younglegends | 2018 year-end writing round-up

it's that time of year again!!

Total year-long word count:

counting everything published onto ao3 even if incomplete: 142,529 words. :/ literally double last year. that's...... fine

Fics completed (10):

we can be heroes: power rangers (2017), trini/kimberly, pjo roadtrip au, 25018 words

the cleverness and the joy of seeing you again: the penumbra podcast, juno/peter, 1774 words

a readiness of things: power rangers (2017), zack!centric time loop au, 11269 words

the realm of quietly growing things: triple h, hwitaek/hyuna/hyojong, high school + magic au, 5601 words

the word i can't quite conjure: the penumbra podcast, juno/peter, pre-canon au, 4174 words

save that heart for me: bangtan, jimin/taehyung, seokjin/namjoon/hoseok, modern howl's moving castle au, 38194 words

our fevers in the air: the haunting of hill house (tv), gen, theo & shirley, theo/trish, 2418 words

it was all for this: oh my girl, yooa/jiho, windy day mv high school + vague supernatural elements au, 4387 words

if you were also looking for me: loona, jiwoo/sooyoung, heejin/hyunjin, hyejoo/chaewon, jungeun/jinsol, high school + magic au, 13101 words

aftermagic: saving face (2004), wil/vivian, mundane magic au, 2579 words

This year I wrote and posted:
12 fics, 3 multi-chapter (only one complete tho), with an average word count of 11,877 LMAO god my long-winded ass

Works-in-progress:

5 serious ones, but only 2 are new from this year :/

i got tired of looking at love is not over (my bangtan hyyh zombie apocalypse au) so i started posting it but jokes on me because it killed all motivation to keep working on it. also it was mainly an intensely personal project that i was writing for intensely personal reasons and now... i don't know... if i'm in the same place anymore. also, my edgy 2016 self writing character death into this means that now... i have to commit to it... hmm! Not Sure About That Anymore!

[redacted] a super indulgent and embarrassing project that i hope to continue literally only for this one person who keeps rereading and commenting on EVERY CHAPTER with the NICEST comments ever, i swear i will continue it just for you T____T it was super fun to write earlier this year because it's basically a writing exercise in which i try to take "show don't tell" to the extreme. so i wrote part 1, in which many things are shown and set up and few things are revealed, and part 3 is going to be a lot of fun because Everything Is Revealed, but i'm on part 2 which is the. hard part. great job!

we could make this place beautiful: lmao my obscure jdrama lesbian magnum opus that i actually hope to finish very soon because i left it with literally 1.5 scenes left to write like i ALWAYS DO. they're not even the hard scenes! what goes on!!

my hq!! superhero au that i picked up again from. 2015. uhh? it's already 10k+ but i'm only 60% through :/

the... tmfu hell wip... that i promised i would finish this year... lmaoooo. someday i will finish this out of spite at my own self but for now it's, like, 80% complete and rotting. shrugs

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?
wayyy more. i thought i'd take a break from writing fic or something to focus more on original stuff, and i kind of did this spring/summer, but then i fell back off and onto the fic train again. save that heart for me literally consumed my entire autumn. whoops! but also: it be like that sometimes.

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

honestly everything has been very predictable even in terms of new fandoms that i got into (tpp? hohh? yeah of course i would write for them), but i would probably say... loona. like, i could not have predicted that even in september. thanks yuletide for my life

What's your own favorite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest?
oh it has to be save that heart for me. sorry. it's like, mine. idk even what else to say! i do also look back on the realm of quietly growing things very fondly, though. rereading it is so funny like yea that's the over-the-top shit i committed to with every fiber of my being! and what about it! i'm also weirdly fond of my tpp fics but that might just because i love juno/peter so much?? like??? is this what it's like to have an OTP? in this year of 2018? shit i mean 2019? damn.

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

hmmm wrote longfic, like really long fic (by my standards.... @ ppl who churn out anything over 50k HOW DO YOU DO IT)

started posting multi-chapter works, realized that i REALLY have to finish writing the whole thing first if i wanna do that or else i'll lose motivation, so i did that with save that heart for me!

not so much a risk but just something different: i delved way into, like... fantasy elements this year? by which i mean 7 out of 10 of my completed fics have something to do with magic or the supernatural?? that's... wild but also extremely representative of my usual interests re: fiction in general so go off i guess

if you were also looking for me is a story that is super different in tone for me (mainly lighthearted humour? which i GUESS i kind of started out with in gsnk but it's different imo, for gsnk the humour always seemed incidental to me when i was writing it, whereas this was legit like... writing a romcom) and i don't know if i pulled it off all the way through!! i mean it's too recent for me to really look at it objectively but when rereading i can definitely tell spots where the style doesn't quite match up/mesh well

Your most popular story of this year:

probably if you were also looking for me—i was pleasantly shocked by the immediate reception (waking up to kudos email the next morning was a TRIP) and i'm glad it was able to bring a smile to ppl's faces T___T

Most fun story to write:
the realm of quietly growing things... rip triple h but god their concepts really did get me going every time. i always banged out triple h fics so fast because all the pieces were already there... they definitely spoiled me so much... it was all for this was also really fun because i've always loved the windy day mv and everything fell into place so easily. also, that balance of vague eerie wrongness vs. tenderness probably comes the closest to my actual original stuff in terms of style out of all the fic i've ever written! honourable mention to if you were also looking for me; i was really out of my element because writing humour isn't one of my strong suits but god, it was a hell of a lot of fun. and okay, i honestly did write the bulk of we can be heroes last year, and it feels like 10 years ago now, but getting to combine my new kids from the power rangers movie with my childhood love of pjo was pretty much a fever dream

Story of yours most under-appreciated by the universe, in your opinion:

i honestly can't say! even for small fandoms—especially for small fandoms—i think the reception has been great. shoutout especially to the penumbra podcast, which was by far my favourite fandom to write for this year. it's such a small fandom but the reception is incredible; everyone is so genuine and welcoming T___T all that said, i feel like i should mention save that heart for me here—not because it's necessarily underappreciated, but because it was probably one of my least "successful" works of the year, but also i completely understand why. i wrote it entirely for myself and i already feel very lucky that some readers were able to enjoy and connect with it.

Story with the single sexiest moment:

i think we've already established that I Don't Do That... but also juno/peter brought me the closest to Real OTP Romance Hours, more than anything else this year imo, and everything i wrote was coloured with that intensity, especially the word i can't quite conjure, specifically the bar scene. i wrote a one night stand (even if it faded to black)!! i've never done that before!! amazing. OH MAN i also forgot the realm of quietly growing things when hwitaek's watching hyuna and hyojong kissing in the tub sdglhsdghlsdgh why are they always kissing in the tub i had that exact damn scene in last year's 365 fresh fic wtf!! anyway. the hottest moment in save that heart for me is definitely when seokjin turns the assassin's arrow into a rose sorry i don't make the rules. also in the notes i literally wrote "wow not to be edgy but it would be v hot if his hand was forever burned black... just a thought :)" so take from that what you will!

Story that shifted your own perception of the characters:

definitely the power rangers ones! i think i mentioned this last year as well but man is that gang deceptively hard to write (also i just majorly overthink them, probably). i think kimberly was most solidified for me, through writing her in zack's eyes lmao... but yeah, we can be heroes is basically just an exercise of me trying to figure out trini and billy's deals, respectively.

Hardest story to write:
again the power rangers ones! both took me way longer than they should have!! shoutout also to hoseok POV in love is not over, which actually, if i were writing now, i think would go very differently. save that heart for me was definitely the biggest challenge but it didn't feel very difficult? it definitely felt the most like work—i would literally go out to the library or coffee shops to just work on it over the course of an afternoon, which i can't say i've done for any other fic (aside from yuletide assignments), and those sessions always drained me so much—but that was also because i... knew i could get it done? and i wanted to get it done? because it's like... the most important story to myself that i've ever written? okay anyway

Biggest disappointment:
prob falling off love is not over in a big way :/ sorry to anyone who was interested in the story. i don't think i've given up on it for good though? i'll probably complete it sometime. i just don't know when that will be
Biggest surprise:
i think just how well-received a readiness of things was! i ALWAYS conceptualized it as my personal indulgent pet project and didn't think many people would read it at all so it was a huge shock to receive so many really nice comments, people even messaged me directly to let me know that they really appreciated zack fic and that it really resonated with them, which floored me, and also made me incredibly grateful. idk if i've ever had that kind of immediate personal engagement/response for a fic before.

Most unintentionally telling story:

lmfaooo okay im not even gonna pretend save that heart for me isnt what it is. and oh god *staring at love is not over* okay... anyway. the penumbra podcast ones tell a lot! mainly that *clenches fist* I Believe In Romance! i literally named the cleverness and the joy of seeing you again after a line that i woke up thinking of, in my brain, from a dream i can't remember. like. okay. as for aftermagic, well. it's an idealized story about a chinese-american daughter and her mother. take from that what you will.

Favorite opening line(s):

Somebody’s been stealing the flowers from Hyojong’s garden.

—the realm of quietly growing things (triple h)
Favorite closing line(s):

The sweetness of surrender. The old legends releasing him from their weight, returning him to flesh and blood. To a name.

“It’s started to rain,” Peter says, and reaches out to catch it in his hand.

—the cleverness and the joy of seeing you again (the penumbra podcast)... most romanticized thing i've ever written probably

Favorite 5 line(s) from anywhere:

Outside, the day was breaking with the light of sunrise, as had been promised. A last surge of tenderness entered Yooa, then. Surely she could spare a final affection. Gratefulness, for everything; and a promise of her own. That they would see each other again.

She reached out, took Mimi’s hand.

Catch me, Yooa thought, and closed her eyes.

—it was all for this (oh my girl)

School—the final year dragging like a chain, unbearably long, and longer still. Popularity a second skin on her, shiny like a bubble, one getting ready to pop. Are you gonna be at the Halloween party, someone shouts after her; hey, where’s your costume, sexy, where are you going? Hyuna sweeps past them all. Wonders, distant like an itch on the back of her neck, when all of it had meant she had become an open door, one anyone could enter.

—the realm of quietly growing things (triple h)

He does know them, he thinks. The way Kimberly looks in battle, Trini’s laugh rare as gold. Billy, blue.

“You’re late,” Jason says. The bruise on his jaw is beginning to heal.

—a readiness of things (power rangers)

In his time, Peter thinks perhaps he has overestimated the weight of a word. Never, he swore as a child, remaking himself shiny and new; never will I be so mistaken again; never will I live for someone else’s story again; never will I ever let anything touch me again. Never never never. But life has a funny way of outlasting all one’s vows, until it turns the last of your conviction into ruins. Like this one. Red sand under his boots; a corner of the universe he thought he’d never set foot in again. Never never never.

Never mind—life marches on, and Peter one step ahead of it always, neck held high above the line of rising water.

—the cleverness and the joy of seeing you again (the penumbra podcast)

A flash of memory sliding into his mind—an old cartoon, a mighty beast to be slayed, brought down to its knees. This city doesn't work like that; keeps getting back up again. It’s early days yet on the force, but Juno can already see the rest of it line up into place before him, like coins lighting up a slot machine. A future half-imagined as a child—exciting, perhaps; certainly meaningful. Guns shooting lasers, aim always landing true, cuts made quick and clean. The old adage, or commercial jingle, Juno can’t quite remember which: the good guy always wins—

—the word i can't quite conjure (the penumbra podcast)... *clenches fist* i love. juno goddammit

indulgent section i've added: favourite parts from save that heart for me

sorry but it WAS like almost 40k and i DID lose my mind multiple times while writing it so i think i should be able to reflect!

“Seokjin,” Namjoon shouts over the wild frenzy of the curtains in the wind, his glasses askew upon his face, straining at the vines that have sprouted from the floorboards to keep him in place. Morning glories. “This isn’t what you wanted. Not like this.”

For a moment, Seokjin’s face softens, and Jimin holds his breath.

“After all this time, you still don’t know anything about what I want,” Seokjin says, almost sadly, and he plucks the heart out from the hearth.

The house is empty, the field deserted. A figure stands in the grass, casting a lone shadow across the garden, sharp and still. The grass is tall, unkempt; the sunflowers a wild tangle of yellow, long overgrown, now strangling each other in what little space they have left. Their faces big as giants.

Little brother, he says, quietly; he does not call. He knows there is no one left to answer.

Though the lateness of the hour, the streets beneath them are alive with sound and movement, crowds and cars navigating around each other in the wash of red traffic lights. He peeks out from Taehyung’s feathers, down at the city, this world he’d left behind. Office buildings and apartments rising around them, windows lit with people hard at work, or eating meals, or reuniting with their loved ones. From above, Jimin watches the buskers on street corners and the jaywalkers and the trees strung with light, and wonders—what had it been, that he was once so frightened of facing?

“Oh,” Jimin says, into the hollow of Taehyung’s throat, “it’s beautiful...”

So much about Seokjin has been a storm, all-consuming and unpredictable, lashing out in the wildest of ways. Yet in the eye of that storm Jimin can envision a box locked safely away, out of reach, the heart of all that cold and concealment.

All this time, the magic was almost a misdirection. Inside, beneath—that was where the real magic lay: the way he whispered a truth into Jimin’s ear, a truth he had seen in him at a single glance. A hidden house full of sunflowers. All the lives he has saved, by now.

Inside the box isn’t rage. It isn’t even fear.

“Seokjin,” Jimin says, in amazement. “You’re in love.”

“Ah.” Hoseok straightens up, imperceptibly. “That’s it, then? You think you’ve made yourself the villain of the story.” He shakes his head, then, and smiles. “If that was all you needed, then have it. I forgive you.”

Seokjin stares at him, dumbfounded.

“You should have turned me into a scarecrow,” Hoseok agrees, “or a speck of dust, or a squealing pig. You should have just asked me, if you wanted to know. But you fell in love, instead, a long time ago, and for all these things, I forgive you.”

Top scenes from anywhere you would choose to have illustrated:

save that heart for me: rooftop, returning his heart! or else taehyung catching the falling star! or else jimin falling through time and space, with the sunflowers of the past below! ok we get it

i was gonna say something from love is not over but then i could honestly just watch the run mv instead LMFAOOOO

ooh the realm of quietly growing things... mb the three of them in the greenhouse, or else the memory of the hallway scene T__T that scene of recollection is so short but it's honestly one of my favourite things i've written this year

Fic-writing goals for next year:

finish your WIPs for the love of god... actually i think that is very doable, mainly because i've whittled down the number of them that i realistically want to finish. i actually feel pretty good about this year, writing-wise—i think i've cleared out a lot of... what i needed to get out? this year, if that makes any sense. it feels kind of like i'm going into a new year clean and fresh which isn't actually true because i have like 5 wips from years ago but... then again... i can't remember the last time i only had 5 wips lmao! i feel i can thank yuletide for this, juggling a bunch of wips on a deadline and then getting them all out by the new year always feels like cleaning a slate. so yeah, i think i'll just lie low, stick with these few stories i've got left.......... as long as some fandom i can't predict doesn't come out of left field and smack me in the face anytime soon... only time will tell

that's it for the year, so to anyone who's reading this, and anyone who has ever kudosed or commented or even clicked any of my fic—thank you! ♡ you've honestly made my year