Howdy doo~

I had a lot of thoughts as I wrote this piece and I just wanted to share it with you if you wanted to understand the piece a little more. These are just really specific tidbits that aren’t super important plotwise. Honestly, it’s me word vomiting my writing process and probably fangirling over my own because I actually like it for once. I also offer some times for some writing techniques if you’re interested. Idk. I like hearing the thought processes of authors so hopefully you might like mine, too! If you had different interpretations, feel free to leave a comment!

Here are some short facts about this story:

• I wrote this story from start to beginning, meaning I had no outline, nor did I write out of order. 
• I wrote this in three days. (Not a flex, but some people do write better stories in a short amount of time since it’s a little more consistent.)
• This was inspired by a tumblr post. 

Highlights of this blogpost:

• Choosing a title.
• Literary devices.
• Potential spin-offs? 

Let’s start with the title of this story: Antithesis. For my writing process, I usually find inspiration in an event from my everyday life or a prompt and just go with that. I probably write for a few hours and then when I’m a little tired, I think of a title. Thinking of the title also helps me develop the story. I don’t really think titles are important, but I do think it gives that little pizazz that makes the story a little more memorable. Just my opinion! Usually when I pick titles, I like to use a line that’s repeated, an overarching theme, or some sort of symbol that’s easy to remember. I’ve played around with using different languages for one-word titles, but make sure that you’re using the correct translation/connotation because that really shifts the meaning of the story. I personally don’t like using really long lines, unless it’s for a comedy. 

When I chose the title, I was about 80% done with the story. I didn’t really have room to develop, so I just went with what I already wrote. I realized that I didn’t really have any memorable lines or a memorable item, so I went for the “overarching theme” route. I wanted to focus on a theme about opposites since the main point of the plot was Vivi hating her art, but Haseul loving it. Other opposites are mainly from the delivery and the plot, which may or may not have been good ^^’. I won’t go too into detail because I also do think it’s up to the reader’s personal interpretation. Anywho, “Opposites” sounds like a boring title, so I resorted to thesaurus.com to find a catchier word. Antithesis was born.

In case you didn’t know, antithesis is “a figure of speech in which an opposition or contrast of ideas is expressed by parallelism of words that are the opposites of, or strongly contrasted with, each other” (Google Dictionary). If that was too long of a definition, LitChart simply explains that “Antithesis is a figure of speech that juxtaposes two contrasting or opposing ideas, usually within parallel grammatical structures” (LitCharts). There are a lot of contrasts in the story… but I have only (purposefully) used antithesis once: the last sentence. The story does revolve around this realization which is kinda why I kept the title. I also wanted to follow the concept of antithesis throughout the whole story, but that was a bit ambitious, but there are some parts you may or may not catch. In that case, it may fall under different literary devices which I will explain later. 

I was a little hesitant in choosing Antithesis as the title. I learned about that as a literary device in my Language and Literature class in high school, but it wasn’t very easy for me to identify. Quite honestly, I’m still not sure if I’m 100% sure what the meaning of the word is, but like I said earlier, the title isn’t meant to be that important. I admit, I didn’t do a good job of juxtaposing Vivi’s and Haseul’s feelings, but I hope you caught on to the differing feelings. 

There are a lot of contrasts in this story, which I will go into detail later, but the main contrast is Vivi’s and Haseul’s feelings about Vivi’s art. I would like to add that the difference of interpretations for art in general is very interesting to me, especially when they are polar opposites. I don’t know if artists feel that way, but that conversation always interested me.  

There can be many interpretations for art. Vivi’s art just so happens to invoke more positive emotions from Haseul, which is opposite of all the negative memories she holds before discarding it. (Oh yeah, one person’s trash is another’s treasure, am I right?). I think it’s important to note that Vivi doesn’t exactly hate her art and just uses hate as an unhealthy coping mechanism. Haseul praises her work and those compliments help mend the emotional scars Vivi inflicted on herself to be stronger. 

This story uses a lot of literary devices, but I will mainly discuss two: juxtaposition and foil.

Let’s first talk about juxtaposition. Juxtaposition is “a literary device that simply refers to a contrast set up between two things in some way” (LitCharts). This can be seen in grammar, themes, structure, almost anything. It’s important to know that juxtaposition can actually be used at the same time as other literary devices such as foil and oxymorons. 

The most glaring form of juxtaposition is the change of tone in the beginning and during the party. The story starts with angst, but then proceeds to some crack and comedic relief. Usually, I don’t like polar opposites like this because it makes me emotionally exhausted (and when I edit, I just become numb), but I feel like it was important to remember that Vivi and Heejin are college students. We all have dark days. We all have days that we feel are uncertain. We also have crazy nights and uncontrollable feelings. It happens. The tumblr prompt was kinda tender so I wanted to have that happy medium. I know what it feels like to hate my own art, so in order to keep that balance, I knew I had to write something somewhat equally happy. The morning after was just to build tension and the future blurb was just because I was feeling domestic LOL. I hope they kept you tender, but in different ways. 

Let’s move onto foil. There’s a whole lot of foil in here. I will admit, some of it was unintentional considering I only thought about the concept of literary terms when the story was almost done. It is very subtle and, again, it’s not super important to the plot, just to the theme. Don’t worry if you missed out on any of these. 

Before, I dig into all of the pairing contrasts. Here’s a definition of foil: “a foil is a character that has characteristics that oppose another character, usually the protagonist” (literarydevices.com). I think it’s important that the characteristics of the foil helps highlight specific qualities of the main character. Technically, there’s only one (or two) foils, but if I were to really develop this story, there would be much more.

All of my pairings have some sort of foil or at least have some sort of potential for foil (it is a one-shot anyways and mostly revolves around Vivi’s self-realization). I will explain each pairing and for your entertainment, I will explain their potential foil.

• Vivi and Haseul - There’s a good amount of contrasts between these two, but the biggest one would have to be confidence level. Vivi’s confidence level was so low that she gave up her dream. Haseul had the confidence to check up on a random stranger and even strike up a conversation with her. She even throws parties after her performances. Vivi’s confidence doesn’t exactly shoot up, but she definitely gets some sort of confidence and closure to move on. Also, in the beginning, Vivi only mentions negative things about her art, whereas Haseul says nice things. This really brings out where Vivi is emotionally. 
  Adding onto this, it’s clear to see that Haseul is not that serious in this story. In the beginning of the story, Vivi is basically mourning her artwork and in the end, she’s really sappy about Haseul being in her life. Haseul is able to reciprocate her love, but is rather playful about it, as she jokes about her soup and memorizes Vivi’s proclamation of love. 
• Plot vs. subplot - Didn’t see that one coming, ey? The main plot is really tense. Vivi has to throw away a piece of her art, a piece of herself. She then finds closure after meeting Haseul. The subplot is very comical, Casanova Heejin is a nervous wreck around Hyunjin and even gets into a fight over Naruto. Even Vivi gets a little out of character and scolds Heejin in Cantonese which flusters the 97line. The subplot was definitely for comedic relief since Vivi’s thoughts can get a little dark. It also acts as a bridge or turning point for Vivi. This is different from the juxtaposition in tone because the main plot also includes the morning after which is also more serious and filled with yearning. 
• Heejin and Hyunjin - At first, it seems that Hyunjin doesn’t really have interest in Heejin. She’s pretty shy and simple. Heejin is kinda the one taking the lead even though she’s doing a bad job of it. In Vivi’s eyes, Heejin is also kinda a heart throb which absolutely goes away when Hyunjin is in the picture. Heejin might have a high body count, but like in the beginning of the story, she can be really caring. If I were to develop a spin-off of these characters, I’d probably do a prequel that really showcases the cocky Heejin breaking her facade for Hyunjin. Hyunjin knows people like Heejin and tries to stay away from them. Heejin might try to get with Hyunjin for a bet, but she ends up falling for her . Hyunjin sees Heejin’s horrible conversation as attempts to sleep with her since Heejin only talks about surficial things. In reality, Heejin is just nervous. In that spin-off, I’d definitely dive into the Naruto fight because that really sparks something in Hyunjin’s attraction for Heejin’s passion because that would be the first time Heejin shows that she cares about something else other than her social status.  
• Sooyoung and Jiwoo - Again, this isn’t super noticeable and actually quite accidental. Sooyoung is a little bit more calm and collected while Jiwoo is slightly uncontrollable. The party is for Sooyoung, yet she’s not completely wasted by the end of night and even helps clean the house when it’s over. Jiwoo is the one that gave Heejin the black eye. I have two routes for a spin-off. Jiwoo could dare Sooyoung into doing something reckless, but helps her suffer the consequences. Sooyoung could be taking care of Jiwoo after a party and immediately falls for her cute behavior when she has a hangover. Maybe I’ll throw in jealous, drunk Jiwoo since she was mentioned in this story. 
• Jinsoul and Jungeun - Once again, very subtle, but boy do I have a good spin-off for them. So Jinsoul is very caring for Jungeun and is a pretty simple character. There’s nothing much to write about her. Jungeun has a past and it’s not just your flirty, Casanova character. She’s experimental in the sense that she’s asking for threesomes (and between you and me, the reason why Heejin and Vivi are slightly uncomfortable is because they might have unknowingly had sloppy seconds with Jungeun). Look, I’m not -shaming, nor do I think Jungeun is in any sense. It’s just a character! I can guarantee you that there’s someone like that in college. As long as they’re safe, it’s not a bad thing! Anyways, this would definitely be a one-night stand turned yearning spin-off. Jinsoul and Jungeun met in the swim team. Maybe there’s a locker scene where Jinsoul realizes she’s attracted to not only Jungeun’s personality, but also her body. The kicker is Jinsoul doesn’t know that Juneun sleeps around and only knows her through the swim team. Jinsoul is your typical useless gay. She pursues Jungeun. Jungeun sorta comes clean and says she’s not looking for something serious, but enjoys Jinsoul’s company. Jinsoul plays nice guy and respects her opinion. Jinsoul tries to move on and Sooyoung admits that she’s slept with Jungeun which surprisingly doesn’t turn Jinsoul away. On the other hand, Jungeun unknowingly can’t stop thinking about Jinsoul. She gets jealous when other girls talk to her, especially other teammates who kiss up to her. She accidentally moans Jungeun’s name one night. It’s all messy. A friend convinces her that she might actually have feelings for Jinsoul. Jinsoul thinks she’s moving on, but absolutely breaks when Jungeun tries to confess to her. They make love one night and Jungeun realizes two things: 1) she probably would risk it all for Jinsoul and 2) she was going to give up her ual tendencies for Jinsoul. Things are tense when Jungeun has withdrawals and Jinsoul keeps meeting the people that Jungeun has slept with and it makes her self-conscious. Angst kicks in, but they solve it with a conversation and try to find a happy-medium about both their concerns. Jungeun will continue to be very loyal to Jinsoul, especially when Jinsoul graduates and moves. Jinsoul would be willing to spice things up. Cut to the end when Jinsoul sends some rather lewd photos. Yeah. Idk if I could develop this. I don’t write and this would take me months to write whereas Antithesis only took me 3 days ^^’
• Couple versus couple - There’s also a lot of difference between the couples which shows their comfort levels. Viseul just met each other. 2jin have been flirting. Jinsoul is smitten for Jungeun, but there are secrets between them. Chuuves is really comfortable with each other. This is all kinda shed when they’re eating breakfast together and they all show their true selves. 

I will admit that, as an author, I probably didn’t make Vivi and Haseul’s foil that obvious. Once again, this is mostly because the story is supposed to focus around Vivi and her art. 

I did have my hesitation about Haseul’s character. I do think it’s important that love should be found by oneself, but I do believe that other people can have a factor to it. Vivi can explore more self-love outside of my story. As shallow as it sounds, I mostly wanted to follow the prompt. 

There are more literary devices in this piece, such as irony and foreshadowing. These both kinda mesh into the foils/potential-foils. I won’t talk much about it since they’re not that interesting, in my opinion, but feel free to comment on anything you see. There’s a hint of irony where Vivi hates how imperfect her art is in order to move on, but what actually helps her move on was the stain and the love Haseul provides. Foreshadowing happens when Haseul and Vivi are looking for Heejin and Sooyoung and Jinsoul are talking about the fight. I really like this foreshadowing because it helps transition from the subplot/comical part of the story to the . Like it’s still “lighthearted” with Vivi scolding her, but the situation is very serious. The morning after is only going to be more serious.

I think it's important to consider literary devices. They only enhance your story. In this case, literary devices attributed to the theme and the structure of the piece. It can be different for you, whether it be making your sentences less robotic or giving your character some character growth. For me, these literary devices kinda came on accident, but once I identified them, I tried to see how much I could expand on it to make your story more interesting. 

Anywho, I think I’m done rambling here. I hope it gave you a larger understanding of my story and will maybe make you think more when reading other people’s stories. I know it’s not meant to be this serious, but the nerd in me enjoys identifying these littler interpretations and when I talk about it with authors, they like it, too! Anyways, feel free to drop a comment here or on my story about what you think or if you think I missed anything else or you have any suggestions (like if I should’ve done something better) or you just want to discuss anything!

Thanks for making it this far. Stay safe everyone!

References:

“Antithesis.” Google, www.google.com
“Antithesis.” LitCharts, www.litcharts.com/literary-devices-and-terms/antithesis.
“Foil Examples and Definition.” Literary Devices, 12 Sept. 2016, www.literarydevices.com/foil/.