#oneshot vs multichapter

[absolute-flaming-trash]

Please reblog if you vote, I require the opinions of the masses 💛

[fantastic-mr-corvid]

given im thinking about steph again im thinking about the fic i wrote fo her and okay imma be honest the reason i left the dc comics fandom was mainly because when i was writing my this house is rotting series i got a fair amount of love for the two works centered around jason& bruce and then jason & dick... and then near radio silence when it centered steph. like i have bruce autopsy his alive son and it got more love than much better quality writing centered around my hc about stephanie browns resurrection. bc so much of the fandom is that fucking casually misogynistic to the bone.

i could get a baby to write something then slap jason and bruce angst on it and so many fans would eat it up, but the second anything is centered around a woman or girl its left in the fucking dust.

[gg-selvish]

sits on my hands so i dont talk about ao3 stats more

[scarlet-sam-chaos]

final chapter of you weren't thinkin' and i was just drinkin' just posted!!!

i can't believe it!!! this is my first multichapter, completed work in this fandom <333

(also lmk if you want the prequel- the oneshot of their night together from four years ago. i have it half done, i think. and also a few oneshots about percy and neptune's relationship and how apollo vs seafam gets resolved so... yeah)

now onto the obligatory memespeak summary!!!

percy: *chucks another rock at their professor who also happens to be a god* le kids: ... le kids: ...well, i guess he's Percy Jackson, so...

percy: *gives him another rock* apollo: *keeps the rock safe and gazes at it fondly* percy: ... percy: that was for building our nest you idiot, not for looking at apollo: ... percy: youre literally turning me down in penguin-squeak

percy, with adhd: so i remembered your hair and then i remembered i thought it was soft that night and then i remembered dad taking me to see the penguins and your hair is as soft as their feathers and in short that is why im courting you like a penguin.

apollo: ...i do not understand the significance of these rocks. would you like a rock too? i could give you one that sparkles the best in my light and is on a ring- artemis: *dragging him away from impulsive decisions*

triton: yet another one of my siblings is falling for a sun god. oh how i miss rhode, she just had to go marry helios and now- triton: now shes all alone, helios faded meanwhile on rhode's island: helios: taking a nice eternally long vacation with his wife, is in domestic bliss, and babysitting apollo whenever the need arises

apollo: i cant kiss him apollo: but WAIT- meanwhile will solace: percy why are you absolutely covered in freckles?

percy: *kisses apollo* apollo: *causing an entire heatwave on the west coast* zeus: *remembering the hurricane from few days ago* okay clearly letting poseidon babysit apollo when he was younger wasnt a good idea

poseidon, triton: stay away from apollo percy: *proceedes to drag the said god to the beach and kiss him there as a fuck you message to them*

p.s. PERCY FINALLY GETS TO COUNT THE FLECKS IN THE EYES OKAY??????

p.p.s also some apollo angst. because yes.

[hollow-lime-green]

Fanfic Writer Interview

This looks fun!

How many works do you have on AO3?

55!

Which is not what is listed lol. This is maybe a good time to mention that I actually have a side PWP AO3 although I haven't used it in a while, and haven't written any PWP for JJK. So only go check it out if you like FE3H rarepairs or Hades, I guess.

And if you do the math between my two accounts, you still won't get up to 55 because a few of those are actually posted anon. I did some kinkmeme fills for the FE3H fandom and while I'm not ashamed of the content lol, I did those as more of a writing reset thing and they're not as edited/polished as I would like? So I just don't want them under my real accounts.

Your top 5 stories by kudos/likes:

So first, just, full disclaimer - kudos is not a good stats metric to judge your fics. Kudos amount is not sensitive to quality, it is sensitive to fandom size, fic type (pwp vs plot-driven, oneshot vs multichapter, au vs canon), rating, and length. Please god do not ever judge based on flat kudos.

A better metric (which by the way you should still not care about metric when you do Enjoyable Hobbies) is hit:kudos ratio, which I find is almost always around 10:1. If I want to see how well a oneshot does, that's a good metric. Repeat readers can't give repeat kudos, so that metric is useless for multichapters.

Anyway this is why it's good to comment on the fics that you like - the nice words people say to you are infinitely more valuable and better than numbers. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

A Real Breakthrough - Arcane Jayvik, PWP, 4.3k Set in S1 Act 1 (so no spoilers for S2)

Yeah so this is my most kudosed fic and it is not even close. I love this fic, I snapped with this fic, however it is also the only thing I have ever written for Arcane so it's like this one massive outlier on my AO3.

2. it's not gay unless the domains touch - JJK Stsg 40k

It's a little surprising to me that this one has so many more kudos than 2sorcs, but that has more to do with a.) if you like 2sorcs you'll go back and read domains, whereas you may read domains and not go on to 2sorcs and b.) fandom life cycle and when domains was coming out vs 2sorcs coming out after JJK ended

3. Bend the Knee - Hades Thesterius PWP 3.6k

Ahahahaha i forgot about this fic, I did snap with it though. I will play Hades 2 when it actually full releases and then I'll probably be insufferable. Hades fandom was very very fun and friendly, especially the Thesterius subsection. It may have been the nicest and most accepting fandom I've been in.

4. two sorcerers chillin' in a hot tub (five feet apart cause they're not gay) - JJK Stsg 115k

she's up there! she's on the board!

5. The Torment of Stillness - Hades Charmes PWP 4.4k

good for her, I didn't realize this fic had done so well

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

i really try to respond to all my comments, or if someone writes a bunch I'll respond to them as a group. I struggle to write comments myself, even when I absolutely love a fic, so to me it's no small thing when people take the time to comment, and responding is a way I can say 'thank you' and 'hi yes i am a real person and your effort has made me tangibly happy'. plus like, we're all doing this for community, and community only happens when we actually talk to each other. interaction is the life blood of fandom, and it's how you make friends :)

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

weelllll I don't really write sad endings tbh. and maybe that's giving away the game a little bit with FIYM but I promise it's gonna be a tough road to the happy ending there. so if i had to pick one, it would be a Satoru POV piece but it almost doesn't count to me because those aren't exactly 'endings'. for that, I'd probably say the uncertainty principle (JJK STSG 1.4k) is the angstiest. it's also not really a plot story, so not really an ending, but I think 'angstiest character study' still counts.

by my definitions though, I am going to nominate Swan Song (FE3H Balthuri, 9.4k) This one is more full bore angst, although I think the ending is... optimistic? I really like this fic, although it is for a tiny tiny niche ship.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

uuuuuuuhhhhhhhh. how do you even measure happy? also i don't have a lot of longfics with 'endings' because i'm a piece of shit with abandoned wips (i am so sorry FE3H)

I'm going to say Limitless (Hades Patrochilles, 1.1k)? It's not a lot of plot to be ending but I think it's probably the most feel good? Second nomination to Condemned (Hades Thesterius, 7.5k) which has a little more plot.

Do you write crossovers?

not exactly. I write AUs, but I don't generally cross characters over, which I feel like is more of what 'crossover' entails. No hate, just not something I feel particularly compelled to do.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

nope. literally never. it is extremely rare on AO3 (in my experience) unless you are dealing a Really Big Ship and you run into people with extreme T/B or characterization preferences. I have seen friends get hate, esp in Big Ships in the FE3H community, so I know it is a real thing that exists, but I have fully dodged it.

the closest thing I've ever gotten is someone being like "ew, you wrote Ares/Dionysus?? that's incest!"

but all you can do with that is laugh, because... my brother in christ, do you know Greek canon?

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

yep. lots. I don't know what 'what kind' means, but I write all kinds. with and without plots, with and without inhuman genitalia, with and without consent.

i currently only have mlm and mlmonster posted, but i have written (and not been happy enough to post) wlw and het. hopefully that eventually changes, because I do feel bad that I don't have more equal opportunity smut out there. women are great we love women. i just don't feel like I write wl well enough yet.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

i don't think so!

Have you ever had a fic translated?

i have had someone ask, i don't know if they ever posted, it is still an extremely high compliment and it makes me smile that someone even wanted to do it.

i have had a fic recorded, which is definitely my peak (The Prince of Roses, FE3H Ashedue Sleeping Beauty AU 1k/6min). that was so cool. podficcers are very cool, they are doing god's work, and I would totally do it if I didn't hate my voice.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

no, and I think I would be a nightmare to work with, because I am very particular about everything.

however, i love love love collabing with artists and I have done that several times. and I would love to do more!

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

FE3H Balthuri. It's so niche but it's so good. Balthus has a lot of depth to him if you look past the surface. And Yuri's backstory is an incoherent, impossible spaghetti bowl caused by the creative team not being able to say no to any single idea. love them.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

The Lion of Kupala - Balthuri Canon Divergent AU 30k Political Intrigue

i think my plot ideas for this fic were very interesting, but the amount of effort I put into the atmosphere building and stuff was burning me out compared to the size of the community. and I would expect the fandom for this ship is basically dead these days so if I did go back to it, it would be a pretty solitary labor of love. I am unlikely to finish my Ashedue fics either, but I am significantly more likely to finish those because there's more potential that people might cheer me on and help me get to the finish line for that ship.

What are your writing strengths?

comedy, apparently! i didn't really write comedy until JJK, so that was kind of a surprise.

i would probably say characterization too. different reads on characters are (or, can be) equally valid because you're working with limited text. I think the key is staying consistent.

i'm very good at dialogue matching if there is a good enough sample size to draw from, which I don't think there is for lots of manga. i don't think my dialogue matching is good for JJK, especially with the translation from JP making some of the ENG sound unnatural in the actual manga. but I think for my other fandoms, I did pretty good

What are your writing weaknesses?

action for sure. and people are very nice to me about my action scenes, but they are for sure the hardest pieces for me to write and they take a long time for me to conceptualize and wrangle into coherent words.

these days, atmosphere has been a weakness too, I think. i used to really focus on that in my writing, but it has been more fun to be a little more dialogue and plot driven vs super rich moments. that's part of why I burned out on some of my FE3H fics. it takes a lot of mental energy for me in the writing process to constantly check in on scene setting/atmosphere.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

clarity is the most important thing - your reader should understand what you are saying and be drawn into the context of the world. sometimes writing dialogue in other languages adds, sometimes it subtracts. does the character understand that language? if so, they should hear it in the reader's language so that is understood. if they don't, then it should be given outside of the reader's language. and in that case, you should always have your specific translation in the end notes (if you want the reader (not the character) to know what was said), or you lose some clarity/intent.

What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

Chainsaw Man.

when i started FIYM, the other Big Project I was looking at was a multipart 'X Lives and Here's Exactly How it Could Work in Canon". but i didn't find the ship very compelling and it takes a lot for me to write gen because I find the community is better/more active for ship fics. so we went with FIYM even though my idea was less fleshed out (narrator: that would soon change).

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

string theory (JJK, stsg, E, 17.4k)

which is funny because it's the only piece of FIYM that was totally unscreened by betas, it took the least time to write (proportionally), and I wrote it when I was probably at my lowest with anxiety, sleep deprivation, and stress.

actually right before I started therapy lol.

'tortured artists' or something like that

Ty for the tag @marichild <3 Tagging: @detta-pica @fireflywitch @ anyone else who wants to do it :))

[soulofamy]

i want to try something here so please indulge me. can you please reblog this post if you write mortal kombat fanfiction? in the tags tell me what you write (ships, ocs, oneshots vs multichapter, genres, aus, literally anything)

[streetsweepershenanigans]

Street Sweeper's Icemav Masterlist

Updated 2/1/2024

Fics are listed in order of most recent to oldest.

Oneshots:

(Posted to AO3):

Wanting for Home- Very whumpy, as with everything, please heed the tags and warnings. Features Mav going through a sexuality crisis with internalized homophobia mixed in due to the time period and his position in the United States Military. Happy ending, though, don't worry. Hurt/Comfort.

Silence Is (Not) A Virtue- Another whumpy one, this time with some past child abuse resulting in selective mutism. Hurt/Comfort.

Third Time's The Charm (Oblivion AU)- A purely self-indulgent Oblivion AU with Top Gun characters. This is a companion piece to In My Dreams I See Us Falling, told from Ice's point of view.

In My Dreams I See Us Falling (A Top Gun Oblivion AU)- The first of my Oblivion AU's. If you have seen and enjoyed Tom Cruise's Oblivion, I highly recremond these.

No Use Crying Over Spilt Milk- A single!parent Maverick fic wherein he is forced to come clean to Ice about having a kid after they've been seeing each other for a while.

Here Lies Iceman's Personal Space- A fluffy domestic fic about Maverick invading Ice's personal space and somehow endearing himself to Ice even more.

Caught In The Headlights- A whumpy hurt/comfort fic featuring parental Icemav and baby Bradley. After Maverick is seriously injured in a car accident, Ice has to contend with the reality that he might be all Bradley has left in the world.

It's (Not) Okay (But It Will Be)- Maverick suffers a life-altering injury during the events of the uranium mission and now he and Ice must learn how to contend with the past and move forward together.

Just Like The Song- Drunk Maverick finds his way to Ice's house in the middle of the night and shenanigans ensue.

Mother Goose Knows Best. - Stranded in the rain after class, Maverick can either walk home or accept a ride from the last person he wants to be stuck in a car with.

The Winner Takes It All (I Don't Wanna Talk)- A sweet, soft, fluffy, domestic one-shot- my first ever Icemav fic. Sometimes, actions speak louder than words.

(Posted to Tumblr exclusively):

Baby Goose's First Swear Word- The story of how Baby Goose learned his first swear word.

One Day (An Icemav Fic)- Iceman and Maverick always find their way back to one another- even decades later.

Lunch Mix Up- Ice and Baby Goose's lunches get mixed up one day.

How Do I Say Goodbye? - Angsty short one-shot featuring Maverick having to come to terms with losing the closest thing he's ever had to a father.

Multichapters:

Caught In Oblivion- Chapters: 4/6- A full-fledged and fleshed-out Oblivion AU with our beloved Top Gun Characters. Very self-indulgent, but you can read it too. 4/6 chapters.

Icemav Imagines (Open for use if you feel inspired by any of them, just tag me so I can read):

Italian Maverick

Maverick vs the smoke detector's dead batteries-

[solangelo]

I was wondering, do you have any recomendations on some long fics? Like, not just one chapter? Sorry if you had already posted something abou that. Anyway, thanks!!! (Really like your blog <<3333)

Absolutely!! I pretty much only read on Ao3 anymore so all of my recommendations are going to be there, but if others want to tack on their own recommendations in the comments they're always welcome to do so :)

A few things,

I tried to put content warnings on the bodies of work as I see fit, but some of these I read over a year ago and haven't looked at since so I apologize if I've missed something!

Additionally speaking, I've marked anything in which contains characters having sex with a red heart emoji ❤️ as it should be viewable on light and dark mode, across multiple forms of devices (ios vs android, etc) and should be readable to screen readers as well; As per previous notes on this blogs, any explicit depictions of characters having sex will also have them being explicitly over 18. Now without further ado-

I'm a huge fan of rabbit_soup's "Healing Takes Two" series, it's 13 pieces in total some of them are oneshots and others are multichapter but they all fit together making it a large body of text. The plot extends from Nico's three days in the infirmary to the early stages of their relationship and still seems to be ongoing with the author taking on rewriting some of their older pieces.

arum scarce by GalwayGirlo [16/20] AU ❤️:

Nico wakes up paralyzed following a motorcycle accident. Maybe Will Solace can help him get some feeling back?

(cw: suicidal ideation, a suicide attempt, adult having a relationship with a minor, "mafia stuff")

When I Get Home to You by 2nd2ndalto [10/10] Canon Compliant, Time Travel ❤️:

Will’s brow furrows."N - Nico?"

It’s impossible, this boy can’t be Nico, but the name falls from his lips without real conscious thought. Nico is 38 years old and probably sitting at home in their living room, hopefully having figured out how to fix the clogged dishwasher line, which is what he’d been planning on doing when Will left early this morning.

(cw: conversations about suicidal ideation and related topics, and young nico is involved so canon compliant trauma of his comes up as well)

talk your talk and go viral (i just need this love spiral) by wrongcaitlyn [34/34] and a part 2 currently at [2/?] chapters, Celebrity AU ft. Trans Nico:

“Keep telling yourself that,” Will says quietly, because even though the door is closed, speaking any louder would seem wrong. “You’re too harsh on yourself. If you wrote songs or something, you’d easily get on the Billboard Hot 100. Dad would help you. I would, too.”

“Promote it to your seven followers?”

“Yes!”

Nico laughs, and then Will is joining him, and they’re closer than before, but it’s nothing unusual. It’s been this way since before stupid feelings and stupid crushes, and Nico would be damned if he let it change just because of that.

(cw: alcoholism, childhood abuse and neglect, character death, car accidents, transphobia/homophobia/generalized queerphobia, gender dysphoria, suicidal ideation and related topics)

peach tea by ghosttotheparty [5/5] AU ft. Latino Will:

Will brushes his thumb over the side of Nico’s hand gently. His skin is soft. Nico’s fingers tighten on Will’s. It kind of feels like neither of them wants to move. Will doesn’t mind.

He sits up after a moment, but Nico doesn’t let go of his fingers, so he lifts the arm that’s awkward between them and sets it behind Nico, leaning back to rest on it. Nico just looks at the tapestry.

or; Will falls in love with the new kid.

(cw: mental health struggles, ptsd, anxiety/panic attacks, depression, grief, and character death)

What Could've Been Lights by athaleablaire [18/18], AU - I can’t remember if they have sex in this, rating is teen and up and all characters are over 18 but enter at your own risk:

In Will's eyes, he really has it all. A job as a surgeon at an amazing hospital, great friends-- what more could he ask for? Everything is going great until a man walks into his emergency room half-dead. In the mission to save his life, Will gets a little more than he bargained for.

(cw: injury and recovery, accusations of substance use)

a shadow in the rising sun by demigodbeautiies [9/13], AU Royalty, Arranged Marriage:

This is a story about the Ghost King.

Will Solace (crown prince in the Seventh Kingdom, politically useless as it may be) does not particularly want to be married to a thing of nightmares. He doesn't really have a choice, though. When does he ever? He allows his father to push him led into this politically advantageous, beauracratically necessary arrangement without too many complaints, and resigns himself to the fact he will be marrying a tyrant out of the tall tales his mother used to tell him when he was a boy.

Except then he meets his husband - a boy, and one younger than he is at that! - and realises that he has absolutely no idea what to expect. All he can hope for is that no one tries to kill him.

(cw: character death, character injury?)

NICO Centric:

Lethe by Eridans [8/8] Canon Compliant with a part 2 at [16/16]:

He's ten and ninety simultaneously, his mother was murdered and his sister is a stranger. He's got a deck of cards that he holds onto like a lifeline and an Italian-English dictionary that's old as hell and crumbling, but it's not as old as he is, and that makes him laugh.

The River Lethe was supposed to take away their memories, but Nico remembers his past, his days at home, the times he spent with his sister and mother at parades Mussolini hosted, where Maria sang the national anthem. The river tried to take away everything Nico cherished, and it could have been pure desperation or grief that made him remember his past.

Nico didn't know.

(cw: I started reading this fic over 8 years ago and haven't read it since it's last update 3 years ago, expect canon compliant events and themes to occur but otherwise proceed at your own risk, exercising caution and compassion for yourself where necessary <3)

WILL Centric:

Solace by solisaureus [11/11], Canon Compliant:

solace (n.) comfort or consolation in a time of distress or sadness.

solis (n.) the Latin word for "sun."

(cw: author includes their own content warnings at the start of each chapter!)

sprinkler splashes to fireplace ashes by whimsicalMedley [13/26] Canon Compliant ft. Trans Will Solace:

Contrary to his general disposition, William Andrew Solace was born in the middle of an October hurricane.

Or, Growing up is hard. It’s even harder when you’re the son of the sun god.

(cw: author includes their own content warnings at the start of each chapter!)

Hopefully this is a good place to get you started, nonnie!

[rebelpeas]

THE ONESHOTS WIN!!! 4,640 to 4,369. they barely squeaked it in but they got it

wait i need to see something. does devil town have more kudos than all my oneshots combined. be right back

[lord-squiggletits]

I know "numbers of hits and kudos isn't everything" discourse is a common topic, but I actually had an instance of falling for the numbers trap for a second that made me feel really bad about my writing despite the fact that I'm a pretty popular/prolific writer.

I was looking at my individual fic stats and realized that the majority of my fics have 2,000 hits or less, even ones that have been out for a year or more, and especially the ones with rarepairs, less popular characters, or gen fic. My top 5 most popular fics have remained virtually unchanged in the 4 years I've started writing for this fandom. A good 20%+ of my total hits and kudos only come from those top 5 fics.

But the thing is that all of those top 5 fics? Were among the first few fics I ever wrote, which means they've had the longest amount of time to gather stats. One of them was a multichapter fic that took a year and a half to write, during which I would get surges of new hits and kudos every chapter update. The other 4 are fics from the same PWP series of a top fandom ship, meaning that they would get repeated hits over and over again from people rereading the series (mostly composed of easy to read one-shots). And, again, are some of the oldest fics I've written, and one of them is a multichapter fic that would've gotten more hits from being uploaded one chapter at a time as people visited updates one at a time and read along the way.

Idk, it was just a moment that put things in perspective for me that sometimes your most popular fics aren't a matter of quality or people just "not liking" your work, but merely a numbers game with regard to age and the way the hits system works. I also noticed that I was adopting a toxic mindset of treating certain fics as "unpopular" or "not liked" just because they weren't above a certain number of hits (multiple thousands), which is silly because even getting a thousand hits and several tens/dozens of people leaving kudos is a lot.

I think the pitfall of going by numbers on AO3 is basically that you spend your time as an author judging your popularity/quality based on the numbers you DON'T have and expecting all of your works to be equally popular in metrics, which is simply unrealistic due to a number of reasons (time of release, trends in the individual fandom, specific tags/characters/ships that might be more popular than others, multichapter vs oneshot, etc).

Basically just imagine the "holy shit two cakes" meme but inside of your own AO3 profile. "Aw that one fic only has a few hundred hits compared to my other fic that has thousands" versus "oh boy, people accessed/read my work hundreds of times!"

[twdgkidsdeservebetter]

3 Fandoms I'm currently writing 3 fics for simultaneously.

VS

3 Fandoms I want to start writing 3 fics for simutaneously.

but I'm afraid if I start writing 6 fanfictions at once I'll burn out so fast that I stop writing all of them.

because I'm physically incapable of writing oneshots, so all my fanfictions are multichapter.

[praetorqueenreyna]

2023 AO3 Year-End Fic Review

I found the AO3 review I had made last year and decided to fill it out for 2023! Answer all the questions yourself, then tag some friends!

What is your AO3 account?

I'm at LittleQueenTrashMouth on AO3!

2. How many words did you write total in 2023?

I wrote 69, 299 words in 2023 for 4 different fandoms! Well 3-4, since one fic was a crossover fic. Most of that was for ACOTAR, which is HILARIOUS considering last year I was so convinced that I was done with ACOTAR. I played myself. It's also way more words than I wrote the past few years, which is cool!

3. How many fics did you publish in 2023? How many multichapters vs oneshots?

I published 17 fics in 2023, 15 of which were for ACOTAR. 3 of those are multichapter, and the other 14 were oneshots.

4. What was your longest fic? Your shortest fic?

The longest fic CONTINUES to be my multichapter Tamlin/Lucien fic, lovely and lonely, which is now at 27,528 words and is ALMOST DONE. My longest oneshot is the Nesta/Eris fic, counterintelligence, which is at 4,446 words. The shortest fic I wrote last year was you up?, which is a modern AU Tamlin/Rhysand fic.

5. What was your most popular fic? Your least popular fic?

My most popular fic was lovely and lonely, which is now at 2,044 hits and 107 kudos!! My least popular fic was the Tamlin/Briar fic Come, my drifting flower, which is at 29 hits and 5 kudos. But TO BE FAIR all the fics I wrote for my gift exchanges are at the bottom of the list for hits/kudos, because they were only published like a week ago!! So the least popular fic that has been online for over a month is my Eris Week fic Concession Strategy, which is at 168 hits and 11 kudos. BUT ACTUALLY I'm realizing now that somebody put the fic in a secret collection so nobody has been able to read it in months lmao. So my REAL ACTUAL least popular fic is the Tamlin/Amarantha fic obsessed with you, at 226 hits and 17 kudos.

6. What fic didn't perform as well as you thought it would?

I feel like I've answered this before lmao but ANYWAY I thought a knife for every heart would perform a little better. It's been up since March and has 143 hits. I guess people don't want to read about Lestat and the Corinthian fucking nasty.

7. What fic performed way better than you thought it would?

ALREADY my Nesta/Eris ACOTAR secret santa fic soare cu dinți is performing way better than expected! It was posted just a couple weeks ago and already has 262 hits, which is PRETTY GOOD for an ACOTAR rarepair! In general I've found that Neris fandom fucking SHOWS UP when you write them fic, which is awesome!!!

8. What was your favorite fic you wrote in 2023?

LMAO my favorite fic this year continues to be my Yellowjackets fic, Lagomorpha. idk I just love writing body horror and psychosexual tension and learning about how fucked up rabbits are. I also just LOVE Shauna, I'd really like to write more from her POV in the future!!!

9. What was your favorite fic that somebody else wrote in 2023?

OKAY LISTEN!!!! yall are very talented but really stood no chance against @goforth-ladymidnight's Tamcien fic A Second Chance. Seriously, if you haven't read this fic, GO READ IT RIGHT NOW!!! IT'S AMAZING!!! LIFE CHANGING!!!! EARTH SHATTERING!!!

10. Tag your friends to have them do this year-end fic review as well!!

OKIE I TAG PEOPLE!!! if you see this and I don't tag you, please fill it out!!

@queercontrarian @northern-star-polaris @riote @thevanserrras @foxcort @goforth-ladymidnight @andrigyn @looseleaflettuce @isterofimias @drowning-in-cacophony

[thewatercolours]

3, 7, 13, 15 for the EOY writer post?

3. Did you achieve everything you wanted to this year?

I was pleased with the number of oneshots I shared, and time I spent investing in my imagination, and the care I put into drafting my multichapter, "Path of Kingship." I certainly had a number of plans that fell through, of course, honestly I'd be a bit bit disappointed with the scope of my plans if I didn't dream bigger than I could actually accomplish!

Some plans that didn't play included properly reviving my dormant original novel, The Brilliant Hour (it's been sitting at roughly 70k for an age, and it's a delicate dance between remaining open to the fact I haven't entirely scrapped it, and preventing it from being a roadblock to other creativity because I can't let it go.) I did a lot of concept work on a new fiction about a high seas-based monastic order and a kidnapped royal, but the timing didn't seem to be right for it. I hoped I would finish "Path of Kingship" before the year was out, but it's still in progress. Well, some of these may still be groundwork for the future, and for those that weren't? Well, I enjoyed them anyhow.

7. What are three songs you put on your WIP-playlist this year?

A song from the Path of Kingship playlist: "Stronger" by Ellie Holcomb. The moment I heard the lyrics I could feel the resonance with Graham's arc from terrified newbie to confident leader.

A song from The Brilliant Hour playlist: Tried to rebuild this playlist from memory. I had an expansive playlist for this novel on Itunes before my account locked me out. I'm sorry to lose all the ones I've forgotten, but some songs are indelibly linked to story, and come to mind immediately. One is "Marrakesh Night Market" by Loreena McKennitt, which had a heavy hand in inspiring the opening chapter.

A song from Anders Solmor's playlist (Saltmarsh - not a traditional wip since it's from my rpg campaign with my brother - but I do so much writing for it and approach it so much like a writing project it counts): This feels ridiculous, and I'll add that I'm not a Swiftie. But I found a string quartet version of "Look What You Made Me Do" that's going to be perfect for Anders once he has his realization. Having a traditional-sounding instrumental version fits the Saltmarsh vibe, but in my head I can hear the words. I'm delighting myself with the double meaning of the refrain lyric if I associate it with Anders. He was made to do so much without even realizing it - and when he finds out that knowledge might make him do something quite different.

13. How did you change as a writer? Did you learn anything new? Started to plan instead of pants? Share your wisdom!

Other than what I've mentioned in another ask - let's see. I continue to fight the good fight to trim back my prose's tendency to indulgence and purple. I don't know if I got any better at it, but I was more ruthless in intention at least! I also found it helped me to consciously decide when a work was something I wanted to polish to the best of my ability vs when it was just a "doodle." I do believe in putting one's best foot forward and developing one's skills, and the works that mean a lot to me deserve to have my best effort. But sometimes it's ok to dash something off as a little connection with the two or three people who read my work, especially the King's Quest stuff, and not agonize over perfection. So I guess, I gave myself permission both to truly throw myself heart and soul into the good stories, and to say, "Ah, it has Graham in it. They'll probably like it" for the doodles. (Is this a sound philosophy? I don't know, but it seems good for me at least in this chapter of my life.)

15.Time for shameless self-promotion! answer with a piece of writing you want others to see/read! (if you have nothing posted/published this year, any other year is fine too ^^)

If you want a tiny taste of my original fiction, or just something really short, here's an excerpt that stands OK on its own: "The Ungentleman." Pseudo-eighteenth century world, mainly focused on a fun dynamic between the two mains desperately imbibing sweets before they commit themselves to a situation where there probably won't be any sweets.

If you want a taste of my fanfiction, "Path of Kingship" stands okay on its own, regardless of whether you know King's Quest. The upshot is that a guy who never expected to be king finds himself on the throne, and tries on different approaches to his new position like boots. Some zaniness but also introspection.

[thetrashbagswasteland]

AO3 meme

Tagged by @omniblades-and-stars and @sparatus tyyy you see I DO get to tag games (eventually)!

Tagging @teamdilf, @kayarenwick @ferowyn and anyone else who fancies having a go!

How many works do you have on AO3?

69 - and yes I did wait until that 68 became 69 before responding to this for... reasons

What's your total word count? 1,109,025 words. Y'know like a normal person with a job and responsibilities

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? (just as an fyi I'm discounting my vld stuff and the popular fandom effect)

Project Sunseeker (Old Version) - Sitting by and far ahead by 492 kudos, my very first multichaptered fic (wdym most people don't jump from 4k oneshots to writing 166k???), ye olde First Contact AU shakarian. Unsurprisingly really, there's a keyword there and it's shakarian lmao

The Idealist - discounting the rewrite of sunseeker here (much as it is by and far a superior version I just need time to sit down and chew on it), this is sitting in second with 63 kudos. C'mere guys, come smack Garrus' hot dad with the angst baton with me.

Pinfeather - JUST behind Idealist with 61 kudos, come join me for a oneshot letting out cute aggression by imagining how sharp and yet fluffy little turian chicks could be. This might be one of my all time faves tbh.

A Little Too Much Like Me - Creeping in at 57 kudos this fic needs tidying up but I still think it's fuckin hilarious regardless c'mon guys it's a no-reapers spectres vs c-sec teambuilding paintball session; Garrus gets shot point blank between the eyes for being a lovesick moron what more could you want?

Extended Release - 55 kudos places the Sunseeker epilogue oneshot in 5th place, as I should well expect. Honestly though it's short, it's sweet and it hurts so damned bad. It's the post-accident cigarette to sunseeker's car wreck of a climax.

Do you respond to comments? Why/Why not?

It depends! Replying to comments is usually my reward for reaching posting the next chapter of a fic but occasionally I like to come back to comments on oneshots or completed works - usually either to answer questions or to provide additional insight. I just like hoarding comments.

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

I think that'd be a toss-up between holding one another is a never-real love and Dilatory. On the whole they're pretty similar honestly; both short little moments of helplessness wherein our protag is forced to confront losing the person they love the most and worst of all, accepting that letting them go is for the better. I'm not a big fan of unresolved angst in a long format; suffering is a passthrough state and not a permanent end, so I find tragically angsty works to be dissatisfying on the whole. There should ALWAYS be a light at the end of the tunnel, even if it's only visible once you're battered and lost in the dark, and as such, I don't like to leave things on the worst note.

What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

We're once again getting a pair here, these two fit together actually: Single-Sided Dice and Last Man Standing. They're both character introspectives that delve into the hardest parts of some of my favourite punching bags lives and then reward them for persevering by giving them the happy-ever-afters they never thought they'd earn, let alone live to see.

Do you write crossovers?

Not really. I've toyed with the idea of it here and there but I'm not a major reader of crossovers let alone a writer of them. I more like transposing the premise of one property into another than ramming two together at light speed. That said I would be lying if I said the idea of a Mass Effect post-canon meets Star Trek Voyager doesn't sit in the back of my head sometimes. I want to sticky-putty the Borg and the Reapers to one another and see then what happens when Chakwas and The Doctor take a smoke break together once we've let both crews go feral together for a week against that combination threat.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Oh boy have I. You'd be surprised how many people are pressed about my sellotaping together of random minor characters they didn't give a shit about before they saw someone having fun in their own lane.

Do you write smut?

I do! Usually as oneshots/shortfics because I'm not a massive fan of it within larger works but I think it's great when it can stand on its own or act as a device for taking characters apart.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I think I did once upon a time when I was young and a far less engaged writer but I prefer to write at my own pace and follow my own ideas without needing to work with someone else tbh.

What's your all time favorite ship?

C'mon you can't ask me that. It's definitely not the crackship I made up then delusioned my way into shipping for real. But for real, I don't like pitting ships against one another when they all have something different that I enjoy abt them. So instead you get the shortlist; Avitus Rix/Castis Vakarian, Barrix, Vakarian parents, femVetryder, kryterius and shakarian. No that is not a list with any semblance of order to it, those ships are all just here vibing together.

What's a WIP that you want to finish don't think you ever will?

Y'know I never say never but at this rate the sequel to Project Sunseeker, Good Men Don't Go To War, and the side-piece to Beyond Familiar Stars, Heart Of A Dancer, are gonna take like a decade to hit the ground.

What are your writing strengths?

Seemingly putting characters through a fucking mangle and making them messy and 'real'. Nobody is flawless or omniscient, no matter the scale of the plot they're trapped in.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Getting to the fucking point, I think. I'm about average at coming up with plot plans and sticking with them, but I suffer from major chapter bloat and too-many-ideas-itis. Plus actually remembering to keep my project list manageable is always a challenge (and is why I can write 80k for NaNo but then take 18 months to write 30k for something else).

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Untranslated words/short exchanges for the sake of worldbuilding/plot/context? Delicious. Full dialogue? Eh... that one falls into two categories: - Dialogue wherein the protagonist is not expected to understand what's going on? Fun but it's writing garlic powder; there is indeed such a thing as too much and that point is where your reader disconnects from what's going on because THEY don't understand what YOU do. It's a fun flex but it has limits too. - Dialogue wherein the audience is intended to understand either from familiarity with the source material or context? Once again, big fat depends; I've always been advised to make the audience feel smart but to hold their hand to get them there. No matter how multilingual or well versed in lore your average reader may be, you'll still have a solid number who won't make the same leap. Don't alienate anyone just because you want to show off.

What's the first fandom you wrote for?

Beyblade, way back in 2008. Babycast was a precious kid and had no idea what they were doing but writing was fun even then (no matter that I was absolute fucking shit at it).

What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet, but want to?

Helluva Boss/Hazbin Hotel - please do not perceive me or my flights of fancy I've been having a bad time recently and it's become a comfort show. I like my trashfire fandom cartoons alright

What's your favorite fic you've ever written? That changes day by day but here's a few I genuinely enjoy re-reading every bit as much as I enjoyed writing them:

The Longshot: my debut detective-noir-but-make-it-mass-effect, featuring Castis Vakarian as our protagonist. Genuinely, my favourite genre of fiction meets my favourite chew-toy; if I could suggest one sole work of mine to people it'd probably be this one in truth. Summary:

An elcor veterinarian is found brutally murdered at his own clinic. No motive, nothing to point towards his killer. It's up to Second Class Major Crimes Detective Castis Vakarian and his new partner - the newest addition to the Major Crimes team - to piece together both how and why someone would kill the beloved veterinarian before the rapidly cooling trail can be erased entirely. But if anyone does know why someone would harm the sweet-natured elcor, they're being kept quiet by fear, apathy or some combination of the two. Only, the situation is set to become all the more complex as Castis' personal and professional lives are forced to collide explosively - and left with his reputation on the line twice, he finds himself betting pride, reputation and relationship on a longshot; that he can solve this one case.

Tolerance Tested: I saw Macen Barro abandoned in a muddy puddle and nobody else was playing with him so I took ownership. It's fun and look, someone had to figure out how to tie the bios we're given for Avitus and Macen to the Andromeda Initiative. Summary:

Sometimes, Avitus Rix has too much heart for his own good. This time around, he's going to drag Macen down to hell with him though. Failing hell, how about Omega? Otherwise known as the pre-Andromeda Barrix mission fic we all wanted.

A Cold And Unfamiliar Home: My last NaNoWriMo fic - wherein we swap Avitus for Macen and see what happens next both within and after canon. As I've said before, nobody was chewing on this niche character so I saw an opportunity to play around with him. Summary:

Home is where the heart is and unfortunately, that's very much not here. A what-if coming off the premise that Macen Barro survives the arrival in Andromeda - only that isn't a story with a happy ending.

[pzychojinx]

a list of things I ideally wanna write:

• the next chapters of my silco/felicia/vander multichapt. fic because someone has to feed the zauntriad nation. and it's me

• jinxekko canon compliant-ish oneshot because I need to explore the scene where he rewinds again and again to stop her attempt in a way that gives justice to it and to jinx. it's a Need. a necessity (we're gonna ignore what happened after that)

• literally anything at all that fixes whatever the fuck jinx's ending was. no specific ideas for now but I'd love to explore a way to have her still decide to fly away (assuming she's alive) but making it Make Sense

• might or might not be connected to the previous idea, but also anything involving Isha Lives. misery porn can suck my dick

that's pretty much my priorities for now. I'd love to like, write something that fully fixes s2 and brings the focus back on zaun vs piltover but I knowww I lack the patience, commitment and ability for that kind of work. best I can do is chara studies but I damn well will do chara studies

[imreallyloveleee]

2023 fic review

thank you for tagging me @onlyalittlebookworm! <3 <3 <3

What is your ao3 account?

loveleee

2. How many words did you write total in 2023?

32,717

3. How many fics did you publish in 2023? How many multichapters vs. oneshots?

3 oneshots, 1 new WIP, and updated 1 WIP. this was definitely one of my least "productive" years for fic-writing in quite a while (although i don't think i published much in 2022 either, looking back). for obvious reasons: i was traveling for more than half the year; and also Riverdale canon was so fucking awful to our ship specifically that i think it just killed off everyone's desire to read and write about them. thanks RAS! <3

4. What was your longest fic? Your shortest fic?

longest: i feel like i win when i lose, my bughead four weddings & a funeral-inspired fic. 16,379 words (and i need to finish the last chapter ahhhhhhhhhhhhh)

shortest: honeymoon phase, my (very first!!) jimmy/kim fic. 1,927 words.

5. What was your most popular fic? Your least popular?

even though it kind of feels like cheating, head underwater was most popular, because even though i started it years ago, i updated it in 2023!

for least popular, if we're going by kudos, it was three conversations about one thing, which was my desperate attempt to make some sense out of the penultimate episode of riverdale s7 lol

6. What fic didn't perform as well as you thought it would?

honestly, i try to keep my expectations low for everything i publish, to avoid disappointment. i guess the answer would be that last one, "three conversations." but like, the show's ending sucked? i'm not surprised people were not dying to run out and read fic about it 😂

7. What fic performed way better than you thought it would?

i really did not know what to expect from posting a Better Call Saul fic. the show ended over a year ago, and i don't really have much of a sense of how big/active the fandom around it is, or was at its peak. that said, i was EXTREMELY happy to discover that there are way more fics for Jimmy/Kim than there were for the last "prestige"-y show ship i wrote for (Peggy/Stan on Mad Men).

so, all that to say, i was really pleasantly surprised to get as much engagement as i did with that little story! and i'm working on another one now and really enjoying writing it. :)

8. What was your favourite fic you wrote in 2023?

i feel like i win when i lose!!!!!!! the first four chapters of that story just FLOWED out of me like they already existed. it was so much fun to write and i think it's a super fun story in general. i reeeeeeally want to finish it.

9. What was your favourite fic someone else wrote in 2023?

Beautiful Broken Things by teaandpinkfrosting: a well-written, well-plotted, sweet, emotional, in-character season 1 Bughead fic in the year of our lord 2023? WHAT DID WE DO TO DESERVE THIS?

Eighty-Six Years by jimmymcgools: a grounded, believable, heartwrenching, yet ultimately hopeful continuation of the most devastating finale i've ever watched in my life? again, WHAT DID WE DO TO DESERVE THIS? [ETA to be extra clear that the finale i'm referencing here is bcs NOT rvd lol]

10. Tag your friends to do this year end fic review as well!

@absnow @burberrycanary @andsmile if you're into it! <3