Dear Yuletide Writer 2021

Dear Yuletide Writer,

Thanks for signing up for this exchange! This is the eighth year I’ve participated now, and I’ve always enjoyed it– I hope you do, too.

Below you’ll find the following:

• My Requests
• About Me
• General Likes/Kinks
• General DNWs
• Fandom Specifics/Prompts

My Requests:

• Mad Men - Peggy Olson, Stan Rizzo
• Ted Lasso - Ted Lasso, Coach Beard
• Crooked Media RPF - Jon Lovett, Ronan Farrow
• Mythic Quest - Ian Grimm, Poppy Li
• The Other Two - Brooke Dubek, Lance Arroyo

I’ve tried to list some varied prompts for each fandom, but please don’t feel like you have to stick to what I’ve come up with. If the rest of my letter gives you another idea you’d like to write, I’d love to read it!


A little about me to start:

My AO3 name is SuburbanSun; you can also check out my Tumblr if you’d like: unbreakablejemmasimmons. On Tumblr, my tags for each of my requested fandoms can be found here:

Mad Men | Ted Lasso | Crooked Media | Mythic Quest | The Other Two


General Likes/Kinks:

I’m a big trope fan in general– faves include rivals/enemies to lovers, secret dating/sneaking around, FWBs that turns into something more, mutual pining and “the love is requited they’re just idiots.” Subversions of tropes are also great!

Most of my prompts tend toward canon universe ideas because that’s just what I tend to think of first, but I enjoy AUs too, and here are a few types that I’m always a sucker for: Secret Service/bodyguard/witness protection AUs. Private eye AUs. Politics AUs (like my requested characters running for office or working on a campaign). Vampire slayer AUs. Food truck AUs.

Epistolary style, either as a small part of a story or as all of it, is always fun to me, if it’s up your alley. Phone calls! Emails! Letters! Post-It notes! I love it all!

Smut is cool and fun and here are some things that I like to read: Teasing. Phone sex/sexting. Semi-public sex (not actually getting caught though). Workplace sex. Dirty talk. Oral sex. Playfulness/joking around during sex.

General DNWs:

Superangst and sad endings. Babyfic/kidfic/pregnancy. Noncon/dubcon. A/B/O. Mpreg. Incest. Poly/threesomes/orgies. Members of my ships being paired romantically with other people (unless it’s just briefly, on the way to an OTP-happy ending) [this year, this is really only applicable to my Mad Men, Crooked and The Other Two requests, since I don't have a ship for the other two]. First person POV (except in epistolary elements).

Fandom Specifics/Prompts:

Mad Men
Peggy Olson, Stan Rizzo

I love and miss this show so much. It was so smart and made me feel so many things, and in truth, Peggy Olson is one of my favorite characters in all of fiction. I request this every year, but I truly never don’t want more of these characters!

Peggy/Stan is such a great ship, to me, and one I was on board with from the very beginning. Omitting his boorish behavior early on, once they established a rapport, they were such equals, and he seemed to respect her so much, and vice versa. They got on each other’s nerves and knew how to push each other’s buttons, but that’s just because they connected so well and really got each other.

 

Prompts:

• I adore the time period where they’re basically phone buddies. Maybe an AU where they get together earlier in the series, during that time? How their phone conversations evolve from discussing work to discussing everything to falling for each other (or realizing they already had)? Phone sex (or getting ever-so-close to it before realizing they’re in the office and it’s inappropriate) is a-okay here too.
• In the same vein, epistolary fic could be really fun to play around with here. Maybe a story told through a series of interoffice memos, messages, notes in the margins of copy pitches and along the edges of spec art?
• They’re working through the weekend on some pitch or another, holed up in the office with a stash of booze and half-empty cartons of Chinese food, but they can’t focus on work ALL night, can they?

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Ted Lasso
Ted Lasso, Coach Beard

This is one of my favorite shows on TV right now. Season 1 was an insta-obsession— I watched all of it in one night, then just started it right over. Watching season 2 week to week was a joy— with a lot of depth and tears, too! A huge part of what I love about the show is, naturally Ted, and the relationships he has or has developed with the other characters! I love his positivity and “aw shucks” demeanor that disguises some real depths, real sharpness and intelligence, and not a small amount of trauma. Coach Beard is my other fave— I love his oddness, his utter loyalty to Ted while still being willing to tell him when he’s screwing up. He’s content to be the guy-behind-the-guy, and is secretly a huge part of Ted and the team’s success— he knows his shit.

 

I love everyone in this bar, so feel free to include any other characters from the show.

Prompts:

• I’d love to get a look at Ted and Coach Beard back in Kansas— maybe their convo where Ted asked Beard to come with him to England?
• I love their conversations and strategy sessions over pints at the pub. What’s the next thing one of them needs advice over?
• One of the news outlets that cover the team want to do a feature on Beard, and won't take no for an answer. Do they get the exclusive, and if so, what kind of peculiarities do they uncover? Or does Ted do some behind-the-scenes scheming to make sure Beard gets to stay his preferred laconic self?

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Crooked Media RPF
Jon Lovett, Ronan Farrow

Oof these two. I’ve been a listener to Pod Save America since 2017 and I remember how for so long, we subsisted on little tiny crumbs in ad reads— were they actually together? Were they just golf buddies? Then, much later, I got my Catch & Kill pre-order on my Kindle at midnight and DIED at the “For Jonathan,” and then was resurrected when I flipped to the proposal. I think I was happier for them than I ever would be at any hypothetical engagement of my own. They seem so well-suited for each other, smoothing out each other's edges and offering up what the other needs (unless it’s basic household management, in which case, who needs it, anyway?). Anyway, I just love them.

**I love everyone in the Crooked universe so all are welcome, but if you were to mention any background relationships, I’d prefer them to be paired with their real-life partners. And if you do write for this fandom, I would appreciate it if you archive-locked the fic, as is the preferred custom in that fandom.

Prompts:

• I’d be super interested in reading about how they may have met— whether it’s an account based on things we actually know (I’ll never be over the idea of Ronan just sliding into Lovett’s DMs), or a completely fictionalized version of how they COULD have met back in DC in that era.
• Bicoastal life lends itself well to building a love story in phone calls, text messages, Zooms before Zoom was cool, mismatched time zone videogames, etc.
• The Achooley-Wed games were among my favorite things during COVID, and I’d love to read about another one.
• Wedding on the moon! Pundit in a spacesuit!

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Mythic Quest
Ian Grimm, Poppy Li

This show was such a fun discovery for me as I browsed Apple+. I’d heard good things, but the first episode hadn’t grabbed me, and I’m glad I stuck around because by episode 3 I was cackling out loud. Then the quarantine episode had me crying, followed by Everlight, which buoyed my heart. It’s been a wild ride!

I particularly love the relationship between Ian and Poppy as it’s laid out in the show. I don’t ship them romantically (though I suppose the show could convince me if they went in that direction!), but I love their prickly partnership, their codependence, and the way that they are maybe the only people in the world who really, begrudgingly, get each other. I would love something that explores that!

Prompts:

• Season 2 ends with the two of them leaving Mythic Quest to start something new, beginning with Poppy’s Hera game idea. How does the next big venture go?
• I’d love something that explores either of the characters’ personal lives, since we see so few glimpses of them in the show.
• Ian loves to hear himself talk, so I could see him starting a podcast— either as part of their new endeavor or separately, about gaming or something else. Poppy thinks it’s dumb and that nobody will listen— but is secretly annoyed that he hasn’t invited her on as a guest yet.

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The Other Two
Brooke Dubek, Lance Arroyo

This might be the funniest show on TV right now, to me. I was thrilled when it finally came back for a second season, and laughed out loud throughout. I love every character and the different dynamics between them, but I particularly am charmed every time Lance reappears. He’s the perfect himbo, so genuine and yet so stupid. And yet somehow he’s finding success! I really love that Brooke will always have a soft spot for Lance (and seemingly vice versa) and would love to see these two crazy kids work things out.

This is another “I love everyone in this bar” situation so happy to see any of the other characters pop up!

Prompts:

• I’m really rooting for Brooke to find actual success and happiness in her career. Along the way, is there an opportunity for her and Lance to work together? A collab of some kind between one of Brooke’s future clients and Lance’s fashion line?
• What if Brooke had called Lance instead of inviting Cary over when she was lonely in her new apartment?
• Brooke found out in the finale that Lance had broken up with his girlfriend, right after she’d told him she didn’t want to be with him. How does she handle this newfound knowledge? Does she take it back and make a move, or does her pride get in the way?

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So, that’s that! I really hope you enjoy the whole process this Yuletide season, and thanks for participating! Happy writing!