-> again, my all time favorite part of finishing every fic!! there wasn't a lot of lost stuff in this one because it's a short and sweet series with little leeway for change but the few that i did def made a ton of difference.
contains spoilers for WSD smau
the title was supposed to be "transfixed" but LG anon helped me think of a better one! hence the birth of "welcome, something different"
with that title (transfixed) the story was supposed to be more on the "obsessive" side, where han jisung becomes unhealthily attached to y/n (almost the same way that jeongin was in the OG fic) but i scrapped that because that's gonna be a bit too unjustifiable romantically if they end up together. plus jisung doesn't have enough of a "reason" to be dependent on y/n as jeongin did. so, i gave the semi-possesive nature to jeongin instead
there wasn't supposed to be a jeongin ending (obvi lol) but reading LG anon's thoughts on him made me realize how much i liked his character and decided to give him a happy ending
the "han jisung as a rich heir boy" plotline is lichrally quite stupid and outlandish and i really had no reason to put it in. it was just something that i squeezed in randomly and i wasn't supposed to make anything out of it (and almost removed it) but then i thought to commit to the idea, kinda
once again my most favorite time of the finales!!!
p.s. this is a long one!!
the kim brothers were only supposed to be wonpil and seungmin. i didn't know enhypen at the time but i found jake at just the right moment and saw that people say he looks like seungmin, so i was like—ok then! that being said, his character is sort of dispensable BUT i did like the trope i used for him (lowkey a bubbly airhead).
without jake, ryujin was supposed to be in a love triangle with y/n (and hyunjin?). but when jake got created, i loved his character sm and i figured i wanted to pair up a "boyish cool girl" with the "softie boy next door"
jake was supposed to be the other love triangle for y/n. but as i was writing him, he became too much of a "little brother" figure to y/n that i can't see them being involved romantically at all.
lia wasn't supposed to come back after chapter 6. i only made her as a fallout character—i.e. a friendship formed at the start of the school year which doesn't last long once you get to know yourself and other people in college. it happened to me, it happened to everyone. i wanted to portray that event. idk why i kept her around, i like to make characters suffer ig.
my other choice for the "eonnie" character is clc's yeeun, i love her look. i ultimately chose bibi because i love her music + she has the perfect amount of "spunky" look but can still look a bit soft.
something i've always reiterated: the art thieves heist wasn't supposed to happen. there wasn't supposed to be any felix and this was supposed to be just a fluffy enemies to lovers fic.
jisung was supposed to take jake's role of being the "second love interest" because jake became a little brother. but idk, things took a turn for the most complicated lol. i didn't mean to make him a criminal.
seungmin and hyunjin were supposed to have a fallout of friendship (something with misaligned morals) but ultimately, i figured that their friendship is too precious to be broken. (hence why i added ryujin in hyunjin's friend group roster). but even though i didn't follow through this plan, i still wrote in the 2jin friendship because i thought it was an interesting dynamic.
seungmin was supposed to be the bad guy. but i think i liked his character being "morally grey", scummy but not full-on. he passes through the ethical loopholes of morality.
nayeon was supposed to die. 🍕pizza anon stopped me last second in adding more angsty death. i almost didn't add her in the bonus chapters to "insinuate" it or at least, for people to form their own endings in that aspect. but i think with her character, it would be unsatisfying if she just gets yeeted into the void.
hyunjin and his father, i purposefully didn't write any cathartic confrontation between them because that's just life. i thought about it, but ultimately, no. i think with just those few words said between those lines, everything can be explained on it's own. (his father saying he supports hyunjin's decisions no matter what. hyunjin realizing that his father is also hurting, as pointed out by y/n. hyunjin still respecting his father's opinions by telling him he's gonna leave).
hyunjin's family life was supposed to be more complicated. his grandmother was supposedly going to take him out forcibly from school to "take care of him" but they'll force him to go to business school, which hyunjin doesn't want to do, so he'll end up trying to financially support himself and live his own life pursuing art. i scrapped this because hyunjin has had enough suffering. plus it would've stretched out the fic longer and i don't want that.
hyunjin's therapist wasn't supposed to exist. but during that time, i was talking a lot to my sister so i created the character in her likeness + i used it as a way to deliver the story through hyunjin's eyes. we gotta be smart with smau narratives lol.
y/n's foreigner friend was supposed to be seungmin (o.de) and there was supposed to be this whole schtick about having two seungmins but i think jooyeon fits the role of the weirdo friend better. i can't really imagine o.de being such a bro dude like jooyeon.
lia x jae was supposed to happen but the age gap was a bit too iffy. plus it would be contradictory of jae to date someone that young when he made such a big deal out of wonpil and bibi's relationship. bottomline is, i remember by characters' moral codes.
lia wasn't supposed to end up with anyone but i felt bad after making her suffer. hence i gave her "implied" ending in the bonus chapters. didn't feel like committing to it too much.
jooyeon was supposed to be a character to make hyunjin jealous but he became too much of a comedic gag that i just couldn't see any romanticism in him at all. worked out tho ig.
felix was supposed to double cross jisung and betray him. he was going to sell him out to brian in exchange for his own freedom but i think i wanted to put some importance in felix and jisung's bond. jisung grew up alone and was raised to takeover his father's scummy business, it's not unlikely for him to get attached to the first friend he makes. same for felix, kinda.
when felix double crosses jisung, he was supposed to die in the hands of jisung's men (in their company ig) but i didn't want felix to die. i loved his character so much, i gave him his own series spin-off (see you all in happy death day!)
i wanted to make a deeper connection between jooyeon and hyunjin but i just couldn't take his character seriously.
wonpil and bibi was supposed to be in cahoots with the saving-felix situation but i think the kims value loyalty too much. wonpil wouldn't do that. plus, i like the implication of having two lovers still keeping secrets from each other. ultimately, i'll leave it to the readers to imagine what happens when wonpil finds out.
there was supposed to be a cute twix bouquet scene in the airport but i don't think it would've been justified since they were still both in denial about their romantic feelings.
hyunjin and y/n wasn't supposed to end up together but after such a long ride, i figured why not? hence why the ending was a cliffhanger and they don't actually get together until years later (bonus chapters).
i thought about making nayeon a love interest for hyunjin but i valued their friendship to my heart. in hyunjin's shoes, it would've been too messy if i made him fall in love with nayeon when they've took him in like family. she's always been a big sister from the start.
i didn't really plan nayeon x jae from happening. it just did.
the story of hyunjin's parents is something i got from real life (not mine though). so i really wanted to center a lot of the themes around family trials.
y/n was supposed to be in gourmet cooking and hyunjin in digital arts. lmao idk why.
the whole art concept is something inspired from the kdrama "her private life" (one of my faves).
jisung wasn't supposed to reappear until bonus 3 (felix's teaser) but i missed him too much. i wanted to write him an implied redemption arc.
park jinyoung is jyp. sorry not sorry.
never planned seungmin x y/n from the start. everyone just started shipping them. y'all don't get what you want.
seungmin wasn't supposed to leave and become a lawyer. he was supposed to keep staying as a character and become a professional photographer but everyone ended up liking seungmin so much that i had to kick him out (y'all did this to ehaloj seungmin too, istg, y'all never learn).
all in all, this was supposed to be a fluffy high school e2l fic and that hyunjin and y/n's parents are baker rivals. romeo and juliet style but idk. we get what we get.
i probably forgot to mention other stuff but tumblr keeps messing up my typing so meh.
minho smau plot hooks that almost happened but i couldn't find a good way to incorporate it better into the story (that i kinda regret i didn't add but also i'm glad i didn't because i was able to finish it faster):
spoilers ahead.
jisung and shuhua's "love" arc - i ultimately concluded it in a shorter way though it was supposed to be longer— i changed my mind because in jeongin's smau, i already paired jisung with another character and ig i didn't wanna make it too obvious that i love jisung so much i want him to be happy always. but it was also such an obvious rip-off from the stranger things hook that i didn't wanna dwell on it too much (called myself out, at least).
hyunjin falling in love with y/n - again also something in the fic that i cut shorter, i'm kinda mad that i didn't get into this better but also ig it's fine(???). but also with his personality, ig it didn't make much sense for me to make such a huge focus on it.
xiaojun - this one i removed entirely. fully intended for him to be another love rival but i thought since hyunjin is already a ""love rival"" i didn't wanna include another one in. also he's been flavorless (didn't know how to write him in) so i think it didn't really matter. but now i wish i DID write him in because hyunjin technically doesn't even count as a love rival since i didn't focus on that. all in all, it's probably because i wanted minho to be the main focus because if i write them in too much, you guys might end up liking them more (ya'll won't fool me into making alternate endings anymore)
personal character arcs - i got lazy. i wish i had more time for character development but ig i'll do better in other fics.
felix becoming famous - i don't even know why i thought of this, i just thought it would've been funny but i changed my mind because i couldn't think of anything more from it other than a funny one-off bit where he's not used to being popular. it would've happened after lucas posted pics of felix from the party then people find this hidden gem of a cutie but then i dropped it because why not.
lucas and yuqi - they were going to be y/n's new pals after shuhua broke off the group but then i thought "why?" so nevermind. fully intended for them to lowkey adopt y/n which was cute but i couldn't think of things they'd say or do that felix wouldn't already.
jisung being a famous youtuber - was literally never mentioned again after the first few chapters. not even a key personality point that mattered in the story, i just love jisung. i had nothing of interest planned for this specific detail.
with how mEtiCuLoUsLy i made HDD, there wasn't much lost hooks but it's still fun either way!
(curiosity killed the cat) - the first draft of HDD, obviously things would've been so so different and the series would've been comedy-focused rather than angst-focused but i think felix's story fits this tone better
was preparing a soojin x jungsu and a momo x dowoon plotline but got too lazy and they didn't matter much anyway
was supposed to make a gaon x nana x jungsu love triangle but again, i got too lazy and didn't even bother making more scenes for the gaon x nana thing anyway
i actually considered killing off a character!! (gaon)
when y/n moves back to the city, there was supposed to be another arc/plotline where she navigates through her high society life again and felix comes to her rescue but i ended up scrapping this because it feels redundant
a longer jealousy arc for lucy and felix and y/n— again, scrapped it because i'm bad at writing that
considered making minho as buzzkiller but decided that it's inconsistent for his character (he isn't the type to incite direct chaos)
wasn't going to make chan a bad guy but i got tired of goodguy!chan characters
didn't want to give minho red flags in the beginning either but for some reason, i like tainting likeable nice guy characters
since i did this with my minho smau, i might as well make it a regular occurrence!! so i hereby present:
jeongin smau plot hooks that almost happened but didn’t
spoilers ahead
yeji ending up with eunwoo instead— he made her feel loved and understood and heard, i made him such a nice guy that it just made sense for them to end up together but i just love jisung too much. i’m such a sucker for the 🤪😜boy and 😒😡girl trope.
the pageant alternates— there were so many different endings i thought of in regards to the pageant, so here’s all of them. 1) y/n actually winning the pageant 2) jeongin winning the pageant but taking y/n on stage with him as his queen 3) juyeon quitting the pageant altogether
seungminho— i initially thought of getting 2min to advance to the final round rather than felix and haechan but then, i wouldn’t have had any routes to make felix find excuses to be closer to y/n. also i wanted to add some more non-skz dynamic into my fics even though i’m an skz-centric blog.
jisung’s comeback— narratively, i planned for jisung to be the one who comes back in the running for mr. campus because i wanted that to be his grand gesture moment to win yeji’s heart back but hyunjin won the poll lmfao. and also, i think i liked the way it had happened— with yeji choosing herself until she was mature enough to know what she truly wants, i think it speaks out to me more.
felix vs. hyunjin— with regards to the love triangle, at the back of my head i was thinking of making hyunjin the second “love interest” again but i decided against it because i didn’t want to write their friend group having a falling out— plus it didn’t make sense after they had already moved on last season and i didn’t wanna write hyunjin as a “bad guy”. i decided on felix instead because he’s the most unexpected + hard to hate. also, after i changed felix to be in love with y/n, i was gonna make hyunjin all pissy at him because he’s all about #jeonginbestboy, i had a whole ‘dark hyunjin’ trope written out but then again, it didn’t make sense for him to threaten felix, i think the way he reacted so emotionally was the best route.
jiyeun— wasn’t supposed to make a reappearance but i wanted more drama so-
the future careers— idk why but i also spent a lot of time thinking about the five year timeskip details, namely, jisung was supposed to be a famous singer/songwriter instead— but i didn’t wanna make everyone too famous. juyeon would’ve been a professional athlete— but i forgot that i didn’t really establish his baseball background a lot. yeji was gonna be a regular corporate worker— but i wanted to show how she got through her insecurities by making her confident and work in a competitive and mentally draining industry.
jeongin and y/n not ending up together— so initial plan was for jisung to do a grand gesture in the pageant and get yeji back but meanwhile jeongin and y/n aren’t able to fix their relationship but would be the couple that gets together five years into the future— i scrapped this because i wanted the climax to be centered around the main characters and also because i’m pushing the #jeonginbestboy narrative and i didn’t want ya’lls to get any funny ideas on different ships 🤨
(contains spoilers for chapter 26-the halloween ball).
in true ash fic fashion, here are the lost plot hooks after every series (except ehaloj isn’t done yet and it didn’t really have any lost hooks because i wanted to incorporate everything in this fic so i figured i’ll just show my drafting process in how i wrote the written chapter and which parts i changed).
my thinking process is a bit unorthodox but it works 🙈 i’m sure a lot can relate.
changed parts:
seungmin and y/n weren’t able to dance together :( so sad. i cut that part off because they already had so many cute moments together + i wanted smth bittersweet
hyunjin is changed to jeongin as king of the halloween night, just for funsies. i think the “mr. popular boy yang jeongin” running gag is something that i’ll commit to, just because.
hyunjin is changed to chan who rescued y/n backstage. the initial plan was that hyunjin won the crown and was going to get yuna backstage but then catches all of them instead. i don’t know, i kinda didn’t like that part and it felt unsatisfying— i wanted the super duper secret agents to be the one to finally catch yeji especially since they’ve been working hard for it. i didn’t want to close the yeji arc with some mere twist of fate + president chan hasn’t been around much so i wanted to give him some fluffy moments too.
overall, not a lot was changed/lost because i’m really putting my all into this fic (hence why there’s long breaks in between some of the updates) and i’m glad a lot of people are loving it too ^^. next updates will come soon and then the season wrap-up aND thEN a short break before season 2!!!! it’s true to a netflix series fashion hehe, ya’lls gotta wait. but as per my calculations, with all of the plot arcs i have planned for this smau, i think it might span up to a 4th season 🤧.
ALSO, since i feel so annoyed about this and it's so funny that it's such an asinine detail that i hated so much:
the reason why i ended with a christmas themed chapter is because i fully intended for this to last up until november/december. i ultimately cut a lot of irrelevant plot hooks that didn't really make such a big difference and was conveyed in a shorter way.
but let's just pretend that i'm currently in the christmas spirit already since it's september, that makes sense right.
