Helpful hints for Yuletide newbies!
Since every year there are many newbies to yuletide, I thought it would be a good idea to have a post where people who have participated before could give some advice to new participants, and new participants could ask for clarifications on any points they're wondering about. So, previous Yuletide participants: what are your tips for making Yuletide run more smoothly: the writing, the requesting, the not-driving-yourself-crazy...? What are some things you wish you'd known the first time you played? Leave comments with the hints, tips & tricks you've collected. Or, if you're a newbie, leave questions! And the Yuletide oldbies will try to help you out. :)
To start off with, some advice collected from the #yuletide chatroom:
-- The Yule panic is a natural feeling.
-- Utilize the #yuletide hippos, they're there for a reason.
-- You are not alone. You may have to keep your recipient a secret, but there are lots of people out there who can help you with fandom research or beta reading or looking up details or general encouragement. Everything but writing the story for you. :)
-- 1,000 words is... really not that much, in the long run.
-- WRITE OR DIE. IT WILL BE YOUR BEST FRIEND.
-- If you see 10 pages of comments on a Yuletide post and think no one is going to read to page 10 and therefore there's no point in you leaving a comment there... YES THERE IS. Trust me.
-- Make sure you write a Dear Yuletide Santa letter. Try to be detailed, but not too much. It will come in handy, and not just for your assigned Santa. Remember, stocking stuffer and New Year's Resolutions authors will probably read it too.
-- Be gracious about whatever request you get? Just because you share a fandom with someone doesn't mean you share tastes, but try to write something that both of you will enjoy.
Pulled from comments on this post:
-- If you request "any," understand that this means you are telling your writer it's okay if she writes ANY of the characters from the character list. Don't request "any" and then say "but I *really* want A and B, I don't like C and D so much, and definitely don't write E or F." Because what if your writer only *volunteered* to write E and F? That is entirely possible, with the way the matching system works. More thoughts here.
Meta and thoughts on Yuletide from past years:
shusu: LJ: postcards from Yuletide
penknife: Eight ways to break your ficathon writer's brain
dhaunea: Request details and 'Dear Santa' letters
liviapenn: Thoughts on Yuletide prompts & requests
thefourthvine: Random Blithering and a Poll on Prompts
thefourthvine: [Meta]: The Yuletide Prompt Poll Results
liviapenn: How Not To Ruin Yuletide
emily_shore: "How to have fun at Yuletide"
***ETA: Why I write my letters to Dear Yule Goat.
To start off with, some advice collected from the #yuletide chatroom:
-- The Yule panic is a natural feeling.
-- Utilize the #yuletide hippos, they're there for a reason.
-- You are not alone. You may have to keep your recipient a secret, but there are lots of people out there who can help you with fandom research or beta reading or looking up details or general encouragement. Everything but writing the story for you. :)
-- 1,000 words is... really not that much, in the long run.
-- WRITE OR DIE. IT WILL BE YOUR BEST FRIEND.
-- If you see 10 pages of comments on a Yuletide post and think no one is going to read to page 10 and therefore there's no point in you leaving a comment there... YES THERE IS. Trust me.
-- Make sure you write a Dear Yuletide Santa letter. Try to be detailed, but not too much. It will come in handy, and not just for your assigned Santa. Remember, stocking stuffer and New Year's Resolutions authors will probably read it too.
-- Be gracious about whatever request you get? Just because you share a fandom with someone doesn't mean you share tastes, but try to write something that both of you will enjoy.
Pulled from comments on this post:
-- If you request "any," understand that this means you are telling your writer it's okay if she writes ANY of the characters from the character list. Don't request "any" and then say "but I *really* want A and B, I don't like C and D so much, and definitely don't write E or F." Because what if your writer only *volunteered* to write E and F? That is entirely possible, with the way the matching system works. More thoughts here.
Meta and thoughts on Yuletide from past years:
shusu: LJ: postcards from Yuletide
penknife: Eight ways to break your ficathon writer's brain
dhaunea: Request details and 'Dear Santa' letters
liviapenn: Thoughts on Yuletide prompts & requests
thefourthvine: Random Blithering and a Poll on Prompts
thefourthvine: [Meta]: The Yuletide Prompt Poll Results
liviapenn: How Not To Ruin Yuletide
emily_shore: "How to have fun at Yuletide"
***ETA: Why I write my letters to Dear Yule Goat.