Girl Meets the Mind of a Genius

A few things

Hi all!

For starters, thank you for reading. The few of you who did (especially those who voted and commented) really kept me going.

I want to explain a few things I did in this story as maybe a bts kinda thing? I'm not sure, but I wanted to share a few things.

1. I wanted to do a book completely from Farkle's point of view simply because it's so different. Most stories jump around or will focus on Riley. Living through the thoughts and perspective of one person makes us feel more connected to the character and is more realistic. I also love Farkle because he thinks differently. There's parts of his thoughts that operate as experiments and logic. It really shows his take on learning about feelings, something that the other characters (minus Smackle) don't struggle with.

2. The writers (most likely to do with a lack of time) didn't focus on the deeper issues that some characters face. There was a lot on Maya, but everyone else was only dug into a little bit. That's why I explored Farkle's anxiety, which I genuinely believe is something his character struggled with, we just didn't see it. Same with Riley's self-harming. While that's not show-cannon, you can tell there's more to her than the happy-go-lucky portrayed in the show. Considering her issues with being compared to Topanga and Cory, I wouldn't be surprised if she was dealing with some form of mental health struggle (also note her dependence on other people's opinions of her and her want to change herself to change that).

3. I liked using Farkle's relationships with other characters as a second backbone. He and Maya have a great friendship that's underrated. While I don't believe in them romantically, he and Smackle also have a good friendship that's important to him. Same with Cory and a little bit of Zay.

4. I also see the value in side stories. Maya's relationship with Josh, Farkle's journey to being valedictorian, and the mental health-related narratives complete the whole story. It's not just about feelings and Farkle and Riley getting together. It's more realistic.

5. I hated making Charlie, Lucas and Evan gross, but a good story has antagonists. And I didn't want to try and introduce a new character. I tried to redeem Lucas a bit in the end (I genuinely don't hate his character and do see the value in Lucaya if you like them together).

6. Writing this has been such a great outlet for me personally. Among the chaos going on with school and COVID-19 (not to mention my personal life), an escape is welcome. I hope I gave that to you too.

7. The book was intended to end at New Years. When it was a part of my short stories book, it wasn't going to be so long. But I liked writing and people enjoyed it so I figured why not continue.

8. There are plot holes. Don't find them, but they exist and make me laugh. I also probably shouldn't say that, but if you make it this far you don't care enough.

9. I'm sorry if the ending feels rushed. It kind of is. I wanted to get something out and didn't feel like I could do having them move into different phases of their lives justice. I don't want to skip to a wedding or kids because I don't think one chapter skimming it is thorough enough. This book is supposed to be about Farkle learning his feelings, and I think he did that.

10. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Let's be real, GMW is over. Many of the actors have moved on, and I don't see a few of them coming back to do it again (especially Rowan). The fandom has lost its drive and it isn't "prime time" to be writing about these characters. Some people still read, voted, and commented. YOU made this worth it. Thank you.

For one last time, thanks for reading and coming on this journey. I hope I helped along the way.

- K