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hatchbacks ([personal profile] hatchbacks) wrote2020-12-17 09:11 pm

2020 Round-Up

2020 Fanfiction Round-Up

Meme source (though I changed up a couple of the questions)
My round-up from 2017, for comparison
Easy linkage to everything on AO3


Overall Thoughts

1. This year I wrote and posted:
2 shortfic collections (14 shortfics overall), 1 chapter of an ongoing fic (more of a collection/anthology than anything else), and 101 individual fics.

2. What were your goals for writing going into this year? Did you achieve them?

I wanted this year to be the Year of Writing For Me. I tried my best to write what I really wanted to write instead of trying to write what I thought other people wanted to read and then getting mad when I didn't get much in the way of feedback. I tried to focus on the process and what made writing fun for me, rather than the response or writing for fandoms/ships/characters/ideas I thought I "should" enjoy more.
I feel pretty successful in that regard! I stopped writing almost completely over the summer because I didn't feel like it (and I had a lot going on in my personal life). I probably would have made myself keep going with SportsFest or ship days or something else during almost any other year, but I made the conscious decision not to overcommit myself, and avoided a lot of stress.

3. What did you try this year that didn't succeed?
NaNoWriMo! I wrote an outline, made a playlist, and...never touched the doc for the rest of the month. Also my brief foray into first-person POV didn't turn out very well, but I posted it anyway. And there were a couple of WIPs I wanted to finish before the end of the year that are still WIPs.

4. What was the state of your WIPs in the beginning of the year, and what's their state now?

I had a lot of WIPs spread across different documents (old fest prompts, regular WIP documents where I'd just move to the next when one got too long). I made several attempts to consolidate WIPs and also made a graveyard doc where I put things I'm not planning on writing anytime soon (or maybe ever) but just want to keep for reference/possibility. Overall though, I came into the year with a lot of half-formed ideas and partially written fics, and I'm coming out the same way (but with different ideas/WIPs), which is par for the course.

5. Any miscellaneous thoughts on this year?

2020 was a pretty terrible year by just about any measure, but I was still able to make a few positive changes in my life, particularly regarding fandom. For years, it had been overall a really miserable thing for me, which I couldn't really admit to myself (or see the extent of) until I had some distance from that. But this year, I enjoyed reading and watching canons. I enjoyed looking at fanart and reading fic and comics. I enjoyed writing, increasingly through out the year, and when I wasn't having fun with things I stopped. I know this is basic stuff, but it's made a huge difference and, especially with this year being what it was, I'm glad I had fandom as a bright light.
Also, I'm so glad I did Peachtober and WIPtober (making myself write at least a little bit about writing every day of October)--they definitely helped me focus on writing what I wanted to write and think more deliberately about what I was writing.

6. Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?
More. I've been revising my expectations all through the year though.

7. What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January?
One Piece. I'm still surprised by that a little bit, but I'm so glad to be back in it, and that I could write for some ships and characters that I'd always meant to years ago but never did.

8. What's your own favorite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest?
Placement! It's an AU I'd been thinking about for a while, and still think about (I'd love to do more). I'm really fond of Theo/Andy, and I think I was able to channel that well in the story, get the details right, and make things come out the way I intended.

9. Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?
I wrote a fic in first-person (From This Side)! I'm not really happy with the way the fic turned out, but it was a fun experience and I think it helped me get into Theo's head better.
Not sure if this counts as a risk per se, but I stuck with a few fics that were tough going, and resisted the urge to just give up and leave them partially-completed in a document somewhere. It felt like a risky way to spend my time to me, anyway!


X Of the Year

10. Your best story of this year:
Placement again. I'm so fond of it! It really was written the way I wanted it to be, which is so rare for me. I love canon divergence AUs in general but I really thought about this one a lot and that comes through in a good way in the story itself.

11. Your most popular story of this year:
By kudos/bookmarks it's Reciprocity, and by comments it's Cul-de-sac and Centrifuge

12. Story of yours most under-appreciated by the universe, in your opinion:
Well, Regression currently has no kudos or bookmarks, and I enjoyed writing that one, so.

13. Most fun story to write:
you are not the pie crust it just all came flooding out and was a joy to write.

14. Story with the single sexiest moment:
The gazebo sex in rain on me, maybe?

15. Story that shifted your own perceptions of the characters:
In Tongue really made me start to connect with some of the HypMic characters--and then I lost it a few days later. Ah, well.

16. Hardest story to write:
Reciprocity, aka The Strawberry Tart Fic. I was not happy with the prose or the structure of this fic and kept writing and rewriting it over and over again. I was pretty rusty when I started it too, and able to recognize it in myself, so I needed to be hard on myself and patient with the story, and...things came together well for it. (I haven't been able to look at it since publishing, though. Maybe in another year.)

17. Biggest disappointment:
I felt really good writing the beginning of Of Subconscious and then it kind of fizzled out for me, and by the time it was done I just wanted to toss it into the void. I wanted to have fun writing it, but I just felt self-conscious.
Speaking more broadly, I wanted to participate in SportsFest more and do more exchanges. It's not something I'm well-equipped to do at the moment, but maybe sometime in the future.

18. Biggest surprise:
In terms of individual stories, foot to head--I'd felt pretty shaky about it (and that had been after trying and giving up on at least 5 different ideas to fill the prompt) but people seemed to like it and it pushed me in way deeper with Law/Zoro heh.
Overall, I think...everything was a big surprise this year. I'm not sure what I expected, but it certainly wasn't this division of fandoms/ships/characters/subjects. Maybe that I wrote more optimistically than I ever would have guessed, especially given all that happened this year?

19. Most unintentionally telling story:
What Matters. While I was writing it, it helped me make sense of some unrelated things.

20. Top 5 scenes from anywhere you would choose to have illustrated:
The sunflower scene from Cul-de-sac / Centrifuge
The koi at the end of Tightened Ties
Mist and Greil's reunion in Beyond Possibility
The baby reaching for the gourd in in your own time
Tashigi up late reading while Law sleeps under her coat from i'll be around

21. Fic-writing goals for next year:
Finish more WIPs. Continue to write for myself, first and foremost, and enjoy the process. Find some way to consistently write/post shortfic again (maybe resurrect my old prompt generator). Write for the characters/ships/fandoms that I didn't get to this year but wanted to.



Stats/List

Total year-long word count: 127,503

Continued Fics:
T's Kitchen (Kuroko no Basuke, kagahimu, NR): +1022 words

Multifandom Shortfic Collections:
Sportsfest 2020 BR Fills (KnB, Free): 3974 words
Twitter (etc) Dump 2020 (KnB, HypMic): 1604 words

Completed Fics:
Zankyou no Terror (1)
Unexceptional Rudeness (129, T): 1037 words

Ouran High School Host Club (1)
What Matters (Kaoru-centric kyokao, T): 1023 words

Baby-Sitters Club (1)
Kristy's Hookup (Kristy/Dawn, E): 2981 words

Promare (3)
Unfrozen (Mad Burnish, T): 1011 words
The Burning Love Hypotheses (Ignis/Remi + Burning Rescue, T): 1626 words
about fire (Galo/Lio, T): 1011 words

The Goldfinch (3)
From This Side (Theo/Andy, T): 1642 words
Placement (Theo/Andy, T): 1961 words
try not to get too bored without me (Theo/Andy, T): 1064 words

Bleach (5)
better than i ever even know (ryuugiri, T): 1026 words
Moon Phase (Urahara/Shinji, T): 1009 words
Spark (Shiba family, G): 1029 words
Tightened Ties (Byakuya & Rukia, G): 1014 words
Reach Out (tatsuhime, T): 1276 words

Fire Emblem (8)
Perpendicularity (Lucina & Chrom, T): 1014 words
Ready for Tomorrow (Olivia, f!Robin, f!Corrin, Veronica, G): 1012 words
familiar disguise (Azura & Shigure, G): 1014 words
Beyond Possibility (Greil & Ike & Mist, G): 1011 words
Filed Away (f!Corrin/f!Robin, G): 1050 words
Cover for Me (f!Corrin/f!Robin, T): 1116 words
Lancer (Lucina, G): 1026 words
Right on the Money (Anna/Fjorm, G): 1014 words

Star Wars (8)
never was yours (Kol/Morrigan, T): 1021 words
Ways to Go (Poe & Rose, T): 1498 words
built on hope (Owen/Beru, T): 1313 words
Of Subconscious (Obi-Wan/Maul, E): 1997 words
in your own time (Mando & Baby, NR): 1159 words
The Spark (Bodhi-centric Galen/Bodhi, T): 1136 words
the motion of the future (Luke, NR): 1014 words
Snow Dunes (Luke, NR): 1018 words

Hypnosis Mic (9)
In Tongue (ramugen, G): 1001 words
lie like this (gendice, T): 1025 words
fossilize (samagen, T): 1032 words
tomorrow's tomorrow (Samatoki/Sasara, M): 1030 words
Dead End Road (Sasara/Rosho, T): 1013 words
Perception (samarosho, T): 1008 words
Big Game (samariou merfolk AU, T): 1234 words
you want to go? (samarosho, T): 1014 words
Craft (samagen, T): 1036 words

One Piece (26)
losers like us (dazcroc, T): 1094 words
On Hand (zolu, T): 1112 words
Dreamer (Ace/Buggy, NR): 1320 words
Reciprocity (zosan, T): 2198 words
Song of the Cicada (zolu, T): 1146 words
i'll be around (Smoker/Law/Tashigi, T): 1037 words
Chance (Bellemere/Genzo, T): 1047 words
rain on me (Shanks/Mihawk, E): 1313 words
you are not the pie crust (kidlaw, T): 1050 words
Fire in Rain (Ace/Marco, T): 1026 words
foot to head (Law/Zoro, T): 1117 words
Lay Anchor (Shanks/Mihawk, T): 1007 words
dark water (Shanks/Buggy, NR): 1124 words
open (Smoker/Law/Tashigi, T): 1026 words
Somehow or Other (Zoro/Johnny/Yosaku, T): 1022 words
Cul-de-sac / Centrifuge (Law/Zoro, T): 1116 / 1378 words
something more delicate (Kid/Killer, T): 1432 words
thinking of (Smoker/Law/Tashigi, T): 1448 words
ripe (Law/Zoro, NR): 1021 words
bonesaw/chainsaw (kidlaw, T): 1010 words
the tide will wait (Law/Zoro, T): 1368 words
starfall (Law/Zoro, NR): 1059 words
Scattershot (Smoker/Tashigi, T): 1076 words
All the Cold Roads (kidlaw modern AU, M): 4255 words
Embargo (Law/Zoro, T): 1013 words

Kuroko no Basuke (37)
disproven by physics (aomido gossip girl AU, T): 1008 words
happy hour (kagahimualex band AU, T): 1014 words
Splash (nijihimu lifeguard AU, T): 1016 words
love in the gutter where we found it (susaima con artist AU, T): 1009 words
rather not pray (nijiao fugitive AU, T): 1008 words
A Reckless Heart (kagahimu, T): 1096 words
do you think we'll be in love forever (garciraki gossip girl AU, M): 1338 words
chatter (Taiga & Tatsuya & Alex, snowboarding AU, T): 1138 words
Over the Rain (kagahimu hockey AU, T): 1009 words
Break the Habit (haikise baseball AU, T): 1147 words
Social Engineering (susaima hacker AU, T): 1018 words
the part where (kagahimu, T): 2269 words
Secondhand Frustration (muramido, G): 1027 words
Regression (garciraki apocalypse AU, T): 1073 words
a line in the sand (kagahimu, T): 1206 words
Tree Trunk (Taiga & Tatsuya & Alex, T): 1019 words
youth fading in twilight (nijihimu, T): 1007 words
long since sailed (aokise, T): 2036 words
Flight (kagahimu merfolk AU, T): 1300 words
Greatness (aohimu hockey AU, T): 1166 words
can't pull me back to the ground (kagahimu wingfic, T): 904 words
champagne for my real friends (aokagahimu gossip girl AU, T): 1027 words
sweet heat (garciraki, NR): 679 words
At Summer's End (haikise gossip girl AU, NR): 1019 words
his rival it seems had broken his dreams (Takao & Miyaji bros, T): 1034 words
dead serious (aokise, T): 1284 words
outrun what you can't name (kagahimu, T): 1019 words
the loss of a different self (Shuu, T): 1013 words
Nomad (Tatsuya-centric kagahimu, T): 1465 words
Shadow (setohana, T): 1010 words
Undefinition (himumayu, T): 1006 words
Compromise (haikise, T): 1013 words
in motion (kagahimualex, T): 1036 words
Steady (kagahimu, T): 1008 words
me with you (Shuu & Zaki, T): 1024 words