Writing Reflections: Part 7 · 6:30pm Mar 3rd, 2018
Greetings, everyone!
Today, I would like to look back on what has become one of my favorite stories that I’ve written, From Finner. It’s been almost a year since I completed it and posted it on FIMFiction, and the responses I’ve gotten to it and to Finner himself have made me smile and touched my heart. It’s a long one this time, but I have a lot to say about this story. So, without further ado, let’s jump in to this writing reflection!
The Inspiration
As noted in the story description, From Finner was greatly inspired by Of Monsters and Men’s song From Finner. While I loved many songs on the album My Head Is An Animal, From Finner was not originally one of them. That is not to say that I disliked it. It merely did not strike me in the same way that songs like King and Lionheart, Mountain Sound, or Little Talks had. But as time went on, this changed.
For those who are unfamiliar, a lot of Of Monsters and Men’s songs on this album are story-like. The song From Finner especially mentions an unidentified number of people on a journey and a man named Finner. They describe furrows on his skin, how the “waves that hit his face marked the past”, the rocking of his house, and how the singer of the song feels safe in his house. Well, the more I listened to the song, the more I started to think of Lyric as the one on a journey, and I started to develop the character of Finner.
Because the song mentioned waves, I decided to make Finner a pony of the sea. Because of the phrase “marked the past” and the furrows on his skin, I decided that Finner would have a lot of years behind him. “The rocking of his house” translated to a houseboat (even though I personally imagined a house on a cliff rocked by the wind listening to the song before I thought of the story). The line “That’s when Finner would say, ‘Keep your heads held high’” led to a creed that he would have held onto in life. And the title of the song made me think that he would leave a letter for Lyric in the end.
I also concluded that Finner would die in the final chapter pretty early on. I cannot say why I thought of this, why he could not simply live as Lyric goes on her way. But looking back now, I think that would have cheapened the experience as a whole. It would not have had the same impact on Lyric, or on the story itself.
Development
With all of these things in mind, I began to develop the story and the characters further. I came up with the overall arc of the story, and what kind of pony Finner was. I decided that he would tell the story of the ocean and the moon, although I feel that it may originally have been a standalone tale. I do know that the tale originally would have been about why the ocean is salty with the waters following the moon being only a component of that. More on that later. I also came up with the idea of the song and its dual meaning and purpose in the story, although I had no words for it yet. Those would come later.
As I got close to writing the story, I started to think more on Finner as a character. Who was he really? What brought him to this point in life? As I did, I thought of who he may have been in love with, if he was ever married or had children. Thus, Lady Slipper came to be. Although she was a late addition to the story, I am so glad she was born at all. She helped to round out Finner as a character and put a lot of things about him into perspective.
Writing
The writing process was interesting for this one. When I first started writing, I got about halfway through the first chapter, right to where Lyric first enters Finner’s houseboat and he’s warming up the stove. And then I stopped.
For whatever reason, the story sat for about a year. I worked on other things in the meantime, and accomplished quite a few of them. But then, just as suddenly, I had the drive to work on it again. I got to work, and although I would love to say that I produced the story you see today, that is not the case.
The first chapter is more or less the same as how it was originally written. The second and third chapters needed extensive rewrites. In the original version of the second chapter, Lyric crumbled as Finner critiqued her performance in the tavern, and it weighed things down. The dialogue didn’t flow, and the interaction felt forced. This is when Finner was originally going to tell Lyric to keep her head held high as well, but that, too, felt forced. As I rewrote this part, the version you see now came to me, and it fit the story much better. Instead of a Lyric who was still wounded by her past, it showed one who still had some lessons to learn but was working to overcome it. Some things stayed the same, though, such as the tale that Finner told to the colts.
Although the third chapter was still the tale of Chandra and Blue, it did not flow as nicely the first time around. I had to take a close look at it and rework it. I am much happier with the end result. And even though I had originally intended to make the story about why the ocean is salty, the more I thought on it, the more I decided that the waters following the moon was a better theme and a better metaphor for Chandra and Blue as well as Finner and Lady.
I had not intended for Finner to have such duality to him when I originally thought of him, but the sadness hidden underneath his jovial surface is what the story wanted. It also led to me adding his line about keeping Lyric’s head held high after telling the tale because it fit his character arc and the story so much better. I also had not intended for the tale to be a reflection of Finner’s love for Lady as well, but I am so happy that it did.
The Song
Writing the song was an interesting process. I am not a poet, and so I originally enlisted the help of my good friend MelancholyIguana. The original approach was to try and create a song set to a piece of existing music, but as we sat and looked at the story, I wrote the four stanzas that are in the final piece. Mel helped to alter the second stanza, and it flowed quite nicely. I originally also had “Sleep now, my love” written, but seeing as Lyric would sing the song to Finner at the end, I changed the words to “Sleep now, dear one” to better reflect their relationship. I had planned on having the song be longer, somewhere around six to eight stanzas, but the four stanzas felt right. They were short, sweet, and they captured exactly what I was going for.
The Letter
One thing I was concerned about at the end was the contents of the letter. I still am a bit. Although I feel that it fits the story and that it is something Lyric needed to hear at this point in her life, I was afraid that, from an outsider’s perspective, it would not be enough of a payoff. I had also wanted it to be longer, but what I came up with seemed to fit. It said everything it needed to say, and to drag it out would have cheapened its words.
Lady Slipper
Figuring out just what to say and how much to say about Lady Slipper was a challenge. I love her so much, and there is a lot of her story and her life with Finner that I really wanted to show. However, that would have taken away from the points the story was trying to make, and so I took the “less is more” approach with her. I still love her, and I still have her story in my head, and I have seriously considered writing more about her and Finner together.
The Epilogue
As I was writing, I debated about making the epilogue a true epilogue, or if it should be attached to the last chapter. I could have seen it working either way. Making it a true epilogue won out, though, as I decided it was its own contained scene, as well as the fact that it shows a new Lyric, one not seen in the story thus far. It warranted its own space in the story.
The Revising
As I always do when completing the first draft of a new story, I went through it with a fine-toothed comb, weeding out anything and everything I could find that looked off or needed to change. After I had, I sent the story to a few good friends of mine to get their feedback and input. Among these friends are Will-Owl-the-Wisp and Haycart, who once again worked their magic and made wonderful changes and suggestions to make this story the best that it could possibly be.
That concludes this writing reflection! I hope that you had as much fun reading this as I had remembering and writing all this. From Finner really did surprise me in a lot of ways. I never expected to become as attached to Finner and Lady Slipper that I did. I never expected that the story would have quite the impact on people that it did, or that some people would fall in love with Finner just as much as I had.
To everyone who has read it, commented on it, favorited it, and to all those who gave their time to help turn this story into what it is today, I thank you all.
Cheers!
It is a great story! Interesting blog you have here! The story actually got me into Of Monsters and Men so thank you for that!
4809091
Hey, thanks so much! I like to take a look back at all my stories, and I should have written this ages ago.
You're very welcome! Glad that you like them!
4809095
All your stories are great IMO. You have some good writing skills. Continue with the awesomeness my friend! Can't wait to see your next stories.
Wow, has it been that long since you released the story? Well, I mean, my anniversary of joining the site is upcoming to and that came not long after, so I don't know what I'm surprised about.
Hmm... Maybe I should do reflections on my own stories.
4809102
Thanks so much, mate! I definitely know which stories I will be working on next.
4809148
Haha, yeah. I released it in April last year. It certainly is hard to believe.
I saw that you wrote a writing reflection of your own! Awesome!
4813476
Yeah! In fact, I'm gonna do a blog reflecting on all of my stories here as my FIM-iversary special!
4813478
Very cool!