POSTSCRIPT: Glitched Stitches · 4:13am Sep 23rd, 2018
While I was gearing up to finish Glitched Stitches on Thursday, I decided to treat myself to a relaxation ritual. (Partially to motivate myself, but also because I have all these lotions and bath bombs left from last Christmas that well-meaning parents/neighbors gave me that I feel like I can only use when I "deserve" them. I really need to chill out more about that.) The bath bomb I happened to use that day worked like a fortune cookie--it'd dissolve, and a small sheet of paper would come out with a quote printed on it. Long story short, I got this quote and realized that this was really what Glitched Stitches had been about all along. It was so perfect that it'd be really easy to make my fans believe that I got this quote as a story prompt or something and crafted a decent narrative out of it...
...nah, I'm gonna tell you guys the truth. I was totally thinking of Wreck-It Ralph when I wrote this series. I try to be the deep, philosophical writer, but sometimes, we all just get these sorts of weird ideas, right? I watched it for the first time last New Year's Eve and instantly, two thoughts popped into my head after seeing it:
1) Vanellope's backstory really reminded me of the way I write Babs, especially in If You Give a Little Love. (Not spoiling it for anyone who hasn't read it, by the way!)
2) The idea of a "glitch child"--or at least, a childlike computer program who's aware of and traumatized by the fact that they're imperfect--is intensely fascinating to me. It's probably because I've seen so many "rogue computer program" characters who lash out in anger that the more insecure and scared type really interested me.
Anyway, the idea for Glitched Stitches proper didn't come for a few more months. I had a vague idea of it last April, but it was going to be a far more bare-bones oneshot. Around Memorial Day weekend, I started really plotting it as a short series, and even though I'd been wanting to do a shorter, more plot-based series for a while, Lightning's backstory was what really got me into the series concept. Because, you see, Lightning wasn't originally going to be in the story. It was just going to be a straight CocoBabs series like I usually do.
I'm still not 100% sure if that was the right decision. While I really, really like how I was able to mess with Lightning's character in an AU setting, sometimes I wonder if it detracted from the CocoBabs moments. However, exploring the three of them as a trio rather than just sticking to my normal stuff was probably my favorite part of the series, so I feel like that makes up for any insecurities I might have had about it.
Bringing Lightning into it also brought another complexity that I could not have seen coming in a million years--who would have guessed she'd be coming back this season? Now, I love the Washouts--it's probably one of my favorite episodes this season--but it gave me all sorts of questions about how I'd wrap up this series. I went back and forth until the very end about whether or not the creators were benevolent or sinister chessmasters--at first, I really wanted to run with the Wreck-It Ralph parallels and make them King Candy types who felt that Babs' glitch could put their power in jeopardy. But in the end, I decided that I wanted to make this a thoroughly unconventional sci-fi series--the glitches aren't malevolent, they rebel in quiet ways, and even the creators aren't quite so bad. It's a story about understanding and navigating power, and about how independent thought can benefit both sides.
Anyway, since this series was quite a bit shorter, I don't have as much to say about its history or the writing process. But before I move on to my trademark "random facts and bullet points" phase, I'd just like to say one thing: never take short series lightly. I thought I would basically be writing "two-and-a-half" series rather than three, but let's all be honest--I was writing three series, plus a novel. A short series takes just as much effort as a long one, and possibly even a little more so you can tie it up just as well as a long one. They sneak up on you, so be sure you really have the time to devote everything to it. I was able to finish Glitched Stitches in two months, but I still gave it my all. I hope, if any of you write a short series, you keep this advice in mind and remember this: it's completely valid to feel like you're in over your head. To mangle Dr. Seuss, a series is still a series, no matter how small.
Some other quick facts about Glitched Stitches:
- The title actually took me a while to come up with. I knew I wanted to include the word "glitch" in it somehow, but I wasn't sure what else I should incorporate in it. Somehow or another, I was thinking of the series concept and the phrase "snitches get stitches" at the same time (I promise I wasn't involved in anything shady), and they kind of smushed together into "glitches get stitches." Glitched Stitches is both a shortened version of this nonsense phrase and a reference to how Coco is a glitch who stitches clothing.
- Since a lot of this story was meant to subvert my usual conventions (writing sci-fi rather than drama/CocoBabsLightning rather than just CocoBabs/short rather than long), I really wanted to do something with Mosely from the beginning. I've relied on him as a crutch villain for so long that I just randomly decided I wanted to make him a gag character instead this time. Also, depending on whether or not I would have creator AI powers in this 'verse, this may or may not be Mosely's real personality, and I may or may not have been programming him to be evil all along...
- Also, I had way too much fun writing his purple prose lines. I'm not personally huge on the idea of mansplaining myself (men do this, but women can be condescending as well), but the line felt natural for Lightning to say, and it was fun to make a character actually mansplain mansplaining.
- I really wanted to incorporate another subtle Disney element in this series to go along with Wreck-It Ralph, and I always liked how Lilo and Stitch put the deactivated experiments in little pods that opened in water. I could have gone with a more traditional "trapped in a block of ice" thing like Captain America or Aang (which reminds me that I need to catch up on both of these...only just now watched Avengers 2 and I'm still on the first season of A:TLA because I never watched it as a kid+busy with school and work...anyway), but as I was thinking of the pod concept, I also realized how similar it was to a gashapon, or a capsule with a toy inside. Babs' capsule is a more complex version of that concept, and basically resembles a giant pill--an oval shape that's clear on one end and colored on the other.
- (Also this makes me wish that pony gashapons really existed. I saw a guy at MWBF one year who did a variation on this concept with blind bags in capsules inside a gumball machine...I ended up getting Lily.
) - The final Disney-element in this series (other than the obligatory non-Pommel Coco reference in the epilogue title, because I had to do that eventually) was the concept of the epilogue. I haven't seen WALL-E in years, but the part where it seemed like WALL-E forgot everything was agonizing...so of course, I had to subject fans to a similar moment. I like to think that even though the creators made it so the flower would restore Coco's memory, it was really just one step to restoring it. The other step was a voice-activated command using her original name, similar to how Babs woke up through Coco's original voice command.
- Finally, the revelation near the end of the "source code" was spurred on by parallels in Coco and Babs' stories--even in canon, they were both ponies from Manehattan who fell in with the wrong crowd, and I think somehow, the creators wanted to bring Babs back, even if it wasn't in the same body or with the same personality. It's much more a clone-type situation, where it's very clear that one isn't the other, and the only similarity they have is a bit of their "code." They're their own ponies and always have been...though it's weird that Coco was designed to be older and is technically the younger clone.
Anyway, I'm glad you all enjoyed this series, and I hope you continue to enjoy my future content. Glitched Stitches was a great experience, and I wouldn't trade my time on it for anything!
I actually really liked the different take on the CocoBabs relationship in Glitched Stitches as compared to IYGALL.
And wow you really need to watch the rest of Avatar. Still a fantastic show.
4942217
I'm glad you enjoyed it. And I will totally catch up on Avatar after working with the MCU. It's a bit harder since I don't have Netflix, but I'll figure out a way to watch the rest of the episodes. It's something that's been on my list for years.
4942218
Yeah...I didn't watch most of Avatar legally myself. Watched most of it as a kid on TV, then filled in the gaps online...elsewhere. MCU's good stuff, too. I haven't seen the new Ant-Man, but I really liked Infinity War.
4942221
I think Guardians of the Galaxy is my favorite so far. I really like Rocket and Gamora, and the mix of comedy/space/old music is a perfect combo of things I like. It's harder to narrow down a favorite Avenger, though...my boyfriend's a huge Iron Man-or-die guy, but I'm not super sure. Hulk and Thor are cool, but I like all of them.
Also, I'm really looking forward to watching the Ant-Man movies, because his actor's from KC and I love that my area actually has a "patron superhero."
4942222
Guardians of the Galaxy was a fantastic movie. I'm really fond of the first Iron Man movie, and Winter Soldier was another really good one. The first Thor also good. I gotta agree with your boyfriend and name Iron Man as my favorite Avenger. Have you seen Tom Holland's Spidey yet? Spider-Man in Civil War, Homecoming, and Infinity War is super fun. He's a complete dork it's great.
4942223
No, I haven't yet. I'm looking forward to it.
4942224
Oh yeah, you mentioned you were looking forward to seeing Ant-Man, which places you at Age of Ultron at the latest. Regardless, enjoy Ant-Man and Phase 3. And I hope you've managed to stay away from spoilers? Infinity War had a LOT of people talking. And memeing.
4942225
Just saw Ultron. Oddly enough, right after finishing Glitched Stitches, so that was an experience. It was pretty good, so now I'm onto Phase 3!
And I know some of the memes, but not too many. I've been avoiding spoilers since I swore I gave my boyfriend an aneurysm when I told him that a) I wasn't caught up on Steven Universe and b) I knew about THAT big recent plot twist. He still teases me about that, lol.
4942230
Well, Ant-Man is still Phase 2, but after that is Phase 3. Which I think ends with Avengers 4.
4942248
In any case, I'm pumped for it. Thanks for talking about it with me!
4942250
Anytime.