A Fic Year In Review
Dec. 30th, 2008 01:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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thephoenixboy . With the New Year just around the corner, it seemed like a good time to take stock of everything written this year. (And arrange all the links in one place for my convenience >:3). And I do love a good post-mortem.
This was the year of the longfic. If I count longfic as anything more than 20,000 words, there were at least four of them, though I was only really satisfied with two of those. I also wrote many more one-shots and drabbles this year than… well, ever before. The art of short story continues to elude me, but my grasp is improving slowly over time.
January
This month belonged to Witch Hunt AU.
Of Witches and Warlocks and Those Who Hunt Them
TezRyo AU. Tezuka is a hermit living in the mountains who meets Ryoma, who’s out hunting witches.
Don’t really have much to say on this one – can’t really remember this far back. I remember struggling with characterisation a little, but that’s about it.
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
February
February was a really sparse month. I’ll blame this on overtime and the fact that February is the month in which the sun attempts to set fire to Australia.
Matchmaking Appliance Drabbles
A series of TezRyo drabbles. Air Conditioning, Couch, Doorknob and Kitchen Sink.
Can’t remember much about these either. :/ Oh, except that hardly anybody seemed to get that the controllers for the two rooms’ air conditioners were swapped. Obviously wasn’t emphasised enough. I call this the ‘Spirits Within’ phenomenon, where you forget to tell your audience the most important details of your story.
March
This month, completely owned by The Dispossession of Echizen Ryoma.
The Dispossession of Echizen Ryoma
TezRyoish. Ryoma gets kicked out of his home, and Tezuka is left to pick up the pieces.
This was a weird fic for me – it was in a sorry state before I got some beta help (<3ka0richan ), and probably the first time I did so much editing and rewriting. In the end, the extra time was worth it, as its final form is something I can look back at and not cringe. (Well, too much. It still lost its direction in parts, and often became a bit exposition-heavy, and there were some inconsistencies in the writing, but still a far sight better than what it was. Also the only fic I’ve written to ever be translated into another language?) Yay for the power of beta readers!
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
April
A good chunk of April belonged to Dispossession as well.
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Crimson Trails
A TezRyo Vampire AU.
I wrote this whole fic in less than a week, which at the time was a new record of words per day for me. I still don’t like the vampire genre, but this was sort of fun to write.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
A Traditional Ninja Romance
Ryoma’s mission: To infiltrate the Seigaku clan and seduce their leader.
Overall, I was pretty happy with this one, though in retrospect I think it would have been much better suited to present tense. At the time though, I was reluctant to let go of past tense, since I was so comfortable there.
Also, choreographing fight scenes? Extremely difficult. I hadn’t done anything like it since Another Witchmaker, so it was good brush up on that after a multi-year hiatus.
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
May
The only thing really written in May was more Ninja fic.
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
thephoenixboy . With the New Year just around the corner, it seemed like a good time to take stock of everything written this year. (And arrange all the links in one place for my convenience >:3). And I do love a good post-mortem.This was the year of the longfic. If I count longfic as anything more than 20,000 words, there were at least four of them, though I was only really satisfied with two of those. I also wrote many more one-shots and drabbles this year than… well, ever before. The art of short story continues to elude me, but my grasp is improving slowly over time.
January
This month belonged to Witch Hunt AU.
Of Witches and Warlocks and Those Who Hunt Them
TezRyo AU. Tezuka is a hermit living in the mountains who meets Ryoma, who’s out hunting witches.
Don’t really have much to say on this one – can’t really remember this far back. I remember struggling with characterisation a little, but that’s about it.
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
February
February was a really sparse month. I’ll blame this on overtime and the fact that February is the month in which the sun attempts to set fire to Australia.
Matchmaking Appliance Drabbles
A series of TezRyo drabbles. Air Conditioning, Couch, Doorknob and Kitchen Sink.
Can’t remember much about these either. :/ Oh, except that hardly anybody seemed to get that the controllers for the two rooms’ air conditioners were swapped. Obviously wasn’t emphasised enough. I call this the ‘Spirits Within’ phenomenon, where you forget to tell your audience the most important details of your story.
March
This month, completely owned by The Dispossession of Echizen Ryoma.
The Dispossession of Echizen Ryoma
TezRyoish. Ryoma gets kicked out of his home, and Tezuka is left to pick up the pieces.
This was a weird fic for me – it was in a sorry state before I got some beta help (<3
ka0richan ), and probably the first time I did so much editing and rewriting. In the end, the extra time was worth it, as its final form is something I can look back at and not cringe. (Well, too much. It still lost its direction in parts, and often became a bit exposition-heavy, and there were some inconsistencies in the writing, but still a far sight better than what it was. Also the only fic I’ve written to ever be translated into another language?) Yay for the power of beta readers!Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
April
A good chunk of April belonged to Dispossession as well.
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Crimson Trails
A TezRyo Vampire AU.
I wrote this whole fic in less than a week, which at the time was a new record of words per day for me. I still don’t like the vampire genre, but this was sort of fun to write.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
A Traditional Ninja Romance
Ryoma’s mission: To infiltrate the Seigaku clan and seduce their leader.
Overall, I was pretty happy with this one, though in retrospect I think it would have been much better suited to present tense. At the time though, I was reluctant to let go of past tense, since I was so comfortable there.
Also, choreographing fight scenes? Extremely difficult. I hadn’t done anything like it since Another Witchmaker, so it was good brush up on that after a multi-year hiatus.
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
May
The only thing really written in May was more Ninja fic.
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
How The American Arc Should Have Ended
Challenge for the twinnesses. TezRyo sort of. Based on a picture from Nabari no Ou (since Ryoma has Miharu vibes).
June
It’s All About the Lipstick
Thanks to faire_estela, I became addicted to Eyeshield21, and thus, this wound up being the first non-Tenipuri fic written for over six months. It was surprisingly difficult to find my feet in another fandom after spending so long in a single pairing, never mind the universe. I have now developed a deeper appreciation as to why it is Terry Pratchett is so reluctant to leave Discworld behind.
The Rinko Mystery
Echizen Rinko isn’t around very often, but Ryoma thinks it’s been an unnaturally long time since he last saw his mother.
Writing this one was an interesting experience for me, as I usually avoid the horror genre like the plague. Learnt a lot, and wound up being rather satisfied with it, though I still mentally kick myself for my lack of discipline in allowing Tezuka such a large role.
Part 1
Part 2
Painkiller Drabbles
Shallow crack about Tezuka and Ryoma high on painkillers.
It’s crack. I really don’t know how to critically analyse crack. I would pick on the characterisation, but the whole point of painkillers is to do away with that problem.
Tezuka-Side
Ryoma-Side
July
Went to Japan in July, so the entire month was mostly a write-off.
Meeting the Family
Gift fic for Kaorichan. Ryoma meets Tezuka’s family.
It was around this time that I started experimenting with present tense more (astute readers may have noticed that I almost exclusively write in past tense). It was still a little awkward in this one, but after the ice was broken it became easier.
August
Probably my most productive month of the year. The cool weather combined with the post-holidays high likely contributed to this.
The World Begins With Tennis
TezRyo, Prince of Tennis/TWEWY crossover. Ryoma has seven days.
This was written in an insanely short period of time for a long fic. TWEWY was my obsession of the moment, and the idea of this crossover gripped my soul, putting all other fics on hold until it was done. It was terribly self-indulgent – at the time of writing I was pretty sure I would be the only TezRyo fan also obsessed with TWEWY, but this thankfully turned out not to be the case.
I learned that I can get away with a bold ending, but I definitely can’t get away with doing anything bad to Karupin.
The First Day
The Second Day
The Third Day
The Fourth Day
The Fifth Day
The Sixth Day
The Seventh Day
Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
Seven Days Left
September
Six Days Left
Five Days Left
Four Days Left
Three Days Left
Two Days Left
The Last Day
Deimon High Recruitment Drive
Still on the crossover train… Eyeshield21/Tenipuri crossover. First humourous fic written for a while. Shallow fun. :)
Double-Dating With Rikkai
Tezuka and Ryoma go on a double-date with Niou and Yagyuu.
Another rather shallow fic, but was fun to write, if not particularly stretching. At some point in the year, NiouYagyuu joined my list of tenipuri vices, which is sort of odd as other than Renji (<3) my interest rarely lies outside of Seigaku. I blame Kaori.
October
Falling to the Dark Side
Giftfic forfaire_estela . Eyeshield21/Star Wars crossover.
I was pretty sure Ria would be the only other person on the planet to like it, but was pleasantly surprised by its reception. I still haven’t figured this one out.
Universe Roulette
Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Kyon wakes up one day, and the world is just a tiny bit different. Koizumi, annoyingly, continues to remain the same.
This is my black sheep of the year. I really didn’t like this fic – the pacing was bad, the plot thin and uninspired and it couldn’t seem to decide what it wanted to be - but much like Dispossession it was an itch that I couldn’t ignore. The difference was, I really didn’t want to put the same amount of work into it that I did Dispossession, so eventually just posted it to free myself of it. I do that sometimes. I probably shouldn’t. :S
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
November
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Fair Game
Tezuka, Ryoma and Ryoga. Tezuka’s devotion to Ryoma is equal only to Ryoga’s devotion to Tezuka. Time travel fic.
This was my other big failure of the year. It was fun to write, but I fell into that dangerous trap of trying to be clever and not explaining things properly. It’s a lesson I need to relearn periodically. The ‘Spirits Within’ effect is mighty.
Part One
Part Two
Gundam00 Drabbles
Setsuna and Tiera-centric Gundam drabbles to celebrate the beginning of the second season. Probably the first actual drabble-length drabbles I’ve written (as opposed to 1,000+ word one-shots).
Burning Love
More shallow cracky fun, born from a meme. TakaRyo. Kawamura develops a secret crush on Ryoma. It doesn’t stay secret for long when he has a racquet in his hands.
Not a lot to say about this one. It’s a hard pairing to write for, even when you’re pursuing crack.
That Heavy Secret
1827. Tsuna has a secret he hasn’t told anyone.
First foray in the KHR fandom. Was pretty happy with how it turned out, considering.
December
It’s interesting to watch my productivity plummet like a rock when Summer rolls around. Nothing kills a desire to sit at a computer and write like the sensation that your clothes are melting onto the chair. That said, I sure diversified my fandoms towards the end of the year. Hmm.
What Shadows Know
Persona3 fic, Akihiko/Minato. What could have been at the Shirakawa Hotel.
I’m sort of shocked that no one else wrote this first. Felt like a bit of a copout in the end though. There was longfic potential here. :/
The Laws of Shonen Jump Romance
Giftfic forargentum_luna . InuiRyo. Inui attempts to apply the laws of Shonen Jump Romance to Ryoma.
Short, but fun. Good practice for writing Inui.
Christmas Drabbles
An awful lot of drabbles (*coughs more like one shots*) in a variety of fandoms in a rather short time. Was a pretty good challenge as a lot of the requests forced me to try and write things I wouldn’t normally attempt, so it became a bit of an experiment. Like most experiments, some were failures, and others successes. I may have to try this again next time I have some free time on my hands.
Total Year's Output: Over 280,000 words. (But a lot of them were bad).
Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?
A bit more I guess. I’m sort of surprised I managed to write this much fanfiction while still managing to keep up with original stuff.
What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January 2008?
I wrote a horror/mystery fic and a vampire fic. I never thought I’d ever, ever do either of those. Also, lots more crossovers and AUs, something I only ever dabbled in before.
What's your favorite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest.
The World Begins With Tennis, have to say. Wrote the whole thing incredibly fast, yet it was probably one of the ones that I’m most satisfied with.
Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the New Year?
I have three longfics in progress that seem to be taking far too long to finish (or at least get far enough along so that I can begin posting) that I really want to get out of the way this year. They’re starting to bug me.
I might poke you guys for some feedback too. Which was your favourite fic of the year on this journal and why? Which one did you dislike the most (of the ones you read)? This sort of information makes it easier to sort out where I go right and which things I probably ought to work harder on (or sometimes, plain avoid).
Hey, while you’re at it also list your favourite story done by another author this past year – have a couple of days of holiday yet, could use some good reading!
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
How The American Arc Should Have Ended
Challenge for the twinnesses. TezRyo sort of. Based on a picture from Nabari no Ou (since Ryoma has Miharu vibes).
June
It’s All About the Lipstick
Thanks to faire_estela, I became addicted to Eyeshield21, and thus, this wound up being the first non-Tenipuri fic written for over six months. It was surprisingly difficult to find my feet in another fandom after spending so long in a single pairing, never mind the universe. I have now developed a deeper appreciation as to why it is Terry Pratchett is so reluctant to leave Discworld behind.
The Rinko Mystery
Echizen Rinko isn’t around very often, but Ryoma thinks it’s been an unnaturally long time since he last saw his mother.
Writing this one was an interesting experience for me, as I usually avoid the horror genre like the plague. Learnt a lot, and wound up being rather satisfied with it, though I still mentally kick myself for my lack of discipline in allowing Tezuka such a large role.
Part 1
Part 2
Painkiller Drabbles
Shallow crack about Tezuka and Ryoma high on painkillers.
It’s crack. I really don’t know how to critically analyse crack. I would pick on the characterisation, but the whole point of painkillers is to do away with that problem.
Tezuka-Side
Ryoma-Side
July
Went to Japan in July, so the entire month was mostly a write-off.
Meeting the Family
Gift fic for Kaorichan. Ryoma meets Tezuka’s family.
It was around this time that I started experimenting with present tense more (astute readers may have noticed that I almost exclusively write in past tense). It was still a little awkward in this one, but after the ice was broken it became easier.
August
Probably my most productive month of the year. The cool weather combined with the post-holidays high likely contributed to this.
The World Begins With Tennis
TezRyo, Prince of Tennis/TWEWY crossover. Ryoma has seven days.
This was written in an insanely short period of time for a long fic. TWEWY was my obsession of the moment, and the idea of this crossover gripped my soul, putting all other fics on hold until it was done. It was terribly self-indulgent – at the time of writing I was pretty sure I would be the only TezRyo fan also obsessed with TWEWY, but this thankfully turned out not to be the case.
I learned that I can get away with a bold ending, but I definitely can’t get away with doing anything bad to Karupin.
The First Day
The Second Day
The Third Day
The Fourth Day
The Fifth Day
The Sixth Day
The Seventh Day
Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
Seven Days Left
September
Six Days Left
Five Days Left
Four Days Left
Three Days Left
Two Days Left
The Last Day
Deimon High Recruitment Drive
Still on the crossover train… Eyeshield21/Tenipuri crossover. First humourous fic written for a while. Shallow fun. :)
Double-Dating With Rikkai
Tezuka and Ryoma go on a double-date with Niou and Yagyuu.
Another rather shallow fic, but was fun to write, if not particularly stretching. At some point in the year, NiouYagyuu joined my list of tenipuri vices, which is sort of odd as other than Renji (<3) my interest rarely lies outside of Seigaku. I blame Kaori.
October
Falling to the Dark Side
Giftfic for
faire_estela . Eyeshield21/Star Wars crossover. I was pretty sure Ria would be the only other person on the planet to like it, but was pleasantly surprised by its reception. I still haven’t figured this one out.
Universe Roulette
Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Kyon wakes up one day, and the world is just a tiny bit different. Koizumi, annoyingly, continues to remain the same.
This is my black sheep of the year. I really didn’t like this fic – the pacing was bad, the plot thin and uninspired and it couldn’t seem to decide what it wanted to be - but much like Dispossession it was an itch that I couldn’t ignore. The difference was, I really didn’t want to put the same amount of work into it that I did Dispossession, so eventually just posted it to free myself of it. I do that sometimes. I probably shouldn’t. :S
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
November
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Fair Game
Tezuka, Ryoma and Ryoga. Tezuka’s devotion to Ryoma is equal only to Ryoga’s devotion to Tezuka. Time travel fic.
This was my other big failure of the year. It was fun to write, but I fell into that dangerous trap of trying to be clever and not explaining things properly. It’s a lesson I need to relearn periodically. The ‘Spirits Within’ effect is mighty.
Part One
Part Two
Gundam00 Drabbles
Setsuna and Tiera-centric Gundam drabbles to celebrate the beginning of the second season. Probably the first actual drabble-length drabbles I’ve written (as opposed to 1,000+ word one-shots).
Burning Love
More shallow cracky fun, born from a meme. TakaRyo. Kawamura develops a secret crush on Ryoma. It doesn’t stay secret for long when he has a racquet in his hands.
Not a lot to say about this one. It’s a hard pairing to write for, even when you’re pursuing crack.
That Heavy Secret
1827. Tsuna has a secret he hasn’t told anyone.
First foray in the KHR fandom. Was pretty happy with how it turned out, considering.
December
It’s interesting to watch my productivity plummet like a rock when Summer rolls around. Nothing kills a desire to sit at a computer and write like the sensation that your clothes are melting onto the chair. That said, I sure diversified my fandoms towards the end of the year. Hmm.
What Shadows Know
Persona3 fic, Akihiko/Minato. What could have been at the Shirakawa Hotel.
I’m sort of shocked that no one else wrote this first. Felt like a bit of a copout in the end though. There was longfic potential here. :/
The Laws of Shonen Jump Romance
Giftfic for
argentum_luna . InuiRyo. Inui attempts to apply the laws of Shonen Jump Romance to Ryoma. Short, but fun. Good practice for writing Inui.
Christmas Drabbles
An awful lot of drabbles (*coughs more like one shots*) in a variety of fandoms in a rather short time. Was a pretty good challenge as a lot of the requests forced me to try and write things I wouldn’t normally attempt, so it became a bit of an experiment. Like most experiments, some were failures, and others successes. I may have to try this again next time I have some free time on my hands.
Total Year's Output: Over 280,000 words. (But a lot of them were bad).
Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?
A bit more I guess. I’m sort of surprised I managed to write this much fanfiction while still managing to keep up with original stuff.
What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January 2008?
I wrote a horror/mystery fic and a vampire fic. I never thought I’d ever, ever do either of those. Also, lots more crossovers and AUs, something I only ever dabbled in before.
What's your favorite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest.
The World Begins With Tennis, have to say. Wrote the whole thing incredibly fast, yet it was probably one of the ones that I’m most satisfied with.
Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the New Year?
I have three longfics in progress that seem to be taking far too long to finish (or at least get far enough along so that I can begin posting) that I really want to get out of the way this year. They’re starting to bug me.
I might poke you guys for some feedback too. Which was your favourite fic of the year on this journal and why? Which one did you dislike the most (of the ones you read)? This sort of information makes it easier to sort out where I go right and which things I probably ought to work harder on (or sometimes, plain avoid).
Hey, while you’re at it also list your favourite story done by another author this past year – have a couple of days of holiday yet, could use some good reading!
