Its been a year since I wrote this book since I actually had the first six chapters written by the end of January but I didn't publish it until about halfway through the year and I honestly don't know why.
I had been thinking about the book for a while and I had some ideas that didn't make it in or that I just did differently.
1.Grove was going to be younger:
I was gonna have him be like two or possibly younger but as I figured out what tone I wanted the book to have, I realised that the longer Firey was gone for the more impact it would have when he returned and it means that Grove and Leafy actually have a bond with Grove having his own childish opinions on everything going on around him.
2.Leafy was going to be A LOT meaner to Firey after his return.
Like just out right mean and refusing to let Grove anywhere near him, she was going to be really rude and bitchy due to being so hurt and the first kiss in the book would have had a lot more tears and angst.
But then I was like, "I want them to have a cute, happy backstory to make the loss hurt more" and it doesn't match Leafy's character for her to be mean to someone she's being yearning for.
3. Two was going to kidnap Grove and Leafy would be the one to kill him.
This idea just didn't work, Leafy has no experience killing anyone and it didn't make sense, I was gonna have her kinda snap and just kill Two but it was overly complicated and there was nothing realistic about it.
4. I came insanely close to actually killing Leafy
I had to be convinced by my friend to let her live because not many fanfics actually kill beloved characters and it would have been more angsty and less common but I absolutely love Leafy so killing her would physically hurt me.
5. Leafy's parents were going to have a bigger role until I decided not to, I couldn't figure out their characters and other things so I decided to keep them as distant background characters.
6. I wanted to further explore Coiny's relationship and feelings toward Leafy, unrequited love and wanting, how they met and how Leafy feels about him but it didn't help the story progress and I didn't want it to be some stupid love triangle so I didn't use this idea.
(I also didn't want too many filler chapters)
7. Four was actually going to meet Leafy, I had a few different ideas for this, possibly after the big fight between Firey and Leafy after Firey runs away or when Leafy is recovering in hospital and Four would explain everything to Leafy.
Very similar to the Two situation, it didn't feel realistic and it makes more sense for Four to interact with Leafy since they're still an agent by the end of it all.
8. I was going to explore what Two was doing and why exactly there was a big case going on at all but personally it feels better to have it explained a little bit and then allow the reader to imagine what they think in their head, there's literally no wrong answer at all, go wild.
9. Blocky was an agent at the start but I retconned the idea since it didn't make sense for Blocky to still be around while Firey wasn't.
Originally, after the fight Blocky would tell Leafy Firey's plan and she would go with Blocky to stop it but then be ambushed by Two and held hostage with a similar ending to the book.
10. More characters from the show were gonna play a role.
Two originally had a whole group with him during the final conflict and we would have a chapter where Firey has to work his way through an old building, killing a couple guards and trying to find where Leafy was.
I never wanted to make Firey look like a badass, I didn't want that for anyone, I wanted to show that despite having titles and such, people are still human and will make stupid mistakes so that's why this idea wasn't used.
11. I was going to go deeper into Leafy's time alone raising Grove, how she dealt with the sadness and how she kept going, honestly kinda wish I had used this one but I was worried about filler chapters that didn't do anything so I sadly didn't use this idea.
That's a few of the ideas anyway, what do you all think?
What ideas should I have used or does my reasoning make sense?
Is there anything you would add or remove the finished story?
Honestly, I'm proud of Gone Without You and I think the way it went was pretty good but obviously things can always be improved.
I hope you all liked the book as much as I did.
XOXO
LeafCake
YOU ARE READING
Gone Without You
Fanfiction"You're supposed to be dead, I watched them bury you," She thought all of the hurt she felt had finally stopped, she thought she had finally moved on. But he had the audacity to come back. After everything she had been through, doesn't she deserve a...
