A Story of Cinders: From the Ashes

Notes from the Author (you can skip this part if you want to)

First off, I need to address the "others" in the author space. If I said I did this completely on my own, I'd be full of shit. And I can't possibly be full of shit and full of myself at the same time. I don't think I'm overstepping my bounds when I put my name first since I did create about ninety percent of the material within, but there is still that ten percent or so that I'm not responsible for. And there's just not enough room on the front cover for all the names. So, in the interest of not being a complete Zuckerberg, I have to talk about some other people.
The first of these people I would like to mention is my friend Nick. He and I kind of conceived the story on a whim. We were joking around in a group chat we were in, analyzing people and describing them like a novelist might. He jokingly mentioned that we should write a book with them. Then we both stopped joking around and realized that could conceivably do just that. I was made team scribe since I was widely considered the best writer. That being said, Nick wrote several passages early in the story, and a few at the midpoint. In addition to helping spark the idea, as well as providing some plot details, Nick was the person I would turn to first when I was stuck. On top of that, he helped to create-- or completely created-- several characters. Chief among these was the Brawler, and all his personalities. Nick also created every clan to whom the Brawler belonged. Additionally, he was responsible for creating Karlov's elite troopers-- with the exception of Ramirez (that one was all me). And finally, the concept of the Charred was Nick's idea as well.
The next person I have to talk about is another of my close friends, Josh. While he did not contribute many characters, he helped provide two of the most central characters to the story. The first of these is Nox. While I personally did add one quality to him, about 99.999 percent of this character was Josh's creation. Additionally, while I may have thought up the character of Karlov, he was responsible for nearly all of his backstory, as well as defining most of the lore and history of the world. Josh had a more subdued, though equally important role.
The third person to mention is my younger brother, Will. His most obvious contribution was creating the character arguably most central to the action and the closest thing to a protagonist in this story-- the Saint. He also was instrumental in plot development and world building, assisting mostly in the creation of the Ashlands, as well as the Barlow family, and other places that haven't been brought up in this story-- but will likely appear in spin offs or sequels, assuming there are any. On top of it all, Will served as my primary editor and critic. He was the first to point out plot holes, as I would often lose track of my place in the story.
There are two more people worth mentioning as well. First of these is my friend Scott. He was responsible for Sgt. John Reed, as well as his spotter, Ben. Additionally, he ghost wrote Sgt. Reed's first appearance, and helped me with dialogue early on. Finally, I need to mention another friend of mine, Ashley, who created the character of the Red Woman, and ghost wrote her section in Chapter 9. Although Scott and Ashley would slowly become more removed from this project as time passed, their contributions are still worth mentioning.