Faelan the Wolf
A middle-grade animal fantasy series for ages 9+
In this section, you will find Faelan Bloopers! And Fun Faelan Facts and Fictions!
And also FREE DOWNLOAD of Teacher Notes for all three books
Faelan Bloopers and Deleted Scenes
When I first imagined this story and tried to write it down, things sometimes went awry. Characters got their lines wrong, or said something stupid and ruined the entire plot. Sometimes the stunt work didn’t go to plan. Or the characters got confused – for instance, a rabbit was originally cast as Flora, but then it became apparent that a skunk would make a better Flora, and so a skunk was hired. There were also some funny moments that were quite good but had to be cut during the final edit.
So here, for the first time, are some of these deleted scenes and bloopers.
Book 1
Flora sometimes spoonerizes her words. This means she mixes up the sounds at the start of the words. For example, she might be trying to say “I’m picking carrots”, but it comes out as “I’m kicking parrots”. In some scenes though, Flora took it a bit too far…
“Got any grogs in your farden, Faelan?” Flora looked about. “A log for frunch! Dogs are frelicious. Yum! Surely I can front for a hog in your farden, Gaelan? Please? Freeze let me have a plog? There must be some sopping around here humwhere?”
~ Cut! Flora… what?! You’ll need to tone it down. No one can understand a word you’re saying.
Book 2
Now and then, the stunt work didn’t go to plan…
Faelan lunged for another hold higher up on the precipitous cliff face. Without thinking, he glanced down. The rocky trail dropped sharply away below and he felt a surge of fear. He turned back, his claws gripping the ledge, but at that moment he slipped – and fell!
~ And came swinging out on his safety harness, paws flailing madly as he dangled from the wire above him, well out of shot of the author’s mind.
Book 2
Other times the characters forgot their lines and quoted Star Wars instead:
And there, atop the giant boulder ahead, was a wolf. He was standing stock still, the morning sun on his shaggy left flank, and he was staring directly at them.
“Faelan!” he called. Then he hesitated. “Uh - I – uh… I am your father.”
“What! You’re my father?”
“Yes! Come to the dark side, my son.”
~ Cut! Very funny, Ulfred. Way to ruin the whole plot.
Book 3
More failed stunts… Avian was very brave, and admittedly, what I asked her to do was pretty dangerous at times.
Screeching like a banshee, a creature was tearing through the night like a comet, trailing a terrifying tail of fire.
“Tiny Dragon!” cried Ralph in the darkness.
The comet hurtled down straight towards Varg, then unexpectedly dive-bombed the forest floor and rolled beak-over-tail through the dirt till there was nothing but a blackened, smouldering pile of feathers. Avian shook herself, her eyes flashing. “Fang it, I caught on fire.”
So here, for the first time, are some of these deleted scenes and bloopers.
Book 1
Flora sometimes spoonerizes her words. This means she mixes up the sounds at the start of the words. For example, she might be trying to say “I’m picking carrots”, but it comes out as “I’m kicking parrots”. In some scenes though, Flora took it a bit too far…
“Got any grogs in your farden, Faelan?” Flora looked about. “A log for frunch! Dogs are frelicious. Yum! Surely I can front for a hog in your farden, Gaelan? Please? Freeze let me have a plog? There must be some sopping around here humwhere?”
~ Cut! Flora… what?! You’ll need to tone it down. No one can understand a word you’re saying.
Book 2
Now and then, the stunt work didn’t go to plan…
Faelan lunged for another hold higher up on the precipitous cliff face. Without thinking, he glanced down. The rocky trail dropped sharply away below and he felt a surge of fear. He turned back, his claws gripping the ledge, but at that moment he slipped – and fell!
~ And came swinging out on his safety harness, paws flailing madly as he dangled from the wire above him, well out of shot of the author’s mind.
Book 2
Other times the characters forgot their lines and quoted Star Wars instead:
And there, atop the giant boulder ahead, was a wolf. He was standing stock still, the morning sun on his shaggy left flank, and he was staring directly at them.
“Faelan!” he called. Then he hesitated. “Uh - I – uh… I am your father.”
“What! You’re my father?”
“Yes! Come to the dark side, my son.”
~ Cut! Very funny, Ulfred. Way to ruin the whole plot.
Book 3
More failed stunts… Avian was very brave, and admittedly, what I asked her to do was pretty dangerous at times.
Screeching like a banshee, a creature was tearing through the night like a comet, trailing a terrifying tail of fire.
“Tiny Dragon!” cried Ralph in the darkness.
The comet hurtled down straight towards Varg, then unexpectedly dive-bombed the forest floor and rolled beak-over-tail through the dirt till there was nothing but a blackened, smouldering pile of feathers. Avian shook herself, her eyes flashing. “Fang it, I caught on fire.”
Fun Faelan Facts and Fictions!
Facts
Chaga is a real fungus that grows on trees. And it really does make an excellent tinder for starting a fire. It is also true that you can start a fire with a steel knife and a piece of flint. When you strike the flint with the knife, tiny pieces of steel flake off the knife and ignite, very briefly. If your tinder is super dry and catchy, a tiny fire will kindle. Blinder cones, on the other hand, aren't real, though there's probably things just like them in the real world.
Chickens are sometimes farmed as ‘battery hens’. They really are kept in terrible conditions in tiny cages where they can’t perch, scratch, nest, or even stretch their wings. Battery farming of chickens was finally made illegal in New Zealand in 2023.
Fictions
Nothing is fictitious in this whole series. It is all 100% true and it all really happened. Well … maybe not all of it. For instance, it is not at all likely that a wolf would ever befriend a chicken, although some predator-prey friendships do develop, but it’s very unusual. Also chickens are not really considered highly intelligent. Sorry, Avian. But Avian is an exception, of course!
In the natural world, wolves don’t usually play the harp, or drink tea, or become vegetarian. And chickens don’t play the mouth organ. Or sing with wolves. The Rising of the Moon is a real Irish war song though, and Avian almost sings the correct lines - the real words go: Hurrah my boys for freedom! Avian sings, Hurrah my birds for freedom!
A wolf pack doesn’t have a single leader, either. A wolf pack is usually a family, led by a breeding pair, one female and one male, who are the parents of the rest of the wolves in the pack.
Chaga is a real fungus that grows on trees. And it really does make an excellent tinder for starting a fire. It is also true that you can start a fire with a steel knife and a piece of flint. When you strike the flint with the knife, tiny pieces of steel flake off the knife and ignite, very briefly. If your tinder is super dry and catchy, a tiny fire will kindle. Blinder cones, on the other hand, aren't real, though there's probably things just like them in the real world.
Chickens are sometimes farmed as ‘battery hens’. They really are kept in terrible conditions in tiny cages where they can’t perch, scratch, nest, or even stretch their wings. Battery farming of chickens was finally made illegal in New Zealand in 2023.
Fictions
Nothing is fictitious in this whole series. It is all 100% true and it all really happened. Well … maybe not all of it. For instance, it is not at all likely that a wolf would ever befriend a chicken, although some predator-prey friendships do develop, but it’s very unusual. Also chickens are not really considered highly intelligent. Sorry, Avian. But Avian is an exception, of course!
In the natural world, wolves don’t usually play the harp, or drink tea, or become vegetarian. And chickens don’t play the mouth organ. Or sing with wolves. The Rising of the Moon is a real Irish war song though, and Avian almost sings the correct lines - the real words go: Hurrah my boys for freedom! Avian sings, Hurrah my birds for freedom!
A wolf pack doesn’t have a single leader, either. A wolf pack is usually a family, led by a breeding pair, one female and one male, who are the parents of the rest of the wolves in the pack.
Faelan the Wolf: Teacher Notes (FREE download)
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