why tumblr why, and also 2011 year in review meme

[kaydeefalls]

After spending an hour and a half futzing around, I have come to the conclusion that I am completely stupid when it comes to Tumblr. Everything about what that site is and how it functions is completely counterintuitive to the way my brain processes information. UGH. I like the pretty pictures! I just can't figure out how to do anything with the site except follow people. Which is cool. I've had an empty tumblr for months now for the sole purpose of following other people. And I honestly have no idea what I would post there myself, but I feel like I'm missing some crucial element of fandom interaction, and it saddens me. Anyway, I'm kaydeefalls on tumblr. There is nothing there. Possibly I will start clicking the reblog button when I see pretty pictures I particularly like, and pretend I'm somehow contributing to fandom. :/ (I can't even make my own pretty pictures anymore. My father insisted I install Lion on my laptop, which then rendered invalid my entire Adobe Creative Suite, and I can't afford to drop $700 on Photoshop right now. I am SO ANGRY about this, guys, you don't even know. I used Photoshop way more than I give even the smallest shit about any of the features in the OS upgrade.)

I'm also just deeply frustrated with life in general right now, so this may just be an offshoot of that. And it's been one of those mornings where the phone is ringing off the hook and people keep trying to make awkward small talk with me and I just want to be left alone for five fucking minutes. Um. Sorry about that.

ANYWAY. 2011 Year in Review Meme! Which I typed up like two weeks ago and then never posted. Whatever, I'm slow with these things. And mainly I had to wait for the secret_mutant reveals, because those totally add to my 2011 word count total.


Fics: 11
Vids: 13
Fandoms: 10 distinct, plus multifandom vids of DOOM (so add, um, 85?)
Word count: 162,000. HOLY SHIT. (For me, this is...really quite a lot.)

By fandom (including crossovers):
Avatar: the Last Airbender: 1
Avengers (comics): 1
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon: 2
Doctor Who: 4
Firefly: 1
History Boys: 1
Inception: 4
Multifandom: 3
Sports Night: 1
Torchwood: 1
X-Men: 10


Fics:
Kübler-Ross's Fifth - Torchwood; Tosh (+ Ianto, team) gen
Five Lessons Charles Taught (and One He Learned) - X-Men: First Class; ensemble gen
A Hundred Visions and Revisions - X-Men: First Class/Doctor Who/Avengers; Charles/Erik + Canton Delaware/Sam Wilson
how the west was won - X-Men: First Class; Angel gen
Boden's Mate - X-Men: First Class/Inception; Charles/Erik + ensemble
Wasting Time - X-Men: First Class/Inception; Charles/Erik
used & new - Doctor Who; Amy Pond/Sally Sparrow
Queen's Gambit - X-Men: First Class/Inception; Charles/Erik + Alex/Hank + Raven/Angel + ensemble, WIP (3 chapters posted)
The World's Fastest Snowball - Sports Night; ensemble gen
Celestial Navigation - X-Men: First Class; Charles/Erik + N'Dare Munroe, Ororo Munroe
I Ain't Scared of Lightning - X-Men: First Class; Charles/Erik + ensemble

Vids:
Hotel - Inception; Ariadne + Cobb, Mal, Arthur
She's a Rebel - Multifandom kickass ladies
A Thousand Suns - Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon; ensemble
Tadzio, Tadzio - History Boys; Dakin + Irwin, Posner
Watershed - A:tLA; Aang + Zuko
The Girl Who Falls Down Stairs - Multifandom Jossverse; Buffy, River, Echo, Darla, Cordelia, Drusilla, Fred, Sierra
Butterfly - Doctor Who; Jack Harkness, River Song
St Stephen's Cross - Doctor Who; Amy/Rory + Doctor
the boy with the bubblegun - X-Men: First Class; Erik/Charles + Shaw
these are the days (of miracle and wonder) - X-Men (all films); ensemble
2nd Law - Multifandom: BSG, BTVS, Doctor Who, Firefly, HP, X-Files; Kara, Tara, Willow, Rose, Martha, Kaylee, River, Luna, Scully
Bryn - Firefly; Kaylee
Blue Caravan - Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon; Jen (+ ensemble, Jen/Lo)



Leitmotif of the year:
For once, I am completely blanking on this one. The stuff I made was all over the map this year. I guess...the stories we create for ourselves? I made three multifandom vids that were all about women reclaiming their own narratives (She's a Rebel, The Girl Who Falls Down Stairs, 2nd Law), and played with that a bit in fic as well -- Tosh in Kübler-Ross's Fifth, Angel in how the west was won). But then I also fell headfirst into a bunch of long, plotty fics, and I'm sure there must be shared themes in there, but god, I don't know. Two holiday exchange fics involved unseasonal snowfalls, which I only realized halfway through writing the second one. *facepalm*

What's the fanwork that makes you happiest?
Bryn puts SUCH a grin on my face. KAYLEE'S FACE OMG. HOW SO ADORABLE. And, look, I cracked myself up a lot writing The World's Fastest Snowball. Because Zambonis will never not amuse me.

My favorite fanworks this year:
Boden's Mate. Hands down. The process of writing it was such a roller coaster rush, oh my god. I was basically writing over a thousand words a day for seven weeks straight, which is a lot faster and more consistent than I ever have written before in my life, and posting a scene just about ever day to the kinkmeme, and the feedback I received -- it was just a really singular experience for me, and I love that fic to bits.
Vids -- whenever I am feeling crappy, I rewatch She's a Rebel. WHAT DON'T JUDGE ME, THOSE LADIES ARE AWESOME.

My best fanworks this year:
I CANNOT JUDGE THIS EVER. Boden's Mate is up there, at least in terms of handling a complex plot and multiple POV characters. But I think Celestial Navigation may be better-written overall. I think I really got Charles in that -- or, well, my interpretation of the character, anyway.
For vids, I'm really quite proud of Watershed.

Most popular fanwork:
She's a Rebel, hands down. I was bowled over by the response to that. Then again, all those kickass ladies rocking hard, really, I just edited them into some kind of sequence.
AO3 tells me Boden's Mate got the most hits, and A Hundred Visions and Revisions the most kudos. YMMV in terms of how "popular" that makes them.

Fanwork most underappreciated by the universe, in my opinion:
I don't think anything I created got less appreciation than it "deserved" -- what does that even mean? -- but, unsurprisingly, with the NOTABLE exception of She's a Rebel, anything I created that focused on female characters got way, way, WAY less attention than the fics/vids about dudes. Draw your own conclusions.

Most fun fanwork:
Butterfly is pure silliness. Likewise The World's Fastest Snowball.

Sexiest fanwork:
Well, A Hundred Visions and Revisions had an actual sex scene that didn't consist of fade-to-black. So that's way more sexy than I usually write. (Porn is hard, okay. Pun absolutely intended.)

Fanwork with single sexiest moment:
I really love the Amy/Sally in used & new. My sexual preferences, let me show you them.

Fanwork with single sweetest moment:
Celestial Navigation has a lot more overt tenderness than I usually allow myself to indulge in. The moment in the snow, chiefly, but also, like, any time Charles thinks about Erik. Cavities, my friends.
I feel like I can't take any credit for the adorableness in St Stephen's Cross, because that's all Amy and Rory, I do nothing but add soundtrack.

Hardest fanwork to make:
Hmmm. I struggled with Kübler-Ross's Fifth for a very long time. My Torchwood swan song, that is. I feel like I passed through all five stages of grief myself while writing it, and ended by basically accepting that I was done with Torchwood fandom. Oh, show.

Easiest fanwork to make:
the boy with the bubblegun tumbled out in less than 36 hours. Apparently it just really needed to happen.

Fanwork that made you cry:
Blue Caravan and A Thousand Suns. Look, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon gives me ALL THE FEELINGS, it's one of like three movies ever that will always make me cry. (The other two being Big Fish, which I now will never not associate with my grandfather's death, and Pan's Labyrinth. If you're curious.)

"Holy crap, that's wrong even for you" fanwork:
I'm fairly tame. I still can't believe I wrote a Sex Pollen fic, though. (used & new.)

Fanwork that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:
Boden's Mate. Yes, I know it's AU, but Alex's voice in that came out of nowhere and caught me completely by surprise, and now he's probably my favorite secondary character in the X-Men franchise. And tracing the parallels and connections between the women of the Jossverse in The Girl Who Falls Down Stairs was...not revelatory, exactly, but yeah.

Biggest disappointment:
these are the days (of miracle and wonder) kind of went phut. I was really excited about it while I was editing it, but rewatching it -- yeah, it's really just mediocre.

Biggest surprise:
Boden's Mate came out of fucking nowhere. (Sorry I keep going back to it, but seriously, an 80k crossover fusion that I wrote in seven weeks? It's a bit unusual for me.) I was trawling the kinkmeme for fic ideas, and saw a few Inception crossovers suggested, and it was always Charles is the extractor, Erik is his point man, etc. So because I like thinking about these things, I considered it, and thought -- well, that makes sense, but if you look at Erik's hunt for Shaw, he's really more of an extractor himself. And if Erik is the Dom Cobb in a fusion scenario...then Charles is Mal. And then my brain exploded and fic came out.

Most telling fanwork:
Hmmm. 2nd Law is more indicative of my headspace than just about anything else. And all of my feelings about my hometown get splashed messily all across Celestial Navigation.

Favorite opening:
She's a Rebel starts AWESOMELY.

Favorite closing:
The Girl Who Falls Down Stairs - Fred painting over the scribble of Angel saving her.

And Five Lessons Charles Taught (and One He Learned): "Practice," Erik retorts, voice rumbling low against Charles's back. "Someday, I could take you flying."

Charles considers the difference between flying and falling, and thinks, perhaps you already have.

Favorite moment anywhere:
I really like the encounter between Angel and Bolt in how the west was won. I don't know why. And then with Ororo - "Choose well, sweetheart," she whispers, and flies away.
Also, Celestial Navigation: Stars go supernova behind Charles's eyelids. His mind expands exponentially, blossoming like fireworks across the velvet sky, and he is the city, cast-iron construction humming with the stroke of Erik's touch, a million wheeling constellations blazing with heat.
Also all of the banter in The World's Fastest Snowball.
Aaand the Han Solo bit in Butterfly, because true story, that is the entire reason I made that vid. ♥

Favorite title:
how the west was won. It just fits. There was never any question in my mind what that title would be.

Looking back, did you create more fanworks than you thought you would this year, fewer than you thought, or about what you predicted?
My total wordcount this year was higher than it has ever been in any previous year. Yes, I worked out the stats on AO3, I am that much of a geek. I wrote a full 70k+ words more in 2011 than in 2010, which had been my highest by far up until that point. I haven't written more individual fics, but the fics I write are much, much longer these days. Which took me completely by surprise. AND I made more vids. So there.

What pairing/genre/fandom did you create for that you would never have predicted in January 2010?
WHO THE FUCK WRITES AN X-MEN/INCEPTION FUSION, JESUS FUCKING CHRIST.

What's next for 2012:
Finish Queen's Gambit. Festivids. White Lotus Lunar New Year exchange fic, which is due in five days and I don't even have the smallest germ of an idea, oh god. The XMFC theater!AU. The Boden's Mate prequel. Other stuff that will come out of nowhere and whack me upside the head, undoubtedly. Several vids-in-progress that may or may not actually be finished. The usual.

Here, have some WIP snippets for sticking around this long!

Boden's Mate prequel (and yes, there is a bit more Inception crossover in this one -- I have Mal and Charles overlapping at the CIA, pre-James's birth [Mal] and pre-meeting Erik [Charles]):

Mal gives Charles a speculative smile. "Perhaps you remind me somewhat of another charming Englishman I have known."

Arthur scowls. "A charming criminal."

"This is a very fine line that you are drawing in the sand, Arthur," Mal chides. "We are all thieves."

"Some people don't limit their thieving to dreams."

Mal rolls her eyes, but when she leans in toward Charles, her voice is rich with amusement. "These boys, they can become so jealous of our attention. Arthur hated Dom at first as well."

Inception, Arthur/Eames extensive backstory and mindfuckery that I will probably never finish:

Eames is a Corporal in the SAS, which is maybe a step and a half higher than dog shit, but a step and a half higher than dog shit in the SAS is still a damn sight more impressive than this civvie suit from across the pond.

Not that it isn't a very nice suit.

"This is Mr. Smith," the Colonel barks. The name is a blatant falsehood; Smith may as well call himself Bond, James Bond and be done with it. "It seems the Yanks have taken a certain interest in our little experiments, and Mr. Smith here has been sent over to observe."

So-Called-Smith gives the squadron a pleasant smile and nod.

And looks faintly perturbed when fifteen impassive British commandos smoothly whip out their AK-47s and train the sights on him.

Possibly he knows enough about guns to realize that the SAS doesn't generally arm its troops with Russian black market assault rifles. But that's probably not his most pressing concern at the moment.

"We have a very special training regimen," the Colonel remarks, with a toothy grin. He circles So-Called-Smith slowly, shark-like. "And we're positively chuffed to demonstrate."

Here are three things Eames discovers about So-Called-Smith at that moment:
1. The suit clings to him so nicely because there's actually substance underneath it.
2. He isn't entirely ignorant as to the nature of the SAS's experimental training regime.
3. He really, really doesn't like surprises.

This is how the Colonel winds up with his arm twisted up behind his back and a Ka-Bar lightly kissing his jugular. Eames is fairly certain So-Called-Smith didn't even have the knife two seconds ago.

"I beg your pardon?" So-Called-Smith hisses in the Colonel's ear.

Before anyone can say or do anything stupid, the Colonel stomps down the field, parting a path through his men like Moses and the Red Sea.

Eames can't see it from this angle, but he's fairly certain that So-Called-Smith just did a very obvious double-take. His grip on Eames's wrist tightens painfully. Fortunately, the hand holding the knife against Eames's throat remains perfectly still. Not that it would really matter.

"Goddamnit, Corporal," the real Colonel snaps, his rough Cockney accent thickening with disapproval. "Stop poncing around the poor boy's subconscious like it's a West End stage. Mr. Smith, feel free to slit his throat."

So-Called-Smith releases Eames instead, taking a few steps back. "What the fuck?"

Here is one thing Arthur So-Called-Smith discovers about not-yet-called-Eames:
1. He is a lying liar who lies.

Eames grins with the Colonel's face. So-Called-Smith looks back and forth between the two of them, jaw ever so slightly agape. It's kind of cute when his brow furrows up like that. Eames decides to recreate it for himself. The two So-Called-Smiths scowl ferociously at each other.

When they all wake up shortly thereafter, courtesy of death by AK-47, his fellow soldiers grin and clap Eames on the back. So-Called-Smith is not amused.

"And you've already met Corporal Eames," the Colonel says, long-suffering. (Rather, he introduces Eames by his actual surname, but that's neither here nor there.) "Unfortunately for us all, he's developed a rather specialized sort of skill set within the dreamsharing program."

So-Called-Smith sighs. "So I've noticed."

And stuff.

Comments

[pocketmouse]

Can you just reinstall you earlier OS? If you know someone who has the disks for the earlier version, or maybe the Apple store...

[kaydeefalls]

At this point, I've just accepted it. It didn't fuck up anything else, and it feels silly to DOWNgrade my OS. I just wish I'd had warning about my version of Adobe CS being too old to function on the new OS. And then I compounded my own idiocy by uninstalling it to free up hard drive space (which I don't have very much of), which I belatedly realized meant I couldn't just upgrade it for $200 instead of buying new for $700. FUCK YOU ADOBE.

[(Anonymous)]

Ugh, that SUCKS.

[secondsilk]

That so stotally sucks about Lion. And also anyone ele having suck strong options about how you run your computer, really, is a bit much.

I am the same about tumblr, except that I do reblog things now. Kind of randomly, though. As far as fandom goes, I don't really connect much with fandom on tumblr except for following the same people there as I do here and seeing lots of Avengers trailer gifs.

[kaydeefalls]

My father, ladies and gentlemen. Lion (and installing his copy of the updated MS Office Suite) was his Christmas present to me, ergo I must install it. It just happened to fuck up my other stuff. :/

Oh, tumblr. I mean, I'm going to give it a proper go before giving up. But...I like using text to communicate! Does this make me a dinosaur?