Yuletide nominations are open!

[rachelmanija]

It's my favorite time of the year, and not sleet nor snow nor grad school can prevent me!

I already know all about this: Yuletide nominations are open! See Swan Tower's post for details. Nominations run through Monday, 9:30 PM, USA Eastern Time.

What is Yuletide and why should I care?: Yuletide is the annual fanfic gift exchange for very small fandoms. It is notable for a large number of participants, a generally high quality of stories, and an atmosphere of communal glee broken by occasional scattered wankstorms.

If you participate, you offer certain fandoms in which you feel confident that you can write a story, and make requests for stories which you would like someone else to write for you. For example, "I'd be willing to write a story set in the world of Njal's Saga, the Mahabharata, Cyteen, Bertie and Jeeves, Max Headroom, Venetia, "Me and Julio Down at the Schoolyard," or Mushishi. I would like to receive a story in any one of the following fandoms: Enid Blyton's St. Clare's series, featuring Bill and Clarissa. Femmeslash would be great, but just friendship would also be fine. Vienna Teng's "My Medea." Any story inspired by the song." Etc. You can offer multiple fandoms, but can request only four.

You will then be matched with someone who requested a fandom and characters you offered to write, and vice versa. You know who you're writing for, but not who's writing for you. You write your stories, without revealing to anyone but your betas what you're writing or who you're writing for. On December 25, the stories are unveiled with authors' names removed. Everyone happily reads and recommends. On January 1, the names magically appear. Everyone congratulates each other on their stories.

Last year's Yuletide I sent gonzo food writer Anthony Bourdain to Narnia. No Reservations: Narnia.

This year I am requesting Anne McCaffrey's Pern series (Mirrim), RPF - Psychologists (Sigmund Freud, Anna Freud, Carl Jung, Alfred Adler), and Vonda McIntyre's Dreamsnake (Snake, Melissa.)

Who's playing this year, and what are you requesting? Who's thinking of trying it for the first time?

Comments

[mme_hardy]

I'm thinking of trying it for the first time. How much of a proven track record do you have to have? (I think I have four pieces at AO3.)

[rachelmanija]

None whatsoever. It could be your very first story.

The minimum length for a story is 1000 words. Dooooo iiiiiit, dooooo iiiiiiiit...

[ellen_fremedon]

You should totally do it! I've done it every year but the first one, and it has never failed to be incredible fun.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

I had no fanfiction record at all (barring some stuff that mostly didn't even get written down when I was twelve) when I did Yuletide last year.

[ellen_fremedon]

I'm requesting Classical Music RPF (the Brahms and the Schumanns story I ask for every year), Mongolian History RPF (anything), and the Hilary Tamar books (Julia/Ragwort/Cantrip-- gen or any romantic combination of the three of them.)

[mme_hardy]

Does it up the odds if you nominate something more than once? I was going to do Hilary Tamar myself.

[the_rck]

If I sign up, I'm asking for Planet Ladder, Shamanic Princess and L. Frank Baum's The Enchanted Island of Yew. I don't know what my fourth will be. I have to see what other people have nominated, and see if anything appeals.

I'm still debating whether or not to sign up. There's not going to be a lot of time for writing, and my husband rather strongly prefers that I not do any exchanges or challenges in November and December. If everything goes well, I ought to be able to finish a story while my daughter's at school, but when does everything go well?

[movingfinger]

What does "RPF" mean?

I'm at a momentary nonplus before the idea of fanfiction about real people, but it's about the same thing as murder mysteries using real people (historical personages who cannot sue, that is) as characters, is it not?

I did read your Bourdain piece last year and I liked it very much.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Real Person Fanfiction, yeah.

Me, I have non-trivial objections to RPF about living people, which seems to be hugely popular. (To the point that it actually bothers me.) But people who are long dead are fair game, as far as I'm concerned.

[ellen_fremedon]

Real Person Fic-- and, yeah, a lot of the RPF fandoms that get written during Yuletide are basically just historical fiction.

[loligo]

I'm still on the fence about participating this year, but I nominated Fafhrd & The Gray Mouser, the Benjamin January series, and La grande illusion, just in case.

[opalmatrix]

Yay, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser!

[terajk]

I'm playing for the first time (!)

I nominated Excel Saga (the four-character limit just about killed me there), Ga-Rei: Zero and Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten.

[rhivolution]

Oh wow. I hope someone writes you Dreamsnake fic, that would be brilliant.

[lovepeaceohana]

I'm participating this year! I even did the nominations round this time - last year I just picked from the list of what was already available. :3 So, I nominated Sonic the Hedgehog (Comic): Sally, Robotnik, Bunnie, and Rotor; Kung Fu Panda: Po, Master Tigress, Tai Lung, and Master Shifu; and Lilo & Stitch: Nani, Cobra Bubbles, David, and Jumba.

And, wow, I just read that story of yours, and am blown. away. And hungry! *goes to forage in refrigerator, which sadly does not contain toffee-apple brandy*

[amai_kaminari]

I'm sort of tempted. I'd be a first timer.

They have Saiyuki Gaiden, Viewfinder, Wild Adapter, Tiger and Bunny, and McFassy on the list this year... *sweatdrop*

[mme-hardy.livejournal.com]

Oh, God, I could ask for Rupert of Hentzau. (I could offer Zenda myself, no worries.)

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

If you coughed up a decent Rupert of Hentzau story, you could probably just shop it around. Although "Graustarkian" is an accepted genre now, I don't recall seeing much actually set in and around Graustark that I enjoyed reading.

I have wondered how Graustark fared during the 20th century...

[helen-keeble.livejournal.com]

Although I don't play myself, I always enjoy reading the Yuletide stories over the holidays... and this year I'm waiting agog, because to my utter delight and flummoxation, someone wants to request fic based on some of my short stories. It's a long shot that anyone will match on it, but it made my week anyway! *grin* (http://yuletide.livejournal.com/982579.html?thread=9438259#t9438259) ()

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I loved those disturbing, compelling stories, and only discovered them via the Yuletide nomination - I'd missed their existence entirely before. I'd love to see more in that world.

[naomikritzer]

Oh my goodness, I loved your story.

I have thought for some years about participating in Yuletide, but I find the process intimidating and I'm worried that I would get paralyzed by the desire to exhaustively research before starting to write.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Pick fandoms that don't need tons of research, either because you already know them very well, or they're short (ie, one book) and not historical. That's what I'm doing this year, due to grad school.

The DW mirror of this post has exhaustive explanations of the process in comments. It's simpler than it sounds.

[evewithanapple.livejournal.com]

My noms:

Lions of Al-Rassan - Guy Gavriel Kay
-Ammar ibn Khairan
-Jehane bet Ishak
-Rodrigo Belmonte
-Miranda Belmonte

Newsies (stage)
-Jack Kelly
-Katherine Plumber
-David Jacobs

Stones - William Bell
-Garnet Havelock
-Raphaella Skye

TLOA-R is one I've been planning on nominating since I read it in August; I've wanted to ask for Newsies since I saw it in October. Stones was a complete dark horse for me- I couldn't think of a third fandom that I felt really passionate about, and then realized "wait, I've been nagging people to read this for a YEAR. I've loved this book since I was THIRTEEN. Why didn't I think of this before?"

[anait.livejournal.com]

I'm Yuletiding this year :D

I nominated Diana Wynne Jones (Howl series, The Homeward Bounders) and Kate Elliott (Jaran series).

That Tony Bourdain/Narnia crossover made me giggle a lot!

[nekonexus.livejournal.com]

I too contemplate this every year and then get intimidated (and also lack fannish things I am deeply passionate about).

But then I was looking at the list and it occurred to me that I could nominate Witch Eyes because there can't possibly be hardly any fic as yet, and there needs to be more Braden and the next book isn't due to next year. Whargarbl. *cough*

Um. Yeah. My brain. >.<

[zdenka]

I am Yuletiding! But I am being indecisive and will probably wait to nominate until closer to the last minute.

Almost definite: "Am Donaustrande" (from Brahms's Liebeslieder) and Jumong (Korean drama). For the third, I'm waffling between Tolkien's Unfinished Tales or nominating Vorkosiverse so I can be sure to have the characters I want to request. if I can't decide, I may pick something else altogether.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

The spreadsheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0An_Q-FDmMYfldDNUdTk1WVV4c2pzMlFpSGoza3QtVmc) might help you decide; it's a bit behind right now, but you can see whether the Vorkosiverse characters you want have already been nominated and accepted.

[allie-meril.livejournal.com]

There seems to have been a time vortex I've fallen into, consumed by browsing that locked-in nominations post.

I have never Yuletided before, though I LOVE reading the products every year! I'm another that is intimidated by the process.

[sienamystic.livejournal.com]

I'm participating - I think this is my third year. I've nominated Kage Baker's Children of the Company books (I've wanted to write this before, and chickened out), Judith Merkle Riley's The Oracle Glass (probably a long shot, but I would love to read fic around this book) and Labyrinth (the movie, which has probably already been nominated, but ah, well.) No Sayers for me this year.
I'm already woefully behind in my two other fic exchanges - yikes.

[dictator-duck.livejournal.com]

Who did you nominate for Children of the Company? I wrote for it ... two years ago, I think :). (Not offering it this year, because the research levels, but I might write treats.)

[larryhammer]

I'll be playing. I nominated the Ramayana (I'm going to request a Sita fix-it fic), Journey to the West, and the Kokinshu.

(Yes, I realize the narrative of the last is a bit, well, fractured. But that makes for all the more spaces in which to insert moar fanfic.)

---L.

[mme-hardy.livejournal.com]

Care to suggest a translation of the Kokinshu?