Afterword - Animal Café - Chapter 1-5

Crunchy little lamb... That is how it all started.

I was chatting with my test reader, which, for some obscure reasons, is always giving me weird ideas. We were chatting about a pony chewing on a fragile little crunchy lamb... and I have no idea why... I think I just wanted to revolt her using a funny mental image.

But then... The cuteness of that mental image gave me the crazy idea to create a series about an animal café where all the animals are cute latex covered girls.

As usual, I don't plan any of my stories, I just sit down and write, and it goes where it goes. The fact that I selected a main character that had a communication disorder was just a random thing too.

When Clara started interacting with other characters, it quickly became fun, and curiously she has a lot in common with the pets that can't communicate using speech either. This was not planned. It just happened.

When Clara started interacting with the pets, it became obvious to me that they could help her. Since I want this series to be bright and joyful, it turned the pets into the kindest and most understanding characters ever. No matter what problem Clara will face, a pet will be there to help her go through it one way or another.

The wide variety of pets was a concern at first, I thought it was going to become convoluted and hard to track who is who and what personality fits which... but it went relatively well. Vix is cuddly, Trixie is a sex bunny, Meeka is more mature, Oreo is a troublemaker, Asha is sweet...

It was also fun to switch pets in almost every chapter. It brought some variety. Lucy, is the one that actually makes the story develops. It's like if she is the one deciding on everything. Send Clara home with a pet, ask Clara to pet sit, tell Clara to choose two pets...

Some people asked me if Lucy will end up turning Clara into a pet... I don't know yet. I feel she is not ready for that. You can see that Lucy is testing Clara, though... She is watching how Clara is behaving around the pets... we will see... One of my reluctance is that if Clara becomes a pet, it will kill all dialogues. Only Lucy will be able to talk, and then it won't be fun anymore.

I published 5 small chapters in arow this weekend. It was a lot of work. Those were not prepared beforehand. I wrote the chapters and published them the same day. I needed a break from my other work, and I had time on my hands. Writing those small chapters was really entertaining. I wouldn't be surprised if I write plenty more soon.

Here is a little behind the scene for you. I write three different lengths of stories. 3000-4000 words, 7500-10000 words, and 20000 words.

One would think that writing 2 x 4000 words takes the same time as writing 8000 words... but that is not the case. Writing 2 x 4000 words is muuuuch easier and faster. The bigger the story, the longer it takes to edit. Ensuring consistency is probably the biggest thing. It is very time consuming. Editing a 8000 word story is almost twice a long as editing 2 x 4000 words... its funny how things work.

So yes, Animal café was quick and fun and I really really enjoyed writing them.

So now, when are we opening such a café? I totally want to go to one

TS