rodo | Reading

Community Thursday challenge: every Thursday, try to make an effort to engage with a community on Dreamwidth, whether that's posting, commenting, promoting, etc.

Over the last week...

Posted on bnha_fans.

Posted on anime_manga to promote the BNHA watch-along :) FINAL (!!! XD) season had started!

Commented on worderlands.

Commented on booknook.

Signal boosts:

ficwip is becoming more active, with various prompts and writing activities. They're an established, active community elseweb and are experimenting with Dreamwidth. Have a look and see if it's to your taste!

enigel

Not enough brain to write it yet, you all know the drill.

moontyger posting in

yuletide

What is TransTide?

Since trans headcanons and the portrayal of trans characters can be personal for many people, writers might be nervous to write trans headcanons without invitation. This mini challenge is for people to signal that they would love to receive trans headcanons, as well as to showcase their requested fandoms with canon trans characters.

Note that this exchange is open to nonbinary characters as well.

To participate, simply copy-paste the following into a comment:

AO3 name:
Letter link:
Likes and DNWs:
Fandom:
Characters:
Details:

If you post a fic for Yuletide with one or more trans characters, tag it with TransTide so people can find it easily

larryhammer posting in

yuletide

Here’s a list of all poems (including ballads and traditional songs) in the 2023 tagset, with links to texts as best I can find, and a notation of original language if not English. Please let me know of any additions or corrections.

Allison Gross (Traditional Ballad)

Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came - Robert Browning

Flower Fairies - Cicely Mary Barker

The Epic of Gilgamesh [Akkadian]

Goblin Market - Christina Rossetti

Her strong enchantments failing - A.E. Housman

Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight - Anonymous (Song)

Nibelungenlied [Middle High German]

The Odyssey - Homer [Ancient Greek]

The Romance of Silence [Old French]

Summoned By Bells - John Betjeman

Tam Lin - Anonymous (Song)

Two Loves - Lord Alfred Douglas

The Waste Land - T. S. Eliot

Wulf and Eadwacer [Old English] (original, modern English translations one, two, three)

赠答诗 - 金车美人 (弘农) | Poems Composed in Reply - Beautiful Woman in a Golden Carriage (Hong Nong) [Classical Chinese]

Bonus: poets for RPFing in the tagset include:

Richard I of England (in 12th Century CE RPF)
Lord Byron, John Keats, Percy Shelley and Herman Melville (in 19th Century CE Literary RPF)
Enheduanna (in Mesopotamian RPF)
Christopher Marlowe (in 16th Century CE RPF and in Shakespeare RPF)
Ben Jonson and William Shakespeare (in Shakespeare RPF)
Edna St. Vincent Millay, Emily Dickinson, Gertrude Stein, and Sappho (in Women's Literary RPF).

rabidsamfan posting in

yuletide

It is time once more for the Yuletide Madness Drabble Invitational!

Are you going through the tagset, thinking about your signup, and getting lured down plotbunny holes?

Well, if you are entranced by tiny canons, luscious fandom promos, or letters with prompts that you absolutely adore, and you've got to do something to appease the itty bitty plot bunnies that are nibbling at your ankles, the Yuletide Madness Drabble Invitational is back to meet all your "I don't have time or brain enough to do 1000 words, but that idea is still keen" needs.

How does it work?

Write drabbles or drabble series for Yuletide Madness. Proper ones, where the text of each drabble is exactly 100 words, please. Ficlets are fun, but not all ficlets are drabbles in just the same way as not all poems are sonnets. (You can, of course, post a 1000 word tale told in drabbles, where each chapter/bit is exactly 100 words to the main Yuletide collection, if you like. Just be sure that it is eligible to fulfill the main gift rules for that recipient.)

Give them to people.

Add "yumadrin" or "Yuletide Madness Drabble Invitational" to the tags.

That's it!

*******

As of the start of Yuletide 2025 we have created 939 drabbles, the oldest ones from 2013 when the Invitational. We are so close to a thousand! These little mini-gifts are a lot of fun to give, and to get, and they're fun to create as well. Check out the tag to see what we mean!

https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Yuletide%20Madness%20Drabble%20Invitational/works

isabrella posting in

yuletide

There are many ways of queering texts and characters. This challenge is for any and all of them! The widest possible definition of queering is used here. If you think your prompt counts, then so do we.

To participate, leave a comment on this post linking to your letter, so anyone interested in queering your canon for Yuletide can find you. Tag any fics for this mini-challenge with Queering The Tide. (I suggest you tag both Queering the Tide and TransTide if the two happen to overlap.)

You can copy/paste this form below for your comment.

AO3 name:

Letter link:

Fandom:

Any specific fandom details, preferences, comments, etc:

Text copied from the 2024 post.

dauntlessshadowice posting in

yuletide

What is Family Matters?
Unrelated to the sitcom (or anything else, actually), Family Matters is a mini challenge focused on sibling relationships. Whether that be traditional, half, foster/adoptive, or step siblings, siblings of all kinds are welcome. For the purposes of this mini challenge, I am excluding found family (unless there are sibling relationships within) and “I see them as a sibling” relationships (unless, of course, that statement is meant to be literal.) As I won’t be policing anything, please use your best interest and feel free to ask me any questions in the comments.

What about incest?
This is NOT the incest mini challenge. Someone made one last year and I'm hoping, for all interested, that it's continues on. However, nothing and no one is stopping you from signing up to both if that’s what you want.

What if [character]’s sibling isn’t in the tagset?
Good news! As long as at least one sibling is in the tagset (and you’re requesting them), this won’t be a problem.

How do I participate?
Leave a comment with the following details:
AO3 Username:
Letter Link (if applicable):
Fandoms & Requested Characters + Their Siblings (not necessary, but it might help to put if they’re in the tagset or not/if you’re requesting them):
Prompts (optional):
Any Other Details:

How do I tag for this?
The challenge, specifically? Yuletide Family Matters
But in general, try some of these, if applicable: Siblings, Sibling Rivalry, Brother-Brother Relationship, Brother-Sister Relationship, Sister-Sister Relationship, Adopted Sibling Relationship, Step-Siblings

ysabetwordsmith posting in

books

Taste of Home Fall Baking: 275+ Breads, Pies, Cookies and More!
Paperback – September 13, 2022
by Taste of Home (Editor)

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

karanguni posting in

yuletide

What is Yuleporn?

In an exchange as large and diverse as Yuletide, it usually turns out that a lot of people would love to write or receive explicit stories but aren't comfortable asking for them or writing them without a little more information. Yuleporn is a mini-challenge that exists to help unite Yuletiders in requesting, writing, and reading the porn of their Yuletide dreams. Have no Optional Details fear, Yuleporn is here!

How Do I Participate?

Leave a comment on this post linking your letter if you are interested in getting an explicit fic for YT.
Add any optional details you want in the comment – additional prompts, favourite kinks, DNWs, &c..
If you don't have a letter or are a pinch-hitter, you can still leave prompts here, but make sure to include your AO3 name, your fandoms, and the characters you requested
When it comes time to upload, tag your fics with "Yuleporn" on AO3 so other interested parties can easily find all the good stuff when the collection opens.
Enjoy.

Here's a totally optional copy-paste form if you like forms!

AO3: Letter link: Likes: DNWs: Fandom specific details:

As always, you don't have to participate in Yuleporn to write or request porn - it's just here to make things easier - and Yuleporn is 100% open to all kinks (or lack thereof).

(This post is mostly copypasta from time immemorial; please comment if anything should be updated! Credit to Morbane for this year's title.)

mimihylea posting in

yuletide

Two for One is an annual mini-challenge to help people who like crossovers and/or fusions find one another's requests.

To participate, simply copy-paste the following into a comment:
AO3 Name:
Letter Link:
Crossover Type: (ie. crossover, fusion, or either)
Applicable Requested Fandoms:
Potential Crossover Fandoms: (you may list specific combinations you're interested in, ex. Megamind/Treasure Planet, or generally request any of your Yuletide requests with each other, or list additional fandoms you'd be happy to have crossed with any of your requests)
Prompts/Optional Details: (as many and as detailed as you like)

One of the fandoms in each crossover or fusion prompt must be one you are requesting for Yuletide; however, the other doesn’t have to be. It doesn’t even have to be in the tagset at all!

Some clarification about crossover types:
Crossovers tend to involve Fandom A's characters interacting with Fandom B's characters or worldbuilding, with everyone retaining their canon backgrounds. Ex. Aurora and Red Riding Hood team up to defeat a villain, or Clark Kent falls into a portal that takes him to Tortall.

Fusions tend to be AUs in which Fandom A's characters have always existed in Fandom B's setting instead of their own, often replacing Fandom B's characters. Ex. Pacha and Kronk as contestants in the Hunger Games, where Kuzco and Yzma are referees. (A fic like this in which Hunger Games characters also appear would be a hybrid between a fusion and crossover.)

yuletidemods posting in

yuletide_admin

Please read this post even if you have signed up before!

After reading this post, please look at the tag set to see what fandoms are available this year, and make a shortlist of what you plan to offer and request. (The same fandoms can be on both lists, if you want.)

Then sign up at the collection. We recommend you allow at least half an hour to sign up. While you can edit your sign-up over the next week, you will not be able to make any changes after sign-ups close at 9pm UTC 24 October.

If you would like to avoid matching to up to three other participants, with limitations discussed here, you may do so by filling out a Google Form from a link within the AO3 form. If you want to use this feature but cannot use Google Forms, please email the mods. Do Not Match requests will close at the same time as signups.

Requests

You can request 3-8 fandoms

Each fandom must be different

You can request 0*-4 characters in each fandom

*Requesting 0 characters means "I am happy to receive any nominated character for this fandom. My author gets to choose which one(s)". That includes Worldbuilding for fandoms where Worldbuilding is nominated as a character tag. If no characters are nominated for the fandom, requesting 0 characters means “I am happy to receive any character or worldbuilding for this fandom.”

"AND" matching means your writer must include every character you select. If you are happy with a subset of your selected characters, indicate this with Additional Tags, and clarify any exceptions in your optional details.

You can only request characters from the tag set, though your optional prompts may mention other characters to appear too.

In some fandoms, you can request Worldbuilding as a character. You can find guidance on that here.

AND matching and additional tags
Generally, when you select characters in your sign-up form, it means you want and expect your gift to include all of those characters. This is a key principle for matching and assignments. However, some people like to give their author further options. We are using the Additional Tags section of the form for this.

If you requested 0 characters, or you want all the characters you selected to appear, you will tick the first Additional Tag option, which says "My gift must feature all of my chosen character tags (if 0: any from tag set)". If you think your situation might be different, please read last year’s post about additional tags and select additional tags that are right for your requests. This information is also in the sign-up form.

Optional Details and Do Not Wants (DNWs)
"Optional details" = prompts, ideas, likes, explanations of how you see the canon. Optional details and DNWs can be recorded in the main text section of your requests.

Optional details are optional (ODAO)! Your writer doesn't have to follow your prompts, though they must avoid your DNWs. You don't have to give prompts here, either - though prompts and ideas may be a more inspiring first impression than a list of DNWs on its own. Prompts may be particularly useful if you are requesting a Worldbuilding tag.

See this 2020 post for some considerations when writing your DNWs. Last year, we also clarified our rules and guidance about DNWs.

The Optional Details section of your AO3 requests is especially relevant if you have selected option two of the additional tags, "My gift must feature all of my chosen character tags; or it may use exceptions I explain in the form". In that case, please use this section of the form for explaining how and when your writer is allowed to leave out some of the characters you selected.

Please use minimal html in the optional details field. No images, please.

Please also note in the form if you're able to receive treats - or if you don't want them! Yuletide has a long-established culture of extra gifts, but if you created your account recently, you may have extra gifts turned off by default. Please check your AO3 preferences, and then state in your sign-up form whether you do or do not accept treats.

Letters
You can write prompts and preferences in another space, such as Dreamwidth, Livejournal, Google Docs, or Tumblr, and put a link in your sign-up. This is known as a "letter". Some people write letters; some don't. DNWs and character subsets that are listed in a letter but not in the Optional Details AO3 textbox cause confusion and difficulty for creators, and will not be enforced by the mods. Otherwise, your letter is an extension of your optional details and is treated the same way.

Important: You cannot add a letter after sign-ups close.

Offers

You can offer 4-10 fandoms

Each fandom must be different

You can offer 2-20 specific characters in each

If you want to offer a fandom that has 0-1 characters available, tick the "Any" box

If you are willing to write any combination of nominated characters, including Worldbuilding for fandoms where it is nominated, tick the "Any" box

"Worldbuilding" can also be selected as a character for many fandoms. Please check here to see how we're using it.

Offers are secret! Please don't declare openly what you're offering.

If you have several fandoms in which you want to offer to write Any nominated characters, you can make your last offer a "Bucket Offer". You can read about bucket offers in the Sign-ups section of the AO3 FAQ. This older tutorial has pictures!

Signing up!

The sign-up form is here.

Signups will remain open - and editable - until 9pm UTC 24 October.

You may only sign up to Yuletide with one AO3 account. You must be aged 18 or over to sign up.

You can find more sign-up information at the Yuletide 2025 FAQ

There is also specific guidance about how to use Additional Tags

Please check the tag set or the app when signing up. The autocomplete drop-down list in the sign-up form may not show all available characters. If they're in the tag set, you can enter them manually.

Sign-Up Summary

The list of requested/offered fandoms will be available after five people have signed up. Bucket offers do not show up in the list. Checking the sign-up summary for people you may be able to write for is a good idea - although many people sign up at the last minute. The sign-up summary says it updates hourly; in practice it may update less frequently.

Fandoms at 1-1 on the sign-up summary may mean that the same person is offering and requesting the fandom, not that there is a match.

Welcome to Yuletide!

Feel free to ask us questions.

Bonus! Yuletide advertisements

Thank you to

crantz (who also made images for us to share in 2019 and in 2020). Please use these to encourage friends and other fans to take part!

Yuletide exchange promotional image using mountain forest scenery. Text says Write off the beaten path - Yuletide Rare Fandoms Exchange.

To repost this image, copy this html:
<a href="https://archiveofourown.org/collections/yuletide2025/profile"><img src="https://www.yuletide.fandom.exchange/images/yuletidegraphic1.jpg" alt="Yuletide exchange promotional image using mountain forest scenery. Text says Write off the beaten path - Yuletide Rare Fandoms Exchange."></a>

Yuletide exchange promotional image using an image of an 1887 ice palace. Text says Travel the Worlds of Imagination - Yuletide Rare Fandoms Exchange.

To repost this image, copy this html:
<a href="https://archiveofourown.org/collections/yuletide2025/profile"><img src="https://www.yuletide.fandom.exchange/images/yuletidegraphic2.jpg" alt="Yuletide exchange promotional image using an image of an 1887 ice palace. Text says Travel the Worlds of Imagination - Yuletide Rare Fandoms Exchange."></a>

yourlibrarian posting in

tv_talk

Laptop-TV combo with DVDs on top and smartphone on the desk

Sometimes we hear about certain actors almost being cast in television shows. Which actor would you like to have seen in a particular show? Or are there examples in which you're glad a particular actor didn't make the cut?

moontyger posting in

yuletide

Three Turtle Doves is a mini challenge to help people who like poly, threesomes, and more find one another's requests. Though the challenge title includes the word "three", moresomes are welcome to join in. The more the merrier!

If you are requesting these, please let others know by dropping a comment here. Interested writers can browse and see what's out there that they might not have known about. This is also a great place to discover new fandoms with poly possibilities.

To participate, simply copy-paste the following into a comment:
AO3 Name:
Letter Link:
Fandom(s):
Rating(s): (here's a good place to put your ideal and maximum ratings)
Groupings Requested: (list all combinations you're interested in in all fandoms)
Prompts!: (as many and as detailed as you like)

Please tag any works you end up making for Yuletide with 'Three Turtle Doves' so interested people can find and enjoy your work!

moontyger posting in

yuletide

Greetings and salutations! Yuletide contains multitudes, and a chunk of those multitudes would really like to request or write worldbuilding. Thus, here is a sub-challenge post for those of us who love worldbuilding, either on the giving or receiving end.

To participate

Leave a comment on this fic with a link to your letter if you are interested in receiving worldbuilding. Optionally, add any extra worldbuilding likes and prompts you may have into your comment.
If you don't have a letter, you can still leave prompts here! Please ensure your comment includes your AO3 username, requested fandoms, and any characters you're requesting.
When uploading your fic to the archive, tag it with Yulebuilding and Worldbuilding so the rest of us can find it!

It's not necessary to interact with Yulebuilding in any way to give or request worldbuilding for Yuletide, but this post is here to make life easier. Enjoy!

adore

It was raining outside, a slanting shower, and when I stood out on the balcony to watch, I saw a frog hopping around. It was an ambitious one. It wanted to hop over the bricked ledge that hems in the bushes. It couldn't jump high enough, but after hopping along for a bit, it would try again. Until it came to some plants in individual pots and disappeared behind them, finally getting the cover of green I suppose it wanted.

I finished drafting Chapter One of Fangs Out for Blood, the sequel to Bloodhunt Academy (and book two of the duology). I'm enjoying the... slow drip of dopamine? That comes of hitting a writing milestone, and I'm remembering that I enjoy writing!

Moontime is due on the 17th and I'm not PMSing this time around. It's amazing. I've been seed cycling regularly since my last period (I have the time now that I'm technically jobless) and this is the result. No constant rage. No nightmares. No remembering every single time anyone has ever done me wrong. No hot flushes. No cramps. None of the symptoms I suffered a week, sometimes two weeks in advance of my period. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my flow is lighter this time.

A DW friend has been sending me memes on Discord and it's the second thing that made me grin today (the first thing being every attempt the frog made, undaunted, to leap over the Great Wall).

Current Mood: happy

yuletidemods posting in

yuletide_admin

Tagset corrections are in, and signups are opening soon! It’s just about time to decide what you’ll be requesting and offering.

This year, you can request eight fandoms! Previously, it was six. Because of that, we're reviewing our process for sending author questions.

Each year, we receive questions from authors about their recipient’s requests. These might include clarification on prompts or requests to understand how a DNW applies to a specific fandom–for example, does a DNW for character death include discussion of deaths that occur in canon?

We’re always happy to pass these questions along! Please always contact the mods directly rather than reaching out to the recipient yourself.

Traditionally, when we send these questions to recipients, we try to disguise the fandom the author plans to write for, so the gift is still a surprise. If the question is generic and applies to all fandoms, we can pass it along as-is. If the question is specific to one fandom, our team of volunteers writes decoy questions for the other fandoms and sends along the whole set.

This is fun for us to do, but it takes time. It's also extra work for the recipients to read and respond to multiple questions. This year, as we’re allowing up to 8 requested fandoms (which could mean up to 7 mod-created questions), it seems like a good time to check in and see if our participants find it helpful.

So, a poll! Going forward, which would you prefer mods do?

Poll #33725 Author Questions Poll

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 242

View Respondents

Going forward, which would you prefer mods do with author questions?

View Answers

Mods should continue to send decoy questions for all fandoms, along with the author’s actual question, to maximize the mystery of which fandom a recipient will receive. (This is how things work currently.)
39 (16.1%)

Mods should send questions for several fandoms, including the author’s actual question, but possibly not all–even though that could narrow down which fandom a recipient may receive.
193 (79.8%)

Something else (Please let us know in comments!)
10 (4.1%)

Keep in mind the question may be from a potential treat writer, so receiving questions for a particular set of fandoms isn’t a guarantee that your final gift will be in one of those fandoms.

We may not necessarily change our process this year based on community feedback, but it will be helpful in making our decision!

We'd also love to hear from you if you'd like to share a past experience with sending or receiving questions! If that has never happened to you, we hope you enjoy this peek behind the administrative curtain.

Schedule, Rules, & Collection | Contact Mods | Tag Set | Tag Set App | Community DW | Community LJ | Discord | Pinch hits on Dreamwidth
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