#2022frc

2026 Intro post with Rules and FAQ

Discord server and info

2026 Fic Reading Challenge spreadsheet

Jandy's 2026 Tracking Sheet Juulna's 2026 Tracking Sheet Emmie's 2026 Tracking Sheet Taru's 2026 Tracking Sheet Trinket's 2026 Tracking Sheet

2025’s Completion Badges 2024's Completion Badges 2023's Completion Badges 2022’s Completion Badges 2021’s Completion Badges

(Will continue to update this with links as necessary. This will remain the pinned post.)

REC LISTS!

2024's Year-Long Participant's Favourite Fics Part One | Part Two

Wow, so many statistics and so little time! Let's see... what are the most pertinent and interesting ones...? Thanks to the @fanfic-reading-challenge I got to read some pretty interesting things this year! The new one starts soon. :D

How many books did I read?

177, wow! My goal had been to read 100 (you can set a goal for yourself and keep track on Goodreads, which is awesome) so I definitely surpassed that. I used HowLongToRead to get an approximation of how many words I read in books, and it totalled 16,700,982 words. Nearly 17 million! It's actually more than my total in fics, hah.

Do I have any favourite books I'd recommend?

Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett

Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan

The Women's War by Jenna Glass

Shake Hands with the Devil by Roméo Dallaire (genocide trigger)

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

Scythe by Neal Shusterman

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

The Last Watch by J.S. Dewes

Heck yeah I do! These books were amazing and had me reading any sequels I could, ASAP. For those with a limited budget, check out this free online library, Library Genesis, or your own library's resources!

Now let's talk about fanfiction...

In total, I read 15,832,562 words, 4,017 chapters, and 589 fics. That works out to about 26,880 words per fic on average. But what's the monthly breakdown of all that? Some of those words, chapters, and fics are ones I did not finish (yet), but I did count as finished those WiPs which I'd caught up with.

The least I read in a month was 470,293 words in April, with 22 fics read. Not even sure what was going on with me back then. The most I read in a month is actually December! I attribute that to me finishing off or at least reading as much as I can of some long fics on the back burner. Also, there were a lot of WiPs which had updates in December, and fics I'd been reading a little at a time month after month, which I finally completed. So yeah, I read 2,030,497 words in December, fairly closely followed by October. Pretty sure I was just drowning out the lack of light these last few months. :P 7/12 months I read more than a million words, and 4/12 months were over 1.5 million, plus those labelled incomplete for both those stats.

I read 137 different romantic pairings which were the main relationship(s) of the fic. I also read 49 distinct fandoms. I definitely dug into my past and some of my favourites from when I was a kid! It was quite neat, actually!

But okay, so this is definitely getting a little dry. Here are some of my favourite fics from this year (and I may make a few rec lists from my much larger 'favourite list')!

How about some fic recs?

This is the first year I have tracked my fanfiction reading, which I started in June, which means it’s not one 100% but I think still pretty good due to the fact that I mostly read on ao3 and the history feature is great! This is because I discovered the fanfiction challenge! And I am looking forward to the 2023 challenge and follow it from the start. 

Some stats to start off:

I read 11,931,924 words! 422 different fics, 67 fandoms and 173 unique ships!

Read on for my favorite fics of the year, and more statistics about type of fics, most popular fics and fandom and other fun facts!

By number of fics read my most popular fandom was Harry Potter. I read 41 different Harry Potter fics last year, and my most popular pairing for that fandom was Harry/Ginny. 9 of the fics had Harry & Ginny as the main pairing. 

Second most read by according to number of fics was Glee, with 39 total fics, and Rachel/Quinn being my most popular pairing, with 21 fics where that was the main pairing as well as being a secondary pairing in another 4 fics. 

In third place we have Critical Role, which means that I do atleast have one fandom that is still producing new content that I consume (sorry HP but fantastic beast is not my canon!). I read 35 different Critical Role fics, mainly campaign one and two. My main pairing I read was essek/caleb, with 4 fics, as well as 4 fics without romantic pairings. 

Overall by most fics read, my most popular pairing was a tie between regina/emma (once upon a time) and rachel/quinn with 21 fics each!

If we look at by number of words read, my most popular fandom was Harry Potter with 1 836 237 words read. Second most, accord to words, was Glee, with 1 637 214 words. And in third place, we have The 100, with 1 046 514 words read. 

In terms of ships, quinn/rachel win out by a fairly large margin. Nearly 10 percent of all words read was quinn/rachel, with a total of 1 14 9513 words total read. Jess/Rory (Gilmore Girls) comes in second with 990 554 words read. In third place is Harry/Ginny with 736 903 words.  I also read 799 501 words of fics without a romantic pairing. 

Longest fic read was of queens, kings and pawns by chancecraz which is a star wars time travel fix it fic, which focuses on a post-the force awakens leia being sent back to the day she woke on the death star. 

When it comes to type of fic, i mostly read canon divergence, with 143 fics qualifying under this type. When it comes to number of words, the most popular type of fic was still canon divergence, but followed very closely by time travel fix its and modern aus.

23 percent of all fics were re-reads of old(er) favorites, aka fics that I had read prior to this year.

And now, my top ten fics I read last year, (in no particular order and also some of these are series because this is my list and i make the rules and sometimes its just two unconnected series because i wanted to)!

1.  of queens, kings and pawns by chancecraz

I went to sleep on the worst day of my life and woke to find myself in the past on the second worst day of my life. As experiences go, I don’t recommend it. (leia-centric, han/leia)

This fic is INCREDIBLE. The world building is spot on, the character voices are spot on, leia being a reluctant force user, and the darth vader of it all is so good. It’s a WIP and might never be finished, but still totally worth it. It’s a long one tho.

2. The Changeling + The Armistice Series by  Annerb

Ginny is sorted into Slytherin. It takes her seven years to figure out why. (ginny centric, hints of harry/ginny) 

+  The thing about war is that it never ends. Not really. The battlefields just change locations. Harry and Ginny after the war. (harry/ginny)

The redemption of slytherin, the power of female friendship and also this is just such an incredible character study for ginny. The sequels are also fantastic, and the way the ginny & harry relationship unfolds is worth it alone. 

3. lux et veritas and distilla trust by peterstank

He stops, so she does too, albeit with a bit less grace. Then he grabs the sleeve of her coat and gently tugs her toward a bench with a quiet, “C’mere,” and it’s stupid, it’s ridiculous, but it gives her goosebumps. “Sit down, it’s gonna snow.”

Rory’s breath catches in her throat. Absurdly, ridiculously, she thinks: oh no. Dares to ask, “How can you tell?” and sincerely hopes his answer is something sarcastic and obvious like I checked the forecast this morning, how else?

Instead: “I can smell it. Sit.”

or: the one where jess goes to yale

+

“You brought a book?”

“Like you didn’t.”

She concedes the point and digs a paperback out of her clutch—Austen’s Persuasion, a good choice. Jess displays his own masticated copy of Tobias Wolff’s Old School, which feels like a consistently fitting read when encased within the two-hundred year old hallowed halls of Chilton Preparatory. The book’s cover is hanging on by Scotch tape and a prayer, and half the pages are creased with undone dog ears.

“Man, we’re a couple of anti-social freaks,” Rory declares.

Jess grins. “Just call me Thomas Pynchon.”

or: the one where jess goes to chilton.

First of all, all of peterstanks jess/rory stuff is AMAZING. Like out of this world, maybe some of the best stuff I’ve ever read amazing. But I am super weak for these two AUs and how Jess’s character elvoves in these two very different circumstances. I change my mind about which of these two are my favorite every single time I reread any of them, and like if you ship Literati, these are a MUST. 

4. Quality Ingredients by HurricaneJane

Executive Chef Lexa "The Commander" Woods is working in her latest establishment in her home town of Portland, Maine. She is about to start conceptualizing her next restaurant and only has one rule for herself during the process: No more girls. When an accident at the restaurant lands her in Dr. Clarke Griffin's ER, she second guesses why she ever had that rule in the first place. Lexa's head bartender, Lincoln, is obsessed with a divey restaurant on the other side of town run by Octavia. It doesn't take long for the small town to get even smaller when Lexa starts running into Clarke everywhere. Maybe rules were meant to be broken. (Clarke/Lexa, side Lincoln/Octavia)

This is my all time favorite the 100 fic, and I honestly can’t really put my finger on why. It has pretty much zero angst, so much good food, the characters feels right even in this setting, and just this fic gives me so many happy feelings.

5. Take these broken wings (series) by celaenos

Begins in Season one and follows Quinn through her life should she have chosen to keep Beth, realize she is gay, and fall in love with Rachel Berry.

I read a lot of Faberry, like a lot, and this is one of two fics (the other one reccomended below) that I constantly return to. It has everything I want from my faberry fic, with the added benefit of quinn/sam friendship and an absolutely adorable beth. it’s a very interesting look at quinn and how keeping beth would have changed her experiences and choices in the show. just give it a try, you won’t regret it.

6. the art of boxes by possibilist 

'Quinn thinks of gardenias growing through her eyes, and she thinks thinks of her childhood jewelry box: open it slowly enough, and the ballerina would spin for what seemed like forever.' College!Faberry as promised. Follows canon up through s3

First of all, all of possibilists writing is gorgeous, and if you don’t hate reading seccond person pov stories, i also highly recommend all of her one shots in her series where quinn is diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which can be found on ffnet. But art of boxes if just so beautiful, written in third person, and is such a beautiful interpretation of a post-season 3 faberry. like quinn makes so much sense, their relationship develops so naturally, and quinn’s relationship with both her mom and franny in this one makes my heart sing. 

7. the leftover you by beatperfume

Isabelle Lightwood is having a rough start to her senior year. Her brothers have moved out, leaving her alone with her parents as their relationship falls apart. She’s questioning her commitment to ballet just as she’s supposed to be preparing her auditions for ballet academies. She doesn’t need beautiful and talented Clary Fray making her life even more complicated. (izzy/clary)

i’ve never read much shadowhunter fanfiction before, but this one just stole my heart completely. i am a sucker for ballet!aus, and this one is just so beautiful. izzy feels so right and her friendship then romance with clary is just everything. also has great izzy/alec feels. (trigger warning for eating disorders/disordered eating, abusive parents and drug abuse)

8. after laughter (series) by palaces_outofparagraphs

the girls in the years after the finale, dealing with the inevitable trauma after being stalked and tortured on and off for ten years. starts off at age 26, 3 years post-finale; will probably skip around. probably aria- and spencer-centric; a lot of spoby; absolutely no ezria.

this fic series is everything that i wanted the post time jump to be even if it’s set after the finale. it’s all about the girls (focusing on spencer) healing from their trauma and what that means for them, and how to exist in the world after all of it. and like it’s so good. my favorites are “half-empty girl” which deals with spencer & alison and is really really good and “aria.” in which aria realizes that stalking isn’t romance, and seducing a sixteen year old can never be a good thing. but the whole series is worth it. 

9. met you at the right time by bookglue

Rory Gilmore—single, unemployed, technically homeless, and pregnant—comes unstuck in time. Bouncing between significant and not-so-significant moments in her life, she tries to determine when and how her careful plans went wrong. With some help from an ex-boyfriend. (jess/rory)

I am a sucker for time travel fix its, but this is one of the more unique ones i have ever read, not as much fix it, but still in the same vein. mostly, it’s just really good and i don’t want to spoil anything because the journey is everything in this fic, so just read it please.

10. done with my graceless heart by prettypony

After seven year old Henry starts asking one too many questions, Regina realizes the only way forward is to find Emma Swan and break the curse over Storybrooke. The town’s clock will start, everyone will wake up, and perhaps they’ll be so grateful for her change of heart that they’ll decide not to execute her right away.

And if not, at least her son will have a mother. Even if it isn’t her.

[or: regina and henry go on a road trip to find henry's birth mom. true love ensues.] Season 1 AU - Canon Divergence (emma/regina)¨

Just a little bit of an update of how far I got in these first 6 months of challenge, I guess. If you are interested in participating, you can still join. Rules can be found @fanfic-reading-challenge.

NUMBERS

Total fanfics: 210 (14 of which DNF) Total words read: 4.823.985 Most popular ship: Obi-Wan Kenobi/Anakin Skywalker (427.125 words); but I technically read more no ship fanfics (1.398.266 words) Most popular fandom: Star Wars Prequels (1.303.908 words) Different ships: 59 Different fandoms: 31 Most productive months:

January: 73 fanfic (7 of which DNF) and 986.912 words June: 56 fanfics (0 of which DNF) and 970.201 words May: 56 fanfics (5 of which DNF) and 962.930 words

We're baaaaaack! *cackles*

Hello! First of all I'd like to thank @jandjsalmon for essentially being my 'beta' as I developed this second year's Fanfic Reading Challenge. You did so much, and deserve tons of credit for this alongside me! @attractiverock also helped by looking over new tasks and asking some really spectacular questions that helped develop what I think is a really superior challenge this year. Three cheers!!!

But now... It's time to get ahead/on top of the doldrums of 2022 and immerse ourselves in fantasy worlds --- The Neverending Story will always be a classic exactly for that reason --- because we all need a break from the world we live in, right? I know that the 2021 challenge helped relax me and others who participated, and hopefully the trend can continue into this year! (But don't forget to be a good, productive, and caring citizen of Earth, because everyone needs love these days.)

Before we get into the brass tacks of the basics new participants will need/want (though this is all repeated on the first tab of the challenge spreadsheet, and in more detail!), let me give you the link(s) to the challenge and to two wonderful reading log tools @jandjsalmon and @juuls developed to make keeping track of your reading that much easier! (It can also be used for books!)

And here they be...

The Long-Awaited 2022 Fanfiction Reading Challenge!

Open it! Click 'File'! Make a copy! It's yours now! We can't spy on it! Now personalize it, and start reading your hearts o... well. Really, read just as much as you always do! xD This we do know!

The above spreadsheet includes:

Tab 1, the FAQ/Rules/general info section. A welcome page!

Tab 2, Regular Mode

Tab 3, Hard Mode

Tab 4, Extreme Mode

Tab 5, Swappables (see the challenge spreadsheet or blog FAQ for more info on what these are (when the latter is updated)). To put it simply, however, they are tasks you can swap out for any other challenge task you don't wish to complete.

Tab 6 and 7, 'Fic Tracking Sheet' and 'Reading Log', created by @jandjsalmon and @juuls respectively, are there to use if you wish. Both fic tracking tools (to see what you've read over the course of the year, like this example of mine from last year) have their pros and cons, so give each or neither a try, and figure out what works best for you if you want to keep track of each fic. This is not necessary to complete the challenge, though!

Jandy's Fic Tracking Sheet

Juulna's Reading Log

These here, above, are separate copies of the logs if you so wish to keep your files separate from the challenge or... I mean, you could just want to keep track of what you read without even participating in the challenge! *shrugs* Who am I to judge?

For further assistance, here's a link to my reading log from 2021, so you can see how I (sometimes in a very hodge-podge way) kept track of what I was doing, reading, and how I was labelling fics, adding fics for the future, etc.

Don't worry, it may seem like a lot (!!) but it's really quite easy to navigate and understand, and you are always welcome to ask me questions at any time. :) The first step is to open the spreadsheet and then make a copy of your own. Then we can talk if you need to!

(If you need another format other than Google Sheets, like Excel or Word or something else, please let me know so I can get those to you ASAP!)

So what is this 'challenge(s)'? Here are the basics:

The event runs from January 1st to December 31st, 2022. If you started a fic in 2021 but finished it in 2022, that absolutely counts in full towards the 2022 challenge and word count. Anything you read before you start this challenge (whether in January or May or October) counts too!

Signing up: You don't need to sign up at all! You can just grab a copy of the challenge spreadsheet and fill it out however you wish (or even keep track of your tasks in an entirely different manner like a Word doc). Declaring your intention to participate is more of a thing if you want to be held accountable for your goals, but it's not like we're going to be angry with you if you don't finish any of it!

This challenge operates on the honour system. If you said you completed a fic for a certain task, that's between you and whichever ghost/saint haunts/watches over you. Come January 2023, all I'll ask is just to see the document you've used to keep track of your challenge, so I can match it up to the numbers which determine which prize you get!

Yes! Prizes! Here's an example of Juulna's 2021 badge for completing hard and regular mode:

Badge(s) created by the amazing and incomparable artist @saganarojanaolt, who I will be commissioning for next year's badge and a banner as well! (Until then you get my shoddy banners.) They based this particular art on my own basset, Ygritte, and I could just stare at it forever. <3 Here's the link to the post with the other badges!!

So what do I have to do? … Just read!! Have fun! Enjoy yourself! And fill out the challenge spreadsheet if you'd like any of the following badges (further info on the FAQ page or on the spreadsheet itself):

~~~ Participant Prize: Complete at least one task from the challenge!

~~~ Regular Mode: Complete at least 80% of the regular mode tasks, which is the equivalent of 100/125 tasks, regular mode only.

~~~ Hard Mode: Complete at least 90% of the hard mode tasks, which is the equivalent of 78/87 tasks, hard mode only, along with the previous requirement of 80% of the regular mode tasks being completed.

~~~ Extreme Mode: Complete at least 95% of the extreme mode tasks, which is the equivalent of 62/65 tasks, extreme mode only, along with the previous requirements of 80% of the regular mode tasks and 90% of the hard mode tasks being completed. (Grand total of at least 240/277 task completions.) … it's easier than it sounds. *snorts*

~~~ and some secret prizes you can unlock with no clue that you did just that until the end of the year!

Please help signal boost this post, as I only have so much reach into so many fandoms, and it's a rather small number! I will be encouraging friends of mine to reblog this, and I would love it if you could as well. Everyone deserves a distraction this year (wasn't it just 2019 last year???), especially if it keeps you happy, occupied, and away from those who sit just a wee bit too close to you!

That's about it for the Year Two Opening Post! I need a nap now...

But...…

Hello everyone! I know it's a touch late, but here is the form you can use to submit your completed (or as completed as you wish) challenge spreadsheets so we can get set for doling out lovely badges of Participation, Regular, Hard, and Extreme Modes!

Interest has been growing steadily and I am so excited for that.

Next year's will be released around January 15th, as it was this year, though I will be trying a new format I think you'll much prefer as it is simpler though still contains challenge. I just don't want anyone to stress! <3

(If you haven't submitted your participation form yet, you still can, with no time limit --- we're on the honour system here, so if you read it in 2022 and did the challenge and say you did, feel free to use one of the appropriate badges you rightfully earned. Even if you don't submit the form. I trust ya!)

Due to some lack of foresight and inexperience with using Google submission forms, there may be some mistakes made, people placed in the wrong categories, so please let me know so I can fix it asap!

As for the ones who have submitted already, here they are (if they chose to allow me to mention them)!

If you didn’t submit your spreadsheet, have no fear! Just grab the appropriate badge and call that that. As we say here: it’s all on the honour system here!

Please excuse me if I missed your name. Let me know as soon as possible so I can add it!

1. Participation

@sparkylurkdragon

2. Regular Mode

@found-nomad

@rainbow-mug

@dchelyst

@harry-potterfanatic

@s6xtaespada

3. Hard Mode

@reallybadfeeling

@onceuponaswanqueen

4. Extreme Mode

@juuls

@jandjsalmon

@dayenurose

Oh? What's this? Surprise milestone awards???

Hang in for a new post where we will grant a few special prizes for things such as most words read and ships/fandoms read in 2022, along with some others. I look forward to announcing those!

And.... here are the badges!!! … by, well, me. Tada!

Thank you for your patience everyone! We had some issues with receiving the art from the original artist, so I had to improvise late last night. I hope they’re at least somewhat nice looking, even if not as spectacular as last year’s! If/when we hear from the artist, we will either replace this year’s 2022 badges or will keep them for future use for the 2023 challenge badges.

If you would like a personalized one with your name on it, I may be able to do so.😊 I can at least give it a try! 😜 These won’t necessarily work as profile pictures (maybe?) due to the text and contrast but I certainly will give it a go. 😁

They’re not perfect, but I still wanted to give you something special for being such amazing people and participating in my small event. Thank you so very much! So very much. 🙏🏻❤️💜💙🥰

An excellent website! Now you're going to have me spending all day tomorrow counting the total words of the 165+ books I've read so far this year.... thanks. xP (Actually, that sounds really soothing to do as I listen to an audiobook -- currently The Witcher series, woo!)

Website: How Long to Read?

Example of a book's page: The Wheel of Time #1: The Eye of the World (one of my favourites, so I may as well plug it with the advent of the Prime TV show out this past year! woooo!)

If you want to count books towards your word count in the Extreme tasks (18 million words I believe) you could do so, I suppose! Nicer to do with fics alone but I know that some people just aren't wired that way or gravitate towards shorter fics in general. :)