question purely about your writing process : so I was wondering, after binge reading Wanheda and the Hunter, GIYMAF, TW, how did you build the sexual aspect of bc's relationship ? did you catch some signs, or specific scenes, of B and C (between them or with other characters) throughout the seasons that helped to have this conception of their sexual behavior, kinks (dom c or b / sub b or c ect...) ? I would love to read the birth of your ideas Luv u !!!
this is actually a super exciting question because iāve never gone through and parsed out my au-building process. it just kinda happens, but there is a kind of method to it i think
so uhh the first thing i do in any fandom is read a handful of the top kudosed fics. in the case of bellarke my initial fic run-through showed me a few things about the fandom i wouldnāt have known from the show itself:
bellamy calls clarke princess in every fic. like. every fic. (so if i wrote a fic that was missing it, it would look weird)
in all E-rated fics, bellamy is obsessed with clarkeās tits and going down on her (or at least, i havenāt read a fic yet that doesnāt include both these elements)
the fandom overall is very skewed toward friends-to-lovers rather than meet-cutes
the fandom overall is skewed toward modern au over canon
the fandom overall sticks to TV canon rather than book canon (an important difference in, say, GoT fandom where the TV/book difference is pretty apparent in fic)
once that was done i started writing guy in your mfa, so, iāll just...go over how i built each one, character-wise
iād been wanting to write a fic about my MFA experience for a while but my previous fandoms didnāt seem to fit. t100 is perfect because itās an ensemble cast with a strict age divide between the delinquents and adults, so it worked for the grad student/professor angle.
i paced this one differently than other romances iāve written, where thereās a lot of pining through the whole thing and a confession at the end and suddenly they can be together. in this fic, they both realize pretty early on they have feelings for each other, because theyāre writers, and writers, esp ones in grad school, tend to move fast and fall hard.Ā
so i had to engineer a reason they couldnāt be together, and i chose bellamyās dark past in which heās done some desperate deeds, and his self-hatred that makes him think heās not worthy of love.Ā
in the show, theyāre both kind of outcasts because theyāre leaders. in an MFA this would translate to either being too good they stand out, or writing outside of the traditional literary canon. hence, bellamy is an amazing writer, and clarke writes from her gut (and whatās in her gut is YA SFF)
as far as building their romantic/sexual dynamic, it was a little difficult because i definitely veer more toward clarkeās mentality, like, weāre obviously perfect for each other, full speed ahead, which i think is pretty clarke-ish based on canon and how she just Gets Shit Done. but bellamy, while he thinks the same way, like this is a relationship that has a lot of potential, he also thinks, we better start it right, and we canāt do that until you know and accept all my bullshit. canon bellamy only acts rashly when it comes to life/death situations; otherwise i see him as very methodical and calculating.Ā
so this one started with the thought, i want to write a monsterfucker fairy tale, and from there i wove in a few canon details. this is probably the closest to canon iāll ever get, unless i finish my six-years-on-the-ring fic.Ā
wanheda i built based on her actual character description -- sheās the commander of death. so if you only knew her as a legend, what do you think she would look like? so i described the image that popped into my head when i asked myself that question.
i donāt remember much of the rest of my process. i was pretty focused on practicing a new writing style that iām not sure i pulled off very well.
talking with you in the dark
another fic where i was practicing a writing style. i wanted to see if i could put a lot of feels into fewer words, which i feel like iām always practicing in some way because iām hyperverbal. (iām also working on leaning into it, but thatās in some other projects)
part of this writing style (kent harufās) is kind of........flattening characters in order to convey the simplicity of being human. so b and c are like diet coke versions of themselves, totally normal people living normal lives, and only flashes of canon made their way into the story.
bellamyās initial hesitation toward clarke, followed by an intense sense of loyalty toward her, his strained relationship with octavia. clarkeās confidence and her prioritization of madi made their way in too.Ā
lord help me. every once in a while i get an idea that i have absolutely 0 control over. one minute it flickers into my brain and the next iāve written 20k and i donāt know how it happened. all i know is i started writing this fic august 22, even though i didnāt have time to or even want to write it. i donāt remember sitting down to start it, or how much of the idea had been fleshed out yet. it just happened, and it keeps just happening. if i let it, i would devote literally all my time to it, but i have other responsibilities so i canāt.
the character dynamic in this one was built separately.
for clarke, i took her pilot ep characterization, in which sheās experienced a lot of trauma and isolation, so when we meet her, sheās primed for badassery. but for ch1 training wheels clarke, i needed to strip even that away and go where i imagine she came from pre-canon, a little spoiled, very bright, manipulative as shit. so i need all the potential to be there but none of the growth, and the story over time will provide that growth.
for bellamy, i picked the s5Ā āiāve sat in near isolation for six years and iāve had a lot of time to introspectā version of himself. to me, being a teacher makes a lot of sense for him, because in s1 he was so dedicated to those fucking speeches (which i loved), and he seems like the kind of guy to get 97% of his self-worth and sense of fulfillment from finding the promise in people and helping them reach their potential, because heās never learned to focus on himself or his needs. and he loves clarke, so itās very hard to deny her anything she wants, especially when what she wants is to learn something new, something heās very capable of teaching her.
then i tossed in their long-term undying loyalty and admiration of one another, and you get training wheels bellamy and clarke.Ā
thereās actually a lot more to this i think because iāve spent nearly all of my mental and creative energy of the past month on this fic, but also i canāt talk about it forever, i have to go Do Things. happy to answer more questions later if thereās anything it would help for me to zero in on specifically.Ā
thanks for the great question!!