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deadlines

2025 Deadline Has Passed - What Next

The deadline has passed, and the main collection is temporarily closed. ETA - now open again!

Congratulations to everyone who has posted! Pat yourself on the back, take a breath, and then please check wordcount, formatting, html; check that you've uploaded the correct version, and that all your text is actually there. You can get to what you've submitted from your Statistics page, or from your Works in Collections. Your story should be marked as "complete" rather than one or more of multiple chapters yet to come.

To all who didn't make it this year: it happens, and we hope you enjoy the collection reveals.

To all who are still working on beta jobs, treats, or pinch hits: thank you and good luck!

Pinch hits coming!!
Post-deadline pinch hits will be available soon at

yuletide_pinch_hits. This next round will be due at 9 AM UTC, 22 December.

See what time that is in YOUR timezone
See countdown

Beta requests
We have outstanding beta requests on the Yuletide Discord (please see the #hippo-want-ads channel), and more betas are always welcome at the Dreamwidth beta post.

There is also an Away from Keyboard post up on the participant community, for you to (optionally) let your author know if it'll be a while before you can read your gift.

If there seems to be an issue with your posted work, we'll contact you via the email address associated with your AO3 account. Please check you can access that!

Entry tags:

(Less Than) 48 Hours to Deadline

The assignments that you received when signing up, and pinch hits #1-96, are due at 9pm UTC 17 December (see countdown). It's nearly here. For most people, it'll be Wednesday. Please check the links!

When you post your story, please make sure...

It is at least 1,000 of your own original words and marked as complete. You can update and edit your story after the deadline, but any version you upload must be a complete story that could be read in that state, with a beginning, middle, and end, and no placeholder text.

It is not posted as a draft. If your work is still in Draft status on AO3 at the deadline, it will not count as fulfilling the assignment, as no one but you can access it. To check if your work is a draft, go to your assignments. If you see a work title and the 'Fulfill' button, your work is a draft and you have not yet fulfilled the assignment. You can also check your drafts at the 'Drafts' sidebar link from your main AO3 page. Fully-posted works can be viewed from your Stats page and from Works in Collections. You can also reach out to mods to check!

It features *all* requested characters or follows exceptions specified in the additional tags ("My gift must feature..."). Please see this post for a reminder of how the additional tags work. Regarding Worldbuilding: if your recipient has not selected characters beyond that tag, whether to flesh out the world using original characters or canon characters is up to you. If they have vetoed specific characters, obey those DNWs.

It does not contain Do Not Wants. Please check that your story does not contain any of the Do Not Wants (DNWs) listed in your recipient's Optional Details. If you have any doubt about the meaning of your recipient’s DNWs, please contact the mods.

Its title and other metadata are not placeholders. Please don't call your work Placeholder Title or Yuletide 2025 Work - upload a title that reflects the unique work. You don't need to write a summary or append detailed tags, but please make sure that if you do include that information, the information is real.

Other important notes

Stay anonymous! Yuletide is a secret exchange. Don't give away publicly what you're writing or who you're writing it for. Don't add your work to an existing series on AO3, or a personal works collection. Don't identify yourself in your author's notes by, for example, linking to your tumblr or dreamwidth.

No AI! This is a creative writing challenge - do not use ChatGPT, Claude, or any other similar generative text tool to write any part of your story, summary, or notes.

Please don’t use author’s notes to apologise for your story, to go into detail about the difficulties you had writing it, or to promise a fix or a continuation.

Please check your story immediately after posting to ensure it is showing up okay.

Entry tags:

rfe 2025,
sign-ups

Sign-Ups are Open!

Sign-Ups are now open! They will remain open until December 27th, 10PM PST. [Countdown to sign-ups closing] [In Your Timezone]

The rules are here, which will have additional information about the exchange and its requirements.

You must be 18+ to participate in this exchange. Only one sign-up per person.

An AO3 account is required to participate. If you need an AO3 invite, please reach out via email.

Requests:

You can request a minimum of 3 unique fandoms with a maximum of 10 fandoms, with 1-10 ships and a choice of fiction, art, or both.

After you have three unique fandoms, you are allowed/welcome to repeat fandoms in both your offers and your requests.

There is a known bug with AO3 where the ship may be in the tagset but might not appear in the drop-down option. If that is the case, copy the ship from the tagset, paste it into the box (press enter afterwards), and AO3 should accept it.

You can edit/delete your sign-ups until sign-ups close.

If a sign-up does not include the required number of fandoms, it will be deleted when sign-ups close.

Optional details can be added in the box provided- you can list your likes/do not wants and put prompts for your creators. This will give your creator a better picture of what you would/wouldn't enjoy but they are optional.

Please note that you cannot use the likes/dnws to box your creator into making one certain type of work.

Please make sure you list your do not wants clearly within the 'optional details section'. If the do not wants are not clearly stated and/or are unreasonable, they will not be upheld. Do not wants in letters will not be upheld if there is a violation in the fanwork you receive either so please make sure to cross check what it is in your sign-up vs your letter.

If you're requesting more than one ship, please do not express preferences for one fandom/ship over the rest in your optional details and/or letter. Your creator will be matching to any of the fandoms you select, so please make sure you request fandoms and ships you'd be happy to receive a fanwork for!

If you're open to treats, please make a mention of this in the optional details of your sign-up. You're welcome to request only art and opt into fic treats and visa versa (as well as opt into both). You are also welcome to opt out of treats. Please remember stating you're open to treats does not guarantee you a treat.

There is a space to leave a link to your letter as well. Letters are optional, but should you link to a letter, please complete it as soon as you can to give your creator the maximum amount of time to work on your gift.

All fandoms and ships requested and offered in this exchange must be chosen from those nominated into the tagset.

You will match based on one fandom, ship, and medium.

If there aren't any offers that match your requests, you will go out for claiming as an initial pinch hit.

Pinch hits will be posted after assignments are sent out.

Offers:

You must offer a minimum of 3 unique fandoms with at least 1 ship. You can offer a maximum of 10 offers and 10 ships per offer.

You can offer a choice of art, fic, or both.

You will be matched on the fandom, ship, and the medium offered.

If for some reason that you are not matched to what you offer, please contact the mod immediately. That will be the only reason that we will change your assignment after they are given out.

If there aren't any requests that match your offers, the mod will contact you at the email address associated with your AO3 account to see if there is anything else you can offer. If you do not reply within 24 hours, or there is nothing else you can offer, your signup will be deleted.

Additional Information:

'Do not match requests' will be accepted for this exchange from now until sign-ups close.

If you wish to not match to a participant, please email rarefemslashexchangemod@gmail.com letting us know your AO3 name, the AO3 name of the participant you would like to not be matched to, and what you would like us to do in the instance where you are their only match as a creator, you are their only match as a recipient, and you are a pinch hit. We don't need to know the reasons for this request. We'll do our best to uphold your request.

Please do not use this as an opportunity to try and match to a specific creator.

Commenting are mandatory for this exchange so please remember that if you are signing up, you are expected to comment on your gift to participate in the next round. If you signed up for the last round and didn't comment by the time nominations opened, you will not be eligible to participate this round.

If your sign-up breaks any of the above rules or is found to be in bad faith, the mods may contact you. We hold the right to delete your sign-up without warning if we find that you're acting in bad faith.

Any questions or comments can be left here (anon is on, screening is not) or emailed to the mod at rarefemslashexchangemod@gmail.com.

Entry tags:

Tagset being finalized/sign-ups opening soon!

The tagset is in the process of being finalized. Thank you to everyone who has nominated and/or spotted issues so far!

If your nominations haven't been approved/you see errors or duplicates in the tagset, please reach out via the comments on this post (anon is on, screening isn't) or by email at rarefemslashexchangemod@gmail.com.

Sign-ups will open less than a little less than 5 hours (~7:30PM PST/UST-8).

Entry tags:

pinch hits

Posting; Pinch Hit; Betas

The DEADLINE is getting closer and closer!

At deadline time - 9pm UTC on 17 December - your Yuletide assignment must be posted (published, not a draft!) to the Yuletide collection as a complete work.

Before then, we need your help, Yuletide! We have an outstanding pinch hit (#121) for the fandoms:
SMPLive
Roughhouse SMP
Mirai SMP - XYouly
Highcraft (Web Series)

See details here. Please email us at yuletideadmin@gmail.com if you can help, and spread the word if you have friends who might be interested. This pinch hit is due at 9pm UTC on 19 December.

More pinch hits will be advertised at

yuletide_pinch_hits, especially after 9pm UTC on the 17th.

Additionally, we love beta reader volunteers! You can connect with writers at this post by filling out a Google form, or you can join the Discord and keep an eye out for beta requests advertised by members with the Hippo role.

Good luck to everyone facing down the deadline!

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Nomination Clarifications #2

I'm still approving nominations and right now, we're still on track to open sign-ups on time, but I will let you know if that changes.

If you have nominated under these following fandoms:

Star Wars Legends - All Media Types

Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms

Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types

Or any other "all media" or "& related fandoms" that has not been approved, please reach out and let me know which specific version you prefer.

Our Flag Means Death (TV)
Spanish Jackie/Wives (Our flag means death) - This is a little vague. Could the nominator be more specific?

Over The Limit:

Jeeves - P. G. Wodehouse
f!Reginald Jeeves/f!Bertie Wooster - 606 works

薬屋のひとりごと | Kusuriya no Hitorigoto | The Apothecary Diaries (Anime)
F!Jinshi/Maomao - 406 works

Another post will be made at some point tomorrow with the remaining inquiries.

If you spot any errors/duplicates in the tagset, feel free to comment here or reach out via email at rarefemslashexchangemod@gmail.com. :)

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Nominations are closed!

Nominations are now closed. Thank you to everyone who submitted them! :)

I'm still going through them so please don't worry if your's hasn't been approved just yet. Any questions/clarifications will be made on an upcoming post within the next two days.

The tagset is here. Please let me know if you notice any errors/duplicates/etc.

If you have any questions/comments, you can leave them here (anon is on, screening isn't) or reach out via email at rarefemslashexchangemod@gmail.com.

Sign-ups will open on December 13th.

Entry tags:

Default deadline passed (and deadline change reminder)

The default deadline has passed! Defaults after this date will require a New Year’s Resolution fic before you can sign up again. See more info about defaulting at our FAQ.

Original assignments and pinch hits #1-96 are due in a little over 6 days, at:

9pm UTC, 17 December
See when that is in YOUR timezone
See countdown

This is an international exchange, and deadlines are given in UTC/GMT. This deadline is also at a DIFFERENT TIME OF DAY to deadlines we've used in recent years. Please click the links and check when the deadline is for you. We appreciate it!

Good luck to all writing, and especial thanks to everyone tackling pinch hits! Check out

yuletide_pinch_hits for requests currently in need of writers.

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Last Day to Nominate!

There is a little over twelve hours left to submit your nominations! Nominations will close on December 10th, 10 PM PST. [Countdown to nominations closing] | [In your timezone]

I'm still going through them and will continue doing so after nominations have been officially closed so don't worry if yours has not been approved yet.

If you are looking to nominate, the guidelines are here.

The tagset is here.

Any questions/comments can be left here (anon is on, screening isn't) or can be sent to rarefemslashexchangemod@gmail.com.

Entry tags:

afk post

2025 Away from Keyboard post

Yuletide is coming! If everything goes well, we will reveal works in the main collection at 9pm UTC on 24 December, two weeks from now. Madness works are revealed a day later.

(Default deadline is 9pm UTC on the 10th; posting deadline is 9pm UTC on the 17th.)

In Yuletide, it's important to leave a comment on your gift (or gifts) to thank your author.

If you think you'll be delayed in commenting until late in the anonymous period (ending 1 January) or maybe not even until well into the new year, you can use this post to OPTIONALLY let your author(s) know about that delay ahead of time. You don't need to give a reason, but an approximate time indication may be helpful. Please include your AO3 name.

Thanks everyone! Good luck with writing, and please consider the beta post or

yuletide_pinch_hits if you have capacity for beta jobs or pinch hits!

Entry tags:

Nomination Clarifications #1

Nominations are slowly being approved! Please remember to use the canonical tags when possible. Exceptions are crossovers, genderbent ships, original works, or if you are nominating a ship under multiple fandoms.

For those who are looking to nominate, the guidelines are here.

This is a ship exchange so any & relationships will be automatically rejected.

Star Wars - All Media Types
F!Anakin Skywalker/F!Darth Vader
F!Dooku/F!Sifo-Dyas

Outside of a couple of exemptions, all media types will not be accepted. Please either nominate a specific version or it needs to be under Crossovers.

Mysterious Skin - All Media Types
F!Neil McCormick/Other(s)

This is too vague. Please be more specific.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Kira Nerya (Star Trek: DS9)/Ro Laren (Star Trek: Next Gen)

This is needs to be nominated under the Crossover Fandom.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
F!Angelus/Buffy Summers (BTVS)

In this exchange, Angel and Angelus will not be considered separate characters.

Over the Limit:

True Detective (TV 2014)
F!Rustin "Rust" Cohle/F!Martin "Marty" Hart - 310 works (GB ships must be rare in their canonical form to qualify)

Raffles - E. W. Hornung
Bunny Manders/A. J. Raffles - 272 works

Comments can be left on this post (anon is on, screening isn't) or you can reach out via email at rarefemslashexchangemod@gmail.com.

In the meantime, please keep nominating! :)