Day 9, Yuletide
I cannot thank eanja enough for introducing me to yuletide a few years ago. I wrote New Year's Resolution stories in 2007 and 2008, and ended up getting my first Yuletide assignment in 2009 as well as writing a treat. Last year was my first time nominating fandoms.
For the past three years, I have been on the pinch hit list. I wrote three pinch hits the first year (Fandoms: "All's Well That Ends Well," "Fringe," and "Blade Runner"), eight in 2011 (Fandoms: "Edward and Mrs. Simpson," "Discworld," "16th & 17th Century RPF," "Buckaroo Banzai," "Swan Lake," "Holiday," "The Philadelphia Story," and "My Fair Lady"), and eight in 2012 (Fandoms: "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," "The Thin Man," "Inspector Lewis," "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," "Discworld," "Covert Affairs," "Andrew in Drag," and "Greek Mythology").
Nominations start on Monday, and the moderators have been trying to handle the sheer volume of nominations. Each of us can nominate four rare fandoms (and rare is defined well in advance for us) and four characters in each fandom. There are entries at the community where we can discuss our nominations in advance and, as I'm doing with two nominations this year, make certain that all the characters we want to play with are nominated. (I'm cooperating with other fans of a particular book and movie. We'll both nominate the fandom, but we'll each enter a separate four characters so that there are eight to play with.)
Once the nominations close on September 23, there's an eligibility review, during which the moderators and volunteers wrangle all the tags and public comment is solicited (for instance, my one truly micro fandom may end up under 18th & 19th Century RPF rather than being a separate entity of its own). We then sign up with offers of what we want to write between October 7th and 14th.
During this time there are volunteers who make certain every fandom is listed and how many offers to write each fandom has. While the sign-ups are open, we, the writers, are allowed to change our offers. For the past two years, I have kept one offer firm and slid the others around as I find out which ones have no offers at all.
I mention this because there was a comment at yuletide-admin that said, in effect, "No one changes their offers." I do. A lot. Because for me, Yuletide is about the joy of fulfilling someone's wish even more than it is about getting the one story I really want to read. Don't get me wrong, I love the stories I get, but there's joy in writing to a deadline and prompt that gives me a real rush.
Last year, they had to do hand matching on 50 requests out of nearly 2000 participants. In addition, the first pinch hits went out within hours of the assignments being sent. If a writer has life happen, it's possible to default and this is what the pinch-hit list is for.
If you are an author for Yuletide who must default, please do it as early as you can. Last year, I got one assignment after a second default (the moderator remembered that I'd offered for it and asked if I could) on December 21. The due date was, I thought, December 22. (I hadn't realized that any pinch-hit accepted after 12/20 had an extension to December 24.) I wrote that story and had it in by December 22.
I'm saying this because Yuletide is many things, most of them involving the words "joy, love, magic" etc. But it's also work. I respect the people who write 20,000 word stories in obscure fandoms. (One of the first Yuletide stories eanja introduced me to was a novella in "The Prison of Zenda" book fandom. I regret that I can't find a link to it at the moment because the archives haven't made it to AO3 yet.)
I'm in the other group. I write between 1000 (the minimum) and 5000 words as tightly to the prompt as I can. This has led to some real weirdness, like Hanover's Seed which is an Edward and Mrs. Simpson AU, or some dramatic style shifts, like Untitled which is free verse in the "Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" fandom.
What I'm trying to say is "there's no right way or wrong way to do Yuletide." I focus on my original assignment and pinch hits. Others only write one story, but go into great depth. There are even people who stay on the pinch hit list and write stories without signing up to get a story themselves.
I don't tag wrangle or otherwise volunteer with the moderating group, but I follow the offers list to make certain that even the smallest/oddest fandom that I could possibly write for gets its chance.
And each year, the moderators and volunteers do wonderful things to make sure we get our little pieces of Yuletide Magic on December 25th.
For the past three years, I have been on the pinch hit list. I wrote three pinch hits the first year (Fandoms: "All's Well That Ends Well," "Fringe," and "Blade Runner"), eight in 2011 (Fandoms: "Edward and Mrs. Simpson," "Discworld," "16th & 17th Century RPF," "Buckaroo Banzai," "Swan Lake," "Holiday," "The Philadelphia Story," and "My Fair Lady"), and eight in 2012 (Fandoms: "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," "The Thin Man," "Inspector Lewis," "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," "Discworld," "Covert Affairs," "Andrew in Drag," and "Greek Mythology").
Nominations start on Monday, and the moderators have been trying to handle the sheer volume of nominations. Each of us can nominate four rare fandoms (and rare is defined well in advance for us) and four characters in each fandom. There are entries at the community where we can discuss our nominations in advance and, as I'm doing with two nominations this year, make certain that all the characters we want to play with are nominated. (I'm cooperating with other fans of a particular book and movie. We'll both nominate the fandom, but we'll each enter a separate four characters so that there are eight to play with.)
Once the nominations close on September 23, there's an eligibility review, during which the moderators and volunteers wrangle all the tags and public comment is solicited (for instance, my one truly micro fandom may end up under 18th & 19th Century RPF rather than being a separate entity of its own). We then sign up with offers of what we want to write between October 7th and 14th.
During this time there are volunteers who make certain every fandom is listed and how many offers to write each fandom has. While the sign-ups are open, we, the writers, are allowed to change our offers. For the past two years, I have kept one offer firm and slid the others around as I find out which ones have no offers at all.
I mention this because there was a comment at yuletide-admin that said, in effect, "No one changes their offers." I do. A lot. Because for me, Yuletide is about the joy of fulfilling someone's wish even more than it is about getting the one story I really want to read. Don't get me wrong, I love the stories I get, but there's joy in writing to a deadline and prompt that gives me a real rush.
Last year, they had to do hand matching on 50 requests out of nearly 2000 participants. In addition, the first pinch hits went out within hours of the assignments being sent. If a writer has life happen, it's possible to default and this is what the pinch-hit list is for.
If you are an author for Yuletide who must default, please do it as early as you can. Last year, I got one assignment after a second default (the moderator remembered that I'd offered for it and asked if I could) on December 21. The due date was, I thought, December 22. (I hadn't realized that any pinch-hit accepted after 12/20 had an extension to December 24.) I wrote that story and had it in by December 22.
I'm saying this because Yuletide is many things, most of them involving the words "joy, love, magic" etc. But it's also work. I respect the people who write 20,000 word stories in obscure fandoms. (One of the first Yuletide stories eanja introduced me to was a novella in "The Prison of Zenda" book fandom. I regret that I can't find a link to it at the moment because the archives haven't made it to AO3 yet.)
I'm in the other group. I write between 1000 (the minimum) and 5000 words as tightly to the prompt as I can. This has led to some real weirdness, like Hanover's Seed which is an Edward and Mrs. Simpson AU, or some dramatic style shifts, like Untitled which is free verse in the "Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" fandom.
What I'm trying to say is "there's no right way or wrong way to do Yuletide." I focus on my original assignment and pinch hits. Others only write one story, but go into great depth. There are even people who stay on the pinch hit list and write stories without signing up to get a story themselves.
I don't tag wrangle or otherwise volunteer with the moderating group, but I follow the offers list to make certain that even the smallest/oddest fandom that I could possibly write for gets its chance.
And each year, the moderators and volunteers do wonderful things to make sure we get our little pieces of Yuletide Magic on December 25th.