writing in 2014
2014 in fic! Here we go:
X-Men: First Class/X-Men: Days of Future Past
February
write this number down (you can call it anytime) (21,533)
all it takes is a little faith and a lot of heart (2,621)
Everything you know is wrong (co-written with aesc, 61,907 total)
April
you follow and i'll lead (co-written with pearl_o, 52,818 total)
May
Mercy of the Fallen (the AirDrop Security Update 2.0) (16,136)
the king doesn't like to wait (the q&a remix) (2,394)
the future makes of you what it will (the recreational time travel remix) (1,815)
Green Door (The One Suitcase Remix) (898)
The Best There Is At What I Do (The Cat Cafe Remix) (493)
Pub Quiz (1,557)
hope for the future (2,255)
sing me to sleep (5,705)
June
the continuing search for hope (551)
growing all the time (1,892)
July
We Can Still Have Fun (The Annotated Edition) (2,563)
August
For Better or For Worse (The Private Vows Remix) (3,390)
Mailbox 1973 - 1975 (The Letters to Nowhere Remix) (1,750)
Playing Telephone (4,973)
September
apple season (1,172)
October
Senior Year (co-written with pearl_o, 34,992 total)
trick or treat (9,725)
November
above, beneath, betwixt, between (4,803)
rooms/shares (19,344)
December
spirit voices (2,927)
Faculty/Staff Meeting Minutes: August 3, 1979 (2,370)
who's left and who's leaving (2,330)
table for three (5,836)
festival of lights (6,737)
it doesn't end, it just wears away (6,535)
Tumblings Too (6,531)
mutants in iowa (5,700)
FF
Girls' Day Out (3,911)
Captain America 2
Domestic Disturbance (4,025)
Grand Total Fandoms: 3
Grand Total Stories: 32
Grand Total Word Count: 227,330 (with the word counts for my co-written bits halved)
Overall Thoughts:
Still lots of X-Men words! Gosh, I love those X-Mans. I feel like I "wasted" the beginning of the year in a mix of writer's block and an insane rush to try and finish EVERYTHING before DoFP, which left me paralyzed and unable to finish...anything. So a lot of the first few months of the year were months I was writing consistently, but all over the place and not finishing anything.
A continued flaw of mine is that, frequently, I'll have a really bright spark for something for a few days and then fall off of it for reasons of work or sleep or...life...and then lose the spark to finish. A particular 6k story literally took me six months to finish--I would write a sentence or two and then stop again and peter out. So sustainability is something I need to work on.
Really, what I need most of all is to make time every day to write and actually take it. I've been bad at keeping to my most productive schedule, so I'm going to make an effort to force myself back into it soon. Less of writing what I think I SHOULD be working on and more writing whatever I feel like. I'd also like to pull one of my MG novels back out of the drawer this year, so...yikes, that's a scary thought.
I did a lot of co-writing this year and it was pretty amazing, I've got to say. I've had mixed results with co-writing in the past, but it worked out pretty well for me these times around. The story I wrote with aesc was a lot of fun and came together very quickly and very easily. The verse that pearl_o and I are working on (still! We're writing another story right now!) is SO wonderful and completely sucked us both in and I want to play there forever. Co-writing also helps battle fatigue, I think--when I'm tired of a scene or tired of writing or just tired, I can send what I have, no matter how little, and get new material to work with soon after. It's easier to think "I only have to write a couple more paragraphs and then I can put it out of my mind for a few hours" without the whole rest of the story looming over you.
Overall, I think this was a pretty good year. Last year's slump/depression/panic definitely bled into the beginning of 2014, but I'm feeling more positive about my own work and excited to write again, so I'm taking it as a win.
Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?
Less. I think I was aiming for 250k this year? But, weirdly, even though I didn't even make the same number of words as last year, I still feel really good about what I DID produce. I wish I finished more, but...life happens. And I started off the year still in the bad 2013 place, so...yes. Better next year, but I'm not upset for not making this year's goal.
What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January?
idk. Um...I wrote one straight up porn story, which I wouldn't necessarily have predicted, but I'm not surprised about either. I wrote a couple Cap 2 stories, which...while I wouldn't have predicted them, again, I'm not surprised they happened. Especially the Moira/Nick one.
Oh, the FF fic, maybe! Love that series, but never expected to write fic for it, if only because I'm so intimidated by how good Fraction's writing was on it.
What's your own favorite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest?
I loved a lot of the stories I wrote this year, because I'm super obsessed with myself. Probably my FAVORITES are either write this number down (you can call it anytime) or rooms/shares. The first one I HATED when I finished it--I wrote the bulk of it during my block in 2013 and just...struggled a lot. I didn't like it. I thought it was bad. But, once I cleared out of that depression and reassessed, I actually do like it quite a bit. rooms/shares was just fun to write--right in my wheelhouse. I'd love to write Charles' point of view in that same story, because a lot of thought went into it.
Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?
Not......really? Co-writing, I guess, could have blown up in my face if I didn't mesh well with my co-writers, but it didn't because they're great!
My best story of this year:
Best? Probably write this number down (you can call it anytime) again. I think it's probably the strongest, at least.
My most popular story of this year:
According to AO3, it was write this number down, which shot up my Kudos list to number three or four despite being less than a year old, so...I guess people liked it!
Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:
I'm still kind of surprised that more people haven't read Senior Year, the collection Erica and I are writing that ties into our verse. The stories are all complete as they're added and the first fic was REALLY popular, but...not so much the tie-in stories. They do have less sex, so....that's a possibility. But mostly I don't care because I'm obsessed enough with this verse for the rest of the internet.
Anyway, all that aside, to the surprise of no one, my Hank story for Secret Mutant flew pretty under the radar: who's left and who's leaving.
Oh, and I guess I'm bummed more people didn't appreciate We Can Still Have Fun (The Annotated Edition), which was a blast to write and generally overlooked in the Remix archive.
Most fun story to write:
Faculty/Staff Meeting Minutes: August 3, 1979, for sure. That was a blast to write and I loved making the graphics...all of it was just too much fun. The runner up is Pub Quiz which just struck me as a cool concept. I wrote it in a single morning. I still think it's a cool concept! Oh, and Domestic Disturbance! That was excellent and I want to revisit that verse quite badly!
Story with the single sexiest moment:
you follow and i'll lead, definitely. There are a couple other sexy moments in stuff I wrote--I did write a porny story for one of the remixes--but this one is so tense with nerves and longing and sweetness that it's far sexier, in my opinion.
Story with the single sweetest moment:
Probably something in it doesn't end, it just wears away or sing me to sleep. They're both kind of achey-sweet, I think--there's a lot of history between those Charles-and-Eriks, for various reasons, which gives a certain meaning to their interactions.
Most "Holy crap, that's wrong, even for you" story:
Nothing really. Nothing cracky for me this year.
Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:
I think a lot of my post-DoFP fic was about trying to get a handle on how the characters had changed with the new canon. In particular, I think Mailbox 1973 - 1975 (The Letters to Nowhere Remix) and hope for the future really helped cement my post-DoFP Charles characterization. Erik was trickier, but I think it doesn't end, it just wears away (which I mostly wrote this summer) helped a lot there.
Hardest story to write:
write this number down was, as I previously said, incredibly difficult and an incredibly long process due to a combination of writer's block and depression. There's no real reason it was difficult other than my own headspace.
Playing Telephone on the other hand, was a completely different story two days before it was due. I was writing it for analise010 to record and her specifications were old Charles/Erik and at least background Rogue/Wolvie. The first idea I came up with was a five times story that would be five times Wolvie brought a teenage girl to the school and one time he stayed. It was really a struggle to write, and I eventually realized it was because the five girls were little more than props and I was really uncomfortable with that. After some brief despair, turning around different ideas in my head and thinking of things that would be fun to record, I came up with the concept of this story and I ended up really liking it! It was a lot of fun to write and pretty funny in places, if I do say so myself.
Biggest Disappointment:
I can't say I was disappointed in any particular story. Uh, I guess I was kind of disappointed in the circumstance of the king doesn't like to wait (the q&a remix) in that someone else remixed the same story, which was embarrassing. And of course theirs was like, cracky sex, which people like, and mine was Charles giving a lecture and contemplating his relationship with Erik, which is the less interesting option, SO.
Biggest Surprise:
Hmmmmm. I'd say the Hank fic, but I wrote that for a SM prompt in like, an hour, so it was more necessity than going where the muse took me, you know? In general, I stuck to what I do best XD
Most Unintentionally Telling Story:
Well, it was semi-intentionally, but there is a LOT of me and my frustrations and issues with this phase of my life in the Erik of rooms/shares.
Plans for the next year:
In general, I think this year I'm going to focus on making time to write every day--that worked out best for me, I think, aiming to write for a certain amount of time rather than having a daily word count. I'm gonna keep the 250k goal, but in addition to posted fic, I might include novel revisions if I do manage to pick that up again.
So, making time to write every day is the big one. Other than that, I'm going to work on writing what I feel like rather than forcing myself to write what I think I "should" be working on. Outlining more. Co-writing again. I'd like to do another "25 days of OTP" sort of thing, and we'll see when I have time for that. I'm going to try to finish more things. I don't know. Aside from making times to write and making an effort to expand my writing, mostly I'm just here to see where the year takes me, I guess. No major goals. We'll just see what happens.
X-Men: First Class/X-Men: Days of Future Past
February
write this number down (you can call it anytime) (21,533)
all it takes is a little faith and a lot of heart (2,621)
Everything you know is wrong (co-written with aesc, 61,907 total)
April
you follow and i'll lead (co-written with pearl_o, 52,818 total)
May
Mercy of the Fallen (the AirDrop Security Update 2.0) (16,136)
the king doesn't like to wait (the q&a remix) (2,394)
the future makes of you what it will (the recreational time travel remix) (1,815)
Green Door (The One Suitcase Remix) (898)
The Best There Is At What I Do (The Cat Cafe Remix) (493)
Pub Quiz (1,557)
hope for the future (2,255)
sing me to sleep (5,705)
June
the continuing search for hope (551)
growing all the time (1,892)
July
We Can Still Have Fun (The Annotated Edition) (2,563)
August
For Better or For Worse (The Private Vows Remix) (3,390)
Mailbox 1973 - 1975 (The Letters to Nowhere Remix) (1,750)
Playing Telephone (4,973)
September
apple season (1,172)
October
Senior Year (co-written with pearl_o, 34,992 total)
trick or treat (9,725)
November
above, beneath, betwixt, between (4,803)
rooms/shares (19,344)
December
spirit voices (2,927)
Faculty/Staff Meeting Minutes: August 3, 1979 (2,370)
who's left and who's leaving (2,330)
table for three (5,836)
festival of lights (6,737)
it doesn't end, it just wears away (6,535)
Tumblings Too (6,531)
mutants in iowa (5,700)
FF
Girls' Day Out (3,911)
Captain America 2
Domestic Disturbance (4,025)
Grand Total Fandoms: 3
Grand Total Stories: 32
Grand Total Word Count: 227,330 (with the word counts for my co-written bits halved)
Overall Thoughts:
Still lots of X-Men words! Gosh, I love those X-Mans. I feel like I "wasted" the beginning of the year in a mix of writer's block and an insane rush to try and finish EVERYTHING before DoFP, which left me paralyzed and unable to finish...anything. So a lot of the first few months of the year were months I was writing consistently, but all over the place and not finishing anything.
A continued flaw of mine is that, frequently, I'll have a really bright spark for something for a few days and then fall off of it for reasons of work or sleep or...life...and then lose the spark to finish. A particular 6k story literally took me six months to finish--I would write a sentence or two and then stop again and peter out. So sustainability is something I need to work on.
Really, what I need most of all is to make time every day to write and actually take it. I've been bad at keeping to my most productive schedule, so I'm going to make an effort to force myself back into it soon. Less of writing what I think I SHOULD be working on and more writing whatever I feel like. I'd also like to pull one of my MG novels back out of the drawer this year, so...yikes, that's a scary thought.
I did a lot of co-writing this year and it was pretty amazing, I've got to say. I've had mixed results with co-writing in the past, but it worked out pretty well for me these times around. The story I wrote with aesc was a lot of fun and came together very quickly and very easily. The verse that pearl_o and I are working on (still! We're writing another story right now!) is SO wonderful and completely sucked us both in and I want to play there forever. Co-writing also helps battle fatigue, I think--when I'm tired of a scene or tired of writing or just tired, I can send what I have, no matter how little, and get new material to work with soon after. It's easier to think "I only have to write a couple more paragraphs and then I can put it out of my mind for a few hours" without the whole rest of the story looming over you.
Overall, I think this was a pretty good year. Last year's slump/depression/panic definitely bled into the beginning of 2014, but I'm feeling more positive about my own work and excited to write again, so I'm taking it as a win.
Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?
Less. I think I was aiming for 250k this year? But, weirdly, even though I didn't even make the same number of words as last year, I still feel really good about what I DID produce. I wish I finished more, but...life happens. And I started off the year still in the bad 2013 place, so...yes. Better next year, but I'm not upset for not making this year's goal.
What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January?
idk. Um...I wrote one straight up porn story, which I wouldn't necessarily have predicted, but I'm not surprised about either. I wrote a couple Cap 2 stories, which...while I wouldn't have predicted them, again, I'm not surprised they happened. Especially the Moira/Nick one.
Oh, the FF fic, maybe! Love that series, but never expected to write fic for it, if only because I'm so intimidated by how good Fraction's writing was on it.
What's your own favorite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest?
I loved a lot of the stories I wrote this year, because I'm super obsessed with myself. Probably my FAVORITES are either write this number down (you can call it anytime) or rooms/shares. The first one I HATED when I finished it--I wrote the bulk of it during my block in 2013 and just...struggled a lot. I didn't like it. I thought it was bad. But, once I cleared out of that depression and reassessed, I actually do like it quite a bit. rooms/shares was just fun to write--right in my wheelhouse. I'd love to write Charles' point of view in that same story, because a lot of thought went into it.
Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?
Not......really? Co-writing, I guess, could have blown up in my face if I didn't mesh well with my co-writers, but it didn't because they're great!
My best story of this year:
Best? Probably write this number down (you can call it anytime) again. I think it's probably the strongest, at least.
My most popular story of this year:
According to AO3, it was write this number down, which shot up my Kudos list to number three or four despite being less than a year old, so...I guess people liked it!
Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:
I'm still kind of surprised that more people haven't read Senior Year, the collection Erica and I are writing that ties into our verse. The stories are all complete as they're added and the first fic was REALLY popular, but...not so much the tie-in stories. They do have less sex, so....that's a possibility. But mostly I don't care because I'm obsessed enough with this verse for the rest of the internet.
Anyway, all that aside, to the surprise of no one, my Hank story for Secret Mutant flew pretty under the radar: who's left and who's leaving.
Oh, and I guess I'm bummed more people didn't appreciate We Can Still Have Fun (The Annotated Edition), which was a blast to write and generally overlooked in the Remix archive.
Most fun story to write:
Faculty/Staff Meeting Minutes: August 3, 1979, for sure. That was a blast to write and I loved making the graphics...all of it was just too much fun. The runner up is Pub Quiz which just struck me as a cool concept. I wrote it in a single morning. I still think it's a cool concept! Oh, and Domestic Disturbance! That was excellent and I want to revisit that verse quite badly!
Story with the single sexiest moment:
you follow and i'll lead, definitely. There are a couple other sexy moments in stuff I wrote--I did write a porny story for one of the remixes--but this one is so tense with nerves and longing and sweetness that it's far sexier, in my opinion.
Story with the single sweetest moment:
Probably something in it doesn't end, it just wears away or sing me to sleep. They're both kind of achey-sweet, I think--there's a lot of history between those Charles-and-Eriks, for various reasons, which gives a certain meaning to their interactions.
Most "Holy crap, that's wrong, even for you" story:
Nothing really. Nothing cracky for me this year.
Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:
I think a lot of my post-DoFP fic was about trying to get a handle on how the characters had changed with the new canon. In particular, I think Mailbox 1973 - 1975 (The Letters to Nowhere Remix) and hope for the future really helped cement my post-DoFP Charles characterization. Erik was trickier, but I think it doesn't end, it just wears away (which I mostly wrote this summer) helped a lot there.
Hardest story to write:
write this number down was, as I previously said, incredibly difficult and an incredibly long process due to a combination of writer's block and depression. There's no real reason it was difficult other than my own headspace.
Playing Telephone on the other hand, was a completely different story two days before it was due. I was writing it for analise010 to record and her specifications were old Charles/Erik and at least background Rogue/Wolvie. The first idea I came up with was a five times story that would be five times Wolvie brought a teenage girl to the school and one time he stayed. It was really a struggle to write, and I eventually realized it was because the five girls were little more than props and I was really uncomfortable with that. After some brief despair, turning around different ideas in my head and thinking of things that would be fun to record, I came up with the concept of this story and I ended up really liking it! It was a lot of fun to write and pretty funny in places, if I do say so myself.
Biggest Disappointment:
I can't say I was disappointed in any particular story. Uh, I guess I was kind of disappointed in the circumstance of the king doesn't like to wait (the q&a remix) in that someone else remixed the same story, which was embarrassing. And of course theirs was like, cracky sex, which people like, and mine was Charles giving a lecture and contemplating his relationship with Erik, which is the less interesting option, SO.
Biggest Surprise:
Hmmmmm. I'd say the Hank fic, but I wrote that for a SM prompt in like, an hour, so it was more necessity than going where the muse took me, you know? In general, I stuck to what I do best XD
Most Unintentionally Telling Story:
Well, it was semi-intentionally, but there is a LOT of me and my frustrations and issues with this phase of my life in the Erik of rooms/shares.
Plans for the next year:
In general, I think this year I'm going to focus on making time to write every day--that worked out best for me, I think, aiming to write for a certain amount of time rather than having a daily word count. I'm gonna keep the 250k goal, but in addition to posted fic, I might include novel revisions if I do manage to pick that up again.
So, making time to write every day is the big one. Other than that, I'm going to work on writing what I feel like rather than forcing myself to write what I think I "should" be working on. Outlining more. Co-writing again. I'd like to do another "25 days of OTP" sort of thing, and we'll see when I have time for that. I'm going to try to finish more things. I don't know. Aside from making times to write and making an effort to expand my writing, mostly I'm just here to see where the year takes me, I guess. No major goals. We'll just see what happens.