Dear Author Letter | Yuletide 2024
Oct. 13th, 2024 10:23 pmThank you so much for signing up to write me a yuletide gift! I'm Theo — you can find me on AO3 as pugglemuggle / rythyme and on tumblr as rythyme. I'm open to gifts of all kinds, including treats or madness gifts, and I'm excited to see what you make! Below are a few extra items in case you'd like some more options.
Some general notes...
My prompts are meant to inspire, not restrict
I like to add a few different possible prompts to help give you some ideas, but if none of them are resonating with you, that's fine! I also have a general list of likes that you're welcome to draw from. It's also okay if you'd like to take part of a prompt but not all of it. Please write whatever you're most inspired by. :)
General likes
Below is a list of things I like in general in case you'd like some more ideas.
- Fluff & humor
- Get-togethers & feelings realizations
- Hijinks & shenanigans
- Banter
- Outsider POV
- "N things" (e.g. 5 times + 1 time)
- Non-chronological stories / out-of-order storytelling
- Timeloops
- "Multimedia" fic, or fic that uses unique formats / framing devices to tell a story. Examples might include epistolary fic, fictional newspaper articles, radio broadcast transcripts, interview transcripts, social media, or blog posts.
- Note: I do also like chats / text messages in fic, but I'm not a big fan of chat fic (where the whole fic is just text messages or chat logs).
- Relationship reveals (e.g. "how X character(s) learn about this relationship...)
- "Unsexy" sex, sex-as-comedy, or sex as a vehicle for demonstrating relationship dynamics, relationship growth, etc,
- ... but also PWP, if you feel so inclined
Do Not Wants
Please avoid these topics or tropes.
Major character death, mentions of suicide, suicidal thoughts, or suicidal behavior, mentions of partner/significant other death, depictions of self-harm, extensive depictions of grief / grieving, hurt w/out comfort, scat/watersports, incest
Fandom-Specific Prompts
Jack & Joker (2024)
Characters: Joker, Jack
AU - 1920s heist
Give me some bank vaults, some old-school automobile chases, suspenders and bowler hats! American prohibition era or 1920s Shanghai could both be really fun settings. The 1920s are also an interesting time politically in Bangkok, though the vibes are a little different. Pick whatever strikes your fancy!
AU - fantasy RPG setting
Joke would make such a fun rogue or bard character. Jack strikes me as a paladin or a fighter perhaps? I’d love to see some heists or thievery in a fantasy RPG-style setting. Totally up to you how that goes.
More prompts will be added to this letter as the show progresses!
RRR (2022)
Characters: Komaram Bheem, Alluri Sitarama Raju
This movie has occupied my brain rent-free ever since I watched it. Bheem/Ram scratches the perfect itch in my brain. A few ideas:
Competency
Any moment where Bheem or Ram are exceedingly competent at something, and the other has… some type of reaction to it. Up to you what kind.
Canon divergence — Ram hunts Bheem and Malli in the jungle
What happens if Ram isn’t able to recover quickly enough from the snake bite to stop what happens at the governor’s big party? What happens if Bheem and Malli escape back to the jungle, and Ram has to track them down there? I’m particularly interested in seeing Ram attempt to hunt Bheem on Bheem’s own home turf. What happens if Bheem has the upper hand this time? Bonus for things like Bheem capturing Ram for a change, sexually charged combat, post-fight heart-to-hearts while bloodied, and/or Ram slowly transitioning from captive / enemy to a loved member of Bheem’s village. I just really like the idea of the village treating Ram with some level of kindness despite everything, and Ram not really knowing what to do with that.
Sex!
What if they explored each other’s bodies? Yes, it’s been done before, but it shall be done again. I will read it as many times as it is written. I’m open to almost anything here, but bonus points for sexual tension or trysts while hidden identity shenanigans are still afoot (i.e. part 1 of the movie). What can I say? I love fatal attraction and repression and guilt complexes <3
Argylle (2024)
Characters: Aubrey Argylle, Wyatt (John Cena's character)
Meta fic
[In this case, the author need not include the characters listed in the request]
As soon as I walked out of the theater for this movie, I immediately wanted to see what would happen in the Argylle book series fandom after the events of the movie. How do you feel and react to her statements during the book tour at the end of the series? Are there conspiracy theorist fans who have pieced together Elly Conway's identity? What reputation do these fans have? I think there’s a lot of fun potential to play with here! Bonus for mixed media — maybe some fake social media posts or discussion board comments?
In-Universe Fanfic
You know book fans were writing Argylle/Wyatt fics like crazy — especially after that final book tour. What are some of those fics like? Be as campy or tropey or spicy as you want! Feel free to add some "cerulean orbs" and such in there if you really want to ham up the fanfic element. :) You can also take it a more serious route if that's what you prefer. If you want to include any of Argylle’s female love interest characters as well, go for it! Poly is fun! Bonus points for in-universe author notes or commentary.
Challengers (2024)
Characters: Art Donaldson, Patrick Zweig, Tashi Donaldson
I am not immune to toxic polytriad shenanigans. Sexual content is encouraged, but I’m also perfectly happy with sexual tension, foreplay, or eroticized tennis (i.e. normal tennis, if you’re these characters). If sexual content isn’t your jam, that’s fine! I’m primarily here for strange, fucked up people being in strange, fucked up love with each other.
Here are some prompts — many have been done before, but I will read them as many times as they are written.
Post-canon weird throuple life
How do they turn this fucked up polytriad house into a home? What kind of bizarre coparenting situation do they cook up, if any? This doesn't have to be a smooth process, and it doesn't need to be particularly fluffy either. I just want to see what their strange version of domesticity looks like, with all its rough edges.
Tashi “coaching” Patrick and Art in the bedroom
Could be pre-injury or any time after. No preference! I’d mostly just love to see her orchestrate things so they're exactly the way she wants them.
Tennis sex
Yeah. "Tennis sex" can encompass literal sex, or tennis-as-sex, or some combination of both. Private court, public court (?), locker room, whatever.
Art and Patrick hook up. Tashi knows.
In the movie, Tashi and Patrick have hooked up a couple times, and Art knew about it. What if, post-canon, the flip side happens as well? Maybe Tashi’s pissed about it. Maybe Tashi allowed it to happen. Maybe she even orchestrated it, in a way. Is Patrick trying to do this behind Tashi’s back to piss her off? Would it piss Patrick off, to know that this only happened because Tashi wanted it to happen? Would it excite him? What kind of strange complex does Art have about all this? Either way, Tashi may not physically be in the bedroom with them, but the hookup is — explicitly or implicitly — completely about her. Sexual content encouraged but not required; I’d also be interested in seeing the build up or fallout for something like this.
Patrick pining and/or lusting after Art and Tashi during his solo years.
I am fascinated by Patrick’s weird psychosexual obsession with Art and Tashi after the messy breakup they all had following Tashi’s injury. Why did he stay so fixated on both of them after all that time, and how did that affect his life and relationships? Are they haunting him? What did his implied off-camera bicurious exploration look like? How did sex become so transactional for him that he’d use it as a way to find a place to sleep? I’m kind of obsessed with whatever is going on in this guy’s brain that made him act so out of pocket with a married couple he had a thing with when he was a teenager.
Tashi character study - any exploration of Tashi’s unusual relationship with sex, sexuality, and romantic attraction.
Bear with me here… Some people joke that she’s tennis-sexual, but I actually think there’s a little bit of truth to that, in a way. I’ve always read her as somewhat asexual or aromantic — not because she doesn’t love Patrick and Art (she does!) but because the way she loves them queers what is usually expected from romantic or sexual desire. Tennis is the main way she connects with people emotionally, romantically, sexually. She uses intimacy as a tool and often seems to prefer to orchestrate intimacy between her boys rather than be directly involved herself. She wants something from both of them — wants a relationship from both of them — but the relationship she wants is a far cry from a traditional romantic and sexual relationship. I’d love any exploration of what Tashi really, truly wants and how her relationships evolve because of that.
Final Note
I tend to get very, very busy during the holiday season, so if I don't read or comment on your fic right away, please do not be alarmed! I'm probably just waiting for family stuff to settle before I sit down and read it :)