Est. Read Time: 25 min
This Month's Font: Handlee
What a brilliant way to conclude my 2024 blog updates... posting my final one a week into 2025. Yup. That tracks.
|
| Generated by Bitmoji |
It seemed to have been the trend that year. I'd think that I'm going to go full-bore into that month's blog update at the start of the month. Only for me to just barely scrape something together at the end of the month, or I don't update until a week into the FOLLOWING month.
It's been a rough year for writing for me, is what I'm saying.
So, it should be of no surprise that I got sidetracked and delayed yet again in December. Seems a fitting close to that year....
The first week of December was spent with family out-of-state, celebrating Hubby's birthday, driving home from out-of-state, and dealing with snow. It's annoying, but I can't be mad at snow in December for Christmas. Hubby and I then had to transition back into working again after being off for about a week. I was too focused on my last blog update and all of that other stuff to even think about working on December's update at the time.
Then came a series of phone calls and texts I was not expecting.
We're all fine, but there was a medical scare in the family towards the start of December. Needless to say, that took up most of my mental focus for the better part of a week. There was no way I was thinking straight enough to work on writing in general, let alone updating this blog or trying to work out Seduce With Caution.
On top of that, one of my online friends has been having a rough time with it. Some suicide scares. Since I only really know her online, I came to the terrifying realization that if something DID happen to her I wouldn't know. I doubt anyone who knows her irl would think to reach out to me, and I don't have her personal info to reach out instead. I simply had to pray and check and wait. Thankfully, she's alright, and made a point to reach out to me to let me know.
It was.... kiiiiind of a stressful week for me....
|
| Generated by Bitmoji
Edited by LycoRogue |
I tried to destress a bit by getting back into playing on my Switch. I lucked out in discovering one of the games I've had on my Wish List for a while had a free full-game demo out. Much like the Animal Crossing games, this one - Cozy Grove - advances the game in real time. So, Nintendo went ahead and had the whole game unlocked for a week-long demo! If you liked the game, you could buy it, the data would transfer, and you could keep playing.
As the game name would suggest, it was the exact level of cozy I needed that week. You play as a Spirit Scout. Think Girl Scout/Boy Scout but you're tasked to help spirits move on. You're dropped off on a tiny, secluded, deserted island for your first solo camping trip. Unfortunately, your boat gets washed out to sea, and you're abandoned on the island! That's OK though. You come across a whole clan of friendly spirits who help you build up your campsite (complete with sentient camp fire Flamey - think Calcifer from Howl's Moving Castle).
The deserted island that you build up, in-game crafting, friendly co-habitants, and real-time game progression all gave off the same vibes as Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Then, the friendly and unique spirits that take the form of anthropomorphic animals, and your task to help them both remember their past lives and move on all reminded me a great deal of Spiritfarer. Especially since that game also has crafting and farming.
Finally, the game's graphics reminded me a little of the paper-art styling of, say, Don't Starve. Just, with a warm, cozy vibe... instead of Don't Starve's gothic Tim Burton vibe.
It was fun to run around for a few hours unlocking parts of the island, gathering trinkets to take to the seagull ship captain spirit (who claims he's a bear, just like all of the other spirits you encounter), and interact with these cuddly spirits. I love how each of them are designed to look like the key feature of their sense of self. The post master spirit looks like a package. The crafter looks like a tape measure. The eco-conscious one is covered in bark. As mentioned, the sea captain is a seagull (although he'll swear he's a bear-bird). The first spirit you meet, and who is your main guide, is dressed as a park ranger. The spirit that sells you things is a fox. You can buy trinkets from the fox spirit that then unlocks into pet birds.
The whole thing was so cozy. I knew I needed to just own this game. I did wait until after Christmas, in case someone got it - or a Nintendo eShop gift card - for me. The other day, though, I noticed that I still had enough funds on my account to buy the game while it was on sale (under $10!), so I scooped it up. I now have both that and ACNH for cozy chill games to vibe with.
Getting back to what I've been doing this December. The week following all of the health scares - after I confirmed that everyone was good - was focused on getting ready for Christmas. Shopping. Watching Christmas movies. Prepping for goodies-making. Hubby put up our tree (after I bought a replacement tree that was WAY smaller than I had anticipated, so we ended up using the old one with burnt out lights and needles falling off of it....).
Then we had an odd week with Christmas breaking it in half. The start of the week was spent in that Christmas Crunch as you rush to get the last bits organized for the holiday. Then you have Christmas itself. And then you finish the week in that mental holiday hangover, where you have to get back to Life As Normal, but you're still kinda feeling the Christmas mood? So you don't really feel like doing much outside of watching more holiday movies. And you have to scramble to figure out where you're putting the new stuff you might have gotten for Christmas.
Speaking of, check out this AWESOME gift from Hubby! I have ALWAYS loved the look of pocket watches. Always wanted one.
Hubby knows how much I love pocket watches (especially with my love of Steampunk as well). We're also complete gamer nerds. So this was AH-MAZE-ING!
I have a mini dice carrier that looks like a pocket watch and its chain is long enough to be a necklace and I want to wear this EVERYWHERE and EVERY DAY and why can't I have more clothes that would match this aesthetic I am so mad that I can't wear this daily and AAAAAA~! I love it!
|
| Generated by Bitmoji |
Sprinkle in that, at work all month, I've actually had a series of projects to occupy my time. Which means I didn't have my normal downtime at work to do things like writing/plotting out stories. Granted, one of the projects I focused at work was something I came up with entirely on my own and is in no way pressing, but it was a crafting project that I've been meaning to do for at least a year now. Something that will help keep the store a bit more organized while giving a cleaner look than what we have been doing to keep the same things organized in the past. To be not so cryptic, I'm stitching together cloth holders for things that pair with some of our products. We have a lot of discontinued fabric that just keeps piling up, and I've wanted to make these holders for a while. So, might as well work my way through the discarded fabrics. Right? Buuuut, I can't bring in a whole sewing machine to sit on my desk. Instead, I'm hand-stitching everything. My manager is astounded. She's told me a few times that she can't believe I'm patient enough to keep working on this project of my own accord. It's fun, though. Relaxing. Allows me to do something with my hands besides typing on a keyboard or swiping on a phone. Breaks up my day a bit too since I can work on this project for however long I want.
I need to make something like 30 of these holders. I've completed 7. So this is going to be a LOOOOONG project, but it's been worth working on.
Long story short? I haven't touched my outline of Seduce with Caution all month. I haven't worked on the plot problems I've had for years. At best, I realized that I wanted to rework the first sex scene. It's fine. I might publish it on its own at some point. I just feel like, after working on You Pretended Not to Care, I have a better handle of a couple's first time together. Especially a couple like Marinette and Chat Noir.
So much for having the plot outline finalized so I could hit the ground running in 2025....
|
| Generated by Bitmoji |
Instead of working on my own stories, I've been consuming more of other people's. For one, I'm still reading Intensity by Zenmisery. She also gave us a surprise update for Dressed to Confess (the story that inspired my smut ML story in the first place, despite DtC not being smut itself). That was a fun almost-Christmas surprise! Zen also wrote a ML crossover fanfic with the Fallout franchise. I haven't taken the time to read that yet, but it's on my To Read list. Speaking of, I do also have another crossover fic on my list. That one is a crossover of Harry Potter and the PV versions of Ladybug and Chat Noir - namely Felix and Bridgette. I know, I know. I normally stay away from Harry Potter content. However, this story is written by a friend (who posted it anonymously, so I won't say who). I trust them, so it is on my list.
Point being, I'm pretty well fed in the fanfic department. That doesn't even include the HUNDREDS of ML fic that is probably uploaded damn near daily on AO3.
On top of all that, I have a slew of new Webtoon stories that I started reading, along with the list of ones I was already reading. I now have something like 18 series I'm semi-actively reading (two are Canvas, and so they only update about 2x per month, and 2 of the Webtoon Original stories are on hiatus). Plus, there's 3 series on Comikey that I'm invested in, even if I haven't gone back to read them in a little bit.
Now, normally, this is the point where I'll talk to you about the five new series I started up. However, I also recently noticed how much of my blog updates in 2024 were just me talking about these comics. No shade. Writers SHOULD read. One of the three stories I wrote last year was fanfic for one of the Webtoon series I was reading, for Pete's sake! It makes sense that I'd talk about what I'm reading within my blog (that is supposed to be) about writing.
That said, I feel like these updates are pretty epic enough without people who may not care about each thing I read having to slog through such a huge chunk of my updates on the off chance that I have more to say unrelated to reading after I'm done. Especially if my recommendations mean little-to-nothing. Maybe my readers are incapable or uninterested in getting an account with AO3 or Webtoon or Comikey to read what I am. Maybe I truly do have blog readers who just kind of sigh and quick scroll through all of my reading recaps. I mean, yeah, it's become a bit much. Especially since I seem to be adding more stories weekly!
So, I've decided to try something new for 2025. Introducing LycoRogue's Reading Corner!
|
| Generated by Bitmoji |
I'll still give a broad overview of my reading in my normal updates, much like I did here. I'll also give a bit more detail as needed should a particular story influence my writing. However, the bulk of me gushing about my latest reads - be they Webtoons, Comikey, fanfic, or professionally published novels - will now be in a separate update. I'm aiming to publish LycoRogue's Reading Corner around the 15th of each month, and then my monthly generic/writing updates around the last day of each month.
I do spend a great deal of time gathering up links and screenshots and the like for those "what am I reading now" chunks of my blog. It also takes a surprising amount of HTML editing to get it the format I prefer. Maybe if I break all that time off of my main blog updates I can actually publish those updates in the month they're for! Imagine!
So, keep an eye out for my inaugural LRRC post later this month! And my official January (life) update close to the 30th/31st.
Speaking of new things for 2025, it's already January (duh). Which means it's time for New Year's Resolutions! I'm going to be straight with you all. I have a list for my personal/home life that I'm not going to share, and my writing-focused one is just me giving another crack at the resolutions I came up with for 2024. I've made a few improvements between 2023 and 2024. I know a bit more about myself. I've grown. I've seen some of my pitfalls. I'm taking action to hopefully correct them (such as creating LRRC). Maybe 2025 will see better success in these resolutions.
How about a recap of those resolutions, since I stopped touching base REAL QUICK:
- Take another run at posting at least one blog update every month; 12 updates in total before the close of 2024
- Read an average of 7.5hrs per month (that's the equivalent of 15min per day for a 30-day month)
- Write Plagg-centric stories for the two Friday 13ths this year: September and December
- Publish at least one narrative each quarter of the year: 4 stories total; once every 3 months.
How well did I do with those goals in 2024?
|
| Generated by Bitmoji |
Resolution 1: Twelve monthly blog updates
Weeeeeellllll.... I got... Nine. With the exception of 2022 - which I skipped entirely - this is the fewest blog updates I have had in a single year ever since I started this blog! Well, I mean, I only had FIVE updates my debut year (2010), but I also didn't start up this blog until September, sooooooo.... That's MORE than one per month in 2010.... oof.
Resolution 2: Read an average of 7.5hrs per month
Oh, this one I actually did AMAZING with! It was a slow go, at first. Even those 15min/day was a hard sell. Now? I'm probably easily hitting that 7.5hr quota before the week is out! I'll pat myself on the back for this one.
Resolution 3: Celebrate Plagg Appreciation Day!
Ummmmmmmmmmmmm.... yeah.....
There were two Friday the 13ths in 2024. I missed both of them. Didn't even BOTHER to think of anything. I really do feel like the way season 5 went for the show, along with the year-long break between seasons, has really killed my drive. I don't even actively try to find the series to rewatch. That fifth season.... big sigh....
There is but ONE Friday the 13th in 2024. It is in June. So.... let's see if I can get back into the swing of things by then? Season 6 drops at the end of January, so here's hoping it brings back my love for the show and helps with inspiration for that June story.
Resolution 4: Publish 4 stories
I'll give myself a B- on this one. I lose marks because I only got out 3 instead of 4. I also lose marks because I didn't publish one seasonally. I only published during the 2nd quarter of the year. Which, in and of itself, was kind of impressive! I go from barely writing anything to writing three 4500+ word stories in back-to-back-to-back months! And two of those stories were over 7200 words long!?! I definitely earn back some serious points for that!
Also, I am STILL getting nearly-daily love for two out of the three stories! I'll talk more about my updated story stats below.
OK, so, what are my adjusted resolutions for 2025?
- Once more, I am trying for 12 updates before the conclusion of 2025. Plus my 12 LycoRogue's Reading Corner updates. Bringing me up to 24 in total! A big ask considering 2024's final record, but if I can at least get the monthly regular updates done then I'm good with not getting in all 12 LRRC updates.
- 1B - I'm also going to end each of my monthly updates with a blessing. Something I'm grateful for that month, or something that brought me joy. That way it will be easier for me to do an end-of-the-year recap and be able to keep it more positive. (speaking of, my 2024 recap is below)
- I'm upping my reading goal to roughly 1hr per day: 30hrs total per month. I'm gonna need to do some extra reading in February, and, alternatively, I'll have a buffer day every 31-day month, but overall I think it's doable and fair.
- 2B - Read at least one professionally published novel. I have at least 5 by Rick Riordan and another 3 by Kristin Cashore on my To Read list. Plus, I still haven't finished Ready Player Two. Maybe third time's the charm????
- Write a Plagg-centric story for Friday, June 13th.
- 3B - it felt weird having this one be the only resolution without a sub-resolution... so.... placeholder sub resolution!
- Trying yet again to publish at least one narrative each quarter of the year: 4 stories total; once every 3 months.
- 4B - Get either Seduce with Caution or One and the Same plotted out and ready to FINALLY get a completed first draft written up! The first draft itself doesn't need to be done in 2025 (although that IS a nice stretch goal!). I just want the OUTLINE finally polished by Dec 31, 2025 so I can get these dang stories written and published before they become decade-old WIPs!
|
| Generated by Bitmoji
Edited by LycoRogue |
That all feels a touch daunting given my current track record. I still want to try though. I really don't care if I fail at New Year's Resolutions. I just care if I put in the effort to grow in order to reach them. Ya know? So, let's grow to meet those resolutions!
I think a great place to start is, I guess, ending this update on a high note. I know that I haven't had the most positive updates in 2024. Even this update started off with a little bit of a bummer. That said, there were still some good things to happen during this dumpster fire of a year.
For one, my sister got married! And bought a house!
|
| Photo edited by LycoRogue
to protect the anonymity of my sister and brother-in-law |
(Tee hee. Any excuse to reuse that edit. I spent so much time on it, and I kinda love it!)
For two, I was able to cross off a few Bucket List items this year, and saw the awesome musical Hadestown.
For three, despite those health scares, everyone I love is doing well. Now for me to send some good vibes and healing energy to everyone so their mental health improves as well!
My fourth 2024 highlight? Well, as I mentioned, I REALLY got back into reading this year. I still need the visuals to really lock me in because my brain is too burnt out to properly imagine things, but it's a start. I'm able to transition back to solely prose writing in bites whenever I switch over to reading fanfiction. I'll get there. I'm heading in the right direction at least.
Finally, I feel blessed with how well two out of the three stories I posted this year have been doing. Honestly, given how small and diminishing the Hailey's On It! fandom seems to be, I'm a bit bummed, but I'm not even mad at Scott's List Item not doing too well. It's a niche story, I guess. Along with my Enderverse and LoZ ones.
Back to the other two though! Going in reverse, we have the lone entry into the ML fandom I had this year. A fanfic of a fanfic.
I Think I Like You
(Maybe More Than I Should)Previous Stats
AO3: 1361 hits, 148 kudos, 19 bookmarks, and 10 comments
FFN: 357 views, 11 faves, 5 follows, and 3 reviews
DA: 1100 views, but no other engagement
Total Results: 2818 hits/views, 159 kudos/faves, 24 bookmarks/follows, and 13 comments/reviews
Tumblr Notes: 12 total; 6 likes and 2 reblogs off of my post, plus 3 likes and 1 reblog off Ladynoir AO3 Feed's post
Current (at time of publishing) Stats
AO3: 1504 hits, 171 kudos, 19 bookmarks, and 10 comments
FFN: 391 views, 11 faves, 5 follows, and 3 reviews
DA: 1200 views, but no other engagement
Total Results: 3095 hits/views, 182 kudos/faves, 24 bookmarks/follows, and 13 comments/reviews
Tumblr Notes: 12 total; 6 likes and 2 reblogs off of my post, plus 3 likes and 1 reblog off Ladynoir AO3 Feed's post
Growth: 277 hits/views, 23 kudos/faves. No new bookmarks/follows, comments, or Tumblr notes
As you can see, this story is finally starting to wind down in popularity, I think. Getting buried under the hundreds of newer ML content. I mean, I don't know if there's a way to sort by content total on AO3 the way you can on FFN, but ML currently has nearly 75,000 different works on AO3!!!! I guess it can be understandable (although still a little depressing) that my stuff gets buried and rarely seen/never recommended.
I do also have to give a long side-eye to some of those stats. I hate how much the internet has become overrun by bots. I can't trust pretty much ANY of those 1200 views on DA since there is no other engagement outside of one comment telling me it's cute. Especially since I just liked (and quickly un-liked) a gorgeous image of Marinette at a New Years Masquerade party... which I then discovered was AI generated.... YOU CAN'T APPRECIATE ANYTHING AT FACE VALUE ANYMORE! IT'S ALL LIES! Screw the old joke that there's no females online. I'm beginning to wonder if there's even any people online anymore.....
Along those lines, I'm also squinting hard at those 268 new hits (mostly on AO3) and 23 new kudos (exclusively AO3) with no other new engagement. Especially since a LOT of my notifications for those kudos said that they were done by a "guest". Like, I REALLY want to keep my account unlocked so people without an AO3 account, such as my family, can still read my posts. But I can't keep wondering if I'm just popular among bots because the engagement with my works just isn't there.
Remember what I wrote last time about needing feedback and engagement? Yeah, this is another reason. Let me know you're not a bot, please. Consider leaving even a little heart emoji in the comments my way of putting up a captcha.
OH! Fun note! I googled "captcha" to make sure I spelled it correctly. In doing so, I discovered what the acronym stands for: Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart. How labored is that acronym? I love it! So ridiculous!
Back to ITILY. I actually wrote down which stories got kudos on a calendar. I was going to make a graphic to show here, but I was using up way too much time trying to format it so it was readable when most people will be reading this blog in a profile view as opposed to a landscape view. (Trying to sort out the graphic is probably one of the reasons this update is late...)
Long and short, I was getting notifications for both ITILY and You Pretended Not to Care so frequently still that I just straight up wrote those two stories down every day, and then just checked them off if I actually got a notification that they got a kudos. Between my last stats update (November 19th) and today, the longest time between ITILY getting kudos was only 9 days! The average was only 3 days before I got another kudos notification. I also got kudos back-to-back-to-back on that fic between November 21st and 23rd. For a story within the ML fandom to still get noticed that frequently half-a-year later is truly a blessing. Thank you to everyone who has read this fic, as well as those still finding and reading it.
|
| Generated by Bitmoji |
Now for the greatest writing blessing for me this year:
You Pretended Not To Care
Previous Stats
AO3: 2477 hits, 217 kudos, 31 bookmarks, and 11 comments
DA: 208 views, but still no other engagement
Total Results: 2685 views, 217 kudos, 31 bookmarks, and 11 comments
Tumblr Notes: 26 total; 22 likes and 4 reblogs
Current (at time of publishing) Stats
AO3: 2946 hits, 245 kudos, 33 bookmarks, and 15* comments
DA: 246 views, but still no other engagement
Total Results: 3192 views, 245 kudos, 33 bookmarks, and 15* comments
Tumblr Notes: 30 total; 26 likes and 4 reblogs
Growth: 507 views, 28 kudos, 2 bookmarks, 4* comments, and 4 Tumblr likes
New AO3 Reviews:
- 💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚
- I love this!!! I love their relationship so much!!!
- Omg I loved this! Thank you for this. I enjoyed reading this, especially their inner monologues.
- *[A review in someone else's comment section; see below]
See? That last portion there? Especially the one where it's just a line of green heart emojis? That's the stuff! Even though YPNTC has had more views than ITILY (despite YPNTC not being on FFN) I don't feel the need to side-eye it as much.
For one, while I would expect the smut story to be liked by a bunch of guest accounts (so that there's no record that they looked at smut), I actually get a surprising number of logged-in AO3 users leaving me kudos. Thank you, brave readers, for staying logged in while consuming my story, and leaving me love while still under your AO3 handle. I appreciate the gesture so much!
For two, people are still bookmarking my story or liking it on Tumblr. Even if they don't leave a comment, the fact that they bookmarked my story proves to me that they're not a bot, and gives me extra butterflies that they want to make sure they can go back and re-find my story at any time. As for Tumblr? Sure, there's bots there. Sure, they frequently like posts as a way of tricking people into believing they're real. But to only have 26 likes - 2 from my friends, and 3 more also reblogging my story after liking it - that feels too small of an interaction pool to attract bots. I could be wrong, but it feels like these stats are more reliable for those reasons.
Third, COMMENTS! People are still COMMENTING! The story is over seven months old, and yet I'm STILL getting love in the comments! Granted, this fandom has maybe 30 stories in it, so people are probably starving for content. But still, that doesn't guarantee the starving readers are going to leave a comment after.
I dunno, just, all-in-all, these stats for YPNTC feel more reliably "real" than the ones for ITILY.
Also, side note on the whole "for reals, comments mean THE WORLD" thing. One of the things that both MostLovedGirl and zenmisery have repetitively told me is how much they look forward to my comments. I think my comments - and then me replying to their replies to my comments - is what really opened the door to us becoming friends. Along those lines, I recently got this author reply from PeachesOfZenith for a comment I had left on their story Killian's Passion:
Oh my god thank you so so much! This comment made my day! I have reread this comment like 5 times already and I can't stop grinning and blushing like an idiot (my sister is looking at me like I am crazy 😅)
I am so glad that this was more than just smut to you and my attempt at understanding his character development actually came through.
[Redacted for story spoilers]
Your comment made me soo happy! 😭
I love your feedback and will keep it in mind!
Also I haven't stopped writing, it is just on hold because life I guess 😅
But I am working on some Under The Oak Tree fan fiction!
If you have any ideas for this fandom or any other fandom, please let me know! I will always appreciate any ideas or feedback!
Thanks again! May this new year be happy and healthy for you and your loved ones! ❤️
Like, wow! I never would have imagined that my comments would make such a huge impact, and I'm someone who believes in leaving comments SPECIFICALLY because it truly helps encourage the writer. I am now the one grinning like an idiot because it made my day that something I said lifted someone else up that much.
THAT CAN BE YOU! YOU CAN BE THAT PERSON LIFTING OTHERS! JUST LEAVE A COMMENT WHEN YOU READ ONLINE FICTION! PLEASE!
Naturally, I had to respond to PeachesOfZenith's reply. How could I NOT after THAT!? We have a bit of a back-and-forth going on now. While I won't go so far as to say that Peaches and I are now online friends, it is very reminiscent of how I became friends with MLG, Zenmisery, Taurus Pixie, and MalcomReynolds. So, that's fun! Anyway, in one of Peaches' replies they unofficially left ME a review!
Also I read your fic (although I didn't know it was you until now)
It was great and made sense, you know? I loved that it wasn't just Killian being amazing right off the bat, but instead him learning as he goes forward. It was good! I have read it more than a couple of times already! 😆
Also I really like the past[sic] where [Redacted due to mild spoiler]. Kinda felt a tiny bit sadistic from his side lol. Loved that!
EEEEEEE! How cool is this!?! Man! I love how much love this story is getting!
Along those lines, between November 19th and December 16th I never went more then 2 days without a new kudos notification for YPNTC! In total, since November 19th, I've received at least one new kudos for this story on 17 different days. Granted, that means it HAS slowed down from "nearly daily" since mid-December. Even so, getting a kudos notification 17 days out of 48 is still a 35% rate! And I got 27 new kudos within those 17 days, which means, on multiple occasions, multiple people were leaving me a kudos on the same day. Again, not too shabby of stats given the story is 7 months old.
That said, my story is also hands down the longest one-shot within the fandom and the 3rd-longest overall, at least on AO3. It's also the one with the most bookmarks, the most kudos, and the most comments within this small fandom on AO3.
Maybe my problem really IS that the Miraculous fandom is just too large????
The only story within the Not Your Typical Reincarnation Story fandom on AO3 that has more hits is a story I haven't read yet because it claims it has spoilers, and I don't know how far into the overall story I'd need to be for this fanfic to not spoil anything. They apparently use the name "Rhyse" instead of "Lizé" in the fic, which seems to imply that they are using the Webtoon adaptation for the naming cues (as opposed to the English translations of the webnovel, which use "Lizé"). That doesn't mean the author didn't write with knowledge of the completed novel and therefore would be giving novel spoilers to us manhwa readers.... Sooo, yeah, long story short, I'm avoiding the story that surpasses mine in hits: identidem by Musky_Potato. At least, for now. I may loop back to it once NYTRS concludes on Webtoon.
Anyway, the stats for YPNTC are just as awesome if you simply look at MY writing!
You Pretended Not to Care is my 5th most viewed story (out of 52)! The ones that have more AO3 hits?
- Peeping Tomcat
- 14,937 hits
- ML fic with 17 chapters (and each chapter would add a new hit for each reader), is over 84k words long, and was published over six years ago!
- (Oh, lord, that means One and the Same has been in the works for nearly 7 years!?!)
- Could Your Paradise Also Be Your Hell?
- 8,532 hits
- A one-shot fanfic of a fanfic. ML fandom, based off of MLG's chaptered fic Remember That Time When... (which has over 66k hits!), was published nearly 4yrs ago, and is one of my shorter stories - for people who can't dedicate hours to reading fanfic.
- Woven Heartstrings
- 6,948 hits
- Christmas ML fic (that is surprisingly popular OUTSIDE of the holiday season) with 8 chapters, is 32k words long, and was published just shy of 6yrs ago
- Prescription for Love
- 3,413 hits
- Yet another ML fanfic. It has 9 chapters and is 19k words long. It's a companion story of an episode, and was published 5yrs ago.
Those stories are in a huge fandom (as I lamented earlier), and have had YEARS to build up views! YPNTC is less than 500 views shy of Prescription for Love!
In case that wasn't impressive enough, YPNTC also has the 5th highest kudos count! You may recognize the only other stories above it:
- Woven Heartstrings
- 555 kudos
- Could Your Paradise Also Be Your Hell?
- A nice, even 500 kudos!
- Peeping Tomcat
- 435 kudos
- I Was Thinking Of You
- 312 kudos
- A newcomer in this line-up
- ML fandom yet again. Only 3500 words. Published 5yrs ago
At less than a year old, YPNTC is only 68 kudos shy of matching I Was Thinking of You. Again, a story that has had FIVE YEARS to get as many kudos!
YPNTC does dip a touch when it comes to number of comments, but is still in the top 15! Also, while you can only leave one kudos per story, you can leave one new comment (if not more) per chapter. So, chaptered stories are going to have higher opportunities to have more comments.
The breakdown is:
- Peeping Tomcat
- 39 comments
- Woven Heartstrings
- 37 comments
- Perfect Doesn't Need to be Perfect
- 35 comments
- Another ML Christmas fic, but also a fanfic of a fanfic. It's 12 chapters and 37k words long. Published 4yrs ago
- Prescription for Love
- 31 comments
- Hearts Together
- 25 comments
- Fanfic in the Fruits Basket fandom this time; 7 chapters, and 11k words. Published 5yrs ago
- Love Square Fluff Week 2020
- 20 comments
- Abandoned ML fic that still managed 5 chapters and 18k words. Published shy of 5yrs ago
- Marinette's Song
- 18 comments
- ML fanfic Valentine's Day exchange; 7 chapters and just shy of 11k words long. Published shy of 5yrs ago
- I Was Thinking of You
- 17 comments
- First one-shot on this list
- Forever in Darkness
- 15 comments
- ML one-shot that's 4700 words long and published 5yrs ago
- Could Your Paradise Also Be Your Hell?
- also 15 comments
- Is It True?
- another 15 comments story
- ML one-shot with only 937 words that was published shy of 4yrs ago
- You Pretended Not to Care
- 14 comments
- Rolling Thunder
- 11 comments
- ML one-shot of another MLG fanfic. It's 4600 words long and was published a little over 2 years ago.
Yeah! Check that out! Could your Paradise Also Be Your Hell?, Forever in Darkness, and Is It True? all had YEARS to build up those comments, and I'm just 1 away from YPNTC matching them! Conversely, Rolling Thunder had roughly 18 months more than YPNTC to garner comments, and yet it is 3 shy. On top of all that, only four one-shots have more comments than YPNTC! I'm floored!
Comparatively, I Think I Like You (Maybe More Than I Should) is the 11th highest for my kudos count, 16th most-viewed, and 18th with regards to comments. It was also posted a month after YPNTC and has to compete with over 70K other fanfics within the ML fandom. Not too shabby there either.
I mean, you could see above that my numbers aren't over-all impressive. My most-viewed story hasn't even reached 20k hits, but MLG's story is already over 66k! And she's not even one of the Big Creators that everyone follows and reads! Only 14k hits for me? Pssh, drop in a bucket!
Still, I'm impressed with how well my stories are doing anyway. ESPECIALLY You Pretended Not to Care. I just need to get more eyes on my work as a whole, somehow...
Now, to finish up, my blessing for December. I did recap 2024, but this will be for December specifically.
|
| Generated by Bitmoji |
- My family member is perfectly fine now (which is a blessing in and of itself), but her health scare did help lead me and Hubby towards being more serious about our own health goals.
- We also got to spend time with our niece and nephew (and hubby's sister) even if briefly over Christmas.
- My online friend is still with us, and she made sure to check in with me to let me know that she's alright. I hope her road to recovery is relatively smooth and short.
And, with that, I will leave you for a week or two. I hope to see you again on the 15th for LycoRogue's Reading Corner!
|
| Generated by Bitmoji |
