Bob the Mole

It will come as a surprise to no one that I can be somewhat weird. I watch Summer Blockbusters like the rest of society but when while everyone else is ooh-ing and gasping at the crisply rendered explosion that smothers the screen after a T-rex chomps on a Transformer, I'm distracted by the fate of the minor female character who is neglected by the script after she does her duty lending Emotional Depth to the male protagonist. It's become a trend.

Tron: Legacy would have been another forgettable explode-a-thon if not for the last few minutes of the movie. Quorra, a piece of self-aware software who had lived her entire life in a virtual reality world, was incarnated into the "Real World" by a piece of technology that broke my brain*.

I immediately had two questions: (1) Does her body work normally? and (2) Did Sam have to explain menstruation to her?

My prompt for Yuletide was: Quorra spent her entire existence as an "isomorphic algorithm", mentored by, well, a guy. When she finally transfers into the real world, the computer fabricates for her what appears to be a fully-functioning human body. A female body. In a film world that magnificently fails the Bechdel test, how does she come to terms with the messy practicalities of being a newly-made human? Do the richness of colors and scents make up for the drawbacks of being stuck in this strange new world? How does she construct a background for herself, and who are her allies?

Maybe I'm not the only person who was captivated by Quorra's story, because I received not one but TWO Yuletide stories about her.What I find amazing is how the same prompt inspired two brilliant but very different stories**.

One, Sunrise, is a long, deliciously plotty account of how Quorra adapted to the "User World". The rich, sensual details contrast the beauty and ugliness that the world offers to someone unprepared for it. Quorra survives a crippling isolation and then returns to the Grid with a new appreciation for it.

The other, #include "light.h", is more brief but no less intense. It's a missing scene from the movie - the minutes between Quorra's and Sam's emergence from the virtual world and their ride on Sam's motorbike. The witty banter between the two characters had me grinning like a maniac. There's also a lovely bit of world-building as Quorra tells Sam about religious belief in her world.


Thank you, wonderful writers, for making my Yuletide gay. Everyone else, please read their excellent stories!




* I'm a biomedical engineer. I design microscopic structures on a computer and use lasers to fabricate them out of goop. In 4 years, I've barely made more than little rectangles a thousandth of the size of a grain of rice. Seeing fully-functioning people pop out of thin air...hurt in ways that I can't express.

**To the credit of both authors, they kept FAR away from my wacky preoccupation with guys-dealing-with-periods.

Firstly, thank you so much for signing up for Yuletide this year and for being my writer.

I apologize that my letter is yet unfinished. I will be traveling all day Tuesday and may not have the letter completed until Wednesday. I'll try to add bits to this letter whenever I get the chance over the next two days. Thanks for your patience!

Secondly, thank you for being patient as I completed this letter. The Yule-Letter writing process makes me fret a bit because I get enthused about sharing ideas with someone else who cares about my tiny neglected fandoms, but I don't want you to feel hedged in by my suggestions. What I truly want to read is a story that you enjoyed writing and felt fulfilled by. If that means going in a direction completely different from the ideas below, wonderful! I enjoy being surprised.

I guess it's traditional to mention loves and squicks. I have a fondness of gen-fic, but I don't mind a good romance. I am equally happy with plot-driven or character-driven stories. I like unexpected alliances. I usually dislike revenge. I avoid scenarios with dubious or no consent given to sex. I like bitter and cynical, or happy and hopeful, or anything in between. I even like gratuitously Christmassy.

Above all, I will like what you write. Thank you.

Love,
Bob.

Five Find-Outers
    Bets Hilton
    Frederick Trotteville

I grew up on a near exclusive diet of Enid Blyton books, and the Five Find-Outers series was by far my favorite. I loved the humor, the disguises, the CLUES, the chemistry between Bets and Fatty (fully acknowledging that both of them had barely hit puberty), the clotted cream and warm scones and lemonade bottles and hard-boiled eggs and tongue sandwiches and picnics by the river that would make any post-War child's mouth water.

Even now, when I see all the problematic class-ism and racism in the series, I'm nostalgic for the good bits: lazy summer warmth, Fatty's bottomless pockets, and the thrill of a mystery that needs to be solved.

I'm so excited about seeing the Five Find-Outers on Yuletide this year that I'd be thrilled to read practically anything. A whodunit in the style of the books? A slice of life piece when everyone reunites for the holidays? A bitter-sweet story of their last case together? Fatty and Bets grow up to become MI-5 agents? Why not!

(My one big request is to avoid underaged sex between any of the characters. Thanks!)

Mary Poppins
    World-building

I'm open to ANY exploration of the world of Mary Poppins. Feel free to write about established characters or create your own. I'll talk a bit about the aspects of the film that get me excited, but please don't feel restricted by them.

Every time I watch Mary Poppins, I get hints of a deeper world, hinted in song, just off-screen...

Winds in the east, mist coming in,
Like somethin' is brewin' and bout to begin.
Can't put me finger on what lies in store,
But I fear what's to happen all happened before.

And later...

Up where the smoke is all billowed and curled
'Tween pavement and stars
Is the chimney sweep world
When there's hardly no day
Nor hardly no night
There's things half in shadow
And halfway in light
On the rooftops of London
Coo, what a sight.


There's a whole world out there that Mundane London doesn't see. A world where chimney-sweeps are the kings of liminal spaces, where powerful witches choose to work as nannies; a world whose denizens live beside ordinary people and spread a subtle kind of magic where ever they go. I wonder: What else is going on in this world? What is the source of their magic? Why are so many of them in service positions? Where does Mary Poppins live between jobs?

I am open to any kind of story in this world, character-driven or world-driven.

Grimm
    World-building

Grimm is just yummy. I like the characters, especially the ideosyncratic supporting roles: There's Eddie Monroe who is torn between his stay-out-of-trouble pilates-and-zen lifestyle, and the excitement of solving cases with his (technically) greatest foe. There's also Aunt Marie, who was a BAMF on her deathbed and somehow managed to hide her evil-slaying side career from the nephew she raised.

Quirky characters aside, I'm fascinated by the world that's been constructed around the kernel of germanic folk-tales. What other species are out there that we haven't seen? How would another fairy-tale be incorporated into the mythos? Is the Grimm authorized to hunt non-Germanic beasts?

Feel free to go wild - I'll happily read a story about any of the established characters or something original.

Tron: Legacy
    Quorra

I feel a bit nervous about making this request because my interest mainly lies in one supporting character. If my prompt isn't of interest to you, please feel free to toss it and write something that YOU enjoy, because your passion for your favorite characters and preferred scenarios will make the story come alive and I WILL love what you write.

But if you are interested, my question is this: Quorra spent her entire existence as an "isomorphic algorithm", mentored by, well, a guy. When she finally transfers into the real world, the computer fabricates for her what appears to be a fully-functioning human body. A female body. In a film world that magnificently fails the Bechdel test, how does she come to terms with the messy practicalities of being a newly-made human? Do the richness of colors and scents make up for the drawbacks of being stuck in this strange new world? How does she construct a background for herself, and who are her allies?