Everything's Fine.

Preface

I started gathering ideas for this novel sometime in the summer of 2019, between Junior and Senior year of high school, but I didn't really push for it until the middle of Senior year, right before Finals.

Back then, I had no real reason to start writing anything. Although I was artistically confident in my drawing ability, I still looked down on the arts. Designers, authors, artists, I couldn't understand why you would slave your life away to something that had a low chance of profitability or becoming famous. As I write this now, I know that I've shifted from that mindset, and I am also sure there is little to no chance that I will reach fame, especially with the content that I write.

The reason I shifted from that mindset came in the middle of my senior year. I went through the 'edgy teenage phase', as some people might call it. But to me, it was a really shitty two months, where I spent a lot of time holed up in my room, reevaluating my relationships with people, struggling with the college application process, and having difficulties dragging myself outside for anything extra-curricular.

Before that, I had spent a majority of my free time, invested in stories. Mainly movies, tv shows, and graphic novels, and although I developed a love for stories, and possibly telling stories myself, I pushed the thought toward the back of my head, knowing that nothing would ever come out of creating a story that no stranger would want to read.

The catalyst came during that depressive period. I started keeping a journal, recording my thoughts, wondering what the best way was to come back out as a happy person to my friends. And then I figured, "what the heck. You've spent so much dead time thinking about these characters in this fictional story. You've spent so much time eating up those stories. Your storytelling ability is probably fine. Get those thoughts down on paper!"

Through writing this novel, I started feeling better (ironically, considering the content in this novel), successfully reevaluated my social relationships, and got to learn more about these darker topics. I did research into social problems, a mentally developing high schooler, and self esteem issues. I tried hard to make the book as realistic as possible, some of the characters as relatable as possible, and address the problems as best as I could.

Of course, I would understand if you, the reader, wouldn't feel comfortable reading this book, especially after the Prologue, and some of the chapters that come after it. Just know that writing this book means a lot to me, and I hope I can strike the hearts of any reader as well.

Thanks for (probably skipping) this,

Mitchel Lau