𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐆𝐨𝐝

𝐑𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 + 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐨

I want to take a moment to talk about the three main influences for this fanfiction.

- The Book Thief, novel by Markus Zusak.
- Dear Draco, by malfoyuh on wattpad
- Survival of the Fittest, by 90TheGeneral09 on ff.et

⋆｡°✩ I can't go without talking one my main inspirations! The Book Thief is a gut-wrenching novel told in the perspective of Death. He keeps a close eye on a young German girl named Liesel Meminger through the duration of her life in the Holocaust -- most notably when her family was protecting a Jewish boy called Max in their home, leading to many close calls of being caught by Nazis. 

I wrote my prologue and part of my epilogue in Death's perspective because I LOVED the concept so much. I gobble up any piece of literature told in the perspective of Death. It's my absolute favorite novel and it really opened my eyes in whole new ways of the way the world turns. If you haven't read it for school, or during your own time, this is a read that I highly suggest.

I was actually unaware that people would typically read this for school. I picked it up one day from my mom's massive bookshelf because I needed another book to occupy me for a month. I truly couldn't put it down. It's one of those amazing novels where the adapted movie never does it enough justice, much like Lord of the Flies. This book changed me.  

⋆｡°✩ Next up, Dear Draco. Most Harry Potter fans have read this. I've seen lots of readers mistake a few things about it's influence on this fanfic, though I really don't blame them. It's often thought that I got the idea for a letter sequence from Jack to Veronica after her death from Dear Draco. This isn't so. 

I knew Veronica was going to be killed off a long time ago, and I absolutely adore letter sequences in books, so surprisingly, that's not where my inspiration from Dear Draco comes from. In fact, my upcoming original novel will also have a huge letter sequence! In malfoyuh's fanfiction, Draco gives the main character, Isobel, a funny nickname that he pestered her with. And that nickname was famously, 'Belly'.

In my fanfiction, Jack clearly bugs Veronica with the nickname, 'Vera'. You can see the influence I got with Jack calling a truce, and her being incredibly skeptical of why he was acting so nice, and what he truly wanted from her. This enemies-to-lovers trope I incorporated is inspired by Dear Draco, although I don't know if one would consider my story to be 'enemies-to-lovers.'

⋆｡°✩ Lastly, Survival of the Fittest. This is a Lord of the Flies fanfiction, but there isn't a single girl with them.

What sets this fanfiction aside from so many others, is that it's actually a rewrite for the 1990 film, with a drastic turn of events that entirely changes the ending. I will try to spoil as little as possible.

Right off the bat, I got the idea of the boys shouting Cadence chants on the plane from this fanfiction. I thought it was priceless to hear such vulgar language coming from young military cadets, though this isn't uncommon at all in real life. Military culture at its finest. I used different chants just by doing a quick Google search. There's a more notable influence that it had in my book... the thrilling rivalry between Sam and Eric.

In this fanfiction, it's Sam who dies rather than Eric, and he loses his life in a very different way. In Survival of the Fittest, Samneric were actually able to heal the strain dwelling between them before Sam's passing. I think the separation of the twins had to be the most heartbreaking subplot to write out of all of this and to even read.

I eventually had to stop reading this fanfiction. I never finished it as I felt it began to stray too much from Lord of the Flies, taking on darker, erotic themes that I found myself feeling uncomfortable with, which included graphic portrayals of SA. The breaking point for me was the minor/adult intimate relationships. If you read this, be warned about these aspects. The author is amazing at writing rivalry in ways I couldn't even fathom.