hi there! i absolutely adore 'is your light on?' and i'm excited to keep reading. something i noticed was how tactile/sensory the writing is, and how that made me feel like the story was really taking its time, letting me hang out with steve and eddie in the quiet moments and bask. if you'd like to share, i'm curious about your writing process when it comes to picking things like location and time of day and specific details to focus on for particular scenes. happy writing!
🥰 !!! i'm so glad you're enjoying it. this one has been in the works for a while so i'm really happy to have finally posted!
a lot of my writing is pulled from my own experiences and that goes double for sensory-heavy scenes. i was briefly in a corn field this summer and i guess it really stuck with me. the vastness of it all, feeling incredibly small but safe. similar to any time i write about swimming (especially in the pulse that i'm pressing), there's something that feels peaceful and intimate about swimming.
in terms of the writing process, i like to limit the number of physical places characters will be within a fic when possible. i also LOVE to write about characters revisiting the same place over and over so you can see how that space changes with them as their relationship changes (such as the picnic table in let it roll, or the couch on eddie's porch in 'is your light on').
when writing, i typically start with the location. i think that sets the tone for an entire interaction. conversations had in a bed have an inherent intimacy. conversations in a car means there's forced closeness and possible confrontation. conversations while walking might feel... avoidant or distracted (which is why i love that moment when people are talking as they walk, and then stop walking and face each other. oooof. loved that moment with steve and eddie in the woods because of that.)
time of day is another layer to that. nighttime can mean so much (danger, safety, quiet). the morning has an element of possibility and hope. in ch1 of 'is your light on' i feel like i picked those early afternoon hours because that's the time of day i feel moves the slowest. and i'm having steve drag his feet a little as he pulls eddie along. the general sluggishness of the summer mirroring steve's own resistance to making changes.
so if you're writing a scene that relies on its environment (which, to a point, all scenes should have) it can be helpful to picture yourself there. and not only think about what you're feeling and noticing, but why you're noticing those things. i know there's the whole 'the curtains are blue' discourse that comes around every once in a while, but it's true. like, now, when i'm feeling kinda down and sitting in my bedroom, all i see are the marks on my walls that i know i'll have to fix before i move out. i see the mess. the blanket on the floor because i didn't sleep well. but if i came into the same exact room but in a more... uplifting mood, maybe i'd focus on the project on my desk that i'm excited to complete. the guitar that i'm going to learn a new song on. the book i can't wait to read. things like that.
anyway. bit of a rambling answer, but i hope it's helpful. thank you for this delightful question, it was fun to think about 💙
