#spn summergen 2022

[sakarrie-creates]

2022 Fic Round-Up/Reflection

Am I over a month late? Yes. Is that going to stop me? Nnnnnnope.

Another year gone and another end of year summary! Yeash, it’s been a rough creative year haha. I’ve practically done nothing but school and work, which has certainly been problematic for writing. It’s been a productive adulting year though, so hopefully this dead period will help me find more opportunities down the line. My gosh I’m ready to be done with school already.

Since I’ve really not written much this year, this will be an abridged version of my reflection from last year’s template. That being said, I’m still very rambly so you can see the details below the cut!

2022 Stats:

Fics Started: 11 Fics Fully Written: 3 Fics Posted: 2 New WIPs: 7 Total WIPs: 20 (ish?) Words Written: 25,950 (33,176 if including documents of pure brainstorm ramble lol) Words Posted: 9,541 Fandoms Written For: 2 Events: 2 (+1)

Posted Fics

Carmen Sandiego (Gen): 1

So Long As You're With Me (7,804): It's been several months since Team Red rescued Player from the clutches of VILE and snapped him out of their control... mostly. His base personality is back, but he still doesn't remember them from anything other than the false memories VILE created for him. And it's just their luck that VILE painted Carmen and company in such a way that Player thinks that their attempts to help him is all some elaborate form for torture, and it doesn't help that he's currently recovering from an injury she caused. Carmen is near her wit's end, but she refuses to give up on her oldest and best friend.

Supernatural (Gen): 1

Still the Same (1,737): After a hunt, Sam and Dean watch the stars for the first time since Dean came back from Hell. Things are finally starting to fall back into place between them, but it's impossible to ignore the ways things have changed. 

Specifics:

Events Participated In:

SPN Summergen, Player Appreciation Week (Fic and Art), Code Secret Santa (Art), Miraculous Magic Zine (Revamp Fic), and Fandom Trumps Hate (Offered Art/Fic).

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?

Oof, hard to answer. Definitely less than I’d hoped and maybe still a fair bit less than I expected, but I did know that my life was about to get swallowed by school and I wasn’t wrong. I definitely wish I had been able to participate in more events for sure and I’ve had a lot of inspiration for all sorts of stuff that I just haven’t had the brain power for unfortunately. What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted last year?

I mean, looking at posting, I only have two options lol. In general though, I stuck fairly close to my norm for all that. I poked around time travel AUs which was fun but most of that was brainstorming/animatic storyboarding rather than writing.

What’s your favorite story this year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you the happiest.

Definitely So Long As You're With Me! That AU lives in my head rent free and boy howdy I’d love to share it all one day but there’s just so much to it. I swear, the pieces I have shared are hardly recognisable as the same story haha. Anyway, it’s definitely a little rushed at some points, but it was a very crammed piece that just kept getting longer, so I’ll take it!

Okay, NOW your most popular story.

Since I’ve only posted two new works this year, we’re going to go overall. Which would definitely still be Fragmentation. It’s got 20.3k views!! That’s only 400 less than it’s total word count and it seems like the hit count keeps going up slowly, which is wild to consider it’s on FF.net in a faded fandom and has been complete for like a year. Next up would be The Problem With Good Intentions at 11k, which also blows me away a bit cause Merlin ended a decade ago but I’m proud of the fandom for staying alive! XD

Story most underappreciated by the universe?

Probably still A Letter to Never Be Read on FF.net. It’s a pretty niche fic, so I can’t really be surprised but I felt artsy writing it way back when lol.

Most overdue story?

Welp, It’s Only Natural is certainly overdue, but I don’t think anyone is really following that one so it’s not in a rush. A Long Ways Home on the other hand drives me crazy cause I’ve actually been wanting to write for it, but brainpower’s been too low from school. Can’t believe it’s been a year. :’(

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

Tbh, not really? I pushed myself in what I did, but it was all relatively in my comfort zone. I guess I tried writing in S4 of Supernatural in Still the Same, but that doesn’t feel much like a risk. I also tried out some writing from screenshot prompts which was super fun and interesting, but unfortunately that was sniped by lack of time/energy too. So I guess not really this year.

How’d this year compare to your goals of last year?

Oh boy, I’m so intimidated to read these paragraphs haha. I bet I did like none of them. We’ll start with the bullet list though since that should be fairly straightforward. -Unfortunately, prioritizing school is honestly my biggest writing goal this year. So if I do that all successfully and get through any more than like, 1-2 of these, it will be a success haha. 

-A Long Ways Home (Gonna break it up into Chapter 3, Chapter 4, and if that’s not the epilogue, then an epilogue. I’m determined and really think it’s doable, I just need to be careful not to overestimate again) WIP Bang if not done by Summer. -SPN Summergen -PAB if enough interest -February week event -Loyalties AU Plotting/Drafting -SQZ Zines -Comments

If crazy inspired year: -Gencest Bang -WIP Bang with It’s Only Natural -Post More CS One-shots -Other Zines

Okay, so some of those crossings are a little generous, but I wanted to at least check off the school one haha. Tbh, though, it wasn’t as bad as I expected! I did a decent job of having low expectations lol.

What are your fic writing goals for next year?

Oh boy. See I wish that this last year being so sad would mean this year would be back to creative rush, but I’m already a month in and I haven’t even tried writing anything other than school papers. I’ve been getting surprisingly into Huntlow (omg, Sakarrie having a romantic ship that she’s like legit into????? whacK), so it’d be fun to experiment with some fic there! Willow needs more angst fic to balance out our traumatized golden boi. Trying to find some zines would also be fun! And I’ll be sad if I ever have to miss Summergen cause it’s 100% my favorite event of the year. Oh, and of course I’m hoping to be able to participate more in Player Appreciation Week this coming month!! Shameless plug.

I’d also like to make some progress on A Long Ways Home, so hopefully in my Summer break I’ll finally have a chance to sit down and write. I’m not going to be dumb enough to put time frame estimations on it again though haha. I also am not a huge fan of having WIPs just sitting out there so if I could knock off It’s Only Natural sometime, that’d be great, but it’s honestly not a priority and I haven’t been feeling Voltron for a bit.

As for other plans, Loyalties AU and EverYOnE is bROkeN AU both haunt me at night and then there’s the time travel au that just has my brain zooming whenever I think about it. They just all get so intense and I WANT to share that intensity cause I know they could be epic, but first I gotta finalize the details, then I gotta have the skills to pull it off, then I gotta actually write sooooooooooooo we’ll see where those get me.

Okay so comments. Bah that project is such a mindset monster haha. I want to be supportive and express thanks to those who write and comment, but also the more pressure I put on it, the harder it gets. I feel like it makes reading new fics very intimidating and makes leaving chill comments harder. I think it would be nice to get through, but I think my goal for this year is to let my 1000 tabs go and just comment/respond in the moment whenever I can and not overthink it. I do want to catch up on replies though so that can be my comment goal for this year. In terms of my numbers, though, I did meet my generous goal of 20k written and 10k posted this year! (Rounding a little but close enough.) And I met my ultimate wc goal if brainstorming essays count!

Bullet list time!

2023:

-Unfortunately, keeping my scholarship has to be my biggest goal this year again so gonna put that here in case it's the only thing I can check off come December. -A Long Ways Home (at least 1 new chapter) -SPN Summergen -At least 3/7 Player Appreciation Week days -Catch up on comment replies -At least do some more brainstorming for bigger CS aus -Huntlow/Owl House fics? -One zine?

If crazy inspired year: -All of A Long Ways Home -All Player Appreciation Week Days -WIP Bang with It’s Only Natural -Post More CS One-shots -Write out more big AU scenes -Other Zines

So with that, I’m gonna set my word count bar pretty low again haha. In fact, I think I’ll just leave it as it was last year.

Easy Goal Word Count Goal: 20k (at least 10k posted)

Stretch Goal (aka, if I don’t die from school): 40k (at least 25k posted)

Ultimate 2023 Word Count Goal: 30k

[spneveryseason]

Run Boy Run

Summary: Dean and Sam have been on the run since they were kids, for as long as they can remember. They don't know why, only that their dad's last words to them were that they have to keep running.

Sam first sees her at the library.

It felt like something out of a movie. He’d been carrying his very heavy toolkit, awkwardly placed, and needed a minute to reorient himself to leave. So, he stumbled to the nearest table and deposited his things on it, making to pick it up. He looked up, only to meet the gorgeous blue eyes of the woman who had also looked up at that exact moment.

The blue eyes crinkle at the corners as she smiles. “Hi,” She says, looking over at his kit. “Do you need any help?”

Sam looks down at the kit, then quickly back at her. “Nah,” He says, feeling his face start to heat up.

She notices, though. “I’m Jess, by the way,” She says, putting her book back on the table. “I’m a freshman. Psych major. You wouldn’t know it, though, from these-” she points to her book: Demonology. “I’m taking an English class this semester.”

“Sam,” He replies, feeling his face redden further. “And, uh, I’m not a student. I just work here.”

“Oh!” Jess says, surprising spreading on her face. “You look young, though.”

“I am,” Sam says, heart beating faster. “I’m eighteen. But, you know. Gotta work.”

The few seconds silence feels like torture. “Makes sense,” Jess finally says. “This place is expensive as hell.”

Sam feels a weight vanish from his chest. “You’re telling me,” He says.

“I am, actually,” She says, gesturing in front of her. “Wanna sit here and let me tell you more?”

Sam really should get going. He has to be here early tomorrow, and Dean’s worry if he’s late.

“Yeah,” He says, plopping down in front of her.

-

Dean notices right away, of course.

The minute Sam opens the door to the motel, stumbling forward with his kit in his arms, Dean swoops over to meet him.

“Hey,” He says, grabbing the box in support as Sam’s steps stutter. “Whoa, whattya have in here? Rocks?”

“Funny,” Sam says as they slowly lever the kit down on the floor. “Just, you know. A lot of tools.”

“You’re a lot of tools,” Dean steps back, squinting at him. “Is that why you took so long today? Hell, I got back before you did today.”

To his dismay, Sam feels his face start to heat up. “Shut up,” He snaps. “It was just the usual. You know.”

Dean’s stare turns piercing. “Oh yeah?”

Sam feels his flush deepen. “Yeah.”

Dean holds his gaze, and a slow smile spreads across his face. “Hey, Sammy,” He says. “Did you, uh, meet someone interesting, maybe? A very good looking someone?”

“Oh my god Dean,” Sam says, covering his face.

“You did!” Dean crows, laughing. “Is that why you’re so late? Did you do some, uh, overtime?”

Sam sighs, giving up. “I just talked to her for a bit,” He says. “She’s a student there. At Stanford.”

Dean’s grin dims noticeably. “You were careful?”

Here we go. “Yes, Dean,” Sam says, deliberate. “No full name, no identifying information.”

“Good,” Dean says, face relaxing. “Have fun, Do whatever. Just…just lay low, okay? And remember-”

“Don’t get attached,” Sam sighs. “I know.”

-

“Dad, we’re home!” Sammy yells, practically skipping through the front door of the house.

“He probably isn’t back yet, dipshit,” Dean responds, coming in after him at a much more sedate pace. “Anyway, even if he is home he’s probably sleeping, so. Good job there, Loudest Kid in Kansas.”

“Dad!” Sammy yells again, tossing his backpack near the front door. “Dean called me a dipshit!”

Dean places his bag next to Sammy’s and kicks off his sneakers. “You know,” He says. “Eight is too old to tattle like that.”

Sammy doesn’t listen. “Dad!” He insists, barreling forward, making his way towards the open door of his dad’s bedroom. “Did you hear-”

He steps inside, cutting himself off. “Huh,” He says, looking around. “Dad’s not here.”

“Told you!” Dean yells at him from the distance.

“But his door’s open!” Sammy yells back. “If his door’s open it means he’s here!”

He hears Dean yell something back, but before he can take in the words he feels something drip on top of his head. “Ew!” Sammy squeals, feeling his hair, and looking up to see-

His father. On the ceiling. And his stomach…

His stomach…

Sammy screams, loud and high pitched and sustained, and feels more than sees Dean rush into the room after him.

His eyes are fixed on his Dad’s face, on his mouth, which is moving now, opening in a croak, and Sammy’s sweating, it’s getting hot in here, why is it getting hot?

Their dad breathes out a wheeze, then finally speaks. “Run,” He croaks, orange spreading out behind him. “Don’t look back.”

-

He keeps seeing Jess.

It starts out as coincidental-she loves studying at the library that seems to be constantly falling apart-and grows to become something a bit more intentional.

“You’re here almost as much as I am,” She tells him once, two weeks in. “I think you should class credits for that alone.”

Sam laughs. “You wouldn’t believe the amount of repairs I’ve had to do in here,” He says. “How you guys are leaving here alive is beyond me.”

“Speaking of,” Jess says, sliding a book (Witches in Early America) towards him. “Help me out? I need to take notes again.”

Sam glances at his watch, then sits down. “I think you only hang out with me for my note taking skills,” He says, dragging the book towards him.

“You caught me,” Jess chuckles, resting a hand on her chin. “For real, though, you’re amazing at this. Ever thought of going for academia for real?”

Sam looks at the book, blinking the words into clarity. “Sometimes,” He says.

-

“Let’s think about heading out,” Dean says.

Sam drops his piece of pizza back onto his plate. “What?”

“Yeah,” Dean says, leaning back on his chair. “It’s been, what, like a month and a half? We need to keep moving.”

“Do we?” Sam asks his pizza.

There’s a pointed silence.

“You know we do,” Dean says. “Dad told us to-”

“I know what Dad told us,” Sam interrupts, lifting his head to look at Dean. “I was there. But, Dean. It’s been ten years. And nothing.”

“Yeah,” Dean says, brows furrowed. “Because we don’t stay anywhere longer than a couple months, Sam. We’ve seen nothing because we don’t let anything catch us.”

Sam shakes his head. “For how long?” He asks. “How long are we supposed to-”

“Where’s this coming from, huh?” Dean interrupts, crossing his arms. “You know the deal. You’ve always known the deal. And, as you reminded me just now, you know why. You saw everything.”

“I was eight,” Sam says, feeling…something, boiling within his chest. “I don’t know what I saw.”

Dean suddenly slams his hands back on the table. “Don’t do that!” He yells. “You know what you saw! You know there’s danger out there that we don’t understand. We have to be safe, you hear me? I have to keep you safe!”

Sam pushes himself to his feet. “What’s safe gotten us?” He yells back. “Constant running? Always broke? Living out of motels? Taking whatever odd jobs we can find for shit pay? What kind of life did safe give us? I want to go to school, to college! I don’t want safe, I want normal!”

Dean breaths out once. Twice. “I know,” He says, leaning on the table, hanging his head. “I know it’s been hard. I’ve tried my best here.”

Sam feels guilt start to blossom. “I know,” He says. “But, Dean. You were twelve.”

Dean looks back up at him. “And I’m twenty two now,” He says. “And…we gotta do what we gotta do to survive, okay? Because…because there’s nothing else we can do.”

“We don’t know that,” Sam says quietly. “We don’t know-I know what I thought I saw, back then. But…I don’t know. It could’ve been trauma, you know? How do you know that my kid mind didn’t make it all up? After seeing Dad…however he was then?”

Something passes over Dean’s face. “You didn’t,” He says. “Just…just trust me. And get ready, okay? Get ready to leave soon, even that girl that’s been giving you ideas.”

“She hasn’t-”

“It happens,” Dean interrupts. “You gotta learn how to let them go, kiddo. For everyone’s sake.”

-

They stand outside the burning house together.

Sammy clutches onto Dean’s arm. He thinks he’s crying, but he can’t really tell. He can’t really tell anything.

“What happened, Sammy?” Dean asks, staring blankly into the fire. “What did you see?”

Sammy just stares, feeling the heat hit his face.

Dean whirls around in front of him, kneeling down and gripping his shoulders. “What did you see?”

“Dad,” Sammy stutters, “Dad on…on the ceiling. And….and…”

Dean’s grip tightens. “Okay,” He says, standing back up. “Okay. We need to get out of here, okay? We need to run.”

Sammy flinches at the words. “He said that,” He says. “Before he..he said to run. And not to look back.”

Dean’s breath stutters in his chest. He grabs Sammy’s hand. “Let’s go,” He says, to the sounds of sirens in the background.

-

“I think we’re leaving soon,” Sam tells her.

She sets her book (Mythologies of 17th century Europe) down, face serious. “Why?”

Sam shrugs. “Job’s finished,” He says, mouth dry. “Time to move on.”

Jess frowns. “Do you want to?” She asks.

Sam blinks furiously. “More than anything, no.” He says.

“Okay,” Jess says, getting up and moving to sit in the seat next to him. “Okay. So. Let’s make a plan, okay? For what to do next.”

She leans over, grabs his hand. “Okay,” He says, curling his fingers around her own. “Like what?”

“You should apply,” Jess says. “Not here, necessarily. But. It’s an option. We’ll do some research and see where you can go to college.”

Sam chokes out a laugh. “I don’t even have my high school diploma,” He says, ducking his head.

He feels Jess’ grip on his hand tighten. “It’s doesn’t matter,” She says. “We’ll get you through this.”

He looks up again to Jess, hovering right in front of his face. He only has the capacity to nod before she closes in, pressing her lips to his.

-

Sam stumbles back home, breathing hard.

His thoughts are a jumble in his head. He wants to get out, he wants to be free so bad but..

Dean. How can he leave Dean alone? Dean, perpetually afraid that something is after them?

There’s also the ever present undercurrent of fear that something is out there, but…

He needs to ignore that. He needs to relearn.

He turns onto the road that takes him to the motel, deep in thought. He notices the early winter air turning chilly, and tucks his jacket closer around his body.

Sam looks back up, almost tripping over his own feet. There, on the street corner near the motel, is a garishly dressed figure, with white and red face paint and a manic grin.

A clown of all things. Fucking fantastic.

Sam keeps an eye on it wearily, staying as far away as he possibly can. Halloween had just passed so maybe this was someone going to a related party or something, but…

That’s when he notices the quiet. There’s nobody else around, and all sound seems to have just…stopped. Not even the wind seems to be blowing.

Sam feels goosebumps start to rise on his skin, and jogs into a fast walk.

As he passes the figure, it turns his head to follow him, eyes locked onto him. “Oh,” It lisps, nearly causing Sam to trip over his own feet. “Oh. You don’t know, do you?”

Sam can’t help it. He starts running.

“You will,” He hears at his back, growing fainter with distance. “You will.”

Shaking, he reaches the motel room and fumbles the keys into the lock, throwing open the door in record time. Dean can’t know, He thinks, stumbling back into the motel room. About anything.

-

Sam arrives at the library just after the door unlock to the general public.

He glances down at his cell phone, double checks the text (I’ll be here super early today, come on by ;)) before slowly pushing the door open and walking through.

Jess usually doesn’t tell him to come by early, so Sam is hopeful she called him by to talk over some plans or something. Or, well…

Without meaning to, he lifts up his hand a touches a finger to his lips. Maybe…maybe.

He makes his way over to their usual table, hope fluttering in his chest. He can already see that she isn’t there, but her setup is: a closed book, a notebook, and two pens. So, he isn’t worried. She’ll show up soon enough.

He levers himself onto his seat across from her, then mindlessly reaches out to move the book towards him. Maybe I can help her with some of this, he thinks, flipping it around to read the title. It looks familiar, it’s-

Something drips on his head.

-

Later, Dean shows up.

Sam is still standing there in the cold morning air, staring at the smoke still billowing out of the library door, surrounded by the screams of fire engines. He barely even notices Dean come up to him, place a worried hand on his shoulder. “Sam?”

Sam looks up at him, the fire’s heat suffusing his face.

“What happened, Sam?” Dean says, the look in his eyes revealing that he fears the answer. “What-”

“She’s gone,” Sam says dully. “Jess. She’s gone. Like dad.”

Dean’s face goes white. “Shit, Sammy,” He breathes, tugging on his arm. “I’m so so-okay. Okay. We gotta go, okay? We gotta run.”

Sam shakes his head, staring down at the book in his arms. The one he snagged from Jess’s side of the table, the one that he didn’t find time to let go of. The one he saw Jess reading the first day they met.

“No,” He says, gripping the book tighter. “No more running, Dean. No more secrets. There’s something you’re not telling me, isn’t there? About all this?”

He hears Dean stutter on a breath. “Sammy,” He says, exhausted. “There’s something you should know. About mom.”

Sam gives a short, sharp, nod. “Okay,” He says, extending the book to Dean: Demonology. “We have work to do.”

For summergen: ao3 link

[themegalosaurus]

Hell’s Bridge, Michigan pre-seasons SPN genfic | 9,300 words | rated T warnings: canon-typical violence, ghosts, themes around possession summary: Every small town in America had some kind of ghost, or ghost story. People had died everywhere, in gruesome ways even. It didn’t mean that anything would happen.

author’s note: Summergen is my favourite SPN event and I was very glad to participate for what I think is the 8th time now, writing to a very cool set of prompts from finchandsparrow! If you like a pre-seasons teenchesters casefic, I hope you’ll like this.

Read on AO3