2015 in Fic

[pameluke]

I really should write one of these before 2016 is already halfway, so no more procrastinating, today is the day!

Anyway, 2015 was the year I got back into writing, both for myself (original work), as fannish writing. It'd been a couple of hard years, whith zero creative output of any kind, and I'm just so happy I'm back into the mood.

What's more, I'm actually pretty happy with the things I wrote. I won NaNoWrimo, and the first draft of my original novel is about half way, and I also participated in Trick or Treat and Yuletide. Plus I finally wrote some Spartacus Femmeslash, which was so overdue. If you take into account I only started to write again in Oktober, then ending up with about 75k of written words ain't bad.

Take that depression!

Beloved Sister, Beloved Wife (1523 words) by Pameluke
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Peaky Blinders (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Ada Shelby
Additional Tags: Trick or Treat 2015, Grief/Mourning, Dysfunctional Family, Introspection, Ada Kicks Ass, Threats of Violence
Summary: Daughter, Niece, Sister, Wife, Mother. She's so many things at once, to so many different people. Ada Shelby, Ada Thorne? London does not care, and neither does she anymore.

 
When it comes down to it, it was Trick or Treat that really got me writing again. I was too late for nominations, so had to offer fandoms that were pretty far out of my comfort zone. I matched on the fandom I thought of as the most challenging one (as it always happens). Turns out that it was the challenge of it that really got me going. It also helped that the prompt was for my favorite character of the show. In hindsight I think it's obvious I was a little rusty, but I'm still really happy with it. Especially because my recip was very grateful and enthusiastic, which is always nice.

The Benefits of Sea Air (2303 words) by Pameluke
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Persuasion - Jane Austen
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Admiral Croft/Sophia Croft, Sophia Croft & Anne Elliot
Characters: Anne Elliot, Sophia Croft, Admiral Croft (Persuasion)
Additional Tags: Epistolary, Kraken Fighting, Extra Exchange Treat, Admiral Croft Kicks Ass, Sophia Croft Gets Things Done, Boats and Ships, Age of Sail, Trick or Treat 2015, Mythical Beings & Creatures
Summary: My Husband longed for the ocean, my dear, and I must confess, so did I.

While I was breaking comfort zones anyway, I thought I should finally be a brave little toaster, and face Austen fandom. I've always loved Austen canon, but found writing for it pretty intimidating, because, well, Austen. I liked that there were people requesting my favorite background characters (I'm all about those background characters, always), and before I knew it I had 2k of Epistolary fic (another first!) about the Crofts fighting a Kraken. I'm still so fond and proud of it, it's silly. If Beloved Wife was the fic that got me back writing, this was the fic that reminded me how fun writing is.

Lone Wolves, Lone Riders (2662 words) by Pameluke
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Silverado (1985)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Emmett/Paden (Silverado), Paden & Stella (Silverado)
Characters: Paden (Silverado), Emmett (Silverado), Stella (Silverado)
Additional Tags: Found Families, Use Your Words, Horseback Riding, Cowboys, Yuletide 2015, Emotional Constipation
Summary: It's easy between them. Except when it's not.

YULETIDE :). I was really psyched that someone nominated Silverado, I even went on a squeeing spree on fail_fandomanon (another first in 2015). This is on of THE movies of my childhood, and I loved it so. And then I got matched to it, and got my prompt and panicked. Because cowboys in love means understated romance with people who don't talk, and that's like the opposite of what I normally write. So I acted like a Yuletide champ and procrastinated, and went on and did NaNoWrimo. Which I managed to win (the last days were brutal), but fuck it, I wrote 50 in a month. Which was a huge boost, and I started on this with new vigor, and a lot of talking it through with various people in #yulechat. And boy did I learn about writing (and paragraphing ;) ), while writing and revising this. I am still so proud of how it turned out. I really, really love it, and writing this totally renewed my love for the movie. I've also got a bunch of remaining headcanons, about Jake meeting Wheedon Scott from White Fang, and the Klondike Gold Rush, and well. I'm not done with 19th century United States yet I think. 

Practice Makes Perfect (1536 words) by Pameluke
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: You're The Worst (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Gretchen Cutler/Jimmy Shive-Overly
Characters: Gretchen Cutler, Jimmy Shive-Overly, Edgar Quintero, Lindsay Jillian
Additional Tags: Balloon Paintball, Alcohol Abuse, Sunday Funday, References to Depression, Irresponsible Misuse of Medication, Explicit Language, Post-Season/Series 02, Yuletide 2015
Summary: Gretchen was in charge of Sunday Funday. They were all going to fucking enjoy her Dumb Dates for Romcom Dweebs.

Riding the boost and glory of having finished my Yuletide just before the deadline, I picked up a pinch-hot who I'd been planning to treat in any case, because best prompts for new fandom of my heart ever. Also, after the Super Serious Cowboy Romance, I was in the mood for writing the exact opposite, aka Wordy and Foul-Mouthed idiots in love. This practically wrote itself, and it gives me warm fuzzy feelings. 

The Echo Of My Heart (5697 words) by Pameluke
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Spartacus Series (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Chadara/Mira
Characters: Chadara (Spartacus), Mira (Spartacus), Spartacus
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Ghost Hunters, Serial Killers, Seer Chadara, Scryer Mira, Scryer Spartacus, Ghosts, References to Past Mira/Spartacus, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements
Summary: Chadara sees the echoes of the dead. Mira feels the emotional residue of murder victims. They should be hunting ghosts together. Unfortunately, they haven't met.

While all the above happened, I also off and on wrote on this Ghosthunting AU. I hadn't written Spartacus in years, but I got inspired by a discussion on Tumblr, and before I knew it I had this sprawling AU. The tricky part was mostly creating a consistent Ghost Hunting universe, without having the characters turn into All Mighty Special Snowflakes. There's apparenly not really a market for f/f ghosthunter AUs, because this is my least viewed fic out of all my Spartacus fic, but ah well, I'm pretty sure it's also my best Spartacus fic.

So, what's next? I'm going to do a lot of challenges and exchanges, because they keep me motivated to finish things, instead of just creating more and more WIPs. I"m having a personal challenge of writing a NYR fic for Yuletide every month until the collection closes. Although that's a STRETCH goal. I want to write at least one challenge fic every month, and all the rest is extra.

I'm definitely going to do NaNo again, but that's still far away. Probably going to do at least one of the Camp NaNo's as well, since I gave myself a deadline this year to finish the first draft of my Original Novel.

I turn 30 on April 2nd. It would be nice to have 30 fics posted on AO3 by then. 

And I should probably finish my Lugo/Marcia WIP, and possibly the NCIS:LA/Scott Pilgrim fusion absolutely nobody is waiting for.

So lots of goals, hopefully lots of fun to be had as well. Mostly I'm just in a good space creativity wise, and I want to make the most of it.

Onwards!