#since I wasn't romancing him he was just sort of a prickly guy for the entirety of the game | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

dulcesiabits · 10 months

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fic: a sparrow in a storm

recommended song: obsessed with you by the orion experience

1. My biggest struggle with this piece was the cultural origins! I debated a lot on how I felt about making a reader that was a bit more Chinese-coded, and the ethics of letting non-Chinese people self-insert on a more Chinese-coded reader, and about how I, as Chinese diaspora, could represent a more Chinese-esque setting, and if I was even capable of representing it properly... before I thought so hard my brain exploded and I decided to just go with it!!! This is about kissing Jing Yuan, and by god, are you going to kiss him!!!!!!!! (My general conclusion was that as an author, I could do my best to respect and represent my own cultural origins, but that, ultimately, I could not control how others choose to interact with my works).

2. To be honest, this originally started as a arranged marriage/fake dating idea I had with a friend, haha. I wanted to write something for Jing Yuan but wasn’t sure what, so I poked a friend and she helped me bounce some ideas back and forth! This was going to be a more grounded, intense “just got married to someone who I hate so how do I survive this” sort of story and then I started playing with it some more, and Jing Yuan turned out to be a tad more obsessive than I planned, and reader was all flat "why are you like that" to him, and it turned out a lot more comedic and light-hearted, so I just went with it! It devolved from actual marriage to just simple courtship, though Jing Yuan and reader are going to get married in the future, haha.

3. When I was writing this, I made reader's personality a bit more pragmatic, prickly and dry than I usually do! Generally, I tend to go for more cheerful, open and funny personalities, but I realized... despite how often I write romance pieces... I'm very pragmatic about marriage and couldn't conceive of it super idealistically... so thus reader was born! It pairs well with Jing Yuan's more relaxed and open personality, and though I was worried their relationship wouldn't come across well (does reader... hate Jing Yuan??? They keep talking like he's an annoyance! ... ah, they're actually kind of a tsundere!!!) but he rolls with the punches very well, and is even fond of their prickliness!!! He's in love, and loves every aspect of reader!!!!! They're both kind of intense people, and probably wouldn't have lasted long in a relationship with others (which, reader is aware of, while Jing Yuan simply had no interest in others from the start).

4. Since we only get to see reader’s perspective, we never actually get to view how other people view Jing Yuan. To everyone except reader, Jing Yuan is this mysterious, calm, poker-faced tactical genius and fearsome general… but then they see him dote on reader who bickers with him and he's smiling and they’re like… is… is this the same guy? Everyone sort of knows that he's very devoted to someone, and

5. I won’t lie when choosing food I just went “okay what snacks did my brother like at Yanqing’s age” and "I really want to eat liangbian honggua rn" and “okay what is a good food to eat for a meal that isn’t just rice and a thousand side dishes” LOL!!

6. My friend had an idea that reader gives Jing Yuan a tassel in their very first relationship, and he's super meticulous with its care and upkeep and it's still as pristine the day reader gave it to him!!! And I wanted to write that in the story, but didn't have the time/didn't find a place to put it.... and I also wanted to explore Jing Yuan and Yanqing's relationship (they love each other, but there is something to be said about raising a child as a solider and the impacts on both of them) but there wasn't a place for that either, alas.... Maybe in a separate analysis post or a different fic!

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