Yuletide is now open for nominating fandoms. (Yippee!) This means, of course, that I now definitely have to decide what I'm going to put in the form.

I asked earlier whether other people were planning on nominating Forever Knight. I intend to do so myself; and foxy11814 has also offered, though not, I gather, planning to participate. It would be really nice if some third person also chipped in—all that's needed is to be on AO3, which is true of everyone who did fkficfest this year.

Now, you may be wondering why Forever Knight needs more nominations.

As a fandom, of course, it doesn't: once one person has asked for it, then it's in. (At least, it's "in" assuming it's approved, as it has been in previous years). However, one is only permitted to nominate four characters. Four characters per nominator, that is. If there are two nominators, they can name up to eight characters. If there are three nominators, they can name up to twelve. And, as we all know, Forever Knight has a lot of characters, since the line-up changed each season.

Why is this important?

Well, when it comes time for people to put in prompts for their gift, they can pick up to four fandoms. (Yes, you can only nominate three, but you may ask for four.) It is quite possible, therefore, that someone who did not nominate Forever Knight might nevertheless ask for it. Indeed, this has happened most years. However, they are only permitted to mention characters who are on the nomination list. It is important that this list have the characters most likely to have broad appeal, since they're the ones most likely to inspire prompts.

So we have Nick, Natalie, Lacroix, Janette, Schanke, Tracy, Vachon.... As you can see, we're already up to seven!

Now, I'd like to request Amanda Cohen. I also have a soft spot for Feliks Twist. If foxy11814 does make a nomination, we can cover eight. If someone else nominates Forever Knight (and, as I said, it doesn't have to be someone who plans to do Yuletide this year), we can get four more characters in: maybe the other captains, or Urs, or Screed, or Divia, or.... (Well, there's plenty of choice.)

Since foxy11814 has asked for instructions on nominating (and others may need it too), I'm putting them ( behind this lj-cut. )

After you're done, please come back and tell us who you nominated. That way, we can avoid duplications. (Duplicate names don't count, you see.)

And THANK YOU!

I'm starting a post here so that people who are interested in nominating Forever Knight as one of their fandoms for Yuletide, can get together on what characters they're going to nominate. As we only get four characters each (per fandom), it's important that we don't duplicate names.

I want to ask for Amanda Cohen and Feliks Twist. However, I haven't yet decided on my other two characters.

It's that time of year again. According to this post on Yuletide Admin, nominations will officially open on 24 September. People are already starting to try to whip up interest in their favourite tiny fandoms.

Naturally, I've been thinking what I'll nominate myself. As was the case last year, we are only permitted three fandoms. Forever Knight and Mary Renault's The Charioteer are certain. For my third, I'm vacillating between Prehistoric Park and Time Team RPF. I asked for the former last year, but didn't get it. As for Time Team, I love the show, and would dearly like to read a "behind the scenes" gen story about the making of an episode (whether an actual aired episode or one that was made-up just for the story).

Well, some time before nominations close, I'll have to make that decision. For the moment, though, I'm concerned about the other problem: the rules only permit a maximum of four characters to be nominated for each fandom.

Last year, Forever Knight was nominated more than once; but there was a fair amount of overlap between the characters people asked for. That's a waste, isn't it? If, say, three people nominate the show, then we want this to mean a full dozen characters from whom to pick! Mary Renault fans have the same problem, multiplied by the fact that she wrote quite a few books, most of which count as separate fandoms.

As a result, queen_ypolita has started a post over on Dreamwidth so that Mary Renault fans can coordinate.

I'm thinking that I'll start a post myself for Forever Knight fans. We've a proud list of characters; and it'll be possible to come up with more interesting prompts if the nominations include as many as possible.

Belatedly....

This was my first Yuletide—though not, I hope, my last. My sister has been doing it for several years now; her obvious enjoyment enticed me to take part this time; and I also found it to be a lot of fun. Of course, it didn't hurt that I was staying with her this Christmas. We showed each other our stories, got a bit of basic beta'ing from each other, and generally fed the mutual excitement. So here are a few comments I have about the things I wrote.
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Dear Author, let me thank you right up front for the story you are going to write—which, sight unseen, I'm sure is one that I will love.
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