Writing Roundup 2025
Feb. 5th, 2026 10:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
out_thereLast year's stats (again, posted in Feb)
March
Brush off all the dirt (56536 words) by out_there
Chapters: 8/8
Fandom: Arcane: League of Legends (Cartoon 2021)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Silco (Arcane: League of Legends)/Vander (League of Legends)
Characters: Silco (Arcane: League of Legends), Vander (League of Legends), Benzo (Arcane: League of Legends), Felicia (Arcane: League of Legends), Connol (Arcane: League of Legends)
Additional Tags: working in the mines, Backstory, Young Vander and Silco, economic worldbuilding, Cave-In, Building a shack of their own, less violence than canon, child death off-screen, unique ways to say I love you, a happy ending depends on where you stop the story
Series: Part 1 of Battle for the Sun
Summary:
Thoughts
I didn't watch Arcane until s2 started coming out, but I really loved it. I don't watch a lot of animation, but Netflix does sometimes deliver really interesting stories in an animated format (Blue Eye Samurai is another great series). I know that we have canon lesbians and cuter, younger gays, but I really loved the doomed middle-aged guys who's breakup had political ramifications for everyone in their city. (Yeah, I did love Charles/Erik from the XMen, why do you ask?) And then s2 has an AU episode where they made up and life is better for most people, and I desperately wanted to write about these two. How they fell for each other, how they were so much stronger when they worked together, how they were community leaders before the betrayal and breakup.
Also, this story has a ridiculous amount of economic worldbuilding. Like, I actually did research stories of old mining towns and company practices for railroads/logging/mining, where a lot of people are paid very little while a company makes a lot of wealth for the few. At one point, I did have a few rough spreadsheets to work out daily wages, repayments, and what the food at the company store would need to be and how to set an easy conversion rates for the bronze/silver/gold coins seen in the show. Yeah, I'm really proud of this.
September
No Need To Take It Slow (1423 words) by out_there
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Top Gun (Movies)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Tom "Iceman" Kazansky/Pete "Maverick" Mitchell
Characters: Tom "Iceman" Kazansky, Pete "Maverick" Mitchell
Additional Tags: Get Together, First Kiss
Summary:
Thoughts
I read an excellent Top Gun fic (with a bit of timetravel and fixing everything) and then fell into the Top Gun fandom for a few months. This isn't a huge story but it was the little glimpse of what I wanted to say about these two. (Sometimes, it's lovely to dip your toes in a new fandom for 1-2k words, and then move on to something else. This tendency is why I have over 50 fandoms on my AO3 account.)
November
The bones you couldn't break (28269 words) by out_there
Chapters: 4/4
Fandom: Arcane: League of Legends (Cartoon 2021)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Silco (Arcane: League of Legends)/Vander (League of Legends)
Characters: Silco (Arcane: League of Legends), Vander (League of Legends)
Additional Tags: working in the mines, Backstory, Young Vander and Silco, economic worldbuilding, Pit-fighting, Prison, Building the Lanes, Silco's growing criminal connections, Canon levels of violence, Vander POV
Series: Part 2 of Battle for the Sun
Summary:
Thoughts
A sequel to "Brush off all the dirt" and I still love it. It's lowkey angst, a little Silco gets arrested and forced separation, but still a story that stops before the breakup and the bridge. Basically, I wanted to spend a little more time with these guys, with this version of them, to see how they build the Lanes and building the bar. (It's a joint custody bar. They build it together, Vander gets it in the divorce, but Silco inherits it after Vander "death". It felt right that it's actually something that originally belonged to both of them.)
Conclusion
3 stories in 2 fandoms, which feels like it's less output but the individual stories were a decent length each.
Breakdown by fandom:
2 Arcane - 84,805
1 Top Gun - 1,423
Total word count: 86,228
Lower than last year, but for the last five years, I've been in the 77-95k range so it's respectable.
What's your own favourite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest:
Probably "Brush off all the dirt" -- how often do I talk about economic inequality in fandom?
Now your most popular:
Definitely "Brust off all the dirt" - both in hits, kudos and comments. It was released at a good time, too, within a year of s2 screening so that helped.
The other top 4?
No point answering that when there's only 3 stories total!
Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:
"The bones you couldn't break" -- and this one is on me, honestly. When I posted it, I selected the wrong pairing. Somehow, I marked it M/M and then attached the pairing "Vander/Silco/Vi" -- so no wonder that would have missed most readers. Thankfully someone pointed it out to me, but that was a few months after it was posted, so... yeah, that's on me.
But for comparison, the first story got 292 kudos and 4941 hits, and the second got 40 kudos and 516 hits. So... yeah. Oops.
Easiest story to write:
"No Need To Take It Slow" - I think that was under a week, and after some great beta suggestions, it really came together.
Most fun story to write:
"Brush off all the dirt" -- again, economic worldbuilding!
Hardest story to write:
"The bones you couldn't break" -- not that it was terribly hard, but it was a little more effort than the first one.
Fic writing goals for 2026:
Keep writing, mostly. I've just started a new Untamed wip, so I'd like to get that posted this year.
Favourite opening line:
"It's a ridiculous thought, Ice knows it, but Maverick is doing this wrong." - No Need To Take It Slow
I feel like that sums up a lot of Ice and Maverick in just one sentence.
Favourite closing line:
"Always," Vander promises, and leads them both home. - Brush off all the dirt
Turns out I always end with dialogue. Huh. Like it's usually this kind of little acknowledgement, but all three stories have a tiny short phrase just to finish up.
Favourite line from anywhere:
"Silco might have nerves of steel but that's about the limit of his machinery knowledge." - Brust off all the dirt
This is always such a hard one to choose. I don't have a clear memory of lines I've written so I always have to skim through my stories to pick a line, but I do still like that. (I mean, I have favourite *scenes* usually or sections, but rarely a favourite sentence that stands alone.)
Favourite title:
All three of them are song lyrics, top gun from the tie in song from the second movie, and the Arcane ones from Placebo's "Battle for the Sun". Probably "Brush off all the dirt" but I like them all.
March
Brush off all the dirt (56536 words) by out_there
Chapters: 8/8
Fandom: Arcane: League of Legends (Cartoon 2021)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Silco (Arcane: League of Legends)/Vander (League of Legends)
Characters: Silco (Arcane: League of Legends), Vander (League of Legends), Benzo (Arcane: League of Legends), Felicia (Arcane: League of Legends), Connol (Arcane: League of Legends)
Additional Tags: working in the mines, Backstory, Young Vander and Silco, economic worldbuilding, Cave-In, Building a shack of their own, less violence than canon, child death off-screen, unique ways to say I love you, a happy ending depends on where you stop the story
Series: Part 1 of Battle for the Sun
Summary:
The first time Vander meets Silco, Vander's been working in the mines for a little over a month. It's hard work and the days are long, but he's suited to it. It feels good to work until his muscles ache and then spend the nights laughing and drinking with friends.
He's on level three, helping with the cave-in, when someone yanks the back of his collar, pulling hard enough that he's surprised into taking a few steps backwards.
"Buffoon!" is snarled beside him – just as a cart careens past him, right where he was standing. "It wouldn't have stopped for you."
"Thanks," Vander says, turning to his saviour. He's young, like Vander. Black hair pulled under his hard hat, sharp nose, and the prettiest blue eyes Vander's ever seen.
Thoughts
I didn't watch Arcane until s2 started coming out, but I really loved it. I don't watch a lot of animation, but Netflix does sometimes deliver really interesting stories in an animated format (Blue Eye Samurai is another great series). I know that we have canon lesbians and cuter, younger gays, but I really loved the doomed middle-aged guys who's breakup had political ramifications for everyone in their city. (Yeah, I did love Charles/Erik from the XMen, why do you ask?) And then s2 has an AU episode where they made up and life is better for most people, and I desperately wanted to write about these two. How they fell for each other, how they were so much stronger when they worked together, how they were community leaders before the betrayal and breakup.
Also, this story has a ridiculous amount of economic worldbuilding. Like, I actually did research stories of old mining towns and company practices for railroads/logging/mining, where a lot of people are paid very little while a company makes a lot of wealth for the few. At one point, I did have a few rough spreadsheets to work out daily wages, repayments, and what the food at the company store would need to be and how to set an easy conversion rates for the bronze/silver/gold coins seen in the show. Yeah, I'm really proud of this.
September
No Need To Take It Slow (1423 words) by out_there
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Top Gun (Movies)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Tom "Iceman" Kazansky/Pete "Maverick" Mitchell
Characters: Tom "Iceman" Kazansky, Pete "Maverick" Mitchell
Additional Tags: Get Together, First Kiss
Summary:
It's a ridiculous thought, Ice knows it, but Maverick is doing this wrong. He's been in the forces long enough to know there's always an established SOP, a way things get done, and Mav's ignoring it. A fuck between pilots should be quick and discreet, preferably far away from base. Not… this.
Thoughts
I read an excellent Top Gun fic (with a bit of timetravel and fixing everything) and then fell into the Top Gun fandom for a few months. This isn't a huge story but it was the little glimpse of what I wanted to say about these two. (Sometimes, it's lovely to dip your toes in a new fandom for 1-2k words, and then move on to something else. This tendency is why I have over 50 fandoms on my AO3 account.)
November
The bones you couldn't break (28269 words) by out_there
Chapters: 4/4
Fandom: Arcane: League of Legends (Cartoon 2021)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Silco (Arcane: League of Legends)/Vander (League of Legends)
Characters: Silco (Arcane: League of Legends), Vander (League of Legends)
Additional Tags: working in the mines, Backstory, Young Vander and Silco, economic worldbuilding, Pit-fighting, Prison, Building the Lanes, Silco's growing criminal connections, Canon levels of violence, Vander POV
Series: Part 2 of Battle for the Sun
Summary:
"So where is he?" Vander asks because it's not true until he hears the words.
He can see the answer in Felicia's face. The pity in her eyes. "They said Stillwater."
The earth doesn't lurch beneath his feet. The world doesn't go black around him. It should, but it doesn't. "Oh."
Thoughts
A sequel to "Brush off all the dirt" and I still love it. It's lowkey angst, a little Silco gets arrested and forced separation, but still a story that stops before the breakup and the bridge. Basically, I wanted to spend a little more time with these guys, with this version of them, to see how they build the Lanes and building the bar. (It's a joint custody bar. They build it together, Vander gets it in the divorce, but Silco inherits it after Vander "death". It felt right that it's actually something that originally belonged to both of them.)
Conclusion
3 stories in 2 fandoms, which feels like it's less output but the individual stories were a decent length each.
Breakdown by fandom:
2 Arcane - 84,805
1 Top Gun - 1,423
Total word count: 86,228
Lower than last year, but for the last five years, I've been in the 77-95k range so it's respectable.
What's your own favourite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest:
Probably "Brush off all the dirt" -- how often do I talk about economic inequality in fandom?
Now your most popular:
Definitely "Brust off all the dirt" - both in hits, kudos and comments. It was released at a good time, too, within a year of s2 screening so that helped.
The other top 4?
No point answering that when there's only 3 stories total!
Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:
"The bones you couldn't break" -- and this one is on me, honestly. When I posted it, I selected the wrong pairing. Somehow, I marked it M/M and then attached the pairing "Vander/Silco/Vi" -- so no wonder that would have missed most readers. Thankfully someone pointed it out to me, but that was a few months after it was posted, so... yeah, that's on me.
But for comparison, the first story got 292 kudos and 4941 hits, and the second got 40 kudos and 516 hits. So... yeah. Oops.
Easiest story to write:
"No Need To Take It Slow" - I think that was under a week, and after some great beta suggestions, it really came together.
Most fun story to write:
"Brush off all the dirt" -- again, economic worldbuilding!
Hardest story to write:
"The bones you couldn't break" -- not that it was terribly hard, but it was a little more effort than the first one.
Fic writing goals for 2026:
Keep writing, mostly. I've just started a new Untamed wip, so I'd like to get that posted this year.
Favourite opening line:
"It's a ridiculous thought, Ice knows it, but Maverick is doing this wrong." - No Need To Take It Slow
I feel like that sums up a lot of Ice and Maverick in just one sentence.
Favourite closing line:
"Always," Vander promises, and leads them both home. - Brush off all the dirt
Turns out I always end with dialogue. Huh. Like it's usually this kind of little acknowledgement, but all three stories have a tiny short phrase just to finish up.
Favourite line from anywhere:
"Silco might have nerves of steel but that's about the limit of his machinery knowledge." - Brust off all the dirt
This is always such a hard one to choose. I don't have a clear memory of lines I've written so I always have to skim through my stories to pick a line, but I do still like that. (I mean, I have favourite *scenes* usually or sections, but rarely a favourite sentence that stands alone.)
Favourite title:
All three of them are song lyrics, top gun from the tie in song from the second movie, and the Arcane ones from Placebo's "Battle for the Sun". Probably "Brush off all the dirt" but I like them all.
