Ooooh I never get questions like this! Honestly, I think the number one best advice I can give is to be active on twt. Follow writers you like and people who post things you like, interact with posts beyond just liking, reach out to authors of the fics you enjoy and dm them and tell them how much you enjoyed their work(s). It can be a little scary, especially if you're shy like I am, but putting yourself out there is really the key. As you do this, you'll naturally pick up mutuals, and those easily form into friendships, and then you'll meet more mutuals and friends through them. You'll find writer friends specific through this process

It also helps if you use your fics to get involved in the community. Obviously, events are an option, but also making promo tweets/threads for your fics and tagging fic promo accs who will repost your promos helps circulate your fics. The more eyes on your fics, the more readers who will love them (yay) and sometimes those readers will reach out to you directly to tell you so and chat about your work(s). I'm pretty reserved about my circle, but many of the friendships and acquaintance-ships I have formed through receiving such DMs. Also, post other things not related to your fics; this could help increase odds of engagement over additional shared interest. What other groups do you like? What music, movies, shows, dramas, books do you like? Participate in those little trends that go around every now and then, like right now the dead dove tier list is a thing. These things help show your personal interests too. There are also discord servers, but I'm actively terrified of discord, so i can't really touch on that

All of this will help you out, but being super active and involved on twt is #1. Thanks for your question, and I hope you finds lots of good writer friends!! <3

I don't think I've ever actually had anyone tell me here or in DMs that they really like it lol. I have like 2 fics with no smut, and they don't really get any attention (just checked and they're both the lowest in hits and kudos of all my fics). Because of that, I kinda feel like............. what's the point. Like I know I'm not supposed to care about how a fic performs, but if it doesn't do well, then I feel like I've failed, so then I avoid doing the same thing again because I'm scared of the cycle repeating lol

What part of it did you like the most? The angst? The angst of cheating specifically? If you could elaborate further, I might be able to do something similar in the future!

This whole message is so lovely and nice but the last part is what made me feel the proudest HAHAHA

I actually just decided to start adding that to my normal links, and I honestly didn't know how long it would take for anyone to notice, and I'm so so so glad you told me that it worked on you. Like that actually just made my whole entire week!

Anyway - BACK TO BUSINESS - thank you!! I've always felt like atmosphere wasn't really my strong suit, and I had kind of just given up on trying to improve that because I felt I never made any progress, no matter how intentional I was trying to be. It's interesting to see that once I decide to just not focus on it, it seems to be pretty good lol

At this point, I've written a good number of unhinged characters, and usually I always have so much fun with it..... This Minho, though, is impossible to have fun with, and writing through his pov emphasizes that. I really wanted to lean into the creep factor (and there's more of this in ch 4, which is still currently a wip) to make him as sickening and disgusting as possible, and honestlyyyy it has taken a toll on me. I've written abusive relationships and noncon (though usually it's the porn-y kind where the victim ends up enjoying it by the end) before with no problem, but Minsung's dynamic in this is just in a completely different league. Writing this Minho has been so difficult, but I'm relieved to hear that it seems to be paying off. His creepiness, neuroticism, paranoia, self-centeredness - I wanted them all to be present and palpable so his pov could be fascinating. I guess in some ways I think of it as a lite version of a character study

Thanks for your message, I really appreciate it 💙

Thank you!! A lot of people seem to be asking me about this series haha but I promise there are going to be more parts! If I'm ever thinking about ending it, I'll definitely let you guys know in the A/N. Currently, I have a whole list of ideas for more parts, but I want to work on them gradually instead of all at once. There will absolutely be another part this year, maybe (hopefully) even 2 or 3.

Even pretty recently, I began writing a little bit of one (Obstruction of Justice), but I think that's gonna have to wait on the back burner for a while because I feel like other parts need to come first for it to really make sense. Right now, I'm trying to wrap up TSNC, and then after that will probably be a Chanlix fic (I'm thinking either a yandere vampire thing, or another idea I just came up with yesterday over on twt - an age gap omegaverse Vietnam War-era AU that takes place in the US South that's inspired by 'The Notebook' and The Zombies song, 'Time of the Season'). I'm quite literally drowning in fic ideas, but I really like working on COC in-between other stuff or whenever I don't feel like committing to a full-length multi-chaptered series, so it's not going to end anytime soon :)