The Candles Are Coming!

What are you working on?

Mark your calendars for Winterfest Online!

Feb. 15 – 23, 2020

We create the dreams for each other … and each of us is necessary! 

Winterfest Online is a potluck. The treasures we’ll find there are our doing. There’s lots of time to create something … anything … In fact, you can submit your creations all the way through the celebration, up until February 23rd!

I’ll post the candles as they arrive. As of today, there’ve been three, but keep watch – there’ll be more.

We’re all eager for the Great Hall to open. But meanwhile – we can knock at the door. (What if Vincent answered?!)

Great Hall Doors

You can find the submission guidelines and the submission entry form at the link above as well. Any questions, just email the candlemakers.

>>>>>>> i <<<<<<<

Greetings from your wintercandlemakers!

This is the first of several candle messages you’ll be receiving over the next few weeks. We hope to answer any questions you might have concerning the festivities. We hope, too, to encourage you to participate – write something, draw something, read something aloud, share a tunnel-likely recipe – the story you have in your heart or in the back of your mind, the art or craft you see in your mind’s eye … Remember, we create the dreams for each other.

Now, that said … 🙂

Winterfest Online 2020 is not THAT far away. You’ve marked your calendars for the whole nine days – February 15th through the 23rd – and you’re busy now creating treats to share with your tunnel family during the celebration. Fanfics, art, poetry, filks, videos, crafts … Everyone is excited to see and experience all you have in the works.

But how do we share with one another? In a nutshell, here’s what to do once you’ve finished your project(s).

1. Decide where online you want to post your work.

2. Post it there and copy the URL. (Do keep it secret until Winterfest begins.)

3. Go to the WFOL Submissions Database and fill out the form.

4. Wait impatiently for the Great Hall Doors to open.

5. Rush the halls to find your friends and all the treasures brought to the table.

If you have your own blog or fanfic site, you know what to do. Just remember to keep your Winterfest offerings secret (not viewable or findable by your site’s visitors) until Feb. 15th.

Have you always wanted your own site? Now could be the time! WordPress and Blogger  make it easy to get started, and they’re free hosting services. Think of it as decorating your own chamber. 🙂

If you’re not quite ready to create your own website, then use Google Drive  to host your work. It’s a free, easy to use sharing platform – uploading a story or an image or a video or audio file is easier than attaching a file to an email. You will need a Google account, but you might have one already if you use other Google services. The get-started instructions can be found on Google Drive’s Help Page. There, you’ll learn how to upload a file *to* Google Drive and how to share a file *from* there. Look for the “share a link to the file” section; that’s how you get the URL of your project (the “shareable link”) that you’ll need to fill out the submissions database form.

Alternately, you may post to public websites, such as fanfiction.net or youtube.com or an archiveofourown.org. Just remember not to post your work too soon – Winterfest is all about surprises!

Please don’t use Facebook or Pinterest to host your work. These sites require viewers to have an account of their own, and not all visitors will want to sign up – they’ll be unable to enjoy your submissions.

Need more information?

A page to which you can refer? The Submission Guidelines offer all the how-to details.

Visit – or revisit – last year’s WFOL to see past submissions. 

Need to email the candlemakers? wintercandlemakers2@yahoo.com

And if you want to knock at the Great Hall Door (and check the countdown timer), you may!

Goodbye … for now, but be listening for future pipe tappings!

>>>>>>> ii <<<<<<<

Greetings from your wintercandlemakers!

What if … Good stories begin that way.

But what if  there were no fan fiction to read during Winterfest Online!? To Vincent – and to all of us – that would be a nightmare! So make sure you’re busy, busy, busy on all those stories you’ve been anxious to write. And on those poems and essays and scripts, too. Be a part of the dream – create a world for your fandom family!

Challenge your friends with prompts; get together with a writing partner to each take a character’s specific point of view; expand on an episode; tell a character’s back story; imagine a future in which, say, Jenny or Nancy or Joe learn of life below. Oh, the plot bunnies are hopping, aren’t they? Catch one and tuck it close!!

Be watching for the next candle and, in the meantime, be well (and be writing!) 🙂

For the WFOL Submission Guidelines and how to share your work come Winterfest, go here:

Submission Guidelines

>>>>>>> iii <<<<<<<

Greetings once again from your wintercandlemakers.

Who wants to go treasure hunting?!

The treasure hunt is a favorite part of WFOL for many visitors. But the best treasure hunts are made by many hands. We need sites to host part of the hunt, a game or activity at each of those sites, treasures to find at the end of the hunt, and optionally, “between” pages with a story to link everything together.

Who’s in? 🙂

Looking for inspiration? Check out some of Lynn Wright’s old TH games:

Eclipse crossword is another easy tool to use.

Between” pages example, made by Chan:

Email us with your interest or questions: wintercandlemakers2@yahoo.com

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WFOL 2020 will run Feb. 15 – 23. Want to knock on the Great Hall door, check the countdown clock, read the submission guidelines? Click on the link!

Until the next candle …