2025 fic roundup

[paranoidangel]

Here is the 2024 post for comparison.

Stats:

List of Completed Fics:
Doctor Who: Bored Games
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Different Brothers
Star Trek Enterprise: The Father Identity
Doctor Who: Coming Back (The TARDIS Tour Remix)
Doctor Who/The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Late Night Reading (Don't Panic)
Star Trek: The Next Generation: A Difficult Decision
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: The Way Home
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds/The Original Series: Goodbye, Juliet
Star Trek: The Human Smell
Doctor Who: Best Served Warm
Doctor Who: The Room of Cats
Torchwood: Feeding the Baby
Doctor Who: Holding the Baby
Doctor Who: Becoming Santa
Doctor Who: Life After Death
Doctor Who: Five Letter Words
Star Trek Enterprise: Home, With Prejudice
Star Trek Enterprise: Beach Vacation
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: The Romulan Problem
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Home, With Decisions
Leverage: The Fanfic Job
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Carry On
Murdle: The Problem of the Perished Performer
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: The Holiday Celebrations
Star Trek Discovery: Acting Boldly

Total number: 25
Total word count: 27,560
Ship/fandom/character breakdown:

Type:
Gen: 14
Het: 8
Slash: 3
Femslash: 0

Fandoms:
Doctor Who: 8
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: 6
Star Trek Enterprise: 4
Sarah Jane Adventures: 1
Torchwood: 1
Star Trek: The Original Series: 1
Star Trek: The Next Generation: 1
Star Trek Discovery: 1
Star Trek: 1
Leverage: 1
Murdle: 1
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: 1

Characters who appear in more than one fic:
Christopher Pike: 5
Trip Tucker: 3
Fifteenth Doctor: 3
Ian Chesterton: 2
Barbara Wright: 2
First Doctor: 2
Rogue: 2
T'Pol: 2
Spock: 2
La'An Noonien-Singh: 2
Joseph M'Benga: 2
James T Kirk: 2

Specifics:

Best title?
I am quite fond of Late Night Reading (Don't Panic).

Best summary
They're nearly all one sentence, or one sentence plus another that gives more or the opposite information. They're all pretty dull.

Best first line?
None of them were that amazing, but the best is probably:
"I'm still in jail." Ian sighed at the four and three on the generated numbers that the game used instead of dice.
From Bored Games. The beginning of that line was entirely meant to evoke the tendency of Doctors and companions to end up in jail.

Best last line?
These aren't that stand-out either, but at least this had two contenders. The winner is:
Who knew life after death could be so fun?
From Life After Death (no prizes for guessing where the title came from).

General questions:

Looking back, did you write more fics than you thought you would this year, less than you thought, or about what you predicted?
Both more and less. I had a period in the middle of the year where I didn't manage to write at all. And then when I got back into it I wrote more than I thought. To the point where I just couldn't write any more and needed a break.

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted last year?
I wouldn't have predicted writing anything for Torchwood. Or that I'd write Fifteenth Doctor/Rogue at all, never mind twice.

What's your favourite story this year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you the happiest.
Best Served Warm. I think because it was a the Doctor is human AU I really got into the details and how to fit everything with canon. I especially didn't want to call him something else, so I had to find a reason to call him the Doctor.

Okay, NOW your most popular story.
The Father Identity comes top on almost every stat. It was also my second favourite to write. I had fun with an outside POV on Trip/T'Pol.

Story most underappreciated by the universe?
Holding the Baby, which has no comments, despite being an exchange fic, and I didn't think it was that niche or that bad.

Story that could have been better?
Obligatory all of them here. But otherwise I don't think there are any that stand out particularly.

Sexiest story?
Acting Boldly on the basis it includes two kisses.

Saddest story?
It's a toss up between the various Pike angst fics I've written, but won by The Way Home which is angsty the whole way through.

Most fun?
I think The Holiday Celebrations is pretty fun. Maybe a bit less so for Pike during parts of it, but that just makes it fun.

Story with single sweetest moment?
The end of The Father Identity, which shows that the smallest gesture can go a long way.

Hardest story to write?
A Difficult Decision. I think there was just too much else going on while I was writing it and I ended up getting most of it done much closer to the deadline than I would have wanted.

Easiest/most fun story to write?
It probably helps that it's a pair of drabbles, but The Human Smell popped into my head fully formed and just needed some tweaking to get the word count right.

Did any stories shift your perceptions of the characters?
Probably Beach Vacation because I hadn't written (or read much that I've liked) of these two in a relationship and I had to think about how that would work in the context of what the person I was writing it for wanted/liked about them.

Most overdue story?
None!

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?
I did write an actual murdle for Fic in a Box. I really enjoyed it, except for the part where I had to get it into AO3 with all the formatting, which took ages.

This year's theme and the story that demonstrates it most:
It's all about Doctor Who and Star Trek. Which is probably just begging for a crossover in order to demonstrate that.

What are your fic writing goals plans for next year?
After the first time I wrote Fifteenth Doctor/Rogue I had the beginnings of an idea for another story. I thought I'd write it for Tardis Festivities but didn't because I couldn't see how to get past what I'd already thought out. Maybe I can find a summary for Unconventional Courtship that will help with that.

I'd like to sign up to Fic in a Box, but we'll see nearer the time.

I also have some longer angsty Pike fics worked out/partially written, so I'd like to get a bit further with at least one of those.

Mirrored from my blog.

Comments

[liadt]

A successful year of writing! Your exchange fic being ignored is unfair. I hope you can work out your Doctor/Rogue fic with a M&B summary it's easy to get lost!

[paranoidangel]

Thank you. I just have to steel myself to read M&B summaries, which has to be done in small doses.