluff to super dark to serious nitty-gritty worldbuilding.

Okay, before we start: I basically have two major DNWs. Please no soulmates AUs, and no incest. Not a judgement of you if you enjoy those things; they are just not for me. Other than that, whatever’s in your head is fair game.

Here are some things that I really like: Relationships, be they friendships or romances, that develop slowly. Good communication (with a special mention to kink negotiation scenes, if that’s your cup of tea). I love character exploration and character-driven story. Which is to say, if you want to write me a 1000-word character study, I’m on board. I love women, a lot. Relationships of all kinds between women - romantic, platonic, familial, arch-rivals, whatever makes you happy.

If you want to write kink, I am 100% on board. Your safest bet for pleasing me is to play with power dynamics, but essentially, whatever you’re writing, if you’re into it, then I’m along for the ride. I am most interested in seeing inside characters’ heads and finding out why they find these things appealing.

You are more than welcome to browse this journal and get a sense of me, though I have not been that good at posting in the last half a year or something because academia, but I've tried to put everything relevant on public for you. Alternatively, try my Tumblr? I don't tend to put original content, but there's chatter in the tags, and it will give you a sense of things I enjoy. If you need to ask a specific question and you don't want to ruin any surprises for me, you're welcome to message my sister. She knows me very well, she'll answer promptly, and she'll take your secrets to the grave.



Okay, here are some specific prompts for you.

Come Back Home

I dearly love the cyberpunk aesthetic of this video. Anything exploring the world that it’s set in would be lovely. The effects of the virtual paradise on society. The effects of the end of the virtual paradise on society. Any other details about the everyday lives of the people in this world, or about the driving forces behind the insurrection.

Second: one of the beautiful things about girl bands is that they’re full of women, and thus we have four women leading an insurrection in this video. I’d love to see some of their planning-the-uprising scenes, or who they are, or how they met each other. I very much thought of the people in this video as separate characters played by the band members, rather than as the band members themselves, so basically you’ve got free reign if you want to tell me who these girls are and how they came together. I would not say no to femslash.

Deathless

I first read this book a long time ago, when I was young and didn’t quite understand what was so fascinating to me about the dynamic between Marya and Koschei. Turns out it was the power dynamics thing. Anyway, the situation here is that I love the arc through which Marya gradually becomes aware that she likes to be in charge of things, and I want to see her dom Koschei.

Alternatively, I love the coupling of the historical setting with the fairy tale. If you just want to write me more communist domoviye I wouldn’t be averse to seeing the same fairy tale transposed onto a different piece of Russian history. The fall of the Soviet Union?

Alternatively alternatively, something something Marya/Ivan/Koschei?

Sino-Soviet Friendship Posters

I confess to you, friend, as can probably be seen in my requests, that communist history is my first love. The thesis I just finished that I mentioned above had a section in it about socialist homoeroticism in Mao’s China, and in spite of this I am not yet tired of hearing about queer communists! I am delighted that they managed to create these posters, even if the queer overtones were apparently unintentional, and I would be happy with anything you want to do with this. Just to be clear, don’t feel the need to get hung up about historical details. If you love research, go ahead, but I am more concerned about feelings that facts.

Anyway, these posters are adorable, and if you want to write a kind of historical Mills and Boon love story between the two men, that would be fantastic. If you want to write the meetcute where one looks over at the other at work for the first time and is awestruck by his square jaw and bulging biceps, go ahead. If you want to write about the two of them being happy their children get on so well, also good. If you want them to have sexually charged debates about Marxist theory, I would be so pleased I would melt.

Thank you again, friend. Thank you like seven times. I hope you have fun.

Happy Yuletide!