Yuletide 2021

Dear Yuletide Author:

I’m so delighted that you’re reading this, because it means we both have a fandom in common, and that's awesome. I am excited to read whatever you have in store for me. After years (probably over a decade?) of being a lurker, this is the first time I've actually signed up for Yuletide, so please be gentle.

I am Bevita on AO3.

My taste in fic tend towards the humorous. I love wit, whimsy, and wordplay. I'm tickled by meta-references and fourth-wall breaking. I adore surreal humor and patently absurd situations that a lone person points out while everyone else goes about their day. I also like fluffy and "slice of life" fics where people are just being normal. Bonus points if there's a juxtaposition of a fearsome, elegant, staid, or stodgy, etc. character and something utterly mundane or even silly (e.g., Tywin Lannister coffeeshop AU, Cthulhu prepping for a date, Darth Vader doing karaoke, or something like that).

That doesn't mean I don't like more serious fics, of course. As far as romance goes, I tend to prefer a slow burn. I like my sexual tension like I like my actual sex: sulky and belligerent. I am totally more about sexual frustration than consummation, though I will say there is nothing better than a satisfying end to a hard-fought courtship/flirtation. I certainly don't mind smut, but it wouldn’t be my first choice. (I also have a bad habit of not finishing the smut I start out to write, so this could just be my frustration talking.) If you are struck by inspiration and want to write a sexual scene in your fic, by all means, write it.

Above all, however, I love well-researched fic where the writer has really shown their work and enthusiastically engaged with the source material.

Joe Biden Editorials - The Onion
“Diamond Joe” Biden
Barack Obama

During the Obama administration, I thoroughly enjoyed the Onion’s portrayal of Joe Biden as a lovable scumbag. I thought that now that Biden had been elected, The Onion would just run with the “Diamond Joe” character, but alas, it was not to be. I would dearly love a fic where Diamond Joe (as opposed to real world Joe Biden) is elected president and we got a glimpse into his first 100 days, and I would also love it if Barack Obama appeared as the “straight man” who facepalms at Diamond Joe’s antics. It would be a great opportunity to explore the kinds of wild and crazy policy positions (foreign and domestic) that he would take. Per Yuletide’s rules, you can’t include Tr*mp in the story, but there’s a wealth of other politicians/world leaders who would probably do just as nicely as bit characters. Does Pete Buttigieg sigh in exasperation when he realizes that Joe earmarked $100M for flame decals for trains in the infrastructure package? Do Nancy Pelosi and Kevin McCarthy finally join forces to impeach him when he proposes that The Scorpions' "Rock You Like a Hurricane" replace the Star-Spangled Banner as the National Anthem? Does Kim Jong-Un declare nuclear war after Joe takes his TransAm on a joyride through the streets of Pyongyang? Let your imagination run wild.

"Over and Over" – Nelly & Tim McGraw (music video)

Nelly's Character
Tim McGraw's Character

I’ve often remarked that this song would be much more interesting if you imagined that Nelly and Tim were singing it to each other, and I feel that the video totally supports that interpretation. I’d love some kind of backstory of how their love affair started, or some kind of story inspired by the lyric "I can't go on not loving you." You can make it heartwarming, heartbreaking, or humorous. The world is your oyster.

1776 (1972 musical)

John Dickinson
James Wilson

Watch that climactic scene where John Hancock polls the Pennsylvania delegation. The intimacy inherent in calling each other by their first names, the heartfelt entreaties to each other, the hurt and betrayal on Dickinson’s face as Wilson votes against him. These two were totally banging. I would love an angsty fic that explores both the beginning of their relationship, and their relationship in aftermath of Wilson's vote. Whether they break up or stay together and work through it, or stay together but it's never the same between them - I'd love to read about any of these scenarios.

Disco Elysium

Harrier "Harry" DuBois
Kim Kitsuragi
Jean Vicquemare

When I played Disco Elysium, I played Harry as a sort of mix of Art Cop, Sorry Cop, and HoboCop. For this fic, I am envisioning some kind of buddy comedy where Harry gets into all sorts of shenanigans as the Art-Sorry-HoboCop type after he regains his memory, and Kim serves as his long-suffering handler. I want them to go around Martinaise solving crimes, and have Jean Vicquemare berate Harry for being a total trashfire. I would be absolutely tickled if you included "Fuck the World" and "Pissf****t," Andre and the Speedfreaks, or Cuno.

DNW: Fascist Cop Harry in any way, shape, or form.

Law & Order

Ben Stone
Shambala Green

I'm not the one who nominated L&O or these two characters, but when I saw they had been, I knew I had to request it! I have definitely shipped these two during the episodes where they've faced off against each other. The repartée between them was brilliant, even as (or especially because) they were frequently exasperated with each other. I'm not saying they have a sexual history, but I'm also not... not saying that. (Law school fling, perhaps?) I'd definitely want either a fic that explored their past with each other, maybe a deep dive into their psyches. Perhaps they were attracted to each other because of their mutual love of social justice. Perhaps Shambala's commitment to defending people, no matter how scummy, or Ben's more conservative politics stemming from his devout Catholicism, drove them apart. You could also go with the angle that they do not have a sexual history, but do have unresolved feelings for each other. What was the closest they ever came to acting on their attraction for each other? Did they ever discuss their feelings with each other before Ben's death? Did Ben's family ever find out about the passion he harbored? Of course, if you want to go for a gen fic where they just snipe at each other in the courthouse cafeteria, that is totally fine as well.

DNW: Shoddily researched or made-up law. I work in the profession, I will likely notice, and it will almost certainly hamper my suspension of disbelief. That being said, you probably do not work in this profession, so if you don't, you have a couple of options: (1) go nuts with the research, and if you have a law friend who is willing to do some fact-checking, then yay; (2) reference cases in the L&O canon in passing; (3) Just skip the whole law thing and use the courtroom/office more as a setting, focusing more on the internal lives of the characters.