Thanks to ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seraphikiss for reminding me about ficwip's 2025 in review [Bluesky] by posting theirs!
I answered some of the questions over at Bluesky, but I thought of cross-posting here with a bit more elaboration since I'm no longer constrained by character limits. I'm not answering all of the questions since some of them don't really apply or have terribly uninteresting answers.
Hoping to see others do these as well; I'm interested to hear your fic writing highlights for 2025 đź’ž
Including WIPs, how many fics have you worked on since January 1st? Original fiction counts too!
16 fics!! I've published 10, have 1 pending for an event (Blue Lions Big Bang), and the rest are in varying states of "in progress/dropped". Lol.
I said 15 when I first answered this on Bluesky, but I miscounted. Even now, I probably miscounted the WIPs I've done, since they're all scattered between Google Docs, Ellipsus, and Notion. If the plot bunny strikes again before New Year, this number will probably also change.
What piece of media inspired you the most this year?
Fire Emblem: Three Houses; it makes up the largest chunk of fics I've done in my AO3, and it also inspired me to draw fanart again. Drawing fanart and writing fanfics were two things I stopped doing once I graduated college and started working. I thought I've given up on it, but here we are!
How many fandoms did you write for this year?
2 fandoms: Fire Emblem: Three Houses, and My Hero Academia, straggling behind on the last month of the year (lol).
Honestly, it's rare for me to deeply get into many things at the same time, so I've never written for more than 2 fandoms in a year. This much after a long creative slump is already amazing to me.
What ship(s) captured your heart this year?
Sylvix, Marihilda, Casphardt/Cashehardt for FE3H; Bakudeku, Todobakudeku, and Kamijirou for MHA
I've written fics (combination of WIPs and published) for all of them except Todobakudeku, but I'll get there...!
What character(s) captured your heart this year?
Damn you, Felix Hugo Fraldarius! /j I never thought it would be him, of all characters, especially when I personally identify with Sylvain more, but whenever I write fics where he's one of the main characters, I find myself defaulting to his POV more.
Other characters are Linhardt von Hevring, and Marianne von Edmund from Three Houses, and Bakugo Katsuki from My Hero Academia. The chokehold Bakugo has on me right now cannot be explained. I still think Todoroki's my favorite, but Bakugo... man... what...
Honestly, it doesn't take much for me to like a character. Heck, I'll even defend characters I don't like if I catch people slandering them incorrectly, lol.
What fic was the most satisfying to finish this year?
This one - my 12k idol!Sylvain / college student!Felix fic for #SylvixWeek2025.
When I wrote this, I hadn't written a fic longer than 4k words in a really long time, and I seriously doubted whether I could see this through. I sat on the idea for months, and crammed it during the ship event itself. It's also "satisfying" in a "this-is-very-dumb", self-indulgent way, since it reminded me of when I used to be more into k-pop.
What fic was the most challenging to work on this year?
My Blue Lions Big Bang fic takes the prize for this. I keep on getting stuck in places, and every day I just think, "Why did I do this to myself?" /j
It's thematically difficult + multi-chaptered with a story that actually needs to make sense + the pressure of needing to do well in a bang because it's not just my work anymore—it's a collaborative effort between me and an artist (not to mention my beta reader, of course...)
I keep on procrastinating, and there were a lot of times I just wanted to drop because I've been plagued with low self-esteem and anxiety surrounding my place in the 3H fandom, but... this is also kind of my dream fic, I guess? Based on a fic with a similar, post-apocalyptic theme I read from a different fandom. The more I write it, the more I realize I'm not doing the idea justice, but I'll do what I can anyway because it's too late to stop now, and I don't want to disappoint my artist...
What were your shortest and longest fics of 2025?
Shortest - february the fourteenth // Marihilda, 1k
Longest - don't want to be lonely (just want to be yours) // Sylvix, 11.8k
Share the funniest line(s) you wrote this year.
I have two; this one's from be thankful it's not all plates:
Item #4: A set of ornate plates, from Ashe.
“You can’t have a wedding and not receive plates, I guess.” Sylvain regards it with some amusement, while Felix regards the gift the respect it deserves.
“It’s a practical gift. Useful for our daily lives.” Typical utilitarian Felix. He takes a plate from Sylvain’s hand and sizes it up, complimenting its heft.
“The fancy plates are just kept behind drawers and cupboards in my home. We take them out when we have guests, though it’s not often someone comes so far up north.”
“Then what’s the point of having plates?” Felix grumbles. He thinks some people have strange practices that are hard to understand—not that he even wants to, anyway.
Sylvain just shrugs at him. “You tell me. I gotta say, though… Ashe has good taste. I just hope he didn’t break the bank for these plates. They do look rather expensive.”
“Knowing him, he probably would have. So we must eat on them. To honor his sacrifice.”
“Felix, don’t speak of him like he’s dead.”
And (from my bang fic that's still a wip):
“Myrddin will be heavily guarded.” Dimitri says, matter-of-factly.
“The other bridges are smaller, thus less structurally sound. They would most likely have collapsed by now.” Even if they tried to verify it for themselves, they’d end up wasting time.
“And if even Myrddin has fallen?”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”
“No, Felix—assume there’s no bridge.”
Felix glares at him.
Did you get frustrated with a fic at some point? What happened and how did you get past it?
Oh, for sure. Most of it was my bang fic. I think I had to do some sprints to get the ball rolling again. I was doing them on a Discord server, so I was kind of held accountable, and it just helped me get whatever out there. Eventually, I realized I'm usually not a huge sprint person, but it did help me push through the more frustrating bits in my fic so I can enjoy writing it again.
If you had to choose one, what was THE most satisfying writing moment of your year?
Setting a writing goal for 1 month, sticking to it, and ACTUALLY FINISHING IT before the month ended. (Relevant post)
The goal itself was nothing extraordinary, but I'm so used to abandoning projects or give up on goals halfway through, so I was pleasantly surprised with myself.
Did you create fanworks other than fic? Show one off!
How many fannish events did you take part in this year? Things like bangs, exchanges, ship weeks, zines, prompt memes, etc. They all count!
I forgot to answer this one on Bluesky, but: 6!
- Sylvix Week
- FE Femslash Week
- FE Rarepair Week
- FE Polyamory Week
- #ficwip5k
- Blue Lions Big Bang
If this were an awards show, who would you thank?
They're probably never going to see this, but my friend Rin, who I met off Tumblr. They let me babble about ships which motivates me to write more, plus they also read my fics and leave lovely comments. Of course, I appreciate every single person who reads, comments, and leaves Kudoses (is that how it's pluralized?) on my stuff, but meeting and being friends with Rin is probably my fandom highlight for 2025.
And finally, what would you like to write next year?
- That NSFW Linritza one I have baking
- Casphardt but Okubade-fied
- Bakugo with his dads (maybe a buddy daddies situation lol)
- At least one (1) todobakudeku fic
If I am to be truly honest, I'm falling out of love with 3H because I never truly feel like I belong, but I still do want to write my ideas out one of these days. It'd be a shame if they just rot in my brain, y'know?
What’s left on your to-do list for 2025?
- Finish that Kamijirou thing i was writing... I was cooking but then I got lost in the sauce
- Read some of my mutuals' fics & leave comments!! This is very important.
