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tyrelingIt's now nearly 21:00, 4 hours before the year 2020 ends and 2021 will begin.
While we're all ready to shake off the year to welcome new beginnings and hopefully some better moments, we've all collectively learned a lot undergoing/experiencing 2020's pandemic and the results of our own government handling these uncontrollable factors.
Looking back at 2020 feels like it's been the shortest and yet the longest year. I don't want to regurgitate the same things over an over again, like the fear-mongering, the stress, the anxiety and all things considered as we get cooped up at home, not actually getting to hangout or surround us with friends or families or having parties.
So I'll just list a few things for the record:
- 2020 is when I began with my new job. It was a promising start. I've learned a lot along the way, regarding this job. Especially when the recruiter (who helped me get the interview) wounded up becoming my co-worker along the way because her company let her go due to covid-19. She has taught me a lot trying to reorganize a system that was all left to me. I'm also made aware how much I should work on my articulation.
- 2020 has led us all consuming a lot of media. I'm so happy to see the danmei genre getting accepted and seeing all these danmei fanarts grace my timeline is amazing. I am happy for mxtx fandom, priest fandom, and of course all the other danmei novels I've kept track of/currently reading. On my to go list right now, besides mxtx and priest:
- 1. 2ha
- 2. Golden stage
- 3. Copper coins
- 4. New times, new hell
- 5. Qiang Jin Jiu
- 6. Tianbao Fuyao Lu
- 7. Don't pick up boyfriends from the trash bin
- 8. Part-time Priest
- 9. Exclusive rights to an online voice actor
- 10. Seizing dreams
- The rest can be found on my novelupdates list.
- 2020 also gave me a spur of a moment writing session. I ended in a new fandom and wrote a lot of mini stories for that fandom, appreciating the sweet and comfortable burn of being able to create fanfic after a long hiatus. Also, learned to appreciate even more orchestral works, this time in classical music genre, mostly focused on violin concertos.
- I've also learned to look out for my health. The awareness that my body can get sick any time and that I do not want to be the one that would infect others.
- Also, 2020 is when I got convinced to buy new furniture, convinced my family to get some and also a new refrigerator too. We've now been able to stock up some food things and organize a bit for the new year. Also, bought an oven for my mom. Since she can't go to her cultural dances with her friends, she ended up in a baking spree.
- Dating, who? Dating, what? It seems amusing to some people. But who knows.
Anyway, 2020 was such a not so good year. I've lost 2 relatives.
So R.I.P. :(
Annual end of the year writing reflection from this post:
- Tell us about your current project(s) – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?
I don’t have a current project planned ever since I’ve kind of moved on from the twosetviolin fandom. But there is a niggling feeling of wanting to write again now that I’ve jumped back into Detective Conan and saw some bingo prompts. There’s no definite plan just yet, or big brain moment. Currently my mind is basically churning away, trying to find something to write about for the Detective Conan fandom.
- Tell us about what you’re most looking forward to writing – in your current project, or a future project
I look forward to adding more fanfics to my list of fanfics, looking back to the decade I’ve written fics and then realize how far I’ve come.
Also, I’m looking forward to writing casefic. I think I’ll try to do casefic, especially concerning the Detective Conan side characters.
- What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway)
There are many scenes I’ve always wanted to write—such as an actual good casefic, an OTP romance fic of a pairing that doesn’t get a lot of fics/interests, an actual modern working adult AU fics with specifics or niche industries, a good soulmate au fic and maybe actually good smut.
- Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)
I haven’t written much for a while, but for this year, I’d go for the scene in 50 shades of Bae:
“You know what. Maybe she’s right. Wait here, Brett. I’m going to buy you some lucky love items to boost your sex appeal.”
I can’t believe I can come up with something funny in Brett’s situation.
Also several parts from “Stay Tonight”. I was on the roll when I wrote 50 themes using a limit of 5 sentences to tell twosetviolin’s story.
And also proud of my ability to write one sentences in “Forgotten Odes” to tell a story.
“It’s in the way Eddy would rather spend time with him than having anime movie marathons with his friends, in the way Eddy knows when and how to Brett takes his drinks and his food preferences, and in the way Eddy would match Brett's pace even though his legs are longer and he is in a hurry, and It's in the way Eddy purposefully slows down and lets Brett lead the way, like Eddy is just content with following Brett everywhere, admiring his back and letting Brett reach his goal first.
The most blatant sign of them all, is when Eddy would reach out shyly and hold onto Brett's wrist like he is brimming to be taken along for the ride, the long haul, the adventure, whichever it may be.”
“Eddy wakes up in the middle of the night, shivering and stressed out—his eyes tremble, threatening to close—Eddy shifts, tosses and turns but can’t settle for a comfortable position, so he involuntarily whines, tearing up without knowing why, and then Brett is there, at the door, looking mussed and sleepy, asking if he’s all right and when Eddy couldn’t even answer him, Brett sighs and orders to move over, slips under Eddy’s blankets and opens his arms for Eddy to dive in and promptly falls asleep—bro, how could you abandon me—Eddy laughs wetly but starts counting Brett’s heartbeats and matches his breathing to Brett’s soft snores until the warmth of a close friend nearby lulls him into securing sleep.”
“Waking up early in the morning to catch the winter dawn is not something on their to do list, especially not when they had filmed their videos well past midnight, but for whatever reason, Eddy had shaken Brett awake, bundled him up in jackets and blankets and got them seated on the balcony, pressing a warm mug of steaming coffee into Brett’s hands, and curled himself against his best friend, simply waiting for the sun to rise and watch the light kiss Brett’s fluttering lashes good morning.”
“Eddy may be taller than him now, and may have more body mass to show off his strength since he visited the gym, but Brett is the one who is bold enough to press him against the wall, bracketing him into the corner with both his arms on either sides and peering up at Eddy over his glasses with a challenge on his face, a quirk of a smile on his lips, “Your move.”
My long-ass one sentence challenge LOL. They’re all so lovely, written in a stream of consciousness and love for twosetviolin. I’ve ended several of these sentences rather poetically too.
- What character that you’re writing do you most identify with?
Right now? None. But when I was in twosetviolin, I guess I felt more like shy!Eddy. We’re both introverts too.
- What character do you have the most fun writing?
Hmmmm for this year’s writing? I guess I enjoy writing Eddy. No particular reason except that I’ve been really going full steam ahead when I wrote a lot of ficlets for the fandom, from Eddy’s perspective.
- What do you think are the characteristics of your personal writing style? Would others agree?
Slice-of-life. I get a lot of comments about my slice-of-life style, which is true. I’ve honestly modeled most of my current style after several writers I’ve admired back in Gundam Wing hey days.
- Is what you like to write the same as what you like to read?
Yes. I’d enjoy slice-of-life romance/friendship fics too. But with more spice please, like actual casefic or actual drama plot.
- Are you more of a drabble or a longfic kind of writer? Pantser or plotter? Do you wish you were the other?
I’m a drabble kind of writer and a pantser. I wrote most of twosetviolin fics without actually a plan, only using old LJ themes as a guideline to spark a story/sentence/paragraph.
Of course, as humans, we often wish to be the other—I’d like to be able to actually plot a long fic that reads amazing and that has everything I’d enjoy reading of.
- How would you describe your writing process?
Stream of consciousness, interest, fervor, inner fangirl, short-timed drive.
- What do you envy in other writers?
Writers that can actually plot, that can actually write and finish case fic that makes sense, that can actually hit me in the chest with their angst without being too overt, too tragic. Also, the ability to write flowing scenes that don’t dry out halfway the story.
- Do you want your writing to be famous?
Yes, sometimes. Don’t we all? /JK. But to be fair, when you’ve been writing fanfics for over a decade, sometimes getting a bit recognition is the best kind of famous limelight every writer wants to achieve. At least for myself.
- Do you share your writing online? (Drop a link!) Do you have projects you’ve kept just for yourself?
Yes. I’ve an AO3: tyrelingkitten and my profile has all my other stuff/handles listed. Yes, of course I’ve kept a lot of projects to myself. They’re somewhere in my drive or in my old floppies/hard discs.
- At what point in writing do you come up with a title?
At the end of the story or halfway done.
- Which is harder: titles or summaries (or tags)?
I’ve had a lot of practice with tags, so those are easy. Summaries are in the middle while titles are a bit… hard. Usually they will all be all right.
- Tried anything new with your writing lately? (style, POV, genre, fandom?)
For this year? It’s a new fandom and that is RPF Twosetviolin. I got more hardcore with slice-of-life style though. It was fun dabbling in the fandom. Who knows, maybe I’ll drop more fics in the future.
- Do you think readers perceive your work - or you - differently to you? What do you think would surprise your readers about your writing or your motivations?
I honestly don’t know how they perceive me, other than that I write a lot in slice-of-life style and that it’s not easy to hide how long I’ve been in fandom at all.
- Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterisations?) Tell us about them.
I have so many abandoned fanfics. As you play in fandom for years, as a writer, you accumulate a lot of abandoned ideas/AUs/fanfics.
- Is there something you always find yourself repeating in your writing? (favourite verb, something you describe ‘too often’, trope you can’t get enough of?)
I go ham with adjectives a lot and empty words like “really really” and “very very”.
- Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)
I rambled a lot at Mon, riding the high of twosetviolin fandom. Did a few callbacks to some of their videos.
- What other medium do you think your story would work well as? (film, webcomic, animated series?)
Never thought about it. Perhaps webcomic with a wham line?
- Do you reread your old works? How do you feel about them?
Yes, I re-read a lot of my old works. I often get surprised at the me of back then that could even write such and such a story and marvel at the writing style or dialogue.
- What’s the story idea you’ve had in your head for the longest?
Casefic.
- Would you say your writing has changed over time?
… perhaps yes. Overtime I’ve been rather minimalistic with description by not falling into the purple prose again like battling tongues or beautiful brown orbs etc etc. HAHAHAHAAHAH.
- What part of writing is the most fun?
Receiving feedback/comments where readers say they love it/enjoyed it/laughed etc etc. /jk
To be honest, it's being able to write that glittering idea/plot. I envy how MXTX writes whole long-ass original novel with plot just to write that one scene she has always had in her mind.
