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Dear Yuletide Writer
Dear Yuletide Writer,
It's that time of the year! Thank you for participating and for writing for me, I'm very much looking forward to reading whatever you come up with. <3
Please don't stress about meeting my requirements to the T. Everything here and everything in my optional details is meant to give you an idea and/or inspiration, it's not meant to cramp your style or quash the ideas you may already have. If you've got something you want to write, run with it! I'd rather read something that doesn't fit my request but that you enjoyed writing, than something you had to force out under duress.
Here are some ideas for you to bounce off of:
Stuff I like:
DNWs are in my optional details. Don't worry too much about DNWs, I have no triggers or stuff I can't read at all.
Stuff I like in TLTR:
I am a big fan of the Iron Triangle being old and married. They don't have to be retired, I'm quite happy for them to be running around tomb raiding, but I struggle to see them in anything other than a polyamorous relationship (which could be open or not, your choice). If you don't see that, I'm happy for them to just be good platonic friends, too. If you do decide to go with OT3, the ship does not necessarily need to be the focus of the fic.
I would enjoy tomb shenanigans fic, fic about their lives in the antiques mob, or explorations of their separate interpersonal relationships (what is it exactly that draws Pangzi to Wu Xie? do Pangzi and Xiaoge ever complain to each other about Wu Xie and the way he is?) or a reflection on their years together ("Five Times Pangzi Agreed to Something He Shouldn't Have Agreed to & One Time Wu Xie Doesn't Ask Him to").
I'm a big fan of the terminal illness plot on the show, so anything that explores that in more detail is welcome (tell me more about that scene where Pangzi is sobbing and clutching his pendant hoping for Wu Xie to wake up). I'll always enjoy hurt/comfort; I especially enjoy it when the injured party still has to try to function around their injury (to get out of the tomb, to save the other injured party, whatever). My favourite among the three is Pangzi. Xiaoge is next, but I also enjoy Wu Xie and would happily read fic about him and his weird family and obsessive tendencies.
Feel free to bring in other characters on the side; I've seen all DMBJ shows except Mystic 9 and there's nobody I don't like. I don't even mind Liu Sang, I just stuck him in my DNWs because I care a lot less about him than some people in the fandom do. If you want to have him showing up, go for it, I just don't want him to be a central character or involved in any ship.
Warning for discussion of sexual harassment/noncon (skip to next fandom if you don't want to read): if you're feeling it, I'd be curious about a fic exploring what might have happened if Director Ding in Warehouse 11 had resorted to sexual harassment to establish his dominance over Wu Xie (he seems like someone who might). If it's an ongoing thing of varying degrees of subtlety rather than a single act of violence, how long would it take for Wu Xie to admit anything to Pangzi? How would Pangzi react? What happens to Wu Xie's great plan, how much will he tolerate before going back starts to seem impossible? Pretty dark, of course, but if it strikes your interest, it's struck mine.
Stuff I like in Nirvana in Fire:
I love this show very much. I've requested Nihuang and Xia Dong because, being side characters, they don't get all that much screentime and fleshing out on the show. I want to know more about them!
I see them as lovers; this is not a requirement though if you don't agree. I want to know how they met (I think there's a line early in the show where Nihuang talks about them doing military training together?), I want to know what the milestones of their friendship were. When Xia Dong lost her husband and Nihuang her fiance in the Chiyan Army massacre, did they comfort each other? Or did they fight, because Nihuang's fiance was a villain in the narrative of the Chiyan Army rebellion, while Xia Dong's husband was a martyr? If they fought, how did they reconnect? I just want to know how they end up being the people and having the relationship that they are and have on the show.
If you're not a backstory sort of writer, I will happily read about them hanging out during canon, or doing court things together, or training together, or teasing Yujin and Jingrui together. Maybe Xia Dong goes to talk to Nihuang about her struggles with Xia Jiang, who basically raised her and turned out to be a shitbag. Maybe there's a moment post-canon where they reflect on all the stuff that happened. Or, if you're feeling writing them in a relationship, tell me how they deal with their men coming back from the war. As mentioned, I am happy for this to turn into a polyamorous set-up.
I would like the story to focus on Xia Dong and Nihuang; feel free to bring other characters into it, though. There's nobody I don't like!
Stuff I like in The Rebel:
As I said in my optional details, I have a specific request for this one. I would love to know more about Chen Moqun's and Lan Xinjie's relationship when she was working as an informant for him. This would be early in the show, or even before it. A lot of this is my headcanon: at this time, I see Chen Moqun and Lan Xinjie having an informant as well as a friends-with-benefits relationship, with very clear and well-respected boundaries. It's important to me that they respect each other without judgment -- Lan Xinjie doesn't judge Chen Moqun for being a shady evil spy who tortures people, and Chen Moqun doesn't judge Lan Xinjie for being a sex worker.
In this set-up, they could be doing just about anything -- spending a pleasant evening having a good time dancing and maybe having sex in Lan Xinjie's club, having a drink together and complaining to each other about the annoyances of their job (in veiled terms, of course, because Lan Xinjie needs to mind her clients' privacy and Chen Moqun is a spy), or perhaps Lan Xinjie is providing Chen Moqun with some crucial intel and is hearing from him about how the mission went (this would be kind of an outsider PoV on Chen Moqun's spy shenanigans). I would love to see mutual respect and companionship between them, without a necessity for Chen Moqun to rescue her, or put her in danger for the cause, or try to convince her of his political views.
I realize this is wildly specific and maybe not what you want to write. If you don't vibe with my request, feel free to write something just about Chen Moqun, because I love him an unreasonable amount and am interested in just about anything there is to write about this character: backstory (where is he from? when was he born, does he remember the fall of the last Chinese dynasty, what sort of experiences drove him to join the Nationalists and become a spy?), day-in-the-life (what does a station chief do all day? I assume there's a lot of paperwork; maybe you're feeling a humorous ficlet where Lao Gu is trying to get Chen Moqun to do some paperwork and Chen Moqun would rather do anything else), missing scene from canon (Chen Moqun the spy academy teacher! Chen Moqun the Japanese informant!), or post-canon (if you feel like handwaving a fix so he's around for that).
I'd also be happy to read about Lan Xinjie in a similar manner; however, with her it's very important to me that she gets to make autonomous choices and is very much an author of her own story, and isn't ashamed for the socially less-than-acceptable choices she makes that allow her to survive. I would also prefer not to read about all the tragedy that happens to her later in the show.
If none of this is working for you, feel free to bring in Lin Nansheng to pair him with Chen Moqun. My only request is that they don't have a sexual relationship at a time where Lin Nansheng is still all wide-eyed and naive -- I enjoy their relationship being sexual once Lin Nansheng has grown up enough to give as good as he gets, though. I am also interested in Lao Gu and Chen Moqun, and enjoy their friendship, or possible relationship.
I sincerely hope that my long rambles here have given you some sort of idea of what to write in this fandom; if they haven't, please just write whatever you thought you might want to write when you picked this fandom to offer. <3
Best of luck! I'm very much looking forward to whatever you come up with. Thank you again for writing for me. <3
-- teyla
It's that time of the year! Thank you for participating and for writing for me, I'm very much looking forward to reading whatever you come up with. <3
Please don't stress about meeting my requirements to the T. Everything here and everything in my optional details is meant to give you an idea and/or inspiration, it's not meant to cramp your style or quash the ideas you may already have. If you've got something you want to write, run with it! I'd rather read something that doesn't fit my request but that you enjoyed writing, than something you had to force out under duress.
Here are some ideas for you to bounce off of:
Stuff I like:
- Hurt/comfort and sickfic, especially when there's a humorous undertone to it (being sick is annoying! being injured can be very inconvenient!)
- temporary character death/ angst with a happy ending
- loyalty kink (as in "You're so goddamn frustrating! Of course I'll help you do this highly sus and dangerous thing, duh.")
- arguments between friends, people shouting and flailing their hands at each other because why won't you just listen/understand
- failed attempts at communication leading to misunderstandings leading to everyone having a bad time (but eventually figuring it out)
- us against the world, including constellations of unlikely and conditional allies (enemy of my enemy is my friend type things)
- morally grey characters -- I like characters having a moral code; this moral code does not need to be aligned with "standard" morality, though, and maybe the character is also a bit of a hypocrite and doesn't always stick to their code
- setting as a character, as in, I really love it if I get a feeling that this story couldn't have happened anywhere else than where it's set
DNWs are in my optional details. Don't worry too much about DNWs, I have no triggers or stuff I can't read at all.
Stuff I like in TLTR:
I am a big fan of the Iron Triangle being old and married. They don't have to be retired, I'm quite happy for them to be running around tomb raiding, but I struggle to see them in anything other than a polyamorous relationship (which could be open or not, your choice). If you don't see that, I'm happy for them to just be good platonic friends, too. If you do decide to go with OT3, the ship does not necessarily need to be the focus of the fic.
I would enjoy tomb shenanigans fic, fic about their lives in the antiques mob, or explorations of their separate interpersonal relationships (what is it exactly that draws Pangzi to Wu Xie? do Pangzi and Xiaoge ever complain to each other about Wu Xie and the way he is?) or a reflection on their years together ("Five Times Pangzi Agreed to Something He Shouldn't Have Agreed to & One Time Wu Xie Doesn't Ask Him to").
I'm a big fan of the terminal illness plot on the show, so anything that explores that in more detail is welcome (tell me more about that scene where Pangzi is sobbing and clutching his pendant hoping for Wu Xie to wake up). I'll always enjoy hurt/comfort; I especially enjoy it when the injured party still has to try to function around their injury (to get out of the tomb, to save the other injured party, whatever). My favourite among the three is Pangzi. Xiaoge is next, but I also enjoy Wu Xie and would happily read fic about him and his weird family and obsessive tendencies.
Feel free to bring in other characters on the side; I've seen all DMBJ shows except Mystic 9 and there's nobody I don't like. I don't even mind Liu Sang, I just stuck him in my DNWs because I care a lot less about him than some people in the fandom do. If you want to have him showing up, go for it, I just don't want him to be a central character or involved in any ship.
Warning for discussion of sexual harassment/noncon (skip to next fandom if you don't want to read): if you're feeling it, I'd be curious about a fic exploring what might have happened if Director Ding in Warehouse 11 had resorted to sexual harassment to establish his dominance over Wu Xie (he seems like someone who might). If it's an ongoing thing of varying degrees of subtlety rather than a single act of violence, how long would it take for Wu Xie to admit anything to Pangzi? How would Pangzi react? What happens to Wu Xie's great plan, how much will he tolerate before going back starts to seem impossible? Pretty dark, of course, but if it strikes your interest, it's struck mine.
Stuff I like in Nirvana in Fire:
I love this show very much. I've requested Nihuang and Xia Dong because, being side characters, they don't get all that much screentime and fleshing out on the show. I want to know more about them!
I see them as lovers; this is not a requirement though if you don't agree. I want to know how they met (I think there's a line early in the show where Nihuang talks about them doing military training together?), I want to know what the milestones of their friendship were. When Xia Dong lost her husband and Nihuang her fiance in the Chiyan Army massacre, did they comfort each other? Or did they fight, because Nihuang's fiance was a villain in the narrative of the Chiyan Army rebellion, while Xia Dong's husband was a martyr? If they fought, how did they reconnect? I just want to know how they end up being the people and having the relationship that they are and have on the show.
If you're not a backstory sort of writer, I will happily read about them hanging out during canon, or doing court things together, or training together, or teasing Yujin and Jingrui together. Maybe Xia Dong goes to talk to Nihuang about her struggles with Xia Jiang, who basically raised her and turned out to be a shitbag. Maybe there's a moment post-canon where they reflect on all the stuff that happened. Or, if you're feeling writing them in a relationship, tell me how they deal with their men coming back from the war. As mentioned, I am happy for this to turn into a polyamorous set-up.
I would like the story to focus on Xia Dong and Nihuang; feel free to bring other characters into it, though. There's nobody I don't like!
Stuff I like in The Rebel:
As I said in my optional details, I have a specific request for this one. I would love to know more about Chen Moqun's and Lan Xinjie's relationship when she was working as an informant for him. This would be early in the show, or even before it. A lot of this is my headcanon: at this time, I see Chen Moqun and Lan Xinjie having an informant as well as a friends-with-benefits relationship, with very clear and well-respected boundaries. It's important to me that they respect each other without judgment -- Lan Xinjie doesn't judge Chen Moqun for being a shady evil spy who tortures people, and Chen Moqun doesn't judge Lan Xinjie for being a sex worker.
In this set-up, they could be doing just about anything -- spending a pleasant evening having a good time dancing and maybe having sex in Lan Xinjie's club, having a drink together and complaining to each other about the annoyances of their job (in veiled terms, of course, because Lan Xinjie needs to mind her clients' privacy and Chen Moqun is a spy), or perhaps Lan Xinjie is providing Chen Moqun with some crucial intel and is hearing from him about how the mission went (this would be kind of an outsider PoV on Chen Moqun's spy shenanigans). I would love to see mutual respect and companionship between them, without a necessity for Chen Moqun to rescue her, or put her in danger for the cause, or try to convince her of his political views.
I realize this is wildly specific and maybe not what you want to write. If you don't vibe with my request, feel free to write something just about Chen Moqun, because I love him an unreasonable amount and am interested in just about anything there is to write about this character: backstory (where is he from? when was he born, does he remember the fall of the last Chinese dynasty, what sort of experiences drove him to join the Nationalists and become a spy?), day-in-the-life (what does a station chief do all day? I assume there's a lot of paperwork; maybe you're feeling a humorous ficlet where Lao Gu is trying to get Chen Moqun to do some paperwork and Chen Moqun would rather do anything else), missing scene from canon (Chen Moqun the spy academy teacher! Chen Moqun the Japanese informant!), or post-canon (if you feel like handwaving a fix so he's around for that).
I'd also be happy to read about Lan Xinjie in a similar manner; however, with her it's very important to me that she gets to make autonomous choices and is very much an author of her own story, and isn't ashamed for the socially less-than-acceptable choices she makes that allow her to survive. I would also prefer not to read about all the tragedy that happens to her later in the show.
If none of this is working for you, feel free to bring in Lin Nansheng to pair him with Chen Moqun. My only request is that they don't have a sexual relationship at a time where Lin Nansheng is still all wide-eyed and naive -- I enjoy their relationship being sexual once Lin Nansheng has grown up enough to give as good as he gets, though. I am also interested in Lao Gu and Chen Moqun, and enjoy their friendship, or possible relationship.
I sincerely hope that my long rambles here have given you some sort of idea of what to write in this fandom; if they haven't, please just write whatever you thought you might want to write when you picked this fandom to offer. <3
Best of luck! I'm very much looking forward to whatever you come up with. Thank you again for writing for me. <3
-- teyla