Hello, my friends!
I never thought this would happen, but The Angel Effect has finally come to a close. I want to start by thanking all of you who stuck with me and read through the entire thing! Thank you for every vote, every comment, and every sweet message. Truly, it means so much.
This was supposed to be a short story. With roughly ten chapters. But it ended up being about 50k words. I wouldn't necessarily call that a novel, but I wouldn't call it a short story either. Whatever. It's done. I'm done. I'm vibing. This was also supposed to be strictly romance. But as I started writing and outlining, I wanted to focus more on personal growth. With and without a mans.
Before I get too sappy, as usual, I wanted to give you guys a few random facts about The Angel Effect in celebration of it finally finishing!
I. CHARACTERS
Elaine Yeji Valencia was probably one of the hardest characters to ever write. I don't really think the way that she does, which was why it was difficult to express it on paper. She has an opinion on everything, her brain is a huge, organized MESS, and there's so much she wants to do but so little time to do it. Identity, something we all struggle with at some point, was something I really wanted to display in her character. Elaine (not sure if I ever explicitly wrote this) is half Korean, a quarter Hispanic, and a quarter caucasian and it's difficult for her to tap into one side of her identity because her father, the one who'd given it to her, is gone. Still, after coming out of her shell a little more, Elaine realizes there isn't necessarily a need to have a defining place in life. As long as she is content, she thrives.
Minjae (Jamie) Lee was a little more complicated than I intended him to be. He was supposed to be a golden-retriever-type boy. Happy-go-lucky. Although yes, he is often this type of person, Minjae somehow became a figure of Elaine's growth. After all, it is Elaine's story. He was simply there to help her through the process, offer guidance, and love her in his own way. Unfortunately, no man like this exists in real life so I let myself down by writing him. Still, Mr. Minjae Lee will always have a special place in my heart.
II. MUSIC
i. A huge shoutout to the Princess Mononoke soundtrack by Joe Hisaishi and Studio Ghibli. Thank you for helping me through the final chapter. Go listen to it for some beautiful bangers.
ii. Secondly, a shout out to 괜찮아도 괜찮아 by D.O. or That's ok. This story was heavily inspired by this song and I think the lyrics match the theme of the story well. Of course, I may be biased because D.O. is literally my favorite person on this planet, but I'll let you be the judge of that.
iii. I've mentioned this before, but the Angels' competition song is Wicked Game by Chris Isaak. I've mentioned already that my studio performed a contemporary dance to this song a few years ago and it absolutely blew my mind. The dance was absolutely breathtaking and I wanted to incorporate it into this story.
III. STORY
I absolutely hate coming up with titles. But The Angel Effect actually came to my head pretty quick. This story was about Elaine, her journey as a person, of letting go and learning to step into a new season of life, facing all of the challenges and hardships that come with it. Throughout the book, Elaine constantly wonders why. Why is she here? Why did this happen? And when Minjae comes in, he somewhat introduces the idea of fate. Is Minjae the figurative "angel" that had the "effect"? That's up to you to decide (lol).
But on the more literal side, the "effect" is, of course, the SNU dance group, the Angels. The Angels, really, were the ones who helped Elaine out of her shell, helped her through the journey of letting go of her past. Although necessarily it wasn't the Angels alone that allowed Elaine to move on, they were certainly a large piece to the puzzle.
IV. THANK YOU!
Truly, I'm so thankful to have met so many wonderful people on the internet.
I want to say thank you to the gang for being such a loving, wild, and encouraging group of people. I love all of y'all and your beautiful souls. You all are my heart. You all inspire me.
Once again, dearest readers, all I can say is thank you. Thank you for reading.
Minjae, Elaine, and I love you dearly!
See you in the next book.
Sincerely, Kayla