Writing: 2010 Year in Review: jlh

jlh

Writing: 2010 Year in Review

Jan 01, 2011 23:14

Spent last night at home, very low key, with

ali_wildgoose and hoshizora and emsariel drinking pink champagne and watching The Apartment (and Ryan of course).

2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002

14 January: Takes One to Know One, Ryan/Simon, NC-17, 15,700 words. (LJ | DW | AO3)
This was written for reel_idol and I'm not sure it entirely came off; it's a little too dependent on the movie (To Catch a Thief) and I was confused as to how to truly adapt it to the two of them. The shift in time from the post-WWII 50s to the Fitzgerald-esque post-WWI 20s was a good move, though. I think Ryan's all right, and I really like the inclusion of Ellen and Merv Griffin here (he was a total hoot to write even though probably almost everyone who read the story had no idea who he was) but Simon is all over the place. A learning experience!
7 February: So This Starfleet Captain Walks into a Bar …, Kirk/McCoy, NC-17, 1009 words. (LJ | DW | AO3)
Written for Team Jones in the ST Ship Battle, and it proved quite popular! We had a 1000-word goal with allowance of 10 words in either direction, and a smut prompt, and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. There's a lot of little things, mostly some tells from Bones, that I didn't even realize I'd put in until someone else pointed them out. I'd decided to do the Ship Battle to get more involved in Trek fandom and the K/Mc ship in particular and it totally worked.
15 March: Mustang Makes It Happen!, Kirk/McCoy, NC-17, 1404 words. (LJ | DW | AO3)
We had a few prompt fests at the then-Team Jones, where someone asked for car porn and this is what I delivered. I also made a soundtrack, something that happened rather a lot this year.
5 April: Breaking in the Future, Duckie/Cameron, PG, 1521 words. (LJ | DW | AO3)
Written for
pinkfinity who won my help_haiti auction. (No fic for [Bad username: help_pakistan site=livejournal.com] because I was in the middle of the BB's and so I baked for that one.) I had started trying to write my way into it in the notebook that was stolen, and had to start from scratch, but in the meantime the health care bill gave me the hook I really needed. Half John Hughes, half American political rpf, which is pretty perfect for the recipient!
8 April: Score One for the Home Team, Kirk/McCoy, NC-17, 1070 words. (LJ | DW | AO3)
The original story I wrote for the Team Jones challenge, but it wasn't singing and I abandoned it and started over. But this really isn't a bad little story, one of watching a sporting event and having your own half-time activity plus a friendly little wager. Sort of the reverse of the mustang story in that this time it's Jim watching Bones and then feeling compelled to jump him.
15 April: No One Will Be Watching Us, Kirk/McCoy, NC-17, 2715 words. (LJ | DW | AO3)
Another story generated by the Ship Battle, this time one of the party posts which was titled, "spank a captain, kiss an XO." So I had Bones spank his captain, and there were kisses aplenty. Between this and Mustang, sets up the dynamic I see for non-AU Kirk/McCoy (and of course they're the same guys; I can't help writing in series).
22 April: Several Kirk/McCoy shorts:
Anatomy Lesson, NC-17, 100 words (LJ | DW | AO3)
Bones and Tongue, PG-13, 516 words (LJ | DW | AO3)
The Hottest Thing in Sickbay, PG, 520 words (LJ | DW | AO3)
Lemon, NC-17, 254 words (LJ | DW | AO3)
(I Don't Want Your) Photograph, PG-13, 411 words (LJ | DW | AO3)
All written in one or two ST Ship Battle party posts, with the exception of Anatomy Lesson which was for a drabble fest. Bones and Tongue originally written with Bones's admirer a mystery so they could be Chapel or Uhura or Spock as well as Jim. Lemon soon to be expanded!
30 April: His Heart to Report, Kirk/McCoy and others, NC-17, 8133 words; written with sail_aweigh and greenteaduck (who also did the illustrations). (LJ | DW | AO3)
Our final assignment for the ST Ship Battle was to do a collaborative multimedia piece. We wrote a story based on the TOS episode "Shore Leave" with the magical planet, and had Bones going down the rabbit hole into various universes in which he was with Chapel, Uhura, Chekov, Spock, and Spock and Kirk, before coming back and finally declaring his feelings to Kirk. I'm still pretty fond of it and since we each took different parts it was less co-writing than being a writing collective.
30 April: The Sun Rising, Kirk/McCoy, NC-17, 3343 words. (LJ | DW | AO3)
Another fic from a Team Jones prompt fest, where the request was that Bones is Jim's secret admirer. Super fluffy, includes a mix and a lot of photos, and yes, in the same continuity as the other K/Mc stuff I've written.
13 May: All Over Me, Ryan/Simon, NC-17, 3092 words. (LJ | DW | AO3)
The how-the-got-together first season fic I'd had in my head for quite a while, referred to in a few other places. I'm glad I waited to write this part until quite close to the end of my time writing Idol-based Ryan and Simon, because I have a firmer grip on them now than I used to.
4 June: Some People Ain't Me, Chris Pine and Zoe Saldana (with references to Z2 and C/K), PG, 463 words. (LJ | DW | AO3)
Written as a comment fic on a jim_and_bones Daily Captain/Daily Doctor, where the Chris Pine pic was from the Costume Institute Gala and a lot of folks weren't down with the very fashion forward blue Ralph Lauren tux he was wearing. So Zoe and Chris have a conversation about fashion and how their boyfriends don't appreciate couture pretty much at all.
22 July: Who Would? Would You?, Kirk/McCoy, NC-17, 3003 words. (LJ | DW | AO3)
A response to a "monster cock Bones/size queen Jim" prompt at the K/Mc kink meme. The only K/Mc story that isn't really in the same continuity as the others-it could be, but then I'd have to keep writing about Bones's giant dick all the time.
16 October: Imagine Me and You, Ryan/Simon, NC-17, 18,898 words. (LJ | DW | AO3)
Written for rpf_big_bang, which was a great experience. I am writing a few more Rymon fics but this is really the goodbye to Idol-based Rymon, the catharsis that I needed to write, and I'm really happy with how it turned out.
24 October: Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe, Kirk/McCoy, NC-17, 70,802 words. (LJ | DW | AO3)
Written for startrekbigbang, and started nearly a year before. It was very hard to write at the beginning, full of fits and starts and a lot of discouragement, but at some point in the early summer it just took off and did what I wanted it to do and even more things I didn't know I wanted. Even though some parts of the process were incredibly emotionally difficult I'm really proud of where the story ended up, and so fond of the universe that I'll definitely be revisiting it.
2 December: Sending Postcards, Kirk/McCoy, PG, 2880 words. (LJ | DW | AO3)
Written for space_wrapped, and set in the Hollywood 'verse. An opportunity to write from Joanna's perspective on her father moving them in with his boyfriend and his boyfriend's young son, and also how much of her father's music snobbery rubbed off on her.
25 December: Ancient Artifacts and Modern Rituals, Community (Gen), PG, 4780 words. (LJ | DW | AO3)
Written for Yuletide, and a rare fic for me that is not only gen itself, but doesn't even reference other ships. The recipient wanted an episode of the show, and I worked hard to give her one! It was fun to write and think about, gave me an excuse I didn't really need to buy Community on DVD, and led to two straight weekends of watching the entire first season of the show, first with the commentary tracks and then without so I could try to get the voices right.
31 December: Dick Clark Will Have His Revenge on Times Square, Ryan/Simon, PG, 978 words. (LJ | DW | AO3)
Started as a comment fic at
ignaz's Seacrestmas. I figured since I'd written one holiday story for the STBB, I should write a holiday story for my RPFBB as well.

Total Stories: 21
Total Fandoms: 5 (ST, ST RPF, AI RPF, John Hughes, Community)
Total Word Count: 136,000

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?
More, and different, because signing up for the ship battle really changed things. jim_and_bones has so many challenges and prompts that I pumped out a ton of K/Mc this year, much more than I would have predicted even though a goal for 2010 was to get more involved in the ship.

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January 2010?
I don't think I would have thought that Yuletide and my love of Community would have led me to a long gen fic. But I already loved Community back in January.

What's your favorite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest?
This is very hard this year! I'm so sentimental about the Ryan/Simon BB, and the further fics, because while it isn't the end of Ryan/Simon or probably my writing or shipping it, it is the end of their journey on the show, and writing that BB felt like closure of something that was wonderful (the ship) but painful and unwelcoming (the fandom).
Then again, I think Ancient Artifacts is the longest gen fic I've ever written, and I'm very fond of it!
Then again again, most of the year was dominated by writing the Hollywood AU, so in many ways it is my favorite story that I wrote this year because so much sweat went into it.

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?
Probably the biggest risk was writing a gen fic in a growing fandom for a sitcom. I wrote essentially an episode of the show and that was very difficult to get right. I don't think I've ever written anything that had no romance (not even undertones or hints or pre-whatever) and was so close to canon.

Do you have any fanfic goals for the New Year?
I say this every year but seriously, the EWFS sequel has to be done before the final film opens in July. And strength willing, the bulk of the other HP fic I want to write will also get done.
But mostly, I hadn't realized until I took this look back that with the exception of two gen fics, I wrote nothing but white boy slash all year. I love you, Kirk/McCoy, but diverse you are not, and I really need to follow that star this year. Fulfilling

tenwomen and writing the HP stuff will naturally diversify this space, happily. While Rymon is being set aside anyway, K/Mc really has to take much more of a back seat in 2011.

Best story: Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe and Imagine Me and You
Story most underappreciated by the universe: It may be a little early to say this, but Ancient Artifacts and Modern Rituals
Most fun story: Breaking in the Future
Sexiest story: All Over Me
Story with single sexiest moment: Mustang Makes It Happen!
Story with single sweetest moment: The Sun Rising
Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: All of them! You always learn something new about them when you write a story.
Hardest story to write: Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe
Easiest story to write: Imagine Me and You
Biggest disappointment: To myself, likely Takes One to Know One. It wasn't what it should have been. Perhaps someday I'll rewrite it and make it better. And while I know it was not my best story, the reaction on reel_idol was even worse than my very low expectations, and led to my giving up on larger Idol fandom entirely.
Biggest surprise: The reaction to Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe

Overall: I had a really fun time with the ST Ship Battle, and I'm so happy to be so involved with Kirk/McCoy shippers and jim_and_bones in particular. It's turned out to be so much more fun and better than even I'd hoped.

But at the same time, I've definitely learned that I don't like competitive fests or things that involve voting. Not because I don't win-I don't, but whatever-but because the things that I love and vote for rarely win. I don't think in my entire time in the ship battle that any of the fics that I voted for were actually put forth as representatives for the ship. I've always had a sense of being out of step with slash fandom, since the HP days, but participating in the ST Battle definitely put that into sharp relief (as do things every once in a while at jim_and_bones, but then, no one can perfectly fit in anyplace).

For the next year, I've reached a good put-them-on-the-shelf place with Ryan and Simon, which is excellent. In order to reach the goals I have for 2011 I will need to put aside K/Mc for the most part as well, and it's lovely to be able to participate so fully as a mod and a reader even if I won't be doing tons of writing.

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