Dear Yuletide Author 2025!

[betony]

  Thank you so much for writing for me, or at least taking the interest in my requests to check this letter out! 
Requests are all arranged alphabetically by fandom name, and all equally beloved. Most important of all, I hope you write something you love and enjoy creating; but if you'd like a bit more guidance, read on:

AO3 name: betony

General likes: humor/snark, plotty fic, ALL THE AUs, and women being awesome in multiple (not just Strong Female Character, to quote Kate Beaton) ways. I also adore backstory or behind-the-scenes fic, and will always, always love outsider POVs and unreliable narrators. Slow-burn relationships and wry banter. I'm a quick reader, so long fic is totally fine, should the question come up, and I have no particular preferences for POV or tense. 

Treats: Absolutely welcome!

General dislikes: E-rated sex/violence/gore (M or milder is fine), consent issues, fics that hinge solely on angst/hopelessness.

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell-Susanna Clarke
Arabella Strange,Jonathan Strange

Jonathan is an arrogant, obsessive failboat, particularly when it comes to his relationship with Arabella, but I find them both fascinating despite the bumps in their marriage. One of the images that sticks with me is that of Arabella driving their carriage in TLOGA—despite everything, they seem perfectly happy and unconventional together, and their supportiveness ans spark of banter between each other is something I love in their marriage. We know that Jonathan and Henry were childhood friends, and so Jonathan probably knew Arabella from a young age too, but I confess I'd love to see something about their early courtship--you'll never be able to convince me it was anything but hilarious. Or there is so much that the series glosses over with regards to their life--a missing adventure featuring both during which Arabella saves the day would be amazing! Or: if you favor AUs, tell me about magician! Arabella (A role reversal, perhaps, when Arabella is magical rather than her spouse, interacting with Catherine of Wincester rather than the Raven King? A world where both Stranges are magicians, either with both aware and working together [and possibly averting tragedy!] or with Jonathan being oblivious? A world where Arabella is the promised second magician, but Jonathan doesn't realize because she publishes under a male pseudonym? The possibilities are endless!)

The Squire's Tales

Any (Terence, Eileen, Gawain)

 

My beloved eternal Yuletide fandom; I love the snarkiness, I love the characters and inclusion of obscure Arthuriana, and most of all I love the way it very much buys into the idealism of the mythos while savagely picking it apart. I really do adore almost all the characters, so feel free to have any cameo, or stick in any references to other Arthurian legends or stories the series doesn't cover. Naturally any canon-typical adventures would be lovely, but also, if you like shipfic: five times Terence and Eileen's marriage/relationship wasn't discovered and once it was? Or: a canon-divergence AU that's fascinated me has been Ganscotter's declaration that Terence would have been changed if he had been raised in knowledge of his true otherwordly/royal origins--so what if just that had happened anyway? How would Terence come to meet Gawain and Eileen in this universe, and what would his relationships with them look like?

Vicky Bliss series - Elizabeth Peters 
Vicky Bliss, John Tregarth 
Oh man, these two. It's not even so much the mysteries as much as I love Vicky's horribly deadpan humor, and John's snark, and how incredibly adorable these two are together. As much as I love Amelia Peabody, I'm even more disappointed there won't be another Vicky Bliss adventure out, and as is usually the case when I realize these things, I turn to you, Yuletide, to fill the gap! Which is to say, any Vicky/John adventure in the flavor of the books would be much appreciated. Or: John and Vicky lend themselves to any number of wacky tropes, such as accidental or faked marriage, heist romp, and something playing with that would be lovely! Or--any AU at all: what would a role-reversal AU, with canon personalities intact, look like? (Answer: terrifying.) Or: Kidfic. Because any offspring of Vicky and John is bound to be terrifying and a trouble magnet, and put on this earth to pay back his or her parents for the misery they caused others. Imagine an oblivious! kid POV, as Vicky and John's past returns for the three of them!