2013 writing meme
Stolen copied from Seascribe because my children were running around like wild things and climbing on me and requiring juice and to be told not to pull the leaves off the plant and DON'T HIT YOUR SISTER! I SAID STOP THAT! I'LL TAKE THAT RABBIT AWAY IF YOU KEEP FIGHTING OVER IT! and I couldn't concentrate on the fic I was trying to write so it seemed like the next best thing was to feel pleased with myself for the fic I've already written.
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The lowest visible flame (due South) (7365 words) Fraser/RayK - 2nd part of God help us both if this is summer series, where Ray suffers and I do not deliver on the happy ending I promised.
Light kindles the hills (due South) (5443 words) Fraser/RayK - 3rd part. Sex I wrote with my eyes shut and the happy ending.
A thousand colors of water (due South) (9186 words) RayV/Stella, Fraser/RayK - The One With RayV and Stella's Wedding and cracktastic dancing written with a totally straight face
Got that covered (due South) (1520 words) Fraser/RayK - PWP with Feelings
The stone that looked like a dog (due South) (20905 words) Fraser/RayK - relationships are hard, visiting parents (both alive and dead) make them harder
Distraction techniques (due South) (10338 words) Fraser/RayK - The One With All The Tropes
Permission (Canadian Actor RPF) (3900 words) Paul Gross/Martha Burns/CKR - My ticket to Special Hell! Paul Gross in handcuffs!
Making him wait (due South) (1325 words) Fraser/RayK - For Canadian Blowjob Day
Many miles and city blocks (due South) (3950 words) Fraser/RayK - Stella POV
The state of being away (due South) (7978 words) Fraser/RayK - for dSSS. Long distance relationships and pining.
And on to the meme!
This year I wrote and posted: 71910 words, 10 stories in 2 fandoms (if Paul Gross/Martha Burns/CKR RPF counts as a separate fandom to due South, which perhaps it doesn't?)
Overall Thoughts: My professional life may be down and out, but I am actually very proud of those 72k words. They may not all be very good, but I've told stories in my head for a long time and not written them down since I was 18 and certainly never shared any of them with the internet before, so fanfic counts as an achievement in my life right now. That and everyone on Tumblr liking my blanket cardigan I got for £15 in TKMaxx in Cambridge.
Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted? MORE. WAY MORE. I used to see posts from fanfic writers who had kids and jobs and wonder how the hell they found the time. And now look! Despite my kids and job, I found time too! In fact I wrote a lot of it at/on the way to my job!
What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January? That Paul Gross/Martha Burns/CKR RPF? I started the year convinced that RPF constituted the Express Train to Special Hell, and now look at me. I can see why people would find RPF problematic, but the discussion thread that followed my fic allowed me to work out my own thoughts and why I don't feel guilty about it any more. I think the unease stems from the idea that this is doing something sexual with real people without their consent, which if you then sent them your RPF perhaps it would be. But to use only publicly available information and to put words that are clearly fictional onto the internet where those people will almost certainly never see them and it won't harm them? I have decided that there is nothing wrong with this.
What's your own favorite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest? Uh, my answers to this may become repetitive, because possibly that RPF? I liked my writing in it, the characters and their interactions came out how I wanted and how others felt was "true to life", or a given value of "true to life" where fandom has collectively created the personality of Paul Gross and CKR, so it felt like a collaborative work with the entire dS/C6D fandom past and present. I enjoyed the whole experience as a writer and a consumer of meta. My other favourite would be A Thousand Colours of Water, because that was the story I most wanted to tell - Fraser being best man at RayV and Stella's wedding, RayK coming too, and how both couples deal with the weird partner-swap the show gave us. And being happy for each other.
Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them? Writing 20k Fraser POV in The Stone That Looked Like A Dog felt like a risk. It was long enough to require structure and pacing which i possibly didn't quite pull off. Everyone agrees it's hard to write Fraser POV, and while on a word by word level I feel like my own natural formality of language is a fairly close match to his, I was never sure I really understood him and what was going on in his head and what he was feeling. I guess that's why I find the character fascinating, because I DON't completely understand him, but it puts you on pretty shaky ground for writing him. So I learned you need to know what your POV character feels before you start, and not change your mind half way through the fic. Possibly everybody else already knew this.
From my past year of writing, what was....
My best story of this year: I don't know how to judge "best". I like how my style is developing so perhaps my more recent ones are better, but then in terms of fanfic, I think I delivered a lot of what people are looking for in The Stone That Looked Like A Dog. Commenters said it struck the same balance of funny and serious as the show did; I got Frasers Snr and Jr working through their own relationship while purporting to be giving/receiving relationship advice. There was a fight and makeup sex. There was meeting the parents tacit parental acceptance. From my many years as a fanfic reader, I conclude that these are things that many of us like in fic.
My most popular story of this year: Gratifyingly, The Stone That Looked Like A Dog, by both hits and kudos. So maybe the effort was worth it.
Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion: The RPF, of course. But then its small target audience seemed to really like it, and I like it, so I'm not feeling unappreciated. ("Occasionally, I do feel - unappreciated." "You do?" "Occasionally.")
Most fun story to write: Many Miles and City Blocks. It was strangely easy to slip into Stella's perspective and most of the story came out in one fell swoop. It seemed to need less editing than anything else, so that alone makes it fun. I enjoy the beta stage, but the editing I do on my own to make something less shit, not so much.
Story with the single sexiest moment: I don't know how to judge this either! Some of the sex I only hint at maybe? I like (and probably over use) the thing of one person remembering sex rather than describing it in detail - suggestion can be hotter than detail. Otherwise, (say it with me!) Paul Gross in handcuffs from Permission. Rawr.
Most "Holy crap, that's wrong, even for you" story: I said I'd be getting repetitive here, and yes, the RPF is once again my answer. But then again, I've come to a place of acceptance about that fic and my RPS feelings, so maybe I should avoid the question by saying I'm not really that kind of writer. If I have thoughts that really feel wrong, then they stay in my brain until I can process them, thank you very much. By the time they come out as fic, I have come to terms with them and no longer think they're wrong. (See: Paul Gross in handcuffs. The amount of shouting I do on this theme certainly suggests an ongoing unease I'm trying to compensate for, but I am now satisfied that there's nothing "wrong" with it.)
Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: Distraction Techniques. I'd not thought much about what RayV thinks about Fraser's sexuality and whether he'd know or not that Fraser's queer, and how he'd feel about it. There are many ways you can take this, and I do like fic which explores him having difficulty with a F/K relationship (thanks, dS Anon, for pushing me to write out ALL MY THOUGHTS about this when you leapt on my comment to Garonne's fic) but writing Distraction Techniques firmed up my own take on canon RayV as doing that straight-guy flirting thing with Fraser as his way of telling him he's aware and accepts him being queer.
Hardest story to write: Ugh. The State of Being Away for dSSS was hard! At first I tried something that didn't work AT ALL and had to throw away my structure and the first third of it. But I'm glad I did, because painful though it is to cut words you've written, which were ok on a word-by-word level, cutting them made the final fic better. You hear writers say this, that not being self indulgent makes your writing better, and I now see why. And I'm pleased with the end result, although you also hear writers saying you should never be pleased with the result because that probably means it's shit.
Biggest Disappointment: I think I've got a good handle on what it's realistic for me to achieve in terms of skill and time available, so I'm not really disappointed with anything. Fanfic doesn't occupy a place in my life which leaves much room for disappointment. I'm here for the feelgood.
Biggest Surprise: That I'm writing sex. When I started due South fic I thought I'd never be able to write sex in anything but fade-to-black, typing with my eyes closed, but it turns out I can! Who knew?
Most Unintentionally Telling Story: This is a good question, and the one I'm most interested to see other people answer. I feel like most of my fic provides a window into my own relationship, but the trouble is even I don't know what I'm seeing through that window. It's like it's got crazy hall-of-mirrors glass in it or something. If anyone else knows, answers on a postcard please! Otherwise, the RPF (natch): Martha Burns in that fic is an unequivocal fantasy-fulfilling Mary Sue of the first degree.
Fic-writing goals for 2013: Keep going! Show, don't tell. Avoid metaphors with komodo dragons. More women and more het - I've got fic brewing in Buffalo Jump and Chasing Rainbows (yes Paul Gross being someone's bit of rough is apparently a source of profound inspiration to me) that I want to get written down. Finish the story that got put on hold by emigration. Finish the Ray emigrating to Canada fic through which I process my own emigration issues. Eventually I'd like to write down the European Road Trip of Doom and Selected Anecdotes of Spanish Husband's Family, because they're all like something out of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. crossed with a tempestuous telenovela.