Just Live

Capping It Off

Ginusto mo yan eh. Tapusin mo. Kaya mo yan.

I said this to myself countless times, especially when I started doubting if I would ever finish the story. 😅

Hay, where do I even begin? First off, if this is the first story you've read from me, I like ending my work with a personal chapter like this. I'm just so overwhelmed with all your support and feedback that I feel like I have so much to say but I end up rambling instead hahaha! I like that it feels personal too.

To those of you who are familiar with me, welcome to another behind the scenes look; this time, for Just Live.

In comparison to Choices & Chances and The Irony, Just Live was the most challenging story to write for me. Not only was time an issue, but the complexity and sensitivity of the topic also made it difficult.

The way that I come up with a story is the same way I come up with a chapter.

I write chapters based on the scenes I have in my mind. I visualize the scenes first, visualize how RJ and Maine would move around, would communicate, how they would convey their emotions, and their tone of voices, kind of like a tv scene in my head. Words flow better when I'm able to see the scenes in my head. Kung hindi ko mapicture sa isip ko yung eksena, I don't write. I can't. Words won't flow. Pahirapan magpiga kasi walang mapiga 😅 Ako kasi, when I read, I like being taken to the scene with the characters through the writer's words. Mas ramdam mo eh. Mas masarap magbasa, for me, kapag ganun. So, I write what I like to read. I tell the story in the same way I want to be told a story. Gusto ko ma-engage sa nangyayari sa story. Ang ambitious hahaha sorry po 😅

But, it works for me. Like I said, I visualize the chapter in my head first before I write. Ganun din when I come up with a story.

After Choices & Chances, I really didn't plan on writing another multi-chapter fanfic for a couple of months. Namention ko na rin previously that I moved, and that was mainly why.

I did a lot of flying and driving back in June and July, they were roughly 14-19 hour drives, still for the move, and that's when scenes started popping out in my head. I tried to ignore them but I took mental notes; I knew I just didn't have the time to write then.

Pero di ako tinigilan hahaha and so I gave in. I let the scenes in my head get longer and longer.

I always start with confrontation and heart wrenching scenes. Ganun ako nagsimula dito. And then, I came up with a back story to support those scenes. The first scene that came to mind actually didn't make it to the final chapters.

It was too painful, too heavy, and if I had pushed for that scene to be a part of Just Live, it would've meant a tragic ending.

Although, a big although, from the very beginning, Just Live was always meant to be the most painful of the three stories I've written (kaya sa mga takot basahin ang The Irony, sisiw na lang yun sa inyo 😂✌🏻).

Another trivia. Just Live was also meant to have a tragic ending. 😅 It's one of the reasons why it was a challenge finishing it because I wanted to give you all a happy ending, but the ending I had in my mind has always been a tragic one. Nagclash yung brain ko hahaha half of it focused on scenes of the tragic ending, while the other half focused on a happy ending. I got stuck.

In chapter 29, some of you commented on the times that ficMaine and ficRJ coded. Originally, ficMaine was supposed to die at 7:04pm from her terminal illness and ficRJ was supposed to meet her for the second time, in the after life, at 7:16pm.