End of Year Fic Meme
I did one of these in October, when the situation was Bad, but now it's 100k worse, so let's roll the tape once more. If something is "in quotes", it's the answer from October.
Stats:
List of Completed Fics:
Sherlock Holmes (Downey films)
The Magic Teapot [VHS] (776 words)
Blake's 7
Dance Dance Revolution (11063 words)
Religious Ecstasy (8621 words)
Anabasis (3401 words)
Damosel Passing Fair (5320 words)
More Human Than I Am (6477 words)
“as if we were fools by heavenly compulsion” (30222 words)
Rojer (36770 words)
Post-Mortem (2763 words)
The Last of the Chants (20899 words)
Baron (3959 words)
Strings Attached (6044 words)
A/B (O) (16358 words)
Objectively Attractive (1178 words)
Accounts Payable (4640 words)
Much Ado About Knotting (6190 words)
Apparuit Iam Beatitudo Vestra (21825 words)
Gauda Prime and Prejudice (53469 words)
Sharp-Dressed Man (3029 words)
In the Bleak Midwinter (32244 words)
Bonny & Clyde (3641 words)
A Jerk By Any Other Name (3032 words)
Corporal Punishment (5988 words)
Mirror Mirror (6452 words)
Campaign Notes (3344 words)
WIPS (all B7):
3736 Medieval AU
7481 Knox's Rules
1174 Apparuit fragment, may post independently or as part of something else
2587 smarm
8000 Transference (with beta)
Total number: 24 b7 (+5 wip, one of which is finished/with beta), 1 not b7
Total word count: 320683, all but 800 words of it (the RDJ Holmes) from June on (297705 published + 3736 + 7481 + 1174 + 2587 + 8000 = 320683)
Ship/character breakdown: "…look I could tell you that everything is Blake/Avon and that you sometimes get ensembles out of me but even then it's still shippy bullshit, or you could just understand that is how my sad OTP ass rolls, bc presumably we have in some way interacted before."
Specifics:
Best/worst title?
Best: "I don't have a fav really, but I will leave this place before I crumple and just explain why I think" many of them work/are funny.
It's a long train, from York to London, so let's just do it, shall we? Skip if you like.
WHY I CALLED THINGS WHAT I DID:
RDJ Holmes
The Magic Teapot [VHS] (776 words)
This is a joke for a friend who found the titular weird product on Amazon and shared it with me, who also wanted fic for this rare-pair.
Blake's 7
Dance Dance Revolution (11063 words)
If you've seen Steven Universe, you know the fusion dance (I know that's DBZ and they don't CALL it that, but come on that's what it is) is a giant plot device therein. This is a fusion between the canons that's also ABOUT the plot device of fusion, so foregrounding it seemed correct. And naturally, there's the game. Which I sucked at in uni. But it's a literal revolution involving dancing and there's also that Emma Goldman quote about a revolution without dancing being not worth having and HOW COULD I HELP MYSELF?
Religious Ecstasy (8621 words)
Tbh this is the only appropriate title for an 'alien religious rituals made them do it' threesome fic, all other titles are false.
Anabasis (3401 words)
Ahaha because it's a literal journey out of hell, and also that's sort of the plot arc of a PGP, and Anna Grant is named that and she's a psychopomp here. Look, this is the sort of humor you're going to get at Erin Explains Her Jokes Hour.
Damosel Passing Fair (5320 words)
Highlights that Blake's a lady in this, and this Malory quote IS a key plot turn for the fic.
More Human Than I Am (6477 words)
Something Avon says of Cally, whose humanity is always sort of a moving target in canon. And this fic is about Avon being a vampire, but also the way obsession both strips away at and is proof of his continuing humanity.
“as if we were fools by heavenly compulsion” (30222 words)
Elviaprose helped me with this one, and of course it has to encompass 21 titles for the individual fics within (which even I can't be bothered to perform an exegesis on), which is difficult. I quote the bit of Shakespeare it's from in the notes, but basically I like the excerpt's discussion of destiny, and its refusal of destiny as a reason something happened, a reason people are who they are. Because this is a series of soulmate-name fics, but the trope here pretty much affects how this relationship logistically develops, not what it is. But even as I wanted the fuller excerpt's rejection of this argument, I sort of wanted the quote itself's 'destined to fuck up/fall in love/be fools for each other'ness.
Rojer (36770 words)
SUCH durm and strang about this before I realized what we were casually calling it was--just its title. Absolutely fixed and correct. Rojer is our through-line, our posterity. He's a synecdoche for the political and romantic cohering, and he's our subject.
Post-Mortem (2763 words)
Evoking post-Gauda Prime, in a fic that's sort of a mundane PGP. Also about a death, and the aftermath of it. Also a discussion of a relationship that's ended, like kibitzing after a chess game--a post-mortem. I want a title to do a lot of things, ideally. To suggest to me in several ways.
The Last of the Chants (20899 words)
Tells you how the fusion works and what Aven's problem is from the get-go. Introduces you to his desperation and the 3-fif-saga's concerns about posterity from the word go. Not layered, but I like it. Takes advantage of the magical quality of DWJ's naming--sounds like a real surname someone might have in a universe with magic.
Baron (3959 words)
Baron for Baron Munchausen, for a fic about Munchausen's by proxy. Also suggestions of 'barren', like Lorca's Yerma, for someone toxically hurting his own children. Also sort of suggesting Avon, left alone and master of his domain and unsure how to be that, as the titular baron. Also connecting Avon's spinning stories to the doctors, his ability and willingness to lie, to the character in question.
Strings Attached (6044 words)
Cheap, done just for the phrase, but I like it. Strings for corsetry. Suggests it's not just sex. Vibes of Attachment.
A/B (O) (16358 words)
A/B/O is, of course, the trope name, and this is an A/B A/B/O.
Objectively Attractive (1178 words)
There's the phrase, and there's Objectivism, which this fic is about (or rather NOT about, to Blake's deep relief). And some might say Avon is. I would not really, though I like him, 70s/80s BBC casting being what it was, but then I burnt my Avonstania citizenship papers.
Accounts Payable (4640 words)
This used to be titled a Hayek joke, and then a different Hayek joke, and then something else, but this one won out for its simplicity and better-fit. It's a story about settling accounts with strong economic metaphors throughout, about what the people involved are owed, about less economic forms of payment/recompense.
Much Ado About Knotting (6190 words)
I wanted to give this title to a proper Much Ado parody with ABO elements. I was saving it. Then I realized I was probably never going to write that, and neither was anyone else, so I might as well take it. And of course the fic closes with some jokes about Much Ado. And of course there IS much ado about knotting within. And 'nothing' was a cunt joke in the first place so like, fair's fair.
Apparuit Iam Beatitudo Vestra (21825 words)
Apparuit makes sense as a title (it's a bit of the Dante that Avon quotes in English, which is from Dante's description of seeing Beatrice for the first time and falling in love at first sight), but frustrates me, because in my mind it's always just 15fic. This is a good title, but I never SAY it.
Gauda Prime and Prejudice (53469 words)
PGP to GP&P. The slide between Prime and Pride too obvious to bother resisting. The planet is SUPER important in enabling this fusion/to the story, so it SHOULD show up in the title.
Sharp-Dressed Man (3029 words)
Not one I love. Still, Avon's pretty sharp, in the vicious sense. And now he also has a jacket. What can you do, eh?
In the Bleak Midwinter (32244 words)
This was always what this fic was going to be called. Intended for a Christmas/GPDay Bday zine for Katy, also an idea she proposed for a themed zine title (with options on Blake Midwinter--that or someone said it in her comments). From a Christmas carol, in a fic about and for Christmas, about a bleak, midway point in a couple's relationship.
Bonny & Clyde (3641 words)
A honeymoon fic about B&A committing a crime as a couple. Not exceptional, but fine.
A Jerk By Any Other Name (3032 words)
Aralias suggested it. It's not--RIGHT, but it does fine. Obviously this is 'a rose by any other name would smell as sweet', for a fic where Blake accidentally calls Avon a pet name. But Avon is a jerk. And lovely at times. But also a wanker. So.
Corporal Punishment (5988 words)
Not one I love. But yeah, this is the kink meme prompt determining what happens in the fic and thus what the title should be. See below.
Mirror Mirror (6452 words)
Obviously a kink-meme prompt about mirror sex is the reason this exists and also why the presence of the mirror is important enough to make it into the title, but the doubled-title also suggests how important mirroring and reciprocity are to the story. Also, Avon gets told he's the fairest of them all, etc. And there's a bit of fairy-tale bargain negotiation. I don't hate this title but it's not exceptional.
Campaign Notes (3344 words)
Always called 'F-NIN excerpt', originally two plot chunks direct from A/B (O). This title is an afterthought, but this is true/fine. Campaign Notes is true in a Watsonian sense, and also in a Doylist--these are mine for A/B (O).
Worst: "Rojer gave us a PAIN. Man we wracked on that one. I'm happy with it now though. Who knows, re: worst. Dance Dance Revolution is funny but misleading. I've done pretty well with titles this year I think."
I don't love Sharp-Dressed Man, A Jerk By Any Other Name or Corporal Punishment. The end-of-year titles aren't doing tons for me.
Best/worst summary?
"MAN I have sucked at summaries this year.
Best: I don't LOVE it, but GP&P?
"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single person must be in want of a partner. On Gauda Prime, the conviction had hardened into fact."
Roj Blake leads the Freedom Party from Gauda Prime, an agricultural commune with a harmless fetish for public assemblies and gossip. Kerr Avon, a free trader with an incredible ship, a fabulous supercomputer and no tact whatsoever, manages to get on Blake's bad side almost immediately."
ItBM is solid: "A year after their encounter on Gauda Prime, Blake and Avon are engaged in a war of attrition."
"Life must go on; Avon forgets just why." this is a good Millay re-working and some of her poems are important in the fic, but I don't think it's resonating for people, so it doesn't really work, does it.
"Worst:
Rojer: "Taking down the Federation might actually be easier than sorting out what's going on with Rojer's parents."
and
"As if…": "A series of short fics running through permutations of the soulmate-mark trope for this pairing."
So Rojer is functionally impossible to summarize. It's a kidfic. Ish. It's also military SF and politics--it's a novella about fighting and winning a war. It's also about a relationship that spans decades, with a LONG period before it's consummated, and then a substantial chunk dealing with the pairing characters' deaths and what happens after. Rojer, the title character, is the pairing characters' son and one of their political successors, and when we last see him he's like, 60, with adult children. So like, good. fucking. luck. Rojer is a better fic than this summary indicates, I think, but it's fucking DIFFICULT to be like--look um, buy in, trust me, this fic is a lot of goddamn things.
"As if" is functionally fucked bc it's 21 short stories that form a thematically united collection, and maybe I should have acknowledged this up-thread when thinking about the number of stories I'd written so far, but OH WELL."
"After the events of A/B (O), the war continues." That's bullshit, but I really have naught to say.
"In the course of indulging a whim, Blake and Avon are forced to view their shore-leave assignations from a different angle." ahaha it's about mirrors I love and hate myself.
None of the end-of-the-year fics have killer summaries.
Best/worst first line?
I NEVER think about this? But let's go.
Sherlock Holmes (Downey films)
The Magic Teapot [VHS] (776 words) Moriarty glanced over at the object lying on the ledge with mild curiosity.
Blake's 7
Dance Dance Revolution (11063 words) "Well?" Avon snapped into his communicator, using his irritation to disguise his nervousness.
Religious Ecstasy (8621 words) "I'm afraid I… can't," Gan said awkwardly.
Anabasis (3401 words) Kerr Avon walked through hell. It was, in large part, much as he'd expected.
Damosel Passing Fair (5320 words) Once, very early on in their acquaintance, he'd tried addressing Blake by her first name.
More Human Than I Am (6477 words) There is a type of vampire that comes as a friend.
“as if we were fools by heavenly compulsion” (30222 words) 21 short stories, NOT doing this one
Rojer (36770 words) Kerr Avon became a father on a bombed-out world covered in smoking rubble, which he felt was rather appropriate, all in all.
Post-Mortem (2763 words) Tired, Blake rubbed his eyes. When he glanced up, he blinked at the man standing in front of him.
The Last of the Chants (20899 words) It took Aven some time to find his falling star. For a start, he had to go to the right universe, and walking between universes wasn't an easy matter for him. That, actually, was the whole problem of his life.
Baron (3959 words) The children hadn't been in the car at the time.
Strings Attached (6044 words) Carnell was a psychostrategist - a very brilliant one - and he was technically on the run from the Federation ('technically' in that he was, indeed, a fugitive, but he seemed to be a comfortably stationary one).
A/B (O) (16358 words)
Ch 1: After the solar flares died away, and after the radiation from those flares and the Last War had finally cleared, the Ark returned human life to Earth.
Ch 2: “Here,” Blake snarled, taking off his jacket and turning his head to the side, baring his neck. “There’s an easy way to be sure of me, isn’t there.”
Objectively Attractive (1178 words) The two of them were alone on the flight deck when the distress signal came through. Plague on Cigna Majora.
Accounts Payable (4640 words) It hadn’t been easy to get the information out of Orac-he’d had to maneuver Vila into asking, because Blake had been quite clear that Orac was, under no circumstances, to communicate whatever was going on to /him./
Much Ado About Knotting (6190 words) The Infanta of Risin smiled winningly at Blake. This close to heat, her cheeks were tellingly flushed-they’d attained rather a pretty shade of pink. Her blond ringlets glinted slightly in the sun.
Apparuit Iam Beatitudo Vestra (21825 words) The Federation assigned work duties to Alphas at the age of fifteen. The youths continued on at school, but spent some days every week serving as apprentices on state projects (or in other industries, if the companies involved had filed the appropriate requests with the government and had paid the state for the students' labor).
Gauda Prime and Prejudice (53469 words) It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single person must be in want of a partner. On Gauda Prime, the conviction had hardened into fact.
Sharp-Dressed Man (3029 words) Avon didn't much like turning thirty-seven.
In the Bleak Midwinter (32244 words) "It was no way to spend Christmas. It was no way to spend any time at all."
Bonny & Clyde (3641 words) Blake blinked blearily up at Avon from the visibly vibrating shuttle berth. "It's not exactly a dignified honeymoon," he groused, not for the first time.
A Jerk By Any Other Name (3032 words) Blake would have blamed sheer exhaustion, if he had been the sort of person who blamed circumstances (especially ones he'd helped to create) for moments of personal weakness. He wasn’t.
Corporal Punishment (5988 words) Blake buried his face in his hands and proceeded to talk through them. "So, you’re willing to forgive my colleague's-"
“-incredible rudeness and blasphemy," the Governor's aide reminded him helpfully.
Mirror Mirror (6452 words) Blake introduced the subject of mirrors several months into their time on Liberator.
Campaign Notes (3344 words)
Ch 1: The Federation News and Information Network (F-NIN) controlled all media on Earth and the core planets.
Ch 2: With the destruction of its propaganda apparatus the Federation seemed to lose some of what little subtlety it had ever had.
SPECIAL GUEST KATY, WHO GIVES A FUCK ABOUT FIRST LINES:
Best is: It took Aven some time to find his falling star.
Worst is: Tired, Blake rubbed his eyes.
Erin: I think that one's fine tbh. It's a cinematic fic.
Katy: I also don't much like this one, but since my beta comments (which said - what is 'the subject' - more exciting, but INCREDIBLY confusing in context - 'that blake introduces?') have caused it to exist I feel bad nominating it: Blake introduced the subject of mirrors several months into their time on Liberator.
It works though in terms of us knowing what is going on in the scene, and in terms of not being TOO awkward :) I've written much worse myself.
Best/worst last line?
Sherlock Holmes (Downey films)
The Magic Teapot [VHS] (776 words) Moriarty smiled, and the expression had a strange, disingenuous sweetness to it. "So was I."
Blake's 7
Dance Dance Revolution (11063 words) “Why Blake, I thought you’d never ask.”
Religious Ecstasy (8621 words) Vila turned to Cally. "What the hell do they do in these Mysteries?"
Anabasis (3401 words) “Oh, I think otherwise. How much time do you have?"
"Well," Avon drawled, "for /you/--"
Damosel Passing Fair (5320 words) Servalan told her off sharply for romanticizing terrorists and set the strategist to her work, in full expectation of having to have the same conversation with a sixth and seventh version of the woman--provided, of course, that whatever Blake was planning didn't spare her the necessity.
More Human Than I Am (6477 words) “Nngh,” said Avon distinctly, launching himself on Blake.
“as if we were fools by heavenly compulsion” (30222 words) 21 short stories, NOT doing this one
Rojer (36770 words) "Not worried that it’s too much, then? Or about the people who’ll call it legacy building?" Rojer teased.
Porra laughed. "Oh, fuck them."
Post-Mortem (2763 words) Blake leaned in to kiss him, murmuring “oh, the same.”
The Last of the Chants (20899 words) "And I will find Blake and bring him home," he finished, eyes bright with intent. "If it takes me my life.”
Aven did Blake's work, and looked for Blake for seven years.
Baron (3959 words) Start again, completely. And miss Blake at the weeping of the rain, and want him at the shrinking of the tide, and nevertheless pretend resignation to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground, because Cordelia had asked him if he wanted to be better. And for her and for Ben and for Blake, always for Blake, he did. Or at least he wanted to want it. And that would have to be enough.
Strings Attached (6044 words) Still, one can guess some things - how fleeting are all human passions compared with the massive continuity of ducks!"
A/B (O) (16358 words)
Ch 1: Later, when he and Blake were separated and every rumor of Blake’s presence proved false, he rather regretted that he hadn’t gone and done it anyway.
Ch 2: “Maybe I’m waiting to be a godmother,” Soolin suggested, and Avon laughed.
Objectively Attractive (1178 words) Blake also did himself the courtesy of not crowing that he'd known he couldn't be attracted to an objectivist.
Accounts Payable (4640 words) It was what he was good at-all he was good at, it seemed. All he was.
Much Ado About Knotting (6190 words) “Peace,” Avon said with a lazy smile, climbing back onto Blake, feeling another cycle coming on. “I will stop your mouth.”
They kissed.
Apparuit Iam Beatitudo Vestra (21825 words) "/Well/ now," Blake drawled, mocking Avon's customary tone and expression, "all right. If you insist."
Gauda Prime and Prejudice (53469 words) He kissed Blake tenderly. "What the hell is a courting couch?" he asked, amused, and Blake laughed and explained.
Sharp-Dressed Man (3029 words) “Happy birthday,” he warbled tentatively, under his breath, “to /me/-”
In the Bleak Midwinter (32244 words) "And while he had no intention of becoming ‘as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew’, he still thought he might try to honour Christmas in his heart, and try to keep it all the year, and to live in the Past, the Present, and the Future and not shut out the lessons that they taught-provided that doing so would ensure Blake kept holding him like this all the year round."
Bonny & Clyde (3641 words) It was difficult to imagine where they’d go from here (other than ‘an incredibly opulent room, instead of this merely acceptable one’-Avon planned to insist on that-and a series of ludicrously expensive restaurants), but Avon was confident that, between them, they’d think of something to top this.
A Jerk By Any Other Name (3032 words) "See you in eleven hours," Blake deadpanned at his retreating back, and Avon fell into bed with a grin on his face, and slept the sleep of the Relatively Just.
Corporal Punishment (5988 words) "Excellent. I-" Blake began, with a strange, unaccustomed shyness, clearing his throat, "--teach a whole course, actually, if you're interested…"
Avon laughed outright.
Mirror Mirror (6452 words) And, of course, start a flurry of additional gossip and speculation. But he didn’t mind that, given that he’d finally obtained a satisfactory answer to the question himself.
Campaign Notes (3344 words)
Ch 1: Avon smacked the office door panel shut with a hard, desperate swipe of the flat of his hand.
Ch 2: This was supposed to stand in for both, and while Vila didn’t find that entirely satisfying, Avon wasn’t going to stop mediating his relationships via Blake any time soon. He’d said he trusted Vila with Blake, and for Avon, that was about as pure a declaration of friendship as there was.
Katy's comments:
Best - Why Blake, I thought you’d never ask.” (in fact - it reminds me of something i wrote once)
i also really like this - Still, one can guess some things - how fleeting are all human passions compared with the massive continuity of ducks!"
in general, i think erin does a pretty good ending :)
though there are some that are a bit weak, such as:
Avon laughed outright.
They kissed.
Erin: THAT is the stage direction from the scene of Much Ado they're quoting!
Katy: it's not obvious. this is also (and i remember when we discussed this, that the ending was problematic) far too long, and not really about the main fic:
Servalan told her off sharply for romanticizing terrorists and set the strategist to her work, in full expectation of having to have the same conversation with a sixth and seventh version of the woman--provided, of course, that whatever Blake was planning didn't spare her the necessity.
however - i also think THIS one is very good: Vila turned to Cally. "What the hell do they do in these Mysteries?"
funny stuff. how can you not care about 'lines'??? it's like… saying, you don't care about the fact that it's written in english or something. (reader - erin is saying she only doesn't care about first and last lines, as particular objects, however - i think they are very important as the first line and its fellows [when i did this i strictly kept to a single 'sentence' however in most cases when one is actually reading something you do go to the next line etc so really it should count] are very important in terms of 'is this story going to bore me, etc?' and the LAST lines are even MORE important in terms of 'am i either satisfied at the end of this fic,or just like - oh, it ended… is there, like, another chapter somewhere? that the author has forgotten to post? no… hm. ok - well, i liked it! i guess'
Erin: it depends on how you read, doesn't it? I could NOT recall for you rn any good phrase ending or beginning ANY fic. Oh no not one. And have I suffered greatly for not caring? Eh. Not so as I notice, but.
katy: ok. you wrote some good fic, somehow, despite that. <3
General questions:
Looking back, did you write more fics than you thought you would this year, less than you thought, or about what you predicted?
I feel this question is judging me.
What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted last year?
And again. Though tbh I could have predicted I would return to the unloving arms of my 15-year-old-self's otp. Because I don't understand concepts like 'closure'.
What's your favorite story this year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you the happiest.
"Rojer's probably the best. I slightly resent it for being better than I can regularly produce on command? I like my unwritten ideas more than I like my fic, a lot of the time." "Bleak Midwinter" is another 'best' contender.
Okay, NOW your most popular story.
"Oh man *nothing* this is such a quiet fandom, the most popular, “as if we were fools by heavenly compulsion”, only has 300 odd hits. It's so frigging fandom-dependent, isn't it? "Gentle Antidote" is just goodish, but Yuletide, so huge. Meanwhile in megafandoms… But I think Rojer, currently #2, will probably win out over time by virtue of being sort of like some old favs in this fandom. It is the most Judith Proctor or Suzan Lovettish thing I've done?"
Gauda Prime and Prejudice (53469 words) Subscriptions: 3 Hits: 540 Kudos: 23 Comment Threads: 26 Bookmarks: 1
“as if we were fools by heavenly compulsion” (30222 words) Subscriptions: 3 Hits: 364 Kudos: 27 Comment Threads: 44 Bookmarks: 2
Rojer (36770 words) Hits: 341 Kudos: 23 Comment Threads: 7 Bookmarks: 1
A/B (O) (16358 words) Subscriptions: 1 Hits: 329 Kudos: 17 Comment Threads: 7 Bookmarks: 3
Much Ado About Knotting (6190 words) Hits: 296 Kudos: 14 Comment Threads: 5 Bookmarks: 2
More Human Than I Am (6477 words) Hits: 210 Kudos: 23 Comment Threads: 3 Bookmarks: 1
So what we learn from this and the rest of the distribution curve is: length, tagging for tropes/sex acts, crossovers and fusions can bring the no-boys to the yard.
Story most underappreciated by the universe?
I feel like no one trusts me with Apparuit, but I wouldn't make that gross fuckery, and it's one of my better efforts.
"Baron" is better than other people think. It just is.
"I like DDR better than other people do, but I think Last of the Chants is probably v good (I can't really tell) and not huge bc people fear crossovers."
We'll see how the newish ones play out over time.
Story that could have been better?
"Anabasis. It's a bit of a fandom cliche, though I didn't quite know at the time--oh I knew PGP was a thing, I'd have to have never touched the fandom, just not afterlife stories. But Anabasis took me like two hours so who caaaares? It's not at all bad! It's just not amazing, and could be stronger on both ship and ensemble lines--and also I was fairly young, then, in my this-fandom writing."
"Much Ado About Knotting" doesn't QUITE come off.
Bonny & Clyde and Mirror Mirror could be smoother.
Sexiest story?
"Katy really liked the m/f B/A in Damosel Passing Fair, Religious Ecstasy has decent sex, and horrifyingly A/B (O) is fairly decent in this regard (the fuck was I thinking). I know Molly liked the m/f in the unpublished Knox's Rules. There's not actual sex in the underage fic, just a lot of loaded pining--that's weird (I should explain--there's an underage!fic because I essentially played Awkward Chicken with Paul Darrow's Avon novels, which is an awful idea--to win is to lose, and the only way to win is not to play)."
I got a vote for Corporal Punishment: "it’s the most about sex, except maybe Much Ado, and that is SEXY but I think the spanking is sexier, because almost the entire story is about about a slow motion fall into INTENSE, loaded, consciousness expanding sex." and for the snowball sex in Bleak Midwinter, but the story as a whole is, apparently, erotic rather than sexy: "even the non-sex parts are really like charged". (all of which is vv nice!!)
Another vote for A/B (O), with a special mention of Apparuit for 'sexiest Avon'.
Saddest story?
"Omg Baron. Listen let me spoil this for you. A mundane AU where Avon's husband Blake dies nastily in a car accident. Obsessed with the children's safety, wretchedly alone/needy, unable to grieve properly and desperately in love with his dead husband/their kids/the remnants of their life together, Avon shuts down and starts poisoning their children (Munchausen's by proxy). In the end he gets called on it by his daughter and agrees to try and get better, acknowledging that in most of the ways that matter he never can, and that his vaunted pride and self-control have been thoroughly trashed. For me one of the worst parts is in the better bit, when he realizes he won't be able to make food for the children anymore because he can't trust himself, and will maybe never again be able to--that he'll have to have his daughter check to make sure he's not tampered with the seals etc. In a canon and fandom that tortures this character no-end, this still feels really painful and humiliating and yet, to me at least, a *super-plausible* mundane place to go with… well a man who, in space opera canon, is obsessed with personal safety and nevertheless thinks it's reasonable to let himself be tortured for five days to avenge his dead girlfriend, not even getting into his Thing With Blake.
Special mention for Rojer, which made at least 3 people cry. Once I got to watch. O_O Yaaaaay."
Bleak Midwinter is GRIM, about a relationship that fails and fails and fails, and then builds and soars up. Accounts Payable is a brutal bitch-slap. It is AWFUL, and a deconstruction of a fandom-fav-character/some things that happen lots in this fandom/whether characters are entitled to happy endings per se/my otp. "Apparuit Iam" has Avon thinking about killing himself, but is actually not so bad. There is a very forward pigeon here rn.
Most fun?
"Strings Attached is cracky and joke-heavy with corset sex. There's Carnell, who's super-fun."
Story with single sweetest moment?
"appealed to elviaprose and she suggested: "I’d say either GP&P, Rojer, or possibly the Corset one, actually XP. I don’t know if it’s “sweet”-but the thing Carnell says about them remembering to be nice to each other is really lovely. Post Mortem is sweet but it doesn’t have a “moment”."
Maybe that bit in Detection where they lay down on all the papers about avon's fraud and Blake's torture sessions. Or Shiny Things, the close? Or Last of the Chants? (Though Molly argues we never get that moment in there--maybe bc we have the parts still to go). It's a weird call."
Asked her if she had an update: "surely Bleak Midwinter must be a strong contender. in that, what’s the sweetest moment for me? idk the “you do love me” thing probably ;_;" If only bc this story is SO sad that its uplift is profound. "Sharp Dressed Man is super sweet. also Apparuit Iam Beatitudo Vestra is SUPER sweet--if it’s that, it’s the convo about the sea". I find happiness rich and challenging to write, and work at it, honestly, so there's a deal of this.
Hardest story to write?
"I remember I was SO not feeling it for GP&P. Everything is weird bc I've been SUPER depressed during this period, and funneling my lack of feeling productive/frustration with academia into this in big, obvious ways. So there's been some groping in the dark: one day I could feel what was working, the next I was emotionally-numb and so essentially working blind, reliant on later editing and experience to push through. GP&P was the initial idea I had AGES ago for what one could do with this fandom, and it's long, a novel, and a bit plotty, and I'm still nooooot happy with its tone and characterization--whether I like it shifts with every read-through, and thanks to the zine editing process, there were a LOT."
Easiest/most fun story to write?
"I REALLY enjoyed writing Last of the Chants. Several of these essentially spilled out in a night--Religious, Damosel, More Human, Anabasis, Baron, Strings, Post-Mortem."
Looking back, As If was SO easy. And I love when I'm cranking stuff out and talking about it with first-readers (Robin at some points, more usually Molly, sometimes Katy, though she responds better to a done-fic than to ideas&WIPs).
Did any stories shift your perceptions of the characters?
"Well, it's a new fandom for me, so many! I feel like the gender swap ones, Damosel (f!Blake/m!Avon), Knox's Rules (f!Avon/m!Blake) (unfinished) and How to Spend It (plotted out, f/f), make me think more about fandom readings/expectations and canon and what's essential to the characters. As If probably helped just by being 21 shorts, so like, forcing me to raffle through permutations/possibilities and practice. Last's plotted sequel has helped a bit bc it has two versions of a character, Avon proper and Aven, from the nice magical Edwardianish Chrestomanci universe, and working with a radically AU version of anyone makes you think about what's essential to them--more so if you ALSO have to handle them-them. Overall I've gotten WAY more comfortable with the whole cast an an ensemble, and tend to read their canon relationships as nicer than I used to."
A LOT of these did, tbh--I kept working through some p different dynamics, and in almost all of them I'd stumble on some little character-bit or possible relationship configuration that I thought was or might be true or workable. The characters and relationships are NOT the same from fic to fic, but I do tend to carry over the information.
Most overdue story?
"For the zine, GP&P"
Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?
"Gosh, what have I not done. Unusual lengths, a theme'd collection, a new fandom, more and better gender-swapping than I have ever done, new wacky tropes I don't even like, v new story-structures for me. What did I learn, though--I think mostly I've been working into a different canon? Like I've had a LOT to do, with that."
Maybe I pushed myself, for plots, with Rojer and Bleak. And I had to write GP&P when I was like, feeling NOTHING, fumbling blindly in the dark with a depression spell, so that was a new skill--the ability to write when nothing's in me.
What are your fic writing goals for next year?
"My problem rn is that I am FAT with ideas and bizarrely compelled to write them and worried they'll go if they don't? I need to like--get a GRIP, jesus."
I am going to make a separate post for my Ideas. January I'm writing a not-fanfic novel, and then I'm focusing on the thesis.
Stats:
List of Completed Fics:
Sherlock Holmes (Downey films)
The Magic Teapot [VHS] (776 words)
Blake's 7
Dance Dance Revolution (11063 words)
Religious Ecstasy (8621 words)
Anabasis (3401 words)
Damosel Passing Fair (5320 words)
More Human Than I Am (6477 words)
“as if we were fools by heavenly compulsion” (30222 words)
Rojer (36770 words)
Post-Mortem (2763 words)
The Last of the Chants (20899 words)
Baron (3959 words)
Strings Attached (6044 words)
A/B (O) (16358 words)
Objectively Attractive (1178 words)
Accounts Payable (4640 words)
Much Ado About Knotting (6190 words)
Apparuit Iam Beatitudo Vestra (21825 words)
Gauda Prime and Prejudice (53469 words)
Sharp-Dressed Man (3029 words)
In the Bleak Midwinter (32244 words)
Bonny & Clyde (3641 words)
A Jerk By Any Other Name (3032 words)
Corporal Punishment (5988 words)
Mirror Mirror (6452 words)
Campaign Notes (3344 words)
WIPS (all B7):
3736 Medieval AU
7481 Knox's Rules
1174 Apparuit fragment, may post independently or as part of something else
2587 smarm
8000 Transference (with beta)
Total number: 24 b7 (+5 wip, one of which is finished/with beta), 1 not b7
Total word count: 320683, all but 800 words of it (the RDJ Holmes) from June on (297705 published + 3736 + 7481 + 1174 + 2587 + 8000 = 320683)
Ship/character breakdown: "…look I could tell you that everything is Blake/Avon and that you sometimes get ensembles out of me but even then it's still shippy bullshit, or you could just understand that is how my sad OTP ass rolls, bc presumably we have in some way interacted before."
Specifics:
Best/worst title?
Best: "I don't have a fav really, but I will leave this place before I crumple and just explain why I think" many of them work/are funny.
It's a long train, from York to London, so let's just do it, shall we? Skip if you like.
WHY I CALLED THINGS WHAT I DID:
RDJ Holmes
The Magic Teapot [VHS] (776 words)
This is a joke for a friend who found the titular weird product on Amazon and shared it with me, who also wanted fic for this rare-pair.
Blake's 7
Dance Dance Revolution (11063 words)
If you've seen Steven Universe, you know the fusion dance (I know that's DBZ and they don't CALL it that, but come on that's what it is) is a giant plot device therein. This is a fusion between the canons that's also ABOUT the plot device of fusion, so foregrounding it seemed correct. And naturally, there's the game. Which I sucked at in uni. But it's a literal revolution involving dancing and there's also that Emma Goldman quote about a revolution without dancing being not worth having and HOW COULD I HELP MYSELF?
Religious Ecstasy (8621 words)
Tbh this is the only appropriate title for an 'alien religious rituals made them do it' threesome fic, all other titles are false.
Anabasis (3401 words)
Ahaha because it's a literal journey out of hell, and also that's sort of the plot arc of a PGP, and Anna Grant is named that and she's a psychopomp here. Look, this is the sort of humor you're going to get at Erin Explains Her Jokes Hour.
Damosel Passing Fair (5320 words)
Highlights that Blake's a lady in this, and this Malory quote IS a key plot turn for the fic.
More Human Than I Am (6477 words)
Something Avon says of Cally, whose humanity is always sort of a moving target in canon. And this fic is about Avon being a vampire, but also the way obsession both strips away at and is proof of his continuing humanity.
“as if we were fools by heavenly compulsion” (30222 words)
Elviaprose helped me with this one, and of course it has to encompass 21 titles for the individual fics within (which even I can't be bothered to perform an exegesis on), which is difficult. I quote the bit of Shakespeare it's from in the notes, but basically I like the excerpt's discussion of destiny, and its refusal of destiny as a reason something happened, a reason people are who they are. Because this is a series of soulmate-name fics, but the trope here pretty much affects how this relationship logistically develops, not what it is. But even as I wanted the fuller excerpt's rejection of this argument, I sort of wanted the quote itself's 'destined to fuck up/fall in love/be fools for each other'ness.
Rojer (36770 words)
SUCH durm and strang about this before I realized what we were casually calling it was--just its title. Absolutely fixed and correct. Rojer is our through-line, our posterity. He's a synecdoche for the political and romantic cohering, and he's our subject.
Post-Mortem (2763 words)
Evoking post-Gauda Prime, in a fic that's sort of a mundane PGP. Also about a death, and the aftermath of it. Also a discussion of a relationship that's ended, like kibitzing after a chess game--a post-mortem. I want a title to do a lot of things, ideally. To suggest to me in several ways.
The Last of the Chants (20899 words)
Tells you how the fusion works and what Aven's problem is from the get-go. Introduces you to his desperation and the 3-fif-saga's concerns about posterity from the word go. Not layered, but I like it. Takes advantage of the magical quality of DWJ's naming--sounds like a real surname someone might have in a universe with magic.
Baron (3959 words)
Baron for Baron Munchausen, for a fic about Munchausen's by proxy. Also suggestions of 'barren', like Lorca's Yerma, for someone toxically hurting his own children. Also sort of suggesting Avon, left alone and master of his domain and unsure how to be that, as the titular baron. Also connecting Avon's spinning stories to the doctors, his ability and willingness to lie, to the character in question.
Strings Attached (6044 words)
Cheap, done just for the phrase, but I like it. Strings for corsetry. Suggests it's not just sex. Vibes of Attachment.
A/B (O) (16358 words)
A/B/O is, of course, the trope name, and this is an A/B A/B/O.
Objectively Attractive (1178 words)
There's the phrase, and there's Objectivism, which this fic is about (or rather NOT about, to Blake's deep relief). And some might say Avon is. I would not really, though I like him, 70s/80s BBC casting being what it was, but then I burnt my Avonstania citizenship papers.
Accounts Payable (4640 words)
This used to be titled a Hayek joke, and then a different Hayek joke, and then something else, but this one won out for its simplicity and better-fit. It's a story about settling accounts with strong economic metaphors throughout, about what the people involved are owed, about less economic forms of payment/recompense.
Much Ado About Knotting (6190 words)
I wanted to give this title to a proper Much Ado parody with ABO elements. I was saving it. Then I realized I was probably never going to write that, and neither was anyone else, so I might as well take it. And of course the fic closes with some jokes about Much Ado. And of course there IS much ado about knotting within. And 'nothing' was a cunt joke in the first place so like, fair's fair.
Apparuit Iam Beatitudo Vestra (21825 words)
Apparuit makes sense as a title (it's a bit of the Dante that Avon quotes in English, which is from Dante's description of seeing Beatrice for the first time and falling in love at first sight), but frustrates me, because in my mind it's always just 15fic. This is a good title, but I never SAY it.
Gauda Prime and Prejudice (53469 words)
PGP to GP&P. The slide between Prime and Pride too obvious to bother resisting. The planet is SUPER important in enabling this fusion/to the story, so it SHOULD show up in the title.
Sharp-Dressed Man (3029 words)
Not one I love. Still, Avon's pretty sharp, in the vicious sense. And now he also has a jacket. What can you do, eh?
In the Bleak Midwinter (32244 words)
This was always what this fic was going to be called. Intended for a Christmas/GPDay Bday zine for Katy, also an idea she proposed for a themed zine title (with options on Blake Midwinter--that or someone said it in her comments). From a Christmas carol, in a fic about and for Christmas, about a bleak, midway point in a couple's relationship.
Bonny & Clyde (3641 words)
A honeymoon fic about B&A committing a crime as a couple. Not exceptional, but fine.
A Jerk By Any Other Name (3032 words)
Aralias suggested it. It's not--RIGHT, but it does fine. Obviously this is 'a rose by any other name would smell as sweet', for a fic where Blake accidentally calls Avon a pet name. But Avon is a jerk. And lovely at times. But also a wanker. So.
Corporal Punishment (5988 words)
Not one I love. But yeah, this is the kink meme prompt determining what happens in the fic and thus what the title should be. See below.
Mirror Mirror (6452 words)
Obviously a kink-meme prompt about mirror sex is the reason this exists and also why the presence of the mirror is important enough to make it into the title, but the doubled-title also suggests how important mirroring and reciprocity are to the story. Also, Avon gets told he's the fairest of them all, etc. And there's a bit of fairy-tale bargain negotiation. I don't hate this title but it's not exceptional.
Campaign Notes (3344 words)
Always called 'F-NIN excerpt', originally two plot chunks direct from A/B (O). This title is an afterthought, but this is true/fine. Campaign Notes is true in a Watsonian sense, and also in a Doylist--these are mine for A/B (O).
Worst: "Rojer gave us a PAIN. Man we wracked on that one. I'm happy with it now though. Who knows, re: worst. Dance Dance Revolution is funny but misleading. I've done pretty well with titles this year I think."
I don't love Sharp-Dressed Man, A Jerk By Any Other Name or Corporal Punishment. The end-of-year titles aren't doing tons for me.
Best/worst summary?
"MAN I have sucked at summaries this year.
Best: I don't LOVE it, but GP&P?
"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single person must be in want of a partner. On Gauda Prime, the conviction had hardened into fact."
Roj Blake leads the Freedom Party from Gauda Prime, an agricultural commune with a harmless fetish for public assemblies and gossip. Kerr Avon, a free trader with an incredible ship, a fabulous supercomputer and no tact whatsoever, manages to get on Blake's bad side almost immediately."
ItBM is solid: "A year after their encounter on Gauda Prime, Blake and Avon are engaged in a war of attrition."
"Life must go on; Avon forgets just why." this is a good Millay re-working and some of her poems are important in the fic, but I don't think it's resonating for people, so it doesn't really work, does it.
"Worst:
Rojer: "Taking down the Federation might actually be easier than sorting out what's going on with Rojer's parents."
and
"As if…": "A series of short fics running through permutations of the soulmate-mark trope for this pairing."
So Rojer is functionally impossible to summarize. It's a kidfic. Ish. It's also military SF and politics--it's a novella about fighting and winning a war. It's also about a relationship that spans decades, with a LONG period before it's consummated, and then a substantial chunk dealing with the pairing characters' deaths and what happens after. Rojer, the title character, is the pairing characters' son and one of their political successors, and when we last see him he's like, 60, with adult children. So like, good. fucking. luck. Rojer is a better fic than this summary indicates, I think, but it's fucking DIFFICULT to be like--look um, buy in, trust me, this fic is a lot of goddamn things.
"As if" is functionally fucked bc it's 21 short stories that form a thematically united collection, and maybe I should have acknowledged this up-thread when thinking about the number of stories I'd written so far, but OH WELL."
"After the events of A/B (O), the war continues." That's bullshit, but I really have naught to say.
"In the course of indulging a whim, Blake and Avon are forced to view their shore-leave assignations from a different angle." ahaha it's about mirrors I love and hate myself.
None of the end-of-the-year fics have killer summaries.
Best/worst first line?
I NEVER think about this? But let's go.
Sherlock Holmes (Downey films)
The Magic Teapot [VHS] (776 words) Moriarty glanced over at the object lying on the ledge with mild curiosity.
Blake's 7
Dance Dance Revolution (11063 words) "Well?" Avon snapped into his communicator, using his irritation to disguise his nervousness.
Religious Ecstasy (8621 words) "I'm afraid I… can't," Gan said awkwardly.
Anabasis (3401 words) Kerr Avon walked through hell. It was, in large part, much as he'd expected.
Damosel Passing Fair (5320 words) Once, very early on in their acquaintance, he'd tried addressing Blake by her first name.
More Human Than I Am (6477 words) There is a type of vampire that comes as a friend.
“as if we were fools by heavenly compulsion” (30222 words) 21 short stories, NOT doing this one
Rojer (36770 words) Kerr Avon became a father on a bombed-out world covered in smoking rubble, which he felt was rather appropriate, all in all.
Post-Mortem (2763 words) Tired, Blake rubbed his eyes. When he glanced up, he blinked at the man standing in front of him.
The Last of the Chants (20899 words) It took Aven some time to find his falling star. For a start, he had to go to the right universe, and walking between universes wasn't an easy matter for him. That, actually, was the whole problem of his life.
Baron (3959 words) The children hadn't been in the car at the time.
Strings Attached (6044 words) Carnell was a psychostrategist - a very brilliant one - and he was technically on the run from the Federation ('technically' in that he was, indeed, a fugitive, but he seemed to be a comfortably stationary one).
A/B (O) (16358 words)
Ch 1: After the solar flares died away, and after the radiation from those flares and the Last War had finally cleared, the Ark returned human life to Earth.
Ch 2: “Here,” Blake snarled, taking off his jacket and turning his head to the side, baring his neck. “There’s an easy way to be sure of me, isn’t there.”
Objectively Attractive (1178 words) The two of them were alone on the flight deck when the distress signal came through. Plague on Cigna Majora.
Accounts Payable (4640 words) It hadn’t been easy to get the information out of Orac-he’d had to maneuver Vila into asking, because Blake had been quite clear that Orac was, under no circumstances, to communicate whatever was going on to /him./
Much Ado About Knotting (6190 words) The Infanta of Risin smiled winningly at Blake. This close to heat, her cheeks were tellingly flushed-they’d attained rather a pretty shade of pink. Her blond ringlets glinted slightly in the sun.
Apparuit Iam Beatitudo Vestra (21825 words) The Federation assigned work duties to Alphas at the age of fifteen. The youths continued on at school, but spent some days every week serving as apprentices on state projects (or in other industries, if the companies involved had filed the appropriate requests with the government and had paid the state for the students' labor).
Gauda Prime and Prejudice (53469 words) It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single person must be in want of a partner. On Gauda Prime, the conviction had hardened into fact.
Sharp-Dressed Man (3029 words) Avon didn't much like turning thirty-seven.
In the Bleak Midwinter (32244 words) "It was no way to spend Christmas. It was no way to spend any time at all."
Bonny & Clyde (3641 words) Blake blinked blearily up at Avon from the visibly vibrating shuttle berth. "It's not exactly a dignified honeymoon," he groused, not for the first time.
A Jerk By Any Other Name (3032 words) Blake would have blamed sheer exhaustion, if he had been the sort of person who blamed circumstances (especially ones he'd helped to create) for moments of personal weakness. He wasn’t.
Corporal Punishment (5988 words) Blake buried his face in his hands and proceeded to talk through them. "So, you’re willing to forgive my colleague's-"
“-incredible rudeness and blasphemy," the Governor's aide reminded him helpfully.
Mirror Mirror (6452 words) Blake introduced the subject of mirrors several months into their time on Liberator.
Campaign Notes (3344 words)
Ch 1: The Federation News and Information Network (F-NIN) controlled all media on Earth and the core planets.
Ch 2: With the destruction of its propaganda apparatus the Federation seemed to lose some of what little subtlety it had ever had.
SPECIAL GUEST KATY, WHO GIVES A FUCK ABOUT FIRST LINES:
Best is: It took Aven some time to find his falling star.
Worst is: Tired, Blake rubbed his eyes.
Erin: I think that one's fine tbh. It's a cinematic fic.
Katy: I also don't much like this one, but since my beta comments (which said - what is 'the subject' - more exciting, but INCREDIBLY confusing in context - 'that blake introduces?') have caused it to exist I feel bad nominating it: Blake introduced the subject of mirrors several months into their time on Liberator.
It works though in terms of us knowing what is going on in the scene, and in terms of not being TOO awkward :) I've written much worse myself.
Best/worst last line?
Sherlock Holmes (Downey films)
The Magic Teapot [VHS] (776 words) Moriarty smiled, and the expression had a strange, disingenuous sweetness to it. "So was I."
Blake's 7
Dance Dance Revolution (11063 words) “Why Blake, I thought you’d never ask.”
Religious Ecstasy (8621 words) Vila turned to Cally. "What the hell do they do in these Mysteries?"
Anabasis (3401 words) “Oh, I think otherwise. How much time do you have?"
"Well," Avon drawled, "for /you/--"
Damosel Passing Fair (5320 words) Servalan told her off sharply for romanticizing terrorists and set the strategist to her work, in full expectation of having to have the same conversation with a sixth and seventh version of the woman--provided, of course, that whatever Blake was planning didn't spare her the necessity.
More Human Than I Am (6477 words) “Nngh,” said Avon distinctly, launching himself on Blake.
“as if we were fools by heavenly compulsion” (30222 words) 21 short stories, NOT doing this one
Rojer (36770 words) "Not worried that it’s too much, then? Or about the people who’ll call it legacy building?" Rojer teased.
Porra laughed. "Oh, fuck them."
Post-Mortem (2763 words) Blake leaned in to kiss him, murmuring “oh, the same.”
The Last of the Chants (20899 words) "And I will find Blake and bring him home," he finished, eyes bright with intent. "If it takes me my life.”
Aven did Blake's work, and looked for Blake for seven years.
Baron (3959 words) Start again, completely. And miss Blake at the weeping of the rain, and want him at the shrinking of the tide, and nevertheless pretend resignation to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground, because Cordelia had asked him if he wanted to be better. And for her and for Ben and for Blake, always for Blake, he did. Or at least he wanted to want it. And that would have to be enough.
Strings Attached (6044 words) Still, one can guess some things - how fleeting are all human passions compared with the massive continuity of ducks!"
A/B (O) (16358 words)
Ch 1: Later, when he and Blake were separated and every rumor of Blake’s presence proved false, he rather regretted that he hadn’t gone and done it anyway.
Ch 2: “Maybe I’m waiting to be a godmother,” Soolin suggested, and Avon laughed.
Objectively Attractive (1178 words) Blake also did himself the courtesy of not crowing that he'd known he couldn't be attracted to an objectivist.
Accounts Payable (4640 words) It was what he was good at-all he was good at, it seemed. All he was.
Much Ado About Knotting (6190 words) “Peace,” Avon said with a lazy smile, climbing back onto Blake, feeling another cycle coming on. “I will stop your mouth.”
They kissed.
Apparuit Iam Beatitudo Vestra (21825 words) "/Well/ now," Blake drawled, mocking Avon's customary tone and expression, "all right. If you insist."
Gauda Prime and Prejudice (53469 words) He kissed Blake tenderly. "What the hell is a courting couch?" he asked, amused, and Blake laughed and explained.
Sharp-Dressed Man (3029 words) “Happy birthday,” he warbled tentatively, under his breath, “to /me/-”
In the Bleak Midwinter (32244 words) "And while he had no intention of becoming ‘as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew’, he still thought he might try to honour Christmas in his heart, and try to keep it all the year, and to live in the Past, the Present, and the Future and not shut out the lessons that they taught-provided that doing so would ensure Blake kept holding him like this all the year round."
Bonny & Clyde (3641 words) It was difficult to imagine where they’d go from here (other than ‘an incredibly opulent room, instead of this merely acceptable one’-Avon planned to insist on that-and a series of ludicrously expensive restaurants), but Avon was confident that, between them, they’d think of something to top this.
A Jerk By Any Other Name (3032 words) "See you in eleven hours," Blake deadpanned at his retreating back, and Avon fell into bed with a grin on his face, and slept the sleep of the Relatively Just.
Corporal Punishment (5988 words) "Excellent. I-" Blake began, with a strange, unaccustomed shyness, clearing his throat, "--teach a whole course, actually, if you're interested…"
Avon laughed outright.
Mirror Mirror (6452 words) And, of course, start a flurry of additional gossip and speculation. But he didn’t mind that, given that he’d finally obtained a satisfactory answer to the question himself.
Campaign Notes (3344 words)
Ch 1: Avon smacked the office door panel shut with a hard, desperate swipe of the flat of his hand.
Ch 2: This was supposed to stand in for both, and while Vila didn’t find that entirely satisfying, Avon wasn’t going to stop mediating his relationships via Blake any time soon. He’d said he trusted Vila with Blake, and for Avon, that was about as pure a declaration of friendship as there was.
Katy's comments:
Best - Why Blake, I thought you’d never ask.” (in fact - it reminds me of something i wrote once)
i also really like this - Still, one can guess some things - how fleeting are all human passions compared with the massive continuity of ducks!"
in general, i think erin does a pretty good ending :)
though there are some that are a bit weak, such as:
Avon laughed outright.
They kissed.
Erin: THAT is the stage direction from the scene of Much Ado they're quoting!
Katy: it's not obvious. this is also (and i remember when we discussed this, that the ending was problematic) far too long, and not really about the main fic:
Servalan told her off sharply for romanticizing terrorists and set the strategist to her work, in full expectation of having to have the same conversation with a sixth and seventh version of the woman--provided, of course, that whatever Blake was planning didn't spare her the necessity.
however - i also think THIS one is very good: Vila turned to Cally. "What the hell do they do in these Mysteries?"
funny stuff. how can you not care about 'lines'??? it's like… saying, you don't care about the fact that it's written in english or something. (reader - erin is saying she only doesn't care about first and last lines, as particular objects, however - i think they are very important as the first line and its fellows [when i did this i strictly kept to a single 'sentence' however in most cases when one is actually reading something you do go to the next line etc so really it should count] are very important in terms of 'is this story going to bore me, etc?' and the LAST lines are even MORE important in terms of 'am i either satisfied at the end of this fic,or just like - oh, it ended… is there, like, another chapter somewhere? that the author has forgotten to post? no… hm. ok - well, i liked it! i guess'
Erin: it depends on how you read, doesn't it? I could NOT recall for you rn any good phrase ending or beginning ANY fic. Oh no not one. And have I suffered greatly for not caring? Eh. Not so as I notice, but.
katy: ok. you wrote some good fic, somehow, despite that. <3
General questions:
Looking back, did you write more fics than you thought you would this year, less than you thought, or about what you predicted?
I feel this question is judging me.
What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted last year?
And again. Though tbh I could have predicted I would return to the unloving arms of my 15-year-old-self's otp. Because I don't understand concepts like 'closure'.
What's your favorite story this year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you the happiest.
"Rojer's probably the best. I slightly resent it for being better than I can regularly produce on command? I like my unwritten ideas more than I like my fic, a lot of the time." "Bleak Midwinter" is another 'best' contender.
Okay, NOW your most popular story.
"Oh man *nothing* this is such a quiet fandom, the most popular, “as if we were fools by heavenly compulsion”, only has 300 odd hits. It's so frigging fandom-dependent, isn't it? "Gentle Antidote" is just goodish, but Yuletide, so huge. Meanwhile in megafandoms… But I think Rojer, currently #2, will probably win out over time by virtue of being sort of like some old favs in this fandom. It is the most Judith Proctor or Suzan Lovettish thing I've done?"
Gauda Prime and Prejudice (53469 words) Subscriptions: 3 Hits: 540 Kudos: 23 Comment Threads: 26 Bookmarks: 1
“as if we were fools by heavenly compulsion” (30222 words) Subscriptions: 3 Hits: 364 Kudos: 27 Comment Threads: 44 Bookmarks: 2
Rojer (36770 words) Hits: 341 Kudos: 23 Comment Threads: 7 Bookmarks: 1
A/B (O) (16358 words) Subscriptions: 1 Hits: 329 Kudos: 17 Comment Threads: 7 Bookmarks: 3
Much Ado About Knotting (6190 words) Hits: 296 Kudos: 14 Comment Threads: 5 Bookmarks: 2
More Human Than I Am (6477 words) Hits: 210 Kudos: 23 Comment Threads: 3 Bookmarks: 1
So what we learn from this and the rest of the distribution curve is: length, tagging for tropes/sex acts, crossovers and fusions can bring the no-boys to the yard.
Story most underappreciated by the universe?
I feel like no one trusts me with Apparuit, but I wouldn't make that gross fuckery, and it's one of my better efforts.
"Baron" is better than other people think. It just is.
"I like DDR better than other people do, but I think Last of the Chants is probably v good (I can't really tell) and not huge bc people fear crossovers."
We'll see how the newish ones play out over time.
Story that could have been better?
"Anabasis. It's a bit of a fandom cliche, though I didn't quite know at the time--oh I knew PGP was a thing, I'd have to have never touched the fandom, just not afterlife stories. But Anabasis took me like two hours so who caaaares? It's not at all bad! It's just not amazing, and could be stronger on both ship and ensemble lines--and also I was fairly young, then, in my this-fandom writing."
"Much Ado About Knotting" doesn't QUITE come off.
Bonny & Clyde and Mirror Mirror could be smoother.
Sexiest story?
"Katy really liked the m/f B/A in Damosel Passing Fair, Religious Ecstasy has decent sex, and horrifyingly A/B (O) is fairly decent in this regard (the fuck was I thinking). I know Molly liked the m/f in the unpublished Knox's Rules. There's not actual sex in the underage fic, just a lot of loaded pining--that's weird (I should explain--there's an underage!fic because I essentially played Awkward Chicken with Paul Darrow's Avon novels, which is an awful idea--to win is to lose, and the only way to win is not to play)."
I got a vote for Corporal Punishment: "it’s the most about sex, except maybe Much Ado, and that is SEXY but I think the spanking is sexier, because almost the entire story is about about a slow motion fall into INTENSE, loaded, consciousness expanding sex." and for the snowball sex in Bleak Midwinter, but the story as a whole is, apparently, erotic rather than sexy: "even the non-sex parts are really like charged". (all of which is vv nice!!)
Another vote for A/B (O), with a special mention of Apparuit for 'sexiest Avon'.
Saddest story?
"Omg Baron. Listen let me spoil this for you. A mundane AU where Avon's husband Blake dies nastily in a car accident. Obsessed with the children's safety, wretchedly alone/needy, unable to grieve properly and desperately in love with his dead husband/their kids/the remnants of their life together, Avon shuts down and starts poisoning their children (Munchausen's by proxy). In the end he gets called on it by his daughter and agrees to try and get better, acknowledging that in most of the ways that matter he never can, and that his vaunted pride and self-control have been thoroughly trashed. For me one of the worst parts is in the better bit, when he realizes he won't be able to make food for the children anymore because he can't trust himself, and will maybe never again be able to--that he'll have to have his daughter check to make sure he's not tampered with the seals etc. In a canon and fandom that tortures this character no-end, this still feels really painful and humiliating and yet, to me at least, a *super-plausible* mundane place to go with… well a man who, in space opera canon, is obsessed with personal safety and nevertheless thinks it's reasonable to let himself be tortured for five days to avenge his dead girlfriend, not even getting into his Thing With Blake.
Special mention for Rojer, which made at least 3 people cry. Once I got to watch. O_O Yaaaaay."
Bleak Midwinter is GRIM, about a relationship that fails and fails and fails, and then builds and soars up. Accounts Payable is a brutal bitch-slap. It is AWFUL, and a deconstruction of a fandom-fav-character/some things that happen lots in this fandom/whether characters are entitled to happy endings per se/my otp. "Apparuit Iam" has Avon thinking about killing himself, but is actually not so bad. There is a very forward pigeon here rn.
Most fun?
"Strings Attached is cracky and joke-heavy with corset sex. There's Carnell, who's super-fun."
Story with single sweetest moment?
"appealed to elviaprose and she suggested: "I’d say either GP&P, Rojer, or possibly the Corset one, actually XP. I don’t know if it’s “sweet”-but the thing Carnell says about them remembering to be nice to each other is really lovely. Post Mortem is sweet but it doesn’t have a “moment”."
Maybe that bit in Detection where they lay down on all the papers about avon's fraud and Blake's torture sessions. Or Shiny Things, the close? Or Last of the Chants? (Though Molly argues we never get that moment in there--maybe bc we have the parts still to go). It's a weird call."
Asked her if she had an update: "surely Bleak Midwinter must be a strong contender. in that, what’s the sweetest moment for me? idk the “you do love me” thing probably ;_;" If only bc this story is SO sad that its uplift is profound. "Sharp Dressed Man is super sweet. also Apparuit Iam Beatitudo Vestra is SUPER sweet--if it’s that, it’s the convo about the sea". I find happiness rich and challenging to write, and work at it, honestly, so there's a deal of this.
Hardest story to write?
"I remember I was SO not feeling it for GP&P. Everything is weird bc I've been SUPER depressed during this period, and funneling my lack of feeling productive/frustration with academia into this in big, obvious ways. So there's been some groping in the dark: one day I could feel what was working, the next I was emotionally-numb and so essentially working blind, reliant on later editing and experience to push through. GP&P was the initial idea I had AGES ago for what one could do with this fandom, and it's long, a novel, and a bit plotty, and I'm still nooooot happy with its tone and characterization--whether I like it shifts with every read-through, and thanks to the zine editing process, there were a LOT."
Easiest/most fun story to write?
"I REALLY enjoyed writing Last of the Chants. Several of these essentially spilled out in a night--Religious, Damosel, More Human, Anabasis, Baron, Strings, Post-Mortem."
Looking back, As If was SO easy. And I love when I'm cranking stuff out and talking about it with first-readers (Robin at some points, more usually Molly, sometimes Katy, though she responds better to a done-fic than to ideas&WIPs).
Did any stories shift your perceptions of the characters?
"Well, it's a new fandom for me, so many! I feel like the gender swap ones, Damosel (f!Blake/m!Avon), Knox's Rules (f!Avon/m!Blake) (unfinished) and How to Spend It (plotted out, f/f), make me think more about fandom readings/expectations and canon and what's essential to the characters. As If probably helped just by being 21 shorts, so like, forcing me to raffle through permutations/possibilities and practice. Last's plotted sequel has helped a bit bc it has two versions of a character, Avon proper and Aven, from the nice magical Edwardianish Chrestomanci universe, and working with a radically AU version of anyone makes you think about what's essential to them--more so if you ALSO have to handle them-them. Overall I've gotten WAY more comfortable with the whole cast an an ensemble, and tend to read their canon relationships as nicer than I used to."
A LOT of these did, tbh--I kept working through some p different dynamics, and in almost all of them I'd stumble on some little character-bit or possible relationship configuration that I thought was or might be true or workable. The characters and relationships are NOT the same from fic to fic, but I do tend to carry over the information.
Most overdue story?
"For the zine, GP&P"
Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?
"Gosh, what have I not done. Unusual lengths, a theme'd collection, a new fandom, more and better gender-swapping than I have ever done, new wacky tropes I don't even like, v new story-structures for me. What did I learn, though--I think mostly I've been working into a different canon? Like I've had a LOT to do, with that."
Maybe I pushed myself, for plots, with Rojer and Bleak. And I had to write GP&P when I was like, feeling NOTHING, fumbling blindly in the dark with a depression spell, so that was a new skill--the ability to write when nothing's in me.
What are your fic writing goals for next year?
"My problem rn is that I am FAT with ideas and bizarrely compelled to write them and worried they'll go if they don't? I need to like--get a GRIP, jesus."
I am going to make a separate post for my Ideas. January I'm writing a not-fanfic novel, and then I'm focusing on the thesis.