Weekly Fic Discussion

[lachrymosy]

Weekly Fic Discussion

Welcome again to kpop_fic! It's so so exciting to see so many different people joining in this community and sharing fics!

One idea arundels and I also had for this community was to have some regular discussion posts so that people have a chance to chat. So, here is our first Weekly Fic Discussion post!

This post can be used for any kind of fic discussion you want, but will also have a few prompt questions each week. We'll try to target both writers and readers with the prompt questions. You can reply to all of them, one of them, or none of them if you have something else you want to talk about!

Feel free to post WIP snippets, ask others' opinion on characterization, share a clip that has broken your brain, etc.!

This week's prompt questions:

• How did you get into reading/writing K-pop RPF?


• What is your platonic ideal of a K-pop fic (e.g. the elements you usually gravitate towards)?

Comments

[aceaceaceace]

getting into kpop RPF:

I've talked about this a bit before on my journal, I think, but RPF used to be a squick for me. I didn't have any issue with it in theory, but I am very easily put off by hearing about romantic/sexual encounters involving people I know--mainly friends and family, but it also applies to real-life folks that I am somewhat aware of due to interviews and such. I could read about fictional characters having kinky sex no problem, but hearing about my friends' first kisses and such made my skin crawl.

All this is to say that I had to make a conscious and sustained effort to get past my squick feelings to start reading and writing RPF. Which I did because I was between fandoms, wanted to find a fandom with plenty of fic to read (my usual M.O. for getting into a fandom), and diving into kpop fic seemed like the best choice since I was already consuming a lot of kpop content anyway. So I basically just forced myself to read a bunch of fic until finally it didn't squick me anymore lol.

platonic ideal of a K-pop fic:

Basically bleak boy band bingo tropes lmao. I am primarily interested in fics that engage with idols as idols, and I have a great hunger for angst. (I still prefer happy or bittersweet endings over total downers though.) Semi-related: fics that deal with marginalized identities/experiences within the industry (queerness, neurodivergence, working in Korea as a foreigner/part of the Korean diaspora, disability, etc.)

[lachrymosy]

The fiction/real-life distinction is always so interesting! I kind of suspect that the degree to which people perceive RPF characters as truly fictionalized affects how they perceive RPF as a concept? I feel like before I got into kpop, it didn't make sense to me, but afterwards, people were so clearly interacting with these celebrities as fictional characters that I couldn't imagine seeing RPF as otherwise. I also find for me that in kpop specifically, the level of self-consciousness they themselves have about their image/concept is always what intrigues me, like they are aware of and facilitating the fictionalization of themselves.

BBB really did a number on all of us... I am so with you on "engage with idols as idols" and always eager for more of that specifically! I think that goes along with that fictionalization thing because it also questions—what do you know about yourself? How much of yourself is also an image you project into the world, influenced by others' perceptions of you? These are such relatable questions put under such an extreme microscope in kpop! (and lead directly into angst lol)

Anyway your bookmarks/collection of canon fics is a GIFT to the fandom!

[aceaceaceace]

Yeah, while some celebrities are definitely more "authentic" than others, ultimately whatever image we craft of them in our minds is a combination of 1) the public image they put out (deliberately cultivated or not) and 2) what each of us wants to see in them to fill the gaps. And then that image in our minds gets further distanced from the real-life individual by however they are being portrayed in the fic.

And yes, I definitely like exploring topics that can be relatable to almost anyone under the extreme microscope of the kpop industry! Not to be all "Celebrities--They're Just Like Us!" lol, but at the end of the day, every idol is just some person experiencing the same world as us...in a different way, of course.

I'm glad my bookmark collection could be of some use to you! I am always adding to it, so if you have any recommendations, let me know, and I'll vibe check it when I have time.

[lachrymosy]

"what each of us wants to see in them to fill the gaps"—I feel like this part has become extra interesting to me lately! Actually when I was compiling the canon reclist I started thinking about how extremely different characterizations of a person/character can all ring true, and in fact, I often find that I WANT to see idiosyncratic takes on a celeb (while still maintaining a recognizable core element). I feel like as much as people talk about the idealization of an idol & how they sell a fantasy, a lot of time in fic I want to see that fantasy unraveled and a picture of real life emerge from it? It's like... a cousin of the idol fantasy thing, I guess, only instead of projecting your daydreams onto an idol, you're projecting your own interpretation of being a human person, or something. Rambling thoughts here!

[poppyseedheart]

Your platonic ideal of a fic could have been posted by me and I wouldn't even have blinked! For me such a huge draw of kpop fandom is the machine of the industry, how individual idols interact with it, and how fame operates as a concept. Power dynamics! Self-concept! There's so much there and idolverse will always have the top spot in my heart as a result.

[arundels]

You managing to train yourself out of a squick is kinda funny and impressive ngl! I'm glad that we have you in the kpop rpf fandom now :)

And I completely know what you mean about "idols as idols" - as a general rule the fandoms that I get the most invested in are ones where the canon setting/dynamics are inherently interesting to me, and the same is especially true for kpop! The industry is like no other in terms of the way fame and autonomy and the hazy distinction between persona/personality are treated... Like to some extent it's true of all celebrity figures but it's pushed to such an extreme in kpop that it is really a setting unlike no other. It's viewed through this context/lens that the idols often are the most fascinating as well - it's hard to divorce what makes an idol interesting as a character from the way that they navigate their hyper-fame.

Though I like you do prefer stories that end on at least a hopeful note - not necessarily hope for a happy ending but some sort of emotional closure that doesn't just feel sad. Idk, I feel like total bleakness is the easy way out; finding a way to spin something dark in a way that just catches the light - that feels infinitely more satisfying to me.