redfiona99

I am rewatching X-Men: First Class for a fic. It is as good as I remembered.

On the other hand, damned if I know how I'm going to tag this because "Charles and Erik are horribly co-dependent, no matter the gender" is not a tag.

Because I have girl!Xavier basically being squee! over girl!Magneto and ... well it's adorable but there's a reason their theme in the first film is a love song.

The other tag option is "tragically unfulfilled f/f due to mutant politics". Which ... yup, that's accurate.

TW: Brief mention of COVID in the summary section at the bottom. I have labelled it summary so it's avoidable.

( Alexander the Great RPF: )

( Blade Runner )

( Buffy: )

( Doctor Who: )

( Marvelverse: )

( Miscellaneous: )

( Wrestling: )

And a few bits and pieces of late fest fics.

Summary:

Added to the never going to be finished pile: 7 (3 of which hurt because what there is is gold, they just don't go anywhere. One of these is likely to rise like the phoenix at some point)
Unstuck: 1

I've been doing a yearly post about this for goodness knows how long, and removing ones that haven't moved in at least 4 years for 11 years (or thereabouts).

I think this is the year with the most fics sent to the "never going to be finished" folder. I was trying to figure out why, and then I realised, oh yeah, 4 years ago was COVID.

And that's odd because I was one of the people least affected, I kept on working, yes from home but pretty much doing the same job, I wasn't furloughed, I didn't catch it and me and mine weren't harmed.

And yet it still seems to have done something because there are so many fics from back then where I've just lost all ability to carry them on because I can't remember where they were going. It's most odd.

( Alexander the Great RPF: )

( Buffy the Vampire Slayer: )

( Doctor Who: )

( Harry Potter: )

( Holmesiania )

( Marvelverse: )

( Miscellaneous Fandoms )

( Shakespeare: )

( Torchwood: )

( Wrestling: )

( X-Men: )

~~~~

Plus a couple of fics with no words, just a notepad file, and some very short comment-fic/lgbtfest fic starting points.

No fics moved into the "never going to be finished" folder, and nothing so unstuck that it's been finished, but a couple might have been shaken loose.

When I posted The cradle of our renaissance, I was faced with a problem, does it count as gen or not? Or rather, I wasn't, because to me, it's obviously, blatantly and completely gen, but I grant that there's enough background Bruce Wayne/Selina Kyle to make other people disagree.

The reason I think it's gen is that nothing about Bruce's journey is affected by him being with Selina. There's another possible version of this, where it's Alfred that Bruce escapes Gotham with, and there's almost no changes. The story beats remain the same. They pretend to be father and son rather than husband and wife, and it's a crown green bowls match that some jerk gets trounced at but the shape of the story's the same. I can even have Bruce running into Selina in Florence, which they're visiting for Alfred, and the temptation of what you have and hold vs the past is different in that version, but the basic thing is still the same, so to me, it's a gen story.

There's a Priest (the vampire one) fic I am planning, and even though the main character, and the character who is doing the describing, is Alan Dale's Monseigneur, and, in fact, one of either the Priest or the Priestess, doesn't even appear* but it's so heavily based on Priest x Priestess, that I wouldn't dare call it anything but f/m, because the fic falls apart without that central core.

So to me, the line isn't that thin, but I am also aware that where I put the line might not be where others do, so occasionally I have these moments of uncertainty when I tag fic.

*when I say planning, I mean some time in the far-flung future, and I am just sketching ideas at the moment, hence vagueness. Whichever one isn't in the fic is off organising the food supply, I know that much.

I am writing something which is going to be the gooshiest, squooshiest, gooiest thing I have ever written. It was going to be that even before recent events, but I am now dead-set on writing fluffy and adorable.

This, unfortunately, means I am writing both a wedding and an engagement scene. This presents a problem, because all my friends's engagement stories are disasters, of varying kinds where the intended does say yes, but yeah, more suitable for comedy than gooey.

Still, I persevere.

(Despite goosh and squoosh, if anyone knows where I might find out about blood donation rules or civil weddings in 1960s United States, I would be obliged.)

OMG I may finally have finished the first section of 'Swings and Roundabouts', I mean it's only section 1 out of 5 and it's taken 12 years ... but section 2 should be easier.

She says ...

Bitter Knowledge is an odd fic. I mean, it's very much a "me" fic, wrestling gen that sticks very much to kayfabe, but at the same time, it's one of the most snarky, kayfabe-breaking fics. For instance, the bit about Kash's rant is from one of the many internet rumour boards.

On the other hand, the angle itself also had that weird mix of not being quite one thing or the other. Or rather, it was a complete lie, pretending to be the truth, which later turned out to be a lie, which had several sub-lies going on underneath.

I still say the Clare Lynch angle could have worked if they'd either gone with

1) AJ has lied to us all. They'd actually have had to have AJ mis-using his mysterious pull with Dixie (either she's a deeply gone for him and he's pulling the wool over dear, desperate Dixie's eyes, or she's just as wicked as he is), and the Frankie Kazarian could be the guy who wanted to keep AJ's secrets, found out what it was, didn't want to believe it, but when he saw Daniels's evidence he had to stand up for what was right, good and true (and TNA).

or

2) AJ has been desperately trying to help Clare Lynch and has enlisted Dixie's aid (because she is right, good, true and TNA), and Daniels is just using this opportunity to stir it, because he is Daniels.

If you played it either of those two ways, someone comes up looking a million dollars.

In the actual storyline, no-one came out of it looking more than $20.45, even if it did eventually get us Bad Influence (the world tag team champions of the world) and the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

The Clare Lynch angle really was as bad as you've heard.

The other weird part for me is that trying to write it in something that resembled Kazarian's voice. Because however florid Bad Influence Kazarian got, just out of Fortune Kazarian would not have come out with "filled with unseemly glee" to describe Daniels. Even if that was exactly what he looked like. Because he did.

It was a fun challenge writing for 1) someone who doesn't sound like me and 2) for whom I couldn't use my usual tricks.

(The most excellent fic about the Daniels and AJ Styles's dynamic is Chokehold by Twig, which I recommend as strongly as I possibly can.)

1. Do you have a word-count goal for 2018?

2. Will you participate in any fandom exchanges or fic challenges, etc?

3. Do you anticipate writing for a new fandom in 2018? Which one?

4. Do you think you’ll stop writing for a fandom in 2018? Which one?

5. Which WIP is first on your list to complete this year? Will you post a snippet?

6. Which yet-to-be-started fic is first on your list?

7. Will you change anything about the way you interact with other writers?

8. Is there a story idea in your mental vault that you’ve never been brave enough to try writing? Is 2018 the year?

9. Short term goals… what do you hope to complete this week or in January?

10. Will you keep a record of all the fics you write and/or post this year?

11. Would you like to try any new fanfic genres or tropes in 2018?

12. Will you change anything about the way you edit or rewrite in 2018?

13. Aside from fanfic, are there any other fan works you’d like to try creating? Fanart, or fanvids, gifsets, or podfic?

14. Have you ever lost large chunks of your work in the past, due to not backing up your work? Will you change your methods in 2018?

15. Do you foresee any personal or professional obstacles in 2018, that would keep you from creating fanworks?

16. Do you have that one fanfic that you wrote a ton for, ages ago, but never posted? Will this be the year, come hell or high water, that it WILL get finished and posted?

17. Do you typically answer all comments/reviews individually? Do you plan to change the way you interact with your readers this year?

18. Do you typically post multi-chapters as you write, or finish it all and then start posting? Would you like to change your posting method?

19. Would you consider non-fandom writing events, like NaNoWriMo or writing contests?

20. Any plans to work on original fiction this year?

Dear character in a fic,

you are being written by me. So three sex scenes in a fic is a little much to expect. Three sex scenes in the span of what would be 6 hours chronologically is practically impossible. Also, you're supposed to be declaring your if-not-undying-then-at-least-passing-faithful love for a character who is not the other character in scene 2 out of 3.

I sense rewriting. Much rewriting.

(Or, I will finish Swings and Roundabouts if it kills me.)

Finally, I have finished fic. It is not the fic I expected to finish, and it will definitely be the winner of the "Holy crap, that's *wrong*, even for you" prize in the end of year wrap up. But at least it's finished. I am leaving it to rest for a week to make sure it's definitely finished but I'm just so happy to have completed something