EoS Extras

Fun Facts

Spoilers inside if you haven't read the whole story yet!

1. Olivia's initials are "OC" ...get it? For "original character" Haha I'm so clever.

2. Gavin's initials are "GJ" which are the initials of the real life person I based him off of.

3. Club88 is a direct reference to 88rising, George's record label.

4. Almost everything Gavin says and does to Olivia are things that happened to me in real life. I wondered while writing if people would think Gavin is over exaggerated and unbelievable but it happened to me so technically it's realistic.

5. The notes taped to George's laptop are real. You can see them at the 7:54 mark in "LOSER READS HATER COMMENTS 2"

6. Joji's opinion on aliens in the story are taken from an interview on Youtube from the channel Highsnobriety.

7. The origin of Joji's hand necklace is also accurate. I believe he speaks on it during one of his Genius lyric videos.

8. George carries around an old microphone (mentioned by Niki at his bday dinner) in real life. Seen in his "10 things Joji cant live without" video by GQ

9. Joji's bad experience with fans after ending Filthy Frank is, unfortunately, very real. People tried to dox him, finding his personal email and telling him they know where he lives. He talks about this in an interview that I can't remember the name of.

10. George's real birthday is somewhat of a debate among the community. Some people say its September 16th but others say its September 18th. The year of his birth is also debated.

11. His favorite album is Radiohead's "Ok Computer" at least according to old tweets

12. The "we shouldn't do this Joji" intro in the description of the story was what started all of this. I was daydreaming a lot and one of the ideas I wrote down that turned into the book stemmed from that same paragraph.

13. The original idea was for Olivia to cheat on Gavin with George, and I really went back and forth with myself whether or not I wanted to keep that concept. Ultimately I took the cheap way out by having Gavin cheat first, technically, because I didn't want the readers to automatically hate Olivia. You could argue that she still cheated first, though, so maybe I got to have my cake and eat it too?

14. Not long after publishing the 1st chapter, I changed Gavin and Olivia from engaged to dating. They were supposed to be getting married but I didn't want to take the option away from myself in case I wanted it.
Example) if I want Gavin to desperately propose in the hopes she would stay with him

14a. Adding onto this ^ I wanted to make a "Wedding Singer" esque vibe to the story. Gavin and Olivia were originally engaged and Joji was the DJ she hired for the wedding. They fall in love and she leaves Gavin for him. Kinda cheesy but it still would've been a super cute premise.
Maybe I'll make a short story for this?? Sorta like an AU to my AU? Lol

15. The significance of rain is somewhat hinted at from the very first chapter. The idea is that every time there's rain or a storm its the beginning of change of some kind. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. When Joji talks about rain in chapter 33: "Water is one of the most powerful forces on Earth. It has the power to break down mountains or create valleys...wash away sins." That was a cheeky lil wink to my readers from me to say like "hey, pay attention to the rain."

16. The picture in the "Joji's Garden" chapter is of George's real life garden in his Brooklyn home.

17. 1 of the photos I used was taken by me. All the others were taken from the internet. Can you guess which one is mine?

18. I like to think the story takes place in 2017. The timeline does not match up with what Joji was doing in real life at that time but whatever haha. Anyway, in the epilogue, it's mentioned that Olivia and Joji married 4 years after they met, making it 2021. And since the cherry blossoms bloom in Japan in April, it's safe to say the were married in April of 2021. If I absolutely have to pick a date I'd chose the 3rd or 4th, though the 4th lands on Easter.

19. In chapter 16, Olivia says "one of us moved. I just don't know who." during her spin the bottle -almost- kiss with Joji. Who was it who moved? You guessed right, it was George. He was going for a full mouth kiss.

Why Is Gavin even important to the story? Gavin represents the old Olivia. The struggle of dealing with him throughout the story and with her self-esteem go hand in hand. You'll (maybe) notice as time goes on, she stops holding her tummy and thinking negative things. When she finally leaves him, it's a break away from her past and honestly it's one of the hardest things a person can do. Accept their past, move on, let go.

What is the abuse storyline adding? I began writing this as a ways of coping with a lot of my own personal shit. Much of it is my experience told through a character but it was my reality. I felt it was necessary to insert as much of my overcoming of my abuse as possible not only for realism but possibly in the hopes someone reading is going through the same thing. Although, I don't think Joji is available to guide all of us through it in person :(

Why does Olivia even stay with Gavin? Again, Gavin represents an old piece of herself and her life. She struggles with leaving him for several reasons: it means leaving behind one of the few good memories of her childhood she has left, her parents, and the version of herself she thinks she is. Abuse can/usually does break you down as well so he instilled that fear in her that she can't do anything without him. Abuse is very complicated and can skewer someone's perception of themselves and the world. Leaving is easier said than done.

What does the title of the book mean? I have no idea, honestly. I was struggling with a title. I wanted to use something recognizable to Joji fans while still being original (not wanting to use a song title or copy another author's idea). I used a word generator and "etiquette" and "smoking" came up so I sloppily threw them together. I might eventually change it because there definitely isn't any connection of the title to the story.