salutant

This is one for the internet historians; curiouscat was a question & answer website that went offline in October 2024 (rip / ashes to ashes / morituri te salutant). I had answered several interesting questions about seventeen and writing and fandom, and thought it would be best to save some answers for future entertainment (and education). Imagine my horror and amazement when I realised there was 30k worth of words to wrangle through HTML. That's enough to be an ebook.

Thank you to everyone, both anonymous and named, who read and engaged with me on curiouscat. I was most active in 2020 when I was the most isolated, and those interactions kept me far from the cliff face of trouble.

SEVENTEEN

lore

svt dorm arrangements over the years
_{note: links in bold go to a separate dreamwidth post}

how hoshi and woozi ended up in Vocal Unit and Performance Unit

mingyu bought minghao art supplies

Jun + Minghao's Chinese

minghao + 本 + a conversation about pledis direction + contemporary art

"we should talk about jakarta"

GENERAL

industry research in weight of heaven

yoongi thoughts

svt as parents (declined to answer) -> sliding scale of tinhat comfort + anon comment on disassociation

conversation with anon about weight of heaven, tattoos, makeup, personal worth and hierarchy

fic vs literature

rpf ethics

recs

exo fic recs

magical realism, contemporary fantasy and poetry

war + magical realism, horror, mystery and poetry

silkpunk

creative non-fiction

PERSONAL

writing

how did I start writing

influences on my writing

best parts of writing

do you write linearly

how I title

most self indulgent fic

how to write desire ft Anne Carson

ideal reading/writing environment

fic I'm proudest of

what cliche would I like to transform

5 songs I'll write a fic on

misc

what does salutant mean?

my love languages

what kind of visual art do I like

architecture major?

SEVENTEEN: LORE

Mingyu bought Minghao art supplies

about your little gyuhao tinhat on tl, im not sure if you know about this and chances are you do, the art pieces minghao was able to create during that resting period were partially possible courtesy of mingyu, who probably guided him and bought him supplies (mentioned in going seventeen 2018). all made convenient because "they were roommates" :)

I didn't know that mingyu bought him supplies!! Ahh!!! I remember that they had their own gallery during the svt exhibition + mentioning that they drew and painted together. What I'm feeling right now is like, I /knew/ about all these separate facts, the closet room, the back injury, the artworks and songs Minghao wrote from that period of his life, the early 2018 GyuHao content waterfall... But the dots didn't connect until I read it in the fic and now a narrative is forming in my head? Late 2017 Minghao already gives me brainworms re: The8 ficcage and now, knowing that Mingyu was there with him is.... wow after 17hols this might make long fic material. This kind of feeling!!

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minghao + 本 + pledis direction + contemporary art

now that minghao has released 本 how have your thoughts abt minghao been changed/added on to? what would you add to your minghao manifesto with this additional minghao insight?

ah!! A CC I can answer quickly!! [2024 hwa note: this was sarcastic]

tangent: the lovelang cc is a month old and my draft is at 2k... and counting... I got a really cool one on RPS characterisation 2 days ago that will also be an essay but I want to first publish a dw post I've been mulling over for a while: ‘sliding scale of tinhat comfort’. And there's a Jeonghan one that I just want to think about before answering. Ty anons for operating on snail mail time with me!!

Honestly, 本 feels more experimental rather than expressive, like they're playing with the angles, the costumes, the choreography, the editing (that shot where he swings both sleeves in front of the camera, a flash of orange and green... hgnn). To me, it feels like a controlled step in a larger project, rather than something emotionally leviathan in the way My I or Falling Down was.

I've been contemplating Seventeen's long term career plans, as well as Pledis' (especially after the Big Hit acquisition). I suspect Pledis/BH is trying to nurture in-house talent rather than contracting out. Like for songs, when they were still a young company, they used Brave Brothers for production, but now its Bumzu/Prismfilter team who are probably full-time salaried (+ notice all the people in the background of Inside Seventeen taking notes on clipboards!). With Going Seventeen as well, using the same, dedicated staff for shoots and editing means the idols are more comfortable, the content feels more organic, and the quality of the production will grow with time as idol and staff become familiar with each other. The rise of GoSe makes me /think/ that they're going to do the same with video production. For a while, the serious stuff like MVs will still be outsourced to Digipedi/VM Architecture, but I sense that Seventeen spends less $ on MVs compared to other groups in their tier, which is not a bad thing, it just means their priorities are different, and that makes a certain hwa think.

I think Pledis is letting their staff grow with The8. Because a Contemporary Art experiment doesn't need to make money, there's more artistic freedom for the staff and the artists. They can let The8 express himself without needing to be marketable, but they can also afford to use it as a learning opportunity for younger stage directors/lighting technicians/stage crew. I think I see some of their tour staff in the Falling Down Behind as well, so wondering if they're letting them expand their skillsets.

The connections that SVT/Pledis are building are interesting to me! (most of all Vernon+Tobi Lou hahahaha). Like how did they get Sim Eunyoung to play? Jambinai is massive in the alternative/folk indie scene, they're respected in Korea (e.g. playing at the Winter Olympics), but they're not in the kpop industry. And the bespoke/couture(?) outfit from C’est Tout Jin Youngjin? And then Cha Jaehyuk again. HmmMMM. (reminds me of BTS Black Swan, that choice to collaborate with people outside of/adjacent to the industry.)

Onto 本!

It doesn't give me any new thoughts about Minghao, and I wouldn't add anything to the manifesto (main reason, he's the longest one by far, so out of guilt I would add to Seungcheol first haha). Here are some general thoughts:

The main meaning of 本 is foundation and roots. Chinese often makes words using two characters and my first thoughts were:

本来 - originally, before

基本 - foundational, essential, basic

本性 - instinct

本来面目 - true colours

+ the whole nature aesthetic, pulling from the soil. Some of the choreography seems to be taken from Falling Down, so I wonder if the meaning can be transferred, like the swinging of the arms combined with the twisting of his body, where he bends his knees repeatedly while his hands slide, the motion of a bird/butterfly -- will be watching Jeff Avenue's read as soon as his reaction comes out. (I am so excited if Minghao is building an opus of his own visual language).

The next parts are super speculative and should be read in the context of writing!

Re: character

To me, his big emotional arcs are still predebut angst + the 2017 back injury. Unlike Falling Down, I can't link 本 to any big events in the last few years.

For the post-disbandment fic, I've been watching a few older idols to guess at what SVT is like/will be like (Girls Day, Son Dambi, especially Super Junior), as well as catching up on the groups I used to follow. One thing I've noticed is idols reaching the peak of their popularity in their youth, but burning out and disbanding or going for a long hiatus (e.g. Girls Day 21 month hiatus, Big Bang). Or being super active and mainstream, then falling out of media attention, but actually still being active, just at a slower pace and with less noticeable activities (2PM being less active in variety, but going on massive world tours, SJM Henry not having any big solo comebacks, but surprised me by appearing on huge chinese singing competitions, Korean talk shows, and the most heartwarming busking show [Begin Again Korea]).

I think once an Idol has an established career, they can afford to take a step back and think, 'how do I want to do this' / 'what is the career I want'. They can say no to certain schedules and develop their own ways of work (e.g. Brown Eyed Girls refusing to promote on music shows). 本 could be Minghao reaching that point, evaluating what he loves and where he wants to go.

aaaa wait that you mentioned how pledis is nurturing in-house talents makes me curious. i've noticed how minghao is the only member so far that exclusively works with the 2 contemporary teachers (and it's not even confirmed if they're pledis staff) since the beginning of this year (GDA perf). we all know how minghao is vocal about expressing himself and such but the fact that he's the one, rather than for example a more seasoned in contemporary hoshi, to work with these two is interesting. hoshi though a while ago released a brief dance video collab of him and jemma lee (also a contemp. choreographer but much more involved in kpop than park ipyo and cho jaehyuk, she worked w yooa and nuest), that's the only thing we have seen so far. why minghao is specifically selected, or whether he carved this path out himself, for being the bridge between svt and industry-outsiders and doing non-popular culture works is the question i want to consider lol.

the comparison to black swan is spot on! though bts/bighit has always been known to branch out to european producers/choreographers that usually are not the first go-to in the industry (a diversion from l.a/millenium dance complex-based styles for example, since 2015) and on the other hand, 本 is an unpromoted, surprise release.

(minghao also recently expressed interest in opening an art collective where he finds people with similar aspirations to make more refined works)

(and did you catch in the description for 本 that it's his foundational work towards a more avant-garde style?)

interestingly, Woozi and Mingming went to Ipyo's contemporary showcase as trainees, a twitter user dug it up.

re: why Minghao + other SVTs

I don't really know haha, as a Minghao bias I speculate that he was interested in /this form of art/ from what we know of his museum visits and artworks (vs. Hoshi who I think leans towards Taemin/commercial kpop). Maybe he was just lucky that Pledis/BH had this direction as well and they matched up (I'm thinking of BTS referencing contemporary art in their MVs, the mountain of clothes in Spring Day, the red smear around the door in Shadow referencing Anish Kapoor’s Svayambh). I'm optimistic about Pledis because I remember Mingyu re: Snap Shoot (“I was interested in learning so they got staff to guide me”) + Seungcheol on Han Sungsoo (“he's someone who cares about people more than money”) + a grain of salt. We know they all have meetings with the company for entire days, across multiple days, so again I'm speculating that there's a lot of back-and-forth about what they want to do and what they want to work on (e.g. the mentions of singing and language lessons, Performance Unit going to dance classes, Hoshi learning how to flip??). They're all ambitious in different ways, but in my head it makes sense that Minghao turned to contemporary dance. He's similar to Woozi in that they aren't the most open of the members,* but both turn to art to express deep feelings.

(that is... very namjoon of him hahaha)

(I did catch that!! some of my thoughts are based from that description. The first word being 자아 (Ego?!) and then 'this is one step towards the art he pursues'. I'm so interested to see how he will grow over the years)

_{*caveat bc ofc: I don't know how Minghao talks to members in private. 8Bar could be d&m hours for all we know.}

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jakarta

so intrigued with the line "we should talk about jakarta", if you have time, are you able to elaborate more on that?

[2024 hwa note: I posted a wednesday wip screenshot with this line.... this question was from May 2021... I was still writing this fic as of yesterday]

16112019!! When both Seungcheol and Jeonghan pulled out of the Jakarta concert and went on hiatus. You can see glimpses of it in SC's episode of HTR.

I was following that tour on twitter and you could see them driving themselves towards burnout, through the fancams from stage, airport, transit. It seems like eons ago because we are now used to seeing them well-rested and happy, as we only see them through official footage. We actually haven't seen the off-camera side of them for so long, I've almost forgotten that so much of fandom was experiencing that dichotomy of stage vs fancam. Seungcheol being stern and prickly, Jeonghan being exhausted and withdrawn. Being an idol is Work.

SC was so transparent with his Jarkarta experience but JH noticeably less in his episode - I've talked about his choice in the lovelang post: tl;dr Jeonghan distills his private self out of his persona (and this is a poetic contrast with SC who is so hands open cards up).

I'm fascinated by Jakarta as a Jeongcheol writer. We see the moment Seungcheol gives in. We don't see Jeonghan's moment. We know he does. We see them get in the van together. We don't see what happens next. But we know they both go on hiatus from then.

As a writer I'm thinking - do they talk in the van? What happens when they arrive at the hotel? Did they decide to go on hiatus together? Or did one convince the other? Did they go back to Korea together? What was it like, watching their team continue without them? What happened after? And after? And after?

There's a narrative I want to tell with this because Seungcheol and Jeonghan are very different in the way they process and express their thoughts (Weight of Heaven!). But they are facing the same mountain. At the same time. Seungcheol will reach out, but will Jeonghan reach back? They are both incredibly vulnerable then, so whatever happened will tinge their dynamic forever.

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SEVENTEEN: META

how family + leaderism shaped Seungcheol + my 3 seminal SC texts

something i was very curious to hear you talk about was seungcheol. how his family + being a leader shaped his personality. thoughts? hehe

Absolutely!! I’ve talked about it here and there so I’ll compile it into one for you <333

The seminal Seungcheol texts for me are: his HTR episode, his vlive interview with dispatch, and his conversation with Kim Yeonsoo (Pledis VP) in SVT Club.

https://youtu.be/n6LaGLUaQOY (re his hiatus, and his views on the stage and performance)
https://www.vlive.tv/video/96644/playlist/187148 (his scouting story (thought it was a scam, did not prepare), how he actually quit once, being the baby girl of his family, having a different personality for Seoul and Daegu) [2024 note: vlive is no longer with us so here’s a youtube link]
https://www.like17subs.com/svt-club.html (this iconic quote: “artists normally have a lot of greed but the leader has to sacrifice to a certain degree. Hiding your own feelings, listening to the others, and things like that. In a way it’s the complete opposite of you.”)

+ the Seungcheol chapter of my manifesto

I think you came from the Love Languages essay so I’ll summarise from that perspective! Cheol is like Seungkwan to me because their default, most natural state comes from how they were raised. Cheol’s the youngest in his family, and his mother really wanted a daughter so everyone spoiled and treated him like one (his words!). He slept on in parents bed, USING HIS FATHER’S ARM AS A PILLOW until middle school (in the vlive vid). For me, this explains how he always uses aegyo to get what he wants and deploys the pout+bambi eyes when members are about to punish him when he loses a game. He likes attention and skinship and winning and doing what he wants <3 a big baby.

But as KYS recognised, this is the complete opposite of how a leader should be, someone who thinks through information and talks diplomatically (vs, following their instincts and acting on their emotion, which is SC to me) . In HTR SC talks about how he had to learn to talk as a leader, as someone who’s caught in the middle between company and member opinions, and sympathises with both sides. He also has to be selfless and cast aside his own interests in order to do what is best for everything, again a contrast to how he was raised. My favourite part of writing SC is to show this antithesis, between the soft headstrong baby and the hard-hearted but assertive leader. It’s also an interesting contrast to how Jeonghan is.

I still have more thoughts but hahaha, I’m still working on a SC-centric fic so maybe they will come out then? All the best anon!

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differece between hyung and dongsaeng lines in One Fine Day

Hi! I remember reading this something on this lines in some of you ccs but I'm currently watching one fine day in japan (I'm at just the first episode and a bit of the second) and the difference btw the hyung line and the doengsaeng's!!!! The hyung are a complete mess, I was laughing so hard, I mean it's the first episode and they managed to lost a jihoon and an ipad, that's impressive.

But also they way they two groups chose their "strategies", mingyu with the rest of the 97s planning it through (mingyu with his "bring me mingaho" was so funny) and jeonghan having the time of his life bossing cheol around and having a more "open" (pass me the term "dirty") program. At the fact that both of the approaches worked for the first task!!!

I actually didn't expect for mingyu to be so reliable for his team (I mean I knew he could have a good strategy for the game but I didn't expect he could be "assertive" enough?? for the leader position), while I kind of confirmed my opinion that jeonghan works best as second man and/or in the backstage (I couldn't find the right way to say this in english, but I think he works better as a necessity for what goes "behind").

Final thought for this bubbling, the hyung are soooo mean and competitive! It's always fun to see, especially with jeonghan and cheol. They are perfect players (perfect sense of execution and short term strategies) but I think that's also way they have more difficulties with leader's duty.

Sorry for the long tinhatting or whatever this was in your cc lol have a good day <3

haha right right right?? I think about that contrast so often u___u

tbh I don't remember which CC HAHA (I'm sure I did). I do remembering trying to summarise it in Wonwoo's manifesto bc I was trying to give context for something and then gave in and described the whole fiasco:

”If Hoshi is involved everything goes out the window. PLEASE watch the entire OFD Japan series because he has this ongoing feud with Hoshi that cumulates in ‘YOUR HIGHNESS ITS A REBELLION’

I can try to give this context but the context is just? every day there’s a different leader and a reasonable person (e.g. dongsaeng line) would be, okay ‘leader is responsible for the team and other duties like navigation and planning etc etc’ but hyungline went: leader is king -> everyone must serve the king -> king’s word is absolute -> YOU ARE ALL PEASANTS AND I DEMAND OBEDIENCE. so every day there was a different tyrant but hoshi suffered especially under wonwoo’s reign and every day he waited to be made king so he can exact revenge but alas, the complicated period drama political conspiracy turned against him and exiled him to dongsaeng team the day before his turn to be king."

I had fun reading this anon, thanks for sharing~

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jeonghan x minghao dynamics

I don’t know if you’ve talked about this before, but thoughts on Jeonghan x Minghao dynamics? The way Jeonghan gets so cuddly with Minghao recently has me feeling so fuzzy inside, but I don’t think I can quite grasp their chemistry

I haven't grasped their canon dynamics either! Haha, I can think of the moments you're talking about -- jeonghan falling asleep on minghao during gose right? I honestly can't think of much off the top of my head, their closest circles don't overlap to include each other (seokmin as moot) and they're generally very hyung/dongsaeng so nothing of note there. What could be interesting (to explore in fic), is the comments about Minghao being the dongsaeng that is most like a hyung (Wonwoo quote) vs. Jeonghan's potential to be vulnerable only in front of someone he trusts can be strong for him.

When I wrote them in once again love it was from the perspective of what Minghao needs to grow, at that moment in the story. I've mentioned that I like to use Jeonghan as a tragic figure in stories where he is not the protagonist. That was true there. He was a version of who Minghao wanted to be, but he also had something in common with Minghao, and that moment of empathy turns Jeonghan's character into a motif that echoes to the end of the story (distance, time).

I love writing Jeonghan's empathy, the way he sees through people and gives them what they need, even if they themselves do not quite know. For Minghao in once again love, I just wanted to create this tender safe space through Jeonghan that was unlike any traditional friendship, because I love imagining Jeonghan's capacity to reach into people in a way most people cannot to show that romantic love may not be the pinnacle of relationships. That sometimes a platonic moment can shake you awake, peel you open. It feels like your soul is touching theirs. That sometimes you need sex, but there are things sex cannot heal. That you can try to use sex to heal the heart and succeed, in a way. That you can have sex and hate it, but not hate the person. With Jeonghan, I wanted to show that your strongest idols can have burdens. To Minghao, the lesson Jeonghan provided was about processing disenfranchised grief, moving on from an unresolved first love.

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when did Jeonghan fall asleep on Minghao?

different anon here, but when did jeonghan fall asleep on minghao in gose? also, was trying to think of more jeonghan & minghao moments, & the first one that came to mind was the one where jh took minghao’s ipad (& kind of whined a little after, when minghao was like no i don’t want to shake your hand!), & gave it back at the end

hello! This was the bungee jumping GoSe! They've been filming for a long time (you can tell by the way the shadows move), and iirc, in Part II you can see Jeonghan closing his eyes and leaning against Minghao and Minghao holding him up :D

haha I love that scene too! minghao your heart is quite tender isn't it? one of my favourite parts is Woozi doing the closing ment and asking why they're so loud and chattery and seungkwan yells back 'they're deciding whether to give the ipad back!" so I can imagine half of Seventeen ganging up on Jeonghan for Minghao's sake hehe.

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gyuhao

love reading all your analysis posts and was wondering what do you like about gyuhao? and what types of gyuhao fic do you enjoy reading/writing about?

(thank you for your patience anon! and for loving my analysis posts)

I did have an old GyuHao analysis CC that I've x-posted. My favourite GyuHao moments are there! (note, the 8Jun analysis is outdated my feelings have marinated into something tastier).

Part 1: What I like about GyuHao ;___; anon it sounds like you want a personal response.

My favourite part is the bicker-banter-art-hoe-bffs dynamic they have going on. It’s fun to watch and it always produces excellent artistic content (I’m still not over Mingyu’s shots of Minghao in the Snapshoot MV. Everything just felt so rose-tinted and tender!!). It’s also a personal weak spot because they are so keenly the kind of friendship/relationship I want for myself. Someone to go to museums with, someone I can dress up with and take pictures of, and maybe have them take pictures of me, unexpectedly, and with tenderness. More than most people, I’m quite okay with doing things alone, and I’ve accepted that I might not get married ever. But when I see gyuhao, they makes me yearn for a kind of partnership.

I also see parts of myself in the two of them, so when they validate each other I get secondary serotonin!! For example, my love languages are very similar to Mingyu, giving acts of service, receiving words of affirmation. With the friends that know me I can be really puppy-ish, running up to hug them, picking them up, spinning them around. My closest friend I joke that she’s my validation vending machine. She lets me do things for her because she knows I like to /do/ things for people.

So I like to read gyuhao fics where Mingyu’s affection is boundless and people are affected by it. (me too tbh) Because of corona I haven’t had a lot of social interaction this year so being able to live vicariously through Mingyu is very fulfilling haha. My favourite moments are when Mingyu /does/ something for someone without being asked and that person notices!! And!! feels!! loved!!!

Part 2: re what I like to read and write.

3 Oct 2020

I love fics where they have a lot of tension in the beginning, either because of rivalry [crank up the speed] or just straight up personality clashing [give me a tempest]. The latter I adore because they both actively try to learn about each other and every inch of relationship development feels earned. For example Minghao is quite prickly when he’s defensive, and Mingyu is the type to sulk when people aren’t nice to him. So chapter 1 has all this delicious (but sympathetic!!) arguments and tension. But there’s a point when Minghao starts learning to read Mingyu’s unspoken cues and they figure out what each other /needs/. There’s a scene where Mingyu does something for Minghao (acts of service!!) but doesn’t say anything and Minghao is still feeling abrasive and he wants to fight Mingyu for being so curt but!! He thanks him instead because he has learnt!! That this is how Mingyu works!!

++ also love xumyuho’s gyuhao series we, fruitful as youth because I love reading a Mingyu POV where his affection overrides his brain and he just stumbles along on instinct and it works out in the end. And puppybois show it off for top-tier married fondness.

Part 3: on writing

I'm still thinking about this!! once again, love ended up being more 8Jun focused so I still have a few stray thoughts I want to expel!! I really want to write Mingyu just steam-rolling a tsundere/repressed Minghao with affection until he gives in and loves him back. Or like enemies-to-lovers but like, rivals-to-rivals-but-lovers-as-well. Also love Seokmin as a mediator/affection multiplier.

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how my views on junhao changed

I think you mentioned in your latest gyuhao analysis that ur view on junhao has changed? (Or was it the other way around grrr my memory is failing me) I was wondering what’s changed/what’s ur view on the dynamic now?

yes junhao! Back then I said:

“I’m more of a 8jun as bros rather than hoes but if I had to tinhat this, it would be the two of them uncovering each other's layers"

But then in August I wrote once again love. Although it started as Minghao-centric and I wasn't 8Junist, the JunHao plot manifested and I had to sit myself down and think, /how do I want to do this/. So I turned to the literature:

mariya's 似曾相識
klavier’s give me a tempest
miuyi's november
a multitude of compilation videos incl. CYZJ cuts
following 8Jun artists + that one twitter video of them messing around

I've already talked about the first two fics in my author's note; w/ [November] it was about me figuring out what Junhui means to Minghao and how Minghao sees Jun as someone who is part of his 'youth' (SVT), but also a discrete part different from all the others, someone who accompanied him on the stressful china summer schedules, who takes him to Chinese restaurants in Seoul. It went from "these are two contrary personalities who forged a friendship after working a long time together" to, "they spent so much of their youth together, and this is what's precious about it." Although the fics above aren't all 8Jun, they all describe Jun as having an irreplaceable part of Minghao, something Minghao only fully appreciates after loss/distance/time.***

(before I was much focused on Minghao tolerating Jun's antics, a resigned grandma bearing with a brat. But now it's like, 'how do they support each other as comrades in this industry'. It’s the small things like Jun napping in the room as Minghao kept practising, instead of going home first, or Minghao's holding Jun's hand as he apologised for CYZJ shitshow #99)

Another thing: talking to tonyang after reading antithesis (ambiguous r'ship jihoon/jun/kulkyung) and they said "i am a big believer in decisions about love being shaped by circumstances"

And that was a, "oh wow." moment that clarified what I was trying to do with once again love. In a lot of old CCs I said "I can't imagine X & Y being friends if SVT didn't happen", and that's still true, but I've severely understated how much /circumstances matter/. We're never going to have a situation where we place 10 people in an empty room and see who they drift to out of pure free will. Life happens. Circumstances forge relationships. Now, I care less about intangible thought experiments on personality compatibility. I want to look at the delicious dynamics when people compromise and choose to work together, no matter what they are like.

***Interestingly, in figure8 and xumyoho fics, the gaze of the lover to the beloved goes from Jun or Mingyu, /towards/ Minghao. This is opposite to the above fics. Minghao is the object of affection being discovered by the POV. I'm still thinking about what this means.

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seokhan

I have not properly dived deep into your cc but I saw your post on SVT FLAWS and SVT as VILLAINS and so a glimpse of your ao3 deepdive into svt ;;___;; If you have time, would you be willing to spill some of your musings about seokhan? and their slow/quiet rise? if only, you are able to, ofc! <3 <3 <3 Have a great day and stay safe!!!

ahhh, thank you for reading and I hope the rest will also entertain you <333

Yes! I can’t talk much about the history of it, because I only became a carat with HIT in 2019 (perhaps another anon can chime in?)

I got into SeokHan because I was trawling every Jeonghan ship for fics and came across Trotter’s work and their fic tenderised my heart so much 70% of the reason I want to write SeokHan is to step into that tradition (and 30% for actual dynamics). I love all their works (including the 97z fic and their SeokSoon) and my favourite is I feel like something new WHICH IS A REJECTION FIC!! But written so gently and so forgiving and filled with so much empathy for both.

I love imperfect loves and that definitely contributed to my writing of the SeokHao in Once again, love. I still want to write a proper rejection fic though!! There’s one in the drafts that I’ve nicknamed the triple rejection fic bc.... you’ll see haha.

Ah SeokHan. I love thinking about them as a give-and-take pair. Obviously JH takes care of DK ( going up with him to bungee then running back down to get him off the boat) but also vice versa. I think about how Jeonghan could be difficult off camera, especially when stressed + on tour, and Seokmin is the only one who can handle JH at his worst because of his infinite capacity to forgive and be patient others (this is so tinhat haha). I also want to work off their dynamics! Like how Jeonghan teases DK but sometimes DK doesn’t catch on and keeps digging himself into a hole (that breakfast with Mingyu when they argued about roommates. tl;dr:

DK: I want to try rooming with other members :D
JH: Ah so you wish I never existed
DK: D:

(To be continued in Seungkwan’s bday vlive lmao)

(Any thoughts about writing them should come out in my A/N when I finish king again! I haven’t earned the right to ramble that much yet haha. Stay safe as well anon!)

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writing seokhan relationship problems

Currently working on an established relationship seokhan where they're going through a rough patch, but I'm dissatisfied with my outline because Jeonghan reads too much like "the bad guy." The reason I'm telling you this LOL is because I read your flaws post, and I agree with your characterization of Seokmin's flaws completely. And while they are, definitely, flaws, they can also read too much like the prototypical "job interview answer" flaws- "too kind", "too sensitive". It's tough to /blame him/ for them the way you can blame Jeonghan for being stubborn or for not knowing when he's taking a prank too far. So I'm trying to work out how to write a fic that feels more fair to Jeonghan, while still not going too OOC. You always have such thoughtful things to say about characterization, do you have any thoughts

hello! I love this question and the way you're thinking through this, you're making me ponder as well (also about how some SVTs have protag/antag energy -- Seokmin is definitely protagonist material and he's just so lovely and perfect, but as a writer I know that's useless HAHA)

Seokmin's very good at cooking rice, but he's not good at survival u__u He's down-to-earth and naive so he doesn't 'read' people in the same way Jeonghan does, which may mean he cannot pick up non-verbal language (e.g. if Jeonghan's tired, he might not say so because he doesn't like to be vulnerable. Josh could see through that and give him support without making Jeonghan feel like he's been exposed, if that makes sense? Martyr-type operational manual).

Early relationship complications mostly come from a failure in communication -- not enough, or misunderstanding (classic, does a gift mean 'I'm sorry' or 'I love you' or 'we're not close enough so when you helped me out last week I feel like I need to equalise the scales') + the example of ask culture guess culture / see this Atlantic article on Ask vs Guess (I think JH Guess, DK Ask). DK is quite simple to figure out because he’s straightforward, but Jeonghan tends to hide and deflect. But conversely, DK also deflects if he thinks he's being silly ('please just ignore me') - which is not great for an actual r'ship when you need to talk.

In a relationship you also learn your partner's way of talking. I don't just mean actual words or something theoretical like Love Languages, but also small things like. (e.g.) If they're deciding what to eat and JH's chin tilts, it means he doesn't like that option. Or if JH's on his phone and he sighs, he wants you to ask what he's watching. Stuff like that! It could fly over DK's head.

DK's unconditionally supportive and will always laugh at every joke, but you might have noticed that he reacts even if he doesn't get it? Some people will appreciate this (Hoshi), but others might think it's simping. I think certain personalities will think it's insincere. And if you're already cynical, people who are easily affectionate raise walls (stray thought, some 'flaws' are actually just personal insecurities projecting hmm).
when the characters are too perfect just make life hard for them HAHA. Circumstances shape character!! B/C DK is dependent, he needs support before he can act. But if JH is short on time or tired, he may not be able to help ('why can't you just /do/ it'). DK's very good at certain things, but he's not good at others (e.g. vlive with Josh where he thought blue+red=orange (tbh I suspect he's colourblind), or OFD Japan when he was leader and was a mess). Ah right! DK's not a good leader! I don't think his mind works like that, and he doesn't have assertive interpersonal skills (e.g. when fans complained about the filter he moved to change it immediately but Jeonghan was just like "oh sorry we can't it's preset heh').

If you want to /blame/ him and cause a fight, I think the old saying 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions' could apply. DK is overflowing with good intentions, but when he doesn't actually understand what's best, it can actually make things worse.

I hope I got your brain going! I would love to continue this conversation if anything else comes up because this was something I enjoyed answering!!

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dk + seungkwan vocal bffs

hey! i ult seungkwan and seokmin so while i was reading your 17 reasons to stan seventeen thing (yes im a carat, yes im reading get into svt guides, what about it) and i am having feelings about them even though i already knew all of the clips lmao,,, so since you mentioned analysis in the notes i wanted to know if you had any particular thoughts about the iconic main vocal bffs?

Yesss it makes me happy you're a Seungkwan and Seokmin ult. May your life be bright and joyous.

(insert standard disclaimer about idol analyses)

I really like how their shenanigans bounce and multiply off each other. Normally when someone does a gag, most friends either laugh (Seungcheol) or sigh in exasperation (Woozi) or get secondhand embarrassment (Minghao). But with BooSeok they dive right in and make it more and more ridiculous (See: MVC Radio freestyle dance, DK hyping all of SK's extra af MCing in GoSe Past Life Destiny, SK hyping DK's raps). There's a reason they sit together IN THE BACK when Vocal Unit shared a van.

I see DK as endlessly faithful towards SK. SK has a very particular personality that can annoy someone. I know some of the sebongs can get tired of SK (nagging, vitamin/exercise endorsements, his highkey stress to do something worthwhile/funny for broadcast, his endless capacity to lecture)*, but Seokmin is precious in that he's straightforward and kindhearted and down-to-earth. He doesn't overthink it and just accepts SK (like he accepts everyone). For example Mingyu would take the vitamin nagging as an insinuation that he's not taking care of himself well. Does this make sense?

SK is good to DK because he's observant and empathetic and emotional. He knows when DK needs verbal reassurance and will not leave until he knows DK is better.

*All of the sebongs have flaws. This isn't anything bad against Seungkwan, just an observation. I personally love thinking about weaknesses because it gives insight into their values and insecurities. As a writer, knowing their flaws makes them more human and gives me ideas for conflict. Also, I believe conflict is a sign of intimacy, it means you're close enough to open up rawer sides of you.

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97z

hello I just read 97z from your manifesto and I just wanna say I really ADORE 97z dynamics, each pairing has their different own dynamics on top of their dynamics when all three are together 🥺

HELLO! me too ;^; they are one big bundle of puppy affection. let me share my favourite 97z moment that's been running circles in my head. (ft Jun)

They were on Youngstreet radio in June for Heng:garae promotions and there were SO MANY LITTLE SHENANIGANS CAUGHT ON CAMERA. [2024 hwa note: this video of the 29 June 2020 radio show has been taken down :( ]

(1) https://youtu.be/AP1xadJg3H8?t=1652 >> Mingyu does a thot move. Seokmin copies him THRICE. Mingyu shoves him, Seokmin pretends to be injured, with soccer-player-level-dramatics, The8 scritches DK's neck then fixes Mingyu's fringe when they're done rough-housing

(2) MG+T8 fixes DK's hair > Mingyu fixes some morr > as thanks DK shows off Mingyu's forehead (Mingyu's lil helpless look before he bursts into laughter mmMM) > Mingyu pushes him off (the whole time The8 is smiling fondly) >> https://youtu.be/AP1xadJg3H8?t=3400

(3) DK wears Minghao's glasses, checks himself out in the footage > Minghao points him to the camera > DK starts waving > Minghao starts waving > Mingyu starts waving > Jun starts waving >> https://youtu.be/AP1xadJg3H8?t=198

After manifesto and king again (and maybe a small project as a break), I have a baby 97z fic that I want to work into something long!!

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wonwoo + repressed maiden thesis

hi! I saw your svt heart rate post, could you elaborate more into it? I was mostly curious on your take about Wonwoo and how heart rate could be used as characterization?

[the original tweet]

ah yes the repressed maiden thesis married with dodgy data <3

People experience a high heart rate when they're stressed, anxious, excited, nervous. Low heart rates correlate to confidence, relaxation, comfort. Resting heart rates are influenced by mental and physical health so Hoshi's 55, Vernon's 60, Seungkwan's 89 and Wonwoo's 88, that stuck out to me. Vernon's always vibing and Seungkwan's always ready to fight, so seeing their heartrates reflect that was neat!! Hoshi's 55 can either mean he's super fit, or Yoon Jeonghan's plan to "just let him sleep" actually worked (and he lost anyway!!).

The repressed maiden thesis refers to the way Wonwoo is written in a small part of wonhui fandom and one I love reading (fic recs below). On the outside, he's cool and cold and intimidating, but deep down he's hiding a fragile, maidenly heart full of tumultuous affection and weaknesses. It's drawn from real-life Wonwoo, how he rarely talks but when given the space to, he has so much to say. How he initially seems distant, but is actually so keen for attention and lowkey eager to be babied (more in the manifesto)

To me, he's also part of Seventeen's repressed line (w/ Woozi and Jun), the type of person who would rather overthink and choke on their words than acknowledge their true feelings. A tsundere haha. He just seems to have so much to say and express, but is actually holding himself back.

Which is why the heart rates are so interesting! Because it's honest! Even if Wonwoo looks at peace sleeping with his glasses on!! His heart!! Betrays him!! (Lying Jeonghan can manipulate Mingyu but he can't manipulate his own heartbeat!!)

So I noticed it immediately, Wonwoo's high maximum (118/122) and resting heart rate (88/85). It was like an inside joke on so many levels because hilariously, we have no data on Junhui. (In my favourite fics, he's always unknowable hahahaha).

Ah, but more seriously, the numbers fit into my little storage file of Seventeen characterisations. When heart rates are consistent, it shows the person has good control over their emotions (Jeonghan Joshua, vs Hoshi Wonwoo). DK doesn't fluctuate either, and I wonder if he's permanently living life on the high dial. I'm also reminded of what happened backstage to Wonwoo, during HTR. That's personal speculation I'll keep private :D

(the following wonhui fics all have a particular brand of repressed maiden wonwoo. I hope you see the vision!)

yoonbot's 17hols fill 無人知曉

miuyi's circles

tonyang's the end of this breathtaking feeling

my own, recessional

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jun meta

hi, i just wanted to say that i've been reading your cc answers and found them very interesting!! i wanted to know if you have any more jun related meta? i find him very difficult to characterize and reading all of the previous meta gave me a new perspective on his character!

hello! thank you so much, that's reassuring to hear <33

The Jun chapter of my SVT manifesto has a little bit of meta.
I /just/ compiled nisakomi's svt meta for another anon, they're a jun stan so there's a lot. [see answer immediately below]
I made risa write a wonhui thesis and they go into Jun's personality. See also their 96z dynamics table on twitter.
flare is super open to taking meta/dynamics requests so you can ask them > https://curiouscat.qa/lovelettuce_
same w/ risa > https://curiouscat.qa/likewaterising

Have fun!! There really aren't any rules about characterisation because no one is in a position to judge haha, so learn what you want and leave the rest <3

do you have nisakomi's wwjn thesis....im interested

they actually have multiple HAHA, here's the masterpost of wonhui meta >> https://curiouscat.qa/nisakomi/post/384895834

[2024 hwa note: I was able to pull some of nisakomi's cc before it died, just scroll further down. Reminder that curiouscat links don't work but pastebins do!]

more on wonhui dynamics > https://curiouscat.qa/nisakomi/post/355629799 and https://curiouscat.qa/nisakomi/post/354397010
“What makes you love Wonhui so much” > https://pastebin.com/raw/qgrw1PaE
wwjn fanart rec > https://curiouscat.qa/nisakomi/post/379320547

you know what anon I decided to do one better. Emptying my bookmarks because nisakomi's takes are interesting to read; because they've stanned since 17TV and because they frequently go over 3000 characters -- so clearly a mind after my own heart.

members that have changed the most since debut > https://curiouscat.qa/nisakomi/post/240279164 > https://pastebin.com/raw/vz7SQTw5
predebut dynamics tinhat > https://pastebin.com/raw/VdqtQEmh
jeonghan friendships and dynamics > https://curiouscat.qa/nisakomi/post/341843574
17 age line dynamics > https://curiouscat.qa/nisakomi/post/340776599
tenipuri = svt thoughts > https://curiouscat.qa/nisakomi/post/188107564
junhoon talk > https://curiouscat.qa/nisakomi/post/207055640
boogyu talk > https://pastebin.com/raw/NTQvRTW7
junhan > https://curiouscat.qa/nisakomi/post/203895424
junshua > https://curiouscat.qa/nisakomi/post/206362392
soonyoung meta (+ self reflection) > https://pastebin.com/raw/fU3Ze2Yg
soonseok changing over time > https://pastebin.com/raw/6hLQ0Xht
jeonghan friendships and dynamics > https://curiouscat.qa/nisakomi/post/341843574
characterising chan > https://curiouscat.qa/nisakomi/post/565862839
most popular ships in c-fandom > https://pastebin.com/raw/0kuJHxtj
jun’s relationships with members > https://curiouscat.qa/nisakomi/post/209655404
jun’s career trajectory > https://curiouscat.qa/nisakomi/post/385556054
svt as months of the year > https://pastebin.com/raw/WbcAUqRX
j-unit work dynamics > https://curiouscat.qa/nisakomi/post/373691272
part 2? > https://curiouscat.qa/nisakomi/post/643484915
“3 things you like about Wonwoo” > https://pastebin.com/raw/SP45p53K
5k of hogwarts sorting > https://pastebin.com/raw/50zDGc6S
how she became a junhui stan > https://pastebin.com/raw/qpxcZUWq
why she stans svt > https://pastebin.com/raw/AWSGduZH
a reply to a bunch of questions like jun friendships, the8 vs jun in china, samuel > https://pastebin.com/raw/5Hh0nGZv
hao changing completely when he fanboys jony j (this is cute to me) >> https://curiouscat.qa/nisakomi/post/576749734 (also! their 2018 CCs are good if you want to read up on the CYZJ shitshow + weibo drama but I didn't save because I don't want to remember)
how she studies (LOL, but it’s interesting to meee. three-exposure frequency theory) >> https://pastebin.com/raw/hwCq2P1H
I don't remember who wrote this but it's a reply to 'what if jun was in nct' > "NO do not let SM anywhere near jun" > https://pastebin.com/kDKT5KY4

nisakomi cc pull

question to nisakomi:

HI! I don't really know you :( but you seem nice and cute, lately ive been wanting to know more about wonhui but i dont think i know anyone who could introduce me to them as a ship, they are really cute please introduce me to wonhui culture ;;

okay i'm back! i will try to give you some (hopefully helpful) links~

from predebut through pretty u era i compiled a fairly? comprehensive timeline of wonhui interactions but i don't have actual links to videos etc. so if you use this you'll have to search up the dates/ask me about specifics https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rkrIFZRADRFWSeIRc4oAGi2cOOD9F2WHBgTXQt6N1Bk/edit?usp=sharing
recently, fyeahwonhui moddir posted a video compilation of pretty much every videoed wonhui interaction in 2017/early 2018!!! https://youtu.be/nMlLY0o2rWY the only things this doesn't have are unreproducible videos (e.g. fancams from fansites), photos, or post-it note answers? the fyeahwonhui twitter has a lot of concert interactions in their moments tho so for anything wonhui i think they're the best resource/the fyeahwonhui tumblr

unfortunately aju nice and boom boom eras fall wayward here...i got busy and stopped tracking and moddir chan wasn't around then so there's a lot of stuff that happened in the second half of 2016 that just isn't chronicled in an easily accessed list? i might take this up as a project over the summer if i have time...

http://manzeonfai.tumblr.com/post/134761165489/wonhui-meta this is a quick essay i wrote about them back in 2015
in july 2017 i was asked why i like wonhui so much and wrote another essay https://pastebin.com/raw/qgrw1PaE, someone commented that they thought it was interesting i made it sound like wonwoo put in more effort and this https://pastebin.com/raw/GisDU7Tg was my immediate reply but tbh nowadays i kinda DO think he does...it's hard to explain...but like i said recently, wonwoo is the kind of person who starts closed but opens up meanwhile jun seems really open at first but the closer you get to him the more closed off you realize he is
and another one https://pastebin.com/raw/rwDB7r9x
this is what someone else said to me about wonhui and i liked it a lot https://curiouscat.me/nisakomi/post/204004692
https://curiouscat.me/nisakomi/post/211619693
as just a final thought i think the way i've seen wonhui described most often is "off-cam couple"...they seem to be fairly comfortable with each other and do spend a lot of time together but they rarely seem to put their friendship on exhibition in front of the camera? and this seems to have been true for quite a long time...so you'll get random stories about them getting food delivery together or playing pubg or see them standing together at the chicago bean in the background of someone else's photo but not necessarily that much stuff live...like if you go through ofd japan they seriously spent the entire trip side by side but never spoke a word to each other that was filmed lmao...it's cute!! i hope this stuff is helpful to you...i rly rly rly love wonhui and hope you can love them too~~

question to nisakomi:

why do you like svt jun?

anon this q is so hard to answer for some reason... i will prob forget to include a lot of things which i'll prob add in my twitter replies like two weeks later when i have a random moment of junhui epiphany but i'll try my best here...

tbh i don't even remember what exactly drew me to jun in the first place!! i got into svt with adore u/svt project and jun barely showed up in both... (but also neither did joshuji who was my first bias... what am i doing...) also jun barely showed up in a lot of things but he became my #2 almost instantly... now that i think about it, i think part of the reason that i like jun so much is that i feel like i find something new to like about him every time... like he's a big kid at heart, me and one of my irl friends joked that he's this weird kid that used to be in your chinese school class that turned Hot overnight and he still acts exactly the same lol (this is a compliment... no one at my chinese school turned out hot!!), is soooo awkward and either keeps at it incessantly or curls in on himself ([going seventeen caption] c-cute...), HE'S SUCH A DOORMAT OMG... but that kind of kindness and almost selflessness (?) is something i really admire about him at the same time T___T doesn't feel the need to always lead, is content to follow for the sake of the team (which is so important and mature!!), he's such a hard worker... like all of the sebongies are but seeing the progress jun's made in both dancing and singing since debut is no joke T__T i don't know anon, all of his little jun antics really get to me and make me smile very fondly TT

also, here's a more speculative [disclaimer: JUST MY OWN PERSPECTIVE AND NOT THE TRUTH OFC!!] thing but: in the first two or so years of seventeen, you could see that not all the members always wanted to be around him? like there were those "jun is alone" jokes/tweets that weren't really jokes... and 小八 had mingoo and took a lot of time to actually warm to jun too despite the chinaline agenda... i don't know exactly where i'm going with this but it makes me such a happy jun fan to see the rest of the sebongies speak of him fondly now T____T life as an idol esp in a group as busy and ambitious as seventeen are is def not an easy path, but i hope jun will walk the flower road ♡♡♡ (@ pl*dis pls stop rejecting deals for him [knife emoji])

if this is too long and you don't wanna read all of it: i like jun because i love everything about jun! ♡

question to nisakomi:

https://m.weibo.cn/status/4153803651530048 what do you think of this? I noticed this when i first watched the replay vlive and thought that maybe it's just me who saw that but then found out this weibo post existed. The way he looked at jun few times while waving his hand listened to hoshi singing is so endearing. I tried my best not to sound delusional but can't help the gaze has a lot of stuff to interpret. I always thought wonhui are so interesting when they interact to each other. Even way before jun wasn't my fave in the group yet, my favorite otp back then during debut days is always only them (thanks to that wonhui fanvid on youtube with that one bts song as background music) until now. I'm not used to this shipping stuff but they just happen to be the first one and only that make me feel to like them as otp lmao. There's always something when they're interacting makes me wonder about them a lot? I don't know how to say this I'm bad at wording 😂

I hope they can keep their unique interaction like this until the end of their time. OMG.

"飘呀飘" made me giggle!! but i still haven't watched this vlive!! :(( i gather my fuel to keep warm by watching hannahbanana's wonhui compilations or the numerous jungifs and video clips i get from following jun fans haha. so i don't know if i can comment on this specific instance

but

i wanna collude with you!! in 2015/2016 lia and i spent so much time talking about how wonwoo's gaze always seemed to shift toward jun. i think wonwoo has an ability to focus fairly intently on the person speaking and look them straight in the eye so i don't like to read too much into it but at the same time i wore my tinhat with pride. i'm sure some of the instances could be explained by wonwoo just looking at whoever was speaking and jun being in the same direction but i swear on my life sometimes jun was BEHIND him and he'll look at him too? i don't have a compilation of this because i feel like if i write it down concretely it'll truly demonstrate just how bad my deal with the wonhui devil was and that i've completely sold my soul to this fictional ship and i like to tell myself he does this to everyone to try to not go completely 🦇💩 but the truth is i think there was a time when i would watch all svt vids twice once to look at jun and a second time to look at wonwoo to observe whether or not he was looking at jun and it may be confirmation bias but i swear...i swear...we had so many conspiracy theories though ahh i can never tell if wonhui are cutely interacting or just a figment of my imagination. i guess at some point tho i found that wonhui thread on the svt rpf baidu bar and someone had used MS paint to draw lines on screenshots where they noticed wonwoo was staring at jun? and that kind of made me feel a bit vindicated... to validate YOUR observations i guess that means there's at least three or four people who think that wonwoo has JunVision...but i can't blame him. i, too, have very intense jun vision...whole room of people around me and the only thing i can see is wen junhui 😻.

they make me want to ship them too...i can't rly articulate why either but i've mentioned this before imee once said that wonhui serve as rly good muses even if they aren't ur faves and i agree wholeheartedly. they're just so INTERESTING idky their dynamic is so like layered and complex and there's so much to explore it makes you think and wonder so much and as someone who like stories it's so inspiring *__________*

i was saying to jenny today since i thought i was gonna die she should spend my life insurance on convincing vivi to stay in jun fandom and also since pledis doesn't seem to ever wanna give jun lines she should bribe wonwoo to be jun's best friend for life...i want that to be my legacy...i rly firmly believe in the transience of things in life but like my adapted quote twitter bio says: i’ve known supreme happiness, and i’m not greedy enough to want it to go on forever. but if eternity existed, it would be wonhui

question to nisakomi:

hi i saw one of pastebins abt jun as a soloist ^ ^ do u still feel the same way after seeing silent boarding gate? has there been any changes w ur thoughts?

and also, what did u think of silent boarding gate?

you know the funny thing is i felt more strongly about jun being a successful soloist after fall in love haha!

i rly liked sbg and crow as songs, and i think jun is a thoughtful lyricist, but idk that i thought any boxes were broken by his ballads. to be upfront, ballads rarely appeal to me for a variety of reasons so keep this in mind with my next thoughts. sbg and crow fell into the box of pretty but not exciting to me. and although i like wjh's voice i think it's not one that is so widely palatable. from a purely industry-based perspective, i think music markets are all quite saturated with talented singer-songwriters and in that regard my feelings that jun isn't necessarily a box-breaking act have had me believe that his solo projects are really more for already fans than for grasping new ones.

it was more with fall in love that i thought if he has the diversity of sound and plays up being so multilingual i think he actually has an exciting box-breaking music career! idk if his voice just suited the song or if he significantly improved again (he has always been improving and his vocals are much stronger in the recent solos than previous solos but i still would not objectively throw him into any vocal contests) but i think that song sounded really good hehehe

ultimately i think the whole thing people say about being a soloist is lonely is true. even having a boyband you can fall back to while doing solo work gives you more feelings of connection. i think if anything wjh might operate best like this, with the support of a group... but i think if svt were to be more centered on solo activities he could definitely hold his own? at least in china. please get this man on a variety show he exemplifies 不幽默但是很搞笑 to me (something like... not humorous but very funny in that his antics make you laugh)

idk... ladiladida... hum hum... i have much less headspace now for fandom so who knows if anything i think nowadays hits the mark! haha

did i even answer your question... i do like sbg and listen to it often! it's calming and pretty if a bit bland hehe. thinking emoji

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raven cycle

if you had to cast members of svt as the main characters of the raven cycle series, who's who? and more specifically, because he's my favourite, who's adam?

FYI thinking about this consumed my evenings.

[Casting based on suitability]

Blue: My first thought was Jeonghan but that’s the heart and not the brain talking. Seungkwan suits Blue’s sass very well and he also grew up in a family of women.

Gansey: Mingyu!! He has the rich boy look and enough self confidence to give the initial impression of arrogance. Surprisingly selfless at crunch time.

Adam: He is also my favourite which means none of SVT can do him justice hmph. I think either Wonwoo or Jun here using their fandom characterisations, but for me it would be Wonwoo, his gangly frame, bookish nature, quietude and unfailing willingness to take on responsibility.

Ronan: HOSHI!! But hear me out. Their personalities are very different but Hoshi could pull off a similar role in the story because of his brainless recklessness.

Noah: Vernon fits well. Post-death Noah is very much first-impressions Stage!Vernon. I could probably insert real dialogue and it will match him even in ghosthood.

Kavinsky: If Mingyu is Gansey Minghao would make a great Kavinsky/Henry/Foil. The banter, the illegal car races, Minghao’s dreamt artworks and an apartment full of smoke.

Mr Gray: Chan lmao. His low tolerance for his hyung’s bullshit makes him a great hit man.

[The fic I would write]

YOOOO a TRC AU is on my bucket list but it’s a massive challenge to do it justice because the world building is unbelievably imaginative and intertwined with the characters themselves ;__; I would love a platonic found-family Vocal Unit psychics circle with DK as the protag and 97z as his raven boys (simplifying it down). Minghao is the rich international student that recently transferred and secretly on a mission to save/find Jun (think fallin flower killing part), he’s quiet but headstrong and fiercely competitive so he immediately butts heads with Mingyu, universally loved handsome devil/boy next door/jock who gets involved in everything and tries to protect everyone. DK has weird dreams about the end of the world and his fam just thinks that’s just his psychic nature until his dreams start manifesting with him, causing trouble and pulling in Mingyu and then Minghao.

I love the Ronan/Adam story and have thought about a dreamer/CDTH AU with JeongCheol where Jeonghan may or may not be a dream.

[2024 hwa note: in the summer of January 2021 the rot got to me and I wrote a gyuhan trc au in 3 days]

bonus answers:

question to ester:

if you had to write a Raven Cycle AU for SVT who would you cast and what will happen?

hmm now why does this question feel like REVENGE

honestly, i think if i were to write a svt trc au, i'd have to ignore the actual raven cycle books almost completely lmaooo i think they're so intimately tied to the setting and the character dynamics that taking them out of that context would be too difficult for me. i think i'd maybe take the general concepts of prophecies, lay lines, dreaming, CABESWATER (god i love cabeswater) and i'd actually try and blend them together with idolverse.

seungcheol would be my main character (bc protagonist energy) and i think i'd give him the prophecy and quest aspects of gansey's story. i don't know what the prophecy would be, but it would be the reason sc signs up as a trainee under pledis. something related to his life as a future idol. gansey's quest for glendower would be seungcheol's journey through pledis/idol life/seventeen.

woozi would be the dreamer, probably. maybe the cabeswater is accessed through pledis' building klsjflskdjflskjfdlksdf. he'd compose the murder squash song.

hoshi could be the world's most chaotic ghost.

i'd make jeonghan a psychic honestly mostly for romance purposes - but also jeonghan can have little a magic powers. as a treat :( i feel like it could be possible to swing his gremlin overlord even-when-i-lose-i-win stereotype into clairvoyance. and i'd make seungkwan and joshua his psychic friends.

honestly this is now getting away from me. i don't know what a plot is!! who needs a plot. monmouth manufacturing is the pledis dorms. they all live happily ever after, THAT'S what happens!!

question to klav:

Sooo.... If you would write a TRC AU for SVT who would be in it and what will happen?

Oh man this was so difficult but also SO fun, thank you for asking!!

I’ve written exactly one SVT fic and one TRC fic so I would not consider myself qualified to attempt this AU without like… months of brainstorming. Although pretty much everything I write features some elements of TRC (my BAE fest 2020 entry was all about a communicative forest, oops) because it’s one of my all-time favorites. Here’s what I’d love to try out!!

character wise…

Minghao’s the dreamer. He rides a motorcycle and sits alone at lunch.

Junhui’s the dream. He gets the identity crisis + sometimes he finds himself standing at the riverbank with no clue how he arrived.

Mingyu is the popular trust fund baby. He gets the Quest and the prediction that he’s destined to die.

Soonyoung and Seokmin are his ghost pals hanging around in their decay, functioning as comic relief and reminding everyone of youth’s fleeting touch, etc.

Jeonghan’s the mirror. Since he’s not a REAL psychic he feels pressure to be perfect all the time + he gets the self-worth issues.

Seungkwan, Vernon, and Chan ARE the real psychics here. Also maybe they’re in love I haven’t decided.

Wonwoo is the ancient tree spirit accidentally awoken by psychic meddling. I have 2 WIPS where this is true because tree spirit/dryad Wonwoo just makes sense?

Seungcheol and Joshua are hitmen sent to capture the dreamer. They get the quirky, hilarious “villain” asides and become the anti-heroes.

Jihoon is the eldritch creature who lives in the creepy forest, everyone’s scared of him but he just wants a piece of their pizza, are they gonna share or not?

plot wise…

I’d definitely steal vibes first. Found family, giant household shenanigans, coping with anxiety, drag racing, flirting through foreign language, nightmares, etc. The Quest would be searching for the Tuatha Dé Dannan (godlike fae folk of Irish mythology) because I’ve always wanted to write about them and it kinda fits!

So maybe just a vague atmospheric character-driven plot with Minghao dreaming up Junhui + dealing with the immediate fallout, Mingyu earnestly trying to befriend the quiet kid and his new friend, and Seungkwan exploring forbidden/dark psychic practices against the advice of his family. I’d definitely lean into the psychic lore and go for some stereotypical tarot, astrology, and crystal ball chaos. Seungkwan/Mingyu or Mingyu/Minghao or Minghao/Junhui would all be excellent explorations. The Quest is only a success with teamwork between everybody, of course. Then Soonyoung + Seokmin can go live in the magical dreamy forest where they’re corporeal and keep Jihoon company, the end!

Now I must go reread TRC/CDTH and try to stop overthinking this hahahaa

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story genres

which genre do you think best fits each member of SVT? musically or for fic, interpret this as you will!!

(anon you spoil me!! I'm going to choose fic because I want to exercise that part of my brain)

SC: mm protag energy coups. High school romantic comedy.

JH: the kind of science fiction about moral grey areas. He has the Byronic Hero aesthetic but also the brain to Think about the problem and the Heart to be pained about it (Psycho Pass, Battle Royale)

JS: despite the difficulties Perceiving this dude I think he’ll do quite well in good old high fantasy with dragons and magic and a very simple Quest (no morally grey questions, god tells you what to do)

JN: to me he has unattainable love interest vibes. the kind of person that is always in a kind of past you look at with rosy-glasses. Also like Vernon, he’s the type to accept the things that come to him and he doesn’t have much of a will on his own. So… tragic (historical) fiction romance? Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, Murakami’s Norwegian Wood, Song of Achilles.

HS: HEIST!!! HEIST!! Bc he suits action/suspense but also with Hoshi you know something will go wrong (Sixth of Crows! Lies of Locke Lamora!! Cowboy Bebop)

WW: /aesthetically/ all the british action protags like BBC Sherlock, (Dan Brown’s) Robert Langdon, Kingsman, Artemis Fowl. I love him in a suit and glasses. If I use my brain, Wonwoo’s presence suits softer fantasies, the ones that are less about the world and more about character-growth and philosophical questions (Wizard of Earthsea, Mushishi)

WZ: Mystery! He talks like a snarky detective and when it comes to crunch time he gets the work done. And when it comes to the villains he can definitely wrestle them onto the floor.

T8: maybe its the fanon but I adore Minghao’s coming-of-age stories about homesickness/listlessness. Where his world upends and he needs to find his footing again. maybe it’s mariya.

MG: slice of life/domesticity!! anywhere he can exercise his acts of service love language. I was thinking as an Austen love interest that is initially insufferable but I want to see him in a survival series (Battle Royale, Tomorrow when the War Began). If I write it I suspect it’ll turn into Lassie Come Home…

DK: ever since Xcalibur, fantasy AUs! But, not Lord of the Rings/Eragon but the escapism types like Narnia or Bridge to Terabithia that also work with his insecurities.

SK: He suits fractured fantasies sooo well (Ella Enchanted, Howl’s Moving Castle, a world where everything is a little topsy-turvy). Fly-kicking ridiculous princes and scoffing at demanding witches.

VN: He’s sooo laid back and passive so it needs to be a story where /things happen to protag/ rather than /protag changes the world/ because then nothing would happen haha. Thinking magical realism like Jun but also just place him in something pastoral like Heidi/Pollyanna. He’ll make a great movie poster.

DN: place this kid in the bible he’s going to be the second coming of christ. (haha but Chan has the kind of steadfastness good for YA dystopian fiction)

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who wouldn't get along

which members do you think wouldn't have gotten along or become as close as they are now had they not been in seventeen?

Wonwoo-Chan would not know each other AT ALL. Their personalities are so different and based off what I know about their family/upbringing, I think their values are different too. Like Wonwoo is reserved and sentimental while Chan is ambitious and straight-forward. But their differences don’t have the synergy like Hoshi/Woozi because of... their pace? Wonwoo is relaxed and Chan is intense. Like they’re in different worlds.

Tbh the answer would be most Wonwoo relationships because he’s the kind of person who doesn’t reach out to people. You need to latch on or else he will float into the shadows.

I talked about how 8Jun is a friendship forged through fire in another CC, and that also applies to Mingyu/Wonwoo and Seungcheol/Woozi (omg I’m hitting the big ships). While we’re here I think JeongCheol would not have happened if Doyoon stayed. [refer to nisakomi’s predebut dynamics tinhat]

Re: Those that will not get along... Mingyu-Seungkwan HAHA. I love their dynamic in their travel series and the horror gose but honestly they would drive each other up the wall if they didn’t have a common goal. Same for Mingyu/Dino and probably Jeonghan/Dino if Seungkwan ever spills the tea on that.

I can write another CC on dynamics if Seungcheol was not leader but ah, thinking hard sleep easy.

Meanwhile I think everyone would love Jeonghan/Seokmin/Jun no matter what universe they turn up in.

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different leader

If seventeen had a different leader, say dino, how do you think the dynamics would change?

The thing about Seungcheol is that he doesn't lead from the front. He's not like RM or Bang Chan or Hui who set the creative direction (Jihoon), nor is he like Leeteuk or Suho who guide the flow of an interview or a show (Seungkwan). He's like a lynchpin, Seungcheol keeps them together and function and it's a leadership style I value so much because he himself has to step back to let the others shine.

I love this entire video but particular this part >> https://youtu.be/M3SdtUn_QLg?t=313 [2024 hwa note: this video has been taken down but I think it’s a clap era radio show on KBS Kong. To compensate please enjoy this reddit thread of Seungcheol + Minghao moments]

Before the radio, he said to Minghao "Make sure to talk a lot today~" and then he was SO SUPPORTIVE AND HAPPY whenever Minghao did something like he know how self-conscious and hesitant Minghao is about these things (and then he does it for Wonwoo and Vernon ahhHH precious precious)

Rather than group dynamics, I think the largest change would just be having a Seungcheol free from burdens. More clingy!coups, maknae cheol, whiny pouty baby. I think he even might be like Hoshi, loud and impulsive, always ready to fight. We know he's talkative but we don't see much of that when he's in leader mode (aka all the time) > so if he's not a leader I think we'll get Jihoon-levels of shit-talking and maybe even some Pledis dirt hehe

From 17TV, Woozi would be the strictest leader of them all haha. Hoshi is a great performance/stage leader but I think SVT would be so ridiculously chaotic if he actually was the one who had to organise anything (they'll probably play mafia everyday). Jeonghan or Wonwoo would fit as leader well, they do the background work so invisibly. Minghao was a leader back in his bboy hood days too hehe, but I think his personality would change, he wouldn't be as openly sentimental and he wouldn't have the time for solo stuff.

(the bulk of a leader's work is invisible, e.g. negotiating with the company, mediating btw company+members, representing their views etc. So it's hard to say how different SVT content would be if say, Mingyu was the leader. I just know we wouldn't get puppy!Gyu. You have to give up a part of yourself in order to be a leader. You have to appear strong always.)

But Dino ahhh (did you come from my weight of heaven authors note op?) He's an obedient maknae but he really really fits being a hyung. I remember in an Inside Seventeen video they mentioned how Dino was so patient when teaching, always telling them what's good and never getting mad. I think he's a little like Suho/Leeteuk in that he's very prone to dramatic speeches and long texts, so SVT might end up being a more verbose group at awards hehe. Tbh Dino is hard to read for me because I know he has an off-camera side that is stubborn and quick-tempered (his famous nickname 'Bang Chan' - Chan for broadcast) but on camera he's so well-spoken and put together. Can't say anything for sure other than their choreographies will be more masculine HAHA

tbh it's so hard to imagine anyone else aside from the unit leaders + dk and dino and perhaps jeonghan as leader lmao. part of it is just having the right qualities at the right time. you know, like for example the8 who came in last would never be in anyone's mind to become a leader. though if you take into how he's Very assertive if in his comfort zone (see: cyzj where jun said he follows the8 when theyre partners + the8's overbearing influence on my i lyrics and production wise), and now that he's more in his elements, you see a potential leader in him. (parallel: hongjoong of ateez)

with dino, from what i have seen from him during predebut days he could have very much fit as a leader. i loove the guy's style of commitment and ambitions. do you know winner's yoon? i feel like his style of leadership would mirror dino's. yoon is technically winner's maknae and shares the same sun + mercury combinations (aquarius) as dino + BOTH HAVE AQUA STELLIUMS. very conscious of his and his group's image (to the point he gets severely stressed out) and is a "responsible monster", ready to fill in any member's position when necessary. it'd be so fun to see dino in the lead, considering svt's dynamic is vastly different from winner's.

(ahhh anon thank you for talking to me I love it, I'll look up Woon and Honjoong!!).

It's true!! So much of life is about timing. We got a little glimpse of alternative universes with OFD Japan but I need to rewatch it before saying anthing (from memory DK was a mess haha, but yes Chan was sooo competent it was scary) This is tinhat but I suspect Dino is working on choreo for Pledis's new boy band. The kind of kid who always says yes to opportunities.

As a writer even for members who don't seem to lead, I wonder about what kind of situations can push them into leadership and force them to grow mmhmm

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chemistry

Which pairings in SVT do you feel like have the most chemistry(purely from a writer's perspective of course)?

HAHA. (but what kind of chemistry ohoho, are we looking for an explosion or a perfectly balanced reaction)

My heart screams GyuHao but I honestly do wonder if they would've been friends if not forced together through work.

I think the main culprit has to be Lee Seokmin who has amazing chemistry with everyone he comes across because he has a heart full of sunshine. He has good reactions to everything.

Hoshi: I bought water from this store.... but it was tasteless
Seokmin: (claps and laughs)

(LISTEN at how seokmin immediately harmonises with Hoshi's screech, and then naturally go into a skit? what? can someone sign them up to a theatre game competition?)

If he is a chemical he would be potassium, whatever you pour on him he will react. Like this is the kid who made Jihoon jump during the Hit fanchant. I'm thinking ballroom dances with Seungkwan and hello talk Seoksoon talk baby talk talk talk.

For a story, I'll have to go back to GyuHao because of their relationship progression translates to plot very well since there was so much conflict in the beginning. Also Mingyu's personality generates a lot of friction with ANYONE so he is perfect to insert in fic.

Seungcheol/Dino, as a leader who is a maknae and a maknae who is kpop's worst maknae HAHA. It's an interesting dynamic that will probably go well in a dual character study rather than a reactive interaction
JiHan BUT, as side characters. You could slap any sidekick trope on Jisoo and he could still be in character. The combination is good for stirring shit and I love how they have angelic faces but demonic interiors.

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writing svt perspectives

who's perspective is easiest and most difficult for you to Get and write?

hello anon! I wanted to answer this after I published ours for the moment and recessional because that's two new perspectives. In reflection, there wasn't any difference between the 5 I tried (JH, DK, T8, SC, WW). Wonwoo took me a few days to get into the headspace, but I think that's a mixture of burnout and the fact that WonHui is an extremely subtextual ship where neither says what they really want.

Changing perspective isn't difficult for me, but this might be because I have a survival instinct, and that instinct swerves to avoid Joshua/Jun/Chan hahaha. Even if I wrote Soonyoung/Mingyu PoV I think I have to go limited 3rd person rather than, subjective/internal focalisation (i.e. events from their point of view, but without their thoughts). For Chan/Mingyu, I just don't know how to write their voice in a way that is unique to them. For Jun/Soonyoung, the way I think they think is very different to how they behave so the issue is acclimatising the reader without letting them feel like the PoV is out of character (because Jun overthinks + is insecure, and when he overacts it feels like he's compensating for something only he perceives, and Soonyoung is normally introverted but paradoxically when he gets in a zone he doesn't think /at all/ so introversion goes out the window). + does Joshua Hong have a soul?

Another reason is that perspective is relatively the /least/ difficult of all my writing struggles. When I faced a new scene for ours for the moment, I could immediately see what Seungcheol could do, how he could react, what he could think. And then what would Jeonghan do, and then what Seungcheol could do in reaction. The issue is choosing the option that is best for the story.

For example, I knew very early on that Seungcheol and Jeonghan would get in a fight, and I very clearly knew how Seungcheol would be when he’s angry. But I needed to give him a reason to be angry. Originally it was because Jeonghan started withholding information (to protect him) and Seungcheol felt like Jeonghan didn't care about people anymore -- but it felt out of place, like a plot climax too early. And then I pushed it to the final scene and it felt wrong as well because the note-removal scene was calm and the emotional drop was too fast. In the end, that fight was part of his cycle of grief (from numbness/disbelief during the funeral -> bargaining+anger with Jeonghan -> depression in the phone call -> then by Mingyu's scene, he had accepted Jihoon's death and can face the future). So the bigger problem was choosing the parts of Seungcheol that would create this overall emotional arc of the story, and then building events so that those emotions and reactions of Seungcheol feel natural. I hope this makes sense to you anon, and thanks for asking!

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jeonghan-centric fic

if you had to write a jeonghan centric non-au fic, what kind of theme/topic/issue would you choose to write about?

ahhh idolverse jeonghan character study. My itch was scratched through writing weight of heaven: having a career where you craft a persona to be objectified, the unique fan-idol culture in kpop where companies curate intimacy through fanservice, and what an idol could feel (e.g. the internal discomfort of being a fraud when you do it so many times, on cue. But at the same time, there's a certain rush when you're loved unconditionally by fans. But then again, there's the tension when you compare the love you curate as idols, to the love you feel as a Person, from One Person). + Being perceived in the ways you want, but also in ways you can not control. Trying to control how you are perceived. The transience of fame. The stage high. Idolhood as professional work.

(My favourite footage of Jeonghan as an idol is in Dingo Avatar School. Dingo is famous in fandom for their crazy interviews haha, but in Korea they're famous for their program of surprising ordinary people with celebrities. Letting them talk, showing that celebrities are people too, but also to encourage and inspire. I love the episode where they get the president of South Korea to go into a laundromat to meet a dude whose just studying for exams. And then they go out and do shots hahaha). ANYWAY, Jeonghan's smile here when the fan is overjoyed to see him, the way he talks to her, it's precious to me u__u )

I've mentioned in an older CC, but since Weight of Heaven, I see Jeonghan more as a tragic figure, or the object of affection. I think it's because I wrote my heart out there, so I don't feel the need to revisit his POV or write his internal thoughts. But since he's my bias, I still love writing him, but I think it'll mostly be other people experiencing Jeonghan and Jeonghan leaving a Wonderfully Chaotic Impression (see: Once again, love). Like instead of Jeonghan POV it'll be other people's POV of Jeonghan if that makes sense?

(Ah but I'm working on a Seungcheol-centric idolverse fic right now!! His POV of Idolhood is interesting to me, and it's different to Jeonghan's. I'm still thinking it through but I'm looking forward to shining light on the BBB experience from another angle)

+++ I had a look in my notes. I do have an idolverse Jeonghan-centric idea but it's a comedy haha. it's inspired by the theory that Jeonghan makes everyone think they're his favourite dongsaeng + the Thesis that he rotates through the sebongs (goodbye Soonyoung, your honeymoon is over. hello Jun for November 2020).

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writing jeongcheol

honestly i've reread weight of heaven so much time and i almost burst into tears every single time. the way you portrait jeonghan, it's feel so realistic and i've thought so much abt that. and also the way you describe jeongcheol always got me that FEELING😭 can i ask you abt your mindset during writing abt jeongcheol? And do you have any special mmt of jc that you really love?

thank you so much <3 there might be more content soon bc it was discussed in a podcast and I want to do a voice reply, so please look forward to that!!

For JC I like the base chemistry formed by trust and experience and general ridiculousness of the skinship between the two. I love to work real moments into fic! Like shoulder biting and feeding and neck holding and potentially money giving HAHA. Their small habits I try to fit in as a part of the fic, so with [Ours for the Moment] I measured the growth of their relationship by having acts of affection as milestone details.

Weight of Heaven was JH-focused, and JC was a plot vehicle for JH's character, so I wanted the JC to reflect the relationship between JH and his fans, and JH and himself. When he turns to SC, he does with all the baggage of an idol.

I love the contrast between Hyung!JH and maknae baby!SC and how that influences their attitude to love (ie, their natural personalities are very different) . You can see the different ways they confront an issue in [WoH] and when a fight gets heated, I want to show how it splinters. I want the reader understand the paradox of loving someone without fitting perfectly.

There are sooo many sides to this to explore. SC has this powerful optimism that I like to call his Protag Energy, but Jeonghan is a resigned pragmatist. And then there's the way SC simps and the way JH indulges him and how the things they do for each other deviates from their usual love lang. Anyway!! /end

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SEVENTEEN: OTHER

how hwa got into svt

when and how did you get into svt?

August last year! Specifically, I got into them with the HIT fanchant video and saw their enthusiasm during the "seventeenseventeenseventeen HAH". DWC has always been my favourite kpop song ever since it came out, and I peripherally followed their releases but? Once I slipped into the diamond life I appreciated their choreography and artistry so much more. Honestly the weekly GoSe is partly responsible haha

sorry if you’ve answered this before but how did you get into seventeen!

nws!!

I've always followed SVT bc Kpop + my bias for Pledis (After School! Orange Caramel!), Don't Wanna Cry is my all time favourite Kpop song, and I remember watching their early stages for the musical theatre fun (Pretty U was really popular to cover in concerts!!). I started stanning August 2019 with HIT! I loved the MV, and then... the moment I decided to stan...... was the fanchant video when they went 'Seventeen Seventeen Seventeen HAH!" and Woozi/DK were jumping and flapping their hands and everyone was so energetic I fell in love immediately. (I have /never/ heard a fanchant so fast it was soooo fun I practiced it immediately).

(I'm 67% fire sign so it makes sense haha)

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svt bias

who is your bias in svt?

iron deficiency line! jeonghan + minghao + wonwoo. Haha but it's complicated because I really do love them all and I love their dynamics more than any individual person (and fallin flower jun >>>>>). My manifesto has my thoughts!

my first bias is jeonghan from a triangulated attack between the adore u auburn ponytail + don't wanna cry blonde perm and long sleeves + boom boom era 12 v 1 fast pace choreography

minghao grew on me after I got into svt. I love the contrast between his savage side-eyes and his sentimentality. He seems so responsible and ambitious, but also fragile and young. It's how everyone babies and coddles him (calling him eisa, sternly talking to jeonghan to give minghao his ipad back), but he also drives and controls soonyoung and keeps cheating jeonghan in check. One of my favourite fancams will always be 2018 Dream Concert thanks (his wrist!! his wet back!!)

and wonwoo... my love for wonwoo is something primordial there is no logic he is my poor little meow meow.

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favourite stages/concepts

I'm not the original anon, but I'd love to know your thoughts on favorite stage and/or concept for each of the members!

thank you for the question! I took my time with it because I realised I can never pick a favourite.

Seungcheol: I love concert rapper Coups, he's so much more aggressive, especially red hair spicy choi in their diamond edge HHU stages. (runner up: call call call ribbon harness, his eyebrow quirk in his Hit ending fairy shot) [2024 hwa note: lalali adidas orange hair eyebrow up tongue out biceps PLEASE]

Jeonghan: 170708 Crazy Love, the purple lighting!! the preppy outfits!! HIS BODY ROLLS. I have a whole folder of JH stages ;___; the silver hair-choker-black shirt combo for Dream Concert, the long cardigan for THANKS promotions, his Boom Boom hair... (Fearless is creeping up because of his trust fall GOD that trust fall)

Joshua: I'm so weak for the recent sleeveless biceps josh <3 So the 4K Studio Choom Left & Right video murdered me. Also! His dancing ability increases when it's a meme, so the U.S.A dance for the Haru Tour is my favourite Joshua. (AND, his ending shot for Fearless with everyone else down and the falling petals)

Jun: His Chinese THANKS stage is my ult! I love his shoulder-waist ratio __ Also I love him with darker and melancholic concepts, so Getting Closer, Home, DWC, and Fallin Flower are all (closed mouthed screaming)

Wonwoo: his fluffy hair and tight leather pants for MAMA 2018 OTL also for Fear he had silver/blue/purple hair and? high waisted pants that showed off his tiny waist and I'm AHHHHH. Honestly I like his stage presence so every stage and concept looks good to me.

Hoshi: AHHHH, my manifesto has all my favourites, but my ABSOLUTE TOP has to be his solo 'Touch' where he emulated a girl crush concept. Those... hips...that... gaze... + the Egotistic cover.I love debut era hoshi because the songs had a lot of acting/musical theatre elements and his expressions changed every stage which made it so fun to watch.

Woozi:Snap Shoot HAHA. I also love his solo part in DWC where he does the contemporary dance that SVT echoes + his stage-only solo song ‘what kind of future’.

The8: I love his mullet and styling during the CLAP/OH MY era, he looked like the rocker boy next door that's always out of reach. Favourite stage is Flower for MAMA 2018 because GUNSHOTS and the most beautiful shot of Minghao collapsing onto the ground. All time fave outfit is the flowy blue robe he wore for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star remix for CYZJ

Mingyu: the floor... body... roll... in good to me... with those tiddies. damn son. I'm fond of the rehearsal cam of Hit where he is in a massive hot pink coat. (+190106 getting closer military outfit)

Seungkwan: tbh favourite Boo is the flying kick- won't take your shit- Boo Seungkwan HAHA jkjk The part in My My where he's carried across the waves is super sweet to me. I also loved Hit/Fear because he seemed to have grown up a lot for that but tbh I just love it when he has a long fringe that goes over his eyes, it brings out his cheekbones hgnn

Vernon: sorry first thing I thought of was 'korean traditional mungbean pancake' from bindaetteok gentleman but this is relevant because Vernon in SUITS. So the FEAR stage where they were in pleather suits, that one CLAP stage, 160910 Shining Diamond Concerts...

Dino: SO. MANY. I've seen every fancam for every promotional stage because I can never get sick of him. I love him Aju Nice, I love in him Fear, I love him in Happy Ending, I love him --

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MVs

what svt mvs do u like the most and why? and what are your favorite mvs overall?

DWC!! It's a simple MV both aesthetically and conceptually (sad boys dancing) but, the impact of it stuns me. The opening shot of them swaying is so simple, but because there's 13 of them, in sync, city, click, desert, click. I can't ever get it out of my head. Maybe its the serenity of it, the camera doesn't move much so I feel my breath has stilled. And the overhead shots ;___; when they interweave, ripple, go into formation and all their shadows are perfectly in place.

I also love CLAP because its just a fun, chaotic MV and there's actually visual story-telling which is so RARE in kpop. I notice the small things like, Josh painting Mingyu in a white suit and white room -cut- Mingyu is now in a green suit, bg green. Hoshi being a boss as SVT types away, scenes later, hoshi gets ganged up on, pushed into ball pit, cut to overhead shot with Wonwoo in ball pit, Hoshi falls in. I love how the concept is 'how to make a video' so every shot has video-making stuff even though its silly and it has a kitschy vintage vibe but then the glitches??? I love it so much. Also digipedi production irrc and I always love what they do with colours and shapes and composition. Like each shot n CLAP and Change up could be in a book of graphic design.

(ALSO, I love Callx3, Home, and Snap Shoot).

All time favourite has to be BTS Spring Day, hands down, by miles. It's beautifully shot but even before I read in to it, I knew it had a message. Even though the message was subvert, I knew the whole MV was a narrative because the /images/ were connected, the shots were connected. When Namjoon moved through the train my heart was in my throat because I /knew/ from experience, how trains connote journeys, and when he went through the train to Omelas, through to the laundry room, to outside, and then backwards all over again. I was blown away because it just confirmed that the train was a metaphor and I can't believe that I was watching a music video that had a metaphor so beautiful.

Like, it was a combination of some of the most beautiful camera work and staging in /cinema/ and it was in ONE MV. I will always remember Taehyung putting his head on the train line, like he was lying his head on a guillotine. Or Jin looking up, framed by the stairs until the POV switches and we see the stairs through the frame of Jin's fingers. Or Suga on a mountain of clothes (which was actually based on a piece of modern art?? excuse me??). I can talk for a hour just on the visual story telling alone.

And this was before I found out it was an allegory for the Sewol Ferry Disaster: video essay

When I found out, I rewatched it again and the MV got twice as powerful.

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hair colours

What colour hair does each Seventeen member have in your mind's eye? For example, if someone says "Seungcheol" to me, I always picture him with black hair, even though it's not currently black.

hello <3 <3 it's good to see you here. These are the SVTs I see when I read fic

Seungcheol: Black, with the little wavy fringe that's upwards because he always runs his hands through it

Jeonghan: platinum blonde, specifically the fluffy DWC Era look.

Joshua: originally the pink from Clap but now it's his current look because I have a lot of screenshots of Joshua "Yeah I look hot" Hong with his hair over his eyes

Jun: a soft cool brown with the fluffy side part

Hoshi: the black from Highlight. Even though he's blond more often, I love how serious he looks in black.

Wonwoo: ALWAYS the fluffy permed black (see Flower stage)

Woozi: I always see his chaotic pink-blond for some reason. and he's smiling in my mind's eye.

Mingyu: brown always <3 AND TANNED SKIN.

The8: if in the fic his soft he's soft brown, otherwise it's the fringe-mullet-glasses on the tip of his nose Edgy Look from Clap Era

Seokmin: Brown WITH HIS FOREHEAD SHOWING

Vernon: Hit Era with blue hair.

Seungkwan: dark brown with the long tidy fringe like in the beginning of this year?

Dino: brown, and I see him doing the little clap and head cock from Clap (gosh Clap era is my Type, I just realised)

svt fic recs

What SVT fanfics do you recommend reading?

current favourite is klavier's gyuhao give me a tempest I've recommended it 4 times in the last month and I'm not going to stop. Fake-marriage AU but its for immigration and there are so many themes that go straight to the heart. Homesickness, ambition, identity uncertainty, developing a relationship from scratch. It's funny, it's bittersweet, it's real.
all of trotter's SeokHan, I love the way they write imperfect relationships especially give me something new which is about rejection!! rejection!! I love rejections!!! (and now I'm inspired to write my own)
and all of acefluff's woozi/jeonghan and for their writing of ace!Jihoon. I especially love whatever our souls are made of because of the unique way jihoon and jeonghan see relationships and figure each other out. I relate a lot to Jeonghan in this one
hopeboo's Coven. A Boo/Josh/Jeonghan fic about getting over grief but also magical accidents and gentle relationship talks. ALSO VERY GEN OT13!! One of my favourite scenes is the seungcheol/mingyu/vernon puppy pile
heartcondition's ultraviolence for hunger games Soonyoung/Minghao. and they have to kill each other .
jingletown's Reflected I see this one as less of a fic and more of a short story because wow. Definitely darkfic because all of the characters are fuck ups and make unhealthy decisions. A small town thriller that will grip you and linger after. The way each character is written as an accumulation of flaws is, so sobering.
crank up the speed (orphaned) bickerbanter competitive bakers gyuhao. funny and something I reread for a pick-me-up >>
miuyi's circles for personal reasons. short but powerful wonhui. the detail and the delayed reveal is everything! I think about this fic once a month for a year >
mariya's soonyoung/minghao pacrim is so big brained. >>

asdamq also pyrophane's jihancheol [the earth in its turning stopped], nisakomi's wonhui [the jeon zone], brightlight's soonhan [these quiet nights need turning up]... and more, and more

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GENERAL

kpop industry

Hi! I wanted to ask you if all the information in Weight of Heaven about how the industry works and the events that occurred was a product of being a long-time fan or research? I'm really interested. Thank you for writing <3

Hello! It was from being a long-time fan of kpop, I don't recall doing research for [Weight of Heaven] outside of finding specific dates -- e.g. for the opening Jaejoong scene, I remember Jaejoong started getting tattoos around the time of DBSK's Japan dome tours, and the sensation it made when he showed them in public. But the photograph Jeonghan kept is from an amalgamation of images -- the spotlight on DBSK (and so many groups after -- where the stadium is dark and there's just one stream of light highlighting the lonely stage), a photograph of Jimin's back -- he was in a white shirt that was so transparent you could see his spine, then Jonghyun's solo stage where he had 30 fansites tattooed on his skin (I've talked about tattoos in WoH here > https://salutant.dreamwidth.org/3242.html#1).

[Weight of Heaven] came from memories. I lived through Tablo, Sulli, Jay Park and EXO and had followed the news cycles as UEE and Suzy fell in and out of favour. I still remember the articles on AllKpop when Sulli stopped promoting with f(x) and started acting, or the articles saying "Member X" from "Girl Group A" is causing jealousy for prioritising her solo career during song promotions. The opinions of people when they don't think about the consequences, the aspects of fandom that are contradictory, indulgent, and obsessive. By pulling these memories through the world of [WoH], I feel like I could make those thoughts concrete, show people what I was thinking by making it real. Like the magical realism in [Raven Cycle].

I almost deleted the Sulli scene because I had written it before she passed away. It felt so cruel to create a world where she could not escape the words, where it was directly on her skin. It was cut down, moved to other characters, and by the time I finished writing months later, my thoughts around her death made it into the story, in different ways.

So much of this fic is influenced my my experience of kpop - the themes of identity and persona is heavily influenced by the fandom discourse around EXO's Kai, especially around 2012, straight after EXO debuted and we realised what a softie he was off stage. I'm thinking of LJ users grisclair, canttakeabreath and windowright. The performance vs sincerity of fansigns come from TVXQ's Changmin who is notorious for refusing to do cute stuff (haha). Possession came from the backlash after Sungmin's marriage and the usual 'idols can't date' fantasy. I'm still thinking about that one, because I empathise with both sides.

Anyway I've digressed. Other than my official author's note, there's a post on my personal thoughts about writing [WoH]

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yoongi

penny for your yoongi thoughts!!

wish I can write about Yoongi -- I've tried, but I think I'm still in the process of learning him. I have a namgi wip called [departures] and it's the type of story where I've noticed something about the world and I need to share it, because I want others to see what I'm seeing. Perhaps this is not Yoongi at all, but the story I want to tell.

Yoongi has always felt like an underdog to me. From his mixtapes, to his background. Someone who fights to get his dream, who snarls at power and carries himself with proud persistence. He lives for the chase, the struggle, the martyrdom.

But what happens when you achieve your dream? When you're no longer a rookie getting dissed by hip hop artists? When you are the one on top of the world holding the grammy trophy and realise that you've lost a part of you. Fame changes people, and it can change the game. I'm thinking about the difference between Taehyung now, and the Taehyung in 2017 yelling "nico nico niii~". (Jungkook and fame can be a thesis in itself)

“To live past the end of your myth is a perilous thing.”

There's a shared sentiment amongst BTS fans, especially those who stanned during HYYH era and loved BTS for [Spring Day]. Regardless of how I feel, I think Yoongi had to evaluate and re-anchor himself when BTS became mainstream famous. This is the moment in [Suga's Interlude] -- “I was full of dreams, then I grew and made all of it come true // Yet keeping dreams as dreams would be better " + “I wonder what's in store // If I don't love it anymore // Step between the having it all and giving it up".

I believe fame didn't change him. He reflected, and kept moving forwards in the same direction. I want to write that moment of self-reflection. Like I can write these words out as an essay, but as a story, I need to think of scenes that would show the value in each sentence, and I need to write Yoongi's reaction to it. I need to be able to show how he thinks through the events in his life, but also how the events change him as he grows up. How other people may think differently (Namjoon), and how they would argue. So much of [Departures] is about the war before peace, about love forged when insecurity tests constancy (this is another essay and one I shouldn't write until the fic is done!!)

Anyway!! I do love yoongi because he is a tough mf who is also a lil meow meow. I love him for Daechiwta, but I also love him for So Far Away, Eight, First Love, See Saw. Creatively, so much of what he does I want to break down and steal.

(thank you for waiting anon, you asked this 7 May 2020)

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sliding scale of tinhat comfort

hello hwa! i can't believe i just discovered your post on dreamwidth: “sliding scale of tinhat comfort” tonight (at 3 am, nonetheless) because our views about rpf align almost perfectly in a way that is scary (maybe not so much so, but.). regarding the complete disassociation segment in particular, aside from a few added reasons for me personally, i relate to you. hard.

i think my uncomfortableness with my ao3 & twitter account in general has stemmed from the direct relation of me writing rpf with tinhatting and being perceived. in recent months i've come to regret sharing my fandom twt on my ao3, and have been chastising myslef. "i should have kept it separate!". i often sit down and think about rps/rpf, always conflicted, rarely settled. i alternate between "this is fiction: people are free to write" and "this shouldn't be out in such public places (social media, more so), it's such a breach of privacy", and i more often than not have both these thoughts at the same time. hence the boundaries and borders i personally have about kpop rpf in general.

i have never been able to formulate my thoughts in a concise and structured manner, and so want to thank you for letting me in on your thoughts about this whole thing and thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.

i know this is a really long ask, and i don't expect you to answer, really! but i do think discussions like these are important and may just be endless, i love to talk about it with you, someday.

hello anon!! I hope don't feel like I left you hanging. Thank you for coming to me with this, and thank you for reading that essay on tinhat comfort!!

I feel that as well!! The more you go from canon into tinhat territory, the more of yourself you're bringing into fandom. But although some tinhats are experimental and just thought-experiments, some can be intensely personal. With fic you can hide your thoughts within a story or as objective characterisation choices, but with fandom twt it's pure honesty without the context of a narrative. I've thought about this a bit more over the last year, and for me I want my story to exist without me, I don't want people to think about hwa when they're reading. That's because I don't want to worry about, "what will they think of me if I wrote this". I shouldn't hesitate to do what is best for the story. Freedom in fiction <3
I also believe in 'death of the author' (once the story is out, my interpretation is no more valid than a reader's, and the author's own life/politics/thoughts should not have a special weight in deciding what interpretation is 'right'). Also links to my own approach to writing, I want to leave enough gaps that the reader fills it in for themselves. That way the story becomes more real for them.
tangential thoughts about YA fiction because so many YA authors also have twitters/online presence/fan interaction. Personally allergic to that haha, I like my authors to be mysterious and unknown. (except Murakami, that man is an exception)

Absolutely happy to discuss this further if you still remember your thoughts from February 2021 :'D

Have a good day anon <3

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GENERAL: RECS

exo fic recs

oh oh do you have any exo ficrecs??

so many!! (even more for suju if anyone wants)

grisclair is /so good/, if you liked [ours for the moment] you will love arbitrage, no spoilers but it starts as a street racing AU... (kai/kyungsoo). The twist was so amazing, straight after reading I promised to myself not to read it for another decade so it can hit me again at full force. Check out their masterlist and their KaiSeLu models AU in post blue

everything by canttakeabreath, els' writing takes my breath away and they were one of my first fic idols. My Voltron fic lightspeed was inspired by their SeHan Through the Years and Far Away

masterlist
buckets for jupiter (kris/tao, tao writes a love advice column, 18k)
a succession of kings (suho/chen 42k, modern royalty)

I also love warmboys who is now aggretsu on ao3!

run my chicken fingers through your hair luhan/yixing post-disbandment
how to love is a concept I want to do for myself, a multiship story where every chapter links onto the next. the cameos become main characters, and then it comes full circle >

oh my god quid ;___; master of my heart

in the stillness of expired time !! Ahh!!! Kris/Lay/Lu Never Let Me Go!AU Ahh!!! I have no words the grief still simmers
victory's within the mile kris/baekhyun they're running for school president/vice. it's funny and charming but there's some real talk in there

inkin-brushes’ girls!EXO AU was my guilty pleasure but their zodiac series had the epicness that debut exo wish they had

discorodeo with their heartbreaking AUs:

masterlist
carcasses of stars in your eyes (Kai/Luhan, AU where some humans don’t have emotions)

And also:

the touchline by curledupkitten, 74k suho/luhan soccer AU, real and heartbreaking
turnout by windowright for grisclair!!! AMAZING LUKAI!! so much about dreams and dreamers and falling in love with your idea of love. Black Swan and Inception came out in 2010 and the themes of both movies are explored here deliciously

(anon I see you've read my comment replies haha, so of course, the post-it notes come from the fandom classic anterograde tomorrow by changdictator)

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magical realism, contemporary fantasy and poetry

new anon, but do you have any recs for magical realism and contemporary fantasy? also any poetry recs?

My recs:

[miracles of the namiya general store] by keigo higashino! He's famous for his mystery/thrillers (and Wonwoo recs those) but this one feels like a Ghibli story because it shows how our lives are all intertwined together and by the end of it you will feel like you've grown with them <3
[kafka on the other shore] by haruki murakami -- I haven't read this murakami but everyone I've met who've read murakami chooses this as their favourite book, even ones who don't like his other works. The two plots are very well done and its a good balance between readability and the innate /weirdness/ that murakami is known for.
[shadow of the wind] by Carlos Zafon. 1945 Barcelona + mystery + magic + the most hilarious side character I've ever met. It is beautifully and poetically written, words like smoky noir, characters like neighbours and old friends.

you would have heard plenty about the raven cycle from tlist haha, I also highly recommend the sequel trilogy w/ [Call Down the Hawk] because there's more worldbuilding, more Ronan/Adam, and the character of Jordan Hennessy who is my favourite dreamer of them all.

My personal magical realism favourites are:

[1Q84] by Murakami, god. __ the entire thing just feels like a dream, like things happen that don't make any logical sense but at the same time it does, in that weird, dream-logic way where your subconscious understands but your mind doesn't. (I don't recommend this unless you've read his other works + have the patience to read 1000 pages)
Italo Calvino's [Invisible Cities] + [if on a Winter's Night a Traveller...] ;__; all time all-genre favourite. his prose is amazing I've tabbed and underlines so many pages in my copy. The 2nd book is the universally accepted best example of 2nd person PoV AND the best anti-novel in existence.
[Invisible Cities] is like, my sanctuary. The frame narrative is a conversation between Marco Polo and Kubla Khan who is facing an empire in ruin. Marco tells stories about the cities he's been to but you quickly realise these aren't real cities at all.

Re Poetry

Off my head and not my notes nor my bookshelf:

[Seven Pillars of Wisdom] by TE Lawrence > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Pillars_of_Wisdom#Title
‘We have not touched the stars, nor are we forgiven…’ from Siken’s [Crush] > https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/370891-we-have-not-touched-the-stars-nor-are-we-forgiven
‘I loved you first but afterwards your love outsoaring mine...” by Christina Rossetti > https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50507/i-loved-you-first-but-afterwards-your-love

Personal favourite so YMMV:

[Kubla Khan] by Coleridge > https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43991/kubla-khan (I could close read this one for weeks and still learn something new, also he wrote this in a DREAM)
[Til I End my Song] edited by Harold Bloom. This is one fat anthology of DEATH poems. I love how he prefaces each poem with a little fanboy essay of why he chose it and what that poet means to him.

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war novels, magical realism, horror, poetry

I like reading wartime/post-war novels, magical realism, maybe some horror and mystery - nothing too fantastical or romance-centric. I'm pretty open to anything though! and I'd love some poetry book recommendations too <3

Oh! I love the kind of books you're talking about __ The last few years I've been enjoying historical fiction because it pierces my heart with the knowledge that it is partly true to life. [Anil's Ghost] is set during the Sri Lankan Civil War and is told from the perspective of an expat Sri Lankan who returns as a forensic pathologist. I love the diaspora PoV, the hubris of an expat returning home, the disillusionment as the scope of violence becomes known to her, her local foil (Sarath <3), and the growing unease as they investigate forced disappearances. Some of the corruption plot for [Ours for the moment] was inspired by this.

I'm currently reading [Half of a Yellow Sun] which is set during the Biafran War (Nigerian Civil War), I adore how real and diverse the cast is (the local houseboy, the British scholar, a Igbo woman who had a British education) and the different gossip from their biased PoVs. You spend the first 20% getting to know them and then the violence hits. And it hits. The book really humanises war because it shows how senseless it is, how quickly the massacres happen, how predictions of peace gets overturned, and when a whole population starves, you know what hopelessness really feels like.

I also like [Grace of Kings] for the silkpunk setting and the most complex worldbuilding, but it is fantasy so if you want to hear more lmk!

Magical realism recs > https://curiouscat.qa/hwarium/post/1149395498

For horror, Stephen King's [Pet Semetary]!!! I have a weak heart so it's the only one I dared to read haha.... but I have studied this so many times for the way he builds suspense, creates expectations, and then uses the readers' expectations against them. For quick reads, the short stories on the subreddit No Sleep are brilliant.

For horror/thriller AND mystery, Keigo Higashino's [Journey Under the Midnight Sun] is brilliant. Like a once-in-a-generation kind of novel. It starts with an unsolved murder and then follows the lives of two children as they grow up. Somehow everyone connected to them meet strange ends... But you rarely get their POV, you perceive through others' eyes and gradually... it comes together. It's incredibly eerie and unsettling but Higashino is powerful because he makes you sympathetic to the worse actions. (btw, ˆ reading everything he's written, starting with [Murder of Suspect X]. The kind of following he has in Asia is similar to Doyle or Christie. AND WONWOO RECOMMENDS HIM!!)

For poetry, I read Topaz Winter's [Heaven or This] earlier in the year and loved it ("a collection of love letters in poem form. The story of a girl who loves girls so deeply that it feels like loving doves or knives." > https://www.topazwinters.com/bookshop/heavenorthis

Thanks for asking!

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silkpunk

Silkpunk?! I've only heard of steam punk, is this similar? It sounds just up my street!

You give great recs

Yep!!! But it's not just asian-aesthetic steampunk, Ken Liu (the author) came up with it to describe what he was doing in his books >>> https://kenliu.name/books/what-is-silkpunk/

To explain it.... it's a lot like what Maggie Stiefvater did with [the Raven Cycle], using dreamlore as an additional layer of communication, a new language to describe the narrative, and a physical metaphor of the character arcs. Liu does the same with technology and history (if you like sci-fi, this is the man who translated Liu Cixin's [Three Body Problem], my favourite book in the genre and the one introduced me to hard sci fi and chinese sci-fi).

If you like war and history and epics, you will love Liu's [Grace of Kings] (and probably Ken Follett's [Fall of Giants] but I haven't finished it so can't rec on my conscience haha).

The reason it's my /favourite/ is because of the worldbuilding... it's on another level and it ruined me for everyone else (Poppy War I'l looking at you). Like most authors do a version of England/China/Japan/Russia/vaguely western/vaguely african/vaguely asian and just transpose the culture, the historical events, and change the names a bit. But Liu is .... unbelievable because he /understands/ how history is made and makes his own history. For example, there are events and systems you will recognise from real life, but he links to character motivations, he shows how problems in society cumulate in a revolution or a reformation. It's not just a corrupt ruler, but a King who was a Child and a Lover fighting with a Minister who is trying to balance class inequity in his province... or a revolutionary who honestly didn't have dreams but a small event in a pub falls and falls into through the butterfly effect into a battle that tears about the country. And my favourite trope of adolescence friends pulled apart by circumstance!!! God, Liu even makes taxes and administration sound fascinating.

In the end the Kingdom of Dara is not just a fantasy China, it is a world created by the characters you /know/. And and and!! The breadth of it!!! He writes both the high and the low. There are core characters, but he can also sweep through entire dynasties in a chapter. Like even his backstories are enthralling? He introduced a character, killed him in the next page and I still cried.

If you choose to read it lmk!! I would love to talk about it

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creative non-fiction

(yet another anon) ooh i've never heard of creative nonfiction, what are your recs for that?

hello thank you for your interest!! CNF includes slow journalism, "New Journalism', memoirs, personal essays, letters, travel writing. There are some short stories that I consider CNF because of how brutally honest it is.

The one that uprooted me is the 1946 article Hiroshima. It follows six survivors of the atomic bomb, from what they were doing before, to the moment of, and the aftermath. God, it is heartbreaking and you are placed eye-to-eye with human suffering. I respect this work so much because it's 30k, and the New Yorker /entirely/ dedicated their August 31 edition to it, with no warning. No ads, no poems, no comics. Just the one story. And the timing of it is... you know how in war the enemy is often dehumanised? How we don't think about the suffering of the 'other'. How scientists celebrated when it was dropped? Anti-Japanese sentiment was high in the 40s and TNY came out with this piece that is so explicitly heart-wrenchingly humanising, it's like grabbing America by its face and saying 'you think you ended the war with the atomic bomb. now face the consequences, look at these people and tell me it was worth it'.

Content warning: vivid description of pain and injury from the bombing. There are no pictures, but the words... some of the images stay with me forever, because it's horrifying but it's real. I've read and seen so much of WW2 but the atomic bomb is... there's nothing like it, you can't compare it to any other bomb.

(the rest are lighter :'D)

The Cheater's Guide to Love >
The Gambler Who Cracked the Horse-Racing Code
Murder, Meth, and Pirates some parts of ours for the moment were taken from here, especially the assassination of Catherine Lee in the Philipines >
[This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor] is a great commute book because it's just a series of short funny stories but then you finish it feeling so much anger about how the NHS treats its doctors.
[A Small Place] by Jamaica Kincaid. This one is different, it's sardonic and confrontational and provocative. But it taught me about neo-colonialism in the form of tourism and capitalism.

I also love letters from authors, [Letters of Note] edited by Shaun Usher is good (and some made me cry), and [Love Letters of Great Men] ed. Ursula Doyle will make you soft.

If you want to keep reading:

the website Longreads which curates longer articles and stories across the web
magazines like the New Yorker, Paris Review, The Atlantic and your local yearly anthologies!

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PERSONAL: WRITING

how did hwa start

How did you start writing?

For the longest time I wrote because my friends were writing and I wanted to be cool HAHA.

My first fanfiction was when I was 11 and me and my friend would read /every/ new fic in the Rockman.Exe and Prince of Tennis tag. We would then talk about it at school the next day, it was like a daily newspaper. And then she started writing a lot, and she was the kind of friend that I low-key idolised and thought was cool, so I started writing as well. Skip a few years, and the same thing happened in EXO fandom, friends that I thought were cool were writing, and I wrote (though very little) just to tap in on that.

Haikyuu was slightly different (still very much 'friends are cool' + 'I want to be cool too'), but I wrote Perihelion for hqhols and in the anon-period it got so much love that for the first time I felt, 'ah, this is the joy one can get from writing'. It was very self-indulgent because it was reincarnation + science-fiction and there was a lot of personal speculation about what love in the future could look like, but people loved those ideas and they loved the way I thought. I also found a community of writers that I still treasure, even if our fandoms don't align anymore.

related cc "what is the best part of writing" > below

dw post, why I started writing again' (Jan 2020)

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writing influences

what would you say the biggest influences on your writing have been? anything, like advice, other works, poetry, etc, anything else really?

My biggest influence is actually fanfiction haha, most of the fics/concepts that I want to try are inspired by fics I've read and stayed with me. There is so much gold out there and so many bright experimental ideas that I want to grab and explore (weight of heaven was inspired by fic, as was my voltron fic lightspeed, and any reincarnation AU I write is in the shadow of arronax's suju fic world enough, which has since been deleted sorry). There's a style of non-linear narrative I want to try that's taken from a old nejiten fic, and a sci fi clone AU from a bts fic.

I think it may be because ff goes right to the heart since other writers and I have similarities if we like the same content. But its also themes like, growing pains, imperfect loves, missing someone that's no longer there, nostalgia and disillusionment. I guess things that people in my age group think about. Currently rereading miuyi's circles and mariya's pacrim fic and all of trotter's seokhan because I can learn so much from how they write relationships. Ah, I also have a library of old exo/suju fic that I go back to at least once a year.

There's a line from lj user petitsos that changed me forever and I'm forever trying to write a fic that does it justice ("Kyuhyun wishes he could stop, but Donghae has tainted every experience, will always be the yardstick against which Kyuhyun measures the rest of the world.") -- this is about the kind of first love that you can never forget and I'm! simmering

Other than fanfiction I'm influenced by:

song lyrics: vienna teng, troye sivan, sodagreen, passenger
science fiction: especially how you can create a story that explores a question (three body! ken liu short stories and translations, battle royale)
journalism: I'm unendingly inspired by foreign settings and people because it's? exciting and provides a perspective I could never experience in life. I have a war journalist/travel photographer WIP that's based off one travel feature in Monocle from 4 years ago.
book titles: I love walking by a library/bookstore and imagining what kind of stories would fit the title.
manga and doujinshi! I'm eternally indebted to how gusari/kizu natsuki explores relationships (especially complicated, messy relationships with flawed people) HIGHLY RECCOMMEND READING THEIR DJ if you're into knb/hq, or their original work "Links". Also, 7seeds, sakamichi no apollon, psycho pass, zankyou no terror, shimanami tasogare ahhhhh there's so much more)

I also take notes from the books I'm reading. Quotes, but sometimes ideas for writing. Recently, it's the way Stephen King builds anticipation, or how Anne Carson creates desire, or just, the OT3 shenanigans in the Poppy War. I'm always keen to learn from others <3

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best parts of writing

what is/are the best part(s) of writing in your opinion?

the day after posting is pretty special to me !! the adrenaline straight after, the anxiousness until the first comment/kudos, the endorphin hit when readers say they enjoy it, and then that sheer soul-piercing validation when readers notice something which I did deliberately. And! When they said they felt something from the story! It still blows my mind that I could look at some indescribable feeling in my own life, try to express it through a story, and then somehow through words alone that feeling can be recreated in the reader.

The thing that will keep me writing is the slow-burning satisfaction that lasts years. In chinese the word is【圆满】yuánmǎn, a satisfaction which completes you. It's been a strange year (and I'm not sure if I'll still feel this next year) but, I felt like I needed to write in order to live. [weight of heaven], [once again love], [ours for the moment] all have parts of me in them. Opinions about idolverse which can't be held in a tweet, parts of my youth that I'm afraid of forgetting, personal philosophies about life which would surely be boring if I just told it straight. These were ideas that burned inside me because I couldn't share it in real-life conversations. Most talks are fast-paced so it's impossible to go deep. With new friends I'm always so focused on learning about them that I don't get to myself. And even when I start talking about it, I don't feel completely understood. Like the other person was already thinking about what to say next and they weren't really listening. Or sometimes I could see I've stepped on insecurities and instead of understanding me, they wanted to debate. But most of the time I feel like the words I chose weren't good enough, and I'd leave the conversation feeling like I'd let myself down.

Writing feels like the only way for me to communicate certain ideas. The ideas that take weeks to think through and a dozen hours to convey. This part of writing is incredibly precious to me and I'm so glad that people read my stories.

Last thing, writing is also a skill that I'm working on! And even though the process is a struggle every time, I feel I'm learning every step. And I love the mindset I have when I write, I just see the world differently. I don't reach for the phone on a commute, I'm brainstorming scenes. When I read a novel, I don't just enjoy it, I try to understand how it's done. And all that is enjoyable to me too!

Thank you for the question anon, I loved answering this.

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writing linearly

do you write linearly?

1k, yes. Under 5k, not at all. I just write the scenes that come to me, the exciting ones like a twist in the story or the introduction of a character I like. I rearrange as I go, edit, link.

At the 8k~ mark I lose the ability to /hold/ the whole story in my mind. Jumping between scenes makes me lose my momentum because I need to reread and figure out where I am. And then when I think about inserting a scene, my brain does a shut-down because it's trying to link everything and make sure the characterisation is consistent for the point in the story, that the pacing fits, the metaphors match, the foreshadowing is not overdone --

At this point I force myself to write linearly, moving forward one scene at a time until I reach the end, without regard for what I have written before. That's the only way I can finish without overwhelming myself. Of course, even then the story may not be linear, I will still move scenes around, change the details, re-link. For my last few longfics, once I finish the second-last scene, I reread and edit. And then, with the whole fic in recent memory, I write the ending scene to tie everything up.

Thanks for the quesiton anon! I love talking about writing.

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titling

Hi!! How do you name your works? Do you have a plan ahead of time? Do you invoke a god? To you open a book at random? Can you feel my desperation, how does titling work, any tips taken with love and thanks and a favour!

anon you flatter me hehe actually I pray to a random number generator and --

I have a list!! It's a list of phrases that I want to use as fic titles and I've been compiling it since 2016. Whenever a brain-dump evolves into a WIP I have a look and the list is so long that I can often find something to match!!

The phrases themselves are from anywhere and everywhere: book titles, song lyrics, poetry, tweets [the fault in our starbucks], stray thoughts, a really good turn of phrase in a magazine, or even just a word [recessional]-- It's a mix of, 'wow this sounds nice' [darkness be my friend] and things that just /hit/. Like the words themselves have inspired a story.

[see you space cowboy] > space bounty hunters, restaurant at the end of the universe.

[shelf life of angels] > how long can a good thing last? (or just the market cycle of a kpop idol damzmasazqjeonghansamqz)

[hit me baby one more time] > crack bdsm

Also the lyrics to worship songs are /so hardcore/ and perfect for fic. Coming to a masterlist near you: [for I am yours (and you are mine)], [trust without borders], [wind and mercy], [as you find me], [defender of this heart], [even when it hurts], [break my heart for what breaks yours] ....

RE: how titling works:

I really like quotes or idioms with a second-half! Like pyrophane's [Objects in the Mirror] (are closer than they appear) or figure8's [promises to keep] (and miles to go before I sleep). I think it's cool for the connotation to be there and linger around while you read the rest of the fic.

For example, [All Our Yesterdays], from Macbeth's soliloquy. I always know that when I write a reincarnation AU, this will be the title. But the second half of the quote is 'have lighted fools the way to dusty death' -- so the story will focus on bad decisions, their consequences, and eventual tragedy. :'D I had it planned for a Voltron Sheith fic, but I've read another reincarnation story that has gotten the gears turning for JeongCheol.

Recently I like thematic titles because my fics have been quite reflective, exploring an idea rather than a plot. [weight of heaven] is from a worship song, [once, again love] is from Sappho, [ours for the moment] is from TE Lawrence (coming soon!). Perhaps because I had a title early, that all three fics end up being shaped around it.

My WIPS [you can be king again] and [the nearest thing to life] are both about a plot point in the story, no spoilers, but I really love playing with multiple meanings. How it can have a meaning in the first half of the story, but take on another later. :D :D :D

some of my early haikyuu fics were from a title-challenge with a friend when we would literally GIVE each other a title and ~24 hours to write. (hehe, I'll be happy to do something like that again)

I hope this helps!!

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self indulgent writing

whats the most self indulgent fic youve ever written?? and which dynamics do you enjoy the most in terms of writing? do you every cry at your own fics? im sorrry if i seem to ask lots of questions you dont have to answr them, also happy holidays!!

hello!!!! the paragraphs about food tourism in once again love was definitely the most indulgent bc narratively they don't do any work HAHA. I just needed some bridging scenes to the withheld-confession and the choice to set it in that city was 100% biased. But after writing and rereading it felt like Jun owned and lived that scene, since he loves food and had said (so many times) that he wants to show the sebongs around his hometown. The whole sequence is one of my favourites because people who have lived in different cities have different parts to their personality. Kind of like how Seungcheol is different in Daegu and Seoul. It's impossible to know all of Jun without seeing him in ShenZhen, and I wanted to write that difference, that confidence.

Also writing a self indulgent fic rn <3 corporate AU with me expelling my work crisis of 2021.

Re: dynamics, I currently love writing self-conscious characters whose choices and words and actions are not 100% direct. Like when Wonwoo is asked "how do you say I love you", he answers "the moon is bright tonight". Or someone who suddenly goes quiet in the middle of a lively conversation. You know something is Up. So thinking about characters who have something to hide from another! (Esp when they are in the crush phase)

Never cried at my own fic before! the writing process really desensitise HAHA. But have reread parts that made me feel feelings again, because they were feelings that I only could've written at a certain time.

Lastly, dear anon you sent this 26 December 2020 and almost a year has passed. So I too, guiltily wish you a happy holiday season. Love, hwa.

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writing desire

not sure if you read a lot of fics or any fics actually that have smut in them, but after dipping my toe into fanfic last year and now having a solid grasp of the plethora of fics available in the fandom I've come to the realization- good smut is hard to find, I dont necessarily mean smut as in entire pwp fics, I mean smut scenes, to me smut scenes are kind of akin to writing effective stunt scenes but with emotions interlaced in the movement, if theres no emotion/feeling involved it basically becomes insert plug into socket and there we go- intercourse- the original point of this question was to ask if you have any recommendations of scenes or fics you think have good smut scenes that actually made you feel something, or are good examples to learn from when thinking of writing a scenes like that.

Thank you for the thoughtful question!!

I read a lot actually >/////< between you and me, when life is hard my bedtime reading is smut. And I also write it. Ahhhh.

Anyway! what makes good smut is intensely personal and subjective. A small thing can completely ruin a story for someone, and that's okay!! If you want recs, let me know your preferences and I can try to cater!

For this reason, instead of defining good smut, I'll share what I'm working on because I'm also learning!

I'm learning to create desire in the reader. I want them to want, to crave. I want them to imagine what comes next, to deny and frustrate, but also build anticipation all at once. One way of doing this is to show the protagonist what they could have, but can't. Because we always want what we don't have.

E.g. your crush kissing another person / a picture of someone in lingerie when you've only ever seen them in a suit / laughter from the apartment over when you live alone

I've been trying triangulations, 3 different people each bringing out a side of each other. Breeding jealousy, creating yearning, antithesis. I could write a whole essay on this so have an example instead (a WIP actually!): a lesbian diaspora AU. Protag + childhood friend + University FWB. Each one brings out a different side of the protag. The protag has a conservative identity in her hometown, but goes wild at university. When one side of the triangle goes to go to bed, the reader realizes what is missing because they have seen the other side. And then they desire for the next scene, because they know what they don't have. I'm working on creating that momentum and delineating each side of that triangle, to make the contrasts more stark, but also trying to create a contradiction that won't collapse on itself. A woman who is both shy and confident, how can I write her? By putting her in a new location? Shoving her in bed with different people?

For me, I also want to contextualise smut within a character arc because this gives the scene meaning for me. The same action could have a completely different weight. A look from a childhood friend could be worth 5 times as much as a night with a hookup. Or vice versa. As the writer I have to build that meaning so that when it comes, I don't have to say it. The reader will know.

Ahhh, there's so much I could talk about bc it was something I deliberately worked on in 2020. A lot of my ideas are based on Anne Carson's [Eros] which transformed the way I thought about plot. My Seokhan WIP [you can be king again] is the fic I'm trying to work Carson into, look out for the author's note when it's done!

So much of writing is just figuring what you like, and teaching yourself to create it. Everything I've said above is one part of a long thought process so feel free to keep asking because I would rather teach you how to teach yourself, than to just tell you what is good. Because what is good is different for everyone and you need to do what's right by you.

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ideal environment

what’s your ideal writing or reading environment?

For writing, libraries and cafes. If I'm at home I'll always be grabbing snacks/cleaning/going to the bathroom so it's hard to build momentum. If I'm in public I worry about my stuff getting stolen so once my bum is down, I set a goal and don't leave until it's done (70% success rate). During corona I went to my neighbour's.

I really enjoy reading in the sun. There's a canal nearby that has willow trees and a strip of grass and that's my favourite spot. Spare afternoon, picnic blanket, tupperware full of snacks, a thermos of coffee <3 In honesty those afternoons are rare because not being productive stresses me out and blocking out time to read makes me guilty. So I've done most of my reading in transit -- trains, planes, buses, waiting rooms.

(thank you for the question! it was lovely)

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fic I'm proudest of

Which fic or piece of writing are you proudest of?

it would be the voltron fic lightspeed because of the amount of plot wrangling involved. It was a fic about a relationship affected through time dilation, and I was frustrated at how the original movie [Hoshi no Koe] handled it.

I wanted to show the speed of light through the delayed texts, demonstrating how it takes longer and longer to receive, and then to reply. I reread a lot for pacing, to make sure the lengthening time is /felt/ before the next text came through.

The scenes weren't hard to write because I was really inspired (lj user canttakearbreath's exo ver was stuck in my heart for /years/, and I had just read [3 Body Problem] and visited a planetarium, so my head was full of stars anyway), but I remember spending days just shuffling scenes around to see how it worked.

So I'm super proud that the end products reads so naturally, thank you for the question!! I love sci fi but I want my science to be invisible to make it more accessible to readers :D

(also managed to work in two of my favourite lines from fic (1) "maybe you are in love with a memory" and (2) "Donghae will forever be the yardstick against which he measures the rest of the world")

Also have a piece on my personal dw about all the crushes I've had haha, I'm proud of that one because it was an exercise in memory and technically my first creative non-fiction?

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cliches

which "overdone" cliché would you like to write to turn it on its head?

the timing of this is funny because I retweeted a tiktok on 'vague dystopian YA novel tropes and laughed at the cliches. I've actually been thinking of leaning /into/ cliche movie tropes to poke fun at how bad scripting can be. Like Jun as Manic Pixie Dream Girl (boy) to Wonwoo's brooding soulful wallflower.

I've always wanted to do an anti-coffeeshop AU. No meet-cutes, the manager is brutal and everyone gets paid in cash. The barista has been awake since 4am and the cashier has a double personality out of work. I even have a title ready (the fault in our starbucks). The issue is just, plot, and how to make romance happen when I hate customers taking professionalism as romantic-interest hahaha.

Back in July I made a tweet about writing an anti-meta fic using the most annoying characterisations of SVT.

This resulted in the post SVT's Flaws.

I would still like to write that fic!

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5 songs

op 5 songs you’d like to write a fic based on?

[Fast Car], the Passenger Cover. I love growing-up/hard work/disillusionment stories and love as perseverance through struggle. Dreaming big in a small town. It’s the same feeling Troye Sivan’s [Surburbia] gives me and I’ve always, always wanted to write a story with this atmosphere.

[Sakura Nagashi] by Hikaru Utada. This was the ending for the Evangelion movies and the mood... the lyrics... ‘what would you think, about me living without you?’ // ‘hearing a baby’s first cry from the town you protected’ // ‘I can’t believe I’ll never see you again’ and the bittersweet way she sings ‘everybody finds love in the end’... god... I want to write a story after a war when you’ve paid the cost of victory and you’re left with a happiness propped by grief. When every moment after makes you aware of what you’ve lost.

[Harehareya] >> https://youtu.be/eg65SbqmT0s The way Sou sings this haunted me for years. I want to write a love story between a human and a spirit. Something fragile that only exists in the comfort of darkness, the kind of love that leaves you empty. The lyrics are open but the suggestion that he’s talking with the dead is.. mmm delicious.

[Fool’s Bliss] by Yoga Lin. Ah yes, the selfless unconditional love when you’re satisfied being someone’s rebound. The MV suggests the twin that the girl loved died and other one (who is also in love with her) indulges the fantasy.

[Seoul] by RM. This is /the/ song for the NamGi fic I’ll write someday. As someone who loved knowing a city like people, [Seoul] is so precious as a reminder of how a city shaped you and intertwines itself in memory.

Ahhh, there’s also [Heartbeat] by Childish Gambino, the entirety of Vienna Teng’s discography, the line ‘all of my hero’s die all alone’ and ‘Ill follow you into the dark’ and [I want to dance in your pulse] and ....

Anon I never knew I needed this question until now. Thank you, you definitely got my writing brain working.

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PERSONAL: MISC

What does salutant mean, or why did you pick it?

ahh, it's from "Ave imperator, morituri te salutant" (Latin: hail Caeser, we who are about to die salute you)

Chose it because it was close enough to the English [salute/salutations] so people can get the vibe that it's a greeting of respect, but personally when I made the community I was in a nihilistic / 'life is transient' / we are living in a floating world/ hello ukiyo e/ mono no aware / -- stage of my life so, haha. The feeling of dignity in the face of mortality really attracted me. There!! Flattered by your curiosity anon 😊

See: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ave_Imperator,_morituri_te_salutant

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hwa's love languages + writing

p>So what are your love languages? + do you think they influence the way you write?

Anon I'm - (looks at timestamp, looks at notifications, squints) - so thankful you threw this back at me.

I think I'm a give: acts of service / receive: words of affirmation person. This satisfies me but I suspect it's because so many of my relationships growing up were hierarchical. When I was younger I considered joining the military just to have a lifetime of this haha (before I became critical of nationalism). Still, I love reading stories with self-sacrifice/duty-over-love as a theme. My lotus eater dream would be endless cycles of me dying for a cause and watching my superior officer cry over my dead body.

I became quality time when I was in a relationship, and then quality time dropped to the bottom when I fell out of love. Gifts have always been 0 because I come from a family of hoarders and owning objects without a purpose terrifies me.

Touch is massive for me even platonically, but I engineered myself out of it because it makes people uncomfortable since societal custom is, touch=romantic attraction (cross reference here to a future cc about Jeonghan + touch!!)

Re: writing

I ... now feel the power of this question. There are certain. .. resolutions I drift towards when I write. The achievement of love itself is never quite the end goal.

I like to read characters with a similar love language, but I also want their love to be grander and more tragic than real life, which is why I keep writing AUs.

I'm a personal believer of love forged through time and circumstances -- ahh I see, that's why Minghao's main loves in [once again love] were the people he spent thr most time with.

Now that I think about it, I've never had characters gift things to each other haha. The most was in lightspeed when Shiro named the reddest supernova he found after Keith. I'll work on this.

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visual art

what kind of visual art do you like?

illustration and applied arts!! manga!! asian graphic design (especially book covers!!) interior design (tiny houses! small living!), journalism photography and fashion photography (of Marlene Dietriech! by Helmut Newton!) and ---

There's so much, I've never really tried defining it in my life and I spent so long the past few days with my mind whirring everywhere and you probably tapping your feet in impatience, so I'll just type out what comes to mind first until I hit the limit haha

I love art that tells a story or sets a mood or captures a moment of emotion. Where you can stare for a minute and everytime you think of something, it reflects back your thoughts and offers more. My RT spree over the weekend was a lot of that, but god, this fanart of Hange (Attack on Titan); the warm sunlight makes me think that this is post-canon, the page marker suggests its a journal, so why is she crying? And then you notice there's a cat with blue eyes and a black cat (reminiscent of Erwin and Levi) and ah, like this a story forms in my head and I am moved > https://twitter.com/_kozuha/status/1305880128757489666/photo/1

My pinnacle of emotion+art+storytelling has to be 25 lives, the comic that sparked a renaissance in reincarnation AUs

I love the magical realism/fantastical works of @hamukkuka @ameizhao @loika @ionomycin, the ones that feel like a dream. On the other end are background concept artists, who blow my mind with their imagination (especially scifi!!): James Clyne, Cornelius Dämmrich, Wadim Kashin. Stuff like > https://www.artstation.com/artwork/EGzwK ; https://www.artstation.com/artwork/k4Gr6l
Manga with detailed backgrounds and dynamic linework are <33## They remind of me of etchings or the work of Alphonse Mucha (art nouveau poster king): [Witch Hat Atelier] (my cc header!), [Shimanami Tasogare] (lgbt manga, the most beautiful lounge room), Kii Kanna (every flower, every bookshelf __), Gusari/Kizu Natsuki (the most beautiful men in their japanese houses). Also fond of the artbooks [Tokyo Storefronts], the yearly [Pixiv Illustration] and [Shadowrun: Hong Kong]
recently learning about iconography and symbolism and composition!! still baby but it blows my mind that I can look at a painting, see the triangles and depending on which corner of the triangle an object is, the artist can low-key say fuck you.
kpop mvs, BTS Blood Sweat & Tears + Spring Day really opened up my eyes that MVs can be, like that.
every svt fanart is good.

(Thank you for asking this, I remembered how much I love art and will be making sure to keep adding it to my life)

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architecture

are you an architecture major? you seem pretty interested in it

haha nooo. But you're spot on!! I love it, and interior design! And infrastructure! And innovative engineering! If I redid life, I would still do what I'm doing, but if I got a second life after living this one to the full, I would be a city planner!!

My favourite book is Italo Calvino's [Invisible Cities], and my favourite kind of museum are miniatures and dioramas! When I go to bookshops I buy my novels then go to the architecture section to flip through those heavy heavy bigass photobooks. Some of my favourite youtube channels are about design and architecture! Not Just Bikes (dutch city planning), Never too Small (small apartment design), 30x40 (architect's life), the Local Project (design, super cool because they get architectures to talk through their choices), 一条Yit (general cool design stuff? like glimpses into how people live in their homes). I also love following environment illustrators because the way they tell a story through space is cool. Like having a look at a teenager's room and trying to deduce their personality and interests __

thanks for reading this info dump!! I just want to let you know if you ever want to yell back I'll be here! chin in hands legs swinging!!

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Wow. Gold star for reaching the end! As an exclusive offer, you can tell me your memories of curiouscat, what you will miss, and what you treasured. I may be half jesting, but I am also deep in thought over the transcience of the internet, especially with the takedown of WayBackMachine / Achive.org. Paper may burn, data may be lost, but memory persists until we lose our grasp on her.

salutant

morituri te

curiouscat archive

curiouscat archive

SEVENTEEN

GENERAL

PERSONAL

SEVENTEEN: LORE

Mingyu bought Minghao art supplies

minghao + 本 + pledis direction + contemporary art

jakarta

SEVENTEEN: META

how family + leaderism shaped Seungcheol + my 3 seminal SC texts

differece between hyung and dongsaeng lines in One Fine Day

jeonghan x minghao dynamics

when did Jeonghan fall asleep on Minghao?

gyuhao

how my views on junhao changed

seokhan

writing seokhan relationship problems

dk + seungkwan vocal bffs

97z

wonwoo + repressed maiden thesis

jun meta

nisakomi cc pull

raven cycle

bonus answers:

story genres

who wouldn't get along

different leader

chemistry

writing svt perspectives

jeonghan-centric fic

writing jeongcheol

SEVENTEEN: OTHER

how hwa got into svt

svt bias

favourite stages/concepts

MVs

hair colours

svt fic recs

GENERAL

kpop industry

yoongi

sliding scale of tinhat comfort

GENERAL: RECS

exo fic recs

magical realism, contemporary fantasy and poetry

war novels, magical realism, horror, poetry

silkpunk

creative non-fiction

PERSONAL: WRITING

how did hwa start

writing influences

best parts of writing

writing linearly

titling

self indulgent writing

writing desire

ideal environment

fic I'm proudest of

cliches

5 songs

PERSONAL: MISC

salutant

hwa's love languages + writing

visual art

architecture

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