It's Yuletide!

[rachelmanija]

Yuletide is open for signups! You have through October 22 to sign up - don't miss it!

Here is the tag set where you can see all the fandoms you can request. There's a huge variety!

Requestable fandoms that might be of particular interest include the Biggles and Worrals series by W. E. Johns, multiple intriguing side characters from Agatha Christie (under "Poirot" and "Miss Marple"), Revelator, Baahubali, multiple Octavia Butler works including "Bloodchild" and "Speech Sounds," the traditional ballads "John Barleycorn" and "Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight," Double Indemnity, Annihilation, Us, Nope, and "Top 5 Rat Movies I Made Up."

Not to mention historical fiction about Hildegard von Bingen (12th Century German Mystics RPF), Crazy Horse | Tȟašúŋke Witkó (The Great Sioux War of 1876-1877 RPF), Rabbi Yochanan ben Nappachah (Rabbinic and Talmudic Judaism RPF), Zelda Fitzgerald (Jazz Age Writer RPF), and Willow | Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom's Dog (British Royalty RPF).

Here's what I'm requesting this year.

Poll #27662 The Yuletide Poll

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 76

View Respondents

My Yuletide status is...

View Answers

I've never done it before, but I'm considering signing up!
6 (7.9%)

I have already signed up and am preemptively delighting in the stories I will receive and write
11 (14.5%)

I need to sign up. And probably write a letter. Help.
16 (21.1%)

I'm doing it but I don't even know what I'm requesting yet.
11 (14.5%)

I usually sign up, but this year I'm not sure.
7 (9.2%)

I'm only going to treat.
8 (10.5%)

What is this Yuletide of which you speak?
1 (1.3%)

Some other status (describe in comments)
16 (21.1%)

Comments

[lirazel]

I have not yet signed up because I'm waiting to finish one book I'm reading to see if I want to offer for it, but my letter is written, etc., so I picked "other status." I have participated for over a decade and it is absolutely one of the highlights of the end of the year for me. To me, Yuletide is the best representation of fandom at its best--the gift economy, catering to each other's niche obsessions, etc.

[rachelmanija]

I agree - well, also about exchanges in general. Yuletide is my favorite holiday of the year.

[luzula]

I am boggling at the 26 people nominated in Polar Explorer RPF! It must have a dedicated and organized fanbase. : D

[rachelmanija]

I'm also boggling! Maybe I should brush up on my Polar Explorer history so I can enjoy the wealth of stories that I assume are forthcoming.

[hilarita]

I'm "other". I'd love to participate, but Yuletide does not mix with my seasonal affective disorder, so I don't have the spare time to do it.

[rachelmanija]

That's too bad. Do you do exchanges in other seasons?

[ermingarden]

The Yuletide deadline unfortunately falls smack in the middle of my final exams, so I've decided it just doesn't work to do Yuletide while I'm in school – but this is my last year of school, so I certainly plan on signing up next year, as I don't expect my work to dramatically intensify every mid-to-late December!

[rachelmanija]

Yes, next year!

[cahn]

YUUUUUUULETIDE! :D My favorite time of year!

No one nominated Sundial or Rawblood? That darn three-fandom nomination limit...

[rachelmanija]

Boooo.

[dirty_diana]

I used to do Yuletide regularly and now I mostly prefer a different style of exchange. I am in the stage of checking the tag set and pondering if I should join the crowd, though, as I do every year. Everyone looks like they're having so much fun, lol.

[rachelmanija]

What style of exchange do you prefer now?

[regshoe]

I'm very excited by the tagset—so many of my favourite obscure books!—and I may end up requesting more fandoms than I've ever done before as a result. BUT that means writing letter sections for more fandoms. It's all good fun :D

[rachelmanija]

Yes, me too. I wasn't planning on maxing out my requests!

[schneefink]

I know what I'll request and I've even written my letter, but I haven't signed up yet because I haven't decided on what I'm offering... I hope other people will be faster and post their letters soon to help me decide.

[rachelmanija]

I reserve the right to edit my offers based on letters.

[isis]

I'm still relaxing after the massive team effort of going through nominations and putting the tagset together \o/ But I know what I'm asking for and my letter is mostly written in my head; still going through all my potential offers!

Yuletide is, as always, the best.

[rachelmanija]

Thanks for all the wrangling! I love Yuletide.

[black_bentley]

I've never done it, but I'm going to this year! I have been bitten by the fic exchange bug...

[rachelmanija]

Fantastic! Do you know what you're planning to request?

[grayswandir]

My "some other status" (which you already know since you saw my post about it): Letter is done, or at least I thought it was until the tag set was revealed! But now I'm torn on whether to request another rare fandom I wasn't expecting to see nominated...

[karanguni]

SCREAMS INTO THE FIC IN THE VOID BOX

also now my inbox is flooded with porn. Every year. Every year.

[rachelmanija]

I JOIN YOU IN SCREAMING.

Why the inbox porn?

[ellen_fremedon]

I have not yet signed up because some of my offer decisions will depend on the letters for those requests. But I am excited about my requests!

[sheliak]

I'm about halfway through my letter, and hoping to sign up before the last minute for once!

I'm hoping to see requests for Long John Moore | Long John Old John and Jackie North (Traditional Ballad), William Taylor, and The Narts: Ancient Sagas from the Caucasus (Webcomic) - Sylvan Migdal. Among other things!

[sabotabby]

I always get excited to read them. Also my book is somehow nominated, so I will just be praying that someone writes for it.

[rachelmanija]

That's so exciting!!!!

[sovay]

Some other status (describe in comments)

I have never participated as such in Yuletide, but a story of mine was a fandom in 2020 and I see it is in the tagset again this year, which I am never going to get used to.

[rachelmanija]

In a good way, I hope!

[cofax7]

I'm terrible at writing to deadlines, and I haven't finished a story in several years, so once again I'm passing on Yuletide. I'm happy to read the results, though!

[snickfic]

I'm resisting the FOMO with all my being and planning to only treat this year. I'm making a list of fandoms I've been meaning to try or am excited to review, and I'm going to try to spend October and November having relaxing canon review, so that I can write treats in December. (Assuming no drastic life changes, like moving...)

[rattfan]

I'd say I'm other; never been able to work out how to do it. And having people say it's easy doesn't help, so I don't do it.

[rachelmanija]

If you'd like to, I could walk you through it.

[athenejen]

I did Yuletide every year 2007-2013 (with some treats scattered in there), then defaulted in 2014 and have been slowly working on the same NYR ever since (though I did also write a pinch hit and a treat in 2020). It's grown to over 20k words and I'm finally almost done, but I have to finish it up and post it before I can sign up again. I am hoping I can make it happen over the weekend, and then spend next week working on my actual signup! But we'll see if I can manage it, there are a lot of variables in play. It's been a busy couple of months.

[rachelmanija]

Wow! You know, this might be worth contacting the Yuletide mods about, given how long ago it was that you defaulted and that you've done a pinch hit since then. They might be willing to let you in even if you don't finish your 20K (!) NYR in time.

[genarti]

I'm doing it! I'm excited! But I always do a long process of going through the tagset and making a longlist of things to offer and request (yes, I nominated things and I'll request them, but that still leaves some extra request slots to potentially fill) and winnowing it down into a more reasonable offer list, and I haven't had the chance yet to really sit down and dig into the tags. But I'm very excited to do so!

[thawrecka]

I need to write my letter and sign up, but looking at that tagset I'm mostly really excited by all the possible opportunities to write treats this year. I've seen a lot of the short webseries that have been nominated, and a few of my favourite cdramas are in the tagset. That's all without me even looking at the books tags!

[skygiants]

I have wildly overscheduled myself with tasks this weekend, so I am saving the luxurious trawling through the list and finalizing requests/offers as a treat & reward for myself on Tuesday night once everything else is Done.

[rachelmanija]

How marvelous. Get a pastry and beverage of your choice to enjoy with it.

[calandrahunter]

I look forward to the essential (to me) Yuletide experience of browsing letters for canons I know and going 'I would never have written that myself, and I never thought I'd write for this canon, but that prompt is great and I'm gonna write the shit out of it'.

[rachelmanija]

Yes, me too!