AUTHOR'S NOTE

Last Song Suggestion and my personal anthem for this year: Come Alive from the Greatest Showman Soundtrack

So we made it.

Wow.

This is real.

The only way I can start off is by saying thank you for going on this journey with me.

I remember starting this off thinking, "How am I'm going to do this?"

I've never really done anything like this, but I just took a leap of faith. And really with anything, there is always a learning curve. Practice does make perfect. And I know I need more practice.

Moving on I want to talk about the things that went into the story that I haven't talked about. I am proud to say, all of you are so positive and an inspiration to me. I went into this thinking that there are some people who won't agree with the direction I took this story. But never once did I receive anything close to negative feedback. I truly don't deserve you guys.

Another thing I've come across is that writing really hard. A few months ago Victoria Aveyard did this interview when she talked about how plot and characters develop. And she was right about everything. During this interview, she talked about sometimes you picture something in your head, like a character might do this or this will play out a certain way, but when it comes down to it you realize it's not going to happen like you pictured it in your head. So here are some things that changed.

Originally, Evangeline doesn't die until the day before the final battle. Also, Mare's heart is never cut out. Another thing is originally Cameron is there to help Farley kill Ptolemus. But then I realized it doesn't make sense to bring her in all of a sudden when we haven't seen her this whole time. And I wanted to remain true to all characters as best I could, and in King's Cage Cameron says she doesn't want to become a monster. She doesn't want to kill anymore. So having her aid murdering someone wouldn't fit into that moral.

Another thing is Mare tells Maven she loves him a lot sooner in the original plot. But once again, it didn't fit.

Themes, Motifs, etc.

I didn't want this story to be just any Fanfic, where I'm like, "Okay, here's the plot." And then that's just it. I want to be a legit published author one day. And one thing I wanted to achieve with this is I want you guys to look back and learn something. I don't know if Victoria Aveyard did this on purpose, but every time I go back to read the books I find something new. I can't even begin to tell you how this series changed my perspective on things.

So let's start with themes.

They are literally in the title. Strength, Power, Control, and Letting Go.

I know the title is long. And for a while, I wasn't so sure about it. I chose it because it felt right. Strength.

This is something I talked about a lot of the last few chapters. Mainly to help describe Thomas's ability. But in reading this series, Strength and Power are something the silvers cherish above all else. But it's also a common motif throughout the books of what reds are finding in themselves. Mare, Farley, Kilorn, even Mare's farther finding their own inner strength. And personally, I think Victoria Aveyard isn't done yet with this theme. I think we'll see a lot of strength growing in Cal and Evangeline in War Storm.

So I took that and put it into my story.

Power.

Political, financially, etc.

Everyone wants it, but only so many can have it.

I remember my history teacher saying "power is a limited resource."

But I think Victoria Aveyard did something similar like she did with strength. And then she turned it into empowerment rather than just having power.

And as for control and letting go, I thought the two coincide with each other. So letting go of your control of a situation over of a situation and also in ability as well, because we all know that when Mare discovered her ability she thought she was going to die and so she let go of that life. So when she lets go of the strength when she brings Maven back she's also letting go of the life she could have had.

I also tried to put in other smaller things into the story as well. So one of them was loneliness which is something that drove Mare to be with Maven in the first place. Because if she hadn't taken away her love for Cal she wouldn't be hollow and lonely. And because she had a fall out with Kilorn then she wouldn't have felt that loneliness and that drove her to Maven.

And the last Motif I had was vulnerability. So both loneliness and vulnerability is what sort of drove the plot. But loneliness and vulnerability, I'm going to go into them more in the sequel.

Symbols

So later on in the story, I had started talking a lot about boxes. And it sort of came about with the Greek myth with Pandora's Box. So this whole mission to bring down all of these silver thrones she's sort of opening Pandora's Box in a way. By making this choice, Mare knows there is going to be a fallout.

Another symbol I used was the sunrise and sunset. We all know the slogan of the Scarlet Guard is Rise, Red as the Dawn. And so I took that and put it in the story as constantly reminding us of that slogan, without having to say the words. So if you paid attention to when everyone was doing their own battle, specifically in Archeon, you would have noticed that the bombs were set to go off at sunrise. So when the bombs went off, the Silver Elite would fall, literally, which would give the Reds, who are all united, the chance to rise at dawn.

But often in literature sunrises and sunsets are often used as symbols for other things. In chapter 38, we see Cal in Harbor Bay. And he spends the whole day fighting and cleaning up the destruction and helping the injured. But it isn't until almost Sunset that he gets the news that Mare is dead. And so the sunset is a symbol of the death of Mare. So the sun has set on their time as a couple.

But moving further in the plot we see how Mare wakes up in the daytime. But it isn't until it's almost Sunrise that he tells Alex that she wants him to remove his ambition it to take the throne. And so I also used sunrises as a symbol of new beginnings.

The Sequel

So I've talked about this for many, many chapters. And by this point, I would be surprised if you guys haven't become annoyed with me mentioning it all the time. And if you are, that's okay.

So here's the truth.

There won't be a sequel…

Yep.

JK

Lol, I totally just scared you some of you.

But anyway.

It's going to be a trilogy.

So in my planning, I've decided that there is way too much content and I have so many ideas that it cannot be contained within one story.

So what I've decided to do is break the sequel up into two parts, and to make this whole universe I've created into a trilogy.

Here comes the bad/good news.

The Sequel is set in stone. But there is a change in regards to rating. Whereas this story was rated T. The sequel will be rated M, mostly for more mature themes and other things. Nothing too scandalous.

The title of said sequel will be "Second Chances and Second Truths."

And if you thought Mare was badass before, wait till you see what I have in store. But here comes the bad news. I won't be publishing the sequel until after War Storm is released. I know I know, that's awful of me to do. But I have a number reasons. One of them is accuracy. Such as, is Clara a newblood? I used to think that it is a definite possibility. I saw this question on Tumblr and the answer came out like this. We all remember Nanny. :(

She would talk about her grandchildren but never once is it mentioned if said heirs have the mutation that gives them powers. So I want to wait till after the Warstorm so I can get more information on things like Monfort, Davidson, Clara, etc.

Reason number two…

And it's personal.

*takes a deep breath*

I have joined the United States Air Force.

I know this comes as a shock.

This isn't a joke and it's something that's been in the works for as long as I've been writing this story. And I'm sure it comes off as a surprise. OnTuesdayy, Jan 23rd I am off to boot camp. And I won't have access to certain things, like internet.

But because you guys are so supportive and wonderful, I won't leave you for five months with nothing. Not only am I making this a trilogy, I'm talking spinoffs. And yes, I mean spinoffs as in plural.

I've heard that you guys like Alex.

And I told you that she has a past. A very interesting one.

Dropping in April, I will be introducing, "A Whisper's Voice." (Title may change)

If anyone wants to continue this journey with me just go and click that Follow Author button and you'll be notified when I publish a new story.

Q&A

What happened to Mare's eyes?

No, her eyes are not blue. They are much cooler than that.

Prophecy?

Jon has seen things. That's all I'm going to say.

Thalia?

I have gone back and changed the spelling. Yes, Talia is based off a character from another fandom, but it is not from Percy Jackson.

Mare and Maven being parents and the birth of their child?

Remember when I said spinoffs? That's when we open that can of worms.

Why Maven hasn't told Mare he loves her?

This is one of those things that you're going to have wait for. But I love it. The reason will melt your heart.

PS: I love how when I say I have plans for characters everyone automatically thinks I'm going to kill them.

Also, I don't know what it is, but sometimes it takes days for reviews to show up. And if I didn't answer a question it isn't because I'm ignoring you, it's probably because it didn't show up.

Well, it's been an adventure and I look forward to seeing you guys in the spring. But I do encourage you to go back and reread the story. Look for all the little clues I left all over the place, maybe you'll find some hints for the sequel. Until next time.

Thank you.

I love you all!