1. I'll try my best to simplify it. So first things first you need an idea before you can do anything. I'm going to use sweet n' sour as I walk through this so spoilers if you haven't read it. Also I wanna say MOST of mu fics don't follow this structure, sweet n' sour accidentally had a solid plot that hit the key elements lol.

Idea: In a post-apocalyptic setting with an ecological disaster causing the omegaverse, Jisung, a city-dweller with OCD, steals from Minho's pack and is caught. He pays off his debt through free labor, discovering a life outside pure survival.

This is where I go in and describe the general premise of the story, highlighting some key elements. More specifically I focus on the character's problem, want and need. Every POV/important character that will have a complete character arc needs these three things. In Jisung's case.

Problem: He is caught stealing and has to work off his debt
Want: To belong in his pack/be accepted
Need: Love/acceptance

Generally the need is one of ten universal things. "Love and acceptance" is very broad after all. Another way to look at it is with the following three questions:

Problem: What stands in the character's way? (Jisung's debt)
Want: What does the character think they need to be happy/fix their problem (pretty much always external)
Need: What does the character actually need to be happy/fix their problem (internal)

Note: a character's problem, want, and need change throughout the story. It doesn't always have to be one set for the entire story.

Once you have that figured out this is where I write down everything I want in a story in my notes app on my phone. I just think of every scene/dynamic I want to include. For example in Sweet n' sour I wanted a free use scene (that didn't happen), but I also wanted him being trapped in the haze, the secondary gender reveal, the cellar, Jisung's heat, the puzzle sorting (all of which did happen). I usually plan the story out in my head for months before doing this part so I usually am overflowing with ideas.

When I have a solid grasp of the vibes. I use the seven-plot structure and match to the key elements from my brain dumb. I used to use three-act plot structure (beginning, middle and end) but personally it felt too vague. As a warning, most ff's start on the inciting incident and skip the "establishing normal" because we already know the characters.

~ this is an important scene
[ ] this is for things that happen in between the important points

~ Hook: First page where you're establishing character, setting, and possibly the first signs of the problem.
[first 10% of a story]: establish what is normal for the character. Who are they? What do they want? Why haven't they achieved it? What is standing in their way?

~ Inciting Incident: What triggers the character's life to change? This is why the story starts where it does. This is also known as the call to action, so a character chooses a different path in exchange for thinking it will solve their problem
~ Pinch point 1: First plot point that adds pressure to the character. It usually reveals some new information and adds stakes to the story.
[fun and games]: put whatever you want here. keeping in mind everything that has happened prior and where the character continues to grow and develop.
Midpoint: The trajectory of the story drastically changes. Either a key point is revealed or the dynamics of the characters change. This is done so now the character must keep moving forward with a new perspective. This should challenge everything that the character believed up to this point. This is also when they should start doubting their want and their need should be more prevalent.
Pinch Point 2: The stakes are raised even higher. They might have realized what they truly need but either be unwilling or unable to achieve it. This should push them toward changing their worldview and in turn growing as a character. This is also where you oftentimes see third act breakup.
[rising action]: pressure is building as the character struggles with what to do. Knowing if they make the wrong choice they could lose everything or return back to where they started. This also oftentimes enters the lowest point of a character's journey.
Climax: The scene that decides everything. The character makes a choice or accomplishes what they need to finally fulfill their need. They don't always get what they want. They don't even always fix their problem. But as long as they get their need they have grown enough to deserve it.
Resolution: the fun bits afterwards where they live in the aftermath.

This is assuming a happy ending (it's all I write) but in some capacity it can still be sad. A character can get what they need and lose everyone they care about.

Sweet n' sour
Hook: Technically the first very telly paragraphs but that's horrible practice for published books
inciting incident: Jisung is captured.
Pinch point 1: Jisung agrees to work off his debt
Mid point: Jisung is an omega reveal
Pinch Point 2: The elders requesting Minho mate with someone else and put pressure on the pack
Climax: Jisung's breakdown on the kitchen table (although it was anti-climactic
Resolution: Jisung and Minho mate

From there I flesh out my outline. I go through in order of the scenes I want to add, usually getting more vague with the later ones but making sure I have all the stuff in between and am hitting the seven key scenes. I also try to add important character growth scenes and character relationship moments. All character relationship growth should be on screen. So if Minho and Jisung have a bonding moment that makes the closer, I try to add it in to this outline. I sit on this outline for a few weeks making sure it's good and editing changes as ideas come to me. This would also be a good time to write up the character's backstories but I'm more of a pantser when it comes to that. I go with the flow :)

Lastly from here, I just write. I usually write in order and the recommendation is to write a few scenes to get a feel of the characters but I just write them out of character and then rewrite the first few scenes in the next draft because I feel like it's a more natural progression for me personally. Also when I write, I need to see a scene in my head before I can write it down. So I plan the future scenes in the shower or as I'm falling asleep. Thinking up some dialogue or character interactions.

Then as I write I change the outline but generally keeping the seven plot points in mind, knowing I want to hit them (or I'll change them). It's also good to give side characters problems/wants/needs but they don't all need full character arcs. Giving too many of them full character arcs might actually take away from the main character's growth.

Hope that helped! It's also important to remember that not all plots are made the same and it's good to know the rules when you break them, but you should definitely not stick to it because it's the "right way" to do it. I write mental health plots which vary vastily from action plots with antagonists because oftentimes my characters are their own antagonists. Jisung's biggest antagonist was himself and his self-sabotaging.

1. ah yes "research". Unfortunately, it's kinda personal experience too. The PTSD. I also write so much about mental health, I'd be sad if it didn't come off as realistic. Also yes, they will be okay (peep the angst with a happy ending tag)

That was one of the trigger warnings I actually forgot to add for a solid 20 min and panicked when I saw it wasn’t there 😭. As for your question, in the chapter it mentioned that Chan was cheating behind Jisung’s back and telling Seungmin they were in an “open relationship” and then Jisung chose to stay with him. So morally Seungmin didn’t know any better. As for Jisung staying with him as much as it sucks to say and as much as neither of us might not do it in his stead there a lot of people choose to stay with their partners after they cheat. In this case Jisung stays because of literal years of emotional abuse and manipulation. Chan diminished his self-worth to being so non existent that Jisung felt Chan cheating was the best he was ever gonna get.

The justification for Seungmin is that he didn’t know and still doesn’t know that Chan was cheating, he thought Jisung consented because Jisung played along with the open relationship to keep Chan.

It’s important to remember that Jisung date Chan for 8 years. In those 8 years Chan abused him so much he won’t react like a regular person. Even more so saying that “he should’ve just left” is what a lot of abuse survivors hear and the response is often times “it’s not that simple” because it is extremely difficult to leave an abusive relationship. Sometimes because the abuser didn’t always act that way so they are clinging to a hope that the person they fell in love with will come back.

Characters don’t always act in the same way we would because their experiences and environments are fundamentally different

It depends. Some fix I plan super heavily and others not so much. This one has been going a bit off vibes and I plan the next chapter ahead before writing it. But here is what my process was slash is for congratulations.

First I made an outline: took like 40 min and was about 2k words. It had the general things I planned (the backstory, Jisung’s miscarriage, Minho being mean). It’s usually a bunch of scenes I’m interested in having and key plot points, then I fluff up stuff in between being vague where I need to be.

However I went so far off script (usually I’m not this bad at sticking to it) that I kinda abandoned the outline (which also usually doesn’t happen). If you want I can share the original/attempted revision of the outline which I am no longer using. Like Minho was supposed to be mean a lot longer and then guilty for a while. Felix wasn’t a relevant character. Chan was more prevalent stuff like that. It sounded good in my head and on the outline but no longer fit the vibes.

The second reason I’m not really using the outline in the way I usually do is because I have a bad writer habit of rushing my endings and it’s because I usually stick too much to my outline and my outlines usually get more vague the closer to the end I get to allow room for change. Unfortunately that means my endings are rushed. So now I’m really focusing on not doing that so we’re letting it flow naturally.

So usually with or without a proper outline I plan out the scenes of the chapter I’m about to write…so to be super vague the next chapter has

[ ] talk in the kitchen
[ ] closet
[ ] Jeongin/choclates/album

Each of those would usually have a sentence or two (I just don’t want to spoil) and then depending how actually writing goes I may delve into more depth as I write or skip over scenes entirely.

In my head I have a rough outline of the last 4 chapters of this fic but I don’t have it concretely written anywhere. What I usually do is edit the outline as I write but that hasn’t been happening lol.

When I write to publish a real book I do everything way differently. I actually use plot structure, make sure my outline hits the seven points, make sure my characters have a want, need, and a problem. Stuff like that. The closest fic of mine that has something like that is sweet n sour, but most of my fics are no plot just vibes (aka angst) which ya know we’re not reading fics for the literary structure of a book. So I didn’t include my more complex book planning outline process in this write up, but if anyone’s interested I can talk about it and explain how sweet n’ sour follows it.

Nah you’re totally right! Mimo had a really tough time and we are limited by jsvng’s pov on how bad it was but we’ll get some more insight next chapter (once I write it lol).

Mimo not only was working two jobs with long hours but he had the main emotional labor of taking care of jsvng. Yes Hyunjin, Jeongin, and Felix helped out, but Minho was the one who primarily blamed himself for the fallout. Minho was exhausted mentally and physically and when he’d return home from a grueling day knowing he would have to be up in four hours and just saw Jisung acting innocent but only being a shell of his former self.

Jisung who hated Minho for so long because of how MINHO mistreated him, yet he called him “his alpha” and he would be nice to him because Jisung’s brain was protecting him from the trauma. Having to deal with THAT on top of Jisung’s bad days when he remembered too much and freaked out, he would insult Minho and throw a tantrum when Minho, and everyone around them was constantly making financial and mental sacrifices for Jisung. It was exhausting.

That’s why when Jisung “woke up” Minho sleeps so much. He’s drained from months of stress and debilitating exhaustion. He would come home and cry because he dreaded the fact that he would have to do this on repeat for an unknown amount of time with only seeing marginal improvements. Ten months is an extremely long time to endure such a stressful environment and even if Minho wanted to give up, he couldn’t. Jisung was relying on him and Minho blamed himself. So he felt like he had to fix it.

So even though Jisung only understands a fraction of Minho’s suffering, Minho went through a lot for him. His mental health probably wasn’t much better, but it was more like his body finally crashed the second he quit his second job and could relax and breathe.

But then Jisung did start to get better, he would act more lucid and smile more (like with the kids piano) and that made it better. Jisung grew more emotionally attatched but to Minho there was always a sense of bitterness because he felt like it wasn’t the real Jisung, it was a Jisung that hadn’t forgiven him for his past transgressions and although he could live in this fantasy land where Jisung cared about him and viewed him as his, it didn’t feel real. That’s why when they did sleep together Minho was so adamant that it was what Jisung wanted. He didn’t want his own desires to overshadow Jisung’s consent because he had been faced with so much undeserving love from Jisung that he felt like he had a responsibility to ensure that Jisung properly forgave him and wanted him.

But then again we are very limited by Jisung’s pov lol