2011: a year of fandom
I wrote up a master list for my fic. Doing so has caused me to reflect on this past year.
I have never done the fandom thing before. And life was good!
But then Road Trip happened, and everything changed.
I googled the kiss, because surely someone already uploaded up to youtube? I didn't find the kiss (it had only been four minutes) but I found a bunch of people on tumblr who loved the Parks and Rec. And I thought, I can justify this. Pictures of the cast? Sure. But not fan fic. I'll just ignore that.
But everyone I was following on tumblr- via googlereader, I wasn't one of those people- was squealing over fic, and I found shornt's list of seriously recommended fic, aaaaand... I broke. I read cypanache's "All Roads Lead to You". And it was awesome. So I started reading those things on the list, and they were all awesome. But, ok, I wasn't going to read the rest of it.
And then I did that.
And then the kinkmeme showed up. And... ok, I'm not going to read that. But I did. And I'm not going to write for it.... but I did. But I wasn't writing for the golden couple... and then I did.
And then I decided I was going to write something longer. And I reached out to rikyl, and told her I was completely unknown but I wanted to write something and did she want to beta it? And also be my friend? Technically I only asked her one of those questions, but I tricked her into the other. And she didn't really know what she was doing! And I didn't either! And my first story (which I never published) was... I don't know, but not great.
But I kept going! And I wrote a 12K fic called In Six Weeks You'll be Mine. And I was pretty proud! And hooked.
That was the middle of August.
Around that time I started a tumblr. And at first I was just writing whatever, but then I saw a picture of Ann and Chris, in 3x04, where they are standing together in front of Door 214. And if a couple is in front of the number 214, that means something. And I started trying to figure out the set. And noticing the set dressings. And having fun with watches, costumes, and desk animals. And squealing over spoilers with whimsical_irony, and chatting with greenshouse and ballroom_pink.
And I kept writing. And it was weird and I couldn't quite decide how to explain what I was doing, but I kept going.
And then craponaspatula posted a fan art picture, and around the same time, stillscape needed help on her "Dear Friend" epic. And both stillscape and I expressed interest in her drawing for our stories. I don't know how it went down with stillscape, but for me, this involved an lj message with lots of hemming, hawing, and "you know, if you'd be interested, but you totally don't have to be, but, you know, of you want..." And she was all, "I mean, you know, if you'd want me to, we could..." And the three of us got along marvelously. And I ended up flying across the country to hang out with craponaspatula and eat her waffles and meet k8_26_2. And this was... holy crap, less than two months after I asked her to illustrate a story for me.
And all of this for a show I only started watching just over a year ago.
Number of stories written: 10
Approximate number of words: 52K
Number of stories with illustrations: 2
WIPs: 1 (never again! One-shots all the way)
How I describe my fandom life to my friends: "My online writers critique group"
How I explained my vacation to visit craponaspatula: "Visiting a friend... from college."
Number of posts on tumblr: 621
Most popular post on tumblr: I can't claim credit, but this quote from Heather Hogan got 648 notes.
Most popular story on lj: I'm not sure. The Perfect Non-Underwear Gift? It was one of my favorite challenges, to write Jean-Ralphio.
Favorite story: My fic is like my babies. And you can't pick your favorite child... just kidding! You totally can. Safety Zone.
Favorite scene: maybe the double date in the second part of Physical Proximity, maybe the opening Ann/Ben scene in Who More Engilds the Night.
Favorite thing to write: group scenes!
Number of abandoned stories: at least 7
Oh my god, how many words is that: about 15Kish
Most interesting abandoned story: I tried to do a bedroom door-slamming French farce for season four. I got about 3/4ths the way through before I gave up, because it never gelled. There's also a completed mistletoe story, a fully-written GBOGH thing, and one slash story that really needed an outline to work.
Least favorite story: shut your mouth, there's no such thing
I have never done the fandom thing before. And life was good!
But then Road Trip happened, and everything changed.
I googled the kiss, because surely someone already uploaded up to youtube? I didn't find the kiss (it had only been four minutes) but I found a bunch of people on tumblr who loved the Parks and Rec. And I thought, I can justify this. Pictures of the cast? Sure. But not fan fic. I'll just ignore that.
But everyone I was following on tumblr- via googlereader, I wasn't one of those people- was squealing over fic, and I found shornt's list of seriously recommended fic, aaaaand... I broke. I read cypanache's "All Roads Lead to You". And it was awesome. So I started reading those things on the list, and they were all awesome. But, ok, I wasn't going to read the rest of it.
And then I did that.
And then the kinkmeme showed up. And... ok, I'm not going to read that. But I did. And I'm not going to write for it.... but I did. But I wasn't writing for the golden couple... and then I did.
And then I decided I was going to write something longer. And I reached out to rikyl, and told her I was completely unknown but I wanted to write something and did she want to beta it? And also be my friend? Technically I only asked her one of those questions, but I tricked her into the other. And she didn't really know what she was doing! And I didn't either! And my first story (which I never published) was... I don't know, but not great.
But I kept going! And I wrote a 12K fic called In Six Weeks You'll be Mine. And I was pretty proud! And hooked.
That was the middle of August.
Around that time I started a tumblr. And at first I was just writing whatever, but then I saw a picture of Ann and Chris, in 3x04, where they are standing together in front of Door 214. And if a couple is in front of the number 214, that means something. And I started trying to figure out the set. And noticing the set dressings. And having fun with watches, costumes, and desk animals. And squealing over spoilers with whimsical_irony, and chatting with greenshouse and ballroom_pink.
And I kept writing. And it was weird and I couldn't quite decide how to explain what I was doing, but I kept going.
And then craponaspatula posted a fan art picture, and around the same time, stillscape needed help on her "Dear Friend" epic. And both stillscape and I expressed interest in her drawing for our stories. I don't know how it went down with stillscape, but for me, this involved an lj message with lots of hemming, hawing, and "you know, if you'd be interested, but you totally don't have to be, but, you know, of you want..." And she was all, "I mean, you know, if you'd want me to, we could..." And the three of us got along marvelously. And I ended up flying across the country to hang out with craponaspatula and eat her waffles and meet k8_26_2. And this was... holy crap, less than two months after I asked her to illustrate a story for me.
And all of this for a show I only started watching just over a year ago.
Number of stories written: 10
Approximate number of words: 52K
Number of stories with illustrations: 2
WIPs: 1 (never again! One-shots all the way)
How I describe my fandom life to my friends: "My online writers critique group"
How I explained my vacation to visit craponaspatula: "Visiting a friend... from college."
Number of posts on tumblr: 621
Most popular post on tumblr: I can't claim credit, but this quote from Heather Hogan got 648 notes.
Most popular story on lj: I'm not sure. The Perfect Non-Underwear Gift? It was one of my favorite challenges, to write Jean-Ralphio.
Favorite story: My fic is like my babies. And you can't pick your favorite child... just kidding! You totally can. Safety Zone.
Favorite scene: maybe the double date in the second part of Physical Proximity, maybe the opening Ann/Ben scene in Who More Engilds the Night.
Favorite thing to write: group scenes!
Number of abandoned stories: at least 7
Oh my god, how many words is that: about 15Kish
Most interesting abandoned story: I tried to do a bedroom door-slamming French farce for season four. I got about 3/4ths the way through before I gave up, because it never gelled. There's also a completed mistletoe story, a fully-written GBOGH thing, and one slash story that really needed an outline to work.
Least favorite story: shut your mouth, there's no such thing