planning the revolution

dear yuletider, thank you so much for your eagerness! i know i’m a little behind the curve this year. i’m pretty excited about shenanigans, though, so let’s mosey on.

first of all, please know that i am super pumped that we have some shared interests. this automatically makes you A-OKAY. i hope you have fun writing for the challenge this year - yt should be mellow as all get out, and to wit, please know that all optional details truly are optional. i am going to be p s y c h e d whatever you write so if the below does not gel with you, skip it for the story you’ve got bubbling away. that you’re writing for me at all is a gift; thank you, and go easy on yourself.

( generalised general things )

( fandom specifics! )

i guess this year's theme is: big feelings.

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this is normally the part where i share a bunch of links but i am horrific at tagging on tumblr, so i don't even know if there are links worth looking at. just in case: these are my previous yt letters; this is my tumblr. i write at a03 under delgaserasca, and if you need to ask someone about things i dig in fic, hit up hestia8 or sonictoaster.

HAVE FUN FRIEND. I DEMAND IT. (kindly.)

xoxo delga

!!!!! Happy New Year, everyone! I woke up at stupid o'clock this morning to work an entirely pointless shift in my parents' store BUT because Yuletide reveals don't happen until America is awake, there's time to get my recs in, hurrah!

First off: SOMEONE WROTE ME SAZ KAUR FIC. It is GREAT. It is all about unravelling the numbers in her brain, which I really, truly love because Some Girls is a comedy and so a lot of the nuance in the characters is played for laughs. I think Saz gets a tough deal sometimes but I also think I'm sensitive to her characterisation. BUT THE FIC! It is so good! It nails a level of alienation that is backed up less by cultural norms (which is also a thing, but also NOT a thing) and more by personal circumstance. AND it's funny and warm and sad and just GOSH lovely Go read it: greater than or equal to (Some Girls)

Sometimes the best Saz can do is to take what she’s observed and combine it with what she’s seen other people do and try to extrapolate how she’s supposed to behave. That’s probably just how human interaction is supposed to work, only it’s meant to be subconscious. When Saz was with Joe, and then when she wasn’t, she paid a lot of attention to what her friends’ boyfriends were like. Rocky, for instance, couldn’t go five minutes without texting Viva to ask if she thought aliens had pets and would leashes still work with no gravity, and Brandon would go completely mental if he didn’t hear back from Holli right away, and whatever delinquent Holli was not-banging in any given week was sure to be slobbering after her all the time, and everyone said that if she and Joe were going to be long distance, communication was even more important, so Saz communicated.

Other recs! I actually did all my yuletide reading yesterday and I found I just didn't know most of the fandoms. So here is best of the 15 that I read.

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Five Women Ryan Stone Met On the Road (And One Man She Technically Never Did) (Gravity/other fandoms)

The girl with the CHICAGO cardboard sign bends down to look through the opened passenger's side window and introduces herself as Cosima Nie-Holy-Shit-You're-Ryan-Stone.

THIS FIC. In an effort to deal with her mounting PTSD symptoms, Ryan takes to picking up hitchhikers. The fic includes crossovers with Sleepy Hollow, Orphan Black, The X-Files, Elementary and The Heat, and is on-point and in character. LOVELY.

(You should read ALL the Gravity fics because they are all haunting and deft and just lovely. But this is kindlier.)

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the wine on our breath puts the love in our tongues (Frances Ha)

So she decided to call this chapter of her life spartan and minimalist. Other words for that could be empty and lonely but she made the active decision not to refer to her life at present as either of those things. Those words, she decided, could exist on the opposite side of the aisle, amidst the collection of all the things she does not have.

Frances throws a party - in Sophie's place. What I really loved about Frances Ha - apart from everything - is that Sophie is not a great friend and you slowly learn that across the course of the film. You learn it as Frances learns it, and that's cool - you love your friends regardless of their faults or they're not your friends. This fic does a great job of amplifying Frances' awareness but also that middleground you meet when it's necessary to do so. I also really love the reported style which I think does a great job of replicating a) that arch way Frances and Sophie have of speaking, and b) the greyscale used in the post-production. I can't quite explain how tone achieves that but I think you'll know what I mean.

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#knemma (Emma)

GK
But
what happened between you and Elton?

Emma W
what
lol
it was super awkward
he was like “I’ve loved you since forever”
by which he meant Halloween
(Haz and I posted our Elementary cosplay pictures
and he went on about it, remember?)
and I was like
“what???” and “I THOUGHT YOU LIKED HAZ”
and had to block him from this account
because he kept insisting
and then he made a cryptic post in his DW
but it wasn’t cryptic enough because his girlfriend
who's not only real but has a tumblr
totally understood and started messaging me
so I had to block her too.
WTF.

GK
There’s a fandomwank report.

OH MY GOD A MODERNISATION OF AUSTEN'S EMMA THAT IS SET IN FANDOM. It's all in chatspeak, but fuuuuck, it works. I love this. Shut up. It's fab.

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Annum Novum (The Eagle)

"Seven days you've been gone," Esca snapped, unable to contain his anger.

"My uncle forced me to stay and rest for a night, or I would have been home earlier." Esca saw now that Marcus was shuddering, with either cold or exhaustion, or both. "I am glad to be back, now."

"You're a fool." Esca stepped up close and fisted his hand in the front of Marcus' cloak, and Marcus came forward, leaning against him with most of his weight. They embraced. After a while Esca became aware that his hand was twisted tightly in the hair at the back of Marcus neck. Marcus did not protest it.

There are SO MANY "and then they live on a farm together" fics for this fandom and I love them ALL. I especially love the following: PINING; continued lack of understanding over one another's cultures; Esca worrying about Marcus' leg; MARCUS WORRYING ESCA WILL LEAVE. I also greatly enjoy reading baout their attempts at farming and the difficulties they have to overcome. This fic has all of that and is just. Yes. Excellent.

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Former Detectives Club (Broadchurch)

"Why did you leave Scotland?" Miller is pretending to squint at the setting sun—but even sitting next to her and looking out at the harbour himself, Alec can tell she's got her head on one side and is actually peering shrewdly at him.

He sighs and leans against the back of the park bench. "I've got a heart condition", he says. "Had to get away from all that fried food, didn't I."

The best part of the show was Alec and Ellie's double act, and this fic continues that in the kindliest manner. The characterisation is spot on; I can't commend it enough.

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Lastly, a rec for an app/site. Do you read fanfic or anything on the internet? Use POCKET. Seriously, best app I've used in ages. You can add things to it from your phone, tablet, laptop, browser etc. and read things on the go. Download quickly when you have a net connection, and then read your longfic on the go. It also has organisational features, and makes it easy for you to share things with friends. Sometimes I let out a siren call for fluff recs, and the next thing I know, wliberation has sent me a handful on pocket. AMAZING. Get it here: http://getpocket.com

Dear yuletider,

Assignments came out today, but I am heading into work and still haven't sorted out my letter which is terrible. I'm so sorry!

You should know first up that I am going to be full-on excited for whatever you write. I wish I were a better recipient! Don't let details upset you. Write what feels right. I want this to be nothing but a pleasure for you.

I prefer-character driven stuff and I enjoy thought-out plots; I am big on female friendships. That said, I read pretty much anything these days. My biggest fandom at the moment is full of slash, so. Yeah.

I will be back to populate this part with more details re: individual fandoms but if you hit up my Yuletide tag, you'll find my previous letters and there'll be a lot of crossover, so please make use of them.

Yuletide writer, I love you already! I'm sorry I'm so tardy this year,

delgaserasca kiss kiss

Dear Yuletider!

Hello fandom-sharer! That's always the best bit, I think - when someone else likes what you like. I'm going to try to be concise this year, but if you have any questions, you can probably ask hestia8. Either she'll be able to tell you if something is what I'd like, or she'll be able to covertly interrogate me to find out.

( general things that I like. )

( fandom specifics. )

Please don't go mad over my prompts. I mean that. I would like you to have fun! For all that I have thrown a lot of words around above, I will read pretty much anything. Unless you hit my no-no's, I will be so chuffed with whatever you write. Go with what feels right to you. And maybe we can talk about it in the new year!

Much love,
delgaserasca

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So much for being concise.

In case you missed them, I received two most excellent Lix-related fics this year:

DEAREST YULETIDE AUTHOR,

Hello! Thank you for offering to write one of my fandoms! Thank you for even liking one of my fandoms! I am already excited about whatever you will write because I already know that I am going to love it.

Below is some stuff that may or may not be useful. Take what you will, disregard the rest. (I am trying to make my letter less...VERBOSE this year. Possibly I have already failed.)

( and so on. )

In sum: thaaaaaaank yooooou! No, seriously, thank you. I hope you enjoy writing what I know I will enjoy reading. I hope that none of the optional details give you indigestion; they're truly optional, and I will take anything whatsoever. I am very grateful. Very!

Much love,
delgaserasca

DEAR YULETIDE WRITER:

Hiiiiii!

(If you find this letter SCARY and USELESS and INTIMIDATING, then please go ahead and ignore it. No, for serious, forget it exists.)

This is my second Yuletide and I continue to be massively excited about the whole thing! MARVELLOUS! Thank you in advance for being my Yuletide Giver; I am already honoured to have you on board, not to mention tres grateful. You should know that I am 100% guaranteed to love anything you write me, a) because I love these fandoms and b) because I tend to fare badly on fic exchange challenges and Yuletide is the one occasion where this hasn't happened.

( long-winded intro is long-winded. )

( useful links & general info )

( fandom specifics )

I feel like I've made things MORE difficult as opposed to less and the last thing I want to do is delivery a coronary on anyone. Give something you enjoyed writing, not something that made you want to thrash your skull with a spanner. If that means ignoring everything except my absolute no-no's then go for it. If inspiration takes and you write something else, I WILL NOT MIND. In short: oh gosh, please don't be scared.

To conclude: am excited; am crazy; adore you already!

Thanks!
delgaserasca

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.

( things what I like. )

( fandom specifics. Now with links! )

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