Is this thing on? It's been a while, LJ!
Here is the fanfic meme Soraya posted. I think I need to do this, as my overall productivity has plummeted.
Looking back, did you write more fics than you thought you would this year, fewer than you thought, or about what you predicted?
I wrote fewer than I thought I would, but more due to the fact that I started several but never finished them. That upsets me a bit.
Where did you publish/archive your stories?
MuggleNet Fan Fiction, and one on LJ. I've never published anywhere else.
What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in December 2011?
Um...James/Lily in The Good Fight? I think that qualifies.
What’s your favourite story this year that you wrote? Favourite that someone else wrote?
I'm not the biggest fan of most of my recent work, but of everything I've written in the past year, my favourites are, by far, Steel Hearts (which did win a QSQ) and Dust to Dust. They're both in my wheelhouse (the PH recovery period), and they focus on characters that are either maligned or pidgeon-holed or overlooked in fandom.
Story someone else wrote? This is a beastly question. Off-hand, I'll go with a story that someone else wrote that I don't think gets the love it deserves, and that's Wind's Nocturne by Acacia Carter/Jamie.
Okay, NOW your most popular story.
This year wasn't a good one for reads/reviews for me. My work has never been wildly popular, but as my niche as a minor character writer has settled, I have lost a good bit of readership because of it. That being said, The Healer's Heart enjoyed a good measure of success. It has 44 reviews for 11 chapters, was favorited 12 times, comes in at a bit over 4500 reads at the moment, and I did have fun writing it. My most successful one-shot in terms of reads (a little over 500) was Steel Hearts, and Picture of You racked up the most reviews with 8.
Story most underappreciated by the universe?
Well, In Bloom has the fewest reviews (2) of all my work this year, but the one I thought would do better than it did but hasn't is the fic I wrote for Soraya's birthday, Through the Ghost. It's angsty!Sirius, but it does have elements of mental illness, so maybe it's too heavy for some people. It's also my least-read story that isn't a poem. My least-read poem, if you're curious, is Lights Go Out, which won the first part of the PA October Triathlon for form (sonnet). I actually worked at that one a bit. :)
Story that could have been better?
I'd be lying if I didn't say 'all of them', but the one I was not nearly as happy with as I should've been was Cause and Effect, my Gauntlet fic. Sure, the premise is moronic, but the characterisation and pacing could've been far better. Also, I think In the Dark could've been a bit more full-bodied, even though it is meant to be short and snippet-like.
Sexiest story?
Well, the one with the most sex in it was The Healer's Heart. It's written in Harlequin Romance style, so it was, naturally, a bit cheese in places. The original version also had a whopping 2000 word sex scene between Michael and Daphne, and quite a bit of Theo/Terry PDA. o.O However, I think the story with the sexiest character chemistry is Steel Hearts, with Oliver and Romilda.
Most fun story?
Writing this year has been like pulling teeth in all but one instance. The Healer's Heart was written for an LJ exchange, and I, like a tool, put it off til the last minute (read: two weeks). Then I started this fic, and in two weeks' time, it ballooned to well over 40k words. Soraya was epically epic as a beta and kept it from being ridiculous, as I had zero time to stop and edit. I owe her so much. :)
Story with single sweetest moment?
I don't knowwwwwww! I think the final scene between Oliver and Romilda in Steel Hearts is one of my favourite, with Michael clinging to Daphne after her kidnapping in The Healer's Heart coming in a close second, and Draco saying "I don't want to forget" in In the Dark coming in third.
The story that made you cry?
Dust to Dust. Jesus shit, just thinking about the storyline makes me angry at humanity.
Hardest story to write?
Dust to Dust again. If you read it, you know exactly why this is. I felt like a crappy human being just thinking of these things, but it's all too real and here and there, we need to remember that it is.
Easiest story to write?
Probably The Healer's Heart. When I'm not worried about avoiding romantic cliches, it tends to bring on the word vomit.
Most overdue story?
Probably In Bloom. I've always been an AlRose shipper, and this is the first time I've ever actually alluded to it.
Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?
Well, I worked on short, emotive fics that rely on being evocative rather than plot-driven. I think I did fairly well, but plot will always be my stronger suit. Also, nobody likes my SSP writing, I think.
Do you have any fanfic goals for the New Year?
I would like to finish my Dust to Dust sequel, Laid to Rest, which is currently hanging in there at 5000 words. I would also like to finish The Darkness and the Light (which needs to diaf) and post at least 4 more chapters of In the Ashes. I would also like the chance to perhaps leave moddom and work on renovating my author page rather than taking stories down. Alex's recent bout of deletion has made me realise that even if I'm not happy with something or no one reads things anymore, I still need these stories as benchmarkers for the way my writing has progressed from the first cringe-worthy chapter of The Vindication of James Potter, all the way through my newest stuff. It's who I am, and deleting them would be like denying part of myself. However, self-improvement is always a worthy cause.