Behind The Story: Neon Moon · 4:06pm Jun 5th, 2020
6 of you read this story? Well, I consider it one of my best works. As I've said, how proud I am of something I wrote seems to inversely correlate with how many people actually read the thing. I appear to have hit an all-time low.
Alright, so this story actually had the storyline planned out beforehand. It was like two sentences, but it was a plot synopsis.
This story obviously came from Neon Moon by Brooks and Dunn. The way I found that song is a bit unusual, however.
So, over on the WoF Wikia, I’m in a roleplay. This RP involves humans that get turned into dragons. I’m playing as the female Jessica because of course I am, and I’m among the infected (RP’s called Quarantined if you want to check it out).
Jessica shares a cell with Aspen. Aspen sings a whole lot of old Country. Not like Johnny Cash and Lynyrd Skynyrd, but like moderately old country. Neon Moon by Brooks and Dunn was among the songs she sang. Now, Jessica is very annoyed at this (thus, I cracked a joke about how the two would be shipped, and it’s actually heading that direction, sexualities line up, too), but I had never heard Neon Moon. So, I listened to it expecting to find a song that I could level a criticism at, but instead I found a fantastic Country song that would make a fantastic story.
Guess what happened next.
Midnight last night (because why not), I started writing this story.
The Snows of Kilimanjaro influence came while writing the story. I actually liked that story, but most of all, I liked the flashbacks the guy had to his life with this girl. He didn’t love her, and he only married for money, but the girl truly loved him. These flashbacks were flashbacks to all the things she’d done for him, but he saw in a different light.
So, I decided that some flashbacks would be a great idea. After all, it only needed to seem a little melodramatic, not too melodramatic.
So, they were written. Three flashbacks, each harkening to a different height of their relationship. There’s also a fourth, meant to stir up a response among the mutes out there.
Now, the main character being mute was an idea I had. After all, I had already made Sparky a lesbian and no one complained, so I decided to dip my feet in with a mute character.
At no point do I actually outright say the character is mute, but it’s heavily implied. I wanted to make you feel for him, so I made it that he couldn’t speak and his complete lack of being able to do that would cause his mare to leave him.
You may notice that Jack Daniels’ marefriend doesn’t have a name, I never gave her one. Jack Daniels was already a silly name (the one thing in the story I don’t like), so I didn’t need an equally silly one. Besides, it has more emotional impact, you ever heard of Whatshername?
So, I included a very high amount of musical references in this story. Almost all of them flowed, so I kept them all in, here’s the ones I remember writing in (done from memory, so not exact quotes):
They said “I love you” without a sound. He remembers her.
I Remember You- Skid Row
”You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.”
Closing Time- Semisonic
To him it sounded like the crickets were singing a song. About how she loved him, how he felt fine.
She Loves You and I Feel Fine- both The Beatles
Now the crickets sang a bittersweet symphony. One about a love regressed to the point of him forgetting her name.
Bittersweet Symphony and Whatshername- Verve and Green Day respectively
That laugh with her eyes as bright as the sun.
Ballroom Blitz by Sweet
That’s all I can remember. However, I’m certain there’s tons more.
So, the ending was always planned to be sad, so there isn’t really a moral here. I don’t intend to blast anybody who’s mute with this story, my intent is to sympathize.
That’s really about it for this story, very simple, but I love it.
As for my influences, Fiddlesticks just came on, and is writing some of the best stories I’ve ever read. I highly doubt the writer is brand new, but they are fantastic writers. I wanted to try and nail their sense of tone with the empty bar with nopony really there. I get they aren’t the first person to write like that, but they’re the one I’m most familiar with. FabulousDivaRarity is always a huge influence on me, especially with her stories like Delirium for those sort of surface-level but not things, and Snows of Kilimanjaro is just a great story,
And as usual, if you have no fricking clue what I’m talking about here’s the link.
And until next time; be awesome.
-Dashite
For the record, Jespen became canon in-story, and the two people controlling the characters also fell in love with each other.