What a year it has been friends. A lot of you by now have heard that The Bite has been published and book 2, The Hunt, is quickly coming. A lot of you also have a lot of questions on the series and what the new "plan" is.
First, before I jump into anything, I want to thank everyone for all their support, love, encouragement, and loyalty throughout all these years and especially this year as we've launched our girl into the greater world. It's been such a blessing to see The Bite in the hands of people who have never read the Wattpad version and it's an even bigger reward to see it in the hands of many of you who have loved it since day one. I can't thank you all enough.
I wrote a note going through all the changes in the series a while back, and I am going to post that below just so you all have easy access to it (and don't have to search for it) but a few things from me on this as we gear up for The Hunt: The bones of the story are the same, as is what makes the story special—the heart of it.
What's different is a few things, but the biggest is how it's laid out now. Meaning instead of three books like you see here on Wattpad, it's being split into five. Yes five. You read that right. The first book, The Bite, is being split into three books. Yes, you also ready that right, three.
The first book has a LOT going on, and fitting that into one book that we can all hold in our hands or read on a device like a Kindle, was not feasible. That, and there was so much that I wanted to shape up so I could properly do the story justice. That means The Bite, is going to cover the first third of the original version on Wattpad. The Hunt, is the middle chunk (the second third), the third book would cover the last chunk, and then The Rise and Blood would follow accordingly. If you're still scratching your head, don't worry I made a chart—because you all know how much I love a good chart.
This is all to say that the story you love is there, it's just coming in a slightly different format that is amplified with more claws, teeth, blood, love, and of course all the Levi.
So then what is The Hunt? What's going on with that?
Well, as Levi would say, "A really fun time." The Hunt is going to have content never before read on Wattpad meaning, you've absolutely not seen this before—and I am SO stoked for you guys to dig in.
As I said before, the published versions are more mature, fast paced, grittier, with a momentum that will keep you on the edge of your seat. So be ready for a wild ride as Charlotte tries to find her place in the pack and proves to not only her new packmates, but herself that she belongs. If you've read the Wattpad Version, just think of that with a spookier setting, a deadly challenge that is likely to kill you, a little romance, a lot of wood-chopping, and your favorite characters all wondering what the hell these rogues are up to.
You can pre-order The Hunt (out March 12th) almost anywhere you can buy books, however, as someone that loves to support local bookstores, I have link(s) in my bio to a few local stores! The best part is one of them will let you pre-order a signed copy, AND if you're international and can't find it on Amazon, they will help to get you a copy (you'll just have to pay shipping).
So, get ready my lovelies for a wild ride, and buckle up for March. The Hunt is coming.
Repost of the A/N Q&A from The Bite—OG Chapter title, "The Bite - Q&A with Z.W. Taylor"
Hey all,
I've received a lot of questions about The Bite, The Hunt, and the series in general regarding how it's going to differ from the version on Wattpad, so I thought I would take some time to answer your questions and hopefully, put a lot of your minds at ease.
Before I do that, I want to thank all of you for being subscribers! The content you'll read today will be posted publicly tomorrow, meaning you all are receiving this before anyone else as you will with all news as my loyal subscribers. I also want to thank you all for all your support for The Bite! This journey would absolutely not be possible without any of you, and I cannot thank you all enough.
So let's get into some Q&A. The questions below are real questions people have been asking me on social, my dm's, and via email. Thank you all to everyone who has sent me questions and engaged me on social!
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Questions:
Question 1: The version that is published is really different from what's on Wattpad. It cuts off a lot of important things and doesn't even cover all of book one on Wattpad, so how can we even move to book two? The timeline doesn't make sense.
Answer: I love this question because it's a really easy one to answer. The answer is, you are right. It doesn't cover all the plot points that are covered in the Wattpad version, and you're right, it cuts off after Charlotte transforms, which is about a third into book one on Wattpad. So book one that is published does not line up exactly to what's on Wattpad... I am going to take a second, because this is a series, to let you all marinade on this because the answer is right there for you....
It's ok if you're still confused! The plan is to split the first book on Wattpad into three that would be followed by The Rise and The Blood. This means that book one that is published has covered the first third of the original content on Wattpad, The Hunt, will be covering the middle portion of that book (watch out bears). The last third of content will be its own separate book.
So the timeline DOES still work, it's just formatted differently than what you're used to. The major plot points are still there friends, we're just building a richer world and story to better support them! So to sum up, yeah, you're right to think, "This book one does not cover everything that's in the first book on Wattpad." Because it doesn't but the books coming out, like The Hunt, will pick up where it left off and continue the story
Question 2: So why break book one up? Why split it into three books?
Answer: Another REALLY good question. There's a few key things to understand:
The book on Wattpad is long. LONG. Like, if we just took that and made it a book, it would be a foot tall because the word count is insane and that doesn't translate well for traditional publishing. So for length purposes, it has to be split up.
While the book is long, there are places where things are rushed so the journey to major plot points was faster for readers. There are places where I would have liked to have spent more time and slowed down, and there are a lot of relationships, backstory, and details regarding the world that is being built, that I wanted more time to flesh out so the story would be richer.
One of those relationships is Levi and Charlotte's. While we get a lot of Levi on Wattpad, I wanted a lot more time with the two of them together to really build a relationship that was ironclad. I also wanted more interaction with Levi where we get to learn more about him and see more of his flaws because he is absolutely, as broken as Charlotte is when they meet. That in itself is an important note that needed to be more prevalent in this version
The groundwork laid in this book allows for a tighter plot. It allows for logic to play into the picture so we don't have plot holes later it. But it also allows us to spend more time in the world rather than rushing, which is, as the author, something that is really important to me.
Question 3: Ok, but Levi and Charlotte's relationship is different? It's so different. What is that?
Answer: You're also right here.
So first, look to the answer in the first question. Remember you're comparing now what happened in arguably three books to one, so there's a lot about their relationship that has not happened yet.
Second, one thing I knew I needed to do when I first set to edit The Bite, was to work on their relationship arc. Meaning, we have two very broken people coming together, one of them more or less hates people and is pissed off at the world—I don't think it makes a lot of sense logically for these two to be absolutely peachy right off the bat.
I mean its Levi we're talking about and in any relationship—friends, families, or romantic, the ones that are tested and put through the pressure cooker, are the ones that are stronger.
So what does this mean? It means I knew he wasn't going to be a big fan of hers in the beginning. She is literally a wrecking ball into his world and he is absolutely not what she imagined when she was running away, but after time, the two learn not only to get along but find a friendship built on earning each other's trust and loyalty. Which I don't know about you, but I find that to be way more compelling.
Question 4: The book doesn't have romance? Where's the love?!
Answer: See answer to question one.
The other thing to remember is that in the first third of the book that is on Wattpad, she doesn't have a love interest. It's just her, Levi, and the vamps. One thing I love about this, is that she changes and fights for her life because she's doing it for herself. For no one else but herself. She doesn't have some guy who she needs to impress or live for like we see in a lot of common tropes. This was super important to me to keep true to the original content, because her journey is even more special when you realize that she's doing it because she believes that she is worth it—that her life is worth it, and I didn't want anything corrupting that.
Question 5: The book feels different. There's less banter with the characters. It just doesn't feel the same.
Answer: This wasn't a question but I have seen a lot of comments like this. It's a super common statement that I get usually when someone is talking about the tone of the book. The series is intended for adults. When wrote it originally, that was the intention. When I went to edit it, I knew that I had to do a better job of making it more mature so it would really speak to an adult audience. So it is less whimsical, less light-hearted in some places, and much grittier, serious, and dark.
Question 6: What if I still want to read the original book on Wattpad?
Answer: It's there! It is free and in the original book as free, ungated content. The published book is gated with a paywall.
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Biggest takeaway here kids, is we are breaking book one on Wattpad into three. The Hunt, the second book in the published series, will be out Winter 2024.
Honestly, the fact that you've all had so many questions regarding things and feedback, both bad and very good, means a lot to me because it means that you guys actually care about this story. I can't tell you how humbled I am for that.
I hope this answers some of your larger questions! I'll be doing more Q&A's and other fun things as we work out way to the launch of The Hunt!