#askoddly

YES!! Okay so roughly Dec 2023 this started as a single scene (roughly inspired chapter 18, the Christmas kiss). Over the course of the next year I started writing down my little headcanons and always always always answering questions I had- even if I wrote a scene that I knew was going to be trash, I still roughed it out because usually it was my brain trying to answer a question about a specific character or feeling.

Come to Dec 2024 and I have accumulated literal TONS of material and I sat down with it and really combed through all the plot points with a fine toothed comb- what in each characters past and present is making them act the way they are at this exact moment? Why don’t they say or act how they feel? Why do they perceive this event differently than it’s happening? What are their goals with this interaction?

The plot changed quite a bit in that phase- things rearranged, removed, or added to ensure the plot can be solid, but a lot of the original writing stayed.

Except… after 18 months of writing practice, the things I wrote in Day 1, or Month 1, or even Year 1 felt like trash 😂😭 Which brings us to present- the story is, honestly, rough finished. But each chapter I pull needs fluffed and edited and added to until it is nearly a different work entirely (which is why it takes me so long to update despite having everything written. Editing 20 pages just takes time, plain and simple.)

So, basically- Drabble dump——> High level plot——> refine and polish.

Ask SO many questions. Write SO many things. Know when to dump something and move on or circle back. The answers you seek are within you.

Yeah, absolutely!! Full disclosure I have a bit of an advantage because I am a recreational racer (some local amateur series) and work on my own cars.

But there’s two things that are important to get right as much as possible.

1) the technical aspect- the basic understanding of the car, the race, the sequence. The rules. The regulations. A LOT of this is accumulated information, and F1 is light years away from anything I’ve done, so I had to learn this too- if I was starting from scratch, I would read and watch several of the F1 intro videos and articles- they have very accessible and digestible content that explains technicals, like the rules, the tyres, aero, testing procedure, etc. Google whenever you can. It’s truly a snowball- your knowledge starts pretty small and over time you become a super-nerd. You will not get all of this right. There’s a few things I’ve put out that I have earmarked to fix.

2) the feeling!! The sensation of adrenaline, of compression, the physical thrills and discomforts of an F1 car. This is where I have some advantage, but if you have any experience with an adrenaline rush sport, it’s a super transferable sensation. I also watch a lot of interviews from drivers past and present who talk about what it’s like for them, physically, emotionally.

Hi!! My career is not related to writing, and it’s not particularly creative or even mentally taxing most of the time, so I definitely use writing as an outlet.

Also, it goes through periods where there’s TONS of work for a few days or weeks and then long periods of slack where I can dedicate nearly the entirety of my day to writing.

The stray cat analogy was some of my finest cooking. I think I commented it somewhere but my childhood home neighbors a train yard and we would get a lot of strays. We would try to trap and neuter/spay them, fed the ones that hung around, and generally tried to tame the ones that we could and rehome them.

I've been loving the series, though in the middle I hated Max more, like, he spent so much time and energy to someone to fuck someone up bc he was jealous and bc he couldn't control his obssesion with matching LeChriste style and work and diminish her value as a co worker.

I still feel like Max doesn't deserve her, like he has been proving he can be an acquaintance that can be a little too cheeky but not maliciuos in all their chats. SOmeone who undesrtands her but not someone to be free with yet

Danny in the other hand, is someone who she can be free with but who doesn't understand her inner struggle as a person who comes from nothing surviving in a place where there is no mercy

ANyways... I'm so invested and interested, idk the status of the work but is art

ALso, Jos... I need to know what he is planning, bc he can't be planning nothing

Jos is a FAN favorite around here. From my understanding and personal observation, there's not many fics currently that really flesh him out. He's either an evil Scooby-Doo villain or a background/facilitating character in most fics. I think he is an incredibly complex character, with a incredibly complex relationship with his family, and motorsport, and his own desires. In my mind, you can't write a Max fic without trying to crack Jos- don't worry, he's here to stay. _______________________________