So, with the end of the year close at hand, I'm going to resurrect a meme I did last year on livejournal. With my drastic change in fandoms, last year's wouldn't be that interesting to you guys, but as long as I'm writing fanfic I'm gonna keep doing these.

If anyone else wants to do this in their own blog, feel free to steal it!

Fanfic Year in Review- 2012
Fic total:
Somewhere around 30, counting fics for other fandoms, and things like my fic in The Album project.

Overall impressions:
PONIES!

Ponies and our big fandom. As I have mentioned before, until April I was in a fandom for a kids book series from the 90's (The Baby-Sitters Club) and there were about thirty of us, including lurkers. I will get more views on a story in an hour here than it was possible to get total in my old fandom. So, participating in a fandom where I don't know everyone's name, and where literally thousands of people might look at one of my stories, has been different, exciting, sometimes annoying, but overall pretty cool.

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?

More. Okay, my plan last year was to write a 1000-3000 word story every other week. I have actually written about 30 stories this year (between this and the old fandom), but some of them were 20k long. I. . . write a lot of fanfic, don't I?

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

Actually, I avoided MLP:FIM at first, knowing just based on the pictures and descriptions that they would do that. My last fandom, the main characters were eight girls in a small town who were friends forever, despite having extremely different personalities. . . so add some cute ponies, and there wasn't really a question.

I also knew I shipped AppleDash before I ever watched the show. Someone had posted the demotivational poster that says “AppleDash: Because all tomboys are lesbians.” I did not appreciate the snark, because I happen to love (and always ship) tomboy lesbian characters, but it did paint a giant “SHIP AHOY!” sign on AppleDash for me.

I also probably could have predicted TwiJack, because it's close to other pairings I've written before.

So the biggest surprise would have to be DaringCora. I had no thoughts of shipping them until I saw Garbo802's exchange, and then I fell in love with the pairing. I still hope to write the prequel to Daring Do and a Place called Home, when I have more time.

What's your own favorite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest?
The AppleDash Project. The original. I love the slice of life episodes, I think they're just the right amount light and funny, with a more serious heart in them. I'm not liking the sequel as much.

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?
All sorts of them. The three I learned the most from were:

A Very Long Day- My first fic posted here. It was short, I never bothered to write a getting together fic for AJ and Dash, and it was a kind of fic that pops up rarely- one that plays directly off an episode. I got three comments the day it got posted, I can't remember how many likes, but for some reason I'm remembering 12? Anyway, that was enough to convince me it was a success, and that maybe there was something to this AppleDash post episode stories idea. LadyHart21 was among the first people to greet me, and actually got the first hint that I might continue the story. You all can thank her for encouraging me.

Best Young Flyer- Well into the AppleDash Project, I decided I was interested in reading some aged up ScootaDash, so I went looking. . . and there wasn't any (there was more than enough foalcon, though.) So I decided to write it. But since I was the first one writing it, I decided that it needed to be a legit ship fic, not just a fluffy scene or something episodic like The AppleDash Project. So. . . I started writing it, figuring that it would get a million thumbs down from people who thought it was foalcon, or that people would still find Dash and Scoot creepy, and not knowing if I'd be any good at a long form fic with a plot. It taught me that people are more open minded than I thought, and that if I sit down and write the darn thing, I can tell a good novella length story.

Daring Do and a Place Called Home- I pay no attention to ponies outside of the mane six, the CMC, and the Apple family. But Daring Do x Zecora came up in the Great Shipping collab, and the more I thought about it, the more I liked the ship. It was the first time I wrote anything with background ponies, or at least non-main characters, and I feel like I did a good job working from what you could see in the show and making them recognizable, but fully developed. I also learned how to write Zecora's lines.

From my past year of writing, what was...
My best story of this year:

In terms of overall writing, I'd have to say Daring Do and a Place Called Home.

My most popular story of this year:
A Fact for Twilight

Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:
Daring Do and a Place Called Home. It's just not a ship people are interested in.

Most fun story to write:
The AppleDash Project or Farce of Nature. In both of those cases, I was just worried about writing soemthing cute and funny, and not worried about it being “good” or complete or anything like that.

Story with the single sexiest moment:
To me? The end of the AppleDash Project chapter “Giving In.”

Most "Holy crap, that's wrong, even for you" story:
I guess To Tell the Truth. I think the subject matter is one that not a lot of people would consider appropriate to tackle with characters from a kid's show. But I'm not generally a very shocking writer, and I do my best to handle that in a responsible way.

Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:
Of Cottages and Cloudhouses. Basically, I had to write Fluttershy interacting with ponies she wasn't comfortable with. I had two options: either Fluttershy is an idiot who actually thinks that ponies should be allowed to walk all over her, or she's an intelligent pony who is just too nice to say what she's thinking. The first was my initial reaction to Fluttershy, but the second makes more sense to me, so that's what I went with, and it's the characterization I've used since.

Hardest story to write:
Technically: Daring Do and a Place Called Home. Writing Zecora just takes a lot of thinking, trying stuff out, checking rhyming dictionaries, trying more stuff, and thinking more. For just about every line of dialogue.

Emotionally: To Tell the Truth. A story like that, in first person, is really rough.

Biggest disappointment:
Daring Do's and Don't's. Which is not to say that I don't like it, or that it hasn't done as well as I think it should have. But I know it could have been an awesome story, if another writer had written it. So much of it was physical comedy, and I'm just not that good at description, so the pacing is off. I give myself a C+ on that one.

Biggest surprise:
How To do a Sonic Rainboom. I built the story around the head canon, and while I liked it just fine, it did next to nothing at first. Imagine my surprise to find out that other people consider it a great story.

Most Unintentionally Telling Story:
Wisdom is Just Being Old. I'm a firm believer in doing something with your life that lasts past your death, whether that's a great work of creativity, influencing the lives of others, or just building a family. Wisdom is Just Being Old reflects that heavily, basically saying “This is how you have a happy old age.”

Fanfic Resolutions:
(Resolutions kept from last year: 3/5. Better than I thought!)

Finish the ongoing stories I've published so far.
Update my rec list more regularly.
Start leaving insightful comments on other people's stories instead of just, “This is great! Yay!”
Write an adventure story
Write a non-bashing, respectful fic that shows why I don't like either: FlutterDash, RariJack, Pinkie ships.