#dividing lines

[nugothrhythms]

“Vampire” by Leipzig, Germany-based deathrock band Dividing Lines off of 2018 album GONE

[chasingfigments]

Spoiler, please!

...I’m going to assume you want a DL spoiler? (God, where was I?)

Eun-sang is going to offer tips to the reporters Bo-na names, to unintended consequences.

[kittylectro]

Dividing Lines - Lonely In The Crowd (Logikfehler Mix)

[snicketsquadron]

Dividing Lines

@henchpersonofindeterminatemorals liked for a starter from Jacques.

“You don’t have to do this you know.” Jacques said. Hoping he wasn’t going too far, he placed a hand on the henchperson’s shoulder. “It’s never too late to turn to the side of virtue. You’re not a bad person. I’ve seen it in you.”  

[nugothrhythms]

That’s a relatable sentiment. This is the title track off of Lonely in the Crowd by Dividing Lines

[chasingfigments]

fave sentence meme: Dividing Lines!

After much thought (and searching), I think one of my subtle favorites is this line from Rachel’s POV: It was too bad [Hyo-shin] wasn’t a second or third son, who could be easily passed over and cut loose to fritter away his time and his family’s money in less prestigious fields.

Rachel is more sympathetic than his parents, mostly definitely, but she also isn’t really questioning whether or not his parents’ should have such strict expectations at this point. She kind of knows that they’ve been harsh with Hyo-shin, but she really doesn’t get how bad this has been for him. So her sympathy comes out in that chaebol framework—too bad Hyo-shin can’t be a son who doesn’t matter.

[chasingfigments]

Can I be evil and ask for DL?

You’re not evil! XD And absolutely!

The very first thing that sprung to mind was this bit of Young-do’s dialog from chapter nineteen: “Come rescue me, Cha Eun-sang.”

I’d been planning the escape from the hotel for a couple months, and when it finally came time for Young-do to ask for help, I wanted to 1) use the favor she owed him and 2) still make it come across as teasing. So this sentence is—half command, half plea. Young-do needs to get out of the tower he’s holed up in, and Eun-sang is his knight in shining armor in this moment.

[chasingfigments]

IMO the plot in Dividing Lines is less important than the character development; not every good story needs a plot. Like Bildungsroman-ish TATBILB, which lacks a plot but is still wildly successful. People growing up, figuring out/making peace with things was the highlight of DL, and there’s so much growing up to be done by the kids who drew chalk outlines. Especially YD and HS, who are learning to heal themselves. Or Won, who made his marriage work. Stuff like that is what I love about DL.

Awww, but I like my plots! XD On a more serious answer, I honestly have trouble writing without a plot/external forces. Like, I say I wanna fix all the things character-wise that did not happen to my liking in the show itself, and I have a vague notion of what fixing actually looks like, but I don’t always know how I’m going to get there so that the healing can happen.

(Side note: I’m really happy that stuff about Won stuck out to you? I wrote like maaaaaybe a thousand words re: his marriage and I was really fucking proud of that, and I’m thrilled you remembered it.)

So, Young-do’s attempt to oust his father from Zeus is a plot all on its own, but really it’s just the catalyst for all of Young-do’s shitty teenagerdom coming back to bite him and for him and his mom to discuss the elephant in the room: her abandonment. But you remember that conversation they had? Where Young-do asks her to take him with her if she feels like she has to run? That was supposed to be my giant hint that I haven’t decided what his happy ending looks like yet. 

Right now, Young-do’s locked in his chaebol mindset. He has to fight his father for control of the company. That’s what he’s been taught happy endings are. But let’s be honest, he could sell off his shares of the company, toss them in a index fund, and live the rest of his life with his mother in a upper-middle-class lifestyle on the dividends. He could beat his father at the company games, which would be supremely satisfying because his father is a monster, or he could say fuck this, I’m going to finally let go of all the things that made me vicious. I don’t have to play by your rules anymore. Young-do’s happy ending in Dividing Lines is going to be about finally atoning for all his wrongs, being honest about how terrible he used to be, and believing he is might actually be a good person now. That’s what his plot is for–but I haven’t decided which path I want to take, so I’m frozen in indecision.

Everyone else has similar decision points that I have to deal with in order to get to what I think their happy endings should be–Hyo-shin needs to reach his breaking point re: his family and decide his own future, Rachel needs to carve a name for herself in her company (and deal with her romantic abandonment), and Eun-sang needs to forge a path of her own in life and decide for herself what she is and is not willing to risk for love (rather than have it decided for her). For some of these things, I haven’t decided yet what the ending place should be.

Like, I get you! I really do! But the way I envisioned DL from the get-go, all of this product placement, news-hunting, engagement for convenience, drama set stuff is the way I’m going to get all these kids to their happy endings. (I even want decent closure for Tan? And Joon-young? And you noticed the stuff for Won already, plus Ha-sun’s little speech about what Jageuk should have been until YD & Tan fucked it up–all those things were about pointing out the gaping wounds the show left/showing a path toward fixing things.) I’ve got to decide where I want these characters to finish, and then I’ve got to figure out what plot-ful things will get them there.