entirely ruined her disposition with books

Yuletide is done!!! Well, it's sent to betas, and I am sure there's still work to be done on it, but I am pretty happy with what I created and so relieved to have it done.

And now I can actually take a moment to look back on my Year in Fanfiction! It's possible given how inspired I have been lately that I'll write one more thing before the end of the year, but I think it unlikely, so I'm going ahead and doing this.

This was a surprisingly fruitful year for me as a fanfiction writer.

I wrote:

+94,671 words!!!!

+ over 11 fics

+ in 7 different fandoms: [Mystery Fandom for Yuletide], West Side Story (1961), the Benjamin January series, Six of Crows, The Eagle of the Ninth, Spinning Silver, and The Untamed/MDZS.

+ 4 of them were for exchanges! I participated in Chocolate Box, the Hurt Comfort Exchange, the Just Married Exchange, and Yuletide.

+ I wrote the most words and fics for The Untamed/MDZS by far

+ 4 were new-to-me fandoms! ([Myster Fandom], WSS, SoC, and tEotN)

+ The first half of the year was mostly for exchange fics or fics that were written in response to finishing a book

+ The second half of the year was super CQL/MDZS-leaning, with only my Yuletide fic being an outlier.

+ My biggest accomplishment was actually writing the Madam Lan fic and being really happy with it. That one had been on my mind since I first watched the show, and it feels so good to have actually completed it. The fact that I managed a short follow-up surprised me! I really didn't think I'd ever write that one!

+ My second biggest accomplishment was actually writing Jiang Cheng fic, which I never thought I would do. I did, and I feel like I wrote him well.

+ The one that got the most attention from readers was the fic that was ostensibly about a Wangxian arranged marriage but that was really about the Yunmeng siblings breaking out of a cycle of abuse and drawing firm boundaries with their parents (and also about LWJ being super in love with his husband)

+ I am reasonably proud to very proud of all of them! I don't think I wrote any duds this year!

+ All but two were shippy. Of the two that weren't explicitly shippy, one was gen in the truest sense and one could be pre-shippy if you want to read it that way. That latter one and one other were for an OT3 instead of a pairing. (I am very me.) I wrote m/m and f/m but no femslash this year (boo!).

+ Some prevalent themes: solidarity (between women, between siblings), people asserting their own agency, intimate hairbrushing/braiding, hurt/comfort (as per usual), mutual pining (ditto), getting used to marriage (3 whole fics! were about this!), learning by doing more generally, and twu wub.

+ I accomplished my goal of getting The Untamed/MDZS as one of the fandoms that are listed on my AO3 dashboard before you hit the "expand fandoms list" button. Lol! Maybe one day I'll be able to knock Harry Potter down a peg on that list! I'd only have to write four more!



I'm just really happy with my output this year, both qualitatively and quantitatively. I really had no idea I'd write so very many words, and it makes me hopeful that next year I can, you know, write a damn novel.

I do want to focus more on original writing next year (more about that later), but I am sure I'll be writing at least some fic in 2023. I hope I love it as much as I have loved what I wrote this year!

I just had to get this out of my system so that I can focus on Yuletide.

Title: what virtue moonlight
Series: heavenly questions part 2 (sequel to as the stars in their constellations)
Fandom: The Untamed, Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù
Characters/Pairings: Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian, Nie Mingjue, Lan Xichen, Jiang Cheng
Rating: T
Wordcount: 4,910
Additional tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Sunshot Campaign (Módào Zǔshī), First Meetings, wwx and lwj don’t meet until the sunshot campaign, wangxian are drift compatible
Summary:

Everyone has heard the story of the lost Lan heirs, stolen from their rightful home by their wicked mother. Robbed of their position and inheritance, lost to the cultivation world forever.

Wei Wuxian always thought there were a few holes in that story.

As you may have noticed, I have upped both the chapter count and the rating. I ended up fleshing some things out to the point where it made sense to divide the last (already lengthy) chapter into two, and it now requires an M rating. I apologize if this is a problem for anyone, but it's what the story needed.

Title: use the wood brought in by the tide
Fandom: The Untamed, Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù
Characters/Pairing: Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian, Jiang Yanli, Madam Yu, Jiang Cheng
Chapter: 4/5
Rating: M
Wordcount: 5,942
Warnings: This story features abuse from Madam Yu. I don't think it's overly graphic, but it is emotionally heavy and explores living with domestic abuse, so take care of yourself if you don't need to read it.
Additional tags: alternate universe - arranged marriage, hurt/comfort, warning for physical abuse, wwx is an adult but madam yu is madam yu, just keep in mind that the jiangs' a+ parenting is the backdrop for this fic, also featuring: falling in love with your husband, pining for your husband, sibling solidarity, dealing with your in-laws, lan wangji's typical inner maelstrom of emotions, wei wuxian whump, protective!lwj, lwj&jyl friendship, intimate hair brushing, and a happy wangxian ending
Summary:
Lan Wangji looks from face to face to face. All three of them are red-eyed and weary-looking. There is no feeling of resistance in the room. Everyone in this room knows how unjust Yu-furen’s reaction was. And yet not even Wei Ying, so quick to speak, to act when anyone else is the subject of unfairness, seems…resigned. Yes. That is the word. They are all resigned.

It curdles in Lan Wangji’s stomach, the knowledge that this must be a common occurrence. He had known that things were not right in the Jiang family, but he had not known that they were like this.


Months into his arranged marriage to the head disciple of the Jiang sect, Lan Wangji confronts family dynamics unlike any he has encountered before.

(The fact that he's desperately in love with his husband only complicates things.)

What the heck, y'all. I finally managed to finish my arranged marriage AU. The second two chapters still need a bit of cleaning up, but the thing is done and the first chapter is posted.

Title: use the wood brought in by the tide
Fandom: The Untamed, Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù
Characters/Pairing: Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian, Jiang Yanli, Madam Yu, Jiang Cheng
Chapter: 2/4
Rating: T
Wordcount: 6,021
Warnings: This story features abuse from Madam Yu. I don't think it's overly graphic, but it is emotionally heavy and explores living with domestic abuse, so take care of yourself if you don't need to read it.
Additional tags: alternate universe - arranged marriage, hurt/comfort, warning for physical abuse, wwx is an adult but madam yu is madam yu, just keep in mind that the jiangs' a+ parenting is the backdrop for this fic, also featuring: falling in love with your husband, pining for your husband, sibling solidarity, dealing with your in-laws, lan wangji's typical inner maelstrom of emotions, wei wuxian whump, protective!lwj, lwj&jyl friendship, intimate hair brushing, and a happy wangxian ending
Summary:
Lan Wangji looks from face to face to face. All three of them are red-eyed and weary-looking. There is no feeling of resistance in the room. Everyone in this room knows how unjust Yu-furen’s reaction was. And yet not even Wei Ying, so quick to speak, to act when anyone else is the subject of unfairness, seems…resigned. Yes. That is the word. They are all resigned.

It curdles in Lan Wangji’s stomach, the knowledge that this must be a common occurrence. He had known that things were not right in the Jiang family, but he had not known that they were like this.


Months into his arranged marriage to the head disciple of the Jiang sect, Lan Wangji confronts family dynamics unlike any he has encountered before.

(The fact that he's desperately in love with his husband only complicates things.)

The storm has passed, my electricity is back, and I've posted the last chapter of my story.

Title: as the stars in their constellations
Chapter: 3/3
Fandom: 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV), 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù
Characters: Madam Lán, Lán Yì, Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī, Lán Huàn | Lán Xīchén, Lán Qǐrén
Rating: T
Total wordcount: 11,019
Additional tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Pre-Canon, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, team mama lan, motherhood and personhood, taking back ownership of your body, solidarity between women, the thing is: women who kill usually have a reason, even if it’s not one the patriarchy will accept as legitimate, the author is a lan qiren apologist but the rest of the lans don’t come off very well, if you’re sensitive to that, i respect evil!mama lan takes but that’s not what this is, she’s right and she should say it
Summary:

“Please tell me if I have understood correctly.” An inclination of his head invites her to continue. “My sons, who currently visit me only once a month, will now be allowed to see me only once every other month. And then, after a cycle of this, it will be only once per season. And then after that, I presume, I will see them only once a year.” Or not at all. That is no doubt the ultimate aim. Not at all.


Madam Lan lives long enough to take back some agency--and her sons.

FI NA LLY!!!!!!


Title: as the stars in their constellations
Chapter: 1/3
Fandom: 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV), 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù
Characters: Madam Lán, Lán Yì, Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī, Lán Huàn | Lán Xīchén, Lán Qǐrén
Rating: T
Chapter wordcount: 5,285
Additional tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Pre-Canon, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, team mama lan, motherhood and personhood, taking back ownership of your body, solidarity between women, the thing is: women who kill usually have a reason, even if it’s not one the patriarchy will accept as legitimate, the author is a lan qiren apologist but the rest of the lans don’t come off very well, if you’re sensitive to that, i respect evil!mama lan takes but that’s not what this is, she’s right and she should say it
Summary:

“Please tell me if I have understood correctly.” An inclination of his head invites her to continue. “My sons, who currently visit me only once a month, will now be allowed to see me only once every other month. And then, after a cycle of this, it will be only once per season. And then after that, I presume, I will see them only once a year.” Or not at all. That is no doubt the ultimate aim. Not at all.


Madam Lan lives long enough to take back some agency--and her sons.

Yay! I can finally post links to my Just Married fic! I'm really happy with how this turned out.

Title: like a gull takes to the wind
Fandom: Spinning Silver - Naomi Novik
Characters/Pairing: Irina/Mirnatius
Rating: T
Word Count: 6104
Additional tags: Post-Canon, Political Marriage - Real Feelings Develop, Political Marriage - Strengths Balance Each Other Unexpectedly Well, ace-spectrum!mirnatius, figuring this marriage thing out, this kind of turned into a fic about mirnatius recovering from chernobog, and just wanting his wife to give him some attention
Summary:

Irina is a far better tsar than Mirnatius could ever have hoped to be.

Mirnatius adjusts to marriage.

I wrote a fic. I'm not as happy with it as I'd like, but it's done and posted.

Title: and i will rest my head upon that shore
Fandom: Benjamin January series - Barbara Hambly
Characters/Pairings: Rose Vitrac Javier & Hannibal Sefton (implied future Rose/Ben/Hannibal)
Rating: T
Wordcount: 3,885
Summary: The first night out from Havana, he stumbled into the small cabin while Rose was brushing her hair. The scent of cigar smoke from the saloon above accompanied him into the room, and when he caught sight of her, he immediately launched into poetry.

A Crimson Angel coda.

I got a main gift and a Madness gift for two different fandoms!

Main gift: Two Roads Diverged in Menfe, a Mara: Daughter of the Nile fic in which the writer chose just the perfect moment to diverge from canon. I love the idea of Mara finding her own way to where she needs to be.

Madness gift: Arrows of the Sun, a little Radiant Emperor fic featuring my three main faves (Zhu, Ouyang, and Wang). Gosh, I hope we get all three of these extremely competent and terrible people in a room in the next book!!!


And the fic I wrote:

Fic: Time Out
Fandom: That Thing You Do!
Characters/Pairing: Faye Dolan/Guy Patterson
Rating: G
Word count: 3892
Summary: Faye knows this for sure: they were in Wisconsin when she came down with that terrible cold and the Wonders had the number seven record in the country and the screaming girls crawled on top of the cars as they left for the airport to fly to California.


This is another fandom I never would have written for if it weren't for Yuletide, but I had so much fun revisiting this movie (which is just delightful, start to finish) and then so much fun writing this fic. It's a missing scene fic, focused on Faye and Guy's relationship. I was going for a kind of summer-hazy feel that reflected both the state fair montage scene in the movie and Faye's head cold, so it's kind of stream-of-consciousness featuring state fairs, Jimmy being terrible, Faye and Guy making each other happy, and Dave Brubeck. Thanks to theseatheseatheopensea  for betaing!

Yay! I can finally share the fic I wrote for the Just Married exchange! Profound thanks to chestnut_pod for invaluable help!


Title: She'elot U'Teshuvot
Fandom: Spinning Silver - Naomi Novik
Characters/Pairing: Miryem Mandelstam/the Staryk Lord, Miryem-centric
Rating: G
Word Count: 3699
Additional tags: Judaism, just so much judaism, warning for discussions of circumcision, Religious Conversion, Character of Faith, Marriage Negotiations, Interspecies Romance ish, Cultural Differences
Summary: The Staryk can't tell the difference between a Jew and a goy, but Miryem knows who she is--and there are some things she needs to clear up before her marriage can proceed.