2013: a year in fic
Total number of completed stories in 2013:
Seventeen.
Total word count:
Around 65K, not count drabbles, which I don’t
Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d predicted?
I think I ended up writing about as much fic as I wrote in 2012, which was surprising because over the summer, during my love affair, I don’t think I wrote anything, or I wrote very sparingly.
Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?
I did! I participated in three different exchanges: the Hunger Games exchange, yuletide, and femslashex. Fic exchanges are always a risk, because the prompts you get from your recipient can be terrifying. What if their interpretation of the character is wrong? What they like from fic is out of your wheelhouse?
Not that I’m saying people can interpret characters incorrectly, although they can, and do. And sometimes I then have to write for them.
I did write some risky fic. I did Adventures in Duck-Watching, which was RPF about a bunch of fandom ladies, some of whom I’ve never met. That was mildly terrifying in that 1. I’ve never met some of them, which means I could write them wrong, 2. I thought it was possible there’d be fandom wank in the Parks fandom, which is generally utterly chill and relaxed, from people who felt excluded even though I kept asking people if they wanted to be included. Luckily, everyone involved (or not) seemed to find the whole thing hilarious.
I also wrote life line, which was wildly successful beyond my dreams as a last-minute Yuletide treat. That one was a big ol dose of magical realism in a very straight-forward fandom, and not my usual type of fic. I loved writing it, though, and everyone else loved it too.
love game was my assignment for femslashex, which was almost 5K of Katniss/Madge as I rewrote THG and killed off many beloved characters. I think that’s the one I was proudest of, because it was so outside my usual fic.
Do you have any specific fanfic goals for the New Year?
MOAR FANFIC.
And to read more fic, because lately, I’ve been slacking. When I’m writing something, I don’t read a lot of other fic, because I don’t want to derail the fic I’m writing, and the past few months I’ve been writing a lot and reading very little. I’ve read a ton of yuletide fics, but I haven’t even gotten to read all the stuff I mean to read. And then I owe some people some comments.
My best story of this year:
I’m not sure? Like my children, I love them all, but unlike my children, I don’t have a clear favorite.
My most popular story of this year:
According to Ao3, it’s Meetings, with an astonishing FIVE THOUSAND hits. It’s a Lizzie Bennet fic, which was a fandom that came in out of nowhere and EXPLODED. People loved that fic, and it wasn’t my usual dialogue-heavy, shenanigan-focused, compressed-timeline type story.
Most fun story to write:
Probably my duck fic. I mean, it was about fandom ladies on a road trip, and I got to hit craponaspatula. Who wouldn’t love that?
Hardest story to write:
My yuletide fic for blithers, Hands, was case fic, which I don’t write, and was long, which I rarely do, and was written way quicker than I usually do since I had a deadline and a scary fic coach. The voices weren’t hard, per se, but I did hella canon review throughout.
Sexiest story:
I do not write sexy stories. But I did have a sex scene in Camera’s On, on camera, which was not my usual sort of thing.
Biggest Disappointment:
Overall, I was entirely pleased with response to fic, but Lizzie B, Pop Star didn’t take off like I hoped it would, although I got a bunch of nice comments on it. I’m not sure if that fandom just isn’t into AUs, but I was so proud of that fic and a little surprised more people didn’t like it.
Likewise, I barely got any response to my Veep fic, Power Play, which surprised me because it was pretty hot, plus the only pairing in the fandom, and that one was a struggle to write, voice-wise.
Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:
All of them, I hope.
Most telling story:
Unprotected
Favorite opening line:
Dan had never met a problem he couldn’t compartmentalize and ignore.
Favorite closing line:
It wasn’t until Glimmer went into the arena that she understood what it was to be a tool herself.
Favorite line from anywhere:
Darcy, distraught, sat on his jacket.
Favorite title:
Disarming, maybe.
What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January 2013?
Most of them! I continued to expand my fandoms this year. I wrote TMP even though I never intended to even watch it. Likewise for B99. I hated the first episode when I saw it. I got suckered into watching New Girl and I had to write fix-it friendship fic between secondary characters and their boyfriend’s tertiary girlfriend. And I got sucked into Veep somehow. I think the only show I really loved in 2013 that I haven’t written more than a drabble for is Archer.
Story I haven’t yet written, but intend to:
I’m going to finish that Ann/Leslie fic I SWEAR TO GOD. I’m working on another Danny/Mindy fic, and finish that THG fic from last year, and from there, my schedule is clear. I’m certain I’ll write more B99 fic along the way, and I think The Mindy Project is getting cancelled, and they’ll be going for broke, ship-wise, which is bound to mean it’ll spark some stuff.
I’m also pretty excited about participating in more fic exchanges, because I’ve been pretty pleased with everything I written for them.