#sakarrie's fic

[sakarrie-creates]

2023 Fic Round-Up/Reflection

Got an early start this year! I technically was shooting to get it done before the new year but I feel like I’m still within a reasonable window, so I’ll take it! Here’s my 2023 Writing Summary! Overall, I think I actually did okay! As usual, my rambly reflection stuff is under the cut. Happy 2024 people!

2023 Stats:

Fics Started: 12 Fics Fully Written: 12  Fics Posted: 5 New WIPs: 0 Total WIPs: 20 (ish?) Words Written: 53,686 (55,598 if including fic outlines that haven’t been turned fic) Words Posted: 34,805 Fandoms Written For: 3 (+1 for Merlin FTH outline) Events: 4 (+3)

Posted Fics:

Supernatural (Gen): 2

When it Rains, it Pours (13,779): As part of Chuck's "reliving of his greatest hits," Sam starts having his painful visions again. He doesn’t want to believe it, but the nightmares keep coming true and now, he's beginning to worry it’s not just visions. During their last hunt, Sam could have sworn that the machete he was reaching for threw itself. Dean didn’t seem to notice anything but later that night, Sam finds a small trail of blood coming from his nose.

He needs to tell Dean—he knows that. But Dean’s been struggling a lot between Chuck and losing... well, most everyone. He's just barely beginning to bounce back, and Sam was his only constant right now. He’ll just have to keep a handle on it until they can take care of Chuck. Set around s15e4 Atomic Monsters. 

Whatever it Takes (1,875): Gadreel's possession of Sam has more serious side-effects than Dean ever imagined. Now, his brother is sick, hurting, and close to giving up. But Dean is determined to make this right. 

The Owl House (Gen and Implied/Background Ship - Huntlow): 2

What Doesn't Kill You (Gives You Trauma) (1,737): With the reconstruction of Hexside finally complete, a sense of normality has been restored. Fortunately, that includes Grom. Unfortunately one of their own has been declared King. Hunter doesn’t even know which fear he'll have to face. He certainly has enough painful memories for Grom to take its pick. With a bit of luck and support from his friends, though, he might just make it through the night.

Frenemies (1,737): Hunter gets a mysterious message telling him to meet them at the night market. He really should have realized Luz would be behind this. Or: Post-ASIAS, Luz doesn't like the idea of Hunter suddenly showing up at Hexside and almost kidnapping her friends.

Code Lyoko (Gen): 1

No One’s an Island (7,612): Yumi is tired. XANA's attacks have been relentless and it's wearing her down. Between school, home life, and Lyoko, she's not sure how much more she can handle. After all, there's only so much weight one person can take. Except, it's not just Yumi's burden to carry, and her friends are going to do whatever they can to remind her of that. 

Specifics:

Events Participated In:

SPN Summergen (Fic), Player Appreciation Week (Art), Weird People MEP (Edit), Dear Fellow Traveler (Animatic), SPN Gencest Bang (Fic), Fandom Trumps Hate (Art/Fic), Mirage and Mischief Zine (Fic), and LOTS of zine apps (Fic, Art, Mod).

Best/worst title?

Best title: None of them super jump out at me, but Whatever it Takes and Between the Lines of Fear and Blame both come from songs where the song vibe/lyrics match the fic PERFECTLY. The latter is a bit long for my tastes, but it’s grown on me. What Doesn’t Kill You (Gives you Trauma) makes me chuckle too, but it’s got the same length issue as well as trying out a new style from my norm which I had mixed feelings on.

Worst title: Oof, well as usual, I didn’t particularly like most of my titles this year. I think Frenemies has to take the cake though. It started as a working title but then I got lazy and just left it when I posted. It feels so generic and not... aesthetic enough? Poetic enough? Literally no idea why it bothers me so much but it does.

General Questions:

Looking back, did you write more fics than you thought you would this year, less than you thought, or about what you predicted?

I honestly can’t remember what I was expecting this year (and it’s tradition that I can’t look back at my goals ‘til I answer these questions, so it will remain unknown). I certainly hoped to be able to do more since last year was a fairly barren year creativity-wise, but I’ve also been quite aware for a while that being in school sucks out my soul makes it difficult to create. With that, I think I probably was in the ballpark of what I was expecting. I might have predicted it being more spread out, though, which is a rookie move considering that my classes are clustered haha. What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted last year?

I think I’d just barely gotten into TOH at the start of the year, so that wasn’t COMPLETELY unpredictable, but I did write some Huntlow (aka, romance) fics, which is abnormal for me! Additionally, I can’t remember if I discovered The Sentinel this year or last, but that definitely wasn’t expected. Just got the DVDs so I can finish watching the series! Oh, also writing Code Lyoko was a new experience (not counting my random 6th grade fanfiction I wrote in notebooks lol).

What’s your favorite story this year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you the happiest.

I’m split quite a bit on this one. On one hand, I really like my Grom fic (so far) so I’m hoping that will continue to flow as I wrap it up. I also like my unposted fic about Willow dealing with Hunter’s near-death and Camila comforting her. Of those that are currently posted, though, I think I might go with No One is an Island. It was a lot of fun trying to figure out how to write Yumi and the other Code Lyoko characters, and considering the small size of the fandom, it was fairly well-received too!

Okay, NOW your most popular story.

Same as the last two years! Fragmentation’s views are hard to really predict since view counts have been down since September, but the total views has officially surpassed the overall word count at 21.4k views (vs 20.7k word count). Which is AMAZING. It’s always a bit wild to me to consider, but I’m so great people are enjoying my fic. Next is still The Problem With Good Intentions at 12.6k, which surprises me less now that I’ve seen just how alive and well the Once and Future Fandom is haha. From the fics I posted this year, it would be When it Rains, it Pours at 1.5k.

Story most underappreciated by the universe?

A Letter to Never Be Read on FF.net never really got any traction, but I think I’m over it by now. As for more current underappreciated fic... I think I might actually go with When it Rains, it Pours again. Even though it had the most views, it’s a fairly long, multi-chap story and didn’t get many reviews in between chapters. That’s part of the challenge with bangs and posting dates, though, so nothing too shocking there.

Hardest story to write?

It’s really hard to say! I was struggling with burnout a lot during my zine app timeframes, but most of those fics haven’t been posted yet. It might be Whatever it Takes just cause I had such a hard time coming up with something that matched the prompts as well as my preferences. When it Rains, it Pours was also a challenge at times, but mostly in trying to find motivation to write anything.

Most overdue story?

It’s Only Natural is still very very overdue, but it’s not super popular (and is on FF.net), so it’s not one I’m stressed about. I think about A Long Ways Home a lot, though. I wanted to work on it recently, but unfortunately my writing energy needed to go towards FTH so that continued to be put off. People have left some very supportive comments on it recently, though, which I majorly appreciate!

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?

It hasn’t been a very writer-heavy year, which means less opportunities for writing risks. Writing for Code Lyoko was something of a risk in that I had no idea how it would turn out, but it wasn’t actually that adventurous. I also explored different types of grief in an unposted zine app piece, but I think in the end it turned out solid! My biggest risk was probably a different ficlet I wrote for a zine app. It was of young Eda and Grudgy, so both about characters I’m less invested in and in the sports genre, which is totally new for me. Unfortunately, that risk didn’t pay off. I actually felt pretty good about it, but when I sent it for feedback from a mod friend, they really didn’t like it. Everything’s subjective so it’s possible that it would still be enjoyable for some people, but suffice to say, I didn’t use it for any apps in the end.

How’d this year compare to your goals of last year?

Okie here we go! I think my goals were fairly reasonable last year if I remember correctly so I’m tentatively optimistic I’ll have some stuff to check off! 

Oof last year had a bunch of paragraphs of reflection here. I think I’m gonna focus more on bullets this year haha.

Goals from 2022:

-Unfortunately, keeping my scholarship has to be my biggest goal this year again so gonna put that here in case it's the only thing I can check off come December.

-A Long Ways Home (at least 1 new chapter) -SPN Summergen-At least 3/7 Player Appreciation Week days-Catch up on comment replies -At least do some more brainstorming for bigger CS aus -Huntlow/Owl House fics?-One zine?

If crazy inspired year: -All of A Long Ways Home -All Player Appreciation Week Days -WIP Bang with It’s Only Natural -Post More CS One-shots -Write out more big AU scenes -Other Zines

Oof, okay so apparently I was not crazy inspired this year lol. To be fair, I did do a bit more exploration in art and lots more in merch, so it wasn’t a totally uncreative year. And I doubled my word count overall from last year! Plus I did apply to a LOT of zines this year... I just unfortunately didn’t get in to nearly any of them. Next time maybe though! I’m a pinch hitter for a couple so that’s something at least!

It’s also been a year with lots of burnout and anhedonia for me, so brainstorming has been completely unachievable for most of the year. It’s been sad and I feel a little bad for my poor friends who love to brainstorm with me, but thankfully they have other sources. I’m scared to say anything, but I’ve felt more recently like maybe some interest is returning, so I’m crossing my fingers that it will still be there by the time FTH/Mirage&Mischief stuff is finished and school starts.

I actually met my goals this year too! In fact, my stretch goal had 25k posted, which I doubled in total and surpassed in written too, which is really impressive for me! Not to mention, I finished EVERY SINGLE fic I wrote this year!! That’s WILD for me. To be honest, it’s probably more a sad reflection on how I was writing purely for external deadlines rather than myself, but hey! Still got them all done and wrote a lot of words. Overall, thank you last year Sakarrie for keeping things achievable cause I actually did meet/exceed my goals! 

What are your fic writing goals for next year?

Well, I was a little relieved to find that I’d met them this year, so I think I’m going to try to keep things not too high again. Overall, though, I think I want to have a little more room for creative freedom in what I’m writing this year. For how little creative work I was doing, I did a TON of events, and at many times, those obligations stopped me from working on something I was feeling more inspired by. My fandom interests jumped all over this year (main focuses include: TOH, Merlin, Code Lyoko, The Sentinel, Dragon Prince, She-ra, Handplates (Undertale), and Centaurworld). Honorable mentions to Amphibia, SPN, and Miraculous Ladybug too... and that’s all just the stuff I’ve had long hyperfixations on this year. There’s tons of fandoms outside of those that also grabbed my attention on and off this year.)

Anyway, my hope is that I’ll be able to write similarly or more this year, but based on my own fickle inspiration, rather than only writing when I hate to for events. With that, I think I’m going to just stick with the Gencest Bang and zine obligations as the only writing events I’m planning on this year. I also hope to do Player Appreciation Week and Summergen again, but both of those could be art if needed. 

I also 100% failed in my comments goal from last year, but my mindset is slowly getting healthier I think. I do leave comments occasionally, but they still feel like way bigger deals than they should be. I’m getting better at letting old tabs go, though! I’m also fairly behind on responding to comments of my fics, but that one’s a lot more manageable.

Additionally, I want to have a pinned post on my tumblr page and ao3 profile page where people who are interested can see my current status on projects. I don’t expect it would be updated all the time, but it might help me keep track of everything.

Okay so! Goals for next year: -Have a solid zine portfolio -Make pinned update post -Post at least 4 stories -Embrace/follow the inspiration -Finish first draft A Long Ways Home -Gencest Bang -Summergen Exchange -Code:Swap -Player Appreciation Week -Apply to more zines

So, finally work counts goals are...

Easy Goal Word Count Goal: 20k (at least 10k posted)

Stretch Goal (aka, if I don’t die from school agAIN): 60k (at least 30k posted)

Ultimate 2021 Word Count Goal: 38k

[hellhoundlair]

art entry for the spngencestbang, for "When it Rains, it Pours" by @sakarrie-creates!

-

this was my first bang! thank u sakarrie for urpatience and for writing such a lovely heart rending fic ❤

[spnsummergen]

Supernatural Summergen: Week 1 Roundup!

Hi all! In case you missed any the first time around, here's a roundup of the first week of Summergen! At the end of each week, we'll post another roundup so no one misses out on any goodies. :D

Thank you to all the creators and readers who makes Summergen possible!

1. Ab Aeterno for iamianweareme

Summary: Time is never on your side (unless you know what it wants.)

Rating: Not Rated (Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings) Characters: Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Rowena MacLeod Words: 1642 Tags: Season/Series 03, Season/Series 10, Episode: s10e19 The Werther Project, Time Travel, Case Fic, Dreams, Astral Projection, Spells & Enchantments, Witchcraft, Curses, Cure for the Mark of Cain, Witches, Angels, Demon Deals, Brotherly Affection, Immortality, Non-Linear Narrative, New Jersey, Parallel Universes, Blood Magic

—

2. Home is What You Make It for shadowhuntingdauntlessdemigod

Summary: Feeling the need to make the bunker more of a home for himself and Sam, Dean creates a place just for them.

Rating: Not Rated (Creator Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings) Characters: Dean, Sam Words: 2242 Tags: Oblivious Sam Winchester, Files, Organizing, Clever Dean Winchester, Cooking, Home improvements, the bunker, Man Cave, Alcohol, movies

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3. Welcome to Canada for sakarrie

Summary: Sam and Dean follow the lead of an old friend of Bobby's into the Canadian wilderness of Golden Ears Park where three hunters have been found ripped to shreds their throats bitten out, while possible bear attacks, the local park ranger and part-time hunter Roger Marsh doesn't think so. The brothers help him investigate an incident that quickly turns out to be very much their kind of problem.

Rating: E (Explicit, Graphic Depictions of Violence) Characters: Sam, Dean Words: 2409 Tags: Case Fic, Canon Compliant, Hunt Gone Wrong, Wilderness Survival, Hurt Sam Winchester, Hurt Dean Winchester, Protective Dean Winchester, Protective Sam Winchester, Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Protective Winchesters, Demonic Possession

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4. Too Close for Comfort for yoann

Summary: Sam and Dean switch bodies. Bickering, brotherly banter and bad choices ensue…

Rating: T Characters: Sam, Dean, Rowena Words: 3493 Tags: humor, bodyswap

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5. Ink for dizzojay

Summary: Rusalka has been killed, but something bad still happens to Dean, and Sam has to pay the consequences.

Rating: G Characters: Dean, Sam Words: 2800 Medium: pastels (piece includes fic AND art!) Tags: Rusalka (Water Spirit), Whump, Hurt Sam Winchester, Possessed Dean Winchester

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6. Meeting Your Heroes for brightly_lit

Summary: A hunter gets some unexpected help from the legendary Winchesters.

Rating: G Characters: Sam, Dean, OMC Words: 1563 Tags: Hunters & Hunting, Poltergeists, Humor, Silly, Awkwardness

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7. A Perfect Way to Die for canon_is_relative

Summary: Sam's been fighting in the demon wars for as long as he can remember. He doesn't like war and he doesn't like fighting, even though he's the best at it ever since Dean got possessed and joined the other side. The humans are losing this war. He's only seventeen, but he figures it's only a matter of time before he dies, too. He just needs to see Dean -- the real Dean, his brother -- one last time before the end.

Rating: G Characters: Sam Winchester, Jo Harvelle, Ash, Claire Novak, Garth Fitzgerald IV, Kevin Tran, Bobby Singer, Rufus Turner, John Winchester, Dean Winchester Words: 2569 Tags: War, Child Soldiers, Demons, Demon Dean Winchester, Weapons, Brotherly Love, Brother Feels, Brotherhood, Comrades in Arms, Found Family, Possession, Exorcisms

[masoena]

Welcome to Canada - SummerGen Fic

I am stoked to finally post about this now that the creators have been revealed. This fic was my contribution to the @spnsummergen event in 2024.

It was writtin response to a prompt by @sakarrie-creates whose request was a writer's dream with the broadness of it, this was the prompt:

You can read it here on AO3: Welcome to Canada

Fic Summary:

Sam and Dean follow the lead of an old friend of Bobby's into the Canadian wilderness of Golden Ears Park where three hunters have been found ripped to shreds their throats bitten out, while possible bear attacks, the local park ranger and part-time hunter Roger Marsh doesn't think so. The brothers help him investigate an incident that quickly turns out to be very much their kind of problem.

Pairing: Sam & Dean

Please mind the tags despite gen rating of this fic it has an explicit warning for violence, below GIFs from the Baby episode are rather accurate for how the boys fare in this fic.

[spngencestbang]

Title: When it Rains, it Pours

Author: @sakarrie-creates

Artist: @hellhoundlair

Rating: Teen

Length: 13,779

Warnings: Canon typical violence, panic attacks

Summary: As part of Chuck's "reliving of his greatest hits," Sam starts having his painful visions again. He doesn’t want to believe it, but the nightmares keep coming true and now, he's beginning to worry it’s not just visions. During their last hunt, Sam could have sworn that the machete he was reaching for threw itself. Dean didn’t seem to notice anything but later that night, Sam finds a small trail of blood coming from his nose.

He needs to tell Dean—he knows that. But Dean’s been struggling a lot between Chuck and losing... well, most everyone. He's just barely beginning to bounce back, and Sam was his only constant right now. He’ll just have to keep a handle on it until they can take care of Chuck.

Link to fic: https://archiveofourown.org/works/49679605

Link to art: https://www.tumblr.com/hellhoundlair/726853188469293056

[sakarrie]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Carmen Sandiego (Cartoon 2019) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Player & Carmen Sandiego | Black Sheep, Player & Player's Mother (Carmen Sandiego 2019) Characters: Player (Carmen Sandiego 2019), Carmen Sandiego | Black Sheep, Player's Mother (Carmen Sandiego 2019) Additional Tags: Player & Carmen Sandiego | Black Sheep Friendship, Family Fluff, very slight angst, very slight, we were trying to do something other than hurt/comfort here haha, introductions, Post-Canon, Both Carmen and Player are working to find a new normal, Technically post-canon but also before the two years later clip, no beta we die like impatient fools Summary:

Now that VILE is gone, Player decides it's time for Carmen to meet his mom.

[sakarrie-creates]

I have a gen Sam and Dean Christmas fic in this zine and the proceeds go to a good cause, so be sure to check it out if interested!

Volume Three of The SQZ is live, with a Winter Holiday Theme! The members of SQZ voted and decided for all proceeds to go to the @aclu via the ACLU Foundation.

Just as with the previous two volumes, the Zine is Pay What You Want starting at $1. You receive a 26-Page Fanzine featuring Fanart and Fanfic, and this time around we have three pieces of digital merch - all by @foxymoley:  Anna Christmas Tree Topper Sweater Themed Christmas Ornament New Dean Paper Doll Designs

We still have our Society6 store - all proceeds from items purchased via the store will go to the current volume’s Charity. So all proceeds will go to the ACLU. We are also making Volumes One and Two available for purchase again!

Volume One can be found HERE Volume Two can be found HERE

Finally, as requested:

For full transparency - While SQZ welcomes Gen and majority of the ships in Supernatural, most of this Zine is Destiel content. We put out an open call for content providers, and we work with those who apply. We have not turned away a single applicant yet. If you would like to provide content, please keep an eye out for the Call for Applicants for Volume Four in early 2022. We’d be more than happy to have you.

[uniasus]

fic rec! post-series Carmen Sandiego fic, 1K

Summary: After Carmen is able to snap out of VILE's control, Team Red takes her back to HQ. But there's still one person she hasn't talked to yet.

Comments: short fic, but that's okay. This is precisely the scene I wanted in the last episode - Player and Carmen reconnecting after her brainwashing. You've got Player being concerned, Carmen opening up, and the rest of team Red trying not to eavesdrop but unable to help it. Not that Carmen minds - it's not a topic she wants to rehash over and over.

[chiisana-sukima]

Art Post for The Past Comes Back to Haunt You

Author: sakarrie Pairings: Gen Rating: T Warnings: Temporary Major Character Death, Graphic Violence, S7 Case Fic, Hurt Sam Winchester, Freaked Out Dean Winchester, The Boys Need Therapy, But Instead I Wrote Them More Trauma Summary: But then his brother’s head was raised to the sky, a yell of pure agony filling the air, and Dean was struck with the sudden realization of what this was.

This was a death echo.

Read It on AO3

I had a great time working with sakarrie on this spooky fic for the SPN Eldritch Bang, just in time for the S15 premier and Halloween.

Sam and Dean go back to Cold Oak on a case, and things (as usual) go very wrong.

[sakarrie-creates]

Hey guys! No pressure at all, but I'm participating in this awesome charity fanwork auction, so if there's a Carmen Sandiego, Supernatural, or Merlin idea you've wanted to see written and have a little extra cash, consider bidding! There's also a lot of other great authors for lots of fandoms, and in most cases you get to pick the charity, so feel free to browse. Bidding opens tomorrow! :)

FTH 2021 Browsing Week Begins!

You can head over to the 2021 Offerings Blog to start browsing auctions now!

What is browsing week?

This is a few days (not quite a whole week but close enough) when auction posts are up but bidding isn’t open yet. This way creators have a chance to look over their listings and let us know if anything needs to be fixed, and bidders have a chance to browse and make plans for which auctions they want to bid on.

As a creator, if you notice anything amiss (or have decided you need to change anything about your listing), please email us at fandomtrumpshate @ gmail.com to let us know. Be sure to double-check that we’ve tagged your fandoms, fanwork types, and ratings properly! We cannot change anything once bidding is open, so please look now.

Potential bidders: Please read over our stickied posts to check that you understand our bidding policies and to learn how to search for exactly the auctions you want using Dreamwidth’s tagging system!

Speaking of the tagging system, remember to check out our fan labor section! As usual, we have dozens of fan labor auctions from talented people offering their skills as beta readers, translators, expertise pickers, and tons more. If you plan on creating some fandom content over the next year (whether it’s for FTH or anything else), we recommend taking a look!

Bidding opens at 8am EST on Monday, February 22!

[sakarrie-creates]

2022 Fic Round-Up/Reflection

Am I over a month late? Yes. Is that going to stop me? Nnnnnnope.

Another year gone and another end of year summary! Yeash, it’s been a rough creative year haha. I’ve practically done nothing but school and work, which has certainly been problematic for writing. It’s been a productive adulting year though, so hopefully this dead period will help me find more opportunities down the line. My gosh I’m ready to be done with school already.

Since I’ve really not written much this year, this will be an abridged version of my reflection from last year’s template. That being said, I’m still very rambly so you can see the details below the cut!

2022 Stats:

Fics Started: 11 Fics Fully Written: 3 Fics Posted: 2 New WIPs: 7 Total WIPs: 20 (ish?) Words Written: 25,950 (33,176 if including documents of pure brainstorm ramble lol) Words Posted: 9,541 Fandoms Written For: 2 Events: 2 (+1)

Posted Fics

Carmen Sandiego (Gen): 1

So Long As You're With Me (7,804): It's been several months since Team Red rescued Player from the clutches of VILE and snapped him out of their control... mostly. His base personality is back, but he still doesn't remember them from anything other than the false memories VILE created for him. And it's just their luck that VILE painted Carmen and company in such a way that Player thinks that their attempts to help him is all some elaborate form for torture, and it doesn't help that he's currently recovering from an injury she caused. Carmen is near her wit's end, but she refuses to give up on her oldest and best friend.

Supernatural (Gen): 1

Still the Same (1,737): After a hunt, Sam and Dean watch the stars for the first time since Dean came back from Hell. Things are finally starting to fall back into place between them, but it's impossible to ignore the ways things have changed. 

Specifics:

Events Participated In:

SPN Summergen, Player Appreciation Week (Fic and Art), Code Secret Santa (Art), Miraculous Magic Zine (Revamp Fic), and Fandom Trumps Hate (Offered Art/Fic).

General questions:

Looking back, did you write more fics than you thought you would this year, less than you thought, or about what you predicted?

Oof, hard to answer. Definitely less than I’d hoped and maybe still a fair bit less than I expected, but I did know that my life was about to get swallowed by school and I wasn’t wrong. I definitely wish I had been able to participate in more events for sure and I’ve had a lot of inspiration for all sorts of stuff that I just haven’t had the brain power for unfortunately. What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted last year?

I mean, looking at posting, I only have two options lol. In general though, I stuck fairly close to my norm for all that. I poked around time travel AUs which was fun but most of that was brainstorming/animatic storyboarding rather than writing.

What’s your favorite story this year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you the happiest.

Definitely So Long As You're With Me! That AU lives in my head rent free and boy howdy I’d love to share it all one day but there’s just so much to it. I swear, the pieces I have shared are hardly recognisable as the same story haha. Anyway, it’s definitely a little rushed at some points, but it was a very crammed piece that just kept getting longer, so I’ll take it!

Okay, NOW your most popular story.

Since I’ve only posted two new works this year, we’re going to go overall. Which would definitely still be Fragmentation. It’s got 20.3k views!! That’s only 400 less than it’s total word count and it seems like the hit count keeps going up slowly, which is wild to consider it’s on FF.net in a faded fandom and has been complete for like a year. Next up would be The Problem With Good Intentions at 11k, which also blows me away a bit cause Merlin ended a decade ago but I’m proud of the fandom for staying alive! XD

Story most underappreciated by the universe?

Probably still A Letter to Never Be Read on FF.net. It’s a pretty niche fic, so I can’t really be surprised but I felt artsy writing it way back when lol.

Most overdue story?

Welp, It’s Only Natural is certainly overdue, but I don’t think anyone is really following that one so it’s not in a rush. A Long Ways Home on the other hand drives me crazy cause I’ve actually been wanting to write for it, but brainpower’s been too low from school. Can’t believe it’s been a year. :’(

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?

Tbh, not really? I pushed myself in what I did, but it was all relatively in my comfort zone. I guess I tried writing in S4 of Supernatural in Still the Same, but that doesn’t feel much like a risk. I also tried out some writing from screenshot prompts which was super fun and interesting, but unfortunately that was sniped by lack of time/energy too. So I guess not really this year.

How’d this year compare to your goals of last year?

Oh boy, I’m so intimidated to read these paragraphs haha. I bet I did like none of them. We’ll start with the bullet list though since that should be fairly straightforward. -Unfortunately, prioritizing school is honestly my biggest writing goal this year. So if I do that all successfully and get through any more than like, 1-2 of these, it will be a success haha. 

-A Long Ways Home (Gonna break it up into Chapter 3, Chapter 4, and if that’s not the epilogue, then an epilogue. I’m determined and really think it’s doable, I just need to be careful not to overestimate again) WIP Bang if not done by Summer. -SPN Summergen -PAB if enough interest -February week event -Loyalties AU Plotting/Drafting -SQZ Zines -Comments

If crazy inspired year: -Gencest Bang -WIP Bang with It’s Only Natural -Post More CS One-shots -Other Zines

Okay, so some of those crossings are a little generous, but I wanted to at least check off the school one haha. Tbh, though, it wasn’t as bad as I expected! I did a decent job of having low expectations lol.

What are your fic writing goals for next year?

Oh boy. See I wish that this last year being so sad would mean this year would be back to creative rush, but I’m already a month in and I haven’t even tried writing anything other than school papers. I’ve been getting surprisingly into Huntlow (omg, Sakarrie having a romantic ship that she’s like legit into????? whacK), so it’d be fun to experiment with some fic there! Willow needs more angst fic to balance out our traumatized golden boi. Trying to find some zines would also be fun! And I’ll be sad if I ever have to miss Summergen cause it’s 100% my favorite event of the year. Oh, and of course I’m hoping to be able to participate more in Player Appreciation Week this coming month!! Shameless plug.

I’d also like to make some progress on A Long Ways Home, so hopefully in my Summer break I’ll finally have a chance to sit down and write. I’m not going to be dumb enough to put time frame estimations on it again though haha. I also am not a huge fan of having WIPs just sitting out there so if I could knock off It’s Only Natural sometime, that’d be great, but it’s honestly not a priority and I haven’t been feeling Voltron for a bit.

As for other plans, Loyalties AU and EverYOnE is bROkeN AU both haunt me at night and then there’s the time travel au that just has my brain zooming whenever I think about it. They just all get so intense and I WANT to share that intensity cause I know they could be epic, but first I gotta finalize the details, then I gotta have the skills to pull it off, then I gotta actually write sooooooooooooo we’ll see where those get me.

Okay so comments. Bah that project is such a mindset monster haha. I want to be supportive and express thanks to those who write and comment, but also the more pressure I put on it, the harder it gets. I feel like it makes reading new fics very intimidating and makes leaving chill comments harder. I think it would be nice to get through, but I think my goal for this year is to let my 1000 tabs go and just comment/respond in the moment whenever I can and not overthink it. I do want to catch up on replies though so that can be my comment goal for this year. In terms of my numbers, though, I did meet my generous goal of 20k written and 10k posted this year! (Rounding a little but close enough.) And I met my ultimate wc goal if brainstorming essays count!

Bullet list time!

2023:

-Unfortunately, keeping my scholarship has to be my biggest goal this year again so gonna put that here in case it's the only thing I can check off come December. -A Long Ways Home (at least 1 new chapter) -SPN Summergen -At least 3/7 Player Appreciation Week days -Catch up on comment replies -At least do some more brainstorming for bigger CS aus -Huntlow/Owl House fics? -One zine?

If crazy inspired year: -All of A Long Ways Home -All Player Appreciation Week Days -WIP Bang with It’s Only Natural -Post More CS One-shots -Write out more big AU scenes -Other Zines

So with that, I’m gonna set my word count bar pretty low again haha. In fact, I think I’ll just leave it as it was last year.

Easy Goal Word Count Goal: 20k (at least 10k posted)

Stretch Goal (aka, if I don’t die from school): 40k (at least 25k posted)

Ultimate 2023 Word Count Goal: 30k

[the-once-and-future-love]

21. Good Merlin Fics I’ve Read Recently (5/02/22)

A Moment of Truth  by  sakarrie [gen]

A little salt in your drink   by  riverray  

all the faults you've left behind  by  Lunarwolfik  

An Exercise in Futility by  hotchpotch    

At Setting   by   FervidAsAFlame, furloughday                

Bad Choice of Words in My Alibi by  queerofthedagger

half of my soul series by astranix

How to Picnic with a First Love and a Changed Heart  by Impala_Chick

I Love You by evokingmemories  

 In which Merlin Reveals His Magic, Arthur Embarks on a Quest, and Uther Absolutely Does Not Admit He Was Wrong, About Anything, Ever by Alex51324   [gen]

Just Like Always   by  N16 [gen]

Like the Flip of a Coin  by  Periphery (SeeTheVision)

magic might stain the air  by  bene_elim 

 New Beginnings   by  nsowlwrites97   [gen]    

 Not So Royal Pains  by  EdwardotheBarber     [gen]

Once upon a time, there was a prince   by anonymintea  [preslash]

 outrun man's long shadow   by  southfarthing  [gen]  

Sight Unseen   by   schweet_heart 

Silver  by  entanglednow   [gen]

Soldier, Peasant, King  by  be_brave13, TevinterPariah

 Sweet as Cherry Wine by  riverray  

The Burning Truth by FoiblePNoteworthy    [gen]

The Common Touch   by  lamardeuse 

 the dragon said it was destiny (but my dear, that was never enough) by  mossclouds 

The Love Spoon  by  furloughday

 the stars have all aligned by  ariadne_odair         

Two For Joy by 0hHeyThereBigBadWolf 

Uniform Necessities  by  drummeronthegun 

watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you by high_queen

Well, That Escalated Quickly by bloodsongs

What I'd Have Done by  Flight_of_Fantasy  

what is this feeling   by redkay     

[ last list ]

[playerappreciationweek]

Here are our official prompts for Player Appreciation Week 2022! Thank you to everyone who filled out the interest check. Our official dates for posting will be Sunday, February 27th - Saturday, March 5th. You can find the transcription of the prompts as well as the rules for the event below.

Prompts

Day 1: Carmen | Black Sheep

Day 2: Ivy and/or the Faculty

Day 3: Shadowsan and/or Player’s Parents

Day 4: Zack and/or VILE operatives

Day 5: Julia and/or Team Red allies

Day 6: Chase and/or Chief | ACME

Day 7: Free Day

*Rules and Guidelines*

1. Since this event is Player Appreciation Week, all works must be Player-centric. They don’t necessarily need to be Player POV, but the character's platonic relationships with Player must be at the heart of the piece.

2. No romantic ships, please. Exceptions are for Player’s parents and Carmen’s parents, but the platonic and familial bonds should still be the focus.

3. This event accepts a wide variety of mediums and types of work. Any form of fan content is accepted so long as it follows the rules and is posted during the event. WIPs or continuations of previously posted works are more than welcome!

4. For fics: All fanfiction should be posted to Ao3 and will be added to the Player Appreciation Week (player_appreciation_week) collection on Ao3. You can either do this yourself when posting, or a mod will send a request to add it after receiving notification of the work. As for tags, use Ao3's checkbox warning system. Please do not select "Choose Not To use Archive Warnings" or your work will not be reblogged. For any other trigger warnings your fic may require, add those via the additional tag section and use the generic tag that pops up in the drop-down menu as you type (ie, "self-harm" or "child abuse"). If you would like to have your fic promoted on the Player Appreciation Week Tumblr, please follow the posting instructions listed for "other mediums" below.

5. Other mediums: All non-written work should be posted on or linked to Tumblr, including tagging @PlayerAppreciationWeek in the body of the post and #csplayerweek2022 in the tags. You must also list any major trigger warnings in the tags as "tw [triggering topic]". If your work has any sort of content that you would consider above a T or PG-13 rating, please put it under a 'read more' cut.

6. If your piece does not meet all of the requirements listed above, it will not be included in the Ao3 collection or reblogged on the official Player Appreciation Week Tumblr.

Posting on the day of your prompt is preferred, but we get it's not always possible, especially if your piece fills more than one prompt. The event’s Tumblr will continue to reblog any remaining content through the week following the end of the event. There is no formal commitment required for this event. Do as many or as few as you’d like or are able to.

If you would like to join a discord server for brainstorming and encouragement, please contact one of the mods (@rueitae, @sakarrie, @constantconfusion14) either on Tumblr or Discord for an invitation.

We are so excited to see what you all create!

[tgtbata]

fics in 2021

i participated in a number of big bang projects last year and had the incredible luck to have some fic written inspired by or in exchange for my art too. i figured i could collect the links to all those fics in one handy post for easy reading. please consider leaving a comment if you enjoy a story - it means the world to any author.

SUPERNATURAL

dusk by @cowboywincest (dean/jack, sam/dean)

Dean’s not feeling guilty, but it’s a close thing.

double exposure by @flownwrong (sam/dean)

A sequence of shots with Dean in every one where he expected empty space, looking right at him where Sam expected him to turn away, only it’s not new, either—just one of the things he didn’t take the time to notice.

what lasts by @zmediaoutlet (sam&dean)

Not long after they move into the bunker, Dean loses a leg. Most of a leg. After the hospital, Sam brings him home, and they figure out how to live with what remains.

stains in the nights, whiskey and kisses by @redmyeyes (dean/john)

A lifetime of experience has taught Dean how to deal with his father’s mood swings and drunken stupors. Sometimes, John just needs to forget. Dean makes him remember what's important.

[untitled] by @zmediaoutlet (implied dean/john)

Three hundred dollars in crumpled mixed bills in Dean’s duffle.

father knows best by @sakarrie-creates (sam&dean)

Teenchesters; John sets up a training simulation for the boys in which a sedated Sam plays the injured victim and Dean has to get him to safety before 'the monster' catches them or Sam passes out from 'blood loss.' Dean is determined to prove himself a worthy leader, but it soon becomes clear that something's off. The traps they come across are extreme and dangerous, and Sam starts to experience more effects than just a mild sedative should cause. Dean faces one of his greatest fears as it's revealed this test was never about him after all.

negating, repeating by @flownwrong (sam/dean)

After all the years, they get more, and to spend them together.

pay phone by @rollthatbeautifuldeanfootage (sam/dean)

Still, he doesn’t give up hope. He dials Dean’s beeper, almost laughing at the idea that he’s dialing Dean’s beeper as he does it. He wonders if he still has it. It’s the early aughts after all and having a beeper is definitely no longer en vogue. Sam imagines Dean unclipping it from his belt and he actually does laugh at that image. It does help that he’s still a little drunk. Mostly. The cold is bracing him enough to help sober him slightly.

[untitled] by @zmediaoutlet (sam/dean)

The rings are new.

on the eighth day by @goodluckdetective (dean/castiel)

Post Season 13AU! Michael was made for War, not creation. He was never going to be able to play God. He tried anyway. In the strange new world Michael left broken, Castiel and Dean run a clinic for injured travelers who stumble upon it. Dean gardens. Castiel heals with mostly human hands. They trade in information, hoping their lost family will find their way back to them. But there are other things traversing this new world, things that pose dangers like they have never seen. A year after settling in, Castiel starts seeing things that aren’t there. Is the pressure of everything finally getting to him? Or is there something else coming their way? And if so what? And what does it want with Castiel?

and oh my heart tolls for you by @xwubzxbubzx (castiel/jack)

Castiel would do anything Jack asked.

THE TERROR

the hand of franklin by @simplyirenic (peglar/bridgens, ensemble)

It’s 2014, and Terror Football Club is about to take on Erebus Athletic in the quarterfinals of the FA Sunday League Cup: a proper derby, or so captain Francis Crozier believes. But he can he inspire his lacklustre teammates to a win? Where’s his Lucozade gone? And who’s this flash new striker Erebus have chosen to replace the retired James Clark Ross?

these are the days that must happen to you by @rubysharkruby (little/tozer)

In a camp filled with the dead and dying, Edward Little sits down to wait for the end, but instead of death finding him it is Sergeant Tozer; ragged and wild-eyed but in surprisingly good health. He killed a bear, he claims, and will share what he has. It’s not a lie, but as Edward feels his bones shudder and twist beneath his skin and begins to see impossible things, he realises it isn’t the whole story.

[sketching-fox]

My arts done for the fic “But Memories Last Forever”, in my partnership with Sakarrie (https://archiveofourown.org/users/sakarrie/works) in TeamFreeWill BigBang 2020! @tfwbigbang

It´s always a pleasure to take part in these challenges and meet new friends! And it was great work with Sakarrie and create the arts for her amazing story!

Hope you enjoy!

Link to the FIC https://archiveofourown.org/works/26611399/chapters/64884736

[sakarrie]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Carmen Sandiego (Cartoon 2019) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Player & Carmen Sandiego | Black Sheep, Ivy & Player (Carmen Sandiego), Player & Zack (Carmen Sandiego) Characters: Player (Carmen Sandiego 2019), Carmen Sandiego | Black Sheep, Ivy (Carmen Sandiego), Zack (Carmen Sandiego), player's dad Additional Tags: Angst, Protective Carmen, Protective Siblings, Player's dad works for VILE, Bad Parenting, Like no explicit abuse, but he's a black and white villain, Distressed Player, Happy in some ways but also Player's dad sucks and he doesn't not suck by the end, Also Player is being forced to grow up too fast, soooooooo, Bittersweet/Happy Ending - Freeform I guess?, Player & Carmen Sandiego | Black Sheep Friendship Summary:

It's been a long caper, and Player is ready to catch some sleep before meeting up with the others tomorrow. But after Team Red comes across a familiar face in Player's family pictures, it becomes a race to reach their friend first.