Yuletide Letter 2019
31 October 2019 08:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
larryhammer(Context: Yuletide is an annual fanfiction gift exchange for fandoms with relatively few fics, notable for its large number of participants and the high average quality of stories. I'm participating again this year, once again focusing on public domain fandoms.)
Dear Yulemouse,
Thank you for offering to write in at least one of these fandoms. They are awesome, and you are too. 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, yanno, it's in a fandom I want yet so rarely find.
The best way you can please me is to have fun. Wit, sex, dramatic irony, and cracktasticly silly rom-com are all possibilities, but go with whatever floats your boats. Gen, het, slash (including femslash), multi, and poly are all great, as clean or smutty as you want. As a partial guide to the sort of things I like, my stories from past Yuletides are as good as anything. Turn-offs (Do Not Want!) are humiliation-based humor, sadism, and explicit torture (plus a couple specific to a couple canons detailed below). Find something and make it your own, the thing you love writing, and it's easy odds I'll like it.
And to make it explicit: poetry gleefully accepted -- I mean, these fandoms are all poems -- but not required.
The rest of this are basically expansions on my Optional Details Are Optional, with notes on resources.
The Earthly Paradise - William Morris
Requested characters: (none)
What this is: The longest completed poem in the English language, structured as an anthology of 25 stories loosely stitched together by a narrator (an "idle singer of an idle day"). For each month of the year, representatives of two groups of older men, one descended from a lost Greek colony, the other medieval northern European voyagers, tell stories to console their age and entertain the young -- giving us twelve tales from medieval European legend and twelve from Greek mythology.
Morris is very Victorian, in that he is a) a peculiar mix of pessimistic & optimistic, b) cold solid heteronormative, and c) all about the character growth of men as opposed to women. Also, he does not believe terseness is a poetic virtue. Despite those restrictions, though, he is strikingly modern in his concern with framing and point of view, and forward-looking in his eroticism.
The result is an outpouring of striking and often beautiful narrative poetry. He is, in this book, more like Chaucer than any other predecessor (this is a high compliment). And because of his concern for framing, there are a lot of layers to look through and decode and examine.
Possible prompts: A character study of Laurence, Nicholas, or Rolf -- or their relationships. The backstory of one of the elders of the city. The reactions of some of the youths and maidens listening to the stories. Tell an "omitted" story -- say, one by a maiden of the island, focused on a woman's growth. Or pull back to the outer frame and focus on the "idle singer of the idle day" and what he's reacting to in the monthly epigraphs. Or push in to examine one of the stories in particular -- "Sir Orfeo," "East of the Sun and West of the Moon," and "The Golden Apples" seem especially fruitful, but there's plenty to choose from. (While the tag set has characters from the frame story, don't hold yourself limited to them.)
Sources: My preferred source is the William Morris Archive, which has a few older editions plus the relatively recent scholarly edition edited by Florence S. Boos (though without her footnotes -- for those, you'll need a print copy) as well as many scholarly essays. Archive.org also has several editions, and this site has a convenient ebook. (Project Gutenberg, bizarrely, has only volume two of a three-volume edition.)
Snow-Bound - John Greenleaf Whittier
Requested characters: (none)
What this is: A memoir by an older poet, written to pass some family history on to his niece -- specifically, about that time his family was confined indoors for a week by a blizzard. Along the way, we get striking natural descriptions of the storm, several character studies, and a portrait of early-19th-century Massachusetts farming life. Plus glimpses, never fully related, of the stories they told around the fire to pass the time.
Prompt: An exploration of the family and their boarders being bonded by being bound inside. The tagset has a couple characters, but don't hold yourself limited to them. An elaboration of the scenario (including via AUs) or deeper dives into any character or relationship would be awesome. So would a more explicit depiction of one of the stories being told.
Considerations: The family is Quaker, and this is woven through the poem in numerous subtle details. How much to adhere to that is up to you, of course, but it is something you should probably consider explicitly, especially if your setting is canon-compliant.
Source: The Poetry Foundation text is as good as any.
Orlando Furioso - Ludovico Ariosto
Requested characters: Marfisa, Guidone
What this is: An epic chivalric romance, written as a completion of another unfinished romance, about the loves, adventures, and misadventures of Charlemagne's paladins during a Saracen invasion. The title "frenzy of Orlando" comes from Orlando/Roland's madness after failing to win the heart and hand of the beautiful Angelica, but his thread is only one in Ariosto's rich weaving.
There are knights galore, female knights, gender confusions, maidens in distress being rescued and rescuing themselves, chivalry, sorcerers, love potions, magic castles, wily handmaids, journeys to Japan and the moon, sibling relationships, adoptive families, several kinds of sex farce, a lonely sea-monster, and an epically awesome hippogriff (Ariosto's contribution to mythology), all wrapped up in genial narration and deeply humane characterization. The poem and stories from it echoed through European poetry, drama, opera, and art for centuries after its publication. The authors of Jerusalem Delivered, The Faerie Queene, and Paradise Lost were all explicitly trying to out-do this poem -- and none succeeded.
tl;dr: It's awesomesauce on a big platter.
Prompt: A story of Alessandretta (cantos 19-20) in which someone succeeds at the challenge of defeating ten champions then bedding ten women in one night. Consider poking at the *cough* problematic sexual politics of the whole situation, or just going PWP on the second half of the challenge. I've requested Marfisa and the current champion, Guidone, as they're in the canon episode, but feel free to use other characters if that makes it easier to explore a scenario that better floats your boat. Feel free also to go canon-divergent with the femslash that Ariosto flirts with: Marfisa defeats Guidone et alia and follows through with the women ... or, doesn't.
DNW: In addition to the general ones, special to this, please no high-school AU. (A summer-camp AU would be okay. But a school setting is just -- urgh, the idea gives me the heebies.)
Sources: My prefered translation is Barbara Reynolds's (Penguin Classics, two volumes). Project Gutenberg has a much older and somewhat bowdlerized translation by William Stewart Rose. The Elizabethan version of John Harington is not always accurate to the letter, but has the necessary verve and spirit: it can be found at archive.org. (And for the love of Angelica, avoid David Slavitt's abridged and heavily adapted version.)
Hymn to Demeter - Homer
Requested characters: (none)
What this is: The oldest complete telling of the abduction of Persephone and the grief of Demeter, including origin stories for the Eleusinian mysteries and for why we have seasons.
Possible prompts: An elegiac lament by Persephone. A rhapsodic celebration by Persephone after successfully eloping with her lover. Persephone settling into and enjoying finally having a godly domain. The abduction and search as covered by cable news. Genderswap. The pomegranate's story. Hades as suave seducer. Hades as not nearly as suave a seducer as he thinks he is. Underworld sex farce (who's getting into whose wrong bed?). Why you should never use Hermes as a courtship intermediary. Retelling canon as the Hymn to Hades. Or anything else you want to tell, given you probably had something in mind when you offered to write this.
DNWs: In addition to the general ones, special to this: explicit rape, making Persephone younger than a setting-appropriate age of consent. (Given the canon, dubcon/noncon pretty much has to be in the cards, ditto the aftermath of a rape, but please, let's not have a detailed rape on-stage, 'k?)
Source: The canon has been translated many, many times, both alone and as part of the complete Homeric Hymns. Some readily available online include those by Gregory Nagy, Diane J. Rayor, Hugh G. Evelyn-White, and Andrew Lang, all with varying amounts of commentary.
---L.
Dear Yulemouse,
Thank you for offering to write in at least one of these fandoms. They are awesome, and you are too. 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, yanno, it's in a fandom I want yet so rarely find.
The best way you can please me is to have fun. Wit, sex, dramatic irony, and cracktasticly silly rom-com are all possibilities, but go with whatever floats your boats. Gen, het, slash (including femslash), multi, and poly are all great, as clean or smutty as you want. As a partial guide to the sort of things I like, my stories from past Yuletides are as good as anything. Turn-offs (Do Not Want!) are humiliation-based humor, sadism, and explicit torture (plus a couple specific to a couple canons detailed below). Find something and make it your own, the thing you love writing, and it's easy odds I'll like it.
And to make it explicit: poetry gleefully accepted -- I mean, these fandoms are all poems -- but not required.
The rest of this are basically expansions on my Optional Details Are Optional, with notes on resources.
The Earthly Paradise - William Morris
Requested characters: (none)
What this is: The longest completed poem in the English language, structured as an anthology of 25 stories loosely stitched together by a narrator (an "idle singer of an idle day"). For each month of the year, representatives of two groups of older men, one descended from a lost Greek colony, the other medieval northern European voyagers, tell stories to console their age and entertain the young -- giving us twelve tales from medieval European legend and twelve from Greek mythology.
Morris is very Victorian, in that he is a) a peculiar mix of pessimistic & optimistic, b) cold solid heteronormative, and c) all about the character growth of men as opposed to women. Also, he does not believe terseness is a poetic virtue. Despite those restrictions, though, he is strikingly modern in his concern with framing and point of view, and forward-looking in his eroticism.
The result is an outpouring of striking and often beautiful narrative poetry. He is, in this book, more like Chaucer than any other predecessor (this is a high compliment). And because of his concern for framing, there are a lot of layers to look through and decode and examine.
Possible prompts: A character study of Laurence, Nicholas, or Rolf -- or their relationships. The backstory of one of the elders of the city. The reactions of some of the youths and maidens listening to the stories. Tell an "omitted" story -- say, one by a maiden of the island, focused on a woman's growth. Or pull back to the outer frame and focus on the "idle singer of the idle day" and what he's reacting to in the monthly epigraphs. Or push in to examine one of the stories in particular -- "Sir Orfeo," "East of the Sun and West of the Moon," and "The Golden Apples" seem especially fruitful, but there's plenty to choose from. (While the tag set has characters from the frame story, don't hold yourself limited to them.)
Sources: My preferred source is the William Morris Archive, which has a few older editions plus the relatively recent scholarly edition edited by Florence S. Boos (though without her footnotes -- for those, you'll need a print copy) as well as many scholarly essays. Archive.org also has several editions, and this site has a convenient ebook. (Project Gutenberg, bizarrely, has only volume two of a three-volume edition.)
Snow-Bound - John Greenleaf Whittier
Requested characters: (none)
What this is: A memoir by an older poet, written to pass some family history on to his niece -- specifically, about that time his family was confined indoors for a week by a blizzard. Along the way, we get striking natural descriptions of the storm, several character studies, and a portrait of early-19th-century Massachusetts farming life. Plus glimpses, never fully related, of the stories they told around the fire to pass the time.
Prompt: An exploration of the family and their boarders being bonded by being bound inside. The tagset has a couple characters, but don't hold yourself limited to them. An elaboration of the scenario (including via AUs) or deeper dives into any character or relationship would be awesome. So would a more explicit depiction of one of the stories being told.
Considerations: The family is Quaker, and this is woven through the poem in numerous subtle details. How much to adhere to that is up to you, of course, but it is something you should probably consider explicitly, especially if your setting is canon-compliant.
Source: The Poetry Foundation text is as good as any.
Orlando Furioso - Ludovico Ariosto
Requested characters: Marfisa, Guidone
What this is: An epic chivalric romance, written as a completion of another unfinished romance, about the loves, adventures, and misadventures of Charlemagne's paladins during a Saracen invasion. The title "frenzy of Orlando" comes from Orlando/Roland's madness after failing to win the heart and hand of the beautiful Angelica, but his thread is only one in Ariosto's rich weaving.
There are knights galore, female knights, gender confusions, maidens in distress being rescued and rescuing themselves, chivalry, sorcerers, love potions, magic castles, wily handmaids, journeys to Japan and the moon, sibling relationships, adoptive families, several kinds of sex farce, a lonely sea-monster, and an epically awesome hippogriff (Ariosto's contribution to mythology), all wrapped up in genial narration and deeply humane characterization. The poem and stories from it echoed through European poetry, drama, opera, and art for centuries after its publication. The authors of Jerusalem Delivered, The Faerie Queene, and Paradise Lost were all explicitly trying to out-do this poem -- and none succeeded.
tl;dr: It's awesomesauce on a big platter.
Prompt: A story of Alessandretta (cantos 19-20) in which someone succeeds at the challenge of defeating ten champions then bedding ten women in one night. Consider poking at the *cough* problematic sexual politics of the whole situation, or just going PWP on the second half of the challenge. I've requested Marfisa and the current champion, Guidone, as they're in the canon episode, but feel free to use other characters if that makes it easier to explore a scenario that better floats your boat. Feel free also to go canon-divergent with the femslash that Ariosto flirts with: Marfisa defeats Guidone et alia and follows through with the women ... or, doesn't.
DNW: In addition to the general ones, special to this, please no high-school AU. (A summer-camp AU would be okay. But a school setting is just -- urgh, the idea gives me the heebies.)
Sources: My prefered translation is Barbara Reynolds's (Penguin Classics, two volumes). Project Gutenberg has a much older and somewhat bowdlerized translation by William Stewart Rose. The Elizabethan version of John Harington is not always accurate to the letter, but has the necessary verve and spirit: it can be found at archive.org. (And for the love of Angelica, avoid David Slavitt's abridged and heavily adapted version.)
Hymn to Demeter - Homer
Requested characters: (none)
What this is: The oldest complete telling of the abduction of Persephone and the grief of Demeter, including origin stories for the Eleusinian mysteries and for why we have seasons.
Possible prompts: An elegiac lament by Persephone. A rhapsodic celebration by Persephone after successfully eloping with her lover. Persephone settling into and enjoying finally having a godly domain. The abduction and search as covered by cable news. Genderswap. The pomegranate's story. Hades as suave seducer. Hades as not nearly as suave a seducer as he thinks he is. Underworld sex farce (who's getting into whose wrong bed?). Why you should never use Hermes as a courtship intermediary. Retelling canon as the Hymn to Hades. Or anything else you want to tell, given you probably had something in mind when you offered to write this.
DNWs: In addition to the general ones, special to this: explicit rape, making Persephone younger than a setting-appropriate age of consent. (Given the canon, dubcon/noncon pretty much has to be in the cards, ditto the aftermath of a rape, but please, let's not have a detailed rape on-stage, 'k?)
Source: The canon has been translated many, many times, both alone and as part of the complete Homeric Hymns. Some readily available online include those by Gregory Nagy, Diane J. Rayor, Hugh G. Evelyn-White, and Andrew Lang, all with varying amounts of commentary.
---L.
no subject
Date: 31 October 2019 03:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 31 October 2019 04:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 31 October 2019 10:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 1 November 2019 03:02 pm (UTC)