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Yuletide 2019 Letter

2019-10-28T18:21:01Z

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reengaging is weird

2019-10-23T12:59:55Z

I'm making an active effort to get back to being actively involved in fandom stuff - I wrote a fic! I'm probably going to sign up for Yuletide! I'm making an effort to comment on things I read instead of just kudosing and disappearing into the night!

And it's weird.

Mostly because I keep tripping over the fact that I'm trying to pick up not quite where I dropped off the radar - I'm pulling back into different fandoms, and a very different way of engaging. Currently exemplified by, like...

Like, I use a lot of colour-coded labels in my gmail inbox.
I just set one up for AO3 fic comments for the first time...

...because last time I had regular AO3 comment notifications, they were mostly on tags, not on fics. (I also just cleared over 6000 old notifications out of my AO3 inbox, and these two things together have made me register just how much of my "actively engaging in fannish stuff" from 2012-2017 was...wrangling)

I'm not sure anymore how I do fandom if I'm not tapping into that as an everyday habit/obligation.

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ceci n'est pas un post

2019-10-21T11:53:02Z

I'm thinking I should try and actually use this account, which I haven't in the last (pretty much exactly) five years (WELP) but I keep looking at it and going "WELP" at the last post date being 2014, which is sufficiently paralyzing that

this is not actual content this is proving to myself that nothing will explode if I click "post" on things here so maybe I will be able to make actual posts after...

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Yuletide 2014 Letter

2014-10-20T22:06:31Z

[First of all, huge apologies for forgetting to unlock this, I am actually a total failure at everything atm]

Thank you so much for writing for me!

General likes and dislikes:

Likes:
- gen
- worldbuilding
- h/c
- character studies
- plot
- intense friendship and ust that doesn't *quite* cross the line into shipping

Dislikes:
- PWP
- Unexpected AUs

Fandom-specific stuff:

Anno Dracula (Characters: Any, thus I believe Kostaki, Genevieve, Mina, Victoria)
If Genevieve or Kostaki take your fancy, I'd really like to see some backstory fic, either focussing on one point in their lives (either warm or vampire) or a series of snapshots. The older vampires are just really fascinating in terms of the variety of different experiences they must have had and things they must have had to adapt to over the centuries, so anything that strikes your fancy there would be really interesting to see.
For Mina and/or Victoria, I'd really like to see more of Dracula's rise to power and/or life in his court from their point of view, as essential but less-than-ecstatic instruments of that rise. In the first book they're both clearly very important to what's going on in England without actually appearing very much, so it would be really interesting to have their side of the Anno Dracula story.
If none of that catches your attention, general world-building (with or without any of the named characters) for either Anno Dracula or Bloody Red Baron-era would be awesome as well, maybe if you can think of some aspects of society not covered in the books that would be affected by the whole vampire thing.

Dark Tower (Characters: Roland Deschain, Cuthbert Allgood, Steven Deschain, Jamie De Curry)
As you can probably guess from the character listing, I'm mostly interested in Gilead-era fic for this fandom, though if you want to write something Roland-centric, I'd be more than happy with it being entirely or partially main canon-era - tbh, part of the reason for requesting this fandom at all was rereading Wind Through The Keyhole and Sudden Resurgence Of Interest, so something like that nested structure would be brilliant if you're that way inclined though in no way necessary, especially if you'd prefer not to focus on Roland.
I'd like to see interactions between any of the characters listed, any other canon characters from that era you'd like to make mention of, and ideally some expanded worldbuilding on life in/the society of Gilead. I've included Steven both for if you want to include him in fic featuring the boys or if you'd prefer to focus on him and go back to the Gilead of the generation before Roland's.
Basically, I would really like worldbuilding filtered through character-study or character relationships, whatever aspect of that you'd like to focus on most.

Quatrevingt-treize (Characters: Michelle, Radoub)
I would really, really like to see some post-canon fic featuring these guys. Basically, at the end of the book, Michelle has her children back, but she's still not exactly in an ideal position to be raising them - and it seems unlikely that Radoub &co. would want to leave her in the lurch at this point. So, what happens next to les enfants du bataillon du Bonnet-Rouge and their mother, and what's Radoub's involvement in that like?
(I kind of ship it but that's not compulsory)

Aubrey-Maturin (Characters: Jack, Stephen, Sophie)
I would really like to see fic about the interactions/relationships between these characters - maybe all three of them, maybe any two. Maybe Jack/Sophie, and some scenes from their family life, maybe Jack & Stephen (this is the meat and drink of the fandom, I'm sure you can come up with something there :p), maybe Stephen & Sophie's friendship - or really any combination of the above, and how those relationships intertwine and fit together. Slice-of-life stuff is what I'm hoping for here, though if it develops plot that would be amazing.

Once and Future King series - T. H. White
This is the MY CHILDHOOD request, basically. I'm afraid I can't give you much detail for what I want here, not because I'm not keen on getting it, but because chances are I'll be happy with pretty much anything you do with any of the nominated characters, all of whom I do love dearly. I particularly love White's characterization of Lancelot, if you want to work with that.

A Study in Emerald - Neil Gaiman
Worldbuilding! Pretty please? An expansion of the setting of this, along with some glimpses of what Holmes and Watson are up to, and how they're different from their ACD counterparts and why, and what life in general is like in ASiE Britain, would be amazing. Bonus points if you can find a way to tie it into another of the ACD stories, but I recognize that that could be really difficult, so it's definitely not a requirement, just something that might be cool if you felt up to it.

Thankyou again, and much love!

Morgan

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Yuletide 2013: Letter to Author

2013-10-19T12:15:57Z

First up, sorry I didn't get around to posting this until after assignments went out - if you'd already come up with ideas before you saw this, do feel free to go with those, anything in here (apart from my fairly short list of hard squicks) is totally flexible and I'm sure I'll like whatever you come up with.

(People who actually follow my journal, sorry letters like this is basically all I use it for...)

Also, a note - obviously I am not going to give spoiler warnings for the historical RPF fandoms, but for most of my fictional requests I am going to be discussing endings/surprise twists/etc., so maybe don't read the sections on anything you haven't already read but are planning to?

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Fic Corner Letter 2013

2013-07-29T02:46:10Z

I feel like I should note first that I haven't reread any of these in quite some time, and don't have access to any of the books except the Just So Stories (because public domain) and one volume (Charmed Life) of the Chrestomanci books right now, so my prompts may not be as specific or detailed as they might otherwise be.
(They're not going to be hugely specific anyway because mostly I am just...ANYTHING. ANYTHING WILL MAKE ME HAPPY)

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Books for this month!

2013-07-01T00:56:48Z

So, last month's to-read list:

( the pile of books )

Astounding lack of progress on most fronts here can be mostly explained by the fact that I read a lot of other stuff instead because I have the attention span of a gnat.

( things I actually read this month )

To read this month (maybe):

( the current book pile )

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duckwhatduck @ 2013-06-27T23:16:00

2013-06-27T14:19:58Z

The more I see of the fandom, the more I'm kicking myself that it took me five years after buying a copy of Les Misérables to actually read it.

I have been seriously missing out.

(Will just have to continue playing catch-up, I guess *returns to Abaissé archive binge*)

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Have nearly finished Rose of Versailles

2013-06-26T10:20:21Z

...and would just like to make note of this little bit of phrasing:

"ça ira" --> "ee janai ka"

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duckwhatduck @ 2013-06-24T13:47:00

2013-06-24T04:49:51Z

No, self, stop looking at university websites.
No, you cannot just go and do another bachelor's in a totally different subject area as soon as you finish this one.
This is not a valid career plan.

Stop looking at the websites

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duckwhatduck @ 2013-06-22T00:22:00

2013-06-21T15:24:26Z

oops, fell down the Project Gutenberg rabbithole again

(got distracted from Hugo by Byron, got distracted from Byron by Polidori...why can I not have infinite time to read books in?)

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Rare Pair Fest 2013: Letter

2013-06-21T03:57:59Z

Hi!

This got fairly long, and I'd just like to say: everything I've written is just loose ideas - if you'd rather do something completely different, go for it! I'd much rather read something you enjoyed writing than something you had to force out to fit what I've written here. My list of dislikes is fairly short, and pretty much anything not on there is fair game.

That said:

( here goes... )

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duckwhatduck @ 2013-06-20T12:23:00

2013-06-20T03:26:12Z

Dear bookshop lady,

You don't think the fact that I am in your shop buying books written in Japanese might suggest that I do in fact know enough Japanese to understand "would you like a bag", even if you say it at normal speed and without helpful gestures?

Apparently not.

*despairs of ever being taken seriously in this country*

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today at work

2013-06-19T04:12:44Z

The baby swifts above the office door have got really big. And noisy. We stopped to watch them on the way to lunch - they've spread out from the nest to sit all over the top of the doorframe (shitting everywhere, of course - someone has put newspaper down under the nest, but since they've started venturing out it's everywhere, shouting. The parents fly by right overhead (as in, right overhead, there was a lot of ducking), and totally ignore all the people staring at them.
It's a pretty nice thing to have going on right outside the factory.

In other news, I think that one guy I teach English to has actually raised "boring life" to an artform. He seems genuinely baffled by the idea that someone might get bored of eating plain bread with nothing on. (This is particularly impressive given how utterly flavourless Japanese bread tends to be)

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sillinesses

2013-06-18T14:51:13Z

So Melannen did this photoset of alots.

And then I did this.

And that is why letting me in wrangler chat when I've been up since 6 and haven't had nearly enough coffee (or any lunch) is probably not a good idea.

Or maybe it is?

IDK, guess it depends how much you like alots.

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no behave yourself face

2013-06-17T01:47:34Z

One of my teeth is not-quite-hurting in that way that I'm not sure whether it's an actual problem or my imagination + the fact that everything always feels vaguely uncomfortable at this time of the month.

I really really hope it's the latter.

I dislike going to the dentist enough in England, add the language thing and not being familiar with the system and I really really am not happy about the idea of having to do it in Japan. (I've been pretty much counting on not needing to use healthcare anything this year; I have insurance and stuff but I don't...actually understand what it covers or how to use it and stuff and I'm generally healthy enough that 'avoid the issue :D' isn't actually that much of an unworkable strategy). If it would just hold off needing attention another couple of months that would be great.

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Books!

2013-06-01T13:24:03Z

I'm seeing a bunch of posts either of what people have read lately or what they're planning to read, and on reflection posting my reading list sounds like a good idea both for getting me to actually read the stuff, and for actually making posts to this journal.

So, my reading list for June:

( Already started, need to finish )

( Audiobooks )

( Things I have been meaning to get around to )

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/watching Rose of Versailles

2013-05-21T13:43:21Z

So. Sparkly.

Everything is so sparkly.

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duckwhatduck @ 2013-05-16T19:14:00

2013-05-16T10:27:40Z

Am coming to the realization that Oxford has kind of messed with my head, in that it's totally validated my innate tendency to assume I'm not doing anything well enough. It's really really disconcerting to me that in my job now people keep praising me and trying to be supportive and asking if I have too much work (I have hardly any work! I'm spending half the day reading totally unrelated things on Project Gutenberg, that is how little work I have.) I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop.

It's just, for the last three years I've had a tutor on my back all the time, and even if I was working as hard as I could it wasn't good enough, and if it looked like I was slacking off there would be a smackdown, and "that's...not terrible" was basically the height of praise. And that actually works for me as an environment (because if you let me slack off, I will slack off). But it makes it really difficult for me to believe that people being nice are actually sincere.

(People say 'sugoi' and 'erai' and 'jouzu ne' and I panic, because they must be being sarcastic)

I keep waiting for someone to notice that I'm not doing anything worthwhile and they keep...not...

It's actually really stressful XD

At least I know where I stand in Oxford (even if it's in front of a grumpy Danish man calling me an idiot...)

(Also if you want me to write a 4,000 word essay in a fortnight, that I can do. What am I supposed to do with six months? How amazing do you want this essay to be? That long a deadline is far too much pressure!)

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[Norse Mythology] The Lidless Eyes Of Night

2013-01-04T14:52:30Z

Fandom: Norse Mythology
Characters: Sigyn, Loki
Pairing: Loki/Sigyn
Rating: PG-13
Wordcount: 2894
Also posted at: AO3
Notes: Yuletide treat for gloria_scott
Summary: Sigyn is holding the bowl.

( The Lidless Eyes Of Night )

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[Helen All Alone] Through The Void Of Night

2013-01-04T14:36:31Z

Fandom: Helen All Alone
Characters: Narrator, Helen
Pairing: Helen/Narrator
Rating: PG-13
Wordcount: 1931
Also posted at: AO3
Notes: Yuletide fic for the_rck
Summary: On the road into light, there is a heavy toll to pay.

( Through The Void Of Night )

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[Mechanisms] She'll Fly True

2013-01-04T14:24:55Z

And now Yuletide reveals are done I can crosspost all my fic...

Fandom: Original (The Mechanisms)
Characters: Nastya Rasputina
Pairing: Nastya/Aurora
Rating: M
Wordcount: 757
Also posted at: AO3
Notes: Yuletide treat for cosmic_llin
Summary: People don't often understand how Nastya feels about Aurora. Nastya is all right with that; it's not as if she cares much what people think, as a rule.

That she has Aurora is enough.

( She'll Fly True )

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yuletide: letter!

2012-10-15T14:00:51Z

( Dear Yuletide Writer )

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[New Mutants] Halfway Home

2012-09-28T07:30:23Z

Fandom: New Mutants
Characters: Dani Moonstar, Rahne Sinclair
Pairing: Dani/Rahne
Wordcount: 2081
Also posted at: AO3
Notes: For thinlizzy2 @ rarepairfest
Summary: Sometimes you have to stop running.

( Halfway Home )

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Rare Pair Fest: Letter to Author

2012-07-28T03:08:05Z

( Dear Author... )

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