#writer reflections

[missfortunetherogue]

2025 Year in Review - Miss Fortune's Top 10 Moments

I don't usually write these kinds of reflections but so much happened in 2025 that I feel compelled to at least make the attempt at a look back on the year. In an effort to avoid getting too wordy, I'm gonna stick to a top 10 list haha. This will be a mix of personal and writing reflections - they're so closely intertwined in many places. In no particular order:

Started publishing my fic, The Embrace of Love and Death, writing more than 300,000 words between the main fic, Short Rests, and writing events after a 10+ year creative writing hiatus

Similarly, started reading fanfics for the first time and had the pleasure of reading so many talented, innovative pieces

Fully embraced my gender identity at long last and began transitioning, starting testosterone in April and getting top surgery in December (healing is still going smoothly)

Came out as transmasc nonbinary to my parents and was amazed that my very conservative mum accepted me

Met so many amazing people and fellow writers on Tumblr and in a couple of fandom Discord servers I've joined. Seriously, finding a community of writers has been one of the top highlights in my year, you all bring me so much joy on a daily basis

Met Neil Newbon and got both a photo op and an autograph. I was able to give him a handmade gift, one of the monster-themed chainmail fidgets I made, and he laughed in delight. He was a lovely human

Went to a Sleep Token concert with my best friend

Was laid off twice in three weeks but a month and a half later started a lovely job that I feel happy and appreciated in. The benefits were so much better that my top surgery ended up costing half as much as it would've at my old job

Participated in two writing events, Kinktober and one that I created, BG3 12 Days of Solstice (my offering wound up being called 12 Days of Thiefmas)

Vended my first anime/gaming con selling my chainmail fidgets and did super well! Had an Astarion cosplayer make me bloodless (via sticker hehe) and got a little rubber duck from a Hazbin Lucifer cosplayer :3

What's next in 2026

I'm not much of a planner hahaha. But I really hope to be able to finish The Embrace of Love and Death by the end of 2026 and maaaybe even begin posting or at least drafting the post-canon fic I have planned.

Definitely hope to keep meeting more writer moots here and continuing to support the ones I have now.

Would love to actually finish worldbuilding for an original novel concept I've been kicking around all year.

I should probably try to find a little more balance between hobbies next year; I was so hyperfixated on my writing that I let my chainmail side hustle fall to the wayside a bit. I still have a list of like 60+ cryptids, monsters, DnD beasts, and other weird creatures I want to design! Someone's been asking me to make an owlbear for a while now and I still haven't gotten to it >_> I've also had materials to work out some Totoro and soot sprite prototypes for months.

I also hope to just get weirder, queerer, and more chaotic cuz fuck it, life's short and my government wants us to stop existing so being happy and proud is in its own small way an act of resistance.

Beyond that it's so hard to envision anything else given how fraught things are in America. It's already been a tough few years personally and surviving this far has felt like an accomplishment given all the times I wasn't so sure I was gonna make it. So...surviving!

Wishing all of you a happy, healthy, 2026. May the year treat you kindly, may your energy be bountiful and mental health stable, and may your creative muses continue to inspire you.

💜💜💜

Lots of love, Miss Fortune

[kasienda]

I, L, N

I: Do you have a guilty pleasure in fic (reading or writing)?

It's identity reveals. I like them way too much. They never get old. I like it best when the fallout of the reveal is explored. But I read them like crazy and I write them almost as often! Haha! L: What’s the weirdest AU you’ve ever come up with?

I don't actually think I've done anything that's that weird? Like most of my stuff is pretty canon adjacent if not canon compliant. I guess I just started a body swap, which seems to be pretty common in most fandoms, but is rather rare in ML, so maybe that's weird in this corner of the internet. But even so, I don't feel like I'm doing anything super innovative with it. My specialty is emotional depth - not being bizarrely off the wall creative.

N: Is there a fic you wish someone else would write (or finish) for you?

Haha! Sometimes, I wish someone else would finish Restorative Justice for me, but only because it came so easily for the first half and I KNOW what I want the second half to be, and it just does NOT cooperate. But I love the story and concept so much I need it to get finished!! Agh! There's also an Adrino story I read recently that hasn't been updated since 2017, so it'll probably never be finished, and I still think about it sometimes.

[yanak324]

a bit of Friyay reflection

I’ve always been a voracious reader, but it’s only recently that I started to reflect on what makes me gravitate towards certain literature and fiction. A lot of that is due to how much fan fiction I’ve been consuming in the past year (and really always) - but being in such an active fandom with so many different kinds of writers/creators has really made me think about what I like to read.

I’ve never been a plot obsessed reader, which is why plays and poetry has always resonated strongest with me. Give me a character deep dive over some fast paced action any day (I usually save my action for movies) but lately I’ve started to think about style. What it means to open a book or in my case an ao3 page and read the first few lines and feel like you not only know the writer but also can expect to be taken on a journey.

This then sent me down a mental rabbit hole of figuring out what I love most; what kind of writing styles get me excited; and what I look forward to most - and what I landed on in all my slightly tipsy musing is that I truly appreciate writers who aren’t afraid to be themselves.

It’s something I struggle with when I write - staying confident and sure in the story I’m trying to tell. When I see a writer who is not afraid to take risks and owns their style…well honestly, I feel like I’ll read anything that person writes, because I know I’m getting a glimpse into their most authentic self.

During this time especially, connecting with people can be so challenging. Even for an extrovert like me, it’s been tough to maintain friendships and relationships with the same vigor that I once had. Reading has always been a form of escapism for me, but now it’s become something more. It’s become a way to connect to people, and it’s incredibly heartwarming to see writers out there who are willing to share a little piece of themselves with me.

To all my fellow writers out there, thank you.

Your biggest fan,

Stan

[kasienda]

🏆 📚 (and no hard feelings on your potential answer to the second one 😉)

Fic I'm Most Proud of:

I'm currently most proud of Restorative Justice. I just really feel like I captured my actual work with teenagers in this fic. It's currently not finished though, and I am very mad at chapter four. It's not cooperating with me at ALL! Haha!

Of my completed works, it's probably (and I'm being totally honest here), Anything to Protect You. And it's because (as you probably know better than anyone), after chapter 2, I did not want to write this fic anymore. And I was so mad at myself for creating such a big story that I was then obligated to finish. BUT in the end, it came out SO WELL!! Like seriously, one of the best things I think I've ever written. And that was so impressive to me because I wasn't motivated to do it. But I was disciplined and I got it done, and as much as I had to drag myself through writing it, I really enjoy reading it, and so I'm really happy that it exists.

Favorite fandom to write for:

I feel like you already know based on your parentheticals! But yes, I cheated on Sailor Moon with Miraculous Ladybug, and about a year or so ago, I stopped looking back and stopped feeling guilty about it. Because ultimately, it's supposed to be fun!! And Ladybug is where I am I having the most fun atm! I am still committed to finishing my Sailor Moon WIPS (including two reveals), but I'm cautious to start anything new.

Thanks, T! For the ask. (And yes, I'm okay. I've gotten through the hardest part. I will text you after dinner).

[kasienda]

🎤🥰

Favorite fic you've written?

I'm currently obsessed with Right Behind You, an Adrino fic that I'm currently writing in Miraculous Ladybug. It's a monster that is taking over my brain! Haha!

But in Sailor Moon, my favorite fic is probably A Craving for Chocolate Milkshakes. This one required me to just think in a completely different headspace and it's the first time I wrote something that was just FUN! Like I made myself laugh so much in creating it, and it's the story where I can go back and reread it and I still love it and still laugh rather than pick it apart for all the ways I could probably make it better now.

Favorite line in a fic you've wrote?

From A Craving for Chocolate Milkshakes

“Are you the reason I’ve been thinking about math and coffee all morning?!” [Usagi]

Mamoru groaned, slumping back into his seat and letting his head fall into his hands.

“You really know how to ruin a perfectly good day, baka! There are so many other, better, things to think about!”

I just love that bit so much. It's just so Usagi to respond to this completely bizarre situation with the most mundane aspect of it.

Thank you for the ask @daikon1! I always enjoy them!!

[blind-cupid]

I've reach 10k words on my original novel rough draft!

I'm having so much fun and I’m doing the thing I used to say “one day I will.” Now I am and it’s amazing!

[blind-cupid]

Accepting that I am a writer has been a hard-won realization. There are these fine, almost impenetrable lines between “I enjoy this,” and “this is the only thing that makes me feel like my true self,” and finally, “I’m okay that this is who I am.”

It’s taken years to get here and somehow it still feels like I’m only just at the starting line.

And trying to write something publishable, whether it’s a fanfic on AO3 or an original novel, doesn’t feel like a marathon—that’s just the first draft. The real work looks like a triathlon straight up a mountain.😳

[my-cursed-prince]

Ya know what is actually the difference between Lao x Verity and other ships in my work (as in my brain doesn’t throw a temper tantrum).

They’re a package. I don’t have to develop it. Lao is Verity and Verity is Lao. They’ve been a team since they were 8 and 7. One begins and the other ends. They’re the same thread, and that’s how it’s always been.