Starlight: Author's Notes

Xenophilia jokes inbound. Or should I say, Starbound.

*Snnnrk*

Here's my notes.

Starlight has an obvious theme. Like, a really really obvious theme. I spell it out for everyone in the letter to Celestia at the end of the chapters. This theme wasn't what I started the story with, but eventually that's what it came out looking like. The letter also wasn't planned, but I couldn't think of a much better way to wrap things up after the fact. I got stuck a few times near the end, trying to make a good conclusion that didn't seem forced or awkward. I'm not too sure if I nailed that one.

Anyway, let's talk about how the story works. Specifically, why I chose to write it twice. The reason I stated in the A/N in the story is that I couldn't decide whether I wanted Nate to talk or not, so I just wrote two versions of it. That's mostly true, but there's more to it. To examine it further, we have to look into why I chose to have a Novakid in the first place.

For those of you that aren't too acquainted with the lore behind Starbound, I'd like to direct your attention momentarily to the forum post where the first concepts for the Novakid were introduced. This is where I gathered most of my information regarding Nate's biology and history, along with information on his parents and cues on how to write his personality. Ever since Novakid were introduced into the game, I had a sort of xenophilic relationship with them. (Same can actually be said for the Changelings, but that's a story for another time.) The idea of having a Novakid in the story came pretty late into the development cycle, but it seemed like a pretty natural choice to me.

Originally, this story was going to be a quick "first contact" story featuring Twilight and an alien, and they'd teach each other some lesson about friendship or whatever. I quickly realized that keeping it like that was super bland and basic, so I turned it up a notch and made the alien mute.

Ah, progress.

It wasn't long after that that I discovered the Novakid blog post that I linked earlier, and it made me fall in love with the species even more. So I made it so the alien was a Novakid.

Okay, great, now we have a bit more of an original story here.

After reading the blog post more, I noticed a link to the question, "How do Novakid Communicate?" The answer really intrigued me (and kicked my xenophilia up a few notches) so I started to think about maybe letting the Novakid talk a little bit.

But no, that would mess up the whole "silent communication" thing I've got going.

So I was pretty torn on that for a good few weeks before I decided to compromise by writing it twice. Indecision at its finest, people. And just like that, bing bang badaboom pow, original(ish) first contact story.

Let's talk about the characters a little bit.

First we have Twilight Sparkle, played by Twilight Sparkle, featuring Twilight Sparkle. I'm, like, 90% sure that I wrote her in-character the whole time, but if you point out any time where she seemed OOC I'll probably agree with you. As for how she felt regarding Nate and his loneliness, I drew some of that from the Moondancer episode. Since this story takes place after their reunion, I felt it pertinent that I incorporate some of what she learned from the experience. I wanted her to question his decisions and judge him at first, but then come to the realization later (unlike how she did with Moondancer) that he just lives a different life, and he's pretty okay with that. She recognized that, this time, it wasn't her place to show him the MAGIC OF FRIENDSHIP and go to a recreation of a party she didn't go to a few years ago. It doesn't change her belief that friendship is still something that can enrich your life, though, as evidenced in the letter at the end of the chapter.

And then we have Nathaniel. Nate. That gun-slinging, rootin-tooting, space-farin, shoot-bootin, wing-dingin cowboy from space. I originally had it so he was in his late 30s and was a bit more grizzled and composed, but I quickly realized that was kinda boring to write for an alien, and it didn't lend anything towards humor, so I changed it. As I wrote it, his voice got younger and more cowboy-ish, and it made comedy a bit easier for me to write. Not to mention that it fit his easygoing personality like a glove. As for his personality and his life, that all came mostly from the way Starbound is played, along with cues thrown in from the blog post about Novakid, such as his early life and his tendency to not understand other cultures. His lack of friendship in his life is just something that he's used to after so much time, and it never bothered him (or his isolated species) all that much. That's just his way of life, and he wouldn't have it any other way.

Alright, that brings us to the end of my notes, I think. If I have something else to add on later I'll just stick it right after the character descriptions with a big "EDIT" sign on it and a date that I added it. Any changes to the story will be accompanied by a "Changelog" blog post saying what's been edited out, changed, or added.

Big thanks to you, the reader, and all my friends on Skype that preread for me and said that it wasn't a steaming pile of Novacrap. I appreciate that, guys. On that list of people you'll find Manes, who even made a blog post promoting the story, T6, Darklordcomp, and TLSpark.