BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 / Secret Santa 2018?

**Posted by Yitzock** October 25, 2018 2:03 pm

I was just wondering if anybody had any interest in doing one of our Secret Santa fic exchanges again this year? I know we didn't have one last year, and I know it wouldn't have as many participants as in the past if we had one, but I think that's OK if you are interested.
Maybe we could make it less demanding, like a smaller minimum word count (or maybe just a maximum we deem reasonable)? Maybe a simpler form for what we would like to read?
It's two months until Christmas, so I think I would be able to handle the organization of it at a manageable size (unless someone else would want to help and/or take the reins?).
But I'm saying this with absolutely no pressure on you to say yes if you don't want to. I just wanted to see if anyone was interested because I always had fun when we did these.

**Posted by nakahara** October 25, 2018 3:10 pm

If more people will join, I will probably join too...

**Posted by gently69** October 26, 2018 6:34 am

Hmm... didn't write anything for a long time. Could be nice again... but only if it would be something short. Because I don't know if I can manage anything more than the one I helped out with in 2016.
My favorite hobby is really engaging.

**Posted by Yitzock** October 27, 2018 1:30 pm

Something short was what I had in mind. I think we should keep it simple.

**Posted by SusiGo** October 28, 2018 10:36 am

Oh, this would be lovely. I am very busy at work at the moment so I could do only something short. But it would be fun.

**Posted by Yitzock** October 28, 2018 2:50 pm

If we want to only write some short fics, I had a couple ideas and was wondering what you all would think. The first possibility I thought of was a limit of 1000 words (we could even make it less if you wish), or we could all write in the same format of a fixed number of words, like 221B ficlets (where each story is 221 words long and the last word in the story starts with the letter B).

**Posted by SusiGo** October 28, 2018 9:47 pm

1,000 sounds good to me. 221 is fun but very short if you want to tell a little story. But I am in for both ideas.

**Posted by gently69** October 29, 2018 9:26 am

I would join in.

**Posted by Yitzock** October 30, 2018 2:32 pm

I am leaning towards the 1000-word maximum myself. 221B is fun but kind of hard to do, but I just wanted to put it out there in case you were interested.

The next thing I was wondering about is the prompt questionnaire. In the past it had followed this model:
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?)
5. What is your prompt? (= Give 5 keywords, or an object that needs to play an important role or give a headline or make any other kind of wish you can think of)

Do we want to simplify this in any way since our stories will be short? Perhaps maybe only including something we don't want to write about with the assumption that anything not mentioned we are fine with writing? Again, you can veto that idea if you wish and we can use the previous questionnaire format unaltered.
Also, just a thought - case fics might be hard to do with our word limit unless it's something happening in the background of the story, but I don't feel certain in making them completely off-limits, because just because I think it would be hard in that limit doesn't mean someone else wouldn't be able to write a short one. What do you all think? I don't know if anyone was thinking of requesting one.

**Posted by SusiGo** October 30, 2018 3:03 pm

Yitzock wrote:
Do we want to simplify this in any way since our stories will be short? Perhaps maybe only including something we don't want to write about with the assumption that anything not mentioned we are fine with writing? Again, you can veto that idea if you wish and we can use the previous questionnaire format unaltered.
Also, just a thought - case fics might be hard to do with our word limit unless it's something happening in the background of the story, but I don't feel certain in making them completely off-limits, because just because I think it would be hard in that limit doesn't mean someone else wouldn't be able to write a short one. What do you all think? I don't know if anyone was thinking of requesting one.

This is a good idea IMO. I have an idea for a little story I have been thinking about for some time. I think we should keep it simple. Maybe stating one no-go (if there is any) and then just get creative.

**Posted by gently69** October 31, 2018 8:16 am

Did more than four people react so far? Via PM for example?

Last edited by gently69 (October 31, 2018 8:17 am)

**Posted by Yitzock** October 31, 2018 7:07 pm

I haven't received any PMs. I contacted a couple of members (Phantom and ukaunz) on Tumblr who haven't been on the forum for a while. Phantom says she will not be participating. Haven't heard from ukaunz. I think they're the only ones I know on Tumblr.

Last edited by Yitzock (October 31, 2018 7:08 pm)

**Posted by Kerkerian** November 2, 2018 6:30 am

Hi guys! I haven't been here for some time now, but I'd like to participate in the Secret Santa if it is going to happen. I'm a bit nervous about it too, since I haven't written anything Sherlock for a while and I'm also rather swamped at work. Still, it'd be fun, and admittedly, I missed this...

**Posted by SusiGo** November 2, 2018 7:54 am

Great to have you back, Kerkerian.

**Posted by Yitzock** November 2, 2018 2:44 pm

Hi, Kirkerian! We'd be happy to have you!

As for your questionnaire, would something like this suffice?:
1. What would you like to read?
2. Is there anything you are unwilling to write?

Also, what do you think is a reasonable timeline for filling out the questionnaires, receiving prompts, and submitting your stories? I was thinking filling out questionnaires by mid-November then finishing the stories by mid to late December? Maybe instead of posting them all before Christmas, if that's too difficult, posting them over Christmas and into Boxing Day or the days following? Or would you all prefer to have this be more of an advent/lead-up to Christmas thing?

**Posted by Kerkerian** November 3, 2018 11:47 am

Thank you, Susi and Yitzock!

The idea to post the stories over Christmas sounds good to me, seeing as it is November already.

**Posted by Schmiezi** November 3, 2018 2:18 pm

Hi guys. I haven't been on the forum for a long time, and I haven't written anything Sherlock for more than a year. But if it is not too late, I'd like to join as well. :-)

**Posted by Yitzock** November 3, 2018 2:29 pm

I for one would be happy to have you!

**Posted by Kerkerian** November 3, 2018 6:23 pm

Me too! Squee- this feels like a reunion of sorts!

**Posted by SusiGo** November 4, 2018 10:26 am

This is very nice! Good to have you all back.