2013 fic lookback meme
Stolen from Kainoliero. :D
Total Number of Completed Stories:
There's 14 under my 2013 tag so that must be it. (Man, it's really nice to be able to count these things without manually loading up Delicious or whatever and going through everything. I'm so glad I put together this archive) However, this includes both full-length fics and little ficlets... I really wish that I had written more things in the 1-5k range at least, rather than so much 500-word stuff.
Overall Thoughts:
I wish I had completed more things. However, I need to remind myself, a lot of this year was spent working on a long fic. It's sitting at about 25k right now (I think), which is very long for me, and it still isn't anywhere near close to being finished. So, I guess I shouldn't be too hard on myself for not doing more. :D Anyway. As usual, most of the things that I wrote were either for other people (flashfic fills on the anonmeme mostly) or for fests.
Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?
I tend to forget about all the little ficlets and stuff, so when I look at the raw numbers, it's a lot more than what I expected. And I tend to forget what year I wrote things in. 'Sound Dues' was this year? I had no idea!
What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January?
Well, my half-assed attempts at writing Hatoful Boyfriend ficlets weren't expected... I hope some day to write some actual fic for that fandom, but man, it's hard. Characterization is difficult, figuring out how to write intelligent non-anthropomorphic birds is hard (especially since the way I actually picture them is more like... Donald Duck type birds, rather than literal birds), and the only good ideas I have for that series are long and plotty. :T
As far as pairings go, the Netherlands/Iceland was unexpected. But to be honest, the Sweden/Finland surprised me more, since I'm not actually into them very much but somehow I wrote two fics with them this year, and one of them wasn't even for an exchange. ?? What.
What's your own favorite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest?
Sound Dues. No question. I think it's one of the best things I've ever written. I'm immensely happy with it. Plus, doing the research was really fun and interesting. And now I want to write more historical things with Netherlands and Denmark, though I don't have any ideas right this moment.
Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?
This was my first year taking part in an exchange. I learned that it isn't as scary as it sounds! Basically it's just like writing for a fest. As long as the word minimum is reasonable, and the writing period is reasonable, it's okay, and I can pull it off. Though I guess it's always possible that I'd be assigned something that I couldn't write. Maybe I just lucked out this time. But I don't think so.
The other risk involves the not-yet-finished, currently-untitled Norway/Germany fic that I'm working on. I don't usually write long stories with plot, so it's really challenging. But I'm having fun with it, and even if it doesn't turn out perfect I'll be glad that I tried. So basically, I learned that if I do get an idea for a long fic, then there's nothing wrong with grabbing the bull by the horns and just going with it.
Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the New Year?
There are a bunch of fics in my WIP folder, and I'd like to finish a few of them. And I want to work more on that long Nor/Ger fic. Also, I want to write some things without Norway in them... my stuff features him a lot, and while that's understandable since he's my favourite, it wouldn't hurt to take a break from him now and then so that I don't get Norway'd out. I have some vague desires to write some Netherlands/Denmark, also Netherlands/Belgium and Netherlands/Japan. And maybe some gen stuff involving Denmark, or Iceland, or both. So, there we go.
... And I kind of want to write some Legend of Zelda fic too, but it probably won't be anything too complicated or serious. I want to write action scenes, and I want to take the opportunity to write stuff that doesn't have dialogue, and LoZ is perfect for both of those things since Link spends so much of his time battling evil by himself.
My best story of this year:
Sound Dues, as mentioned previously. Though come to think of it, I'm also pretty happy with how Brushstrokes turned out, even if it isn't as impressive a fic as Sound Dues.
My most popular story of this year:
.... Probably Brushstrokes. It's only been up a little while, but it already has a large amount of hits/kudos/bookmarks on Ao3 and FFNet. Probably due to the pairing.
Most fun story to write:
Raincoat (Gay). I was laughing while I wrote it.
Story with the single sexiest moment:
Tell Me Again. ... Yep.
Story with the single funniest moment:
I... don't know. Honestly I'm tempted to say Sound Dues. It's such a serious story but then things ease up a little bit when Denmark and Netherlands finally see each other, and Neds is all "You look like shit", and Denmark is all clingy and exasperating.
Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:
Sound Dues again. Though that has more to do with the research that I did for it; it kind of brought me around to understanding the relationship between Denmark and Netherlands a bit better, and gave me some reasons as to what they might mean to each other.
Hardest story to write:
Aaaand again, Sound Dues. This is partly because it's a historical story and I wanted to do it right. But it's also partly because I originally intended it to be longer, and toward the end I was running out of time. I'd intended to go into the scene after Netherlands and Denmark leave the waterfront, and have their private talk. But I decided not to write that part, because I wouldn't be able to finish in time. And honestly, it's a better story this way, I think. I might eventually write those scenes that I wanted to do, but they'll be a sequel/separate thing/not incorporated directly.
Biggest Disappointment:
Windburn is okay, but I wish it could have been even better. I think if I'd had a little more time/a little less stress from RL things, I could've done a better job of it.
Also, I wanted to do more fics for the anonmeme Gingerbreadgif fic-meme, but I didn't have time, and the ones that I did write, I didn't spend as much time on them as I would have liked. Also-also, I had hoped to write more stories this year, hoped to finish more fics during November than I actually did. But I didn't.
Biggest Surprise:
That I managed to start up a long, plotty, in-progress thing without getting bored and wandering off, really. Hopefully I'll keep that up.
This entry was originally posted at http://yuuago.dreamwidth.org/3319192.html. You can comment here or at the original entry.
Total Number of Completed Stories:
There's 14 under my 2013 tag so that must be it. (Man, it's really nice to be able to count these things without manually loading up Delicious or whatever and going through everything. I'm so glad I put together this archive) However, this includes both full-length fics and little ficlets... I really wish that I had written more things in the 1-5k range at least, rather than so much 500-word stuff.
Overall Thoughts:
I wish I had completed more things. However, I need to remind myself, a lot of this year was spent working on a long fic. It's sitting at about 25k right now (I think), which is very long for me, and it still isn't anywhere near close to being finished. So, I guess I shouldn't be too hard on myself for not doing more. :D Anyway. As usual, most of the things that I wrote were either for other people (flashfic fills on the anonmeme mostly) or for fests.
Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?
I tend to forget about all the little ficlets and stuff, so when I look at the raw numbers, it's a lot more than what I expected. And I tend to forget what year I wrote things in. 'Sound Dues' was this year? I had no idea!
What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January?
Well, my half-assed attempts at writing Hatoful Boyfriend ficlets weren't expected... I hope some day to write some actual fic for that fandom, but man, it's hard. Characterization is difficult, figuring out how to write intelligent non-anthropomorphic birds is hard (especially since the way I actually picture them is more like... Donald Duck type birds, rather than literal birds), and the only good ideas I have for that series are long and plotty. :T
As far as pairings go, the Netherlands/Iceland was unexpected. But to be honest, the Sweden/Finland surprised me more, since I'm not actually into them very much but somehow I wrote two fics with them this year, and one of them wasn't even for an exchange. ?? What.
What's your own favorite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest?
Sound Dues. No question. I think it's one of the best things I've ever written. I'm immensely happy with it. Plus, doing the research was really fun and interesting. And now I want to write more historical things with Netherlands and Denmark, though I don't have any ideas right this moment.
Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?
This was my first year taking part in an exchange. I learned that it isn't as scary as it sounds! Basically it's just like writing for a fest. As long as the word minimum is reasonable, and the writing period is reasonable, it's okay, and I can pull it off. Though I guess it's always possible that I'd be assigned something that I couldn't write. Maybe I just lucked out this time. But I don't think so.
The other risk involves the not-yet-finished, currently-untitled Norway/Germany fic that I'm working on. I don't usually write long stories with plot, so it's really challenging. But I'm having fun with it, and even if it doesn't turn out perfect I'll be glad that I tried. So basically, I learned that if I do get an idea for a long fic, then there's nothing wrong with grabbing the bull by the horns and just going with it.
Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the New Year?
There are a bunch of fics in my WIP folder, and I'd like to finish a few of them. And I want to work more on that long Nor/Ger fic. Also, I want to write some things without Norway in them... my stuff features him a lot, and while that's understandable since he's my favourite, it wouldn't hurt to take a break from him now and then so that I don't get Norway'd out. I have some vague desires to write some Netherlands/Denmark, also Netherlands/Belgium and Netherlands/Japan. And maybe some gen stuff involving Denmark, or Iceland, or both. So, there we go.
... And I kind of want to write some Legend of Zelda fic too, but it probably won't be anything too complicated or serious. I want to write action scenes, and I want to take the opportunity to write stuff that doesn't have dialogue, and LoZ is perfect for both of those things since Link spends so much of his time battling evil by himself.
My best story of this year:
Sound Dues, as mentioned previously. Though come to think of it, I'm also pretty happy with how Brushstrokes turned out, even if it isn't as impressive a fic as Sound Dues.
My most popular story of this year:
.... Probably Brushstrokes. It's only been up a little while, but it already has a large amount of hits/kudos/bookmarks on Ao3 and FFNet. Probably due to the pairing.
Most fun story to write:
Raincoat (Gay). I was laughing while I wrote it.
Story with the single sexiest moment:
Tell Me Again. ... Yep.
Story with the single funniest moment:
I... don't know. Honestly I'm tempted to say Sound Dues. It's such a serious story but then things ease up a little bit when Denmark and Netherlands finally see each other, and Neds is all "You look like shit", and Denmark is all clingy and exasperating.
Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:
Sound Dues again. Though that has more to do with the research that I did for it; it kind of brought me around to understanding the relationship between Denmark and Netherlands a bit better, and gave me some reasons as to what they might mean to each other.
Hardest story to write:
Aaaand again, Sound Dues. This is partly because it's a historical story and I wanted to do it right. But it's also partly because I originally intended it to be longer, and toward the end I was running out of time. I'd intended to go into the scene after Netherlands and Denmark leave the waterfront, and have their private talk. But I decided not to write that part, because I wouldn't be able to finish in time. And honestly, it's a better story this way, I think. I might eventually write those scenes that I wanted to do, but they'll be a sequel/separate thing/not incorporated directly.
Biggest Disappointment:
Windburn is okay, but I wish it could have been even better. I think if I'd had a little more time/a little less stress from RL things, I could've done a better job of it.
Also, I wanted to do more fics for the anonmeme Gingerbreadgif fic-meme, but I didn't have time, and the ones that I did write, I didn't spend as much time on them as I would have liked. Also-also, I had hoped to write more stories this year, hoped to finish more fics during November than I actually did. But I didn't.
Biggest Surprise:
That I managed to start up a long, plotty, in-progress thing without getting bored and wandering off, really. Hopefully I'll keep that up.
This entry was originally posted at http://yuuago.dreamwidth.org/3319192.html. You can comment here or at the original entry.