#fic writer year in review

[ladydorian-writes]

FIC WRITER YEAR IN REVIEW!!

Based on this tumblr post.

the first fic you wrote/posted this year: my sweet/sad Tanya/Roger AU "Just a Kiss". I wanted something soft & self-indulgent, and I wrote this over the course of a day or two when things in my life were stressful.

the fic you had the most fun writing this year: I absolutely LOVED working on "Her Muse" because it started as this absurd smutfic based on a tweet from JAVdottxt (the Japanese Adult Video translation account), and quickly became one of my favorite T/R AUs.

a time you tried something new (character ship, fandom, style, trope, etc): I wrote a Hanahaki AU! "With Petals in Our Hair" - it was so exciting, I love trying new things and challenging myself.

the fic you're most proud of this year: Definitely the T/R Hanahaki AU, I don't care if it's one of my least popular.

any challenges/events/etc you participated in this year (or your favorites if you don't want to list them all): I started ficwip's 3-sentence story challenge on bsky, based on little stories from the main fic. It's called "How to Make Friends & Eat Macarons in 3 Bites or Less" and it's tons of fun to write.

the last fic you wrote/posted this year: I took a break from my main story to finish a T/R camgirl AU, "The Price of Sugar." It'll be my last work of 2023.

your writing goals(s) for next year: I accomplished so much this year with my OC writing, between the main story and AUs/side stories, I just hope to keep that momentum going, have fun, and come closer to giving Tanya & Roger the happy ending they deserve. ^__^

[tellmewhatyouc]

fic writer year in review

i compiled this list of prompts to reflect on a year of fic writing/reading, and here's my own answers!

✨ the first fic you wrote/posted this year

beneath the stars, my first blade/huey fic! this was from when i had little jars of nu:c characters on paper and word prompts for brainstorming

✨ your most written fandom, character, and/or ship

fandom: nu: carnival character: quincy ship: blade & quincy

✨ the fic you had the most fun writing this year

not TECHNICALLY a fic but i have a nukani modern AU going in rp threads, we have a cast-wide polycule with a focus on quincy, kuya, blade, rei, and it's been SO FUN

✨ your most used tags

fluff, pre-canon, modern AU, friendship, angst (are we surprised)

✨ a time you tried something new (character ship, fandom, style, trope, etc)

i wrote for a handful of new fandoms: coffee talk, qsmp, genloss, and ordem paranormal! with genloss i tried a new genre in horror, which i never expected to enjoy TBH. also just juggling multiple fandoms at a time was never My Thing but i love it now i understand i've changed

✨ the fic you're most proud of this year

ummM i'm very proud of finishing not quite anointed but i did write most of it in 2022 so. maybe be not afraid bc it was waaay out of my comfort zone (hero/villain AU) and i did a lot of worldbuilding for it (that i wanna write more about later)

✨ if you track your writing in any way (words written, time spent writing, days you wrote something), share your stats!

will update this after new year's for my own reference but currently i'm at 124 hrs of writing time 💪 and 88k posted on ao3 apparently

✨ any challenges/events/etc you participated in this year (or your favorites if you don't want to list them all)

fandom rhythm volume 2 🌈

our first coffee talk fanweek, i didn't end up making anything for it but i did organize it

running the nu: carnival flash fic challenges has been fun even tho it's on a bit of a break rn

various exchanges/gift boxes on dreamwidth, those are lovely

multifandom match was crazy, i had so much fun and i'm so excited to do it again next time

i also reopened sweet & spicy bingo which has been a good time

there's probably more but those are the HIGHLIGHTS that come to mind

✨ the last fic you wrote/posted this year

it's gonna be my nukani secret santa fic i think! unless i get a burst of inspo after the 24th

✨ your writing goals(s) for next year

MAYBE finish i feel fine and make some progress on soft focus edits. otherwise the usual "write whatever i want"

✨ your favorite fandom/character/ship to read about

been Hella enjoying dsmp AU fics despite having watched like 15 mins of actual dsmp content and not knowing any of the lore, most of the stuff i've read is SBI-centric but i also love a good pumpkin duo moment

✨ your most searched tag(s)

probably just the general "medical" tag tbh

✨ the shortest fic you read this year

i like narsus's nukani drabbles, one of my faves is Momentum

✨ the longest fic you read this year

most definitely tommyinnit's clinic for supervillains at 188k, it had me at the Medical Themes and jumpstarted my love for hero/villain AUs

✨ a finished fic you enjoyed reading this year

pins and needles, would you believe that it's. a dsmp hospital AU. what's funny is i had no idea who quackity was when i first read this and now i'm a qsmp ho

✨ a wip you enjoyed reading this year

i have 2 in mind!

providence: another dsmp AU fic, but apocalyptic this time

til death do us in: it's so cool to see a fic inspired by my own and i've had a lovely time reading acelaw again

[solacium]

fic writer year in review

questions courtesy of tellmewhatyouc!

🩵 the first fic you wrote/posted this year

omg!!! it apparently was daylight (madakoha, G, 431) written for ficwip's tiny ship fleet fest 2023!

🩵 your most written fandom, character, and/or ship

oh, my god LMAO it was absolutely madara/kohaku of ensemble stars. did i write them well? probably not. but i loved them so hard.

🩵 the fic you had the most fun writing this year

fun??? i don't have fun, i write in agony.

jkjk it would be all this and heaven too (dan heng/caelus, G, 2k), that i submitted under multifandom match! clueless idiots in love is my favourite flavour of idiots in love, i giggled a lot. yes, at my own humour, like a loser. but hey, if i'm not gonna laugh at it, who is, right?

🩵 your most used tags

how much d'you want to bet it's "fluff" 😂 (or "self-indulgent")

🩵 a time you tried something new (character ship, fandom, style, trope, etc)

oh i have so many instances of this!

1) i tried a weird format for a fic reminiscent of the songfics of yore (madakoha, M, 2.3k) in which i overlap the voice of the narrator with a letter he is reading.

2) i wrote for two ships New To Me this year and have fallen in insane love with one of them

3) i translated two fics (EN-CN) and recorded a podfic for ficwip's multifandom match 2023!

🩵 the fic you’re most proud of this year

good lord. i'm not sure, hey. i wanna say iris (unfurling) (luocha/blade, G, 100) bc i managed to make it do what i wanted it to do for me, and judging by the comments, for my reader(s?) too. it's more a drabble, less a fic, but it counts, right?

mostly tho if i'm entirely honest i'm proud i managed to complete anything at all this year.

🩵 any challenges/events/etc you participated in this year (or your favorites if you don’t want to list them all)

i Actually Participated in things this year!

tiny ship fleet fest 2023

i still can't believe i made it for #ficwip5k this year!

multifandom match 2023, the highlight of my YEAR

i finally attempted ahria's 1000 word photo prompt challenge this month and it was super fun!!

🩵 the last fic you wrote/posted this year

at the point of the writing of this, it is touch (luocha/blade, 1k, T), just some simple fluff. i'm hoooping to post the NYE madakoha fic i've been writing since 2022 on NYE though!

🩵 your writing goals(s) for next year

honestly, it would be to be More Fearless, More Shameless. i can be better later, i need to learn not to stop myself first.

i would also like to write something for next year's 5k, and get at least halfway through my tarot project by the end of 2024.

[fellowshipofthefics]

Can you believe the year is almost over? We can't! 🎉

As we charge towards the new year, we wanted to encourage you guys to reflect on your accomplishments for this year! Have you participated in a new event this year? Reached a writing goal? Or maybe you posted your first fanfic! We want to know!

Feel free to use the questions below as a guide to recap your year, or let followers ask you specific questions from this list. Whatever you want to do with these questions, it doesn't matter, just be sure to celebrate the victories!

Remember: all progress is good progress!

What is something new you tried with your writing this year?

Did you participate in any fandom events?

What's been your favorite project to work on?

Hardest project to work on?

Did you start any projects?

Did you finish any projects?

How many WIPS do you have now?

Share your favorite scene/line!

Share your favorite story title!

What does your writing system look like? (i.e. brainstorming, writing, editing - how do you do it?)

What's the best atmosphere for you to write?

Any particular snacks or drinks while writing?

Do you form playlists/soundtracks for your stories? Or even just for your "writing time"?

What advice would you give to a new writer?

What are some goals you have for 2024?

✨ Here at FOTFICS we want to thank everyone for another fantastic year! We have a lot of fun new things coming in 2024, and we hope to see you there!

Happy Holidays, everyone, from all of your fellowshipofthefics mods! @lordoftherazzles @ahufflepuffhobbit @fantasyinallforms

[aidaronan]

✨Fic Writing Review 2023✨

Tagged by the incomparable @greatunironic and my beloved @wynnyfryd.

Words and Fics

58, 889 words published on ao3

Plus at least 14,975 or so words of unpublished things that are started and incomplete.

At least 30 new ideas and/or WIPs.

8 published fics on ao3 + some new additions to the drabble/ficlet collection + many tumblr fics/microfics

One completed collab with @sparkle-fiend and one collab (two really) with @sparklyslug in the works

Two monsterfucker fics influenced by the Steddie FanExpo NoLa crew and getting crossfaded as fuck in the French Quarter after meeting Guiseppe Quintilliano.

Top 3 by kudos

Cassiopeia, Orion, Bootes (aka he was a gator boi) Like I Always Do (post-starcourt hurt comfort) Nothing Hurts (Like Your Mouth) (oops! all monsters. vamp eddie and were steve banging in a mausoleum)

Fandom Events in 2023

Lex's Spicy Six Spring Fanworks Challenge

Multiple @steddiemicrofic challenges: read here.

Upcoming Projects

Two Stranger Things Reverse Big Bang fics. Hilariously, neither of them are Steddie as the main pairing, but I think at least one is likely to hit novella length. I can't say a lot due to secrecy, but I feel safe saying one is a gen fic and one is f/f.

One tiny baker!steve/rockstar!eddie collab with @sparklyslug, hopefully out this holiday season.

One bigger collab with @sparklyslug in the spring if we keep our enthusiasm together long enough.

Will keep trying to plug away at the witches fic. I have, admittedly, lost some enthusiasm for them but I do know where the story is going. If you love this one, please be loud at me but in a non-demanding way lmao. I need you.

Two Fandom Trumps Hate fills of at least 10k for @withacapitalp and my dearest, Andi.

Eddie Bio project.

???Who Knows??? But there will probably be monstercock involved.

Some personal chat, rules, and tags under the cut.

Doing some oversharing because I'm starting to think it's vital that we all are honest about our struggles so we don't feel alone and so we know we're not failures. We're just people.

It's been a low production year for me. It's been a difficult year in general, but sometimes change is hard even when it's change you need.

Over half my year was eaten up with job hunting, moving, and trying to adjust while feeling the depressive effects of not having a local friend/support network yet or enough money for whatever the fuck the economy is, esp in this area relative to my salary. A good deal of my body of works for 2023 were written pre-move. Hell, a good deal of them were written in the first quarter. (Which, btw, shout out to anyone else who often feels a bittersweet sort of regret at not being productive in the current internet environment where you feel like you're old news if you can't keep up an unsustainable output. I love you, same, it's prob not true anyway, and here are 200 forehead kisses. <33) All of that said, I'm feeling much better lately. I've been reading again. Writing again. Feeling like I'm living again. I'm looking forward to another arbitrary border of time and on filling that border with joy, especially queer joy and weird joy and the intersection of both of those. As they say: let's fucking gooo.

I still love it here. I know steddie won't be forever for me, just like other ships before them weren't forever for me. But I'm having fun and have been really enjoying some of the connections made in this little sandbox.

On that note:

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 do eat glass, I’ve heard it’s good for your gums. Tagging, even though I know some people have already been tagged: @sparklyslug, @wormdebut, @banannabethchase, @just-my-latest-hyperfixation @messessentialist @rainbow-nerdss @plutosrose @thefreakandthehair and anyone else. @ everyone who keeps this fandom rippin' and roarin', kissing you, kissing you, kissing you

[loki-is-my-kink-awakening]

Fic Writing Review 2023

Words and fics

154,766 words written

55 fics worked on

32 fics published (one shots and finished multi-chapter)

1 wip multi-chapter updated.

My busiest writing month was April with 33,341 words.

Average words per month was 14,772.

Words written per Fandom

47,911—Loki

39,877—Stranger Things

24,343—Witcher

22,741—Our Flag Means Death

11,151—Midnight Mass

6,536—MCU (wider than Loki)

2,217—The Last of Us

Ao3 fics published

33 fics published or updated

89% one shots

11% multi-chapter

31 completed fics

2 unfinished WIPs.

110,863 words published in 2023.

I completed 2 multi-chapter fics this year, with Petals In A Storm being my first ever finished multi-chapter fic.

Published Fics by Fandom

15 (43%)—Loki

12 (34%)—Witcher

3 (8.5%)—Midnight Mass

2 (5.75%)—Stranger Things

2 (5.75%)—Our Flag Means Death

1 (3%)—The Last of Us

Top 10 Fics by Kudos

Praying for Salvation (Midnight Mass)

In Any Shape or Form (Loki)

One On The Way (Witcher)

A Barking Dog Seldom Bites (OFMD)

Let Time Pass (Loki)

Fighting To Get To You (Witcher)

Silky Heat (OFMD)

Dream of Me (Loki)

Jaskier Sandwich (Witcher)

What My Heart Just Yearns To Say (Witcher)

My fandom fic events in 2023

OFMD Reverse Big Bang—fic published in June

Steddie Big Bang—fic in progress, due January 2024

Fandom Trumps Hate—fics in progress, due December.

Notes and tags below the cut

I started counting my words written in March, so my figures from January and February are a rough calculation and I’m probably being too harsh on the final count.

I also had a really stressful few months during a team restructure, so I’ve not been great at keeping an accurate record the whole year, which I regret because it took a lot more time to pull this together because of that.

Read all this and have questions for me? Feel free to send me an ask.

Now I’ve bored you with all my stats, here's the deal for those I’ve tagged below.

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.

Now for the tags: @dancingwiththefae @ptork66 @artaxlivs @mojowitchcraft @mimisempai @rins-love-wins @insert-witty-user-name-here @lgwilt @dewdropreader @starport-seven-five @cha-melodius @dreamycloud @waterhorseyblues-ao3 @chaos-monkeyy @mirilyawrites @inwantofamuse @dapandapod @dapperwerewolf @gleamingsilence @flootzavut @flordefandom @kell-be-belle @limerental @iwillbringyouruin @flawney @karolincki @jayofolympus @naumaxia-art @rauchendesgnu @pherryt @bravelittlenippa

and anyone else who's read this and wants to do it.

[frownyalfred]

ao3 wrapped [writers edition]

Created by @floydsin. I stole it from @lurkinglurkerwholurks

How many words have you written this year?  327,224 words! Dang!

How many works did you publish this year? At least 20, probably more.

What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)?  borderline. That plot was complicated for me and it took a LOT out of me to write it.

What work of yours has the most hits?  borderline.

What work of yours got more feedback than you expected?  a sky of honey. I was surprised at how many people liked the previous fic and wanted to see more! I didn't expect that.

Favorite title you used?  savestate. it's a bad pun that made me laugh.

If you use song lyrics, which artist’s songs did you pull from the most?  I owe Kate Bush for most of my fic titles, lbr.

Pairing you wrote the most for this year?  Superbat <3 my beloved

Favorite pairing you wrote for this year?  Lex & Bruce in a sky of honey was actually a surprise fave. Lex's dialogue and bickering with Bruce is so much fun.

What work was the quickest to write?  Ironically, the first few chapters of borderline.

What work took you the longest to write?  bloodletting takes a while to update because of the mando'a translations. Probably 3-4x longer than a normal chapter update.

How many WIP’s do you have in your docs for next year?  Just one or two so far.

What’s your longest work of the year?  a sky of honey, clocking in at 95,618 words.

What’s your shortest work of the year?  do it again.

What WIP are you taking into next year with you? too many...

What’s your most common “Additional Tags” tag?  not beta read...so real, bestie.

Your favorite character to write this year?  Probably Thomas Wayne, surprisingly. He's so funny to me.

The character that gave you the most trouble writing this year?  Bruce.

What’s one pairing you want to explore next year?  Clark/Slade

Which work of yours have you reread the most?  borderline since I needed to remember where I was going while writing it, and then probably bloodletting.

How many kudos in total did you get this year?  39,650

Which work has the most comments?  borderline. though I had to delete a LOT of threads there so it's probably even higher.

Did you do any collaborative works this year? I bother @januariat every few days to discuss a sky of honey, so yes.

Did you write any gifts this year?  Several for @audreycritter and @lurkinglurkerwholurks

Did you receive any gifts this year?  Yes -- several from @audreycritter and @lurkinglurkerwholurks as well as a few from folks writing about borderline and a few of my shitposts. Thank you friends <3

What’s your most common category?  Gen, somehow?

What do you listen to while writing?  My increasingly complex spotify playlists. Depends on the type of writing.

Favorite work you wrote this year? I actually really liked nocturn and synchronicity.

Favorite line/passage you wrote this year?  It's so hard to decide. Probably one of the mando'a jokes I made in Jason's dialogue.

Biggest surprise while writing this year?  People do still tell you to kill yourself over fanfiction online! Bizarre.

[deathbyoctopi]

The year is finished, so it is time to look back and go through the best AO3 treasures I found these last 12 months!! And since XueXiao has been the bane of my existence ever since i discovered it, I decided to make a top 10 list of them! 

So these are (in no particular order) my favourite (song)xuexiao fics:

- the backyard is full of bones by @veliseraptor  A thoroughly enjoyable what-if with Xiao Xingchen being a bit smarter about the wounded man he found. Extremely well paced and written, it eases into the enemies-to-lovers dynamic perfectly, and it depicts characters so believable and well-rounded that it practically feels like canon. 

- I promised you a garden by @lady-of-the-lotus  A short snippet into an alternate timeline where Song Lan’s consciousness is trapped in a paperman and forced to bear witness to the yizhuang’s (very sexy) domestic life. Cute and frustrating and very, very satisfying. (One of those where Song Lan’s not having a good time, which might be one of my favourite tags). 

- Now that I see you by @10holmes​  Don’t usually go with unfinished projects, but this one is an absolute treasure which’d need to work very hard to go awry, so of course I’ll have it here. We have a double canon divergence with Not Blind!Xiao Xingchen, and Amnesiac!Xue Yang!! Which make for a delightfully angsty relationship as they both tiptoe around each other, all while battling with internal turmoil, conflicting morals and a misplaced low sense of worth. A fic absolutely worth keeping track of. 

- The prisoner of Jinlintai by @fieri-sentio-et-excrucior  A rather recent project that had us in tethers for a month and a half (!) with the very sexy prompt of Xiao Xingchen being framed and arrested by the Jin, while a certain guest disciple with a sweet tooth was still around... Another enemies-to-lovers with a wonderfully natural evolution in their relationship, with the extra treat of a rich and entertaining world building that could easily sprout a few spin-offs. 

- Nothing but a way of shading blood by @veilchenjaeger​  This one is very recent, but it shoot up to my top 10 immediately, both for the marvelous writing style and the perfect way they executed the prompt. It provides just the right amount of anguish in Xiao Xingchen, before and after certain discoveries are made, and the diplomacy game with Jin Guangyao and his minion just adds an extra flavour in an already spicy mix. 

- Heaven has a road but no one walks it by @silvysartfulness​  The second (and last) ongoing project here, but just as deserving of the spot. This book-sized treasure is a long journey of (re)discovery, of a slowly kindling relationship with wonderful twists and turns. The slow pace balances out perfectly with some intense (and, in one occasion, thriller-like) action scenes. Also, it was the fic that made me see SongXueXiao with a more favourable opinion.  

- lie back and let me unlock you by @veliseraptor  A short and extremely sexy xuexiao roll in the hay, with the amazing prompt of Xiao Xingchen being (quite shamefully) aroused at the thought of his old enemy Xue Yang, and good ol’ Chengmei offering to rolplay. The result is even more unbelievable that what you can imagine! 

- On the topic of cold by @andreri25  A cute little snippet in the early days at Yi City, where Xiao Xingchen almost dies from hypothermia and Xue Yang has to keep him warm. So what if he takes advantatge? Daozhang won’t remember, and he does need some hot friction after all! It’s wicked and cute in equal parts, because Xue Yang starts off really concerned (even if he wouldn’t admit it or know why, really) but changes gears when the danger is over...

- Final victory by @fieri-sentio-et-excrucior​  A funny concept very well executed, particularly in the emotional response both Xiao Xingchen and Xue Yang give at the different turns of the plot. Daozhang discovers that his old enemy is in town, killing people, and after recovering from the surprise, Chengmei offers his help to hunt him down. Cue some well-placed deceit and a cruelly cute happy ending. 

- it hurts at first (but it ain’t that bad) by @veliseraptor  Yet another change in dynamics with Xiao Xingchen discovering his mysterious friend’s identity, if only this time because Xue Yang flat-out tells him (well, he thought he was done for anyways). What follows is a wonderful deluge of arguments, moral dilemmas and Xue Yang’s particular brand of twisted social logic that allow a deeper (and less deadly) reprise of their last canon conversation. Just lovely. 

Which one of those I like best? I don’t know. I don’t care! They are all fantastic. 

AND, since this year was also the first I started actually writing some original content, and not only devouring other artists amazing works, lemme put them here as well >w<

- Phantom Threat  The foregone conclusion of all the fix-its that have xuexiao become an item (sans hidden identities, that is), in which Song Lan arrives at Yi City and does what he should have done in canon and talks directly with Xiao Xingchen, to reveal the terrible secret... which he already knows about. 

- To carry a bit of yesterday  A small slice of life in the Three Year Bliss, where Xiao Xingchen wants a family portrait and despite being quite contrary to the idea, both a-Qing and Xue Yang end up complying. It has amazing art by @wrathyforest​, too!! ^-^

AND FINALLY, just a few non-xuexiao fics I also loved to the moon and back, but have little-to-no connection other than belonging to the mxtx universe. 

- You’re stuck with me by LikeAFlamingKiss_Consume  A delightful jadecest with dark!Lan Xichen (well, dark!Everyone and their mother, it’s a fucked up AU) and a reluctantly horny Lan Zhan. 

- Blood array by @giraffeter​  Though it could technically be a xuexiao fic, the actual fucking here is between Demonic Gremlin Team Extraordinaire! Xue Yang and Wei Wuxian, sooo... doesn’t count. The fic is entertaining, very sexy and their interaction is marvelous to follow! 

- Despite warning signs by @extrapenguin​  A surprisingly cute and light-hearted Xue Yang/Mo Xuanyu little treat, from their days as Jin disciples. A happier alternative reality for both of them, with fluff and smut in equal parts, which never fails to make me smile. 

- Qi Rong’s day off by @ahintofblue​  Too bad the only tgcf fic to make the cut is a very, very nsfw alternate outcome of the mausoleum scene from book 2, but what can I do? The writing’s so smooth and engaging, it’s rough and cruel and I loved every single minute of it. 

I have the gnawing feeling I’m still forgetting something, either here or in the xuexiao part... but until I discover the way to check which fics I left kudos in, I either go through an ocean of titles from my ao3 history page (that won’t even let me filter!!!) or I just wait for my two braincells to click one day. Oh, well!

Thanks for reading, and to all writers, THANKS FOR WRITING!!! I love you all. Have a happy new year!

[calaisreno]

2022: Writing Year in Review

This year I posted 19 stories, less than my usual, but that was one of my goals. I'm satisfied with what I wrote.

I'm most proud of posting The Last Envoy because that story had been in the works for years and it was time to figure it out and share it. Doing that was a great writing experience and a great fandom experience for me. I'm so grateful to everyone who read it and let me know what it meant to them.

[I also read a lot of stories this year and added authors to my list of favorites. I'll share those in another post.]

My writing goal for 2022 was to post less. Not because I am bowing out of the fandom, tired of writing, or hoping to become a 'real, published writer.' (*sarcasm: fanfiction IS real writing. Fight me.)

I wanted to post less because I needed to write differently and that required a new mental attitude. According to my Scrivener writing history, I actually wrote as many words in 2022 as I have in past years; I simply haven't posted them all. (They are steeping, or ripening, or whatever first drafts do when you leave them be for a while.)

One of the ways I learned to write was simply by writing a ton of stories and posting most of them. This is the Just Get Over Yourself and Do It School of Writing. I've been in the Sherlock fandom on AO3 for five years now, and I've written far more than the 133 stories and 1.6 M words I've posted. I'm proud of some stories, and I cringe at others. They all stay up for anyone to read because in writing them, I became better; they are a record of progress.

But writing well isn't the only goal of writing. Nor are numbers the goal (words, stories, hits, kudos, comments). As I consider where I'm going with my writing this year, I remind myself why I write:

To tell a story I'm excited to tell.

To try out something new that might not succeed, but I just want to see if I can do it.

To thank someone who's been supportive by writing something they will love.

To start a conversation with readers.

To get something out of my system.

To have fun writing a story that's just fun to write.

To work out feelings about something that happened, either in RL or fiction.

To imitate something I admire.

It's a new year! I've got stories in progress, but I'm not making goals. Working on goals implies that "done" is more important than "doing," that "being a writer" is more rewarding than "becoming a writer." For me, goals do not produce joy. If I have to make a goal, it is to carry on becoming a writer, and (I hope) never actually arriving. Being is not as much fun as becoming. Well, if I have to have a goal, it will be to have fun writing in 2023.

As Ao would say (quoting Ursula Le Guin): "It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end."

I'd love to hear your reflections on the year just ended or goals you have for the new one. Tagging a few; probably not all I should tag; consider yourself tagged.

@totallysilvergirl @thetimemoves @discordantwords @therealsaintscully @shiplocks-of-love  @sherlockwatson-holmesblog @jobooksncoffee @keirgreeneyes @raina-at @7-percent  @a-different-equation @shelleysprometheus  @helloliriels @blogstandbygo @jrow @mydogwatson @momma2boys @thegildedbee @copperplatebeech 

[sarahowritesostucky]

2023 In Review : Authors' Edition

What’s something new that you tried in a fic this year? How did it turn out and would you do it again? I wrote my first drabble. Plan to do more as part of my compliments to fanart that I like and reblog.

How many fics did you work on this year? (They don’t have to be finished or published!) 28

What’s something you learned about yourself as a writer? I overuse semicolons and dashes and the first step is admitting you have a problem.

What piece of media inspired you the most? Handmaid's Tale, Snowpiercer (And of course MCU just b/c of Stucky)

What fandom(s) did you write for this year? Marvel/MCU, Actor RPF, Supernatural, Fresh, Snowpiercer, Knives Out

What ship(s) captured your heart? Stucky already had my heart. I really got into other C.Evans and S.Stan characters paired with OFC's, this year though.

What character(s) captured your heart? I liked exploring Curtis Everett and Lloyd Hansen. But I still ride or die for Steve&Bucky.

Did you write for a new fandom or ship this year? Yes!! Lots of new M/F pairings, and 5 new C.Evans characters.

What fic meant the most to you to write? "The Carter Academy for Omega Excellence"--because this was my first commissioned fic and I'm super proud of that. Plus, I've formed a friendship with the person who asked for it!

What fic made you feel the happiest to work on? No clear winner for this one, just a ton of ties. Fluffiest fic was "Angels Are Avian Adjacent"

What fic was the most satisfying to finish writing? "The Merging: A Union" - just b/c I've left the SN fandom and was glad to have given the story an end.

What fic was the most difficult to write? Did you finish it? "Medically Necessitated" - because there is SO much I want to include in the plot of this one and it just is hard to keep it all straight in my head sometimes. Plus I'm rarely in the mood to write it because I hold the tone and quality of the writing so dear to my heart, that I don't want to just phone it in or half ass it. It is not finished (yet!).

What fic was the easiest to write? "Wet Dream" was written as a Bingo fill, and it felt like it came pretty easily.

What were your shortest and longest fics this year? "It Started with Helga the Lunch Lady" - 863 words "Medically Necessitated" - 91,000 words

Rec a fic you wrote or posted in 2023 "Medically Necessitated"

What were you go-to writing songs? "Wicked Game," "Enjoy the Silence," "I want to," "Like U," "Say It," "Falling," "Insomnia," "Should Be Higher," "Daddy Issues."

What were your go-to writing snacks? Kratom, caffeine pills

What was the hardest fic to title? Hydra Sanatorium - the title was actually something else that I decided I didn't like, so it got changed.

Share your favorite opening line A 3-way tie between: 1. "As a gigantic fucking Duh, hiking that last mile home with an ass full of cum is no fun." (BB & his 1001 Fetishes, ch 34), 2. "The Morning When Steve Finds Out What Bucky Wants to do to His Dick:" (Modifications & Improvement of Functions), and 3. "Sebastian’s in the middle of taking a dump when he hears his phone out in the kitchen. “Ah, crap.”" (I Prefer Girls Who're Not Afraid to Cry)

Share your favorite ending line A 3-way tie between 1. "What the hell kind of simp-ass Dom even calls themself something stupid like "Bucky," anyway?" (It Started with Helga the Lunch Lady) 2. "And then, nodding at the box of Midnight Black #106 that the other man is considering, furtively advises, “... don’t do it.”" (Merry & Bright, part 2) and 3. "Well, Bucky utilized his super soldier stealth skills. Steve tripped into the floor lamp." (Good Ol' Fashioned Values)

Share your favorite piece of dialogue I couldn't sort through ALL of the dialogue, lol, but it would definitely be the dirty talk in one of them. A recent one that comes to mind is the sexually tense and taunting back and forth Bucky has with his half-sister in "Make it Stick", or the banter between Ransom and his ex-GF in "Who'd You Have to Blow to Get That Part?"

Share an excerpt from your favorite scene AGAIN, too too many to sort through them all, but I love the scene in Good Ol' Fashioned Values where Steve and Bucky are making love, and Steve is emotional over wanting to be the omega mate he used to be for Bucky, and Bucky tenderly reassures him that he's still the perfect mate: [[“Buck, oh, p-please …”

“Uh huh. That’s right Honey. So soft. You work so hard to go soft for me, don’t you Sweetheart?”

Steve whimpered in a way he rarely did anymore, hands flying up to cover Bucky’s on his neck. “Yes, yes,” he gasped. His fingers curled into Bucky’s metal ones and held on almost desperately. “Please. I can be good. Buck,”

It broke Bucky’s heart a little bit, and he cooed sadly and shook his head. “Aw, Stevie, no.” He changed his pace, slowing down and fucking in deep and staying there to grind them together. “You’re always good, Honey. Always. Even when you can’t.” Steve’s eyes got misty at that, and plaintive, sad sounds started working their way out of his throat alongside the moans. Bucky hushed him. “Shh sh sh, Sweetheart.”]]

Share the final version of a sentence or paragraph you struggled with. What about it was challenging? Are you happy with how it turned out? The last paragraph of Modifications & Improvement of Functions, because the tone of the fic was so lighthearted and so twisted at different points, I wasn't quite sure which tone I wanted it to end on. [[Steve’s old junker of a heart gets another ding in it. He pulls Bucky in close to be the little spoon, and lies there kissing at the back of his neck for a long, long time. “You always work right, Buck. You’re always perfect. I love you.” He traces the edges of the star that’s carved into the nape of his neck, and eventually he whispers, “We’ll go to the piercing shop tomorrow.”]]

What's something that surprised you while you were working on a fic? Did it change the story? That a 16 year old character may NOT be written engaging in even non-explicit sexual relationships in a Tumblr fic. I had to reformat a few details to be safe (but I increased the age gap super much instead, so nah nah! 😝(Got my abusive Tumblr Staff Troll 🧌to thank for that one.)

What did you use to write? (e.g. writing programs, paper & pen, etc.) Google Docs. Sometimes I'll jot something small down straight onto a Tumblr post.

If you had to choose one, what was THE most satisfying writing moment of your year? I'm just really satisfied with the themes and unique way the narrative handles the subject matter in Modifications and Improvement of Functions, I think. As well as how I navigated the half-sibling incest depicted in "Make it Stick"

Did you do anything special to celebrate finishing a fic? When I achieved 5 in a rows on Bingos, I posted the masterlists. First time doing that!

How did you recharge between fics? Sleep, binge eating, elliptical machine/gym, Youtube videos.

If this were an awards show, who would you thank? My supporters who have commissioned fics, my most frequent commentors/rebloggers, and the people who supported me when the Tumblr Staff Troll 🧌 started abusing her position. (@smlmsworld, @autumnrose40, @pia-bartolini, @pandafishao3, @albymangroves, @rogersbarneses, @cobaltmoonysart, @justsupersarahthings (@and the others who I probably forgot!)

What’s something that you want to write in 2024? I have a fic I was writing for the @stuckyhistoricalfiction challenge that I never finished because of an injury/recuperation, but I truly love the fic concept and what I have written so far, so I'd like to finish that this year, even if it's just a shorter version than I'd planned. I also had two fics I was supposed to write and another fic I was supposed to draw for, for the @stuckybangs, which I didn't complete due to the injury. I'd love to collab with those partners and fulfill their visions! BUT MOST OF ALL: I want to finish up many, if not most (or all 😅) of my WIPs that I have going. I love them all so much and have no intention of letting any of them remain unfinished forever!

[tellmewhatyouc]

fic writer year in review

i like to do a little review of my fics at the end of the year and i wanted to share some of the points i've been thinking about! feel free to copy any of these and use as you'd like, you can share it under the #Fic Writer Year in Review tag if you want ❤️

the first fic you wrote/posted this year

your most written fandom, character, and/or ship

the fic you had the most fun writing this year

your most used tags

a time you tried something new (character ship, fandom, style, trope, etc)

the fic you're most proud of this year

if you track your writing in any way (words written, time spent writing, days you wrote something), share your stats!

any challenges/events/etc you participated in this year (or your favorites if you don't want to list them all)

the last fic you wrote/posted this year

your writing goals(s) for next year

and an optional addition for the avid fic reader:

your favorite fandom/character/ship to read about

your most searched tag(s)

the shortest fic you read this year

the longest fic you read this year

a finished fic you enjoyed reading this year

a wip you enjoyed reading this year

note: if you want to see all your works from the past year, you can use the "date updated" filter-- but keep in mind that this will also include multichapter works you updated within the year, even if you started them the previous year.

[radiowrites]

2023 Writer Year-In-Review

Hi, I’m RaisedonRadio & FortressofmyPast on AO3 and FF.net. This is an on-going tradition since 2015. Check out my past year-end posts: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015.

Tagging a few, but if you come across this, consider it an open tag! You’re welcome to tag me back, I’d love to read it!

@writercorianarose @shesailsships @talesofsorrowandofruin @azdesertwillow @goneahead @littlemissfandomworld @dreams-of-kalopsia @halleyuhm

Big change for me compared to last year—in addition to NaNoWriMo, I actually posted fanfics! I tried to add some new questions to this year’s edition, I hope they might even move out of my tiny circle.

Total Word Counts: 51,920 for 2023 NaNoWriMo 15,570 on 2022 NaNoWriMo project 19,193 for July 2023 Camp NaNoWriMo (mostly fanfics) 28,310 in published fanfics (this number is overlapping with camp nano, I wasn’t paying attention, so I’m not going to add everything together)

Total Number Of Completed Works: 10 Total Number of WIPS worked on this year: 10 or so How Many WIPs do you still have: 23

Looking back, did you write more than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d expected? I wrote way more than expected! I seriously didn’t think I would do NaNoWriMo again. And I published ten fics! That’s ten more than last year!

Did you take any writing risks this year? The NaNoWriMo project was definitely a risk for me. I basically had an idea and no outline. It was quite a challenge to my perfectionism issues—I had to basically never reread anything and just keep going, fully aware that I can better foreshadow the ideas that came up halfway through in the next rewrite.

Biggest Surprise: I wrote for NaNoWriMo again, which I was pretty sure wouldn't happen lol, and hit the word count, all through discovery writing, and having very little idea where I was going with it.

Biggest Disappointment: I dropped that above mentioned project the moment November ended! I can tell it has potential, hidden in there. I will definitely return to it.

Do you have any writing goals for the new year? I’d love to at least finish the first draft of the 2023 NaNoWriMo project, bringing it to a tentative end so I can actually reread it and go from there. And keep writing fanfic, and maybe even work on the 2022 nanowrimo project…

Fanfiction Questions Below! (if you don’t write fanfiction feel free to skip or rework the questions for your original works.)

Fandoms I’ve written in this year: I wrote fics for 7 different fandoms! For the following kdramas: Island, Tale of the Nine Tailed, Memorist, Royal Secret Agent, W: Two Worlds, May I Help You?, and a little Korean Web drama called Handmade Love.

Your most popular story of the year? That would be Besides You with 327 hits and 47 kudos. However Superhero got the most comment interaction with 4!

The story that was easiest/or most fun to write: I Think He Knows was fun to write! I do just love brooding with a heart of gold formerly immortal male leads.

Hardest story to write: Rescue Me, Superhero, Restore, and Prayers & Promises were four works that I had left for dead, and came back and found them to be basically finished and just needed proofreading. (So just in case anyone wondered how I turned out three of those in like two days: they were actually done and I was hellbent on getting them out of my WIPs list)

Your sweetest story: That would definitely be Superhero. I altered my normal narrative style to better fit the child’s character, and I was really pleased with how it turned out.

Your saddest scene: I feel like I hit a lot of angst this year, but nothing really sad?

The sexiest moment you’ve written this year? *coughs* I wrote five pieces of smut. (Half of my fanfics were smut this year?!) Umm, I’m torn between Beside You and Don’t Blame Me? But also Never Be the Same and Take On Me???

Your favorite tag: (whether you use it the most or just something witty/perfect for the story) My brother announced to me that he reads all my tags (he was trying to embarrass me about one of my smut pieces) so I did a shout out to him in the next fic. He saw it within the day, I was actually impressed.

Most unintentionally telling story: (have you accidentally or purposefully exposed a detail about yourself?) Religious guilt seems to be a reoccurring tag this year. In all seriousness, not quite sure why, but yet it kinda makes sense? (its complicated lmao) And for some reason not one, but two fics ended with marriage proposals?! (I’m so single.)

Are any of your fics named after/heavily inspired by music? I’m RaisedonRadio and it would be concerning if—checks list—less than 8 of the 10 fics weren’t named after songs, haha! (I’m actually just really bad at naming fics…)

Good To You and Besides You are both songs by the band Marianas Trench, and are heavily inspired by the songs. Rescue Me is by OneRepublic, one of those more vibes than lyrics inspired. I Think He Knows by Taylor Swift was definitely on repeat for that fic, as well as Don't Blame Me. (Poems), Prayers, and Promises was more a steal the name of the song by John Denver, for some reason I think Cold by Corbyn was on repeat when writing that one. Take On Me was named more for the similarities between the MV and the series! Never Be The Same was for the vibes of the song by Camila Cabello but not really the lyrics.

What’s your own favorite story of the year? Maybe it’s cheating but I’m not sure if I can really choose? I know it’s not a common writer sentiment but I really do like them all for different reasons.

Like I churned out Good To You and Besides You within ten days of each other in July, after not writing any fanfic basically for a year and a half.

And then I pulled Rescue Me out of the dead drafts pile and made myself work on more description.

I Think He Knows was my first foray into a brand new fandom.

Don’t Blame Me is one of my rare canon divergence fics.

Restore was another dead draft that I found to be mostly complete, and decide to release into the world even if I knew there was so much more I could have done with it.

Prayers and Promises was not only another new fandom, but for some reason, I decided to write for a side character. It’s still sitting on just 1 hit and that makes it all the better that I really wrote it for myself.

Superhero was out of my comfort zone of writing for a kid’s perspective and I was so happy with how it turned out.

Take On Me was a draft sitting at less than 1k words and I challenged myself to finish it before the new year, and got it done in two days.

And then, to finish it all off with the intense desire to have ten fics under the belt for 2023, I wrote Never Be The Same in less than two days for the last drama I had watched, and the speed that the last two fics were actually finished was a huge change for me.

Fanfiction risks you took this year? I wrote fanfic for not one, but two fandoms that I had to create the first tags for on AO3! Also, as I started to slip into just writing for kdramas this year, I’ve basically become my own proofreader and editor at this point. Any mistakes are my own, lol.

My favorite part of fandom this year: That would be getting two kudos and a comment on I Think He Knows, one of the fics that is the first in its fandom tag. To actually connect with more fans of such a tiny project was so cool!

Thanks for reading and here’s to next year!

[mojowitchcraft]

Fic Writing Review 2023

Words and Fics

184,210 words posted on ao3 Plus about 7.7k getting posted today for Bat Eddie Ch. 4 Plus like 30k for Frat Boy Steve that hasn't been posted Plus 10k for a holiday fic I need to edit So approximately 230k written in 2023

23 fics worked on

16 fics published (series, one shots and multi-chapters)

1 multi-chapter finished (Strawberries & Cigarettes)

2 multi-chapter started (Living in a Lunar Spell aka Bat Eddie & We Part To Meet Again)

I haven't been keeping track as well as @loki-is-my-kink-awakening (thanks for the tag btw) so I'm not quite sure when I wrote the most

Ao3 Fic breakdown

Out of the 16 fics I posted:

3 multi chaptered fics

4 'one shots' in the Night Drives Series

1 'one shot' in my Y2K Steddie series (Valentines follow up to a Christmas fic I wrote)

8 stand alone one shots

Top 10 Fics by Kudos

Prisoner of Your Love (694) [Night Drives Part 6]

You Made Me Feel Shiny and New (610) [Night Drives Part 7]

Between The Velvet Lies (450) [Night Drives Part 8]

Hazy Shade (438) Based on this art by @toktopus-art

Power To Charm (399) [Night Drives Part 9]

It's A Match! (343) Tinder/Sexting fic

Must Hate Mondays (264) Garfield Fic featuring a ton of art!

Strawberries & Cigarettes (244) Multi-Chapter Post S4 fluff

Am I Your Fire? Your One Desire (184) Y2K Steddie Valentines fic

Your Hand In Mine (179) Tumblr prompt fic

My fandom fic events in 2023

Discord Server Valentines Fic / Art Exchange

Steddie Week in May (kinda?? I didn't do all the prompts)

Steddie Big Bang - Posting now!

@steddieholidayexchange Posting Dec 18th

@paradimeshifts7 One Shot Exchange posting Dec 20-24th

Upcoming Events for 2023

Discord Server Valentines Fic / Art Exchange

@strangerthingsreversebigbang March-April Posting Period I'm doing two fics for this!

Hopefully nothing else cause I want to FINALLY finish and start posting Frat Boy Steve aka Acta, Non Verba

Rules & Tags below the cut! Check out Ebs post, they got way more detailed than I did!

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. Tags: @mixsethaddams @grandmastattoo @sourw0lfs @transmascsteveharrington @kwills91 @thefreakandthehair @toburnup @bifuriouswaterbender @cranberrymoons

As always if you see this and want to do it consider this your tag!

[amadryas]

Do you think authors of mythological retellings should put a disclaimer when they add their own, original ideas in the story? Personally, I do not

[the-houseryn]

Review of my 2023 Writing

I don’t typically post about my fanfics, just reblogging posts made about them by fest mods and the spare reccer but I’ve decided I’d like to change that a bit. So my first attempt is going to be this summary of what I’ve done this year.

⊹

Stats

Word Count Posted: 144,496

Fic Count Posted: 7

Art Posted: 1 (First time)

Updated Series: 2

Fandoms/Ships: HP: 4 Dron, 2 Drarry, 1 Dron Friendship

Fests: @harrydracompreg, @unleashed-fest, @hp-soulmates, @hprarepairfest, and @pumpkinspiceficfest

⊹

Fics Posted

take me home, you're my, my, my, my... (Drarry, 157.4k, E)

Potter – I have found myself in a position in which I am desperate for assistance. I know I have no right to reach out to you for help, but I know of no other option. Could you be amenable to meet up with me someplace private, can be of your choosing, to discuss this matter? Please. Draco Malfoy A Malfoy mystery. His favorite kind.

I’ve been writing this one since Nov 2021 and I unfortunately was only able to update one chapter on it all year long. I yearn for my muse for this fic to return to me so I can finish this bad boy off.

in a party bathroom (Drarry, 16.4k, M, HD Mpreg fest)

He hadn't even wanted to go to the ridiculous party, let alone planned on shagging Potter in a port-a-john while he was there. But he did, and oh, what fun the consequences it brought were...

This one has found itself on a few rec lists this year and I’m very pleased about that. Thank you to everyone who has enjoyed it and promoted it💖

boy, you might have me believing i don't always have to be alone (Dron Friendship, 102.1k, M)

Eighth year was not nearly as painful as he expected it to be. Honestly, Ron would be on cloud nine if only Harry would let them help him. But Harry kept insisting he was fine; his denial was so strong he didn't even see how bloody weird it was that he didn't care that Malfoy was acting weird. It only made sense then to Ron that with Harry not up for the task, it was on Ron's shoulders to watch and take care of the prat.

Started this in Nov 2022 and this year I did Chapters 9-18. This baby lives in my head allll the bloody time, if only that could then translate onto the keyboard with as much ease, then I could have it done already. This one isn’t all that popular, but I’ve got a small gathering of devotees, and that makes it so freaking special 🥰

unless you're choosing me (Dron, 31.4k, M, Soulmate Fest)

A soulmate was a choice. It was two people deciding to spend the rest of their lives together, weathering any storm. That was a fact that Ron would hold as truth for the rest of his life. Even when the Unspeakables found a spell in some ancient text that tied soulmates together with a red cord and showed them a moment of their "true love". It was a hoax, he was sure of it. But no one else agreed, willing to upend their lives just because a stupid spell said so. Ron wouldn't have minded so much if it hadn't wrecked his.

OMG, this fic. I was just freaking perusing the Soulmate Fest prompt list out of curiosity only, NO intention of participating since the due date was like in under two weeks. But then I saw this one prompt (Thank you Dr.P’s hubby) and I was struck dumb with an idea, then wrote the first 11.4k in 24hrs, breaking my record by an extra 2.5k. Honestly so fucking baffled by myself when 3k on a normal day is a stretch.

misty morning comes again (Dron, 4.4k, M, Unleashed Fest)

Every morning without snow on the ground or rain that turned the land into a slip and slide of mud and wet grass, Ron ran the property with his misfit herd of barnyard animals close behind him. The thrilling tease of watching Ron's solid, sweat-glistening body do its lap around the misty morning pond was just about the only thing that could get Draco willingly out of bed so soon after the summer sun rose. Barn chores and animal butts certainly weren't going to do it.

Hands Down My Favorite thing I’ve written this year. I give it a quick reread all the time. I normally don’t care too much about my stats. But I love this fic so bloody much that it bothers me a weeee bit that it’s my lowest hit fic. Only really cuz I get so much joy from it that I just wanna share that joy with others but it seems to have passed under people’s radar.

all of this silence and patience (Dron, 9.9k, M, Pumpkin Spice Fest)

Thanks to the lack of a natural baby boom after the war, The Post-War Reunification and Family Reformation Act of 2003 passed, damning Draco to a long, miserable life with Ronald Bloody Weasley. With nothing left to lose, they might as well try Luna's suggestion, even if the idea of snuggling Weasley sounded like a unique method of torture. Pumpkin Spice Fest Prompt: Morning Fog, Snuggles, and Marriage Law

This was the first fest I’ve ever done with a max word count and I honestly thought 10k was plenty for my idea with this prompt… I ended up having to cut three sections and hunt down every possible contraction I could create to make it three words shy of the max 😶

your seat, it's the best seat (Dron, 17.4k, E, Rare Pair Fest)

In the moment, it hadn’t occurred to him that taunting Draco into sitting on his lap once would open the door for Draco to keep doing so, even when other chairs existed. Nor had he known that the consequence of becoming Draco's furniture was how hard he'd fall in love with someone who didn't fancy him back.

I almost pitched this fic so many times. It was a fucking brawl to finish it. Thank you, Amia, for reading it over tho and hyping it up. I’m way more proud of it than I was then and I appreciate you convincing me to persevere 💖

⊹

Art Posted

[ART] how the hell... (Drarry, G, Unleashed Fest)

Prompt: Harry has no idea how a white highland cow got inside 12 Grimmauld Place, nor why it seems to have a strange affinity for the fancy French chocolates one of his admirers keeps sending him...

Never have I thought I’d participate in a fest with my art, but here we are. I’m honestly quite proud of it…. As long as I don’t think about my struggles with perspective… but hey, my little dumb details like the scrub brushes in the sink and the post-it notes are my favorite things I’ve done. Also??? I’ve never drawn an animal before so I’m proud of that too tbh

⊹

Overall Notes For The Year ✨

I cannot believe how many fests I participated in this year and how many I was so sad to not be able to do like Kinktober and Deflower December. But I’m so so thankful that I participated in the ones I did because it led me to fest servers where I really got a chance to alpha and beta for other writers. Not only did I get to talk to awesome people and make a friend, but these wonderful writers undid so much damage from some bad shit that happened to me in high school English classes. I have been denying myself becoming a professional editor despite my love of it for a decade but between my therapist’s support and these writers insisting I had talents as an editor, even requesting my little write-up about beefing up your writing in 2nd edits, I’m now ready to face those fears. It’s gonna be tough but I’m also so excited in a way I’ve never felt about life outside of writing fanfiction.

(Also, what the fuck is up with me having my word counts end in .4? I managed that in 5 out of 7 fics as well as my overall for the year??? Odd AF)

⊹

2024 Goals

Right now, I have plans for participating in Knot, Dronarry, HD Mpreg, and Love of a Weasley fest with dreams of participating in SEVERAL others. I also HOPE with every fiber of my being that I finish ‘take me home...’ and part one of ‘boy, you might have me...’ in 2024. Got my fingers to fucking crossed for that 🤞🤞🤞

✨May we all have a year full of the planets called Free Time, Great Ideas, and Energy (and Skill for those like me who have skill loss when overwhelmed with life) being aligned so we can create all those wonderful fics floating in the universe, begging to be shared.✨

[divinemissem13]

18, 22, 26 from the writing asks

Thanks for asking! :) From 2023 fic year in review

18. What was the hardest fic to title?

I think it was A New Approach. I really struggled with how to title it in a way that didn't give away the twist or make it seem like it was going to be a different type of fic than it actually is.

22. Share an excerpt from your favorite scene.

So, I wrote... a lot of scenes this year, partially because I participated in several prompt challenges. This makes it really hard to choose!! But here's one I really liked a lot from Try to Remember:

A week later, as Chakotay watched Kellin disappear in the transporter beam, he was actually crying. Chakotay was not a man who cried. But there he was, sobbing in the middle of the transporter room over a woman he had known for barely a week, with Kathryn watching from a few feet away. Chakotay sniffled, trying to control his tears and all the while knowing that something just didn’t feel right. Kathryn’s hand on his shoulder sent a jolt down his arm and he realized what the problem was: he was crying, in public, over a stranger who had never once made him feel like he might spontaneously combust. But tears continued to flow and Kathryn leaned in closer to create some semblance of privacy in the crowded room. “Commander, why don’t you take the rest of the day off?” she suggested, her voice low and warm, even as her eyes prickled with pain.  Pain that he had caused her, he realized, and the realization only set him off on another jag of sobs. What the hell is wrong with me ? He took in a few deep, stuttering breaths until he felt he was at least somewhat in control again. Still not trusting himself to speak, he only nodded and hurried out of the room.  He would go to his quarters, he would find a book or something to distract him until he fell asleep, and by the morning, he would have forgotten Kellin all over again.  Another sob overtook him as he entered the (blessedly empty) turbolift, though, and he altered course. His voice, so waterlogged that he barely recognized it himself, ordered the turbolift to sickbay.  This was not normal. 

26. If you had to choose one, what was THE most satisfying writing moment of your year?

Again, super difficult to choose, just because of the sheer volume I wrote this year... but I was pretty proud of myself for fitting this little nugget into Weathering the Storm:

He had been waiting, patiently, for weeks. Waiting for Kathryn to accept their situation and waiting for her to accept him. Their night under the table during the storm, she had not only accepted him, she had embraced him. She had absorbed him. They had melted into each other like anglerfish, never to be separated again.