soupytwist

Hi, lovely Yuletide Author!

I am super excited that you signed up for one of these fandoms, and can't wait to see what you come up with. My number one favourite thing to do for fun is geeking out, and if there's something you feel nerdily compelled to write, please do it: the story you love is going to be the best one. However, I know I really appreciate getting to learn a little bit about the person I'm writing for, so if you'd like, here you go.


Me generally:

Like I said, I am a massive nerd and I really enjoy anything where people get to enjoy being really overinvested in whatever their particular thing is: I love Take Your Fandom To Work day! I also love queerness in all its forms, found families, unexpected bonding or ways of expressing feelings, idiots who have feelings but are very bad at it, people coming together to support each other or solve a problem, people making a life for themselves even when that's difficult, stories where we get to see someone else's view of something that happened in canon, stories that show us more of a canon universe. I have been known to enjoy ridiculous fluff where my favourite characters just adopt a puppy or something, but I do especially like stuff with a bit of plot if you can manage it.

I love AU stories that use their premise to either have a ridiculous good time (usually IN SPACE) or to comment/reflect in some way on the canon, so if you have an idea for that then please go ahead. I'm not sure any of these are very AU-able though!

I don't tend to like stories with PWP sex (I'm much more invested in the relationships than in who sticks what where), lots of violence (especially sexual violence), or where there's a lot of medical detail (especially about cancer or any horrifying degenerative disease). This year has been rough on everyone, so I've gone for things that I think will lend themselves to being a bit gentler.

My specific requests:

1. Piranesi - Susanna Clarke
Sixteen/Sarah Raphael

I am so intrigued by Raphael. Please tell me all your headcanons! There's so much of her life we know nothing about: what's that like? Where does her commitment come from? Where does it take her next? (I am kind of convinced that where there's one other world, there's more: please feel free to run with that, should you wish!) Tell me all!

DNW: No sexual assault, please.

I found the book really compelling, I loved it, and Raphael is such a great character! Her very flaws are exactly what allow her to be a hero. She has seen another world and been changed forever. I would read so much about her. I really like characters who are grumpy or miserable but try to do the right thing anyway, and Raphael is in that category for me.

I'm particularly interested in Raphael's relationship with Piranesi, but I don't ship it at all, and I'm quite fine with the focus being just on Raphael. I said in my sign-up that I think there's probably more than one other world, even if the book doesn't show us that, and I would love to hear about that! I don't have any particular strong ideas about what that even MEANS, for either the universe of the book or for Raphael in particular, but I'd love to find out. Maybe Raphael makes it her mission to check out that theory?

2. The Babysitter's Club (TV 2020)
Claudia Kishi, Kristy Thomas

I mostly want anything about Claudia and Kristy hanging out. They don't get much bonding time in the show, and they're very, very different people, but I love them both a lot, and I would adore getting to see them learn and grow and be friends together. I don't ship them, but if you do and feel like you can make it work, go for it.

DNW: sex or violence at a more explicit level than the show: there's a bit of my heart that says they're always going to be 13, really!

I looooooooove BSC, and have since I was a youngun. I was absolutely delighted with everything this show chose to be, and I would love to hear more about these characters! I love every single one of them, but Claudia has been my very favourite forever, and her and Kristy have such different approaches to life, different reactions to things, and getting to see their friendship grow as they handle whatever life's thrown at them this week will make me very happy.

If you're looking for specific ideas: I definitely see Kristy as one day identifying as a lesbian, so a story about her telling Claudia about her first girlfriend could be one option! Or does Claudia explain some queer art to her and she has a bit of a moment? (Claudia'a a freewheeling sort of person: it wouldn't surprise me if she wasn't a bit of a disaster bi, bless her mis-matched socks.) I also like the idea of them having to join forces to solve a babysitting problem, or get out of a cupboard that they've somehow been locked into, or something like that.

3. A Suitable Boy (TV)
Kakoli Chatterji, Amit Chatterji

Sibling feels! I love Kuku and anything with her is probably going to be exactly my jam, but I listed Amit as well because honestly I love the Chatterji family so much and these two have a fantastic sibling bond that I want to read more about. I did particularly wonder about post-canon: where does she end up, does she make fun of Amit a lot until he feels better? But if you want to write about their youthful adventures or ganging up on Meenakshi or, I dunno, going to the moon, I'm up for that. Extra points for Kakoli Couplets, I love them.

DNW: incest, very much not shipping these two! And I'd rather no more graphic violence than we got on the show.

I went for the TV version of Suitable Boy rather than the book version because I read the book for the first time this year and absolutely loved it, but realised that I couldn't request it for Yuletide because wow, that is an intimidating piece of work to write fic for! The TV version, I thought, was just wonderful – and incredibly close to book canon – while also being rather less intimidating. Hopefully, anyway!

I am a sucker for well-done sibling relationships, and Kuku and Amit's is just great, but we didn't get enough of it: I definitely want to know about where their lives take them after the show ends. Kuku presumably goes gallivanting around the world with her man in tow, so maybe she writes letters to Amit? Or drags him with her? They're obviously close, so I'd love to see how they support each other. I also quite like the idea of seeing them as children, the scrapes they got into and their journey to understanding the huge and complicated world they're in. And I suggested going to the moon because honestly, don't we all need more Kakoli Couplets on the moon?

(You definitely don't have to write poetry, obviously, but I do enjoy how much they nerd out about language and how much FUN they have with it, so if you do feel inspired to try that, please go ahead!)

So there we go. Hopefully that will be helpful! Thank you, secret author!