Reading stats for 2023 & favorite reads of the year - Fanfiction Editon
This is the first year I have tracked my fanfiction reading, which I started in June, which means it’s not one 100% but I think still pretty good due to the fact that I mostly read on ao3 and the history feature is great! This is because I discovered the fanfiction challenge! And I am looking forward to the 2023 challenge and follow it from the start.
I read 11,931,924 words! 422 different fics, 67 fandoms and 173 unique ships!
Read on for my favorite fics of the year, and more statistics about type of fics, most popular fics and fandom and other fun facts!
By number of fics read my most popular fandom was Harry Potter. I read 41 different Harry Potter fics last year, and my most popular pairing for that fandom was Harry/Ginny. 9 of the fics had Harry & Ginny as the main pairing.
Second most read by according to number of fics was Glee, with 39 total fics, and Rachel/Quinn being my most popular pairing, with 21 fics where that was the main pairing as well as being a secondary pairing in another 4 fics.
In third place we have Critical Role, which means that I do atleast have one fandom that is still producing new content that I consume (sorry HP but fantastic beast is not my canon!). I read 35 different Critical Role fics, mainly campaign one and two. My main pairing I read was essek/caleb, with 4 fics, as well as 4 fics without romantic pairings.
Overall by most fics read, my most popular pairing was a tie between regina/emma (once upon a time) and rachel/quinn with 21 fics each!
If we look at by number of words read, my most popular fandom was Harry Potter with 1 836 237 words read. Second most, accord to words, was Glee, with 1 637 214 words. And in third place, we have The 100, with 1 046 514 words read.
In terms of ships, quinn/rachel win out by a fairly large margin. Nearly 10 percent of all words read was quinn/rachel, with a total of 1 14 9513 words total read. Jess/Rory (Gilmore Girls) comes in second with 990 554 words read. In third place is Harry/Ginny with 736 903 words. I also read 799 501 words of fics without a romantic pairing.
Longest fic read was of queens, kings and pawns by chancecraz which is a star wars time travel fix it fic, which focuses on a post-the force awakens leia being sent back to the day she woke on the death star.
When it comes to type of fic, i mostly read canon divergence, with 143 fics qualifying under this type. When it comes to number of words, the most popular type of fic was still canon divergence, but followed very closely by time travel fix its and modern aus.
23 percent of all fics were re-reads of old(er) favorites, aka fics that I had read prior to this year.
And now, my top ten fics I read last year, (in no particular order and also some of these are series because this is my list and i make the rules and sometimes its just two unconnected series because i wanted to)!
1. of queens, kings and pawns by chancecraz
I went to sleep on the worst day of my life and woke to find myself in the past on the second worst day of my life. As experiences go, I don’t recommend it. (leia-centric, han/leia)
This fic is INCREDIBLE. The world building is spot on, the character voices are spot on, leia being a reluctant force user, and the darth vader of it all is so good. It’s a WIP and might never be finished, but still totally worth it. It’s a long one tho.
2. The Changeling + The Armistice Series by Annerb
Ginny is sorted into Slytherin. It takes her seven years to figure out why. (ginny centric, hints of harry/ginny)
+ The thing about war is that it never ends. Not really. The battlefields just change locations. Harry and Ginny after the war. (harry/ginny)
The redemption of slytherin, the power of female friendship and also this is just such an incredible character study for ginny. The sequels are also fantastic, and the way the ginny & harry relationship unfolds is worth it alone.
3. lux et veritas and distilla trust by peterstank
He stops, so she does too, albeit with a bit less grace. Then he grabs the sleeve of her coat and gently tugs her toward a bench with a quiet, “C’mere,” and it’s stupid, it’s ridiculous, but it gives her goosebumps. “Sit down, it’s gonna snow.”
Rory’s breath catches in her throat. Absurdly, ridiculously, she thinks: oh no. Dares to ask, “How can you tell?” and sincerely hopes his answer is something sarcastic and obvious like I checked the forecast this morning, how else?
Instead: “I can smell it. Sit.”
or: the one where jess goes to yale
She concedes the point and digs a paperback out of her clutch—Austen’s Persuasion, a good choice. Jess displays his own masticated copy of Tobias Wolff’s Old School, which feels like a consistently fitting read when encased within the two-hundred year old hallowed halls of Chilton Preparatory. The book’s cover is hanging on by Scotch tape and a prayer, and half the pages are creased with undone dog ears.
“Man, we’re a couple of anti-social freaks,” Rory declares.
Jess grins. “Just call me Thomas Pynchon.”
or: the one where jess goes to chilton.
First of all, all of peterstanks jess/rory stuff is AMAZING. Like out of this world, maybe some of the best stuff I’ve ever read amazing. But I am super weak for these two AUs and how Jess’s character elvoves in these two very different circumstances. I change my mind about which of these two are my favorite every single time I reread any of them, and like if you ship Literati, these are a MUST.
4. Quality Ingredients by HurricaneJane
Executive Chef Lexa "The Commander" Woods is working in her latest establishment in her home town of Portland, Maine. She is about to start conceptualizing her next restaurant and only has one rule for herself during the process: No more girls. When an accident at the restaurant lands her in Dr. Clarke Griffin's ER, she second guesses why she ever had that rule in the first place. Lexa's head bartender, Lincoln, is obsessed with a divey restaurant on the other side of town run by Octavia. It doesn't take long for the small town to get even smaller when Lexa starts running into Clarke everywhere. Maybe rules were meant to be broken. (Clarke/Lexa, side Lincoln/Octavia)
This is my all time favorite the 100 fic, and I honestly can’t really put my finger on why. It has pretty much zero angst, so much good food, the characters feels right even in this setting, and just this fic gives me so many happy feelings.
5. Take these broken wings (series) by celaenos
Begins in Season one and follows Quinn through her life should she have chosen to keep Beth, realize she is gay, and fall in love with Rachel Berry.
I read a lot of Faberry, like a lot, and this is one of two fics (the other one reccomended below) that I constantly return to. It has everything I want from my faberry fic, with the added benefit of quinn/sam friendship and an absolutely adorable beth. it’s a very interesting look at quinn and how keeping beth would have changed her experiences and choices in the show. just give it a try, you won’t regret it.
6. the art of boxes by possibilist
'Quinn thinks of gardenias growing through her eyes, and she thinks thinks of her childhood jewelry box: open it slowly enough, and the ballerina would spin for what seemed like forever.' College!Faberry as promised. Follows canon up through s3
First of all, all of possibilists writing is gorgeous, and if you don’t hate reading seccond person pov stories, i also highly recommend all of her one shots in her series where quinn is diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which can be found on ffnet. But art of boxes if just so beautiful, written in third person, and is such a beautiful interpretation of a post-season 3 faberry. like quinn makes so much sense, their relationship develops so naturally, and quinn’s relationship with both her mom and franny in this one makes my heart sing.
7. the leftover you by beatperfume
Isabelle Lightwood is having a rough start to her senior year. Her brothers have moved out, leaving her alone with her parents as their relationship falls apart. She’s questioning her commitment to ballet just as she’s supposed to be preparing her auditions for ballet academies. She doesn’t need beautiful and talented Clary Fray making her life even more complicated. (izzy/clary)
i’ve never read much shadowhunter fanfiction before, but this one just stole my heart completely. i am a sucker for ballet!aus, and this one is just so beautiful. izzy feels so right and her friendship then romance with clary is just everything. also has great izzy/alec feels. (trigger warning for eating disorders/disordered eating, abusive parents and drug abuse)
8. after laughter (series) by palaces_outofparagraphs
the girls in the years after the finale, dealing with the inevitable trauma after being stalked and tortured on and off for ten years. starts off at age 26, 3 years post-finale; will probably skip around. probably aria- and spencer-centric; a lot of spoby; absolutely no ezria.
this fic series is everything that i wanted the post time jump to be even if it’s set after the finale. it’s all about the girls (focusing on spencer) healing from their trauma and what that means for them, and how to exist in the world after all of it. and like it’s so good. my favorites are “half-empty girl” which deals with spencer & alison and is really really good and “aria.” in which aria realizes that stalking isn’t romance, and seducing a sixteen year old can never be a good thing. but the whole series is worth it.
9. met you at the right time by bookglue
Rory Gilmore—single, unemployed, technically homeless, and pregnant—comes unstuck in time. Bouncing between significant and not-so-significant moments in her life, she tries to determine when and how her careful plans went wrong. With some help from an ex-boyfriend. (jess/rory)
I am a sucker for time travel fix its, but this is one of the more unique ones i have ever read, not as much fix it, but still in the same vein. mostly, it’s just really good and i don’t want to spoil anything because the journey is everything in this fic, so just read it please.
10. done with my graceless heart by prettypony
After seven year old Henry starts asking one too many questions, Regina realizes the only way forward is to find Emma Swan and break the curse over Storybrooke. The town’s clock will start, everyone will wake up, and perhaps they’ll be so grateful for her change of heart that they’ll decide not to execute her right away.
And if not, at least her son will have a mother. Even if it isn’t her.
[or: regina and henry go on a road trip to find henry's birth mom. true love ensues.] Season 1 AU - Canon Divergence (emma/regina)¨
this fic was so surprising and at the same time just made so much sense, because really how did henry make it to ten without realizing none of his friends aged? it’s really beautiful, it’s wonderful redemption story for regina, and the romance between emma and regina happens really naturally. just a wonderful fic.
