End of the Year Fanwork Roundup
Jan. 1st, 2020 09:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
immolate_the_silenceIt's been a great year for writing, considering I wrote very little last year. Looking back, I actually only wrote in January of 2018 and didn't post anything else until January of 2019. Wow, considering that writing is my passion, 2018 really was a terrible year and a year I must have had zero self-confidence in myself, since I don't tend to write unless I have confidence. Anyway, I wrote a LOT of stuff this year, which I am VERY happy about. 48 fic were submitted to AO3 for a total of 147,426 words, so I'm counting that as my total.
Questions shamelessly taken from HERE, though altered somewhat.
favorite fic you wrote this year
the corroding of the sun, Dark Angel, Alec/Ames
I've always wanted to write a mindfuck and viewed it as the unattainable until earlier this year. I remember sitting in my room one day and just having this spill out of me. Every time I go back to it I'm amazed.
least favorite fic you wrote this year
New Beginning, Cold Pursuit, Aya/Kim
I don't have a problem with this or anything, it's just the one I go back to the least out of everything I've written this year. I'm not really ashamed or disappointed of anything I've written in 2019.
favorite line/scene you wrote this year
SO MANY, my god, how can I just pick ONE? Oh well...
the corroding of the sun, Dark Angel, Alec/Ames
The mindfuck piece that I was talking about before. For me, this perfectly encapsulates young love and growing up and tragic realizations and beautifully painful memories.
total number of words you wrote this year
147,426 in 2019 compared to 8,397 in 2018. That's quite a jump.
most popular fic this year
At War and At Peace, MCU, Tony/Steve/Bucky
With 9 comments, 181 kudos, 32 bookmarks and 4369 hits per AO3.
least popular fic this year
Under the Mistletoe, From Paris With Love, Reece/Wax
With 3 hits per AO3. Granted, this has only been up for a week, so I will also list one that's been up for months longer.
All These Punishments, From Paris With Love, Reece/Wax
With 9 hits and 1 kudos per AO3.
longest completed fic you wrote this year
we're higher than our silence and deeper than our violence, From Paris With Love & Supernatural crossover, Reece/Wax, Sam & Dean, Bobby
Clocking in at 12,147 words per AO3.
For a person who doesn't like crossovers and thus, never expected to write one, I certainly surprised myself with this piece. As part of a hurt/comfort bingo mini-challenge, I also had less than a month to write this in and think I wrote it in about a week?
shortest completed fic you wrote this year
until the ice breaks, Vampire High, Essie/Merrill
At 499 words per AO3.
I really love writing Vampire High drabbles, especially about 2 vamps in love and lust.
most difficult fic to write
Stripped Away, From Paris With Love, Reece/Wax
I think it was because the action sequences were so convoluted and I was writing the different scenes out of order and trying to fit them together like puzzle pieces so that they would make sense. It was originally supposed to be 2 separate works. I also put Reece through so much pain and had to make his injuries and mental trauma seem believable and not unrealistic. It was exhausting but really gratifying and one of the pieces that I go back to the most.
fandom you enjoyed writing for the most this year
From Paris With Love
It's obvious. I picked back up a Monster/Hunter series (an unquiet mind) I began 4 years ago and really went crazy with it without expecting to. I planned to write a fic or two and ended up with 15 fic just in the series, with an additional 4 not in the series to make a total of 19 for the film fandom. WOW. Reece and Wax are just so much fun partnering up to hunt down supernatural creatures, serial killers, what have you. I wrote far more fic for this fandom this year than for any other.
favorite character to write about this year
James Reece in From Paris With Love
Granted, I ran away with him for my series (an unquiet mind) and had to expand his character quite a bit, but hallelujah is he fun to write. I've put him through a lot of different kinds of physical and mental hell this year, but I love his banter with and love for Wax (and denial that Wax loves him) just as much as writing him in anguish. I also kinda really love writing him as a coffee addict.
favorite pairing to write about this year
Reece/Wax in From Paris With Love
God, I love this film and I love writing these characters no matter how exact to canon they are or rather, whatever AU I guiltily put them in. I love writing them in a preexisting relationship or hooking up in all kinds of different ways. I love how annoying but loving Wax is and I love how self-deprecating but head over heels in love Reece is. I love how Wax is a sugar addict and Reece is a coffee addict and I love writing their banter and having them complain over both trivial and fucked up things and I love them fighting baddies and never coming out unscathed and I love how in it for the long haul they both are.
new favorite pairing you wrote about this year
Sly/Bone from Cold Pursuit
They're not even the canonical gay relationship in the film and so I never expected to fall so hard for them, especially given their substantial age difference, but I totally did. Not only that, but I found a couple other people who ship them too, so yay me.
favorite writing song/artist/album of this year
Tool's Pneuma
I wrote and edited some of my ridiculously long From Paris With Love fic with this song on a continuous loop, sometimes for 6 hours. I usually listen to different music for writing than for editing; for example, with the latter I usually listen to instrumental music (post-rock or soundtracks) because it's less distracting without someone talking in my ear, while with the former I can listen to music with lyrics. Tool's Pneuma is a little bit of both, making it the best of both worlds. Granted, it's also really long, which makes it even better.
a fic you didn’t expect to write
All of them? Okay..., probably...
Healing, Saw V, Brit/Mallick
I tend to stay out of the Horror fandom and don't watch Horror movies because they affect my state of mind too much than is healthy; however, I have a sort of guilty pleasure/more like somewhat like/hate relationship with the Saw film franchise. Those films got me through some of the hardest years of my life, and yet they're just a reminder of how things have changed and yet haven't really changed at all. I have a huge soft spot for Brit/Mallick, however, probably making Saw V my favorite film of the franchise. I flat out refused to let myself write this and then caved and it was so freaking therapeutic that I don't regret it at all.
something you learned this year
I can write anything if I just wait for the muse to strike, have self-confidence and try not to think too much about what I'm writing, just let the mood take me and worry about the editing later. There are types of fic and specific fandoms I never thought I'd write that I actually wrote this year; in addition, I'm very proud of them.
number of fic(s) you wrote this year
48, going by the dates on AO3. All stand alone pieces and no multi-chaptered works. I only wrote 6 in 2018 so that's awesome.
series you’ll continue next year
an unquiet mind - From Paris With Love, Reece/Wax; my supernatural-esque, monster/hunter series. I can't get enough of this series and probably will never run out of ideas. Writing these characters has made me really happy too, which I desperately need in my life right now.
any new fics to start next year
I have a lot of From Paris With Love ideas, but since I'm already starting to sound like a broken record, I've been outlining a continuation of a Vampire High piece I've already written. I also would like to write a sequel to At War and At Peace, have a few Alec/Ames (Dark Angel) prompts and might try to dabble in some Brothers Grimm (2005) and Ocean's trilogy fic.
fics you didn't manage to finish
A couple From Paris With Love works, including an AU and a continuation of a fic I wrote this year. I'm also working on pieces for I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (2006), Brothers Grimm (2005) and the Beauty and the Beast live disney adaptation.
number of comments you haven’t read
1, and I will get on that today. I have a really hard time reading comments and it will usually take a week or more to get up the guts and get in the right frame of mind to brave reading a potentially harsh review. Funny how I never get them :D Also, most of the time I will peek at the first few words until my brain gives me the all clear; I know, I'm pathetic.
most memorable comment/review
I've had some really wonderful reviews this year, but this one takes the cake for:
A Pirate's Life For Us, Pirates of the Caribbean, Will/Jack/Elizabeth
Comment left on AO3 by DreamingTheMelody
events you participated in this year
hurt/comfort_bingo and trope bingo (I think this was my first year doing trope bingo and loved it). Also, I was a pinch hitter for shipoween on AO3 for Halloween and stuffed a bunch of pears (icons and fic and recs) on stockings in dreamwidth's in_a_peartree comm (which is still going on, by the way); I missed signups but couldn't resist stuffing stockings. I also wrote a few drabbles for femslash ficlets earlier in the year. Oh, and fandom stocking earlier in the year also. I think that's it. Bingo cards and stocking stuffing opportunities have really helped with my creativity, especially since I struggle with ideas and plots rather than the execution/actual writing.
fics you wanted to write but didn’t
I don't know if this counts, but I really wanted to get back into Dean/Gabriel this year, or Dean/Crowley or Dean/Sam or just anything Supernatural related (it's my favorite show, after all). I caught up on 3 seasons of it too! But it just never hit me. Oh well, maybe in 2020. I also am waiting to get some Mission: Impossible (films) inspiration.
new fandoms that you started writing fic in this year
Some of these fandoms I wrote a drabble or two for a long while ago, but I'm not counting them 'cause for me they don't count. MCU, X-Men (early films), Master and Commander (film), Pirates of the Caribbean, Safe House, Reservoir Dogs, TURN, Dracula (2013), Cold Pursuit (2019), Ocean's 8, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (2006), Murder on the Orient Express (2017), The Covenant (2006), Saw V and Lord of the Rings.
favorite fic you read this year
Runaway by grumblebee, TURN, Ben/George
This was one of the first fics I read in 2019 and it's one of the few that I surprisingly go back to a lot. I've read tons of fic this year but am honestly most impressed by this piece. Below is my hurt/comfort_bingo rec. The only additional things I have to say are that it's a slow burn masterpiece, I love love love all the angst and hurt/comfort, and it seriously gets better each time I read it.
This is hands down one of the best stories that I have ever read, in any fandom. It's incredibly fleshed out and oftentimes brutally honest and absolutely heart-wrenching and just plain poignant and beautiful. This is the pinnacle of my obsession with Benwash. Runaway is an AU where Ben, a drifting and broken college dropout, is found by a concerned and persistent George on the Appalachian Trail. George takes Ben into his home and their romance blooms from there, but it is made brutally complicated by George's suspicious past, Ben's fears to let anyone in and a shocking invasion of someone from George's past, hell-bent on exposing Ben's own. Runaway is a perfect slow burn of the prompt 'learning to be loved.'
a fic you read this year you would recommend everyone read
All of Your Lonely Sieges by WhenasInSilks, Marvel Ultimates, Steve/Tony
This is also among the first fics I read in 2019 and it's really stuck with me. Not only that, but this was one of the first pieces that really made me ship Steve/Tony and also keeps enticing me to read the comics. I've even been seeking out additional fanfic for the comics even though I still haven't read them. Anyway, this deals with Tony's alcoholism and the painful consequences of that when he and Steve become stranded. Steve is a wonderful caretaker in this and his and Tony's characterizations are beautiful.
number of favorites/bookmarks you made this year
A LOT. SERIOUSLY. 391 per AO3, but that doesn't count all the fic I read/downloaded/saved on dreamwidth, livejournal, fanfiction.net, etc. Can you tell how I have no life?
favorite fanfic author of the year
surrandie's sweet and delightful glitch/cain hurt/comfort fics & drabbles for the Tin Man fandom. These ticked every box and hit every button for me. There are lots of them and I found most through the glitch-wyatt livejournal comm here.
favorite fandom to read fic from this year
Tin Man. God, I had a blast reading Tin Man fic this year, specifically Cain/Glitch 'cause those two stole my heart all over again. I found the livejournal comm glitch-wyatt and there are so many amazing writers over there. I spent a good 3 months reading obsessively and plan to pick back up where I left off in 2020.
new fandoms that you started reading fic in this year
Ocean's trilogy, Tin Man, Brothers Grimm (2005), John Wick, Killjoys, Roswell New Mexico and King Arthur (2004).
fandoms you want to return to next year (writing, reading, making icons, etc.)
From Paris With Love (2010), Dark Angel, Vampire High, Ocean's trilogy, Brothers Grimm (2005), MCU, Fantastic Four (2005-2007), Resident Evil (films), Cold Pursuit (2019), Dracula (2013) and Supernatural.
new ships and/or characters you want to write next year
I've been itching to write Rusty/Linus or Rusty/Danny/Linus Ocean's fic, but I don't know if I'll ever get there. Never say never though. Also, Jake/Will or Jake & Will Grimm from Brothers Grimm (2005), 'cause I want to dabble more in historical time periods and get out of the modern age a bit. A couple others are Glitch/Cain (Tin Man) and Viggo/Avi (John Wick). Some characters I really would love to write because I love all their complexities are Linus Caldwell and Wilhelm Grimm (both Matt Damon characters, go figure).
Aside from writing, what else do you hope to accomplish next year?
Making icons and gifs and cover art for fanmixes and maybe dabble a bit in fanvideos too. I want to get better at GIMP and dabble more in Shotcut for video editing. I also want to make my own screencaps so I don't have to rely on what other sites have and agonize over what they don't have.
Icons you want to make next year
Suicide Squad, Fantastic Four (2005-2007), I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (2006), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Brothers Grimm (2005), Oceans trilogy, Aquaman, Reservoir Dogs, Vampire Academy, Cold Pursuit (2019), Tin Man, Mission: Impossible (films), Jekyll and Hyde (2015), Resident Evil (films), Roswell, Bitten (series), MCU and Dracula (2013). Too many, really.
Anything else you'd like to add?
I think that's it! I'm in a lot of obscure fandoms, I feel like more and more as the years go by, and even in popular fandoms I tend to go for rare ships, so oftentimes it's really difficult for me to share my likes and connect with other readers, but I'm happy where I'm at right now, so I guess that's good. And it's always really surprising and gratifying when someone likes my writing in a small/rare fandom or for a rare ship.
Happy 2020 to all! May it be a happy and healthy [and hopefully glorious] decade.
Questions shamelessly taken from HERE, though altered somewhat.
favorite fic you wrote this year
the corroding of the sun, Dark Angel, Alec/Ames
I've always wanted to write a mindfuck and viewed it as the unattainable until earlier this year. I remember sitting in my room one day and just having this spill out of me. Every time I go back to it I'm amazed.
least favorite fic you wrote this year
New Beginning, Cold Pursuit, Aya/Kim
I don't have a problem with this or anything, it's just the one I go back to the least out of everything I've written this year. I'm not really ashamed or disappointed of anything I've written in 2019.
favorite line/scene you wrote this year
SO MANY, my god, how can I just pick ONE? Oh well...
the corroding of the sun, Dark Angel, Alec/Ames
The mindfuck piece that I was talking about before. For me, this perfectly encapsulates young love and growing up and tragic realizations and beautifully painful memories.
He spun around the room like a man on the verge of collapse, searching for meaning and clawing at memory, hunting for a heart long since buried. Alec wasn’t hiding and he wasn’t waiting on the boughs of his favorite tree and he wasn’t slouched in class half-listening and he wasn’t nicking mementos and gumdrops and jellybeans from the candy store downtown and he wasn’t following Ames like a shadow, like a tragic artist after his muse, like a fire chasing after sustenance.
And Ames’ hands were still shaking, his heart racing and freezing and nearly cracking as he ran, weaving in between the dorms, past the lake bordering the east edge of campus, through a neighborhood of decayed leaves and mouths that moved but never made a sound, up and up the stairs and into a darkened room that was as dark as his heart and where there was no light but the edges of papers as they fell from the box like a torrent of desperation, so many pages…
total number of words you wrote this year
147,426 in 2019 compared to 8,397 in 2018. That's quite a jump.
most popular fic this year
At War and At Peace, MCU, Tony/Steve/Bucky
With 9 comments, 181 kudos, 32 bookmarks and 4369 hits per AO3.
least popular fic this year
Under the Mistletoe, From Paris With Love, Reece/Wax
With 3 hits per AO3. Granted, this has only been up for a week, so I will also list one that's been up for months longer.
All These Punishments, From Paris With Love, Reece/Wax
With 9 hits and 1 kudos per AO3.
longest completed fic you wrote this year
we're higher than our silence and deeper than our violence, From Paris With Love & Supernatural crossover, Reece/Wax, Sam & Dean, Bobby
Clocking in at 12,147 words per AO3.
For a person who doesn't like crossovers and thus, never expected to write one, I certainly surprised myself with this piece. As part of a hurt/comfort bingo mini-challenge, I also had less than a month to write this in and think I wrote it in about a week?
shortest completed fic you wrote this year
until the ice breaks, Vampire High, Essie/Merrill
At 499 words per AO3.
I really love writing Vampire High drabbles, especially about 2 vamps in love and lust.
most difficult fic to write
Stripped Away, From Paris With Love, Reece/Wax
I think it was because the action sequences were so convoluted and I was writing the different scenes out of order and trying to fit them together like puzzle pieces so that they would make sense. It was originally supposed to be 2 separate works. I also put Reece through so much pain and had to make his injuries and mental trauma seem believable and not unrealistic. It was exhausting but really gratifying and one of the pieces that I go back to the most.
fandom you enjoyed writing for the most this year
From Paris With Love
It's obvious. I picked back up a Monster/Hunter series (an unquiet mind) I began 4 years ago and really went crazy with it without expecting to. I planned to write a fic or two and ended up with 15 fic just in the series, with an additional 4 not in the series to make a total of 19 for the film fandom. WOW. Reece and Wax are just so much fun partnering up to hunt down supernatural creatures, serial killers, what have you. I wrote far more fic for this fandom this year than for any other.
favorite character to write about this year
James Reece in From Paris With Love
Granted, I ran away with him for my series (an unquiet mind) and had to expand his character quite a bit, but hallelujah is he fun to write. I've put him through a lot of different kinds of physical and mental hell this year, but I love his banter with and love for Wax (and denial that Wax loves him) just as much as writing him in anguish. I also kinda really love writing him as a coffee addict.
favorite pairing to write about this year
Reece/Wax in From Paris With Love
God, I love this film and I love writing these characters no matter how exact to canon they are or rather, whatever AU I guiltily put them in. I love writing them in a preexisting relationship or hooking up in all kinds of different ways. I love how annoying but loving Wax is and I love how self-deprecating but head over heels in love Reece is. I love how Wax is a sugar addict and Reece is a coffee addict and I love writing their banter and having them complain over both trivial and fucked up things and I love them fighting baddies and never coming out unscathed and I love how in it for the long haul they both are.
new favorite pairing you wrote about this year
Sly/Bone from Cold Pursuit
They're not even the canonical gay relationship in the film and so I never expected to fall so hard for them, especially given their substantial age difference, but I totally did. Not only that, but I found a couple other people who ship them too, so yay me.
favorite writing song/artist/album of this year
Tool's Pneuma
I wrote and edited some of my ridiculously long From Paris With Love fic with this song on a continuous loop, sometimes for 6 hours. I usually listen to different music for writing than for editing; for example, with the latter I usually listen to instrumental music (post-rock or soundtracks) because it's less distracting without someone talking in my ear, while with the former I can listen to music with lyrics. Tool's Pneuma is a little bit of both, making it the best of both worlds. Granted, it's also really long, which makes it even better.
a fic you didn’t expect to write
All of them? Okay..., probably...
Healing, Saw V, Brit/Mallick
I tend to stay out of the Horror fandom and don't watch Horror movies because they affect my state of mind too much than is healthy; however, I have a sort of guilty pleasure/more like somewhat like/hate relationship with the Saw film franchise. Those films got me through some of the hardest years of my life, and yet they're just a reminder of how things have changed and yet haven't really changed at all. I have a huge soft spot for Brit/Mallick, however, probably making Saw V my favorite film of the franchise. I flat out refused to let myself write this and then caved and it was so freaking therapeutic that I don't regret it at all.
something you learned this year
I can write anything if I just wait for the muse to strike, have self-confidence and try not to think too much about what I'm writing, just let the mood take me and worry about the editing later. There are types of fic and specific fandoms I never thought I'd write that I actually wrote this year; in addition, I'm very proud of them.
number of fic(s) you wrote this year
48, going by the dates on AO3. All stand alone pieces and no multi-chaptered works. I only wrote 6 in 2018 so that's awesome.
series you’ll continue next year
an unquiet mind - From Paris With Love, Reece/Wax; my supernatural-esque, monster/hunter series. I can't get enough of this series and probably will never run out of ideas. Writing these characters has made me really happy too, which I desperately need in my life right now.
any new fics to start next year
I have a lot of From Paris With Love ideas, but since I'm already starting to sound like a broken record, I've been outlining a continuation of a Vampire High piece I've already written. I also would like to write a sequel to At War and At Peace, have a few Alec/Ames (Dark Angel) prompts and might try to dabble in some Brothers Grimm (2005) and Ocean's trilogy fic.
fics you didn't manage to finish
A couple From Paris With Love works, including an AU and a continuation of a fic I wrote this year. I'm also working on pieces for I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (2006), Brothers Grimm (2005) and the Beauty and the Beast live disney adaptation.
number of comments you haven’t read
1, and I will get on that today. I have a really hard time reading comments and it will usually take a week or more to get up the guts and get in the right frame of mind to brave reading a potentially harsh review. Funny how I never get them :D Also, most of the time I will peek at the first few words until my brain gives me the all clear; I know, I'm pathetic.
most memorable comment/review
I've had some really wonderful reviews this year, but this one takes the cake for:
A Pirate's Life For Us, Pirates of the Caribbean, Will/Jack/Elizabeth
Comment left on AO3 by DreamingTheMelody
Oh my god I love this for like, so many fucking reasons oh my god
firstly, I've always struggled between shipping Elizabeth/Jack and Elizabeth/Will, and never really did know which one I liked more. I can't believe, being in fandom for so long, that it never did occur to me to put them together until I saw this fic! When I saw the tags, I literally had an epiphany-esque moment haha!
Reading this--and not even too far in--I'm just feeling so, so incredibly charmed--by your Jack especially. Him looking lost, wanting to help Will but not knowing how and knowing he isn't doing a good job but desperately still trying anyway; it's such a poignant, sweet sentiment. And just how Will takes comfort in that. The part especially about Jack's loud drunken snoring cementing to him that he is where he needs to be--that's honestly so sweet to me? Funny as hell also, but that's par for the course with Jack, I think.
And then the struggle, of course, that you're delving into for Will's character itself--it honestly feels so harrowing and intense.
And here Will was now, days later, staring into the bottle without really seeing it, wondering whether to just go back under again.
Coupled with his desire to not want to be human anymore--like just fuck. This is so painful. It really conjured up such troubled and sad emotions for me.
Will ate and slept and dreamt. He dreamed that he could possibly be worthy enough for the both of them.
Literally made me all but tear up. Enough said.
And then how it goes from all of that, to Will finally waking up, and seeking, and Jack being there to affirm to him that he has a place in that life that him and Elizabeth have built. (also Elizabeth's casual "ugh finally" attitude about all of this is +100 and we all should be like her <3 <3 <3 I just loved her in this)
“Why is all the rum gone!?” Jack shouted in outrage the following morning.
Lmao my fucking kingdom! So perfect! Perfect ending perfect everything--perfect perfect perfect!
Thank you so much for sharing; this was an absolute delight to read!
events you participated in this year
hurt/comfort_bingo and trope bingo (I think this was my first year doing trope bingo and loved it). Also, I was a pinch hitter for shipoween on AO3 for Halloween and stuffed a bunch of pears (icons and fic and recs) on stockings in dreamwidth's in_a_peartree comm (which is still going on, by the way); I missed signups but couldn't resist stuffing stockings. I also wrote a few drabbles for femslash ficlets earlier in the year. Oh, and fandom stocking earlier in the year also. I think that's it. Bingo cards and stocking stuffing opportunities have really helped with my creativity, especially since I struggle with ideas and plots rather than the execution/actual writing.
fics you wanted to write but didn’t
I don't know if this counts, but I really wanted to get back into Dean/Gabriel this year, or Dean/Crowley or Dean/Sam or just anything Supernatural related (it's my favorite show, after all). I caught up on 3 seasons of it too! But it just never hit me. Oh well, maybe in 2020. I also am waiting to get some Mission: Impossible (films) inspiration.
new fandoms that you started writing fic in this year
Some of these fandoms I wrote a drabble or two for a long while ago, but I'm not counting them 'cause for me they don't count. MCU, X-Men (early films), Master and Commander (film), Pirates of the Caribbean, Safe House, Reservoir Dogs, TURN, Dracula (2013), Cold Pursuit (2019), Ocean's 8, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (2006), Murder on the Orient Express (2017), The Covenant (2006), Saw V and Lord of the Rings.
favorite fic you read this year
Runaway by grumblebee, TURN, Ben/George
This was one of the first fics I read in 2019 and it's one of the few that I surprisingly go back to a lot. I've read tons of fic this year but am honestly most impressed by this piece. Below is my hurt/comfort_bingo rec. The only additional things I have to say are that it's a slow burn masterpiece, I love love love all the angst and hurt/comfort, and it seriously gets better each time I read it.
This is hands down one of the best stories that I have ever read, in any fandom. It's incredibly fleshed out and oftentimes brutally honest and absolutely heart-wrenching and just plain poignant and beautiful. This is the pinnacle of my obsession with Benwash. Runaway is an AU where Ben, a drifting and broken college dropout, is found by a concerned and persistent George on the Appalachian Trail. George takes Ben into his home and their romance blooms from there, but it is made brutally complicated by George's suspicious past, Ben's fears to let anyone in and a shocking invasion of someone from George's past, hell-bent on exposing Ben's own. Runaway is a perfect slow burn of the prompt 'learning to be loved.'
a fic you read this year you would recommend everyone read
All of Your Lonely Sieges by WhenasInSilks, Marvel Ultimates, Steve/Tony
This is also among the first fics I read in 2019 and it's really stuck with me. Not only that, but this was one of the first pieces that really made me ship Steve/Tony and also keeps enticing me to read the comics. I've even been seeking out additional fanfic for the comics even though I still haven't read them. Anyway, this deals with Tony's alcoholism and the painful consequences of that when he and Steve become stranded. Steve is a wonderful caretaker in this and his and Tony's characterizations are beautiful.
number of favorites/bookmarks you made this year
A LOT. SERIOUSLY. 391 per AO3, but that doesn't count all the fic I read/downloaded/saved on dreamwidth, livejournal, fanfiction.net, etc. Can you tell how I have no life?
favorite fanfic author of the year
surrandie's sweet and delightful glitch/cain hurt/comfort fics & drabbles for the Tin Man fandom. These ticked every box and hit every button for me. There are lots of them and I found most through the glitch-wyatt livejournal comm here.
favorite fandom to read fic from this year
Tin Man. God, I had a blast reading Tin Man fic this year, specifically Cain/Glitch 'cause those two stole my heart all over again. I found the livejournal comm glitch-wyatt and there are so many amazing writers over there. I spent a good 3 months reading obsessively and plan to pick back up where I left off in 2020.
new fandoms that you started reading fic in this year
Ocean's trilogy, Tin Man, Brothers Grimm (2005), John Wick, Killjoys, Roswell New Mexico and King Arthur (2004).
fandoms you want to return to next year (writing, reading, making icons, etc.)
From Paris With Love (2010), Dark Angel, Vampire High, Ocean's trilogy, Brothers Grimm (2005), MCU, Fantastic Four (2005-2007), Resident Evil (films), Cold Pursuit (2019), Dracula (2013) and Supernatural.
new ships and/or characters you want to write next year
I've been itching to write Rusty/Linus or Rusty/Danny/Linus Ocean's fic, but I don't know if I'll ever get there. Never say never though. Also, Jake/Will or Jake & Will Grimm from Brothers Grimm (2005), 'cause I want to dabble more in historical time periods and get out of the modern age a bit. A couple others are Glitch/Cain (Tin Man) and Viggo/Avi (John Wick). Some characters I really would love to write because I love all their complexities are Linus Caldwell and Wilhelm Grimm (both Matt Damon characters, go figure).
Aside from writing, what else do you hope to accomplish next year?
Making icons and gifs and cover art for fanmixes and maybe dabble a bit in fanvideos too. I want to get better at GIMP and dabble more in Shotcut for video editing. I also want to make my own screencaps so I don't have to rely on what other sites have and agonize over what they don't have.
Icons you want to make next year
Suicide Squad, Fantastic Four (2005-2007), I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (2006), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Brothers Grimm (2005), Oceans trilogy, Aquaman, Reservoir Dogs, Vampire Academy, Cold Pursuit (2019), Tin Man, Mission: Impossible (films), Jekyll and Hyde (2015), Resident Evil (films), Roswell, Bitten (series), MCU and Dracula (2013). Too many, really.
Anything else you'd like to add?
I think that's it! I'm in a lot of obscure fandoms, I feel like more and more as the years go by, and even in popular fandoms I tend to go for rare ships, so oftentimes it's really difficult for me to share my likes and connect with other readers, but I'm happy where I'm at right now, so I guess that's good. And it's always really surprising and gratifying when someone likes my writing in a small/rare fandom or for a rare ship.
Happy 2020 to all! May it be a happy and healthy [and hopefully glorious] decade.
