Tied to You Wrap-Up Party

Tied to You by Raspberry is officially a wrap! We are so thankful for everyone who joined Amy and Colin for their first season together. Today, we’re celebrating the end with our favorite refreshments and chatting about our favorite things about the story and some fun behind-the-scenes moments!

*Please note that this will contain spoilers for Tied to You.

1. First impressions of the story vs impressions now?

Pineapple:

My first impression of the story was pretty much the same as my impression now. I really enjoyed the premise because I knew Raspberry was gonna do a good job with the enemies-to-lovers trope. I’m not much of a romance person; I don’t really seek it out. Honestly, though, I’ve really been enjoying reading Raspberry and Apple’s romance stories!! Amy and Colin was such a fun ride, and I loved reading their dynamic. I’m low-key hoping for a season two with even more Colin.

Raspberry:

I remember I made this to be a bit of a fill-in, and I actually stitched together two different ideas I had to make it. Ages ago, I had a Merlin fanfic-esque idea of a tv star who was known for a Camelot role becoming too vain and getting shipped off to a Camelot fair (like a Renaissance fair meets tacky themed restaurant). And when I was traveling in Europe, I had a romance idea for an island in Scotland. I mixed them together and came up with this haha so my first impression was probably “Will this work?” “Is this okay?” “Oh [adult word I won’t repeat], do I have to write a kissing scene now?” 

My impressions now are more relieved that I finished writing a kissing scene without just scrapping the whole project and a little regretful that I didn’t include everything I wanted to but overall happy with it. I’m so sorry to the characters I was going to give bigger roles to and then just. Forgot. Their existence. Maybe I’ll give my poor geologist friend a spinoff since I think I left him on the island(?)

Apple:

I was so excited about all the banter when I started reading Tied to You! The second Colin and Amy met, it was instant snark and such a good time. Colin would dig his own grave every time he opened his mouth, and there were times when I had no idea how he would get himself out of it, but he grew so much as a character—he and Amy both did! By the end of the story, they still have struggles they need to face. Falling for each other didn’t fix their mental health or make their problems disappear, but having someone there to encourage the best in them empowered them to take some huge steps in their lives. I’m so proud of these fictional humans!

2. Who’s your favorite character?

Pineapple:

Hi, hello, I am first member of the Colin defense squad. I have been defending him since DAY ONE. I love a good overconfident, flirty man with hidden insecurities and gets put out of his element. A formerly glorious man forced into destitution. It’s just great, I cannot explain why. Also the allusions to his DADDY issues? Ah. Please. He is an innocent, gorgeous man who deserves whatever he wants in life

Raspberry:

I love Aunt Sophie, and she’s definitely goals. Small business owner who has a slowburn island romance and has the only brain cell in her family: GOALS. But I also loved writing Colin and Amy because young adult angst is so fun when I’m not directly involved. 

Apple:

Amy is absolutely my favorite! She’s such a hardworking person and she’s on this trip because of some difficult circumstances, so we see a lot of her serious side, but she’s also super funny! You can’t think of Amy without remembering all her pranks and sass. I can’t move on from this question without mentioning Aunt Sophie, though. Where would literally every other character be without her? In trouble, probably. I also have to mention Cooper the herd dog and all of the precious sheep! I love them so much!

3. Favorite moments or scenes?

Pineapple:

Just… all the beautiful descriptions of the island? Like, seriously. I want to live there. There’s the scene in Episode Two, right after Amy and Colin meet for the first time, and they are riding the ferry to Kera. Colin watches her as the wind blows through her hair. I don’t know why this is a memorable scene, other than I like the ocean and boats, but. It is. I actually sketched this scene out with the intention of using it as the cover art banner before the story debuted, because it was one of the stand out scenes in the beginning to me.

Colin mopping himself into a corner is another good one! It’s so funny and cute. This was another one that I sketched out, but it was on a post-it note while I was working in an office for a short time, ha ha. I think there’s a lot of simply beautiful scenes in this story that evoke such a calm, dreamy feeling in me that are just easy and nice to read.
Lastly, I want to call out their first kiss!! The ocean kiss!! Raspberry says she can’t write kiss scenes, but I BEG TO DIFFER. This one is beautiful.

Raspberry:

I love enemies-to-lovers specifically because characters go from bickering to “OH NO ARE THESE FEELINGS” so I feel like any scene I wrote where they start to get closer will have a special place in my heart. Also mopping himself into a corner scene. Because that almost happened to me, but luckily I was smart enough to get myself out.

Apple:

Episode Ten, when Colin goes to Amy’s cabin and they watch his show together! Amy opens up about her parents, and you can really tell how close the two of them have gotten. Aunt Sophie and Ava are together too during this episode. It’s just good vibes the whole time and gives me all the warm fuzzies! A comfort read for sure!

4. Are there any fun behind the scenes moments you’d like to share?

Pineapple:

This is another one that I titled! It took a couple drafts before I could come up with a good one, though. It wasn’t until I read like draft 2 or 3 of Episode Four, I think? When we get Amy’s first POV that I had a really good idea of using the imagery of the knot in Amy’s chest as inspiration for the title. Then it became her anxiety, Colin’s complicated life, their feelings, and a red string of fate, etc, etc. Anyway it’s a really nice title and I like it. I’m happy and touched that Raspberry liked it enough to tie it into the actual prose of the story. It’s honestly still titled Hallmark in all of my files.

Tied to You came at a time where there wasn’t lot of romance in our lineup. We have The Faery Bargain, which is on hiatus, and then at the time we also had CatCS and Stream of Consciousness. So we had a good variety. As Tied to You  comes to an end, we now have two other romances in the line up! So I think that Tied to You came and went at a very good time for us. Same with Apple Slice now–I’m glad we don’t have a full  set of romance stories, ha ha. Tied to You really feels like it changed the trajectory of our stories. 

Raspberry:

I just remember when I first started making this, I was still writing CatCS and in my someone-needs-to-die phase (Gran’s lucky she made it out of season 1 tbh). So when I was writing the outline for this story, characters kept accidentally having super tragic backstories or maybe death in the future. I can’t remember if Apple and Pineapple talked me out of killing anyone or threatened me out of it, but Amy was about to have a lot more than just a distant father who passed away.

Apple:

Raspberry actually started this story to cover for me for a bit (She’s my hero!), but during one of our meetings she mentioned that it might end up being a little longer than she’d planned. Now she’s going to write a second season! Every time the chapter count for this story increases, it adds years to my life. I am so ecstatic that we get to have these characters for even longer! May the banter live on forever!