gowan43 | Dear Yuletide Writer Letter

Dear Yuletide Writer,

I am so happy that you’re willing to write for one of my tiny fandoms! Of course, I’m biased since I love these fandoms, but you have excellent taste. I’m looking forward to seeing what you create!

Treats:

I am open to treats. My AO3 username is the same as here (gowan43).

Languages:

I am open to fics for Nescafe "Arctica" | "Polar Explorers" Advertisements (Russia) and Бриллиантовая рука | The Diamond Arm (1969) being written in Russian if you’d like, even if it's my only gift, but English is also fine. I’m only open to English for my other requests.

Note about narrative style:

I am open to any POV and any tense, including more unusual ones such as first and second person. If you are so inclined to write things with a non-traditional approach to storytelling, including but not limited to epistolary fiction and interactive fiction, I am fine with that as well.

Note about likes and DNWs:

I am open to all ratings, from G to E. Therefore, I am including smut-specific likes and DNWs. Note that I do not expect you to write smut if it’s not appropriate for the story you want to tell. But, if you do decide to include smut, I thought it would be important to include what I like and don’t want.

I also have included a section for things I am not specifically requesting but am fine with you including if it works for the story you want to tell. These could be DNWs for others that are not DNWs for me. I also do not expect you to include any of these. I know they can be uncomfortable to some, or perhaps you simply feel they’re not appropriate for the kind of story you’re writing. But, I thought I would specify that I am OK with them in case you want to include them.

Now, let’s get into it!

General likes:

Cuddling. Both platonic and shippy! Related to this, huddling for warmth and bed sharing are also things I love. You could even include the classic only one bed setup if you’d like, but it’s definitely not obligatory for a bed sharing story.
Historical/cultural accuracy and period-typical attitudes/perspectives. While I do appreciate escapism from time to time, I really, really love fics that show characters behaving as they would in the context they lived in and all the issues that entailed. This is especially relevant for gay shipping. How would these characters, in the context of their setting, handle having gay feelings, positively and/or negatively? Even beyond that, I just appreciate historical and cultural details being depicted.
Angst. I love seeing characters having a hard time. You can write it with or without a happy ending, I don’t mind. I also like hurt/comfort, as well as hurt no comfort.
On the other hand, I also appreciate fluff, as long as it’s realistic for the context of the characters. Characters finding the time for fluffy moments despite possible hardships is something I enjoy a lot.
Humor/comedy. This depends on what you intend to write, so use your best judgment to see if it’s appropriate for it, but I do appreciate humor in dialogue and/or the story.
Gay themes, with or without shipping. While I particularly love M/M fics as far as gay relationships are concerned, I also love gen fics that involve gayness, such as a gay character platonically interacting with another character. Or, in a more thematic way, gen fics that explicitly or implicitly address conceptions of gayness, including homophobia and heteronormativity.

Smut-specific likes:

Humor during sex. Characters joking a little while having sex is so charming to me. Sex can be funny!
Non-penetrative sex being the main event. It’s not like I dislike penetrative sex, but rather I don’t see it as something essential. Handjobs, frottage, and intercrural are all great. Don’t let this discourage you from writing penetrative sex if you want though! I do like it as well. But a sex scene can still be hot with no penetration.
Bondage (ropes, handcuffs, etc.). Or even something as simple as one character being held down in place. I just like restraints.
One character being fully clothed and the other fully nude, especially clothed dom/nude sub.
Degradation kink, especially if it gets personal about the degradee’s life.
Vanilla sex. If you don’t want to include kinks, you don’t need to at all, and I’ll still love it.

Things I am not specifically requesting but feel free to include:

Dubcon and noncon
Unhappy endings
Character death (including major and/or non-canonical)
Cheating/infidelity (it’s fine if you would rather write an unpartnered AU)
Violence/injury (except for car crashes and knifeplay)
Religious/spiritual themes (of any religion/faith)
Homophobia

Now, here are my personal DNWS.

General DNWs:

Omegaverse
Gender swaps
Trans headcanons for canonical characters
Hanahaki disease
Setting/time period change AUs
Mpreg
Kidfic (either the characters being children or a fic centered on them taking care of a child. Mentions of children are fine)
Characters as supernatural beings (vampires, werewolves, wizards, etc.)
Characters learning to drive/going to driver’s ed (characters driving is fine, I just don’t want a fic involving the process of learning to drive)
Car crashes
(Wingmen - Ensan Case only) Jack or Fred being genuinely romantically/sexually attracted to any woman

Smut-specific DNWs:

Underage sex
Incest
Scat, watersports, emetophilia
Rimming
Ageplay, pacifiers/diapers for adults
Boypussy/girldick
Feederism
Pet play
24/7 BDSM lifestyle/BDSM AU
Mommy/daddy kink
Breathplay/choking
Knifeplay

Requests

Now, I will describe my requests. I will provide some fandom-specific prompts, but keep in mind that you are free to ignore them.

Kraftwerk (Band): Any

How Kraftwerk developed fascinates me. They started out in the Kosmische Musik scene, and if you look at pictures of them from that era, they clearly look like they are a part of that scene. But over time, they moved away from that and created this whole robot thing, which is either an aesthetic or a gimmick depending on the person, or perhaps a little of both.

I would love a fic that explores any of the nominated characters’ feelings about how Kraftwerk has changed over time, perhaps looking back at the early years compared to the current year they’re in. It could take place from the late 70s to even today, since all four of the nominated characters are still alive except for Florian, even if two out of three left the band. You could even write a fic that involves Florian’s death if you want.

Alternatively, there is so much angst potential surrounding Ralf’s 1982 cycling accident. How do the other band members feel about the accident? What are their fears and worries while Ralf is in a coma? How do they feel after he comes back to consciousness? How does Ralf feel about it? You don’t need to answer all these questions if you don’t want.

These are just some ideas. Please don’t feel limited by them!

I have no strong feelings about shipping them or writing them gen. I do appreciate Ralf/Florian in particular, but it’s not essential by any means, and if you want to write Ralf and Florian as friends or ship something other than Ralf/Florian, I am totally here for it.

Nescafe "Arctica" | "Polar Explorers" Advertisements (Russia): Ivanov, Petrov

I only discovered this delightful series of commercials because it was mentioned in the first Queries post. After watching them, I knew I had to request fic for it.

I’d love seeing Ivanov and Petrov huddling for warmth. I love that trope so much, and it just seems so obvious for the setting. Maybe they ran out of fuel and can’t heat their cabin anymore. Maybe that also means they can’t make their beloved Nescafé!

Even if you don’t want to write them huddling for warmth, overall, I’d just love something that involves how tough their living environment is. The whole survivalist element of polar exploration is something that I think might be interesting to write about. You could go in a dark, serious direction with that if you’d like, and I’d be all for it. But I am also very willing for there to be humor involved, especially around their undying appreciation of Nescafé.

Or you can write something totally different! These prompts are just ideas.

I have no strong feelings about shipping the Polars or writing them as just friends. Do whatever feels right for the story!

The Odd Couple (TV 1970): Oscar Madison, Felix Unger

Something I immediately noticed upon beginning to watch this show is how the dynamic between these two is not typical for roommates or even friends. I have lived with roommates before, and I have never experienced a situation where one always cooks for the other. That part in particular always struck me as unusual for two men living together who are not in a relationship, but it's not the only thing of that sort between these two. Their dynamic is especially odd (ha!) for male friends in the 70s, but even today I think it would be unusual.

I’d love to see further exploration of this unusually couple-like situation for a roommate/friend relationship. If it occurs to either of them that it’s unusual, how do they feel about it? Are there homophobic thoughts around it, or perhaps attempts to relate it to a heteronormative idea of a relationship? Or not? Do they discuss it? Or is it all internal to one character, never spoken?

Alternatively, I’d love a huddling for warmth story, perhaps while they’re in a cabin. You could either do it in a platonic way, showing their closeness despite not being attracted to each other, or have it be a forced proximity thing that makes them confront their feelings for each other. Or maybe even they already admitted these feelings and it’s just pure affection for each other!

To be clear, I do ship Oscar/Felix, but if you don’t, that’s OK! While I’d love a shippy approach to this fic, I’d also appreciate a gen approach. There is so much room to show their affection for each other without it being romantic. And if you’d rather write something else entirely that has nothing to do with my prompts, I’m happy with it! I just love these two characters so much and would love to see more of them.

Wingmen - Ensan Case: Jack Hardigan, Fred Trusteau, Eleanor Hawkins

I’m particularly interested in either Jack and Fred or Jack and Eleanor.

DNW: Jack or Fred being genuinely romantically/sexually attracted to any woman.

There is so much potential to draw on for Jack and Fred’s postwar life. It might be worth exploring Jack’s increasing paranoia around being found out later in his life, which is only mentioned in a single paragraph in the book. Or you could take it in a more lighthearted route: domestic fluff together as they establish their new life in San Jose, perhaps with a little angst undercurrent as they are still having to be discreet about their relationship. These are just two ideas for their life together after the war.

Alternatively, I’d love gen Jack & Eleanor. I think it would be especially interesting to see Eleanor realizing that the reason why Jack didn’t go after her like Duane did is that he’s gay. Perhaps it dawns on her on her own. Or, perhaps Jack finally comes out to her at some point, since she is his friend, after all. Or maybe even both of that in the same fic! But even if you don’t go that exact route, I would love to read a fic that further explores Jack and Eleanor’s friendship.

These are just two things I’m thinking about, but don’t feel like you have to follow them!

Бриллиантовая рука | The Diamond Arm (1969): Semyon Semyonovich Gorbunkov, Gennady Kozodoyev

I’m interested in either character by themselves or Semyon and Gennady together.

This is one of my favorite films. It’s so much fun, and I fell in love with it as soon as I watched it for the first time in one of my Russian classes. Something that I immediately noticed is how campy Gennady is. I do think he may have been a gay-coded villain. I wondered at first if I was misinterpreting it because while I have learned the language, I’m not from a Russian-speaking background. But when I brought up that I had seen this film to a Russian friend, she independently said that Gennady seems gay without me even asking if she thought so. So, I know it’s not just me misinterpreting something from a different culture.

I’d love a fic that further explores Gennady’s campiness and gay potential. Perhaps he actually is gay and is attracted to Semyon as he tries to extract the jewels. I’d love an angsty, potentially dark unrequited (or even requited) attraction aspect to that. Infidelity is fine. Or, from a Semyon-centric approach, maybe Semyon is just deeply afraid Gennady’s gay because he’s campy and how he’s ruining Semyon’s relationship with Nadia. Gennady may or may not actually be gay.

Even if you don’t go in those two directions, I’d love it if this fic somehow explores attitudes towards gayness, including homophobia, in the 1960s Soviet Union. But please don’t feel limited to that! You could also go for a character study angle, as I am OK with this fic featuring only Semyon or Gennady. Or anything else you want!

Feel free to ship Semyon/Gennady, but it’s not expected by any means. You could even include a bit of Gennady/Lyolik or Nadia/Semyon content or references if you think it’s relevant, but I’d rather not have the fic be centered on Lyolik or Nadia, hence why I haven’t requested them.

Conclusion

Again, thanks for being willing to write for me! I hope this was helpful. I know you’ll create something amazing.

Best,
gowan43