Author's Notes for "Fire in the Rain"
I'll be writing my personal commentary about my first Nino Exchange fic.
As I said before, I don't really write requests because I tend to be a people pleaser and I don't want the recipient to actually hate whatever I will write. To write for someone with a specific lists of prompts can be very difficult because you can see what he/she likes and dislikes and you have to work on that.
So, to be able to make this story, I had to go further further back. I actually had to go through my recipient's fic journal just to see her style because it will probably reflect what kind of stuff she wants to see. I am very anxious once I found out who she was, actually. But since I saw her comment in one of my fics, I became more comfortable. That means she somehow likes something that I made and I'm going to use that as a foundation. Guess what, she commented in one of my fluffs. That's a start.
Being a NinoAi fan, the first prompt that really caught my attention was the "train" fic prompt. It was easy to start, I can clearly imagine it. Being a densha-otaku myself (I do recall having my very first Arashi fic to be a "train meeting" story, albeit more violent than the NinoAi encounter) it was not difficult for me. I was able to write the first part of the story. But the problem is, I don't want it to be a random flirty encounter and then suddenly end with them being together. There should be loops and crossroads before the train strangers should be together (and this is why you don't trust me with one shots). This was really dangerous because I was already halfway and I realized that I don't have a solid outline of what I'm going to write (halfway like 40 pages lol).
That's probably the time when I got lost. So, following Nino's Arashimikuji advice, I just dropped the project (and started "Fate Written on Your Hand" lol).
So, coincidentally around that time, one of my favorite singers, Måns Zelmerlöw, released "Fire in the Rain".(This is the main reason why I chose the second country setting as Sweden, just to pay homage to him). I just lazily listened to the preview and it clicked. Everything clicked. It was so amazing. I remember starting to rewrite the new story while listening to the song on loop. The song gave me an impression of dreaming and being able to make bold choices because of someone you love beside you, supporting you. At first, "fire in the rain" was directed to Aiba but in the end, I made Nino the "fire" in Aiba's rain. But looking back at it, aren't they both the fire in each other's rain? There was a super long deleted portion of Aiba's POV talking about how he wanted to prove himself as a photographer so that the musician guy would also notice him. And in this AU, Aiba actually became a popular photographer, though I did not really stress that fact that much).
I also kinda inserted the "artist" Ohno and "musican" Nino very subtly and because I can't find a good cameo for Ohno, I made him a hotel president lol (I'm a Seka Muzu trash, I know).
The original version actually contained a snarkier, more rude Nino. And Aiba was actually the guy in the dumps. Another thanks to my favorite photographer, Ninagawa Mika (c'mon Arashi fans, you should love her too *wink wink*), for giving this idea that if Aiba was a photographer, he'd take those colorful shots as well. Nevertheless, I still took some of the scenes from the first version and incorporated it in the new one (e.g. kabe-don as requested by my recipient, the wrong station scene, seeing Jun and ditching Nino, getting drunk with Sho). I think I got at a point where I actually got sick of re-reading and re-reading the story just for me to make smooth transitions. I'm kinda glad that my beta (I don't know your name yet but thank you so much for the valuable help!!!) did not see a lot of plotholes so I guess I was able to patch everything up. Whew!
It was so fun to read inaudible_d's live commentary while reading the fic. Like, I read it every morning, trying to match it with the specific part of the fic she was commenting on. Even I myself didn't expect that kind of reaction. It made me happy so much and less anxious to face the next exchange (though I'm in the dumps right now for Arashi Exchange).
As I said before, I don't really write requests because I tend to be a people pleaser and I don't want the recipient to actually hate whatever I will write. To write for someone with a specific lists of prompts can be very difficult because you can see what he/she likes and dislikes and you have to work on that.
So, to be able to make this story, I had to go further further back. I actually had to go through my recipient's fic journal just to see her style because it will probably reflect what kind of stuff she wants to see. I am very anxious once I found out who she was, actually. But since I saw her comment in one of my fics, I became more comfortable. That means she somehow likes something that I made and I'm going to use that as a foundation. Guess what, she commented in one of my fluffs. That's a start.
Being a NinoAi fan, the first prompt that really caught my attention was the "train" fic prompt. It was easy to start, I can clearly imagine it. Being a densha-otaku myself (I do recall having my very first Arashi fic to be a "train meeting" story, albeit more violent than the NinoAi encounter) it was not difficult for me. I was able to write the first part of the story. But the problem is, I don't want it to be a random flirty encounter and then suddenly end with them being together. There should be loops and crossroads before the train strangers should be together (and this is why you don't trust me with one shots). This was really dangerous because I was already halfway and I realized that I don't have a solid outline of what I'm going to write (halfway like 40 pages lol).
That's probably the time when I got lost. So, following Nino's Arashimikuji advice, I just dropped the project (and started "Fate Written on Your Hand" lol).
So, coincidentally around that time, one of my favorite singers, Måns Zelmerlöw, released "Fire in the Rain".(This is the main reason why I chose the second country setting as Sweden, just to pay homage to him). I just lazily listened to the preview and it clicked. Everything clicked. It was so amazing. I remember starting to rewrite the new story while listening to the song on loop. The song gave me an impression of dreaming and being able to make bold choices because of someone you love beside you, supporting you. At first, "fire in the rain" was directed to Aiba but in the end, I made Nino the "fire" in Aiba's rain. But looking back at it, aren't they both the fire in each other's rain? There was a super long deleted portion of Aiba's POV talking about how he wanted to prove himself as a photographer so that the musician guy would also notice him. And in this AU, Aiba actually became a popular photographer, though I did not really stress that fact that much).
I also kinda inserted the "artist" Ohno and "musican" Nino very subtly and because I can't find a good cameo for Ohno, I made him a hotel president lol (I'm a Seka Muzu trash, I know).
The original version actually contained a snarkier, more rude Nino. And Aiba was actually the guy in the dumps. Another thanks to my favorite photographer, Ninagawa Mika (c'mon Arashi fans, you should love her too *wink wink*), for giving this idea that if Aiba was a photographer, he'd take those colorful shots as well. Nevertheless, I still took some of the scenes from the first version and incorporated it in the new one (e.g. kabe-don as requested by my recipient, the wrong station scene, seeing Jun and ditching Nino, getting drunk with Sho). I think I got at a point where I actually got sick of re-reading and re-reading the story just for me to make smooth transitions. I'm kinda glad that my beta (I don't know your name yet but thank you so much for the valuable help!!!) did not see a lot of plotholes so I guess I was able to patch everything up. Whew!
It was so fun to read inaudible_d's live commentary while reading the fic. Like, I read it every morning, trying to match it with the specific part of the fic she was commenting on. Even I myself didn't expect that kind of reaction. It made me happy so much and less anxious to face the next exchange (though I'm in the dumps right now for Arashi Exchange).