Writing Meme
OK - so a retrospective's fine right as long as it's in the first week of the year. At any rate at least this should distract me from the steadily growing list of people who can't make it into work because of the snow. So here is the stuff what I wrote during 2009:
(Also one day when I'm on a fast computer this might have pretty links)
JANUARY
Nothing - apparently the year got off to a slow start
FEBRUARY
Giving Gifts (Merlin) (http://archiveofourown.org/works/30974)
Arthur, Merlin, Morgana, Gwen -- 1,213 words
Valentine’s Day comes to Camelot.
Crazy Little Thing Called Love (Sarah-Jane Adventures / Dr Who) (http://archiveofourown.org/works/30322)
Clyde, Luke, Maria, Sarah Jane, Martha, Eleven and Adam Mitchell -- 12,467 words
It’s Valentine’s Day - you know what that means, lots of dating, and talking about uncomfortable feelings, and hearts and flowers and chocolates, and, oh yes, lots of kissing and a monster ripping people apart - everything you’d expect really. Silliness and crack ahoy!
MARCH
A Terrible Cost (Merlin) (http://archiveofourown.org/works/31119)
Arthur, Merlin, Morgana, Gwen and Nimue -- 13,179 words
An alternate ending for Le Morte D'Arthur - basically based on the question of what would have happened if the other three members of the fantastic foursome had realised that Merlin was in danger and ridden out to the rescue...
APRIL
Tripping The Light Fantastic (How Mickey Smith Got His Groove Back) (Doctor Who) (http://archiveofourown.org/works/30925)
Mickey, Rose and Jake -- 4,859 words
Mickey and Rose skip across the parallel universes looking for the Doctor.
A Series of Conversations on an Awkward Subject (Temeraire) (http://archiveofourown.org/works/30962)
Emily Roland -- 7,148 words
Roland has no idea if Excidium will accept him as Captain, he doesn't have the answers but he's hoping he can find someone who does.
MAY
Under The Burnt Orange Sky (Doctor Who) (http://archiveofourown.org/works/30926)
Martha, The Doctor -- 2,458 words
Set at the end of Journey's End, Martha and the Doctor talk.
JUNE
Old Horizons, New Skies (Torchwood) (http://archiveofourown.org/works/31132)
Jack, Gwen, Ianto, Tosh, Suzie, Alex Hopkins, James Harper, OMC -- 32,324 words
During a fight with a figure from his past Jack is transported to a parallel Earth - faced with alternate versions of his Torchwood teams, both old and new, he begins to wonder whether Torchwood only ever ruins people's lives. Can he avoid drawing them all back in to the danger and madness again? And will he get home?
Drinking Games (Star Trek 2009) (http://archiveofourown.org/works/30964)
Everyone (more or less) -- 2,457 words
Kirk thinks the team need to bond.
JULY
And nothing again - this is what I like to call the Children of Earth effect
AUGUST
The Once and Future Captain (Star Trek Reboot / Merlin) (http://archiveofourown.org/works/31078)
Arthur, Merlin, Kirk, Spock -- 15,900 words
Arthur has a problem - he’s suddenly found himself trapped in the body of the captain of a starship about to be dragged into battle, he’s so out of his depth he’s probably already drowned and to make matters worse this captain, Kirk, is probably leaving a trail of destruction across Camelot - there’s only one thing he’s certain of. It’s all Merlin’s fault. Kirk on the other hand is planning to have the time of his life.
The Tempest (Merlin) (http://archiveofourown.org/works/31126)
Merlin/Arthur -- 8,173 words
“There was a plague,” Merlin tells them, “And there was a battle. And there was a storm. But first there was a lie. No. There were many lies.” Merlin tells the tale of how Arthur discovered his magic.
SEPTEMBER
And more nothing.
OCTOBER
Between Two Beats (Sarah Jane Adventures) (http://archiveofourown.org/works/30966)
The Doctor, Peter Dalton -- 751 words
A coda set at the end of the episode, The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith. A fix-it of sorts, that wouldn't leave me alone until I'd written it.
Cold (Merlin) (http://archiveofourown.org/works/30973)
Gwen/Morgana -- 956 words
Missing scenes of sorts for episode 2 - because whilst I love that they're focusing more on the ladies of Camelot, I wish they would work out they can feature more than one of them at a time.
NOVEMBER
Merlin 2010 - A Fresh Start (Merlin - modern AU) (http://archiveofourown.org/works/31075)
Arthur/Merlin, Gwen/Morgana, Uther, Gaius -- 8,509 words
Arthur is having a bad day at the office but things start to look up when he runs into the IT department's new employee...
A Very 'Nightmare' Christmas (Supernatural / The Nightmare Before Christmas) (http://archiveofourown.org/works/31077)
Jack Skellington, Dean, Sam, Lock, Stock, Barrel, The Mayor, The Finkelstein's -- 5,563 words
It's the end of A Very 'Supernatural' Christmas and someone other than Santa Claus is coming to town...
DECEMBER
Medical Research (Green Wing) (http://archiveofourown.org/works/31993)
Alan Statham/Boyce -- 6,651 words
Boyce is ready to move his relationship with Dr. Statham onto a new, exciting level - but where should a grown man turn for advice? Luckily there are always magazines happy to help, if you know where to look for them.
STATS:
Word count: 122,608 according to Archive of our Own
Story count: 15
Fandoms: 9 in total with three crossovers. Merlin was definitely the most popular featuring in six stories. For the rest its: Doctor Who (3), Star Trek (2), Sarah Jane Adventures (2), Temeraire (1), Torchwood (1), Supernatural (1), A Nightmare Before Christmas (1), Green Wing (1)
Genres: Gen was still leading the pack by far with 7 stories, followed by Mixed (4), Slash (3) and Femslash (1)
Most written pairing: Once I rule out the stories where everything is just hinted - Merlin/Arthur comes out on top with three appearances, with Morgana/Gwen nipping at their heels with two appearances.
Most written character: Morgana, Gwen and Arthur all came out on top with six appearances each, Merlin somehow only managed five (it’s not like he’s the title character or anything) - so yes, Merlin definitely ate my fic this year.
QUESTIONS:
My Favourite Story This Year: Although I’m not sure it’s the best, I think ‘The Tempest’ (http://archiveofourown.org/works/31126) came closest to achieving the tone and effect I wanted, plus it gave me a great opportunity to play with a different way of telling a story and is my ode to Merlin/Arthur. So for lots of reasons it’s my favourite.
My Best Story This Year: The one I definitely got the most amazing responses from was ‘A Series of Conversations on an Awkward Subject’ (http://archiveofourown.org/works/30962) - everybody was incredibly lovely about it. Which was a huge relief as it’s one of the ones I stressed about the most - between being new to the canon, the setting and the transgender issues - it was a massive learning curve and felt like a huge opportunity to mess up. So I’m so glad it worked for so many people.
Most Fun Story: I wrote a lot of silly, cracky, ridiculous stories this year so this is a bit of a hotly contested story - ‘Medical Research’ (http://archiveofourown.org/works/31993) is definitely a close second but I think in the end ‘A Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ (http://archiveofourown.org/works/30322) pips it at the post. It’s pretty much a romantic romp from start to finish, with added monsters and snarking full of characters I adore - so for me, ultimate fun.
Sexiest Story: Err... definitely one of my original fics, which actually has a sex scene, something my fic is pretty much universally missing. I am very PG. I think ‘Old Horizons, New Skies’ (http://archiveofourown.org/works/31132) had some good UST moments though.
Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: Has to be ‘The Once and Future Captain’ (http://archiveofourown.org/works/31078) which I went into with one lot of ideas and came out with completely different ones - it really altered how I perceive Arthur and Merlin particularly and helped to define my ideas about their personalities. Plus putting people into completely alien scenarios for them, is always useful for exploring characters.
Hardest Story to Write: There were a lot of stories I really stressed over, but ‘A Terrible Cost’ (http://archiveofourown.org/works/31119) is an obvious choice - I completely and utterly messed up the first draft of it to the point I could barely look at it for a while - thankfully the long-suffering Amy saved it from me and after a rewrite it wasn’t too bad. Though I can’t really read it without still seeing the flaws of the original draft.
Easiest Story To Write: I think it’s got to be ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ (http://archiveofourown.org/works/30322) again, the story just popped into my mind and the majority of the 12,000 words were written in a single day. Even editing seemed to go really smoothly. Which doesn’t happen ever.
Biggest Disappointment: Mostly that I didn’t manage to finish any original stories this year and there were a few fics that I rushed and feel could have been better. Plus the less said about ‘A Very ‘Nightmare’ Christmas’ the better.
Biggest Surprise: Merlin 2010 (http://archiveofourown.org/works/31075) is pretty much a continual shock to me, as it’s turned into a bit of a behemoth - I had a really great prompt but had to rush the ending so I could start nano and didn’t feel I’d done it justice - but whilst it hasn’t got many comments, it’s been downloaded a ridiculous number of times, has been bookmarked on delicious more than any other story of mine on delicious and was the first story of mine on Archive of our Own to reach a 100 views. Which all feels a little weird.
Most Underappreciated Story, In My Opinion: Ummm... all of my Sarah Jane Adventures stories, but only because I wish more people loved the show as I’ve always got a great response from the fandom. To be honest I’ve always got lovely comments for everything I’ve posted, though I was a little sad that the recipient of ‘ Tripping the Light Fantastic (How Mickey Smith Got His Groove Back)’ (http://archiveofourown.org/works/30925) never commented - especially as I’m very fond of the story.
Story With Single Sweetest Moment: I think ‘Giving Gifts’ (http://archiveofourown.org/works/30974) is pretty much one sweet moment from start to finish, though there are little bits of silliness and sadness in there too, so has to be that one.
This Year's Theme And The Story That Demonstrates It Most: I’m not really sure, thematically the stories have been a bit all over the place this year. As I said above there are definitely a lot of silly, ridiculous stories - mostly about being fishes out of water or about clueless people fumbling towards love. Other than that I think there’s quite a noticeable focus on loss and sacrifice and finding your personal identity through a lot of the stories. And although it’s not funny particularly, I think ‘Old Horizons, New Skies’ (http://archiveofourown.org/works/31132) contains a lot of these different elements.
My Overall Thoughts on this Year's Fic: I’m overall really pleased with what I’ve written, there are stories I know I could have done better and stories that just didn’t work - but I think (hope) I’m learning and getting better. And there are a few I’m genuinely proud of.
Next Year: Like I said one of my big disappointments last year was my lack of progress on original stuff, so one of my main aims is to limit the number of fics I write this year - probably only one a month. There’s a couple of stories I know I want to write and some ficathons and exchanges I want to take part in. I really want to practice capturing both tone and setting and I’d love to write more humourous stuff. I’ve also discovered the joy of cross-overs so I’m sure some more of those will appear - actually they definitely will as right now I’m wrestling with an entirely insane Black Books/Mighty Boosh combination. Insane. This entry was originally posted at http://lorannah.dreamwidth.org/2289.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
(Also one day when I'm on a fast computer this might have pretty links)
JANUARY
Nothing - apparently the year got off to a slow start
FEBRUARY
Giving Gifts (Merlin) (http://archiveofourown.org/works/30974)
Arthur, Merlin, Morgana, Gwen -- 1,213 words
Valentine’s Day comes to Camelot.
Crazy Little Thing Called Love (Sarah-Jane Adventures / Dr Who) (http://archiveofourown.org/works/30322)
Clyde, Luke, Maria, Sarah Jane, Martha, Eleven and Adam Mitchell -- 12,467 words
It’s Valentine’s Day - you know what that means, lots of dating, and talking about uncomfortable feelings, and hearts and flowers and chocolates, and, oh yes, lots of kissing and a monster ripping people apart - everything you’d expect really. Silliness and crack ahoy!
MARCH
A Terrible Cost (Merlin) (http://archiveofourown.org/works/31119)
Arthur, Merlin, Morgana, Gwen and Nimue -- 13,179 words
An alternate ending for Le Morte D'Arthur - basically based on the question of what would have happened if the other three members of the fantastic foursome had realised that Merlin was in danger and ridden out to the rescue...
APRIL
Tripping The Light Fantastic (How Mickey Smith Got His Groove Back) (Doctor Who) (http://archiveofourown.org/works/30925)
Mickey, Rose and Jake -- 4,859 words
Mickey and Rose skip across the parallel universes looking for the Doctor.
A Series of Conversations on an Awkward Subject (Temeraire) (http://archiveofourown.org/works/30962)
Emily Roland -- 7,148 words
Roland has no idea if Excidium will accept him as Captain, he doesn't have the answers but he's hoping he can find someone who does.
MAY
Under The Burnt Orange Sky (Doctor Who) (http://archiveofourown.org/works/30926)
Martha, The Doctor -- 2,458 words
Set at the end of Journey's End, Martha and the Doctor talk.
JUNE
Old Horizons, New Skies (Torchwood) (http://archiveofourown.org/works/31132)
Jack, Gwen, Ianto, Tosh, Suzie, Alex Hopkins, James Harper, OMC -- 32,324 words
During a fight with a figure from his past Jack is transported to a parallel Earth - faced with alternate versions of his Torchwood teams, both old and new, he begins to wonder whether Torchwood only ever ruins people's lives. Can he avoid drawing them all back in to the danger and madness again? And will he get home?
Drinking Games (Star Trek 2009) (http://archiveofourown.org/works/30964)
Everyone (more or less) -- 2,457 words
Kirk thinks the team need to bond.
JULY
And nothing again - this is what I like to call the Children of Earth effect
AUGUST
The Once and Future Captain (Star Trek Reboot / Merlin) (http://archiveofourown.org/works/31078)
Arthur, Merlin, Kirk, Spock -- 15,900 words
Arthur has a problem - he’s suddenly found himself trapped in the body of the captain of a starship about to be dragged into battle, he’s so out of his depth he’s probably already drowned and to make matters worse this captain, Kirk, is probably leaving a trail of destruction across Camelot - there’s only one thing he’s certain of. It’s all Merlin’s fault. Kirk on the other hand is planning to have the time of his life.
The Tempest (Merlin) (http://archiveofourown.org/works/31126)
Merlin/Arthur -- 8,173 words
“There was a plague,” Merlin tells them, “And there was a battle. And there was a storm. But first there was a lie. No. There were many lies.” Merlin tells the tale of how Arthur discovered his magic.
SEPTEMBER
And more nothing.
OCTOBER
Between Two Beats (Sarah Jane Adventures) (http://archiveofourown.org/works/30966)
The Doctor, Peter Dalton -- 751 words
A coda set at the end of the episode, The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith. A fix-it of sorts, that wouldn't leave me alone until I'd written it.
Cold (Merlin) (http://archiveofourown.org/works/30973)
Gwen/Morgana -- 956 words
Missing scenes of sorts for episode 2 - because whilst I love that they're focusing more on the ladies of Camelot, I wish they would work out they can feature more than one of them at a time.
NOVEMBER
Merlin 2010 - A Fresh Start (Merlin - modern AU) (http://archiveofourown.org/works/31075)
Arthur/Merlin, Gwen/Morgana, Uther, Gaius -- 8,509 words
Arthur is having a bad day at the office but things start to look up when he runs into the IT department's new employee...
A Very 'Nightmare' Christmas (Supernatural / The Nightmare Before Christmas) (http://archiveofourown.org/works/31077)
Jack Skellington, Dean, Sam, Lock, Stock, Barrel, The Mayor, The Finkelstein's -- 5,563 words
It's the end of A Very 'Supernatural' Christmas and someone other than Santa Claus is coming to town...
DECEMBER
Medical Research (Green Wing) (http://archiveofourown.org/works/31993)
Alan Statham/Boyce -- 6,651 words
Boyce is ready to move his relationship with Dr. Statham onto a new, exciting level - but where should a grown man turn for advice? Luckily there are always magazines happy to help, if you know where to look for them.
STATS:
Word count: 122,608 according to Archive of our Own
Story count: 15
Fandoms: 9 in total with three crossovers. Merlin was definitely the most popular featuring in six stories. For the rest its: Doctor Who (3), Star Trek (2), Sarah Jane Adventures (2), Temeraire (1), Torchwood (1), Supernatural (1), A Nightmare Before Christmas (1), Green Wing (1)
Genres: Gen was still leading the pack by far with 7 stories, followed by Mixed (4), Slash (3) and Femslash (1)
Most written pairing: Once I rule out the stories where everything is just hinted - Merlin/Arthur comes out on top with three appearances, with Morgana/Gwen nipping at their heels with two appearances.
Most written character: Morgana, Gwen and Arthur all came out on top with six appearances each, Merlin somehow only managed five (it’s not like he’s the title character or anything) - so yes, Merlin definitely ate my fic this year.
QUESTIONS:
My Favourite Story This Year: Although I’m not sure it’s the best, I think ‘The Tempest’ (http://archiveofourown.org/works/31126) came closest to achieving the tone and effect I wanted, plus it gave me a great opportunity to play with a different way of telling a story and is my ode to Merlin/Arthur. So for lots of reasons it’s my favourite.
My Best Story This Year: The one I definitely got the most amazing responses from was ‘A Series of Conversations on an Awkward Subject’ (http://archiveofourown.org/works/30962) - everybody was incredibly lovely about it. Which was a huge relief as it’s one of the ones I stressed about the most - between being new to the canon, the setting and the transgender issues - it was a massive learning curve and felt like a huge opportunity to mess up. So I’m so glad it worked for so many people.
Most Fun Story: I wrote a lot of silly, cracky, ridiculous stories this year so this is a bit of a hotly contested story - ‘Medical Research’ (http://archiveofourown.org/works/31993) is definitely a close second but I think in the end ‘A Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ (http://archiveofourown.org/works/30322) pips it at the post. It’s pretty much a romantic romp from start to finish, with added monsters and snarking full of characters I adore - so for me, ultimate fun.
Sexiest Story: Err... definitely one of my original fics, which actually has a sex scene, something my fic is pretty much universally missing. I am very PG. I think ‘Old Horizons, New Skies’ (http://archiveofourown.org/works/31132) had some good UST moments though.
Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: Has to be ‘The Once and Future Captain’ (http://archiveofourown.org/works/31078) which I went into with one lot of ideas and came out with completely different ones - it really altered how I perceive Arthur and Merlin particularly and helped to define my ideas about their personalities. Plus putting people into completely alien scenarios for them, is always useful for exploring characters.
Hardest Story to Write: There were a lot of stories I really stressed over, but ‘A Terrible Cost’ (http://archiveofourown.org/works/31119) is an obvious choice - I completely and utterly messed up the first draft of it to the point I could barely look at it for a while - thankfully the long-suffering Amy saved it from me and after a rewrite it wasn’t too bad. Though I can’t really read it without still seeing the flaws of the original draft.
Easiest Story To Write: I think it’s got to be ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ (http://archiveofourown.org/works/30322) again, the story just popped into my mind and the majority of the 12,000 words were written in a single day. Even editing seemed to go really smoothly. Which doesn’t happen ever.
Biggest Disappointment: Mostly that I didn’t manage to finish any original stories this year and there were a few fics that I rushed and feel could have been better. Plus the less said about ‘A Very ‘Nightmare’ Christmas’ the better.
Biggest Surprise: Merlin 2010 (http://archiveofourown.org/works/31075) is pretty much a continual shock to me, as it’s turned into a bit of a behemoth - I had a really great prompt but had to rush the ending so I could start nano and didn’t feel I’d done it justice - but whilst it hasn’t got many comments, it’s been downloaded a ridiculous number of times, has been bookmarked on delicious more than any other story of mine on delicious and was the first story of mine on Archive of our Own to reach a 100 views. Which all feels a little weird.
Most Underappreciated Story, In My Opinion: Ummm... all of my Sarah Jane Adventures stories, but only because I wish more people loved the show as I’ve always got a great response from the fandom. To be honest I’ve always got lovely comments for everything I’ve posted, though I was a little sad that the recipient of ‘ Tripping the Light Fantastic (How Mickey Smith Got His Groove Back)’ (http://archiveofourown.org/works/30925) never commented - especially as I’m very fond of the story.
Story With Single Sweetest Moment: I think ‘Giving Gifts’ (http://archiveofourown.org/works/30974) is pretty much one sweet moment from start to finish, though there are little bits of silliness and sadness in there too, so has to be that one.
This Year's Theme And The Story That Demonstrates It Most: I’m not really sure, thematically the stories have been a bit all over the place this year. As I said above there are definitely a lot of silly, ridiculous stories - mostly about being fishes out of water or about clueless people fumbling towards love. Other than that I think there’s quite a noticeable focus on loss and sacrifice and finding your personal identity through a lot of the stories. And although it’s not funny particularly, I think ‘Old Horizons, New Skies’ (http://archiveofourown.org/works/31132) contains a lot of these different elements.
My Overall Thoughts on this Year's Fic: I’m overall really pleased with what I’ve written, there are stories I know I could have done better and stories that just didn’t work - but I think (hope) I’m learning and getting better. And there are a few I’m genuinely proud of.
Next Year: Like I said one of my big disappointments last year was my lack of progress on original stuff, so one of my main aims is to limit the number of fics I write this year - probably only one a month. There’s a couple of stories I know I want to write and some ficathons and exchanges I want to take part in. I really want to practice capturing both tone and setting and I’d love to write more humourous stuff. I’ve also discovered the joy of cross-overs so I’m sure some more of those will appear - actually they definitely will as right now I’m wrestling with an entirely insane Black Books/Mighty Boosh combination. Insane. This entry was originally posted at http://lorannah.dreamwidth.org/2289.html. Please comment there using OpenID.