...you're writing for me!  Congratulations...or condolences...you decide!

Ehem....  First off, I present to you some likes and dislikes.

I like apocalypses (EMP, zombies, and Ragnarok are my favorites.), humor, AU (Including alternate endings or anywhere a particular story might have zigged instead of zagged, as well as things that might happen after the final page or the credits roll, alternate settings.), space, prehistory.

I'm not terribly keen on (Sure, I guess this qualifies as that pesky list of DNWs.) canon-divergent kinks (I apologize if this is vague, for the list of things I might not know about, but nevertheless appears in the infamous Urban Dictionary is a little unwieldy.  So I figure it's probably safest to say that if it's not something that would fit in well with a particular canonical bit of a fandom, it's best to leave it for elsewhere.), non-canonical profanity (I tend to find this stuff distasteful and vulgar.  Of course, there are some fandoms and characters — I'm looking at you, Soldier Boy — who'd make a sailor cringe, and okay, just be choosy about it.  But others...honestly, how many of us can seriously envision a character like Snow White dropping f-bombs all over the place?), non-canonical orientations (Making queer characters straight or straight characters queer seldom feels authentic to the original worlds.), non-canonical relationships (I admit, this one can be somewhat wobbly.  I'm sure we can all think of at least one example of a relationship choice a writer made that left us scratching our heads when we thought it should have been obvious that these other characters should have been paired up instead, of that a couple simply should have gone their separate ways.  There's room for that.  If you feel compelled to re-hitch the characters, there should be a good reason for it.).

Now, on to some specifics....

Carrie (by Stephen King)  Any of us who've ever been teased, picked-on, outright bullied, or anything in between, or known someone who has, can probably relate to the title character on some level.  Of course, King takes this and runs with it.  And...rocks fall and almost everyone dies, because, well, Stephen King.  But what if Carrie survives?  Does she run off and find a life of obscurity somewhere else, someplace no one knows her from Eve?  Does she complete her revenge?  Maybe enter politics and become a supervillainess?  Or she eventually decides to use her powers for good, figuring out how to artificially reproduce her telekinesis to do things like develop alternative energy and break our dependence on fossil fuels, or go into space without expensive launch vehicles.  Or, go with what you think could have happened.  Feel free to narrate from anyone's POV.

EDS "Cat Herders" Commercial  I laughed my head off the first time I saw this.  I still do.  It's downright hilarious.  Because...cats!  Imagine something like this happening in the real-world Old West.  Maybe at least one of the cats is sapient...or an extraterrestrial?  Other than that, I don't have anything specific.

Jurassic Park  Because...dinosaurs!  We all see how InGen's idea of a dinosaur park crashed and burned.  I seem to recall that in the novels, there's some stuff about legal problems, but we don't see that in the movies (except for maybe briefly in one or two scenes in "Lost World"), so let's ignore that.  What if InGen has its fingers in some other high-tech stuff (think Global Dynamics in "Eureka")?  Say...time travel?  And what if Alan and Ellie (Feel free to add other characters as you feel led.) wind up back in the actual Jurassic Period...or just before the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event?  How do they survive?  How long are they there?  A week?  A year?  Forever?  Does their presence influence ancient history and the course of Evolution and if so, to what extent?

It's that time of year again!  No, not Pumpkin Spice.  Although...  Ehem.  While we wait for it to flow, for it must, let's do a little Yuletiding.  Is that a word?  It is now!

Let's get those pesky DNWs out of the way.  Fortunately, there aren't many.  I'm not fond of betrayal, non-con or dub-con, or underage.  Watersports, coppaphilia, and related kinks are not for me.  And I prefer relationships and orientations to be canonical.

Things I like:  crossovers; explosions; world-building; apocalypses.

Okay, now on to some specifics.

Dying Earth — While Vance's world had to grow on me, I eventually found it endlessly fascinating.  He weaves a world far broader and deeper than we're shown, either by himself or by the contributors to the anthology.  There's just so much a writer can work with!  I'm fascinated by the very end of the world when the sun finally dies its last, with the transition from technology to magic as the driving force in the world, and by the general sense of things winding down and falling apart.

Earth's Children — I was left wondering about Durc's fate.  While it seems we're meant to infer that Ayla never sees him again, I'd like to think that she eventually does.  Alternatively, between these novels and some of what I've run across regarding recent scientific developments has me pondering the idea that Neanderthals survived a lot longer than has been previously thought — so what if characters such as the Greek demigods and a few characters from the Bible such as Goliath and David's Mighty Men were actually Clan?

Fish Wielder — This thing is just abso-bloomin-lutely hilarious!  But after Thoral and Nancy return to the Real World, I had some thoughts.  Maybe Theodore (Or is it Thomas?  I'd have to dig out my copy and double-check.) tries to be Thoral, but gets his butt handed to him, so he starts going to the gym.  And maybe he and Nancy wind up in a Medieval history group such as the SCA.  And to Thoral and Nancy get back together, or do they remain frenemies?  Or maybe Brad is fish-napped (either by someone from Grome, or those quintessential agents in black suits and sunglasses) and Thoral and Nancy have to team up to rescue him.

Marianne series — In the third book, I felt we missed out on Buttercup's epic fight against the Heiress Presumptive to gain the crown.  I'd like to see that.  Or what if Buttercup somehow survives the implosion of the game and winds up in the Real World?  Alternatively, Cattermune's Pique sounds to me like something out of the Dying Earth.

First of all, thanks for writing for me! My condolences. Ehem....

First, a few likes and dislikes.

I'm a worldbuilding junkie.

I like apocalypses.  Turn it into an apocalypse, and I'll be happy.  So long as there's a light at the end of the tunnel and it's not the headlamp of an oncoming train.

Crossovers are usually fun.

Now for those pesky DNW's, in no particular order:  Non-canonical relationships.  Non-con.  Betrayal.

Earth's Children

For all that neither the story arc nor the themes are terribly complicated, the series as a whole leaves a lot to unpack.

Durc's part on the story felt unresolved to me.  Aylay's leaving Durc at the end of the first book made me cry.  Despite a fair bit of back-and-forth in Ayla's head, I kept half-expecting Durc to make another appearance.  All things considered, it's not as if it's really that far from the Crimea to what is now France.  And the author did manage to tell two intersecting stories at once in the second book.  So what did happen with Durc?  Does he mate the other half-breed girl?  Does he, or he and she, remain with the Clan, or are they forced out for some reason?  And if so, could they eventually wind up in the lands of the Zelandanii?

The eventual fate of the Clan casts a pall of sadness over the series.  Given their cognitive inflexibility, the narrative not-so-subtly suggests that the Clan's demise is inevitable.  But is it?  Some writers--such as Michael Crichton--have suggested that Neanderthals persisted as a remnant people well into the first millennium AD.  Some anthropologists have further suggested that Neanderthal man didn't die out, so much as genetically merge with Cro Magnon to give rise to modern humans.  With their innate physical prowess as proposed by Auel, what if David's Mighty Men were Neanderthals?  Or given the apparent hybrid vigor of some of Auel's half-breed characters, what if Goliath, or the Nephillium, were Clan?

As for making this into an apocalypse...with the sparsely-populated world at the time, that's a toughie.  We'd probably be looking at a localized event that ends the world as a particular people group knows it.  Maybe a plague--we saw that in the fourth book, and almost again in the sixth--or perhaps a glacial-outburst flood.

Dracula (the novel)

Lucy's fate made me sad.  What if something of the host survives?  Can she and Arthur make a life together with her burden of vampirism?  What might that look like?

Moana

I like the idea that Moana winds up with hydrokinesis.  We see what could be something like that early in the movie.  What if Te Fiti grants that power to Moana in thanks for her actions?  And what if Moana later uses it to repel Captain Cook and other European explorers?

Dark Tower

Throughout the series, it becomes increasingly clear that the worlds and characters encountered by Roland represent the worlds of other Stephen King novels, mainly those he's abandoned, until King goes full meta and writes himself into the story confronted by his characters.  This gives us built-in crossover potential with anything King has ever written.  I was particularly enamored with the recent "Fairy Tale" (which apparently ran hot-or-cold with readers).  So...what if a Thinnie more fully unravels the barriers between worlds?  Or if crossovers aren't your thing, what if Suzanna survives "Wizard and Glass?"

Right.  So...here we go!

Things I like:

AUs.  This can be anything from rewriting part of the canonical plot, a prequel or sequel, to completely changing the setting and/or the premise.  I've had a lot of fun with this, perhaps too much from time to time.

Crossovers.  There's a fair bit of potential overlap with AUs.  As with AUs, I've had a little too much fun with these, and I've discovered through a lot of trial and error that the more 'verses I try to cram together, the more unwieldy the result.  Of course, it kind of helps if the reader is familiar with all the 'verses being crossed.  Then again, it's also an opportunity to explore a new fandom...oh, darn.

Apocalypses.  TEotWaWKi has long captivated us.  Partially, I think we like to watch things break, blow up, etc.  But for most of us, it seems to represent an opportunity to hit some cosmic Reset button.  My favorites are technopocalypse (technology fails at some level), zombies, natural disasters, and Ragnarok.  I do, however, prefer my apocalypses to have a light at the end of the tunnel that's not the head-lamp of an oncoming train.

Worldbuilding.  I'm a junkie.  And I'm intrigued that "Worldbuilding" is a character tag in this year's Yuletide.  So...go nuts!

Now for those tricksey DNWs....

Noncon/dubcon

Extreme BDSM

Water-sports, coppaphilia, and other tangential kinks

Funerals

Noncanonical relationships

Noncanonical orientations

And now, for a little protein with the potatoes....

Modest Medusa.  From the beginning, this webcomic bleeds originality.  It's adorable, it's meta, it turns all sorts of cliches on their ears, and it's just a lot of fun.  With both our world and the magical land of Yeld, there's plenty of sand box to play in.  And it's the sort of thing that I think lends itself to AUs.  Such as...iiiiiin spaaaaace!  Or crossovers.

Arabella of Mars.  From the very first page, I was captivated by this series.  It's what we might have if Jules Verne and Jane Austen were to have collaborated to write Horatio Hornblower.  The worldbuilding is superb and stimulates the imagination.  At the conclusion of the third book, that universe's version of the Napoleonic War has been resolved.  So...what's next?  I'd like to see that version of the American Wild West.  Or possibly something related to our Civil War.  Of course, there was plenty of other history happening in the mid-1800's, so feel free to go with that.

Dracula.  Lucy's decline and death made me sad.  Sure, there's the diabolical metaphor that threads through the entire story.  Still, what if something of the host remains?  I wonder if Lucy could somehow continue un-living as herself, but with the extra vampirical burden, and how the other characters might deal with that.

Maritime Shipping.  In some ways, 2020 was the gift that kept on giving.  And the incident with the Ever Given stuck in the Suez Canal was one of those things you just can't make up.  I don't have any particular ideas in mind, but this seemed like something too potentially zany to pass up.

Hey, you...yes, you.

First, a few things I like...

World-building.  I'm a junkie.  I just can't get enough of it!

Apocalypses.  The End Times have captivated us since, well, when we first came up with (or were given, according to our respective philosophies) the idea.  Recently, many of us have embraced The End of the World as We Know it, sometimes to the point of buying a tract of land out in BFE Wyoming and plopping down a trailer there.  But most of us call it good if we have a few gallons of back-up water for when "The Big One" hits, and proceed to curl up with some halfway-decent fiction about it.  Why?  Boy, we could probably fill entire pages with answers to that.  For myself, I can probably boil it down to the appeal of starting over, hitting some big RESET button.  It's the kind of adventure we could theoretically have in the real world (Frodo's Quest?  Not so much.  Surviving the aftermath of a regional EMP?  Totally plausible.).  Nevermind that adventures are full of hardship and heartache.  Anyway, turn the story into an apocalypse, and I'll be happy.  My favorite apocalypses, in no particular order:  zombies (No idea why.  They're gross, and a truly staggering number of people have to die in these scenarios.  Maybe they're like a train wreck?); technopocalypse (My term for a scenario in which technology stops working on some level.  This could be anything from the more plausible EMP and we-just-plain-run-out-of-fossil-fuels-before-we-get-our-collective-heads-out-of-our-butts-about-that to the decidedly less plausible Emberverse [brought to us by the indomitable S.M. Stirling].); the Biblical Apocalypse (Which some of us believe and some don't.); Ragnarok (Because, really, who doesn't at least appreciate the Norse?).

Crossovers.  I've long found these to be entirely too much fun.  Who among us hasn't imagined what might ensue by putting a character from such-and-such fandom into someone else's universe?   The surprisingly well-done film "Star Wreck" comes immediately to mind.  Sure, it tends to help if the reader is at least passingly familiar with all the fandoms involved.  On the other hand, an unfamiliar fandom could be a good excuse for a reader to branch out a little.  (Of course, the more different fandoms one tries to cram together, the weirder it tends to be and the harder it is to achieve cohesion and continuity.)

AUs.  While there's a certain amount of overlap with crossovers, that's not necessarily the case.  Tweak one aspect of a fandom's basic premise, and voila!  I'm particularly fond of alternate history, whether this is the result of different choices made by the characters, or putting them into the distant past or distant future, or a different kind of world altogether.

Right, so, onward....

Modest Medusa.   This thing is just so quirky, adorable, and sometimes cringe-worthy, not to mention unapologetically meta!  The author has on occasion drawn his title character as an X-Wing pilot, a Jedi Knight, a Starfleet officer, and The Doctor, among others, so the crossover potential is not only limitless, but (presumably) encouraged by Jake himself.

Austin-Murry-O'Keefe Family (aka the Time Quintet).  By the time I finished with the first book, I just couldn't help but think of Charles Wallace as Jedi material.  Is Kamazotz part of that galaxy?  Perhaps someone makes a navigational error whilst tessering and our characters wind up in the Star Wars galaxy?  If not, I imagine that at the very least, CW's psychic abilities give him a certain amount of trouble as he continues growing up (Perhaps L'Engle has explored this later, but since as of this writing, I've only read the first book in the series, you need not worry about running afoul of canon divergence.).

Moana.  I have this head-canon wherein Moana winds up with hydrokinesis.  Another idea--we don't know for sure just when the story is intended to take place, so perhaps Moana and her associated people eventually clash with Cpt. Cook and/or other European explorers.  Or combine the two--her hydrokinetic powers enable her to successfully resist attempts at European colonization, resulting in a persistently independent Polynesian political entity.

Sleeping Beauty.  When I first saw the film, I didn't like it.  I had trouble getting past Aurora's reaction to the revelation concerning her birthright, with Maleficent's decision to target an innocent infant in retribution for her father's misstep, and with the apparent quantum leap to the happily-ever-after.  It's eventually grown on me, especially after reading other versions, from Jim Hinz' Princess series, to the wide range of regional variants of the tale.  Turns out, there's a lot one can do with it.  I'd like to see some sort of AU.

Now for those pesky DNWs.  Fortunately, I don't have many.  In no particular order:  Siblings dying (My younger brother passed away last February.  These will be the first holidays without him, so it's going to be pretty rough as it is.); non-con & dub-con; non-canon relationships; explicit sexual acts (I realize this is unhelpfully vague, and I apologize in advance.  I hope my writer will forebear my reluctance to go combing through the Urban Dictionary.  Otherwise, it's hard to go wrong with fade-to-black or simply giving the reader just enough to help them fill in the juicy blanks.)

Greetings and imaginations!

Right...now that I know what I'm doing, I'll continue to toss out a thought or two and get things started.

By now, most of us know that "optional details are optional."  Because sometimes we sign up for something and later wonder why we did that, and we're left wondering what the heck to write.  Then you read your recipient's letter and panic because, "Eek!  I can't write that!"  We've all been there and we feel your pain.  So we'll just jump in and try to have some fun.

I'm rather fond of apocalypses.  Yup, I'm one of those people who likes to watch stuff blow up, volcanoes erupt, dams burst, etc.  From "When Worlds Collide" to "World Made by Hand," I have a fascination with the end of the world as we know it.  Set your story in some sort of post-apocalyptic wasteland, and I'll be happy.  My favorite apocalypses are technopocalypse (technology stops working at some level for any of a variety of reasons), zombies, Ragnarok, and the Biblical apocalypse.  But however you choose to destroy the world, I'll supply the popcorn.

But what if I don't WANT to destroy the world, you ask?  No problem.

Alternate universes, perhaps?  Alternate history, alternate timelines in which the story deviates from canon, re-setting part of a story in the distant past or the distant future...go for it!  Turn it into steampunk or space opera...cool!

I also have a penchant for stories of epic scope.  But have no fear!  This doesn't mean I expect your story to be something you might write for NaNoWriMo.  If you can turn it into a piece of something big, even if you never write what goes before or after, cool.

I've had an awful lot of fun with crossovers.  If you're just itching to cross one of this year's...er...opportunities with something that's been eating your brain, go for it.  Sure, it'll work best if it's a fandom I've at least heard of, but heaven forbid I explore something new!

Fortunately, my list of dislikes is fairly short.  And it pretty much boils down to that I prefer my relationships to remain canonical.

Now on to a few specifics...

The Last Saskatchewan Pirate

What's not to love about this song?  The ex-farmer who doesn't quite understand the whole pirate thing...the Mountie who is, apparently, inept...and the entire farcical situation.  It just cracks me up!  There's a lot of canvas to play with here.  It could be an opportunity to show off your knowledge of all things Canadian (aw, come on, you have some, I know you do).  Or maybe the Southwest when our pirate goes plundering in New Mexico.  Set it in outer space.  Or he's an airship pirate.  Or a Viking.  Or...?  Extra points for coming up with something as zany as the song.

Dracula (Bram Stoker)

I always found poor Lucy's fate to be, well, kind of a downer.  I suppose she was meant to illustrate that when you invite evil into your heart, it destroys you.  Though just what she did to invite that evil is a little vague, as I recall.  But what if something of the host remains, as it were?  Or more than just something?  Instead of some sort of demonic presence driving Lucy's body around, let's suppose that it's still her, just saddled with this strange, new, and terrifying existence.  How does Arthur deal with this?  Does Van Helsing try to stake her anyway?  Does she have to move away from London, or even out of Britain entirely and if so, where would they go...Patagonia perhaps?

Moana

I have this crazy idea that Moana has latent hydrokinetic powers.  I figure we can probably infer that the movie takes place more or less around the time that Cook is plying the seas of greater Polynesia.  Maybe Moana has a run-in with him, and if so, do they wind up butting heads?  Or if not, Polynesia covers a lot of territory, so there's plenty of room to play--perhaps have some fun with Maori traditions?

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

I'm one of many who was more than a little annoyed with how Snow was portrayed by Disney.  It's pretty dated, to put it diplomatically.  She's a princess who was just betrayed and nearly murdered.  Like she's really going to be happy and chipper about cooking and cleaning for a bunch of bachelors.  Let's give this gal some backbone (like they tried to do with "Snow White and the Huntsman").  I'm partial to some of the fanart out there depicting Snow in armor and wielding weaponry.  But if you don't particularly feel like redeeming her character, there's plenty of darkness in the forest, as with what Kevin Ritchey did with his collection of zombie fairy tales, or Jefftoon's Twisted Princess art series.  Of course, there's no need to stick with the well-known story.  With plenty of theoretical future, there's lots of potential.

Greetings and imaginations!  First, thanks for writing for me.  This should be fun, and I try to help with that by supplying what I hope are fascinating and thought-provoking ideas for your muse.

Likes:

Crossovers are always a lot of fun.  There's just so much potential for some really weird sh...aving cream!  Do I have guidelines for that?  Er...not per se, although it tends to work best if it's with a fandom I know, or have at least heard of.  Although it would give me an excuse to branch out a little, so if you've got just the thing, do it!

I love apocalypses.  My favorite variations are a technopocalypse (things like EMP, the Emberverse, etc.), Ragnarok, and zombies.  Turn your story into an apocalypse, and I'll be happy.  So long as there's a light at the end of the tunnel and it's not the headlamp of an oncoming train.

Alternate Universes are also a lot of fun.  I'm especially fond of time-dependent AUs.  Steampunk, fairy-tale worlds, far-future space operas, that sort of thing.

This being Yuletide and all, if you're inclined to tie your story into your tradition of choice observed as the mid-winter holiday, go for it.  Because holiday cheer makes everything fuzzier, doesn't it?

Dislikes:  I don't have a whole lot here, fortunately.  But I feel compelled and, dare I say obligated, to mention a few things I tend to avoid:  Noncon; underage; betrayal; slash (unless the characters in question canonically orient that way); bestiality (aliens don't count, IMO).

Right, and now for something not-so-completely different!

Dracula...

Ah, the classic tale that...well, maybe not started it all, but most of the vampire material written and filmed since then has followed this mythos.  Building on the fear and misinformation surrounding various real vampire legends, Stoker crafted an allegorical work that, despite the somewhat melodramatic (at least to me) writing, still gives us the proverbial heebie-geebies.  Still, parts of it made me sad.  Lucy's turning to the "Dark Side," in particular.  What if instead, something of the host remains?  And not just the superficial veneer that the vampire uses to deceive the other characters.  Can Arthur still marry Lucy and make a life with her, even after her change?  And how does Lucy feel about her nascent vampirism?  Extra points for writing it in the same journal style as the novel.

Three Investigators...

My brother and I read through this series when we were children, oh these many moons ago.  But I still remember the elaborate nearly-Goldberg-esque setup in the junkyard headquarters, that each of the Investigators had their own role with their own strengths and specialities, that each of the mysteries turned out to have a scientific explanation a-la Scooby Doo, and their frequent debriefings with Alfred Hitchcock.  I recall, perhaps inaccurately, that they boys are around twelve in the books.  So, let's fast-forward several years to their college days or perhaps even after that.  Do all three of them even go to college?  Do they stay in the area, or move away?  Maybe their kids follow in their footsteps.  I figure they at least keep in touch.  Back when the original books were written, that would have been via snail-mail.  But if you feel like updating to the 21st century, go for it.  What if the latest mystery really IS supernatural in nature and if so, do they call in help from another fandom?  Other than that, I don't have anything specific in mind beyond the proverbial sequels.

Shanghai Noon...

So, we learn at the end of the first movie that Roy is actually none other than the famous Wyatt Earp.  Which can put him and Chon Wang smack into real historical events, such as the just-as-famous shoot-out at the OK corral (which, incidentally, wasn't quite as spectacular and dramatic as various movies have made it out to be).  Show me some of that, some of the two of them involved in some of Wyatt Earp's real-life history.

Voynich Manuscript...

I've heard about it, but only recently looked it up.  What IS this thing, anyway?  How much of what we think we know about it is actually correct?  Come up with something...anything.  Bring me your favorite twist on your favorite theory.  The more outlandish, the better!

Greetings and refrigerations!  You're supposed to write for me, eh?  May God have mercy on your soul.  Just kidding.  So, let's get to it!

First, a few general likes and dislikes.

I'm fond of stories between the scenes and after the credits roll, so to speak.  It's the "Now what?" that fascinates me.  As a sort of corollary, I also like alternate histories, and not just in the context of our own world.

I love apocalypses.  My favorites are the Zombie Apocalypse, the Technopocalypse (my term for any scenario in which our modern technology stops working), and the Biblical Apocalypse.  Turn it into an apocalypse, and I'll be happy.  One caveat, though, is that there should be a light at the end of the tunnel.  Because without even one shred of hope, the whole thing winds up being a real downer.  So there haven't been very many "rocks fall everybody dies" stories that haven't left me deflated.

I'm ever so fond of crossovers.  Which ones?  That's the question, isn't it?  The safe route would be to look at what I've crossed myself.  If you want to live dangerously...go nuts!

Worldbuilding.  I just can't get enough of it!

Humor.  Laughter is always the very best ingredient for egg nog.

Cats.  Because they're just so CUTE!

And since this is a Christmas thing, if you can work Christmas, or some version of it, into the story, go for it.  But on the other hand, if you're prone to wanting to punch someone if you hear "Jingle Bells" one more time, no worries.

I only have a few things that don't do it for me.  Non-con and dub-con.  Underage (although I suppose this can be somewhat arbitrary legally-speaking).  Slash (unless the characters do go that way canonically).  Betrayal (I prefer my ships canonical.  But, well, sometimes we think a character really belongs with someone else.  Such instances call for some plausible way to break up the canonical ship.).

Now for some specifics!

Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'

Lucy's fate made me sad.  Not that she was that strong of a character, but she did have someone who, presumably, loved her.  (I say "presumably" because marriages in the Victorian era have a reputation for being done for reasons other than love.  But because I'm a romantic, I'm going to presume that Lucy and Arthur really did love each other.)  What if Lucy's slip into the proverbial Dark Side was more form than function?  What if something of the host remains?  I'd like to think that she and Arthur could still have a happy, er, unlife.  How would that work, with her a vampire and him a normal human?

Andy Weir's 'The Martian'

There's just so much to love about this book, it's hard to decide where to start.  I'm sure you know what I mean.  (Okay, so there's that one detail about wind strength as it relates to atmospheric pressure, but a writer has to come up with some plausible way to strand a character on an alien world, right?)  Sometimes it seemed that Mars was a character.  So let's go with that.  Or if you're not keen on anthropomorphizing a planet, poor Mark Watney spent over a year on Mars, a year that includes Christmas, of course.  Did he, or the crew on the Hermes, observe it and if so, how?  And if you wind up writing closer to the movie, no problem.  It sticks so close to be book, it's practically the video version anyway.

Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy

Mars was even more of its own character in these novels.  Especially with the Viriditas and the Sufi mysticism, and so forth.  What if Mars does actually have its own living spirit or something of the ilk?  Alternatively, how might some of the characters observe Christmas/Yule/Hannukah/etc?  Maybe something new arises among one or more of the various groups, what with the emergence of the nascent Martian cultures.  I'm not particularly attached to any of the characters, except perhaps for Nirgal, so go nuts!

Zombieland

Since this one's already an apocalypse, you're golden!  What happens after the Amusement Park Incident?  What if Bill Murray didn't die?  Do they ever find a Twinkie?  Is there anyone else alive in Zombieland?  Do they bother celebrating the winter holidays?  How do their relationships shake out after another month, a year, a decade?

Gravity

I won't say this movie was fun, particularly, but it was gorgeous, well-acted, and well-done, with a beautiful score (I could play the Shenzou sequence over and over and over.).  We're not entirely sure where Stone comes down, although we do see some of what's below during the re-entry scene, so perhaps with a little study, we could figure it out (Or I could Google it, but that would be too easy.).  So where DOES she come down, and how does she get from there back to the USA?  What's been happening on Earth while she's been speeding around up there?  Maybe...an apocalypse?  Because she briefly connects with some guys in...northern Canada?  But that's about all we know, right?  Or maybe there's nothing apocalyptic at all, and we get to follow her return home and how she deals with the psychological effects of her ordeal.

Paint Your Wagon

This is my favorite musical of all time.  You know how in many of them, the plot comes to a screeching halt during the song-and-dance routines?  Yeah, that always bugged me, too.  That's what I love about PYW:  stuff keeps happening while the characters sing about it!  That, and the whole thing is just so much fun.  At the end, they all stream out of the carnage that had once been No Name City.  Where were they goin'?  Even they don't know!  So...where DO they all go?  Doesn't have to be to the same place.  Pick somewhere, follow part of the journey, or something that happens at the destination.