WHAT ARE YULETIDE PINCH HITS?
A pinch hit is a writing assignment that needs a writer. A pinch hitter is a writer who takes on that assignment and writes it for a deadline, as a gift. A pinch hitter is also a superstar.
In Yuletide, each assignment contains 3-6 fandoms for a writer to choose from. A pinch hitter commits to writing a complete story of at least 1,000 words in one of those fandoms, using their recipient's chosen character(s). If the recipient has specified characters, all of them must appear by default but the recipient may give other options using additional tags. If the recipient has not specified characters, at least one character from
the year's tag set must appear. If that fandom has no characters in the tag set, the writer is expected to explore the world generally, using existing characters or not.
Worldbuilding can also be used in the same way as a character tag -
see more details here. If something about your recipient's requests seems to contradict those guidelines, please discuss with the mods.
We really count on pinch hitters - please don't take one on unless you're sure you can fulfil it. If you default on a pinch hit, we generally ask you to complete a story before signing up again, similar to if you were a signed up writer defaulting on your assignment.
How to claim pinch hits
- When you are alerted to new pinch hits, click through to review the details at https://yuletide-pinch-hits.dreamwidth.org
- Send an email to yuletideadmin@gmail.com, making sure the subject line contains the pinch hit number and the name of the recipient (ie "#12 for RainbowHarrier") and the body of the email contains your own AO3 name.
In most cases, the first person to claim a pinch hit will be given it.
If you don't get a reply from us after claiming, the pinch hit is not assigned to you.
If you do get a reply from us that confirms your claim (usually within minutes, at a maximum, a few hours), the pinch hit is yours and you should see it shortly in your AO3 assignments list.
How to get pinch hit alerts - This google group
- Join this group as a member, with email setting "Notify me for each new message". You need a google account to do this. [NB: the warning that 'other members can find your email' is not accurate - anyone who gets a reply from you can see your email, but the only account to which replies can be sent is yuletideadmin@gmail.com. Ordinary members will not see these replies.] You will get an email when we post pinch hits.
How to get pinch hit alerts - Discord
How to get pinch hit alerts - Feeds and Dreamwidth
- Use the following RSS and Atom feeds to get updates for the Yuletide pinch hits Dreamwidth community:
https://yuletide-pinch-hits.dreamwidth.org/data/rsshttps://yuletide-pinch-hits.dreamwidth.org/data/atom
Due dates
All automatic emails from AO3 confirming an assignment will show a deadline of 9am UTC 18 December. However, your pinch hit may be due later.
If you're not sure when your pinch hit is due, check with the mods.