Looking back 1 and 10

[tsukinofaerii]

Or, you know, not. 2009 sucked, as any and all have heard me proclaim. The ten years before it wasn't much better. Actually, I think I can fairly say that the majority of unpleasantness in my life has taken place in the last decade. Saving fandom. That's been exactly the opposite of unpleasant. Case in point for the last decade, last night I was disowned again. So much for holiday cheer. *sigh*

So, rather than dwell deeply, a meme! Stolen blatantly from jazzypom.

Year End Word Counts:
Oi. Looking back, it's about 150k words, with a whopping 70k of that still in beta (50k NaNoWriMo and 20k a KH-Pern fic). So pubished, about 80k. Not including, of course, various comment fics scattered hither and yon.

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?
I didn't really think I'd write much, but I thought the number would have been higher while I was calculating, so I suppose the actual number came in low.

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January?
Marvel Comics, Captain America and Iron Man, definitely. I never saw that one coming. In January of 2009, I would have cheerfully sworn blue that I'm not a comic book fan. I have only the vaguest idea of what happened (coughcough*velithyacough), but somehow I'm digging through decades of backstory and complaining when issues are late. What's happened to me?

What's your own favorite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest?Hmm. That's hard, because I always hate my stories, but I think I had the most fun with A Call For Volunteers. It's Final Fantasy XII, only thinly shippy, and doesn't even contain any major characters, but I enjoyed writing it and quietly building up my own vision for that world's most insignificant characters, the guards.

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?
Hmmm. I want to say "no", because in a lot of ways I followed what I usually do. I like to play with cliché and redo what's "done". But I also started dipping into double meanings in my stories, and that was risky writing for me. I'm starting to enjoy leaving things open for interpretation, and playing with the story. There's something fun about leaving out bits of a story, or hiding them. Yes, I might be evil. I also started touching on (gasp) less fluffy topics.

From my past year of writing, what was...
My best story of this year:
Of the published, Keep Your Gloves On. I like the way that one slotted together. It feels smooth, if that makes any sense at all. I generally don't like my porn, but that one really came together.

My most popular story of this year:
Of Boxes and Homes, hands down. That's the only one so far that I can look back and say, definitely and without a doubt, that it was well-accepted and is actually "popular" in standard terms.

Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:
>> An Uneven Trade. I really don't know what happened with that one. Maybe the crossover aspect scared people away, IDK.

Most fun story to write:
What You Have Tames, amazingly. It started out as a shameless kink meme blow job bit, and then sort of exploded. I never intended for it to get as big as it did, or to have as many implications as it did. But as many flaws as it has (gods, does it have a lot of flaws), it was fun to write. I enjoyed the small challenge of sitting down daily to get the next part out. I didn't want to be one of those kink meme anonymice that start a fic and then leave it languish, but I didn't feel rushed either. It was... interesting.

Story with the single sexiest moment:
D: I'm going to go by "which one people seemed to like best", because I have nothing good to say about my own porn. Actually, looking back, I have a dearth of porn this year. Which isn't surprising, seeing as I do a lot of writing at work and I don't generally like my porn, so I tend to include it when the plot calls for it.

Taking all of that into consideration, Keep Your Gloves On wins again. What can I say? The Captain America uniform seems to press people's buttons.

Most "Holy crap, that's wrong, even for you" story:
I didn't really have one. Odd. oO The closest would be this Christmasy mush, and it's mostly "lolwhut" on the crossover/fusion and plot bits.

Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:
Actually, a writing exercise takes this place. It's Counting Games, which honestly is sort of the start of my head!canon being built about Ultimate Cap's sexuality. Before that bit of writing, I would have pinned him as bisexual, or even mostly heterosexual with Tony as his exception. Now, it makes sense to me that maybe it's exactly the other way, and he's just that much more a man of his times.

Hardest story to write:
Betwixt. That one made me want to kill my keyboard. THREE possible story lines, ARGH. KILL IT WITH FIRE. And I'm not even confident in how it came out, in the end. *SIGH*

Biggest Disappointment:
The stories I didn't finish publishing, whether due to failings in the writing process or editing. That my NaNo still languishes (I could have worked harder at getting it edited), and the stories half-written on my harddrive that may never be finished at all now. Admittedly, some of them I've grown beyond, but I still regret stories untold.

Biggest Surprise:
An unexpected taste for Het, in the right fandoms at the right times. oO Bizarre. It hasn't seemed to have affected my writing, much, but I expect it to. Scary.

Most Unintentionally Telling Story:
:\ I think it might have been Ashes and Dust, a Halloween-y drabble I did. I have parental issues, and a major fear of leaving people behind. It managed to touch on both.

My fic writing goals for 2010:
I want to stretch my writing muscles and actually write something that's more than "get A and B into a relationship". Preferably something topping 100k words, but I'll settle for another NaNo length. I have a real admiration for writers who can combine the shipping and an action plotline--or two!--seamlessly. There's something magical in looking back at a story and not being able to pick one out of the other, but right now I have trouble even juggling two, much less merging them.

So! Happy New Year to all! I'm due home Saturday evening, and then back to work on Monday. I cross my heart and promise to work on my NaNo fic as soon as family togetherness is done. Life happened and the person who was looking at it had to set it aside (though I did get some wonderful notes for what she did get to \o/), so if anyone would like to volunteer? I'm not above begging. :D

Comments

I'll offer to beta for your nano fic

[jazzypom.livejournal.com]

well, the bits that you need. I'm under the fug of cold and sinuses. LOL.

[valtyr]

Aw, poor tsukinofaerii, all surrounded by suck. The new year will be better. <3

I too have far more unpublished work than actually out and about. :/ Oh well.

[velithya]

HI.