A Fic Year In Review - 2009
Dec. 31st, 2009 10:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sinnatiousGiven my lack of a fic masterlist, next best thing is to do another Fic Year in Review! It's not really a proper post-mortem, but it helps to look back on the year's writing accomplishments (or lack thereof) and take stock of lessons learnt.
The complete antithesis of last year, this was the year of the one-shot. Only three fics of any significant length, and one of those is still in progress.
January
January belonged entirely to sci-fi Pillar longfic.
Technoromanticism
Tenipuri, TezRyo Robot AU.
I have a soft spot for this fic, but in retrospect I'm not really happy with how it came out. I feel a bit embarrassed at my own pretentiousness, and I also think there needed to be another chapter between 8 and 9 to address some issues that were glossed over and left the ending as a bit unsatisfactory.
Chapter 1.0
Chapter 2.0
Chapter 3.0
Chapter 4.0
Chapter 5.0
Chapter 6.0
Chapter 7.0
Chapter 8.0
Chapter 9.0
February
The Probability of Dating
Tenipuri, InuiRyo. Inui calculates that there is only a 0.02% chance that Echizen would be willing to date him. Fortunately, that data can be changed.
I actually really, really, really want to rewrite this fic. At the time, I was feeling a bit uninspired, and it was a real slog to get through it, so there were a few shortcuts taken. It seemed to get a favourable enough reaction (especially for such an unusual pairing), and I probably wouldn't change much about the beginning or ending, but the middle chapters definitely had some much more amusing plot potential that went unexploited. That said, I'm not big on rewriting already posted fic when I could be working on new fic instead, so it will probably remain as is unless I suddenly find myself with a ridiculous surplus of free time.
Notebook 1
Notebook 2
Notebook 3
Notebook 4
Notebook 5
Notebook 6
Notebook 7
Notebook 8
March
Probability of Dating continued in March as well.
Notebook 9
Notebook 10
Notebook 11
Notebook 12
At The Open
Tenipuri, TezRyo. Of ball boys and linesmen.
Shortest fic written in 2009. Giftfic for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ka0richan written out by hand in the hotel after the Australian Open. Apparently the secret to writing something less than 1,000 words is to take away my keyboard.
Last Hours
Bokurano. The last hours of Ushiro's battle.
Bokurano is one of those weird fandoms for me where I love it to death, but in such a way where I don't have any real desire to play with or explore the canon further. So this really was just pointless scribbling, and thus don't have much to say about it. Reminded me that I'd become lax with description, however (and that's true even now, though I'm slowly reversing that trend.)
Turnabout Is Fair Play
Tenipuri, NiouYagyuu and TezRyo. Yagyuu and Tezuka meet for tea and discuss their respective boyfriends... or do they?
Amusing though the twist was, I'm not very fond of this one-shot. The fault was probably with the initial setup providing a weak hook.
April
Stalking The Angel
Tenipuri, TezRyo AU. Tezuka Kunimitsu, up-and-coming detective, is transferred to assist in a case of serial murders.
Collaboration withka0richan. Considering I'd never done a proper writing collaboration before (and none since, really) this was a big learning experience for me. It was great exercise trying to match someone else's writing style, too, though honestly I suspect ka0richan did the heavy lifting there. ^_^
Movement 1
Movement 2
Movement 3
Movement 4
The Wheels of ShinRa's Economy
FFVIICC. Even after the events at Nibelheim, there are still missions to be done.
Final Fantasy VII fandom, which I had floated in and out of for some years, finally got its hooks back into me with the triple-whammy of Crisis Core, Advent Children Complete, and Dissidia. (Less so with Dirge of Cerebus). With game fics, I love trying to fit game mechanics into real-world applications, and this one was doozy I could not ignore. One of my personal favourites.
May
His Butler
Tenipuri, TezRyo, Kuroshitsuji AU. Tezuka as Sebastian and Ryoma as Ciel.
Based off a prompt forsilverymare. I suspect I missed the goal of the prompt, and while I'm not unhappy with the fic per se, it could have been a lot better. This may have been because I was not super-familiar with the Kuroshitsuji fandom at the time, having only seen the first few episodes.
Forever
Natsume Yuujinchou. The curse of immortality, and Madara refusing to let go.
My first Natsume Yuujinchou fic! At this stage, the only one, but I have hopes of changing that. Was very satisfied with this one-shot - there's not much I would do differently looking back on it now (though my opinion may change with another couple of years of wisdom under my belt.)
Three Minutes
Tenipuri. Voice Actor AU. Tezuka, Ryoma and Yukimura voice a BL anime.
This was ridiculously fun to do. I love writing banter and dialogue, and this called for almost nothing else. Prompted bysillk, so all credit for the wonderful idea goes to her. The biggest challenge was writing a Yukimura who wasn't evil. (I can't help it, Yukimura just makes such a darn awesome villain.)
June
Foul Line
Eyeshield21, HiruSena. Hiruma had a lot of enemies, and eventually, someone else was going to get a gun.
This was a vague idea that had been rolling around in my head and got spat out in a relatively unpolished state. I was going through a writing funk at this time (one that started at the beginning of the year) and was really struggling with basic plotting and word flow.
Let
Tenipuri, TezRyo. Tezuka has needs, and Ryoma will do anything for tennis.
I can't really explain this one. Possibly a terrible side-effect of reading too many trashy yaoi novels. On the other hand, it was good writing exercise - writing 'safe' material all the time dulls the writing, and it helped me work out some kinks in description that had been giving me trouble.
July
Went to Japan late July/early August, so just the one fic for July.
Quiet Typhoon
Persona 3, Akihiko/Minato. Akihiko plays nursemaid during the typhoon, and that gives him way too much spare time to ponder things.
This one was far too heavy on the exposition.
August
A Little Bit Selfish
Tenipuri, TezRyo. Tezuka throws out Ryoma's mail.
This was one of the better Tenipuri fics I wrote this year. The break I took from writing in the fandom for a while helped - I was getting too sloppy and stale.
September
No fic was posted in September! Can you believe?
October
Allure of Honey
Dissidia. Everyone/Cloud. Cloud winds up in an outfit he swore to never wear again.
This was the fic that finally broke my writing funk. Most everything written from April to September was trash that didn't get posted. Such is the power of Cloud crossdressing.
November
The rest of the year belongs almost entirely to The Fifth Act. It's still on-going, and looks set up to be the longest fic I'll have written since Another Witchmaker. It's already overtaken Caught In A Ladder and The Dispossesion of Echizen Ryoma. Such is the allure of time travel stories.
The Fifth Act
FFVII time travel. Cloud has an accident with a Time materia.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
December
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
...TBC!
And also can't forget
Xmas Drabbles!
That's over ten thousand words right there. Still four left to complete, guess I'm not going to finish them befor the New Year ticks over after all, sorry! It's a really good exercise, though, in that it forces me to write outside my comfort zone. Will probably turn it into an annual tradition. Requests were almost entirely FFVII and Tenipuri TezRyo though, what gives, guys? I thought for sure more people would use it as an opportunity to coerce me into writing other fandoms like last year's. XDNot that I'm complaining.
Total Year's Output: Over 175,000 words. Significantly down from last year.
Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?
Much less. Not only was my fic total lower, but I wrote less original work as well, so it was a huge skydive. Can probably attribute most of it to that April-October funk.
What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January 2008?
FFVII fandom. Also, I haven't really written any outside of Xmas drabbles yet, but in terms of ships, Genesis/Cloud. Where did that come from?
What's your favorite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest.
Forever, the Natsume Yuujinchou one-shot. Written entirely on a whim, and came out pretty good (in my opinion, anyway). Next favourite would be Allure of Honey.
Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the New Year?
Yes. :3
This didn't really work last year, but let's try again - I might poke you guys for some feedback too. Which was your favourite fic of the year on this journal and why? And more importantly, which one did you dislike the most (of the ones you read)?
The complete antithesis of last year, this was the year of the one-shot. Only three fics of any significant length, and one of those is still in progress.
January
January belonged entirely to sci-fi Pillar longfic.
Technoromanticism
Tenipuri, TezRyo Robot AU.
I have a soft spot for this fic, but in retrospect I'm not really happy with how it came out. I feel a bit embarrassed at my own pretentiousness, and I also think there needed to be another chapter between 8 and 9 to address some issues that were glossed over and left the ending as a bit unsatisfactory.
Chapter 1.0
Chapter 2.0
Chapter 3.0
Chapter 4.0
Chapter 5.0
Chapter 6.0
Chapter 7.0
Chapter 8.0
Chapter 9.0
February
The Probability of Dating
Tenipuri, InuiRyo. Inui calculates that there is only a 0.02% chance that Echizen would be willing to date him. Fortunately, that data can be changed.
I actually really, really, really want to rewrite this fic. At the time, I was feeling a bit uninspired, and it was a real slog to get through it, so there were a few shortcuts taken. It seemed to get a favourable enough reaction (especially for such an unusual pairing), and I probably wouldn't change much about the beginning or ending, but the middle chapters definitely had some much more amusing plot potential that went unexploited. That said, I'm not big on rewriting already posted fic when I could be working on new fic instead, so it will probably remain as is unless I suddenly find myself with a ridiculous surplus of free time.
Notebook 1
Notebook 2
Notebook 3
Notebook 4
Notebook 5
Notebook 6
Notebook 7
Notebook 8
March
Probability of Dating continued in March as well.
Notebook 9
Notebook 10
Notebook 11
Notebook 12
At The Open
Tenipuri, TezRyo. Of ball boys and linesmen.
Shortest fic written in 2009. Giftfic for
ka0richan written out by hand in the hotel after the Australian Open. Apparently the secret to writing something less than 1,000 words is to take away my keyboard.Last Hours
Bokurano. The last hours of Ushiro's battle.
Bokurano is one of those weird fandoms for me where I love it to death, but in such a way where I don't have any real desire to play with or explore the canon further. So this really was just pointless scribbling, and thus don't have much to say about it. Reminded me that I'd become lax with description, however (and that's true even now, though I'm slowly reversing that trend.)
Turnabout Is Fair Play
Tenipuri, NiouYagyuu and TezRyo. Yagyuu and Tezuka meet for tea and discuss their respective boyfriends... or do they?
Amusing though the twist was, I'm not very fond of this one-shot. The fault was probably with the initial setup providing a weak hook.
April
Stalking The Angel
Tenipuri, TezRyo AU. Tezuka Kunimitsu, up-and-coming detective, is transferred to assist in a case of serial murders.
Collaboration with
ka0richan. Considering I'd never done a proper writing collaboration before (and none since, really) this was a big learning experience for me. It was great exercise trying to match someone else's writing style, too, though honestly I suspect ka0richan did the heavy lifting there. ^_^Movement 1
Movement 2
Movement 3
Movement 4
The Wheels of ShinRa's Economy
FFVIICC. Even after the events at Nibelheim, there are still missions to be done.
Final Fantasy VII fandom, which I had floated in and out of for some years, finally got its hooks back into me with the triple-whammy of Crisis Core, Advent Children Complete, and Dissidia. (Less so with Dirge of Cerebus). With game fics, I love trying to fit game mechanics into real-world applications, and this one was doozy I could not ignore. One of my personal favourites.
May
His Butler
Tenipuri, TezRyo, Kuroshitsuji AU. Tezuka as Sebastian and Ryoma as Ciel.
Based off a prompt for
silverymare. I suspect I missed the goal of the prompt, and while I'm not unhappy with the fic per se, it could have been a lot better. This may have been because I was not super-familiar with the Kuroshitsuji fandom at the time, having only seen the first few episodes.Forever
Natsume Yuujinchou. The curse of immortality, and Madara refusing to let go.
My first Natsume Yuujinchou fic! At this stage, the only one, but I have hopes of changing that. Was very satisfied with this one-shot - there's not much I would do differently looking back on it now (though my opinion may change with another couple of years of wisdom under my belt.)
Three Minutes
Tenipuri. Voice Actor AU. Tezuka, Ryoma and Yukimura voice a BL anime.
This was ridiculously fun to do. I love writing banter and dialogue, and this called for almost nothing else. Prompted by
sillk, so all credit for the wonderful idea goes to her. The biggest challenge was writing a Yukimura who wasn't evil. (I can't help it, Yukimura just makes such a darn awesome villain.)June
Foul Line
Eyeshield21, HiruSena. Hiruma had a lot of enemies, and eventually, someone else was going to get a gun.
This was a vague idea that had been rolling around in my head and got spat out in a relatively unpolished state. I was going through a writing funk at this time (one that started at the beginning of the year) and was really struggling with basic plotting and word flow.
Let
Tenipuri, TezRyo. Tezuka has needs, and Ryoma will do anything for tennis.
I can't really explain this one. Possibly a terrible side-effect of reading too many trashy yaoi novels. On the other hand, it was good writing exercise - writing 'safe' material all the time dulls the writing, and it helped me work out some kinks in description that had been giving me trouble.
July
Went to Japan late July/early August, so just the one fic for July.
Quiet Typhoon
Persona 3, Akihiko/Minato. Akihiko plays nursemaid during the typhoon, and that gives him way too much spare time to ponder things.
This one was far too heavy on the exposition.
August
A Little Bit Selfish
Tenipuri, TezRyo. Tezuka throws out Ryoma's mail.
This was one of the better Tenipuri fics I wrote this year. The break I took from writing in the fandom for a while helped - I was getting too sloppy and stale.
September
No fic was posted in September! Can you believe?
October
Allure of Honey
Dissidia. Everyone/Cloud. Cloud winds up in an outfit he swore to never wear again.
This was the fic that finally broke my writing funk. Most everything written from April to September was trash that didn't get posted. Such is the power of Cloud crossdressing.
November
The rest of the year belongs almost entirely to The Fifth Act. It's still on-going, and looks set up to be the longest fic I'll have written since Another Witchmaker. It's already overtaken Caught In A Ladder and The Dispossesion of Echizen Ryoma. Such is the allure of time travel stories.
The Fifth Act
FFVII time travel. Cloud has an accident with a Time materia.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
December
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
...TBC!
And also can't forget
Xmas Drabbles!
That's over ten thousand words right there. Still four left to complete, guess I'm not going to finish them befor the New Year ticks over after all, sorry! It's a really good exercise, though, in that it forces me to write outside my comfort zone. Will probably turn it into an annual tradition. Requests were almost entirely FFVII and Tenipuri TezRyo though, what gives, guys? I thought for sure more people would use it as an opportunity to coerce me into writing other fandoms like last year's. XD
Total Year's Output: Over 175,000 words. Significantly down from last year.
Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?
Much less. Not only was my fic total lower, but I wrote less original work as well, so it was a huge skydive. Can probably attribute most of it to that April-October funk.
What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January 2008?
FFVII fandom. Also, I haven't really written any outside of Xmas drabbles yet, but in terms of ships, Genesis/Cloud. Where did that come from?
What's your favorite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest.
Forever, the Natsume Yuujinchou one-shot. Written entirely on a whim, and came out pretty good (in my opinion, anyway). Next favourite would be Allure of Honey.
Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the New Year?
Yes. :3
This didn't really work last year, but let's try again - I might poke you guys for some feedback too. Which was your favourite fic of the year on this journal and why? And more importantly, which one did you dislike the most (of the ones you read)?
