lotr_sesa | [Mod Post] LotR SeSa 2018 signups are OPEN!

Some Background: (for those who are new or just curious)
In 2003,

shirasade couldn't help herself when she noticed that none of the SeSa challenges around were for Lord of the Rings fanfiction. And we're talking the fictional stuff here, with Elves, Men, and (of course) Hobbits -- even Dwarves and Wizards, if you're so inclined. :)

While LotR SeSa began on a mailing list,

shirasade moved the challenge to LiveJournal in 2004. At that time, the challenge was also opened to fanart requests and offers. In 2005, SeSa expanded beyond slash to include het requests, and since then, it has expanded to all types of stories/art and all of Tolkien's Middle-earth: slash, femslash, het and gen; fanfic and fanart; LotR, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, etc.

In 2006,

caras_galadhon,

empyreus and Kimberleigh_ joined

shirasade's team, and in 2011,

caras_galadhon and

empyreus became LotR SeSa's main caretakers. And in 2015, SeSa made another leap, this time to AO3.

Anyway, enough of a preamble; come on in and sign up to get a gift of your choice for this year's holiday season. We promise you, it's fun! :)

This community is for announcement posts only - no stories will be posted here, only mod posts. We will be posting links to the signups, deadline reminders as we get closer to That Date, plus a masterlist after the reveal. While the primary community is on LiveJournal, you can now also find us on Tumblr and here on Dreamwidth.

The Rules (2018):

1. Your story (or fanart) is due December 20th and will go online December 28th -- please post it to the community (and nowhere else, until January 3rd) and we will make it public on the 28th.

2. Naturally, it'd be better if you didn't talk too much about your fic/art beforehand in places where your recipient could see it. Also, as a matter of fairness, please make your story more than 500 words (1000 is better). For fanart we'd expect you to spend at least a couple of hours on your work.

3. Please only sign up if you plan on actually fulfilling your end of the bargain. If you're going to be late or cannot complete your assignment, please let us know so we can discuss alternate arrangements. In addition, there will be a pool of emergency replacement writers/artists, so that everyone who signs up gets their gift.

4. Signing up: the AO3 signup form can be found here. You can be as specific in your likes and dislikes as you want, or leave everything up to the writer.

5. This year's timeline (2018):
- Signups: November 2nd to 11th.
- Assignments sent out: On or near November 14th.
- Assignments due: December 20th.
- Stories/art revealed: December 28th.
- Author/artist names revealed: January 3rd.
6. When you're done, please upload your story to the collection on AO3. Use warnings as needed and remember to check your tags. :) (If you have problems when trying to post, or if you're unsure about tags, please feel free to reach out to the mods.) All gifts will go online on December 28th.

It's not possible that everyone gets to write their OTP, but we'll do our best to make sure you don't have to write something that squicks you, so be sure to let us know your preferences.

Have fun -- and spread the word!