#a big part of me liking orv is me not knowing whats gonna happen

[seasicksilver]

the pain of wanting to look at cool orv fanart but not being that far into the story and trying to avoid spoilers....

[astranauticus]

idk what is it about that one throwaway line from han sooyoung about her writing 10 chapters in one day that finally broke me but oh my fuckin god i love her so much

[ot3]

What's the core appeal of orv? I know the premise but why does it make you so hyped up?

OH BOY OH BOY....... i will try to be as concise as possible here but i could write without exaggeration thousands of words about why orv is good. But I guess here's the big stuff.

- Its funny, for starters. it is extremely funny, which is very high up on my media priority list. in orv, there will be incredibly grim things that make you laugh, and incredibly cringe and silly anime bullshit that will hurt you as heavily as any other media you’ve seen. 

- it executes it’s thematic arcs with pinpoint precision the likes of which i’ve hardly ever seen anything else manage to do. regardless of whether or not the themes themselves are the sort of themes you go bonkers for in media, it’s always just delightful to see something perfectly stick it’s landing in terms of the big concepts its trying to grapple with, and orv does

- it’s got fun and fascinating worldbuilding mechanics. the core concept being ‘reality now operates on the rules of a shitty novel’ means that the worldbuilding doesn’t have to function logically, it functions thematically. it’s explicitly stated in orv canon that some of the internal rules governing this new reality are objectively really stupid and illogical, but they just have to roll with it because that’s what was in the book, and i think it’s a really enjoyable way to do it. This may at first sound like a copout, where the writer is trying to excuse their own bad worldbuilding, but it isn’t. The world building is actually incredibly deeply thought out, but it doesn’t exist for the sake of rational function, it exists for the sake of, once again, furthering orv’s thematic arcs. the rules by which this universe operate do a magnificent job of strengthening the core concepts the authors are exploring. 

- it deals with morality in a really wonderful and nuanced way. there are almost no characters in orv’s extremely large cast of characters who are just explicitly morally condemnable, and almost every conflict allows you to understand exactly why the antagonists believe they’re in the right by opposing the actions of our protagonists. the central conflicts are never pure right and pure wrong; they’re always about contrasting goals, conflicting worldviews, and different priorities between ends and means. this makes the conflicts all feel so much more dynamic and engaging than those where the only stakes are physical harm. 

- the characters interpersonal relationships are some of the most interesting ive ever seen. orv is very slow burn and it takes a long time for a lot of these to come out of the woodwork, by design, but by god once they do they fucking hit. similar to the plot conflicts, the interpersonal conflicts also almost never occur where there’s one side clearly in the wrong. the characters are almost all genuinely attempting to do their best by each other, and the tension comes from the ways in which human communication is fundamentally imperfect and part of our feelings and intentions get lost in translation. it’s very heartwrenching and heartwarming to see unfold, in equal measure. 

- following from that, it’s a narrative that really meaningfully prioritizes non-romantic relationships over romantic ones as the central focus. obviously there’s shipbait and the ot3 is real and good and my friend but if you’re looking for deep complex platonic, (found or otherwise) familial, and antagonistic relationships that never get ruined with forced romantic arcs, we got em baby!

- the pacing is unlike anything i’ve ever seen before. from a purely technical standpoint, it is genuinely a fascinating case study in how to execute a narrative that is almost constantly escalating without exception. there is very little downtime or breathing room in orv, which is insane for something that clocks in at over a million words, and somehow, it still works. i’ve never felt more like a frog in a pot of slowly boiling water than i did when i was reading orv and i can’t believe they pulled it off. it’s so interesting to read something like that.

- it is a tragedy without resorting to cynicism and a very adult narrative that’s really steeped in childlike wonder. i’m a big fan of cartoons made for children cartoons made for children are my favorite things to watch because i like media that is uplifting and encouraging. but of course children’s media will always be simplified and not very relatable to an adult. orv is very much a serious and heavy adult narrative, and a deeply tragic one at that, but this is never tragedy for tragedy’s sake. it’s a very compassionate piece of media over all, that holds a lot of reverence and sympathy for the ‘naive’ optimism of children that gets stripped down over time. if you, like me, feel more like a grown up child than an adult someday, i think it’ll hit for you. 

- if you are a person who has ever gotten deeply involved in media to ignore bad things happening in the real world, which i know you are because you are reading my tumblr blog, then there is going to be a lot about orv which resonates for you. a lot of metanarrative has attempted to comment on the voyeuristic nature of media obsession and storytelling, but a lot of it does so in a bizarre way that almost seems to shame the audience for having the audacity to... enjoy the product the creators have produced for them. orv is what i can only describe as a love-letter to its own audience, and it’s really a manifesto about how engagement with media can foster genuine human intimacy, even if initially it’s something you’re using as a crutch to replace that intimacy. the closest thing to orv’s metanarrative i can think of would be undertale. if undertale made you Feel some Things, orv is gonna make you Feel some Things as well. 

- it is extremely cathartic and meaningful. i am not exaggerating at all when i say that reading it gave me the closest thing i have ever felt to any sort of spiritual breakthrough. it helped unfuck my head a ton during some very grim times and i think the perspective it offers on the value of human life is a really really good one

- its really funny i promise

- its cringe in a way that’s hype

- please read orv please not even for me do it for yourself i want you to experience what i experienced for YOUR sake not mine

[your--isgayrights]

F, M, S :?

Hiiii stella i really liked your new fic just so you know okay hello :))

Gonna put my answers to these under the cut because they’re really long ^_^; thank you for sending me an ask for this but also dont feel obligated to read my long winded answers aslkfjfdsf

F: Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

Hmmmm this question is kind of hard because even though I really see myself as someone who likes writing dialogue more than prose, lately most talking I write is like heavily interlaced with like these character actions that are supposed to be indicative of tone, you know? Also I have a lot of dialogue I like that isn’t technically attached to anything yet... uh...

Okay, I like these lines from A Dream in Which Yoo Jonghyuk Plays Mario Kart:

"Kim Dokja." Yoo Jonghyuk says.

"... You're gonna tell me to shut up, right?" Kim Dokja tries to guess from the vast experience he has of this man. "To not worry so much about useless things? To just be here in the moment..."

He trails off on the word moment. His eyes are suddenly far away, clouded with the memory of a destroyed Seoul skyline.

The hand on his shoulder tightens. Just enough to bring him back.

"Eh?" Kim Dokja's eyes refocus, blinking up at a Yoo Jonghyuk who is looking at him in the eye instead of over his shoulder. "Well?" He asks a man whose broad back is now far too sore in the mornings to carry the weight of the world. "Am I right?"

Yoo Jonghyuk does not answer any of the questions that Kim Dokja has posed with a 'yes,' a 'no,' or even a 'shut up.'

He does, however, give his husband a peck on the lips that lasts for just a moment shorter than a dream and conveys the exact same message.

When he pulls away from this kiss, he meets his husband's eyes once more and says five magical words.

"Watch me win Rainbow Road."

Um the thing I’m most proud of here is that I made Yoo Jonghyuk being a gamer anything approaching “romantic.” The “Watch me win Rainbow Road” line is basically the main thing holding this ficlet together as an actual piece of writing akdjfslfjsf. But like I said, a lot of the emotion in the words comes from the deviance from expectation set up around the dialogue rather than the dialogue itself, so I’m not sure if it counts? Fun anyway!

M: Got any premises on the back burner that you’d care to share?

Hmmm most of my premises I’ve been trying to adapt somehow into my current WIP, like I had this soosang idea that I thought about adapting as some sort of epilogue? It was like about HSY and YSA being childhood friends and the way that HSY wrote passages in her stories differently based on the way she viewed their relationship. But then like... hmm.

I guess Actual premises would include stuff like “AU where Kim Dokja is there when Yoo Jonghyuk regresses,” which I’m always daydreaming about just a little bit because 1. I kind of want to write YJH perspective on KDJ in the early rounds because I think its hilarious how he probably thinks very highly of him actually and thats SO diffferent from how KDJ views how things are happening, and then 2. VERY funny to have KDJ make the choices he makes confidently in timelines where he doesn’t realize YJH knows about him, or like 3. how KDJ would adapt to YJH knowing about him and whether he has back up plans for that.

My only hang up on that premise is that I’m not going to write it because A. It would take WAY too long for me to flesh out that premise in a way that I was happy with because I’m terrible like that and even slice of life relationship stories have to have like 40k long chapters for me to be happy with development. And then B. It’s definitely a premise that’s been used before, and even though I’m usually cool with doing bland premises with my own spin on them, I think that a lot of people already have like... set opinions on what they think this type of au would look like and mine differs a bit and I don’t want to argue with people on the internet, haha.

Anyway since I’m never going to write it, I can tell you that I think that the climax of my AU would probably be all of the KDJs of every timeline some how reviving YJH at the same time across their parallel timelines. It would show the perspectives of KDJs who were briefly mentioned in YJH’s building angst train, even ones where he was an enemy and in fact killed YJH himself, and other ones where he was a deeply trusted comrade, and we would think that the KDJs are doing some part of the scenario until they all do the same thing at once and it’s revealed what the item they were trying to obtain did. It exchanges his own life for that of YJH’s.

YJH in whatever regression he’s in has this moment of being completely saved, where all of these lifetimes where he died peacefully of old age by his companion’s sides come rushing into him, but even though he realizes Kim Dokja is the one responsible, he has no memory of him making it to the end. So he resolves to spend that last lifetime vowing not to die and to save Kim Dokja no matter what when previously he had given into the regressor depression of only trying to save himself.

Also not about fanfic but uh here’s some songs that I daydream orv amvs to sometimes: A Death - An Unkindness, I’m Gonna Win - Rob Cantor, Achilles Come Down - Gang of Youths, Squaring up - Sir Chloe.

S: Any fandom tropes you can’t resist?

Ahhh you know I think I’ve said this before that I really like slow burn and long complicated relationships like childhood friends to enemies to friends and or lovers you know, but I’ve been thinking about it recently and realize that I actually do use a lot of fandom-ey tropes! Like it was pointed out to me that my big WIP is very much based on an AU used in other fandoms, and I realize that I really like writing troupes used in fandom in a way that puts my own twist on it,  you know?

Like this is a bit embarassing, but I think the first fics I ever wrote were definitely from me seeing a specific kind of AU being overused in the fandom and wanting to write that AU from what I viewed as like... THE. RIGHT. WAY. to do it asdlkfjsfasfasf. Like the main emotion that actually gets me writing something down is spite alskfjf. Like sorry allos but I don’t understand why they would have kissed there so heres a 50k+ fic where they gaze longingly at each other for a much much longer time okay thanks.

[evanescentdawn]

(July 4th)

today’s writing:

—wip: touken//gift ⭐️, ss//rehabilitation, if I wrote a romance, sangdok//prince in raincoat (jfkfkfk so proud of that wipname), ss//conclusions, SS//HS AU

A V ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ DAY…..!!!!!!!!!!

—ABSOLUTELY INSANE!! DOUBLE INSANE!!! okay, so I went to twt, check what’s up and got blast in the face by haku’s art. it was SO cute, I Had to write smth for it. AND THEN she gave me another idea and I HAD TO WRITE FOR IT because it was so perfect & amazing and fit so well & gave my thousands of feelings WHICH NEEDED TO BE PUT SOMEWHERE and eh???? apparently. I have written like. a whole touken fic……lmao, absolutely insane. I’m awesome <3 this is the power of touken + haku, lmao. I really wanted to get this edited & posted today !! so like stopped working on the hs au and quickly dropped this onto ao3, edited and posted it….AND JUST IN TIME TOO….! one min left of day <333333

—Okay, Okay. today was a general awful day, didn’t think I was gonna do any writing….but !! I HAVE SURPRISED MYSELF. A LOT !!! so was like thinking of working on SS wip, and worked on the rehabilitation one (look it has a name now, lmao) and hhhhhhh I really like this. this is practically a wip, lmao, I didn’t even have to write the “idea”. this is gonna be so fcking good. LETS GOOOO. hhhhh writing this reminded how much Thoughts I have abt the infinite tsukuyomi and how DISORIENTED everyone must be, god. like imaging getting everything you wanted and then. getting it snatched from you, because, apparently, it was all a dream. ouch. I edited it!! it’s not perfect, like parts that’s making me go “urghhhhh” y’know but it’s v <333 I love writing sasuke’s pov and getting into his head. despite how terrible I think I am at getting him, lmao, but I think I’m getting….a hang of it…..

—I don’t know what fcking happened???? I accidentlu pressed my orv playlist and NOW I HAVE FEELINGS and have to work on orv wip. HFJKFKF most of it is like. not offline. but this “if I wrote a romance is” so time to work on it !!! tbh, really don’t know…what to do with it. because I feel like I don’t have a hard grasp on ‘characterisation’ but whatever fuck rn. I should still write. because I have people who have been regarded for the characterisations which…..I dont completely agree with their fics or characterisations so WHOOP WHOOP you know???? I don’t even Know anything abt character archetypes and such, which I feel like hsy might but who the fuck cares y’know? let’s just go. I HAVE MANY FEELS AHHHHHHH I feel like a big idiot, putting this for soo long because of characterisation because DAMN, this is getting sooooo good. im So soft, heck. still stuck on where I’m gonna with this, lmao. OH. HEY. what if Han Sooyoung is narating to this lsh — I was gonna think — but of course, it would Kim Dokja. Lmao. She’s probs drunk, too XD on Purpose because she can’t do this on purpose. oh wow, suddenly want to write for sangdok, now.

—instead of going the mile of actually thinking of sangdok ideas, lmao….wait getting a vague one here….lett me quickly jot it down. hhhhhh, suddenly Urge to write for that olgami au. anyways, back for This Idea. instead of going out on the mile and starting a completely new sangdok idea, I can rewrite this wip because lmao I don’t plan to post it….but still keeping the og wip….wait, okay. it’s completely becoming its own wip??? AHHHHHH IM REALLY LIKING THIS. OH MY GOD I CANT BELIEVE I WROTE THIS !!! OH MY GOD I CANT BELEIVE IM WRITING THIS !!! im so <33333

—just felt like working on the ss//conclusions wip and…..ehhh…..I edited a bit but…. really feeling :/ abt this wip, rn. which is Urgh because I liked it !!! AND DO LIKE IT STILL (WELL THE IDEA MORE LIKE AND THE CONCEPT OF IT THE VAGUE CONTINUATION IDEAS) I edited it but really not feeling this wip at all. so I’ll just let it stew and see how it goes v v later. or maybe I think how to revise this idea. or write it in another way. I think that might be good thing to do

—hi hello???? Don’t Know what happened, but I suddenly feel like I can write SS. I can conquer it. I was rereading my SS fics that I posted and hhhb theyre so good. I wanted to tbh, make the 2nd chp of spring love a separate thing while also rewriting the og idea I wanted to have to better fit the first chp but lmao that sounds like a big mess to do rn leaving till much later. anyways, BACK TO THIS ….!!! okay so okay so. I didn’t plan at all to do the highschool prompt because I had No Urge at all to write a highschool au, lmao. I would love to read some but me?? write it??? No. Not like if it had some plot or smth around it and then I would naturally focus on ss if it were but mind was going blank when I tried to think of hs smth for SS BUT THEN… OUT OF NOWHERR…. I GOT HIT BY THIS… AND GOT STARTED WRITING IT OH MY GOD??? really doubt I’m gonna finish it, considering how there’s like few hours (& now less than 2 and don’t have this finished At All) of day left lmao but HELLO??? V MUCH LIKING THIS !!!! like pls, sasuke is such a dork I cant. I love him sm

[ot3]

is orv gay for real? i wanna read it but im on the fence and if it’s not then that’s a dealbreaker

hmm...

orv has exactly one (1) canon relationship that happens between two side characters and genuinely doesn’t matter that much or get much screentime. The rest of the Romance™ in orv is incredibly generous enemies-to-friends-to-enemies jump rope style shipbaiting between Kim Dokja, the protagonist, with Yoo Jonghyuk, the “Protagonist”, and to a slightly lesser extent, Han Sooyoung, who is the third main character of the series.

Orv is not a story about romantic relationships. orv is a story about any and all kinds of relationships people can have with each other but romance is never primary focus and no character development is done through romantic arcs. You will not have any heterosexuality forced onto you but you’re not gonna get canon lgbt love stories. 

HOWEVER. An important thing i feel like i must add: everything about orv feels insanely heavily steeped in bisexuality. In the same way that you watch some stuff and you can just FEEL that it’s for dykes orv gave me the feeling of being a thing that was laboratory concocted to have potent bisexual energy, which i deeply respect.

and despite not being a romance id argue that an insanely big part of orv is about what it means to love a person, and if you can get to the end of orv without believing ot3 real then your heart is shriveled and you dont know what true love looks like.