#writer stats 2017

[imogenleewriter]

Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson AO3 Works Stats

The other day, I was curious to see what the trajectory of uploads of Larry fanfic on Ao3 was and if it was increasing.Anyway, it was a pretty simple process, and here were the findings:

Perfect right? Done. Time to go to bed? No, because ya girl got hyper-fixated. So grab a cup of tea and enjoy this absolutely ridiculous waste of time...

Introduction

The Covid-19 pandemic profoundly affected various aspects of societal behaviour, including participation in online communities. The ‘Larry fan fiction community’ had a notable influx of new participants and emerging writers during this period. My antedotal observations suggested a significant number of authors have been publishing their first works as recently as this month. This study aims to quantify the trends in Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson fan fiction uploads on AO3 (Archive Of Our Own) over the past decade, with a particular focus on discerning any noticeable uptick in contributions corresponding to the pandemic’s timeline.

Method

The data collection was executed over several days, starting from the 16th of October 2023. Due to this, the 16th of October was used as a reference point for all of the 12-month periods. The following parameters were employed for filtering:

Relationship Category: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson.

Inclusivity: All pieces that included this relationship, irrespective of the presence of other pairings. The result of this means there are likely some works included where they are a side pairing.

Language: All languages were included.

Work Status: Both individual pieces and those parts of a series were included, as were completed and incomplete works.

Accessibility: Being logged in allowed access to members-only works.

During the analysis, two works were excluded due to backdating, to ensure the timeframe remained consistent. Due to the dynamic nature of the fan fiction platform, some works underwent updates or were removed during the data collection process. While these fluctuations did cause some inconsistencies, they were negligible and did not significantly impact the overall dataset.

For the 12-month periods under consideration, three main categories were analysed: total, completed, and unfinished.

Results

A comprehensive analysis of Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson fan fiction uploads spanning from 2011 to 2023 revealed the following insights:

2011: A total of sixteen works were documented, all of which were completed.

2012: The total number of uploads rose to 417. Among these, 409 were completed works, while eight remained unfinished.

2013: A significant surge was observed, with total uploads reaching 4,795. Completed works accounted for 4,251, whereas 544 were left incomplete.

2014: The growth trend continued, recording a total of 6,303 uploads. 5,296 were completed, and 1,007 were in-progress.

2015: The first decline was witnessed, although minor, with 6,105 total uploads. Completed works comprised 4,919, and unfinished ones stood at 1,186.

2016: A slight decline was noted, totalling 4,805 works. Completed pieces were 3,765, with 1,040 still in-progress.

2017: Uploads further decreased to 2,898. Of these, 2,297 were completed, and 601 remained unfinished.

2018: A modest rise was seen with 2,784 total works. Completed contributions were 2,275, while 509 were ongoing.

2019: The total dropped to 2,064. Completed pieces stood at 1,700, and 364 were still under development.

2020: A slight increment occurred, totalling 2,572 uploads. Of these, 2,071 were finished, and 501 were ongoing.

2021: The count increased to 3,195. Completed works reached 2,483, with 712 in-progress.

2022: A total of 3,767 works were uploaded. Completed works were 3,090, while 677 were yet to be finished.

2023: The most recent data showcases 4,018 total works, with 3,104 completed and 914 still ongoing.

After collating the primary data on completed and uncompleted works, I wanted to look at the distribution based on word count. The intention behind this exploration was to discern if there were patterns or preferences within the writing community regarding the length of the stories. (Please note that on diagrams representing word count, the years are now in descending order)

The categorisation of word count was structured. Works were segmented into word count brackets that started from the shortest stories, ranging from 0 to 1999 words, then progressively moved up in intervals: 2000-4999 words, 5000-9999 words, and so on due to the high prevalence in numbers in the shorter works. This structured approach allowed for a visual representation of how numerous works fell into each bracket for each year.

If you click on it, you might be able to see the distribution.

Results: Word Count Analysis

The following overview encapsulates the distribution of word counts for fan fiction uploads from 2011 to 2023:

0-10,000 Words:

2023 observed the highest concentration within this frame with 2507 works. Over half of the total published works for the 12-month period were found within this bracket.

The trend experienced notable growth from the 14 entries in 2012.

2014 saw a peak with 4994 works in this category, followed by a fluctuating pattern in subsequent years.

10,001-50,000 Words:

2023 recorded 1,031, a slight increase from 1,010 in 2022.

2015 led the chart with the most works in this range.

50,001-100,000 Words:

The count in 2023 showcased the highest number in this category, with 293 works.

2016 and 2021 were equal second, with 219 works in this category.

100,001-300,000 Words:

2023 had the most works in this segment, followed by 2022 and 2021.

Prior to this, the peak was in 2017.

300,001 Words and above:

The numbers in this range are comparatively limited, with 2023 having the most works surpassing 300,000 words.

Most years witnessed very few works in this extensive word count bracket, with numbers often remaining in single or low double digits.

I was also interested to find where most work stopped being completed. This is the percentage of completed works in each range.

Limitations of the Analysis:

AO3 Filtering System Limitations: The AO3 filtering system does not readily display the initial posting date of a fic. A fic could have been started several years prior to its completion but only shows up in the filtering system in the year it was last updated. This poses a significant limitation as the actual duration taken for the completion of a work might not be accurately represented.

Human Fallacy: There's always a potential for human error in manual data collection and analysis. Overlooked details, misinterpretations, or unintended biases can inadvertently influence the results.

Deletion and Date Modification of Works: Authors may delete their works or modify posting dates. This becomes significant for older works with a higher likelihood of deletions or date changes. Such actions can skew the numbers, offering a misrepresented view of the works available during a particular year.

Variability in Word Count Reporting: While categorising based on word count is useful, it's possible that authors might update or expand their works after the initial posting, leading to changes in word count categories over time.

Conclusion:

The data spanning from 2011 to 2023 shows that over the 13-year period, there has been a marked increase in both completed and uncompleted works, with the total number of works increasing more than 250-fold from 16 in 2011 to 4018 in 2023.

From 2011 to 2015, there was a notable surge in the number of completed works, culminating in 2014 with a total of 6307 works. This could potentially reflect an increased growing interest or a pivotal shift in the community or broader fandom dynamics during this period.

From 2016 to 2019, a noticeable decrease in the total works emerged, with 2019 seeing the steepest drop. This decline aligns with the onset of One Direction's hiatus. While causation cannot be conclusively established, it does provide a reasonable explanation.

Beginning in 2020, a revitalisation is evident, with figures steadily climbing and nearing their zenith by 2023. While this remains speculative, anecdotal accounts suggest that the pandemic, affording individuals more leisure for social media coupled with the growing popularity of TikTok, may have reignited interest in the fandom, steering them towards both reading and potentially writing fanfiction.

In summary, the AO3 community showcases dynamic growth, decline, and resurgence patterns over the examined period. While completed works have seen fluctuating trends, the spirit of initiation remains unwavering, as observed by the consistent number of uncompleted works.

Length of works

In 2011, the publication of longer stories (10,000 words and above) was almost non-existent. The numbers began to rise steadily, with a significant jump in longer stories from 2015 to 2017.

The number of stories with a word count between 10,000-14,999 went from 2 in 2011 to a peak of 458 in 2014. Similarly, the 15,000-19,999 range saw an increase from 0 stories in 2011 to its peak at 253 in 2015. As we progress through the word count brackets, there's a discernible growth trend, albeit with some fluctuations. For instance, the 80,000-89,999 bracket jumped from 0 stories in 2011 to a peak of 48 stories in 2023.

While there have been fluctuations in the numbers for some years, the overall trend does show growth in the publication of longer stories over the past decade.

The data shows that extremely long stories (those above 200,000 words) have always been a rarity. However, there's still a perceptible trend.

The 200,000-249,999 word count range sees the most action, with a peak of 27 stories in 2023. This is growth from the previous years 17, and then to 14, and so on. The numbers decrease as we progress to the right into the higher word counts, but occasional stories reach these impressive lengths.

The 250,000-299,999 word count range has peaked at 6, with numbers generally dropping with previous years. Higher word count ranges, such as 300,000-349,999 and 350,000-399,999, are sparser but maintain a presence.

Word counts of 450,000 and beyond are sparse, with very few recent entries.

In conclusion, while very lengthy stories remain uncommon, they exist and have seen publication in varying numbers. There's a trend towards fewer stories as the word count increases, which is expected given the monumental length of these works.

Upon examination of the data, there's a pronounced resurgence in the publication of longer narratives, particularly following a noticeable decline post-2016. The trajectory of this resurgence hints at an evolving literary landscape, with authors and perhaps readers veering towards more extensive works. Although the factors underpinning this shift remain speculative, the upward trend, especially in the realm of extended narratives, cannot be dismissed.

Monitoring developments in this sphere to ascertain whether this resurgence signifies a phase or a deeper, more sustained transformation in literary predilections will be interesting.

[takaraphoenix]

Today I learned that AO3 stats actually show you your word count per year. I did not know that. Whenever I wanted to figure that out, I did the damn math by hand.

So I got curious.

And it's actually interesting. To me, anyway.

The earliest stat that makes sense to check is 2015, since in 2014 I transferred four years worth of fics onto the account as I started it.

And the years 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 were all rather similar at around a million words per year, give or take 100k (but in a manner that does even out to a million on average again).

2019 saw a dip into 775k, which surprises me because I genuinely don't remember anything significant happening that year to justify the drop.

The years 2020, 2021 and 2022 all clog in at around 660k each, give or take 10k, much lower but also steady. And this does make more sense, between the pandemic, me finishing my Bachelor and then being on the job hunt, I had regular time to write, but less.

And though I'd known that 2023 was my worst writer's block in over 15 years, seeing it proven in numbers was really startling.

245k. That's less than half of what I wrote on average for the prior three years, a third of the year before that, a fourth of the years before that. I had months where I didn't write a single word and it really reflects in the final word count.

Now comes the delightful part though! We are only in August of this year and I am already at 430k. I'm already close to having written twice as much as I did last year in total, and the year is only two-thirds over.

This really makes me happy. I know I got my grove back, I mean damn I wrote a 14k fic yesterday, start to finish, and my Writer's Month clocks in at 58k on day 12 out of 31, so yeah I know I'm writing like I'm running out of time, but seeing just how significant the improvement is to last year makes me incredibly, incredibly happy.

(I am right now at a total word count of 9.5 million. Which doesn't look like a real number tbh. A whole lot of fics got written in the past 14 years.)

[duhragonball]

November Plannin'

All right, I've been thinking it over, and I think I'm gonna have to pull the plug on my NaNoWriMo account. The AI thing irks me, because to me the organization seems to think that it doesn't matter if you use Chat GPT or some other damn thing to reach the goal. And I do think it matters, because to me the whole point of the exercise is that those 50,000 words come from me, and me alone. The only software I need is Notepad.exe. I only downloaded iA Writer because it was like a Notepad.exe for my phone, and I got FocusWriter because it's like Notepad.exe with a wordcounter.

I've heard about the Nano community, and the writing groups, and the public meet-ups, and I'm not knocking any of that stuff, but I never had any interest in that. I just used the website to keep score, and I guess that's what bugs me, because by refusing to condemn AI, they're basically insinuating that the score doesn't matter. "It doesn't matter what you wrote." Someone told me that once and it still gets me kinda hot.

NaNoWriMo doesn't care if I write the words or not. All the org seems to care about is having participants who'll buy the merch and click on their sponsors, or whatever. They're gonna do this shady crap and they take the participants for granted. "What are you gonna do? Leave? You need us to reach your writing goals!"

That's the message I get from them. That's what made me reluctant to decide, because it is handy, and there's a certain anxiety that if I give up the structure the site offers, I might not reach my goal.

And that's the "creative monster" I need to slay this year. When I was in college, I took a semester of creative writing, and there was an assignment called "Killing the Creative Monster", and I interpreted it as a sense of not having enough time to write. Things kept happening, and the stuff I wanted to do seemed like it would take too long with no certainty that it would be worthwhile. That was in 1998. In 2024, the Creative Monster is the idea that I'm dependent on NanoWriMo to get me where I'm want to be.

So I'm gonna close down my account on the site. But I'm not doing it right away, because first I'm gonna save all the stats and stuff that belong to me. We'll start with the banner image I put up on my profile.

This is Zack Sabre Junior. This year, he won the G1 Climax tournament. He made a big deal about how his career wouldn't be complete until he won the G1. Not just any G1, but this year's tournament. I just put this picture in my profile because I was digging his tag team stuff with Taichi a few years ago, but suddenly I'm reminded of him winning the G1 this year. It was a big deal. He's the first guy to win that I actually wanted to win.

I've won NanoWriMo seven times from 2017 to 2023. But that doesn't matter. Unless I win Unaffiliated Autumnal Writing Challenge (UAWC) in 2024, I'll always feel a bit unsatisfied. That's what this one is about. No pep talks from some author I never heard of because I'm too busy watching anime to read. No funky word-count widget that always malfunctions around midnight. Just me and this computer, and a bunch of tekkers. That's how we're gonna do this one.

Good. I finally feel fired up about this one. I was beginning to get nervous. Let's figure out what I need to work on.

Luffa Annual 6. Ironically, this one actually takes priority over the main fic, becuase it's the Christmas Special, so it has a hard deadline. I was gonna work on it last week, but I kind of blew it off.

I don't know that the annuals are all that popular, but I enjoy making them, even if they are a huge pain in the butt to figure out. I'm glad this is the last one in the set, but I won't just slap it together and call it good.

Tellurium. This is a weird side-bet I'm making here. On my main blog, I used to do a series on the discovery of the chemical elements, and this was the next one on my list back in, uh... 2016. The tricky thing here is that the writing is just part of the job. There's research that goes into this stuff, and I don't want to get lose a days' worth of wordcount trying to wrap my head around molecular orbitals. Call me a glutton for punishment. It'd be relatively easy to just do 10-12 Luffa chapters and call it a month, because I've done that before. I feel like this year needs to be trickier. Also, I really, really want to get Te in the books. I don't think I like the chemical elements more than Luffa, but it is telling that I'm even having that conversation with myself right now.

Luffa 225-234. Of course I still plan to stick with what brung me to the dance. Kakarot is behind me but this fic isn't finished. The problem is that I only have a nebulous plan on where to go from here, and it's coming together a lot more gradually than I thought it would. I plotted a cool scene on my commute this afternoon, so that's a good sign, but I need to be realistic here. Last year went really well because I was writing the Luffa vs. Goku fight that I had been dreaming of for years. Motivation-wise, I've got nowhere to go but down. But I had similar problems in 2018-2020, and I prevailed then.

That Bulma project I was horsing around with. Last year, there was some crank on Twitter getting pissy at anyone who shipped Bulma with any non-canon partners, like there's a rule or something. That kind of inspired me to try to do some shorter works featuring Bulma hooking up with different characters. I didn't get very far last year, but I liked having a side-thing that I could jump into whenever I got stuck with the main work.

You know, thinking about it, I really need to use 2025 to work on some non-Luffa fanfic. In the early years, I worried that working on a longfic would eat up time that I could use for one-shots, and I slowly acclimated to just focusing one thing. But now that the Goku fight is done, the pressure is off to finish Luffa before I die. I mean, it's still not finished, but the Goku fight was a major milestone, and I didn't like the idea of never getting that done.

I mean, I still get kudos on that Caulikale fic I wrote in 2018, and the Gochi thing I did. People like that stuff, and I'm pretty good at making it. Maybe I should run a poll.

I dunno, that's probably enough for now. I should go back to bed. But I feel a lot better about November than I did a few days ago, that's for sure.

[cedarbranch]

twenty questions for fic writers!

tagged by @sunriseverse thank you!!

tagging: @figbian @shark-myths @stoplightglow @zipegs and anyone else who wants to participate (with no pressure if you don't!) questions below the cut :-)

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

currently 65! i've orphaned several over the years though. unfortunately i am an Extremely Slow Writer so i always wanna see this number go up and it never goes as fast as i want it to :') we can hit 67 this year... surely....

2. what's your total ao3 word count?

847,778! used to be higher (more in the 950k range) prior to orphaning, i'm not sure if i've actually written over a million words or not at this point? v excited for the day that milestone actually shows up in my stats though! my current wips could tip me over, we'll see how it goes... 👀

3. what fandoms do you write for?

currently hannibal and stranger things! i've bounced around many fandoms in my day, but my most significant contributions thus far have been for mcr/bandom and the magnus archives. really hoping i end up writing enough for my current fandoms that i can consider them part of that shortlist too!! :-)

4. top five fics by kudos

like a moth to light (like a beast to bait) / 2117 kudos, save that heart for me / 1480 kudos, how particular, my fondness of you / 1445 kudos, convicted criminals of thought / 1177 kudos, and questionable decisions / 847 kudos! wow, that last one took me by surprise, it was such a jokey little fic i often forget about it. nice to look back at these and see things with over 1k kudos though, i remember that being an unattainable pipe dream back when i was writing mcr in the dead era that was 2017 :')

5. do you respond to comments?

i often do! i try to respond to every comment i get when a fic is published, and i like to respond much later on as well, it just tends to slip my mind if it's an older fic. stuff gets lost in my inbox. i certainly read every comment though, and the comments left on older fics are often the ones that make me happiest!

6. what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

hmmm... i mostly write happy endings unless they're character studies. the true angstiest ending i've written is for a fic i haven't posted yet (hint: it's a sequel to a oneshot of mine!) but i do have short fics about both michael and gerry's deaths in tma? i'll go with the gerry death fic, thinking of the sun.

7. what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

they're mostly happy!!! but the one that ends most on a note of Joy, i think, would be rosemary and thyme, my fae!martin au :-)

8. do you get hate on fics?

nah. i have an extremely vague memory of getting a comment that made me go "omg my first hate comment" but like it's so vague that i can't tell if it's a false memory or not 😭 people have always been quite nice to me, thankfully!

9. do you write smut?

i do! i tried to avoid it whenever i could when i was younger but these days i've actually become super interested in sex as a vehicle for character studies. that tumblr post that's like "the plot of this smut fic is that character A believes himself abandoned by god" is one HUNDRED percent my approach recently, definitely expect some of that upcoming on my ao3 lolll

10. craziest crossover?

i don't really write crossovers! i like them in comic/fanart form, but i tend to be less interested in crossover fic (unless it's HEU, i do quite like spacedogs)... the only times i've ever thought about creating crossover content myself were for a couple pacrim fusion ideas!

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

eh, not really. a long time ago i did have someone basically rip the worldbuilding from one of my AUs with the serial numbers filed off, but they did ask permission - i said yes because i was like 16 and felt too awkward saying no. so that was weird! but not quite stealing.

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

yes!! to steal a kiss from borrowed lips was translated into russian, such an honor :D

13. have you ever co-written a fic before?

i have, a really long time ago. i don't think i would do it again (unless it was with, like, one of two specific irls) bc i think i'd struggle with figuring out a collaborative workflow. part of me also thinks it could be a fun exercise though...

14. all time favorite ship?

OUGH..... mannnn what a question. it changes every few years and i feel like my response is influenced by not just the source material, but the quality of the fan content and the fandom interactions i've had... you know what? i know i have current-hyperfixation bias, but for now i am gonna say hannigram. it's just too peak.

15. what's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Too Many Of Them - but in particular, my chrissy cunningham-centric longfic. it's an entire treatise on sapphic loneliness and small-town queer isolation and i do think it'd be a fucking masterpiece if i ever managed to commit to it, but it's on the forever back-burner i think.

16. what are your writing strengths?

hmm... characterization through dialogue is the main thing, i'd say. i'm always thinking about how to match a given character's speech patterns and i think i tend to capture their voices pretty well!

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

i'm my own biggest critic so i could list a bunch, but pacing is a big one. i tend to let things run too long and i feel like i've only just managed to balance it better in my current wip... only took a decade of fic-writing to get there 😭

18. thoughts on dialogue in another language?

depends a lot on context. honestly too many thoughts to condense well into an answer for this djglfg but in short: usually nice if it's just a few words, but can get unwieldy otherwise

19. first fandom you wrote in?

kuroshitsuji 💀 self-insert and OC-centric fic. how very unlike me

20. favorite fic you've written?

moth to light has been the reigning champ for a while now, but i think several of my current wips could potentially unseat it!

[autumnslance]

LynMars FFXIV Write 2023 Master Post

This year's challenge completed! Congrats to everyone who wrote anything at all this month, even if just one prompt! Thanks again to @sea-wolf-coast-to-coast for 7 years of this!

Previous Years Master Posts: 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022

Anything wolcred ship-related is marked by an asterisk* as usual. Commentary and stats for anyone interested below the Read More.

01. Envoy: ARR; Aeryn makes her Grand Company choice. 02. Bark: Dark has the wrong pie thief suspect. 03. Free Day! 04. Off the Hook: EW; Lucia & Maxima explore their new HQ. 05. Barbarous: HW; Aeryn's frustrated by the land of her birth. 06. Ring: EW; keepsakes & memories of Aeryn's mother. 07. Noisome: Dark & Iyna contend with ubiquitous seasonal flavors. 08. Shed: EW; Aeryn answers Zenos at the edge of everything. 09. Fair: EW; Azem's brother tries to ensure the future has his aid. 10. Free Day! 11. Once Bitten Twice Shy: ShB Bozja; unwarranted concerns. 12. Dowdy: Backstory; Aeryn's always had Opinions about fashion. 13. Check: Iyna discovers C'oretta's personal business. 14. Clear*: ShB; semi-poetic sweetness of coming together. 15. Portentous: Backstory. Zaine speaks to Tanzel about a decision. 16. Jerk: EW; Aeryn meets an old friend as the Final Days loom. 17. Free Day! 18. Fish Out of Water: Shb: G'raha gets used to his new life. 19. Weal: EW; Vrtra sees to his people and their home. 20. Hamper: In a possible future, Iyna answers academic questions. 21. Grave: Legacy; Zaine Striker returns to his childhood home. 22. Fulsome: C'oretta sorts through her parents' old promos. 23. Suit: ARR; what the Scions wore that most fateful night. 24: Free Day! 25. Call it a Day: Pre-ARR; Iron Summer contemplating his daughter. 26. Last: EW; a final conversation between ancients. 27. Sole*: Post-ShB; Thancred vs the perils of Aeryn's flip-tastic jobs. 28. Blunt: Post-ShB; working with Gaius, like it or not. 29. Contravention: EW; "In from the Cold" violates laws of nature. 30. Amity: EW; Varshahn & Aeryn discuss Thavnair & Garlemald.

Only 2 short shippy prompts all month! All 4 modern girls got a couple spotlights, various family cameos and backstories, a future prompt as is tradition, Zaine had a few posts, a few NPC-only scenes, a LOT of Endwalker, and even Ancient Icarus got a story, tying into 2021's "Destruct" prompt and how/why the siblings' souls have been connected through time and reincarnations.

A few of these are alternate takes on scenes I've touched on before, but it's interesting what a new prompt at a different time can get one to say, how we change as writers in what we focus on and how we say it.

This comes in roughly 300 words shorter than last year, at 18,493. The week of the 18-22 I had off work for my birthday, and that had the most 1k+ prompts, with a word count nearly double the other 3 full weeks. While the longer prompts are good, I'm really happy with how so many of the short ones turned out!

I was again trying to be realistic about my time, energy, not pushing free write days...and also working on an original writing project on the side, so I actually did do more writing over the month, just not FFXIV related!

(Also why some of my responses were in just under the wire...)

But this was a good break and exercise from that other writing, and let me try a few new things.

And comparing to earlier years--especially 2017 and 2018 when I was getting back onto the writing horse and feeling out my OCs--I feel like my growth as a writer, especially to be more succinct yet still evocative when needed, is evident. I've gotten a lot of practice in over time, and this challenge is one of the things that helped me get to where I can write an original story on top of my fanfic!

Breakdowns for funsies: Longest: 21 Grave; 1,652 words Shortest: 14 Clear; 106 words

Between 100-500 words: 1 Envoy; 2 Bark; 4 Off the Hook; 5 Barbarous; 7 Noisome; 8 Shed; 14 Clear; 15 Portentous; 26 Last; 27 Sole. Between 500-1000 words: 6 Ring; 11 Once Bitten, Twice Shy; 13 Check; 16 Jerk; 18 Fish Out of Water; 22 Fulsome; 23 Suit; 25 Call it a Day; 28 Blunt; 29 Contravention; 30 Amity. 1000+ words: 9 Fair; 12 Dowdy; 19 Weal; 20 Hamper; 21 Grave.

I didn't look at the totals until the end; I only checked some of the shorter ones during the challenge to see if they hit my personal "500+ words" cut off for adding a Read More to the posts.

"Grave" honestly could have been a lot shorter; I started the plot too early, and much as I like Zaine making one last visit to his childhood Nana, for the purposes of the challenge, I could have just focused on going to the lichyard to save myself time and energy, and wrote about the visit on my own another time. On the other hand, it's done now!

Not sure which is a favorite; there's a lot I like.

As usual, these will be revised at...some point (some more than others, probably) and added to Ao3, in my various series and threads.

[lothcatthree]

Fic Writer 20 Questions

thank you for tagging me @forloveofcodywan (i've been wanting to do this one for a while)

under the cut so i don't plague your dash

1.) How many works do you have on ao3?

16 (i used to have >30 but i orphaned half of them bc i wrote them when i was 14 and nobody needs to see that)

2.) What’s your ao3 word count?

162,724

3.) What fandoms do you write for?

star wars all day babey. i dabbled in steve x bucky from 2017-2018 ish, but star wars has had my brain in a vice grip since 2015 (i was another victim to the sequels causing a sw renaissance).

4.) What are your top five fics by kudos?

the right feeling - from my finnpoe days :') this is part 1 of a soulmate au series. this one has 4.7k words.

i think i was blind before i met you - steve x bucky (damn we're going way back, this is 7 years old) modern au with barista steve and college student disaster bucky. 15k words.

please stay for awhile now - finnpoe, again for the win. this is part 2 of the soulmate au series. 5.6k words.

we should just kiss like real people do - finnpoe. this is the fourth and final part of the soulmate au series. hurt/comfort, recovery, all the good stuff. 8.2k words. (i suppose we all needed the soulmate finnpoe fluff in 2016, judging by these stats).

but through it all, i will need you anyways - current codywan WIP!! fix-it fic with just an insane amount of disgustingly tooth-rotting fluff. no clone death, just good feelings. this has been ENTIRELY self-indulgent and i started it when i got initial codywan brain rot. 64k words and counting!

5.) Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

oh my god yes, i love comments and it puts the biggest smile on my face knowing that people took time out of their day to write something nice for my little ramblings :')

6.) What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

jesus, literally none of them. i have to do happy endings, i'm too fragile. closest would be i hate you, fuck you, please never stop looking at me which is wolfwren PWP, except they still kinda hate each other at the end. (this barely counts because i am writing a follow-up that explores more of their feelings for each other and has a happy ending)

7.) What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

ALL OF THEM. idk what to tell you. probably the cheesiest ending is the dinluke modern soulmate au i just wrote - how did i ever live without you?

8.) Do you get hate on fics?

no, thank god. i keep things pretty vanilla and i tag very thoroughly to do my best to avoid any hurt feelings. (also i've just simply been lucky to never experience that)

9.) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

oh fuck yeah. 2/3 of my fics are explicit. mostly m/m, one f/f and two m/m/m. we have fun over here.

10.) Do you write cross overs? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

no, this would break my brain. next question.

11.) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

no, unless it has been and they're very good about hiding it (doubt it, tho. i'd be a weird choice to steal from)

12.) Have you ever had a fic translated?

no, but i would love it!

13.) Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

no, but i have been thinking more and more that i would love to do this!!

14.) What’s your all time favourite ship?

this is so hard. . i think codywan has been the one ship that has just slapped my across the face and gave me stockholm syndrome. I think about them.... All the Time. second closest would be finnpoe, judging on how many stories i wrote about them. and they just fit so well together and i adore their characters and they had so much chemistry and. (i'll stop now)

15.) What’s a WIP you’d like to finish, but doubt you ever will?

my brain will simply not allow me to leave a WIP uncompleted. by god, it's going to happen even if i am chaining myself to my laptop and typing through tears.

16.) What are your writing strengths?

i have received many compliments about my dialogue and smut scenes flowing very naturally :) i try to make them play like a movie and have it immersive enough that a character doesn't do/say something unnatural to make the reader stop and say wait what?

16.) What are your writing weaknesses?

oh god, PLOT and ANGST. can't do it for the life of me. i work best in oneshots so i can brain vomit and move on. i have a hard time planning out fics and i deeply envy writers that can create beautiful long fics in a timely fashion. i deeply lack the patience for something like that.

as for angst, yes i can technically do it, but it pains every cell in my body. just let the sad old gay men be happy.

17.) Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

closest i have ever gotten is mando'a, but it's been very fun to learn!

18.) First fandom you wrote for?

oh boy. one direction (the aforementioned orphaned works).

19.) Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

i am cursed with "i immediately hate everything i write as soon as i release it" syndrome. recently, though, i was particularly proud of safe. warm. mine. because it was very outside of my comfort zone due to the involvement of three people and it was the first a/b/o i have written!

no pressure tags for @veelawings @apricusapollo @shy-wookiee. these are all the mutuals that write (that i know of) and haven't already been tagged (i think)! but please, anyone who i missed or who sees this and wants to chime in and tag me, please do!!!

[jiseck]

hi y’all! you can call me mk. (she/they & cst). i haven’t tumblr rp’ed since probably 2017, so please do forgive me as i feel things out around the dash, my blog, and with kit. shoot me a dm if you'd like to plot as kit is totally open (i also have discord if you'd like that, just ask for my info!) and with all of that out of the way... meet my tender-hearted, hard-headed little guy.

stats && plots && pinterest

welcome to infinite entertainment! it's YOON JISEOK ( KIT ), who is a BACKUP DANCER. i’ve heard whispers that the 22 year old is pretty DETERMINED but lowkey HIGH-STRUNG. also, doesn’t he remind you of SUNG HANBIN?

kit is an older muse of mine but as it's been years i'm just going to be feeling him out through character development as time goes on. sorry for the one million words... feel free to skip to the TLDR / tidbits section. the important stuff is there!

EARLY LIFE -- TEEN YEARS ;

jiseok was an only child for the first handful of years of his life. in those first few years, his parents bounced around jobs, and they lived in a run down, one-room apartment while they attempted desperately to get settled. his mom’s life long dream was to be a novel writer, but ended up teaching high school literature. his dad was, and always had been, a teacher himself. 

when jiseok’s mom got pregnant with him, she went on maternity leave and struggled with postpartum depression that made it difficult to go back to work. his dad tried to make it work with just a single income, but ultimately it wasn’t enough. she bounced around from job to job, often cleaning up homes and business and taking on other odd jobs as she couldn’t handle the stress of teaching again. 

as jiseok grew from being a toddler to being a school-aged child, they finally settled down in seoul after what felt like a miracle situation — his mom got on the proper medication and was able to work a stable teaching job again. unexpectedly, his mom announced that he would be having two siblings come the spring, twins, she had told him excitedly. 

with jiseok entering grade school, and the twins being watched by his aunt during the day, she could afford to work longer days. when both parents began teaching again, they enrolled jiseok in a taekwondo class after school. he was good at it. he enjoyed the outlet from the noisiness that was a household that has two new twin babies living in it. he liked being at a place with faces he didn’t recognize from school. he was quite clumsy and rowdy in daily life growing up, spending many saturday evenings in the emergency room racking up bills for stitches and a cast on his arm after a nasty fall off of a slide. so he liked when he’d go to taekwondo and felt like he had control over his body and the way it moved, and what he could do with it. 

he was elegant, and quick in his movements, earning himself the nickname " kitty " from one of the instructional assistants at his taekwondo club.

now, he liked taekwondo just fine, but he found another love late into his elementary years. as his mom and dad would often work late nights at the school, his aunt jihyun would often pick him up after his post-school taekwondo lesson. she owned a dance studio just down the street and jiseok, kit, would go there to do homework so he didn’t have to spend all night alone. 

the nights he didn’t have much academia work, he would just watch the dancers. eventually, jihyun noticed the careful way he would watch them, and invited him to participate. one half of a dance class was all it took for kit to know that this is where is belonged. 

COLLEGE -- CURRENT ;

jiseok stayed in public school as he entered his high school years, which was frustrating as all of his dance team members began to join fine arts schools. it wasn’t in the cards for him, and he was okay with that. with him entering high school and the twins entering junior high, he knew there was no way his parents could afford private or specialized schools for one of them, let alone three of them. 

he focused on his studies intensely, knowing he had to score well on exit exams and classes if he wanted to be able to pursue a higher education, already stuck with a disadvantage just for attending public high school. he was dedicated and a perfectionist in all aspects of his life. his grades remained impeccable and he attended his dance classes every day after school. he lost sleep most nights in order to get both dance and school complete in a day. 

dancing competitively came shortly after high school began, finally old enough to travel on weekends with his team and compete. the fees were expensive and jiseok was able to fund them with scholarships and odd jobs he picked up here and there. the amount of work that went into it and the nights of sleep he lost didn’t matter to him. he loved dancing. he loved performing. 

it was on those long weekends away from home, tucked away in his own little world that he was a little different from other teammates (or so he thought, but much later in life would learn there were plenty of other people just like him). he had crushes growing up, but the first time he remembers feeling like he was in love –– as in love as he could be at sixteen –– was with a boy he met at a dance competition, who he blossomed a quiet, mostly secret relationship with.

he got outed for having a boyfriend relatively quickly after they began dating, and much to his luck, his parents, the twins, and all of his closest friends were more than supporitve. it didn't take away the sting when he'd get looks from other dancers at competitions, or teachers at school, or the elder's he'd pass on the streets, bravely walking hand in hand with his boyfriend.

now, as he’s studying dance in college and continuing to dance professionally, he still battles whether or not he will ever step foot into the idol-side of things. he likes his anonymity, mostly, and being able to return to normal life after doing backup-dance work for an awards show, or a concert, or an event. 

he’s pretty heavily involved in the queer space at his university and in the performance sphere, and knows that being an idol would mean giving that up, and he’s not sure he’s ready to do that now, or ever. 

LITTLE TIDBITS & TLDR ;

kit started dancing around age 11, the years before that spend in the taekwondo studio where he learned of his own grace and control despite being mostly clumsy and graceless in daily life.

he has two younger twin siblings that he loves like, seriously more than life. hyunsoo & seohyun are 5 years younger than him and have eagerly followed his footsteps in dancing. he's very protective of them.

his primary love is dancing, but has found a real passion for choreographing and teaching. in a dream world, one where he isn't a back-up dancer for idols, he would be a choreographer for some of the biggest names in the industry.

his favorite kind of dancing is contemporary, though it's easily his least practiced –– he just enjoys the vulnerability contemporary choreographies encapsulate.

he's quite the party guy, but mostly casually. it's fun for him on the weekends, especially to be involved in itaewon/the gay scene. he's very proud of himself and outspoken about his sexuality.

capricorn sun, virgo moon, pisces rising. so sorry. god bless. he is equal parts controlling (re: himself, his situations, etc., not so much other people though like with anyone it definitely translates. especially when he's stressed.) and sensitive. sweet little cry baby. for any and all reasons.

he has 4 tattoos! and a handful of piercings. he got his nipples pierced as a dare (but it wasn't very hard to convince him because he had kind of always wanted them done anyway).

he prides himself on having never turned down a dare.

his first year of college, he challenged himself to go on twenty-five first dates, and if nothing else make friends out of it. he got close –– twenty one. one of those dates is one of his best friends now.

bisexual and very open about it

Chronically Tired (he is busy all of the time. perfectionist to his core)

softy softy softy. very affectionate.

like, insanely trustworthy. probably Knows Some Shit

he does smoke cigarettes, pretty regularly. he's super high strung, and this is about the one area of his life where he allows himself this thing that is so clearly bad for him. nictone addiction started pretty young. dance kids.

once he sets his mind on something, he is in it to win it!!! competitive, passionate, determined, whatever you want to call it. all the way down to mario kart.

CONNECTIONS / PLOTS ;

best friend / his person –– i imagine kit would have like a long term best friend, at least since high school. they didn't have to go to school together, since kit went to public school, but maybe they were in the same dance team outside of school? maybe they worked together at an odd job? maybe they were neighbors?

roommate –– although he probably could afford to live on his own with the money gathered from gigs & his job at the studio, it would be much more comfortable to have a roommate !! // song jooha.

"first date number seventeen" –– on his challenge of going on twenty five first dates, he met someone who, in unlikely circumstances, became a close friend. this could have also been a friends with benefits situation, or maybe a slow-burn, or maybe just a friend in unlikely places situation. whatever!!

party / smoking buddies –– again, could be a friends with benefits situation, could be a wingman situation, could just be a we like to drink and bask in each other's presences... maybe they both like to go to the gay bars together. if they're an idol and jiseok somehow knows them, he's confidant number one and will keep your secrets.

dance parter –– dance is where he is the most vulnerable, true form of himself. maybe they dance together at college now, or maybe they've danced together for years, or maybe they do industry work together often.

ex best friend / ex lovers / enemies / enemies to friends / friends to enemies / etc etc etc . . .

very vague plots also listed here... but i am totally open minded, so we can just talk things through or let them happen organically. i love to headcanon though so don't be afraid to shoot me a dm. :)

[magpiefngrl]

do you think writer's block is an actual concrete thing? / what is writer's block to you?

Hey anon! When I wrote the post seeking asks, I'd added writer's block to the end of the things I'd like to chat about, and then deleted it because it is included in woes. But you read my mind!

This is going to be looooong. I'm putting it under a cut x

I've had debilitating writer's block in the past. Debilitating. I used to write and post fic regularly back in 2017-18--and then I stopped. For a time, I'd write but would hate everything. I'd feel empty of ideas and robbed of the ability to convey thoughts on page. I'd cross half my sentences out and doubt every word.

And then: I couldn't look at the page. I would think about opening a doc and I'd immediately distract myself with something else. The dishes, the cat, a new tab. It was like even the idea of writing touched some wound inside me and I'd flinch, I'd get that visceral reaction of "ouch, avoid avoid".

So, for me at least, writer's block is a real thing. It happens, it affects people, and it is so prevalent that thousand of articles have been written about it.

I've come to realise, though, that writer's block doesn't exist on its own. It doesn't just come at someone randomly like an unwelcome lottery ticket. It's an indication of something else.

(a pause here to say that writer's block isn't the time when a creative brain needs to rest. The fallow periods. That's normal, esp if you've overextended yourself. Pushing yourself to write at that time might make the brain rebel, and you might think you've got writer's block when all you need to do is take some time off and fill the creative well with fun activities.)

So what might the writer's block indicate? Anything from fear of failure, to insecurity, to perfectionism, to depression. When I'm depressed, I don't write. I have to treat the depression to get rid of the block. That's easy, in the sense that I know what depression feels like and I know how to deal with it. Or at least I know that it passes.

But fear of failure? Perfectionism? These aren't as easy to pinpoint, not for me, anyway. Also, those of us who have posted fics in fandom have the added stress of disappointing readers/followers. You've no idea how terrified I was about finishing my WIP, 9 1/2 days. I was sure that readers would be like "it's been years in the making so the story must be extraordinary" and then they'd read my normal, totally ordinary story and feel let down. At other times, I'd mentioned/promised birthday gift fics to people and I felt the pressure of time passing and me having nothing to show for it. So much stress.

We say that fandom is a fun place and we're here for the joy of being a fan, but this excessive positivity often doesn't allow for the negative feelings of having a story you're proud of go unnoticed. It happens. To all of us. It hurts like fuck. It hurts to see rec list after rec list and not see your name on it. And you feel like a dickhead for feeling resentment and anger about it, because you're not here for the stats, you're really not, but fucking hell--you thought that was a pretty good story and if no one really agreed, then you're not a good writer, right?

Why does writer's block come after you've posted ten fics and not before the first one, when you're a lot more inexperienced and new at this? I guess, higher stakes. Also, times of vulnerability come and go. Once, during my writer block years, when I was trying to get over it and go back to writing, I received a piece of feedback that devastated me. It hurt me so incredibly much that I couldn't (and didn't) think about a certain story for over six months. It was like this person, unwittingly, reached inside me, found where I was hurting, the soft, wounded part of me, and stabbed me right in the middle of it. It was a good lesson in learning to protect myself when I feel vulnerable emotionally.

Imagine trying to write, worrying that you'll let your readers down, certain that your best story is in the past and you've peaked already, anxious about making little progress and falling behind, upset that no one recs or talks about your latest fic--in other words it was a massive failure--(all of these were things I experienced at multiple times) and that's on top of the author's normal worries about trying to figure out the plot and the characters and whether this POV works for the story. Who wouldn't get blocked?

I'd better stop around here, this is something that I could discuss forever. My leaving thought would be that to treat writer's block one should:

first, see if it is writer's block and not burnout or fallow period, in which case: REST

second, try and reflect on what the block is hiding, and then deal with that.

third, care a lot less. I think, at the end of the day, writer's block comes because we care so much about writing a good story that it becomes an impediment. It helps to care less. I've been posting stories unbetaed in the last couple of years. It's a deliberate decision to take back the sensation of being an amateur writing for the fun of it.

send me an ask!

[cthulhubert]

Catching the Record of Lodoss War OVAs on some channel's "animidnight" block was a formative experience for young me, and its design choices were scarred into my mind as the fundamental fantasy aesthetic. Which, uh, didn't exactly make me an odd one out anywhere because it hews closely to the ISO fantasy mold (and indeed helped make the mold).

"Record of Lodoss War" (I'm using quotes to indicate the literal phrase) is one of those odd-ball translation choices that ended up being iconic, just ever so slightly nonsensical, it stuck in the minds of kids like me that watched it young. A transliteration of the Japanese is Lodoss-tou Senki. -tou just means island; "senki" could credibly be translated as (and this may shock you) 'war record'. It's a specific term in Japanese that refers to the record an officer or attached scribe kept of the battles a military force took part in ("battle chronicle" is also a good translationand by metonymy is used for "military history"). As you might imagine, it's still popular in manga and novel names.

It started out as, not quite a novel, but a "RePlay", a record of the events of a table top RPG campaign, published in a magazine (Comptiq focused on computer games, but apparently content was content, and Lodoss got hugely popular). The mid-eighties predecessor to Critical Role, basically. It did really well, which makes sense, given that the dungeon master and the players were all published writers (the DM would publish what's called the first domestic Japanese high fantasy novels, Rune Soldier, in the same setting). It started out in D&D, but would also be played in Tunnels and Trolls and RuneQuest. In 1989, they ended up publishing their own set of rules, called Record of Lodoss War Companion, and later, Swordworld RPG (2.5edition came out in 2018!).

A series that was inspired and distilled a lot of the concepts that were and would remain popular in high fantasy settings in both Japan and America and then probably inspired another generation of iterations when the anime came back to America.

Some day maybe I'll watch the anime again, it finally got an English Blu-Ray remaster in 2017. I've read the manga and some of the novelizations in the mean time and, to be honest, they were pretty middle of the road, nostalgia notwithstanding.

Thank you for reading my ramble that was intended to be a short introduction to a short video game review.

A 2D exploration platformer with RPG elements (levels, stats, different bows and weapons to equip).

Briefly: a beautiful game. No flaws, but nothing that stands out either.

This game is beautiful. If you like the pixel aesthetic at all, I think you'll also love it. Critical hit in my visual sensibilities. It looks like Symphony of the Night looks in my nostalgia painted memories. The only note: it doesn't exactly take any risks, design wise, but if it did, that wouldn't be very true to the source material would it?

The music works.

Combat is pretty fun, if a bit easy. There are seven elements, you get wind and fire options for your basic attacks, and spells and special bows for the rest. Swapping elements changes your resistances too. The different types of weapons (long sword, knife, two-handed, spear, and throwing) offer some variety, as do the attractive designs. That said, for a melee based game like this, I prefer slightly more technical and challenging combat. Hollow Knight's a good example of my sweet spot, and Blasphemous is also well in my strike zone.

Movement is basically okay. You have to feel like a badass when you leave an after image trailing behind you. The wind element comes with the ability to hover (move slowly in mid air at up to your maximum jump height above ground or water), and they do a couple fun things with that. Other than that, it's all pretty straight-forward, which is a little disappointing.

They do some fun occasional fun puzzles with the archery.

Individual room design was fun sometimes, but the overall map design was lackluster. Yet another victim of the trend where leadership says, "Adding metroidvania tag increases sales, so do it," and design can only respond, "If we take a linear game, fold the map up in a spiral, and occasionally make you back track, that makes a fun exploration experience right?" It's been done worse but it's still not great.

This sort of game tends not to have a lot of story, but what there was was pretty good. One of those cases where the writers have a "twist" in mind, but did not intend for the player to be confused about it at all, just the character. The dramatic irony still makes the pay off satisfying.

It took me about 12 hours to 100%. It's on PC for 20$, which might be worth it. The Switch and PS4 versions are full price games, which is faintly baffling for a game so short, no matter how pretty and nostalgic.

And that's why I've shared so many words with my dash over what's ultimately a decent game; because of the anchor its series dropped in my heart in childhood.

Thank you for reading.

[zingaplanet]

I have been reading old fedal fics because I am still not over Rogers last match, and it’s so strange to see how old fics predict the future and Rogers retirement (I feel like a time traveller from the future)

For instance, in ‘all the roads we have to walk’ a movie is made about Roger and Rafa called ‘Strokes of Genius’. This fic was written IN 2009, and 9 years later, in 2018 there was actually a documentary released about them called Strokes of Genius. Wtf is this witchery?

However, in this fic Roger retires after Wimbledon 2011. We got more than 10 years more??? How lucky are we???

And this is the prediction about their stats: ‘Roger Federer won seventeen Grand Slams, and established himself as the greatest tennis player in the history of the sport. Rafael Nadal played for four years after Federer's retirement, eventually gaining twelve Grand Slam titles, including three more French Open trophies, cementing his place as the greatest clay court player in tennis history.’

Somehow, reality is even better than some fic writers more than a decade ago dared to dream :’)

I KNOW RIGHT!!!

I feel like we fedal fans are actually rlly2 lucky, we're probably the only fandom where they actuallg fulfill and surpass even our wildest imagination lol, AKA not to blow our own trumpet but they love each other more than we love them loving each other

That being said tho, I truly, genuinely believe that their greatest achievement in tennis is not their titles or record breaking grand slams etc but how both of them changed the game in terms of longevity and consistency. It is INSANE how they managed to stay in the top 10 for more than 20 years and Roger winning a slam when he's close to 40???????

That's why I think, perhaps the seed of truth thaf "they made each other" better actually lies. I always thought in terms of careers it's just bullshit because obviously they would've had less competition and maybe won more titles if the other didn't exist, but I think a lot of ppl overlook this longevity aspect. They were able to stay THAT good for THAT long precisely because of each other. Rafa even said it specifically in LC that Roger and Novak motivated him to get back from his injuries every time, I think that's the first time I heard any of them truthfully admit it. Pretty sure Roger said the same in 2017, that he got motivated to come back also because Rafa was there recovering with him.

I think, in the end, the essence of truly making each other's career better doesn't really lie in quantity but quality and Rafa and Roger knows it. They could've won more titles, stayed longer at no 1 etc if the other didn't exist, but they wouldn't have played at that high a level, wouldn't stay at the top that long, and tbh most importantly, they wouldn't have enjoyed it as much as they did.

And by god how much fun did they have!!

[buttsonthebeach]

AO3 Stats Meme

Tagged by @thevikingwoman ! Thanks friend! This was such an interesting exercise.

Going by kudos, my "top" fics of all time are my Mass Effect: Andromeda one-shots, which I still consistently get notifications for - which is always both baffling and flattering to me because it was a game that got panned to the point of never ever getting DLC, and yet people are still out here reading about it! (GIVE US MORE, BIOWARE!) They are followed by "Spreadsheets, Sculptures, and Other Perfect Things," my one and only Stardew Valley one-shot, which I also get alerts for all the time still.

So, ironically, for being a Dragon Age writer - my most "successful" fics are not DA fics at all when you go by the conventional method of looking at kudos.

The two fics I am most proud of - "Reckoning" and "Awakened" - have relatively few kudos compared to those smutty one-shots, but they have a my highest number of comment threads by a long shot, which just brings me such joy. In that sense, I would call them my most successful!

Fic with the most hits: "Body of Knowledge" / Dragon Age: Inquisition / Solas x Ellana Lavellan / Longfic / written 2016-2017

Second most kudos: "Charge" / Mass Effect: Andromeda / Jaal Ama Darav x Sara Ryder / one-shot / written 2017

Third most comments: "Body of Knowledge" (again!) / Solas x Ellana Lavellan / Longfic / written 2016-2017

Fourth most bookmarks: "Spreadsheets, Sculptures, and Other Perfect Things" / Leah x Female Farmer (Penelope) / one-shot / written 2018

Fifth most words: "The World Turned Upside Down" / Solas x Ellana Lavellan / longfic / written 2016

Fic with the fewest words: "Hair" / Jaal Ama Darav x Sara Ryder / one-shot / written 2018

[1000-stars-in-my-ribs]

🖤 looking for mutuals here :) 🖤

hello!! <33 decided to come back to tumblr and have a fresh start. i’m not here to encroach on anyone, ik it probably feels like people are invading from twitter, that is not my intention. that being said, let me introduce myself!

STATS:

cw: 130 lbs, lw: 113, gw: 125, ugw: 106 — 5’5, 19yrs old, had my ed since 2017, diagnosed in 2019. mid restriction, college stoner type

i’m an artist and writer, but i also think i’m occasionally very funny. i adore fashion (i lean romantic goth) and was raised in cult. wow what a sentence. anyway let’s be friends <33

[woollenpharaohs]

woollen_pharaohs’s AO3 rundown So i’ve hit the coveted 1 million wordcount marker on AO3 and on top of that it is coincidentally now over 10 years since i signed up with AO3! No better time to analyse the stats page and talk about my progress as a writer over the last decade. 

I joined AO3 on 14th December 2012 and have published 115 works since then. Here are the main stats as of 1/1/23:

Word counts My longest fic, at 179,562 words is Salvation (A Discography), a Daredevil fic in which the characters assume dual roles as their Daredevil components as well as being musicians heavily based on the real lives of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club band members. It was an ambitous, lengthy work which remains unfinished to this day. It was also the first and only fic I’ve ever had beta read - thank you to wtchcool for all your hard work. The best advice i got from her was to keep chapters short which is something i definitely did not do for this fic, but have taken on board since. 

The fandom i wrote the most words for, other than the Daredevil fandom which totalled 257,093 words laregely dominated by the sheer length of Salvation, was It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia (IASIAP). I wrote a total of 11 fics for the fandom totalling 242,520 words, including a 2 part vampire epic. Written in a similar vein as Salvation, it was a crossover of the IASIP and Fargo (TV) worlds (because both shows starred the same actors) in an attempt to fill in gaps between both narratives and also because vampires are cool. Finishing Murmurations, at 193,299 words across 2.5 parts (.5 being a primer), was a massive personal feat for me. It proved to me that i could write a multi-chapter novel length fic and bring it to a satisfactory conclusion. It gave me the courage to start writing my original novel not long after. 

Hits The total amount of hits I have as of today are 201,896. 

My top 5 most popular fics are:

Play Your Cards Close To Your Chest (Daredevil) with 13,453 hits 

Stillness In Time (Bob’s Burgers/Teen Wolf crossover WIP) with 12,911 hits

Two Sane Guys Doing Normal Things (Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency) with 12,118 hits

Heartbeats (Daredevil) with 9,958 hits

Kiss and Tell (Letterkenny) with 7,474 hits

The popularity of Play Your Cards amuses me. I tried to do a 5+1 thing but couldn’t think up of enough pranks. Some of them are based on real things that happened to me and the rest on google lol. I am not too proud of the prose and am consistently surprised when i get kudos for this fic. One thing i did really enjoy about writing and posting this fic was the amount of support i was getting from the Daredevil fandom. It’s got to be one of the best fandoms i’ve ever written for. 

Stillness in Time also cracks me up. I swear the hits must be as high as they are because of the fandom crossover is fucking bonkers. Literally don’t know what I was thinking. I definitely had not end in mind for that fic so it will remain a WIP forever. Sometimes i want to orphan this fic but it’s just too funny not to have attached to my username. 

Two Sane Guys - genuinely proud of this fic. Likewise with Hearbeats. Kiss and Tell though? Don’t even fucken remember what that’s about. 

Most prolific year I’ve published at least one fic every year since 2012 when I made my account. I also back-dated a fic i published on fanfic.net from 2009. 

In 2017 I wrote a total of 25 fics for a total of 126,369 words. I wrote for 12 different fandoms, the most being 6 for IASIP and 5 for Letterkenny. 2017 was probably my best year for writing and creativity. Some of my favourite fics i have ever written are from 2017, such as: 

Television Blues (As You Are (film)) - An alternative, happy ending to the film. 

The Burning House (IASIP) - a short fic where Mrs Mac and Bonnie Kelly are kind of in love but also want to murder each other. 

The Edge of The World Pt. 1 (Pond (band)) - I had just come back from a creative writing workshop at uni and poured all of my creative energy into this piece. I think it’s probably the best thing i’ve ever written though it probably doesn’t make any sense to non-australians. 

2017 also saw me writing for a variety of rarepairs, rare fandoms, new kinks and was the year i started writing Murmurations. That being said, it’s also the year where i wrote a bunch of fics i can’t even remember. Like all those Letterkenny and Rhett & Link ones? Completely wiped from my brain. Looks like my writing but did I write it? who knows. 

2022 follows closely having written 22 fics, 3 less than 2017 but with a slightly higher word count at a total of 129,420 words. During 2022 i was mostly writing music RPF and blutchest. I attribute this to being absolutely deranged. 

Comments and Kudos The total number of comment threads I have are 658 with a total of 13,665 kudos!!! Amazing. Thank you for anyone who has ever commented/kudosed my fics. The most comments I have received is 71 on the first part of Murmurations, followed by 62 on the second part. I received 31 comments on Salvation and 28 on Play Your Cards. 14 of my 115 fics have not received a comment which is pretty good in the grand scheme of things. 

That being said, I usually don’t pay attention to comment counts. I love getting comments don’t get me wrong but i don’t think comments or hits are a genuinely good representation as to whether my readers actually like the work. Kudos is probably the best way to gauge it.

Top kudos count favours the Daredevil fics I’ve written. 

Top Kudosed fics:

Play Your Cards - 790 kudos

Two Sane Guys - 686 kudos

Spin The Bottle (Daredevil) - 638 kudos

Heartbeats - 636 kudos

White Noise (Daredevil) - 481 kudos

Still amused that Play Your Cards is up there at number 1. Spin The Bottle i assume is up there because it was the first shippy matt/foggy fics to be posted to ao3 when the show was airing on netflix. It’s high kudos count i attribute primarily to thirst of readers at a time when the post-comics Daredevil fic content was a wasteland. People still seem to really like my Daredevil fics given i still get kudos notification emails about them. Maybe one day it will be another fandom. 

Ship categories Looks like my most popular ship category was m/m, with a total of 86 works for that type of ship, followed by 15 for femslash. 

The 2 ‘other’ are used specifically for Ragnarok (TV 2020) because one of the shipped characters is a shapeshifter, able to to shift between boy and girl and even have body parts of both at will. I thought that’s probably an appropriate reason to use the ‘other’ category for lol.

Bookmarks Readers have bookmarked my fics 1,511 times. I usually don’t care about bookmarks either because users can remove bookmarked works. It’s not a permanent stat like a hit or a kudos. What i do love are people who leave comments in the bookmark sections. I don’t mind that some of them are rude, they make me laugh. Here are a few of my favourites over time: 

I got bored of going through all the bookmarks, i’m sure there’s more good nuggets in there. i think my favourite thing about bookmarks is sometimes users forget that it’s actually a publicly viewable feature unless they make it a private bookmark. it’s like a second way to get a comment and i love to see what people write when they think i can’t see it. 

Fandom firsts One thing i enjoy is creating fandom tags by being the first person to post a fic to it (looks at the camera like in The Office). Tags i’ve created are usually for music RPF. Some i’m proud of starting include Soulwax/2manydjs (band), Pond (band), Raised By Wolves (TV), Key & Peele (TV), Kidding (TV), Intergalactic (TV). In temrs of ship firsts, I’ve written for a lot of rarepairs who have never been written about before and probably never will be again so no use tooting my horn about those lmao. 

I used to also keep track of fandoms i had written for where my fic was the most popular in the fandom but usually in the case of Daredevil, IASIP or even Dirk Gently, a fic’s popularity was usually helped if the author had a strong tumblr following which i have never been able to achieve lol... nor do i really want for that matter given the insane shit i write. I’ll top the rare fandoms by default given nobody else writes for them lmao. easy award! 

Fic titles sometimes i have originality okay? Very rarely. Exactly... 55 out of 115 fic titles have I thought of an original name for a fic, i.e. not a song title and not a direct quote from the fandom the fic is written for. 

Conclusion Well, that’s it! it’s been fun to go through my stats page and see what’s been happening. I hope to one day see some of my other fics exceed the popularity of my current most popular fics but given i now tend to mostly write for fandoms of one, i don’t see that that will change in 10 years time lmao. 

[badboyportrait]

10 year ao3 anniversary!

i joined ao3 on may 1st 2014, and posted my first fic may 2nd 2014. i figured i'd do a roundup of my own stats in the last ten years and see how far i've come! come join me!

(post dividers by saradika-graphics)

the hard stats

most popular fics ever

take my hand (kiribaku, bnha. 2016. 42 comments, 662 kudos, 139 bookmarks)

I need your warmth, you know (hiroaki, kyoukai no kanata. 2014. 2 comments, 241 kudos, 20 bookmarks)

sidetracked (sarumi, k project. 2014. 9 comments, 205 kudos, 21 bookmarks)

top fandoms

a3! (18 works)

ensemble stars! (8 works)

mahoutsukai no yakusoku (6 works)

top ships

kurokei, enstars (7)

bantaiju, a3! (6)

bradnero, mhyk (5)

top tags

character study (9)

fluff (8) || fluff without plot (8)

pre-slash (7)

numbers breakdown

ratings

general audiences (40)

teen and up (11)

mature (5)

explicit (3)

over the years

2014: 10 fics. knk, kagerou project, k, free!

2015: 1 fic. haikyuu!! x k

2016: 7 fics. knb, mikagura, bnha, enstars

2017: 5 fics. enstars

2018: 4 fics. enstars, k, a3!, idolish7

2019: 7 fics. a3!

2020: 4 fics. a3!

2021: 4 fics. a3!, mhyk

2022: 9 fics. mhyk, prsk, yakuza, lost judgement

2023: 4 fics. trigun, a3!, persona 3 portable, mhyk

2024: 4 fics (so far). prsk, a3!, one piece live action

chef's recommendations

most well-written imo & most satisfied with

death, reversed (2023. bradnero, mhyk)

chiaroscuro (2024. juaka. a3!)

infinite/infinitesimal (2022. kanamafu, prsk)

[__] (2019. banju/bantaiju, a3!)

i'm really happy with all of these! these are the ones i'd use to show off my technical skill (structure, language, etc), but it's also a damn good showcase of the themes i'm best at.

personal favs

nuit blanche (2022. kuwana, lost judgement): i wrote this one fast and furious. all passion, didn't look back. it turned out GREAT.

【 ✦ — ACTOR'S CAFE OPEN! ⋆ THE CHUUNIBYOU CLASH OF LIFE AND DEATH! 】 (2021. itaru, kumon, taichi, tsumugi. a3!): super experimental. i think i pulled off the style imitation really well, characterization didn't falter even with the new style, and hit a lot of good humour beats too. i don't often write this kind of style, but i think i'm pretty damn good at it anyway.

personal milestones

position zero (2019. bantai, a3!): the fic where i really started interpreting characters with my own ideas instead of bandwagonning fandom!

>>the death of hyodo juza (2022. bantaiju, a3!)<<: my ultimate goal as a writer was to 1. get really good at character studies, 2. write a 10k oneshot. i accomplished both with the death of hyodo juza!!

what's next

my main goals as a writer have been accomplished!!! i want to set another one to strive towards! one day i'd like to finish a full draft for nanowrimo! i'm not a 50k novel kind of guy, so i'm striving for something that passes all my personal checks within the time limit.

this is lesser on the priority list, but i think it'd be so damn cool to finish one of those month-long challenges. kinktober, writetober, what have you...a full-fledged 1k+ fic for every day of the month. it sounds impossible, but i'd feel so good about doing it!

for 2024, here's what i've got:

match the number of fics posted in 2014 (10). that 10-year parallel is deeply satisfying to think about!

join kanamafuweek!

complete soundtracks: ensemble!

finish at least one more wip from my drive!

and as always,

keep writing (the more the better!)

keep improving (as long as i write, i'll improve!)

like i say at the end of every a3 fic i write: thanks for reading! see you next fic!

[pipermca]

Writing Update - April 2024

April was a good month, I think! We went to visit my family, and saw an eclipse! Of course, while we were away I didn't get a huge amount of writing done, and that was reflected in my stats.

Despite a push near the end of the month, I did not make my goal. I only wrote 2,652 words in April. I thought a lot about writing, but didn't get many words down. However, I did get a few things published, so that's good!

The sketches for the Reverse Big Bang were made available for writers a few days ago, and I've been spending some time poring over those options. There is so much good art, and I cannot wait to see the fics that come out of those pieces! I have a tentative list of my own picks; I need to get over my choice paralysis and just submit them.

I'm setting my goal for May at 3000 words again. It feels like a good place for me right now.

Posted

Another Day in Paradise. 4400 words. I had been wanting to work on this one for a while, and finally got around to it. It fills in the backstory on exactly what happened to Trailbreaker, as described by Hound in Mind, Body, and Soul. It's a little dark, which is probably why it didn't get much feedback. Oh well, it is something I wanted to write!

Diplomatic Relations. 1200 words. When the Transformers: One trailer came out, there was a tiny three-second bit that inspired this story. While my previous fic was barely read at all, I'm very lol'd about how well this silly thing was received.

Charge You Up. 1900 words. This fic was reposted/rewritten. It was backdated to its original posting date (November 22, 2017) so it didn’t appear on AO3’s “front page.”

WIPs

Sun and Moon (working title). 47,000 words. Still plugging away at this thing.

[signalwatch]

So, here we are in 2023.  

In addition to Direct to Streaming Christmas movies, I've been throwing on the Hallmark Channel since way back in November.  

Apparently what both Jamie and I need this year is to just zone out for 90 minutes from time to time, and to be able to talk over a movie featuring characters we don't really care about a whole lot.  And that's absolutely the intention of a Hallmark Christmas movie - a minimum of drama and plot, reasonably good looking people predictably falling for each other, and a happy ending that guarantees these people will now be as boring as you are, because the events of this movie was the biggest thing to ever happen to them.

I copped to watching the film in 2015 and wrote my treatise on Hallmark movies back in 2017, and I think it shocked a lot of you to find out how very, very much I know about these movies that so many so casually get sniffy about (with good reason, tbh).  But a lot has occurred since 2017.  We're in the dark future of 2023 now, and the world is not what it was.  

A very, very big part of me would love to know how Hallmark works and how these movies come into being.  I have some theories based loosely on what I knew from a friend's mom who wrote Harlequin Romance novels, but there's zero confirmation on any of this.  I'd just be guessing.  

But it's not a mistake that these movies have similarities that go beyond "girl with a Christmas-themed name goes to small town, meets guy in plaid".   It's an endless sea of similarities, and there's practically nothing else like it in media - like, they get to do drafts and check stats to see what works in real time as they release 85 new movies each year (this is barely hyperbole - there are 42 in 2023). But I strongly suspect Hallmark is cooking up packages they send out to potential writers with a list of things that their movie should contain, and then they make most of those scripts.   Again - I don't know this, but otherwise the similarities would only happen because of Holiday Magic.

Over the years the movies have, in fact, changed as Hallmark has tweaked their formula.  Folks who don't actually watch Hallmark Christmas movies assume they're still making the same plot where a young woman realizes she just fell in love with single Santa, but, ho ho NO!  That hasn't been a thing for years.  They still do royalty, but they tweak it quite a bit.  And I am pretty sure I haven't seen a single movie this year about a young woman returning home or stuck in a small town who then meets a kind-of-handsome man in plaid who makes her want to give up her big city dreams (although I've seen men coming to a small town).  And not a baking contest in sight.

In the mid-2010's, Hallmark decided quantities of movies was better than quality of movies.  And that had multiple effects that carry through to today.

1)  The era of FX is done.  That means no more movies where they fly to the North Pole or an elf magically decorates a tree.  So, no more stories with magical beings, because it means less movies if the budget went to CGI Northpoles and extras in elf costumes.  And fewer movies means people tune away faster.

2)  So long, star power.  Which, honestly, is kind of a bummer.  A *huge* draw for me initially was seeing "oh, what's that actress I recognize from that show from 10 years ago doing in this?  What's her deal?"  But it turns out it's way cheaper to go hire a random Canadian actress than get, say, Alicia Witt.  With Canadian local talent, you can make two or three movies, and people will just leave their TV on because they haven't seen that movie yet, but they've seen the Alicia Witt movie and might click away.  

Now, people really follow these movies, and that means that the fans have sort of made these Canadian stars into their own niche type of celebrity.  They follow their favorite Hallmark stars, because of course they do.  Heck, I have a couple.  And Hallmark is always trying new people on to see who is going to land.

And, you can go see these actors at a Con.  Because of course you can.*

Like I say - Over the years, you could guess there were themes handed down from Hallmark central.  "This year we're doing movies about soldiers and/ or veterans", etc...  It was always a trick to spot what the new thing was that year.   I suspect that they  can have, say, Lacey Chabert show up and read five or fifteen scripts with essentially the same premise, pick the one she wants to do, and the rest get handed out to the Hallmark B and C-List stars, and they're going to make the movies, anyway - just with a lower budget.

Themes this year got a little... hard to pin down.  In 2023, I think they ran multiple new ideas.  

1)  Drama.  These movies have always had basically the same source of drama - someone misunderstands someone else, and this leads to a downturn in the blossoming romance, but then they figure out it's a silly miscommunication, and head right back to the absolute certainty these people are absolutely going to end Christmas Eve in the sack.

But not so this year.  This year, they introduced new plots that were - weirdly stressful.  Which is not exactly why I thought these movies existed.  Characters were legit stressed out, not Hallmark stressed out - where they would just talk through the issue at hand while having coffee with a pal and walking down a picturesque street.  Now it's people mad at parents, not sure who their parents are, and I think I saw two movies where the house construction wasn't done for Christmas.  

Look, Hallmark, I don't need reality butting in.  Don't get cute now.  I want to have these movies on as wallpaper at worst and entertainment I can forget about fifteen minutes later as my best scenario.  I do not want to deal with generational trauma or people dealing with the stuff I'm avoiding by watching your sorta-pretty-people handing each other coffee.

2)  International travel.  Uh, look.  This was mostly Americans going to Europe and exploring their European roots, which is something Americans think they should do, but, honestly - we shouldn't.  Nothing sucks more than a 10th generation American deciding they need to talk about how "German" they are or whatever.  You're from Cleveland, it's fine.

And, look, I'm not sure in 2023 that what you need to be doing is getting people really excited about and romanticizing their European heritage.  Like - there's a name for that, Hallmark.

That said, it's wild to see Lacey Chabert and Scott Wolf in Ireland doubling for Scotland, claiming a Duke-dom.  Amazing.  No notes.

3)   Why not a mystery?  Well, Hallmark has been defying Lifetime's belief that all people want is stories of domestic situations gone bad and traded that for low-stakes "cozy mysteries" for years.  Now their Christmas movies and mystery movies met under the mistletoe and had a baby.  A kind of bland, boring baby. 

Look, I get that they have a whole channel called "Hallmark Mysteries".  I guess it was inevitable someone would decide we'd need to crack the case of the reindeer ornament or whatever, but this is putting a hat on a hat.   

A few years back something shifted down Hallmark way.  And it kind of needed to.  Audiences were noticing these movies were maybe a little too lily-white, which is just not how America works, so the movies began to feel... weird.  Why *not* cast more people of more diverse backgrounds?  And not just as background characters in the inevitable Christmas Eve singalong sequence that wraps the movie?

I'd say Hallmark has stepped up their game.  As always, it's imperfect.  But it's not the WASPy world it was back in 2017.  There are movies branded "Mahogany" made by and for Black audiences (Mahogany is also a card line from Hallmark).  Queer characters get larger parts and are not just coded and a component of the Big City lifestyle that must be abandoned.  There are Hanukkah movies.  I will now stop listing non-straight, White things one can be, but Hallmark has found diversity, and the creeping feeling maybe you're supporting White Nationalism by watching these movies is reduced a bit. 

The move to diversify, however, was not going to work for the former head of Hallmark programming and former Hallmark darling Candace Cameron Bure, who is not as insane as her brother, but who went to start her own TV network just so she could keep making movies just about straight, white people.  Which is absolutely telling on yourself, but ok.  

So, Bure is now at Great American Family, a network I cannot get at my house and have not missed.  But she also landed several of her fellow Hallmark darlings, from Chad Michael Murray to Danica McKellar.  So that's where they went.

Some stuff we noticed this year:

The international movies were kind of weird, with the movies filmed in Europe but starring people of the wrong nationality as the people from that country.  Irish people as both Scottish and Norwegian people.  Just... make an Irish movie.

They kept casting people literally decades too young for the roles they were playing.  It was *weird*.

The male talent is now almost exclusively from a very small Hallmark stable, and I have several questions about why I have no facial recognition with any of these guys, learning they've been in 10 of these that I've seen when I look at IMDB

I saw like one thing baked all year, and it was in Norway

The writing is trying to be quirky, and I'm not sure the directors and editors have caught up.  It feels almost like the actors have gone off script sometimes or an idea isn't landing because the film just doesn't want to deal with, like "oh, isn't this weird ornament funny?" and we keep going back to it, and... it's not funny? 

I couldn't tell you which movies Jamie and I have watched so far - it's a blur.  I've probably seen...  at least 12 or 15 in part, and that included probably 7 from start to finish.  We watched 

the oddly snowless Norwegian movie

the one where Lacey Chabert goes to Ireland Scotland

a movie where Kimberley Sustad wears an elephant necklace

one where Lacey Chabert lives in the worst neighborhood imaginable where one is forced to love Christmas

One where Autumn Reeser keeps coming back to a tree lot, thirsty for the tree guy

One where some dumb kid goes off in a boat on the ocean by himself at night on Christmas and kind of ruins the day for everyone

And a bunch I've already forgotten 

And many, many parts of movies 

Anyway, it's a weird period of transition.  I don't blame Hallmark for trying new things.  Incremental novelty is going to be the thing that keeps people coming back.  

I know it's probably a little mysterious as to why I'm back watching these movies.  Again.  But at this point I'm just watching to see, year-over-year, what they're going to do next.  I guess on some level I enjoy also having something on in which I have no real investment and nothing is asked of me as a viewer, which is what I think a lot of people watch reality TV for.  And it's a sort of cultural study at this point. 

Part of me will also admit - at the end of the year, I just don't want to deal with, and do not have time for, anything super serious.  Which is why I resent very important Oscar movies getting dumped in December.  I have neither time nor inclination.  But, sure, I'll watch some would-be country music star discover found family in a town with a name like "Festive Corners" or whatever.  That sounds about like what I've got mental bandwidth for til January 2nd.

I don't really have access to Lifetime or other channels doing this type of movie, so y'all will need to report in if there's anything to discuss.

*if Hallmark comes across this post and wants to sponsor my trip to 2024 ChristmasCon for some in-depth coverage, I am in