The creation of Nova
So to celebrate Nova’s one year story anniversary (yesterday the fifth) I decided to share the insight on how i created her character and answer a question that’s came up. I figured in case anyone was curious and hey, maybe it can help with your own character creation
So I have been writing a grand total of about 13 years now (with 90% of my stories forever hidden away in a broken computer or a folder i have on my laptop that says do not open) and one of my favorite things to do is AUs. I used to take series i loved and kinda strip it down to the basics and add my own spin to it. I always try to change a lot of it so i’m not just copying it completely.
So I heard about Star vs and I decided to check it out. I fell in love with the series after the preview episode and i decided to go back to writing (I had stopped for about half a year at this point which is why my early stories are so full of mistakes haha) I created my own version of the story and Nova was born. Nova (and Connor) are literally as old as the first Star vs episode.
As for actual character, aside from story elements, Nova is the same in my story i created and the Star vs au she now resides in.
In my original story Nova was a magical princess from another universe who was always trying to live up to her parents legacy and was sent to Earth to train *but was really was sent to keep her safe from an upcoming war* so i had to translate that to Star vs.
I think the main theme of Star vs is growth. Not only as a person but as a society(after seeing today’s episode, kinda confirms it). Star is constantly shown as the rebel mewnman princess, actively challenging the old ways of thinking and any attempt to suppress her nature and personality. So using that train of thought, i treated the nova vs verse as a spin off series. If Star vs is about growth, what would be the next series theme be?
Since star is about growth and being yourself, I decided to make Nova about being true to you really are, not who you think you should be.
Nova’s current identity is being the starco child. being the daughter of one of the most loved couples in the world (i used the internet, fans and how much the residents of Echo Creek and the monsters loved star as a gauge about how popular she would be in the future which i agree would be celebrity levels). and while it is a source of pride and comfort for Nova, it’s also a sure of insecurity (tying back into Nova’s original story)
So i had the key theme to the show. now to work it into the actual story. Nova is insecure about who she is and if she can measure up. I already have that Star is well loved in the universe but realistically, that wouldn’t be enough. That alone couldn’t explain why Nova was so unsure of herself as a Butterfly (kinda like i wasn’t sure if anyone would like Nova) so i decided to separate Star from her family.
I used some good old cosmic horror in the story shifting the important of Earth down. I found it interesting that in the first episode Star, a seasoned and well traveled dimension hopper, had never heard of the dimension of Earth and Moon clearly thought it was unassuming enough where Star could train safely. So i went with that, creating an alliance of dimensions who use their royalty to ensure peace treaties *just like the medieval period Mewni is based in* and the fact Earth was an unknown, uncared for space that Star fell in love with *Given throughout the show she makes no mention of missing Mewni or shows any signs of homesickness. Yeah she’s a snip away from visiting but every time she’s gone it was for family (her own or taking the Diaz’s) or because she was on a mission* This created the whole Star forced to come back and rule mewni alone while Marco was forced to take care of nova alone as the two (and their friends and allies) worked to reunite the couple
This allowed Nova have a longing for a mother who could only visit in short busts and to build Star into this amazing, incredible figure in her mind (Marco’s stories did not help lessen that) which Nova would judge herself against, to prove herself to the royals who doubted Star’s choice and herself. Nova’s drive to be as amazing as she build up her mother is in her head, something a lot of people have troubling shaking. it’s easy to look to someone else and have an unbiased view or point out something that isn’t quite what they think but when it comes to ourselves. we tend to be more hesitant to shake it off.
Now to build Nova’s actual character. I wanted her to have a confidence without being cocky but still a teenager. Everyone’s a mess as a teenager and no character is ever perfect and with her insecurity, her confidence is more of a flimsy mask than an actual shield. She blankets herself in the comfort of being Marco and Star’s daughter but it’s when she or someone else compares her to Star it because a hindrance. I also wanted her to be witty because I love those characters but full able to make mistakes. She’s not genius levels of smart but she gets good grades. She also is more outgoing than most people but when faced with her weakness or embarrassment, she tends to shut down quickly or become way more subdued.
As for driving force of the series: her relationship with Connor. I make it clear I am a hardcore romantic and i love me a good, well written love story. I wanted to play with an idea that I, at least personally, haven’t seen or written much about. What if two best friends were already crushing on each other but one was actively resisting it no matter how much they actually wanted it or how natural it felt. So like Star being this amazingly, impossibly perfect figure, i wanted Nova to fight what she saw as a cliche (rather than a troupe) Growing up, they were constantly teased about how cute they are, when would they start dating and Nova hated it growing up because she thought it was just people shipping them together because they could (she’s young so she’s a bit on the dense side) it isn’t until she grows up and begins having those kind of thoughts that she realizes they were right though is unaware it’s because they saw something she didn’t at the time. Nova is prideful though and in her mind, she thinks getting with Connor would diminish their amazingly awesome relationship into a cliche (something she treasures far too much to ever let go or ruin) no matter how badly she wants to and how well it worked for her parent.. She’s actively fighting her feelings in an attempt to protect something close to her heart (at least what she what she thinks).
So here’s some character creation ideas that went into the process of making nova. this next section is a late story spoiler though honestly you can figure it out way before i reveal it in story: Why does Nova have Star’s hearts? If you choose to stop here, thank you so much for reading this long complex mes of ideas that went into a character I never thought i would ever use more than once. Thank you everyone who reads nova, thank you so much for your love, your support and your amazing works. Seriously, I cannot tell you how much it all means to me. thank you because without you amazing readers, nova wouldn’t have gotten this far. She was supposed be a oneshot and here she is, still going. sorry for my long notes haha. Next time I’ll be doing the creation of Connor. Until then have an amazing week!
