Fic Year in Review - 2011

[jedibuttercup]

Over 250k words posted in 2011! Best writing year yet. \0/

I had around the same amount of story posts this year as last, but the wordcount was higher overall. It sounds kind of funny to say this when I've been writing fanfic for ten years now-- but I think I'm finally learning to trust my muses and run with them. I'm enjoying more where the story takes me, taking more risks, and obsessing less about how other people are going to react to this detail or that.

Mom still keeps saying I should be writing "real" stories instead. Sorry, Mom; I've been having too much fun.

---

2011 Fanfiction Totals

(FYI, I still count Yuletide stories with the year following, in which the reveals happen; so this year's count includes the Yule 2010 stories and not the Yule 2011 ones.)

Of the 272,200 words I wrote this year, 72,500 of them were non-crossover. That's a little lower than last year; I think it's due to the fact that this year's Big Bang was a crossover and not a single-fandom entry, as it was in 2010. Probably half that total was in the Fast and Furious universe, back in May. The rest was chiefly a mix between Eureka and Person of Interest, plus a scattering of others.

The crossovers, as per usual, were all over the map. *grin*

For comparison purposes, here are the previous years' totals:

2010 - 207,200 (91,500 non-cross)
2009 - 189,412 (97,800 non-cross)
2008 - 45,058 (25,758 non-cross)
2007 - 141,018 (24,300 non-cross)
2006 - 163,612 (26,136 non-cross)
2005 - 47,878 (All crossovers)

2002, 2003, and 2004 are harder to differentiate, as I didn't keep records of chapters and fics by month until late 2004, so I'm not sure just where everything fell. But between them, it comes to about 196,000 words, or an average of 65,000 words a year, most of it Buffy/Angel non-crossovers.

---

Breakdown of Fic, by Category and Length:

Book and Movie Fandoms, Non-Crossover Fic:

For Those Who Wait - Dresden Files, 1600 words, Harry/Michael
His Own Marking Cord - Four Dragons (SG-1 tie-in novel), 2000 words, Lord Yu (yuletide)

Building from the Ground Up - Ninja Assassin, 2500 words, Mika/Raizo (yuletide)
Keeping Busy Somehow - RED, 2700 words, Cooper & Moses (yuletide)
La Luna del Cacciatore - Alien vs Predator (2004), 2000 words, Lexa & Scar (yuletide)

Balance of Power - Star Trek XI, 4000 words, Teamfic (for emony2)
There's No Going Back - Sorcerer's Apprentice, 1700 words, Balthazar & Veronica & Horvath (for morgynleri_fic)

TV Fandoms, Episode Tagfic:

4.10. Ho Ho Home Sweet Home - Eureka, 400 words, Jack
4.11 Baby, The Skies'll Be Blue - Eureka, 500 words, Allison/Jack (eureka_tag)
4.12 Where The Streets Have No Name - Eureka, 1000 words, Jack (eureka_tag)
4.13 Good Old-Fashioned Insight - Eureka, 900 words, Jo/Zane (eureka_tag)
4.14 Equations of Motion - Eureka, 300 words, Jo/Zane (eureka_tag)
4.15 Some Things Stay the Same - Eureka, 1000 words, Jack & Zone (eureka_tag)
4.16 Conquering Doubt - Eureka, 1000 words, Jack & Jo (eureka_tag)
4.17 Subtracting Himself from the Equation - Eureka, 600 words, Zane (eureka_tag)
4.18 A Little Embarassment Is Good For The Soul - Eureka, 300 words, Jack (eureka_tag)
4.19 Love Bytes - Eureka, 400 words, Jack (eureka_tag)
4.20 Bends in the Undergrowth - Eureka, 400 words, Jack (eureka_tag)

1.1 Defining Relevance - Person of Interest, 500 words, Reese
1.2 A Very Private Person - Person of Interest, 500 words, Finch
1.3 All He'd Had to Do Was Ask - Person of Interest, 500 words, Reese
1.4 He Has His Reasons - Person of Interest, 500 words, Finch
1.5 Benefit of the Doubt - Person of Interest, 500 words, Reese
1.6 The Things He Cares About - Person of Interest, 500 words, Finch
1.7 Eye of the Beholder - Person of Interest, 500 words, various
1.8 Death is Just the Beginning - Person of Interest, 500 words, Finch
1.9 It Doesn't Change Anything - Person of Interest, 500 words, Carter

TV Fandoms, Other Non-Crossover Fic:

Opening the Door - SG-1, 1400 words, pre-slash Paul/Daniel
The Food of Love - SG-1, 900 words, Sam/Teal'c (for maevebran)

A Little Support, Here - B:tVS, 800 words, Dawn & Buffy
Demon's Holiday - B:tVS, 1600 words, Giles & The Cheeseman (for ffutures)
One, and One, and Two Together - B:tVS, 1800 words, Buffy/Wes (for avamclean)

Hold Your Breath and Count to Ten - Falling Skies, 2600 words, Anne-Centric (girlsavesboyfic)
straight on 'til morning - Firefly, 2100 words, Zoe & Mal (for jinxed_wood)

The Beginning Is Now (Don't Turn Around) - Person of Interest, 800 words, Reese-centric
Walking in the Dark - Person of Interest, 1000 words, Reese-centric
Where You Gonna Run To? - Person of Interest, 4200 words, pre-slash Reese/Finch

Fast and the Furious movies, All Fic:

Eighty Percent Devil - Fast Five, 1100 words, Dom/Hobbs
Exit Freeway Right, Accompanied - The Fast and the Furious, 5800 words, Brian/Vince
It's The Little Things - Fast Five, 2200 words, girl!Hobbs
Metaphysical Gravity (The Sunshine Epilogue) - Fast Five, 2200 words, Brian/Mia & Dom/Brian & others
Penciling In His Dance Card - Fast Five, 1700 words, Dom/Hobbs
Tomorrow Never Comes (Until It's Too Late) - Tokyo Drift/Fast Five, 2000 words, Han/Gisele & Han/Sean
Wooing Lady Luck - 2 Fast 2 Furious, 1000 words, Brian & Bilkins

Bem-vindo ao Brasil - The Rundown/Fast Five, 1700 words, Hobbs!Beck/Travis Walker

1. Won't Come Easy - Fast Five, 1500 words, Hobbs & Bilkins
2. Baiting the Tiger - Fast Five, 1500 words, Hobbs & Fuentes
3. Six Thousand Miles From Freedom - Fast Five, 1500 words, Letty/Dom

1. Made That Way - Fast Five, 1500 words, Brian/Hobbs
2. Exercises in Frustration - Fast Five, 2200 words, Hobbs/Mia
3. Not Today - Fast Five, 1500 words, Mia/Hobbs/Brian

1. Waking the Beast - Fast Five/Transformers, 6000 words, Brian/Mia & Brian/Dom
2. The Right of All Sentient Beings - Fast Five/Transformers, 7000 words, Brian/Dom
3. Running Ain't Freedom - Fast Five/Transformers, 9000 words, Brian/Dom, Han/Gisele, past Dom/Letty
4. One Extortionist to Another - Transformers/Fast Five, 2800 words, Sam/Mikaela & Brian/Dom

Other Non-BtVS Crossover Fic:

Bent By Paths Coincident - Firefly/Leverage fusion, 1500 words, Mal & Eliot
Kitchen Confidences - The Rundown/Leverage, 2400 words, Beck & Eliot (for pprfaith)
start the last leaf whirling - Firefly/Star Wars, 1700 words, Tam-centric (for kerrykhat in xover_exchange)
There's No Such Thing as Paranoia - Person of Interest/Leverage, 1300 words, Reese & Eliot

The Carnahan Gene for Luck - Leverage/Mummyverse, 2400 words, Eliot & Rick (for ldydragon7)
Common Cause - Dresden Files/Sorcerer's Apprentice, 1200 words, Harry & Balthazar Blake (for polgara_5)
For Shepherds They Shall Be - Boondock Saints/Dresden Files, 2300 words, McManuses & Dresden (for faithburke)
Gather Seashells While You May - Firefly/Dresden Files, 2000 words, past-Zoe/Harry (for dhark_charlotte)
Isn't That Always The Story? - Firefly/Mummyverse, 3000 words, Mal+River & Rick/Evie (for vialethe)
A Remarkable Resemblance - Mummy Returns/ST:TNG, 1500 words, Ardeth-centric (for jilltanith)
An Uncomfortable Arrangement - Dresden Files/Mummy Returns, 1000 words, Harry & Jonathan (for beckyh2112)

Pausing to Wonder - CSI/Pern, 1200 words, Gil & firelizard (for kerravonsen)
Persistent Illusions - Castle/Sorcerer's Apprentice, 5600 words, casefic (for graycardinal)
A Wonderfully Improbable Chain of Events - ST:TNG/PotC, 3600 words, Lwaxana-centric (for graycardinal)
Where No Sorcerer Has Gone Before - SA/Star Trek XI, 1700 words, Balthazar & Spock Prime (for graycardinal)

Circumventing Causality - Atlantis/Terminator:SCC, 2300 words (for ladyyueh)
An Earthquake in the Force - Atlantis/Star Wars, 3100 words, John & Yoda (for pronker)
Enemy of My Enemies - Atlantis/Predator, 1000 words, Ronon-centric (for Multiverse 2011)
Hypothetically Speaking - CSI/SG-1, 2400 words, Greg & Daniel (for idontlikegravy)
S is for Sufficiently Advanced Technology - SG-1/SA, 3700 words, Team & Balthazar (for SG-1 gen alphabet soup)
Through The Blue Vault of Varda - Silmarillion/Atlantis, 3900 words, John-centric (for ladyyueh)
An Unanticipated Detour - SG-1/The Dresden Files, 3800 words, Teal'c-centric (for bastardsnow)
We Take the Star Trek Express - PJO/SG-1Atlantis, 1700 words, Percy-centric (for starshinedown)

1. Crafting the Victor's Tale - Season of the Witch/Sorcerer's Apprentice, 2900 words, Anna-centric
2. A Lifetime of Waiting - Drive Angry/Sorcerer's Apprentice, 2500 words, Piper & Balthazar Blake
3. Contractual Obligations - Drive Angry/Ghost Rider, 4100 words, Piper & Johnny Blaze

Buffyverse Crossover Fic:

Things We Trade for Freedom - B:tVS/Atlantis, 26000 words, Faith/Ronon
Voices Like Thunder - B:tVS/Falling Skies, 19300 words, Buffy/Kennedy & Tom/Anne

Bringing That Horizon - B:tVS/PotC3, 1000 words, Buffy/Jack
Dating By Hellmouth Rules - Leverage/B:tVS, 1200 words, Eliot/Buffy (for lizbet0)
Like Mayonnaise and Miracle Whip - B:tVS/Jurassic Park 3, 1400 words, Buffy/Alan Grant
The Old-Fashioned Way - Angel/Sorcerer's Apprentice, 1700 words, Wesley & Balthazar Blake (for milady78)
Out of the Silver Sea - B:tVS/Star Trek XI, 1400 words, Bones/Buffy (for kerrykhat)
Spinning the Wheel - B:tVS/Faster/Angel, 2500 words
Unexpected Evidence - CSI/B:tVS, 1200 words, Grissom-centric (for beatrice_otter)
what we make together (a family is) - B:tVS/CSI, 2000 words, Xander & Sarah (for jerseyfabulous)
A Woman's Work is Never Done - B:tVS/Adventures of Brisco County Jr., 1000 words

Better Luck Next Time, Dr. Jackson - SG-1/B:tVS, 2600 words, Daniel & Buffy (for flyingcarpet)
Destiny is a Dirty Word - B:tVS/Percy Jackson and the Olympians, 2900 words, Dawn-centric (for jerseyfabulous)
Experiments in Socialization - B:tVS/Atlantis, 2400 words, Oz & Ronon (for butterflyflame)
Seek, and Ye Shall Find - B:tVS S8/Atlantis, 2300 words, Dawn & John (for rivulet027)
These Things We Know to Be True - B:tVS/SG-1, 2600 words, Buffy/Mitchell (for kerrykhat)
Where My Love Lies, Waiting - B:tVS/SG-1, 2500 words, Tara-centric (for theraces)
Whither The Road May Lead - SG-1/B:tVS, 1800 words, Paul Davis & Faith (for sulien77

3. Herald of Doom - B:tVS/SG-1, 3000 words, Buffy & Landry (for avamclean)
4. Choice of Sacrifice - B:tVS/SG-1, 6000 words, Buffy/Daniel

5. A Spirit of All Compact of Fire - Dresden Files/B:tVS, 4600 words, Harry/Buffy (for pprfaith)
6. Words Unspoken - Dresden Files/B:tVS, 1200 words, Harry/Buffy

1. Long-Delayed Reunion - B:tVS/Firefly, 800 words, Jayne-centric
2. What Separates Heroes - B:tVS/Firefly, 1600 words, Mal-centric
3. Breath and Shadow - B:tVS/Firefly, 2300 words, Buffy-centric

Drabbles & Tinyfic:

Just The Way He Likes It - Chronicles of Riddick/B:tVS, 600 words, Riddick & Buffy (yuletide)

Intergalactic Penpal - Stargate Atlantis/SG-1, 600 words, Teyla & Teal'c
Kindred - Star Trek XI, 300 words, Spock POV
Respawn, Replay - Transformers: DOTM, 800 words, Sam-centric
Set Free - Adventures of Brisco County Jr., 200 words, Dixie-centric
Their Exits and Their Entrances - Leverage, 500 words, Eliot & Hardison

Domestic Virtues - SG-1/Persuasion, 500 words, Sam/Jack (for aella_irene)
Gazing Into the Abyss - Angel/Silmarillion, 500 words, Drogyn-centric (for treppie)
symptoms of peculiar regard - Leverage/B:tVS, 500 words, Eliot-centric

Obstacle and Opportunity - SG-1/Angel, 200 words, Illyria & Daniel (for tthdrabbles)
Resource Reclamation - SG-1/Angel, 200 words, Daniel & Illyria (for tthdrabbles)
strong objections to the lady - Leverage/B:tVS, 200 words, Eliot POV (for tthdrabbles)
the mission is (what matters) - Atlantis/B:tVS, 200 words, Teyla & Robin Wood (for tthdrabbles)
Trust Building Exercises - B:tVS/SG-1, 300 words, Dawn & Cassie Frasier (for tthdrabbles)
Walking This World - Leverage/Angel, 200 words, Eliot & Illyria (tthdrabbles)

---

Major WIP Series/Entries

See For Yourself (B:tVS/SG-1 series, mid-S7/S8, with Dawn/clone!Daniel)
Parts: Four | Five

Adventures in Rome (B:tVS/Mummy Returns, post-S7, with Buffy/Imhotep)
Part: Eight

---

The Year In Review

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

I wrote a little more than I'd have predicted - I broke the quarter-million word mark this year.

I also very nearly caught up on my long list of fics promised to others; it was down to five before Wishlist started. Compared to previous years, that's pretty amazing. \0/

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

Fandom? Person of Interest. That one snared me, hard. Falling Skies, too.
Pairing? Buffy/Kennedy, in Voices Like Thunder. I'd never been tempted to femlash Buffy, before the S8 comics.

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

I wrote my first fic for a "kinkmeme". I wrote femslash, and threesome fic, and genderswap, and some pretty wild crossovers both gen and otherwise that I'd never have tried without prompting. I wrote a lot more non-Buffy, female POV fic, which had been a weak point of mine before. And I completed another "Big Bang".

As I said above, I learned to trust my Muse, and stop worrying so much about what readers will think. I've pretty much proven to myself by now that no matter what wild direction my brain goes in-- while it might not be mega-comment BNF territory, there'll be someone out there besides me who'll appreciate it. And that's all I need!

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

First, finish those five lingering request fic (two of which were for help_japan; I really haven't forgotten!) and the back half of wishlist_fic 2011.

Next, run the tthdrabbles Mod Birthday Ficathon one last time, before turning the comm over to someone who might have a prayer of remembering to post weekly challenges all year long.

Finally, complete more Big Bangs and wrap up my longfic WIPs. I'd like to sort of gather myself to the point I can think about trying to write original fic of novel length in 2013.

5. my favorite story (of mine) this year:

That's really hard to say. I love most of my stories. But the one that probably stuck with me the most was an odd one that didn't get many reviews: Voices Like Thunder, the B:tVS/Falling Skies 19,300 word epic I wrote.

Though I do understand why it wasn't everyone else's. The fic includes comics canon, the main pairing is Buffy/Kennedy, and the cross is with a short-run cable TV post-apocalyptic alien invasion show. The audience for a fic featuring all of those things can't be very large!

6. my best story this year:

I'm going to have to say start the last leaf whirling, the River-as-Force-sensitive Firefly/Star Wars fusion I wrote. That one felt more like faceting a gem that already existed, rather than my usual hammer-to-stone story-shaping slog.

I was pretty proud of Persistent Illusions, my Castle/Sorcerer's Apprentice casefic, as well; and It's The Little Things, my girl!Hobbs Fast Five genderswap fic.

7. the story most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:

Probably Spinning the Wheel, my B:tVS/Faster/Angel story, which went almost entirely unnoticed. Maybe because it features fallout from Buffy's S5 death, an obscure movie character played by The Rock, and Angel's son Connor?

Oooh, or Gazing Into the Abyss, the Angel/Silmarillion cross featuring Drogyn the Battlebrand. Which, yeah; that one would naturally have a fairly small audience, as well.

8. most overrated story, in my opinion:

Um. I'm not sure, maybe Where You Gonna Run To? - that Person of Interest pre-slash story I did. That one really blew up on me review-wise, and I totally wasn't expecting it; I wrote it in bed one Saturday morning on a yellow ruled tablet.

9. most fun story:

How am I supposed to pick just one? Seriously; I had a really great year. I'd end up listing half the stories if I even tried to quantify levels of "fun" here. So I'm arbirarily going to point a finger at:

Bent By Paths Coincident - Firefly/Leverage. Mal + Eliot: ♥

10. most sexy story:

For once, I have a clear candidate for this category. Fast Five consistently tripped ratings up past my usual. The one I'd single out, though, is the Hell of a Mess series, particularly the third chapter; it's a fairly heated Brian/Hobbs, Hobbs/Mia, Brian/Mia, Brian/Hobbs/Mia coda for the movie, totalling 5200 words:

People had been backing down to Hobbs all his life; there was always a fascination for him in the ones who didn't.

11. story with single sweetest moment:

Probably Domestic Virtues, that tiny little SG-1/Persuasion fic with Sam thinking about Jack, post-series.

12. most friendshippy story:

There's probably two that qualify best: straight on 'til morning, the Zoe & Mal story from this year's Wishlist, and Hold Your Breath and Count to Ten, with Anne and Maggie from Falling Skies.

13. the story that made me cry:

Well, maybe not cry, but I did a couple of request fic this year that made my heart ache for the characters:

There's No Going Back, Balthazar et. al. in a non-Disney conclusion to Sorcerer's Apprentice for morgynleri_fic
Out of the Silver Sea, an angsty take on a Buffy/Bones pairing for kerrykhat

14. story that shifted my own perception of the characters:

Honestly? Domestic Virtues.

I've irrationally resented the SG-1 Sam/Jack pairing for years, not because of anything to do with Daniel, but because the UST dragged on for much too long in the show and seemed to exist only for the purposes of making them angst about each other and making Sam act unprofessionally. I hate bimbo!Sam; I much prefer genius!Sam. Writing this little fic, though, opened a window on the positive side of the pairing for me.

15. most unintentionally telling story:

Most anything with angst in it, as per usual. I love the fun ones most, the plotty ones, the challenging crossovers; but I often feel most connected to the ones where the characters bleed emotionally, just a little, around the edges.

what we make together (a family is), the Xander and Sara Sidle dysfunctional family story, probably qualifies best this year; it drew a lot from the life experiences of some people very close to me.

16. hardest story to write:

Hmm. I'd pick two for that category as well, this year.

His Own Marking Cord (the Lord Yu fic) was one that really seized my imagination when I read the canon-- but it was for a book fandom, set in a culture that wasn't my own, and I was desperately afraid of Doing It Wrong. I did so much research for such a tiny fic, OMG.

But for sheer, breaking my brain value? Through The Blue Vault of Varda, in which John Sheppard is a son of Elrond. Yes, that Elrond; and not a fusion: an actual close-to-canon-for-both-sources crossover. I was determined to do a serious rather than a cracky interpretation of the prompt, and it gave me such a headache, piecing it all together.

17. worst story:

This is never easy to pick. But maybe, um... *sifting archive*

Their Exits and Their Entrances, a Leverage drabble with no other purpose or rationale behind it other than that I was pissed with the way Nate treated Eliot early in the season, or A Little Support, Here which was fun for the Dawn and Buffy interaction but had a pastede-on-yay side pairing without my usual careful "of course it makes sense" plotting.

18. biggest surprise:

Probably my new fandoms: Fast Five, Falling Skies, Person of Interest. But particularly Fast Five. I'd been peripherally aware that there were hot men and women doing adrenaline-soaked things in that movie series in previous years, but I'd never felt the overpowering urge to fic about them before. Fast Five grabbed me at least as hard as Star Trek XI did, with much less foundation for it. (I'm really, really looking forward to Fast Six.)

19. story I wish I'd finished:

backagainharry - The circumstances never really came together for me to reconsume the canon and finish this off, but I really, really want it off my plate. I still love the idea of it, but not so much the execution. But it's 50k words in and four and a half years old; I'm not going to just abandon it.

20. story I didn't write but swear I will, someday:

That Tin Man, totally consensual DG/Zero fic I've been threatening for three years. /0\

Comments

[jenna_marianne]

Wow, you are prolific! I'll definitely have to poke through this post for fics I missed. :D

[jedibuttercup]

People keep asking me to write interesting things. And I have a very bad habit of "ooh, shiny". =) Enjoy!

[beatrice_otter]

I know so many people who are great writers who don't trust their skills and think they're horrible writers. It's fantastic that you're figuring out that you are an awesome writer and just need to trust yourself.

[jedibuttercup]

I don't know that I would ever have gotten there without accumulating a bunch of friends that actually like my more outlying stuff; sometimes looking at comment counts in the early days was really discouraging, compared to the BNFs in the various fandoms I posted to. But I don't think I've posted a single story in the last year that failed to find an audience somewhere, even if a tiny one, and that's helped a lot. I don't feel like I'm potentially Doing It Wrong with every story anymore; I'm just doing it... differently, most of the time. =)

[pronker]

You'll feel so good about finishing backagainharry! There is that comm, ficfinishing ...

[jedibuttercup]

I probably will. I just keep hesitating, I suppose, because (a) that's a lot of research and (b) I'm not looking forward to the comments. It's the most intimidating story I've ever worked on, largely due to the size and general temperament of the fandom.

[pronker]

temperament Cranky folks?

[jedibuttercup]

Not necessarily cranky, but... more demanding I guess? There are so many of them, and once they get attached a given story and the author deviates off the path they think it should be on...

The more update demands, and the more 'Harry should be more badass than that!' type comments I get, the less I want to touch it.

[pronker]

I see. That would make it tough to field complaints. It's your story, though.