2010 Year End Writing Meme

[peroxidepirate]

List of Completed Fanfics Works from this year:
(note: all are Tamora Pierce fanfic unless otherwise noted, and most are available at The King's Own and Archive of Our Own. Italicized titles have not been completed/polished/posted, but do count toward total wordcount (because that's the way I did my spreadsheet).)

January
Protectress 887

February (all SMACKDOWN fic)
Crush 1117
Meet the Parents 782
Second Time Around 900
All Night 157
Someone 342
What Dreams May Come 210
Not Exactly 1262
Sunburn 687
Bright Future 1369
Beautiful 600
Before/During/After 618
Things 629
Mail Call 106
Among Friends 153
Swimming Hole 1366
Riding the Kraken 719
In Honesty 382
Precentages/ Traveling 623
Faithfulness (Neal) 227
Faithfulness (Yuki) 250
War Letters 880
Pink Pearl I 1132
Pink Pearl II 299
At Fief Hannalof 629
Random Kel/Uline fics 863
Larger than Life 131
One Small Change 660
Knightly Virtues 1217
One Small Change (Wyldon) 250

March (all SMACKDOWN fic)
One Small Change: Alanna 765
Something in Common 500
Charm/Ink 800
One Small Change: Buri 1300
Complexity 150
Something in Common 800
The Hammer 169
The Hammer, version 2 163
Renewal 750
The Party 750
Finding Out 1100
Again (1 to 6) 950
Middle of the Night 850
Still There 115
Girls 114
Like Knowing You 1757
Enjoying the View 1300
Vibration 180
Cool 385
Cold 630
Warm 136
Hot 610
Letters Sent 1369
In Person 611
Matched Set 430
Caught (Pink Pearl series) 250
Exit (Pink Pearl series) 100
Trickster's Pawn 5800

April
Moments 1050

May
Stunning 250
Imperfect 100
Balance 200
Sunrise 100
Sense 150
Moving Up 250
Foolish 850

June
Man, Woman or Dancing Bear 1000
Wondering 400
A Day in the Life of an Empress 2000 (actually written for the Giantkiller fanzine, but it's sufficiently fic-like to make the list)

July
Spinning the Circle 1 3100
off topic (OT4 v.1) 1000
random unused pieces 1300

August
Words that Stay With You (Buffy fic) 2000
Grab What Looks Good (Princess Protection Program fic) 1400
Cesspool Sisters 1800
Wide World Before Me 11,300

September
The Career of Lerant of Eldorne 3000
Short for Aurora (Doctor Who fic) 700
Doctor Who choose your own adventure story 1500

October
Losing Sleep 750
Encircled 1450
Soot 1200
A Thing of Beauty 700
Crossroads 1800
Kinds of Different 1000
untitled Doctor Who ficlet 300
pre-NaNo short story 1500
Place of Safety 2600
Sliding 800

November
Snow City Magic 50,200

December
Healer's Orders 424
Mirror Image 337
The Shortest Day 1700
The Longest Night 1200

Approximate Total 139,500
 

Leitmotif of the year: Honesty and coming out. The second theme would be friendship.

Best story of this year: "Losing Sleep," which won the Peculiar Pairings Ficathon, or "Sunrise," which was runner up in the Goldenlake Drabble Tournament.

Most fun story: It's so hard to decide! Possibly "Letters Sent," co-written with kitty_ryan . Possibly "A Thing of Beauty," since it turns out I like getting into Delia's twisted mind. Or maybe "Moments," a no-holds-barred PWP written after 40,000 words of toeing the R-rating line to keep my SMACKDOWN drabbles eligible for competition.

Sexiest story: Either "The Longest Night" or "Moments," depending on whether you prefer subtlety or explicit description in your smut.

Story with the single sexiest moment: Possibly "Before - During - After," a randomly titled story in which Kel is afraid she's being too pushy and Owen is growly in response -- lots of people commented on that bit, particularly.

My favorite and/or truest of this year: My favorite is "Trickster's Pawn." There's truth of some kind in almost everything I've written -- at least, I hope there is. But "Girls" and "Still There," two late night SMACKDOWN fics I wrote from Owen's POV, are the most directly autobiographical.

Story most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion: I've gotten so much wonderful feedback on my stories, I can't feel like any of them except some severely unedited SMACKDOWN fics are unappreciated! But I think my Evvy/Nory fic "Soot" is a little underappreciated. It's a femslash pairing from what's probably Pierce's least popular book, so it's not a huge surprise.

Most “holy crap, that’s wrong (even for you)” story: Of the ones I posted, probably "Spinning the Circle." Overall, "Sliding," which is Rosethorn/Briar and too disturbing to actually post.

Story that shifted my own perceptions of the character: "Cesspool Sisters" shifted my perceptions of Tansy, and helped me understand her better. "Swimmng Hole" kind of made me un-ship Kel/Neal, even though there's some sweet romance between them in the story.

Hardest story to write: The NaNo novel, Snow City Magic, because I'd never attempted something that big before, and 30 days is a long time for me stay focused on anything. Fic-wise, probably "Place of Safety," which was both a gift fic and kind of a fanfic of a fanfic. I certainly spent more time per word tweaking that fic than anything else I wrote this year.

Biggest disappointment: Not getting anywhere much with my Emelan Summer project, and defaulting on Yuletide.

Biggest surprise: First finding out that no matter what I do, writing smut with male characters doesn't get easier. And then, eight months later, winning the Peculiar Pairings Ficathon with a guy-slash fic (which, granted, is rated PG and told from a female character's POV... but still!)

Most unintentionally telling story: You tell me? But maybe "Crossroads," in which Aly wants to marry Kel, despite my adament refusal to take on the issue of gay marriage in Tortall. (I'd do it Emelan, but none of the characters I write there seem to care.)

Favorite original character: Ming, Briar's lady friend in "Imperfect." She's in one other scene (which I will post by itself soon if I don't manage to write the rest of a story around it) for a total of about 600 words, but she's pretty much fully formed in my mind and I adore her.


Please don't consider the following to be my top picks for opening, closing, or overall lines. I stink at ranking anything. These are just some lines I like.
Favorite five opening lines:

1. from "Larger than Life"

Later Uline will notice the door was locked. Jump was nowhere to be found. The hearth was cold on a bitter November morning.

Later she will remember Kel's glaive, carelessly dropped on the bedroom floor.


2. from "Unexpected Places"

The top floor of the furthest wing of the palace housed misfits and mages, high-ranking exiles from foreign lands, and those who were officially under royal protection but could neither be trusted not to be an embarrassment among the nobles nor left to their own devices in Corus.


3. from "Riding the Kraken"

He is betrothed – to her other best friend – and she is in love with someone else. Technically speaking, she is his commanding officer. They are bound by duty, surrounded by work that needs doing, charged with setting an example. The camp is too crowded, headquarters too small, walls too thin for them to ever keep a secret. They have been friends for nine years. One of them could die at any time.

These are the reasons Kel gives herself not to follow Neal when he goes walking alone at night, not to touch him, not to kiss him. Not again.


4. from "Losing Sleep"

Sandry didn't sneak into the great hall, exactly, but she did come directly from the stables, without having her presence announced: there would be plenty of time for ceremony later. First she wanted to say hello to the important people.


5. from "Kinds of Different"

Alanna's first thought was that her head hurt. She forced her eyes open, and then closed them again: even through the shades, the morning light was much, much too bright. It was just past dawn, so she hadn't had very much sleep -- not that she remembered what time she'd gotten home, exactly.



Favorite five closing lines:

1. from a random Kel/Uline ficlet:

Kel somehow misplaced a breastband in the root cellar, a stocking in the belfrey, and one sapphire earbob – a gift from a suitor she'd turned down – in one of five alcoves between the kitchen and the guest room. She acquired a splinter in one thigh (from the stable loft floor) and a strained shoulder (from propping Uline on the edge of the laundry tub).

Every injury and lost item was entirely worthwhile

But she vowed to be more careful during the second week of her visit.


2. from "Not Exactly"

“But you're not sorry?” I had to ask. “You're not doing this just for her?”

“Are you kidding?” Raoul wrapped his arms around me, drawing me close. “I'm the luckiest man alive.”

“You old flatterer,” Buri drawled, rousing herself enough to snuggle into my other side. And somehow, we all drifted off to sleep.


3. from "All Night"

“Buri,” she said, rolling back toward her lover. “Did we just go all night?”

“Not quite. The sun's only half up.” And Buri pulled her into a kiss.


4. from "Imperfect," featuring Ming, my favorite OC of 2010:

"Briar." She crossed her arms, keeping him away. Her eyes never changed. "You aren't the father."


5. from "Wide World Before Me," the 31_days compilation I wrote in August. The fic is an unpolished mess, but I do like the ending:

Tris blinked. What are you going to do? she asked.

Daja shrugged, forgoing words to let images spill across their magical connection instead: the forge at Gold Ridge, and heaps of magic-saturated copper waiting to be worked. A Trader ship, brass rails glittering in the sun. Polyam's wagon, the rest of Third Caravan Idarun winding ahead. The shining white towers of Lightsbridge University, as Niko had described them long ago. Daja's mare, and a lone packhorse, setting off in an undefined direction. There were so many possibilities, all clustered about, waiting for her to choose.

I don't know, she said. I have absolutely no idea.

Daja stepped out of the forge, into the shining afternoon sun. The wind caressed her cheek, and she turned her face into it, grinning. Tris, we have the whole world before us. We could do anything.


Favorite ten lines from anywhere:

1. from "Vibration"

The item was smooth, egg shaped, as long as Kel's thumb and somewhat thicker. The material seemed to be stone, but it wasn't a kind she was familiar with. “What is it?”

“Just something I picked up in my travels.” The statement was innocent enough, but somehow the look on Alanna's face was anything but.


2. from my "Little Girl Lost" AU:

“You still don't understand!” Alanna bellowed. “I'm a trained and blooded knight and I can't use my skills because there's no way I could fit back into that corset!”

“I'm sorry,” she continued after a moment. “I didn't mean to yell.”


3. from "Traveling"

"But it's not like that!" Neal insisted, quickly. "We're just friends. Good friends – almost like brother and sister, really. And she's too young, much too young for me to – what?"

Alanna burst out laughing. "My boy, I think you're wrong about that," she said, when she finally stopped.


4. from "In Honesty"

"In my heart, I have always blamed you for my mother's death. In my mind, I know it was an accident – you weren't even there when that brick wall collapsed. But to see you and my father so happy together, so soon..."


5. from "Beautiful"

Kel looks at Buri, all seriousness, and kisses her cheek. "And what's more beautiful than the evidence that you are living?"


6. from "Trickster's Pawn," in which Kel and Owendy are discussing Wen's arranged marriage:

"I'm entirely serious. What if you just told your father you won't do it?"

"I'd have to tell him why."

So they were back to that. Kel let go of Wen's wrists, lacing her fingers through his, instead. "I think you'll have to, sooner or later, anyway. You're not made for keeping secrets."


7. from "Sense"

"Alive?" Rosto murmured. "It has that effect, running for your life."

"Thank Mith- no, Kyp-"

"Shut up!" Rosto snapped, sealing his hand over Phelan's mouth. "Don't you know anything? The less you get his attention, the better!"


8. from "Man, Woman or Dancing Bear"

Tris freed one of her hands, reaching up to lift Arthur's chin. “Stop being pathetic, please. Confidence suits you so much better.”

The were-bear looked at her, blinking. “Aren't you afraid of me?”

“Afraid?” She laughed, this time with amusement. “Arthur. You know I'm a mage; I told you some of my stories – some of the tamer ones. The things I've seen, things I've done, forces I've harnessed... I'm not afraid of bears.”


9. from "Cesspool Sisters"

“I haven't told anyone,” Beka said, dropping her voice, “but I'm gonna be a Dog, just like I planned. I'm really doin' it, Tans. I start training next week.”

Tansy and Beka looked at each other, each trying to understand. Then Tansy shook her head, giving up. “Good on you, Cooper,” she said. “But take the dress, just in case.”


10. from "Encircled"

Tris finds my hand with hers.

“Side effects?” I whisper, close to her ear. “Such as uncontrollable lust?”

“Lowered inhibitions, that's all,” she corrects me. “It couldn't create something that's not already there.”

I don't know what to say to that. Tris silently squeezes my fingers, still watching Briar and Sandry. I let my eyes slide closed: for now, I'm content just to listen. But if this – all this – came from us, I wonder what our future holds.

Comments

[q-sama.livejournal.com]

Funnily enough, I think "Soot" was my favorite entry in all of PPF. I didn't read it until it was time to vote for the finalists, but I thought it was one of the most IC fics I've ever read. :)

And "Trickster's Pawn" is probably my other favorite; I think you dealt with transgender better than in any fic I've read before.

[peroxidepirate.livejournal.com]

*blushes*

I think your enthusiasm for "Soot" is a large part of what made me think it's underappreciated rather than thinking it's just not a good story. :)

[kitty-ryan.livejournal.com]

God, Letters Sent was fun. Thank you for doing that with me. *squishes* Also, seeing this list reminds me that I have so much more left to read.

[peroxidepirate.livejournal.com]

I wanted to put something from the letters in the Top 10 Lines section, but I kept picking things out and then realizing, "No, Kit wrote that one." :p And/or realizing I'd have to quote the entire letter for it to make sense...

*smushes back*

[coldthermistor.livejournal.com]

7. from "Sense" is pretty damn epic ;)

[peroxidepirate.livejournal.com]

Thanks! "Sense" is a <250 word drabble, and I was sooooo tempted to quote the entire thing here. But I restrained myself. :D

[cranky--crocus.livejournal.com]

This is an amazing meme. I wish I was this organised with my writing! It also reminds me just how much I need to create the time to read through all your writing!

[peroxidepirate.livejournal.com]

I &hearts memes!

*blushes* Thanks.