End of Year Fic Meme (Betawho)
I saw this meme by fate_incomplete and thought it was cool, so I'm doing my own. It's a nice way to run down what you've accomplished in a year:
Total number of completed stories: 45
Total word count: 110,771
Fandoms written in: Doctor Who
Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?
A lot more than I expected. About 50,000 words more.
What's your own favorite story of the year?
Youth is Wasted on the Young - It turned out much better than I expected with lots of character, action, and adventure. It set a benchmark for me to attempt to reach with the rest of my stories.
Did you take any writing risks this year?
Deciding to try to deliberately write a full length, canon compliant, Doctor Who novel. As if it was actually for publication. The result being Youth is Wasted on the Young which I think fulfilled my hopes. And then deciding to try to do it again, with a completely different story, and starting Up a Tree. So starting two novels in one year was a risk.
Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the New Year?
Only to complete Up a Tree. And to continue to write quickfics as they occur to me.
My best story of this year:
Youth is Wasted on the Young again. For several reasons, but mostly because I was able to take the idea of a world full of children (which could have been a very Disney idea) and instead actually develop it into a realistic world, populated with a wide array of believable characters from a 12 year old sheriff, to child-sized Marines, to a small pink tripod that was completely non-human, yet was believably a person. Plus, a further development of one of my favorite Doctor Who monsters, moving their story forward and giving them new abilities and goal, yet still staying in line with their original appearance in the show.
Although I'm also very proud of Anniversary Blues which is a very intense and emotional piece outside my usual style, but I think it works extremely well.
My most popular story of this year:
Wherever it's Christmas - Not only did it receive a lot of excellent reviews, but it was chosen to be read aloud on the Bridging The Rift Podcast as the first fic in the podcast's new relaunch as a more fanzine based format. (Strictly speaking this was written in December of last year, but I count that's close enough to count since December was only a few hours ago. :D)
Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:
Appearances Can Be Deceiving - Although, to be fair, it's a 6th Doctor story, and the 6th Doctor doesn't get a lot of love. But it's a good 6th Doctor and Peri story where they meet unexpected alternate versions of themselves, and learn how their lives might have went, if only a few things had changed. It's only gotten one review here on LJ, and none on Fanfiction.net. Although the few reviews it got on Gallifreybase were good. I also got an excellent cover for it from the Companion Chronicles Prose Series which it was commissioned for.
Most fun story to write:
Sock it to Him - Because I had to think of what kinds of things River would put in the Doctor's Christmas Stocking. (And River is so hilarious and outrageous that you never know what she's going to come up with.) So I had loads of fun with that one.
A Banquet of Riches - This is another River one, where she's confronted with all 11 Doctors at once, and she, being River, had a very unique take on all those different Doctors. After all, they were all her Doctor, so she was evaluating them with, shall we say, wifely appreciation? It was totally hilarious to see all the Doctors through her eyes.
Story with the single sexiest moment:
Ooh, this one is both hard and easy. I try not to write Doctor porn. I prefer to keep things as close to canon as possible, things that could show on the show. But River is just so wonderfully sexy that it's impossible not to play with the idea. And 11 and River have such fantastic chemistry that there's almost always something sexy about them when they're together.
The single sexiest moment is hard to pick out, because there are different types of sexy.
Love Letters may be my favorite, yet strangely enough the Doctor and River aren't together in it. But River keeps sending the Doctor messages on the psychic paper. Letters he won't let Amy see, but ones that leave him very flustered. It's probably as close as I've come to porn.
Sock it to Him is another one where the Doctor and River aren't together, but it has a sort of poignant sexiness because of that. Plus a very naughty gift that even surprised me when I wrote it. (And proved the Doctor's a bit more cosmopolitan than his blushing usually lets on.)
Never Boring is probably my most sensual story. Sometimes all you need is a hillside and a picnic blanket.
Hats Off!, Dancing, You Watch Us Run, and It Was Just a Kiss are all different sexy moments that I think define their relationship in different ways.
It's hard to choose just one.
Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:
Anniversary Blues - River is such a passionate woman, yet we usually see her as so calm and in control. But she's not always, and sometimes her life with the Doctor really hurts. She loves the Doctor, a lot. When she was young she stopped the world for him. But it really got me how much she would hurt, after being his wife for centuries, when he started forgetting her. She loves him down to her marrow, and she's not the type to take things lying down. But sometimes there's nothing you can do, and all you can do is scream. The story also showed me another side of Captain Jack who understands love and pain.
I also did a trio of stories on Rory that explored more of what it meant for him to have been the father who lost his daughter, and of how he had a relationship of his own with the Doctor - His Baby Girl, The Stairwell, Someone to Rely On.
Hardest story to write:
Well, I bawled all over myself when I was writing Anniversary Blues, so that was the most emotionally wrung out I'd ever gotten over a story. Hopefully it translated to the page. But currently Up a Tree is giving me fits, mostly because I can't seem to make myself sit down and write it, but the current story is always the hardest. Especially if it's a longer piece that takes more time and effort.
Biggest Disappointment:
That no one is paying me to write any of this. (But at least I'm writing, and writing something I love.)
Biggest Surprise:
Having someone make a fantastic cover for a story of mine - Up a Tree Cover.Having someone contact me out of the blue requesting to read my story online - Wherever it's Christmas.
Having other writers I respect asking me to write for their series - Companion Chronicles Prose Series: Appearances Can Be Deceiving.
And THE DOCTOR GETTING MARRIED!
Total number of completed stories: 45
Total word count: 110,771
Fandoms written in: Doctor Who
Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?
A lot more than I expected. About 50,000 words more.
What's your own favorite story of the year?
Youth is Wasted on the Young - It turned out much better than I expected with lots of character, action, and adventure. It set a benchmark for me to attempt to reach with the rest of my stories.
Did you take any writing risks this year?
Deciding to try to deliberately write a full length, canon compliant, Doctor Who novel. As if it was actually for publication. The result being Youth is Wasted on the Young which I think fulfilled my hopes. And then deciding to try to do it again, with a completely different story, and starting Up a Tree. So starting two novels in one year was a risk.
Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the New Year?
Only to complete Up a Tree. And to continue to write quickfics as they occur to me.
My best story of this year:
Youth is Wasted on the Young again. For several reasons, but mostly because I was able to take the idea of a world full of children (which could have been a very Disney idea) and instead actually develop it into a realistic world, populated with a wide array of believable characters from a 12 year old sheriff, to child-sized Marines, to a small pink tripod that was completely non-human, yet was believably a person. Plus, a further development of one of my favorite Doctor Who monsters, moving their story forward and giving them new abilities and goal, yet still staying in line with their original appearance in the show.
Although I'm also very proud of Anniversary Blues which is a very intense and emotional piece outside my usual style, but I think it works extremely well.
My most popular story of this year:
Wherever it's Christmas - Not only did it receive a lot of excellent reviews, but it was chosen to be read aloud on the Bridging The Rift Podcast as the first fic in the podcast's new relaunch as a more fanzine based format. (Strictly speaking this was written in December of last year, but I count that's close enough to count since December was only a few hours ago. :D)
Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:
Appearances Can Be Deceiving - Although, to be fair, it's a 6th Doctor story, and the 6th Doctor doesn't get a lot of love. But it's a good 6th Doctor and Peri story where they meet unexpected alternate versions of themselves, and learn how their lives might have went, if only a few things had changed. It's only gotten one review here on LJ, and none on Fanfiction.net. Although the few reviews it got on Gallifreybase were good. I also got an excellent cover for it from the Companion Chronicles Prose Series which it was commissioned for.
Most fun story to write:
Sock it to Him - Because I had to think of what kinds of things River would put in the Doctor's Christmas Stocking. (And River is so hilarious and outrageous that you never know what she's going to come up with.) So I had loads of fun with that one.
A Banquet of Riches - This is another River one, where she's confronted with all 11 Doctors at once, and she, being River, had a very unique take on all those different Doctors. After all, they were all her Doctor, so she was evaluating them with, shall we say, wifely appreciation? It was totally hilarious to see all the Doctors through her eyes.
Story with the single sexiest moment:
Ooh, this one is both hard and easy. I try not to write Doctor porn. I prefer to keep things as close to canon as possible, things that could show on the show. But River is just so wonderfully sexy that it's impossible not to play with the idea. And 11 and River have such fantastic chemistry that there's almost always something sexy about them when they're together.
The single sexiest moment is hard to pick out, because there are different types of sexy.
Love Letters may be my favorite, yet strangely enough the Doctor and River aren't together in it. But River keeps sending the Doctor messages on the psychic paper. Letters he won't let Amy see, but ones that leave him very flustered. It's probably as close as I've come to porn.
Sock it to Him is another one where the Doctor and River aren't together, but it has a sort of poignant sexiness because of that. Plus a very naughty gift that even surprised me when I wrote it. (And proved the Doctor's a bit more cosmopolitan than his blushing usually lets on.)
Never Boring is probably my most sensual story. Sometimes all you need is a hillside and a picnic blanket.
Hats Off!, Dancing, You Watch Us Run, and It Was Just a Kiss are all different sexy moments that I think define their relationship in different ways.
It's hard to choose just one.
Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:
Anniversary Blues - River is such a passionate woman, yet we usually see her as so calm and in control. But she's not always, and sometimes her life with the Doctor really hurts. She loves the Doctor, a lot. When she was young she stopped the world for him. But it really got me how much she would hurt, after being his wife for centuries, when he started forgetting her. She loves him down to her marrow, and she's not the type to take things lying down. But sometimes there's nothing you can do, and all you can do is scream. The story also showed me another side of Captain Jack who understands love and pain.
I also did a trio of stories on Rory that explored more of what it meant for him to have been the father who lost his daughter, and of how he had a relationship of his own with the Doctor - His Baby Girl, The Stairwell, Someone to Rely On.
Hardest story to write:
Well, I bawled all over myself when I was writing Anniversary Blues, so that was the most emotionally wrung out I'd ever gotten over a story. Hopefully it translated to the page. But currently Up a Tree is giving me fits, mostly because I can't seem to make myself sit down and write it, but the current story is always the hardest. Especially if it's a longer piece that takes more time and effort.
Biggest Disappointment:
That no one is paying me to write any of this. (But at least I'm writing, and writing something I love.)
Biggest Surprise:
Having someone make a fantastic cover for a story of mine - Up a Tree Cover.Having someone contact me out of the blue requesting to read my story online - Wherever it's Christmas.
Having other writers I respect asking me to write for their series - Companion Chronicles Prose Series: Appearances Can Be Deceiving.
And THE DOCTOR GETTING MARRIED!