Fic reflections
I switched my links to AO3 this year (except for Trust Falls, which links you to its IWRY page) in protest of the annoying ff.net update that stops you from being able to highlight text. I know. A worthy protest.
BTVS/ATS
Trust Falls (Buffy/Angel)
Bones
Codetalkers (Hodgins/Angela, Bones/Booth, slight Cam/Arastoo and Finn/Michelle)
Veronica Mars
What You Know, And What You Don't (Logan/Veronica)
In Plain Sight
Driving Toward the Sun (Mary&Marshall, implied Mary/Marshall)
Without Argument or Doubt (Mary&Marshall, Marshall/Abigail, Mary/Marshall)
West Wing
Giving in to Ainsley (Josh&Sam friendship, Sam/Ainsley, side Josh/Donna)
Pitch Perfect
The World is Moving (to the Song I Hear) (Beca/Jesse)
1. Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?:
I've stopped being able to really predict what/how much I was going to write, so by default about what I predicted. Although if I'm honest with myself, I wish I had written more. I am proud that my stories in general were particularly long this year, but for the first time since 2009 I didn't write any drabbles.
2. What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January?:
In January of last year, I hadn't seen Pitch Perfect or In Plain Sight, and I had no plans to write anything West Wing.
3. What's your own favorite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest?
Please. I wrote chapter fic. Like, honest to goodness, has a plot arc and multiple parts, chapter fic. So the goal accomplishment there pleases me greatly. However, I am overall pretty happy with the writing in The World is Moving and the character descriptions in Giving in to Ainsley.
4. Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?
Not really. I pushed myself to write chapter fic, other ideas turned into longer stories and I just let them flow, but those were challenges more than risks. I guess the riskiest thing I did was something I didn't do. There was supposed to be (slash will be in the future) more parts to Trust Falls (it's a series idea that I'm working on) but instead of finishing the first piece off quickly and haphazardly so I could move on, I took my time and let the story do its thing. And it works perfectly well as a standalone, but it felt risky at the time because I had the whole thing imagined as a network in my head and it almost felt like a betrayal to let the story go out when I hadn't finished the rest of the pieces.
5. Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the New Year?
I'd like to do at least a few drabbles. They're not a lot of commitment, and they keep me sharp. I'm hopefully going to get a Buffy rewatch and a Veronica Mars rewatch in this year, so I hope to write something from that. I'm particularly hopeful that the Veronica Mars movie will inspire me. I'd like to do another chapter fic. I'd like to finish/work on the multiple ideas I have in my head. But I'm kind of on a let-it-flow kick right now, so we'll just see what happens.
6. From my past year of writing, what was...
Story Most Underappreciated by the Universe:
Probably Trust Falls, although my feelings about that are probably tied into my sadness about the decline of livejournal and the fabulous IWRY Buffy/Angel fic marathon. But I did take a lot of time with it and worked really hard on building the AU, so even though I did get a lot of lovely comments, as an effort vs. reward thing, the reward seemed to fall a little short.
Most Fun:
Almost definitely The World is Moving (to the Song I Hear). Firstly it was fun to write because it was so easy. It wasn’t even like I was moving from Point A to Point B when I was writing it. I sat down and it just happened, and it kept happening. It's also probably the closest to pure fluff that I wrote this year.
Runner up is probably Driving Toward the Sun.
Most Disappointing:
I wish Codetalkers was something resembling realistic. Like, it tricks you because it's written pretty seriously, but the actual workings of it read like crackfic. I was just really stuck and I wanted to be done with it and everyone was talking about NSA stuff, so it came into my writing!
Most Sexy:
See, I don’t do sexy. I don’t even do subtly sexy. I do cutaway kisses and, like, “And then there was sex. Moving on.” I suppose Without Argument or Doubt, or maybe The World is Moving, if you’re into the sexiness of domesticity and mutual respect.
Hardest to Write:
They’re almost all hard. It took me over a year and a half to finish What You Know, And What You Don’t (started in April 2012, posted the last chapter about half an hour after I was done writing it on New Year’s, but I had a long dry spell where I just couldn’t figure out how the mystery was going to come together). I had a lot of trouble getting into the zone for both Codetalkers and Trust Falls (which was probably exacerbated by disappointment over the fact that those used to be my two favorite fandoms to write for).
Most Unintentionally Telling:
I've started to realize that almost all my stories are unintentionally/totally intentionally telling about me. And it's not that I work out my psychological issues through the characters. It's more that my narcissism comes out in the way I encode inside jokes for myself in the text. It's nothing large, or even anything noticeable, but if I'm watching a show or reading a favorite fic, I'll reference it basically invisibly. For example, I was watching West Wing before/while writing Codetalkers, so Brennan's highly placed DoD contact was named Nancy after Nancy McNally, last name Mackenzie after Mac from Veronica Mars because she was doing stuff with computers and Mac...did stuff with computers. And no one needs to get it. I'm satisfied with giggling over it to myself.
Choice Lines:
Mary is taping up a box in Baltimore when her mechanic calls to ask her if she knows the difference between the heater return and the fuel return nipple.- Driving Toward the Sun
Marshall never adopts Norah…But Marshall was the one who came if she woke up panicked in an unfamiliar place. It was his cool hand she felt on her forehead when she was sick, or pretending to be. She remembers sleeping between him and her mother if she had nightmares, feeling like a giant on his shoulders when they went to the park. He lends her books he thinks she’ll like and never makes her feel awkward if she needs tampons. It is Marshall who helps her with algebra and Arabic and softball, who knows which girls on her dance team bother her, and who runs interference when she and her mom get cranky with each other.
The next week, she has a ring as well. It’s unobtrusive and she wears it on the wrong finger of the wrong hand. He knows anyway.- Without Argument or Doubt
"I guess I don’t have to do my usual, ‘Be careful, she’s a pistol’ introduction."- What You Know, And What You Don’t (It’s both because I thought it was a good banter line, and because it’s a play on words using contractions).
“If this is a Jesus thing, I have to tell you that I’m pretty firmly Buddhist this week.”- Trust Falls (but also a lot of the Buffy lines from here. I reread this tonight and I'm actually pretty proud of it.)
BTVS/ATS
Trust Falls (Buffy/Angel)
Bones
Codetalkers (Hodgins/Angela, Bones/Booth, slight Cam/Arastoo and Finn/Michelle)
Veronica Mars
What You Know, And What You Don't (Logan/Veronica)
In Plain Sight
Driving Toward the Sun (Mary&Marshall, implied Mary/Marshall)
Without Argument or Doubt (Mary&Marshall, Marshall/Abigail, Mary/Marshall)
West Wing
Giving in to Ainsley (Josh&Sam friendship, Sam/Ainsley, side Josh/Donna)
Pitch Perfect
The World is Moving (to the Song I Hear) (Beca/Jesse)
1. Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?:
I've stopped being able to really predict what/how much I was going to write, so by default about what I predicted. Although if I'm honest with myself, I wish I had written more. I am proud that my stories in general were particularly long this year, but for the first time since 2009 I didn't write any drabbles.
2. What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January?:
In January of last year, I hadn't seen Pitch Perfect or In Plain Sight, and I had no plans to write anything West Wing.
3. What's your own favorite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest?
Please. I wrote chapter fic. Like, honest to goodness, has a plot arc and multiple parts, chapter fic. So the goal accomplishment there pleases me greatly. However, I am overall pretty happy with the writing in The World is Moving and the character descriptions in Giving in to Ainsley.
4. Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?
Not really. I pushed myself to write chapter fic, other ideas turned into longer stories and I just let them flow, but those were challenges more than risks. I guess the riskiest thing I did was something I didn't do. There was supposed to be (slash will be in the future) more parts to Trust Falls (it's a series idea that I'm working on) but instead of finishing the first piece off quickly and haphazardly so I could move on, I took my time and let the story do its thing. And it works perfectly well as a standalone, but it felt risky at the time because I had the whole thing imagined as a network in my head and it almost felt like a betrayal to let the story go out when I hadn't finished the rest of the pieces.
5. Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the New Year?
I'd like to do at least a few drabbles. They're not a lot of commitment, and they keep me sharp. I'm hopefully going to get a Buffy rewatch and a Veronica Mars rewatch in this year, so I hope to write something from that. I'm particularly hopeful that the Veronica Mars movie will inspire me. I'd like to do another chapter fic. I'd like to finish/work on the multiple ideas I have in my head. But I'm kind of on a let-it-flow kick right now, so we'll just see what happens.
6. From my past year of writing, what was...
Story Most Underappreciated by the Universe:
Probably Trust Falls, although my feelings about that are probably tied into my sadness about the decline of livejournal and the fabulous IWRY Buffy/Angel fic marathon. But I did take a lot of time with it and worked really hard on building the AU, so even though I did get a lot of lovely comments, as an effort vs. reward thing, the reward seemed to fall a little short.
Most Fun:
Almost definitely The World is Moving (to the Song I Hear). Firstly it was fun to write because it was so easy. It wasn’t even like I was moving from Point A to Point B when I was writing it. I sat down and it just happened, and it kept happening. It's also probably the closest to pure fluff that I wrote this year.
Runner up is probably Driving Toward the Sun.
Most Disappointing:
I wish Codetalkers was something resembling realistic. Like, it tricks you because it's written pretty seriously, but the actual workings of it read like crackfic. I was just really stuck and I wanted to be done with it and everyone was talking about NSA stuff, so it came into my writing!
Most Sexy:
See, I don’t do sexy. I don’t even do subtly sexy. I do cutaway kisses and, like, “And then there was sex. Moving on.” I suppose Without Argument or Doubt, or maybe The World is Moving, if you’re into the sexiness of domesticity and mutual respect.
Hardest to Write:
They’re almost all hard. It took me over a year and a half to finish What You Know, And What You Don’t (started in April 2012, posted the last chapter about half an hour after I was done writing it on New Year’s, but I had a long dry spell where I just couldn’t figure out how the mystery was going to come together). I had a lot of trouble getting into the zone for both Codetalkers and Trust Falls (which was probably exacerbated by disappointment over the fact that those used to be my two favorite fandoms to write for).
Most Unintentionally Telling:
I've started to realize that almost all my stories are unintentionally/totally intentionally telling about me. And it's not that I work out my psychological issues through the characters. It's more that my narcissism comes out in the way I encode inside jokes for myself in the text. It's nothing large, or even anything noticeable, but if I'm watching a show or reading a favorite fic, I'll reference it basically invisibly. For example, I was watching West Wing before/while writing Codetalkers, so Brennan's highly placed DoD contact was named Nancy after Nancy McNally, last name Mackenzie after Mac from Veronica Mars because she was doing stuff with computers and Mac...did stuff with computers. And no one needs to get it. I'm satisfied with giggling over it to myself.
Choice Lines:
Mary is taping up a box in Baltimore when her mechanic calls to ask her if she knows the difference between the heater return and the fuel return nipple.- Driving Toward the Sun
Marshall never adopts Norah…But Marshall was the one who came if she woke up panicked in an unfamiliar place. It was his cool hand she felt on her forehead when she was sick, or pretending to be. She remembers sleeping between him and her mother if she had nightmares, feeling like a giant on his shoulders when they went to the park. He lends her books he thinks she’ll like and never makes her feel awkward if she needs tampons. It is Marshall who helps her with algebra and Arabic and softball, who knows which girls on her dance team bother her, and who runs interference when she and her mom get cranky with each other.
The next week, she has a ring as well. It’s unobtrusive and she wears it on the wrong finger of the wrong hand. He knows anyway.- Without Argument or Doubt
"I guess I don’t have to do my usual, ‘Be careful, she’s a pistol’ introduction."- What You Know, And What You Don’t (It’s both because I thought it was a good banter line, and because it’s a play on words using contractions).
“If this is a Jesus thing, I have to tell you that I’m pretty firmly Buddhist this week.”- Trust Falls (but also a lot of the Buffy lines from here. I reread this tonight and I'm actually pretty proud of it.)