My Year in Fanfic 2011

[nike_ravus]

My year in Fanfic 2011 - (I totally was planning on not doing this - too grumpy to try - but I gave in.)

So, this year was the year of trying to be a published author and a linguist, at the same time!  i.e. the year of not writing any fic.  Sorry.

The fic:

Emma/Emily

Sweet Talk 101

Back Before we were Brittle

Backpack

Demons - UNFINISHED unfortunately

A Scott’s Emma snippet

an office sex snippet

Sparklers  - a Fake Empire snippet

Semi-Regular Domestication

Postea - After Lauren (did not like this one)

City on the River 18

City on the River 19

Danny Zuko Timestamp: La Jeunesse Triomphante (After Ten Years After) A Bicker Christmas

Legend of the Seeker

High D’Haran Love Poetry Poem 99 - end

The Guild

Loot Rape and Pillage

Once Upon a Time

Like Musical Chairs

Apples, Mainly Apples

Snow Trips

Possibly the most exciting and validating thing to happen to me this year was winning the CM Rare Pair Femslash Romance award - Here, for The Charity Auction.  Thanks everyone!

Also, getting my first request for a full manuscript, (The rejection was not as exciting), and getting an out of the nowhere personalized and very kind rejection on a partial where the query had already been rejected six months before (just strange).  Also, getting accepted to publish my article on Fandom Pairing Names in a journal!  (But now I have to write it, OMG.)

01. Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?

Well, I think I wrote less than I thought I would, but more than I thought I did! When I started adding them all up, I had forgotten so many of them.

02. What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January?

Once Upon a Time!  It didn’t exist in January, and I am not the sort of person who actually picks up on new fandoms, ever.  The Guild was also a bit of a surprise.

03. What's your own favorite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest?

I think my favorite story would have to be High D’Haran Love Poetry.  I wrote it entirely for me, not caring that no one was reading it, because I wanted it to exist.  I wanted the side characters to have their turn in the spotlight.  I wanted to remind people that librarian-historians are cool, that Latin poetry is cool.  I wanted to play with the idea of being Mord’Sith, and how that interacts with being a woman, being poor or rich or smart, being in love, when you shouldn’t, and being smart enough to hate your master without ever letting on. 

04. Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?

I took the risk of not writing a lot of fic, and I feel like I may have lost readers by doing that, but I couldn’t do much else.  I didn’t really have the energy for it, after all the other things I was writing.

05. Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the New Year?

 Specifically, I want to get a bit more input on my skateboarding boy novel and query it again, and I want to finish the revisions on PLib and make sure it’s awesome, and query it.  It’s totally got a great concept, and if I can pull it off, I know someone will love it.  But I have to pull it off first.

For fic I want to finish Demons (I know what happens!  I have notes!  I just need to be in that grim and angsty mood.)  Add more to CotR and maybe explore OuaT a little more, I think I need to branch out a bit to keep fresh, and I really don’t have much more to say about E2, nothing that I haven’t said before.  But if inspiration strikes, I won’t say no!

06. From my past year of writing, what was...

My Best Story: Demons, I think, and if it were done it would be better, but it was wonderful to play with a new feel and just write about ugly ugly things for a while.

Story Most Underappreciated by the Universe:  High D’Haran Love Poetry – I think the Latin scared people off.  Also that they were mainly book characters.  NB.  Everything I know about the books comes from Wikipedia.  (Well, and my cousin, but he’s annoyingly uninterested in gay Mord’Sith)

Story Most Surprisingly appreciated by the Universe:  Back Before We were Brittle – I was sure this was terrible and disjointed and a mess, but people loved it, and when I went back and looked at it, sure enough, it was episodic and disjointed, but it was so cool.

Most Fun:  Loot, Rape and Pillage – video games and sex.  :D  Oh, Riley.

Most Disappointing: Postea - I thought it was okay but on second read through it sucked so much!  So, so much.  L

Most Sexy:   Sweet Talk 101 (It was smokin’  I have not been able to write anything comparable since!)

Hardest to Write: Back Before We Were Brittle – I wrote it during a very stressful time during the semester and barely managed to get it done.

Most Unintentionally Telling: High D’Haran Love Poetry - am I a nerd, yes, I am a nerd!

So, from this meager selection, what do other people think fit the bill for...

Best Story

Most Fun

Most Disappointing

Most Sexy

Most Unintentionally Telling?

Also, if you're wondering where I hang out online when I'm not here, I have a writing blog, where I review books and think about editing and why I hate paranormal romance in a very serious way.  There is very little porn.  However, I did post a picture that I found which is incredibly perfect for Mermadia Falcon!  Check it out!

Comments

[kith-koby.livejournal.com]

Best Story: A tie between High D’Haran Love Poetry and Demons. I loved them both so much, and they were both so detailed and... I don't know, high class sounds snobby, but they were. They were based on World War I, which was awesome, or Latin poetry, which is also awesome. They both described amazingly varied relationships in very interesting (and somewhat harsh) circumstances, with the characters being absolutely amazing. It took me a lot of time to get High D’Haran Love Poetry, mostly because I hate reading fanfic in which I don't know the fandom. But then I finally started reading Sword of Truth, and watched a bit of Legend of the Seeker (they made the Mord'Sith so awesome there, I'll have to watch more), that I finally began to understand and let it in. Berdine/Raina is my OTP for Sword of Truth (Cara/Dahlia for LotS, though).

Most Fun: I think the Scott's Emma snippet. After all, it was an answer to my request. Every word was hilarious, and the ending was perfect.

Most Disappointing: I guess City on the River, between 18 and 19. I don't really like this Emma this much, and weak(er) Emma throws Emily off completely. It's still a great story, but I want it to get somewhere, and between 18 and 19, I felt that we finally made progress, and then backtracked immediately. The end of 19 made up for it, though.

Most Sexy: I 'm debating between Bicker Christmas and Sweet Talk. I'll have to go with the latter. It was hotter, there was more of it, and of course, it was seduction.

Most Unintentionally Telling: Have to agree with you on this, High D'Haran Love Poetry. Everything I wrote above applies to it - incredibly detailed, incredibility out there (you just admitted you didn't even know the fandom), and so, so telling.

[kith-koby.livejournal.com]

Still here, perplexing and amusing comments to the contrary.
Thank you for writing everything. There's nothing I don't enjoy, although I try to comment only on those which I have at least some background knowledge (read: quick Wikipedia check) about.

I think there are very few fandoms I get into by reading fics... mostly it's only when there's a writer I really like and s/he seems to be into that fandom enough to write fics for it. You're actually an example - I was debating on Sword of Truth (because it was long and complicated, but I am a fantasy fan and it is a classic), and knowing you wrote fic for it pushed me over the edge. Kind of ironic, considering what you just told us about that. But hey, all's well that ends better. Maybe now you'll watch some LotS and get down to writing a few Cara pairings (the popular ones are apparently Cara/Dahlia and Cara/Kahlan - check fembuck's journal for a few examples, if you wish).

I don't think a resolution well be a letdown. If there's a world where Emma's the weak one, it seems to me that the world must balance somehow - and maybe that'll be happy by giving them a genuinely happy ending.

Lastly, thank you for the compliment. I am aware I (at least try to) comment regularly, but always felt lesser because I joined (relatively) recently. Well, as I said, no worries. A new year has come, but I plan to remain as long as yuo will have me.