I’m retroactively naming Ama Lou’s Not Always one of the best songs of 2016. I wish I had heard it sooner so I could listen to it on endless repeat as I am now.
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I’m retroactively naming Ama Lou’s Not Always one of the best songs of 2016. I wish I had heard it sooner so I could listen to it on endless repeat as I am now.
2016 in fic
I started tracking this last year, and thought it would be fun to do it again!
New Fics = 17 Total Words Posted = 85,549
My favorite story this year: Charles Xavier's Baby - Inspired by Bridget Jones’s Baby, this fic was just so much FUN to write (which you’d think would be the case with all fanfic but alas no lol). There is nothing I don’t love about this cracky premise, with Charles being exceptionally put out (and not at all mushy sentimental - much) about getting knocked up due to secondary mutation by not one but TWO baby daddies! It makes me laugh just thinking about all the wacky shenanigans still to be written :D
My best story this year: Seducing Charles - I will continue to say til I’m blue in the face (ha) that Apocalypse seducing Charles to his side would have made for a much more interesting movie out of XMA. Alas, we will have to see this scenario played out in fanfic (sigh). This particular story was written months before XMA came out, and I really love how it came together - morphing from a fic about Charles reliving his painful memories in a dream, to the reveal that Apocalypse is masquerading as Erik in his mind to try and seduce him with what he wants most in all the world...
Story most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:
Burn It To Ashes (Front Window Remix) - I think sometimes remixed fics are hard to get into, especially if they recreate only a short scene from/based on the original fic. That said, I wish more people would have read this one, because it’s based on Widge’s AMAZING Front Window, and also, has Gerec’s first attempt at Charles/Raven - which I love love love to READ, especially in this context which is ‘us against the world based on an incredibly messed up shared childhood’.
“Holy crap, that’s *wrong*, even for you” story: Tribute to the Horde - It’s a bunch of people gangbanging Charles. In public. ‘Nuff said.
Hardest story to write:
Gods or Mortals - Hardest, because of how much back story and how many notes I have for this story, and trying to weave all the pieces together in an interesting and coherent way. Everybody has that one story that they think defines them yeah? (Or not maybe that’s just me lol). Anyway, this is it for me. Some day, years from now when I’m old and (very) grey and my fic writing days are far behind me I want to look back at GoM and say ‘yeah I’m glad I wrote that’.
Biggest surprise:
A Hell of Our Own Making - I did not expect to love ‘Welcome to the Punch’ quite so much when I finally saw it, nor did I think I would ever feel the burning need to write Lewinsky/Sternwood fic yet here we are lol!
Goals for next year/final thoughts:
85k is a lot for me, so while I’m pleased to have gotten this much written it’s also a little intimidating too? I mean, the target supposedly for an average published novel is between 80-90k and that means I’ll have to drastically reduce how much fanfic I write in 2017 if I want to make a dent in my original fiction. So there’s that.
BUT! I’m super happy that I FINALLY finished My Name is Max - the VERY FIRST FIC I STARTED FOR THIS FANDOM - so many years later lol.
And finally last but not least - I’m going to try hard to finish my WIPs, and not let plot bunnies distract me into starting 100 new fics :D :D :D
2016 FAVOURTIES
Labyrinth Lost - Zoradia Cordova; A unique and gripping book with LGBT+ and fantasy elements with twists. Decent characters, a villain you love, a plot well planned out.
Link to Goodreads
Link to my review
All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr; A historical fiction novel set during WWII that changes perspective, yet is never confusing. Vivid and poetic writing awaits you between the covers of this heart-felt story.
Link to Goodreads
Link to my review
Exit, Pursued by a Bear - E.K. Johnston; A pretty cover with a short, yet raw and powerful story with a touchy subject - rape. Elements aren’t glossed over, and the situations seem very realistic.
Link to Goodreads
Link to my review
Queen of Shadows - Sarah. J. Maas; An epic fourth novel in the Throne of Glass series. A captivating and intense plot; secrets revealed and more to come. Fantastic writing and flawed characters.
Link to Goodreads
Link to my review **not spoiler-free**
Since You’ve Been Gone - Morgan Matson; A story about friendship and the idea of getting out of your comfort zone. Light-hearted and fun contemporary that is quick to read.
Link to Goodreads
Link to my review
Winter - Marissa Meyer; An amazing finale to The Lunar Chronicles, the world building, the plot, and the characters just all tie in so well together in this novel. Intense action keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout the entire 800 page book.
Link to Goodreads
Link to my review **not spoiler-free**
Julia Jacklin’s Hay Plain is as close to perfection as we’re ever going to hear.
Start the year off with this excellent track from Magana. Get It Right is just reminiscent enough of Angel Olsen and Big Thief.
2016
Thanks for another great year. Sorry for getting so lackadaisical in my postings. School takes up time, ya know?
Here you can find some of the songs I liked most this year.
Here’s my list of my albums of the year.
And just for good measure, here’s my personal Spotify playlist of my favorite songs of the year.
Hoping to post and listen to more great music this year. Let’s hope you stay along for the ride.
Thanks for listening.
Cheers, Jordan
Best of 2016: Lipstick
I hope you’ve been enjoying your New Year! Here’s to hoping that 2017 is gentler yet still fierce. Because I think we can all agree that 2016 was a little rough around the edges. It wasn’t all bad though! We saw a lot of great releases, collaborations and more in the beauty community last year that blessed us with a lot of great products. I know I’m a little late to the party but there was no…
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