{ Yuletide! This letter is long. Please don't be scared. }

[delga]

Dear Person of Marvel/Yuletide Writer (!!!!),

First things come first: I will love whatever you write, a/ because this is my first Yuletide and b/ because reading ANYTHING from my prompts will bring me immense glee. I am très excited about Yuletide, can you tell? Many thanks just for taking this on, fo'reals.

Secondly: Um. Please don't be intimidated by this letter. I'm just Very Talky, and I've not done this before (obviously) so I may be going massively overboard. If this isn't useful to you, just ignore it. Seriously. I don't want to hand off a coronary to anyone.

If you would like to know about the kind of fic I like to read, feel free to hit up the recs tag on this journal, or the various appropriate tags at my delicious account. My own fanfic is housed at tja_rama. I feel like this journal and my hidden (lols) userinfo don't always give a rounded picture of me but will tell you a lot about the kind of person I am online, so please take a look around. (My tag list. Possibly useful?)

general catch-all.

I'm a big fan of character pieces and/or plots, and if my prompts didn't clue you in already, I have a thing about female characters. So in the general list of likes and dislikes: I like just about everything that isn't gratuitous abuse of women or incest (unlikely with my prompts, but still) or embarrassment. I like things to be in character. I'm a fan of gen, but I read het, slash and femslash with equal joy; my real love is for stories that key in to characters. Some of my kinks include: a side of angst (resolved or nay); group love (which is to say: please no character bashing; I prefer it when groups of characters are working together or existing together harmoniously, especially if it's difficult for their personalities to do so); interesting formats (non-linear! Multiple perspectives! Non-conventional speech annotation!); and pre- or post-canon scenes.

Um. Okay, I think I'm turning out to be a NIGHTMARE prompt-giver, so here's the caveat: this is just a general list of things that I like. It's weird to try and be specific about it because I will read near-about anything, even for fandoms I know nothing about. So, seriously, pick and choose, and don't worry about not hitting any of the above, because as I said before, I will love whatever you write - no lie.

fandom specifics.

01. City of Ember

My gosh, I recently saw this film and fell rather ridiculously in love with it. (post!) I then found out that it's a YA book, and also part of a series. Um. I know nothing about the series, so I won't get any external references.

I have found NOTHING for this fandom, so if you decide to take on this prompt I really do not care what you write: anything will be perfection. The film struck me as being quite an adult post-apocalyptic scenario for young people to be in, and I loved the glowy/claustrophobic atmosphere of the city. But what I really, really loved was that bond between Lina and Doon (for example, in one of the earlier blackouts) so ship or friends, I don't mind in the least. Any mention of Poppy is immediately awarded a gold star. I'm just saying.

02. Saving Grace

Ohhhhh, this show. This show. I was using my vox account to talk about why I love this show so much but I didn't manage to keep up with the 'recaps' during the second season. I hope to get those wrapped up eventually, but that's no use to you at the moment. That said, I think those posts give a good insight into all the things that I love about this show.

Really, though, I love the enigma that is Grace Hanadarko: screw-up and champion both. I think she's so ballsy, and so messed up, and so worthy of being redeemed (in both the religious sense and the human) and I spend every week watching her fall down and get back up again. My gosh, I adore that character. Other things I adore: the 'family' dynamic of the team; Grace's connection to the people around her; the way the show can be farcical and yet chill you to the core.

I also have a soft-spot for Butch Ada, but that's neither here nor there. Ahem. (I'm assuming y'all are familiar with the canon, but if not: yo, Wikipedia. Huzz!)

03. Deadwood.

Please no m/m slash in this fandom. It's the one thing I can't get behind in this show.

I got into this fandom a couple of summers back and I basically devoured it in the space of a month. I'm not big on British period pieces (not an Austen fan) but I have fallen for just about everything HBO has brought out, and Deadwood hit that part of me that loves a/ great story-telling, b/ beautiful direction and c/ Westerns. Oh my.

The show was so great that I didn't really go looking for fanfiction, and then I stumbled upon some and loved it. (Probably in my delicious account.) The one thing I really wanted from the show - and never got, mostly because of cancellation, and also because it's really a finale season kind of story line (I think) - was closure for Martha Bullock. In some ways the women of Deadwood are the kind who make good with what they've got (Trixie; Alma) or who are kind of doomed to their dominion (Calamity Jane; Joanie, oh my). But Martha's story was so closely linked to Seth Bullock's without really having the chance to escape from that, and I wished that this quiet, lovely, kindly woman had been given some expansion.

I could also read a hundred identical fics about how Jane and Joanie end up (or fall apart) and never ever get tired, so, you know.

I don't mind if you don't get the language down pat because damn, this fandom is harsh that way; I don't mind if you blank at the women and decide that it's easier to write some of the men. I don't mind if you write women and men (dun dun DUNNN) because frankly, I'd love it anyway. No, really. In case you hadn't realised by now, I'm kind of easy. Yeah.

04. Mad Men.

This is my Mad Men tag; I'm not sure how much use it will be to you, but have at it.

This is another fandom where the women are SO FIERCE. But, much like Deadwood, I love just about everybody, so anything goes. Gen, het, slash, femslash: I'm all in. I tried to make the prompt pretty open that way.

The thing about this show, though, is how it can be a sucker punch to the gut through the weirdest details. Joan secretly wanting to be Peggy; Peggy turning out to be the best bet Don Draper ever made; Betty turning out to have so much beauty and so much want in her, and so much strength. And then the men, too: the dichotomy between Don Draper and Dick Whitman; the man Pete is and the man he wants to be; Salvatore Romano's Narnia-like closet status. Oh boy. It's the details that make these stories.

On the flip side: if anyone remembers Midge Daniels (and likes her as much as I did [= A LOT]), I would love to read a fic about her. She was a great character - all that independence, and that seeming lack of respect for boundaries, dissolving into a person who actually had more lines she was unwilling to cross than we suspected.

Did I mention that I will read anything? Yes? That I am excited? Yes? Did I mention that I love you? Because: yeeeees. I really, sincerely hope that I haven't scared the bejesus out of you,

Much love and glee,
delgaserasca

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On a completely unrelated note: omggggg, I still love Saffron Burrows, yes, yes, I do. (GIP!)