2021 Writing (Year in Review)
Jan. 1st, 2022 09:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yelpThis year, I posted 105k words on AO3. This is about half as much as I wrote in 2020, but still an incredible feat for me.
Overall, it was a good year for writing, and I had a lot of fun creating the stories I did. 300k+ words later, I'm still shocked that I'm allowed to write whatever absurd nonsense comes to mind and just... post it on the internet; that there's no fic police waiting to slap the keyboard out of my hands and send me to fic jail for my fic crimes.
I did a lot of exchanges this year, probably more than was healthy (more reflections on this in the meme answers below). I wrote my first DVD Commentary, which was a cool way to reflect on and document my own writing process, and participated in my first remix exchange, which let me create my take on someone else's work, and see someone else's take on mine.
I almost managed to keep myself to one WIP at a time, but I slipped up towards the end of the year. I'm finding that I enter a dangerous zone when I have the remainder of a story outlined in broad strokes. I lose some of the motivation to keep writing that comes from wanting to see for myself what happens (because I already know), but it’s also too much hard work to figure out the specifics of how we'll get there, so writing the next chapter is a struggle. Sigh, writers can be such ridiculous creatures.
One small, silly achievement: I noticed my AO3 account has been hovering near 100 subscribers for the past month or so, and I just managed to hit that milestone before the end of the year. Major thanks to everyone for reading what I put out, and for not calling the aforementioned fic police on me. I'm so honored to be allowed into your inboxes and your eyeballs.
My AO3 stats at the end of the year:
Meme questions:
Best title: "The Substitute King" In contrast to random poetry/song lyrics, this one is simple, direct, and tells you exactly what the story is about. It actually does the job of titling the contents of the story, which I rarely manage!
Worst title: "The Cold of Snow Refreshes the Soul" Yikes! I wanted to match thematically with its prequel, "A Soft Tongue Can Break the Bone", which is from the book of Proverbs in the Bible. I tried to find something in a nearby verse, and ended up with this. I feel it's passable, but also feel a mild pang of embarrassment every time I scroll by.
Longest title: "The World Changes (And I Do Too Remix)" (38 characters), because I heard that's how you're supposed to title remixes.
Shortest title: "77" (2 characters)
Best first line: "In the fledgling start of a city not yet grown into its name, lies awake a tired yaksha recently divested of his. Sleeping soundly next to him is the Archon responsible, for the names and the insomnia both."
Worst first line: "I'd been waiting ever so long," says Mira out of nowhere, "to find players that were suited for it."
Best last line: "It only flies between them, light and inconsequential, shared as freely and as easily as the flow of laughter and conversation, while the timer ticks ever closer to the end."
Worst last line: "What can I say? You've given me so many gifts. I'm glad I could finally give you something in return."
Conclusion: I need to work on dialogue...
Looking back, did you write more fics than you thought you would this year, less than you thought, or about what you predicted? More!! I didn't write one down last time, but let me make a prediction for next year: I'll guess 60k words for 2022.
What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted last year? I suppose "The Man from U.N.C.L.E."? I watched this on a whim because I saw a pinch hit requesting it. The pinch hit ended up getting done without me, but somehow an idea had germinated, so I wrote it anyway.
What’s your favorite story this year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you the happiest. Perhaps You Are Pain Pinned to Muscle. I've been requesting this prompt in several exchanges (futilely - I don't think much of anyone in the exchange scene is into this fandom), and it's almost a relief to take a stab at it myself. Now let's see if I can finish it...
Okay, NOW your most popular story. Solid as Stone! zhongguang shippers are incredible.
Story most underappreciated by the universe? The Substitute King. Feels a bit weird to complain about problematic porn being underappreciated, but IMO it is similar in content and length to my more popular works, but didn't appear to be well liked. My answer to this question last year was also my fill for Heart Attack Exchange - it's possible something about the exchange is not conducive to feedback. But it's also possible that the stories themselves are not good; writing a 10k story in two weeks doesn't produce the best results!
Story that could have been better? The story I put here last year was one that probably should have been longer, but I didn't feel comfortable continuing due to it being an exchange fic. I again feel this way, this year about Millions of Miles Under My Heels, so I'm definitely seeing a pattern.
Saddest story? Ginkgo, I think. Though the tone was lighter, the situation was sad.
Most fun? Linchpin. The canon was extremely fun, and having just consumed it a few days prior, I was still amped up on that vibe.
Most fucked-up story? On the Origin of Monsters (lack of link intentional).
Hardest story to write? The Cold of Snow Refreshes the Soul. I felt so much pressure writing for the same person again, and I didn't want to let them down.
Easiest/most fun story to write? Of Tricks and Treats. I saw some great, seasonal fanart and immediately jotted down an outline. Came back from running some errands, fleshed it out, and had it finished and posted it within hours.
Top five scenes you would like to see illustrated: Xiao in feathered leotard with Zhongli in coattails (The Flying Trapeze), original characters Nabonidus and Semiramis looking imposing in their robes and tattoos (The Substitute King), Hades!Hiruma pulling Cereberus off Heracles!Habashira (The Twelfth Labor of Habashira(cles)), Tsukasa and Senku eating ramen on a random rooftop (You Are Pain Pinned to Muscle).
Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them? I've done exchanges before, but this year was when I really went hardcore into them. It was inspiring to write to prompts and a like list; sometimes when you're just writing for yourself, you wonder if anyone will even care to read what you're putting down, so knowing you're tailoring your work to at least one person's interests can be helpful. Writing a bunch of stories to order also gave me a much better grasp on how "long" a potential story idea feels, both a rough wordcount and a sense of how long it would take me to write and polish.
On the other hand, I found myself really wrapped up in wondering if my recipient liked what I created for them, and I didn't like the anxiously nail-biting, inbox-refreshing person it turned me into, if, for any (totally valid) reason, I didn't hear back right away. I'd like to take away the positives (the fun atmosphere of shared creativity, the inspiration that can flow from other people's prompts), while cutting back the negatives. I'll definitely do fewer exchanges in the future, but look out for more opportunities to get inspired in similar ways.
What are your fic writing goals for next year? I have two ongoing projects, including one that I started over a year ago, which I feel rather guilty about not finishing. I’d like to wrap those up! I also want to work more on original things, but I did say that last year too. On the technical side, the main things I want to focus on are clarity and conciseness.
Overall, it was a good year for writing, and I had a lot of fun creating the stories I did. 300k+ words later, I'm still shocked that I'm allowed to write whatever absurd nonsense comes to mind and just... post it on the internet; that there's no fic police waiting to slap the keyboard out of my hands and send me to fic jail for my fic crimes.
I did a lot of exchanges this year, probably more than was healthy (more reflections on this in the meme answers below). I wrote my first DVD Commentary, which was a cool way to reflect on and document my own writing process, and participated in my first remix exchange, which let me create my take on someone else's work, and see someone else's take on mine.
I almost managed to keep myself to one WIP at a time, but I slipped up towards the end of the year. I'm finding that I enter a dangerous zone when I have the remainder of a story outlined in broad strokes. I lose some of the motivation to keep writing that comes from wanting to see for myself what happens (because I already know), but it’s also too much hard work to figure out the specifics of how we'll get there, so writing the next chapter is a struggle. Sigh, writers can be such ridiculous creatures.
One small, silly achievement: I noticed my AO3 account has been hovering near 100 subscribers for the past month or so, and I just managed to hit that milestone before the end of the year. Major thanks to everyone for reading what I put out, and for not calling the aforementioned fic police on me. I'm so honored to be allowed into your inboxes and your eyeballs.
My AO3 stats at the end of the year:
Meme questions:
Best title: "The Substitute King" In contrast to random poetry/song lyrics, this one is simple, direct, and tells you exactly what the story is about. It actually does the job of titling the contents of the story, which I rarely manage!
Worst title: "The Cold of Snow Refreshes the Soul" Yikes! I wanted to match thematically with its prequel, "A Soft Tongue Can Break the Bone", which is from the book of Proverbs in the Bible. I tried to find something in a nearby verse, and ended up with this. I feel it's passable, but also feel a mild pang of embarrassment every time I scroll by.
Longest title: "The World Changes (And I Do Too Remix)" (38 characters), because I heard that's how you're supposed to title remixes.
Shortest title: "77" (2 characters)
Best first line: "In the fledgling start of a city not yet grown into its name, lies awake a tired yaksha recently divested of his. Sleeping soundly next to him is the Archon responsible, for the names and the insomnia both."
Worst first line: "I'd been waiting ever so long," says Mira out of nowhere, "to find players that were suited for it."
Best last line: "It only flies between them, light and inconsequential, shared as freely and as easily as the flow of laughter and conversation, while the timer ticks ever closer to the end."
Worst last line: "What can I say? You've given me so many gifts. I'm glad I could finally give you something in return."
Conclusion: I need to work on dialogue...
Looking back, did you write more fics than you thought you would this year, less than you thought, or about what you predicted? More!! I didn't write one down last time, but let me make a prediction for next year: I'll guess 60k words for 2022.
What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted last year? I suppose "The Man from U.N.C.L.E."? I watched this on a whim because I saw a pinch hit requesting it. The pinch hit ended up getting done without me, but somehow an idea had germinated, so I wrote it anyway.
What’s your favorite story this year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you the happiest. Perhaps You Are Pain Pinned to Muscle. I've been requesting this prompt in several exchanges (futilely - I don't think much of anyone in the exchange scene is into this fandom), and it's almost a relief to take a stab at it myself. Now let's see if I can finish it...
Okay, NOW your most popular story. Solid as Stone! zhongguang shippers are incredible.
Story most underappreciated by the universe? The Substitute King. Feels a bit weird to complain about problematic porn being underappreciated, but IMO it is similar in content and length to my more popular works, but didn't appear to be well liked. My answer to this question last year was also my fill for Heart Attack Exchange - it's possible something about the exchange is not conducive to feedback. But it's also possible that the stories themselves are not good; writing a 10k story in two weeks doesn't produce the best results!
Story that could have been better? The story I put here last year was one that probably should have been longer, but I didn't feel comfortable continuing due to it being an exchange fic. I again feel this way, this year about Millions of Miles Under My Heels, so I'm definitely seeing a pattern.
Saddest story? Ginkgo, I think. Though the tone was lighter, the situation was sad.
Most fun? Linchpin. The canon was extremely fun, and having just consumed it a few days prior, I was still amped up on that vibe.
Most fucked-up story? On the Origin of Monsters (lack of link intentional).
Hardest story to write? The Cold of Snow Refreshes the Soul. I felt so much pressure writing for the same person again, and I didn't want to let them down.
Easiest/most fun story to write? Of Tricks and Treats. I saw some great, seasonal fanart and immediately jotted down an outline. Came back from running some errands, fleshed it out, and had it finished and posted it within hours.
Top five scenes you would like to see illustrated: Xiao in feathered leotard with Zhongli in coattails (The Flying Trapeze), original characters Nabonidus and Semiramis looking imposing in their robes and tattoos (The Substitute King), Hades!Hiruma pulling Cereberus off Heracles!Habashira (The Twelfth Labor of Habashira(cles)), Tsukasa and Senku eating ramen on a random rooftop (You Are Pain Pinned to Muscle).
Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them? I've done exchanges before, but this year was when I really went hardcore into them. It was inspiring to write to prompts and a like list; sometimes when you're just writing for yourself, you wonder if anyone will even care to read what you're putting down, so knowing you're tailoring your work to at least one person's interests can be helpful. Writing a bunch of stories to order also gave me a much better grasp on how "long" a potential story idea feels, both a rough wordcount and a sense of how long it would take me to write and polish.
On the other hand, I found myself really wrapped up in wondering if my recipient liked what I created for them, and I didn't like the anxiously nail-biting, inbox-refreshing person it turned me into, if, for any (totally valid) reason, I didn't hear back right away. I'd like to take away the positives (the fun atmosphere of shared creativity, the inspiration that can flow from other people's prompts), while cutting back the negatives. I'll definitely do fewer exchanges in the future, but look out for more opportunities to get inspired in similar ways.
What are your fic writing goals for next year? I have two ongoing projects, including one that I started over a year ago, which I feel rather guilty about not finishing. I’d like to wrap those up! I also want to work more on original things, but I did say that last year too. On the technical side, the main things I want to focus on are clarity and conciseness.
