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Dear yuletide writer,

I'm singlecrow on the AO3. Thank you very much for writing for me, I will be happy and excited about whatever you write! I am also open to and excited about treats, should anyone wish to write me any.

My general do not wants are violence against women and omegaverse, with a caveat about The Water Outlaws for which see below. But that aside, I read very broadly. I enjoy sad and dark stories, happy stories, love stories, stories with sex in, stories without. I don't do Christmas, so would prefer a story not be entirely about the characters celebrating it, but I don't think that comes up in any of my requested fandoms this year. Other festivals are very good, I like those.

One thing I really love, in sad and happy stories alike, is people being quietly kind to one another. I also really like people being competent, and found families of all sorts.

Fandom-specific stuff follows.

( The Saint of Steel - T Kingfisher )

( The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi - Shannon Chakraborty )

( The Water Outlaws - S.L. Huang )


That's it! Have a nice time writing it and I will have a lovely time reading it. Thank you again.

Dear yuletide author,

This is largely a repeat from last year's letter but nothing much has changed! Thank you very much for writing for me. I hope you enjoy writing your story, and please don't feel bound by the details in this letter which I include only if they're helpful to you. The only thing I do not want is violence against women.

About my tastes generally: I like stories that are about kind people and competent people; I'm happy with sex or no sex in stories but I don't generally like PWPs; I don't do Christmas myself but I'm happy for it to be in Yuletide stories. I like sad and bittersweet stories as well as happy ones, and if the story of your heart is a sad one, please don't decide against it because you think I won't like it.

Also useful: my AO3 name is singlecrow, and I'm very open to (and grateful for!) treats.

Specific fandoms:

( Chalet School - Elinor M. Brent-Dyer )

( The Goblin Emperor - Katherine Addison )

( The Helios Syndrome - Vivian Shaw )

That's it! Thank you again for writing.

edited to add: this letter has spoilers for episode 3x09 of Lower Decks, "Trusted Sources"

Dear yuletide author,

Thank you very much for writing a story for me. I hope you enjoy writing it, and please don't feel bound by the details in this letter which I include only if they're helpful to you. The only thing I do not want is violence against women.

About my tastes generally: I like stories, that are about kind people and competent people; I'm happy with sex or no sex in stories but I don't generally like PWPs; I don't do Christmas myself but I'm happy for it to be in Yuletide stories. I like sad and bittersweet stories as well as happy ones, and if the story of your heart is a sad one, please don't decide against it because you think I won't like it.

Also useful: my AO3 name is singlecrow, and I'm very open to (and grateful for!) treats.

Specific fandoms:

( Chalet School - Elinor M. Brent-Dyer )

( Star Trek Lower Decks )

( We Are A Picturesque Small Town And We Refuse To Be The Setting For Your  )

That's it! Many good wishes for the season, and I can't wait for your story.

singlecrow xx

edited 25/10 to, idk, make sense, I'm sorry the earlier version didn't!

Dear yuletide author,

Thank you very much for writing for me! I'm easy-going and if you write the story of your heart I will like it a lot. What follows is just in case it's helpful, nothing more.

Generally speaking, I'm happy with sex in my stories but don't really like PWPs. I don't do Christmas myself but I'm happy for it to be in my stories (except the Babysiters Club - see below). I like stories with bittersweet or tragic endings as well as ones with happy endings. My AO3 name is singlecrow. My big do-not-want is violence against women.

Fandoms:

( John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme (season 9) )

( Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell )

( The Babysitters Club (TV) )

Thank you very much, again - I hope you enjoy writing your story.

Dear Yuletide author,

I'm singlecrow on the AO3. Thank you for writing a story for me! You'll have seen from my sign-up that the only thing I definitely do not want in my story is violence against women. Other than that, please write the story of your heart, I am 100% sure I will like it a lot. If it would help you to have more detail, here it is, but feel free to ignore all of it.

Generally, I like stories about friendships, people being kind to each other, and people being good at what they do. I don't do Christmas myself but very happy to have it and other festive elements in my stories. I'm also more keen than most people on bittersweet or sad endings - which isn't to say I don't like a happy ending! But if the story of your heart doesn't have one, don't shy away from it on my account.

I usually am not that keen on PWPs, just fyi, though very happy with sex and kink in my stories. More on specific fandoms as follows.

( Piranesi - Susanna Clarke )

( The Temple of the White Rat - T Kingfisher )

( Sarah Caudwell - Hilary Tamar mysteries )

That's it, optional details are optional. Thank you again!

Dear Yuletide author,

My AO3 name is singlecrow. Thank you very much for writing a story for me. Optional details are optional. If you have a story of your heart, off you go and write that. What follows is only if it is useful to you.

Generally about me: I like people being good to each other in my stories; I like bittersweet and wistful (on which more below); I like banter, and competence, and quiet moments, and people expressing their love for each other in small ways.

I don't like PWPs (I like sex & kink just fine, but not as the only thing in a story), violence against women, or men in positions of dominance over women.

I don't have any triggers or squicks. I'm not a Christmas-celebrating person, but very happy to have festive elements in my stories. And, just so you know, while I do love a happy ending, I am by no means committed to them. If you want to write a melancholy story for Yuletide, I am more than here for it.

More on my fandoms:

( Wolf 359 )

( The Amelia Project )

( T Kingfisher - Swordheart )

( Hilary Tamar Mysteries - Sarah Caudwell )

That's it. Happy yuletide! Optional details are optional!

-Raven

Dear yuletide author:

Hello, and thank you for writing for me! As always let me say upfront that if you've got a story in your head that you want to write, please off you go and write that and never mind me. I want you to have a nice Yuletide time and I will love anything you write for me.

If-and-only-if it's helpful to you, here are some more things about what I like.

Generally: I like banter, people being good to each other, people being good at what they do.

Generally I don't like: PWPs (though that's not to say I don't like sex in stories, it's just, not just sex), violence against women, and men in positions of dominance over women.

Additionally: I don't insist on happy stories. I do like happy stories! Love them, even. But if the story of your heart is gloomy or wistful or just plain sad, I do still desperately want to hear it. Also, I am not a Christmas sort of person but that doesn't mean I don't like festive themes in stories.

My fandoms are as follows:

( The Good Place )

( Wayfarers - Becky Chambers )

( Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell )

In conclusion: I don't have any triggers or squicks, write what you like, and I will like it. Thank you again!

Happy new year, my friends. Unexpectedly, I had a beautiful day yesterday - a matinee performance of Rent at St James's, and then friends, pink wine and sparklers to bring the new year in. We still have a soupytwist on the sofabed and all is delight.

For Yuletide, I wrote two stories:

your shadow at evening, rising to meet you [NASA Mars posters]
It was a source of consternation to certain of Earth's constitutional bodies that the original Mars mission made landfall on Christmas Eve.

This is an even-less-than-two-minute fandom (the posters are great: they're these delightful official NASA posters in the vintage travel style) and on Christmas Eve I saw this request in the spreadsheet and decided - at 7pm, why - to write this in one frantic go. My darling soupytwist did an incredibly quick beta and I got it up just before the collection closed for posting. This story is so visibly by me I'm amazed more people didn't guess (hi, toft). It's basically original, which is in-keeping with 2016, the Year Without Fanfic, but I'm really glad I wrote this for Yuletide and not in any other context.

I also wrote:

Things By Witchlight [Society of Gentlemen - K.J. Charles]
In this year of our Lord 1819, in the tail end of December, a boy is hanged at Newgate for unnatural vices.

Dominic and Silas, a hanging, and a misunderstanding. If I'd had more time, I think the story in this story could have done with about 10,000 words and a lot more on-screen kink, but, bah, humbug, you do what you can do. I wrote it for marina, which was cheering.

I have nothing planned for the rest of the day except more quiet hangouts. All iz well.

Dear yuletide author,

Hi! I'm delighted you're writing for me. I hope you have a good time, writing whatever you want to write: optional details are optional and in any case I'm much more interested in the story of your heart than anything specifically below - this is just in case it would be helpful to you to have more detail.

Generally, I like: friendship; kindness; competence; people expressing their love for each other in small ways; interesting power dynamics; breakfast.

There's very little I don't like. I don't like men in positions of power over women and I don't like the erasing of queers and that's basically it. I'm not super into PWP as all there is to a story, though sex and kink are both things I like. I have no triggers, but I'm ophidiophobic.

Also: you don't have to write fluff for me. (You can write fluff for me! I'd love that!) But if the story of your heart is sad; if it's bittersweet; or wistful, or just less hilarious than the canon - I want to hear it.

Fandoms:

( KJ Charles - Society of Gentlemen )

( Connie Willis - Oxford time-travelling historians )

( Sense8 )

( Hilary Tamar Mysteries - Sarah Caudwell )

Having said all of that: optional details are optional. Have a lovely time!

As we all know, friends, my misanthropy is great and awesome on Christmas Day. I am in the Frozen North; it is raining; I have slept very little, and written about two paragraphs about my spies, and all is as ever. But I've had a very quick look at the Yuletide archive and here we are. (I made out like a bandit!)

Firstly, my gifts! Both for The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, both just lovely:

A Different Sort of Complicated (1592 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: The Watchmaker of Filigree Street - Natasha Pulley
"I know you enjoy your work," said Mori. "But Parliament's about to make things more complicated."

I LOVE THIS SO MUCH. A and I woke up early this morning and I was reading this at 8am with the light rising over the woods and saying, over and over, "Someone wrote me a fic about the Labouchere Amendment. Someone wrote me a fic about the Labouchere Amendment!"

You guys, someone wrote me a fic about the Labouchere Amendment. Someone who knows me at that! It's this lovely little fic about Thaniel and Mori, settling into a quiet life together, but with the various stings and shadows of what might have been, or might be. And the Labouchere Amendment, as part of the Criminal Justice Amendment Bill 1885, has just been passed - the one that will be used to prosecute Oscar Wilde and Alan Turing (and plays a major role in my spies' story, as well). I'm so happy about this.

I also got:

Revisions (3927 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: The Watchmaker of Filigree Street - Natasha Pulley
Love and friendship, like learning another language and everything else in life, require practice to perfect.

I read this too quickly to start - 8am on Christmas Day, in bed without my glasses - and I'm glad I did reread it because it is so bloody clever. When did we meet, Thaniel asks - not for the first time, the real time, but the first maybe: and Mori tells him a long and complicated story about Thaniel as a figure with grey eyes, who appeared and disappeared in all that might be remembered. So subtle, so interesting. I love this so much.

And the fandom as a whole killed it, because I also loved:

The Watchmaker's Apprentice (3007 words)
Fandom: The Watchmaker of Filigree Street - Natasha Pulley
Thaniel and Keita form a family.

This is so sweet. So sweet, and believable, and sad in places, and aaaaah my feels.

And other things I have read and liked, in other fandoms:

The Amber Stone (2060 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Cadfael Chronicles - Ellis Peters
In olden days, gems as well as herbs were thought to have healing powers. Cadfael knows better — but beyond the realm of knowledge, faith still remains.

This is just so good. It instantly conjures up Cadfael's quiet and beautiful world, and features Hugh Beringar and Aline, which makes me happy. It has one line in it in particular that I adored but the whole thing is just wonderful.

A Piece in the Game (2457 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Kim - Rudyard Kipling
Many years after the events in Kim, 1919, he is once again in play. Kim must decide whether he's Sahib or not.

This is fascinating to me. Kim, a little older, choosing between selves.

Ephialtes (5270 words)
Fandom: Doctrine of Labyrinths - Sarah Monette
Ephialtes: Lit. Jumping on you. A term for nightmares coined by Greek physician Galen, 2 CE. An anxiety disorder defined by Dr. John Bond, 1753 CE, about the sense of being crushed or sexually assaulted by an incubus which accompanied a nightmare: "As soon as they shake off that vast oppression, they are affected with a strong palpitation, great anxiety, languor, and uneasiness – which symptoms gradually abate, and are succeeded by the pleasing reflection of having escaped such imminent danger".

'ware warnings on this, friends, please. I haven't actually finished reading the Doctrine of Labyrinths books yet, mostly because they are ridiculously ridiculously long and also very traumatic, so I have to read them in short bursts and constantly text soupytwist my constant feels. (And also feeling grateful I didn't read them as a teenager. I mean, I would have loved them. Loved, loved, loved them and read them all at once and cried and cried and destroyed myself.) But nevertheless: this is the story of how Felix left Malkar. And it's terrifying and breaking and sad, but Felix is brave, and still able to be kind, despite everything. I liked this a lot.

A lovely Christmas to those who celebrate it, and a peaceful Friday to those who don't, and love to my fellow misanthropes. We're mulling wine. My father has accidentally bought three crates of oranges. (He said he was standing in the aisle and surrounded by people doing their Christmas shopping and couldn't move in any direction and hey look oranges.)