Remus/Sirius Small Gifts

Welcome to the 13th annual Remus/Sirius Small Gifts year-end gift exchange! We're delighted to see everyone--whether you're back for your thirteenth round or joining us for the first time. Anyone who loves Remus and Sirius and wants to see them have some holiday fun, adventures, and perhaps a little egg nog, is welcome here. This is the fest for your low-stress, year-end, R/S needs.

***The one new thing you need to note: we've moved our base of operations from Livejournal to Dreamwidth. Please sign up for a free DW account if you don't already have one; you'll need one to post your gift to the queue at the end of November.***

*** And please read carefully. This post explains how sign ups, claiming, and posting take place. Please note the six-hour claiming window--you'll select your own recipient in real time on Sunday, October 28. ***

Follow these three easy steps to celebrate the end of 2018 with Remus, Sirius, and friends, new and old.

1. SIGN UP BY LEAVING PROMPTS IN A COMMENT TO THIS POST
Schedule: sign-ups are open from Thursday, October 18, to Sunday, October 28
At any time during this ten-day period, you can join the exchange by responding to this post with a comment containing the following information:

Name: Your DW user name, a nickname or the name you'd like us to use for you, and any other identifying user names you'd like to include

E-mail: An e-mail address you check regularly (Or you can e-mail us at rs.small.gifts at gmail dot com to let us know how to get in touch with you)

Age statement: One of the following: (1) "I am over 18 or over the legal age in my country" OR (2) "I am under 18 or the legal age in my country, and I will neither ask for nor read anything with a rating over R." No age statement, or a falsified age statement, and there'll be coal in the stocking and all that.

Three wishes: Please give three prompts consisting of one word, one sentence, one quote, or one link to an image (no hotlinking!). For example: "first kiss," "warming hands by a fire," "umbrellas," "dawn on New Year's Day," "art for anything I've written," "a remix of anything I've written" "a story or art based on Splendid Wings (song by David Brown)," "cute MWPP-era icons"

Do not want to receive: List your squicks and pet peeves here: "songfic", "deathfic", "infidelity", "nicknames other that Moony and Padfoot" and what not. You can also note here if you have a preference for rating. Please be sure to note if you would not like to receive sexually explicit fic or art involving underage characters. School shenanigans not your thing? Let us know.

Am fond of: Insert your favourite things here: "sexually-confident!Remus", "Lying-low-at-Lupin's", "MWPP-era pranks". These are not prompts but a chance to tell your gift-maker a bit more about the types of things you like.

Throw in a wild card challenge: Offer an optional challenge for your gift-giver--a theme or a character or an approach you don't see in Remus/Sirius fanworks very often. Remus telling Sirius he needs to relax and have fun. An alternate universe set in another time or another culture. A fic written as a fairy tale. Your gift-giver may not opt to take up the challenge--which is fine! It's optional!--but let's spark some new ideas and have some fun with this request.

Copy and paste the handy widget thingy below to sign up:

<b>Name:</b> <b>E-mail address (or send us an e-mail):</b> <b>Age statement:</b> <b>Three wishes:</b> <b>Do not want to receive:</b> <b>Am fond of:</b> <b>Wild card challenge:</b> <b>I am new to Small Gifts this year (if so, welcome!):</b>

* Remember, "small gifts" are small--stocking stuffers, more like it: short fic (1,000 to 3,000 words), art, icons, whatever people can give. It's the thought that counts! This is low stress, not a big bang! (we look shiftily at some of you...)

* All kinds of fanworks are welcome: not just fic and art, but icons, mini-vids, crafts, pod fics. That said, please do not ask only for art or icons or crafts in your request; in general, there are any more writers than artists in the exchange.

* Please don’t suggest too much detail in your prompts, give a plot outline, or ask for a novel -- these are small gifts! If you're curious about what folks have requested in the past, check out the sign up post from a couple of years ago.

2. COME BACK TO THIS POST TO CLAIM A RECIPIENT!
Claiming begins at 11:00 a.m. Eastern US time on Sunday, October 28. (That’s 8:00 a.m. in Los Angeles, 10:00 a.m. in Mexico City, 4:00 p.m. in London, 5:00 p.m. in Berlin, 7:00 p.m. in Dubai, and 11:00 p.m. in Shanghai. Australia-Pacific folks, let us help you out by claiming for you!)

***NEW THIS YEAR***: Claiming closes after SIX hours. If you can't claim within this six-hour window (11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern US time), please get in touch with your mods and arrange for a friend (or us) to claim for you. We're happy to help.

Please claim by responding to the comment that contains the request that you want. (You can leave a line like "I claim marysue's request #2"). One claimant per participant, please. Everyone creates one gift, everyone receives one gift, and we would like everyone to get something! Claiming operates on a first-come, first-served basis, so drop by as soon as you can to claim the prompts you liked.

If you finish and submit your first small gift, you are more than welcome to come back and claim again--we usually have a celebratory bonus round at the very end of the fest with second gifts.

3. TURN IN YOUR SMALL GIFT!
Due date: Sunday, November 25
Please submit your work (BETA'D if a fic) as a post to this community. (You'll need to join, if haven't already). It will go into the moderation queue, and, depending on the number of participants, we'll reveal a gift every day until the end of the year.

THEN SIT BACK AND ENJOY THE GIFTS!
Posting begins on Saturday, December 1
Celebrate the season of lights, the solstice, birth and new beginnings, the promise of renewal. Snow and cheery fires, tinsel and mistletoe. (Or blue skies and sunshine, for some of us.) Draw up a chair by that fire, settle in, and read....

Happy, happy holidays all around!