Author's Notes Pt. 3 - The Bechdel Test, the Lost Chapter and Nufonia

Incidentally, if you are coming here from a random link or whatnot, I would advise that you go to the index first and, at least read the Neurons Like Brandy chapters as there are going to be spoilers in these posts and if you are remotely interested on why these side-stories exist then I would say do not read past the break.


Only about 7 people have read Neurons Like Brandy before so only a very few would even know how much the book has already changed in contrast to its original inception.

The first thing that is most prominent is that the second chapter is actually entirely missing. The second chapter was the first one I ever wrote and detailed Dan coming to at around the same time the same time as Jo now does in Pt. 3. It was a surreal, odd piece that was supposed to show how remotely Dan interacted with the World. It is probably one of my favourite pieces of writing, unfortunately it is also considered one the worst pieces of writing I've ever done.

One person I showed it to never read anything I wrote ever again. Something I am sorry about as she probably now has very low opinion of me as a writer. Another read it (before chapter 1 was conceived) and it wasn't until they read a much later chapter did they go; 'oh, this book might not be too bad'.

I showed it to Shaun of Arcadian Rhythms and it was clear that he struggled to be polite about shitting on it and even my number one fan said it was rubbish.

So, it is now gone. I actually think that the opening is actually stronger as a result. There are a lot more ambiguities in Pt 2 and instead of you going 'Oh, that is why Dan is the way he is.' there are just a lot of unanswered questions (well there might not be depending on whether you are interested). The challenge will be to weave the answers into the, now, very different story.

The second major change is Jo and her chapter that went up on the fourth of July. Jo is a difficult one to pin down as she is influenced by some disparate characters from my life. The one thing was that now that her's was the first chapter to explore the beginning of the end, I needed to add a lot to her story. That and I wanted to try and pass the Bechdel test (something that I don't think that Neurons Like Brandy did before). The premise of the Bechdel test is that you need two named female characters to have a conversation that isn't about a man. I am not sure that the conversation between Jo and Nufonia does actually pass as Nufonia mentions Dan though but at least I gave it a shot...
The big challenge with Pt. 3 is that Jo's personality has markedly changed from original drafts so I need to try and subtly manipulate future chapters to make sure I stay true to her character traits. Or maybe not, we'll see what happens.

And finally, Nufonia.

There is a lot of pop culture referenced throughout the novel, Pt. 2 and 3 are littered with it and there are things I put in there as little jokes to myself, or just for poignancy. I was really into Kid Koala at the time of writing the chapter and his comic book Nufonia Must Fall  was the inspiration for Dan's doomed girlfriend.