Paper Planes

q + a

Hey guys! Welcome to my Q + A! If you have any further questions than the ones listed that you'd like to see answered, drop a comment and I'll be happy to expand :)

⚠️SPOILERS AHEAD⚠️
Please do NOT read if you haven't read the finale!!!!

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What inspired you to write this story & how'd you come up with the idea? // How did you come up with the concept of Paper Planes? // What honestly gave you the idea to write this book?
As you can see, I've had a similar question asked several times, so I just grouped them together, haha. Anyways, I was mainly inspired by TKJ and her phenomenal writing. Back in May, I lost my Joker fic virginity to a book called "The Sweetest Vice" (which, admittedly, I mostly read for the smut but it ended up having an amazing plot and was well written) and ever since then, I really wanted to write my own version of Heath's Joker. The idea of the paper plane necklaces came to me in a dream, actually. I struggled with coming up with a good plot for awhile, and once that idea came to me, I already had the entire book practically planned out (to an extent). I thought, how fucking cute would it be if Ember's first love, first kiss, first fuck was the fucking Joker before he went off his rocker?

Did you have the story all mapped out start to finish or did you wing it?
In the beginning, it was all kinda winged. Typically, I'm a bit of an improvisational writer, but I really wanted to execute this story as well as I could, so around the twenty-ninth chapter, I mapped the remaining chapters out completely. I knew exactly how the story was going to end and all that jazz. So yeah, I'm glad I mapped it out because it probably wouldn't have been as good if I didn't.

Are any of the events in the story inspired by real life?
I think every author writes in relation to things that have happened in their lives. For example, Ember's character differs from my personality, but we also share some traits. Like her eating disorder, which is one of my own personal hells. I didn't really dig deep into it in the book, because it would've been unnecessary to the plot, but I put a bit of myself in her for sure. In real life, my best friend died. Therefore, writing any scenes in relation to death are my true coping mechanisms/emotions. Noah's death was inspired by my best friends death (I hope that doesn't sound morbid). However, Ember's feelings about Noah heavily differs from mine about my bff. Just like Ember and Joker, my real-life husband was my first kiss and first love, and I started dating him when I was (gasp) fifteen! lol. So yeah, there are definitely aspects of Paper Planes that relate to real life, especially Joker & Ember's music tastes.

Which scenes were your favorite to write?
Ohoho, the jewelry store robbery & star date definitely takes the cake for my absolute favorite. I loved writing Joker's emotions during their second-first-kiss, and even though he was sooo OOC, I had an absolute blast writing it!!

My second favorite is when Joker tells Ember he loves her (and then proceeds to "blow her back out" still my favorite comment lololol). That whole inner dialogue dispute and confession of feelings between both of them is the best. That entire scene came to me while I was at work (makin' coffee) and I scribbled the quotes onto fuckin receipt paper (you've got me so tightly wrapped around your finger...) GAH, I love it.

Omg... how could I almost forget??? The scene where Ember walks in on Joker — ahem — fondling himself literally makes me scream everytime I read it. I had SO much fun writing that part (I'm really fucked in the head idk sorry) and when he says "I want you to watch" I literally start dry heaving... like... yes fucking PLEASE I will watch!!! (Lemme just grab my popcorn real quick)