2019 in fic
It's that time again when I round up all the stuff I've written in the past year and reminisce over it. ;) I've been doing this same fic meme for years, haha. This time, I'm also borrowing some questions from GYWO and taking out some old questions to change things up a bit.
(Previous years: 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006)
January
♥ Dàgē's Illegitimate Child Part 2 (Dominion's End, 1370 words)
I wrote Part 1 back in 2015... Part 2 sure surfaced late. It was mostly me wrapping up some loose ends. This was what I really wanted to cover with the fic, a meeting between Xiaotian and the rest of the family, especially Junjun. I could see this turning into a longer fic, but I don't really have it in me to be in Shuyu's headspace for long. XD But I do feel I have a better handle of his character now than before, especially after reading v6. I still think this would be a cool AU to explore.
February
♥ Basket of Irises (Fire Emblem Heroes/Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn, 1422 words)
I was so, so ecstatic when Soren got an alt in Fire Emblem Heroes! So much that I wrote a fic in response (and also made a cosplay of this version of Soren). I'm just so happy that my favorite FE character of all times got some of the spotlight. The fanart and fic that resulted because of this were amazing! The paralogues also had such beautiful interaction between Ike and his father. So, this fic ended up being a follow-up to that. I also wanted to experiment with focusing on just a single scene with a lot of description. Since description is so not my forte. :')
March
♥ A Taste of Home (Fire Emblem Heroes/Fire Emblem Binding Blade, 4165 words)
Lugh was released in Fire Emblem Heroes! This was another moment of disbelief for me because Lugh is yet another favorite of mine (before Soren even came about) but he was from a game that was never localized, so barely anyone knew who he was, and I also didn't feel like I knew enough. Now, years later, more people finally know about him, and I finally felt like I knew enough to write about Lugh and his brother. It meant a lot to me to finally be able to express my adoration for Lugh and Raigh in this way. Kind of cathartic, even. I'm pretty happy with how the fic turned out. I adore siblings in fiction, and I do believe that Lugh, Raigh, and Chad are a big part of the reason.
April
♥ Five Times Hanae Called Abeno "Abeno-san" and One Time He Didn't (Fukigen na Mononokean, 5566 words)
I started working on this fic when s2 just started and didn't finish until s2 ended... Whoops. Anyway, when s2 was announced, I went and marathoned s1 and then also read all I could of the manga. This plunny hit me because seriously, Hanae always calls Abeno, "Abeno-san!" When they're classmates! The same age! This also gets noticed in the manga in an omake, which I thought was pretty amusing. I began writing this fic and got stuck in the middle until I decided to just power through it. I felt the writing was pretty stilted and almost wasn't going to post the fic, but the fic was a lot more well received than I thought?? (Good timing, I guess, and shippable characters?) Prose aside, I had a lot of fun using outsider POVs to explore their thoughts on Hanae and Abeno (the Mononokean's POV was my fav), and the 5+1 format helped guide the structure of the fic. I really enjoyed the format and might try it again with a different story. The +1 part is perfect for crafting memorable endings~.
June
♥ That Person Now Returned (9 parts, The Legend of Sun Knight, 14688 words)
Whoops, I skipped May. Anyway, I had been working on That Person Now Returned for what felt like forever. It's a response to the Whole New World challenge (which is kind of a dead community now... but I'll still be chipping away at these stories slowly). This turned out much longer than I thought it would. It's an AU of volume 1 (as if I haven't written a long enough AU of v1 with Bittersweet Sweetness, haha). I feel like it's been a long time since I've written Grisia with his v1 characterization... He sure makes stories turn out wordy. XD; I was determined to finish this story before I began posting any of it, so that it wouldn't go the way of my other "multi-chapter" stories, many of which might never be completed. (So sad...) I'm quite proud that I was able to finish and post this story daily. o/ I started this story before the other stories I posted in 2019 as mostly an exercise to get myself writing again.
July
♥ Remembrance (Bokura no Kiseki, 314 words)
This really shouldn't count for 2019, but eh, I always only count published words, so this wasn't counted in any years before 2019. I dug this up from my iPad, something that I jotted down right after rereading and catching up with Bokura no Kiseki. I meant for it to be a longer oneshot, but it never went past this beginning portion, so I doubt I'll ever write the rest. I was pretty fascinated by Hiroki's plight with this rereading. Possibly my favorite character in the series at the moment.
August
♥ My Best Friend's Heart Was Broken So Now I'm Trying to Cheer Him Up (Dragalia Lost, 2717 words)
My assignment for Parallels fic! Was nice to be able to join in this year, and awesome to see Parallels still running. I got matched on Dragalia Lost, which I'm really into at the moment, though I don't have any plunnies for it. My recipient wasn't up to date with the main story, so I mostly based the fic off of castle stories and Dragalia's Life. Er, my characterization of Ranzal and Luca might have made them out to be a bit too goofy, since I leaned so much on Dragalia's Life. XD;;; The localization gives Ranzal's dialogue quite some character that was pretty difficult to capture as well. :') This fic was originally titled "Cheer Up" until I decided to give it a light novel like name, hahaha.
December
♥ Sensation (Dr. Stone, 3908 words)
Work completely slayed me between September and November that I didn't write a single thing. T__T
My first draft of my Yuletide fic was written with very little sleep too, and the story turned out very directionless. What was the point of this story? Even I wasn't sure. I only knew that I wanted it to be called, "Sensation," and that it would be about Gen feeling things again after the petrification and delighting in all these feelings making him feel alive. I kept in mind that I wanted to touch upon why Gen doesn't wear shoes, as it stood out to me as strange that someone like Gen wouldn't wear shoes. My recipient liked character studies and backstory, and mentioned wanting to know more about Gen's time as a double agent, so I went all out with those things. Then, as I edited, it suddenly hit me how I wanted this story to go, and I edited each "sensation" to better capture and highlight what each section was about. Like, the first section was originally titled "cold" and the second section was "loneliness" until I realized, no, no, "permeation" and "desolation" fit a lot better so that each section would end with -tion just like the title! After making that change, the fic came together and had a lot more direction to it.
(I'm just sad that I wasn't able to work in the pun that Gen was a sensation back then, haha. That was part of the reason why I chose that title too!)
So, in the end, this fic was guided by its title much like many of my fics in general. :3 I felt I learned a lot about Gen through writing this. I don't quite like how much I rehash canon (completely a bad habit of mine, especially when I'm exploring and learning about the characters myself), but I'm hoping I put enough of a unique spin on it to make it enjoyable. This fic was a lot more well received than I thought it would be (I was so surprised! It has perhaps the most comments and kudos I've ever gotten on a Yuletide fic). I've gotten amazing comments about the style and even compliments about how the story was a soul-finding experience. ;___; Though I am sorry to the person who wants more of my writing... I've only ever written this one fic for Dr. Stone, and most of my other writing doesn't use this kind of style! This is pretty much a style I only bust out for oneshots and exchange fic. XD;;; (Er, I even reread some of my old stories to get a grasp of my own style ahaha, because what is consistency across my writing even)
Anyway, I think the fandom is larger than I think (with more readers coming from the fandom and not the Yuletide crowd), and Senku x Gen is perhaps currently the most popular pairing. I didn't know they were shipped so much until I read my recipient's letter and went oooohhh yeah, I can see that. I reread with that in mind. XD;; That scene in the observatory? My gosh... Yeah, I had to end with that, haha.
I'm still completely floored by the response though, especially when I was so unsure of the fic myself... XD;; I guess that's the difference between writing for obscure fandoms and not so obscure fandoms.
I also matched on Dragalia Lost with a request for Curran x Heinwald. I was hoping to be able to write that one too! I love Heinwald. ;__; The banter between Curran and Heinwald is GOLD. So yeah, I started a story but didn't finish it. I'm still debating if I should keep poking at it.
Total number of stories: 1 drabble, 6 oneshots, 1 longfic.
Total word count: 35,059. For the past two years, I've ended with around 30k too, so this seems to be my comfort zone if I'm not hit by some rabid plunnies. :')
Fandoms written in: Dominion's End, Fire Emblem, The Legend of Sun Knight, Fukigen na Mononokean, Bokura no Kiseki, Dragalia Lost, Dr. Stone.
Wow, watch me flit around all these different fandoms. It's what I used to do before LSK grabbed a hold of me, but now that I've exhausted so many of my ideas for that fandom, I'm back to dabbling here and there. I wonder if another fandom will grab me like what LSK did? So far, nothing yet. :3 I've always liked responding to current stuff that I'm consuming, yet I write too slowly to capture my ideas properly, so I'm glad I was at least able to come up with a few responses promptly this year. There are also some others that didn't manage to take shape sadly...
Leitmotif(s) of the year: Feeling... deeply, I suppose... :'D
Favorite fic: A Taste of Home. This fic gave me the most satisfaction and is perhaps the accumulation of years of adoration for these characters. I'm so happy that this fic exists? :')
Best fic: Sensation. Because everything eventually tied together beautifully. And it turned out pretty poetic, ahaha.
Most popular fic: Sensation. Before that, I was definitely going to say Five Times Hanae Called Abeno "Abeno-san" and One Time He Didn't. Both are pairing fic, kind of, and written when the anime for both just ended or was about to end, so I do feel the characters involved and the timing really made a difference.
Most underappreciated fic: A Taste of Home
Favorite first lines: Lugh was on a mission. (A Taste of Home)
Favorite ending lines: Truthfully, from the very start, before they even met... (Sensation)
^ This is pretty cheating since that line was taken directly from the series, but it was truly the best place to end it. I even let the sentence trail off because everyone knows the line so well. XD;;
"I'm not going to lose to a basket of irises," Ike finds himself mumbling tiredly into Soren's shoulder, and Soren snorts, his entire body shaking. (Basket of Irises)
It ain't no apple, but it was proof of their time spent together all the same. (My Best Friend's Heart Was Broken So Now I'm Trying to Cheer Him Up)
Lugh had to say this was a mission accomplished well beyond his wildest imagination. (A Taste of Home)
(Hahaha, watch me list everything! I'm pretty fond of several of my ending lines! Opening lines are more meeeh)
Most fun fic: My Best Friend's Heart Was Broken So Now I'm Trying to Cheer Him Up
It's so silly.
Favorite title: Sensation. It really ties the whole story together. I do enjoy tying the story and title together closely. Basket of Irises and A Taste of Home and well pretty much all the other stories do it too, haha. I almost feel like my stories don't have an identity until they have a suitable title. :')
Least favorite title: Cheer Up, which is why it was renamed to a light novel like name. XD;
Weirdest thing I had to research: How does a magician's sword box trick work? I was trying to figure out how to describe the part of Gen being in the box during the trick when I realized I didn't know how it worked, and it should be the assistant in the box?? But I really needed Gen to be the one in there to connect the feeling of encroaching darkness the box and petrification shared.
Fic that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: Sensation. I learned so much about Gen~
New pairing/genre/fandom you never predicted writing in January: Fukigen na Mononokean and Dr. Stone.
Hardest fic to write: Sensation. Watch me answer a bunch with this same fic... This fic was doubly hard because of not writing for so long. >__> So getting such a positive response meant even more to me. :')
Biggest disappointment: Having blank months where I finished nothing. D:
Biggest surprise: How well received some of my random oneshots were.
Project that's been a work-in-progress for ages but I can't seem to finish:
That Power Forever Gone. I still don't like how mopey Grisia is in this!
Most telling fic: A Taste of Home, probably. While everyone's writing pairing fic, here Lucathia is writing the most gen of gen fics about ~family~. XD;;;;
What's next?
My 2019 goal was to at least post one thing a month, which I didn't quite manage. T__T I was pretty inspired at the start of the year and kept up with daily writing. It kind of felt like it turned into a chore though, with me scrambling to write something every day. It ended with me just jotting random stuff down, which did help me ramble, but gosh, the editing. The editing was a pain. So yeah, that didn't work out so well. Then work ate me, snuffing out the last of my inspiration. )':
Writing Sensation though made me return to writing, and now I'm itching to write some more? I hope to be able to just write short responses to stuff I consume, to capture plunnies before they hop away. I enjoyed experimenting with different styles and fandoms in 2019, so there might be more of that in 2020.
Gosh, 2020. I can't believe how many years I've been dabbling in writing random stuff. :'D
This entry was originally posted at https://lucathia.dreamwidth.org/368400.html. You can comment here or there.
(Previous years: 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006)
January
♥ Dàgē's Illegitimate Child Part 2 (Dominion's End, 1370 words)
I wrote Part 1 back in 2015... Part 2 sure surfaced late. It was mostly me wrapping up some loose ends. This was what I really wanted to cover with the fic, a meeting between Xiaotian and the rest of the family, especially Junjun. I could see this turning into a longer fic, but I don't really have it in me to be in Shuyu's headspace for long. XD But I do feel I have a better handle of his character now than before, especially after reading v6. I still think this would be a cool AU to explore.
February
♥ Basket of Irises (Fire Emblem Heroes/Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn, 1422 words)
I was so, so ecstatic when Soren got an alt in Fire Emblem Heroes! So much that I wrote a fic in response (and also made a cosplay of this version of Soren). I'm just so happy that my favorite FE character of all times got some of the spotlight. The fanart and fic that resulted because of this were amazing! The paralogues also had such beautiful interaction between Ike and his father. So, this fic ended up being a follow-up to that. I also wanted to experiment with focusing on just a single scene with a lot of description. Since description is so not my forte. :')
March
♥ A Taste of Home (Fire Emblem Heroes/Fire Emblem Binding Blade, 4165 words)
Lugh was released in Fire Emblem Heroes! This was another moment of disbelief for me because Lugh is yet another favorite of mine (before Soren even came about) but he was from a game that was never localized, so barely anyone knew who he was, and I also didn't feel like I knew enough. Now, years later, more people finally know about him, and I finally felt like I knew enough to write about Lugh and his brother. It meant a lot to me to finally be able to express my adoration for Lugh and Raigh in this way. Kind of cathartic, even. I'm pretty happy with how the fic turned out. I adore siblings in fiction, and I do believe that Lugh, Raigh, and Chad are a big part of the reason.
April
♥ Five Times Hanae Called Abeno "Abeno-san" and One Time He Didn't (Fukigen na Mononokean, 5566 words)
I started working on this fic when s2 just started and didn't finish until s2 ended... Whoops. Anyway, when s2 was announced, I went and marathoned s1 and then also read all I could of the manga. This plunny hit me because seriously, Hanae always calls Abeno, "Abeno-san!" When they're classmates! The same age! This also gets noticed in the manga in an omake, which I thought was pretty amusing. I began writing this fic and got stuck in the middle until I decided to just power through it. I felt the writing was pretty stilted and almost wasn't going to post the fic, but the fic was a lot more well received than I thought?? (Good timing, I guess, and shippable characters?) Prose aside, I had a lot of fun using outsider POVs to explore their thoughts on Hanae and Abeno (the Mononokean's POV was my fav), and the 5+1 format helped guide the structure of the fic. I really enjoyed the format and might try it again with a different story. The +1 part is perfect for crafting memorable endings~.
June
♥ That Person Now Returned (9 parts, The Legend of Sun Knight, 14688 words)
Whoops, I skipped May. Anyway, I had been working on That Person Now Returned for what felt like forever. It's a response to the Whole New World challenge (which is kind of a dead community now... but I'll still be chipping away at these stories slowly). This turned out much longer than I thought it would. It's an AU of volume 1 (as if I haven't written a long enough AU of v1 with Bittersweet Sweetness, haha). I feel like it's been a long time since I've written Grisia with his v1 characterization... He sure makes stories turn out wordy. XD; I was determined to finish this story before I began posting any of it, so that it wouldn't go the way of my other "multi-chapter" stories, many of which might never be completed. (So sad...) I'm quite proud that I was able to finish and post this story daily. o/ I started this story before the other stories I posted in 2019 as mostly an exercise to get myself writing again.
July
♥ Remembrance (Bokura no Kiseki, 314 words)
This really shouldn't count for 2019, but eh, I always only count published words, so this wasn't counted in any years before 2019. I dug this up from my iPad, something that I jotted down right after rereading and catching up with Bokura no Kiseki. I meant for it to be a longer oneshot, but it never went past this beginning portion, so I doubt I'll ever write the rest. I was pretty fascinated by Hiroki's plight with this rereading. Possibly my favorite character in the series at the moment.
August
♥ My Best Friend's Heart Was Broken So Now I'm Trying to Cheer Him Up (Dragalia Lost, 2717 words)
My assignment for Parallels fic! Was nice to be able to join in this year, and awesome to see Parallels still running. I got matched on Dragalia Lost, which I'm really into at the moment, though I don't have any plunnies for it. My recipient wasn't up to date with the main story, so I mostly based the fic off of castle stories and Dragalia's Life. Er, my characterization of Ranzal and Luca might have made them out to be a bit too goofy, since I leaned so much on Dragalia's Life. XD;;; The localization gives Ranzal's dialogue quite some character that was pretty difficult to capture as well. :') This fic was originally titled "Cheer Up" until I decided to give it a light novel like name, hahaha.
December
♥ Sensation (Dr. Stone, 3908 words)
Work completely slayed me between September and November that I didn't write a single thing. T__T
My first draft of my Yuletide fic was written with very little sleep too, and the story turned out very directionless. What was the point of this story? Even I wasn't sure. I only knew that I wanted it to be called, "Sensation," and that it would be about Gen feeling things again after the petrification and delighting in all these feelings making him feel alive. I kept in mind that I wanted to touch upon why Gen doesn't wear shoes, as it stood out to me as strange that someone like Gen wouldn't wear shoes. My recipient liked character studies and backstory, and mentioned wanting to know more about Gen's time as a double agent, so I went all out with those things. Then, as I edited, it suddenly hit me how I wanted this story to go, and I edited each "sensation" to better capture and highlight what each section was about. Like, the first section was originally titled "cold" and the second section was "loneliness" until I realized, no, no, "permeation" and "desolation" fit a lot better so that each section would end with -tion just like the title! After making that change, the fic came together and had a lot more direction to it.
(I'm just sad that I wasn't able to work in the pun that Gen was a sensation back then, haha. That was part of the reason why I chose that title too!)
So, in the end, this fic was guided by its title much like many of my fics in general. :3 I felt I learned a lot about Gen through writing this. I don't quite like how much I rehash canon (completely a bad habit of mine, especially when I'm exploring and learning about the characters myself), but I'm hoping I put enough of a unique spin on it to make it enjoyable. This fic was a lot more well received than I thought it would be (I was so surprised! It has perhaps the most comments and kudos I've ever gotten on a Yuletide fic). I've gotten amazing comments about the style and even compliments about how the story was a soul-finding experience. ;___; Though I am sorry to the person who wants more of my writing... I've only ever written this one fic for Dr. Stone, and most of my other writing doesn't use this kind of style! This is pretty much a style I only bust out for oneshots and exchange fic. XD;;; (Er, I even reread some of my old stories to get a grasp of my own style ahaha, because what is consistency across my writing even)
Anyway, I think the fandom is larger than I think (with more readers coming from the fandom and not the Yuletide crowd), and Senku x Gen is perhaps currently the most popular pairing. I didn't know they were shipped so much until I read my recipient's letter and went oooohhh yeah, I can see that. I reread with that in mind. XD;; That scene in the observatory? My gosh... Yeah, I had to end with that, haha.
I'm still completely floored by the response though, especially when I was so unsure of the fic myself... XD;; I guess that's the difference between writing for obscure fandoms and not so obscure fandoms.
I also matched on Dragalia Lost with a request for Curran x Heinwald. I was hoping to be able to write that one too! I love Heinwald. ;__; The banter between Curran and Heinwald is GOLD. So yeah, I started a story but didn't finish it. I'm still debating if I should keep poking at it.
Total number of stories: 1 drabble, 6 oneshots, 1 longfic.
Total word count: 35,059. For the past two years, I've ended with around 30k too, so this seems to be my comfort zone if I'm not hit by some rabid plunnies. :')
Fandoms written in: Dominion's End, Fire Emblem, The Legend of Sun Knight, Fukigen na Mononokean, Bokura no Kiseki, Dragalia Lost, Dr. Stone.
Wow, watch me flit around all these different fandoms. It's what I used to do before LSK grabbed a hold of me, but now that I've exhausted so many of my ideas for that fandom, I'm back to dabbling here and there. I wonder if another fandom will grab me like what LSK did? So far, nothing yet. :3 I've always liked responding to current stuff that I'm consuming, yet I write too slowly to capture my ideas properly, so I'm glad I was at least able to come up with a few responses promptly this year. There are also some others that didn't manage to take shape sadly...
Leitmotif(s) of the year: Feeling... deeply, I suppose... :'D
Favorite fic: A Taste of Home. This fic gave me the most satisfaction and is perhaps the accumulation of years of adoration for these characters. I'm so happy that this fic exists? :')
Best fic: Sensation. Because everything eventually tied together beautifully. And it turned out pretty poetic, ahaha.
Most popular fic: Sensation. Before that, I was definitely going to say Five Times Hanae Called Abeno "Abeno-san" and One Time He Didn't. Both are pairing fic, kind of, and written when the anime for both just ended or was about to end, so I do feel the characters involved and the timing really made a difference.
Most underappreciated fic: A Taste of Home
Favorite first lines: Lugh was on a mission. (A Taste of Home)
Favorite ending lines: Truthfully, from the very start, before they even met... (Sensation)
^ This is pretty cheating since that line was taken directly from the series, but it was truly the best place to end it. I even let the sentence trail off because everyone knows the line so well. XD;;
"I'm not going to lose to a basket of irises," Ike finds himself mumbling tiredly into Soren's shoulder, and Soren snorts, his entire body shaking. (Basket of Irises)
It ain't no apple, but it was proof of their time spent together all the same. (My Best Friend's Heart Was Broken So Now I'm Trying to Cheer Him Up)
Lugh had to say this was a mission accomplished well beyond his wildest imagination. (A Taste of Home)
(Hahaha, watch me list everything! I'm pretty fond of several of my ending lines! Opening lines are more meeeh)
Most fun fic: My Best Friend's Heart Was Broken So Now I'm Trying to Cheer Him Up
It's so silly.
Favorite title: Sensation. It really ties the whole story together. I do enjoy tying the story and title together closely. Basket of Irises and A Taste of Home and well pretty much all the other stories do it too, haha. I almost feel like my stories don't have an identity until they have a suitable title. :')
Least favorite title: Cheer Up, which is why it was renamed to a light novel like name. XD;
Weirdest thing I had to research: How does a magician's sword box trick work? I was trying to figure out how to describe the part of Gen being in the box during the trick when I realized I didn't know how it worked, and it should be the assistant in the box?? But I really needed Gen to be the one in there to connect the feeling of encroaching darkness the box and petrification shared.
Fic that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: Sensation. I learned so much about Gen~
New pairing/genre/fandom you never predicted writing in January: Fukigen na Mononokean and Dr. Stone.
Hardest fic to write: Sensation. Watch me answer a bunch with this same fic... This fic was doubly hard because of not writing for so long. >__> So getting such a positive response meant even more to me. :')
Biggest disappointment: Having blank months where I finished nothing. D:
Biggest surprise: How well received some of my random oneshots were.
Project that's been a work-in-progress for ages but I can't seem to finish:
That Power Forever Gone. I still don't like how mopey Grisia is in this!
Most telling fic: A Taste of Home, probably. While everyone's writing pairing fic, here Lucathia is writing the most gen of gen fics about ~family~. XD;;;;
What's next?
My 2019 goal was to at least post one thing a month, which I didn't quite manage. T__T I was pretty inspired at the start of the year and kept up with daily writing. It kind of felt like it turned into a chore though, with me scrambling to write something every day. It ended with me just jotting random stuff down, which did help me ramble, but gosh, the editing. The editing was a pain. So yeah, that didn't work out so well. Then work ate me, snuffing out the last of my inspiration. )':
Writing Sensation though made me return to writing, and now I'm itching to write some more? I hope to be able to just write short responses to stuff I consume, to capture plunnies before they hop away. I enjoyed experimenting with different styles and fandoms in 2019, so there might be more of that in 2020.
Gosh, 2020. I can't believe how many years I've been dabbling in writing random stuff. :'D
This entry was originally posted at https://lucathia.dreamwidth.org/368400.html. You can comment here or there.