Filly Friends - Foof Extended Author's Notes · 5:19pm Jun 23rd, 2020
Ahoy, mateys, there be spoilers ahead for th' latest chapter of FIlly Friends, arrr. Duh
I've finally decided to break down the writing thought process behind a lot of the "big" reveals in this story. See, I read a lot of romance stuff - what a shock, right? - both western and Japanese media. Though some of cliches and misunderstanding can be humorous, and something I've used in the past, when I was designing my Octavia I didn't want to rely on things like that to carry the story.
Filly Friends was always about two close friends exploring that relationship. It got bumpy and misunderstanding were had in the beginning. That's why I created Hazelblossom, to serve as a vessel to split Octavia and Vinyl up in the beginning. Their fight may have been the last straw, but he was the driving force behind the separation.
I think that came through in the story. I hope it came through.
Anyway, I digress. When I was designing Octavia's character, I had some specific things in mind. I wanted her to be kind of posh and proper, but have her get a little looser as the story - and Vinyl's influence on her - continued. She was also going to be a thinker, prone to overthinking and over analyzing everything I'm pretty sure that comes through clear in the story.
But that wraps back around to the first point I was trying to make. When confronted with things, Octavia and her parents tend to shrug them off. Foalhood friend suddenly popped back into her life after vanishing for years? Neat-o. Parents have been talking to / supporting said friend? At least somepony was. Vinyl has an ex who she left Octavia alone to live with? Aight, cool. Vinyl likes her? That's neat, lemme panic until I figure out how I feel, and maybe keep going for good measure. Octavia tends to think these things through and let them roll off her shoulders. I thought it would be fun, and it has been.
For me, anyway. And if you're actually reading these ramblings, I assume you've enjoyed it enough to actively seek out more of my ramblings. I thank you.
Now then, let's talk about cloud castles. They're neat, and I like the idea of a big, dumb floating castle made from floofy cloudstuff. It also serves as a bit of world building, as in my mind, this story, In Search of Knowledge, and Death all take place in the same continuity. Not because it helps either story to do so, but I like the idea of a big, connected world.
On the same note, almost all of my DnD and Pathfinder homebrew games are set in a big, connected world.
That's really all I have to say. Cloud castles are neat.
Anyway, hope you guys have been having fun with the story. We're nearing the end, but I've got a couple of surprises still in store. Quick and I have been talking about my next project here recently, so I'll probably toss up another blog post in a couple of days detailing that. I'll give you guys a hint for reading this far, though: it'll be a sequel. So if you find yourself bored waiting on updates to Filly Friends....
I like this random blog post. It speaks to who you are as a person, as does your regular writing. I personally like it when an author lets themselves into a story if you know what I mean. It's gotta be said that I simply do enjoy your style.
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Yeah, I really appreciate that. It's fun to pull aside the curtain from time to time and share what's going on in my head. If anything, I wish I had more excuses to do blog posts like this. Or blog posts in general, I never really know what to say.
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I know what you mean and as a little bit of advice. Sometimes it's okay to not know what to say. I won't call myself a genius, and of course, people on the internet are who they want you to see them as. For the nature of this site, I like to make friends, and you seem pretty chill, as a creator and a person, I would honestly just enjoy reading your mad/quirky/confusing (in a good way) ramblings as much as I would reading your developed and expertly crafted chapters to your fun stories. Because both come from you, and that's just what I like to see. 'writing from the heart' or something like that.