Left Behind

Left Behind Trivia

The title is referenced to how Romeo and Stella are gone, and Jesse has to take care of what they "left behind", which is Stanley.

I cried when I wrote the scene in chapter three where Jesse found out what happened to Stella.

Despite how I cried when I wrote the suicide scene in chapter three, I actually had fun writing out the scene. It was still new for me, but I had fun writing it out.

I created the story as a way to try writing something more emotional, and to raise awareness on topics such as depression.

My favorite part of the story was writing Jesse's connection with Stanley. I enjoyed writing out their moments and how she looks after him like a mother.

My least favorite part of the story was writing the scene where Jesse told her friends the truth about Romeo being Stanley's father, and then a majority of her friends argued with her that they didn't have faith in her that she was raising Stanley properly.

Because of how Stella and Romeo are gone in this story, it is implied that "Left Behind" takes place in a different headcanon, where the universes aren't connected. (see my DA page to understand more)

In the original draft, Stanley and Ramona were the only OC children who were going to appear in the story. I later developed Dante and Morris's characters. They ended up becoming more developed characters the more I worked on the story.

It is implied that Dante may be bi, which is why Morris roped him into being a bully when they first appeared in the story.

I originally planned for Lukas and Radar to know from the start that Stanley was Romeo's son. I later changed for them to be the first to find out to build on their connections with Jesse and on the aspect of Jesse's loyalty to Stella, and also Romeo.

Dante was slightly inspired by a friend of mine. Like Dante, my friend teased me a bit when we were little kids, but we soon got along and became real friends.

Some of Stanley's behavior as a little kid was inspired by how my little brother behaved when he was younger. Only thing I didn't make Stanley be like my brother was a gamer. I wanted him to actually interact with other characters.

Stanley and Ramona's names were somewhat meant to play off of Stella and Romeo's names. They start with the same letters, only the genders are swapped.

Stanley's aspect of being an older brother figure/ cousin to Adam and Ashley was inspired by how I grew as an older sibling with my younger siblings. Like Stanley, I was originally nervous because I was unsure if I could properly help and take care of a baby sibling, but I quickly warmed up to them and love them.

Stanley's connection with Lluna and how he talks to her was inspired by how I communicate with my cat Tippi.

Ramona is named after the character from some of Beverly Cleary's books. Beverly Cleary was an author who wrote a lot of my mom's favorite books, and I remembered how I read excerpts in school from some of the novels. I thought it would be a nice touch to Ramona's character to name her after a character from an author that my mom loved.

Ramona being a daddy's girl was inspired by my connection with my dad, since I'm a daddy's girl myself.

Morris and Dante were not named after anyone nor did I try to put a pun or hint in either of their names. They were the OCs where I just thought of a name that finally sounded good to fit their characters based on their roles and their personalities.

Stanley and Ramona's teacher after kindergarten, Mr. Johnson is named after a teacher I had in high school. He was one of my favorite teachers and had lots of fun projects in class.

The scene where Xara arrives, towards the ending of the book, was not originally in the script. I originally thought of having Binta talk to Jesse and meet Stanley, but I realized that it wouldn't have made much sense in this headcanon. I switched to Xara being the one and managed to escape the Underneath because I thought that her seeing how much Jesse and Stanley have grown would reflect more on how they have thrived.

It is referenced that the book that Radar is reading to Stanley in chapter four is "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie". It was a childhood favorite to me, my sister, and even my brother when we were younger.

The start of chapter six has a reference to Finding Nemo, which I didn't realize that I unintentionally added until someone pointed it out in the comments.

The scene where Stanley drew artwork for Jack and Nurm, in chapter 10, was inspired by some fanart for the Walking Dead game that I saw. I once found a picture of Clementine showing a drawing she made to Lee and Kenny.