elen_nare | Juletide writer letter 2020!

Dear Juletide Writer,

First, thank you so much for this! Here are things I like or dislike in general, and some ideas for each fandom. I know this looks rather long, I'm just trying to make it as detailed as possible in case that makes it easier for you. I adore each and every one of these fandoms, so getting fic for any of them will make me a very, very happy person!

General stuff:

Ratings-wise, I’m fine with anything. I’m fine with (of age, consensual) sex scenes if that’s where the story’s going - though gen fic is equally awesome! I’m not too fond of highly detailed graphic violence, but if it’s absolutely necessary to your fic, go ahead.

Feel free to look through my journal for inspiration :) You can also find me on AO3 and on Tumblr.

A plotty story, a character piece, an exploration of friendship or romance, an adventure, a quiet moment, a missing scene, a different POV to the canon... Any and all of these are great! Gen, het, slash, femslash, are all fine. I'm not really looking for AUs for Juletide. With crossovers it depends on the fandoms; essentially, if there's a way they could realistically meet (same time period and universe - or canonical time/universe shenanigans) any fandom I know is fair game (anything tagged on here or reblogged on tumblr would work). I’d still want the main focus to be on the requested fandom, though.

Things I like: friendship, friends helping each other out, humour, banter, nerdiness, science, happy (or happy-ish at least, not overwhelming despair) endings, worldbuilding, sibling love (and family interactions in general), found families...and a great many other things! These were just the first that came to mind.

Things I dislike: suicide - I’d prefer it if you didn’t kill any major characters (other than canon deaths), but if you absolutely must, please avoid suicide! - , noncon/dubcon, incest, gratuitous violence, underage sex, unrelieved gloom and angst, character/ship bashing.

Fandom specific:

Listed in alphabetical order. Obviously, all optional details are optional! I'm just giving them in case you're interested (or stuck for ideas and wondering why you ever offered to write this fandom :P). For the “ideas” lists, they’re absolutely not intended to be mutually exclusive, nor exhaustive - mix, blend, combine, as you like, or throw them out the window! I include them in my letters because I’ve found them really useful myself :) Spoilers abound I’m afraid, so if there’s something on here you’re interested in reading/watching and haven’t yet, I’d avoid that section. Feel free to include any other characters, nominated or not.

Chalet School series - Hilda Annersley, Nell Wilson

I just love these two women and their relationship. They’re quite different in many ways, but they complement each other perfectly.

A few ideas:

Their first meeting and the start of their friendship, back in Tirol.
Dealing with unruly schoolgirls (in any stage of the school’s life)! The middles’ absurd pranks are always fun. Alternately, helping a girl in trouble.
Rebuilding the school after having to flee Austria - how did their exile change them?
The challenges either or both of them faced when they first took up the Headship of the school.
A holiday together (perhaps not the ill-fated one in “Gay from China” - or if you like that one, please don’t end with the accident and everyone despairing of Hilda surviving! I wouldn’t mind the accident being in it, or even being the focus, but don’t end it there, please).
Hilda’s recovery - there’s Nell’s visit to her at half-term mentioned in “Mystery”, and she shows up for the play, but really we don’t get much of it! Or her return at the start of "Rosalie"- we don't exactly see much of it from her perspective.
Learning to work together as co-Heads - how easy or hard was it? Did they clash a lot? What differences did they find, going from Senior Mistress and Head to Co-Heads?
Retiring - did they stay in Switzerland, go back to England, split time between the two, go somewhere else entirely? Perhaps they travel before settling down, visit Old Girls scattered around the globe... how do the School and St Mildred’s say goodbye to them? Who takes over as Head.

What I love about this fandom: I’ve always liked school stories in general, but since I started reading the Chalet School they’ve become some of my favourites in the genre. I love how much personality the teachers have, rather than being simply authority figures; how we get to hear about old characters; the way the school grows and evolves, but remains true to its ideals; the war books; and so on and so forth.

What I love about these characters: They’re both such strong women, who have been through so much, and only come out stronger. I love Nell’s sarcasm, and her courage, and Hilda’s kindness, and I love the friendship and love between them. I definitely ship them, but I’d be happy with them portrayed as friends, a platonic relationship, a romantic one, anything in between... I don’t need them to be in love - just to love each other :) (Of course, if you do want to ship them, that’s great!)

High Rollers (Aerois campaign) - Qillek Ad Khollar, Lucius Virion-Elluin Elenasto

I would be delighted to see any or all of the other PCs as co-stars, I love them all! This is a tricky one because it’s an ongoing canon (I won’t update the letter so you don’t have to re-check it, you can probably find me yelling on tumblr if there are any huge developments!), but here are a few ideas:

Quill has let his family think he’s dead since the lightning strike - did Lucius losing his family make him rethink that decision at all? (Also, I am fascinated by how everyone but Sentry knows this, and Quill doesn’t know they know!)
The whole “Elenasto fiasco” arc was such a pivotal part of Lucius’s character growth, anything set around there could be interesting.
There’s been a few “big” time skips, in Gusthaven, on the Stormchaser, some days on the Twinstar Longbow - what did they do in those? But there’s also just the natural gaps of travelling, camping, and so on; I love quiet conversations and missing moments.
I very much ship Quill and Lucius! (I have /thoughts/ on how they could potentially deal with the “vastly different lifespans” thing… True Polymorph might work, or Clone, or maybe Divine Intervention? Or a well-worded Wish of course.) So anything shippy between the two of them would delight me… And they’re (probably?) roommates on the Twinstar Longbow!
The party meeting on the Sparrowblade? How have Quill and Lucius’s opinions of everyone changed over time?

What I love about this fandom: So much! I’ve loved seeing them come together, from strangers to willing to die for each other. I love the world of Aerois, the fantasy-sci-fi vibes. I like how well-intentioned they are, and also how utterly terrible they can be at communicating those good intentions at times! ~~I also enjoy having my heart broken by cruel uncaring plastic polyhedrons, apparently~~. You can find plenty of my ramblings about it over on tumblr! I’m pretty familiar with 5e if you want to have fun with game mechanics, but I’m also totally happy with ignoring them for better narrative.

What I love about these characters: Quill, my darling bird boi, I love ~~and may identify just a bit with~~ his worrying and nervousness, how he tries to plan for every eventuality. I also love how he is slowly gaining in confidence, both in his abilities and in his friends. I like his game-breakingly ridiculous perception and how it still never saves them from getting brookstoned ;) And Lucius, I love how very much he loves his friends, how he’ll risk anything for them (even as it utterly terrifies me at times when he's doing things like try and block lava with absorb elements, with how very squishy he is). I love how much he’s grown from the sheltered daddy’s boy he was at the start, but also how he still sometimes has that endearing naivete, how he still loves his shiny hair and fancy clothes. I love how much they look out for each other - Lucius tends to be the one Quill heals and uses Portent on, Lucius saved Quill with that Lightning Lure on Aegis V (that moment and the whole "you have to justify why this would work" "It's Birdie boy" "Yeah ok it works" killed me!).

Swallows and Amazons - Nancy Blackett, John Walker

It was incredibly hard to choose characters for this fandom, so feel free to bring in any and all others you like as co-stars! A few ideas:

Childhood adventures at the lake? A missing moment from any of the books would be lovely… Another houseboat battle, like the one Nancy was planning at the end of Pigeon Post? Going up to the mine again to see how it’s progressed? Another trip to Secret Water? The first part of the Sea Bear trip?
Growing up and leaving schooldays behind - what’s it like, when John is away at sea, Nancy… what does Nancy do? Go to University perhaps, try to become a journalist-cum-travel-writer like Uncle Jim?
As adults, pre, during, or post war – what do they do, how does the war affect them? John has to be in the Navy, and I can see Nancy in the Wrens - or the SOE if she got a chance? (I headcanon Jim as having done Intelligence work, so that may have been a way in?)
I admit I ship them like there’s no tomorrow, so anything shippy will make me squee - Growing up and suddenly noticing the other one isn’t a child any more either? Wartime and suddenly realising they could lose each other? Or a less dramatic realisation built of tiny moments?
If you don't feel like ship-fic, I will be equally delighted with gen-fic, but would rather they weren't paired up with anyone else :)

What I love about this fandom: It’s one of my favourite book series ever. I love the way there’s never a sense of just “playing pretend” – they are (to themselves, at least) pirates or explorers or miners or an arctic expedition or martyrs or picts... I like how everyone works together, and how hard they work – how they all bring something to the team, and how they’re all valued. I like how they can be friends without having to be all the same; how they respect each other, even if they don’t see eye to eye on some things.

What I love about these characters: I love John’s honesty, his steadfastness, his sense of responsibility (and how it can go too far and lead him to pile far too much on his shoulders). I love Nancy’s fierceness, her determination, how quick and insightful she is. I love how they are always, always equals - and competitive with it, absolutely! But how there’s never any sense either in their thoughts or the narration that Nancy being a girl makes the slightest bit of difference between them.