New Year word count thing
Somewhat later than usual, here's my new year word count post for 2016.
In general, not as good as last year. Total word for 2016 - 80,794. For reference, this is worse than 2015 (109,151) and 2014 (97,371), but better than 2013 (64,901).
Of which the breakdown is:
Atlantis: 73,777
original: 2918
Primeval (dino of the month rather than fic): 1137
Merlin: 708
Lewis: 1079
MCU: 1175
So, obviously Atlantis is still the biggie for me in fandom terms. Quantity wise, I think I have actually written fewer individual fics over the year, but among them there were three pretty big ones, with two small fandom bang Atlantis fics - The Truth Beneath the Lies at 20,845, and Poison and Promise at 13,960, and a random hurt/comfort bingo fic - Gifted - that was supposed to be about 5k and ended up at 17,316! Apparently an AU where the Atlantis characters have mutant superpowers was far more enjoyable to write than I had expected!
This year I've borrowed the meme that celeste9 used.
Looking back, did I write more fic than I thought I would this year, less, or about what I'd predicted?
Less. I'd been aiming for 100k again. Also, I'd hoped there would be more original fiction, and writers' club competition entries. Although I did win the non-fiction writing award for 2016 at Writers' Club, so that's something.
What pairing/genre/fandom did I write that I would never have predicted in January?
Probably would not have predicted the Atlantis/X-Men AU/fusion fic, but I think that actually turned out to be my favourite fic of the year, and that came about purely because I had 'mutation' as a prompt on this year's hurt/comfort bingo card. My very first wing!fic!
Leitmotif of the Year:
Pythagoras/Icarus seems to have become the primary pairing in the vast majority of my fics this year. In previous years I've written several different pairings in Atlantis, including quite a lot of Pythagoras/Jason, and some Pythagoras/Hercules, and a fair bit of gen, but this year it's mostly been Pythagoras/Icarus, and I'm not entirely sure why, other than simply the pretty!
Story of mine underappreciated by the universe in my opinion:
I'm a little disappointed that Gifted didn't get more attention, especially considering its length and how much I enjoyed writing it. I was really proud of that fic.
Most Fun Story to Write:
Gifted. By far and away this was the fic that I enjoyed writing the most this year. So much about this fic was just such fun to write; all the inept pining between the boys, and Daedalus was a joy to write with all his sarcasm and innuendo, and Pythagoras with healing powers, and Icarus providing the rather pleasing mental image of spending the vast majority of the fic semi-naked with wings. What's not to love? ;-)
Story that shifted my own perception of the characters:
Not sure. Possibly Protect and Serve, which was my first attempt to write Ariadne pov fic, and really made me think about her as a character and her relationship with the boys.
Biggest surprise:
That I actually managed to write *two* small fandom bang fics in January, one of them in only about a week! That provided my best month's word count for the entire year at 27,885 for January. Although rather sadly, that was the only month in the entire year that I achieved over 10k in a single month.
Did I take any writing risks this year? If so, what did I learn from them?
I don't think I did, to be honest. I suppose the biggest risk might be the major character death fic that I've been working on, but it's still not finished, so should probably go into next year's meme (if I ever manage to finish the damn thing).
Hardest story to write:
I think that would be Just Another Day, the Atlantis/Primeval crossover fic. And that was hard to write, mostly because I was writing it *right* up to the deadline for the h/c bingo monthly challenge. I think I finished writing it at somewhere between 1 - 2am, and was posting it at about 4am. I still look at that fic and wish I could rewrite it, because it really didn't live up to my expectations, and that's purely because I wrote it in such a last minute rush. It would have been quite a bit different, and quite a bit longer, if I had written the fic that I *wanted* to write for that, instead of the fic that I had the time to write.
Easiest story to write:
Possibly Fail, because that was a fic where I had the idea in the morning and it was written and finished by mid afternoon. Now admittedly it's a fairly short one, but it's nice when it just comes together and *works* on the first draft like that.
Most popular story of the year:
Probably Poison and Promise, judging by the reaction on AO3. Angsty unrequited Pythagoras/Jason apparently is popular.
Best story of the year:
I really don't know. I'd probably say either Poison and Promise or maybe Gifted.
Truest story of the year:
Not entirely sure what this question means so I'm going to skip it.
Most unintentionally telling story of the year:
Possibly Poison and Promise, because I know what unrequited love feels like. A lot.
Best opening lines:
The most terrifying thing in the world was nothing.
Nothing, Merlin
If Pythagoras had known it was going to turn into a danger and fighting and lots and lots of running type of day, he probably would have stayed in bed for an extra hour, and not left the house at all.
Just Another Day, Atlantis/Primeval
“What I don’t understand,” Pythagoras is saying as he putters about, tidying away the breakfast things, “is why you didn’t kill me and Hercules on that first night.”
Primal Instincts Atlantis
Best lines from anywhere:
Abruptly, Daedalus grinned.
“Thank the gods! I was starting to think I’d have to shut the pair of you in a room with a set of instructions.”
Gifted Atlantis (Daedalus stole most of the best lines in this fic!)
“What are you doing, Pythagoras?”
He forced himself to look up and meet Hercules’ look.
“I am saving Jason’s life.”
“Pythagoras, we’re not talking about platonic love here. If that were the case, I could have done it, and saved everyone a lot of trouble.”
Pythagoras gave him a grim smile.
“I am not talking about platonic love, either.”
With that, Pythagoras cut his arm open and started to bleed.
Poison and Promise, Atlantis (possibly my favourite bit out of any of my fics from this year).
Do I have any fanfic or profic goals for the New Year?
Get to 100k! And actually see if I can get that hurt/comfort bingo blackout by the end of the amnesty period, because I completely failed to get even a single bingo this year, for the first time since I started playing hurt/comfort bingo.