End of the Year Writing Meme

[annundriel]

Sorry for the post spam, but I had to get that fic posted before I could do the end of the year fic meme.

Fic, ficlets, and drabbles included, I wrote and posted 42 (life, the universe, and EVERYTHING clearly) fics in 4 fandoms this year: 21 SPN, 13 NCIS, 5 Merlin, and 3 Due South. (I'm counting "Not Dudley Do-Right" as NCIS since it's Tony's POV.)

And 60 newspaper articles.

Last year I wrote 16 fics. To go from 16 to 42 is just...crazy. I don't know. sdrohc_ratiug says it's due to the goal I made at the beginning of last year: write a little every day. You do that and you're bound to end up with something finished.

Perhaps most amazingly, I managed to complete something over 5000 words. I have never done that before! Outside of classes or school projects. (I really should get a wordcount on my play...)

This year has been very strange for me, writing-wise. Strange in a good way. I don't know quite how to describe how I feel about it without sounding a bit looney toons. But I love where I am right now, creatively. (Except for that fic that just refuses to work. Bleh.)

Anyway.

Due South
Three Due South Ficlets: Don’t Look, White Out, A Better View
Crossover with NCIS: Not Dudley Do-Right

Merlin
These Walls Thy Sphere
A Glint of Silver
Patience
A Dream of Spring
Confession, It’s Good for the Soul

NCIS
Sucker
Double Oh
Shaken
Movie Night
Distracted
Best Laid Plans
Just a Front
Attention Span
Property Of
Don’t Hassel the Hoff
Morning
For Every Action
Crossover with Due South: Not Dudley Do-Right

Supernatural
From Thy Hand
Patterns of Experience
Now Mine End Doth Haste
Interior
Square Pegs
Time to Spare
There’s Not a Step We Can Take That Does Not Bring Us Closer
In Sleep
Free Will
Touched (In the Head)
A Starting Point
Eye Food
For the Time Being
Proving It
A Bells-on-the-Door, Pies Baking, Mom and Pop Place
Busted
when it is with your body
Backed Against a Wall
Them’s the Rules
In the Light of the Garden
Through That to This

*



My best story of this year:
There’s Not a Step We Can Take That Does Not Bring Us Closer. I don't know how I made this story work, but I'm glad I did. I think I hit a nice balance of plot and porn, of conversation and action. And I think it fits really nicely into the canon of the show in general and "Free to Be You and Me" in particular.

(Side-note: I was so upset when I realized the trip from Dean's original position to Maine in the episode would only take about 8 or 9 hours. I needed Castiel to be in the car with Dean, seeing him in a...differently intimate light than he had previously, just the two of them. But it worked out anyway!)

My favourite story of this year:
There’s Not a Step We Can Take That Does Not Bring Us Closer. Is it embarrassing to admit that I love this fic like I didn't spend a week poking at every word and punctuation mark? Because I do, I really do.

I also have a huge soft spot for From Thy Hand because it popped into my head and then onto the paper with very little trouble. It ended up being exactly what I wanted it to be, and that was kind of incredible for an entirely new pairing/fandom. The same could probably be said for Patterns of Experience and A Glint of Silver.

I want to mention Morning also, because I looooove Tim and Tony being comfortable and domestic.

Story most underappreciated by the universe, in my opinion:
I hate this question. But I'm going to leave it there and say Shaken, one of my NCIS fics for last January's porn battle. I really love the feel of it and think it has a lot of potential.

Most fun story to write:
Eye Food! Also, Don’t Hassel the Hoff.

Sexiest story:
I don't know! The ones with sex in them! Somebody else choose this one!

Story with the single sexiest moment:
The first thing that comes to mind is this bit from Patience:

Since all clothing was removed and Arthur manhandled Merlin onto the bed, there’s barely been any actual skin-on-skin contact. Save for Arthur’s kisses—which focus Merlin’s world down to expertly applied lips, tongue, and teeth—and the occasional maddening brush of Arthur’s hard cock against his own, the only point of contact has been Arthur’s dragon talon pendant where it swings hypnotically on its leather thong between them, tracing random shapes on Merlin’s skin as Arthur hovers above him.

The image of Arthur bent over Merlin with that pendent trailing between them was the reason I wrote the fic in the first place. I think I fairly successfully managed to get the fixation out there. ;)

Most "Holy crap, that's wrong, even for you" story:
None! At least none that made it onto paper.

Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:
I...really don't know. If there were shifts, they were gradual and not particularly noticeable. But I think Patterns of Experience really helped me work through my perceptions of Dean and Castiel as well as articulate the things I like to see in them together: a certain amount of attitude, playfulness, pushiness. But still clearly affection and deeply involved emotionally, no matter what that emotion may be. It was also maybe the first time I realized how much I love Castiel when he's got a trick up his sleeve ala "The Monster at the End of This Book."

Hardest story to write:
For Every Action. What the hell do I know about handcuffs? Though, arguably, what the hell do I know about gay sex? ;)

Biggest Disappointment:
I refuse to call anything finished a downright disappointment. There are one or two things that could have ended up in a better place, like a drabble or two. Mostly I'm just disappointed in all of the unfinished things I have laying around.

Biggest Surprise:
Movie Night as I'd never written anything that long or that long and porny before. The response to There's Not a Step We Can Take was a surprise.

Most Unintentionally Telling Story:
All of the fic with Dean and Castiel. I really like it when people are thrown/pressed/pushed against walls apparently and I have a difficult time keeping them from doing that. So every time I get an idea that starts, "Dean/Castiel was pressed against a wall," on the one hand I'm like, yea! writing, and on the other hand I'm like, oh lord not another wall. Let's put it all on the intensity of their relationship.

A Glint of Silver and Patience revealed to me that apparently I have a thing for jewelry. (Should this be under Biggest Surprise?)

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?
I didn't predict anything for the new year, but I definitely wrote more than I did last year.

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January 2009?
Supernatural. Never in a bajillion years would I have seen that coming. Or Dean/Castiel. Though once I got to Castiel on the show itself, well, duh. Of course that's where my interests would lie.

Did you take any writing risks this year? (See above for unexpected pairings, etc. What did you learn from them?)
Same as last year, basically: joining fic/pairing communities and actually putting fic out there beyond my flist. Last year I said I was going to try to put myself out there more. And I have. And it has been wonderful.

Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the New Year?
I'd like to try to do the daily creative writing thing again next year. And I definitely have NCIS, SPN, and Merlin fic started that I'd like to finish. (Note to self: Do not be tempted to combine them all.)

I'd like to thank the academy...(Thanks to your betas, frequent commenters/supporters, the people who stayed up with you late on IM...)
A HUGE thank you to everyone who reads. And comments. And waves their virtual pom-poms when I agonize or whine over fic before I post it. I am super lucky.

But a special thank you to ginnith, without whom none of this would happen. Probably. She's spent a good chunk of time making sense of drafts with my crazy notes in them and talking out word choices and sentence structures on the phone. For shows she doesn't watch and fandoms she's not a part of. I feel guilty about the amount of time I take away from her evenings, but I think we all benefit in the long run.


Also, I think it's fun to note that at least one Supernatural fic began life as Without a Trace fic (Time to Spare) while another was meant for Due South (Busted). I'm not really writing those now though, but each one either had a particular scene I still wanted to use (WaT) or an almost complete fic (DS). I was very happy to be able to use both.

Comments

[ginnith.livejournal.com]

D'Awww. Shucks. I'm happy to be involved! Thank you for all of the wonderful stories and snippets you've created and shared this year. And for all of those drabbles and things you used to write for me in high school. And for all of the wonderful new shows you've shared. You do lovely work, and I'm happy to be a small part of it.

♥ ♥

[annundriel.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! You know how happy I am to do all of it. (omg, the writing in high school! omg high school! ah, the memories...)

But I seriously don't know if I'll ever be able to fully express the level of gratitude I feel. I know you don't spend nearly as much time on these things as I do (since I'm the one writing them), but you still spend a good portion of time on them when I call you. And when I e-mail you. I'm half expecting Nick to take the phone out of your hands and hang up on me one of these days. :P

And with all that, you still put up with my insane inability to make a decision and nit-pick every little thing. So, thank you for all of that.

♥