2009 Rules & Guidelines

Smutty Claus is a fannish "secret santa" exchange -- Basically, you sign up and tell us what you like -- characters, scenarios, pairings and kinks. Then you tell us what you can write or draw. We swap assignments, you make a present for someone else, and get one in return. Sexy surprises all around!

This community is for gifts of fanfic and fanart within the Harry Potter fandom, and we focus on het couples here: male/female pairings, and all the variations our authors and artists can dream up.

If all this sounds good to you, read on:

Signups will start for returning participants on September 1, and first-time participants may sign up starting on September 2 at 12:01 am (US Eastern Time). There is a limit of 75 participants.

1. This fest is for fun! It's smut, it's fanart and fanfic, it's the holidays... what's not to love? Have a good time and enjoy the gift-giving. The mod is here to help make this fun for everyone.

2. All authors and artists must be at least 18 years old by December 1, 2009, and must have an active account at LiveJournal, DreamWidth, InsaneJournal, or JournalFen. Each person may only sign up once. We reserve the right to refuse participants who have turned in assignments over two weeks late in previous years, at the mod's discretion. HP & fandom newbies are welcome, but an active journal is required -- please contact the moderator before signups if you'd like to discuss this.

3. All fic and art must be rated R or NC-17, and contain heterosexual activity. Threesomes are welcome too, as long as they include at least one male and one female participant. Any M/M or F/F pairings must be secondary to a het pairing. Slash is great, it's just not our focus here. A holiday theme is not required, although it may be requested.

4. Work submitted should be of gift quality, new and never-before-posted. Artwork should be of finished quality, and fiction should be at least 1000 words long and proofread for grammar, English usage and canonical spellings. Everyone is encouraged to use a beta; participants are responsible for the good quality of their own work, not the mod. Your fic or art may be returned if it does not meet the request or community requirements, or if it is of generally low quality.

Headers and warnings may be edited to conform with community standards. The person who signs up originally should be the sole author/artist of the work -- any collaborations or substitutions should be cleared with the moderator before submission. Substitution may constitute a dropout.

5. This is a secret santa exchange, which means that authors and artists are anonymous during posting. Please respect the secrecy component, and wait until after the big reveal to announce yourself or post work elsewhere. Don't sign your artwork. Don't submit an outtake from your WIP or a sequel to another of your fics. That said, feel free to guess who was behind your gift! Identities will be posted to the community in January.

6. After you receive your assignment, look it over carefully. If there was a mistake or you do not think you will be able to complete a gift for your recipient, please contact the mod right away so that we can work together to solve the problem -- it is much easier to deal with this early! If you do not want to put work into a gift for another person, someone that you may not even know, feel free to enjoy the fest from the sidelines as a reader, and don't sign up.

7. All participants must create a gift in order to receive one. When you sign up, you are requesting an author or artist to dedicate their time and energy to create something especially for you. Please take that obligation seriously. Think of your time commitments and plan ahead -- if there is a chance you might not be able to complete your gift, please do not sign up.

If you signed up for smutty_claus or our sister community merry_smutmas in the past and failed to complete your assignment, you will not be able to participate this year. Anyone who drops out will not be welcome back in future years. Names of dropouts will be posted publicly at the conclusion of the fest.


See also our community's frequently asked questions.



Submission Guidelines:

Completed art should be emailed as an attachment (.jpg preferred) to smutty_claus @ yahoo.com. After all, a file posted at yourusername.com isn't very anonymous. Please include the header below in your email.

When you've finished your fic, send a .doc/.txt/.rtf/.pages attachment to smutty_claus@yahoo.com, or as a last resort you can cut & paste the story into the body of the email. If your story is too long for a single LJ post (~12,000 words), please contact the moderator for special formatting instructions. Please insert blank lines between each paragraph, and include html tags for any special formatting (italic, bold, etc.), as well as the following header:

<b>Gift For:</b> <b>Title:</b> <b>Author/Artist:</b> <b>Pairing(s):</b> <b>Summary:</b> (optional for art, required for fic) <b>Rating:</b> (R or NC-17 required) <b>Warnings:</b> Does your art/fic fit any of these categories? [non-consensual sex, dubious consent, bloodplay or other nonsexual bodily fluids, breathplay, incest, underage participants (under 18), BDSM, character death, bestiality, necrophilia, violence/disturbing content] <b>Author/Artist's notes:</b> (if any)

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact your moderator flyingcarpet at smutty_claus@yahoo.com.


Signup Form

This is not the post where you sign up! Form is included so you can take your time and write up your list in advance.
ABOUT YOU
journal/pen name:
email address (required):
Are you over 18?
Did you read the rules thoroughly?

Are you a writer or artist?
Do you prefer to receive art or fic? (limited by number of contributors, of course!)

YOUR WISH LIST
3-5 preferred characters/pairings:
suggested prompts, scenarios or kinks:
squicks or characters/pairings you don't want to receive:

YOUR CONTRIBUTION
3-5 characters/pairings you can contribute: (feel free to say "same as above," but for very rare or tertiary characters, please try to list more)
any pairings you'd rather not write/draw:
kinks or squicks you'd rather not write/draw:

Signup Guidelines:
Please note that incomplete signups/requests will not be accepted. You must list at least 3 characters/pairings -- "Remus/anyone" is just one character -- that does not count as 3 pairings. If you enjoy rare pairings, please try to be extra flexible in what you can contribute.

If you are requesting artwork, please try to make art-friendly requests. For example, colors or styles you enjoy (blue, art deco), settings or scenes (The Burrow, winter), or just individual details (candles, scarves, sunrise) can all be very helpful to artists.

When filling out your request, try to give your gifter plenty of room to work -- idea suggestions are better than specific directives. A good example is: I like Ron/Hermione, Remus/Tonks, and any pairing involving Snape. I also like shower scenes and light bondage.

A bad example is: Write me Ron and Hermione in the shower, and he ties her to the soapdish with a washcloth, and then they get interrupted and have to make up an excuse, but everyone knows what they were really up to. It's too specific. Sit back and let your secret santa do the work to give you a sexy and surprising gift.


Timeline

September 1 - Signups open for returning participants only.
September 2 - Signups open for all participants
September 7 - Signups close if maximum number not met earlier.
September 21 - Assignments sent out by this date
November 17 - Fic & art due for first-time participants
November 24 - Fic & art due for all other participants
December 1 - Posting starts
December 31 - Posting finishes
January 7 - Author/Artist identities revealed by this date