Not Alone (A Skyrim Fanfiction)

Final Thoughts

All right, I've tortured you guys long enough, and it's time I explained some things and answered some questions. Some of these you guys asked, some of them I anticipated, and some are my own thoughts. I may add more questions and answers if I think of good ones.

Will there be a sequel? Is this the real ending? Will Kisvar ever escape?

First of all, Not Alone is, in fact, completed. Chapter 40 (Part II) was no April Fool's joke or fake ending, it was the true end of the book. Kisvar's story, however, is far from over, he does escape Apocrypha and get back to Skyrim, and this is where things get interesting.

Many of you have probably read But I'm a Black-Briar, my other Skyrim fanfiction. I pretty much ditched that book for a while to work on this one because I wanted so, so badly to finally finish it. Now, however, I'm presented with a problem. Not Alone was always going to have a sequel, but several chapters ago I realized something. For reasons that BIABB has not yet revealed, Not Alone and BIABB can be merged to make an almost-perfect crossover. Many of you have noticed the little hints I've been throwing in (Maven mentioning family trouble to Kisvar in Not Alone, Karliah and Jiran using Kisvar's name in BIABB).

Well, I'm delighted to announce that both books will have a sequel, and the sequel for both will be a crossover of the two stories. I'm incredibly excited to do this, and I've already been letting my imagination run away with character scenarios involving the two different sets of characters.

What I'm not so sure about and am having a little bit of difficulty with is whose POV to write the sequel from. Those of you who read BIABB are used to Mira, and those of you who read Not Alone are accustomed to Kisvar. I'm leaning heavily toward employing the use of both character's POVs because I believe that would allow for the most thorough and interesting immersion into the story, but I'm very willing to listen to suggestions and hear the thoughts from the people who will be reading the book. Please, please let me know your thoughts on POV. All I know for certain at this point is that it will DEFINITELY be written in first person.

Now, another problem is timing. I had really, really hoped to finish Not Alone and BIABB around the same time, because obviously I can't start a sequel without massive spoilers and inconsistencies relating to BIABB. So the problem here is that either you guys will be stuck with no Kisvar until BIABB is finished-

-Or, potentially, I could be persuaded into writing a short story or novella about one of Kisvar's adventures before Not Alone ever happened. I have no story idea already planned or even thought of for this, so if you want yourself some Kisvar in between books, you'll have to throw some ideas my way.

Are you going to edit?

Absolutely. Editing won't really be a focus of mine, so it'll get done when it gets done, but it will happen eventually.

This brings up another point on which I would like your advice, however. I've already spotted a few plot related and character related issues in Not Alone, and by the time I fix those, some chapters may be radically different. The plot and story will remain the same, I'll just be fixing a few issues that I couldn't identify two years ago when I wrote those parts. When I finish editing a new chapter, do you guys want me to let you know via follower messaging or not? Do you want me to post a sort of changelog below each chapter so you can tell what's different, or just delete all the old author's notes and such and delete all extraneous writing to make it read like a published book? Again, let me know what you think about this, please!

Why did you split Chapter 40 into two parts?

It just seemed so odd to leave the book at chapter 41... I don't know. I also didn't want to break up the ending, and I had already planned to release the last three chapters only when I had all three finished. I guess I just didn't want to end on chapter 41, and part II just followed really closely from part I anyway. On a side note... I published the final chapter of Not Alone on April 16, 2016. The book was started on April 16, 2013. Today is Not Alone's third birthday!

Where are you going from here?

With the first big project I've ever committed to now somehow miraculously completed, I honestly feel a bit empty inside. Not Alone has been an ongoing work for three years, and now that it's done and even though I know I have plenty to keep me occupied, it still kind of makes me a tiny bit sad that it's finished.

Still, that frees me up to work on a bit more. So far I've only really consistently updated fanfictions, but I really, really want to start on an original work. I have sooo many ideas, and I've had so many false starts. I'm really hoping that now that I've actually finished my first, real, divines-honest novel, I can get down to business with a story in a world all of my own.

And because this is a celebration!

Thank you guys so, so, SO much. I've spent my whole life reading books others wrote, thinking how amazing it would be to create a world, characters, and a story of my own. Well, I haven't managed the world part yet, but you guys gave me the inspiration I needed to keep writing for so long and finally actually finish a story that I created. I don't think I can actually wrap my head around the fact that I FINISHED a book, even if it is only a fan fiction. I almost feel like... kind of like I passed a test, I guess. I've finally managed to finish a story, so I feel like that opens up the way for me to start a completely original story that is completely my own and not based off of anything other than the inspiration I've been drawing for so long.

What I'm saying is that by being there and by pushing me on whenever I didn't really know what to write next or how to get over writer's block, you guys have helped me do something that I might never have been able to do on my own.

So for that, and for sticking with this book for three years today, thank you all so much. I never thought Not Alone would get this far, and now that it has... well, endless possibilities open up, and it's all because you guys took time out of your busy lives to read something I wrote. Crazy, isn't it?