2013 Writing Meme
As found on seascribe's journal. Also doing it wrong, i.e. too late.
2013 was a good year for memes like this because I posted little and therefore won't need long to list it all.
January
None. Not a good start into the year.
February
1. The Ball Is Round (So that the Game Can Change Direction) - Supernatural, gen, PG. Canon-AU in which Sam left for college and somehow ended up an international soccer star. Written for the worldwide_spn sports challenge. ~ 10,000 words.
April - September
Nothing. Wow. I knew that year had been a bit of a drought, but seeing it like this it's actually surprising. Then again, I did spend that time writing a lot. I just didn't post any of it until
October
2. Undo - Marvel 616, Steve/Tony, Tony/Rhodey, Steve/Tony/Rhodey, R. Tony regains his deleted Civil War-memories and then gets kidnapped by an evil organization. As he does. Originally written for a big bang, but not posted for it. ~ 68,000 words.
3. Replica - due South, gen, PG-13. Ray Vecchio after Vegas. Written for no frigging reason at all. ~ 1,000 words.
November
Nada.
December
4. Down the Drain - due South, gen, PG. Fraser and Ray Vecchio do not go down any waterfalls in this one and there is much arguing. Written for fun. ~ 9,000 words
5. Casualties - Supernatural, gen, PG -13. Gadriel after the reveal. Written for my genprompt-bingo card. ~ 1,000 words.
6. Strange Creatures - Doctor Who, gen, PG. The Eighth Doctor, Firz, and a centaur with a big penis. Also written for my genprompt-bingo card. ~ 1,000 words.
7. Burn this Town to the Ground - due South, Fraser/Vecchio, R. Post CotW-fic in which Ray has issues and Fraser is trying. Witten for the 2013 due South Seekrit Santa, for Nizah. ~ 62,500 words.
This year I wrote and posted:
- about 152,500 words, 7 stories in 4 fandoms.
Looking at that overal number of words, I guess I didn't write that much less than usual, I just put it into fewer stories. Since I didn't do this meme before, I can't really tell. Looking back, it feels like I wrote all year, and yet there is that giant gab and not much in the months when I did post. But then, there is also an original story and over 13,000 words of an unfinished due South fic that was not posted, naturally, and is therefore not listed here. Oh, and that unfinished Marvel fic for a big bang I dropped out of. So yeah, I wrote all year and have very little to show for it. Huh.
Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?
I have no idea. It's fewer stories than I expected at the beginning of the year but more words than I though I'd written at the end. This year was weird. At the end of the day, I am happy I got anything done at all.
What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January?
due South, due to never having heard of it and never having watched it before April. I tried not to get into the fandom but totally failed.
The SPN-soccer-AU on the other hand was not as unexpected as one might think.
What's your own favorite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest?
Uh, the unfinished due South fic I haven't posted yet? Ray gets an official partner and Fraser is ridiculously petty about that and there is a case and multible murders and it's just generally fun to write. Since I can't list it here, I'll say Down the Drain, for similar reasons (just without the partner, the case and the dead bodies).
Also, weirdly enough, Replica. Though "happy" might not be the right word here.
Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?
Know when to quit. I signed up for two more big bangs this year, which was a risk since I knew there was a chance I wouldn't be able to finish them. And I couldn't, so I did the sensible thing and dropped out.
From my past year of writing, what was....
My best story of this year:
Undo, I suppose. I'm actually moderately satisfied with how it turned out, especially considering how much I struggled with writing anything during the production. The fact that I had a very good and professional beta helps.
My most popular story of this year:
Clearly Undo, going by hits, kudos and comments.
Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion: I'd say Down the Drain, but that would be a lie. Only 3 people commented on it, but considering that it's a Fraser and Vecchio gen fic based on a fun but not overy dramatically relevant episode, that's about as much as I expected and I'm okay with the outcome. Especially since those are very nice comments.
So the award goes to Burn this Town to the Ground, but even there I'm not going to complain. Only one person left a comment, which, I'll admit, is pretty frustrating after over 60,000 words, but that one person is the person I wrote the story for and she loved it, so I'll call it a success. Before I got her comment, I was rather unhappy, but now that she gave me her thoughts, all it well. This is, funny enough, the exact opposite to the last seret santa I did, where many, many people loved the story (my most popular one on AO3, actually), except the recipient who, as far as I can tell, never even read it.
Most fun story to write: Down the Drain. Seems to be the theme for that year. (Actually, it was. ;p)
Story with the single sexiest moment: Leave me alone. I struggle with sex scenes. Actually aiming for sexy would be totally beyond me.
Most "Holy crap, that's wrong, even for you" story: Having the words "due South" and "non-con" appear in the same line. I never even knew the show existed until last year and it still feels awkwardly like ruining my childhood, somehow. In my defense, it was there in the request.
Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: I don't think there was any. Well, actually, maybe Fraser in Replica, but that might be invalid since he's not actually in it.
Hardest story to write: Burn this Town to the Ground, hands down. For reasons. Having to do with words. But also Casualties, because I had been out of writing SPN stories for so long and it was kind of hard getting back into it. Luckily, Gadriel is a character I obviously never wrote before, which helped.
Biggest Disappointment: I didn't get around to finishing those two sequels to a Marvel fic I wrote last year. I regret that mostly because someone I really like was looking forward to them.
Biggest Surprise: due South is one of my happy places. The first dS fic I ever posted is made of angst, angst and more angst, with an angsty cherry on top, served in a bucket full of angst.
Most Unintentionally Telling Story: Not telling. :D
Fic-writing goals for 2014: More fics for the genprompt-bingo. Revisiting old fandoms. Maybe finish a few ongoing, abandoned stories, though I have that goal every year, it seems. I want to kill Ray and Fraser, actually. And explore some more female characters.
Also, I'm probably going to write about that universe in which Fraser left with Victoria, and what it meant for Ray.
Mostly, I want to write shorter stuff, but more of it.