All right! Welcome to the special 'Author's Notes' chapter of AILWAC!
(Don't worry, I'm writing the next chapter right now!)
I usually try to answer any questions I get in the comments/reviews for this story in upcoming chapters, but we all know that I'm shite at updating regularly, and so many of you are left hanging, which I don't like any more than you do. So, this chapter will be special - it'll include my own little input on some future chapters, as well as answers to questions I think are important that have been asked by previous readers.
I know that the placement of this is kind of awkward in the story, but I'm hoping that posting this will revive some interest in the story - at least, enough to get my arse moving on the actual storyline again (which, yes, is still in production! Apologies - college life is quite busy).
Feel free to skip this chapter if you don't care to read author's notes. I swear I'll only be slightly offended ;) (Kidding! You do you.)
Q: "Are you ever going to finish this?"
A: …..yes. I'm honestly terrible at updating, but this story is my baby, and I'm not going to abandon it. I'll finish this if it's the last thing I do on this Earth!
Q: "What if, for *this* part of the story, you do *this*?"
A: Awesome! I always love hearing your guys' suggestions, and depending on how well they work with what I already have planned, I might put it in the story! If I do, I'll be sure to credit you with the initial idea. If you see something in the storyline that looks like a suggestion you made but I didn't credit you, that means that great minds think alike - I had already had the idea before you suggested it, so congrats on guessing part of the story correctly! Please don't be offended if I don't incorporate your idea(s) into the story, I'm just trying to write something that flows well and your idea might not work well for what I have planned.
Q: "Is Amy based off of you? She seems like a bit of a 'Mary Sue'."
A: Okay, while I truly appreciate constructive criticism, saying that a character is a 'Mary Sue' is NOT constructive criticism. It's like using 'etc.' in an academic paper - it's admitting 'yeah, I could have included more, but I didn't want to do the work.' If you're going to leave criticism, please leave something for me to actually improve on - for example, 'Interesting, but I wonder if Amy's ever going to have a flaw revealed', or 'It seems to me like you're giving Ilana a bit too much 'screen time' - don't forget about Octus and Kimmy and the others!'
I'll admit that my plans for Amy were very poorly thought out at the beginning of this story - honestly, I can't even remember if I meant to continue this story past a one-shot. I probably should have separated it from Chapter 1, but hindsight is 20/20, so oh well. So, yes, she might seem a bit of a dull, 'perfect' character, but I'm working on making her a little more dynamic in upcoming chapters.
As for the 'is Amy based off of you' question, the answer is both yes and no. I made Amy's physical appearance fairly close to my own (Red hair, freckles, blue eyes), and gave her my interest in music, but other than that she's her own character.
-o-o-o-
This will be updated periodically :) I'll hit the 'notify watchers' button so that any additional info that's added will pop up for y'all as an updated chapter! Onwards and upwards!