I really wish I could say that there’s a specific process of taking ideas and turning them into books. Honestly, I sometimes wish writing books didn’t involve…writing. HAHAHA. Because to me it’s that I have this fun idea in my head that I think my friends will love in a kilig way, and I just want to share it? In a way that will make them feel the way the idea made me feel.

ANYWAY.

What If?

It all started when I had the innate desire to write a co-habitation story. Most likely as a result of another re-read of pineconepickers’ Touch (An Intermission) which is probably my favorite fanfiction of all time now. The co-habitation! The yearning! The sex! I loved the comfort the two characters found in each other.

That and (at the time), a vague connection to a local celebrity and my move to a new place made me wonder what it would be like to be caught in their orbit.

But who? Why? I was ready to come up with all the ways to get another FilAm actor into the Philippines, expand on the Manila kids’ universe, kind of.

Take Inspiration

At the time when I was just finding the energy to start working on this, CNBLUE announced that they were going on an Asia tour! I think it was their first since the boys got out of the military, and they luckily had a Singapore stop at the same place Yoongi had his D-Day concert the year before.

So I booked a ticket, and all the things just started to click into place in my mind!

Thinking about CNBLUE and the band’s journey, and my long relationship with them eventually led me to remember the first time I ever went to Seoul–it was peak of my fangirling years with them, and I was willing to spend more to get their merch. It made me feel a little nostalgic for that time, but in the same way happy that I was old enough to be able to fly to see them in Singapore without feeling too guilty about it.

Which led me to remember my trip to Seoul with my sister early that same year, and the one I took two years before that. It was wild to me how completely different the same city seemed after ten years, since the first time I went.

Write the Book

This is a book about a 30-something girl who joins her brother as a “saling kit” on his work trip to Seoul. Him being totally unaware of her fangirl past, tells her when they arrive that–surprise–they’re staying in the house of her old bias. Chaos ensues. Romance happens. Haha.

So that’s basically it! Ideas and inspiration come from the world around you, and the more you keep interacting with it, the easier you might find the story you really want to write.

Oh, yes. And I finished writing this book already. 🙂 Announcement soon.