I can’t believe I am doing this again, but here I go. First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MY GORGEOUS GAL, CASANOVA7! Shame Khun wouldn’t take you out for dinner tonight. Haha. Happy birthday, Yifan-ge (yesterday), and happy birthday, Choi Seunghyun aka T.O.P-oppa (two days ago lol).

Then, I was thinking about how profitable writing fanfic could be. Well, I was just discussing with my friend about her plan to ask an author who opens a fanfic commission and when she told me how expensive it is going to be, I was just like… “Gorblimey, how about my fanfics?” (lol) But my writings are not for anyone, mostly for myself, so I can’t really expect it to be profitable. Even so, it was still quite heartbreaking to know that every one page of could be worth at least $1 (lol) My chapter is like 5-7 pages essay, with word count at least 3000 words per chapter, so I could get at least $7 for every chapter (lol) and yet, getting one comment is like finding an oasis in the middle of desert (lol) But it’s all right. I never regret writing anything with no or very few people appreciating.

So, here’s there real rambling. Research: This word is something that I have been living for since the beginning of time. This is really crucial for anyone, really, not just scientists and writers (thankfully, I am both lol). When you do experiments or writings, you must have sufficient data to give them strong foundation. Whether it is to see if papaya extract really could kill mosquito larvae or to entertain people with funny, canonical spin off of a K-pop band’s particular show on one of the online broadcasting app, you need to know basic information that gives you ground on the topic.

I personally find it hard to write fanfictions about people I don’t know much about. I have written fanfictions for K-Pop celebs since TVXQ still had five members (I have liked Shinhwa and BoA before, but I wasn’t obsessed with K-Pop until Super Junior and TVXQ—yes, in that order). The novels I mentioned in my previous blog post were actually based on my supposedly TVXQ fanfiction (lol). The main character even still has traces of Max Changmin, aside from his name still is Max (short for Maximillian). I did a lot of research to write it down. Since it is vampire-themed, I actually read a bunch of journals about vampires (yes, JOURNALS, as in scientific journals). I was mesmerized by the fact I can find journals and news from a hundred years ago—and I could not be more excited because of it. Writing seriously is really hard and challenging—it’s time consuming. Knowing your characters, building them, and then constructing the background…

But for people who really love writing will understand how fulfilling it is once everything is done. Even for fanfictions, people should not just throw everything they want into their story. Well, you could, but will it be enjoyable, will it be notable? At least, do it for you. To develop your skills, to channel your creativity. This is what I do. When people enjoy what I write, it will be a bonus for me, an extra happiness that boosts my motivation even more and so.

I, for one, have broad interest. I like movies, books, operas, scientific articles, documentaries, games, cooking (lol). The genres I prefer also vary. I like comedy, but I also like super dramatic serious action movie. I like EDM, but I also love Beethoven (his ninth symphony will be always my favourite of all time and the fifth!). I like people in my films, but honestly animated characters are lovable, too. I play action games, but I use dress up games to make my avatar (lol). My readers will sometimes find it hard to keep up with my references in my stories if they are not particularly familiar with it.

For example, in my (now completed) TaecKhun fic, “Octopus Pot”—which I have kinda made it look like a real book—I dropped a lot of references that I didn’t put any explanation for them. Like: ecopoints, straight man, Mamma Maria. Well, yeah, but sometimes you just have to leave it like that.

I really like to write down jokes that sometimes are only related to my preferences. For example, I used Taecyeon’s surname as a lame joke, saying that it can be a country if you put it in a box, and then straighten up the facts using the order of the . I did leave a note for that, but really, readers will have to click on it and back up again to actually know what was going on unless they already knew about it beforehand. Sometimes I feel guilty for it (lol). Just sometimes, though.

This is one of my private preferences (lol). Taken from the classic shounen manga/anime series that is still going strong today: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. If you read the story and still wondered what the hell was Khun talking about, here is the picture of Erina and Jonathan Joestar.

This one above shows just how odd the combination of movie genres that I watched—because just a moment before this scene, I made Taec and Khun chat about Odin and Zeus and Thor comics (lol). This describes a scene from The 2011 Palme D’Or winner, Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life. For most young audience, this movie will drain their patience (lol)

This is the last thing that I really like, but I don’t leave any explanation for it. This refers to Hidekaz Himaruya’s Hetalia series, in which countries are depicted as young, good-looking men. Austria is portrayed as good-looking aristocrat who saves money by living like a poor at home, but occasionally spends the money he saves to buy best, expensive things (wine, cheese, etc). In Hetalia Academy, a part of Hidekaz Himaruya’s Hetalia expansive universe, Thailand, along with India, is a member of elephant-lovers club.

Recently, I put on a challenge for myself to write something off prompts. As expected, anything angsty got finished in a flash (lol). I am not called Queen of Angst among my friends for nothing (lol). Sometimes, when people drop a prompt, it is not something you are not entirely familiar with, and it requires you to do your research. I got this prompt from my friend, Emma:

Honestly, I had never watched Adventure Time before, but it sounds too tempting and exciting for me to pass, so I downloaded all available episodes (I have finished four seasons and currently watching the fifth) and I read Fionna and Cake comics to see more of this alternate universe. Turns out Marshall Lee and Prince Gumball (aka Marceline and Princess Bubblegum) are much more affectionate with each other in this, even in this panel, Cake expected them to actually confess about something else and was disappointed because it was just another adventure thing (lol). Well, although this one was actually fanfiction by Gunter. In Marceline’s version, Marshall Lee and Gumball seemingly hate each other (lol). Well, this is really random—but this is how I do my research. Hahaha.

Everything I put inside my story is something I am very familiar with, something I read and understand first. I don’t want to mislead my readers to false facts (even though making fanfictions actually is a way to mislead people into constantly imagining the ship, well, in a way lol). I always hope whenever I read a story, the author truly put effort into it. I want well-constructed characters, I want to believe as I read that the event was somehow close to reality (even if it was a sci-fi!), I want to be drowned in it and imagine clearly where the character stands, what they see, what they feel, what they know! Ah, I usually read stories written by my friends, no matter how bad it is (I will be very happy if it is good, though). I like giving out advices and I always want to see others grow beautifully, especially younger ones. I mean, I am investing for the future, guys. I can’t live forever. Hahaha.

I am not a great writer, of course, I am just a small time writer in AFF (lol), but I love writing and I love reading. Writing is something all literate people can do, even illiterate people can. Telling a story seems easy, but delivering it with a quality that people can at least enjoy needs effort. Even popular novels like (coughs) Forks (coughs) have their flaws, like how shallow the characters are, the knowledge of vampires and shapeshifters, and how cheap the use of those epic beings in the story. Well, I can’t say anything against it because I often do that, too, because I just want to write ty TaecKhun scene (lol), but I always try to at least have proper plot and the romance is just something natural.

This is not much, this is just a series of my thoughts, again.