mydoll

mydoll

When you write rpf fic,

What inspires you to write? Canon moments, dynamics, evolution of their r/s or a story fits them?
Why do you post? To share your enthusiasm about the pair/fandom? To grow an audience? To find a community?
When it comes to romance and the build up, do you write things based on experience? Do you write based on canon moments/interactions and contemplate how they could develop? Do you write tropes you like first and later pick a pair that fits?
Do you write based on what you think is love or what you think the pair would see as love?
When you write their backgrounds, do you choose certain narratives because of experiences or because it would fit the story (ex: growing up privileged vs growing up in rough conditions)? Because it's comfortable to write at this point?
When you write AU, do you stick to their personalities completely or alter them based on the background you gave them?
Does characterization matter to you? To what extent it matters?
How you do decide the POV? Do you prefer writing from your bias' pov or the other way around? Why do you prefer that?
How do you decide the conflict of the fic? Based on one character's issue, on their r/s or a combo of both?
Do you have limitations? Are there certain topics/concepts you stray from because of the blurry ethics with rpf?

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From:

flover

if not, feel free to discard this comment haha

- all of the above but canon moments and dynamics are the two i consider the most.
- i love the idols i write about and want to write something that 1) conveys how much i love them, even just a little bit, 2) shares that excitement with fans of the idol/pair, and 3) maybe gives people things to think about.
- canon + contemplation!!! even when i work with AU, i have the canon dynamics in mind and try to logic my way through the build up and relationships.
- oh i adore this question omg... i think because i've increasingly been working in canon, i try to envision love as the pov character might, but (jumping the gun a bit here) since my pov character often is someone i see parts of myself in, my own thoughts about love overlap—if not in the actions the characters make, then the thoughts they think or the questions they pose to others around them.
- mostly experiences rooted in canon, but if the story calls for a specific twist on characterization/upbringing, i'll try to weave it into the logic as best i can.
- same as above. sticking mostly to canon/what would be plausible and only making adjustments where i deem necessary.
- YES. VERY MUCH SO. i have been guilty of reducing characters to a handful of adjectives and/or projecting onto them, and the more i've written + read + spoken to other rpf writers, the more i've actively worked to limit projection and embue characters/their arcs with the depth an OC would get. but also like. i already do so much research for timeline accuracy, tiny details that are mentioned in passing, and whatnot that it was a bit silly to me that i kept flattening the characters to their idol-group stereotypes LOL. this retrospring answer from my friend rogue is something that's really helped me reframe my thinking re:characterization!
- the premise of the story typically decides that for me! everyone i write is someone i bias, so it's more about what kind of character the events call for. example: my olymfics fic came with prompts that reminded me of fromis_9 jiheon because one of the things she's known for is her bright smile. but the very happy and upbeat song that inspired the fic takes a bittersweet/insecure dip in the bridge, which made me think of jiheon being an incredibly diligent student while doing idol activities in a group that has had several unsteady moments over the years, and my brainstorming unfolded from there.
- both to some extent, but usually it comes from the pov character's own issues. in giving my MCs depth, i try to push them to act on their fears and insecurities in dialogue/actions, and then i make sure that the other characters (be them the other part of the relationship, friends, etc.) are also responding in kind. with the jiheon fic, she's very insecure about her image and her perceived inability to mature in the eyes of the public, and she compares herself to her friend wonyoung, who is younger than her but has been able to make that successful leap toward maturity, not knowing that wonyoung doesn't want her to go through what she did to be afforded that maturity.
- i think my squicks and hard NOs are the same across fic, rpf or otherwise, but i have had to reframe my thinking around writing sex in rpf. i've always understood the benefits and drawbacks of writing fic as a way to explore intimacy, sexuality, kinks, and so on, and even writing this i come to you from a place of who am i, who do i desire, do i even desire, etc. but me writing [my interpretations of real people's public personas having] sex in an rpf context will never not feel odd.

From:

mydoll

omg hello i welcome all replies and ur answers are super interesting! i hope u don't mind me going over some because u opened my eyes - feel free to ignore my extra qs!

- "mostly experiences rooted in canon" do you ever think about their upbringing or speculated it based on actions/details they say then? like they must have been v loved because they mention x number of fam members/childhood friends or describe their childhood in x way. i always felt this is trickier because you can't help but walk into v speculative/projection territory (re: if they had divorced parents, they might act this way romantically) + canon straying because of this additional contextual layer.
- you said you write your biases + choose the character based on what the event calls for. your jiheon example made me think - do you write thinking 'i want people to see why they're loveable' or 'i'd like to highlight this canon supported complexity they have that i love'? ik both could be an answer, but i was thinking how some writers chose the other half of their bias to wax poetry about them or describe them through the pov of someone in love.
* btw i am a HUGE fan of that fic (+ ur other ones) T___T you are an incredible storyteller, the worldbuilding and the care you gave the girls is muah! the juxtaposition jiheon places between her and wonyoung (even izone yujin vs ive yujin) hits so much. i like how grounded everything feels. like yes! "childish" jiheon puts weight into her academics because it's one of the things she can have to regain autonomy over smth the public refuses to give her vs "mature" wonyoung who has had a successful career and the public has placed her on a pedestal that she can't walk out.
* the retrospring is super eye opening! i also had my fair times of boxing characters into a list of traits. altho, i feel it's difficult with rpf. because once you delve into what's the idol self vs what's the "real" self dilemma, it could start stepping on a ton of ppl's shoes. choosing x trait that could be viewed positively but choosing to highlight the negativity effects.
- regarding sex in rpf, do u feel the same way about reading it? because that's also a benefit and a drawback on its own!

From:

flover

this got so long i'm sorry 😭😭 hopefully these answer your follow-ups well!

re: upbringing in canonverse fics, i start with just the details the idols have shared themselves to inform their upbringing. if i encounter a situation where i want to check something i'm unsure about, i'll go digging for info, and if i don't find an answer or find something that's unverified, i'll factor in my story's plot and tweak characterization accordingly. i won't lie, sometimes i feel like my interpretations of my pov characters are bland or all the same because of that baseline, but i also try to write canon comp adhering really close to ~reality~ (doing extensive research, checking small details, having a tight/consistent timeline) so i'd rather have that than do more speculation and run into that trap of projection, like i tended to do when i only wrote AU

re: writing biases i do want to say both LOL but i think these days it's more about "canon-supported complexity" for me! i tend to end up being a fan of idols who say/do things that make me pause and really Feel that their on-camera personas heavily overlap with how they are off-camera. there's a kind of tension there between public and private that's really compelling to me, and i think i love them more because they [feel they have to] maintain that balance in order to meet the expectations of fans and the public, so my version of waxing poetic is letting them be complicated ^^

jiheon is my fromis bias wrecker and i feel like there is a bit of a distance between her idol and off-camera selves (could be wrong about that but i support whatever protections she might put up, considering how much hate she's gotten over the years 💔) but i hadn't come across anyone writing her growing up not just in terms of drinking age and being a college student, but putting in the kind of work and experiencing the complicated transformation she did to get to where she is now. exactly what you said about childishness v maturity and learning what you can and can't have control over in life/in an entertainment career! (and thank you so much for reading and enjoying that fic ;_;)re: retrospring speaking of adhering close to ~reality~ in canonverse and idol v "real" selves! it's tough because on one hand, i try to honor canon and [my understanding of] the idols as they present themselves on-camera/in public, but on the other hand, i'm very cognizant about writing idol rpf with characters who are fictionalized versions of idols/their public personas. staying aware of that first and foremost, i find it easier to push certain traits, thought processes, and so on toward their extremes because i'm writing characters, not a transcript. i don't wanna say i'm not afraid of stepping on people's toes, especially when it comes to writing about things like/related to idols' mental health (the never-ending discourse about how to write skz jisung comes to mind, but also i explored jiheon's anxiety and tried to be careful about how i did so), but i approach fic as someone who wants to write and critique art/media for a living, and i want my characters to have realistic conflicts. sometimes that looks like jiheon projecting her worries and insecurities onto wonyoung, sometimes that looks like seungmin being hot and cold with his feelings toward hyunjin because emotions could wait until after they debut but them debuting together isn't guaranteed (ooh canon divergent wip tease)

re: sex in rpf i've been reading explicit rpf for much longer than i should have lmao but it didn't start feeling weird to me until i was an adult and reading about people i was a big fan of. early in being a kpop fan, i read more nct and twice fic than skz fic, and then it took a sec to go from sfw skz fic to nsfw, and slightly longer to read nsfw fic from hyunjin or seungmin's perspectives because those were people whose minds i was beginning to study and explore in my own writing. that hesitation was never "this shouldn't exist" or "i shouldn't be reading this", but i was hyperaware that i was Reading Explicit Fanfic about people i like and watch in videos. this summer, that feeling came up again and went away in time when i got into wanna one. kind of like my thing about being cognizant about writing rpf overall, i had to consciously divorce the people on screen from the ones having sex in writing, even if i'm reading canonverse. detaching like that makes it easier for me to process/enjoy/have those conversations with myself around intimacy et al. honestly any issues i have with that are my own fears cropping up, and i'm more thankful that the fic exists for me because i have to question those fears instead of taking them out on others 🤸🏽