fic year in review
This meme went around a little early for me to want to do, but now that 2005 is actually over, here's mine. This year marked my entry into multifannishness, the rapid decline of my interest in Harry Potter fanfiction, and the rapid rise of my interest in Stargate: Atlantis. In 2004 I wrote nothing but Harry Potter; in 2005 I wrote only one short story, two ficlets, and a crossover in this fandom. I posted stories in five different fandoms this year, and wrote in two more (stories still unfinished and therefore not yet posted). I didn't write much during the first half of the year as I was away from the internet and therefore away from fandom, but when I came back I made up for lost time like whoa.
Stories I wrote this year:
February:
Players | Millicent/Luna PG (HP) 4000 words
July:
The Waiting | Aubrey/Maturin R (Master and Commander book-based) 3500 words
Double Occupancy | Sheppard/McKay, NC17 (SGA) 18,000 words
August:
Burning (for ithurtsmybrain) | Kavanagh/Montag, R (SGA/Fahrenheit 451 crossover) 1350 words
Alpha Males, John and Ronon, gen, G (SGA) 850 words
September:
Seeing Heightmeyer (for sga_remix) | Sheppard/McKay, NC17 (SGA) 4700 words
Semper Fi (for sga_remix) | Sheppard/McKay, PG13 (SGA) 1200 words
Worst-case Scenario (for Worst Case Scenario challenge)| Sheppard/McKay, PG13 (SGA) 7550 words
SGA limericks for the 2005 Stargate Limerick Project Contest | gen, Sheppard/McKay, Sheppard/Dex G and PG (SGA) 150 words
October:
Five Kisses (for Yuletide NYR 2004) | Lucy/Alice PG (Iron-Jawed Angels) 1000 words
November:
Clarke's Law | gen PG (SGA/HP crossover) 21,300 words
December:
Androcles and the Lion (for sga_santa) | Beckett/Dex R (SGA) 5250 words
Merry Christmas, Dr. Fleischman (for the Yuletide 2005 exchange) | gen G (Northern Exposure) 2800 words
Two ficlets for hpshortfics | Snape, Pettigrew gen PG, Draco/Bill PG (HP) 500 words
McKay/Novak drabble for oddball_sga | McKay/Novak PG (SGA) 100 words
Totals sliced in various ways:
15 stories (1 drabble, 4 ficlets, 7 short stories, 2 novelettes, 1 novella) plus a handful of limericks, 72,250 words.
10 stories and the limericks were written for ficathons or challenges.
3 HP, 7 (strictly) SGA, 2 crossovers, 6 fandoms represented.
2 femslash, 8 slash, 1 het, 4 gen.
2 G, 6 PG, 2 PG13, 3 R, 2 NC17. (Note to self: in 2006, write more porn.)
Stories singled out by...
My favorite story this year: Usually it's my most recent! But I guess I'll go with Clarke's Law, because I loved the concept and was really happy with how it turned out.
My best story this year: Double Occupancy got the most response. And I think in many ways it was my best, as I wrote it in the full flush of love with a new fandom but with the experience and skill from having written fanfiction for several years.
Story most underappreciated by the universe, in my opinion: Five Kisses. Come on, doesn't anyone want to read near-RPS femslash about American suffragists? But actually, I wouldn't have read the story myself if I hadn't written it. Perhaps Burning, because not a lot of people want to read about Kavanagh, especially in a sort-of-crossover, but I think it's really very good even though it's outside my usual style.
Most fun story: Tough choice between Semper Fi and Merry Christmas, Dr. Fleischman. I loved getting into the head of the marine, Sorenson, in the first. And I love the Northern Exposure characters so much that writing them was such a joy. Both were nice, short stories that never gave me any OMG what now?? moments.
Most sexy story: I'm going to go with Androcles and the Lion, because I think the sex scene is really sexy, especially after the long, slow buildup.
Story with single sexiest moment: The masturbation/sex scene in Double Occupancy, when they're both still in Rodney's body and swapping control, looking at the mirror. At least, I think so!
Hardest story to write: The end of Double Occupancy was really difficult for me. Everything from the separation scene to just before the final sex scene required a lot of work, because the characters were going through such emotional anguish and I find angst difficult to write well. I needed to keep things from descending into melodrama, and to sustain a hopeful note so that the ending would work, but still show their trauma. Worst-Case Scenario was hard because I was running up against a deadline and so I broke my rule about not writing a story until I knew where it was going, and I ended up casting wildly about for an ending.
"Holy crap, that's *wrong*, even for you" story: Burning, I guess. Kavanagh goes around the bend.
Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: Any time I write a minor character in a major role, I think this happens. Players certainly did it for Luna and Millicent, Clarke's Law for Carson and Hermione, and Androcles and the Lion for Carson and Ronon.
Biggest disappointment: Worst-Case Scenario. As I said above, I didn't really have a clear idea of where it was going (although the first part was clear in my head before I started writing) and as a result it sort of wanders around. I couldn't force the resolution I wanted, and so I let the story go where it seemed to want, but it ended up being much less structured and much less cohesive than I wanted it to be.
Biggest surprise: Falling hard for SGA! Oh, you mean as a story? Semper Fi. When the sga_remix organizer told me that Zeelee's remixer had dropped out, I toyed with the idea of remixing her Fisticuffs for a while before committing to the pinch-hit. (I liked her other stories too much to want to mess with them!) The idea of doing it from the POV of the marine (who is barely present in her story) hit me like a bolt out of the blue, and the story took me basically one day to write - it was just such a cool idea. It was also immediately obvious to me that it had to be written in first person and present tense, neither of which I usually employ.
Most unintentionally telling story: Probably Clarke's Law, because honestly, Hermione is my Mary Sue. Her little speech at the end about how she's so lucky because when she was a child she read books about magic and space travel, and imagined herself in them, and now she has both? Yeah. I wish.
Stories I wrote this year:
February:
Players | Millicent/Luna PG (HP) 4000 words
July:
The Waiting | Aubrey/Maturin R (Master and Commander book-based) 3500 words
Double Occupancy | Sheppard/McKay, NC17 (SGA) 18,000 words
August:
Burning (for ithurtsmybrain) | Kavanagh/Montag, R (SGA/Fahrenheit 451 crossover) 1350 words
Alpha Males, John and Ronon, gen, G (SGA) 850 words
September:
Seeing Heightmeyer (for sga_remix) | Sheppard/McKay, NC17 (SGA) 4700 words
Semper Fi (for sga_remix) | Sheppard/McKay, PG13 (SGA) 1200 words
Worst-case Scenario (for Worst Case Scenario challenge)| Sheppard/McKay, PG13 (SGA) 7550 words
SGA limericks for the 2005 Stargate Limerick Project Contest | gen, Sheppard/McKay, Sheppard/Dex G and PG (SGA) 150 words
October:
Five Kisses (for Yuletide NYR 2004) | Lucy/Alice PG (Iron-Jawed Angels) 1000 words
November:
Clarke's Law | gen PG (SGA/HP crossover) 21,300 words
December:
Androcles and the Lion (for sga_santa) | Beckett/Dex R (SGA) 5250 words
Merry Christmas, Dr. Fleischman (for the Yuletide 2005 exchange) | gen G (Northern Exposure) 2800 words
Two ficlets for hpshortfics | Snape, Pettigrew gen PG, Draco/Bill PG (HP) 500 words
McKay/Novak drabble for oddball_sga | McKay/Novak PG (SGA) 100 words
Totals sliced in various ways:
15 stories (1 drabble, 4 ficlets, 7 short stories, 2 novelettes, 1 novella) plus a handful of limericks, 72,250 words.
10 stories and the limericks were written for ficathons or challenges.
3 HP, 7 (strictly) SGA, 2 crossovers, 6 fandoms represented.
2 femslash, 8 slash, 1 het, 4 gen.
2 G, 6 PG, 2 PG13, 3 R, 2 NC17. (Note to self: in 2006, write more porn.)
Stories singled out by...
My favorite story this year: Usually it's my most recent! But I guess I'll go with Clarke's Law, because I loved the concept and was really happy with how it turned out.
My best story this year: Double Occupancy got the most response. And I think in many ways it was my best, as I wrote it in the full flush of love with a new fandom but with the experience and skill from having written fanfiction for several years.
Story most underappreciated by the universe, in my opinion: Five Kisses. Come on, doesn't anyone want to read near-RPS femslash about American suffragists? But actually, I wouldn't have read the story myself if I hadn't written it. Perhaps Burning, because not a lot of people want to read about Kavanagh, especially in a sort-of-crossover, but I think it's really very good even though it's outside my usual style.
Most fun story: Tough choice between Semper Fi and Merry Christmas, Dr. Fleischman. I loved getting into the head of the marine, Sorenson, in the first. And I love the Northern Exposure characters so much that writing them was such a joy. Both were nice, short stories that never gave me any OMG what now?? moments.
Most sexy story: I'm going to go with Androcles and the Lion, because I think the sex scene is really sexy, especially after the long, slow buildup.
Story with single sexiest moment: The masturbation/sex scene in Double Occupancy, when they're both still in Rodney's body and swapping control, looking at the mirror. At least, I think so!
Hardest story to write: The end of Double Occupancy was really difficult for me. Everything from the separation scene to just before the final sex scene required a lot of work, because the characters were going through such emotional anguish and I find angst difficult to write well. I needed to keep things from descending into melodrama, and to sustain a hopeful note so that the ending would work, but still show their trauma. Worst-Case Scenario was hard because I was running up against a deadline and so I broke my rule about not writing a story until I knew where it was going, and I ended up casting wildly about for an ending.
"Holy crap, that's *wrong*, even for you" story: Burning, I guess. Kavanagh goes around the bend.
Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: Any time I write a minor character in a major role, I think this happens. Players certainly did it for Luna and Millicent, Clarke's Law for Carson and Hermione, and Androcles and the Lion for Carson and Ronon.
Biggest disappointment: Worst-Case Scenario. As I said above, I didn't really have a clear idea of where it was going (although the first part was clear in my head before I started writing) and as a result it sort of wanders around. I couldn't force the resolution I wanted, and so I let the story go where it seemed to want, but it ended up being much less structured and much less cohesive than I wanted it to be.
Biggest surprise: Falling hard for SGA! Oh, you mean as a story? Semper Fi. When the sga_remix organizer told me that Zeelee's remixer had dropped out, I toyed with the idea of remixing her Fisticuffs for a while before committing to the pinch-hit. (I liked her other stories too much to want to mess with them!) The idea of doing it from the POV of the marine (who is barely present in her story) hit me like a bolt out of the blue, and the story took me basically one day to write - it was just such a cool idea. It was also immediately obvious to me that it had to be written in first person and present tense, neither of which I usually employ.
Most unintentionally telling story: Probably Clarke's Law, because honestly, Hermione is my Mary Sue. Her little speech at the end about how she's so lucky because when she was a child she read books about magic and space travel, and imagined herself in them, and now she has both? Yeah. I wish.