That's it. The story is officially finished. Exactly three years ago, I uploaded the prologue and the first three chapters. It seems like so long ago and I'm quite amazed I've managed to stick with a story for such a long time considering I have a habit of starting stories but they are all so complex and long that I never get to finish them.
This trilogy is just around 350,000 words if you were wondering, so you've made it to the end of a very long story.
It's probably common for authors to say that their characters feel like real people in their mind. I know all the main characters likes and dislikes and how they'd react in every situation thrown at them and how their reactions would be different based at what time the situation would occur. I love Abbey so dearly because I've loved to see the world through her eyes. We are somewhat similar but sometimes she's wiser than me and if it makes sense, I feel like I've learnt a lot from her. Nate is an adorable idiot and a somewhat classic love interest but I hope I managed to convey that he's still flawed and not perfect, even if Abbs' love tinted glasses paint him like that sometimes. He's a wonderful guy though and I can only hope we can all find someone for us, like Abbey and Nate did.
This story has been focussed around their relationship but mostly I wanted it to be a journey of Abbey's life, to which Nate played a huge part. She was her own person first and we got to see her grow up through the story. I've tried my hardest to keep everything realistic and organic without all the flair and fuss that sometimes takes over when it's a story about a couple falling in love.
I'll shut up about my characters after this little mention to all the secondary characters. I loved Emma and Megan to absolute pieces and I'm so happy I got to feature an LGBT+ couple in my story, even if it hadn't been a conscious thought at first. I also enjoyed writing about real YouTubers, even if my version is obviously a character as I don't know any of them in real life and I have to just try and imagine how they'd act. But they provided great inspiration for this story and for that I will always be thankful. YouTube is a wonderful place and I love watching so many of the creators I follow. Most of my favourites are mentioned throughout the story.
Finally, I want to thank you, reader (if anybody is still reading this ramble). The story wouldn't be here without the people voting and commenting because knowing that someone was waiting to find out what happened in the lives of my characters is what kept pushing me to work on this story when I got distracted. I've smiled and even cried at comment sometimes and anyone who's ever said anything nice has brought joy into my life. I can express enough how happy I am that you stumbled across my little story and read it all the way to the end.
It is melancholic to say goodbye to the character who've lived in my brain for so long and the contact to you as some of you have literally been reading this story for years. It's been a nice little way to connect. Unfortunately, I've felt a bit disconnected from Wattpad over the past months and I don't know if I'll put any new writing on here. Maybe. But I'm not sure. The best bet to keep up with my writing would be through my writing tumblr secretlywritingstories.tumblr.com where I post links to my stories no matter the platform. That is if you'd want to read anything I write in the future.
Thank you endlessly for reading this story. It's the longest story I've ever written and it showed me just how wonderful it is to post stories online and get feedback from lovely people like yourself. I hope you liked my story. Thank you so much for reading.