Top Fanfic AO3 Meme

[thisbluespirit]

Oh, look another fanfic stats meme! How can I resist?

List your top fanfic on AO3 for every year, sorted by kudos.

2011
I joined AO3 in 2011 and spent most of that year putting my back catalogue onto it, and though I backdated some of it, I left a lot as it was, which skews things. So, the top listed is this:

Five Times the Doctor Got in the Way of Captain Janeway (and One Time They Got Along Just Fine) (Doctor Who/Star Trek Voyager, gen, 5260 words.) (I'm pretty sure this was c. Oct-Nov 2010 but am too lazy to look at Teaspoon for the date just now.)

But topmost of fic written in 2011 is this:

Truth & Compromise (Discworld, William de Worde/Sacharissa Cripslock, 4404 words.) Written for NYR 2011.

My Last Fic before becoming ill. Like, literally: I wrote this and my brain died. Not that it was the fic's fault. It just happened to be what I used my last bit of functional brain on, and I can't say I have any regrets. It was a good use of it, I think.


2012
Of Elements and Existence (S&S/Discworld, gen, 2642 words.) Written for yuletide 2012.

Some of my best fic originated with the statement, "Of course, I couldn't write x/x couldn't be done..." It's fatal.


2013
So We Meet at Last (Dracula/Miss Marple, gen, 758 words.) Written for fan_flashworks

So, sometimes you write lovingly crafted giftfic, and sometimes you just scribble a ficlet in half an hour and it gets weirdly popular. This one is that. I even once been greeted in fandom with, "Oh, you're the person who wrote that Dracula/Miss Marple crossover!"

Yes, I am, it's true. I did. Joan Hickson was woefully under-used in the 1968 TV Dracula and just think where they could have gone with that instead, if they'd only been able to see into her casting future. So I made a ficlet. It also got recced, without which, nothing, I'm sure.


2014
Not Bad For a First Attempt (Heyer - The Convenient Marriage, 200 words.)

In the same category, one time, back in the days when any wrangler who'd done the training could canonise fandoms, I accidentally canonised The Convenient Marriage when it in fact had no works and was just an exchange nomination tag lying about on the archive. (Embarrassing Wrangling Mistakes I Have Made #602)

So, either I could de-canonise it, or I could make it legit by writing a drabble. I wrote a quick double-drabble, because after all, it was a crime not to have fic for Horry. All I can say is, even if it's only a double drabble and not in a fest, Heyer fans are really appreciative of fic for underrepresented books.


2015
A Matter of Common Sense (Heyer - The Reluctant Widow, 445 words.) Treat for yuletide 2015

I was surprised by this one, I have to say. Still, see above. Heyer folks are appreciative of fic for underrepresented books, so it's probably garnered a small but steady couple of kudos a year since or something.


2016
The Spirit of St Mary Mead (Miss Marple, gen, 4005 words). Written for yuletide 2016

So, also good for the popularity stakes: Yuletide fic where Miss Marple is a genius loci. Combining elements of my previous top works clearly paid off. (So... next up, I shall be writing a Miss Marple/Discworld crossover double drabble for Yuletide, and after that I shall be an actual MNF. ;-p)


2017
AU Meme: Sam Vimes (Discworld, gen, 898 words.) Written for the AU Meme.

Random meme ficlet. Discworld fans are also appreciative? (I don't even really write Discworld! At least, not unless it's a blue moon and I'm walking whiddershins round my room. It must be magic.)


2018
We'll Burn That Barn When We Come To It (11th C RPF, Harold/William the Conqueror, 3511 words). Written for yuletide 2018

The Yuletide effect, Historical AU Crack Edition. :-D


2019
(So far anyway. We haven't had Yuletide yet, so it's too early to tell.)

We'll Be Dating to the End of Time (Doctor Who, Thirteen/Yasmin, 1934 words.) Written for Chocolate Box 2019.

Look, a Doctor Who fic!! On my most popular fic list? Less likely than you'd think, apparently.

Comments

[luthien]

You have some interesting fandoms in your list. I will have to check them out!

[thisbluespirit]

Aw, thanks!

[liadt]

Looks like popular fandoms aren't that good at getting kudos!

[thisbluespirit]

Well, this meme is a bit deceptive, because it's only top by year - some years have fic that would beat all the other years' hollow when put in the usual top tens one, so some of my actual fandoms do score. It was just funny that here they, er, really didn't. :-D

[moetushie]

I like this meme, but it might be tuff for my ego lol.

[thisbluespirit]

This one's not bad on the ego! Unlike the others, you don't give actual figures, and it's only your top per year. Which nobody knows if that's because it's got 2 kudos or 200. Unless you tell them. :-D

[astrogirl]

I think Discworld fans are appreciative. The Discworld drabble I posted back certainly seemed to get a lot more appreciation than it probably deserved. :)

I'll have to do this one when I get a chance. I'm curious about what the results might be.

[thisbluespirit]

I was checking my fandoms for Remix after this, and, literally, I have written 5 Discworld stories. 3 of them are here and the other 2 are a random drabble about Death and a giraffe, and another AU meme ficlet. Discworld fans are disproportionately appreciative!

As ever, do the meme! I do like a variation on the usual navel gazing stats memes. :-D

[astrogirl]

I did the meme! These things always make for interesting navel-gazing, although I always sort of want to draw some grand conclusions from them and really can't.

Come to think of it, though, a lot of the stories that popped up in mine were me writing in fandoms that I will maintain I don't actually write (or writing crossovers with fandoms I don't really write). Which definitely seems like it should mean something, but likely doesn't. :)

[shivver]

You know, I've always meant to read Georgette Heyer. Not that I'm particularly interested in romances, but I know she's a stickler for historical accuracy and the Georgian and Regency eras are my favorites. I really need to get to that. I love that you write fic for her stuff. :)

[thisbluespirit]

Thank you! She's not a romance writer in the modern Avon/Harlequin sense, more like a romantic comedy writer. And, yes, she's overall pretty accurate and good, although she's also accurate with abandon on a whole number of unpleasant isms, too!

[tinny]

It's fun to see the succession of fandoms here. I haven't read any of them, because I'm not in any of those fandoms (or interested in William The Conqueror lol), but I might be tempted to read the oldest one. I do have a soft spot for Voyager's Doctor.

[thisbluespirit]

Ha, and unfortunately the Doctor in the Voyager fic is not Voyager's Doctor, but the Doctor Doctor. So you needn't worry about that one, either! Although I like him too, and I'm not sure how he avoided being in that fic entirely now that I come to think about it.

[tinny]

Hahaha, oh *that* Doctor. :D

(But the Voyager one is called "the Doctor" as well, isn't he? I'd never thought about this before. It's not a crossover I've come across before. :))

[thisbluespirit]

He is, yes. Maybe that's why I kept him out of the fic - to save on the confusion!

[potentiality_26]

Cool meme!

Interesting to read your thoughts on what gets more kudos than you expect.

[thisbluespirit]

Thank you! And fame, such as it is, is a strange thing when it comes to fic!