My Way ||| Ateez

Author's Notes

I don't even fully know where to begin with my thoughts on this story to be honest. It has meant so much to me, mostly because it has turned into my most popular series I've done!

That was something I never expected to happen and I am still so honored that it did so well.

One of the first ever stories I read on Wattpad was 'Promise' by JinJin0309 -- As many of you know, she is now one of my best friends, and really she is more like a sister to me even though we've never met in person. She also introduced me to my other best friend and sister squidster97 and I will always be eternally thankful for that <3<3

That being said, I can't even tell you why I decided to read promise. I had never heard of omegaverse before and I had never read anything boyxboy related. Crazy right?? I mean, if I'm being honest, I don't really think I understood what I was getting myself in to XD but I ended up falling in love with her story!!

For awhile she kept telling me that I should write one of my own and the idea was suuuuuuuper intimidating to me. I had tried writing a little boyxboy in 'Kingdom of Twilight' and felt ok with it, but at the time the vibe I got from omegaverse stories was that it's kind of sacred ground haha a lot of authors and readers took it very seriously and I was honestly scared to even touch it. 

Buuuuuut she kept insisting and really she was a huge help when it came to plot planning with me too.

I knew right away that I wanted the story to be one about them having to bond together after a huge struggle, so that's where the Pack War came into place. Picking the ships was probably the first struggle for me.

I may or may not have been nudged in the direction of Mingi and Seonghwa (yes I'm calling you out JinJin hehe), but honestly I'm so glad I decided to do it because I think they ended up being one of the favorite ships in the story! Wooyoung and San felt natural to me too, so then it was just picking the last two that I struggled with. I had read another story that had Hongjoong and Yeosang hinting at a relationship, and I had never seen them anywhere else, so I'm pretty sure I decided on them because I figured I was already challenging myself so why not add more to my plate XD, which then of course left Jongho and Yunho.

For me, the most natural thing to do was have one alpha in each pair. I've always liked the idea of one person in the relationship being more dominant than the other and I spent a lot of time talking with JinJin about the dynamics of each rank. Those ended up being really easy for me to chose. I think Yeosang was the hardest for me. I almost made him an omega, but I was already set on having Seonghwa be a head-strong omega and Wooyoung is just an omega in my mind (if you haven't already noticed lol) so I didn't want there to be three omegas in the story. I wanted a little balance.

When I actually got into writing, the intro chapters came really naturally to me, which was surprising. I knew I needed variation, which is why Hongjoong and Yeosang were already mated. Having one stable relationship to start with felt necessary so that there was a foundation to the group of eight, and with Hongjoong being the leader, that felt the most natural.

If anything, I know the biggest stretch was Jongho and Yunho. Looking back, I know I rushed their mating a little bit haha, so we can blame that on their wolves because, well... apparently they just really needed to mate right there. If I were to reach a little, to me it would make sense for Yunho because he had never been attracted to anyone else before and he did want to have a family one day. 

And that is the exact reason why I had him and Wooyoung from the same pack. When I was watching Ateez videos, the two of them just hit a little differently with how they interact, and I know Wooyoung has said that Yunho is  his home, so the idea of them already having a close relationship stems from that.