Yuletide unofficial chat

It's letters time! If you're writing a letter along with your Yuletide sign-up, you can comment here with a link to your letter and also enter the details in the 2024 tagset app. For browsing convenience, the app also generates a google spreadsheet you can access directly.

What's the deal with letters?
Letters are an optional tradition of Yuletide. When you sign up to the event, there's a space in the form for linking to somewhere in your own space (journal, public document, etc) where you can go into detail about what you like in fic and fandom. This post collects these links. The prompts on AO3 are hidden through sign-ups, but letters are visible as soon as you want them to be.

Letters are an optional extra in Yuletide. If you only post a letter here, you haven't signed up. To get an assignment and a gift, you need to sign up at the collection - open NOW until October 18.


What makes a good letter?
Mileage varies. We encourage you, at minimum, to include your AO3 name, the fandoms and characters you're requesting, your Do-Not-Wants (DNWs), and whether or not you can receive treats. [This is a feature you can set in your AO3 preference settings. New accounts have permission to receive treats turned off by default, but participants with older accounts should check if they have not checked this in a while]. There are additional posts here and here discussing how to use DNWs.


How to post your letter

1. Finish your letter and make sure it's publicly visible. Here's the tagset to check what you can request


2. Enter it in the app*! You can edit your letter after submitting it - save the key, or ask the mods for the key if you lose it


3. Comment below! Include:
   • Your AO3 name
   
   
   • A link to your letter
   
   
   • The fandoms you are requesting (3-6)
   
   
   • The characters you are requesting in your fandoms (1-4, or Any)
   
   If you post to the app first, it will spit out a handy chunk of text with all these details for you to use when commenting.
   

*Please reach out here if you're having trouble with the app! Characters can be selected by clicking on them.

!!! We ask you to add your letter both places to make sure it gets to people who are excited to read it. If for whatever reason you can only comment on a post, then please include the following line in your comment:

Mods, please add my letter to the app.

We will sweep the post occasionally and add letters to the app.

Warning: Locked or placeholder letters will be removed. You can add your letter when it's done.

If you have a question, contact a mod on Discord or comment here


Mini-challenges
As mini-challenges are posted, they will be added below.
( See links to this year's mini-challenges under the cut. )


The opening (and closing) of sign-ups will be announced at the admin comm. Sign-ups are now closed.

Enjoy! And thank you to karanguni for the app!

Assignments have gone out and requests are revealed, so letters that were not linked in your AO3 sign-up will not appear when users browse all requests.

It's letters time! If you're writing a letter along with your Yuletide sign-up, you can comment here with a link to your letter and also enter the details in the 2022 tagset app. For browsing convenience, the app also generates a google spreadsheet you can access directly.

What's the deal with letters?
Letters are an optional tradition of Yuletide. When you sign up to the event, there's a space in the form for linking to somewhere in your own space (journal, tumblr, etc) where you can go into detail about what you like in fic and fandom. This post collects these links. The prompts on AO3 are hidden through sign-ups, but letters are visible as soon as you want them to be.

Letters are an optional extra in Yuletide. If you only post a letter here, you haven't signed up. To get an assignment and a gift, you need to sign up at the collection - open roughly October 14-22.


What makes a good letter?
Mileage varies. We encourage you, at minimum, to include your AO3 name, the fandoms and characters you're requesting, and your Do-Not-Wants. Read through other letters and follow the styles that work for you. Additional tips: here & here & here (DNWs specifically).


How to post your letter

1. Finish your letter and make sure it's publicly visible. Here's the tagset to check what you can request


2. Enter it in the app*! You can edit your letter after submitting it - save the key, or ask the mods for the key if you lose it


3. Comment below! Include:
   • Your AO3 name
   
   
   • A link to your letter
   
   
   • The fandoms you are requesting (3-6)
   
   
   • The characters you are requesting in your fandoms (1-4, or Any)
   
   If you post to the app first, it will spit out a handy chunk of text with all these details for you to use when commenting.
   

*Please reach out here if you're having trouble with the app! Characters can be selected by clicking on them.


If for whatever reason you can only comment on a post, then please include the following line in your comment:

Mods, please add my letter to the app.


We will sweep the post occasionally and add letters to the app.

Warning: Locked or placeholder letters may be removed.

If you have a question, contact a mod on Discord or comment here


Mini-challenges
As mini-challenges are posted, they will be added below.
( See links to this year's mini-challenges under the cut. )


The opening (and closing) of sign-ups will be announced at the admin comm.

Enjoy! And thank you to karanguni for the app!

ETA: Now that all requests are out, the app will show the letters that were linked in requests. Letters added to the app that were not linked in your requests will not display. If you linked a letter in your sign-up and you want to signal that it's completed, you're still welcome to comment to this post.

It's letters time! If you're writing a letter along with your Yuletide sign-up, comment here with a link to your letter and also enter the details in the 2020 tagset app. For browsing convenience, the app also generates a google spreadsheet you can access directly.

What's the deal with letters?
Letters are an optional tradition of Yuletide. When you sign up to the event, there's a space in the form for linking to somewhere in your own space (journal, tumblr, etc) where you can go into detail about what you like in fic and fandom. This post collects these links. The prompts on AO3 are hidden through sign-ups, but letters are visible as soon as you want them to be.

Letters are an optional extra in Yuletide. If you only post a letter here, you haven't signed up. To get an assignment and a gift, you need to sign up at the collection - open through October 25-26.


What makes a good letter?
Mileage varies. We encourage you, at minimum, to include your AO3 name, the fandoms and characters you're requesting, and your Do-Not-Wants. Read through other letters and follow the styles that work for you. Additional tips: here & here.


How to post your letter

1. Finish your letter and make sure it's publicly visible


2. Enter it in the app! You can edit your letter after submitting it - save the key, or ask the mods for the key if you lose it.


3. Comment below! Include:
   • Your AO3 name
   
   
   • A link to your letter
   
   
   • The fandoms you are requesting (3-6)
   
   
   • The characters you are requesting in your fandoms (1-4, or Any)
   
   If you post to the app first, it will spit out a handy chunk of text with all these details for you to use when commenting.
   

If for whatever reason you can only comment on a post, then please include the following line in your comment:

Mods, please add my letter to the app.

We will sweep the post occasionally and add letters.

Warning: Locked or placeholder letters may be removed.

If you have a question, contact a mod on Discord or comment here


Mini-challenges
( See links to this year's mini-challenges under the cut. )


The opening (and closing) of sign-ups will be announced at the admin comm. Sign-ups are closed.

Enjoy! And thank you to karanguni for the app!

The tag set's nearly done: time for letters posts!

What are letters?
Dear Yuletide Writer letters are an optional tradition in Yuletide. You write a letter for your assigned writer and any interested treat writers, and use it to expand your thoughts about the canons you’re requesting and the stories you enjoy. But there’s also lots of room in the AO3 sign-up form.

Never written a letter (and/or) don't want to? You don't have to. Put Do-Not-Wants that would ruin a gift for you in your sign-up form, and also put there any prompts you have.

Interested in writing a letter, but not sure how? Browse other people's past requests and letters. Or ask a question: DW, LJ, Discord.

You must link your letter in the AO3 sign-up form when you sign up to Yuletide.


Collecting letters
Anyone who's finished a letter can comment here or on LJ, and also add your own letter to the app (by karanguni). This will act like previous years' letters spreadsheets, but with more features:

-You can bookmark fandoms and letters
-You can edit your submission [ask the mods if you lose the key that lets you do this]
-A synced spreadsheet version with the chronological list of letters will be available for those who like spreadsheets
-After submitting, you get a copy/pastable HTML snippet so that you can share your letter back here on this post or elsewhere

For anyone who cannot or does not want to interact with the app, mods will sweep this letters post as usual and add your letter for you.

If you add your letter to the app first, it will generate a snippet of text that you can copy to LJ or DW afterwards!

Clear as mud? Please ask!


Mini-challenges
( See links to mini-challenges below the cut )


Please comment with:
-Your AO3 name
-A link to your unlocked, completed letter
-The 3-6 fandoms you're requesting
-The 0-4 characters you're requesting in each fandom.

We'd also appreciate you adding your own letter to the app.

You must specify characters - without them, you can't add your letter to the app."0" characters means "any in the tag set". Tag set | App | More request guidelines.

Happy letters post!!!!!

THIS POST IS ALSO ON LIVEJOURNAL

Yuletide letters are an optional, but traditional, part of Yuletide.

When you sign up to Yuletide (on AO3, beginning 1 October), you will pick between 3 and 6 fandoms to request. On the sign-up form, you can also enter prompts for each of these fandoms. Many people stick to that, and don’t write a letter. Many people choose to also write a letter, and put the link in the sign-up form. Writing a Yuletide letter makes your prompts more visible. It gives people some idea of what’s being requested in a fandom before they offer to write it, and it gives you space to talk at length about your likes and dislikes.

If you want tips on how to write a letter, try Yuletide IRC chat, or perhaps browse other people’s letters and think about whether they would be helpful to you as a writer.

To announce your letter to the Yuletide community at large, please comment to this Dreamwidth post or to the parallel post on LiveJournal, in the following format:

AO3 name
Link to your letter
Another link if your letter is in more than one place
Fandom name
Fandom name
Fandom name

That is, please write it like:

Morbane
http://morbane.dreamwidth.org/33404.html
Jorinde and Joringel (Fairy Tale)
Pokemon GO
The Shadow (1994)
Simoun
Soon I Will Be Invincible - Austin Grossman
Sucker Punch (2011)

rather than

AO3 name: Morbane
Link to your letter: http://morbane.dreamwidth.org/33404.html
Fandom name: Jorinde and Joringel (Fairy Tale)
Fandom name: Pokemon GO
Fandom name: The Shadow (1994)
Fandom name: Simoun
Fandom name: Soon I Will Be Invincible - Austin Grossman
Fandom name: Sucker Punch (2011)

Faster for you, and faster for me copying it to the spreadsheet. ^!^

If you want to add your requested characters in your comment, please feel free! Just please write them below your AO3 name, letter link, and fandom names.

You can have 3, 4, 5, or 6 fandom names - that is the number of possible requests this year.

Please use the 2016 tag set as a guide to formatting each fandom name.

Please do NOT link an placeholder or a locked letter. We won’t tabulate those until they’re available.

Corrections
If you need to correct your details, please reply to or edit your comment, AND post a reply to the correction comment, one of the first under the post.


The google spreadsheet is HERE. Thank you to Alley_Skywalker, Isis, Molybdomantic, and Shadow_Lover, who are helping to keep it updated.

lsellersfic has also kindly set up a database of Yuletide letters, drawn from the spreadsheet. This may be easier for people to access than the spreadsheet.

If your letter isn’t done yet, don’t panic. We will keep adding letters to the spreadsheet whenever you comment. I strongly recommend finishing your letter before 16 October, because otherwise, your writer will be waiting to see it instead of starting on their story for you.

However, that’s only if you’re writing a letter. If you don't want to, you don't have to.

This post is also on LiveJournal.