Do you like my megalithic rock?

Dear Yuletide author,

( here is some detail about what I like and don't like... )

Thanks v much for joining in this madness, and for your contribution to me especially!

In general, I like fic that isn't necessarily terribly fic-y, but allows for complicated feelings and relationships, ambiguous endings, etc etc. I love it when things feel REAL, in characterisation, feelings, the setting, etc. I like dialogue, and people who are too smart or witty or dangerous for their own good, and moral ambiguity. I look for spot-on character voices, and seemingly-insignificant details, and difficult and complicated relationships that ring true. I like humor, and realism, and ambiguity, and the ridiculous. I like queerness. I like the apocalyptic. I like laughter in the face of despair. I like things that are bittersweet, and happy endings, and sad endings, and the inevitable. (and I totally stole a lot of that from oliviacirce)

That being said, you can still get me with a trope or two: apocalypses, space AUs (operas or otherwise), historical AUs, HP AUs, bodyswap, kidfic (tho that might be a challenge with these fandoms!), and a few others that my brain won't cough up as I type this.

I really like when people are in mortal peril (and it works out ok) because of the strong likelihood of declarations of love, and over the top behaviour that's sanctioned by the situation. :)

I don't particularly want high school/college AU, or the coffeeshop AU, as fic that comes out too pat, with everything neatly tied up like a Disney cartoon is not my cup of tea. I'm also not much into cheating or the scatalogical end of BDSM.

Fandom specific ideas!

Elizabethan/Jacobean theatre: I am all about the Kit and Will, and especially them getting naked together, BUT if you want to bring in other writers of the time, and turn it into an ensemble piece, I would die of joy. I love the anti-modern view of authorship in that time, and would be so into an exploration of what that means in practice. Of course, with Kit in the picture, you might want to talk spies and Catholicism. That would also be cool! I am well into their texts making an appearance (is Will in the Jan 1593 production of Massacre at Paris???) so if that's your bag, please go for it!

In short, anything would be great. :)

Elementary: I love this show. However, I do find the murder quotient to be unreasonably high, so if you could stick to canonical cases, or just do something that had the crew interacting with each other without a case involved, I'd appreciate it. Gen fic would be lovely, whether that's Marcus and his brother, or Ms Hudson interacting with Sherlock and Joan, or something else. Equally, Joan and Moriarty acting on that sexual tension, or Sherlock and Marcus dealing with their feelings naked, or Ms Hudson taking up with Moriarty (why? you tell me!) would also be fantastic. No het pls, though!

Thick of It: Honestly, this show is awful (full of awful people and terrible situations) and I adore it. However, I have favourites, and Malcolm and Jamie are it. If you wanted to build up a whole policy catastrophe for them to react to, I would probably die of joy. However, I would be just as thrilled with the thinnest veneer of a premise for some intense hatesex between the two of them. My needs they are few. :)

Obviously, you'll be coming to these fandoms with your own ideas and with your own loves and hates. I hope some of it lines up with the stuff above, but you're the writer! Do what you need to do! :) Also I think anon commenting is on, so if you want to ask me anything directly, please do.

I am sick and therefore grumpy, and I have the perfect whipping horse for it. My ire has been raised by this essay in the New York Times.

For a literary culture that fears it is on the brink of total annihilation, we are awfully cavalier about the Great Male Novelists of the last century. It has become popular to denounce those authors, and more particularly to deride the sex scenes in their novels. Even the young male writers who, in the scope of their ambition, would appear to be the heirs apparent have repudiated the aggressive virility of their predecessors.

( Madam, I disagree with your choice of question. )

Up early. I am really a morning person, wow.

The windows of the houses opposite are glossed opaque with the sunrise, the blue sky streaked with someone coming home, coming to visit.

I have a cup of coffee that tastes amazing, a fic in progress, and the new Why? album playing.

It's almost like it's not Tuesday.

Long time no update!

Still alive, more or less! Loving the Used album, hating the fact it's a rainy Tuesday. Blergh.

IDK what my problem is, but today is just a big 'ol DNW.

Blah.

I really love my rooftop garden. I love even more having chairs and a table up there now, watching the night draw in, the blue sky darken gradually...

And the swifts, the swooping from estate to road, a big aerobatic loop.

I'm reading The Fortnight in September, a pre-war novel about a family's yearly holiday in Bognor. It's one of those books where nothing in particular happens--the conflicts are all minor, petty ones, domestic, inconsequential--but I'm nearly halfway through and I'm riveted.

It's making me so excited for Penzance, though my holiday there will be nothing like theirs.

I am so tired. I completely forgot I was supposed to be at a gig last night until Jenny poked me at lunchtime to remind me. The gig was amazing, though, and I'm glad I went.

Too bad work is going to kick my ass this week.

I have something to go on record with, as per the recent header warnings wank, but I'll come back to this.

I just want to say that I'm kind of ridiculously happy. And that's awesome. :D:D:D:D:D

I just opened a fresh bag of coffee and took a sniff that was positively erotic.

...

Tell me it's not just me?