Why High Tides Readers Became So Protective of Clara and Valerie
High Tides creator Fernanda reveals how readers reacted to Valerie’s accident and why Clara and Valerie’s hardest moments make their happiness matter more.
Readers of High Tides have watched Clara and Valerie face illness, fear and major changes alongside the quieter moments that define their relationship. But it was Valerie’s accident that made creator Fernanda realise just how protective people had become of the two women.
After the storyline, Fernanda began receiving messages from readers asking her to stop putting Clara and Valerie through so much. The reaction went beyond people simply wondering what would happen next, showing that many had developed a genuine emotional investment in whether the characters were safe and happy.
“And somewhere in the reaction to Valerie’s accident, I realized the readers weren’t simply waiting to find out what happened next. They wanted me to protect these women.”
For Fernanda, that response also raised a bigger question about the kind of story she wanted High Tides to be. Allowing Clara and Valerie to exist happily without anything difficult happening to them might be comforting, but it would remove much of the uncertainty that makes their ordinary moments meaningful.
She is equally clear that hardship is not included simply to make the story appear more dramatic or emotional. Difficult experiences have to have a reason for being there and belong naturally within Clara and Valerie’s lives.
“I don’t make Clara and Valerie suffer because I think pain automatically makes a story deeper. It doesn’t. And I never want suffering to exist just for shock.”
Instead, Fernanda wants the women to experience the unpredictability that comes with life. Their relationship cannot protect them completely from illness, accidents, fear, loss or change, and neither woman can always make everything better for the other.
“But I do want life to happen to them.”
That approach also gives the happier parts of High Tides greater importance. A quiet morning, coffee together, a joke, a prank or time beside the ocean can mean more because both the characters and readers understand that those peaceful moments cannot simply be taken for granted.
Fernanda has previously described Clara and Valerie’s relationship as one built around remaining beside each other when problems cannot be fixed. Valerie’s accident reinforced that idea while revealing just how strongly readers had come to share in the emotional stakes of their story.
The reaction ultimately gave Fernanda one of the clearest signs yet that Clara and Valerie had become more than fictional names people casually followed. Readers were asking their creator to look after them, even while understanding that High Tides would continue allowing life, in all its uncertainty, to happen.
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 LGBTQ+ AI storytelling through SoapLandTV’s AI & Entertainment section.
