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ao3 stormhund’s author thread on new love in old places (aka what the hell was i thinking when i wrote this fic)
before anything, i actually don’t know what an author’s thread entails ;_; and while i’m proud of everything i’ve ever written, i’m very very shy to talk about them. so this thread goes out to the ~6 people who requested this thread.
behind the scenes
this fic was supposed to be a one-shot lol. it was only supposed to be the other half of “old love in new places” because i wanted to try and write a bkak-first-love-but-osak-endgame two-part fic. (see twt below) https://twitter.com/atsumumyaa/status/1274146668062011393
then i wrote NLIOP in ~10 days, spending 1 day/ch (except for chs 6 & 8). i’d write the whole morning+afternoon, edit by evening, and post it by 8-9PM.
I DON’T RECOMMEND THIS bc i was burned out for MONTHS after. also i’m never going that hard again bc i lost my motivation fr.
I DON’T RECOMMEND THIS bc i was burned out for MONTHS after. also i’m never going that hard again bc i lost my motivation fr.
i conceptualized "what's on your mind?" bc i wrote the ending first, specifically the “what’s on your mind?” and “you.” exchange. i always write the ending first bc it gives me an idea of what i need to do to get me there, and this was no different.
(see ss of my first draft!)
(see ss of my first draft!)
when i was outlining, i did my best to make all the chapter names oxymorons because the series is literally called “a series of oxymorons” and the fic title is also one. i lost a lot of braincells thinking of them, but it was a v fun challenge. :D
i don’t really have anything else to say about my behind the scenes, so i’m just going to do a livethread of the fic here but with my commentary. i think this is the most efficient way to share my thoughts, so let’s start!
livethread of nliop with commentary
i’m happy a lot of people were able to point this out, but i wrote a lot of parallelisms within the series and within the fic itself. the first example is the beginning lines of both olinp and nliop, which are, "As always, Akaashi was punctual."
another example is this specific dialogue from olinp vs. nliop. in olinp, it was bokuto who said this to akaashi. in nliop, it was osamu.
(nliop vs. olinp)
(nliop vs. olinp)
i’m a sucker for parallelisms where the words or phrasing are almost identical, but the background story of it is different. so i did my best to maximize that in this fic because it is, after all, a story of finding new love in old places. <3
one of the best things about writing this was fleshing out akaashi’s character. in canon, akaashi overthinks. i took that and amplified it with his habits, such as being overtly aware of details or counting things to calm him down or fidgeting with his hands when he's nervous.
i highlighted this passage when i was rereading nliop because i was going to explain this further, but i realized i already did. so here’s my explanation for this scene: https://twitter.com/atsumumyaa/status/1294466822205370372
i intentionally wrote the dialogue this way because, if you take out the context and the explanations and left only the conversation, it would literally be:
Who is the apple of yer eye now?
Myaa-sam.
which is, yknw, the whole point of the fic. hehe. fun.
Who is the apple of yer eye now?
Myaa-sam.
which is, yknw, the whole point of the fic. hehe. fun.
i wrote this because i want you all to know that there is nothing heterosexual about akaashi noticing osamu’s toned muscles through his shirt. HAHA
OK this is one of my favorite lines from the whole fic. i tweeted before that writing a fic is a persuasion study for ppl to ship your otp, and these little bits and pieces are meant to convince the reader why it was easy for akaashi to fall for osamu.
okay, so we’ve reached this chapter. the chapter i receive a lot of comments and (violent) reactions from. let me start by linking this tweet below: https://twitter.com/atsumumyaa/status/1287227987306323974
because ch3 was inspired by true events. i needed a reason for the bkak break up to happen, but i didn’t wanna resort to tropes like cheating. i firmly believe in bkak's love for another, and the only way for them to break up is bc they were growing apart/loving too much/both.
it’s very hard to condense the reason for a break-up in one chapter. i did my best to convey this through the brick analogies, to say that, “this has been a long time coming, and it’s only bursting at the seams just now.”
aaaand THIS is the deafening silence that is both the complement and the opposite of osak’s easygoing silence from the previous chapter.
you know. when i was rereading this chapter, i can see why people yelled at me for it WAHAHAHA BECAUSE TANGINA NAMAN NITO
anyways, i just think it’s very in character for akaashi to lowkey project his insecurities on bokuto. which is what happened here. which is what led to the break-up. damn.
i think these lines are my favorites throughout the whole fic. it mirrors the ending of the fic, except the stark difference between the two is that: akaashi in ch3 let bokuto go. akaashi in ch8 knew better than to let another love slip through his fingers
i wrote this because this is what happened in my own life and i was self-projecting. also because it was very fitting.
before moving on to chapter 4, i just wanna say that writing the miya twins’ text exchange was my serotonin boost from such a traumatizing chapter. WAHAHAHHAA
im gonna do the next 2 or 3 chapters in a bit but omg thank u all for reading this thread i did not expect ppl to pay much attention to this WAHAHA
okay we’re in ch4 and i can’t believe i’m only bringing this up now but: akaashi and udai’s friendship. i know this is an osaaka story but their friendship and their banter were my favorite to write WAHAHA
while this is like a “filler” chapter, it’s one where i spent time building up osaaka’s relationship. it’s these little things: osamu noticing akaashi’s laugh, their knees knocking together, sharing their secrets verbally and non-verbally.
WHEN I FOUND OUT ATSUMU WAS THE OLDER TWIN I WANTED TO CHANGE THIS. but i will not. but atsumu canon older twin bye
i’m just putting this here bc i’m very proud of this line and in writing akaashi’s Yearning
:D (idk what to comment here but i’m just. i really like this text exchange bc i can imagine akaashi going, “oh, shit” and just seenzoning osamu because he Slipped)
both of these are nods to canon akaashi and canon udai respectively. for akaashi, it was a throwback to when he warned bokuto against the winter bugs during their nationals. for udai, it was a throwback to his time as the little giant in karasuno.
no idea what to comment here also. i just hope this scene made you smile because it makes me snort every time to imagine this.
im gonna combine these in 1 tweet bc they all emit the same vibe and i just. i wrote ch5 bc i wanted 3 things:
- for akaashi to fully realize he’s ok without bokuto
- for osamu to know akaashi’s true past...and still accept him
- for osaaka to have a tender moment together
- for akaashi to fully realize he’s ok without bokuto
- for osamu to know akaashi’s true past...and still accept him
- for osaaka to have a tender moment together
i think it’s safe to say that i achieved all of these goals. and, ofc, i had to make sure to let the reader know that bokuto was also okay and that there remains no bad blood or bitter feelings between him and akaashi
WAIT IM DUMB AND I FORGOT TO INCLUDE THIS IN CH4’S COMMENTARY BUT i hope u all noticed this + noticed when and where osamu’s smiles were genuine and when they were teasing
i don’t really have much to say about chapters 6 and 7 because they’re very self-explanatory. what you see is what you get, and by this time i’m sure it’s very obvious which lines parallel one another. so i’m just going to say that chs 6 & 7 were my absolute favorite to write.
in the original draft of ch 6, osamu and akaashi DID kiss in the rain. (only 1 person was able to read this version bc they requested it.)
but after rereading the og version, i decided to scrap it because it wasn’t the right time yet. hence, the ~tension~ in the rain.
but after rereading the og version, i decided to scrap it because it wasn’t the right time yet. hence, the ~tension~ in the rain.
also because making this author thread required me to reread nliop as a whole, here’s a tweet from my priv abt my raw reaction re: ch 6 WAHAHAHA
ch7 was also never supposed to happen. it's a mistake, but IT'S MY FAVORITE MISTAKE EVER. i only added it bc i realized osaaka were already close during akaashi’s bday, and they never even celebrated it. if i never made that mistake, there would be no card game confession scene.
(cont) the way i originally wrote akaashi’s confession to osamu was honestly so cheap, and that version would never see the light of day. so congratulations to myself for being a dumb fuck and forgetting akaashi’s bday.
how i conceptualized ch 7's confession scene https://twitter.com/atsumumyaa/status/1302840022307991552
LAST FOR CH 7: i mentioned this in “songs to listen to in the backseat of my brother’s car”, but osamu DID know what akaashi was writing in his palm right from the beginning. which is why i ended ch 7 with him confessing to akaashi that he liked him too.
ON TO THE LAST CHAPTER. aka the most difficult chapter to write not because it’s the last and i had no more story to tell, but bc i was pretty much burned out at this point. i knew how it was going to end, and yet my motivation was nearly at 0.
erm. another raw reaction from my livetweet in priv.
i really liked writing atsumu and akaashi’s dynamic in this chapter. i liked balancing their dialogue between insufferable banter vs. mutual respect, and this conversation + atsumu helping akaashi up helped solidify their relationship in my head.
and i especially liked writing the bkak closure for this one. in ch 5, i already hinted that bokuto was at peace with akaashi’s current path in life. but that’s something akaashi didn’t know yet, and writing the way they talked about it was pure catharsis for me.
and here’s the parallelism of ch 3’s “please. stay.” dialogue.
this whole segment + akaashi’s conversation with udai in this chapter was inspired by kiyoko’s chapter (hq ch 232). i wanted to take her words and refit it to akaashi. ultimately, while this is a story about how osaaka fell in love, it was also one of how akaashi grew on his own.
AND THAT’S IT. IF YOU MADE IT HERE, CONGRATS. i literally just rambled, but thank you for reading–both this thread and the fic <3 i don't know how to end this thread so i'm just gonna link my cc here in case there are some other stuff you'd like to know! http://curiouscat.qa/kejiakaashi
