Hi hello💖 Ahh, pretty sure I remember your retro from back then!! The thing about saving moments or scenes or even sentences that resonate/are memorable is one of the best parts about reading. As the writers of the story, we're always knocking on the walls to be let in so we can see what you guys save😭 Anyways, yes, it's really interesting to know it's the scenes where he's falling apart that you're saving because those are probably the ones we've tweaked on so much but would preferably not look at without having at least a year or two worth of distance. Those moments are really raw and in some places, there are small bits of our own trauma scattered about.

It's both heartwarming and terrifying to know that readers relate to it or recognize themselves in those moments (and Mimo's character in general). For one, yikes that's me you're looking at and seeing yourself and that sucks for both of us, but on the other side, that at least means that the pain I've experienced and the traumas I've gathered aren't shared only by me but by someone else too, which makes it a lot less lonely and cold to sit in💖

Well, I can assure you that you've not been alone in being frustrated while reading FTN😅 It really can be a story that gets on your nerves because of the characters, but we agree, it's the beauty of FTN that everything and everyone is so messy all the time.

And I have to be honest here, some of the critiques some of the characters have gotten have been something we couldn't see or didn't know where stemmed from, but honestly, that's just great - we've just always encouraged people to speak kindly because there are people who relate deeply and personally to some of the characters and might get hurt if they feel like people are being too rough with their words. We're all human and flawed, just like the characters are and we all deserve some grace when it comes to critiquing traits that can be seen in real people too (btw this isn't directed at you, Camila, it's just something I wanted to add to the discussion).

FTN really is a story that needs patience because it has evolved into a character study and it's difficult to see the full picture without, well, having the full picture in front of you. The pack is pushy, yes, but there are reasons for it just like there's an explanation behind Minho's self-destructiveness, and some of those things are just part of who they are, and removing some of those aspects wouldn't remove parts of their identities which would just make them bland and flat characters. The important thing is that they care for and love not in spite of the hurt they've inflicted on each other but because of it.

And, like, wow it's a lot to know our fic is helping you, regardless of the capacity. As we always say, we're happy and over the moon with delight as long as our words bring some sort of comfort or happiness to your life. It's why we write and post, because we enjoy making people happy (or making them question a lot of things about themselves, but, hey, that's also part of the fun about writing. we didn't know we had some issues before Minho suddenly walked around with those problems and presented our weaknesses to everyone reading the fic😅 and don't even get me started on Chan's "gotta stay positive and keep everything inside even though the ship sinking with me on board" because I will cry)

Thank you for bringing your insight to the table, Camila, it's always great to hear from you💖 And don't worry, you were perfectly understandable and not confusing in any way. In fact, I think the confusing one here might be this bread🍞

It's always an interesting discussion, and every time it's brought up, something new gets added to the table, making everything even more interesting. And, yeah, can't really blame you for needing breaks from the story because of Minho himself - he's lovely, but even writing him can sometimes get infuriating because we just want him to heal, but he hasn't been ready for that until recently. Also, you're so on point about him, his heritage, and generational trauma. Personally, I think that if you relate to him or understand where Minho comes from it's difficult to truly and fully hate him without at least feeling sympathy for him. Of course, it doesn't excuse anything (both from the pack and Minho himself) but it does offer explanations.

Honestly, the clashing morals aspect of FTN is one we really struggled with because when we threw it on the poll, we expected it to lose, but it didn't and we got a bit scared about that. We didn't want to disappoint and clashing morals is kind of difficult to write without portraying antagonistic traits in everyone (and we're writing kpop fanfic here so if we cross the line and make someone too unlikeable the chances of death threats getting shipped to our door increases - it can be terrifying out here). So, yeah, we do view the clashing morals as more of a plot device because we wanted it to be an integral part of the story and to carry a lot of the plot/conflict.

Also, very much agree with you on your interpretation of what FTN is about!! Couldn't have put it better ourselves, it really is about showing 2 sides of the same story! Everyone needs to be shown some love and some grace here, especially our little traumatized guy😭💖

Hi hello💕 Thank you so much!!! And, well, it's always just been Minho or Jeongin from where the story creates itself around so we just write from their POV naturally because of that. I guess it's probably because we're the most inspired by those two so the chances of a story centered around them being brought to life are just higher than for another member. Also, those two just have that sort of keeping their hurt to themselves and keeping their facades high which is just so addictive to write and explore.

We'd like to crack into the Chan POV because there's something very interesting to play around with there but it's bit tricky to get his inner voice to work with our style - but we're getting there, one oneshot at a time!!!

Very curious to know which chapter you've reached because some of the things about werewolves and witches and their relationship with each other are explained in detail further into the story (After ch. 8 or 11 if I recall correctly, it's been a hot minute since skimming that part of the story). Witches and wolves aren't as oppressor/oppressed as you might assume, it's more of an oppressed/oppressed position (a lot of the things that happened to witches also happened to wolves at the hands of humans, and their history has a lot of similarities in that sense - the way they evolved and moved past those things are very different. In a way, and put very simplified, werewolves are emotional creatures and have worked on the generational trauma they experienced, whereas witches decided not talking about it was the right way to go - so essentially, the wolves turned it into generational healing where witches stayed in the trauma, perpetuating the circle of their own misery).

Of course, in modern society, witches keep to themselves for the most part and live outside of human/werewolf society and don't mingle for the most part (lower-ranked witches do, but witches with a rank like Minho's keep away from everyone who isn't a witch of the same rank as them - it's a safety precaution). It's a bit complicated and we've panicked about it plenty of times not making sense or coming across poorly

Anyways, you're right. Minho is very bad with feelings and his reasonings behind a lot of things might not make sense in the beginning, but that's because he's working with flawed reasonings. I can't really give you too much of why he's like he is because I don't want to spoil the story for you when I don't know how far you've come in the fic🙇

And, yes, of course, you can ask here if you have questions.

Uhuhu, this is one of the good ones. We had a lot of discussions about this in the beginning and especially around January/February there were a lot of retros about this. If you want to, you can go search for those on twt.

First things first, as with everything, interpretation is personal, and just because the author - in this instance, us - says something, it doesn't mean it's the law. If you disagree or feel differently about something, then that is part of the joy of writing and reading. You don't have to get forgiveness for your interpretation or your comprehension skills. If you read this answer and still want to punch Minho, then you've done nothing wrong, alright? Good, let's get into it.

All right, so, the point of the clashing morals aspect is that you, the reader, will align yourself with whom you think is morally correct in the scenarios. In most cases, it will probably be Chan because he's more community-centered, open-minded, and friendly. Most people will view Minho as a cold, self-centered prick who deserves everything bad coming his way. This isn't unsurprising, considering Minho is everything we - normal human beings living in the real world - view negatively, but for Minho himself he is acting like a witch would. Because to him, that is normal. Everything Minho does, all of his actions, opinions, and the norm system he's been raised in is vastly different from Chan's and the rest of us. He's a witch so he acts like one.

At the beginning of the fic, Minho was a very peculiar person, and most readers/commenters had a tense relationship with him - which is fair, he's certainly something. The longer you get into the story, the more you'll hopefully get to understand why he's miserable yet refuses to acknowledge why that might be. There's a reason behind that (some might even say trauma lies behind his behavior) so when he starts clarifying to everyone willing to listen to him explain that "Yeah it sure does look like me and this werewolf are getting comfy but it's just because he's annoying and I'm Normal™ so don't start thinking otherwise!" You're going to feel bad for Minho because he's clearly suffering, and you're an emphatic person, but you're also going to get frustrated with him because he's in pain but he keeps perpetuating this downward spiral and oh my fucking god he's doing it again and now he's causing a scene over something stupid, someone free Chan!!!

Minho isn't healthy and he's not in his right mind most of the time and he will continue to be willfully harmful to himself and to Chan and to the pack because he's self-destructive in the worst of ways (and really bad at communicating). FTN is a story where there's a lot of one step forward, two steps backward, and eventually the breaking point will be reached for all of them, just in different portrayals and caused by different triggers. It is an emotional rollercoaster and there will be points where you're going to be ready to hit us up and scream at us why everyone hates Minho or why everyone is willing to forgive him and that's the point. FTN is messy because real life is messy and we're just trying to explore that in a fantasy setting about witches and werewolves through cultural differences, norms, and generational trauma.

You're probably going to continue hating the witches for a long time and maybe by the end of the fic you're still going to hate them - and that is alright! You've seen a very limited part of what witches actually are in the FTN universe because Minho only surrounds himself with that kind of witch, just like you're going to love the werewolves. After all, you've been granted access to Chan's pack and they're wonderful so why start being afraid that other werewolves might be just as horrible as witches?

It's great you decided to come here and ask this because retro lends itself somewhat better to this than the comment section does - mostly because we suck at replying over there - and hopefully this gave you a bit of insight into how and why we've decided to go this way with the fic and where we're going with Minho💖