Kunzite

To commemorate the 10th fic review for Basically Bite Sized, I've decided to review one of my own fics, as I've heard that there are some individuals that would be interested to get a peek behind my own creative process.

Warning: I'm going to ramble, so this won't really be bite sized at all.

A lot of people have shared their adoration for this fic, and I'm really happy to have received so much attention and praise for this work. I hope for nothing more than to continue creating fics that people can relate to and truly enjoy.

As this is a review of my own work, and I am my own harshest critic, I'll likely be more technical in my own analysis and lean less towards subjective takes.

So, Kunzite. This fic was created as part of a prompt where each writer was tasked to create a fic based on a random moodboard given by the lovely hosts. I received a rather erotic moodboard (literally categorised as a horny cliche) and was immediately flushed.

As a creative writer, I'd like to say I do well with promoted work. I've had my own fair share of experiences with writing shorts that start with a given first line, or a given image, or a given idea.

I immediately decided that I wanted to lean heavily towards the moodboard and write the heavily implied succubus themes.

I tend to start with ideas, and following that, the plot. I could write an easy enough, horny trope fic, but I personally wanted to challenge myself to write something with a little more substance.

In January, when this fic was completed, I was undergoing significant personal struggles as I adapted to big and difficult changes in the real world. I thus wanted to use my own personal experience to catalyse my approach to the fic, so a bunch of what is in Kunzite involved my own reflections and thoughts during that period. Writing as a coping mechanism.

So that left me with my two main ideas. One, the fic is about struggles. It tackles identity, given purpose and believed purpose. Two, it's a horny succubus fic. And the task for me was to merge these two together.

While considering idols that would fit the narrative (the personalities of my chosen idols matter heavily for me when I write), the main two idols that matched the approach I was going for was Izone Yena and Fromis Saerom. There were other potential options (Aespa Ningning, Izone Hyewon), but I had mostly made up my mind that the fic required the dynamic of either of these two.

If I had chosen Yena, there would have been heavier emphasis on the predator-prey dynamics, a lot more of Yena toying with the male reader, more repressed feelings and essentially, brat behaviour. But, of course, Yena was already robbed from me by a different author, so I eventually landed on the only pick left- Saerom.

This made the tone of Kunzite much more serious than originally intended. The fic took a more mature approach, more about two people communicating their struggles and understanding one another rather than stumbling onto a uniquely shared experience.

So we have the ideas: a fic about struggling with identity using a story about a succubus as an extended metaphor. Written in a more honest and mature tone, as inspired by my headcanon of our brave fromis leader.

Now the plot. And this for me personally is quite easy. I don't struggle much with writing plot, because most scenes fall naturally in place in my head. It's easy because a good story is typically constructed with the same formula, especially with fics focused around relationships. It's about the meeting, the development, the climax and falling action.

Like sex.

So I always roughly knew where I wanted the fic to end up. The last scene in Kunzite was actually the first thing I penned down, a moment where I kind of gave in to writing some fun fantasy, the way I used to do a lot in my youth. I shifted it to the end of the fic after I finished the entire work, and it had this nice little effect where it can both be read first or read last.

That lent itself in aiding the worldbuilding and, more importantly characterising Saerom and the direction I would approach her within the fic.

Pieces fall in place from there. A round of drinks at the dead of night. The mundane simplicity of a convenience store (thank you, Backstreet Rookie), them both being smarter than they give themselves credit for.

Much of Kunzite follows a more stereotypical plot following that. I wanted to emphasise the realistic emphasis MC would have when approached by a stranger of the night, wanted to emphasise the character growth of both characters that stemmed from the interactions of both our characters.

Most importantly, I wanted to communicate both MC's and Saerom's different yet similar struggles, where they both don't necessarily fit into the margins we find them in at the start of the story. That the people they are- that they are more than just a succubus and a convenience store owner.

And lean heavily into the moodboard for the smut section.

If I have one major gripe with the story, it's that MC's character isn't as fully fleshed out and obvious as it should be. There are hints to his own mythological nature, but I think I failed in making it more explicit (he's meant to be a siren- implied to have self-exiled after his voice created an accident at one of his shows) and this is an issue that I think continues to pop up in other works: failing to give enough hints to my readers :p

I'm not sure about what other people love the most about Kunzite, but I did particularly enjoy the finished breakfast scene and the overall pacing of the smut (writing it was honestly so formulaic just some good old switch action). I definitely also wish I managed to polish the dialogue more while balancing plot advancement, and that as always, the fic resonated harder with particular audiences.

Regardless I don't think there's much left to discuss. A fic for a prompt with a defined idea and freestyled narration, decently executed.

As always, I can continue to be better. I won't ask you guys to read the fic since that feels too self-serving, but I'll leave the link for any interested individuals. Please feel free to ask any further question you might have about the fic as well.

https://fanprose.com/stories/kunzite