Yuletide Letter, the Third
Dear Yuletide Writer,
First of all, thank you for offering to write a story in one of my selected fandoms. I'm sure you'll make me happy, no matter which request you decide to fulfill in the end since I love all of the requested fandoms and chosen characters. And they are so super rare, that EVERY fic for them is a very precious gift. :D
I would say it's not hard to write a story I'm going to like. While thinking of what I've read in the past to maybe give you some useful tips on what I like/dislike, I noticed that in general there isn't too much that really scares me off. Thus, maybe it's easiest to first tell you what I don't like as this list is rather short:
- mpreg (tried to read stories with mpreg, but it just doesn't work out for me)
- death fic (can work, but if one of my favorite characters dies, I can tell you quite frankly that I'll be crying most likely like a baby somewhere in a corner)
- 'unhealthy' jealousy
- unresolved angst (I'm fine with angst if it's not overboarding and if it is resolved...)
- character bashing
- mind-blowingly bad grammar and spelling (even though I am a non-native English speaker/writer, bad grammar and spelling make me cringe...)
- extremely kinky stuff (no tentacles please)
There are also a few things I can for sure tell you I like in fanfics and maybe that helps you, too.
- happy endings, or at least an ending that gives some kind of hope for a happy end
- fluff
- angst to a reasonable degree (because angst is sometimes needed in a story to make it work and add some depth)
- hurt/comfort (the focus being on comfort, though)
- strong characters (if two or more are involved and in some kind of relationship, I'd rather have them about equally strong (you see, I'm not too much into the entire seme/uke, top/bottom or 'whatever you wanna call it' thing)
Please note the use of '&' instead of '/' with my 'pairings'. While I read smut/slash fiction as well, it's not what comes to my mind first when thinking about the requested characters/fandoms. I'm totally fine with everything except hot and steamy sex, too. ^_~
I've already tried to give you some ideas of what I could see written in the details while requesting, but I didn't want to write too much in there.
If you're a lucky writer who is blessed with the ability to only see the requested fandom & character(s) and you instantly have a story up your sleeve, feel free to ignore the following. ^_^
If you're a little like me though and need a kick off/starting point at times, even if it's only one single word, I thought that maybe some additional thoughts about the respective fandom/characters might be of some help. (I just hope I don't scare you away... it's kinda lengthy... ^^;)
My Requests
In alphabetic order and with lots of optional stuff :)
Fandom: Akatoki no Yami
Characters: Yorimichi, Shinnou
Take the characters, the setting (Heian period, onmyoudou, onmyouji, mononoke, familiars, the political system,...), add Muhaku (Yorimichi's frog-familiar) or Haruaki (Shinnou's 'guardian) or whomever you'd like to add if you want/need it - and run with it.
Surprise me! :)
Fandom: Ghost Hunt
Characters: Lin, Naru, Mai, Yasuharu
I especially listed Naru, Mai, Lin and Yasuharu as characters (instead of just 'Any') because I'm kinda fascinated by their relationship(s) and how they interact with each other. You don't have to focus on those three alone, though. I liked the entire bunch as they were working together to solve the cases. New case? Character study? Something else entirely? Whatever you come up with, I'm gonna like it.
I especially like the interaction/relationship between Naru & Mai, Naru & Lin and Lin & Mai. It's always been a little bit difficult to tell where they stand. Naru being distant, yet caring for Mai. Lin being focused on Naru's safety and sometime seeming rather ruthless when solving a mystery (without actually being it). Lin kinda hating Mai (at least I got that vibe at the beginning) - till the Christmas episode and Mai being possessed. Then something kinda changed. And Mai... being Mai... in general happy and energetic (in Japanese I'd say she's 'genki').
Yasuharu was a late-ish addition to the team, and I began to enjoy his interactions with the team greatly after re-watching the show. He's smart and able to keep up with Naru's wits, at the same time he can be quite cheeky, geeky and throws people off (flirting with Bou-san). XD
And as I said: feel free to add the others if need be. After all, they were solving the cases together. I'd be just glad if Masako wasn't too important, she sometimes got on my nerves.
Oh, and, random info is totally random: the arc with the doll as well as the one with the blood-bath were the ones which got to me the most. Trust me, if I ever have a daughter, she'll never get a doll from me. NEVER! It's amazing how easily something as common as a girl's doll can turn into something truly evil. And the twist with the Dracula-story was nerve wracking, too, especially since Mai came so close to death.
Fandom: Gilgamesh (anime)
Characters: Kiyoko, Novem, Tatsuya
I especially have a knack for Novem & Tatsuya, but I also love the 'canon couple' Novem & Kiyoko or the triple Novem, Tatsuya & Kyoko.
I like friendship, getting together, fluff, romantic or explorative stories, smut/slash isn't necessarily wanted/needed..
Please, no mpreg or death fic, those tend to scare me off and the anime already has a sad ending -> AU is fine with me in this case.
I guess my love for Novem & Tatsuya is the result of the interaction between those two. It often seemed to me as if there is more to their 'relationship' than has been shown in the anime. Novem could have crushed Tatsuya quite a few times, but never really did it. Why is that so?
What I thought possible is something like a missing scene or an alternation from an existing scene. I've come across such a story (alternation from an existing scene) (here), if you want to check it out), but otherwise my searches for Novem & Tatsuya fic have been unsuccessful.
As far as those two go, you can write pretty much everything: friendship, get together (till a certain point, see below), hurt/comfort, teasing,...
I don't necessarily see those two as lovers, having hot, steamy sex (even though I think it is possible to make it work and a part of me wants to read something like that if someone ever would write it). But if something like this happens, I'd rather see it not happen after Novem and Kiyoko get together and become the 'canon couple' (in my humble opinion they are a cute couple ^^;). It would be some kind of betrayal towards Kiyoko and as I like her and she goes through quite a lot in the anime I'd rather not see her suffering more.
Still, I could totally see a fic involving Novem, Tatsuya and Kiyoko. I guess since Kiyoko & Novem are kind of a couple and Tatsuya & Kiyoko are siblings, they share a connection which ties them to each other. Probably I'm wrong or it's just my imagination, but it always looked as if Novem and Kiyoko were watching out for Tatsuya, caring about him as much as they could in their respective position.
A rather new thought came up while actually requesting Gilgamesh as fandom: What about getting to know more about Novem & Kyoko as a couple? And maybe their baby? I know, the end of the anime makes this impossible, yet I wouldn't mind an AU where the end isn't that sad and they'd still be alive and a family. Maybe even with Tatsuya around?
As you probably see from my straying thoughts, you can't go wrong with anything that involves those characters.
As Gilgamesh has a rather drastic end, I am well aware that certain stories will only work if it's going to be an AU fic. Well, maybe something like an AU derived from canon? While I could follow and understand why Gilgamesh ended as it did and accepted it, I also had discussions about why it didn't turn out differently. Because it definitively could have turned out differently (=happier).
As I said before, all of those additional info are meant to help and not to restrain you! If you can use an idea, I'm glad I could help. If it bothers you, just ignore them. ; )
If you need further references, you can either check my few memories, visit haraamis' fic journal shades_of_color (she wrote a few fics for me) or just ask haraamis directly and politely. She knows me kinda well and might know additional things when it comes to what I like/dislike.
Much love, a good writing time and thanks again!!! *huuuuuugs*
~belina
First of all, thank you for offering to write a story in one of my selected fandoms. I'm sure you'll make me happy, no matter which request you decide to fulfill in the end since I love all of the requested fandoms and chosen characters. And they are so super rare, that EVERY fic for them is a very precious gift. :D
I would say it's not hard to write a story I'm going to like. While thinking of what I've read in the past to maybe give you some useful tips on what I like/dislike, I noticed that in general there isn't too much that really scares me off. Thus, maybe it's easiest to first tell you what I don't like as this list is rather short:
- mpreg (tried to read stories with mpreg, but it just doesn't work out for me)
- death fic (can work, but if one of my favorite characters dies, I can tell you quite frankly that I'll be crying most likely like a baby somewhere in a corner)
- 'unhealthy' jealousy
- unresolved angst (I'm fine with angst if it's not overboarding and if it is resolved...)
- character bashing
- mind-blowingly bad grammar and spelling (even though I am a non-native English speaker/writer, bad grammar and spelling make me cringe...)
- extremely kinky stuff (no tentacles please)
There are also a few things I can for sure tell you I like in fanfics and maybe that helps you, too.
- happy endings, or at least an ending that gives some kind of hope for a happy end
- fluff
- angst to a reasonable degree (because angst is sometimes needed in a story to make it work and add some depth)
- hurt/comfort (the focus being on comfort, though)
- strong characters (if two or more are involved and in some kind of relationship, I'd rather have them about equally strong (you see, I'm not too much into the entire seme/uke, top/bottom or 'whatever you wanna call it' thing)
Please note the use of '&' instead of '/' with my 'pairings'. While I read smut/slash fiction as well, it's not what comes to my mind first when thinking about the requested characters/fandoms. I'm totally fine with everything except hot and steamy sex, too. ^_~
I've already tried to give you some ideas of what I could see written in the details while requesting, but I didn't want to write too much in there.
If you're a lucky writer who is blessed with the ability to only see the requested fandom & character(s) and you instantly have a story up your sleeve, feel free to ignore the following. ^_^
If you're a little like me though and need a kick off/starting point at times, even if it's only one single word, I thought that maybe some additional thoughts about the respective fandom/characters might be of some help. (I just hope I don't scare you away... it's kinda lengthy... ^^;)
In alphabetic order and with lots of optional stuff :)
Fandom: Akatoki no Yami
Characters: Yorimichi, Shinnou
Take the characters, the setting (Heian period, onmyoudou, onmyouji, mononoke, familiars, the political system,...), add Muhaku (Yorimichi's frog-familiar) or Haruaki (Shinnou's 'guardian) or whomever you'd like to add if you want/need it - and run with it.
Surprise me! :)
Fandom: Ghost Hunt
Characters: Lin, Naru, Mai, Yasuharu
I especially listed Naru, Mai, Lin and Yasuharu as characters (instead of just 'Any') because I'm kinda fascinated by their relationship(s) and how they interact with each other. You don't have to focus on those three alone, though. I liked the entire bunch as they were working together to solve the cases. New case? Character study? Something else entirely? Whatever you come up with, I'm gonna like it.
I especially like the interaction/relationship between Naru & Mai, Naru & Lin and Lin & Mai. It's always been a little bit difficult to tell where they stand. Naru being distant, yet caring for Mai. Lin being focused on Naru's safety and sometime seeming rather ruthless when solving a mystery (without actually being it). Lin kinda hating Mai (at least I got that vibe at the beginning) - till the Christmas episode and Mai being possessed. Then something kinda changed. And Mai... being Mai... in general happy and energetic (in Japanese I'd say she's 'genki').
Yasuharu was a late-ish addition to the team, and I began to enjoy his interactions with the team greatly after re-watching the show. He's smart and able to keep up with Naru's wits, at the same time he can be quite cheeky, geeky and throws people off (flirting with Bou-san). XD
And as I said: feel free to add the others if need be. After all, they were solving the cases together. I'd be just glad if Masako wasn't too important, she sometimes got on my nerves.
Oh, and, random info is totally random: the arc with the doll as well as the one with the blood-bath were the ones which got to me the most. Trust me, if I ever have a daughter, she'll never get a doll from me. NEVER! It's amazing how easily something as common as a girl's doll can turn into something truly evil. And the twist with the Dracula-story was nerve wracking, too, especially since Mai came so close to death.
Fandom: Gilgamesh (anime)
Characters: Kiyoko, Novem, Tatsuya
I especially have a knack for Novem & Tatsuya, but I also love the 'canon couple' Novem & Kiyoko or the triple Novem, Tatsuya & Kyoko.
I like friendship, getting together, fluff, romantic or explorative stories, smut/slash isn't necessarily wanted/needed..
Please, no mpreg or death fic, those tend to scare me off and the anime already has a sad ending -> AU is fine with me in this case.
I guess my love for Novem & Tatsuya is the result of the interaction between those two. It often seemed to me as if there is more to their 'relationship' than has been shown in the anime. Novem could have crushed Tatsuya quite a few times, but never really did it. Why is that so?
What I thought possible is something like a missing scene or an alternation from an existing scene. I've come across such a story (alternation from an existing scene) (here), if you want to check it out), but otherwise my searches for Novem & Tatsuya fic have been unsuccessful.
As far as those two go, you can write pretty much everything: friendship, get together (till a certain point, see below), hurt/comfort, teasing,...
I don't necessarily see those two as lovers, having hot, steamy sex (even though I think it is possible to make it work and a part of me wants to read something like that if someone ever would write it). But if something like this happens, I'd rather see it not happen after Novem and Kiyoko get together and become the 'canon couple' (in my humble opinion they are a cute couple ^^;). It would be some kind of betrayal towards Kiyoko and as I like her and she goes through quite a lot in the anime I'd rather not see her suffering more.
Still, I could totally see a fic involving Novem, Tatsuya and Kiyoko. I guess since Kiyoko & Novem are kind of a couple and Tatsuya & Kiyoko are siblings, they share a connection which ties them to each other. Probably I'm wrong or it's just my imagination, but it always looked as if Novem and Kiyoko were watching out for Tatsuya, caring about him as much as they could in their respective position.
A rather new thought came up while actually requesting Gilgamesh as fandom: What about getting to know more about Novem & Kyoko as a couple? And maybe their baby? I know, the end of the anime makes this impossible, yet I wouldn't mind an AU where the end isn't that sad and they'd still be alive and a family. Maybe even with Tatsuya around?
As you probably see from my straying thoughts, you can't go wrong with anything that involves those characters.
As Gilgamesh has a rather drastic end, I am well aware that certain stories will only work if it's going to be an AU fic. Well, maybe something like an AU derived from canon? While I could follow and understand why Gilgamesh ended as it did and accepted it, I also had discussions about why it didn't turn out differently. Because it definitively could have turned out differently (=happier).
As I said before, all of those additional info are meant to help and not to restrain you! If you can use an idea, I'm glad I could help. If it bothers you, just ignore them. ; )
If you need further references, you can either check my few memories, visit haraamis' fic journal shades_of_color (she wrote a few fics for me) or just ask haraamis directly and politely. She knows me kinda well and might know additional things when it comes to what I like/dislike.
Much love, a good writing time and thanks again!!! *huuuuuugs*
~belina