Hello! Oh my god thank you so much!! It makes me so happy when people like JWIN 💙💙💙 I know it's a beast of a story and still going lol. (Also I'm going to refer to Bell as she here to make it easy)
How did I come up with it? Well, it all started with Cold War and Frank Woods kicking a Soviet Guard in the face 😂. That was the moment when I realized that Frank Woods was my guy. (I played Cold War before BO1 & 2 I knew nothing.) Also, given that before that mission, Frank was the first person in the Cold War crew with whom I felt any kind of genuine camaraderie. He's the first person who gave Bell a real compliment and then he rescues her like that?? Be still my heart.
The gears really started turning when Bell and Woods got to the fake American town. And of course, there was that memorable moment when Woods jokes around about loving Bubby, the Burger Town mascot (I think his love of Bubby/Burger Town is something more, it's about small joys. I could write an essay on it, but that's not the question here). Anyway, yes, this ALL is part of it I promise. So I had this idea in my head of Woods and Bell going to get burgers after their mission.
And that idea stuck with me after the end of Cold War. I just felt sad for Bell. I wanted her to have some nice moments amidst all the bad. Because I liked all the Safehouse characters I wanted to see them and Bell having human moments. And I firmly believe that Woods and Mason didn't know what was going on with Bell (they just don't act like it and that is another essay lol).
And then I went back and played Black Ops 1&2 because I loved Woods and Mason so much. And damnit if Black Ops 2 wasn't a gut punch. It hurt so much to see that after everything he went through Woods was alone. Not that anyone has to be in a relationship to be complete in life, but I was feeling sad about Bell already and now Frank. It just felt natural to me to bring them together.
My first approach to telling the story was through a comic. I started with the Burger Town story. But when I got to what would have been the final page of that part I realized I didn't want to just tell a story about happy memories. She was suddenly so alive to me. And while Bell's status was basically certain since they didn't cover it in the MP (and still haven't covered it in 6) - we didn't see her die so I can explain around it.
At that time, a comic took far too long to produce, so I decided to just write the story. And at first, I thought JWIN would be maybe 6 chapters. It would still have the structure of memories plus "present day" but Frank would have saved her faster. BUT THEN I realized well shit what would Frank's motivation be?? Sure they spent a night together before either of them knew anything, but now she's his enemy! So I had to figure out a way to plausibly get these two together and also redeem Mila.
From there, was (and still is) a lot of research about Soviet activities during the Cold War to see what would work for Milas past. I wanted to write the story in a way that Mila's memories or any other action sequences would fit well into a Black Ops game. I know Black Ops will grab things from history and expand on them to create a well-rounded story so that's the approach I wanted to take. And I want things to at least sort of make sense. The last thing I want is for a reader to be pulled out of the story for something like that.
It's also very important to me to stay true to the characters. I refuse to compromise a character for the sake of the story. To me it's part of the challenge of a fic. If there's something I want them to do I need to set up the story to direct them there or they just won't do it and I'll have to figure something else out. It was also important to me to have the other characters grow and reveal things about themselves.
Also, I don't like to compromise on canon. JWIN fits in the spaces between canon. So yeah, I was biting my nails before BO6 came out and MP does have me a little on edge but, I can get back to more regular updates. PHEW
I hope that answered your question. If you want me to expand on anything or if you have any other questions feel free to ask! I so appreciate you reading and enjoying JWIN and taking the time to tell me. 💙💙💙
