BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 / Secret Santa Fic Exchange 2014

**Posted by Kerkerian** September 21, 2014 11:44 am

Thanks, though I didn't mean to fish for compliments.
I'd just like to point out that despite our careful planning it's still possible to get a prompt which the one who receives it isn't happy with because it seems difficult and/or unfulfillable, particularly if the number of participants isn't that high. If that should be the case, no one should hesitate to ask for help (and I think that already worked fine last year).

Can I say that I love how much thought people are putting into this again?

**Posted by mrshouse** September 21, 2014 12:47 pm

Hi lovelies, have a practical question. Sorry if it's already been explained but how do we send our little stories? Via pm? On the very day? Does everybody else get to read our akward try and error, too?

**Posted by La Jolie** September 21, 2014 2:35 pm

And I have something I'm not yet clear on, too - so we don't know who we write for (which is fun), but do we know who is writing for us? I'd prefer that to come as a surprise, too, but maybe having a mystery on both ends of the case is too much work for you, Schmiezi?

**Posted by SolarSystem** September 21, 2014 3:54 pm

mrshouse, last year we sent our stories to Kerkerian via mail, but if you have a story that's only about 221 words long, I guess it's also possible to send it via pm. But I think that we all sent it in an e-mail to Kerkerian. And no, only the finished story gets published - and we had an extra thread only for the stories and discussed the stories in the thread where we also did the planning.

No, La Jolie, I thought about this again and I think I was mistaken before, because if I remember correctly it was the other way around last year: I knew who I was writing for, but I didn't know who got my prompt. And when Kerkerian posted the stories, she didn't mention who the author was.

**Posted by Schmiezi** September 21, 2014 5:49 pm

SolarSystem wrote:
I knew who I was writing for, but I didn't know who got my prompt. And when Kerkerian posted the stories, she didn't mention who the author was.

That's the way I would like to do it again. Does somebody disagree with it?

And I'd prefer to get all fics before December 1st, but if someone has a serious problem with they should contact me and we can arrange another dead line.

**Posted by La Jolie** September 21, 2014 6:05 pm

SolarSystem wrote:
I knew who I was writing for, but I didn't know who got my prompt. And when Kerkerian posted the stories, she didn't mention who the author was.

I agree that that would be the best way to do it.

**Posted by Schmiezi** September 21, 2014 6:09 pm

This is the questinnaire I am planning to send you. What do you think?

1 What are you willing to write about? (= pairings, case fics, AU ...)
2 What is your deal breaker when you write? (= What are you absolutely unwilling to write about?)
3 What would you like to read? (= pairings, case fics, AU ...)
4 What is your deal breaker when you read? (= What are you absolutely unwilling to read about?)

We should also take a moment and discuss if there should be a wish (like "I would like to get a case fic that takes place in Italy"), an additional prompt (like we provide the title of the fic we would like to get, or give five words that need to appear in it) and / or if all fics should deal with the same motto (like "sacrifice" or "mistake" or whatever).

Last edited by Schmiezi (September 21, 2014 6:10 pm)

**Posted by stoertebeker** September 21, 2014 6:17 pm

I think your questions are good. That should help with the matching. I would prefer a more broader environment for writer, but I like the idea with the additional prompt. But it shlouldn't be to restrictive. A few key words sounds ok for me.

**Posted by silverblaze** September 21, 2014 7:21 pm

Interesting, I was thinking of the same thing: how to create a prompt that spikes creativity but doesn't restrict the writer? I feel sometimes restrictions really make one more creative, but sometimes they're kinda deadly.

I like the ideas of a wish or a motto (I'm assuming motto is pretty much the same as theme in this context). Prompts: i find the title one a bit on the restrictive side though the five words could be interesting. I do hope I don't get an Italy wish, I don't know a thing about Italy.

Liked the questionnaire, I don't think I have any dealbreakers in the sense that I find things repulsive, just some things I'm really bored by.

**Posted by tonnaree** September 21, 2014 8:27 pm

Would it mess anything up if I ask you to take my name off the list?

It's just that my mental state is so flakey these days. I don't want to commit and then dissapoint someone.

I"m sorry.

**Posted by BreathingIsBoring** September 22, 2014 1:01 am

I'll take tonnaree's spot, if it's allowed. I'd love to take part in this exchange.

**Posted by Schmiezi** September 22, 2014 4:21 am

@tonnaree: Of course it would not mess up things. I will take your name off the list, but there are still two weeks before thangs get serious. So if in ten day or so you feel like joining again, feel absolutely free to do so.

@BreathingIsBoring: You are welcome to join, but you don't have to takesomeone's spot. The more the merrier.

BTW Is there someone else out there who wants to join too?

**Posted by BreathingIsBoring** September 22, 2014 4:22 am

Yay!

**Posted by Kerkerian** September 22, 2014 5:20 am

Good morning!
I'll quickly put my five scents in before I'm off to work: considering that some of the participants are rather new to writing fanfic and that the word minimum is going to be 221 words (though I sincerely hope we won't have a lot of super short stories), I wouldn't advise using five words that have to appear. From personal experience, I know how difficult and even impossible that can be.

Have a nice day, y'all!

**Posted by mrshouse** September 22, 2014 7:19 am

I agree, the less boundaries the better. I'm nervous already anyway and feel I won't have a clever idea anyway and it will be either ridiculous or frankly boring...
Can I read last years entries somewhere?

**Posted by SolarSystem** September 22, 2014 8:54 am

Yes, you can:
http://sherlock.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?id=3893

And please don't worry, mrshouse, the idea is certainly not to write perfect stories with which to win the Pulitzer. The fic I wrote last year was my very first Sherlock fanfic ever, and although the prompt I got wasn't what I had expected at all, it was a lot of fun to write. That should be the main thing: having fun writing it, then everyone else will have fun reading it. I'm sure.
If you want someone to have a look at the story before you give it to Schmiezi, you can always write me a PM.

**Posted by gently69** September 22, 2014 10:35 am

Oh, I will have a look at last year's stories as well. Until now I haven't got a clue what to expect.

**Posted by La Jolie** September 22, 2014 8:14 pm

And if you want to know who wrote what last year, there is also a collection on AO3, though I'm not sure whether all stories are there.
http://archiveofourown.org/collections/Secret_Santa_2013
My favourite from last year is WhoLocked's "Message in a Bottle". It's a hilarious piece of Drunklock, all the more so because it was written before TSOT ever aired.

As for the prompts, I'd prefer it, too, if we didn't have any such formal requirements as "include these five words". I'd like to just write a Sherlock story, not labour through a Creative Writing 101 exercise. I mean, if anyone absolutely wants to put any formal requirements of this sort in their prompt, that's fine, but we shouldn't all have to have them.

Last edited by La Jolie (September 22, 2014 8:15 pm)

**Posted by stoertebeker** September 22, 2014 8:51 pm

As an alternative to the "5-words-rule" we could also say that in every story has a certain item to appear. Nothing to exotic, e.g. the Deerstalker hat, Sherlock's violin, John's gun or something like that. The author then could choose just to mention the thing briefly in the story or construct a bit more plot around it. Just an idea.

**Posted by Schmiezi** September 24, 2014 4:41 am

How about this:

Everybody gives one prompt. That can be five keywords OR an item they wants to appear in the fic OR a headline OR a part of the plot or whatever.

(I think that is basically like we did it last year, but could turn out to be more diversified now that we discussed the many possibilities.)