A Yuletide meme

[morbane]

Yuletide sign-ups are open through Friday (see countdown)! In honour of which, I'm filling out a meme taken from ambyr.

My five most popular Yuletide works

I'm going by kudos because that's easiest.

Crossed Hearts (2331 words)
Spinning Silver - Naomi Novik
Mature | Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings | F/M
Miryem Mandelstam/The Staryk Lord
Dubious Consent, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot
Summary: After Miryem's feat of high magic, the Staryk lord lays his hand on the flow of time and grants her a full day's relief.

But a full day has a night at its end, and that has its own consequence.

NYR 2020. I wrote most of this just after a Yuletide - in Tampa airport, about to fly home from a New Year's visit with my grandmother. It looked like the recipient's main Yuletide gift might not have been a great match, and I love this book (I often re-read the passage just before where this story is set) and thought the prompt of dubcon was a great opportunity, so gave it a go to try to increase happiness. I think it fits into canon well, and where the language is stilted I am grateful to pendrecarc for smoothing it over somewhat. Porn in small book fandoms is a great niche, although I always start out in porn by skipping over things far too fast. All my betas for porn have always had to tell me to describe more and draw things out more.


Sunny One So True (2693 words)
The Turn of the Story - Sarah Rees Brennan
General Audiences | No Archive Warnings Apply | M/M
Elliot Schafer/Luke Sunborn, Serene-Heart-in-the-Chaos-of-Battle
Singing, Fluff, Humor, Obliviousness, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, References to the Beatles, Pre-Slash, Companionable Snark, Banter
Summary: Elliot tries diplomacy. Yet again. Bardic style.

NYR 2015. I'm bemused this one is up top, but maybe some kind person recced it somewhere. This was also written out-of-season, sort of. I used to sign up for the drink swaps part of YuleSwaps (nb: YuleSwaps might be on its last year unless some new coordinators take it over - can you help?) with an Extra Tradition: when given the name of the person I would send tea to, I would also look up their Yuletide prompts and try to include a story in the package. I managed it, um, four times, I think? This was one of the times. And then I would post it online later in the NYR collection. Anyway, I enjoyed picking up this canon - it has a lot of heart and humor, Elliot is delightfully ridiculous - and writing some mild fluff. I'm not sure the plot makes a lot of sense if you think about it too hard, but it seems to have made a few people smile.


Magic Beans (7287 words)
Sunshine - Robin McKinley
General Audiences | No Archive Warnings Apply | Gen
Rae "Sunshine" Seddon, Yolande (Sunshine)
Christian Holidays, Mentors, Baking, Food, Fairy Tales, Magic Holiday Traditions, Backstory, Worldbuilding
Summary: Yolande persuades Sunshine to employ her magic in her baking. Sunshine has her doubts.

Yuletide 2012. This is actually fourth by popularity, but it's context for the other two. This is also one of the stories I'm proudest of. It has flaws, of course, but I put absolutely everything I had into this - feelings, pacing, a bit of research - and people seem to pick up what I tried to put in. ♥ I wrote it when I was quite miserable because I had spent all year sucking at my new job, and (in retrospect) I wanted to write about Rae, whose life is very daunting, finding her feet a bit and receiving support. I built up a head of steam and then typed like mad. kurushi was a really kind beta! I was so SO happy that my recipient liked it. And my mum liked it, too.


'I am not a shackle' (2991 words)
Sunshine - Robin McKinley
Explicit | No Archive Warnings Apply | F/M, Multi
Rae "Sunshine" Seddon/Constantine/Mel
Handcuffs, Sex Magic, Threesome - F/M/M
Summary: "I am not a rope around your neck or-- or a shackle around your ankle! So-- so go away!"

Rae sets Constantine free from a shackle. Constantine returns the favour. His timing leaves something to be desired.

NYR 2013. Actual third-most-popular. I'd spent so much time thinking about Rae's world for Magic Beans that I then wrote two more stories shortly after! I don't think the recipient ever saw this one - it was a NYR 2013 story for a prompt they wrote in 2011 - but that's okay. If they do ever read it, I hope they enjoy it. Again, slightly kinky porn to fill a gap in a small book fandom is a good niche!


(in case I don't see you) good afternoon, good evening, and good night (1113 words)
Sunshine - Robin McKinley
General Audiences | No Archive Warnings Apply | Gen
Rae "Sunshine" Seddon, Yolande (Sunshine)
Mentors, Friendship, Magic, Podfic Available
Summary: Yolande watches Sunshine go into the dark.

NYR 2013. Like the threesome fic, this brief alternate-perspective-on-canon-events fic emerged from my period of ferocious canon review of Sunshine for Yuletide 2012. I suspect this one's popularity is due to chestnut_pod kindly creating a podfic of it, though it also does not hurt that it is short and easily consumed, and a lot of people who like Sunshine enjoy thoughts about Yolande.


Sadly, I lost the very dog-eared and post-it-noted copy of Sunshine I used to write stories that year - I think I might have even lost it on that Florida trip when I wrote Crossed Hearts, bringing us full circle. mermaid very kindly got me another copy - I think I am due a re-read.

It strikes me as funny that only one of the stories above was posted in a main Yuletide collection! NYRs for the rest.

---

My five favourite Yuletide works

Or, I'll go with ones I'm most proud of.

Magic Beans (7287 words)
Sunshine - Robin McKinley
General Audiences | No Archive Warnings Apply | Gen
Rae "Sunshine" Seddon, Yolande (Sunshine)
Christian Holidays, Mentors, Baking, Food, Fairy Tales, Magic Holiday Traditions, Backstory, Worldbuilding
Summary: Yolande persuades Sunshine to employ her magic in her baking. Sunshine has her doubts.

Yuletide 2012. This is summarized in the section above! Also, perhaps I should note that we got my beloved former cat Ria a few days before Yuletide 2012 revealed, so the last writing and polishing was done while she explored her new home. I'm sure it was reassuring that one of her new owners did absolutely nothing but sit on the couch and type. I'm sure it didn't hurt that this story had bonus new cat energy. (No cats are mentioned in the story.)


Unys of Vespi (13826 words)
Legendsong Series - Isobelle Carmody
Teen And Up Audiences | Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings | F/M
Unys/Kerd, Coralyn of Iridom, Faylian (Legendsong)
Politics, Arranged Marriage, Fate, Worldbuilding
Summary: A girl is the heroine of her own story - even if that girl is a vain, petty, fickle pelflyt, and well aware of it. The question is whether it is to be a story of love, revenge, politics, or faith.

Yuletide 2013. Also my longest Yuletide story! I'm proud of that, and I also had a lot of fun with Unys' perspective and with worldbuilding. The Legendsong series is two doorstopper novels in an unfinished portal fantasy trilogy. I love it very much. It was daunting to try to tease out some things that I'm sure are in the author's head - whether or not they ever make it to page. (I'm still hopeful!) My recipient gave me enthusiastic free rein and I had a blast. I really down to the wire on timing. There was at least one all-nighter. batman was a very helpful cheerleader. I am not sure if this actually has a plot, but it has character development.


Lilac Wine (2193 words)
The Last Unicorn - Peter S. Beagle
Teen And Up Audiences | No Archive Warnings Apply | F/M
Prince Lír/Unicorn | Lady Amalthea
First Time, Timey-Wimey, Drunk Sex
Summary: Molly searched all of Haggard's castle for wine, but found none - because Lír and Amalthea had the only available bottle, and drank it in the last, muddled, timeless night they had together (and had hangovers when it came time to face the Bull).

NYR 2015. Another NYR story for a prompt some years previous. I'm happy with this one because I feel that I did what I wanted to do with it. When I read it, I think, yes, that is the idea I had, there it is on the page. Language a little stilted, but something titled Lilac is allowed a little purple prose; I enjoyed myself, and there are moments of Beagle humour. And this book is very dear to my heart, so I'm happy to have made something for it that made me happy, if that makes sense.


a kingdom blanketed in white (lies) (1706 words)
Star Stealing Prince
General Audiences | No Archive Warnings Apply | Gen
Richard & Snowe, Queen Lina (Star Stealing Prince)
Pre-Canon, Gaslighting, Childhood Memories, Memory Alteration
Summary: Richard tries to guide Lina towards creating some good memories for Snowe.

She delegates.

Yuletide 2018. It can be stressful to write for your fellow mod, even if you like them a lot, when you're going to spend over a month pretending you don't BOTH know this! So that was an extra challenge - but on top of that, I'm actually just happy with how this came out. The first draft came relatively easily and was a solid first draft, and then eglantiere helped me polish it up more. I think this does a good amount with its word count - creepy and showing an oncoming tragedy. I'm not really satisfied with how I portrayed the children's ages, but then again, canon messes with this considerably. And then I had had enough puff left to write a second story for the prompts (satisfying my need to ensure SOMETHING was a surprise), and a later NYR, which was fun.


Come Flying (2838 words)
No Flying in the House - Betty Brock
General Audiences | No Archive Warnings Apply | Gen
Beatrice Cox, Annabel Tippens
Female Friendship, Adventure, Post-Canon, Fae & Fairies
Summary: Annabel and Beatrice meet again in their twenties. To Beatrice, now, Annabel seems far more worldly-wise - but she is not entirely free of otherworldly ties.

Yuletide 2014. I am proud of this one for some of the same reasons as the one above! Writing for a fellow mod! And I tried really hard with the tone and atmosphere and setting of this, and just a tiny bit of research. Finch and inevitableentresol were very helpful betas. As with the other one, I also wrote another story for my recipient. Because when you and your recipient know what's happening ahead of time (probably), it is soothing to ensure something is a nice surprise.


Ill Wind (1077 words)
Temper - Nicky Drayden
General Audiences | No Archive Warnings Apply | Gen
Sesay & Daki (Temper)
Worldbuilding, Backstory, Character Study
Summary: Sesay learns to lie.

NYR 2020. Since we're counting Magic Beans for both, I'm giving myself a bonus here. This was the last time I signed up for Drink Swaps and also managed to send a story in the package (with some help from Yuleswaps mods). So again this was a skills challenge: consume a new canon, get to grips with it, and write a story in a much shorter timeframe than the Yuletide deadline, while also doing other parts of Yuletide. Temper is fun and bonkers and worldbuilds in a culture I'm not familiar with at all. Definitely took me out of my comfort zone, but in a fun way! And I love Sesay. ictus was a very helpful beta.

Comments

[daisyninjagirl]

When I was looking through mine... yes, I'd enjoyed writing the ones that were the most kudosed. But my favourite ones to write often had quite small readerships. Oh yes, and the most popular ones were often written as treats - I guess because you'd only write them if you had a really good feel for the prompt.

[snickfic]

I still have extremely fond memories of Magic Beans, so I heartily approve its inclusion atop your list. <3

[ambyr]

I'm very glad you enjoyed Temper (and I'm so pleased with the story)! I wish I could tempt more of fandom into loving its bonkers, gonzo plotting and worldbuilding (so much fusion potential!), but alas.

Okay, no, wait, work with me here: Temper/Black Jewels fusion, how do the virtues and vices split between Lucivar and Daemon?