![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Dear Author,
If you've offered any of these fandoms, you're obviously a person of taste and discernment, and probably didn't deserve to get stuck with my requests. I really would prefer you to write the best story you can, and one you're happy with, rather than trying to do something that doesn't suit you to fit what I asked for - so please, please do bear in mind that optional details are optional. If you have the opposite problem, and wish I'd given you more or more explicit suggestions, I'm very sorry - I was trying not to be overly prescriptive.
Mythology - Near Eastern
I would, truly, be happy with anything. If you felt like using some of the forms of surviving Sumerian literature, I would really love it - something all dialogue, a debate, a lament, a šir-gida ... But if that sort of thing doesn't appeal, how about anything at all with the lord of Aratta (proud and doomed - what's not to like there?). Or there's the stories involving Dumuzid - I would be fascinated by something examining the similarities (or the differences) between Dumuzid/Tammuz and Persephone. Or if that doesn't suit, you could write something sweet (or, if you prefer, given the power imbalance and what come to pass, disturbing) about his relationship with Inanna; or the horror of his prophetic dream or of what indeed happens to him; or his sister Ngeštin-ana's desperate attempts to save him or her mourning for him. Or there’s Enlil and Ninlil - can you come up with psychologically convincing account of their relationship? Whether you want to go with a long, plot-driven story, or a character piece, or an atmospheric vignette (for which you can readily find material lending itself to everything from horror to humour, from eroticism to philosophical reflection), or whether I can persuade you to write me a lament or a šir-gida, I'm sure I shall be delighted.
I'm not sure there's much else to say except that there's no need to limit yourself to Sumer or the Akkadian Empire if your interests lie elsewhere (nor do you need to stick to the listed characters if you don't feel like it) - the entirety of Ancient Near Eastern mythology is at your disposal. Do you want to write about 'Anat's joy in battle? Do you want to ignore the nominated characters and write about the difficult position of the young man who finds his loyalties divided between his father Tešub and his father-in-law Illuyanka? Did you wish you could have signed up to write something based on the Song of Kumarbi, say, or the Enûma Elišh? If so, go right ahead - the suggestions in my optional details are things it occurred to me I would like, but if you want to write something else, I'm sure I shall enjoy it also. This is a fandom in which I will be so pleased to get any good story I can assure you I won't be quibbling about specific details.
Li Shang-Yin - Walls of Emerald
I love the imagery of this poem: densely, richly allusive, obscure and yet somehow coherent despite the uncertainty of the meaning; what I want is something inspired by that imagery, and by the mood the poem conjures up. If you want plot suggestions, you could take any of the stories to which there's a recognizable allusion in the poem, or any interpretation of the poem you prefer (I'm not particularly asking for Li Shang-yin RPF here, although of course if that's what you'd like to write, go ahead); you could set your story then, or now, or in the world of myth and folk tale (or in any other setting that particularly appeals to you); if you think you can do a thousand words held together only by image and allusion, with no plot, that too would be excellent: basically, anything at all structured around the imagery would be amazing.
I can't believe this year 3 people offered this! Yuletide is a wonderful thing. If you were one of those three, I hope you're not now tearing you hair out and swearing never to do Yuletide again. Normally, I like to offer a selection of different types of prompts, because different writers like to start with different things: here I've got nothing to offer beyond what I've written already, and I truly hope that if you signed up for this, it was because you do find imagery inspiring. I don't mind when or where your story is set, whether Tsarist Russia, or modern-day steampunk1, or a crossover with one of my other fandoms, no definable setting, stick with T'ang Dynasty China, or ... look, how many ways can I say, do whatever you like? I promise I will be suitably impressed if you manage to make anything at all of this request. (For that matter, I asked specifically for Walls of Emerald, and I would especially love that, but I'm not trying to make your life difficult, and if you would find it easier to write something based on his untitled poems instead, I'm extremely fond of those poems also and you may take this as explicit permission to do so. Or, in fact, any of his poems at all.)
1 Examples chosen at random to indicate the wide range of acceptable possibilities, not because they're particular interests of mine - the point I am trying to make is that what interests me is how powerful the poem's imagery remains over a thousand years after it was written, and even in translation, so if you're interested in exploring its original context, that's fine, and if you're interested in examining it in a new context, that also is good.
For the benefit of anyone who didn't match on this but thinks it sounds interesting: to get you started, A. C. Graham's translation from Poems of the Late T'ang may be found here. James J. Y. Liu's commentary from The Poetry of Li Shang-yin is here. Do remember there is very little in the way of agreed upon interpretation, and that what I am in any case interested in is what it means to you: there is no need for you to feel obliged to follow, or even consider, any particular interpretation, and also no need to give particular weight to Graham's or Liu's positions just because they were what I had conveniently to hand to scan for you.
One Thousand and One Nights
I’m fascinated by seeing stories refract between cultures and through time, and here we have tales from around the world, already altered into stories even where loosely historical, now pressed into the service of a Korean story inspired by an Arabic collection, itself drawn from many sources and with no final text of its own. So what I would love is another tale, of your choosing, and to see how you choose to tell it, and how you have turned it to serve the themes of the manhwa.
I'm not sure what else to say here - there's no shortage of stories that are, or could be, about love, honour, guilt, duty ... One of the things that interests me is how the one story can be turned this way or that, by context, emphasis and editing, to mean different things, and also the degree to which the interpretation of stories is affected by the cultural values and accepted storytelling norms of the teller and the audience ... OK, that sounds terrible, and also terribly pretentious, but I can't think how else to say it without taking several paragraphs - one reason I read so much in translation is that I love seeing how the 'obvious' meaning of stories, and the tropes they will be expected to follow, differs, so even stories I know well are transmuted to something new and strange and not quite predictable, and if I hope to be able to follow unfamiliar stories, I have to be able to see through someone else's eyes and figure out how they make sense of the world. (But if you now hate me, and Yuletide, and people who can't ask for sensible, straightforward things, feel free to look at the 'In General' bit below and write whatever slash or political intrigue or angst or character vignette you had hoped to be asked for in this fandom - I promise you I shall be entirely happy with that too, if it is what you would write best and with the most pleasure.)
In General
Things I like (provided only as indicative of my taste, not as particular requirements of your story): established relationships, smart and competent characters, witty banter, slash, political intrigue, moral ambiguity, apparently simple conversations with a great deal going on under the surface, angst if done with restraint, difficult decisions with no right answer (I think I mentioned moral ambiguity?), metaphor, clever use of literary allusions, relationships where each party thinks the other has all the power. Endings can be happy, sad, ambiguous, or anywhere in between. Let's see, what else? Fierce loyalty (the tear the world apart for you variety, not the sit here passively putting up with anything variety), complicated love/hate relationships with lots of backstory, unflappable characters, arrogance if the party concerned has the requisite ability to back it up, committed partnerships between people who see the world at the same angle... Things I’d prefer you avoided: I’m not terribly keen on mpreg or stories told in the 2nd person, and I do have something of an embarrassment squick.
[It does occur to me that this list, which is my general one for all other-people-writing-fanfic-for-me occasions, is of only limited applicability here. I mean, these are all things I particularly like and would enjoy reading, but this year all my requests are for things where I am mostly interested in seeing how someone else transfigures the source material, or where I'm in love with the imagery, so a list tailored to the sort of fic I normally go for in media fandom is maybe not entirely to the point, or very much use.]
If you've offered any of these fandoms, you're obviously a person of taste and discernment, and probably didn't deserve to get stuck with my requests. I really would prefer you to write the best story you can, and one you're happy with, rather than trying to do something that doesn't suit you to fit what I asked for - so please, please do bear in mind that optional details are optional. If you have the opposite problem, and wish I'd given you more or more explicit suggestions, I'm very sorry - I was trying not to be overly prescriptive.
Mythology - Near Eastern
I would, truly, be happy with anything. If you felt like using some of the forms of surviving Sumerian literature, I would really love it - something all dialogue, a debate, a lament, a šir-gida ... But if that sort of thing doesn't appeal, how about anything at all with the lord of Aratta (proud and doomed - what's not to like there?). Or there's the stories involving Dumuzid - I would be fascinated by something examining the similarities (or the differences) between Dumuzid/Tammuz and Persephone. Or if that doesn't suit, you could write something sweet (or, if you prefer, given the power imbalance and what come to pass, disturbing) about his relationship with Inanna; or the horror of his prophetic dream or of what indeed happens to him; or his sister Ngeštin-ana's desperate attempts to save him or her mourning for him. Or there’s Enlil and Ninlil - can you come up with psychologically convincing account of their relationship? Whether you want to go with a long, plot-driven story, or a character piece, or an atmospheric vignette (for which you can readily find material lending itself to everything from horror to humour, from eroticism to philosophical reflection), or whether I can persuade you to write me a lament or a šir-gida, I'm sure I shall be delighted.
I'm not sure there's much else to say except that there's no need to limit yourself to Sumer or the Akkadian Empire if your interests lie elsewhere (nor do you need to stick to the listed characters if you don't feel like it) - the entirety of Ancient Near Eastern mythology is at your disposal. Do you want to write about 'Anat's joy in battle? Do you want to ignore the nominated characters and write about the difficult position of the young man who finds his loyalties divided between his father Tešub and his father-in-law Illuyanka? Did you wish you could have signed up to write something based on the Song of Kumarbi, say, or the Enûma Elišh? If so, go right ahead - the suggestions in my optional details are things it occurred to me I would like, but if you want to write something else, I'm sure I shall enjoy it also. This is a fandom in which I will be so pleased to get any good story I can assure you I won't be quibbling about specific details.
Li Shang-Yin - Walls of Emerald
I love the imagery of this poem: densely, richly allusive, obscure and yet somehow coherent despite the uncertainty of the meaning; what I want is something inspired by that imagery, and by the mood the poem conjures up. If you want plot suggestions, you could take any of the stories to which there's a recognizable allusion in the poem, or any interpretation of the poem you prefer (I'm not particularly asking for Li Shang-yin RPF here, although of course if that's what you'd like to write, go ahead); you could set your story then, or now, or in the world of myth and folk tale (or in any other setting that particularly appeals to you); if you think you can do a thousand words held together only by image and allusion, with no plot, that too would be excellent: basically, anything at all structured around the imagery would be amazing.
I can't believe this year 3 people offered this! Yuletide is a wonderful thing. If you were one of those three, I hope you're not now tearing you hair out and swearing never to do Yuletide again. Normally, I like to offer a selection of different types of prompts, because different writers like to start with different things: here I've got nothing to offer beyond what I've written already, and I truly hope that if you signed up for this, it was because you do find imagery inspiring. I don't mind when or where your story is set, whether Tsarist Russia, or modern-day steampunk1, or a crossover with one of my other fandoms, no definable setting, stick with T'ang Dynasty China, or ... look, how many ways can I say, do whatever you like? I promise I will be suitably impressed if you manage to make anything at all of this request. (For that matter, I asked specifically for Walls of Emerald, and I would especially love that, but I'm not trying to make your life difficult, and if you would find it easier to write something based on his untitled poems instead, I'm extremely fond of those poems also and you may take this as explicit permission to do so. Or, in fact, any of his poems at all.)
1 Examples chosen at random to indicate the wide range of acceptable possibilities, not because they're particular interests of mine - the point I am trying to make is that what interests me is how powerful the poem's imagery remains over a thousand years after it was written, and even in translation, so if you're interested in exploring its original context, that's fine, and if you're interested in examining it in a new context, that also is good.
For the benefit of anyone who didn't match on this but thinks it sounds interesting: to get you started, A. C. Graham's translation from Poems of the Late T'ang may be found here. James J. Y. Liu's commentary from The Poetry of Li Shang-yin is here. Do remember there is very little in the way of agreed upon interpretation, and that what I am in any case interested in is what it means to you: there is no need for you to feel obliged to follow, or even consider, any particular interpretation, and also no need to give particular weight to Graham's or Liu's positions just because they were what I had conveniently to hand to scan for you.
One Thousand and One Nights
I’m fascinated by seeing stories refract between cultures and through time, and here we have tales from around the world, already altered into stories even where loosely historical, now pressed into the service of a Korean story inspired by an Arabic collection, itself drawn from many sources and with no final text of its own. So what I would love is another tale, of your choosing, and to see how you choose to tell it, and how you have turned it to serve the themes of the manhwa.
I'm not sure what else to say here - there's no shortage of stories that are, or could be, about love, honour, guilt, duty ... One of the things that interests me is how the one story can be turned this way or that, by context, emphasis and editing, to mean different things, and also the degree to which the interpretation of stories is affected by the cultural values and accepted storytelling norms of the teller and the audience ... OK, that sounds terrible, and also terribly pretentious, but I can't think how else to say it without taking several paragraphs - one reason I read so much in translation is that I love seeing how the 'obvious' meaning of stories, and the tropes they will be expected to follow, differs, so even stories I know well are transmuted to something new and strange and not quite predictable, and if I hope to be able to follow unfamiliar stories, I have to be able to see through someone else's eyes and figure out how they make sense of the world. (But if you now hate me, and Yuletide, and people who can't ask for sensible, straightforward things, feel free to look at the 'In General' bit below and write whatever slash or political intrigue or angst or character vignette you had hoped to be asked for in this fandom - I promise you I shall be entirely happy with that too, if it is what you would write best and with the most pleasure.)
In General
Things I like (provided only as indicative of my taste, not as particular requirements of your story): established relationships, smart and competent characters, witty banter, slash, political intrigue, moral ambiguity, apparently simple conversations with a great deal going on under the surface, angst if done with restraint, difficult decisions with no right answer (I think I mentioned moral ambiguity?), metaphor, clever use of literary allusions, relationships where each party thinks the other has all the power. Endings can be happy, sad, ambiguous, or anywhere in between. Let's see, what else? Fierce loyalty (the tear the world apart for you variety, not the sit here passively putting up with anything variety), complicated love/hate relationships with lots of backstory, unflappable characters, arrogance if the party concerned has the requisite ability to back it up, committed partnerships between people who see the world at the same angle... Things I’d prefer you avoided: I’m not terribly keen on mpreg or stories told in the 2nd person, and I do have something of an embarrassment squick.
[It does occur to me that this list, which is my general one for all other-people-writing-fanfic-for-me occasions, is of only limited applicability here. I mean, these are all things I particularly like and would enjoy reading, but this year all my requests are for things where I am mostly interested in seeing how someone else transfigures the source material, or where I'm in love with the imagery, so a list tailored to the sort of fic I normally go for in media fandom is maybe not entirely to the point, or very much use.]
Tags: