KAT Jinsquishes : LIVE FROM JBC

 

HAnging Rememberance : Heart to Heart with Kat

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HAnging REMembrance: Heart-to-heart with KAT

Kick-Ass, Authentic and Talented. This is how we can best describe her. The newest installment in the Jinkook Book Club's Live Interviews is with an author most known for her love of the Jin Harem and her latest take on the interactive au format on Twitter where the harem is put into focus.

This author has notable works in almost all Jin ships from their Yoonjin Au 'Love in the Time of Quarantine' to yes, Jinkook with their latest short but sweet and chaotic au about the iconic Jinkook selca we got earlier this month.

Aside from her writing process and aus, she gets real about being asexual while writing within the stan community; citing insights and experiences she's gained along the way, and what she hopes people could understand better about the ace community, in general. She's since come out earlier this year, and we were lucky enough to get to discuss this personal and important topic with her, in the hopes that readers everywhere  may learn something from it.

Without further ado, JBC proudly presents KAT also known as jinsquishes in the Twitter-verse and AO3. This 29-year old author gets real with JBC about her works and stance. With a genuine person like her, the interview feels like catching up with an old friend. 

JBC: What is your favorite trope?

KAT: Friends to lovers, urban fantasy magical realism, fluff and humor

JBC: What are your thoughts about writing real person fiction? What are some of the challenges you face while writing rp fiction?

KAT: A lot of people are very invested in the “correct dynamic” between people. With OC’s, you can create any story you like with any dynamic, and while to a certain extent that’s still true with fic, people do have expectations that characters will follow patterns that are fandom-accepted characteristics of the boys. I know for me personally, I don’t like reading Jin depicted in certain ways that don’t seem right based off how I’ve interpreted him, and so I do feel an added pressure to basically not “do them dirty” and mess up how I’m depicting BTS

JBC: How do you differentiate from their real life personalities and the one in fiction?

KAT: Ultimately everything I write is fiction. I think fic is all well and good as long as people remember that it remains in a safe space on the internet that’s meant for fun fandom daydreaming and nothing more. I have no illusions about the stuff I write having anything to do with the real boys, and even when I write canon compliant, it’s more of a “wouldn’t it be nice if…” type of idea

JBC: How do you choose the topic for the story? How did it help you decide on the title?

KAT: Usually when I write, titles come last. Honestly I hate titling fics, it’s a weakness of mine, and I normally just try to slap something cute or lyric related onto it.

JBC: Was there anything personal to you that helped inspire the story?

KAT: I’m often inspired by media or personal stories when writing. I’ll be waiting for a train and then think “aw wouldn’t it be sweet if 2seok met by falling asleep on a train together” and a little drabble comes out of it. Or, I’ll watch a drama, or listen to music, or even watch fanvideos that move me in some way and I start building ideas out from there. The current fic that I’m writing is based off the k-drama Goblin as well as one of my favorite book series Abhorsen. I like pulling ideas and then building off from there and making them my own.

JBC: How do you decide how a character reacts to certain situations?

KAT: Normally I’ll outline a scene and know where I want it to go but not necessarily figure out the nitty gritty details on how the characters get there. So instead I start writing, and then I’ll have to pause and basically go into a sherlock style mind palace and imagine the scene, figure out how the characters would react, and what the dialogue would sound like. Sometimes I get stuck and have to go for a walk or take a shower, my brain works in mysterious ways

JBC: When talking about difficult or sensitive subjects, what precautions do you take in making sure that it’s not overstepping any boundaries?

KAT: I try to do a fair amount of research to make sure I’m giving any sensitive subjects an appropriate amount of respect, but I also will put an author’s note at the beginning to warn people. I’m not an expert, and am ultimately just writing fic for fun, so I feel like once you make that clear to the readers people are more understanding. There also is some stuff that I just won’t write because I know I don’t have enough lived experience to do it properly.

JBC: What are your favorite characters in the story? If so, why?

KAT: In all of my social media aus, there’s always a character that’s perpetually just “done with people’s crap”. That’s usually my favorite character. In my first Jinkook AU it was their manager, who bless his soul was an absolute saint. I’ve had Namjoon or Yoongi take on that roll a few times as well, but it’s always fun to write that.

JBC: Are the characterizations based on their real personalities?

KAT: Yes and no? I’ll pull bits and pieces from real personalities, or try to have certain dynamics represented (yoonjin will forever be eternal roommates and best friends in my fics) but I think that ultimately since it is fiction, you’re allowed to have creative liberties with their characteristics. 

JBC: What made you decide on their personalities?

KAT: I normally fixate on certain aspects that I like or relate to and build from there. For Seokjin, I almost always will have him use humor as a shield to hide insecurities, but with a really soft underbelly that has a lot of warmth and love. For Jungkook, he’s usually a rambunctious guy who is eager to prove himself and show how talented he is to the people he loves. You can see how those characteristics relate to BTS, but it’s almost like the first building block, and then from there you add on more that’s relevant to the story.

JBC: If you could continue (create a prequel / sequel) of any story, from whose POV would you write it and why?

KAT: I have a couple stories I think this could be fun for. My quarantine Yoonjin fic, showing how the two led up to their (almost) divorce, or for my Jinkook fake boyfriends social media AU, I think it would be fun to see Jungkook’s POV as a kid falling in love with Seokjin.

JBC: Why did you choose to write Jinkook? What came first when you wrote the stories; the pairing or the plot?

KAT: It depends on the fic. Often, when I come up with ideas, they’re already tied to the pair. I’ll get ideas for specific scenes and the boys will already be in them, fully formed, yelling at me to finish it. 

JBC: What do you like about the pairing/dynamic?

KAT: I just love Jinkook a lot. I love how Seokjin gets so goofy and sweet with Jungkook, and how he goes out of his way to put a smile on the younger’s face. And then Jungkook’s “Seokjin-hyung smile” is unbeatable, the boy clearly absolutely adores Seokjin. I love plots that evolve around person a taking care of b until b grows up and starts taking care of a. That is a really fundamental aspect to a lot of my jinkook stories. 

JBC: Did their dynamic impact the plot of the story?

KAT: Absolutely yes. The stories with different people would look completely different. 

JBC: Why did you choose to write the side pairings? What do you like about the pairing/dynamic?

KAT: I honestly like all BTS ships, but there are ones that I’m a bit more fond of, at least when it comes to writing. I really love Namseok and Vmin, though I’m also partial to Minjoon and Sope. Normally I start with the main pair and then when I start building out the rest of the plot the side ships make themselves known.

JBC: Did their dynamic impact the plot of the story?

KAT: Sometimes yes - the fic I’m writing right now has some pretty important plot related to side ships. But not always. I think with social media AUs, the other relationships add humor and depth to the world, and it’s always just nice knowing that in any version of the world, the boys are being loved. 

JBC: We saw you retweet for BTS ASPEC week, and we wanted to know what are you most excited about?

KAT: Aspec week is really meaningful to me since I am aspec. Sexuality is a weird and fluid thing and I'm older but it still took me a long time to figure mine out, just due to the fact that there's so little representation of asexuality in the media and other platforms. That extends to fanfic, but the one amazing thing about fic is that it's a place where people can explore themes often neglected in traditional media. I love the idea of reading and potentially contributing to more representation on an experience that's incredibly intimate and personal for me

Also I know for a fact at least one of my favorite writers will be participating, so I'm always happy to read more from them!

JBC: As someone who is also aspec, I agree very much with the lack of representation, and I'm glad you're joining! And also, if it's okay, congrats on coming out as aspec. It was very affirming to find one of my favorite authors to be ACE as well.

KAT: Aw thank you so much! Also HI I'm always happy to meet new aspec friends

JBC: Since we're on this topic, there were a few questions sent in that centers on this in relation to your writing, is it okay if we proceed with those questions?

Can we add all that you've said here in the interview? If you feel you want some answers here off-record, please do tell us.

KAT: Of course! I'm pretty open with most stuff, but if you see a spelling error please feel free to fix it lol

JBC: In line with this, what are some things you wish your readers or people in general  understood about ace authors that write about romance/relationships?

KAT: There's loads of things but I think there are two big ones for me. First, aspec is called SPEC because it encompasses a wide spectrum full of really diverse experiences. There's a lot of miseducation out there around asexuality that I'd love to help combat. Like, of course there are sex repulsed asexuals who don't feel any aesthetic or sexual attraction and don't understand it when people talk about how hot a person is. But then there are other aces who DO. Like if I see a shirtless Jungkook pic I'm still going to go "damn look at that" - just not from a sexual POV. That sort of miseducation is what contributed to my own confusion for so long, so I'm hoping that slowly yet surely, the more people talk about it and are open about it, the more people are able to learn and educate and be accepting, or even discover their own experiences.

Secondly, on a much more personal level I experienced self doubt during questioning that I think a lot of aces experience. Something along the lines of "no I'm probably not ace, maybe I'm just broken, maybe there's something wrong with me."

Discovering my own sexuality was an incredibly relieving thing for me because it confirmed that there wasn't something wrong, I was just who I was and that was fine. I hope that if I talk about my experiences, or write about them in fic, hopefully at least some people will have to go through that "am I broken" phase a little less. Because no one should have to go through that

JBC: Okay. So back to the questions, would you say that this influences your writing sometimes? Do you have any experiences that inspire/influence your stories?

KAT: I haven't written explicitly about being aspec in any of my fics (yet) but I do think it subtly impacts the way I write, the way I view romance, and the way I view intimacy, so I'm sure that bleeds into my writing style. I tweeted a few weeks ago kind of as a joke that 90% of my characters are coded as aspec, but honestly it's not untrue. I tend not to write smut too often, and when I do it's less about how SEXY something is but a lot more about how it furthers the intimacy of the relationship.

I personally like focusing more on the smaller moments that make up relationships. Someone sneakily lacing their pinky finger with someone else's is a lot more impactful to me than when I write sex scenes. I would also really love to write about it more explicitly. It's a really personal thing for me, and on one level while I'm super happy to speak about my own experience, when I put it in writing it feels a lot more raw and vulnerable. So I'm building up the courage now to write more explicitly on the subject, if that makes sense.

JBC: Yes it makes sense! As something very dear to you, I imagine it would be daunting. But I hope you find the courage, regardless.

And also, big yes to intimacy and the smaller things being more impactful really goes straight to the heart sosianaks

But generally, do you find writing your thoughts or ideas into AUs difficult? Or what challenges do you usually face? And how do you overcome this?

KAT: It really depends on the AU and how inspired I'm feeling at the moment. My most recent Twitter AU - the Jin Harem Prince one - was probably one of the easiest things I've ever written. It was so much fun and I had all these ideas to begin with and the more I wrote the more ideas that came so it was a very organic experience. That's definitely not the case with all of my works. I'm writing a fic for AO3 at the moment and I've definitely been stuck on one scene for about a week and am too lazy to force myself through it. But I'll get there eventually. When I am stuck it's usually about forcing myself to make my brain slow down a little bit. I'll go for walks and instead of listening to podcasts will put on a playlist that puts me in the right mood for the fic. Or I'll take a bath. Something that forces me to be alone with my brain and not have external buzz clogging everything up.

But also, sometimes it's the weird things that get me through. I can't write without music or background noise on. When I wrote my Quarantine Yoonjin AU for some reason I needed to have Ancient Aliens on in the background the entire time.

I've never needed that before and hopefully will never need it in future but it was a very real need at the time 

JBC: I remember you tweeting about that. (cue in laughters). That's really interesting and how brains work really with different environments. We wish you good luck with your current fics. 

AHH YOUR PRINCE JIN HAREM AU 

That was wonderfully long and the plot..Was that difficult to plan out? Like, how did you keep track of developments and did you have each scenario for the polls planned out?

KAT: I feel like I'm going to get absolutely roasted for this but no, I 100% did not have everything planned out. I had certain moments planned to begin with, and ideas for how to get there, but a lot of it was like "this is my milestone now let's write a few updates and figure out how we can get there and how I can convince the voters to not completely mess it up."

And actually, some big moments were influenced by people's reactions. When I wrote about Prince Jin (the original) being not as much of a bad guy, so many people reacted wondering how he was doing and what had happened to him. After that I was like... well I guess I have to add in a scene where you find out what happens! I had known from the beginning that they'd switched places, but I honestly wasn't planning on having Seokjin find out about it until I saw those people's reactions

JBC: OMG. I think you wont be roasted hahahaha! That AU was still so much fun to follow 

I'm glad we voted right. That part was so nice and i know you already answered some questions about the alternate endings on your twitter, but would you consider revisiting any of them in the future?

KAT: I wouldn't revisit any alternate endings, I'm very content with how the AU ended as a whole. I occasionally think about doing some small twitter drabbles that are like epilogues, or how Taejin are doing in the real world, but I'm not sure. We'll see!

JBC_ LUNA: OMG I'm crying. I absolutely adore that prince au. I like to read it in one go and forego sleep. Literally. and that horror au, really scared the shit out of me.

KAT: My horror AU was my first social media AU ever and I'm still surprised people have read it

I'm glad you found it scary though! I can never tell when I'm writing it

Side bar that's another one that I had no idea where it was going when I started, but we got there eventually lolol

I plot and outline really heavily with AO3 content but with social media AU's I always kind of view them as "fun" and breaks

So I'll come up with ideas and a general loose plot but usually it's a lot more "let's see how this goes"

JBC: I'm in awe of how you're able to go about your interactive aus so organically though and I’m glad they're fun breaks for you 

KAT: Thank you so much ^.^

JBC: You mentioned that some big moments in the prince au were influenced by people's reactions. Is there any substantial difference between your experience in writing an interactive AU as in the prince jin au and the horror, and one that is not as interactive as in those published in AO3 like the dope story about jinkook being policemen?

KAT: Yes definitely. My dope AU I actually wrote in one day when I was feeling ill in bed watching the Oscars. It's funny because it normally takes me much longer to write AO3 stuff but that one just kind of cartwheeled out of my head. That being said there's definitely a difference between AO3 content and Social Media AUs. With AO3, since most of my writings are one shots, it's about creating a fully formed piece all at once, and when it's done it's done. With social media au's, especially interactive ones, I'm constantly trying to figure out pacing, trying to figure out how to keep each update interesting and relevant, and also what needs to happen to move the plot along. I'd quite happily spend 10 updates talking about Namjoon's crab obsession but that's not going to do well and also that means the AU would be about 50 times longer. So I think pacing is one of the biggest things for me with social media AU's. And then the interactive aspect is great. For me, coming up with polls isn't always the easiest thing. I want to guide people along in a generally correct direction but I also want to make room in the plot for them to have agency. It's a weird balancing act, and if you read it in real time you probably saw me flipping back and forth between super obscure polls (should Jin go left or right) to really obvious ones (should Jin hold Yoongi's hand or no). That's something I could still work on when it comes to interactive content, but it was also really fun coming up with them for each update.

JBC: But were there ever instances in writing both where you didn't expect? Or were surprised by how some people voted?

KAT: There were ABSOLUTELY times when I wasn't expecting people to vote the way they did. And a few times, I'd actually planned a poll to go one way but after seeing people reason it out in the comments, I switched it because it made more sense. Off the top of my head, there was one with Hobi where Jin could have been super romantic. I expected everyone to vote that way and they didn't, because they felt it wasn't appropriate given how emotional the scene was. And I read all the reactions and was like... damn you right

So I actually changed how I was plotting it.

JBC: WAIT 2SEOK OMG!! NOOO!!! HAHA sorry. But still like hands down i appreciate how much thought you put into the AUs and about giving your readers agency

KAT: 2seok deserves all the love

JBC: Expounding on the difference between AO3 and AUs on twitter, what's your favorite thing about writing social media AUs?? 

KAT: They're really fun, and I focus a lot more on humor with them, which I don't do in AO3. As I said before, I don't have really stressful outlines for them, so that leaves room in the plot to go wherever I want as I'm writing, and also leaves room for me to come up with the weirdest last minute comedy pieces ever.

My first Jinkook AU I remember CACKLING while writing it. There's one scene where Taehyung didn't realize Jinkook weren't together and started zooming in on photos of them publicly, and it was something I hadn't planned on writing but kind of just came out write as I was finishing the update

JBC: THAT ONE WAS GOLD!!

KAT: So yeah, I think the thing I like most is just being able to focus more on humor, and then having those soft moments hidden in there

JBC: Your comedy in your fics tho have to be one of their highlights and your use of memes and spongebob is exquisite 

KAT: Little known fact: I actually don't like spongebob and barely ever watched it when I was little. But now I'm like SPONGEBOB IS KING LOOK AT THIS ACE ICON"

JBC: You always have a good balance of both soft and funny 

How do u find your memes, then? especially since they fit your fics so much, are they included when you outline or plan?

KAT: omg absolutely not. I steal 90% of my memes from people reacting to my AUs

But also my phone has so many photos on it and I obsessively organize them. I have over 1500 of Jin and then different albums for all the ships (including poly)

My meme folder currently has 562 photos in it so no matter what AU I'm writing I essentially a hub to pull from. But I'm also always on the hunt for more.

JBC: I relate very much to obsessive organizing pics yes

Most of your social media AUs have been soft and funny which *uwu* So, was the horror interactive AU the first time you wrote in that genre? How is it different from what you usually write??

KAT: Before I was in the BTS fandom / was a fic writer I used to do some writing on tumblr, and back in the day (many many years ago) I occasionally would write for some horror communities. Horror is one of my personal favorite genres, and I absolutely love doing it, but as far as BTS goes, yes that was my first horror AU.

I think for me the biggest difference is that I have to lean into the drama and the darkness, which to be QUITE honest is something I like to shy away from in my soft fluffy AUs. Also, when you're writing horror, because it's all in your brain, you have absolutely no concept of whether something is scary or not. I was writing stuff and finding pics of people tied up on chairs, or googling images of "scratches in the wall" being like "hopefully someone is spooked but idek". The thing that's great about doing SM aus, though, is that because people interact in real time, I had a lot of positive validation and people who were responding saying they were scared. So that was super motivating.

JBC: I'm glad you deserve all motivation

KAT: *puppy/soft eyes emoji*

JBC: I know you mentioned the prince jin harem au as the easiest au you've written, so for your past works, which one was the hardest to write? And which one was your favorite?

KAT: As far as social media AUs go, the easiest to write was Jin harem and also probably my yoonjin plotless one that I update once in a blue moon. Hardest for me was maybe the Jinkook fake dating AU. I lost motivation midway through and found it hard to figure out how to keep myself engaged while I was writing it, and honestly when I read through it now I can tell where I started dipping. I always hope other people don't notice it but I can. That wasn't due to the AU, but was more because of work and other life stuff.

Oh, also the Jinmin superhero one which I dropped (RIP). I usually NEVER drop AUs and I still feel guilty for leaving that one incomplete, but it felt like an absolute task every single time I wrote a new update so I ended up having to leave it behind.

As far as favorite? Maybe Royal Envy - the Prince Jin one. It was just so much fun. I also am really fond of my Yoonjin quarantine AU because I honestly don't know what happened that week. I came home from a walk and started writing it and four days later I emerged from my cave with 17k words and no sleep. That really never happens with me but it was such a unique one that I'm really fond of it

JBC: Oh never feel bad for that :( it's always a blessing that you give us amazing AUs for FREE already :( but, personally, i can say that it's never been obvious so it's always surprising when you say you've struggled with a piece.

KAT: unique experience writing* not a unique AU lol it's a fairly common concept

JBC: That yoonjin quarantine one huhu that was awesome 

KAT: Thank you so much for saying that, again it's positive reactions like that really help motivate me.

JBC: Now, you've mentioned that you personally like horror which I find impressive by the way, as someone who is spooked easily. But what else are your favorite themes for your fics?  And do you have any story or idea that you really want to write but haven't yet?

KAT: I think one thing you find pretty consistently in my writing, and this probably goes back to how being aspec has impacted me subtly, is that I absolutely adore friends to lovers. I feel like that almost always happens in my AUs. Even with the Prince Jin one, they all became friends first and that was really important for me. Gotta build up that solid base of comfort and affection

As far as themes I /want/ to write, one of my favorites when reading is fantasy and magical realism/urban fantasy. I wrote one of them on AO3 that is probably the fic I'm most proud of (Remedy for a Forgotten God), and I'm writing one now with my Taejin fic. Magic and fantasy is something that really gets me going so it's definitely something I want to incorporate more in my writing. Actually, my Prince Jin one (sort of) had magic in it too, because of the parallel universe aspect. I want to try to explore that idea more in social media AUs where I can. It's not something I've seen /too/ often so it takes a bit more thinking out how the SM aspect would work within that respective world. For my Prince one I got away with it by just saying Seokjin was addicted to Twitter but that won't work for all magical aus, so it's still something I'm thinking on!

JBC: So at this point you've mentioned your writing process and insights on things that are important to you, so aside from that what is the most important thing to you when you write a story? Is there any other messages you want to say?

KAT: Hmmm I think it usually depends on the fic. Sometimes it's just because I've had an idea buzzing around in my brain for a while and it needs to get out. But I do feel like I have some common themes when I'm writing. I think I focus a lot on different experiences with loneliness, which is a pretty personal thing for me. I also tend to write about acceptance and learning how to love people right. I think those are experiences I've also had to go through - both personally on how to love myself, but then also how to be a good friend and love other people. Sometimes even with the best of intentions you can do things that hurt. That was a big theme in my Yoonjin quarantine au. I feel like each of my AUs tend to explore similar themes like that, but I also think that I quite often find writing a cathartic experience. I relate a lot to how I write Seokjin. So a lot of times when I'm writing him having to go through some painful growing experiences, it's stuff that I've also had to go through

JBC: You write it so well, I know people relate to a lot of the hard/growing experiences in your fics. Esp the yoonjin quarantine AU. I felt really connected to that . You mentioned that you used to write on tumblr, but is there any chance you will write your fic to other platforms like wattpad?

KAT: I personally don't like wattpad, so I don't see myself ever going there. If a new platform opened up that was fun I might consider it, but I'm pretty happy with AO3. I love their tagging function and once you figure out how to navigate it, it's a pretty safe space, which I really appreciate as a reader.

JBC: I agree with ao3, i remember finding it when i first joined the fandom and it's system does allow it to be pretty safe 

(JBC: The fans have good taste in questions so i guess we'll jump to the ship questions *uwu*

KAT: let's do it, let's dive right in

hopefully I don't say anything to get cancelled oop

JBC: Gosh i hope the questions dont spark any unnecessary ship wars either but i think you'll be good kat ahajahabahaha)

JBC: You are very vocal about your love of the jin harem and honestly, same. So what sparked your love for it? How were you introduced to it?

KAT: oof well. It started many years ago when a young wee Kat was sitting down to watch yt videos of BTS and trying to figure out who to bias. I definitely watched all those awful ones that talked about mom Jin (bleck) and hated it but honestly from the very beginning I was drawn to Jin. I loved how as the oldest he cared so deeply for the rest of the boys, but, as someone who's been into Kpop for a really long time, I'd never seen a mat-hyung quite like him either - someone who so vocally didn't care about age hierarchies and just wanted the best for the boys. And as a natural extension it was so friggin obvious how much love and respect the rest of the boys gave to him. Now I'm personally an OT7 fan who really likes all ships and esp poly ot7, but since Jin is my bias, and someone who I relate to a lot, I kind of just want to shower love and affection on him constantly. So the natural extension was to stan Jin harem. Also the great thing about being a haremist is that you're never starving for content. The boys are constantly feeding us in some way!

JBC: *OMG big yes to the never starving truly, one jin ship is always sailing in some way huhu. And yes to the wanting to shower him in affection EXACTLY*

On that, what is one thing you love about each jin ship/dynamic??

KAT: *oh god prepare for an essay*

ok so Namjin are just big goofballs. For a boy who's so intelligent I swear they share one brain cell. And it's adorable because you can see how constantly Namjoon is in his head with a lot of things, but he completely lets loose around Jin. That's something you can only do with someone you're incredibly close with, and someone who you respect deeply. I love how they both started as very different people but over the years have worked to get to a point where they both have so much love and empathy and pride for each other. It's an incredibly respectful relationship, and they're sooo sweet.

(also Joonie is super handsy but that's a separate convo for a delulu brain moment and I'm not going there right now)

Yoonjin - these two are my emotional support boys. Whenever I'm in a bad mood or feeling kind of lost or lonely Yoonjin are there for me. There's something incredibly solid about the two of them. Everyone else may be moving around and joking and vibrating at the speed of light but the two of them are in a corner, sharing space and giving each other solace. It's a very warm and comforting dynamic and I love it so much. It's also, probably, one of my favorite ones to write.

2seok - THEY JUST DESERVE MORE LOVE OK!? Seokjin lets loose and gets so clingy around Hobi, it's like his "automatic baby mode" activates around Hobi and I honestly don't see it with that many other ships. They're also just two of the best friends. You can see how much they love and respect each other. Seokjin literally has said happiness is getting compliments from Hobi and I think that says a lot

Jinmiiiin - they're soft boys. They're also the pair that I always lean on when thinking of "the dichotomy of..." I love the song Filter so much, and the message of appearing differently to different people and in different situations really suits Jimin, but it also suits Jin. He's this shy guy that makes himself bigger and dorkier and funnier for others and that's a real part of him, but then there's other real parts of him that he keeps private and doesn't like showing. I think Jinmin are really similar in certain ways. I also just adore how much Jimin loves Jin. The boy straight up said that he learned how to be happy from Jin. Like, who else is that open about something like that?

Taejin - Taejin are so complicated but I love them to bits. Tae loves with his whole being immediately, kind of like a fire that's almost too hot to be close to. Seokjin's more like water, his feelings come slower and more cautious, they eb and flow, but when the ocean is tested its true strength shows, and there's a hidden depth to them. They love in such different ways but they also complement each other so well because of that. Tae fills in the gaps Seokjin has, Seokjin slows Tae down and shows him how to appreciate the little moments. That's how I see their ship.

Jinkook - oof my babies. I really love the trope where JK has been in love with Jin for years, but Jin just sees him as a kid. JK grows up, and vows to become someone that Jin can rely on in the same way that he's relied on Jin in the past. And suddenly Seokjin wakes up one day and sees this adult in front of his eyes who's grown into someone he loves and cares about so much, and who he can lean on in ways he hadn't even noticed. I also just LOVE their dynamic??? They bicker just to disguise how much love and affection they have for each other. They play fight just so they can sneak hugs in. They're so affectionate and they love each other it's so sweet.

JBC: So with all of that, as a reader, is there one ship that you enjoy reading the most?? And do you know any other jin harem authors??

KAT: I feel like I tend to lean on Yoonjin the most when I read, but that's partially just because there are so many good writers out there who write Yoonjin. But also as I mentioned before, when I'm down I read yoonjin to feel better so I definitely lean on that pair a lot. THAT BEING SAID I really don't love one more than the other, I am constantly looking for more fics to read

There are loads of amazing authors and I feel bad that I'm blanking on Jin harem ones. I have a really huge list of recommendations based off the ship in my pinned tweet that I always recommend. Michela at @ givenchyseokjin also writes a ton of jin harem and she's one of the most talented writers out there so she's another great place to start.

But there's honestly so much good Jin content out there and I'm always happy to recommend more outside of my pinned tweet because I'm discovering more and more daily

(yoonjin are incredibly comforting, i'm really grateful to the boys but also the amazing fics out there that feature them in such a supporting and loving way. Definitely got me through some hard times.)

JBC: I’m sad bec this has been great, it's been so good talking to you kat and getting to know more about you thru this Loudly crying faceGrowing heart so at this part, please feel free to plug here any future fics and ongoing projects you want to talk about and let your readers know about 

KAT: It's been really lovely speaking with you and Key also, thanks again for hosting this, it's been really fun and also an honor. When I started writing fics last year I never really thought anyone would find them or care, so the fact that people are interested enough to interview me is a bit mind boggling, but I'm also incredibly grateful and humbled by the support.

If you want to find what I'm currently working on, you can read this Taejin fic which is currently ongoing. It's a goblin au so if you're a fan of the drama or of modern magic you might like it https://archiveofourown.org/works/24608773/chapters/59447569

Also, I'm always randomly coming up with some sort of twitter AU so the best way to find them is to follow me @ jinsquishes

HIGHLIGHTS:

KAT: This isn't really related to one of your questions, but I actually only was able to confirm I was asexual after speaking to quite a few writer friend mutuals here on Twitter. I'd been questioning for a long time but never really felt confident enough to make that leap until I spoke with friends who shared their experiences. That's another reason why I'm personally so vocal about it, but also am excited to see aspec week. Hopefully other people will be able to find a little bit of solace in seeing those experiences talked about more openly

JBC_LUNA: May I just say that yes, representation matters. Many people are struggling about the feeling of being alone in their experience especially with sexuality and knowing that you are not alone feels so much like coming home.

JBC:  It really needs more representation and to be able to talk about it more openly, with all of it's nuances. I also did just come to understand it and how it applied http://to.me from fanfiction and twitter. 

KAT: Yeah, the day I came out on Twitter I actually had three separate people DM me asking about my experience and if I was willing to share, and from there two of them also were able to go on their own journey and have since come out. So it's a really beautiful thing how we can all sort of, help each other along

JBC: I'm tearing up a little ngl kaahjaka because yes to everything esp bout the 'im broken phase' and miseducation. It's so frustrating, but i'm so thankful for fic and people like you who made it easier for me and for so many

KAT: *sending you the fattest virtual hug right now*