Superlative stories and inventory of 2008
Dec. 14th, 2008 05:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
petra2008 in a nutshell: Fifteen fandoms, somewhere around half an original novel and the bones of another.
Compared with previous years (2007, 2006, 2005), that's not a lot of output for me, but it certainly is a varied pile.
Leitmotif of the year:
Even more so than normal for me, this was a year in which sex and love were as divorced as reasonably probable, and sex didn't make love any more real, present, or warm. Particularly of note on this score are: Always bravely acquiesce, Pawn their experience, and Inclusively players.
The other theme was definitely "They were doing it before canon started -- see?" regarding which see the latter two, Washed clean with rain, and Season Tickets (sort of).
My best story of this year:
Inclusively players makes me smile at it fondly. Look, stagecraft, historical context, and nonsensicality, all in one tidy package -- with blowjobs. Who could ask for anything more?
My favorite and/or truest story of this year:
I believe in Pawn their experience more than I really should, all things considered and canon being what it is. I wrote it for myself more than most of the other things I wrote this year, which is why I had so much fun with the heartache, the yearning, and the gloriously affection-blind protagonist.
Story of mine most underappreciated by the universe, in my opinion:
Pawn their experience for the simple reason that not everyone enjoys having their hearts dug out with a spoon over a period of years with no happy ending in sight. I suppose that means my kinks are special.
Second place goes to the fact that I'm still not sure what happened to all the people who desperately wanted to read Inclusively players while I was writing it, but who never said anything to me about it afterward. I suppose that while I think it's my best work, my readers may have objected to some of the Stoppardian tweaking or the bare fact of Darren Nichols.
Most fun story to write:
Five Musicals Never Produced in New Burbage caused me to convulse in giggles in contemplation of their madness on multiple occasions.
The bird in the Kensington cage was also a blast; Newbie is as much fun as any other voice I did this year with the possible exception of Mildmay.
Story with the single sexiest moment:
I generally don't like writing cunnilingus, let alone rereading my own takes on it, but Washed clean with rain works for me.
Most "Holy crap, that's wrong, even for you" story:
Always bravely acquiesce is a delicate dance with consent for reasons imposed by canon. I wrote it to see if I could, and because the story made perfect sense to me, but it's not a comfortable place to put my head.
Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:
Inclusively players taught me to like Darren Nichols, which I hadn't particularly beforehand. I believe the emoticon appropriate to this experience is \o/~
Hardest story to write:
The novel I have ~50K of. Definitely. Everything else was cake next to that, even the one I massively restructured at 3AM.
Biggest disappointment:
I don't know what happened to my writing brain in the fall, other than overcommitment in other matters and exhaustion.
Story-wise, I feel as though I wrote a lot of things to make myself happy and they didn't make everyone else happy because I am not a romantical sort of fangirl, but I am mostly over that kind of disappointment.
Biggest surprise:
I came quite close to dying of embarrassment when Sarah Monette linked to Where winter wolves bark. I was pleased that she was willing to acknowledge its existence, but I had also managed to pretend that the internet was larger than it in fact is.
Most unintentionally telling story:
See also: leitmotif. I have narrative kinks, and lots of them.
Story I haven't yet written, but intend to:
Novel! Other Novel!
Within the scope of this meme, and acknowledging the very few things I actually finished from last year, I like the following drafts:
Half Wolf, where Angua von Überwald ends up on the mean streets of Chicago with a Mountie, a cop, and a deaf lupine companion.
Darren's Faustus, which needs a less prosaic title and happens post-canon of Slings & Arrows, mostly in Montréal, and which I happily blame on Elizabeth Bear.
...and novels.
Wish me luck.
Inventory by month for completists:
January
Always bravely acquiesce (Sarah Monette's Doctrine of Labyrinths, Felix/Mildmay, adult)
The two of us in sympathy (DCU, Bruce/Clark, adult)
All that makes you far away (Sarah Jane Adventures, Sarah Jane/Maria, all ages)
Washed clean with rain (BSG, Kara/Bill, adult)
February
A spot of quick light (Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series, Aral/Simon, all ages)
March
Assorted pocket AUs (various)
April
Jeeves's Particular Touch (P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster series, adult)
May
Chiromancy (DCU, Bruce/Barbara, adult)
Will you still feed me (DCU, Lois/Clark, adult)
But they do square (DCU, Bruce/Tim, adult)
No fretful orchid (due South, Fraser/RayK, adult)
June
Too sharp in sweetness (Slings & Arrows, Ellen/Geoffrey/Oliver in various combinations, adult)
Five Musicals Never Produced in New Burbage (Slings & Arrows, gen, all ages)
Travelled on his looks (due South/DCU, gen, all ages)
July
Un-, sub-, or supernatural forces (Slings & Arrows, Geoffrey, Darren, and Stoppard, gen)
All thee Dysk's a Stage (Slings & Arrows/Discworld, gen, all ages)
Pawn their experience (Slings & Arrows, Oliver/Geoffrey, adult)
Sore labour's bath (Slings & Arrows, Geoffrey/Anna, all ages)
A foolish wit (Slings & Arrows, gen like canon, swearing)
August
Inclusively players (Slings & Arrows, Geoffrey/Darren, adult)
Season Tickets (due South, Fraser/RayK, all ages)
Naked truth (due South, Fraser/RayK, adult)
An eye more bright than theirs (Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series, Miles/Bel Thorne, all ages)
Love without complications galore (DCU, Babs/Dick, all ages)
The bird in the Kensington cage (Twitch City, Curtis/Hope and also Newbie, swearing)
Where winter wolves bark (due South/Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear's A Companion to Wolves, Fraser/RayK for certain values of said, adult)
Another musical never produced in New Burbage (Slings & Arrows/Torchwood (what?), gen, all ages)
50,000-odd words of novel
September
R&R OR I WON'T WRITE MORE! (sonnet, no fandom, all ages)
October
To go boldly (Elizabeth Bear's Promethean Age series, gen, all ages)
November
Strove to check my onward going (Slings & Arrows, Ellen/Anna, all ages)
December
In thy orisons (The Dark is Rising/Torchwood, gen, all ages)
Days go by (due South, Fraser/RayK, adult)
A single thing we couldn't do (sequel to previous, due South, Fraser/RayK, adult)
Each result and glory (Sarah Monette's Doctrine of Labyrinths, Felix/Mildmay, adult)
No place like home (Elizabeth Bear's Promethean Age series, Kit/Murchaud, all ages)
The way we danced till three (Mad Men, Joan/Roger, all ages, drabble)
Mum's the word (Bujold's Vorkosigan series, Ivan/Byerly, all ages)
Compared with previous years (2007, 2006, 2005), that's not a lot of output for me, but it certainly is a varied pile.
Leitmotif of the year:
Even more so than normal for me, this was a year in which sex and love were as divorced as reasonably probable, and sex didn't make love any more real, present, or warm. Particularly of note on this score are: Always bravely acquiesce, Pawn their experience, and Inclusively players.
The other theme was definitely "They were doing it before canon started -- see?" regarding which see the latter two, Washed clean with rain, and Season Tickets (sort of).
My best story of this year:
Inclusively players makes me smile at it fondly. Look, stagecraft, historical context, and nonsensicality, all in one tidy package -- with blowjobs. Who could ask for anything more?
My favorite and/or truest story of this year:
I believe in Pawn their experience more than I really should, all things considered and canon being what it is. I wrote it for myself more than most of the other things I wrote this year, which is why I had so much fun with the heartache, the yearning, and the gloriously affection-blind protagonist.
Story of mine most underappreciated by the universe, in my opinion:
Pawn their experience for the simple reason that not everyone enjoys having their hearts dug out with a spoon over a period of years with no happy ending in sight. I suppose that means my kinks are special.
Second place goes to the fact that I'm still not sure what happened to all the people who desperately wanted to read Inclusively players while I was writing it, but who never said anything to me about it afterward. I suppose that while I think it's my best work, my readers may have objected to some of the Stoppardian tweaking or the bare fact of Darren Nichols.
Most fun story to write:
Five Musicals Never Produced in New Burbage caused me to convulse in giggles in contemplation of their madness on multiple occasions.
The bird in the Kensington cage was also a blast; Newbie is as much fun as any other voice I did this year with the possible exception of Mildmay.
Story with the single sexiest moment:
I generally don't like writing cunnilingus, let alone rereading my own takes on it, but Washed clean with rain works for me.
Most "Holy crap, that's wrong, even for you" story:
Always bravely acquiesce is a delicate dance with consent for reasons imposed by canon. I wrote it to see if I could, and because the story made perfect sense to me, but it's not a comfortable place to put my head.
Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:
Inclusively players taught me to like Darren Nichols, which I hadn't particularly beforehand. I believe the emoticon appropriate to this experience is \o/~
Hardest story to write:
The novel I have ~50K of. Definitely. Everything else was cake next to that, even the one I massively restructured at 3AM.
Biggest disappointment:
I don't know what happened to my writing brain in the fall, other than overcommitment in other matters and exhaustion.
Story-wise, I feel as though I wrote a lot of things to make myself happy and they didn't make everyone else happy because I am not a romantical sort of fangirl, but I am mostly over that kind of disappointment.
Biggest surprise:
I came quite close to dying of embarrassment when Sarah Monette linked to Where winter wolves bark. I was pleased that she was willing to acknowledge its existence, but I had also managed to pretend that the internet was larger than it in fact is.
Most unintentionally telling story:
See also: leitmotif. I have narrative kinks, and lots of them.
Story I haven't yet written, but intend to:
Novel! Other Novel!
Within the scope of this meme, and acknowledging the very few things I actually finished from last year, I like the following drafts:
Half Wolf, where Angua von Überwald ends up on the mean streets of Chicago with a Mountie, a cop, and a deaf lupine companion.
Darren's Faustus, which needs a less prosaic title and happens post-canon of Slings & Arrows, mostly in Montréal, and which I happily blame on Elizabeth Bear.
...and novels.
Wish me luck.
Inventory by month for completists:
January
Always bravely acquiesce (Sarah Monette's Doctrine of Labyrinths, Felix/Mildmay, adult)
The two of us in sympathy (DCU, Bruce/Clark, adult)
All that makes you far away (Sarah Jane Adventures, Sarah Jane/Maria, all ages)
Washed clean with rain (BSG, Kara/Bill, adult)
February
A spot of quick light (Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series, Aral/Simon, all ages)
March
Assorted pocket AUs (various)
April
Jeeves's Particular Touch (P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster series, adult)
May
Chiromancy (DCU, Bruce/Barbara, adult)
Will you still feed me (DCU, Lois/Clark, adult)
But they do square (DCU, Bruce/Tim, adult)
No fretful orchid (due South, Fraser/RayK, adult)
June
Too sharp in sweetness (Slings & Arrows, Ellen/Geoffrey/Oliver in various combinations, adult)
Five Musicals Never Produced in New Burbage (Slings & Arrows, gen, all ages)
Travelled on his looks (due South/DCU, gen, all ages)
July
Un-, sub-, or supernatural forces (Slings & Arrows, Geoffrey, Darren, and Stoppard, gen)
All thee Dysk's a Stage (Slings & Arrows/Discworld, gen, all ages)
Pawn their experience (Slings & Arrows, Oliver/Geoffrey, adult)
Sore labour's bath (Slings & Arrows, Geoffrey/Anna, all ages)
A foolish wit (Slings & Arrows, gen like canon, swearing)
August
Inclusively players (Slings & Arrows, Geoffrey/Darren, adult)
Season Tickets (due South, Fraser/RayK, all ages)
Naked truth (due South, Fraser/RayK, adult)
An eye more bright than theirs (Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series, Miles/Bel Thorne, all ages)
Love without complications galore (DCU, Babs/Dick, all ages)
The bird in the Kensington cage (Twitch City, Curtis/Hope and also Newbie, swearing)
Where winter wolves bark (due South/Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear's A Companion to Wolves, Fraser/RayK for certain values of said, adult)
Another musical never produced in New Burbage (Slings & Arrows/Torchwood (what?), gen, all ages)
50,000-odd words of novel
September
R&R OR I WON'T WRITE MORE! (sonnet, no fandom, all ages)
October
To go boldly (Elizabeth Bear's Promethean Age series, gen, all ages)
November
Strove to check my onward going (Slings & Arrows, Ellen/Anna, all ages)
December
In thy orisons (The Dark is Rising/Torchwood, gen, all ages)
Days go by (due South, Fraser/RayK, adult)
A single thing we couldn't do (sequel to previous, due South, Fraser/RayK, adult)
Each result and glory (Sarah Monette's Doctrine of Labyrinths, Felix/Mildmay, adult)
No place like home (Elizabeth Bear's Promethean Age series, Kit/Murchaud, all ages)
The way we danced till three (Mad Men, Joan/Roger, all ages, drabble)
Mum's the word (Bujold's Vorkosigan series, Ivan/Byerly, all ages)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-12-14 11:58 pm (UTC)*uses vaguely-inappropriately-appropriate icon*
no subject
Date: 2008-12-14 11:59 pm (UTC)Because you'd read it, and said, "Yes, that's very nice," and put it away again? I am not sure.
AAAAAACE. \?o?/
no subject
Date: 2008-12-15 01:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-15 01:40 am (UTC)Hi again. Don't expect this volume of post to keep up.
no subject
Date: 2008-12-15 07:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-15 09:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-15 08:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-15 09:55 pm (UTC)"But if she liked it, she'd have said something."
"She's been *busy.*"
"Yes, but, but, but."
&c.
Thank you. A *lot.*
no subject
Date: 2008-12-15 09:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-15 10:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-16 06:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-16 11:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-16 05:33 pm (UTC)(They sound like very fine books, I just have complex personal reasons for taking a break from most fantasy.)