#i am allergic to giving a single answer to these questions. physically restraining myself from going on to ramble about like 5 fics each

[ilovedthestars]

7, 9 and 13 for the Writer Asks? 🥰

(2023 in review writer ask game)

Oooh you've picked SUCH good questions. Thank you! 🥰

7. What character(s) captured your heart?

This was a year of OCs for me!! It's hard to believe, but I started posting Old Unit, Young Unit back in January--I think it's going to turn a year old before i finish it. OldUnit and Niri, and the world I've built around them, has become a major focus for me. It's so cool to think about how they've developed over the course of this year. I have so much of their story left to tell, and I suspect I'll still be telling it this time next year!

I'd also be remiss if i didn't mention Yuma and Crowbar, who were actually created this year and made their first appearance on ao3 (Salvage or Repair) as well. I've been a big fan of "A SecUnit and its Human" duos, but they've never clicked for me as much as Yuma & Crowbar did. Their story went from a seed of an idea to several thousand words in like 24 hours (shoutout to WyvernWolf for helping it along <3) and before I'd even finished Salvage or Repair I was writing follow-up adventures. I've got many more stories to tell about them, too!

9. What fic meant the most to you to write?

Oooh. If we're counting meta, I know what my answer has to be--On System Collapse, Sanctuary Moon, and saving one another, my meta about chapter 8 of SC. I won't talk about it in detail so I don't have to tag this for spoilers, but it was an outpouring of all my strongest emotions about System Collapse that I wrote during & immediately after reading it. Honorable mention to the artist's statement for Ghosts of the Pressy, which was similarly written from the heart.

But okay, this question is about fic. I think it has to be Old Unit, Young Unit again. That's the fic that has kept me up late so many nights this year, the one I've been pushing myself the hardest to finish because I'm dying for other people to get to read the story in my head. And it's the one I've gotten the most encouragement and help on along the way, which I am incredibly grateful for.

13. What fic was the easiest to write?

I'm pretty sure Hints (SC spoilers at the link!) was written in one day, so that probably takes the prize. The sequel to An Unexpected Quarter (which is posted as a chapter 2 but feels like a separate project in my mind, because that fic was originally just a one-shot) was written in about 3 days. Fast is as close to easy as I get--I either pour a fic out of myself in a few hours and clean it up and throw it out into the universe immediately without looking back, or i slowly agonize over drafts of it for months, there's no in-between.