Dear Yuletide Writer,

I am linking you to my letter from last year as nothing has appreciably changed in my tastes, I do hope that's ok. Do please ask anything you may wish to there or here as I'm screening comments for all round privacy!

Hugs,
Valderys

Title: O Captain, My Captain
Author: valderys
Pairing: Arthur/Eames
Rating: PG
Word Count: 9,287
Warnings: Underage in some countries, but not in the country of setting (UK).
Notes: Written for Inception Reversebang with many thanks to my inspiring artist shiroi_ten. I'll link to the gorgeous artwork properly later after posting. I intended this as a vague kind of prequel to the actual movie, and it kind of still works for that, but only kind of. The title is actually a quote from the Dead Poet's Society, as opposed to Walt Whitman, but I suspect only I would have realised that :)
Summary: Eames is a geeky sort of boy with middling ambitions, not particularly prone to stepping out of line at his conservative boarding school, until one day he meets Arthur, the American hipster with a secret past. He doesn't know it but that changes everything - falling in love is only part of the problem.

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Title: Who Fights With Monsters
Author: valderys
Pairing: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Rating: PG
Word Count: 4,906
Notes: Written for dark_fest. An Avengers movieverse AU.
Summary: What if Steve Rogers hadn't been born in Brooklyn? What if he'd been born in Berlin instead? And what if Tony found him anyway?

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Title: Paradise Snow
Author: valderys
Pairing: Arthur/Eames
Rating: G
Word Count: 1,000
Notes: AU. Written for picfor1000, for the tenth annual challenge 'A perfect ten'.
Summary: Eames tends bar in the poshest ski resort this side of the Alps. It's a dream job - if only he can get Arthur, the professional ski instructor, to even notice he's alive.

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Ok, now this may be me being stupid, but why are there three different word counts on my latest fic? It wouldn't matter except that I'm writing for picfor1000 which obviously needs 1000 words exactly. So - I have 1000 words exactly in Googledocs where I'm writing, but then I'm curious (because it's happened before) so I paste the fic into Word to see if there's a difference and there is! It's 974! And in AO3, it's 965!

Now I've done some experimenting, apparently Googledocs considers the the dash to be a word, which I somewhat object to finding out now, but I can't for the life of me figure out what the difference is between Word and AO3... Has anyone else explored this particular phenomenon?

Originally posted by cantarina1 at post

Title: Club Middle-of-Nowhere
Author: valderys
Fandom: Peep Show
Pairing: Mark Corrigan/Jeremy Usborne
Rating: PG for swears
Word Count: 1,153
Notes: Written for cesperanza's 101 Ways To End Up In A Canadian Shack Challenge 2011
Summary: Since when did Mark trust Jeremy to pick their holiday destinations?

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Well, I am continuing my 'not quite as prolific or as happy about my writing' theme which I started last year. Although this year I at least have a culprit to blame in that I wrote a lot for my freeform larp game The Lists of Avalon. This ate into my time and into my creativity - I've noticed that I have a finite well of creativity and when it's dry, that's your lot, I'm afraid to say. This year fic writing suffered but the game ended up being enjoyed by 32 ofl its 33 players, so that's good at least! :)

I was also unsuccessful for the first time in my self-appointed task to write a minimum of one fic a month, by failing to post anything in November - but since that's when the game ran I'm forgiving myself :)

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So this year I have written 55,936 words over 15 stories in 10 fandoms. This is slightly less than two thirds what I wrote last year sadly, but I bet I wrote at least the difference in Avalon, although it's hard to tell as there were three of us writing it.

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Slightly late to this but my Christmas break has been filled with lots of fun things and also, inevitably, being ill. So this is the first chance I've had.

First of all, my gift was the most marvellous piece by the dear toft_froggy, Five Times Peter Guillam Didn't Have A Drink With Ricki Tarr (and One Time He Did) - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), Peter Guillam/Ricki Tarr (R)

This is a lovely shaded piece, with lots of hints to other things under the surface, just as any Tinker, Tailor fic should be, and I've read it lots and I love it to bits - so do go read it too.

My own offerings were these:

Title: Great Marlborough Street
Fandom: Hanover Street
Pairing: David Halloran/Paul Sellinger (preslash)
Rating: G
Word Count: 2,744
Notes: Written for Peet4paint. I watched the movie and then wrote the fic as it was clear from her letter that this was the fandom she really wanted something written in :)
Summary: Halloran looked up, and wouldn't you know it, he was standing on the corner of Hanover Street. What was it about this place that his feet just unknowingly took him here?

Great Marlborough Street

Title: Love in a Cold Climate
Fandom: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
Pairing: Peter Guillam/Richard, Ricki Tarr/Irina, George Smiley/Ann Smiley, Bill Haydon/Jim Prideaux
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1,571
Notes: Written for Bogged. My only pinch hit this year, because my writing brain has been a little overloaded from other things. But I am glad I got one pinch hit in, at least, so I can feel I did my best!
Summary: People love and are loved in so many different ways. In the hotbed that is the Cold War, these are just some of them.

Love in a Cold Climate

Oh, there's so much to talk about that I'll only skim the surface! First, my Yuletide fic is in as of about an hour ago or so - which is late for me, but I started it late because of finishing dream_holiday yada yada - and I happened to see that there's a greyed out fic waiting for me on AO3, so no fears this year of being last on the pinch hit list :) Speaking of which I've not managed to catch a pinch hit this year - yet. I suspect I may not as my enthusiasm is low, my writing brain was all used up on finishing The Lists of Avalon (my freeform game that ran in November) so I don't feel so bad.

Secondly, if you haven't already seen Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows may I recommend you do so? Especially if you are of a slashy turn of mind and like RDJ even a little? It really is that rare beast, a sequal that is better than the first movie. (So, just this one and... Empire Strikes Back maybe?) I loved every single second of it, really fun - particularly the last action/fight sequence - when you see it you'll know why I loved it so much. Jared Harris made an excellent Moriarty.

Thirdly, OMG how good is the first Hobbit trailer? It really gave me a emotional punch in the stomach. I think a LotR rewatch is in order this Christmas. The trailer made me so excited for the movie at long last - I suspect I'll be dusting off my hobbit fic writing credentials. There may even have to be dwarf slash, or should I stick to RPS, as the safer, saner alternative? :)

What else? There's probably loads, but I'm mentally knackered at the mo. I hope XMas will recharge the batteries - all except for Come hel or Hiawatha, of course, which needs editing in time for it's run at the end of Jan (next freeform game I'm running.) So Happy Christmas, you guys!