Yuletide letter 2017!
Oct. 3rd, 2017 11:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cadma2//I've just been editing this bc I didn't have time to write as much as I wanted before assignments went out, sorry! But it's definitely in its final form now.//
Thanks for writing for me! I really like these fandoms and these characters, so I’m looking forward to anything you write. Please go with whatever you want from this letter, and bring in any of your own ideas that you want to!
General likes: Missing scenes, AUs where the plot goes a different way, misunderstandings, understandable mistakes which snowball into disasters, characters who have more to them than meets the eye, couples with different strong points who work together, suppressed emotion, characters who care about doing something well, idealistic characters dealing with compromise, cynical characters turning out to care about something, established relationships, characters helping each other
DNWs: Modern AUs, noncon, suicide, long descriptions of sex (like longer than two paragraphs or so), anal sex or roleplay during sex. Most characters in these canons lived through wars so realistic violence/gore is fine in that context, but I'd prefer nothing extreme outside that context.
---The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943): Edith Hunter, Clive Candy, Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff---
This film is such an amazing achievement! It’s so long, and often quite slow (random conversations about Sherlock Holmes anyone?) but I never find it boring. It really captures a sense of time passing for me, and the change and continuity over the course of the characters’ lives. Clive is kind of instinctively loyal – I totally believed in the importance of his friendship with Theo, even though when you think about it they basically met twice before 1939 – and instinctively kind. Theo on the other hand seems to think about stuff more, and so he changes more in response to what happens to him – and of course he sees far more and worse changes in his society than Clive does in his. I find that contrast really interesting.
What I’d really like though is a story about Edith -- her life and experiences were just as interesting as Clive and Theo’s, but we mostly just see her from Clive’s perspective at the beginning and second-hand from Theo later on. She went out to Berlin alone and she doesn’t want to go back to England – apparently to a family that would prefer her to stay at home until she gets married, like a good Edwardian girl. But then she does get married, despite her outspokenness against the idea.
Does she marry Theo so she can stay in Germany, because she really likes him or because she doesn’t want to be waiting forever to see if Clive says anything – or a bit of all three? And does she ever wonder if she did the right thing, even though she stuck by him through everything?
An AU where she survives into the WWII section could be interesting – would she feel as out-of-place in the modern world as Clive and Theo do or would she prefer it once women had more freedom and opportunities? When Clive shows Barbara’s portrait to Theo there’s an interesting contrast between Clive’s idealised memory and Theo’s more complicated real relationship with her -the AU could be a good opportunity to explore that.
Alternatively, a story where Clive and Theo meet again earlier in WWI would also be good – how would the war situation affect their relationship when it’s not clear who’s going to win yet? Hard to get Edith into that one in person but some mention of how she’s doing and what she thinks of the situation would be enough. Incidentally I can read German so if you want to include any in the story go for it – no problem though of course if not.
---A Canterbury Tale: Alison Smith, Bob Johnson, Thomas Colpeper, Peter Gibbs---
This film is so weird and unique and it’s the one black-and-white film that I wish was in colour, just for the views of the landscape. I’ve been to Kent once and the little village we were in seemed quaint compared to other parts of England, so it must seem really different to someone from Oregon. It’s also the kind of landscape that’s really inseparable from it’s human inhabitants, just because human activity has played such a role in shaping it – ‘gone are the forests since the enclosures came’. And the Glue-man is almost like local folklore – everyone seems to take him for granted except for the newcomers.
I like watching Bob and Alison being openly curious and taking an interest in the village and the countryside. I also love the scene where Peter meets the cathedral organist – after he’s been rather detached for most of the film, we see what he cares about and where he fits in. As for Colpeper – I don’t really sympathise with his explanations for his actions, but I do find him interesting, and I’d love to know if he changed after his experiences in the film.
I like the almost mystical relationship the characters have with the countryside and its history in this film. There are definitely some religious overtones to the way Colpeper is punished for taking it on himself to judge others and Peter is rewarded for choosing his love of the organ over reporting Colpeper to the police. If you’d like to try taking the supernatural hints a bit further, something where one of the characters sees or hears something from the past or has an encounter with someone from the past would be cool – maybe a crossover with the original Canterbury Tales, or with a real-life figure from that time? Maybe it would be cool to see some of what the landscape itself was like when it was more wild?
I’d also really like a story set much later, when the war itself has become history – if one or more of the characters came back to the same part of Kent, how would they feel about it and what would they find? Perhaps some later local historian could be trying to solve the Glue-man mystery. I like all four characters equally so any one or any combination of them would be good – I do particularly like the friendship between Bob and Alison and the odd parallels and contrasts between Peter and Colpeper. Alternatively, I’d be interested in how Colpeper and Alison get on after Bob and Peter have left—do they become friends?
---Back Home – Michelle Magorian: Rusty Dickinson---
I got into the other two canons this year but this is an old favourite and I was excited to see it in the tagset! When I was Rusty’s age I was very into the angsty loneliness of her boarding school career, but now I prefer the happier parts of the book. I love the descriptions of family life with the Omsks, with all the warmth and fun and encouragement of creativity, but I also like the way Rusty learns to find happiness and appreciate the good things about England. I especially like the growing relationship with her mother and brother, including Rusty learning to accept the ways Peggy seems unconventional to her as well, like the mechanical work and the relationship with Harvey.
Later in the book she comes to understand much more the impact the war has had on the people around her, and that she’s missed something so important to them, and she seems to be making an effort to understand and be fair even to the people who are deeply unsympathetic to her, like her father and the girls and teachers at her school. But I love the way that she keeps her own values all the way through and doesn’t let anyone make her think she deserves to be treated badly. American individualism sees her through!
If one or more of her American family came to visit her, how would they find she had changed and what would she be like as a guide to England? If she went back to the US later on, what might seem different to her? I’d also enjoy any story focused on her and Peggy’s relationship – maybe working together on the house after they’ve moved back to Devon, volunteering together or spending time with Peggy's WVS friends.
Alternatively, a story about how she settled in with the Omsks when she was first evacuated would be really interesting – it must have been just as big an adjustment as moving back to England, even if she forgot about it later. What impression would the Omsks have had of her background and what elements of her later personality and interests show up even after being raised in her grandmother’s house?
Thanks for writing for me! I really like these fandoms and these characters, so I’m looking forward to anything you write. Please go with whatever you want from this letter, and bring in any of your own ideas that you want to!
General likes: Missing scenes, AUs where the plot goes a different way, misunderstandings, understandable mistakes which snowball into disasters, characters who have more to them than meets the eye, couples with different strong points who work together, suppressed emotion, characters who care about doing something well, idealistic characters dealing with compromise, cynical characters turning out to care about something, established relationships, characters helping each other
DNWs: Modern AUs, noncon, suicide, long descriptions of sex (like longer than two paragraphs or so), anal sex or roleplay during sex. Most characters in these canons lived through wars so realistic violence/gore is fine in that context, but I'd prefer nothing extreme outside that context.
---The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943): Edith Hunter, Clive Candy, Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff---
This film is such an amazing achievement! It’s so long, and often quite slow (random conversations about Sherlock Holmes anyone?) but I never find it boring. It really captures a sense of time passing for me, and the change and continuity over the course of the characters’ lives. Clive is kind of instinctively loyal – I totally believed in the importance of his friendship with Theo, even though when you think about it they basically met twice before 1939 – and instinctively kind. Theo on the other hand seems to think about stuff more, and so he changes more in response to what happens to him – and of course he sees far more and worse changes in his society than Clive does in his. I find that contrast really interesting.
What I’d really like though is a story about Edith -- her life and experiences were just as interesting as Clive and Theo’s, but we mostly just see her from Clive’s perspective at the beginning and second-hand from Theo later on. She went out to Berlin alone and she doesn’t want to go back to England – apparently to a family that would prefer her to stay at home until she gets married, like a good Edwardian girl. But then she does get married, despite her outspokenness against the idea.
Does she marry Theo so she can stay in Germany, because she really likes him or because she doesn’t want to be waiting forever to see if Clive says anything – or a bit of all three? And does she ever wonder if she did the right thing, even though she stuck by him through everything?
An AU where she survives into the WWII section could be interesting – would she feel as out-of-place in the modern world as Clive and Theo do or would she prefer it once women had more freedom and opportunities? When Clive shows Barbara’s portrait to Theo there’s an interesting contrast between Clive’s idealised memory and Theo’s more complicated real relationship with her -the AU could be a good opportunity to explore that.
Alternatively, a story where Clive and Theo meet again earlier in WWI would also be good – how would the war situation affect their relationship when it’s not clear who’s going to win yet? Hard to get Edith into that one in person but some mention of how she’s doing and what she thinks of the situation would be enough. Incidentally I can read German so if you want to include any in the story go for it – no problem though of course if not.
---A Canterbury Tale: Alison Smith, Bob Johnson, Thomas Colpeper, Peter Gibbs---
This film is so weird and unique and it’s the one black-and-white film that I wish was in colour, just for the views of the landscape. I’ve been to Kent once and the little village we were in seemed quaint compared to other parts of England, so it must seem really different to someone from Oregon. It’s also the kind of landscape that’s really inseparable from it’s human inhabitants, just because human activity has played such a role in shaping it – ‘gone are the forests since the enclosures came’. And the Glue-man is almost like local folklore – everyone seems to take him for granted except for the newcomers.
I like watching Bob and Alison being openly curious and taking an interest in the village and the countryside. I also love the scene where Peter meets the cathedral organist – after he’s been rather detached for most of the film, we see what he cares about and where he fits in. As for Colpeper – I don’t really sympathise with his explanations for his actions, but I do find him interesting, and I’d love to know if he changed after his experiences in the film.
I like the almost mystical relationship the characters have with the countryside and its history in this film. There are definitely some religious overtones to the way Colpeper is punished for taking it on himself to judge others and Peter is rewarded for choosing his love of the organ over reporting Colpeper to the police. If you’d like to try taking the supernatural hints a bit further, something where one of the characters sees or hears something from the past or has an encounter with someone from the past would be cool – maybe a crossover with the original Canterbury Tales, or with a real-life figure from that time? Maybe it would be cool to see some of what the landscape itself was like when it was more wild?
I’d also really like a story set much later, when the war itself has become history – if one or more of the characters came back to the same part of Kent, how would they feel about it and what would they find? Perhaps some later local historian could be trying to solve the Glue-man mystery. I like all four characters equally so any one or any combination of them would be good – I do particularly like the friendship between Bob and Alison and the odd parallels and contrasts between Peter and Colpeper. Alternatively, I’d be interested in how Colpeper and Alison get on after Bob and Peter have left—do they become friends?
---Back Home – Michelle Magorian: Rusty Dickinson---
I got into the other two canons this year but this is an old favourite and I was excited to see it in the tagset! When I was Rusty’s age I was very into the angsty loneliness of her boarding school career, but now I prefer the happier parts of the book. I love the descriptions of family life with the Omsks, with all the warmth and fun and encouragement of creativity, but I also like the way Rusty learns to find happiness and appreciate the good things about England. I especially like the growing relationship with her mother and brother, including Rusty learning to accept the ways Peggy seems unconventional to her as well, like the mechanical work and the relationship with Harvey.
Later in the book she comes to understand much more the impact the war has had on the people around her, and that she’s missed something so important to them, and she seems to be making an effort to understand and be fair even to the people who are deeply unsympathetic to her, like her father and the girls and teachers at her school. But I love the way that she keeps her own values all the way through and doesn’t let anyone make her think she deserves to be treated badly. American individualism sees her through!
If one or more of her American family came to visit her, how would they find she had changed and what would she be like as a guide to England? If she went back to the US later on, what might seem different to her? I’d also enjoy any story focused on her and Peggy’s relationship – maybe working together on the house after they’ve moved back to Devon, volunteering together or spending time with Peggy's WVS friends.
Alternatively, a story about how she settled in with the Omsks when she was first evacuated would be really interesting – it must have been just as big an adjustment as moving back to England, even if she forgot about it later. What impression would the Omsks have had of her background and what elements of her later personality and interests show up even after being raised in her grandmother’s house?
