2019 Writing Year in Review
Jan. 5th, 2020 11:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwynIs the fifth too late to do this? Probably.
My overall word count was up from last year, but still definitely lower than previous years since I was bitten again by the fannish bug. Most of my writing was for challenges or exchanges, and so things were longer, but there were fewer things--I'm finding it increasingly difficult to write just for kicks, without something I'm supposed to do. Just feeling discouraged about the lack of engagement.
February:
The Smart Set An AU of the Katharine Hepburn-Spencer Tracy movie Desk Set, written for the Stucky AU Big Bang, with Steve in the Hepburn role and Bucky in the Tracy one.
May:
Cellies I accidentally picked a Loki/Bucky drawing for the Captain America Reverse Big Bang, but it ended up being hella fun to write and the artist did an additional piece for it. I hadn't even known it was really a pairing (WinterFrost) before I did this!
July:
Changing of the Guard The only other thing I didn't write for some sort of fan event, this was just a fic for Steve's birthday, and was in the series of War Dogs stories I've been writing.
August:
A Selection of Very Confident International Men Written for my first go-round in the![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
intoabar challenge, this puts David Rose from Schitt's Creek with Roque from The Losers. It was a lot of fun and I might do this challenge again.
September:
I Don't Like Your Fashion Business, Mister I wrote this for the Cap Septender challenge (soft stories for Cap fandom characters), but also ended up titling with lyrics from Leonard Cohen, so it also fit with a second collection of Cohen lyric titles that aren't his most famous song.
November:
I'd rewrite the book of love, and make it funny My annual birthday-posting of fic, this time a true love's kiss story of Frog!Steve.
December:
The Sun Was the First Star We Knew My Yuletide story, a fix-it where nobody dies in the movie Sunshine, and they make it home to the world they helped save, and Cillian Murphy and Chris Evans's characters find love.
What's the story that makes you happiest?
The Sun Was the First Star We Knew. I SO wanted to dobond_girl's prompts for Sunshine, but I've never been assigned someone I'd specifically wanted to write for beforehand, and I loved the research and being able to use all this stuff I'd stored up mentally. I've often loved my Yuletide assignments, but this time I'd gone out of my way to get it, and I'm just so happy with how it all came out. I think this is one of the best things I've ever written, too.
My 5 favorite stories this year:
Honestly, there are so few I think that's most of them! But I guess:
The Sun Was the First Star We Knew
The Smart Set
Cellies
I'd rewrite the book of love, and make it funny
A Selection of Very Confident International Men
My 5 best stories this year:
The Sun Was the First Star We Knew
Changing of the Guard
The Smart Set
Cellies
I'd rewrite the book of love, and make it funny
Most popular story:
By hits, The Smart Set, by feedback, Cellies
Story most underappreciated by the universe, in my opinion:
I know it's just a Steve-Nat friendship story, but I still thought I Don't Like Your Fashion Business, Mister would have more of an audience.
Funnest story:
I guess Cellies, just in general--it was fun trying to think of a way to get Bucky and Loki in the semi-undressed state of the original art, in pajama pants, and I had help brainstorming in chat, plus the artist was very knowledgeable about Asgardian stuff that I am not so I learned a lot. I think the story turned out kind of cute because the concept was kind of cute.
Sexiest story:
The only story I wrote this year with any sexy stuff was The Sun Was the First Star We Knew, but I'd probably say that anyway just because two guys sublimating their desire for each other by fighting across the solar system is by its nature somewhat sexy. Also, the aforementioned Chris Evans and Cillian Murphy, who are hot like the burning sun they're trying to save.
Story with single sexiest moment:
I know it's T rated, but I was so happy I got to write my version of the Christmas party scene in Desk Set with Steve and Bucky, because some of the conversation in the library stacks was so sexy. I wrote Bucky telling Steve he just didn't notice something about him, and Steve's "I notice you" is the kind of thing that makes my heart go pitty-pat. And then right after that, I got to use the swoon-worthy line from the movie, "I bet you write wonderful letters."
Story with single sweetest moment:
I find this tough, because sweet has become my MO lately, but maybe Natasha taking Steve to Brooklyn Men's store in I Don't Like Your Fashion Business, Mister.
Hardest story to write:
My biggest fear in signing up for Into a Bar was that I might get assigned Roque from The Losers, and that's exactly what happened--I find his a difficult voice to get because he's so constantly angry and he's a bit of a cipher in the movie, the person we find out the least about. I had a great time with it, once I got started, but the starting part was a challenge.
Easiest story to write:
Changing of the Guard, just because I've had it in my mind for a few years, since I started writing the War Dogs stories, but it's just sad, and so I didn't write it. My mood has been equally sad and hopeless for a long time, though, so it really poured out of me when writing it, and I know few people will ever read it, but I think it's got some great stuff.
Story that made you cry/saddest story:
See above--Changing of the Guard doesn't have any noncanonical character "death": we know that both Steve and Bucky come back, but since it's centered around their military dog Gretel, it's just sad because we're seeing the reactions of first Steve and Gretel to Bucky's loss, and then Peggy, the Commandos, Col. Phillips, and Gretel to Steve's loss.
Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:
I'm not a big fan of villains; years ago, my friend spent hours telling me why Loki was great, and it worked enough that I wrote a fic around him. But I still never really wanted to write Loki in a 'ship or anything, but writing Cellies made me take a look at some of the things about him we first got to glimpse in the second and third Thor movies, as well as Infinity War.
Biggest disappointment:
This was a tough year for me emotionally, for lots of reasons, but it didn't start out well after the selection process for the Stucky AU Big Bang, where literally no one picked my summary as one of their choices to do art for, and kind of continued on like that. I really thought people would want to read a frothy 1950s AU of Steve and Bucky, but I was apparently wrong. The art ended up being fantastic, though, and that made up for a lot.
Biggest surprise:
Doing 12k for the Yuletide fic, after all kinds of problems like rush jobs, getting pieces of me cut and burned off, then getting an infection in my face from one of the wounds... I never thought I'd be able to get that many words out, but that story was compelling!
Most telling story:
I honestly never know what this means. I guess Changing of the Guard, because it's such a picture of my experience with grief.
Favorite opening line:
My opening lines rarely stand alone without the rest of the paragraph to make sense of them. But if pressed, I guess I'd say I loved Steve's approaching shopping like going into combat: "Steve surveyed the battlefield, making mental notes of strategic escape routes, strength of the enemy, and what resources he’d have."
Favorite closing line:
I guess maybe the end of Cellies, although without the previous scenes, I'm not sure it'd make much sense:
“I may not be a good man, Bucky,” Loki said over the roar of the vortex, “but I make this vow: I will not sting you.”
With a laugh, Bucky responded, “No guts, no glory,” as they shot through the star-filled sky.
Favorite line from anywhere:
I liked so many lines this year, but especially from The Sun Was the First Star We Knew:
"Corazon had once described him as angelic, which had made Mace snort in derision, but even Mace had to admit—when he got down off his fucking high horse—that Capa did have the uncanny aura of someone who didn’t quite belong on this planet, who made you look and wonder how he got here."
Favorite title:
Kind of a tie: A Selection of Very Confident International Men comes from a scene in Schitt's Creek where David tells Alexis about how awful it was for him to when she was in trouble in foreign places, and when I was reviewing canon and caught that line, I knew it was perfect for the story. And I swear that I heard The Sun Was the First Star We Knew somewhere, that it was a line from a poem or a song or something, but I cannot find any evidence of that. It's not related to that YA book that was a movie this year, either, because I heard it before that. So it's a mystery where I got it, but I love it.
Looking back, did you write more stories than you thought you would this year, fewer than you thought, or about what you predicted?
More, I think, considering how few stories I did. The fact that some of them came out longer than anticipated helped, for sure.
What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January 2018?
Well, considering I never knew WinterFrost existed, I guess Bucky and Loki! But also, I've never done Into a Bar before, so that was a hoot trying to figure out how to cross The Losers and Schitt's Creek. And Yuletide is always a surprise! But this year was the best surprise, because I honestly wasn't even sure I would sign up till I saw the letters.
Story that could have been better?
I'm pretty happy with everything. I guess I always feel like I must be failing since so few people read things, but I did what I wanted to.
Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?
Just signing up for challenges I'd never normally do. I've never written a pure AU before, set in a different time and where Steve's a reference librarian and Bucky's a computer inventor, so that was definitely a risk for me. I can't say what I learned, I haven't given it that much thought, but every writing project teaches me something.
This year's theme and the story that demonstrates it most:
Unlikely or unexpected friendships, I guess, as demonstrated by most of the stories, but probably especially Cellies.
What story do you want to have written?
There were a couple of great prompts for Sunshine inbond_girl's letter that I didn't get to, but I'm seriously thinking of doing something in the future.
Story I want remembered:
The Sun Was the First Star We Knew
What's next for 2017:
No idea. I want to get back to the pro fiction I have been in such a dither about, and send to the agent, though I'm still feeling so unconfident about that.
I forgot my sparkle text word count! All things considered, it's not terrible, especially since I didn't make a single vid this year.
87,389
My overall word count was up from last year, but still definitely lower than previous years since I was bitten again by the fannish bug. Most of my writing was for challenges or exchanges, and so things were longer, but there were fewer things--I'm finding it increasingly difficult to write just for kicks, without something I'm supposed to do. Just feeling discouraged about the lack of engagement.
February:
The Smart Set An AU of the Katharine Hepburn-Spencer Tracy movie Desk Set, written for the Stucky AU Big Bang, with Steve in the Hepburn role and Bucky in the Tracy one.
May:
Cellies I accidentally picked a Loki/Bucky drawing for the Captain America Reverse Big Bang, but it ended up being hella fun to write and the artist did an additional piece for it. I hadn't even known it was really a pairing (WinterFrost) before I did this!
July:
Changing of the Guard The only other thing I didn't write for some sort of fan event, this was just a fic for Steve's birthday, and was in the series of War Dogs stories I've been writing.
August:
A Selection of Very Confident International Men Written for my first go-round in the
intoabar challenge, this puts David Rose from Schitt's Creek with Roque from The Losers. It was a lot of fun and I might do this challenge again.September:
I Don't Like Your Fashion Business, Mister I wrote this for the Cap Septender challenge (soft stories for Cap fandom characters), but also ended up titling with lyrics from Leonard Cohen, so it also fit with a second collection of Cohen lyric titles that aren't his most famous song.
November:
I'd rewrite the book of love, and make it funny My annual birthday-posting of fic, this time a true love's kiss story of Frog!Steve.
December:
The Sun Was the First Star We Knew My Yuletide story, a fix-it where nobody dies in the movie Sunshine, and they make it home to the world they helped save, and Cillian Murphy and Chris Evans's characters find love.
What's the story that makes you happiest?
The Sun Was the First Star We Knew. I SO wanted to do
bond_girl's prompts for Sunshine, but I've never been assigned someone I'd specifically wanted to write for beforehand, and I loved the research and being able to use all this stuff I'd stored up mentally. I've often loved my Yuletide assignments, but this time I'd gone out of my way to get it, and I'm just so happy with how it all came out. I think this is one of the best things I've ever written, too.My 5 favorite stories this year:
Honestly, there are so few I think that's most of them! But I guess:
The Sun Was the First Star We Knew
The Smart Set
Cellies
I'd rewrite the book of love, and make it funny
A Selection of Very Confident International Men
My 5 best stories this year:
The Sun Was the First Star We Knew
Changing of the Guard
The Smart Set
Cellies
I'd rewrite the book of love, and make it funny
Most popular story:
By hits, The Smart Set, by feedback, Cellies
Story most underappreciated by the universe, in my opinion:
I know it's just a Steve-Nat friendship story, but I still thought I Don't Like Your Fashion Business, Mister would have more of an audience.
Funnest story:
I guess Cellies, just in general--it was fun trying to think of a way to get Bucky and Loki in the semi-undressed state of the original art, in pajama pants, and I had help brainstorming in chat, plus the artist was very knowledgeable about Asgardian stuff that I am not so I learned a lot. I think the story turned out kind of cute because the concept was kind of cute.
Sexiest story:
The only story I wrote this year with any sexy stuff was The Sun Was the First Star We Knew, but I'd probably say that anyway just because two guys sublimating their desire for each other by fighting across the solar system is by its nature somewhat sexy. Also, the aforementioned Chris Evans and Cillian Murphy, who are hot like the burning sun they're trying to save.
Story with single sexiest moment:
I know it's T rated, but I was so happy I got to write my version of the Christmas party scene in Desk Set with Steve and Bucky, because some of the conversation in the library stacks was so sexy. I wrote Bucky telling Steve he just didn't notice something about him, and Steve's "I notice you" is the kind of thing that makes my heart go pitty-pat. And then right after that, I got to use the swoon-worthy line from the movie, "I bet you write wonderful letters."
Story with single sweetest moment:
I find this tough, because sweet has become my MO lately, but maybe Natasha taking Steve to Brooklyn Men's store in I Don't Like Your Fashion Business, Mister.
Hardest story to write:
My biggest fear in signing up for Into a Bar was that I might get assigned Roque from The Losers, and that's exactly what happened--I find his a difficult voice to get because he's so constantly angry and he's a bit of a cipher in the movie, the person we find out the least about. I had a great time with it, once I got started, but the starting part was a challenge.
Easiest story to write:
Changing of the Guard, just because I've had it in my mind for a few years, since I started writing the War Dogs stories, but it's just sad, and so I didn't write it. My mood has been equally sad and hopeless for a long time, though, so it really poured out of me when writing it, and I know few people will ever read it, but I think it's got some great stuff.
Story that made you cry/saddest story:
See above--Changing of the Guard doesn't have any noncanonical character "death": we know that both Steve and Bucky come back, but since it's centered around their military dog Gretel, it's just sad because we're seeing the reactions of first Steve and Gretel to Bucky's loss, and then Peggy, the Commandos, Col. Phillips, and Gretel to Steve's loss.
Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:
I'm not a big fan of villains; years ago, my friend spent hours telling me why Loki was great, and it worked enough that I wrote a fic around him. But I still never really wanted to write Loki in a 'ship or anything, but writing Cellies made me take a look at some of the things about him we first got to glimpse in the second and third Thor movies, as well as Infinity War.
Biggest disappointment:
This was a tough year for me emotionally, for lots of reasons, but it didn't start out well after the selection process for the Stucky AU Big Bang, where literally no one picked my summary as one of their choices to do art for, and kind of continued on like that. I really thought people would want to read a frothy 1950s AU of Steve and Bucky, but I was apparently wrong. The art ended up being fantastic, though, and that made up for a lot.
Biggest surprise:
Doing 12k for the Yuletide fic, after all kinds of problems like rush jobs, getting pieces of me cut and burned off, then getting an infection in my face from one of the wounds... I never thought I'd be able to get that many words out, but that story was compelling!
Most telling story:
I honestly never know what this means. I guess Changing of the Guard, because it's such a picture of my experience with grief.
Favorite opening line:
My opening lines rarely stand alone without the rest of the paragraph to make sense of them. But if pressed, I guess I'd say I loved Steve's approaching shopping like going into combat: "Steve surveyed the battlefield, making mental notes of strategic escape routes, strength of the enemy, and what resources he’d have."
Favorite closing line:
I guess maybe the end of Cellies, although without the previous scenes, I'm not sure it'd make much sense:
“I may not be a good man, Bucky,” Loki said over the roar of the vortex, “but I make this vow: I will not sting you.”
With a laugh, Bucky responded, “No guts, no glory,” as they shot through the star-filled sky.
Favorite line from anywhere:
I liked so many lines this year, but especially from The Sun Was the First Star We Knew:
"Corazon had once described him as angelic, which had made Mace snort in derision, but even Mace had to admit—when he got down off his fucking high horse—that Capa did have the uncanny aura of someone who didn’t quite belong on this planet, who made you look and wonder how he got here."
Favorite title:
Kind of a tie: A Selection of Very Confident International Men comes from a scene in Schitt's Creek where David tells Alexis about how awful it was for him to when she was in trouble in foreign places, and when I was reviewing canon and caught that line, I knew it was perfect for the story. And I swear that I heard The Sun Was the First Star We Knew somewhere, that it was a line from a poem or a song or something, but I cannot find any evidence of that. It's not related to that YA book that was a movie this year, either, because I heard it before that. So it's a mystery where I got it, but I love it.
Looking back, did you write more stories than you thought you would this year, fewer than you thought, or about what you predicted?
More, I think, considering how few stories I did. The fact that some of them came out longer than anticipated helped, for sure.
What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January 2018?
Well, considering I never knew WinterFrost existed, I guess Bucky and Loki! But also, I've never done Into a Bar before, so that was a hoot trying to figure out how to cross The Losers and Schitt's Creek. And Yuletide is always a surprise! But this year was the best surprise, because I honestly wasn't even sure I would sign up till I saw the letters.
Story that could have been better?
I'm pretty happy with everything. I guess I always feel like I must be failing since so few people read things, but I did what I wanted to.
Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?
Just signing up for challenges I'd never normally do. I've never written a pure AU before, set in a different time and where Steve's a reference librarian and Bucky's a computer inventor, so that was definitely a risk for me. I can't say what I learned, I haven't given it that much thought, but every writing project teaches me something.
This year's theme and the story that demonstrates it most:
Unlikely or unexpected friendships, I guess, as demonstrated by most of the stories, but probably especially Cellies.
What story do you want to have written?
There were a couple of great prompts for Sunshine in
bond_girl's letter that I didn't get to, but I'm seriously thinking of doing something in the future.Story I want remembered:
The Sun Was the First Star We Knew
What's next for 2017:
No idea. I want to get back to the pro fiction I have been in such a dither about, and send to the agent, though I'm still feeling so unconfident about that.
I forgot my sparkle text word count! All things considered, it's not terrible, especially since I didn't make a single vid this year.
87,389
