#Stat Trek AU

[mrsmarymorstan]

Would also like to point out this is how Mirrorverse Hoshi Dresses.

So yeah, entirely accurate.

In the M*A*S*H mirror universe. Everyone is pro-war except Frank Burns.

[gun-roswell]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Star Trek: The Original Series Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: James T. Kirk/Spock Characters: Spock (Star Trek), James T. Kirk Additional Tags: spocktober, Trektober, Spooktober, Kinktober, Vampire AU, I will suck your blood! Series: Part 28 of Spocktober, Part 29 of Trektober, Part 43 of Spooktober, Part 13 of 100x300, Part 1 of Vampire AU Summary: The mating games of the Vulcans can be rather, heated. Vampiric perhaps? This is spooktober after all (also kinktober)!

[olderthannetfic]

So, you mentioned low standards of research in podcasts. I don't listen to podcasts or watch a lot of videos about fandom analysis, but I have seen error corrections happening in the wild for what I have listened to, so I can only imagine how annoying it is when you know your shit.

Do you have any resources that come to mind as things everyone who likes fandom should be comfortable with, or specific essays on uniquely important fandoms (such as Sherlock Holmes or Star Trek) that everyone should read? Obviously the OTW resources are up there; what else?

Aside from resources, do you think there are any skills that are especially vital for getting to the bottom of fandom trends? Interview skills are probably pretty high up there.

Any pitfalls you see a lot of young fans falling into?

(I do a lot of fandom history research. It is the thing that gives me joy in fandom; other people like shipping or AUs, I like my little mini-anthropology sandbox and watching how ideas spread. I'm not necessarily good at it, but it's fun!)

--

Well... it's the usual things.

For example, a lot of fans claim to love fandom stats, but the ones that get passed around come from like three people. The people doing those stats, including me, don't usually have a statistics background, which doesn't automatically make them bad, but it really seems like people are just trusting anything with a pie chart.

We've recently seen people discover that those year-end AO3 ship stats have a seriously weird methodology. They don't show the thing their fans are actually trying to find out. People were pissed. But most of the time, they don't even bother asking what the methodology is or trying to do anything themselves.

There's far too much sitting back and waiting for some BNF to spoon feed one publicly-available information.

--

The big failings aren't usually the math itself but, of course, not knowing what question to ask, so it pertains to history research, not just stats.

You'll see a lot of stuff on shipping that looks at AO3 because AO3 shipping numbers are easy to pull... But AO3 shipping numbers don't just happen to be easy to pull: that is both an effect and a cause that is directly related to AO3's content. Someone interested in meta shouldn't be asking "What do AO3's numbers show?" as their first question. They should be asking "Why is this metadata available or not available and what does that mean on a sociological level?"

--

Thing two is the eternal I Have Apparently Never Heard of Anime problem. A fuckton of people theorizing about fandom trends seem to know fucking nothing about whole massive sectors of fandom or treat them as afterthoughts. This is okay if you're writing a history of Media Fandom. It is criminally stupid if you're trying to talk about what makes a piece of media have fic when another doesn't, what kinds of websites make fandoms take off, etc. Those kinds of broad questions need a broad understanding of what's out there.

It's not anime-specific, and I'm not asking for a high degree of knowledge.

I have routinely had people tell me that best friend ships and mystery/crime as a genre aren't popular, and that's why AO3 has this or that pattern... Meanwhile, buddy cops are the bedrock of oldschool slash fandom and make up basically all of the longest-running Western m/m fandoms that aren't Star Trek. CSI slop tends to have legions of future canon het shippers, and they make plenty of fanworks. It's just that some of this is more visible on FFN or older places, not AO3.

I'm always seeing things like someone speculating about how this and that anime fandom thing or bit of mid-00s FFN community drama led to this other thing on AO3, not realizing that AO3 came out of LJ Western fandom slash culture. To them, FFN is so central that it must be the main reference point, not the bajillion and one archives AO3 founders ran or Usenet or mailing lists or LJ.

I once saw someone asking on twitter about where a prominent Ranma fic might have been posted in the mid-90s. People claiming "My professor is an authority!" came out of the woodwork in droves to blither about K/S zines and then LJ. Not only was this entirely wrong, but the right answer was blindingly obvious if you knew enough to interpret the google results. I can only assume that the person tweeting had never heard of Usenet and didn't recognize the acronym for the big anime fanfic group that literally everything like this was first posted to.

I'm talking people insisting that fandom only goes for white characters when it's very obvious that fandom goes for majority leads who are not othered. All the bawwing in the world about "People assume anime characters are white" won't get rid of The Untamed or Kpop thirsters or whatever.

I'm talking sweeping pronouncements about gender and fanfic writers where the person hasn't even heard of FIMFiction or SpaceBattles or Dark Lord Potter cheesefests.

I've been in fandom for a long time, but I wasn't in all these parts, and I wasn't around for 80s zines. You don't need deep knowledge until you pick a research topic. But it's shocking how little shallow, broad knowledge a lot of people have when they're writing their Theory Of All Of Fandom History.

--

People are stupid as shit about survivorship bias, and fandom history is no exception. They're also dumb in the opposite direction, assuming that the thing they like now has always existed in this exact form.

For example, someone got mad at Fanlore for supposedly not documenting the history of f/f zines. Others have searched and searched for the zines of their old show they got into last year and are bewildered to not find any. The reality is that Fanlore editors are attempting to document every Media Fandom zine and have combed through old adzines looking for any mention of anything. Because of the methods of distribution—because it was expensive—small fandoms often had no zines at all.

Femslash fandom doesn't seem to have gotten enough critical mass to do much until Xena. The internet has really democratized things, but even the early internet was still somewhat in that old mindset where only certain popular things have a fandom. I think Yuletide itself, which started in 2003, really helped spread the idea of rare-but-existing fandoms being a thing. FFN and perhaps some other multifandom archives like Media Miner played a huge role.

Nowadays, we think of fic as just how you respond to media, any media, even if there are only two fics for that one car commercial, but that isn't how people saw things in every era—or at least it's not how fandom infrastructure worked. A lot of the time, the big hosting spots were single-fandom archives, often with restrictive content rules. Finding somewhere to post a m/m/f OT3 fic used to be hard. Never mind early zines when photocopiers didn't even exist yet and you had to sell out your print run of 500 to make a go of it.

All good research starts with a lot of preliminary investigation to figure out what you're even trying to look for.

Actually bothering to look for fans talking about their own history or casually chatting with your interview subjects before the formal interview will put a person miles ahead of many of the cringeworthy fandom ~papers~ I've seen.

The biggest mistake people make is going "Okay, these numbers aren't perfect, but some numbers are better than no numbers".

Bullshit.

As soon as there's a pie chart of the false numbers, everyone's brain turns off and they never look at the chart subtitle, never mind the research notes.

Bad numbers are often worse than no numbers.

Look at the logic behind the methodology first. Look at the social context. Basic understanding of human nature and familiarizing oneself with the shape and hangout locations of a community will get you most of the way there before you sit down for a specific interview or try to collect any specific numbers.

--

None of this is a fandom thing. Research is research. It's just that most people think "research" means watching a tiktok that the algorithm likes and were never taught how to evaluate a source for reliability.

Evaluating sources is a skill. I had explicit lessons on it in school. Lots of people don't, and that sucks.

Honestly, watching the more thoughtful debunking content on non-fandom topics, like Miniminuteman's stuff on pseudo-archaeology or Dan Olson's... everything, is a good window into critical thinking, and that's most of what's missing from bad fandom history.

--

But more than any of that, more is more. Not the crap stats, but the narrower, more personal accounts, the interviews. The more fans who investigate their little corner that isn't the same old AO3 site-wide "Why is there so much m/m?" ship stats or the same canned "Everything comes from K/S" history, the better.

What I object to is not amateur efforts but efforts that pull from the same small pool of data or that just reblog a tiny handful of supposed authorities.

--

If people are going to read just one thing... hmm... go try to look up a history of rec.arts.anime.creative, not because I think it's the most important fandom history out there but because it's at the nexus of things a lot of current fandom history work miss.

[e-rated-beardo]

2024 fic roundup

@cheeseplants created this ask/tag game, and I've been tagged by @addledmongoose and @harlotofupdog, here we gooo

What fandoms do you write in?

200% Good Omens. First proper fandom experience. First thing that forced (aye, forced) me to write a fanfic. Huge obsession.

If I were to write for anything else, it might be Our Flag Means Death, or Doctor Who, or perhaps House M.D. or some flavour of Star Trek. Or a crossover between one of those and GO. I'm a completely normal amount of obsessed with Aziraphale and Crowley.

How many words have you published in 2024?

*goes to ao3 stats page*

*hits "2024"*

...220,232 words

What the whole entire fuck!?

And there's another three chapters left on Scorn to go before New Year's, so we'll comfortably surpass 231k. How in the actual fuck is that possible.

What is your greatest achievement this year?

Getting this comment:

What are your favourite top three fics you wrote this year?

Not Single Spies (the third part of Nice And Ominous, which can be read on its own or with the two preceding parts); The Co-pilot; and I'm going to say Scorn and the Saint-Maker, although that's far from finished, because it's been the entirety of my past half-year.

Not Single Spies (part III of Nice And Ominous: a reluctant eschatology of the Second Attempt) Rated E; 61k words Second Coming/post-S2 fic; plot-driven

A man with pale hair turns up in Saint Peter's Square, naked and without memory, and Crowley's old sense of Aziraphale's location snaps like a twig. Heaven is down another Supreme Archangel—but the new Christ is already on Earth (in France, to be precise) and the Second Coming is well underway. And Crowley works for Hell now, but really, he works for the good of humanity; pulling on every friend he has to stop the end of the world.

There is some smut in this, but it's only three sections and they're all skippable. The rest of the story is rated T with no major warnings.

The Co-pilot Rated E; 4k words Human-ish AU; shameless smut

An un-English heatwave, a few open shirt buttons and the demonic entity possessing an innocent Londoner conspire to make long-time friends Az and Tony finally get over themselves and bone.

Scorn and the Saint-Maker Rated E; 97k words so far (WIP) Human not-actually-AU; sorta-post-S2; plot-driven, smutty, mathsy; four plots in a trench coat

Doctor Crowley has turned truancy into an art form, lecturing only under sufferance. Doctor Fell has signed up for his undergraduate course and has no plans to let him slack off. When a faculty member is found dead, our heroes start forming uneasy suspicions. What was the occult symbol drawn next to the body? Why does it feel like they’ve known each other forever? How is Crowley supposed to tell police that he thinks the murderer is a demon he summoned 35 years ago? And what about that statue that’s the spitting image of the victim?

They've been turned human. Now they're academics in Scotland. Romance, weirdness and (skippable!) smut ensue. The fic has some warnings, so check the tags.

What was your biggest pit of despair moment?

I had a nasty week in August, when I got depressive symptoms as a side effect of a necessary medication and spent ~10 days convinced everything I did was shit.

I'm also kind of in one at the moment, but without the pharmaceutical explanation/excuse. I'm just... urgh. Things are stuck. It's. It's a thing. Idk.

What have you learned?

You're expecting me to list everything I've learnt related to writing and fandom and fandom writing in less than an entire academic essay? Are you out of your entire mind!? (❤️)

Big things: I've learnt that I do have the capacity to finish big stories; that things I write are good enough that people want to read them and look forward to reading them and give me all these amazing compliments on them and go slightly feral sometimes; and that if I'm enthusiastic enough about maths, I can trick some folks who didn't even like maths into sort of liking maths.

Smaller things: A smattering of fancy vocabulary. How to paint with watercolour. How to draw Michael Sheen's nose and David Tennant's lower lip. The fact that I have a massive praise kink. More than I knew there was to know about em-dashes and en-rules. Heaps of random facts about the Bible, angels, demonology, poetry, Scotland Yard, Shakespeare, wine, dicks, queer identities I don't have, and queer identities I do have. And a bunch about how to watch/read/consume media with my eyes open and my brain switched on.

What fic did you want to do but never made it off the ground?

I still low-key want to continue The Co-pilot into... something. And That Berry Ice Cream from last December has been sort of asking for a follow-up, which just hasn't happened.

I had this idea, shortly after that week in November that the Americans don't like to think about, for something short, snappy, and a little cathartic; a fuck the system-type deal, both to that political shitshow and to all the sad crap fucking over the GO fandom lately, and I started to write it but got stuck not even a thousand words in. Maybe it just wasn't that good of an idea.

Did you beta any fics? Any favs you want to shout out?

I did my first toe-dipping of a beta read just the other month, for Easy Access by @ModernDayKlutz. I've not dared to jump into beta:ing properly for fear that my old flakiness will resurface and make me disappoint a person I've made a promise to, but this one seemed contained enough that I felt I could contribute. Especially with Kilt Knowledge™️.

What three fics have you read this year that you love?

THREE!??!?

All right, so I'm looking through my bookmarks, and, as it turns out, That Fic I Keep Recommending Basically All The Time was one I only read - or at least, finished reading - early this year!

Mint Tea by @copperplatebeech - 31.5k words; rated E - is one of those fics that half the fandom have heard about, right? I don't know if it happened to hit me at a formative point in my fandom life or if it's simply That Good, which is also very likely, but thirsty-well-hung-Dom!Crowley lives in my head for free and will not move out, it seems. It's scorching and funny and sweet, and when I say it gave me the idea to try some... things... which I hadn't tried before, in... certain parts of my life... 🔥🫠

Fanfic, uh... changes lives, y'all! Ahem, well then, onwards:

Come as you are by hiya_angel - 4k words, rated E - this gave me some of the experience reflected in that gorgeous comment above. The angst is minimal and the smut is gorgeous and wonderfully sweet and I adore this fandom for making me feel hope again and again for all this trans stuff that's still comparatively new to me.

Submitted for Your Consideration by @zehwulf - 19k words, rated E - contains possibly the most spectacular description of subspace I've read in... ever? And when it comes to bowling me over with porn, I could probably just pick anything by ZehWulf because whatever story I pick up it ends with me sitting there absolutely sweating. And feeling fuzzy inside. And maybe also crying for joy.

HERE'S A FOURTH ACTUALLY, YOU'RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME:

Lucid by @twilightcitysky - 35k words, rated E. It's unfinished and I barely even care at this point, because something about this fic changed me. It's So. Fucking. Good. It's one of those (rare? Not in this fandom! But a little rare, probably) stories where the smut is absolutely plot-crucial. It's also excruciatingly clever and angstier than I thought I would like (I was wrong! I LIKE IT) and the characters are great. And it's written just beautifully.

What ideas are percolating for next year?

More Scorn. (Don't trust the projected chapter count. Knowing myself, there'll be more of them. Or I might be done with less. It's a completely unqualified approximation.)

More Co-pilot, maybe? (I have Ideas.)

A slightly more fantastical fic that goes into a smut genre I haven't really explored at all before. And which has made me research goats' pupils.

Plus, I want to look into making podfics more. Maybe get better at it. Maybe even try out doing voice work for money? (I'm talking to a guy, it's completely wild, but damn it might be a thing I could do)

Who do you want to thank?

@addledmongoose (quite unintentionally) brought me to Tumblr. (She wrote a review of Nice And Ominous, and it was so lovely, I wanted to go there and like it and respond to it properly, so I just had to create an account, you know? No other options.) I'm so glad I'm here.

@bakingcat made excitable comments about my linguistics-nerdery-snuck-into-sex-scene and made me realise you can actually make friends in fandom.

@klikandtuna wrote the fic which I was a completely normal amount of obsessed with this summer, and which led to (via an instance of fanwork of the fanwork) me being flooded with love from strangers one random Friday and getting put in contact with that voice work guy. We also had the most wonderfully grown-up conversation about a tricky thing, for which I am so very proud and grateful.

@harlotofupdog came straight over to read Scorn almost right when I started posting it - I can't quite remember now, but the timing isn't the important bit - and wrote some absolutely glorious comments. D'you know you're the first writer whose work I'd already been painfully obsessed with, who's also expressed obsession with mine? D'you know how bloody cool that is??

And finally the unhinged smutgoblins of The Beta Fishes The Big Fucks server - idk who to thank anymore because I can't recall who invited me (it was past 3am and I'd just watched Michael Sheen shirtless for an hour, you'll have to forgive a guy) but all of y'all are weirdos and I love to hang out with yous and draw dicks and discuss writing and scream about Rivals and definitely not put mustaches on anyone.

No-pressure tags (in addition to everyone tagged above - please feel free to consider yourselves tagged-tagged if you like) without checking who's already been tagged in this before, because that's A Lot of Work that I don't want to do:

@wiblywoblytimeywimey754 @brenna @majnoonathelibrarian annnnd @kiratastic, pretty sure this could be modified to work for an art perspective too? Right? (If you want)

[lizardperson]

lizardwriting wrapped 2024

because this whole thing deserves a little yearly review too...

after not writing anything for the public in sooo many years, i actually wrote quite a lot this year. only had to overcome the initial feeling of "cringe omg i can't post that 😬", and now have lost all shame and am enjoying myself immensely, subjecting the world to my bullshit. i think i actually improved quite a bit over the whole year.

AO3 STATS [link]

28 works 48,102 words total 18x ocworld: 17 short bits + 5 chapters Dark Lights, Shine Loud 7x fallout: 6 of those Courier Mika including 20 oneshot chapters Come All Sufferers (#fnv au) 2x star trek disco

---

SPOTLIGHT some points stolen from this list

.characters i thought most about: mika - light of my life, bane of my existence. the ultimate blorbo from my brain, bouncing around in there 24/7. she's terrible and i love her so much. (#mika tag) gabriel - grew SO MUCH this year, mostly thanks to the silly little fallout au. i have a lot of thoughts but not enough words. i love him so much. (#gabriel tag) special mention: fiona - what started out as daria's nameless dead backstorywife somehow turned into an actual character that has been living in my brain now extensively. little miss tortured poet. i love her. (#fiona tag)

.favorite title And there are days like this, too because it's the perfect throwback to the kinda-first part 4261 days. and i wasn't even the one who came up with it, that was @voidthing special mention: The Hills Have Eyebots. because it's just funny.

.favorite opening line

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Mika cursed when her can of energy drink let out the familiar hiss of danger. Despite her best efforts and a few quick sips, she still managed to spill some of it on herself and the couch. Great, another point for Nic's long list of things to be pissed about. As if the general mood in this apartment hadn't been shitty enough those last few weeks. Oh well, let her bitch then. [Dark Lights, Shine Loud]

is it my best line? nah, far from it. is it the perfect introduction to Mika? hell yea - cursing, consuming caffeine, and making a mess. what more do you need to know lmao. i just really like that one, still. the whole first chapter, actually.

.favorite piece of dialogue

"You didn't answer my question - you think we're doing the right thing here?" "Yes." There was not a bit of doubt in his voice. "You believe in our stupid plan?" "I believe in you." [Doing The Right Thing]

just sums up the whole fallout au and their dynamic so well, and also *clutches chest*

special shoutout to the close second, the "I'm not a lesbian" bit in In Whiskey Veritas

and another special shoutout to the last bit of Left My Heart In The Sierra Madre because. T_T

.favorite ending line

Falling in love with her best friend was such a bad idea, July thought, and yet she didn't know how not to. [Viola sororia]

it's so sappy. but 🥺🥺🥺

close second for a completely different vibe:

Freud would probably have something to say about distracting yourself from your shitty mother by sleeping with a woman roughly that same age. Good thing Freud was dead. [Mommy issues]

.favorite text overall 4261 days i still think this is the best thing i've written. for someone who does not have particularly much experience with grief in general, i really really like writing a lot about it somehow...

---

OUTLOOK 2025

the big multi chapter thingies are very far up my to do list, but yknow how it is with adhd brains - ohhh lets do that quick short text first, and that one, and that one *procrastinates the big ones*

BUT that is the plan:

. finally getting some more chapters into Dark Lights, Shine Loud. there are a bunch lying around as first drafts, but they still need some work. soonTM

. continuing the way-too-ambition plotheavy heistthing What Happens In Reno, Stays In Reno after those first few intro chapters. this requires an extensive brainstorming session to get the actual plot hammered together.

. the shiny new wip that i am itching for (because shiny and new), because it's gonna be a bit different in various ways so that makes it excitingTM

....and of course just continuing to write, overall. gonna keep my #fff streak up.

---

SPECIAL THANKS

@voidthing for basically being my secret co-author. always improves the quality by SO MUCH and is the bestest anyway 💕💕💕

the whole @flashfictionfridayofficial community - turns out a regular thing is really good to get a habit going, and also y'all are so nice and cool and just 💕💕💕

everybody who reads my stuff of course :D yes, i mostly write for myself, but of course it's always awesome if someone else likes my bullshit 🙏

[lenin-it-to-win-it]

star trek pokemon au bc i wanted to draw khan with a scolipede and it was all downhill from there (hcs under the cut)

Kirk

kirk, spock, and bones all went on their first journey together back in the day, he and bones are still close but neither has heard from spock in a while

kirk is the region's champion, he fought hard to be there but misses the thrill of adventure

flying type trainer (in honor of the enterprise)

i gave him togetic bc its kind of built like a spaceship, honchcrow bc he had way too much fun playing a mobster in "a piece of the action" and charizard because kirk honestly does have the vibe of someone who thinks charizard is the coolest pokemon of all time

i was too lazy to draw a full team of 6 but he also has a braviary, altaria, and kilowattrel

Spock

former pokemon professor who got WAY too deep into his research, has a reputation for being batshit insane that is only somewhat deserved

espeon is his earliest companion and was his only friend before going on his journey with kirk and bones

spock studies pokemon with extraterrestrial origins and psychic abilities and intense bonds/experiments with these pokemon led to him developing psychic abilities himself

strives to be emotionless because it allows him to be better in tune with the emotions of his pokemon

when he became convinced [insert crazy-sounding but actually very logical theory here] and the rest of the scientific community refused to get on board with it, he fucked off to some remote outpost to continue the research on his own and cut contact with the outside world

Bones

i couldn't resist the temptation to draw him in a nurse joy outfit so i guess he's a nurse, he runs the pokemon center closest to wherever the elite four/champion is located

he was a little older than kirk and spock when he joined them on the journey back in the day

spent the bulk of the journey arguing with spock (who was constantly giving him unsolicited advice on how to boost his stats) and scolding jim for getting into stupid/unnecessary battles

has zero interest in battling and only has pokemon around that either help with his work (blissey and audino) or solely for companionship (probably has a lillipup and furfrou at home)

even so, he's still willing to drop everything to help when kirk recruits him to come on another journey with him to find spock so they can all defeat khan (yes, bones is still wearing the nurse outfit)

Khan

he's the boss of team genesis, which plots to destroy all forms of "lesser life" and restart the evolutionary process with only the strongest specimens (woooo canon accurate eugenics motivation)

wants to destroy kirk at all costs to become the champion, don't ask me how or why this helps with the eugenics thing, we're going full pokemon villain logic here

has a scolipede bc the earbugs he has in wrath of khan reminded me of little venipedes

Misc

scotty is still an engineer, works with a lot of steel types, his favorite companion is a magnezone

uhura dominates the competition circuit, has a lot of music-themed/singing pokemon, her best performer is a pom-pom style oricorio

sulu is a gym leader with grass/fighting type pokemon, his main is a sirfetch'd

chekov is a researcher who used to work under spock but now has his own lab and specializes in ice type pokemon, he has a cubchoo because, like him, it is baby

t'pring (was engaged to spock but broke it off bc he was too busy researching/having homoerotic battles with kirk and was never around) has a gardevoir so they can serve cunt together

[letmetellyouaboutmyfeels]

✨Fic Writing Review 2023✨

I'm a little late on this because I knew I was gonna be sneaking some fics in under the wire, but at last here we are! Tagged by @princessfbi who is shameless.

Words and Fics

600,077 words (twice what I wrote the last two years and more than half of that was my Halloween fics and so I say, once again, from the bottom of my heart, what the fuck)

3 fandoms - 9-1-1, Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, and Wednesday

Most recent drop: I was really hoping to share a different fic with you all instead but I didn't get it finished in time so it's We Can't Succeed but We Love Trying which is... *heavy sigh* weirdly appropriate.

Longest Fic: It's. Uh. All My Shattered Oaths. Which is currently just under 108k words. (WHAT THE FUCK)

Top Fics by Kudos

Sunlight is a Kind of Burning

Between a Rock and a Hard Place I Build My Bed

Untranslatable Shadows

Scraping the Moss Off the Standing Stones

My Blood on Your Skin (My Rose on Your Snow)

Sorry wait what do you MEAN my Xedgin fics are my most kudos'd fics of the year? You guys you're so sweet!

Fandom Events in 2023

None unless you count my Halloween fic drop insanity

Upcoming Events and Projects for 2024

The Buddie Fast & Furious AU that I am so so so excited about

My final Xedgin fic, which is uh. don't. don't look at the word count.

911 Star Trek AU inspired by TOS and Strange New Worlds

Buddie Platonic Sugar Baby AU

My 2024 Halloween Fics (there are 3.5 so far. let us hope it stays that way and none of them exceeds 50k)

Rules: Feel free to show whatever stats you have. Only want to show Ao3 stats? Rock on. Want to include some quantitative info instead of stats? Please do this. Want to change how yours is presented? Absolutely do that. Would rather eat glass than do this? Please don’t eat glass but don’t feel like you have to do this either.

Side note, the kudos are so interesting to me. Because based on reader response, I would've thought that Your Love is an Oil Slick (the ghost!Buck fic) or I'm Not Breathing (the dark!Buddie AU) would beat out the Hades!Buck fic. And I truly never would've expected any of my Xedgin fics to beat out my Buddie fics. Fascinating.

[saiditallbefore]

AO3 Wrapped 2024

I like this version that's a little less focused on stats! [source]

most written rating: E

most written category (gen, m/m, m/f, f/f, other): F/F

most written fandom: DC Comics

most written relationships: Lilith Clay/Paige Stetler (Omen/Power Girl)

favourite characters to write: Lady Shiva, Mia Dearden, La'an Noonien-Singh, Dutch

favourite additional tags (eg. hurt/comfort): Fake Science, Alternate Timelines, Porn with Feelings, Emotional Hurt/Comfort

favourite fic you wrote (+why if u want): I could pick several fics I wrote this year, but it's probably tried to wash you away, but you just won't leave. I'd never read anything with Shiva before I got that assignment for DC Rare Pairs, and I did a really fun deep dive, and I had a blast with how obsessive she and Dinah are about each other.

Runner up is a tie between Put the Moon in a Microscope (fake mermaid science!), Flying Blind (the fic I wanted to write as soon as I saw that episode), and it's not what you've lost, but it's what you find (Mia and Emiko's Existential Crisis).

favourite paragraph(s) you wrote: From a man who wears a stranger's face (Killjoys):

The green is better than Jakk. Or maybe it's worse. Her senses are heightened, she can think more clearly, and there are no shakes, no cravings for more.

That doesn't mean there are no side effects.

It left her feeling hollowed out, like the Hullenization process scooped out all of her emotions and left nothing behind.

favourite dialogue snippet you wrote: From nothing's gonna scare us now (DC Comics):

"You know, in Star City, sometimes we just have normal criminals," she says. "Not everyone has a schtick."

"We have normal criminals!" Stephanie says.

Mia looks at her, then back at the kite-themed villain and his buddies robbing the bank they're peering into, then back to Stephanie.

"Sometimes," Stephanie amends. "Sometimes we have normal criminals."

wip ideas for next year: So many! Currently in progress are the JLI reality show AU, the Green Arrow urban fantasy AU, the Narnia crossover, and the Princess Bride/Star Wars crossover

what you learned from writing this year!!

I wrote my first Killjoys and Star Trek fics this year, and I branched out into writing some new kinks. I wrote some extremely rare pairs, including the only fics for some ships! I also think I improved with my worldbuilding in particular this year!

I look forward to hopefully writing more next year 💖

Tagging @tavina-writes @adolin @73chn1c0l0rr3v3l @augustmourn @brigdh and anyone else who wants to participate

[browneyesandhair]

Hey! It's ya girl! November Edition

I got no chill and a large obsession with a lot of things. So this year, I'm tracking it! Okay, so this year, is the year of recs! (you may have seen some of my posts, but I also have an extensive queue, so maybe not (check out the #recs on my page)). Today's the 12th (don't look at the date, everything's fine, I promise)!

Anyways, I've created a collection for this year overall and then also for each month! Let's check out November's stats -

Works read (&finished): 66

Fandoms (top 8):

Teen Wolf: 19

Harry Potter: 18

陈情令 | The Untamed (TV)/ 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù: 10

The Vampire Diaries: 8S

Stargate Atlantis: 3

Star Trek: 2

Atla: 1

Danny Phantom: 1

Bridgerton: 1

The rest didn't make the first drop down section of AO3, so oh well! Let's check in on relationships (top 8):

Sterek: 17

Lan Zhan | Lan Wangji/Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian: 13

Klaroline: 8

Jily: 5

Harmony: 2

Spirk: 2

Stydia: 2

Harrymort: 1

There was 1 fics added to my recs list this month:

魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù:

The Shade of Old Trees by Kryal

Summary:

“We rest in the shade of trees our ancestors planted.” They called the man in the ice Yiling Laozu, after a folk hero associated with the town in the foothills of the mountains where he was found. No one expected him to be alive!

Alright, that's all folks (mostly), for fun, here are the top 8 additional tags from the stories that I read in November:

AU: 19

Tumblr Prompt: 9

Post-Canon: 7

Fluff: 6

Happy Ending: 6

Smut: 5

Time Travel: 5

Getting Together: 5

And, that's all folks (for real this time)!

[meddow]

Fic Author Q&A

Thank you for tagging me @curator-on-ao3!

1. Why do you write fanfic?

It’s a bit of a combination firstly wanting to share a plot idea I have with others, secondly, wanting to see something happen which I know won’t happen in the original source, and thirdly, it can be a bit of a fun puzzle – I don’t like this canon, how do I fix it.

2. Which of your posted stories do you think about the most, even though the story is “finished”?

Lately, First Solitary Separate Singular Complete. It was the first fic I wrote after a long break and I was a very rusty when writing it, so mostly what I would have do differently.

3. If you could give yourself fic advice from when you first started writing fic, what would that advice be?

There will be times when you feel you’ve lost the ability to write. It will come back. It never strays that far away.

4. What’s your relationship to fic stats?

I do check them and quite often, but just for hits. I like seeing the hit count on my WIP steadily head up and like to interpret that as it has found an audience.

5. Is there a pairing or scenario or friendship you miss writing? If so, why? If not, why not?

I wouldn’t mind revisiting Lix/Randall (The Hour) a bit more. I still occasionally find myself coming up with AUs for them. I had half a Victorian detectives AU plotted out in my head back in the day and I wish I'd had the energy to write it. Anyway, it was six episodes over a decade ago and yet they still reside in my head.

6. What motivates you to write?

Partly it’s a race against time to get things down before my inspiration runs out. Partly is that writing for me is like cooking. It’s lovely cooking for myself, but its extra special getting to share what I’ve created with the world and seeing other people enjoy it

7. Why do you write for the fandom(s) that you write for?

My muse is very much motivated by newspaper articles and non-fiction and basically shit I see in the world which pisses me off, and Star Trek remains the ultimate franchise for being able to discuss contemporary issues with a shielding layer of fiction over the top.

For example (spoilers for the next chapter of The Endurance of Light) the villains I’m writing at the moment have an ideology which is based of a whole bunch of anti-master, anti-vaxxer and anti-science rhetoric I’ve seen around – and I’m getting to show how the ruling class of that planet use that ideology to oppress the masses and keep themselves in power, while finding and exploiting loopholes that benefit themselves. I don't know if I'm weird, but writing that kind of stuff for me is oddly fun.

Strange New Worlds in particular hits that sweet spot as it has a great set up and characters I adore, but never seems to have enough time/a high enough episode order to really explore the characters and I want to fix that.  

8. If you’re stuck writing a WIP, what do you do?

Go for a walk. I get all my best ideas either wandering around the local park, or in the shower.

9. What do you wish people knew about comments?

I can’t speak for any author but myself, but I’m happy to answer questions about future developments (or the general direction at least, I won’t give a blow by blow) if someone asks me in a comment. I don’t like tagging my fics with whether it’s a happy ending or not or whether a pairing is endgame or not because I feel that ruins any tension and/or mystery I want to build for everyone, but in the comments, I can put details below a spoiler cut.

10. Maybe there’s a question you wish had been on here. What’s that question (and answer)?

As a person who has aphantasia (the inability to picture things in my mind), I’d love to know what other people see when they’re writing, and how much detail. For me, I feel like for a scene I get enough in my mind to create one blurry film still per scene. There's no movement though. I can’t picture things like facial expressions changing or what characters are doing with their hands. Often I feel like I’m just writing off vibes.

I've seen a lot of people I follow tagged already, is there anyone who has missed out that wants to be?

[elephant-in-the-pride-parade]

Fic Author Questions

@curator-on-ao3 thank you for tagging me in this new set of fic author questions! I had a lot of fun answering. ❤️

1. Why do you write fanfic?

I guess I stuck with it and stayed inspired largely because ive found really wonderful communities in fanfiction, whether its coming together to share in one beautiful AU story or different iterations of canon or just experiencing the joy of writing together. and having those communities has sustained me through some very isolated years and have been overall a positive experience in my life. ive made really wonderful friends through fanfic.

But I can't deny that I got into fanfic because my brain just fixated on one story and i had the overwhelming urge to put it on paper and so a smaller motivation is that there continue to be stories like that that motivate me to keep writing fic.

2. Which of your posted stories do you think about the most, even though the story is “finished”?

I guess just by virtue of planning the sequel at the moment, I think about and reread Unbroken alot

I have also had the Universe to Mend in my mind since last year and keep coming back to the two versions of Janeway i explored in that and where I left the two of them. and thinking about the other characters too: Mortal Q and Captain Chakotay and Stadi/Tuvok and where they might wind up next.  I have a few ideas for what might come next so I suspect there's at least one sequel on the horizon somewhere.

3. If you could give yourself fic advice from when you first started writing fic, what would that advice be?

Deadlines help you set goals and motivate yourself, but you don't owe them to your readers.

4. What’s your relationship to fic stats?

So, and this has been a very good thing for my self esteem and general mental health, working with data all day has made me really ambivalent about my story stats. They're interesting and useful when I have a specific question I want to answer with them but the rest of the time I no longer pay much attention to them.

The stats that I do focus on are all things I measure - timeframe to chapter/story completion, average words per chapter, total word count. Those help me set realistic expectations for myself and help me work on my goals of having healthy writing habits and writing more concise stories.

5. Is there a pairing or scenario or friendship you miss writing? If so, why? If not, why not?

I miss writing Threshold AU!!!!

I want to again and will again, but having had like... negative amounts of writing time this summer and being fixated on a new long story, lots of others have taken a backseat. i really miss the cameraderie of writing threshold au stories and the freedom and joy I get from working with that really original fresh premise - it frees me to experiment and be a bit more imaginative. im sad i havent had time for it in a while.

6. What motivates you to write?

A story takes up residence in my head and its beautiful and tempting and I cannot rest until I have delved in and explored it. Thoroughly.

7. Why do you write for the fandom(s) that you write for?

communities and friendships do a lot to help keep me inspired, both while continuing old longstanding stories and developing new ideas. and ive found this with Sailor Moon and Star Trek. I doubt i would be as prolific in either fandom without those communities.

8. If you’re stuck writing a WIP, what do you do?

I shove it in the back somewhere and work on other things until ive figured out what I dont like about it thats got me stuck. sometimes it works out that I just need a better idea of where the story is going. and then the story gets finished. and sometimes i find myself realizing the premise is a good one but the execution isnt.  and then if ive already started posting it, i put it in my "Under Review" collection (an unrevealed AO3 collection only I can see) and figure out if i can rework the story from the ground up or if it isnt going to get finished. I've got 3 in there right now.

9. What do you wish people knew about comments?

That it is actually a huge boost in inspiration to get a nice one. and that it's okay to leave short ones.

10. Maybe there’s a question you wish had been on here. What’s that question (and answer)?

My write in question: Do you create or want to try other types of fanworks?

Just for me i make playlists for characters to help inspire me for fics. sometimes i dabble in fanart. drawing is always really relaxing.

im also facinated by bookbinding. it looks like a really fun physical craft to build even if it looks complicated. i'd love to learn more about how it works.

A lot of my people i usually tag are tagged already so If you want to respond with your own please do!

[voiidvagabond]

3,9,22,31,36

3. Tell me about one of your fics you think is underrated/underappreciated. There are a few I wish got more hits etc. One of them is "A Green Isle In The Sea, Love." It's an episode-based Star Trek TOS fic that I'm really proud of. My imagery is so pretty in that one.

9. Do you ever look at your stats on AO3? Oh yes. Probably about 80% of the time I open AO3 I'll be checking my stats at some point. I love a bar graph.

22. Do you reply to comments? I do! I reply to every comment I get <3

31. Do you listen to music while writing? I listen to something nearly every single time I sit down with the intention to write. It's usually a non-lyrical playlist if I need to focus, or it might be a playlist dedicated to the project, ship, or fandom I'm writing for.

36. What's your fic with the happiest ending? Most of my works have pretty happy endings. But according to the works I have tagged with happy ending the happiest is "Circadian Rhythm" which is a mermaid AU Morgwen fic (from BBC Merlin).

ask me about fic writing

[agent-troi]

fic stats game!

Rules: Give us the links to your fics with the most hits, second most kudos, third most bookmarks, fourth most comments, fifth most words, and your fic with the least amount of words.

this looked fun so i stole it from @virtie333 hehe

Most hits: The MSR Files, the ficlet series I wrote last February (wasn’t intending this when it started but they’re in chronological order and can be read as one cohesive story lol)

Second most kudos: Platonic Procreation, my current WIP! An IVF arc AU where it worked and Mulder and Scully try to stay just friends anyway😅

Third most bookmarks: Mother Knows Best, in which Maggie Scully gives Diana what for😈 oh and there’s a happy ending for MSR too because I couldn’t resist hehe

Fourth most comments: The Only Answer, another Diana story… in which she and Scully switch bodies! Dun dun dun…

Fifth most words: This Heart That I Misplaced, a story I wrote for the darkfic exchange last year with the prompt that Mulder finds Samantha alive and in a mental hospital, but she doesn’t recognize/remember him…💔

Fic with the least amount of words: this is actually three drabbles, all star trek tng and riker/troi stories- First Date, New Life, Fresh Air

[kalee60]

People I Want To Know Better tag game

Thanks for the tag @sparkagrace 🥰 and huge thanks for reading my little story too ❤️

Book you’re currently reading:

Mr Einstein's Secretary - Matthew Reilly

Last song you listened to:

Padam Padam - Kylie Minogue (how Aussie of me!)

Currently watching:

The rising of the shield hero - season 2

The Continental - from the world of John Wick

Fic you’re currently reading:

I have just finished reading the survivors a Spirk epic AU and... It's just gorgeous... If you like that kind of thing!

But that being said I have so many Stucky fics on my to read list that I need to get onto stat!

Next on your watch list:

Wheel of time - season two

Last of us - only a few episodes to go!!

Princess Bride - for the millionth time for reasons that will soon become apparent... 👀

But definitely looking forward to some really bad, dodgy, romantic and tropey Christmas movies.

Current obsession:

Oh boy - no judging please - but I've kind of fallen in with a Top Gun fandom as well as Spirk from star trek (only 60 years late to that one!)

But also obsessed with making polymer clay jewellery and sleeping (though I don't get enough time to do either ATM 🤣)

Tagging anyone who would like to tell me about themselves!! (Honestly it's been a hot minute since I've really been on here -so tag away!/

[kowarth]

20 Questions for Writers

Thanks for the tag @technicallywrite .I've had to try and work out statistics for this!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

56 at present. They represent my writing from 2019. Previous to that my work was on tumblr or livejournal or not even on the internet!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

141,077 according the stats page

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Doctor Who, Annika, The Omega Factor, Good Omens but i'm happy to take a shot at just about anything. Even wrote a western AU for dr who at one point. My Star Trek Universe fiction hasn't made it to A03 yet

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Official stats are a little thrown as I am a credited Co Writer on a massive genius Mpreg Good Omens AU originated by @wildphoenixofthe80s and that has a third more kudos than my nearest solo work.

they are :

<a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26569630">Come Live With Me, Angel</a> -a sequel to the first tv season.

<a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/20654522">Love a Genius</a> - a UNIT New Series ft. River Song

<a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24170080">Make It With You</a> - an alternative alternative to Good Omens in Lockdown

<a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/52038229">Old Friends</a> - really this is @turnthefreaking-frogsgay I just provided Wilf's voice

<a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/18873886">Out of the Wardrobe</a> - One of my earliest fics, an anthology based on clothing through the history of Dr Who

5. Do you respond to comments?

Almost always! Some fics wouldnt exist at all without them. My current UNIT Vampire AU is being deliberately shaped by reader responses, although some of those have come from Discord rather than direct comments.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

In my opinion it would be the remastered "A Domino of Headstones" which, needs nust, concludes with Sarah Jane's death.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I really don't know on that front. I like to think <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24594739">"The Littlest Thing Holds Up The World (and the sun is just her smile)"</a>

Which can be read as a standalone but is something of a rollercoaster.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

If I do no one has told me so. I don't think i have the sort of profile where many people care.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes, although its all very mild if it gets posted ;)

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Yes, my Sisters of the Unexplained series crosses UNIT with both PRoBe and The Omega Factor.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Into English maybe ;) no, as i said, i'm not high enough profile for that

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I've been credited as such. I'm a concept guy, with a good handle on character voices and scenarios and so i've helped out friends who have been gracious enough to credit me.

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

The TARDIS. oh, you mean.. uhm.. not sure i can narrow it down. Probabaly Osgate

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Five more Conferences with Kate Stewart and one without.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Beligerence? Concepts and voices I think, thats what i'm often asked about anyway.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

self doubt and brevity.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I've used google translate a few times if i don't know someone who speaks it.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Ever at all was a Blakes 7 / Five Doctors crossover where Avon was snatched from the final seconds of 'Blake' and dropped into the death zone. it was illustrated too and absolutely awful but I was 8.

First thing that turned up online would have been tie in fiction to my local Star Trek RPG group USS Basilisk.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

In all honesty once I have purged the plot from my system they vanish from my memory. I occasionally get kudos from long posted fics and surprise myself by going to read what the fuss was about!

If anyone want to say thier faves in the notes, knock yourselves out!

I think I'm supposed to tag some other writers now? I expect anyone I tag will have already done this quiz but at the least i should include ny erstwhile co-authours @wildphoenixofthe80s and @turnthefreaking-frogsgay as they are proper writings who write things.

[broodsys]

got tagged by @plisuu, thank you again! this'll be fun >)

tagging hmmm lemme see... @jazzmckay | @streganicha | @jellydishes but as ever no pressure uwu also trying to not tag Everyone i know so other ppl can continue to pass it around lmao

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

55!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

299,998. okay that's amusing i'm glad i looked. i'm two words away from 300k lmfao

3. What fandoms do you write for?

99% dai, with a tinyyy bit of da2. also one fic (that has totally fucked up my stats page bc it's a much more popular fandom) for pkmn: sun and moon (anime) and one for cagaster of an insect cage (anime). my old deleted ao3 had more fandoms, the other big ones being les mis (movie) and inception

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

we're the last to know (pkmn sumo, little cutesy ash/kiawe thing)

sleep just a little longer (solavellan somno smut lmao)

the hidden mage (fenders during dai timeline)

domitable (solavellan smut with solas domming for once)

a matter of taste (solavellan smut where solas is encouraged to figure out his own interests)

5. Do you respond to comments?

yes! sometimes it takes me a bit but i always reply. if it's a long/thoughtful/specific comment i also try to address a bit of what the commenter brings up :')

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

oh that's maybe a day to die for sure. wrote that back in my first dai hyperfix period after it had come out, this is a bad end au where they get stuck in the magic future

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

my longing series comes to mind. nessa lavellan/solas. it was also my first venture back into seriously writing fic and my first dai fic ever since i got back into my hyperfix :')

8. Do you get hate on fics?

none yet, luckily

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

lmao yes i write so much smut. um... what kind indeed? i'll just say it's very character-driven - not always stuff i'm personally interested in, but hey, if it works for them, good. i shall write the thing. i write a lot of different kinks

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

none i can think of... although i do have an outline for a dragon age characters in the star trek universe fic lmao

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not to my knowledge, but i don't go looking, either

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

one, yes!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

no. considered it at times, but it seems kinda awkward

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

all time....? well i'll say that the ship i've sailed the longest has been fenders fr

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

the fucking. cagaster of an insect cage one. god. i keep thinking about it and fanfic is nonexistent so i feel extra compelled to finish my fic for them but i just have like 0 interest. da took my entire brain over (again)

16. What are your writing strengths?

hmm... your boy can sure write some character introspection!!! honestly tho, one of the things i'm proudest about in my writing is my ability to match the tone to the fic or character pov

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

action scenes, especially fight scenes :x i can do them but they take soooo much longer than anything else and it's an uphill battle (heh) the whole way

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

while i wouldn't write another real language in fic, if it's a fan language (like project elvhen) then i sometimes include short pieces if they're different from what would normally be spoken. so like... arlathan era fic, no, i'm not going to include stuff from project elvhen bc everyone's speaking elvhen all the time. but if it's during dai era or smth and they're speaking common with the occasional elvhen word/phrase thrown in, then i'd add the word/phrase and define it at the bottom

19. First fandom you wrote for?

da2!

20. Favorite fic you've written?

that's gotta be from my bigfic series, antiquation :') specifically i think part 5, paradigm shift, is my favorite of the whole series uwu

template under the cut!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

3. What fandoms do you write for?

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

5. Do you respond to comments?

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

8. Do you get hate on fics?

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

16. What are your writing strengths?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

19. First fandom you wrote for?

20. Favorite fic you've written?