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.)

[celli]

I got into K-pop twice: once back in 2017 when a friend of mine was super into it and I was reading her fic like crazy, but only a few other ones, and again late last year when someone dangled a photo of Jungkook in a business suit in front of me and I said, you have my attention. I dove BACK into the fic, started writing, and now it's my primary fandom and I've written tens of thousands of words in it and read...how many more? Who can say?

My favorite fics are AUs. I have a real weakness for magic universes, but I also like "take your job to work" AUs. My favorite tropes are fake relationship and/or marriage of convenience turned love - pining is the name of the game. Also, really good sex scenes, please.

[hitokage]

Got into reading and writing Kpop fic as an extension of being in the Visual Kei RPF fandom (thanks for that, Gackt, you ass) and the streams just crossed themselves. XD

Lately I've been finding my reading happy space mostly in Omegaverse, but even outside that I gravitate strongly towards healthy polyamory and exploring how that can mean different things for different members. I can go both idolverse or AU, but if we're going AU, then give me some level of magic/powers please.

[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!

[lachrymosy]

My journey into Kpop RPF started back in 2010 when the Wonder Girls went back to Korea for promotions. Up until that point the only Kpop artists I followed were the Wonder Girls and BoA, but between the WG's variety show promos with Super Junior, their reality show/documentary thing with 2PM and 2AM, and Donghae's smile in No Other live performances, I was suddenly pondering what kind of fic there might be. (Also, as an aside, if you weren't in fandom at that time it's hard to explain ficdom's obsession with Heechul lol. If you go back and look through fic prompt memes and such they're all like 75% Heechul.) I remember feeling weird about RPF at first as my fandom experience up until that point never included it, but I couldn't get all these thoughts about fame, self-perception, and mental health out of my head until I wrote them down.

Back then Kpop fic was very much centered on Livejournal (and of course Asianfanfics although I never spent much time there). I really don't remember migrating to AO3 for years; iirc even the big EXO fics circa 2012/2013 were on LJ and then sometime around 2014/2015 more and more people started posting on AO3. I'm really nostalgic for fandom from that time, which is why I started this community! I still talk to people I met from that era of fic; one of my best fandom friends to this day commented on my fic in 2011 and we got to talking on Livejournal! As much as I enjoy fandom as it has evolved on Twitter, appreciate the functionality of Discord, and think AO3 is the best fic platform, the community building on LJ was my favorite.

My platonic ideal of a Kpop fic is always canon/idolverse. There's something about the way writing or reading a canonverse fic feels that compels me. I think it has to do with these cycles of perception and performance inherent to celebrity that I think are part of everyone's lives but so heightened in theirs. I have a canon reclist on my journal if anyone is interested! I'll share some of these as recs in this comm eventually but they are compiled nicely there <3

[jonquilles]

I originally got into K-pop back in 2012 because I was a fan of f(x) and ended up casually following a bunch of other groups, mostly girl groups, as well. I mostly stopped paying attention to K-pop after 2017ish. I actually wasn't into the RPF side of things at the time, though I have been into a bunch of RPF fandoms over the years, starting with bandom back in the day lol. I got back into K-pop a few months after the pandemic started and Seventeen ended up sucking me into the K-pop RPF world! It was actually my first time stanning a boy group lol, and now I have so many boy groups and girl groups I follow....

My fic ideals: a big part of why I like K-pop RPF is because I find being an idol, and the entertainment industry in general, really interesting, so I love a good canon fic! Bonus points if involves examining idolhood/personhood, performing the self, fanservice, all that fun stuff.

[lachrymosy]

I love how our friends can pull us into fandoms we didn't expect haha! I haven't read much BTS fic myself but it seems like SUCH an active ficdom. That sounds like so much fun for you getting into it again as a writer!

"fake relationship and/or marriage of convenience turned love - pining is the name of the game."—TRULY THE ULTIMATE TROPES!

[lachrymosy]

The first time I ever even heard about Visual Kei was because of Kpop (trying to understand what was going on at SM circa 2005 lol), so I think it's so fun that you got into Kpop via Visual Kei!

[lachrymosy]

I showed a friend the Red Light mv recently and it really held up SO well. f(x) is such an iconic group! Kpop really is the black hole that sucks people back in haha!

"Bonus points if involves examining idolhood/personhood, performing the self, fanservice, all that fun stuff"—YES so agree!

[celli]

BTS is very active - down from its heyday but still bigger than most fandoms I've been in! My problem is too much fic to read, oh woe is me!

I read an AO3 tag once that was "pining while fucking" and I thought, where has this been all my life?????

[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.

[aceaceaceace]

AUs aren't my preference, but I can always appreciate a really detailed fic that's clearly based on the author's real-life job. It's such a neat way to peek into other people's careers, especially for fields that I never would've thought about the day-to-day minutiae before. Or jobs that I didn't even know existed!

[aceaceaceace]

If you have any idolverse omegaverse recs, please let me know!!! I am always on the look-out for those, regardless of the fandom.

[andersenmom]

I miss the connectedness we got on LJ, so much. I'm with you there.

[aceaceaceace]

Long-time fandom friends are a very special relationship. I'm still friends with a group of people that I met through a small manga fandom back in 2012, and I always worry about losing touch as social media platforms rise and fall...at this point, much as I am loathe to join another platform, I would follow them most anywhere lol.

I am bookmarking your canon reclist to explore later! The way you've divided the category up looks interesting.

[aceaceaceace]

f(x), oh how I miss them TT

The entertainment industry definitely is a great vehicle for diving deep into all kinds of topics regarding the self and identity! I love it when a fic really gives me something to chew on in that regard.

[andersenmom]

When I started writing, it was RPF (Duran Duran, early 80s, before there was an internet or even name for it, in my teenage head). So getting into K-pop RPF wasn't even a problem.

My favorite ideal? Found Family. That's one reason I've always gravitated towards bands and groups, Power Rangers, etc. The idea of having friends you could count on, all of that.... I don't care what form it takes, AU or canon, whatever, I love the idea of a found family.

[hitokage]

The perils of being a fandom old - I remember what a wild time it was when various VK bandmen confessed to being into Kpop and the elitist fans losing their minds because how dare their precious indies rock gods be into something so manufactured and bubblegum! Which is extra telling given that visual kei has always been about a manufactured IMAGE (which is how I got sucked down the RPF rabbit hole in the first place), but ... ain't no elitist like an indie rock elitist? XD

... now I'm wondering if I should go back and try finding my old Taebin/Seven fic. Assuming I *can* find any of my old old fics..... XD

[hitokage]

I feel like I used to have more tucked away somewhere, but it's late and I'm only going back so far through tabs, so... XD

leave the light on for me by tropicalnights is short but super cute (ATEEZ, OT8, omega Hongjoong in pre-heat)
More than fine by aambass, which isn't quite complete but nearly (author's taking a little break) (ATEEZ, OT8, 7-alphas+1-beta-oops-nope-that's-an-omega, omega Jongho)
Luna by Crowsnight66, another short one, another omega Hongjoong and pack dynamics and keeping secrets

... I have a thing for ATEEZ fic right now

[aceaceaceace]

Thanks for sharing! I will have a look!

[bluedreaming]

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

I got into kpop with tri-angle (came over via classical > Scandinavian meta > jrock/visual kei and lured by Jaejoong, Heechul, Taemin etc.) but with where I was living/no internet etc., I didn't actually perceive fandom (and then immediately fanworks-dom) until I stumbled across this Lu Han & Sehun video edit/vid (to this day it still makes me feel all the sad kinds of nostalgic), read the comments, spiralled out into websearches and started piecing together what this "fanfic" thing was. (I still even have the two sticky notes I started my notes on.)

the two notes

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

I don't really have a specific reading one (maybe happy endings, if that counts?) but for writing my brain gets stuck on random rare/crack platonic ships, in the vein of "but what if person a and person b were siblings?" (or sibling-like friends). I don't know why; it's just fun I guess.

[bluedreaming]

I'm sad that I missed out the LJ heyday, though I have to admit that getting exo fics onto ao3 was a part of why my friend and I ran the exordium in 2015 (not the only reason!). But definitely re friends; my closest online friends are all from exo fandom <3
Now I'm curious about the 75% Heechul!

(Edit: I could be totally wrong, but did you start thekpop100 comm on LJ? I was just reminiscing about that)

[bluedreaming]

I would be very curious about the Taebin/Seven fic 0.0

[breakfirst]

Oh this sounds fun!

My first foray into kpop rpf started in 2009, when I got into super junior and started writing this super dramatic donghae/OC fic on blogspot. Then around 2010 my irl friends made me write... super junior/shinee/self-insert OCs for our eyes only on lj (elmo fire gif). Nothing deep, we just wanted our favourite kpop boys to be in love with us!! That story is still floating around somewhere but pls don't ask me about it.

So I've been writing since I was a wee child and when I discovered a suju writing comm on lj around 2009 it sort of made sense for me to transition over to rpf. Because I'd always created my own characters, they sort of lacked the depth and personality that real people really had, and because idols to me at the time were like these public personas toeing the line between a fictional character and a real human, it was interesting to see how much of the essence of their personalities and character I could inject into a fictional character while also making sure I wasn't writing about that actual idol's life, the human. I used to be very fixated on exploring the duality of idols but these days it only pops up every now and then lol. Now I just think of my fics as movies where the idols are the actors!

My platonic ideal of a kpop fic: AUs! Because I see my own personal version of the idols I write as completely fictional, I prefer seeing them dropped into fictional settings in other people's work. That being said, if a canon is written well I'll read and love it 100%. I guess my actual ideal is just for fics to be written well, I love a fic that has depth and strong themes and characterisation that is true to the person without being overblown.

[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.