Fanfiction in Review: 2012
Let’s pretend that this entry was actually posted in December 2012, and not, um, an entire year late. Oops.
I began my first-full time “real” job in 2012, and it cut into my ability to write in many ways. However, I also met people who were fun and supportive of my writing and my real life; I am so glad that I met each and every one of them.
These are the nine stories that were written in 2012:
1) Part I of the King’s Gambit series: Disjunctive Pieces (Sherlock): Something isn’t right about this, about all of this. What is it? That’s the key to figuring this mess out. There is always a key. (Sally Donovan, post-Reichenbach Fall, PG-13)
2) Alea Iacta Est (Sherlock): In their line of work, a swift death is always the kindest end. (Mycroft Holmes, Irene Alder, post-A Scandal in Belgravia, PG)
3) Part II of the King’s Gambit series: Long Live the King (Sherlock): The seven or eight months After are hell. The seventeen months after that aren’t much better. (Greg Lestrade, Sally Donovan, post-Reichenbach Fall, semi-sequel to Disjointed Pieces, PG)
4) Part III of the King’s Gambit series: All the King’s Men (Sherlock): All Sean Pritchard wanted was the chance to complete his assignment: kill Inspector Greg Lestrade. Lady Luck (and Scotland Yard) other ideas… (Original Character (narrator), Greg Lestrade, Sally Donovan, Scotland Yard, post-Reichenbach Fall, PG-15, companion piece/sequel to Long Live the King)
5) A Rose for Everafter (Castle): ensemble cast, background Richard Castle/Katherine Beckett, Javier Esposito/Lanie Parish, Kevin Ryan/Jennifer O’Malley, PG [Locked; castleland]
6) Speak Now (Castle): Katherine Beckett, Richard Castle, Alexis Castle, overtones of Richard Castle/Katherine Beckett, PG [Locked; castleland]
7) Theme Manifesto: Family of Blood and Choice (Castle): ensemble cast, overtones of Richard Castle/Katherine Beckett, background OC/OC, Kevin Ryan/Jennifer O’Malley, PG-13
8) A Scandal in New York (Sherlock/Castle): Greg Lestrade, Charlotte Lestrade, ensemble Castle cast, overtones of Greg Lestrade/Molly Hooper, PG-13
9) Underneath the Mistletoe (Stargate: Atlantis): Gift wrapping has never been quite so entertaining…. (John Sheppard/Elizabeth Weir, post-Season 5, PG)
Favorite Story This Year: Long Live the King was written out of my love of hardworking, long-suffering, underpaid detectives like Greg Lestrade and his crew at New Scotland Yard. While it is firmly rooted in a post-Reichenbach world, the story is an exploration on the close relationship between Lestrade and Donovan, and how they might rebuild their relationship as mentor-protégé, colleagues and friends.
The very close second runner-up is Speak Now for the sheer degree of playful banter that runs through the snippet. Castle is a wonderfully self-aware crime procedural that gleefully takes the crazy and makes it funny. That also means that crack!AU stories…usually don’t end up as crazy and crack!like as a writer might expect when first introduced to the plot bunny…
Best Story This Year: Without a doubt in my mind, All the King’s Men belongs in this category. I never intended to write a multi-chaptered story that relied heavily on a secondary character who turned out, for all intents and purposes, to be an original character. It challenged me to go beyond my usual comfort zone as a writer and delve into a much darker character mindset.
Most Fun Story This Year: A Rose for Everafter is a Regency!AU that has managed to get itself stuck in my brain. I had way too much fun trying to figure out how to get Beckett into some kind of investigator/detective role without too much handwaving. It was fantastic. Again, Castle is one of those wonderful shows where the crack!ideas turn into wonderful, logical stories.
Hardest Story to Write: Alea Iacta Est was (surprisingly) difficult to get out onto the page. Whether it was because Mycroft Holmes was a touch too busy to talk to me, or I was overthinking it (probably the latter), I went through multiple drafts with my beta-readers to find the final version. In some of our final emails to each other, we were down to discussing, dissecting, and rewriting sentences and parts of sentences. Thank God for patient beta-readers; I owe them all a few rounds of stiff drinks.
Easiest Story to Write: Oddly, Disjointed Pieces was the easiest to write. In the aftermath of Reichenbach, I promised myself that I would not write a Sally Donovan redemption story. Then I wrote this in one sitting and realized, after the fact, that I had written a Sally Donovan redemption story.
Future Plans for 2013
I began my first-full time “real” job in 2012, and it cut into my ability to write in many ways. However, I also met people who were fun and supportive of my writing and my real life; I am so glad that I met each and every one of them.
These are the nine stories that were written in 2012:
1) Part I of the King’s Gambit series: Disjunctive Pieces (Sherlock): Something isn’t right about this, about all of this. What is it? That’s the key to figuring this mess out. There is always a key. (Sally Donovan, post-Reichenbach Fall, PG-13)
2) Alea Iacta Est (Sherlock): In their line of work, a swift death is always the kindest end. (Mycroft Holmes, Irene Alder, post-A Scandal in Belgravia, PG)
3) Part II of the King’s Gambit series: Long Live the King (Sherlock): The seven or eight months After are hell. The seventeen months after that aren’t much better. (Greg Lestrade, Sally Donovan, post-Reichenbach Fall, semi-sequel to Disjointed Pieces, PG)
4) Part III of the King’s Gambit series: All the King’s Men (Sherlock): All Sean Pritchard wanted was the chance to complete his assignment: kill Inspector Greg Lestrade. Lady Luck (and Scotland Yard) other ideas… (Original Character (narrator), Greg Lestrade, Sally Donovan, Scotland Yard, post-Reichenbach Fall, PG-15, companion piece/sequel to Long Live the King)
5) A Rose for Everafter (Castle): ensemble cast, background Richard Castle/Katherine Beckett, Javier Esposito/Lanie Parish, Kevin Ryan/Jennifer O’Malley, PG [Locked; castleland]
6) Speak Now (Castle): Katherine Beckett, Richard Castle, Alexis Castle, overtones of Richard Castle/Katherine Beckett, PG [Locked; castleland]
7) Theme Manifesto: Family of Blood and Choice (Castle): ensemble cast, overtones of Richard Castle/Katherine Beckett, background OC/OC, Kevin Ryan/Jennifer O’Malley, PG-13
8) A Scandal in New York (Sherlock/Castle): Greg Lestrade, Charlotte Lestrade, ensemble Castle cast, overtones of Greg Lestrade/Molly Hooper, PG-13
9) Underneath the Mistletoe (Stargate: Atlantis): Gift wrapping has never been quite so entertaining…. (John Sheppard/Elizabeth Weir, post-Season 5, PG)
Favorite Story This Year: Long Live the King was written out of my love of hardworking, long-suffering, underpaid detectives like Greg Lestrade and his crew at New Scotland Yard. While it is firmly rooted in a post-Reichenbach world, the story is an exploration on the close relationship between Lestrade and Donovan, and how they might rebuild their relationship as mentor-protégé, colleagues and friends.
The very close second runner-up is Speak Now for the sheer degree of playful banter that runs through the snippet. Castle is a wonderfully self-aware crime procedural that gleefully takes the crazy and makes it funny. That also means that crack!AU stories…usually don’t end up as crazy and crack!like as a writer might expect when first introduced to the plot bunny…
Best Story This Year: Without a doubt in my mind, All the King’s Men belongs in this category. I never intended to write a multi-chaptered story that relied heavily on a secondary character who turned out, for all intents and purposes, to be an original character. It challenged me to go beyond my usual comfort zone as a writer and delve into a much darker character mindset.
Most Fun Story This Year: A Rose for Everafter is a Regency!AU that has managed to get itself stuck in my brain. I had way too much fun trying to figure out how to get Beckett into some kind of investigator/detective role without too much handwaving. It was fantastic. Again, Castle is one of those wonderful shows where the crack!ideas turn into wonderful, logical stories.
Hardest Story to Write: Alea Iacta Est was (surprisingly) difficult to get out onto the page. Whether it was because Mycroft Holmes was a touch too busy to talk to me, or I was overthinking it (probably the latter), I went through multiple drafts with my beta-readers to find the final version. In some of our final emails to each other, we were down to discussing, dissecting, and rewriting sentences and parts of sentences. Thank God for patient beta-readers; I owe them all a few rounds of stiff drinks.
Easiest Story to Write: Oddly, Disjointed Pieces was the easiest to write. In the aftermath of Reichenbach, I promised myself that I would not write a Sally Donovan redemption story. Then I wrote this in one sitting and realized, after the fact, that I had written a Sally Donovan redemption story.
Future Plans for 2013