#ohmahgods

so actually, a huge part of why it takes me ages to get my drafts anywhere is because i come to a point where there’s nothing for the characters to talk about. i’ll be honest though, usually it’s because i’m approaching the scene wrong. like, so if there’s nothing for them to talk about here, what’s the purpose of this scene, you know? and then i usually take them elsewhere, or introduce a third character or some other external circumstances that give them something to talk about. or i split them up and let their individual plotlines interfere, so that when they’re back together, there’s something hanging over them, and they can hopefully then bounce off each other about what they’re feeling/experiencing

it doesn’t even need too much thinking sometimes! it could be a character splashing food on their shirt and going, ‘fuck, this is my last clean shirt,’ which then cuts to them explaining that their washer isn’t working (no money to pay for the bills) which ends up revealing something substantial about the character’s individual plot (all their income goes into nursing a sick relative) as well as their personality (they are afraid that everyone they love will leave them). this is just off the top of my head lol. in equi, by the way, this happens when yeonjun & mc hearing the piano during one of their dates, which prompts yeonjun to reveal that he used to play, which opens up a whole conversation (initially, i already wanted him to play the piano as it is, but couldn’t sufficiently Introduce the fact that he played, you know? so here was an opportunity)

also i genuinely can’t tell you how many times i’ve accidentally allowed my dialogue to redirect the plot lol my characters are constantly saying shit that i hadn’t planned for dhdjd

and i’ve mentioned this before, but i’m a huge people-watcher. i love accidentally overhearing things about shit i know nothing about (i’m the ‘and they were roommates’ vine lmao). that sometimes inadvertently sparks an idea about what my characters could be talking about, too

i remember this story a local singer here told the press. basically, she’d just released a song called ‘Gave You All I Had’ and it’s this heartbreaking high-tempo song about a girl giving her all to a relationship, while the dude takes it all for granted and leaves, because even ‘her all wasn’t enough for him.’ and during an interview, the singer explained how she wrote the song. she said that once, while shopping, she overheard two cashiers talking. one said, ‘have you got any loose change i could take?’ and the other replied, ‘no, i already gave you all i had’. and this ONE PHRASE inspired the entire song for her. like see what i mean? you strip away the context, and you might end up with something deep

another thing i rely on a lot is looking back at my own old conversations. sometimes certain things people say stick with you or inspire you (in a ‘wish they’d said that instead…’ kinda way), and i want to use those phrases in my writing - but in order to use them, i have to Get To Them, you know? like the plot has to be arranged in a way that would allow for a character to say this. and thus, i have 13 chapters of equi to get to the point where the mc tells yeonjun, ‘it was impressive how fast you went from insisting this is real to talking to your ex’ lmao. all because i had this sentence stuck in my head. (not to mention the original equi concept started from ‘bet you wouldn’t last two weeks dating me without falling in love,’ which can’t happen immediately, because they need to build competitive rapport first. so i need Other Plot to hold that up before the bet chapter comes, you know? and then naturally, i need the characters Talking About This Other Plot as well, which then leaks out into the rest of the fic)