Yuletide letter

[tarigwaemir]

Stanley Hall on the Feast of St. Josaphat

I signed up for yuletide this year. Somewhat chagrined by my assignment: it's for a fandom I know well but requests a character that I hadn't anticipated on writing. (The hazards of just clicking "Any" for all the fandoms I offered...) Anyway, it'll be a challenge! I'll need to review the canon at some point though. My recipient doesn't have a LiveJournal though so I've been stalking the Yuletide letters post in hopes of getting more details about her preferences.

My letter here:

Dear Yuletide Author,

First of all, thank you for writing my requests! This year I requested four book fandoms with specific pairings, which is a little out-of-character for me, since I predominantly participate in animanga fandoms and tend to prefer gen fics. However, all four books had pairings that I wanted to see developed further. As a result, although I am generally fond of AUs and will probably enjoy an AU fic if you write one, my requests stem from wanting those missing-from-canon moments.

In general, I like interesting plot, well-written action, witty dialogue, vivid settings, and most of all, nuanced character interactions. I like characters that can't be easily reduced to flat caricatures or stereotypes. I like relationships that have subtleties. I prefer not to read smut, although if you include explicit scenes, I shan't object. Also, I'm quite fond of epistolary or document-style fics and nonlinear narratives, if you want to try out a less conventional storytelling style.

I think I included a fair amount of detail with each request, but some further notes on what I think about the canon material:

Margaret Sidney - Five Little Peppers series (Jasper King/Polly Pepper)

I read the sequels to the first book on Project Gutenberg and was both pleased and disappointed by the last book, Five Little Peppers Grown Up, because it validated my 'ship for the series but kept it off-stage for most of the book. When did Polly stop seeing Jasper as a brother? I think it's clear that Jasper adored Polly ever since he met her, but when did he realize that he was in love? Also, it's clear that Jasper's feelings toward Polly are mixed up with his feelings toward the Peppers in general: how much of his love is his desire to really become a part of the Pepper family and how much of it is about Polly herself? Polly often seems like a Mary Sue--girls want to be her friend, boys fall in love with her--so I think it would be nice to explore just why she is so charismatic instead of writing her as an unrealistic ideal.

Kate Ross - Julian Kestrel series (Julian Kestrel)

In the details, I requested Julian/Philippa fic, which I've been wanting to read ever since I read Cut to the Quick. We see that Julian and Philippa keep up a correspondence after they meet in Cut to the Quick, and I rather suspect that while Julian might think of Philippa as a precocious child, Philippa probably thinks of Julian as her first love. I'd like to see what happens when Philippa becomes old enough to make her entrance into Society and meets Julian in person again after communicating in letters for so long. (Kind of analogous to Diana Wynne Jones' Fire and Hemlock?) I've written some reactions to the books at my reading blog here and here.

Guy Gavriel Kay - The Lions of Al-Rassan (Ammar ibn Khairan/Rodrigo Belmonte)

My rather delirious review of the book is here, which also summarizes how I felt about their relationship. I first heard of the book through this FST (you need to join the fst community to see the post), and I think much of my sensibility of the book's atmosphere comes from this mix.

Mary Renault - Mask of Apollo (Nikeratos/Thettalos)

I just recently read this book and reviewed it here. I didn't mention this pairing at all in the review, but I thought that their relationship was the ideal that Plato and Dion failed to achieve. In Thettalos, Nikeratos finds a student who becomes a true colleague; they understand each other and each other's art in a way that no one else does. They are best friends turned lovers. I think Thettalos' loyalty to Nikeratos is particularly beautiful, and I'd like to see an exploration of how he feels about Nikeratos: a combination of gratitude, respect and affection.

These details are optional of course, and if you feel inspired to write a different story featuring these characters, please go ahead; I'd be willing to read anything featuring these characters. Thank you once again!

Tari

Real-life news: final fellowship application sent last Friday. Finally, I can return to just juggling teaching and research. Need to sort out the recommendations though...one of the professors I requested a recommendation from never actually sent in his recommendation (which completely invalidates one of the applications), and I need to first talk to him to make sure he'll write for the third one and also arrange for a backup. -_-

Yours &c.

Comments

[derlirum.livejournal.com]

Sorry it took so long to get back to you, but I had to finish up a bench memo draft.

Anyway, I think I can meet you and tokyofish for lunch on Thursday. Would it be OK to meet you and tokyofish downtown? The judge and I will be at the bankruptcy courthouse in the Financial District on Thursday and I don't anticipate the hearings will be done until 11:00. (I'm not sure I can make it out to Berkeley, though I would've loved to go.) I can hang out until about 2:00 pm with you both. Will that work? If not, I know you're busy on Saturday, but will your conference be all day Saturday?

[tokyofish.livejournal.com]

I can go, but obviously I have more free time than Tari (am also leaving for Thanksgiving on Friday >__>;).

[troisroyaumes]

(As said below) Thursday works for me. Let's BART over together! ^_^

[troisroyaumes]

I'm fine with Thursday lunch. I can always work late anyway. ^_^ Should we meet you downtown around noon? Is there a BART stop close to the courthouse?

Unfortunately, the retreat is at San Ramon on Saturday so I won't be within reach of public transportation. -_-;; But I can definitely hang out with you and Kismet on Thursday. ^_^ Yay! Looking forward to seeing you!

[derlirum.livejournal.com]

Wonderful! So what time should we meet on Thursday? Would 12:00 be all right? And we can meet in Union Square if that would be easier for you girls. ^__^ (Oh, and I'll need to exchange phone numbers with you girls, in case. ^__^ I'll send my via e-mail?)

[troisroyaumes]

Sure, that sounds good. Let's say Union Square in front of the Borders then? (That's the best landmark I can think of. ^_^)

I don't think I have your email address (! not sure why), but mine is tarigwaemir at gmail and Kismet's is tokyofish at gmail. ^_^

[uminohikari.livejournal.com]

Did he say he would write a recommendation? :O That's so mean

[troisroyaumes]

Urgh, no, he never explicitly said he would--in fact, he never replied to any of my emails--but he did confirm his registration as a recommender (it was an online application), which I assumed meant that he agreed to, well, writing a recommendation. -_- It's my fault for assuming that, of course, but I do think it was a fairly reasonable assumption to make. Sigh.

[sleepingfingers.livejournal.com]

I really hate it when profs do that. It's just really irresponsible and would have been better if they had just declined when first asked.

Good luck with all the other applications!

[tsutanai.livejournal.com]

The prof may have had best intentions, instead of malice or indifference aforethought. For one of my grant applications I ran into the same, and the application was sunk--he was apologetic, but I learned I needed to remind him more often about letters.

Unfortunately, you don't often learn about who the disorganized profs are until you get burned once.

[troisroyaumes]

Yeah, it was mostly my fault. I should have tracked him down in person instead of relying on online confirmation as a response to whether he was going to write my recommendation or not. -_- (I did give plenty of reminders though...I just wish he had replied to at least one of my emails saying that he wasn't able to write it.) Anyway, I knew he was disorganized, so I should have known better...I was just so preoccupied with trying to stay on top of my own application materials that I didn't put in as much effort as I should have in tracking him down.

Oh well, lesson learned. I didn't have much of a chance with that application anyway, so I'll have to write it off as practice.

[troisroyaumes]

Well, the fault lies with me too. I should have gotten a confirmation in person instead of assuming that he would know. I do wish that he did just take the time to reply to one of my (many) emails to say, "Sorry, no," but I know this professor pretty well, and he's definitely not the type who would bother to do that...-_-;;

[tokyofish.livejournal.com]

Yay, congrats on finishing up those applications! (My brother's doing grad school ones now so I vicariously sort of feel your pain.) Eh, don't you wish professors actually had their act together more often?

[troisroyaumes]

I mean, I shouldn't talk because I barely had my act together for these applications myself. -_- But you know, if he just replied to one email saying, "No, can't write it," then I would have been able to prepare somehow. Argh...the problem also is that he's the most high-profile faculty member that I can get a good rec letter from at the moment, and all my back-ups are less recognizable in the field and either equally flaky or less acquainted with me.