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poppyseedheartWelcome to chapter six! Man time flies.
I consider this chapter to be a turning point for a few characters who are not Hyunjin lol, Felix in particular. He's interesting because I do think he has more of a backbone than a lot of fic writers give him, so it was fun to explore that in this conversation and also to stay so tightly in Hyunjin's POV — after this point, Felix feels like their friendship has changed, and Hyunjin is (mostly) relieved they're able to go back to "normal" now that they've talked. It's a tricky little balance to walk but it's been rewarding to write such an unreliable narrator and play with dramatic irony.
Another change is with Jisung! Or, perhaps rather than change, an escalation? Hyunsung feud lovers this one's for you. I don't tend to write a lot of intense or explosive conflict, so this has been a challenge for me! Writing them snipping at each other has been a lot of fun and I think also (hopefully?) is providing some levity/humor alongside the absolute mess of their interactions (by this I mostly mean the twitter beef, which was cracking me up as I wrote it). Jisung is such an interesting dude to write and while I am kind of feeling bad for making him such a shit-stirrer I'm also having fun with it! Sorry my guy. Win some lose some.
In terms of research for this chapter, I have on a few occasions now looked into the structure and services offered by Dding Dong, an LGBT youth crisis support center in Korea. I've donated to them on a few occasions in the past and think they do really good work! I've based the LGBT Center in this story partly on Dding Dong, and also partly on the kinds of things they could do/offer with more resources and less political obstacles.
I always think it's going to be tricky/delicate when you're writing about queerness in a national culture that is largely hostile to it. I think there can be something empowering about queer people (hi) writing about queer happiness, and some of that can look like writing about a society that is less homophobic as a statement/an act of resistance to a certain degree. But I also think it's really easy to just stop there and assume that the existence of oppression gives any queer person a free pass to do whatever they want and call it activism. I'm not talking about any particular fic here, and this is something I've been thinking about since I started and abandoned my fake dating Namjin, which got a little too into the sauce of me, an American person, trying to really navigate my own perceptions of homophobia in Korea. It's complicated! I've written Emma AU as a romcom that is kind of unrealistic in a lot of ways, and that's made space for public queerness and a general sense of safety in that queerness that doesn't exist in Korea in the exact way I've written it—which is also not to downplay the existence of queer people who are making their own waves and living authentically and happily there either. See? Complicated! Ultimately I am aiming for writing in a way that is respectful, joyful, and not pretending to come from a position of authority. I hope that comes through.
Kind of on that topic, I debated over whether to include Jisung's little "he/him :)" tag on his sign. Pronouns don't work the same way in Korean as they do in English, but gender exists! People have all kinds of gender identities and indicating that can be important! So I went with a transliteration, and wrote that concept into the story the way we understand it in English. Translation vs transliteration is also a topic that comes up a lot in fic writing and I am always adjusting/shifting my own decisions based on what feels right and what I've learned along the way. Always open to feedback on it, in this case and others!
I am generally happy with how this one came out, particularly the movement of so many different subplots in relation to one another. There's a lot happening right under the surface of whatever Hyunjin is thinking about at any given moment and it's been a fun challenge to make sure things happen when they need to, and for that to be easy to follow as a reader without feeling like it's totally overexplained. My hope is that as things start coming together in the last third of the story (soon! wow) it feels graceful and not like I'm panicking. Jury's out on which it'll be!
Not a lot of big edits on this chapter! Mostly pacing and language tweaks, making sure things are consistent, keeping it smooth. Revisions so far have felt like polishing more than dismantling and rebuilding, though there's more of that ahead.
And that's the chapter! I hope you enjoyed it <3 and thank you as always for reading!!
I consider this chapter to be a turning point for a few characters who are not Hyunjin lol, Felix in particular. He's interesting because I do think he has more of a backbone than a lot of fic writers give him, so it was fun to explore that in this conversation and also to stay so tightly in Hyunjin's POV — after this point, Felix feels like their friendship has changed, and Hyunjin is (mostly) relieved they're able to go back to "normal" now that they've talked. It's a tricky little balance to walk but it's been rewarding to write such an unreliable narrator and play with dramatic irony.
Another change is with Jisung! Or, perhaps rather than change, an escalation? Hyunsung feud lovers this one's for you. I don't tend to write a lot of intense or explosive conflict, so this has been a challenge for me! Writing them snipping at each other has been a lot of fun and I think also (hopefully?) is providing some levity/humor alongside the absolute mess of their interactions (by this I mostly mean the twitter beef, which was cracking me up as I wrote it). Jisung is such an interesting dude to write and while I am kind of feeling bad for making him such a shit-stirrer I'm also having fun with it! Sorry my guy. Win some lose some.
In terms of research for this chapter, I have on a few occasions now looked into the structure and services offered by Dding Dong, an LGBT youth crisis support center in Korea. I've donated to them on a few occasions in the past and think they do really good work! I've based the LGBT Center in this story partly on Dding Dong, and also partly on the kinds of things they could do/offer with more resources and less political obstacles.
I always think it's going to be tricky/delicate when you're writing about queerness in a national culture that is largely hostile to it. I think there can be something empowering about queer people (hi) writing about queer happiness, and some of that can look like writing about a society that is less homophobic as a statement/an act of resistance to a certain degree. But I also think it's really easy to just stop there and assume that the existence of oppression gives any queer person a free pass to do whatever they want and call it activism. I'm not talking about any particular fic here, and this is something I've been thinking about since I started and abandoned my fake dating Namjin, which got a little too into the sauce of me, an American person, trying to really navigate my own perceptions of homophobia in Korea. It's complicated! I've written Emma AU as a romcom that is kind of unrealistic in a lot of ways, and that's made space for public queerness and a general sense of safety in that queerness that doesn't exist in Korea in the exact way I've written it—which is also not to downplay the existence of queer people who are making their own waves and living authentically and happily there either. See? Complicated! Ultimately I am aiming for writing in a way that is respectful, joyful, and not pretending to come from a position of authority. I hope that comes through.
Kind of on that topic, I debated over whether to include Jisung's little "he/him :)" tag on his sign. Pronouns don't work the same way in Korean as they do in English, but gender exists! People have all kinds of gender identities and indicating that can be important! So I went with a transliteration, and wrote that concept into the story the way we understand it in English. Translation vs transliteration is also a topic that comes up a lot in fic writing and I am always adjusting/shifting my own decisions based on what feels right and what I've learned along the way. Always open to feedback on it, in this case and others!
I am generally happy with how this one came out, particularly the movement of so many different subplots in relation to one another. There's a lot happening right under the surface of whatever Hyunjin is thinking about at any given moment and it's been a fun challenge to make sure things happen when they need to, and for that to be easy to follow as a reader without feeling like it's totally overexplained. My hope is that as things start coming together in the last third of the story (soon! wow) it feels graceful and not like I'm panicking. Jury's out on which it'll be!
Not a lot of big edits on this chapter! Mostly pacing and language tweaks, making sure things are consistent, keeping it smooth. Revisions so far have felt like polishing more than dismantling and rebuilding, though there's more of that ahead.
And that's the chapter! I hope you enjoyed it <3 and thank you as always for reading!!