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Matthew Long's avatar

Nice work Claudia.

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Claudia Befu's avatar

Thanks for taking the time to read 💚

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Elle Griffin's avatar

I’ve never thought about syncing cycles between humans and other animals, but I loved the idea that she could also sync with the whale using technology, making her feel more in tune with the creature. How might we evolve if we were more in tune with nature?

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Claudia Befu's avatar

Me neither until I wrote this story 😅!

Being attuned to nature as we once were would help us be less exploitative of the only living planet friendly to human life, have more empathy and love for other living beings who also need a space to live, be more present and awake, have better mental health, and, with the help of technology, feel things about our world that we currently cannot feel or understand. It would also give us a new outlook in life, new values and aspirations, the desire to develop ourselves as opposed to gather material goods. These are some things that come to mind.

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Elle Griffin's avatar

Totally. I know several people who no longer eat Octopus because of the Octopus Teacher film. If that was more widespread, maybe there would be more urgency in creating alternatives, maybe we would already have moved on from meat eating at all. Your work is so important for that.

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Claudia Befu's avatar

I don't know that film, curious to check it out. Fortunately, I never ate octopus in my life! A change in values as a society might help us more than tech. We have to replace 'getting rich' with appealing alternatives.

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Nadia Gerassimenko's avatar

I love how the whale and protagonist experiences mirror and sync with each other. A magical moment albeit a scary one too!

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Claudia Befu's avatar

I know, I thought the same when I wrote it: kinda creepy. Thanks for reading, Nadia, and taking the time to leave a note. ☺️

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Shifra Steinberg's avatar

So glad to be introduced to your writing! This was amazing, can’t wait to read the rest!

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Claudia Befu's avatar

Thank you, Shifra 💚!

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Kathleen Clare Waller's avatar

So intriguing! Coming to this late....but really well done. And so good you're not afraid of the stuff some people are afraid of. Blood and coming of age!

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Claudia Befu's avatar

Thank you so much for taking the time, Kathleen! It's always great to see you here 💚.

This is such a special time in a girl's life, I will never forget it. It's also something only other women can understand.

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Kathleen Clare Waller's avatar

Absolutely. Great writing!

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Claudia Befu's avatar

Thank you 💚

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Joseph L. Wiess's avatar

Nice timing. Very descriptive. Looks interesting so far.

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Claudia Befu's avatar

Thank you, Joseph! ☺️

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Nathan Slake's avatar

Excellent, Claudia, and I'm really excited to see you exploring serialising something that is (currently) unfinished. Welcome to the club, hehe.

Really strong start. I'm with your husband, though, this reach the "to be continued..." just as I was settling into what was happening. No bad thing, of course, but yeah, thanks for the popcorn. ;)

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Claudia Befu's avatar

🤣 You‘re welcome!

In all honesty, I wouldn’t be able to write a longer piece without having to finish the whole story. Getting the balance between shaping the first part of a story that leaves enough space for creativity and polishing it for publication feels like a sprint. 😮‍💨 But it’s fun and it’s good to experiment.

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Shoni's avatar

Very compelling imagery in this one. I was swept away.

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Claudia Befu's avatar

Thank you, Shoni, really appreciated it 💚

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Liz Zimmers's avatar

An intriguing coming-of-age story! Eager to read more!

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Claudia Befu's avatar

Thanks Liz, more coming up soon!

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Oct 6
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Claudia Befu's avatar

For the first time, I’m as intrigued as you are! 😉 Alright, I do know where this is going but I’m not sure how it’s going to get there! 😅

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Oct 6
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Claudia Befu's avatar

If I know the ending, it works well for me. Though I don’t like to share first drafts of my work and serialization feels a bit like that.

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Oct 6
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Claudia Befu's avatar

It‘s most definitely a first draft. But thanks a lot, really appreciate it.

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