2012 Writing Year In Review
Total number of fics: 57 completed stories, and 25 drabbles on top of that, so 82 altogether. Wow.
Total wordcount: 59808. This is with bowing out of findyourwords, because I struggled to make the 35K minimum the prior year and wanted to get to bed earlier in 2012. See how that turned out, thanks to LJ Idol?
Total number of fandoms: 18-Prison Break, Supernatural, Die Hard 4, Chuck, Burn Notice, White Collar, Fringe, Justified, Terminator: SCC, Dexter, Raising Hope, The Dark Knight Rises, A Day Made Of Glass (TV Commercial), The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock, (The Hunger Games, The Avengers (TV), Smallville, Silence Of The Lambs). Plus, there was original fiction and non-fiction.
Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?
More, definitely. I'd hoped to be more reasonable about how much of my life it involved, but LJ Idol borked that idea!
What's your own favorite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest? Either Siren Songs From Untraveled Seas (sorry, I'm really over the moon about that accomplishment!), or Kickin' It, Particle Style. I know, I've written higher-quality and more complex stories than that last one, but I love the cracked-out setting and characters.
My best story: I can't figure out how to judge my non-fiction. It's too close to me. So, I'll go with either the J. Alfred Prufrock fanfic, Siren Songs From Untraveled Seas, or the dystopian LJ Idol story, Science And Technology Elimination Department. But others might think it was the non-fiction story Secrets, about my oldest sister and her battle with Huntington's.
Story most underappreciated by the universe, in my opinion: When Blood Runs Black As Coal (Justified AU, with Zombies), just for the effort vs. return ratio. I think people were too afraid to even read it, which is sad, because much of it is humor.
Most fun story: It's a tossup between two of my crack entries for Idol: Kickin' It, Particle Style and The K-Tel Wordmaster. I lean more toward the first one, but I loved writing them both. Crack is its own reward!
Most sexy story: There was very little sex this year at all, as there was little fanfic. Um… I guess it's Finally Found Something Real (Justified, Raylan/Boyd), which is the only story rated higher than PG-13 I wrote all year.
"Holy crap, that's wrong, even for you" story: Wrong? Me?!? It's not wrong, it's adventure!
Okay. I can't claim it's the Prufrock fanfic, though even I didn't expect to write that. The closest match for this category would be Cry Havoc (The Dark Knight Rises) because it's told from the POV of someone in love with anarchy, and that is very much not me. It was the most wrong "persona" I put on last year, even when you include getting deep inside the mindspace of a frog for an LJ Idol fable. :O
Story with single sexiest moment: See "sexiest story" above. The choices are limited here!
Story with single sweetest moment: I think a parent would say that moment comes near the end of Another Ride On The Merry-Go-Round, because you can almost climb inside those feelings and live them.
But for general readers, it's probably Brutus. The drawings/cartoons Brutus' lover makes show both teasing affection for Brutus, and understanding of who Brutus is and what he means to his lover.
Most unintentionally *telling* story: All That Is Left Undone, but only because it exists. I never wanted to write about that, and it was done out of desperation. See "Hardest story" below.
Fic that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: Why Not Romance? (Burn Notice). Writing this little drabble made me realize how much Sam hopes for from his dalliances. He'll settle for what's opportune, and he devotes a lot of love and energy to it. But at this point in his life, there's a true romantic lurking underneath. Canon hints at it, but I didn't really see it until then.
Biggest disappointment: Not getting that Hitchhiker's Guide fanfic farther along (for Yuletide Madness) than the introductory "fake guidebook entry". You probably won't even see that story in 2013. :(
Biggest surprise: Siren Songs From Untraveled Seas. Seriously. Who foresees themselves writing fanfic poetry based on a literary landmark?
Hardest story to write: My first thought was that it was the Justified Zombie fic, When Blood Runs Black As Coal. The 5K minimum length was outside my comfort zone, and it was tough meeting the deadline! Near the end, I wrote about 1900 words in a single day.
But looking back at my Idol entries, I realized that the year's hardest story was actually All That Is Left Undone. I didn't even know we'd been assigned an extra story for that round until a little over an hour before the deadline, and whipping that thing out and posting it was incredibly stressful and delved into a bunch of areas I prefer not to talk about. With that deadline, the story had to be non-fiction, and the prompt took me into a whole topic area I'd hoped to avoid.
Easiest story to write: It's usually the shorter ones, of course. I wrote Worthwhile Compromises (Die Hard 4, John/Matt) within an hour, but it's mostly dialogue, which is often easier. For longer stories, I'd go with the non-fiction Tales From The Pit. Really, the hardest part there was stopping.
This year's theme and the story that demonstrates it most: Original fiction-I can actually write it! That LJ Idol self-challenge was really worth it. Out of all the different new genres I tried out, the dystopian Science And Technology Elimination Department story was probably the most unexpected use of the prompt.
As usual, I'm interested in what you think belongs in some of these categories. :)
Total wordcount: 59808. This is with bowing out of findyourwords, because I struggled to make the 35K minimum the prior year and wanted to get to bed earlier in 2012. See how that turned out, thanks to LJ Idol?
Total number of fandoms: 18-Prison Break, Supernatural, Die Hard 4, Chuck, Burn Notice, White Collar, Fringe, Justified, Terminator: SCC, Dexter, Raising Hope, The Dark Knight Rises, A Day Made Of Glass (TV Commercial), The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock, (The Hunger Games, The Avengers (TV), Smallville, Silence Of The Lambs). Plus, there was original fiction and non-fiction.
Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?
More, definitely. I'd hoped to be more reasonable about how much of my life it involved, but LJ Idol borked that idea!
What's your own favorite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest? Either Siren Songs From Untraveled Seas (sorry, I'm really over the moon about that accomplishment!), or Kickin' It, Particle Style. I know, I've written higher-quality and more complex stories than that last one, but I love the cracked-out setting and characters.
My best story: I can't figure out how to judge my non-fiction. It's too close to me. So, I'll go with either the J. Alfred Prufrock fanfic, Siren Songs From Untraveled Seas, or the dystopian LJ Idol story, Science And Technology Elimination Department. But others might think it was the non-fiction story Secrets, about my oldest sister and her battle with Huntington's.
Story most underappreciated by the universe, in my opinion: When Blood Runs Black As Coal (Justified AU, with Zombies), just for the effort vs. return ratio. I think people were too afraid to even read it, which is sad, because much of it is humor.
Most fun story: It's a tossup between two of my crack entries for Idol: Kickin' It, Particle Style and The K-Tel Wordmaster. I lean more toward the first one, but I loved writing them both. Crack is its own reward!
Most sexy story: There was very little sex this year at all, as there was little fanfic. Um… I guess it's Finally Found Something Real (Justified, Raylan/Boyd), which is the only story rated higher than PG-13 I wrote all year.
"Holy crap, that's wrong, even for you" story: Wrong? Me?!? It's not wrong, it's adventure!
Okay. I can't claim it's the Prufrock fanfic, though even I didn't expect to write that. The closest match for this category would be Cry Havoc (The Dark Knight Rises) because it's told from the POV of someone in love with anarchy, and that is very much not me. It was the most wrong "persona" I put on last year, even when you include getting deep inside the mindspace of a frog for an LJ Idol fable. :O
Story with single sexiest moment: See "sexiest story" above. The choices are limited here!
Story with single sweetest moment: I think a parent would say that moment comes near the end of Another Ride On The Merry-Go-Round, because you can almost climb inside those feelings and live them.
But for general readers, it's probably Brutus. The drawings/cartoons Brutus' lover makes show both teasing affection for Brutus, and understanding of who Brutus is and what he means to his lover.
Most unintentionally *telling* story: All That Is Left Undone, but only because it exists. I never wanted to write about that, and it was done out of desperation. See "Hardest story" below.
Fic that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: Why Not Romance? (Burn Notice). Writing this little drabble made me realize how much Sam hopes for from his dalliances. He'll settle for what's opportune, and he devotes a lot of love and energy to it. But at this point in his life, there's a true romantic lurking underneath. Canon hints at it, but I didn't really see it until then.
Biggest disappointment: Not getting that Hitchhiker's Guide fanfic farther along (for Yuletide Madness) than the introductory "fake guidebook entry". You probably won't even see that story in 2013. :(
Biggest surprise: Siren Songs From Untraveled Seas. Seriously. Who foresees themselves writing fanfic poetry based on a literary landmark?
Hardest story to write: My first thought was that it was the Justified Zombie fic, When Blood Runs Black As Coal. The 5K minimum length was outside my comfort zone, and it was tough meeting the deadline! Near the end, I wrote about 1900 words in a single day.
But looking back at my Idol entries, I realized that the year's hardest story was actually All That Is Left Undone. I didn't even know we'd been assigned an extra story for that round until a little over an hour before the deadline, and whipping that thing out and posting it was incredibly stressful and delved into a bunch of areas I prefer not to talk about. With that deadline, the story had to be non-fiction, and the prompt took me into a whole topic area I'd hoped to avoid.
Easiest story to write: It's usually the shorter ones, of course. I wrote Worthwhile Compromises (Die Hard 4, John/Matt) within an hour, but it's mostly dialogue, which is often easier. For longer stories, I'd go with the non-fiction Tales From The Pit. Really, the hardest part there was stopping.
This year's theme and the story that demonstrates it most: Original fiction-I can actually write it! That LJ Idol self-challenge was really worth it. Out of all the different new genres I tried out, the dystopian Science And Technology Elimination Department story was probably the most unexpected use of the prompt.
As usual, I'm interested in what you think belongs in some of these categories. :)