#but i've been on a danmei reading kick lately

[the-music-maniac]

I'm not gonna lie, I think I would become Homophobic™ if I had to coexist in real life with one of MXTX's couples.

No, but seriously, what do you mean you don't like anyone but your partner. What do you mean you're also powerful enough to destroy the world. Keep your love drama and excellency out of my salad, I can't even afford to buy groceries in this bitch. insufferable.

[flock-from-the-void]

Where did Mirage of Spring come from?

Let's talk a bit about my inspiration behind this project!

1. Reincarnation Manhwas

I'm pretty sure I mentioned that one in the WIP intro. I love reincarnation manhwas, the historical ones, in which the MC is a super op martial artist and kicks everyone's ass. My favs are Return of the Blossoming Blade, Return of the Mad Demon, The Grand Mudang Saga, Murim RPG Simulation and Best Teacher Baek. Do all of them have very similar plots? Yeah.

They are what sparked the first Mirage of Spring ideas. I identified the key reasons why I like them: the reincarnation giving a character the knowledge of "the future", the difference between two timelines, the revenge arc, the op powers. You'll find all of that in Mirage of Spring but I can't tell you how and where, because spoilers.

2. Hanfu

I remember I got a question asking why Mirage of Spring is inspired by the late Warring States and the Western Han. Well, the answer is their clothing. Seriously. I am a hanfu nerd, I took a course about its history and I read countless articles atp, mostly about this period and earlier clothing. I won't go into the details but it is amazing to me what shapes, silhouettes, accessories they were able to make with limited resources and knowledge (it was ancient times after all). Additionally, I like to know where the stuff came from, and studying early hanfu (well, the hanfu from much earlier than the Warring States hah) allowed me to better understand later history.

You see me mention earlier than the Warring States history here a lot, so why did I not set it say, in the early Zhou dynasty? Well, the answer is simple: there's less resources about the culture, government structures etc. from that times. I simply chose the latest period I'm interested in to make stuff easier for myself lol.

3. Danmei

Pretty broad category, huh? Well, it comes from a fact that I'm academically (kinda, it sounds very serious lol) interested in the genre as a whole. Like, the history behind it, the reasons for its existence etc. This is why the story is a bl in the first place, otherwise it would have no romance at all.

There's also some specific novels which inspire and motivate me to write. Lately, Scum Villain Self-Saving System has been motivating me a lot. See, Mirage of Spring is a very self-indulgent story, similarly to SVSSS. The success of the novel gives me some hope that maybe there's at least a dozen of people who'd be interested in reading my novel.

4. Writing Block

How could it inspire a book, you ask? Well, I just thought that writing something self-indulgent would make me write more – and I was right! Not that I write a lot now, my executive dysfunction keeps dysfunctioning, but I feel much more excited about the project than the previous ones. Additionally, before Mirage of Spring I've been working on another universe for a very long time, and it started to make me tired. The spark was gone. I needed to remind myself that I actually enjoy writing, worldbuilding, creating characters etc.

That concludes our first yapping session! I hope you guys enjoyed that<3

Mirage of Spring taglist: @cruorons , @ashirisu , @annothersummerofsleep the taglist is always open! Just comment, ask or dm me!