This gonna be long... but bear with me. I will hold your hand when I told you this.

I suppose my approach to writing is fairly simple. First thing first, do I enjoy writing this? I always ask myself whether I want to explore the story further, whether I’m curious about where the characters will take me, and whether I would enjoy it as a reader. After all, I’m the first target audience audience of my own work.

Second, I believe every story should leave something for the audience to think about. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a complicated plot or some grand revelation. Sometimes, it’s as simple as wondering why a character made a certain decision, whether they could have acted differently, or what really led them to that point. I want people to have something to discuss after the story ends, something that makes them look back at what they’ve read and question their own understanding of it. Whether I always manage to achieve that is another matter, but it’s something I keep in mind.

As for the technical side, I won’t pretend that grammar and writing conventions are my greatest concern when I’m drafting. Of course, they matter, and I’ll make revisions when necessary. But if the story makes sense, the characters feel right, and I can convey what I intend to say, then I’m good.

My writing tends to lean toward descriptive and narrative prose. I enjoy taking my time explaining things. I like giving the reader enough context to understand the situation, make it as if they’re standing in the room with the characters, watching things unfold for themselves, isn’t fun?

I suppose that’s also why I spend so much time thinking about characterization. Human is complicated after all. Sometimes, a character makes a decision that even the audience disagrees with, but that doesn’t automatically make it a bad decision or bad writing don’t you think? It’s the character, you can’t read people and being right all the time. All decisions whether there’s a reason behind it or not, fiction or not, I don’t think we need to always put deeper meaning into everything.

That said, I don’t think every scene needs to carry some profound meaning, nor does every character have to be great or carry some grand mission. Everyone has something in their life that gives them purpose. Whether that purpose is big, small, fun, or even boring, let the writer have fun exploring their story.

Especially in OCRP, where we write for fun, I don’t think we need to take everything so seriously. Everyone has their own standards, writing styles, and methods. As long as nobody gets hurt, I think we’re all good.

That’s at least how I approach this.