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Dear Yuletide Writer Letter
Oct. 17th, 2022 06:40 pm Dear Yuletide Letter Writer,
This is my second time participating in Yuletide!
I am very excited, and I continue my trend of selecting fandoms with really really sparse fanfic or no pre-existing fanfic whatsoever. Some of the stuff in this letter is copied verbatim from my letter last year, because my letter worked pretty well last year at getting me fic(s) I really enjoyed!
I am providing information to be helpful, because I've read advice on this process and I've seen that it is often helpful to be given some indications of who you are writing for and what that person would want to read, but I also know that ODAO, and that takes pressure off of me!
I had trouble formulating DNWs at first because I feel like most things I could put in a DNW could work in the right story, done in the right way, etc. etc. Also, the fandoms I was requesting do not have an abundance of fic written for them, so it is not like there are certain tropes or tendencies that I felt like are specifically overdone for those fandoms. I did sort of settle on some clearish DNWs for some of them, though (listed at the start of each fandom-specific section, below).
About Me:
I am a philosophy professor. I like to play roleplaying games and board games. I have a dog named Scully (but I am not as intense of an X-files fan as her name might suggest). I am a huge fan of the band the mountain goats. In my spare time I also like to do online puzzle hunts, and I cook/bake. I'm a big reader, and I like to watch tv (sci-fi/fantasy/spec fic, but also other stuff, for example, I have endless thoughts about the gilmore girls). I recently read the Steerswoman series and have become entirely obsessed with it. I cannot do more justice in recommending/describing its virtues than Sumana Harihareswara did here. These books are just so fantastic.
Constellation Games — Leonard Richardson
DNW: Not saying there's nothing I would get icked out by, but the things I was tempted to put here (character death, gore, incest), were really circumstantial, maybe exploring the alien societies in these books in the fic takes you down that path and I don't want to constrain you: I'm gonna leave this to your discretion.
This is a book about first contact, and it is centered on an unlikely human to be at the center of these events. So the narrative is very focused on that human. And don't get me wrong, I love the book! It is one of my favorites, I've read it more than 15 times, and I've bought it for like, 7 or more people. BUT, insofar as I am giving a prompt here, the thing that is great to me about the book is the humor and fun of thinking about the really alien aliens! And I'd like to see and think more about how they interact with each other, in a way that is less filtered-through-a-human-intermediary. Tetsuo is my favorite character in the stories, both his speech patterns and his sense of humor generally, and Curic is also a fantastic character (a sharp, no-nonsense personality who is warm-in-their-own-way, but absolutely not up for hugs), and while most of our exposure to the two of them comes from how they have to deal with Ariel, they are great personalities in and of themselves, and have stories worth telling just in terms of their lives as members of a first contact mission. I went with "worldbuilding" because I really just love how there are all these alien races, and all these strange civilizations with their weird cultures and traditions and video games and we only got partial glimpses of them due to Ariel's interests and perspective. I'd be keen to know more about any of the alien races and what they were doing before they got to earth, or what they were up to on Ring City during the events of the book, or anything like that. The Bonus story "The Time Somn Died" does the sort of worldbuilding that I love here, but I'm not saying I want another story like that one in particular. There is just so much that doesn't get explored, and I'd love to see what's going on with any of it! I guess my main thing is that, given how heavily human-focused the book was, I'd be excited to get more alien-focus (not necessarily Alien focus), in the story. I just didn't want to nominate a specific Gaijin character like "He Sees The Map He Throws The Dart" because I didn't have any particular attachment to a story about that character over some other members of the species, etc.
The Architect's Brother — Robert and Shana Parkeharrison
DNW: Explicit Sexual Content
This photo series is amazingly gripping to me, and each image has a rich narrative. I keep coming back to them and looking at them, impressed with the artistry and the effort that went into them, as well as being drawn into the world created by the artists. I really just want to know what stories other people think of for that world. To my knowledge there is no fic yet for this, so I am kind of excited by the idea that this is the chance to build this world.
China Mountain Zhang — Maureen McHugh
DNW: This is not a true DNW but the main thing I don't want is more than a cameo, really, from Zhang.
Optional Details: I read this book for the first time a few months ago. It is such an affecting book. In some ways it is like cyberpunk in that it deglamorizes sci-fi, but it is so much more personal and small scale than "typical" cyberpunk. It really is about the banality of sci-fi future when you have to still live out the day-to-day tedium of depression and oppression and scarcity and so on. One of the most fascinating things about it is its mosaic novel structure. Alternation between Zhang's story and the story of someone who intersected briefly with Zhang. Almost, but not quite, a novel wedded to a short story anthology at once. I opted for world-building because I feel like Zhang's story is as complete as we need. There are no loose threads or open ends that I want answered. But lots of the people whose lives intersect with Zhang, we only get partial pictures of what is happening with them, where they have been and where they are going. So, I wanted to see more of what is happening with them, or people even less connected to Zhang in this world. Building out more of the mosaic.
In Conclusion
I hope this is a helpful addition to the prompt for letting you know more about me, and my interests for the fics. I appreciate that you are willing to participate in this exchange, and I can't wait to see what our shared love of one of these works produces!
I saw someone else's letter say that treats are welcome and that is very much the case for me, so I will include that here also!
Thanks!
JS_Thrill
This is my second time participating in Yuletide!
I am very excited, and I continue my trend of selecting fandoms with really really sparse fanfic or no pre-existing fanfic whatsoever. Some of the stuff in this letter is copied verbatim from my letter last year, because my letter worked pretty well last year at getting me fic(s) I really enjoyed!
I am providing information to be helpful, because I've read advice on this process and I've seen that it is often helpful to be given some indications of who you are writing for and what that person would want to read, but I also know that ODAO, and that takes pressure off of me!
I had trouble formulating DNWs at first because I feel like most things I could put in a DNW could work in the right story, done in the right way, etc. etc. Also, the fandoms I was requesting do not have an abundance of fic written for them, so it is not like there are certain tropes or tendencies that I felt like are specifically overdone for those fandoms. I did sort of settle on some clearish DNWs for some of them, though (listed at the start of each fandom-specific section, below).
About Me:
I am a philosophy professor. I like to play roleplaying games and board games. I have a dog named Scully (but I am not as intense of an X-files fan as her name might suggest). I am a huge fan of the band the mountain goats. In my spare time I also like to do online puzzle hunts, and I cook/bake. I'm a big reader, and I like to watch tv (sci-fi/fantasy/spec fic, but also other stuff, for example, I have endless thoughts about the gilmore girls). I recently read the Steerswoman series and have become entirely obsessed with it. I cannot do more justice in recommending/describing its virtues than Sumana Harihareswara did here. These books are just so fantastic.
Constellation Games — Leonard Richardson
DNW: Not saying there's nothing I would get icked out by, but the things I was tempted to put here (character death, gore, incest), were really circumstantial, maybe exploring the alien societies in these books in the fic takes you down that path and I don't want to constrain you: I'm gonna leave this to your discretion.
This is a book about first contact, and it is centered on an unlikely human to be at the center of these events. So the narrative is very focused on that human. And don't get me wrong, I love the book! It is one of my favorites, I've read it more than 15 times, and I've bought it for like, 7 or more people. BUT, insofar as I am giving a prompt here, the thing that is great to me about the book is the humor and fun of thinking about the really alien aliens! And I'd like to see and think more about how they interact with each other, in a way that is less filtered-through-a-human-intermediary. Tetsuo is my favorite character in the stories, both his speech patterns and his sense of humor generally, and Curic is also a fantastic character (a sharp, no-nonsense personality who is warm-in-their-own-way, but absolutely not up for hugs), and while most of our exposure to the two of them comes from how they have to deal with Ariel, they are great personalities in and of themselves, and have stories worth telling just in terms of their lives as members of a first contact mission. I went with "worldbuilding" because I really just love how there are all these alien races, and all these strange civilizations with their weird cultures and traditions and video games and we only got partial glimpses of them due to Ariel's interests and perspective. I'd be keen to know more about any of the alien races and what they were doing before they got to earth, or what they were up to on Ring City during the events of the book, or anything like that. The Bonus story "The Time Somn Died" does the sort of worldbuilding that I love here, but I'm not saying I want another story like that one in particular. There is just so much that doesn't get explored, and I'd love to see what's going on with any of it! I guess my main thing is that, given how heavily human-focused the book was, I'd be excited to get more alien-focus (not necessarily Alien focus), in the story. I just didn't want to nominate a specific Gaijin character like "He Sees The Map He Throws The Dart" because I didn't have any particular attachment to a story about that character over some other members of the species, etc.
The Architect's Brother — Robert and Shana Parkeharrison
DNW: Explicit Sexual Content
This photo series is amazingly gripping to me, and each image has a rich narrative. I keep coming back to them and looking at them, impressed with the artistry and the effort that went into them, as well as being drawn into the world created by the artists. I really just want to know what stories other people think of for that world. To my knowledge there is no fic yet for this, so I am kind of excited by the idea that this is the chance to build this world.
China Mountain Zhang — Maureen McHugh
DNW: This is not a true DNW but the main thing I don't want is more than a cameo, really, from Zhang.
Optional Details: I read this book for the first time a few months ago. It is such an affecting book. In some ways it is like cyberpunk in that it deglamorizes sci-fi, but it is so much more personal and small scale than "typical" cyberpunk. It really is about the banality of sci-fi future when you have to still live out the day-to-day tedium of depression and oppression and scarcity and so on. One of the most fascinating things about it is its mosaic novel structure. Alternation between Zhang's story and the story of someone who intersected briefly with Zhang. Almost, but not quite, a novel wedded to a short story anthology at once. I opted for world-building because I feel like Zhang's story is as complete as we need. There are no loose threads or open ends that I want answered. But lots of the people whose lives intersect with Zhang, we only get partial pictures of what is happening with them, where they have been and where they are going. So, I wanted to see more of what is happening with them, or people even less connected to Zhang in this world. Building out more of the mosaic.
In Conclusion
I hope this is a helpful addition to the prompt for letting you know more about me, and my interests for the fics. I appreciate that you are willing to participate in this exchange, and I can't wait to see what our shared love of one of these works produces!
I saw someone else's letter say that treats are welcome and that is very much the case for me, so I will include that here also!
Thanks!
JS_Thrill
