Welcome, SV, to the Secret Santa Short Story Contest! SV is full of talented writers, and we’d like to give everyone a chance to both show off their skills and share some of the spirit of the season with their fellow sitegoers. For this event, participants are asked to write short stories based on prompts submitted by other participants, assigned at random and posted in this thread, with the intended recipient kept secret until December 25th. New and experienced writers alike are welcome, and we encourage everyone to give…
Welcome, SV, to the Secret Santa Short Story Contest! SV is full of talented writers, and we’d like to give everyone a chance to both show off their skills and share some of the spirit of the season with their fellow sitegoers. For this event, participants are asked to write short stories based on prompts submitted by other participants, assigned at random and posted in this thread, with the intended recipient kept secret until December 25th. New and experienced writers alike are welcome, and we encourage everyone to give it a shot regardless of how experienced you are — think of it as a chance to practice your skills with a friendly audience. (Or strut your stuff before an awed audience of admirers.)
To participate, just submit a prompt to this thread, under a spoiler box, and you’ll be assigned a prompt to write for after the submission period ends. Prompt submissions will be open until Dec 10, 2025 at 7:00 PM , after which all participants will be randomly assigned a prompt from another participant. All prompts should be fandom-agnostic, and their exact terms kept secret. You will then have until Yesterday at 7:00 PM to write a short story in response to the prompt and submit it to this thread under a spoiler.
All stories should be posted to this thread inside a spoiler and without their prompt, so we can preserve the surprise. You are, of course, welcome to discuss stories in the thread, but we do ask that it be kept general until the assignments have been publicly announced — in particular, too-blatant speculation on which prompts match which some submissions can take some of the fun out of the game.
Once all the entries are in on Yesterday at 7:00 PM , we’ll announce who received which prompt, letting all prompters see which stories were written for them. We do ask that all prompts be kept secret until that time. After that time, our judges will go through the submitted entries and select some of the best entries, hopefully announcing a winner on New Year’s Day, as well as the runner-up and special mentions. All participants in this or any other Winterfest event will receive one month’s silver subscription, while special mentions will receive 3 months of gold subscription, and the runner-up will receive a $25 gift card. The winner of the SV Secret Santa Short Story Contest will receive a $50 gift card.
- To participate, submit a prompt to this thread under a spoiler before Dec 10, 2025 at 7:00 PM
- Prompts should be fandom-agnostic
- After that date, you will be assigned a randomly selected prompt from this thread
- Submit a short story written to match that prompt to this thread under a spoiler, without the prompt for which it was written
- All entries must be submitted before the deadline of Yesterday at 7:00 PM
- Our judges will read over the entries and try to pick a winner and runners-up before New Year’s Day
- All Winterfest participants will receive a month of silver subscription
If I submit a prompt to this event, am I absolutely required to write for someone else’s prompt also? Yes. If you believe that you may not have the time or bandwith for a response, please refrain from submitting a prompt. What is a "prompt" for the purposes of this contest? A prompt is a starting point for someone else to write a story. Think one to three sentences outlining an idea or concept, to give the recipient somewhere to start. What about more experimental prompts, like art or music? If you want to try something more experimental, feel free - art and music can be very inspiring. In the interest of not bewildering the recipient, it might be helpful to include a sentence or two discussing what themes or topics you were thinking of. Do you have any tips or suggestions on how to write a good prompt? It’s probably best to keep it simple - think of an idea that interest you, lay out the basics of it, then have faith in the recipient to interpret in an interesting way. Can I submit multiple prompts? We ask that you make only one entry to the contest, as that might complicate the randomization. How much should we write? Please keep it reasonable, while remaining within the bounds of the prompt - however, whether that requires 500 or 5000 words may depend on your best judgement. If I submit a prompt but then don’t write anything for the prompt I’m given, do I still get a participation award? No. While we understand that the holiday season has many other demands on everyone’s time, we do require full participation in both parts of the event. What if we can’t write for the prompt we’ve been assigned? Please make a good-faith effort. If it is still not possible, inform a staff member at the earliest opportunity. Are we allowed to use AI for this contest? Please refrain from any use of AI in writing either your prompt or your story — we would like for all content to be human-written.
Erien
Life is a series of very wonderful surprises.
In the North Pole, a second Santa. One of cold metal and incorrect assumptions. Chat-GPT Santa is here to deliver presents to all the good little boys and ERROR.
Last edited: Dec 3, 2025
I have a question - it says that prompts should be fandom-agnostic (which makes sense; it’s hard to write about a fandom you don’t know). Does that also apply to stories? It seems to make sense there, too (to avoid the problem in reverse), but it doesn’t actually say so.
This was fun last time! Looking forward to getting a prompt to fulfill again this time; may be what I need to get back into writing some more, plus it’s fun to have some constraints to work in.
I’d really like to see something with artificial life and gay pining. Any kind: Technological or magical, a whole person or a new animal; unrequited crushing, distant idolization, missing a partner who’s away... The two elements can be directly connected or just separate things that just both fit into the story. Surprise me!
Last edited: Dec 3, 2025
At what point are we allowed to read all the prompts?
With your time machine finally finished, you decided to take it for a test drive by going back in time to see one of Jesus’ sermons.
Everything had been going well, and your disguise seemed to be working as you listened in on the sermon. At least it seemed so, right up until the moment Jesus looked straight at you and said "You’re not supposed to be here", in modern English.
"We’re coming to you live from the North Pole as the siege enters its *third *day..."
OHHH THIS IS GONNA BE FUN
On the most isolated space station in the solar system, people have to make do during the holiday season since resupply only comes in March. How does our protagonist get everyone in their eight-person kitchen table polycule something for the different holidays they celebrate?
And apparently we are doing spoiler prompt gang again this year.
"How I’ve changed" or "A comparison between two holidays, years apart" Should be uplifting and queer.
Gyr
Airplane Enjoyer
An alien spaceship secretly stationed at the Arctic Circle departs after a year of studying Earth. However, one crew member was accidentally left behind. This wayward alien eventually wanders across Santa’s Workshop at the North Pole.
And apparently we are doing spoiler prompt gang again this year.
All my homies love spoiler prompt yadda yadda yadda
(I’ve never regretted not seriously getting into meme culture but this is the closest I’ve gotten.)
Are erotic stories and optional erotic story prompts on the table?
I’m in again.
You keep waking up in the morning, it’s the same day all over again. You think you’re supposed to meet a special someone (like Rita from Groundhog’s Day), but you haven’t met that person yet in all your loops. Until now.
"Due to a bureaucratic error, we at the Heavenly Bureaucracy extend our apologies for botching your reincarnation. We’re afraid you’ll be starting your life as yourself again."
Let’s see, let’s try once again to make it as broad as possible so writers can interpret it however they like
As far as one can remember, they have always lived in the Tower.
They say that Santa’s List is never wrong and whether you are Naughty or Nice can decide your future. You are a productive member of society, but you fear the reveal of your greatest secret: you have only gotten coal for Christmas.
An ancient immortal being, that napped through the rise of human civilization, awoke to discover a human settlement built over or around their resting place. They decide to spend some time exploring this strange new development.
I have a question - it says that prompts should be fandom-agnostic (which makes sense; it’s hard to write about a fandom you don’t know). Does that also apply to stories? It seems to make sense there, too (to avoid the problem in reverse), but it doesn’t actually say so.
It’s probably fairer to the recipient to give them a gift they can enjoy no matter their interests, unless you happen to know for a fact they’re particularly interested in a single fandom. Even then, they might enjoy something new!
At what point are we allowed to read all the prompts?
Although we’re not barring you from taking a look, it might be more fun to wait and see rather than rushing ahead; half the fun is in the anticipation.
Are erotic stories and optional erotic story prompts on the table?
At the moment, I’m going to say no — it would be a rather surprising request to receive, and we don’t want to discomfit people.
This looks like fun. I’m glad I didn’t miss the sign-up this year.
Santa’s coal mines are exhausted, and now the North Pole has to find a new way to discourage naughty children.
This looks potentially interesting, let’s give it a go!
"I just woke up and I’m stuck as a different species. This is... inconvenient... but it could be worse."
Actually as a small question, would we be allowed to change our prompt after posting it, so long as we do so before the deadline, or is it once-posted they’re locked in?
After defeating a frost-themed monster of the week, the team (capes, mahous, plucky mundane teenagers, etc) hold an impromptu snowball fight.
This is the first I’m hearing about an event like this and it really seems up my alley! Here’s something very loosely inspired by a game I just started playing:
A noble (or equivalent) in exile laments that their people will not be able to celebrate their holiday traditions whilst their home remains occupied by an invading force.
A collection of fictional characters has become self aware, and has to reconcile with the fact that their creator is an absolute hack, and that they were created as strawmanned setpieces in a contrived author diatribe.
Can we alter the prompt before the deadline if we’re feeling indecisive, or do they go in the big bucket day 1?
Last edited: Dec 4, 2025
The forces of Christmas retail have finally caught up with Santa and taken her in for interogation, but not all is as it seems