#tin cans with string

[somanywords]

2024 Fic Writer End of Year Roundup

Thanks so much for the tag, @moodymelanist!! It's gonna be a little less interesting today since I only published 2 fanfics this year, but I'm grateful for the opportunity to do a little reflection on this new year's eve. :)

🎲 Answer and then tag three or more creators to keep the game going!

How many words did you publish on AO3 in 2024?

43k! Fun face, that is my 2nd largest yearly wordcount (having only been publishing on AO3 for three-ish years).

2. How many fics did you complete this year?

I completed a solid 2 fics! I had planned to complete a few more, but time got away from me this later half of the year...

3. How many in progress or ongoing fics did you start this year?

Oh, now here's a question I can be longwinded about ;) Good heavens, quite a few. By my count, I worked on 29 WIPs, 16 of which were born in the year of our lord 2024. Whew! Next year should be a year of completion and posting for me, if I have my way!

Noble WIP mentions: The Becca Barnes centric "they survive the war" AU that lives in my head RENT free right now; The fake dating modern AU where both Steve and Bucky are dear idiots; The post canon look at Jack and Les's relationship that I still don't know how to finish; and the 5 Six of Crows ideas I have fighting to get put on paper.

4. What was your favorite thing you wrote?

This is so sad -- I have to pick between two like a terrible parent. I shall simply tell you what my favorite things about both were.

For tin cans with string, I had that beautiful clear view of the horizon the whole time. I knew where I was heading with vague island shapes to stop by on the way. For I saw you in a movie I heard it in a song, even though I had to rewrite so much while figuring out the story's arc, it was so FUN the whole time. 😌

5. What piece was your most experimental or different from your usual style?

I'd have to go with I saw you in a movie I heard it in a song -- this was my first time writing for Newsies in a modern AU, which was new and experimental and entertaining. I really wanted to keep the characters feeling true and familiar despite their new setting/location.

6. Did any fics surprise you - either while writing or their reception?

I've gotten a LOT of comments on tin cans with string with people telling me they cried for parts/the whole thing, which...I wasn't expecting? Like, yes, that fic is heavy and melancholy in parts, but that I created a work that gave readers emotions and feelings is so wild to me. I'm beyond happy about that, from an evil writer's point of view!

7. Do you have a fic you wrote and loved that went under the radar? (This is your sign to reblog/repost it!)

The Stevebucky fandom is so large and thriving that the Newsies fandom is very small and very young in comparison, so I guess I saw you in a movie I heard it in a song would fit this bill. (Check it out, if you're so inclined!)

8. Who is an artist that inspired you?

This year? Hmm, @quezify and their gorgeous egg art is always inspiring me, and this year I even got to participate in the eggtober challenge! So fun! (And that's probably why I didn't get a fic posted in October when I was planning to...)

9. Who is an author that inspired you?

Oh my gosh, I am inspired by most everything I read. If it's right up my alley, I go crazy and want to be just like it and write a hundred things, and if it's not for me, I spend way too long thinking about how I'd write it more to my own personal tastes. I couldn't tag everyone, but all my friends and mutuals who share their gifts with us are simply incredible and I'm so grateful for them all!

10. Who is a new author you discovered?

Hmm, I'm not sure! I find most of what I read on rec lists, and then occasionally check out an author if they checked off a ton of ingredient boxes for me. My brain is short circuiting trying to recall

11. Did you do any collaborations? How did it start?

Not yet!

12. What accomplishments are you proudest of?

Both the fics I published this year were challenges to myself--tin cans with string was a specific set of new ingredients to challenge myself and a start to finish timeline and I feel like I really accomplished everything I set out to with that one. I saw you in a movie I heard it in a song was part of a mini-bang, and that was my first bang event of any kind, and I'm super proud of myself for getting out there and participating.

13. What did you learn about writing or creating this year?

This is a personal one I learned about myself this year: sometimes the clear vision and motivation is there. When it isn't...no deadline is going to force it to the surface. I can finish a project to meet a deadline, but I will not be happy with the end result. There's no rushing the soul of a story.

If anyone has any tips on "growing a muscle" to combat this or creating a way around the problem, I would love to hear it!

14. Any advice you'd like to share with new or aspiring writers?

What @moodymelanist said: if there's an idea you want to see, start writing it! I promise you, others would love to see it too. Also, don't be afraid to really focus on something smaller: one facet of a character, one scenario where the character reacts. Every time I start writing a new fandom, I tend to throw EVERY idea I have into a massive fic that never gets finished. I have to start smaller, start exploring. :)

15. What are your creative goals for 2025?

In regards to the original fiction I'm working on constantly, I'd love to have a few chapters of my novel to share with friends and family. I'm in draft 2 right now, wrestling with inconsistency and plot, but I'm getting closer. Fanfic wise, I'd love to share a lot with you this coming year! 2024 was a rest year for my fic sharing, and let 2025 be a partying year, amen. :D

Whew, if you made it all the way down here, thank you! And I'll pass the tags on to @blurglesmurfklaine @piedoesnotequalpi @tessabennet @zenaidamacrouras1 @dharmasharks

@hipsterdiva @sparkagrace and anyone else who sees this and wants to join <3

[stoneware]

recent textile & cyanotype & embroidery experiments

[cowardlykrow]

“I let him die / Taking your advice”

[szollibisz]

Curtwen intricate rituals save me... Save me curtwen intricate rituals........

I think about it so much like. All they had was those few times a year they saw each other and maybe some letters or phone calls in between. They had to shape what little they had into something resembling a proper relationship, that truly, neither of them were built for.

I think they felt the same way about a lot of it they just never told each other. Both of them would be too embarrassed to admit that sweeping a room for bugs felt like doing mundane chores together, or that standing back to back in a gunfight made them feel safer than anything else in the world.

I think they just wordlessly constructed these rituals to get the affection and love they both craved but could never ask for. Their wrestling matches had elaborate rules and prizes, their nightly outings to bars were romantic dates in earnest, their mindgames and records on missions could only happen because they trusted and admired each other so much and their letter writing habits included code phrases only they understood.

What makes me go so crazy is how they must've held on to these for years as the best moments of their lives, even after the fall when the memories became soured. They picked up each other's habits and built so much out of so little, all while they rarely if ever truly expressed how much that meant to them.

[pochiikou]

[djsherriff-responses]

Me realising that while we saw Pey’J get gunned down by Eden police officers while protecting other hybrids during the riot , Pey’J was never actually confirmed to have died from those bullets

Bullfrog was taken into custody before he could try helping Pey’J and Dolph was taken by Sarah into the wasteland. Meaning neither of them were there to see to Pey’J’s body, and that the two are assuming Pey’J is dead

Cody, Jade and Dolph all died because of the bombs inside their heads detonating. We also saw their bodies from the aftermath of that fact

Pey’J is the only one (besides Bullfrog) whose bomb didn’t detonate

We didn’t see what happened to Pey’J’s body

Shit

[kairithemang0]

I’d like to think Curt would fidget with the red string

there are two ways to get the string to tighten. Pure emotion and the person on the other end pulling on the string. I think that the feeling of Curt tugging on the string used to bring comfort to Owen, Curt was as thinking about him, touching the string that bonded them together. Post fall Curt does it more, he’s more anxious. It drives Owen over the edge with how much it hurts. It burns his skin and he’s sitting in his room in chimera trying to break this thing that keeps him from fucking moving on.

I think of the string like it’s their heart strings, or the strings on a guitar. Tugging on them too hard will cause them to break. It’s like this, I dunno I love Given and the way it uses music as a representation of love is gorgeous (I love Given)

Curts tugging on these strings is beautiful, it brings joy in some moments, and pain in others. Curt spends his time touching this string, his reminder of Owen, meanwhile Owen feels it as this painful reminder that Curt’s still there.

Which leads Owen to break the string and tie it back on. It was never the same as before. When Curt broke it, it snapped. It dissolved. Owens just pulled away, leaving him. Owen couldn’t face that emptiness and he ran after the feeling in a desperate attempt to get it back, he hates that he needs the feeling, he hates that he can’t live with the emptiness. The anger and hate are gone, all that’s left is numbness, a hole in his heart, a broken heart string. He fixes it, he has to. But he wants Curt to be the one to fix it deep down. That would make him feel whole again. If Curt fixed his broken heart strings

[coffee4harper]

its always ily but never mltcwboseaenppabhatnbtpaw

[bywandandsword]

I've never spoken to Aphrodite until today. Before I even knew who was knocking, my intuition said it was her, but I still went through the whole process of verifying

Sweet merciful heavens is she very direct in her communication. It felt less like a tarot reading and more like she was actually sitting down and talking to me at points. She even put relevant music in my head at one point. When I asked her to clarify a card, she gave me the same card in each of the other suits and an ace with the same meaning. Like, no room for misunderstandings. Then she gave me a pep talk

I just, holy shit?

[flock-of-cassowaries]

Canadian rock songs whose lyrics are not what my 2011 Honda’s terrible speakers lead me to believe they were:

- The Arkells, 2024: Apparently, the songs title is “Big Feelings”, so that’s probably what they’re saying in the chorus; but until the announcer clued me into the title, the best I could surmise was that Hamilton Ontario’s most-distinguished cultural export were, in fact, singing about a male organ of impressive proportions.

- City and Colour, 2023: It was not until I found the song on Spotify, that I realized that the lyrics are not in fact “Like a baconator in darkness, I will cover you…”

(In my defence, the song is about mortality and depression [I think?] and eating a Wendy’s bacon-burger in the dark sounds like some pretty serotonin-less behaviour to me.)

- Harlequin, 1980: The local classic rock station recently re-discovered this song, and I heard it several disturbing times before I finally worked out that the lyrics to its jubilant, triumphant chorus were not, in fact, “INCEST!!! Well, it’s all I’ve ever needed...”

[somanywords]

tin cans with string

Rating: T

Relationship: Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes

Major Tags: Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes, Sarah Rogers (Marvel), Winifred Barnes, prewar to post catws, Canon Divergence - Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, steve rogers and winifred barnes, bucky barnes and sarah rogers, Friends to Lovers, Get Together, Mutual Pining, Becca Barnes - Freeform, Barnes Family, Grief/Mourning, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Internalized Homophobia, Jewish Bucky Barnes, another start to finish fic by yours truly

Length: 22.5k | Complete

Summary:

Bucky’s mother was looking at him knowingly, and she pulled out a chair for him, which he climbed into gratefully. “You’re an only child, aren’t you, Steve?” “Yes Ma’am.” “It ever gets to be too much for you, you just excuse yourself and come sit in the kitchen a minute. It’s a little noisy with the baby at times, but other than that you can catch a breath.” Steve looked up at her gratefully. She understood, and having someone understand was the best thing in the world. --an exploration of mothers, and of one that isn’t yours.

Read on AO3!

[stoneware]

i cannot wait to be a little older and hopefully more settled i just need some distance (time. space. whatever) between all the shit that's happened and my sense of myself. can't wait to be someone who isn't a giant bruise

[pfhwrittes]

please don't ask me what jonesy looks like i have no clue myself except for that she's 5ft 5 and steals gaz's hoodies like it's her job and definitely has a matching tattoo with soap on her left foot of a stick person holding a string can telephone. that's all i've got for you!!

[stoneware]

litany against individualism

[stoneware]

really pretty picture of my hand my friend jamie took :-)

[stoneware]

more cliff pictures... i went camping over new year's it was lovely