Question?

[minviendha]

Of anyone on my flist more knowledgeable than I. I am somewhat interested in the Yuletide challenge, but I am a bit...overwhelmed.

Anyone give me the short and sweet version of how this thing works/how to sign up/etc.? FAQ is making my eyes fall out. :\

I have done absolutely nothing productive today!

Comments

[tinyammmy]

Short and sweet! (Last year was my first year, so longer veterans, feel free to correct as necessary.)

When you sign up you make up to four requests by fandom. You can request certain characters/pairings and include notes about what you like or dislike, but your writer is really only bound by the fandom choice. You, in turn, indicate which fandoms you're totally comfortable writing in: as many as you like.

Once the signups close, you get your assignment. They send you all four of your recipient's requests and you can write whichever of the four you want, regardless of whether or not you technically "offered" that fandom (though they'll never give you a recipient who doesn't match at least one of your offers).

Say, for example, I offered Venture Brothers, but when the list of requests comes in, I'm actually much more excited by the same person's request for Howl's Moving Castle. Even if I didn't offer Howl, I can write that one instead, as long as it's one of the four prompts I received.

Then you write! 1000 words or so is about what's expected. It's usually looked upon well to have someone beta the fic, since it's a gift, but no one's going to twist your arm. Once you're all done, you save it as plain text and upload it to the server.

Once it's on the server, it's out of your hands (unless you write the mods in a panic because you did something wrong).

Occasionally, people default. You can, if you like, sign up to be on the mailing list for pinch hitters, picking up the dropped recipients. Just before the reveal (I forget exactly how long before), all the unfilled recipient request go up for anyone to grab as a "stocking stuffers." You don't have to claim these, just write little drabbles if you're so inclined. The idea is that everyone has fic to read on the day of the reveal.

Then on the day of, you receive your story! You are (hopefully) delighted, and thank your writer profusely. And then you have hundreds of other fics to browse at your leisure.

I think those are most of the salient points. Did anything make no sense?

[minviendha.livejournal.com]

Oooh, thank you, that was incredibly helpful. And made a lot more sense than anything I've read so far.

Two additional questions anyway, I guess? When and where do I sign up, and where do I upload things when I'm done?

I'm quite intrigued, and it sounds like something I certainly would enjoy. :D

[tinyammmy]

You'll sign up at http://www.yuletidetreasure.org/ , and upload the same place. Signups begin in October, I do believe. The stories are due by mid December, typically.

[minviendha.livejournal.com]

Excellent, thank you so much.