After this author's note, there's a little something extra for you to read in the next chapter. Enjoy :)
First off, I would like to thank each and every one of you that stuck with this story when you easily could have decided it wasn't worth your time.
Also, a big thanks to everyone who understood my lame attempts at updating from time to time due to awful migraines and other health conditions I didn't share. You all mean the world and more to me because of all of the constant support I receive.
A super duper huge thanks to AlyxMck for making the trailer shown in the media section. I knew ya'll really wanted to see one for 'The Test', and I also thought it would be pretty cool. They brought it to life and I love it so much i'll be smiling about it forever :)
I might get someone to make one for 'The Program' in the future, but it really doesn't matter to me. I'm extremely happy with just the one so whatever...
But anyway, just like in 'The Test', I won't be doing just an author's note. Last year, I answered questions I had received about the book. This year, at the closing of this book, i'll state a few facts about the story that I thought would be fun to mention.
Here goes...
Fun fact #1 - While trying to think of names for all my characters, Jack's name was going to be David.
I really like the name David (blame 'Uglies' by Scott Westerfeld for that) but changed my mind. His character sounded more like a Jack to me.
Fun fact #2 - Lexi's name was originally spelled L-E-X-I-E.
It had the 'IE' at the end but I thought it looked strange next to her best friend's name (Maddie) and next to Annie so I changed it to just an 'I' at the end. And Marcus was going to be an Alex to kinda match Lexi, but I liked Marcus better. Not exactly important to mention, but whatever...
Fun fact #3 - Most of my characters names are named after some of my favorite characters from other books.
While thinking up names for all of my characters, I often times went back to a few books I read and ended up giving those characters names from those books (something that will probably change during the editing process if I ever publish). For instance, Luke's name came from a main character in a book called 'Among The Hidden' which was from a book series I loved when I was in the fifth grade. Thomas Reid came from me reading 'The Maze Runner' and liking the name Thomas. Marcus came from a book called 'When You Reach Me' (not Divergent contrary to popular belief) that I also read in the fifth grade. And both of the names Natalie is given(Natalie and Elody) came from books, Natalie being named after Tris' mom in 'Divergent', and Elody coming from a book called 'Before I Fall'. Dr. Rivers' name (the name Kent) also came from 'Before I Fall'. And Natalie's last name came from a main character's name on a SHOW called 'The 100' and that character would be Clarke. Mary's name came from 'GONE' by Michael Grant (even though the Mary I wrote is literally nothing like the one in that book). But that's just a few examples.
Fun fact #4 - John is based off of my favorite character in my absolute most favorite book series.
Okay, so there's this book series called 'GONE' and it's written by the amazing Michael Grant. In it there's this kid who wants to be a leader and rule everybody and for the most part doesn't care about anyone but just really wants to be in charge. His name is Caine Soren. I modeled John after this guy for the first half of the book, you know, when we still didn't know him all that well. I was trying to make him a believable jerk without going too overboard, so I went to my favorite book series for help. No, I didn't copy what Michael Grant did in the book, I just got some inspiration that I needed badly. But wait, why is this Caine Soren evil dude my favorite? BECAUSE HE'S AWESOME. Besides, he's not my favorite til the second to the last book anyway...
Fun Fact #5 - I was going to have Marcus be in 'The Test' with Lexi, and considering they couldn't remember anything, they wouldn't know they were related.
Yes, I was going to do this. And I have many times asked myself how different everything would have been if I actually went through with it. But instead of doing it that way, I had it where Lexi slowly remembered him instead and Jack was the one with a sibling in the test.
Fun Fact #6 - I never, ever wanted a love triangle to happen that involved Jack, Lexi, and John. But I did contemplate one that involved Lexi's best friend; Nate.
I went against it obviously. It just didn't seem like it was needed in the story at all and seemed too cliche of a move for me. Girls can have guy friends, even best ones, and they don't have to be involved romantically.
Fun fact #7 - Originally, Lexi's mom was dead and Lexi was mad because her father remarried too quickly.
Again, I didn't do this. I liked the idea of Lexi's mom still being around so that Lexi's life was not so bad before it got worse. Which is also part of the reason why I went against the next fact.
Fun fact #8 - Marcus had cancer.
I'm not even gonna explain my reasoning on this one, because in all actuality, I wanted to keep this part of the story, even in the draft when Marcus was going into the test too. But I let it go, mainly because my chapters were kinda short and I was info dumping things as it was. Taking out a twin with cancer seemed like the best option. But it could come back in an edited published version if I ever do so.
Fun fact #9 - I picked Florida as Lexi's and everyone else's home state because that's one of the places where I spent most of my childhood.
I love where I live now. But you try going years without seeing your aunt in Florida because you had to move when you were six and not make some of your wants get into your story.
Fun fact #10 - Originally, John and Lexi were dating outside the test.
But I didn't like it and preferred the whole 'we're enemies but we slowly become friends' approach I went with. Speaking of which, the whole weird connection thing they share will be toned down. I don't like where I went with it...
Fun fact #11 - 'The Program' was going to be written in Jack's POV and he was going to remember the test.
Lexi wasn't going to and the story would be Jack having to practically force her to remember because Reid was after them again and she was the only one that knew how to stop him. I had the stupidest reason for not doing this though. I didn't know how well I could write a male's POV yet, so I just scrapped the whole idea and basically reversed who didn't remember.
Fun fact #12 - Marcus and Annie were going to end up together, not her and John.
But don't worry, John was going to fall in love with Maddie. Just assume that I switch that around.
Fun fact #13 - Part of me wanted to make Mary the good guy and her be Jack's mother he thought he lost hidden behind a disguise.
And then, in effect, Lexi's dad knew of this fact and also worked with the organization that sent her there, so he was helping his boss and protecting her. I thought this sounded a bit too crazy though. And I didn't like the idea of Jack and Lexi being kinda siblings even for a second.
Fun fact #14 - In a draft chapter I made, Riley was a real person.
The blueprint Reid had used to make the program Riley was, had been based off his daughter who unfortunately did die in the fire because Mary killed her to show just what she would do to the rest of Reid's family. I scrapped that idea though.
Fun fact #15 - I heard the name Lexi in a shirt commercial and liked it so much I named my main character that.
In addition, this girl went by Lexi and many other names in the commercial, but her real name was Alexandria. So um, yeah...
Fun fact #16 - I hadn't planned on Reid being Jack's dad.
When writing the final chapter for 'The Test' the shocker ending was just going to be Jack not remembering. But I knew I needed more, especially if I was going to do another story. And eventually it hit me that I could do a plot twist no one saw coming.
Fun fact #17 - I considered making the test last a month and a half inside, while outside it just lasted overnight and there was never a coma to deal with.
This will probably come back in the final draft.
Fun fact #18 - Luke was going to be Jack's best friend outside the test, not Danny.
And yes, Luke was going to remember the test still because he's a disrupter. But he was going to fake it, and pretend that he didn't remember so he wouldn't lose his best friend over what he had done. Again, this might come back in the final draft.
Fun fact #19 - The chapter before the lake attack in 'The Test' was when I decided I wanted Jack and John to be brothers.
But I wanted them to not actually be brothers, adoptive brothers brought something to both of their back stories that I really wanted to see play out. And, even though I never brought it out in the story, the reason John was giving Jack a hard time in the beginning was because he felt a need to protect Jack from everything (seeing as how they are really close in real life, I hope that emotion would come forward) and seeing him attack the bears worried him. So in a attempt to protect him, he challenged him. Then, only to see that Jack wasn't the giving up type, he forced him to work beside him, where he could keep watch of him and hopefully keep him out of trouble. We see how well that turned out.
Fun fact #20 - I considered killing off or badly injuring Annie.
It was going to be in the chapter that Lexi and Jack went on their date. Toward the end of the chapter (or middle, whatever) Lexi passed out and I was going to play off of that. The thing I was going to do was make it where Reid made her pass out with a device of his, and not just her, but everyone else involved in the test too (such as Annie, John, Jack, Danny, etc.). And Jack would be driving home during this time (see where i'm going with this?) and would pass out, causing him to hit the car that was on the rode with him when it happened (Annie in it) and everyone going to the hospital. Jack would have a broken arm, but Annie was going to be worse off. I didn't do it though, and i'm glad. But seriously, I wrote an entire chapter about it and everything.
Fact #21 - Annie and Jack were going to be siblings.
In the story, it's only slightly hinted at that Annie never knew her dad, whether it be from him dying, leaving, or just never being in the picture was never determined. For awhile, I considered what it would be like if Reid had been that dad and cheated on Diana when he was still Ben. I also liked this idea because it was only Annie and Jack that stood up to him in the test and it could be like sibling power or something. Plus, I never named who Annie's blood relative was who was involved with the test, leaving room for the maybe being Reid if you really think about it. But I didn't do that. I might work it into the final draft though...
And finally...
Fact #22 - Jack wasn't going to be real.
PUT DOWN YOUR PITCHFORKS! I have a good reason for this. Just let me explain. While I was thinking up the idea, it was common knowledge among everyone involved with the test that Lexi could disrupt. They wanted to study how she could affect the test, but she wasn't reacting to previous tests they had done like they expected her to because she was getting nervous too easily and shut down the program before they had a chance to gather data. In an attempt to calm her down, they created a code that would tease, contradict, and charm Lexi enough to make her blush every time he said something sweet to her. This is also why they got together so quickly in the story to start off, it was because Jack was literally programmed to make her fall in love with him. And it worked a little to well, and not just with Lexi. I started missing Jack's character before I even revealed this plot twist, causing me to scrap the idea completely and head in another direction, bringing in Riley instead. A different version of this plot twist, one that makes it where Jack is still an actual person and not a code, will most likely come back in the final draft though.
And that's all. I mean, there's more, tons more. But I don't want this to be too long. But you can always ask any questions you have below and I will do my very best to answer :)
Anyway, goodbye for now guys! And I do have other stories on here if you maybe think you could check them out (it would mean a lot to me if you would) :)