#i really flipped through four different wips to find a good snippet to post

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🌝 🖊 💖

🌝 Who is one character you haven’t yet written for that you would like to?

This is a toughie! If I have an idea for a character I usually just take it and run. I have very little self-control. I will say I haven't really done any Juleka/Rose or Marc/Nathaniel stories and I wouldn't mind exploring those pairings more. Just some normal high school queer kids would be fun to write. I'm currently reading some high school YA so maybe I'll write something more that vibe!

🖊 Post a snippet from a current WIP.

“You said you talked to your mother last night?” he asked, voice careful. But Félix knew the question Adrien was truly asking and he hated both how close Adrien was to the truth and yet how far he still was. “She didn’t do this.” “You’d tell me if she did?” “Do you really think she would?” “No… but… when she and my father get angry, they… they aren’t always themselves.” Félix tasted the question on his tongue and he found no resistance. Tentatively, he asked, “Has your father ever struck you before?” “No, never. But—” Adrien swallowed. “But sometimes I think he wants to, until he sees my mother in my face.” I don’t know if that would stop him, considering you and I have the same face, Félix thought, but if it was his own courtesy or Gabriel’s command that held his tongue, he couldn’t say. “For better or worse, he does want you to be happy,” Félix finally said, knowing it was as close to the full truth as he was allowed to get. “I suppose that’s something,” Adrien murmured.

💖What do you like most about your own writing?

I really like finding the large and epic in the mundane. I like taking a small thing, like two characters having a conversation while doing dishes, but there's the underlying question of absolving wrongs or something like that. Or for example, the snippet I posted (I went through 3 different wip selections before settling on this one) which is just Adrien and Felix talking about the bruises on their cheeks, but indirectly talking about the emotional wounds that run deeper. And I think I'm pretty good at that kind of stuff!

[h3trappedcollection]

Author Interview Part V

The talented and all-round fabulous @weilongfu joined us today for another part of the Author Interview. 

Stories written for the Collection:

The Day of Singularity

Four meetings with Officer Meng (But one with Shao Fei) 

Interview:

How did you come into the Trapped fandom?

I came into the Trapped fandom the way I’ve gotten into many of my fandoms. By everyone around me screaming about it. People like @andwebegin, @ctl-yuejie, and @florbexter were pretty instrumental in getting me aware that it was going to happen. Especially after having taken their word about HIStory2: CTL, I was more than willing to check out Trapped. Especially after I found out more about the potential plot. 

My usual philosophy after that is to at least watch the first few episodes. If I’m not hooked by anything, then I give it up. Trapped kept me hooked for good! I fell in love with everyone in the show and the rest is… history? 

Who’s your favourite character?

I love a lot of characters in the show for different reasons. I love Zhao Zi for his honesty and genuine desire to do good. I like the mystery and mischief of Jack. I admire Tang Yi’s deep feelings and emotions. And I greatly enjoyed Shao Fei’s straightforwardness and ability to commit. If I had to pick one, I’d go with Zhao Zi because we both love food, potentially like dangerous boys, and we both want the world to be a better place.

What’s your favourite trope?

I honestly have been enjoying a lot of the AU fics that are in the fandom. Like the original Trapped setting is great, but pushing the boys into college or further back? It’s been an amazing thing to read and I’ve enjoyed it immensely. As to whether I’ll write it? Eh… Someone did ask if I’d ever write a proposed fic about College Freshman!Jack dating HS Senior!Zhao Zi so…

What do you like about writing for Trapped?

The best part about writing for Trapped has actually been the fandom. Everyone is so supportive and nice. It’s a real pleasure to see the responses I get which are also always very friendly. 

Aside from that? Trapped has such varied and interesting characters. It’s very easy to find the right knob to twist or switch to flip that can make a large variety of fics happen. 

Care to elaborate about your writing process?

My writing process is a mess!

I don’t usually outline because then I over-outline. A lot of my fics were spawned from just coming up with a good title! And that’s in every fandom I write for. 

But once I get going, things usually just flow. I’ll go back and read it once or twice to make sure I haven’t truly fucked something up, but once I’m done, I’m usually done for good and I post it before I second guess myself. Truly, I treat writing fics like how I take exams. Just get it done and hand it in before you delete/erase something that actually worked!

Sometimes it’s not that easy, and I have struggled with a few fics just because I’ve managed to overthink myself or I get hung up on an idea, but I have yet to find a better or more comfortable way for me to write. 

Your favourite Trapped fic by another author?

Oooo…. Well I have to give a shout out to @decadentdeerpolice and @the-wintry-mizzenmast for their lovely fics during the last exchange. I absolutely loved how they filed the prompt for me. 

I’m also a big fan of Skuld’s The Divine Art of the Househusband series. It’s definitely a twist on what Jack’s life as a househusband would be like and it’s always fun to see a new update!

I also liked @sarah-yyy ‘s fics fortune and amuse bouche. 

The next set of fics I’m actually eagerly awaiting updates on is Flor’s Breaking the Firewall series. The espionage and manoeuvring that’s happened in just the first parts is already super fun.

What do you want to write but never had the nerve to?

Hmm… I’m not sure? There aren’t a lot of ideas that I’ve never really had the nerve to put down on paper, if only to get them to stop bothering me. There are a few that never really made it to paper though. Like my Fantasy!AU where all the boys are different positions and have different abilities. 

I wanted to write Jack as a member of the Assassin’s Guild. Zhao Zi would be part of the guard and mostly be seen as a scribe, except when he pulls the robes off and gives most thieves a run for their money in his trap deactivating, lock picking, and ward/seal breaking. Shao Fei would, of course, be a paladin as he believes in the law and doing what’s right. Tang Yi would so be a weapons master type character, as once he was adopted by the ‘noble’ Tang Guo Dong, he was trained in many styles to defend himself. 

The idea fell apart after that because I had no idea what they’d do afterwards. Plus they’re missing a ranged caster and committed healer in the party and everyone who has played D&D knows that’s a mistake waiting to cause a total party kill. (I mean you could argue Hong Ye would totally make a great sorceress and Dao Yi would be the cleric cleaning up her messes, but let’s not get this any bigger.)

If you want, please share a snippet of your current Trapped WIP!

It wasn’t very often that Zhao Zi wondered what was the first link in the chain of decisions that lead him to slightly less than desirable outcomes. Not because Zhao Zi lacked insight or critical thinking, he was a police officer after all. It was often because Zhao Zi was usually pretty good at pulling himself out of a pinch.

A smile and innocent disposition were very good for many things. When those failed, being flexible in many ways helped some more.

(The third option was that he was legally allowed to carry a gun, even if no one wanted Zhao Zi to carry a gun.)

But as Zhao Zi lifted a large, homemade sausage to his lips while Jack eyed him expectantly, Zhao Zi contemplated if his grandmother would approve of what he was about to do to a perfectly decent piece of food and what had brought him to this new point in his life in the first place.

------

Zhao Zi had been through practice interrogations before, but none of them had prepared him for someone like Jack. And despite Jack’s initial countenance, there was something about his smile, how easily he showed his teeth. It should have been predatory and dangerous. But in the curve of Jack’s eyes, Zhao Zi knew he wasn’t in any danger.

Of course, Zhao Zi knew plenty about Jack. Working with Shao Fei for so long, Zhao Zi knew plenty about Tang Yi’s most recent right hand man. Jack was a known mercenary, but he’d somehow managed to keep his nose just clean enough, just on the gray side of legal. All evidence was circumstantial. Even the International Crimes Division was often stuck dancing around Tang Yi’s lawyers when they were aiming for whatever secrets were hiding in Jack’s mind.

So it was Jack’s smile and eyes that allowed Zhao Zi to sell Shao Fei out in exchange for food. He did not expect the food to taste as good as it would. Nor did he expect that he might enjoy Jack pulling him close as Zhi De knocked over his bowl of noodles.

Zhao Zi decided to be open-minded. Jack was certainly interesting and fun. No harm in getting to know someone, right?

------

Jack knew he was smitten the moment Zhao Zi sold out his friend for food.

Good survival instincts. Good taste. Cute face too.

Jack was also hardly the kind of guy who just let things happen to him. But Zhao Zi was a new quantity. He’d have to slowly edge his way in, find out just how Zhao Zi might handle another man pursuing him.

So when Zhao Zi said, “Don’t you need to try it?”

Jack knew this was his chance to appeal to the clear foodie Zhao Zi was. “I don’t need to. I know I’m a good cook.”

“Huh? I meant Ah Fei’s number!”

“Too subtle,” Jack thought.

But Jack got to hold Zhao Zi close and a promise to see him again anyway.

“That could be like a date, right?” Jack thought as he rushed to collect Tang Yi from the hospital.

Thank you so much @weilongfu for the Interview