End of Year Writing Meme 2012

[thisbluespirit]

Belated, I know, but I suddenly decided I would, if only in celebration of the fact that I can this time.

January/February
No Way Back (B7, 200 words, gen. For b7friday challenge "Lost".)
Time No Longer (Tom's Midnight Garden, drabble, for fan_flashworks "The Lost Hour" challenge.)

March
(I did write some prompts for the Prompt Me post. They're all linked here.)

April
Quadrangle (S&S, 5287 words, gen. For element_flash "Times Square" challenge.)
Trick of the Light (S&S, The Lining Is Silver Remix) (1004 words, gen.) For astrogirl2 in Remix Madness.)

May/June
Malfunction (1780 words, gen. B7/S&S crossover, for b7friday challenge "Time")
there was a darkness, call it solitude (Joan Aiken's Midnight Is A Place, 4470 words, gen.)
Modus Operandi (Primeval/Spooks, 650 words, gen.)
Not here (Out of the Unknown/Level 7, 499 words, for fan_flashworks "Anywhere But Here" challenge)
Second Take (Primeval, 631 words, for fan_flashworks "Do Over" challenge)
Antimony (S&S, 2107 words, for belantana's prompt for Nicola Walker as an Element)
Scientific Spirit (or Five Times Liz Shaw Met Silver) (7302 words, Silver/Liz, DW/S&S crossover.)
New Hero, Now Here (Fire & Hemlock/DW, 1326 words, gen.)
Necessity (B7/S&S, Steel/Jenna, 1029 words.)

July/August
Technical Assistance (S&S, 1591 words, gen.)
Viennese Waltz (DW/BFAs, 642 words)
Maybe Monday, Maybe Someday (Buffyverse, 3772 words, Faith/Wesley, for flipflop_diva in shipswap)
Sandcastles (S&S, 879 words, for element_flash "Summer Vacation" challenge)

September
Patterns (S&S, 625 words, Silver/Steel)
I started the 100 Element Prompts then, which accounts for most of the rest of my output for the year (21x fic(let)s = 18,885 words) There were also a handful of ficlets for the ficlet meme.

November/December
In Darkness (4869 words, gen. For sophiap in Yuletide 2012).
Of Elements and Existence (2642 words, gen. S&S/Discworld crossover, for sophiap in Yuletide.)
Vigil (Measure for Measure, 1246 words, Duke/Isabella. For angevin2 in Yuletide)
Intersection (c.3000 words, Silver/OFC. For one of the 100 Elements prompts)
New Tricks for Old Dogs (or Five Alternative Universes Where Sandra Pullman Was Always Awesome (New Tricks, 2744 words, gen. For newredshoes in Yuletide)

Total: 24


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

I really had no idea if I would be able to write anything much at all - I hoped for ficlets, and I achieved that. But I did write some unwisely longer things, too. Looking at this list, I can clearly see my progress back towards having at least a little more brain than I had before. So I'm amazed and thrilled that I did this much.


Where did you publish/archive your stories?

LJ and/or AO3, and Teaspoon for the Doctor Who fics.


What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January 2011?

Ha. Ahahaha. I think by January I'd already written D84/Silver, D84/Poul and Silver/Ten ficlets (all for whoniverse1000 - there was an excuse, okay) so I kind of knew all bets were off for the coming year. But Vigil with Duke Vincentio/Isabella from Measure for Measure for Yuletide have to win that. Because a) the mere idea of writing Shakespeare fanfic terrifies me and b) the Duke/Isabella pious happy ending with an oblique sex scene? I think I turned pale with shock when I looked back at what I'd just written. As a supposed treat for someone! :lol:

I did write ficlets for Level 7, Tom's Midnight Garden and Fall of Eagles, which are things no one else has written for. It amuses me, if nobody else. And Liz/Silver was a completely random thing that happened due to a meme. (I can do length if it's really five ficlets/short fics joined together, I learned). Faith/Wesley was also very unexpected. (I never even meant to sign up for AtS; it was a last minute thing.) And there were two death fics. (If there's anything I vowed I'd never write, it's that.)

Basically, nearly everything that wasn't a ficlet came as a shock to me in some way. What can I say? I'm unpredictable, if only to myself?

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

That's difficult. Several of them have made me quietly happy at the time, for various reasons, but then I moved onto the next. Maybe, then, collectively the S&S ficlets for the 100 prompts that I generated? The prompt list itself makes me ridiculously happy by looking at it and thinking about it. I like playing around with Elements, and the way I can write shippy things for that in a way that's sort of only a game (or sometimes not) because of how mysterious they all are. I'm less happy with some of the results, but others I really do like quite a lot.


Okay, NOW your most popular story.

Of Elements and Existence (29 Kudos, 226 hits, 21 comments - this is amazing for me, popular people don't laugh at me too hard). But it was a Yuletide crossover, so that's predictable. It was one of those things that just seemed to work, so I did hoped it would get at least a little love during the fest, and it did, so I'm more than happy. Well, obviously, the recipient being happy with it is the main thing. But it was one of those rare occasions when I'm like this: \o/ I have written a Thing! A Thing I think people will like and might be quite good! \o/

Actually, I've realised looking now that this has gone to the top of my AO3 list, jumping over previous Yuletide fics, with only Observation ahead of it. (I once wrote a random Luna Lovegood-meets-Miss Marple ficlet for a meme. It must have got recced somewhere and now it has 527 hits and 36 Kudos. It's nice but fairly mystifying. I suppose everyone secretly wants Luna and Miss Marple. :lol:)

*awards self shiny badge for... something*


Story most under-appreciated by the universe?

Going by hit count (with no kudos and no comments) that would seem to be the only way to go on (a 391 word Spooks Ruth/Harry ficlet for the meme). But that was only posted in December and got sufficient love on my LJ, so let me see what's next.

Hmm. Not here (Level 7). Well, duh. Fair enough. I can't claim that it's under-appreciated, though. It got several comments on the comm, which - if I'm going to write for obscure episodes of 1960s BBC SF is more than I deserve.


Story that could have been better?

All of them. So much. Except maybe Trick of the Light (S&S, The Lining Is Silver Remix), because it's short and the writing of it was weird and I did go over and over and over it. I'm sure it still could have been better, but only if written by somebody who wasn't me. That was my best shot at it. Oh, and Elements and Existence, I think also got that to being as good as it was going to be as written by me. Everything else, barring some ficlets, probably less so. But that's writing, really.


Sexiest story?
/o\ I have one this year. Two. Ohh dear...

Um. Intersection. And, oh, the agonies of embarrassment in even writing that mild level of stuff happening cost me. With Vigil next. The two go together, because writing that brief scene in Vigil made me think I could do Intersection. Let's move on swiftly...


Most fun story?

Oh. Probably Mousetrap for justice_turtle in the Prompt Me thingy. Some of the others seem like fun but I always lost my sense of humour at some point, whereas this one was short enough to escape that, I think. Or basically: Q meets Silver and turns him into a mouse, because why not?


Story with single sweetest moment?

Er. This sounds like a thing someone else should tell me, really. I have no idea. I may re-read and even be amused/pleased with some of my fic. I don't recall going awww at stuff I wrote, though.

(Oh, wait. If I go literal, then: Cake, one of the 100 Element fics. There was vanilla sponge mixture in it - that's pretty sweet, isn't it? ;-p)


The story that made you cry?

A lot of things make me cry, so one or more of them was bound to. I think accidentally writing Liz death fic (when I don't do death fic) in Scientific Spirit (or Five Times Liz Shaw Met Silver) the week before Caroline John died would have to go here. (I have now vowed never to do it again. But I keep writing things I don't mean to.)


Hardest story to write?

Maybe Monday, Maybe Someday, for shipswap. I got worse in the summer and this was just difficult for a lot of reasons. Aargh. I still can't quite feel happy with it, although it got more work than a lot of things. I don't know. It seems to do okay, so it's probably just how I felt at the time. But also New Tricks for Old Dogs (or Five Alternative Universes Where Sandra Pullman Was Always Awesome (ask aralias! :lol:), and Intersection. But so much has been hard to write in some way; that's just how it is at the moment.


Easiest story to write?

Lots of the S&S ficlets; that's why I've been writing them. Once I had worked out ways that I felt happy writing the main characters (all of 2011 = Element obsession and fannishness about the periodic table, what...?), there's a dreamlike feeling that often goes with the fandom that matched where I am much more than other things.


Most overdue story?

Yes, well, don't expect any of my WIPs any year soon, but probably still The Devil Is A Gentleman. (A Fifth Doctor historical with Nyssa and Tegan and sort of a crossover with Anne Perry's William Monk series.) persiflage_1 started reading the series because of this. She's, er, finished the series and then some and still no fic. *looks innocent* (I have it all worked out in writing, though. Who knows? I'm not holding my breath. I might want a complete break with before once I come out of being ill.)


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

See above. Aha. Ahahahaha. Well, that I still like trying new things. I get bored otherwise. Even now.


Do you have any fanfic goals for the New Year?

Yes! I have a Plan! But mainly, keep to writing ficlets as much as possible and try not to sign up for things because rl stuff might need to happen. We'll see.


More specific goals:

Oh. I thought that was fairly specific. Well, my Plan! I will post that post soon and see what happens. *crosses fingers* Continue typing things up from the Element prompts and so on.


Anyway, mostly it's good to look at that list and even if I'm frustrated with some of my more rubbish efforts: look at me, I'm a person who writes things again. That's a good feeling. :-)

Comments

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

I was wondering again the other day whether to belatedly do this if only for the sake of registering more astonishment at the Bond fic output!

*hugs* Well done on getting so much written despite illness...

[thisbluespirit]

Heh, well, it's always fun to see people's lists and answers - but only if you can drag yourself away from the writing! :lol:

Thanks. ♥

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Yeah, not much chance of that, I fear. Though I'm feeling mildly pleased with myself for writing another non-pr0ny fic!

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

Wow, you wrote loads, well done, you! Getting writing done is definitely a good feeling. I wish I had more ficlet ideas so I could share that feeling, but every time I attempt to write anything these days, it turns into a novel, so, unlikely any time soon! I'm very impressed by your output - and really enjoy your writing style, I don't comment often enough to tell you that and I should.

[thisbluespirit]

Aw. Thank you. :-)

And, really, when I was well, I tended to long fic quite helplessly myself, so finding ways to keep writing and keep writing small has been a bit of a long process that I only seem to now have got hold of - and, ha, yes, ideas are impossible. That's why I pretty much always write ficlets off prompts of one sort or another. I've got another thing lined up soon to get some more, fingers crossed. But, you know, if you're not ill, there's no reason not to have fun with long and plotty things, anyway! And if you ever want to, memes and prompts seem to be the key.

[liadt]

I shall have to give Level 7 fic some love or at least a read & MiP too! Keep me going until I can squeeze 'Shadow of the Tower' in or face squinting at 'Oedipus the King' on youtube.

[thisbluespirit]

It's so tough trying to get enough David Collings, isn't it? :lol:

Out of interest, with Midnight Is A Place, do you know the book as well as the TV serial? (I wrote my fic off the book and there are some things the serial really does not tell you about Mr Oakapple in particular.) I love Joan Aiken.

[liadt]

It is when it involves watching things a million hours long for a tiny glimpse! And scowling at 'Revenge of the Cybermen' for not having a lighter alien look.

Yes, I read it in case there was any more Oakapple action!

[thisbluespirit]

Watching Revenge of the Cyberman with the commentary on is much better though! :lol:

Ah. So you know all the stuff a 1970s children's Tv thing felt it best to fudge over a bit. Amusingly, when I read it as a teenager, I vaguely felt I was missing something, but what it was totally sailed over my dim and oblivious head.

[liadt]

Yes, DVD's with David Collings in would be much better with commenteries with him(hear that Network you lost a sale there).

I'm still in therapy after finding out how short the sewer scenes were compared to the TV version(!).

[thisbluespirit]

I am sulking forever that there is no commentary with David Collings and Richard Pasco on Julius Caesar. I have a feeling it might have been very entertaining. I think - provided Mr Pasco is still well enough - we ought to petition for one. If Sam Dastor is alive, he can join in too. I would like commentaries on lots of the BBC Shakespeare, generally, but that's a whole nother issue.

:lol:

[liadt]

I enjoyed David Collings sneaking about being devious in JC. Watching 'Julius Caesar' made more sense to me than all the lessons we spent on it at school. Def worth sulking over!