#year end roundup

[fibula-rasa]

Seen in ’23: Annual Roundup

Top new-to-me films of ‘23 

(in the order I saw them, not preference)

The Blizzard / Gunnar Hedes saga (1923) [imdb | letterboxd]

The Rafter’s Bride / Koskenlaskijan morsian (1923) [imdb | letterboxd]

Funeral Parade of Roses / 薔薇の葬列 (1969) [letterboxd | imdb]

Dorian Gray in the Mirror of the Yellow Press / Dorian Gray im Spiegel der Boulevardpresse (1984) [letterboxd | imdb]

Drylongso (1998) [letterboxd | imdb]

The Cruz Brothers and Miss Malloy (1980) [letterboxd | imdb]

The Burning Crucible / Le Brasier ardent (1923) [letterboxd | imdb]

Let’s Scare Jessica to Death (1971) [letterboxd | imdb]

Merry-Go-Round (1923) [letterboxd | imdb]

Dream Demon (1988) [letterboxd | imdb]

Mazel Tov / Ost und West (1923) [letterboxd | imdb]

The Signal Tower (1924) [letterboxd | imdb]

The Second Track / Das zweite Gleis (1962) [letterboxd | imdb]

Restless Blood / Levoton Veri (1946) [letterboxd | imdb]

The Man Without Desire (1923) [letterboxd | imdb]

Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Adolescence of Utena / 少女革命ウテナ アドゥレセンス黙示録 (1999) [letterboxd | imdb]

---

Honorable mention:

Ritratto di donna velata (1972) [letterboxd | imdb] (because it’s technically a mini-series)

Spirits of the Dead / Histoires extraordinaires (1968) [letterboxd | imdb] (because it would make the year-end list for “Toby Dammit” alone TBH)

So, according to letterboxd, only 33% of the films I watched in 2023 were rewatches. In an unexpected bit of consistency, that’s also my proportion of rewatches for ‘22 and ‘21. Sometimes crunching the numbers teaches you potentially meaningless things about yourself.

On my letterboxd, I put together a list of my top new-to-me films of ’23, in case you want an easier way to check if there’s anything you might want to add to your own watchlists!

READ ON BELOW THE JUMP!

As I continued my tradition of watching films as they turn 100, the 1920s was my most-watched decade as it was in 2022.

I was startled looking at the stats that the 1930s were so underrepresented! To ward that off in 2024, I think I’ll binge some pre-codes. Maybe we should all watch pre-codes in March 2024 to dishonor Will Hays on his birthday?

My top individual years were:

1923

1987

1986

1920

1911

1971 (unexpected!) 

1988

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In another bit of unexpected consistency, I seem to have watched roughly 60% American-made films every year for the last 3 years?

Regardless, I think my MVP for this year was Finland. Teuvo Tulio is quickly becoming one of my favorite directors and the silent films from Finland that I watched this year were highlights too!

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My most watched actors for 2023 were:

Alice Howell

James Finlayson

Stan Laurel

Snub Pollard

Katherine Grant

Marie Mosquini

Christopher Lee

Jackie Cooper

Lois Weber

Mabel Normand

Noah Young

Oliver Hardy

Richard Smith

Can you tell that I watched a ton of silent comedy in 2023? Of course Marie and Snub are making a return appearance here from last year, so I suppose I watched plenty of comedy shorts in ‘22 as well.

If you were only to count the feature films that I watched, Christopher Lee, Boris Karloff, Douglas Fairbanks, Vincent Price, and William Haines would top the list!

---

My most watched directors were:

Alice Guy

Dave Fleischer

George Jeske

Arthur Rankin Jr. & Jules Bass

Charley Chase

John G. Blystone

Lois Weber

Richard Smith

Maya Deren

Phillips Smalley

Another affirmation that I watched a whole lot of silent shorts, but this time because of the fantastic Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers set. I highly recommend picking up a copy (or checking it out of your local library). Not only is the set well curated, but there are so many great extras to put the films in context. 

For Christmas ‘23, I got the Cinema’s First Nasty Women set and I’m very excited to marathon those and be influenced into a year of behaving badly.

Maya Deren makes the list because I re-watched her films in advance of my cosplay/profile of her. If you haven’t dug into Deren’s short but fascinating filmography yet, I highly recommend it!

#roundup #year end roundup #film recommendation #movie recommendations #film blog #film #classic film #classic movies #silent film #silent movies #silent cinema #cinema #filmblr #movies #world cinema #animation

[sliebman10]

2022 Roundup

Thanks for the tag @thistlecatfics! Yours was so interesting to read through - and now I realize I have several fics to read XD.

Rules:

Post the top 5 works you're most proud of that you released in 2022 (not necessarily your most popular),

your top 4 current WIPs that you're excited to release in the new year,

your top 3 biggest improvements in your writing over the past year,

your top 2 resolutions (ways you wish to improve your writing/blog) for the new year,

and your number 1 favorite line you've written this year!

Sooo...I’m not sure who’s done this or who wants to, so I’m going to demure and make this an open tag. 

1. Post the top 5 works you're most proud of that you released in 2022 

* Let There Be Light (Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, 5822 words over 8 chapters, Modern AU) - I was happy for the opportunity to embrace Jewish Sirius, who I first caught a glimpse of through @soloorganaas‘s work, and I liked exploring the characters through this context.

* Family Vacation (Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, background Nymphadora Tonks/Fleur Delacour, 16312 words over 6 chapters, Modern AU) - This was my first foray into writing a “Sirius raises Harry” fic, and I am happy with the result. I went away on my own vacation and came home with the plot bunny that resulted in this fic.

* The Lupin/Black Wedding (Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, background Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, 10744 words over 5 chapters, Magical World AU/canon divergence) - I feel like this fic was what I’d set out to do when I started writing Wolfstar fics...give these two the happy ending they deserve. They got to celebrate their wedding and be a family with Harry. Everybody wins.

* Scripted and Revised - (Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, background James Potter/Lily Evans, 23951 words over 10 chapters, Modern AU) - This story was supposed to be much shorter, but the characters ran away with it and I am glad they did. This was so much fun to write.

* Lawless (Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, background James Potter/Lily Evans, 12428 words over 5 chapters, Old West AU) - I’d always wanted to pay homage to the tv show Deadwood, and I never thought it would be through a Marauders fic, but it was. I wasn’t sure anyone would want to read an Old West AU but I’ve been pleasantly surprised.

2)  Top 4 current WIPs that you're excited to release in the new year

* I am excited to finish out Architect’s Anonymous. It’s been a really fun experience writing it through the Mixed Up Writer’s Fest and I’ve had a great partner.

* The Wolfstar vs Weasley Twins prank war fic finally has a name and just needs a few more story beats before I can post it...but I feel like I’ve been working on it on and off for a while so I’m glad it’s almost done.

*  I’m excited for my Remus Lupin fest fic, but it’s supposed to be anonymous so that’s all I’ll say about it.

* I’m also going to work on my postwar Harry/George fic. I’ve seen several fics with a similar premise, so I hope I have something original to add. 

3) Top 3 biggest improvements in your writing over the past year.

* I think I’ve gotten more confident in my writing this year. Since I’ve been doing it so much more, I feel like I’ve improved by sheer volume.

* I’ve embraced AUs more than I would have imagined when I started writing missing canon scenes last year. I like re-imagining the characters and their situations while keeping their core traits. It opens up the world of possibilities so much more.

* Dialogue will always be my favorite thing to write, but I think I’ve improved at fleshing the stories out more beyond the dialogue (if my word counts are anything to go by ;-)

4) Top 2 resolutions (ways you wish to improve your writing/blog) for the new year.

* I want to embrace other characters in the universe...and possibly branch out all together.

* I want to continue writing consistently and make sure I make time for it even when I’m really busy with work and family.

5) Number 1 favorite line you've written this year:

Sirius: “Oh right, what was it? Bottled Redhead Productions?”

Lily: “I’m a natural redhead, asshole.”

(cracks me up every time)

#year end roundup #sliebman10

[laurelsofhighever]

Writer’s Year-End Roundup!

I was tagged by the lovely @asaara-writes and I’m going to cop out and tag anyone who wants to do this and hasn’t already XD

Overall, 2022 was a good year. I finally sorted my ideas out enough to get back to longfic. Mostly it was about planning but since that came easily in places I’ve also started proper writing, and as of today, I’m 12 chapters into my Prince Alistair AU and just about ready to start posting.

Outside Dragon Age, DOTA; Dragon’s Blood season 3 gave me some lovely inspiration and I’m pretty proud of te work I did there. The Wayhaven Chronicles also gripped me tight and would not let go, and aside from some solid oneshots I’m now pretty much halfway through the first murder mystery story I’ve ever attempted, complete with vampires. It’s been a lot of fun reconnecting with all the characters I’ve written about in this last year, especially since 2021 was still mostly spent in a nice creative primordial soup waiting for ideas to coalesce.

Special mention to the print version of Falcon, which is a project I started last year and hope to get finished this year so it can sit and look pretty on my shelf.

Words written: 75,307, of which 29,562 has been published. This isn’t as much as I was expecting considering how many hours it feels I’ve put in, but 1) it’s still the length of a pretty hefty novel and 2) I haven’t counted all the words that are just planning or notebook scribbling, so it’s actually a heck of a lot more.

New things I tried: The biggest new thing is the venture into the murder mystery genre with Like Glitter And Gold. Having to work backwards from the crime to the clues meant the whole story has had to be much tighter than I’m used to in terms of detail, which meant having a much more invested plan and many, many conspiracy board diagrams before I could actually start to write. It’s been fun, though. Apart from that, I’ve learned that I’m most efficient when I plan out a rough script for a chapter first and then try to fill it in, instead of writing a detailed draft on the first try. I’ll definitely use this going forward and hopefully it means I’ll have a bigger wordcount for next year.

Fic I spent the most time on: My Prince Alistair AU for sure. Partly because I’m having to replay the game to refresh my memory of the events and transcribe then rearrange a lot of the dialogue, but also because it’s given me a lot of problems with the structure. It’s also how I found out I don’t so well trying to make a polished first draft. Also also, Dragon Age: Origins is a ridiculously long game, with so much talking - 35k words in, and they’ve only just left Lothering!

Fic I spent the least time on: I always feel miserable on my birthday, so this year I channelled that energy into Once More Around The Sun, a Nate x Detective Leah oneshot that I pushed out in a day. Except for the epistolary chapter of Falcon, it’s the most I’ve ever written in a single day, so I’m pretty proud of it. Happy Birthday to me.

Favourite thing I wrote: I’m pretty pleased with everything I’ve written for TWC this year, in particular So Let Us Melt, And Make No Noise, a fluffy, angsty oneshot, and Like Glitter And Gold, the murder mystery longfic, because it’s been something new for me.

Favourite thing I read: New Year’s Resolution: actually bookmark fics when you like them! I have binged works by @serenpedac (TWC), @tarysande (Shakarian), and @viciously-witty (Labyrinth), and very early in the year I finally got around to The Revelation In All Things by @ellenembee, which is one of the most we thought out Cullen x Lavellan fics I’ve read. In terms of published works, I actually read published stuff this year! Highlights include The Lies of Locke Lamora, Nightwatch, Sistersong, and Ivanhoe.

Writing goals for next year: Finish the remaster and print version of Falcon so I can finally put it on my shelf, finish LG&G, finally start a proper first draft of my Post-Blight story, make separate masterposts for Dragon Age and everything else to pin to each of my blogs, and streamline the way I plot for the Prince Alistair AU. Should be simple enough...

#my writing #writing meme #year end roundup

[nextstopwonderland]

Top 10 Favorite albums listened to in 2023, in no particular order

*okay, 11

Lou Reed -New York

The Roches - self-titled

Judee Sill - self-titled

The Highwaymen - Highwaymen (1985)

Fred again…(feat Brian Eno). - Secret Life (2023)

Carole King - The Legendary Demos (2023)

Indigo Girls - Rites of Passage (1992, expanded edition)

Gram Parsons - GP (1973)

Elvis Costello & the attractions - imperial bedroom (1982)

Janelle Monae - The Age of Pleasure (2023)

Nico - Chelsea Girl (1967)

Favorite new to me song listened to in 2023 (not including songs released in 2023, covers or alt versions of songs I’ve heard before):

Tantra Practice - Emily Lind

Strong second:

Motorcycle Drive-by - Third Eye Blind

Favorite song released in 2023 (not including cover songs or versions of songs I’ve heard before):

One more time - Blink 182

Favorite cover song listened to in 2023 (in which I’d previously heard the original):

Take me home, country roads - Lana Del Rey

Favorite different version (live, demo, et ) of a song I’ve heard before:

One More Try (Gospel version) - George Michael

Strong second:

The entire Carole King demos album

#albums listened to #year end roundup #music

[corantus]

my face and some faces i drew this year... :o)

#art vs artist #i will do a proper year end roundup or something at some point here lol

[recurring-polynya]

My Tumblr Year in Review 2023 (homebrew edition)

Per this post, I guess they aren't doing the personal Tumblr Year in Review this year, which made me very sad, so I decided to DIY as much as I could using JetBlackCode's Tumblr statistics tools.

I had 313 original posts this year, and got 12,405 notes. (JetBlack's numbers don't exactly match up to previous years' Year in Review, but it's close enough). This is a little lower in posts than last year, but a little higher in notes.

Top 5 Posts:

5. Mid-Century Menos

4. some shinigami and their hobbies

3. Sowing/reaping, but make it fanfic

2. Do shinigami have blood transfusions?

Some Oddly Specific Comparisons Between Renji and Ken Barbie Movie

Big year for posts for me! #1 and #2 both blew up because other people added stuff to them (and then #2 got reblogged by a Tumblr-famous person), but that's how Tumblr works, so thanks, friends, for inflating my notes for me! #3 was really strange because it has accumulated notes very slowly, but steadily. Every day, I get notes on that post. Also, every day I think about the person who reblogged it with the tags "I would simply write my fanfic from start to finish and not have this problem." Imagine, having a brain so functional (couldn't be me).

I am very happy that I had two fanarts in my top 5 again this year, especially considering that I didn't draw all that much this year. I guess that makes the shinigami hobbies post my all-time #1 fanart. Not bad, considering I didn't even color it!

#year in review #your tumblr year in review #i will still do my annual fanfic and fanart roundups too but i usually do those right at the end of the month #even though i doubt i will post any more of either in 2023 #i love these posts and i love comparing year-over-year statistics so i did this for me #but i also really loved seeing everyone else's #so please if anyone feels compelled to make of these for themself know that at least *I* want to see it

[vargaslovinghours]

Requestober 2023: Vargas Edition

The playlist has returned for this year! There will be a few in between, but it should be updating at least once a week on either Wednesday or Friday or both - keep an eye out for your req(s)!

I considered a couple different lines for day 1 - there are just so many Narrator lines that could work for Scriabin! Any of the many times where the Narrator is being sadistic, it all just works. Plus, it’s fun to imagine Scriabin trapping Edgar in the same way, just shoops a wall right into his path haha

But in the end I went for one of the tags I left myself on the original TSP/Vargas crossover doodles, it does still live in my head rent-free after all. You can see in the background that those “invisible” tears were intended from the beginning as well :3c

There’s also something funny to me about Scriabin using the word “rubbish” haha ♪ How posh

Edgar, as usual, getting blame for something that was definitely his Narrator, I mean Scriabin’s fault lol

I really wasn’t sure what to do with day 2 at first - I’m too scared to watch any of the SAWs, or look them up on YouTube >~< I tried finding transcripts with stage direction or people describing them in text online but I couldn’t really find anything, I really do appreciate my friend for telling me about one haha. Even with that though, I still had to do a lot of guesswork! Something about wrists, fear, not doing well - Scriabin is very cute hiding behind Edgar but it’s still not very obvious what the theme is, huh?

I was able to find a very brief animation of I think? the trap that had been described to me but even that was a bit much for me :’D I was a very wimp that day! I didn’t even have it in me to draw the trap itself in the sketch! There’s something a bit ominous about not being able to see into the trap completely, only the blood pooling at the bottom ♪ But I’m still happy I went with what I did in the end, though I did have to change Scriabin’s dialogue from fear to accusation - though that tracks for him haha

Day 3 was silly and therefore easy to whip up haha ♪ The angst is done, the blood is done, this leaves only kisses! Any opportunity to use my pencils to make kiss-marks, I will take lol. Clearly this is what the prompt was pointing at! Obviously! Lol

If you look, Jake’s lips are painted pink and Scriabin’s red, and they have each other’s lipstick marks on their faces lol - I am attention to detail when it comes to kisses ♪

I did still end up making an alt even after pretty much decided on the first one, it’s still fun to think about Scriabin interacting with Jake before he gets his own body ♫ He’s so smug lol, at least they’re easy to cover! Ish! Mostly! Probably itch tho lol

Day 5, yaaay some Biblical Edgar <3 I have been out of practice drawing wings lately so they’re basically just Big Shapes here lol, it’s all about blocking out the space they’ll take for when it’s cleaned! I am quite happy with how he turned out digitally, his cute face ♥

Day 7 got a couple passes as well before settling! It’s a theme lol, though there were both kidverse! The prompt mentioned “brothers” but that doesn’t necessarily mean when they were kids - they can be silly and sibling-like even After, they have the range. Still, Edgar pushing him on the swing as a kid was a cute idea so I’m glad I at least scratched it down haha. Why’s he so heavy? He’s dense ♪

The alt was the winner tho! I love how much like a bug Scriabin looks here haha, how could he have possibly seen this coming??

Day 8′s sketch was done outside in the dark actually, stargazing very appropriate!  You can kinda see me go back and forth on their clothes in the moment lol, Edgar’s striped shirt visible on his upper arms underneath his long sleeves and I still ended up going with a scarf! I also planned to make their breath clouds but I forgot them in the end, that background took up a lot of my focus lol. Also how come Edgar’s feet turned out better here than in the final version >:P

Gaster! A warmup for Day 9 since it’s been a bit since I’ve drawn him, especially with the cracks in his face! Scriabin is annoying his offscreen so it still totally counts as being Vargas-themed lol

Their poses were a bit subdued initially so I knew I wanted to try again, but at the same time there are a lot of elements here that I liked! Especially their hands, Gaster holding his hands in fists at his sides rather than speaking to Scriabin through sign language, and Scriabin with his flourish-opened palm, inviting ♪

Actual pose skeletons lol, though Gaster’s was a bit top-heavy. It all worked out in the end at least :)

Day 11 was a very fun concept! Turning Scriabin into an Enderman was an especially fun idea if Edgar could figure/find out that he could hide from him using a pumpkin mask, though I’m sure that would make Scriabin mad as well once he found him haha. Just sneeaaak quietly behind him, he’ll never know! Also the pumpkin having Edgar’s glasses, goatee, and scars carved into it haha <3

All the same, I’m glad I went with what I did - Scriabin’s pose is so much more dynamic! Very fun! His hands and his legs, and the way his coat flares out! Plus putting his Ender teeth on display was a lot of fun haha ♪ Poor Edgar can’t catch a break no matter what world he’s in, at least I didn’t actually turn him into a sheep lol

Day 12, yaaaay I finally got to Uncle Jake! So nervous <3 Don’t break the baby, don’t hurt him don’t move too much ahhh! Haha, terribly cute ♥ I do still really love how confident Edgar is here - he’s usually so nervous around Jake, but oh how the tables! Dadgar with a support system <3 His FWB comes to say hi to his son, it’s very wholesome hehe ♪

Day 13 was actually drawn way of out of order, between several of the later days and even day 12 I think lol, it’s so hard to convince my brain to listen to new music haha. It was quite a lot of fun making the text not look like it’s “spoken,” outside of a text bubble hehe, I don’t do that too often! And of course still deeply inspired by his palette challenge, it is too pretty to not pull from every not and again <3

Honestly I initially had no ideas for day 14, and yet this was still the only sketch I ended up with! My earworm at the time came in clutch, honestly do listen to Everything In You it’s such pretty yearning starcrossed song ah <3 All these musical doodles haha ♪ Sweetness sweetness <3

And of course when they’re that close there has to be a kiss! Scriabin is surprised, but how much? :3c Edgar giving Scriabin kisses of his own accord 💖 That theme never really left me either hehe

Day 27, the last Vargas day! Had to get in one Snake Charmer before the end huh haha ♪ It’s too bad my Ladyverse!Naga idea was a bit too long or I would’ve done that, but I’ll never turn down the potential for pretty clothes! And spiders for that matter haha, I went with the Acanthoscurria Geniculata - Brazilian Whiteknee again :) As much as I love Scriabin as a Bold Jumper, tarantulas just have such gorgeous proportions! And of course, I always enjoy drawing Lady!Scriabin, so it was doubly fun to draw her as a spider :)

That’s all of this year’s Vargas sketches! A fun bunch! And it was fun to mix a few others in as well :D

#💟 #Doodles #Art #Edgar #Scriabin #Jake #Nny #Todd #Blood #Sketchdump #And there's also a Gaster and a couple AUs hanging around in there as well haha #It was a fun bunch this year! And a bit more equally spread haha I appreciate it :D #It also makes compiling my roundups easier so I doubly appreciate it! Love it when my sketchdumps don't break on me four times lol #For the record this one didn't break even once ♪ Very well behaved haha #As usual I always go extra on Day 1 lol - but even with the extra time I tried to keep things a bit smaller scale this year :3 #I mostly succeeded! Still the occasional bonus or big piece haha #And lots and lots of alts - also the usual haha #But even with that there were still carryovers between everything! A couple of pieces here got my lighting itch - especially the last one #It was technically lazy cell shading but y'know what! It ended up looking cool! I will always take that haha #Anyhow ♪ Since they took up the front there have already been a few Vargas speed draws posted! Take a look for yours! :D #And thanks again to everyone for participating <3 It was a fun year!

[orangepanic]

Fanfic End of Year Roundup 2023

Published words: 363,588 Longest and most popular fic: Starvation Paradise (Iroh II/Asami Sato, 82,965 words, complete) Shortest fic: Goodbye (Hiroshi Sato & Asami Sato, 353 words, complete) First (complete) fic of the year: The Holiday Heist (Lin/Zolt) Last (complete) fic of the year: Exes (Iroh II/Asami Sato) Fluffiest fic: A Day at the Office (Iroh II & his daughter) or Little Fish (Asami Sato & her daughter) Steamiest fic: Six Days in Ba Sing Se (Iroh II/Asami Sato) Angstiest fic: Starvation Paradise Saddest fic: Endgame (Asami Sato) Strangest fic: Uh... four-way tie between Eurydice (Hiroshi Sato/Yasuko Sato), Kemurikage (Jet/Agni), Whiskey Tango Foxcat (Iroh II/Asami Sato) and Memory Like Fine Sand (Azula/Joo Dee). It's been a weird year. Fic you probably didn't read but should: She Comes to Me (Bumi II/Yue) Fic I'm the proudest of for no particular reason: How I Always Loved You (Hiroshi Sato/Yasuko Sato)

Open tags for anyone else who wants to share their year!

#tlok #legend of korra #fanfic #end of year fanfic roundup #rarepairs #fic stats #hot takes I guess?

[sysig]

Contain yourself Captain (Patreon)

#Doodles #SCII #Captain Sterling #NEJ #KUP #Quickly! Before the end of 2023 notices! (The year has been over for two and a half months now lol) #So yeah I found some mid-'23 doodles that I realized didn't make it into the yearly roundup either! So here they are now! #Silly lads #Mostly just speculating about Sterling and my VUX lads' chemistry lol - they have a little bit of chemistry with each other as well #Mostly as friends tho mostly as friends - NEJ is not particularly inclined to be around other similarly sentient species lol #He taps out at plants plants are good for him #He is fascinated by plants communicating with the chemicals they release tho - don't let him near a Supox I don't know what will happen yet #ANYway this is supposed to be about him and Sterling! And KUP and Sterling! #Yeah NEJ doesn't feel particularly strongly about this Captain lol - he's just Some Guy who occasionally brings by plants but also talks #Take the good with the bad and all that lol #KUP is the type that's fun and easy to wind up so Sterling does lol - Captains are silly nuisances this is known #But is it just play or is it something more?? Captain Sterling are you picking on him because you don't know how to express yourself #He /is/ young #I am still labouring under the impression that VUX are generally taller than humans I just think it's Fun #If he's going to be this hom around KUP what the hell is he gonna be like around ZEX #I just think an openly flirty Captain in return would be fun! Space Faring Romancing! #Guess he'll find out once he gets there lol

[sweetbottletops]

Fic Roundup - 2022 Edition

My favorite fic for 2022. Rec for Arcane, Jujutsu Kaisen, with some Spy x Family and The Dragon Prince. Have you read any of these?

The Phantom Guardian by MissingN000 Jujutsu Kaisen (Gen Fic / multi-ship) – Found Family / Canon Diverging AU! *manga spoilers* Toji comes across a child named Maki he is convinced is the missing piece of his scattered memory. His life changes when he decides to take her in. He eventually finds himself smothered in found family. (in progress)

Love, Sex & Robots by AmberZ10 Arcane (Vi/Cait) – Modern Scifi AU "In the two years she’d worked at Kiramman Enterprises, Vi had never seen anyone else go in or out of that door, had never caught a glimpse of what it concealed." You guessed it... She goes through the door. (in progress)

There is No Road Forward Without Pain and Struggle (but neither are we born only to suffer) Series by haline Jujutsu Kaisen (Nobara/Maki, multi-ship) – Found Family / Canon Diverging AU! *manga spoilers* Massive multi-part series following Nobara and Maki through the series into eventual fixit territory. Yuki Tsukumo enthusiast friendly. (complete)

Make Me Feel Loved, Again by Writer_blues Spy x Family (Twilight/Yor) – Amnesia Twilight Twilight wakes up in the hospital with his memories set to Pre-Operation Strix times. As he's piecing his life and work back together he grows suspicious Past!Twilight might have blown his identity along the way with his cover family. (in progress)

I'll Find You When the Sun Goes Black by haline Jujutsu Kaisen (Nobara/Maki, Maki & Mai) – Ghost Hunter AU Sister ghost hunter duo is assigned to investigate a cursed spirit incident in rural Japan. Gojo perhaps did not brief them fully for the job. (complete)

Arcane Sports AU Get an Entire Section

Run at the Cup by TheHomelyBadger Arcane (Vi/Cait) – Hockey AU Two longtime league rivals end up drafted into the same expansion club - the Zaun Sumprats. Their inaugural season documented by an upcoming Zaun filmmaker. (in progress)

Is Love Just Violence by Chelsayyy182 Arcane (Vi/Cait) – Kickboxing AU Zaun fighter needing to go the next step in her career hires a Piltover coach with an impeccable resume who wants a challenge. Everyone has trauma. (in progress)

Save the Last Dance for Me by panglosian Arcane (Vi/Cait) – Dance Company AU Two dance worlds collide when a member of the prestigious Piltover School of Dance plays wingman and attends a life changing Lanes Academy showcase. (complete)

Honorable Mentions

Fic I found had an interesting concept, rare pair, or were long left abandoned, but I still want to remember.

Homeward Bound by seriousam Arcane (Vi/Cait) – Space Scifi AU Caitlyn is the aloof owner of a spaceship that plucks a prisoner off the surface of an unstable planet. She impulsively decides to have her as a guest onboard her ship as she digs deeper into her file. (complete)

Diplomatic Relations by ravensurana The Dragon Prince (Amaya/Janai) – Post-War Modern AU Rival generals find themselves dealing with being out of place in the new normal as the two governments prepare for a historic peace summit. (long incomplete)

Say It Softly by seunflwr Jujutsu Kaisen (Nobara/Maki) – College Omegaverse AU Alpha Maki is ghosting her way through college while dealing with trauma from an accident that sets her apart from everyone and a family she can't conform to. Until she meets someone very loudly going through life on her own terms. (incomplete)

Open My Heart and Let it Bleed Onto Yours by pearlgarner (KiWy) Arcane (Vi/Cait) – Undercover / Fake Girlfriend Canon Diverging AU Teen Vi turns herself in to spare everyone the consequences with only Grayson's visits and letters to Stillwater connecting her to the outside world. After helping Grayson over the years on smaller jobs she is introduced to a young officer with a dangerous theory about a case. Lots of trauma. (complete)

Wintery Arcane Fic Because I'm Feeling Festive Still

Wanted: A Girlfriend for Christmas by RedPanda92 Arcane (Vi/Cait) – Holiday party / Coffee shop AU Caitlyn's boss Marcus keeps scheduling her to work holidays every year and the only way to get out of it in order to visit her parents is to prove she has a significant other. 25 day countdown begins now. (complete)

Counting Down Til Christmas by loveshazel Arcane (Vi/Cait) – Hallmark Holiday AU A small town welcomes in a mysterious outsider who has opened up a bookstore and has ties to the past. (in progress) And They Folded Like Cardboard by SarcastCity Arcane (Vi/Cait) – Winter Olympics AU A Piltover biathlon and a Zaun slopestyle medal winners meet at the Olympic Village during the last night of the games. (in progress)

#arcane #jujutsu kaisen #fic rec #fic roundup #caitvi #caitlyn kiramman #nobamaki #maki zenin #nobara kugisaki #end of the year #ao3 #a03 fanfic #sweetbo thoughts

[crackinglamb]

AO3 Year End Roundup, 2023

Normally, I'd do this in a couple days, but we're close enough for government work (and I'm on a deliberate break anyhow, so nothing new is being posted). Normally this would also be a tag game, but I haven't seen it floating around yet, so...

Hey, you wanna do your own roundup? Go for it. Yes, I mean you (looking at you, DAFF crew). Consider this an open invite. Tag me back so I can see what y'all have been up to.

Words posted: 241,283 . This total has had subtracted from it the amount that already existed for the fic that carried over from last year (which was WG, of course). So this is actually what I posted this year.

Additional Words Written: ~166K. I have several WIP's going on in the background. One of which is finished and will begin posting after New Year's. Another of which is about halfway done. The rest are...procrastination projects/getting the wiggles out. They may never see the light of day. But they count as writing, so they are included.

Grand total of words: 407, 283 (goodness gracious)

Fandoms: 2

Works: 12, 11 of which were new.

Highest Kudos: Into the Current, at 271 (just like last year, I'm not counting WG since it wasn't new). The Iron Bull/OFC, rated E, 79K words, complete.

Highest Hit Oneshot: The Mighty Fall, at 706. Sookie Stackhouse/Eric Northman. Rated T, 2900 words.

New Things I Tried: I wrote a trio of fics for True Blood/Southern Vampire Mysteries this year. The WIP that's finished and waiting for the new year is a continuation of this series.

I also posted a ficlet I'd originally posted here on tumblr for archiving purposes. Some Years Into the Future...

Fic I Spent the Most Time On: Driftwood, my Bullmance series. Writing ItC itself wasn't particularly long, about two months, but T3, the next fic, is still being written. At first it was all going to be one long fic, but then I decided I've had enough of epics (meaning any work significantly over 100K words), and split it into parts.

Fic I Spent the Least Time On: The Mighty Fall. I have finally gotten to use the tag 'I wrote this instead of sleeping'. 🤣

Favorite Thing I Wrote: Usually, I have trouble with this category. I'm poly, you know. But this year, I actually DO have a fave. Okay...I have two.

How Deep the Bullet Lies - a gift for @rosella-writes, for the Solas Lovers Exchange. Solas/Cassandra Pentaghast with a whumpy open ending. Rated M, 4200 words.

More Than Mere Stone - a gift for my beloved @ir0n-angel in the same exchange. Solas/F!Trevelyan, pure fluff. Rated G, 1500 words.

Favorite Thing I Read: In Twain, by CatC. It's everything I wanted in a 'background character gets caught up in events' fic. With a sizzlingly hot Bullmance and So Much Cole. I think I've read it three or four times already. At least. If you need something comforting and wonderful, I cannot recommend it enough. It's simply delightful, and so is the author. Rated E, 172K words, WIP.

Something I Finished: I did it, at long last. I finished What a Wicked Game to Play. It was the focus of NaNo (and took literally three days once I put my mind to it, hence much of the other writing I did that hasn't been published). It feels really good to have my beloved Behemoth marked with a green checkmark. The story itself isn't finished, and I'll eventually write more for Imogen and Co., but for now, it is Done.

Writing Goals for 2024 – Keep on keeping on. I want to finish T3, so I can start posting it. I want to finish a couple other things from the WIP list. There will of course be a new Fluffuary prompt list. Biggest goal, however, is simply not to burn myself out. I've started waiting to publish until a fic is finished, which has done wonders for my stress levels. No more posting gaps on an in-progress fic.

Allow me to Gush about some things I wrote this year.

(Otherwise known as: honorable mentions)

Out of the Dark - Lark Cadash was once going to have an epic fic to her name. But I'm Tired, and frankly, I'm bored with rewriting the events of DA:I over and over again. So I've turned her into a series, where I can just put up oneshots and short chaptered things in no particular order that add up to one big story. This is one of them. Post-canon, Lark goes into the Deep Roads to find the answer to a riddle that's bugged her for her entire life. She gets more than she asked for, with a side serving of sad Solas. I've had many of the headcannons included in it for a long time, with no home. Now, they're out there in the world. Rated G, 4800 words.

What Lies Beneath - my actual giftfic for the Solas Lovers Exchange. I had such fun writing this, and had ideas for it as soon as I received the assignment. I got to set something in the Hissing Waste, which is one of my favorite places in the game, as well as write a polyship for my two favorite romances. F!Cadash/Solas/Iron Bull, rated T, 3400 words.

Maker Damned Fools - back in 2020, I wrote a Varric/Hawke short little thing for the first Fluffuary. I always wanted to go back and expand it into a fuller story. Add it to the pile of Things I Finished This Year. From their meeting to post-canon. Rated E, 32K words.

What a Wicked Game to Play - *deep satisfied sigh* It took two years and ten months to complete, with near constant weekly updates. It's 411K words by itself (not counting the rest of the series). It contains about 350 embedded images of either screenshots or fanart. It is both the highest hit (over 90K) and highest kudo'd (1535) work on my archive. Affectionately known as 'the Behemoth', extensively written with my signature yeeting of canon. Imogen McLean, MGIT, Inquisitor, beloved of Fen'Harel. I am stupendously proud of this work, but I am also incredibly happy it's done. I set out to write an epic, and I damn well succeeded. Rated E.

See y'all on the flipside! 💕

#Lamb writes #ao3 #2023 year end roundup #dragon age #southern vampire mysteries #true blood

[wishingforatypewriter]

Fanfic End of Year Roundup 2023

Published words: 113,685

Longest and most popular fic: The Successor (Kuvira & Suyin & Opal)

Shortest fic: Under the Moonlight (Lin/Zolt)

First (complete) fic of the year: Tangerines (Lin/Zolt)

Last (complete) fic of the year: The Weight of Empire (Kuvira/Baatar Jr.)

Fluffiest fic: House of the Flaming Boar (Lin/Zolt, Mako & Bolin)

Steamiest fic: Home for Solstice (Jargala/Viper)

Angstiest fic: Suitcases (Lin/Zolt)

Saddest fic: The Photograph (Asami-centric)

Strangest fic: Wet (Jargala/Viper)

Fic you probably didn't read but should: The Road to Zaofu (Suyin/Baatar Sr.)

Fic I'm the proudest of for no particular reason: Dissonance (Lin/Zolt)

Tagging anyone who wants to participate!

#legend of korra #linzolt #baavira #sutar #jarper #end of year roundup

[chocomd]

2023 Year-End Fic Round Up

Thanks @nyamadermont for the tag!

Words written (published or not, WIPs totally count too!): 83,051 published, 800 in a wip

Smut scenes written (if applicable): 0

New things I tried: Writing hanahaki and darkly tragic fic for Kataang, a short fic for The Expanse (my GOAT live action show), and Zukaang fic.

Fic I spent the most time on: Enough, my Kataang hanahaki fic, and it was by far one of my favorite fics I've ever written.

Fic I spent the least time on: That would be one of my Zukaang ficlets, but I couldn't tell you which one. They were all written for the @flashfictionfridayofficial challenge, which is to write a fic between 100 to 1000 words long for a prompt on every Friday, all within 24 hours. Since I also work and sleep, I only had a few hours to write each fic.

Favourite thing I wrote: It's a toss-up between Enough, my Kataang hanahaki fic, and the very dark and possibly more tragic sequel, The Deal. It was like something inside me was unleashed? I honestly had the best time writing those fics. Like I felt more free to be creative with Kataang and ATLA than I've ever felt before.

Favourite thing I read: Ohhh this is a tough one. I'll have to go with two faves. One is Stay With Me, a hanahaki Dimileth fic, from the fe:3h fandom that seems to consistently put out amazing fic (how???). The other is Electronic Memorial, a short fic (only 800 words!) for The Expanse, but it's one of my favorite fics I've ever read.

Writing goals for next year:

Write more Zukaang fics - oneshots, short multichaps. The flash fiction Zukaang ficlets were me getting my feet wet and trying my hand at writing Zukaang fic. Now I have all these ideas I'm itching to get on paper!

Start writing fe:3h fic, FINALLY. Like the Dimitri-kills-Rhea fic I've been promising @itsmoonpeaches since forever. I am absolutely OBSESSED with this Sylvain/Blue Lions fan video by @cyandemise and it's single-handedly giving me the inspo I need to write that fic and a few other very angsty BL fic ideas.

I have 800 words written for a Kataang wip that I've kind of paused on writing. I really want to finish it in the hopefully-not-too-far-future, but I need to take a break from writing Kataang for a while (it's been 3 years of almost nonstop Kataang lmao) and come back to it with fresh eyes.

Tagging (no pressure): @itsmoonpeaches @northerngoshawk @benwvatt @my-cabbages-gorl @justoceanmyth @flameohotwife @shameaboutthedilettantism and anyone else who wants to do it!

#tag game #2023 year-end fic roundup #chocomd answers

[putuponpercy]

“What are you two doing? Get out of there!” snapped the blue No.2 engine. Edward tried to alert his driver of the strange men that had entered his cab by whistling, but before he could utter a single “Peep!” he felt a foreign hand flip a particular lever, one usually reserved only for emergency.

The manual override. 

Edward was locked out of his own controls.

All at once, Edward found himself hurtling forwards, going faster and faster along the line against his will. “Please - the passengers! You’re going to cause an accident!” 

His pleas fell on deaf ears as Knapford Station soon came into view and to Edward’s horror, the path set in front of him lead straight into the back of a stationary goods train. The engine desperately tried again and again to apply his breaks, but with the override in place doing so was futile.

“Look out!” he cried out as loud as he could, seconds before colliding into the break van in front of him. Shrapnel flew in all directions. Edward felt himself rise and fall, followed by an awful squealing pain all along his side, momentum carrying his body across the platform leaving nothing in its wake.

Luckily no one was hurt…

That’s what the children’s stories used to say, right?

Perhaps it was the brief silence as everything finally ground to a halt, that allowed Edward the false hope that maybe, just maybe, this would be like those stories. 

Then there was a blood-curdling scream.

Followed by another.

And several, horrified, more.

#ttte #ttte humanized #ttte edward #pup's art #reincarnation au #what's this? #edward lore? #after almost 2 years of teasing it? #i'm incredibly unwell rn so I'm sorry if the writing is garbage lmao #gentle reminder that is the Edward who I originally HC'ed suffered sever touch aversion #the chains are meant to symbolise Edward being locked out of his own controls #and the tape for how he was unable to whistle for help #also note that Edward is clearly still alive at the end here #and if you know about the reincarnation au you know that they have to be #well #liven't #in order to turn human #which means there's more to Eddie's backstory #full lore will be revealed in the eventual Ex-Engine Roundup! #the accident series

[barbex]

Fic writers' end-of-year roundup: 2022 edition!

It’s that time of year, writer friends — time to take stock of what we’ve been up to this year! @pikapeppa tagged me, thank you!

And I'm tagging... everyone. @storybookhawke​, @bexifer, @ocean-in-my-rebel-soul​, @rpgwrites​, @fandomn00blr​, @asaara-writes, @dafan7711, @kemvee, @kunstpause, @blarrghe, @a-tear-in-the-veil, @in-arlathan, @elveny, @hawkeish, @starsandskies, @dismalzelenka, @charlatron, @enigmalea, @tessa1972, @wickedwitchofthewilds, @noire-pandora, @queen-kass-the-writer, @lavellanvibes​, @vonuberwald, @evilsapphyre, @pinkfadespirit, @musetta3, @lesetoilesfous, @faux-fires, @midnightprelude​, @ellie-effie, @andrastesknickerweasel, @mordinette, @kagetsukai, @zet-sway​, @roguelioness, @potatowitch, @for-the-ninth, @anneapocalypse, @rakshadow, @contreparry, @realace, @chaosride, @emotionalmorphine, @anderstrevelyan, @thedastrash, @only-slightly-terrified

---

Words written (published or not, WIPs included!): 188,336 words according to my trusty spreadsheet, in 45 fics on AO3 and a few secret things.

Smut scenes: How do I even count that? I wrote 11 explicit fics in 2022. Some had several scenes.

New things I tried: I tried writing more short things for DA Drunk Writing Circle on Friday nights. It went well, I think, but sometimes it feels like I'm wasting a big idea on a small thing and then I can't use it again, which is STUPID, I know, but it's still a thing going on in this old head.

Fic I spent the most time on:  I have such a bad memory. I don't remember such things, time us just so... timey.

Looking at my trusty spreadsheet, I spent three months in the beginning of the year to finish Destiny's Bite and then Mystery of the Rose appeared. Currently, I'm spending the most time on Twilight and Soup. Like an unhealthy amount of time. You don't even know how much this fic occupies my brain space.

Fic I spent the least time on: I think I wrote the first chapter of Mystery of the Rose in one night.

Favourite thing I wrote: I think it's Outshine the Stars, but I love all my ongoing fics too.

Favourite thing I read:  The Right Pressure by DemonicPersephone, the pining, the careful feelings developing...

Writing goals for next year:  More words. Finish a few longifcs. Write the original novels. Just... use time more efficiently. Oh and if possible, maybe play a game again? But mostly, more writing.

#tag game #end-of-year roundup #2022

[recurring-polynya]

Fanfic Round-Up 2023

I was looking at last year's round-up in preparation for doing this and it is very hilarious because it starts out with "well I set a new record in sucking" and let me tell you: I have blown away last year's new record in sucking.

That's not entirely fair-- last year, I had a pretty big word count before I stripped out everything that I hadn't actually written that year, which knocked it down to about 113k. This year, I posted an extremely sad 58,086 words, but if you add in the fanfic I spent half the year working on and haven't finished yet, it gets back up to about...113k. This is still roughly half of what I used to be capable of, but I guess I'm just not anymore. I actually tried to quit writing in the first part of the year, because it was making me miserable, but it turns out that then I just got I-am-not-writing-miserable, which was much, much worse, so I just started Doing It Miserable. I finally started feeling a little better around October before I got kneecapped by Christmas, just like I do every year. Anyway!! Here's the goods:

Most of this year's Squad Six is Jerks (volume 4 of my multi-year collection of short stories) was stuff for RenRuki week, so technically it got written in December of 2022, or before because at least two of them were things I had lying around. It includes Part 3 of my silly Renji-joins-Squad 4 AU, an angsty TYBW healing springs story, some zanpakutou nonsense, and a nice Rukia birthday story that I'm actually pretty proud of. Later on in the years, as part of the Bleach Returns event to celebrate cour 2 of the anime, I wrote a little post-lude to the Rukia's arrest scene, which I am never not thinking about.

My big accomplishment for the year, I guess, was go places, a Rukia-and-Renji-prepare-to-try-out-for-the-Academy story. I had started it years ago, and it was just this little, no-plot thing that I was fond of, and I decided to dust it off and make something of it. That turned out to be a ton more work than I expected, but I'm actually really proud of the result, which is a little bit melancholy, but also full of heart (and world building). Please read it if you enjoy scenes where characters go to the post office.

On my usual one-every-three-to-twelve-months pace, I wrote two adult fanfics this year. One is the (loose) sequel to the other. If you like stories about people having sex in extremely inconvenient places, please check out the very descriptively named Rukia and Renji Bone Down in the Urahara Shouten Stockroom and/or Things to Do in Hueco Mundo When There's a Sandstorm and You're Stuck in a Cave.

The last thing for this year was a fraction of your happy heart (irresolution doesn't suit you), a nice story where Renji and Orihime commiserate about the long-haul pining lifestyle and then go fight each other for funsies. Now that I think about it, this was another one that I pulled out of the dusty WIPs pile and finished off.

I guess that was a big theme for this year, which on one hand, sounds kind of lazy, because all I did was finish things. On the other hand, I finished a lot of things, which is sort of the perpetual lament of the fanfic writer, so good for me. Also, it was easy for some of them, but for others, it was a lot of work (I am looking at you, go places).

Also, I very much did spent a lot of time working on my next installment of the Heart is a Muscle. There's still a significant stretch to go, but I'm pretty confident that I'll be able to complete it in the first part of 2024, before the Summer Vacation slump (I have now learned to set my expectations very low for June-Aug and also the month of December, because that's just how it is). After that, I'm optimistically hoping to pick up and complete a little in love now and then as my fall project, but that's a long way off, so we'll just have to see.

#my writing #year end roundups