brigdh

I know! Later. :)

From:

eibii.livejournal.com

[high-fives] Yuletide, yo.

From:

I'm still torturing myself over whether to sign up this year. Last year was fun, if scary; but last year I had the enormous advantage of knowing that there was something I might be assigned that I really, really wanted to try to write for -- and further, that the odds of getting that assignment were very high indeed. This year there isn't that pull, or at least, there isn't so far.

But I keep going back to the list and checking, just in case something pops up before signups close. I'd give it up entirely, were it not that I know from past years that I'll feel all lonely and mournful at Christmas if everybody else is playing and I'm not.

From:

W00t!

From:

*high-five!*

From:

Sign up! I have no shame about encouraging people to involve themselves in difficulties.

I decided at the last moment myself, because I was worried about the amount of school work I'll have. But I figure: it's only one story after all, and not even a particularly long one at that. I signed up for much fewer fandoms this year than I do usually (20, while often I'm far over 100), only going for ones where I feel assured that I'll have something or other to say about them, which was my concession to worry. But surely there's three fandoms you could write? And fairy tales is one, after all- I always include fairy tales as one of my requests, because I figure any one can do something with that.

From:

veleda-k.livejournal.com

I'll feel all lonely and mournful at Christmas if everybody else is playing and I'm not.

That's why I signed up! I always feel so left out. This way, I'll just feel panicked and anxiety ridden. Now, since I've signed up, you should sign up. Because if I have to suffer, then damn it, everybody should suffer with me. Er, I mean, you should sign up because it will be fun. Yes, that's it.

From:

veleda-k.livejournal.com

I'm amazed at how many fandoms other people offer to write. It's all "I've signed up for twenty this year instead of over one hundred," and "I'm only signed up for fandoms I know inside and out, which means about thirty." Meanwhile, I've signed up for three and I'm feeling nervous about it.

From:

gamera.livejournal.com

This is a sad Yuletide year for me because so many of my perennial favorites are no longer eligible (mostly because half of them are games that got remade/ported to other systems and thus have renewed fanbases, I think).

I still signed up, of course, but it was still sad!

From:

But surely there's three fandoms you could write? And fairy tales is one, after all- I always include fairy tales as one of my requests, because I figure any one can do something with that.

Can I get a round of hollow laughter? Dude, I can't even be sure I can do something with a given YnM prompt. Consider the numbers of things you've seen me post under flock with a cry of, "Waaahh! I want to finish this, and I don't know howwww!!!" (Including, let me add, a fairy-tale-flavored Bookverse thing that I still love, or might if only I knew what to do with it.)

I can find three things I could offer, cautiously. And there's one request among those three right now. And yet. It's still bizarrely tempting, and I still might do it.

From:

That'll be me, as well, if I wind up doing it. I always marvel at the fortunate and gifted among us who can be sure that they'll be able to write for dozens upon dozens of sources.

But then, I always marvel at the fortunate and gifted who are able to be sure they'll be able to write anything. Ever.

From:

because it will be fun. Yes, that's it.

And you know, it seems so horribly plausible that it will be, an hour before signups close. It's only later that you find yourself wondering, What made me think this was a good idea? And what strange form of amnesia is it that keeps us all from learning the lessons that life tries to teach us?

From:

Yeah, I was a bit sad too- I had been under the impression that Yami no Matsuei was going to be an option again, but apparently it was still too large of a fandom, alas. (Or I suppose no one submitted it, but I find that option less likely.)

From:

Heh. Well, normally I sign up for everything I've ever heard of, even though actually getting assigned to it would require a crash course in rereading or rewatching. This year I stuck to stuff where I could name most of the characters and recall the general plot without needing to look it up.

From:

It's too late now to convince you or not, but I'm curious about what you decided.

It's funny thing, since I've never thought about Yuletide in terms of prompts. I might look at something like yaoi_challenge and scroll past fifty prompts, even knowing the characters and fandom perfectly well, because none of them appeal to me. But with Yuletide I've never worried that I'll get stuck with a prompt I'd scroll past, if I could look at it beforehand. I think it's because Yuletide requests tend to be so very general- it's often nothing more than the fandom itself, with maybe a particular pairing mentioned, or a preference for happy or angsty. Which leaves me with a lot more wiggle room to find a story I can tell.

From:

lady-ganesh.livejournal.com

I did that, except for movies, because I figured I could always just rewatch.

From:

lady-ganesh.livejournal.com

It's probably the same amnesia that makes childbirth repeatable.

From:

Mwa ha ha ha! But the anxiety is FUN. Because more than likely we'll all be in the same boat at the end, hyper-analyzing the prompts, rereading or rewatching sources, and fighting off writer's block. It's tradition!

From:

True. A lot of the Yuletide fandoms are small because they don't have much source material - in a lot of cases it's one book or one movie, so it's easy to review.

From:

You'll be fine. The whole idea with the rare fandoms is to get people to write things that they usually don't, so it's a given that we're all going to be out of our comfort zones. Trust me. You're going to have a lot of company in the oh-my-god-what-did-I-get-myself-into category. And we'll all freak out, and it'll all be fine in the end. :)

From:

I've signed up! Glad I'm in such good company too.

From:

gamera.livejournal.com

Yami no Matsuei as a Yuletide fandom would be great (it's so weird to have seen it cycle from tiny and obscure because it's not translated to translated and somewhat more popular to tiny and obscure because there's no new canon being released).

I mean, there were still plenty of fandoms to choose from (I had ten or twelve, and I only pick ones I know I can write enthusiastically without doing a review of source canon!), but more options are always good.

From:

veleda-k.livejournal.com

Most likely there's a useful psychology term for it, and if I remembered anything from past psych courses, I could impress you with it. As it is, I just have to throw my hands in the air and shout, "I have no idea!" in despair.

From:

I folded and signed up, leaving the mods a note to say that if they had trouble matching me, they should feel free to drop me out.

But

elynross has already written to tell me that I'm not all that difficult to match. (A rather horrifying thought to me, since it implies that there are participants who don't have at least one person who's offered to write at least one thing they've requested, or have requested things that no one has offered. And I can't entirely imagine not checking your signup on the last day to make sure that at a minimum, you've got one of both.)

So I guess I'm in. May God have mercy on my soul.

From:

It's my fault. It was on the list for this year, and then I went and queried it and the mods dropped it. Even though when I queried it, I went out of my way to say that it was pretty much a dead fandom now, no matter how lively it was four years ago. Damn their modly discretion, anyway. Now, of course, I wish I'd kept my mouth shut -- but then, Rana would probably have warned them if I hadn't, because she's a responsible adult that way.

From:

thrihyrne.livejournal.com

Yay for Yuletide! I'm a Yuletide virgin and can't wait to see what I end up being asked to write! Well, okay, I'm actually shaking a bit in my boots. I'm hoping to write in one or two particular fandoms, but suspect that the more obscure ones are the ones I'll end up being asked to write. Still, exciting! My first year as a participant!

From:

HA!

From:

Yeah, I had plenty of options regardless, but it would have been nice to look forward to a new batch of stories.

From:

Well, hooray!

I would never think to look; at least, not to make sure that other people were actually involved in my fandoms. I did notice the count for Swordspoint when I was scrolling down the list of fandoms while deciding what to request, but that was much more in the mood of: "if eight people are currently requesting it, and say a fourth of those have this fandom chosen rather than one of the others... two new stories, whoooo!"

And you've probably gotten your assignment by now, so you're either terribly regretting it, and repeating that plea for mercy, or excited. I'm doing a little of both, personally.

From:

Heh. I could see the argument going either way, so I can't hold it against you. Certainly it's a smaller fandom than Supernatural or Harry Potter or Firefly. But then, it remains much larger than Peanuts or RPF: Food Network or Mona Lisa Smile (which is my vote for weirdest fandom choice this year. I can understand watching it, I suppose, if it were on TV late at night and one had particularly reasons for not changing the channel. But who saw that movie and said, 'you know, I must have more'?) It all comes down to the endless question of what, exactly, makes a fandom rare.

From:

Yay! Me too. It's so much fun to play this game with lots of friends.

From:

I understand why you'd do so, especially this year. I nearly decided that I was too busy also, but went ahead and signed up at the last minute.

From:

Oh, exciting! Yuletide is so much fun; I'm glad more and more people get into it. I ended up getting assigned one I wasn't expecting, but it'll be lots of fun.

From: