Elizabeth Culmer's personal fanfiction report, 2005

[edenfalling]

I think this is an interesting idea, if only because it can be useful to examine one's own writing patterns and see where improvements could be made.

Liz's 2005 Fanfiction Story List:

Chaptered stories:

The Way of the Apartment Manager except chapters 1 and 2 (January-October, 74-75,000 words, complete! Naruto)
The Guardian in Spite of Herself chapters 1 and 2 (and 1/3 of chapter 3, November-December, Naruto)
Tides (March-June, 17-18,000 words, complete! Naruto)
Secrets chapter 9 (and 1/3 of chapter 10, January-December, Harry Potter)
Strange Likenesses chapter 2 (March, originally posted here, Harry Potter)
Lemonade chapters 1 and 2 (and 300 words of chapter 3, begun in August, BtVS/Gundam Wing/Naruto)

One-shots:

February
Paint the Town (Hermione/Ginny, Harry/Luna/Draco, Ron/Padma, post-war, clubbing, sex, discussion of past relationships, humor, multiple-POV, etc. This took me months to write, starting in October 2004, and is nearly 18,000 words long.)
Definitions of Romance (Harry/Hermione, written in about two hours, giftfic for annearchy)

March
Research Materials (Ginny genfic, 15-minute ficlet)

May
Traps (15-minute ficlet, Naruto)

June
Prison Keys (Hanabi and Hinata, 15-minute ficlet)

July
Lessons (Iruka genfic, written in about three days)
Knives (Harry/Ginny, Lucius Malfoy, graphic torture, post-Hogwarts, seriously dark. I wrote the initial sketch in May, but I didn't find the story proper until June. I posted it twice in July -- once here to get it up before HBP, and then on ff.net a couple weeks later, in a revised, HBP-compliant version)
Of a Feather (Hermione genfic, mild Harry/Hermione subtext, birthday fic for annearchy, written in one hour)

August
Raven Carlson drabbles, part 2 (something I do in my spare time, X-Men)

September
Rituals (Naruto/Sasuke/Sakura, uses askerian's Saki-chan concept, written in one hour)

October
One of Those Days (Harry/Hermione, for hhrserendipity, 3 days of false starts, final version written in two hours)
character sketch of Ginny Weasley, rough for "30 Things About Ginny Weasley"

November
Turnabout (Naruto/Sasuke/Sakura, comment-fic for askerian)

December
The Granger Family Reunion; Gifts (Harry/Hermione, two false starts for "One of Those Days" -- the first an unfinished scene, the second a monologue by Mrs. Granger)

Unfinished:

"Aphrodisia" (idea in January or February, Neville/Ginny, never went much of anywhere)
"Undertow" (sequel to "Tides," about 500 words written)
Locked Room Problems (Giles/Indiana Jones, idea bit me in August, rough draft finished in December, unbeta'ed)
"Fixation and Other Stories" (30 Ginny/Harry/Draco ficlets for thirtyforthree, 13 finished, 4 -- After, I and II, Beauty, and Solstice -- posted in rough draft)

-----------------------------------

What I notice most of all is that 2005 is the year Naruto truly ate my brain... though technically I started writing "Apartment Manager" in late December of 2004. Harry Potter remains my other main fandom for writing, though I find myself reading less and less HP fic these days.

I managed to finish two WIPs, one of which qualifies as a short novel, and write some longish one-shots, namely "Knives" and "Lessons" -- I don't really count "Paint the Town" since I wrote the bulk of it in 2004. I joined a challenge fic community and was able to produce a story on short notice. I also ventured into the world of giftfic, which is interesting since previously I'd only used original stories as gifts, and those only to family members. I'm not writing many one-shots or much for 15minuteficlets anymore, mostly because I have so many WIPs demanding my attention. I have ventured into crossovers (namely "Lemonade" and "Locked Room Problems") which is interesting; previously I'd only attempted a fusion (Sir Ron and the Green Knight).

"Secrets" has slowed to a crawl, which bothers me since it's still close to my heart. I just seem to have more and more trouble writing it these days. I hope to pick up the pace in 2006 and actually finish it by the end of the year. In fact, I'd like to finish all of my outstanding WIPs in 2006, and not start any new ones! If I can restrict myself to one-shots, I think I'll have a better chance of devoting my attention to original writing, which I would really like to do.

I also note that I seem to have two writing speeds: glacially slow or ridiculously fast. I attribute this to the way some ideas eat my brain, or simply appear with the appropriate structure attached, whereas others I have to work for.

I still write a lot of gen, but I've been attempting to write romance in 2005. I don't think I succeeded particularly well, but the attempt was definitely there. I wrote:
--- 4 Harry/Hermione stories (or attempts at them) and 1 unfinished Harry/Hermione snippet
--- 13 Ginny/Harry/Draco ficlets
--- 2 Naruto/Sasuke/Sakura stories (and "Tides" can be interpreted in that direction as well)
--- 1 Harry/Ginny story (with Ginny/Lucius subtext and background Ron/Hermione)
--- 1 Giles/Indiana Jones story
--- 1 unfinished Faith/Duo/Sasuke story
--- 1... whatever the hell "Paint the Town" is, once you add up the established relationships, past relationships, beginning relationships, and speculations that never amounted to much

Anyway.

The most popular story was either "The Way of the Apartment Manager" or "Definitions of Romance," both of which exceeded my wildest expectations. I'm still not quite sure how a novel about an original female character, set 6 years pre-manga, became so ridiculously popular -- I've always been under the impression that Mary-Sues scare readers away from even well-written OCs -- but I'm really grateful. "Definitions of Romance" is Harry/Hermione, so its popularity didn't surprise me so much, but it was an awfully weird experience to have big name fans commenting on my lj.

The story I like best is... actually, this is hard. I think I'm going to have to go with "Apartment Manager." It was just fun to write, even when it occasionally drove me to distraction, and I love the way it really has a canon 'feel' despite its confirmed AU status. Unfortunately, it is long, and it has some problems because it was written serially and there are loose threads and points that I bashed a little too hard. Still, I really love my little divergent universe.

My second choice would be "Paint the Town," which was equally fun to write (despite a persistent sense of 'I can't believe I'm doing this!'), and which, well, which I just plain like. A lot. :-)

The story I'm proudest of would have to be either "Knives" or "Lessons," both of which I am just ridiculously squishy over. They say almost exactly what I wanted them to say, convey the 'feel' that I wanted them to convey, and are just generally remarkably faithful to the Platonic story ideals in my head -- you know, the perfect story that always goes skewed when you try to put it on paper.

I like the way "Definitions of Romance" turned out -- it's also very true to my intentions -- but it took so little effort to write that I find it hard to be proud of it, per se. It flowed so easily it felt a little like cheating, actually. I'm also proud of "Paint the Town," but that story wasn't a single 'image' in my mind, and I think I could have done a better job of connecting it to its prequel, Restoration, if I'd been paying more attention.

The hardest story to write was either "Locked Room Problems," because of the semi-graphic sex, or "One of Those Days," because I really had no idea what I was doing when I started and I flailed around rather wildly in an effort to wring a story out of the prompt. The sex in "Paint the Town" was also hard to write.

The easiest story to write was "Definitions of Romance" -- as I said, the words came so easily it felt like cheating. "Lessons" was also fairly easy to write, once I had a solid 'feel' for it. Of the chaptered stories, "Tides" was unquestionably the easiest, perhaps because it's more a series of connected shorts than a true serial; I think that took some of the pressure off.

The most underappreciated story was, as it always is, "Secrets." Really, people, if you can fall in love with "Apartment Manager," why does nobody then go read my baby? *pouts*

The story that I had the most second thoughts about was, unquestionably, "Knives." It's dark, it's twisted, and the ending drove a number of reviewers up the wall, but I love it to pieces. Still, I wasn't sure how it would be received, and I was particularly antsy since I finished it just before the publication of HBP, and then had to do some quick revisions to keep it canon-compliant. (The revisions were actually smaller than I expected -- either I'm a better seer than I thought, or I'm just marvelously vague. I tend to go with the latter option.)

Comments

Er... a pic for you?

[gabriel-chaos.livejournal.com]

Re: Er... a pic for you?

[edenfalling]

Oooh! Very cool. Tsukime's usual mission skirt is blue -- I can't remember if I actually said that in the story -- but I think this is definitely one of her 'alternate' outfits. <3<3<3

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

Your gift fic has been very popular among H/Hr fans. So thanks very much.

I think I'll go stick my head in the toilet now, considering how little I managed to write this year *headdesk*

[edenfalling]

I find that while I like H/Hr as a concept, I tend to have very few plot bunnies for it, perhaps because it's not something I feel a need to poke at and figure out how it might work. So it's good for me to write for other people, since it makes me think of things I wouldn't have otherwise.

You want to be scared? I must have written a good 20-25,000 words of original fiction as well in 2005.

...

Of course, I am single, childless, and unemployed whereas you have a husband, a daughter, and a job, so I don't think we really make a valid comparison. :-)