carolinecrane | Dear Yuletide Writer

Hello! I am very excited for another Yuletide season, and I hope you are as well. I've been mostly out of fandom this year, but not participating in YT at this point would feel too much like skipping Christmas, so here I am.

Thank you very much in advance for writing for me! I hope you have a lot of fun and don't stress at all, because I am honestly pretty easy to please.

Things I love: friends to lovers, fluff, fluffy smut, regular smut, Christmas cheer, soulbonding, huddling for warmth, trapped together, wing fic, cuddling, kissing, plot, AUs, crossovers, long fic. (I also enjoy shorter fic, but I am definitely not someone who won't read 20K and squee over every word, if that's your inclination.)

Things I don't love: Incest, BDSM, a/b/o, character death, breakup fic, the 'always a boy/girl' branch of genderswap ('woke up in the wrong body' is totally cool, however). I also have this weird aversion to blood coming out of people's eyes (long RL medical story) which probably wouldn't feature in any of these fandoms, but there it is all the same.

If you want to look at previous years' letters/likes/dislikes, you can find them on my LJ tag here.

I am also carolinecrane on AO3, LJ, and tumblr.

First up, my perennial request, which I have asked for these past few years and not yet gotten, so I will keep on keeping on:

1) Santa Claus: The Movie

Characters: Any (Corny, Joe, Anya Claus, Santa Claus)

This is the cheesy 80s Christmas movie of my heart and I love literally everything about the universe, including the horrible class disparities and evil John Lithgow. I would welcome any exploration about the universe at all, particularly Joe and Corny's adventures at the North Pole post-canon. I want to hear all about their idyllic childhood with Santa and Mrs. Claus!

If you want to tell the story through the eyes of Santa or Anya, that would be a-okay with me too. I'm so interested in their thoughts and feelings on instant parenthood, and what it's like to have kids underfoot when they've got the responsibility of all of Christmas on their shoulders.

I love any kind of worldbuilding, and if you're down to ship Joe and Corny, so am I.

So I have seen this movie an embarrassing number of times. I was a kid when it was released, and I have shipped Joe and Corny since way back then. I mean, clearly they were meant to be shipped, so I don’t even feel bad about it.

It is alas no longer streaming on Netflix, thanks to the release of the 25th anniversary bluray. (Now there's a sentence I never expected to type.) I love this movie so much that I would basically be happy with any exploration or continuation of canon. If you feel like aging up Corny and Joe and writing their romance, I would love you forever. If you’d rather tell the story of their year at the North Pole (and, I hope, subsequent adoption by Santa and Mrs. Claus) then I would love that too.

Obviously, given that it’s a Christmas film, if you want to write a holiday-themed fic I will roll around with glee and probably spend the entire day reading and re-reading and then tell all my friends to read it too. But I will do all that even if you set your story in, say, March.

There are plenty of dark themes in this film, which I suppose is typical, considering the time period. The evil uncle, the exploding candy, the badly made toys, the homeless kid, orphans, problematic class distinctions, and, as my mother pointed out to me during a recent rewatch, the fact that Anya and Claus actually froze to death in order to become Santa and Mrs. Claus. I suppose as a kid that fact didn't register, and as an adult I chose not to see it until my mother pointed it out. Thanks for ruining Christmas, Mom!

My point is that there's plenty of dark stuff going on, but the characters never give up hope, and that's what makes you root for them. So if you want to explore the darkness that would be cool, but if you want to keep the lightness of the film at the core of your story, that would be great too.

I didn't request John Lithgow's character, but dude floats off into space at the end of the movie. Where does he end up? If you want to drop him at the North Pole and (try to) redeem him through the magic of Christmas, go for it. Would he plot against goodness and light while pretending to be reformed? Would Santa see through him? Would Patch fall for it? Would Corny and Joe have to save the day?

This version of the North Pole is one of my favorites, but we don't really get to see much of it. So if you want to focus on the setting itself, that would be fantastic. I'd love to see Joe and Corny exploring their new home. Feeding the reindeer, toy building shenanigans, hanging out with the elves, Mrs. Claus’ feelings at finally being a mother, Santa and Anya adjusting to their afterlife in the North Pole...I will take any of it and love it as much as I do the original.

I really love this movie an embarrassing amount, so basically you can’t go wrong.

2) Halloweentown

Characters: Any (Marnie Piper, Dylan Piper, Ethan Dalloway, Luke)

Halloweentown is a series of four Disney movies from the late 90s - early 2000s. I'm too old to have seen it as many times as I have, but I don't even care. There's barely any fic, save the two wonderful stories written for me last Yuletide, so there's much, much more of this universe to explore.

I didn't specify any characters because I honestly would love a story about any character in canon, nominated or not, so if there's a story you want to tell, please take this as permission to run with it. Shippy or not, I am bound to love any continuation of canon. Any part of the movies' timeline is more than okay with me, even though the first movie is the one nominated.

Last year I got TWO amazing fics in this fandom, but I'm still greedy for more. Seriously, I loved the fics I got last year so much (one was Marnie/Luke, the other Ethan/Dylan, and you should totally go read them) that I would love more and more of this universe.

Shippy is great! But it doesn't have to be shippy if you're not feeling it. I am so curious about every aspect of this universe, so if you want to write about any part of the world of Halloweentown, that is more than okay with me. I love all four of the movies, so feel free to draw from any part of canon. I also love all the characters, so don't feel limited by the nominated characters. Use as many or as few as you like; it's 100% your call.

I do love the Cromwell-Pipers, but please don't feel obligated to use any or all of them. If you'd rather write a fic about how Benny ended up spending eternity as a cabbie, that's totally cool with me. 1000 words of the two-headed bus ticket salesman arguing with himself? Bring it. A day in the life of the giant pumpkin? Great. Feel like exploring the reason all the men in Halloweentown seem to be obsessed with the Cromwell witches? I'm down.

If you're more into shippy fic, I am totally fine with that too. I don't read incest for personal reasons, but otherwise anything goes, pretty much. If you want to write about Marnie and Ethan's romance at Witch University, that's great. If you'd rather see her paired with Aneesa, I can totally get behind that. (And frankly, with Lucas Grabeel playing Ethan, I'd be more likely (and delighted!) to buy Ethan/Dylan than Ethan/Marnie.) Another femmeslash possibility I find really charming is Aggie/Persimmon.

Sophie and Aggie were pretty much offscreen for all of the fourth film. We know they were traveling through time while Sophie developed her powers. Tell me what they were up to! Who did Sophie meet along the way? What times did they visit? I'd love to hear about Halloweentown in different time periods. Also, Sophie appears to be a pretty powerful witch from the very beginning, so if you want to write something Sophie-centric, that would be cool.

Nominated characters aside, what I love most about these movies is the world itself. There's so much about Halloweentown the movie doesn't show us. What's the grocery store like? What kinds of movies/shows do they play in the theater where Aggie has the showdown with Kalabar? Is there a Halloweentown community theater group? Are they gossipy? What's school like for the kids in Halloweentown? Is it like Hogwarts? Did Gwen hate her classes and dream of escaping to the mortal world, or did she just accidentally fall for a human a la Tabitha on Bewitched?

What's the headless shelter like? Where do people go out to eat? What kind of pets do people keep in Halloweentown? What's a typical neighborhood association meeting like? What's the library like? What do the young punks like Luke and his friends get up to when they're causing trouble? What would they sell at a hardware store in Halloweentown? Why do ghosts worry about fitness? Basically I just want to know all about the town, whatever you want to tell me.

The movie only shows us the mostly friendly side of Halloweentown, and Aggie implies that it's more or less just like the mortal world, except with magic. But we can see that there's a darker side to the world, what with all the secret societies and evildoers trying to overpower the Cromwells all the time. So if you want to explore some of the dark edges of Halloweentown, that would be really interesting. There are all kinds of traditionally dark creatures living there, after all. What do the vampires feed on? Do the werewolves ever turn back to their fully human form? Do they have a troll bridge? I love ghost stories, so I'd love to hear about the resident ghosts.

Is the 'evil' portion of Halloweentown a 'don't look at the dog park' situation, or is it more sinister? What about the residents without magic powers? Are they resentful of those who can do magic? We know from the fourth movie that non-magic creatures have to be accommodated at Witch University. Do any of them ever try to stage a rebellion against the magic creatures?

The world is pretty much your oyster here, dear author. I'm interested in every part of this canon, so you really can't go wrong. If you have an idea in mind already, run with it! I know I will love reading about it. Go as dark as you like, or to whatever rating you like. I'm literally wide open.

3) Redshirts by John Scalzi

Characters: Jimmy Hanson, Andy Dahl

I love this novel, but the ending (of the actual novel, not the codas) has been bugging me since I read it. Andy going all meta is fine, whatever, but insisting that Jimmy only exists to be Andy's yes man? RUDE. I need to know what Jimmy thinks about that.

Explore it in the context of them as an established pairing, or Jimmy with a crush that Andy is oblivious to, or friends-to-lovers, or friends-to-enemies, even. I ship them, but you don't have to. I just wonder what Jimmy thinks of it all.

Or tell me about their shenanigans pre-canon! I would love just as much to read about them at the academy together. Or making out. I also would not turn down some classic soulbonding. I'm up for whatever, really, just tell me about Andy and Jimmy.

Confession: I wrote a treat about these two last year, and ever since I just really, really want more. I love everything about their friendship, from the way Andy gives Jimmy the casual acceptance he doesn't really get from other people, to the way Jimmy kind of keeps Andy grounded even though Andy doesn't realize it.

There are a lot of directions you could go with the weirdness between them at the end of the novel. It's such a fun, silly story, but the ending has always bothered me a little. I can only imagine it sort of bothered Jimmy, too, to discover that this guy who's supposed to be his BFF can jump to the conclusion that Jimmy only exists to further Andy's story. I mean, self-centered much? There's an epic story in there.

I also think soulbonding would work especially well for these two, given Andy's whole 'you only exist to tell me I'm right' theory. (Seriously, I was so mad at him for that.)

I'm not asking you to write a shippy sequel to the novel. Except that I kind of am. No, seriously, I just want to know what that was all about. But I also want to know what the text Jimmy sends Andy at the beginning of the novel says, if you feel like exploring that. The fond smile and the way Andy says, 'Goof' when he reads it are mirrored *exactly* in Margaret and Adam's story as told in the third coda. Coincidence? I choose to read it as Scalzi drawing parallels between the two love stories, personally.

If you wanted to write about them pre-canon, I would love that just as much. What was their first conversation like? How did Jimmy charm Andy into helping him with his homework? What exactly happened to cement what has obviously become a very close friendship? Is Andy aware of Jimmy's crush, or is he as oblivious as he is with Duvall? Or, if you’d prefer to take a more serious tone, how about exploring post-canon away missions and the resulting PTSD? Surely they can’t go through all that and come out completely unscathed.

If you don't ship them, that's okay. I would love to hear about their friendship either way. I'd also love to hear Jimmy's thoughts on the characters they get themselves mixed up with in the novel. What does he really think of Duvall? How about Finn and Hester? This fandom is wide-open, really, so if you have ideas of your own, please run with them. I'll love whatever you come up with.

4) Big Eden

Characters: Pike Dexter, Henry Hart

I have requested and received this fandom in years past, but somehow I can't bring myself to leave it off my list. I love Pike/Henry with all my heart, and I especially love Pike.

So anything Pike-centric you felt like writing would be right up my alley. I will never get enough of the little moments of their life together, no matter how mundane. Something else I think would be fun and easy to work into this canon is 'trapped together' fic. Imagine the number of times they get snowed in at the cabin and have to huddle for warmth! Maybe that's what convinces Pike to stop being a weirdo and move in.

Or maybe Pike's truck breaks down and they have to huddle for warmth while they wait for one of the seven dwarves to come to the rescue. That's what they get for owning unreliable vehicles.

There will never be enough fic for this movie. NEVER. I love it so much and the biggest reason I love it is Pike Dexter's stupid face. "I just want things to be nice for him." :sob:

I digress. I love pretty much everything about these two, and I would literally read anything at all about them other than break-up fic. For me the core of this film is Henry realizing that what he's always wanted has been standing right in front of him in the form of Pike Dexter, and all he has to do is reach out and take it.

I love fluff as much as smut, so take it to whatever rating you like. The little smut that has been written about these two is sweet and tentative, and that's totally believable, but I kind of have this head canon that once they finally get comfortable enough to take their clothes off, they would have a lot of pent-up frustration to get out. A LOT. Like, locking themselves in the cabin for an entire weekend and doing it on every surface a lot. Ignoring calls and nosy townsfolk knocking and bumping into stuff and getting it wrong and laughing a lot. I imagine a lot of blushing and reassurance and awkwardness, but also smoldering hotness.

I mean, it's just one direction. One that I would love to see fleshed out, if you feel like it.

I've asked for this fandom (and gotten some truly lovely fic) before, but I will always want more. My feelings about these two boil down to this: I'm pretty easy to please, as long as the romance is there.

Other completely random ideas that have crossed my mind: Pike and Henry’s first date (the one without the rest of the town there), their fiftieth date, their tenth anniversary, moving in together, walking the dog, Henry coaxing Pike to go swimming with him, the scar on Pike's back - how he got it; what Henry thinks of it - whether or not Widow Thayer tries to take credit for fixing up Pike and Henry in spite of the fact that it was all Grace, Pike and/or Henry hanging out at the store getting teased by Lloyd and the boys...whatever, I’m not picky. I will take anything at all, any rating. Really I just want to know everything about their lives together.

Also, if you feel like you want to explore the setting of this fandom, I would love that. I love Henry/Pike, clearly, and I would like them to be at least mentioned as still together, but if you had a burning desire to write about the town itself, either a typical day-in-the-life or a major event (catastrophic, holiday, whatever) I'd be totally okay with that. Please feel free to include any characters you like. My only real wish is that Henry and Pike are still in love somewhere in the backdrop.

Also also, if you're into magic realism and want to inject some into the canon, go for it! It would feel pretty natural for this universe, I think.

~~~

Above all, have fun! Insane as it can get, Yuletide is fun for me every year, and I want it to be that way for everyone. So please, pleaseplease write what you want. If you love your story, chances are good that I (and everyone else) will love it too.