Versus our Youth

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One month kong pinag-isipan kung ipupublish ko 'tong part na 'to kasi sigurado ako pagsisihan ko 'to for 9283737 years lol.

Pero ayun. Dahil consistent akong feelingerang shunga na mahilig pa rin magkwento tungkol sa mga kwento kong wala namang kwenta...hahahaha.

Warning: There will be major spoilers here about The Permanence of You, For Your Eyes Only, Worthy and Versus Our Youth, so if you haven't read all of these stories yet, PLEASE DON'T READ THIS.

Tbh kahit naman nabasa niyo na lahat yan, hindi ko pa rin irerecommend basahin 'to kasi HAHAHAHA SAYANG LANG SA ORAS BES.

Wala talagang sense yung mga writing advice ko, pero sa lahat po ng nagmemessage sa akin asking for tips on writing stories, eto na, I hope somehow that this will help, kahit konti lang. Let's pretend for a few minutes that I have an idea what I'm talking about kahit na I'm the most unqualified idiot to talk about this topic.

This will be the longest and the LAST time I will extensively write about writing, I promise.

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The first line of Versus Our Youth started with this: "I don't get it, Miss. Nakaka-five revised drafts na ako na sinasubmit. Are my ideas really that bad?"

That line, along with some thoughts expressed in the story, was actually me poking fun and making a parody of myself because in reality, I really scrapped five different drafts before finally deciding to go with this plot. I was honestly THISCLOSE to sending a private message to Kat, Ian & Ninna (Our AMACon founders) to tell them that I'm gonna withdraw from this installment's run because I was furiously frustrated about all the ideas I've ever thought of so far. No matter what I do, I couldn't seem to find that proper feeling of enthusiasm in any of those drafts. Lahat mediocre. I was stuck in a very bad case of writer's block. So one night, I went berserk and thought: eh di magsusulat ako tungkol sa mediocre ideas at writers' block. Hahaha.

Originally, this idea was born out of one of the two writing prompts I have given to Cathy (mjcathy24), my promptee for this AMACon run. I made her choose between (1) Summer Flings and Zodiac Signs or (2) Maine and Alden meeting at an erotic fiction writing workshop. She chose the first one. (You should definitely read 'Written in the Stars', guys. It's one of the best stories in this AMACon Serendipitious collection, I promise.) In my utter desperation, I told her I'm gonna use the second prompt for my own story. The challenge was how to tweak it and blend it with the gorgeous, gorgeous prompt given to me by ate Z of kriminal_kat.

In Versus Our Youth, Direk Juancho says that knowing your AUDIENCE is just as important as knowing your CHARACTERS.

What I meant by that was: Dapat alam mo kung para kanino ka nagsusulat. Kung bakit ka nagsusulat.

Of Stars and Scars and Serenades and For Your Eyes Only, I have written for Maichard. (Oo, kahit di naman nila mababasa hahaha. I have written those stories because it was my way of expressing the many dreams I have for Alden and Maine; these stories were my way of professing my faith in them always finding each other in every universe and lifetime.)

The Permanence of You, I have written for AMACon. (Because the most important lesson I've learned from my writer friends was of how the only standard I should compare my writing to should be my own stories. That I should push and challenge myself beyond the boundaries of what I think I could write.)

Worthy, I have written as a thank-you gift to readers and as a temporary escape for a sometimes-tired fandom. (Because I appreciate you so much and my words are all I have to convince you that everything will be okay in the end; that our sufferings are all going to be worth it, no matter what.)