you and me and this temptation final thoughts
Last October, I met up with @arca99 in Japan for a wild session of karaoke, great food, and some shopping in Akihabara. Later that night, we talked about how “Girlfriend” by Avril Lavigne was totally a NicoMaki song and how we would love to see a well-written love triangle between Nico, Maki, and Tsubasa.
I honestly never expected that such an off-hand conversation would turn into a 100k fic and some of the best writing I’ve ever done in my life. At the time I was still slaving away at the last chapter of Piano For Beginners and couldn’t even imagine writing another fic ever again, let alone an even longer one. But the more we discussed the idea, the more serious and excited we got about it. Soon, we were basically drafting up an outline for the whole plot, and about two weeks later, we were convinced that 1) it needed to happen, and 2) we needed to do it together.
It bears repeating that neither of us could have undertaken such a complicated AU alone. We talked about every aspect of this fic in detail, hashing and rehashing until we were confident that each scene was both interesting and rational. Sure, we wanted to write a dramatic story, but we also wanted to make sure that the characters felt real. We didn’t want Tsubasa to be a simple villain, we didn’t want Maki to completely get away with her communication issues, and we didn’t want to take cheap shots at any point in time. It was great having another person to bounce ideas off of, commiserate with, and get feedback from during every step of the process. It wasn’t always easy, and I will forever be grateful to Arcanine for putting up with me and sticking through it all even when I was being a jerk.
I learned so much about writing over the course of these 9 months. Fitting my writing style and process with someone else’s presented a new challenge. I picked up a lot of new techniques, especially when it comes to making believable and fun dialogue, which Arcanine is a master at. I’m also much more willing to spend a lot of time editing now, although not having someone to thoroughly check all my writing and fix it directly anymore is going to be a huge bummer.
I feel like there’s so much more to say about this fic. I could go on and on for another five pages. But it’s enough to say that this has been one of the best creative experiences of my life. Best of all, I can rest easy knowing that I’ve contributed something I can truly be proud of to the pairing that changed my life. NicoMaki, more than 5 years later, is still the most special couple I’ve ever known.
I hope everyone’s enjoyed reading this fic as much as I enjoyed writing it, if not more. Share it with your friends who like Love Live, and especially with those who like NicoMaki! It might sound a bit egotistical, but I do think we did an amazing job with this complex fic and I want it to reach as many people as possible.
If you took the time to read this far, thank you. Here’s hoping we all meet again!
gummygunk
blakekathryn
kianamaiart
