Yuletide Letter 2018

[bardicraven]

‘allo!

Thank you so much for writing for me! It’s awesome to be given a story – like being read one when you’re a child, except you get to have it at all ages!

My prompts sometimes to the contrary, please know that I am remarkably easy to write for. Respect my DNWs and we’ll get on famously! Everything else is most pleasant icing on the story-cake - promise!

Likes:

• family – found and blood and chosen;
• worldbuilding;
• filling in the holes in canon;
• exploring the ‘why’ - of a person, of a situation, etc.;
• character-driven stories;
• friendship;
• stories that challenge accepted norms;
• people who challenge accepted norms;
• magick and psi (when protrayed with a certain level of accuracy/plausibility);
• archery (when portrayed accurately);
• hope;
• encouragement;
• characters supporting each other;
• characters who love yarn and playing with sticks & string in some way;
• hopeful if not outright happy endings
• gen stories or at least stories where the sex is not the focus of the plot
• stories with a minimum of violence, or again, where it is not the focus of the plot
• worldbuilding

DNW:

• for this challenge, anything above a PG-13 rating (i.e., PG-13, PG, or G only, please);
• A/B/O dynamics;
• PWP – either for sex or violence;
• horror;
• gore;
• excessive violence (canon-typical is okay, but please keep it to a minimum, especially for this challenge);
• bullying and/or humiliation;
• non-con/dub-con;
• animal cruelty or death (INCLUDES fantasy-type monsterss!!!);
• speciesism, racism, sexism, or any form of hate (exploring the challenging of same would make for great story – at another time of year – for this challenge, let’s keep it easy and light, please);
• bullying or hate on the basis of being magickal, psychic, and/or Other (especially a different species - this includes fantasy-type monsters)
• apocalypse;
• dark, hopeless endings;
• zombies or vampires (especially in their stereotypical forms)
• casual killing
• crack!fic

Prompts for Specific Universes (with the understanding that prompts and Optional Details are Optional)

While these are suggested prompts for the individual Universes I’ve asked for, they are SUGGESTIONS only. If you and your Muses come up with something different that calls to you more, then please, write that. I’d MUCH rather have the story you feel the best about writing than the story that you are shoe-horning into my prompts.

Darkwing Duck:
I adore the loyalty and love this strange family has for each other – both the formal members and the absorbed-into-the-family friends.

• The friendship, the love, the coming together for a common cause – I adore that about this Universe and would love anything you’d care to give me about that.

• Perhaps the generations playing off against each other – in the daytime, in the nighttime, whichever your Muses give you.

• Adding in the yarn – perhaps Goslyn (or Honker!) take up a yarnish art. How does that go? Or Darkwing does - to keep up his dexterity. Or Launchpad - because it looks fun or because one of the other ones is doing it. Again, the humorous implications abound.

Camelot (Lerner & Lowe):
I’ve loved this musical since I was a small child, a lot of years ago. The tale of a chivalric time, the larger-than-life characters, the love they have for each other (until it all goes wrong), the crashing down of an ideal and the people who believed in it – only to have that hope reignited in the darkest hours – these are all reasons this is one of my favorite musicals ever.

The one thing that tears my heart to shreds Every. Single. Time. I hear this musical is the seeming inevitability of the tragedy. Give me a story where they can win their own version of the Kobayashi Maru No Win Scenario.

• Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot settle down as a happy trio (and somehow are able to change the law making that a bad thing);

• Arthur and Lancelot have a private conversation where Lance agrees to give up Guinevere for the sake of the kingdom (and means it / manages to do it);

• Arthur sets Guinevere free and successfully manages the resulting PR nightmare;

• something else that you and your Muses come up with. Just let them win and let the Table remain intact – at least for now.

• Again with the yarnish prompt – perhaps a tale of one (or more) of them using yarn as an escape from their world as it stands.

The Hunt for Red October:
This movie came at at time in my life when it was the perfect story for me: I must have seen it at least twenty times in the theater – at least ten first-run and at least ten second-run (back when they still had such things). I was pleasantly surprised to find it in the tag set this year – it means that someone else loves the interaction of Ramius and Borodin enough to nominate them.

So, yes, I love the relationship Ramius and Borodin have with each other – the loyalty, the willingness to speak truth to power, the clear friendship that underlies the military loyaty.

Give me a story of them – from their past, from their future (if this, please let Vasily live) – whatever calls to you and your Muses.

• How do they handle their future, far from the sea? In the film, it sounds like Vasily will be okay with it – with his round American woman who will raise rabbits and cook them for him (tho’ how does this Dream stand up to the Modern American Woman?) - but Ramius? So much of who he is is tied up with the sea – can he truly be happy giving it up, even tho’ it was for the noblest of causes? Will it, can it be enough? Are there moments when he regrets, just a little, what he did? Does he wish there could have been another way? If not, what does he do instead? Is he okay with fishing on his faraway river? Or does he long for something more?

Wild, Wild West:
A show given to me by my father back when I was a young child and it was showing in syndication. I love Artemus Gordon with a hard-core adore – his theater background, his brain-over-brawn and the way he was willing to use both his head and his heart to do his job, his gentle empathy and his wit and intelligence.

• Give me a story where Arte wins. It always annoyed me that the ladies would tend to flock to James over Arte, even tho’ Arte had far more to bring to the party. Give me a story where he wins – the lady, the day, both, or more. Please feel more than free to relegate James West to the background or not include him at all.

Calvin and Hobbes:
I’ve always loved the relationship between Hobbes and his human and how both of them stand in their own little bubble of unreal sanity surrounded by the mundane world.

Some suggestions for stories:

• What happens when Calvin grows up? How does his relationship with Hobbes change? Or does it?

• From the characters nominated: is Susie going to Calvin’s mom for advice like Calvin goes to Hobbes?

• Where/when/how did Hobbes first come into Calvin's life anyway – and was he always Real? or did he become so at Calvin's Need/Desire?

• Please be sure to include Hobbes in your story, anyone else is optional, at the end of the day. If you want to give me a story about Hobbes and his love of tuna, that would be most awesome!

Vogue Knitting:
I admit I never expected to see anything like this. And while I crochet and have not yet mastered the fine art of knitting, tho' not for lack of trying, still, I would love a yarnish yarn for my Yuletide delight.

• Tell me a tale of yarn and its implements – the needles, the counters, the various different weights and fibers and how those change in attitudes from one to another.

• In fact, a tale of knitting implements being used (or rather, being attempted to be used) by a clumsy would-be knitter would be most amusing, should the Muses lead you in that direction! (And it's totally okay and might even add to the fun to have them be a crocheter trying to convert to the One True Yarning - feel free to play with the Inter-Yarn Fierceness and Sometimes Ridiculous Loyalty)

• Speaking of One True Way, a story about how the needles in question take the rivalry between Straight and Circular needles could be most amusing. Do they follow the human prejudices? Do they think them silly? Something else?

• Would love to see the reaction of all the implements, but if one or more just won't come for you, then don't worry about forcing them all in. 

Again, thank you for writing for me, dearest Yuletide Author Yule Goat! I eagerly await the story(ies) you have to tell!

Happy Hollydays!

-BardicRaven