Fic Retrospectives (2019)
Feb. 8th, 2022 07:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jajalalaThe 2019 fic retrospective! That year is when I started getting really into fic writing, including some bigger multichapters (and smut oneshots)
She-ra and the Princesses of Power
A Scorpion Among Roses
November 2018-March 2019
My first completed multichapter! I was very proud when I finished. From what I recall, there was a tumblr I was following at the time that said it would be very cute if Perfuma and Scorpia interacted... They both are often doing their best to make the people around them happy, and despite being on opposite sides seem compatible. I don't remember exactly who the tumblr was that first inspired me, but I remember one time seeing an anon tell them about this Scorfuma fic called "A Scorpion Among Roses"... I felt a little famous seeing my own work pop up on my dashboard, but the blogger ended up responding something along the lines of: "Yeah I saw it, it looked cute but it was too horny for me." Alas! It made me a little sad that the person who inspired the fic didn't like reading it, but it was a fair assessment. Quite a bit of my writing is not friendly to those who aren't down to be a lil horny, even the teen-rated ones like this can get a bit spicy.
When I wrote this, Scorpia and Perfuma had not interacted in canon (this was started only a week or two post season one) but that has never stopped me. I remember this fic got a distinct jump in comments/kudos after the last season of She-ra came out, when the two of them had some significant screentime together. Made me feel quite happy, almost like I had manifested their eventual interaction and getting along.
This was also the first fic I got fanart for!!! Truly a blessed and special feeling... That someone felt so compelled by the words I put on a screen that they put in the work to make art for it? Wonderful. That actually made me feel like a superstar.
I haven't reread this for a long time, and honestly I'm a little scared too. It's on the older side, and although there's "plot" it's mostly an excuse to let the two girls interact. I really didn't think too far ahead on this one, but I'm still proud of me for finishing it!
Handcuffs Aren't Meant to be Used Like This
September 2019
Ahaha not too much to say on this, but I will say: Adora as a sub? I want it. She might be She-ra, but the only person who she would let herself be dominated by is Catra.
Miraculous Ladybug
Do You Want Me to Prove It To You?
May 2019
Eeek my first smut. As I said, I'm horny at heart, sometimes I wanna think about how two characters would fuck. And Chloé/Marinette is a delightfully spicy combo with their usual animosity. This is def porny, but it's also intentionally a bit educational... women's orgasms are often misunderstood, and I thought it would be kind of hilarious to explore Chloé reaching adulthood and having had sex but still believing female orgasms aren't real. She strikes me as the kind of person who wouldn't research that sort of thing, and would assume her experiences are universal. And as fun as penetration is, I think it's valuable to recognize and accept that it's not always the ideal method to orgasm, and that you can have a sexy spicy time with just the power of the clit.
Miraculous Nights
August 2019
Yet again, the Marinette/Chloé continues its hold on me. And the idea of Chloé bullying Marinette because she secretly likes her, and holding onto that secret crush all the way to adulthood... hoo boy. Not much else to say on this one, but I love a haughty girl secretly wanting to be dominated. Absolutely prime spicy vibes.
Chloé Noir
July 2019-August 2019
This is one of my big beloved fics. I craved Chloé development, and I forget exactly where canon was at the time, but we were at least two seasons in, and there were some hints towards a possible Chloé redemption that had me hopeful, but canon just never seemed willing to stick the landing and allow her to develop. I had thought Chloé as Chat Noir would be funny for a long time... The lovesquare is fun, but ultimately it's friends or crushes whichever angle you take. I thought the idea of Chloé being Chat Noir and in love with Ladybug (who is also her civilian nemesis) was particularly engaging, but couldn't think of how to justify her keeping her identity a secret when she immediately showed her bee miraculous... Then I was like "Haha what if she was embarrassed by the Chat Noir outfit? And so doesn't want anyone to know it's her?" That was justification enough for me to start writing.
I wrote this during one summer; I was working at two jobs, but the morning/afternoon job had a lot of downtime, and I would do the most embarrassing thing... I would pretend to write an email in case a coworker passed by and looked over my shoulder, but the email would just be me writing for this fic... I think I also would write on my phone on the bus between work and home sometimes too. Looking at the publishing dates, I'm kind of like "Huh?" at seeing it only spanned a little over a month. I'm like "I did all that in one month?? What the fuck?" but I think I started a buffer at the beginning, so I probably started writing a little earlier than I started publishing. I do remember promising to myself I would post every 1-3 days, preferably 1-2... and somehow that worked. I think it helped a lot that the bulk of the early chapters was just rehashing the canon events, with things sort of just shifted to the left a bit with Chloé in Adrien's place.
There was one particularly critical comment I received partway in (I think seven or eight chapters or so?), a long critique that boiled down to "It's pretty boring that this is just canon again but with Chloé as Chat Noir, a lot of the dialogue is the same, and it just kind of feels like rewatching the episode." Though it hurt a bit to read, to be honest it was pretty accurate, and it made me properly consider more where I could skim over the canon details, and encouraged me to expand on those unique scenes I could write. After marinating over it for a day or two, I almost went back to thank that person, but then they had deleted their comment. I suppose they must have felt bad for being critical, but it worked out for me!
I can't deny I love identity shenanigans. It's what attracted me to Miraculous Ladybug in the first place, and I loved playing with Chloé being in love with Ladybug while hating Marinette for this fic. The slow burn and breakdown of those feelings into fondness was a delight to write. Trying to keep Chloé in character while still allowing her to develop and become a better person was also a delicate challenge, but I did my best. On a more broad level, I just love when femslash is more than just "these two girls like each other teehee fluff." I want the same juice and engagement and plot that you get from canon, or from any typical M/M shipfic. When I first searched up Chloenette fics, I couldn't find much with meat for me to bite into, and that's also part of why I wrote this. It's a long fic centered around Chloé, but it also gives space and time to develop her relationship with Marinette.
This is one of my most popular fics (definitely my most popular for Miraculous Ladybug), and I can see why. It's canonverse, pretty wedded to canon events but also diverges at a point, includes Chloé redemption (which not everyone is into, but those who are must go to fanworks as the show refuses to entertain the thought), was released post season two or so when there was still decent hype around the show, and during its run had new chapters released very frequently to keep engagement high. I've had multiple people tell me that the fic made them start shipping Chloenette, and recently when I joined a Chloenette discord server... Ahahah I felt like quite the celebrity when the people there were like ":O You're JajaLala? Like... the JajaLala who wrote Chloé Noir??"
I'm glad people like it, as it's one I like a lot too! Turns out when you write self-indulgent stuff, others may want to indulge. It's one of those ones that I go back and reread at times to really appreciate how much it's written to my tastes. This was also my first fic that was over a NaNoWriMo (50k) in length! Makes me feel accomplished.
So overall a pretty productive year!! I got into spicy oneshots, but I also learned the joys of updating regularly for a multichapter with an engaged audience. This is where I started to get my footing and started learning the value of buffers, scheduling, and just general management.
She-ra and the Princesses of Power
A Scorpion Among Roses
November 2018-March 2019
My first completed multichapter! I was very proud when I finished. From what I recall, there was a tumblr I was following at the time that said it would be very cute if Perfuma and Scorpia interacted... They both are often doing their best to make the people around them happy, and despite being on opposite sides seem compatible. I don't remember exactly who the tumblr was that first inspired me, but I remember one time seeing an anon tell them about this Scorfuma fic called "A Scorpion Among Roses"... I felt a little famous seeing my own work pop up on my dashboard, but the blogger ended up responding something along the lines of: "Yeah I saw it, it looked cute but it was too horny for me." Alas! It made me a little sad that the person who inspired the fic didn't like reading it, but it was a fair assessment. Quite a bit of my writing is not friendly to those who aren't down to be a lil horny, even the teen-rated ones like this can get a bit spicy.
When I wrote this, Scorpia and Perfuma had not interacted in canon (this was started only a week or two post season one) but that has never stopped me. I remember this fic got a distinct jump in comments/kudos after the last season of She-ra came out, when the two of them had some significant screentime together. Made me feel quite happy, almost like I had manifested their eventual interaction and getting along.
This was also the first fic I got fanart for!!! Truly a blessed and special feeling... That someone felt so compelled by the words I put on a screen that they put in the work to make art for it? Wonderful. That actually made me feel like a superstar.
I haven't reread this for a long time, and honestly I'm a little scared too. It's on the older side, and although there's "plot" it's mostly an excuse to let the two girls interact. I really didn't think too far ahead on this one, but I'm still proud of me for finishing it!
Handcuffs Aren't Meant to be Used Like This
September 2019
Ahaha not too much to say on this, but I will say: Adora as a sub? I want it. She might be She-ra, but the only person who she would let herself be dominated by is Catra.
Miraculous Ladybug
Do You Want Me to Prove It To You?
May 2019
Eeek my first smut. As I said, I'm horny at heart, sometimes I wanna think about how two characters would fuck. And Chloé/Marinette is a delightfully spicy combo with their usual animosity. This is def porny, but it's also intentionally a bit educational... women's orgasms are often misunderstood, and I thought it would be kind of hilarious to explore Chloé reaching adulthood and having had sex but still believing female orgasms aren't real. She strikes me as the kind of person who wouldn't research that sort of thing, and would assume her experiences are universal. And as fun as penetration is, I think it's valuable to recognize and accept that it's not always the ideal method to orgasm, and that you can have a sexy spicy time with just the power of the clit.
Miraculous Nights
August 2019
Yet again, the Marinette/Chloé continues its hold on me. And the idea of Chloé bullying Marinette because she secretly likes her, and holding onto that secret crush all the way to adulthood... hoo boy. Not much else to say on this one, but I love a haughty girl secretly wanting to be dominated. Absolutely prime spicy vibes.
Chloé Noir
July 2019-August 2019
This is one of my big beloved fics. I craved Chloé development, and I forget exactly where canon was at the time, but we were at least two seasons in, and there were some hints towards a possible Chloé redemption that had me hopeful, but canon just never seemed willing to stick the landing and allow her to develop. I had thought Chloé as Chat Noir would be funny for a long time... The lovesquare is fun, but ultimately it's friends or crushes whichever angle you take. I thought the idea of Chloé being Chat Noir and in love with Ladybug (who is also her civilian nemesis) was particularly engaging, but couldn't think of how to justify her keeping her identity a secret when she immediately showed her bee miraculous... Then I was like "Haha what if she was embarrassed by the Chat Noir outfit? And so doesn't want anyone to know it's her?" That was justification enough for me to start writing.
I wrote this during one summer; I was working at two jobs, but the morning/afternoon job had a lot of downtime, and I would do the most embarrassing thing... I would pretend to write an email in case a coworker passed by and looked over my shoulder, but the email would just be me writing for this fic... I think I also would write on my phone on the bus between work and home sometimes too. Looking at the publishing dates, I'm kind of like "Huh?" at seeing it only spanned a little over a month. I'm like "I did all that in one month?? What the fuck?" but I think I started a buffer at the beginning, so I probably started writing a little earlier than I started publishing. I do remember promising to myself I would post every 1-3 days, preferably 1-2... and somehow that worked. I think it helped a lot that the bulk of the early chapters was just rehashing the canon events, with things sort of just shifted to the left a bit with Chloé in Adrien's place.
There was one particularly critical comment I received partway in (I think seven or eight chapters or so?), a long critique that boiled down to "It's pretty boring that this is just canon again but with Chloé as Chat Noir, a lot of the dialogue is the same, and it just kind of feels like rewatching the episode." Though it hurt a bit to read, to be honest it was pretty accurate, and it made me properly consider more where I could skim over the canon details, and encouraged me to expand on those unique scenes I could write. After marinating over it for a day or two, I almost went back to thank that person, but then they had deleted their comment. I suppose they must have felt bad for being critical, but it worked out for me!
I can't deny I love identity shenanigans. It's what attracted me to Miraculous Ladybug in the first place, and I loved playing with Chloé being in love with Ladybug while hating Marinette for this fic. The slow burn and breakdown of those feelings into fondness was a delight to write. Trying to keep Chloé in character while still allowing her to develop and become a better person was also a delicate challenge, but I did my best. On a more broad level, I just love when femslash is more than just "these two girls like each other teehee fluff." I want the same juice and engagement and plot that you get from canon, or from any typical M/M shipfic. When I first searched up Chloenette fics, I couldn't find much with meat for me to bite into, and that's also part of why I wrote this. It's a long fic centered around Chloé, but it also gives space and time to develop her relationship with Marinette.
This is one of my most popular fics (definitely my most popular for Miraculous Ladybug), and I can see why. It's canonverse, pretty wedded to canon events but also diverges at a point, includes Chloé redemption (which not everyone is into, but those who are must go to fanworks as the show refuses to entertain the thought), was released post season two or so when there was still decent hype around the show, and during its run had new chapters released very frequently to keep engagement high. I've had multiple people tell me that the fic made them start shipping Chloenette, and recently when I joined a Chloenette discord server... Ahahah I felt like quite the celebrity when the people there were like ":O You're JajaLala? Like... the JajaLala who wrote Chloé Noir??"
I'm glad people like it, as it's one I like a lot too! Turns out when you write self-indulgent stuff, others may want to indulge. It's one of those ones that I go back and reread at times to really appreciate how much it's written to my tastes. This was also my first fic that was over a NaNoWriMo (50k) in length! Makes me feel accomplished.
So overall a pretty productive year!! I got into spicy oneshots, but I also learned the joys of updating regularly for a multichapter with an engaged audience. This is where I started to get my footing and started learning the value of buffers, scheduling, and just general management.
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