Yuletide Letter

Dear Yuletide Writer,

First of all thank you! Whether you’ve been assigned to me, you’re looking for people to treat or you’ve just stumbled across here by accident, thank you for reading and taking an interest! This is my first Yuletide so hopefully I’m doing everything alright!

My Ao3 is Twilfitt6 feel free to have a look at that if that helps to get an idea of what I personally tend to write.

If you already have a strong idea of what you want to write for me I’m completely cool with you ignoring this and going with your own ideas, this is just here to give you inspiration and an idea of what I was thinking when I nominated these fandoms and characters!

MINI-CHALLENGES I’VE SIGNED UP FOR

Chromatic Yuletide (for Luther and Stephen Poliakoff films)
TransTide

 

GENERAL LIKES AND DNWS

General Likes
- trans characters!
- angst
- unhappy/ open endings
- sex as character study
- butch characters
- explorations of guilt
- complicated family dynamics
- trans sex!
- historical and geographical accuracy!
- character studies and explorations
- tone and themes similar to canon
- trains, planes and cars as settings (I’m just an autistic boy at heart)

General DNWs
- pregnancy
- incest
- non-con
- underage
- suicide / self harm / any sort of harm involving wrists
- overly described medical trauma
- “fix-it” happy endings to canon
- omega-verse/ ABO
- chronically ill characters and disability headcanons
- Setting change AUs (canon divergence is fine)
- M/M smut (exception if one or both parties is trans masc)
- Christmas/ festive focus

There are some exceptions to my DNWs noted in fandom notes for certain circumstances but overall I’d rather my writer not focus on any of these topics in detail.

LUTHER (TV)

John Luther, Alice Morgan
My gift must feature one or more of my chosen character tags (giver's choice)

Fandom promo!

This is the fandom that got me to start my Ao3 page and it’s always got a dear place in my heart. You could write (almost) anything in this fandom and I will be grateful. That being said there’s a few things I don’t want: focus on canonical suicide attempts of the nominated characters, anything set in Season 4 or 5 (I’ll get over it one day, that days not today), smut involving Jenny (I love her but I didn’t nom her just because I’d only want gen fic about her) and (perhaps surprisingly because I nominated two procedurals) I’m not really a big fan of casefic, like if you can write it well or you’ve got a great idea go ahead but it’s not a route I’d encourage my writer to go.

 

John Luther / Alice Morgan

 

I love these two and their horrible co-dependent relationship so much, I also do love them as individuals so I do have some prompts underneath for that as well. Anyway I think they should have some fucked up evil sex. What is “fucked up evil sex” you ask, well that, dear writer, is for you to define. I also think they should get to drive around in cars as well, no idea about a plot for that just a vibe. It would also be interesting if you want to explore a purely platonic connection between the two (especially centred around their interactions in the first season). I tend to write John as a trans man and Alice as a high-femme bisexual so it’d be interesting to see how someone else plays with those identities, but as with my other prompts and notes feel free to disregard that and throw on whatever labels suit you as a writer. Also if you did want to go down a more PG-13 route John and Alice forming a pseudo-nuclear family to raise Jenny is a personal favourite trope of mine.

 

John Luther

 

I’d love to see more of John’s (limited life) outside of his work. He’s very much a man who defines himself by his career and it would be so interesting to see his life outside of that, whether that’s with Alice finally convincing him to run away or perhaps his marriage with Zoe before his breakdown and his work-life balance before then. I’d love a deep into his character and psyche and how he relates and fails to relate to other living people. Also John/ Justin, I know there’s a lot of potential between these two, I mainly see their relationship as platonic or one-sided on Justin’s end but if you want to write them romantically and/ or sexually that’d been fine, just fade to black (unless you write John as a trans guy, or maybe both of them as trans guys, that could be fun.) Also I don’t want any explicit labelling or head-canoning of characters having certain conditions but writing John as autistic coded is always cool. 

 

Alice Morgan

 

Alice! Favourite evil doctor! I’d let her do complex physics to me! (what’s that supposed to mean, I don’t know, I just really love her). Space and mathematics and physics metaphors would be so cool with her, trying to analyse her life like an experiment. So yeah I’d love an exploration of her and her character, maybe pre-canon building up to the murder of her parents, her time at Oxford as this supposedly “mature” child genius, that point between season 2 and season 3 where she’s just off seeing the world and living in Berlin. Also if you do want to write some Alice at Oxford stuff underage sort of comes with it but I’d rather that’s just a mentioned thing than shown. Other than John I’m fine with her being paired up with pretty much any other character (and even if she is with John I think that relationship could very much be open), her and Erin is my comfort they-never-meet-but-I-think-they-should-be-girlfriends ship, and as for characters who aren’t in the tagset, Alice / Zoe, Alice / Mark, Alice / Mary, Alice deserves to kiss all the people. Also similar to John though it’s clear she is mentally ill in canon I don’t want a fic that armchair diagnoses her or labels her but I’m fine with a fic that purposely gives her symptoms of certain disorders.

ANTOMIE D’UNE CHUTE | ANATOMY OF A FALL (2023)

Sandra Voyter, Daniel Maleski, Snoop (Anatomy of a Fall)

My gift must feature all of my chosen character tags; or it may use exceptions I explain in the form

For this fandom I don’t want smut or anything with an E rating, I’m fine with M rating as long as it’s for husbands getting thrown out of windows maturity rather than sexy times maturity. Also I don’t really want anything that anthropomorphises Snoop, seeing things through his eyes and through his perspective of events is fine I just don’t want a talking dog. Yeah I’ve been thinking about this film and this family since I first saw it so I hope to infect others with French cinema brainrot. While I’d prefer the relationships stated below to be the focus I am cool and onboard with fics that want to be a bit shippy with Sandra on the side whether that’s with hot lawyer Vincent or maybe Zoe continues her interview without interrupting music and they get to flirt more, you maybe both, what’s the point of a messy bisexual protagonist if she can’t have both. I’d either like all three nominated characters or a relationship study between two of them as specified below.

Sandra Voyter & Daniel Maleski & Snoop

Sometimes a family can just be you, your son, his dog and the ever haunting ghost of the husband you murdered. Anyway I’d love to see what happens with them after the events of the trial, do they go back to normal? What does normal look like? Do they stay in France or does Sandra move the family to Germany and if so how does Daniel react to moving or if not how does Sandra react to staying in the same place. I’d love a fic that keeps it vague whether or not Sandra killed her husband or not. I’d also be interested in some pre-canon stuff, Sandra’s thoughts and guilt about Daniel’s accident, maybe when they first get Snoop, training him as a guide dog, getting Daniel used to him. Also if it’s not clear I’m cool with fic exploring Daniel’s canonical visual disability.

Sandra Voyter & Daniel Maleski

I’d really be interested in seeing how to the fall changes the relationship between mother and son, after the accusations against Sandra (especially with the uncertainty of whether they were true or not) can Daniel ever really trust his mother, and can Sandra trust her son that could so easily consider that maybe she was a killer. And even if she did do it how can she deal with every day being faced with the flesh and blood of the man she killed, something tying her down to a country where she’s always been a foreigner. There’s a lot of room for angst and dysfunctional family relationships between these two and even maybe an exploration of what on the outside seems like a nice family moment.

Sandra Voyter & Snoop

That final shot of Snoop lying down next to her and her holding him close, Snoop filling the space where her husband should be, filling in the space of a father, a carer for Daniel. I’m probably reading too much into it but that shot means a lot for me and the potential of this connection between them, between the people who struggled with her husband whether that be arguing and fighting with him or being inadvertently poisoned by him. I just love this pure companionship that is possible between them. Maybe the most healthy relationship Sandra can hope for is with her son’s dog, and maybe that can be a good thing.

HEDDA GABLER - IBSEN

Hedda Gabler, Ejlert Løvborg, Thea Elvsted, Jørgen Tesman

My gift must feature all of my chosen character tags; or it may use exceptions I explain in the form

Completely disregard the suicide trigger warning for this one as this play is pretty much nothing if you take out the suicide and I am always fascinated by Hedda’s devotion to this idea of a beautiful death and this beauty she sees in destruction. I still don’t want anything regarding self-harm though. I’ve loved this play for such a long time and I think there’s so much potential in these character relationships that should be explored either in a snippy way or a platonic way. For fellow Hedda fans out there (Hedda-heads maybe?) my favourite productions are the 1975 filmed RSC one (here’s a link to it on YouTube) and the 2016 National Theatre production (which is what got me into the play in the first place). I am also fine with receiving fic that’s just based off the playscript though. Anyway for this fandom I’d be especially interested in queer interpretations of the characters but also I’d rather not have them labelled with modern identities and also don’t want any arm-chair diagnosing of the characters, especially Hedda. Oh and last point, pet peeve I’d rather have the characters with their original Norwegian names (Ejlert, Jørgen) than the anglicisations that some scripts use (Eilert, George) but it’s not the end of the world if you do.

Hedda/ Thea/ Ejlert/ Jørgen

Ok I don’t think polyamory is going to save them but I think they should give it ago anyway. I just love this silly little love triangle that Jørgen has somehow squeezed his way in the middle of. I didn’t nominate Brack because I didn’t have enough character slots and he isn’t my favourite but if you want to throw him in there too, the more the merrier. I think Hedda should get to sleep with Thea and Jørgen should get to sleep with Ejlert and spend all the time talking about how great he thinks his book is. I’d just be fascinated about how those dynamics between the four of them could work. I’d just like to lock the doors of that house with them all stuck inside and see what happens (I mean what’d probably happen is Hedda would burn it down but yeah that doesn’t help character development). I don’t think they should sort out their problems, maybe they could just take them out on each other, that’d be fun.

Hedda/ Thea

Ok I have a lot of thoughts on this and I love the idea of Hedda as bisexual and sapphic and interpreting her relationship with Thea through this. Like Hedda’s been places, she’s done stuff, she’s spent her time riding horses and shooting guns and being the mean masc lesbian of our collective dreams while Thea’s been stuck in her own haunted house with this husband she has nothing in common with, like Thea’s run off to be with Ejlert but maybe she can hook up with Hedda along the way. Let them have their Red Wine Supernova moment together. I think there’s some interesting kink dynamics that could be explored here, like Hedda clearly has this thing for power and control (and guns) while Thea seems to find herself drawn to broken people she wants to fix. I’m not exactly someone who loves a sickly sweet happy ending but maybe these two deserve to run off into the sunset together.

Hedda & Jørgen

Ok I’m tagging this as “&” because even though they’re married this is definitely not a romantic attachment and I wouldn’t be that interested in an exploration of it as such. I’m just fascinated by this marriage, the way Hedda’s sort of settled down and compromised into this boring life, but I’m also interested in Jørgen side of it, like is he as blind as he appears, does he truly love Hedda enough to ignore that she doesn’t feel the same or is this very much a marriage of compromise for him as well. Is he marrying her to establish a place in society in hopes of getting a good university job, or is he getting something else out of it? Perhaps is this a lavender marriage, are they both comprising on marrying someone they’re not attracted to and probably won’t have sex with to cover up their own desires. Like in my mind Hedda’s probably had sexual experiences with both women and men while Jørgen’s probably more in the closet about his feelings, if he’s ever even realised them. I’d also be interested in seeing some pre-canon of there disastrous honeymoon across Europe or even some canon-divergence of what happens if Hedda doesn’t kill herself, what does their life look like ten years on? Are they still stuck in the same house, is Hedda still alone with no company and bored, does Jørgen have the job and the academic career he so craves? 

 SILENT WITNESS (TV)

Sam Ryan (Silent Witness), Nikki Alexander

My gift must feature one or more of my chosen character tags (giver's choice)

This is the comfort show that’s getting me through university, I love my pathologist blorbos and their murder of the week antics. I’m interested in either a fic about Sam or a fic about Nikki, I’m not really interested in a crossover or something set when they meet in season 25. Disregard the DNW for medical trauma for this prompt as long as it’s not more than canon-typical levels and isn’t happening to the nominated characters themselves. For a fan of procedurals I’m not much of a fan of case fic but if you think you can do it well go ahead, I’d much prefer a fic about the characters and their lives outside of work. So yeah this practically two different requests in a trenchcoat pretending to be one so check underneath to see more ideas for a Sam fic or for a Nikki fic.

Sam Ryan

I love her. Girlboss icon. Anyway for Sam I’m not really interested in any ship or smut content, I’d prefer an individual character study or explorations with her platonic relationships, either with her team (Leo and Harry are my favourite team she’s been with) or with her family. I’d definitely be interested in fic that interprets her as queer, particularly as transfem or on the ace-aro spectrum. I’d like to see her working through some of the entrenched trauma she has around her fathers death. I have grown on the ending with her and her estranged son back in Ireland and her father as a heroic figure (I think it’s a good “happy” ending for her) so would be cool with fic that interprets that but canon divergence where she stay on in London or has a different ending is also cool. Also pre-canon of her beginning her career as a pathologist would also be fun.

Nikki Alexander

Not as interested in an queer interpretation but also saying that transfem Nikki could be fun too, everyone should be transed, I just like how she explores and embraces femininity in such a male dominated field in such a different way than Sam did before her. Much as I don’t want them to meet, comparisons between them and their parallel lives and careers would be fun. Shippy stuff is fine for Nikki, either with Jack or if you’re a connoisseur of early Nikki her and Harry are fun. I nominated Jack and Clarissa so would love to see that team in action (talking about Clarissa’s canonical disability is fine), but also fine with Harry and Leo, I was torn on nominations. Similarly as well as canon set character studies I’d also be interested in seeing her before the events of canon, off in South Africa working there could be an interesting setting. Not really interested in post canon or ending sort of fics just because the series is still ongoing.

JOE’S PALACE & A REAL SUMMER & CAPTURING MARY (STEPHEN POLIAKOFF FILMS BBC 2007)

Mary Gilbert (Stephen Poliakoff Films 2007), Geraldine (Stephen Poliakoff Films 2007), Joe (Stephen Poliakoff Films 2007)
My gift must feature one or more of my chosen character tags (giver's choice)

Fandom promo!

 

This was a last minute nomination on my part but I thought this incredibly niche trilogy of niche TV films I spent the better part of my teens drawing sapphic fanart of is perfect for Yuletide. I’m definitely more interested in receiving fic about A Real Summer or Capturing Mary than I am about receiving Joe’s Palace fic but if you want to do a character study of Joe go ahead. What I’m most interested in is Mary as a character and especially this weird complex dynamic she has with Geraldine and this carefully crafted idea of who the other is in A Real Summer (which I think is definitely sapphic in some way or another). Also mentions of canonical suicide in Geraldine’s backstory and her fears she’ll end up the same way are fine as long as it’s not the focus and as long as Geraldine doesn’t actually kill herself.

Mary Gilbert / Geraldine

One thing that would be so cool to see is Geraldine’s side of things, how does she see Mary and how does that differ from how Mary sees herself? Also some interpretation of them as reflections of each other, they’re both played by the same actress after all. But more than all of that I want them to be doomed lovers, forever destined to misunderstand each other and to never see each other again. That goodbye is so bittersweet and so perfect it just really makes me want to see what these two have had before that point. I’d love to see them struggling with their identities and this whole comphet thing they both end up embroiled in. Also post canon would be fun, we see how Mary is haunted by her past and what-ifs but what about Geraldine? And how does Mary feel about Geraldine as an older woman, do they ever meet again? Does Mary talk to Joe about her?

Mary Gilbert & Joe

Ok so continuing off the prompt above, I would like to see Mary talking to Joe about this secret love affair she had years ago, the generational divide between them would be interesting here, like Mary having this shameful secret and Joe being like “oh your bisexual, that’s cool”. Also anything Joe centric, Joe very much serves as an audience surrogate throughout the series but what about his life and how it is changed or unchanged by the people he meets along the way. Also while Joe’s sexuality is never discussed he is played by an openly gay actor so it could be really interesting to see Joe as this queer teenager with this weird friendship with this older woman and her glamorous tales of the 1950s and 1960s.