Obligatory end-of-year post, now with 125% more resolutions. I don't know, I can't do math.
Fics Wot I Wrote This Year:
1) Beautiful Mess, Deadliest Catch RPS, Jake A./Josh, NC17
2) Nature's Law, Suicide Kings, Brett/Avery, PG
3) Yesterday's Notions, CSI, Nick/Greg, PG. Afterward for the Paris universe.
4) Little Secrets, Deadliest Catch RPS, Jake A./Josh, PG
5) Le téléphone arabe, Veritas, Cal/Nikko, PG
6) Foundations, Criminal Minds, Morgan/Reid, PG. Part 1 of the Laying Foundations series.
7) Banana Pancakes, CSI, Nick/Greg, PG. Part 1 of the Pancake series.
8) House Rules, Criminal Minds, Morgan/Reid, PG. Part 2 of the Laying Foundations series.
9) Better Together, CSI, Nick/Greg, PG. Part 2 of the Pancake series.
10) Wasting Time, CSI, Nick/Greg, PG. Part 3 of the Pancake series.
11) Further Favors, Criminal Minds, Morgan/Reid, PG
12) What You Thought You Need, CSI, Nick/Greg, Part 4 of the Pancake series.
13) Synesis, Criminal Minds, Morgan/Reid, NC17. Part 3 of the Laying Foundations series.
14) Inaudible Melodies, CSI, Nick/Greg, PG. Part 5 of the Pancake series.
15) Sparkle, CSI, Nick/Greg, NC17
16) Someday At Christmas, CSI, Nick/Greg, PG. Part 6 of the Pancake series.
17) Through the din of this loud life , Criminal Minds, Morgan/Reid, NC17
18) The Golden Rule, Criminal Minds, Morgan/Reid, PG. Part 4 of the Laying Foundations series.
19) careless in our summer clothes, Deadliest Catch RPS, Jake/Josh, NC17
Request ficlets: Brotherhood II, Sky High, My Bodyguard
Halloween comment fic: My Bodyguard, Brotherhood II, Heroes, Deadliest Catch RPS
There may be more comment fic lurking around somewhere, but I didn't see any. There are also three Yuletide fics, but those I can't claim until tomorrow.
Oh, and the ficlets from my Christmas cards. I forgot them already.
Overall Thoughts:
I didn't write much this year. Less than I thought when I decided I would do a fic round-up, and now it seems like kind of a waste of time. It's a good reminder of how unproductive 2008 was, I guess. I did add a surprising number of new fandoms (3), considering how little I wrote. My assigned Yuletide fic was a new fandom, which was fun, I guess, even if I still feel it could have been much better. Then there's Deadliest Catch RPS, and of course Criminal Minds.
I revisited old favorites this year as well, but not as many as I guess I'd thought I did. The only Harlan/Marcus fic I wrote all year was one little snippet from an AU that never happened. Oh, and a continuation of a Harlan/Marcus ficlet cinderlily wrote. That's disappointing; I miss them. No CSI: Miami fic at all! Shame.
My best story of this year:
Synesis, probably? I don't know, I don't think anything I wrote this year is wonderful, but getting into Spencer Reid's head believably is a pretty big accomplishment for me.
My favourite story of this year:
I am pretty fond of Le téléphone arabe, probably because I don't write much in Veritas fandom so when I do, it feels like a big accomplishment. Plus, I really enjoy third party POVs. Maybe I'm secretly a voyeur? Okay, it's not that big a secret.
My sentimental favorite is Inaudible Melodies, because it hearkens back to my early days in CSI fandom, but also shows Nick's maturation over the years. It is really nice to see him get to a place where he can be comfortable in his own skin.
Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:
If by 'universe', you mean 'the fannish circles in which I travel', then it's careless in our summer clothes. It's probably unfair to choose a fic I posted less than 24 hours ago for this category. I don't know, I mean, obviously very few people are going to be jazzed about RPS for a Discovery reality show, especially when it's not the badwrong RPS most people seem to want to read in this fandom.
But I like the rhythm of this piece, and I like the relationship between stupid boys who just want to be together and do their jobs and not think too much, you know? So I love them, even if the world never sees it my way. And maybe that's good, because God forbid either of the actual humans these characters are modeled after ever stumbled upon this. Celebrity is one thing, but they catch crab for a living, you know?
Most fun story to write:
Through the din of this loud life, mostly because it's cliché fic, which is always fun to write. And the writing of this one went quickly and smoothly, which is always a bonus. Plus, I am super-fond of that image of Spencer Reid wrapped up in a big quilt and drinking bad hotel room coffee.
Story with the single sexiest moment:
"When Greg's satisfied Nick surges forward, pressing the full length of his body against Greg's to kiss him hard. Hands travel across every bit of skin they can reach, and Nick knows when they're finished the sheets and their skin and even their hair will be covered in glitter. Which is the whole point, so he does his best to share the wealth.
Greg moves underneath him, legs wrapping around Nick's waist and suddenly Nick wants to see those legs covered in glitter. So maybe he's developing a glitter fetish too; he's never really thought of that as his style, but when it comes to Greg nothing really surprises him. Nick reaches for the little pot of glitter and digs his fingers in, grinning down at Greg as he rubs it into his palms and then slides his hands over Greg's thighs.
When Greg realizes what he's doing his eyes get a little darker, and he wraps his legs even tighter around Nick's waist and pulls him close again. "I love you," he says, and Nick laughs because Greg still sounds surprised that he's willing to play along even after all this time. It gets him an enthusiastic kiss, though, and he lets Greg roll them over again until Nick's looking up at him. And he likes Greg any way he can get him, but he has to admit that he does look pretty good covered in glitter. The gold catches in the sun and makes Greg look a little bit like he's glowing, and Nick thinks of those pictures of saints with glowing halos and laughs at the idea of Greg as some kind of fallen angel."
From Sparkle, aka the Glitter!Fic, aka The One Where I Picture Nick golden and sparkling like some kind of Greek God and My Brain Breaks. It might not be that hot to anyone else, I don't know.
Most "Holy crap, that's wrong, even for you" story:
I didn't write a single thing this year that could fall into this category, unless you count RPS, which I doubt that you do. You guys, I am so painfully boring. Why do you even hang out here? That's it: in 2009, I resolve to be much kinkier.
If you want a real answer, I guess writing an NC17 fic about glitter and calling it 'Sparkle' during the time period when Twilight was released was a pretty fucked-up plan. I took the title from the Rubyhorse song of the same name, if you want to know the truth. I was listening to that song on repeat while I wrote the fic, and the lyrics are actually quite appropriate to the pairing. I didn't think about the implications in current popular culture until after it was too late to take it back.
Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:
Foundations. I really meant it to be pre-slash, just two guys fixing up a house together, but Morgan was so clearly in love with Reid already that there was nothing I could do except let it ride. Which turned out pretty okay, I think.
Hardest story to write:
I am having a lot of trouble with several stories I started in 2008. The ones I've posted already are the easy ones. There's a part of my Suicide Kings Deadliest AU that's been giving me fits for months, and there's a CSI fic that I haven't had any luck with. I can't figure out if Greg's in character or not, and it's bugging me, so I can't move it forward. There are some random Criminal Minds fics floating around too, but the trouble with those is mostly that I just haven't applied myself. The characters in that fandom are still new enough to me that writing them requires the type of concentration I rarely get at work.
Biggest Disappointment:
Little Secrets, which was a good idea, but the execution was all wrong. It's Deadliest Catch RPS, though, so at least only two people read it.
Biggest Surprise:
It's a toss-up. I never thought I'd be actively writing CSI fic again, let alone paying attention to canon. And I never thought I'd write Criminal Minds fic, so it's hard to say which surprises me more. Then again, neither is really a very big surprise at all.
Most Unintentionally Telling Story:
I am pretty sure my tells have been obvious for years now, and there's really nothing new in this year's batch of fics. I suppose Sparkle proves how painfully vanilla I am even when writing something out of the ordinary, not that that's news to anyone.
~
This entire post has been an excuse to use the new icon sassygirl made for me. And I still have two more Spencer-In-Bed icons! I need more icon space.
Actual resolutions for this year:
+ write original stuff (I joined novel_in_90 to this end; we'll see how that goes)
+ lose some more weight (65 pounds so far; you can read about that here if you want)
+ finish some of the knitting projects I keep starting and then not finishing
+ stop spending more money than I have
+ maybe go on a date with a grown-up or something