Qwibentinemaybe AMA

Welcome to Qwib Qwib, Valentine, and defmaybe’s AMA!

We’ve gathered up the questions that everyone’s sent and given our thoughts for each below.

Thank you all for your questions, and for reading!

By Orenji:

what was the hardest fic you have ever written and how did you manage to compile it all and push through the end? what was the mindset until the end where new writers can learn from whenever they're struggling onto something?

Qwib Qwib

Two answers, hardest done and hardest ongoing.

First, I'll go with the shorter of the Two being the hardest fic I haven't finished yet—its a fic thats lost its direction and basically had a loose plot, now it sits in my draft for a year barely touched still waiting for one day I got a spark for it to continue. It had a pretty good idea (imo) but i just kept walking into plotholes, and relying too much on “deus ex machina” which isnt good for stories.

For the fic that was the hardest that I actually finished, it was my Yooyeon fic. I wish there's a cool story and lesson here to tell but what just happened was some rookie mistake. I wrote the entirety of the story but skipped writing the smut part thinking I could write it later, it was where I was weakest in terms of writing (self-assesed). I wrote it fast and was enjoying it—the fluff parts and that's where the fun ended, cause when I had to fill in the smut part that I left blank I realized I had to write the part I struggled most (smut) 3 times in a row.

Valentine Drifter 💘

I would say the hardest was a Winter fic named Recollection. I said it before but the current iteration of that fic was the second one after scrapping about 8k words of it because I didn’t like the way it was going. I only managed to get back on track once I figured out what I really wanted out of the fic both plot and smut wise, and told myself to see where out of that 8k can I recycle some things.

If one is struggling to continue on, I think it’s best to give what you wrote a read. See what you like about it, what you don’t like about it, and do a vibe check of where you want a current work to go, and what you can do about it. It can be as extreme as I did or as easy as deleting the last few paragraphs you typed out.

defmaybe

So, if we’re talking about the finished fics only, I’d say Shades and Devotion since it’s the longest? I’d tell you to simply write your biases and pick the kind of plot that you like. You can also sprinkle some, in my words, hype moments and aura just to make the process more entertaining for you. Also, you might wanna come to terms that you’re not finishing every single draft, so be prepared for a huge graveyard of your unfinished stories.

By anon:

for the ama, i was wondering, how do yall think the not as popular/established authors should get more eyes on their work. i wont claim to be the best author, and im also open to constructive criticism, but its kinda disheartening sometimes to not get much traction in terms of views and other stuff like that

Qwib Qwib

This is such a tricky question. I could tell you what worked for me when I started, but that was on Tumblr — and fanprose kind of did a reset for the community when it launched, so the landscape shifted.

From what I've observed here, though: consistency matters. Writers who post regularly tend to get more eyes on their work. But there's a catch — and this is where the "slop" conversation comes in. Posting more only helps if the quality is there. Readers, especially in this space, can tell the difference, and I genuinely believe they'll always gravitate toward quality over volume.

That said, visibility and retention are two different problems. Getting eyes on your work is one thing. Getting people to come back is another — and for that, you need something worth returning to. That could be your writing style, the genres you gravitate toward, a series they're invested in, or even just the idols you write for consistently. Give readers a reason to follow you, not just a single fic.

Also, Karina buff.

Valentine Drifter 💘

Be more involved with the writer’s space? Approach the writers, ask them for feedback and all that. I took those steps myself starting out, and while I’m not as popular or established as the others, I want to say that I’m a decent enough writer because of all the feedback I got from them.

‘comma, uncapitalize’ and ‘tensing’ are two phrases that are stuck in my head due to it, but I think it’s given me a better feel of writing my fics moving forward.

defmaybe

The only advice I can give you here is to connect with the bigger writers. Don’t use AI. Don’t be immoral. Don’t be overly weird. Be an ethical gooner and you’ll get so many things you’ve never even dreamed of.

By xndrpndr:

Question for everybody, how do you go about integrating an idol and their personality into a fic? Do you like to decide an idol and how they’ll be written to shape the narrative around them? Or maybe the tone of the narrative shapes who you choose and how you write them? Perhaps it’s something in between?

Qwib Qwib

Honestly, it's situational — there are a lot of factors, and it changes with every fic.

Sometimes the idea starts with the idol. Like, it's literally just "write Minju" — and in that case, I try to write her as close to her actual personality as I can. Other times, the concept comes first: "tsundere plot" — and then I have to find the idol who fits that archetype most naturally. That usually involves some adjustment and compromise on both ends.

And then there's a third case — something like "Sooin nonchalant" — where the headcanon is already so established, either by the community or by something I've built myself, that it just writes itself. I'm not really choosing; I'm just working within what already exists.

So it's less of a fixed process and more of a triangle: the idol, the concept, and the headcanon, pulling at each other depending on which one showed up first.

Valentine Drifter 💘

I think I lean more on the former. Cause for the most part the idea of who I want to write goes first, then see what plot I can write with certain additions in mind, depending on the idol cause I have a certain idea of them in my head due to the community’s headcanon and my own already. It could be a certain fit that they wore, or a vibe that I’m getting from them. Then I begin shaping the story out of what I can do with those in mind.

Though there are instances of when the plot goes first in my head then plug in an idol that would fit that narrative. It really depends on how the idea of the fic begins in my head that settles it.

defmaybe

I look up their MBTIs and just write them into stereotypes. I can’t write complex characters for shit if I’m being honest. Still, it’s the tone of the narrative that shapes how I write the idols. Most of the time, I just write my biases as dominant figures, really.

By Azelfty:

Question for everyone: do you think your idol biases affect the kind of stories you write? Piggybacking off xndr’s question for this one.

Qwib Qwib

My initial instinct was yes — but thinking it through, I've kind of landed on: not really?

The main driver behind my plots is whatever sparked the idea in the first place. Prompts, inspiration, a feeling I want to write toward. Ideas feel more finite to me than idols do — I can always pick a different idol, swap a headcanon, adjust to fit the story. The concept is the harder constraint, not the casting.

That said, there's another side to it. Asa is my bias, so she's always somewhere in my head — and that means a lot of the ideas I naturally gravitate toward are already built around her headcanon. So in that sense, maybe the bias does shape things, just more quietly. It's less that she determines the story and more that I keep trying to find stories that can hold her. (subconsciously)

Valentine Drifter 💘

A little bit? I want to say that I write more fluff than I do angst as I’m not much of an angst writer, so they don’t really affect it that much. I do think that I choose an idol that would best fit the story that I think of, if the plot comes first before the idol in an outline standpoint.

defmaybe

It kind of goes hand in hand here, I think. I often fall for ‌idols with a sense of leadership in their expressions since I like dominant women, and vice versa.

By Azelfty:

Question for everyone: What are some books or movies or games or other forms of media that has shaped your approach to storytelling?