Dear Yuletide Author 2023!

 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 and woefully rare in the wild. 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.

Exiles Series- Melanie Rawn
Sarra Liwellan| Sarra Ambrai, Collan Rosvenir
This series was one I only recently discovered, but what a fun surprise! The worldbuilding is so enjoyable, and I love how Sarra and Collan in particular both play on and subvert the larger character archetypes from which they're derived. If you would like to write inter-book slice-of-life for these two, with bickering and banter and plenty of political scheming, I would be delighted; and just so if you are inspired to write a post-book 2 fix-it. Or, if you are a fan of AUs: tell me more about the AUs where the Ambrai sisters are raised together, or swap childhood circumstances with each other, and what becomes of their relationships as a result, whether with each other, or with other significant characters. Or, as mentioned above, with any AU that you might have come up with to explore the worldbuilding or relationships of this universe in more detail!
Of note: consent issues do show up in backstories and as references in canon itself. I am okay with canon-typical references, but would prefer that this not be the main focus of the story.

The Squire's Tales

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!

Dear author, I hope at least some of these prompts were helpful!  I'm sure I'll love anything you produce for one of these fandoms. Thank you, once again, and I hope you have a seriously fantastic Yuletide as well!