Annual End of the Year Writing Meme 2021

[thisbluespirit]

And, as ever, the writing meme for the year. (Last year's post is here.)

Stats
List of Completed Fic
Fic
Random Factors (Good Omens/Doctor Who, ^, 2114 words; Aziraphale, Vicki Pallister) For genprompt_bingo, 100fandoms & 51pluscrossoverfandoms
the tattered, the torn (B7, G, 1001 words. Vila Restal, PGP) Written for jaxomsride1 for 500 Prompts + genprompt_bingo & hc_bingo
Elegy for the Living (Indigo Saga, G, 1304 words; Indigo, Grimya, Various) Written for genprompt_bingo & 100fandoms
memories you bury or live by (DW, G, 1221 words. Eleven & Clara) For phoenixdragon for 500 prompts & genprompt_bingo
Night's Last Word (DW, Teen, 2244 words. Thirteen & Clara) For persiflage_1 for 500 prompts & genprompt_bingo
Texts and Kisses (DW, G, 375 words. The Doctor/Master - Twelve, Missy, Dhawan Master)
Transcendental Echoes (DW/S&S, G, 1512 words. Thirteen, Lead) For intoabar, hc_bingo & 51pluscrossoverfandoms
Charm Offensive (WtOVPIC, G, 2150 words. Katrina Lyons/Uljabaan, Richard Lyons) For trope_bingo & 100ships
Snowbound (DW, Teen, 2404 words. Lucie Miller/Clara Oswald) For johm_amend_all & also 100ships, trope_bingo & genprompt_bingo
Sending Out An SOS to the World (G, 3430 words. WtoVPIC/S&S/Red Dwarf/The Librarians/Cabin Pressure/Good Omens/Doctor Who; Various people wandering into Cresdon Green). For 51pluscrossoverfandoms, genprompt_bingo & 100fandoms
cover you in moonlight (DW, G, 1178 words. Eleven/Clara) For 100ships & trope_bingo
Old Haunts (Vampire Circus, Teen, 425 words. Albert Mueller/Anna Mueller) For 100ships & 100fandoms
Bleeding Out (DW, Teen, 2372 words. Five, Tegan) For Whumptober 2021
Chance is a Fine Thing (Heyer, Teen, 4254 words. Carlington/Helen Morland) For Mardia in Yuletide 2021.
Started as a Whisper (S&S, G, 3206 words. Steel, Sapphire, Silver, Lead, Others) For Emmzzi in Yuletide 2021.

Meme Ficlets
AU Meme:
AU Meme: Padme Amidala (SW, Teen, 1103 words. Padme Amidala, Anakin, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Sabe). For theseatheseatheopensea
AU Meme: Hugh Beringar (Cadfael, G, 252 words. Hugh, Aline, Cadfael) For beccadg

First Lines Meme:
Ties That Bind (S&S, G, 541 words. Sapphire/Silver/Steel) For theseatheseatheopensea
Every Silver Lining Has Its Cloud (DW, G, 204 words. Thirteen & Graham) For luthien
Hedging Your Bets (Department S, G, 416 words. Annabelle & Jason & Stewart) For theseatheseatheopensea
Ghost Wounds (S&S, G, 516 words. Steel, Xenon) For sovay
Cultural Exchange (AAL! G, 636 words. Adam/Georgie) For liadt
Thwarted (DW, G, 787 words. Thirteen & Delgado Master, Jo Grant) For astrogirl
Close Quarters (S&S/DW, G, 343 words. Silver/Liz) For persiflage_1
Fatal Swoon (Dracula 1968, G, drabble. John Seward/Dracula) For calliopes_pen
Unravelled, Unwrapped (Drac 1968, G, 473 words. John Seward & Jonathan Harker) For calliopes_pen
In Dispute (SotT, Teen, 976 words. Henry/Elizabeth) For allegoriesinmediasres

Trope Mash-up:
Bedside Robbery (DW/S&S, G, 223 words. Silver/Liz) For persiflage_1
Transported (DW, G, 219 words. Twelve/Clara, AU) For romanajo123
Crime au Naturel (DW, G, 473 words. Eight/Charley, AU) For lurking_latinist
Cross-Cultural Exchange (DW, G, 416 words. One & Barbara) For nostalgia
Tea and Murder (AAL! G, 374 words. Adam & Georgie & Simms) For sovay

Total number: 32 (15 fic(lets) proper + 17 ficlets that were mostly flash fic, even if I did tidy them up afterwards).

Total word count: 37,062


Ship/character breakdown: I didn't write any ships twice as such, although I did write a couple twice in but tagged one "/" and the other "&" in a fairly arbitrary way - Sapphire/Silver/Steel, Silver/Liz, and Eleven/Clara and Doctor/Master if you count different incarnations as one.

Everything else actually tagged as a romantic ship:

Sapphire/Steel
Carlington/Helen Morland
Eight/Charley
Twelve/Clara
Elizabeth of York/Henry VII
Dracula/John Seward
Aline Beringar/Hugh Beringar
Albert Mueller/Anna Mueller
Lucie Miller/Clara Oswald
Katrina Lyons/Uljabaan
Adam/Georgie


Characters:

Clara Oswald (5 works, 4 'proper' fic(lets))
Silver (5 works, but 4 meme ficlets)

Plus:
Thirteenth Doctor (4 uses)
Steel (3 uses)
Sapphire (3 uses)
Eleventh Doctor (3 uses)

Plus 2 uses for: Uljabaan, Katrina Lyons & Richard Lyons; Crowley; Adam Adamant & Georgina Jones; Twelfth Doctor, Liz Shaw; Lead; John Seward.


Clara and Silver is much more representative than the usual results. There's still at least a bit of James Maxwell in there, too.


Specifics:

Best/worst title?

This was not the year of fancy titles, but then I didn't do Remix and I did do a lot of meme ficlets which I just title rather hastily. But I like Charm Offensive for being both literal and punny, and maybe Every Silver Lining Has Its Cloud. If song lyric-borrowed titles count, I quite like cover you in moonlight.

As to worst, well even apart from the AU meme ones that I just label "AU Meme: Whatever" and the one word flash fic titles, I did manage to write one called Cultural Exchange and one called Cross-Cultural Exchange, which is on the lazy side even if they were both flashfic. They were at least different fandoms, I suppose that's something! /o\


Best /worst summary?

Honorary mention, because it amuses me but with the First Lines Meme, I use the chosen first line as the summary, which means I have two consecutive stories with the summary: “Is there a reason you’re naked in my bed?”

Um, other than the first lines meme, my summaries this year are very short and basic. How tired a year this was, I can see all over this meme. I'm not surprised, but there we are. Seriously, this is about the best I can manage: There are several things in this pub that don't belong - and one of them is the Doctor. (from Transcendental Echoes)

I was just counting it an achievement this year if I wrote the damn thing, really.


Best first line?

“I’m not sure this pub should be here,” the Doctor said to the large man sitting beside her at the bar. (Transcendental Echoes)

I mean, I have a lot of Short statement + elaboration, which I do think works for openers, and I have several I like more than the above this year, but that doesn't work for "best first line." Dammit.


Best last line?

Last lines are weird for this question - I always try for one that works a bit out of context, but a lot of them are ones I like in context, but I'm not sure work out of it.

The Doctor looks at her for a long, long moment. Eventually he says, “I can take that piano away, you know.” (Texts and Kisses)

“Shapley was right,” said Carlington, turning suddenly very sober indeed, and looking down at her with dark intent. “I have the devil’s own luck!” (Chance Is A Fine Thing. Not sure it's v exciting out of context, but in it, it was just the right line.)

“What an appalling thought,” said the Doctor, and gave her one of his unfairly disarming smiles. “History would never recover.” (Bleeding Out)

Talking of context, this is the best last line I wrote all year: “109,” said the Computer. (Charm Offensive) Which is exactly what I mean about the difficulty of this question.


General questions:

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less than you thought, or about what you predicted?

Probably what I predicted - I wanted to write less (in terms of lenth of fic, at least), and take a break from exchanges, because I wasn't managing my efforts for them very well, and I did that until Yuletide. I wrote less than I've written any year for a long time.


What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted last year?

I'd never listened to or remembered hearing about Welcome to Our Village Please Invade Carefully but honestly if I had heard about it, it wouldn't have exactly surprised me that I wrote for it. I was about five minutes in when I knew that was going to happen. Even minor Katrina/Uljabaan wasn't a surprise.

The Vampire Circus one, probably? Although, honestly, I'm not surprised at this point. What would surprise me would be these days would only be something like: "gosh, I wrote a popular pairing in a popular mainstream fandom" or "how did I write an actual PWP? Was I taken over by porn-writing alien spambots?"

"Wow, I wrote for a really random and obscure fandom/pairing that I'd never even heard of this time last year" is just par for the course.


What's your favourite story this year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you the happiest.

I really like and am happy with the Eleven & Clara one memories you bury or live by. I'm not sure why - I think it was just a long while since I'd revisited this particular era and it was lovely to do, so much so that I wound up having a S7b rewatch and enjoying it. I think it just worked out as a fic, too.

Sending Out An SOS to the World is probably the one I had the most fun writing and I'm still pretty pleased with it.

But it also made me very happy indeed just to come back to S&S with Started as a Whisper. Also when I rewatched S19 and wrote Bleeding Out, because I do love Five & Tegan and their interactions so much.


Okay, NOW your most popular story.

By kudos, probably most accurate measure - Thwarted. Because there is a law that says what people are going to love is not the fic you sweated blood over or think is your best work. It's going to be the flash ficlet you dashed off and left only posted to Dreamwidth while you decide if it's too silly to bother AO3 with. I'd say it's because it's tagged with some iteration of Doctor & Master, but honestly, so's Texts and Kisses and that's definitely better.

It is quite fun, though. But it does not deserve top place.

Although, doing it by hits results in: cover you in moonlight, my Eleven/Clara fic, which makes me much happier, especially as it initially dropped to comparative quiet, which I always find unnerving when it's a bit of a departure in some way, as this one was.

Comments gets me: Sending Out An SOS to the World

But kudos probably is the most reliable. So, I dunno, readers, what are they like? ;-p


Story most underappreciated by the universe?

Technically it's Elegy for the Living, but it is a very rare fandom indeed and the one person I hoped would also like it commented, so I can't really claim true underappreciation. Exactly the amount of appreciation and glory I had dreamed of when I wrote it, tbf.


Story that could have been better?

Every year, this meme asks me that - all of them! I am a hasty poster. I edit forever afterwards, though.


Sexiest story?

Honestly, idk. Even less sexy than usual? Maybe a tiny bit more because of 100ships??

Anyway, the four stories in which sex happens or is implied or there might be nudity/bed-sharing. In most cases, people just sleep. Some of them kiss. At least one ends with definite implied sex. Please tell me, I don't know.

Snowbound (definitely implied Lucie/Clara sex, at least if the Doctor hadn't burst in pursued by an alien that looked like a bear. Probably implied sex at some point, maybe f/f/f threesome post-fic??? Or just farewell kisses and back to Blackpool, you decide.)

In Dispute (one of the "Is there a reason you're naked in my bed?" ficlets. Beds are shared. Brief nudity is hastily covered up. Romantic feelings are implied. Sex might happen in a few weeks, depending.)

Chance Is a Fine Thing (Probably the sexiest, if not Snowbound? Ends with implied sex post-marriage ceremony. Also some kissing and sitting on someone's lap in the parlour of an inn. Shocking; I soon put a stop to that.)

cover you in moonlight (Was going to be sexy. Probably wound up more oaty with snuggling but nvm. Sex may happen post-fic, but honestly I doubt it.)


Saddest story?

Night's Last Word. I killed another Clara splinter. It's a bad habit.


Most fun?

Sending Out An SOS to the World!


Story with single sweetest moment?

Probably cover you in moonlight. Eleven/Clara, fluff, lots of bedclothes (prompt "linen"), post time-stream.


Hardest story to write?

Chance is a Fine Thing. It's always the Yule-assignment. But mainly it was my own fault because I was so pleased with my handwritten first draft that I took longer to type it up than I should and only then realised that I should have been a bit harder on myself and fixed things before it got to about 2 weeks left to go...


Easiest/most fun story to write?

Well, most of the flash ficlets were pretty off the cuff. But Started as a Whisper, probably.


Most overdue story?

I'm pretty sure memories you bury or live by is from one of the original prompts people left when I first started the 500 Prompts project, so it might be due since 2013?


Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?

Writing Heyer for Yuletide in Chance is a Fine Thing.

Otherwise, no. Part of this year's aim was specifically not to do ambitious things and I was very resolute and did not do anything like that until Yuletide when I unwisely couldn't resist leaving that one offer in. But, I mean, Heyer, there's always so many offers for that, it's not like I was actually going to get matched - whoops!

Although I tell a lie - setting up 100ships and then writing Eleven/Clara were both a bit of a risk. The former more than the latter, obv.


This year's theme and the story that demonstrates it most:

Um. If you can see a theme, please let me know.


What are your fic writing goals for next year?

Things are just really hard now (as they are for a lot of us), so pretty much as last year, although I want to put chocolateboxcomm back in, because it's very laid back and fun and quite a big one and I really did miss it the most out of the exchanges I skipped in 2020 - but i'll see if medical appointments will allow. (I've got two in the way that should be manageable, but need to throw in a third which might just tip it to best not to sign up.)

Comments

[nostalgia]

The questions change every time I see this meme! That means I did it wrong again! *flails arms sadly*

Because there is a law that says what people are going to love is not the fic you sweated blood over or think is your best work. It's going to be the flash ficlet you dashed off and left only posted to Dreamwidth while you decide if it's too silly to bother AO3 with.

I FEEL THIS.

Also, summaries are hard aren't they?

[thisbluespirit]

The questions change every time I see this meme! That means I did it wrong again! *flails arms sadly*

I think there are some different versions around. This is just the one I do every year, but I know some other people have a variant. I don't think it matters! Whichever one has the best questions, it's fine.

I FEEL THIS.

It is definitely a rule.

Also, summaries are hard aren't they?

I always just remind myself that the AU Meme ficlets where the summary is "10 AU scenarios for X & Y from a Dreamwidth meme" get as much love as anything else I write, so I'm not sure people really care. As long as I don't write "I suck at summeries, pls read" or something.

[nostalgia]

I tried to make me summaries slightly more informative a few years back and I don't know if it affected hits or anything but it made me feel a bit better about things :)

[thisbluespirit]

Well, that's definitely a win!

[isis]

I'd never listened to or remembered hearing about Welcome to Our Village Please Invade Carefully but honestly if I had heard about it, it wouldn't have exactly surprised me that I wrote for it. I was about five minutes in when I knew that was going to happen. Even minor Katrina/Uljabaan wasn't a surprise.

*dances in glee*

Actually I am pretty sure I'm not going to write for it - I am too American to pull it off! - but it did not take me long to fall in love with it, thank you again for promoting it and bringing it to my attention! (And for writing sort-of-Katrina/Uljabaan.)

[thisbluespirit]

Oh, yes. In the same way, there are definitely some fandoms that I feel are too American for me to do, or not without a lot of Ameri-picking and rewatching and so on. And that's too much for an every-day sort of fandom! Really kills the muses.

but it did not take me long to fall in love with it, thank you again for promoting it and bringing it to my attention! (And for writing sort-of-Katrina/Uljabaan.)

Aww. It is one of those things that is what it is and you know pretty much immediately if you're going to be into it or not.

[astrogirl]

Because there is a law that says what people are going to love is not the fic you sweated blood over or think is your best work.

Oh, yes. It's honestly a bit amazing just how universal that law is!

I killed another Clara splinter. It's a bad habit.

In fairness, that is what they're there for. :)

[thisbluespirit]

Oh, yes. It's honestly a bit amazing just how universal that law is!

I mean, not that I'm insulting that ficlet. It's just. It took me very little time and then I worried for ages it was too silly even to post here for a meme. lol. (Note to self: "is too silly?" = probably could be sillier actually.)

In fairness, that is what they're there for.

I know, although when I rewatched The Name of the Doctor this year last year, I did realise that there's nothing actually to say that all the Clara-splinters just die when their mission is accomplished for sure. And then I just felt kind of guiltily murderous, because I assumed they did and have written accordingly. Multiple times.

[luthien]

*applause*

Just: well done. Every word is an achievement, and you have more than 37,000 of them.

[thisbluespirit]

Aw, thank you! ♥ And given that one of my aims was not to sign up for exchanges and not to write 10-15k assignments for them, it was a double achievement in keeping me from writing unwise amounts of things.

[persiflage_1]

Congratulations on the massive amounts of wordage!

I'm still very tickled by how much you love WtOVPIC even if I did assume you would... Just... *beams*

[thisbluespirit]

I did love it! I'm so grateful for the rec, especially since the love has spread and resulted in fic. XD Evil oppression at its best!

[persiflage_1]

*insert evil oppressor gif*

[liadt]

Theme: Killing Clara?;p

A good word count even if less than your usual, bravo!

[thisbluespirit]

No, I killed her much more in some other years! Only once in 2021. Hardly a theme, really. There is a Clara motif, certainly, but not that.

A good word count even if less than your usual, bravo!

I'm happy because I know I've been more sensible. I'd like to feel a bit better next year, but I don't think it's going to necessarily happen until restrictions can really be lifted (and not just cos the gov't are being stupid lifted).

[a_phoenixdragon]

I look forward to this every year! Your fic just blows me away!

*HUGS*

[thisbluespirit]

Aw, thanks!

[lurking_latinist]

I think the theme of your year must be "(Cross-)Cultural Exchange," on the theory that it's not repetition if you call it a motif!

[thisbluespirit]

It fits with WtOVPIC, too! It must be! XD

[elen_nare]

"Wow, I wrote for a really random and obscure fandom/pairing that I'd never even heard of this time last year" is just par for the course.
I feel that so much, lol - not that I actually did it this year, but it does happen to me frequently.

[thisbluespirit]

What are other people doing in fandom that it doesn't happen to them? XD

[elen_nare]

Staying in one fandom, possibly XD And not doing things like remix and yuletide!