2022 Decade Fic Reflection

I read through rionaleonhart’s 2022 fic roundup and thought “That would be a fun thing to do, except that I’ve only written one fic this year. Maybe I should do it for all of my time on AO3 instead!” So here’s a fic reflection for almost all of my time as a serious fic writer. (I really started in 2011, but I didn’t start posting on AO3 until 2013.)

I changed some of the references to “this year” to do a big picture summary. I left one in, though!

Number of fics written from 2013 to 2022: 

47. I have 51 on AO3, but I’m pretty sure that all four of the L.A. Noire fics I posted in December of 2013 were reposts from the L.A. Noire Kink Meme, which I wrote for in 2011.

Fandoms: 

By number of fics: Fire Emblem: Three Houses (10), Aoharu x Kikanjuu (8), L.A. Noire (7), Caste Heaven (4), Sekaiichi Hatsukoi (3), Until Dawn (3), Les Miserables (3), Gintama (3), Hatoful Boyfriend (2), Godsfall (2), The Yogscast (2), Yuri!!! On Ice (1), The Flash/Legends of Tomorrow (1), Supernatural (1).

In chronological order: Les Miserables, Supernatural, The Yogscast, L.A. Noire, Sekaiichi Hatsukoi, Hatoful Boyfriend, Sekaiichi Hatsukoi, Aoharu x Kikanjuu, Sekaiichi Hatsukoi again, Caste Heaven, Yuri!!! On Ice, The Flash/Legends of Tomorrow, Godsfall, Until Dawn, Hatoful Boyfriend again, Gintama, L.A. Noire again, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Until Dawn again.

Best title: 

What We Write in the Shadows is my favorite by far. Bernadetta’s a writer! They’re roleplaying vampires! I love What We Do in the Shadows! I’m a genius.

Worst title: 

Inevitability // Change, also by far. Frankly, I didn’t care much about titling this story, to the point where I couldn’t even choose between two single words for a title. But to be fair to me, Sekaiichi Hatsukoi isn’t a good series, so writing for its main pairing didn’t instill in me a lot of love.

Best first line: 

She knew from the first moment she held him that her son was the most beautiful person she would ever see.

This one’s from Gilded, which is about the mom of a BL protagonist. She appears in under 5% of the manga and she is my favorite character. This opening line took me right back into the mindset of the story immediately, which did not happen when I read the rest of my opening lines. Most of my opening lines feel a little utilitarian, even if they’re punchy openings.

I have also always loved the opening line of Recovery chapter 2, which I don’t think qualifies for this since it’s not the opening line of chapter 1, but I will share it here anyway:

They make it off the mountain, but they don’t come back whole.

I always knew this would be in the overall fic summary as well. It just really encapsulates the Until Dawn survivor story, which is to have PTSD and fail to cope with it.

( Boy did I have to look at a lot of old fics for this one! )

Here’s to a decade of trying my best to write fic! I hope the next decade is full of improvement and works that I continue to love.