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Dear Yuletide Writer (2025)
Oct. 24th, 2025 03:01 pmDear Yuletide writer,
Thank you so much for offering to write for one of these stories that I love! I am writing this in a bit of a hurry and reusing some prompts from previous years, so if the letter seems a little uneven, that's why. I am beyond excited for each and every one of these fandoms and characters!
General information
DNW: sexual content, rating over T for any reason, focus on unrequested ships. (Background canon relationships are fine.)
I have the setting to receive gifts turned on and welcome treats, including treats in other media.
General fic likes: hurt/comfort, moral dilemmas/conflicting priorities, how one character responds when they think the other is dead, 'everything is happy and nothing hurts', 'everything hurts a little bit but still we've got each other,' stories with historical settings, really alien aliens, experimental styles/structures, character studies, metafictional weirdness, More Of Canon. I explicitly opt in to second person, epistolary, outsider POV, nonlinear narrative, interactive fiction, and any other kind of formal/stylistic thing that you're wondering about!
If you're here because one of my requests sparked an art treat, awesome! and here are some general art likes: portraits with symbolism, characters doing things (anything from an action scene to playing a board game!), awesome clothes, alien landscapes and culture, historical fashion, headcanons about the appearance of audio-only characters (I love when they’re drawn looking like their actors and I love when they’re drawn completely different) and book characters, abstraction, unconventional materials (if you want).
An Age of Kings (1960) (Hotspur OR Fluellen)
In addition to my general DNWs/opt-ins, I opt in to period-typical depictions of late teen marriages (16+), as long as there is no explicit sexual content (which is in my general DNWs anyway).
If you're confident writing in early modern English (and maybe even iambic pentameter!) and would like to use those skills to create authentically Shakespearean dialogue for this fic, I'm all for it. But I'm also completely fine with modernized language, and would far rather you write in intentionally modernized language than feel like you have to battle with thous and thees that you're not comfortable using. Same goes for the historical events the play is based on: if you know the period feel free to draw on it for detail; if not, writing totally within the world of the play is just fine.
I'm really interested in this adaptation's version of Hotspur, his wife (Lady Percy), and their relationship--there seems to be a lot that's unspoken there and it's quite different from some other adaptations I've seen. They clearly love each other, but there's so much that she's never allowed to say (certainly not until she's widowed). I'm also interested in his relationships with other members of the Percy family, especially his uncle, the manipulative political operator the Earl of Worcester, and the way Worcester seems to know exactly how to pull Hotspur's strings. I think Connery's Hotspur reads really easily as somewhere on the autism spectrum, and I'd be interested in exploring those aspects of him. What was it like growing up as someone who in some ways brings his society's ideal to life, but in other ways doesn't fit in at all? I love his bluntness and awkwardness, and the stammer and offbeat sense of humor that he clearly has in this production. I love how absolutely serious he is about doing the honorable thing, and it breaks my heart how that's used by almost everyone for their own purposes--and yet, is he really as unaware as he sometimes seems that 90% of what he's fighting for is just political games? I love a rebel with a cause, but how would he define his cause? I'd love a fic that explores how Hotspur is seen by those around him and how he sees them, too. (He's not stupid!) Feel free to include Lady Percy, Northumberland, Worcester, Mortimer, Glendower, King Henry, Hal, etc. as you feel inclined. Including his canonical death is fine, and setting the fic earlier in the play is fine, but I also would not say no if you've thought of something really interesting to change about Shrewsbury...
Fluellen is far and away my favorite character in Henry V. It fascinates me how he becomes almost a second protagonist throughout the play, and I'm intrigued by his struggle to reconcile his Welsh identity with his English service (and his English king, and Gower, his English friend). It's *really* soon after Glendower's rebellion: was Fluellen maybe involved? The four captains (Fluellen, Gower, Jamy, and Macmorris) are a little bit of a "walks into a bar" joke, but their conversation ("Who talks of my nation?") actually kind of brings out a whole range of views on the questions of nationhood, brotherhood, unity, and loyalty (and how all those things differ from each other) that the play is raising, and I think a fic could do something really interesting with that. I also love Fluellen's military history nerdery (even carrying a book around in this production!) and his eagerness to go on and on about it; it's interesting how he's a professional soldier (and evidently quite used to violence) but, at least in theory, has a quite unrealistic insistence on the superiority of ancient tactics. I'd love a fic giving his perspective on any scene of the play, or something about his experiences before or after the play. Something a bit metatextual might also be cool: for instance, what if he gets chatting to the Chorus?
Please absolutely do *not* feel obliged to imitate Shakespeare's transcription of a stage Welsh accent.
I didn't request these with the idea that I would probably get both, but if you are inspired with an idea that brings them together (maybe Fluellen in Glendower's rebellion) please do go for it!
If you want more inspiration, I have recently been losing my mind about Henry IV especially on my blog: https://lurking-latinist.tumblr.com/tagged/shakespeare
Barron's E-Z Math Textbook Series
I nominated this without characters because the group of main characters shifts a bit from book to book (including the presence of a first-person narrator) and because I'd also be interested in worldbuilding stuff. Go wild! I love how the different characters have different problem-solving strategies and attitudes to math, from the rule-loving, detail-oriented Recordis the scribe to the hands-on Builder and the exploratory Professor. (If you've read Trigonometry, I particularly love Trigonometeris and his love of triangles. I also have a soft spot for Recordis, with his anxious, slightly control-freak tendencies--I genuinely felt really bad for him in that chapter in Algebra where he can't cope with imaginary numbers and keeps fainting.) I like stories where a varied team learns to work together and appreciate each other's strengths, and these books push that button for me, so if you're interested in any of the group of main characters, I'd love to see that!
I would love to see the Royal Court of Carmorra discover something that my writer enjoys--be that another math concept, or a concept from something like art, cookery, or fandom itself! (Just imagine Recordis with a set of exchange rules...) Worldbuilding elements would also be fun--what is this kingdom like to live in? The narrator's identity and backstory (and sometimes existence) are deliberately left vague, and it could be fun to expand on that, or on the motivations of the evil Gremlin who keeps setting them math challenges. I'd also be interested in something based on the characters' desire to improve the kingdom's resources and amenities--maybe futurefic where their incredible knowledge of math has taken them into the space age?
If the spirit moves you, a crossover with another educational fandom could also be fun, especially with a bit of a meta twist. I was thrilled to encounter Measurement League: Guardians of the SI in this year's tagset, as well as Anthropomorphic Cryptography (maybe the Gremlin teams up with malicious attacker Mallory?), and I know in previous years there's been things like Lingua Latina per se illustrata (is that in this year as well? I think maybe). Anything like that would be cool!
Welcome to Our Village, Please Invade Carefully
There's a lot I love about WtOVPIC but this year I am interested in Margaret! I'm fascinated by her weird right-hand-woman relationship with Uljabaan and her own tendency towards evil overlorditude as manifested in village politics, so something exploring that would be awesome. She has a very limited outlook on life but, within her world, she's very good at what she does. I'd like to see what happens if she gets a little more power: she becomes Uljabaan's deputy while he's out of the village somewhere, or after canon she gets recruited as a political advisor on Geosis, or she decides to keep the force field up when the Geonin leave. Or maybe they finally do conquer Earth (if you can figure out how to do this without making it too depressing--maybe it's just a computer simulation?) and being Uljabaan's right-hand woman becomes a much bigger job! Or maybe she finds a way to use her influence on Uljabaan to the benefit of the human race, or at least Cresdon Green.
Somewhat dark humor in the vein sometimes found in the series is fine, but please do keep it a little bit light--I'd rather Margaret think of herself as becoming a ruthless worlds-conquering warlord (warlady?) than actually be one.
If you have a different take on Margaret's character, I'd also love to see that! Another topic that could be interesting is how her working relationship with Uljabaan affects her marriage--we see a bit of that, but mainly from Katrina's perspective. How about Margaret's, Richard's, or indeed Uljabaan's? What's it like, for instance, when your wife gets into politics late in life and it's in support of an alien conqueror?
Thank you so much for offering to write for one of these stories that I love! I am writing this in a bit of a hurry and reusing some prompts from previous years, so if the letter seems a little uneven, that's why. I am beyond excited for each and every one of these fandoms and characters!
General information
DNW: sexual content, rating over T for any reason, focus on unrequested ships. (Background canon relationships are fine.)
I have the setting to receive gifts turned on and welcome treats, including treats in other media.
General fic likes: hurt/comfort, moral dilemmas/conflicting priorities, how one character responds when they think the other is dead, 'everything is happy and nothing hurts', 'everything hurts a little bit but still we've got each other,' stories with historical settings, really alien aliens, experimental styles/structures, character studies, metafictional weirdness, More Of Canon. I explicitly opt in to second person, epistolary, outsider POV, nonlinear narrative, interactive fiction, and any other kind of formal/stylistic thing that you're wondering about!
If you're here because one of my requests sparked an art treat, awesome! and here are some general art likes: portraits with symbolism, characters doing things (anything from an action scene to playing a board game!), awesome clothes, alien landscapes and culture, historical fashion, headcanons about the appearance of audio-only characters (I love when they’re drawn looking like their actors and I love when they’re drawn completely different) and book characters, abstraction, unconventional materials (if you want).
An Age of Kings (1960) (Hotspur OR Fluellen)
In addition to my general DNWs/opt-ins, I opt in to period-typical depictions of late teen marriages (16+), as long as there is no explicit sexual content (which is in my general DNWs anyway).
If you're confident writing in early modern English (and maybe even iambic pentameter!) and would like to use those skills to create authentically Shakespearean dialogue for this fic, I'm all for it. But I'm also completely fine with modernized language, and would far rather you write in intentionally modernized language than feel like you have to battle with thous and thees that you're not comfortable using. Same goes for the historical events the play is based on: if you know the period feel free to draw on it for detail; if not, writing totally within the world of the play is just fine.
I'm really interested in this adaptation's version of Hotspur, his wife (Lady Percy), and their relationship--there seems to be a lot that's unspoken there and it's quite different from some other adaptations I've seen. They clearly love each other, but there's so much that she's never allowed to say (certainly not until she's widowed). I'm also interested in his relationships with other members of the Percy family, especially his uncle, the manipulative political operator the Earl of Worcester, and the way Worcester seems to know exactly how to pull Hotspur's strings. I think Connery's Hotspur reads really easily as somewhere on the autism spectrum, and I'd be interested in exploring those aspects of him. What was it like growing up as someone who in some ways brings his society's ideal to life, but in other ways doesn't fit in at all? I love his bluntness and awkwardness, and the stammer and offbeat sense of humor that he clearly has in this production. I love how absolutely serious he is about doing the honorable thing, and it breaks my heart how that's used by almost everyone for their own purposes--and yet, is he really as unaware as he sometimes seems that 90% of what he's fighting for is just political games? I love a rebel with a cause, but how would he define his cause? I'd love a fic that explores how Hotspur is seen by those around him and how he sees them, too. (He's not stupid!) Feel free to include Lady Percy, Northumberland, Worcester, Mortimer, Glendower, King Henry, Hal, etc. as you feel inclined. Including his canonical death is fine, and setting the fic earlier in the play is fine, but I also would not say no if you've thought of something really interesting to change about Shrewsbury...
Fluellen is far and away my favorite character in Henry V. It fascinates me how he becomes almost a second protagonist throughout the play, and I'm intrigued by his struggle to reconcile his Welsh identity with his English service (and his English king, and Gower, his English friend). It's *really* soon after Glendower's rebellion: was Fluellen maybe involved? The four captains (Fluellen, Gower, Jamy, and Macmorris) are a little bit of a "walks into a bar" joke, but their conversation ("Who talks of my nation?") actually kind of brings out a whole range of views on the questions of nationhood, brotherhood, unity, and loyalty (and how all those things differ from each other) that the play is raising, and I think a fic could do something really interesting with that. I also love Fluellen's military history nerdery (even carrying a book around in this production!) and his eagerness to go on and on about it; it's interesting how he's a professional soldier (and evidently quite used to violence) but, at least in theory, has a quite unrealistic insistence on the superiority of ancient tactics. I'd love a fic giving his perspective on any scene of the play, or something about his experiences before or after the play. Something a bit metatextual might also be cool: for instance, what if he gets chatting to the Chorus?
Please absolutely do *not* feel obliged to imitate Shakespeare's transcription of a stage Welsh accent.
I didn't request these with the idea that I would probably get both, but if you are inspired with an idea that brings them together (maybe Fluellen in Glendower's rebellion) please do go for it!
If you want more inspiration, I have recently been losing my mind about Henry IV especially on my blog: https://lurking-latinist.tumblr.com/tagged/shakespeare
Barron's E-Z Math Textbook Series
I nominated this without characters because the group of main characters shifts a bit from book to book (including the presence of a first-person narrator) and because I'd also be interested in worldbuilding stuff. Go wild! I love how the different characters have different problem-solving strategies and attitudes to math, from the rule-loving, detail-oriented Recordis the scribe to the hands-on Builder and the exploratory Professor. (If you've read Trigonometry, I particularly love Trigonometeris and his love of triangles. I also have a soft spot for Recordis, with his anxious, slightly control-freak tendencies--I genuinely felt really bad for him in that chapter in Algebra where he can't cope with imaginary numbers and keeps fainting.) I like stories where a varied team learns to work together and appreciate each other's strengths, and these books push that button for me, so if you're interested in any of the group of main characters, I'd love to see that!
I would love to see the Royal Court of Carmorra discover something that my writer enjoys--be that another math concept, or a concept from something like art, cookery, or fandom itself! (Just imagine Recordis with a set of exchange rules...) Worldbuilding elements would also be fun--what is this kingdom like to live in? The narrator's identity and backstory (and sometimes existence) are deliberately left vague, and it could be fun to expand on that, or on the motivations of the evil Gremlin who keeps setting them math challenges. I'd also be interested in something based on the characters' desire to improve the kingdom's resources and amenities--maybe futurefic where their incredible knowledge of math has taken them into the space age?
If the spirit moves you, a crossover with another educational fandom could also be fun, especially with a bit of a meta twist. I was thrilled to encounter Measurement League: Guardians of the SI in this year's tagset, as well as Anthropomorphic Cryptography (maybe the Gremlin teams up with malicious attacker Mallory?), and I know in previous years there's been things like Lingua Latina per se illustrata (is that in this year as well? I think maybe). Anything like that would be cool!
Welcome to Our Village, Please Invade Carefully
There's a lot I love about WtOVPIC but this year I am interested in Margaret! I'm fascinated by her weird right-hand-woman relationship with Uljabaan and her own tendency towards evil overlorditude as manifested in village politics, so something exploring that would be awesome. She has a very limited outlook on life but, within her world, she's very good at what she does. I'd like to see what happens if she gets a little more power: she becomes Uljabaan's deputy while he's out of the village somewhere, or after canon she gets recruited as a political advisor on Geosis, or she decides to keep the force field up when the Geonin leave. Or maybe they finally do conquer Earth (if you can figure out how to do this without making it too depressing--maybe it's just a computer simulation?) and being Uljabaan's right-hand woman becomes a much bigger job! Or maybe she finds a way to use her influence on Uljabaan to the benefit of the human race, or at least Cresdon Green.
Somewhat dark humor in the vein sometimes found in the series is fine, but please do keep it a little bit light--I'd rather Margaret think of herself as becoming a ruthless worlds-conquering warlord (warlady?) than actually be one.
If you have a different take on Margaret's character, I'd also love to see that! Another topic that could be interesting is how her working relationship with Uljabaan affects her marriage--we see a bit of that, but mainly from Katrina's perspective. How about Margaret's, Richard's, or indeed Uljabaan's? What's it like, for instance, when your wife gets into politics late in life and it's in support of an alien conqueror?
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