End of year writing round-up
My family just left for the other side of the world *sadface*, so to distract myself, I shall talk about writing.
Firstly, a round-up of my December fest fics, more or less in the order they were posted:
This lovely land is you and yours, Remus/Sirius, 1,800 words, PG-13. Summary: Through school, war, Azkaban and beyond, Remus and Sirius manage to spend Christmas together.
Les Jours Tristes, Luna gen with support from Narcissa and Mr Ollivander, 6,800 words, PG-13. Summary: After the events of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Luna deals with some Wrackspurts, developing an unlikely friendship in the process.
The Dragon and the Unicorn, Charlie/Pansy, NC-17, 16,500 words. Summary: Charlie's dragon sanctuary is close to collapsing, and the arrival of Pansy Parkinson, conservationist and unicorn hunter, may be the final straw. Falling for each other is not in the plan.
Night Wanderers, Ginny-and-Sirius gen, PG-13, 1,800 words. Summary: In their time at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, Sirius and Ginny discover that they have a few things in common. Like Harry, for starters.
The Next Quest (Lev Grossman's The Magicians), Quentin/Eliot, R, 1,500 words. Summary: Back in a world he's not ready to call real, Quentin goes after his quest. But Eliot is haunting his dreams.
Into the Silence, Snape gen, PG-13, 5,500 words. Summary: Severus's year as headmaster of Hogwarts presents many challenges. Acceptance is the greatest of them all.
Some numbers:
Those six fest stories totalled 33,900 words, mostly written after the beginning of November. No wonder I was exhausted by Christmas!
In total, I posted 71,900 words of new fanfic this year, give or take a few drabbles. That's not a huge amount, but it was great to find my writing mojo again after a really difficult 2010. I also learned a hell of a lot about writing (again).
Q&A (This version borrowed from igrockspock.)
Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted? More, definitely. 2010 was a pretty poor year for me, writing-wise, but it's amazing what a bit of personal angst can do for the writing mojo. :p
What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January? The Magicians! I wasn't expecting to work up the nerve for that, until Yuletide forced my hand (and you should all read the books, if you haven't already). I also wrote lots of HP gen, and it was lovely to return to that. As for what was the most difficult, I wrote a Luna gen story that I think was successful in the end, but damn, it was hard to get a handle on her. It's so easy to treat her as the helpful sidekick, you know? And I wanted to get further inside her than that, but it took a lot of work to do so.
Did you take any writing risks this year What did you learn from them? For smutty_claus, I had a proper go at a long, plotty romance. Not sure how successful it was, but I enjoyed writing it and my recipient seemed to like it, which was the main thing! It didn't get a huge response, but the comments I did get were very enthusiastic, which was lovely.
Leitmotif of the year: Write more. And more, and more, and more. It was fun!
Most unintentionally telling story: I wore my heart on my sleeve for Circle Time (Discworld, Esme Weatherwax/Mustrum Ridcully). God, I love Granny Weatherwax, and I adore Lords and Ladies. Not one but three female main characters, all shining in their different and amazing ways!
Most fun story to write: The Return, which began with a narrative voice far away from my usual style, and involved Harry and Ginny taking on Tom Riddle with bonus Inferi.
Hardest story to write: Les Jours Tristes - I knew what I was trying to do with the story, but it simply would not go there. About once a week during the six weeks I was writing, I would go back to my recipient's prompts and make notes on alternative stories, before realising that this was the story that wanted to be told. Thankfully, my recipient really seemed to like it in the end.
Easiest story to write: Into the Silence. I knew exactly what I wanted to do and the style I wanted to use. Which isn't to say I didn't work hard on it - but it was lovely to have such a clear idea of the story and to enjoy the writing process so much. The only complication was that some of it wanted to come out in second person present tense, and I had to beat that out.
Best story of the year: Probably Into the Silence, although it feels a bit of a cop-out to say that.
Truest story of the year: I don't know that any of my stories are terribly true! I guess maybe Into the Silence feels like "my" version of Snape's Deathly Hallows year, but that's not really "true", because only JKR knows the truth, really.
Biggest disappointment: I don't think there were any. Sure, doesn't everyone want every story to be well-received? And it's not going to happen every time, especially in a quietening fandom like HP.
Biggest surprise: A Heart Bright and True getting such a great reception. I really wasn't expecting a 15,000-word gen story focusing on Ron to find so many readers. I wrote it for
flyingcarpet and myself, and was very pleasantly surprised when lots of other people said they enjoyed it.
Favorite opening line: "It began with a whisper and a glimpse of a dark-haired boy half a century old, and ended with a kiss, as all good romances do." - The Return.
Favorite closing line: "She's smiling and blinking back tears. 'Hey, Lee,' she says, and waits for him to turn around." - from Wishing Night (BSG, Kara/Lee) - I know it's nothing special, but it still makes me sniffly months later. Damn, these two break my heart.
Favorite line from anywhere: ""Moony." Sirius reaches for him, but no one is there. Only a moonbeam arcing onto the stone wall, holding off the darkness." (Yes, that's technically three sentences. It's self-indulgent of me, but I love them.) - from This lovely land is you and yours.
Most well-received story: Without a doubt, Into the Silence. The story of Severus Snape during Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is one I'd been wanting to write for a while, and it seemed by the response that others had been wanting to read it, as well. It got "hot rec" in the Daily Snitch and "editor's pick" in the Quibbler Report, but more importantly, I received some amazing, heartfelt comments from people who had clearly been touched by the story. It's a wonderful feeling to write a story that means so much to me, and have others react to it in that way. And I also have to add that I am so grateful to JK Rowling for giving us this world and these amazing characters to play with.
Goals for next year
* Finish the stories I've beeen working on - I have around 30,000 words of fic on my hard drive, plus various other projects in the works.
* Edit my YA novel and begin submitting it to agents and publishers.
* Edit the sequel to my YA novel.
* Get something published somewhere.
* Focus more on writing the fanfic stories I want to write, rather than writing for fests. I have so many stories I want to tell, and I never get around to them because I'm always scrambling to meet a deadline.
What are your goals for the next year?
This entry was originally posted at http://lyras.dreamwidth.org/63863.html. You can comment there using Open ID.
Firstly, a round-up of my December fest fics, more or less in the order they were posted:
This lovely land is you and yours, Remus/Sirius, 1,800 words, PG-13. Summary: Through school, war, Azkaban and beyond, Remus and Sirius manage to spend Christmas together.
Les Jours Tristes, Luna gen with support from Narcissa and Mr Ollivander, 6,800 words, PG-13. Summary: After the events of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Luna deals with some Wrackspurts, developing an unlikely friendship in the process.
The Dragon and the Unicorn, Charlie/Pansy, NC-17, 16,500 words. Summary: Charlie's dragon sanctuary is close to collapsing, and the arrival of Pansy Parkinson, conservationist and unicorn hunter, may be the final straw. Falling for each other is not in the plan.
Night Wanderers, Ginny-and-Sirius gen, PG-13, 1,800 words. Summary: In their time at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, Sirius and Ginny discover that they have a few things in common. Like Harry, for starters.
The Next Quest (Lev Grossman's The Magicians), Quentin/Eliot, R, 1,500 words. Summary: Back in a world he's not ready to call real, Quentin goes after his quest. But Eliot is haunting his dreams.
Into the Silence, Snape gen, PG-13, 5,500 words. Summary: Severus's year as headmaster of Hogwarts presents many challenges. Acceptance is the greatest of them all.
Some numbers:
Those six fest stories totalled 33,900 words, mostly written after the beginning of November. No wonder I was exhausted by Christmas!
In total, I posted 71,900 words of new fanfic this year, give or take a few drabbles. That's not a huge amount, but it was great to find my writing mojo again after a really difficult 2010. I also learned a hell of a lot about writing (again).
Q&A (This version borrowed from igrockspock.)
Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted? More, definitely. 2010 was a pretty poor year for me, writing-wise, but it's amazing what a bit of personal angst can do for the writing mojo. :p
What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January? The Magicians! I wasn't expecting to work up the nerve for that, until Yuletide forced my hand (and you should all read the books, if you haven't already). I also wrote lots of HP gen, and it was lovely to return to that. As for what was the most difficult, I wrote a Luna gen story that I think was successful in the end, but damn, it was hard to get a handle on her. It's so easy to treat her as the helpful sidekick, you know? And I wanted to get further inside her than that, but it took a lot of work to do so.
Did you take any writing risks this year What did you learn from them? For smutty_claus, I had a proper go at a long, plotty romance. Not sure how successful it was, but I enjoyed writing it and my recipient seemed to like it, which was the main thing! It didn't get a huge response, but the comments I did get were very enthusiastic, which was lovely.
Leitmotif of the year: Write more. And more, and more, and more. It was fun!
Most unintentionally telling story: I wore my heart on my sleeve for Circle Time (Discworld, Esme Weatherwax/Mustrum Ridcully). God, I love Granny Weatherwax, and I adore Lords and Ladies. Not one but three female main characters, all shining in their different and amazing ways!
Most fun story to write: The Return, which began with a narrative voice far away from my usual style, and involved Harry and Ginny taking on Tom Riddle with bonus Inferi.
Hardest story to write: Les Jours Tristes - I knew what I was trying to do with the story, but it simply would not go there. About once a week during the six weeks I was writing, I would go back to my recipient's prompts and make notes on alternative stories, before realising that this was the story that wanted to be told. Thankfully, my recipient really seemed to like it in the end.
Easiest story to write: Into the Silence. I knew exactly what I wanted to do and the style I wanted to use. Which isn't to say I didn't work hard on it - but it was lovely to have such a clear idea of the story and to enjoy the writing process so much. The only complication was that some of it wanted to come out in second person present tense, and I had to beat that out.
Best story of the year: Probably Into the Silence, although it feels a bit of a cop-out to say that.
Truest story of the year: I don't know that any of my stories are terribly true! I guess maybe Into the Silence feels like "my" version of Snape's Deathly Hallows year, but that's not really "true", because only JKR knows the truth, really.
Biggest disappointment: I don't think there were any. Sure, doesn't everyone want every story to be well-received? And it's not going to happen every time, especially in a quietening fandom like HP.
Biggest surprise: A Heart Bright and True getting such a great reception. I really wasn't expecting a 15,000-word gen story focusing on Ron to find so many readers. I wrote it for
flyingcarpet and myself, and was very pleasantly surprised when lots of other people said they enjoyed it.
Favorite opening line: "It began with a whisper and a glimpse of a dark-haired boy half a century old, and ended with a kiss, as all good romances do." - The Return.
Favorite closing line: "She's smiling and blinking back tears. 'Hey, Lee,' she says, and waits for him to turn around." - from Wishing Night (BSG, Kara/Lee) - I know it's nothing special, but it still makes me sniffly months later. Damn, these two break my heart.
Favorite line from anywhere: ""Moony." Sirius reaches for him, but no one is there. Only a moonbeam arcing onto the stone wall, holding off the darkness." (Yes, that's technically three sentences. It's self-indulgent of me, but I love them.) - from This lovely land is you and yours.
Most well-received story: Without a doubt, Into the Silence. The story of Severus Snape during Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is one I'd been wanting to write for a while, and it seemed by the response that others had been wanting to read it, as well. It got "hot rec" in the Daily Snitch and "editor's pick" in the Quibbler Report, but more importantly, I received some amazing, heartfelt comments from people who had clearly been touched by the story. It's a wonderful feeling to write a story that means so much to me, and have others react to it in that way. And I also have to add that I am so grateful to JK Rowling for giving us this world and these amazing characters to play with.
Goals for next year
* Finish the stories I've beeen working on - I have around 30,000 words of fic on my hard drive, plus various other projects in the works.
* Edit my YA novel and begin submitting it to agents and publishers.
* Edit the sequel to my YA novel.
* Get something published somewhere.
* Focus more on writing the fanfic stories I want to write, rather than writing for fests. I have so many stories I want to tell, and I never get around to them because I'm always scrambling to meet a deadline.
What are your goals for the next year?
This entry was originally posted at http://lyras.dreamwidth.org/63863.html. You can comment there using Open ID.