Jaina (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
effervescible) wrote2007-12-31 12:32 am
effervescible) wrote2007-12-31 12:32 am
Fic - 2007 in Review
This was the best year I've ever had, both quantity and quality-wise. Eee. The number of fics is about the same as 2006, but I know the word count is way higher, though I haven't checked the specific amount. I'm satisfied with the officially posted fic, plus I've got a series-in-progress with a certain cohort, a sorta-sequel to DI to be edited yet, and a couple more ideas just itching to be written down. Woohoo! Onwards and upward to 2008.
The fics:
1) Blood Roses This uniform means something. Momo hopes she can live up to it. Hinamori and Aizen a progression of a captain/vice-captain relationship and what's left behind.
This was the second assignment I did for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
flashfic_bleach and I was really not feeling it that month. I still wish I could have come up with something stronger, but maybe character introspection pieces aren't so bad once in a while. Other people seemed to like it more than I did, though, so that's nice.
2) Departures Rukia's got miles to go before she sleeps. All that's left is to say goodbye to Ichigo at the train station.
Written for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
ichi_ruki's 12 Days of Ichigo Torture challenge, this is sort of a counterpoint/inversion to Circles, the fic I wrote last year where Rukia likewise gets exiled. It wasn't polished, being written in a day and all, but I liked the conflicted emotions of the moment in time. I'd love to read about Rukia exploring Japan on her own, but there's no follow-up for this one. It is what it is.
3) Hush Little Baby As with all the battles Ichigo has witnessed and fought of late, it comes down to a clash of wills. Nell, Ichigo, and the horror that is bedtime.
This has been thoroughly jossed by now, but I could never imagine Ichigo just leaving Nell in Hueco Mundo. Small!Nell already seems to have half-adopted him as her new daddy, and I couldn't resist taking that further.
4) Notes on a High School Scandal The worst rumors are the ones that could be true.
My entry for theichi_ruki 2007 fanworks contest. For the second time in a row, I could not contain my verbosity in order to keep it in one LJ entry. I don't think anyone got that the title was a riff on the book/movie "Notes on a Scandal" so that makes it seem kinda lamer. BUT NOW YOU ALL KNOW! The first half of this flowed like water, the latter half was like pulling teeth, but overall I'm still pleased with the result and I had fun doing it. I'm most proud of the fact that I successfully wrote a fic that has Ichigo and Rukia making out on a rooftop pre-Soul Society and still managed to fit it into canon so it actually could have happened.
5) The Nuclear Family Fireworks, fish tanks and thou: the extended Shiba family gathers for a visit.
Soraynos and I once chatted about how it would've been crazy but kinda fun if one of Aaroniero Alulieri's two heads-inna-jar had been what was left of Kaien and Rukia had taken it home with her to live in a fish tank. One afternoon I got the image of Rukia ordering Ichigo to lift a baby up to the tank so Kaienhead could see, and that was it, I sat down and wrote this fic in one sitting. I was experimenting with a new style of voice, and that was fun. This is probably the most insane thing I wrote this year, but also one of the most fun, and it got a really good reaction.
6) Playing by Heart A man, a band, a plan. After the war, Chad gets back to real life the only way he knows how, but his friends aren't about to let him do it alone.
My third assignment forbleach_flashfic. Chad is hard to write; despite this being a Chad-centric fic, I had the most trouble with his perspective and the easiest with Rukia's bits, no surprise. Hooray for genfic! The driving force to finish this piece was to have Renji in a fetish club man-corset, I'm not gonna lie.
7) A Secret Between Them (And All Who Would Behold It) Those who hold their secrets the closest often don't see the ones all around them.
My Remix fic oftenebris' "A Secret Between Them" (naturally). I've always liked that fic, so I'm happy the Remixed version didn't suck, and most importantly, that Ten liked it. It was a lot of fun to write the different perspectives. From easiest to hardest, they probably ordered Karin, Isshin, Renji, Kon, Chad.
8) Setting Sun, Rising Moon Half a century ago, Ichigo became a substitute shinigami while he was still alive. At the end of that life, it's time to become the real thing, but with death come unexpected challenges—not the least of which is that presented by seeing Rukia again for the first time in years.
By far the most popular fic I've ever written, but it's also the first time I managed to conceive, plan, and write a long multi-part fic like this. I like the fic itself, but I'm most proud of having had the discipline just to get to the finish line.
9) Undertow There are many ways a person can love. Kaien, Rukia, and what might have been.
My firstbleach_flashfic assignment, and by far my favorite fic of the year. This is the closest a fic has ever come to matching exactly what was in my brain, and it just poured out to the point I was writing thousands of words a day. It's probably egotistical, but oh well; I like to think that if Rukia and Kaien had ever had a relationship, this is how it could have gone. I wanted to see if I could write an affair that was sympathetic without being fully justified, and I think I did it. I'm sort of in love with the Kaien I wrote in this fic and I keep wanting to do more with him, but I said exactly what I wanted to in this one. I'm also bizarrely pleased with the title, possibly because I suck at coming up with them and I thought of this one right away. It goes with Kaien's whole ocean theme as well as the theme of the story.
The meme
Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?
I thought I'd write a larger number of stories...not sure if I planned my word count, but I think I hoped to write more in general, so I know I did that. I didn't expect working on DI to prompt me to start writing all the time.
What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January 2006?
Kaien/Rukia. I've always been intrigued by the notion, and I thought Kaien would be a good guy to lose one's virginity to, but I didn't think I could ever get past the whole married thing. Too much guilt. But when the pairing was one ofhakuren's specific requests for flashfic, I used that as a prompt to force myself. If I had to put them together, how would it go? The answer came easier than I thought it would.
What's your favorite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest?
Undertow. It was one of the most fun to write and the best. Also The Nuclear Family because it's so cracktastic, but seems to work somehow. XD
Did you take any writing risks this year? (See above for unexpected pairings, etc.) What did you learn from them?
Undertow was a tightrope balancing act, making the adulterers sympathetic without letting them off the hook. Writing Chad in Playing by Heart and Hinamori in Blood Roses were risky acts as well, simply because I wasn't entirely comfortable doing so, which could've led to some really crappy fic. I think I learned that, while I've still got plenty of areas to improve, I can do more than I think I can if I just try.
Do you have any fanfic goals for the New Year?
Write more gen, try a few new pairings, finish editing and post elopefic, write some RenRuki and The Waystation and the What Ukitake Was Doing While Rukia Was Missing fics. (Also: think of titles for fics.) Write some Avatar fic, possibly some Pushing Daisies fic if I can work up the courage.
From my past year of writing, what was...
My Favorite Story:
Undertow, see above for why. But I'll give a nod to Setting Sun, Rising Moon as well because I got to indulge my inner melodramatic.
My Best Story:
Again, Undertow.
Story Most Underappreciated by the Universe:
Blood Roses, which went for a while without any reviews at all on ffnet...then again, I'm not sure it deserves all that much appreciation anyway, so I don't feel particularly slighted by the powers cosmic.
Most Fun:
Hush Little Baby. Nell + Ichigo + Unwilling Fatherhood = WHEE!
Most Disappointing:
Hmm...Blood Roses. The style kinda outweighs the substance of it.
Most Sexy:
I don't think any of them are especially sexy. Maybe SSRM/DI just because it has sex in it, or Undertow because I tried to build up the attraction in different ways prior to the actual act.
Story with a Single Sexy Moment:
SSRM/DI, chapter 4. Ichigo and Rukia play doctor.
He leaned in closer. “So, where’s this pain?”
“Ah. Yes.” She hopped up to sit on the examination seat and and took his hand, guiding it up from her knee to just under the skirt she wore. “Somewhere around here, I think.”
He looked at her with dark eyes for a long moment. “I’m done with hours for the day.”
“I don’t have to return for quite some time,” she replied.
He shut and locked the door.
Hardest to Write:
Playing by Heart. Chado, just because you don't say much to your friends doesn't mean you can't talk to the people trying to write about you! C'mon, please?
Most Unintentionally Telling:
Setting Sun, Rising Moon, aka HELLO JAINA IS A BIG MCLARGEHUGE SAP AND MELODRAMA FIEND OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
The fics:
1) Blood Roses This uniform means something. Momo hopes she can live up to it. Hinamori and Aizen a progression of a captain/vice-captain relationship and what's left behind.
This was the second assignment I did for
flashfic_bleach and I was really not feeling it that month. I still wish I could have come up with something stronger, but maybe character introspection pieces aren't so bad once in a while. Other people seemed to like it more than I did, though, so that's nice.2) Departures Rukia's got miles to go before she sleeps. All that's left is to say goodbye to Ichigo at the train station.
Written for
ichi_ruki's 12 Days of Ichigo Torture challenge, this is sort of a counterpoint/inversion to Circles, the fic I wrote last year where Rukia likewise gets exiled. It wasn't polished, being written in a day and all, but I liked the conflicted emotions of the moment in time. I'd love to read about Rukia exploring Japan on her own, but there's no follow-up for this one. It is what it is.3) Hush Little Baby As with all the battles Ichigo has witnessed and fought of late, it comes down to a clash of wills. Nell, Ichigo, and the horror that is bedtime.
This has been thoroughly jossed by now, but I could never imagine Ichigo just leaving Nell in Hueco Mundo. Small!Nell already seems to have half-adopted him as her new daddy, and I couldn't resist taking that further.
4) Notes on a High School Scandal The worst rumors are the ones that could be true.
My entry for the
ichi_ruki 2007 fanworks contest. For the second time in a row, I could not contain my verbosity in order to keep it in one LJ entry. I don't think anyone got that the title was a riff on the book/movie "Notes on a Scandal" so that makes it seem kinda lamer. BUT NOW YOU ALL KNOW! The first half of this flowed like water, the latter half was like pulling teeth, but overall I'm still pleased with the result and I had fun doing it. I'm most proud of the fact that I successfully wrote a fic that has Ichigo and Rukia making out on a rooftop pre-Soul Society and still managed to fit it into canon so it actually could have happened.5) The Nuclear Family Fireworks, fish tanks and thou: the extended Shiba family gathers for a visit.
So
raynos and I once chatted about how it would've been crazy but kinda fun if one of Aaroniero Alulieri's two heads-inna-jar had been what was left of Kaien and Rukia had taken it home with her to live in a fish tank. One afternoon I got the image of Rukia ordering Ichigo to lift a baby up to the tank so Kaienhead could see, and that was it, I sat down and wrote this fic in one sitting. I was experimenting with a new style of voice, and that was fun. This is probably the most insane thing I wrote this year, but also one of the most fun, and it got a really good reaction.6) Playing by Heart A man, a band, a plan. After the war, Chad gets back to real life the only way he knows how, but his friends aren't about to let him do it alone.
My third assignment for
bleach_flashfic. Chad is hard to write; despite this being a Chad-centric fic, I had the most trouble with his perspective and the easiest with Rukia's bits, no surprise. Hooray for genfic! The driving force to finish this piece was to have Renji in a fetish club man-corset, I'm not gonna lie.7) A Secret Between Them (And All Who Would Behold It) Those who hold their secrets the closest often don't see the ones all around them.
My Remix fic of
tenebris' "A Secret Between Them" (naturally). I've always liked that fic, so I'm happy the Remixed version didn't suck, and most importantly, that Ten liked it. It was a lot of fun to write the different perspectives. From easiest to hardest, they probably ordered Karin, Isshin, Renji, Kon, Chad.8) Setting Sun, Rising Moon Half a century ago, Ichigo became a substitute shinigami while he was still alive. At the end of that life, it's time to become the real thing, but with death come unexpected challenges—not the least of which is that presented by seeing Rukia again for the first time in years.
By far the most popular fic I've ever written, but it's also the first time I managed to conceive, plan, and write a long multi-part fic like this. I like the fic itself, but I'm most proud of having had the discipline just to get to the finish line.
9) Undertow There are many ways a person can love. Kaien, Rukia, and what might have been.
My first
bleach_flashfic assignment, and by far my favorite fic of the year. This is the closest a fic has ever come to matching exactly what was in my brain, and it just poured out to the point I was writing thousands of words a day. It's probably egotistical, but oh well; I like to think that if Rukia and Kaien had ever had a relationship, this is how it could have gone. I wanted to see if I could write an affair that was sympathetic without being fully justified, and I think I did it. I'm sort of in love with the Kaien I wrote in this fic and I keep wanting to do more with him, but I said exactly what I wanted to in this one. I'm also bizarrely pleased with the title, possibly because I suck at coming up with them and I thought of this one right away. It goes with Kaien's whole ocean theme as well as the theme of the story.The meme
Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?
I thought I'd write a larger number of stories...not sure if I planned my word count, but I think I hoped to write more in general, so I know I did that. I didn't expect working on DI to prompt me to start writing all the time.
What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January 2006?
Kaien/Rukia. I've always been intrigued by the notion, and I thought Kaien would be a good guy to lose one's virginity to, but I didn't think I could ever get past the whole married thing. Too much guilt. But when the pairing was one of
hakuren's specific requests for flashfic, I used that as a prompt to force myself. If I had to put them together, how would it go? The answer came easier than I thought it would.What's your favorite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest?
Undertow. It was one of the most fun to write and the best. Also The Nuclear Family because it's so cracktastic, but seems to work somehow. XD
Did you take any writing risks this year? (See above for unexpected pairings, etc.) What did you learn from them?
Undertow was a tightrope balancing act, making the adulterers sympathetic without letting them off the hook. Writing Chad in Playing by Heart and Hinamori in Blood Roses were risky acts as well, simply because I wasn't entirely comfortable doing so, which could've led to some really crappy fic. I think I learned that, while I've still got plenty of areas to improve, I can do more than I think I can if I just try.
Do you have any fanfic goals for the New Year?
Write more gen, try a few new pairings, finish editing and post elopefic, write some RenRuki and The Waystation and the What Ukitake Was Doing While Rukia Was Missing fics. (Also: think of titles for fics.) Write some Avatar fic, possibly some Pushing Daisies fic if I can work up the courage.
From my past year of writing, what was...
My Favorite Story:
Undertow, see above for why. But I'll give a nod to Setting Sun, Rising Moon as well because I got to indulge my inner melodramatic.
My Best Story:
Again, Undertow.
Story Most Underappreciated by the Universe:
Blood Roses, which went for a while without any reviews at all on ffnet...then again, I'm not sure it deserves all that much appreciation anyway, so I don't feel particularly slighted by the powers cosmic.
Most Fun:
Hush Little Baby. Nell + Ichigo + Unwilling Fatherhood = WHEE!
Most Disappointing:
Hmm...Blood Roses. The style kinda outweighs the substance of it.
Most Sexy:
I don't think any of them are especially sexy. Maybe SSRM/DI just because it has sex in it, or Undertow because I tried to build up the attraction in different ways prior to the actual act.
Story with a Single Sexy Moment:
SSRM/DI, chapter 4. Ichigo and Rukia play doctor.
He leaned in closer. “So, where’s this pain?”
“Ah. Yes.” She hopped up to sit on the examination seat and and took his hand, guiding it up from her knee to just under the skirt she wore. “Somewhere around here, I think.”
He looked at her with dark eyes for a long moment. “I’m done with hours for the day.”
“I don’t have to return for quite some time,” she replied.
He shut and locked the door.
Hardest to Write:
Playing by Heart. Chado, just because you don't say much to your friends doesn't mean you can't talk to the people trying to write about you! C'mon, please?
Most Unintentionally Telling:
Setting Sun, Rising Moon, aka HELLO JAINA IS A BIG MCLARGEHUGE SAP AND MELODRAMA FIEND OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.