This is my first year drawing, and it's been a lot of fun! Definitely can say that my drawing tablet was the best $80 I've ever spent haha.
I had a lot of ideas I definitely did not have the skill for, but I'm glad I went for it anyway since that's usually when I learn things the best. I had a blast with all of my series, especially the art/gpose trade I did for my birthday, the colour palette challenge series with the Scions, and OC-tober (even though I it did take me three months to finish whoops).
So many Aureias, but you know what they say… if you get yourself an elf, you will learn how to draw.
—Additional Words Written:
None! I published everything I worked on this year (aside from outlines for fics that never actually got anything written for them).
—Fandoms:
FFXIV
—Works:
28
—Highest Kudos:
Halcyon's End | Ryne x Gaia, set during EW
—Highest Hit One-shot:
The Toll of Lovers' Wont | Aymeric x Aureia, set early in Stormblood
—New Things I Tried:
This year I had a goal of publishing at least one fic a month! There were a few months where I barely scraped by, and a couple where the fic I started writing as my monthly one-shot grew into something else and then I had to backtrack and write something else.
I do think the exercise was good, since one-shots allow me to experiment. I push myself more, and I play around with more things than I usually would if I were working on a longfic.
I also participated in Wolmeric Week and I actually finished everything in the week itself and on time (lmaoooo). Pulled off an illustration for it, too, which I am very happy about! I think now that I'm more comfortable with drawing and I've learned a lot there, I want to start using my fanfics as inspiration for scenes to draw… 👀
(I will make a comic. Some day. Maybe. hehe)
—Fic I Spent the Most Time On:
Her Answer | Aureia x Thancred, EW spoilers, set pre-Ultima Thule
This fic is probably one of the most difficult ones I have ever written because the material is very emotionally charged for me. I have a fear that if I write something that goes against commonly accepted fanon or acts as a counterargument to how most people interpreted the source material, I'm going to make people angry. But this fic was very important for me to write—I needed some catharsis after Endwalker since I think the expac's writing whitewashes the depth and complications of its own themes to the detriment of the story and characters. I wanted to take a really hard look at faith and love and what answering Venat's question actually means while still keeping it within the realm of canon.
It is also inherently about Aureia's relationship with Thancred, and pushes both of them to a breaking point. This is the worst argument they have ever had, but it is crucial for their post-EW development.
Judging from the responses I got, there are a lot of ffxiv fans out there who walked away from EW feeling the same way I did, so I am really glad I wrote this and published it.
—Fic I Spent the Least Time On:
A Good View | Aureia & Emmanellain, HW spoilers
This was for my mini FFXIVWrite this year; I didn't spend too much time on it since it flowed very easily, but I am very pleased with how it came out!
—Favourite Thing I Wrote:
A tie between Her Answer, Under Me, So Quite New, and Guiding Night.
Under Me, So Quite New is an Aureia x Aymeric fic that explores their early relationship. It's very sweet and gentle, and I think it's a breath of fresh air compared to all of the emotionally charged things going on elsewhere in their storyline.
Guiding Night is a little scene about young love and loss. I love exploring Aureia and Alisaie's friendship, and I also wanted to dig into Alisaie's characterization a bit and explore some of the more difficult things she may be going through during Shadowbringers.
—Favourite Thing I Read:
Admittedly I have not done as much fic reading as I would have liked to this year 😭. There's a lot in my Marked for Later that is waiting for when I have time to sink my teeth into it. But I do have a few fics I read this year that I am still thinking about!
Fool's Mate by @birues. I love the use of second person POV here, it really underscores the sense of limbo and uncertainty
Forms by @fheythfully. I love Yda and El's friendship so much!
Baleful/Reticent by @fourteenthz. I adore all of Kelly's micro fics, but this one lives rent free in my head because of Jote!
Friable by @ahollowgrave. I love this little glimpse into Prudence's perspective here, it's lovely!
Home is Where the Bed Is by @thevikingwoman. This is a really cute, fluffy piece, Meryta is adorable.
Year of the OT3 2025 by @lilbittymonster. I haven't finished the series yet but the writing is absolutely delightful
Harsh Light & Gentle Dark by @anneapocalypse. I am really looking forward to finally digging into the published chapters for these!
—Something I Finished:
The Crux of Me & You! This is the full series for my Wolmeric week prompts. I'm so so happy with how everything came together; it's a snapshot of most of the major moments in Aureia and Aymeric's relationship, from their first meeting to when they finally break up for good. Agh my heart 😭😭😭
—Miscellaneous Highlights:
I published my 100th AO3 fic this year! Woohoo!
Aureia's series has passed 250,000 words. I am devoted to my elf girl. 😌
I pulled off a mini FFXIVWrite in a week! I put all the prompts from previous years in a spin wheel and spun the wheel. Most of the fics I ended up writing were scenes I would never have thought of (very fond of White Lies which is about Lucia and Aureia's early friendship).
—Writing Goals for 2026:
I have ONE fic left in my Wolcred Week 2024 series. One. I wrote the outline for it back in August/September but got distracted by an art project and then by work, so I didn't actually start it. I need to finish this thing before June next year, otherwise it will have been two years since I started holy shit lmaooooo. 🤣
I don't know if I will do a Wolmeric or Wolcred Week thing again next year, but I want to do a prompt week for Sid and one for Fordola. Aureia's neglected ships… I have things to say about them!! I really like doing little series since it gives me focus and a goal to work towards; makes working with the ffxiv timeline easier.
I want to get back to writing my longfics. I have three that I started in 2023/2024 that are unfinished; I have a few other ones (namely the early Stormblood fic set during/after the Rhalgr's Reach raid and the In from the Cold fic) that I am banging pots and pans about writing. So I think I'm done writing monthly one-shots for now! Otherwise I am never going to get to my longfics haha.
—Final Thoughts:
I had a lot of fun with my writing this year! I feel like I have a pretty good handle on what I enjoy exploring now, and how to push myself out of my comfort zone and try something different.
Since I started drawing last year, the biggest challenge has been to have time to do both writing and art. I think if I didn't draw, then I would have been able to keep up with my one-shot challenge and work on my longfics, but I'm trying to split my time between both art and writing. I would love to know how other writer-artists balance things—I have too many things I want to do!!
Thank you for the tags, @anneapocalypse & @lilbittymonster!
Tagging: I'm not sure who has done this since I'm a little late to the party, but throwing tags the way of @thevikingwoman, @roguelioness, @galadae, @galadrieljones, @astrology-bf and @syrcus! 💕
—Words posted:
133,357
—Additional Words Written:
A little over 30,704 from two long fics I started but then got distracted by other things. Hopefully I will be getting back to them this year!
—Grand total of words:
164,061
—Fandoms:
FFXIV
Technically Dragon Age as well, but since these were reposts of fics from 2018/2019 I deleted a few years back, I’m not going to count them.
—Works:
10 (technically 39 but anthology publishing, y’know 😂)
—Highest Kudos:
Since I posted my ffxivwrite fics as an anthology, I’ll count the next highest. Desiderium was published in August and is part of my (super belated) Wolcred week series. It’s currently sitting at 39.
—Highest Hit One-shot:
Most of my fics this year were multiparts, so this one goes to Anthesis (post-Endwalker Wolcred smut wooo). It’s currently sitting at 311.
—New Things I Tried:
I wrote a bunch from different character POV’s! While I always enjoy writing from Aur’s POV, it is a lot of fun to explore different viewpoints and visit different characters’ perspectives. The whole structure of my (unfinished) wolcred week series is based on doing one fic from Thancred’s POV followed by one from Aur’s. I also touched on Alisaie, Fordola, Minfilia, Ryne, Rielle, Sidurgu, Aymeric, uh… so many. I was experimenting a lot with ffxivwrites, which was fun!
I am also being more adventurous with how I am incorporating sex scenes into my work. Apparently I did not one but two strip teases, one for Aureia and one for her Azem so. Hm. Maybe they are more alike than Aureia believes lmao. Also shout-out to Thancred’s moment of disassociation in Surrogate. I think I’m just being more adventurous in my approach to sexual situations in fic.
I am also much more grounded as a primarily longfic/multipart writer. This started last year with Divergence of the Heart, but most of my previous fanfics (especially in my Dragon Age era) were one shots or one shot collections. I’m really happy flitting about with novella-length stuff, it sits in a good place for me.
—Fic I Spent the Most Time On:
Desiderium, since it had a lot of different threads to pull on. I also spent a lot of time on a post-5.3 untitled ShB fic that has some of my favourite Wolcred moments in it to date, so I’m excited to return to it once I finish the series I’m currently working on.
—Fic I Spent the Least Time On
Steer took no time at all, it just came and went like that. Which I suppose is the purpose of the exercise!
—Favourite Thing I Wrote
A scene in the aforementioned post-5.3 untitled ShB fic which I can’t really say much about other than I am excited to share it whenever the whole fic is ready! From the published stuff:
I love Aureia and Yda’s dynamic in Castaway and Yda being the one to break through some of her walls in ARR
Aureia and Thancred’s balance between hope and concern when they first arrive in Old Sharlayan in Desiderium
the aftermath of Aureia’s red magic experiments to slow her light sickness in The Heart’s a Withered Fortress
Aureia and Sidurgu slowly growing closer and closer together, as seen from Rielle’s POV in Stable
Sally, a Rielle character study that made my heart hurt
Stamp, a Fordola character study
—Favorite Thing I Read:
Eleos [General, rated Mature, 4,018 words] by @astrology-bf. It is an absolutely fascinating look at the WoL from the perspective of a Garlean soldier, and it raises many excellent questions about the nature of war, loyalty, purpose and mercy. Marius and Ifan’s conversation is such a fascinating moment, and I’ve been thinking about it since I read it on tumblr.
—Something I Finished:
Four out seven Wolcred week fics done! Maybe I’ll finish the series before the next wolcred week comes around ahahaha.
—Miscellaneous Highlights:
I think ffxivwrites was a highlight for me. Since my fanfic preferences have turned towards multiparts it was nice to challenge myself to keeping things contained. I re-learned how to write one shots and I think I went in new directions I didn’t necessarily expect if I had had time to think and structure things out!
Another highlight are the two gift fics I wrote this past year which are very precious to me. Familiar Shores (WoL x Tansui) for @thevikingwoman and Seasons Passing (WoL x Y’mhitra, WoL x Aymeric, WoL x Yugiri, and WoL x Erenville) for @lilas! I adore both their WoLs, and it was so much fun writing them and exploring their relationships.
—Writing Goals for 2025:
Finish the wolcred week series before June! The next three entries are all going to be some form of multipart, but I am excited for them since they explore much more than just Aureia and Thancred’s relationship, but their relationship within the context of other relationships and friendships. I am a bit nervous about what I have cooked up for Fic #6 since it is going in A Direction that may not be very popular, but it is very true to Aureia and I am excited about it nonetheless.
Other than that, I want to return to my two unfinished longfics, and then see where things take me. I have so many ideas, and I’m really enjoying fleshing out Aureia’s series and hitting all the different moments that are important to her from ARR-ENW. And I’m sure whenever I do get around to playing Dawntrail, I’ll have more ideas to add to the list!
Aaand maybe I will publish my 100th AO3 fic this year, who knows. 😈
—Final Thoughts:
2024 was such a fun year for fan fic writing. Since I write for a living, I’ve struggled for the past several years finding a balance between time for professional writing and hobby writing, and I think I finally found that balance. FFXIV is such a fun sandbox to play in, I’ll have many stories to tell and many ideas to dig into for a while.
I think sometimes I worry about not really being able to participate in the tumblr fandom properly because I'm unsubbed for an unknown amount of time (which means I’m missing out on the newest content, gposing, and everything that’s only possible with a regular sub). The nature of an MMO kind of leaves you with the feeling that you're not present if you're not continually active in game, but I don’t think this is really true. I can still do my thing and write and make stuff and be invested in the game and my character without playing regularly. There’s more than enough story for me to chew on from the stuff I have played, and with video game fandoms I enjoy taking a step back from the game and going on to play other things while I let the story and characters sit with me.
I’ve taken up digital art recently and I have some ideas for comics when I get more experience under my belt, so that’s something to look forward to, too!
