Mediocre. (English)

Mediocre - Curiosities and Data

-- Written by "Gale Kepler"

Part 1.

· At first, this was a ONE-SHOT that didn't even reach a thousand words. I showed it to Irene to get her feedback, and she told me it was mediocre. That felt like a betrayal, but then I found a way to continue the story, and that's why I titled it "MEDIOCRE."

· I chose the theme of Ballet because it tends to be one of the most popular ones. That's why there was no intention of showing the recital at first.

· The story was short, it was basically the first paragraphs of Part 1. I wanted to get straight to the point. It was because I wanted to have a variety of stories in our repertoire.

· At first, Part 1 would end with Dario being forced to do ballet, but I decided that giving it that final twist, where it was hinted that he had started to enjoy ballet, would be a better ending that would hook the readers.

Part 2.

· I reused an image that Irene had used in one of her stories. We only use free images to avoid any potential future problems.

· In Part 2, I start dropping hints that Tania was a witch or had some kind of power. In secret, Tania used her witch powers to dry the black ballerina uniform. Some of you might consider this an incorrect use of her abilities, but for Tania, it wasn't. She wanted to ensure that Dario didn't face any complications while being Dafne. And since that day, Dario had an exam, it was urgent to have the uniform ready.

· At first, I considered ending the story when Dafne successfully secured a spot in the recital, giving it a happy ending. But I still had a couple of topics I wanted to explore, so I extended it.

Part 3

· The character of Jasmine is based on an old schoolmate with whom I had a bad relationship. I won't give details about why since they are very personal, but I can say that we didn't get along.

· Yes, the ballet academy of Veronica Camala makes a comeback. The same one from "Bet's Cost" This is because most of our stories take place in the same fictional country in the early 2000s.

· It's not explicitly stated, but the story takes place two months after the events of "Bet's Cost"

· I don't know much about ballet, so I asked Irene for help with the choreography. I gave her the general idea, and she did the best she could. I LOVE WHAT SHE MADE.

· In the presentation of the White Swans, it's basically about a group of swans who transform into beautiful maidens during the day and return to their bird state at night. A hunter from the village falls in love with one of them and wants to give her a gift. He plans to buy her new ballet shoes since that was her hobby. To do that, he intends to hunt one of the swans, sell it, and get money for the gift. When he shoots one of the swans with an arrow, it loses its form, revealing that it was the maiden he had fallen in love with.

· It was with this chapter that the TRAGEDY happened on DeviantArt. For some reason, DeviantArt considered that the image of the ballerina girl was being used inappropriately. According to them, the story described her in a sexual or erotic way. This happened with both versions, in Spanish and English. The same thing occurred with the English version of Part 1. What I, as the author of the story, can say is, "#@+*, DIDN'T THEY READ THE STORY? AT WHAT #@+* POINT ARE THE CHARACTERS REPRESENTED IN AN EROTIC WAY? THAT DOESN'T HAPPEN AT ANY MOMENT."

· Now, I feel terrible because it was one of my stories that led to Irene's account suspension. She told me it wasn't my fault, but I still feel guilty. She seems very quiet now. All of this affected her a lot.