#noteclan asks

[noteclan]

ochrewillow, how does it feel to know you've built a clan where the apprentices never even have to consider a warrior might hurt them, or get the leader to hurt them?

hey hi the text is short but I hope the Rest communicates well enough how absolutely feral this made me. thanks

[noteclan]

📝? I need tips on comic writing lol

Happily! I made some shit up + spliced together bits and bobs of several moons to make two pages of fake notes for you! some names are inconsistent here due to the splicing. Feel free to skim or skip to the other advice at the bottom. (some advice is present, underlined, in the images, but there's also non-advice underlines so)

So, in general: Observe what the game gives you. Typically, it's actually MORE than enough to get an interesting story out of, as much as people may complain of 'boring moons'. (I find that only Really happens in clans with 1-3 cats). The Y + Tall + Veil + Cala patrol here would feed into at least two ongoing subplots and the Oatdawn, Beech, Ochre and Heron events into at least 3. Just from what the game supplied. it's crazy.

But: know your cats better than the game and tell it no when it pulls truly story-breaking bullshit. Shoutout a version of a moon I had where Shadepaw murdered Bogfreckle despite canonically Not Knowing Him.

Then take what you like most, what connects the best, and what best suits how you want your characters to change and grow.

Obviously my methods won't work for everyone- I often find this thoroughness taxing, even though I only have like 12 cats. So maybe ask yourself what your specific Goal Is with making this story. Mine, for example, was that I'd often had clangen runs with compelling stories but I Kept Forgetting Them right after; and I figured making a comic would fix that. So memory is the goal, and therefore, so is thorough notetaking.

If you want short, snappy moons and to pass a lot of time quickly, so you can watch whole families unfurl Fallenclan style? Maybe just take notes on what has to do with cats you find important, or events you find most compelling. In general maybe don't do what I do.

But if you want to join me in the hell of long updates, ensemble casts and heavy dialogue? Well, consider something like this. Because one day you'll have an arc come together in the margins that will blow your mind.

so yea. hope this helps! Rule number one is have fun and be yourself. rule number 2 is more broad comic writing than note specific, I'm shouting out Juniperclan's advice; tie something else fun you like in. I like studying the flora, fauna, language and culture of the region my cats are set in and drawing + worldbuilding noteclan is great for that

Thank you for the ask and I hope you have a lovely day!

[noteclan]

hi hi. will we ever know more about heartpaw? like a one-off comic before the death? or just an infopost? the death was very sad and id like to know more about what heartpaw was like :(

ps i love ochrewillow's design

I absolutely want to do more with Heartpaw! I don't have much clarity at the moment, for What I want to do with her- I know I had a plan for a mini animated sequence of what she's up to now, but that requires posting moon 6 first, so. Haven't gotten around to it.

She will certainly continue to appear in flashbacks, starclan communications, and when eventually, cats die. In the meantime she - like all Noteclan's cats - is open to asks! If it's a Big Spoiler I'll probably answer the ask with just 'sorry, I can't say that', but there's a lot of detail poured into some of these cats I'd be delighted to get to share.

I'm so happy y'all like her :'] Thank you and I hope you have a lovely day

[noteclan]

Hi, you're cool. For your ask game:💥

oh hell yes

💥: What’s the most dramatic event in your clan’s history?

ohohohoho. hehehe. Welllll- Noteclan itself hasn't had much time to have Drama yet, only having existed for four moons, but the events that led to its creation..

Most dramatic probably belongs to the battle right before our characters split off(pictured in the first image); a third of our founding characters lost family in it, after all! Rather messy!

Though the most influential.. On the pasts of these cats, that will always be the day Heartpaw was killed and the war began. For Ochrewillow especially, who was just six moons old at the time.

[noteclan]

Oh man, I saw you're reading Jumalanpelko for the first time and I just wanted to say enjoy, it's such a good comic :D (and will also leave you absolutely devastated <3)

alfhsdlkgjdfl thank you I'm hyped. am like 4/7 through the blog's scroll bar now(scrolled all the way to the bottom to start so I can see all the asks and such not just comic) so. we're. we're getting places. am near the end of the senior guard stuff rn. I've seen a few images of what happens after and I have so much fear in my heart. its gonna be great :D

thank you for the ask, I hope you have a lovely day!

[noteclan]

oh and 🎯for Heartpaw!! before she died of course

right ok this was june 20 . I overthought this for a. a bit. hang on

ok so the interesting thing. Oh for the record this was asking about a cat's goals. Right so Heartpaw died when she was just six moons old. At the age where every cat has just been playfighting and mossball hunting and roleplaying being leader.

Her goals hadn't really gone beyond that yet in life! Was on the route to being a warrior, having fun sneaking away from her mentor to hang out with [redacted]- and then, well. You split from one patrol to hunt fish in the border stream, and next thing you know..

Well.

Her goals in life were never interesting. After it, when she found out about the war waged in her "honor"..? She didn't spend those moons doing nothing.

..which is not very informative, overall, but it's literally been three months and I can't figure out anything better so it's what you're getting ajfkgsdhklgfd. thank you so much for the ask

[noteclan]

🌷 for ochrewillow?

Right ok yes! This took me uhm. Several days to decide and then I forgot to actually answer the ask, sorry it's been a bit

Ochrewillow, til a few moons into being a warrior, had absolutely no awareness of personal space. She still has very little Sense for it, and if she's the one approaching a cat she's talking to, will often stop a bit too far away.

Thank you for the ask!

[noteclan]

Hi ! Not a question, I just wanted to compliment your comic. The characters feel dynamic and I like the artstyle. Take care !! i hope you're still having fun working on this !

OH MY GOSH THANK YOU?? Thank you!! I am having lots of fun working on it Yes. Moon 6 currently has like 43 panels sketched out, which is probably a bit more than halfway. It's slow going but I love this comic to pieces.

Gosh I'm ecstatic. thank you so much for the ask I'm glad you're enjoying this and I hope you have a lovely day