#i was legit talking to my bf today as im writing this sanji fic like damn. i love zeff so much.

[revasserium]

Rain when you're writing a longer fic or a slow burn, how do you write in the other characters life when the love interest isn't there? I did I plotline, based of what happens in each episode in the series but I always fall short on what the main character is doing or supposed to be doing 🤣 like I want to establish friendships as well outside of the love interest to give the story more depth.

putting under a cut to spare the dashes! :)

so i’m assuming you’re talking about like in a fic when the mc/reader is interacting with someone other than the LI or when the LI is interacting with someone who’s not the mc/reader, right? in that case, here’s a couple of things to keep in mind:

a lot of a relationship’s development actually happens outside of the main two ppl directly interacting with each other, right? like think about when ppl joke about a guy texting a girl, and he’s texting all her girlfriends too cause they’re all dissecting his texts and brainstorming how to text back — but it’s literally how people interact!!!

make sure that you’re writing about the characters as much as you’re writing about the relationship the characters are in/gonna be in — if the character is flat, then no one will care about if they’re in a relationship or not, right? we’re out here yodeling about fictional ppl being in fictional relationships bc we have their OTHER fictional non-romantic relationships to give us context on who they are as people/characters — how zoro interacts with sanji and nami and luffy are all very different, but they all give us insight into who he is around different types of people. and from there, you can piece out how he would be around mc/reader, depending on the kind of person she is. the reverse is also tru — how mc/reader interacts with the other canon characters will give us (the ACTUAL readers) clues into her personality, etc

sometimes, you need the comedic relief — sometimes, you need the peanut gallery! sometimes, you want the fucking ppl in the background muttering to each other about these two idiots in love who REFUSE to acknowledge their own feelings so that the audience can feel vindicated in their own !!!!!!! that mc/reader and the LI are indeed idiots!!!! right like the other characters can act as kind of like the “chorus” in a greek/roman play who echo the audience, and those interactions are super important too!

friendships are just as if not MORE important than the romantic relationship!

in the same vein, enemies/coworkers/acquaintances/teachers/etc etc etc anyone who might inhabit the world around the main character(s) orbit is and can be interesting to the story if you allow them to be. you can get some really good supporting cast in there and they might actually start to steal the show LOL (death before decaf is a good example of the ensemble cast going a bit nuts imo LOL — i had a lot of fun with that one and i think most of the length actually came from me having fun trying to picture how the op cast would fit into a college campus au)

have fun with it!!!!! it’s not that srs!!! <3