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Dear Yulemouse
14 October 2012 09:44 pmThank you for agreeing to write in one of these fandoms. I can only hope you enjoy writing a story as much as I will reading it -- for certainly, there will be squees ringing off the mountains when it arrives given, dude, it's in a fandom I wanted.
General:
Having fun is good. Sex (het, slash, femslash, multi) can be good, but so can gen -- whatever floats the fic's boat. Ditto adventure stories, comedy, smut, mystery, over-the-top cracktasticly silly rom-com, or meditative slice-of-life -- it's all good. In general, if it's what you like to write, and you are having fun, it'll be good writing. My favorite kink is wit. My worst turn-off is social-humiliation "humor." I'm generally not into wangsting, but am willing to be sold on it -- especially if it's in voice with the original.
Specifics:
Kokin Wakashuu (Kokinshuu) - Anything. And by "anything," I mean anything. A superliberal interpretation of the circumstance of a poem's composition a la Uta-Koi? Sure. Something more realistic, like an elegant epistolary exchange including a couple poems? Yup. A fantasy or a romantic space opera or a hard-boiled mystery inspired by the imagery or tone of some poems -- whatever you want, O Yulemouse. But then, if you signed up to write in this fandom, you probably already have some ideas anyway, and don't need those prompts, and which case go for it.
Resources: The two most modern translations of the Kokinshu are by Laurel Rasplica Rodd and Helen Craig McCullough -- the latter is a slightly better reading copy but is harder to find, being out-of-print. I've been working my own translations, which are indexed here, but have only gotten through book 5. If seeing what others have done might be helpful, there's the AO3 tag for this fandom.
Chinese mythology - In the Qixi/Tanabata legends, there are multiple versions of how the annual conjugal visit of the Cowherd and the Weaver Princess occurs -- the most romantic being, of course, by crossing a bridge of magpie wings or of autumn leaves floating on the River of Heaven. One of the more interesting, though, is that the Cowherd is ferried across by a Boatman on the night of the Seventh. In Japanese versions of this story (this may also be in Chinese versions, and I just haven't found them), there are hints that the rest of the year, the ferryboatman is also a guard patrolling the bank of the River of Heaven to preventing the Cowherd from sneaking across. What I want, dear Yulemouse, is a story about this ferryman during the REST of the year. Be as inventive with the participants as you want -- feel free to include other minor Chinese deities, and as well to ignore the possibility that he's guarding the River.
Resources: I don't have any, sorry. Though if it's any help, here's some Japanese Tanabata poems, most of which don't mention him.
Heroides - Ovid - What I want is a response to one of the first fourteen unpaired letters (I would prefer it if you ignored Sappho who, though she is a Greek who has been mythologized, is not a character of Greek mythology) -- but as usual, optional details are optional and the format of Yuletide, probably wisely, does not allow me to specifically request this. Given Ovid as a canon, though, it's hard to go wrong with just about anything, so I'm very unlikely to be disappointed by anything you write.
I should probably note that though the canon is in verse, the fic need not be. English is strongly preferred as my Latin is beyond rusty at this point. The tone should be anything you feel is appropriate to the situation, be it grim, fluffy, snarky, surreal, self-excusing, or whatnot -- as long as it's Ovidian.
Resources: There's quite a few translations dating back to Elizabethan times, most of which I have not read; the Penguin Classics edition at least has the virtue of clarity, but there may be better ones out there.
Again, thank you thank you thank you.
---L.
General:
Having fun is good. Sex (het, slash, femslash, multi) can be good, but so can gen -- whatever floats the fic's boat. Ditto adventure stories, comedy, smut, mystery, over-the-top cracktasticly silly rom-com, or meditative slice-of-life -- it's all good. In general, if it's what you like to write, and you are having fun, it'll be good writing. My favorite kink is wit. My worst turn-off is social-humiliation "humor." I'm generally not into wangsting, but am willing to be sold on it -- especially if it's in voice with the original.
Specifics:
Kokin Wakashuu (Kokinshuu) - Anything. And by "anything," I mean anything. A superliberal interpretation of the circumstance of a poem's composition a la Uta-Koi? Sure. Something more realistic, like an elegant epistolary exchange including a couple poems? Yup. A fantasy or a romantic space opera or a hard-boiled mystery inspired by the imagery or tone of some poems -- whatever you want, O Yulemouse. But then, if you signed up to write in this fandom, you probably already have some ideas anyway, and don't need those prompts, and which case go for it.
Resources: The two most modern translations of the Kokinshu are by Laurel Rasplica Rodd and Helen Craig McCullough -- the latter is a slightly better reading copy but is harder to find, being out-of-print. I've been working my own translations, which are indexed here, but have only gotten through book 5. If seeing what others have done might be helpful, there's the AO3 tag for this fandom.
Chinese mythology - In the Qixi/Tanabata legends, there are multiple versions of how the annual conjugal visit of the Cowherd and the Weaver Princess occurs -- the most romantic being, of course, by crossing a bridge of magpie wings or of autumn leaves floating on the River of Heaven. One of the more interesting, though, is that the Cowherd is ferried across by a Boatman on the night of the Seventh. In Japanese versions of this story (this may also be in Chinese versions, and I just haven't found them), there are hints that the rest of the year, the ferryboatman is also a guard patrolling the bank of the River of Heaven to preventing the Cowherd from sneaking across. What I want, dear Yulemouse, is a story about this ferryman during the REST of the year. Be as inventive with the participants as you want -- feel free to include other minor Chinese deities, and as well to ignore the possibility that he's guarding the River.
Resources: I don't have any, sorry. Though if it's any help, here's some Japanese Tanabata poems, most of which don't mention him.
Heroides - Ovid - What I want is a response to one of the first fourteen unpaired letters (I would prefer it if you ignored Sappho who, though she is a Greek who has been mythologized, is not a character of Greek mythology) -- but as usual, optional details are optional and the format of Yuletide, probably wisely, does not allow me to specifically request this. Given Ovid as a canon, though, it's hard to go wrong with just about anything, so I'm very unlikely to be disappointed by anything you write.
I should probably note that though the canon is in verse, the fic need not be. English is strongly preferred as my Latin is beyond rusty at this point. The tone should be anything you feel is appropriate to the situation, be it grim, fluffy, snarky, surreal, self-excusing, or whatnot -- as long as it's Ovidian.
Resources: There's quite a few translations dating back to Elizabethan times, most of which I have not read; the Penguin Classics edition at least has the virtue of clarity, but there may be better ones out there.
Again, thank you thank you thank you.
---L.