Dear Yuletide Writer -- (What I like in my fic)

[partly]

So glad to see you are being part of Yuletide! Thank you for writing a story for me. Please have fun because that’s why we write, right?

I love my shows. I love my shows. Not just parts of the show or a couple of the characters or the concept or a ship on the show but the whole show. I watch the shows because I love what I see on the screen and I want my fanfic to give me more of the same.

I want fanfic that fits canon. Something that could drop into the show with out disrupting the show. I don’t want fanfic to fix or change anything. I love dialogue and adventure. I love drama and tension. I love banter and daring deeds. I love the psychological aspect of the characters and the show. I love fanfic that skirts the edge of melodrama – big risks, big emotion, big damn heroes – because that’s the type of show that I love.

I don’t do ships. Or slash. Or “Romance” with that capital R. Don’t get me wrong I love a good romantic tale, but I like my romance to be grounded in friendship and loyalty and need and sacrifice. The hardest part of any romance it the non-romantic parts – those are the parts I’m interested in.

I’m all about character relationships. I’m about the hard choices between what’s convenient and what’s necessary and what’s right. I’m all about how the characters live with the hard decisions and painful sacrifices that have to be made.

I do dark, but not depressing. I love angst but I need hope. I love all my characters and hate it when one is destroyed in order to make another look good. I love out side POVs that let me see the characters I love through the eyes of others. I adore fic that is a “slice of life” about the characters.

I have no specific ideas on the fandoms themselves. I love all the characters I listed. I love the friendships between them. I love how the work and how they think and the mistakes they make and how they fix those mistakes. Write the characters and I will be happy.

TL:DR version: I want fanfic to fit into the tale that was told on TV or the big screen. I want more of the characters I fell in love with. Canon is a good, good thing. Friendship is the only ship that interests me because it’s the basis of everything else.

Recently I got a comment on a fic that said it was "competence porn". That is what I love in fic. I want my characters to be competent. Not perfect. Not always right. But competent. Good at what they're good at. Not stupid. Not inane. Not bully-ish. I like my characters to be competent versions of who they are.

I like characters who are smart and strong and flawed and gloriously human. The characters I like may do stupid things, but they are never stupid.

ETA: And I love, LOVE, LOVE crossovers. As long as the main focus of the crossover is a fandom I love, I don't care what show it's crossed over with. Of course, keeping in mind my complete and total love of cannon, this can prove a challenge. But the whole "outsider POV" is made so much more interesting when the "outsider" is someone we know.

Thank you!

Posted at the top of my journal because I only linked my journal and not a post. It will disappear in a bit.

Comments

[kitap.livejournal.com]

Did I come up with a good pair of shows to cross over?

[partly.livejournal.com]

Are we talking your ATeam/CSI crossover? Then yes, you did. If you have some other crossover that I don't know about, you seriously need to share.

Your fic did a great job staying canon and exploring everyone. It was your fic, in fact, that made me like Grissom a little more. So I think you did a great job!