2013 in Fic
My yearly fic round up post! (Previous years: 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006)
January
A Vice-Captain's Tale Prologue (Legend of Sun Knight, 671 words)
A Vice-Captain's Tale Suggestion #1 (Legend of Sun Knight, 1218 words)
A Vice-Captain's Tale Suggestion #2 (Legend of Sun Knight, 828 words)
A Vice-Captain's Tale Suggestion #3 (Legend of Sun Knight, 1288 words)
Bittersweet Sweetness Part 29 (Legend of Sun Knight, 1646 words)
I told myself I wouldn't start new longfics until I finished one of my WIPs, but I started A Vice-Captain's Tale at the very beginning of the year, ahhhhhhh. It was actually going to be a oneshot titled "The Woes of a Vice-Captain," 2nd person POV, but I completely revamped the fic. It ended up being 1st person, featuring Tyler as the main POV... With a total of 14 parts. I am always particularly inspired in January (new start and all) and think I can do anything! XD;; I thought I'd be able to finish the fic pretty quickly, but I lost steam after January. =/ I've still been poking at the fic, but I've been stuck...
February
No writing posted, but I was working on Invincible. No wait. *thinks some more* I mean, I was working on Invincible, but there was another factor too... Ah, this was the month when Fire Emblem Awakening was released, hahaha. Goodbye writing. Fiiiiiiiire Emblem!!!
March
Invincible, that is the Legend Chapter 8 (Legend of Sun Knight, 3708 words)
Invincible, that is the Legend Chapter 9 (Legend of Sun Knight, 3823 words)
Behind Closed Doors Part 2 END (Legend of Sun Knight, 3303 words)
I actually posted quite a lot of words in March! (The bulk of it was written before March though, while March was mostly editing what I'd written). I'd wanted to post the Invincible chapters in a different order, but it had been some time since I updated the fic, so I thought it was high time I did so. (And now it's been 9 months since the last update, ORZ) I was very proud to finish Behind Closed Doors. Phew. At least I didn't leave that fic hanging! The ending was kind of abrupt though. I've expanded on the ending a bit, but I haven't made any changes to the online versions of the fic. Maybe I should.
I also spent a good chunk of March working on the script for Poyo Yo! Demon. :) (Unfortunately, I fell sick at the end of the month, so that put a snag in things.)
April
Bittersweet Sweetness Part 30 (Legend of Sun Knight, 1854 words)
Just one update for Bittersweet Sweetness in April! Very much a transitional chapter. I just needed the fic to move along already. XD;;
May
Don't Call Me King (oneshot) (Haikyuu!, 1161)
This is Your Wake Up Call (oneshot) (Legend of Sun Knight, 1815 words)
A Rose for Your Hair Part 1 (Legend of Sun Knight, 1042 words)
Oh whoa, what have we here? My first non LSK fic of the year! And it's not for an exchange! I read through Haikyuu all at once, and goodness, did I fall in love with the manga! I looove it! I love the art, the characters, the humor, all the detail! I wrote the above oneshot to get a better handle on Kageyama, though I still don't feel I have a good handle on him or the other characters in the series.
Around this time v5c6 of LSK was posted over at Prince Revolution! It was the chapter where Sun had to pay yet another price to revive one of his brothers, and this time it was even Judgment. Damn do I have feelings about this scene. So, that resulted in an angsty oneshot and then the start of a possible crack longfic because the angst was too much. I've yet to expand on that crack idea though... of Judgment's hair gaining superpowers, hahahaha. The translations are far enough that I'd be able to write the rest of the fic without spoiling anyone now.
June
Honest for Justice Part 1 (Ace Attorney, 2378 words)
His Pet Brother Part 1 (Ace Attorney, 1230 words)
Entries in a Holy Knight's Journal: Fifth Entry (Legend of Sun Knight, 3138 words)
His Pet Brother Part 2 (Ace Attorney, 1758 words)
His Pet Brother Part 3 (Ace Attorney, 1475 words)
His Pet Brother Part 4 (Ace Attorney, 1096 words)
Bittersweet Sweetness Part 31 (Legend of Sun Knight, 1541 words)
Grace: Prologue (Legend of Sun Knight, 1062 words)
Heh, it looks like I wrote a lot this month, but it was mostly me posting old Ace Attorney fic that I wrote in 2008. I never did finish writing those fics... but I wanted to post what I did write in my LJ because Ace Attorney 5 was going to be released in 2013!!! I am very much in love with AA even though I'm not very vocal about being in the fandom. (Seriously, 90% of my journal is LSK all the time. It probably looks like my only fandom. =P)
I finally finished Entries 5 in June, which took me... a year... to write. I'm not sure when I'll write Entries 6. Entries was my first LSK fic though, from back in 2011. I'd really like to finish it.
One update to Bittersweet Sweetness! Slowly but surely...
As for Grace... I wrote it for Trope Bingo on Dreamwidth. I have a fairly involved vision for that fic that includes a lot of twists and turns, pretty much a fic dedicated to my love of the reincarnation trope and the genderbending trope... But the fic is not very high on my priorities. It seems like too much work, haha. Too much work until I get around to writing the parts that I do want to write about... Maybe I should take a different approach for the fic and just write snapshots. Using the same kind of narration as Bittersweet Sweetness would slay me, as the pacing there is way too slow.
July
Grace: Chapter 1 (Legend of Sun Knight, 1207 words)
And They Lived Happily Ever After (oneshot) (Bakuman, 4954 words)
I worked on the Bakuman fic for what felt like forever! I started it when the Bakuman manga ended, but I didn't finish even when the Bakuman anime ended, which was way after the end of the manga. It is simply an epilogue to the series. I wish I could've made it more interesting...
I also had a half-hearted update for Grace... The fic already took a different turn than I expected, haha.
August
A Taste of More (oneshot) (Legend of Sun Knight, 2577 words)
Welcome to Room 201 (oneshot) (Prince of Tennis, 3204 words)
I was matched on LSK for parallelsfic, so I ended up writing LSK for Parallels, haha. Didn't end up branching out like I usually do for Parallels. =P The requested characters from Sinngrace were Judgment and Metal. I hadn't actually written anything about just the two of them before, so it was quite an interesting venture. I feel like I got to know Laica a lot more, and I also got to explore Lesus making friends~. It's not a humorous fic, but it is full of character development! :)
I'd also signed up for tenipuri_xpair and wrote Welcome to Room 201 for allalabeth_san. It filled my humor quota quite nicely. XD;; Even though I don't write PoT fic all the time, I always seem to write at least one or so every year, and I've been in this fandom for a LONG time. So, even though I'm not always writing it, it is the fandom I have the second most fics in after LSK. Even if I'm only writing one fic in it per year.
September
My Friend, the Pope (in-training): Part 1 (Legend of Sun Knight, 1051 words)
Bittersweet Sweetness Part 32 (Legend of Sun Knight, 1524 words)
My Friend, the Pope (in-training): Part 2 (Legend of Sun Knight, 1156 words)
...I posted "My Friend, the Pope (in-training)" ORZ. Well, since Bittersweet Sweetness WAS rounding down, I thought it wouldn't hurt if I got my ideas for some of my new fics out there. (And yet, I still haven't finished Bittersweet Sweetness...). My Friend, the Pope (in-training) isn't meant to be a humorous fic. I actually thought it would be quite somber when Roland first started narrating it. But with the POV changes that came with each chapter, the tone... kind of changed. XD;; I like the change though.
October
My Friend, the Pope (in-training): Part 3 (Legend of Sun Knight, 1832 words)
Bittersweet Sweetness Part 33 (Legend of Sun Knight, 2367 words)
My futile attempts at updating my fics... I'd wondered if I'd be able to do NaNoWriMo this year but decided I wouldn't be able to because of a lack of time. My new job was pretty much taking all of my attention.
November
A Vice-Captain's Tale: Character Introductions (Legend of Sun Knight, 441 words)
My Friend, the Pope (in-training): Part 4 (Legend of Sun Knight, 2120 words)
One of my biggest ORZ moments, hahahaha. I saved the character introductions of A Vice-Captain's Tale in my scheduled posts here because I was planning on finishing the story in October. I scheduled for the post to post in November, thinking I'd be done by then. I completely forgot about the scheduled post, so it posted while I was at work. XD;;; So here you have it, what I intended to come at the end of the story, oops. Anyway, the character introduction post is my headcanon for each of the vice-captains. :) And now you also know the order I plan for each vice-captain to appear.
I had sooo much fun writing Part 4 of My Friend, the Pope (in-training). (Haha, the "in-training" part is important! This fic will only cover their training days). I was snickering while I wrote it... Poor Elijah. :'D
December
Follow the Sign: Part 1 Assist (Legend of Sun Knight, 1005 words)
Bittersweet Sweetness Part 34 (Legend of Sun Knight, 1914 words)
I'm Drunk and You're Cheerful (oneshot) (Haikyuu!, 1363 words)
Being on vacation, I thought I'd be able to manage daily drabbles for Follow the Sign, but I ended up editing the heck out of Bittersweet Sweetness instead! So... Not much to show for anything, as I've been editing Bittersweet Sweetness (yet again). I hope to print a paper copy of it for myself. :) I'll also be including all of my finished LSK oneshots in it like an anthology, so I've given all of those oneshots another round of editing too in this version of all the stories. I can't wait to hold the book in my hands, ahhhhh! It'll be super awesome. ;)
I'm really excited about Follow the Sign~. It'll be all about Adair! Or well, it'll be just him for a bit, but he'll be meeting quite a lot of other people veeery soon.
I'm Drunk and You're Cheerful was written for Yuletide 2013. Haikyuu is such an adorable series! Rereading it was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I still don't feel I have a good handle on the characters. Ukai and Takeda were the requested characters, the coach and the sensei. I'm somewhat amused that I'm closer in age to the sensei characters in manga now...(the other part of me is appalled because noooo, I don't want to grow older) You know what... I don't think I've ever written a fic about drinking before, huh (well, except for Sun and his wine, which was not about being drunk). I can't say I'm all that versed about being drunk, hahaha. I don't drink, so this was based off of media... I felt that Ukai would be kind of sentimental while drunk, and very quiet too. Zoning out as well. XD; While Takeda would just be really, really cheerful. :3
Total number of stories: 9 longfics (...I FAIL I FAAAAAIL, I HAVE NOT FINISHED A SINGLE ONE OF THESE FICS), 8 oneshots (I'm counting 2 parters as oneshots too)
Total word count ~63,000 words. My goal was 150,000, so I didn't even reach the halfway point... I was hoping NaNoWriMo would give me a boost in my word count, but NaNo did not happen for me this year. However, I don't think the word count is what matters. What matters is... finishing my stories... :'D; Also, when compared to years waaay in the past, 63k is not bad...
Fandoms written in: Legend of Sun Knight, 1/2 Prince, Prince of Tennis, Haikyuu, Bakuman, Ace Attorney. It was moooostly LSK again, just like last year. Ace Attorney doesn't really count... Since I'd actually written those in 2008. (How time passes...)
Leitmotif(s) of the year: Friendship and family. ;) (And tropes)
Favorite fic: This is Your Wake Up Call. Aaaaangst. Not what I usually write. I like it because of how emotive it is and how it came to me very quickly. For all of 2013, writing has been pretty difficult, but this oneshot didn't take too much out of me. (Except for well, making me tearful...)
Best fic: Surprisingly, I'd say A Taste of More. I got to flesh out Lesus's relationship with the rest of the "cruel, cold-hearted" faction in this fic. I really loved being able to do that. It's also the fic that challenged me in gaining a deeper understanding of Lesus and Laica.
Most popular fic: Of my new fics, I think that'd go to My Friend, the Pope (in-training). Seems like the idea of Grisia as a badass Pope is an idea that quite a lot of people would love to see. Outside of new fics, it'd have to be Invincible, that is the Legend. Even though I only updated it twice in 2013, it's still being read...
Most underappreciated fic: And They Lived Happily Ever After. It was mostly crickets with this fic. XD;; But man, the effort and time I put into writing this!!! (Well, it makes sense... The majority of my current readers are LSK fans. I don't have a following outside of that fandom, haha)
Favorite first lines:
Located at the end of the hallway (or the head, depending on your perception), was Room 201, which belonged to three plant enthusiasts -- Shiraishi Kuranosuke, Yukimura Seiichi, and Fuji Shuusuke. (Welcome to Room 201)
Most fun fic: A Rose for Your Hair. Judgment. Super hair. The mere idea has me giggling.
Sexiest fic: N/A. Haha.
Fic that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: Most definitely A Taste of More. I read up a lot on masochism and sadism to write this piece. I really didn't want to get Laica's mindset wrong.
New pairing/genre/fandom you never predicted writing in January: Haikyuu! I hope to write a lot more in this fandom. ♥ With the anime coming out next year, I hope the series will gain more fans (and that there will be more fic produced for the fandom as a result!).
Hardest fic to write: Invincible, that is the Legend... Otherwise, I would've updated it more. ORZ.
Biggest disappointment: NOT FINISHING BITTERSWEET SWEETNESS. YOU REALLY DROPPED THE BALL, LUCATHIA. YOU SAID YOU WOULD FINISH BEFORE 2013 ENDED. (AND LAST YEAR YOU SAID YOU WANTED TO FINISH IN 2012 AHHHHHH)
Biggest surprise: A Vice-Captain's Tale. It was, after all, going to be a oneshot, 2nd person POV. It turned out really different. Another big surprise... I didn't write a single oneshot about Adair!!!!! (What blasphemy is this???? He is part of most of my LSK stories, but it's not quite the same as having the story focused on him... Well, Follow the Sign will have to do. Longfic about Adair, yessss). Another big surprise is deciding to drop Dishonest Honesty... The way the end of Bittersweet Sweetness developed has kind of made the plot of DH...not work.
Most telling fic: Bittersweet Sweetness???
What's next? Finishing Bittersweet Sweetness. IN JANUARY. Updating Invincible. And every single other LSK longfic I'm working on. (Haha... Let's see if that will happen...)
After taking a look at my 2012 year in fic, I actually don't feel as bad anymore. Most of the snippets I posted at the end of the post are of chapters I did manage to finish and publish in 2013. :'D
Here are some snippets of fics I'm currently working on...
A snippet from Part 36 of Bittersweet Sweetness (Legend of Sun Knight)
Some things actually took getting used to again. Even though we told each other a lot, there were some things that we hadn't told each other. Apparently, Lesus had made a new friend in the short time that said "friend" supported him to the bathroom. I really don't know how he'd done it, and now I was stuck with not even knowing the guy's name. All I knew was that his all purpose handsomeness was still getting on my nerves.
"Good morning, Sun Knight. I hope you are feeling much better now," the man said with a beaming smile. Way too bright! It's practically blinding! "By the way, thank you for the new uniform. You really didn't have to go so far."
New... uniform? Why would I spend money on a man?!
Oh wait... I did buy a present for Lesus... But this and that are completely different matters! Why would I buy anything for this stranger?
A snippet from Fifteen Going on Sixty Going on Fifteen (Legend of Sun Knight). Should be a oneshot...
By the fireside, he sits, cooking a pot of stew. When he notices that I'm watching him, he looks up, briefly startled, but then he smiles at me, his smile reaching his clear blue eyes. As he offers me a bowl, the clouds part just in time for the sun to shine down on him, glittering off his golden hair. It's a sight that she would have scoffed at, but I can't say I wasn't spellbound.
I really wanted to rub my eyes to make sure I was seeing right -- who glitters like this anyway? -- but I'm hungry. I take the bowl.
I'll never forget the taste of that stew.
"Thanks," I say in a small voice. I was so sure that I'd get chased away, but instead, he offered me kindness. I look up at him questioningly. "Why would you help a stranger?" I ask.
Right after my question, he blurts his name out, claiming that we're no longer strangers now that I know his name, but oh wait, he still doesn't know mine. If I didn't mind sharing, would I let him know my name?
His rambling thoughts put me at ease. I open my mouth. "I'm--"
A snippet from A Vice-Captain's Tale Suggestion #4. (Legend of Sun Knight)
He looked me up and down, and while his expression was nowhere as haughty as Knight-Captain Moon's, it was close enough to make me frown.
"What?" I asked.
Shaking his head, he asked incredulously, "What are you wearing?"
His voice made it sound like I had made some grave blunder in my choice of clothes. I didn't even bother looking down at myself before I answered. "My training outfit."
I'd been training. Of course I would be dressed for it.
"Why is it so dreary?" he questioned.
"It's not dreary. It's practical."
A snippet from an untitled 1/2 Prince fic (should be a oneshot). I have this urge to write fic about Long Ming and his suitors. I very much believe that Elf and Demon Thirteen are still in love with him. =P Not sure if this fic will ever be finished though.
After the big reveal, Xiao Xiao Lan and my two teammates came up to us to tell us that they were NPCs as well, reassured by our reaction to Kenshin that we wouldn't reject them. But, there was one thing they were completely overlooking, and I overlooked it too.
Until it was too late.
-----
I logged on to Second Life by myself. This was happening more and more frequently, now that Ling Bing-shushu was back and taking up all of Xiao Xiao Lan's attention. They did have all those missed years to catch up on, after all. I didn't entirely mind. My friends Elf and Demon Thirteen wouldn't mind keeping me company in the game.
Stretching my wings out, I called out to them.
No, really, what's next? ...probably this crack oneshot Kiyutsuna and I were chatting about where Lesus ends up as the Sun Knight and Roland the Judgment Knight. We practically outlined the entire fic, hahaha. I'll also be updating Bittersweet Sweetness. The next two parts are nearly done. What I'm hoping for 2014 is more spontaneous writing. I'm going to stop feeling guilty about starting new fic... because, well, I'll take whatever writing I can, in whatever form it comes in. Writing is writing, yeah? I also hope to post at least one fic update or oneshot per month. It almost happened in 2013. Was just missing February! In the past, I always missed the summer months.
January
A Vice-Captain's Tale Prologue (Legend of Sun Knight, 671 words)
A Vice-Captain's Tale Suggestion #1 (Legend of Sun Knight, 1218 words)
A Vice-Captain's Tale Suggestion #2 (Legend of Sun Knight, 828 words)
A Vice-Captain's Tale Suggestion #3 (Legend of Sun Knight, 1288 words)
Bittersweet Sweetness Part 29 (Legend of Sun Knight, 1646 words)
I told myself I wouldn't start new longfics until I finished one of my WIPs, but I started A Vice-Captain's Tale at the very beginning of the year, ahhhhhhh. It was actually going to be a oneshot titled "The Woes of a Vice-Captain," 2nd person POV, but I completely revamped the fic. It ended up being 1st person, featuring Tyler as the main POV... With a total of 14 parts. I am always particularly inspired in January (new start and all) and think I can do anything! XD;; I thought I'd be able to finish the fic pretty quickly, but I lost steam after January. =/ I've still been poking at the fic, but I've been stuck...
February
No writing posted, but I was working on Invincible. No wait. *thinks some more* I mean, I was working on Invincible, but there was another factor too... Ah, this was the month when Fire Emblem Awakening was released, hahaha. Goodbye writing. Fiiiiiiiire Emblem!!!
March
Invincible, that is the Legend Chapter 8 (Legend of Sun Knight, 3708 words)
Invincible, that is the Legend Chapter 9 (Legend of Sun Knight, 3823 words)
Behind Closed Doors Part 2 END (Legend of Sun Knight, 3303 words)
I actually posted quite a lot of words in March! (The bulk of it was written before March though, while March was mostly editing what I'd written). I'd wanted to post the Invincible chapters in a different order, but it had been some time since I updated the fic, so I thought it was high time I did so. (And now it's been 9 months since the last update, ORZ) I was very proud to finish Behind Closed Doors. Phew. At least I didn't leave that fic hanging! The ending was kind of abrupt though. I've expanded on the ending a bit, but I haven't made any changes to the online versions of the fic. Maybe I should.
I also spent a good chunk of March working on the script for Poyo Yo! Demon. :) (Unfortunately, I fell sick at the end of the month, so that put a snag in things.)
April
Bittersweet Sweetness Part 30 (Legend of Sun Knight, 1854 words)
Just one update for Bittersweet Sweetness in April! Very much a transitional chapter. I just needed the fic to move along already. XD;;
May
Don't Call Me King (oneshot) (Haikyuu!, 1161)
This is Your Wake Up Call (oneshot) (Legend of Sun Knight, 1815 words)
A Rose for Your Hair Part 1 (Legend of Sun Knight, 1042 words)
Oh whoa, what have we here? My first non LSK fic of the year! And it's not for an exchange! I read through Haikyuu all at once, and goodness, did I fall in love with the manga! I looove it! I love the art, the characters, the humor, all the detail! I wrote the above oneshot to get a better handle on Kageyama, though I still don't feel I have a good handle on him or the other characters in the series.
Around this time v5c6 of LSK was posted over at Prince Revolution! It was the chapter where Sun had to pay yet another price to revive one of his brothers, and this time it was even Judgment. Damn do I have feelings about this scene. So, that resulted in an angsty oneshot and then the start of a possible crack longfic because the angst was too much. I've yet to expand on that crack idea though... of Judgment's hair gaining superpowers, hahahaha. The translations are far enough that I'd be able to write the rest of the fic without spoiling anyone now.
June
Honest for Justice Part 1 (Ace Attorney, 2378 words)
His Pet Brother Part 1 (Ace Attorney, 1230 words)
Entries in a Holy Knight's Journal: Fifth Entry (Legend of Sun Knight, 3138 words)
His Pet Brother Part 2 (Ace Attorney, 1758 words)
His Pet Brother Part 3 (Ace Attorney, 1475 words)
His Pet Brother Part 4 (Ace Attorney, 1096 words)
Bittersweet Sweetness Part 31 (Legend of Sun Knight, 1541 words)
Grace: Prologue (Legend of Sun Knight, 1062 words)
Heh, it looks like I wrote a lot this month, but it was mostly me posting old Ace Attorney fic that I wrote in 2008. I never did finish writing those fics... but I wanted to post what I did write in my LJ because Ace Attorney 5 was going to be released in 2013!!! I am very much in love with AA even though I'm not very vocal about being in the fandom. (Seriously, 90% of my journal is LSK all the time. It probably looks like my only fandom. =P)
I finally finished Entries 5 in June, which took me... a year... to write. I'm not sure when I'll write Entries 6. Entries was my first LSK fic though, from back in 2011. I'd really like to finish it.
One update to Bittersweet Sweetness! Slowly but surely...
As for Grace... I wrote it for Trope Bingo on Dreamwidth. I have a fairly involved vision for that fic that includes a lot of twists and turns, pretty much a fic dedicated to my love of the reincarnation trope and the genderbending trope... But the fic is not very high on my priorities. It seems like too much work, haha. Too much work until I get around to writing the parts that I do want to write about... Maybe I should take a different approach for the fic and just write snapshots. Using the same kind of narration as Bittersweet Sweetness would slay me, as the pacing there is way too slow.
July
Grace: Chapter 1 (Legend of Sun Knight, 1207 words)
And They Lived Happily Ever After (oneshot) (Bakuman, 4954 words)
I worked on the Bakuman fic for what felt like forever! I started it when the Bakuman manga ended, but I didn't finish even when the Bakuman anime ended, which was way after the end of the manga. It is simply an epilogue to the series. I wish I could've made it more interesting...
I also had a half-hearted update for Grace... The fic already took a different turn than I expected, haha.
August
A Taste of More (oneshot) (Legend of Sun Knight, 2577 words)
Welcome to Room 201 (oneshot) (Prince of Tennis, 3204 words)
I was matched on LSK for parallelsfic, so I ended up writing LSK for Parallels, haha. Didn't end up branching out like I usually do for Parallels. =P The requested characters from Sinngrace were Judgment and Metal. I hadn't actually written anything about just the two of them before, so it was quite an interesting venture. I feel like I got to know Laica a lot more, and I also got to explore Lesus making friends~. It's not a humorous fic, but it is full of character development! :)
I'd also signed up for tenipuri_xpair and wrote Welcome to Room 201 for allalabeth_san. It filled my humor quota quite nicely. XD;; Even though I don't write PoT fic all the time, I always seem to write at least one or so every year, and I've been in this fandom for a LONG time. So, even though I'm not always writing it, it is the fandom I have the second most fics in after LSK. Even if I'm only writing one fic in it per year.
September
My Friend, the Pope (in-training): Part 1 (Legend of Sun Knight, 1051 words)
Bittersweet Sweetness Part 32 (Legend of Sun Knight, 1524 words)
My Friend, the Pope (in-training): Part 2 (Legend of Sun Knight, 1156 words)
...I posted "My Friend, the Pope (in-training)" ORZ. Well, since Bittersweet Sweetness WAS rounding down, I thought it wouldn't hurt if I got my ideas for some of my new fics out there. (And yet, I still haven't finished Bittersweet Sweetness...). My Friend, the Pope (in-training) isn't meant to be a humorous fic. I actually thought it would be quite somber when Roland first started narrating it. But with the POV changes that came with each chapter, the tone... kind of changed. XD;; I like the change though.
October
My Friend, the Pope (in-training): Part 3 (Legend of Sun Knight, 1832 words)
Bittersweet Sweetness Part 33 (Legend of Sun Knight, 2367 words)
My futile attempts at updating my fics... I'd wondered if I'd be able to do NaNoWriMo this year but decided I wouldn't be able to because of a lack of time. My new job was pretty much taking all of my attention.
November
A Vice-Captain's Tale: Character Introductions (Legend of Sun Knight, 441 words)
My Friend, the Pope (in-training): Part 4 (Legend of Sun Knight, 2120 words)
One of my biggest ORZ moments, hahahaha. I saved the character introductions of A Vice-Captain's Tale in my scheduled posts here because I was planning on finishing the story in October. I scheduled for the post to post in November, thinking I'd be done by then. I completely forgot about the scheduled post, so it posted while I was at work. XD;;; So here you have it, what I intended to come at the end of the story, oops. Anyway, the character introduction post is my headcanon for each of the vice-captains. :) And now you also know the order I plan for each vice-captain to appear.
I had sooo much fun writing Part 4 of My Friend, the Pope (in-training). (Haha, the "in-training" part is important! This fic will only cover their training days). I was snickering while I wrote it... Poor Elijah. :'D
December
Follow the Sign: Part 1 Assist (Legend of Sun Knight, 1005 words)
Bittersweet Sweetness Part 34 (Legend of Sun Knight, 1914 words)
I'm Drunk and You're Cheerful (oneshot) (Haikyuu!, 1363 words)
Being on vacation, I thought I'd be able to manage daily drabbles for Follow the Sign, but I ended up editing the heck out of Bittersweet Sweetness instead! So... Not much to show for anything, as I've been editing Bittersweet Sweetness (yet again). I hope to print a paper copy of it for myself. :) I'll also be including all of my finished LSK oneshots in it like an anthology, so I've given all of those oneshots another round of editing too in this version of all the stories. I can't wait to hold the book in my hands, ahhhhh! It'll be super awesome. ;)
I'm really excited about Follow the Sign~. It'll be all about Adair! Or well, it'll be just him for a bit, but he'll be meeting quite a lot of other people veeery soon.
I'm Drunk and You're Cheerful was written for Yuletide 2013. Haikyuu is such an adorable series! Rereading it was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I still don't feel I have a good handle on the characters. Ukai and Takeda were the requested characters, the coach and the sensei. I'm somewhat amused that I'm closer in age to the sensei characters in manga now...(the other part of me is appalled because noooo, I don't want to grow older) You know what... I don't think I've ever written a fic about drinking before, huh (well, except for Sun and his wine, which was not about being drunk). I can't say I'm all that versed about being drunk, hahaha. I don't drink, so this was based off of media... I felt that Ukai would be kind of sentimental while drunk, and very quiet too. Zoning out as well. XD; While Takeda would just be really, really cheerful. :3
Total number of stories: 9 longfics (...I FAIL I FAAAAAIL, I HAVE NOT FINISHED A SINGLE ONE OF THESE FICS), 8 oneshots (I'm counting 2 parters as oneshots too)
Total word count ~63,000 words. My goal was 150,000, so I didn't even reach the halfway point... I was hoping NaNoWriMo would give me a boost in my word count, but NaNo did not happen for me this year. However, I don't think the word count is what matters. What matters is... finishing my stories... :'D; Also, when compared to years waaay in the past, 63k is not bad...
Fandoms written in: Legend of Sun Knight, 1/2 Prince, Prince of Tennis, Haikyuu, Bakuman, Ace Attorney. It was moooostly LSK again, just like last year. Ace Attorney doesn't really count... Since I'd actually written those in 2008. (How time passes...)
Leitmotif(s) of the year: Friendship and family. ;) (And tropes)
Favorite fic: This is Your Wake Up Call. Aaaaangst. Not what I usually write. I like it because of how emotive it is and how it came to me very quickly. For all of 2013, writing has been pretty difficult, but this oneshot didn't take too much out of me. (Except for well, making me tearful...)
Best fic: Surprisingly, I'd say A Taste of More. I got to flesh out Lesus's relationship with the rest of the "cruel, cold-hearted" faction in this fic. I really loved being able to do that. It's also the fic that challenged me in gaining a deeper understanding of Lesus and Laica.
Most popular fic: Of my new fics, I think that'd go to My Friend, the Pope (in-training). Seems like the idea of Grisia as a badass Pope is an idea that quite a lot of people would love to see. Outside of new fics, it'd have to be Invincible, that is the Legend. Even though I only updated it twice in 2013, it's still being read...
Most underappreciated fic: And They Lived Happily Ever After. It was mostly crickets with this fic. XD;; But man, the effort and time I put into writing this!!! (Well, it makes sense... The majority of my current readers are LSK fans. I don't have a following outside of that fandom, haha)
Favorite first lines:
Located at the end of the hallway (or the head, depending on your perception), was Room 201, which belonged to three plant enthusiasts -- Shiraishi Kuranosuke, Yukimura Seiichi, and Fuji Shuusuke. (Welcome to Room 201)
Most fun fic: A Rose for Your Hair. Judgment. Super hair. The mere idea has me giggling.
Sexiest fic: N/A. Haha.
Fic that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: Most definitely A Taste of More. I read up a lot on masochism and sadism to write this piece. I really didn't want to get Laica's mindset wrong.
New pairing/genre/fandom you never predicted writing in January: Haikyuu! I hope to write a lot more in this fandom. ♥ With the anime coming out next year, I hope the series will gain more fans (and that there will be more fic produced for the fandom as a result!).
Hardest fic to write: Invincible, that is the Legend... Otherwise, I would've updated it more. ORZ.
Biggest disappointment: NOT FINISHING BITTERSWEET SWEETNESS. YOU REALLY DROPPED THE BALL, LUCATHIA. YOU SAID YOU WOULD FINISH BEFORE 2013 ENDED. (AND LAST YEAR YOU SAID YOU WANTED TO FINISH IN 2012 AHHHHHH)
Biggest surprise: A Vice-Captain's Tale. It was, after all, going to be a oneshot, 2nd person POV. It turned out really different. Another big surprise... I didn't write a single oneshot about Adair!!!!! (What blasphemy is this???? He is part of most of my LSK stories, but it's not quite the same as having the story focused on him... Well, Follow the Sign will have to do. Longfic about Adair, yessss). Another big surprise is deciding to drop Dishonest Honesty... The way the end of Bittersweet Sweetness developed has kind of made the plot of DH...not work.
Most telling fic: Bittersweet Sweetness???
What's next? Finishing Bittersweet Sweetness. IN JANUARY. Updating Invincible. And every single other LSK longfic I'm working on. (Haha... Let's see if that will happen...)
After taking a look at my 2012 year in fic, I actually don't feel as bad anymore. Most of the snippets I posted at the end of the post are of chapters I did manage to finish and publish in 2013. :'D
Here are some snippets of fics I'm currently working on...
A snippet from Part 36 of Bittersweet Sweetness (Legend of Sun Knight)
Some things actually took getting used to again. Even though we told each other a lot, there were some things that we hadn't told each other. Apparently, Lesus had made a new friend in the short time that said "friend" supported him to the bathroom. I really don't know how he'd done it, and now I was stuck with not even knowing the guy's name. All I knew was that his all purpose handsomeness was still getting on my nerves.
"Good morning, Sun Knight. I hope you are feeling much better now," the man said with a beaming smile. Way too bright! It's practically blinding! "By the way, thank you for the new uniform. You really didn't have to go so far."
New... uniform? Why would I spend money on a man?!
Oh wait... I did buy a present for Lesus... But this and that are completely different matters! Why would I buy anything for this stranger?
A snippet from Fifteen Going on Sixty Going on Fifteen (Legend of Sun Knight). Should be a oneshot...
By the fireside, he sits, cooking a pot of stew. When he notices that I'm watching him, he looks up, briefly startled, but then he smiles at me, his smile reaching his clear blue eyes. As he offers me a bowl, the clouds part just in time for the sun to shine down on him, glittering off his golden hair. It's a sight that she would have scoffed at, but I can't say I wasn't spellbound.
I really wanted to rub my eyes to make sure I was seeing right -- who glitters like this anyway? -- but I'm hungry. I take the bowl.
I'll never forget the taste of that stew.
"Thanks," I say in a small voice. I was so sure that I'd get chased away, but instead, he offered me kindness. I look up at him questioningly. "Why would you help a stranger?" I ask.
Right after my question, he blurts his name out, claiming that we're no longer strangers now that I know his name, but oh wait, he still doesn't know mine. If I didn't mind sharing, would I let him know my name?
His rambling thoughts put me at ease. I open my mouth. "I'm--"
A snippet from A Vice-Captain's Tale Suggestion #4. (Legend of Sun Knight)
He looked me up and down, and while his expression was nowhere as haughty as Knight-Captain Moon's, it was close enough to make me frown.
"What?" I asked.
Shaking his head, he asked incredulously, "What are you wearing?"
His voice made it sound like I had made some grave blunder in my choice of clothes. I didn't even bother looking down at myself before I answered. "My training outfit."
I'd been training. Of course I would be dressed for it.
"Why is it so dreary?" he questioned.
"It's not dreary. It's practical."
A snippet from an untitled 1/2 Prince fic (should be a oneshot). I have this urge to write fic about Long Ming and his suitors. I very much believe that Elf and Demon Thirteen are still in love with him. =P Not sure if this fic will ever be finished though.
After the big reveal, Xiao Xiao Lan and my two teammates came up to us to tell us that they were NPCs as well, reassured by our reaction to Kenshin that we wouldn't reject them. But, there was one thing they were completely overlooking, and I overlooked it too.
Until it was too late.
-----
I logged on to Second Life by myself. This was happening more and more frequently, now that Ling Bing-shushu was back and taking up all of Xiao Xiao Lan's attention. They did have all those missed years to catch up on, after all. I didn't entirely mind. My friends Elf and Demon Thirteen wouldn't mind keeping me company in the game.
Stretching my wings out, I called out to them.
No, really, what's next? ...probably this crack oneshot Kiyutsuna and I were chatting about where Lesus ends up as the Sun Knight and Roland the Judgment Knight. We practically outlined the entire fic, hahaha. I'll also be updating Bittersweet Sweetness. The next two parts are nearly done. What I'm hoping for 2014 is more spontaneous writing. I'm going to stop feeling guilty about starting new fic... because, well, I'll take whatever writing I can, in whatever form it comes in. Writing is writing, yeah? I also hope to post at least one fic update or oneshot per month. It almost happened in 2013. Was just missing February! In the past, I always missed the summer months.