leigh57 | 2010 in Fic. (As in, my fic)

ETA: Just tossing this out there. Some fic would make me so happy right now. I tend to get in a really weird/depressed mood when New Year's Day hits, because it means the Christmas season is over for another year. So I'm sitting here listening to every depressing Emmylou Harris song ever. And she has a lot of them. So if any of y'all are just out there with nothing to do . . . fic me baby! :) /pathetic

I wasn’t even going to do this, because this is the year that (canonically anyway;) half of my favorite ship ever died a ridiculous, horrible, unnecessary death and the other half discovered that the reward for sacrificing everything is exile from the country he loves and the privilege of never seeing his daughter or granddaughter again. However, I’ve found last year’s list to be a super useful tool when I’m trying to find something quickly, and I enjoy being thinky about writing on occasion, so what the hell? On to the stories! (Some of them are really short, because I did a lot of comment!fic this year.)

1. A Thin Red River Running Through

2. Water’s Edge

3. Free To Fall

4. Still

5. Calling All Angels

6. Alphabet Meme Round One: Elliot/Olivia

7. Running From Mercy

8. What You Don’t Surrender

9. Fic: Ethan/Allison [After All]

10. Some Other Place

11. Ethan/Allison [Ask Me Why]

12. Jack/Renee [Still Like the Sun]

13. Jack/Renee [Cold]

14. Jack/Renee [We Are the Same]

15. Jack/Renee [Not Without]

16. Fic: Jack/Renee [Broken Heroes]

17. Jack/Renee [Even though you are drowning in valleys of echoes]

18. Jack/Renee [London Calling]

19. Larry/Renee [Any place except your heart]

20. It’s the Season . . .

My favorite story this year (my own): Tossup between Calling All Angels and It’s the Season . . . I crack myself the fuck up with the fact that my favorite stories often turn out to be the 100 word drabble collections, because this is such a difficult way for me to write. I’m sure my affection for “It’s the Season . . . “ comes from the Christmas theme, because I will always be a Christmas stooge. But “Calling All Angels” took a long time to write and I spent a lot of time thinking about the words, so I’m strangely proud of it even if I don’t think it’s at all brilliant.

My best story this year: Water’s Edge. I don’t like this question because self-praise squicks me, but this is probably the bravest fic I’ve ever written. The fact that the fandom was even discussing whether or not the events of 8x06 should have been labeled ‘rape’ got me so pissed off that I decided to just go there. Because I’m me, I don’t love everything about it, but I think I at least managed to create an atmosphere where rape isn’t an amusing plot device. Ugh.

My worst story this year: Fic: Jack/Renee [Broken Heroes]. Many of the prompt ficlets are probably terrible because I just tossed them off. While I liked the idea of this one, the execution was way sub-par.

Fic that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: Some Other Place and Larry/Renee [Any place except your heart]. Both of these stories made me think about Jack and Renee with other people, and this taught me a couple things. 1) I really love Larry fucking Moss. And so does Renee. 2) Regardless of my hardcore Jack/Renee shipping, I don’t have any issues with Jack’s love for women in his past. Writing about Audrey also showed me exactly how much I don’t think Renee would have had trouble with it either.

Sexiest story: Well, I guess Running From Mercy, given that it was written for the porn battle. Still, there’s nothing crazy in there, although it is the first time I wrote cunnilingus. Wow, I hate that word! Have you seen Christopher Walken do Colonel Angus on SNL? Oh, good times.

Most fun story: God. This really was not a fun year to be writing 24 fanfic. Seriously. I’m gonna go with Jack/Renee [London Calling], because it’s fully angst-free, Jack and Renee are happy, and it makes me smile to think of the huge AU I’m still stoked to write.

Best title: Jack/Renee [Even though you are drowning in valleys of echoes]. Okay, I just picked this one because it’s from one of my obsession songs this year. I’m in a phase of taking almost all my story titles from song lyrics, and this one is special to me. *snerks* Well, more special to me. I HAD TO ANSWER THE QUESTION, OKAY?

Hardest story to write: Still. No question. I didn’t even mean to write it, but ultimately I couldn’t stop myself. I still can’t read it without sobbing, and that isn’t because it’s good. It’s because I’m never going to not miss Renee like a motherfucker. Honorable mention to Water’s Edge, because it’s another fic that wrote its effing self in my brain. Renee’s rape = almost as much suck as her death. Almost.

Most unintentionally telling story: Free To Fall. I wrote this in the last few days before 8x17, and . . . god there’s such a part of me that just knew. So I will always love this story because it’s the last one I wrote where at least in my head, Renee was alive in canon. I can’t make myself go back and read it right now, but if I remember at all correctly, my love for her is kinda bleeding onto the page as usual.

Biggest surprise: Ahahahahaha. Me writing so much Ethan/Allison. Wtf,

mintcloud? Also, the fact that so far, the Elliot/Olivia prompts are the only ones from the alphabet meme I’ve finished. I am such a dong.

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them? This is one of those questions I could probably babble on about for hours, but I won’t. Writing Ethan/Allison was a risk, because I feel so shaky on characterization there. Trying to write Elliot/Olivia when I haven’t watched three years was certainly strange. But the biggest thing I learned this year was how to write AU. Renee’s death is unacceptable to me. Therefore, I will fix it in fic. For me, that’s new!

This year’s theme: Augh. Talk about depressing. According to last year’s version of this meme, the year’s theme was supposed to be, “Jack and Renee are ludicrously sappily happy in a way they will never ever be on the show, and they also have lots of sex.” And well, shit. I guess I didn’t turn out to be wrong, given the content of most of my stories. In the few places where I stuck with canon, the fic is depressing as fuck. What did I learn from this year though? AU I CAN HAS! So I guess the theme for 2011 is, “Finally get Jack and Renee the fuck out of my system by writing the London AU and whatever else I need to write about them.” Of course, the idea that I’m ever getting over them is ludicrous. However, my goal this year is to correct as many of HoGo’s fuckups as possible, so that the ever-expanding happy place in my head continues to grow and flourish:) /insanity

Oh! And another goal this year is to finally be brave enough to attempt some original fiction. Yep. I need to try.

lowriseflare, you are absolutely my inspiration.

To anybody who didn’t make it through that diatribe (for which I don’t blame you at all – as I said, I do this largely to have a quick point of reference when I need to find a fic), do you guys have thinky thoughts on fic as the new year starts? Is there anything you’d like me to try to write? Is there something specific you’re psyched to try writing? I’d love to see this meme by anybody and everybody who wants to do it, because there aren’t that many things I love more than talking writing with people who love fic:)

Happy New Year, you guys! I wish everyone an amazing 2011.