WRITING YEAR IN REVIEW 2018

Monday, January 14th, 2019 12:00 am
hyojungss: zhou jieqiong (Default)
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total number of completed stories: 

  • 9. +4 chapters of drabble fic

total word count: 

  • roughly 30,775


fandoms written in:

SVT

PRISTIN

SVT&PRISTIN

OH MY GIRL

KEYAKIZAKA46

i just want to say that it’s pretty sad that my longest fics were at the beginning of the year because I have deteriorated... so has my attention span. not writing much pure svt is a huge contrast to 2017 (on quick glance my stats were O 4 :: S 6 :: P 2 :: S&P 2). i think it’s because i actually made carat friends this year, so i talked to them about meta instead of inserting it into fic. but i only wrote both oh my girl fics because of exchange lol... and i think i’m going to retire from future pristin fic until they have a comeback. so idk what’s going to happen this year. i still want to write.



wips:

  • dirtmix exchange.... i have to work on it after this

  • this one is only in my head so far but its seungcheol x ______ concept au and i want it to be very very . projection.

tbh i am at the point where i have no idea if i’m going to finish the below fics b/c i am so lazy... i might though.... lately i only write exchange fic or spur-of-the-moment short fic so.

  • jun/seungcheol +wonwoo produce101 au (this has to be long so i never want to work on it)

  • binnie/jiho canon amusement park filming to wrap up my thoughts on them forever (procrastinating on that too)

  • some distasteful indulgences


looking back, did you expect to write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d expected?

i would say that i wrote about what i expected.... various times over the past year and a half i thought i was going to take a break from writing, and i kind of did, they just happened to end. this year i had no inspiration between late august and early december.... coincidentally the span of my school semester! :) like in the past i’ve written plenty during the semester as coming up with scenarios provided sth for me to think about during class or work, but i guess i was dead inside this semester. 

all of my kpop fandoms are ones i’ve been into for at least two years now, so it makes sense that i have written them out, that i have less ideas and less need to provide content for the fandom. maybe keyaki will change that, but the readerbase is even smaller than my other ggs so i’m really rolling my eyes at myself

i do expect that this year i will write even less good content and that is disappointing to me.. how can i top Q1+Q2 2018 though.


what pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January?

obviously keyaki.... i had no idea they existed until like. february or march maybe. and i didn’t get into them until october hehe. everything else i wrote is HILARIOUSLY on-brand. every pair extremely predictable


did you take any writing risks this year? what did you learn from them?

highly doubtful... maybe i would say taking risks is joining exchanges because i always have to balance between the receipient’s preferences and my limited ability to write something i’m not used to but i mean it’s low risk low responsibility as far as that goes


what’s your own favorite story of the year? // best story of the year?

objectively, my best written fic is stars in a movie. that’s not contestable because everything else has too many weak spots that pain me to reread. siam is cringey at the end but not because it was poorly written rather bc of the subject matter. stars in a movie also has a soft spot from me because of my friends and you know, projection #just_tinhet_things

the end to this breathtaking feeling and precipitous (i never learned how to spell this word i always copy and paste it or look it up to see that i spelled it wrong. maybe i’ll learn after today) are my other favorites, but tettbf absolutely has very cringey scenes to me - i actually think it’s the stronger narrative compared to siam and the more structurally creative piece. precip is a very good short fic, it’s just that one clap showcase scene that i didn’t use to its full potential and i regret that. and as shortfic it didn’t get as much time and heart in it as the other two so i can’t really call it my fave.


most popular story of the year?

the end to this breathtaking feeling, which is not surprising in any way - it’s a med-length fic in svt fandom with 2 fairly popular pairings.,, everything else is gg / rarepair ... but is any of my fic even popular. i would say Not.

actually i would like to believe that this fic is popular because it is actually a good take on the dynamics <in the sense of change> of a set of relationships with heavy history... 



story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:

i’m going to say precipitous / shades are drawn, because i believe they’re basically two sides of the same coin for the respective groups. caveat that shades are drawn is not really a good fic... the plot is questionable and the character dynamics are weird, so essentially it was a good fic in premise and a bad one in execution. i’m fond of its ending though. anyway the point is both of them are rare, rarepairs despite having irl evidence of leader-related interaction, which is why no one reads them - but i feel like i make good points, it’s just an issue of people not looking for these fics

it’s just a day trip just came out last month so it’s too early to say and i don’t think it’s the best fic ever or anything, but it’s not that bad... pristin fic scene is just dead



most fun story to write:

i’m gna branch out and say the rivers run into the sea because it was FUN to write keyaki for the first time ever. and i really liked getting to explore yuukanen dynamic (not a rarepair within keyaki fandom, just not a lot of good eng. fics in general keyakidom) . on the other hand writing it wasn’t exactly as fun as <below> because idk.. it was a boring fic and writing during the 2nd half of the year kind of became a chore even if i wanted to do it.

around november/december 2017 i kept being too lazy to write which is why it took me so long to come out with tettbf / siam but it was fun to write each of them b/c they came from scenarios i had come up with in my spare time and WANTED to see in proper writing. they’re still sort of “nothing happens” fic in the sense that the plot is just character driven but things definitely happen more than they do in my recent fic - where i kind of write as i sit in my bed for the sake of producing a piece about a certain pair. i need to stop writing nothing happens fic this year.... 


i actually just remembered a good drabble piece and that’s hole #17 (wonwoo/rena).... and even something new (jun/jieq) from the svt/prist/nu’est collection i have. both of them were really fun to write because (it’s no obligation) i get to invent dynamics between people i like that no one can say are wrong LOL and i have specific dynamics that i like as you can tell by now.... hole #17 is a good piece all around and my favorite drabble from that whole collection - no context light plot ambig r/s. 


most sweet story:

the only sugary sweet story i have from 2018 is the end of stars in a movie b/c everything else is gen or gen-adjacent . i really dont know if i’m capable of writing anything but gen ever again LOL... please save me... i typically can never stand fluff fic so it makes sense that i never write it


story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:

i’m gonna be boring and say all my stories shift my perception of the real people. i gain more conviction about my perceived character traits and kind of establish my own meta... i tend to gain more fondness for people after i’ve written about them imo . it might be easier to say other people’s stories who have changed my perceptions because they tend to highlight specific traits that i didn’t notice before. or, the comments section on some of my fics have taught me more about those character traits than writing my own fic did.


most unintentionally telling story:

im not really sure how to answer this one... i think it’s the unintentional that’s tripping me up, because a lot of times i write fic well-aware of what projection goes into it lkdjslfjsldkf it may be easier for an outsider to explain what info about me they gleaned from a particular story

maybe we can say that the trends in what i choose to write reveal how obsessed i am with choi seungcheol....



hardest story to write:

to be honest, all my fic exchange fics were the hardest to write and even then (this year) i never ended up fully satisfied with them, which is unfortunate. so that’s the pinwheel spins / colors / it’s just a day trip - i had to ask for a lot of help from friends on the 1st/3rd in order to even get ideas because my first drafts were just terrible.

precipitous was pretty hard to write too though, because i remember wanting to write out their dynamic really badly and struggling to even begin the piece. this is a case where i didn’t know where the fic was going until i wrote it (those tend to be my worse fics: i got lucky here) 


while we’re at it, the easiest fic to write was when you love someone (part of the sungrena collection) because it was straight up projection and sungrenaism and a no-pressure oneshot. i wrote it while procrastinating on exchange so. 


biggest disappointment:

i think i am disappointed i stopped writing svt fic so much...? because those tended to be good pieces. tettbf was like the wrap-up piece of my gyuhaowonhuiism to the point where even though now i really enjoy wonhui (it’s my fave ship across all fandoms) i don’t have anything left that i want to say... wonhui also already has a lot of really good authors that i like, especially for au (and i’m the hardest to please with au) . i wanted to write 96line this year but never succeeded.


as far as kudos/reception, every day is a disappointment in gg fandom esp when all u write is gen so i never expected more than this alskcmldsjlfd


biggest surprise:

the biggest surprise is literally that after i wrote stars in a movie i became friends with ash and ash and i have so much in common shipwise//the way that we look at things.... i did write stars in a movie wanting to make friends v_____v but i did not know this was going to happen.... not at all!


favourite opening line(s):

  1. GIRL FRONT

 

LOCATION: The side street next to Nayoung’s apartment. Parking only with residential permit.



(it’s just a day trip)


* note. i looked at all my opening lines/paragraphs this year and i think they were all pretty weak, even though some of them were good opening scenes. this one wins for originality...




favourite closing line(s):

-

In the morning, when Jeonghan wakes up to the sunrise, he sees white sands, the line between the sky and the blue ocean, and an unending expanse of water.


(the end to this breathtaking feeling)


-


Walking past hole 18 and stifling a cough, Wonwoo can’t explain it either.


(hole #17)


-


“You’re welcome,” Yaebin says quietly. The laughs in the background fade away.


Maybe it means being the one to bridge the gap, even when it feels infinite.


(shades are drawn)


-



favourite 5 line(s) from anywhere:

1.
Why they chose to wait outside is the maybe the biggest question, but it feels like they’re stuck in the middle now - too short of a time to warrant walking back inside, too cold outside to feel comfortable at all.
 (the rivers run into the sea)


2.

“You just need a story to tell.”


“But I’m not going to tell this one, anyway.”


(something new)


3.

“Will you miss me?” Seungcheol asks.


Wonwoo thinks it is awfully self-centered of him to ask that question. Needy and desperate for attention and love.
(precipitous)


4.
Nayoung grins, and maybe it makes its way through the phone line because Seungcheol sighs and it sounds something like relief and weight off his shoulders.
 (stars in a movie)


5.
The difference between almost touching someone and touching them is that once you make contact, the other person knows. Wonwoo can feel it - the warmth.


The air is sticky and humid. Wonwoo doesn’t say anything.

(the end to this breathtaking feeling)



also the ending scene of tettbf: see below



top 5 scenes from anywhere you would choose to have illustrated:

i need this illustrated the most::

> from precipitous: wonwoo standing under the airport drop-off roof, staring at seungcheol, who is standing in the road, facing him in the rain with the front bumper of the van in between them. 


-


> from something new: jieqiong and jun sitting on a bench at the harborfront, eating ice cream and watching the seagulls


from the end to this breathtaking feeling:


> wonu and jun on the couch in the summertime, reading a book/internet novel respectively, jun’s feet touching wonu’s socks


> jun leaving the tent with a smile on his face, the moonlight behind him as wonu leans against a folding table. (“You can’t always get what you want, Wonwoo.”)


> my favorite scene/description i wrote last year. to be fair, it was based on a real life experience i had so i have real memories of the imagery (and some photos). but i want illust of gyh...weep


The ocean is there, beyond the pools, beyond the sand, but it’s completely dark so they can’t see the water or the waves. It blends in with the starless sky, a mixture of pure black.


“It feels like we’re on the edge of the world,” Mingyu says, “like we could fall off if we walked into the water.”


Minghao stares up at the sky for a moment, heart in his throat.


In Minghao's mind, there are echoes of a past dream. Once he had wanted to just forget about it instead of ruminating on it constantly, but as he turns it over in his mind again and again, the memory is too fragile to be lost. 


“I don’t think I could lose you.”


Mingyu doesn’t answer with words.




In the morning, when Jeonghan wakes up to the sunrise, he sees white sands, the line between the sky and the blue ocean, and an unending expanse of water.



do you have any fanfic or profit goals for the new year?

idk what profit means, anyway, i want a few things.

  • i want to write one 10k fic. i have no idea how i’m going to accomplish that so maybe it won’t be 2019 lol but i just want to prove that i can do it!

  • i want to write less useless ~2k,3k gg fic that i am not satisfied with and just makes me sad to see that i wrote...

  • i want to write more seventeen fic. i realize that i am pretty good at this. who cares if it all has seungcheol in it!

  • eventually i want to write more keyaki and make keyaki friends and convert my friends into keyaki fic writers

  • i want to write two types of fic: one is short fic - fic that is under 1k but retains gravity due to very condensed plot/shock endings. think: burning bridges. my favorite gyuhao fic since 2016. think: reaching one hundred, bia’s legend 2won. less than 900 words. but GOOD, memorable, not forgettable and not throwaway.

  • the 2nd type is longfic: for me long is anything over 4k. i have some bad fic over 4k (thinking about u jihan) but most of it is good and meaningful. if i can write 4k about anything at this stage in my career it better be a good fic


i’ll try to implement the (X < 1000 OR 4000 < X) rule after i finish dirtmix... i cant promise to write 4k in the amt of time i have left LOL


 

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