Dear Yuletide Writer (2021)

Dear Yuletide Writer

Hello! Thank you so much for looking at this letter- it’s my first time writing one so I really hope this is useful! My Ao3 name is Aequoria.

All of the prompts and suggestions in here are optional!

Fandoms and characters I’ve requested (a bit more info for each fandom further in the letter):
* 成化十四年 | The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty (TV)

* Tang Fan (The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty)
* Wang Zhi (The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty)

* 成化十四年 - 梦溪石 | The Fourteenth Year of Chenghua - Meng Xi Shi

* Tang Fan (The Fourteenth Year of Chenghua)
* Wang Zhi (The Fourteenth Year of Chenghua)

* Dark Matter - Michelle Paver

* The Ghost (Dark Matter)
* Jack Miller (Dark Matter)

* Emelan - Tamora Pierce

* Briar Moss (Emelan)

 

General Do Not Wants:

* Non-canonical major character death
* Hurt without comfort
* Angst without a happy or hopeful ending
* Dubious consent (but noncon is okay)
* Detailed/graphic torture
* Character being forced to eat bad food
* Control of someone’s food in general
* Eating disorders
* Any use of the word naughty in whatever context
* Cheating
* Religious themes (mention of any religion is fine, if it’s respectful)
* Kinks: bloodplay, ageplay, petplay, breathplay, scat

General Likes:
* Mysteries and casefics
* Some kind of adventure
* Fake dating
* Faked character death
* Going undercover
* Happy endings
* Kidnap and rescue scenarios
* Ghosts
* Psychological horror
* Sexual harassment
* Non-consensual sex (but please no dubcon)
* Kinks: D/s, light bondage, DP, size kink, object insertion exhibitionism, actually using the safeword
* Detailed settings or universes, especially if they are specific to the author’s experiences! Put as many niche facts as you like, use the fic as an excuse to write about your favourite topics, that’s always a lot of fun to read!

I particularly enjoy mysteries but if there’s any kind of adventure element I would be really happy! I can take a lot of angst and whump if I’m sure that it isn’t going to be a hopeless ending.

The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty

Sign-up text for Sleuth of Ming Dynasty:

Tang Fan and Wang Zhi have to go undercover to solve a case. Canon or modern, high-stakes or low-stakes, it doesn’t matter, but I really want to see them going undercover and having the fear of being caught plus the exhilaration of tricking their targets so well.

I would love it to be fun until it’s not, when the stakes get higher and maybe they both have to do something they don’t want for the good of the case, or security of Ming, or safety of people around them. The exact circumstances can be up to you, but I love the idea of Wang Zhi being conflicted but knowing what he needs to do, and Tang Fan trusting that Wang Zhi will make the choice he needs to make. But a happy ending for both of them please!

I have a preference for a romantic dynamic between them, but a strong platonic relationship is also fine! Sui Zhou and/or Ding Rong would be welcome additions to a poly relationship if that’s the way you want to go, but I’d like the focus to be on Wang Zhi and Tang Fan :)

Do Not Want: non-canonical character death, hurt without comfort, angst without a happy ending, any mention of eating disorders, food control including diets, or a character eating bad food, any mention of the word naughty in any context, Wang Zhi shipped with a royal family member

I have a deep love for the way Wang Zhi protects Tang Fan and physically touches him. I think he deeply loves Tang Fan, more than he expected to love someone outside of the palace, and it throws him off-balance. Wang Zhi is somewhat haunted by the knowledge that he can never put Tang Fan first and by the fact that he would even WANT to.

I love how their priorities and principles are the same until they’re not, and how Wang Zhi does his best to keep Tang Fan alive even when it doesn’t fit his “I help you, you help me” motto.

I really enjoy their casual, comfortable banter, their flirtation, their trust that the other will do what is right even if they don’t always agree with the methods.

If they are doing something that requires an M or E rating, I have a preference for Wang Zhi topping or otherwise being in control of the situation.

Fourteenth Year of Chenghua

Sign-up text for Fourteenth Year of Chenghua:

Tang Fan has gotten himself kidnapped again, and Wang Zhi rescues him in his typically reckless, dramatic fashion, and perhaps earns himself a kiss of gratitude from the official in distress.

Please make this as serious or as fun as you like! I ESPECIALLY love any and all descriptions of Wang Zhi’s physical strength and martial ability in the novel, and bonus points if you make him say some truly creative insults.

Canon setting or modern AUs both welcome!

I have a preference for a romantic dynamic between them, but a strong platonic relationship is also fine! Sui Zhou would be a welcome addition to a poly relationship if that’s the way you want to go, but I’d like the focus to be on Wang Zhi and Tang Fan :)

Do Not Want: non-canonical character death, hurt without comfort, angst without a happy ending, any mention of eating disorders, food control including diets, or a character eating bad food, any mention of the word naughty in any context, Wang Zhi shipped with a royal family member

I especially love the contrast between Wang Zhi’s physical strength, recklessness, and arrogance with Tang Fan’s less-strong physique, cautiousness, and his own brand of arrogance, and also all the trouble that these get them into. They also just know each other so well, and even though they don’t always get along and they find each other to be quite baffling sometimes due to their differences, it’s fascinating to me that there is a kind of trust between them! Also, they will ride out to save the other and that is always so much fun.

If they are doing something that requires an M or E rating, I have a preference for Wang Zhi topping or otherwise being in control of the situation.

Emelan

Sign-up text:
I would love to see field botanist or nature documentary presenter Briar, but still with his powers. It doesn’t even have to be a modern AU either— if you can think of an equivalent within the Emelan universe, that would also be really fun!

Do Not Want: eating disorders, food control including diets, or a character eating bad food, any mention of the word naughty in any context, angst without a happy ending

I love their magic in Emelan and all the different things they can do with it. I especially love the way plants kind of gravitate towards Briar, and any depiction of that makes me incredibly happy. I’d love it if the fic still had all their magic play a big part in it, even if it’s set somewhere other than canon Emelan. Aged-up, modern AUs with magic are very welcome!

Briar is my absolute favourite character in the whole series, but I totally wouldn’t mind seeing the rest of the group in there if that’s where your writing takes you!

Dark Matter

Sign-up text:
I would absolutely love to get to know the ghost a little more, whether we see things from the ghost’s POV or Jack. Anything which still has that slow, building terror from the novel, but with some more background and personality for the ghost. Whether you want to set it within the canon or in a modern AU, or another classic horror setting (haunted house, etc) is fine by me!

I am actually a big fan of ghost/human romances but you don’t have to go there if you don’t want to. Regardless, I really enjoy blurring the lines between love and fear, so I do kind of want to see the ghost and Jack growing closer and getting to know each other as people-and-dead-people rather than simply being terrifying presences.

Will the ghost ever leave him alone? Will Jack ever even try to leave that place? Will he die and they become ghosts together, unable to ever be apart since they’re both tied so deeply to the land? (I normally don’t want major character death or angst without a happy ending, as you might see from my letter, but this fandom is a definite exception!)

Feel free to include other characters if you’d like, but I would prefer if the ghost and Jack are the focus.

Do Not Want: any mention of eating disorders, food control including diets/starvation, or a character eating bad food, any mention of the word naughty in any context, very detailed description of torture or gore

Nothing much to add here, but I am really really intrigued by psychological horror and I would love to read something centring around the ghost and Jack. I’m not super into gritty survival stories, or gore, or graphic depictions of death or violence, but I love the constant questioning of reality and the slow, creeping kind of terror. I like it when ghosts have personalities too, and I like unsettling situations where a ghost can be sometimes helpful but sometimes vicious, difficult to predict and mercurial in mood.

I don’t mind this being in canon or in an AU, as long as the ghost is still a very tangible presence and has an equivalent backstory. If you add other characters into the fic, I’d prefer it if they were not the focus!

(If it helps at all I have also never been opposed to ghostly romances, if that’s the way your writing takes you! Otherwise, gen is absolutely fine.)

Thank you very much for writing for me, and I hope you have fun!

Love,
Bish