Fanfic Goals 2025

[Negrek]

Happy new year, everyone! Or... happy two weeks past the new year, anyway. Perhaps a goal for me can be to be more on top of this sort of thread next year.

Anyway, feel free to discuss your fanfic goals for the upcoming year, or simply post them here for a bit of public accountability. I have some big ones this year:

- First, I want to finally finish my big chapterfic, Salvage! I've been working on it, in one form or another, for around seventeen years now. I love it dearly, but it's time to let it go and move on to other things! There are a lot of big moments in store for this last section of the fic, so I hope readers will enjoy the run-up to the big finale.

- Second, I want to get at least 150k words written on the original story I've been picking away at. I got a solid start on it during NaNoWriMo, but I'm letting it rest a little bit while trying to get a better sense of the direction I'd like to go with it. An unusual case where I have the world and characters down pretty well but am not sure what story I'd like to tell with them yet.

- Supporting those first two goals, I'd like to write at least five days a week for at least half an hour. I was good about doing this during the first half of last year, and what do you know, it had a huge impact on my productivity. I definitely fell off at the end of 2024, though, so I'd like to try to get back into the habit now. Going well so far!

- I'd also like to try and comment on at least two stories a month/write a comment at least once every couple of weeks. That isn't really a lot of work, and it's shameful that I don't show some of my favorite fics much love outside of Blitz.

 

[SparklingEspeon]

I think those are great goals (and this is a great thread)!! Wish you good luck...

For my own goals... I'd like to get the first three books of my main fic, Psychic Sheep, done! The first is already complete, and it should be perfectly doable to get the other two (out of six total) finished this year. I've been working on Sheep in some form ever since 2019 and think it's for the most part where I want it to be; I just need to get it out the door and done with.

I'd also like to do a final draft of my original fic, which has a rough draft sitting around. It's probably going to be about 70K in total when I finish polishing it, so the road is still a bit lengthy, but the ending is within sight.

Similar to Negrek, I also want to pick up the reviewing pace a little... I used to do them semi-regularly, but my free time and productivity got a little slammed these last two years. I want to make a little bit more time for keeping up with others' fics this year!

 

[Ambyssin]

The goal is to finish drafting Path of Valor or get within five chapters of doing so. My chapter queue is around 21-22 chapters and I'd like to think around 50 are left. So at one chapter a week pace it might be doable.

 

[Spiteful Murkrow]

I'm admittedly a bit about setting goals since mine for 2024 were kinda a swing and a miss, but whatever, I'm a glutton for punishment. This year's goals are:

• To update Fledglings offsite at least one more time in 2025 than in 2024 (kinda a low bar since it bumped a total of 5 times in 2024 and there's already one bump out on the road to 6+ updates, but it's nice to make upward progress)
• To have released at least one chapter of Fledglings day and date on TR by the end of the year
• To update Once a Thief at least one more time in 2025 than in 2024 (it bumped a total of 7 times in 2024, so aiming to get 8+ updates)
• To update Grounded at least 8 times (which will complete the story if no further chapters are added or split due to length during development, or else get it within 4 chapters of completion for my internal "max run length" route)
• To start publishing the serial version of my contest entry last year once TR's zine drops
• To take part in at least one of Drabble Bingo or the yearly writing contest here on TR
• To have a total of 12 titles potholed on my forum signature (so +1 after including the above, TBD what it'll be)

 

[Nekodatta]

That's a great idea for a thread! Let's see if setting some goals will help...

- Similarly, I want to try to pick up my pace with Timeslip and return to the one I had at the start. Maybe not a chapter a week like I did at the very beginning (then again, they were definitely shorter there), but I want to aim to around two chapters a month, even if it means they get a bit shorter individually... In general, find a better balance between updates and chapter length.

- Slowly respond to all reviews I've received during Blitz

- Try to write around 3000 words a week as the absolute minimum, which if kept should allow me to post a 6k chapter every two weeks, on average.

(With blitz taking up half of January, let's say I will start holding myself accountable from next week ^^')

 

[canisaries]

Well, I know that I certainly want to:

- Finish the originalized Hunter, Haunted extras and upload them to Royal Road. They've had to wait quite a long while by now, and I hear they don't like that over there. But it will still be at my own pace.
- Continue writing The Bringer. I'd previously left it on the back burner for months because of a really stupid minor mistake in the story that would take a lot of coordination to fix. I am, however, going to decide that it simply is NOT as important as my goblins tell me and just finish the damn thing instead. Or just continue. It has some themes that are a bit touchy for me after something I went through, so I'll forgive myself if I don't get it all written even this year.

If possible, I'd like to:

- Finish Cor Daemonis. Its general structure is already outlined and I expect it to be under 20 chapters, so it should be doable.
- Write an Auramon story! It would be useful for fleshing out the game's setting and the monster species, and I'd at least like to think that there'd already be people interested in reading about it. It would also scratch the old PMD itch that I've had, which has gone unscratched for a long time due to simply running out of ideas.
- Write some new Pokémon story, even if it's a oneshot. This will probably be facilitated by the yearly oneshot contest. I've been focusing on original stuff a lot, but I still think part of me really enjoys writing pokéfic specifically, especially the unique setting of the HHverse.

 

[Dragonfree]

I'm hoping to get more properly going on the Morphic rewrite this year. Lots of plans and thoughts slowly coalescing, and with no other writing projects in the way (at least right now), I can focus on that. I've got other stuff going on as always, but I expect to be making more steady progress on that, and that'll be nice to get flowing more.

It would be nice to do more reading, but I'm not sure I can actually commit to that in practice at this stage. Too many things at all times.

 

[Onatu]

Good idea to ring in the new year. I've been wanting to focus myself in some ways, so hopefully putting down a few goals will help me focus my efforts. Some of these may apply outside of here, since I've been working on writing in other capacities beyond a Pokemon fanfic realm.

Let's lay it all out:

1. I have about 5 stories appropriate for here on the backburner. I want to write and publish at least two of them by the end of the year. Baby steps and all, since I'm still finding my legs and what I want to write.
2. Building off of the previous, I want to continue diving more into stories that have some meaning to me. Using writing as a means of coping with my own life was a suggestion brought up to me, and some of the ideas I have reflect that. I'd like to keep that push and write things that could resonate with others.
3. This is a bulk one, but read more fanfics, write more reviews, and in general be more engaged here. I like this little community and I've enjoyed the little feedback I've received so far. I want to keep up with that and return the favors in kind.
4. Participate in any contests or other activities that are run here.
5. Read more books in general. I have slacked terribly in this, and I want to return to an old hobby. Plus, it will help me improve in my own craft.
6. Finish the two original stories I have half-finished. Can't put a book together if I don't write more of them.

Bit broad and vague in some ways, but it's a place to start!

 

[NebulaDreams]

Writing every day would be the dream. I have dropped doing art for now as I want to focus on writing full time and actually finish some projects. The two big projects I'd love to make a dent in are:

1. I, Isobel. I promised the rewrite was coming for a while. I wrote 60k words of the original version, and 60k words have been drafted of completely new content for the story, which I hope to merge together, but I expect it'll take another 30k-60k before it's finished. Thing is, I don't want to over-promise writing a fic that won't be carried on until it's conclusion, so I want to make sure I have my eggs in one basket before it even sees the light of day.

2. For Want of A Shoe. This is my original cosy fantasy romance project where a shoemaker falls in love with a yeti. I have finished the original draft, but it is stuck in rewrite hell as I'm having to start from the beginning again. I am working with a fantastic writer who has been pushing me hard to make it the best it can be, but I have been working on this project for 4 years now. I will go ballistic if it doesn't result in anything.

 

[StrixUmbra]

I'd love to be able to actually meet my writing goals for once, lol! Let's see:

• My top priority, of course, is Students of Moonlight. I don't know if I'll be able to stick too hard to a chapter a month (especially January and June, because those are the months that include my exams), but I'd like to get at least eight chapters done by the end of the year! That'll give me some flexibility.
• I also have had another PMD fic brewing in my head, and I'd like to get an outline done for that. The actual writing can wait until I'm at a more comfortable place with Moonlight.
• There is also one non-Pokemon-related fic I've been plotting, but I'm hesitating to actually work on it because I feel like it would put too much pressure on my schedule. I may try to get one chapter written of that, if I have the time.
• Maybe I'll actually get started on the writing for one of my original projects? That'd be nice.

 

[K_S]

On the 'mon front, I'm hoping to edit Roost to its best quality, and perhaps get to the Lysander Giovanni conflict scenes. I'm hoping to get through the Don Marchette arc in HeadCanons.

As for new non mon projects, I'm outlining an old DC green lanturn au/what if focusing on the red lanterns. As well as a EPIC musical/Percy Jackson Au cross over dealing with a reincarnated Polites and Penelope.

Review wise i'm hoping to keep on top of blackjacks work, couch's, and cobble together 3 review's a month.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

I need to review more
I'm going to write more Gakutensoku
Finally write that Zelda fic I've been bandying about where Link's sister survived the Calamity (though I'll...need to name her...)
I want to return to Obsession at some point
maybe finish that fic about AI Sada making Goletts
and write more of my original story

 

[StolenMadWolf]

God... I have more than a few goals in mind... even if I have doubts I'll actually see those goals through to the end. But in general, I want to speed up the amount of chapters I can release in the year.

The primary aim is to complete Episode 2 of Guardians of Balance early this year, and get the ball rolling for Episode 3, which is going to be a big one for the wider GoB setting and the Sierran Timeline it is part of. An unlikely, but hopeful goal would be to actually finish Episode 3 before the end of the year as well. I am hoping that my conversion to shorter chapters might allow me to get them out more regularly, but it's not proving easy to do at the moment. The second primary aim would be to complete Episode 1 of Mercenaries of Dawn, hopefully this year as well. How Episode 2 starts is a little bit more in the air, but it is something to consider.

The main idea for these two fan-fics is that I'm going to eventually switch to a backlog format, AKA writing a few chapters in advance for Episode 3 for Guardians and whenever seems most appropriate for Mercenaries.

Outside of the main two fan-fic projects, I want to conclude my non-Pokemon related fan-fic, GT3050. The first part is something I want to complete before April this year at the absolute latest, and the second part will be released all in one chunk before the end of the year. That way it frees up some time to focus more on the PMD fanfics.

For those interested in Somehow, I created the Universe, I'll likely try and run through an edit to clean that oneshot up and post it in a few additional locations for the record. I have been toying with the idea of a pseudo follow up to that oneshot in the form of a dribble series, namely focusing a few individuals who showed up in SICTU. However, given how much I'm doing on the writing front in the first place... it's something I doubt I'm going to follow up with.

Outside of fan-fics just to add on the side... I've got a serial novel I want to publish onto Royal Roads, but considering my posting times and how many chapters need to be released in short order to gain interest, I'm having prep a heavy backlog which I've not made much progress with in the last six months.

I've given myself far too much to do in my spare time.

 

[CuteBunnyGirl]

To complete and publish Guided By The Unknown
To continue and finish A Forgotten Past
Maybe also trying something PMD (undecided)

 

[windskull]

Meant to post here and forgot/got busy lmao.

Last year, I managed to post 5 chapters of Places We Call Home. This year, I want to post at least 6. To help achieve that, I am making an effort to write at minimum 15 minutes daily.

Aside from that, I also want to try and do at least 6 updates for Fragments, and finish the re-edit of the first half of my Zelda fic so I can work on the final draft of its sequel. These are lower priority, but I'll keep chipping at them.