You're The Straw To My Berry (Phan)

YTSTMB 'Explanation'

Since this story has got such a huge response I felt like I owed an explanation of how I got it all. This is for how I got the storyline, how I planned and wrote it just so you can get an idea of how much thought went into a 50-part fanfic! 

How did you get the storyline? 

Before I started writing I had read tons and tons and tons Phanfiction to get a feel of what was out there and also for my own entertainment. 

I'm not saying YTSTMB was completely unique and that nothing out there is the same, but I did know I wanted something kind of different since there were a few similar plots floating around from what I had already read. 

I had been wanting to write a Phanfiction for what felt like forever but I really haven't been watching for Phil and Dan for very long - when I wrote part one I had literally been a fan for a month - but I put it off for a while since I didn't really know them that well at all.

And then came January 18th, where I thought to myself 'I just really want to write a Phanfiction'. 

So I did.

I wrote parts 1-5 without any idea of where the whole thing was going to go. I just wanted to write something fluffy but I realised I couldn't keep that up forever and on the same night as posting part five, I thought to myself 'okay, I really have to have some kind of plan here'. 

When I started thinking about the story, I literally had no idea what I wanted to do, so I started off with what I didn't want in there. I knew I didn't want any kind of reference to self harm, eating disorders, illness, hospitals or death since I hate reading in fanfictions - especially Phan ones - and it felt like there were too many that included them.

When I got the idea for the whole plot I was thinking about my ships. 

... Yes. 

The initial thought was: 'I wonder if anyone ships Phil with PJ'. 

'Phil and PJ?!' you scream.

Yep. In YTSTMB there's a thing going on with Dan and PJ, but the original thought was making Phil and PJ a thing. I thought about this for a while but settled on kickthefire because I felt like it would be easier to visualise and they seem kind more compatible, and who can really imagine Phil doing such things to Dan?! 

The whole plot itself did pretty much come to me immediately, but I did know I wanted 4 'event' things. These were the kiss at Alex's party, the second at Dan and Phil's apartment, the 'almost' kiss at Chris and PJ's apartment and the kiss at Jack and Finn's party where Phil sees and all hell breaks loose. I also knew I wanted Dan to go to America. I'm not sure why, I just did. 

Everything else was pretty much built around these 4 events. 

How did you plan? 

I sat down with myself, a cup of tea and a wad of paper and a pen. 

I started off writing the 4 events on one page with small notes. 

I didn't want to jump straight into the plot with the first PJ and Dan kiss in part six, so I put it in part nine so I could start seeping information through in part six. I didn't want it to be majorly obvious so I kept from saying it outright until part eight which is in PJ's first P.O.V. where he pretty much says his feelings for Dan in his thoughts. 

When planning out parts I literally just wrote who's P.O.V. it was going to be and a few words about what was going to happen in that part, e.g.

Part fourteen