AO3 Wrapped 2021
Dec. 3rd, 2021 06:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
forestsofpine
Snagged from No need to comment with a number, here on Dreamwidth we have enough space to just answer them all at once! Consider yourself tagged, if you'd like to do the whole thing, or feel free to ask me for a number if you'd rather do just one.
1. Number of fics read
I keep a spreadsheet of my fic reading, so I can tell you exactly, or close enough: as of this post, I finished 784 fics this year, including rereads. I had an exceptionally prolific year, thanks to not one, not two, but THREE new fandoms.
The flipside is that last year I read about 40 fics (before December, when I finished watching The Untamed and more than doubled my total in about 2 weeks) but beat my Goodreads challenge goal easily, and this year I'm approaching 12 million words of fanfic but have read only one (1) actual book. Next year I should see if I can achieve some kind of balance, my TBR stack of physical books is out of control. 😆
2 and 3. One of your favorite fics this year/Another of your favorite fics this year
I'm planning an end-of-the-year round-up of my favorite reads in a couple weeks, where I'll throw far more than two favorites at you (ETA: now posted!), but meanwhile, the fic I read this year that I've probably gushed about the most to the most different people was An Elegant Solution, by
4. Favorite ship to read
By the numbers this year, it's clearly Wangxian (351 fics to date this year), with Wenzhou (69) and Xiyao (47) as distant runners up. It's a little bit surprising, because it's unusual for me to get so into ships that are already canon, and this year all of my top three are canon (I know Xiyao isn't officially confirmed in the book, but I think it's treated as canon as much as Wangxian is in the show), but MDZS especially made me want all the fix-its, and I'm sure that's a major factor! Add in character dynamics I love and even canonical kinks... I probably shouldn't be so surprised.
5. Favorite character POV
I really enjoy a good Lan Wangji POV because he's so laconic and stoic on the outside and just a roiling mass of overwhelming feelings on the inside. Fics that capture that well are just ...
Runner up is Jiang Cheng, because he's such a bitch (affectionate) and therefore hilarious, even if the fic itself is angsty and heartrending.
6. Favorite/memorable line
Oh gosh, this is a hard one, there are lots! One of my favorite passages of the year always makes me laugh, and that's this one from hold your tongue and let me love (Xiyao, 2k, explicit), which has Lan Xichen teasing Jin Guangyao by re-enacting their farewell after the welcome ceremony for the lectures at Cloud Recesses:
“Despite,” Lan Xichen continues, sitting up further, still doing his best approximate of Jin Guangyao’s flirting, “Your insistence, Zewu-jun, that I must stay, an invitation that was a thinly-veiled attempt on your part to take me somewhere, somewhere ideally very -” Jin Guangyao isn’t sure what face he’s pulling, but Lan Xichen breaks off for a second in a peal of laughter, then contains himself again and brings Jin Guangyao’s voice back out, “Very private, I must regretfully decline your offer to do absolutely unspeakable things to me in the name of -” Jin Guangyao hits Lan Xichen in the chest, not with any real intention behind the blow. “In the name of my duty. To the Nie sect, Zewu-jun.”
“I wasn’t their disciple, Er-ge,” Jin Guangyao finds himself protesting, even after all these years: it’s the principle of it. “I couldn’t stay -”
“Instead,” Lan Xichen doesn’t let him finish, “Instead, Zewu-jun, I prefer that you agonise over me for the next few months. I want you to burn with lust. I want you trapped in the cold springs four, no, five times a day because I want you to think of this little one, Zewu-jun. Of my hands, and my mouth, and what I might be doing with your friend, Sect Leader Nie, who after all spoke so highly of you -”
“I wasn’t their disciple, Er-ge,” Jin Guangyao finds himself protesting, even after all these years: it’s the principle of it. “I couldn’t stay -”
“Instead,” Lan Xichen doesn’t let him finish, “Instead, Zewu-jun, I prefer that you agonise over me for the next few months. I want you to burn with lust. I want you trapped in the cold springs four, no, five times a day because I want you to think of this little one, Zewu-jun. Of my hands, and my mouth, and what I might be doing with your friend, Sect Leader Nie, who after all spoke so highly of you -”
Tell me that's not exactly how that conversation went. 😆
7. Fic you still need to finish reading
Hmm, I usually either finish a fic or don't, so there's not many of these, but I was reading the wind of morning (Ye Baiyi/Xie Wang, 85k, explicit) as a WIP and need to catch up on the last couple chapters now that it's done.
6. Favorite in-progress fic
I just shared some of my favorite current WIP subscriptions and man, I'm not sure if I could pick just one. I am enjoying them all! I guess the one I'd be most thrilled to get an update to is Survival Quotient (Stucky, teen), because I'm pretty sure it's been abandoned and every other chapter is DINOSAUR POV, how could I not want more?
9. Fic you've read the most times
I'm not sure which is my MOST reread, because I'm less consistent about recording rereads than new fics, but by-and-large my most reread fics are also my favorite fics, so I'll answer this indirectly in my end-of-the-year roundup in a couple weeks.
10. Longest fic you've read this year
That was An Elegant Solution (NMJ/LWJ/WWX, 205k, explicit), although Better Things To Do With a Flute in Wartime (NMJ/LWJ/WWX, WIP, explicit) is getting close and might pass it by the end of the year. I don't know what it is about that particular OT3 that results in such excellent plotty canon divergence, but I am loving it! The smut is also excellent, but the reason for that is more obvious, lol. ~points at Da-ge's... everything~11. Shortest fic you read this year
A Thousand Steps, 215 word Jin Guangyao character study
12. Favorite fic title
Haha, I'm not enthusiastic about scrolling through 784 rows of spreadsheet to determine a definitive answer for that, but honorable mention to "XXX-TRA WIDE CARGO STUFFS MAJOR SHIPPING LANE --- DELIVERS HUGE PAYLOAD!!" (Ever Given/Suez Canal, 263 words, teen) for existing.
13. Favorite fic tag
Oof, same problem as above - I added something like 35 new pages of bookmarks this year and don't want to scroll through them all looking for standouts. There's lots of good ones out there. I do have to admit I like some of the Tumblr style tags people add. When they're well-chosen, they give a fic some character and are a better indication of whether it's something I'll enjoy than more generic tags.
14. Author you read the most
I don't keep track of authors on my spreadsheet because the more fields I have to fill out, the less likely I am to use it, so I can't answer this definitively, but my guess is
15. Fic that made me cry
I don't cry very often reading fanfic, but The Living Looked That Day (Sizhui-centric, 19k, teen) got me good.
16. Fic that made you laugh
Among Friends (Mei Changsu/Meng Zhi... sort of, 1k, teen) had me FLAILING. Mei Changsu is such a troll and Meng Da-ge is SUCH a terrible liar and the fic gets both of their voices perfectly, plus poor Jingyan trying desperately to be happy for his friends and not blindingly jealous... Perfection in 1200 words.
“Ah,” said Meng, “Prince Jing - ah, your highness - you’re quite mistaken. Sir Su and I are, well, we’re very good friends - well, I mean, we’re moderately good friends, a natural amount of good friends under the circumstances, since we haven’t known each other all that long, really! Isn’t that right, Sir Su?” He turned to Mei Changsu and gave him a desperate grin.
MEI CHANGSU=TROLL ⬆
17. Favorite trope or genre
Plotty canon divergence is one of my favorite genres in general, and even more so than usual in MDZS, Word of Honor, and Nirvana in Fire. Luckily, all three fandoms seem to align with me on this! I have some Wangxian canon divergence recs posted already and I'm sure there'll be more in the future.
18. Fic that needs a special shout out
Shout out to the amazing femslash writers of MDZS fandom. I've always liked femslash, but it tends to be my least-read category on AO3 and this year I read so much that f/f Wangxian is actually my 4th most read ship of the year! I'll have to do a rec post for it one of these days; meanwhile some of my favorites have been written by
ETA: I had a look and realized I had more than enough to just do a rec post, so here it is.
