#on an unrelated note: i figured out how to integrate ao3 into my archive

[thomine]

2023 WRAPPED

writing edition for thomine. questions that summarise your writing journey for the whole year. source of these prompts were lost.

thanks for accompanying me on this journey! onward to more words written, more stories shared, and more atrocious alliteration)

Your yearly word count!

a whooping 31,327 words! this does not count stories posted on my older blog. au august really did wonders to my stats, haha. this word count is only for published works, not including drafts. au august was about 24k, which is about 70% of my yearly word count, lol.

Fave fic you wrote this year?

there is so many reasons why something can be a person's favourite... and this year it is probably READY, AIM, FIRE (venti)! i really like metaphors and abstract themes, so it was fun trying to string two concepts that are seemingly not related into a story! i absolutely loved the prompt and the undertone it brought to the story. i also really like venti, and i had tons of fun writing a little bit of the fic everyday.

Fave fic you read this year?

THE FIVE WISHES YOU FULFILLED TO ME BEFORE I DIED, by (@)tartagliaxx! i love the emotional maturity of this fic and how it handles the topic of death so gracefully. the last chapter was something i did not expect (in a sense, i was fooled), but it was a very pleasant surprise and i love the spin of it. there are many beautiful metaphors as the author talks about the experiences of handling a dying loved one which i loved. impressed with this author's stamina because i cannot write a fic this long, lol.

Fave ship you wrote for?

tighnari and reader in REACHING OUT. i wrote this piece when i received news that my friend was travelling overseas and he had no intention of returning. but, even if he did, his absence would impact the friend group dynamic's a lot--and it did--which made me... grief a lot. i wrote this as a conversation between myself and an alternative point of view symbolic of tighnari. however, after the whole year, i realised that reader and tighnari sort of morphed into their own relationship. they're cute (in my head).

Fave character POV to write!

ohhh reader in TUG OF NURTURE (baizhu). in this fic, reader is turning into a zombie, so i had to think about how that would feel like. what even is a zombie anyway? it was fun. an honourable mention would be reader in FOOLISH LOGIC (tighnari), as they are a robot. the issue is that writing in the 3 statement = 1 conclusion can be a bit boring if dragged for too long.

Fave line you wrote!

There are a few who rush through the storeroom shouting for their young master, but they cannot find him.

from SEARCH IN VAIN (xingqiu)! in this fic, xingqiu's role as the second son of feiyun and xingqiu is thinly separated. that is the context that, i feel, makes this line cool. they are trying to find their young master, but they cannot find him. he is not there. instead, it is xingqiu.

WIP you finally finished!

not necessarily finished... but i am glad i tried writing every day for the month of august! it was really fun. being able to write for 12 days straight was inspiring, and that prompted me to make SLO'S MONTHLY REPORT, a newsletter where i hope to share 1 work every month.

WIP you've yet to finish!

i know i don’t talk about it much but i would really like to rewrite AND expand on FOR YOUR SAKE (chongyun). when i wrote it, i was plagued by the idea to the point i had to publish what i’ve already written to give myself breathing space. i had an idea for a 2/3 part story then, but i just didn’t have the energy or time (or effort to fork out both) for this wip. maybe next year!

Your most read fic this year!

probably… READY, AIM, FIRE (venti)? i am not someone who looks back regularly, and often times notes aren’t an accurate indicator for viewership, but i uploaded it to ao3 and it seems pretty loved there as well.

Your longest fic this year!

SERIOUS SCHEMES AND SINCERE SINS (thoma). it was a whooping 2.8k fic even though i limited myself to 1.5k words MAX. but it is thoma, so i had to. funnily enough, my longest fic for 2022 was also a thoma fic! haha.

Your shortest fic this year!

THROUGH THICK AND THIN (mika). it sits at around 600 words. i wanted it to be a drabble (100 words only), but i couldn't do it. maybe another time!

Fave fic title you used!

THE DUET OF ONE HEART (alhaitham)! this is a small symbolism to the fic. although alhaitham and reader are enemies, because they are on equal grounds to compete they understand each other so well, and their hearts "become one". i think it's a nice title because duet = two people, but it's a duet of one heart—a heart of two people combined. do you see it? XD

Biggest surprise while writing this year!

probably the launch of the steambird’s discord! we’re still a pretty small community, but it has been a blast discussing things and sharing posts with them. we have a writing event due and i look forward to that! also, it’s nice to have people to do writing sprints with.

Fave comment you received this year!

being told that there is an air of domesticity in my fics! i think it’s really endearing if a fic has that domesticity, because it alludes to authenticity and also just the general vibe of the author and reader being friends, and the author is telling their story openly. i’m glad my stories come across that way! i write to connect with people, so i like that it is easy to reach (domestic being associated with homely, comfortable, etc).

Fave fic author to read this year!

@andromeda-nova-writing !! my friend uploaded so many fics this year, including a whole world for vampire!ayato. really proud of her, and i adore her skills in dialogue that really adds a beautiful flow to the fics she writes.

Total fics/chapters uploaded this year!

from the tags i use on this blog (assuming i've tagged things properly), i have a total of 22 fics on thomine. most of them are from au august. i hope to write even more this year! final boss is nanowrimo.

What are you looking forward to next year?

writing more long fics! over the years, i realise my ideas are growing in maturity. they’re no longer ideas that can simply be confined to just 1-2k one-shots. they need space to build itself and grow, so i would like to write longer fics this year. may my fics average to about 3-4k words 🙏 i would need to build a stamina for that, so let’s work on it slowly!