tei

"Yeah, congratulations," Daniel says. "You tortured me and my dick liked it, and I have to live with that forever. Are you proud?"

"A little," Armand acknowledges.

1. Favorite fic you wrote this year

I’m going to be a bit squirrely about what counts as “this year” in some of these questions, but favourite fic written and posted entirely in 2023: do it and do it again, one of those short brainworms that hit me like a creepy, rapey truck and I hope it does the same to other people.

2. Least favorite fic you wrote this year

I like what I have of death would be a good reason, the AU where Will and Hannibal are preteen girls in competitive gymnastics, but I’ve wavered on either marking it finished or just deleting it, because I’m not sure where to go with it or if I have the time/energy/motivation to go anywhere with it. I have just enough snatches of stuff I’d want to be in there to hold off, but they have not coalesced into something that passes a threshold of excitement about writing it.

3. Favorite line/scene you wrote this year

OK, I’m including Symbasis because I was still editing and posting it in 2023, and because it has the clear winner in the sandal-spanking scene, which is both my personal favourite kink scene I’ve ever written and a scene I find delightful in a JSTOR-to-AO3 Pipeline sense. It’s in chapter 27, if anyone’s looking, though skipping right to there might prove… a little confusing. But really, I’d probably have to answer this one to the question of favourite fic I’ve written ever, so if you’re intruiged enough to read chapter 26, maybe give 1-25 a try first?

4. # of words written this year

Posted word count on AO3 is 146,594, the vast majority of which is Symbasis, but I’ll have to go with that number because trying to figure out how many words I’ve written including the beginning of the novel thing which I’m now on my third iteration of (currently stalled at 15k) sounds exhausting.

5. Most popular fic this year

Symbasis, though that’s really just chaptered-fic hits.

6. Least popular fic this year

A Commonplace Event, which is an extract from a previous iteration of said novel-thing, back when I thought it was going to be epistolary. The tag trifecta of rape, abortion and crucifixion doesn’t seem to be the magic key to AO3 fame!

7. Fandom you enjoyed writing for the most this year

Haha. I mean.

8. Favorite character you wrote this year

Weldjebauend of Siwah! My guy! My very own blorbo! Honestly, by the time I finished writing Symbasis, Wel and Hannibal occupied as much or more of my mind as the guys from the NBC show. Obviously the relationships between the sets of characters are important, but in figuring out how to rewind Hannibal 2300 years ago, Wel was the key to everything– I spent SO long trying to figure out how to give a character a name recognizeably similar to “Will Graham,” and as soon as I found the sounds I needed in Egypt it was immediately obvious that Will would have been a religious leader in the ancient world, and Siwah was the obvious place to situate him for the story. Siwah is probably the #1 place I’d like to visit in the world now, because I feel like I have this close friend who’s from there and I want to get to know him better, even if I never write about him again. (Sometimes I wonder what he’s up to, but I think I established pretty solidly that he’s busy having a nice life in Carthage, and maybe he deserves some privacy after all he’s been through.)

9. Favorite writing song inspiration

I can’t listen to music while I write :(

10. A new kink you wrote by surprise in a fic this year

Unless prompted by some sort of bingo– which I didn’t do this year– my characters tend to be pretty predictable in their kinks. The surprises are probably more of the unsexy variety this year– for instance, I wouldn’t have predicted multiple fics about abortion, but here we are.

11. Something you learned about writing this year

Honestly? That it takes time and available mental real estate and that it’s OK to not have those things, and it’s OK to not write when life demands it. Writing and fanfic are really important and valuable to me. They matter, they made me more myself, life feels more interesting when I’m letting ideas come in and go out. But I also went back to school this year, and am currently a full-time engineering student, and it’s frankly stupid to beat myself up for not writing on a day where I simply didn’t have time. Yes, sure, “I didn’t have time” is a synonym for “it wasn’t a priority”; and it is indeed fine to have other priorities sometimes.

12. Current # of WIPs

Fic things that I’m interested in finishing: - an AU set in the Rakhat universe of Mary Doria Russel’s The Sparrow, which I am either almost done or not nearly done depending on whether I decide it’s a one-shot suggestion of an AU, or a thing that wants to be long and have some sort of plot. - the thing I’m referring to just as “the AA fic”, which I somehow lost most of but I think actually what I lost was going in the wrong direction anyway, so. - Maybe the gymnastics thing. I don’t know. I don’t know!!

13. Most memorable comment or review

I had a few comments this year where readers shared personal connections to the content of the stories– which I don’t want to share publicly, but means a lot to me!

14. Favorite fic you read this year

Probably compromise by bluecarrot, which is short but gets stuck in the mind so easily.

15. Favorite fic author you read this year

Yeah it’s bluecarrot!!!!!

16. Longest fic you wrote this year

Well, if Symbasis is disqualified, apparently there are seven thousand words of death would be a good reason

17. Shortest ifc you wrote this year

Finally, a reason to mention even true, the fic narrating an event that I was weirdly certain was actually going to happen in the final episode of Succession, and then somehow did not??

18. How many fandoms did you write for this year

I guess… three? Hannibal, Succession, and historical RPF.

19. Favourite fandom event your participated in this year

Event free, baby! Nobody can tell me what to write!!!

20. Favorite fandom to read fic from this year

This might, shock you, but…