Stargate Atlantis Secret Santa 2012

Dear all

Claire is currently wrestling with matching, and occasionally texting me to swear (making some rather ingenious use of text speak, it has to be said), so we're still hoping to hit our target of getting assignments out by tomorrow. If there are going to be any delays, or if we end up having to send assignment mails out slowly because our ISP is being a pita (which it currently is), we'll let you know.

However, a couple of things to note:

• Please make sure that if we've left you a comment asking you to supply an e-mail address, you actually do it! There were a few of people who didn't fill that part of the template out, and not all of them have updated their information yet. If that describes you, please do it asap and respond to our comment letting us know you've done it rather than just editing your post and not letting us know (less stress for us that way ::g::). Without an e-mail address we can't send you any information on your assigned recipient, and if we don't have an e-mail address within the next few days, or you don't provide another way of contacting you, we'll treat you as having defaulted.



• This is an SG:A only ficathon. We've always said that, just as we've always said that while you can request crossovers, there's no guarantee that you'll get one in your stocking. So while we'll do our very best to match you if you've requested a pairing that involves a crossover, if you've not provided any other options, you may end up getting gen about the SG:A character. We consider SG-1 and SG:U characters to be crossover characters for this purpose, with the exception of Sam Carter, who is both SG-1 and SG:A cast.

Feel free to comment here or contact Claire or I if you have any questions :)

At midnight ish depending on your timezone (we'll try to make sure it's after midnight everywhere).

We'll be announcing when sign ups are closed (which will probably be tomorrow morning our time to make sure it's post midnight everywhere) so you'll know when that happens, but at the moment you still have around 16 hours to go (no way am I getting up before 7am ::g::)

Okay, people! Listen up! (I am totally channelling Ty McQueen here - bonus points if you get the ref ::g::)

Since it's highly likely that we'll be running Santa Madness this year on account of the fact that moonlettuce and I obviously lose our minds at some point during the festive season ::g::, it occurred to me last night that it might be helpful if as well as adding all requests to memories under the requester's LJ name, we found some way of helping you find requests for the types of story that you might like to write.

( the details )

I always get wordy when it comes to explanations and the rationale behind things, so here's the short version:

• all request tags start 'requests 2010'


• please tag your request posts; and


• please be sensible about about any additional tags you request - we shouldn't have any 'one post only' tags.

Gosh, that was so much briefer ::g::

I would point out that Madness is optional, and no one is guaranteed a treat, but I'm sure you're all big boys and girls and had figured that out on your own ::g::

And because you're all big girls and boys, can I just remind you that the fest is open to all SG:A fans no matter what flavour they ship or don't ship? I've largely been simply filing requests in memories rather than looking at them at this point (long, boring story about a not well child) but I'd like to reiterate what's been said by others already. It's okay to not want things - that's why there's a line specifically for that ::g:: - and it's even okay to not be able to stand certain pairings or characters. But please phrase that respectfully in requests. Just think how you'd feel if it was someone else talking about your OTP and word your request accordingly. 'I don't want this pairing, please' is fine. 'This pairing needs to die in the burning hot fires of hell'... probably not so much ::g:: Thank you!

::stomps very gently::

As Claire said in the last post, we came very, very close to hitting the 1,000,000 word mark (and there's still time!). I know I was asked about that, and I've been asked what the longest stories etc are, so there are some stats for those who are interested behind the lj-cut.

( Statistics and a pretty picture )

And there you have it. Evidence of just how prolific you all are, all nicely laid out ::g::

I've been told I can't call this post Dear Delinquents, at least, not in reference to the overdue stories. I'm saying nothin' about anything else ::g::

Dear authors who have not yet submitted their stories but who have been in touch to negotiate an extension:

If we don't receive the story by the 18th December, and we haven't negotiated a later extension with you already (I don't think this applies to anyone but I am an Al of very little brain and too complex spreadsheets), then we will be requesting pinch hitters on the 18th. This does not mean that you have to stop working on your story, or that you can't still submit it because if you still manage to finish it then your recipient gets two, and that's never bad. It's simply to guarantee that your recipient gets a story by Christmas and to give pinch hitters time to work on something. If you get your story in before the reveal but after the 18th, it goes up anonymously. If it's after the reveal (with the reveal date being 1 January), then please feel free to post the story to the comm yourself.

Dear pinch hitters:

This does not mean you. We reserve the last day of posting for your stories because we love you and all that you do (unless you get them in earlier, in which case we love you even more) ::smooch::

Last day of posting will be the 24th.

Dear everyone else:

Watch this space.

Thanks, guys! Got everyone we need.

Unfortunately, we're still missing four stories and it's looking increasingly unlikely that we're going to get them in time, so we're flinging ourselves at your feet and begging for pinch hitters.

If you could (and are willing) write one of the following by the 24th, please let me know. Normal practice applies - I'll screen comments and update the post when we have someone for a particular assignment.

1 - Rodney focused hurt comfort, gen or McKay/Sheppard

2 - Radek focused, either gen, het (Elizabeth/Radek) or slash (various pairings)

3 - Rodney focused crack or hurt comfort, slash preferably McKay/Sheppard but other pairings welcome

4 - gen or McKay/Sheppard, gen around the way that the Atlantis contingent works, either the science or military contingent, slash would like first time

If you're interested, please quote the relevant number and leave your e-mail address in the comments. There may be kittens and rainbows in your future :)

Thank you :)

First of all, thank you to everyone who has managed to submit their story, particularly those people who managed to get their stories in early. We really appreciate it and you're all on Santa's nice list and will receive fic in your stocking :)

We appreciated it even more if you managed to format your submission in such a way that we only need to copy and paste it into LJ. As moonlettuce requested in her last post, if you want to use italics, bold tags or similar in your story, please make sure that you code them up in a format suitable for livejournal. That means using html tags such as:

< i>italics
< b>bold
< u>underline

only without the space in the first tag, obviously.

Unfortunately, quite a few people have been sending us stories in Word, with words italicised, bolded or underlined but with no html tags. This means that copying and pasting into LJ will result in this formatting being lost unless:

- Claire or I go through and put the tags in for you
- we convert the Word document into HTML and copy and paste that in, which is Bad and Wrong and kills kittens (or at least a lot of people's browsers)
- we use the rich text option on livejournal, which is also Bad and Wrong for similar reasons.

Since Claire and I only tend to the Bad and Wrong when it involves writing porn (because anything else we're not admitting to in public), this means that we've been going through and coding them up for you, but we simply aren't going to have time to do that from now on. It's now the 13th, and to date we've only received 32 out of 76 stories due (they were due by the 10th). We start posting tomorrow. Cue lots of flailing.

So I'm afraid that from today, anything that's received without html tags around any fancy schmancy formatting will have to be posted without any fancy schmancy formatting at all. Sorry.

In the same vein, given the rather large number of authors who have requested an extension, if you're one of them, please do your very best to make sure that your fic gets to us by the agreed extension date. If you do, we'll love you forever. In a non-Bad and Wrong way, obviously.

And if you're one of the three authors who hasn't provided us with either a story, or a request for an extension, please can you let us have one or the other as soon as possible. We have mailed you, so please check your e-mail as well, even if you think you're not one of them. Just in case the reindeers have eaten fic or plea en route.

Thank you.