Year In Writing Review 2021
Jan. 1st, 2022 04:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
konstantyaList of fics (in order of publication--there were a lot this year!):
Wherever You Are [This Gun For Hire; 1,430 words]
Till You’re Walking Beside Me [TGFH; 3,020 words]
Each Cloud Contains [TGFH; 1,564 words]
Forward and Reverse (Part 1) [Hetalia; 7,564 words]
They Say You Love and You Learn [Black Angel; 252 words]
I Try To Pretend, Saying That I Don’t Mind It [Black Angel; 286 words]
I’ve Much To Regret [Black Angel; 1,679 words]
I’m Not Yours Anymore, You’re Mine [TGFH; 1,330 words]
Now You See It, Now You Don’t [TGFH; 358 words]
Catherine and the Pirate (The Reformed Criminal Remix) (Chapter 11) [2,372 words]
When Nothing Daunts You [Black Angel; 318 words]
While I’m In Your Spell [Black Angel; 1,469 words]
’Til Stars of Evening Cease To Burn [Black Angel; 318 words]
But the Tables Have Turned [TGFH; 494 words]
En Passant [The Love Pawn; 1,370 words]
Zugzwang [The Love Pawn; 955 words]
Checkmate [The Love Pawn; 1,207 words]
Clever Crab On This Eastern Seashore [The Love Pawn; 1,521 words]
En Prise [The Love Pawn; 468 words]
A Thief In the Night [Her Friend, the Burglar; 1,632 words]
Madwoman’s Chess [The Love Pawn; 2,163 words]
Black Knights’ Tango [The Love Pawn; 1,852 words]
Also, all the formal reviews I’ve written this year (and previously), can be found on my WordPress.
Total fic wordcount for 2021: Somewhere around 36,000--and again, most of that actually ended up published this year!
Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d predicted?
WAY more. Like, WAAAY more. This has honestly been my most prolific writing year ever (like, literally, since I started writing fic), at least in terms of what was published. Still not sure how or why that happened, but here we are? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January 2021?
At this point, I have come to expect the unexpected, as it were. I mean, once you start writing for obscure pulp stories no one else has even heard about (let alone read), there is no being surprised ever again, lololol.
Did you take any writing risks this year? (See above for unexpected pairings, etc.) What did you learn from them?
No real risks this year, and nothing learned, exactly, but I guess this year reinforced the idea that I really do not give a damn about how popular a fandom is or how liable a fic is to get me attention/feedback. Writers gonna write, yo.
Do you have any fanfic or pro-fic goals for the New Year?
The usual fanfic goals of finishing a couple/few WIPs I didn’t get around to (a couple TGFH fics, and maybe poking at both Forward and Reverse and my Catherine and the Pirate rewrite). I’m also legit entertaining the possibility of some original fic (maybe not pro-fic, necessarily, but at least original fic?). It’s come up in a couple discussions over the year, and my recent spate of literature (and particularly short story) reviews has got me thinking more seriously about it. There’s also the fact that I’ve noticed myself dropping more bits of “canon context” (you might say) in my recent pulp fics, simply because I know it’s unlikely that people will be familiar with the canon (even if I link to the original story, even if I’ve done a formal review of it). So in that respect, I feel original fic is a natural direction for my writing to take, at least in terms of challenging myself. Ideas are really the thing that’s holding me back when it comes to original content--I never seem to have ideas--and I realize that that’s what I mostly use canon for when it comes to my fic writing (the canon seeds an idea, and then I’m off to the races, as it were). So maybe the thing to do is to start with some writing prompts. Anyone got any they could recommend, or else a good source for them? (I found a reddit comm, but a lot of those are almost too specific. Maybe I just need to browse until I find one I like?)
From my past year of writing, what was…
My Favorite Story: SUCH A HARD CHOICE (as I suspect many of these will be). I’m Not Yours Anymore, You’re Mine is an obvious one (because of the next answer), but I also find myself coming back to Till You’re Walking Beside Me a lot--I think because I like the slice-of-life aspect of it. (Plus, cats. Much like Raven, I am always a sucker for cats, pfft.) Honorable mention goes to They Say You Love and You Learn, though, because I am also always a sucker for ladies subtly thirsting after dudes, haha.
My Best Story: Again, a tough choice, as I feel a lot of my fics were really strong this year, but I’m ultimately going to have to go with I’m Not Yours Anymore, You’re Mine. I’d been curious about immediately-post-film Ellen for a while (well, immediately-post-film Ellen in the context of my canon-divergent AU, that is), and I’m really happy with the way it came together.
Most Popular Story: Forward and Reverse, my mythical 1848-1867!AusHun fic that I FINALLY got around to posting (the first part of) this year. Glad to see there are still fans of the pairing out there!
Story Most Underappreciated By the Universe: I’m not even going to bother with this question, because honestly everything besides Forward and Reverse could count. (I’m very pleased with and grateful for the attention all my obscure fics have gotten, though!)
Most Fun: I’m tempted to say Each Cloud Contains, not because it’s fun (or even funny) necessarily, but because I do always get a little kick out of writing from Raven’s POV. Owing to how extremely anti-social he is and how (in many cases) unusual his thought processes are, getting inside his head is often strangely amusing. Honorable mentions to just about all of my fics for The Love Pawn, though (because PAULA, GIRL), and also A Thief In the Night, because dancing and surprisingly charming (and charmed) cat burglars??? ;D
Most Surprising: Probably Forward and Reverse, simply because it had been a WIP for SO LONG that I think a part of me honestly thought I’d never get around to even finishing the first part. There was a lot of “OMG, IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING? THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING! D:” anxiety when I finally went to post it, which is unusual for me these days. I had obviously built it up in my head as something daunting and (I keep using this word in reference to it, which probably means something in and of itself) mythical. Like it would never actually exist.
Most Disappointing: Maybe Now You See It, Now You Don’t? Not because I think it’s bad or anything like that, but because it’s one of those very short, vignette-y fics (almost a drabble, really)? A little missing snapshot from the film, and not much else? En Prise might also count, simply because I’m not a big fan of the abrupt way it ends? (But again, it’s just a little ficlet, so I didn’t want to drag it out, but at the same time...hmm...)
Sexiest: Almost guaranteed Forward and Reverse, because of that complicated-as-fuck kiss at the end. Though I feel Checkmate should at least get some points for the dark sexual tension that permeates it. (I still can’t get over the way Red/Jack is canonically like, “Yeah, honey, I could have kidnapped you for sex a long time ago if I’d wanted to.”He isn’t, ultimately, a villain, but he sure does rock those Villain Vibes™ well, doesn’t he?)
Sexiest Single Moment: The previously-mentioned complicated-as-fuck kiss at the end of the first part of Forward and Reverse, probably.
Hardest to Write: I’m gonna say Forward and Reverse again. Mostly due to the psychological reasons mentioned back in “most surprising.” Most of it was, in fact, already written, but there was (again) something very daunting about filling in those last few scenes.
Easiest to Write: Any of my ficlets, really (those fics coming in at under 500 words), simply due to how short they were. Easy to write, easy to edit/tweak!
“Holy crap, that’s wrong even for you” Fic: I probably didn’t have one this year? A couple of my Black Angel fics skirted the line of infidelity (and at least one definitely crossed the emotional-infidelity line), which is usually a hard turn-off for me, but it works within the context of the canon/characters, so I can’t say I, yanno, felt ashamed writing them or anything. But maybe those are the closest I got.Unless you count my TGFH fics, where a gal literally falls in love with a former hitman who tried to murder her at one point. But again, that’s not exactly out of my personal wheelhouse, pfft.
Fic That Shifted My Own Perceptions of the Characters: Maybe Clever Crab On This Eastern Seashore, because that’s when the whole “found family” aspect of the Jack/Koti/Yugi relationship really started to solidify for me. It was also my first time getting inside Red/Jack’s head, which really helped me get a better handle on his character--the idea that he’s not a villainous guy at heart, but that the circumstances at play definitely have brought out a darker side of him.
Most Unintentionally Telling: Maybe Till You’re Walking Beside Me, because my familiarity with cats definitely comes through? XD Everything else is probably pretty equal in how telling it is.
Wherever You Are [This Gun For Hire; 1,430 words]
Till You’re Walking Beside Me [TGFH; 3,020 words]
Each Cloud Contains [TGFH; 1,564 words]
Forward and Reverse (Part 1) [Hetalia; 7,564 words]
They Say You Love and You Learn [Black Angel; 252 words]
I Try To Pretend, Saying That I Don’t Mind It [Black Angel; 286 words]
I’ve Much To Regret [Black Angel; 1,679 words]
I’m Not Yours Anymore, You’re Mine [TGFH; 1,330 words]
Now You See It, Now You Don’t [TGFH; 358 words]
Catherine and the Pirate (The Reformed Criminal Remix) (Chapter 11) [2,372 words]
When Nothing Daunts You [Black Angel; 318 words]
While I’m In Your Spell [Black Angel; 1,469 words]
’Til Stars of Evening Cease To Burn [Black Angel; 318 words]
But the Tables Have Turned [TGFH; 494 words]
En Passant [The Love Pawn; 1,370 words]
Zugzwang [The Love Pawn; 955 words]
Checkmate [The Love Pawn; 1,207 words]
Clever Crab On This Eastern Seashore [The Love Pawn; 1,521 words]
En Prise [The Love Pawn; 468 words]
A Thief In the Night [Her Friend, the Burglar; 1,632 words]
Madwoman’s Chess [The Love Pawn; 2,163 words]
Black Knights’ Tango [The Love Pawn; 1,852 words]
Also, all the formal reviews I’ve written this year (and previously), can be found on my WordPress.
Total fic wordcount for 2021: Somewhere around 36,000--and again, most of that actually ended up published this year!
Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d predicted?
WAY more. Like, WAAAY more. This has honestly been my most prolific writing year ever (like, literally, since I started writing fic), at least in terms of what was published. Still not sure how or why that happened, but here we are? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January 2021?
At this point, I have come to expect the unexpected, as it were. I mean, once you start writing for obscure pulp stories no one else has even heard about (let alone read), there is no being surprised ever again, lololol.
Did you take any writing risks this year? (See above for unexpected pairings, etc.) What did you learn from them?
No real risks this year, and nothing learned, exactly, but I guess this year reinforced the idea that I really do not give a damn about how popular a fandom is or how liable a fic is to get me attention/feedback. Writers gonna write, yo.
Do you have any fanfic or pro-fic goals for the New Year?
The usual fanfic goals of finishing a couple/few WIPs I didn’t get around to (a couple TGFH fics, and maybe poking at both Forward and Reverse and my Catherine and the Pirate rewrite). I’m also legit entertaining the possibility of some original fic (maybe not pro-fic, necessarily, but at least original fic?). It’s come up in a couple discussions over the year, and my recent spate of literature (and particularly short story) reviews has got me thinking more seriously about it. There’s also the fact that I’ve noticed myself dropping more bits of “canon context” (you might say) in my recent pulp fics, simply because I know it’s unlikely that people will be familiar with the canon (even if I link to the original story, even if I’ve done a formal review of it). So in that respect, I feel original fic is a natural direction for my writing to take, at least in terms of challenging myself. Ideas are really the thing that’s holding me back when it comes to original content--I never seem to have ideas--and I realize that that’s what I mostly use canon for when it comes to my fic writing (the canon seeds an idea, and then I’m off to the races, as it were). So maybe the thing to do is to start with some writing prompts. Anyone got any they could recommend, or else a good source for them? (I found a reddit comm, but a lot of those are almost too specific. Maybe I just need to browse until I find one I like?)
From my past year of writing, what was…
My Favorite Story: SUCH A HARD CHOICE (as I suspect many of these will be). I’m Not Yours Anymore, You’re Mine is an obvious one (because of the next answer), but I also find myself coming back to Till You’re Walking Beside Me a lot--I think because I like the slice-of-life aspect of it. (Plus, cats. Much like Raven, I am always a sucker for cats, pfft.) Honorable mention goes to They Say You Love and You Learn, though, because I am also always a sucker for ladies subtly thirsting after dudes, haha.
My Best Story: Again, a tough choice, as I feel a lot of my fics were really strong this year, but I’m ultimately going to have to go with I’m Not Yours Anymore, You’re Mine. I’d been curious about immediately-post-film Ellen for a while (well, immediately-post-film Ellen in the context of my canon-divergent AU, that is), and I’m really happy with the way it came together.
Most Popular Story: Forward and Reverse, my mythical 1848-1867!AusHun fic that I FINALLY got around to posting (the first part of) this year. Glad to see there are still fans of the pairing out there!
Story Most Underappreciated By the Universe: I’m not even going to bother with this question, because honestly everything besides Forward and Reverse could count. (I’m very pleased with and grateful for the attention all my obscure fics have gotten, though!)
Most Fun: I’m tempted to say Each Cloud Contains, not because it’s fun (or even funny) necessarily, but because I do always get a little kick out of writing from Raven’s POV. Owing to how extremely anti-social he is and how (in many cases) unusual his thought processes are, getting inside his head is often strangely amusing. Honorable mentions to just about all of my fics for The Love Pawn, though (because PAULA, GIRL), and also A Thief In the Night, because dancing and surprisingly charming (and charmed) cat burglars??? ;D
Most Surprising: Probably Forward and Reverse, simply because it had been a WIP for SO LONG that I think a part of me honestly thought I’d never get around to even finishing the first part. There was a lot of “OMG, IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING? THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING! D:” anxiety when I finally went to post it, which is unusual for me these days. I had obviously built it up in my head as something daunting and (I keep using this word in reference to it, which probably means something in and of itself) mythical. Like it would never actually exist.
Most Disappointing: Maybe Now You See It, Now You Don’t? Not because I think it’s bad or anything like that, but because it’s one of those very short, vignette-y fics (almost a drabble, really)? A little missing snapshot from the film, and not much else? En Prise might also count, simply because I’m not a big fan of the abrupt way it ends? (But again, it’s just a little ficlet, so I didn’t want to drag it out, but at the same time...hmm...)
Sexiest: Almost guaranteed Forward and Reverse, because of that complicated-as-fuck kiss at the end. Though I feel Checkmate should at least get some points for the dark sexual tension that permeates it. (I still can’t get over the way Red/Jack is canonically like, “Yeah, honey, I could have kidnapped you for sex a long time ago if I’d wanted to.”
Sexiest Single Moment: The previously-mentioned complicated-as-fuck kiss at the end of the first part of Forward and Reverse, probably.
Hardest to Write: I’m gonna say Forward and Reverse again. Mostly due to the psychological reasons mentioned back in “most surprising.” Most of it was, in fact, already written, but there was (again) something very daunting about filling in those last few scenes.
Easiest to Write: Any of my ficlets, really (those fics coming in at under 500 words), simply due to how short they were. Easy to write, easy to edit/tweak!
“Holy crap, that’s wrong even for you” Fic: I probably didn’t have one this year? A couple of my Black Angel fics skirted the line of infidelity (and at least one definitely crossed the emotional-infidelity line), which is usually a hard turn-off for me, but it works within the context of the canon/characters, so I can’t say I, yanno, felt ashamed writing them or anything. But maybe those are the closest I got.
Fic That Shifted My Own Perceptions of the Characters: Maybe Clever Crab On This Eastern Seashore, because that’s when the whole “found family” aspect of the Jack/Koti/Yugi relationship really started to solidify for me. It was also my first time getting inside Red/Jack’s head, which really helped me get a better handle on his character--the idea that he’s not a villainous guy at heart, but that the circumstances at play definitely have brought out a darker side of him.
Most Unintentionally Telling: Maybe Till You’re Walking Beside Me, because my familiarity with cats definitely comes through? XD Everything else is probably pretty equal in how telling it is.
