it has been many years since i first wrote this book—three years, in fact—and although that might not seem like a long time, i have changed so drastically in that three-year period that i can now barely identify with the manx who wrote this book.
there is no easy way to say this. the fourteen-year-old me who came up with and developed this idea was, frankly, quite uneducated about real-world issues. the elements of mental health and sexual orientation/identity brought up in this book had behind them the good intent of representation, healing and discovery, but what i now realize is that several of them have been grossly romanticized.
i have grown up, but unfortunately, this book has not grown with me. as there is still some good in the book—and because of the countless people who have told me how much it heped them through hard times—i will not be unpublishing it. however, if you do choose to read it, i want you to read it with one thing in mind: take everything with a grain of salt. you are allowed, even encouraged, to point out things that you feel have been misrepresented in the book. now, i'm not asking you to shit on my book in its own comment section (lol) but don't delude yourself into thinking everything i wrote in this book is condoned. no. it's not. most of it is not okay.
for the sake of helping the younger audience identify what's wrong with some chapters of the book, i will give you a brief overview of what i still need to fix: the romanticization of depression, emotional abuse, suicidal tendencies, and even instances of sexual harrassment that have been, for the major part, glossed over.
as most of this book focuses on the reader beginning to question and understand her sexual orientation, there are also some inaccuracies in the way she comes to terms with it. some characters are also plain bad, oppressive instead of supportive, and i want you to recognize that. you can't force someone to acknowledge their sexuality; they must come to terms with it themselves.
also. i'm not boring, lol. this book is pretty funny (if i do say so myself) but that shouldn't blind you from the things that are wrong with it. i am slowly working to fix all of those problems, but as i can only do that behind the scenes, it will be a while before you can read the revamped version. for now, enjoy this one! and remember to educate yourself instead of listening to some fourteen-year-old kid on the internet who didn't know what was right and what wasn't <3
love,
manx.
YOU ARE READING
Sugar & Ocean
Fanfiction"You should be careful, Y/N." Taehyung says, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his legs, tucking his chin into his palms. "He's the meanest son of a...mother who's ever lived." He shakes his head, sighing. "And he's the one who got you into...
