#But as always MC is fond af of the mess that is stuck to them

[prompt-of-the-day]

Dialogue: #049

"Coffee or tea?"

"As always, tea, darling, my answer won't change just because you ask everyday."

"Hey, you never know, hope burns eternal."

[justimajin]

In the Imajining of: It’s a Reverse Basket

We’re back at it again! For those of you confused, this is basically my behind the scenes segment where I share the ‘imajining’ process of my stories. 

For this series, I’ll be talking about: 

The Initial Idea 

The Characters 

The Baseline Story 

The Overall Series 

Let’s get it!

The Initial Idea: 

Would any of you believe me if I said this series wasn’t meant for Yoongi at all? Once again, another member was my initial choice but after furthur developing the idea Yoongi ending up fitting the storyline more. Let me explain. 

The first concept I had for this series is pretty similar to what it ended up turning out to be - girl dresses herself as a boy to get into a basketball team and falls for the captain. I got inspired after reading a lot of manga and noticing the gender bender trope was quite common. I decided it would be interesting to have my own take from it and so the idea for this series was born. 

However, the story would have been completely different if we had Captain Jeon instead of Captain Min and boy, would it have been really different. Jungkook was originally going to be this very rude and stoic captain and the mc would have feared him until he started to chill lol. It sounded like a good idea at first but I wasn’t really in love with how the main couple was turning out. Additionally Jungkook was going to be known for hating liers and that would have put the mc into a even worse position, which I wasn’t a fan of either. 

So the whole concept was scrapped and I started shifting gears over to Yoongi. I thought he would have suited the role as captain wayy better and watching a couple of video’s of him playing basketball confirmed this more for me. I was really surprised with how fair Yoongi is with playing the sport and that helped spark a better image for the team’s captain. I also thought changing his character would immensely help the mc’s character and in ways support the growth she goes through (oof a couple loving and supporting each other’s dreams? sign me up) 

The Characters: 

> Y/N: For any of my old readers, I think it’s obvious to say that the mc’s personality here is considerably different compared to past ones I’ve written. One trend I noticed through all the manga I read was that the mc’s were typically extremely naive and somewhat clueless. I did think traits like these would fit Y/N’s character since her position of being in an all boys school with this secret that can be slipped out anytime leaves her with a lot of ‘uncertainty’ in that sense, but I wasn’t up for her being too clueless. In an indirect way, I wanted Y/N to be strong and sensible to deal with everything she goes through and I think her character turned out exactly how I wanted. 

> Yoongi: Oh my god. Not going to lie, I had the hardest time writing this boy’s character lmao. I’ve only ever written one fic for him and that was His First Love (shameless self plug here if you’re in need of some heart-wrenching angst) so you can say I’m not very used to writing about Yoongi. He’s the member that’s the most different in BTS and I really wanted to capture his personality perfectly in the story. This led to a lot of thinking on my part and I constantly had to ask myself: What would Yoongi do in this situation? I also have the tendency to observe the member I’m writing about a lot too, so you can say I did my fair share of “research” on him for his character (and by research I mean watching a bunch of compilations on repeat. #no regrets made). 

> The Four Weirdos Taehyung, Jungkook, Hoseok & Jimin: I was really keen on choosing characters for this and looking back now, I think I made the right call. My motive was to create almost a warm and welcoming atmosphere for Y/N when she first enters the school because 1. She’s already scared af from being there and 2. She’s aiming for competitive basketball, which means by default she won’t surrounded with what one would call the nicest of people. It was important for me to choose her roommates properly, because these two people would be the ones constantly around her and the ones closet exposed to her secret. After a lot of contemplation, I decide to go with Taehyung and Jungkook in the end. I’ve explored their dynamic a bit in His First Love and I found their duo was a bit iconic. I also discovered that there was more I could do with them in this story so I decided to go forth with them being her roommates. Hoseok and Jimin then became their neighbors and together, their group of five had a nice balance of characters that I was looking for. 

Also just a side-note about Jungkook’s character: he actually retains a lot of what his character would have been like as captain. I just toned it down more so he wouldn’t come off as harsh but just highly focused on playing basketball instead (which also ending up working because you know, Jungkook). He’s also very aloof because of this, which is why he never really tries to probe about Y/N’s identity and leaves it all up to the troublesome trio instead lol. 

> The Coach and The One You Wanted to Punch Namjoon and Seokjin: I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get to write Namjoon’s character in a more involved way since Yoongi took some control of the practices, but nevertheless I’ve always found that Namjoon is great to write in admin characters. I also wanted to expand an arc about him and Taehyung a bit, showcasing some of the struggles Taehyung has gone through just to be at the school as mentioned in Chapter 2. I decided to drop this because the story needed to be concentrated on Y/N more, but I thought I share this tidbit so you guys know where I was thinking of going with that segment of the story. 

Moving on to Seokjin - I freaking loved writing this guy’s character haha. And I’m not saying this because I’m biased, okay? I just think he really suits negative characters so well and he’s so cheeky that you’re left confused whenever he pops up. I wanted to write him in such a way where he retains that joking and charming manner of his but at the same time, he’s the type of guy you want to just maintain some distance from for precaution. His rivalry with Yoongi, his interest in Y/N, his playful banter with Taehyung and Jungkook - it all tied in so well. I also wanted to keep his character in the loop towards the end and that eventually his differences would become resolved, but Taehyung and Jungkook would still highkey be annoyed by his random presences lol. I also hoped his sudden appearance would spark a lot of attention in Chapter 10 (which it did, of course. It’s Kim Seokjin!) because he’s the only character that’s introduced mid-series. 

> Hyerin, Soyoung, The Jackass That Ruined It All: So these characters were thrown in during the planning stages and they’re all extremely important. I’ll start off with Hyerin. 

Hyerin was a character I didn’t know I needed until I figured out Y/N’s character. After coming to the understanding that Y/N’s going to be this timid and naive person that’s going to be hiding a secret from everyone close to her, I realized she would need someone to almost confide in when things got tough. I’m not saying that Taehyung and Jungkook weren’t great friends, that’s the complete opposite of they were, but Y/N needed someone that she didn’t need to hide from. Hyerin also helps with the fact that Y/N’s entered a new school, so she really isn’t sure when to let her guard down around people and if she didn’t have a friend with her, she could have ended up feeling lonely. Hyerin is also veryyy vocal too, so when Y/N needed a voice, I wanted her to take up the opportunity instead and express things Y/N had difficulty with saying herself (remember that flashback scene from Chapter 9?). So yeah, Hyerin wasn’t a character I didn’t originally come up with but more so needed in support of Y/N. 

Soyoung. This girl’s story is a lot more messed up than you would think haha. I conceived two idea’s for her and didn’t like either of them, so she ended up being the friendly but strict doctor that kept popping up lol. The first one involved Hoseok, in which she would be a close friend of his sister’s and they would grow up knowing each other. Later on, she bumps into him at the school and starts falling for him, but doesn’t say anything because she loves his sister a lot and doesn’t want to compromise their relationship. You can see hints of this story in Chapter 3 where Y/N faints and her friends go to visit her. Hoseok introduces Y/N to his sister in Chapter 11 where you would see this play out more, but I decided to scrap this after the chapter was really focusing on what Y/N was going through. I’d like to think this idea lowkey happened in the background, and in my mind I would still correlate Soyoung and Hoseok together. 

Now, the second idea I had was, well, bad. lol. Soyoung could have ended being Yoongi’s ex-girlfriend guys. Damn, I’m getting cringe from just thinking about this again. So basically Soyoung and Yoongi were going to have some unsaid moments between them and then later Y/N would notice and Yoongi would tell her the truth. Y/N wouldn’t really be bothered by this because homegirl has enough on her plate with school and basketball but Soyoung would be and would try to cause problems. I’m still not a huge fan of the “bad ex comes to ruins your hopes and dreams because of their unresolved problems trope” so I ended up rejecting this idea and I am so glad I did. 

Moving on, let’s talk about the jackass lol. This is the guy from Chapter 9′s flashback and who appears in Chapter 20 again. He’s basically the guy that ends up spilling the beans for Y/N. I didn’t give him a name because I wasn’t hugely fond about his character at all, but he’s important in the sense of reminding Y/N of the past, which Hyerin mentions wasn’t the greatest because she wanted to play competitively but was stuck being part of the girl’s recreational team. So it was important for this guy to pop up once again and for Y/N to confront him during a game in order to move on from thinking she couldn’t fulfill her dream of playing competitively. Her family also influences this, but we’ll touch on that soon.

The Baseline Story: 

Alright, so I added this segment as a way to highlight parts I wanted to talk about more, as well as add in some neat unknown facts: 

>> Chapters 1-4 are meant to set up the series and get majority of the characters introduced. The part to highlight here is Yoongi giving a second chance to Y/N in joining the team after she falls sick. This moment was extremely important for Y/N since now knowing what happens in the whole series (her family, the old boys competitive team) she was strongly discouraged to play basketball. In a way, Yoongi was the first person to actually support her and in return, he felt she belonged on the team and wanted to see her grow as a player.  

>> Chapter 5 was the shortest chapter but I wanted to highlight the end of it. It’s the part where Hyerin cuts Y/N’s hair for her. Although this was meant in a way to help Y/N not having to wear a wig all the time, this moment was also to show the lengths at which Y/N is willing to go just to play competitive basketball. Even though she doesn’t show it, Hyerin constantly reminds her of how much she’s going to miss her natural hair. 

>> Chapter 6-9 is where the reveal of her secret shenanigans begins. This ends with Jimin almost finding about her identity and how he completely falls off the mark with guessing what’s actually up. I wanted to highlight here that Jungkook was originally supposed to find out and I was so close with going through with that idea. He was also supposed to keep the whole ordeal along the way and secretly help Y/N, but for some reason I don’t think that suited his character very well. So I instead chose Jimin and it ended up leading into some awesome bits of comedy. 

I also wanted to point out that this was the part where Yoongi slowly begins to get closer with her. I really wanted Yoongi to find out her secret and for her to be aware of this early on in the series since this helps Y/N a lot in these parts. Yoongi covers for her when she can’t and in return, Y/N feels a lot more calm when he’s around. 

>> Chapter 10-11 is the part where Seokjin first appears and Yoongi x Y/N have some issues going on. I think this part was the hardest for me to right because I didn’t want to seem like either of them was wrong in any way, but at the same time show that they seriously needed clear out what was going on between them. I don’t think I’ve shown this kind of conflict between one of my duos and it was strange to write, but I honestly think it did a lot good than bad (maybe I should make my duos fight more, hm). 

>> Chapter 12-16 is the initial progressions of Y/N and Yoongi’s relationship. It’s cute, it’s sweet, and it’s just meant to highlight what they’re like being a couple. My personal favorite is actually Chapter 13, which is when they go out on their first date. I remember contemplating a lot for this chapter, since I wasn’t sure on what place would be the best to draw something more out from these characters. You have to think of this way - both of them get flustered easily and aren’t the most vocal people, so I have to throw them into situations that helps them feel comfortable and open up more. So ultimately, what did I end up doing? Got them to go watch a basketball game together because it’s their natural domain and Yoongi’s teaching side would instantly activate. (apparently I’m a first date consultant now so if anyone would like some assitance hmu).

>> Chapter 17-18 is the part where you get deeper into Y/N and Yoongi’s characters. After the cute initial stages of their relationship, things get tense. I start this off with Yoongi bringing Y/N over to his family’s house, a thing that seems harmless at first until Y/N’s visits and realizes something is up. From meeting his family to issues with his dad, I really wanted to show that there was stuff going on in the background with Yoongi as well, stuff he didn’t necessarily try to sort out and instead ignored. Y/N does end up noticing and helps him here, but in Chapter 18 it’s shown it’s actually because she understands it. She has a similar situation going on but it’s even worse on her side, so she doesn’t hesitate in trying to make things better for Yoongi as she doesn’t want him to get to the point of her situation. Later on in Chapter 18, Yoongi also sees the similar effects and comforts her about it, understanding her better in return. I felt this part in general was extremely for me to properly write and communicate, because it was a strong turning point for both of them and for their relationship, taking what the previous chapters started off and making it into something deeper. 

Chapters 19-20 and the Epilogue are basically just the combined ending, so there’s not really anything there for me to highlight. 

>> Random Facts: This just popped into my head as I was browsing but the dorm that Y/N, Taehyung and Jungkook live in is 613, which actually means June 13th, BTS’s debut date. Uhh Y/N was originally supposed to mistake Yoonji for Yoongi and there was going to be a lot of mayhem going on regarding that, but I didn’t like all that chaos going on during a game so I went for the opportunity of developing Y/N’s character more instead. Yoongi’s jersey number is 9 which correlates with his birthday and Y/N’s is 7, which correlates to their recent album + apparently as an angel number, is known for being unique and positive, ironically also good at being secretive and keeping secrets (yes, I actually did research about a number lol). That’s all that comes to mind right now for me in terms of facts. 

The Overall Series: 

My lasting impression of this series is a very good one. I think I was genuinely surprised around this time since I was able to write 21 chapters without getting exhausted (something that often happens when you write for too long) and really enjoyed every part I wrote. This series ended up turning out a lot better than I initially would have imagined and in a way, I think I actually improved a lot as a writer through it.