Hi!

I started making visual novels one year ago with the Nanoreno2021 jam, so I really wanted to participate in Nanoreno2022 as well, to see how much I've changed (and hopefully grown!) as an author. I was originally going to make a cute little story about a transwoman selling paper flowers, but things happened and I had a mental health crisis, and I no longer felt like writing about paper flowers.

So I begun writing whatever was on my mind. I tapped into the conversations and interactions I've had within the past six months and themes begun to emerge: gender, closets, boundaries, sexuality and kink. I realized I would be writing a story about sex.

Previously I've resisted writing about sex. I felt I didn't have anything interesting to say about conventional sex and if people needed to see animal people doing it, there are plenty of amazing artists out there catering to that. I was also worried that people would find my takes on sex to be alien, since my tastes don't always align with the mainstream view of what sex looks like.

And then I realized that that is exactly why I should write about sex. Because I do have a perspective that hasn't been exhaustively explored.

I decided I would try to do my take on a common queer (and non-queer) experience: the drunken hookup. This turned out to be quite tricky, since I personally prefer sex to be sober and to happen with familiar partners. However, many people do enjoy hookups and quite often those happen in contexts where alcohol is served. So, I wanted to challenge myself to explore that scenario and see if I could write a story I would enjoy reading.

I succeeded in that goal.

I hope others will enjoy reading it as well.

Releasing this story is really, really terrifying. Nanoreno is the biggest visual novel jam out there. A lot of people will see this. I'm writing about stigmatized and marginalized people and identities, and I'm not sure if I handled them with enough sophistication.

All I can hope for is that some people will find this story relatable, and those who do not will at least feel some increased empathy towards the people portrayed here.

Oh, and for those of you worrying about whether Bear Care will be completed or not: yes, dear Deer will have his story concluded, but right now I need to rest a little. I will return to Deer's messy life once I feel well enough.