ficcishness

[kaydeefalls]

So! Now that it's actually 2008, it's time for my (rather pathetically brief) year in fic review.

But before we start, Yuletide authors have been revealed! I was responsible for The Ivory Horn, a His Dark Materials fic with a touch of twistiness. And I've been rather boggled by the response I've gotten, in the best way possible.


Fics written this year:
Battlestar Galactica: How (Not) to Leave Your Lover
Firefly: Solar Cycle
Harry Potter: the centre cannot hold
Caught
Sidekicks
I look at the world and I notice it's turning
His Dark Materials: The Ivory Horn
House: Four Ways House Might Have Met Wilson (But Probably Didn't)
The Duckling Variations
X-Men: Nowhere Man
and the beginnings of that YA fantasy thing

Only 10 fics? Shit. I'm slipping. Well, in fairness, a lot of my creative energies this year have gone into worldbuilding elementmages, even if there are only five chapters of actual writing up so far.

Favorite(s) of the batch:
This is the year I actually really loved almost every fic I wrote. I guess I look at the world and I notice it's turning wins for sheer labor-of-love-ness, because that was my love letter to Remus Lupin, and, honestly, quite possibly my last HP fic. I mean, who knows what might yet happen, but really, I feel like I finally said all I have to say about that universe, and that fic was my goodbye. We'll see.

Best of the batch:
Either the centre cannot hold or The Ivory Horn, probably. It's a tough call, and I'm not so good at judging my own fics.

Most underappreciated by the universe:
Frankly, the two fics that received by far the least feedback deserved what they got, so I wouldn't call them underappreciated. They really just weren't very good.

Most fun to write:
The Duckling Variations and Four Ways House Might Have Met Wilson (But Probably Didn't) made me cackle while I wrote them. Getting into House's head is a really entertaining experience, as is Wilson's perpetual state of mild shell-shock while dealing with him.

Sexiest fic:
I fail at the porn. How (Not) to Leave Your Lover comes closest, I think. Helo/Sharon sex in the rain is just plain hot.

"Holy crap, that's wrong even for you" fic:
I don't tend to go off in that direction. I will say that a certain scene in The Ivory Horn was really, really disturbing to write -- Will in the dead world. I took one of the great fantasy playlands of my childhood and destroyed it, and that creeped the fuck out of me. (This will make a lot more sense if you've read the fic.)

Fic that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:
How (Not) to Leave Your Lover. I think I get Helo better now that I've written it. Likewise, Solar Cycle got me more into Zoe's head than I'd ever bothered thinking about before.

Hardest fic to write:
Sidekicks was stalled for about a year before I shoved my way back into it. It's rare that I manage to resurrect an abandoned fic after so long and actually succeed in finishing it. I like how it finally turned out, but it took quite a while to get there.

Biggest disappointment:
Nowhere Man pretty much put the lid on the coffin of X-Men movieverse for me. I thought I could still write in that fandom, and discovered pretty quickly that I had no inspiration left. It's not a good fic, and I'm kind of sad that I couldn't do better in a universe I used to like quite a lot.

Biggest surprise:
The Ivory Horn. I had an interesting prompt, and vague ideas about characterizations, but the plot suddenly just exploded out and became long and twisty and darker than I'd expected. And I've gotten more comments on this "rare" fandom fic than I have on all but my one most popular HP fic. It's been rather astounding.

Most telling fic:
I haven't the faintest idea. Shades of myself wind up working into just about every character I write. Honestly, elementmages will probably be by far the most telling, because it's an original work and I'm pouring all of my favorite themes and archetypes and stylizations into it. But it's not too far along yet, so that hasn't come out as much so far. Other than that, the Remus in Sidekicks is totally the alter ego I've always wanted to be.

Here's to more productivity in 2008!

Comments

[such_heights]

:o You wrote The Ivory Horn? Hot damn, lady, way to go! I, err, admittedly haven't managed to sit down and give it the proper read it deserves yet, hence lack of feedback, but I've seen it recced and flailed over some crazy amount of times! :)

[kaydeefalls.livejournal.com]

I am SO SLOW responding to comments, but belatedly, heh, thanks!

[thedorkygirl.livejournal.com]

yeah, you did a great job on the ivory horn.

[kaydeefalls.livejournal.com]

Belatedly, thank you!

[troisroyaumes]

Finally got around to reading The Ivory Horn and enjoyed it immensely, although it gave me a wrench--in a good way--to read about Narnia as a dead world. Also gave me a wrench to see Will finally decide to move on, probably because moving on is hard for me as well. Wonderful fic.

I'm also rather tickled because I've seen the fic rec'd by people all over my friends list, and each time I saw a rec, I kind of wanted to say, "Hey, I know the person who wrote that!" but I avoided the temptation to claim any glory by association. ^_^

[kaydeefalls.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Yeah, writing dead Narnia was kind of a disturbing experience for me, in a creepy fun sort of way.

And, heh, I saw one of your fics recced on crack_van last month, and felt exactly the same way. :)