Here we are again, guys and dolls. I was also thinking of doing a 'stuff I liked in this hellhole year!' post but idk if anyone is interested? Let me know? If so, I'll do it but if not then bye.
S T A T S :
fics: 32. Pretty good!
total word count: 78,327. I never did this before, but I wish I had. That's a lot of words!
FANDOMS: 10
Shadowhunters: 9
Daredevil: 8
Gossip Girl: 5
AHS: Hotel: 3
Misc: 7
SHIPS: 19 different ships
hetero: 13
slash: 5
femslash: 2
gen: 6
female POV: 17
male POV: 15
most written character: Elektra, who featured in five fics.
most written ship: Dan/Blair and Matt/Elektra tied with 4 fics each.
O V E R A L L :
Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?
More, actually. I forgot that I did last year's holiday fics in January, which pushed up the fic count for this year. I always feel like I never do anything but turns out I was pretty active this year.
What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January?
I did not anticipate falling into a new fandom (Shadowhunters). This time last year I was pretty much ready to exit fandom entirely. Everything about that has been pretty fun and stress-free (just what fandom is actually supposed to be!) so it's been a bright spot for me. Season 2 tomorrow!!!!!
What’s your own favorite story of the year?
I think my longer Magnus/Alec fic, "thanks to the full moon in scorpio." I really wanted to do well by the ship/characters/fandom and I think I accomplished what I wanted with it. A few people I admire on tumblr have recommended it, which always warms the heart. But I'm very happy with most of the fics I wrote this year! I wrote a whole bunch of new pairings and fandoms, some that had been very intimidating for me, and I always like to try and tackle new things. I also really loved "the diamond days are done," which was a less popular Magnus/Camille fic. But I really enjoyed exploring Magnus' history and a relationship he had that we haven't seen a lot of on the show.
Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?
I don't know that I took BIG risks, but I did try to vary my style a little and write new things. I almost always find it rewarding to step outside my box and I would like to continue to do that so I can grow. I want my writing to always be improving and getting stronger.
Do you have any fanfic goals for the New Year?
I am always disappointed by the amount of femslash I have written, i.e. very little. I would like to write more. I would also like to try genres that are less familiar to me (horror, mystery) and things I'm not as good at (more complex plotting, descriptive writing).
Did you meet your goals from last year?
Last year I listed my goals as: write more gay shit, finish things I had "floating around," and write another The Man From U.N.C.L.E. fic. I did write one TMFU fic this year so...did that, I guess, lol. I was not gayer and I have no idea what I wanted to finish last year.
B E S T A N D W O R S T :
My best story of this year:
Since I've talked about the Magnus/Alec fic already, I'll say: my Yuletide fic, "weird boy," which was for The Get Down. It was a Dizzee/Thor fic from Dizzee's PoV. I found writing for this particular fandom quite daunting because the language of the show is so unique and beautiful, and Dizzee was a difficult character to write. It was a little tough at times but the final product was incredibly rewarding for me and people seemed to respond to it the way I wanted, too, which is always great.
My most popular story of this year:
According to the stats on AO3, it's a toss-up between the two Magnus/Alec fics I wrote. The shorter but more pornographic of the two ("all of this then back again") seemed to have gotten more hits/kudos, but the longer and more character-explorative one ("thanks to the full moon in scorpio") got more comments and bookmarks. Interesting.
Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:
I was really happy with all of my AHS: Hotel fics, but it's a very small fandom so they don't get much attention. I was also lowkey disappointed my Simon/Jace fic ("see I'm much too clever") didn't seem to get much response, but I feel like it can go that way with sexier fics sometimes; people are less inclined to comment. And one of my Clary/Izzy fics ("crave you") also got less response than I expected. I really enjoyed writing that one.
Most fun story to write:
I think "saving simon lewis," a Simon/Raphael fic. I sort of whipped it up over just a few days while doing a fic-a-day challenge. It was supposed to be a one-shot but ended up being three parts because it was so fun and I had so much more story I wanted to tell. It was my chance to tackle a kind of story I loved in my own teenage days, the whole teen human/broody vampire thing, and I had a lot of fun putting my own spin on the trope. Plus I was writing a new pairing in a new fandom at the same time, which was also exciting.
Story with the single sexiest moment:
Okay I've officially talked about "thanks to the full moon in scorpio" more than anyone who still reads my LJ cares about, but: writing Alec kind of...celebrating his sexuality after suppressing it for so long was hot. And emotionally fulfilling. Combo breaker!
Most “holy crap, that’s wrong, even for you” story:
I don't think I have one this year? Alert me if I'm forgetting something.
Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:
I think all fic does this to some extent because the deeper you get into a character's brain to figure out how they work, the more your understanding of them opens up. But my instinct is to say "I belong to the cult of love," which was a Sally-centric AHS: Hotel fic. She was a different kind of character to write and one that I really liked exploring. I definitely felt like I had greater understanding of her and her motivations after that.
Hardest story to write:
The Gossip Girl 1940s wartime AU ("as the hours and the days and the weeks") was very difficult because it required a lot of research in a short time and made me really realize how much I did not retain about history from school, lol. I also just had trouble making it sound how I wanted it to sound. That said, I very much enjoyed writing the letters within the fic. Though I personally do not particularly enjoy reading epistolary writing, I find that I really enjoy writing it myself. It's sort of like making a puzzle from scratch? You have to tackle each character's personal voice, adjust for who they're talking to, and not give up all the exposition at once, even if you want to (you always want to). It's a challenge I find very fun. So: difficult, but in a good way.
Biggest disappointment:
Not finishing my holiday fics in time. :( I had a very crappy last two weeks of the year, as many did. I had little bit of a freakout pre-Christmas and then the waterfall of George Michael, Carrie Fisher, and Debbie Reynolds put me in such a funk I didn't want to do anything. I tried to churn out at least one of the final two before the year ended but it just didn't work out. I know it doesn't really matter, but I was disappointed in myself.
Biggest surprise:
I wrote kind of a long fic for a little nothing indie movie called The Overnight. Not in a million years did I think I would be doing that? It was a movie I did enjoy, but I didn't get quite what I wanted from it. I was disappointed it wasn't as forward-thinking as it thought it was, so I wanted to give it the ending I wanted it to have. But it's hardly a favorite movie or anything, so it was funny that I wrote such a long fic for it.
Most unintentionally telling story:
Perhaps "weird boy." Aspects of Dizzee's journey in figuring out his sexuality were very much based on my own shit.
W I P T E A S E R S :
untitled hermione/fleur fic.
Hermione sighed, face resting heavy in her hand. The post-holiday slump was always incredibly depressing; without anything to look forward to, it was just a slushy, sleeting wasteland complete with deflating decorations that no one would remember to take down until February. The post-holiday sales also left the stores mobbed, with any inventory that wasn’t snatched up before the holidays getting marked down and reluctantly dragged home by dedicated deal-makers. Hermione always worked the slowest times at Flourish and Blott’s because she grabbed shifts when school was off.
celluloid pictures living. shadowhunters, simon/raphael. old hollywood au.
When Simon went out to Hollywood, he told his mother that he got an accounting job on a studio lot, doing the numbers on costumes and sets. Instead he crowded into a crummy apartment with three other guys, scraped together a paycheck that barely covered a can of soup, and pretended to play whatever instrument they asked him to in the background of Paramount's latest, Hotel Dumort.
crossed out. gossip girl, dan/blair.
Dying for love is only romantic in the movies.
When Blair was young she thought it was terribly wonderful, in the abstract, to perish from love, to be on fire, to burn away. L'amour fou. The reality is a lot more pragmatic, and it hurts.
Dying for love is only romantic in the movies. Blair is tired of bleeding.
the second best. gossip girl, dan/carter.
It pings Carter's heartstrings in a stupid way so he shuffles up to kiss the back of Dan's neck like he used to, like he likes to. He had missed the smell of Dan's expensive cologne, his cheap shampoo. He missed the feeling of Dan's body against him and under his hands. It was easy, when Carter was away, to get nostalgic for Dan's sarcasm and huffiness, his mean jokes and soft heart, but physicality was something else. Carter couldn't remind himself of the exact sensation of Dan's skin under his mouth the way he could remember a particularly good line. Now all of it's driving him crazy.
you better work, bitch. shadowhunters, simon/jace. jace-is-a-personal-trainer au.
Jace. Even his name is irritating. As if the cocky grin wasn't bad enough, the blond hair, the tattoos, the arms – as if everything about him wasn't designed to play on Simon's deepest, most ingrained insecurities, his name just had to be Jace. It's such a bro name, Jace, all one-syllable smoothness, sleek and cool. It's stamped on his nametag in all caps as though to antagonize Simon, J A C E, pinned to a spandex top that Simon would have been more comfortable with had it been printed in one of his comic books. Jace. The name would have been more than enough to trigger Simon's pettiest reaction, but then Jace grins at him and speaks.
R E C L I S T :
Just a few fics I loved this year. :)
• said do what you have to do.daredevil, frank/karen. by![]()
stainofmylove.
• the tell-tale heart. shadowhunters, raphael/simon. bookshop au. by reginalds.
• lick it off my lips like you needed me.shadowhunters, jace/lydia. by forcynics.
• pocketful of sunshine.shadowhunters, rapahel/simon. highschool-ish AU. by finkpishnets.
• freshly disowned in some frozen devotion.game of thrones, jon/sansa. by![]()
sing_song_sung.
• we all have our favorites.only ever yours. freida & isabel. fix-it fic. by scioscribe.
Here's hoping 2017 doesn't totally blow!
S T A T S :
fics: 32. Pretty good!
total word count: 78,327. I never did this before, but I wish I had. That's a lot of words!
FANDOMS: 10
Shadowhunters: 9
Daredevil: 8
Gossip Girl: 5
AHS: Hotel: 3
Misc: 7
SHIPS: 19 different ships
hetero: 13
slash: 5
femslash: 2
gen: 6
female POV: 17
male POV: 15
most written character: Elektra, who featured in five fics.
most written ship: Dan/Blair and Matt/Elektra tied with 4 fics each.
O V E R A L L :
Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?
More, actually. I forgot that I did last year's holiday fics in January, which pushed up the fic count for this year. I always feel like I never do anything but turns out I was pretty active this year.
What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January?
I did not anticipate falling into a new fandom (Shadowhunters). This time last year I was pretty much ready to exit fandom entirely. Everything about that has been pretty fun and stress-free (just what fandom is actually supposed to be!) so it's been a bright spot for me. Season 2 tomorrow!!!!!
What’s your own favorite story of the year?
I think my longer Magnus/Alec fic, "thanks to the full moon in scorpio." I really wanted to do well by the ship/characters/fandom and I think I accomplished what I wanted with it. A few people I admire on tumblr have recommended it, which always warms the heart. But I'm very happy with most of the fics I wrote this year! I wrote a whole bunch of new pairings and fandoms, some that had been very intimidating for me, and I always like to try and tackle new things. I also really loved "the diamond days are done," which was a less popular Magnus/Camille fic. But I really enjoyed exploring Magnus' history and a relationship he had that we haven't seen a lot of on the show.
Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?
I don't know that I took BIG risks, but I did try to vary my style a little and write new things. I almost always find it rewarding to step outside my box and I would like to continue to do that so I can grow. I want my writing to always be improving and getting stronger.
Do you have any fanfic goals for the New Year?
I am always disappointed by the amount of femslash I have written, i.e. very little. I would like to write more. I would also like to try genres that are less familiar to me (horror, mystery) and things I'm not as good at (more complex plotting, descriptive writing).
Did you meet your goals from last year?
Last year I listed my goals as: write more gay shit, finish things I had "floating around," and write another The Man From U.N.C.L.E. fic. I did write one TMFU fic this year so...did that, I guess, lol. I was not gayer and I have no idea what I wanted to finish last year.
B E S T A N D W O R S T :
My best story of this year:
Since I've talked about the Magnus/Alec fic already, I'll say: my Yuletide fic, "weird boy," which was for The Get Down. It was a Dizzee/Thor fic from Dizzee's PoV. I found writing for this particular fandom quite daunting because the language of the show is so unique and beautiful, and Dizzee was a difficult character to write. It was a little tough at times but the final product was incredibly rewarding for me and people seemed to respond to it the way I wanted, too, which is always great.
My most popular story of this year:
According to the stats on AO3, it's a toss-up between the two Magnus/Alec fics I wrote. The shorter but more pornographic of the two ("all of this then back again") seemed to have gotten more hits/kudos, but the longer and more character-explorative one ("thanks to the full moon in scorpio") got more comments and bookmarks. Interesting.
Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:
I was really happy with all of my AHS: Hotel fics, but it's a very small fandom so they don't get much attention. I was also lowkey disappointed my Simon/Jace fic ("see I'm much too clever") didn't seem to get much response, but I feel like it can go that way with sexier fics sometimes; people are less inclined to comment. And one of my Clary/Izzy fics ("crave you") also got less response than I expected. I really enjoyed writing that one.
Most fun story to write:
I think "saving simon lewis," a Simon/Raphael fic. I sort of whipped it up over just a few days while doing a fic-a-day challenge. It was supposed to be a one-shot but ended up being three parts because it was so fun and I had so much more story I wanted to tell. It was my chance to tackle a kind of story I loved in my own teenage days, the whole teen human/broody vampire thing, and I had a lot of fun putting my own spin on the trope. Plus I was writing a new pairing in a new fandom at the same time, which was also exciting.
Story with the single sexiest moment:
Okay I've officially talked about "thanks to the full moon in scorpio" more than anyone who still reads my LJ cares about, but: writing Alec kind of...celebrating his sexuality after suppressing it for so long was hot. And emotionally fulfilling. Combo breaker!
Most “holy crap, that’s wrong, even for you” story:
I don't think I have one this year? Alert me if I'm forgetting something.
Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:
I think all fic does this to some extent because the deeper you get into a character's brain to figure out how they work, the more your understanding of them opens up. But my instinct is to say "I belong to the cult of love," which was a Sally-centric AHS: Hotel fic. She was a different kind of character to write and one that I really liked exploring. I definitely felt like I had greater understanding of her and her motivations after that.
Hardest story to write:
The Gossip Girl 1940s wartime AU ("as the hours and the days and the weeks") was very difficult because it required a lot of research in a short time and made me really realize how much I did not retain about history from school, lol. I also just had trouble making it sound how I wanted it to sound. That said, I very much enjoyed writing the letters within the fic. Though I personally do not particularly enjoy reading epistolary writing, I find that I really enjoy writing it myself. It's sort of like making a puzzle from scratch? You have to tackle each character's personal voice, adjust for who they're talking to, and not give up all the exposition at once, even if you want to (you always want to). It's a challenge I find very fun. So: difficult, but in a good way.
Biggest disappointment:
Not finishing my holiday fics in time. :( I had a very crappy last two weeks of the year, as many did. I had little bit of a freakout pre-Christmas and then the waterfall of George Michael, Carrie Fisher, and Debbie Reynolds put me in such a funk I didn't want to do anything. I tried to churn out at least one of the final two before the year ended but it just didn't work out. I know it doesn't really matter, but I was disappointed in myself.
Biggest surprise:
I wrote kind of a long fic for a little nothing indie movie called The Overnight. Not in a million years did I think I would be doing that? It was a movie I did enjoy, but I didn't get quite what I wanted from it. I was disappointed it wasn't as forward-thinking as it thought it was, so I wanted to give it the ending I wanted it to have. But it's hardly a favorite movie or anything, so it was funny that I wrote such a long fic for it.
Most unintentionally telling story:
Perhaps "weird boy." Aspects of Dizzee's journey in figuring out his sexuality were very much based on my own shit.
W I P T E A S E R S :
untitled hermione/fleur fic.
Hermione sighed, face resting heavy in her hand. The post-holiday slump was always incredibly depressing; without anything to look forward to, it was just a slushy, sleeting wasteland complete with deflating decorations that no one would remember to take down until February. The post-holiday sales also left the stores mobbed, with any inventory that wasn’t snatched up before the holidays getting marked down and reluctantly dragged home by dedicated deal-makers. Hermione always worked the slowest times at Flourish and Blott’s because she grabbed shifts when school was off.
celluloid pictures living. shadowhunters, simon/raphael. old hollywood au.
When Simon went out to Hollywood, he told his mother that he got an accounting job on a studio lot, doing the numbers on costumes and sets. Instead he crowded into a crummy apartment with three other guys, scraped together a paycheck that barely covered a can of soup, and pretended to play whatever instrument they asked him to in the background of Paramount's latest, Hotel Dumort.
crossed out. gossip girl, dan/blair.
Dying for love is only romantic in the movies.
When Blair was young she thought it was terribly wonderful, in the abstract, to perish from love, to be on fire, to burn away. L'amour fou. The reality is a lot more pragmatic, and it hurts.
Dying for love is only romantic in the movies. Blair is tired of bleeding.
the second best. gossip girl, dan/carter.
It pings Carter's heartstrings in a stupid way so he shuffles up to kiss the back of Dan's neck like he used to, like he likes to. He had missed the smell of Dan's expensive cologne, his cheap shampoo. He missed the feeling of Dan's body against him and under his hands. It was easy, when Carter was away, to get nostalgic for Dan's sarcasm and huffiness, his mean jokes and soft heart, but physicality was something else. Carter couldn't remind himself of the exact sensation of Dan's skin under his mouth the way he could remember a particularly good line. Now all of it's driving him crazy.
you better work, bitch. shadowhunters, simon/jace. jace-is-a-personal-trainer au.
Jace. Even his name is irritating. As if the cocky grin wasn't bad enough, the blond hair, the tattoos, the arms – as if everything about him wasn't designed to play on Simon's deepest, most ingrained insecurities, his name just had to be Jace. It's such a bro name, Jace, all one-syllable smoothness, sleek and cool. It's stamped on his nametag in all caps as though to antagonize Simon, J A C E, pinned to a spandex top that Simon would have been more comfortable with had it been printed in one of his comic books. Jace. The name would have been more than enough to trigger Simon's pettiest reaction, but then Jace grins at him and speaks.
R E C L I S T :
Just a few fics I loved this year. :)
• said do what you have to do.daredevil, frank/karen. by
stainofmylove.• the tell-tale heart. shadowhunters, raphael/simon. bookshop au. by reginalds.
• lick it off my lips like you needed me.shadowhunters, jace/lydia. by forcynics.
• pocketful of sunshine.shadowhunters, rapahel/simon. highschool-ish AU. by finkpishnets.
• freshly disowned in some frozen devotion.game of thrones, jon/sansa. by
sing_song_sung.• we all have our favorites.only ever yours. freida & isabel. fix-it fic. by scioscribe.
Here's hoping 2017 doesn't totally blow!