The Yuletide FAQ

Basics | Assembling the Challenge | Signing Up for Yuletide | Pinch Hitting

Yuletide Madness | Yuletide Etiquette | Official Yuletide Livejournal Rules | Yuletide IRC Chat

What is the New Year's Resolution Challenge? | What is the Yuletide Story of the Day? | What is the Roll-Your-Own Challenge?

The Basics

What is While We Tell of Yuletide Treasure/Yuletide/The Obscure Fandom Fiction Exchange Project?

Yuletide is a gen, het, and slash multifandom secret fiction exchange for obscure or rarely written fandoms. Begun in 2003 by astolat and tzikeh, it was inspired by don we now our gay apparel (the popslash secret santa project).

Each participant signs up in advance, choosing the fandoms she's willing to write and the fandoms she would be most happy to receive from a very large list of options. After signups, assignments go out; each participant must write one 1,000-word (minimum) story, and each will receive one 1,000-word (minimum) story in return. All stories are due by mid-December. On December 25, the stories go live with no author names attached; on January 1, the author names go live.

If you're new to Yuletide and would like a more expanded overview of the basics, go here!

Note: by signing up for Yuletide and uploading a story, you are agreeing to let us keep that story in the archive, for good. We will not delete it at a later date even at your request.

elynross currently runs the more visible aspects of the challenge, and astolat coordinates the fancy scripting necessary to accomplish the matching, with geeklite assisting as needed. Collectively, the current team can be reached at yuletide@yuletidetreasure.org.

1) NOTE: You must be at least 18 to participate in the Yuletide Challenge.

2) For Yuletide 2009, there is a general amnesty for anyone who previously defaulted or was banned! The record of your default/ban is maintained, however, and if you default again in 2009, you may be banned. You can check your default status here.

3) If you default in any year without notifying the moderators, or if you default two years in a row, then you are banned from further Yuletide participation.

No! However, while the Yuletide challenge itself is website-based, the planning and discussion relating to it takes place on Livejournal, in two LJs. You can read both of these without an LJ account, but it may make things easier for you to have one of your own.

All news and official announcements are posted to the Yuletide_Admin community. Only the moderators may post to the admin community, although anyone may comment on an admin post.

The broader Yuletide LJ is available for Yuletide participants to post their Yuletide experiences, discussions, and recommendations. Please see the community info for eligible topics. You will not be able to post directly to the Yuletide LJ if you do not have an LJ of your own, although you will be able to make comments to posts made by others.

With an LJ, you can join or watch the community and more easily keep track of announcements on your Friends list, instead of having to remember to check back regularly. If you don't have an LJ but want to comment on a post to either Yuletide community, please sign your comment. Any anonymous comments will be deleted.

If you maintain your journal at a non-LJ site, or if you prefer to get your Admin posts through a syndicated feed, the Admin LJ is available as both an RSS feed and as an Atom feed.

We start assembling the fandom listings as early as mid-September, but no later than early to mid-October, with a goal of opening sign-ups no later than mid- to late October. Sign-ups remain open for a week, and then assignments go out as soon as the scripts to match authors and recipients can be run and any problems handled. For 2009 The deadline for defaulting with notification and without penalty is December 7th. Stories are due December 21st, 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET). The archive is opened on December 25th, and authors are revealed on January 1st.

Assembling the fandoms

Each year we compile a new list of fandom/character nominations from potential participants, up to six fandoms per person. While we maintain a list of all previously nominated fandoms/characters, this is strictly for inspiration and minimizing work (when you select a previous fandom, it will retain the previously entered character lists). For a fandom to be included in the current year, it must be newly nominated by at least one person. Nominations will be held for at least one week during the month prior to the opening of signups. The Nomination Form can be found here, but it is only available during this one-week period.

The challenge includes only fandoms that are determined to be relatively obscure/inactive. This is decided using an arcane geometry involving but not limited to current fiction-related activity levels in places like LJ, Yahoogroups, and fiction archives, taking into account Google searches, LJ interests, and the recommendations of those who know the fandoms. TV shows that were once very active but went off-air at least ten years ago are eligible for consideration. Brand-new shows that are already active may still be eligible for at least a year.

Some "umbrella" fandoms are currently ineligible, along with related fandoms that may of themselves be relatively rare. Whether a related title is ineligible is at the discretion of the moderators. Some umbrella titles are Batman, Doctor Who, Final Fantasy, Law and Order, Mario, Power Rangers, Sailor Moon, Spiderman, Superman, Transformers, X-Men.

There is no hard and fast rule, and there may well be fandoms available that you don't consider obscure. Please do suggest absolutely anything you think of as truly underrepresented.

The ultimate decision lies with the moderators, and their decisions, however misguided they may be, are final.

Can I suggest rare/obscure/inactive fandoms even if I don't write/am not going to sign up for Yuletide?

We prefer that suggestions come from those planning to sign up, as this brings the fandoms offered and the fandoms requested closer together. However, each year we have a brainstorming post in the Yuletide community LJ that we encourage anyone to post to, to get the ideas flowing!

How do I nominate a fandom for the challenge? How do I designate the fandom? Do I need to use a qualifier on the name?

Nominations will run for at least one week during the month preceding the opening of signups, followed by roughly a week of adding of characters/making corrections/merging duplicates/removing duplicates from character lists. The Yuletide Fandom Nominations form is only open during that period. Through this form you can select a fandom from the Master Fandom List (note: not all fandoms in the Master Fandom List are still eligible, but only the eligible fandoms will display in the Nomination form's drop-down menus), or add a new fandom, for up to six fandoms. Please limit your nominations to only those fandoms you're seriously considering requesting at Yuletide, to keep the list smaller. This will hopefully help keep the fandoms offered and the fandoms requested fairly similar.

Then you will be able to input characters for a new fandom, or add them to a previously available fandom.

If you change your mind during the nominations period, or want to nominate additional fandoms/add additional characters, you can do so by filling out the form again, using exactly the same name and e-mail address. Make sure to fill out the form again completely -- don't just correct your error. The new nomination form will overwrite the previous one, and any fandom you nominated the first time, but not the second, will be removed from the list of currently nominated fandoms -- unless someone else has nominated it.

Note: Crossovers are not eligible for nomination for Yuletide, even if both the fandoms are rare, so please do not nominate a fandom such as:

If someone asks for a crossover in their details, then it's up to the author whether they feel they can/want to do that, or not, however.

Our goal is that each fandom be uniquely identifiable. If your fandom has a unique name, then it won't need a qualifier. If it might be confused with a very similar title in another medium or another year, or if your fandom draws from multiple sources (for example, anime and manga) that aren't distinct enough to warrant separate entries, then you will want to use a qualifier. Common qualifiers in use are: anime, book, comic, game, manga, movie, musical, opera, play, tv, [year]. These can be combined, if necessary. e.g.:

Books are almost always listed as [AuthorFirst AuthorLast - title] (for one or two authors), with one dash, one space before and after. There is no need to use the "book" qualifier with this format. When nominating a series of books, use the common collective name, if there is one. If a fandom is found as both a movie and a book, without important variation, it will be listed by the title, with the qualification (book or movie).

The exception to the [author-title] format is books written by three or more authors, even if they used a common pseudonym, in which case the (book) modifier is used, e.g.:

Only books are listed by author. Comics/graphic novels are listed by title, to keep the category formatting consistent.

Music videos and songs should be listed by title, with the (song) or (music video) qualifier.

Mythologies are always listed as: Mythology - [area], e.g. [Mythology - Irish], [Mythology - Greek and Roman].

Real Person Fiction is always listed as: RPF - [title], e.g. RPF - [RPF - 16th-17th century]. Please make sure that the characters you would like to nominate for RPF fandoms will not fit within an already designated RPF fandom. Musical groups can be listed by group ([RPF - Rolling Stones]), but individual artists should be placed with their genre ([Country Music], [Alt Pop Rock Solo Artists (Asian/Western)], etc.)

For fandoms with multiple titles/foreign fandoms, please list only the original language title/the title most commonly used, just as you would with English-language works that have been translated. This is a change in 2009, because the length of some fandom titles was breaking things.

How do I add new characters to a fandom? What if they have more than one name?

You will be able to input new characters or add characters to an existing fandom when you fill out the Yuletide Fandom form. Special characters/diacritics will be automatically stripped out. If a character is known by more than one name, like a superhero's alter ego, or a nickname, please list the primary name first, followed by "aka [other name or title]," e.g.:

We ask that you please only list characters that you are planning to request, to keep character listings from being so immense as to terrify potential writers out of ever choosing to write "Any" characters in that fandom!

A fandom I suggested isn't in the final list/one fandom is listed under multiple names.

If something you suggested is missing, it probably didn't make the final cut. Please don't comment or email to tell us; once the final list is posted, we won't make additions. However, if we have listed one fandom under multiple names, please do let us know so we can fix that.

Signing up for Yuletide

The sign-up form is here and will open for business in October or early November. Please monitor the Yuletide Admin LJ or check the Yuletide home page for the specific date, closer to Challenge time.

Please read all the instructions carefully! You must fill out every field that is not labeled "Optional" in order for the form to work.

Please make sure you're signing up with a unique name. Check the list of those authors who have already registered on the main page to be sure. This will appear on the right side of the page. You also cannot use names that are the same except for spaces/special characters/capitalization -- sorry!

There's no limit on how many people can request a given fandom, so don't worry if you see that your fandom has been picked already. You can request anything you want.

After you hit submit on the form, you will receive an email copy of your selections. Please check this carefully to be sure that you didn't accidentally choose the wrong fandom or characters. If you made a mistake, you can sign up again, using exactly the same name and e-mail address. Make sure to fill out the form again completely -- don't just correct your error. The new submission form will overwrite the incorrect one.

If you do not receive a copy of your confirmation email within 24 hours, please write to yuletide@yuletidetreasure.org to make sure there were no errors in your email address. If there were, your signup will be deleted, and you'll need to sign up again.

Once the sign-up sheet is live, you will be able to request three to four fandoms from a pull-down menu consisting of all requested fandoms, and then choose up to four characters from each fandom. This does not mean the author will be limited to these four characters -- only that these are characters you'd like to see written about. You will also see an option for 'Any,' which means that you're asking for a story about any of the characters listed in the pull-down menu. Please note: you must choose at least three different fandoms. Picking one fandom with three different sets of characters won't count towards your minimum of three different fandoms -- although your fourth fandom can duplicate one of those three, with a different set of characters.

To select multiple characters, hold down the "control" key on Windows machines or the "command (apple)" key on a Mac while selecting each character.

Please remember that the purpose of the While We Tell of Yuletide Treasure challenge is to give you stories you truly want to read, not to play “stump the author.” Make your requests based on what you’d really enjoy, not on how crazy/difficult you think it will be for someone to write.

Beyond that, you can be as specific as you'd like in your details, but be aware that your author is only bound by your fandom and character choices, and may approach both fandom and characters differently than you do. If you prefer het or slash, but enjoy gen as well, it's a good idea to say so in the details, since there's no way to know if your request is going to a het, slash, or gen writer, and that gives everyone a workable option.

We encourage you to include comments about the types of stories you like or don't like, or to post a "Dear Yuletide Writer" letter to your LJ/website/in the comments of the post made for that purpose in the Yuletide LJ, because often authors will look for additional information of this sort.

For some ideas on how to write inspiring prompts, you might look at this post and this one, both excellent resources.

Your author may do their best to accommodate your more specific requests, but they are not bound by them. We hope that all concerned will be generous and gracious in their interactions. As with the writing half of the challenge, the more flexible you can be as a reader within the boundaries of what you like, the more enjoyment you're likely to get out of the process.

One thing to keep in mind when you add your details is that these requests go public for the New Year's Resolution (NYR) challenge after Yuletide is over, and you may want to tailor your requests with that in mind. It's also a good idea not to say "see above/ditto" if you have the same general parameters for your fandoms, since the NYR requests are broken out by fandom, not recipient. Put your details in for each fandom.

You must offer at least three different fandoms (one fandom with three different relationships doesn't count as three unique fandoms). Beyond that you may select as many fandoms as you want; the more fandoms you offer, the easier it is for the script to make matches.

That said, please be sure you're genuinely willing to write any of the fandoms you offer -- you have as much chance of being asked to write the one you're least comfortable with as the one you're most comfortable with! And you may only have a single match on your recipient's list; you may not even be familiar with her other two or three options.

For each fandom you select, you can specify up to four characters, or you can choose 'Any' to indicate that you're willing to write any available characters. If you want to write more than four characters but fewer than "Any" for a single fandom, or you're only willing to write/don't want to write certain combinations, you can sign up multiple times for the same fandom, specifying only combinations you're willing to write together. There is no limit to the number of times you can sign up for the same fandom, with different character combinations.

For example, if I select the Bob Newhart Show, and I am willing to write Carlin, or Peterson, but not Carlin and Peterson in the same story, I could choose something like this:

(slashes here work like commas, so these could be gen, het, or slash, depending on the request).

These would match to anyone requesting any combination of the characters named in a single listing (eg, any one, any two, any three, or all four), but not someone requesting Carlin and Peterson.

If you choose "Any," you may be matched to any requests for that fandom with any combination of characters. Please do not choose 'Any' unless you're genuinely comfortable writing anyone or any combination of two to four characters in the character list for that fandom. 'Any' does not mean that you'll get to pick which characters go into the story, unless your recipient also chooses 'Any'; it means you are willing to write any characters your recipient has requested, in any combination of one to four characters.

What it boils down to is this: please don't participate unless you are willing to be flexible, both as a reader and a writer. And if you're assigned something that makes you blink and wonder, remember, that's the "challenge" part of the Yuletide challenge!

I already signed up, but I saw another fandom that I'd rather write/request. Can I change my submission before the deadline?

Absolutely. To do this, just fill out the signup form again, but please make sure you use the exact same name and e-mail address so we can tell it's a duplicate, and so the automatic-updater doesn't add you to the participants list under two names. You must fill out the form completely, including the fandoms you're keeping the same -- the new form will overwrite your original signup form. Please keep your confirmation emails so that you have the exact information under which you signed up in case of any confusion.

We ask that you limit any discussion to your betas, and that you not publicly discuss what you offered to write anywhere (including LJs, blogs, chat, etc. This includes posting lists of fandoms you offered). This is a secret challenge, and we don't want to give people hints as to who is writing what for whom. Authors will be revealed on January 1st.

Assignments should be sent out within 1-3 days after the close of sign-ups. A post will be made to the Yuletide Admin LJ after assignments are issued. If you have not received your assignment within a day of this posting, please email us at yuletide@yuletidetreasure.org.

Like this. ;) Please make note: In order to make the matching work, sometimes we have to find a pinch hitter right from the start, and occasionally we assign the same recipient to two different writers, in order to guarantee that everyone has a recipient.

Your intrepid organizers have contingency plans in the unlikely event of ~~a water landing~~ no one offering to write anything you request, or requesting anything you offer to write. This may include asking you to add a couple additional options, or finding a pinch hitter from outside the Yuletide ranks.

Your story should be uploaded to the archive no later than 9:00 p.m., Eastern Time (ET), December 21st. If you finish earlier than that, you can upload it at any time after you receive your assignment. Note: In 2009, the window for uploading will begin later than usual.

In fact, if you finish earlier, we would be delighted if you uploaded before the deadline. The challenge gets bigger every year, which means the load on the server on the final day is bigger every year. This leads to server crashes and participant panic and the possible loss of stories, and really, you don't want to be part of that.

The archive reopens on December 25th, although the exact time may vary. All stories will be anonymous until New Year's Day, when author names will be revealed.

Pinch Hitting

What is "pinch hitting"? Do I have to be a Yuletide participant? How do I volunteer?

Every year, for various reasons, some people don't complete their assignments. If we receive notice that someone will have to default, we find someone to "pinch hit," or write a substitute story. This author may or may not be a regular Yuletide participant, but they're held to the same requirements as the original author, unless it's a last-minute pinch hit to cover someone who has no story as of December 25th.

You do not have to be a Yuletide participant to be a pinch hitter! Many people prefer to pinch hit, rather than sign up for Yuletide, because it gives them the opportunity to see the fandom requests and prompts before deciding to volunteer.

If you want to volunteer, please sign up for the Yuletide Pinch Hitters' List! When a pinch hit is required, a note will go out on the list containing all the requests for that participant. The first person to respond is assigned the pinch hit.

Note: On the 23rd-24th of December, we start Yuletide Madness, where we post the requests of those who do not yet have a story uploaded, even if they have an assigned pinch hitter who hasn't uploaded yet. This does not mean we don't trust those pinch hitters, nor do we want to undercut the response to their stories. We simply want to guarantee that everyone has a story when the archive opens. If you are not comfortable with the possibility that your story may be one of multiple stories your recipient receives, you might want to reconsider pinch hitting on a late request.

Even with Yuletide Madness, we depend on our pinch hitters to finish their stories, to ensure that the recipients receive a story that meets the 1,000+ word limit. After December 24th, the Yuletide Madness stories aren't held to the same word limit, as they are written on such extreme short notice. However, we have had pinch hitters default in the past, so this is our safety net.

After You Get Your Assignment

Please take your assignment seriously! Please do not talk about your assignment in specific or negative terms, apart from exceptions indicated elsewhere. You can express disbelief at your own gall and perhaps foolishness ("Oh my GOD why did I say I would write this!! AAAAAA,") but please do not identify the fandom or characters, and please do not complain about your assignment in public. Your recipient may read your LJ or blog, or may seek it out after authors are revealed, and it can be a slap in the face to trip across something like that. Even if you complain in the comments to someone else's post, or on a list, it can get back to the recipient. Beyond that, other participants in Yuletide (including the moderators) may well see it, and it will not reflect well upon you.

The archive search engine is closed as soon as signups open for the current year's challenge. The Quicksearch remains available until signups close and uploading becomes available again, to preserve author anonymity as participants begin writing and uploading new Yuletide stories. Direct links to existing stories will still work, however.

Opening signups generates new participant and fandom lists, overwriting the old lists used for the previous year, and closing that year's NYR challenge.

All stories again become available when the archive reopens on December 25th, and NYR uploads for the current year's challenge are possible after January 1st.

I received four different fandom possibilities, do I have to write all of them?

Nonono! The matching process automatically sends you your recipient's full list of requests, but you only have to write a single story. However, you can choose to write any one of your recipient's four requests, whether you offered the fandom during sign-ups or not.

Sorry, but that's just not possible, unless you were somehow assigned a fandom for which you didn't volunteer. We're working with literally hundreds of participants, and we couldn't reassign one person without shuffling around dozens of others. Everyone is paired with someone else who listed at least one request that matched something they offered to write. That's the best we can do.

It's very unlikely that the matching program assigned you something you didn't sign up for, but stranger things have happened! If you get something you don't think you signed up for, email us privately at yuletide@yuletidetreasure.org as soon as possible. It's possible that there was a glitch in the program, or that you accidentally chose a fandom you did not intend to choose. We will do our best to straighten it out. However, if you do know any of the requested fandoms, we would appreciate it if you'd try and fulfill the assignment anyway.

Note: if we have to assign you a new recipient, it probably means that you'll be writing for someone who already has an assigned writer. This is not unheard of, as the matching process always has a few stray authors that we have to double-assign, as well as recipients that have to immediately go out for a pinch hit, because it's very unlikely that everyone will make requests and offers that match up exactly, with nothing left over.

We ask that you not contact your recipient directly, even in an anonymous LJ comment!

If you need clarification, or more information, please email us at yuletide@yuletidetreasure.org, and we will act as go-between for your questions. This will preserve not only your anonymity, but conceal any indication of which request you're planning to write, as we will make up questions for each of the requested fandoms to disguise your real intent.

Previous writers have also poked around their recipients' LJs/blogs/websites to see what kinds of things they seem to like, so feel free to do so (and leave some notes in your own LJ/blog, if you have one, for your writer!).

Do I have to write the specific characters/relationships/situations they ask for?

Remember, somewhere out there, someone is asking the very same questions about your Yuletide request. Please treat their wishes as seriously as you'd like someone else to treat yours.

However, you are not limited to only the characters they specify, nor do you have to include every character on the fandom's character listing, if they choose 'Any.'

It is not mandatory that you follow your recipient's optional details; whether they want a particular relationship slashed, name an additional character, ask for a crossover, or spell out what they want in excruciating detail, you are not required to do as they ask. Think of the details as prompts, fodder for inspiration. If you can incorporate the details into a story, great! If you're not sure, heck, give it a try (it is a challenge, after all!). However, if you don't feel that you can accommodate their specific requests, that's fine, too.

If your recipient selected 'Any' from the character listing for that fandom, then you can write whichever character(s) you want, and even include characters specifically not listed. Even if their details say "I really like Character X and Y," if they asked for 'Any,' then they asked for 'Any.'

Conversely, if you offered to write 'Any' and your recipient asked for specific characters, then you must write those specific characters, since you said you could and would. Unless there was an actual error, please give it your best shot. If you offered 'Any' in a fandom and got taken up on it in an unexpected way -- them's the breaks for you.

If you fail to write the characters requested, and your recipient contacts us, we may determine that you failed to fulfill the minimum requirements of the challenge, and ban you from future participation.

While we want assignments to stay as secret as possible, we do prefer you have your stories betaed, and we know that some authors need to talk out their story ideas. All we ask is that you do your best to keep your assignment a secret, only share details with others who are also willing to keep that secret, and not post anything publicly that will connect you to a particular fandom or the specifics of any story request. Given that these are rare fandoms, it's quite possible that only one or two people have requested the fandom you're writing for, so any identifying information can reveal the secret.

Along these lines, we ask that you not complain publicly (on lists, blogs, or LJ, even locked, because these things have a way of getting out) about your assignment in a way that would possibly upset/offend/hurt your recipient. "Yuletide is kicking my ass!" is okay. "My assignment is so stupid/I can't believe anyone wants this" is not. Please don't make judgmental remarks about your recipient's taste or requests because they don't match your own. You never know who's reading your LJ, or who might remember, even if you delete the post in question.

I don't really know any of the fandoms my recipient asked for very well. I didn't think I'd get assigned any of those. What do I do?

DO NOT SIGN UP FOR ANY FANDOMS YOU AREN'T MORE THAN HAPPY TO WRITE. Really, please. The program assigns any single matches (they're the only one who asked, you're the only one who offered) first, and anything you sign up for, you might get a chance to write.

My recipient listed a fandom that I didn't sign up for, but I have an idea. Can I write in that fandom, instead?

Absolutely! Once you get your recipient's wishlist, you're free to write in any of the fandoms on that list, whether you signed up for it or not. If you luck out and get a recipient who has requested more than one fandom you could write in, even if you didn't offer them, then you have your pick!

I'm not comfortable with the fandoms I offered that my recipient wanted, but I have this other fandom I like/there's this other fandom I see she likes on her LJ/website that I could write. Can I do that?

No. You are limited to the fandoms and characters that your recipient requested, at least one of which you offered to write. If you fail to do so, we may determine that you failed to fulfill the requirements of the challenge, and ban you from future participation.

If you want to post a letter to your Yuletide writer in your LJ or blog, we're all for that! There will also be a post in the basic Yuletide community where you can comment with a post or link to an entry in your own LJ/blog. The section on writing prompts might give you some ideas on the kinds of things to include. Keep in mind that general may work better than too specific. Things like "I love angst! Death for Yuletide!" or "I don't need explicit sex (but it's okay if you want to include it)" or "my tastes are broad; just write what pleases you!" give your writer something to work with, without dictating exactly what you expect them to do. Laying out a specific plotline you want your writer to follow doesn't really allow for the flexibility that makes Yuletide work.

Defaulting: I'm not going to be able to complete my assignment, what do I do? Can I have an extension?

If you aren't going to be able to fulfill your commitment, let us know as soon as possible at yuletide@yuletidetreasure.org, and include the exact name and email address under which you signed up.

Please don't just disappear without a word to us. The sooner we know, the easier it is to find a pinch hitter for your recipient, and the more time they have to write. Additionally, defaulting without notification is grounds for a permanent Yuletide ban.

Though we know that there can be unavoidable reasons for defaulting, we will not grant any extensions, so please don't ask. Aside from the fact that it's not fair to everyone else, after 9:00 p.m. December 21st we'll be going through the people who didn't get a story and trying to assign last-minute pinch hitters, in an effort to make sure everyone ends up with a story. We will need all the time between then and the 25th to get that done and to make sure everything's working for when we go live.

Defaulting deadlines: If you default by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time (ET), December 7th, and you notify us, you remain eligible for future Yuletide participation without penalty or qualification, no questions asked. We will still keep a record of this default for the future, however.

If you default after December 7th, you may be banned from future participation. We will look at your past default history when we make our decision, which may include no penalty, a requirement to write a NYR story before the next year's signups, or banning from future Yuletide participation.

We are willing to consider extenuating circumstances, but final exams, holiday family commitments, last-minute shopping -- these are not extenuating circumstances. Known or anticipated obstacles should already be factored into your decision to sign up or not.

Defaulting without notifying us or defaulting two years in a row will lead to being banned from future Yuletide participation.

The problem with soliciting a beta publicly is that you generally will have to reveal the fandom, and this will interfere with the "secret" part of the challenge. If you just need a general beta, you can ask in your LJ, or the Yuletide LJ, and see who offers -- and not choose your recipient, if they offer. If you need a more fandom-specific beta, you might try advertising on an LJ or list specific to that fandom, and not specifically identify it as a Yuletide story. There will also be a "Beta" post on the Yuletide LJ, where people can post saying what fandoms they're able to beta.

If you don't know anyone who you feel can beta your story properly because of the obscurity of the fandom, you can contact us and we will try (we make no promises) to find you someone who volunteered to write that fandom who is willing to beta. Please use this option as a last resort!

The stories

You will receive three or four fandom requests from your recipient, with accompanying character requests and possible specific comments. You are required to write a minimum of 1,000 words in one of these fandoms, using all of the requested characters (unless the recipient's details indicate that they don't mind if you don't include them all). You are not bound by any further comments, although we ask that you try and take your recipient's wishes into account (are you sensing a theme, here?).

Not at all! You don't have to write a holiday story, nor does it have to be set at this particular time of year -- it can be about anything at all. Obviously, if it works for your fandom and you have a great idea (or your recipient specifically asks for it), then by all means have at it. However, if you do want to write a holiday story, it would be a good idea to write the mods and ask them to see if your recipient would also enjoy that.

Then the archive software won't let you upload! If you believe your story is 1,000 words or over, and the software refuses to let you upload, please contact us.

For 2009, uploading will not be available until early December, after the archive has been moved to the Archive of Our Own (AO3). More information will be sent out by email and posted to the Admin LJ when it's available.

I uploaded the wrong version/made a mistake in my story/summary/author notes, can you redo it/edit it for me?

Once the Yuletide archive is on AO3, you'll be able to make these changes yourselves! \o/ Again, more information on this is forthcoming, but if you already have an account on AO3, you can see how it will work.

Please don't ask us to upload your story for you. If you're not going to be able to upload your story yourself, you can ask a friend, or check the Yuletide LJ; there is generally a post where people have offered to upload stories for other participants. If there's no such post, you can ask in a post of your own. There are always other participants willing to help; when someone offers, send them your text file and the relevant info: name, email address, LJ and/or website if desired, ratings, summary, author notes.

Any author notes, email addresses, beta thank-yous, or other information that may betray your identity should go in the Author Notes field (NOT the story summary field) when you upload the story. This information, as well as your email, website, and LJ address, if available, will be hidden from view on the story until January 1.

Please do not include any information that may betray your identity in the story file itself or in the summary. General story notes on the story itself are okay, but check out the preview to see how it looks. Including notes at the bottom of your text file may be preferable.

If you're in doubt about whether the content will betray your anonymity, email yuletide@yuletidetreasure.org to ask! Once the authors are revealed on New Year's Day, all participants are free to post their stories wherever they want and include whatever information they wish.

After the Reveal: Authors

You will receive emailed copies of all comments left on your stories. Do not delete these if you wish to respond to them, which you may do after the author reveal on January 1st.

To prevent spammers from harvesting addresses, the only place a commenter's email address exists (if they chose to include it) is on the copy of the comment emailed to you. If you do not save the comment, you will not be able to respond.

But don't respond until after the author reveal -- if you respond earlier, you give away your identity!

You can post your story anywhere you want after the author reveal on January 1st! However, by signing up for Yuletide and uploading a story, you are agreeing to let us keep that story in the archive, for good. We will not agree to delete the story at any later date, for any reason, although we will remove all identifying information at your request.

These are not stories you write in isolation: these are gifts you write for other people, to their prompts; you get a story of your own in return; and you have taken advantage of the work done to make the challenge work. Asking us to delete your story after you have gotten a story in return and collected your feedback is really not fair to your recipient or to the community. Someone spent their Yuletide requests to get a story created in a rare fandom of their heart, which may have very little else available or easily found online, and removing the story would rob them of that.

After the Reveal: Recipients

I think the story I got really sucks/doesn't do what I asked for, what do I do?

Smile and say thank you, and read the other stories! Just as we ask the authors not to complain publicly about the requests they receive, we ask recipients not to complain publicly about the stories they receive. Your author is bound solely by your fandom and character requests, and while we hope they'll take other comments into account, they aren't obligated to do so.

If your writer failed to write in any of the fandoms you requested and/or did not include characters that you specified, then this is grounds for banning them from future Yuletides -- if you report it to us. Whether you choose to do so, or not, is entirely up to you.

It's December 25th, I got my own story in on time, but I don't have a story in the archive/I only have a drabble!

This is probably because your original author failed to finish their story, and we had to find a pinch hitter, who wasn't able to get something uploaded for you in time. We're very sorry. Please let us know (just in case we somehow missed assigning you a pinch hitter), and then try and enjoy the rest of the stories in the meantime. We will do our very best to get a story up for you by New Year's Day.

It's January 1st and I still don't have a story in the archive. What do I do?

We try very hard to not do the author reveal until we're sure every person has something to look forward to, even if it's a handful of drabbles. If the authors are revealed, and you still don't find a story under your name, please email us at yuletide@yuletidetreasure.org and we'll try and figure it out!

Leaving Comments on Stories

We encourage everyone, participants or not, to leave comments on stories! However, please do not include any html/URLs/email addresses in the text field of your comments. Any comments containing these will be rejected, to either prevent harvesting of addresses or to prevent display problems.

If you want to allow the author to reply to you after the author reveal, please do include your email address in the email field on the comment form. This will not be saved or appear anywhere but on the copy of your comment emailed to the author, to prevent spammers from harvesting the address.

So You Want Your Contact Info Changed

If you need us to change your name, email address, journal address (LJ or other), or website address contained in your Yuletide Contact Information, write to us at yuletide@yuletidetreasure.org, and include:

Yuletide Madness

Yuletide Madness is the mods' way of ensuring that everyone has something to read when the Yuletide stories go live on December 25th. We get nervous on December 23rd when there are still participants without stories, even if we know that their pinch hitters are still working, because very occasionally one of our pinch hitters defaults. So sometime on the 23rd or 24th of December, the remaining unfulfilled assignments are made available to our Yuletide participants, who can then write something for anyone on the list. On the 24th, we remove the word limits on the archive and let our participants write drabbles or snippets for any of the other participants, little Yuletide follies for sheer fun. Our view is that it's more for everyone to read!

Yuletide Etiquette

In response to several different incidents, we feel we need to clarify what we mean when we ask that everyone approach their Yuletide assignment and story graciously. Basically it boils down to: please be polite!

In Yuletide terms, this means that if you don't like the requests you receive, please don't complain in public, or comment negatively on your recipient's taste or requests. If you get something you didn't sign up for, email privately (yuletide@yuletidetreasure.org) and we'll fix it. Otherwise, match the fandom you offered and the characters requested and write the best story you can, and try to make it something you think your recipient will enjoy.

Please leave a thank-you comment for your writer. You aren't obligated to rave publicly or rec the story if you aren't enthusiastic about it, but an appreciative comment thanking them for their time and effort is simply polite, and will end their Yuletide experience on a positive note. Leave a comment even if you default -- you may feel too embarrassed to say thank you when you didn't give something yourself, but silence will make your author think you hated the story or couldn't even be bothered to read it.

Please don't complain about your gift in public. If you get something that doesn't match your fandom/character requests, contact us in private and we'll handle it. If you get something that matches your fandom/characters but isn't to your taste, please say thank you anyway and move on to the hundreds of other stories available to read and enjoy. And maybe someone will pick out one of your unused requests to write for the NYR challenge!

If you aren't happy with your Yuletide experience, or comfortable with the gift-exchange atmosphere, where it really is the thought that counts, then please do not sign up to participate in Yuletide in future. Join other challenges where stories aren't given as gifts, or pick a NYR request that you can write to your own taste, without worrying about tailoring it to someone else.

Official Yuletide Livejournal Rules

Yuletide maintains two LJs: Yuletide Admin for all official notices (only mods can post here), and the Yuletide community for participant discussion and posting. We do not allow either flames or anonymous posting in either community. Anonymous comments are enabled, so that people without livejournals can participate, but if you need to use this option, please sign your name. Any unsigned anonymous comments will be deleted as soon as we see them.

I've made some Yuletide story recommendations/have some comments about Yuletide, can I post them to the Yuletide community?

Absolutely! Since many of us have come from vastly different walks of fandom, we may miss many privately posted reviews/comments about Yuletide. So by all means, go ahead and post links in the community!

Yuletide IRC Chat

When it gets closer to the deadline, people will start hanging out in an IRC chat room for last-minute panic, celebration, and socializing:

If you need an irc client, Windows users can download mIRC, and Mac users can download ircle. Basic how-to guides exist at each site. Both clients are free for the first 30 days. Additionally, there is also a Java/Web interface provided by sff.net.

What is the New Year's Resolution Challenge?

Because of the way the Yuletide challenge is set up, with each participant requesting several fandoms for their writers to choose from, many more stories are requested than written.

After the authors have been revealed on January 1st, a list of all unfilled requests is posted to the archive. From then until signups begin for the next year's Yuletide challenge, anyone who wants to can fill one of these requests and upload it to the archive.

Each new NYR story that is uploaded will be automatically announced to the Yuletide community LJ when the next Story of the Day post goes out.

Just like with Yuletide, matching the fandom and characters of a request and meeting the minimum 1,000-word limit is all we require, although we prefer that it be reasonably proofread as well. To be posted to the archive, a story must have a specific recipient, but while we hope you'll take the recipient's specific requests into consideration, it's not obligatory.

We will not delete requests as they are filled, but we do ask that you try and fulfill unanswered ones if you can, rather than one that's already gotten one or more responses. But if you've already started a story for a given request, don't give up on it just because someone beat you to posting it. Or if you just get particularly inspired by a given request -- go ahead. In the end, it all adds to the richness of the archive.

What is the Yuletide Story of the Day?

Every day from January 1st to October 1st, a post is automatically made to the Yuletide community LJ containing:

The Story of the Day is also available as an rss feed at Yuletide Daily, if you want just the daily posts.

What is the Roll-Your-Own Challenge?

If the FAQ doesn't answer your question, write us at yuletide@yuletidetreasure.org. rules: here are the fancy rules collection_id: 1 two: collection_id: 2 intro: here is an intro faq: lots of faqs rules: whee some rules three: collection_id: 3 intro: only an intro and no faqs or rules four: collection_id: 4 rules: rules but no intro five: collection_id: 5 six: collection_id: 6 seven: collection_id: 7 eight: collection_id: 8 nine: collection_id: 9