#i was unexpectedly hit with inspiration for this sooo i wrote it

[salmonentrees]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Hazbin Hotel (Cartoon) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Alastor/Vox (Hazbin Hotel) Characters: Velvette (Hazbin Hotel), Vox (Hazbin Hotel), Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) Additional Tags: Alastor Joins the Vees, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, One-Sided Alastor/Vox (Hazbin Hotel), But it isn’t really A Thing it’s just there Series: Part 1 of Joining the Vees Summary:

After seven years, Alastor is back with an offer for the Vees. They arrange a welcoming party for their newest member.

[vriskarlmarx]

this past year i sort of unexpectedly ended up writing regularly again, for the first time in years. i blame cassian andor's big wet baby cow eyes, but overall it's been a really fun hobby to take up again. i'm gonna do a little reflection on what i wrote in 2023 (fanfic-wise, i wrote some other stuff too but won't talk about it here).

putting this under a read more since it's mostly just for me to talk to myself, pulling a few questions i found interesting from other writers i follow who are doing this sort of thing (feel free to take the questions for yourself too!)

how many fics did you write in 2023? how many total words?

as it turns out, a total of 16, and it totaled out to 45.578 words. which is kind of lot considering that the last time i wrote fanfic was in 2019 and all 1000ish words felt like pulling teeth, and the time before that had been 2013. so i'm very happy with it!

what are you most proud of, fic-writing-wise in 2023?

a few different things:

being able to maintain a consistent rhythm and interest in writing

being able to connect my own feelings and experiences to those of different characters, which i think gave my writing some additional layers

experimenting with a few different structures (i get bored just writing a standard linear narrative sometimes, i think)

putting more actual thought into character/plot/theme analysis. i think writing fanfic made me engage with the things i was watching/reading in a different way

what fic meant the most to you to write?

definitely No Return Address. it was a pinch hit for yuletide but it hit me like a baseball bat, it ended up being crazy personal and the feedback has been better than anything i could've hoped for. i could talk for a very long time about everything that fic means to me personally, but i think it might honestly come through in the fic itself.

what is a fic you didn't expect to write?

so either Bitter Fruits or Hostia, but for different reasons.

with Bitter Fruits, i was just suddenly and unexpectedly overcome with inspiration from a fanart that is honestly completely unrelated to the premise i ended up going with, and i wrote it in like 2 or 3 days like a daze. and it was sooo much fun to write, honestly.

with Hostia, it is what happens when you sign up to an exchange, see a ship in the tagset that you find kind of curious so you put it in your offers and unexpectedly match on it, so you gotta step up to it. i definitely did not really expect for it to end with oral sex on a pomegranate but hey when life gives you lemons. or pomegranates. whatever.

what is something you learned about yourself while writing this year?

that deadlines are sooo magical, even if they're mostly in my head. exchanges were super helpful to keep me writing, because i knew they had a time and date to be done by! Late Harvest 100% only got finished and posted because of WDLF.

the other thing is that changing the place/mode of writing really helps me. i found out that switching between handwriting in a notebook and then copying that into a google doc, then continuing to write on the doc was the best way to keep myself going and unblock my head whenever i felt stuck. ditto going to write in different places, like coffee shops or other spots.

and lastly, having written fanfiction really helped my other writing in some other aspects. i think other things i've written are more creative, flow better and are more literary/beautiful/interating to read than before, and i love that it's had that effect on my other writing.

what fic was the most difficult to write?

Conventional Weapons, which i ended up really liking in the end. but i had to fully re-start that one, because a few different things happened in my life that ended up making it a much more personal fic to write than i had anticpated, so i had to switch POV characters at one point because i wasn't going to be able to do it from Roy's POV anymore. it's an interesting pairing to begin with, with a ton of baggage, and at times i felt like i had written myself into a corner, or had to put it down because i was thinking about personal stuff and getting really upset. still, i'm happy with how it turned out!

what fic was the most fun to write?

petite mort. writing L as a weird necro freak who gets turned on by dying was hilarious and incredibly fun.

what are you looking forward to in 2024, in terms of fanfic writing?

i look forward to continuing to write consistently, and am thinking about a couple of ideas that i want to get around to writing! i think i will also try to write things without deadlines and see if i can get them done anyways, now that i have more of a rhythm going :) but there are also a few exchanges i'm excited to do.