Yuletide 2009 Signups are Now Open!
Yuletide Signups are Now Open!
Signups will remain open until 9:00 pm US EST, Thursday, November 12th. Assignments should go out soon after that. Please spread the word!
You will receive a confirmation email listing your requests and offers as made. Please check carefully for errors, particularly your writing offers! If you haven't received confirmation in 24 hours, please comment here or email yuletide@yuletidetreasure.org.
If you want to wait a bit so you're not all going in one mad dash, that would be okay. :) And thank you for your patience and restraint in not hammering the site! (Those names already appearing in the Participants list have been helping us test.)
Filling Out the Signup Form
For those of you who are new, you might want to take a look behind the cut for more detail (there's also Signing up for Yuletide, from the FAQ).
Filling Out Your Requests
Optional Details Are Optional!
You can include any specific suggestions/requests in the optional details area. These details are optional for both requesters and authors, ie, you are not required to include additional information, and authors are not required to use any additional details you do input (although most try).
As a suggestion, it's a good idea not to be too detailed and specific, but also not to leave the details blank. So, you might not want to completely outline a story idea, but instead give some idea as to what you love about the fandom/characters, the kinds of stories you like, etc. Some authors are more comfortable with less specific directions, but many like to at least have some idea of your tastes and inclinations, such as slash/gen/het, general situations you enjoy, etc. You can also put more detail into a "Dear Yuletide Author" post on your LJ and/or the placeholder post that will go up in yuletide. For ideas, you can look at thefourthvine's suggestions on how to construct details/prompts.
Filling out Your Offers
Choosing "Any" means that you are willing to include any character that is listed in the full character listing for that fandom. Before choosing "Any" please examine the character listing or the Master List of Fandoms/Characters to be sure that you are willing and able to do this. There will be no reassignment if you end up getting a character combination that you don't like or don't think you'll be able to write well, if you said up front that you were willing to write "Any." This potentially includes being able to write multiple characters who do not actually share screen time/have never met/don't even exist in the same time period! Yuletide is all about the creativity!
Contrarily, if you list specific characters in your offer, you may be matched to someone who requested "Any" characters. This can be very disconcerting, particularly if they mention specifics characters in the details. All we can ask is that you do your best, and hope that your recipient understands well that in saying they'd be happy with any characters, and that they really meant it.
What is this mess in my confirmation email?!
For each fandom where you select one to four characters, your confirmation email will spell out all the possible combinations you might be assigned. These are not relationship/sexual combinations. It just shows how you could be matched to someone who requests any of the various combinations of the characters you offered. For example, if I offer several fandoms with "any" characters, Lovecraft with one character, and [Ellis Peters - The Brother Cadfael series], with Abbot Radulfus, Brother Cadfael, Hugh Beringar, Prior Robert, that section of my confirmation email will look like this:
Offered: A A Milne - Winnie the Pooh (any)
Alias (comic) (any)
American Gothic (tv) (any)
Blade Runner (any)
The 4400 (any)
The Addams Family (tv) (any)
Ellis Peters - Brother Cadfael series (Abbot Radulfus)
Ellis Peters - Brother Cadfael series (Abbot Radulfus/Brother Cadfael)
Ellis Peters - Brother Cadfael series (Abbot Radulfus/Brother Cadfael/Hugh Beringar)
Ellis Peters - Brother Cadfael series (Abbot Radulfus/Brother Cadfael/Hugh Beringar/Prior Robert)
Ellis Peters - Brother Cadfael series (Abbot Radulfus/Brother Cadfael/Prior Robert)
Ellis Peters - Brother Cadfael series (Abbot Radulfus/Hugh Beringar)
Ellis Peters - Brother Cadfael series (Abbot Radulfus/Hugh Beringar/Prior Robert)
Ellis Peters - Brother Cadfael series (Abbot Radulfus/Prior Robert)
Ellis Peters - Brother Cadfael series (Brother Cadfael)
Ellis Peters - Brother Cadfael series (Brother Cadfael/Hugh Beringar)
Ellis Peters - Brother Cadfael series (Brother Cadfael/Hugh Beringar/Prior Robert)
Ellis Peters - Brother Cadfael series (Brother Cadfael/Prior Robert)
Ellis Peters - Brother Cadfael series (Hugh Beringar)
Ellis Peters - Brother Cadfael series (Hugh Beringar/Prior Robert)
Ellis Peters - Brother Cadfael series (Prior Robert)
H P Lovecraft - Cthulhu Mythos (Khephnes)
Do not sign up for Yuletide if you have any doubts as to your ability to complete your story on time. There's always next year! The deadline for defaulting without penalty is 11:59 pm EST on Monday, December 7th. If you default after this date, you may be banned. If you default without notice, you will be banned.
ETA: This is not the deadline for finishing your story. This is the deadline for defaulting and letting us know you won't be completing your assignment.
As noted on the signup form, the deadline for uploading your story will be December 21st.
Signups will remain open until 9:00 pm US EST, Thursday, November 12th. Assignments should go out soon after that. Please spread the word!
You will receive a confirmation email listing your requests and offers as made. Please check carefully for errors, particularly your writing offers! If you haven't received confirmation in 24 hours, please comment here or email yuletide@yuletidetreasure.org.
If you want to wait a bit so you're not all going in one mad dash, that would be okay. :) And thank you for your patience and restraint in not hammering the site! (Those names already appearing in the Participants list have been helping us test.)
Filling Out the Signup Form
- You must be 18 or over to participate.
- Only one signup per person!
- You can change your sign-up details until sign-ups close, by signing up again using the exact same name and email. Please double and triple check that you've spelled your name and email right!
- You must use a unique name. The sidebar of the sign-up form will show the list of participants. This includes not allowing names that are the same except for spaces/special characters/capitalization.
- Writers are only required to 1) write 1000 words in the fandom assigned 2) with the characters chosen. Due to the nature of the challenge, prompts/details are not binding, ie optional details are optional! (Although most authors try to adhere to them if they can.)
For those of you who are new, you might want to take a look behind the cut for more detail (there's also Signing up for Yuletide, from the FAQ).
Filling Out Your Requests
- For every request you make, you get to pick a fandom, choose up to four characters, and list prompts/details about the kinds of things you like. Some people have started making an early "Dear Yuletide Author" post in their own LJ/blog (or in the post that will be there for that purpose in yuletide) and then including that link in their details, so their author has that from the start.
- You can make three to four fandoms/character requests. At least three of these must be different fandoms, but a fourth can be the same as one of those three, if you want to specify two separate sets of characters. Additionally, you can specify one to four characters per request, or you can choose "Any" characters, indicating you have no specific character requests.
So you could have:
[Dexter (tv)]: Angel Batista/Debra Morgan/Dexter Morgan
[Dexter (tv)]: Lt Maria Laguerta/Sergeant Dokes
[C S Lewis - Out of the Silent Planet series]: Any
[Cyborg 009 (1979)]: Chang Changku/Geronimo/Jet Link/Joe Shimamura
Note: When you get your assignment, the characters will be separated by slash, like this. The slashes do not indicate pairing requests or any kind of specific relationship. It is purely a separation character between characters.
Don't choose "Any" unless you're geniuinely okay with any combo of characters. And if you choose "Any," it can then be confusing if you list specific characters in your prompts. It's probably best to either choose "Any," or choose specific characters. If you want to give them some ideas to spark their imagination in the prompts, you might let them know that you still really meant it when you said "Any." *g*
Optional Details Are Optional!
You can include any specific suggestions/requests in the optional details area. These details are optional for both requesters and authors, ie, you are not required to include additional information, and authors are not required to use any additional details you do input (although most try).
As a suggestion, it's a good idea not to be too detailed and specific, but also not to leave the details blank. So, you might not want to completely outline a story idea, but instead give some idea as to what you love about the fandom/characters, the kinds of stories you like, etc. Some authors are more comfortable with less specific directions, but many like to at least have some idea of your tastes and inclinations, such as slash/gen/het, general situations you enjoy, etc. You can also put more detail into a "Dear Yuletide Author" post on your LJ and/or the placeholder post that will go up in yuletide. For ideas, you can look at thefourthvine's suggestions on how to construct details/prompts.
Filling out Your Offers
- 1) You must offer a minimum of three different fandoms, but you can offer more than that. We do ask that you only sign up for fandoms you are familiar with, and that you not sign up for everything! This helps prevent problems later, both with matching and with panic when you get your assignment.
- You can specify up to four characters per fandom that you are willing to write, or you may say you'll write "Any." You can also list the same fandom multiple times with varying character specifications, if there are only particular combinations that you'd like to write.
Choosing "Any" means that you are willing to include any character that is listed in the full character listing for that fandom. Before choosing "Any" please examine the character listing or the Master List of Fandoms/Characters to be sure that you are willing and able to do this. There will be no reassignment if you end up getting a character combination that you don't like or don't think you'll be able to write well, if you said up front that you were willing to write "Any." This potentially includes being able to write multiple characters who do not actually share screen time/have never met/don't even exist in the same time period! Yuletide is all about the creativity!
Contrarily, if you list specific characters in your offer, you may be matched to someone who requested "Any" characters. This can be very disconcerting, particularly if they mention specifics characters in the details. All we can ask is that you do your best, and hope that your recipient understands well that in saying they'd be happy with any characters, and that they really meant it.
What is this mess in my confirmation email?!
For each fandom where you select one to four characters, your confirmation email will spell out all the possible combinations you might be assigned. These are not relationship/sexual combinations. It just shows how you could be matched to someone who requests any of the various combinations of the characters you offered. For example, if I offer several fandoms with "any" characters, Lovecraft with one character, and [Ellis Peters - The Brother Cadfael series], with Abbot Radulfus, Brother Cadfael, Hugh Beringar, Prior Robert, that section of my confirmation email will look like this:
Offered: A A Milne - Winnie the Pooh (any)
Alias (comic) (any)
American Gothic (tv) (any)
Blade Runner (any)
The 4400 (any)
The Addams Family (tv) (any)
Ellis Peters - Brother Cadfael series (Abbot Radulfus)
Ellis Peters - Brother Cadfael series (Abbot Radulfus/Brother Cadfael)
Ellis Peters - Brother Cadfael series (Abbot Radulfus/Brother Cadfael/Hugh Beringar)
Ellis Peters - Brother Cadfael series (Abbot Radulfus/Brother Cadfael/Hugh Beringar/Prior Robert)
Ellis Peters - Brother Cadfael series (Abbot Radulfus/Brother Cadfael/Prior Robert)
Ellis Peters - Brother Cadfael series (Abbot Radulfus/Hugh Beringar)
Ellis Peters - Brother Cadfael series (Abbot Radulfus/Hugh Beringar/Prior Robert)
Ellis Peters - Brother Cadfael series (Abbot Radulfus/Prior Robert)
Ellis Peters - Brother Cadfael series (Brother Cadfael)
Ellis Peters - Brother Cadfael series (Brother Cadfael/Hugh Beringar)
Ellis Peters - Brother Cadfael series (Brother Cadfael/Hugh Beringar/Prior Robert)
Ellis Peters - Brother Cadfael series (Brother Cadfael/Prior Robert)
Ellis Peters - Brother Cadfael series (Hugh Beringar)
Ellis Peters - Brother Cadfael series (Hugh Beringar/Prior Robert)
Ellis Peters - Brother Cadfael series (Prior Robert)
H P Lovecraft - Cthulhu Mythos (Khephnes)
Do not sign up for Yuletide if you have any doubts as to your ability to complete your story on time. There's always next year! The deadline for defaulting without penalty is 11:59 pm EST on Monday, December 7th. If you default after this date, you may be banned. If you default without notice, you will be banned.
ETA: This is not the deadline for finishing your story. This is the deadline for defaulting and letting us know you won't be completing your assignment.
As noted on the signup form, the deadline for uploading your story will be December 21st.