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Sign-ups will open on AO3 in a few hours.
There are sign-up instructions WITH MANY PICTURES below the cut.
Alternately, you can watch a subtitled video tutorial from 2014.
There is also a section of the FAQ that is all about sign-ups.
1. Get started at the collection profile
https://archiveofourown.org/collections/yuletide2018/profile
You need to be logged in to your account at the Archive of Our Own. If you don't have an account, add your name to the invite queue or contact the mods directly at yuletideadmin@gmail.com for an invite code.
2. Enter your first request.
2a. Choose a fandom.
If you start typing in the Fandom field, a drop-down menu should appear, giving you several options to choose from. You can click one. Alternately, you can go to the tag set, copy the fandom tag you want into the box, and press enter, tab, or comma.
Result:
You can only enter 1 fandom per request. Each requested fandom must be unique - you can't request a fandom twice with different character sets in Yuletide.
2b. Next, fill out:
-the characters you're requesting
-your letter link, if you're writing a Dear Yuletide Writer letter
-the Optional Details of your request.
Please keep your Do-Not-Wants concise and clear. Your writer doesn't need to know why something would ruin a gift for you - they just need to know what to avoid. (Exception: if you ask for no infidelity in a canon where cheating is a huge plot point - or no gore for a slasher movie - or anything else where your DNW is a major part of canon, you might want to give them more guidance. It's okay to have different DNWs for different requests.)
Your optional details are the first thing your assigned writer sees, and the first thing a pinch hitter is likely to see. We suggest putting some prompts here, or descriptions of why you love the canon, so that the first impression is positive rather than "Here's what you're not allowed."
However, there are lots of different ways to approach optional details and letters.
3. Fill out your second request.
Here are some common mistakes!
If you don't select characters, you don't get to veto characters that are in the tag set. Entering 0 characters = "Any of them would make me happy."
If characters aren't in the tag set, you can't demand a story about them.
It's a good idea to have the tag set or the app open in another tab when you sign up, so you can double check what's there.
You should link your letter in all your requests because a potential writer may be browsing requests by fandom, or in another order. If you've written a letter, you don't want it to be missed.
4. Fill out the rest of your requests.
You can't submit the form if you have only 1 or 2 requests filled out - 3 is the minimum.
When you first go to the form, it will have blank spaces for 3 requests and 4 offers. But at the bottom of the last request and the last offer, you can click to add another request or offer.
If you change your mind about extra requests and offers, you'll also be able to click at the bottom of the field to remove them.
The order of your requests and offers is irrelevant - you are just as likely to be matched on Request 6 as Request 1, and your author usually only knows one of your canons. Please don't tell your author you want one request much more than the others (etc).
4. Fill out your first offer.
The image has 12 characters selected from a canon. That is the highest number you can offer without ticking 'Any'. You can be assigned a combination of any characters you offer in a canon. If you tick Any, you're offering all the characters who are in the tag set for that canon - and all their combinations.
5. Fill out the rest of your offers.
You must select at least 2 characters per offer. If there are none, or only 1, in the tag set, you can click Any. If you select 2 characters, the recipients you can match to will have selected:
-1 of the two characters you're offering
-Both of the two characters you're offering
-0 characters/Any.
You must fill out at least 4 offers.
Just as with requests, when you've filled out 4 offers, you can click at the bottom of your offers to bring up another offer. You can also easily get rid of any offers over 4.
6. Bucket offers
Bucket offers are a bit advanced. They're a way of offering as many fandoms as you like. Use carefully! And follow the instructions.
Here's a snapshot of what a bucket offer looks like:
When you've filled out at least 3 requests and at least 4 offers, you can click Submit.
But this is not the end!
Until the end of the sign-up period, you can edit, add, and delete requests.
Just check on the sidebar.
And edit your sign-up as many times as you like.
Some further tips
-We welcome questions. Ask us here, ask us by email, ask us on the Sign-Ups Open posts.
-If you're wondering what a good prompt looks like, browse requests from 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013... and see what speaks to you.
-If you write a letter, then as well as linking it in your sign-up form, post the link to the app and then post it on LJ or DW!
-Check out other activity happening at the Yuletide community LiveJournal, Dreamwidth, or Discord.
Schedule, Rules, & Collection | Tag set: AO3, App | Contact Mods | Community LJ | Community DW | Letters: LJ, DW
This post on LJ
There are sign-up instructions WITH MANY PICTURES below the cut.
Alternately, you can watch a subtitled video tutorial from 2014.
There is also a section of the FAQ that is all about sign-ups.
1. Get started at the collection profile
https://archiveofourown.org/collections/yuletide2018/profile
You need to be logged in to your account at the Archive of Our Own. If you don't have an account, add your name to the invite queue or contact the mods directly at yuletideadmin@gmail.com for an invite code.
2. Enter your first request.
2a. Choose a fandom.
If you start typing in the Fandom field, a drop-down menu should appear, giving you several options to choose from. You can click one. Alternately, you can go to the tag set, copy the fandom tag you want into the box, and press enter, tab, or comma.
Result:
You can only enter 1 fandom per request. Each requested fandom must be unique - you can't request a fandom twice with different character sets in Yuletide.
2b. Next, fill out:
-the characters you're requesting
-your letter link, if you're writing a Dear Yuletide Writer letter
-the Optional Details of your request.
Please keep your Do-Not-Wants concise and clear. Your writer doesn't need to know why something would ruin a gift for you - they just need to know what to avoid. (Exception: if you ask for no infidelity in a canon where cheating is a huge plot point - or no gore for a slasher movie - or anything else where your DNW is a major part of canon, you might want to give them more guidance. It's okay to have different DNWs for different requests.)
Your optional details are the first thing your assigned writer sees, and the first thing a pinch hitter is likely to see. We suggest putting some prompts here, or descriptions of why you love the canon, so that the first impression is positive rather than "Here's what you're not allowed."
However, there are lots of different ways to approach optional details and letters.
3. Fill out your second request.
Here are some common mistakes!
If you don't select characters, you don't get to veto characters that are in the tag set. Entering 0 characters = "Any of them would make me happy."
If characters aren't in the tag set, you can't demand a story about them.
It's a good idea to have the tag set or the app open in another tab when you sign up, so you can double check what's there.
You should link your letter in all your requests because a potential writer may be browsing requests by fandom, or in another order. If you've written a letter, you don't want it to be missed.
4. Fill out the rest of your requests.
You can't submit the form if you have only 1 or 2 requests filled out - 3 is the minimum.
When you first go to the form, it will have blank spaces for 3 requests and 4 offers. But at the bottom of the last request and the last offer, you can click to add another request or offer.
If you change your mind about extra requests and offers, you'll also be able to click at the bottom of the field to remove them.
The order of your requests and offers is irrelevant - you are just as likely to be matched on Request 6 as Request 1, and your author usually only knows one of your canons. Please don't tell your author you want one request much more than the others (etc).
4. Fill out your first offer.
The image has 12 characters selected from a canon. That is the highest number you can offer without ticking 'Any'. You can be assigned a combination of any characters you offer in a canon. If you tick Any, you're offering all the characters who are in the tag set for that canon - and all their combinations.
5. Fill out the rest of your offers.
You must select at least 2 characters per offer. If there are none, or only 1, in the tag set, you can click Any. If you select 2 characters, the recipients you can match to will have selected:
-1 of the two characters you're offering
-Both of the two characters you're offering
-0 characters/Any.
You must fill out at least 4 offers.
Just as with requests, when you've filled out 4 offers, you can click at the bottom of your offers to bring up another offer. You can also easily get rid of any offers over 4.
6. Bucket offers
Bucket offers are a bit advanced. They're a way of offering as many fandoms as you like. Use carefully! And follow the instructions.
Here's a snapshot of what a bucket offer looks like:
When you've filled out at least 3 requests and at least 4 offers, you can click Submit.
But this is not the end!
Until the end of the sign-up period, you can edit, add, and delete requests.
Just check on the sidebar.
And edit your sign-up as many times as you like.
Some further tips
-We welcome questions. Ask us here, ask us by email, ask us on the Sign-Ups Open posts.
-If you're wondering what a good prompt looks like, browse requests from 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013... and see what speaks to you.
-If you write a letter, then as well as linking it in your sign-up form, post the link to the app and then post it on LJ or DW!
-Check out other activity happening at the Yuletide community LiveJournal, Dreamwidth, or Discord.
This post on LJ
Tags:
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I am pretty sure I defaulted last year, and therefore are ineligible to participate this year, but I wanted to check and make sure. I signed up last year as elle_enchanted on Ao3.
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In your case, if you don't submit a story for NYR this year, you can also un-ban yourself by writing a full-length treat or a pinch hit for Yuletide 2018 - then you will be able to sign up for Yuletide 2019. Some people find this works better for motivation.
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The tl;dr version is that I’m not terribly picky about which specific characters I request within my chosen fandom; and in fact I’d rather not limit my possible matches by being too specific about characters.
The Yuletide FAQ says:
“Someone will only match with you if they have offered to write the exact fandom and all the characters you have requested.”
and also:
“Matching is AND, so if you ask for four characters, you will only match to someone who offered to write all four of the characters.”
If I ask for 4 characters and someone else only offers 2 of them, clearly we won’t match. But what if I’m the one who only *requests* 2 characters, and someone else offers a higher number that includes those 2 but also more? (Like: I requested A and B, but they offered A and B and C.) Will we match because they did indeed offer all the characters *I* requested, or will we not match because my request and their offer aren’t fully aligned overall?
Basically, I was thinking I would request fewer characters to have a better chance of resulting in a match (like, if I ask for just A and B, I might match with people who offered A, B and C *or* people who offered A, B and D, but if I request A, B and C myself, then I've limited who I'm match-able with).
…or have I misunderstood how it works, and requesting fewer characters doesn’t actually make me a more flexible potential match with others’ offers?
And I’m sorry that I am incapable of ever phrasing a question succinctly!!
Also, your instructions are amazing; the level of detail in both the instructions you provide and the answers you give to questions are incredible. Thank you for looking after us confused newbies so well. <3
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If you request A and B, and someone offers A, B, and D, they can match to you.
It's okay to select A and B but not C, and say that you'd also be interested in a story about C, but please make sure that's spelled out in your sign-up form (so that later there isn't any confusion about "But I thought I would definitely get a story with A and B in it!" (has happened!) Also, you're far more likely to get a story with A and B in it rather than C - so up to you whether you'd rather be more matchable, or rather get a guarantee of all the characters you like in one story.
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"Your writer is required to include all characters selected in a request unless you specify otherwise."
What's the correct way to indicate that we're fine with a fill not including all characters? I have a fandom where A, B, C, and D were nominated, and I'd like a story about any combination of A, B, and C—i.e., stories about A and C, A and B, or B and C would all be great. Do I request A, B, and C in the character request field, and then just indicate in the optional details that I'm fine with any combination of those three? (FWIW, I understand that if I do this, I'll only match with people who offer all three.) I'm not sure if that's the correct way to do that, though.
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(A lot of people select 3-4 characters, then give prompts for different combinations, and the author is left scratching their head - "Is this permission to only include two characters, or just what my recipient had ideas for?")
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