The Pearly Gates had such eloquent graffiti
Well, I did this last year and really enjoyed it; this year I am kind of bowled over by how many drabbles I wrote.
Before we do this, though, holy crap, how is it already the last day of the year?
Things I wrote this year!
Full-length
Supernatural
We've Already Lost Indiana (crossover with The West Wing)
This Elephant in the Room Better Not Start Singing
Give Me But This I Have (His Dark Materials AU with daemons in)
Lullabye+Exile
Less Logical Than a Lot of Things (RPF)
In the Land of Milk and Honey, You Must Put Them On the Table
The Syncretist
Food for the Bees (I Could Easily Be)
Ghost Repeater
Original/Misc/Other
Fate is but a painted face (Greek mythology/Moulin Rouge!)
And Honey in the Carcass (The West Wing)
We Never Trained for This at Toccoa (Band of Brothers)
[Yuletide - anon]
Drabbles
Ash (SPN) and Leo McGarry (TWW)
Scar (The Lion King) and Coyote (Mythology), sharing a cell
Dean (SPN) and Delerium (The Sandman)
Matt Albie (S60) and Dean (SPN)
Prometheus (Mythology) and Gordon Walker (SPN)
Prometheus and Hesione (Mythology)
O monstrous! O strange! We are haunted. (SPN)
How men got daemons (Mythology/HDM)
The demons were too slow - "Mystery Spot" (SPN)/"Pollo Loco" (Dark Angel)
"Born Under a Bad Sign" with daemons in (SPN)
For which no justice is adequate - Othello with daemons in
Prometheus (Mythology) and Viktor Krum (Harry Potter)
Jon Spencer (JSBX, Heavy Trash) and U.S. Grant (Civil War RPF) with daemons in
Macbeth with daemons in
Cal Shanley (S60) and Winchesters (SPN)
Matt Albie and Danny Tripp (S60) with daemons in
Prometheus and Epimetheus, before the Titanomachy (Mythology)
"In My Time of Dying" with daemons in (SPN)
Bobby Singer (SPN), Kaylee Frye (Firefly) and Wilco
Lyra Silvertongue (HDM) and Winchesters (SPN)
Prometheus, Epimetheus and Bugs Bunny
Prometheus and Kim Merrill (milliways_bar)
The problem with a kitten is THAT/Eventually it becomes a CAT - Epimetheus (Mythology) and Alec (DA)
The Winchesters meet the Nightjar (OFC) (SPN/dragstormaround)
Ellie, Deanne and Epimetheus (Mythology/dragstormaround)
Dean vs. a really girly cocktail (SPN)
Coda, "Hello, Goodbye": Alec tells off Max (DA)
Emerson Cod meets the Winchesters (Pushing Daisies/SPN)
Prometheus and Lethe, on dating advice (Mythology/Milliways)
Prometheus, Epimetheus and a Ferris wheel (Mythology/Milliways)
Prometheus and Scar (The Lion King)
Alec (DA) and X-23 (X-Men)
Prometheus, Epimetheus and Coyote road trip shenanigans - from this 'verse
Missouri Mosely and how those visions start (SPN)
This is not the bodyswap you are looking for - Jared, Jensen and Lauren Cohan (CW RPF)
Alec (DA), X-23 (X-Men) and the Winchesters
Dean (SPN) and Lucifer (The Sandman/Lucifer)
The first time Dean killed a guy (SPN)
Dean (SPN) and Landry Clark (FNL) talk music
Five times Babe watched Doc Roe, and one time he didn't. (BoB)
Five times Doc Roe watched Babe, and one time he didn't. (BoB)
Five times Ron took orders from Damian, and one time he didn't. (BoB RPF)
Five times Perconte got in trouble and one time he didn't. (BoB)
Five times Nix woke up in someone else's foxhole, and one time he didn't. (BoB)
Five times Joe Liebgott got into a fight, and one time he didn't. (BoB)
Five times Buck won at craps, and one time he didn't. (BoB)
Sam and Dean and Robert Frost's "Mending Wall" (SPN)
Speirs and a letter from home (BoB)
Liebgott, Hoobler and dog tags (BoB)
Ross McCall, Eion Bailey, shared cigarettes (BoB RPF)
Matthew Settle, Eion Bailey, smooth motherfuckers (BoB RPF)
Malarkey meets Muck (BoB)
Persian!Nix and Winters (BoB, companion to We Never Trained for This at Toccoa)
*
The hard thing about this quiz this year is that I wrote one story that was head-and-shoulders above anything else I accomplished or attempted (or completed) in 2008. My spn_j2_bigbang fic, The Syncretist, works for just about all these questions; it was an effort with which I had amazing help and which has been received so well, and I'm so grateful for that.
My favorite of my own stories this year: Can I defer to this?
My best story this year: Well. The Syncretist wins, hands down. I mean. BigBang, lovesong to my hometown, horrible post-Stanford Winchester family fallout. I am incredibly proud of the work I did for this one, with the creepy and the world-building and the characterizations and the relationships. (Right, I'm done tooting my horn on this. But I wanted to write this story from the moment I got into SPN fandom, and I'm so glad I waited until I was ready to do it right.) I was also really amazed by how well Ghost Repeater came together; it did things with fiction and form I don't think I'd ever managed before.
Story most underappreciated by the universe, in my opinion: I really enjoyed This Elephant in the Room Better Not Start Singing, though it didn't get too terribly many comments, which, whatever: it was my second story in the fandom. But then again, two fics made it onto crack_impala this year, which, just, alkdjfhlkjfgdh, turns me into a beaming idiot because I am totally vain and love recs, so in all honesty, it would be stupid to lodge any complaints.
Most fun story: I seriously cackled most of the way through writing We Never Trained for This at Toccoa.
Most sexy Sexiest story: I don't really do sexy so much, though "The Syncretist" has some stuff in it I'm proud of. Creepy sexual tension can be really fun, though. Does that count? There'll be some of that in an upcoming story. La la la.
Story with single sexiest moment: Anything featuring Joe Liebgott is automatically sexy. He is snarky and dangerous and all angles and he's broken and scary and empathic and complicated and amazing. So, maybe this BoB RPF ficlet featuring Eion, Ross and shared cigarettes? It's all about intensity and eye contact, and that raspy, nasal, quiet voice.
Hardest story to write: Food for the Bees (I Could Easily Be) was opened as a blank document in January, poked and prodded all year, and finally posted in October. That one was just taking its sweet damn time, but it came out right in the end, so I'm guessing it was worth the frustration.
"Holy crap, that's wrong even for you" fic: This answer would be different if I'd finished my SPN NaNo in time to publish this year, but I think In the Land of Milk and Honey, You Must Put Them On the Table definitely fits, given that writing it actually made me hate myself. In a good way.
Fic that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: I always learn the most when I write about Prometheus and Epimetheus. Any of the drabbles above, or anything I've done for meritinabox (which I would love to get back on) would work; this, this and this for answers, perhaps?
Biggest disappointment: That I never started the J2 fic where Jared and Jensen are sellers on the Home Shopping Network. Or the one where Sam is a kaiju and Dean is a Domo-kun.
Biggest surprise: Falling so hard and so completely for Band of Brothers, honestly. I am a serial monogamist when it comes to fandoms, usually, but I managed to cultivate a few concurrent with SPN, like Dark Angel, that I was able to keep up with. The real winner, though, is probably how much spending ten months as a copyeditor in a marketing department improved my process and my final product. I am glad I never went any further than considering MFA programs, because this year has seen the greatest growth in my writing since I started churning out enormous Redwall spinoffs and epic Beatles RPF in elementary school.
Most telling story: Wouldn't that be telling? Hmm. For some reason, And Honey in the Carcass is coming to mind. Sometimes you just get hit with a plague of bees. That certainly describes most of 2008 for me.
What's next? "And God, I Know I'm One," a SPN ageswap AU that features some of the nastiest, most awful-to-Winchesters plot I've ever written. I'm far more excited about it than I should be. That and a lot of BoB and BoB RPF gen. I fully intend to get that going and have there be more of it. The possibilities are just too damn fascinating.
I love end-of-year memes, so... here's to this time next year!
Before we do this, though, holy crap, how is it already the last day of the year?
Things I wrote this year!
Full-length
Supernatural
We've Already Lost Indiana (crossover with The West Wing)
This Elephant in the Room Better Not Start Singing
Give Me But This I Have (His Dark Materials AU with daemons in)
Lullabye+Exile
Less Logical Than a Lot of Things (RPF)
In the Land of Milk and Honey, You Must Put Them On the Table
The Syncretist
Food for the Bees (I Could Easily Be)
Ghost Repeater
Original/Misc/Other
Fate is but a painted face (Greek mythology/Moulin Rouge!)
And Honey in the Carcass (The West Wing)
We Never Trained for This at Toccoa (Band of Brothers)
[Yuletide - anon]
Drabbles
Ash (SPN) and Leo McGarry (TWW)
Scar (The Lion King) and Coyote (Mythology), sharing a cell
Dean (SPN) and Delerium (The Sandman)
Matt Albie (S60) and Dean (SPN)
Prometheus (Mythology) and Gordon Walker (SPN)
Prometheus and Hesione (Mythology)
O monstrous! O strange! We are haunted. (SPN)
How men got daemons (Mythology/HDM)
The demons were too slow - "Mystery Spot" (SPN)/"Pollo Loco" (Dark Angel)
"Born Under a Bad Sign" with daemons in (SPN)
For which no justice is adequate - Othello with daemons in
Prometheus (Mythology) and Viktor Krum (Harry Potter)
Jon Spencer (JSBX, Heavy Trash) and U.S. Grant (Civil War RPF) with daemons in
Macbeth with daemons in
Cal Shanley (S60) and Winchesters (SPN)
Matt Albie and Danny Tripp (S60) with daemons in
Prometheus and Epimetheus, before the Titanomachy (Mythology)
"In My Time of Dying" with daemons in (SPN)
Bobby Singer (SPN), Kaylee Frye (Firefly) and Wilco
Lyra Silvertongue (HDM) and Winchesters (SPN)
Prometheus, Epimetheus and Bugs Bunny
Prometheus and Kim Merrill (milliways_bar)
The problem with a kitten is THAT/Eventually it becomes a CAT - Epimetheus (Mythology) and Alec (DA)
The Winchesters meet the Nightjar (OFC) (SPN/dragstormaround)
Ellie, Deanne and Epimetheus (Mythology/dragstormaround)
Dean vs. a really girly cocktail (SPN)
Coda, "Hello, Goodbye": Alec tells off Max (DA)
Emerson Cod meets the Winchesters (Pushing Daisies/SPN)
Prometheus and Lethe, on dating advice (Mythology/Milliways)
Prometheus, Epimetheus and a Ferris wheel (Mythology/Milliways)
Prometheus and Scar (The Lion King)
Alec (DA) and X-23 (X-Men)
Prometheus, Epimetheus and Coyote road trip shenanigans - from this 'verse
Missouri Mosely and how those visions start (SPN)
This is not the bodyswap you are looking for - Jared, Jensen and Lauren Cohan (CW RPF)
Alec (DA), X-23 (X-Men) and the Winchesters
Dean (SPN) and Lucifer (The Sandman/Lucifer)
The first time Dean killed a guy (SPN)
Dean (SPN) and Landry Clark (FNL) talk music
Five times Babe watched Doc Roe, and one time he didn't. (BoB)
Five times Doc Roe watched Babe, and one time he didn't. (BoB)
Five times Ron took orders from Damian, and one time he didn't. (BoB RPF)
Five times Perconte got in trouble and one time he didn't. (BoB)
Five times Nix woke up in someone else's foxhole, and one time he didn't. (BoB)
Five times Joe Liebgott got into a fight, and one time he didn't. (BoB)
Five times Buck won at craps, and one time he didn't. (BoB)
Sam and Dean and Robert Frost's "Mending Wall" (SPN)
Speirs and a letter from home (BoB)
Liebgott, Hoobler and dog tags (BoB)
Ross McCall, Eion Bailey, shared cigarettes (BoB RPF)
Matthew Settle, Eion Bailey, smooth motherfuckers (BoB RPF)
Malarkey meets Muck (BoB)
Persian!Nix and Winters (BoB, companion to We Never Trained for This at Toccoa)
*
The hard thing about this quiz this year is that I wrote one story that was head-and-shoulders above anything else I accomplished or attempted (or completed) in 2008. My spn_j2_bigbang fic, The Syncretist, works for just about all these questions; it was an effort with which I had amazing help and which has been received so well, and I'm so grateful for that.
My favorite of my own stories this year: Can I defer to this?
My best story this year: Well. The Syncretist wins, hands down. I mean. BigBang, lovesong to my hometown, horrible post-Stanford Winchester family fallout. I am incredibly proud of the work I did for this one, with the creepy and the world-building and the characterizations and the relationships. (Right, I'm done tooting my horn on this. But I wanted to write this story from the moment I got into SPN fandom, and I'm so glad I waited until I was ready to do it right.) I was also really amazed by how well Ghost Repeater came together; it did things with fiction and form I don't think I'd ever managed before.
Story most underappreciated by the universe, in my opinion: I really enjoyed This Elephant in the Room Better Not Start Singing, though it didn't get too terribly many comments, which, whatever: it was my second story in the fandom. But then again, two fics made it onto crack_impala this year, which, just, alkdjfhlkjfgdh, turns me into a beaming idiot because I am totally vain and love recs, so in all honesty, it would be stupid to lodge any complaints.
Most fun story: I seriously cackled most of the way through writing We Never Trained for This at Toccoa.
Most sexy Sexiest story: I don't really do sexy so much, though "The Syncretist" has some stuff in it I'm proud of. Creepy sexual tension can be really fun, though. Does that count? There'll be some of that in an upcoming story. La la la.
Story with single sexiest moment: Anything featuring Joe Liebgott is automatically sexy. He is snarky and dangerous and all angles and he's broken and scary and empathic and complicated and amazing. So, maybe this BoB RPF ficlet featuring Eion, Ross and shared cigarettes? It's all about intensity and eye contact, and that raspy, nasal, quiet voice.
Hardest story to write: Food for the Bees (I Could Easily Be) was opened as a blank document in January, poked and prodded all year, and finally posted in October. That one was just taking its sweet damn time, but it came out right in the end, so I'm guessing it was worth the frustration.
"Holy crap, that's wrong even for you" fic: This answer would be different if I'd finished my SPN NaNo in time to publish this year, but I think In the Land of Milk and Honey, You Must Put Them On the Table definitely fits, given that writing it actually made me hate myself. In a good way.
Fic that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: I always learn the most when I write about Prometheus and Epimetheus. Any of the drabbles above, or anything I've done for meritinabox (which I would love to get back on) would work; this, this and this for answers, perhaps?
Biggest disappointment: That I never started the J2 fic where Jared and Jensen are sellers on the Home Shopping Network. Or the one where Sam is a kaiju and Dean is a Domo-kun.
Biggest surprise: Falling so hard and so completely for Band of Brothers, honestly. I am a serial monogamist when it comes to fandoms, usually, but I managed to cultivate a few concurrent with SPN, like Dark Angel, that I was able to keep up with. The real winner, though, is probably how much spending ten months as a copyeditor in a marketing department improved my process and my final product. I am glad I never went any further than considering MFA programs, because this year has seen the greatest growth in my writing since I started churning out enormous Redwall spinoffs and epic Beatles RPF in elementary school.
Most telling story: Wouldn't that be telling? Hmm. For some reason, And Honey in the Carcass is coming to mind. Sometimes you just get hit with a plague of bees. That certainly describes most of 2008 for me.
What's next? "And God, I Know I'm One," a SPN ageswap AU that features some of the nastiest, most awful-to-Winchesters plot I've ever written. I'm far more excited about it than I should be. That and a lot of BoB and BoB RPF gen. I fully intend to get that going and have there be more of it. The possibilities are just too damn fascinating.
I love end-of-year memes, so... here's to this time next year!