Remembering Romance (TaEun Fanfic) [#Wattys2015]

The Backstory Of 'Remembering Romance'

The Backstory Of 'Remembering Romance'

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(Writing it)

Coming to the decision to write 'Remembering Romance' was perhaps one of the toughest ones I had to make since pledging to writing Kpop fanfics. Since the beginning, with 'MY Sister In SNSD' and 'The Assassin, My Twin?', I had only been familiar with writing stories where the plot had a theme of family. But in all honesty, it was a genre that was not particularly popular. I realised that I could not be sticking to writing stories with this theme all the time.

Coinsciding this, I had become fond of We Got Married (WGM) episodes that featured Taemin and Naeun. Their on-screen chemistry was like no other couple on WGM and if it wasn't for them, I would not even follow the variety show itself. After all, it was knowing about Naeun in WGM that also helped me rekindle my liking to SHINee. Prior to that, the only person from SHINee I knew by name was Minho. Now, as you have seen in the story, I can confidently name all of the members in order of age.

There have been times when I mentioned TaEun before. Most notably in 'The Assassin, My Twin?'. I then began toying with the idea of a TaEun fanfic. However, I lacked the inspiration to write one.

At last, in February, SM C&C released the mini drama 'Mi Mi'. I found the inspiration to write a TaEun fanfic through the roles played by DBSK's Changmin and SM actress Moon Gayoung. Thus, I gave Taemin the role of an online writer and Naeun as the web designer. The foundations of my first romance themed story was set.

As the planning proceeded, I also thought it would be a cool idea to be writing a story of someone writing their own story (yeah a little complicated on the surface). Simply put, I imagined myself as Taemin, writig the story of finding his first love, thus the title 'Remembering Romance'.

The preview was posted on April 17th 2014, two days before Apink's 3rd anniversary. 'The Assassin, My Twin?' was also still being written and South Korea was still reeling from the trauma of SEWOL. But some early readers might have noticed that I actually posted Chapter 1 first, on March 30th 2014.

Once both 'The Assassin, My Twin?' and 'Dear Deer Dongsaeng' were completed, I devoted more time to 'Remembering Romance' despite having to struggle with school work, projects and other activities. I continued to get inspiration from other wattpad stories in the meantime, because I was determined to make my first romance-themed story a good one.

So I also wrote longer chapters of at least 1200 words, stuck to a consistent sequence of POVs and added more light humor in my chapters. In typical fashion, the writing also paralleled the events that SHINee and Apink experienced in reality. But I had to also get 'Been There, Done That' started as well. Over time, the updates for 'Remembering Romance' became more inconsistent. Owing to this, the number of reads increased more slowly each day.

Around that time, I also made the decision to at the Key-Eunji couple into the story, remembering the double date episode from TaEun WGM.

As I did my IB examinations, the updates all came to a halt during that time. But once my exams ended, I decided that I could not leave this hanging. Eventually, I made the decision to finish this story nine months after the first chapter was published. Chapter 12 marked the start of a string of frequent updates that has not been seen since the early days of 'MY Sister In SNSD'.

During that time too, I had recently seen a Girl's Day concert in Singapore. Remembering the episode when Taemin mistook Apink for Girl's Day, I thought maybe it would also be a good idea to introduce one of their members into the story to create a conflict in TaEun's relationship. Minah fit the bill since she was the same age as Taemin and also my Girl's Day bias.

At last, the plot was finally progressing.

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(Personal connection with 'Remembering Romance')

Bringing us to here. Taemin and Naeun have reunited after a conflict and Naeun has regained her memory. Along with that, the side plot of Eunji and Key also reached a resolution as they shared their first kiss.

In a way, this story does have some link with my own personal life. As I said, I imagined myself as Taemin in this story. Rather fittingly, there is also a girl who is similar to Naeun out there, whom I had a crush on (and maybe I still do). Like the TaEun relationship, I'm older by a year.

We used to hang out together in school, but a conflict between us eventually reduced our relationship to text messages. It was no longer a real relationship and I guess we were forever trapped in that texting world, where even one wrong word would bring discomfort. I did not like it, but she insisted there would be hope at the end of this ordeal (to which I'm patiently waiting for).

In a sense, you could say that I was at the stage where Naeun saw Minah and Taemin and felt cheated and betrayed. My life in terms of 'Remembering Romance' is at the Chapter 14 stage.

To conclude this, I guess that my pursuit to complete 'Remembering Romance' also creates new hope in me. That hope being the ability to have my relationship rekindled. As a story, it is also not the best romance themed story out on wattpad, but I am still glad you all enjoyed reading it. I will plan to bring out more of such stories in the futue. Kamsahabnida~

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A/N: And that officially concludes 'Remembering Romance'.

A sequel is unlikely at the moment, but I will keep you all updated on it when it comes out.

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