Anterograde Tomorrow

'Kyungsoo is stuck in the hours while Jongin begs the seconds, because time stops for someone who can’t remember and runs from someone who can’t miss the last train home.'

(Source: http://zachela.wordpress.com/2013/02/11/anterograde-tomorrow-quotes/)

Kyungsoo and Jongin are names of people.

Why is Kyungsoo stuck in the hours? Why is Jongin begging the seconds?
*Boy/Boy pairing

Anterograde Tomorrow

'Anterograde Tomorrow' is a popular kpop fanfiction that has captured the attention of millions of kpop fanfiction readers since 2012- especially fans of the kpop group 'EXO' because the main characters are from that particular group. (A One Direction fan even copy-pasted the entire story and changed the names into the people of One Direction. The fan plagiarized everything except the names.) Go to kpop fanfiction recommendation blogs and sites and I assure you, you will see 'Anterograde Tomorrow' in almost every one of them. 

The author of 'Anterograde Tomorrow' goes by the pen-name of Changdictator. She prefers to remain anonymous. Besides fanfiction stories, she writes fanfiction drabbles (really short stories). She is one of the most famous fanfiction writers in the EXO fandom.

'Anterograde Tomorrow' is a fanfiction about two characters: Kyungsoo & Jongin. Basically, Kyungsoo has Anterograde Amnesia and Jongin is a writer he meets. Anterograde Amnesia is the loss of ability to remember anything after the event that caused the Amnesia. Kyungsoo keeps a scrapbook of things he learns each day to read them all over the next morning.

Literary Techniques

The writer uses several literary techniques in the fanfiction to make readers feel what the characters are feeling. 

(Below are some examples)

Repetition:

- “Maybe there has been a day between today and yesterday. Maybe there has been more than a day.”

- “...how many ten o’clocks have you spent doing the same precise thing, with the same glue gun and same bucket of marbles and the toy from the day before the day before the day before all of yesterdays? How many times have you sat down at your empty dinner table and wondered if tomorrow you will remember today?”

Similes:

-“...slip between his fingers like fleeting memories.”

-“It’s as if his muscles are straining for something that his tendons hold back, as if he’s caught perpetually chasing some melody that is always a beat faster.”

-“Words are like little comets, streaking behind them a reign of tears and hesitation.”

Personification:

-“...the wind sharpening his bones and coursing through his hair...”

-“...melodies frosting delicate and translucent despite the suffocating atmosphere...”

-“More sour than disappointment, more bitter than loneliness.”

Contrast:

-“It’s so sad it’s funny.”

-“...watching an ant die under a magnifying glass and squealing in joy over the sadness of it all.”

Hyperbole:

-“... consonants broken full-stop and vowels tapering to infinity.”

-“His bones ache and his ribs cut into his lungs and he can’t breathe and everything hurts, spins, hurts, spins.”

-“There is only the tsunami of text and slow wave of music.”

These are just a few of many others that are throughout the fanfiction. She uses repetition to give emphasis on the topic. She uses similes and personification to give the readers a more vivid imagination of the scene and the characters' emotions. She uses contrast to give dark humor and again, more description to the scene/emotion. She uses hyperbole, once again, for deeper description.

'Anterograde Tomorrow' has inspired readers to create many trailers, fan edits, fan arts, and many other things dedicated to the story. There also have been many 'top-notch' reviews about this fanfiction, one of which is from a kpop fanfiction review blog:

Do I Recommend This?: Only if you don’t mind sad stories that will rip your heart out when you finish it and even when you have the slightest reminder of the story. This is 1) The first story that ever made me cry and 2) The first story I have ever voluntarily re-read. Therefore, it had a major impact on my reading life. Although it is only 4 chapters (if you count the prologue), they are pretty long, so it should take up a good amount of time if you read it all at once. They were all extremely well-written, descriptive, and overall amazing. The story gave an immense amount of suspense, along with feelings of sadness, guilt, sorrow, and depression. The story does go along with a few things that happen in real life, such as how Kai wanted to be a dancer and D.O. wanting to be a singer. The targeted audience of this story would be anyone, not just EXOtics or even kpop fans. To sum it all up, this story is probably the story that had the biggest impact on my reading and writing life, and I really hope I become as good an author as changdictator one day. I hope more of your stories will be as good and heart-touching as this one!
~Sophia (http://kpop-fanfic-reviews.tumblr.com/post/56637044666/fanfic-review-3-anterograde-tomorrow)



'Anterograde Tomorrow' continues to bring tears to fans even up till this day, and it will go on as a fanfiction legend.

I will end this with some memorable quotes and words.


-  You’re caught in time but time moves on. You can’t remember people coming or leaving.

The world diminishes around you while you’re stuck in the center.

All of your old friends leave or die and you can’t make new ones.

You can’t love. You can’t hate.

- It was kind of funny, like watching a hamster run itself to death in a wheel,

for an exit that didn't exist.

- “Where does a thought go when it’s forgotten?”

“Well, it dies. The thought dies.”

“Don’t let me die, hyung. Promise me you’ll remember me.”

- “My name is Jongin. I’m the writer who lives next door. See you tomorrow, hyung. Don’t forget!”

- "No, you don’t, because you don’t actually love me. Without all my notes, there is nothing. There is actually, exactly, really nothing. I’m really just a stranger to you, and this relationship is all just a play.

It’s just another novel. Fabrication. Everything.

I’m not even writing a fucking novel, fuck, I’m living it.”

- "You can remember tomorrow. I’ll remember all of our yesterdays."

-  “remember Jongin; our birthday tomorrow (13th January 2014).”

- “I’m on borrowed time… How much do you think the interest is?”

- Sleep takes Kyungsoo away, anyway.

- My name’s Kim Jongin. I call you hyung.

Yesterday you loved me. Today you’ll love me again.

(Source: http://zachela.wordpress.com/2013/02/11/anterograde-tomorrow-quotes/)

If you have not read the fanfiction yet, please read it, even if you don't know the characters, it's a story, so give it a shot. 

Anterograde Tomorrow