Doranwen

This would've been my 12th Yuletide if I had signed up. It feels weird to not be working on a Yuletide assignment at this time of the year, but I needed a break for several reasons:
- I've been a ph (sometimes initial, sometimes not, often lingering) for far too many times this year (MFTF being a case in point - as of yesterday, I was still lingering from being an initial ph, and it's now past the exchange deadline).
- I've had a few non-commenting or less-enthusiastic recips in the past year or two (and half the fun of exchanges is seeing my recip's comment on the fic I wrote them).
- I've had to set aside non-exchange fics I was having fun writing in order to write an exchange fic (multiple times) and by the time I could get back to them I no longer had the writing flow/inspiration for them.
- I've been just so busy with work and Yahoo Groups (which I desperately need to get to a point I can dump work back onto volunteers) that the thought of having to take time away from those projects to work on a fic assignment hasn't been very appealing.
- I've been tired of struggling to find one person I can write for in an exchange (due to having so few fandoms I can actually write, most of them tiny and little known)—and indeed, there was only one person I could've written anything for this year, and it would've been a challenge since they gave absolutely no prompts and I didn't have any specific ideas for the pair of characters.

So I'm sitting this one out. Will re-evaluate how I feel about it all come Chocolate Box time (the next exchange I usually do). But given that Leverage is now in the same boat that X-Men movies are for me (where the canon continued beyond the point I have or will probably consume it, meaning it is probably no longer safe for me to offer it), I'll be back to struggling to find offers (Leverage was my go-to last year and I hadn't exhausted it yet), and that may put a kibosh on exchanges for a while. I'll have to see…

…are amazing. Seriously. So even though hardly anyone is going to see this (and I don't have enough recs here to make a real recs post), I have to post why they are awesome.

First, there is the FBI gift:

only wind and emptiness
1,830 words of waffiness setting up Maggie's relationship with her husband till you can't help but feel the love between them, and then the phone call comes in with a WHAM and smashes her life to pieces, leaving you aching for her. Beautifully done!

And then there's the Cybergeddon treat I got in Madness:

I Saved the World and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt
1,263 words of post-saving the world fic that feels SO spot on for characterization. There's Rabbit banter and the complicated relationship with her mom and references to Gustov still being out there… I also love that in this fic Chloe sticks to her guns with her decisions and doesn't take Frank back because he insisted she put him ahead of her career. (I often want the reverse with a ship - but this one doesn't feel like it deserves that kind of choosing-each-other-first - they just aren't that solid or that committed for it.) This is such a fantastic fic! (and the title is hilariously perfect)

This is my eighth Yuletide, and I've had so much fun each year. I'm excited you're writing a story for me, and I promise I will comment with much appreciation! I did a lot of describing the awesomeness about each fandom and/or character, and gave a few prompts in case you find them useful. I hope you have a lot of fun writing for me. :)

I love characters who are strong as well as characters who are vulnerable, I love characters who have quiet depth, characters with an active inner life, characters who think and feel… You'll probably see this in the characters I requested. :)

I once made up a 101 favorite tropes list (in no particular order), so feel free to make use of those if any of them get your muse going: http://doranwen.livejournal.com/246063.html

Besides those tropes, here are my general likes:
deep platonic friendship, romantic friendship, asexual romance, found families, apocalyptic fic, hurt/comfort, nonsexual physical touch (including cuddling), self-sacrifice, characters being vulnerable, character redemption, survival fic, positive treatment of religion, characters dealing with trauma, trust building, missing scenes, canon divergence AU (especially fix-it fic)

DNWs: sex or sexual feelings, supernatural/fantasy beings (elves, vampires, werewolves, gnomes, zombies, etc.), AUs other than canon divergence or alt beginnings, deathfic or horror, calling an adult "baby" or "darling", mpreg, crackfic, gore (mild violence is OK, just not as graphic as a surgery documentary), uncensored profanity, first/second person fic

If you're crossover-inclined, here's a list of fandoms you could cross with the requested ones (besides, of course, any of my other requests):

1-800-Missing (TV) - love Jess, Brooke, and Sunny so much
C-16: FBI - Amanda and Annie are both fantastic, and Amanda's relationship with Jack is interesting
Flood (2007) - love Sam and Rob, and Patricia and Leonard, and I might be slightly shippy with those two pairs…
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman - this is in the tagset, even—Lois and Clark are my favs, though I also enjoy S1 Jimmy (I always picture him in stories I read, rather than the actor from S2+)
Lord of the Rings - books only, please
The Pretender - this is also in the tagset—Jarod and Miss Parker are my favs
Push (2009) - this is also in the tagset—am such a Nick/Cassie fan
Rizzoli & Isles (TV) - Jane and Maura are fantastic
Smallville - S1-S3 only, am a Clark/Chloe fan and not into Erica Durance's Lois, nor any of the magic stuff that came in S4
Stick It (2006) - I love Haley, lol
Sue Thomas F.B.Eye - Myles and Tara are my favs, but I love Sue and Jack too
Tomorrow, When the War Began (2010) - I'm not sure exactly how you'd cross something like that with any of my requests, but I love the whole idea of it, even
Women's Murder Club (TV) - this is also in the tagset—Lindsay and Cindy are my favs but I also like Claire a lot
X-Men movieverse - original two films only, please

You can find specific crossover-only prompts here if that interests you.

Don't worry if someone's written a similar idea before. My first real fandom was one where people used to write a dozen versions of the same TV ep, and I loved reading them all. There are never too many versions of the same story, in my opinion.


And now to the requests (in the order they appear in the tagset):

( Worldweavers - Alma Alexander )

( Gold Diggers (1995) )

( Alphas (TV) )


Happy writing! :D

I am having a BLAST with Yuletide. That is all. :)