#ask lala pipo

[lala-pipo]

Hey, shy reader here. I’ve read that youre thinking about deleting your tumblr and before that happens I just wanted to let you know that I adore your writing. You’ve been one of my favorite authors in this fandom for years now, but you’ve really outdone yourself with your new story. I've read fics in so many fandoms and on so many sites and yet I can’t remember ever coming across something written so professionally? It almost feels illegal to read it for free. This story should have a million clicks and if it were possible I would leave a 100 kudos on it. I’m so curious on how this story is going to end. Just so you know you have me sitting on the edge of my seat. Also, thank you for putting so much effort into researching all this stuff, it feels like I’m actually learning something while reading. lol This story is not even finished yet, but I can already tell that it's going to be on my list of alltime favorites.

Thank you so much! 🥺 That's so sweet! I'm glad you're enjoying this story! It means a lot. I do enjoy me some reasearch, not gonna lie. 😂 I think it also makes things a little easier to understand. But I still took a lot of creative freedom with this story.

I'm still pondering whether to delete this tumblr or not. Maybe I keep it up as an archive, but don't update it anymore. I'm not sure, but thanks so much for reaching out. It means a lot to see people appreciating one's work. ❤️

[katrinawritesthings]

wip ask game!!

Rules: Post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of  how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it! Then tag someone!

I wasn't tagged I just searched for a wip game lol and I don't know who else is even still active on tungle but glancing through some ship tags I tag @rollercoasterwrite @lala-pipo @jinkisbelly : )

anyway here are my wip names hehe do not @ me about how many there are I am aware and this isn't even all of them

worm : )

beeeeeeeeeeee

Wishes

Time travel but space

Eat your medicine

Chicken nugget

spiral

taemplants : )

Groupie slut

5 times Jonghyun smooched too goodnight and one time he kissed Jinki

Popsicle : )

mvp

Basement babes

5 times they did horny stuff

Moving Day part whatever

Cave demon

Horny time

Count to twenty one is plenty

Mouthwash.....

Criminal ; )

quirky…

boobie

Boobie 2 Electric Boogaloo

mermaid time

That one's Mars

Track and field gays

heartnut

plant gay

No dude it's totally fine

nya

I like him : )

you know what time it is

Pencil drawer thing

Glucose father

Pocket Boy.....

Clockwork Vaudeville

Personal call out to every taemint

Affair

Clueless lesbian

Bedbug

Summer school shenanigans

H-HEWWO?????

Pokemon tournament

Dorito ratio

Absolutely apeshit buckwild feral

Mommy? Sorry. Mommy? Sorry. Mommy? Sorry, sorry. Mo--

Glitter glow

[hwarang-number]

Hello! I hope you are doing well. This year is trash. Not to be a bother, but I really love Dream Girl and The Distance Between You and Me. Do you plan to continue them?

Hello, friend and faithful reader. <3 I know you sent this lovely ask months ago, and I’m so, so sorry that’s it’s been sitting in my inbox for ages. To be honest, I haven’t been doing well at all. :( I know that’s kind of the world in general this year, but I’ve been struggling with more close-to-home difficulties, foremost among which was losing my little 18-year-old dog in July. Lucky was my entire life and I’d had her for almost half of it, so it was absolutely like losing my only child (especially as I’m physically unable to have children T_T). 

That would’ve been bad enough for one year, but I’ve also been coping with some major family and work/financial issues. One of the most awful things about COVID, I think, is that it’s basically frozen people in situations (difficult jobs, unsustainable living situations, etc) that they would ordinarily do their best to get out of, but between COVID restrictions and a dwindling income, you can’t go anywhere, even if you had somewhere to go. :( 

And to add insult to injury, someone did a hit-and-run to the rear end of my car (on a fairly quiet residential street) sometime last night, leaving pieces of their headlight and a badly crunched hatchback and bumper, so this morning I got to deal with the insurance company and the police, as well as a rental car company. T_T 

One positive during this genuinely awful span of months is that I’ve had the honor of betaing @lala-pipo‘s college!JongTae opus, Dorm Life, which you absolutely must check out if you haven’t already. It’s long and lovely and addictive - so, soooo good. (There’s even some bonus side!2min, if you enjoy that ship at all. ;D)

Writing has been extremely difficult ever since May, when Lucky started slowly going downhill, and I’m ashamed to admit that I haven’t touched The Distance Between You and Me since then. T_T BUT. I have intermittently picked up Dream Girl, and Ch 3 is currently about 11K (and it’s mostly JongHo morning smut *hides*). I know that’s embarrassingly short after so many months, but it’s pretty huge for me after the year I’ve had - my brain was broken even before the grief and the debilitating family struggles. 

I would really like to get Ch 3 posted by Christmas, since I originally wrote the fic for New Year’s, and maybe after that I’ll have the spark to resume The Distance Between You and Me? (There really isn’t that much left to write, I just had to stop working on it during an extremely difficult time and I think that’s partly why it’s been so hard to pick up again.) 

Alternately, because everyone needs more ideas they may never do anything with: about a month ago I got sparks of inspiration for an escort!Key oneshot (AU, of course, in which each of the others hire him, but not for that, and he ends up falling for Jinki :D) and a Jong2min oneshot, because I hate that one of them always gets left out in my favorite pairings. *hides further* (Quite soft and sweet, though - each couple meets through a blind date and struggles with the fact that they’re falling equally for both prospects, so they somehow decide to make a go of it as the three of them.) So...we’ll see if either of those go anywhere. (Or, y’know, that “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” JongHo drabble idea that revisits me every time I’m in a store with a Christmas department.)

In the meantime, I think you’ve seen this teaser already (from the opening of Dream Girl, Ch 3), but I posted another tiny tidbit semi-recently, if you’re interested.

Hoping to have news of an update for you here soon! Thank you for your patience. <3

[lala-pipo]

Hi I've been a fan of yours since I started reading fic YEARS ago.I unfortunately had to stop reading fic in this fandom but I still follow you because I've always admired your writing and it's a good way to know that you're still doing well. If you retire soon, I hope you're very proud of the contributions you've made to the fandom. Thank you for all of your had work!

Thank you dear nony, that was very sweet of you to say. ❤️ I know that a lot of people stopped reading in this fandom, which I can totally relate to. But there is still this desire in me to finish that one story that basically started it all. It would feel like coming full circle in a way, despite knowing that 99% of the people who once read that story either stopped being part of the fandom or stopped reading fanfics or at least stopped reading SHINee fics. I always said that I would finish YAL one day, and not keeping that promise would make me feel bad (it already does - considering how long this story has stayed unfinished already). So we will see where this story will take me and whether I get it over the finishing line one day. :’) Thank you! ❤️

[hwarang-number]

*squeels* The Distance Between You and I is sooo beautiful! I cannot wait for the next part.

*squeals right back at you* Oh my goodness, first ask on my new blog!!! Thank you so much, for this message and for the Tumblr follow! <3 <3 <3 

I woke up to this ask and it made me want to cry (in the very best way). I’ve been writing fic for other fandoms on and off for over 15 years and was deeply entrenched in my past fandom for the past 7-8 of those, with several long, serious ongoing fics (ex. my big incomplete WIP over there is over 300K words), full of intricate headcanons and references to/retellings of fairy tales.

I just discovered SHINee in August (babywol here!) and started reading SHINee fic over the winter, then I had the miraculous good fortune to make friends with an absolutely beautiful 2min writer. In messaging back and forth, I told her some ideas that I thought would make fun fics (you know, ones you really want to read but you want/need someone else to write them for you) and she encouraged me to write them myself.

Other than some really feeble attempts at Beatles fic as a teen, I’ve never written bandfic or slash in general (do we still call it slash? I’m so old!), but I had all these fun ideas - all of them for 2min, mind you, except for one tiny oneshot idea, based on a Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin skit, that I thought would make a really fun Jongho fic. (Sidenote: I was solely a 2min shipper to begin with but the ever-amazing @lala-pipo made me ship Jongho with her delicious fic Anonymia. :D) The idea wouldn’t leave me alone so I tried to write it out of my head, as one does, and it has since spiraled into a 23K WIP. (It’s called Dream Girl, if you’re interested, and it’s on AO3 and AFF. Modern non-famous AU, very soft Jongho.)

I figured that would be it for my Jongho endeavors, much as I loved that universe (and honestly, I default to reading Jongho more than 2min these days, save for a couple of really amazing fics) - and then I heard about the Jjong’s Month fic challenge. I’m so new to this fandom and especially the whole sort of mythos of Jonghyun (I love him so much it hurts, I just know so very little compared to the rest of you!), so as badly as I wanted to contribute, I really didn’t think I could/should. (I’m also terrible at finishing stories in general, and challenges with deadlines tend to wring me out like a dishrag.)

The only idea that came to mind was an Endymion and Selene myth!fic with moon god!Jonghyun in love with handsome shepherd!Minho, but it just seemed so cheesy and predictable and probably overdone (albeit with a different pairing - I’m sure there are at least three Jongyus out there with this premise). But my dear 2min friend assured me that it would be anything but and encouraged me to write the story, so I decided to jot down a few ideas and just see what I could come up with. Because the month was already more than half over, I knew my best bet was to lean on my “voice” from my works in that previous fandom and aim for a sort of pseudo-Greek myth feel, told in slightly elevated language.

One huge downside of switching fandoms at this juncture is that SHINee fic traffic is virtually nil, especially for certain pairings (why, WHY don’t more people love Jongho??). This was especially tough as I created an entirely new pseud for SHINee fic and am literally starting from scratch - and as a brand-new Shawol to boot. Between AO3 and AFF, I’ve hit six total reviews/comments on Dream Girl in four months, and I have to remind myself that this is an accomplishment, especially in this dry season.

Yours is the first feedback I’ve received on The Distance Between You and Me, and it absolutely meant the world to hear. The entire month of April was absolutely miserable over here (thankfully no COVID issues at home, but lots of other stuff :( ) and I really struggled to get that fic out, and I was so worried that what I’d managed to come up with was flat and boring.

I’m so, SO thrilled that you enjoyed it! I cut it off where I did (I’ve already written Minho and Jonghyun’s encounter at the festival and just a teensy bit more ;D) because, as badly as I wanted to finish in April, I didn’t want to rush the good stuff in order to meet a deadline. And while I know how things will basically end up (and of course it will be happy - this girl can’t do angst!), I’m still deciding how precisely I want it to get there (and, erm, in how much detail... ;D).

As a thank-you, I’ll end this with a tidbit from the forthcoming second half. (I still have loads of writing and editing to do but I’m rather fond of this snippet as is. :D) I really hope to be done before the prompt-claiming for Summer of SHINee - I really DO have to write some 2min next, but I suspect we’ll see the next chapter of Dream Girl first. (Things are heating up over there in spite of my best-laid plans, and now the rest of SHINee wants to make appearances in the story too!)

Thank you again for your truly wonderful support! I hope I shan’t keep you waiting too long for the conclusion!

P.S. Girl-disguised-as-a-boy is my all-time favorite trope but I’ve never written boy-disguised-as-a girl, and it was surprisingly fun (in large part thanks to sassy, exasperated Key making Jonghyun pretty!).

****************************

The moon had never known such bliss as dancing with Minho, neither in heaven nor upon earth. The herdsboy’s breath fanned his cheek, warm and sweet with apple wine, as those long strong hands guided Jonghyun’s body through the steps with lingering touches at hip and shoulder, then curled an arm about his waist, lifting Jonghyun up and against the herdsboy for a leap as the steps called for.

It was an intercourse in its own right: the ebb and flow of their bodies, pressing together and apart and together once more as hands caught and clung and breath fell in quick soft pants, and Jonghyun’s eyes grew damp with both happiness and heartache, for the longer he remained with the herdsboy, the more painful it was to think of leaving him. It is enough, he told himself. To feel his admiration and bask in his nearness just this once.

Jonghyun sank into a curtsy as the dance came to its close and turned away to hide his tears, but Minho had seen, and drew him gently back to cup his face in both hands. “What is wrong, my darling?” he asked tenderly, brows lifted at their inner corners and thumbs brushing the tears from Jonghyun’s shimmering cheekbones. “Are you over-wearied by the dancing – or did I perhaps handle you too roughly in the steps?”

Jonghyun shook his head with a whimper, wiping at his eyes. “It is nothing,” he dismissed weakly, “a bit of smoke in my eyes. Come,” he bid, though he had never desired anything less, “let us clean up our picnic before another discovers what remains of your prizes.”

Minho’s hands slipped from his face with clear reluctance, but not before those gentle fingers had daubed away every last tear from both cheek and lash, and he curled a hand around Jonghyun’s to lead him back to their dining-place.

[lala-pipo]

1. hey hahaha i saw your latest post, how after you posted a fanfic it's all cricket noises! welllll here i am one of those crickets, I guess! I wonder if tumblr shows how many visits your blog had in a day, because I visit your blog daily to check if you updated Dorm Life... hahahah quite literally, every morning after I wake up, it's one of the first things that I check, because I know it could set my mood for the day >.< not to put pressure on you ofc, just to show I'm looking forward for it!

2. hahaha maybe i should come up with an anon name or something at the end of my messages, cos this one turned out to be long... but anyways! So far, I am loving the first chapter! I read it twice already hahaha the first time I was just so excited at having new jogtae content to read, so the second time I was absorbing every little details huhuhu I love your writing style, you are one of my favorite writers! I'm not just saying it, it's the truth! Your writings makes me feel things and 3. I love how you portray the characters, direct the plot, it's just beautiful! I am looking forward for the next chapters! I don't know if you were planning to update it weekly or bi-weekly or even monthly, so that's why I visit your blog everyday to check if you've updated it! Hahaha I also checked you on AO3 to see maybe if you forgot to update it here and only updated it there... oh gosh I sound like such an intense fan... hahaha thank you so so so so much for writing these stories...  4. Last part of my fan message, I promise omg... so I'm just so so looking forward to where the story will lead us, because damn it's only been chapter 1 and SO So sO maNY things already happened, and I was like... we have 14 chapteRS to GO? Like, where will you bring us? angst? jealousy? fluff? some more intense makeout session? some feelings? I am looking forward for where the story takes me, and honestly, I can't thank you enough for writing these stories... hehehe 5. Ohh! and and one last thing, this one is out of curiosity though! Are you Japanese? or maybe you know Japanese? hehehe I was reading the origin of your blog name! Anyways, I hope you stay safe during this pandemic, ... and even if there are only cricket noises, at least this one cricket spoke to you! and would like to say that I appreciate all the effort you made to make such beaUTIFul stories! Thank you! - cricket anon ;D

  _______________________________________________ Dear cricket nony, ^^ I hope you don’t mind if I answer your long message in one post (while answering this I realized you sent two more *le gasp*). Thanks so much for sending me an ask (or several for that matter). It made my day.  (´｡• ᵕ •｡`) ♡

My post wasn’t directed at anything/anyone specific but just a general observation I’ve made over the past few months (years -). I remember so many people sending me messages and asks in the past about when I finally continue/finish (w)help and when I did, barely anyone read it, and that seems to be a reoccurring theme and I’m not quite sure what I should take from that, you know. ^^” But I shouldn’t whine, there are more important matters in this world. I’m glad you enjoyed the first chapter of this very self-indulgent fic. I’m sorry that you went through the hassle of checking for updates every day. I should have given a specific time frame in the first chapter and not use the vague word ‘regular’. That’s on me, I’m sorry. T_T I intend on posting a new chapter either every two weeks or three weeks, and don’t worry, I will post a link on this blog when I update. 6v6 As I’ve said in the notes of the first chapter I’ve started working on this in 2016 while I was bored and lonely in my small dorm room on the other side of the world *sways back and forth* and tbh I just wanted to write some JongTae smut ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (not even gonna lie here and pretend that I had some deep, philosophical life questions in mind when I started writing this). That Dorm Life turned into an actual story only happened this year when I tried to thread everything together and not make it into a 170k smut fest. Therefore the first 6 chapters are rather quick paced and there is a lot going on while the other 9 chapters (15 is the epilogue and doesn’t really have plot) are slower paced. So I hope you will also enjoy the other chapters of this little story. ^^ “Like, where will you bring us? angst? jealousy? fluff? some more intense makeout session? some feelings?” Dear cricket nony, I will bring you to all of these things to varying degrees. ^^ I know people don’t like it when pairings are mentioned in the main pairing tag when they aren’t the end goal or just side!pairings (*raises hand* I’m one of those people 😂) that’s why I only mentioned 2min and JongKey in the additional tags, but they will play a crucial role throughout the fic. ^^ So, anyway - I really hope that you will enjoy the rest of the fic as well. I’m still tweaking some of the chapters because there are some things I’m not happy with yet, but yeah - please look forward to the rest OTL.  As for your last question - I’m not Japanese. But the dormitory that inspired this story was in fact located in Japan. I studied there for a year during my Master’s  in Japanese studies. I chose the pen name ‘lala pipo’ because I read the book with the same title in 2010 and liked the narration of it (fun fact: I’m currently re-reading it again because I couldn’t remember why I liked it so much ^^). I posted my first two? SHINee stories still under my original livejournal username, but I didn’t want to spam my private account with fanfics - so I created a new one just for fics and just liked how lala pipo sounded. It’s also easy to remember I think. ^^ Once again, thanks so much for your very sweet messages, cricket nony. You are always welcome to cricket some more. ♡ ～('▽^人) I hope you will also stay safe during this time. I wish you the loveliest of days! Thank you!  (っ˘з(˘⌣˘ ) ♡