Chapter Text
*takes a seat opposite the interviewer*
Director: 3! 2! 1! And Action!
Me: "Why am are doing this?" you might ask. And if you're like: "I didn't ask." well....🤧 hush coz I'mma tell you anyway 😌
*Takes a sip of water*
So it all started when I was born. On a random ass day....the skies and seas were at war; the trees rushing in and trembling–
Director: We didn't ask for your whole backstory.
Me: 😒 *clears throat* *gets up from chair*
[Arguing ensues behind camera]
Me: Excuse me. *sits back down on my chair*
Me: It all started with an Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint (ORV) fanfic. I saw the system window and was like 'oh that's so cool' and never thought of it again. Then I read another that had Solo Leveling (SL) and ORV system in the same place and then I was really like 'oh my goodness, that's so freaking cool.'
Interviewer: Did you start coding then?
Me: And then I forgot about it. Of course, I wasn't a writer then.
Interviewer: So what led you here?
Me: Well I started writing, and got sucked into the Scum-Villain's Self-Saving System (SVSSS) fandom due to a love for everything Shang Qinghua.
*adjusts position on chair*
While I got further into the writing of my current long fic "...more so to a god," and the system window began to make more of an appearance–in my rough drafts, something happened.
Interviewer: What happened?
Me: One day, all of my socials fyp started bringing up fics with codes and interactive element to them–I have tagged them in this series previous works–and my sister also sent them to me (even though I'd already seen it and was burning with jealousy)
And I was like staring down at my work drafts thinking I can also do it. 'If others had done it, I could too' and since I'm not the first it should be easier to build up on some of their codes.
Interviewer: Would you have done a code like this if you were the first person to think up this idea on this site?
Me: *laughs hysterically* Hell no! *chuckling* Who do I look like? Lmao. I think this is one thing I don't want to be a trailblazer for.
*takes a sip of water to clear throat*
Me: Anyway, I was like 'I could have sworn that SVSSS also had a system panel' which I might be able to build up on because I couldn't possibly use the ORV and SL ones– they looked too distinct in my eyes. I'd never be able to look at the panels and not immediately think of those fandom. However, I couldn't find any. And so I set out to do something different yet simple.
Interviewer: This is your first time with anything involving coding right?
Me: Correct.
Interviewer: How did you find it.
Me: Let's just say there was a lot of sleepless nights, hair pulling, and near tears ⊙﹏⊙
Interviewer: Near tears?
Me: Yes, a lot of them. The only reason why I don't think I reached there was because I had help, and a website to both study and practice–which I linked in previous works.
Interviewer: Your system panel does look different compared to the ORV's.
Me: Well, since I couldn't find anything that resembled what I was going for in the SVSSS fandom, I guess you could say I became a mini trailblazer and had to rework and edit everything. Though I used some formats from the ORV too. Sometimes I'd get it to display perfectly in preview, but it'd disappear after making a minor edit, sending me back to where I started.
Interviewer: I imagine that's frustrating.
Me: Quite a lot actually. I think I made about 30-something odd CSS work skin on HTML if you count the edits. I watched a lot of YouTube tutorials, and did Reddit searches, but the problem was that sometimes, AO3 wouldn't accept the codes. So I had to constantly make edits.
Interviewer: Looking at the series, I can't help but notice the increase in complexity. I have to ask: Did you set out to make it look like the final result?
Me: No. *shakes head* Most definitely not. I'd say I initially sent it up to look like the first work in this series so I guess you could say I achieved what I wanted a long time ago.
Interviewer: Oh, why then did you continue?
Me: Hmm...due to various reasons I think. I'd say it's a mix of some things. One: my siblings being all 'You can do it 👍' with every idea or improvement I think of. They're my mini cheerleaders. The other would be that I saw what others did with interactive text and it was fun for me, so I wanted my readers to also find joy in clicking something and having it respond.
Interviewer: That's really sweet. Well, I'm glad it all worked out.
Me: Anything else?
Interviewer: Just about one or two more. Do you plan on working on more codes like this one?
Me: I hope not. At first I wanted to create an [X] for system window to close, but it was screwing up the alignment. Since I was practically done with what I wanted, I decided to give up here.
Interviewer: Is there a reason you also posted the code here? I'm not sure I asked that.
Me: Ah, my main reason is both as a thank you to others that inspired me because, without seeing their codes, I wouldn't know how to even start or think I could do it. The other being, I hope to also inspire others. Primarily because I don't want to do this ever again 😩 it was torture for me who had to learn HTML.
Interviewer: Thank you for your time; we hope to see you again.(◠‿・)
Me: You're welcome. Surely you jest (◕ᴗ◕✿)
Interviewer: Well I'm sure people are excited to see your panel. Without further ado, let's try out the panel in the next chapter.
