End...Er, Make That "Start"-of-the-Year Meme

[kelly_chambliss]

I planned to post this end-of-year fanfic meme yesterday, but RL intervened in really fun ways.  I spent the afternoon reading my glorious snapelyholidays gift (and you should be reading it, too; why are you wasting your time on this meme?)  Then in the evening, Partner and Child and I had drinks/starters at his favorite Japanese restaurant and then ate dinner proper at another tasty local spot.  Boring people that we are, we were home by 11:30; the Child likes to watch the Times Square ball drop at midnight (we see it on TV; we're not mad enough to actually go there).  Then Partner and I stayed up till 4:30 am watching Barbara Stanwyck DVDs (that woman was in some perverse and delicious stuff).  Now we are all just lazing about.

Other news:  femmefest signups have begun.  Potential participants are withdrawing like crazy, so I hope some of you can sign up.

Here's the fanfic meme.  Sorry I can't put in a cut or any of the links to the communities -- damn LJ keeps eating my links every time I try, and I've tried twice now.  That's over an hour of my life wasted on this meme, so I'm giving up.  (Why the hell does it do that?  It's their own fucking code; you'd think they could make it work.)

The I'm-Still-Astounded-By-the-Total List of Fics and Words = I wrote 20 fics at 123,645 words!!

**All HP, All the Time**

In the order written…

Trainspotting (McGonagall/Hooch, 25,500 words, R-ish)
Tea for Two (Ginny/Luna, 5000 words, PG-ish; written for hp_spring_fling)
Watchers of the Skies (Lily/Narcissa, 5500 words, R-ish, written for femmefest)
Five Creatures That Luna Believes In That Hermione Doesn’t (But One That She Might) (Luna and friends, 4200 words, PG, written for hp_fivethings) 
Storytelling (McGonagall, Hermione; McGonagall/Grubbly-Plank, 27,500 words, R-ish, written for hermionebigbang)
Fortune and Men's Eyes (McGonagall/Snape, 927 words, R, written for rarepair_shorts)
Liminality (Firenze/Bane, 900 words, R, written for rarepair_shorts)
Brazen (McGonagall/Augusta Longbottom, 3500 words, NC-17, written for the International Day of Femslash challenge; posted at hp_femsmut)
Not Just Any (McGonagall/Snape, 1100 words, R, written for hbpchallenge)
Mark (McGonagall gen, 500 words, PG, written for hbpchallenge)
WineDark (McGonagall/Snape, 200 words, R, written for snape100 challenge on "Snape and Mythology")
Gifts (McGonagall/Snape, 8100 words, NC-17, written for ownficfest)
SeverusBigBang story (McGonagall/Snape, 10,000 words, PG, to be posted January 9)
Laughing Last (McGonagall, Snape friendship, 900 words, G, written for therealsnape's birthday)
Majesty (McGonagall, Queen Elizabeth II, 6000 words, PG, written for femgenficathon)
The Lesson (McGonagall, Snape, 3000 words, NC-17, written for hp_darkfest)
Not a Present (Snape, McGonagall, Sprout; 2300 words, written for mini_fest)
Anon Fest Fic -- snapelyholidays
Truth Beyond (McGonagall/Rita Skeeter) -- hp_yule_balls
Interlude (McGonagall/Hooch, 1980 words -- a "Trainspotting" sequel, not yet posted, but soon)

 Looking back, did you write more fics than you thought you would this year, less than you thought, or about what you predicted?
I wrote FAR more than I realized and certainly more than I expected to.

Where did you publish/archive your stories?
Most (but not all yet) are on the LJ; almost all are on FFN; others (and many crosspostings) are on fest sites and in relevant communities such as close_contrast for McGonagall/Snape; three are still anonymous at their respective fests; one is an as-yet-unposted Christmas gift; one is the as-yet-unposted entry for the severusbigbang (coming to an LJ near you on January 9, the greasy git's 50^th birthday!) All except the current fest and gift fics are also at An Archive of Our Own (Anyone want any invitation codes?) 

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January 2008?
Firenze/Bane,for one (ME? writing m/m??), and another pairing I can't reveal until the fests are over. And I'm surprised at how much McGonagall/Snape I wrote, since I'm really a femmeslasher at heart. How I got hijacked by het, I don't know (unless it has something to do with the really hot, competitive dynamic I feel between them. Nah, that can't be it.)

I also wrote longer stories (two @ 25K+) than I ever thought I could.

What’s your favorite story this year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you the happiest.
I'm most partial to "Trainspotting," "Gifts," "Majesty," and "Fortune and Men's Eyes." There's a current fest fic that I really like, too. They all have versions of Minerva that please me.

And Augusta Longbottom in "Brazen" makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.

Okay, NOW your most popular story.
That would have to be "Majesty," a gen story about McGonagall and Queen Elizabeth II.  I was extremely gratified by the wide response. "Fortune and Men's Eyes" (my first McGonagall/Snape) also got a lot of feedback. It was the first time one of my fics came to the notice of some BNFs in the fandom, and I was really surprised at how it took only a mention or two in people's LJs for my inbox to be flooded with comments. Such a fun experience.

Story most under-appreciated by the universe?
I'm lucky when it comes to the universe's notice -- my kind flisties are extremely reliable reviewers, and my fest stories get good response, I think, considering that I don't write popular characters or pairings. But my story for the Five Things Fest sank with virtually no trace.

Story that could have been better?
"Five Creatures. . ." There's something about writing Luna that makes me go all child-like and coy. I find this story vaguely embarrassing, although it inspired such a fine spin-off by therealsnape that I need to post the original so that the sequel gets its chance to shine.

Sexiest story?
There's a currently-anon fest fic that I find rather hot, and I'm partial to the first sex scene in "Gifts."

Most fun story?
I actually laughed as I was writing "Not Just Any" and "Laughing Last."

Story with single sweetest moment?
There are a couple of sappy sweet moments in "Trainspotting" that warm my (usually hidden) romantic heart -- the Minerva/Rolanda reunion after each thinks the other lost in the war, and a scene in a restaurant when they confess mutual love. (That restaurant scene felt a little self-indulgent to me, full of the L[ove]-word and descriptions of clothing. It was rather like playing with dolls -- not my most careful acknowledgement of the demands of literary craft, perhaps, but certainly fun.)

The story that made you cry?
I don't think any of my own did. But two fine fest stories made be a bit teary: Amor Vitae on hp_holidaygen and Subtlety Personified at snapelyholidays.

Hardest story to write?
The one that terrified me most was the one for snapelyholidays. The prompt asked for all sorts of things outside my comfort zones. But although the actual writing did turn out to be something of an ordeal (apologies to my poor betas for all the whinging), it was nothing like as hard as "Majesty." When I read "Majesty" now, it seems to flow smoothly, but the actual composition gave me fits upon fits. I wrote and junked at least 2K before I got anything useable, and I seriously considered not finishing it.

Easiest story to write?
Three stories gave me the pleasure of first drafts that more or less wrote themselves: "Laughing Last," "Fortune and Men's Eyes," and the severusbigbang. But the first two are fairly short; the SBB is nearly 10K, and I wrote the initial draft in just a day.

Most overdue story?
I pride myself (yeah, I know -- pride goeth) on not missing deadlines, but I was two weeks late on the mini_fest story. It was such a stress-free fest -- write only if you want to, no exchange, no obligation -- and I had so many other things to do that I decided to drop out. But the plot idea just refused to commit bunny suicide, so I finally wrote it. 

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?
Because of fest assignments, I took the risk of writing characters I didn't particularly know or feel any affinity for. At first, I thought I didn't like fests -- why spend time with characters I didn't care about when I could be spending my writing time with those I loved? -- but I changed my mind based on something miss_morland said about how you could stretch yourself through the challenge of unexpected fest assignments. And I found that I could write decent stories outside my own prompts, and that doing so can be fun, in a masochistic sort of way.

Do you have any fanfic goals for the New Year?
1. Write more gen.
2. Try to be kinkier. (Probably Goals 1 and 2 will manifest themselves in different stories.)
3. Maybe try writing an unlikable Minerva.

 

Comments

[moon-very-thin.livejournal.com]

Interlude (McGonagall/Hooch, 1980 words -- a "Trainspotting" sequel, not yet posted, but soon)

Squee!!!

A New Year's resolution of mine is to be better about taking the time to give proper feedback for fic. I've gotten into a terrible habit this year of saving fic to read at whatever breaks I have during the day, and thus not allowing for the time to give feedback. I realised during Yuletide this year just what an awful habit that was to get into. Please allow me to begin my fandom reparations by telling you how much I've loved reading your fic this year.

I've probably read 'Trainspotting' twelve times through, and 'Storytelling' looks set to be another I return to over and over. I despise Snape, and yet suddenly I have a few Snape-fics saved to my hd, for the sake of your Minerva and your turn of phrase.

Also, I found this meme answer really interesting:
Story with single sweetest moment?
There are a couple of sappy sweet moments in "Trainspotting" that warm my (usually hidden) romantic heart -- the Minerva/Rolanda reunion after each thinks the other lost in the war, and a scene in a restaurant when they confess mutual love. (That restaurant scene felt a little self-indulgent to me, full of the L[ove]-word and descriptions of clothing. It was rather like playing with dolls -- not my most careful acknowledgement of the demands of literary craft, perhaps, but certainly fun.)

It's something I've thought about a lot with regard to fic-writing as its own particular sort of literature. I admire your writing, and find, especially in 'Storytelling', that some of your storycraft is breathtaking. Yet I'll admit that what will make me return to a fic over and over are bits like the two scenes you mention in 'Trainspotting', or the tender scene where Hermione first sees Minerva and Grubbly-Plank together in 'Storytelling', or the end of that story when one sees clearly how much Minerva loved Willa.

Moments like that aren't always the literary peaks of stories (in general, I mean), but I feel they have their own particular value in indulging in the love and (perhaps excessive) empathy for a character, which is part of what one seeks out in fanfic.

Perhaps I'm rambling, but I guess my point is that even if you feel the restaurant scene in 'Trainspotting' is indulgent, and perhaps less than high art, I'm inclined to think it's the kind of indulgence which is one of the greatest parts of the literary play of fanfic, tbh.

[kellychambliss.livejournal.com]

telling you how much I've loved reading your fic this year

Thank you! It's a pleasure to know you've been reading. And I'm grateful that you're willing to read some Snape, too. I know what a struggle it can be to read characters one has no affinity for, even if the stories are well-written.

Thanks, too, for your thoughtful comments on literary "indulgence"; they really got me thinking about what it is I want my stories to do and what it is I look for in my own fanfic reading.

First, I do agree with you about the power and effectiveness for tender moments. I love them myself, and definitely, they are a large part of what makes a character compelling for me.

It's just that I have a (probably excessive) fear of being overly-sentimental in the bad sense of the term. (Too much modernist influence or something /g/). I want love/tenderness to be meaningful in some way, and I've read too many fics that just wallow in melodrama or in romance at the valentine-heart level of emotion. They cease to be "real" in any useful way.

I want so much to make sure that my writing doesn't get cheap in those ways that every time I put in a soft moment, I worry that I'm going to far. So it's not the love/tenderness per se that I find a problem, I guess, but more the handling of them.

Luckily, though, I have excellent beta-readers who help me keep things in perspective, so I think I'm mostly able to retain those touches of necessary humanity without becoming maudlin or too sweet. In any case, the sort of moments you mention in "Trainspotting" and "Storytelling" seem to be endemic to the way my fic-writing mind works, so I don't see them disappearing any time soon!

Thanks again for the great comment.