Thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letter box
Dear Yuletide Author, 
16th-Nov-2009 09:38 pm
oxymora: (happy)
First off: thank you! I love all the fandoms I submitted, and consequently, I love you already for writing for me! This is the first time I'm doing Yuletide, and I'm appropriately excited.

Now that I've seen other people's prompts, I feel mine were really short. Part of that is because I really don't have particularly concrete expectations or must-have's, and the thing I like most about a gift is the surprise. In addition, I want the best you can offer (I'm picky like that :p), and I want to give you free rein for that. So, seriously: everything I suggested is just that--a suggestion. Do whatever you feel works best for you and feel free to ignore pretty much everything I'm saying here or in my prompts if that helps you.

However, if you'd like some more info about my preferences, here it is.


I generally like:

- The Department of Backstory. The main reason I got into fandom was that I wondered about all the details that are never explained in canon. Where do the characters come from? What made them the way they are? Which part of their world have we never seen and how does it function?

- Gen fic and character studies. I like romance--het and slash--but I'm picky about my pairings and I need good characterisation to back it up. I love gen fic for the reasons above--it's an opportunity to explore the motives, experiences and personality of a character beyond what's provided in canon.

- Minor characters. I'm a sucker for minor characters, because there's so much room for speculation and experimentation there.

- Dialogue and character interaction. Good, in-character dialogue is awesome. Snarky, witty dialogue and banter is beyond awesome. I'm generally fond of fics that explore the relationship between characters--whether that's romance, friendship, or antagonism.

About smut: I honestly don't care either way. If it's there and well done, good. If it isn't, I won't miss it. The only thing I don't want is PWP--but that should be obvious form all I've said above.

About AUs: I guess the same applies here--I like AUs, but I don't have a preference for them. And I'd like the spirit of the original 'verse to be recognizable in an AU.



Something about each of my fandoms:

- xkcd Um. I have no idea what to expect for fanfiction here, but I'm a major xkcd fangirl, and the opportunity was too tempting to pass up. I guess I love xkcd for the reason most people do--the humor and the geekery. My prompts were pretty character-driven, and that's because I admire the way Randall Munroe gave these stick figures distinct personalities. (Also, more people need to ship hat guy/girl.) So I guess what I'm curious about is how this characterisation can be transferred to another format. How you do this is left entirely to you--a conventional fic, a series of drabbles, a poem, a script--there are lots of possibilities.

- Raumpatrouille Orion Chances are you've never heard of this show (obscure German '60s scifi for the win), but if you have: I like Orion for its (partly unintended) campiness--the dances, the flat iron and yoghurt cups--but beyond that, I think it's a genuinely well-written show with good acting. I love the banter, snark and flirting. I love the general setup of the episodes, focusing not only on the Orion out in space, but also on Earth and its new administration. And given my love for backstory and minor characters, my reasons for picking my prompt should be pretty obvious. (Sidenote: The way women are treated in this show is part awesome (Lydia van Dyke!), part cringe-worthy (Helga's and Tamara's conversation about Cliff's dancing that should never have happened) and part so-bad-the-only-reaction-is-lulz (Chroma). This fandom needs more strong, truly equal female characters.)

- The Demon's Lexicon. I really love this book--the urban fantasy setting, the plot, the characters, their relationships, the writing style. So anything you give me for this universe will be treasured. My original prompt was based on all the things I like: backstory, character interaction and relationships, and a minor character's viewpoint. Any of those abstract characteristics is more important to me than the exact prompt.


I hope this helps. Most of all, I hope you have fun with my fandoms and prompts! Don't be terrified, I'm so happy you signed up for this! And anybody who likes either of these three fandoms has my implicit trust.
Comments 
11th-Jan-2013 04:21 am (UTC) - BaIAZCJoFK
Anonymous
Being in the QAF fandom and seneig authors in the fandom take their stories, change the names and publish the stories, has always bothered me. Not only do those writers take stories away from the fandom, but they use characters they didn't create as a base for their end product and I don't think that it's fair to other writers that hone and craft their characters from scratch. I also feel that those writers have the advantage of many viewers and many comments that help them craft the story even further. How often does a writer outside of the world of fandom get 100 comments about a chapter and have the ability to go back and edit chapters based on potential buyer comments?Many people might argue that they wrote the story and should be able to do with it as they please, but the stories aren't theirs 100%, and I don't know how they would feel comfortable profiting from characters they didn't create. A name change isn't creating a character to me. I think the real sadness for me over this is when an author decides to take away all her/his stories from the fandom, because they decided they can make a buck by doing a find and replace job on a story and selling it. Considering how many new people find fandom every day, they are missing some great stories when an author does this.
11th-Jan-2013 07:37 am (UTC) - LGfkFPADJTEg
Anonymous
fanfiction which has helped the auohtr or maybe we're talking some minor, 40 years old TV show practically no one watches anymore and people have long since moved on from. In which case I'd say more power to you for finding an appreciative audience at last! There's also the very real difference between a written fandom (like Twilight) or a TV or movie fandom which is a collaborative effort from the original screenwriters way to go to the actors with lots of contributors in between. At gut-level the latter is more a case of public domain than the work of a single person.A lot of writers wrote fanfiction, hey, Shakespeare did! And he no doubt never even wondered how ethical or not the whole concept is. He was notoriously plagiarised, even at his time. Bram Stoker wrote fanfiction and created Dracula , the list is quite endless. Current strict copyright laws are a very, very recent invention.Do I think Fifty Shades of Grey was wrongfully published as an original work? Yes, but not just because it was fanfiction. See above and you probably find my reasoning for that verdict. Do I think every fanfiction has to stay fanfiction? Definitely not.
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