2012 in Writing; or: Who the hell can see forever?
FULL-LENGTH/MEANT TO BE FULL-LENGTHInnogen and the Hungry Half (ongoing)
Your Crooked Soul
Kate and Harry Fight the Devil
I'm Not Being Fuzzy: The Allan A Dale-is-a-werewolf fic
Cheat: Paper Arts, Thor (2011), written in 2011, published this summer
WIP amnesty: Joe/Michelle Hollow Crown RPF; College AU, Harry/Kate; Hotspur Ruins Everything -- The Harry Kills Hal at Shrewsbury AU
Yuletide -- not yet revealed
SHARED UNIVERSE/WORLD-BUILDING: PERCYS WEREWOLF AU, with
adiva_calandiathe fresh blood in thy cheeks, Henry IV Part 1/The Hollow Crown, Kate/Harry werewolf AU
* indicates smut
Frustrating guests*: Kate and Harry steal away for a few minutes
Within these two hours: Harry tells Kate not to worry about Shrewsbury; Kate follows him to the battlefield anyway
The Battle of Shrewsbury: Harry almost dies, but doesn't
Bangor, after Shrewsbury: Kate and Harry make it back to Glendower's keep, confront Glendower and Edmund Mortimer
A long night: Kate and Harry drop in at Westminster, to investigate their suspicions about Prince Hal
Interregnum*: Harry and Kate fight, fuck
London calling: Kate, Harry and Hal on the streets at the full moon
Homeward bound*: Kate and Harry come back to Warkworth Castle
DRABBLESThe Hollow Crown:
Kate/Harry, what will be said about them when they're dead
Kate/Harry, truth or dare
Percys, zombie apocalypse
Percys, more apocalypse
Hotspur/Kate, WWII era
Poins and Hal, modern political AU
The Percys as space pirates
RPF - Joe/Michelle, end of the world
The Hour crossover - Freddie investigating Hal
Thor/Avengers (FPF & RPF):
Outtakes with Shakespeare lines
The Avengers go to Shakespeare in the Park
Sif/Hawkeye
Loki/Sif, pretending to be married
Darcy/Jane, huddling for warmth
Sif as a WWII paratrooper
Hipster BBC Robin Hood:
Allan gets his first bow
Genderswap (concept)
Allan in space
Allan is a werewolf and won't eat Much's cooking
Innogen/Other Shakespeare:
Imogen/Cloten, 1920s
Imogen and Miranda (The Tempest)
Viola, Olivia (Twelfth Night), space pirates
Imogen and Posthumus, AtLA-verse
Macbeth: Their first meeting
The Hobbit: How Thorin keeps his look so fresh
*
Leitmotif(s) of the year: What would we do for the people we love? How far would we go to bring them back? Also, werewolves.
Favorite(s) of the batch: All the sandboxing I've done with
adiva_calandia about the Percys, in many different incarnations, has been so incredibly satisfying, I can't even begin to tell you. I also really love the unfinished college AU, particularly this bit at the end:He was waiting for her in the lounge with his hair greased high, wearing someone else’s leather jacket and jeans turned up at the cuffs. She was belted into an oversized suit, and had scrounged a bowler hat, small mustache and cane. Neither of them acknowledged what had just happened, and whether they were bickering or bantering on the walk to the party was never resolved. They separated as soon as they got in the door, but kept crashing back together as the night drew on. Kate stuck to hard liquor, Harry to beer. Sometime after midnight, they found each other alone in the kitchen. Harry pulled her close, wordlessly. He tasted of cheap and terrible lager and she had had too much rum, but he kissed her, still fierce but slower this time, and for longer than a minute before he paused and peeled off her mustache.
This is cheating, but there's also this RPF I have planned of the werewolf AU, because when you make Henry V a werewolf, you change everything, including the plays that Shakespeare wrote and the version of The Hollow Crown that gets made. Here's an unpublished and unfinished bit:Michelle is surprised to find out that Joe smokes.
"Oh yeah," he says, with a snort. "In London? You think it smells bad for you lot -- I'd never leave my flat otherwise."
He says this while they're sitting on the fire escape outside his kitchen, each puffing away. He gestures with his cigarette, a particularly noxious blend that reminds Michelle of camping. "I don't do it much when I'm outside of cities, even when I'm with people. Not as much I want to cover up out there."
Her eyebrows go up. "You don't get cravings or anything?"
"Only for human flesh," he says mildly, and she has to laugh.
You might see more of that early next year, if I can get my act together.
Best of the batch: I am still really stunned by how the latest Innogen chapter came out. How fit his garments serve me can pretty much be read as a standalone; it's a pastiche of Dictionary of the Khazars, which is a novel told in encyclopedia form. I love love love how well this chapter worked, especially because I was trying so hard to make the story come out in a linear fashion and it just wouldn't cooperate. I learned some good things about breaking structure and letting patterns emerge here.
Most underappreciated by the universe: You've got to finish more for things to be underappreciated, so, skipping this one. All conversation and feedback is a gift. <3
Favorite first lines:
In a cold bed, she still hears him, drunk on her name, good Kate, gentle Kate, my loving Kate, my wife. (Kate and Harry Fight the Devil, unfinished/unpublished)
He brought her home in November, the dark-eyed Mortimer girl. (the fresh blood in thy cheeks)
"Nay, my love, we will live until they've forgotten us." (drabble)
Most fun to write: I can't begin to emphasize how much threading Hotspur has kept me sane this year. So, probably all that.
Sexiest fic: I'll talk about the sexiest moment, actually. So, to spoil you for the Percy werewolf AU 'verse, Kate, who is a werewolf, saves Harry, who is not, by turning him on the battlefield after Hal stabs him in the side. He's wearing a shitton of armor, though, so the only place she can bite him is on his neck. In their homecoming thread, this happens:Humming, she trails kisses down his jaw and over the scars on his throat.
Consciously or not, he rolls his head back, to give her more.
I can't even put into words what that does for me. And it's not just because Joe Armstrong has the world's most excellent neck/shoulders/collarbone/general torso area.
"Holy crap, that's wrong even for you" fic: Hmm, there wasn't a whole lot of that this year, although I'm super intrigued by some of the sickness-of-the-body/sickness-of-the-state things that could happen with the Hotspur Ruins Everything AU or the Percys zombie apocalypse AU.
Fic that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: Kate/Harry, what will be said about them when they're dead -- because in this one, Harry knows that he's not meant to live long, and it kills me.
New pairing/genre/fandom you never predicted writing in January: Um. History plays, because they've never been my thing. The Hollow Crown RPF. Hipster Robin Hood. Joe Armstrong's fucking wonderful face. Harry/Kate Harry/Kate Joe/Michelle Harry/Kate.
Hardest fic to write: AUGH, YULETIDE, why do you get harder every damn year? (By the way, if anyone can or wants to guess which Yuletide fic is mine, I will be very surprised and delighted and will write you something if you get it right. It's under 2K and I'm waiting for it to get 50 hits, but my recipient loved it and that totally thrills me.)
Biggest disappointment: Not following through on more projects. There are obvious reasons for that (see also: this year's leitmotifs), but I think I was hoping I could bury myself in writing, rather than retreat from doing anything at all.
Biggest surprise: So. Much. Porn. Seriously, I've never written so much porn in my life. It's great.
Most telling fic: Kate and Harry Fight the Devil, which I couldn't finish.
What's next? Well, going by this question from last year's meme, I didn't fall into a gigantic fandom (as lovely as The Hollow Crown has been), I didn't finish Innogen in the spring, I didn't work on Rosalie and Gazpacho, and I didn't submit anything for publication. Again, though, that's pretty explainable and not terribly surprising. I think my goal for this year, with grad school (and, by all accounts, a really intense program) coming up, will be to write things at all. Get better about planning and using my writing time. Finish things. Get back on schedule with Innogen, which is proving... vexing. I'd like to set goals for myself, though -- finish more, finish on a timetable, submit things, get published. I turn 29 this year. Hooooooly shit.
Fannishly, I have a bunch of projects that I've dreamed up but never gotten any traction with. I really would like to pursue some of the unfinished projects I've listed here (Robin Hood werewolves, Hollow Crown RPF, maybe even the zombie apocalypse Henriad, a day no pigs would die.
I like this meme. I like being able to come back and look at a recurring benchmark every year. So here's to that, and a good 2013.
This was originally posted on Dreamwidth, where it has
comments. I would love to hear from you at DW! If you can see this post, you can comment here using OpenID. Thanks!
Your Crooked Soul
Kate and Harry Fight the Devil
I'm Not Being Fuzzy: The Allan A Dale-is-a-werewolf fic
Cheat: Paper Arts, Thor (2011), written in 2011, published this summer
WIP amnesty: Joe/Michelle Hollow Crown RPF; College AU, Harry/Kate; Hotspur Ruins Everything -- The Harry Kills Hal at Shrewsbury AU
Yuletide -- not yet revealed
SHARED UNIVERSE/WORLD-BUILDING: PERCYS WEREWOLF AU, with
adiva_calandiathe fresh blood in thy cheeks, Henry IV Part 1/The Hollow Crown, Kate/Harry werewolf AU
* indicates smut
Frustrating guests*: Kate and Harry steal away for a few minutes
Within these two hours: Harry tells Kate not to worry about Shrewsbury; Kate follows him to the battlefield anyway
The Battle of Shrewsbury: Harry almost dies, but doesn't
Bangor, after Shrewsbury: Kate and Harry make it back to Glendower's keep, confront Glendower and Edmund Mortimer
A long night: Kate and Harry drop in at Westminster, to investigate their suspicions about Prince Hal
Interregnum*: Harry and Kate fight, fuck
London calling: Kate, Harry and Hal on the streets at the full moon
Homeward bound*: Kate and Harry come back to Warkworth Castle
DRABBLESThe Hollow Crown:
Kate/Harry, what will be said about them when they're dead
Kate/Harry, truth or dare
Percys, zombie apocalypse
Percys, more apocalypse
Hotspur/Kate, WWII era
Poins and Hal, modern political AU
The Percys as space pirates
RPF - Joe/Michelle, end of the world
The Hour crossover - Freddie investigating Hal
Thor/Avengers (FPF & RPF):
Outtakes with Shakespeare lines
The Avengers go to Shakespeare in the Park
Sif/Hawkeye
Loki/Sif, pretending to be married
Darcy/Jane, huddling for warmth
Sif as a WWII paratrooper
Hipster BBC Robin Hood:
Allan gets his first bow
Genderswap (concept)
Allan in space
Allan is a werewolf and won't eat Much's cooking
Innogen/Other Shakespeare:
Imogen/Cloten, 1920s
Imogen and Miranda (The Tempest)
Viola, Olivia (Twelfth Night), space pirates
Imogen and Posthumus, AtLA-verse
Macbeth: Their first meeting
The Hobbit: How Thorin keeps his look so fresh
*
Leitmotif(s) of the year: What would we do for the people we love? How far would we go to bring them back? Also, werewolves.
Favorite(s) of the batch: All the sandboxing I've done with
adiva_calandia about the Percys, in many different incarnations, has been so incredibly satisfying, I can't even begin to tell you. I also really love the unfinished college AU, particularly this bit at the end:He was waiting for her in the lounge with his hair greased high, wearing someone else’s leather jacket and jeans turned up at the cuffs. She was belted into an oversized suit, and had scrounged a bowler hat, small mustache and cane. Neither of them acknowledged what had just happened, and whether they were bickering or bantering on the walk to the party was never resolved. They separated as soon as they got in the door, but kept crashing back together as the night drew on. Kate stuck to hard liquor, Harry to beer. Sometime after midnight, they found each other alone in the kitchen. Harry pulled her close, wordlessly. He tasted of cheap and terrible lager and she had had too much rum, but he kissed her, still fierce but slower this time, and for longer than a minute before he paused and peeled off her mustache.
This is cheating, but there's also this RPF I have planned of the werewolf AU, because when you make Henry V a werewolf, you change everything, including the plays that Shakespeare wrote and the version of The Hollow Crown that gets made. Here's an unpublished and unfinished bit:Michelle is surprised to find out that Joe smokes.
"Oh yeah," he says, with a snort. "In London? You think it smells bad for you lot -- I'd never leave my flat otherwise."
He says this while they're sitting on the fire escape outside his kitchen, each puffing away. He gestures with his cigarette, a particularly noxious blend that reminds Michelle of camping. "I don't do it much when I'm outside of cities, even when I'm with people. Not as much I want to cover up out there."
Her eyebrows go up. "You don't get cravings or anything?"
"Only for human flesh," he says mildly, and she has to laugh.
You might see more of that early next year, if I can get my act together.
Best of the batch: I am still really stunned by how the latest Innogen chapter came out. How fit his garments serve me can pretty much be read as a standalone; it's a pastiche of Dictionary of the Khazars, which is a novel told in encyclopedia form. I love love love how well this chapter worked, especially because I was trying so hard to make the story come out in a linear fashion and it just wouldn't cooperate. I learned some good things about breaking structure and letting patterns emerge here.
Most underappreciated by the universe: You've got to finish more for things to be underappreciated, so, skipping this one. All conversation and feedback is a gift. <3
Favorite first lines:
Most fun to write: I can't begin to emphasize how much threading Hotspur has kept me sane this year. So, probably all that.
Sexiest fic: I'll talk about the sexiest moment, actually. So, to spoil you for the Percy werewolf AU 'verse, Kate, who is a werewolf, saves Harry, who is not, by turning him on the battlefield after Hal stabs him in the side. He's wearing a shitton of armor, though, so the only place she can bite him is on his neck. In their homecoming thread, this happens:Humming, she trails kisses down his jaw and over the scars on his throat.
Consciously or not, he rolls his head back, to give her more.
I can't even put into words what that does for me. And it's not just because Joe Armstrong has the world's most excellent neck/shoulders/collarbone/general torso area.
"Holy crap, that's wrong even for you" fic: Hmm, there wasn't a whole lot of that this year, although I'm super intrigued by some of the sickness-of-the-body/sickness-of-the-state things that could happen with the Hotspur Ruins Everything AU or the Percys zombie apocalypse AU.
Fic that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: Kate/Harry, what will be said about them when they're dead -- because in this one, Harry knows that he's not meant to live long, and it kills me.
New pairing/genre/fandom you never predicted writing in January: Um. History plays, because they've never been my thing. The Hollow Crown RPF. Hipster Robin Hood. Joe Armstrong's fucking wonderful face. Harry/Kate Harry/Kate Joe/Michelle Harry/Kate.
Hardest fic to write: AUGH, YULETIDE, why do you get harder every damn year? (By the way, if anyone can or wants to guess which Yuletide fic is mine, I will be very surprised and delighted and will write you something if you get it right. It's under 2K and I'm waiting for it to get 50 hits, but my recipient loved it and that totally thrills me.)
Biggest disappointment: Not following through on more projects. There are obvious reasons for that (see also: this year's leitmotifs), but I think I was hoping I could bury myself in writing, rather than retreat from doing anything at all.
Biggest surprise: So. Much. Porn. Seriously, I've never written so much porn in my life. It's great.
Most telling fic: Kate and Harry Fight the Devil, which I couldn't finish.
What's next? Well, going by this question from last year's meme, I didn't fall into a gigantic fandom (as lovely as The Hollow Crown has been), I didn't finish Innogen in the spring, I didn't work on Rosalie and Gazpacho, and I didn't submit anything for publication. Again, though, that's pretty explainable and not terribly surprising. I think my goal for this year, with grad school (and, by all accounts, a really intense program) coming up, will be to write things at all. Get better about planning and using my writing time. Finish things. Get back on schedule with Innogen, which is proving... vexing. I'd like to set goals for myself, though -- finish more, finish on a timetable, submit things, get published. I turn 29 this year. Hooooooly shit.
Fannishly, I have a bunch of projects that I've dreamed up but never gotten any traction with. I really would like to pursue some of the unfinished projects I've listed here (Robin Hood werewolves, Hollow Crown RPF, maybe even the zombie apocalypse Henriad, a day no pigs would die.
I like this meme. I like being able to come back and look at a recurring benchmark every year. So here's to that, and a good 2013.
This was originally posted on Dreamwidth, where it has
comments. I would love to hear from you at DW! If you can see this post, you can comment here using OpenID. Thanks!