Today, I want to share a small epiphany I had.
I recently changed direction with my writing. I was working on my next crime mystery novel, and at first, I planned to turn it into a series. But as I kept developing the plot and characters, I realized it wasn’t working. The story felt forced, and the characters weren’t coming together the way I had hoped. I tried brainstorming new angles and reworking the structure, but the more I worked on it, the more I felt that I wasn’t ready to write this story yet.
That realization made me look back at my earlier work. When I first wrote When the Apple Tree Shines, I was ecstatic. I felt proud of myself and thought the book turned out really well. But now, when I read it again, my reaction is completely different. I find myself thinking that it’s not good. At all. At first, that feeling shocked me, but then I understood why. The more I write and practice, the more aware I become as a writer. With that awareness, I can now see my limitations more clearly, and I can also see how long the road ahead still is.
Because of that, I decided not to rush into writing my next novel. Instead, I chose to practice more. That’s why I turned to Wattpad. From what I found, it has one of the largest user bases, and more importantly, it allows real-time interaction with readers. I can post my work, receive immediate responses, and keep writing consistently. Through this process, I’ve been learning how to build characters more carefully, close plot holes, maintain consistency within the world of the story, and stay connected to my characters as creations rather than distant ideas.
While practicing this way, I came across an interview with one of my favorite Korean drama writers, Kim Eun-sook. She wrote Mr. Sunshine, Lovers in Paris, and Descendants of the Sun, among others. Mr. Sunshine is my favorite. There’s a scene in it that made me think she is truly brilliant. Three male characters share a drink and then walk home together under cherry blossom trees. One of them jokes, “I should really kill you,” but he doesn’t mean it seriously. It’s simply part of his character. The man he says it to replies with a line that is difficult to translate properly into English, which is "If I die right now, it's hwa-sa."
“Hwa” means flower, and “sa” means death. He is referring to cherry blossoms falling from the trees, flowers that are dying. But when those two words are combined, “hwa-sa” also means beautiful. So in that single line, he is saying that dying among dead flowers would be beautiful. The irony is that later in the story, this character dies protecting the woman he loves, and in his mind, he chose that death because it was a beautiful way to die. Just thinking about that one line made me feel that the writer behind it had an incredible understanding of language and meaning.
So I naturally thought she must be a genius. But in the interview, she said something that completely changed how I think about writing. She said she doesn’t believe she’s a genius. She said that truly gifted writers usually know they are gifted because people around them tell them constantly. If that hasn’t happened, then talent alone isn’t the answer. What matters is effort. She said she writes 12 hours a day, every day, and that she writes obsessively because she believes that’s the only way she can write well.
That realization hit me hard. If someone who has created so many successful works believes she needs to write 12 hours a day because she isn’t a genius, then I have no reason to hold back.
Another writer I deeply admire, Kim Eun-hee, who wrote Signal and Kingdom, said something similar. She once shared that when she writes, she spends the entire night thinking without sleeping, and only when the sun is about to rise do ideas finally begin to form. She also said that she lives with a constant fear that one day she might not be able to write anymore, and to shake off that fear, she writes obsessively and works harder than anyone else. Both writers, despite their success, describe writing as something that requires constant effort and endurance.That changed my mindset. As I move toward 2026, my goal is to write more and practice more. Writing improves through repetition and commitment, and I want to take that seriously. If writers I admire work this hard, then I have no excuse not to do the same.
This year, I want to practice writing with the same persistence as my role models. Happy New Year.
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