Here’s the news post you’ve been waiting for: Secret Santa sign-ups are OPEN!

There is a lot of info below, and I recommend taking your time to read it all if you wish to take part, but the short version is this: during December, members who have signed up will give and receive a fic (or artwork!). 

If you’ve never taken part before, or if you need a reminder, here’s how it works: 

As of this post going live, you can fill in a GOOGLE FORM HERE to sign up. 

Everyone who signs up to participate will write one fic or make a piece of art and receive one fic or piece of art. (You can opt out of giving or receiving art in the Google form if you’re only interested in written fic). Each fic MUST be a “one-shot” size (or be posted as a single “chapter” in the case of art). 

The chapter word limit is 15,000 words here on EF, but variations in software word counting sometimes mean that there is a discrepancy between the EF word count and what Microsoft or Google Docs will tell you. It is the author’s responsibility to make sure their story fits. If your fic is approaching the limit, we recommend leaving ample time for edits to make sure you can post correctly and before the deadline.

There is no word count minimum to this event. 

Gifts DO NOT need to be holiday-related in any way (unless your giftee requests it!). 

Participants will receive an award on their profile at the end of the event. There are no additional awards for betas, artists, or commenters. Both authors and artists will receive the same ‘2023 Secret Santa Participant’ award. Artists who create banners for other people’s gifts will not be eligible for a participant award. 

Once you sign up, EF Event Mod EllieRose101 will make best case matches from all of the responses and then reach out to each participant with the penname and story preferences of their giftee. Please remember that this gift-giving is confidential. Don’t share who you have for a giftee until you post your fic! Revealing that information ahead of time will allow demonic Santa to start his spree of terror early, and that would just be a bad time for everyone.

Any member, whether they've previously written a fic on EF or not, is eligible to partake in this event––UNLESS you signed up for last year’s Secret Santa event and did not complete your fic or did not complete your fic by the deadline. Those members will have already been notified (at the end of last year’s event) and will not be eligible to participate this year, but may participate again in 2024.

Please note that bad behavior toward your gifter or giftee, in regards to either the gift you receive or the gift you deliver, will result in a permanent ban from this event for all future years. We wish we didn’t have to say it, but we do.

Any ineligibility will be communicated to you by a mod, if it becomes relevant. Otherwise, you may assume you are good to go.

Important Dates: 

• Today: Sign-Ups Open (See link, above.)
• 11.59pm site time on Monday 20th November: Sign-Ups close 
• 22nd & 23rd November: Assignments Distributed
• 1st December: Participants can start posting
• 11:59 pm 31st December, site time: All gifts must be exchanged. 

No late sign-ups or publishing will be allowed.* Leaving a participant giftless will make Spuffy deeply sad, and we can’t have that, and will result in ineligibility from participating in Secret Santa for at least one year. (A one year ban if you don’t post but at least tell us, or a lifetime ban from participating if we never hear from you.)

*If you miss the deadline to post, please still send your gift, just be aware that it won’t officially count towards the event. And in either case––I cannot stress this enough––TELL US what’s happening! 

Whether or not you sign-up to participate in the event itself, you can sign-up to be a Secret Santa Rescue Writer! Either choose "yes" on the event sign-up form where it asks, or email EllieRose101 at elysianfieldsarchive@gmail.com and let her know that you'd like to be on the volunteer Rescue Writer list. If she ends up with someone in need, she may reach out to you (by no later than Dec. 16th) to see if you can rescue a gift.

Any questions? Comment below!