Entry tags:

Quest 1 - narnialover7

Chapter 4 - Side Quest (Light & Fog)
I really hope I'm doing this alright; I apologize in advance if this all wrong.

Go H E R E to see the rest of the icons @ my journal. :)

Current Music: The Chipmunks & David Seville - Deck The Halls (Remastered 1999)

Entry tags:

Pass It On 6

https://res.cloudinary.com/dc2cefbey/image/upload/v1766704783/aryrea_agppve.jpg

Next picture: Christopher Pike (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds)

Entry tags:

Pass It On 6

https://i.postimg.cc/j51m9hv0/pass-it-on-2.png

Dalton Kincaid (Buffalo Bills)

Next Picture:

Entry tags:

madness,
reveals

Yuletide Madness Is Live

At push of button, this year's Madness collection has 227 works in 183+ fandoms.

AO3 wranglers have processed a lot of new fandoms; in the main collection, the 992 that appeared on the fandoms page at reveals have become 1065! Thanks to everyone who has helped make wranglers' jobs easier by using canonical tags, tags from the tag set, or other recommended tags, as appropriate in each case.

If you've written in a new fandom that isn't wrangled yet, we encourage you to use Unspecified Fandom as a tag to help people find your work; many works originally tagged this way now have wrangled fandoms, in which case, you can take the tag off if you wish.

As in the last post:
Commenting
Please comment on your gift(s) to let your writer know you appreciate them. Please also comment on anything else you enjoy!

Recs
Making work recommendations is a tradition. Please see more information at the participant community about where you can post your recs.

Problems
If there is something wrong with your gift or you have another concern, please contact the mods at yuletideadmin@gmail.com.

Anonymity
Yuletide is designed to be an anonymous exchange until January 1. Please don't give away what you've written. When logged in, you can, if you want, reply to comments on your own works, and you will show up as Anonymous Creator until the authors of the collection are revealed.

The Yuletide event concludes at 9pm UTC, 1 January 2026. At that time we will reveal creator names at both the main and Madness collection, and also open the new New Year's Resolution collection.

Prompt 2708: Tradition

Today's prompt is: tradition

• You have 2 days time to submit an icon for this prompt (in other words, until prompt 2710 gets posted)!
• Prompt 2706 has been closed.
• If you have any questions regarding the prompt, feel free to ask in a comment.
• To submit an icon you simply reply to this post with the following information:
Icon:
Claim: (only necessary if it's a specific claim)
Status: (e.g. #1/10 - number of icon completed/table size)

Pre-formatted

Entry tags:

Pass It On 6

URL: https://i.imgur.com/ANBgBe0.jpg

Next - The Mandalorian (Star Wars)

Entry tags:

Book #08 Der Markisenmann by Jan Weiler

Mount TBR 2025 Book #08 Der Markisenmann

Der Markisenmann by Jan Weiler

i read book 7 before this but the draft is on my computer at home. i will post it once i'm home again.

For some reason, this book has not been translated to English. Considering it seems to be on the German school curriculum and is by far the author's most popular novel, that surprised me. Oh, well.

It's not like I liked it that much, so you're not missing out. ;)

Kim, 15 years old, and unhappy growing up with her mother, her stepdad and half-brother, has to spend the summer with her father, who she has never met before. Both of them carry a large guilt. Her father is trying to make up for his by selling unsellable old product door-to-door, and she starts helping him.

some thoughts, non-spoilery

* It took me three chapters to figure out that the main character is a girl - that was weird. I still don't quite trust the author to realistically write a 15-year-old girl, even after having read that book and being unable to put my finger on exactly why.

* From the very start, I had trouble identifying with the main character. I don't think I want to blame the author, I'm just not very interested in 15-year-old girls and their problems, even if those problems are relatable - although to be fair I don't remember having had similar problems, myself. (Except for the unrequited crushes, I do remember those. :D )

* I liked that there was never an answer for all the guilt. She feels guilty for setting her brother on fire - half accidentally, half not, she herself doesn't know - but there is no solution for it.

* Her father deals with his guilt in his own way, by setting himself an impossible task and doing penance for the rest of his life. I never quite managed to get how anone would do that. Yes, he ruined someone's life, yes he can never make up for that, and still. It just never clicked with me.

* Nothing much happens in this book. She gets to know the people who live around her father, falls in love with a neighbor boy but doesn't make anything of it, goes door to door with her father selling ugly canvas blinds (which is where the name of the book comes from). It's quite unremarkable, but she grows up a lot. That's the point.

* The parts about the father's (and mother's and stepdad's) East German past were quite good, but too short in my opinion, and it took a bit long for her to find out what exactly happened. They're probably the reason why the book is on the school curriculum.

* The insights into different people were quite poignant, but overall nothing really gripped me. Maybe it's because the author wrote the book for his daughter, i.e. it's basically a YA book, and I felt like there was nothing new for me in it.

3 stars - Not bad, just not my type of book.

1 - 5 stars - Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky The Final Architecture #1 [DW link]
2 - 2 stars - Miss Merkel: Mord auf dem Friedhof by David Safier Miss Merkel #2 [DW link]
3 - 4 stars - Once Broken Faith by Seanan McGuire Toby Daye #10 [DW link]
4 - 1 star - Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin [DW link]
5 - 5 stars - Murderbot Diaries 1-4 by Martha Wells [DW link]
6 - 4 stars - Die Neuerfindung der Diktatur/We Have Been Harmonized by Kai Strittmatter [DW link]
7 - tbd
8 - 3 stars - Der Markisenmann by Jan Weiler [DW link]

Entry tags:

Pass It On 6

https://images2.imgbox.com/d5/87/4Cmbwwi3_o.png

Next picture: Luz from The Owl House (thumbnail)

Entry tags:

#round 90,
tinny

Man in a hat on orange background

Wu Lei

https://tinpix.de/2025/wulei_kj31400.png

Current Mood: bored

Entry tags:

Pass It On 6

https://res.cloudinary.com/dc2cefbey/image/upload/v1766632589/qt43_zxceep.jpg

Next picture: Spock (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds)

I used to be michaelmyers, could I get a username change please?

Entry tags:

Pass It On 6

Link: https://i.imgur.com/sGQT4L9.jpg

Next (Thumbnail) - TRON (1982)

I hope I did this right. Click twice on thumbnail for a really BIG picture.

Entry tags:

Pass It On 6

https://i.postimg.cc/7hFH3t95/pass-it-on-1.png

Dalton Kincaid & Dawson Knox (Buffalo Bills)

Next Picture:

Prompt 2707: Drama

Today's prompt is: drama

• You have 2 days time to submit an icon for this prompt (in other words, until prompt 2709 gets posted)!
• Prompt 2705 have been closed.
• If you have any questions regarding the prompt, feel free to ask in a comment.
• To submit an icon you simply reply to this post with the following information:
Icon:
Claim: (only necessary if it's a specific claim)
Status: (e.g. #1/10 - number of icon completed/table size)

Pre-formatted

Entry tags:

2025,
reveal

Yuletide 2025 Anonymous Period

Hello, Yuletiders–as you may have noticed, the anonymous setting on the Yuletide collection, which should hide all author names until reveals on January 1st, does not seem to be working as expected, and shortly after our planned works reveals, we had an unplanned reveal of author names. We’re very sorry for this unexpected breaking of anonymity!

We’re reaching out to AO3 to help us resolve the problem. In the meantime, we have updated all works manually, and author names should now be hidden again. If you notice we have missed any, please reach out to us privately at yuletideadmin@gmail.com.

Again, our apologies–and we hope you enjoy the collection!

Yuletide Madness is scheduled to reveal at 9 PM UTC on 25 December, but this may be delayed if necessary to ensure author anonymity.

ETA: We know many of you have received email notifications to say, "The collection maintainers of Yuletide 2025 have changed the status of your work [work] to anonymous..." This is a result of us updating them manually to hide author names, in order to achieve the same effect you would expect from reveals in an ordinary Yuletide. Sorry for the confusion! You can safely ignore these notifications; we will reveal author names on January 1st, manually if we have to.

Entry tags:

2025,
reveal

Yuletide 2025 is live!

Yuletide 2025 Collection Is Live Here!

Enjoy 1539 works in 992 fandoms! (The number will go up as wranglers canonize fandoms - this will take a little time, though.)

The reveals process takes a little while to work in a collection of this size; if a story in the collection is still a mystery work an hour after opening, please let us know.

Finding works
You can find your own gifts on your AO3 gifts page: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YOUR-NAME-HERE/gifts, or by searching the box at the top of the collection works page for the full name you signed up with, or by checking your email if you get email notifications from AO3. Note: your email notifications may bundle together, and it might look like you only got one gift, when in fact you got more.

You can browse the collection by tags or by fandoms. Some fandoms are new and may not show up immediately (wranglers are working on this) or where you expect them; please check labels such as Original Work, 19th Century Historical RPF, Object and Concept Anthropomorphism, and Unspecified Fandom. More info about Unspecified Fandom here.

Anonymity
Yuletide is an anonymous exchange until creator reveals January 1. Please don't give away what you've written. When logged in, you can, if you want, reply to comments on your own works, and you will show up as Anonymous Creator until the authors of the collection are revealed.

Commenting!
Please comment on your gift(s) to let your writer(s) know you appreciate them. We also recommend commenting far and wide to spread the comment joy around! You may enjoy the challenge of a comment bingo card [update for this year's link!].

AO3 changed default comment settings last year. If you want to make sure people can comment on your gifts when they aren't logged in, you may need to change a setting on your work. More information here, under 'Your comment settings'.

Recs
Making work recommendations is a tradition. Please see more information at the participant community (

yuletide) about where you can post your recs.

Madness
For those still writing, the 2025 Yuletide Madness collection will stay open for new stories to be posted for 24 hours. It will close for posting, and open for reading, at 9pm UTC 25 December. If you're looking for prompts, there's a roundup of links here.

Problems
If there is something wrong with your gift or you have another concern, please contact the mods at yuletideadmin@gmail.com.

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

Round 182: 2022 76

The last of us , Stranger things , Agatha all along

( URL )

Current Mood: 🤩 amazed
Current Location: 🌎

Entry tags:

Challenge 199 - Voting

There are over twenty marvelous movie icons entries. Thank you very much to all the participants!
Voter Guide
Anyone is welcome to vote.
Please choose FOUR (4) icons for the main placements and one each for the categories Best Color (Coloring), Best Image Crop & Best Composition.
Please, don't vote for your own icons or ask others to vote for your icons.
Please try to vote for the best quality icons, not only the subjects, fandoms or makers.

Important:
Please vote for a different icon for each of the categories (Color, Crop, Composition).
There is a checkbox & text answer combo poll, to change your votes, click the poll link.
Voting will be open for one week.
Thank you for voting.

( Vote Here 🗳️.... )

Prompt 2706: Team

closed

Today's prompt is: team

• You have 2 days time to submit an icon for this prompt (in other words, until prompt 2708 gets posted)!
• Prompt 2704 has been closed.
• If you have any questions regarding the prompt, feel free to ask in a comment.
• To submit an icon you simply reply to this post with the following information:
Icon:
Claim: (only necessary if it's a specific claim)
Status: (e.g. #1/10 - number of icon completed/table size)

Pre-formatted

Current Mood: cold

Entry tags:

Challenge #229 - Favourites 2025

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

( links )

Entry tags:

deadlines,
reveals

36 Hours to Reveals

We're so close! This year, Yuletide reveals are at 9pm UTC on 24 December - that has changed since last year.

COUNTDOWN TO REVEALS

Tips

Formatting

Getting your story up on AO3 is the main thing. But, now it's there, please check it over again before reveals - especially to see if you've left in any bits you're going to replace like [xxx]. But also please check for legibility - check for text with no gaps between paragraphs, or text with massive gaps between paragraphs. Click/tap for more information...

Issues often arise when posting from Google Docs. You can use this Google doc or this extension to help convert your document to HTML for a better copy/paste experience. The problem with italics and punctuation can also be solved by including the punctuation inside the italics tags.

If your story has no space between paragraphs, check to see if you pasted your story into the HTML tab instead of the Rich Text tab. Paragraph spacing occasionally gets added to places like summaries when you edit them, so you might want to double-check that also!

( Below the cut are examples of spacing that’s too big, too little, and juuuuust right. )

If the spacing in your work is wacky, we recommend editing it to avoid putting off potential readers.

Your comment settings

In recent years, AO3 changed the default settings for comments on your work. If you want to allow comments from guests/readers who aren't logged in, check your work. Click/tap for info...

Before July 2024, the default setting for comments allowed on your work was "Registered users and guests can comment." In July, AO3 changed that so that the default setting is "Only registered users can comment." That means that if you posted your Yuletide work without changing the settings, no one can comment on your work without logging into their account.

If that matches your preferences, that's great. If you'd like to make it possible for anyone who reads your work to comment, please edit your work and change the setting. This setting is directly above the Work Text field.

Tagging and "Unspecified Fandom"

Please tag your work accurately, including warnings. We encourage you to use "Unspecified Fandom", alongside a specific tag, to help users find a fandom that isn't wrangled yet. Please reach out if you're not sure how to tag a new or non-canonical fandom. Click/tap for info...

For warnings, Choose Not to Warn is a valid warning tag. You may wish to use the end notes if there is content that you don't want to spoil with specific tags.

If your fandom is completely new, please use the tag that was approved into the tag set. These tags were formulated to meet archive guidelines and will be more quickly canonized, so that your work can be found from the Fandoms page of the collection. We recommend you also use "Unspecified Fandom", because this will show up in the fandoms list immediately, even if the actual fandom tag isn't wrangled straight away. Please do not tag your work with Unspecified Fandom as the only fandom tag. Instead, tag with both Unspecified Fandom and the actual fandom tag.

If your fandom is a subset of a canonical tag (like an RPF fandom that belongs in Actor RPF, or a season of a Let's Play fandom that has an overarching canonical), we recommend tagging with the parent fandom. Please reach out to mods if you're not sure that's what you should do.

Your author's notes

Please keep these positive. Please don't identify yourself - no social media links! Also, please don't apologize for your work, tell your recipient all about what a tough time you had writing, or otherwise ask your recipient to accept a negative sentiment along with their gift.

Treats!!

Additional works are warmly welcomed for participants signed up to Yuletide* and all additional pinch hitters.

Please check these guidelines for whether to post treats in the main Yuletide collection (closes Dec 24) or the Yuletide Madness collection (closes Dec 25). Unlike in some exchanges, Yuletide's treating period does not continue indefinitely. Please get your treats in before reveals - or you'll need to wait until next year.

Not all users accept treats

Please do not create treats for: Arsenic, BluebirdCT, Budouka, couch1141, theblakery, Witgifu. This list is subject to change, as you can change the setting to accept treats (or not) at any time. Check with mods if unsure.