WHAT ARE YULETIDE PINCH HITS?

Yuletide is a gift exchange for fanfiction writers. For more information, see rules/faq on AO3 and announcements on Dreamwidth. From 2024 onwards, the full details of each pinch hit will not be available in this group, but will instead be available at https://yuletide-pinch-hits.dreamwidth.org.

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.

To post a pinch hit, you need an account at the Archive of Our Own, http://archiveofourown.org.

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

Join the Yuletide and Fandom Exchanges Discord and set .role yulephs in the #testing-and-bot channel.

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/rss
https://yuletide-pinch-hits.dreamwidth.org/data/atom

Or use your own Dreamwidth account and subscribe to https://yuletide-pinch-hits.dreamwidth.org.

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.

We will ask for prompts from this year's pinch hitters and collect them at https://yuletide-admin.dreamwidth.org/ - keep an eye out for this, please!

Questions are welcome - contact yuletideadmin@gmail.com.

All clear!

Yuletide Admin