AURORA | WIP #1
[this is my original work; please do not copy or repost it in any form]
this has been a dear project of mine for years. my closest friends know how the story originally started out, what events in my life had influenced it, and what it looked like in its very early, walking stages. i was maybe 15 or 16 when i came up with the original story and now i'm 21, actually seriously drafting it and for once i am not hating how it's turning out.
so, what's it about?
LOGLINE: After his recent breakup of a two-year long relationship, Junseo reflects on his experience discovering his sexuality when he was younger and finds himself still wondering about, and craving, the one who brought it out of him.
GENRE: coming-of-age adult literary fiction
POV: Junseo – 3rd person limited, dual timeline
SETTING: a fictional town in South-east London, primarily against the backdrop of a co-ed private school, Southwood High Academy (SHA), between 2019-2023
WORKING COMPS: open, heaven by seán hewitt
CHARACTERS
Junseo Park
British-Korean year 13 student doing English Lit, Music and Chemistry A-Levels
popular amongst his classmates and, frankly, the entire school, because he's attractive, as soft-natured as he is charming, and the 2nd son of SHA's first Asian alumni
music nerd. specifically the guitar. if he'll yap about anything it's the guitar and it's important that you pay attention and be nice to him or else 🔪
Bisexual™ (and very genderfluid but he's got internalised transmisogyny so he doesn't care about that rn)
an undiagnosed autistic little dove. literally so many things in this story could've been avoided if he knew he was autistic
my actual baby. i love him so much
Akira Kato
British-Japanese year 13 student doing Spanish, P.E., English Lang and English Lit A-Levels
socially-awkward big guy but not because he's shy – he is the Hyperactive ADHD diagnosis: chatty, flighty, introspective, would be a good student if he just 'applied himself', 'sir if i sit still my joints will lock in place and i'll become a gremlin'
Mr Gets Told To 'Fix His Face' Every 2 Seconds
former figure-skater, hobbyist basketball player, would be a full-time dancer if he wasn't scared of his own fickleness
queer boy. sees labels all around himself and tries to apply them to himself, but none of them ever feel quite right. he feels like he's being tied down
my silly little boy. any affection he receives in this book is basically from me ok
Dahlia Asante
British-Ghanaian year 13 student doing Textiles, Business and English Lit for her A-Levels
the girl everyone wants to talk to. a girl that likes talking to everyone. guards her personal life very well all things considering. likes to keep herself busy with her dress-making, magazine collections, hair-styling, networking
a little dramatic but she is just a british girl; she has a solution, she just wants to complain a bit
trans girl but very tight-lipped about it – she will not be known at SHA as 'the trans girl' if she has anything to say about it
she's a proper lesbian but girl she has no idea. comphet is beating her ass. but all things considering she's got more girl problems than boy problems. as she should
her confidence depends on how much something matters to her. it's easy when she doesn't give a shit. it's most vulnerable the more attached she is and she would rather think a problem is all in her head than say anything about it
she gets my cuteness aggression going let me tell youuuu
Sahar Noor
British-Iraqi year 13 student doing Biology, Chemistry and Maths
she will get into Oxford, mark her words. she IS the gifted kid
an Artiste™; god forbid her ADHD kicks in, the next time you'll see her it'll be at ass o'clock covered in paint
Miss Gets Told To 'Fix Her Face' Every 1 Second
unfortunately, being the new girl turned her Mean and hooo boy
she is the biggest empath ever, but anger and empathy in the brain of teen with ADHD doesn't usually result in good outcomes
sapphic (real answer: SPOILER)
litmus test of media literacy; if you come away thinking she is villainised then i'm afraid i have some news for you
Ally Ramírez
British-Mexican year 13 student, left SHA for sixth form after her GCSEs and is studying P.E., Biology and Japanese (the latter externally) for A-Levels
Ball is Life
she is the Inattentive ADHD diagnosis: rocks on her chair, zones out, stops a new hobby once motivation disappears, if she is bored for one second she will explode
though you can't really tell at first because she's so confident and mischievous – if you dislike her it's probably because she said something condescending that she likely didn't mean and probably forgot but you still remember. oops
social cues can suck her dick. so can social norms actually
thought she was a lesbian when she was like 13-16, realises she's bisexual. she's just masc but she's the butchest person people can handle before they start getting scared
Jinsun Park
British-Korean year 11 student, about to sit his GCSEs and is thinking of moving to a different sixth form
why? he's the third son and the youngest child of SHA's first Asian alumni and he Does Not Care. but other people care and he feels bad
he's growing up :(
rotates between different best friends because they unfortunately end up becoming romantically complicated and it's so fucking annoying
he's aroace but people either hear the aro part and think he wants sex (ew), think he's lying because he 'can't deal with the guilt of rejecting someone', are confused because he's so attractive why not??, or or or
and so that kind of stuff puts him on edge. it shouldn't matter, it shouldn't take up his whole life, but when romance is a thing that does consume everyone around him, it's kinda hard not to resent it :/
the secret hero of this story because the villain is amatonormativity
Alister Phiri
British-Zambian year 13 student taking Biology, Chemistry and Maths
best boy™; Head Student because it looks good on ucas his personal statement; helping this predominantly white upper-middle class private school is whatever tbh
yearns to dance, forced to become a STEM student. current plan is to go into biomed in a uni outside of London and secure himself enough he can go under the radar and do what he likes. it would've probably been easier to go into finance and do that, if he didn't absolutely despise it. 'i'd rather kay em es than be stuck with a bunch of finance bros pleek'
is this what friendship feels like? am i supposed to kind of be in love with you? but how do i know that i'm not just gay? it's okay if i am gay, but i've thought about it like 3 times now and i don't think i want to spend the rest of my life with a guy, but then i wouldn't mind spending the rest of my life with you, and i've thought about sex with you and it doesn't seem as bad as it does with the other guys i've considered. is it meant to be this confusing? i don't want to be #that straight guy please :(
Siddharth Parmar
British-Indian year 13 student taking Physics, Chemistry and Maths
year 12 external, has no clue what any of the lore is, he's just happy to be here
'i can go into physics and beat some ethics into these guys, or i can go into maths and keep my sanity'
popular because he's smart and can make physics sound Not Boring. also he knows a lot of people because he's an external and so he's the appointed social butterfly of SHA
bisexual and proud of it. part of the major shift in queer acceptance amongst the SHA students. has never really been in the closet tbh
only child of a single mother, has severe daddy issues
although he is queer, amatonormativity is beating his ASS and thus he's confused by the sudden intimacy he finds himself in with three guys (Junseo, Alister, Akira)
AURORA is a very character-driven story. i've tried to sum up all the characters without making many references to each other, but the story is mainly Junseo's so you're going to see everyone else through his eyes. but that's part of the fun, isn't it?
i've got a few concerns i'm trying to shelve away while trying to Actually Draft The Novel, but one of them is the genre because the story is primarily set in high school, even if the characters turn 18 in the present timeline. i don't want this story to be a 'reads like adult litfic but unfolds like a teen fic', if that makes sense? i'm currently trying to go for a 'Junseo is not self-aware enough for this story to be in 1st person or for the present timeline to also be in retrospect and the events themselves pack so much nuance and complexity in them that it does not feel appropriate to say this book is for teens'. we'll see how that goes.
i'll also see if i'll make any more updates on this novel, but most likely the next posts will be art of the characters :]
