you know i'm sure i've answered this question in the past but i cant find any of those answers and its been a long time since then, so it'll be fun answering it again. i know that i used to have definite answers for this but i think the way i approach writing has changed a fair bit since 3-4 years ago. i apologize for how long-winding this answer is about to be.

i don't really have a hard time with any pov character as such because im usually thinking of the plot/prompt/context within which im writing them. for instance, i wrote dahyun (twice) pov for the first time this year; and i also wrote yiren (everglow) pov for the first time. i don't remember struggling with either of them and that's not cause they're idols i feel like i know very well. i really don't. i just wasnt thinking of about their characterisation in absolute terms at all but more so relative to the fics i was writing. so with dahyun in the datzu piece, i was going off the job dahyun had in the fic i was remixing which was an exorcist, and her entire personality is based around her working with spirits a lot. then with yiren, i was thinking of a particular dynamic in sweet home, the show i was writing an au for, as well as the possibility of power play between someone who strives to be human vs someone who strives to be a monster, in a lawless world. whatever yiren feels and goes through in it is a result of the role she's assigned between the two. the world and the story im writing and how these characters fit into it dictate their povs rather than the other way round. even if there is no special world, its just a non-idol au where im examining a breakup, the circumstances of the breakup determine how the characters behave. (keep in mind, this is approach works for me because i write shorter fics)

so essentially, characterisation has become a much easier task for me than it used to be because i've begun to find the discourse around it, especially in rpf writing, a bit of a trap. 'will they do or not do this' is not a question that i enjoy getting into re: the idols i write about - doesn't mean i never get into it, but it's rare nowadays. it's also not an exciting question or one that comes naturally in my style or process of writing. my shorter stuff is mood or situation heavy, and my longer stuff is usually structured very specifically (drinking rounds/poetry sections/timelapses) so that i actually write the whole fic instead of giving up after a scene. and my brain runs logistics. im much more likely to be caught up on whether someone's hand or leg is placed weirdly in a scene im writing than whether they're going to push back or stay quiet in a situation because thats who they are/are not as a person.

we don't know these people, im not sure we even know their personas at times. of course im influenced by things they say and do, as well as fanon ideas of them. thats inescapable as someone on twitter and in general, fandom and rps/rpf spaces. but im equally influenced by things that have nothing to do with them - a line in a song, a hit tweet about a breakup, a drive i took last week etc.

but also...i cant deny writing idolverse/canon compliant kpop fic still has me ponder characterisation in the usual manner. its just that im not as rigid about putting people in situations that they might not seem to ever be in, in what we've seen of their lives on-cam. my compliancy is usually just very strictly to timelines of the group and idol, and rigid facts of events, comebacks, general calendered stuff. i give myself leeway to play with the personality as and how i can within the scenario.

i suppose within all these caveats if i had to pick povs i find hard to write, it would be idols who are easily emotional or (seem) open about themselves at all times, and idols who are "bright" and "fun". tapping into sadness or misery or anxiety or "i dont what im feeling" kind of ennui; or idols with a much richer inner life that we are probably not privy to is just a little easier for me - if im writing them for the first time, that is, or if im newer to a group.

i dont mind the question. which is have i seen a difference in engagement with my fics since I locked them last year, right? (as opposed to how I feel about unlocking them? i dont think that's what you're asking and if you are, well, no. i have no plans to unlock.)
and honestly no, i havent seen a great difference in engagement with my fics now versus pre 2023, not in a way that is evident to me anyway. but I do have to say, im a really small writer. engagement with my fics have always been low, when seen in the larger scope of fandom. the few times my fics have gotten crazy numbers due to fests etc the engagement has still been like. very small compared to other writers I know who write in these same fandoms. and none of this is said bitterly! i write weird pairings that overlap fandoms and consistently write painful themes primarily for myself. im always grateful to the friends and readers who do stick by me but I've had fics over 4-5 years that have next to no readers that still excite me cause i thought of something different and executed it. i hope I answered your question and that I didn't get too patronising there lol, not my intention.

thank you for that!! i am soooooo sorry to disappoint you with this but the process of writing it was arduous as hell. i am a very reluctant smut writer. every time i have done it, it has pulled my teeth out in the doing of it. i just get very technical about the logistics of it, the limbs and positions and spacing and get very caught in my own head. add to that, theee worst stretch of work in the months since may (still ongoing) and i had literally no time and no energy. i wrote this the week of posting after begging for an extension. sorry for the rant!! i suppose the only positive i can offer right now is that im very proud of myself for coming up with the link to carson's glass essay and going through with it. without that reference, i'd have been lost at sea completely. that reference is what tided me over and raised the wordcount probably, because it forced me to write multiple sex scenes instead of just the one breakup scene to actually sketch out what i was trying to say re: nahyo's relationship.

god, so many things! favourites are hard to pick, especially in the middle of a long dry spell as far as reading and writing goes. but yeah, obvious ones are grief and separation. slice of life in its most basic sense, so like, ordinary life being lived - cleaning, cooking, walking; just people doing the things they do everyday.

i feel like motifs are not hard sells to me. if fall for a writer's style and rhythm they can take me almost anywhere they want. i cant help but bring up haikyuu here. nothing, and i mean absolutely nothing about the genre, the setting, the tone, any of it, is among my preferences. i dont care for sports, let alone sports mangas. i dont care for optimistic protagonists or hopeful, almost euphoric storytelling. or so i believed until i read haikyuu. and now i beg everyone i can to read it and call it one of the defining stories i've read in my life. a volleyball manga. its unbelievable. i suppose it helps that a lot of it IS about people, very specifically sports playing high schoolers, doing their everyday things. it IS about grief, somehow, at the end of it all.

this is such roundabout way of saying idk what my favourite motifs are, i suppose. they change along with me. i grew up on fantasy fiction, cut my teeth on it and then some. but i dont gravitate towards heroic stories of that set archetype now. or if i do, its because the writer is exceptional. (im thinking iron widow here though calling it fantasy fiction is kind of a reach. what i probably mean is the broader idea of fantastical novels we had as kids i guess)

i love places. towns, cities, apartments, homes. just pockets that represent a character's desires, past history and everything. on a similar note, i love liminal spaces. cars, bikes, walks, elevators etc. love them even more when instead of showing movement or change in character they show the lack of it. instead show routine.

i love nature ie the natural setting but also atmosphere, climate, weather everything being important to scenes. and not just because they give a context/background to action.

i love friendship. thats an important one, actually. it doesnt have to be overt and articulated but even just the sense of knowing and belonging between people.

thats mostly all i can think of. and pain, of course!! especially in poetry and music, pain and repression are my best buddies that i love to see out. lmfao. hope i somewhat answered your question! <3