the Dalaverse

I would like you to know that this took me four hours. Straight through.

Total word count: 72,904
Average word count: 1104.6


Ready? Deep breath now...
Last Request
(Jack/Will), 01/02, 1751 words
These Exiled Years (Jack/James), 01/20, 776 words
Anamaria Explains It All (Anamaria/Will, Jack/Will), 01/23, 3665
Flights of Fancy ("Jack"/"James", Will/Jack, James/Groves), 02/06, 1165
Crumbs From Your Table (Jack/James), 02/16, 792
(in a batch here, 02/18)
Lookout (Gibbs/Cotton), 137
Closer to the Vest (Gibbs gen), 354
Challenge (Dauntless/Pearl), 212
Caught By the Shore (Anamaria/Sea), 149
Slake (Barbossa/OFC), 334
Foundation
(Norrington/Groves/Gillette), 02/21, 944
(batch here, 02/21
A Lifetime In Moments (Jack/Pearl), 452
First Light (James gen), 334
Sidhe (Gillette/Dauntless), 310
(batch here, 02/23)
Respite (Archie/Bush/Horatio), 477
The Waiting (Is the Hardest Part) (James/Will), 274
Gentleman or Pirate (Will gen), 307
Maiden Voyage (James/Dauntless, Elizabeth, Gibbs, Swann gen), 02/23, 939
Stories for Boys (Norrington/Groves/Gillette), 02/23, 3877
Reflection
(Jack/Will/Elizabeth), 03/09, 367
Regarding Late Suppers and Solace (Norrington/Groves), 03/23, 2076
Brilliant Diguise (Jack/Will modern AU), 03/28, 4548
All the Riches
(Will/Elizabeth), 03/28, 2311
Make You Mine (Jack/Will modern AU), 03/30, 2376
Before the World Was Made (Jack/James), 04/01, 453
Where We Were Still (Norrington/Groves/Gillette), 04/03, 3888
A Second to Say Goodbye (Norrington/Groves/Gillette), 04/06, 3387
Pride
(Norrington/Groves/Gillette), 04/07, 2934
Too Many Cooks In the Kitchen (Jack/Will modern AU), 04/10, 1927
Likeness
(James/Will/Elizabeth), 04/17, 409
Rescue Blues
(Jack/Elizabeth), 04/20, 740
Hide Yours With Mine (GG; Rory/Paris), 04/26, 570
Feel It Turn
(Will/James), 05/05, 898
Touch, Feel, and Lose (Jack/James), 05/12, 1168
Silk
(KoH; Balian/Sibylla, Balian gen), 05/19, 353
Delicious Ambiguity (Jack/Will), 05/31, 711
Negotiations
(Jack/Elizabeth), 07/01, 238
Midnight Sun
(Jack/James), 07/01, 271
Five Ways to Wear a Green Ribbon (James/Elizabeth, James/Will, James/Jack), 07/03, 3001
By Nature Moved (Norrington/James/Gillette), 07/12, 230
Safety In Numbers (HP; Harry/Ron/Hermione), 07/18, 471
A Bit of Luck
(Norrington/Groves), 07/18, 372
His Banner Over Me (Jack/Will), 07/19, 402
Back Door Man (Jack/Will, Jack/Will/Elizabeth), 07/24, 614
Jealousy Turning Saints Into the Sea (Jack/Will), 07/25, 352
Detente
(Gillette/Anamaria), 07/25, 935
What Is and What Should Never Be (James/Will), 08/13, 1141
Settling
(Will/Elizabeth/James), 08/29, 5326
Refrain
(Cotton gen), 09/17, 462
Change In the Wind (Will/Elizabeth, Jack/James, Will/Jack, Elizabeth/James), 10/23, 1495
Collection
(Jack/Will/Elizabeth), 10/23, 237
The End of All Things (KoH; Balian gen), 283
Patience
(Horatio/Archie), 10/24, 230
Ships In the Night
(Jack/James), 10/25, 730
Things That Go Bump In the Night (Jack/Will), 10/27, 831
Linger
(James, Barbossa gen), 10/31, 1203
Hair of the Dog (Jack/Will, Jack/Will/Groves/Gillette modern AU) 11/01, 419
A Penitent Man (Jack/Groves), 11/07, 958
Treasure Just to Look Upon It (Jack/James), 11/08, 526
The Bootheels of Your Prime (Jack/James), 11/13, 1279
Bargaining Chip (Elizabeth, Jack), 12/01, 216
Share and Share Alike (James/Will/Elizabeth), 12/04, 238
Here We Come A-Wandering (Norrington/Groves/Gillette), 12/05, 754
Possession
(Jack/Elizabeth/Anamaria, Gillette/Groves, Will/James), 12/10, 976
Waiting (Bound to Meet You) (James/Will, James/Will/Elizabeth), 12/18, 694
The Son Never Shines (Jack/Will), 12/28, 1542

My favorite story while I was writing it: "Delicious Ambiguity," because it was an angle on the J/W ship I had never seen before
My best story of the year: tie (one long, one short) between "Pride" and "Linger"
The one most underappreciated by the universe: "Last Request." Going solely by the comments, hardly anybody noticed it...
Most fun story: tie between "Flights of Fancy" and the Kiltverse
The story that wrote itself: "Here We Come A-Wandering" -- I was struggling with it until our narrator introduced herself, and then she just ran with it
Sexiest story: "His Banner Over Me" for my bulletproof religion-kink. Or the cookie porn in "Too Many Cooks."
Single sexiest moment: Empath!James honing in on Jack's last night on earth in "Touch, Feel, and Lose." Lust.

Even as his jaw dropped in shock, he felt Sparrow’s thoughts throb like a heartbeat, slow and steady beneath his own. He held a hand over his mouth and dug his fingernails into mortar and brick.

If he strained his ears, he could hear it – Sparrow shifting on the hard floor, the faintest of gasps. From the way his desire suddenly spiked, he had to be touching himself. Norrington imagined him in the dark cell, head thrown back, teeth bared, hips bucking under his own caress....He could taste the man, smell his salt and tar, feel his thighs tighten and spasm as climax struck hard and true. And Sparrow would say to him –

“Commodore,” came the strained whisper from the cell, and Norrington’s vision shattered into white.
Hardest story to write: the earthquake fic, even though none of it is up yet. From these choices, probably "Regarding Late Suppers and Solace," because it took me a long time to get into the rhythm of the second half.
"Holy crap, that's wrong, even for you!" story: I dunno, that'd be better for you guys to answer. Either "The Son Never Shines" or the hanging of pirate!Elizabeth section of "Five Ways to Wear a Green Ribbon," perhaps?
Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: the Brothers in Arms series. I understood Gillette even when I didn't particularly like him, Groves became the voice in the back of my head, and Norrington spread his wings.
Biggest disappointment: "Possession," for no other reason than it reminds me how I've neglected that universe and its planned storyline. Also the still WiP statuses of the earthquake fic, BiA, and "Nothing New Under the Sun."
Biggest surprise: "Anamaria Explains It All." First-person Anamaria, explicit hetsex, and with Will? Knock me over with a feather.
Most unintentionally "telling" story: there's a lot of my own adolescent angst, romantic or otherwise, in BiA
What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January 2005? pairing -- Gillette/Anamaria ("Detente"). Fandom -- I never would've thought I'd get sucked back into HP, however briefly ("Safety In Numbers").
Did you take any writing risks this year? I tried both first-person and second-person POV, neither of which is common in PotC. I dipped my toes back into HP, although I didn't post it anywhere else. "Change In the Wind" was a bit different for me stylistically, and I think the attempt to shove history and movie canon together in the earthquake fic is slightly risky.
What did you learn this year? My writing's pretty spread out through the year, except that I did write a lot in February, March, and April. I like to be challenged and it can produce some of my best work. I need to not give up so easily and force myself through the dry spells, because it can be done and is sometimes just as rewarding as a really good creative buzz.

I love talking about myself :)