A/N
Wow! Okay, that was a ride! And we've finally made it to the end which is crazy. A Dream Come True is the first story I've ever finished writing before posting a single chapter so that's a big accomplishment. At the same time, Dream had so many edits done to it while it was getting published so...I'll get to that later!! First thing's first is thanking everybody who read my story. Thank you all for the votes and comments! I appreciated having you all here for this story <3 you truly all made this experience an unforgettable one.
INeedHolyWaterOopss, Loyallaura, Toorus_girl, saggy_curly_tits, mayeei, hobisunlightsunshine, kPOpFangirLlyfe, ItsBangtanBeaches, musicalgirl1281, Xinaveve, Wonpil_Day6, Marvellovernfan, monimonishi, mochimchimUwU, pulsar_dc, Bell-Belle, knjmonostar, SugaKookieGurl127, SkiraAire, Omovi3000, BTS_Army_Universe, MochieSpring, Dj_Wifi, tallgirlchingu, hobi4prezzy, EshaalAdeel, gothnutella, lacqueline, wh0know5, 25_Mia_Tang, CaitlynnBrusati, prettyonetwo, thebukwormz, Jams_Of_Jimin, Lovekpop222, NSbtsarmy_22, pinkpantheranswers, Athena1414, Kiwis612, LazyCrazyHuman, TheDemonInYourDreams, XS6185, ethereal_mc_, muskanmohiverma, Halyn_713, GrimOldDoor, army_life_bae
Sorry if I missed anyone. These usernames are just the ones I became most familiar with seeing from votes and comments. If you're a silent reader, I appreciate you too! (Also if you stopped reading half way, that's okay. Thank you for just reading even a few chapters!)
If you've read any of my stories before in the past, you know that my author's notes tend to be long since there's always so much to say. I don't get to say much to you guys while the story is getting published, but I try! Still it's never enough and I'm just left building up until I can vomit it all out in the author's note. Let's start with something simple first and then we'll get to the complicated stuff later.
My bias is Namjoon. However, my bias wrecker is Hoseok. It used to be Jungkook, but Hoseok kicked him out with no mercy and got comfortable in the bias wrecker spot. Except there are times when...when Hoseok eyes Namjoon's spot as bias and let me tell you...writing an entire story about Hoseok did me no favors. I was having a crisis the entire time. I seriously think I might as well just be '94 line biased at this point. I don't even know TT I'll say Namjoon is my bias but the amount of attention I give Hoseok is worrying. And this isn't anything new for the people I'm close to because here's the thing. When I write a story, I tend to fixate on a certain member when I like the portrayal of them or when writing about them. I simped over Seokjin more when writing Love, I simped over Yoongi during Serenity more often (don't question me), and somehow I managed to keep a professional relationship with Jungkook during his story (what does that even mean--).
Now for Hoseok's story, it meant I could stare at pictures of him more often as well as watch more videos of him for scientific purposes. With Dream, Reader has a big personality though one of her most noticeable traits is just how blunt she is. Particularly when it comes to telling Hoseok how handsome he is and practically fangirling over him. Every time she ever simped over him, let me tell you...all of that came from a very genuine place. Yes, I bolded and italicized to get my point across. This entire story was just an excuse to simp over Hoseok! No matter how hard I tried telling my friends that I'm loyal to Namjoon, they kept sending me Hoseok stuff and laughed as I basically foamed at the mouth. The fact that my dear friends have made memes about me being disloyal to Joon for Hobi makes me scream inside. There's more than there should be.
Is Hoseok my bias wrecker? Yes. Is he my bias? I'll get back to you on that in three to five business days. I'm currently in Namjoon's pocket, happy to be where I belong. (Frick that just reminded me that a friend even drew me being disloyal to Namjoon AAAAH). Anyway, in short I love Hoseok so much. I could say more, but I will stop here.
I want to move on to discuss what made writing Hoseok's story so difficult. No, it wasn't the research aspect about fashion or making clothes. I managed with that despite not knowing anything when starting the fic. I received a lot of help by a friend I knew from theatre who is a fashion major herself and also a friend on instagram who makes clothes for fun. Something else made me slow down with my writing with the story and you want to know what that was? I thought it was a writer's block except I was able to write other things perfectly fine. It was the same reason writing Namjoon's fic was hard. Writing a member and Reader becoming a couple is one of the hardest things ever?? I don't know why that makes it hard for me, but for some reason it does. That's why I prefer writing slow burns because writing tension, flirting, and slowly falling in love is everything! But with Hoseok's story, I needed them together to get to the real drama :') I may not prefer to read slow burns myself all too much, but writing it is different. Don't ask.
Also, one thing I did with this story was leave references to literature I've read before. I thought it would be fun so here I will point them out if they went over your head.
Happy Dagger - Romeo & Juliet by Shakespeare, Juliet's line before she kills herself. I just like Romeo & Juliet a lot since this play also influenced me with writing Long Live the Dynasty and it won't be the last time. I read it for the first time my freshman year of high school, but already had a bit of Romeo's monologue memorized. Sophomore year I memorized his entire monologue for my theatre class. Honestly, I'd simp for Shakespeare. I think doing theatre did something to me.
Fish eyes - Educated by Tara Westover, I read this for my first semester of college. Reading this book was honestly super helpful in understanding how powerful descriptive writing is but also breaking down what it's like to grow up in a toxic household that gaslights you and getting out of that. I highly recommend this memoir! She uses fish eyes to describe one of the abusers and it's so unsettling aah I love it.
All big brother does is watch - 1984 by George Orwell, the line is usually "Big Brother is watching you". This entire story was a trip oml. I read this senior year of high school and I just remember one of my annotations for the story the most. A character called Julia was talking to the protagonist Winston and called him 'comrade' before leaving or something. On my sticky note, I wrote 'comrade zoned?' and drew the eye emojis because kjsdfnkd.
Hell is empty and all the devils are here - The Tempest by Shakespeare, this line is just raw. I love it and The Tempest was the first play I read from Shakespeare with my class in 5th grade. I got to play Ariel for one act when we acted it out to our parents lol.
I wanted you to be a beautiful little fool - The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the line is "And I hope she'll be a fool--that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool." I read this story in junior year of high school and I think I liked it the most of the stories we read that year. The Catcher and the Rye was good, The Crucible makes me scream but in a decently good way, and I never want to hear about Into the Wild ever again.
I also mentioned Cinderella a lot because she's my favorite princess. I talked briefly why in my author's note in Serenity, but essentially it was just about her being a strong female character. Her strength just isn't appreciated by most people these days because it's more feminine. When I was coming up with titles, 'A Dream Come True' came to my head and I told my best friend about it. It reminded the both of us of the song 'A Dream is a wish your heart makes' from Cinderella. Next thing I know, Cinderella is influencing me a lot with creating Reader. She's a fan of Cinderella herself, Hoseok puts on her shoe just like the story, Reader gets mice keychains. There's little things like that though I'm sure you could probably find some extra parallels between this story and Cinderella.
On the topic of Reader, I was extremely excited to write her in this one. I just knew I wanted to make her have a big personality! Very blunt was the goal! Though I won't say I wasn't worried about making her either. These days I actually try to give a Reader more personality. Don't Forget Love Reader was the first time I ever felt super nervous because of the way I wrote her. The way she was affected how she lived so strongly that there was no brushing it under the rug. Thankfully she was well received and liked.
With Dream Reader, my worry was making her rich. I'm not rich myself and I figure a majority of my readers don't have the same level of wealth as her. I still wanted to write her as rich though! I was nervous a lot of people wouldn't be able to relate or feel detached from her. I know when I read reader inserts and they have a different personality/life situation from me, I just think of it as an acting role almost. The story could have me studying to be a doctor and that's not the case in real life, but it sure is now for this fic. That's just my mindset though everyone's different. That's why I worried though I admit it was all for nothing. Reader may be rich, but I was grateful a lot of you found other things in her to relate to and like.
Though I will say that Reader in Dream is not dumb. I just want to clarify that. She may not be aware of what it's like to be poor for a majority of the story, but that's just her having a different experience and life. She learns, but that never meant she was stupid for now knowing to begin with. Reader is smart. She's just also emotional, into fashion, and hyperfeminine. These traits often get clumped with airhead characters and while I have no problem writing a character like that, please don't misunderstand Reader in here. She's an intelligent, ambitious business woman.
I really want to just write a Reader the way I want to. I want to stop worrying over how relatable they are since it feels like it just restricts my writing. Plus, realistically speaking it's just impossible to write a reader that everyone feels represents them. Especially since I can only write what I know. I don't know what it's like to be tall, so I apologize but my readers will practically always have to 'look up' to a member because that's what I'm used to. I do it without thinking and it shows in my writing. So many things that I'm not even aware of but I'm used to, I've inserted in my fics that just might not be relatable to everyone. I've tried to dial it down and be vague when talking about reader's height, weight, appearance. I'll still try though sometimes I will make a choice. My next fic if you plan to read it, you're flexible. If you're not in real life, well now you are in the next fic. You can do the splits! So congrats.
What a weird way to end that discussion. But if we're continuing with weird then I might as well show the memes I received from readers and the ones I made with my best friend lol. Here they are.
From readers!
Also, I was really grateful to the readers who remembered what I said last time about the other members when it comes to solo fics. Sometimes they might play a strong role and sometimes they won't. I struggled a lot with finding a role for them in this fic, but I managed. I know when people ask 'where are the other members' that they're just excited for them to come up, but it does leave me feeling a bit sad. I guess I just felt it more with Hoseok's fic and it feels similar to asking a member on vlive to show other members rather than focusing on them. This is Hoseok's fic and he gets the spotlight! The other members will get their turn if they haven't already and I also have OT7 books if you really wanna see the others play more important roles.
Of course though, I had my fun writing how the others were in this fic. They served their purpose and helped complete the story. This entire story has been heavy and especially towards the end. For that reason, I held off on sharing fanart at the end of chapters. I really love the art I get from readers and obviously I want to share them though I also don't want to interrupt the flow of the story. It feels awkward sharing wonderful fanart after an emotionally depressing chapter. That's why I held off, but I'm going to share it now!
By Dj_Wifi (iamarichat on insta)
By gothnutella (starsai.art on instagram)
I also think now is a good time to talk about Super Junior!! I stan them OwO hi, I am an elf (fandom name meaning Everlasting friend uwu). I got into them after BTS though it started out pretty casual. I watched their interview with buzzfeed and they were so chaotic that it was hard not to be intrigued by them. I listened to their music casually and then Ryeowook got discharged from the military so I put a little more effort into listening to all their discography. I got half way through before taking a break since these boys have been together for over ten years oml. Then by the time Kyuhyun got discharged and all of Super Junior was together again, I continued with listening to their entire discography as well as subunit songs and any solo albums.
Let me just say that I adore them. It's crazy to believe they're all in their thirties and my bias is almost forty, but he doesn't look it! Seriously they've been together for fifteen years, some members left, but they're still active. I'm sure you guys know at least one Suju member and song without even realizing it. Leeteuk is literally an mc everywhere, Eunhyuk hosts on weekly idol, and Heechul is on knowing brothers (an icon who was also written in Era). As for songs, Sorry Sorry is their most famous without a doubt. That's the song that made them the Kings of the Hallyu wave. Plus, BTS danced it with Leeteuk for a stage once! There's Mr. Simple, Black Suit, Lo Siento, and honestly they have so many good songs. I have a list of songs that I recommend and here they are. There's a ton but again fifteen years together omg.
Super Junior
Devil + Super Clap + I Think I + Burn The Floor + House Party + Closer + Skydive + Sexy, Free & Single + Black Suit + Magic + Candy + Lo Siento ft. Leslie Grace + One More Time (Otra Vex) ft. Reik + Ticky Tocky + Evanesce + Shadow + The Crown + Tuxedo + This is Love + Mamacita + Somebody New + Islands + Lunar Eclipse + Shirt + Midnight Blues + Let's Dance + A-Cha + 2YA2YAO! + Mirror + It's You
Super Junior-D&E
Oppa, Oppa + 'Bout you + Rum dee dee + Growing Pains + Contact + Change + No Love + What Is Your Name? ft. Shindong + The Beat Goes On + Sweater & Jeans + Can You Feel It? + Evanesce II + Sunrise (Korean version) + Off Line + Circus + You don't go
Super Junior-K.R.Y.
Dorothy + We Can
Kyuhyun
Dreaming + At Gwanghwamun + The day we meet again
Yesung
Pink Magic +Parallel Lines +Whatcha' Doin ft. Chungha + Darling U ft. Seulgi + Hibernation + Lost Heart
Ryewook
I'm not over you + Drunk in the Morning + Without You + Something Good + Hello + Foxy Girl + Cosmic ft. Bada + One and Only
Extra
Charm of Life (Heechul, Shindong, Eunhyuk) + Narcissus (Heechul ft. Wheein) + Starry Night (Korean version) Zhoumi, Ryeowook
I could literally go on about them for so long oml. I talk to clucky_chicken about them since we both stan. She's been an elf for much longer and told me about their movie which was hilarious. I'm grateful I have her to talk to because I'd probably lose it not being able to talk about them with anyone. We have the same bias which is Leeteuk!! Though Eunhyuk has been bias wrecking me a lot so there's that. Honestly, all members are super funny and charming. Super Junior is the original chaotic group lmao I don't even know where to start. Ahh there's so much that I want to say but I know you guys are here for BTS. I'm always down to talk about them and share videos/clips if you're interested in getting to know them!
But yeah, I put Eunhyuk in the story because I love him. He's a great dancer and I would love to see him dance with Hoseok. I would also love to see Hoseok interact with Leeteuk on screen since Leeteuk is close friends with Hoseok's parents asdfghjkl. Leeteuk and Eunhyuk also went to a BTS concert together before TT omg I also want Ryeowook and Jimin to sing together. They have similar voices and do good high notes that I think would sound pretty. Not to mention Ryeowook complimented Jimin's voice on a radio show back in 2013. The Suju members were familiar with BTS and gave them support since Shindong was really enthusiastic about their debut stage. He even went out of his way to meet BTS and take pictures with them back when they were rookies :') please I need more interaction crumbs. The latest I've seen was when Super Junior won an award and got flowers, Shindong gave them to Jungkook who looked lost but then came back to get them and the two laughed. Also during a performance, Shindong was going back to his seat and bowed to every member in BTS <3 please I'm desperate for more. Kyuhyun and Jungkook have good vocals, but also evil maknae energy. Then Yesung has a deep voice like Taehyung ;;w;; we can't forget the cute friendship Heechul has with Yoongi. I will do anything for more interactions.
Okay, I promise I'm done with my Suju tangent. I want to discuss brother dearest in this fic. Our lovely Kang Kyunghwan. Now I'll be honest with you, I wanted to write three basic antagonists. I wanted them all evil and basic to the end. However, that changed. Somewhere along the way, Seokjin grew reasons for the way he is, Father too, and Kyunghwan wasn't immune to it either. The antagonists were given depth though what really threw me for a loop was Kyunghwan's change. I know I'm the author, but I swear that these characters get a life of their own. I'm just typing and they speak for themselves. I intend for a scene to go one way, but they change it entirely and I don't even know how it happens.
That was the case with Kyunghwan from the moment Reader asked him if he would really be okay if Seokjin hurt her. It was like my brain was rewired. I don't know how it happened, but Kyunghwan suddenly became a brother who cared deep down. He struggles with communicating, he can't think for himself, he's uncomfortable displaying affection/care and when he does it comes across as insincere when it's genuine. That's why it's easier to keep the distant relationship he has with Reader. After that, I began to really like Kyunghwan and he was changing. I didn't want him to but he was. The main choice I made was not letting him have a full development. We leave the story with Kyunghwan realizing the truth about his situation and him being an empty shell of a man...oof.
I made him awful only for him to unexpectedly change. Maybe I wanted it deep down? I don't know, but I do like the story better with Kyunghwan changing and caring for Reader. Though since he was changing half way into the story, I realized the first half had him set as a character that wouldn't change. I needed to fix that but leave him giving off the worst impression. Believe me, some of Kyunghwan's lines were a lot worse towards Reader. I had to change a lot of them and add some stuff. Things like 'ease up on her with the iron grip' wasn't added until the story was finished. Something so small was so important to me. Also because his original line was pretty cruel. Then you know the scene where Kyunghwan lies about making Reader cry to Father? That wasn't there originally nor was Reader getting Kyunghwan's help for choosing a jacket. The scene where Reader has a flashback of Kyunghwan getting insulted by Father, that was added later too and was originally supposed to be the scene before she buys Hoseok a jacket but was ultimately replaced. I saved the scene though because I loved it and found a place to insert it in. Literally, there were so many extra edits after Dream was supposed to be finished just to help Kyunghwan's development and character.
I don't know how to explain it but I love Kyunghwan's character. He's just this complex damaged baby that I never expected to care so much about. He just intrigues me. I feel like there's so much more to him if you really pay attention, but easily brushed off if you close yourself off to him like Reader. I also wanted to say that I find the actor for Kyunghwan attractive and I remember him from an old k-drama I watched called K-Pop Extreme Survival. A few readers found him attractive too, but with one reader, we ended up joking a lot and making cursed situations. We joked about the story suddenly having an incest twist. We both hated it, but it still had us laughing nonstop. I would never do that oml. Anyway, said reader is Simon (gothnutella) and he practically begged me to share a shirtless photo of Kyunghwan aka Lee Si-Kang so here it is. (Kyunghwan is hot, don't @ me)
I don't know, Simon and I just made a lot of cursed scenarios and ran with it. Kyunghwan being the true lover being the most cursed. The most reasonable one was an alternate timeline where Hoseok does end it with Reader and she ends up becoming a thing with Eunhyuk. We clearly had our funny making stupid theories asdfghjkl.
I also felt the need to explain why I made Seokjin an antagonist in this story. Mainly one who was so awful. It's not anything groundbreaking to make a member a villain or anything like that, but I figured I should explain my mindset going into this story. I know a lot of people were hoping for Seokjin to change at some point, some were upset I made him the type of person he was in here and things like that. From what I know and I'm sure from what you guys know, Seokjin isn't like this. He better not be smh. Anyway, I did it because I kinda know how people are going to react when it comes to antagonists. When it came to the brother and him being a made up character, it was easy to hate him. Right off the bat everyone was bashing on him like no tomorrow. I understand why since he is written to be awful in the beginning and replicate his father in a lot of ways.
If I made the fiance a made up character, he would have gotten the same reaction. People would hate on them without thinking twice which is good. We shouldn't tolerate the behavior that Seokjin's character thought was okay. But I knew making your fiance a member would make you guys hesitant about insulting him. That was true for a good while until the forced kiss (the chapter intentionally made to show that Seokjin wasn't going to change). I wanted to see if you guys would judge Seokjin equally just like the brother. A lot more of you were hoping Seokjin would change from the moment you met him compared to the brother and some still had hope even after the forced kiss. I'm doing these things on purpose because of what happened with Serenity.
This may be a spoiler if you haven't read Serenity so skip this paragraph if so. The reason I did it is because of Serenity Taehyung to this day still gets defended even when he's being so rude and awful. If someone does something wrong, they did something wrong. End of story. I don't care if Serenity Taehyung is a little lonely at the start of the story, he still has stuff to apologize about and I refuse to let any of it be excused. And it's unfortunate that I have to say this, but I made the fiance a hyung line member because maknae line stans can be tiring. I've tried explaining to a few before on why Serenity Taehyung was in the wrong (I wrote him that way oml) and they got very defensive. It's just easier to mute them. But yeah, I had it be Seokjin because I figured there would be less blind readers and also to contrast the image of Hoseok. I think both boys are incredibly handsome. Though sadly there are some pointlessly rude people who mock Hoseok's appearance and then yeah, Seokjin is an official visual. They're all visuals though.
People like Seokjin can change or not. I could have made him change, but that just wasn't what I wanted for this story. It wasn't the focus and the story would have turned out a lot differently if I did that. It's more than just can they be redeemed? There's also a message if they get redeemed and I just didn't want to figure out how to walk that tightrope. On a side note, I felt a lot of what happened could be extreme though some people felt it was realistic. Maybe. All I know is that realistic doesn't always equal quality. I'll do my best to write something and hopefully you guys can understand what I'm portraying.
I got incredibly anxious towards the end of Dream. Specifically the part where Hoseok is considering breaking up with Reader and that whole chapter being a crying fest. I'm always going to have a happy ending for the couple. I may add angst, but I'll never write a sad ending. I don't have it in me. But I do understand why everyone was upset with Hoseok. I just didn't want him to automatically reject Father, but also not to completely go through with it. I wanted Father's words to get to Hoseok and it sucked. Hoseok is going to have to be extra good to Reader for the rest of his life and he's willing to do that. Not sure if any of you personally forgave him, but they made it work and Hoseok isn't a bad person. He was considering a bad choice for sure, but I don't know. He made that bad choice while he was having a rough time, but from the rest of the story, he is good to Reader and he's a good guy. He's not automatically a bad person just from that bad choice. He does regret it and he's willing to prove himself to Reader unlike the unchanging antagonists in this story. That's just how I see it I guess.
Lastly, I just wanted to say this before revealing the next story I'm writing. Oftentimes I see comments or get comments that say something along the lines of 'i'm getting so mad at xxx, that means you know they're a good author' and I actually have to disagree. I've been writing since 2014 (why does that make me feel old?) and I've come to realize that that's not always the case. I read fanfiction and it's so easy to get in your own emotions about a situation. I don't really think that says anything about an author. If the situation/character is upsetting then it won't take much for you to get upset yourself.
What I think says a lot about an author's work is when they make you look past your emotions and try to understand why this scene happened, why this line was said, why this person is the way that they are. That's my goal. Every time I write an antagonist, I always find myself thinking that I hope people can sense the intimidation Reader feels. I hope the dialogue a villain says gives them chills or causes them to wonder how they came to be that way. I hope I can be the type of writer where you read an awful scene and instead of being just angry, you understand the importance of it. It's so easy to get lost in your own emotions, but I think it speaks volumes about an author if you're able to understand the emotions of the characters written, even the ones you don't like.
And I know that can be considered a bit much for fanfiction. Not everyone is analyzing my work, but I am grateful to those readers who think about the scene a little more before commenting. While it can be entertaining to see people mad at an antagonist, it does get exhausting just seeing threats made towards characters clogging my notifications. I personally find the humorous or respectful insults towards antagonists a lot more amusing than the violent ones. I know I didn't make them likeable though please tone it down. They don't see it, I do ^^;
One last thing! Just wanna thank BurkahRae12 for inspiring and encouraging me to write the wet dream for Hoseok. It's all thanks to you ;)
Finally, time to share my next story! I already gave a hint to what the next story could be about. I said Reader is going to be flexible and she is! I'm going to be writing my Jimin x Reader which is a ballet au. I've already started it and oml it rivals the research I had to do with Love and Dream. It's gonna be intense which I hope won't leave people confused. I'll try to be as accurate as I can be while also making up my own nonsense for the sake of plot. I don't know why I do this to myself aldfklm I'll try to find a middle. Pleasing readers who dance and also trying not to alienate readers who don't which I think might be the majority. I don't know but I promise I'll do my best no matter what! Get ready for Jimin!
If you want detailed updates from me then you can follow my instagram _dina_soar. You can also check my bio, my website is there where you can see the future stories I plan plus the update schedule is always there. I have a ko-fi where I post special teasers and reveal the cover early on. I also sometimes post extra writing for my fics that's only there. All of it is free! It says you can donate, but that's completely voluntary. I'm also on ao3 and quotev, posting the same thing at the same time. I'm all over the place lol.
This is where my long winded author's note comes to an end. Thank you so much to those who read my entire note. I have to hold so many things back and I don't get to talk to you guys often. It sucks so the author's note is where I really get to say everything that's been on my mind. Thank you so much for reading my story all the way to the end. Reader's ending speech is something I've said before in high school to my group and felt it applied here. I really am grateful for everyone who reads my fics, votes, and comments their support. It may not feel like a lot, but you guys do make me feel like my dreams are coming true. That's why I have to thank you.
For everything <3