It Was The Year Of Two Master Assassins (In Love)

[redbrunja]

Navel-gazing fanfic questions gacked from musesfool:

Leitmotif of the year:

"Clint/Natasha, Stephanie Brown, and ships that involve a dude pining" is one answer. I almost feel like a more accurate one would be, "this are people I want to kiss. See them kiss."

What's the story that makes you happiest?

I'm really pleased with You Only Live Twice, both because I am so happy that Jason/Stephanie fanfic exists, and because I really enjoy that story.

My favorite story this year:

Couldn't Get That Boy To Kill Me (Natasha/Clint)

I love the prompt, the section of Natasha's history I was working with, what I ended up saying about Clint and Natasha, and just.... this went through several drafts and I think it shows (in a good way).

My 5 best stories this year:

This Is The Art Of Living With A Ticking Heart (Felicity/Oliver)
End Of The World News (Darcy/Steve)
Please Believe Me When I Say The Last Thing You Need Is Fixing (Stephanie Brown/Nick Gage, Barbara Gordon/Dick Grayson)
Couldn't Get That Boy To Kill Me (Natasha/Clint)
I'm Yours (Ghosts & All) (Natasha/Clint)

Most popular story:

This Is The Art Of Living With A Ticking Heart HANDS DOWN. Everyone liked this and everyone wanted more.

Story most underappreciated by the universe, in my opinion:

Um, every one except This Is The Art Of Living With A Ticking Heart? Seriously, I had a SUPER-LOW amount of feedback this year. Part of it is that there are several stories (okay, the majority) that aren't in popular fandoms or popular pairings, but even my Clint/Natasha stuff ended up getting very little feedback, considering the size of the Avengers fandom and that Clint/Nat is a pretty popular pairing.

I'm also still super-bitter about the fact that fandom lived down to my expectations with regards to End of the World News.

Most fun story:

Please Believe Me When I Say The Last Thing You Need Is Fixing. I cracked myself up a couple of times with this one.

Sexiest story:

Couldn't Get That Boy To Kill Me or Just What I Needed (Someone To Plead).

Story with single sexiest moment:

The orgasm denial in Just What I Needed (Someone To Plead) or Clint going down on Natasha in either I'm Yours (Ghosts & All) or You Will Always Fall In Love, And It Will Always Be Like Having Your Throat Cut.

Story with single sweetest moment:
I Wanna Be Here & Nowhere Else wins on the technicality that it's Regina and Emma and Henry having a family dinner together (of waffles) and NOTHING ELSE I WROTE IS EVEN REMOTELY SWEET.

Hardest story to write:

You Only Live Twice.

I love that story but goddamn, was it not easy to write. Part of it was just that I was really crunched for time (even though I finished it early, I had to finish it early or I would have defaulted) and for that particular fic I did a lot of rereading The Lost Days and Stephanie's Batgirl run to get a handle on their dialogue and just - they're such banterers, both of them, that I couldn't ever cheat and have them NOT say something, and it had to be the RIGHT something.

Honorable mention to Lilac Perfume where I actually went back months later and tightened up my Kate Bishop characterization.

Easiest story to write:

There were a lot of ficlets that I tossed off without much thought. Most of them were nothing to write home about, though.

Truest story of the year:
I feel like my Natasha/Clint stories nailed those characters and what I love about that pairing, so, all of those.

Story that made you cry/saddest story:

I pretty much never cry over fiction, but Nihilism & The 21st-Century Girl and I Have Nothing Left To Say To The Ghosts weren't HAPPY stories.

"Holy crap, that's wrong even for you" story:
Sadly, nothing really qualifies. Let's hope porn battle 2014 will change this answer at the end of the year.

Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:

None. If I'm writing fic, I usually know who the characters are (at least to me).

Biggest disappointment:

I think that a large chunk of my fics are... just okay. I was rereading and I feel like a lot of my writing did the job but wasn't doing it above expectations.

Biggest surprise:

Looking back, I realize that I wrote NO CAROL/JESS.

Most telling story:

Not really applicable. Nothing I wrote hints at anything anyone would find surprising. Correct me if I'm wrong, though. Was there a story that felt very telling or intimate to you?

Favorite opening line:

Raleigh never woke up confused about whether or not he was alone in his bunk and he’d slept with enough girls to prove it.

or

Barbara Gordan received a break-up phone call for a non-existent relationship at what was arguably the most hilariously inappropriate time possible.

or

"This guy is either evil or a robot, and frankly, I'm leaning towards robot," Felicity said, mostly to herself.

Honestly, one thing I noticed on reread, is that a lot of my opening lines are, again, really workable but nothing special. My closing lines are even MORE workable but not special. Things to improve in the new year!

Favorite closing line:

Brilliant endgame, William, he thought to himself, his inner thoughts mocking even as longing coiled in his chest. Now to construct a workable plan to get there.

or

Clint gets his mouth on her, licks into the salt-sweet of her cunt, taking everything she wants him to have.

or

She kisses him like he deserves to be kissed and then goes to finish arming herself.

or

Cabal kept repeating a name, as he gently stroked her sodden hair away from her forehead, as he kissed Leonie’s cold lips; but the name wasn’t hers.

Favorite line from anywhere:

Everything that is Couldn't Get This Boy To Kill Me, minus a few linking sentences.

To spare you me just copy+pasting that whole fic into this answer, I'll add:

He flicked his tongue across her clit and heard her teeth snap together as she shut her mouth on a moan. Normally, this would be when he'd slide his fingers inside her, his cock if Natasha was being particularly impatient, but he didn't trust his hands on her. He didn't want to see his hands on Natasha's skin. It was like the first weeks after Loki, when he'd held the thought that Natasha could and would beat him into the ground if he hurt her like a bit between his teeth, until she'd tied his hands to the headboard and rode every thought but her out of his mind.

and

"Harder," she tells him, letting her head fall back, letting him see her pleasure as he brings her off with just his fingers. And he'd lie, say that was enough, he'd live on whatever scraps of herself that Natasha chose to give him, but he doesn't have to.

I mean, clearly the sex is where I get the most poetic. Seriously, the best of my writing is all in the smutty parts. Or the quippy humor bits:

Darcy realized later, locking his bedroom door and then the door to his en suite bathroom, that he had not actually spoken directly to Lizzie the entire evening. He imagined texting that to Gigi: lovely evening. did not speak to Lizzie Bennet. Her response would likely be something along the lines of, seriously?!?!?! you need to turn up the Darcy charm!!!!!!! ask her to coffee and/or dinner and/or breakfast. possibly the birth of your future children?!!?!?!?!?!

Favorite title:

My Head Is Filled With Love Songs; My Tongue Is Mute

I like this because I feel like it perfectly illustrates what's going on in that story AND as a bonus, is 100% mine - I didn't crib it from song lyrics or poetry.

Looking back, did you write more stories than you thought you would this year, fewer than you thought, or about what you predicted?

It feels like I write a lot less this year than last. I think if total number of stories doesn't bear that out, my word count would.

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January 2013?
DC comics was new and different and entirely unexpected.

Story that could have been better?
So many. Too many to list.

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?
Not really, and I think it shows. I mean, End of the World News, but that was only risky because apparently, fanfic is only allowed to mention abortion when abortion is being brushed off as a legit option.

This year's theme and the story that demonstrates it most:
It's the year of Clint and Natasha banging, pick any Clint/Nat story to prove it.

What story do you want to have written?

Hmmm. There was a Lizzie/Darcy and then a Steve/Darcy (different darcys) both of which I would have liked to have posted before the year was up.

Story I want remembered:
I COULDN'T GET THAT BOY TO KILL ME, BUT I WORE HIS JACKET FOR THE LONGEST TIME.

What's next for 2013:

As I mentioned, I banged out 1200 words of Knave/Alice that I definitely want to finish.