Poll: Yuletide! Yay!

[thefourthvine]

I am very excited about yuletide, and I've been bouncing around like a crazed thing since I signed up. (This is the Anticipation phase of Yuletide. Yes, there are phases of Yuletide. Yes, I have actually written them down. I know, I know, so pathetic, but it's an important thing to me, okay? I was never that excited about the holidays as a kid, but as an adult, Yuletide makes me absolutely delirious with joy.)

Anyway. I deal with the Anticipation phase (This is actually Anticipation Part One, because sign-ups are still open. When they close, I will start hard-core Anticipation. It is dangerous to come within seven feet of me during that time.) in many ways, but in part by refreshing the requested fandoms list, so that I can admire the shiny numbers climbing ever higher. (Plus, this year, there is a festival of gold and green to admire there. You can even see how many people asked for and volunteered for a given fandom. It is the coolest thing ever!)

But the site went down briefly today. Suddenly, I had no outlet for my Yuletide glee. Hence, this poll.

And if any of you have friends listers who are also doing Yuletide, I'd love it if you'd point 'em over here, 'cause I don't know how many of my own friends listers are. (You all should, though. You get a story! In a tiny fandom of your choosing! And you can write a story that will make someone else's heart sing! And this year there is no qualifying requirement! Go, sign up, and then come back and take the poll!)

Yeah, yeah. 'Tis the season to abuse exclamation marks and the Create Poll function on LJ. Happy holidays!

[Poll #855532]

Comments

[30toseoul.livejournal.com]

Man, I really wish I could do stuff like that, because it makes me so happy to read the fic that results from it. But I can't. Any kind of deadline abruptly makes my fun fandom writing seem like un-fun obligatory homework.

[umbo.livejournal.com]

I haven't decided for sure if I'm participating this year. I'm actually freaking out a bit about whether or not to sign up and which fandoms to ask for and which to say I'd be willing to write. I mean, Homicide, yes. The others? I just don't know.

[charmax.livejournal.com]

I'm not really a fic reader but I was wondering do you know of a group that does vid yuletide? I would join up for that!

[lynnmonster.livejournal.com]

As far as volunteering goes: I don't volunteer for *everything* I know canon for, but I also volunteer for stuff that I only have a passing familiarity with canon but would need to do further research to write, if it's potentially interesting enough to me! Last year I was strict with myself, and only volunteered for stuff I was pretty sure I'd really LIKE to write. (Which included "I Capture the Castle," one of my favorite books ever, which I wound up getting! I had to do a re-read, though, before I could tackle writing a story.)

[wyomingnot.livejournal.com]

I've played in holiday fic exchanges before, but I'm not playing this year. Last year was too hard with the job I've got. Still have that job, and I still haven't figured out how to balance work and writing. (which is just an excuse, really. I mean I've not been working for over two months now, and how much have I written? Two six word fics, thank you)

I'm still tempted by Yuletide. I've *always* wanted to play, but keep missing it.

Maybe next year.

[melpemone.livejournal.com]

I'm in UR commentz, explaining my reasonz.

Bwahahaha. :D

I wish I could do Yuletide. I've even chosen not to sign up for fandom-specific exchange events this year, and I'm not doing NaNo, so I have the time, but... it's confusing! And a tad intimidating! I have trouble using Yuletide's search feature, let alone actually signing up for it. :(

[misspamela.livejournal.com]

I signed up for a slender 16 fandoms this year, and I am quite proud of my restraint!

There are many, many reasons to love Yuletide. One is that I genuinely love the challenge combined with the joy f writing for someone else. The other is that you get so caught up in writing, you forget that you get OMG five hundred presents on Christmas morning! Eeeeee!

[melannen.livejournal.com]

I volunteer for a) things I know the canon for well enough to write, and b) things I wouldn't mind getting to know the canon for well enought to write. I *don't* volunteer for: things I don't have access to canon for (like video games), things it would take to long to learn (like TV series I don't know yet) and thing I don't particularly want to live in for two months. And I, um, didn't count how many that turned out to be, but it was lots.

And I picked two seasonal challenges, but that's only if NaNo counts as one. :P

And I have a list of fandoms that I'm going to keep asking for until I get 'em, but every year one drops off the list, so by now there are a few that I'm willing to swap around.

[minim_calibre]

I volunteered for any fandom where, even if I can't remember the names of the characters right off the top of my head, I have access to the complete canon and can reasonably expect myself to be able to binge, hum a few bars, and fake it.

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

Site is back up yay!

Last year I offered two dozen fandoms; this year I offered only ten. This time I didn't offer any of the ones that I feel like I can write for without an excuse. (Last year I got a great assignment in a fandom I'd never written in, and I enjoyed that. I want to make sure I have something like that again.)

Last year I did three seasonal story exchanges; this year I'm only doing Yuletide. Partly it's because I have a long story in progress that I want to be able to concentrate on, and partly it's because I expect to be quite busy with other things during the next two months.

[lilacsigil.livejournal.com]

I volunteered for every fandom where I own the canon (after last year's mad dash to get a DVD!) and feel fairly confident that I could write something in that style. This got rid of a lot of witty comedy! Some of the canon I didn't know by heart, but I'd re-read or re-watch before writing anyway.

So excited!

[sweetvalleyslut.livejournal.com]

I accidentally signed up twice a couple of years ago, but it turned out okay, I finished both stories.

And I tend to choose fandoms that I think I can write AND that I want to write--I usually knock out ones I've already written, because my attention span is THAT short.

[monroe-nell.livejournal.com]

I want to do yuletide, but I have my nano *g* See icon. That's my plot, pretty much.

plus ds_seekritsanta. And invunikdotcom challenge. I still have fics to write for getfraserlaid (...I'm writing them, I swear), and I think I promised two people fics in some ficexchange in a journal that started with an A. and that is all i remember, so I may be screwed there.

So, um, I think it would be STUPID for me to sign up for yuletide. I keep almost doing it though. *facepalm*

[dzurlady.livejournal.com]

I look at it wistfully (oh, how I would love some fic for my tiny fandoms!) but as I have only just begun to feel capable of writing things, I don't think I am particularly dependable and so have refrained from committing myself. I did however sign up to pinch hit, as that way I figure I can know if I feel up to writing for a prompt before I commit to it. Still! I am excited by the whole thing, even if I don't wind up writting anything. And I may write something as a NYR.

[flambeau.livejournal.com]

I love yuletide so much. It's one of the best things about this season, for me.

The proper answer to What is the single biggest reason you do Yuletide? is probably "peer pressure," but the excitement really does play a big part!

Also I really am hoping I don't end up writing for someone I know in either yuletide or dwnoga -- I got astolat two years ago and merryish the year before that, and while I'm all about making my friends happy, the lying and dodging really goes against my essentially honest and forthright personality...

[watergal.livejournal.com]

Reason? aLL teh kewl kidz R there!

[lydiabell.livejournal.com]

Can I just say how completely boggled I am by all these people who offer every fandom that they're familiar with, or at least that they like, and are totally confident that they will be able to come up with inspiration and write a story for any of them? And it's not like they're delusional; they are able to come up with inspiration and write a story! It just gasts my flabber every time. I'm almost at the point where I only want to offer fandoms that I already have story ideas in, for fear that I won't be able to come up with anything. (Yes, people give prompts sometimes, but last year I panicked and couldn't think of anything to do with the prompt that wouldn't have taken at least 15,000 words and six months to write.) Flexible people, I salute you! HowTF do you do it?


::goes with icon appropriate to the season we're in, and completely inappropriate to the season we're discussing. clearly, I need pumpkins with Santa hats::

[mosca.livejournal.com]

A few elucidations:

- I don't specifically set out to ask for a new batch of fandoms every year -- it just kind of happens, as my fannish interests shift. One of my four requests was the same as last year: same fandom, same characters, slightly different detailed request.

- I spend the entire year figuring out what I'm going to ask for when Yuletide comes around. I think this year is the first year that I requested exactly what I'd been planning to request.

- I have a sort of complicated algorithm for figuring out what to offer. I offer fandoms when I know the canon; when I could comfortably write genfic about any of the major characters; when none of the most plausible/fannishly probable pairings horrify me; and (most importantly) when, at the time of signup, I feel like writing something in the fandom. This still resulted in 30 fandoms offered this year, mostly because my motto can be described as, "Write what you know, and I know a crapload of embarrassing teen movies, reality shows, and pay cable dramas."

- New features on the website mean new sources of squee. When I saw that certain fandoms had more than one requester and more than one offerer, there was chair-bouncing and squealing.

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

This will be my third year of Yuletide and I can't ever see myself not participating. It and Remix Redux are the challenges I look forward to most. I have always been extremely pleased with the stories I wrote, especially last year when I wrote a pinch hit for Seinfeld. It was something I never would have chosen on my own because the chances of failing to nail the tone just right are so high, but once I committed to it, I just put on some DVDs (I had gotten season one for Christmas the year before, so I didn't have to scramble for them) and sat down and wrote it and it ended up being a real hit with the recipient and the few others who were willing to give it a try. The comments all said how it felt just like an episode of the show, which is pretty much the highest praise I can think of.

Last year I did four challenges (five fics, because of the aforementioned pinch hit), but this year I dropped the Star Wars and LotRiPS ones and am just doing Yuletide and Harry Potter, though I did volunteer to pinch hit for the LotRiPS one and signed up for the Yuletide pinch hit list, too.

For requesting, the first slots go to films or books I've read during the year and felt needed fic. If there's one or more empty slots left, they go to stuff I requested and no one wrote last year. I made sure to make LJ posts and tag them when I was reading books and had ideas, so I could remember them when Yuletide came around. This year it was Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, His Dark Materials, and Everything Is Illuminated. The fourth slot went to I ♥ Huckabees, which I requested last year and no one took up, and for which I know of only three fics, two of which are by me.

For volunteering, I pretty much choose everything I am familiar enough with to write. I chose 28 fandoms this time, 12 of which I specified characters or pairings for. There were a couple others which I felt I could write, but I didn't really see fic possibilities in them myself, so I didn't check them, but I think there were only two or three like that. I did indeed volunteer to write all the fandoms I requested, and to be honest, I'd be happier if I got to write them than to read them. They're all fic ideas I'd write on my own eventually, but something like Yuletide would spur me on to do so.

The main reason I do Yuletide is to write cool fic in small fandoms and actually have a chance of it getting read. I also love writing something that the recipient really, really loves. I wouldn't mind at all if I didn't get any fic in exchange.

[keswindhover.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I haven't played the last two years, but I've seen three mentions on f-list this week of the Yuletide sign up, and It's Worn Me Down. (So, basically it's your fault.)

I've chosen a few less obscure fandoms I already know I can play in, and some very obscure fandoms that I just happen to have read/watched - now, let the roulette wheel spin.

[mcshepylove.livejournal.com]

ok ok you convinced me! *arm twisted behind back* now i have to wait for them to add the fandoms that i want to request that aren't on the list yet. *grumble* always have to be different/cause trouble */grumble*

[zhynchan.livejournal.com]

Oh, God, yuletide, I've been vacillating about joining or not. >_<; I mean, I saw the list of unfulfilled requests las year and I wept for the fandoms I loved that weren't picked, and it was terrible. >_<;

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

*jumps up and down*

I'm so glad the site is back up! The new shiny colored list is the best thing ever.

*refreshes AGAIN*

And I know what you mean about the phases. First there's the wibbling and the writing down and erasing of fandoms. Then there's the waiting for the assignment. Then the getting of the assignment and cries of "OMG what was I thinking?

So far, my favorite/most terrifying Yuletide experience is when I wrote a pinch hit in one day, frantic beta'ing included. Whew.

[artyartie.livejournal.com]

Yuletide! This is my third year and I just love it, though writing last year's story was tough - I don't know how many plot bunnies died for that story. But it did make me go out and buy Master and Commander!

This year I went through all the fandoms, listed the ones I thought I could write and the ones I wanted myself, then choe from that list for signup. The feature that shows requests/people who signed up to write it is awesome! All of the fandoms I volunteered are game, I think.

But it's just the greatest thing to get your story, shiny and new, on Christmas morning! This is definetly one of the coolest fandom-related projects I've ever done.

[watersword]

I only do NYR, becaue I have finals and two fandom-specific Christmas exchanges, and I can't handle three fic deadlines within a few weeks. But I write more than one NYR story!