Sandel

Sandel

• Crossover Fandom
• Emma - Jane Austen
• Mansfield Park - Jane Austen
• Persuasion - Jane Austen
• Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
• Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

That's all! Happy writing!

Dear Yuletide Writer,

It's great to have you here, and I can't wait to see what you'll come up with! This is my third time doing Yuletide, and after not participating last year I'm super stoked to be back. I hope you'll enjoy writing for me!

I'm Sandel at AO3 and the fandoms I've requested this year are:

10 Things I Hate About You (1999) with the character Kat Stratford
Cormoran Strike Series - Robert Galbraith with the character Robin Ellacott
Lord Peter Wimsey - Dorothy L. Sayers with the character Harriet Vane
Ronja Rövardotter | Ronia the Robber's Daughter - Astrid Lindgren with the characters Ronja | Ronia and Birk
and
Shamer Chronicles - Lene Kaaberbol with the characters Dina Tonerre and Rosa | Rose


Backup Fandom(s)

If you find yourself stuck when trying to write the fandom we matched on, the easiest fandom to get into if you still want to give writing for me a try is definitely the movie 10 Things I Hate About You – all the other fandoms are either single books or book series. The movie is a 90’s high school romantic comedy based on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew and well worth a watch if you haven’t seen it; it’s pretty clever and could probably get at least a chuckle out of most viewers.

(Also, Ronia the Robber’s Daughter is a book but the filmmakers worked so closely with the author that one could argue that they both are part of the same Canon, and as such I promise that I’d let you get away with watching the movie version and writing a fic based on that instead of the book – I hardly think I would even notice! I have no idea how easy the movie is to get hold of outside of Sweden, though, so this might be a moot point.)


General Likes

I don’t really have any favourite tropes, but my favourite, er, fanfics elements are character studies, relationship studies, worldbuilding, AUs, and post canon.

When it comes to AUs I like both the 'divergent timeline' variety where you take a ‘What if?’ scenario and run with it, and the 'whole different setting' variety – I especially tend to go for fantasy settings, historical settings and “professional” settings (like having all the canon characters working together as dancers or cooks or journalists or whatever). Also, putting the characters from any of the fandoms I requested into the setting of any of the other fandoms could only be a success, haha! I literally can’t think of any combination that wouldn’t be pure gold!

I like both sexy stories and stories without any references to sex in them. I also generally like non-monogamy, and also explorations of how explorations of how specific facets of a character’s identity interacts with other aspects of their identity and how it affects their life in general and the people around them. This can go for canon things like exploring Lord Peter’s PTSD, for example, but I’d also love to see your headcanons for these characters when it comes to things like sexual orientation, disability, how they relate to their gender and so on. If you don’t have any such headcanons, though, don’t sweat it – I want you to write what comes naturally to you, and you shouldn’t have to feel like you have to force in references to, say, Birk having ADD or Robin being a lesbian just to make me happy!

Actually, just in general please remember that optional details are optional! I want your Yuletide to be as fun and stress free as possible, and I don’t want to sap your joy of writing or stress you out. If following my prompts to the letter is what works best for you, that’s great! If you want to disregard them completely, go for it! If you want to take some inspiration from them but then go off in your own direction, be my guest! If you want to mix two or more prompts together, go right ahead! If you're only really interested in my general likes, stop reading before you get to the specific prompts! It’s all fiiiine!

Oh, and in a similar vein I want to point out that both Shamer Chronicles and Ronja Rövardotter have characters that have different names in different translations - please use the versions you feel most comfortable with! Also, I'm Swedish and can read Norwegian and Danish without trouble so if you want to write in a Scandinavian language for either of these fandoms I'd be super cool with it!


DNWs

I do not want: a story solely focused on sex, power imbalances in intimate relationships (neither explicit D/s dynamics nor more insidious, unintentional ones, unless the latter is adressed and resolved - or at least worked on - in story!), dirty talk, on screen rape or dub-con, violence beyond what's shown in canon, descriptions of bodily fluids (brief mentions are okay, though), or scenes where a main character is humiliated or embarrased (them being nervous is fine, though!).


Specific Prompts

Here are some specific prompts for each fandom. (Beware of spoilers for fandoms you're not familiar with!)

Fandom #1: 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

Character: Kat Stratford

What I like about this canon: What I really like about this movie is that it allows itself to be silly and clever at the same time. It’s a classic in its genre for a reason, and one of the few high school movies that I’ve ever enjoyed. I really like how it’s focused on so many different characters and yet never feels scattered (perhaps thanks to its Shakespearian heritage?), and I love how the relationship between the Stratford sisters that is at the heart of the movie. I also really like how the movie always has a strong moral core that holds up really well. And I love all the little jokes thrown in almost constantly, like the teacher confiscating weed and snacks, or Patrick asking Kat who knocked up her sister. Oh, and the romance between Kat and Patrick is really cute too!

What I like about this character: Oh, Kat! She’s the perfect embodiment of a teenager on standby, just waiting to get out of their current situation and have their real life begin. And then real life start happening to her almost against her will when she’s dragged into all these complex machinations that she knows nothing about. She’s smart and mature and still very obviously a teenager, with angry outbursts, contentious family relationships and big plans for her future. And she’s so strong, forging her own path and holding herself together, and even when she shows weakness she’s being brave – she must have known there was a risk she would cry when reading that poem to the whole class, and she still did it!

Prompts:

#1. If you want to tell the story of Kat turning into “the shrew,” please do! We only get one small glimpse into her past relationship with Joey, which seems to have been the triggering event, and it’s clear that she somehow managed to keep the whole thing completely secret from both her father and her sister, which must have been hard. Did they even notice that she was having a rough time? Did they attribute it to her mother leaving? Speaking of which, with her mother (recently) gone off and an obviously useless school counsellor it seems she didn’t really have anyone to talk to about everything – at least not an adult. (Maybe she talked to Mandella?) We see the result of all this in her personality in the movie, but it’d be interesting to get a closer look into the process that got her there!

#2. Speaking of the Stratford sisters’ mother, it’d be really interesting to see her and Kat’s relationship explored somehow, either from before she left, or maybe after Kat somehow tracks her down, or she comes back. Kat clearly has some complicated feelings about her – I find it really interesting that she chose to wear her mother’s pearls that Bianca found to the prom.

It doesn’t seem like the mother has any contact with her daughters at all in the time when the movie takes place, but maybe she does? Maybe Kat was drawn to Sarah Lawrence because she for some reason suspected that her mother has moved to the East Coast? Maybe she didn’t, but then accidentally run into her while at college?

#3. Just generally any look into Kat’s future would be great, at college or afterwards. I feel like Kat would be severely disappointed if she knew she was the main character of a romantic comedy, of all genres, and here she has a chance to be part of a different kind of story, hehe! Does she start that band? What does she major in? What happens to her and Patrick? How does she and Bianca keep in contact? (Also, I can’t be the only person in the world getting some Sapphic vibes of Kat? Maybe she falls for a girl in the future? A bandmate, maybe?)

#4. Speaking about women in Kat’s life, I think it could be interesting to expand on her relationship to Mandella more. She seems to be Kat’s only friend – how did that come about? Is it an example of outcasts attracting or have they been friends for a long time and Mandella was the only one who stuck around when Kat stopped trying to fit in? How many interests do they actually share?

Also, speaking of Sapphic vibes, hello, Mandella! Her relationship/flirtation/weirdness with Michael feels incredibly tacked on in the movie, and “falling” for unavailable guys is a typical closeted/unaware lesbian thing – and who could be more unavailable than a dead playwright, haha! Anything exploring Mandella/Kat could be fun, whether it’s an unrequited crush from Mandella’s side, them falling in love post movie, or an AU scenario.

#5. Another relationship that I think could be interesting to look into further is Kat’s relationship to her English teacher, Mr. Morgan. Mr. Morgan seems to have a somewhat incorrect view of Kat, and I wonder if it’s in any way changed by her outburst in his classroom. Maybe he talks to her afterwards? (Maybe I just want to see an authority figure other than the dad acting somewhat responsibly?)


Fandom #2: Cormoran Strike Series - Robert Galbraith

Character: Robin Ellacott

What I like about this canon: Well, JK Rowling is JK Rowling, and she can tell a whodunit-story really well. She also shines when writing stories with a certain level of absurdity, which is why the second book, The Silkworm, is my favourite. I like that these books are written in the old British tradition of eccentric detectives solving weird cases, while at the same time feeling really modern with its (relative) realism and, well, modern setting. The overarching storyline is keeping me hooked, and I’m eagerly awaiting the next book to follow up that cliffhanger at the end of Career of Evil, but also to give me a new mystery to try to figure out.

What I like about this character: Another area where Rowling shines is writing great characters, especially when she gets space to flesh them out over several books. With Robin, my love for her character sort of crept up on me unawares over the span of the three books published this far. When I first read The Cuckoo’s Calling I found her pretty meh – even a bit annoying – and that feeling stuck around more or less until I first read Career of Evil. It’s my least favourite book of the series, but I really like Robin’s arch in it (even though I find her acting frustratingly irrational at points…). And now when I re-read the books I don’t understand what it was I disliked about her – though I also don’t really understand what it is I like about her now. I mean, there are many things that are very likeable about her – she’s kind, and smart, and eager, and tactful, and beautiful… but these aren’t things I generally go for in a character. She’s also stubborn and funny and loyal, though, which are more along the lines of what I usually go for. And her kindness is really growing on me.

I also was determined to like Matthew and to refuse to ship Robin/Strike, which might have warped my opinion of her character. When I recently did a skimming re-read of the first book focussing solely on Robin and her relationship to Strike I saw how compatible they were shown to be with each other (pretty subtle writing on Rowling’s part actually, I’d never seen exactly how much they are set up as perfectly complimentary to each other they are if that hadn’t literally been the only thing I focused on in my read!), and I have sort of come to ship them, half-way against my will, hehe.

Prompts:

#1. I would be really interesting in reading an AU where Robin ends up in her preferred line of work in some different way than she does in the books. Maybe she goes through with becoming a psychologist and gets into crime solving that way? Maybe she and Matthew split up and she decides to become a police officer? Maybe she sticks around doing boring HR work until she has a midlife crisis and starts her own detective agency out of nowhere?

It would also be interesting to see her and Strike cross paths in an AU of this kind, but not at all necessary. If you go that way, it would be interesting to see how their dynamic would play out if Robin was the person who was at an advantage when they first meet. (Maybe Strike would have fewer qualms about dating her if that was the case?)

#2. I would love to see Robin and Matthew’s relationship explored at a happier time. I feel like Matthew’s getting the short end of the stick in canon, but he must have some redeeming qualities, right? Let’s see him at his bests, either before or during canon, or in some sort of AU. Actually, an AU where Robin gained in confidence at an earlier point and Matthew sort of had to grow with her to not get left behind and thus became less of a tit could be really fun – especially if Strike still shows up and complicates things!

#3. As the story progresses we slowly get to see more and more of Robin’s family, but I would love to read a story set in Yorkshire, exploring that part of Robin’s life. Maybe something from her youth, growing up? (Maybe combined with my first prompt, a divergent timeline where she solves some minor mystery as a teenager in Masham and ends up on the road to becoming a detective that way?)

#4. Robin with friends! We see frighteningly little of Robin with her friends. There are a few mentions of friends – presumably still living back in Yorkshire or at least from there – but it’s made clear that she doesn’t have any close friends in London at least, and we don’t really see her calling or visiting any friends in Yorkshire either. This makes me sad – I don’t want her to be isolated! A story where Robin makes a new friend or catches up with an old one (maybe to talk with re her relationship with Matthew post Career of Evil?)

#5. Okay, yes, maybe this is a bit of a clichéd idea, but I think a Harry Potter!AU could be really fun with this fandom, for obvious reasons, haha. Rowlings writing style is pretty distinct and I think this series' characters would fit right into the Potterverse. Robin as the rookie Auror, Strike as the Moody-esque Head of the Auror Office? Or maybe Strike left the Auror force? Maybe Robin’s career ambitions got sidetracked in this universe too and she, say, ended up working at the Department of Mysteries and then she’s called in to help Auror Strike with an investigation and is secretly thrilled to fulfil her childhood dreams? (Maybe Robin’s constantly asked if she’s related to the Weasley’s because of her reddish hair and really hates it?)


Fandom #3: Lord Peter Wimsey - Dorothy L. Sayers

Characters: Harriet Vane

What I like about this canon: These books are perfect to read curled up in an armchair with a cup of hot cocoa and the rain or snow falling outside. They’re full of good fun, clever, and yet not afraid to explore subtler or darker themes. As I mentioned above I’m a fan of the British detective story tradition with clever whodunit plots and eccentric detectives, and this is a shining example of the genre! All the character except the very worst villains are so likeable and realistic even when they’re exaggerated, which I always really like (and associate mostly with children’s books like the Winnie-the-Pooh or the Moomin books, hehe). Lord Peter, Parker, The Dowager Duchess, Harriet, Bunter, Lady Mary… all these characters feel like good friends.

What I like about this character: Like I mentioned above I love basically all the characters in this series, and I debated back and forth about whether to add Lord Peter to the request too, but it’s really Harriet that I want to see explored further. I feel like she had only just really come into her own when the second world war put an untimely end to the series (I have not read the newer books written by Jill Paton Walsh), while Lord Peter have so many canon stories focusing on him already. But he, and basically any other character, nominated or not, is very welcome to show up in your story!

What I really love about Harriet is how principled she is, and how she knows her own worth (even, paradoxically, when she doubts it). I also absolutely love her academic side, and Gaudy Night is probably my favourite book in the series, for this reason but also for other obvious reasons haha! Harriet is clever and funny and a writer, and her character growth is so lovely and self-aware and reluctant and aaah I love her!

Prompts:

#1. One thing we never get to see in the books is Harriet solving a mystery all on her own – Peter is always there to share the glory. I’d love a story that rectifies this, with either some more minor mystery or an actual case – maybe Peter is out of the country when someone comes asking for his help, and Harriet feels compelled to offer what help she can give instead? Or maybe she literally stumbles upon something, like in Have His Carcase? Or maybe a friend asks for her help with something minor, which turns out to be part of a larger conspiracy? Or something with her children?

#2. I saw that Eiluned Price and Sylvia Marriott were in the tag set, and even though I chose not to request them, I’d love for them to show up if you want to write them! I was really disappointed when they disappeared from the books after Strong Poison, and I’m eager to see more of them, especially of the man-hating but reluctantly Peter-approving Eiluned. Oh, and I definitely read them as a lesbian couple, and I’d be very interested to see what Harriet thinks about all that – I highly doubt she disapproves, heh, but, you know, is that something they speak openly about or is it just something everybody knows but nobody mentions and so on. Maybe Harriet introduces the two of them to some academic lesbian she knows?

#3. An AU where Lord Peter comes across Harriet while she’s still living with Phillip Boyes, and attempts to win her over, could be really interesting. The two of them seems to have been moving in at least somewhat the same circles, and I imagine a crime writer would be of interest for a man who solves crime even if she wasn’t also accused of a crime herself. Maybe they cross paths while Lord Peter is investigating something? Or maybe Harriet seeks him out to ask about something detective related? Maybe they start of on completely the wrong foot, thanks to misconceptions of the other and their work?

#4. Harriet Vane in the modern day! I think the time period depicted in the Lord Peter Wimsey books is very interesting, because it’s in many ways so similar to the modern day, and yet far enough in the past for there to be some serious values dissonance. Compared with other fiction written further back in the past I think it’s easier for the reader to guess at what the characters would be like if they lived now, or in more recent times, and with some characters, like Harriet (or Lady Mary!), it can get really tantalising. How would Harriet and Philip’s relationship have played out in a time that doesn’t look down upon unmarried couples cohabiting? How would Harriet and Peter’s? Would Harriet still be an author? If this is something you’ve been struck by too and want to explore further, then please do!

#5. Harriet as a writer! I’d love writing a story about a story, where we get to follow Harriet trying to come up with a plot and characters and a mystery and so on. Maybe she’s based a character on someone she knows, and worries about it being to obvious and having to disguise them further? Maybe her children solve a minor mystery in their home and she adapts it into a mystery novel? Maybe she’s showing her rough manuscript to her first reader and worries about what they’d think? Maybe she gets writer’s block and has to come up with a way to solve it? Maybe she needs to contact a friend from university for research?


Fandom #4: Ronja Rövardotter | Ronia the Robber's Daughter - Astrid Lindgren

Characters: Ronja | Ronia & Birk

What I like about this canon: I’ve adored this story since I was a small child – though it took me embarrassingly many years to get around to actually reading the book; I just watched the movie over and over again. The reason why I chose to nominate and request the book rather than the movie is that the story is a little bit more fleshed out in the books – I especially like the exploration of Mattis’ and Borka’s shared backstory. (I’ve also seen part of the recent anime adaption and I liked it too!)

I love the forest and the adventures and all the weird creatures that Ronja and Birk come across, and I love Ronja’s relationships with her parents – especially with her father – and I love all the silliness of the robber clans (the prank Borka’s gang play on Mattis and his robbers is just gold, especially in the movie!), and I absolutely adore Ronja and Birk as characters.

What I like about these characters: Ronja and Birk’s relationship is the classical Romeo and Juliet-story, except they’re children and they get to repeatedly save each others’ lives rather than cause each others’ deaths. I like how the two of them complement each other so well, and I adore how Birk takes after Ronja with her screaming for spring. I love Ronja’s impulsiveness and joie de vivre, her fierceness and stubbornness and her loyalty and how utterly loving she is, how repelled she is by the idea of hurting people. I also love Birk’s more sardonic and careful nature, and how he’s just as fierce and even more stubborn, he just doesn’t wear things on his sleeve the way Ronja does. And it’s clear that he loves Ronja so much. And I love how they both goof out together and have fun, capturing horses and running around in the forest as if it was one huge playground.

The two of them are children in the story, of course, and there’s nothing that says that they have to grow up to be lovers. I have a close friend from my childhood who I call my brother, and the idea of us getting together is just really weird, and I can definitely see Ronja and Birk growing up to be like that. (Maybe everybody always think they are together and it freaks them out?) But I can also definitely read them as being in love and just not really knowing it themselves yet.

#1. This is a weird request, perhaps, but I’d love a story about grown up Ronja and Birk going legit – financed by the silver finding – and trying to set up a regular court in the fort, with the story focusing on court politics, turning the fort from a robber’s nest to a noble castle (buying tapestries and whatever, haha!), finding allies in the outside world and so on.

Now, the story isn’t set anywhere in particular, the names are mostly made up, and there are some very clear fantasy elements to the setting, so you definitely shouldn’t feel confined to having to stick to any sort of “historical accuracy” here, hehe!

#2. Actually, a story exploring the setting further would be really interesting. We only see a very minor part of the world – the fort and some of its surrounding woods – but it’s clear that this is a world worth exploring further! Is there magic? Witches? Dragons? Do the Gray Dwarves have some sort of civilisation? Speaking of civilisation, how is the human civilisation set up in this world? Is there religion? (At least in the movie I think there are some characters implied to be monks or priests or somesuch – are they actually Christians or is there some other religion?) Maybe Ronja and Birk go off exploring together further than they have before and end up on an adventure?

#3.  The core of the story – at least as I’ve always seen it – is Ronja’s relationship with her father, and her relationship to her mother is really important too, but we don’t see nearly as much of how Birk relates to his parents. It’s clear that both relationships are strained, though, and I’d love to see this explored more. I’d also love to see more of Borka and Undis relating to Ronja! Undis seems far from approving of Ronja at first, how does their relationship develop when the two clans live together?

#4. Speaking of parental relationships, I’d love to see Ronja and Birk as parents! A child or children of theirs growing up at the fort and in the forest – perchance with some more parental supervision than Ronja and Birk themselves had, hehe. Maybe they show their child how to catch a horse, or interact with some of the magical creatures? Or maybe they don’t get together and each have another partner that they raise children with like one big family, and we can get a look at how that works?

#5. Regency AU! This idea came to me as I was falling asleep, and I thought it was pretty dumb at first, but I’ve sort of fallen in love with the idea of Ronja as this stifled regency lady who longs to be out in nature screaming at the arrival of spring, and the whole “falling in love with a family enemy” could lend itself pretty well to an Austen-esque plot, couldn’t it? I’m also super amused at the idea of the robbers re-imagined as landed gentry. (But you know what could also be really fun? A Victorian AU more à la Dickens, with the robber clans re-imagined as street gangs of the London underworld!)


Fandom #5: Shamer Chronicles – Lene Kaaberbøl

Characters: Dina Tonerre & Rosa | Rose

What I like about this canon: These books were one of my favourite fantasy series as a kid, and I was delighted to find out that they still held up exceptionally well when I re-read them as an adult! Especially the first book is, in my eyes, a masterpiece, in style and plot and the relationships explored. The worldbuilding is amazing too, throughout the series, and I love how it gets progressively greyer in the morals department. I love all the characters, and the psychological depth and how Kaaberbøl doesn’t shy away from exploring darker themes, which she does especially well in the third book, I think. And the whole Shamer ability is such an interesting thing to explore!

What I like about these characters: I love how Dina’s struggles are so relatable even though she has all these magical (or pseudo-magical) gifts and very dramatic problems. I love how she struggles with her Shamer abilities, and with making difficult moral choices, and I love her arc of going from resenting her powers because they single her out to loneliness, to realising that the truly important people will accept all of her, and that her powers (all her powers!) can do a lot of good.

I love Rosa’s determination and bravery and loyalty, and her utter dedication to everything she sets her mind to. I love how she goes from only worrying about herself and her mother, to being part of saving the world (well, part of it at least). And I also love, of course, how she isn’t afraid to look Dina in the eyes!

One of the things that makes the first book a masterpiece to me is the relationship between Rosa and Dina. I feel like this relationship, which was so central to the first book, kind of got lost a bit in the later books, though, which is where you come in, dear writer!

Prompts:

#1. Dina/Rosa as lovers! When I was a confused twelve-year-old with a crush on my best friend, I read about Dina and Rosa’s relationship and felt very strongly drawn to it without being able to put the finger exactly on why. Now I ship them, (I can even happily do a queer reading of the series where the Davin/Rosa relationship is just some sort of subsumation of the Dina/Rosa tension into a heterosexually acceptable narrative, but lets not get academic) and I’d love to see this ship explored in a story. I feel like Rosa could be an amazing partner for a working Shamer, keeping her grounded and sane…

I'm a fan of non-monogamy in general, and I adore Dina/Tano as well as Dina/Rosa, so if you want to explore that, either as two concurrent but separate relationships or as a triad, please do! I like Rosa/Davin well enough too, btw, buuuut I feel like having Rosa dating a pair of siblings at the same time is a bit much, so if you go the Dina/Rosa-as-girlfriends route I'd prefer that Rosa and Davin are broken up (or never get together). That said, Rosa angsting over which sibling she really wants to be with in what way could be interesting, I just don't want there to be any actual dating overlap.

#2. Even if you have Dina and Rosa stay friends instead of becoming lovers, I would be really interested to see how Rosa and Tano would get along. In many ways they fill a similar role in Dina’s arc as people who dare to look into her eyes, and I could easily imagine there being some tension and jealousy there. But Tano and Rosa are also pretty similar – stubborn and brave and loyal – and I would love to see them become friends!

#3. I'd love to see Dina exploring her different gifts – and how they can be combined – further, and I'm also really interested to see Rosa find her place in the world on her own terms; does she keep up her whittling work? How do they manage to fit into each others’ lives as they grow up and into their adult roles?

#4. Dina and Rosa raising a child together, either as lovers or as friends. Maybe Rosa and Davin have a child together with the Shamer’s gift, and Dina becomes the kid’s mentor? Or maybe Dina and Rosa adopt a child together? Maybe Rosa somehow learns that her older brother has gotten a child and she suspects that he abuses it, so she and Dina go to investigate?

#5. I’d love to see things like the religion and history and politics of the world playing out as part of the story. We are given some tantalising glimpses with the churches and so on, but it’s not clear how similar the religion is to our world’s Christianity. Also, Nico mentions Latin in the first book at least, which implies that there was something akin to the Roman Empire in this world – how did that work out and how does it affect the current times? We see Carmian trying to set up a new political system, and there are mentions of different countries – what are the broader political situation in this world? (Are different kinds of magic tied to different lands, perhaps?) A story going into any or all of these things – or some other worldbuilding thing that you’ve noticed in the books that inspired you – would be grand!


All the best and good luck!