ariadnes_string (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ariadnes_string) wrote2012-01-03 09:40 am
ariadnes_string) wrote2012-01-03 09:40 am
2011 Fic Roundup
I’ve never done one of these fic roundup posts before, but somehow this seemed like the year to start. Meme questions ganked from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
thirdbird_fic (all links go to AO3, but most of the fics are on lj/dw too).
Total number of completed stories: 39*
*Counting the three sections of “Thy going in and thy coming out” as one fic, but “In Any Tongue” and its two sequels separately. Not counting the three WIPs begun in 2011 but not completed.
Total word count: Can’t bear to add this up. Too many words, Ms. String, too many words.
Fandom breakdown: Sherlock: 6*; Crossovers: 6**; Hawaii Five-O: 5; The Eagle: 5; Southland: 3; XMFC: 3; SPN: 3***; Camelot: 1; Downton Abbey: 1; Eagle RPF: 1; Grimm: 1; Homeland: 1; Merlin: 1; Suits: 1: The Hour: 1; TTSS RPF: 1.
Yes, that’s 17 different fandoms, including two, Whitechapel and Regeneration, that appeared only in crossovers.
*Including 1 remix, again counting the three parts of “Thy Going Out and Thy Coming In” as one fic.
**Making a separate category seemed easier than figuring out how to avoid counting them twice. It’s worth noting, though, that three of these are Sherlock crossovers (counting “Aloha, Dr. Watson” and its sequel “Pelekane” as separate fics).
***Including 1 remix.
Overall Thoughts: I think that list proves that a) I have the attention span of a flea; and b) that, somewhat surprisingly, Sherlock held my attention more than anything else this year (especially when my interest in writing H50 unexpectedly petered out last spring). I didn’t write any Sherlock fic, I don’t think, from summer ’10 to spring ’11, but have been writing it pretty steadily since then, in a variety of situations and pairings.*
*NB: the number of Sherlock fics, however, is also due to the fact that I’ve stopped putting down that I’m willing to write SPN for exchanges, etc., so Sherlock is the “big” fandom I tend to get matched on.
Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted? More *slaps own wrist*
What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January?
Pairing: Sherlock/Lestrade. I did this for a prompt back in March and have now written a bunch of variations. Also one John/Lestrade.
Genre: Several varieties of non-con, dub-con, fuck-or-die, aliens-made-them-do-it and sex pollen. Um. Yeah. This was always something I put on my “squick” list, but it turns out there’s a particular brand of it I kinda love.
Fandom: Most of the fandoms in the list above are the sorts of things I would’ve predicted I’d love before I saw them--except for XMFC. I usuallycan’t stand have no affinity for superheroes whatsoever. Let’s just blame Michael Fassbender for that, m’kay?
Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?
Maybe? I signed up for and completed a kink_bingo, which is something I never would have thought I’d be able to do two years ago. It’s probably more accurate to say that in doing that I put some of what I’ve learned about writing NC-17/porn/kink into practice: .viz kink!fic doesn’t always have to end in orgasm (only 2/5 of my fics do).
Maybe the bigger risk I took this year was to write a fair amount of fic about religion in general and Judaism and Jewish characters in particular. This feels very close to home for me, and isn’t something that I think comes up much in fic (religion/spirituality in general or, perhaps especially, Jewish characters in particular). I learned that it’s something I enjoy writing about—a good thing to explore under the cloak of anonymity of fic and lj.
Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the New Year?
Fanfic: yeah, write less. Seriously, I have a very busy spring coming up with lots of work and family travel, so I’m going to try and finish those three WIPs and not start anything else. I will probably sign up forpurim_gifts again, and may do Remix. Not signing up for anything else until Yuletide 2012.
We’ll see, huh?
And I have a lot of non-fic rl writing projects that Ihope to must complete.
From my past year of writing, what was...
My best story of this year: Um. Subjectively speaking, I liked Libertad (XMFC: Erik observing Yom Kippur alone in Buenos Aires) for the reasons I described above; also Four Kisses (Southland, Ben/Cooper) because I hardly ever write falling in love/first time stories and I like the language in that one. Probably in terms of organizational clickery and memorable zingers, though, the one in the next category.
My most popular story of this year: Well, based on the number of hits and kudos on AO3, Pelekane: or the English Visitor (Sherlock/H50 crossover), though it’s possible that Three Continents Watson may overtake it in those categories at some point. Both Sides of the Rainbow has been my most bookmarked fic on AO3 this year.
Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion: Well, imo, Libertad, again, which has had fewer than half the hits of my other two XMFC stories but is a much better fic than either. But, yeah, a gen story about Jewish ritual? We’re talking a pretty limited audience there, so I wasn’t expecting anything different when I wrote it.
Most fun story to write: Three Continents Watson--there are one or two lines in there that tickled me to death to type out.
Story with the single sexiest moment: That’s a hard one. I was happy with a lot of the NC-17 stuff I wrote this year, but many of the things I like and feel proud of as writing (ie, “In Any Tongue,” or the Sherlock/OMC scene in my remix fic) are not what you’d consider enjoyable sexytimes. In terms of something that actually sounds fun, maybe the chariot scene in Narbo Martius? Not my forte this year, apparently.
Most "Holy crap, that's wrong, even for you" story: Lol, you probably think I’m gonna say the caning fic, but I think that one’s wrong in exactly the way you’d expect from me. In fact, I’m gonna say the one where I gave Dean breasts.
Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: Well, this isn’t exactly fair, since it’s an AU version of the character, but starting to write the Jewish!Lestrade fics made me think much more about Lestrade as a character, even in his more canonical forms.
Hardest story to write: All the stories I had the hardest time with this year were White Collar. I’m not sure why. I had to abandon both The Silver-Tongued Conman Loses His Voice and A Catch for months before I could think of how to finish them (and both times I had generous help with figuring it out).
Most Unintentionally Telling Story: Well, I think a lot of the answers above reveal some telling things about my fic *g* But here’s something I can intentionally tell you: I gave Brody my own description of God in A wind that passeth away and cometh not again--make of that identification what you will.
In conclusion: I like a lot of the fics I wrote this year—I even feel kindly even some of the ones that didn’t work out all that well, objectively speaking, and there are only one or two that make me queasy and facepalmy. But I would like to write fewer and better fics next year—though of course part of the joy of fanfic is dashing off bits of fluff on a whim…
Be that as it may, I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who beta’d for me, or brainstormed ideas or offered encouragement or commented or put up with my obsessions and ever more obscure fandoms and above all read stuff—-much love to you all!
thirdbird_fic (all links go to AO3, but most of the fics are on lj/dw too).Total number of completed stories: 39*
*Counting the three sections of “Thy going in and thy coming out” as one fic, but “In Any Tongue” and its two sequels separately. Not counting the three WIPs begun in 2011 but not completed.
Total word count: Can’t bear to add this up. Too many words, Ms. String, too many words.
Fandom breakdown: Sherlock: 6*; Crossovers: 6**; Hawaii Five-O: 5; The Eagle: 5; Southland: 3; XMFC: 3; SPN: 3***; Camelot: 1; Downton Abbey: 1; Eagle RPF: 1; Grimm: 1; Homeland: 1; Merlin: 1; Suits: 1: The Hour: 1; TTSS RPF: 1.
Yes, that’s 17 different fandoms, including two, Whitechapel and Regeneration, that appeared only in crossovers.
*Including 1 remix, again counting the three parts of “Thy Going Out and Thy Coming In” as one fic.
**Making a separate category seemed easier than figuring out how to avoid counting them twice. It’s worth noting, though, that three of these are Sherlock crossovers (counting “Aloha, Dr. Watson” and its sequel “Pelekane” as separate fics).
***Including 1 remix.
Overall Thoughts: I think that list proves that a) I have the attention span of a flea; and b) that, somewhat surprisingly, Sherlock held my attention more than anything else this year (especially when my interest in writing H50 unexpectedly petered out last spring). I didn’t write any Sherlock fic, I don’t think, from summer ’10 to spring ’11, but have been writing it pretty steadily since then, in a variety of situations and pairings.*
*NB: the number of Sherlock fics, however, is also due to the fact that I’ve stopped putting down that I’m willing to write SPN for exchanges, etc., so Sherlock is the “big” fandom I tend to get matched on.
Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted? More *slaps own wrist*
What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January?
Pairing: Sherlock/Lestrade. I did this for a prompt back in March and have now written a bunch of variations. Also one John/Lestrade.
Genre: Several varieties of non-con, dub-con, fuck-or-die, aliens-made-them-do-it and sex pollen. Um. Yeah. This was always something I put on my “squick” list, but it turns out there’s a particular brand of it I kinda love.
Fandom: Most of the fandoms in the list above are the sorts of things I would’ve predicted I’d love before I saw them--except for XMFC. I usually
Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?
Maybe? I signed up for and completed a kink_bingo, which is something I never would have thought I’d be able to do two years ago. It’s probably more accurate to say that in doing that I put some of what I’ve learned about writing NC-17/porn/kink into practice: .viz kink!fic doesn’t always have to end in orgasm (only 2/5 of my fics do).
Maybe the bigger risk I took this year was to write a fair amount of fic about religion in general and Judaism and Jewish characters in particular. This feels very close to home for me, and isn’t something that I think comes up much in fic (religion/spirituality in general or, perhaps especially, Jewish characters in particular). I learned that it’s something I enjoy writing about—a good thing to explore under the cloak of anonymity of fic and lj.
Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the New Year?
Fanfic: yeah, write less. Seriously, I have a very busy spring coming up with lots of work and family travel, so I’m going to try and finish those three WIPs and not start anything else. I will probably sign up for
purim_gifts again, and may do Remix. Not signing up for anything else until Yuletide 2012.We’ll see, huh?
And I have a lot of non-fic rl writing projects that I
From my past year of writing, what was...
My best story of this year: Um. Subjectively speaking, I liked Libertad (XMFC: Erik observing Yom Kippur alone in Buenos Aires) for the reasons I described above; also Four Kisses (Southland, Ben/Cooper) because I hardly ever write falling in love/first time stories and I like the language in that one. Probably in terms of organizational clickery and memorable zingers, though, the one in the next category.
My most popular story of this year: Well, based on the number of hits and kudos on AO3, Pelekane: or the English Visitor (Sherlock/H50 crossover), though it’s possible that Three Continents Watson may overtake it in those categories at some point. Both Sides of the Rainbow has been my most bookmarked fic on AO3 this year.
Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion: Well, imo, Libertad, again, which has had fewer than half the hits of my other two XMFC stories but is a much better fic than either. But, yeah, a gen story about Jewish ritual? We’re talking a pretty limited audience there, so I wasn’t expecting anything different when I wrote it.
Most fun story to write: Three Continents Watson--there are one or two lines in there that tickled me to death to type out.
Story with the single sexiest moment: That’s a hard one. I was happy with a lot of the NC-17 stuff I wrote this year, but many of the things I like and feel proud of as writing (ie, “In Any Tongue,” or the Sherlock/OMC scene in my remix fic) are not what you’d consider enjoyable sexytimes. In terms of something that actually sounds fun, maybe the chariot scene in Narbo Martius? Not my forte this year, apparently.
Most "Holy crap, that's wrong, even for you" story: Lol, you probably think I’m gonna say the caning fic, but I think that one’s wrong in exactly the way you’d expect from me. In fact, I’m gonna say the one where I gave Dean breasts.
Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: Well, this isn’t exactly fair, since it’s an AU version of the character, but starting to write the Jewish!Lestrade fics made me think much more about Lestrade as a character, even in his more canonical forms.
Hardest story to write: All the stories I had the hardest time with this year were White Collar. I’m not sure why. I had to abandon both The Silver-Tongued Conman Loses His Voice and A Catch for months before I could think of how to finish them (and both times I had generous help with figuring it out).
Most Unintentionally Telling Story: Well, I think a lot of the answers above reveal some telling things about my fic *g* But here’s something I can intentionally tell you: I gave Brody my own description of God in A wind that passeth away and cometh not again--make of that identification what you will.
In conclusion: I like a lot of the fics I wrote this year—I even feel kindly even some of the ones that didn’t work out all that well, objectively speaking, and there are only one or two that make me queasy and facepalmy. But I would like to write fewer and better fics next year—though of course part of the joy of fanfic is dashing off bits of fluff on a whim…
Be that as it may, I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who beta’d for me, or brainstormed ideas or offered encouragement or commented or put up with my obsessions and ever more obscure fandoms and above all read stuff—-much love to you all!