Year-end Fic Meme

[nonelvis]

Fic written in 2013
Postscript (Eleven/Romana II, Eleven/River, Romana II/River; PG)
Grounded (Ten, Donna; G)
Punch-Drunk (Nine/Rose; G)
Booty Call (Eleven/Clara; Adult)
The Best Help in the Universe (Clara, Angie and Artie Maitland, special guest; G)
Ordinary Human Days (Eleven/Amy/Rory, Eleven/River; PG)
Time Delay (Three, Liz; G)
Light Is a Particle and a Wave (Eleven, the TARDIS, slight Eleven/TARDIS; G)
Tangrams (duplicate Doctor/Rose, duplicate Doctor/Rose/River; Adult)

… plus a three-sentence River/Reinette fic FOR GREAT OPPRESSION, a couple other three-sentence fics, and a fandom stocking fic that has yet to be revealed.


Leitmotif of the year
Surprisingly, it was gen. If I'm known for any genre at all, something tells me it's the exact opposite of gen, but nevertheless, half of what I wrote this year was essentially romance-free.


Overall thoughts
Damn, I wrote a lot this year! … or at least it seemed that way, until I went back through my older versions of this meme and found that my story output this year was roughly the same as it has been most years. I think it just felt like a lot more because I wrote so little last year, but either way, I'm not going to complain about getting more writing done.


My best story of this year
This is an especially tough call, because the story I think has the best use of language (Light Is a Particle and a Wave) isn't the same as the story whose flow I like the most (Ordinary Human Days), and neither is the story I'm most happy I was able to complete at all (Tangrams). But I guess I'll hand this one to Light Is a Particle and a Wave for packing a lot of imagery and emotion into a relatively small space.


My favorite story of this year
I'm sorry, this one really is a tie between Ordinary Human Days and Tangrams. Ordinary Human Days just makes me smile; it was a great prompt, and I had so much fun writing it. (Yes, even when I was tearing my hair out over the crossword clue that I eventually handed off to a professional to write.)

Tangrams gets its nod as "favorite" just because I'm so damned pleased I was finally able to pull off the Handy/Rose/River story I'd been trying to write for years. I wrote a small chunk of what eventually became chapter 1 way back when I had the original idea about the pairing, and then it languished for what seemed like forever, because I couldn't work out a way to defuse Rose's jealousy enough to allow the three people to sleep together. But something clicked this year, and next thing I knew, not only did I have the entire plot outlined, I'd written my longest single story ever. Why, at this rate, it'll only take me another thirty years or so to work my way up to something novel-length!


Story of mine most underappreciated by the universe, in my opinion
Postscript, though its underappreciation may be well-deserved. I re-read it a couple of months ago and had the same thought I had when I originally wrote it: I like the plot and character interactions, but the pacing is shit. That said, the reason I'm filing it under "underappreciated" is that more people should appreciate Eleven/Romana and in particular, River/Romana. So there.


Most fun story to write
As mentioned above, Ordinary Human Days. "The Doctor unexpectedly tries and fails to live a normal human life" is one of my favorite tropes, and I had a great time trying my hand at it myself.


Story with the single sexiest moment
Tangrams, for the bit with the vibrating egg. I write enough pornography that I always worry about repeating myself too much, so I figured I'd throw a sex toy into the scene to see what happened. I'm pretty sure it worked.


Most "holy crap, that's wrong, even for you" story
The singing starfish cock joke in Booty Call. SORRY NOT SORRY.


Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters
Booty Call, simply because it was written fairly early on in S7, when people were saying that Clara had no characterization at all. (Which they still are, but whatever.) Since that wasn't my impression of her -- although I agree she had limited characterization at the time -- I set out to write something to see if I could at least capture her voice and behaviors. I think I succeeded, and it made her easier to write in The Best Help in the Universe, too.


Hardest story to write
There's no contest here: I spent three years mulling over what eventually became Tangrams. Three years. This makes last year's whinging about needing months to write The Sum of Their Memories look like complaining about a papercut.


Biggest disappointment
I really wanted to write a story for every month of who_at_50, but I simply ran out of time. Still, I got four stories done, including one for Three and Liz, neither of whom I'd written in any significant way before.


Biggest surprise
More than three people read (and liked) Tangrams. Seriously, I'm still shocked that anyone other than platypus, prof_pangaea, and me wanted to read Handy/Rose/River. Thank you for a legitimately pleasant surprise, fandom.


Most unintentionally telling story
Let's not discuss how much of the description of Rose's drunkenness and its various side effects in Punch-Drunk is based on real-life experience, shall we? Good.


Story I haven't yet written, but intend to
Twelve/River! I have an idea for a cracky version I could do without having heard Twelve's voice, but I'll feel more personally satisfied if I can properly replicate his voice myself. That means hearing it, which means waiting until August, and ugh, I don't know if I can wait that long to oppress supply people with Twelve/River. We'll see.