Never Yours ✔️

Afterword

I never expected this story to come this far.

It started as a half-hazard, clumsily thrown together attempt to throw out an idea that struck me with that thrilling 'I have to write this down right now!' kind of inspiration. It all started with the Lord of the Rings, funnily enough. One scene, one small moment (I don't remember if the inspiration struck while I was reading the books or watching the movie [probs the books first and then got stronger with the movie]), one small word on a blank word document and a main character that didn't have a name (actually only Serden had a name, funnily enough), and now we're here.

How on earth did we get here?

A little story fling turned into a full-time relationship turned into an engagement, and hopefully, in the next few years, into a marriage.

Writing Arysa's story has brought me so much joy. It helped me escape the world and disappear into kingdoms and castles and princesses and magic and enemies and madness. 

Two or so years ago I decided to take my little fling, where I'd write a bit here and there when I felt like it, and take things further. Now we were dating, seeing each other regularly, working with one another, tied together. That was when I first posted this here, to keep me accountable. And somewhere along that journey, my little hobby story proposed. 

"I want to be more." She whispered in my ear.

And something spun in my stomach, the thrill of a project taking flight.

"I want you to be more too." I whispered back.

And so we danced through our engagement party and began to plan our wedding. And though it'll be a long engagement, years until we're finally ready, I continue to twirl that little ring on my finger and dream of what's to come.

Arysa was never supposed to be the one I published first.

I have another story, a hidden story, a story tangled up in every part of me. That story, scrawled in pencil and scattered across notebooks, was my first ever story. Created when I was twelve, inspired by skits me and my brother performed with legos, and evolved into something so brilliant and so complicated and so deep, that was the story I wanted to publish first. I thought I owed it to her, Era (my main character). I was hanging onto that thin shred of longing that my first would be my first. 

But the first is rarely the best.

And Era isn't ready yet.

She has a long, long way to go. And I want her to be beautiful. I want her to be everything I've ever dreamed she would be. 

Arysa holds a very special place in my heart. This story means a great deal to me.

But Era will always be the beginning.

And Arysa will be the platform upon which I build my castle.

Hundreds of stories run rampant in my head.

Maybe I'll work on one of them on the side as I barrel through Arysa's second draft (which sadly, I've decided I will not be posting here).

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Acknowledgments are in order.

Thank you to the Lord of the Rings.

Thank you to my inability to not write down a story idea when it pops in my head.

Thank you to my brother for giving me changes in perspective.

Thank you to Thomas for helping me come up with a bare-bones magic system.

Thank you to Verlyn who supported me along this twisting journey and helped me puzzle through scenes I couldn't quite figure out.

And most importantly, thank you to you, my readers. You have kept this story alive, kept me accountable, given me a reason to keep going. You have taken a broken story and revealed its flaws so that I can stitch it back together with gold. You've supported me, made me smile, made me reevaluate how I was going about things, made me laugh, and most importantly, you made me write.

And finally, I have one more thank you to make.

Thank you...to me.

Finishing projects has never been my strong suit. Sticking to things has never come easy to me. But I did it. I took that little snippet of an idea and I turned it into this. And Oh. My. God. am I in love. 

I cherish you, Arysa and Serden and Demian and Arla and Rivet (and even you, Ashlyn). And I cherish me for creating you. It's mindblowing to think that this all came from my ten fingers and a borrowed laptop.

But it did.

And it's going to become so much more.

So stick around. See what other first drafts you can catch a whiff of.

And when Arysa gets published, be the first one to hold her story in your hands, the physical manifestation of my biggest dream. [Coming maybe in 2024-2025, or maybe in 50 years (preferably the former)]

With hope,
Your Author,

Lilli Knight