End of Year Writing Meme 2025

[thisbluespirit]

I continue recovering very slowly but at least pretty steadily - and my things are gradually getting out of boxes too. In the meantime, I thought I could probably manage to do the end of year meme, so here it is:

The usual writing meme for the year. (Last year's post is here.)

Stats
List of Completed Fic
AU Meme: Catherine Winslow/Sir Robert Morton (The Winslow Boy, Teen, 3938 words. Catherine Winslow/Robert Morton)

For the March mini-round of no_true_pair:
The Great Blue Yonder (DW/Winslow Boy, G, 968 words. Charley Pollard, Catherine Winslow)
Merrypool Lake (BBC Pilgrim/DW, G, 828 words. Seventh Doctor & William Palmer). Also for 51pluscrossoverfandoms
one here will constant be (BBC Pilgrim/Discworld, Teen, 852 words. Death & William Palmer). Also for 100fandoms & allbingo

Missing Pieces (Enigma, Teen, 1676 words. Tom Jericho/Hester Wallace, Wigram.) For 100fandoms, allbingo & 100ships

AU_gust:
Tea on Sunday (Miss Marple, G, 572 words. Miss Marple & Griselda Clement). Also for 100fandoms, allbingo & 100_women
Green for Danger (G, 751 words. B7, Jenna Stannis, Roj Blake, Kerr Avon). Also for allbingo & 100_women
Masquerade Ball (Wish Me Luck, Teen, 633 words. Colin Beale/Matty Firman). Also for allbingo.
A Family Affair (Winslow Boy, G, 1471 words. Catherine Winslow/Robert Morton). Also for genprompt_bingo, & allbingo.

Revisions (A Fatal Inversion, Teen, 1529 words. Rufus Fletcher/Adam Verne-Smith). Also for genprompt_bingo, 100fandoms, 100ships, & allbingo.


yuletide 2025
Passing Acquaintances (TWB, Teen, 8985 words. Catherine Winslow/Robert Morton, Arthur Winslow, Grace Winslow, Desmond Curry). For edwardianspinsteraunt
and watch the things you gave your life to broken (TWB, G, 2799 words. Catherine Winslow/Robert Morton, Arthur Winslow, Grace Winslow, Desmond Curry, Violet & Dickie Winslow). Also for edwardianspinsteraunt, in Madness.

Total number: 12

Total word count: 29,463 (but this includes "the furthest stars came thundering at the door" which I counted in last year's round up (it was written before the end of 2024, but posted in Jan 2025, because I had to wait for the NYR collection to open) and I'm not doing any maths right now.


Ship/character breakdown:

4 x Sir Robert Morton/Catherine Winslow

Other than that, 2 crossover ficlets with William Palmer from Pilgrim for no_true_pair's mini-round.


Specifics:

(As usual, I refuse to answer the 'worst' ones because it's bad enough as it is, thank you.)


Best/worst title?

Of those that aren't quotes, I thought Merrypool Lake did sound like a very Pilgrim title & of those that were, I was pleased with and watch the things you gave your life to broken.


Best /worst summary?

Hmm, these are mainly just short statements this year, so maybe Merrypool Lake's: 'Of all the tales told on these islands, few are as strange as that of William Palmer, except, of course, for those relating to another near-immortal traveller - the Doctor.



Best first line?

There's no real competition, I think, this year - it has to be, from one here will constant be: Most mortals couldn't see Death until it was too late and they were looking down at an oddly familiar yet flattened shape on the floor and wondering how that cart thundering down on them could possibly have missed them.


Best last line?

Oh, dear, for last lines that work out of context, it's not been much of a year. (I will say I like some of them very much in context, thank you). Out of it, I think the best I can do is one here will constant be: Death followed still, unseen.


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 about what I expected, given the previous year, although I definitely hoped it would be more than this. The totals are actually more than 2024, which surprised me, but I (mostly) liked the few I did then a little more - although looking at this lot collectively, I'm happier with this lot than I thought I was, so that's nice.

It was a trying year, and I did write a fair bit of rainbowfic, though, including one very long sequence through the summer.


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

Ha. I think at this stage I've given up on being surprised by any of it, and I don't think there's anything unusual for me here. Although I was very glad to finally manage something for Enigma! (It wasn't a surprise, though - I actually wrote it in rough in 2024, I think).


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

Passing Acquaintances, because I really did have a lovely time writing it for Yuletide.

Also, even though I'm annoyed about it not being quite right (I didn't rewatch the film until about September, and clearly I needed reminders of everything), but Missing Pieces did probably make me happiest to get something done and create the fandom tag.


Okay, NOW your most popular story.

Dear Meme, this year I wrote a Miss Marple + supernatural element ficlet. Do I need to answer? Somehow, Miss Marple always wins, and so it is again: Tea On Sunday at 116 hits & 27 kudos, well ahead of the next, one here will constant be (Discworld/Pilgrim).


Story most underappreciated by the universe?

Revisions for Adam/Rufus, from A Fatal Inversion, but I always knew I was writing that for me. One day, someone else might turn up and be glad of it, in a few years or so - it does tend to happen even with the most obscure things. You never know.


Story that could have been better?

Meme, you ask me this every year, and every year, the answer is ALL OF THEM. Always. Even more so than usual with most of these. I really should have rewatched Enigma before writing Missing Pieces, though. But that just means I will HAVE to write another one now.

(I get stupid about Enigma, because it's so underappreciated, I think if I rewatch it I will tire of it or suddenly discover it's actually bad, and yet none of these things ever happen. It just didn't do well in the US back at all in the day for whatever reason, and that makes it disproportionately invisible online).


Sexiest story?

I was going to laugh at the meme's optimism and then had to stop, because I remembered Masquerade Ball which does actually have implied sex/making out at the end. Blame Matty. I mean, Colin, too, but mainly Matty.


Saddest story?

I don't think any of them are that sad. and watch the things you gave your life to broken therefore probably wins it, but it's more a bit angsty and bittersweet.

Revisions is unhappy, but it's more dark than sad. Probably?


Most fun?

AU Meme: Catherine Winslow/Sir Robert Morton. Nobody asked for 10 AUs, including Star Wars, but I had a blast coming up with them, even if I couldn't keep half of them short enough.


Story with single sweetest moment?

Oh, even harder... um. The Great Blue Yonder has a very young Charley Pollard and she gets an ice-cream, so I suppose that wins on both counts there.


Hardest story to write?

A Family Affair took a ridiculous amount of time to straighten out into postable form for what was supposed to be a daft flash fic.

Otherwise, my yuletide fic, Passing Acquaintances, just because it was the longest and obviously, as a gift, needed especially to be as good as I could make it, and had the most revisions and research, although it wasn't otherwise difficult.



Easiest/most fun story to write?

Most of these were slight/fun ficlets - I did have a lot of fun with the AU_gust prompts, when I had fallen out of writing and posting, so I'll say those collectively, or the AU Meme. I'm sorry, I like messing around with other setting AUs of that sort for memes and lols and I shall doubtless do it again. ;-p



Most overdue story?

None of them. I was on time with my deadlines, and a lot of them were ficlets written for particular prompts/fests. But I didn't manage intoabar, though I signed up - the randomiser threw the character I least wanted at me, and I just wasn't up for doing something with it. (I'm a little regretful, because actually they could have been an interesting pair to meet - Fifteen and Neil Cassidy/Baelfire from OUaT - but I just could not at the time).

I also signed up but failed to do anything for the main round of no_true_pair, but I blame appointments for that.


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

Well, I was unsure in my personal situation whether or not yuletide was possible this year, but signed up and planned well and wrote straight away and it really worked! \o/

I would say I'd learn from this, but I had already just rewatched canon and had ideas ready, haunted the letters post and gamed for something I knew I could do, and I am ill, so I shouldn't be ashamed of doing that if it's the only way to take part, because I did no harm and maybe even good by it and I broke no rules in the process. A lot of my trouble where I have defaulted is because it's Yuletide, I get so tempted by shiny canons I would love to try writing for, and forget actual levels of spoons etc.


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

Um. AUs? In which case AU Meme: Catherine Winslow/Sir Robert Morton because that has 10 of them.

Otherwise, your guess is better than mine.


What are your fic writing goals for next year?

Keep up what I've been doing, because even if a lot of the writing hasn't been fanfic, I have kept much more regular at it over the last couple of years and that really helps. But I would like to do more fannish ficlets and things like that - everything does feel much better when I do, and it's fun.

But I'll see how things go in the new situation - might be much the same for different reasons, better, or a little worse. (I mean, assuming we're all still here and there's somewhere to post, but let's hope so for now).

Comments

[sovay]

I continue recovering very slowly but at least pretty steadily - and my things are gradually getting out of boxes too.

Nice! Stuff out of boxes is the best.

(I get stupid about Enigma, because it's so underappreciated, I think if I rewatch it I will tire of it or suddenly discover it's actually bad, and yet none of these things ever happen. It just didn't do well in the US back at all in the day for whatever reason, and that makes it disproportionately invisible online).

Since the person who watched it on your recommendation enjoyed it enough to write you an unprompted fic, I am pretty sure you will not discover that it secretly sucks.

[thisbluespirit]

Nice! Stuff out of boxes is the best.

It all is now! I'm so happy! The world is magically better when all the DVDs and books are up on shelves. Also it helps that my desk chair isn't pinned in by piled up bookcases and boxes, lol.

Since the person who watched it on your recommendation enjoyed it enough to write you an unprompted fic, I am pretty sure you will not discover that it secretly sucks.

Yes, I should have said that putting it up for Yuletide has I think helped put that to bed finally. While doing the promo post, I noticed that the UK takings were good while the US takings were literally less than the UK ones which is therefore abysmal, so I think there must have been some sort of timing/distribution/promotional failure there, even allowing for it not having obvious US-appeal. But that makes sense of why it's so little known in fandom: the US just did not see it & therefore it barely exists.

(I have never yet discovered that it secretly sucks. Sometimes I forget the plot too much and then I think one aspect is a bit off until we get to the reveal where I finally remember there's a very good reason for that, lol. So, also not in danger of having rewatched it to death yet, either!!)

[sovay]

It all is now! I'm so happy! The world is magically better when all the DVDs and books are up on shelves. Also it helps that my desk chair isn't pinned in by piled up bookcases and boxes, lol.

Mazel tov!

But that makes sense of why it's so little known in fandom: the US just did not see it & therefore it barely exists.

I'm looking at the stats now and it's odd: a spring release is not a dead zone, the distributor was a heavyweight, and I remember it receiving generally positive reviews, which probably helped me not see it because I had already taken against it for being a version of Bletchley without Turing. That would not, however, have been a mainstream reaction. I'm genuinely not sure what caused it not to catch on in the U.S., which tends to go for British spy stories almost as a matter of course. On paper it should not have disappeared.

[thisbluespirit]

The distributor was Miramax, though, and they seem to have frequently screwed with the US release of films they weren't already screwing with in production (via delays, under promotion, failure to fully release), even aside from all the usual kind of film variables. (It seems to be what happened to Happy Texas, too, even though they bid quite a lot to get it, and Cypher never even got a proper US release. I just hadn't realised that Enigma was in the same boat, because, of course, it did reasonably well over here). So it's probably not all that much of a mystery, unfortunately.

Anyway, I'll stop being weird about it now! <3

[shannonsequitur]

I think there must have been some sort of timing/distribution/promotional failure there

Autumn 2001, enough said. 😬

[thisbluespirit]

It came out in the US in April 2002, though! So while that possibly may have been part of the reason it was shunted back in the US originally, it really doesn't explain much else. But it was Miramax (as distributor) and they seem to have played these sorts of games with films they weren't already screwing with in production anyway. (Happened to Happy Texas, too, and Cypher they just didn't release properly in the US at all). So, yeah. I say it's a mystery, but maybe not all that much of one. :-/

[theseatheseatheopensea]

Yay for recovering and unpacking (and fic)! <3

One day, someone else might turn up and be glad of it, in a few years or so - it does tend to happen even with the most obscure things. You never know.

I like that about tiny fandoms! It's so nice when it happens!

so I shouldn't be ashamed of doing that if it's the only way to take part, because I did no harm and maybe even good by it and I broke no rules in the process.

Absolutely! I'm glad you found a way that worked out for you! <3

But I would like to do more fannish ficlets and things like that - everything does feel much better when I do, and it's fun.

I hope you can! <3

[thisbluespirit]

Thank you! <3

[astrogirl]

That is, indeed, a great first line, and very Pratchett-esque.

And I had to laugh at your response to the "could be better" one, because I always have the same reaction in my own mind, too. Like, you know the answer to this, meme, why do you keep asking?! This year, I just picked the longest one, because I figured that must have the most opportunities for improvement. Can't argue with that logic, right? :)

Glad you're feeling a bit better!

[thisbluespirit]

Aw, thank you! <3

Like, you know the answer to this, meme, why do you keep asking?! This year, I just picked the longest one, because I figured that must have the most opportunities for improvement. Can't argue with that logic, right?

I mean, yes, logically, although some ficlets I've written have just never quite been fixable to my liking and then I STILL find errors in the damn things years later.

[liadt]

I'm glad you are recovering from moving and hopefully getting things out should help *hugs*

Yes, an ice cream is pretty sweet XD

[thisbluespirit]

Thank you! <3

[ragnarok_08]

Glad to hear you're recovering and starting to feel better :)

[thisbluespirit]

Thank you!