Year in fic meme

[hedda62]

philomytha did this meme, and I thought, oh my gosh, I actually wrote fic this past year, so I can do it too. I also finished a novel (#4) so I might stick mentions of that side of things in as well.

Because I am lazy about coding, I'll just name stories and you can find them all here. Novel alas is not there.


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

Well... more. Since I had no firm expectation of writing any. I kind of astonished myself, actually.

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January?

Hm. All of it? Didn't think I'd write so much Gregor/Laisa, for sure. I also didn't think I'd write the revised opening for Time for Tea that I said over and over wouldn't work.

What's your favorite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest?

The one that still makes me grin all over is "Time Enough To Sleep" (which is kind of scary considering the subject matter, but there you are). I am also very happy with chapter 28 of Not Time's Fool, among other bits. I have to admit that my very favorite line is in "Offerings" when Miles says "Holy fucking shit" (it works better in context) or perhaps when he calls Gregor "the Modestly Fishing for Compliments."

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

Just getting back into writing fic was a risk; within that... I wrote a scene from Bothari's POV? In the novel, the biggest risk was writing one chapter that covered seven months of time, and I think it worked.

From my past year of writing, what was your...
Best story

They've all got their moments, but I think "Imperial Bedrooms" is the best, in the tour-de-force sense.

Story Most Underappreciated by the Universe

I don't feel in the least underappreciated, but I am still amused that "Time Enough To Sleep" has a lower hit count than the stories coming after it in its series. I'm assuming that's due to a) the Dorothy Sayers dedication panicking people who haven't read her (really, it is not necessary) or b) the ew!het aspect (which is far less dominant therein than the discussions of capital punishment) or c) the fact that I announced it to my potential reading public as a bit of self-indulgence and called attention specifically to naked!Gregor. But all those who matter have read it and appreciated it. Thank you.

Most fun

"Offerings," hands down.

Most disappointing

Not really disappointed by any of it. But I may yet go in and fix the horrible logistical howlers in "Single Combat" and "The Broken Sword." Okay, and I rushed the writing of the latter a bit, and it shows.

Most sexy

Since "Imperial Bedrooms" is the only fic with any significant amount of sex in it, I guess it wins. There were also a couple of nice racy moments in the novel.

Story With a Single Sexy Moment

Well, if we mean the story that only has only a single moment of sex in it... "Single Combat," "Time Enough to Sleep," or "The Emperor's Garden" all qualify. If I can go with "suggestive," the boat scene in "Offerings," or with "sensual," the river of roses in "The Emperor's Garden."

Hardest to Write

"Imperial Bedrooms" and "The Emperor's Garden" were logistically challenging. If you want "written with tears running down my cheeks" then I have to go for Bernard and Lena's letters in the novel.

"Holy crap, that's wrong, even for you" story

Heh. I woke up yesterday with a Gregor/Ekaterin story in my head, and started writing it down. It is not entirely without interest. Whether I excavate a real story out of the first-draft crap will depend on if I can stand that I'm actually doing it (the file name is "i am so going to hell"). However, that is 2012 (or, you know, never), and frankly I'd written worse than the Aral/Ges scene in "Imperial Bedrooms" before, so nothing really qualifies. Wilfrid/Beatrice, maybe, but I didn't take that as far as I might have (not so much my moral standards as my sense of balance).

Most Unintentionally Telling

I think I have a fairly good handle on my subconscious motivations; at least I figured out pretty quickly that I was leaving Miles out of the Lion's Cub Series and turned that to later advantage. My obsessions with Gregor Vorbarra and Wilfrid Jansen are also out in the open. I don't know; you tell me.

Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the New Year?

Well, duh, get Time for Tea polished up and see if I can get someone to buy it. Do some research for #5. Sell something to a gardening magazine. Write some more fanfic, since it's fun. Do not attempt a Dalziel&Pascoe/Vorkosiverse crossover, as it is temporally and spatially impossible, even if it would allow me to call Simon Illyan a funny bugger.