#there are 25 fanfics (i wrote one) for it on ao3 and 60 for the movie.

[hopefullystillliving]

I'm realizing that I haven't actually had a new hyperfixation since about 2020 up until now. I've been really into stuff yes, but the last hyperfixation I had was the silmarilion and that died down late 2021. I'm still interested in it, but it's not at "consumes my very soul for an indeterminate period of time".

I'm realizing this now because I have been very abruptly reminded what an actual hyperfixation feels like. And now I'm suffering.

Pro tip guys, if you're gonna get into musicals, maybe try to not have it be specifically your college's run of the off-broadway version of a box office failure.

[nounpolycule]

Not to like. Get sappy about a dumb little rarepair but like. I’m gonna take a minute to be sappy about a dumb little rarepair.

In March I responded to an ask from a friend and included the tags:

[image description: Tumblr tags that read “#bonus reason: shipping riverrose makes you extra cool and I am in desperate need of more content #[In The Arms of The Angels playing] this ship averages about 2 fanfics posted to Ao3 per year but with your contribution we can change that”. End image description.]

And like. Yeah. If you look at June 2011 through the end of 2021, there were 23 works posted in the River Song/Rose Tyler tag on Ao3, with one of those being a fanart collection that hadn’t included (or been tagged as, to my knowledge) River/Rose until a few months ago. So yeah. An average of two-ish works per year.

It’s the end of December and there’s 47 works in the tag. That’s over double. And I am personally trying to push to post a few more things to get it to 50 because that sounds neat. It’s still a rarepair by most definitions (especially given how big the fandom is - Ao3 has over 11k works tagged as Ten/Rose), but that’s still like. Hello. One of these characters hasn’t been on the show in over 7 years and the other hasn’t been on the show in nearly 13 years (over 14 if you go by episodes where she's on screen for more than 2 minutes) - her actress came back as a different character and that was still 9 years ago. Wild increase.

The “The Doctor/River Song/Rose Tyler” also went from 10 works to 25. 60% of works in that tag were posted this year. And everyone who posted in that tag was soooooo right for it.

I just. Idk I have such intense and specific brainrot about this ship and I’m still struggling to articulate exactly why and here we are. This tag has existed for over a decade and half of it is from this year and nearly a fifth is from me and just yeah.

Anyway shout out to everyone who wrote riverrose. And to everyone who commented and kudosed and read (even without any comments or kudos) riverrose this year. A great big “mwah” to you all.

So. Do I maintain the goal of 100 fics in the River Song/Rose Tyler tag before May 2023? Yes. Do I think that’s in anyway realistic? Who gives a fuck. It’s gonna be fun to try to get there, if nothing else.

Also like on a more personal note I’ve posted like maybe 5 or 6 fics before this year? Like ever? Maybe 7? And that’s including middle school and that joke fic I posted like two years ago? And I posted 22 works this year? Over 22k words? And I wrote even more than that? Go me.

Tl;dr: I’m impressed with the amount of riverrose posted in 2022 and I intend to beat that number in 2023.

[sheepinthebigcity]

ranking my fanfics from least to most shameful, according to AO3

TIE: gyro brings donald to the hospital and immediately forgets doing it and joel and mike are stuck on the SOL together (0% shameful) - oh ok tracks

crow and tom servo bring mike back from the dead (20% shameful) - good. that's a good fic. i think.

milo finds yossarian's diary (25% shameful) - it's dreadfully ooc so i think you guys should be more ashamed

TIE: lil helper sets up gyro and paperinik AND mr lunt has a guilt complex AND forreson fic i wrote for regan (33% shameful) - lil helper should be lower. mr lunt should be higher. forreson is fine where it's at.

crow dissociates in the rain (40% shameful) - self indulgent so tracks)

TIE: milo cheats on his wife with wintergreen and wishes he was cheating on his wife with yossarian and mike dyes his hair (50% shameful) - fair assessment.

webby finds shadow lena during a power outage (57% shameful) - another fair assessment, this is non canon

TIE: cathcart comes out as gay and ratchet gets involved with the gentleman thief (60% shameful) - ok i get the ratchet one but come on man the cathcart fic was GOOD

TIE: mad ducktor time travel fic AND mst3k reboot era christmas fic AND heterosexual shipping fic i wrote anonymously (75% shameful) - i understand for the anon one like i wrote that on anon but the other two i think were really good

petunia rhubarb learns what lesbians are (78% shameful) - you guys are just misogynist.

TIE: manny x glomgold crack fic and crow dealing with memory loss (100% shameful) - i get the manny x glomgold one even tho it only has one bookmark but COME ON MAN

[imnotrevealingmyname]

For fanfic writer questions: All. Of. Them. Alternatively: 15. 21 and 25

Lmao 😂😂😂😂❤️❤️❤️❤️ I'm doing all of them.

1. Phone, on Google docs. My phone is an absolute mess.

2. Fanfiction? About two years ago. Don't ask about original stuff. Oof

3. Loki fics, poems.

4. Both? Both. Both is good.

5. Terrible. Ok I'm kidding, I'd describe it as poetic, in a way? Overly poetic is good, ig. But it's also overly dramatic- something I hate seeing in people. Which makes me a hypocrite, ig. Lmao.

But in all honesty, I'm pretty flexible in my writing. Even while writing poems, I can easily shift from writing about EXTREMELY dark stuff (trust me, you don't wanna know) to something light and fluffy, which is a good thing, I guess? But it also feels a bit suffocating sometimes because I have a habit of reading my stuff from the POV of a reader, once I'm done with writing it. So I try to make it as bearable as possible. People nowadays don't always like intense stuff, and since I'm a freaky gal who started reading Shakespeare in third grade, it becomes difficult for me to give up my very intense style of writing. I probably don't make sense, but, uh. Whatever. Point is, I'm not perfect.

6. Random stuff. Seriously. My cupboard can set me off in a writing frenzy- most of the time,however, I don't even know what inspiration is. I meet her very infrequently- so infrequently that she's very forgettable :')

7. No? Sometimes? A couple of my fics were inspired by songs, I suppose. I also unpublished one, if I remember correctly.

8. The title. Oh god, that always makes me lose sleep. And also, the descriptions. Either I'm overly descriptive, or I end up writing a whole one shot in less than 300 words. Why Am I An Idiom is going to be the name of my autobiography, if I ever write one. (And yes, it's is Idiom. Long story.)

9. I don't really have any fixed place for writing. I've been known to write poems in the bathroom, so

10. Do I have a current WIP? I honestly have no idea what I'm doing with them. All I've been writing lately are one shots.

11. I don't count, but I have over 45 drafts

12. If you're talking about fics, then there's this fic I wrote, called Alien Ardour, a few months ago. I unpublished it due to several reasons, but I honestly love it. Also, I really like my one shots Scandalous and Silenced.

13. Like in total? What's 63+48+9? And it's ongoing.

14. Loki. Duh. And death. I love writing about death :')

15. OCs if it's multichapter, reader insert (NO Y/N, PLEASE, TAKE THAT AS FAR AWAY FROM ME AS POSSIBLE) if it's a one shot.

16. Repetitive question.

17. The Soul Trade. A few chapters were for aesthetics, but ok.

18. Loki. Only Loki. And uh.... Drarry. That's my fricking OTP.

19. @caffiend-queen. I love several other authors but she's always the first to come to my mind when I'm asked this question.

20. No

21. Coffee shop AU 😂 I don't even regret this

22. Idiots to lovers

23. 2 years. Fun fact: my first fic was a Drarry fic. I love it so much that it's still on Wattpad, even though I've not updated it in like a year.

24. Haven't we all?

25. Motivation? Who? What? Okay I'm kidding, I read fanfics. Seriously. Either I reread my own and edit them to sorta get back the feel of writing, or I end up reading a new fic. Smut who?

26. I was eight when I started writing, for heaven's sake. I don't remember.

27. If you're talking about fanfiction, then it's definitely @ohhhmyloki and @latent-thoughts (Tumblr won't let me tag y'all, for some reason). I used to write before I read their works but I quite literally began my journey with smut after reading their fics. And I don't think any of my fics written before that even exist anymore. But if we're talking about writing in general, then it's O Henry and Bernard Shaw. Maybe Gerald Durrell. Did I mention that I love Gerald Durrell?

28. Loki.

29. Idiotic. Messy. Freaky.

30. Um, I don't really wanna say this, but it's Just A Kiss Goodnight. It may be my most 'famous' fic, but it's definitely not the best. For one thing, I wrote it in less than a week, and I haven't edited it. And there's no fucking smut. I'm not saying that smut is necessary to make a fic good, but it doesn't have any intimacy in it. It's definitely not boring, I'll give it that, but it's childish.

31. Wtf is the difference

32. What kinda question is this

33. One shot? Depends. I can be freaky fast and write one in less than fifteen minutes, or I can take literal weeks to finish one.

34. Dude, what's the normal font in android? I have no idea. But one of my favourites is monotype corsiva, when I'm on my laptop.

35. Both.

36. I don't

37. All of my works, oof 😂 well, no. But there's this fic I've written, called Let's Get Drunk Together. And another. It's called Three Isn't A Crowd, After All. Cringy af

38. Smut. Dark poetry.

39. WHY ARE SO MANY QUESTIONS REPEATED? It's idiots to lovers, ffs

40. On Tumblr? Average is 60, I think.

41. Yes

42. Writing.

43. All the time

44. Yes

45. I can be as thirsty and smutty as I want without being judged, bless fanfiction.

46. The "WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO TO MY HEART WHAT ARE YOU DOING AHHHHHHHHHHHH AND WHY AM I SO AROUSED AT THIS TIME OF ALL TIMES AND WHY IS THIS ANGSTY GIVE ME FLUFF" feeling. Not to brag, but I'm very good at that.

47. I can do anything and everything I want. I can make a unicorn fuck a werewolf and nobody will judge me. Or maybe they will.

48. Yes- Wattpad and Ao3.

49. Google docs, word.

50. Fucking Y/N. Like, not literally fucking Y/N, but uh- I mean, I'd totally fuck my clone? But Y/N isn't me, I hate Y/N. And I hate people who just comment on your fic to promote their own fics. We write for your happiness, please at least do the courtesy of appreciating that and not disrespecting our efforts. Most of us spend nights lying awake to give you stuff to read. And also, people who just comment to say,"Update," two minutes after you've just updated. That's RUDE.

51. High school AU

52. Cock, pussy, salacious, sepulchral, pulchritudinous....... I don't have a one track mind I swear

53. Giggled. FUCKING GIGGLED. I don't understand WHY people have this tendency of writing,"she giggled," and,"he chuckled." I don't know why but GIGGLED sounds like something not EVEN a simpering schoolgirl would do. I don't giggle. Not once have I seen peeps who write GIGGLE associate GIGGLE with men, which is something that I find very disturbing and sexist. Call me biased, go on. But I might not even have been here now because I'm from THAT orthodox and sexist a family, and if they'd been any more sexist, I'd have been killed after birth, so don't even dare to come near me with a ten foot pole if you're sexist.

54. Well, yes, I think. I certainly don't hate it, or I wouldn't write.

Dang, I spent over half an hour writing that. Hope that made even an iota of sense.

[rennarenofao3]

About the Author Tag Game

Rules of the Game: Answer these questions and tag 10 blogs you’d like to know better.

I was tagged by @nospringonions (Thanks for including me ^^.)

1. Nickname: I don’t really have one, but some members of my family occasionally call me Linds. (which is a shortened version of my name)

2. Zodiac: Libra

3. Height: Around 5′ 2″ (I’m not certain exactly how tall I am actually.)

4. Time: It’s 2:28pm now.

5. Favorite Band/ Artist: This is a tough one, I tend to more just have favorite songs from a lot of different artists. I like older music (60s to 80s music), One Republic is good too, I also like Avalon or Point of Grace for Christian music.

6. Song Stuck in My Head: I don’t have one right at the moment, but Eye of the Needle and Fire Meets Gasoline by Sia have both been stuck in my head a lot lately. (Thanks Sannan/ my Hakuoki fic which I’m not actively writing yet)

7. Last Movie I Saw: A Bug’s Life (my sister had us watch it while we were dying eggs a couple days ago)

8. Last Thing I Googled: Bath bombs and septic systems (someone gave me a bath bomb for Easter and I was trying to find out if it would be bad to use it.)

9. Other Blogs: No

10. Do I Get Asks?: I’ve only ever had one person send me any asks but I’d love to get more of them.

11. Why This Username?: Rennaren is the nickname of the first OC I ever came up with and wrote anything about, which Is why I picked it for my AO3 account, but when I got on Twitter/Tumblr the username was already taken so I added of AO3 to it.

12. Following: Mostly Psycho-Pass, D Gray-man, and Hakuoki blogs, plus a few random others.

13. Average Amount of Sleep: 7 hours is pretty much the minimum to function. But I usually manage 8 or more.

14. Lucky Number: 36

15. What am I Wearing: Blue t-shirt that says THE VILLE, Indiana and jeans

16. Dream Job: Author and Crafter,... so with my Etsy shop and my fanfic writing I’ve pretty much got the small scale version of that already. I just have to figure out how to get bigger. :)

17. Dream Trip: Japan, Europe, or anywhere in North America beyond the like five states I’ve been to.

18. Favorite Food: Pasta

19. Instruments I Play: None

20. Eye Color: Brown

21. Hair Color: Brown

22. Aesthetic: I guess I’d say my own unique style really. I’m not sure how to define it, apart from something that would reflect all my different interests.

23. Languages I Speak: I’m only fluent in English. But I know some words from Spanish, French, ASL, and Japanese and can recognize them in conversation, even though I’m lacking a grasp of the grammar that should go along with the language.

24. Most Iconic Song(s): Um I guess I should say Road Less Traveled by Lauren Alaina for this since I’ve kind of claimed it as my song, lol. xD 

25. Random Fact: (is there such a thing as too random?) I can touch the tip of my nose with my tongue. 

Tagging 10 (?) People: 

No obligation, and please pardon me if you’ve already been tagged before. ^^

@shinsengumiscenarios @whatsyourcolor @tiffthenerd01 @psychosibyl ...Um I know that’s less than 10 but I’m not sure who else to tag so... ^^:

[perlukafarinn]

2, 15 and 25 for the ask game

(fanfic asks)

2. least favorite fic you wrote this yearThis one is difficult to answer because I purged my ao3 this summer and took down about 60 fics, some of which I had posted earlier this year. I also got a new laptop recently so the save dates on all my documents are from this year, making it impossible for me to tell which fics I actually wrote this year and which I wrote earlier. 

So, just going with what’s currently posted on my ao3, I’m gonna go with Gimme Shelter since it’s a lot messier and less detailed than I’d have liked.

15. something you learned this yearThat I’m actually a lot more emotionally involved in the Supernatural fandom than I thought. When I figured earlier this year I was done with it forever, that feeling turned out to be very temporary.

25. a fic you read this year you would recommend everyone read(don’t) fear the reaper by justkeeponwriting! This fic has both excellent world building and characterization (I adore the way they write Dean’s depression in particular) and it has criminally few kudos. 

[iwroteinapastlife]

AO3 Stats Tag!

AO3 Fanfic Stats

I was tagged by @powerdragonmoon Thank you!!! I love tags

I started writing fanfiction in the summer of 2016 as a way to get back into writing after a nearly three year dry spell (and it worked!). On AO3, I currently have 61 works and 228,875 words!

What are your five most popular works? (starting with the most kudos)

Tearing through the Pages and the Ink (680 kudos)

Wasted Time (407 kudos)

Honey, I’m Home (299 kudos)

Going Public (227 kudos)

Where It Wasn’t Supposed To Be (173 kudos)

What are your five least popular works? (starting with the least kudos)

The One They Call Champion (5 kudos)

Coming Out (6 kudos)

Neighbors (6 kudos)

The Catacombs (9 kudos)

Not Like This (20 kudos)

Are you surprised? Why?

Honestly I wish I was more surprised by the Top 5 than I am. I’m glad TttPatI, HIH, and WIWSTB are on there since those are my three biggest long-running projects. But Wasted Time and Going Public are both love square drabbles that I wrote literally when I first started writing fanfiction -_- Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think they’re bad, but I think I have a lot better, and I really didn’t pour my heart and soul into those two as I did with so many others. They just get more attention automatically because they’re love square. Tldr; no I’m not surprised by my Top 5, but I am sad.

For the Bottom 5, I’m also not super surprised. It makes sense that TOTCC is the lowest since it’s only one chapter, isn’t tagged with any ships, and I literally forgot it existed until this very moment. I’m probably never going to keep writing it. The others are all rare pairs and/or not very long and/or uneventful, so it makes sense, especially Neighbors and The Catacombs, since those both involve Lila as a main character and people tend to hate her (justifiably, don’t get me wrong). I will say though that it makes me sad that Not Like This is all the way down here; it’s angsty as fuck, but I actually really like that one, more than I like a lot of my others. Tldr; not surprised about Bottom 5 in the slightest, and only a little bit sad.

Optional: If you want to calculate this, what are your works’ average number of notes?

Uhhh. Okay so scrolling through my tumblr, I’d guess that the average amount of notes is somewhere between 30 and 60? It’s kinda hard to tell because they’re so polarized; a lot of posts have like 7, 15, 20 notes and others have like 117 or more???

On AO3…

Average Number of Comment Threads: 12ish

Average Number of Kudos: 85ish

Today’s date, so you can see how your results might change if you do this again in a year: 12/25/18

Tag six people to do this next!

@kamen-rider-zed @emmaleewhittaker @findmeinthevoid @munofsilver @leoqueen082 and anyone who feels like it!

[burningdarkfire]

Hiya!! For the writer ask meme: 9, 10, 13, 19, and 20, 22, and 25. :D

hello friend, you have made me rich in questions to answer 🥰 thank you!!

ask game for fanfic writers!

9. in an ideal world where you’re already super successful and published, would you want to see a tv or movie adaptation of your work? why or why not?

is it obvious to say i’d love to see a good adaption? my grasp on visual media has always been pretty weak so i would love to see people who are practiced at tv or movies work with my stories and transform them!

10. at what point in the process do you come up with titles, and how easy or hard is that for you?

i come up with titles five minutes before i post on ao3. i don’t really care about them, even though i probably should? it’s usually just a quick scroll through my quotations tag on tumblr or i look up the lyrics to one of three songs i can think of at any given moment and try to find something with matching vibes

13. talk about a writing experience that has pleasantly surprised you.

my nier automata fic will always hold a soft spot in my heart - they were the first fics i wrote after all but vanishing from fandom for five years and it felt so good to write again. and despite being a small fandom and releasing the fics a year after the game came out, i got so many lovely comments and asks 💕

19. what are some books or authors that influenced your style the most?

hemingway is an old touchstone from high school and i am still always thinking about omission when i write. the raven tower by ann leckie is a more recent book that i loved and wish i’d written!

20. what is your favorite trope to write?

does “this is five scenes dressed in a trenchcoat pretending to be a story” count as a trope, because that sure is my favourite way to write 😂 i find it satisfying and easy to fill out a fic around a frame like that - it’s definitely part of why i struggle to write anything longer and properly plotted!

22. describe your writing process from scratch to finish.

get an idea, brain dump as much of it as i can (often to someone else but it does always end up) into the ideas bin, and then i pick it up again when i want to commit. i tend to write beginning to end, and i’m a big believer in putting words on page even if they’re not good. i edit. then i fight my inner demons and hopefully post it on ao3 in the following couple of weeks

25. what’s your revision or rewriting process like?

i edit as i go because my first efforts on page are usually just word vomit. i write - edit what i wrote a few days ago - write - rinse and repeat. inevitably somewhere 60-80% of the way through a fic i start wondering wtf i’m doing, so at this point i stop and think and usually write a lot of notes, and when i’m satisfied with my thinking i write the rest of the fic

after a complete draft, i try to leave it untouched for a few days. then i come back with my notes and fully edit - cutting away unnecessary wordiness and adding all the clarifying or unifying details that bring a piece together. i think of this part as weaving/braiding together the through lines of the story, and it is one of my favourite parts of writing :) then i let it sit for a few more days, do one last read for typos, etc. and call it done!

[acatbyanyothername9]

Thank you for the tag @tessiete! 

Here’s my 2021 Fic Review

total number of completed works: According to Ao3 I completed 60 fics (but that’s cheating since most of them are 100 words drabbles)

total word count: 42478 which is amazing!

looking back did you write more, less, or the expected amount of fic this year?: I definitely wrote more than expected because 2021 was a very busy year for me. I even managed to do the full promptober run again this year which I didn’t think I would be able to do! I also managed to write 25 Hannigram drabbles in addition to the star wars ones!

your own favorite story of this year? That’s a hard question. There’s a couple of Hannigram drabbles I wrote I absolutely love. But my favourite may be Waltz for the Dead for the simple reason that I hadn’t planned on writing this fic at all at first. Plus it’s a gen fic, which I don’t usually write and the artist I wrote for gave me the loveliest feedback.

did you take any writing risks this year?: I did ! I actually dipped my toes into Hannigram and stepped out of my comfort zone that was QuiObi. It was a daunting step because I feel headfirst into this amazingly talented fandom with crazy good, long fics, and I wrote for these two characters for the first time in short 100 words stories, which is not an easy feat!

do you have any fanfic goals for the new year?: None! I will see where the year takes me. Actually I do have one goal to finish the second part of a soulmate AU whose first part I posted and completed in 2021. It’s a long project and it had to take a backseat for other projects with a set deadline.

story most under-appreciated? Strangely enough The Dark Night of the Soul. Well I know why. The soulmates Au are not very popular in this corner of the fandom. I can count on my fingers the number of soulmates AU. I didn’t help my case by keeping Qui Gon and Obi Wan apart for most of the story either. The heavy lifting when it comes to their relationship happens in the second part of the series, which is another reason why it’s taking so much time. 😂

most popular story of the year? The first fic in my soulmate Au Series: The Dark Night of the Soul which isn’t surprising since it’s my only multi chaptered fic of 2021. The second most popular seems to be There’s Poison in the Air a fic I wrote for a dear friend which is very close to my heart.

most fun story to write? Any of my drabbles. I love this format of storytelling. It’s a bit like poetry, a sort of crystallised writing. Anyways, it’s very fun.

most unintentionally telling story: I have no idea, at all.

biggest disappointment: None. I’m quite happy with how my year turned out writing wise

biggest surprise: a silly Hannigram drabble that I wasn’t very fond of but that people seem to love? It’s a simple story about them just falling asleep against each other on a winter night.

my favorite part of fandom this year: the QuiObi discord as always and all the friends I’ve made there. The people I’ve met are some of the most amazing people I’ve had the pleasure of ever knowing and they made this year brighter! Thank you all.

tagging @antheiasilva, @the-slow-arrow, @ladydisdayne, @chibiobiwan​ and @kyber-erso​

2021 Fic Review

tagged by the lovelies @kckenobi @adaliak @treescape and @the-last-kenobi

total number of completed works: I think 12? AO3 says 13, but one of those was One Human Thought which was mostly 2020, so I'm not counting it.

total word count: 330, 793! That's three times what I wrote in 2020, and honestly probably three times what I'll write in 2022. But I'm...I'm kinda thrilled with that number!

looking back did you write more, less, or the expected amount of fic this year?: WAY more. I came into this year not really planning or hoping for anything, and then I wrote a whole novel!

your own favorite story of this year?: Oh, um...I think I really like silent (and so near), and weirdly I love the tiny time-travel au fill I wrote for whumptober called Desperate Times

did you take any writing risks this year?: I wrote a WHOLE NOVEL! Not in a month, but you know, ten months ain't bad! I'm honestly amazed as I had thought that something completely beyond my skill. But I did it!

do you have any fanfic goals for the new year?: My WWI fic! And I'd love to do a lot more challenges and fills - things that generally require less of my extended focus just because keeping to a schedule was A LOT.

most popular story of the year? Only Hope - not surprising considering it was SO LONG! XD

story most under-appreciated? Ironically, I'm gonna say Only Hope. This, on the surface, may sound silly, but you know sort of in line with what @kckenobi said in her Year in Review, Obitine is an under-repped, and under-read pairing. I knew that going into this, because that's part of why I wrote it. The hate that Satine gets in fandom is, IMO, mostly thinly veiled or internalised misogyny and I wrote this partly to explore her character in a way I felt was more compassionate, and nuanced that the rap she usually gets.

BUT

That said, if you write for a small ship, you'll have a smaller audience.

Not only that, but at 200k this fic is significantly longer than most people like to commit to (totally fair), and it relied a lot on OCs or minor canon characters (who could forget Davu Golec??), and often did not follow popular fanon depictions of Mandalorians or Jedi. Also only one chapter of sex. So, I knew what I was signing myself up for but at the same time...Ithinkit'sactuallyaprettygreatstorythatmorepeoplewouldloveiftheygaveitachance *breath* eventhoughIdon'texpectanyonetoreadoutsidetheirinterestorfeelthattheyhavetoenjoysomethingthatisn'tforthembutstillIjustwannabeloved.

And all that said, there has been an absolute LEGION of readers who I adore, and appreciate, and who followed Only Hope the whole way along. I would never intend to besmirch them or their investment. I only say this fic in particular is underappreciated because in comparison to other Obi-Wan pairings, going solely by the metrics of kudos/bookmarks (WHICH I DON'T THINK ACTUALLY INDICATIVE OF QUALITY OR ENGAGEMENT) then technically it is relatively small, you know what I mean?

most fun story to write?: Um, I really loved writing Only Hope. I loved reading peoples' reactions, and theories, and watching them scream in the comments.

Everyone who engaged with it has been incredibly kind, and lovely, and I've never seen a comment section more full of thought, and kindness, and insight in my life. Honestly magical.

most unintentionally telling story: LOL um, I don't know? Again, probably Only Hope. Lots of exploration of my POV on attachment, on pacifism, on relationships. OH!

Oh, yeah lol, I made Obi-Wan demisexual in that and if that isn't projection, I don't know what is.

biggest disappointment: I mean, I'm disappointed I didn't write the next great work of the SW fandom, but I'm not disappointed in any of my work per se. I think I did a pretty good job!

biggest surprise: I cannot believe I got into a zine! I participated in the @hope-astarwarszine and published my fic Fair Jealousy, in Simple Dress which achieves my eternal goal of making Obi-Wan into a poet, and Padme knowing that. It's a very ponderous piece, in retrospect, but I still quite like it! And being in print was so much fun, for a Canadian zine, and a Canadian charity! <3

my favorite part of fandom this year: The Fandom. Absolutely. 100%. I've enjoyed how writing gives people the opportunity/excuse to reach out, and I've so loved being able to talk with people, and try a whole bunch of new things/ships/POVs that I hadn't before. I'm thankful for my discord servers, and my DMs, and my mutuals, and the people I tumblr stalk and admire from afar. I love this fandom!

tagging some other lovely individuals, sorry if you’ve been tagged already! @the-obiwan-for-me @darkisrising @lieutenantmittens @acatbyanothername93

[novocaine-sea]

About Me As a Writer

Tagged by @foxyena Thank you so much!!

1. How did you come up with your username and what does it mean? My tumblr username obviously comes from Aizawa from BNHA. He’s one of my favorite characters and he’s voiced by one of my favorite seiyuu’s, Junichi Suwabe. My old username novocaine-sea (which is novocaine_sea on AO3) came from a song by the band Senses Fail! The lyrics go “I wanna drown in a sea filled with novocaine” I had that username from my bandom days and couldn’t part with it

2. Which fanfic of yours has the most feedback? (bookmarks/subscriptions/hits/kudos).

Fruitless has the most of all of these things, over 200 bookmarks, 726 kudos, almost 9000 hits and 100 subs! But as for active fics Side Effects is the second best with 90 subs!

3. What is your AO3 profile icon, and why did you choose it?

My AO3 icon is a sleeping Bakugou cap from the anime bc he looks like such an angel I love him so much

4. Do you have any regular/favourite commenters?

Yes!! My fav commenters are @vairenna, @emotabek and @mirikiri93 but i also love every single person who comments on my stories anyway because they’re all so lovely and supportive and I cherish every single one of them

5. Is there a fanfic that you keep going back to read again and again?

Right now I’ve been going back and reading Feathers Are the Least of These by mousapelli (I’m unsure if they have a tumblr account). It’s a Tokoyami x Deku fic and it’s really wonderful I love it a lot.

6. How many stories are you subscribed to? How many do you have bookmarked?

I have 830 bookmarks (it’s a mess I had more but went through and deleted a bunch one day, I need to do it again) and I don’t know how to see the exact number of works I’m subscribed to but there are 5 pages worth, though half of them are most likely completed

7. Which AU do you find yourself writing the most?

Well I tend to keep coming back to serial killer AUs, are AUs that are particularly blody. I think I have at least one planned for each fandom I’m in, and have already accomplished that with Haikyuu. Though I do wanna write more. 

8. How many people are subscribed and bookmarked to you in total? (you can view this on the stats page)

I have 145 user subscriptions and 1655 bookmarked

9. Is there something you’d like to write about but are afraid of people judging you for it? (Feeling brave? If so, share it!)

I have a, uh, cannibal fic planned? Which I feel like a lot of people wouldn’t be cool with so I’m gonna keep it to myself for now lmao

10. Is there anything you would like to be better at? Writing certain scenes or genres, replying to comments, updating better, etc.

Fluff mostly. I’m not very good at it and i feel like compared to my angst and smut even it comes out really lackluster

11. Do you write rarepairs or popular ships more often?

I really love rarepairs, my favorite pairs are SemiSuga and MatsuAka, but lately I’ve found myself writing IwaOi which is strange bc they’re not even one of my main ships. But I love both rarepairs and popular ships equally!

12. How many stories have you posted on AO3 to this day (finished and unfinished)?

Okay so my AO3 says 56 but I’ve deleted at least 5 or 6 from it so it’s more in the 60s.

13. How many stories do you have saved in/with your writing program?

Oh god I don’t even want to count but I have at least 5 WIPs for Haikyuu, BNHA, and YOI respectively

14. Do you write down story ideas, or just keep them in your head?

I do the bad thing of keeping some of them in my head but I really try to write down a lot of them.

15. Have you ever co-authored a story?

I have not! But I was planning to cowrite something with my friend Erin! I think it would be fun to cowrite with somebody :)

16. How did you discover AO3?

My best friend Faith made me read this one Teen Wolf fic called “DILF” and I’ve been on AO3 ever since!

17. Do you consider yourself to be a popular or famous author in your fandom(s) on AO3?

Oh no not at all

18. Do you have a nickname or fandom name for your readers?

Do fandom authors do that?

19. Was there an author who inspired or encouraged you to write?

A lot but I would credit @thewiselearnfromhistory as my biggest inspiration. Idk where she disappeared off to but she’s a wonderful friend and an amazing writing (she’s ConesofDunshire on AO3)

20. What writing advice would you give to a beginning author?

Write what you want to see. Don’t try and copy other writer’s style; develop your own while reading their works. It’s okay to be inspired by other people’s writing. 

21. Do you plot out your stories, or do you just figure it out as you go?

I’ve done both! I had a really intense outlie for Fruitless but it ended in a way that was not plan. Half of what happened in the fic was not planned until I actually wrote the completed chater. I really thik it’s fun to let the fic take you where it wants to go. Currently I’ve planned out all the chapters of Side Effects but they’ll probably end up being scrapped, at least half of it.

22. Have you ever gotten a bad comment on a story? If so, what did you do?

Yes! I have been told that my grammar is awful and the story would have been more readable and enjoyable if I had a “better grasp on my grammar.” I’ve been told that the way I write certain characters is extremely OOC. I’ve been told that characters would never do that because they’re monsters and not kind souls. But the amount of positive comments I’ve gotten outweighs the bad ones tenfold

23. Is there a certain type of scene that you have a hard time writing? (action, smut, etc..)

I’m really bad with action scenes but I’ve been writing BNHA which is an action packed series so I’ve been trying to use that as my “training” I guess

24. What story(s) are you working on now?

My biggest priority right now is Side Effects as that is my main work on AO3 right now. But I will return to Untucking and the TodoMomo fic eventually. I am also working on some Kacchako secret Santa stuff!

25. Do you plan your next project(s) before you finish your current ongoing story(s)?

Lmao yes it’s an ISSUE

26. Do you have a daily writing goal set for yourself?

No but my only goal right now is to finish Side Effects chapter 23 because it’s been giving me issues so that’s my goal every day right now

27. Do you think you’ve improved as a writer since you first started?

Oh my fucking god yes. I read the UshiOi smut that I have posted on AO3 and I cringe SO HARD. My friend told me that,that was their favorite fic of mine (or one of them at least) and I was like why... please....

28. What is your favorite story that you’ve written?

I would say Fruitless, but I also really love Golden. IT evoked a lot of emotion from me and I really love that piece of writing. But also Side Effects. And Wisteria. I can’t pick a favorite

29. What is your least favorite story that you’ve written?

Ahhhh the UshiOi story aforementioned. And anything I’ve deleted from AO3

30. Where do you see yourself (as a writer) in 5 years?

I hope to still be writing for fandom because I do enjoy it, but I also hope to be writing my own original work and maybe have a short story or two published? I think it would be nice to get into a fandom zine too!

31. What is the easiest thing about writing?

I think putting intense emotions into the characters and everything around them is my strong suit. I love breaking characters down and getting to the root of their problems

32. What is the hardest thing about writing?

Keeping things happy! I always return right back to the angst and I need to fucking relax with it it’s bad

33. Why do you write?

I write for myself, to get my ideas out there, and hopefully write something that other people love and enjoy fully. I write to make friends and to meet people who will inspire me and who I can inspire too. I love the way writing and art in general in fandom connects people. It’s really special :)

Tagging: @hamletsprozac @tenacioustooru @caelestisxyz @tootsonnewts @meimagino @seekingsquake and anybody else who wants to do it! don’t feel pressured

[miraimisu]

Ask a Writer!

Tagged by the lovely @i-masshiro​, thanks babe! Love you tons, such a sweetheart D’: 

1. How did you come up with your username and what does it mean?

It doesn’t mean anything in particular! An old best friend of mine helped me pick it up when I was struggling with new decent nicknames. This is the one I use for all my accounts now.

2. Which fanfic of yours has the most feedback? (bookmarks/favorites, follows/subscriptions, visitor hits, kudos)

These Stones We Skip, definitely. It’s got like 90 comments (half of them me responding to those, so it’s narrowed down to 45 haha) +2k hits, 100 kudos more or less, and a bunch of bookmarks! I’m super happy with how the fic is being read and that people like it this much! Also if anyone waiting for an update is reading pls forgive me I’ve been busy I promise I will update pls don’t sue ;;.

3. What is your FFnNet/AO3 profile icon, and why did you choose it?

Actually, I think all my icons are Uraraka icons, excepting the one I got for FF.net which is actually Asuna from SAO. Last time I updated the page I was heavily into SAO so... pretty self-explanatory. My love for Uraraka needs no explanations either.

4. Do you have any regular/favourite commenters?

I do! And most of them are an incredibly fun bunch of them. Long, usual commenters are my shit, not gonna lie. Although I have lost some of them as my updates have become slower, but I hope they come to read someday.

5. Is there a fanfic that you keep going back to read again and again?

Not really, unless it’s for some kind of reference. There was this line I hit where my style got smoother and a bit more polished, but from there below it’s kind of rubbish and I can’t read anything. All good things I write I can’t usually read because of self-awareness.

6. How many stories are you subscribed to? How many do you have bookmarked?

None and none lmao, I always drop kudos but I don’t think I have ever bookmarked anything, nor subscribed to because I don’t really have much time to check out stuff-- and when I do, I totally binge read it.

7. Which AU do you find yourself writing the most?

Fantasy AU because it’s consumed my life now.

8. How many people are subscribed and bookmarked to you in total? (you can view this on the stats page)

I got 10 subscriptions on AO3 and 60 bookmarks!

9. Is there something you’d like to write about but are afraid of people judging you for it? (Feeling brave? If so, share it!)

I would like to someday find the strength to write something venty someday, as I recently found out I somehow write much better and feel more satisfied when I vent my anger on writing. Something that doesn’t happen really often, but it happens and it’s great therapy!

10. Is there anything you would like to be better at? Writing certain scenes or genres, replying to comments, updating better, etc.

Tons of things, most particular. I would like to become less paranoid over people not seeing my scenarios, thus making my style less complex to the untrained eye. Also, fighting scenes make me cringe because I suck so hard at making them depsite having clear pictures in my head /cries. 

11. Do you write rarepairs or popular ships more often?

I am now very focused on Kacchako and iirc ir used to be a rarepair? but I think it will break out of that zone soon.

12. How many stories have you posted on FFNet/AO3 to this day (finished and unfinished)?

3 on AO3, and 31 on FF.net. 

13. How many stories do you have saved in/with your writing program?

Tons of them that sounded great in my head. It’s that small snapping process of realizing a powerful story is too weak to be posten, and kinda let it rest.

14. Do you write down story ideas, or just keep them in your head?

I keep them in my head and plan to write them. Only the fantasy AU for kacchako has made it out of my head, lol.

15. Have you ever co-authored a story?

Yes, and it was a wonderful experience.

16. How did you discover FFNet/AO3?

Weirdly enough, from DeviantArt! I would usually go there searching for art pieces and found some deep small fics, whose authors would usually have a FF.net account. I only knew of AO3 last year, but I think I read one a bit before that. Not exactly sure when.

17. Do you consider yourself to be a popular or famous author in your fandom(s) on FFNet/AO3?

Not at all, there is too many talented people in this damn kaccha house  (⁎˃ᆺ˂) they are all so good jdskak

18. Do you have a nickname or fandom name for your readers?

People usually call me Mira, but use others for Discord. 

19. Was there an author who inspired or encouraged you to write?

Lots of them! Every author that lies in my recs gallery has inspired me in one way or another. Though that place is kinda outdated so I may have to add some more, but all my friends have inspired me overall. They are all wonderful writers and artists and it’s amazing to be so surrounded.

20. What writing advice would you give to a beginning author?

Don’t feel pushed to write queality straightaway, and always read other stuff to build new vocab and structures. Everytime you read, you will most likely learn something new as every author’s view gives you a new perspective on things. I have found it to be a great practice!

21. Do you plot out your stories, or do you just figure it out as you go?

Plot, always. Everytime I am listening to music and come up with a new snippit, I jot it down anywhere I can. Google’s Keep is a pretty nifty tool for this!

22. Have you ever gotten a bad comment on a story? If so, what did you do?

Well, I only got maybe two! One of them was pretty lukewarm and more of an advice that I followed, and it was a good one despite the harshness of it. On the other hand, I got one comment that told me they were giving up on my story because it was too thick style and lore wise, but I didn’t mind at all tbh-- I already knew I was facing these kinds of risks when I started writing long things like these.

23. Is there a certain type of scene that you have a hard time writing? (action, smut, etc..)

Fighting scenes in general kind of take a lot of time for me to work with, and same with some simply dialogue bits that I am like: and what now!? D:

24. What story(s) are you working on now?

My fantasy AU! pls if sb is reading Im sorry I will update soon don’t press charges thank

25. Do you plan your next project(s) before you finish your current ongoing story(s)?

I usually jot the deets down and push it aside until I am done with my main thing. It’s probably my best habit when it comes to planning, lol.

26. Do you have a daily writing goal set for yourself?

Not really. I usually try to plan when I wanna update, divide my chap’s aproximate word count and split it in days!

27. Do you think you’ve improved as a writer since you first started?

Oof, definitely. Mostly because my English has improved along with my writing and that helps. A lot.

28. What is your favorite story(s) that you’ve written?

I did write one in Spanish that got lots of good feedback and invested readers, and I had a blast writing its lore and characters.

29. What is your least favorite story(s) that you’ve written?

I wrote a pretty dark fic once and it’s a fic I know I wrote well? but I am kinda ashamed of looking back at it.

30. Where do you see yourself (as a writer) in 5 years?

Maybe working on something that is a little bit more professional, or just enjoying myself. Got no clue tbh.

31. What is the easiest thing about writing?

I think I can be pretty ominous in some parts and be very subtle with foreshadowing. The art of subtlety is something I worship everyday.

32. What is the hardest thing about writing?

Trying to live up to those little scenes I had in my head, and writing them as good as possible. And description in general, sometimes. And word count consistency is something that worries me sometimes. Oh, and the endless fear of poking a plothole bigger than a damn blackhole.

33. Why do you write?

To make people entertained and happy if they want something to read!

I nominate the great artists and gals @animeniac​, @kacchanswife​, @hondaroo​, @kacchas​ and @liltoothbrush​! If you don’t reply I’ll press charges so hahaha! 

[ktrosesworld]

50 Questions for Fic Readers

I just felt like answering some questions (source post @braveten)

1. What fandom(s) do you read?

Doctor Who and TenInch Fic

2. If you could request more of a certain type of fic, which would it be?

I would love for more people to take up the challenge of writing TenInch Fic ... so many DT characters that need some loving

3. What is your favorite all-time fic?

It’s not possible to pick just one!?!?!?!? It would be a toss up between stories written by @whoinwhoville @kelkat9 @jellyneau-xo @studio-forty-two @natural--blues @licieoic @pipertennant ... okay i’m stopping there because this list will get really long

4. Do you ever re-read fics? How about triple-read?

I quadruple read, quintuplet read, sextuplet read, septuplet read ... some I read every six months or so because I need to live in those worlds

5. Do you prefer angst or fluff?

Yes

6. Do you prefer long fics or short fics?

Yes

7. Name some incomplete fics that you wish were completed.

Blimey ... umm ... okay ... here’s a short list

Bad Wolf by @licieoic Shades of Blue Series by @bluedawn0123 [Edit: oops I had the wrong author] Out of the Ashes by @mercwithamouth Meetings Series by @wildwinterwitch Every story ever abandoned by throughanamberfocus especially The Zeppelin Verse

8. Talk about the ships that you read.

Doctor x Rose is the beginning, the middle and the end but really I’m all about the story ... if it’s good and captures my imagination I’ll read all sorts of little and giant ships

9. Do you read smut?

Of course!!! And you do too ;p

10. What’s the most hard-core smut or kinky fic you’ve ever read (be honest)!

I’ve read some really weird stuff in the wee hours of the morning ... but as for the ones I really enjoyed

Claimed by @licieoic Metacrisis: Jack by @fogsblue  Four Dimensional by Annissa

11. Do you read AUs?

I LOVE AUs!!!!!!

12. List a few of your favorite AUs.

Gallifrey Records by @allrightfine and @gallifreyburning  Perfect Match by @lastbluetardis  TARDIS Bookstore by @ofstormsandwolves A Ghost Story by @kelkat9 Evolution of a Scandal by @rishidiams Elsewhere by @fadewithfury Heartsmith by @licieoic Arkytior: A Snow White Tale by @natural--blues 

13. What type of AUs are your favorites? Give a general description.

See the list above :D

14. What makes you give up on reading a fic?

Mainly if I don’t like the way the characters are written or if the story is not put together well ... having said that I’ve persevered with some really crappy writing for a story idea that captured by imagination

15. What makes you pick up a fic, what makes it sound interesting?

It’s different every day because my reading tastes change with my moods

16. Name a fic that made you cry (or that made you come close).

The Time Loop series by @weezly14 ... every single damn time my poor heart hurts just thinking about it

17. Name a fic that made you laugh a lot.

Psychedelic Pollen and Dalek Squirrels by @kelkat9 ... tell me you’re not laughing already just at that title :D

18. Do you have a fic recommendation page or master list?

Do @timepetalsprompts and @teninchfic count as rec pages???

19. How many fics do you think you’ve read before?

Easily tens upon tens of thousands probably even into the hundreds of thousands now

20. What’s the weirdest fic you’ve ever read? Describe it.

I read one where the Doctor’s penis had it’s own personality and I think it was detachable and possibly changed personality when the Doctor regenerated ... it was one of those that you kept thinking the author was on some fairly serious drugs when they wrote it but you just can't stop reading it

21. Do you read crack!fic?

I think we should just take it for granted that I read all types of fic

22. Name a few of your favorite crack!fics.

Once again favourite ... okay the first one I thought of was ...

Lordstorm and his LiveJournal Adventures by @kelkat9 

23. Has fluff ever made you cry? What about angst?

Oh I’ve definitely cried at both

24. What’s the longest fic you’ve ever read?

The Life and Times of Daniel Ulysses Barrow by ceeare ... it was over 500k but unfortunately the author took it down to “break it up in to readable pieces” and has never finished publishing it again ... it was one of those ones that will rip your heart out

25. What’s your opinion on reading dubious consent or no consent?

Once again it all depends on the story ... there are some where its sex pollen induced which I’m completely okay with ... but then there are some stories that describe rape as if it’s just a normal sex scene which I am very much against ... I’ll stop reading those stories immediately and never look back

26. Name a type of fic you’ll never ever read.

I try not to say never ever because there are ships that I thought I’d never read but then got desperate for new stories and discovered some amazing authors who made me fall in love with ships I had in the notp bucket ... I’m looking at you @basmathgirl in particular

27. Name a type of fic that you wish there was more of.

teninch fic and doctor piper fic ... I just love authors challenging themselves to write new characters

28. Who are your favorite fanfiction author(s)?

This gets me into trouble ... okay authors I’ve not mentioned yet that I love to read ... @caedmonfaith @thedistortedmirror @emkaywho @faithosaurus-fics @justbygrace @lixabiz @lostinfic @nannyogg123 @nopondintheforest @perfectlyrose @doctor-who-hears-a-horton @rudennotgingr @tenscupcake @veritascara @whatwecanfic ... there are soooooooo many more but this is quick list from my following page

29. When you find an author you like, do you follow them?

Absolutely!!!!! If I fall in love with one of their stories I want to read everything they’ve written

30. How often do you read fanfiction?

EVERY DAY ... for many many hours ... before I go to sleep ... when I wake up ... whenever I can

31. Do people know that you read fanfiction?

Well everyone on here knows ... in RL ... well I’ve made vague mentions about reading Doctor Who and Broadchurch stories online but don’t get into specifics ... although I did get my Mum addicted to A Million Holes Poked in the Soul by @nannyogg123 

32. Do you leave reviews after reading fics? If so, what do they sound like?

I used to write comments after every fic I read but it was slowing down my reading now I only leave comments on things I really enjoyed and felt compelled to comment on ... so they tend to be gushy :D

33. When you read a good fic, do you go to the author’s page?

Definitely, I always want to read more stories by a talented author

34. Name a common type of fic that you cannot stand.

You’ll probably hate me for this but ... I’m not a fan of the drabble ... there I said it let the backlash begin

35. Name all the Work in Progress fics that you are currently reading.

hahahahahahahahaha ... umm sorry ... currently I have 40 update notifications of individual stories in my email ... and that’s just the ones I haven’t caught up with yet ... oh and some of them I’m a few chapters behind so I’ve opened the new emails to keep the count down so I don’t feel so bad ... the reality is that I’m probably reading about 60-70 WIPs ... this post is long enough without me adding this list to it

36. Has a fic ever left you unable to fall asleep or think about anything else?

Heeled by @jellyneau-xo ... I don’t think I’ll ever be able to own a pet again ... actually all of Jelly’s stories have me thinking about them long after they’ve finished

37. Are you good about keeping up when reading Work in Progresses?

Despite what I’ve said above I’m not that bad ... although I tend to delay reading fics I love so I get a nice big chunk of reading in one go

38. Name some of your favorite fic recommendations pages.

See all the rec pages by @allegoricalrose ... definitely some quality reading there :D

39. Name a fanfiction author that you’re scared to talk to because they’re so amazing.

I remember being terribly scared about talking to @kelkat9 and @whoinwhoville because I am so in awe of their writing but they are both absolutely beautiful people and you should definitely reach out to them to talk about writing and all things DW and DT :)

40. Have you ever written fanfiction or considered it?

I once was strictly a reader only and then I wrote a little thing and then another and then @pipertennant and @studio-forty-two kept encouraging me to write more and more and well I guess I have to call myself a fanfic writer now

41. Name a fic that has a perfect ending.

Don’t make me choose ... as long as they have a happy ever after I’m good

42. Name a fic that you wish was longer.

ALL OF THEM.  ALL! OF! THEM!!!!!!!

43. Do you read OT3 fics commonly? Have you ever?

I love ‘em especially ... Loved ‘verse and Lostverse by fid_gin and unfolded73

44. Do you mainly read TV shows, movies, or books?

umm yes?? DW and TenInch fic cover all of that don’t they??

45. Do you read fanfiction about Anime?

No, I’m claiming generational age gap ... I’ve never really got into Anime

46. If you could imagine the perfect fic, what would it be like?

The one yet to be written ... don’t know who the author is yet

47. If you had to introduce someone to fanfiction with a few fics, which would you suggest?

For TenInch Fic ... Providential Contingency by @studio-forty-two and tennantmeister ... they created the genre with this story ... I know I talked them into it ;)

For DW ... blimey there are just so many ... take a pick of any of the ones I’ve recc’d above

48. Have you ever read a fic containing character death?

Yep, and written one ... and writing another ... shhhhh it’s taking a while to write it and this time I’m not going to publish it until I’ve finished it

49. Do you have an AO3/Fanfiction.net/LiveJournal page? Link it.

This is me on AO3

50. What sites do you typically use to read on?

I started reading on Teaspoon but now I read almost exclusively on AO3 ... I like being able to leave kudos and get notifications of responses to comments :)

[themandylion]

Yesterday I had a minor (super minor) existential crisis. When I started writing fanfic back in the day (so, like...18 years ago this summer?), it was in 12 pt Helvetica, single-spaced, tabbed paragraphs, and I printed each fic out and took it to school to share with my friends, which worked out super-well because that was the era of gel pens and everyone got their own unique color to comment in. (If you have never received actual-fact physical commentary/heckling like this on your writing, you have not lived. It is the best, I recommend that everyone do it, we learned so much and had a great time. Insofar as you can have a great time when your closest friends are basically MSTing your writing.)

Anyway, because everything we were writing was printed, we measured length by number of pages. Most stuff was 7–10, our longfic was 20, and we each (I think? Correct me if I'm wrong, @jeandrawsstuff) wrote at least one epic that was 40+ pages. Which is super-long when you're 15 and writing for fun, but we didn't think much of it because 12 pt (or maybe it was 14pt?? Whatever, I was using the default size/font in AppleWorks) Helvetica was bigger than the teeny serif fonts we had to use for school papers.

When we went to college we kept exchanging stories, only this time it was via email and we sort of lost track of how long stuff was because we rarely printed it out anymore, and that was before fandom got obsessive about wordcount and all that good stuff. In college we had to write papers that were 3, 5, 25 pages long, and that was a lot because margins kept shrinking and you can add about 1/2 page to any paper just by writing it in Word instead AppleWorks or Pages, and you can believe all my papers ended up in Word before I printed them because paper-writing is hard. I had one class where the prof defined paper-length by wordcount instead of number of pages but didn't really think of much on it at the time.

Then I started writing drabbles (like, actual 100-word drabbles, not these "drabbles" that the kids write today with their variable wordcount *shakes crotchety old lady fist*) and wordcount became important. Also, like, I started writing stories in GoogleDocs instead of TextEdit and could get back to seeing page length again, but I was more focused on wordcount with the drabbles (obviously) and people in the fandoms I was in started posting wordcount with their longer fic also, so there was that, too. Plus, convenient AO3 with its wordcounts for everything so you know what you're getting yourself into ahead of time (like, okay, ff.net has that too, but I think when I was posting/reading there I was still pretty much focused on number of chapters? Whatever, I wasn't ever a big user of ff.net *shrug*).

What I'm getting at is that I never really connected wordcount to page count, and it's one thing to know from NaNo that 40,000 words = novel, but it's another thing entirely to be reading someone's author notes (such as I was doing yesterday evening) and see that they describe their 6,300 word story as being 15 pages long? And then I did a search and the internet tells me that one page, double-spaced is 250 words, so 500 words for a single page and if I figure in font/size spacing things + tabbed paragraphs (instead of a double return), that means that my friends and I were writing 20k epics back in high school (which doesn't seem a lot by today's prolific teenage writer standards, but we mostly wrote silly self-insert parodies and the occasional Dramatic Epic) and, more importantly, since I average about 10–15k nowadays (I seriously need to get back to drabbles, they were awesome), that means I'm writing the equivalent of 40–60 page papers for fun on a semi-regular basis. Even a 2,500 word fic is 10 pages, which for someone who used to struggle to finish a 3-page paper is...significant.

So, I guess the tl;dr of all this is, holy cow, I write A LOT for my pretendy-funtimes and I'm kind of blown away by just how much it adds up to.