Year end fandom meme
Jan. 3rd, 2021 03:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darkrosaleenI have nothing clever to say, so here's a meme.
What I wrote in 2020:
Fun Size, G, Bon Appetit Test Kitchen RPF, Brad Leone/Claire Saffitz, ~800 words
You're Twisting My Melon, Man, E, Oasis RPF, Liam Gallagher/Noel Gallagher, ~1300 words
Nighthawks, T, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Poe Dameron/Rey, ~1700 words
Sorry Boy, I've Been Hit By Purple Rain, E, Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Peter Quill/Yondu Udonta, ~1800 words
Tricycles, E, Bandom, Patrick Stump/Mikey Way/Pete Wentz, ~9600 words
Black Rose, E, The Terror (TV), Cornelius Hickey/Thomas Jopson, ~500 words
6 works posted, down from 12 in 2019. I only posted fic for exchanges (and one bang), and I only posted one work for every exchange/bang I signed up for (I picked up a pinch hit, but it was for an exchange I didn't sign up for so I count it as 1 fic per signup). I wrote no explicit het this year (which means no femdom), and wrote a lower percentage of het overall. I also wrote in 6 different fandoms, two of which I've never written before!
Leitmotif(s) of the year
I don't think I have one! The only elements that show up in more than one fic are men giving each other handjobs while one is sitting/lying on top of the other, and someone thought to be vanilla or submissive revealed to be dominant. Which are both huge kinks of mine, so I guess it counts.
Most popular story
Fun Size has twice the hits and 40% more kudos than the second most popular fic. It's interesting because Bon Appetit RPF has one of those insulated fandoms where everyone is monofannish--you can tell by how many Bon Appetit icons and usernames are in the kudos and comments. Fun Size is tied with Nighthawks for most comment threads, despite Nighthawks having the second lowest hit count.
Most underappreciated by the universe, in my opinion
Probably Tricycles, but I'm not really surprised that sexual age play polyamory for an old fandom didn't garner a big audience.
My best story of this year
Sorry Boy, I've Been Hit by Purple Rain. It has the best narrative voice, it fits the characters and the theme, and it's closest to the fic I had in my head.
What’s your favorite story this year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you the happiest.
I've got to say Tricycles. Not just because it indulges a favorite niche kink of mine, but because it indulges another niche kink of people being embarrassed about their kinks and gradually talking it out and figuring out a complex poly relationship. It was also wonderfully, blessedly fun to return to bandom in these difficult times, where it's always 2005 and everyone's biggest concern is Warped Tour and texting hot scene boys with emo bangs on your ancient flip phone. I had the most fun writing it, and I've reread it the most times.
Biggest disappointment
After Rise of Skywalker gave me the biggest ship feels I've felt in years, I didn't publish any Reylo this year. I gamed for Reylo requests with both my Chocolate Box and May the Fourth signups, failed both times, and failed to write a single extra treat. I got several delicious Reylo gifts, but the writer itch hasn't been scratched, and the general Reylo tag isn't exactly to my tastes either. I also failed to dress as Sith Rey for Halloween, mostly because I needed a costume that would read over Zoom.
Biggest surprise
Of all the dozens and dozens of RPF fics on my account, I never expected the G-rated fluff for a silly youtube cooking show to be the one ruined by terrible real life behavior. 2020, man.
Favorite title
Sorry Boy, I've Been Hit by Purple Rain. I wrote about it here!
Hardest story to write
Honestly, everything except the big bang. Every one of my exchange assignments was under 2k (two were under 900 words), and they were all exhausting to write and got edited up to the last second. My assignment difficulties are 100% responsible for my lack of treats this year.
Sexiest story
You're Twisting My Melon, Man, because I love high sex and handjobs and incest. Tricycles was sexiest if you share my extremely specific kink for emo little boys with black nail polish and skull onesies.
Truest story
This is a hard one, possibly because I wrote a lot less het this year. Tricycles is dom POV, which is always me putting my perspective out into the world, but the fic itself isn't that personal.
Favorite Opening Line
Tricycles: "Patrick is in a fog of sweaty, sunburnt exhaustion when he punches in the code for the My Chem bus."
Not this line specifically, but I love this whole opening scene, where a tired grumpy Patrick gets his world turned upside down by walking in on his crush in a diaper. It sets the whole funny, embarrassing, uncomfortably hot tone of the rest of the fic, and was very fun to write.
Favorite Closing Line
Sorry Boy, I've Been Hit by Purple Rain: "The sky had many lovers; why shouldn't they?"
Ties back to an earlier line of Peter not wanting to settle down because Ravagers are married to the sky, but also wanting a special person to come home to without giving up that freedom. I'm just really happy with the language and mood and themes of this fic.
Writing risks this year and lessons learned
Like last year, I signed up for a bunch of exchanges that were more stress than fun. I've already learned I don't jive well with ship matching freeform exchanges. This year I learned that Chocolate Box isn't unique enough to hold my attention, and May the Fourth is more fun if you have super tiny Legends rarepairs and less fun if you're requesting the same movie juggernaut you request in every other exchange. Little Black Dress is the only one I'm definitely doing again, and I continue to jump on every crazy open-ended flash exchange that lets me stretch my writing wings (next up: Bulletproof and Lucky Dip). I wrote one of my most embarrassing kinks and it wasn't too bad.
What I wrote in 2020:
Fun Size, G, Bon Appetit Test Kitchen RPF, Brad Leone/Claire Saffitz, ~800 words
You're Twisting My Melon, Man, E, Oasis RPF, Liam Gallagher/Noel Gallagher, ~1300 words
Nighthawks, T, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Poe Dameron/Rey, ~1700 words
Sorry Boy, I've Been Hit By Purple Rain, E, Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Peter Quill/Yondu Udonta, ~1800 words
Tricycles, E, Bandom, Patrick Stump/Mikey Way/Pete Wentz, ~9600 words
Black Rose, E, The Terror (TV), Cornelius Hickey/Thomas Jopson, ~500 words
6 works posted, down from 12 in 2019. I only posted fic for exchanges (and one bang), and I only posted one work for every exchange/bang I signed up for (I picked up a pinch hit, but it was for an exchange I didn't sign up for so I count it as 1 fic per signup). I wrote no explicit het this year (which means no femdom), and wrote a lower percentage of het overall. I also wrote in 6 different fandoms, two of which I've never written before!
Leitmotif(s) of the year
I don't think I have one! The only elements that show up in more than one fic are men giving each other handjobs while one is sitting/lying on top of the other, and someone thought to be vanilla or submissive revealed to be dominant. Which are both huge kinks of mine, so I guess it counts.
Most popular story
Fun Size has twice the hits and 40% more kudos than the second most popular fic. It's interesting because Bon Appetit RPF has one of those insulated fandoms where everyone is monofannish--you can tell by how many Bon Appetit icons and usernames are in the kudos and comments. Fun Size is tied with Nighthawks for most comment threads, despite Nighthawks having the second lowest hit count.
Most underappreciated by the universe, in my opinion
Probably Tricycles, but I'm not really surprised that sexual age play polyamory for an old fandom didn't garner a big audience.
My best story of this year
Sorry Boy, I've Been Hit by Purple Rain. It has the best narrative voice, it fits the characters and the theme, and it's closest to the fic I had in my head.
What’s your favorite story this year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you the happiest.
I've got to say Tricycles. Not just because it indulges a favorite niche kink of mine, but because it indulges another niche kink of people being embarrassed about their kinks and gradually talking it out and figuring out a complex poly relationship. It was also wonderfully, blessedly fun to return to bandom in these difficult times, where it's always 2005 and everyone's biggest concern is Warped Tour and texting hot scene boys with emo bangs on your ancient flip phone. I had the most fun writing it, and I've reread it the most times.
Biggest disappointment
After Rise of Skywalker gave me the biggest ship feels I've felt in years, I didn't publish any Reylo this year. I gamed for Reylo requests with both my Chocolate Box and May the Fourth signups, failed both times, and failed to write a single extra treat. I got several delicious Reylo gifts, but the writer itch hasn't been scratched, and the general Reylo tag isn't exactly to my tastes either. I also failed to dress as Sith Rey for Halloween, mostly because I needed a costume that would read over Zoom.
Biggest surprise
Of all the dozens and dozens of RPF fics on my account, I never expected the G-rated fluff for a silly youtube cooking show to be the one ruined by terrible real life behavior. 2020, man.
Favorite title
Sorry Boy, I've Been Hit by Purple Rain. I wrote about it here!
Hardest story to write
Honestly, everything except the big bang. Every one of my exchange assignments was under 2k (two were under 900 words), and they were all exhausting to write and got edited up to the last second. My assignment difficulties are 100% responsible for my lack of treats this year.
Sexiest story
You're Twisting My Melon, Man, because I love high sex and handjobs and incest. Tricycles was sexiest if you share my extremely specific kink for emo little boys with black nail polish and skull onesies.
Truest story
This is a hard one, possibly because I wrote a lot less het this year. Tricycles is dom POV, which is always me putting my perspective out into the world, but the fic itself isn't that personal.
Favorite Opening Line
Tricycles: "Patrick is in a fog of sweaty, sunburnt exhaustion when he punches in the code for the My Chem bus."
Not this line specifically, but I love this whole opening scene, where a tired grumpy Patrick gets his world turned upside down by walking in on his crush in a diaper. It sets the whole funny, embarrassing, uncomfortably hot tone of the rest of the fic, and was very fun to write.
Favorite Closing Line
Sorry Boy, I've Been Hit by Purple Rain: "The sky had many lovers; why shouldn't they?"
Ties back to an earlier line of Peter not wanting to settle down because Ravagers are married to the sky, but also wanting a special person to come home to without giving up that freedom. I'm just really happy with the language and mood and themes of this fic.
Writing risks this year and lessons learned
Like last year, I signed up for a bunch of exchanges that were more stress than fun. I've already learned I don't jive well with ship matching freeform exchanges. This year I learned that Chocolate Box isn't unique enough to hold my attention, and May the Fourth is more fun if you have super tiny Legends rarepairs and less fun if you're requesting the same movie juggernaut you request in every other exchange. Little Black Dress is the only one I'm definitely doing again, and I continue to jump on every crazy open-ended flash exchange that lets me stretch my writing wings (next up: Bulletproof and Lucky Dip). I wrote one of my most embarrassing kinks and it wasn't too bad.
