The Original Plot
— Originally this was meant to be purely a love story. There wasn't even going to be a sequel. I fully had it as a sapphic reader x crush fic. The reader, who I will be referring to as 'Sparrow' for efficiency, was always meant to be from District 9. The love interest, who was meant to be a crush insert, was going to be the District 2 female tribute. The original plan was that they both die in the arena, and I came up with it because I had a massive crush on a girl and I guess I just wanted a hunger games fic where I could be with her? I think I like the series a bit too much. Anyway, I've decided to introduce her in the next book as an oc with a different storyline, since I did have a name for her as I was planning the whole thing out.
— The arena being a prehistoric jungle and desert was a very last minute decision. I'm talking like, as I was writing the chapter kind of last minute. Originally it was meant to be an apocalyptic city with zombies and a massive storm. In the scene with the carriages there's actually a part that I left in where Bailey asks Sparrow if she can "bash his face in". In the original book this was meant to foreshadow when she bashes Finch's face in with a pipe. The exact scene (although with the pipe replaced with a tree branch) very nearly made it into the book, but I got incredibly attached to Finch, and it just wouldn't make sense to kill him. However, even though it didn't quite make the cut, it heavily influenced another scene I wrote.
— Damion's death scene was originally written to be much more violent, but then I realised it was just as violent as Emily's, which didn't work so I toned it down a bit.
— Oscar replaced Ziggy. Ziggy was meant to be the sweet flower crown girl who took a spear to the head, but then I got attached to Oscar. Sorry Ziggy.
The 3 Love Interests
Believe it or not, Spindrift was actually the FIFTH love interest to be written into the book. I only decided to make him the love interest in the chapter Promise after he winked at her. Other than the original insert love interest that I mentioned in the last segment, there were three 'lethal lovers — my favourite expression' that just didn't make the final cut.
— First off, the second love interest was Finch (rip). Yeah, you heard that right. Gin's (rip) boyfriend. He was meant to flirt with her loads, and the carriage scene was meant to be a super big moment. Then I realised that I couldn't do that to Gin since she and Finch were such a great couple, so Sparrow and Finch ended up having more of a sibling-like relationship. AND NOT THE ALABAMA KIND! But that's also why Bailey calls him "Pretty Boy"
— Second there was Oscar. Yes, Oscar, the kid who died in one sentence. It's self explanatory, really. He's Edmund Pevensie.
— Finally there was Shimmer Belcourt. Sometimes I feel as though I really didn't do her justice, especially since I had a whole plot line for them. But sometimes things just don't work out and you realise that maybe it wouldn't do so well to date someone so violent and obsessed with winning.
And so, she ended up with Spindrift. Honestly, in my opinion they're a near perfect match. But there's still one guy who could be a bit more perfect...
But you'll just have to wait for the sequel.
Hint: She has a type. Very clearly.
Character Backstories
I'd just like to clarify that the backstories for all my characters are quite large, so I will only be doing a select few, and I will be keeping them as short as possible.
— Baluka Kumar (District 4):
Baluka's story takes a lot of inspiration from my own, so she's quite an important character to me. Basically she grew up always being the 'smart kid'. She was the best in the academy, not only because she was good at fighting, but also because she was really really smart.
But eventually as she grew up she started slipping. She wasn't doing as well as she used to, which didn't go unnoticed by her parents or anyone else. People constantly compared themselves to her and talked about how they must be good because they did better than her. Meanwhile, her parents constantly made it clear how much of a disappointment she was.
In a final attempt to redeem herself to her parents, she volunteered for the games. She hoped that if she won her parents might be proud of her. She also thought that she had a fair chance of winning. Unfortunately, her parents thought she was being stupid and reckless.
The last thing she and her parents ever did was fight.
— Juniper Axel (District 7) TW: Suicide
Do you remember Juniper? You probably don't — she did blow up before the games started, after all. Fun fact: that death is canonical.
So is her token. The little wooden ball. Although, we're never told where she gets that ball from.
Well, I like to think that she got it from her father. He was a carpenter, and also Juniper's favourite person in the world. Juniper's mother hung herself shortly after giving birth, so it was just Juniper, her little sister, and her father for her whole life.
One day Juniper's father made the most perfect sphere out of wood. He was so proud of it that he gave it to Juniper as a reminder to 'always keep rolling, no matter the direction'. Too bad that she later went in every direction if you know what I mean.
Sadly, Juniper's father and sister never made it out of the war and both died in the bombing of District 9.
Damn, the Axel's are just everywhere. Aren't they?
— Damion Butcher (District 10):
As a summary: the Butcher family are super unlucky and they seem to have this curse when it comes to death.
To start, they had an ancestor from the Dark Days called Dylan, and he was a very successful serial killer who killed anybody that was richer than him, or anybody going to the Capitol. Fortunately he died during the war.
Dylan had 20 kids in total, of which 18 survived, giving him many many descendants to be subject to the Butcher's Curse. Most of these characters, although many of them died horrible deaths, are early significant to the plot until the 49th Hunger Games. Dalton Butcher, Damion's uncle, was 18 when he was reaped for the Hunger Games.
It was in these games that the Butcher's first interact with a character we know. And that character was Caleb Green.
The arena was a farmland arena, kind of, so they both had a good advantage. Dalton was very determined to win the games and return home to his family, and even made it to the final two, but unfortunately Caleb ended up skewering him through the ear with a peg from a rabbit snare.
He left behind a fiancé and a 3 year old son, Daniel.
Daniel was then sadly reaped for the Hunger Games just 9 years later at 12 years old. During the 58th Hunger Games the arena was a large mountain range, like the Spine from Eragon. It was during these Hunger Games that he met Bailey, who stuck by him and attempted to protect him. Together the two tormented the Career pack and became like brother and sister.
However, their fun could not last.
In the end the Career pack had had enough and hunted them down. The two ran to the edge of a cliff, and Bailey, knowing that there was no escape, pushed Daniel off. She knew that falling would be a quicker and much less painful death than what she knew the Careers would have planned for them.
A few minutes later, while Bailey was having her final stand, Daniel's body rebounded from the force field and came flying back up into a Career that had been creeping up behind her. This distraction gave Bailey the time she needed to finish them off and win the games.
Tragically, Daniel's mother died a few months later of a broken heart.
Dixie Butcher is Damion's Aunt. She's actually alive and well, and married to Arlo Belle, whose brother, Charlie, is the father of Lacy Belle. Small world.
And now we get to Damion's parents.
Damion's mother, Lucy Flayson, slept around a lot when she was a teen. One day she found out that she had gotten pregnant, however she had no idea who the father was. Unfortunately, District 10 is a very poor district where abortion is unavailable, so Lucy had no choice but to carry the baby to term.
Throughout the nine months, Lucy tried to find a nice family to take in her unborn child. But alas, no one wanted to help.
No one except her best friend, Dallas Butcher.
Dallas and Lucy had slept together a number of times, but Lucy knew deep down that Dallas definitely wasn't the father. Even after explaining this to him, he insisted on helping.
The two decided to get married so that the child wasn't born out of wedlock. In District 10 marriage is legal once both parties are 16, but parental permission must be granted unless both parties are over the age of 18. They married, with parental permission, as soon as they were both old enough, in the June of 40 ADD, on Lucy's 16th birthday.
Five months later, Lucy gave birth to a healthy baby boy who the two named Declan, after Dallas' favourite uncle. As soon as Declan was born it was apparent that he wasn't Dallas' son, but the latter didn't care.
For a few years it was fun, and the family was rather happy. But of course, they were teenagers, so they quickly grew bored and neglectful of Declan. Still, both Lucy and Dallas continued to sleep around, so the two have many children independent of each other. Despite this, the only two that actually live with them (other than Declan) are Damion, who was born 10 years later, and Dominic, more fondly known as Dom, who was born seven years after Damion.
Damion and Dom are both Lucy and Dallas' children.
Because Dallas and Lucy were so neglectful, Declan took up the helm and raised Damion and Dom. He gave up school and switched to working full time so that he could provide for the family. Unfortunately, when he was just 20 years old, he was murdered at work. The truth about Declan's death, however, never made it to the public as the place Declan worked decided to call it an "accident" to protect the reputation of the workplace, since it was common for people to die on the job.
This meant that it was now Damion who had to quit school and look after his little brother. Then Damion died, so Dom had to quit school to look after himself.
At the point where the book ends, Dominic is fine. He's the person standing on the platform when Sparrow goes to District 10. In the future, Dominic goes missing when he's 16. No one knows what really happened, only that he had gotten his girlfriend, Rowena Shearman, pregnant and that the two had plans to elope.
Rowena's father, Mr Shearman, turned up dead a few days later.
Also if anyone wants to read more about the Butcher family, GottenFire131 has written a book with an OC who is Damion's younger sister. It's currently on hold, but what is there is so so so good! You should definitely check it out.
Hidden Meanings
— Okay, so right off the bat, Lacy is an incredibly important character to me. Her story represents a personal journey of mine. I won't share what that journey was for privacy reasons, but just know that when Sparrow names the girl Lacy that's kind of like a rebirth of sorts. Like it represents how I ended up back at the start, but as a different person with different views.
— Baluka being beheaded represents her losing what was most important to her. Not her head, but her intelligence. Her final shot at redemption.
The Songs
When I put the songs in the time stamp isn't random. It's actually the point where the lyrics reflect the chapter. I just thought that was like a cool little fact and I wanted to share.
Extras & Easter Eggs
— Oscar and his siblings are the Pevensie children from Narnia.
— The volcano is a little reference for me to have a little giggle at since I'm actually writing a spin off that has SOMETHING to do with a volcano.
— I'm writing other spin offs too, for Caleb and Bailey. I just thought you should all know since Caleb's games (and his whole character) are literally my Roman Empire.
Victory Tour Poster
Nothing else, just Sparrow's Victory Tour poster.
Promos
— I've mentioned this before, but please check out The Crazy Girl by GottenFire131
It's currently on hold right now, but it is and will be super good.
— Also for any Narnia fans, NorahDolphinlover has written two Narnia fanfictions. They have slow updates, but they're also really good and worth a read.
Sequel Announcement!
And finally, I'm announcing that there will definitely be a sequel to this book! However, it is going to be a little different to this one and Sparrow will still be having a love interest. But no, I'm not resurrecting Spindrift, as much as that pains me.
This book was always meant to be more of a prequel, but I decided to write it before the one that I'm about to write.
Anyway, the sequel should be coming out soon, I just need to get a few things ready. You can expect it to come out sometime in May or June. It's called Born to Serve, and I will be adding it to a reading list with this book.