Yuletide Is Love

[lunabee34]

alixtii wrote a really wonderful post HERE about Yuletide and how awesome it is and why everyone should participate. I completely agree and would like to expand on his post.

Even though I entered fandom in 2005, I waited until last year to particpate in Yuletide for a couple of reasons.

Reason #1: I didn't know it existed. Shocking, yes, but oh so true. But once I realized that I could read fic for Toy Soldiers and Dead Poet's Society and M*A*S*H and Villette and OMG Little House on the Frakking Prairie, I was hooked. I spent a great deal of those four years between 2005 and last Christmas devouring the archive at Yuletide. And after awhile, I really wanted to participate, but...

Reason #2: Yuletide looks scary. There appear to be a lot of rules. It seems confusing. And if you screw up, they can BAN YOU FOR LIFE! Eeeeep. When I finally took a deep breath, I realized that all those rules basically boiled down to: Write what your recipient has requested to the best of your ability, and turn your story in on time. That I can so do. But wait, I had still more reservations.

Reason #3: I had done ficathons before and either I didn't get stories in return, or the people for whom I had written never said a thing. This has consistently happened to me with every exchange ficathon I've participated in since I got into fandom (including this year's Remix), EXCEPT FOR YULETIDE. Everybody gets a story. Period. And while I'm sure some people are dicks and don't leave their authors feedback, by and large, I do not think that's the usual experience.

So, even if you haven't done so before, I would urge you all to particpate in Yuletide this year. Yuletide has become my number one favorite thing about fandom. It's a place where I find the most interesting and creative fic writing; it's a place where I find fic for shows and books and movies that I never thought people would ever write fic for. It's a place where I am continually and pleasantly surprised at the awesome things that we can create. Fandom nominations just opened.

I nominated A.S. Byatt's "Angels and Insects," Beowulf, Bible OT, David Eddings's Belgariad and Mallorean, Friends and Frasier.

Go forth! Yuletide!

Comments

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

OMG

I am so excited.

Yuletide is always awesome, and I'm really excited to give it another go.

[lyr]

I am so excited.

Me too! I finally fiished my sign-up, and now I can't wait to see my assignment.

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

Oh man, me too. I signed up for something because I anticipated that someone on my flist was going to request it and then they didn't. LOL So serves me right if I end up with someone else's request for this fandom that I have pretty much never read.