Fic meme redux

[petronia]

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?

I don't dare predict but wordcount was the same as last year plus a few thousand words, which seems as much as can be realistically hoped for.

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January 2006?

I would say JoJo except I'm pretty sure I knew what I was doing when I started reading it. XD So maybe... Ouran?

What's your favorite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest.

"Senza Fine", not because it's the best-written (it's not) but because it actually is fun to write. I know where I'm going and can't wait to get there.

For the record "A Proof By Contradiction" is the most popular (duh XD). I think it may be a better story than "Halcyon", but it's hard to say because the two stories are very similar structurally and thematically but "A Proof By Contradiction" is much more overtly emotional. OTOH "Halcyon" feels to me as if it's in a finished state - as good as it gets for what it intrinsically is - whereas "A Proof By Contradiction" could have been better-written, still, although it's beyond my ability to improve at this point.

Did you take any writing risks this year? (See above for unexpected pairings, etc.) What did you learn from them?

The opposite of taking a risk: waiting until one's sure of one's ability to achieve a goal before attempting it. *g*

Seriously I think for the past X years I've been hammering away at prosody itself, trying to get the words to link up in the way that I want i.e. not as an agglomeration of tics, stylistic clichés and "lyrical" shorthand. Sometime year before last I finally acquired the instrument, after which it became a lot easier to write a story - even a 10,000-word story - by starting at the beginning and slotting one word after another until the end is reached. You know, what normal people do. XD

OTOH establishing - and using - the carnet LJ as a separate space was a writing risk, in that I could have found it superfluous or resource-depleting. But it was a definite help. I want to thank the people who read and comment over there, actually, I honestly feel you're doing me a favour by indulging my... non-sequiturs. ^^;

I don't consciously set out to overcome perceived roadblocks (wouldn't know how to formulate a game plan) but I am, sometimes, dissatisfied with what people say about my writing, even if they describe an effect I originally intended. It's possible I'm just perverse and don't like being pigeonholed. XD With "Senza Fine" and "A Proof By Contradiction" I think I've managed to scrub off a certain endemic clinicality - if there is pain one should see the pain and not the reflection on the window through which one's gazing. The (tough) trick is not to sacrifice precision. I'm not humble enough to subsume myself entirely, though, so the cycle will turn when people start saying they can't tell prose is happening at all. XD

Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the New Year?

Clear the requests backlog!!! Finish "Senza Fine" and "Traffic". orz Write more long origfic, except I don't foresee much time for that (and in any case I've begun to think that when I'm ready to write a novel I'll know - the one concrete lesson of all of the above is that I can't rush myself and trying accomplishes nothing).

Now I will play more VS2 FFXII.

P.S. How did JoJo's Bizarre Adventure get onto the fandom list for the latest yaoi_challenge round. (Then again, so's Katamari Damacy... This is ONE OF YOU PEOPLE isn't it?)

Comments

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

For what it's worth, I liked Halcyon better than A Proof By Contradiction.

...Actually I didn't really like Proof. I realize this makes NO SENSE but there it is. Maybe it's because I don't think of HnG as that kind of series? Or maybe it's because Proof is more existential. I don't know why but existential dilemmas give me hives, I have like an allergic reaction to them.

if there is pain one should see the pain and not the reflection on the window through which one's gazing. The (tough) trick is not to sacrifice precision. I'm not humble enough to subsume myself entirely, though, so the cycle will turn when people start saying they can't tell prose is happening at all

Those are some pretty high-level considerations ahaha.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

HnG is not, in fact, that kind of series. XD And it doesn't have to make sense, or rather the reasons you give make as much sense to me as any.

I sort of figure for this type of meme I should set down the high-level considerations and the low-level ones will take care of themselves. XD It's not like I know how to think about this stuff except in metaphors anyway.

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

It's admirable. I gave up thinking about my writing on that level months ago. ^^; It wasn't getting me anywhere. I'm still at the point where what I need to do to improve is WRITE MORE and quit posting half-finished things just because I am bored with them. At this point I have to approach every story on its own terms.

...right now what I'm trying to do is make sure every story concludes in a way that ties together its emotional heart, not just the action, while also not being TOTALLY unsubtle and clumsy. It's what I've been trying to do all along but I think I've been missing the mark lately. At the same time I don't want to hide the strings too much; I think people like the fact that the strings are visible, and I might be too honest to hide them anyway.

Sorry for talking about me in a thread about you. ^^; I think what I should really do is write something original, lately I've been wondering whether I'd be any good at it.

On the HnG fic: it was a deeply reactive response, the feeling that I just couldn't stand to read another word. You probably know the feeling I'm talking about XD; it's a closed-mindedness I'm trying to get over.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

No, I like hearing about what other people do/don't do or intend with their writing. ^^ Actually I think the more one writes, the more meaningful the meta becomes as well.

I just looked at your fic meme and realised you've written much more this year than I'd thought but it's all Loveless and since I'm not in Loveless I've read none of said fics. So my view of what your stories tend to do is probably skewed. XD;

I think every story always has to be approached on its own terms, until the end of time. More than anything I rationalize my writing decisions post facto, although it's still a descriptive process - I just can't tell what it was I was really doing until I'm done doing it. XD

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

I like hearing about what other people do/don't do or intend with their writing.

I'm going to take your word on that. ^^;

On Loveless:
It's too bad, I'm actually pretty happy with the stuff I've written for this series. Well, maybe not with Call Me Anytime -- lately I've been thinking I should have LEFT it as a oneshot. -_- It has that break-apart-get-back-together formula you see in fix-it fic for MoB and Viewinder. You know, the kind where the last chapter is "payoff" ie problem-free (OOC) porn. I've never really been a fan of payoff chapters -- it's like they say, the journey and not the destination. Though on the other hand, I do love epilogues.

Not that I'll ever get that far. ^^; there's some pretty good things in the later chapters, maybe I could rescue them as standalones. It wouldn't be hard -- Call Me Anytime was never so much a multi-chapter fic as a vehicle for every crackheaded idea I ever had about the canon. (Meanwhile the chain_of_fics oneshots are mostly spin-offs I couldn't figure out how to work into the main storyline.) Actually, maybe it's just as well that the story structure is familiar -- I don't think I'd have been able to use an unfamiliar structure as a coat rack like this.

Loveless is easy to write for because I like writing about Issues and that series is an embarrassment of riches. ^^; the author just throws them at you.

Sometimes it takes other people telling me I'm doing something before I figure out I'm doing it. And I think I'd probably still do it even if I didn't know I was doing it, though revision might be frustrating, since I wouldn't know why it wasn't working. (Good thing I don't revise, then!)

[angrybabble.livejournal.com]

I would certainly never do something like try to get jojo on a list of obscure fandoms!!! >_>

so liek you want to trade with me, right? XD

(I'd sign up but I've never done one before and I'm confused and scared so uhhhhh yeah. XD Besides, even for obscure fandoms my fandoms are obscure. T_T)

[angrybabble.livejournal.com]

ps Laundry. seriously. my favorite thing you've written this year, maybe ever? XD I just read it over and over and think it's a riot. XD

[petronia.livejournal.com]

I have no time and I've literally never been able to understand the mechanics of one of these exchanges, because I'm dumb that way. XD; Also I have like this bizarre inexplicable phobia of getting gifts from people I don't know? I used to refuse to read Yuletide exchange stories.

Thought I would point it out, though, especially since there are so many obscure game fandoms on that list. XD

I do quite like Laundry - never been able to shake the impression that the last half hangs together by a thread, though. XD

[sesame-seed.livejournal.com]

I just clicked into this post since it was the first on the page, but wow, relevant comment. XD STILL.

Sabina, do drabble exhanges with us? ♥♥♥ One every two weeks, strict 100 word limit, completely anon (no grand reveal, though authors can choose to repost to their journals, natch). Just 100 words! It will be funnnn.