Why Clara and Valerie’s Smallest Moments Matter So Much in High Tides
Why do Clara and Valerie’s quietest moments mean so much in High Tides? Creator Fernanda explains the looks, touches and silences behind their WLW relationship
Some of the most important moments between Clara and Valerie in High Tides do not involve dramatic declarations, huge romantic gestures or major turning points. Instead, creator Fernanda has built much of their relationship through coffee, silence, teasing, instinctive touches and the moments when one woman realises something is wrong before the other has said a word.
That approach is deliberate. Speaking exclusively to SoapLandTV, Fernanda explained that Clara and Valerie have developed their own way of communicating that readers increasingly recognise without needing every feeling explained.
“I think readers understand that Clara and Valerie have a language that exists underneath the dialogue.”
They do not constantly tell each other they love one another, and Fernanda says that is intentional. Their affection can instead appear in Valerie noticing that Clara has become unusually quiet, Clara knowing when Valerie needs to laugh, or one of them reaching automatically for the other.
Making coffee together, sitting in silence or teasing each other about something completely ordinary can carry just as much emotional weight as an obvious romantic scene. Fernanda has noticed that readers sometimes respond more strongly to these tiny interactions than to the biggest moments in the story.
“Sometimes I’ll write the smallest gesture between them and people react to it more strongly than they do to a huge dramatic scene.”
For Fernanda, that reaction shows that readers have spent enough time with Clara and Valerie to understand what certain gestures mean without being told directly. It also connects to one of the central ideas behind their relationship, because neither woman can always protect the other from illness, fear, accidents or everything else life puts in their way.
“Their relationship has never really been about saving each other. It’s about staying.”
That difference has become increasingly important as High Tides expands visually. A look, the position of a hand or the distance between Clara and Valerie can communicate part of their history in seconds, while readers who already know the characters may understand far more from the same image than somebody discovering them for the first time.
Fernanda perhaps sums up their relationship best when discussing those quieter scenes.
“Those quiet moments aren’t pauses between the important parts of their story. They are the important parts.”
For Clara and Valerie, love is therefore rarely confined to the biggest scenes. It lives just as comfortably in a kitchen, beside the ocean, over a cup of coffee or in the simple decision to remain beside each other when neither of them can make everything better.
Follow High Tides and creator Fernanda through Neural Afterglow on Instagram and watch the latest Clara and Valerie videos on YouTube. You can also read High Tides on Wattpad and find more creator interviews and AI storytelling through SoapLandTV’s AI & Entertainment section.
