A Year in Review: 2015
Jan. 4th, 2016 10:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dugindeepHere's that writing meme going around, rounding up a year of 2015, which had far less fic than I had anticipated /0\
Overall word count is approximately 123,000. It felt exceptionally low, so I went back and counted for 2014 and was surprised. 2014 was only 96,000 (approximately). Very surprised, because I know I used to do like 200,000-300,000 per year and then to have a huge drop off is incredible (not in the good way).
My favorite story this year: I really loved writing (and rereading) The Nature of My Game ... possibly because of COPS and also because it was a pinch hit on a piece of art I wanted the whole time and was ecstatic to write for.
My least favorite story this year: Surprisingly, I'm not disappointed in anything this year. I suppose that while my words were down, the stories I was into worked in my head.
Most successful story: Pretty sure it was my BB-HS AU Refracted due to both quantity and quality of comments. I had such lovely connections with people on this one that I did not expect <333 I also consider it a success for working with the lovely![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dephigravity, who made AMAZING art to accompany it.
Story most underappreciated by the universe: In Your Honor, a Pacific Rim AU. Only nine comments on LJ and about a dozen on AO3. I mean, technically, there are like 50+ comments but a majority of them are a big thread mocking someone complaining about tags.
Most fun story: Dear Neighbors because A) Jared/Jensen/Danneel is always fun for me :D and B) I think it had a fun tone in Jensen's POV. Plus it has super excellent animated art frombeelikej that is so fun to watch.
Story with single sexiest moment: I immediately thought of Drowning with older!Jared preying on teen!Jensen with the toothpick in the corner of his mouth. I mean,riyku and I can no longer contain ourselves regarding toothpicks mainly because of that fic.
Biggest story fail: I don't feel like I failed on any stories this year. Well except for the cat!Jensen story I still owecleflink for a charity auction like two years ago /0\ I fully intend to get to it early this year!
Hardest story to make: I'll go with The Nature of My Game because A) cop stories/procedurals are always hard to map out, especially for someone like me who never plots and just writes off the cuff, and B) I had like a month to get it written. I think once I found the shape and tone of it, I was ready and writing like mad, but it was an intense month (especially over the holidays since I nabbed it in early December then posted early January).
Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted? I feel that I wrote far less and yet ... looking back on the entirety of this year with my work schedule, it's a bit more. Especially as I cranked out like eight fills for the spring masquerade round.
What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January? SPN fics - specifically Jo/John in Those Roadhouse Blues
Did you take any writing risks this year? The Jo/John fic, as well as Sam/Dean in All the Broken Pieces Fit.
Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: All the Broken Pieces Fit. Not to say I'm 100% living in the Wincest camp, but digging into the emotions of their connection made me think differently on the show.
Biggest Surprise: Jared/Dean in The Dirty Ones. I always want to push myself into different territories when writing for masquerade, but I hadn't thought about tossing pink panties into the mix until I saw the promt :D
Story with the sweetest moment: I think there's a bit of tenderness in Rouge, when burlesque!Jensen is bringing young!Jared in.
Story that made you cry: Refraced had a lot of tense moments in my head and heart as I wrote. I think the roughest was when [SPOILER} Jared falls apart after being rejected and comes out to his mom
Most eye roll-worthy title: Those Roadhouse Blues I think? I always have a hard time titling my masquerade fics because I work on them so quickly then want to get them up and move onto the next one.
Most intentionally telling: I immediately thought of The Boss Will See You Now, because, ya know, Jensen is the boss here. And yet the vibe/setup is so not as simple/innocent as the title would seem?
Unintentionally? IDK. I always try to find fighting titles for some reason or another.
Most overdue: The Pacific Rim AU, for sure. I started writing that after I first saw the movie the summer it came out then it sat on a shelf for monnnnnnnnnnths (like 16 of them)
This year's theme and the story that demonstrates it most: I guess that things are not always as they seem. In nearly every big fic I wrote, there's a misunderstanding between characters and bad assumptions that lead to tension and fights. I feel like the title and summary for Gossip Guy say as such.
Favorite Opening Line(s): From my BB Refracted: Jared’s first memory is saying the Our Father. Probably because once that was in my head to open the fic, I knew I'd be tying religion in somehow and that became a big piece of Jared's worries, disappointing his church-going family.
Favorite Closing Line(s): From The Nature of My Game: They’re not exactly riding off into the sunset together, but he’ll take it. Because that's how I feel about most of my fics ... it's never a fairytale with schmoopy endings (okay, well sometimes), but in general, life and love isn't going to perfect and a lot of times, going on as is can be just as fabulous.
The things I've learned this year: I have to make time for fic. I mean, work was pretty rough and took so much of time and energy, but when I made the time and committed to sprints, it all came together and I was excited about writing again. It's just getting myself to start that's rough.
Fic-writing goals for 2016: Finish the cat!Jensen story! Finish the Scandal AU! Finish so many things! Write more than this year! Post far more often!
Other fics not mentioned here, yet posted in 2015 ...
The Cellar: J2. Jensen comes to The Cellar once a year, but it's always an event.
Just Like Always: Jared/Danneel. Danneel always accompanies Jensen to his boring medical fundraisers. And she always finds Padalecki to keep her company.
The Secret is Ours: Jared/Danneel. Written for spn_masquerade, prompt: Gen's out of town and Jensen's out playing golf. Danneel and Jared don't mean for anything to happen between them, but their hormones beg to differ. Completely up to the author if this is a one time thing or if they get caught, etc.
Overall word count is approximately 123,000. It felt exceptionally low, so I went back and counted for 2014 and was surprised. 2014 was only 96,000 (approximately). Very surprised, because I know I used to do like 200,000-300,000 per year and then to have a huge drop off is incredible (not in the good way).
My favorite story this year: I really loved writing (and rereading) The Nature of My Game ... possibly because of COPS and also because it was a pinch hit on a piece of art I wanted the whole time and was ecstatic to write for.
My least favorite story this year: Surprisingly, I'm not disappointed in anything this year. I suppose that while my words were down, the stories I was into worked in my head.
Most successful story: Pretty sure it was my BB-HS AU Refracted due to both quantity and quality of comments. I had such lovely connections with people on this one that I did not expect <333 I also consider it a success for working with the lovely
dephigravity, who made AMAZING art to accompany it.Story most underappreciated by the universe: In Your Honor, a Pacific Rim AU. Only nine comments on LJ and about a dozen on AO3. I mean, technically, there are like 50+ comments but a majority of them are a big thread mocking someone complaining about tags.
Most fun story: Dear Neighbors because A) Jared/Jensen/Danneel is always fun for me :D and B) I think it had a fun tone in Jensen's POV. Plus it has super excellent animated art from
beelikej that is so fun to watch.Story with single sexiest moment: I immediately thought of Drowning with older!Jared preying on teen!Jensen with the toothpick in the corner of his mouth. I mean,
riyku and I can no longer contain ourselves regarding toothpicks mainly because of that fic.Biggest story fail: I don't feel like I failed on any stories this year. Well except for the cat!Jensen story I still owe
cleflink for a charity auction like two years ago /0\ I fully intend to get to it early this year!Hardest story to make: I'll go with The Nature of My Game because A) cop stories/procedurals are always hard to map out, especially for someone like me who never plots and just writes off the cuff, and B) I had like a month to get it written. I think once I found the shape and tone of it, I was ready and writing like mad, but it was an intense month (especially over the holidays since I nabbed it in early December then posted early January).
Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted? I feel that I wrote far less and yet ... looking back on the entirety of this year with my work schedule, it's a bit more. Especially as I cranked out like eight fills for the spring masquerade round.
What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January? SPN fics - specifically Jo/John in Those Roadhouse Blues
Did you take any writing risks this year? The Jo/John fic, as well as Sam/Dean in All the Broken Pieces Fit.
Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: All the Broken Pieces Fit. Not to say I'm 100% living in the Wincest camp, but digging into the emotions of their connection made me think differently on the show.
Biggest Surprise: Jared/Dean in The Dirty Ones. I always want to push myself into different territories when writing for masquerade, but I hadn't thought about tossing pink panties into the mix until I saw the promt :D
Story with the sweetest moment: I think there's a bit of tenderness in Rouge, when burlesque!Jensen is bringing young!Jared in.
Story that made you cry: Refraced had a lot of tense moments in my head and heart as I wrote. I think the roughest was when [SPOILER} Jared falls apart after being rejected and comes out to his mom
Most eye roll-worthy title: Those Roadhouse Blues I think? I always have a hard time titling my masquerade fics because I work on them so quickly then want to get them up and move onto the next one.
Most intentionally telling: I immediately thought of The Boss Will See You Now, because, ya know, Jensen is the boss here. And yet the vibe/setup is so not as simple/innocent as the title would seem?
Unintentionally? IDK. I always try to find fighting titles for some reason or another.
Most overdue: The Pacific Rim AU, for sure. I started writing that after I first saw the movie the summer it came out then it sat on a shelf for monnnnnnnnnnths (like 16 of them)
This year's theme and the story that demonstrates it most: I guess that things are not always as they seem. In nearly every big fic I wrote, there's a misunderstanding between characters and bad assumptions that lead to tension and fights. I feel like the title and summary for Gossip Guy say as such.
Favorite Opening Line(s): From my BB Refracted: Jared’s first memory is saying the Our Father. Probably because once that was in my head to open the fic, I knew I'd be tying religion in somehow and that became a big piece of Jared's worries, disappointing his church-going family.
Favorite Closing Line(s): From The Nature of My Game: They’re not exactly riding off into the sunset together, but he’ll take it. Because that's how I feel about most of my fics ... it's never a fairytale with schmoopy endings (okay, well sometimes), but in general, life and love isn't going to perfect and a lot of times, going on as is can be just as fabulous.
The things I've learned this year: I have to make time for fic. I mean, work was pretty rough and took so much of time and energy, but when I made the time and committed to sprints, it all came together and I was excited about writing again. It's just getting myself to start that's rough.
Fic-writing goals for 2016: Finish the cat!Jensen story! Finish the Scandal AU! Finish so many things! Write more than this year! Post far more often!
Other fics not mentioned here, yet posted in 2015 ...
The Cellar: J2. Jensen comes to The Cellar once a year, but it's always an event.
Just Like Always: Jared/Danneel. Danneel always accompanies Jensen to his boring medical fundraisers. And she always finds Padalecki to keep her company.
The Secret is Ours: Jared/Danneel. Written for spn_masquerade, prompt: Gen's out of town and Jensen's out playing golf. Danneel and Jared don't mean for anything to happen between them, but their hormones beg to differ. Completely up to the author if this is a one time thing or if they get caught, etc.
