Yuletide 2025 Dear Author letter

 

My sixth year doing Yuletide!

I pitched for some of the more obscure fandoms in the fandom promo post:

The Witches of Thistle Grove Series - Lana Harper

A Witch's Printing Office

Cyber Lady Suzuka

The majority of what I say below likely will have already been in the prompts. Basically, I like hopeful/positive with some thoughtful ideas, romance when applicable, and found family/friendship dynamics as well. I'm not looking for angsty/traumatic/any fic dealing with the current state of things (real world events/politics/COVID), or just deeply negative in general. I'm also somewhat adverse to deep dives into religious thought or focusing on the ins and outs of religion (it's just not what I'm interested in reading!)  I am not looking for smut this Yuletide, nor am I interested in fics that delve deeply into the nuances of gender and sexuality.  I also do not want genderswap or changes to gender that deviate from what's portrayed in canon.

I'm always down for humor, if you enjoy writing that! If there is hurt/angst, I'd really like it resolved/to have comfort at the end of it.

I like fic that's character focused, slice of life/daily life focused, and interpersonal relationships (platonic, romantic, familial) focused. Especially if fic acknowledges the uniqueness of the character (like an artist integrating art/their practice into their life, or managing their artistic self with their non-art career). I like fics that are a 'missing episode' type deal that just expands on what the media has already given us.

A note of clarification: when I say "AUs that remove them from canon context", I mean something like Bakery AU or High School AU. I noticed that sometimes AU is used for "Hanahaki AU" or "soul mate AU" but the canon setting is the same - that's fine!

I, as someone who works in education, am a huuuge fan of lifelong learning/self improvement, although I know that's a fairly niche thing to write about ^_^; But it's an idea, if you want to write about it for any of the below fandoms!

My AO3 is https://archiveofourown.org/users/stifledlaughter/pseuds/stifledlaughter if you'd like to see the kind of fics I like!

Also I welcome treats, if anyone would be so kind as to write any :D 

My requests:

Witches of Thistle Grove Series - Lana Harper

Characters: Nina Blackmoore, Dasha Avramov, Talia Avamarov, Emmy Harlow

DNW: major character death, depression/major illness, smut, AUs that remove them from canon context, current events in the real world. 

Post-canon about the lives of the characters we got to know in the series. I'd love to see more of Thistle Grove, maybe see new festivals/holidays, or have characters interacting and working together. Basically, I want more of what the series gave me. I suggested some characters but you can focus on any one of the suggested characters, it doesn’t have to be all of them. I love when characters learn more about magic, or do new things with magic. 

This is one of the rare times I am okay with religion being a part of the fic, as the Pagan aspects of Thistle Grove don’t cause tension with my own personal religious issues, and the Pagan festivals/rituals are very much a part of the series. 

A Witch's Printing Office (Manga)

Characters: Mika Kamiya

DNW: major character death, depression/major illness, smut, AUs that remove them from canon context (canon divergence is fine), current events in the real world/our Earth, focusing on religious themes.

(The below ideas are not required/necessary, just ideas/prompts!)  

I would love to just see "the continuing adventures of Mika" in her fantasy world! I love how the canon goes into the ins and outs of doujin publishing, working at conventions, and fannish writing - expansions on that would be really great. As someone that has worked in publishing and attended many conventions, those things particularly speak to me, and there are so many scenarios that you could put into this fantasy world that translate over from ours. (While she is the only requested character, you can obviously have other people in the fic, as long as she's the focus!)

Cyber Lady Suzuka

Characters: Suzuka, Haruka

DNW: major character death, depression/major illness, smut, AUs that remove them from canon context (canon divergence is fine), current events in the real world/our Earth, focusing on religious themes.
(The below ideas are not required/necessary, just ideas/prompts!)
Just 'more adventures in the day in the life of Cyber Lady Suzuka'! I want to see how she as a gynoid grows, and how she develops a life for herself beyond what she is told to do as a robot fighter girl. I’d prefer Gen for this fandom!

 

自転車屋さんの高橋くん | Takahashi from the Bike Shop
Characters: Hanno Tomoko, Takahashi Ryouhei, Kimiko Sato

DNW: major character death, depression/major illness, smut, AUs that remove them from canon context (canon divergence is fine), current events in the real world/our Earth, focusing on religious themes.

(The below ideas are not required/necessary, just ideas/prompts!) 

Just “more adventures in the day of the life of these characters”! Ideally post-canon, because I do like our main characters together and happy. Them getting to really know each other after canon is important to me since a crux of their relationship near the end was ‘oh, we don’t really know each other, huh’? I also like Kimi a lot, so if she is included, that’s great, since I think she adds an important aspect to Panko’s character outside of her romantic relationship. 

Royals and Romance Series - Sara Raasch

Characters: Hex Hallow, Nicholas "Coal" Claus

DNW: major character death, depression/major illness, smut, AUs that remove them from canon context (canon divergence is fine), current events in the real world/our Earth, focusing on religious themes.

(The below ideas are not required/necessary, just ideas/prompts!) 

Just “more adventures in the day of the life of these characters”! I also would love more worldbuilding, particularly on Hex’s side of things as Halloween is my favorite holiday. However, I personally celebrate Winter Solstice as my major winter holiday (think the “lasting out the longest night of the year with your loved ones, warm food, candles, gifts” sort of celebration :) ) , and would be open to see how Coal integrates that holiday into his plans given all the changes that happened to the winter holidays in book 1. I would just ask, like how the books avoided it, discussing religious aspects of the holidays, and stick with how they are culturally celebrated. I know that can be a tricky line to walk, so if you feel you can't do that, I may not be the best person to write for!

I am a huge fan of them as a ship so them being romantic in the fic would be very welcome. I just do not want any smut, thank you!

I have read book 2, so any plot points from that would not be spoilers for me. Other characters are totally great to be integrated as long as Hex and Coal are the focus.